In the near future the giant oil company BP will be in court. They are liable for the damages caused by their huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They are hoping to work out a deal beforehand on the amount of money they should pay. I hope it is a lot.

Whatever the outcome of the deal making is, the company stands to lose many billions of dollars. The must pay for lawsuits from individuals and companies, environmental costs, and lost production as many wells are still shut down. Like the spill itself, it going to be a mess.

One thing about the area in which I live is that the traffic is not all that bad on a good day. But there are times when it seems to be backed up for little or no reason. Today was one of those days. I was riding to work when I ran into a giant traffic jam. It tried my patience for sure.

The worst part about the whole experience is that I saw no reason for the pileup in the first place. Maybe the accident was cleared before I got there or the emergency was over with. Whatever the reason, I was still stuck. Some things just don’t make any sense.

I am one of those people who like to go to sleep with the T.V. on. The problem is that usually in the middle of the night the volume seems to turn itself up and wakes me up from a good night’s sleep. This is very frustrating and completely unnecessary if you ask me.

Finally, congress is doing something to help the average American. They are passing a bill that will outlaw advertisers from raising the volume. The FCC has passed new rules to protect TV watchers from having the volume turned up when a commercial comes on. Thank goodness!!

Japans women’s soccer team beat the U.S. women’s soccer team for the first time enabling them to win the WWC title for the first time. The game was close throughout with goals scored late in the game for each side. The final decision came down to a series of penalty kicks for each side.

The game winning goal was made by Japanese defender Saki Kumagai. Her shot ended the game with Japan carrying away the trophy. I say it’s about time the team from Japan won after so many years in contention. I say congrats to them and their country.

There is a new nation in our world and I like to take a moment to welcome it. The new country is South Sudan and they are happy to join the world as its newest nation. The country came about after many years of war with North Sudan. The occasion was celebrated by fireworks and general happiness in the new capital of Juba.

I sure hope that this country will survive and thrive and its people will do well in the future. I say good luck to them and welcome to the world.