The Lousiana National Guard troops deployed in Iraq watch Katrina's destruction from afar:

 

With only eight days left before their tours' end, the biggest worry on these soldiers' minds is 10,000 miles away. "We were going to have a homecoming," said Carrigee. "Now we don't know if we'll have homes to go home to."

here:

 

We the sons of Mesopotamia, land of the (messengers), prophets, resting place of the holy imams, the leaders of civilization and the creators of the alphabet, the cradle of arithmetic: on our land, the first law put in place by mankind was written; in our nation, the most noble era of justice in the politics of nations was laid down; on our soil, the followers of the prophet and the saints prayed, the philosophers and the scientists theorized and the writers and poets created.

 

Sounds kinda like they're bragging, no?  I was thinking, when they go looking for something to put on their new license plates, they should look no further than the paragraph above.  My choice would be "Iraq: The Cradle of Arithmetic", with maybe a sort of faded background picture of an abacus?  Or maybe, and abacus and a calculator, to kind of show that link between the past and present? 

 

Definitely beats "Iraq: This Car Will Explode in 20 Seconds"

is being covered live via lots of blogs.  Check out these links, provided from an all-inclusive post at Kos:

 

Times-Picayune Hurricane Bunker Blog

Eye on Katrina Blog

Metroblogging New Orleans

Obviously, hoping for the best...

Dispatches from Roy Kesey, an American Guy Married to a Peruvian Diplomat, Living in China

This is nonfiction.  I'll let the website's own description do the work: "Having spent the previous eight years living in Peru, where he married a beautiful diplomat (Lu) and sired two children (Chloe and Thomas), Roy Kesey...has moved to China where his wife will begin her first foreign assignment at the Peruvian embassy in Beijing."

(mcsweeney's)

 

The Letters of Gary Benchley, Rock Star 

The (fictional, but could-be-true) story of a recent college grad from upstate NY who moves to Brooklyn to become a rockstar.   I used to eagerly await the biweekly installments, but now Gary has stopped writing.  This is because his stories got so popular, they became a book, to be released September 27, and available for preorder now.  I am assuming this book will contain lots of new material.  Highly recommended.  

(the morning news)

Hartford Courant:

 

The base-closing commission today voted 7-1 to keep the Naval Submarine Base in Groton open.

The panel overwhelming rejected the May 13 Pentagon recommendation to shut the 90-year-old facility -- a move it said would save $1.6 billion.

The Village Voice runs an enlightening essay on the history of the "slogan t-shirt", which actually ends up being a history of the "slogan pin-back button" as well, since that's where wearable slogans popped up first. 

 

My first memories of slogan t-shirts date to my high school years in the mid-90s.  The store that brought them into vogue for me was Hot Topic, purveyor of all that was commercially punk and goth and symbolic of our burning rebellion against, well, we didn't know but it had something to do with being lost in suburbia.  Hot Topic took up residence at our local mall (and when I say "local" I mean 30 minutes away on the highway) and became our fashion mecca.  Yes, we could go and buy wallet chains, stickers, pins, and of course, t-shirts, all of which furthered our rebellion.  About half of the t-shirts they sold were of the band variety (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Korn, Bad Religion, Marylin Manson and tons of punk bands that actually probably sold more t-shirts than albums) but the rest were something new (to us).  A t-shirt that proclaimed "Leave Me Alone" or "whatever" or maybe even a picture of an alien with "Area 51: Believe" was the perfect way to advertise your rebellious nature.  Yes, I admit, we thought we were cool. 

 

Since that time, the industry has really exploded, I suppose the rise of cheap web-hosting and screenprinting has helped.  They're not really part of my wardrobe anymore (don't even work for casual Fridays).  I do suggest checking out Solid Threads, a local NJ company started and run by a former soccer teammate of mine, their t-shirts seem to be a tad wittier than the industry average.

