Thursday, April 17, 2008
Finally, our long national nightmare of not killing people is over. The Supreme Court decided yesterday in a 7-2 decision that lethal injection does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Within hours of the announcement, dozens of states lifted the moratorium they had placed on all lethal injections. Man, I sure am glad we managed to bring this issue to the forefront while the Pope is visiting. Careful, though, this is an awkward topic to bring up at work, probably even awkwarder if you work in a Federal Penitentiary.
The Pope has spent a lot of his trip apologizing for and trying to move the American church past the clergy sex abuse scandal. This is another one of those topics that is sorta tough to bring up at work. My go-to Pope related icebreaker is to mention how newspapers apparently have no problem publishing the term “Popemobile.”
As we mentioned yesterday, Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met in their final televised debate before the Pennsylvania primary. The general consensus seems to be that the debate focused on Senator Obama, with Senator Clinton and the moderators spending the first 45 minutes assailing him on a variety of topics. Whether you think this is fair or unfair probably depends one which candidate you support. However, I will point out that we can all probably agree that there are more important issues at stake in this election than the candidate’s choice of accessories.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met in Ohio last night for what will likely be the final debate of the Democratic primary. This was the most confrontational of the debates and the candidates sparred over a variety of issues, including health care, foreign policy, and NAFTA. Senator Clinton needed to knock Senator Obama off his stride, and while she dominated the debate it doesn’t appear that she made anything stick. If the debate comes up at work and you are unsure who the person you are talking to is supporting, it is always safe to criticize the moderators, who were their usual bizarre selves. Some examples of the moderators drinking problems where convoluted hypotheticals on Iraq and a question about rejecting the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan. Thank GOD I know where they stand on that. You can check out a full debate transcript, but I have no idea why you would want to.
McCain, Google, and the GOP after the jump
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Thursday, January 31, 2008
As we predicted, Rudy Giuliani officially dropped out of the Presidential race and endorsed John McCain. Unfortunately, history decrees that Giuliani can’t do anything in this campaign without being overshadowed, so one of the other candidates had to drop out too. Kudos to John Edwards for stepping up to the plate.
That is right, Democratic candidate John Edwards officially withdrew from the campaign yesterday. Edwards said, “It is time for me to step aside so history can blaze its path.” (In case you are confused, John Edwards was the one who wasn’t the black guy or the woman). No word on an endorsement from Edwards yet. Most recent reports had chests of gold being delivered from the Clinton and Obama offices to Edward’s home in North Carolina.
Republicans turned their attention to California yesterday for a debate between the Presidential candidates at the Ronald Reagan Library. It was the final Republican debate before next week’s Super-Duper Tuesday (Imaybe). The two front runners, Sen. McCain and former Gov. Romney, went at it like dogs over a soup bone. Gov. Romney accused McCain of distorting his record on… etc etc. Unfortunately, at no point in the night did Sen. McCain’s most recent endorser, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, spring to his defense by attacking Gov. Romney with a broadsword or dropping him off of a cliff. Maybe he is saving it for the general election.
As part of the newly launched “War on Interest Rates,” the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates for the second time in 8 days. Despite this “bold” move (Can it really be bold if that is what everyone expected the move to be?) many people say the economy is still in trouble.
Remember waaaaaaay back in 2006, when Israel invaded Lebanon? Well, they did. It turned into a huge mess, and the Government commissioned a formal inquiry into the whole thing. It is kind of like the Iraq Study Group, but with (Jewish joke redacted because Josh isn’t Jewish no matter how much he wishes he was). The report, released yesterday, says that Israel political and military leaders made huge mistakes in the War’s conception and execution. Apparently, many predicted that the report would be more scathing in its assessment of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Because it wasn’t, Olmert will most likely not partake in the ancient Isreali custom of political leaders who botch wars being forced to resign. How quaint.
Finally, China has been hit with massive rains and blizzards, which occurred during the biggest Chinese holiday of the year. Because of the bad weather, millions are stuck in airports and unable to return home. The Chinese government is trying to control the snow, and has dispatched the army to help clear roads and keep people calm. As one BBC commentator put it, “large crowds make this Government nervous.”
