While the world has been obsessed with Michael Jackson the past several days, other things have also happened. In an effort to keep my readers informed, here are some of them:

1.  Al Franken, former writer and performer on SNL, was elected to the U.S. Senate for the State of Minnesota. The vote originally took place last November, and it was close enough to require a recount. For some reason known only to Minnesota people, it has taken nearly eight months to recount those ballots. At any rate, the Senate should be a lot funnier soon.

2.  The governor of South Carolina has officially been declared the Dumbest Person in the World. So far –

he’s admitted to the affair with the woman from Argentina (his soul mate),

he’s admitted to having other affairs (with women who apparently weren’t his soul mates but just a heck of a lot of fun to be with),

he’s proven himself to not only be the Dumbest Person in the World but also the Difficult to Understand Public Speaker in the World,

and he says he wants to work on falling love with his wife again. No word yet on whether his wife wants to work on falling in love with him. Or whether she is, in fact, another soul mate. More on this as it develops.

3.  California is, once again, without a budget and totally broke. However, in a bold new creative plan, there’s talk of raising taxes. So I’m sure everything will be fine.

4.  Farrah Fawcett was buried today.  Apparently, she also died last Thursday, which would mean that something actually happened last Thursday that didn’t directly involve Michael Jackson. Who knew? And why was Joe Jackson, Michael’s father, making a speech at Farrah’s funeral? (ha – just kidding).

5.  Oppression continues in Iran, extreme poverty continues in Haiti, and various forms of slavery continue throughout the world. We might want to shift focus to that stuff at some point.

6.  I got new tires today.