Culture Watch: The Ugliest Hotel Opens in N. Korea and More

CULTURE WATCH, Volume 24
by Nancy Morgan
Right Bias




Expect the coming week to be one huge Obamafest as all three of the major network anchors join Obama on his much feted (taxpayer funded) Middle East and European tour. We're already seeing stories about how the troops are "overjoyed"...you get my drift. For my take on the media coronation of Obama, check out 'Obama's Magical Mystery Tour.'

Obama gave his first speech in Afghanistan, decrying the lack of political progress in Iraq. Our media anointed president in waiting must have missed the news that Iraqi lawmakers have approved the appointment of six Sunni cabinet ministers after a yearlong boycott by the Sunni political bloc. Sounds like political progress to me.

John McCain on Thursday took the courageous step of stating the obvious, "We have succeeded in Iraq." Food for thought: What if we win a war and the media doesn't report it?

GOOD NEWS:

More proof that the earth isn't melting as nearly 50,000 physicists reversed their stance on human-induced global warming. Additionally, a major peer-reviewed, paper in Physics and Society shows the computer models used by the UN's climate panel (IPCC) were pre-programmed with overstated values resulting in a 500-2000% overstatement of CO2's effect on temperature. Oops. Would someone please tell algore.

A stunning sell-off dragged oil prices to their biggest weekly drop ever and Canada finally deported the first of some 200 American deserters who fled to Canada instead of serving their country in Iraq.

The old media continues its rapid decline with the editor of the Chicago Tribune and the publisher of the LA Times resigning as parent company Tribune Co. cuts staff and shrinks its papers nation-wide. Other papers are following suit. RIP.



GOVERNMENT AT WORK:

Cost of Government Day: Most Americans worked until July 16 to pay the total costs of federal, state and local government. That's 197 days of our toil that goes to Uncle Sam.

Big surprise in Boston as the $2.4 billion Big Dig is now up to $22 billion and counting. Federal reimbursement is down from 85% to 27%, leaving MA taxpayers with an unpayable bill due by 2038.

After spending $5 million bucks on five automated toilets, Seattle has decided to call it quits, putting them up for sale on EBay. This hasn't deterred other cities, who are forging ahead with their own auto toities.
New Hampshire has decided to accept free heating oil from anti-American tyrant Hugo Chavez and lawmakers are considering another tax on gasoline.

CULTURE:
San Francisco is at it again. Speaker Pelosi proclaimed to the world that Bush has been a "total failure" in everything from the economy to the war to energy policy. Another San Francisco measure seeking to diss Bush even more by slapping his name on a SF sewage plant has qualified for the November ballot. Lastly, petitioners in San Francisco have succeeded in placing another measure on the ballot that would effectively decriminalize prostitution. Is it something in the water or just an excess of 'rights'?


Barbie Doll is launching a new look for Barbie. Look for Biker Barbie, complete with fishnet stocking, boots and black leather to hit the store this fall. At least they don't have Barbie kneepads. Yet.

A developmental biologist, writing in the journal Nature, claims that developments over the next 30 years will make it possible for women of any age, even 100 years old, to give birth. Scary stuff.

Nearly two-thirds of Egyptian men admit to having sexually harassed women but the majority agree: it was the woman's fault. Those sluts!

Massachusetts senate votes to allow out-of-state gays to marry in Massachusetts. Just in time, it appears, HIV researchers believe they may have pinpointed the Achilles heel in the HIV virus, which continues to kill millions.

The jobless rate for teens is increasing, with the jobless rate in June the highest in six decades. And across the pond, French president Sarkozy laid the first stone of the Louvre's new Islamic art wing.



ESSENTIAL TRIVIA:

In a two in a million shot, twins with different skin colors have been born - one black, one white.

New research shows that car crashes shoot up in summer as male drivers get distracted eyeing babes in sexy summer outfits. NASA has released the most detailed photos ever of Mars and China gets the prize for the world's most crowded swimming pool.

The 'Hotel of Doom' in North Korea has been dubbed the ugliest hotel in the world.

IDIOT OF THE WEEK:

This week's honor goes to the makers of a new video game that features President Bush as the target of suicide bombers. Justifying this outrage, they claim, "This is to raise awareness about the civilian toll in Iraq, and how a lot of them have been forced by the consequences of the invasion to become suicide bombers." Looks like suicide bombers may become the next cause du jour of the idiots on the left.

Take heart, it could be worse. For a little perspective, take a look at this amazing and amusing video posted by Pat Condell. It might make you feel better to know that Britain suffers more political correctness than America does. A little Schadenfreude doesn't make you a bad person.

Till next week, keep smiling,

Nancy Morgan is a columnist and a news editor for RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina, where she writes "Culture Watch" weekly.

Article may be reprinted with attribution. Bio available on request.