Shocking News!

Amazingly, Egyptians are more concerned about the money they make than the one man/one vote thing the press talked about non stop a short time ago. (See The Washington Post story.)

As the Chinese demonstrated after 1989, and Americans have consistently shown, "democracy" is a euphemism for the pocketbook.

Desmond Tutu Calls for Justice:

Nobel Peace Prize winner explains why African countries should support the International Criminal Court's indictment of Sudanese president Bashir and aid in the issuance of an arrest warrant:

African leaders argue that the court’s action will impede efforts to promote peace in Darfur. However, there can be no real peace and security until justice is enjoyed by the inhabitants of the land. There is no peace precisely because there has been no justice. As painful and inconvenient as justice may be, we have seen that the alternative — allowing accountability to fall by the wayside — is worse.

(Desmond Tutu "Will Africa Let Sudan Off the Hook?" The New York Times)

We Brought These Guys All the Way Back from Iraq To Say What?

General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker came back to Washington, D. C. to tell congress nothing's changed. (See The New York Times' story.)

NEWS FLASH! Did anybody really think we could bomb a whole culture into changing its ways when nothing had worked for thousands of years?

Truckers Are Slowing Down:

Well, some are. Others are parading around, demanding that state governments lower their already low fuel taxes. Four-dollar-a-gallon diesel fuel hurts. A few of these guys are starting to realize that driving the speed limit increases their fuel efficiency. The question that puzzles me has always been why on earth we are shipping so much in trucks any way? The rails are far cheaper, more environmentally sound, and use considerably less energy per pound of goods moved.

Note: Behind me on the TV, Condi Rice is reporting to the congress on the proposed free trade agreement with Columbia. Rumor has it that she hasn't been very busy with her Secretary of State duties of late. Instead she's been bustling about, trying to convince the powers that be within the Republican Party that she should be John McCain's running mate. Now there's a happy thought. To date, in addition to her sex and race, Secy. Rice is best known for not having any answers for congress, promising to deliver the answers to questions, and failing to deliver those promised answers. In other words, she is best known as the stone wall in the administration's relationship with congress.

Net Neutrality:

The boom years in the economy were the 1990s. No surprise there. Those were also the years that might be described as the wild west years of the Internet and computer usage. Since the Clinton years, the focus has been on how to concentrate the wealth generated in those years into as few hands as possible.

Look at where this has taken us: more than 400,000 people are now unemployed, 80,000 added to the roles in just the past month alone. A 9 trillion dollar debt. A war that sucks 20 billion dollars a month out of the economy. Failing banks that have to be bailed out by governments. And food riots around the world.

Oh, yeah, there's the price of gasoline and heating fuel that's doubled as well, not to mention the fact that global warming and all the other environmental issues have failed to be addressed.

So what's the big deal about "net neutrality"? (Geeky terms are always so off putting.) For an explanation that's understandable by the average reader, see Damian Kulash's op-ed in today's New York Times. The Internet may not be the engine behind the economy, but it is the highway down which that engine runs. A handful of Internet providers not only want that highway to be a toll road, they want to determine what can travel down it and when as well.

Being an X Prez ain't such a bad thing:

Jimmie Carter became the leader the world always hoped he would be after suffering a humiliating loss in his second bid for the Oval Office to the wooden headed former second tier movie actor, Reagan, best known for mouthing empty platitudes (although you've got to give Ron credit on moving the world away from nuclear confrontation).

In the meantime, while most of the rest of America has seen the economy hurtle toward the 1930s, the Clintons have managed to rake in $109 million. That's not quite equal to the top tier of pro sports athletes, but it ain't bad for a guy who got caught with his pants down, so to speak. Naturally, some of that coin was hauled in by Bill's very significant other, but still, for a poor boy from Arkansas, it ain't exactly hay. (See The Washington Post story.)

Trade Deficit Reaches $58.2 Billion:

The New York Times reports that "imports of goods and services climbed to $206.4 billion" during January, creating a deficit of $58.2 billion, up half a billion over December.

Oil and gas prices reached another record yesterday with crude reaching $109.72 per barrel, as speculators continue to drive the market to artificial highs. The best guess is that oil should cost around $80 per barrel.

One in Four Teen Girls Infected with Sexually Transmitted Diseases:

A national study reveals that, while teen pregnancy rates may have fallen, STDs are still endemic among teens. (Read the NYTimes story here.)

