Newshouse Politics

December 5, 2008

In honor of my final Policuse post, let’s focus today on a constant theme throughout our posts: Confusion. The people running this country often seem to know even less about what’s going on than the rest of us do and are often blinded by bizarre and depressing occurrences. It’s not even 5:00 today and the news has been inundated with examples. So grab a bottle of your favorite liquor and join me for a stroll through today’s messed-up world.

Missing ballots found, still missing

A search for 133 missing ballots through a Minneapolis warehouse today stumbled upon a few missing ballots. Unfortunately, searchers only found 12 absentee ballots that no one even knew were missing.  It may seem like searching for a needle in a haystack, but hear not. Officials are “dismantling the entire haystack.”

Shouldn’t we have this whole voting thing down by now?

Something like a collapse

Economists originally estimated  that 350,000 jobs would be lost in November. The numbers are now in and they were off by, oh, about 180,000 jobs. According to economist Ian Shepherdson, “We have gone from a recession into something that looks like a collapse.”

20 dead in Pakistan

A bomb was detonated in Northern Pakistan, killing 20 people and wounding 80 more. Apparently it was originally intended for Shia Muslims, but the detonator was frustrated by security. The first major retaliation for the Mumbai shootings? Who knows. We have more important things to worry about, like . ..

The Juice

It’s about time he goes to jail but, in light of all the news I listed above, does this really deserve the front page of every major news source? What the hell is wrong with our priorities?