We need new talking points

The automakers bailout arguments are getting boring. Same old, same old. If you're against the bailout, you're against the unions.
Senator Corker, you need to join us in rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The chair aren't staying in place since we hit that iceberg.

Tell us what you really think

Michael Barone weighs in on Blagojevich.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/barone/2008/12/11/rod-blagojevich-the-stupidest-governor-in-the-country-puts-obama-in-a-bad-light.html
The name on the link says it all.

How many automakers do we need?

The number of Detroit automakers has been contracting since World War II (the movie Cars reintroduced us to the Hudson Hornet, which became part of AMC). Unfortunately, it's probably time for another contraction.
Toyota, Nissan and Honda are a pretty big three in car making now, with plenty of capacity in their U.S. plants. With the baby boomers starting to retire, they will not be as hard on cars and need to replace them as quickly. The current car building capacity is probably way too much for future trends, no matter what happens with the economy.

Drilling for pensions

So, how are we going to have enough money set aside for pension obligations? Drill baby, drill. The housing market and stock market are down. You can't get by with shuffling money around. We need to create wealth. Getting natural resources creates wealth. Drill baby, drill.

Tech talk

For all the talk about Republicans needing to do a better job with new technology, you get this story. Please double and triple check your devices before selling them. Or give them to your friendly neighborhood conservative bloggers. It's easy to find out who we are.

Who ya gonna blame?

To the tune of Ghostbusters - my first political parody

There's a Senate seat in the neighborhood,
Who you gonna call? - Rod Blago
He may be weird and he don't look good
Who you gonna call? - Rod Blago
I ain't afraid of Obama
I ain't afraid of Obama
If you're seeing money running through your head
Who can you call? - Rod Blago!
Candidate 2 has good street cred
Who you gonna call? - Rod Blago!
I ain't afraid of Obama
I ain't afraid of Obama
Who you gonna call? - Rod Blago!
Think you're all alone? Pick up the phone
And call - Rod Blago!
I ain't afraid of Obama
I hear he likes to cuss
I ain't afraid of Obama
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Who you gonna call? - Rod Blago!
If you want to be the guy with the most
Then you, you'd better call - Rod Blago!
Let me tell you something
Cussin' makes me feel good
I ain't afraid of Obama
I ain't afraid of Obama
Don't get caught alone, oh no
Rod Blago!
When he calls at your house
Unless you really like the louse
I think you better blame - Rod Blago!Ow!
Who you gonna blame - Rod Blago!

Keeping secrets

You get the feeling President-elect Obama would like to unload on Gov. Blagojevich with both barrels. But he can't, because there's an investigation going on. He can't come out and say, "I now know Blagojevich is an idiot. I'm the president-elect and he tries to shake me down. He shouldn't been allowed to clean the restrooms on the Navy Pier."
But he can't. Information that may make him look good can't come out yet. And in the void flows all kinds of conspiracy theories.
Here's another way Obama now knows how George W. Bush feels. For seven years, he's kept us safe. Many of the ways he's kept us safe are secret, since we don't want the enemy to know what we know. So the wild conspiracy theories fly, and decisions made to keep us safe are called anti-American and fascist.
One day, we'll be able to tell the truth about recent history. And soon, no one will remember how to spell Blagojevich off the top of their heads.

Blago-sphere

It's where do you find all the stories and comments about the Illinois governor.
Proud to be doing my part.

Filling Obama's seat

Now, how is Illinois going to fill the last two years of Barack Obama's term.
Well, ESPN has been pushing a college football playoff the last month since that was Obama's preference. Why not a Senatorial playoff? The wiretaps from the governor showed at least six candidates. Have an eight-candidate playoff, with head-to-head meetings determining the victor.
Governor Blagojevich has given us plenty of ideas how to determine the winner.

Get this man a Pulitzer Prize

John White of the Chicago Sun-Times got the picture of the year.
While waiting for governor Blagojevich to leave via the alley, he found a sign and the right angle. And clicked at the right moment. The governor and the rat sign.

All that needs to be said

"Are we nuts in this state?" asks an Illinois resident.

Bring on Ditka

Such a happy day, the Democrat governor of Illinois is in jail. No need to link, everybody has it.
Now, who's going to take the Senatorial appointment? Must be someone without an ties to the current government. Why not pick someone who considered running against Obama in 2004 - coach Mike Ditka. He'll have a few months free after Christmas.

