i grabbed this from campaign confidential. it is allegedly from farnaz fassihi, the wall street journal's mideast correspondent. snopes doesn't have anything on it one way or the other yet, but apparently farnaz has confirmed that she wrote it as an email to a friend.

Campaign Confidential: Just How Bad Is Iraq?:

There has been one too many close calls, including a car bomb so near our house that it blew out all the windows. So now my most pressing concern every day is not to write a kick-ass story but to stay alive and make sure our Iraqi employees stay alive. In Baghdad I am a security personnel first, a reporter second.

It's hard to pinpoint when the 'turning point' exactly began. Was it April when the Fallujah fell out of the grasp of the Americans? Was it when Moqtada and Jish Mahdi declared war on the U.S. military? Was it when Sadr City, home to ten percent of Iraq's population, became a nightly battlefield for the Americans? Or was it when the insurgency began spreading from isolated pockets in the Sunni triangle to include most of Iraq? Despite President Bush's rosy assessments, Iraq remains
a disaster. If under Saddam it was a 'potential' threat, under the Americans it has been transformed to 'imminent and active threat,' a foreign policy failure bound to haunt the United States for decades to come.

Iraqis like to call this mess "the situation." When asked "how are thing?" they reply: "the situation is very bad."

What they mean by situation is this: the Iraqi government doesn't control most Iraqi cities, there are several car bombs going off each day around the country killing and injuring scores of innocent people, the country's roads are becoming impassable and littered by hundreds of landmines and explosive devices aimed to kill American soldiers, there are assassinations, kidnappings and beheadings. The situation, basically, means a raging barbaric guerilla war.

In four days, 110 people died and over 300 got injured in Baghdad alone. The numbers are so shocking that the ministry of health-- which was attempting an exercise of public transparency by releasing the numbers-- has now stopped disclosing them.

Insurgents now attack Americans 87 times a day.

East Hampton Star - In the News

GUESTWORDS: By E.L. Doctorow

The Unfeeling President

I fault this president for not knowing what death is. He does not suffer the death of our 21-year-olds who wanted to be what they could be. On the eve of D-Day in 1944 General Eisenhower prayed to God for the lives of the young soldiers he knew were going to die. He knew what death was. Even in a justifiable war, a war not of choice but of necessity, a war of survival, the cost was almost more than Eisenhower could bear.

But this president does not know what death is. He hasn't the mind for it. You see him joking with the press, peering under the table for the weapons of mass destruction he can't seem to find, you see him at rallies strutting up to the stage in shirt sleeves to the roar of the carefully screened crowd, smiling and waving, triumphal, a he-man.

He does not mourn. He doesn't understand why he should mourn. He is satisfied during the course of a speech written for him to look solemn for a moment and speak of the brave young Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

But you study him, you look into his eyes and know he dissembles an emotion which he does not feel in the depths of his being because he has no capacity for it. He does not feel a personal responsibility for the 1,000 dead young men and women who wanted to be what they could be.

They come to his desk not as youngsters with mothers and fathers or wives and children who will suffer to the end of their days a terribly torn fabric of familial relationships and the inconsolable remembrance of aborted life . . . they come to his desk as a political liability, which is why the press is not permitted to photograph the arrival of their coffins from Iraq.

How then can he mourn? To mourn is to express regret and he regrets nothing. He does not regret that his reason for going to war was, as he knew, unsubstantiated by the facts. He does not regret that his bungled plan for the war's aftermath has made of his mission-accomplished a disaster. He does not regret that, rather than controlling terrorism, his war in Iraq has licensed it. So he never mourns for the dead and crippled youngsters who have fought this war of his choice.

if you are in charge of other people, you have a responsibility not to waste their effort. this goes doubly so if you are asking them to give their lives for you. mourning is the absolute least you should do.

and if anyone is still looking for a birthday present for me...

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Branson reaches for the stars:

Sir Richard Branson today announced that he had signed a licensing deal to create a fleet of spacecraft offering commercial flights to space by 2007-8.

