What Do We Do In Afghanistan Now?

It is getting more and more difficult to find news to comment on with the all Obama all the time syndrome that the media seems determined to perpetuate. When I do, however, it's likely to be a doozie!

Such is the case today when I found that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, running for re-election, has chosen a warlord to be the senior of his two running mates.

Do you see a pattern here? When Lebanon had free elections they chose Hezbollah. The Palestinians chose Hamas. After a few tries we settled with Iraq's choice of al-Maliki. Do you get the idea that maybe the people of those countries, such as they are, don't give a care as to who we think they should elect?

According to The National Post there are a lot of very upset people over this choice. One could hope Karzai's theory is to "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" but I fear it's more an indicator of who really runs Afghanistan.

I decided to see what I could find about Mohammed Qasim Fahim and came across a website tiltled Warlords of Afghanistan . It was not a comfortable read.

As a general reference it tells us of an Afghan saying, "What you do to your enemies today, you will do to your friends tomorrow." That's not a pleasant insight to their character!

It goes on to tell us Fahim is an "awkward looking and personally unlikeable man with a temper problem. At present he is a threat to the U.S. plan for Afghanistan."

Karzai is weak and holds sway over little more than Kabul yet often scolds us for the manner in which we are helping him in his fight against the Taliban. Though Fahim was Karzai's defense minister, there is little trust between the men. That the U.S. backed Karzai over Fahim for the presidency in 2002 doesn't help.

This is one of those "I don't envy Hillary" moments I have quite often. It's also a "does Obama have clue what he's doing here" moment!

We know Karzai wants to be re-elected. If he is, what plans might Fahim have for him? These two are strange, but expedient, bedfellows. The larger problem is that we're in bed with them. This is truly the stuff of nightmares!

Have You Hugged Your Hog Today?

Just yesterday I was complaining about the lack of hard news in newspapers. Today, I have to bring you proof positive of what should be the biggest non-story of the week and it's only Sunday!

First, I had to laugh at the picture I found when looking for a huggable "swine". What better than one hugging a little Chinese girl. Think Hong Kong, where the current Director General of the WHO, served as a civil servant. Think Hong Kong where masked police (I love the irony) were holding guests captive in their hotels because one guest had flu symptoms.

Now we're being told the pandemic is easing, people are on the mend. Take an aspirin, drink plenty of water and rest. Go ahead and have pork chops for dinner tonight.

Wait! Are Canadian pork chops safe? Hmmm. According to an AP story in today's Spokesman Review pigs on a Canadian farm may have been infected by.......a farmer!

The poor pigs can't win! The farmhand had been vacationing in Mexico and obviously came back with the bug. He's recovering nicely, no doubt after having taken his aspirin, water and rest. If no one panics the pigs should too recover. According to Slate, pig mortality rates from the flu are far lower than human.

I got to thinking we should treat our snouted friends with a bit more respect. After all, many tests are done on pigs before humans because of similarities between the species. How many of us have heart valves from pigs pulsing away in our chests? At times I am ashamed that I so love bacon and ham!

This is the time to put the media to the test. Slate tells us pigs get the flu much like we humans do - from sneezes and coughs from other pigs. They get a fever, cough, their eyes and noses run; they sneeze. They just plain don't feel good and are put in isolation where they'll recover in about a week with proper rest and hydration. Sound familiar? We could pop them an aspirin to speed up recovery but we really need to keep the farmhands out of the pen!

We are told the WHO insists there is no evidence pigs are passing the virus to humans or that eating pork products puts anyone at risk so basically this should be a non-story. That it made the paper, however, makes it a story. It will be interesting to see if it remains an AP filler story on page 5 or if it becomes headline news!

The Great Crash Of 2009!

I hadn't finished my first cup of coffee this morning. I had finished both the morning papers. There just wasn't enough in them to keep me busy. I don't read the want ads which are skimpy at best. I avoid the obituaries like the plague and the stories pulled from the wire services are at least a day old if not more.

The only regional newspaper has completely eliminated the northern Idaho edition and stories in the local daily are mostly that - local. Unfortunately, things that would be of interest like city council meetings or commissioners' meetings are rarely covered. We get more coverage of Chamber of Commerce ribbon cuttings and photos of social events than hard news.

Newspapers have become an endangered species. Advertising revenues are way down. The cycle has become self perpetuating. Okay. Enjoying the papers with my morning coffee may now be a generational phenomenon. Who else has the time to spend an hour or so reading a paper from cover to cover other than retirees?

