You will be happy to know, I was de-funk-ified today.  Whew.  Maybe it was getting my little Centro, maybe it was the weather (rainy and cold), maybe it was gamma rays from Alpha Centauri.  Who knows.  Anyway it was fun to have fun.  And on we go into a long weekend, my first home for three weeks.  Yay!

This is pretty interesting; Powerline excerpts from the second Nixon-Kennedy debate.  The tone is respectful and the subject matter substantial, and both candidates sound articulate and mature.  Can we all go back to 1960?

James Surowiecki considers the free-trade paradox.  "The reality is that if we toughen our trade relations with China the benefits will be enjoyed by a few, since only a small percentage of Americans now work for companies that compete directly with Chinese manufacturers, while average Americans will feel the pain—in the form of higher prices—far more quickly and more directly than rich Americans will."  This is another case where most people have it exactly backward, and the politicians are pandering to them.

Speaking of pandering politicians, what can we say about "Big Oil"?  It turns out that ExxonMobile, the largest oil company in the U.S., is only the 14th largest in the world in reserves.  There is no way we can become self-sustaining or do anything about the price of oil without exploiting more reserves, yet our politicians are keeping us from doing so, even as they compain about the price.  Ridiculous, and we all suffer...

Oh and by the way Iraq is in 6th.  And guess who's first?  Iran...

Hey, my new found team won again, in a blowout!  Maybe Boston will beat Detroit, and we'll have a good ol' Lakers / Celtics final.  Now that would be cool.