1. The United States Geological Survey, a group of scientists, released a report today projecting that polar bear populations in the year 2050 will be around 1/3 of what they are today. That's unless the melting of sea ice from climate change should actually exceed their projections. If that happens, they note, all bets are off and you might be able to find a polar bear in a zoo. As of this week, the sea ice shrinkage in the arctic has set a new record, down to 4.75 million square miles, which is 250,000 square miles less ice than the previous record of year 2005. And winter is not yet arriving up there, either.
But as Stephen Colbert likes to point out, polar bears are large hairy carnivores with big teeth who eat people and baby seals. So enjoy this warm September weather!
2. Our buddy Osama issued another video, this time apparently using Grecian formula on the beard. What's up with that, I thought muslim males associated long white beards with wisdom and patriarchal authority? Anyway, despite the longstanding fact that the best response to Bin Laden's annual nonsense is to change the channel, Georg W. Bush could not resist spinning it his way. Yup, it's a reminder of "the dangerous world in which we live". Translation, be afraid, be very afraid, and stop voting Dem! Bush continued: "Iraq was mentioned, which is a reminder that Iraq is a part of this war against extremists".
I will not comment on that one, as hitting my head against the wall really hurts after a bit. Look George, if the man is a crazed idiot which you have been implying for years, why dignify him with a line by line response?
3. In other silly and annoying news, the Dow Jones tanked by 250 points again as part of the mortgage debacle. Courtywide Financial announced another 12k in job cuts. Apparently there are 2 million families out there with ticking ARM mortgages, and the industry does not yet have a plan to deal with that. Well, we could convert all those mortgages to a fixed rate, but that would be sooooooo unprofitable, and it would not do much to help the people who already owe more than they can ever hope to repay. An ounce of prevention was not workable, there was money to be made. So now we are stuck with a pound of cure- no make that 50,000 tons of cure.
4. What other weird and stupid news of human folly did you spot today?
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Comments: 7
Regarding Ben Laden...I thought they were above vanity? I guess they are mortals afterall.
and about CountryWide...as the most egregious offenders in the predatory lending catagory, I have no sympathy for this company....they practically singlehandedly created the mortgage debacle. Unfortunately, the higher-ups that insisted on using such questionable tactics luring unqualified borrowers into the fold, will most certainly maintain there jobs and pobably will even get a raise of a couple of mil or so....it's the one's at the bottom that will lose their jobs...possibly 1600 or more.
And finally, I do have another gem of a news item. Ted Haggard, former preacher and GOP darling of the Christain Coalition, who preached in the pulpit on Sunday about the evils of sex and then spent some of his $200,000 salary form the parishoners on male prosititutes and drugs, has asked his remaining followers to support he and his wife for two years so they can go back to college and get degrees in social services. The height of hypocrisy!
It's sad for me to imagine a hundred years from now, kids watching an old coke commercial with polar bears in it and saying, mom, what's that?