The roundup...

Quick and easy ...

* Merry Christmas Eve!

* Yesterday GM closed its two biggest SUV factories - Janesville, Wisconsin (a plant which has been open for over 90 years) and Moraine, Ohio.  This move follows in the footsteps of Chrysler closing its Newark, Delaware SUV plant last Friday.  Each of the Big Three is now left with only one plant dedicated to producing SUVs - an odd thought in a consumer society that was once so dedicated.  The Paper of Record reports - here.

* Obama promised change, and people expect it, whether or not he mentioned it specifically.  The Paper of Record reports on people around the country hoping/expecting a massive shift in American food policy from the Obama White House.  I join them in that expectation, considering our food/farm policy is based on almost century old concepts and ideas.  Here.

* The Paper of Record and Danger Room both have leads about the changes that lie ahead for the State Department under Hillary Clinton.  In an era where the Pentagon has become so large that most diplomacy is handled through their staff offices - some argue that a Department of State should just be merged into the DoD.  Thankfully Clinton and Obama are reversing that trend, and at a breakneck pace.  The world needs to know the the US is their friend, not just a mighty military power, and the State Department has set out to do that.  Both USAID and the Foreign Service are recruiting and hiring people in record numbers - preparing for the new roads that lie ahead.  [Foreign service hires, here; Clinton expanding DoS role, here; Danger Room on it all, here]

* Via We Love DC, here - which references WaPo, here.  Why do you never see Metro in films?  Because Metro has the most ridiculous rules ever in regards to filming.  No shooting.  No jumping faregates.  No death.  And of course, no eating or drinking.

* The end of Paper Transfers -- January 4th, I can't wait.

* GGW has the new committee assignments for the DC Circus, chosen by Ringleader Gray.  Tommy Wells has been placed on Graham's Public Works & Transportation committee, which GGW says is a great thing as Wells showed up to meetings when not even on the committee and is very pro-smart growth.  Here.  CityPaper has a full rundown of committee assignments, here.

* WaPo, here, has Michael Brown's appointment to the WMATA Board, as an alternate, by Gray.  And our good friend Jim Bojangles Graham was reappointed.  Bojangles currently serves as Vice-Chairman, and his reappointment will hopefully solidify him as Chairman.  If Bojangles does good as WMATA Chairman, I might think about forgiving him.

A few brief bits later

Bare with me ...

* The Paper of Record has it as a fact, the love-child of the auto industry, Toyota, is feeling the hurt too.  Saddness can be read here, they are losing money for the first time since it started up in the late 30s.

* Gizmodo has an awesome post about kids in Maryland who are using speeding cameras to get their enemies.  Basically they make copies of their friend's license plates with a glossy photo paper and go speeding past cameras to get them tickets.  This is perhaps the best use of a speeding camera ever - read here.

* Apparently CNN conducted a poll which determined that Vice President Dick Cheney was the worst VP ever.  As if CNN wasn't far-leftist enough for you, I am linking to an article from Left-Wing blog Real Clear Politics for the run down on the poll - here.  

I conducted my own poll which found that we've had much worse ... and it turns that Cheney wasn't that bad, he is actually one of the best!  Yay!  In all honesty (and ignoring Corrupt's future post on the topic), Statesman Dick Cheney completely reinvented the role of Vice President ... making it a much more relevant position in today's world.  Now, we know that Biden will take a backseat to Spotlight-whore Obama.  But ... I think Cheney has done good and hope that in the future other VPs follow the path he forged for them.

* Victory for The Paper of Record.  The Chinese had blocked the paper's website as of last Thursday, without explanation - but it was up and running again on Monday, also without explanation.  Short story - here.

* From Autoblog (via H), London has scaled back the hours that the Congestion Charge is in effect due to the slumping economy.  There is also talk that they might scrap the entire concept all together - which is ridiculous.  The Congestion Charge doesn't hurt business, it just forces people to think of alternative means of transportation - and London has many other options.  I think it would be a huge mistake for London to get get rid of the CCZ.

* Connetiquette reader "Friend" sent me this image which portrays what bars and clubs will look like with Bojangles' new rules in effect.  Good job Jim Graham:

* From Lifehacker - though I have seen this elsewhere - the RIAA is no ending its five year policy of suing individual copyright infringers.  The RIAA is going to work with ISPs to identify users who are stealing copyrighted materials - and send them warnings (through the ISP, without the RIAA ever knowing who the person is).  In turn after three warnings the ISPs will be shutting off that users connection.  Sounds fair to me, though I also think the RIAA should keep suing people.

