...while wondering what ever happened to Lee Iacocca

**Editor's note: We're not sure what happened to the NBA Preview, World Series and Election Recap editions, but we will hunt down the backups and repost soon.


You're killing us, Bloggo -- killing us. Rod Blagojevich has long been a friend of the blog. We've given him props for increasing services while reducing taxes, for effectively maneuvering his way through bare-kuckles Prarie State politics and for being a key force in the suspension of the state-sanctioned murder of prisoners in Illinois. But dude -- c'mon. This is where we get off. Look, we have absolutely no problem with him trying to make a deal with the President-Elect's folks -- or even Barack Obama himself, although there's no evidence or insinuation even, of that. In fact, we feel Obama should definitely have a say in choosing who fills his senate seat. The people of Illinois elected Barack Obama to the Unites States Senate. It would stand to reason that one would want to fill the position with someone of similar ideology to the person the people originally chose. So that part of it is ok by us. Back-room dealings are part and parcel of United States politics. If not, then how is a woman with absolutley no political experience at all about to become the junior senator from New York? We'll get to her in a minute. For now, back to Bloggs. What we do have a problem with is the Governor's attempts to outright sell the seat to the highest bidder. With holding back money to a children's hospital until he received a "donation". With being so damned arrogant about it. And that's a shame, because he did do a lot of good. Very little of that will be remembered now...So let's get this right -- congress mans up, tells the UAW, "take it or leave it", the UAW says "leave it" and congress calls the bluff. wooHOO! Thank you Republican minority!! Joy reigns in Mudville. There will be no bailout. The bottom line was that the union would not agree to bring labor costs in line with foreign competitors by 2012. Really. They wouldn't agree to stop paying a dude $35 an hour to perform a simple task. Hell, Gopher could handle simple tasks. And we doubt he brought home big jing. The UAW wouldn't agree to getting rid of the job bank, which pays laid-off workers 90% of their salary. 90%! For people that do not work there anymore! So congress says, OK, you don't want to play by the rules we laid out, screw you. But don't come bitching to us when all your workers lose their jobs and -- more importantly to you(A.W.) -- they stop paying dues to you. We have a long and well-documented practice of union-bashing her at Scattershooting, and this is precisely why. The Detroit automakers are a mess because of the UAW, not in spite of it. The United Auto Workers union has destroyed an entire industry and rather than fix the system, so that workers can keep jobs and companies can make money, they continue to go for the jugular. Good on Congress for putting an end to the madness. Congress did the right thing. Yes, we actually wrote that. Bankruptcy reorganization is precisely what the auto industry needs. It gets the unions and idiot Big Three executives out of the picture, allows a judge to set up a structure whereby the entity can be profitable, allows the companies to regroup and, theoretically, come back stronger than ever. By throwing more money at the problem, we only perpetuate it. And more alarmingly, we reinforce what will be the strongest legacy of the Bush II presidency: no one is responsible and no one can fail. Make a bad business decision? No worries, we'll bail you out. Buy more house than you can afford? We'll rework the mortgage. Start a war you really didn't need to? (OK, there's really no excuse for that one). But this is what we are left with from these eight years. Proponents of the auto bailout had two main arguments. The first was that if any of the Big Three collapsed, it would plunge the country into a depression. Not true. People will not stop buying GMC, Ford or Chrysler cars if they go into bankruptcy reorganization. The parts will still be available and the warranties will still be honored and we all know that. So the "ripple" effect of suppliers all going out of business is simply not true. But what if it was? We still say let them go bankrupt. If our entire economy is being propped up with smoke and mirrors, then things like this bailout are only delaying the inevitable. For what? So our kids can deal with it? We call bullshit on that. WE are the generation that wanted more house than we can afford; WE are the generation that allowed Wall Street to run amok. WE should be the ones to bite the bullet and ride this thing out. It remains our belief that the economy of our nation is an organic entity that will adapt and adjust and that the events of the last several months are completely normal. Values were overinflated and the bill had to come due. It's time to pay up. But the help should not go to the irresponsible people who got