Best magazine articles - Over at Ace of Spades, there was a link to the best magazine articles ever and my mind immediately jumped to the wonderful author (and former airline pilot) William Langewiesche and his Atlantic magazine article "The Crash of EgyptAir 990."

If a magazine article or book or blog is supposed to evoke vivid images and make you think, then this article has it all. One thing I'll never forget from this article is the assessment of an official from the NTSB who must listen to the cockpit voice recorders. He said that every recording starts the same way - the pilot says: "What the hell was that?" That wasn't the case with EgyptAir 990 which plunged into the ocean under, um, less-than-mysterious circumstances.

Last refuge of a scoundrel: blaming the teleprompter - Washington Examiner: "Obama stays on message about his messaging problem."

Say, Mr. President, how did the MTV/Jon Stewart/urban radio/Ryan Seacrest whirlwind tour work out for you? Oh...not so good: "Exit poll: Lower turnout among youth and black voters."

And now, back to business

Which means that this blog will get back to my singular obsession with America's debt in general and entitlement spending in particular. Let's get back in the swing of things with "Entitlements and Guaranteed Bankruptcy" over at Lew Rockwell:

The Social Security numbers do not add up. This is slowly becoming obvious to a minority of voters. When combined with Medicare, the numbers are simply ridiculous. There is no way that the promises can be fulfilled.

Author Gary North hits upon many themes including the heresy that the federal government can simply take away your Social Security benefits; there is no "guarantee" in the system. It would be so much more honest for the Feds to fess up and tell workers under 40: under current law, we're going to lop off a quarter of your promised Social Security benefit. Please plan accordingly.

"Community" is on tonight

Time for a well-deserved break from politics:

Obama's press conference after the midterms

I was going to write a longer post about Obama's presser today, but here's the abridged version: the President has no regrets whatsoever about the policies and practices of his Administration.

If Americans are angry, it's because Republicans failed to compromise or there's a communication misstep or he "adopted" the problem. All of the legislation he pushed - especially healthcare - is as pure as Obama's altruistic intentions, and segregated from the deficit-busting cost or the actual and unintended results.

In other words, it's not him America - it's you.

Extra - I swear I wrote what's above before I went to AoSHQ: "It would have been much shorter and much more honest if he just said what he really wants to say, 'Let me be clear, I'm still awesome. If you're not smart enough to get that, it's on you not me'."

More - Jennifer Rubin has some thoughts on Contentions.

And this - From Protein Wisdom and Legal Insurrection.

Finally – Here's the great Victor Davis Hanson with "Obama doesn't get it." Excerpt:

President Obama came close, but he still just cannot admit that his radical policies and their effects on the economy are the cause of his devastating political rebuke. For most of his press conference, an oddly depressed Obama voted present, as he all but said that the problems are mostly ours, not his - or at least not his agenda but perhaps an occasional inadequate communication.

In clingers fashion, he once more is talking down to us, explaining that we confused his necessary solutions with a bogeyman increase in big government, and so typically, in fright and ignorance, lashed out at his party. He is claiming the outrage grew from the same frustration that elected him, rather than arising precisely because of him and his agenda.

Obama's intransigence, coupled with the bad blood generated with his petty personal attacks on Speaker-to-be John Boehner means that we're in for a "small ball" Congress where very little on the President's agenda gets passed. Thank heaven.

America turns the keys over to the Slurpee sippers - Well, several news outlets have declared that the Republicans have officially gained enough seats to control the House and - by the morning - it looks like the swing will be bigger than 1994. The Senate was always a longshot and there were some victories (Rubio, Kirk) balanced by some disappointments (Reid). Both the Washington and Colorado Senate races are too close to call but I can't stay up any longer.

More symbolic - Harry Reid - who hasn't led in any poll in a month - is projected to beat Sharron Angle in Nevada to hold his Senate seat. Let's face it: it's a bad night for conservative women from Delaware to Nevada to California. Maybe Nikki Haley is the counterbalance, but not by much.

Symbolic - Mark Kirk wins in Illinois. That's Obama's old seat.

Midnight update

Daniel Inouye wins in Hawaii.

John Kasich wins in Ohio for governor.

Nevada and Colorado Senate races are too close to call.

Hooray! - My vote was on the wrong end of every decision on the Massachusetts ballot except for one: question #1 has passed, rolling back the sales tax on alcohol.

11pm update

Polls close and they call the California Senate for Boxer.

Jerry Brown will be Governor of the Golden State.

Mike Crapo will return to Senate for Idaho.

That was a long wait - Ron Johnson wins over Russ Feingold for Wisconsin's Senate race. Also, Nikki Haley is called for South Carolina governor.

One unexpected win tonight: Gibbs over Space in Ohio-18 for a pickup. I like him on NCIS.

Kentucky-6 looks like it's going to absentee ballots and/or recounts with a couple hundred votes separating incumbent Chandler and GOP candidate Barr.

9:45 update

Both Illinois and Pennsylvania Senate races are "too close to call" although the Democrats are leading in each race at this point.

Ron Johnson looks likely to beat Russ Feingold but they're not calling this one either.

It looks like the Democrats will do well holding on to Senate.

Nine p.m. calls

Andrew Cuomo wins governor in New York over a nutcase.

Kirsten Gillebrand wins Senate in NY along with Chuck Schumer (no surprises).

John Hoeven wins in North Dakota - Senate gain.

Jerry Moran wins in Kansas.

John Thune re-elected in South Dakota (unopposed).

Rick Snyder wins governor in Michigan.

Rick Perry wins re-election for governor of Texas.

A bellwether, so they say - Five-term House rep Baron Hill was defeated in Indiana-9. This is ranked #41 on the FiveThirtyEight ranking, indicating that the GOP is heading somewhere around a 41-seat pickup at least.

West Virginia Senate - Well, I called this one way wrong: Joe Manchin was just declared the Senate winner to replace Robert Byrd's seat. This means that the GOP has (virtually) no chance of taking back the Senate, even though they'll pick up more seats overall.

Massachusetts governor - Tax hiker Deval Patrick has jumped out to a lead over Charlie Baker who, in my opinion, ran a terrible campaign. Only 3% of the vote is in, but it's probably done.

Obama campaigned for only one House member this year - He lost. Republican Charles Hurt put the hurt on Democrat Tom Perriello in Virginia.

Eight p.m. calls

Marco Rubio wins in Florida with 50% of vote in a three-way race.

Linda McMahon does not in Connecticut. Blumenthal holds that seat for CT.

Christopher Coons wins in Delaware.

Kelly Ayotte holds the GOP seat in New Hampshire.

Roy Blunt wins in Missouri.

Barbara Mikulski wins in Maryland.

Richard Shelby wins in Alabama.

John Lynch wins governor's race in New Hampshire.

Crash - Sharron Angle's Intrade account is down 30% since I finished dinner. What's going on in Nevada? The polls aren't closed yet.