So what do you do? Turn to TV news? Living in a small market, viewers are at a disadvantage to begin with. We tend to get inexperienced young reporters who's names we've barely learned before they, if they're any good at all, move on to larger markets. We get those left behind and their lack of reporting skills leave us more often in the dark than not. I can't help but question their financial woes when we're told a news crew is being dispatched to the scene of an accident hours after it has happened. On the next newscast we get to watch a reporter standing on an empty stretch of highway explaining to us what had happened hours before. Go figure.

Now advertising revenue is down for the broadcast media. Is it any wonder? Just this last week there was a story in the Inlander regarding substantial layoffs at the local CBS affiliate. They've cut mostly behind the scenes personnel, including producers. You know, the very people who make the newscasts work!

Even the network news has become little more than a recap of the day's headlines. As for cable, you'd have to watch a full slate of both FOX and MSNBC to get both sides of what's happening then figure out where the middle is and you may have an approximate idea of reality.

That leaves the computer. The papers have their blogs and on line editions, the TV stations have their blogs and on line editions and the Internet has it all.

Who has time to sort through all of it? I do but I won't. There are too many other things to do! Too many bloggers already spend too much time at work on line; I've never understood that!

I'm lucky. I have a Mac. Mac's rarely crash. Hub runs Windows and has spent the last three days sorting out a problem. During that time he had to read his headlines and papers on my computer. If it should crash - or the whole Internet should go down as it does more often than is convenient with our local Time Warner, how does one stay informed?

It has become a downward spiral that reminds me of a tornado. At the very bottom there is nothing left except the devastation. The remnants will be an uninformed populace.

Who will know? How will they find out?

I'm already devastated and it's only because I have too much coffee to drink with my papers. I can make a smaller pot. I'll really be devastated when there is no reason to brew a pot at all!

How's Old Fuzzy Face?

You may have noticed the lack of an update last week. I have gotten to the point where these weekly reports on his condition have become too difficult. He's still doing relatively well; he's eating, he's getting his meds and he still climbs onto my lap in the evenings to watch television. We don't walk so much any more.

He's slowing down. Heart problems aside, he's an old man and doesn't always feel like romping. So he sleeps. For those of you have been so kind and care about him, I'll keep you posted as to how he's doing. Whether or not there will be any more videos remains to be seen and the updates will no longer come every week. When things are going bad for him, I'm worse. Trying to mask anxiety is becoming too difficult.

Next week we go to WSU to have his monitor read once again and see if his meds need to be adjusted. Other than that we just serenely drift through our daily routine. A neighbor visited last Sunday and he nearly had another episode. We calmed him down but it took him time to recover. It took me longer. Therein lies the problem. The roller coaster ride is not one I handle well.

So Friday I'm off to a hand surgeon to see about getting a cyst removed from a finger on my "mouse" hand. It has had a spurt of growth and snags on everything. Yuck! I have to start taking better of myself to better care for the men in my life. For all they've both given me, it's the least I can do!

In lieu of my usual video of a raptor from WSU I've been alerted to this one. An eagle's nest in BC with live video. One egg has hatched, by the time you watch maybe both. It's heartwarming and beautiful. Bookmark it or whatever if you like this sort of thing and come back often.

A Man True To Himself...But Who Else?

The Democrats are riding high. Maybe too high. If they take a fall you'll hear the thump throughout the world.

Obama has received high marks for his first 100 days. Even I will give him between a C and a C+. Al Franken will take the open Minnesota Senate seat in short order and Arlen Specter has switched parties. The Democrats will have the crucial filibuster proof 60 seats. The Republicans continue to bluster and fumble. The country will be at the mercy of the Democratic agenda. What I'm unsure of is if it's Obama's agenda or the Emanuel/Pelosi/Reid agenda. That does worry me for there are differences.

The euphoria may be short lived. Until the Republicans get their act together it matters little they still have centrist/mavericks among their numbers: Susan Collins and Olympia Snow of Maine, George Voinovich, Ohio and of course maverick in chief John McCain. I do give them credit for party loyalty. There will never be change if every one defects.

On the Democratic side, however, you have the Blue Dogs, Joe Lieberman and now Arlen Specter. None of their votes can be guaranteed.

Switching parties is nothing new. In some respects I admire Specter's candor in stating that he knows he'd have a tough Republican primary challenge from Representative Pat Toomey. Spector beat Toomey in 2004 by a mere 2%.

One would have to consider his age. Seventy eight to Toomey's forty seven. And his health - two bouts with Hodgkins disease in 2005 and again in 2008. Running again in another year may be moot.

What bothers me most about Mr. Specter's move is one statement he made, "I am not prepared to have my 29 years record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary."

That is about as self-serving a statement as can be made. It will be interesting to see how the people of Pennsylvania feel.