Real Kato Blog: In the News

Sometimes I feel guilty about not posting more often. It's not just that my blog is being neglected (and that recent entries are dominated by American Idol posts), but also that I often see interesting stories in the news that seem like they'd be worth a quick comment.

On the other hand, sometimes I don't really have much to say about those stories, so I'm not sure if anyone would care for my one-line analysis. Eh. It's my blog, I guess, so whatevah, I do what I want.

So anyway, read on for a couple of newsworthy tidbits.

Arlen Specter is switching to Democratic Party. The good news for Specter: He avoids a difficult re-election battle next year. The good news for Democrats: they come within a single vote of having a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. (They'd reach it if Al Franken finally gets into office in Minnesota.) The bad news for Republicans: they'd lose one of the few moderates in their party, making the Republicans more and more the party of the far right, and the Democrats the party of the center.

BusinessWeek suggests that Apple and Verizon are cooking up a partnership. iPhone Lite? Apple Media Pad? or just a straight up iPhone CDMA/EVDO? Some people are skeptical. Count me among them; I think AT&T and Apple have a symbiotic relationship.

Swine Flu. It's the new bird flu, the new SARS, the new Ebola! It's a global pandemic! Mexico is being quarantined! The media is in a frenzy! A FRENZY! But you know what? For most otherwise-healthy people, the symptoms are mild and decidedly non-fatal, like an ordinary flu. Sure, any new health risk is noteworthy... but I hate how things like this dominate headlines and cause unnecessary panic. The stock market is down because of the swine flu, for crying out loud.

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