Another Reason NOT to Read the News

I'm currently reading John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hitman. It's an interesting and fairly addictive tale of Mr. Perkins' role in screwing a bunch of underdeveloped countries in Latin America and the Middle East by inflating economic growth projections and saddling them with debt to American contractors (the kind of shit that made Dick Cheney rich and also made him the devil).

I dropped out of the world of Real Estate (long story), so this week I'm doing a little temp work-- it's been over seven years since I sat behind a desk with little to nothing to do, getting paid to... well, write this.

It's a great time to catch up on the news. When I'm busy, I cut to the chase and get my "news" from here, here and here (and a little "business" info here). Call me shallow if you must, but seriously. I'm angry enough at the state of the world without immersing myself in the serious truth everyday.

But I thought I'd come down off of my dreamy candy-colored cloud and catch up on the Jill Carroll story, the US Journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq. Apparently, Al-Jazeera has released a video,without sound, of her covered hair, neck and shoulders in a scarf, weeping for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.

I came across this in a little gem from MSNBC:

A senior State Department official told NBC News that “prisoner reviews are on-going; we do them every couple of days.” A senior Pentagon official said the U.S. holds “less than 5” Iraqi women now.

Don't you think they might see fit to do these "prisoner reviews", oh, I don't know... as they come in?!

And what's still topping the news? An apology to the Cheney family.