watch the network news each evening; to me it makes little difference which one I'm tuned to. Just so happens that the last two evenings it has been the NBC news with Brian Williams. Is there still a war going on in Iraq and Afghanistan? You'd never know it, there wasn't a single story about the conflicts. Not one. Why? Could it be that the executives at the Network have decided it isn't sexy or imperative information for the majority of the viewers? They are wrong, but then local news always seems to have a larger rating than the national networks. Maybe murders in the suburbs strike a more significant note. Tonight I'll watch PBS or CNN.

I watched NBC news again, for a third night in a row and, yet again, there was not a single mention of the war on terorism, Iraq or Afghanistan.

September 28, 2007

Want some healthy news? The overall national crime rate declined to its lowest level in 30 years. But then there's the second part to that story. Violent crimes such as murder, robbery, rape and aggravated assault rose for the second straight year. (That's according to FBI statistics). It appears that the increase in those crimes is reflected in the growth in gang related crimes and a lack of will to confront gun-related issues.

Again, a positive story: The 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress report (considered by far the most influential test in U.S education has reported that students are scoring sweeping gains on tests. Hispanic, black, white, male, female, rich or poor are improving, noticeably in reading and math. For example 4th graders are improving at higher reading levels than ion all previous assessments, and most racial/ethnic groups are showing improvement. Gains are even more striking in mathematics.

A Mike Peters cartoon shows a somewhat dopey picture of President Bush at a press conference. A reporter challenges him with the question, "Sir, can you define success in Iraq?" The president responds, "When the next administration is blamed."

Do any of the current "plans" for Iraq's future appeal to you? Is there a candidate espousing an idea that could resolve the civil war in that sad country? The nearest to workable, to my way of thinking, is that proposed by Leslie Gelb the president emeritus of the Council of Foreign Relations, and Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who happens to be running for the Presidency of the United States. The idea is to break Iraq into a three part confederation. It would consist of a Kurdish north, a Sunni center and a Shiite south
It's never going to work the way that it is now. Columnist Richard Cohen in the Washington Post, points out that Iraqis are fleeing their homes at over 100,000 per month - Sunnis moving to Sunni areas and Shiites to Shiite ones - although Kurds are going nowhere because they already have what amounts to their own state. It will be extremely complex, but it could occur successfully once it can be worked out how to apportion the oil-revenues, how to deal with Iran and how to stop the warring.
I mean, even little Belgium appears to be on the verge of coming apart: French speakers (Walloons) and Dutch speakers (Flemings) likely to go their separate ways.

We all have watched the buffoonery of the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appearances in New York. In summation it would appear that the Iranian President is convinced that the world doesn't really possess the will to stop Iran from pursuing their nuclear program and also that the United States won't stop his country from killing GIs in Iraq, so, here's the question for President Bush, "What, if anything do you intend to do about this during your remaining 16 months in office?" The Bush administration has, with frequency, told Iran that it would have to pay a price for its hostile behavior. It continues unabated. The Commander in Chief let's an enemy kill Americans with impunity. In a stridently critical editorial in the Wall Street Journal, they conclude, by saying "If the President believes half of what he and his administration have said about Iran's behavior, he has an obligation to do whatever it takes to stop it".