ongratulations to the Christian Science Monitor, one of the newspapers that's been on time and in-the-mail each day at the Jackson house for over 35 years. They are now into their third week of change to a once-a-week review of global views and ideas. The format works and offers the same credibility it has offered readers in their daily editions.
I don't always agree with them, but always respect their thoughtfulness, which always attempts to live up to their founder's credo: "The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind".
John Yemma is the editor of the Christian Science Monitor and he points out that perhaps less than a year ago most of us were truly bugged by $4-a-gallon gasoline. Carpooling was back and trains too. Some claimed that the pizza delivery boy would be riding a bike. Like John's thinking I don't believe that the Great Recession is likely to change society and culture in deep ways. The prediction that many have made ,that Americans will permanently embrace a return to thrift and self reliance, is unlikely to happen. During the panic of 1873 the big theme was "return to basics". However, what came next was a return to exuberance; the Gilded Age was what followed.

ho are the Taliban? The Afghan insurgents. The most established of the Taliban, lead by Mullah Omar and several others who held high positions in the Afghan army during the 1990s., are strongest in Kandahar and Helmond provinces in the south. Many criminals and warlords call themselves Taliban to boost their standing. Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan are home to various groups that call themselves the Taliban. They emerged after 9/11 when Pakistan allied itself with the United States and started launching raids into the tribal areas. In late 2007 as many as 27 groups merged to form the umbrella Taliban movement.
Pakistan's strategy of trying to appease Taliban militants is certainly not serving Pakistan well. Extremists have moved to within 60 miles of Islamabad, the capital and are threatening to go further as an embolden group. It is beginning to appear as if the whole country is under threat, Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal, need one say more about what could happen in Pakistan and elsewhere.
Sec. of State, Hilary Clinton, has made this country's concerns extremely clear.

here is so much I would like to hear from the former President and Vice President, which almost certainly will not end up in any book written, or ghost-written, by either President Bush or Veep Dick Cheney, starting with an explanation of the legal reasoning, planning and organization behind the Bush program of "extraordinary rendition". That was where people were abducted and sent to countries where it was quite obvious that they were in danger of being tortured or likely to be tortured.
We also need to know the legal reasoning behind the decision to authorize illegal tapping of Americans' e-mail accounts and telephones.
Who decided that waterboarding was important and, as Dick Cheney claimed, it saved "thousands of lives".
My questions would include, "Did violating the law against torture and abuse, shredding international treaties, and destroying America's global standing achieve anything significant or worthwhile.
An investigation is needed.