Monday Morning Musings

Well, we've just had another fire alarm. We seem to be plagued with them here at the Museum of Art, probably due to the new system of smokeheads we had installed during the last major renovation of the place. Now we have like super-sensitive laser based smoke detectors, which go off at the drop of a hat. I honestly think that the Fire Department is going to start giving us frequent flyer miles one of these days...

There are some things in the news worth mentioning:

John Spencer: This was an extremely sad bit of news from last week. John Spencer, longtime actor on 'The West Wing' died last Friday of a heart attack. I've been a fan of 'The West Wing' for a very long time, and Spencer's character of Leo has always been one of my favorites- he was an absolutely brilliant actor, who wholeheartedly deserved his Emmy in 2002. The sad irony of his character being a recovering alcoholic who had a heart attack and then recovered to become a Vice-Presidential candidate makes his death especially sad. His death leaves a big hole in the cast of 'The West Wing' and I honestly haven't heard yet what adjustments they'll make for the rest of the season. I am hoping, however, as I have been hoping for a long time that they decide to take a final bow and go out on top.

Tanzania's New President: Elections were held in Tanzania to select a sucessor to two-term President Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete seems to have won with 80.2% of the vote. Kikwete, currently Foreign Minister under President Mkapa also seems to be set to take the job with an outright majority for his CCM Party in Parliament.

Bolivia's New President: Latin America continues to sharpen and define it's political left turn, as exit polls from Bolivia seem to indicate that longtime Leftist Firebrand Evo Morales has won, perhaps an outright victory in Bolivia's Presidential election. Bolvia's had quite a bit of turmoil to deal with in recent years- and Morales looks like he's going to be good buddies with Chavez in Venezuela more than Bush in D.C. so definately not the bestest of news for the U.S. Some reaction from Publius- you can just follow their links to more blog reaction and info if you want.

Sharon's Stroke: Israeli Prime Minister Arial Sharon suffered a mild stroke Sunday afternoon, was rushed to hospital and is, apparently fine- his speech was only slightly affected or so the Doctors say. At age 77, Sharon is obviously not as young as he once was, and this stroke, however mild will probably make his health a major issue in the upcoming Israeli elections.

Canada Poll Update:
Liberals: 34%
Conservatives: 29%
NDP: 19%
BQ: 13%
Green: 5%
Undecided: 13%
--12/18/2005 Poll conducted by Strategic Counsel for Globe and Mail-CTV News: margin of error +/-2.5%

Hmmm, well the gap between the Conservatives and the Liberals seems to have narrowed somewhat. Whether it will continue to narrow remains to be seen. The Conservatives need to break 30% and get some more momentum going- the Liberals, in fact everyone needs to hope that a majority of the Undecided voters (still a pretty big-ass chunk at this point) breaks their way. But, it's not even halftime yet and we've still got a ways to go. But we do have movement.

That's all for now. I await the delivery of my lunch...