June 25, 2009

Travels with Sanford:

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford surfaced Wednesday with an admission of an affair with a woman in Argentina. Sanford had been missing for about a week, having slipped his security detail and lied to aides about where he was headed.

Sanford resigned as head of the Republican Governors Association, which he must see as less forgiving than the people of South Carolina, because he kept the job as governor.

Questions of personal impropriety aside, Sanford may have left the state without essential leadership in the case of an emergency, a decision which is being viewed as a possible breach of gubernatorial duties.

Sanford faced the public during a news conference Wednesday, making a tearful 20-minute appearance in which he apologized and described how the affair developed.

He had been considered on the short list for vice presidential candidates for John McCain a year ago and was a fiscal champion of conservatives for his stances on government spending. Those were seen as groundwork for a possible presidential run in 2012, which seems a long shot now, at best.

Post-election crackdown:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threw a victory party for himself, inviting all members of the country's parliament but 105 (out of 290) didn't show, the BBC reported.

The lack of total support for Ahmadinejad's Wednesday soiree could be a sign of a split in the country's power base.

Protests continue in the wake of Iran's presidential election but they aren't as massive as they were in the days immediately following the vote, perhaps because protesters sense futility in trying to have the official result overturned or because they fear for their safety.

Reports from Iran are spotty as the government crackdown continues but those that get through suggest police have turned to outright brutality to quash dissent. CNN International aired a telephone call from a woman who hysterically recounted how protesters were thrown from a bridge by police. The report couldn't be independently confirmed because of the government suppression of international media.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, who finished second to Ahmadinejad in the voting, said he has come under pressure to withdraw his challenges to the vote. More conservative factions in Iran are calling for Mousavi's arrest.

Korean War anniversary:

On the 59th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, North Korea continued its saber-rattling, promising to set off a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation" should the United States attack it.

How Pyongyang defines "attack" is key. While the United States is unlikely to send forces across the DMZ on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. Navy is trailing a North Korean ship suspected of carrying weapons, which makes it boardable under U.N. sanctions, and U.S. President Barack Obama extended for a year U.S. economic sanctions on North Korea. Both have previously been referred to as acts of war by Pyongyang.

North Korean state-run media Thursday charged the United States with invading North Korea in 1950, setting off a three-year war that technically never ended (an armistice was signed). Most histories say the Korean War started with the North's invasion of South Korea.

Pyongyang has withdrawn from the armistice and, intelligence agencies say, is preparing for additional missile tests related to its nuclear weapons program. There is a belief the North Koreans will test a long-range rocket with a launch toward Hawaii in the next two weeks.

Double the Oscar fun:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is doubling the number of films it nominates for the Best Picture category. The Oscar in that category has been decided from a field of five nominees for many years. Now voters will have to choose from among 10 films.

The academy said this was a return to its roots when it usually nominated 10 or 12 movies for Best Picture. It used 1939 as an example. One problem: 1939 is likely the absolute high-water mark for the industry. "Ninotchka," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Stagecoach," "The Wizard of Oz," "Dark Victory," "Goodbye Mr. Chips," "Of Mice and Men," "Love Affair" and "Wuthering Heights" -- most of which are considered classics -- lost that year to "Gone with the Wind."

"Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," said academy President Sid Ganis. "I can't wait to see what that list of 10 looks like when the nominees are announced in February."

The Oscar nominations will be announced Feb. 2.

Miracle on Grass:

OK, so it's not quite the 1980 "Miracle on Ice," but the United States' soccer win over Spain is big.

The U.S. team was considered to have backed into the semifinals of the Confederation Cup tournament in South Africa -- a dress rehearsal for that country's hosting of the World Cup in 2010 -- having gone 1-2 in group play and having won a tiebreaker on goals scored to advance.

Spain would certainly put the undeserving team in its place. Spain, the world's top-rated team, entered the game with a record 15-game winning streak and hadn't been beaten since November 2006, 35 games ago.

But the United States pulled off the upset, winning 2-0 and will go against either Brazil or South Africa, which play Thursday in their semifinal, in Sunday's tournament title match.