| Latest Commentary: | Volume VI, Number 93 |
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Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Shows US Infrastructure Needs Work -- Wednesday night, Interstate-35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, suddenly collapsed, killing at least seven people. Some 100,000 vehicles cross the Mississippi River each day on this bridge. In 2001, Minnesota’s Department of Transportation found “several fatigue problems” in the approach spans and the main truss had “poor fatigue details.” In 2005, the Federal Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory database said the bridge was “structurally deficient.” The saddest part of all, apart from the loss of life, is that this bridge is not unique.
Sunni Accordance Front Quits Green Zone Government in Iraq-Nam -- While the US surge of troops continues, the Iraq-Namese government for which GI Joes and Janes are dying took a big step backward in settling the country’s situation. After a week’s notice, the Sunni Accord Front withdrew its support for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. While the government still retains a majority of seats in the parliament, its pretensions of being a government of “national unity” lie dead on the boulevard of broken dreams. For now, the Kurds are playing along because their freedom and autonomy are enhanced by the split among the nation’s Arabs. Nevertheless, the al-Maliki regime is now a government of the Shi’ite’s, by the Shi’ites and for the Shi’ites. British Airways Fined £270 Million in Price Fixing Scheme -- British Airways has been socked with fines amounting to about £270 million after admitting collusion in fixing the price of fuel surcharges. The US Department of Justice squeezed BA for $300 million after the British Office of Fair Trading [OFT] slapped it with a fine of £121.5 million. Consumers are now free to sue, so class action suits are almost inevitable, and criminal investigations continue. This is not good news for an airline that yesterday was rated as the “worst performer in Europe.” My Damn Channel Tries to Entertain and Profit on Internet -- There’s a lot of money to be made in entertainment, and there’s a lot of money to be made on the internet. Thus far, though, there hasn’t been a lot of money made on the internet by entertainers. My Damn Channel seeks to change that. Comedian Harry Shearer, Rolling Stones producer Don Was, indie filmmaker David Wain have all signed up. While pioneers have a chance at hitting it big, pioneers also have a high attrition rate. © 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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