April 13, 2009

DadNews Daily – Fijian Coup Not OK

Some international news today, and also Hannah freakin’ Montana. Feh.

Miley Ray Cyrus Hannah Montana Stewart Lipschutz

Miley Ray Cyrus Hannah Montana Stewart Lipschutz

Trivia time. The answer to the question, “Has there ever been a bloodless coup?” is yes, and the country that had it was Fiji. (There may have been other bloodless coups but who has time to do research?) Fiji’s coup was bloodless and, according to an appeal court in the country, illegal. But that didn’t stop Voreqe Bainimarama from being reinstated as prime minister. Also fun: Fiji’s military rulers have told the media that criticism is no longer allowed. So it’ll be like Fox News Channel when a Republican is President. It’s not funny. Forced military rule is never funny. What’s weird about Fiji is that it’s not clear that the people care one way or the other. That’s a huge generalization based on one brief visit I made there many years ago. But I have to admit that when I heard there was a bloodless coup, that made sense to me. Everyone there seems very mellow and happy to just sort of hang. Who’s in charge? Who cares? I know, not funny. But not exactly what one thinks of when the phrase “military dictatorship” pop up.

Captain Richard Phillips has been rescued from the pirates! No, he’s not a baseball player who was traded from Pittsburgh to New York. He was the guy who was literally being held hostage by real-life pirates. Anyone else wondering what century this is? Pirates? Really?

Miley Ray Cyrus Hannah Montana Stewart Lipschutz‘s movie opened this weekend and made $34 million. This is being hailed as a big deal, whereas when “Watchmen” opened with $20 million more than that, it was a flop. Grrr.

It’s all about expectations. Like, for example, the stock market. Did you know that it’s up 25% over the last month? Really. Look:

The Dow is up a lot compared to a month ago

Doesn’t that sound better than when you report on the minute-by-minute ups and downs of the market? Isn’t it possible that the reporting of said ups and downs helps to create investor panic? Just asking.

More tomorrow. Try not to panic between now and then. Remember, things could be worse. You could be in Fiji. Wait, would that really be so bad?


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