First, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate President-elect Barack Obama. He conducted a near-flawless campaign, inspired millions and ushered in the largest voter turnout since 1908.  That is democracy at its best, and as a result, I am proud to be an American today.

It turns out that the prospect of being hanged really does concentrate the mind.

With a noose of tight credit threatening to choke the economy, the Senate this week set Washington back on track to respond to the turmoil that is destabilizing the financial markets. Eventually, the House seems certain to follow, perhaps by the time you read this. Although more twists may lie ahead, the economic and political risks of inaction make action almost unavoidable.

We do have a major leap in energy prices here in this country. No one can deny that.  The problem is that we have some knuckleheads in Congress dealing with the problem.  Instead of looking were we might come across some more oil for example, Congress narrowly defeated a bill to tax the oil companies more.  Their Profits are too high says those in Congress (mostly the Democrats lead by Pelosi and Reid).  Who gives them the right to decide what is too high?

THE FEDERAL budget is on an autopilot course to ruin. Spending on the three big entitlement programs -- Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- grows automatically, consuming a large and growing share of the budget with benefits that flow mostly to the elderly. Meantime, there is almost no public discussion about the trade-offs involved: Would the money be better spent on education, homeland security, defense or infrastructure? Even before the baby boomers retire, more than four dollars out of every ten go to these programs; if health-care spending increases at the current rate, within 40 years Medicare and Medicaid alone will amount to as large a share of the economy as the entire federal budget comprises today.

I was very sad to hear the news that Congresswoman JoAnn Davis passed away on Saturday after a battle with breast cancer.