Speaking at the launch of Virgin Galactic Airways, Sir Richard said he planned to invest 60m pounds in space tourism, making it accessible to the general public.

The Virgin boss this weekend signed a deal with the California-based Mojave Aerospace Ventures (MAV) for craft based on SpaceShipOne, a rocket-propelled reusable space vehicle created by the aerospace designer Burt Rutan.

Sir Richard said he hoped to offer space flights on which five passengers would each pay 115,000 pounds.

(in the ex's favor, he never tried to get me to drink blenderized human organs.)

my hands hurt. ow. and my knees, as well. i love this weather, except for the bit where it makes me hurt.

ha! a possible killer on csi just recommended co-q10, the same enzyme my ex was always trying to get me to take. (for the record, if you've got an immune disorder, don't take it. if you've got a sweetie with an immune disorder, for pete's sake, do some research before you recommend supplements to them...)

i now work in a very quiet room. it would be unseemly of me to chortle.

I thought it was an interesting coincidence that a state with questionable presidential election results would be pummeled by hurricanes just before the next election. Then I thought it was an interesting coincidence that the storms spared Miami, who voted for Gore in 2000. Just out of curiosity, I overlaid two maps: one of the tracks of the hurricanes of 2004, and one of the election results of 2000.

This is no longer an interesting coincidence. It is an unmistakable message from God. I hope everyone is listening.

questions that both i and paradox over at the left coaster think the media ought to be asking.

The Left Coaster: The Utter Humiliation of the US Press Corps Begins:

Mr. President, why did you lie when you stated the crew of the USS Lincoln put up that "Mission Accomplished" banner?

Mr. President, you've stated that it was right to invade Iraq because "Saddam was still a threat." If he had no wmd of any kind and no air force, how could he be a threat? Please be specific, and be ready for follow-up.

Mr. President, many have stated it's cowardly and very disrespectful for you not to have attended one funeral of a US service member killed in Iraq. What do you say to that, and why have you not gone to one?

Mr. President, you will be the first President since Hoover not to produce a net gain of jobs in your term. How do this jibe with your claim that tax cuts encourage employment?

Mr. President, when is the United States leaving Iraq? Please be specific upon what conditions this exit rests, and please be ready for follow-up.

Mr. President, the 9-11 Commission says Vice President Cheney gave the order to shoot down civilian airliners, yet you said repeatedly you did. Please clear up this discrepancy.

Mr. President, what do think of the State of Florida re-implementing the felon voter purge in 2004? Also, please give us your opinion as to why there were no Hispanics on this list.

Mr. President, the deficit is now at $422 billion. How does that jibe with your claim that tax cuts will increase revenue? Please be specific, and please be ready for follow-up.

Mr. President, why hasn’t the US increased its auto fuel efficiency requirements?

Mr. President, why haven’t all of your military service records been released?

Mr. President, why don’t you just order whomever leaked Valerie Plame’s name to come forward and dispose of this controversy?

James Wolcott: Baby Hooey:

Now at this point a certain type of liberal will quote Joseph Welch's famous question to Joe McCarthy at the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954, 'Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?'

Liberals of a certain age love quoting that stirring heroic retort. When Anthony Lewis was a Times columnist, he used to quote it every other week it seemed, and I saw Richard Cohen pull a Joseph Welch a few columns ago.

But I won't. The question is no longer worth raising, even rhetorically. Because we know the answer.
They have no decency. Not a sliver, not a shred. Look at how Max Cleland has been treated, look at how George Soros has been smeared as some sort of Jewish intriguer who oozed his way out of Nazi Germany by Tony Blankley* and a drug kingpin by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, look at--oh, we know what the examples are.

[...]

They have no conscience, they have no decency, so let's stop fake-pretending that they do.

thank you, womzilla, for the pointer.

to quote my current favorite t-shirt, i deeply resent the way this administration makes me feel like a nutbar conspiracy theorist.