More hilarious letters to the President at McSweeney's.  This one is short and sweet:

Dear Mr. President,

My church has gone ahead and replaced the name "Jesus" with "George" in all of our worship songs and hymns.

Hope you don't mind, but we really like you. You should see the fervor that erupts when we sing "All hail the power of George's name, let angels prostrate fall!"

Amen.

Sincerely,
The Butcher

Wow:

The train carrying 180,000 crates of beer from South African Breweries derailed on Friday night near Waterval Boven, 124 miles east of Johannesburg, Superintendent Izak van Zyl said.

By Saturday morning, police were battling up to 200 people from the nearby township trying to make off with crates of beer.

 

Robert Moog has passed away.  His contributions to the development of the synthesizer have changed music forever.  They have also allowed me to spend hours in my bedroom twiddling knobs and pretending to be a great composer.

As a Ph.D student in engineering physics at Cornell University, Moog -- rhymes with vogue -- in 1964 developed his first voltage-controlled synthesizer modules with composer Herbert Deutsch. By the end of that year, R.A . Moog Co. marketed the first commercial modular synthesizer.

The instrument allowed musicians, first in a studio and later on stage, to generate a range of sounds that could mimic nature or seem otherworldly by flipping a switch, twisting a dial, or sliding a knob.

 

More Entourage:

 

"The guy interaction on the show is pretty dead-on," says Brad Bressler, 24, from Los Angeles, a software engineer and fan of the show. Says Matt Dentler, 25, a film-festival coordinator from Austin, Texas: "You feel like these guys are gonna have a tight bond no matter what happens."

Notice the ages on those fans? "Entourage" is HBO's lowest-rated marquee series, drawing only 1.5 million viewers per episode—about half the audience of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." But it's the right 1.5 million: the young city dwellers who drive the pop-cultural chatter. "Entourage" may be last in ratings, but it's first in buzz. "It's absolutely doing what it should be doing," says HBO's Carolyn Strauss. "The numbers don't play into our thinking as much as the buzz." Which is why the network has already picked up "Entourage" for a third season.

 

Lincoln, in meeting a mortally wounded soldier in a field hospital:

 

"Are you really the president?" he asked.

"Yes, I am," Lincoln replied quietly. Then he asked if there was anything else he could do.

"Would you please hold my hand?" the soldier asked. "It will help to see me through to the end."

In the hushed room, the tall, gaunt president took the boy's hand in his and spoke warm words of encouragement until death came.

W, in not meeting with grieving mother Cindy Sheehan:
 

Most people who follow the War in Iraq with some regularity are aware that the Department of Defense hands out contracts to dozens of private firms for "security."  These groups, called mercenaries by some and private security companies by themselves, are lucrative employers for retired special forces soldiers.  The NY Times Magazine this past weekend published a must-read article, "The Other Army," on it all.  25,000 armed men making lots of money running around a warzone, unregulated by the Department of Defense and the Iraqi "government" make for a fascinating story to tell.  The article begins by focusing on Triple Canopy, one of these companies, employer of about 1,000 ex-soldiers.  200 are from the U.S.  What caught my eye was where the others are from:

 

Triple Canopy now has about 1,000 men in Iraq, about 200 of them American and almost all the rest from Chile and Fiji.

But anyway, surely the Chilean military culture has something to do with this.  For a country of 13 million people, it has a very powerful army, with a rich history of brutality against its own people.  They were, after all, trained by the Prussians back in the day.  Unfortunately, those were the article's only mentions of the Chileans.  Luckily for me there is Google, which produced a Christian Science Monitor article from earlier this year, posted on globalpolicy.org and entitled, "Firms Tap Latin Americans for Iraq." 

 

Throughout Latin America there have been numerous press reports of contracting and subcontracting firms recruiting in Chile, Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Each of the countries has had recent - and in Colombia's case, ongoing - wars, which make for large pools of experienced military and police.

