This starts to scratch the itch...

...but I think the problems with the bailout may run deeper. Demand
for vehicles in the US has been artificially inflated for years by
easy credit. I think it's logical to assume those days of easy credit
are gone for the foreseeable future.

With demand reduced and unlikely to grow, money spent to artificially
prop up supply seems pretty damn stupid. Does that mean the next step
is federal dollars committed to building make-believe demand as well?

I think the ugly truth is that we're dumping money into a system that
is tying down labor and capital more than it is aiding the economy. At
this point, the only benefit in dragging out all three companies seems
to be that we are delaying their collapse until a time when perhaps it
won't be so devastating to an already reeling economy.

An interesting dilemma in Minnesota

If the separation between the two candidates is within the margin of
error, how can we expect to fairly determine the winner? Seems like a
run-off vote would make a lot more sense. Throw out the third party
candidate and let's figure this one out for real.

Pirates open fire on U.S. cruise ship - Somalia- msnbc.com

Navies can't commit enough resources to stop pirates through patrolling. There simply aren't enough ships to cover the distances or the traffic involved.

There isn't enough international consensus to stop piracy through aggressive intervention in Somalia. Maybe, in the long term, international assistance can help settle some of the domestic issues tearing Somalia apart but that doesn't help in the short and mid term.

In both the short and the mid-term, ships traveling through the region will have to either accept that they are responsible for their own safety and well-being or both the navies and the vessels transiting the region will have to consider convoying in a manner similar to that used during the U-boat campaigns of WWI and WWII.