The Left Coaster: Anatomy of a Rove Dirty Trick:

Karl Rove is the man behind George W Bush's Presidency. According to William Slater, co-author of Bush's Brain, Rove realized back in 1990 that he could make Bush President, first by getting him elected governor. And so he has. Karl Rove would make his mentor, Lee Atwater, proud. Figuring out how to destroy your enemy while neutralizing his charge without leaving any traces is a Rove speciality. Yet, as all good detectives know, sometimes you find the criminal by matching the MO (modus operandi) of the crime.

Rove's MO is all over the Killian memo controversy that threatens to take down Dan Rather.

i am now in nyc, after some amount of time in hartford yesterday, and sadly what will not be a happy kitten rescue story, but just a gentle death for the little one.

bleh!

found a cat yesterday, so hungry she was willing to be friendly. so i grabbed a tin of cat food off the porch from last time we had stray cats, and opened it, and was able to grab her and feed her. i called the vet, and they said that if nathan brought her in in the morning, they'd check her out. so she lived on the front porch in one of our spare dog kennels overnight, and then nathan brought her in. unfortunately, she has feline leukemia. she's about three years old, and hugely skinny. so it's not going to be good to take her home with us and try and get her acclimatized to the dogs when she's sick and will die soon anyhow. so we're going to have her put to sleep. i asked nathan to see if it could wait until monday so i could be there for her, but if they can't, then it'll be today.

fortunately, new york city manners and minnesota manners overlap in one important way-- if someone is standing in the pinata aisle of the party store, on their cell phone, crying, you ignore them. not up for explaining to random
nyc strangers.

so, last night at the airport, i got to the airport at about 530pm, and found out that my flight was running two hours late. however, the nice counterwoman got me on the flight that was scheduled for 420pm, which would be actually leaving about as soon as i got to the gate. so i got to the gate and found out that we were flying out on the smallest plane i have ever been on in my whole entire life. 50 passengers,
one on one side, two on the other. teensy. i was seated next to a non-communicative businessman, which was fine except for the part where together, we were too wide for the seat. sad me.

we flew and flew and flew, and were outside of newark, and were informed that we were waiting to get into newark. then we were informed that we were going to land in hartford, ct, to refuel. refueling is a better choice than dying horribly in a fiery
crash, but landing in newark the first time would have been the best, i think.

the pilot came out and let us know that it'd be a little bit, and some fine fine people on the flight explained that with an unscheduled stop, really, they should give us free booze. so they did. yay! so i had half of a tiny bottle of bad chardonnay. but it was free. free is good.

we eventually landed in newark. all i have to say about this is that i would like to know what circle of hell the newark airport is in, and what i did to get sent there. (other than pay the money, i mean.)

then, here to piglet's house, where i was enormously dazed for about an hour, and then i went to bed. now i have gotten up and gone to the party store and am writing this. oh, the excitement.

i adore you all, but i'm going to new york for the weekend. perhaps there will be a report when i get back.

things a person might want for her birthday, by betsy lundsten soon to be age thirty-two.

leverback earrings.
gift certificates to hold everything and/or the container store. (things to put other things in! what's not to like!)
i have an amazon wish list (under elizabeth lundsten), and i would really like it if people would buy me hugely depressing books about public health or welfare reform. alternatively, language books. i promise i will squeal in glee.
the firefly box set (also on amazon)
buffy seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 on dvd.
angel, any seasons on dvd.

um. if i think of anything else i'll come back and post it here.

Terra-Cotta Skyline by Peter Mauss, Susan Tunick (1997). currently available on ebay, probably available from abebooks. check with nathan to see if i already own it, though. i don't think i do.

The next time some guy asks you where all the female bloggers are,
tell them What She Said!

What She Said!

and there, indeed, they are!

i do do some political blogging, but i do way more personal blogging, so i am not going to apply to be listed. but this is cool.

in case anyone wasn't certain about this...

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq war illegal, says Annan:

The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has told the BBC the US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter.

He said the decision to take action in Iraq should have been made by the Security Council, not unilaterally.

good new year, for those of you who celebrate it today. may you be written into the book of life. (i hope i am wishing you all the right things, but let me know if i'm not.)

still hacking. no fun, that. however, dextromethorphan is my favoritest drug ever. ever ever ever.

i may change my mind later, but for now, oh, the blessedness of not coughing.

goldstone has just one question for the president at The World's Shortest Blog.

