Premature Occupation

Rivrbend is back:

My only conclusion is that the Americans want to withdraw from Iraq, but would like to leave behind a full-fledged civil war because it wouldn't look good if they withdraw and things actually begin to improve, would it?

The Heart Of Xmas

Zuzu at Feministe spotted driftglass getting hilariously all Apocalypse Now on the War on Holy Days at Begun, this Clown War has:

There's a Jolly Old Elf up there who's gone insane.

I'm supposed to kill him.

Dead Blogger Posting

Chris Clarke whistles in the dark:

Besides, the judge has it in for me. Remember Judge Webster Thayer, who asked, after sentencing Sacco and Vanzetti to death, "Did you see what I did to those anarchist bastards the other day?" Well, this is exactly like that. Except that I didn't get any payroll money. And Sacco and Vanzetti had a happy ending, right? I think. Anyway, I love their ice cream.

Much, Much Slower Than Empires

Tim grouses:

I guess Tony has a point. Similarly the Titanic isn't un-rotting, rising from the ocean floor, reassembling itself and backing away from the iceberg anywhere near fast enough. If only the dumb ship would would hurry up.

Dissecting Table, Sewing Machine, Umbrella

Gary makes a connection.

Try To Get This Out Of Your Mind

Altmouse recasts:

I guess it's true -- the only cool rebels left are me, Glenn Reynolds, and David Broder. They should remake Easy Rider and we should be the stars! That would be a hoot. Vroom vroom! Motorcycles!

Charging Exit Fees From Plato's Cave

Roy feels their pain:

We treat them like shopkeepers, though they have the souls of poets! Perhaps they should try wearing berets and playing acoustic guitar.

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Mr. Riley explains:

On a positive note, though, we are winning the War of Excuses. Big, big lead on that one.

Isaiah 1:18

What we should be seeing more of in the Middle East: instead of killing each other, they should do more projects like this one:

Officials from Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority met along the shores of the Dead Sea to settle details of a study to save the shrinking body of water, agreeing to proceed with plans to draw water from the Red Sea.

The Mote In Kos's Eye

Best response to the attacks on Saturday's voters and non-voters from mere earthlings elsewhere, spotted months ahead of time by Ashley Morris:

Nineteenth century writer Lafcadio Hearn wrote a letter to a friend in Cincinnati about two years after he arrived in New Orleans in 1877, during a grim period in which thousands died from yellow fever. He summed up his situation this way:

"Times are not good here. The city is crumbling into ashes. It has been buried under a lava flood of taxes and frauds and maladministrations so that it has become only a study for archaeologists. Its condition is so bad that when I write about it, as I intend to do soon, nobody will believe I am telling the truth. But it is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio."

War Comic

Just saw this one. Fact-esque has spotted "the definitive post on the Iraq Study Group" over at Rox Populi, who gives us a YouTube clip of Iraq Study Group - The Movie.

The Antediluvian Candidate

The Poor Man has heard our silence, and so announces for the Connecticut for Lieberman Party nomination for President in this video.