* Via Trains for America - The Governator, Arnold, says "Meanwhile, infrastructure spending as a share of gross domestic product in the United States has dropped 25 percent over the past 20 years" -- so true.  What a great American.

* Via Transportation for America - here: America is ready for change.  A study from the Brookings Institution, found the following: 

Driving, as measured by national VMT[vehicle miles traveled], began to plateau as far back as 2004 and dropped in 2007 for the first time since 1980. Per capita driving followed a similar pattern, with flat-lining growth after 2000 and falling rates since 2005. These recent declines in driving predated the steady hikes in gas prices during 2007 and 2008. Moreover, the recent drops in VMT (90 billion miles) and VMT per capita (388 miles) are the largest annualized drops since World War II.

We are ready for change ... we are ready for real smart growth and better transportation options.

Oh Snap...

This should have been my usual morning post - but I got a little sidetracked, so now its an afternoon post - with a lot of information.

Sidebar: They really need a better way to make like bullet points on here - each of these paragraphs is a different topic.

Okay, go out and eat please ... just do it ... Nathan's in Georgetown is apparently hurting so much that they might not be able to renew their lease this coming April.  I've honestly only dined there twice, but I've passed by a million times, and it is truly a Georgetown icon.  I get this information via Marc Fisher in WaPo this morning - in an article about Georgetown turning generic.  Apparently Nathan's was feeling the hurt even before the union-induced recession, so I can't imagine that things are faring any better.  So the next time I am in Georgetown, I think I am going to pop in for a bite to eat - I've only been for brunch so I might as well try another meal.  Though I will say, there brunch is pretty good.  I will add though, that if you are looking for hole-in-the-wall sports bars/restaurants in Georgetown - Chadwicks is really good.  I basically just undermined this entire post by recommending another restaurant over Nathan's -- lol -- go to both I guess.  Yum!

Education.  Education.  Education.  Rhee.  Rhee.  Rhee.  I have yet to have the honor of posting about The Iron Chancellor on this blog, but I will.  The reason I bring this up is Obama's nomination for Minister of Education (I'm pretty much over this whole 'Secretary' business - Minister sounds better), Arne Duncan.  I don't know the guy, he's certainly no Iron Chancellor, but she's also not ready to be MoE.   The Paper of Record has all the deets about this guy here, he seems to be pretty legit - straddling the divide between destroying evil unions and getting our schools the resources they need.  He has the experience, the brains, and the temperament to be an excellent Minister.  I am glad to see that Mr. Duncan is so focused on early childhood education, it makes absolutely no sense to start reforms in middle schools and high schools when the kids are coming without the proper educational background.  I look forward to positive changes and hopefully no children will be left behind.

BusinessWeek ran with a story yesterday about Airbus keeping it's 'edge' on Boeing.  Let's just start with the facts, If it ain't Boeing, I'm not going.  Any 'edge' that BusinessWeek asserts that Airbus has proves that BW has no idea how to run a business.  Airbus is kept afloat by the EU, their business model is non-existent, they just make up designs that have planes looking like Sperm Whales and then receive billions of dollars in government subsidies in order to keep the program afloat - as far as I am concerned Airbus is unreal, it doesn't qualify as a legitimate business.  Anyway back to the BW article, it talks about how Airbus didn't get the memo that no one wants Sperm Whale planes and they are looking for smaller, lighter, more agile planes like the godsend the Dreamliner.  I'm pretty sure according to Boeing's original timeline, I was supposed to be flying in a Dreamliner right now ... but that didn't happen.  Then again when you completely reinvent the manufacturing process to make a plane completely out of composite you are bound to run into some delays.  The 787 is now not expected to deliver until mid-2010, sadness.  Though that still puts it light years (4 years-ish) ahead of Airbus' lackluster competitor the a350 (which is essentially a plane they already make).  Boeing also has double the orders for the 787 than Airbus does for the a350.  I mean basically its a fact, Boeing is better.  I don't know why BW wrote this article, it was a waste of everyone's time ... Airbus should have gone bankrupt years ago.

