Mishmash Musings

Tim Pawlenty became the first official Republican presidential candidate to drop out of the 2012 race. The decision was based on low polling numbers and a third-place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll that took place on Friday.

I’m not surprised that Pawlenty dropped out (he’s the least recognizable of the candidates), but I’m surprised that he used the Iowa Straw Poll results as a reason. Does that mean that everyone who finished behind him in the poll should also drop out? Why is Herman Cain still in? Or Newt Gingrich? Those guys don’t have any kind of serious chance of winning, and yet they continue to campaign and spend millions.

Oh, well… T-Paw out, Perry in. Will Palin be next?

Singer Amy Winehouse was found dead today in her London home at age 27. An official cause of death has not been given, of course, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to speculate that she overdosed on something. Winehouse’s troubles with drugs, alcohol, and failed rehab have been well chronicled in the press over the years, so….

I wasn’t a Winehouse fan or anything, but I still have to wonder why there wasn’t more of an effort made to get this woman the help she obviously needed. Yes, I know she was a grown adult and could do what she wanted, but there must have been at least one person in her life who loved her enough to see to it that the self-destructive behavior stopped.

This story makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. Eight-year-old Leiby Kletzky was brutally murdered a couple days ago as he was walking home alone from day camp in Brooklyn. According to news articles I’ve read, the boy had been begging his parents to let him walk home alone, and they finally agreed. Monday was the very first day that he did it. Apparently, he got lost and stopped to ask at least one person for directions. And then he was gone.

A man named Levi Aron has confessed to the kidnapping and subsequent murder/dismemberment. The confession is so oddball that it’s clear this guy will go to the nuthouse instead of a prison cell or to Death Row, which is a travesty.

As for the Kletzky family, I can’t even begin to imagine what they’re feeling right now. I have a son who is the same age as Leiby, and we have the same debates about whether or not he should be walking alone. I would just shrivel up and die if anything happened to my boy. That’s probably where Leiby’s parents are at now.

I usually don’t care about politics, but the Sarah Palin Bus Tour is worth mentioning. I cannot believe how much coverage this “event” is getting — particularly by the very same media outlets who are quick to write Palin off as “irrelevant”. Have you seen some of the apoplectic reactions from mainstream reporters about Palin? Some, like the NYT’s Michael Shear, are absolutely incensed that she has not handed over a copy of her itinerary to them, which, according to him shows a “lack of respect”. Oh, really? Since when is a private citizen required to tell the media what her travel plans are???

Here are some other noteworthy reactions:

• CBS News producer Ryan Corsaro says that Palin’s bus could “cause a crash” because reporters “have to” follow her around in case she announces that she will run for president.
• In one recent segment, CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin mocked media coverage of Palin’s bus tour as a “low-point” — even as CNN itself provided hourly updates.
• MSNBC’s Martin Bashir hysterically claimed that Palin’s bus could be a “breach of federal law” because she has an American flag painted on it. Seriously???? A private citizen cannot paint an image of the flag on their vehicle now???? And since when does MSNBC care about how the stars and stripes are treated???
• Another reporter or commentator whined that Palin was treating the media like “paparazzi” by making them chase after her. “Making them”??? Here’s an idea: just go away and DON’T follow her if you don’t like what she’s doing!!
• And Erica Hill of CBS opined that Palin risks alienating voters if she continues to give interviews only to FOX News. Well, considering Palin isn’t running for anything as of yet, isn’t that pure speculation at this point?

Wow… and to think, the tour is only 2 days old. Palin Derangement Syndrome is alive and well in the media again!!!

Credit to NewsBusters for highlighting all the media outrage over Palin’s family trip.

When I first heard about John Powell, a 25-year-old Chicago-area man who died from a “fatal punch” to the face, I thought he was involved in some kind of Fight Club or something. Turns out he was just the victim of an incredibly stupid decision that probably seemed fairly harmless at the time.

According to the Tribune, Powell was at a party when a couple of other people talked him into accepting $5 to let a 21-year-old woman named Tiffany Startz punch him in the face. (See? Told you it was stupid.) Startz’s punch “ruptured an artery in Powell’s neck, causing blood to pool around his brain and leading to his death soon after,” and naturally, the “action” was recorded on someone’s cell phone.

Now Powell’s mother will find out tomorrow if the two people responsible (indirectly or otherwise, as the case may be) for her son’s death (Startz and the guy who set up the bet) will be arraigned on felony reckless conduct and battery charges.

Wow. What a crazy story. I certainly feel sorry for the mother who lost her only son in this way, but I highly doubt that the two people involved can be held criminally liable for this. She probably doesn’t even have an argument for civil court either, as no one could reasonably foresee death resulting from a punch to the face.

What a stupid, idiotic end to a life that had barely even begun.

(Photo: David Pierini/Chicago Tribune)

This story is pretty amazing to me. Searchers have recovered the black box (flight data recorder) from Air France Flight 447, which crashed over the Atlantic Ocean while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009. I am amazed that people were still looking for the thing at all after this long, and that they managed to find it. It could have been practically anywhere in that vast ocean, and could have been obscured by so many different things, such as sand and other debris. Talk about a needle in a haystack! But kudos to the BEA, which is France’s version of the NTSB, for persisting and ultimately succeeding. Now let’s hope they’re able to get some data out of the recorder to shed some light on the accident and bring a bit more closure to the families.

Officials have raised the severity level of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster to Level 7, putting it on par with the Chernobyl incident of 25 years ago. This was bound to happen, especially as the crisis dragged on and on (it’s been more than one month now) with no sign of making any headway against the meltdown.

I’m not really sure why the Japanese are still trying to control/fix/restore the reactors. Perhaps it’s just time to seal everything up as tightly as possible and move on.

I consider myself a big sports fan, but I absolutely hate basketball. I don’t like the NBA, and I especially don’t like college hoops, so March Madness is kind of an annoying time for me. There’s always a basketball game on the TV, the Yahoo homepage has live scoreboards flashing all day, and all people seem to talk about are their brackets. And have you ever tried traveling in a city that hosts some of the regional games? Ugh, what a nightmare. I was in St. Louis a couple years ago during March Madness (it was an unavoidable trip), and ended up having to pay $300/night for my hotel room because all the cheaper rooms were gone. Restaurants were packed, traffic was bumper-to-bumper, etc. Never again! Wake me when this is over!