news happens even when we don't want it to

Plus, News flash: Dean wants it both ways and is arrogant

During the holiday season, families want to be left alone and manage to tear their eyes away from TV (except for sports like NFL football) but meanwhile, the world keeps chugging along.

For example, there is a huge disaster in Iran that has got about 30 seconds worth of attention on local and national news. 25,000 people are dead! Single digits die in California's mud slides or similar earthquakes and we have reporters standing by. OK well it is closer to home, Iran isn't very western-friendly to say the least and so on, but still! It also goes to show that California building codes are the only thing keeping massive amounts of people from dying there. Now they just need to stop more building from happening. Then there wouldn't be so many bad forest fires and successive mudslides. That state is just one big natural disaster.

In other news, Libya is opening itself up for real WMD's inspections and is trying to get back into the oil business it seem. Finally its dictator wised up and decided he was tired of being super-poor and on the verge of being bombed into the stone age.

On a CNN/Faux News level, BSE or Mad Cow disease hit the US. People are freaking out and it could spell a disaster for the beef industry and the economy, but I think the dent will only be temporary.

People got stuck in the airport over Christmas because of semi-vague terror threats, which were delayed thanks to the French leaking the information before the flight. Now we want armed guards on flights going into the US. Yay, guns for everyone.

Dean to supporters: it's me or nobody

In political news, Dean is calling for double standards and sending left wing code messages again. The ex-Vermont Governor wants DNC Chairman Terry McAulifee to make the other presidential candidates stop attacking him, because they might end up working. Of course when Dean was making much worse attacks on his rivals, he was fine with Terry staying out of it.

"Hey look, somebody's going to have to win here," he said, referring to himself. "If Ron Brown were the chairman, this wouldn't be happening." Meaning, if the Clinton's hadn't gotten their man in there, things would be better. Even worse he also implied that many of his supporters,wouldn't support another Democrat if he loses.

"I don't know where they're going to go, but they're certainly not going to vote for a conventional Washington politician," he said. [Ed: What about Clark?]

Sunday he claimed that his support was "not transferable anymore" and that endorsements, including his own, "don't guarantee anything." Which must be why he and Gore said after his endorsement that it means so much and that people should just throw in the towel and get behind the good Doctor.

I am glad that Dean has gotten new people involved in politics and campaigns but I think it is highly presumptuous to say they will take their ball and go home like little spoiled children if he loses. Sounds like the 'Dean will be a third-party candidate' old post (see below) might be valid after all. Sounds like the first signal to his supporters to join him on a Nadereque campaign of arrogance to win the presidency from the left in a three-way race.