Stat of the day.....

Think before you get a dog or cat, and always get them neutered.....half of all dogs and cats that come into shelters are euthanized. The U.S. takes in 6 to 8 millions dogs and cats annually.

Meet the Press News

David Gregory will take over the show....horrible horrible choice. Just awful.

680 Points Down

The markets tumble on recession and manufacturing news....the buzzword of the day seems to be deleveraging, or, "I owe someone money and have to sell stock to pay my debts."

I stand by my column of last night....profiting off of others' misery is also known as the invisible hand of the market.

Shocking Right Wing Radio Today

Even though Rush Limbaugh had a fill in host, they were still upset about someone on the right, Fred Barnes no less, saying Obama is a centrist and not the liberal antichrist they have been setting Obama up as.

BUSH....WTF?

Bush, in one of his most direct interviews yet with ABC NEWS, says he was never prepared for war....

Thanks for the honesty 6 years too late.

Financial Rule of Thumb

Your lowest income in a two earner home has to be able to pay all of your bills each month.

Obama Presser

Watch live on CNN.com......all participants to speak.....Gates is shorter than Napolitano? Ouch.

The presser is now over.....Hillary said she chose to accept because of the troops....blah.

Quote of the day.....

Barack Obama.....Iowa Debate.....2007.....as Hillary laughs at Obama: "Hillary, I'm looking forward to you advising me as well."

Morning Whiskey - 12/1/2008 - 50 Days Left

[Obama's Team] - WSJ - Obama will announce his national security team today with Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton(SoS), Robert Gates(SecDef), Susan Rice(UN Ambassador), and James Jones(National Security Advisor) at his side. He will also announce Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security secretary and Eric Holder as Attorney. It looks like the cabinet really will be set by Christmas as the Obama team predicts.
[SHIFT] - NYTs - The shift in foreign policy thinking this team will lead to
[HOW THEY DID IT] - Politico - What Bill Clinton had to agree to for Obama to choose Hillary as SoS
[CONNECTION] - Politico - The Obama/Clinton connection is examined. Hillary is Obama's work wife in my opinion.
[CRACK] - NYTs - The big 3 hit Washington again this week. Last time, they came as a united front, but now they're bringing a 'everyone for themselves' case to Washington.
[GM PLAN] - Reuters - GM has a plan that cuts executive pay and includes union concessions, but will also eliminate at least one of their brands....my guess is Buick
[Moving Markets] - WSJ - Obama knows how to move the markets
[RECOUNTING TERROR] - WSJ - The timeline of the attacks in Mumbai, India
[DEEP DISCOUNTS] - NYTs - Deep discounts draw shoppers, but not profits. Sales over the Black Friday weekend were good, but the products were marked down so much that companies may not turn profits.
[NO OPEC CUT] - BBC - OPEC refuses to cut production....they're betting that oil supplies will fall and the price of oil will rebound
[KRUGMAN] - NYTs - Deficits and the future.....big budget deficits aren't as big of a concern as not stimulating the economy
[DARK MATTER] - WSJ - Looking for dark matter underground
[PAKISTAN] - BBC - Shall we stand up to the Taliban? What the Pakistanis are dealing with in the FATA and the NWFT, the lawless lands that border Afghanistan. Choose to go against the Taliban, and be prepared to fight for your lives with almost no backing from the central government. Choose to go with them, and you're supporting terrorists. The Taliban is waging suicide bombing campaigns within Pakistan as well.
[TRUMP] - Marketwatch - The Donald is close to going belly up it appears. His casinos are running deficits and he is being sued for not paying a loan payment.
[PROBLEMS] - If you look at a world map....there are conflicts or potential conflicts from India to the Mediterranian. India fights Pakistan. Pakistan fights India and Afghanistan. Iraq fights Iran, and us. Iran fights Iraq, and us. Syria fights Israel, Iraq, and us. Israel fights everyone except Jordan and us. Go north and you have Russia who wants to fight us.

Why the bad economy is good for you

With everyone wringing their hands about how terrible the economy is, I wanted to take a look at some of the upside for people who have jobs, were responsible with their credit, and haven't sold whatever stock they may own in their retirement accounts or personal accounts. This financial crisis was caused by the misuse of credit. This includes credit for mortgages(buying houses with no money down and interest only loans), student loans(taking out more than you needed), and credit card misuse(putting normal everyday items on credit cards or charging big ticket items). For those of you who have been responsible, have pretty solid incomes, and aren't over extended, things are actually pretty good right now. There are a few reasons for this....prices are coming down, while your income is not; and you've reduced your spending because everything you're being told is that the economy is uncertain and you should be putting all your money in a coffee can buried in the backyard. Chances are, if you meet the criteria above, you have a steady job, and you probably have a some sort of retirement. You haven't over extended yourself and you live well within your means. Now obviously, if a two income household loses a source of income, things are going to be tough....but unemployment is at 7%, so most families will still have two earners.

The best example of prices coming down is clearly gas prices. From their high of $4 a gallon in July, to the $1.50 a gallon gas currently costs in some corners of the country, it represents a huge amount of money returned to the average family budget. For example, if you filled up a 15 gallon tank twice a week, you were spending $500 a month per car in gasoline. Now, a family with 2 cars is only spending $350 a month instead of $1000. That is an extra $650 a month for the average family, which is like getting a $5.50 per hour raise. Prices for gasoline came down because world demand crumbled, led by our nation generally just not driving. We aren't shopping as much; we're consolidating trips; and we are staying home more. This has far reaching impacts to our economy because we are spending less and saving more. Just like gasoline, demand for consumer goods is down, but supply is still way up. Best Buy still has TVs to sell. Subway still has sandwiches to sell. Home Depot still has drywall to sell. All of these companies have more supply than they planned on, and now they have to drop their prices to sell it. When you factor that in, the amount of money the average family has in their pockets is even higher. Our dollars are buying more, meaning the average consumer is in a pretty good position right now. When you factor in that the dollar is rising against almost every other currency, we're paying less for international goods too, which means prices come down and our dollar stretches even further.

Since the financial crisis has spooked all of us, we are more aware of how we are spending our money. So just as the prices are coming down, Americans are more conscientious about their budgets, which means we are not only looking for lower prices, but we want deals to. We are being discerning consumers, which Wall Street may not like, but is great for the responsible family and their budget. They get more with less. The financial crisis has forced everyone to become better with their money.

Most people probably don't have enough extra money to start thinking about dropping it in stocks, but they may have an employer sponsored program like a 401k or 403b, or a Roth IRA set up. If you are making normal contributions to your retirement or investment plan, and you continue to do so, you are mitigating your losses as we speak. You may have certain parts of your investment portfolio invested at 2000 levels, but every single dime you invest at the new lower levels, you are dollar cost averaging away your losses. In five years, when your mutual funds and the S&P 500 are back to 2000 levels, you will have a ton of investments that you bought on the way down to the current levels and on the way back up, with each investment further mitigating your overall losses and improving the performance of your portfolio. Some really great companies are bargains right now because they've been sucked down with the market, and good mutual fund managers should be snapping up the shares of these undervalued stocks, which in turn your retirement fund should be buying into. So just like your after tax take home dollars are buying more and going further, your pretax retirement dollars are doing the exact same thing. Everyone should consider upping their contribution to their retirement account and getting into the market to maximize how you benefit from the down markets.

