Canada's great, but another reason is that their money's money

Three words: Montreal Canadiens coins.

We Americans can't even be bothered with spending one dollar coins or two dollar bills, but how many people would treat a New York Yankees coin like it was radioactive?

Well, starting with me, at least one.

One Last Breakthrough from a President Obama

On this remarkable, historic day of the Inauguration of President Obama, many have pondered and discussed the meaning of having an African-American as our president and, essentially, as (once again) the leader of the free world.

But these pundits miss a bigger, more macro story because they're blinded by the president's skin color -- while they're talking about whether people will continue to be blinded by his skin color.

The bigger, more general breakthrough is this: not since the days of the founders of our country has a president been the child of a parent who was not born on American soil. The last possibility was Mike Dukakis, and we remember how that went.

That this president's father was born in Kenya -- or for our discussion, anywhere not America -- yet sired (and abandoned) a son who has personified the American dream, shows the progress that our culture has made:

* That a child of a single mother -- notwithstanding the ravings of a lunatic -- can do great things in America;

* That anyone's son, molded from our uniquely America melting pot, can become formed into something great.

So, despite the anti-immigrant hoo-ha that tends to be aimed toward our southern border -- that means you, Lou Dobbs -- it seems that America once again lifts its lamp beside the golden door of opportunity.

Opening Time, Closing Time, Equally Crazy

We already knew WalMart was killing the country economically, but it now has an on-site death toll on its hands. It not only sucks the life out of its towns, but out of its temp sales associates, too.

As does Toys R Us and its customers.

If these weren't so tragic, they'd be ridiculous.

It's said that nothing good happens after 2 a.m. Apparently, that now means when you start your day interacting with people, instead of just after the bar.

If you want to check out the movie, "WalMart - The High Cost of Low Prices," you can do so here.

Here's video on this year's New York WalMart stampede:



And here's a video of an early morning Black Friday WalMart opening from last year:



Think that this was truly unforeseeable?

A President Whose Last Name Ends In a Vowel Is Globally Attractive

I've long thought that the "War on Terrorism" would ultimately be won by winning hearts and minds around the world. Really, would we ever be able to kill every last possible terrorist who would do our country harm? Or is it better to bring into the American fold of allies the governments of where those potential bad guys live, and have those governments help us out by dealing with the bad guys?

Sort of, "fight them there instead of fighting them here." And it'd be cheaper for America, in both blood and treasure.

But, perhaps you've noticed after the French were all Americans, too, on 9/12/01, we've since lost squandered those hearts and minds around the word.

Yet, in one day, and with one election, the world sees America as a much more open and attractive and intelligent place.

Let the re-branding of America begin.

We're Free!

It's regime change, baby.

I'm thrilled to be living in a purpler America.

<= Don't have to worry about this old seal.

Now he can break out the real one.

Two Reasons Obama Won

1. He's a Democrat from a great American city in a state that is quintessentially American.

2. He's a Democrat from the next generation that has to pay for the checks the two previous American generations have written and couldn't wouldn't cover.

Nobel Gets Real

Whatever you think of Paul Krugman and his positions, anything that makes Americans pay more attention to the real world intersection of their lives and economics -- like giving Krugman the Nobel Prize in Economics -- is only a good thing.

And, no, it's not because Mr. Nobel's dynamite just blew up the global economy.

Read the article.

It's Time for Us to Open Our Windows and Start Yelling

Randi Rhodes opened her show yesterday with the classic bit below.

To create such a timelessly relevant, quintessentially American piece of work in 1976, Paddy Chayefsky was a genius.

And now, my friends, the patron saint of 60SecondBlog.com, Mr. Howard Beale: