The markets are tanking today for a lot of reasons (Update: Here’s the close: Dow down 415, S&P down 50, and NASDAQ down 97; good thing I didn’t pop the cork on that “NASDAQ 2500″ champagne yesterday. :–>).

One of those reasons is the belief that 4th quarter GDP to be reported tomorrow will come in way below January’s first estimate of 3.5%.

About two weeks ago, Biz Weak (link appears to be free for now) predicted a big downward revision from the original 3.5% reported in late January to reflect inventory clampdowns by businesses — perhaps to as low as 2.0%. That still seems like a stretch from here, especially since the employment numbers reported in January and February included significant upward revisions to 2006’s final months, and since Christmas season retail sales were pretty darn good but not great. One is tempted to ask if all of these new fourth-quarter employees were sitting around producing almost nothing.

But tomorrow will indeed tell the tale.

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UPDATE: This and this would seem to indicate that panic isn’t called for.

UPDATE 2: I would also suggest that the stock market news out of China (note: NOT Hong Kong) seems to be reflective of a mini- (and maybe more) Internet/Tech bubble. The hype around Chinese stocks with nothing there shouldn’t be overlooked. The point is that the attempt to build a “China is overvalued, therefore the US is too” seems pretty thin from here.

And I’m not in the mood for speculative market discussion, which is why comments (not pings) are turned off.

The city aldermen who voted to sustain the veto of Chicago Mayor Dictator for Life Richard Daley of the proposed city ordinance that would have mandated minimum levels of pay and benefits at big-box stores are being targeted (link requires registration):

Voters across Chicago go to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to give Mayor Richard Daley a record sixth term.

In a number of wards, voters also will make their picks in City Council races pitting veteran aldermen against challengers backed by labor unions.

….. For much of Daley’s 18 years as mayor, the City Council has almost always gone along with the mayor. But aldermen have shown increasing signs of independence in the last couple of years, particularly in the debate last year over a proposal that would have mandated a $10-an-hour minimum wage for retail workers at “big box” stores such as Wal-Mart.

Angered by Daley’s veto of the ordinance, labor unions are backing many challengers to mayoral council allies.

The Chicago Federation of Labor plans to employ about 500 volunteers in five wards for “knock and drag” efforts—knocking on the doors of registered voters and bringing them to the polls.

The Service Employees International Union said it will have 800 volunteers, and some will shovel the walks of senior citizens so they can get to the polls.

Daley’s September veto was barely sustained. One or two replacements could bring some existing big-box projects to a screeching halt, and would almost certainly end any thought of new ones.

It’s hard to imagine a city effectively conceding the entire big-box retail sector to its nearby suburbs, but if key alderman seats change hands, it could very well happen.

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UPDATE: If a Big Box law actually gets on the books in Chicago, the ripple effect will resound far beyond the Windy City. The Big Boxers will generally avoid cities with similarly Democrat- and union-dominated governments like the plague. This will lead to further declines in already-struggling urban areas — like most of Ohio’s. And to put an environmentalist’s angle to it, (though I don’t buy into it as a problem, nor does John Stossel) further encouragement of urban sprawl.

On Monday, Matt at Weapons of Mass Discussion noted the hypocrisy of the laughably misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act,” which, if it becomes law, would make the following situations all legal at the same time:

• No secret ballots for union elections in the US (replaced by “card check,” a non-secret signature collection method subject to coercion and intimidation; covered previously here, here, and here).
• Secret ballots required for union elections in Mexico. (most likely as a result of NAFTA and CAFTA; anyone with a link to where the requirement is should e-mail me or leave a comment with a link)
• Secret ballots usually required to decertify a union.

“Priceless” — US workers will be less free of union and management coercion in Mexico than they are in the US.

Actually, the Act’s passage will have a price. Union leaders won’t want to hear this, but it’s true — The Act’s passage will be an open invitation to take more jobs overseas, where, incredibly, the labor situation in many other countries will be more predictable.

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UPDATE: It would appear that those supporting the Act in Congress are hopelessly out of touch with their constituents, even if they ignore Republicans. Check out this McLaughlin & Associates poll (converted to HTML from PDF and saved at host for fair use and discussion purposes), which shows overwhelming support, including 89% of Democrats, for keeping the secret ballot in union elections.

UPDATE 2: George Will — “Clearly, the act aims less to help workers than to herd them as dues-payers into unions.”

In November 2000, during the disputed presidential election won by George W. Bush (excuse the indulgence; I just enjoy typing those words, especially considering the alternative), Dick Cheney and others were (in hindsight, rightfully) pointing to negative indicators in the economy pointing to a possible recession. Furious supporters of what was to become the previous administration accused Cheney of “talking down the economy” — a charge that was lapped up by the Mainstream Media at the time.

