Volume 2 Issue 83

May 30, 2003

Sun, Glorious Sun!

Should the media titans get more, the Concorde flys off into the sunset, and can a Seawolf Submarine defeat a polar bear?

First, let me apologize for some of the technical difficulties this week. We had some sort of server issue on Wednesday, so the e-mail wasn't sent until 11pm for some reason, and then yesterday it got sent out twice (I think that may have been my fault though). Anyway, just remember that the latest swamp is always online at http://www.fromtheswamp.com

The sun is out today, so I'm going to go enjoy it! It's the first day in 32 days that there has been a sunny day in the nation's capital. Of course, tomorrow it's back to rain! Enjoy your weekends, here's the insantity....

Consolidating Media: That sounds like a good name for a band. Anyway, the FCC is supposed to decide next week whether to loosen regulations to allow media conglomerates to buy up more TV stations as well as newspapers and radio. If you think TV is bad now, just wait until this happens. After all, you can hear what's happened to radio -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57330-2003May30.html

A strangely coherent Ted Turner (must have had a ghost writer) lays out an excellent argument against allowing further consolidation -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56132-2003May29.html

Trouble for Hillary? Vilified by the Right, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is now taking heat from the Left as well, as she positions herself for a possible run for the White House in 2008 or 2012 -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/30/nyregion/30CLIN.html?pagew anted=all&position=

Au Revoir: The last Air France Concorde flight is on it's way to the US, and upon it's return to France tomorrow, the supersonic plane will be retired. British Airways will continue to fly theirs until the Fall -
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/05/30/biz.trav.concorde /index.html

The NRA in Iraq? So what does the NRA think about the US banning guns in Iraq? Actually, it looks like the US has softened their ban a bit, perhaps anticipating this criticism -
http://slate.msn.com/id/2083734/

Come Fly the Unfriendly Skies: USAir will eliminate coach meal service, and instead sell you Einstein Bagel Products on board for a 300% markup. No word on if you're going to have to pay for your soda too. -
http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/29/pf/saving/travel/usair.reut/ index.htm

Look Who Wants to Run for President: Scholars debate Bill Clinton's call to repeal the 22nd Amendment -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/30/national/30TALK.html

Bad John Edwards (and rest of the ballclub) Photo of the Day:

Live from California, it's the new Hollywood Squares!

Calling God: I'm beginning to think that Universal Studios put a real phone number in Bruce Almighty on purpose, so the media would keep running stories about what all the people with that number are doing about it -
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/29/offbeat.almight y.uproar.ap/index.html

Idiot: An Ohio man wanted for a parole violation was arrested when his parole officer saw him kissing his girlfriend on the jumbotron at a Cincinnati Reds game -
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/30/offbeat.baseball.kiss/inde x.html

Life on the road: Talk about not being loved. The Montreal Expos, the red head bastard stepchild of the baseball world, have embarked on a 22 game road trip -
http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/kreidler_mark/1560207.html

The Tough Life: Britain's Prince William on live at University -
http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/20 03/05/30/nwill130.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/05/30/ixhome.html

Um, Capitan? We're being attacked by a bear: The USS Connecticut (SSN 22), a brand new Seawolf-Class submarine...was attacked by a polar bear in the Arctic on April 27. Apparently the bear got pissed when the sub's rudder and periscope poked through the ice, and began to eat the $2.1 billion dollar submarine. The Navy story (on strategypage.com) has some great pictures from the scope. In the end, the ship was not seriously damaged, but the bear seemed really pissed off -
http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/3205827p-3229583c.html
http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/default.asp?target=bear_ sub1.htm (Includes great photos)

Have a great weekend!