Derek Thompson in The Atlantic thinks all the carping about partisan gridlock in Washington is overblown. Consider the national debt:

"Our debt crisis is complicated. But the solution can be stated simply: Raise taxes and cut entitlements. I can't find a serious policy thinker who has a different answer. But I can find you more than 500 elected representatives who have, not partisan, but shared interests in doing neither of those things.

"Raising taxes is unpopular with everybody, especially Republicans, and cutting entitlements is (a) unpopular with seniors and soon-to-be-seniors, who are the loudest and most consistent donors and primary voters and (b) off the table for many Democrats ...

"In other words, both parties seem to agree: The debt is serious, and they won't do anything meaningful about it this year. That's not the failure of bipartisanship. That's bipartisan unity!"

Pittsburgh's 2 Political Junkies says, "Thank God for the Itawamba County School District!," taking note of the Mississippi school board that announced last week it would cancel a prom rather than allow a gay student to bring a same-sex date.

The Junkies are relieved:

"It's only with this kind of vigilant protection of our precious liberty can we expect to save our once great and Christian Nation from the godless liberals who want nothing more than to shred the moral fabric of this society and replace it with satanism, sodomy and socialism. If we let the gays think they're the same as normal people, next think you know they'll be demanding full equality and such. Pray, my friends. Pray for our future."

Mike Madison at Pittsblog addresses the nascent opposition of "the custodians of Pittsburgh's rich industrial and working class history" to the possible demolition of the produce terminal building in the Strip District as part of a riverfront redevelopment plan. There is no real plan yet, just concepts, and the building may or may not be razed.

Mr. Madison doesn't take a stand on demolition, but he's concerned that Pittsburghers care most about the region's most recent history when it was "prosperous and stable [if brutal from an air- and water-quality standpoint]" and in many ways "on top of the world."

The problem, he says, is that the history Pittsburgh remembers "is not, on the whole, a history of growth, expansion, vision and change. But that's part of Pittsburgh's history, too -- the history of Pittsburgh in the 19th century, when things were changing rapidly and dramatically all over the city, and when Pittsburgh had a plausible claim to being the source of boundless vision."

Pittsburgh might do better in the future, Mr. Madison suggests, if it recalls with more vigor its most useful past: the spirit of the Lewis and Clark expedition, for instance, rather than the age of big steel.

From Carbolic Smoke Ball:

"MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. -- Police continue to investigate allegations that the Prince sexually assaulted a 20-year-old member of a different royal family who works as a scullery maid for her step-mother, the Queen. ... The woman accused the Prince of non-consensual kissing while she dozed in a corner restroom abutting the VIP room of the downtown Capital City nightclub.

"... The Prince's legal counsel, high-powered Atlanta criminal attorney Ed Garland, issued a statement: 'The Prince is completely innocent of any crime. The kiss was consensual, not to mention G-rated Disney fare.'

"Garland has represented other high-profile celebrities in criminal matters. He was Pinocchio's counsel in a federal perjury trial, which, Garland said, "was going just fine until his damn nose started to grow."

Infinonymous thinks Pittsburgh City Council President Darlene Harris "is showing all the right moves as Pittsburgh's elected officials approach decisions concerning the proposal to hand complete control of Downtown parking to politically connected profiteers.

"She not only stiff-armed advice from the mayor's questionable and seemingly self-interested choice to quarterback the process (the last thing you want in a situation like this is information or verification), but also asked pertinent questions about whose huddle the mayor and his curious new posse belong in."

Cartoonist Rob Rogers does "Rob's Rough," an early look at his work and his creative process, exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.