Reporting from Kuala Lumpur...

My fourth day in Amsterdam brought with it morning news withdrawal, so I whipped up a double espresso and turned on the TV for the first time. And guess what news channel they have!

Al Jazeera!!

Nothing tickles the Mayoress like a whole new news source.* And it's always good to get some non-US centric news coverage. Among some of the top stories...

Today is a day of mourning in Armenia due to the horrible plane crash that killed 168 people. The pictures of the wreckage are devestating. Apparently, part of the problem is that the airline(s) are not allowed to buy planes from Boeing or Airbus, so they're operating way out-of-date machines making safe travel more unlikely by the day.

China has completely evaded the global recession with growth on pace for 8% this year. Now if only I could remember the answer to my security question on my online trading account. (Who is my favorite fictional character? Alice in Wonderland? Samantha Jones? Mr. Right? I can't figure it out.)

The prime minister of Pakistan made a good speech about the problem of terrorism being global, and that the solution is not simply military but multi-dimensional. He must not have been allowed to talk when Bush was in office.

No more complaining Sam Champion! Al J's weatherperson has to deliver forecasts for five continents! I can't read celcius but I do know it's 35 in Rome today.

Check it out at www.aljazeera.net/english

*Well, that's not true. The Mayoress is tickled by many things, including but not limited to children dancing on Yo Gabba Gabba, people unironically driving Vespas, and B's makeout with a certain well-known news reporter last week.

The Haunting

While all of us were busy counting down the days till the Inaug' and hailing each new cabinet appointee like the announcement of a new HBO series, here's what Bush was doing in his final days (and the Times editorialists' recommendations).

(Next up: we learn all of our '08 taxes will be direct deposited into accounts held by Cheney.)

Health care: One particularly objectionable rule took effect the day President Bush left town. It gives an increased number of medical institutions and a broad range of health care workers the right to refuse to provide abortion referrals, unbiased counseling or emergency contraception, even to rape victims — further restricting women’s rights to health care. The administration should suspend enforcement and craft a new rule.

Gun control: A new rule would end a 25-year ban on carrying loaded weapons in national parks, which are among the safest places in this country. Before that changes, the administration should overturn this rule.

Workers’ rights: Revisions to the federal guest worker program would weaken wage protections and housing standards for temporary agricultural workers, who already have far too few protections.

The environment: The Bush administration worked overtime in its waning days to weaken protections for the air, water and endangered species. Representative Nick Rahall, a Democrat from West Virginia, plans to invoke the Congressional Review Act to overturn an Interior Department ruling that carved out significant exceptions to required scientific reviews of federal projects that could harm threatened or endangered species.

Interior’s last-minute rules also eased restrictions on mining companies that dump waste into rivers and streams; opened two million acres of Western lands to potentially harmful oil shale development; and revoked Congress’s authority to withdraw land from commercial development in emergencies. The Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, relaxed restrictions on water and air pollution from factory farms.

"This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog."