The BBC reports that Lebanon postpones vote yet again

The pro-West ruling bloc and pro-Syrian opposition have agreed on army chief Gen Michel Suleiman, but are divided on the make-up of the new government.

There is also said to be a dispute over how to amend the constitution to allow a senior civil servant to be elected.

The deadlock meant Emile Lahoud stepped down last month without a successor.

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Barnett R. Rubin of Informed Comment Global Affairs caught this on the ‘tube: CNN compares Al Gore to Jerry Lewis

I don’t know if it is on line somewhere, but someone should check Miles O’Brien’s segment on American Morning about Al Gore winning the Nobel Prize for Peace. What is the theme? Al Gore is more popular in Europe than in the U.S., just like Jerry Lewis! CNN then illustrates this profound point by showing a particularly moronic segment of The Nutty Professor…

Go, read, and ask yourself why anyone takes the people seriously. CNN headquarters is in Atlanta. When these people are showering with bottled water and using chemical toilets, maybe they’ll notice there’s a climate problem. When their electricity is rationed because there isn’t enough water to operate the electrical generating stations, maybe they’ll notice.

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.” Anatole France

Echidne does a nice job on the reality of Income Inequality in the United States.

When people start talking about “it’s all related to education,” I’m reminded of all of the senior computer people I know who were replaced by H-1Bs because they “cost too much.” Their degrees and experience mean nothing to the bean counters and the MBAs making these decisions. Senior people might start using their vacation time, might need to use their health insurance, might actually retire from the company, so they get thrown aside. These are people who did it right, got the education in a field that needs people, and worked successfully in that field until Wall Street decided that costs had to be cut.

What lesson does this teach the children of these professionals? It teaches them to screw the company before the company screws them.

The Associated Press reports that Putin backs Medvedev as presidential candidate

MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin on Monday expressed support for First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as his successor — a move likely to ensure Medvedev’s election.
…

Both Medvedev and Putin worked under St. Petersburg’s reformist mayor Anatoly Sobchak in the early 1990s. After Putin became prime minister in 1999, he brought Medvedev to Moscow to become deputy chief of staff of the Cabinet. He then moved up to become deputy chief of staff for the president, became Gazprom board head in 2002 and full presidential chief of staff in 2003.

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