We learned earlier today that 70s icon Farrah Fawcett lost her battle with cancer, and now Michael Jackson is reportedly in critical condition due to cardiac arrest.
Of course, there are many so-called “ordinary” people who pass away or enter into critical condition on a daily basis. It’s just odd to see that happen to two significant icons within a few hours.
Update: TMZ reports that Jackson has passed away. May he and Farrah rest in peace.
Iranian authorities are airing multiple Hollywood motion pictures throughout the day on state-run television, hoping to distract protesters and dissidents from the ongoing violence through the streets of Tehran.
“In Tehran, state television’s Channel Two is putting on a “Lord of the Rings” marathon, part of a bigger push to keep us busy. Movie mad and immunized from international copyright laws, Iranians are normally treated to one or two Hollywood or European movie nights a week. Now it’s two or three films a day. The message is “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Let’s watch, forget about what’s happened, never mind. Stop dwelling in the past. Look ahead.”
One question: Are Lord of the Rings movies really the best demotivators available to the regime? I was never a fan, but I do recall something about a scraggly little Hobbit encountering big challenges and rallying allies to his cause.
The Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine have teamed up for a fifth year to bring us the Failed States Index, a listing of the sixty states most likely to fail. As would be expected, they’re listed from most to least likely to collapse.
Unsurprisingly, Somalia, a country essentially without a government, tops the list. The small and fragile transitional government that does exist basically controls a few blocks in Mogadishu.
Sixth and seventh on the list are Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the success of American troops in the former, both remain relatively unstable and dangerous.
Be sure to check out the entire list, especially numbers ten and seventeen. Quite worrisome that not one but two nuclear states run a high risk of failure in the near future.
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