“Oh, can it be true? Someone has finally, finally, finally gotten around to investigating the truth regarding Benito Arpaio … er, I mean Joe Mussolini … er, I mean “America’s toughest windbag.” Enough is enough. It’s the worst economic crisis this state has endured since the ’30s, and we can no longer afford the millions of dollars in lawsuits that are being awarded to that joke-of-a-sheriff’s victims.”

The painted oil landscape has mountains, trees and stone ruins, but the scene is not a peaceful one. Toppled and broken statues, a beggar woman, Roman soldiers and a menacing green jack-in-the-box beckon you to look a little deeper into this surrealist painting, “The Eternal City” by American Peter Blume.

"One birr for bread. Mother dead, father dead," a sign held by a young boy begging for change on the streets of Ethiopia's capital city said.

Clarence "Bud" Thompson knows he may not survive the heart surgery he is to undergo this week.

The summer of 2010 is shaping up as one of sequels, even more movies in 3-D and adaptations of books (comic and otherwise). Big names, from Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio to Angelina Jolie and Julia Roberts, will be sprinkled throughout the season.