Before we get into discussions on Iraq, just saw this notice about the large snowstorm that hit the Buffalo/Niagara area yesterday. Although I live very close, I am on the north shore of the lake and we missed the snow, I was told we only received a brief snow flurry.

Hope Dooley and his family has a safe trip.

We often joke around here that when you cross the border from Buffalo, the sun seems to come out, not because of any reason other than geography is quite amazing the difference in the weather just a few miles can make.

Yikes need more coffee here's the link.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061013.wontsnow1013/BNStory/National/home

Oy! Get out the snow chains.

Considering all of the attacks on police stations and the general mayhem reflected about Iraq's security in the news, I wondered about the very subject of this byilne...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101201669.html

*quietly taking a few boxes of canned goods to the bunker*

:-)

http://iraqbodycount.org/

Dooley shouldn't be afraid to come to Ottawa either. Weather forecast isn't exactly brilliant but it is tolerable for the season, no need for snow tires yet.
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/cities/can/Pages/CAON0512.htm

Sky report : my glasses got covered by liquid precipitation when I looked up. However the maple trees in my street were showing up this morning. They extended their yellow masses to reach each other over the yellow leaves covered pavement and created real golden arches. It was beautifiul but it won't last; cold rain and high winds will soon put an end to this display. This past long weekend was just gorgeous, we have to pay for it now.

Thanks Jack for that link.

Here's what Ignatius says:

When you peel away the "stay the course" rhetoric, the Bush administration's best hope seems to be for a federal solution in Iraq in which the central government devolves power to the Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni regions; oil revenue is shared equitably; the Iraqi army maintains order in unruly areas such as Baghdad; and U.S. forces gradually pull back.

The biggest problem with that strategy is that it would leave the Sunni Triangle as a lawless zone from which terrorists could operate freely. U.S. officials were encouraged by a summit in Baghdad last weekend of Sunni tribal leaders who might be able to contain al-Qaeda forces in their region. But such tribal strategies have failed in the past.

Perhaps it is just my cynacism but doesn't this statement sound like a perfect world scenario? Is it realistic?

"the Bush administration's best hope seems to be for a federal solution in Iraq in which the central government devolves power to the Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni regions; oil revenue is shared equitably; the Iraqi army maintains order in unruly areas such as Baghdad; and U.S. forces gradually pull back."

How long will it take for Americans to realize that the war in Iraq has long been lost, and that no amount of strategy discussion is ever going to change that basic fact of life?

Joel writes:
"Rajiv, I thought, effectively dismantled Senor's argument by giving specific examples and naming names."

Expand, please. Details, please. Counter arguments, pretty please.

http://www.usip.org/isg/members.html

The Iraq Study Group is a bipartisan group of prominent Americans supported by four premier institutions. It is led by co-chairs James A. Baker, III, the nation's 61st Secretary of State and Honorary Chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, and Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

The other members of the study group include: Robert M. Gates, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Edwin Meese III , Sandra Day O'Connor, Leon E. Panetta, William J. Perry, Charles S. Robb, and Alan K. Simpson.

Dem members of the Iraq Study Group are Panetta, Jorfan, Robb. Meese and O'Connor seem to be throwbacks to the Reagan administration, as is the fact that Henry Kissinger, according to Woodward, is advising Bush and Cheney pretty much monthly. Why is it that only Hamilton and Baker are authorized to speak about the Study Group's activities? Will we have any meaningful information from the group, financed at taxperyers' expense, before the midterm elections?

Has there been any movement on the information front from this group of assembled politicos since Dana Milbank at the Washington Post filed this report on Sept. 20? (I am consternated that they seem to be constipated.):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901341.html?nav=rss_print/asection

"We're not going to speculate with you today about recommendations," Baker announced at the session, hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Can the war in Iraq be won?

"We're not going to make any assessments today about what we think the status of the situation is in Iraq," said Hamilton.

Could they at least explain their definitions of success and failure in Iraq?

"We're not going to get into that today," Baker replied.

After more such probing, Hamilton became categorical. "We've made no judgment of any kind at this point about any aspect of policy with regard to Iraq."

A few minutes later, one of the organizers called out: "We have time for one or two more questions."

"But no time for any answers," one of the reporters muttered.

"This is pitiful," contributed one of the cameramen, as reporters' smiles escalated into audible chuckles.

Baker was bothered by the questioning. "Malicious," he whispered to Hamilton, unaware that it could be heard on the audio feed.

the head of the British Military feels that its time to begin lowering troop numbers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6046822.stm

As for Canada, we hear a whole lot about Afghanistan lately and far less about Iraq.

Who was it that said war is a failure of diplomacy?

I've posted this idea before, but I would like to throw it out here again.

It seems to me that it is politically impossible to increase troop density to the level needed to establish security, and total withdrawal will likely result in a rapid degeneration into bloody civil war.

The only possible solution I see is a contraction and concentration of US-controlled regions and abandonment of the rest of the country. These regions should be selected according to a weighting function that factors in population density, infrastructure, and the ability to disrupt and isolate insurgent forces. They should not be based on religion to avoid defacto segregation.

The Shiite and Sunni noncombatants, who are already getting very scared of what will happen when we leave, will move to these safe regions where they can be protected. This will also give them motivation to get along. The gangs can fight it out in the rest of the country.

I believe this approach has the potential to limit US casualties, protect the civilians, isolate the insurgency, allow development of a sustainable infrastructure, and provide a buffer to Iranian expansionism and militant Islamic extremism. Eventually, the US should be able to transition control of most of these safe areas to the natives and come home.

I realize that this has more holes in it than Swiss cheese, but at least it breaks the wearisome dichotomy between "Stay the course" and "Cut and run" by combining what I believe is the best of both approaches. (As well as, it might be argued, some of the worst.)

As a pedantic note, both of these approaches represent the polar extremes of the strategy I am proposing. But at the very least, the notion of a weighting function introduces a mechanism for scientific thought in what is otherwise an intractable problem.

I'm reading Chandrasekaran's book. It's a great companion to "Fiasco" if you want to be depressed out of your mind. Like "Fiasco," I find I have to read it in little chunks as I keep getting up and walking around the house mumbling incoherently. The incompentency, wrong-headedness, and complete arrogance exhibited by this administration is criminal. But reading that quote from the Shrub makes everything perfectly clear (if one happens to be high on drugs). I have just one question, how did this moron ever make it through Yale and Harvard?
As for a solution for Iraq, I don't think there is one that doesn't involve many more senseless deaths and years of horror and upheaval. Heck of a job, Bushies!

dr,
You beat me by a second.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2402666,00.html

This article has troop reaction to Dannett's stand:

Soldiers united in praise for general on web forum
By Devika Bhat

The comments from [British] General Sir Richard Dannatt that he wants his forces to leave Iraq sometime soon have met with overwhelming support on the Army Rumour Service website, where officers can air their views anonymously via forums which promote lively debate.

Many express shock about the frankness of his words and there are several references to Sir Richard's "moral" courage in speaking his mind, as well as calls for the Prime Minister to take heed of his remarks. "I hope Blair is listening," says user "Nigegilb".

"Sir Richard has made the call and said it how it is. Good on him. Stand by for incoming. Getting out of Iraq is essential if [Afghanistan] is going to work in the long run. God knows what will happen to Iraq, not sure it will be any worse though. He made the point that we were never invited in we kicked the door in. ...

Brewmeister adds: "I think even Teflon Tony is going to find it difficult to weasel his way out of this. If Sir Richard goes it's time for a coup."

[Pssst. Fifth para: "over and as a naiton [sic] we will have to . . ."]

