Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad is rated on Eliot Spitzer's "despot meter" by fmr. Asst. Secretary of State Jamie Rubin and Reuters' Global Editor-At-Large Chrystia Freeland.

Former Federal Aviation Administration Chief of Staff Michael Goldfarb says a "serious error" forced a plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the vice president's wife, to abort a landing.  Goldfarb also talks about other recent incidents that have cast a cloud over the nation's air traffic control system.

ONLY ON THE BLOG:  In January 2009, Andrew Breitbart, publisher of the news portals Breitbart.com and Breitbart.tv, launched Big Hollywood, a site on Hollywood and politics from the center/right perspective. He gained greater notoriety when his second blog endeavor, Big Government, broke the ACORN child sex trafficking story. Breitbart launched Big Journalism in January of 2010 and his newest blog, Big Peace, launched July 4, 2010. Breitbart co-wrote the best-selling attack on celebrity culture, Hollywood, Interrupted, and he was the primary developer of The Huffington Post.

Breitbart appeared In The Arena on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, where he and Eliot Spitzer found agreement on "vulgar" Wall Street practices.

BLOG EXTRA: Here is an excerpt from Breitbart's book, "Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!" Permission granted by Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group USA. All rights reserved.

  Chapter 10

  The Big Plan: Join Us

Now you know the Complex, and you know that we can fight it if we just use the right tactics, understand our opponents, and walk toward the fire. Walk toward the fire. Don’t worry about being called a racist, a homophobe, a sociopath, a violent heteronormative xenophobe with fascistic impulses. They say all those things about you because they’re keeping you inside the Complex, forcing you to respond to their playbook. They want to stop you in your tracks. FULL POST

A year after the onset of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, one of the most prominent Louisiana figures dealing with the disaster's aftermath remains frustrated.

"A year later, I can't look you in the eye and tell you who's in charge," Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said in an interview with CNN's "In The Arena" host Eliot Spitzer.  FULL POST

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was charged in 2009 to examine “the causes of the financial and economic crisis in the United States,” to probe the collapse of the major financial institutions that were ultimately rescued with taxpayer money, and report its findings to Congress and the American people.

Commission chairman Phil Angelides and his staff reviewed millions of pages of documents, interviewed more than 700 witnesses, examined the findings of other investigative bodies, and held 19 days of public hearings across the country.

Angelides tells Eliot that Wall Street is now trying to rewrite the history of the financial crisis.

CLICK HERE to read our fascinating OFF-SET interview with Angelides.

Today's Number of the Day is 2.9 million.

We've all come to believe that when big businesses–meaning the mutli-nationals that dominate the airwaves with their advertising and the halls of Congress with their lobbyists–when they begin to hire again, the U.S. economy will hum and whir the way it's supposed to.

Well, here's some bad news:

During the first decade of this century–and not just the dip of the recession at the end of it–U.S. multi-nationals cut their workforces in this country by 2.9 million jobs, while increasing their employment overseas by 2.4 million.

Take GE, for example: between 2001 and 2010, GE cut 25,000 U.S. jobs, and added 2000 jobs overseas.

Wait a minute! Is this the same GE that made $14.2 billion in profits last year and paid no–ZERO– U.S. taxes? The same GE whose chairman Jeffrey Immelt is the the chair of President Obama's job creation committee, the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness?

Somebody at the White House should have checked these numbers before making this appointment.

As Immelt points out: jobs follow not only labor costs, but also markets. In 2000, 30 percent of GE's business was overseas. Today–60 percent of it is.

For more on this subject, CLICK HERE to read a really superb article in The Wall Street Journal written by David Wessel. FULL POST

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s five OFF-SET questions is Dr. Ian MacDonald, professor of Biological Oceanography at Florida State University, who worked extensively in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to his web biography, MacDonald is, "an oceanographer of deep-ocean extreme communities.  The physical settings include natural hydrocarbon seeps, gas hydrates, and mud volcano systems.  In my project work, I use satellite remote sensing to locate natural oil releases on the ocean surface.  Specialty cameras provide high resolution and time-series imaging of seep fauna and processes at the ocean floor.”

Wednesday will mark one year since what has been called the worst oil spill in U.S. history began. On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig off Louisiana's coast injured 17 workers and killed 11 others, and a 3-month-long discharge of a BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico began. Federal officials on Wednesday will present updates on the safety of Gulf seafood.

 How much time did you spend in the Gulf area after the BP spill?

I live in this region, so I don't consider that I ever left.  But I was on the water offshore Louisianawhen the oil began reaching Louisiana on May 20th and I was on a research ship on July 12-15 when they shut the well off. I was in Louisiana in August after the well had been plugged.  I have been along the beaches of Florida on many occasions.

For 86 days, millions gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf waters. Where did it go?

The official discharge was 4.2 million barrels.  That number does not account for gas.  FULL POST

50,000 JOB SEEKERS TO GET A BREAK TODAY – McDonald's Corp. has 50,000 new jobs on its national menu today. There are more than 13,000 McDonald's chains in theU.S. and 32,000 globally. McDonald's says it's in 117 countries and employs 1.7 million workers. The Chicago Tribune reports that  jobs to be offered in theU.S. range from restaurant crew to salaried management.  Every McDonald's franchise began taking applications at 7 a.m. and will finish at 5 p.m.

By the end of the day, the company hopes to hire 50,000 people. McDonald's hourly employees typically make more than minimum wage, often more than $8 per hour. But that could vary depending on the franchise. McDonald's hopes to get across the message, much as Starbucks Corp. has successfully done, that a job with it is not a dead end and can offer solid benefits and long-term career opportunities, which the company says already are available to its 600,000 restaurant employees in the U.S.

FUTURE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: KEEP YOUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE IN SAFE PLACE – Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a bill late Monday that would have required President Barack Obama and other presidential candidates to prove they were American citizens, born in the United States, before their names could have been placed on the state ballot. FULL POST

Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center, says media coverage of the budget battle, including CNN's Eliot Spitzer "In The Arena," is biased.  FULL POST