CNN Headline: "Rice seeks to repair Turkey ties"

So many jokes you can write with this one

In Case You Haven't Heard. . .

There have been some strange happenings in Nepal over the last few days. On Tuesday, King Gyanendra disbanded the government and ordered the house arrest of the prime minister. And, in a move right out of Kim Jung Il's playbook, the king shut down the airports and stopped all international flights from entering and leaving the country. He has also been extensive limitations on the press in Nepal. What the hell is going on here? Let's go to the booth.

Flea is getting married to a model. That is all. Gotta love Flea.

Wow, Jessica Coen is pretty damn attractive

Yep, that's none other than Gawker editor Jessica Coen (with crazy publicist Jonathan Cheban) lookin' pretty cute at some dinner the other night. Go read Gawker, look at this picture, and tell me you're not in love.

Spitzer Kicks Ass, Again

Looking as presidential as ever (wishful thinking, no?), NY State Attorney General (and gubernatorial candidate, and possible presidential candidate) Eliot Spitzer settled with Marsh & McLennan, the insurance industry's biggest broker. MarshMac (a name used by those in the know, which I am definitely not) will be forced to pay $850 million in settlements, as well as promise to change their whole way of doing business. On the flip side, the company will not be fined nor penalized for its shady behavior.

Hmmm. . . I think I would have preferred to see the company out on its ass, but hey, I'm not the AG so maybe this is for the best.

P.S.
Insurance is overrated, DIY medicine is the best.

Apple Voted Top Brand

You can read all about it here.

Two reasons why I don't like this: first, the more popular Apple gets, the more people buy Macs, and the more people buy Macs, the more viruses (or viri, if you like) and such are targeted at Macs, which ultimately means I actually will have to be careful with my computer and buy some anti-virus software, and frankly, I'm not willing to do that; second, Ipods suck, and anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't owned their's for very long.

That being said, peep this little tidbit from the article:

After Apple and Google’s first and second position ranks, Ikea, a furniture maker topped out at third place, Starbucks grabbed the fourth spot, and Al Jazeera swiped the fifth position due to its unbiased and accurate reporting on War on Terrorism and activities in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Hmmm. . . which one of those brands seems oddly out of place? And how bizarre that this would appear in a techie article.

P.S.
So it looks like I made the right call going with Al Jazeera.

Audit Shows US is Missing $9 BILLION(!) in Iraq

And just because I can, I'm sending you all to Al Jazeera to read about this. That's right, suck it up, bitches (this will come back to haunt me later in life, I'm sure).

Ok, a Little More Cynicism

Here's the Guardian's piece on the elections yesterday that took a little wind out of my sails, though it's nothing compared to some other articles that totally decried the election. I'll put those up later. . . maybe. From the Guardian:

The most obvious message to draw from yesterday's elections in Iraq is that it will be a long time before it becomes clear who the real winners are. Not only is this literally the case - in that it will be at least a week and a half before the results are known, and many of the candidates were anonymous - but figuratively too. This election is, as Kofi Annan observed, only a first step in deciding Iraq's future. What happens from now on will decide what path Iraq continues along.

. . . When a nation holds its first elections after a long period of dictatorship, a temptation is to rejoice at the mere fact of its happening. The images and experiences of the countries formerly encased in Europe's Eastern bloc, as well as more recent examples in South Africa and Ukraine, have gained a romantic resonance. It would be too simplistic to transfer that romance to Iraq, because this was an election almost entirely unlike those others. In many respects it is difficult to be confident that this was a free or fair election, given the violence and intimidation surrounding it. On one side, Sunnis were threatened by the likes of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to stay away from the polls, while on the other Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued edicts requiring his followers to vote. The fruits of democracy have yet to be tasted in Iraq. Yet that is not to say that something good cannot come of it, just that it is not yet obvious what the final outcome will be.

Ultimately though, with the election out of the way, attention now turns to the other questions that have become more urgent. Even if the elections have been some sort of success, we are still no closer to knowing when US and British forces will withdraw from Iraq. Similarly, we are still no closer to seeing the final shape of Iraq's constitutional settlement. Most importantly, we still have no idea when the grim nightmare of violence for Iraq's people will finally end.

Allawi Calls for Unity, Again

You know what? As cynical as I am, I'm happy about yesterday's turn out. I know it will not solve the big problems in Iraq (read: security), but it is still a step in the right direction, no matter how small a step it is. Anyway, today, interim PM Allawi asked the people of Iraq to unify as one. How quaint (ahh, there's my old cynicism). From the WP:

A day after Iraq's first free vote in half a century, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called on Iraqis to unite and promised to reach out to the country's alienated Sunni Arab minority. The Sunni reaction may determine whether the electoral euphoria can be translated into the stability that has eluded Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

"The terrorists now know that they cannot win," Allawi said in a statement Monday from Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. "We are entering a new era of our history and all Iraqis -- whether they voted or not -- should stand side by side to build their future."

The need for national reconciliation emerged as a theme in the wake of Sunday's elections, as Iraqis awaited the results and the naming of a 275-member parliament that will appoint government leaders. In Baghdad and some other parts of Iraq, the vote generated scenes of jubilation. But it apparently failed to draw large numbers of Sunnis, especially in rural areas. Many stayed away in protest or because of intimidation.