[But I will decline to make corrections to the text that was transcribed by the White House.]

Tom fan, please correct the White House text, I was having some difficulty understanding it!!

Ah. Right. Ok. Will fix.

Going right off topic, I keep NPR Books, on my desktop. Right now there is a story from 'Literature from the Axis of Evil' posted in its entiriety.

Well worth the time to read, midway down the page, Look for 'A Tale of Music'

Doh! Another one:
First para: "situaton [sic] in Iraq]

[That Shiraz I drank with dinner must have dulled my proofing skills.]

Milbank's closing grafs--too good not to include:

It didn't qualify as a recommendation, but the two did have some advice for the Iraqi government. "The people of Iraq have the right to expect immediate action," Hamilton said.

Providing, of course, they don't expect it from the Iraq Study Group.

SCC:
[sic] in Iraq"

[Hic.]

Heck, the only solution is to reinstate the draft and send another 200,000 troops in. I mean, the whole country should get behind our wise and loquacious President, and I'm sure that most of us who are elegible for the draft would be happy to go liberate the Iraqi people and find the WMDs. It's not as if there are longstanding, cultural and tribal conflicts in the Middle East. I mean, the Middle East is pretty much monolithic, right? Seems pretty straightforward.

Here's an interesting take on the current situation on the homefront from Candorville:

http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/cand/

When both the current Maryland governor and his near-rival Democrat both urge voters to use absentee ballots, you know someone thinks there's a problem.

Although thinking seems to be leaning towards Federalism, this really makes me queasy. Once you define regions along ethnic or religious terms, minority rights become compromised. This can lead to forced displacements - or worse.

I heard that a bunch of Sunni sheiks got together recently and decided that the best course of action would be to restore Saddam to power.

Meanwhile it is conceivable that Iran would take control of the southern portion of Iraq where all the oil is.

I'm just passing along the stuff I hear on the street.

Were the Sunni and Shiite regions represented by a representative government a civil war may have brought some kind of resolution to Iraq's conundrum. It certainly did for the USA, at a hefty price for sure but it did bring some resolution. Being led by tribal and religious leaders this is hopeless; the country will go the African way and descend into a Somalian/ Congolean (sp ?)/Sudanese chaos. Religious states are dysfunctional, from the 17th century Massachusetts colony to the Taliban's Afghanistan; you just can't force people into believing and there will always be non-believers that will create havoc, the scoundrels. Who can name a great tribal government? Nominees are Rwanda, Sudan, Imperial Japan, etc.
Tribal governments disguised as religious/political form a fine group too, see North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sadam's Iraq and Hitlerian Germany for example.
Iraq is a mess and will remain so for a while. Until some mustachioed strong man from a minority takes power and whips it into shape...

OT, but certainly appropriate for today (and maybe on topic after all...):

Is anybody on this blog a triskaidekaphobe?

If so, you're in good company. Napoleon, Mark Twain and Franklin Roosevelt also were...

I think they also engaged in French-bashing, SF.

After yesterday's humid gloom with intermittent sun, today dawned chilly and crystal clear. It's still chilly and there were a few wispy clouds for a while but now the only object breaking the solid blue sky is a half moon in the west.

For those who need a break from thinking about Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Afganistan, Mark Foley, small plane crashes, et al, there is a great website for weather and skywatchers:

www.mountwashington.org/

Mount Washington is the tallest mountain in the northeast at 6,288 feet (not tall by western standards, but it's the best we've got). It holds the record for the highest windgust ever recorded (231 mph in 1934), and is considered by many to have "the world's worst weather." I love checking the site during the winter because however nasty it gets here, it's comforting to know that it's always much worse up there, the rime ice, windchill and temperatures are life threatening. They have great picture galleries of the sky and the flora and fauna too. And the 'observer comments' are fun to read, especially when they describe going out in extreme conditions to check the weather instruments.

Francophobe and triskaidekaphobe. Quick, a shrink!

It's now accepted wisdom --i.e. Walter Isaacson -- that iraq is the biggest foreign policy fiasco since...vietnam, or even worse than vietnam. How about holding accountable all the folks who got us there? Is that too much to ask? Isn't that what democracy is all about?

RD: ddid you see that fellow that was on CNN on Wed. IIRC, discussing how redeployment might be approached in order that entropy in Iraq be decreased ? An interesting take on strategy.

The Pottery Barn rule should have been heeded.

Hurray, Superfrenchie is still here. Quick before you go bicycle -- WHY do you feed the fleas? what does it mean? Does it fit in with rodents in Spain or the Cypriot mouse? I'd like to use this lovely phrase but want to know what I'm saying first. What is it in French? If I can say it in French it will REALLY annoy the Boy.

The only solution to our Iraq problem is to have Superman circle the globe really fast and then not invade. The neo-con bull has bought the entire Pottery Barn and nobody has enough cash to pay for the damage.

Someday, in the 100-500 year range, the invasion of Iraq will be listed with the Battle of Adrianople as a major turning point in civilization.

*sneaking back into the bunker behind S'nuke*

Oy. A lot of things bother me here.
The first of which is that I am not as knowledgeable about this as many other folks in here are.

With that said:
Any plans that rely on equitable sharing of oil revenues amongst Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis as a means to achieve ecomomic stability amongst them seems highly optimistic to me. Are violent extremists going to suddenly become moderates at an offer of 1/3 of the pie? Anything's possible, but nothing I've seen to date leads me to believe so. Control of billions of dollars in oil revenue with a goal of economic prosperity for one's people (at the expense of one's enemies) seems like a significant incentive to extrememists for contiuned war and violence. And al-Quaida has means and motivation for supporting (providing arms, ammo, intelligence, military training, etc.) whoever looks like they're going to win, as even a small percentage of the Iraqi oil reserves would be a handy revenue stream for funding global terrorism.

I would add that terrorists and insurgent groups seem to have significant freedom of movement in certain areas of that part of the world, with support from governments and other groups. Would the Sunni triangle really become lawless, or would it come under some law - tribal or otherwise - that we Americans would not like? I don't know.

So far, Western thought applied to the Iraq situation has not worked. Applying science to emotional faith-based issues such as sectarianism typically does not give anyone a satisfactory solution.

Ah, I wrote a lot more here that I deleted, because it was very depressing, but suffice it to say that I think three Iraqi states are a better solution than one tumultous one, the big question is how we can get them to peacefully coexist, all things considered. Hmmm. Apologies if I have not added much to the conversation.

bc

Loomis: Rajiv Chandrasekaran makes a brief rebuttal to the Dan Senor op-ed at "Table for One" on the always interesting Talking Points Memo site. URL is http://tableforone.tpmcafe.com/blog/tableforone/2006/oct/11/my_response_to_dan_senors_washpost_op_ed

Superfrenchie, I would just like to point out that going bicycling for the weekend is the most stereotypically French thing you could do.

BTW: why do you say that Cyprus is more Asia than Europe (full disclosure: I spent 3 months there years ago).

yellojkt, that's a very interesting future historical thought (does that make sense?). As bad as it is, I still don't see Iraq as being France in Algeria class divisive (in the U.S.). In the Arab world, however, there are going to be a lot more people with a grudge against the US directly (as opposed to generally against the West or the Little Satan).

ivansmom: I know, I'm running late. Still 4 hours driving...

"Nourrir les puces" (feed the fleas) or "donner a manger aux puces" is a slang expression for going to bed, which itself (the bed) can be called "le pucier".

I guess it comes from past times in the country when humans and animals were sharing a lot...

Son, here is a map:

http://worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/medsea.htm

Isn't it clearly in Asia?

