Obama's first press conference

I thought it was really weird that he called himself a mutt. I wonder what other biracial people think about that.

With his transition economic team on hand at the Hilton in Chicago, Barack Obama took several questions -- from Nedra Pickler, Lee Cowen, Chip Reid, John McCormick, Lynn Sweet, Candy Crowley and Jeff Zeleny -- that spanned his goals in the first 100 days to the Obama family's puppy selection process.

In explaining his decision not to introduce new economic plans today, Obama said that the nation has just one president at a time -- read: make no mistake, this economic mess still belongs to George W. Bush. He did say that he endorses passage of a stimulus package, either during the lame duck session of Congress or after he takes office. And he dodged questions about his post-election intelligence briefing(s) and if he intends to raise taxes for Americans in the upper income bracket.

As for the all-important matter of the dog, there are two issues in play: weighing the need to have a hypoallergenic pooch for one allergic daughter and a family interest in adopting a shelter dog, or a "mutt," Obama said, just like he.

Dixville Notch goes to Obama

Democrat Barack Obama came up a big winner in the presidential race in Dixville Notch, N.H., where the nation's first Election Day votes were cast and counted early Tuesday.

Obama defeated John McCain 15-6. Independent Ralph Nader was also on the ballot, but received no votes.

The first voter, following tradition established in 1948, was picked ahead of the midnight voting and the rest of the town's 19 registered voters followed suit in Tuesday's first minutes.

Town Clerk Rick Erwin says the northern New Hampshire town is proud of its tradition, but says the most important thing is that the turnout represents 100 percent vote.

President Bush won the vote in Dixville Notch in 2004 on the way to his re-election.

DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. (AP)

---------------------

15 to 6. That's right. Obama won by a whopping 9 votes!!!

Sarah Palin

Great Sarah Palin article in the weekend edition of USA Today.

I especially enjoyed one of the comments:

People removed from middle America just don't seem to be able to
understand. When they sit around in their own circles and discuss things
they are sure everyone must agree with them because all of our friends do.
They forget, people in the largest inner cities are very different from
the rest of the country, and we are the majority.

Palin appeals to people because she represents them. Not necessarily
agreeing with all her positions, but overall the person herself. She
represents a citizen politician.

When you read something ridiculous the government does and you say, "If I
could be in charge for just a week, I would fix that place quick". She is
that person. She is the one that said, I can do better than the idiot in
charge. Then she ran for Governor and proved it.

The American public is in love with her and her folksy way and raw
outdoors feel. They love her can do attitude and lack of fear. They love
her family, especially because it has its own problems. They see her as
REAL. They know what she stands for, because they do too. They also know
standing for something doesn't make it always occur, because no matter how
they all tried, they had failures too. They like it that she is still
trying with all the normal problems. And when people pick on her, like
this article, they rally around like someone just picked on their family,
because they think she is.

It's going to be a fast finish from here. The Palin love affair cannot
wear out in 7 weeks time, and attacking it wont do any good. The people
that have fallen for her, have adopted her, and when someone attacks her,
they are attacking them. The biggest worry the democratic party should
have now, is, do they lose the Senate and the Congress as well, as the
love affair is a real one.

Also see coverage in the Peoria Journal Star.

Aurora News: Hispanic Pioneers Breakfast Friday

Aurora has a lot of Hispanics, and there is a special event scheduled for Friday to honor them.

AURORA -- The annual Aurora Hispanic Pioneers Breakfast is scheduled for Friday at La Sierra Banquets. The breakfast, sponsored by 2nd Ward Alderman Juany ..

Read more at the Aurora Beacon News.

Waukegan News: Tot crushed in crash

What a terrible disaster. It's hearbreaking to read about stuff like this. You wonder was the child properly secured? Was anybody at fault, or was it really just an accident where nothing could have been done.

The child was was pronounced dead at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan. Booth said Friday that the collision remains under investigation.

Read more at the Waukegan News Sun.

Peoria News: Peoria County could see jump in number of lead poisonings

It's amazing that lead poisoning continues to be an issue. You'd have thought that after decades of knowing about this stuff it would have been eradicated by now, but it's still around, increasing even. Scary.

By CLARE HOWARD Peoria County cut its rate of childhood lead poisoning from nearly 15 percent of tested children in 2003 to just over 8 percent in 2006, .

Read more at the Peoria Journal Star.

Joe Biden - Plagiarism scandal

Joe Biden is a plagiarist. Is that surprise?

The only practical explanation for Biden's plagiarism is he guessed that being Kinnock on the stump would be more compelling for his audience than merely citing him. And he was probably right. Anecdotes about how a British politician made a success of himself thanks to Labor Party policies would hardly encourage an American voter to pull the lever for Joe Biden. Biden plagiarized because, like most plagiarists, he was unsatisfied with his own, honest material and decided that the payoff was worth the risk.

Another time-honored defense of plagiarists is that the incident was a one-off. But in Biden's case, we know that's not true. As E.J. Dionne Jr. reported in the previously mentioned Times article, he "plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote in his first year at law school" at the Syracuse University College of Law. According to a Dec. 1, 1965, report by the law school, five pages of Biden's 15-page paper were copied without quotation or attribution.

Biden's defense? He told Dionne—and his professors at Syracuse at the time—that he misunderstood citation and footnoting rules. The Dionne piece is especially rich with other Bidenisms. The candidate accuses other presidential campaigns of digging up the Syracuse law school story, but he does not specify which campaigns engineered this smear.

If you give Biden the benefit of the doubt—and I don't—you'd expect that such a calamitous "mistake" from his youth would have seared into his mind the importance of keeping his mitts off of other people's words. That it didn't speaks terabytes about his character.

More from Slate magazine.