What Caught My Eye Today

Philippines - A court has acquitted former first lady Imelda Marcos of 32 counts of stealing money. Don't get your knickers in a bunch. She's not out of the woods yet. Read on. Marcos gain notoriety after her husband, Ferdinand, was deposed in a 1986 uprising and she was found to have own 15 mink coats and more than 1,000 pairs of shoes. That's a lot of shoes. The couple was accused of stealing some $10 billion in state funds during 20 years in power, but neither was ever convicted, and very little of the money has been recovered. In their defense, no one ever said that shoes were cheap.Imelda was quoted as saying, "I am so happy. This will subtract from the 901 cases that were filed against the Marcoses." 901? Well let's break out the old pen and paper and see what that leaves us with. 869 counts to go. Way to go there, Imelda. At this rate you'll be a free woman something in the 22nd century.

China - Let me begin this next item but saying I love how these guys think. China has mobilized a massive force of 600,000 volunteers to deter protesters during the Beijing Olympic Games in August. "If we see petitioners or protesters carrying a banner, definitely we must stop them," one volunteer said. That sounds rather harsh doesn't it? Chinese authorities are worried about the dozens of international groups--protesting everything from China's poor human rights record to occupation of Tibet--planing to attend the Games. Just out of curiosity, would they get all weirded out if we went to the Games and criticized the stuff at home that pissed us off. I mean if there are going to be protests anyway, why not just join the party?

Education - After 15 consecutive years of growth, the number of college applicants is expected to level off next year and begin to decline. Okay, I suppose there are two ways to look at this. On one hand, this could be another indicator that the country is getting dumber by the year. On the other hand, this could be a reflection of flattening or negative population growth. The optimist in me votes for the latter, but the realist senses that it is the former.

Tourism - A record 56.7 million foreign tourists visited the United States last year, surpassing the previous record of 51.2 million set in 2000. Attracted partly by the bargains created by the falling dollar, tourists spent $122.7 billion here. I think this just goes to show that every storm has its silver lining. Oh sure the stock market is tanking, financial institutions are getting hammered by that sub-prime lending mess, gas prices are approaching $4 a gallon, and well I could go on. But the important thing to focus on here, I think, is that foreign tourists are finally able to get a good deal in the U.S. thanks to our lousy economy and record low dollar. That has to make them like us better now, doesn't it?

Texting - AT&A now offers a tutorial that decodes the acronyms kids use when texting or IMing (instant messaging), some of which are meant to alert their friends about prying parental eyes. Among them: POS ("parent over shoulder"), PRW ("parents are watching") and KPC ("keeping parents clueless"). Okay, at first I thought this was a joke. Sadly, I was wrong. Kind of a sad commentary on the state of the family unit, isn't it. Should you be interested, click here for that tutorial.