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A post by Pat

• Schwarzenegger casting ahead to future role

  An array of speculation about Arnold’s plans after his governship terminates—or sooner. He’s been burnishing his liberal credentials on environmentalism and taxation. Among other tax initiatives he wants to tax veterinary services for pets including spaying and neutering. He defends his suggestions saying, “We have drastic problems that require drastic and immediate action. We must stop the bleeding right now.”

• Cuba has “secret” military contacts with US: Castro

  Fidel Castro let Sean Penn in on a secret. The U.S. and Cuban armies have had “secret” military cooperation since 1994, a fact unknown to the world. There are monthly meetings and joint emergency-response exercises. For example, says Castro, the Cuban forces would set a fire and American and Cuban helicopters would bring water from the bay to put it out. I wish I could dismiss this as a tall tale between two conceited wind bags, but a part of me believes there just might be an element of truth to it.

• Why Government Intervention Won’t Last

  I certainly hope this prognosis is correct. The eagerness with which the private sector is rushing to Washington has me worried.
  

  But the current love-in with the state will be short-lived. Every time there has been a perceived crisis of capitalism in recent decades, the government’s economic role has swelled. But inevitably, this process gets thrown into reverse and the free market stages a rousing comeback. That’s because governments can screw up economies just as effectively — in fact, more effectively — than free markets.

• Cyber Attack Traced to Russia
  

  Military electronics experts have not pinpointed the source or motive of the attack and could not say whether the destructive program was created by an individual hacker or whether the Russian government may have had some involvement. Defense experts may never be able to answer such questions, officials said.

• Cancer Rates Drop in the U.S

  Overall, cancer death rates have been dropping since the early 1990s — the most recent data suggest that death rates have decreased for 10 of the 15 most common causes of cancer death in the U.S. — in large part as a result of earlier screening and better treatments. But this year’s Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer marks the first concurrent decline in incidence, or the rate of new cancer diagnoses. For both American men and women, the incidence of all cancers combined decreased 0.8% per year from 1999 through 2005. That overall decline was largely driven by men, however: cancer incidence dropped 1.8% per year from 2001 through 2005 for men but just 0.6% per year from 1998 through 2005 for women.

• Now that Obama’s won, Fox News can’t seem to catch his eye

  Obama has held a record number of news conferences for a President-elect…or holding court as some may see it. Looks like Fox News will spend a long time out in the wilderness. Not once has a Fox correspondent been called on in any post-election news conference.

• Joe Biden has been spotted

  Apparently Lunch Bucket Joe didn’t have Thanksgiving dinner at Katie’s Restaurant. This year, as they have done for the last 33 years, the Bidens spent Thanksgiving in a rented $4 million, 5,280 sq ft mansion on Nantucket. No word on any side trips to Home Depot.