Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Today's headlines

I didn't get a chance to do my "in the headlines" today and I think I missed it another day in the last week, so I thought I'd do a quick review of the Wednesday headlines and offer some thoughts on them before bed.  The fact I will probably not have time for a morning blog might have something to do with the urge to do this before going to bed.

In most strip clubs, the strippers (exotic dancers if you prefer) work as independent contractors, rather than as employees.  Now the Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that they are employees, at least as far as being entitled to unemployment compensation is concerned.  Seems very fair to me.  We'll keep abreast of this story.

On the same day that the Postal Service announced that they will stop delivering first class mail on Saturdays this coming August, the Defense Secretary warned that the coming sequestration cuts in defense spending will cripple our nation's military readiness and also damage the economy.  I think there's an argument to be made that not spending the next 20 years paying interest on the $56 billion that we'll have to borrow to avoid making these cuts will also damage the economy can be made.

The Boy Scouts will wait until later to decide if they are going to change their policy on gays being scouts or scout leaders.  Since it's likely they will decide to continue to discriminate, putting off a bad decision is probably a good decision.

Even though they are getting more money for them, ABC has already sold out the available advertising slots for this month's Oscar telecast.  So why did the people who run SoCalTrivia schedule the big tournament final for Oscar night?  Did they want us to miss the Oscar commercials?

Two students involved in a tug-of-war at a local high school lost some fingers when the rope snapped.  Do they not warn people to not wrap the rope around their hands because that might happen?  They were taken to a hospital surgeons where the missing digits were reattached.  We will see if the surgery is successful.

A  14 year old girl will get $200 from her father for logging off of Facebook, as long as she doesn't log back on for five months.  So who wants to wager on how many days after the five month period ends before she logs back on?  I'm betting ten days.

The good news for Fox News is that it has the most trusted reporters on television.  The bad news for Fox News is that it has the least trusted reporters on television.  Depends on who you ask?  All I can say is take Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and NBC news all with a grain of salt.  Read multiple sources and eventually the real truth will come out. 

A Connecticut mother pulled a gun while at a Chuck E. Cheese pizza restaurant to threaten another mother, and was subsequently arrested.  What's your rationale for taking a gun to go and get pizza?  Seriously.

Kids in Australia will no longer be allowed to blow out the candles on birthday cakes in school, because of the potential spread of germs.  You gotta be kidding me.

A mother in Florida stole her son's letter of intent to commit to play football at Arkansas so he couldn't fax it in, because she wants him to go to school closer to home.  Yo, Mom, time to let go.  Your little boy is grown up now.

An 18 year old male model is passing up a six figure income to play college football because he likes the game and he wants a college education.  Kudos to him.

In case you were wondering what happened to the chair Clint Eastwood was talking to during last year's Republican National Convention, it now resides in the office of the RNC chairman.

There are reports that the U.S. has a "secret" drone base in Saudi Arabia.  If it's secret, why is its existence being disclosed in newspapers?  These stories should say the U.S. has a drone base in Saudi Arabia that was a secret but it's not secret any longer.

A book that was 55 years overdue has been returned to a library along with a check for $100 to cover the late fees.  No, it wasn't a book on how to prevent procrastination, or on how to be on time. 

A flight attendant for the Russian airline, Aeroflot, has been fired.  She was caught in a photo giving the finger to passengers that went viral on Twitter.