It's off the Anatolian Peninsula, which is often called Asia Minor. It's certainly way east of the Bosphorus, which is traditionally the Europe / Asia demarcation line.

Pardon the brief return to yesterday. LindaLoo answered my inquiry: "Can't say straight out that our family tree holds Cornelius Kingsland Garrison. Is he your antecedent five generations back on your mother's side, or a distant great-uncle on your mom's branch? Whatever your connection to Garrison, you and I do have an historical connection between families in the history of the USS Augusta." LindaLoo: I believe C.K. Garrison was a direct ancestor. My mother's mother was a Garrison. Mom tells me that Garrisons Landing, NY is named after the family. This makes sense since he was born just across the Hudson. Here is the Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Kingsland_Garrison

$0.02 (CDN)

Let the Kurds have their way (ha ha). Independence following a referendum. Remainder in a federal state. U.S. out of the cities (except maybe the Green Zone) but in-country for at least the next few years to support the state.

Cyprus sure looks like it's the separated-at-birth twin of Jordan or Israel. I wonder how deep the water is between it and the Middle East?

All I want to say about today can be found here:
http://wilbrodthegnome.blogspot.com/2006/10/its-friday-13th-and-i-dont-have-normal.html

Here is a much less humourous account of what Canadian troops are facing in Afganistan. Story is about a month old, but still relevant.

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/world/article.jsp?content=20060911_133171_133171

SF: in terms of geography: St. Martin, Greenland, St.Pierre & Miquelon.

The ethnic composition is majority Greek, minority Turk (the cause of the current split begins with a movement to seek union with Greece).

I'm quite surprised, but not terribly annoyed, that we're not on the home page yet. We'll see how long it takes Hal to push the little red button.

:-)

_________________________________

Oh, and JA? Please don't ever write about Culpepper. That REALLY makes people upset:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2006/10/you_be_the_columnist_steaks_an.html

SCC: Culpeper *SIGH*

Is it 5 p.m. EDT yet???? :-)

Mr. Landrum must have lived aboard too long. Such umbrage sounds vaguely familiar.

By the way, I'm surprised the Canadian commander wasn't quoted as "you will receive death by yep-yep."

wheezy: making fun of the president at the white house correspondents association dinner is not all that remarkable. that is, in fact, what he was hired to do. the correspondents assoc. dinner is a sort of roast of the president held every year. colbert was just a little more incendiary because everyone who watches his show knew he really meant it.

as for the war on drugs, it is deplorable that the government is waging a propaganda war which is causing far more deaths than if they did nothing at all. drugs would not even be a major problem if the government was putting that money into rehabilitation and honest education instead of putting people in jail for simple possession (of anything, not just marijuana). distribution is another story, as people who sell addictive and/or dangerous drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and meth are in fact hurting people besides themselves, but to jail people for wanted to get altered is a sin. there are schedule I chemicals which cause less physical damage than alcohol, and are less addictive than alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine. there are also schedule I chemicals with great potential as medicine, including marijuana, but also including psychotherapy drugs such as LSD-25 and psilocybin.

meanwhile, cocaine is available legally, as long as you've got a prescription signed in triplicate.

sf - if you click on the other maps on your provided site, asia and then europe, you will see that it is "technically" a part of europe, no matter how close it is to asia - europe has claimed it so it shall be...

ebtnut:
Saw early yesterday evening Wiki link on Cornelius Kingsland Garrison. There were Loomises involved in the California Gold Rush, as well as the Austrailian Gold Rush. This is the part that truly interests me the most about CKG:

During the Civil War, he allowed the U.S. government to use most of his ships.

Do you have more detail? Contractual agreements and income derived? Who he dealt with? How this deal came about?

Also, is abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison on your tree? If so, there ia another link between our families' antecedents:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1561.html

BTW, S'nuke-- your comment was funny, thanks!

I once tried to teach Wilbrodog the concept of "important/worth" for some reason, wanting to tell him something was important, so I got out coins vs a 10 dollar bill and said this can buy soda (he's seen me do it), while this can buy dog food, and this is worth more than the quarter. Understand? YES.

Then I asked him if brushing was more important than petting, figuring he'd say no. He signalled YES, which surprised me. So I brush him and he looks ho-hum, and then he walks up to the treat box and waits. I realized right then I had been treating him for enduring brushing, because he isn't big on it, while petting is free.

Also, he had picked up on the comparsion-- this gets you X, but important gets you FOOD, and correctly indicated which would get him food, not what I meant to teach. Oh well.

SoC let me guess that you were wearing a blue hard hat during you stay in the home territory of the mighty Cyprus mouse. Are you a graduate of Shoeshine U. a.k.a. RMC btw? I use to work with many fine graduates of this facility of higher learning. Some of them were blabbering idiots but this is par for the course, I graduated in a class that also contained blabbering idiots.
I came upon a stash of go'ol Leopards parts yesterday; these are remnants of the decision to tear them apart a few years back when they came back from Germany. I wonder if someone at DND regrets this decision now that that an armoured platoon is heading for Afghanistan. For some bureaucratic reason DND had to render the tanks inoperable but can't seem to be able to dispose of this expensive scrap metal. This would be a he11 of a puzzle to put them back together, I can tell you that.

Do not get me started on the de Lusignan branch of my family tree and Cyprus:

http://countrystudies.us/cyprus/6.htm

Guy de Lusignan lived only two years after assuming control [of Cyprus] in 1192, but the dynasty that he founded ruled Cyprus as an independent kingdom for more than three centuries. In religious matters, Lusignan was tolerant of the Cypriot adherence to Orthodoxy, but his brother Amaury, who succeeded him, showed no such liberality, and the stage was set for a protracted struggle, which dominated the first half of the Lusignan period. At issue was the paramountcy of the Roman Catholic Church over the Orthodox church. Latin sees were established at Famagusta, Limassol, Nicosia, and Paphos; land was appropriated for churches; and authority to collect tithes was granted to the Latins. The harshness with which the Latin clergy attempted to gain control of the Church of Cyprus exacerbated the uneasy relationship between Franks and Cypriots. In 1260 Pope Alexander IV issued the Bulla Cypria, declaring the Latin church to be the official church of Cyprus, forcing the Cypriot clergy to take oaths of obedience, and claiming the right to all tithes. The papal ordinance had no more effect than the constant persecution or the frequent visits of high-ranking papal legates sent to convert the islanders. The Cypriots remained loyal to their Orthodox heritage, and by the middle of the fourteenth century the Latin clergy had become less determined in its efforts to Latinize the population. The dominance of the Latin church officially continued for another 200 years, but Cypriots followed the lead of their own clergy and refused to accept the imposition of their Western rulers' form of Christianity.

Mo: well, it's now part of the EU. But then again, so are Martinique or French Guiana, and nobody claims they are geographically in Europe.

Anyway, wikipedia says it's part of Eurasia... That should settle it :)))

Straying on-topic, I wish I had some coherent thought, much less a recommendation, on how to help resolve the Iraq mess. I agree with Superfrenchie that on some level that war is lost, but the mess remains and, having begun it, I think we have an obligation to try and not make it worse if we can't fix it. It doesn't appear to me that the Administration truly has a concrete goal for Iraq at this point. I think part of the problem is we went in there without any good understanding of the Iraqis themselves, and we still lack that. In addition to Rajiv's book and the others mentioned, I highly recommend Anthony Shadid's "Night Draws Near". He is a Post reporter who has worked in the Middle East for many years, and this book draws on his reporting of the Iraqi people before, during and after the initial "war" phase (the one we won, remember, or so they say).