I saw that Steve Carrel's The 40 Year Old Virgin was coming out, which reminded me of The Office on NBC, which made we wonder when Season 2 starts.  Well, according to TV Guide, September 20.  Carrel's character Michael makes me laugh harder than anyone else on TV.  I hope for the sake of having a Season 3 that this show catches fire in Season 2.  Look for more development of Michael:

 

Going forward, Office executive producer Greg Daniels promises that viewers will see three dimensions to Michael, Carell's daft boss man, who won't just be depicted as an all-out jerk. "Oh, I'm going to make you cry," Carell quips. "I will make you cry this season."

 

So now I've written about two out of the three non sports or news shows I watch on TV (Entourage yesterday).  The last is Sopranos, but everyone knows a lot about that and it won't be back until March 2006. 

Overheard in New York is always a good website for a quick laugh.  Today, it's written up in Slate.  A good one: 
 

B&T Girl #1: He is so "not Westchester."
B&T Girl #2: I know!
B&T Girl #3: I don't get it. I've been here a year and I don't get that. And what is or who is "the bridge and tunnel crowd"? Is it a good thing that those guys called us "bridge and tunnel crowd" when we walked in?
B&T Girl #1: Eww.
B&T Girl #2: Gross.
B&T Girl #1: Ew, oh there is so no way anyone called me bridge and tunnel.
B&T Girl #3: So that's bad?
 B&T Girl #2: What could be worse?
 --Metro-North

(overheard in new york, july 29, 2005)

The World Cup is what, 10 months away?  But I can't stop thinking about it.  Good win for the US vs. Trinidad last night, and a respectable showing for Connecticut as host of the game.  The stadium looked pretty full (lots of Trinis for sure but USA fans were more plentiful) and the pitch received high marks from the players.  Anyway, I caught this bit at the end of a Hartford Courant article on the game:

 

All 64 games at next year's World Cup in Germany will be televised live and in high-definition. Unlike the last World Cup in South Korea/Japan, ESPN/ABC plans to have announcers at a majority of games, although some games will be called from Bristol.

 

I have been a big fan of the HBO show Entourage since it started last season, and now it seems like it is really catching fire.  Check out this article on it in the NY Times:

 

 In its sophomore season, the fizzy, insidery comedy about Vince and his "entourage" from Queens trying to make it in Hollywood has hit its stride, much the way "Sex and the City," the previous HBO sensation about four friends in search of fabulousness, free stuff and booty, did in season two. The Aug. 7 episode was the most-watched show in the series's history, according to Nielsen Media Research.

 

An inspiring plea for peace with Ant Nation:

I've emptied bottles of anti-ant spray and tolerated the resulting offensive odor. I've laid out bait-style poisons, which are specifically designed to trick your populace into carrying fatal toxins to your very own door, but your people consistently evade them. Eventually they organize parades that march directly around the deadly morsels in mockery of my attempts. I admit, the hyperintelligence of your military leaders is baffling. Thus, I've resorted to a multi-pronged and less obvious attack strategy: I've maintained tidiness, I've swatted at your troops with newspapers, I've smashed them one by one with my mighty thumbs, I've carpet-bombed them with Windex, I've blown them out the window with my breath of fire as they crawled across the neighboring tiles. I've even left mass graves open so that you might recognize what devastating havoc I'm capable of delivering.

 

For all her negatives, Condi Rice has done some good things as Secretary of State. While all attention was focused on the Bolton hearings, she was working behind the scenes to strengthen US standing at the UN:

Rice, by contrast, has worked successfully to strengthen the US position at the UN, even at the risk of offending conservatives in Congress. She won White House support to oppose legislation, sponsored by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), chairman of the House International Relations Committee, to require the United States to withhold as much as 50 percent of US dues to the UN. She assigned Nicholas Burns, the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, to take charge of the UN reform portfolio, challenging Bolton for control of the issue. She adopted a comprehensive US position on expansion of the Security Council so that the United States is seen as supportive of broader representation, rather than hostile.

