Frothy Diplomacy: What Beer Will Obama Choose for Drink With Gates and Crowley? - ABC News

So, there are a few quips that jump immediately to mind, but I'll pass on those for decorum's sake.  The Sam Adams suggestion is distinctly American.  Budweiser would have been a great suggestion, until AB was sold to some European company.  Maybe a healthy choice, such as MGD64 would be appropriate.

But really, in the grand scheme of things, shouldn't the president be worrying about, oh maybe the economy, or Iraq, or even Iran and/or North Korea?  Why the heck in the midst of multiple domestic and international crises and near-crises, is Obama so freaking concerned about a case of disturbing the peace?

Just started playing with Navigon Lite. It seems pretty slick bit I'm not too clear on their data source - it doesn't seem to recogniE Dianey World, which is a slightly bigger attraction than Ripleys here in Orlando.

Worth a look tho in my opinion. I'm planning to play with it for a while and see if I like it.

Banks draw line over accepting Calif. IOUs - U.S. business- msnbc.com

So after spending a couple grand in California last week, that still didn't help their budget crisis.  I figure I did my part.

I'm getting to the point on the whole financial mess that I think it can only be solved by drastic measures:

1. Let the banks fail.
2. Let the automakers fail
3. Wipe out all consumer debt
4. Any cash that the government would have given to banks and/or automakers, distribute to the citizens, equally
5. Suspend all federal tax collection for six months
   
6. Start fresh

Now I know this would lead to some radical stress, bankers jumping off buildings, all sorts of drama.  But give it six months, and I'm willing to bet things would start to work themselves out.  I mean, you reboot your computer once in a while, why not the financial system?

I think the major impacts would be something like:

• Federal debt would rise, a little, but not so significantly as a long-term bailout
• Consumers would be forced back to primarily cash purchases, but they would own their homes, their cars, and would have no accumulated credit card debt
• Some stores would fail, I suppose.
• The stock market would go bazonko - but again, if cash were king, it would matter much less
• Many investments would dry up, or lose significant value.  But not for everyone. I'd lose some here, and gain in home equity, which I suspect would be the case for the vast majority of people
  
• At the end of the day, most Americans would be in a much better state than they are now.

To be clear, I haven't seen a cent of TARP money (though I have been considering an SBA loan for company expansion).  It just seems that everything is such a mess, can truly radical steps really mess up anything any more than it already is?