I have a cousin currently reporting for the Post from Baghdad and she says many of the same things now as he noted earlier. The current descriptions of everyday life in Baghdad alone are almost unimaginable to one who never lived in a war zone of any kind. I am astonished that there has not been more public outrage over President Arbusto's recent comment about the Iraqis wanting freedom so much they are willing to tolerate this level of violence. That was truly shocking to me, and not much he says can shock me anymore.

Thank you, Superfrenchie, for the information. I will enjoy using this expression tonight when it is bedtime. From his infancy I've spoken occasionally to the Boy in bad French (the only kind I speak) so this will add to his peculiar vocabulary.

Sky report: blue bleu bleu. The air was crisp and cool, the sun was shining, the grass and leaves are green (still) and it is a beautiful day to be stuck in a windowless office. Enjoy your bike ride, Superfrenchie.

mark twain was indeed a french basher. when he wrote "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", it was a huge success everywhere, and in every language in which it was published, except in France. Twain read it in french, and discovered why: it wasn't funny. I believe he later took the time to translate the french translation back into english, just to prove that it was not, in fact, his fault that it had done so poorly in france.

silvertongue,
Thank you so much for the link!

You know who showed up in my mailbox this past week? Why none other than Usama bin Laden, Ayman Al Zawahiri, and Muqtada al-Sadr--their glossies on the front of a campaign brochure for Rep. Henry Bonilla, along with a lot of GOP talking points and blather about how this only Republican Mexican-American member of the House is keeping terrorists at bay, protecting our southern border, blah, blah, blah. Now that Bonilla's district has been reconfigured, he's pulling out the terrorists in turbans and robes, while meanwhile, about 10 miles from our home (My husband who rarely makes political statements, found this piece of direct mail advertising from Bonilla's camp way over the top):

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA101306.01B.stashhouse.3590282.html

Migrants weren't first ones stashed at house

Web Posted: 10/13/2006 01:22 AM CDT
Hernán Rozemberg
Express-News Immigration Writer

Federal authorities say 12 people found in a near Northwest Side home had smuggled dozens of others into the United States before police dismantled the scheme Wednesday.

Immigration agents found 58 undocumented immigrants in three upstairs bedrooms of a home on the 200 block of Senisa Drive in the Jefferson/Woodlawn Lake neighborhood.

Police said the migrants were held in squalid conditions, with exposed feces in the house and sharing a single bathroom, and said they had been in the United States for two to eight days.
***

And Padouk, I find your use of the Republican terms "Stay the course" and "Cut and run" disingenuous.

FWIW, I don't see how we can be part of the solution. If there were a credible Middle-Eastern-national force to take our place, that might address the "occupier" issue. Hmmm... Syria, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt... Then again, maybe not. *SIGH*

Mark Twain is indeed a big time French-basher. But I had to come here to find out. AFAIK, his main body of work is reasonably popular in France.

ivansmom, have you taught verlan to the boy?

Dooley, don't trust those Canadians for anything. dmd promised you good weather and she is probably snowed in as 6 inches of snow fell on Southern Ontario. Those people in the banana belt can't drive in the snow.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061013.wontsnow1013/BNStory/National/home

L'Échelle de Jacob to which Steve-2 was referring yesterday is a good French restaurant in Alymer. It's barely a mile from my home but about 7 miles from downtown Ottawa. Other suggestions for a French restaurant : Le Panaché and Le Sans-pareil, both in Hull. You get good cuisine for less than the outrageously expensive French restaurants in Ottawa.

Loomis - I am confused by your comment. Perhaps I could have used different terms, but I see nothing "disingenuous" in pointing out that there are other legitimate options besides the two polar positions around which much debate has focused.

"have you taught verlan to the boy?" Nope. Help me out here! I'm guessing that's not Verlaine (I may have read him some Verliane in translation, I inflicted a lot of poetry of all types on him when he was too small to resist).

Loomis, your last re: cross border issues reminded me of this little nugget - a GOP election website in the form of a "thank you" from Canada, Mexico and China to the Dem incumbent:

http://mercidebbie.com/

SD: yes UN, no RMC (although the RMC crest was in my mind when we were proposing a coat of arms for the Achenblog): http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ca%5Ermc.html

Ah, Cyprus. Good memories of the Scandinavian tourists; bad memories of the freakishly large-headed, bug-eyed mice.

ivansmon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verlan

Have fun. I'm off!

And this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1892853.stm

Bye!

Quelle cheese. Superfrenchie has presented me with a challenge up to which I may not be. Merely reading the descriptions of verlan has addled my language receptors.

Back to Iraq -- could we pull out our stunningly incompetent contractors, make all the people who stole or got overpaid give the money back, and find some competent Middle Eastern contractors (oh there are too some) to bring in working electricity, water and some sort of infrastructure? I'm sorry to keep harping on this but the trappings of civilization help people act civilized.

SoC, you are making me all misty eyed with your reference to the Scandinavian tourists. A troop of German girls (senior high school/junior college age) came to Laval Univerty one summer to, allegedly, learn French. How those girls living in a town 50km from the French borders conned their way to Canada to learn French is quite beyond me. Their sunbathing habits made the nearby ballpark the most popular sporting venue on campus despite the pond in the left field and the quicksand pit in the infield.

Dooley, them Canadians is tricky, Ya gotta watch 'em like a hawk every minute.

The question remains, is it ustoarb, toarbus, stoarbu that is tres chanme?

Personally I think that the French are getting really bored with speaking French ever-so perfectly all the time.

Mudge! I was starting to think your daughter had led the aliens straight to you for assimilation, examination, and tagging.
You feeling a little woozy, amnesiac about last night, and wearing an odd earring this morning?

Aw, crap, Shriek, I was getting a fair amount of work done today until you hadda mention that troop of sunbathing Rhine maidens...

Technically Shrieking I did not lie, no snow where I live, I am in the true banana belt nestled safely between the lake and the escarpment. We did get frost for the first time last night, but not a killing frost, impatiens still in bloom.

Saw this in the comments of G&B and it made me smile, I remember well Ottawa weather, on the days I was brave enough to emerge from the Carleton tunnels!

B A from Ottawa, Canada writes: Wow, the weird thing is somewhere else in this Province the weather is actually worse than Ottawa. Hhhmmm. Lemme check the date. Ah, Friday the 13th. That explains it. I knew this town was backwards

*peeking out* is the coast clear?

(It's not stereotypically French to bicycle on the weekends...)

I wish I could say (regarding Iraq) that we could "work it out," but given who would be managing the war, I think any attempt to ameliorate things would just blow up in our face.

It's time to throw in the towel!

There are socio-cultural forces at work that change faster than organizations such as the US and Iraqi government can adapt.

It's a shame.

The least we can do (and we have not yet done even this) is sympathize with the loss of human life. We seem to be like children -- "perversely innocent" -- oblivious to the consequences of our (in)actions.

There is nothing good that can come of Iraq with this group in power.

We need to learn that there are limits to what we can do -- life is not always what we want it to be.

Just saw this article about air samples done after the N. Korea test, questioning the possibility it failed.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1160736367533&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

dmd - My understanding is that there are several definitive chemical tests being done in the next few days.

A headline on AOL news:

October Snow Breaks Record
Buffalo Buried By Two Feet

And a couple of mighty big feet they were, too!

Before I forget (it being Friday and all), here's a link to an interview with Richard Dawkins on the topic of religion (his most recent book being The God Delusion- consider yourself warned about the content). Article title: The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

http://www.salon.com/books/int/2006/10/13/dawkins/index_np.html

Thanks RD, just read another article with more detail concerning the seismic results etc. Any chance N. Korea is playing a twisted version of chicken?

