Morning News Roundup

Just Flew in from 'Bama...

...and boy, are my arms tired. Got in late last night from a cranky Continental Airlines flight (where one of the flight attendants and the woman seated in front of me were getting into it, to the point where the attendant noted that the passenger didn't have to fly on this flight--I just buried my head in The Economist and pretended nothing was happening), and unfortunately had to wake up to this:

• Samuel Alito is confirmed by the Senate (58 to 42) to become our next Supreme Court Justice. This came after a cloture vote to end debate--i.e., against a filibuster--of 72 to 28 last night while I was flying 'cross country, a vote which included 19 Democrats. Here's the full list, via Salon's War Room: Daniel Akaka, Max Baucus, Jeff Bingaman, Robert Byrd, Maria Cantwell [ed note - it's disappointing to see the junior Senator from Washington state in this list, especially after all the progressive cred she worked up in denying Alaska Senator Ted Stevens his ANWR amendment last December; but I guess it's somewhat understandable, due to the fact that she's got a tough Senate race this fall--still, Democrats need more spine, period.], Tom Carper, Kent Conrad, Byron Dorgan, Daniel Inouye, Tim Johnson, Herb Kohl, Mary Landrieu, Joe Lieberman, Blanche Lincoln, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Mark Pryor, Jay Rockefeller and Ken Salazar.
  
  [UPDATE - HighNoon PST] Here's the list of the Dems crossing the aisle to vote on (now) Supreme Court Justice Alito:
  

  Robert Byrd, West Virginia; Kent Conrad, North Dakota; Tim Johnson, South Dakota; Ben Nelson, Nebraska.

• Iran will be reported to the UN Security Council regarding its nuclear program, with all five permanant members agreeing to the reportage (via the WaPo):
  

  The decision, reached in London through a compromise with Russia and China, was a victory for the United States and its European allies, who had pressed for the matter to be sent to the council. But Russia and China were able to soften the agreement by stipulating that the Security Council not take up the matter until March. That gives Iran more time to comply with U.N. nuclear inspectors and avoid the threat of sanctions.

• British forces in Iraq suffered its 100th casualty (via the BBC).
  
  
• Exxon posted another quarterly record profit for a publicly traded company--$10.71 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005 (via ABC). This follows the previous record-breaking third quarter provit of $9.92 billion.
  
  
• Oscars were announced this morning, and Brokeback Mountain led the pack with 8 nominations, including Best Picture (story at WaPo; including full list). Other best pic noms: Capote, Crash, Good Night and Good Luck, and Munich. Mrs. F and I have seen Good Night and Crash, which are both very worthy. The other three will be coming up in the next few weeks. And in a break with recent tradition, all five directors of the best pic noms also not best director nods (seems in the last decade or so, the Academy always like to throw in one wild card not included in the best pics). And that includes George Clooney, who's also nominated for acting in Syriana as well as screenplay. This could be one of the gayest Oscars ever, with Capote also bagging an acting nom for Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Felicity Huffman getting a best actress nom for Transamerica--both of whom have some award season wins to boost their creds.
  

It's after 9am here in Seattle, and we're still sucking down the coffee to wake ourselves up, and I've got some work to tackle. But I'll be getting to some more serious blog posting a bit later today.

[UPDATE - 11:30am PST] Oh, and let's not forget the anti-Oscars, the Razzies (via today's Studio Briefing posted at IMDB):

Nominations for the Razzies, the worst films of 2005 were announced Monday with Son of the Mask receiving eight nominations, including worst actor (Jamie Kennedy) and supporting actor (Alan Cumming and Bob Hoskins). Also receiving nods for worst picture were the sequel Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo; the movie version of the Dukes of Hazzard; the remake of House of Wax; and the romance Dirty Love.

I was hoping that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake would be up there (especially with the unnecessary addition of Willie Wonka's paternal conflict). (Truth be told, I've not seen the film--just watched it silently on a plane recently--but the fact is it didn't need to be remade!)