Good News, Bad News

Good News:

California will have a popular vote on the legalization of marijuana as part of their November elections.  I expect we'll see this sold to the voters not as a way to bring some sanity to our drug laws, as it should be, but rather as a way for the state to make some much needed cash from the new taxes.  'Cause they're broke.  

Bad News:

 China has no idea what to do with their trash as evidenced by their ideas on what to do with their trash.  This is bad news because they're probably going to start shooting the stuff into space or just dumping it into the ocean next.  Which is bad, because then where are we going to put our garbage?

Good News:

Rupert Murdoch has announced that they'll be erecting a pay wall around the London Times and Sunday Times, as well as charging an outrageous $18 per month for the Wall Street Journal on the forthcoming iPad.  This is good news because it means the beginning of the end Murdoch's print empire has finally begun.  Less lunacy in our future is always a good thing.

Bad News:

 Charlie Vergos, a godfather of modern BBQ and the inventor of the American dry rub style, died earlier this week.  I like BBQ in a way that is unhealthy, so this is very sad news.

Good News:

Google is giving YouTube a facelift.  It needed one.  Badly.  Google still designs some of the worst UIs this side of Microsoft, but it's still a huge step in the right direction. 

Bad News:

The Westboro Baptist Church has won yet another legal battle, this time in the US Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.  What's particularly galling about this one however is that the plaintiff, in this case the father of a slain Marine, was ordered to pay the Church's legal fees, amounting to nearly $17,000.  If I were a member of the Senate I would introduce a bill to label Fred Phelps and his family domestic terrorists and enemy combatants.  Sure, it might get stricken down by the US Supreme court, but it would also get me re-elected.   

Good News:

Sallie Mae and the other big student loan lenders are having a no good, very bad day cause that Damn Kenyan in the White House signed legislation that allows the federal government to loan money directly to students and cuts out the jet-setting middle man, while simultaneously capping student loan payments at 10% of your monthly income.  It doesn't get more Win/Win than Banks Cry/Students Get More Money.

Too Close to Call:

Iceland has officially banned stripping throughout the country.  Some are calling this a triumph of feminism.  Strippersstill others are calling this the loss of high paying jobs.  Still others now have nowhere to go five nights of the week.  

Very Good News:

Yes, Bush, our children is learning:

Except the ones who are dead.