I finally read about the newly-discovered Cypriot mouse--it's just like ice-age fossils from the island. I'm sure the locals have known all about these mice for thousands of years. Just takes a while to realize that they're native, distinctive, and so forth.

I get a feeling that the island is "european" by a combination of
1. Being considered Greek by the Greeks
2. Not being on the Turkish or Syrian mainland, which the Greeks have always considered to be "Asia."

Anyway, the island is apparently also a geological and botanical wonderland, making it just the place for an English-style natural history vacation in spring.

NK is a tough nut to crack because everything is bound so tightly to the personal idiosyncracies of Kim Jung Il. It isn't a given that the so-called "rational actor" model applies here. What is most scary, frankly, isn't what NK is planning to do, but what the countries around NK might do in response.

From my Oct 9, 9:30 AM comment:

"Quick comment: I'm not sure that North Korea's actual detonation of a nuclear weapon actually changes anything, other than the media attention. They've said they have had capabilty for years, and we've believed them.

Russia says that they don't detect radiation indicative of an atomic bomb, so my Spidey-sense is starting to tingle. Could North Korea have actually detonated 5 or 10 thousand tons of TNT to make people *think* they have atomic weapons?

Hmmm. The North Korean Government *are* the #1 counterfeiters of American dollars in the world, to make people think that they actually have money (this is a big reason why the US has such stringent economic sanctions in place).

The folks I know in the Treasury dept. point to the North Korean bills as the best counterfeit dollars anywhere (and that includes the new "counterfeit resistant" bills), and are darn near undetectable in a cursory visual inspection.

Me, I'm not looking too closely at my money, but the next time I do, I'll be wondering if that $20 paid for a nuclear bomb, a big pile of TNT, or simply helped amortize the costs of a big, expensive, sophisticated printing press."

To paraphrase Capt. J.T. Kirk:
Not chicken, dmd. Poker.

bc

Have a great weekend everyone! Gonna take off early. Got a new job to start Monday which, evidently, involves figuring out what crazy ideas to spend tax dollars on and what crazy ideas not to. So if you have any crazy ideas, I'm your guy.

I would like to pretend that I will be so busy doing real real important stuff that I won't be able to keep an eye on the Boodle, but my momma taught me not to lie.

Research on dog-human communications, bc. That's the way to the future.

Holy Cow, SonofCarl (this got my attention)!:

Dawkins once said, "I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate."

Thanks for this link and the Debbie link. I can let my imagination run wild and see doing something with Bonilla in like fashion with mariachi music in the background.

I am sleep-deprived today. A candidate for our state house, Nelson Balido, Cuban-born by way of Los Angeles, lives over our back fence. There was some big soiree on his patio last night, well past midnight. Last night was cool and delicious and we slept (or attemtped to sleep) with our windows open.

We're a neighborhood of working stiffs, and I can understand a large, loud group of people on a Thursday night doing their thing until, say, 10:30 or possibly 11 p.m. But at 15 minutes after midnight, I found myself in the backyard, barefoot in my nightie, hoping not to step on a doggie bomb, yelling at the top of my lungs across the lane that separates our dwellings "Be quiet! Shut the effing up! I'm voting for (Democrat) Joaquin Castro."

Balido was on two local TV stations last night claiming that the Castro camp had defaced his signage. Yet, the news showed a Castro sign (of this young twin--his brother ran for mayor in our last election--minor scandal called Twingate that went national) with horns, moustache and goatee, painted on in white. When Balido challenged Castro in the previous election, he broke all the neighborheed covenant rules by hanging a huge, oversized banner on his back fence and on the street. Since this sign was the view from my upstairs window, my phone call of complaint brought it down. Pobrecito Balido!

RD, what course to stay? What goals? What benchmarks? How many tours and years in Iraq for my best friend's son?

Cut and run? Will there any be troop reductions? When? Any phased withdrawals? Ever? And if staying makes our Pottery Barn hijinks worse?

Unfortunately bc, your reply and RD's confirms what I was thinking and it is not a comforting thought.

Do you suppose all the people on Cyprus have always thought mice had unusually large heads etc.? Perhaps they'd come back from vacation elsewhere and mention the puny and obviously mutant mice, so inferior to the Cypriot Mouse.

NYT today has a story with pictures about how nobody can effectively consistently pick up trash in Baghdad, given the danger. They even took away trash bins, because they might be used to hide bombs (now that is the job of the piles and mounds of roadside trash). It's all about the infrastructure, and the security which would allow infrastructure to function.

"L'Échelle de Jacob." I mangled it pretty badly, didn't I? Sorry for that. Glad to know it's still there.

As for the question of what to do in Irag. In my mind, the answer hangs on another question: is there an organization in Iraq (could be the existing government) that a) is supported by a reasonably large share of the population, and b) has a reasonable chance of creating a stable country (or countries) in that area if given support? If the answer is "Yes" to both questions then we (the US) have an obligation under the aforementioned Pottery Barn rule to provide what assistence we can, until either a) or b) is shown to be false.

Can the case be made that the al-Maliki government meets test a) and b) above? My opinion is no - it meets neither test. And to my knowledge there is no other organization in Irag that meets the test(s).

So, I'd leave Iraq. Sooner rather than later. Call it cut-and-run, if you like. Whatever. Not going to keep doing the wrong thing, just because some politician came up with a perjorative phrase. Let the Iraqis sort it out themselves. There will be bloodshed. Lives lost. We all should feel bad about that. But there's no time machine that can take us back now to undo what we've done. And I am pretty confident in predicting that the body count will be even higher, and the end the same, if we try to continue proping up an unpopular government through force.

Here's some pictures of the snow in Buffalo and Michigan. The one of the lab in the snow is great.

http://www.ctv.ca/gallery/html/fall_snow_061013/photo_0.html

SCC Iraq, not Irag. Geez, they're not even close, on the keyboard.

They're close in fingerspelling and general appearance, though. Something you're not telling us, Steve-2?

Just that I didn't use the Preview button. The shame...

I'm not advocating this, but in the Scriptures (Old Testament), and correct me if I'm wrong, when the Israelites went out to fight their wars, many times God told them not to leave anything breathing.

Now some are saying if we leave Iraq, then there will be a civil war, and many lives will be lost. If we add up the military might and clean the place up, meaning many lives will be lost, what's the difference? And I know I'm slow on a lot of stuff, but I'm serious, what's the difference? So many young people have lost their lives in this war, and many are so maimed, their lives will never be the same. Do the the people of Iraq really want freedom? Is that why we're there? Why are we there? Perhaps defining the reason for being there might lead to the solution of solving the problem or just simply leaving this place. I don't know. It is such a mess, and no one seems to know the answer as to what to do. If we're there for the oil, then that needs to be said. We certainly cannot put a pretty face on the situation in Iraq or Afghanistan.

And why are we burning dope? Did someone say that? I am so confused.

I think I still come back to my original thesis that you can't create democracy at the point of a gun any more than you can force a change in religious beliefs. Our little excursion into the history of Cyprus is a good example. Many of the problems of the Middle East stem from the arbitrary partition of the Ottoman Empire after WWI. (And of course some of them go back to the Crusades). I guess I am still dumbfounded that the architects of the entire Iraq fiasco really believed that we would be showered with flowers and greeted as liberators by a country that was only held together in the first place by Baath Party terror. And that somehow a democratic government would suddenly appear where none has ever been before, in a region that had no tradition of representative government before the creation of Isreal.

To Shrieking Denizen and Mudge regarding the sighting in Canada of a "...troop of sunbathing Rhine maidens..."

