SCHMUCKRAKER 2009

Oil hits 6-month high, Saudi Arabia says world can cope

Thanks OPEC.. The oil cartel doesn't think economic pressures are bad
enough to keep prices from going to at least $80 a barrel..

North Korea tensions escalate: Now threats of all out war

Tensions across the world are rising tonight due to North Korea's latest acts, including lobbing missiles, testing nuclear bombs, saying the truce dating back to 1953 with South Korea is moot and void, and now new threats of war with anyone that tests the regime..

And finally, the United Nations is doing something--albiet more sanctions may not be necessarily effective in stopping a nation that has little. Key powers on the Security Council have agreed in principle that North Korea must face sanctions.

Take that, Kim Jong!

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says North Korea will face consequences for its "provocative and belligerent" actions..

Ouch!

The 'stern' responses came after North Korean state TV issued a warning: "Those who provoke [North Korea] once will not be able to escape its unimaginable and merciless punishment." This from the North's official news agency said..

China says they are urging peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Russia says they're worried about an all out nuclear war.

Just another day on earth..

So weird .. so very weird..

An AP headline today can't quite give a total picture of how weird of a story this is..The headline reads, "A gesture to hearten seal hunters" .. but additional reading of the story paints the bizarre picture, "Canada's governor general ate part of the raw heart of a slaughtered seal in a show of support to the country's seal hunters, a display that a European Union spokeswoman yesterday called "too bizarre to acknowledge." Governor General Michaelle Jean, representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as Canada's head of state, gutted the seal and swallowed a slice of its heart late Monday after an EU vote earlier this month to ban seal products on grounds that the seal hunt is cruel."

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