The League of Nations
This afternoon, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan equated the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib facility with the beheading of civilian hostages. There is no moral equivalence between these two vastly disparate types of acts. Of course, one should not be surprised that Annan cannot differentiate apples from oranges. At the same time that the UN Security Council is contemplating action against Sudan for supporting genocide in Darfur, the Sudan is a member of the Human Rights Commission. The UN sees no contradiction between perpetrating genocide and sitting as a member of the body that declares when genocide has occured? How can the Secretary-General not see the ridiculousness inherent in this situation? Sudan both SITS ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION and IS ACTIVELY COMMITTING GENOCIDE. The "moral authority" of the United Nations in action, folks.

I remain deeply, deeply disappointed in President Bush and his entire administration that they have not called for Secretary-General Annan's resignation. At the same time Annan allows Sudan to pass judgment on human rights abuses, he feels it necessary to slander the United States. If the world's sole superpower and the UN's principle funder is a criminal nation, how can the United Nations continue to work with American officials and accept America's money? I'm upset that no one seems to care that we've been called criminals, and I'm upset that a president in whom I have so much faith feels it unnecessary to respond to such scurrilous accusations.

Vote For Kodos
The best news organization in America is C-SPAN. Fox News obviously has a conservative bias, but that does not mean it does not provide much useful factual information. Dan Rather obviously has a liberal bias, but that does not mean CBS News does not provide much useful factual information. But with C-SPAN, there is no bias. I mean, how can a camera be biased (unless you're fat)? C-SPAN provides the best news imaginable, because all it provides is news. No commentary, just the actual video of what happened. Man, C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2 are fantastic. Why is this post an installment of "Vote For Kodos"? Because in this acrimonious election season, the news is even more important than usual.

My next Newsletter column is all about the state of modern journalism, and I do not intend to be kind. C-SPAN, though, shall be spared my rhetorical wrath.

Go Honolulu Blue!
The Detroit Lions are 2-0. In the entire 2001 season, the Lions only won two games, and now they have done it in just two weeks! This is fantastic! Too fantastic, in fact, to last. It is only a matter of time before the Lions lose a game; after all, they aren't the 1972 Dolphins. But after the suffering of the last three years (2-14, 3-13, 5-11), I think we have all earned a few moments of celebratory smugness. Woo hoo, the Lions kick ass! "In your face, space coyote!"