You have to wonder what’s up when you see soldiers armed with machine guns and armored vehicles outside polling places, like now in India’s elections. Guess India’s not all that stable. Actually, it’s been very volatile lately. What, nobody’s meditating over there anymore?
You also have to wonder why nobody mentions the words “civil war” when it comes to Pakistan. When native armed militants take over a bunch of provinces within a nation and threaten to do more of that sort of thing, isn’t that sort of the textbook definition of civill war? Perhaps no one wants to utter the “C” words; civil war and chaos, in a nation with a substantial nuclear arsenal. Not acknowledging something, however, has rarely been an effective strategy.
The panic over swine flu seems a bit hasty. There’s only 257 confirmed cases and relatively few deaths worldwide out of 6 billion people. Starvation, on the other hand, killed 36,000 people today. It killed 36,000 people yesterday too. And the day before and the day before that and the day before that. World leaders are not panicking, however, and by and large seem to be taking it pretty well, even though it will kill another 36,000 tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and the day after that forever. Curious, no?
The House of Representatives finally passed a Credit Card Holder’s Bill Of Rights. They figured it was either that or start prosecuting and jailing the credit card company bosses like they do regular gangsters and loan sharks, small-timers in comparison to the credit card cartel.
All sorts of reasons are being put forth for the bankruptcy of the Chrysler Automotive Corporation. Could it be those giant gas-guzzling SUVs they insisted on manufacturing for years after it became apparent they were ridiculous vehicles to own? How many years did they think Americans would drive cars that don’t look really cool? Other than their convertibles and retro-look PT Cruisers, Chryslers are boring. Inefficient and unreliable we’ll forgive, but boring? Get real! There’s a reason why Studebaker was exiled to Canada and Ramblers sleep with the fishes. Chrysler, this is America, not the Soviet Union of the 1970’s. A partnership with Fiat just might be the answer. The Italians have been building cool cars for a long time, for the most part small, expensive and fairly frivolous, but very cool looking. Now, if Chrysler/Fiat can pull off building affordable cool cars like the Mustang, Camaro, Le Mans, Thunderbird, GTO or Trans Am, they’ll be back in the black. Build a wicked looking ride or go away.
The unprovoked war of aggression against fat guys shows no sign of ending any time soon. Indeed, there isn’t even a proposed timetable for ceasing hostilities. Bad enough they were labeled as “obese” by killjoys who aren’t happy unless they’re making others miserable, then given the horrible designation of being “morbidly” obese, but now they’ve come up with a new self-esteem annihilator called Super Obese! Super Obese? What did fat guys ever do to these people to deserve the Super, never mind the morbidly? Enjoy themselves, maybe? Or, worse yet, smoke a friggin’ cigarette? Most of us like fat people just fine. It’s the civilian vice squad we can’t stand.