What Caught My Eye Today

Oil Spill - For those of you keeping track, we are up to day 100 since the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. BP managed to cap the damaged oil well on day 87 and is close to completing drilling of the relief well to permanently seal the gaping hole.

Cuba - I had to read this story twice, because I was certain that I had misread part of it. See if you agree. In a rare, tacit acknowledgment that something is awry with government policy, Communist Party officials announced that up to a million jobs were to be cut from the public payroll. Full employment has long been a cornerstone of Cuba's system and almost everyone works in some capacity for the government. But Cuba has been carrying a massive budget deficit and can no longer afford to pay the one in five state workers who do practically nothing. All Cubans will continue to receive free health care and education, as well as subsidized utilities, rent and food. Okay, so did you pick up on it? Maybe I'm taking the definition of worker a bit to literally. I was under the impression that a worker is someone who performs work. So you can understand my confusion when Cuban officials report that 20% of its workforce doesn't actually do any work.

Suriname - We have another first time appearance on the blog, this time from South America. Honestly, how many of you would have picked the right continent? I guessed Africa, myself. Suriname's parliament has elected a convicted drug trafficker who is currently on trial for multiple murders as its new president. Nice. Admittedly, I suppose it is a matter of perspective. I know people who seriously contemplated emigrating out of the United States, after we elected a Democrat to the White House. Desi Bouterse seized power in the former Dutch colony in 1980 and 1990 through military takeovers. He is presently on trial for the 1982 murders of 15 political opponents. Bouterse is one of Suriname's most popular--and wealthiest--politicians and recently compared himself to Nelson Mandela saying he was being persecuted because he "fought for the poor." Dude, I'm pretty sure you are on trial for killing 15 people. Then again, I'm no legal expert. Maybe murder is okay where you come from, but fighting for the oppressed is a big no-no.

Vatican - Let's see what pearls of wisdom have come out of this neck of the woods. The Vatican has revised its rules for disciplining priests accused of molesting children, doubling the statute of limitations for bringing allegations and calling pedophilia a "grave crime". How big of them. Of course, this might have been more warmly received if it included guidelines compelling bishops to report such abuses. Still, the Catholic Church is historically slow to act, so this does represent a rather significant step for the it to take. I am, however, at a complete loss to explain this next bit. The revised rules also list the ordination of women as a "grave crime" subject to the same procedures and punishment as sex abuse. Come again? I fully admit that I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I cannot fathom how these guys can compare the possibility of a female priest being a reprehensible as the molestation of a child by a priest.

Progress - In most contexts, progress is usually associated with something desirable, but is it really? I wonder. Consider the following measures of progress:

• Active blogs in 2000: 12,000; in 2010: 141 million
  Including this one.
• Daily Google Searches in 2000: 100 million; in 2010: 2 billion
  Big deal. I still cannot find what I'm looking for.
• Reality TV shows in 2000: 4; in 2010: 320
  Lucky us.
• Books published in 2000: 282,242; in 2010: 1,052,803
  Sweet. More crap that I will never get around to reading.
• Daily letters mailed in 2000: 207.88 billion; in 2010: 175.67 billion
  Really? That many people still use stamps? Fascinating.
• Daily emails in 2000: 12 billion; in 2010: 247 billion
  I'm willing to speculate that most of those are unsolicited or unwanted.
• Text messages in 2000: 400,000; in 2010: 4.5 billion
  Okay, this one is easy. I'd be willing to bet money that 99.99% of those are unsolicited or unwanted.
• Daily newspapers in 2000: 1,480; in 2010: 1,302
  In fairness, I'm not sure how much news these newspapers actually contain anymore. I find editorials and ads don't warrant the purchase.
• iTunes Downloads in 2000: 0; in 2010: 10 billion
  Kind of makes you wish you had loaded up on that Apple stock ten years ago, doesn't it?

No doubt that progress has been made, but is this the progress we wanted? I wonder.