What Caught My Eye Today - Palestine, Presidential Luncheons, Apocalypse

Palestine - The Palestinians are certain to win U.N. recognition as a state today. Interesting. With most of the 193 General Assembly member states sympathetic to the Palestinians, the vote is certain to succeed. Several key countries, including France, have recently announced they would support the move to elevate the Palestinians from the status of U.N. observer to nonmember observer state. The Palestinians say they need U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the lands Israel captured in 1967, to be able to resume negotiations with Israel. One presumes that Palestine is looking for some sort of political advantage, as I'm pretty sure the Israelis would like nothing more than to continue negotiations with Palestine's political status remaining just as it is. The non-member observer state status could also open the way for possible war crimes charges against the Jewish state at the International Criminal Court. And that there, my friends, is what you call political leverage--something the Palestinians are desperate to gain and Israeli are equally determined to avoid. The Palestinians turned to the General Assembly after the United States announced it would veto their bid last fall for full U.N. membership until there is a peace deal with Israel. Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly and the resolution to raise the Palestinian status from an observer to a nonmember observer state only requires a majority vote for approval. To date, 132 countries — over two-thirds of the U.N. member states — have recognized the state of Palestine. The Palestinians have been courting Western nations, especially the Europeans, seen as critical to enhancing their international standing. A number have announced they will vote "yes" including France, Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland. Those opposed or abstaining include the U.S., Israel, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Australia.Popular belief back in the day was that the world was flat. In more recent times, women had no business voting, and same sex marriage was unthinkable.  Lo and below, people accepted that the world was no flat, women's votes were every bit as important as men's (Just ask President Obama), and same-sex marriage is gaining more acceptance with each passing day.  My point here is that pretty much everyone (Israel and the United States included) knows that Palestine will eventually become an independent state. So why is it that we have to go through all this drama to get to where we all know we are going to end up.

Presidential Luncheons - President Barack Obama is having Mitt Romney over for lunch. Obama and Romney were bitter rivals in the 2012 presidential campaign, with Obama getting a surprisingly big victory in the Electoral College. Since then, Romney has stayed out of the spotlight, while Obama said he would invite Romney to the White House at some point. Wouldn't you just love to be a fly on the wall for that meal? I wonder what they'll be serving and whether or not they allow any sharp objects in the room. Several theories are floating around about the get-together:

• Obama is extending a common courtesy - In 2008, President-elect Obama met with John McCain and there was a photo op with the two men. At the time, McCain said he would “obviously” help the incoming president, and the former foes issued a statement about bipartisanship. It is unclear if there is a tradition of losing presidential candidates meeting with incumbent presidents. Yeah, this totally makes sense. Romney loses and election that he has spent the better part of 8 years preparing for, then gets dissed by the entire Republican party for whom he was the standard bearer this entire election. So why wouldn't he jump at the chance for Obama to pour a bit more salt in the wound.
• Obama will offer Romney a Cabinet job - That doesn’t seem likely, since Romney is self-supporting financially and has a life outside politics. Also, as a Cabinet member, Romney would be reporting to Obama, which also would be interesting, given the mutual dislike between the candidates on the campaign trail. "Doesn't seem likely"? I don't know about that. Just this morning, pink elephants came flying out of my butt and pigs had sprouted wings and blanketed the sky. So if you think about, this is totally within the realm of possibility.
• Obama will enlist Romney in the fiscal cliff debate - Obama was critical of Romney’s philosophy about the fiscal cliff, especially his attacks on entitlement spending. However, one of Romney’s ideas on the campaign trail, a cap of income tax deductions for wealthier Americans, might become part of the negotiations in Congress in December. This actually does seem plausible, but how much good would it really do? It's not like Romney has much sway with the GOP anymore.
• Obama wants Romney’s advice on business issues - President Obama praised Romney’s business acumen after the campaign. Again plausible, but to what end? Romney will likely say the same thing that we all know to be true. You cannot spend what you don't have and not expect to postpone the day of reckoning indefinitely.
• Obama wants closure on the 2012 presidential election -  Obama said after the election that he was interested in talking with Romney about ways the two men could work together. One theory is that Obama could just want to be consistent in how he publicly handles his consecutive wins in 2008 and 2012, and it would be a slight to Romney if he didn’t extend a similar invitation for a sit-down meeting. Dude you won the election, how much more closure do you need?

Apocalypse - For those of you who keep track of this sort of thing, 22 days until the end of the world and 23 days until those of us who through caution to the wind and got lit up will be in the throes of a major hangover. NASA scientists took questions via social media, debunking 2012 Mayan apocalypse rumors, from the rogue planet Nibiru to the danger of killer solar flares. These rumors are based on misinterpretations of the Mayan calendar. On the 21st, the date of the winter solstice, a calendar cycle called the 13th b'ak'tun comes to an end. Rumors have spread that a cosmic event may end life on Earth on that day. Thus NASA's involvement. The space agency maintains a 2012 information page debunking popular Mayan apocalypse rumors, such as the idea that a rogue planet will hit Earth on Dec. 21, killing everyone. Oh my god, they really did (Beyond 2012: Why the World Won't End). Always nice to see our tax dollars being spend on such worthy endeavors. Popular consensus among scientists worldwide is that the greatest threat to Earth in 2012, at the end of this year and in the future, is from the human race itself. I'm going with the experts on this one.