An Olympics We Can Believe In

An Editorial from Larry Elder
Larry Elder is a syndicated radio talk show host and best-selling author. His latest book, "What's Race Got to Do with It?" is available now. To find out more about Larry Elder, visit his Web page at www.LarryElder.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

Creators Syndicate – Close your eyes, and pretend it's still the George W. Bush administration.

In Afghanistan, more American service members died in August than in any month since the war began. His top military commander says that without more troops, we run the risk of losing the war. Iran admits operating a second previously undisclosed nuclear facility. Unemployment stands at 9.7 percent, with consumer confidence lower last month after a brief uptick. An important domestic initiative — one he campaigned on — faces a likely make-or-break month in Congress.

What does the President do? He flies to Copenhagen to personally lobby the International Olympic Committee to bring the Olympics to Crawford, Texas.

I couldn't have said this any better. Well done Larry.

Follow-up:

Yeah you guessed it....
Brazil won.
No decision on Afghanistan.
Unemployment is still 9.7%
Somewhere an Iranian engineer is asking is partner for 17mm wrench while he builds a civilian reactor nuclear bomb.
And our Gross National Debt...well it just keeps ticking.

The Gross National Debt

Update to the follow-up: CHICAGO FINISHED FOURTH! Well, that was time well spent. Good work Mr. President. How much did it cost to fly you and the Mrs. over there?

Hurry home Mr. President.

‘McSparseness,’ U.S.A.

“To gauge the creep of cookie-cutter commercialism, there’s no better barometer than McDonald’s,” writes Stephen Von Worley, a blogger and visual artist who says he came to this conclusion on seeing golden arches on a dispiriting drive down Interstate 5 in central California.

And so it dawned on him that to locate the antithesis of such strip-mall sameness, it makes sense to find the remotest point from any McDonald’s in the lower 48 states, as the crow flies. And to do that you need to plot the locations of each of the roughly 13,000 of them across the land, as Von Worley does in the illuminating (some would say alarming) map above.

I've been to far Northwest South Dakota. It was the early 1990s when I worked for Native American Head Start. We had a client in Eagle Butte, SD. The trek up Highway 63 is a long lonely drive. At some point up the highway the only radio station is the tribal station. When I left Eagle Butte for the last time it was evening and I tuned into the "local radio there" and it was a broadcast of a pow wow. Hearing the drums and driving across that stark landscape was surreal.

Marwage

Jennifer, A Love Story, Sort Of.

Drug Dealing Son of Alabama Judge Walks Free

Last year Loretta Nall brought her readers the story of John Alexander Rochester who is the son of hanging Judge John Rochester of Alabama's 41st Circuit Court.

To refresh everyone's memory young Mr. Alex Rochester was busted in the Ashland City Park on March 1, 2008 and charged with trafficking drugs. The drugs he was charged with trafficking are as follows; Cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, ecstacy, meth and xanax.

The last we heard Alex Rochester had been ferried away, under his mothers skirts, to a posh treatment center called The Arbor where he was to remain for a year.

Yesterday Loretta Nall was able to come by John Alexander Rochester's case file and, she regrets to tell you, but it's what she predicted would happen has happened. No surprise really. Regular working folks kids go to prison for years and years on charges like this. The Judge's son gets off scot free.

More of the same from the great state of Alabama. I hope this gets the kind of press that gets the attention of Attorney General and the District Court. Something should be done about this.

Buying a Presidency

NEW YORK – Former Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu was sentenced Tuesday to more than 24 years in prison by a judge who accused him of funding his fraud by manipulating the political process in a way that "strikes at the very core of our democracy."

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero sentenced the 58-year-old Hsu, who raised money for Hillary Rodham Clinton and others, to 20 years in prison for his guilty plea to fraud charges and another four years and four months in prison for his conviction at trial for breaking campaign finance laws.

His donations became an embarrassment for Clinton's presidential campaign. His arrest led Clinton to return more than $800,000 to donors linked to him.

He'll only be in prison for a few years. I've got twenty bucks that says Hsu will be pardoned in the last month of President Obama's presidency. Any takers?

Big Effin' Diamond

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Mining group Petra Diamonds has discovered a 507.55 carat white diamond at South Africa's Cullinan mine, one of the largest high-quality rough diamonds ever found, the firm said on Tuesday.

"This spectacular gemstone was recovered on Thursday 24 September and is currently with experts for analysis," said a statement released by the London-listed company which operates mainly in Africa.

Initial examinations of the diamond which weighs just over 100 grams (3.5 ounces), have shown it to be of exceptional colour and clarity.

I do not want anyone to confuse the smiling EXECUTIVE in this photo with anyone who may have actually mined this pretty rock. At first glance the photo bring to mind some guy who may have been standing in a field in Arkansas and found this diamond. With that said, "that's a big frickin' rock".

Strictly Come Dancing: Viewers outraged by tiny and 'tatty' dresses that are cheapening the show

It's still too early to make a proper judgment on their moves. But one verdict is in on the Strictly Come Dancing contestants - their costumes are a little too... little.

Viewers have complained that the wardrobe department is coming up short. Far too short, apparently.

Cheapening? I think they are trying to BOOST RATINGS!!! Who is complaining about this? The over 60 crowd? Never trust anyone over 60.

Why is healthcare so expensive?

Maybe this article can shed some light on why health care costs so much.

Jim Bujalski spent one night in the hospital and got a bill for more than $58,000.

"I was surprised at the amount of the bill," Bujalski told CBS4.

Medicare and supplemental insurance covered most of the costs, but there was still a bill of $730. Charges for what the hospital calls "self-administered drugs" - drugs that Bujalski takes regularly at home.

"What I found out is that $730 plus a few pennies normally cost me under $30," Buljalski said.

He did a cost comparison. St. Anthony's Central charged him about $497 for two tablets of Plavix, a drug Buljalski usually pays 8 dollars for. A Crestor tablet cost $65 in the hospital, at home he pays about $3 for it.

That is just ridiculous.

Your Parents Were Cool, No Seriously

Photographic evidence your parents were once cool.

Moore's Law Still Alive

Scientists at MIT have have used a combination of silicon and gallium nitride, a hard material frequently used in LEDs, to create a hybrid microchip said to be smaller, faster and more efficient than today's processors.

Researchers have been working for decades to create such a hybrid microchip that could help chipmakers keep Moore's Law alive.

The more than 40-year-old prediction by Gordon Moore states the number of transistors on a chip doubles about every two years. The predicted upgrades have continued since then, though some observers have long observed that leakage and energy consumption could keep Moore's Law from continuing at some point.

Recently the university announced researchers there have found a new way to grow carbon nanotubes that could be used by manufacturers to build smaller, faster computer chips. The nanotubes should someday be used to replace the copper wires that connect the transistors and also may even replace the transistors themselves even further down the road.

Just think you spent your college career, drinking beer and chasing skirts (except for my 4 female readers, you were chasing what ever the euphemism for skirts is for gals).