BPN Mixer: 9/20/07
Greetings BPNers. I haven’t been able to post much lately, so I thought I’d share some interesting news tidbits over the last couple of weeks or so:
All over the news this morning was the announcement that a new tape was issued by Al-Qaeda. The audio tape contains a message by Osama bin Laden calling for Pakistanis to rise up against their president, General Pervez Musharraf. Just what we need…one of the very few U.S. allies in the Middle East to be toppled by militants.
Also all over the news this morning was Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He apparently asked for permission to visit the World Trade Center memorial and lay a wreath there when he visits the United Nations next week. City officials declined the request, citing construction work going on at the site. The White House called the request “odd.” I say if he wants to visit the site, let him. It may ease the current tension between the U.S. and Iran, and hopefully lead to some healthy dialogue. Ahmadinejad is also expected to speak at a world leaders summit at Columbia University next week.
MSNBC reported this morning that the current O.J. Simpson media circus happening in Las Vegas will infuse the town with over $18 million over the next month or so from reporters covering his trial. Like Vegas really needs $18 million more? That’s chump change.
According to yesterday’s New York Times, researchers are combing the world for the last known speakers of whole languages. It is said that one language dies about every two weeks or so, and that there are an estimated 7,000 languages currently in existence.
A man who shot a police officer in Philadelphia back in 1966 and served 20 years for it and other crimes, will now be charged with murder, even though the officer survived the shooting and died only recently (over 41 years later to be exact). The reason for the new charge…the officer died of an infection related to the bullet he took. Personally, I don’t know how the new charge is expected to stick…the police officer lived more than 40 years after the tragic incident. It will be interesting to read your views on this case.
In a very surprising move, Wal-Mart is set to unveil a new health plan for its employees. For those who choose to sign up for the coverage, the world’s largest private employer will be offering each employee or family anywhere from $100–500 in order to curb healthcare spending, plus charge, at the lowest, only $5 per month to cover premiums. In addition, employees will have access to over 2,400 generic prescriptions priced at only $4…that’s around 1,000 more prescriptions than the retailer offers to customers. I hail the new plan, and, as the world’s largest employer in the private sector, I can forsee a much healthier population soon.
The NBA is set to launch a subsidary in China. According to a New York Times business article, a whopping third of all traffic to NBA.com visits the Mandarin Chinese side of it. Very interesting.
A couple days ago, George H.W. Bush endorsed Republican presidential contender John McCain. How effective will that endorsement be? In my opinion, it has come far to late, as McCain’s campaign started losing momentum–plus many staffers–a long time ago. But we’ll wait and see. This could be just what the doctor ordered for the Arizona senator and Vietnam hero.
Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, just had a memoir published, titled, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World. In it, the 81-year-old former chairman, a Republican who served an amazing 18 years in that role, gives the Clinton administration high remarks and offers some tough words regarding the George W. Bush administration’s handling of fiscal policy.
In an interview that was timed to the book’s release, Mr. Greenspan had this to say:
Smaller government, lower spending, lower taxes, less regulation–they had the resources to do it, they had the knowledge to do it, they had the political majorities to do it. And they didn’t.
Right on, Mr. Greenspan! Why, with all the government spending, growing bureaucracy, and regulation going on right now, you’d think Hillary was at the helm!
Moving right along here, interesting figures reported in the Friday, 8/14/07 issue of USA TODAY: Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and Republican hopeful Ron Paul are receiving the most donations from military workers. At the time of the article, Obama took in 44 donations worth $27,000, while Paul raked in $19,300 from 23 contributions. A retired Army lieutenant colonel named Larnell Exum, who donated $500 to Obama’s war chest, had this to say:
Paul and Obama are talking straight to soldiers, and what they are saying is resonating.
Finally, on to one of my favorite stories during the last couple of weeks: on 9/12/07, a governor in Russia told government employees in his province to go home and make love in an effort to make babies and raise the country’s declining population. And get this…for women who give birth exactly nine months later, they will be eligible to win prizes, including a home! Why can’t we have a day like that here in the U.S.? Our population is dangerously low compared to some other countries. We have under 300 million people while China and India have well over one billion each, to name just two.
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