Watchin the News…

With the cover of Time hitting the real news — the weight loss potential of Americans who restrict their diets in various ways not imposed by war or poverty — it is easy to forget the violence going on in Iraq.
We had to be reminded of it continually to keep us afraid so we would vote to continue George W. Bush in office in November. Now we need to be directed to other urgent and more local matters so we do not regret our decision and question the continuing and escalating war in Iraq. Apparently the appointment of Bully Bolton to the U.N. is not enough motivation to pump up the fear factor on his behalf, so the distraction policy is still working.
After all, there are real concerns to distract us. These include things like Social Security reform and the price of oil. And have you heard any figures lately on creation of jobs other than jobs at Wal-Mart? On the really local front, has your job gone offshore or been outsourced? Have you been given extra work with no extra pay? Has your job been down-graded to a lower income or grade of benefits? Have you delayed your retirement because you see that you can’t afford your medical insurance if you don’t keep working? Or have you taken an extra job to make ends meet? Do you see the economic slow-down around you that I see around me?
Meanwhile, back at the war, in Suicide Attacks Rising Rapidly, a story today by Carol J. Williams, Staff Writer at the L.A. Times, we read: “Suicide bombings have surged to become the Iraqi insurgency’s weapon of choice, with a staggering 90 attacks accounting for most of last month’s 750 deaths at the militants’ hands.” I scanned back over that to make sure that I read “last month’s 750 deaths,” and sure enough, there it was. The story also points out “Increasingly, the bombers are Iraqis instead of foreign infiltrators. Civilians and police, not GIs, are the prime targets.” I read on to discover that American installations and activities in Iraq are better protected now, so it is ineffective to attack us. Instead, attacks are directed at the government and police we are supporting. The Iraq war is a civil war in which we supply one side and refuse to consider who supports the other side. How is this helping us or the Iraqi people?
The Republican administration and its affiliates are grabbing all the economic and political loot they can get in the time they have left, and the mop-up of the mess they leave, here and abroad, is going to be the business of a whole generation of Americans.