In the news today...

It's kinda bad, I know, that I have to start out with news dealing with Mel Gibson but oh well. That link is worth the read.

Not a surprise, but more and more GOP-held congressional districts are becoming vulnerable. The best guess is that it is due to the political climate due to troops in Iraq and everything.

Daniel Pearl's parents, Judea and Ruth Pearl, penned an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. They ask what UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is doing for the kidnapped Israel soldiers.

As the parents of Daniel Pearl, The Wall Street Journal's reporter who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in Pakistan in 2002, we share the anguish of the families of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers, and their frustration with the international community for failing to secure the release of their loved ones. For more than six weeks now, these soldiers and their families live each day tortured by unimaginable fears and shattered hopes, praying desperately for the nightmare to end; we relive this nightmare each time an innocent person falls victim to the inhumanity of terrorist abduction.

Whatever success the U.N. Security Council would presume to claim, it cannot be said that Resolution 1701 has effectively addressed the direct cause of the fighting--the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26, by Hezbollah, and the earlier abduction of Gilad Shalit, 19, by Hamas. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for the unconditional release of these soldiers has been ignored. Moreover, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, the terrorists have not only seized the soldiers as hostages for political blackmail, they have not allowed the Red Cross to visit them. Their families do not know their physical condition; they have no proof they are even alive.

Senator Evan Bayh continues to outreach to the labor unions in Iowa.

In Red Sox news, Jason Varitek returned to the lineup after sitting out over a month with an injury. Manny Ramirez returned after having a few days off as well.

September 3
Toronto 6, Boston 1
Losing pitcher - Josh Beckett (14-10)

September 4
Chi. White Sox 2, Boston 3
Losing pitcher - Mike Timlin (6-4)
HR: Carlos Pena (1)

Yes, Ron Lewis has a competitive challenger this year. His name is Col. Mike Weaver.

There is a lot of political frustration in the Ohio River Valley.

Louisville native Rob Riggle has joined the cast of The Daily Show. Riggle was formerly a cast member of SNL and left after a season. Riggle recieved his comedy training with the United Citizens Brigade.

Well, Ernie Fletcher could have had a Guiliani moment but he missed it.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher had an opportunity to help smooth the jagged emotional edges after the crash of Comair Flight 5191.

A former Air Force pilot, Fletcher had a chance to be an instructor to Kentuckians, calmly walking us through what a pilot sees and hears when going down a runway.

And, as a doctor and lay minister, Fletcher was uniquely suited to lead Central Kentucky through the grieving process for the 49 people killed in the accident.

Instead, Fletcher might have missed his Rudy Giuliani moment.

Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, emerged as a calming force and tireless comforter in the hours and days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

But last week, some family members of the victims of Flight 5191 expressed frustration at Fletcher, mostly for announcing at a press conference Wednesday that the bodies of all 49 of their loved ones had been identified by medical examiners and could be released.

Up to that point, the family members had heard all the information about the victims and the crash investigation in private briefings, before the public was told.

In addition to being public, that announcement proved to be premature. The victims' bodies weren't released until the next day, after dental records confirmed identifications of the last three.

"I am not very happy with our governor right now," said Kathy Ryan, wife of Michael Ryan, one of the passengers. "A governor has no place in announcing anything as sensitive as that. It's just not his place."

Kentucky could still play their way into a bowl game.

The ADL has sent a letter to MoveOn after finding anti-Semitic comments on their website by users on the message boards.

Kofi Annan makes a good move here.

“I think the tragedy of the Holocaust is a sad and an undeniable historical fact, so we should really handle that, accept that fact and teach children what happened in World War II and ensure that it is never repeated,” the U.N. secretary-general said Sunday during a visit to Tehran. “We should be careful not to say anything that is used as an excuse for incitement to hatred or violence.”

Annan stirred up Jewish ire abroad by meeting with Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called the Holocaust a myth and urged for Israel to be eliminated.

While in Tehran, Annan also dismissed as “distasteful” an Iranian-sponsored exhibition of cartoons denying the Holocaust and denigrating its victims.

He oughta tell Mel Gibson the same thing while he's at it.

I think that covers the past few days in the news.