| Latest Commentary: | Volume VI, Number 87 |
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DC, New York to Get More Counter-Terror Aid -- The bunglers at the Heimatschutzministerium have decided that Washington, DC, and New York City should probably get more counter-terrorism money for the year than previosuly announced. For example, Washington and the surrounding counties of Maryland and Virginia will get $15 million more, a whopping $62 million now. Unfortunately, that is still a 20% decrease compared to 2005 levels. Meanwhile, New York will get $10 million more, for a total of $134 million, 37% less than in 2005. That’s about half the value of Donald Trump’s office building at 40 Wall Street.
Mandela’s Global Elders is a Bad Idea -- Nelson Mandela just turned 89, and he remains one of the few world leaders who hasn’t made an ass of himself by betraying every scruple he ever had. “Madiba,” as he is affectionately known in his homeland, carries a great deal of moral authority even though his political days are behind him. It is that moral authority that he seeks to harness in a proposal to create a group of “Global Elders,” to tackle some of the world’s tougher problems. It’s a nice idea, yet a very bad one. Delta Flies into Profitability -- Delta Air Lines has returned from bankruptcy by way of profitability. This week, it reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2007 with a largely healthy set of numbers. Total revenues are up as is the passenger unit revenue [PRASM, in the airline biz] and it turned a profit. A lot of the good news came from one-time events related to the emergence from bankruptcy, but there is clearly underlying strength. Now, if Delta can just keep from screwing it up. UK Publishers Reject Jane Austen Manuscript -- David Lassman is a would-be novelist who is discovering that there is a big gap bridged by that hyphen. He hasn’t had much luck in getting a publisher in the UK for his work, so he decided to see if he would have any luck with someone else’s. Since he works at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, England, as the director of the Jane Austen Festival, he submitted some of Ms. Austen’s works. Of 18 UK publishing pros, only one spotted the ruse. That could mean they don’t know their literary history, or that they couldn’t be bothered to read the submissions, or that Ms. Austen couldn’t get published in 2007. One expects it’s a mix of all three and must confess to disliking her works intensely. © Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux. |
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