What Caught My Eye Today

For the second day in a row, today's headlines come courtesy of our friends in the United Kingdom.

Protests - In a major security breach, furious student protesters attacked a car carrying Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, as it drove through London's busy West End on its way to a theater. I'm thinking the security detail for this excursion is going to have a devil of time explaining its way out of this fiasco. A group of up to 20 struck it with fists, sticks and bottles, breaking a window and splattering the gleaming black vehicle with paint. In the frenzy, some chanted "off with their heads!" Dude, that's not cool. The guy already has to live with the fact that most of the general population hates him. Sending him off to the guillotine seems be adding insult to injury, don't you think? A witness who was following the protesters, said Charles kept his calm, gently pushing his wife toward the floor to get her out of the line of fire. Gently? Sure he did. I bet dude was shoving her out of the way so he could hide.

Music - I heard this story on NPR yesterday and thought it was a joke...apparently not. Since Christmas Day 1952, millions of people in Britain have sat by their radios to hear which song will become the Christmas Day number one single. In recent years, that song has effectively been decided by one man: Simon Cowell. His televised talent show "The X Factor" strategically announces a winner just days before the public votes on the Christmas number one, and so for three years running, the winning songs have been pop ballads. last Christmas, the British public staged a revolt against Cowell's hit machine. And they voted to make "Killing in the Name," a 1992 song by Rage Against the Machine. This year, some of Britain's biggest pop stars are trying to do the same thing by releasing a new version of John Cage's composition 4'33". There's something about this particular piece that makes it unlike anything I have ever heard (click here). I just can't put my finger on it.

Politics - It's stories like this that remind me of the old adage, "with friends like these who needs enemies". Angry House Democrats staged a noisy revolt against President Barack Obama's year-end tax cut agreement with Republicans, pledging to block a vote unless there are changes to scale back billions ticketed to help the rich. As announced by Obama earlier in the week, the deal would extend tax breaks at all income levels that are due to expire on January 1, renew a program of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed that is due to lapse within days and implement a one-year cut in Social Security taxes. The two-year cost of the plan, estimated at as much as $900 billion, would further swell record federal deficits. Despite the additional red ink, the president has said the plan is essential to add strength to an economy recovering slowly from the worst recession in eight decades. Now for those of you who don't follow U.S. politics that closely, let me try to explain why I find this story so amusing. First, Obama is a Democrat. One would think that he would have the support of his own party, but not in this particular case. Obama committed the cardinal sin of compromising with the enemy in attempting to do right by the people he represents rather than his party--I say we hand the rat bastard over to those pissed of students in the U.K. But I digress. Second, the tax cuts that the Republican party was hell bent on preserving, are going to add on to an already astronomically national debt, just under $14 trillion as of today. Mind you that it is the Republican party that is supposed to be represented by fiscal conservatives and so-called deficit hawks. I can't quite figure out how the two reconcile, but then again, I'm not a politician. In my world, two plus two still equals four.

Life Expectancy - In a report released by the National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. life expectancy has dropped slightly to 77.8 years. That's down a bit from an all-time high of 77.9 years for 2007. Life expectancy was down for both men and women. Overall, women continue to live longer, until about 80, compared to 75 for men. Death rates declined for six of the 15 leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, homicide and accidents. Death rates went up for chronic lower respiratory diseases, Alzheimer's disease, flu and pneumonia, high blood pressure, suicide and kidney disease. Lemme break out my trusty abacus for a minute here (that would be a counting tool primarily used in Asia...just so you know). Let's see here...slide that there...carry the one...move that over here...got it. Based on this latest data and the current trajectory of Social Security, I should be able to retire 3 years 7 months after I die. Goodie.