World Getting Poorer Despite Promise to Reduce by Half

Bush is trying to convince Americans that the Democrats are soft on terrorism. That hasn't gone well. Voters won't fall for simple minded arguments like the ones made today by the President:

"For fighting the war on terror, the Democrats just follow a simple philosophy: just say no," Bush said. "When it comes to listening to the terrorists, what's the Democrats' answer? It's just say no. When it comes to detaining terrorists, what is the Democrats' answer? Just say no."

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That's why he is trying to change the subject to gay marriage as an issue:

President Bush has tried for months to define the Nov. 7 congressional elections as a choice about two issues: taxes and terrorism. Now, with polls predicting bleak results for Republicans, he is trying to fire up his party by decrying gay marriage.

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And since all the news from Iraq is bad, what does Bush and his Pentagon do suppress the truth from getting out? Under the guise of protecting military secrets they censure soldiers blogs:

Ten members of the Virginia National Guard have a new mission: keeping an eye on their peers. Under the banner of the World War I warning "Loose Lips Sink Ships," the team's job is to monitor official and unofficial blogs — called milblogs — that active and former military members write.

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One of the important issues that the media has forgotten -- thus politicians ignore it -- is back in the news:

Scientists have discovered a new strain of bird flu that appears to sidestep current vaccines. It's infecting people as well as poultry in Asia, and some researchers fear its evolution may have been steered by the vaccination programs designed to protect poultry from earlier types of the H5N1 flu.

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A nation that spends and doesn't save is a nation in trouble:

The nation's personal savings rate was a negative 0.2 percent during September. That's the 18th month of negative savings for the United States — proof that our consumer culture is encouraging people to borrow from their savings — and credit cards and home equity — to buy the things they want.

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And if you spend today you won't have anything for tomorrow:

A study released Monday by Mercer HR Services, a division of Mercer Human Resource Consulting, found that saving for retirement is still workers' No. 1 saving goal. But it also found that saving for retirement is losing ground to day-to-day financial demands.

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At isn't the just the U.S. that is financially in trouble. The world is becoming poorer despite years of economic expansion throughout the world:

Ten years after political leaders pledged to halve the number of underfed people in the world, no progress has been made and the number of hungry people is rising again, a United Nations report said on Monday.