L.A. TIMES: Barack Obama’s economic advisory board has been very good to him.

TOYOTA CUTS SPENDING, increases hybrid development.

OBAMA’S VICTORY BRINGS youth and energy to government!

Sen. Robert Byrd has allowed his wings to be clipped. The 90-year-old longest-serving senator in U.S. history revealed Friday he will step down next year as chairman of the powerful appropriations committee. He is in fragile health. . . . Sen. Daniel Inouye, 84, of Hawaii will become chairman, taking the committee’s helm.

I hope someone will give that youngster some guidance until he gets his feet under him.

SOME ECONOMIC WORRIES from Dan Riehl. Nonsense. I’m sure Treasury Secretary Barney Frank will do a marvelous job!

WASHINGTON POST OMBUDSMAN: Yes, we were in the tank for Obama. Sorry about that! Plus, this: “One gaping hole in coverage involved Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate. When Gov. Sarah Palin was nominated for vice president, reporters were booking the next flight to Alaska. Some readers thought The Post went over Palin with a fine-tooth comb and neglected Biden. They are right; it was a serious omission.”

EUGENE VOLOKH ON MANDATORY VOLUNTEERISM: “I’m curious: How would unions react to this?”

PALOMA BECOMES CAT 4 STORM, heads for Cuba. More here.

MORE TALK OF AN AUTO INDUSTRY BAILOUT: “As the financial crisis spreads to the automotive industry, a $50 billion taxpayer-funded bailout is likely. Its message: a big reward for failure. But if this happens, the rest of us are owed new models on labor and trade.”

MICKEY KAUS: Vertical Ticket-Splitters Rule!

IN THE MAIL: Orson Scott Card’s Ender in Exile, a new direct sequel to Ender’s Game. Comes out on Tuesday.

MORE ON MANDATORY VOLUNTEERISM: Hey, Mr. President — leave those kids alone!

ADVICE TO THE REPUBLICANS: Do what Rahm Emanuel would do in your position! “Put as many long-range torpedoes into the water aimed at Senator Obama’s ship of state before Republicans lose control of the Executive Branch as possible.” Some examples:

*Appoint U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzpatrick as a special prosecutor so he can pursue his investigation of Tony Rezko and his corrupt dealings with Illinois’s governor and other creatures and spoilsmen of the Daley Machine. This will make it politically difficult for a President Obama to pardon Mr. Rezko and impossible for him to terminate Mr. Fitzpatrick as a federal officer come January 21 as a way of de-railing this investigation.

* Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate ACORN’s voter registration methods and its dealings with the Obama campaign.

* Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Obama campaign’s on-line fundraising operation, including its disabling of the credit card security software on its on-line donations system. File a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding same.

* Appoint a bipartisan (love that word!) presidential commission to review the candidates’ fundraising in this election cycle and to recommend changes in federal election laws.

File ethics complaints against Sen. Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank for their relationship with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Countrywide Mortgage.

Be it noted that, in his day, this is probably what Newt Gingrich would have done, too. It was then-Congressman Gingrich’s persistent filing of ethics complaints against then-House Speaker Jim Wright, D Texas, which eventually brought Speaker Wright down and made possible the Republicans’ re-taking of Congress in 1994 on the platform of the Contract with America.

Who needs a honeymoon anyway? Not Rahm Emanuel.

This probably is what Emanuel would do if the positions were reversed. But are these suggestions realistic?

GOING JOHN JANE GALT: They told me that if Barack Obama were elected, rich people would withhold their taxes as a means of political protest. And they were right! Melissa Etheridge to Stop Paying $500k/Year in CA Taxes After Passage of Prop 8.

L.A. TIMES: Gays, blacks divided on Proposition 8.

UPDATE: Dan Savage is angry: “I’m done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there—and they’re out there, and I think they’re scum—are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.” And Ta-Nehisi Coates comments: “The anger is justified, expected, and human. But it’s not how we’re going to fix this.” (Via Andrew Sullivan, who also calls for people to chill.)

ANOTHER UPDATE: More thoughts here: “There will be equality between gays and straights; let’s try not to burn too many bridges on our way there.”

AMERICA CAN TAKE PRIDE: Some post-election analysis from Iowahawk.

THE CHARLES RANGEL SCANDALS CONTINUE:

Rangel in September said he would hire a “forensic accountant” (think: “CSI: Charlie”) to untangle a 20-year morass of tax returns and to determine just how much money he’s made and how much in unpaid taxes he may still owe.

(Reminder: Rangel’s committee writes the nation’s tax laws.)

But as The Post’s Isabel Vincent reported, two months later Rangel’s lawyers claim they can’t locate a single qualified firm that hasn’t contributed to Rangel’s campaigns or has no pending business before Ways & Means.

The same lawyers, incidentally, have already been paid more than $121,000 from Rangel’s campaign committee.

The new politics of hope and change!

PALOMA: Some local reports from the Caymans on StormCarib. Big-picture coverage from Brendan Loy.

UPDATE: Reports of winds as high as 155 mph on Cayman Brac, and lots of damage on Little Cayman, but looks like Grand Cayman dodged a bullet with only minor damage.

HMM: Prosecutors Look at Countrywide VIP Loans.

HAVING two BMWs to pay for.

MICHAEL S. MALONE: My Own Personal Media Bubble.

STONEHENGE.

SOME THOUGHTS ON OBAMA’S mandatory volunteerism plan. Plus, reader Nancy Anne Potts writes:

Looks like the change.gov site is true to it’s title – it changes!

During the time when I was looking at the blog you linked to concerned mandatory community service the change.gov page saying “require community service” changed to goal for community service. The new wording is:

“….. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free.”

I found the the cached page on Google it has the original “required” wording.

Looks like they caught their “mistake”. Now will the real plan please step forward — goal or required. (Although the way government sets goals, they often wind up looking like requirements so maybe the two aren’t all that different.)

Ugh! I see card check made the economy page too. He may be the president elect but I don’t have to like his plans!

Not until the second term. Then that will be made mandatory, too . . . .

Meanwhile, Robert Bidinotto comments: “Anyone recall what the Soviets used to do to history books?” The Obama folks have a history of airbrushing.

MATT WELCH: Who Shall They Give My Money To Next? “In addition to the horror-show of government giveaways listed below, it now appears as though America’s crappy car companies will be seeking another $50 billion from the money factory formerly known as the United States Treasury. And if President-Elect Obama’s first press conference is any indication, there’ll be more green where that came from come January.”

GAY ACTIVISTS attack blacks over gay marriage. “It was like being at a klan rally except the klansmen were wearing Abercrombie polos and Birkenstocks. YOU NIGGER, one man shouted at men. If your people want to call me a FAGGOT, I will call you a nigger. Someone else said same thing to me on the next block near the temple…me and my friend were walking, he is also gay but Korean, and a young WeHo clone said after last night the niggers better not come to West Hollywood if they knew what was BEST for them.”

My goodness. All this hope, change and unity is getting kind of scary.

HEY, I JUST FOUND OUT I’m “Scholar of the Week.”

So is that cooler than Yalie of the Week, or not as cool?