Weekly Round-Up

In no particular order:

Obama's wins in Wisconsin and Hawaii have all but eliminated Hillary. I personally know life-long Republicans who voted in the Democractic primary for Obama to eliminate Clinton. . .The Democratic convention should be interesting!

The plagiarism flap is completely pointless. Hillary is really reaching on that one.

Ditto the John McCain alleged dalliances with a female lobbyist 8 years ago. . .the way this one is playing out, it seems worse for the New York Times than for McCain. . .I like Michelle Malkin's name for the NYT: The Daily Fishwrap!

The Economist cover this week is about Japan and "Why you should be worried about the world's second-biggest economy". The analysis strikes me as spot on: Japan still suffers from structural issues and the government is unlikely to do much about it. That said, Japan is also a net exporter with a high savings rate. So Japan might not be an engine of global growth, but it won't be a drag on it either.

Congratulations to Kosovo on their independence! I have no sympathy for Serbia whatsoever. Serbia gave up any moral authority in this when it launched a genocidal attack on ethnic Albanians in the province. Some history here that points out that Kosovo was never a part of Serbia.

There are a lot of nice pics of the lunar eclipse here. It's a good site for art, photography, and various comments (and yes it the author is family!)

My artist friend Clemente Bornacelli has some good stuff too. His Genesis Collection is going to be awesome!

It's been fun reading Instapundit this week, with Ann Althouse, Megan McCardle, and Michael Totten as guest bloggers on the site this week. I guess Glenn needed a little break (I don't know how he does it normally!)

And on Africa Bob Geldof says Bush "has done more than any other president so far." I wouldn't have expected that!

I'm working on my taxes this weekend (both Japan and US). This time of year reinforces my view that all taxes are a form of government oppression!

And it seems it is finally over for Fidel Castro!

On that happy note - have a great week everyone!