. . . a college football playoff:

Kroft: I have one last question. As president of the United States, what can you do, or what do you plan to do, about getting a college football playoff for the national championship?

. . . Mr. Obama: This is important . . . I think any sensible person would say that if you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner that we should be creating a playoff system. Eight teams. That would be three rounds, to determine a national champion. It would it would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I'm gonna throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do.

This has to be at the top of the agenda. My previous post on this paramount issue here.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

More bad news on the economic front. The Dow Jones dropped more than 410 points today.

The Dow Jones industrials dropped more than 410 points, and all the major indexes lost more than 4 percent. The stock market has lost about $1 trillion over the past three days, according to the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, which reflects the value of nearly all U.S. stocks.

Among the reasons:

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he was backing away from buying troubled mortgage assets and would focus on the capital needs of both banks and non-bank financial institutions.

[More...]

The economy continues to deteriorate:

• Fannie Mae Posts $29 Billion Loss
• Feds Increase AIG Bailout by $40 Mil, total now $150 billion
• Circuit City Files for Bankruptcy
• And the Dems are calling for an auto industry bailout.

It's too bad the country's problems would not be as easy for Barack Obama to solve as it would be to fix college football's ridiculous system for crowning a national champion. Of course Barack Obama was joking when he said "he would make a college football playoff 'one of my legislative priorities' as President." But I am sure he wishes the country's problems would be as easy to solve as the college football mess. Because there is nothing so simple.

College football already has the mechanisms for choosing the teams that would be in an 8 team playoff. The champions of the 5 major conferences (SEC, Big 12, Pac 10, Big Ten and ACC) receive automatic bids to BCS bowls. The BCS even has a mechanism for an automatic bid for lesser conferences - whose champions get an automatic bid if they are among the Top 12 BCS ranked teams at the end of the season. The remaining bids are at large and can be chosen by the BCS rankings. Will there be griping? Perhaps. But if you did not win your conference how serious a gripe can you have?

More . . .

As we await the outcome of the most monumental presidential election in ... well, at least the last four years ... let's take a deep breath, relax, and ask ourselves what the next president will do about one of the nation's most serious crime problems: the out-of-control gangs of roving roosters in Benton, Illinois.

[P]olice [in Benton] took a rooster into custody after it allegedly confronted a woman and her child. Police Chief Mike O'Neill said the rooster has been bothering people lately, trying to keep them from getting where they want to go. O'Neill said officers had enough on Monday and took the rooster into custody after what he described as a brief scuffle.

Apparently tasers were not used. And yes, it may have been only one maladapted rooster, but it's only a matter of time before gangs of rogue roosters are terrorizing your community! Let's make sure the next administration isn't soft on roosters.

Just heard him say it on ESPN in an interview at halftime of Monday Night football. He is 100% correct. Course that means the SEC would win the national championship every year. That's change we can believe in.

Oh BTW, how about them Gators?

This is an Open Thread.

Wall Street took a steep fall this morning.

For the superstitious among you, October 24, 1929 was the day the Great Depression started.

The crash of 1929, like the current global economic crisis, came after a prolonged period of economic growth.

October 24, 1929, known as Black Thursday, marked the first day of the crash with panic selling ensuing on the Dow Jones. This was triggered by predictions of an impending market crash, leading to a record 13m shares being traded.

A few days ago I wrote about Fred Baron's sudden diagnosis of multiple myeloma and Biomed's refusal to allow him to use the drug Tysabri. His son Andrew, founder of Rocketboom, enlisted dignataries from Lance Armstrong to Bill Clinton, John Kerry and others to the public to convince Biomed to allow Baron to receive the drug.

Biomed has relented and Baron now is being treated with the drug at the Mayo Clinic.....Andrew Baron said the Mayo Clinic, working with the FDA, found a legal basis for using Tysabri on his father.

Stocks fell again today as recession fear set in.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 700 points, giving back nearly all its record gain from Monday.

The Dow closed down 7.9 percent, or 733 points, at 8,578. That follows a loss of 77 points yesterday, which nearly wipes out Monday's 936-point gain. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was off 9 percent, with a 90-point decline, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 8.5 percent, losing 151 points.

More...

Yesterday's stock market gains didn't last through today. The Dow closed down today , due to fears of recession.

Two stocks that gained: Citigroup and Bank of America.

The AP has more on today's 200 point drop.

On a related note, GMAC told General Motors car dealers yesterday only people with credit scores above 700 will get new car loans. That's going to leave a lot of unsold cars on the GM dealers' lots. Cars the dealerships may own but be financing and paying interest on. How long can they hold out? [More...]

The Wisconsin Badgers are losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. [Update: 10-7 Badgers, end of half] [Final: 20-17 Ohio State grumble] The legendary UW Marching Band isn't helping the team to victory tonight, having been suspended for hazing.

No details were immediately released about the behavior, only that it involved inappropriate alcohol use, hazing and sexualized behavior. Leckrone said it involved only a small number of band members, but it was significant enough to warrant the suspension.

UW football players are suspended once or twice a year, usually in conjunction with criminal charges. It would be remarkable to see the entire team suspended for a game, particularly in light of the revenue loss a team suspension would generate. Is it reasonable to suspend an entire band of 300 (I don't know how many of those perform at a home game) for the actions of an admitted few?

[more ...]

Shocking and sad news. Paul Newman, one of the finest actors and persons we have ever seen , has passed away.

My favorite Paul Newman scene remains this, from The Verdict:

RIP Paul Newman, a great actor and fine human being.