There are no national championship implications. There are no Heisman Trophy candidates. There are no fired or soon-to-be-retired coaches on either sideline.
Portuguese and Spanish borrowing costs rose sharply Wednesday as investors worried that the governments' debt loads will prove unsustainable, putting them next in line for a European bailout, and as a major public sector strike hit Portugal.
President Obama, Sarah Palin, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Fox News host Glenn Beck, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Comedy Central fake newsmen Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, "ground zero mosque" organizer Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, "the Chilean miners," "the unemployed American," Lady Gaga.
The election is over, and even as politicians and pundits prepare for the battle ahead, two small organizations are already gearing up for a January fight. While the political fights ahead have the potential to influence millions in future generations, this fight will impact hundreds, though in a more profound way.
It was the economy that drove the Democrats out and a Republican majority in. Specifically, it was the failure of President Obama's "stimulus" package to stimulate the economy enough to bring the unemployment rate down. Now a lame-duck 111th Congress is going to have to decide what to do. The Republican-led 112th Congress will confront the same questions when it convenes in January. Before making more decisions about economic stimulus, we should be absolutely clear why the huge stimulus program failed.
Oprah Winfrey's new network is planning new series on two pairs of entertainers with complicated lives: country music stars the Judds and actor Ryan O'Neal and his daughter, Tatum.
Nintendo sank to a first-half loss, its first in seven years, as a rising yen and long-delayed release of its 3-D gaming machine set the scene for a weak full-year result.
Food Network star Paula Deen plans to cook up some fun as grand marshal of the 2011 Rose Parade.
New year, new Lindsay Lohan? That appears to be the hope of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox, who on Friday ordered the starlet to remain in rehab until January.
