Information Station...and Comments....

Information and random thoughts:

• Here's a record achievement that no nation should want. Today marks the day that America tied, with the conflict in Afghanistan, the amount of time that the Soviet Union gave to its unsuccessful war in Afghanistan: Nine years and 50 days. The Soviet Union left Afghanistan in 1989. On the PBS News Hour, 10 more faces of young American soldiers who were killed in the war were shown.
• Because my nation can't seem to ever find or sustain peace for any good length of time, I gave up purchasing Peace-On-Earth-themed Christmas cards for the second year in a row. I don't want to participate in a cruel fraud. Some day, it will really be a joyful occasion to actually send out "peace" cards because it is true. But at this point, I won't wish for something that our leaders can't or won't accomplish. It feels too much like being a sorry character in "Waiting for Godot."
• Speaking of Christmas cards, I almost returned a box of Hallmark cards today after I saw that they were produced in China. So, then I looked at a box of Designer Greeting cards and those cards also were produced in China. Can I return two boxes? Then I looked at the last box of Christmas cards that I had purchased which were UNICEF cards. Guess what? They were made in the U.S.A. Well, how about that?! Good deal! And not only that, but also it said on the box that the purchase of the box will "help UNICEF provide seven notebooks for schoolchildren, opening up a world of possibilities through education."
• I can't think of anything I would want to buy that would ever turn me into a Black Friday shopper waiting in early morning hours for a store to open (or for a shopping stampede).
• Wal-Mart has the worst selection of books that I have ever seen. I went there today and they had multiple books by or about Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck and not much else. An awful selection!
• Newsweek magazine listed the "Power 50" of political media personalities who make the highest income annually. Here are the top 10: 1). Rush Limbaugh, $58.7 million (he makes more money per year than the combined salaries of all the members of the U.S. Senate); 2). Glenn Beck, $33 million; 3). Sean Hannity, $22 million; 4). Bill O'Reilly, $20 million (I bet those top four are loudly supportive of the extension of the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy.); 5). Jon Stewart, $15 million; 6). Sarah Palin, $14 million; 7). Don Imus, $11 million; 8). Bill Clinton, $7.7 million; 9). Keith Olbermann, $7.5 million; and 10). tie with Rudy Giuliani and Laura Ingraham, $7 million each. I guess this list means that there is a big-money market for conservative chatter. That's scary. It also means that "Demagoguery sells."
• "Exodus for Hunger" is a book by the Rev. David Beckmann of Bread for the World. He said recently on TV that the world produces enough food to feed every person on the planet. He said the big hunger increase in America is because of high unemployment. About 15 percent of all American households had trouble putting food on the table and needed the help of food banks, he said. One in four children lives in a household that runs out of food.