For the average person, the economy right now is actually in a pretty good spot because things got so bad, everyone had to respond at their personal budget level. Everyone reassessed and started trimming unnecessary things out of their personal consumption. This could be reducing getting takeout or going out to dinner to once a month, or renting a movie instead of going to the movies. At a more expensive scale, it could be forcing some people to purchase used cars instead of new cars. And because the drive by media continues to tell you how bad things are going to be, that we are heading into a recession, and that nothing is certain, it is going to stay like this for awhile. One bonus for responsible people is that our government is about to send out a huge check to everyone so we can stimulate the economy. If this crisis has taught the American people to been smarter consumers, then prices will continue to stay low and our dollars will continue to stretch further.

Quick Hitters

Cyber Monday is tomorrow...the internet's answer to black friday

[TRICKED] - Video - The team who tricked many media outlets with a fake McCain advisor discusses how they did it
[EDUCATION] - MUST READ - Time - Michelle Rhee tackles education in Washington D.C.
[DON'T TAKE THE BROWN ACID] - People in Canada are getting a form of immune system suppression after the cocaine they're using is laced with a chemical compound
[STRATEGIC PRESIDENCY] - Matthew Yglesias says Obama is using a book separate from 'team of rivals' to build his administration
[CHINA WORRIED] - AP - China is worried that they are losing their economic edge.....good.
[GM JET] - Bloomberg - GM asks FAA to disallow public tracking of their corporate jet
[SYRIA] - WaPo - Obama should try to nurture an Israeli/Syrian agreement
[EYE CELLS] - Live Science - Eye cells have been regenerated in live mice....tests on dead mice were unsuccessful
[SEX] - Live Science - The origin of sex pinned down
[MIGRATING DUCKIES] - WSJ - Flotsam science using inexpensive rubber duckies to solve complex problems

Morning Whiskey - 11/30/2008 - 51 Days Left

[HILLARY SoS] - Obama will announce Hillary as Secretary of State tomorrow.....She will join him...and Bill has agreed to 9 conditions regarding his world travels, speeches, and foundation work, which create all kinds of conflicts of interest for Hillary.
[Honor Killings] - Guardian - Woman in Iraq can be murdered for as little as $100 because they brought 'shame' onto the family.
[Acid Attacks] - NYTs - Nicholas Kristof talks about how women are attacked with acid in the Muslim world
[Obama's Iraq] - NYTs - Thomas Friedman looks at what Iraq has become and how it could be a positive force in the region if Obama plays it right
[PAKISTAN] - WSJ - Pakistan is at the heart of all Islamic radical terrorist operations. Their citizens trained and attacked India last week. India calls Pakistan out...what happens? Pakistan is moving it's troops from their western border where they're battling the Taliban and Al Queda to their Eastern border with India because they feel threatened. On This Week, the Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. tried to shift blame and say every country in the world has had terrorist problems.

Thanksgiving Discussions?

Just wondering: did any discussions pop up with family over Thanksgiving? If so, what were they about?

I heard rumblings of bailout fatigue. A lot of people I've talked to believe the car companies shouldn't go under, but are enthusiastically opposed to a bailout. I sat next to a woman on my flight from Detroit to Kansas City who lives in Lansing, MI. She was adamant that they don't even need a bailout and are just writhing under the weight of mismanagement. Another family member wondered why she is still seeing so many new banks being built/opened. Regardless of the specific discussion, the economy dominated even with Wednesday's attacks in Mumbai.

So who was the mastermind?

1 terrorist survives in the Mumbai attacks of last week. He was 1 of 10 from Pakistan who entered the city by boat. They planned for 6 months, and they were told by the mastermind of the attacks to kill until their last breath. So who was the mastermind in Pakistan? They left Pakistan in a smaller boat and then were picked up by a larger vessel where they were given weapons and grenades. That is some pretty significant planning. Their story is like a Tom Clancy novel:

On November 23, after reaching Porbandar in the Indian state of Gujarat, 310 nautical miles from Mumbai, the insurgents were intercepted by two coastguard officers. The group hoisted a white flag and allowed the two men to board their boat.

According to Kasab, one of the militants then attacked one of the officers, slitting his throat and throwing him overboard. The other man was forced to help the group reach their destination before being executed as the vessel drew near to Mumbai.

For most of the journey, Kasab’s friend, 25-year-old Abu Ismail, a trained sailor, steered the vessel using GPS equipment. Three speedboats met the Kuber a mile and a half from the Mumbai seafront on Wednesday. After waiting for the light to fade, they moved off, later transferring to two inflatable dinghies to go ashore.

They killed all their hostages early on in the seige. These are low tech methods....just like has been utilized in Afghanistan and Iraq against us. Now they're going global and we should be worried. Online shopping only for me...

Morning Whiskey - 11/29/2008 - 52 Days Left

[ODE to OIL] - WSJ - How our oil dependency has some benefits.....
[BIG BANG] - History Channel - The universe is currently expanding from the big bang(an explosion), and the matter involved is uniform on all sides.....for 15 Billion years. No explosion we know about here on earth does that. Also, we will never see certain outer galaxies because they are traveling away from us faster than the speed of light.
[SAUDI GREED] - Saudi Arabia said today that the price of oil should be much higher....see, they can't build opulent palaces AND fund Al Queda in Iraq and Pakistan with oil at $50 a barrel. This is my core reason for supporting anything to do with energy independence. If we use less oil, these oil tyrants crumble. They say oil will start going back up in mid-2009.
[WIND POWER] - NYTs - Ranchers in Wyoming are forming collectives to negotiate better rates with companies putting wind turbines on their land
[195 DEAD] - 195 people have died so far in the Indian terrorist attacks which lasted for 3 days.
[MILITARY ENROLLMENT] - Military enrollment is up since the economic downturn hit
[RELIGIOUS WARS] - BBC - Nigerian Muslims and Christians have killed hundreds in a small town after the Muslims contested a Christian won election
[NATIONAL SECURITY WEEK] - NYTs - Obama will be announcing his national security team this week. Here is a profile of Obama's choice for national security advisor, retired four-star general, James L. Jones.
[WALMART DEATH] - Fox News - The people who trambled a worker to death at Walmart are going to be charged
[TRAMPOLINE SKILLS] - Video - Check out these trampoline skills

Photos: Mumbai under attack...

Terrorism is still alive and well in the world.

Here is a collection of Reuters & AP photos of the terrorist attack and aftermath in India. Warning: some photographs are graphic.

STOCKS UP AGAIN

Stocks rose again for the fifth straight day. It is the largest single 5 day rally in more than 75 years.

Before you buy anything today.....

Consult CNET.com's review section

SOFA Approved

The status of forces agreement was approved by the Iraqi parliament today. That means that our troops can stay for another 3 years....which isn't that a timetable for surrender? This begins the slow process of us getting out of Iraq.

