The Rant

thanks to Joe Clasen for pointing this item out ______________________________________________ 2004: The Good News Thursday, December 30, 2004 By Radley Balko http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,142872,00.html Every year as we approach the end of December, major media outlets compile lists of the year’s top stories. Television news stations compile poignant montages of the past 12 months. Inevitably, these images are tragic—images of war, crime and natural disaster set to pensive music, only occasionally interrupted by shots of the team that won the Super Bowl, the World Series, or every four years, pictures from the Olympics. That’s to be expected, of course. No news, as they say, is good news. Good news also tends to happen gradually, which makes it less conspicuous. Bad news happens in clumps. It makes itself known. In just a few hours, a hurricane or an earthquake can wipe out thousands of homes and businesses. The prosperity, wealth and rise in standard

posted by Bob Clasen _______________________ BY COLLIN LEVEY -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- December 30, 2004 -- WITH Southeast Asia battling one of the worst natural disasters in modern history, Western politicians took the opportunity to create a perfect storm of petty recriminations. As the world scrambled to send money to help, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland huffed that rich nations are "stingy" with foreign aid. Trying to talk his way out of the ensuing flap, he explained Tuesday that he didn't mean stingy so much now in the current relief effort but more, well, stingy all the time: Our governments don't give enough cash to the Third World. What he doesn't get (natch, he's a U.N. bureaucrat) is this: The countries that prosper are those that want investment, not giveaways. When this crisis passes, that will be more obvious than ever. In the wake of the tsunami, the Unite

From the New Times ASHINGTON, Dec. 25 - The Bush administration is talking to Iraqi leaders about guaranteeing Sunni Arabs a certain number of ministries or high-level jobs in the future Iraqi government if, as is widely predicted, Sunni candidates fail to do well in Iraq's elections. An even more radical step, one that a Western diplomat said was raised already with an aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, is the possibility of adding some of the top vote-getters among the Sunni candidates to the 275-member legislature, even if they lose to non-Sunni candidates. The diplomat said even some Shiite politicians who were followers of Ayatollah Sistani were concerned that a Pyrrhic victory by Shiites, effectively shutting Sunni Arabs out of power, could alienate Sunnis and lead to more internal strife. Shiites make up about 60 percent of Iraqis and were generally denied power under Saddam Hussein.

posted by Bob Clasen ___________________________ No Thanks for the Memories Dispatches from a year that was lower than a snake By Dave Barry Sunday, December 26, 2004; Page W14 LOOKING BACK ON 2004, we have to conclude that it could have been worse. "How??" you ask, spitting out your coffee. Well, okay, a giant asteroid could have smashed into the Earth and destroyed all human life except Paris Hilton and William Hung. Or Florida could have been hit by 20 hurricanes, instead of just 17. Or the Yankees could have won the World Series. But, no question, 2004 was bad. Consider: -- We somehow managed to hold a presidential election campaign that for several months was devoted almost entirely to the burning issue of: Vietnam. -- Our Iraq policy, which was discussed, debated and agreed upon right up to the very highest levels of the White House, did not always seem to be wildly popular over there in Iraq. -- Osama bin Laden remained