More news, less sensationalistic opinionated FLUFF

So, we've been watching TV news the past several nights and all I can say is, thank God for internet news!! There is so much going on in the world and all we have been hearing about for the past 5 days is the torture memos, Obama's first 100 days, swine flu, and Arlen Specter's switch from the Republican to Democratic party. Alright already!! Important? VERY MUCH SO. Lots of implications on some of this stuff (especially torture and Mr. Specter) but come on! It feels like the news is more in the business of entertaining us than informing us. I want MORE NEWS, LESS sensationalism and LESS opinions. We can handle it guys, really. 

Two of the more interesting articles I found while perusing the internet last night and today are about South Africa and Sri Lanka:

Jacob Zuma is the new president of South Africa (click here for a good summary from BBC). They had their elections on April 22nd. "JZ" as he is often called will be sworn in on May 9th. He is a member of the African National Congress (ANC...that's the party Mandela was affiliated with). He is a little controversial for some because of his lack of formal education, allegations of rape of a family friend, and allegations of corruption/money laundering/racketeering. The allegations have all been dropped. He is extremely popular, he is a long time colleague/fellow freedom fighter of Nelson Mandela, he plans to make no major policy changes of the ANC and will follow much the same course as his predecessor, Mbeki. 

According to Reuters, the US has decided to delay a $1.9 billion dollar IMF loan to the government of Sri Lanka in order to put pressure on Colombo in regards to the civilians caught in between the fighting of government and rebel forces. The government of Sri Lanka today denies that there will be a delay and says that the loan application is on track. An IMF assessment team is in country. Let's see what happens with that. 

There's another great Times article again today on the situation in Sri Lanka for any of you interested...

By the way, I did watch the presidential address and the press Q&A last night with pride and appreciation. President Obama is an open, optimistic, intelligent, compassionate leader. I am proud.