Dementia for 2

Since the feeding, er, media frenzy surrounding Michael Jackson has taken precedence over any and all other news of late, I thought I would let you know what is happening in the world. For those of you that were not aware, we do have 2 wars going on and civil unrest over the Cap and Trade bill. Not to mention Health-Care, illicit affairs, and the guest that wouldn't leave, the "new" Stimulus Package. In all the hoopla, we have taken our eye off the ball. We all know what happens when we do that, now don't we?

Afghanistan: DUBAI (AFP) — The Taliban militia on Monday said it has captured an American soldier in Afghanistan who went missing last week, the monitoring service SITE Intelligence said.

The "drunken American soldier" was captured five days ago near Melech in Yusuf Kheil district, Paktika province, the militia said in a statement posted on an Islamist website, according to the US-based group.

"The soldier is still a prisoner of the mujahedeen," said the message dated July 6....."Our leaders have not decided on the fate of this soldier. They will decide on his fate and soon we will present videotapes of the coalition soldier and our demand to media," the Taliban commander, named only Bahram, told AFP.

This is believed to be the first time militants abducted an American soldier in Afghanistan since US troops were deployed to oust the Taliban regime in 2001 and then remained to fight a growing extremist insurgency.

The Sanford Affair: COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) — With Gov. Mark Sanford showing no sign that he plans to quit, there may only be one option left for critics who want him gone: impeachment.

But legislators on both sides of the aisle in South Carolina believe that the chances of ousting Sanford with an impeachment vote are slim, unless new evidence arises showing that the governor broke the law or abused his power by secretly leaving the state to visit his mistress....

Health-Care: The question came from a Colorado neurologist. "Mr. President," he said at a recent forum, "what can you do to convince the American public that there actually are limits to what we can pay for with our American health-care system? And if there are going to be limits, who . . . is going to enforce the rules for a system like that?"

President Obama called it the "right question" -- then failed to answer it. This was not surprising: The query is emerging as the ultimate challenge in reining in health-care costs that now consume $2.5 trillion per year, or 16 percent of the economy. How will tough decisions be made about what to spend money on? In a country where "rationing" is a dirty word, who will say no? .....

And last but certainly not least....

Yet Another Stimulus Package: The Obama administration appears to be sending mixed signals on whether a second stimulus package will be needed to pull the U.S. economy out of a deep and prolonged recession. Democrats and Republicans are expressing dissatisfaction with the impact of the $787 billion stimulus package President Barack Obama signed into law in February.

Obama economic advisor Laura Tyson says the federal government should begin crafting a second package to stimulate the U.S. economy on what she termed a "contingency basis," Tyson said.

I am sure there is a plethora of news out there that I missed, but these are just meant to give you the highlights. We now return to the second day, second week of all MJ all day.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hNykW_ZD-gwA5oIoSz7qX09ZU8Zg

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/07/AR2009070702745.html

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-07-07-voa70.cfm