On a more serious note...

Kristof’s Op-Ed piece today in the Times (here) again reminds us that the current administration, preoccupied as it is with Iraq, refuses to engage in negotiations with N. Korea. Kristof writes:

“Resolving this crisis is in the interests of virtually everybody on the planet, with two exceptions: President Bush and Mr. Kim. They may have nothing else in common, except that their fathers also ran their countries, but they do share an interest in delay.”

It’s as if we only ever have enough mental energy to worry about one issue at a time. But with each day, nuclear arsenals grow, the air quality goes down, the Sudan massacres continue, a child falls sick, a weapon takes a life, many many lives actually, and we continue to sit back passively, refusing to hold our current leaders accountable, as we skim the papers and debate Kerry’s upbringing or oratorical style. There’s something terribly wrong here.