Spitzer Resigns:

National Public Radio reports that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has just announced his resignation in the wake of the recent revelation that he has hired high priced prostitutes, including requesting them to travel across state lines, on multiple occasions.

While we're on the topic, here's a good one from David Letterman: "Holy cow! We can't get bin Laden, but we got Spitzer" (from today's NYTimes).

Question of the Hour:

Okay, you're a man about to sit at a table with Senator Clinton, do you offer to pull the chair out for her because she's a woman, the gentlemanly thing to do, or do you seat yourself and allow her to do the same because she's just as good as any man?

It's a trick question.

Speaking of health care, back on March 10, 2006, the Great Man said, "And so I'm for medical liability at the federal level." — George W. Bush. Well, it's hard to see why not!

The Partitioning of the Sub-Continent:

Few in the west know much about the partitioning of India in 1947 other than the little they may have learned if they've seen the 1982 award winning movie, Ghandi. Today's Washington Post carries a story that's a good place to start learning more about the region and the difficulties that exist between India and Pakistan, two countries that possess nuclear weapons and have already fought wars. The story focuses on the night that twenty-six women in one family allowed the men in the family to lop off their heads with a sword in order to avoid being kidnapped and raped. During the partitioning of 1947, more than 70,000 women were abducted and raped. More than 500,000 people were murdered, and some 14,000,000 people were displaced.

While in the U. S., people have difficulty remembering what took place last week, most of the rest of the world have long memories.

Darfur + China = Genocide:

Genocide in Darfur is back in the news as Nicholas Kristof addresses the issue on the Op-Ed page of today's New York Times. The catalyst, naturally, is oil. China needs oil for its massively growing economy, and Darfur has it. China, on the other hand, has plenty of weapons that the government in Darfur needs to carry out its genocide policies. So when you wonder why the U. S. and the rest of the world seems incapable of acting against this third world murderous government, you now have an important piece of the puzzle.

China not only wants that oil, but the rest of the developed world wants to keep the oil flowing to China as well. If China has to look elsewhere to replenish the supply, the price of oil will only go higher. That's just one more reason to look for alternative sources.

Wisdom for the ages from the master of malformed thinking: "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." — George W. Bush in Nashua, New Hampshire, January 2000.

Which One of These Guys Wants To Be the Next Dick Cheney?

Is the mayor of 9/11, Rudy Giuliani, going to be the next candidate after "Law 'n Order" Thompson to announce he's not really serious about this head of state thing and pull out of the Republican race? Rudy G. staked his campaign on Florida and the polls show him rapidly fading with the handsome guy and the old guy surging. The Washington Post reports the latest poll showing that McCain is in the lead with 25 percent and Romney running a close second with 23 percent. Ruddy and the Huckster trail at 15 and 13 percent respectively.

Ruddy G. hunkered down in Florida where he resembled a certain VP hiding in a Washington bunker who popped out only occasionally to blast a buddy in the face with a shotgun. Ruddy apparently figured if Bush could win the Oval Office in Florida that he didn't need to run in any other state. But my real guess is that His Honor the Mayor of 9/11 really has his eye on Cheney's bunker. As for Huckabee, you've got to figure he's thinking the same thing. After all, that's how he became governor of Arkansas.

Political Pawn:

The nice lady teacher in Sudan (a British citizen named Ms. Gibbons) who allowed her students to name a Teddy bear Muhammad has received a jail sentence of 15 days, including time served (five days). While a host of Americans react with a range of behaviors from scratching of the head to declarations of insanity, it's appropriate to take a moment and reflect, as a citizen of Sudan has done:

“Our government creates such problems to divert the eyes of the world community from our domestic problems,” Ms. Hussein said. “I am sure that the case of the British teacher is politically motivated and has got nothing to do with our prophet.”

(Izzadine Abdul Rasoul Muhammad for The New York Times)

There's a long history between Sudan and the British—try Googling Lord Gordon and Khartoom—, and our cousins don't always come off looking so good on their relations with the former. On the other hand, Sudan is the place that has been sponsoring genocide in Darfur.

It is interesting that Ms Gibbons was teaching in a private school for the children of wealthy Sudanese families, a detail that is generally left out of TV reporting.