Today is a big day for the United States. In about fifteen minutes Justice Alito will be confirmed as a new supreme court justice. If you thought the laws in the US were conservative before, wait until another few years have passed. Now that everyone has decided that all laws in the US should be interpreted by the Supreme Court, and that the president should only be answerable to the court (and then only occasionally), things will be very interesting for at least a decade or so.

Then, this evening, the State of the Union address will allow the president to lay out his plans for the coming year. Lots of people are speculating that he won't say anything monumental because he's such a lame duck right now, but I wonder if they don't underestimate his hubris. We'll see. The BBC has a great what is the state of the union address? web page, which has lots of interesting tidbits of American history, including what it considers the two most important speeches (the monroe doctrine and the emancipation proclamation (first draft)).

Today is also the last day of Alan Greenspan's tenure as chairman of the federal reserve board. With housing prices possibly going into freefall this summer, we'll have to wait and see what his final legacy is, but he's certainly been influential.

Finally, a sneaky little story that could easily get overwhelmed by all the other news - real wages fell last year. Yes, the average American worker in fact will make less money this year than last. I would probably fall into that category, if it weren't for the four months I didn't work last year!

Dude, I didn't know you had a blog! I can't believe your photo, you look so different than 6 years ago (imagine that)...added your site to my favorites list... *trying to ignore the current events of the US and failing*

I've been trying to ignore current events in the US as well, but sadly I'm living here, so they're harder to escape.

He's always been a lame duck... just in a different sense. Have I ever told you how much the Idiot Imposter reminds me of Elmer Fudd... you hafta admit, there is a STRONG resemblence--especially when he says something his thinks is clever, or when he says "strategic." Then, there are the times he wears flannel... ooooooohhhhhh yeah! "Be veddy, veddy quiet, we are hunting tear-ror-rists!"