Morning Whiskey - 11/27/2008 - 54 Days Left

[INDIAN CHAOS] - As one of you mentioned in the comments yesterday, the Indian government is saying the attackers came in from their arch enemy Pakistan. Perception is reality, so that means we have Muslims from Pakistan terrorizing their neighbors India and Afghanistan, generally just trying to destabilize the region.
[STILL FIGHTING] - Yahoo - Indian forces are still battling the attackers in the 5-star hotels where they holed up and took hostages
[PUTTING IN WORK] - NYTs - Democrats plan to have new bills for economic, health, and spending legislation passed and ready for Obama to sign the moment after he is sworn in. If we got $600 each for a stimulus of $180 Billion, how much will we get for a stimulus of $500 Billion?
[TMQ] - It must be Thursday....Tuesday Morning Quarterback kills on gasoline, the automaker bailout, the placebo effect, and all the week 12 NFL stats
[DOVES v. HAWKS] - Politico - Obama is assembling a team of national security hawks well to the right of traditional Democratic thinking and the Daily Kos crowd is too stunned to scream about it. Obama has so much good will because he won, that the far left won't criticize him. They shouldn't...Dennis "You can have my lunch money" Kucinich may have a smokin' hot wife, but I don't want any opinion of his regarding our national security or foreign policy.
[ESPN U] - I'm a little late to the game, but The Herd is broadcasting live on TV right now on Turkey Day no less. I'm not surprised John Clayton has nothing to do and can be interviewed. During the week I'm a Dan Patrick guy, but The Herd is pretty remarkable as well....and I'm resisting adding him to the DVR because of space concerns.
[RUSSIAN AGGRESSION] - Brietbart - Russia is busy sticking their finger in our eye and giving the enemies of this country all the tools of mass destruction they need to antagonize us for decades to come. First, Russia is giving oil rich Venezuela help to develop nuclear energy. Second, Russia is going to have oil rich Iran's first nuclear power plant done next year. Basically, any country we are displeased with, Russia goes to them and offers them precisely what we don't want them to have.
[CREDIT CARDS & MORTGAGES] - TALF - The government's new $800 Billion they're doling out to help people with student loans and mortgages sounds to be no help at all and just a huge giveaway to Wall Street.
[OBAMA v. Barbara] - ABC NEWS - More on Obama's interview with Barabara Walters
[27 YEARS OLD] - NYTs - Obama names his chief speechwriter...dude is 27 years old....I wonder how the old Washington players feel about that.

Thoughts on Mumbai....

8 coordinated attacks in the city of Mumbai killed at least 80 people and wounded upwards of 1000. Both totals are expected to raise. The Muslim attackers struck the Hindu country's financial district and high class areas, specifically targeting Americans and Britons. Nuclear armed Pakistan, nuclear armed India's neighbor, is now ground zero from Muslim terrorism.

I don't get the attacking India but targeting Americans. Why aren't they just coming here? Is there some sort of terrorist moratorium on attacking the U.S. homeland, so we let down our guard and they can execute another major attack? Could it be that we have weakened Al Queda to the point where they can't hit us, or are they just biding their time?

Quick Hitters

[TUCKER CARLSON] - Probably one of the best articles I have read this year....it ends with this....

"Let’s say your marriage was falling apart. Alienated, angry, frustrated with couples therapy, you decide to divorce. But before you do, you agree to try one last thing: Every day for a month, you'll have sex. You don't particularly want to, but you will, and you'll be disciplined about it: half an hour minimum, naked, both striving for orgasm."

[OUR PRESIDENTS] - Today, Obama spent his day trying to reassure the markets that the government was going to do the right things.....Bush spent his pardoning a turkey.....how does this even happen? New rule....no pardoning of turkeys or White House photo ops until Osama bin Laden is killed and our economy starts growing again.
[BIGGEST LOSERS] - Business Sheet - The 20 biggest losers in the stock market since the collapse
[MYSPACE] - Yahoo - Dumb woman starts a Myspace page and she convinced her daughter's enemy to kill herself. The girl was 13.
[Beats you need....] - Trouble
[O DOG] - ABC - There is a big interview with Obama tonight on ABC that he did with Barbara Walters...the entire excerpts...here is my favorite section and why Obama is pretty cool in my book. He calls Barbara Walters dog 'yappy' and the proceeds to decide on a huge dog:

WALTERS: I have one final, very important question. I, Mrs. Obama, I sent you a picture of my dog, Cha Cha…

MICHELLE OBAMA: Uh-huh.

WALTERS: Who is a Havanese, and a very perfect dog, and…

BARACK OBAMA: Cha Cha?

WALTERS: Cha Cha. Cha Cha is a dog, he's a Havanese, he's from Havana…real name is "Cha-cha-cha."

BARACK OBAMA: Cha-cha-cha.

WALTERS: Yeah. (overlap)

BARACK OBAMA What is a Havanese?

WALTERS: Oh, it's like a little…it's like a little terrier. And they're non-allergenic, and they're the sweetest dogs in the world.

BARACK OBAMA: But, but it's a…it's like a little yappy dog.

WALTERS: Yeah, you don't want (overlap)…

MICHELLE OBAMA: Don't criticize.

BARACK OBAMA: Yeah, it like sits in your lap and things?

MICHELLE OBAMA: (Overlap) Yes, it's a cute dog. (Laughs)

BARACK OBAMA: It sounds kind of like a…a girly dog.

MICHELLE OBAMA: We're girls. We have a house full of girls.

WALTERS: We know… we…what about whatever you were saying?

MICHELLE OBAMA: (Laughs)

BARACK OBAMA: Well…well, we're gonna have a big, rambunctious dog.

Obama Live....

The press conference is now over....it was short and sweet and featured Obama saying that he is not seeking these Clinton retreads for vision...he is seeking them to implement his vision. Kind of a 'buck stops here' moment. Good stuff. The stock market has risen by about 100 points since he spoke. The point of the meeting was to announce a new team of economic emergency advisors. The 3 days of short press conferences are designed to reassure the markets that Obama and his team are on the case, but also to not step totally on the Bush Administration. Obama generally announces something new and takes 4-6 questions, usually avoiding disagreeing with Bush, and instead focusing on how they're cooperating and trying to fix the problem.

Morning Whiskey - 11/26/2008 - 55 Days Left

[SOFA] - WSJ - Today the Iraqi parliament votes on the status of forces agreement. It is our exit strategy. If it fails, our soldiers can't leave their bases in Iraq. It will set a deadline for removal of all our forces in 3 years.
[OBAMA] - Obama will speak again today about the economy at 11AM. Clearly, he is trying to reassure the stock markets that he is on the case.
[KRUGMAN] - NY Review - What to do....the economy needs a rescue operation
[JIM CRAMER] - Watch this 10 minute video of Jim Cramer from Morning Joe yesterday. Probably one of the best explanations of the current state of the market....it is gone so low that it can't get any worse. Down 30% means there are once in a lifetime buying opportunities for certain stocks:

[RUSSIAN AGGRESSION] - Russian war ships arrive in Venezuela
[CHALLENGE] - Politico - Ben Smith has more on Russia v. Obama
[GATES] - Yahoo - As I posted a couple days ago, Obama is keeping Gates on as SecDef. Now it is apparently official.
[The Sauce] - Uh oh....
[FRIEDMAN] - NYTs - All Falls Down
[EUROPE] - WaPo - Europe is proposing $200 Billion in stimulus
[EMERGENCY] - WSJ - Obama is building an emergency White House board to deal with the economy. It will be headed by Paul Volcker.
[COMING TO AMERICA] - Remember the baby formula that was killing kids in China because of Melamine? The FDA found some here and won't say which company it was.
[HILLARY] - The Clintons seem to have boxed Obama in on the Secretary of State job.....but there are equal reports that say Obama did offer her the job. Chicago was upset that Hillary made
[THAILAND] - Fox News - Thai protesters have shut down the country and the army calls for new elections. If you are not familiar with Thailand, it is where your clothes are made.
[WORST] - This black Friday....don't buy any of these
[EYE CELLS] - Livescience - Eye cells regenerated in mice successfully
[PEBO's Presser] - Obama yesterday discussing the budget....20 minutes:

The Next Obama on SNL?

