On one hand, Dubaya has done great harm to the US, the most one person could ever do. On the other hand, knowing how bad and incompetent he was, he was lawfully re-elected in 2004.

Democracy involves responsibility, pure and simple. Yes, we'd all like to see Bush pay for his incompetence, but it is the electorate that has to share that responsibility, it's the price we pay to live in a representative democracy.

Consider Zimbabwe, for all the damage Mugabe has inflicted on that country, and considering the fact that he has lost the election there, ask yourself, why did he not step down and transfer power? Precisely due to his fear of retribution, no more, no less.

I hate what Dubaya has done to this country, the country that I chose to become a citizen of (formerly Canadian), but I believe the US is better than Zimbabwe. We should accept that Dubaya won in 04, argue as much as you want about your stupid neighbors who voted for him then -- and accept Obama's election of 08 as a direct, and as the only, repudiation of that stupidity.

Another way to say it, the shit has hit the fan, it's not time to search for the guilty. It;s time to rebuild.

As was noted in the NY Times, there is a long history of automotive bailouts in Europe that should be considered before proceeding with our own. A lot of money was dumped into British Leyland to merely delay the inevitable -- on the other hand, French investment strategies in Renault seemed to have paid off.

The difference appears to be the French demanded changes in management in addition to stock ownership. Big 3 management have nothing to lose in asking for a bailout -- win-win, if they get their bailout, they continue along making good money, if they don't, nothing changes, they go bankrupt but that's inevitable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/business/economy/18car.html?scp=21&sq=automotive+bailout&st=nyt

...Dan

I take the opposing view to David Carr's. With all the knowledge I have of the current financial crisis, with the knowledge that this "Perfect Storm" has been forming for many years now -- sudden drops in the stock market are not unexpected, as it was in 1929.

If I had known nothing of this, if in 2005 the stock market dropped 7%, and Fannie and Freddie went bust while everyone was living high on the hog, I would have panicked and withdrawn all my money from the bank.

I can just envision the rumors following the 1929 stock market crash. Communications were fast enough so that everyone knew of the crash as quickly as it happened (radio is pretty darn efficient), but analysis wasn't then up to the task. As for analysis, you relied on your neighbors, bankers, mailman, bartenders, and their predictions of gloom and doom became self-fulfilling.

Most of us heed the pessimist, warnings of danger register much more deeply than "all clear ahead". Today, I don't put much stock in John McCain's, "the fundamentals are strong", but reports of our economy being in trouble isn't really "News" either.

If anyone cared to look into it, divorce settlements can be structured so as to maintain insurance coverage for an ex-spouse. Sounds like the perfect solution for this case.

Looks like not a bad "crossover" you got. We have a Honda Element with 4WD and that good ole reliable Honda V6 -- it hauls an incredible amount of stuff (which we sometimes need to do) and gets 24 MPG highway miles.

Personally, I'd prefer a 4 cylinder (or 2 cylinder boxer, in my dreams) for better gas mileage, as Mark got -- but we're happy, and this category of car is very useful (though who knows how the Element is categorized?).

A small economy car won't satisfy all your needs, keep the

SUV miles down, use the bikes as much as you can, and only Laurie David will look down on your efforts (from her private jet plane).

I think it's instructive to look at Neal Armstrong's experience. He shunned the "hero" label completely -- it's been reported that he performed his mission, and felt any attribution of "hero" would take away from the thousands who worked to put him on the moon, and especially, the one man who led the country and had committed it to place a man on the moon, John F. Kennedy.

He stood on the shoulders of giants, there are many who would have done exactly what he did -- he just felt extremely lucky to have been selected to do just that, and felt a huge responsibility towards all those who had put him there. Reportedly, everyone in the Apollo program was dedicated to fulfilling JFK's pledge -- had it not been July 20, 1969, there were 2 more flights lined up following it to be completed in 1969.

Similarly, our pilots are being trained to handle various emergencies; controllers, firefighters, engineers, FAA, mechanics, and many others are all employed and tasked to various degrees to make flight safer. In effect, our pilots also stand on the shoulders of giants, and I believe Patrick is trying to make that point. Yes, you also have to be good, and when things go wrong, you need to be lu