It’s a good week for the Polish military

This week, President Bush was able to convince a reticent Polish government, headed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, to allow a handful of American missile defense sites to be sited in Poland. In order to secure Tusk’s approval, however, Bush promised U.S. support to modernize the Polish military. Details of the plan have yet to be announced.

This is great news for the Polish military, as the solar powered flashlight and screen-door-submarine are designs in need of a good revamp (apologies to Poles – I just had to). Poland is a NATO member that is willing but not able to contribute much of anything to the alliance. Luckily for the country, it’s got a seductive strategic location, leaving Poland the prettiest girl at the geopolitics dance.

This is bad news for post-Cold War America. The missile sites are to protect American interests located in Europe from attack by rogue nations. Coincidentally, they will also protect American allies (that includes Poland) from similar attacks. Instead of a thank-you note or a pat on the back, we get hit up for even more money. Why should we be obliged to jump through a hoop for the great privilege of helping an ally? Poland’s military reflects NATO itself: antiquated, addicted to America and no longer worth helping.

Americans have paid for, cared for and died for too many ungrateful foreign countries – it’s time to cut ’em off. Let’s start with Poland.

Mike Hathaway is a senior majoring in geography and Spanish and Portuguese.

The Bad

It’s a bad week for the greatest drama in the history of television

On Sunday, “”The Wire,”” HBO’s hyperbolically acclaimed but little-watched drama series, quietly came to an end after five seasons on the air. Each incarnation of the show focused on a bleak cross section of post-industrial Baltimore, from drug dealers in the projects to blue-collar life at the docks to machinations in City Hall and the Baltimore Sun’s newsroom, piecing together an ambitious and troubling story of an urban world in decline. Although the finale may have offered fans closure – tying up the twisted story lines of most of the series’ major characters – the end of the smart, provocative story leaves a big hole in the middle of television’s vast wasteland.

If “”The Wire”” proved one thing, it’s that television – so often a vehicle for the latest lowbrow inanity – can be an outlet for not just serious social commentary, but art. That’s something seven seasons of “”American Idol”” will simply never be.

Connor Mendenhall is a sophomore majoring in economics and international studies and is the opinions editor of the Arizona Daily Wildcat

The Ugly

It’s an ugly week for Client 9

Short of living in a cave on the moon, there’s been no escape from the media blitz surrounding New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s implication in a prostitution ring. Commentators across the nation are falling over themselves to express how shocked and appalled they are at the governor’s repellent behavior, while simultaneously providing the public with more details (The hooker’s name was Kristen! She charged $3,100!), ensuring that the tawdry media spectacle lurches on. After what seems like the millionth political scandal in the last decade, what is it going to take before those citizens and “”journalists”” who can’t stop salivating over who had gay sex in a bathroom or paid for sex the day before Valentine’s Day start feeling a little bit embarrassed that not even the grossest policy failings on Iraq, the economy and the environment can inspire half as much outrage as a politician caught with his pants down? Sex sells, but grow up. Millions of Americans are uninsured, homeless, hungry and ill and don’t have two cents, much less the thousands at Spitzer’s disposal, to scrape together to pay for lunch, let alone a hooker and a hotel room. Where’s the outrage over that?

Sarah Devlin is a sophomore majoring in English and political science.