Check out how dead on this guy's impression is. A lot of people do good impressions, but this guy is actually funny as all get out. I particularly like the high five and short bus jokes.

(Via Andrew Sullivan)

Beats you need....

The Gourds - How will you shine?

Universal Healthcare Is Good For Business

Universal Healthcare opponents like to say that there will be a bureaucrat between you and your doctor under a universal system. My argument is that is already happening to every single one of us with private insurance. We’re locked into certain doctors, certain drugs, and certain procedures….all being priced very differently. I view the current private insurance system as thousands of different bureaucracies squeezing all of us. Each year what happens? Your insurance, copay, and drug premiums go up January 1st. New rules and regulations are passed and enforced without your consent, and most of the time without your knowledge. We already have everything the insurance company lobbying efforts say: high costs, restricted care, and long waits….ever been to the emergency room where all the uninsured have to go because they don’t have private insurance?

What is the difference between a company negotiated insurance program(most of us have this through our jobby jobs) and open market private insurance? Company negotiated insurance programs are drastically less costly for us. This happens because the companies band all of their employees together into a, wait for it, collective, and they basically buy it wholesale at reduced rates. The more employees you have the better your insurance program in terms of offerings and price ratio. So what happens to small companies? Their insurance programs can’t compete with big companies….say competitors in their industries for example. Where does the talent go?….a small company with the same pay but a terrible health insurance plan, or the large company? With one of the major reasons for personal bankruptcy being medical costs, I’m guessing the large company.

Before the job market tanked, insurance benefits were the number one thing new employees looked for after salary….and often times given how close companies’ wages are, insurance benefits are the deciding factor for most employees when weighing new employment. The private insurance industry as is prevents small but able companies from attracting top talent, and often time retaining key employees and corporate knowledge. They can’t offer the same security as their larger competitors, and this means they’re attracting less talented people, losing important employees at a faster rate, and generally stagnating because their failure to compete on the benefits front always trickles down and affects their ability to compete in the marketplace.

The Right and the insurance and drug lobbies have successfully kept socialized medicine at bay for the last 16 years by decrying everything currently rampant with the American insurance industry. The current American insurance system’s quality of care, costs, and accessibility and availability of medical care are virtually identical to the scary picture painted in the Harry & Louise ads of the 1990s to the ads we saw this election cycle. To quote Verbal Kint, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

Our businesses, and by extension our country, are less competitive in the global economy because of the burden healthcare costs put on them. For example, it costs GM $6500 per year per employee based in the U.S., but it only costs the company $800 per year per employee just over the bridge in Ontario, Canada, where they have a universal system. This means companies will choose to build a factory in Canada before they will in the U.S. This is true in every global industry where we compete with companies based in westernized countries. Our global competitors don’t have the same costs as our domestic companies. Therefore, if they get reasonably close to us in quality, our products lose out. This fact has been mitigated for the last few years because the dollar has been weak, which means to the global economy, our goods and services are cheaper. But now with the rise of the dollar, our products are getting more expensive for the rest of the world, and our companies will be squeezed even further. Domestically, not having a universal system stifles innovation, stifles competition, and is a de facto tax on us all. Every day we buy products from companies who have to jack up their prices because of the high cost of healthcare. As mentioned above, if it is a smaller company without a big enough collective of employees to negotiate low prices for good benefits, it makes them less competitive in their industry. They have to raise their prices and they cannot attract top talent….or retain it for that matter. Eliminating those costs from a company’s balance sheet, or at least making them consistent…X employees = X dollars….levels the playing field in business…..which equals? The free market.

A single payer healthcare system, as of yet, doesn’t seem to be in serious consideration. Basically, the government will be one big collective, think of it like a big corporation, and they will use us to negotiate great rates for great healthcare for all of us…better than most of us have for the same money. They’ll then use that buying power to negotiate better drug prices….so they’ll be buying our drugs at wholesale to achieve some of the same savings the veterans healthcare system achieves because they do negotiate, while Medicare gets gouged. So better drugs for less. This is what happens when you bring $45 million more people into the system and pool all of our resources together. It isn’t socialized medicine in the least. It is private healthcare on a national level. You’ll be able to choose your policy and your level of coverage, and probably even our company. Don’t like Blue Cross & Blue Shield’s customer service? Go with Aetna. Just like you would in the normal marketplace. You can’t do that now. My final question is this: If it is still a private run system, could our healthcare get any worse than it currently is?

Cartoon of the day (II)....

Swear Jar

This comes from reader Susan:

Gates stays...

PEBO will keep current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on for at least the first year. Obama continues to impress.

The former Eagle Scout is expected to be rolled out immediately after the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend as part of a larger national security team expected to include Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, as Secretary of State; Marine Gen. Jim Jones (Ret.) as National Security Adviser; Admiral Dennis Blair (Ret.) as Director of National Intelligence; and Dr. Susan Rice as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Daily Kos wanted Dennis "You can have my lunch money" Kucinich. TPM is caught trying to rationalize PEBO's decisions.....yes, TPM, he is going to govern from the center and ignore the treetards on the left and the wingnuts on The Right completely.

Cartoon of the day.....

From Megan's Facebook page:

Quick Hitters......

[$800 BILLION] - $200 Billion in bad credit debt and $600 in bad mortgage backed securities....does this mean the underlying mortgages or the securities where mortgages are bundled together and sold? If it is the former...cool...if it is the latter it is another bailout for Paulson's rich friends and average mortgage holders who are having trouble are still on the hook. It seems the credit card scheme is also for 'securities'. They aren't paying off student loans....they're paying off the securitized versions. Think of it this way....if your student loan is part of a bundled security bought by Goldman Sachs, that security has just been paid off...but you're still making payments. If your payments go to the government....ok....if they still go to Goldman, after we bought the security to clean up Goldman's balance sheet, I will flip out.
[OBAMA UP NOW] - Obama's presser should start at noon regarding the budget...CNN previews
[WORSE] - The economy was actually worse than expected in the third quarter....but the markets are still up marginally
[OBAMA'S DONORS] - Two separate takes on a new report saying Obama's small donors weren't as influential.....Taps reports the findings which take Obama to task....Ben Smith said Obama's methods not the amounts are the point....Obama eliminated big money influence because of 'repeaters'....which was kind of the point of campaign finance reform
[DIRTY] - Via Andrew Sullivan - Pastor issues '7 days of sex' challenge.....How happy were the guys in the congregation? "Get on your knees and pray, honey....yeah...pray."