Linking the news

In the news section, Caroline Kennedy may take over the Senate seat of Hillary Clinton.
In the sports section, Mike Groh resigns as offensive coordinator at the University of Virginia.
Sometimes, going into the family business doesn't work out as planned.

It's a blast

(h/t Instapundit)
The FDA has approved a gun as a medical device.

Not the write stuff

New Republic offers a commentary today to help newspaper reporters facing layoffs in the shrinking economy. But why should the government pay people to write when you have bloggers doing it for free? I was a newspaper reporter once, but I married well and got out of the gig.

Real-life lessons

I know lots of schools have been teaching their students about recycling. According to this article from West Virginia, recycling may be slowing down with the economy. Do we tell kids not to recycle until the market improves? Or just focus on the best things to recycle - probably aluminum cans.

Oh no, you can't (vol. 2)

George Will takes on the Fairness Doctrine so we won't have to.
The more info I've seen on the possible return of the Fairness Doctrine, the less likely I'd see it happening. But if they want to jump off a cliff, well, go ahead.

Not a Tar Heel blue Christmas

No Christmas trees at UNC's libraries.

Best of the Web again

Sometimes, when checking the morning headlines, a story jumps out. It grabs you by the throat and screams - "Send this link to Best of the Web today." And thus is appears on opinionjournal.com.

A question

Are the Big Three automakers in trouble because they are being told to produce more environmental cars? Or are they in trouble because they haven't produced enough environment-friendly cars in the past?

Recycling news

Just took some aluminum cans to recycle in Staunton. I got 38 cents per pound, down from the usual 60 cents. Shows how demand for raw materials is going down. How about a bailout?

Card check checkmate

One of the worries about a Democrat-run government is the "Card Check" legislation, which would make it easier to unionize.
Since the election, we've spent much of the time talking about a bailout of the automobile industry. Not the whole thing. Just the unionized American companies that ruled the road most of the 20th century. Even if union wages, benefits and pensions aren't the reason for Detroit's problems, it's the union side that's sicker than the non-union side.
Not the best commercial for adding members to the union.

Obama's computer doctors

Worried about how far left an Obama administration might go? I look at the government like a computer operating system. If you don't know what you're doing, deleting what you think is a junk file might stop the computer from working. Maybe permanently.
They will find that many of the add-ons of the George W. Bush era were crucial updates, not malware or spyware. They need to tread very carefully, as some policies may be foundational to operating the country. I hope they realize that change may be a peril.

What if?

The blog on Commentary magazine's site discusses the continuation of the Obama brand after the election. I haven't seen an O-nauguration post, but probably somebody is thinking of it.
What if Obama is actually New Coke? Sounds good in focus groups, but disliked when unveiled?

Happy Birthday, Brittney Spears

The website Extreme Mortman reminded me that she's in the top two for web searches this year. Even higher than Barack Obama. That deserves a birthday shout out.

Snapshot

When talking about the auto bailout, this cartoon by Michael Ramirez says its side loudly. Vroom, Vroom vs. Vroom, drag.

Bruce Willis strategy

After the events in Mumbai, there were reports Pakistan would move troops from the Taliban supporting areas in its western frontier to the Indian border. Which might have been a goal of the attack on Mumbai.
Just like in the movie "Die Hard with a Vengeance", when the terrorists got all the police out of the Wall Street area because their real goal was gold. The terrorists want to roam more freely in Pakistan.

In the news

Ford announced its CEO will travel by car later this week to talk to Congress about its bailout. If that doesn't work, the next trip will be by bicycle. Or dog-sled if it's cold enough.

Up in the sky

This weekend, the space shuttle returned to earth. But it was without a tool bag used during a space walk to fix solar panels on the International Space Station.
An amateur astronomer in Canada figured out when the tool bag would appear in the sky, and caught it on video.
(h/t Fox News and Opinion Journal's Best of the Web Today)

Pension tsunami

Glenn Reynolds at instapundit.com often talks about the looming problem of public and private pensions not having funds to meet their planned outlays. Last week, he highlighted this site which brings together multiple stories about the problem. Read and your Monday will feel even more Monday-er.