Well, my review of the first 3 months got 3 comments (1 of them was from me). My diaries don't get many comments to begin with but 3 is a new low. Possibly it was the day I published on (Christmas) but I'm hoping this installment does better. I'm not really trying to simply amuse myself. I crave feedback Kossacks.
Having dispensed with the review of my 1st review installment we will now move on to the 2nd. Follow me down...down..."Way down upon the Swanee River/far, far from home." Sorry, there's actually no river involved but here's a link to make the diary legitimate
In April: Friday, the 30th,
marked the last day of the two-week Ninth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, with attendees expressing optimism but also concern about the ongoing encroachment of industrial and development projects into native lands.
The big story here was that the U.N. is still in operation and doing something. While the FII (not related to the Wii) produced some interesting results it was deemed too little by Progressives, who pronounced indigenous issues to be Mr. Obama's fault. President Obama, in frustration, called them the "Professional Left" and cemented that claim by paying each one $250. Wait, I'm sorry, that was S.S. recipients.
There was big news out of Utah, as well.
"John Carter of Mars" isn't the only major film production in Utah this month. "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle is making "127 Hours," which tells the story of rock climber Aron Ralston and his struggle when his arm was pinned by a boulder for five days.
GOP had hoped it would be Orrin Hatch (R-Ut) come out of Utah but he was adamant about not doing so, saying "It's better to do nothing in Utah than accidentally doing something in The Senate." Mitch McConnell (Minority Leader) pulled his head out from his shell long enough to agree but went back into hibernation immediately afterward.
For Earth Day we got this news:
the Environmental Protection Agency reported that air pollution has declined dramatically over the past 20 years. It sounds like good news, but science writer Eli Kintisch argues that there's a surprising downside: Cleaner air might actually intensify global warming...
...Kintisch isn't talking about greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide; he's talking about another kind of pollutant we put in the sky — "like aerosols from a spray can," he tells NPR's Guy Raz. "It turns out that those particles have a profound effect on maintaining the planet's temperature."
President Obama immediately made a speech in which he promised to create a program of tax incentives for everyone who switches from stick to aerosal spray deodorant. Fortunately for humans we got the same effect from a volcano in Iceland.
A huge plume of ash was moving east across the Atlantic after the eruption of a volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier early Wednesday.
All flights from London's Heathrow and Stansted airport north of the city would be suspended from 11:30 a.m. (6.30 a.m. EST), according to the British Airport Authority (BAA). Passengers were advised not to travel to the airport.
Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Glasgow airports in Scotland were closed, BAA said. So was Newcastle airport in northern England, according to an airport spokesman.
Markets fell for a period of time but recovered when investors realized that nobody goes to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow in April, anyway. London, they felt, could also be a bit iffy. GOP blamed President Obama for the volcano's eruption as failure of his indiginous issues policies.
Then there was this:
The governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer (Rep.), signs into law the country's toughest immigration bill. It is designed to identify and deport illegal immigrants. Law enforcement officials are now allowed to ask those people suspected of being illegal immigrants for their proof of citizenship or visas. Critics are already deriding the law for its "Nazism."
Actual Nazis complained that they were getting tired of everything being like them. They said the Arizona law was way to mild for Nazism as it didn't involve labor camps or ovens.
Lots more happened in April, including something about a small oil spill, but it's time to move on to May.
Nine people are dead after an Israeli navy commando attacks a flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats on their way to Gaza to provide aid and supplies for the area. Israel claims that the passengers on the flotilla, who were pro-Palestinians and mostly Turks, presented themselves as humanitarians but were clearly hostile.
This provoked the ire of Progressives because it wasn't President Obama's fault. Instead, they correctly blamed Israel. Benjamin Netanyahoo (that's how I spell it) defended his nation by saying, "If we had known Turks were onboard we would have not risked pissing off American Progressives.
Also from the Mid-East:
The United States and major world powers Russia, China, and others agree to impose a fourth set of sanctions on Iran's nuclear program, in an attempt to stop the country from enriching uranium.
Iran refused to recognize the sanctions, or be affected by them, until the "others" revealed themselves. They also cited the number 4 as a Western code for imminent attack. GOP Senators quickly put a block on any future bills calling for an Iranian strike...thereby screwing John McCain.
In England:
Brown formally resigns as prime minister after acknowledging that his Labour Party will be unable to form a majority in Parliament.
It was announced that Downtown Gordon Brown would be replaced by a man named Cameron. Mainly because very little rhymes with Cameron.
And then there was June:
In a 6–3 decision on a free speech versus national security, the Supreme Court upholds a federal law that makes it illegal to give "material support" to foreign terrorist organizations, no matter how the aid is meant to be used.
In a supposedly unrelated ruling,
The Supreme Court rules in a 5-to-4 decision that the Second Amendment's guarantee, the right to bear arms, applies to local and state gun control laws.
American militia groups breathed a sigh of relief, thanking the SC for making them the only viable choice for donations to a terrorist group.
Then this happened:
After a controversial interview with Rolling Stone that included some demeaning remarks about President Obama and his administration, General Stanley McChrystal is relieved of his position as commander of the American Forces in Afghanistan and replaced by his boss, General David Patraeus. President Obama claims the interview was not the cause of the firing, but his desire to unify his national security team in a time of war.
Progressives quickly became outraged at Obama for stopping the General from conducting the war in Afghanistan. After a few days they realized that it was one of their demands to end the war in Afghanistan and, instead, blamed Congressional Democrats for not having a spine. They called for Sen Reid's resignation for not firing Gen McChrystal first.
Join me tomorrow for the harrowing news from Election Summer.