Morning Whiskey - 11/25/2008 - 56 Days Left

[OBAMA AGAIN] - PEBO is holding another press conference today at noon regarding the federal budget. He is expected to announce his budget director, Peter Orszag, but also talk about cuts he wants to make to the budget...should be interesting....A Democrat coming into office and one of the first things he does before he takes power is announce cuts to a Republican's budget.....as I ask about the Republican party: If a Democrat kept you safe, cut your taxes, and didn't waste your money, what point is there to having the Republican party around?
[BUSH & OBAMA] - NYTs - Obama and Bush are working together to calm the volatile markets
[GOV'T LENDING] - Fox News - The government, under Henry Paulson, is going to create a new bureaucracy aimed at making it easier for consumers to borrow money...I disagree with this on 2 levels....People hoarding their money is actually a good thing for the middle class. It makes them more financially stable to take control of their lives and reduce their debt and increase savings...China, our 21st century economic enemy has an astounding savings rate of over 15% for 18 to 34 year olds compared to our negative rate...this program encourages people to become slaves to their debt. Additionally, government...i.e...bureaucracies exist solely to keep themselves alive. How irresponsible is this? The government just created a major bureacracy to give our money to people other people who have said aren't credit worthy enough to get it. It's like a bartender coming in and giving drinks to a guy who's been cutoff.
[PIRATES!] - CNN - Al Queda may be linked to the pirates who seized the Saudi oil tanker off Somalia's coast last week. One story not mentioned in the $100 a barrel drop in the price of oil is how it affects Al Queda. Before 9/11, bin Laden's stated goal was to 'bring down' our economy by committing acts of terrorism that increase the price of oil to $200 a barrel.So they're obviously upset that oil is sliding in price. There is major fears that Al Queda will try to attack one or both of Saudi Arabia's oil distribution facilities which handle it's millions upon millions of barrels of oil.
[ACID] - BBC - 10 men arrested in acid attacks on school girls in Afghanistan.....they spray acid in their faces and are connected to the Taliban
[CITI v. DETROIT] - How can we bailout Citigroup to the tune of $300 Billion but we can't give $25 Billion to Detroit? Utter nonsense. I don't want to bailout anyone, but if we're going to do it be equitable.
[BASE JUMP] - Video of world record base jump off of the tallest building in the world.....
[DRIVER] - WaPo - bin Laden's driver was transferred out of US Military custody at Gitmo and sent to Yemen
[DON"T LET THE BLACK GUY SPEND IT] - Bloomberg - Paulson, 2 weeks after saying he wouldn't spend the remaining $350 Billion in TARP funds, is now apparently going to ask Congress to let him use it. At this point....cut him off. Every company he is giving money to seems to have a leader that Paulson plays golf with. Why isn't the money helping homeowners stay in their homes? Why are we taking toxic debt off the books of these companies but not off the books of our neighbors in trouble? Buy their mortgages and give them fixed rate loans that they pay to Fannie Mae. It isn't that fucking hard. Quote from Mark Halperin: "There is no member of the media who doesn't know someone who works at Citi."
[METEOR] - AP - Canada's meteor the size of a billion-watt light bulb.....video
[JFK MUST WATCH] - Breitbart - 12 minute video of one of the doctors, who worked on JFK after the shooting, talking about JFK's injuries when he came into the hospital
[RUSSIAN AGGRESSION] - Yahoo - Russia and Venezuela will conduct 'joint naval exercises'.
[HOW TO DEAL WITH PIRATES] - WSJ - Yep, it is almost 2009 and I am posting an article about how we can deal with our pirate situation
[CHOLERA] - BBC - Outbreak of the deadly disease strikes Zimbabwe...who just denied Jimmy Carter visa access
[BIG STIMULUS] - WSJ - Obama signals that he is going big or going home with a stimulus plan he wants signed, sealed, and delivered to his desk the day he takes office....probably $500 Billion or more....we should all get tax cuts and stimulus checks again...
[KRISTOF] - NYT - The Pakistan Test
[DOWD] - NYT - Marriage on the rocks
[FRIEDMAN] - NYT - We found the W.M.D.
[OBAMA GOES RIGHT] - NYTs - Obama goes to the center in his policies, pleasing the right, and upsetting Daily Kos
[COUNTDOWN] - The high cost of economic confidence:

Evening Quickie.....

[CO-PRESIDENT] - McClatchy - Obama and Bush are acting as co-presidents...which shouldn't be a slight at Bush because our incoming and outgoing leaders should do everything possible to ensure a smooth transition....this is happening because of several historic fronts converging:

America has never seen anything quite like this: The president and president-elect acting like co-presidents, consulting and cooperating on the day's biggest crises.

[CONFESSIONS] - HBO - If you can, watch the latest taxicab confessions. Most aren't that remarkable, but the woman talking about being there on 9-11 is an absolute must see
[TERROR FUNDING] - BBC - Texas based Muslim charity found guilty of funding the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas
[DEADWOOD] - HBO - Mr. Wu....Note, one of the best shows in history but has very very vulgar language
[LIVE UNTIL YOUR 200] - Wired - New drugs to help us live longer are coming down the pike
[BUSH STARTS PARDONING] - MSNBC - Bush pardons 14
[YOU'RE WELCOME NYC] - ABC - We the tax payers are paying for stadiums that Citi and AIG, the companies we've bailed out, have decided to sponsor

BOOM: 13% 2-Day Gain

The Dow shot up almost 400 points today. Stocks are up 13% in the last 2 days since the Citigroup bailout announcement and Obama's economic team rollout. 11,000 by the end of the year? PEBO bounce?

The Economist says Obama's Treasury pick is very reassuring.

Susan Rice: UN Ambassador

Dr. Susan Rice was a familiar Obama advisor on the TV during the Democratic primary. She will apparently now be the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.

Is this true?

So the financial crisis started, I thought in September, but I read today in Playbook that the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.

STAT -- Drudge's banner calls it "PANIC OF '08" -- Bloomberg News, "Fed Pledges Top $7.4 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit," by Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry: "The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago. The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $2.8 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg."

Also, Fox News goes further right....their caricature of spineless weak indecisive impotent liberal Democrats, Alan Colmes, is leaving his 9PM show with Right Wing fire breather Sean Hannity after 12 years....So Sean Hannity unfiltered? Count me not in. I think they plan on filling the time lost each by Colmes' departure by profiling women who have had abortions and Democratic men who might be homosexual.

Quick Hitters....

[WALL STREET] - The markets have stayed up all day since news of the Citigroup bailout hit. The fact they've only gone up since Obama's economic team unveiling is probably even better.
[OBAMA'S TEAM] - Here are the details from Change.gov about today's press conference. I will post video of it when I get it. UPDATE:

[60 IS A LONG SHOT] - Jim Martin is going to lose Georgia...
[JOINT CHIEFS] - CNN - Obama meets with the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff. He apparently did this on the recommendation from current SecDef Robert Gates. I wonder how Daily Kos is going to feel when Obama does the right thing and leaves most of the military apparatus appointed by Bush in place? It is war time and things have dramatically improved under Gates. You don't replace people and cause problems unnecessarily just because you can.
[CHAMBER LOVE] - Taps(who is using my PEBO phrase) - The Republican chamber of commerce is very pleased with Obama's economic team

Obama's Economic Team

Morning Whiskey - 11/24/2008 - 57 Days Left

Sorry for the technical issues. It is apparently caused by a conflict between Register.com and Blogger. Register tells me it is Blogger's fault. Basically, Blogger is saying another site is already registered at this domain and is bringing up the DNS error. If you're reading this.....it has hopefully been fixed.

[CITI BAILED] - Citigroup to get $20 Billion in cash and $300 Billion in possible losses covered by the government.
[FRANKEN] - 538.com - Nate Silver says Franken is going to win the recount in Minnesota by 27 votes, which would give Obama 59 Senators
[$500 BILLION] - WSJ - Obama is weighing a $500 Billion stimulus plan when he takes office. It looks like two things are going to happen: Congress is going to have it passed and ready to be signed the day he is inagurated and they will have the bulk of his cabinet ready to be approved at that time as well.
[WATCH THE MARKETS] - Obama is going to announce his economic team today at noon. The markets are already pretty upbeat because of the Citi bailout. If they like his team, we could see them going substantially higher today.
[ASIAN FALL] - Bloomberg - The Asian markets fell today.....so who knows
[NO CHURCH] - Politico - The Politico criticizes Obama for no going to church and instead going to the gym. Reagan famously stopped going to church because of the hassle he would cause to other worshipers with his security detail, which is what the Obama family is saying their concerns revolve around. This is the drive by media at work..lazy 'reporters' who talk about nonsense like this instead of trying to point out how certain choices for his cabinet won't jive with what he said on the campaign trail.
[TILTING CENTER] - NYTs - Obama tilts toward the center which means a showdown with the left
[IRAQ] - BBC - Two rush hour bombing attacks kill 18 in Baghdad
[PIRATES] - BBC - Shipping companies want a blockade off Somalia to stop pirate attacks
[BLACK FRIDAY] - Mark Joseph posted this site long ago, but I felt it was important to repost it. It lets you know if the black friday deals are really deals. Before you do any shopping, use this site.
[BUILDERS] - WSJ - Builders from around the country want money from Washington too
[UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE] - How passing universal healthcare could kill the Republican party
[TORTURE COMMISSION] - Obama considering investigating, not criminally, Bush's torture program
[MICHIGAN FEARS] - NYTs - Tourist towns in Michigan are hurting and it will get roadblocked cable coverage.

New Rules....

In an effort to structure this website better, in addition to the normal postings, I am going to start publishing 2-3 articles a week. Here is my tentative release schedule each week:

• Sunday: 9PM
• Tuesday: 9PM
• Thursday: 9PM

Late Night Thought.....

You have to read fortune cookie fortunes in a Chinese voice or they don't come true.

Late Night Thought....

The best show TV right now given the financial crisis is The Suze Orman Show. I can't turn away from the 'Can I afford it?' segment. $120,000 Corvette:

Robert Gibbs: Press Secretary

PEBO, president elect Barack Obama, has named Robert Gibbs his press secretary. For political junkies, Gibbs is a familiar face. The naming of Gibbs is a little odd because of how close Gibbs is to Obama. He is one of Obama's top advisors. He knows exactly how to articulate how Obama feels. One of his more memorable moments during the campaign was Hannitizing Sean Hannity with the same guilt by association attacks Fox News and Right Wing Radio tried to use on Obama because he served on a board and lived in the same neighborhood as Bill Ayers:

Afternoon Whiskey - 11/22/2008 - 59 Days Left

[VETTING] - CNN - Could Obama's detailed and invasive vetting procedures turn certain candidates for government jobs away? Let's hope.
[NAMING NAMES] - WaPo - Obama is close to naming Hillary and Jim Jones to key posts....I think it is smart to roll out the economic team first, which Obama will do Monday, followed by national security.
[MISSiLES IN ISRAEL] - US to activate anti-missile radar in Israel in mid-December.....Iran fears
[NO LIQUIDS] - BBC - The guy responsible for the liquid ban on airplanes is killed in Pakistan. He is a UK militant who wanted to blow up planes with liquid bombs. Do you know how much I spent at airports because I couldn't bring my own water on the plane?
[ASSASSINATION] - Reuters - Maine general store owner asks patrons to place a $1 bet on the date of Obama's assassination in the "Osama Obama Shotgun Pool"
[SOMALI ISLAMISTS] - BBC - Al Queda allies in Somali hunt the pirates who made headlines last week after they captured a Saudi Arabian oil tanker
[CITIGROUP] - Bloomberg - Citigroup is going to get a government bailout. They're apparently 'too big to fail' yet the auto industry isn't? Here is my question....if Hank Paulson had worked in Detroit instead of working on Wall Street, would Detroit have already gotten money?
[HONDA] - CNN - Doubters that the auto industry needs a bailout work in and around a Honda plant in rural western Ohio
[DRUG WARS] - WSJ - Mexico's law enforcement officials paid by drug cartels
[INFORMATION OVERLOAD] - Time - Examining how blogs ruled the 2008 race

My Space....

So I set up a myspace page for political inaction figuring I should probably do it since everyone else is. I have no idea how to use it. Any tips?

Here is politicalinaction's page over there...

Ok, based on Jessica's advice in the comments, I set up facebook. That is even more confusing.

Obama's Weekly Address

Promises immediate action on the economy...2.5 Million jobs...

Turkey-Gate

[BREAKING NEWS] - Sarah Palin's media office releases a statement claiming to not know the turkeys were being slaughtered behind her(video below) even though the cameraman asked her before it all took place.....she isn't even in a campaign any longer and she is making a fool of herself.

Thank You Sarah Palin

Obama raised 10 million dollars in a 24 hour period following Palin's convention speech and belittling of community organizers. Overall, he raised half a fucking billion online. This article breaks it down.

Beats you need......

Zac Brown Band - Parking lot jam - Can the circle be unbroken:

Is this real?

Stolen from Andrew Sullivan's site.....Bruce Lee plays ping pong...full screen if too small:

WALL STREET RALLIES ON OBAMA TREASURY ANNOUNCEMENT

Pretty stunning. Moments after Andrea Mitchell announced Obama's Treasury pick, Wall Street shoots up over 330 points, or about 4%. All the other markets are over 4% as well. Have things really gotten so bad that the market is rallying on any news that is a move away from the Bush Administration?

UPDATE: The markets finish up over 6%, with the Dow back over 8000.

Treasury & Commerce

NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports that Tim Giethner, a career treasury official and central to the Wall Street bailout, will be Obama's Secretary of Treasury, and Bill Richardson will be Obama's Secretary of Commerce. Obama is going to roll out his economic team Monday and take questions to calm down the markets....basically saying he's on it.

I'm glad Richardson made it in. He always seemed honest, just like he was trying too hard.

Hillary Clinton Will Accept

[DONE DEAL] - NYTIMES - Hillary Clinton will give up her Senate seat to be PEBO's Secretary.....of State. Now maybe all the speculation can stop and we can get on with fixing the economy. Remaining questions: Who names appointees within State? Who will Hillary bring with her? Who is going to be the decider? Who will replace her in the Senate? What will Bill "The Human Humidor" Clinton do?

Caveat....the Times report was based on sources not real names or a press release, so something could still stop the deal.

Quick Hitters...

[BROOKS SWOON] - NYTs - David Brooks applauds Obama's transition effort
[NO ONE ON DUTY] - NYTs - Krugman wants someone to take the lead and head this country, but because Bush is no where to be found, we have to wait for Obama. Is there enough time?
[SUICIDE] - 19 year old commits suicide on his web cam.....which I think is an untapped market. I seriously think we could pay for our national debt by monetizing suicides, executions, and other bizarre nonsense people are giving away for free on the internet.
[JOE KLEIN] - Time - Obama's team of rivals
[MCCAIN'S LONELY RETURN] - WaPo - Pretty sad portrayal of McCain's return to the Senate and how he is damaged goods, and why I think it is pretty big of Obama to reach out to McCain.
[ROVE'S ADVICE] - WSJ - Karl Rove dispenses advice to Obama
[BROWNS] - The Cleveland Browns have 3 things going on right now......Brady Quinn has a broken finger but will play; Their GM sent a vulgur email response to a fan after their win on Monday; and the Browns are rumored to be throwing the bank at Bill Cowher to replace Romeo Crennel
[?????] - I don't know what this is. It appears to be a paid series of commercials from Weight Watchers on MSN....but this video is funny.
[200,000] - NYTs - That is how many people have applied for a job in the Obama administration. My guess is the number is propped up by the bad economy.
[SARAH PALIN = TRAINWRECK] - Watch the video below of her talking while turkeys are slaughtered behind her yesterday....really gruesome....it is actually quite funny that the guy turns around and listens to her as he does his work:

Morning Whiskey - 11/21/2008 - 60 Days Left

[CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?] - WSJ - Verizon employees hacked Obama's personal cell phone account and spied on it. Verizon said the employees will be disciplined. It doesn't look like it was Obama's blackberry account.
[NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR] - Andrea Mitchell says Obama is going to tap Jim Jones as National Security Advisor. He is apparently very very tough and strong willed. The team of rivals aren't a bunch of weak liberals arguing. These are serious heavy weights.
[HILLARY TO STATE] - Politico - Obama aides say that Hillary is on track to be named Secretary of State after Thanksgiving. Taps reports the exact same thing, suggesting to me a concerted effort by Obama to regain the high ground on this Clinton story. But Taps adds that Obama's economic team may be announced before the holiday.
[LEAK CITY] - WaPo - The leaks from the Obama team are uncharacteristic and slowing Obama's government building process down. I think half of what we're hearing is complete nonsense, especially around the Clinton pick.
[GAS PLUMMETS] - WSJ - The price of gasoline is plummeting, giving all of us a much needed financial break. Forecasters say demand is going to continue to wane next year. Basically, oil companies can't reduce supplies fast enough to match our decreased demand. People just aren't driving. Retailers like Walmart are starting to see a spike in sales, while alternative energy producers can't compete with the cheap oil and reduced demand for their product. Good way to pay for getting off foreign oil....50 cents a gallon tax and throw all that into an alternative energy fund....
[S&P 500] - Suzy Orman - Suzy says the S&P 500 may go below 500. Fuck.
[AMERICAN POWER] - A recent intelligence report says American power will wane over the next 20 years.
[$500 Million] - WaPo - Obama raised $500 Million online. Marketers better be seriously studying how Obama did it in this down economy.
[EBOLA] - A new strain of the deadly ebola virus has been found
[BREAKING NEWS?] - Wired - Yesterday, at 7PM, Fox News said this was breaking news. They couldn't give any details, but the Pentagon was under attack. I forgot to post it in yesterday's MW, so apparently Fox News was light on the news yesterday.
[IRAQIS PROTEST] - BBC - Iraqis are protesting the new SOFA agreed to by the Iraqi cabinet. The full Iraqi parliment votes on the status of forces agreement on Monday.
[COUNTDOWN] - Big 3 on fumes:

[HARDBALL] - Minnesota recount...

Attorney General Collapses While Giving Speech

Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed while giving a speech today. He was 20 minutes into his speech, began shaking, and those around him aren't sure if he regained consciousness.

7552....Dow down 444 points....

The stock market continues to plummet with the S&P 500 down 6.71%. If you had $100,000 in a 401k, you basically lost $6,700 between the hours of 9:30AM and 4:00PM. How low can it go? The S&P 500 is at an 11 year low. That means that if your 401k tracks the S&P 500 and has for the last 11 years, you're basically exactly where you were back then. Taking into account 3% annual inflation and you're down even more.

UPDATE: The economy, Washington, Wall Street, and jobless claims at a 25 year high:

Quick Hitters

[UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE] - NYTs - Health insurers asking for mandated coverage for all? Doesn't that make you distrust Obama's plan a little bit? Health insurance companies saying we won't exlude pre-existing conditions but you have to mandate that everyone buys our coverage....which is basically what HRC called for.

Franken Gaining....

Minnesota Star Tribune has a helpful website up that shows the status of the recount going on in the Al Franken v. Norm "I don't pay for my suits" Coleman U.S. Senate race. Franken has already cut Coleman's lead to 174. But what strikes me when I view the site is that the majority of counties that are finished recounting Franken picked up votes. If that trend continues, Al Franken will be good enough, smart enough, and a majority of Minnesotans will have liked him.

That would give Obama 59 seats in the Senate. Georgia, Bill Clinton campaigning there or not, is looking pretty tough.

Major Major Major

Yesterday I linked to a story that Henry Waxman beat John Dingell on a committee level vote for the very powerful Energy and Commerce committee. It was so close that it had to go to the greater Democratic caucus today. Waxman won the vote 137-122. This has major ramifications for our energy and environmental policy. Positive ramifications in my opinion.

From Wikipedia on Dingell:

Private sector ties

Dingell has drawn criticism for his ties to the automotive industry.^[13] The three largest contributors to his campaign for the 2006 election cycle are political action committees, employees, or other affiliates of General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and DaimlerChrysler;^[14] since 1989, intermediaries for these corporations have contributed more than $US 600,000 to his campaign.^[15] Dingell also holds an unknown quantity, more than $US 1 million,^[16] in assets through General Motors stock options and savings-stock purchase programs; his spouse, Debbie Dingell, worked as a lobbyist for the corporation until they married, whereupon she moved to an administrative position there.^[17] At present Ms. Dingell is a senior executive at General Motors and vice chair of the General Motors Foundation.^[18] On November 11th, 2008, American columnist Thomas Friedman wrote about the the lack of innovative business culture in American auto industry singling out Representative John Dingell:

"The blame for this travesty not only belongs to the auto executives, but must be shared equally with the entire Michigan delegation in the House and Senate, virtually all of whom, year after year, voted however the Detroit automakers and unions instructed them to vote. That shielded General Motors, Ford and Chrysler from environmental concerns, mileage concerns and the full impact of global competition that could have forced Detroit to adapt long ago. Indeed, if and when they do have to bury Detroit, I hope that all the current and past representatives and senators from Michigan have to serve as pallbearers. And no one has earned the “honor” of chief pallbearer more than the Michigan Representative John Dingell, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who is more responsible for protecting Detroit to death than any single legislator."^[19]

