ARE PRIVATE JETS the real problem with Detroit? Nope. Just a symptom.

IN THE MAIL: King’s Dream, from Eric J. Sundquist. I feel a little sorry for Martin Luther King — his enormous accomplishments got less attention than they deserved because of the cult of Malcolm X, and now he’s being eclipsed by Barack Obama. Though I suppose he’d be perfectly okay with that.

ED DRISCOLL LOOKS AT Anger in American Politics.

WASHINGTON MONTHLY: Technology is driving down the cost of teaching undergraduates. So why are tuition bills going up?

MICHAEL GREENSPAN: Do the editors of Investor’s Business Daily watch Battlestar Galactica?

HMM: “As excited as Europeans were to see Democratic senator Barack Obama elected president in the U.S., there turned out to be an unexpected cloud around that silver lining. Namely, it’s that blacks, and minorities in general, have made far less social progress in Europe than in the United States.”

AT THE MUDVILLE GAZETTE, a look at the U.S./Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, and some thoughts on the Gates retention.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Timothy Geithner: Obama’s Teflon Treasury Secretary. Pethokoukis has a question: “Mr. Geithner, the job of the New York Fed is to — now I am quoting its own web site — ‘supervise and regulate financial institutions in the Second District [Wall Street]. Its primary objective is to maintain safe and competitive U.S. and global banking systems.’ You have been in your current post since 2003 and during that time the U.S. financial system has come close to complete disintegration. Why do you deserve a promotion?”

UNDERFUNDED / OVER-GENEROUS PENSIONS UPDATE:

New Jersey’s pension fund has lost more than $23 billion this year, dropping to its lowest level since 2003 as a collapsing financial market battered its investments, a new state report shows.

The latest losses — nearly $9 billion in October, and another $3 billion so far this month — mean the fund is now worth $57.8 billion, or less than half the $118 billion in benefits it is due to pay out over time. . . .

While Clark delivered his report to the State Investment Council in Trenton, Gov. Jon Corzine was in Atlantic City promising a convention of local government officials that he would let them postpone about a half-billion in payments they are scheduled to make to the pension funds in April.

Specifically, Corzine proposed letting local governments skip paying $541 million of the $1.1 billion due. They would gradually work their way back to full payments by 2012 under his plan.

Cutting the payments in half may avoid a big surge in property taxes, but it also will add to the shortfall in the pension accounts dedicated to local government workers, police and firefighters.

One analyst translates things thus:

The state of New Jersey is insolvent. Bankrupt might be a better word. New Jersey is $60 billion in the hole on pension funding and the Governor is planning on skipping payments in a “pension payment holiday” until 2012 so as to not increase property taxes. To top it off, the ongoing plan assumptions are 8.25%. Sorry NJ, that simply is not going to happen.

Ouch.

SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR: New Cases of Cancer Decline in U.S.: “The incidence of new cancer cases has been falling in recent years in the United States, the first time such an extended decline has been documented, researchers reported Tuesday.” More like this, please.

CHARLES RANGEL UPDATE: U.S. News: Charles Rangel Looks Like A Tax Cheat.

American Lawyer: Amid Ethics Questions, Rangel Hires Zuckerman Partner.

MarketWatch: CREW Calls for Ethics Investigation into New Allegations of Wrongdoing by Rep. Rangel.

Gothamist: Another Day, Another Question About Charles Rangel.

New York Daily News: Harlem Rep. Charlie Rangel paid Bill Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis six figures for ethics probe help.

SUSAN RICE AS U.N. AMBASSADOR? Let the next adventure begin!

IT’S NOT JUST AMERICA: Der Spiegel: German Auto Industry Facing Abyss. My dad recently replaced his 1989 Mercedes with an (I think) 2005 model, and says the newer car is noticeably inferior.

MORE ON ERIC HOLDER: “I think occasional excerpts from the House Committee on Government Reform’s lengthy and enlightening report on the Clinton pardons should be required reading — given not only President-elect Obama’s decision to nominate Holder for AG but the assertions of such ubiquitous fans as Lanny Davis that no attorney in America is better qualified for the job.” Follow the link for details.

I’M STARTING TO GET TIRED of this Obama as FDR talk.

UPDATE: Reader Alan Dawson finds the linked comparisons unimpressive:

Good grief. What next? They are both heterosexual? They both have two arms?

They forgot another shared trait, though. They both smoke.

Somebody should send Obama one of those cool cigarette-holder thingies. Can you still buy those?

BRAS FOR MEN: When life imitates Seinfeld.

JULES CRITTENDEN CELEBRATES Bush’s third term!

WELL, THAT’LL ENERGIZE THE BASE: A G.O.P. capitulation on immigration?

REDUCTIO AD HITLERUM: I like the watermelon bit.

A TRANSITION FUMBLE FOR OBAMA:

A former senior U.S. intelligence official Tuesday withdrew from consideration for a top intelligence post in the new Obama administration amid protests from liberal groups linking him to the Bush administration’s “enhanced interrogation” and secret transfers of terrorism suspects to nations that torture prisoners and political opponents.

The move by John Brennan, a former senior CIA official and head of President-elect Barack Obama’s intelligence transition team, is the first personnel setback to hit what’s otherwise been a swift and smooth transition to the White House for Obama.

On national security, Obama’s real enemies will be to the left.

MORE BLACK FRIDAY DEALS BEFORE BLACK FRIDAY, including a dirt-cheap Leatherman. If nothing else, the recession is encouraging people to slash prices.

SARAH PALIN will be campaigning for Saxby Chambliss next week.

THOUGHTS ON HENRY PAULSON: “For all those salivating at the thought of a second New Deal, this is what ‘bold, persistent experimentation’ looks like — kinda messy.”

10 PROBLEM CARS that brought GM to the brink.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING: Leaving the Bush tax cuts alone. Putting Iraq-war supporters in as Vice President and Secretary of State. And now keeping Bush’s Defense Secretary on. I’m beginning to feel like I won this election!

UPDATE: Heh. But it’s too late. Greenwald already has an inkling.