Wow. Visual relief from what is happening in Iraq.

So, here is a poem about Die Lorelei, the queen of the Rhine maidens:

Translation of Heine's "Die Lorelei"

I don't know what it could mean,
that I'm so sad: I find,
A fairy-tale, from times unseen,
Won't vanish from my mind.

The air is cool and it darkens,
And quiet flows the Rhine:
The tops of the mountains sparkle,
In evening's after-shine.

The loveliest of maidens,
She's wonderful, sits there,
Her golden jewels glisten,
She combs her golden hair.

She combs it with a comb of gold,
And sings a song as well:
Its strangeness too is old
And casts a powerful spell.

It grips the boatman in his boat
With a wild pang of woe:
He only looks up to the heights,
Can't see the rocks below.

I believe the waves swallowed
The boat and its boatman,
That's what, by her singing,
The Lorelei has done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorelei

Could all of these "stakes" Mr. Bush mentions really be the "MIStakes" that are so obvious and which he refuses to own up to?

Stay the course... yeah, right.

The horse is dead, the cows have all escaped and the barn is a burnt out shell. What more does this stupid monkey need to see before he'll 'fess up to being a stupid monkey?

He just makes me sick to my stomach (and can't blame Taco Bell today, because I came home for lunch and am cooking up some tomato soup).

I can't believe we're not on the home page yet.

If rodents in Cyprus are any indication, there is a good survival strategy in keeping your big head down and out of sight.

I know, scotty. Hal must be in a snit about Joel. Probably paybacks from all our complaining about timestamps.

It is now 9:32 p.m. UTC

:-)

Speaking of disbelief, I just can't believe those dummies in Stockholm didn't give Bush the Nobel Peace Prize for attempting to remake and democritize the Mideast. What could they have been thinking?

Oh, right.

Dare I say it?

"Screw Hal."

He's just a single letter off from each letter of IBM, and IBM is at the top of my crap list today -- bad enough I gotta deal with the junk Microsoft unloads on my customers, but when "Big Blue" dumps their junk, we're talking a major dump.

Grrr...

Why did I choose "software development" as a profession? Maybe I'm the dumb monkey.

Martooni, there is a little monkey in all of us.

My best advice is of course, to leave it for Monday, go home, put the little one on your lap and read good stories like 'I'll Love you Forever'(Robert Munsch)and then snuggle. If you can't leave it for Monday, just do all the rest when you got home. A kiss from a little one makes a lot of stuff melt away.

Hey, Martoon, it's a better job than being a peace activist in Iraq.

Despite the evilhood of Hal, I rather like the name.

Think of Shakespeare's Henry V, aka Prince Hal.

Also, "H A L" looks great on a work-overall.

It'll go on the home page over the weekend, maybe. There was some miscommunication.

Meanwhile, here's the text of Rajiv's response to Senor:

Several people have asked me to respond to Dan Senor's op-ed in today's Washington Post about an excerpt from my book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, that was published in The Post on September 17. While I don't want to be drawn into a back-and-forth debate on the pages of The Post or in cyberspace, there are some significant misrepresentations and inaccuracies in his piece that need to be corrected for the record.

Yes, there were nonpolitical experts who worked for the CPA, and some of them even held senior-level titles, but it most cases, they were kept at an arm's length from Ambassador Bremer and, as such, were not involved in making the most important decisions of the occupation. In addition, many of them did not serve for the full duration of the occupation. Ambassador Jones, for instance, arrived in Baghdad after the November 15, 2003, agreement. By the time he arrived, the roadmap for the political transition had already been set. And, according to several senior CPA people I talked to, his influence was eclipsed by Bremer's younger, more political advisers.

Ryan Crocker was there only for the first few months. Yes, he played an important role in helping to select the Governing Council in the early weeks of the occupation, but then he left Iraq. His role was filled by Scott Carpenter, a former International Republican Institute staffer. He was sent to work for Jay Garner by Liz Cheney, the vice president's daughter. (In my book, I write that Carpenter "had not been involved in the Future of Iraq Project or the department's other initiatives with Iraqi exiles but, unlike some of his State colleagues, was a firm believer in Bush's effort to promote democracy in Iraq and the broader Arab world. Carpenter 'really wasn't what I wanted,' Garner said later.")

It's worth noting that Ryan Crocker doesn't even rate a mention after Page 85 of Bremer's memoir, "My Year in Iraq."

Redd and Kellogg were operations guys. They didn't deal with the governance of Iraq.

Larry Diamond and Noah Feldman weren't in Baghdad for extended periods of time. Feldman had no major role in shaping overall CPA policy. I've got quotes in my notebook from Senor dismissing Diamond's role in the CPA as insignificant. It's interesting that Senor seeks to tout Diamond's role now.

Senor claims that "the senior tiers of the CPA were populated with a bipartisan and generally nonpolitical corps of experts." In his op-ed, Senor cited a handful of individuals. Let's consider a few others:

One of the senior advisers for the Ministry of Education was Williamson Evers, an advocate for school vouchers and an education policy adviser to President Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns. The senior adviser to the Ministry of Higher Education was John Agresto, the former president of St. John's College in Santa Fe, N.M.; he had worked with Lynne Cheney at the National Endowment for the Humanities. The senior adviser to the Transportation Ministry was Darrell Trent, the deputy manager of Ronald Reagan's 1976 and 1980 presidential campaigns. The senior adviser to the Ministry of Health, as I detailed in the excerpt, was James Haveman, a 60-year-old social worker who was largely unknown among international health experts; he had been the community health director for the former Republican governor of Michigan, John Engler, who recommended him to Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense. The CPA's director of private sector development was Thomas C. Foley, who served as Connecticut finance chairman for Bush's 2000 campaign. Among Bremer's senior counselors was Tom Korologos, who served as an assistant to President Nixon and President Ford and was a member of the Bush-Cheney transition team in 2001.

It all depends on how you define "populated." Yes, there were some bipartisan and nonpolitical experts. And yes, there were even some Democrats. I said that in the book and in the excerpt. But there weren't that many of them.

Senor contends a "fairer book would critique our policy decisions." My book certainly does that. See Chapters 4 and 9. See also Chapter 16. In fact, see the whole book. It's one big critique of policy decisions.

In his op-ed, Senor doesn't even seek to defend the three principal subjects of the excerpt: Bernard Kerik, Jay Hallen and Haveman.

In his final paragraphs, Senor suggests that I prefer the rapid political transition plan favored by neocons at the Pentagon. Far from it. Yes, I quote an Iraqi political official as saying the occupation was a mistake, but I do not espouse the rapid transfer of power to exiles led by Ahmad Chalabi. Instead, I write in Chapter 16 that a better political transition could have taken several forms:

"The compromise between their desire for self-rule and the absence of a leader with broad appeal could have taken many forms, as the State Department's Arabists pointed out over the months after the invasion: a temporary governor appointed by the United Nations, an interim ruling council, or even a big-tent meeting--similar to the loya jirga convened after the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan--to select a crop of national leaders. There certainly was a role for a tireless, charismatic American diplomat to shepherd the process. It could easily have been Bremer, with a different title and a shorter mandate, with a viable political plan and meaningful resources for reconstruction."

Sure, there were people at the State Department who wanted the same sort of open-ended occupation that Bremer favored, but there were plenty of others who wanted a shorter, more modest, Iraqi-led process that didn't involve handing the keys over to Chalabi and his ilk. That's where I come down.

My book, contrary to what Senor contends, does acknowledge "the depths and ambiguities of the problem." That's what it's all about.

---R.C.

