Election Circus

Uganda is not the only country experiencing an unique electoral season. The United States, the beacon of democracy, recently completed the mid-term electoral cycle in which Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives. There was a fair share of clean and competitive campaigns with intelligent candidates from both sides, but of course there were some circus acts involved. Fortunately, many of the candidates and campaigns that were better suited for the limelight of Barnum & Bailey’s can now only bask in their former glory of national attention and not enjoy the limelight (maybe better phrased as the puke green light) of Washington, DC or their respective state capitols.

One of the up and coming global powers recently completed an election cycle as well, but in Brazil, some candidates, Francisco Silva in particular, have literally stepped out from the circus tent and into the Parliamentary halls of Brasilia. Silva, better known as Tiririca (Grumpy in Portuguese) the clown received more votes than any other Parliamentarian candidate. Although electing a clown sounds crazy enough, what makes this story even more interesting is that Tiririca may be illiterate. Due to Brazil’s relatively high rate of illiteracy, laws require that all elected officials must be literate in order to take office. Democracy and illiteracy are now clashing in Brazil and the only way to move forward is to test Tiririca’s reading and writing. Tiririca was tested on Thursday 11/11, but results have yet to be revealed (at the time this post was written), so stay on the lookout to see if a clown was elected to the Brazilian Parliament.

Maybe this is a good sign for Brazil’s future; although the U.S. did not vote a witch into Senate, Americans did vote an Aqua Buddha into the Senate. Brazil, you’re almost there, next time you vote, don’t vote for the clown, be more creative and vote for a mythical figure.

March Madness of News Stories

In honor of the NCAA National Championship we have decided to create a March Madness bracket of the top news stories from March 2010. The four regional brackets are divided into World new, National news, Science & Business news and Weird news. We have carefully selected the rankings for each news story, but we look to your vote to pick the NEWS STORY OF THE MONTH champion. We’ll provide a brief synopsis of each story and a link to an article relating to it, then you vote. Please vote and get your friends to vote on the top news stories of the month. To keep it shorter we have only 8 stories per region.

World News
#1 vs. #8
#1Iraq holds a nation wide Parliamentary election with little violence, the results have been announced and the secular Iraqiya bloc has won the most seats.
#8 – The drug war in Mexico has become increasingly violent and this month, a drug gang targeted US consulates and their families in the border town of Juarez.

#2 vs. #7
#2 – The Catholic Church has been rocked by an outpouring of sexual abuse scandals in Europe, especially in the Pope’s former country.
#7 – A South Korean navy ships mysteriously sinks amid rising tensions between the bordering Koreas.

#3 vs. #6
#3 – Palestinians were ready to come back to the negotiating table until Israel announced a new expansion plan in East Jerusalem while VP Biden was visiting. This has pretty much derailed peace talks, but PM Netanyahu now says the building will be scaled back.
#6 – Myanmar’s military Junta said fair public elections would be held this year for the first time since they took over power 20 years ago.

#4 vs. #5
#4 – Thai protesters have forced negotiations between opposition leaders and the government to occur after pouring gallons of donated blood on several government properties.
#5 – Two female suicide bombers detonate themselves in the Moscow subways.

NATIONAL STORIES
#1 vs #8
#1 – Healthcare reform passes the House! Need I say more…
#8 – The Oscars

#2 vs. #7
#2 – US Census. It’s mind-boggling how much money the government saves when people mail the forms back.
#7 – Pepsi Corp. has announced that they will cut salts and fats in their products.

#3 vs. #6
#3 – US stocks have climbed to an 18 month high. Are we on our way out of recession?
#6 – Violence follows the passing of healthcare.

#4 vs. #5
#4 – US to increase housing loans, I know it got us into this recession, but maybe they’ll be smarter loans this time.
#5 – Obama makes a surprise visit to Afghanistan

SCIENCE & BUSINESS

#1 vs #8
#1 – Greece has been rocked by a huge national debt causing the government to nearly declare bankruptcy, but the EU has agreed on a financial aid program.
#8 – Over parenting and pushing your children to be over achievers may be as damaging as neglectful parenting

#2 vs. #7
#2 – Laser Warfare becoming a reality
#7 – Touching your skin could control your next ipod or phone

#3 vs #6
#3 – VIRGIN test flew their commercial space shuttle
#6 – GM leadership shakeup

#4 vs #5
#4 – Micro financing, often used in developing countries, has sprung up in the US
#5 – US and China are two of the world’s top clean energy markets

WEIRD
#1 vs. #8
#1 – Chili Pepper Grenade
#8 – I wasn’t attacked by razor wielding men after all

#2 vs. #7
#2 – Smelly sneaker competition
#7 – Watermelon roadblock

#3 vs. #6
#3 – Paid to eat
#6 – If you can’t curb the drinking, might as well keep them safe

#4 vs. #5
#4 – Sarah Palin tv is to be extended beyond FOX News
#5 – The famous British downhill cheese roll has been canceled