Andrew Reiff

Summary- Ice melt opens Northwest Passage

According to photos taken from satellites, the polar ice cap has retreated enough to revive hopes of finding the fabled Northwest Passage, a water way going from east to west across North America. Russia sent two small submarines to the north pole to plant the Russian flag, which has heated up a debate as to who owns the newly reclaimed land, which by recent U.S. studies could hold up to 25% of the world's undiscovered resources, including coal, oil and natural gas. The shorter route, if exploited, would bypass the Panama Canal and drastically cut the distance traveled by ships, thereby cutting pollution as well.

Opinion

Its about time we found the Northwest Passage after over 300 years of searching... some might say that the ice melting is a bad thing, we have been polluting way too much, etc, but I say that hey as long as the Passage is open, use it! It saves energy, time and worries, so it seems a win-win situation all around, except most of us would rather it not be open and have us not polluted the earth the way we have. But if the shoe fits...

National

Summary- OJ Simpson arrested in Vegas robbery

OJ Simpson was arrested on Sunday in connection with the burglary of a sports memorabilia collection in a Las Vegas hotel room. Ironically, the collection mostly was of his own items. He is being booked on 7 felonies and 1 gross misdemeanor, including armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary. He has admitted to taking the items, although he maintains that they were his to begin with. He also denies having carried a firearm.

Opinion-

Wow so O.J. is finally being arrested, and could get put away for 30 years on each felony count, and with him being 60, probably would not survive. What was he thinking? Oh, I'm just going to grab my stuff out of the hotel room with a couple buddies, oh, no who brought guns, and who called the cops... This whole thing might be a big misunderstanding that is being blown way out of proportion. Follow my scenario: OJ misses those big blank spaces on his wall and decides to go on in and ask the guy if he can have his stuff back. He brings some friends along to help him carry it out, and maybe they plan to go for a drink afterwards. So they walk on into the room, and Walter (the idiot) suddenly pulls a gun and forces the guy to give them back the stuff instead of asking, and a witness sees and contacts the cops, and that is all she wrote for ole OJ, because he suddenly has 7 felonies...

International

Summary- And it seemed like such a good idea...

A fish merchant in Albania set fire to his fish-delivery van after the Albanian soccer team lost to the Netherlands in injury time 1-0. He had vowed that if the Albanian team did not score then he would burn his van. After the game, his friends alerted firefighters as he stoically doused his van in gasoline and lit it ablaze. The firefighters arrived and unreeled their hoses, only to find that local residents had stolen their water!

Opinion-

This guy has some serious problems with jingoism for his team. I mean I like the Suns but I don't think I would actually set fire to my only way of income just because we lost. Albania is not a very rich country, so for this guy to set fire to his fish-delivery van is like taking away his income. How drunk was that guy? That the firefighters had their water stolen I find rather amusing, because they go all the way to the fire and unreel the hoses and they have no water to put out the fire that some idiot caused himself, so it serves the guy right.

National

Summary-Bush picks Mukasey as attorney general

President Bush has picked Micheal Mukasey, an ex-judge, as the new attorney general, replacing Alberto Gonzales. Mukasey is the judicial advisor to Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, and has been the nation's top prosecuter of terrorists for the past decade. Mukasey, 66 years old, has impeccable credentials according to Bush supporters, but critics say that the fact that Bush nominated him was evidence of Bush's weakening power.

Opinion-

Democrats like this guy because he seems to put the rule of law first and the will of the White House second, and he almost seems to be more opposed by Republicans even though he is obviously conservative. I think that this was something that Bush needed to get out of the way with little controversy, as the people of the US having been hearing a lot about the attorney general scandals and want that to be cleared up. Kudos to Bush.