Smarter than the average bear?

The Prince of Darkness, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, has been making the rounds through eastern Europe. Starting in Georgia, he announced a $1 billion dollar U.S. aid plan for reconstruction in the wake of the war with Russia. Then, Lord Cheney's arrival in Ukraine was heralded by yet another acrimonious meltdown in President Victor Yushchenko's and Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko's dysfunctional marriage of inconvenience. Yuliya Caesar seems intent forging a westward looking policy while trying to balance against the ambitions of Czar Putin and the dim-witted, though incredibly dangerous, bear in her room. And while the dark lord insists on backing Ukraine's entry into NATO, it's bid to join the EU may have ground to a halt. So while Cheney can afford to continue shouting at the bear with harsh language, it's the Europeans who have to live with being stalked by it.

Freddie, Fannie: Off with their heads

After considering all options Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that the U.S. Government was taking over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two are laden with $1.6 trillion in debt and this will likely result in the largest bailout in U.S. history. The two companies apparently have lost nearly $14 billion dollars during the last year and investors are itchy because they had no idea where the mortgage companies left it. Heads rolled at both firms. The poor souls who "won" this Clearinghouse sweepstakes are Herb Allison picked to pilot the Hindenburg that is Fannie Mae and David Moffett was named the captain of the Titanic that is Freddie Mac. Of course, it'll be the public that picks up the tab for the two giants' bad behavior, and rest assured, they won't reap any of the rewards when the two are returned to something approximating economic health.

Acadiana blues

Gustav was downgraded from a Cat 2 to a Cat 1 hurricane Monday, after making landfall in Cocodrie, La., about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans. The storm has flooded streets, thousands of homes are without power, and there's still some question as to whether the levees will hold, even as water was lapping over them. Stay tuned ...

School's out

It's not like there wasn't an education crisis before the housing bubble burst. The spiraling costs of energy and food, and cuts in funding are helping to accelerate the crisis. Not only are schools being forced to cut back, but the number of poor and homeless pupils is on the rise. As if that wasn't bad enough, there's also a decided failure of leadership. It seems the Clayton County (Ga.) school district is the third school district in the nation in 40 years to lose its accreditation. This means that, failing an appeal, students graduating from the district could have trouble getting into college and getting scholarships. The main problem seems to be that the students were failed by their school board. Today's students have enough to worry about as it is, and that doesn't even include when their teachers are being accused of providing their students with cocaine.

Beam me up

Another Star Trek franchise goes down the subspace manifold: CNN

Four is enough: BBC

He'll no longer be your neighbor: ChiTrib

Going to one dog: Reuters