You'd half expect that Cypriot mice would have been displaced by mice arriving on Phoenician, Greek, Venetian, Turkish, or even British ships.

The Venetians and Ottomans apparently were prone to exterminate incovenient human populations on the Mediterranean islands that they contested. I wonder how many rats drowned in the naval battle of Lepanto?

If the Democrats were smart, they would put national security and the war on terrorism front and center for this election. They would say: "Our troops are awesome, our commander-in-chief is not." And: "We can have the best army in the world, but if it is used for the wrong purposes, no amount of expertise and determination can bear a good result. It is time to end this war, and develop a new strategy -- a strategy that secures American interests and is responsible towards other peoples of the world." Also: "The war on terrorism has suffered a terrible setback because of the misguided war in Iraq. We need to set the record straight: our enemy is composed of loosely affiliated murderous gangs. They are capable of mass destruction but are no match for us! In terms of numbers, resources and above all resolve. Because we have a positive vision to offer the world (they only breed negativity). So we need to get on with business, but do things right! And the first step is to remove from power those who have mislead us."

Dave, not really. House mice are so dependent on man that they can't survive well in the wild away from human dwellings. The large head of the Cypriot mice likely is an adaption for various nuts and items too large for most mice to deal with.

Rats might outcompete them for the nuts, but come a famine year and the mice may well do better than the rats because of their smaller size.

Or the mice got so big-headed because they had to be brainy to avoid well-fed commando kitties...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/04/040409092827.htm

So much for commenting about mice and massacres just after Achenbach posted serious material about the American occupation in Iraq.

I thought I read somewhere, at least 5 years ago, that Karl Rove was impressed by the 19th century patronage systems in the US, and thought them better and more effective than the sort of professional, disinterested, non-corrupt bureacracies that were favored by the Progressive Movement and by Theodore Roosevelt. McKinley was a better model for a successful presidency.

If I remember correctly, Rove thought that patronage actually delivered benefits to voters (such as immigrants/ethnics in some of the big cities), while professional bureaucracies tended to end up in the hands of privileged groups. In the past, that would have been WASPs.

So Baghdad was to be run a bit like Boss Tweed's New York.

Washington had its own "Boss" Shepherd, but he seems a much more benign character, perhaps just what Baghdad needed. If the city was totally torn up for sewer construction, how could bombers get around?
http://www.exploredc.org/index.php?id=4

Willbrod,
Years ago, I was surprised to see that a phosphate mine in northernmost Florida was full of house mice, along with the usual native Sigmodon rats. Blessedly, around here, we still have some sea oats-eating native beach mice on conservation lands. Much cuter than house mice--big ears, nicely colored coats.

It's all about the big ears (or the fluffy tails) -- that's why mice and squirrels are cute (respectively) and rats are so repulsive. If rats didn't have the beady eyes and the segmented tails -- and of course, if they hadn't wiped out what was it? two-thirds of Europe's population during the Black Death -- maybe they would have their own beloved cartoon characters now, too.

Been on jury duty -- too much to catch up. It's like the dead-tree version of the Post: when more than a couple of day's worth are in the backlog, it's time to grant yourself absolution and vow to keep up to date from this day forward.

I did a quick check and housemice like cracks in rocks and so on for their nests, rather than beaches and such.

I did a rapid report and found that this cypriot mouse isn't the only bigheaded mouse found in recent years:

http://wilbrodthegnome.blogspot.com/2006/10/achenblog-is-all-agog-about-new.html

Wow. I took a vacation day, and went hiking. & had a few random thoughts of reporting the beauty of the forest and the sun and sky, and nature in general, to y'all. But I return, and find that the boodle has become ultra-serious.

I have nothing to suggest as a solution for Iraq.

I will say, as a human with an oversized cranium (largest hat size in my high school graduating class!), that I feel a great deal of solidarity with Cypriot mice and wish them the best.

The woods were lovely. The trees, green and gold. The air, brisk and fragrant. I felt I was taking in more oxygen than I had in a week. I saw few humans, and the woods muffled their sound as soon as they dissapeared from view. Many times, I stopped walking, took off my hat and listened. The only sounds I heard were of the wind rustling in the trees, and a randon chipmunk squeek. Wilbrodog would have been intrigued. What a pleasure to be away from human sound! More than that, I cannot verbalize.

I miss the forest already.

Good rule, Annie-- I often skim through blogs that are full of stuff that just doesn't sizzle my bacon at that moment.

Yeah, Irak tends to wipe the grins off people's faces, Whirlygig.

Annie, Re Rats: their own beloved cartoon characters.

That must be why the Ben-Rat thing in the movie Willard did not take off. (Now I hear the iMichael Jackson song in my mind....must cleanse with something.)

I told my students about this movie one day and they did not believe me about the concept, until they googled/wikk-ed it.

Wilbrod, I dig your blog. I am short on time and concentration, but the little I have looked at, you are truly gnomic. I will read more during the "work" week.

Iraq....how will history judge us? The level of human suffering that our nation has brought on these people is astounding. History will surely look back on us and say things that would bring tears to our eyes.

Random thought: Around here, in Pennsyltucky, many folks still have those "W '04" stickers on their cars. My thought is to imagine that "W" stands for Wilbrod. Or Wilbrodog. Or, in extremis, whirlegyge, although I am sure Wilbrodog would make a better president than me.

Cheers!

Wilbrod, I don't know about commando kitties (although I seem to recall a movie of a different genre with a name to that effect), but an interesting phenomenon of cease fire zones is the return to nature. In Cyprus there were the Buffer Zone Dogs (feral, and often rabid). I've heard the DMZ in Korea is a real wildlife refuge.

Just in case you thought that we, at least, were safe from this administration:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/opinion/13fri1.html

Wilbrod, did you see this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/education/13galludet.html?ref=us

As you can tell, I am an nyt.com junkie.

OMG! [Sorry, Cassandra.} This is so awesome!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/us/13robber.html

OK, I killed the boodle.

Please, someone come back.........!

Offically, I have no opinion. But contact me at wilbrodthegnome at yahoo and I'll send you a "backstory" on the protest.

And in other news....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Nobel-Peace.html?em&ex=1160884800&en=90a4646e03de18fd&ei=5070

This makes me think humans are capable of doing something right, after all.

Speaking of people doing something right, a good story from the front lines of the GWOT:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/10/13/second-person.html

Have a good weekend, all.

Wow, Annie! Jury duty -- what was it like? What were the dynamics? Civil suit or criminal case? I'm truly interested -- I've never sat on a jury and won't as long as I live in OK (lawyers exempt). As a former litigator I'm always fascinated by what & how juries decide.

Dave otCoonties, are you familiar with the Perdido Key Beach Mouse? Long ago and far away I worked on some case protecting the li'l rodent but left before the outcome.

dr... very true on the hugs from little ones. Mine has done a very good job of preventing me from destroying myself.

Last night I gave her her very first guitar "lesson" (she's only 4, so this is major, especially when considering her fingers are so darn tiny). We did "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (by who knows) and "Goo-Goo-Muck" by The Cramps. Mrs. Martooni was into it until the Cramps tune, then she just kinda shook her head and walked off muttering stuff. Funny... when I mutter stuff, they call me crazy.

We also worked on our new potentially #1 Billboard-smashing hit song -- "Snuggle Bug".

First verse:

Snuggle bug, snuggle bug,
I love you!

Snuggle bug, snuggle bug,
Yes it's true!

Snuggle bug, snuggle bug,
I really really really love you....

then there's a "boop-boop, boop-be-doop" and then we just repeat it for about three hours. Really have to get to work on verse #2.

