Recently I have read opinions that FDR and  Hoover made the Depression worse through intervention and the market should have been left (substantially) alone. Quien sabe? You can’t clone history, so we will never know for sure. There are obviously lessons for the present, but what are they?

Not long ago (Oct. 14) David Brooks predicted that Obama would be pulled both ways and side with the interventionists.  He seems to have been at least partially correct in his prediction - Obama’s new fireside YouTube chat has the president-elect proposing an extensive program of job creation aimed at building up our infrastructure and creating energy independence.

It’s hard not to be sympathetic to the goals. (Our highway system appears to have gone backwards in recent decades.)  It’s the means that are the problem.  Can we afford all this?  I guess we’re going to find out.  Here’s the good part: There might be some pretty good poster art and some interesting architecture.  For all our sakes, I hope this pans out.

This week in POLIWOOD (it’s still free to non-subscribers), Lionel and I examine the way men and women are characterized in American films, now and in the past. Call it POLIWOOD meets Dr. Helen. (Seriously.  We reference her.)

Next week…. James Bond.  (We review Quantum of Solace and compare to the Bond films of the past.)  Don’t forget to leave suggestions for future shows here.  (Otherwise we’ll start repeating ourselves fast.)

With the AP, sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between stupidity and bias. Take a look at this headline for today: Iraqi Shiites burn Bush effigy to protest US pact. Iraqi Shiites? Well, yes. They were indeed Shiites. As almost anyone who has been paying attention knows, Iraq is a Shiite majority country. That being the case, the implication of that headline might well be that the majority of Iraqis are protesting this pact. But in fact, if you click on the link, you discover it was Muqtada al Sadr’s followers who were doing the protesting, a very specific and militant Shiite sect. The better written article makes it clear that the Sadrists represent only 30 lawmakers in the 275-seat parliament. A better head might have been “Sadr followers burn Bush effigy” but apparently the AP headline writers haven’t gotten the new orders. It’s okay to tell the truth now- Obama’s in.

Next time he gets my vote!

They both like to fly in private jets - Al barnstorming to warn us of the dangers of global warming, the CEOs heading to DC to explain why we should bail out their atrociously run companies for billions. We don’t live in America the Beautiful anymore. We live in America the Black Comic.

Pity Chrysler spokeswoman Lori McTavish (see link above) who was forced to issue this pathetic excuse on behalf of her spendthrift chief executive: “while always being mindful of company costs, all business travel requires the highest standard of safety for all employees.” No matter that private planes are often less safe than commercial jets, I suppose the poor woman had to say something. It’s not a pretty picture. A report from the WSJ’s The Wealth Report tells us private jets get exceptionally bad marks for pollution, have recently been favored (2008) with exceptional tax breaks, even with the current energy crisis, and don’t pay their fair share of air safety costs (air traffic control, etc.).

I have a proposal for some legislation: It is against federal law for anyone advocating an environmental cause or seeking a government bailout to be permitted to fly in a private jet in transit to espouse their position. Call it the Simon-Feingold Anti-Hypocrisy Act. Maybe I can’t get Russ Feingold to co-sign my bill, but, hey, you’ve got to start somewhere. I was going to try Harry Reid, but he’s from Nevada and we all know Vegas is lousy with private jets. No hope there.

Overwhelmed as we have been by US electoral politics, we can often overlook what may be more important news in the long run. Israel Air Force commander Maj. -Gen. Ido Nehushtan has given an extremely interesting interview to Der Spiegel in which he seems confident of Israel’s ability to destroy Iran’s nuclear capability. He also says the following:

“Hizbullah has been part of the Lebanese government since this spring. It is not a fringe terror organization - it is supported by the state. Militarily, Hizbullah is stronger than the regular Lebanese army. If they attack us, we might react differently [to how we did in the 2006 Second Lebanon War].”

I guess that’s another version of the old saw: Fool me once, shame on…. well, you know the rest.

Meanwhile, Al Qaeda in the person of Rhymin’-Ayman Zawahiri is apparently playing “house music,” accusing Obama of being a house you-know-what.

Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term “abeed al-beit,” which literally translates as “house slaves.” But al-Qaida supplied English subtitles of his speech that included the translation as “house negroes.”

Oh, well, here we go again. Zawahiri wasn’t the first doctor to disobey the Hippocratic Oath (”First, do no harm.”)

QUICK UPDATE: Zawahiri is probably moving quickly to make sure his “faithful” are not infected by “Obama-mania.” That would not be good news for him or the Al Qaeda leadership.

If the present mood continues, the Big Three automakers were just too late for the Big Handout given to their friends in the financial industry. Too many people are suspicious that these billions - unlike the other billions or trillions - will be money down the drain. I can see why. Everyone knows those auto companies are hopeless but few, including most of the so-called experts I’ve read, have a clue what all that financial mess means. Better to do something to paper that over (pun intended) or the world will explode. And despite the good old nostalgia for American cars from Don McClean’s song, this particular levy is dry and Them good old boys drinkin’ whiskey and rye singing “This will be the day that I die” probably have it just about right.

But still, I have a suspicion that the day will be saved via Chapter 11 and some restructuring will occur (although I probably can kiss bye-bye to my small pension plan investment in GM, bought in the naive belief that it can’t possibly go any lower.) This will provide an interesting test case for the whole bailout. I am the furthest thing imaginable from an expert in such things, but I noticed a few weeks ago that the market kept going up when it seemed as if the bailout was failing and then down as soon as it was accepted (and has continued to go down, as we all know, for the most part since then). Watch how the market responds. GM is headed for nowheresville. But the larger group of investors may be pleased. Milton Friedman is watching.

As one who has made a film or two, I can’t understand why it takes a movie for people to come to conclusions (tentative or otherwise) about global warming - whether that film be this unfinished one or Al Gore’s. The degree of anthropogenic global warming would seem to be a subject for on-going (and constantly revised) scientific study, not the source of cinematic fame.

Yet it would seem in this post Michael Moore era that primary way we communicate on these serious matters is in the movie theater. Hmmm…. Anyway, while in New York, I was able to interview Roy Spencer, a former NASA scientist and author of Climate Confusion, on his latest thoughts on the subject. Unlike the movie above, you will not have to wait until they appear in a “theater near you” but will be available on Pajamas TV in the next day or so. Watch for a link here. Spencer apparently thinks his global warming skepticism has been validated by the latest satellite information. (Satellite data are his area of expertise.) Please note that (unlike Al Gore) I do not consider myself sufficiently trained to evaluate this. Also, please remember that no matter what the level of AGW, energy independence is still a necessity for the security and economic health of our country. So we must find alternative systems anyway, though perhaps not with the same level of panic.

I am typing this as the acrid smell of burning brush seeps up through my doorsill.  Out my window the sky looks like steamed piss.  The fires are back and homes are going up in flames.  It’s those Santa Ana winds.  Chandler put it this way: 

There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.

Yeah, the dude could write. Fires, earthquakes, hellacious traffic. And now the Lakers have lost. I wonder why any of us live in this place. [Well, you can get some good sushi.-ed. Yeah, that you can. And some aces up Korean bbq at places like Park's. But is worth it? Now that's the question.]

Lionel Chetwynd and I have a mild difference of opinion about the Coen Brothers’ new movie Burn After Reading on this week’s Poliwood.  (He’s more positive than I am.)  Please leave any suggestions for future shows here.  We’re anxious to hear your thoughts on what we should gab about.