From The Annals Of Odd Defenses

Mo. students face punishment for `Hit a Jew Day'(Jim Salter, AP, 10/24/08)

At least four students from a suburban St. Louis middle school face punishment for allegedly hitting Jewish classmates during what they called "Hit a Jew Day."

The incident happened last week at Parkway West Middle School in Chesterfield.

District officials said Thursday they believe that fewer than 10 children of the district's 35 Jewish students were struck.

UPDATE: Mrs. Davidssecretblog finds it somewhat ominous that they apparently have a list of the district's Jewish students.

Not My Dream Line-Up

A commenter at Ann Althouse's blog notes that the presumptive line of succession after President Obama is inaugurated will be:

1. Vice President Joe Biden;
2. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi;
3. Senate President pro tem Robert Byrd;
4. Secretary of State John Kerry.

David, I Hear You Say,

Why are you able to remain so cool in a crisis? Why are not you panicking?

While the current economic situation is uncomfortable, there are three numbers I'm keeping an eye on that convince me that all is not lost: the 30 year fixed mortgage rate (6.011 APR today on E-Loan), the 10 year Treasury rate (3.72% in today's auction) and the dollar exchange rate (up against just about all world currencies in the last few weeks). All of these are in very comfortable territory in historical terms.

Basically, these numbers mean that we're not in a liquidity trap, that people still have faith in the credit worthiness of the federal government and that, in a crisis, international money is still taking refuge in the dollar. I'm not saying that everything is hunky dorey, but I am saying that, right now, the smart money is not expecting Great Depression II.