Current Affairs

President Ahmadinejad sends out invitations to journalists and academics, and 50 respond to have dinner with him. That results in good press, such as this article in Time:

Freedom has been on the march in the world the past few years, but every good journey has a few bumps in the road:

Democracy and good governance are on the retreat in a number of countries around the world, a wide-ranging report says on Tuesday.

Drat. Another vacation plan down the tubes:

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) -- Attention climbers: Please keep your clothes on while climbing Mount Everest.

Nepal's mountaineering authorities are calling for a ban on nudity and attempts to set obscene records on the world's highest mountain, officials said Wednesday.

Forbes magazine has come up with one of the most absurd lists in recently memory. It ranked the "top 10 most influential pundits," and made some very strange choices:

CHICAGO -- Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert is the nation's most influential pundit, according to a new ranking by Forbes magazine.

This sounds about right:

CHICAGO, 25 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers found just 7 percent of respondents do not have the usual human tendency to favor one's own group and not form racial prejudices.

Those silly, big-footed Indians. Hey, don't blame me, that's Nike talking:

BEAVERTON, Ore. - Nike on Tuesday unveiled what it said is the first shoe designed specifically for American Indians, an effort aiming at promoting physical fitness in a population with high obesity rates.

Everyone is talking about the tirade by the Oklahoma coach who went off for several minutes on a female sports columnist for the local paper for "downgrading" one of his players. The video is all over the place. It seems awfully contrived and stagy to me, and it certainly kept everybody from talking about, you know, football. The coach's record ain't that good, and he may have a touch of Bobby Knight Syndrome.

But you decide. Here's his rant on YouTube:

Oops, Part 1:

Earlier this month, when Mayor Street announced an aggressive new city plan to go after tax scofflaws, he warned: "We will spare no one."

He could have started by looking in the mirror.

Until last week, Street was $4,798.99 in arrears on his property-tax bills for two North Philadelphia properties. He paid up Thursday, shortly after a Daily News reporter asked him about the debt.

The last United States' last remaining slaughterhouse that processes horse meat for human comsumption -- after being shipped overseas; don't get the protest marches ready -- is closing because of a court action:

“States have a legitimate interest in prolonging the lives of animals that their population happens to like,” said the opinion written by Judge Richard Posner. Judges Ilana Rovner and Frank Easterbrook sided with him in the decision.

Are we post-feminist enough now that gentlemanly behavior can be acceptable again?

Chivalry is not dead. It's just been keeping its head down for a bit. And who can blame it when the line between courtliness and condescension has become so blurred?

A damsel, however, need not be in distress to enjoy a considerate gesture.