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With the Obamas visiting the White House yesterday, I had a quite bazaar bizarre dream last night.

I dreamed that First Lady Laura Bush broke into the Obama’s house and stole their gold fish.  It wasn’t political hostility or anything, just that Mrs. Bush has a collection of goldfish that she has stollen from other politicians.

Obama’s first day as President-Elect has already brought international tests.  Today, Russia announced that it was going to deploy missiles near Poland in response to a US missle defense shield installation there.  It is no cooincidence or mistake that this announcement was made the day after the election.  Additionally, Russia scrapped plans to disassemble some of its cold-war-era nukes.

How will Obama react? Will he stand strong and firm against this Russia political aggression?  Or will he allow Russia to continue an arms building without opposition?

This is not just about a few missiles here or there.  This is a Russian test of Obama. Russia is figuring out how much they can do with the new President.  They are testing the Obama waters to see how much they can get away with.

Consider this stereotypical political advertising message:

My opponent said, “<5 word out-of-context phrase>.”  He is out of touch with mainstream America.

I will lower taxes to middle-class citizens, increase benefits by lowering costs, and increase jobs by improving the economy.  Vote for me.

My beef with politics right now is that candidates are picking apart the details of their opponents plan without even providing the details of their own plan.

I think we need to look at the details of the plans and strategies of the candidates we plan to vote for.  Plans such as “increase jobs by improving the economy” are extremely vague and are likely to be empty campaign promises.

Demand to know, “How are you going to improve this or that?” and “How to you plan to pay for these improvements?” Demand to know the details.  Always ask one more how question.

Gwen Ifill from PBS

Suppose the moderator of tonight’s vice presidential debates is writing a pro-Obama book. Do you suppose that might produce a moderator bias in the debate?

But that is exactly the case with Gwen Ifill, who is writing a book title, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama which is to be released in January. Presumably, the book will sell better in January if Obama is elected president, providing greater financial reward for Ifill if Biden and Obama’s ticket performs better in the debates tonight.

Is it a good idea to have a moderator who could benefit financially from the outcome of a debate? Of course not.

(Image Source: Used under a creative commons license)

I think we’ve been so focused with domestic news that we’ve forgotten that the planet isn’t flat–that there is news all around the globe.

For example, I found a success story about Iraq. Anbar, a province in Iraq west of Bagdad, used to be the most lethal place for Americans. On Monday, the U.S. handed back control of a much more peaceful Anbar to the Iraqi Army and police force.

From the full New York Times story:

On Monday, following a parade on a freshly paved street, American commanders formally returned responsibility for keeping order in Anbar Province, once the heartland of the Sunni insurgency, to the Iraqi Army and police force. The ceremony capped one of the starkest turnabouts in the country since the war began five and a half years ago.