More Kazakhstan

About five days later than promised. So after the US praised Nazarbayev for his moves to "strengthen democracy in Kazakhstan," which included making himself President for life, he issues a warrant for his son-in-law's arrest. Who happens to be a political rival. I'm happy that this story is getting covered in outlets as large as Time, but distressed at the number of headlines that reference Borat. Way to go, world. Don't take this seriously.

Why do we latch onto news items and add them to our policy agenda once it's too late? Darfur is completely out of control, largely because the West allowed a civil war to be fought in Sudan for the last 30 years. I was not even alive when things started to go down in 1976. And this is not an assualt on a political party or any specific politician. it might just be time to step up and realize that some countries in the world need our help. Pronto. Somalia is a good example. Times good in Somalia right now? No, they are indeed not.

We're very proud of our nation. Yet we refuse to use it for good. We have a large group of people trying to remove another group that is quickly becoming the backbone of our economy. We're convinced that no military evil could ever happen on our soil, yet we spend billions on homeland security. This list could go on and on. Are we teetering on the edge of something really bad here?