No, I really DON'T care about the Peterson trial!
The inane 'news team' last night on the news closed a segment- as they've done for months- with "We'll be right back, and we'll have that update for you on the Peterson trial." Can I just observe that I do not now and never have cared about the outcome of the Peterson trial? The murder is a tragedy- for the family, victims, community, perpetrator....but I can't call this news. And the fact that there are people out there waiting to hear the latest with bated breath makes my stomach hurt.
So this explains part of the reason that I don't watch television- haven't watched television- for years! Oh, I watch the occasional soccer game on tv. And, if we're in bed and not quite ready to sleep but too wound up to read, we turn on what is presented as "the news". And occasionally we'll tune into a tv show at bedtime. But mark my calendar for the Friends' final episode? Never.
So the good thing is that I really was not exposed to very much of the advertising vitriol in the political campaign. What little I heard affirmed that I shouldn't start watching tv again...
OK. The battle of Fallujah. I'm willing to bet that the fighters in Fallujah and the strategists behind them will not put all their resources on the line in a slugfest with our armor and infantry. I suspect there will be serious resistance, but only to try to cause casualties and to force us to destroy as much of the city as possible. The bulk of the insurgent forces are probably already repositioned. These guys have had more than enough opportunity to study other guerilla struggles. They are not idiots....or at least not all of them are. So we smack our way in, declare that we won and Fallujah is now liberated, and the 240,000 citizens who fled come back and find their city in smithereens. I have trouble understanding how that will serve our stated long term goals.
Why not just starve the fighters out and leave the city primarily intact? We keep talking about having cut off access to the city. Perhaps that would take too long? Or perhaps it isn't really judged possible to seal the city. Or perhaps it's because there are still civilians there. Don't know, but I am worried about this military action, not for the reasons like 'house to house combat' everyone's talking about but because we will win the battle but may lose in the larger arena.
The honest truth is that I have very little control over the issue. And I will probably not see very much coverage of it because the 'news' is busy giving me the details on the Peterson trial! Ack! I can hardly stand it.
So this explains part of the reason that I don't watch television- haven't watched television- for years! Oh, I watch the occasional soccer game on tv. And, if we're in bed and not quite ready to sleep but too wound up to read, we turn on what is presented as "the news". And occasionally we'll tune into a tv show at bedtime. But mark my calendar for the Friends' final episode? Never.
So the good thing is that I really was not exposed to very much of the advertising vitriol in the political campaign. What little I heard affirmed that I shouldn't start watching tv again...
OK. The battle of Fallujah. I'm willing to bet that the fighters in Fallujah and the strategists behind them will not put all their resources on the line in a slugfest with our armor and infantry. I suspect there will be serious resistance, but only to try to cause casualties and to force us to destroy as much of the city as possible. The bulk of the insurgent forces are probably already repositioned. These guys have had more than enough opportunity to study other guerilla struggles. They are not idiots....or at least not all of them are. So we smack our way in, declare that we won and Fallujah is now liberated, and the 240,000 citizens who fled come back and find their city in smithereens. I have trouble understanding how that will serve our stated long term goals.
Why not just starve the fighters out and leave the city primarily intact? We keep talking about having cut off access to the city. Perhaps that would take too long? Or perhaps it isn't really judged possible to seal the city. Or perhaps it's because there are still civilians there. Don't know, but I am worried about this military action, not for the reasons like 'house to house combat' everyone's talking about but because we will win the battle but may lose in the larger arena.
The honest truth is that I have very little control over the issue. And I will probably not see very much coverage of it because the 'news' is busy giving me the details on the Peterson trial! Ack! I can hardly stand it.
Comments