All this talk of planes has me quite happy - I love planes.  And I love Boeing.  It also reminded me to check out the blog of a good friend of mine - Jon Ostrower - who writes FlightBlogger.  Anytime I come across a blog post about airplanes, Jon is linked somewhere in the post because he knows everything about everything.  He's quite smart and seems to get all the deets before anyone else, so he's clearly a good guy to know (and a good blog to read).  Anyway, I popped over to his blog (link again - yea you should go, its that good.), and he is leading with a story about the Chinese cancelling or delaying aircraft deliveries in 2009.  He points out this sucks for our friends over at Airbus, who are currently building a new factory over there.  I'm sure the EU will rush in to bail them out and make sure they remain an unreal and illegitimate business.

Taking the airplane thought and merging into a new topic. ... I would have included this in my Dreamliner discussion, but it had already gotten too long and off track - unions.  It is clear to me and basically every economist in the world (not verified) that the unions have caused the current recession - jk.  sort of.  Anyway, a union-lead strike caused a 58 day delay with Boeing's Dreamliner, probably causing a much bigger delay due to a backlog of parts that showed up - couldn't be put in the right places, etc, etc.  The Big Three had horrible business practices and didn't seem to get that people weren't going to buy SUVs for ever, but even with that stupidity I think they could have survived on their own.  Except for the fact that they are saddled with huge health care costs for retirees -- and they can't actually close down a factory.  Yea, that is absolutely my favorite.  When they close a factory or shutdown a production line, or really attempt to save any sort of money ... they still have to pay the people who work there.  Yea?  Does that make much sense to you?  In essence, they have absolutely no flexibility.  That is like if over the next 3 years when Bank of America lays off some 35,000+ employees, they just got to go home but still got paid 95% of their salary.  I'm sorry ... what?  Is this socialism?  Why even bother having a business if you can't make any decisions to save money.  I'm sure old Socialism Corrupt will have a post up in seconds about how unions are the 'fabric of our nation' and saved this and that and are the greatest - blah blah blah.  Yea, I'll admit it ... unions were good for quite some time - they have served their role, but they are inefficient and have no place in the 21st century.  Making a case for unions is like making a case for a horse drawn carriage over a car - yea its pretty cool, but its certainly not the best way to travel and it costs so much more money than it could ever be worth.  So you heard it here first, I'm calling on the 2010 Republican Congressional Majority to pass a law abolishing all unions.  Actually, why go through Congress - unions should just disband themselves on their own.  Okay .. that's good.

I can't wait to see Corrupt's response to this union banter - he frequently gets in a tizzy about such things.  He's all about making sure that people get paid for work they aren't actually doing.

I was trying to look up what happened with that whole Jim Graham wants underage kids to get trashed thing - but the Legislative Information Management System (LIMS) seems to require intricate knowledge of the legislation in order to find it - which kind of defeats the purpose in my eyes.  So I decided to read the Council's agenda for this afternoon ... this thing is like a 3-ring circus.  Their day seems to be occupied with approving resolutions naming streets and buildings after people.  Of note!  On the Consent portion of the agenda is the final vote for the approval of Verizon's Cable franchise, which means FiOS!  FiOS!  FiOS!  Oh I'm excited.  Anyway I discover that Jim Graham and the other cowboys over at the Council have decided to go ahead and approve this Bill (B17-0983) 13-0.  Unreal.  Fenty I'm counting on you buddy ... you made the right choice with Rhee and Lainer, make the right choice on this one.  Well I'm glad that Jim Graham has succeeded in getting kids drunk, hopefully they don't vomit all over his lawn.

The Paper of Record ran an Op-Ed today, declaring the death of dating.  It is over, it is done with, hook ups are here to stay.  According to the article, a new study by Child Trends has found that more High School seniors saying they never date than date frequently - aka they are whores.  Well this is great for our society.  Actually ... it is a very interesting article, and its also intriguing to see the amount of studies that have been done into this whole hook-up thing.  Makes sense to me, like the article notes - I am more likely to hook up with someone a few times, and if it is good - then go on a date.

Caroline Kennedy - get a life, do something else.  You will not be the Senator from The Great State of New York.  The Daily Intel has the rundown of the opinions out there, here.

Okay ... this has gone on for long enough.  Enjoy.

Also, I hate the dentist.  That is all.

Some morning thoughts...

