The Gupta is In. And Oz is Out.

The appointment of Dr. Sanjay Gupta to Surgeon General is a wise one. The role is largely about communication: he will be the leading spokesperson on matters of public health. Gupta is a master communicator -- clear, concise and always sympathetic. And of course he is a real doctor, still practicing today. (Read my review of Planet in Peril 2 here.)

It also represents the end of a long - and sometimes brutal - rivalry between Gupta and Dr. Mehmet Oz. (Oprah is said to be furious at the rebuff of her candidate.) Ironically it was the "heart" of Neurosurgeon Gupta that won out over the too cool and brainy Cardiac Surgeon Oz.

Dr. Oz is expected to concede defeat sometime today. Waiting any longer would be perceived as divisive. Surely he recognizes that marshaling fans of both men behind the rightfully appointed SG is the American thing to do.

President-elect Obama takes office in just 13 days and there are still appointments to be made.

I am currently watching Indiana's Electoral College delegation meet in Indianapolis, as they officially cast their votes for the President of the United States. Very cool access. (How did I get such access? I simply said that the peony is my favorite flower!)

Remember, today in state capitols throughout America, the ACTUAL election for President and Veep is happening. Only 538 Americans' votes count in the end. (Makes a lot of sense, right?)

Pictures as I get them, starting with the ones below:


Here I am outside Indiana's state capitol.


My ticket to the meeting of the Electors.


The Indiana Honor Guard.


Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita, the man who certifies Indiana's Electors.


Indiana's 11 Electors enter

One elector and one alternate.

11 Electors and Alternates take oath to vote (for the rest of us, since our votes don't really count).
The written oath of Hope Tribble, the lovely Alternate sitting next to me.

Here I am with Hope!

This is the best: Ben Leatherbury is a 19 year old Elector. Here he is holding his diploma -- er, Elector certificate. (To think his very first vote for President will actually count.)

Elector Michelle Boxell with her certificate.

And here's Michelle's actual ballot for President!

The tally is announced. Obama wins 11-0!

Rokita's a Republican and a good sport: he applauds when Biden wins VP 11-0.

Alternate John Bonecutter signs my program!

I love the mural in the House chamber. There's one just like it in Indianapolis' Eagle!

Barack Obama has placed his order for a new kind of rice: Condi's out -- and Susan's in.

Condoleezza Rice

Susan Rice

That's Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador-designate to the U.N. And no, she's no relation to the outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. (Place your bets now on how long reporters will point out that the two black women are not related.)

Beyond their name, ethnicity, and connections to Stanford (Susan as student, Condi as professor), there are striking parallels:

Both Rices were cultivated by Albrights -- Susan by Madeleine, Condi by Madeleine's father Josef Korbel. And as foreign policy tutors to future presidents, each Rice was an essential part of her boss' diet.

So how do the two Rices compare?

Condi Rice has always been self-possessed, sometimes rigid, with nary a movement left to chance. She's always been a Rice Pilaf. And at age 54, she's approaching Long Grain.

In October 2002 Harry Belafonte accused Condi of being a servile Uncle Ben's Rice. It was a harsh critique -- and misguided since, after all, the Mars company (which owns Uncle Ben's Rice), elevated the Uncle Ben character to Chairman of the company.

Susan Rice is younger and brasher, a former assistant Secretary of State under Clinton who stunned her former bosses by jumping ship to join the Obama campaign. Her history suggests a Wild Rice.

But because of Obama's internationalist perspective, rooted in a childhood spent in Indonesia, Susan will need to be more of a Sticky Rice, connecting with other members at the U.N. (My mother loves sticky rice with mango, but that's more Thai.)

She'll have to be tough at times, yes, but she'll also have to be sweet, not unlike this delicious rice-based dessert:


Gemblong is an Indonesian treat: deep fried sticky rice coated with caramel. Yummy!

But beware: Conservatives leery of Obama's European sympathies are concerned that Susan is more of an Orzo - pasta masquerading as rice!

It's hard to know which kind of Rice America needs right now. (The troubles in the Indian Subcontinent call for a Basmati Rice.)

Once Barack Obama is president, he will be held to an even higher standard than he was during the campaign. Every aspect of his administration will be scrutinized and evaluated by the press and public.

So the time has come to ask: is America ready for a president with a mole?

Continuing in our series on "Who deserves to vote?" Yesterday we voted on inmates and ex-cons and whether they deserved the right to vote.

Now let's talk about those Americans who legally don't pay federal income taxes. A terrific Money Magazine article from this past March explained that a whopping 49.2 million households filed returns last year that obligated them to pay no federal income tax. Important: That doesn't include 15 million Americans who were too poor to even file income tax returns.

Most of the members of the zero-tax club are not, as you might imagine, yachting off the Cayman Islands. The tax shelters of yore provide little protection, since most of those loopholes closed in 1986. Only 2% of America's richest 20% (those earning $99,500 and up) are escaping federal income taxes. They account for only 400,000 of the nearly 50 million tax-free filers.

92% of the zero-tax crowd are earning less than $30,000. But as the article points out...

Your annual income wouldn't have to be quite as low as you'd imagine for you to be free of the income tax. Because of deductions, credits and exemptions, a family of four can earn about $43,000 and pay nothing. For a single person without kids, that threshold is $10,300.

Still not a lot of money to be taking home. So would anyone intentionally make so little, just to pay no taxes? You betcha'. From the article:

Few among us would want to settle for a drastically lower income just to avoid taxes. But David Gross did just that. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the 39-year-old technical writer decided that he didn't want his tax dollars funding the war. Only by earning less, he realized, could he stay within the law.

