Midday Open Thread

• Senate Democrats are threatening to call Bush’s bluff:
  

  Still bitter after last year’s appropriations battles with President Bush, Senate Democrats are holding out the possibility of punting this year’s annual spending bills to the next president if Bush refuses to negotiate again this year.

  - mcjoan

• Trader Joe’s will begin phasing out Chinese food imports by April 1st due to customer concerns about the safety. Will other retailers follow suit?
• The land directly next to the famous Hollywood sign is officially for sale.  The current owners indicate there are  five parcels available for homes to be built on. Unless the city wants one of the most famous landmarks in the world to be gobbled up by another subdivision, Hollywood officials had better act fast.
• Ireland is thinking of going right. No, not politically, but on the roads. There is an effort underway to switch from driving on the left, to driving on the right side of the road. Tourism is such a big part of the Irish economy and a high number of traffic incidents involve tourists.
• Officials in India are reporting that the Tiger population has dropped more than 50% in the last 5 years. It would be shameful if these magnificent animals are extinct in our lifetime.
• Even as Japan continues to defend its whaling practices, it seems the Japanese public is losing their appetite for whale meat.  Large quantities are rotting due to lack of sales.
• More fall-out from the housing market crisis as Morgan Stanley announces it will shed 1,000 jobs from it’s residential mortgage division.
• That strong economy Mister Bush touted in his final State of the Union address is reaching its tentacles out to students.
  

  Michigan Higher Education Student Loan Authority,  a state agency, said on its Web site that “due to the current and unprecedented capital-markets disruption” it will stop making loans under the state’s Michigan Alternative Student Loan, or MI-Loan, program.

  – Meteor Blades

• The 2nd-largest investor at Yahoo is publicly encouraging Microsoft to make another offer……and for Yahoo to accept.

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