News from THE DELANEY CO.

WORLD CLASS SOCCER?? - The French were reeling last month from the pathetic and childish performance of their national team in the World Cup. In their first game, their star forward, Nicolas Anelka, cursed at the coach, Raymond Domenech, and was expelled from the team. In protest, the rest of the players declared a strike and skipped their crucial practice, drawing widespread condemnation from the French press. After the team lost to South Africa and was eliminated from the tournement, Domenech refused to shake hands with the South African coach, drawing even more boos. Even before the World Cup fiasco, Domenech was told he would not be kept on as national team coach. "To have the worst football team at the World Cup was already unbearable," said (daily newspaper) Le Parisien. "To have the stupidest as well is intolerable."

U.S. FUNDS TALIBAN - U.S. tax money is indirectly funding the Taliban, a congressional investigation has revealed. The Pentagon pays private security contractors - mostly Afghan companies - millions of dollars a year to provide armed guards to protect supply convoys. But the House inquiry found that some contractors are actually using the money to bribe the Taliban not to attack the convoys, while others are subcontracting the jobs out to local warlords. Said Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.), who heads the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs: "This arrangement has fueled a vast protection racket run by a shadowy network of warlords, strongmen, commanders, corrupt Afghan officials, and perhaps others."

SUN DAY CELEBRATION - In England, some 20,000 hippies, ravers, and modern-day druids danced and cheered as the sun rose over Stonehendge on the summer solstice. While the prehistoric monument is usually roped off, authorities allow people to walk among the stones during the solstice, the day the sun aligns with the edifice's Hell Stone, just outside the main circle. "Lots of pagans say they are fed up with the revelers, but I don't have that view," said a druid who calls himself King Arthur Pendragon. "Even if they initially come for the wrong reasons, they return for the right ones in the end...it's the spirit of the place." Far out, man!!! J

COME AS YOU ARE - A new McDonald's commercial airing on French TV stations sent the world into a tizzy. The ad features a male teenager, flirting on the phone, while his dad buys hamburgers at the counter. At the end of the commercial, the audience learns the boy is gay (though his dad remains in the dark). As far as we can tell, it's the first McDonald's ad to feature a gay character. Most people in the gay community responded to the ad positively, calling this a step in the right direction. Others, including some gay activists, were less impressed, partly because the young man remains closeted. It won't air in the United States, but you can watch it by clicking below:

French McDonalds commercial - "Come As You Are"

FEDS vs. ARIZONA - The U.S. Justice Department plans to challenge Arizona's strict new immigration law in federal court, administration officials announced. Attorney General Eric Holder said the U.S. would sue on the grounds that immigration is a federal, not state matter, and because the law could incite racial and ethnic discrimination. The Arizona law, which was passed in April, requires immigrants to carry their papers and mandates that police question people about their immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" that they are in the country illegally.

VADER MENTALLY ILL? - Anakin Skywalker's epic transformation into the evil Darth Vader may have been a result of mental illness, according to a paper published in the journal Psychiatry Research by Eric Bui and his colleagues at Toulouse University Hospital. As he came of age, Skywalker showed problems with impulsivity, violent outburst, illusions of invincibility and crises of identity, all of which are in line with borderline personality disorder diagnosis, the researchers concluded. And they noted the absence of a father and early separation from his mother set the stage for his later developmental issues and his turn to the Dark Side. But some U.S. psychiatrists believe the researchers may have jumped the gun. "Anakin shows borderline traits, but these do not persist into his adulthood," UCLA child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. H. Eric Bender said. "That Skywalker came out the other side a villain didn't mean he was still grappling with the identity crises of his early Jedi years", Bender noted. And I thought they were just movies...

NO, IT'S NOT FAKED - In a time of special effects and computer generated imagery, it's hard to believe that the gigantic sinkhole in Guatemala is 100% real. But, it is, kids. It really is. The sinkhole, which spans a city intersection and goes 330 feet deep, was the result of Tropical Storm Agatha. The storm itself took the lives of over 175 people. Fortunately, the actual sinkhole didn't lead to any injuries (though it did swallow a clothing factory). It also earned instant Internet fame. Searches on "sinkhole" and "guatemala sinkhole 2010" were both off the charts.

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