If there’s one thing I’ll remember the Bush administration for it’s their spin…… I really can’t remember when I’ve heard quite so much of it quite so often; the WMD spin, the spin used to keep Americans afraid ever vigilant, the progress in Iraq spin, the progress in Afghanistan spin, the Saddam Hussein spin, the […]

Each blog has its own culture, which seems to be a product of many things -the temperament, beliefs and style of its blogger defines the kind of correspondent it attracts, and ultimately establishes the level of value and intelligence of the discussion therein.
I find that blog response to the catastrophe in East Asia is an […]

Many thanks to balbulican for getting a post on the page for donations the other day while we were traveling to see family just outside of Toronto - our donation is on the way and we hope that others who check in at stageleft now and again will heed the call and do what they […]

“It will take “many billions of dollars” and a number of years to bury the dead, battle disease and recover from the wall of water that has killed more than 23,000 people.”
If you haven’t contributed yet…do it now. Right now.

Seems to me that a singularly stupid idea has been getting a thorough workout on both sides of the political blogfence this season…the notion that “the left” somehow hates calling Christmas “Christmas”, and that we all want to see it replaced with a long string of multicultural equivalents in every greeting, card, ceremony, song, celebration, […]

I don’t understand the folks who feel the US has failed in Iraq. I think they’ve succeeded brilliantly, at pretty much all the things the Administration actually wanted to succeed in. Our right wing friends are right: the invasion of Iraq was never about weapons of mass destruction. There was no real threat to the […]

We’re packing our overnight bag and heading to someplace just outside of Toronto (not sure of the exact spot, we’re trusting the sister who is meeting us there to know where she’s going) at about 7:00AM tomorrow morning, returning sometime on Wednesday.
Since our friend and posting buddy balbulican is also out of town for […]

Appears to be more of a non-plan than anything else if this army historian and strategist is correct
“While there may have been ‘plans’ at the national level, and even within various agencies within the war zone, none of these ‘plans’ operationalized the problem beyond regime collapse” […..] “There was no adequate operational plan for stability […]

…. the demonization process that is.
A group of Muslims in Tennessee are facing a round of resistance good old fashioned bigotry in their efforts to turn an old sod farm near Memphis into a cemetery where
….. angry neighbors protested, complaining the burial ground could become a staging ground for terrorists or spread disease from unembalmed […]

Hopefully you’ll pardon me for wishing everyone a happy season and a good holiday (if they get one)… I know that more than a few folks seem to be getting pretty wound up about that sort of thing lately but since we’ve been using the phase instead of merry Christmas for a long time we’re […]

According to the CBC Iraqi militants (of the plural variety)
…..wanted President George W. Bush re-elected in November because he would keep U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and that would boost the position of the insurgents, a French reporter says.
This is a quote bound to wander around and around the blog-o-sphere with various and sundry pieces of […]

The British public and the soldiers fighting in the mud of Flanders were given the impression by those in charge that the Germans, fighting possibly less than100 metres away, were blood-lusting psychopaths bent on destroying all in their way. Any form of friendship between the two sides fighting the war, would have been seen as […]

Stop by Craigs and drop off a present for Calvin
Go to bank
Stop at the tattoo shop and see what the next piece is gonna cost me
Buy a turkey

Go visit relatives just getting out of hospital
Buy tickets to go visit parents next week

Go ahead, talk about stuff if ya want…. I won’t be here.

British Lieutenant-General Maude (1917) via Baghdad Dweller
“People of Baghdad, remember for 26 generations you have suffered under strange tyrants who have ever endeavoured to set one Arab house against another in order that they might profit by your dissensions. This policy is abhorrent to Great Britain and her Allies for there can be neither peace […]

Following the attack on a US military mess tent the other day parts of Mosul have been sealed off by the American military in their hunt for suspects….. homes are being raided and the penalty for use of any of the 5 bridges that cross the Tigris River is being shot.
It seems, to me anyway, […]