What Caught My Eye Today - U.S. Federal Budget, Japan, Zambia, Egypt

U.S. Federal Budget - The federal budget bill that Congress passed this week authorizes $1.1 trillion in spending. Before I dump on Congress, let's pause for just a moment and applaud the lawmakers in Washington for managing to do their jobs on this rare occasion.  Okay, that's good. It is 1,582 pages long and has 370,445 words, numbers and symbols. Simple math comes up with $2.9 million per word average. By comparison, there are only 4,543 words in the U.S. Constitution, before amendments, and 1,458 words in the Declaration of Independence. Of course, if you compare the budget bill to the U.S. tax code - which comes in at 73,954 pages - it's practically a memo. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington spending watchdog, figured that senators spent slightly more than 69 hours before passing the bill, giving them just under two minutes per page to read it. It's not the two minutes per page that concerns me, but rather whether they even bothered to try to read the budget at all.

Fred's Note: Lest you think the U.S. is on a perpetual downward spiral into irrelevance and mayhem, bear in mind things could always be worse...a lot worse.  With that comforting thought in mind, I proudly present the rest of today's postings.

Japan (Part I) - The Japanese have one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, and at the same time, one of the highest longevity rates. Taken in the wrong context, one might conclude that sex is hazardous to one's health and/or something unpleasant and to be avoided if at all possible. As a result, the population is dropping rapidly, and becoming increasingly weighted toward older people. After peaking at 128 million in 2006, Japan's population has been falling by roughly 1 million a year. By 2060, the government estimates that the population will be just 87 million, with nearly half that number age 65 or older. And we thought we had an aging problem in the U.S. Most Japanese young people just aren't settling down. What's that got to do with doing the ba-donk-a-donk? The marriage rate has plummeted and with it the birthrate, since out of wedlock births are rare in Japan. Right then, asked and answered.  In 2005, 60% of women had never been married and 72% of men. It seems to me that this issue is easily remedied. Step 1: Take that metaphorical stick out of you ass, Japan. Step 2: Make a little love tonight.

Japan (Part II) - China's and Japan's war of words over the Japanese stance toward its war record took an unexpected turn after China invoked the evil mastermind of the Harry Potter books. Say what? China is angry over the Japanese Prime Minister's recent visit to a shrine, where some of the top Japanese leaders from World War II are buried. Quick history lesson for a bit of context.  Japan pretty much opened a can of whup ass on China in the years leading up to World War II. Basically, it was a land grab by Japan to feed its industrial complex. You see Japan is an island with limited access to natural resources, what with being surround by water, but I digress. Long story short, China still holds a bit of a grudge against Japan. A China diplomat was quoted as saying, "If militarism is like the haunting of Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni Shrine is a kind of Horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation's soul. Japan responded by saying China was the one acting like Voldemort by claiming other countries' islands. Tough call on the more absurd aspect of this story--that a Chinese diplomat resorted to using a Harry Potter reference to voice displeasure over something, or that a Japanese diplomat responded in kind.  I'm going with the latter. Clearly, dude from Japan never bothered to ready the Harry Potter series. If he had, he would have known that Voldemort never tried to claim islands. Duh.

Zambia - A Zambian opposition leader has been charged with defamation for comparing the country's president to a potato. The man faces five years in prison for calling the president a potato or, metaphorically someone who does not list to advice. Five years in prison for suggesting that the president is a couch potato? Yeah that sounds about right. The President was elected to office in 2011 on a pledge to improve freedom of speech and freedom of the press. In fairness, the president said he would improve freedom of speech and of the press. He didn't say he would eliminate it altogether. Still, boyfriend needs to develop a thicker skin. "Couch potato" isn't exactly what I would consider to be hitting under the belt. Grow a pair, dude.

Egypt - The Egyptian regime has accused a puppet of sending coded messages to the Muslim Brotherhood. Sure, why not? Prosecutors are investigating allegations that a commercial featuring a popular Muppet-like character contains symbols and code words encouraging Muslims to attack Coptic Christians. The theory, widely mocked in the press, first surfaced on the blog of a strong supporter of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and the military. I suppose (glass half full) we can be glad that the press sees this as being as stupid as it reads. My question is this; doesn't the Egyptian justice system have more legitimate things to focus its energies on?