Monday Newsbreak: 4/21

--Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met this past Friday with exiled leaders of Hamas in Syria. Hamas, which was democratically elected into power in Palestine, now controls and governs the densely populated Gaza Strip, which is separated from the Palestine-Authority-controlled West Bank by Israeli territory. I’ve heard and read a lot of criticism against Carter for talking with Hamas, which is widely called a terrorist organization. But it makes no sense for President Bush to pretend that he is seeking a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians while refusing to acknowledge the presence and importance of Hamas in the region. I’m really getting tired of this asinine notion that we can get our adversaries to buckle under and give up by shunning them! Carter is helping us, not hurting us.

--CNN commentator Jack Cafferty is undergoing a lot of criticism from some folks who identify themselves with the Chinese-American community because he called China’s leaders “goons and thugs” and its exports to us “junk”. Those calling for Cafferty’s firing claim that his speech was racist against the Chinese. But although I think Cafferty’s comments were crass and undiplomatic, they were aimed at that country’s political leaders. And his “junk” comment was based on recent scandals about lead in toys and poison in pet foods that were imported from China. What, I ask, does “race” or being a Chinese-American have to do with that? But Cafferty is just one of a increasingly long list of untalented shock-announcers who spew out insults instead of framing and analyzing issues and problems in a constructive and inclusive manner. Aren’t you getting tired of this trend in broadcasting as well as knee-jerk unfounded accusations of racism?

--Pope Benedict XVI continued his successful visit to America, being well-received everywhere he has traveled. May his days be plenty and successful!

--A ridiculous (to me) development project in the heart of an already-overcrowded section of Gainesville has been stalled for more than a year due to a court battle over whether the developers can actually receive certain tax breaks offered by the city to encourage development. Instead of several small businesses that were serving to the surrounding university community, we have, after all the buildings were torn down, a vast fenced-in area of nothingness! But I guess that’s better than what will be when they put up eight-story condominiums after the legal disputes end.

--After the “successful” surge against insurgents in Iraq, the abject failure of the Iraqi government to follow through with reconciliation of that country’s opposing factions is now leading to the inevitable disastrous situation that is now starting to unfold between Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the government over al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. And in the north of Iraq, there are signs of Sunni insurgents regrouping as well. So there goes our window of opportunity!

--Tomorrow’s Pennsylvania Democratic primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could help to encourage superdelegates to make their choices public, especially if Obama wins or even just finishes close to Clinton. I may be wrong about this (but I strongly doubt it), but even if Hillary Clinton wins Pennsylvania convincingly, she still wouldn’t have the numbers to wrest the nomination from Obama. So the big question is, after Pennsylvania is over, how is she going to conduct her campaign (if she continues it, as she probably will)? By attacking Obama with increasing desperation and viciousness, or by shifting the targets of her criticism to the November opponents, the Republicans under their soon-to-be nominee John McCain?