Burma

It's not particularly easy for a writer to admit, but some pictures are worth 1000 words, shots like this one, for instance. Just a few days ago, in a speech before the UN General Assembly, President Bush said almost nothing about Iraq, but went into a rant on Burma, or Myanmar, where protests have become bloody and horrible. "America is outraged by what's happening in Burma," he said, or words to that effect.

The Daily Show's John Stewart used the line, as I guessed he would, because there was something sharply ironic about Bush waxing frantically on Burma, when the country he leads is split like a ripe melon about the never-ending war in Iraq (at what point can we start giving that phrase upper case treatment?). Ask people about Myanmar and most would shrug their shoulders. What he said made no sense.

On the other hand, maybe what he said brought more attention to that region of the globe than anything else could. Maybe his saying that we were outraged fueled some embers which were barely glowing. Maybe what he said made us more interested.

But my sense is that a picture like this does it better. It's an incredible composition.

You want to know what's going on in Burma, look at this.

Spilled human blood is always a horror--anywhere, anytime. But its pooling here, and the soiled flip/flops, combine to evoke a revulsion which is palpable, I think.

Somewhere in the world, innocent people are being killed--that's a thousand words right there.