It was nonsense, of course. But if you really believe that a soon-to-be-Vice President can “talk down the economy,” a former Federal Reserve Chairman, Mr. “Irrational Exuberance” himself, who may still have at least informal access to information many of us don’t, can be fairly accused of the same thing — can’t he?

Where are those who were on Cheney’s case now?

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

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UPDATE: Greenspan probably can’t talk down the economy, but yesterday at least one writer believed that he (Greenspan) could talk down the market for a day. Update extension: Commenter Kevin disagrees below, and makes a very good point about the immediate market reaction. My thought would be that maybe it took the market a little time to digest what Greenspan had to say and to gauge the reaction of other key people to what he said. After all, he couched a lot of his speech in the famed Greenspanese we came to know and sort of love during his reign as Fed Chairman. Further extension: This may come to be known as the week Greenspan sunk the markets if this stuff keeps up.

This item from an OpinionJournal.com editorial Tuesday looks too clever (bolds are mine):

According to the Transportation Department, 32% of Mexican trucks were pulled from the road for safety violations in 2001. Last year that number fell to 21%. Meanwhile, 21% of U.S. trucks failed safety inspections in 2001, versus 23% last year. Mexican drivers are less likely than their U.S. counterparts to be in violation of the law — 1.2% in 2006, versus 7% for U.S. truckers.

Is there a difference between “pulled from the road” and “failed safety inspections” (i.e., you can fail a safety inspection but not be “pulled from the road” — at least not immediately)?

And are Mexican drivers much less likely to be “in violation of the law” because, as Mexicans and not US citizens, they don’t fall under the jurisdiction of US law?

If either of the above answers is “yes,” the Journal is playing semantic games to downplay the potential safety impact of the Bush Administration’s plans to allow Mexican trucks on all of the roads in America (vs. the current situation of forcing them to off-load within 25 miles of the border).

Others who might know more have been contacted.

….. was it the 1980s or 1990s, or is it the current decade, that was/is the Decade of Greed?

…. that Herculean hypocrisy like this (HT Instapundit, who refers to the hubbub as an “Inconvenient Utility Bill”) would get broader exposure.

Don’t count on it.

Just look at previous examples from the left side of the aisle, known to but a few.

Nah, instead it’s more important to know how many wives someone’s great-grandfather had. Yeah, that’s relevant. (/sarcasm)

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UPDATE: Meanwhile, the former US Senator from Tennessee described here probably won’t see much praise for his conservation efforts. The fact that the other former US Senator from Tennessee — the one who produced a fantasy disguised as a documentary — is the wasteful one, while the conservative is the real conservationist, is a ready-made attention-getting news story that will probably never get past the center-right blogosphere.

UPDATE 2: Yawn. First, their response is directed to the guy doing the linking and not to the original report (doh). Second, it’s hard to see how purchasing carbon offsets absolves you from the “sin” of generating carbon that, according to enviro dogma, mostly shouldn’t have been generated in the first place. Zheesh. UPDATE 2A: Captain Ed agrees with my second point (via Anchoress) — “If Gore and his family continue to increase their consumption of commercial energy with all of the resources they have at hand, then they have no business lecturing the rest of us on conservation and down-scaling our own use.”

UPDATE 3: It’s amazing how many of these stories end up having an obvious media-bias angle — the person the moonbats like to call a “Climate Terrorist” (that would be President George W. Bush) runs a “Texas White House” that is extremely eco-friendly (HTs to Anchoress and Kim at Wizbang), especially compared to the Goremeister’s abode, and (natch) that “inconvenient truth” is being ignored.

UPDATE 4: Bryan at Hot Air — “…. these ‘carbon offsets’ are nothing but a farce. These carbon offsets’ are nothing more than indulgences in the Church of Liberalism.”

From the Dayton Daily News, February 16 (link may require registration; search initiated after reading this item at One News Now), we see the truth at last about the status of Keith Barnhill’s murderers:

SPRINGBORO — Mayor John Agenbroad said the city’s law director would review proposed local laws penalizing landlords and employers of illegal immigrants.

Agennbroad said he supported the city doing “whatever we can do” after a presentation Thursday by Citizens for Legal Communities.

The group was formed after the stabbing death of Kevin C. Barnhill, 27, of Mason on Aug. 26, 2006, outside the Mason Pub. Four Mexican men living and working in the area although apparently lacking a Social Security number, American citizenship or any legal basis for U.S. employment, have been charged with murdering Barnhill, a former sports star at Little Miami High School.

It’s telling that the bolded info got through the PC filters at the DDN even before the more closely local (in terms of where the murder occurred) Cincinnati Enquirer, which to my knowledge has yet to describe Barnhill’s murderers in those terms.

