So my favorite eatery has captioned CNN on their television at all times (hence, my favorite) and while the 24/7 media channel has a tendency to be a little hokey, perhaps overblown, and often downright dramatic (but no news is good news right?), I respect them simply for the fact that they are huge enough to sink their perfectly manicured, yet often clumsy, claws into most every major news item au current.  I can’t help myself, then, from feeling majorly disappointed that this generally satisfactory and overly accessible outlet for information is, at this very moment, reporting “BREAKING NEWS: VIDEO OF MICHAEL JACKSON’S FINAL REHEARSAL RELEASED.”  (Here it is if you’re curious… entertaining, but not news)

I have to ask myself, is this really breaking news?  And don’t get me wrong, I love MJ.  I was a die hard Jackson fan even when it was embarrassing to admit.  My list of favorite songs include some of the lesser known, deeper felt (”She’s Out of My Life” now has a whole new meaning), and I’m proud to say that while its not a consistent ability, I have successfully moonwalked on occasion.  BUT — before I am a Michael Jackson fan, I am a citizen of the world, and my deeper concern lies in what has happened in the week since his untimely passing.  So here is the list of Top 5 News Events that occurred while you were mourning:

1. Lets start with the ridiculously important act by the House last Friday, June 26, which, after years of ignoring the inconvenient truth, passed H.R. 2454, or The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.  While the act itself is far (far far far far) from perfect, and in truth it dragged itself across the finish line at the last second, winning by only seven votes, it is hugely significant because it is the first time Congress has formally recognized what every other thinking American knows as Global Warming, Climate Change, the Greenhouse Effect (remember that one?), the End of the World, etc:

The vote was the first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change. The legislation, which passed despite deep divisions among Democrats, could lead to profound changes in many sectors of the economy, including electric power generation, agriculture, manufacturing and construction.

President Obama hailed the House passage of the bill as “a bold and necessary step.” He said in a statement that he looked forward to Senate action that would send a bill to his desk “so that we can say, at long last, that this was the moment when we decided to confront America’s energy challenge and reclaim America’s future.”

But I bet a lot of people didn’t hear about this.  After all, we’d only had a day since Michael’s passing.  Who cares about… you know, the world…?

2. Two days later, on Sunday June 28th, a little place called Honduras, you may have heard of it, its part of our continent, went ahead and had themselves a coup.  Back story is as follows: Left-leaning President Manuel Zelaya (think Chavez, with a mustache) was pushing for legislative reform which would allow him to lift the term restrictions for presidents, enabling him to run again (think Mayor Bloomberg, without the cash).  Apparently the military found this completely unacceptable, and in the middle of the night, took over the government and exiled Zelaya to Costa Rica (actually, that sounds pretty nice).

In the first military coup in Central America since the end of the cold war, soldiers stormed the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa, early in the morning, disarming the presidential guard, waking Mr. Zelaya and putting him on a plane to Costa Rica.

Mr. Zelaya, a leftist aligned with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, angrily denounced the coup as illegal. “I am the president of Honduras,” he insisted at the airport in San José, Costa Rica, still wearing his pajamas….

Church services were canceled and most people stayed home. Several thousand protesters supporting the president faced off against soldiers outside the presidential palace, burning tires.

The government television station and a television station that supports the president were taken off the air. Television and radio stations broadcast no news.  Only wealthy Hondurans with access to the Internet and cable television were able to follow the day’s events.

Normally a coup would be pretty big news — HUGE.  Remember in Pretty Woman when she goes back into the store to tell them what a mistake they’ve made by not letting her shop — HUGE MISTAKE — well this is huge the way that was.

3. Another two days later, in the early morning of Tuesday June 30, a passenger plane, an Airbus 310 to be exact, carrying 153 people, crashed on its way from Yemen to the Comoros Islands. 

While normally this would be an instant global tragedy for the world to rubberneck, the story becomes even more unbelievable, as a sole survivor, a 14 year old girl who can barely swim, is rescued, found floating in the Indian Ocean.  The young woman, Bahia Bakari, was traveling with her mother and three siblings, all of whom are believed to be dead, and cannot explain how it is she managed to stay alive.

A severely bruised young girl believed to be the only survivor of an Indian Ocean plane crash flew back Thursday to Paris, where she was embraced gently by her father, who tried to lift her spirits with a joke.

Bahia Bakari, 12, returned to France from the Comoros Islands on a French government plane. The Falcon-900 jet with medical facilities left the archipelago nation, a former French colony, and arrived at Le Bourget airport just north of Paris…

Bahia, described by her father as a fragile girl who could barely swim, spent over 13 hours in the water clinging to wreckage before she was rescued. She was found suffering from hypothermia, a fractured collarbone and widespread bruises to her face, elbow and foot….

“In the midst of the mourning, there is Bahia. It is a miracle, it is an absolutely extraordinary battle for survival,” France’s cooperation minister, Alain Joyandet, who flew back with her, said at the airport. “It’s an enormous message that she sends to the world … almost nothing is impossible.”

And yet, there are people who don’t even know this story, haven’t even heard of Bahia, because Michael Jackson died last week, and there’s only so much room for misery in one’s life.

4. Later that very same day, Al Franken defeated Norm Coleman in the final battle of the war for the Minnesota Senate Seat.

Apparently Coleman had to dip into his dental fund to continue the lawsuit, and when pressed with the idea that he may be required to shell out even more cash, decided to call it quits, like a true conservative.  Obama now has 60 friends in the Senate.  He can basically do anything he wants.  Even Bush never had it this good.  And while I’m sure people know this happened, no one really seems to care.  All of the passion Americans have put into politics over the past year, seems to have died with MJ.

5. Finally, the people of Iran continued to struggle for basic human rights, like freedom, and fairness, and safety.  They continued to protest, continued to recieve beatings, continued to be kidnapped, murdered, or worst of all, disappeared.  They continued to document their troubles as well, but couldn’t post the images online, their main resource at this time, because the inernet had basically crashed with Michael Jackson frenzy.

So here’s a little video someone put up on YouTube to remind us all, its not over, its only just begun.

(Amanda — don’t watch this)