For most Americans, the sport of gymnastics works like Santa Claus, surfacing every four years bringing excitement and joy during the summer Olympics, only to disappear again, leaving everyone wondering where all the toys came from.

This past weekend, those who looked hard enough caught a glimpse into Santa’s workshop. The 2008 Olympic Team Trials came to their conclusion in Philadelphia, the men finishing on Saturday and the women on Sunday. In typical fashion for the USA Gymnastics organization, however, the trials were more likely to confuse viewers than anything else.

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The Government has found a new way to find out how many illegal drugs are currently being cycled through the city. They know where, they know when, and the they know how much.  But do you know how they know? It’s pretty gross! Sewage. That’s right every time you do a drug and you leave a bit of it in the toilet (hopefully not on the street or anywhere else) and then it runs into our sewer systems and then you’re busted!

That’s right, scientists are actually able to use sewage in order to “paint an accurate portrait of drug abuse in communities.” Scientists have found everything from cocaine and methamphetamine’s to heroin and marijuana. And this may be the most honest system yet.

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President Bush calls for an end to all the protecting the environment garbage. You know that federal ban that was put in place in 1990 preventing offshore oil drilling? Well W. has decided that with recent gas spikes that to “open a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration, asserting that those steps and others would lower gasoline prices and ’strengthen our national security’.” Yes it’s the our security you’re worried about I see.

In recent years, the president said, “scientists have developed innovative techniques to reach Anwar’s oil with virtually no impact on the land or local wildlife,” and that he is making this decision for the good of the American people.

Bush went on to say that:

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Tim Russert, one of the most well known, respected and influential reporters of our time, died suddenly Friday of a heart attack. Russert has known for his powerful and yet gentle way of questioning many of the most important people of our time. He was the moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” appeared on many other network shows, moderated many political debates, and wrote two best-selling books.

At this point it is unclear exactly why he died. It was originally stated that he suffered from a severe heart attack, but spokeswoman Jenny Tartikoff later said, “We do not know the cause yet.”

Although it is unknown how he died, many people around the world are already mourning his lose. NBC stopped it’s regular programming as Tom Brokaw, Andrea Mitchell and Brian Williams spoke about what a wonderful man he was and how their “hearts are broken.” One of the first people to respond was President Bush who immediately issues the following statement:

President Bush, informed of Russert’s death while at dinner in Paris, swiftly issued a statement of condolence that praised the NBC newsman as “an institution in both news and politics for more than two decades. Tim was a tough and hardworking newsman. He was always well-informed and thorough in his interviews. And he was as gregarious off the set as he was prepared on it.”

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“Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” means a lot of things to a lot of people. Literally it means that the Al-Saud family owns the country and its residents are their vassals. The Royal Saud family rules “Saudi Arabia” mostly by force. Nevertheless its ministry of communications attempts to present the kingdom as a country of peace and harmony. If this were true, how could 15 of the 19 terrorists of the 9/11 attack come from the kingdom?

After World War I, at the Cairo Conference of 1921, the British rewarded Sherif Hussein, naming one of his sons, Faisal, king of Iraq, and another, Abdullah, ruler of modern-day Jordan—both countries, like most in the Middle East, were imperial inventions whose borders were sketched in the sand. The winners of WWI carved up the Ottoman Empire into the modern Middle Eastern countries we know today and they assigned rulers who seemed cooperative.

The British also backed Ibn Saud and his Wahhabi followers because he seemed most capable to pacify rival tribes in the Arabian Peninsula, especially since he had already regained control of Riyadh after a final power struggle against Al Rashid in 1902. Thus the Saud family gained royal power to rule what became the Saudi Arabia we know today.

In 1945, US President Franklin Roosevelt met with Ibn Saud (featured above) to negotiate an important oil deal in which the US would back the Saud dynasty by providing military support in exchange for a reliable supply of crude. It seemed like a good deal at the time.

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One small 10-year-old girl changes a piece of our world, fighting for what’s right. It is very easy living in LA to forget the daily struggles that many face all over the world. I listen every day to people’s complaints about living in LA. Yes fuel is expensive, yes our job market sucks, yes times are not easy, and yes you have a right to be upset, but lets try to gain a bit of perspective. For many people living in LA we will never have to face what Nujood Ali had to face at only 10-years-old. She had to escape from her husband who beat and raped her, rebel against her father who could not help her, and ask plead for help to a court to ask for a divorce when legally, nothing was wrong with her marriage.