Least noticed, but most significant, she bucked conservatives on the issue of the International Criminal Court, instructing the United States to abstain, rather than oppose referral of the names of alleged Sudanese war criminals to the ICC for prosecution. That abstention effectively changed US policy from active opposition to acceptance of and cooperation with the Court. I have described this as a 180-degree shift in administration policy. Conservative opponents of the Court agree with this assessment, while many of my fellow Democrats have not grasped the significance of this vote, or say it is too early to pay the administration this compliment.

Now, for the Bolton Era.

After a too-long wait, M.I.A. rocked the house.  Despite being billed as MIA w/ Diplo, they are not playing together anymore, so Diplo opened for her with a pretty good hour long set.  It was hot and humid in the crowd though, so the extra wait didn't go over too well.  We'd already been forced to endure some terrible mixing from DJ Rekha opening things up, followed by a decent performance from Mr. Vegas.  When M.I.A. took the stage, though, the wait became well worth it.  Photos and review are here.

(via brooklyn vegan)

 

If you want to bring your sound beyond your computer speakers, I highly suggest getting an external digital to analog converter (basically, any non factory install sound card).  It has worked wonders for the sound from my comptuer.  Here's more info.

 

 

 

 

Obviously it's been a particularly bad week in Iraq for the United States. I could never hope to fully cover the events there on this blog, but I do think it's worth taking a step back and looking at where things are at now.

Back when the march to war was just beginning in 2002, quite a few people pointed out that a campaign to topple Saddam might not be as quick and easy as BushCo guaranteed it would. A small number of those critics even dared to invoke Vietnam, the quagmire that killed over 50,000 Americans, scarred an emerging Great Society, and divided the nation to no end (not to even begin to mention the stark consequences for the Vietnamese people). Those critics were essentially labeled anti-American by the Administration, which preferred that Americans draw links between Saddam and Osama, and not a desert and a jungle.

As the campaign began and US tanks rumbled across the sand, within a short time toppling Saddam and then a statue of him in Baghdad, things looked good. Things did not look like Vietnam. As the spring became summer, little problems began to pop up here and there. The Coalition Provisional Authority, run by the Defense Department (perhaps the single worst decision of the entire debacle), was not doing a good job restoring Iraqi infrastructure and making people happy. Roadside bombs began to explode with great regularity, seeming to indicate something was not going quite right. Former Baathist Iraqi Army officers, accustomed to lives of privilege, were stripped of their commands and kicked out Army and society. They had a lot of time on their hands. And a lot of anger.

But, we know Bush. Nothing wrong. Stayin' the course. Freedom on the March. Now let's talk about keepin' the gays from marryin'. On September 22, 2003, neoconservative god Richard Perle, in a speech to the ultraconservative American Enterprise Institute, painted quite a rosy picture:

And a year from now, I'll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush. There is no doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand that they've been liberated. And it is getting easier every day for Iraqis to express that sense of liberation.

So when is the time, Richard? Never, maybe. Because now things are really getting quite a bit like Vietnam. And there is no Lyndon Johnson Square in Ho Chi Minh City. Military historian Tom Collier comments:

There seem to be two developments in Iraq that are "more than eerily Vietnam speak." The first is the increasing use of bigger and better mines: bundled 155mm artillery shells, 500lb aircraft bombs, shaped charges, and clever booby traps to kill the mine clearers. All of that is old hat dating back through Vietnam and at least to WWII, but the insurgents seem to be able to plant their mines without either being detected by our surveillance [ e.g., drone aircraft] or being reported to the police by the local people. That is a bad sign, and means we control neither the terrain nor the populace.

