Thursday, May 22, 2008
Tentative peace agreements are breaking out all over. Israel and Syria announced that they were engaged in negotiations for a comprehensive peace treaty while the Lebanese Government and Hezbollah have reached an agreement that brings Hezbollah back into the government and gives them a significant role. Israel is hoping to drive a wedge between Syria and Iran, and Syria is hoping to regain lost territory and begin opening up ties with the United States. The Lebanese agreement leaves the US-backed government in a weak position, but avoids outright civil war that they probably would have lost anyway. Notice anything in common about these two agreements? They both don’t involve this guy. Perhaps that was the cornerstone of administration policy the whole time: if we fuck up enough, countries will realize they need to sort it out without our help.
The House overrode President Bush’s Veto of the farm bill. However, the House will likely have to pass the bill all over again because it was delivered to the President’s desk with a section missing (about 30 pages out of 673). Take your pick as to which is more embarrassing, the House forgetting to deliver all of it, the President signing it without realizing that a section was missing or the fact that the entire $307 billion bill is stuffed with subsidies for farmers at the same time food prices are skyrocketing.
Were you getting screwed enough by airline travel? Me neither. Because of the high price of oil, American Airlines is taking a variety of cost-cutting measures including cutting domestic flights, laying off workers and charging for all checked bags. Starting June 15, it will be $15 to check your first bag and $25 for the second. I have no officially decided to spend my vacation eating beans in my apartment.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Maybe I am unduly affected by the weather, but today’s news seems uniformly depressing. There is not even a single story driving any of the coverage. It is a bit all over the place, but there are a few things you should check up on.
The biggest story today is that whistleblowers testified to Congress that federal officials have been overlooking or thwarting major airline inspections. The main airline affected seems to be Southwest, but the issue shines a light on the close relationship that airlines have with their federal regulators. This is the kind of story that only expands. If it comes up at the office, say that we should either nationalize or completely privatize the airlines (flip a coin). Also say that even with cracked fuselages it is still better than Amtrack.
Do you like summits? If so, you should think about getting involved in NATO. President Bush passed part of his agenda at a NATO summit yesterday, getting countries to back the concept of a missile-defense system in Europe. However, he couldn’t get the member-nations to agree to let in Georgia (this one) and Ukraine. This probably won’t come up, but if it does it is pretty much always OK to make fun of a missile shield.
The fighting is Basra and Baghdad has largely died down, and the New York Times has a review of how the Iraqi security forces performed. Let’s just say, not so hot.
Finally, a new poll says that 81% of the nation says we are on the wrong track. That is the highest percentage since the New York Times began doing these polls in 1990. After reading today’s headlines, I can’t imagine why anyone would say that.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Most of the papers lead with a bombing near the United Nations office in Algeria. Reports so far place the death toll between 30-60. Credit has been claimed by an Al Queda affiliate in North Africa. This could be the largest attack since the Algerian War. Other terrorist attacks in Lebanon and Iraq seem to reinforce the 11th as a day with significance for the terrorist community.
A story that has been brewing for a few days is the results of a Supreme Court decision reducing the mandatory minimum sentence on crack-cocaine. Now, up to 2500 inmates are eligible for immediate release and almost 20,000 for a sentence reduction. If you think it isn’t fair, remember that under the previous law dealing 5 grams of crack would get you the same sentence as dealing 500 grams of cocaine.
News from Russia is that President, dreamboat, and fishing enthusiast Vladimir Putin has been offered the position of Prime Minister. Putin is currently President, but his term expires in 6 months. Russia’s government is designed to give the President nearly unchecked power, and the Prime Minister position has largely been decorative. Given that an ally of Putin was elected as the new President, this could be a way to have Putin remain the de facto leader of Russia indefinitely. In other news, Russia is going to pull out one of the most important arms control treaties dating back to the Cold War (First Mad Men, now a Dictatorial Russia rearming, 50′s style really is coming back!).
Also the CIA is above the law and can do whatever they want.
Lest you think all is terrible in the world, I wanted to include a few things to brighten your day. First, for those doing a lot of traveling this holiday season I have good news and bad news. The good news is there is real, often very tasty food now being offered on airlines. The bad news is the price tag. A hilarious story about the Entertainment Software Association (the lobbying group for video game producers) shows that people in Washington are not much better than your average high school cheerleader. “The ESA was soooo going to bring H&K to the prom, but then, they ended up bringing someone else so H&K totally started telling everyone that, like, ESA was totally gross and that all the girls in school thought so.”