The young girl, was given to a man three times her age because her poverty stricken family was not able to support her and hoped that she could be cared for by Faez Ali Thamer, a thirty-something motorcycle deliveryman from his native province, Hajja.

Nujood’s father made Thamer promise that he would not have sex with her until after puberty. But as soon as their wedding night Thamer went back on his word.

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Well, Hillary Clinton has come out and fully endorsed Barack Obama as the Democratic nomination for Presidency. She has supported him in every way shape and form. Now it’s time to move forward and the question to be asked is who will be running with Obama. So we ask you….

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Well, she did it. Hillary Clinton, finally realized her race had been run and decided to end her campaign by Saturday and endorse Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. After taking a moment to think (and being told she couldn’t win) she decided it was best to withdraw and support her opponent for the good of the Democratic Party.

Clinton’s decision followed a day of private consultation with donors, members of Congress and union supporters, who urged her to back Obama for the sake of party unity — a sentiment that was voiced throughout the day by Democratic Party leaders. Some were angry that she failed to concede Tuesday night, when it was clear that Obama had clinched the nomination.

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Finally! The Democrat’s are on the same side. No more self-deprecation. They can finally get it together to fight their opponent instead of each other. Barack Obama is officially the democratic candidate for the 2008 presidential election and his first order of business is to gather his party together. Already, Obama has began to reach out to supporters of Hillary Clinton.

Step 1: Get Hillary’s supporters on his side:

Obama accepted his win over Hillary with graciousness and at the beginning of the speech he made last night for the AIPAC audience, he acknowledged Clinton for “the outstanding race that she has run.” Calling the New York senator “a true friend of Israel” and “a great senator . . . who made history alongside me for the last 16 months,” Obama said that he was “very proud to have competed against her.”

Clinton’s response seemed to be a bit on the fence about whether or not she was in full support of Obama.

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Speaking to a huge crowd of screaming supporters in St. Paul, Minnesota - the same city that Senator John McCain will be nominated as the GOP’s official nominee in August - Senator Barack Obama has claimed his victory has the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party.

Whatever side of the aisle you stand on, whoever you have been supporting, tonight is when we “mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another” as Senator Obama said himself so eloquently this evening.

It’s been a long race, nearly 16 months of hard fought campaigning and 54 primary contests, but it has indeed come to an end. So tonight, to the thousands of staff members, volunteers, supporters and families on both sides - give yourselves a huge round of applause, a pat on the back, and a hearty toast to your valiant efforts and work. Tonight you revel in this moment and the glory. Tomorrow you hit the pavement for the fight of all fights.

The race is on!

Photo by Joe Crimmings Photography

The Kentucky primary favored Senator Hillary Clinton by a wide margin while Senator Obama pulled ahead in Oregon’s primary. While the Democratic nomination is still up in the air and primaries are still being fought over, the message and tone of Obama’s campaign has changed in the last few days as he focuses on the general election in November. Yesterday’s results give Obama over half of all pledged delegates, 1,627 of 3,253 total, propelling his campaign to focus on bringing Democrats together to defeat McCain in the general election. Lately his messages have been on platforms widely shared with Clinton but he is highlighting differences with the Republican nominee.

Senator Clinton has not given up the fight, claiming that no one has officially reached the required number of delegates to secure the nomination. Her base of support that gave her victory in last week’s West Virginia primary gave her a large margin of votes in Kentucky with 65% of the vote. Clinton still argues that she has what it takes to defeat McCain and has a better change in the swing states needed in the November elections. Obama offsets Clinton’s claims by downplaying the idea his party will have trouble unifying in the fall.

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The Bush Administration celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Israeli nation this week.

W visited the one or two places in the Middle East where the entire population would not massively attempt to undo him. Israelis are the only people to give W a standing ovation, moving our grossly failed president to tears. It’s the only country where he feels welcome.

In 1947, the United Nations approved the partition of the Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Arab League rejected the plan, but on May 14, 1948, the Jewish provisional government declared Israel’s independence. Israel thus became the first Jewish state in the world, now with a population of just under 8 million. It’s about the size of greater Los Angeles and 85% Jewish.

Since the UN recognized this new nation, especially after the 1948 Israeli-Arab War, Israelis have pushed their borders east into Muslim territories. Israeli expansion has inflamed decades long fighting between Jews and Muslims with no resolution in sight. Emphasis on the differences in their religions has continually ignited hate on both sides of the battles.

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