Morning Whiskey - 11/20/2008 - 61 Days Left

[HOMELAND SECURITY] - Politico - Obama taps Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to head the department of homeland security. Does that inspire confidence in you? I don't know. I'm afraid of her, but I'm not sure of her qualifications.
[WHY HILLARY?] - Time - Why does PEBO want Hillary in his team of rivals?
[IRAN GOES NUCLEAR] - FT - Iran is rapidly increasing it's stockpile of enriched uranium
[JOHN KERRY] - Boston Globe - John Kerry to be named chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
[NO AUTO BAILOUT] - Senate Democrats cancel a vote on the auto bailout. From watching the hearing, I got the sense that the auto makers were completely full of it, save for Chrysler, who looked to be legitimately in trouble. Chrysler talked about how bad things were. Ford and GM talked about all the great things they have coming soon and how great things were going to be. The presentations were so positive, I was thinking to myself I should be buying their stocks. It was a major disconnect to then have them follow that up by asking for money. I think we do need a bailout. But I think it needs major strings, and that just isn't going to get done under Bush. Republicans are against any conditions being set on Detroit's business processes, like higher mileage standards, and Democrats are against forcing the unions to make any concessions.
[BANKRUPTCY NOT AN OPTION] - WSJ - The automakers said they have studied bankruptcy and it is not a viable option
[STEVE KISSING MIKE] - California supreme court is going to take up the gay marriage ban voted in on November 4th and hopefully rule it unconstitutional
[IT MUST BE THURSDAY] - TMQ - ESPN.com's Tuesday Morning Quarterback breaks down the previous week of NFL and College action
[HEALTH CARE] - WSJ - Obama might actually be serious about major healthcare reform
[PAKISTAN] - Pakistan is protesting our missile strikes in their terrority by summoning our Ambassador. I got an idea.....stop harboring people that are plotting to capture and kill Americans and we'll stop having to fire missiles into your country.

PEBO's Mandate: Responsibility

The point of this writing is to say that the American people rejected Republicans and their wars abroad and crises at home, and the Democrats were just the convenient alternative; that this was a right spot at the right time for the Democrats; that Obama won in spite of Nancy Pelosi and Daily Kos; that the liberal left represented by Daily Kos thinks they now have a mandate and they really don’t; that Republicans are in the wilderness now and the only way back into the game is if President Elect Barack Obama makes a mistake; that the mistake to let them back in Obama may make is overreaching and listening to the liberal left and caving to the pressure they’ll try to exert through their intimidation tactics on their websites and through their new twin-headed ratings baby Olbermaddow. The point is that the American people didn’t want a lurch to the left. They wanted competency, rational thought and discussion, and someone who will be responsible at the helm; that the American people took a chance on Barack Obama because he says he represents what the country wants back: American excellence and achievement; that rejecting McCain’s Joe the Plumber and Sarah the Palin gimmicks was America’s way of saying maybe we want an elitist running the country; that maybe now that things are really bad, we probably should have someone serious and talented in the White House. People just want the train back on the tracks, and they want someone who is going to do it as quickly and responsibly as possible.

People didn’t vote for Nancy Pelosi or for Daily Kos: The American people voted against Republicans. They voted against the incompetence and vitriol from the last 8 years. They voted against the economy. They voted against the rise in gas prices. They voted against the rise in food prices. They voted against Katrina. They voted against the Iraq war. Barack Obama won in spite of the people he shares a party with. In this country, being aligned with the far left(Daily Kos) and big government liberals who do everything in their power to appear incompetent(Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, et al) were much bigger obstacles to Obama getting elected than his name or the color of his skin. Just as people don’t want to be associated with the 10% of the country represented by the far religious right fire and brimstone bomb throwers, they equally want no part of being associated with the 10% of the country represented by Daily Kos and Nancy Pelosi. The vast majority of the people in this country just want someone responsible on duty. They aren’t asking for much, which is how PEBO, a black guy with a terrorist’s name, got elected. The bar was set incredibly low because of how poor George W. Bush’s government performed. Not only was the Republican administration incompetent, they also betrayed all of the principles of small government they promised. So low was the bar set, that America was ready to take a chance on Obama, regardless of who surrounds him in the Democratic party.

8 years of Bush culminating in a $700 Billion bailout: Nothing to show for the money. One thing to spend money and receive new roads, better schools, and better communities, but it is entirely different to throw good money down the bloody drain that is Iraq, where majorities of people feel it is OK to target and kill Americans and that the Americans should leave. If that is the case, the American people ask, why in the world should our hard earned tax dollars be spent there? The problem for Republicans is that their management of our whole country domestically and abroad was resoundly rejected on November 4^th. Americans don’t trust the party any longer. They’ve seen what total Republican control is, and the American people don’t like it. It all started with not catching bin Laden. Then that leads into Iraq, no WMDs, Abu Ghraib, Torture, Wiretapping, Katrina, Afghanistan falling apart, Valerie Plame, Gitmo, Deficit Spending, Financial Crisis. We’ve gone 8 years, spent all the money for a generation, and we have nothing to show for it besides a half occupied country in the middle east and an economy in tatters. The Republicans thoroughly blew it. They have been expelled by the American people, and their only way back in is if Obama blows it.

The only way the Republicans return to power is if Democrats overreach: The Daily Kos crowd believes, wrongly, people voted for their ideology. They will push Congress and the Obama administration to take the country dramatically to the left, and you already see it with Obama forgiving Lieberman(who’s vote he needs in the Senate) and with some of Obama’s appointees who the liberal left doesn’t deem ‘netroots’ enough. This isn’t what the country wants. The country just wants the problems we’re facing to stop. 80% of the country says we’re headed in the wrong direction, yet 57 million people voted against the type of change advocated by the liberal left. When added to the independents and conservative Democrats who voted for Obama, a vast majority of people do not want the big change the Daily Kos crowd thinks America has agreed to. What does that mean? It means the government isn’t living up to our ideals or values. It doesn’t mean that the country wants a lurch to the left.. This crowd will try to impart it’s will on the nation, and doing so will only undermine Obama. The best lesson Democrats can learn is from the Republicans. Do not argue. Do not fight the President. Just go along and you will get what you want. Worry about convincing those in the middle. The Republicans did this during the last 8 years and got everything they ever wanted. They got to execute the Republican governing style in a completely unfettered way. Some of this was due to the fact Democrats in Congress are spineless, but most of this had to do with no one questioning the President or his Administration. This ultimately came back to haunt the Republicans because it proved their ideas were completely bankrupt and that they have no idea how to run a country. If Democrats want to win the PR battle for their ideas, they’ll have to take a page from the Republicans. They need to fall in line and help Obama sell the ideas. Dissenters within the party dramatically weaken the President and his ability to convince the American people to go along with his agenda. But after watching the shift from the wacky left since Obama won, I’m convinced Obama will spend the majority of his tenure arguing with the far left.

The American people elected Barack Obama because he is cautious, deliberative, and an incrementalist, but also because he is decidedly not George W. Bush. People wanted change, but they didn’t want the virtues extolled on the pages of Daily Kos or by the religious right. The late great Jimmy James asked famously during his short lived presidential run:

“What do you think is wrong with this country? You know what is really really wrong with this country? Nothing…..Everyone’s down on America. But from where I stand she looks A-O-K to me. Not perfect. Not perfect mind you.”

That was in 1996, and it is the basic sentiment of the American people: “Just run our government, keep me safe, and don’t waste my money.” People want to get back to that time. People just want government to work. People don’t want to have to think about their government. They want it to fade into the background and just work. They just want the train back on the tracks. They just want someone responsible in charge.