Friday, February 24, 2012

Nobody Asked Me, But...

1) So it's come down to this? PFC Bradley Manning, who ported a whole bunch of clkassified documents to the website WikiLeaks, has been charged with "aiding the enemy." There's really only one question to be asked here: Who? Who is the enemy? WikiLeaks? Has there been a formal declaration of law against a website? Or even a Presidential finding that WikiLeaks poses a "clear and present danger" to American security? Do they have nukes pointed at the heartland? Did they weaponize avian flu, then release their recipe to the general public?
 
2) Having lost the culture wars to Rick Santorum, Romney is trying to pivot back to the economy. Bad news, Governor: the economy is tooling along, and a majority of Americans now feel it's at least "good." Maybe if you show us your bank balances again, you can have our attention.
 
3) Funniest line in this story about Apple's embarassment of riches: "Another suggestion of what to do with the cash was to buy Greece, which is currently experiencing a debt crisis, but Cook said Apple is not interested." Apple has $97.6 billion in the bank. As recently as June 2011, it "only" had $76 billion, which was still $3 billion more than the Federal government.
 
4) Nice gesture but, I'm worried how this will be implemented.
 
5) Mayor Mike Bloomberg is turning more and more into a tinpot dictator with delusions of grandeur each day. It's bad enough that he had the NYPD spy on Muslim student organizations and mosques within the five boroughs, but he extended this undercover work almost nationwide and without the knowledge or coordination with local law enforcement or administrations. You know who else used to spy secretly on citizens?
 
6) How nuts are sports fans? Baseball player Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, who was selected the National League MVP, tested positive for elevated testosterone levels in his urine during the playoffs last season. His punishment was a 50-game suspension this season. He did not deny using performance enhancing drugs (meaning he cheated to win his MVP award), and instead, focused on a technicality in how his urine sample was handled. He had his suspension overturned. The reaction of Brewer fans? Ecstatic.
 
Disgusting.
 
 
8) You'll note Newt mentions nothing about selling our daughters and sons out to King Abdullah. Really? $2.50 a gallon, Newt? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!
 
9) Bill Maher stepped up for Obama last night. Will you?
 
10) Finally, many of you have approached me here, on Facebook and privately with respect to the procedure I underwent yesterday (because I know many of you read this while eating and drinking, I've been purposely circumspect about mentioning the precise name, but lemme just say that the "monkeycam"-- to quote my friend Michael-- found none poised to fly out of my butt.) Thank you for your words of support and concern. I was a nervous wreck this past week in anticipation of the horror of the prep. The procedure itself is not too bad particularly since the doctor insists on mild sedation, even if I did wake up to my appendix large and in color on the monitor just feet from my face. As I haven't seen that partcular organ since my skin turned opaque in the womb, it was like seeing an old friend. He looks healthy. I didn't get to ask about the family.
 
There will be a few days of trepidation but I'm confident that, in the end (pardon the pun) things will come out alright (again, pardon the pun.)