SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:25 P.M. ET: 

HEARTBREAK – There is no joy in Washville.  Mighty Gore has struck out.  It was close, but no cigar.  The temperature in Washington, D.C. today, watched by all worshippers in the Church of the Global Warming, came within one degree of tying the all-time record of 106 for the city, but did not tie it.  The warmers weep, they pine, they whine.  This was to be their shining hour.  "Y'see, ignoramuses, the world is burning up!"  But Washingtonians, including the people who pass on appropriations, are left with the knowledge that there was in fact a day that was warmer.  What will they say when it's a lot cooler on this date next year, or the year after?  In fact, the temperature predictions for this coming week are reasonable.  We simply had a heat wave, that's all.  I remember one day in the 70s when it it was 104 in New York, and no one thought we had to scrap the world's economy.

THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE – The unexplained death business.  And so, it appears, the Los Angeles County Coroner's office, the "coroner to the stars," is reclassifying the cause of Natalie Wood's drowning in 1981 as "undetermined."  It had been listed as "accidental."  Officials aren't talking, but some sources claim new information has come to light.  And TV reporters are planning their own investigations.  I think it's horribly unfair for these partial stories to come out, casting suspicion on Wood's husband, actor Robert Wagner, who was with her on their boat the night Wood vanished into the sea.  Is there actual evidence, or isn't there?  Or is this just one more case of a famous name being used to milk a story and grab ratings?  You can be sure the book contracts are being written. 

WHO KNEW? – In what has to be the understatement of the year, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, now acting as UN special envoy on Syria, acknowledged today that the "international community's" efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian catastrophe have failed.  You know, I never would have known had Kefir not told us.  In fact, there really is no serious effort being made, as any realistic proposal gets shot down by Russia and China at the UN, and Barack Obama, guiding star of world peace, shows very little interest.  How many votes does Syria have in November?

July 7, 2012