The Kensington Review

Week of 22 June 2009

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This Week's Commentary: Volume VIII, Number 23
Iran Erupts in Street Violence -- The electoral protests in Iran last week have changed to outright protests against the regime. The miscalculation of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in telling the protesters on Friday to sit down, shut up and get over the fact that President Mahmoud "Madman" Ahmadinejad was going to get another term either fairly or not. Countless Iranians accepted that challenge and filled the streets. Some of them died. One young woman in particular has become the face of the resistance as her death was recorded on a cell phone and distributed all over the Internet. Her name was Neda. [June 22]

FDA Gets Power to Regulate Tobacco -- The biggest health problem in the United States, and elsewhere for that matter, is the use of tobacco. Despite all the education efforts, some 40 million Americans still smoke. Each year, 400,000 of them die from cancer and other diseases. Yet, the Food and Drug Administration has never had the authority to say "boo" about the situation. Yesterday, President Obama (himself a former tobacco user, perhaps even still a nicotine fiend) signed legislation that gives the FDA power to try putting a dent in the tobacco abuse problem. [June 23]

Ed McMahon Dies at 86 -- Ed McMahon, the sidekick of Johnny Carson for years on "The Tonight Show," passed away yesterday at the age of 86. In a world with hundreds of TV stations just a click of the remote away, it is hard to understand how iconic he and his partner were. There wasn't a weeknight were the catch phrase "Heeeeeere's Johnny!," didn't introduce one of the most entertaining talk shows of all time. [June 24]

Governor Sanford Wrecks Career with Cover-Up -- South Carolina's governor, Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford, Jr., was a rising star in the Republican Party. Then after having 10 of his vetoes over-ridden by the Republican-controlled state legislature as its session ended, he announced he needed time off. He left Thursday June 18 in a state-SUV without his security team and vanished. His wife and mother of his four sons said over the week-end that she had no idea where he was (and Sunday was Fathers' Day in the US). On Monday, his staff said he had gone hiking along the Appalachian Trail (a footpath that extends from Maine into Georgia). Yesterday, he came back from Argentina, not Appalachia, and confessed to an affair with a woman in Buenos Aires. Politically, he might have survived the affair, but he won't survive the cover up. Does no one remember Watergate? [June 25]

Copyright 2009 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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