[snip]

The second development reminiscent of Vietnam is the US decision to move away from the population centers and move west to the border in order try to attack "base areas" and interdict routes from Syria [read Cambodia & Laos]. SLA Marshall...warned in 1967, "Rattling around the Cambodian border held nothing good for our side....The enemy from out of Cambodian base camps was ever scouting, measuring, and plotting the countryside....We were literally engaging [the enemy] on the maneuver ground where they did their training."

Add to that the general hostility of the Sunnis of Anbar Province and it makes you wonder why Marines and soldiers are repeatedly searching and destroying out in the Wild West...Surely it defies all the lore and knowledge of insurgency/ counterinsurgency.'

And that is just in tactical sense. Vietnam, of course, is known as the first "living-room war." Seeing the carnage on TV every night made it very real to the American people. The draft made it even realer. Perhaps today's media is too diffused to have the same effect (cable TV and the internet allow everyone to learn what they want, and ignore the rest) and there is no draft, so if you're well-off enough, you probably won't have to serve in the military. But Iraq is getting real for the American people in it's own way. The national debt is close to 8 trillion dollars. That is partially due to the fact the the Iraq War has so far cost the US over 185 billion dollars . Instead of investing in our national infrastructure, schools, and health care, we are burning money away in Iraq.

Debt, though, is by its nature a problem for the future. It does not do a good job at convincing people current policy is wrong (though 5-10 years from now, we will feel it). The most recent polll puts approval of Bush's Iraq policy at 38 percent, and it isn't because of the debt clock.

A recent article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer captures the current feeling:

An oak tree grows on a shaded street in southwest Cleveland, planted the day Edward "Augie" Schroeder II was born 23 years ago.

Wednesday morning, his parents stood in the shade of that tree, grappling with the loss of a son in a war they have never understood.

And this from the New York Times:

Mayor Elliott, 47, said that for all Brook Park's experience with war, this week's death toll had shed a harsh new light on the war in Iraq, bringing home bloodshed that had seemed distant to some. For that reason, he said he thought some residents might begin to question the continuing American military presence in Iraq.

"When it hits home this much, I would expect people to say: 'How many more lives do we have to lose before we get our troops back home?' " he said.

With 48 US service members dying since July 24, casualties seem to be spiking again, just as the Iraqi constitution is supposedly a month away from completion. Some people might think that that document will bring an end to the carnage, but it will not. Did the handover from the CPA to the Iraqis bring any let up? What about the Iraqi elections? No and no. How much longer will the American people tolerate this? They might not have an option. Just as the nation begins to show strong dissatisfaction with the President who lied to bring the nation into Iraq, it becomes more and more apparent that there is no way out.

When America left Vietnam, the domino theory aside, it didn't have to worry about much spillover. The Vietnamese were not going to bring communism to Mexico. Iraq is a different story. If we pull out, there will be a massive fight among many different factions, probably much worse than Lebanon in the 1980s: the foreign Islamist radicals wanting to maintain their terrorist camps, the Sunni Baathists, the Kurds, the al-Sadr Shiites (probably supported by Iran), the "government" forces, and probably lots of criminals just looking to murder and plunder thrown in the mix. All on top of of a massive oil supply. A lawless land, perfect for terrorists to thrive. A training ground equal to the 1980s Afghanistan were Bin Laden was tested.

But what about staying? All of that still will exist, just with American soldiers trying to keep a lid on it all, a few dying every day. Many more with serious injuries. Even more scarred mentally. And, just like Vietnam, soldiers returning from war, their efforts underappreciated and their lives never the same.

There is no way out. It is said that even the Iraqi Prime Minister himself is sabotaging American efforts to train Iraqi security forces. Why? Because as soon as they are trained (or, as soon as the US can halfway claim they are trained) American troops will be gone, and the government will collapse. Precisely what happened to South Vietnam.

And in the end, that is why Iraq is becoming Vietnam. I leave you with the definition of quagmire:

A quagmire (from "quake" + "mire") is, literally, shaky, miry ground; as a political term used to describe a foreign military campaign in which there is either no foreseeable possibility of victory or the objectives are unclearly defined, and at the same time no clear exit strategy has been formulated in the absence of victory. The military campaign is likened to a kind of swamp or marsh in which the warring nation is unable to remove itself.

