In the News 1/31/05

Listened to Morning Edition, which was essentially the same as The Connection today.

Voting -- reports indicate that it turned out relatively well. It appears that the crackdown on driving worked well to keep casualties to a minimum. Of course, some places were extremely bad, and fewer people came out, especially in the Sunni areas. The best question was near the end, when they asked if things "felt different" today. The reporter said that they don't feel different now, but now that the step has been taken, the future will be better. Mostly the security situation must be stabalized, then people will feel different/better.

Earlier (like around 6, 6:30) there was a horrible interview between Steve Inskeep and a guy from the UN. He was trying to make it sound like the elections were SUPER!! JUST SUPER!! and when Steve asked him to be specific, he just kept falling back on platitutes. Finally Steve got annoyed and was just like, whatever, you jerk, I gotta go. I felt Steve was really looking out for us, the listener, and really stood up for us against this gladhandler from the UN. Way to go, NPR!

And what, you may be wondering, about Iraq's neighbors during all this crazyness? They are worried. Very worried. What if crazy fanatics start leaking out of Iraq? Just where do you think they will go? To us!! Gah! Also, the way the US has handled things in Iraq is making other countries feel quite unsure about democracy. The process is just too painful and disruptive. Reformists, according to the report, feel undermined by US policy. Huh. You don't say.

Continuing with the theme, democrats are trying to seem supportive of the election while at the same time wondering about mistakes in Iraq. They want a timetable. People are really beginning to demand to know about the end game here. NPR had two sides: one saying that their should not be so much emphasis on a timetable, the other arguing for one. Against: We should not rush things, or put an artificial timetable on things. For: Iraqis will know, with a timetable, what to expect, and hopefully this will end some of the worst attacks. In the end both sides came together for a timetable. It makes the most sense.

Serena Williams, for a change of pace here, won the Aussie Open. Good for her. She has come back from knee problems, not to mention personal ones. I don't remember who won the men's title.

The Connection was on the elections. Very interesting interviews with people over there who voted or did not vote. Callers were interesting, too.