The Morning Blog

The New York Times provides an interactive map tracking the protests in Libya, which is wonderful because it saves me the trouble of writing about them for what will evidently, be the rest of my natural life. I really don't believe that Qaddafi is going to relinquish power while he's alive. At this point, it's literally a life or death struggle for him. I'm not even sure that there's anywhere in the world that would accept him as an exile. Maybe Venezuela. Qaddafi and Chavez could have slumber parties in the tent.

Al Jazzera provides a nice take down of Chavez here.

Meanwhile, lobbyists for Middle-Eastern dictators work on their spin for Congress. Some of them have decided that the whole situation might even be too tawdry for their stunted moralities to handle:

“We basically decided on principle that we couldn’t work for a country that was using snipers on rooftops to pick off its citizens,” said Gregory L. Vistica, the firm’s president, who first announced the decision on Facebook.

Bangladesh is attempting to force Muhammad Yunus from his post at the Grameen Bank. In 2006, Yunus and the bank won the Nobel Prize for pioneering micro-loans; very small loans made to poor people, often women. The purpose is to provide them with small amounts of very necessary capital to start businesses or improve their lives dramatically. Typically, the folks who take these loans don't need anywhere near the thousands of dollars typically covered by a loan. Often they just need enough to buy a bucket or a donkey or something very small. The dastardly crime leading to the attempt to remove him? Yunus had the temerity to keep working past the mandatory retirement age of 60. Thank God the government is stepping in!

Happy Birthday Mikhail Gorbachev! You're 80...Maybe it's time to cut loose and splurge a little...Get that weird thing on your head cleaned up.

I find this really interesting: Los Angeles' company town. An interesting point from the article is that unions will be fighting tooth and nail to maintain a deregulated environment for businesses despite the fact that the city of Vernon seems to be little more than a corrupt fiefdom.

I knew I never should have bought that "most excellent of quality iPord"!

While we're taking a look at Asia, we might as well check in on our industrious friends in the DPRK. Let's see what they've achieved through Juche today! Your Daily North Korean Headline:

Italian Food Served in Pyongyang.

This is a bit bittersweet: The Supreme Court has made the right decision about horrible, horrible people.

Sigh...Being a Steeler fan I guess I'm obligated to report on this travesty. Hines Ward's dancing partner has been announced. Hopefully, we will never have to speak of this again.

Frankly though, that's substantially less embarrassing than the thugs that make up Pittsburgh's college football team.

Pretty tawdry day it seems. I might have to take a bath after I finish writing this. The Charlie Sheen show lurches on: He's lost custody of his two sons. They'll be living with their mother who is currently in a day treatment facility for substance abuse. Unlike Charlie, blinking was not enough to cure her of her addiction problems.

Finally, Britain has taken steps to protect it's citizens from the dangers of foot eating fish!

Yeesh...In other fish related news, these things are almost impossibly creepy.

Courtesy of the always quick Girlfriend: The Catholic church at one time banned a musical interval. She notes that it's one of her favorite progressions and has thus, inadvertently consigned her soul to Hell.

Not that I have anything to say about soccer but every time I see headlines in the English press along the lines of "Man United up for the Fight" my first thought is that they're talking about a gay rights group.

Here are the last 24 hours.

Stupid science... They ruin everything.

Christopher Hitchens takes a look at Wisconsin's history of radicalism. Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade get free drinks? That's pretty awesome!

This is a really interesting article and something that I think would be fun to experiment with in the kitchen: The Future of Food. The miracle berry is pretty neat. How does one go about getting some?

Yet another victory for the Chinese military.