In what amounts to a tragic sea of corporate packaged trivia featuring the likes of various "Survivor" format programs and entertainment gossip shows featuring whatever Paris Hilton has done lately, "60 Minutes" continues as a gem of informative magazine format programming.

What marks "60 Minutes" apart from the aforementioned commercial offerings is an unrelenting determination to tackle the big issues facing America and the world.  If these issues happen to be controversial and hard-hitting, so much the better.  

It was "60 Minutes" that provided Seymour Hersh with an opportunity to cut through Cheney-Bush spin control and provide facts on what is really happening in Iraq and how that tragedy occurred.  

We also saw Leslie Stahl interview the bombastic Ahmad Chalibi and give him the opportunity to reveal himself as the charlatan he is, the highly paid huckster who sold the "weapons of mass destruction" argument to the O'Reillys and Hannitys of the world.

According to an Associated Press article by Todd Lewan in the Seattle Times on Monday, April 9:

"An 2006 report by the National Coalition for the homeless found 142 attacks last year against homeless people, 20 of which resulted in death - a 65 percent increase from 2005, when 86 were violently assaulted, including 13 homicides."

Todd Lewan goes on to further report:

"Such attacks no longer occur just in major cities on the East and West coasts, as was the case in the 1980's."