Hello, everybody. As always, a lot to get to, so let's get cracking!

First up...HEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRREEEEEE'S CONAN!!! With Jay Leno now spending his summer vacation doing shows across the country, Conan O'Brien was officially being handed "The Tonight Show" baton this week and at its new home at Universal Studios. Ratings for his first night were astounding: 7.1, winning the night overall (Letterman got a 2.8, Nightline 2.7). But Leno had an 8.8 for his "Tonight Show" goodbye.

But like most of us, we are going through a temporary Leno withdrawal and have been scouring through YouTube for any clips. I'm sure that come September 14 (when he returns to the air at 10:00), Jay will definitely play catch-up, especially with the "economy is so bad" jokes.

Speaking of the economy...as you know, General Motors is bankrupt. That doesn't mean it's the end of the once-powerful auto giant, but a rebirth. And to go along with the bankruptcy, GM also sold off their Hummer brand to a Chinese company. This comes as fellow troubled rival Chrysler is emerging from bankruptcy themselves, but still nothing from Ford.

This week, President Obama delivered a special address to the Muslim community at Cairo University in Egypt. Here at home, in his weekly address, Obama is now trying to do something Hillary Clinton couldn't succeed with when she was First Lady: Reform health care in America.

When I commented on the Michael Moore documentary "Sicko" on this very blog almost a couple of years ago, I said that our health care system has been down the tubes for decades, going back to 1971. By the way, my cholesterol count as of 2007 has increased a tad bit, from 79 to now 93. Yes, 93!!! I wonder if staying away from too much fatty foods may have been my secret...well, that or avoiding too much sunlight.

And last but not least...while things are slowly starting to look up again here, on the other side of the Atlantic in Britain, it's starting to get even messy.

The Labour party lost big time in a series of local elections this past week, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown is trying to shrug that off. But the rival parties, including the Conservatives led by David Cameron, aren't buying it, and with the resignation of one of their top politicians, Brown is already feeling the heat. And now it appears that the only way to end all the hurt and turmoil is one of two options: Pressure Brown to resign to keep Labour rule, or better yet...call for a general election!!!

If I was him, I would go with the latter and schedule it for late September. The Labours are like our Republicans: the colors of both parties are red; they have been corrupt for years; and they have politicians that are better off as movie stars (California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) or baby mamas (Alaska Governor Sarah Palin) rather than representing our country. And if Gordon Brown does call an election sometime next week, you can forget about "Up" or the "Transformers" sequel as the campaigning all throughout Britain will be the real big summer blockbuster of 2009! So long and stay strong.

(And if you have something to say about this week's blog, reply to me on Twitter)