I actually stopped by Radio Shack yesterday to take a look at shortwave radios. The prices for the decent radios stifled my interest in first-hand accounts emanating from other parts of the world--I'll keep listening to the BBC on NPR. I always keep in mind that the British did a lot of the partitioning that has contributed to these troubles--there is no truly objective source of news. You have to listen to several sources and decide what is most credible. At least NPR allows us to do that.

There are topics that are clearly "hands off" for the folks at "Wait Wait," but not to such a degree that they are stifled in their search for interesting or amusing news. Since war isn't amusing, that's a no-brainer.

SRS