themselves in trouble. So that means not help for you, homeowners. You signed the mortgage. Can't afford it? Move into a smaller house. Or an apartment. Or a shelter. But why should we have to bail you out, giving you immediate relief, then allowing you to keep the equity that we put into a house you were too dumb to read the mortgage on? That's what lawyers are for. And as we've said before -- if you can't afford a couple of hundred bucks to pay an attorney to read the fine print, you can't afford the damned house. But that these people are somehow owed a handout is precisely what will be argued. Because the second argument the pro-auto-bailout folks cried was, "you bailed out these huge banks, so we want ours". Where does it stop? You know where. Right at your front door. Because we guaran-damn-tee you that we will not all be receiving a bailout check. No, we just get the bill. For once, congress did the right thing by saying no. Then the president stepped in. We've really tried to be fair to W. Hell, we voted for him the first time. But he just keeps fucking us...Karma, meet Orenthal; Orenthal, meet Karma...The suspected murderer of Adam Walsh was identified this week. He had died in prison in 1996. While it brings a form of closure to the family, not being able to see him convicted must make for a shallow victory. But with what John Walsh has subsequently accomplished, in his being the primary force for the creation of the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, we wonder: how many of us can claim to be responsible for as much good as Adam could, in his six short years? At times of tragedy we like to tell one another that the Lord works in mysterious ways. When on the receiving end of those words, it is hard to see it. But looking back all these years later, the argument can be made that through Adam Walsh's murder, and his parents' agony, the world is a safer, better place. Strange ways, indeed...David Patterson was in a tough spot. As the Governor of New York, he is tasked with replacing Hillary Clinton in the United States Senate, when she leaves to become Secretary of State in the Obama administration. And it was shaping up to be a difficult decision. On one hand, there was state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Mario's kid. On the other, the pressure to name a woman to replace a woman. Or an African American to replace the seat Obama vacated, because who knows what the hell is going to happen in Illinois. Or any of the other heavyweights who were sure to belly up to the bar. Then came a Golden Opportunity. And he's going to take it. Dude's not blind. OK, he is blind. But still. It's the perfect out for a coward too weak to make a choice: You have a Kennedy, you go with the Kennedy. Any Kennedy. Nevermind that the woman has never run for, let alone held, elective office. Nevermind the fact that the Democrats just repudiated Hills in her bid for the party's nomination -- primarily to avoid the perpetuation of the Bush-Clinton-Bush "legacy" presidencies. Nevermind that the party just got done savaging Sarah Palin for her supposed inexperience -- and she'd been both a mayor and a governor. No, just discard all that and name a Kennedy. It's the easy way out. And disappointingly, Patterson is going to take it...We've been intentionally silent, for the most part, on the Caylee Anthony saga, mostly because we're just disgusted with the sensationalizing of people's genuine suffering. Still, we are absolutely appalled by the knowledge that not one, but two different people called in tips to the police, to search the exact area where the child was found. Appalled. Now, we get that every nutjob in the state of Florida probably called in a "tip". But c'mon, two people? The same spot? It's not like the cops weren't working with computer databases that actually match things like this up. Or that it wasn't a mere couple of hundred yards from the child's house. Besides, one of the callers was the same guy who called it in a third time, after he finally picked up the suspicious bag he had called in months earlier, only to have a human skull roll out. Think about that. That guy has to live with that sight for the rest of his life, because someone was too lazy or stupid to do their job. Firing everyone involved -- now that is change we can believe in...And a final thought on the election season of 2008. Lost in all the history made by the election of Barack Obama is what Hillary Clinton did. When people talk about Sarah Palin and 2012, they are talking about whether she has the experience, whether she'll make good policy, whether basically, she will make a good president. Not one mainstream outlet is questioning whether a woman can win. And that is an amazing change. One long overdue. Will Obama be good for the country? Only time will tell. But whatever happens in the next four years, we are a better country for the events of the last one.

Until next time,
Paz

and remember -- Free O.J. (but the vodka will cost you)