08 July 2007

The Seven Blunders of the World




















It is official. The votes are in for the New 7 Wonders of the World. Some of the wonders were shoo-ins. Some were more controversial. I feel that the omission of Jessica Alba's body was a grave oversight. According to the rules, the submission had to be discovered by the year 2000, and that was the year Dark Angel was on TV, so problem solved.

As many as 150 people were killed in a suicide bombing 100 miles north of Baghdad Saturday. The attack was estimated to be the most devastating of the year. This should continue the ever-shortening yardstick for success in Iraq (the Bush administration has pared the yardstick down to a trim six inches by now, and it's growing shorter by the day).

On the other terror front, the NYTimes is reporting that U.S. forces aborted a planned attack against the upper hierarchy of Al Qaeda in Pakistan in 2005. This marks the second time our energies in Afghanistan were called off at the last minute when they were getting close to the upper echelon of Al Qaeda, and the first time the Bush administration has supported abortion.

Always one to drag his feet, Bush is refusing to turn over Congressionally required documents related to the partisan terminations of nine U.S. attorneys. He IS the President, and apparently he can take his ball and go home.

Dick Cheney's fingerprints keep coming out more clearly on the issue of indefinite detentions. Cheney is under so much pressure at this point that he's hoping for Bush to make some embarrassing public gaffe to get people's attention focused on somebody who isn't named Dick Cheney.

The Red Mosque standoff in Pakistan continues to be at an impasse. The men leading the mosque are under criminal investigations and are described as "hardened terrorists" by investigators. The Al Qaeda linked group is holding hostages and threatening to commit suicide rather than being captured, two activities that won't do much to soften their image as criminal scum.

Fred Thompson is on record proving he can play for both sides, even in the Watergate hearings. Thompson, who cut his teeth turning the screws to Nixon in public committees, is recorded on the ocean of Nixon tapes and named as a sympathetic supporter. Nixon also calls the Law and Order star "dumb as hell" but willing to cooperate. Who knew Arthur Branch would compromise his ethics so?

Sports news today centered around people beating the crap out of each other. IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko TKOed Lamon Brewster in six rounds Saturday night in Germany. Even better, Klitschko beat Brewster with a broken hand. The big money UFC fight between Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans was a draw, proving that all of the hype that mixed martial arts was pushing boxing to the fringes of society might have been a bit premature.

1 comment:

Anne said...

I voted in that New 7 Wonders thing last year I believe.

As I remember the Pyramid was a choice to remain on the list and that is sort of sad that it didn't make the list having survived so long.