Geography Lesson
Maybe I'm a little worried about those reports that indicate that U.S. school kids don't have the greatest grasp of geography. Which means, of course, that their parents are even more challenged when it comes to where places are on the globe outside of the next-nearest Wal-Mart. My concern comes from the heightening tensions as regards Iran and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's interest in that country's developing nuclear capability. According to a new Zogby Interactive poll of 5,892 adults, 66% think that Iran is a threat to the U.S. and of that number, it turns out to be 93% of the Republicans and 63% of the independents surveyed who hold that belief. Evidently a few more Democrats watched "Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?"—after all, it was on PBS, something a certain portion of the electorate doesn't necessarily cotton to—because only 42% see Iran as a threat to the U.S. Given that the distance between Washington and Teheran is some 6,300 miles, chances are there is little actual "threat" to the continental U.S. As we "deal" with the Iranians, let's hope that some of those in charge spend some time with Rand McNally products.
