Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Drudgieness For Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The McCain rumor mill is churning big with talk of his potential running mate. Could it be Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty or former Massachusetts' Governor Mitt Romney? I can't help but laugh at the quote from the person allegedly close to Mitt saying he is "near the top of a very short list." Isn't that what a short list is? I mean I can't imagine it having much more than 5 people and to be "near the top" suggests being no lower than #3, la-di-frickin-dah.

Figure I'll mention Dolly briefly. Having been through a few hurricanes, I'm not too terribly concerned, I don't think the damage will be too bad. It's only a Cat 2, but it has slowed a bit so that does pose some concerns. My favorite quote from the article though, "With Dolly's stubborn movement, severe beach erosion is becoming a major concern." Wow thank goodness we're not going to lose any homes or anything...

A bank in Florida is allegedly giving out counterfeit money. As if the economy isn't already struggling enough.

Bob Novak hits a pedestrian with his car. Interesting the fuss that gets created about this, I mean it's a bad thing, but it seems like a bit too much. Hopefully it's because he is a rather high profile figure and not because of his political affiliations.

Batman accused of beating his mother and sister. This story broke a couple of days ago, but since it is high profile news I thought I'd throw it in there. Plus I hate how society idealizes and glamorizes these celebrities. Hopefully the accusations aren't true, but either way, something bad is going on and so hopefully society isn't still thinking of him as "the golden boy."

People fear a "John McCain war with Iran" but don't be too certain Obama won't start one either. Obama said he would take "no options off the table" to help prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. I'll be honest, I'm not OK with the idea of Iran having nukes either, but I really don't think the world is going to collapse for it. Frankly, I think we're making way too big of a fuss about it and I don't think we need to even lightly suggest a nuclear strike against Iran to prevent them from having nukes (no options off the table, right?). Besides, I think when they get close enough, I think Israel will probably take care of things themselves.

Video interview of McCain with CBS's Katie Couric.  
Some of the more interesting quotes: Speaking of Obama, McCain states, "He would rather lose a war than lose a campaign," "Obama does not understand the challenges we face," "He just is wrong and has been wrong about the issues."

China seeks to repress freedom of speech as much as possible shortly before the Olympic Games. They are arresting "internet dissidents" (people that are probably not unlike the average blogger). I love the fact that Ben Blanchard of Reuters says in their article that China is doing it "to ensure the Games go smoothly." I don't know what about throwing people in jail and restricting freedom of speech encourages a smooth running of the games, but apparently Reuters feels like it does. Also, China is cracking down on the types of advertising it's allowing. I can't deny I like the fact they're trying to take out a lot of the smut and filth that is advertising, but yet again, that whole freedom of speech thing still lingers (not that that even remotely exists in China).

Man arrested for taking 42 cents from a mall fountain.

Man from environmental group Plane Stupid (very appropriate name) attempts to superglue himself to the British PM.

Wireless HD in the works. This should be pretty cool.

Economists feel like the stock market would do better under McCain than Obama.

Carson Palmer alienates his fan base. I respect Palmer for his loyalty and hatred of a team that is somewhat of a rival for USC, however, I can't deny the fact that this was a moronic thing to do. I saw them talk about the interview on ESPN and couldn't believe how much he spoke out against Ohio State when he knows that his fans are Ohio State fans. Sometimes when you're in positions like that, you can let yourself be known, but you gotta be a little PC about it.

Woman attacked by bear gets away and drives to the fire department.

Is Anti-Catholicism Dead? This article explores it. Seems like a kind of hokey  question to me because I'd say mainstream they really are, but there are still some people out there with these kinds of sentiments.

Good work Mayor Bloomberg and Mr. Gates, hopefully you can help stop the world from smoking. Of course, not to sound unappreciative, but $500 million between the two of these moguls sure doesn't seem like much.

Some quick blurbs about the Facebook conference in San Fran.

David Zucker is creating a right leaning political satire to combat against Michael Moore.

Blogs
Jeff Nielson's Just Watch the Fireworks: Jeff takes a closer look at Hancock and it ain't pretty.

Ian McConaughey's Satire Report: Ian talks about a prank he played on his brother and friend. I thought it was funny. If you don't, then click on the Strongbad link he posted and you should find that funny.

3 comments:

Michael Powers said...

Good news as always. I read an update about the assault story with Christian Bale. Of course he denies any assault charges, and I'm fairly certain it was just a verbal sparring. The story from the Daily Mail said his mother was saying some very offensive things about his wife and marriage.

Mr. Bale has been having some tough times with his marriage and has had to deal with some bouts of depression since his friend Heath Ledger died. I'm ready to cut him slack, but not because he's a celebrity, but because non-celebrities and even family members try and bother and abuse anyone they know who is even remotely connected, like Mr. Bale. They do it for the spotlight, or money, or just out of bitter resentment. And, it makes no sense that he would physically attack his own family members so close to the premiere.

Michael Powers said...

or at all.

squirrelyearl said...

Yeah, I'm with you on cutting him some slack. But I do get so irritated by how highly so many people esteem these celebrities. I mean the media does for sure, but the media does it because they know average people enjoy it. Given the circumstances of what all happened, I'd imagine it wasn't really as serious as much of the media may have labeled it, and certainly it wasn't enough to keep him in jail. I know I've read a bit of the side story and something fishy definitely seems to be going on. Guess we'll see how it all plays out shortly.