Nancy Morgan's weekly survey of the news.

The day Obama secured the Democratic nomination for president, June 3, 2008, the S&P 500 was at about 1400. It is now about 840 – a horrifying 40% decline. Coincidence? You decide.

One thing that isn't a coincidence is every action the Obama administration has taken has made the problem worse. All the incredible details, from his request to lower military spending, to Iran's gleeful reply to Obama's "let's talk" letter, are outlined in "Obama's America: Our New Government At Work". And no, its not satire.

Democrats are working feverishly on a new spending package disguised as "stimulus" which they claim is desperately needed. 200 economists disagree and ran an ad in the NYT citing their opposition. Check out where the money is going, here. Sure looks like half of it goes to unions. Dare I say "payback?" You decide.

Despite all the talk of crisis, there remains a modicum of:

GOOD NEWS:

The Iraqis managed a peaceful election on January 31st. Allies of Iraq's U.S.-backed prime minister appeared Sunday to have made gains in the provincial elections, rewarding groups credited with reining in insurgents and militias. Imagine, peaceful elections in what used to be Hussein's Iraq. A heartfelt thank-you to George Bush and all our brave fighting men and women.

The Homeland Security Department says the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border is mostly finished – that 601 miles of the project had been completed as of two weeks ago.

CULTURE:

As scores of companies are forced to lay off employees, the number of federal workers continue to rise. As government increases, so too, does blue America, with a massive Gallup Poll concluding that Democrats last year replaced the Republicans as the dominant party across the American heartland.

The family of the octuplets born last week had filed for bankruptcy and abandoned a home a little over a year ago. The mother has 6 other children and lives with her parents. There's been no mention of the octuplets' father – mom had the embryos implanted. Translation: American taxpayers will be picking up the tab for this woman's indulgence. Unless Oprah does, which is under consideration by said mom.

CatholicVote.org released a terrific pro-life ad, worth more than 1,000 words. Unfortunately, it was turned down by NBC to run during the Super Bowl. Watch it here and forward to your friends.

Calvin Klein is running a form of pornography as a new ad. It has been banned. It won't even be run on late night cable. My question is, do pornographic ads like this actually sell jeans? Inquiring minds want to know.

A divorced father is calling for equal protection. His divorce dispute could impact custody decisions nationwide because it calls down the authority of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause to help fathers remain in their children's lives.

Six Democratic members of Congress enjoyed a Caribbean junket sponsored by Citigroup after Congress obligingly approved the $700 billion bailout of financial services firms in October. Meanwhile, Google has changed the rules on its search engine to protect President Obama from the same sort of mockery it allowed of President Bush.

Want to see millions of dollars go up in smoke? Check out Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps smoking marijuana. He's apologized. I wonder if his corporate sponsors will accept his mea culpa. Another hero bites the dust. America is running out of them. Sigh.

The state of Massachusetts, which has been at the forefront of normalizing homosexual relationships in law, has taken a bold new step to allow applicants for drivers licenses to select their gender on officials documents. Translation: Gender is now optional. Hey, maybe one day soon I can opt to be Sarah Palin.

The world is getting its first gay head of state. Johanna Sigurdardottir, a former air hostess, is expected to be sworn in as Iceland's prime minister by the end of the week.

TRENDS:

The Muslim population in Britain has grown by more than 500,000 to 2.4 million in just four years, according to new research. That's 10 times faster than the rest of society. And in Dubai, a total of 2,763 individuals from 72 countries embraced Islam in 2008, an increase of 71% over 2007.

Marriage is no longer regarded as the best form of relationship by younger generations, the largest survey of public attitudes in Britain shows. 

These days, more men and women are trying to survive the bad economy by selling their sperm and eggs. The women make as much as $10,000 after their eggs are retrieved.

A green guru in Britain says couples who have more than two children are being "irresponsible" by creating an unbearable burden on the environment. Meanwhile, Japan, alarmed at the country's low birthrate, is urging its citizens to go home and multiply. The debate continues.

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK:

In a week chock full of outrageous happenings, this one takes the cake: The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100-0 reportedly was fired Sunday, the same day he sent an e-mail to a newspaper stating he will not apologize "for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity" and posted a detailed explanation. His crime? He refused to apologize for winning. This is spooky stuff.

I hope to have better news for you next week. Till then, try to keep smiling.