(no, members of my family, it's not *that* just one question.)

even if you personally don't like john kerry, this is good to think about. go read the rest of the article. (yes, you, mom and dad.)

sacbee.com -- Molly Ivins -- Molly Ivins: Pay attention to the people who work for the president:

The Cork had a theory about how to choose a president. He always said it didn't matter who was running, that it was unnecessary to pay any attention to them. What matters, he said, is the approximately 1,500 people the president brings to Washington with him, his appointments to the positions where people actually run things. The question to consider is which 1,500 people we get.


So here are a few suggestions:
-- At the EPA, you do not want people who think it's a good idea to allow more arsenic in the water. When someone, anyone proposes allowing more arsenic in the water, what you want is people at the EPA who promptly say: 'No. Not a good idea.'

pictures of why larry, laura, david, rivka, misha, davey, chip, xopher, justine, scott, and a whole bunch of other people had way more fun last weekend than i did, aka noreascon 4.

(note to those of you who i spent last weekend with, it's not that i didn't have a good weekend, it's that waaaaa! i missed worldcon!)

an acquaintance posted the lyrics to what she thought was the best breakup song ever on her lj. so now i feel compelled to post mine.

they might be giants, _twisting_.

She set your goldfish free
And now she's sighing
Blew out your pilot light
And made a wish

She doesn't have to have
Her dB's record back now
But there's not a lot of things
That she'll take back

(She wants) She wants to see you again
(She wants) She wants to see you again
Slowly twisting (Twisting)
In the wind (Twisting)
Twisting twisting (Twisting)
In the wind

She's not your satellite
She doesn't miss you
So turn off your smoke machine
And Marshall stack

She doesn't have to have
Her Young Fresh Fellows tape back now
But there's not a lot of things
That she'll take back

(She wants) She wants to see you again
(She wants) She wants to see you again
Slowly twisting (Twisting)
In the wind (Twisting)
Twisting twisting (Twisting)
In the wind

(She wants) She wants to see you again
(She wants) She wants to see you again
Slowly twisting (Twisting)
In the wind (Twisting)
Twisting twisting (Twisting)
In the wind

on my lj friends list, bear said we should all link to zir site. so, here i am, linking. S. Bear Bergman is the site, and if you're looking to book funny and enlightening performance art about trans and queer issues, go scoot over there.

(p.s. i am a total sucker for cute people who are of genders somewhere near bear's gender. uh, yeah. many of you already knew that.)

(edited to fix link so that it'll show up correctly in google.)

i know you've all been dying to know this.

on me, a manicure lasts about a week and a half. it's now chipping off like crazy, and my nails are long enough so that they're interfering with my typing and driving me nuts. shortly after i shut the computer off i am going to go cut them short, which i expect will cause most of the nailpolish to die of embarassment.

occasionally i go back and read posts from the past.

unless you're up for angst angst angst more angst, i suggest skipping the year 2002 in my archives. hth.

you want to know how i can tell i'm sick?

the insides of my ears itch.

if only i had a test tube cleaner brush.

here's the quiz: GreaterQuest - 5 love Languages Quiz. kind of interesting.

Profile Results
Score Love Language
3 Words of Affirmation
7 Quality Time
5 Receiving of Gifts
4 Acts of Service
11 Physical Touch


How to interpret your Profile Score:

Your highest score indicates your primary love language. Your second highest score indicates your secondary love
language. If two scores are identical, you are bilingual (you have two primary love languages). If the scores of your
primary and your secondary language are close (for example, 10 & 9 respectfully), it indicates both are important to
you. Whatever a significant other does to express love in either of these languages will get emotional points with you.
The highest possible score for any language is 12.

it's hard for us stoic scandinavians to be all touchy feely.

however, at the family reunion, someone gave me a cold. unfortunately, since i'm related to them all, i'm not really allowed to curse them. instead, i will just hack up a lung in their general direction.