Monday, May 5, 2008

Your Morning News 5.5.08

Posted by Josh in Australia, Barack Obama, Big Brother, Cyclone, gas tax, hillary clinton, Immigration, Iron Man, Kentucky Derby, Myanmar, NARCs

Reports are starting to come in from Myanmar, where 3000 were killed and 4000 are still missing after a cyclone this past weekend. Cyclone = hurricane, sorta.

The New York Times has a longish piece on the fates of immigrants who have died in while US custody. 66 people have died while in immigration custody from January 2004 to November 2007 – nearly a million people in total have passed through the system. The list was only compiled after congress demanded it and only published when the Times made a Freedom of Information Act request. The absurdity in this one is not so much that people die in US custody (the numbers are low even though some of the stories are chilling), it is the degree to which families have no way to get information. They often don’t fiend out for weeks that a loved one has died and even then they don’t find out the full picture of what happened. Flag this one to read during your coffee break.

The Democratic Primaries, The Kentucky Derby, Iron Man, and Australians after the jump

The Indiana and North Carolina Democratic primaries are tomorrow and we are faced with something we have rarely had to deal with in this campaign – a substantive policy debate. Sen. Clinton is arguing in favor of taking a holiday from the federal gas tax for the summer (~$.18 a galllon or something) while Sen. Obama is arguing in favor of keeping the tax. By most accounts, the gas tax holiday is a terrible idea. This Sunday, Clinton said “I’m not going to put in my lot with economists … Elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantages the vast majority of Americans.” Yeah, you wouldn’t want to listen about those economists about the… economy. My doctor also told me that I should quit chasing down my happy pills with a pint of scotch in the mornings, but what does that asshole know.  However, they don’t call it pandering for nothing – Clinton’s idea seems to be resonating with voters (and idiots). We will see what happens tomorrow.

The Kentucky Derby was this past Saturday, and in case you missed it, here is all you need to know: Big Brown, the favorite, won in a stirring and impressive race. Eight Belles, another favorite, came in second but shortly after crossing the finish line broke her front ankles and had to be put down on the track. Horse racing remains a weird and niche sport.

Iron Man far exceeded expectations and made $100.7 million its opening weekend – all on the strength of Robert Downey Jr.’s goatee.

Finally, police in Australia are recruiting teenagers to help them bust bars that are illegally serving minors. To quote the BBC article: “Binge drinking among teenagers has been identified by Australia’s federal government as a national emergency.” That crisis supersedes such other national emergencies as kids driving too fast, dressing like thugs, and listening to that new-fangled rap music too loud at DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?

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