As Porkopolis finds, those who appear to be “average, aggrieved victims” are often anything but that. They are often activist types pretending to be average persons. Unfortunately, the Formerly Mainstream Media is all too willing to play along, even though in the Internet Age the true bona fides of a person can be found pretty quickly.

Until the media does its job, it will be left to bloggers like Porkopolis to unmask the likes of poseur Susan Molina, and for readers to spread the word and protest the slanted, (deliberately?) ignorant coverage.

Information Week reports that:

Spam volume is at its highest peak ever, Australia-based Marshal’s Threat Research and Content Engineering Team notes in their latest report. Spam has increased 280% since just last October.”

With spam e-mail out of control, the piece of advice from the same link at Info Week is unfortunately necessary, especially the bolded last sentence, which I suspect many readers didn’t know:

Don’t open spam. Many pieces of spam contain HTML code which will open a connection to a Web server operated by the spammers. When you connect, you have verified that you opened the message. That informs the spammers that they have a good e-mail address, which — you guessed it — results in them sending you even more spam. Delete spam without opening it. Therefore, don’t use your e-mail program’s preview pane. Previewing spam is the same as viewing it.

I will be more than a little disappointed if I discover upon dying that there isn’t a special place in wing of hell for spammers.

Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor Monday:

By Larry Shaughnessy
CNN Washington Bureau
Adjust font size:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall’s heroics in Vietnam were immortalized in a movie and a critically acclaimed book.

More than 40 years after Crandall repeatedly risked his life to rescue American soldiers fighting one of the toughest battles of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military officially recognized his heroism Monday, when he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for military valor.

“For the soldiers rescued, for the men who came home, for the children they had and the lives they made, America is in debt to Bruce Crandall,” President Bush said during the awards ceremony. “It’s a debt our nation can never really fully repay.”

Although it took more than four decades for the military to honor Crandall, he considers himself fortunate. (Watch Crandall recount the battle of la Drang Valley )

“Most people get [the Medal of Honor] after they are dead, so I’m one of the lucky ones,” said Crandall, 74, who lives in retirement with his wife, Arlene, in Manchester, Washington.

His heroism was almost unrecognized — when his unit deployed to Vietnam, it was shorthanded in administrative positions so that medal citations weren’t handled promptly, Crandall said. As the regulations were then written, citations could not be filed more than two years after the action took place.

Later the regulations were changed so that there was no limit on when citations could be filed.

Crandall’s story goes back to the early days of the Vietnam War.

On November 15, 1965, a battalion of soldiers was ordered to attack North Vietnamese troops in the Ia Drang Valley in the central highlands of South Vietnam. It would be the first major battle between the U.S. and North Vietnamese armies and one of the first uses of helicopters to insert troops into battle quickly.

Crandall flew the lead helicopter into the attack at Landing Zone X-Ray. The 450 American soldiers soon were surrounded by a much larger force of experienced North Vietnamese troops. During one landing, three men on Crandall’s helicopter were killed and three others were wounded.

“As we came in, across the trees, the enemy was there and in the landing zone. I had my crew chief shot through the throat,” Crandall said recently. “I could see the people shooting at me from, just off the left of my rotor blades.”

But he couldn’t shoot back because his helicopter didn’t have the M60 machine guns that later would become standard equipment on the UH-1 “Huey” that Crandall flew.

In spite of the danger, Crandall flew into X-Ray more than 18 times to bring in ammunition and bring out the wounded.

“It was the longest day I ever experienced in any aircraft,” Crandall said.

He had to switch helicopters several times because of damage from enemy fire.

“When an aircraft got hit in those times, we would use duct tape to cover the holes, and the purpose of covering the holes was so you knew what was a new hole and what was an old one that had been inspected,” he said.

Crandall and his wingman, Ed “Too Tall” Freeman, saved 70 wounded soldiers that day.

The battle and the pilots’ deeds were described in the book “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young” by Gen. Harold Moore, commander of the battalion on the ground, and Joseph Galloway, the only war correspondent there for the entire battle.

It later was made into the 2002 movie “We Were Soldiers,” starring Mel Gibson as Moore and Greg Kinnear as Crandall.

Crandall, a major at the time of the battle, was a consultant on the movie set.

The citation to be read at the White House ceremony will say in part that Crandall’s “bravery and daring courage to land under the most extreme hostile fire instilled in the other pilots the will and spirit to continue.”

Monday’s ceremony was the second Medal of Honor awarded from that battle. Freeman received the Medal of Honor in 2001.

Crandall said Freeman defines the word “hero.”

“Freeman didn’t have to volunteer,” Crandall said. “I have to go, I am the commander, so Freeman stepped up and went. I really didn’t want him to. We’d been friends for 10 years.”