Russian Wheat Will Affect World Hunger, Iran's Middle East Deflection, Andrew Romanoff Must Lose

Paul Krugman
Khaled Amyreh

"So the end result of the long campaign against government is that we’ve taken a disastrously wrong turn. America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere." - Paul Krugman

I have spent the past couple of hours scouring newspapers from all over the world, and it looks like I am going to have to wait until tomorrow or the next few days to read of any new developments. I don't know if it''s a sign of the economic depressed times, but most news departments go on vacation during the weekends. Monday has the slimmest edition of the NY Times, mostly a rehash of events that are more than one or two days old... It looks like relief might come to Russia, with rains heading that way. Most of central Europe ended up flooded, but the near-forgotten Icelandic volcano still affects weather patterns and may be a major factor for Russia's record heat wave. Wildfires are down from 800 to 500, and old folk are dropping like flies. Putin announced that Russia would not export any of its grain crops this year, which may affect efforts around the world to relieve hunger. Farmers who get paid not to plant and grow crops, won't be able to contribute until the next farming cycle. The UN is severely depleted of resources, has already had to cut back on regular food programs to countries like Yemen, essentially choosing who gets to live and who will die in the next couple of years. If world weather patterns continue to be as severe, we will not be able to keep up with the disasters that occur. Pray that nothing happens in your town...

Iran all of a sudden has been making nice, saying that it is more than willing to talk about its nuclear program. This has historically been interpreted as a stalling tactic, that no, they are not interested in making any concessions and are willing to talk as long as it doesn't lead to any actions. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is feeling pretty pleased with himself, secure in his position, secure that his planners are out-smarting their western counterparts.

A new nuclear facility is a few weeks away from opening. These few weeks are the most crucial time, when any kind of attack would happen before the nuclear fuel gets delivered. Defenses at the plant have been practicing shooting down drones in anticipation of something Israeli coming their way. In order to deflect attention away from the plant, Iran has sent military intelligence officers to visit Lebanon and Syria, hoping to keep the pressure up along the Lebanese border. Israel has gotten the US Congress to withhold $100 billion to the Lebanese Army, unless it can prove that it has no ties to Hezbollah. Good luck with that, Jack... With the holy month of Ramadan starting, it can only make the Lebanese soldiers tired and cranky, so mistake are guaranteed to happen. And to add further to the tension in the region, the Iranian Defense Minister announced today that it considers Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon to be a part of its defensive safety belt, all good customers for Iranian made bombs and suicide bomber vests, packaged with the designer drugs to give the wearers courage to perform, and fogging the brain enough so that you lack any moral compass or second thoughts for the tasks ahead. Check out our catalogue for this season's models...

Here at home, a headline is that the tea party is running out of money. I'm not sure which tea party is being referred to, but I will assume that means all of them. For the fake tea party organizations, like the one run by Dick Armey, it means that people may finally be coming to their senses and are now discriminating against fake groups that seeks to manipulate them and their beliefs. And for the other groups, well, it just means that there's only so much money us senior citizens can give on a fixed income.  But it really means that lobbyist groups have decided to spend their money someplace else a bit more productive and the gravy train has come to an end. Enjoy your Summer of freedom, it sure tastes better than that socialist juice, huh?

The Colorado primaries are tomorrow, and all of the state races are too close to call. It sure has been exciting and fun. Everyone has waged a negative campaign, tearing down their brothers and sisters in each party. We may as well have the candidates strip down tomorrow and do some tag team mud wrestling. As mentioned in the NY Times article, all candidates have tried to portray themselves as political outsiders, when they've all had long careers in politics, except State Senator Michael Bennet, strangely enough.

I expected negative campaigns from the Republican candidates, because they are still old school enough to emulate Karl Rovian tactics, though none of them accused the other of having a baby out of wedlock with an immigrant, but give tom Tancredo time to get warmed up... The most disappointing candidate, to my mind, was how craven Democrat Andrew Romanoff turned out. He began on a note of high mindedness, said that he wouldn't accept any PAC money, but quickly succumbed to sleaze faster than Ken Buck can slip on a pair of Jane Norton's high heels, ankle deep in bullsh**t.

Hopefully, Andrew will lose and this will ruin his future career and he will settle down and buy a 7-11 franchise... The best time to get in on the excitement is to visit the county elections center, where the voting tallies come in and are updated by the minute. Sometimes you can crash in on a victory party, get a free drink as you wade through the confetti.