I haven't tried this yet, but it seems pretty awesome:

 

"The designers of some elevators include a hidden feature that is very handy if you're in a hurry
or it's a busy time in the building (like check-out time in a hotel). While some elevators require
a key, others can be put into "Express" mode by pressing the "Door Close" and "Floor" buttons at the same time. This sweeps the car to the floor of your choice and avoids stops at any other floor.

(thedamnblog.com)

 

...I feel like I read this headline every few months:

 

Slate has a great collection of quotes under the heading, "Why athletes fail drug tests, in their own words"

 

Another article on what happened to Rafael Palmeiro's production when he started playing on the same team as Jose Canseco:

 

Palmeiro, the latest big leaguer to be issued a 10-game suspension for a positive steroids test, would hit only eight homers again in 1989 for Texas before gradually beginning his ascent to one of the game's prolific power hitters. He got to 14 in 1990, then 26 in 1991 and, after dropping to 22 in 1992, he had his first 30-plus homer season in 1993. Make of it what you will, but that was Jose Canseco's first full season in Texas. Palmeiro would go on to have 10 consecutive seasons of 37 or more homers - excluding the strike-shortened 1994 season - before he dropped to 23 last season and 18 so far this year.

 

This last month has seen a whole lot of soccer in the United States.  People have various opinions on whether it was a great thing or just a good thing (or maybe worse).  For those not in the know, the US top-tier league, the MLS, plays from early spring through the fall (ensuring plenty of hot, hot July games), which is different than how most of the world does it.  This year the US also hosted the Gold Cup, essentially the CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean Soccer Federation) championship.  To top it all off, several elite European soccer clubs visited the States for some preseason exhibition matches, some of them against each other, and some of them against MLS clubs.

 

My thoughts on it all in convenient bullet-point format:

 

 

 

 

Bill Clinton gives an interview to Bloomberg News. The money quote:

We believe in a country where every American has a chance, and where we share benefits and we share the responsibilities of citizenship, and where we are going forward together instead of a country where we are growing more divided. And we believe in a world where we share the benefits and responsibilities and one in which we not only fight terror but have more partners and fewer terrorists.

(via political wire)

Bush, in a "free-wheeling interview with a handful of Texas print reporters," goes to great lengths to show he continues to reign freely in his own Kingdom of Fantasyland.  Yeah, I know there is no way he's coming clean on Iraq or the Plame Affair.  But regarding steroids, you'd expect him to be able to stick to his "get-tough" message that he outlined in this year's State of the Union:

 

The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message -- that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character. So tonight I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches, and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough, and to get rid of steroids now.

So, Rafael Palmeiro is exposed yesterday as the highest-profile player to test positive under MLB's new steroid policy.  In this free-wheeling interview, when asked about it, Bush definitely had some harsh words, right?  Umm...no, not exactly:

 

THE PRESIDENT: Well, Rafael Palmeiro is a friend. He's testified in public, and I believe him. He's the kind of person that's going to stand up in front of the klieg lights and say he didn't use steroids, and I believe him. Still do.

Still do, huh?  Palmeiro himself doesn't really deny it now... he says he didn't INTENTIONALLY do so, which is quite different.  But Bush isn't a man for details. 

I wonder what the other astronauts say to him? "Yeah, Steve, just go out there and see what you can do.  No pressure.  Worst comes to worst, shuttle burns up on re-entry.  You're really writing the book on this one anyway man, never been done before so we're not expecting too much."

 

Another great energy-saving tip: When you want to chill something, for example a beer, put it in the FREEZER, which is so much colder than the main refrigerator compartment. Multiply that by hundreds and thousands of beers, and you save a ton of energy.