Tomato, Tomatoe - Peace, Pieces

So we are officially down to a two man race for the presidency. Yeah, sure... there are the third party candidates, but as much as I despise it, they have little chance thanks to two party system we have here in the United States. Clinton is out and Obama is in for the Democratic Party and will join Republican nominee McCain as they continue to spend millions of dollars to convince you, the general public, that they will do less to screw up the country.

Other things currently screwing up our country include tomatoes. Who would have thought that the fruit-vegetable would cause 100+ people to get Salmonella food poisoning? McDonald's is taking a proactive approach and has stopped serving sliced tomatoes. I was surprised that McDonald's actually serves tomatoes as I had never had one in a burger I have ordered. The CDC says that traces of the illness have been seen in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, and the FDA has issued a tomato warning to consumers in all 50 states.

And of course high oil prices are still quite annoying, but the U.S. Energy Secretary says: "Nations should fight rising oil prices by cutting subsidies and vastly increasing investment in energy, while oil-producing countries need to ramp up output and divulge more information about how much they produce." In other words, he says its a simple problem of supply and demand where production has stalled since 2005 at 85 million barrels a day while China and India have pushed demand higher. Analysts have also cited the decline of the U.S. dollar, fears about the long-term supply of oil, and aggressive speculation as factors in rising prices. "We have a situation where we have these high prices and the only solution is to diversify your resources, diversify your sources of fuel," he said, listing nuclear energy, natural gas and renewable sources such as wind and hydropower. I'm glad that he put forth the opinion that most 12 year olds already figured out... now if only he would DO something about it.

Meanwhile, it has been decided that the world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Just to put that into numbers we can all understand... that would be an investment more than three times the current size of the entire U.S. economy. The project leader said most of the $45 trillion forecast investment — about $27 trillion — would be borne by developing countries, which will be responsible for two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 who also believes "if industry is convinced there will be policy for serious, deep CO2 emission cuts, then these investments will be made by the private sector."

Mess In The Middle East

Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to start drafting sections of a proposed peace accord that address the main issues of their conflict. There will not necessarily be any agreement made on the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees or any final borders, but they will write down the problems... so thats a start I guess? However, the Israelis are not talking about it and the Palestinians have only said, "We agreed with the Israelis to begin writing the positions." Its good to see all the progress made over the last 50 years... oh wait... there really hasn't been any! While working on peace on one front, Israel is looking at a war on another. The Israeli Transportation Minister, and former defense chief, Mofaz stated, "If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective. Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable." Of course a more official statement said, "All options must remain on the table. Israel believes strongly that while the UN sanctions are positive, much more needs to be done to pressure the regime in Tehran to cease its aggressive nuclear program." Interestingly Mofaz's remarks came as he and several other senior members of Olmert's Kadima Party prepare for a possible run for top office should a corruption scandal force the Israeli prime minister to step down.

Speaking of Iran. As Saudi King Abdullah is urging for a religious dialog between Muslims, Christians and Jews, a senior Iranian politician said the Islamic world should stand up to the U.S. and its "international arrogance." The conference brought thoughts of reconciliation between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims... together they could better take on the rest of the world, for good or for bad! King Abdullah said, "You have gathered today to tell the whole world that ... we are a voice of justice and values and humanity, that we are a voice of coexistence and a just and rational dialogue." Of course the Iranian official asked, "Why should this tremendous group (Muslims) be weak before the International Arrogance?" Once again, Iran's actions lead to screwing over the world rather than playing nice.

Space is Our Future

The Phoenix lander was unsuccessful at testing its first sample for signs of water or organic compounds that could be building blocks for life on Mars. One scientist said, "We think everything is working correctly, although we don't really know for sure." It could be that the dirt is too dense or compacted to make it past the screen, which is there to allow only small particles into the oven. Or, it could be that incorrect readings from the vibrator made it look like it was working when it was not. Or, it could be that the Martians are playing tricks on us. But don't worry... they will try again! In the meantime you can follow the Mars Lander on Twitter!