Russia

Chris, I don't know enough about the Russia/Georgia situation to comment. I do know, however, that so much of our media is now owned by large corporate interests (and this is easily researched any number of ways, including online through Fairness and Accuracy in Media and many other sources), that we are only glimpsing the tip of the iceberg when we watch or read the news. It's not like the "good old days" when every town had two independently owned newspapers with competing publishers and editors. When Gerald Ford, a Republican, came to office, he peeked into the activities of the CIA and was so shocked by their activities, such as their complicity in the assasination of Chile's democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, that he issued an executive order putting an end to such practices. After all, if we could do it, what was there to stop others from assasinating our president? That order has obviously been vacated so we could assist in the capture and execution of Saddam Hussein (and anyone else we dislike). Secret organizations, by their very nature, tend to cross the line into torture, murder and other mayhem because there is no one to shine the light of day on their activities. Someone said the first casualty of war is truth. It seems to have become the first casualty of all conflict -- political, religious, social and economic. Without truth, how can we continue to be the kind of people we like to think we are -- moral, strong, compassionate and free? No one can judge suicide. Obviously, there are times for some of us when when life is too hard to bear. That is all the explanation we need. Keep up the wonderful work.