Now, really, do you think that a. Simpsons still is as good as it was 5 yrs ago and b. that all the voice-over actors on the show should be happy with whatever money they're given for doing nothing but reading a few pages of text now and then? Simpsons cast gets new deal. Good for them I say. Fox only makes billions of dollars from Simpsons and Harry Shearer for one deserves to be a multi-millionare. So does Hank Azaria and everybody else in the cast. Especially Yeardley Smith and Julie Kavner. Talk about being typecast.

There is an opinion outthere that NOW, we have finally lost battle for hearts and minds. I think that now Americans have been told in no uncertain terms and with pictures that the war for Iraqi hearts and minds had been lost. I suspect that Iraqis knew about this long ago.

The New York Times > Opinion > In Front of Your Nose I hope that everybody reads Paul Krugman twice a week every week. But for those of you who visit this site instead of New York Times: go and check this great article out.

There is a newly popular trend regarding Iraq - fantasizing about how we could get out of it. Some ideas are interesting. Some ideas even sound uninformed. But whatever we doing is SO not working.

We are being prepared tot he possibility (probability?) of an American boycott of the Summer Olympic games in Athens. Security is one. But the facilities are not finished either. Yet. Still. I figured it was only a matter of time. And here it is. You know the last Olympics America boycotted. Yup. Moscow 1980. As Drudge says: "DEVELOPING..."

12 thoughts on Peter Gailbraith article How to Get Out of Iraq. What a title. Here's a running review of some very interesting points that he makes.
1. Peter Galbraith speaks with a lot of authority, but hind-sight is 20/20. I can't believe that there isn't somebody out there who is smart enough to have known that this is pretty much how Iraq was going to play out, especially that now people say things like: "all experience suggested" and "collapse...was most likely outcome". Has somebody said something and I missed it?
2. What spectacular things would it do for Bush's popularity in the poles to televise the execution of Saddam Hussein by hanging him on national television sometime in say...September-October? Terrorist attack, but we execute Saddam? Or perhaps a pre-emptive strike as usual?
3. Now. Everybody seems to be piling on Colin Powell and Condi Rice. Is it a coincidence that both of them are black? Please tell me it's not. But I am just not so sure...
3. Check this out. I am not sure that I think that a War on Terrorism is worth it. Do you? Fundamentally it comes down to: Do you believe in God? If you do, things are going to be just fine, either way. And the people who are running this show, claim to be pretty religious in my humble opinion.
4. Do you think that the following can not be applied to the Bush administration approach of running this country? "Looting has caused billions of dollars of damage, most of which will have to be repaired at the expense of the US Taxpayer."
5. I think that in the end, Bush should loose by a pretty substantial margin. He really has done a lot of harm to this country. And I think that Kerry's win in Iowa and New Hampshire, just may be an indication of the way today's Americans approach the elections. People are so busy with just trying to survive and get ahead a little bit, that there is no time to pay attention to electoral politics as a subject. But I predict (!!!), that by the middle of October, things are going to look pretty ugly for the administration when it comes to their numbers in pols. And oh, yeah, I think that as far as electoral college numbers are concerned, last I heard, Kerry was ahead by a pretty large margin.
6.Well, isn't that nice. Apparently Mr. President Bush the First, actually made us a little money on the Gulf War I. Ungrateful people.
7. For the people who think that America has a lot of friends in this world: a) Governments in the countries that have supported us, are starting to lose elections b) Our only friends are the ones we can pay for. Except may be for Japan. But Japanese were with the Germans before. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
8. "The greatest danger comes from rogue states that acquire and disseminate nuclear weapons technology." Did somebody say 'Pakistan'? Even if you follow the Administration logic that it's the states and not the oil rich organizations supporting terrorists that are the cause for conern, are we really doing enough about Pakistan?
9. I heard somebody say on NPR, that there is a real danger if something happens to Musharraf. It may have been Brzezinski.
10. Let me get this straight. There may have been biological weapons programs in Iraq, but they were simply looted AFTER US entered Baghdad?
11. Yugoslavia on Tigris and Euphrates?
12. Is this too long of an article to be posted on Drudge?

This little bit is really pretty well written. And the final answer seems as reasonable as one could hope for. Sort of.

Anthony Zinni, you may remember him as a Bush envoy in Middle East for a while, is quite SignOnSanDiego.com > News > critical of the administration effort in Iraq. Thank you Drudge, yet again, for pointing out a great and fairly important foot note to this history we keep living in...
By the way, I keep reading that Drudge is the evil right-winger, but what I see is an unparallelled dedication to getting the news out first, like nobody else out there. And even if he himself views things from a right-wing angle (which he does), I see him equally willing to post stories that are damaging to both sides in our two-party world. Judging by the numbers everybody reads Drudge, so the 'solution' to the 'problem' of Drudge is to have Democrats leak to him like the Republicans do. I do believe that he's an equal opportunity puncher. Oh, and while on the subject, every site that tries to imitate DrudgeReport fails so miserably, you'd think they've never seen the original.

Who knew that there could be a useful website out there? Just kiddin'. But may be this helps somebody.

This one I just love. I don't know how about you, but I had NO IDEA that Wizard of Oz had to do with 1896 election. I have been having a feeling that this political socio-economic picture feels a lot like early Twentieth century though...

Do I think that Real Estate market is important? It is to me. And that is why I think this article is scary

this is just so much fun. I highly recommend ;) Note the comment about Pan Am flight. I think that the reason Lockerbie is not mentioned is because we're now friends with Libya. Let the bygones be bygones I say. Is this like spitting in British face again?

Well, The New York Times > National > this about summarizes it: economy and Iraq. And religion hasn't been this popular since what, Vietnam?..

Let us begin the draft countdown... read me

Everybody should read this article.

KR Washington Bureau | 04/10/2004 | U.S. soldiers, bitter about extension, fight to subdue anti-American Shiites