And Ashley Dupre should have fallen in love with somebody instead. Elliot maybe couldn't get Ashley in love. She is too young and cute for him. And Ashley probably would not pick Elliot in love. He is to old and boring for her.

But both of them could have done very well. Some great guy would adore Ashley. And some good woman would fall for Elliot. This was not an honorable relationship on either side. It wasn't happy in human terms. They both should be, and appear to be, ashamed.

To be a John is disgraceful. It implies you can't get anybody, and that you must pay. To be a prostitute is equally disgraceful. Selling your body implies you would sell your soul.

Neither of them had to do it. Both would be much happier now if they had not. Elliot still might be in trouble if he had taken a lover rather than a prostitute, but he could tell himself that he did it for love. And Ashley might be in trouble if she had fallen in love with a married man, but she could feel much better about that love.

They both crossed a significant line. Maybe like the line between being somebody who drinks wine or smokes pot, and a drug dealer or a bootlegger.

Home for the holidays, I guess.

Do you know that this will be the third Lions game in a row not on TV in Detroit, because no sellout? History until now has been all sell-outs, all TV. The cause is 50% disinterest in the winless Lions + 50% can't afford a ticket because we are in Detroit.

People in Detroit still care about the Lions. Can we get some minority TV preference for us minority of suddenly-poor laid-off people?

They should be ashamed of "Conservative," with all the creepy Americans who have used that label.

We need new labels for everybody, because we are in a new era. Have any of you ever been to college? The word liberal has a more fundamental meaning. Our style of government is Liberal Democracy, according to the real definition, even when "conservatives" are in charge.

This is not a matter for Fox News wrangling. Everybody knows the difference between the USA's Democratic Party, and the concept of democracy. Do not stir up a silly internet word controversy.

Liberal is out of date. Think of a new term. Center-Left? "Somebody who wants to take a rational approach and does not want to invade and wants to have good free health care and good free education and so on.."???

We need a new word.

Maybe you could draw G.W. Bush as the old, worn-out old year going away, and Barack as the new baby new year arriving? And, unlike me, you could attach it to a little story and a joke?

Whales! Whales are natural; they are renewable. We could capture a whole bunch of whales, and pen them on all our coasts, and breed them.

Then we could start slaughtering them for whale oil. Yeah, that's it! That's American innovation, and it's traditional. Think of Nantucket and Captain Ahab and all that patriotic stuff.

About a billion slaughtered whales per month would make us energy-independent. Hallelujah! Let the killing begin!

When they get to be bosses, most of them catch a fatal form of arrogance.

But we worker bees are pretty smart. Plus, we work harder and produce more than anybody else. Europeans have much nicer lives, but they don't work very hard, by 21st century American standards.

Maybe we will be like the Athenians after Sparta won, athen afetr Rome took over. We may not be a big power antmore, bit our good, smart people will set the standard for the world.

Seriously, Poster Whatif, the whole North American automotive manufacturing industry is magnificently hi-tech, and lean, and efficient. We have optimized and cut back and it is the best manufacturing system ever in world history. Please do not fling ignorant, incorrect insults.

[Warning! I have said this before:] The problem is that nobody anywhere in the world is buying new cars now. That is a global macro-economic problem caused by our political leaders, and it started in the USA, caused by our own especially stupid American national political leaders.

The arrogant private jet auto company presidents do not help from a PR point of view, but their companies are really good, and we already have cut way back. We just need some loans to get through the next couple years.

Putin and Chavez, Amedinijad and Bush, plus Cheney and Palin all will end up there, having their diapers changed, playing gin rummy, getting flu shots, and mailing in absentee ballots.

They will crack each other up with petroleum jokes (Why did the US Army cross the ocean?...). They will knit bullet-proof vests in their crafts classes. Guest lecturers will teach them how to make genuine hangman's nooses, and how to refine bushel-basket-loads of uranium.

And then they will die, and go Hell, the ultimate retirement home for rich dictators.

Huh? Huh?

Even if the current Sec. of Def. is an okay guy, we need a new Secretary for symbolic and message reasons. Obama's tendency to make compromises and accomdations in Washington is a problem.

I mean, Barack may think that keeping Gates at the Defense Department shows how bipartisan he is, how willing to deal. And that probably is true in Washington. But in the rest of the world, it would be ridiculous.

Prior example: Barack tried to get Washington credit for going along with the FISA whitewash, amnesty, call it what you will. People in Washington may have liked it, but everybody else hated it. And it did not help him overall.