Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 129

Notes

• For whatever reason, some of my comments on other blogs are going into the blog’s Spam folder. Please regularly check it and look for me.
• I will post Saturday morning.

On Politics
2012 is the first national (US) campaign with wide use of Twitter.

For anyone who didn’t hear Ireland’s President Michael Higgs rant against the Tea Party, click here because it’s pretty good!

I am sadden to see that Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) will not seek re-election. Meanwhile, her statement says a lot about why Congress has such a low approval rating.

Unfortunately, I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term, so at this stage of my tenure in public service, I have concluded that I am not prepared to commit myself to an additional six years in the Senate, which is what a fourth term would entail. … As I have long said, what motivates me is producing results for those who have entrusted me to be their voice and their champion, and I am filled with that same sense of responsibility today as I was on my first day in the Maine House of Representatives. I do find it frustrating, however, that an atmosphere of polarization and ‘my way or the highway’ ideologies [have] become pervasive in campaigns and in our governing institutions.

A few questions about the Iranian nuclear situation: How will we get want we want? How does Iran get want they want? How are each of these accomplished?

With the recent news about North Korea and their nuclear program, the basis the same three questions above are also applicable to that situation.

On Headlines from The Onion
Chinese TV Show Cancelled after Drawing only 180 Million Viewers
American Robot Outsourced to Overseas Robot
Cooperative Congress Spreads Doubt and Fear
K-Y Introduces New Line of Jam
Jury Selection Proving Difficult in Trial of The Jury Killer

Interesting Reads
Pirates: Five Things You Didn’t Know
An Islamic Reformation Movement?
Why We Have a Leap Year
Interactive Ocean Trench from the BBC
A Historian’s Look at Europe

On Potpourri
Ali Velshi provided several tidbits regarding gasoline prices:

• Price breakdown of gasoline price: 76% oil cost, 12% taxes, 6% distribution, 6% refining cost
• Since October 2011, price of oil increased 40% while the price of gas 9%

A Day in Pompeii exhibit has arrived in Cincinnati, thus opens soon. Because the exhibit has only four stops in the US, we hope to visit. Meanwhile, for anyone interested, here is a photo collection and a link to the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Earlier this week we encountered leap day – but the Leap Year celebration is not over because we add a leap second to the atomic clock on June 30.

The Vatican recently announced displaying interesting documents as Galileo’s trial and Martin Luther’s excommunication. Here’s a story.

Although spam is a pain, it can be fun. Here’s the last line of one I recently received: I had been more than amazed with the post On Roots A Frank Angle I just wanted to say thanks and well done. Kind regards, Horny

February 2012 established a new personal best for views by a wide margin – a 37.6% increase from the previous high. Thank you everyone!

To send you into the weekend, let Dean Martin give you a 3-minute tour of Italy. Have a good weekend everyone, and in the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.