Weighing the Arguments

An interesting thing happens when you are away from the news for a while. And over three heavy news days with a lot of fast breaking stories it can be a bit overwhelming when you filling tune back in. Most of the talking heads don't spend a lot of time on what happened yesterday. You are suppose to be watching religiously.

My father, who was one of the 90 day wonder Air Force cadets during WWII said if you dropped a pencil you were 6 days behind by the time you picked it up. I felt a bit like that today.

Obama was out of the country and upsetting Kenya because he went to Ghana instead. North Korea's Kim is believed to be dying of cancer. The media obviously finally said goodbye to Michael Jackson but not to exploring his drug usage/abuse. And Congress wants a thorough investigation of former V-P Cheney and his secret ops with the CIA (doesn't that sound like a new dance step?). Thankfully the Internet offers many opportunities to delve into the back story. I frankly did not care about Kenya being miffed. I thought it was going to be a plus that Kim was soon not going to be an issue in N. Korea but some seem to think his son could be worse. Who cares how many drugs MJ took of if his dad is making an ass out of himself as per usual.

So that left me with the Cheney/CIA issue. I frankly was not surprised except that everyone seemed to be rather upset over something most of us theorized about on blogs eight years ago. What I found interesting was that the Republicans seem to think us Democrats make this stuff up to take the focus off of Obama's falling poll numbers (down a couple points) and failing agenda(nobody has rammed through health care yet). I think I asked this question during the campaign but it begs asking again: Does the GOP send out an e-mail every morning with the buzz phrases for the day? If they do they need some new writers.

You notice that the political pundits are all using the exact same words in the same cadence and inflection when you go through successive days of streaming video on a subject in a close timeframe. It has a sort of deju vu feel about it. They should have been investigating this when all the principals were still in office. So indict or drop it. This is boring.

Going through three or four days of back news you also realize what is missing: Nobody has figured out why Palin resigned. Does this mean nobody cares? I think so. And McCain has not rushed to the defense of his former running mate because nobody was attacking her. And GW has not rushed to the defense of his good bud, Dick. In fact has anyone seen the ex-president anywhere - even Kenya? Maybe he is there with Elvis and Michael.

Tripping Through the News Lightly

I did not think I would ever say it but I miss G.W. There was never a question about what to write about in this blog when he was around. And Cheney, currently making the rounds of talking heads, with his revisionist history just irritates me so much that I would not be able to write reasonably.

So this morning I was scanning articles of interest on several on line news outlets and being horridly bored. More Saturday night quarterbacking of President Obama's economic stimulus plan. Boring. Ever notice that nobody knows how to solve something until someone steps in and presents a plan? Hey, we have never been here before and it does not do to cry, "He's wrong." How do you know?

And I am bored with failing auto companies. Though it looks like ten banks are asking permission to pay back the tarp funds. Isn't that what they were suppose to do? They keep finding more Air France bodies but nobody has explained where from came the wreckage first discovered in the supposed crash site but later proved to not be from flight 447. Anyone missing another plane or ship?

I soon found myself on the BBC - Earth News site. Seems they have discovered that chimpanzees remember the exact location of their favorite fruit trees. Their spatial memory is so precise that they can find a single tree among more than 12,000 others within a patch of forest, and also recall how productive each tree is, and decide to travel further to eat from those they know will yield the most fruit. If researchers discover which gene in our DNA determines this ability I think it ought to be implanted into the human male brain.

Researchers now think that our growing dependence on GPS devices is handicapping our own ability to know where we are or even follow directions. The program them with female voices because more men rely on them than women. BTW the GPS devices installed in all new automobiles just off the lot these days are not just for the drivers. They also help the repossession crews locate and take back the car if you fall behind on payments

Another Brave New World sort of thing is that they have developed a microwave device that can scan people for guns from a distance. I assume it will replace those metal detectors we have to walk through or will they use it on the streets to just routinely microwave us? What, pray tell, will be the long term effects of repeated exposure to microwaves on the human body?

When I was a kid every shoe store or department had one of those xray machines to see if your toes were being cramped by the shoes. We loved them and abused them whileour siblings were getting fitted for their new shoes. One day the machines vanished. Seems they were melting kids foot bones or so the rumor had it. That was before CNN and inquiring minds must know.

Anyway I emerged from today's news with a new respect for Chimps and further doubts about the human race. If we kill ourselves off do you suppose evolution will begin anew? If it does lets not lose that mapping gene.