ATTENTION TAEGAN GODDARD...A "hot tub confession" such as the one you say was made yesterday by Utah House Majority Leader Kevin Garn is a confession made while in a hot tub rather than a confession about being in a hot tub.

To say that least, that would have been an interesting visual that would have been tailor-made for TMZ.

Dear Matthew:

I think I understand what you were trying to say in your response to my post last week about The Fiscal Times.

I just disagree with it.

You say that, because you write a blog for an organization that has a definite point of view and you understand it without being told what it is, those who will be posting on TFT's blog -- Capital Exchange -- must, no doubt about it, absolutely, positively, be in a similar position.  Therefore, TFT must reflect what Pete Peterson, who provided the initial funding for TFT, thinks and wants to happen.

Matthew, I get it: You don't like Pete Peterson, Peterson's politics, or Peterson's policies.

First, full disclosure: I write for The Fiscal Times' blog, "The Capital Exchange." Another CG&G person -- Ed Andrews -- will be providing full stories.

Second, The Fiscal Times, a website (it calls itself a "digital news, opinion and media service") devoted to all things fiscal launched this week.

Bruce raises a number of interesting points in his post on whether having a regular question time of the president by Congress similar to the questions asked of the prime minister by the House of Commons in the U.K. would be a good idea.  And you have to love Bruce's idea of having the president also be able to ask questions of members of Congress.

But in spite of all of the enthusiasm for the idea that became evident immediately after the president did more than hold his own at a televised Q&A session at the GOP retreat last week, including a bipartisan group of journalists and others publicly requesting that the practice occur regularly, it's a safe bet that it's not going to happen, or at least not happen any time soon.

The reason: The GOP made a huge communications mistake when it allowed the Q&A session with the president to be televised and isn't likely to repeat it any time soon.

Actually, I don't really disagree with Bruce on this.  But there are a few things that distinguish the Obama fiscal 2011 budget from all of the other presidential budgets that, as Bruce pointed out in his excellent history, have been quickly forgotten over the years.

This -- the day before the president's budget will be released -- is usually the day when The Washington Post and New York Times all have major stories with "leaks" about what the administration will propose.  It's also the day when at least one of the White House's lead economic spokespeople go on one or more of the Sunday talk shows to discuss the budget.

But all I can find today is this story on page 24 of the front section of the Times (yes, I still look at the print edition), which really isn't a leak with new information as much as it is reading between the lines of everything else that has been reported or guessed the past few days.

There's also this by White House Communication's Director Dan Pfeiffer on the White House blog that details some of the program cuts.

You really have to ask whether this is the best the network television can do.

Although it's been on for a while and is one of the top-rated prime-time shows on network television, I've only recently begun to watch "NCIS," the CBS police drama that stars Mark Harmon.  I may have started to watch because "Law and Order" reruns seem to have run their course (Has anyone seen an episode with Michael Moriarty lately?) or because the friends my Beautiful and Talented Wife (The BTW) and I visited over Thanksgiving were devoted to it.

But regardless of the reason, and even though I started watching only recently, whenever I have watched "NCIS" there has always been something almost eerily familiar and deja vu-like about the show.

It finally hit me last night: "NCIS" is the same show as "Kojak," the police drama that aired on CBS in the 1970s with Telly Savalas as the lead character.

Forgive me for coming a little late to this party.  Honestly, I needed to test my thoughts before posting what you see below.

Here's my bottom line: I have no problem with C-Span requesting that it be allowed to cover what is currently expected to be behind-closed-doors negotiations on health care reform.  But C-Span made a huge mistake in releasing or leaking it's request or by not understanding that it was making the request in a way that was virtually guaranteed to be leaked by others.  In doing so C-Span inserted itself in the political process and inappropriately and quite unfortunately became part of the story.  You expect this from Fox; you recoil when it's done by a supposedly neutral observer like C-Span.

I posted last week about how newspapers are having to change what they publish because technology meant that most of their readers already know the news before they receive their paper the next day.  The newspapers now have to provide more color and context in what are now less news and more features.

A story in today's New York Times indicates that the same thing is happening in daily television news.  According to the Times, the oldest television business news show -- Nightly Business Report, which is seen on PBS stations in evening drive time across the country -- has now realized that it won't be able to maintain its audience it if continues to do the same thing it's been doing the past three decades, that is, provide the day's stock market results.  Here is the money quote:

You had to know this was coming.

This story in yesterday’s New York Times says that a number of major media outlets that up to now have been giving content away for free online are now considering following in the footsteps of the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times by charging some type of fee.

Like everyone else, I’d prefer to have unlimited free online access.  Who wouldn’t?  I'd also like free health care, free food, no mortgage, and throw in a Ferrari at no cost while you're at it.