From another source...

Directly quoting a Wash Post discussion with its Baghdad correspondent:

Malden, Mass.: I recently read the e-mail by the Wall Street Journal reporter on the conditions in Iraq and was wondering if you agree on how bad the conditions are?

Rajiv Chandrasekaran: So I don't run afoul of my editors, who don't want us to express our personal opinions on such matters, let me just say that I haven't met or talked to a single reporter who has spent any meaningful time in Iraq who disagrees with what she wrote.

WSJ Reporter on Baghdad & Iraq

Poynter Online - Romenesko

I checked with several places, and this is a true email. It is a depiction of everything that could have gone wrong going wrong in Iraq.

Among the more potent statements:

• if Saddam Hussein were allowed to run for elections he would get the majority of the vote


• One could argue that Iraq is already lost beyond salvation. For those of us on the ground it's hard to imagine what if any thing could salvage it from its violent downward spiral.


• He said on the main roads of Sadr City, there were a dozen landmines per every ten yards.

I never thought this was anything but the stupidest thing the US could do: go to war in Iraq against a non-imminent threat. What is imminent? On the verge of attacking within the next 3 months. Iraq was no where near that. Yes, intelligence was flawed about the WMD. But even the intel that said that there was WMD stated that it was years away from being a threat. So, now we have Afghanistan with the Taliban back in charge, and Iraq becoming the biggest US disaster since the Southern Rebellion (thats the Civil War).

Vietnam was already destabilized when we went there. We botched most of that by thinking we knew what was going on, when we were leagues off the mark. Iraq was at least stable. Hussein wasn't a good guy, but, neither are a lot of dictators. So, we continue to mess up Iraq, while pandering to other dictators, thinking that they are our friends. In the 80s we thought Hussein was our friend.

What a disaster.

Hybrid SUVs

THis weekend there was this opportunity to test drive the new 2005 Escape Hybrids. Its a small SUV, so it doesn't bother me that much. It was amazing that it never needs gas unless you're going over 25 MPH. So, its pretty good for city driving. What was more interesting was the companies which were sponsoring some of the side exhibits. There was one on wildlife conservation, brought to you by Alcoa, DuPont, Ford, Bridgestone/Firestone, BFI, Detroit Edison, and Phillips Petroleum. Hmm.. part of their required community service? Or just an attempt to appear green when they are clearly in industries which are not green.

Just another reminder to look to see who's paying for whatever you're reading, as they are the ones doing the manipulating.

Victorian mores

Victorian sex factoids

We were talking about Victorian attitudes and the prevalence of them in US Society at the turn of the 20th century (how we got to this topic is a whole other story in itself). Luckily we didn't go into many of the topics descibed in this page at work.

Its interesting the number of urban legends which are believed as fact according to this source: wife-beating, clitoridectomy, and the origin of a 'Prince Albert'.

So many things going on. So little time to do any of them. So many people to suck up to - some of whom I shouldn't - and so little to show for it.

Told my family the big news. My brother's happy. SIL is practically volunteering to organize everything. My mother seems disconcerted, but I've never been able to live up to some ideal she seems to hold me to. My grandmother's happy. My father seems to be avoiding me, although he told LS that he was happy for us.

The cat's wondering when I'll get out of *his* chair (nevermind that it was the dog's long before the cat was around) and go to bed. So I'll leave it at this.