Wednesday, April 6, 2011

The Morning Blog

Keeping it short and sweet today people. Gotta do some cooking.

Good News:
It appears as though the conflict in Ivory Coast is winding down. And not a moment too soon, I might add. Under no circumstances can the world stand by in good conscience as an oppressive dictator brutalizes his people. Not to mention, chokes our supply of precious, precious chocolate. THAT SHIT WILL NOT STAND!!

One of the reasons cited for the surrender of Ivory Coast strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, is that his forces simply ran out of ammunition. A lack of ammunition sadly, continues to be the least of the problems in Libya. The rebels are now lashing out at NATO for not bombing the hell out of everything vigorously enough. Sadly, it appears as though the impression has been made: NATO may insist that they're only in the country to support the UN mandate to protect civilians. But as far as the rebels are concerned, they're the de facto air force of the revolution.

In for a Penny, In for a Pound: Chances are, we won't have the luxury of merely being the de facto air force for long. Over at Foreign Policy, James Dubrik looks at the inevitability of 'boots on the ground':

Suppose the coalition does succeed. What happens once Qaddafi is gone, his regime collapses, and the rebels win? When such vacuums emerge, the results are unpredictable, at best. The world needs no further example of the costs of not preparing for the post-combat phase of an intervention than what it has seen in Iraq. A satisfactory endgame depends on the choices that Washington and its allies make right now.

What the hell is Qaddafi thinking anyways?

As long as we're talking about insurrections in Africa, we might as well mention the Mau Mau's.

There's really nothing funny or insightful I can say about cannibals making curry. Glad I wasn't eating breakfast as I read that bit.

A previously censored version of "From Here to Eternity" will be released. Had the original version been used for the film, Frank Sinatra would have been doing more with his mouth than singing.

The deadline for a budget before a shutdown of the federal government is looming. A quick thought on this: It sounds terrible but I'm old enough to recall the last government shutdown. Mostly, I recall it having absolutely no effect on my life. Bills still arrived, the war du jour continued and anarchy failed to break out in the streets. I'm sure we'll muddle through whatever happens this time too.

This is handy: An interactive chart comparing the dueling budgets.

Reuters breaks down what a shutdown would look like.

Liar, liar...

As a loyal Pittsburgher, I must offer a bit of advice to the New York equity fund that has purchased local brewing company, Iron City Beer: As you attempt to revive the "historic brand", you might consider brewing something other than ungodly swill. Maybe even make it not reek of cat urine? Just a thought. We would be more than happy to support the local economy and a local business if you made a product, the thought of which, does not make Pittsburghers throw up a little in their mouths.

More on Terry Jones' idiotic mock trial of the Koran. Strangely, it seems as though it never would have occurred were it not for the siren call of Disney World.

Didn't they get the memo? We are BUSY RIGHT NOW!

Well this is very good news: So long and thanks for all the yelling! Fox has announced that it will be dropping Glenn Beck's show. Don't let the door hit ya, where the dog shoulda bit ya!

Speaking of great communicators: Darpa has announced that it's building a hand-held C-3PO. I am cautiously optimistic that at least this robot, will never try to kill me. Probably.

Seems like Hollywood has pretty much committed itself to throwing every single super hero up on the silver screen. I wait with baited breath for the cinematic debut of Matter-Eater Lad.

That's it for me. The cooking went off well by the way, dinner smells fabulous. Thanks for asking!

1 comment:

  1. Just because the shutdown did not affect you last time does not mean it will not affect you this time. Either way, please consider all the people it WILL affect.

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