The news: waiting with baited breath for the next

BIG HEADLINES. . .

THEY BLARE AT US, OR WE WAIT FOR THE NEXT ATTENTION GRABBER

For many of us these are the times when we get information overload. So many big and astonishing things are happening that the pace of change maked adjustment difficult. And finding out what will happen next keeps many in a state of hypervigilance. Though most of us do not have to DO anything about the news events, we still wait anxiously to find out the next BIG THING that happens.

• "Iraq death toll now 1,999,"-Reuters- the 2000th death of an American soldier will trigger huge antiwar protests in Washington, D.C. During the antiwar protests in the 1960's I was in my late twenties. I stood at the ironing board and watched my black and white TV and wished I could be there to help. But I had been born one generation too soon and lived too far away.
• MSNBC reports: We have been waiting for the official tally of the constitutional referendum in Iraq. It is just in. It has been approved, with a 78% "yes" and a 21% "no, vote tally. Only two of the predominantly Sunni provinces turned it down. This Reuters story explains. I think Senator Carl Levin, Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has the best idea yet about what to do in Iraq. He recently spoke in more detail about his plan to a foreign policy group in Washington. The Iraqi leaders must move more decisively towards national unity, the senator believes. Saying that we should not make an indefinte commitment to remain in the country, but rather, use our military presence there as leverage. His idea seems like a very rational plan that could move those leaders towards making the compromises that will build a nation. Unless we put more pressure to bear, Senator Levin fears that Irq could "blakanize" into three factionalized regions.
• Hurricane Wilma made headlines yesterday, roaring across the Florida peninsula like a freight train. I found it ironic that even Governor Jeb Bush, the top "hurricane man," could not convince many Key West residents to evacuate.
• Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Lawyers Report - New York Times is today's headline about the Valerie Plame case. We wait for the INDICTMENTS HANDED DOWN headline sometime this week. To me, this is the biggest story in several weeks. I have little sympathy for the plight of the White House. For these same people to think they know what is right for the world, to condone torture, or to market democracy at the point of a gun is an amazingly arrogant disconnect. In a sidebar to the CIA-Plame story, this is the NYT headline referring to an astounding story that the White House is insisting that the CIA be exempted from prisoner abuse. A separate headline in the WaPo reads,"Cheney Plan Exempts CIA From Bill Barring Abuse of Detainees." I quote the first graph:

  "The Bush administration has proposed exempting employees of the Central Intelligence Agency from a legislative measure endorsed earlier this month by 90 members of the Senate that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoners in U.S. custody."

• We have been waiting to find out who Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's successor is going to be. Yesterday's USNews.com headline announced that he will be "A new, but familiar face," Ben Bernanke. I was pleased to hear that this appointment has been roundly heralded. The country certainly could use anything right now that has a potentially stabilizing effect.
• Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks dies at the age of 92. In the 1960's I also stood at my ironing board and watched with satisfaction as the civil rights movement emerged. All those brave and peaceful people marched across the television screen, and now another one of them is gone. At least she got to live a wonderfully long life, rather than die far too young, as did Dr. Martin Luther King.