LEADER PAGE                      12/9/2010 1:34 PM
ETHANOL CREDIT - Final language for an extension of the U.S. ethanol tax credit "could emerge today," a trade group said on Thursday, with the 45-cent credit now set to expire on Dec. 31. Senator Saxby Chambliss, the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, told Reuters that a 45-cent credit was the most likely outcome at the moment.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Thursday
congressional Democrats have no choice but to accept the tax package negotiated by President Barack Obama and GOP lawmakers, even as some fellow Democrats continue to resist.

FREAKONOMICS - Why is U.S. beef consumption dropping? The blog says a new study finds more women working lessens beef consumption. A Kansas State study by the agricultural economists James Mintert, Glynn Tonsor, and Ted Schroeder found that for every 1 percent increase in female employment, beef consumption sank by .6 percent while chicken consumption rose by .6 percent. Why? Probably because beef takes longer than chicken to prepare, and because poultry producers did a good job marketing cheap and ready-to-cook chick