This just in - from North Korea

[Karen]

The news reports, just to clarify, are saying that there was a lot of negotiating going on lately, and likely former Pres. Clinton didn't have a whole lot to do with the actual release.

I wonder how soon the "book deal" will be signed - when they land at the airport in the US?

[lizbud]

The news reports, just to clarify, are saying that there was a lot of negotiating going on lately, and likely former Pres. Clinton didn't have a whole lot to do with the actual release.

I wonder how soon the "book deal" will be signed - when they land at the airport in the US?

Wow, I never thought you were a cynical person. Are you joking?

[Grace]

They are on their way home, in the plane with President Clinton.

CNN said this has been in the works for a couple of weeks, and the North Koreans wanted him to come over.

[RICHARD]

Both work for Current TV- I have watched some of the programming on the channel and it's an "old hippie/green the earth" stuff.

Both those yahoos have had programs on before and they have been carrying around sharp sticks while traveling around the area of NK.

Do they deserve to be jailed for 12 years and hard labor? No, not really. But they should have their passports revoked for a couple of years.

What ever the U.S. gave or agreed to to get these twits out of jail will never be known. That's part of the 'transparency" of the current regime. They'll get a book deal and we will never get the straight answers we deserve.

[Marigold2]

Bill Clinton was always my favorite president. Yes my name is Monica but that is beside the point.

[blue]

Did BJClinton have a victory party before heading home?

[Grace]

Yes I just read that too.. Many Thanks to Bill Clinton.. He is the one that went there to get their release.. I think its the greatest of news..

YAY YAY YAY !!!!! I'm so happy to hear this and even happier that it happened so quickly after he intervened!! I didn't expect much but this is fabulous!!

I'm delighted that they are on their way home to freedom and family. I'm sure their families breathed a huge sigh when they saw them boarding that plane with President Clinton.

Now we need to get the three in Iran home - safely.

[Karen]

Wow, I never thought you were a cynical person. Are you joking?

I grew up with a major distrust of politicians, after all, the first memory I have involving a President is Richard Nixon.

I am not usually a cynical person, really, but when it involves politics and media, I don't really trust much of anyone to tell us the unvarnished truth.
And while I don't think the two journalists intentionally went into North Korea to be captured so they could get a book deal, I've gotta imagine one has been in the works in some publisher's head since the story first broke.

By the way, I have met Bill Clinton. He seemed like a genuinely nice, likable guy.

[blue]

He seemed like a genuinely nice, likable guy.

I think thats why I voted against him twice.

[RICHARD]

"The door opened and there was President Clinton."


--------------------------

The local news just released the news that Paula Abdul will not be coming back to American Idol.

She is going to North Korea as part of a deal for the two 'journalists' that were released.

Kim Jung Il is producing a show where he will compete against himself as the next Korean Idol and he specifically asked that Paula be sent in exchange for the captured women.

Al Gore, the loser of the "Next American President" competition, would not confirm or deny the report.

[Grace]

"The door opened and there was President Clinton."

I just read that account - can you even imagine what must have gone through their minds when they saw him !!

I'm so glad they are back home, with their families.

[RICHARD]

Ling: THANK GOD I'M HOME! I HAD to sit next to Bill the whole flight home-Talk about a tense trip!

I am sorry for being so glib- It was cool they got out and I bet that either one of them might have thought, "Hmmmm, Bill or Labor Camp, Bill or Labor Camp...I'll take my chances with Bill....."

I also had to laugh about the statements in the media about HC not being there to escort the group back to the U.S.

She should have, to make sure nothing 'untoward' happened on the plane.

[lizbud]

I grew up with a major distrust of politicians, after all, the first memory I have involving a President is Richard Nixon.

Well, Nixon would do that to you.

[RICHARD]

Hey!

I just saw our intrepid reporter doing a story about Haitian gangs!

She's got on the obligatory baby blue U.N. helmet and flak jacket on, riding with some of the peacekeepers on patrol in Port Au Prince, Haiti!

SHe states that UNPKs get shot at frequently, so to get to the gang areas, she hires a private driver and that will take her into the area and show her around.

Hmmm, smart thinking!

------------

Reporters and journalists?

Reporters usually get to hang around because they are there, often in between the two sides of the story. Most of them get permission from the people who control the ground the operate on.

Journalists, more often than not, run around the area and 'journal'-What was the Iranian gal, the one that was championing women's right in the country, doing that got her tossed in the clink?

Look, It's not really proper form to go to someone's house, look into their medicine chests, then broadcast the contents. Look at the paraonia from Iran, NK, China-So, do we really blame some backwards country, with even more backwards rules, when they get nervous because a camera/journalist are in the area?

I am all for equal rights for everyone. But, I get a little uneasy when people, especially U.S. citizens, start running around and publically shake their fingers at some government because they (Fill in the Blank) to their people.

Many of us want to get out of the Mid East, yet they want the U.S. and the world to know and to do something about the little things going on other spots.

Yep we could invade Indonesia and liberate all the slaves making tennis shoes for us, or better yet, whoever makes those cheap circuit boards in our TV sets that go south in the middle of the Super Bowl!

I wonder where the two will make a triumphant return to the job they love so well?

[Grace]

Richard - do you remember your thoughts back in 1983, when Jesse Jackson, then a potential candidate for President, went to to Syria to secure the release of a captured American flier, Navy Lt. Robert O. Goodman, Jr?

I know the situations were different - Goodman was shot down over Lebanon while on a mission to bomb Syrian positions in that country.

Many people thought Jesse was grandstanding; Reagan had misgivings. But he got the job done - and then didn't even get nominated.

Were you as cynical back then as you seem to be now?

Susan Estrich, in her column today, talks about this event. She finishes it up with these thoughts -

I don't care if the North Koreans are using him, using us, using sob sisters like me. Two girls are coming home. Two families can breathe again.

North Korea's welcome mat was a well-staged performance by an outlaw nation, but it's also something of a relief. At least they want to look better in the eyes of the world. They want to look like a regular country, the kind of place that presidents and former presidents visit, the kind of place with pretty little girls in fancy dresses carrying beautiful flowers.

Of course North Korea is not a regular country. We don't sit around wondering whether regular countries can bomb Hawaii. Or whether they will. North Korea doesn't play by the rules that we think, generally, make "states" less dangerous, which is why the girls were seized, why the families held their breaths, why it took Bill Clinton to bring them home.

Still. Being used is better than being bombed. Lives are more precious than photo opps. It's still a happy ending, and there aren't so many of those to celebrate that I'm going to give this one up.

Emphasis is mine.