What Caught My Eye Today - Aloha Edition

Hawaii At A Glance
Today's Headline: "Battleship Missouri Due For A Makeover" 'Mighty Mo,' the battleship that hosted the Japanese surrender in World War II is schedule to get a multi-million dollar overhaul so that it can serve as a memorial and museum for decades to come. The USS Missouri has been berthed in Pearl Harbor since 1998 sitting right next to the USS Arizona memorial. Speaking of Pearl Harbor...
Things to do in Hawaii: Visit Pearl Harbor and Punchbowl. As far as I am concerned any head of state contemplating a war action should visit Pearl Harbor and the National Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.
Not only do both of these sites provide a stark reminder of the human cost of war, but they also serve to put into perspective what is truly important in life. We live on an increasing shrinking planet and, come what may, we have to learn to get along with one another.

2008 Presidential Race - Barack Obama collected the support of seven of John Edwards' Democratic convention delegates today, the day after Edwards endorsed his candidacy, then gained the backing of four superdelegates and a large labor union as he marched steadily toward the party's presidential nomination. Edwards had been backed by the United Steelworkers Union, which announced it would now support Obama. The union has 600,000 active members, many of them blue-collar workers of the type that have favored Clinton in recent primaries. The fresh support brought Obama's overall delegate total to 1,898, compared to 1,718 for his rival, Hillary Clinton. I'm sure Edwards has no ulterior motives (yeah right). Still it's interesting that dude waited until it was pretty clear who the likely nominee was going to be before he hitched his wagon to either Clinton or Obama.

Marriage - Guess what? We have a new issue for the upcoming presidential election. Which is good I think, what with the world being so simple and safe. We needed something to perk up this election and, lo and behold, now we have it. California's Supreme Court declared that gay couples in the nation's biggest state can marry — a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement. Same-sex couples could tie the knot in as little as a month. But the window could close soon after — religious and social conservatives are pressing to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would undo the Supreme Court ruling and ban gay marriage. Honestly, what is the big deal with same sex marriages? Perhaps, I'm missing the point (and that rarely happens), but this should be considered a good thing. Married couples pay higher taxes that singles, and the country could use a little extra coin, don't you think? In its 4-3 ruling, the Republican-dominated high court struck down state laws against same-sex marriage and said domestic partnerships that provide many of the rights and benefits of matrimony are not enough. This part blows what's left of my mai tai pickled brain (did I mention that I was on vacation?). A conservative court actually ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. It may be warming up on the surface of the planet, but surely hell must be freezing over.

China - Troops dug burial pits in this quake-shattered town and black smoke poured from crematorium chimneys elsewhere in central China as priorities began shifting from the hunt for survivors to dealing with the dead. Officials said the final toll could more than double to 50,000. Sadly, this sounds like the same deal we heard after the cyclone in Myanmar. As the massive military-led recovery operation inched farther into regions cut off by Monday's quake, the government sought to enlist the public's help with an appeal for everything from hammers to cranes and, in a turnabout, began accepting foreign aid missions, the first from regional rival Japan. And sadly, those jackasses in Myanmar didn't pull their collective heads out of their nether regions and do the same thing that the Chinese are doing. The ironic thing is that the Chinese are much better equipped to handle this without outside assistance than the Myanmar junta, yet they are not to proud to ask for the help. And speaking of Myanmar

Myanmar - You almost have to laugh at the cruel irony in this story. Myanmar's junta warned it will punish anyone found hoarding or trading foreign aid meant for cyclone survivors, but relief groups said they had seen no evidence of people selling or stockpiling donated goods. No kidding. It's kind of difficult to hoard something you don't have access to. The government's warning came as the official death toll from Cyclone Nargis was raised to 43,318, an increase of almost 5,000 from a day earlier, but still far below U.N. and Red Cross estimates.

And in related news (again try to keep the laughter at a minimum)... The junta announced Thursday that voters overwhelmingly endorsed a new constitution designed to perpetuate the military's power. State radio said 92.4% of the votes approved the charter in last Saturday's referendum, which went ahead even though the country was reeling from the cyclone's devastation. The report said turnout was more than 99%. I would assume that turnout is based on the number of people who managed to live through the cyclone and put aside little annoyances like the loss of home and family in order to give the junta even more power than it already abuses.

Vice President - And finally, seeing as we seem to have a string of items highlighting the absurd nature of those in power, here is a fascinating little nugget on our beloved Vice President Dick Cheney. What's up, Dick? The millions of dollars in assets reported by Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynn, nearly triple those held by President Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush, according to newly released financial disclosure forms. The reports show that the assets of the president and his wife totaled at least $7.2 million, including the 1,583-acre ranch in Crawford, Texas, valued at $1 million to $5 million. The assets of Cheney and his wife, Lynne, amounted to at least $20.8 million last year. Clearly, Cheney has chosen his kickbacks much more wisely than the President has. Though, I'm not so sure I'd feel too bad for the President. After all, Bush will get a presidential library and, unless I am very much mistaken, command a much higher rate on the lecture circuit than Dick will.