Casey Anthony; Escalating Violence in America; 8 Years and Over One Million Dollars to Fire a Bad Teacher; CIA Tortured by Eric Holder; US Ambassdor to Britain Insults Reagan and the Brits; Dangerous Squiggly Light Bulbs

The Onion is reporting that "Pakistani Intelligence Announces Its Full Cooperation With U.S. Forces During Upcoming Top Secret  June 12 Drone Strike On Al Quaeda At 5:12 AM Near Small Town of Razmani In North Wasiristan."

• Regarding the Casey Anthony acquittal, I believe, as usual, the NY Post headline says it best today, "Not Guilty As Sin." I only have one comment to say about this case: how does a jury not give more consideration to the fact that Casey did not report her child missing for 30 days? Or as Andrea Peyser of the NY Post wrote, "The Glove Fits--This Head Case Becomes New O.J."
• In my previous post, I reported on the violence last weekend in Philadelphia where 32 shootings took place. It appears violence is escalating in many other American cities. These are taken from just some of the headlines on Drudge yesterday:  In Mobile, Alabama, 300 people fought on a street corner, and one man was shot in the face; In Chicago, 5 people were killed over the holiday weekend and 23 were hurt;  a mob brawl outside of Bally's in Atlantic City left 2 dead; in Boston, 13 were shot and stabbed in just 5 hours. Folks, what the heck is going on in our cities? We've not seen this type of violence since the 1970's. I suspect the unemployment, the recession and the failure of our government has something to do with this escalating violence. And the summer just started too.
• The current Harris Poll numbers don't look good for the prez. Only 24% think he's doing a good job on the jobs front (who the hell are those people?); only 27% give him good marks on the overall economy (ditto?); 34% approval on education; 37% positive on health care and 38% positive on the Middle East.
• Yet, with all of these depressing data, Americans--overall--still believe in America's exceptionalism (I wrote about it on the 4th). 53% believe we're still one of the greatest nations on the planet. 57% say Americans can always solve problems and only 8% said other countries are better (that's 8% too high). {Pew Poll}
• And what accounts for that? As Victor Davis Hanson wrote last week, "There is no rational reason why a small republican experiment in 1776 grew to dominate global culture and society--except that America in the only nation, past or present, that put trust in the individual rather than in the state and its elite bureaucracy..."
• NY City Public School Update: It took the NY City school system 8 years to get rid of one of their worst teachers. It costs NYC taxpayers over a million bucks during the 8 years. There were 2 years of disciplinary hearings and 2 years to render a decision. During that period, the teacher still collected over $800 grand in salary.
• As as you read that story, our dufis Attorney General, Eric Holder, wants to prosecute two CIA agents for alleged torture and brutality. Yet, the Justice Department already found no grounds for proceeding against them. And another report by the CIA inspector general came to the same conclusion. Evidently, Holder, feels these two agents were a tad rough on Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11. Even the NY Daily News, a left of center newspaper, wrote in their editorial, "The big takeaway is that interrogations that produced valuable intelligence, including information that let to the killing of Osama bin Laden were perfectly lawful. And the American Civil Liberties Union and others who continue to decry supposed widespread criminal brutality need to come to grips with reality."
• The London Evening Standard is reporting that the American ambassador to the UK failed to show up to an event honoring Ronald Reagan. Guests were asking why he didn't appear. Ambassador Susman is a long standing Democrat fundraiser. Many said the only reason he got the job was because of his fundraising skills for the Democrats. Not only did we insult the Brits yet again (if you recall, almost immediately after taking office, the Obama's returned the bust of Churchill to the Brits. It had been in the Oval Office for years), but now our own ambassador insulted the memory of Ronald Reagan.
• "Recession Is  Over News"--it's now being reported that many middle-aged and older Americans who have been out of work for several years may never find a decent job again. Wall Street Journal: "Inside The Disappointing Comeback" Worst recovery since the Great Depression. Does it appear to anyone that the White House is in denial?
• As Rome burns, the federal government wants all of us to replace incandescent light bulb with those squiggly pieces of junk. In case you don't know it, our own EPA filed the following guidelines should one of those squiggly bulbs breaks in your home: 1-Immediately evacuate everyone, including pets, from the affected area, 2-make sure you shut down all air conditioners and 3-do not vacuum up the mess. And why must we be so cautious? Because those ugly squiggly bulbs contain mercury, a toxic pollutant.
• National average unemployment rate for 16-19 year olds is 25.9%. Note: that's the "official" unemployment rate. The real rate is probably closer to 35-40%. The unemployment rate for many young black males is has high as 52% in some areas of the country. (Bureau of Labor Statistics).