Back on the radar screen-issue updates

The 24-hour news cycle has a voracious appetite, and a very short attention span. I often wonder what has happened since I last explored a blogging subject. In doing my "Taking Stock-Two" self-examination post yesterday, I realized that I have issues that I regularly follow, and have followed for many years. So I checked back.

Here are some "little gems" I found that throw new light on several of my previous posts:

• Middle East Peace - Gaza celebrates pullout. This BBC article tells us that boats are gathering to mark the occasion of settlers leaving their settlements, in what will become the nation of Palestine. War is Hell, and this conflict has had the most awful and tenacious hold on both these good peoples. But men get old and tired of war. Maybe that is our hope. Original MidEast post date: 8/10
• Space - NASA's shuttle landed amidst skepticism about the future of the program. This letter to the editor reflects my feelings about that skepticism. It is hard to get a confirmed "Space nut" down, but my heart absolutely dropped when that foam came flying off the fuel tank during the assent of STS 114. Original NASA posts: 8/09, 8/07, 8/02, 7/26.
• Iraq War - Civilian casualty news from Iraq is still bad, as reported on this Chinese site. The war in Iraq began based on false information, on the hegemony of Neocons, and because of our misguided energy dependence on Middle eastern oil supplies. Iraq's citizens have had to pay a terrible price for our ambitions for them/for ourselves. Original posts on Iraq dates: 8/05, 7/30, 7/04, 7/03, 6/02, 5/04.
• United Nations Ambassador - John Bolton's first big United Nations event is the World Summit, set for September 14-15, 2005. Mr. Bolton did not gain the necessary support for Senate confirmation, and was appointed in an arbitrary move by our current president. It will be interesting to see the true agenda of this administration emerge. We will get the first clues from the new Ambassador's actions at the upcoming Summit. Original Bolton posts: 8/01, 6/25, 6/05.
• U.S. National Intelligence - Oversight of the United States national intelligence network is still very much needed. The current controversy centers around whether the DOD knew about the possibility of 9/11 ahead of time and did not share that with the rest of the government. Ex-CIA official Larry Anderson cautions us about getting too far ahead of ourselves with this story in his 8/11/05 TPM Cafe blog post. The former 9/11 commission is currently investigating the allegations. Original posts on intelligence: 7/29, 6/30, 6/06.