Monday, July 6, 2009
Though it is already old news, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention that over the weekend Republican 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced she is resigning as Governor of Alaska. The Governor’s resignation and the odd timing (Fourth of July weekend) leaves many wondering if she is resigning just ahead of some sort of scandal or if this is all part of a master plan to gear up for 2012. I sort of suspect that she might just want to pull the plug and get out of the public spotlight since she must realize she has become a national punchline, right? However, after resigning in a hastily-assembled (an adjective I hope is never used to describe my resignation from anything) back yard press conference at 4 p.m. on Friday, Palin spent the night posting weird legal threats/manifestos on Twitter and Facebook. Sarah, if you are really trying to get out of the public spotlight then there is an old saying that applies here: “Ur Doing it wrong.”
The coup in Honduras continues today. Ousted and exiled former President Manuel Zelaya tried to fly back into the country over the weekend with media and international leaders in tow but was prevented from landing by military trucks blocking airport runways. The military occupied the airport in Tegucigalpa and clashed with the hundreds of thousands of protesters who turned out to greet the President. The President, who strikes me as disturbingly media-savvy, did live interviews with various Latin American TV and radio outlets while his plane circled the Honduras capital. Though one’s gut instinct is to root for the embattled President-in-exile, it is worth reading this Slate article that points out that the President made horrible decisions for his country and was running roughshod over the constitution there before he was ousted.
Roger Federer won his 15th Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon yesterday. Federer outlasted Andy Roddick into a fifth set that lasted for hours. I feel bad for Roddick, because even while I was watching yesterday’s match (one of the greatest I have ever seen) I could tell it was just going to become a footnote to last year’s epic championship match between Federer and Nadal.
Your “this-is-an-outrage” fact of the day: The health-care industry is spending $1.4 million a day lobbying Congress to influence the current debate over the future of our nations health care system.
You “this-is-not-news” story of the day: The head of MI6′s wife put photos of him up on facebook. I don’t think his identity is a secret though, so why do we care?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sorry I have been delinquent in the news folks, my job has been rather hectic for the last week. Rather than just ignore you all, I thought a quickly abbreviated roundup of today’s top news. Hopefully I will soon be able to return to putting the news into a little bit of context.
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, January 25, 2008
So, I forgot to mention earlier in the week that Fred Thompson has dropped out of the race — I guess I sorta forgot he was in it. Kinda like him. His departure, along with Dennis Kucinich‘s, means the average hotness of Presidential Candidate’s spouses has plummeted. This is a tragedy for the political process. But seriously, neither of them had enough of a following to really be able to swing their support behind one candidate or another.
The remaining Republican candidates debates in Florida last night and by all accounts it was really boring and none of them like Hillary Clinton.
The President and Congress yesterday came to an agreement on the stimulus package they have been talking about for the past week. The plan centers mostly around tax rebates and was the result of compromise between Republican and Democratic leaders. Don’t worry, I’m sure it will dissolve into acrimony in no time. However, these is a good chance those of us who are totally broke will get a nice-sized check in May.
President Bush gave a rare interview to USA Today (He likes the infographics) in which he discussed initiatives he is announcing in his upcoming State of the Union. He will be focusing on combating HIV/AIDS worldwide and on working to eliminate hunger. Most people think it is unlikely he will get anything done in his final year because, well, nobody likes him anymore.
I was under the impression that all French super criminals were suave and sophisticated. Apparently that is not the case, Jérôme Kerviel, a stock trader at one of the largest banks in France, lost the bank almost 5 billion euros. He was able to cover the whole thing up because he used to work on the banks computer system. And he made no money off the entire thing. Even though he is just outside of our age range (he is 31), Jérôme is the proud winner of our “2.0somethings Dumbass of the Week” award.
Finally, producers confirmed that the title of the new James Bond film will is The Quantum of Solace. Some people think it is kind of lame, and I might tend to agree. However, no matter what the title, chances are still high that Daniel Craig will shoot some people, blow up some cars, and that new Bond girl Gemma Arterton will be smokin’ hot.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The Democratic candidates for President met last night in a Congressional Black Caucus debate that we here at 2.0somethings skipped to watch American Gladiators. Apparently, the real barbaric conflict was in the debate and not the show with “Gladiators” in the title.
In the true spirit of Dr. King, the candidates were nasty, rancorous, and downright bitchy. Sen. Obama attacked Senator Clinton over statements being made by her husband, and Sen. Clinton attacked Sen. Obama over ties to… Oh who the hell cares one way or another. The South Carolina primary is at some point in the next week. We will try to find out when by tomorrow morning. If you live in South Carolina you should probably check to make sure it isn’t tomorrow.
Today’s biggest story, but one that it would be hard to accompany with a photo of kangaroos fighting, is the effect the US economic slowdown is having on the world. Most of the developed countries in the world have their own stock markets, and while ours was closed yesterday, all of them were open and experienced massive sell-offs. In some cases, markets dropped up to 10%. By all accounts, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Apparently, every bank in the world owned a piece of the subprime mortgage market.
The Politico asks, “Can Congress save the economy?” And answers, “No.”
Filed under “Quit Picking on Me.” Conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg has an op-ed in the LA Times talking about his experience on the Daily Show. If you don’t care, just know that Goldberg is kind of a jackass. and you are done with the Morning News. If you are interested, keep reading.
Goldberg has recently published a book called “Liberal Fascism,” which he went on The Daily Show show to promote. He and Stewart got into a 20-minute argument and the show aired 6 minutes of it, heavily edited. It was kind of like political surrealism (watch the video). Goldberg echoes the points he tried to make on the show. He doesn’t, however, explain the inherent contradiction of a book trying to stop people from misusing and sensationalizing the word “fascist” that’s title and cover (watch the video) clearly sensationalize the word “fascist” to sell books. He also doesn’t explain his claim that organic food is fascist (Seriously, watch the video).
