Today's Washington Post - First Section

It is rare that I have time to read an entire section of the newspaper, but I did read through the first section of today's Post.

What did I learn?

First, I learned that Frances Fagos Thompson is Bush's top advisor on terrorism (not sure who she is), and that office is related to, or perhaps within, the National Security Council. Then, that there is a top post at the State Department on countering terrorism, and that it has remained vacant for the past six months (not sure what its official name is). And, that we have a new National Counterterrorism Center, without a chief, and that this is somehow being brought under the new Director of National Intelligence, as a constituent body. And nothing in the article on the development of a new terrorism policy mentioned Homeland Security. The focus of the article related to whether our goal was still to counter Al-Qaeda or if there were new challenges to be met. I also did not know that we have a National Nuclear Security Administration, which is supposed to be developing a new nuclear policy, starting from, as they say, ground zero.

Second, I learned that it is very hard work to be in the kitchens of busy Washington residents and that you probably are not qualified for the jobs if you do not speak Spanish. I learned that many of the employees work several jobs, and are therefore exhausted, that they make about $8 per hour (so said the article before saying that the employees of the unhappy-I-am-sure-to-have-been-featured restaturant, Merkado, make $12-$15 per hour), but I did not learn if they are lega or not. I did see that many are ex-cons and ex-gang members, and many have ambitions to have their own restaurants. Also (is this universally the case?), they get no sick leave, vacations or health care; that does not sound good.

Third, I learned that there are some things on the very first page of the Post that, to me, do not warrant first page attendance. Do we care how much pork House Speaker Hastert has brought to Aurora IL? Or that IM messaging can get kids into trouble? Or even that 20 snakeheads in the Potomac might spell ecological disaster (how many times have I read that story?)

Fourth, I learned that the first names of some apparent run-of-the-mill criminals in New York City are Awiey and Huquan, but that the police sergeant on the case is named Norman Horowitz.
And, referenced in first section articles, are people such as Clay Bird, Reed Super, Bob Corker and Thad Nation.

Fifth, that the current West Point graduating class, which arrived at the academy just before 9/11, has 911 members.

And, finally, in the miscellaneous categories: When most Americans think about Haitians in America, they think about Miami (wanna bet?). That orthodox Jews are the most conservative (how can the conservatives counter that claim?), and that orthodox Jews who are being accused of letting down their religious allies of other faiths by supporting embryonic stem cell research "did the Christian thing and turned the other cheek" (thank you Dana Milbank). That being Senate majority leader is "like walking across hot coals as other members throw kerosene on your feet while carrying just a couple of ice cubes in your hands". That there are 2,000,000 refugees in Darfur province (I think I knew that), that rural homes in Finland are red or yellow, but that there are only 5,000,000 people in Sweden (less than Baltimore-Washington) in a country the size of Germany, but there are 12,000,000 in Niger, or whom 3,600,000 are chronically short of food and no one seems to be doing much about it, and that there is a lot of natural gas under Bolivia, but people are fighting as to who owns it, and who should control it.

On to section two.