This week’s odds and items:

Congress passed a comprehensive financial bill. Its backers are calling it reform, but others believe it is anything but. The two sponsors, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., both say they have no idea whether the 2,300-page bill will do any good, but they hope it will. That’s what I call clear thinking. Now, federal employees in various agencies will start making rules, so hang onto your wallets. Most observers think the biggest change we ordinary people will experience is higher interest rates, and that it will be a godsend for Wall Street lawyers.

At this writing, BP seems to have stopped, at least temporarily, the flow of oil from its ruptured well head beneath 5,000 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico. The Obama administration is looking for ways to take credit for this achievement. Quotes like, “We have stopped the oil flow” are coming from federals who are representing the administration in Louisiana. We? That sort of language must come from excitement, I think. We all know the task was accomplished by employees of BP and its contractors.

Roman Polanski, the film director and child rapist, was freed from house arrest Tuesday by a Swiss court. He had been held in Switzerland while a court in Los Angeles tried to have him extradited. Now, at 76, he once again is at large — but will not be able to visit the United States unless he is able to sneak in. He has gone back to France, where apparently people of his ilk are held in higher esteem than they are here.

Mexican drug gangs have now turned to the use of the car bomb as a terror weapon. I think a civil war is under way in Mexico. It’s civilized society vs. forces of evil. Those who stand on the side of law and order there are very brave, indeed.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 18th, 2010 at 2:48 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.