Does Putin Really Know?

Reading Itar Tass this morning I find a quote from Russian President Vladimir Putin at a new conference. He said, "The attacks of international terrorists in Iraq are aimed against George Bush personally. International terrorists set the goal to inflict maximal damage to Bush, to prevent his election to the second term.”

After a month in Norway a few years ago, and enjoying Aftenposten advertisements in the rail stations, I read it fairly regularly. Today, the Norwegians are much more concerned about the King's bloodline than the American election.


If you are interested about midwifing a pig click on Life Of Onni in the Helsingin Sanomat. There you have a little movie complete with subtitles and ambient sound. The little boy asks, "What was he doing in there?"

Some Kurds have lived in Finland for 'many years' according to one of them. That and the fact that Nokia is important to Finnish economy is more important than our presidential election.

Of the few foreign newspapers I read, only The New Zealand Herald mentions that tomorrow is a "Black Anniversary for the Stock Market." Of course today is tomorrow there, so that makes sense. We had a son call home that day to see if anyone was jumping out of the upstairs window.

Closer to home, the folks at The Wichita Eagle seem calm in this Monday edition. I have an inlaw who is employed there. His responsibilities at The Eagle include leading editorial board meetings, writing and editing editorials, and editing opinion columns. He also writes a personal column and is a regular guest on "Kansas Week" on KPTS, Channel 8.

Finally, our own Omaha newspaper has the poorest online edition in the world in my estimation. I did a double take as I was getting ready for church Sunday, I was certain that NPR said they had come out for Kerry along with a list of other papers around the nation. Reading the paper, they didn't. I still wonder if I was half asleep or somebody at NPR was not quite awake. Maybe they really meant The Des Moines Register, which looks as credible online as it is on newsprint.

I once team taught Intro to Journalism with an up-and-comer who touted the wonders of that paper. Both liberal, both excellent at what they do. He has gone on to teach Journalism at Lawrence, KS at the University.

Those were the good old stressful days. I love newspapers.