At the time his salary came to about $100,000 a year. He asked his employer to pay him far less - some $70,000 less - but was turned down. So he quit and launched a business from his apartment, strictly limiting his earnings.

In 2007 his income was $29,000. He put $2,850 in a health savings account, $4,500 in a simplified employee pension (SEP) and $4,000 in an IRA. Since he works freelance, he can deduct half of his self-employment tax ($1,850) and his health insurance premium ($1,200), leaving him with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $14,600.

After taking the standard deduction and one exemption, his taxable income neared $6,000 and his tax was $493. Low-income earners like Gross are also entitled to a credit for retirement plan contributions. His came to $500 and - poof! - no tax bill.

Even though many of the 50 million zero-filers are paying Social Security, Medicare, state, property and sales taxes, they're not paying federal income taxes -- the taxes we hate most.

Do the zero-payers have a right to vote for President, the highest federal office? Is voting a right of all citizens (there is no Right to Vote in the Constitution)? Or is it a privilege, something that is earned? If so, is contributing to the federal kitty a fair yardstick?

If there's one thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on during this election year, it's this: both prospective First Ladies are impressive women. And they're knockouts! Whichever of these women ends up in the White House, millions of ordinary American women -- and men -- will emulate her.

That's right: Men. So which of these ladies do men see as more of a role model? Watch the short videos below, then vote.

We'll start with Michelle...



And now let's take a look at Cindy...



What about you, guys?

Sarah Palin continues to divide the nation. But there's one thing all of us can agree on: her interview with Charlie Gibson had a definite porno vibe. And no, it's not just Palin's glasses which have been inaccurately described as "sexy librarian" specs. (I assure you, few librarians can afford $425 Kazuo Kawasaki frames. Certainly not Wasilla's actual librarian, a job more endangered than the polar bear.)

What made the encounter so porno-y was Palin's awkward scripted quality, the poor lighting (why does every piece of tape from Alaska look like a cross between a hostage video and skin flick?), and of course Palin's pouty-lipped eagerness to please. Gibson feigned irritation only added to the sexual tension.

The adult film subgenre known as Palin Porn is expected to hit the market just after Election Day. Make no mistake, fans from both parties will be stuffing this ballot box.

Which title would you like to see released first? Vote now!

(You can also suggest your own in the comments section. Warning: Let's keep this discussion respectful. Any smutty suggestions or comments will be deleted!!)

Sarah Palin

"Sarah Palin"

Tina Fey's sensational portrayal of Sarah Palin is unlike any other political impersonation ever, for one simple reason: it may very well end up defining a major political figure before that figure has defined herself.

Consider SNL's previously most celebrated impersonations. Four others leap to mind: Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford. Dana Carvey as George H.W. Bush. Will Ferrell as George W. Bush. Darrell Hammond as Al Gore.

As much as the NBC-industrial complex wants us to believe those performances affected the elections in which they appeared, I doubt it. The candidates portrayed were already firmly established in the public consciousness when they were parodied. The portrayal that stirred the most talk on the cable yakfests was Hammond's Gore. It was a revelation, highlighting Gore's condescension and his "Me, teacher! Me, teacher!" front-row ass-kissiness. Even so, there was no confusing the man and his parodist. Gore had already been Vice President for eight years.

With Tina Fey and Sarah Palin, it's different. I keep hearing people say that they're confusing Palin and Fey; that when they watched the actual debate, they kept forgetting they weren't watching Tina Fey. This isn't just a testimony to Fey's brilliant performance. It's also testimony to the McCain campaign's flawed rollout of Palin: she really was too sheltered. There's insatiable curiosity about the lady, but we're only getting dribs and drabs. TIna Fey is filling in the rest.

There are of course evident differences between the actual Sarah Palin and Tina's "Sarah Palin".

The actual Sarah Palin, while clearly unprepared for a national campaign, is consumed with ambition and may yet pull it off. She's folksy and flirtatious on the outside, steely on the inside. "Sarah Palin," on the other hand, is more daffy. She wants to rule the world, yes, but she's more of a bubblehead, easily distracted by shiny objects. She's sort of delightful.

The real Sarah Palin plows through her sentences like a Panzer through Poland, butchering innocent sentences, leaving syntactical carnage in her wake. "Sarah Palin" blithely skips from word to word with the blind faith that she'll make it to the other side of the rhetorical rapids without slipping.

The real Sarah Palin believes most of what she says. Or at least you can tell what she believes between the lines. (Her code is pretty obvious.) Meanwhile "Sarah Palin" seems more ... misguided. Somebody told her what to think and, you betcha, she's stickin' with it ... unless someone tells her to change her mind.

Perhaps the best way to understand the difference between Sarah and "Sarah" is through the lens of E!'s The Girls Next Door. The real Sarah Palin is Holly -- eyes fixed on the prize ... the prize being 82 year old Hef. (Holly, in fact, is from Alaska!) Fey's "Sarah Palin" is Bridget from The Girls Next Door. Fun is a major priority. (For those of you wondering, Kendra is a working class Democrat.)

Is this why the McCain camp wanted to postpone the Vice Presidential debates?


Watch TYT!

A well known conservative writer used to support Sarah Palin, and genuinely wanted to see her succeed. But after Palin had an interview with Katie Couric, she changed her mind completely.


Watch TYT

Need I say more?


Watch TYT!

Republican aides have come out and said that John McCain simply does not know how to fix America's economic meltdown. While McCain thinks he went to Washington this week to aide the bailout dilemma, House Republicans strongly argue that he made matters worse. Does he even know whether or not he's against the bailouts? Watch the clip for more details.


Watch TYT

Why is Sarah Palin crediting a man who performs witchcraft?