* Is that the correct spelling? I always thought it was spelled "Amuricah."

* The good news is that it is no longer illegal to whistle at the King of Spain. The bad news is that now there's absolutely no reason to whistle at the King of Spain.

* New poll finds Jon Stewart to be America's most trust journalist, Alaska to really hate Katie Couric.

* New scientific report shows the American species seemingly heading toward extinction.

Imagine, for a moment, that you're in charge of Citigroup. The government has just handed you a sack containing $20 billion and agreed to guarantee $306 billion in toxic assets that are stinking up your balance sheet. This deal comes with all kinds of fancy strings attached, like not having to make any changes to your executive management or board of directors. Nah, dude. We cool, bro.

Then the world's partypoopers start clamoring for you to restructure, or get rid of some non-core businesses, or at least do something about the mountains of debt and bad assets that you've squirreled away under your duvet. Your stock plummets. Your CEO becomes a punch line and/or a punching bag. What do you do?

If you answered "sink $10 billion into a debt-riddled Spanish toll road operator," congratulations! You win a debt-riddled Spanish toll road operator…

Spanish construction company Sacyr Vallehermoso said Monday it has agreed to sell its highway-operating unit, Itinere, to alternative investment unit Citi Infrastructure Investors in a deal valued at nearly 7.9 billion euros ($10 billion).

The sale involves 2.87 billion euros in cash and 5 billion euros in assumed debt. Citi will offer to buy all of Itinere's stock at 3.96 euros ($5.04) a share [an 18% premium], the Spanish construction company said… Sacyr Vallehermoso has been hard hit by the collapse of Spain's real estate bubble and is eager to ease its debt load.

Using investment funds to help ease debt loads? Huh? Well, now, that's an interesting idea. I think I need a moment to process this.

Let's crawl back under our duvets and meditate for a spell.

After John McCain's really, really bizarrely antagonistic comments about Spain yesterday, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow questions the conventional wisdom that Obama is the economy guy and McCain is the foreign policy guy…

You know, though, I think that maybe — just maybe — McCain knows something that we don't. I heard that he can see Spain from his backyard.

Well, one of them.

Earlier today, Mary wrote about a supposed "executive moment" that John McCain had, telling a Spanish reporter that he would not commit to receiving Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero in the White House, possibly confusing Spain with some South American country like Bolivia or Iran.

Well, turns out, it wasn't a mistake.

John McCain just really hates Spain…

McCain Foreign Policy Adviser Randy Sheunemann: "The questioner asked several times about Senator McCain's willingness to meet Zapatero (and id'd him in the question so there is no doubt Senator McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred).

"Senator McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview," he said in an e-mail."

I'm glad we got that cleared up.

I'm so much happier knowing that our possible future president is just tearing down NATO and not kind of forgetful sometimes.

That rain, of course, is the fallout from recent remarks in which McCain seemed to suggest one of two things: either he has no idea where Spain is, or he knows exactly where Spain is, and he thinks it might be a rogue terrorist state…

During an interview in Miami earlier this week with Spanish-language station Union Radio, a reporter asked McCain whether, if elected, he would receive [friendly, non-terrorist, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez] Zapatero in the White House.

McCain answered, "Honestly, I have to analyze our relationships, situations, and priorities, but I can assure you that I will establish closer relationships with our friends, and I will stand up to those who want to harm the United States."

Now, hold your horses, there's more to this than meets the eye. The question about Spain came after a series of questions about Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba, which are also countries known for their delicious, spicy foods.

As a result, much of the Spanish press has decided that the Republican candidate, who hails himself as the experienced foreign policy choice in this election, confused Spain — a NATO member and key ally in the fight against terrorism — with one of those troublesome Latin American states. That was certainly the interviewer's impression, for she followed up with a gentle reminder that Spain was a country in Europe.

Well, maybe to YOU it is. But John McCain is the original maverick.

And mavericks don't play by the maps.