Nachos Reading

Not a lot of interesting news on the baseball card front, though I am almost done with three different versions of the 2009 Topps set (obligatory want list link here) which is exciting.

However, the world of politics has exploded with all sorts of news.

First, from my great state of Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter decided he'd rather be a Democrat than lose in the Republican primaries. Reaction in my local paper was mixed - though I suspect that most people don't really care since Specter has sort of been a bit of a swing vote anyhow. If there is one thing that is certain, it's the Specter didn't become (and stay) in government for this long without knowing how the political machine works - and to his credit, he knows how to grease all the right gears.

As a quick aside, why do people say "my great state of.." all the time anyhow? Does anyone ever say "my horrible, no good, rotten, lousy, miserable state of..."?

Second, in the world of political pundits, the challenge gauntlet has been thrown. Keith Olbermann challenged Sean Hannity to undergo waterboarding for charity. It seems that Hannity claimed that waterboarding wasn't torture, Olbermann said it was, and a few off the cuff remarks later Olbermann had $1000 per minute of waterboarding that Hannity could stand on the table (for the families of US troops).

Now that'd be some reality TV if nothing else...who wants to bet that FOX makes that their next reality TV show? It's certainly disgusting and revolting enough that they'd consider it.

Finally, as Obama hits 100 days in office, he has to deal with more than a struggling economy, two unpopular war fronts, and job layoffs - he now has the swine flu to contend with. Apparently, he has already stated that infected schools will probably have to close. The flu is already a big deal, and it will probably really take off in the media now that the US has reported its first Swine Flu death.

Because if there's one thing we know, it's that the America public doesn't really care about something until it somehow affects them or, at the very least, the United States.