As I was driving to school this morning, NPR was covering a press briefing by President Bush. He was addressing issues that have been important aspects of his administration's message over the last few months. One issue was that of Iran. What he said below (and this is not the first time I have been irritated by his position on the matter), really seemed to highlight the fact that his administration does not understand the purpose of diplomacy:

People say, would you ever talk to Iran? For you veterans here, for those who have been following this administration for a while, you might remember that I have consistently said that we will be at the table with the EU-3 if Iran would verifiably suspend their program -- and the offer still stands.

So what is the purpose of diplomacy?

Over the past few months, several constables have been working to set up a commission for veterans in Travis County.  This sounds like a great idea...we should be taking care of our veterans. But this is barely even a starting point.  There is an average of over a hundred veterans arrested per month in Travis County alone. Many of these involve drug and alcohol related incidents. The county is working on building a relationship with the VA so that such veterans can receive treatment and get the extra help they need.  This could be and would be a breakthrough program.  As far as we know, nothing like this has been done anywhere else in the country.

But this is not enough!