Okay people -- Happy Monday.  This Monday post thing won't be regular because normally I don't have time to not to work on Monday, but today is your lucky day!

My Google Reader had 1000+ unread items and I'm about halfway through with that ... so I am taking a break.  I realize that most people have no idea what Google Reader is, and calling a RSS aggregator does not really help people understand.  You can read about it on my favorite site - wikipedia - by clicking here.   I guess the best way to explain it is that it looks at all the blogs and news sites that you like ... and puts them into one place.  If you are reading this, and don't use a RSS reader - I suggest you get on that.

Here is a round-up of random things I found interesting this morning...

• Via the T4 blog, the Associated Press reports on a study that not at all surprisingly has found that leaner nations walk, bike, and use mass transit to get around.  What a shock ... Americans, who can't seem to function properly without a car are obese - and the rest of the world is thin -- not surprising.  Read here.
  
  
• WaPo reported over the weekend on the plans for the 'New New Deal' and that the ready-to-go projects will likely be the first funded.  These are projects that have been on the back-burner in DOT offices around the country because they really aren't a huge priority, but if the money is there - they are ready to be done right now.  The article is here.
  
  I have two thoughts on this issue ...
  The first is that our roads and highways are in a state of disrepair.  Any funding that can be put towards roads that are falling apart should be.  There are also many cities around the country that desperately need new roads to be built - roads that never were due to 70's highway opposition.
  2nd, roads are dead.  We need to get over it.  Trains, trains, trains.  Let me say that again; trains, trains, trains.  Why do we delay this so much ... why are Americans so afraid of trains - I just don't understand.  Let's get on it people.
  
  Either way - we need to get on it.  This money needs to be spent ASAP.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we can't sit around and bicker about spending it because before we know it the opportunity will be gone.
  
  
• Our friends over at Beyond DC have a post about the auto-bailout.  Here!  They list four points that they would use as 'strings' for giving out the money.  I practically vomited when I saw this list, but I guess everyone is entitled to their personal opinion.  I will go down their list, and write my comments afterwards.
  1. No more off shoring.  Fine, no more off-shoring, that seems legit to me.  As long as we can agree on one other matter - no more unions.  The auto industry should agree to not off shore any jobs, if Congress scales back laws and statues which basically necessitate the creation of unions.  While they are at it, Congress should void the current union contracts - let's start with a clean slate.
  2. 10% of each companies output be converted to things unrelated to vehicles traveling on roads within the next 7-8 years, 20% by 15 years.   I have a wild idea ... no.  Okay, I get it - if we are going to throw money at these people we should have a say in their business model - that makes sense - like a shareholder.  But to tell a company to change businesses seems ridic.  Tell them to make buses or something, I don't care - but don't force them out of their own business.
  3. No golden parachutes, luxury jets, etc.  Not that I think we should  be meddling, but fine.  I'll agree to this one - sort of.  I don't know what a 'luxury jet' is, but I can tell that most of these CEOs and their executive teams need private jets to get around.  It's just easier for everyone to not have to fly commercial.
  4. Make clean cars.  Fine.  I think they got that memo already though.
  
  
• Speaking of the Big 3 and cars -- this AP story is very exciting.  Even as gas prices are hitting record lows, driving continues to decline.  Woot!!  Come on people - now start using mass transit instead of just staying at home.
  
  
• In New York news - via SubwayBlogger - the MTA unveiled the new South Ferry Station to reporters last week.  It will be opening to the public sometime next month.  How exciting!  The most exciting part is that the entire train will be able to platform - currently only the first 5 cars (trains are 10), of the train platform at South Ferry.  View the NYT (Paper of Record) article here.
  
  
• Oh and just a comment on this whole 5am bar thing for Inauguration.  Get over it people ... honestly - I'm sorry.  Let's live a little for once - this happens once every 4 years.  I personally don't understand why bars are ever forced to have last call - in my world they'd be open 24 hours.  But whatever.  Anyway ... write Senator-to-busy-running-for-Governor Feinstein and tell her to BACK OFF!  You can click here to email her, or you can feel free to call her DC office at 202.224.3841.  I won't even bother listing anything about the Senator from Utah because that is just no hope - we already know they hate DC and drinking.

That's it for now ... bye bye.

Sidebar: Did you know a post can only have 20 labels.  Odd.  I'm a label whore.