Would the last person leaving Detroit, please turn out the lights?

It appears we WON’T be bailing-out the car-makers.  Not yet.

A senior Democratic Senator says he doesn’t think there are enough votes,
to make it happen, in the lame-duck session of Congress that begins next week.

According to both G-M and Goldman-Sachs...
If G-M doesn’t get 22-billion dollars by the end of January,
it’s shutting down.

Chrysler—which was hoping to be rescued by G-M—goes down with it.

All this, just-over a week after Barack Obama takes office.

The Bush administration has argued AGAINST a Detroit bail-out...
and is warning against TOO MUCH government intervention in business.

President-Elect Obama...and a number of Democratic lawmakers...
have talked about a FIFTY billion dollar bailout,
instead of the requested 25  billion.

Their plan would come with a LOT of strings attached—including
more fuel-efficient cars. 
It would also make the taxpayers part-owner, in those car companies.

Not MAKING more fuel-efficient cars,
is a LOT of how Detroit got us INTO this mess.

Next in line for help:  Our cities and states.

At the Republican Governor’s Conference in Miami, it turns out, they talk about
more than just Sarah Palin.  They’re talking about the tough days ahead.

Ohio’s worried about being able to afford paying unemployment.

Unemployment’s up in Ohio by one-third...and a panel—
assigned to come up with an answer to the money-crunch—
was unable to do so.

By January first, it’ll be borrowing money from the FEDERAL government,
to stay solvent.

And now the CITIES are getting in line.  Philly, Phoenix, and Atlanta
are asking for a piece of that 700-billion dollar bail-out package.

Philadelphia’s mayor HAND DELIVERED his request today,
to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

In our cities, the roads-and-bridges are crumbling...
and the pension funds are drying- up.

And Chicago—the city with broad shoulders—may not be far behind.

Mayor Daley says the city’s C-E-O’s tell him they’re preparing to lay off
THOUSANDS of workers, in the days and months to come.

He didn’t mince words. 

Quoting Mayor Daley, “This is going to be all-year.
It’s going to be a very frightening economy.  Each CEO tells me
what they’re laying-off...and, that they plan to double that next year. 
We’re talking huge numbers of permanent layoffs. 
It’s going to have a huge effect on ALL businesses.”

The other day, we reported that cigarette smoking is up,
because of the stress of the economy.

This upturn in smoking comes...just after smoking had reached
its lowest level, since they started keeping track.

The percentage of smokers in the U-S population had just fallen
to below 20 percent, for the first time in recorded history.

There is a new battery-powered cigarette on the market.

It reportedly delivers nicotine in a surprisingly satisfying vapor,
without any additives or smoke in your—or anyone else’s—lungs.

The Smoking Everywhere E-Cigarette is selling online
for a hundred-fifty bucks.

And video game-maker E-A says it’s getting into the fitness game.

Nintendo’s WII system, Electronic Arts is making new fitness-sports games, to go along with the ones already made by Nintendo
for its WII system.

Could Hillary Clinton be our next Secretary of State?

Word is, she’s a candidate. 

Word is, Obama’s not overjoyed with his expected choices—Democrats
John Kerry,  Bill Richardson, former Senator Sam Nunn, or,
Republican Chuck Hagel.

So, word is, he’s looking at Hillary.

ABC News says it’s heard the talks are—quote—“very serious.”

If this means anything, it would be a POPULAR choice.

Polls show Hillary could’ve beaten McCain last week,
by a much wider margin than did Obama.

The Catholic Church and the President-Elect
are already off to a bad start.

This week, American bishops issued a statement saying
they’d work with Obama on curing some social ills..
but work vigorously against him, on a woman’s right to choose abortion.

Now, a priest in South Carolina has told parishioners that,
if they voted for Obama, they are not welcome to receive communion. 

In the Sacramento Diocese, a priest expelled a woman from Mass,
in an ugly confrontation, because she had Obama signs on her car.

When a newspaper reporter showed up to interview the priest,
the priest threatened to sue him...and then lunged at the reporter, trying to grab the reporter’s notepad.

President-Elect Obama’s first post-election interview
is this Sunday on 60 Minutes.

Michelle and Barack sat down with Steve Kroft today in Chicago,
to record the piece.

Sunday, Obama officially resign as Senator,
to focus becoming the President.

In this new age of unity, it’s gratifying to see
tee-shirts and posters featuring Obama’s face
alongside that of Doctor Martin Luther King’s.

The merchandise quotes the words of Doctor King:
“I have a dream..that CHANGE is gonna come.”

Doctor King’s estate—mostly, his nephew and the King Center in Atlanta—
says it deserves hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees,
for the use of Doctor King’s words and likeness.

Maybe millions.

To quote the nephew—Isaac Newton Farris Junior—
“We cannot allow our brand to be abused.”

The King Center successfully sued CBS Television,
when it sold a documentary featuring excerpts from the Dream speech. 

The ever-reliable Pew Research Center...
polled Americans on their favorite—and LEAST favorite—
campaign journalists.

And America’s favorite...was Bill O’Reilly.

And America’s least favorite...was Bill O’Reilly.

Second on the favorites list, Tom Brokaw...
who was honored, I’m sure, to tie for that spot with Sean Hannity.

On the least favorites list, right after Bill O’Reilly,
was CBS anchor Katie Couric

The best part?  Half of those surveyed...didn’t HAVE a favorite.

Dan Shelly, who now works for CBS in New York,
used to be the program director at a conservative talk station
in Milwaukee.

Here, he says, are right-wing radio’s two secrets to success: 
One, make the listeners feel like victims. 

Two, make the listeners feel empowered through you,
by ranting about how they’ve been wronged.

The louder, says Dan, the better.

It’s a thin line...between love and hate.

And scientists are starting to figure out why.

Brain scans mapped-out at a university in London show that
the same two areas of the brain that get active from romantic love...
also light up when confronted with images we hate.

And they found that the more we hate something...or someone...
the more active those parts of the brain become.

FINALLY:     

Today’s riddle:  How did the Montana Highway Patrol
manage to stop just ONE car...and arrest TWO drunk drivers?

After being tipped-off by a bus driver, about a weaving car,
officers stopped the car, and brought the driver into the squad car.

While they were there, the driver’s drunk passenger
slid behind the wheel of the stopped car, and drove away.

They stopped him a few hundred yards later, and made their second DUI arrest.