top of the news.

whoa, big news week. firstly, a moment of silence for the gloved one, the blond angel, and johnny's sidekick..... maybe it's true about the power of threes.

-iran. with overwhelming voter turnout, the presidential election (incumbent ahmadinejad vs. purportedly change-driven mousavi) was held june 12th. when ahmadinejad was declared the winner, riots ensued. the uprising's violence has been frightening. apparently since militia have been patrolling the streets of tehran, protests have declined. allegedly, the supreme leader, khamenei, will swear in ahmadinejad for a second term. the nyt timeline is a great place to start and its blog is a good way to keep current. leave it to the daily show to provide the laughs! (ps props to wiki!)

-the climate bill. per the huff, the purpose of the bill is to reduce gases linked to global warming by forcing offending companies to limit emissions of these heat-trapping gases through a cap and trade (and offsets) policy. i don't understand why you need cap and trade. why can't you just have a carbon tax on offenders? maybe i'm missing something...the nyt editorial seems to think this is an important bill to pass. update: it just passed the house. next up, the senate.

-obama signed the 'family smoking prevention & tobacco control act' into law. this law authorizes the fda to regulate tobacco products, bans public cigarette vending machines in places where IDs haven't been checked, and bans the use of "low tar" or "light" labels. of course acs is thrilled. per acs's ceo, tobacco is the only consumer product proven to kill more than half of its regular users (400,000 people per year) yet it's virtually the only consumable product not regulated in the US. my main concern with tobacco is that it increases health issues which increases doctor's visits which increases overall health care costs (simplistic i know, but you get my point). as with the overall health care reform, prevention strategies are key to reducing overall costs.

-governor mark sanford is a jackass. period.

-finally, this illustrated biography of jefferson makes me happy. hope you enjoy it. (i thought of stacy when i read "determine never to be idle"- i need to channel her energy!).