Politics: How can we avoid this topic? We simply cannot. We have lots to say about Tim Russert's hosting of John Edwards on Meet the Press, Reps. Rangel of New York and Putnam of Florida's face off on President Bush's veto of SCHIP on Face the Nation, along with Senator Craig's making Idaho's Hall of Fame.
Every High School Child Exposed to Military Recruiters in No Child Left Behind Act: We are reminded about the rather obscure section 9528 of the Act by David Giffey, who writes "Fight Back Against Giving Kids' Names to Military" for the Wisconsin Capital Times last week. According to Giffey, uniformed military recruiters daily roam the halls of the 22,000 public high schools in the U.S., and high schools are required to give student information to them unless the families or the students opt out, as the military spends $4 billion on recruiting each year. We say: call your representatives and get this provision removed from the law!
No Money for Children's Health Insurance but Plenty to Fortify U.S. Embassy in Iraq: It's simply a matter of priorities, we suppose, as we discuss Glenn Kessner's "Iraq Embassy Cost Rises $144 Million Amid Project Delays, published Sunday in the Washington Post. According to Kessner, 2,000 non-Iraqi construction employees are needed to remain in place until March, 2008, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker has banished James Golden, the top Washington- based official charged with overseeing the project, from entering Iraq, and embassy officials' blaming a Middle Eastern General Contractor is contradicted by another arm of the State Department, all leading the Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to schedule hearings later this month. Surprise, surprise. Can the government do anything right these days?
Yearning for the Good Old Days: We are fascinated with Bob Cesca's "America Used to be Really
&*!@%*&* Awesome", published September 29 in Huffington Post. In a comparison of our country and the sacrifices made during War World II and today, Cesca points to Ken Burns' "The War", a film shown on PBS (check out your local stations for viewing times and dates). Claiming that a comparison of the Bush wars to WWII is a desperate notion, Cesca's piece is detailed and rational, while predicting how the Ken Burns of the future will portray the Bush wars. A must-listen segment.
Telling Lies Often Enough Makes Them Truth?: We continue to be amazed by the President's assertions, the latest of which include the notion that expanding funding for health insurance for the children of the working poor is tantamount to socialized medicine, and this country does not torture captives. It would be high comedy except that human lives, both children and adults, citizens and non-citizens, are being lost as we speak.
The Irony (and Dangers) of Double Speak: We found two interesting examples: Ellen Nakashima's "Democrats to Offer New Surveillance Rules", published in Sunday's Washington Post, explains the House Democrats' planned introduction of a bill this week which will let a secret court issue one-year "umbrella" warrants to allow the government to intercept emails and phone calls of foreign targets and exclude the need for individual approval of surveillance of each person. But wait! A court order is required if the governent is seeking the communications of a person inside the U.S. BUT ONLY IF THAT PERSON IS THE TARGET. So those inside the U.S. who are not targets do not get the protection of a court order? Then there's Matt Richtel's "Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Game at Church", published Sunday in the N.Y. Times. Yes, you read it correctly--Halo 3, rated M requiring a minimum purchase age of 17 and its two predecessors, are being used for "Halo nights" so teens can gather,at churches, engage in the thrill of the kill, then hear the gospel of peace. After all, as one youth pastor put it, "Teens are our 'fish'...So we've become creative in baiting our hooks". Simply breath-taking.
We'll be back Thursday, October 11. E-mail comments, suggestions, jokes, and share our podcast with your friends. We appreciate your support!
