Highlights of the week

Kiddos! I missed you yesterday. It was Valentine's Day, an artificial, mercenary "holiday" I refuse to commemorate. I went to Sephora for some skin cream and lo and behold, I beheld several flummoxed boyfriends attempting to buy last minute perfume for their gals. Like PT Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute, and Valentine's day is particularly adept at making suckers of us all. Still, for those of you who actually had a good time yesterday, mazel tov. If you had a good time despite the utterly obnoxious cold in NYC, chapeau to you.
I need to finish writing an article due tomorrow (and requested Tuesday night) on the Mexican invasion of the Oscars and I am frantically looking for posts to rant about this week.
Here are some highlights:

• Now we know why Ahmadinejad acts like a maniac: according to The New Yorker's always illuminating James Surowiecki, it's because every time he threatens to destroy Israel or build atomic weapons, he sends the price of oil soaring. And because Iran has like the second biggest reserves of oil in the world, well, it works like a charm. By opposing him, we are helping him. My logic works like this: by corollary, it is in the best interest of Bush and Cheney and their pals in the oil industry, to keep oil soaring too. Which explains why, not only did we start a useless debacle in Iraq, but now we are also going after Iran, feeding fuel to the fire, so to speak.

• A CEO in China is going to hang because he duped investors in a giant ant scheme. Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger. He bilked Chinese investors of millions of dollars by promising to raise giant ants. Ants are used for traditional medicinal purposes in China. One investor committed suicide and many more suffered from depression. Welcome to capitalism, comrades! So they are hanging the guy. I am ordinarily against the death penalty, but for people who do that, as for people like Jeffrey Skilling et al, I have to tell you, it seems to me the right punishment.

• Also in the New Yorker (anniversary issue, rather underwhelming) The fascinating article by Jane Mayer on that evil TV show that extols torture and that everybody loves so much, 24. Liberal fans of the show: read it and please let me know how you plan to atone for your sins. Kiefer Sutherland can cry his 10 million a year all the way to the bank. You have no excuse.