I agree that newsmen should stay out of news situations, except under one condition: Where human life is involved. If you're walking along the street and you see a guy jump off a bridge and you can swim, then you save him. You don't say, "Well, I'm going to sit here and write this story."

Syndicated talk show host Dennis Prager has noted often to the effect that conservatives think liberals are misguided, but liberals think conservatives are evil. Nancy Pelosi's recent comments illustrate this core belief:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is drawing heat for suggesting her political opponents are fond of the war in Iraq.

“The grassroots are justifiably disappointed and I am too that we could not do something to end this war,” Pelosi said at a press conference today. “The assumption that I made that the Republicans would soon see the light and listen to their constituents was not an accurate one.”

She continued: “They like this war. They want this war to continue. We thought that they shared the view of so many people in our country that we need a new direction in Iraq. To affect that we need redeployment of our troops with a goal of a year to do that. But the Republicans have made it very clear that this is just not George Bush’s war, this is the war of the Republicans in Congress.”

Asked to clarify her use of the word “like,” Pelosi backed off her statement of moments before.

“When I say ‘like,’ I shouldn’t say they ‘like’ the war. They support the war, the course of action that the president is on and they are not questioning in terms of his implementation of the war, the execution of the war.”

There's a good article in Slate today called "Should the government pay you to lose weight?" It puts a good argument for why health insurance and employers should give financial incentives to those who lose weight. It's problematic towards the end when the writer, Jake Halpern, proposes that the government take up this mantle:

One of the main obstacles to such efforts is that employers and insurers are often reluctant to make long-term investments in employees. The average tenure of an American employee is just four years. The disincentives this creates for companies raises the question of whether state or local governments should follow Mayor Buonanno's lead. Indeed, this is a mayor who may have a great deal to teach us. His other social initiatives include a plan to supply the good people of Varallo with Viagra. "Ensuring the wellbeing of one's fellow citizens also means making sure they have the possibility of a serene sex life," the mayor has declared. Ahh, to be Italian.

Paul Greenberg, of the excellent publication Patriot Post (which I just now discovered) let loose on Bill Clinton's assertion that he has been against the Iraq war the entire time:

“Of course Bill Clinton was against the war in Iraq from the beginning. It’s proven unpopular. It would be different if the war had gone better, as it has in Afghanistan. Bill Clinton’s still for that one. There’s a phrase for someone who’ll stick with you through thick and then and in-between: A man to tie to. Bill Clinton’s the opposite. Not only does he disappear when the going gets tough, he was never with you from the first—at least to hear him tell it. With him, history is one of the plastic arts. There is no surer guide to William Jefferson Clinton’s view of the past than what is popular in the present. All of his statements supporting the war in Iraq now have become, in a Nixonian word, inoperative. Down the memory hole they go, as if they’d never been uttered... Bill Clinton tends to bet for and against any political proposition that involves taking a risk, then recall only the position that proved popular. That way, he can’t lose. Principle has nothing to do with it... But never fear, should the long light of history reveal that in the end this long, long struggle in Iraq has bolstered freedom and stability in that always-volatile part of the world, rest assured, Bill Clinton will have been for it all along.”

It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime.

Michael Barone's latest column focusses on the influence of teachers' unions in the progression of American education. He lays out very simply why vouchers (which are designed specifically to give lower-income children the opportunity to go to private schools):

The teacher unions are an incredibly important source of money and volunteers for the Democratic Party -- about one in 10 delegates at recent Democratic national conventions have been teacher union members or their spouse. When they snap their fingers, the Democrats jump. Vouchers threaten to dry up dues money, and that is that.

I wrote a column about the tiny bruhaha that erupted over my post-Virginia Tech column, and it ran in the last issue of Madison Park Times:

Several bloggers laid fire to my post-Virginia Tech column, "We Must Stem the Flow of Guns," originally published in the May 2007 edition of the Madison Park Times.

A reader who runs a blog on townhall.com, wrote an entire short essay rebutting my piece, cleverly entitled "The Outdated Second Amendment." The reader was a rather eloquent essayist, and I must say he laid into me in a verbally adept way of which I am not used to being on the receiving end.

His major contention with me had to do with my claim that "no one was responsible enough to own a handgun." He was admittedly right to lay into this, as it could be interpreted as a blanket statement calling a large group of Americans irresponsible, a statement that could, in and of itself, be irresponsible.

The reader said, "If we extend that same rationale to the rest of the Bill of Rights, then neither is anyone responsible enough to have or voice an opinion on issues of national interest, decide their own religion for themselves, determine if they've been wronged by government and should seek redress, or anything else. All those aspects of liberty should be dictated, I suppose, by trained professionals. It would also indicate that Powell evidently considers the founding fathers misguided in their trust of the people."

Ouch.

When one is accused in American political debate of thinking the authors of the Constitution were misguided, it's meant to sting. If your beliefs are contrary to the ones held by those who founded the country, then the whole value of anything you say begins to come into question.


GETTING PERSONAL

While I got excited about the fact that my article was being taken so seriously by a reader, that feeling began to deteriorate. I was as diplomatic as someone like me can try to be, but soon it became quite apparent that things were getting personal.

I was disappointed to see personal e-mails that I had sent in response to his own being posted without my consent. For the reader, the subject seemed to have become less about the issue of gun rights and more about me.

I didn't even start to look at the comment thread to the reader's post, which I imagined would be filled with some very nasty words about me. The whole thing was a bit bizarre, because I'm just one guy living in Seattle writing on a keyboard, who never claimed to be the epitomy of modern-day conservatism.

While it seems like a couple of guys that might have gotten a little bit obsessive, at the core of this was the issue of debate: Are we going to debate the issues, or are we going to play Gotcha in hopes that we will win over another person? Are we going to solve problems or turn against each other?

I am certainly no beacon of perfection, but it seems there's already a lot of negativity and misery in the world, and we'd be a whole lot better to try to be a little civil to each other.

Michael Powell can be reached at mptimes@nwlink.com. He also has a web log at mopowell.blogspot.com.

Some things are too ridiculous to make up. This e-mail, which was apparently sent to me by Kofi Annan himself not once, not twice but three times this week, is one of those things:

Attention:

How are you today? Hope all is well with you and family?,You may not understand why this mail came to you. We have been having a meeting for the passed 7 months which ended 2 days ago with the then secretary to the UNITED NATIONS.

This email is to all the people that have been scammed in any part of the world, the UNITED NATIONS have agreed to compensate them with the sum of US$ 100,000.

This includes every foriegn contractors that may have not received their contract sum, and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government probelms etc.

We found your name in our list and that is why we are contacting you, this have been agreed upon and have been signed.

You are advised to contact Mr. Jim Ovia of ZENITH BANK NIGERIA PLC, as he is our representative in Nigeria, contact him immediately for your Cheque/ International Bank Draft of USD$ 100,000. This funds are in a Bank Draft for security purpose ok? so he will send it to you and you can clear it in any bank of your choice.

Therefore, you should send him your full Name and telephone number/your correct mailing address where you want him to send the Draft to you.

Conatct Mr. Jim Ovia immediately for your Cheque:

Person to Contact Mr. Jim Ovia Email:

jim_ovia_1000@yahoo.com

Thanks and God bless you and your family.

Hoping to hear from you as soon as you cash your Bank Draft.

Making the world a better place.

Regards,

Mr. Kofi Annan

Former Secretary (UNITED NATIONS)