In any case, Little Bean (or "Little Fart", as I've been calling her lately) is definitely what keeps my nose to the grindstone and looking forward to coming home everyday. If not for her, I would be dead -- and that's no kidding. Self-destruction and I wave at each other every day. She's not only fun, but very insightful for her four years and seems to instinctively know when her Daddy is falling apart and needs a hug (hence the "snuggle bug" stuff). Absolutely amazes me at least five times a day (she's amazing the rest of the time, but I don't want to brag).

Anyway... sorry for the sappy. Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

What a great way to end the week, with some really nice news.

First off, Mr. Muhammad Yunus proved the power of small things, small numbers of people, does great big things.

And then what can you say for that unidentified person. Whoever you are, thank you, we need more of you on both sides of whatever line there seems to be.

I'm curious as well about jury duty. I'm summoned for jury duty in early November. No word what kind of jury-- grand, petit, hanging jury, jury-rigging.

I'll contact them and see if they give tree breaks to jurors. Hope Wilbrodog doesn't volunteer too much information.

Wilbrod... I hope you haven't given Wilbrodog the secret family recipe for baked beans. Dogs are wonderful but cannot be trusted with such things -- will sell you out for a tummy rub in a second.

Right now the engineering office is playing relic. They are copying long unused but now required data from a 486 with a 5.5 floppy. It took them all afternoon to find the 486, stored just for such archival purposes. Yes this is how we worked before servers. Keep the old computer just in case.

I'm not sure who is slower, the computer or the guys trying to remember the commands.

This is almost as good as my mastery of math yesterday.

dr - You are archiving data? Bless you and your good work.

dr... If the old 486 happens to run Mentor Pro, I got all the old commands. Seriously.

The software my employer sells is based on roughly 25 year old code. Sure, they've added a GUI front-end, but it's like going on an archaeological dig whenever you need to debug something -- especially when you find comments dated 1982. One advantage is that the code has been around so long that it's damn near bullet-proof -- if a bug hasn't been found in 25 years, it probably is not going to surface (unless, of course, I'm the one manning the phones and everyone else has left for the weekend).

But that's what the Achenblog and email are for (Achenblog for a diversion, email to pass the buck).

36 minutes until freedom.

Wilbrodog, how do you feel about the anti-pull harnesses? More comfortable than Gentle Leaders?

Wilbrod, we have to get your readership up so you can subsist on ad revenue, like dooce. Ideas, anyone?

RD? I thought you were off to a weekend bacchanal before ascending the throne Monday. If Cypriot mice are any indication, your Friday night is altogether too tame.

Like mine, of course. I'm waiting to open the wine until Ivansdad brings home the pizza. He loaded his pizza gun a few minutes ago.

And thank you, Martooni, for sharing your sweet bug song. Just keep holding onto that giggle, and wave at self-destruction from a distance. If you get tempted to beckon, Boodle instead. We're much more beckonable.

Archiving data isn't the problem. Retrieving it is!

Don't mention gentle leaders to me! I know 3 ways to get out of one. Grr.

Wilbrod says that antipull harnesses have good reps and probably are the best choice especially for little dogs. Wilbrod also says that I need to stay good so I will never have to wear one ;).

Will have to look around for juicy keywords ;).

Weekend bacchanal? Ha Ha HaHa - oh wait. You are serious? No, my son is going on an overnight band trip and my wife asked me to get home early and assist with the preparations. For without massive parental involvement he might forget little details like, you know, clothing.

I'm sure you know the feeling.

And in, what 35 months or so, he is supposed to be off to college?

dbG - Oh so very true. Recently I had to extract some data without documentation and in an unfamiliar format. It dated all the way back to 1998, so naturally nobody had a clue how to do this.

Thanks, Wilbrodog. Emma knows 3 ways to get out of a Gentle Leader too. We'll see how she does, although at 70#, she's not little.

My favorite method is to brush it with my paw just enough I can get a part of it in my mouth. Chomp chomp and then spit it out. No more GL. And a very angry Wilbrod. Whoops.

Guess that method's not so favorite anymore.
Guess I will have to blog, too.

Isn't it refreshing how the nuts and bolts (mostly nuts) of parenting can put one's non-family triumphs and difficulties in perspective? Out there folks may listen to me. Here, I sign the assignment notebook and pick up socks.

RDP, good thing you're clever!

I archive off about 9 GB a week from 1 db, all to be kept for 7 years, eom, eoy for 10. When they need something retrieved, it's always when I'm on vacation. When they find it'll take a day after I return, they always decide their own fiche will be sufficient.

Wow. There were five things in dbG's last post I didn't understand. Good thing you don't have to work with me! Even better thing that I don't have your job.

Hooray! Wilbrod said I could blog too. Except I forgot what I wanted to say.

http://wilbrodog.blogspot.com/

Hi, Ivansmom.

I'm a software engineer/database administrator for a large financial institution. On my main database (db), which is accessible to clients only through a web site, I keep roughly the past 30 days worth of data--all types of financial transactions. Every night more data is added in. The loads finish by 3 a.m. and our clients hit the site and think, "How will I manage wealth today?"

So at the end of every week, I archive out records that are >30 days old to special tables. Every month, I move everything in those archive tables to a new database (2nd archive process) states away and take them offline for easier storage.

Every week, about 9 Gibabytes (GB) of data is moved in, and 9 Gigabytes of data is moved off. End of month (eom) records and End of Year (eoy) records are kept longer than daily records. Everything I do is duplicated on an out-of-state disaster recovery server. Month-end/year-end reports are also put on microfiche, which our in-house people have available at all times.

I don't understand everything my lawyer says, either!

I called Ivansdad in to read the last series of posts (thank you for the excellent explanation, dbG!) and he said to write, "Ivansdad, who is an actor, understood everything in that post." He shook his head a lot too. Of course, he's more than an actor -- he started out as an engineer before he got bored and still does all our computer stuff.

I was trying to explain to him why I, the Luddite in the family, enjoy the Achenblog so much. I think I'll go find one of the Mr. Stripey archives and try him on that.

This is tongue in cheek, but the ex-HerrProfessor dbG would have pretended he understood it too.

I'm not sure you qualify as a Luddite. Destroyed any hardware lately?

I had to crack up when the first google ads were activated-- buying gnomes in naughty positions, and of course a website for all the garden gnomes you want. They're more boring now (sigh).

I found the first Mr. Stripey thread (May 19) but Ivansdad very politely said he thought I'd showed it to him then. I tried to explain about Rovestorms and finaly described the vicious Mommy Blog when Pat posted, and our response. He was appropriately shocked at the Mommy Blogsters (Blonsters?) but I don't think I've really communicated the essence of the Achenblog's charm.

Luddite -- I haven't destroyed any equipment lately, but I did break a dozen eggs last week. Most satisfying and surprisingly loud and crunchy.

The Boy just buzzed through saying that majority ruled and he & Ivansdad agreed we needed a hi-definition TV. My response, of course, was that I vote no and I win.

Now I must go watch a Disney movie with my son. Vaya con queso.

Ivansmom - I never bothered to keep my Mr. Stripey posts, but maybe I should search for them and make a compilation. I could pass them on to my children.

And they could pass them on to their therapists.

Also..and I am so ashamed to admit this..I have started to watch "Ghost Whisperer."

And....this is so hard....I, I like it.

Ghost Whisperer, despite its premise, is not that badly written, really.

I particularly love the opening scene with that American Gothic and other artwork. It looks like that was done by the same artist for "Desperate Housewives." Just gorgeous.

dbg, I too have a 70# plus dog, in an effort to save me from a separated shoulder when he would spot a rabbit we have tried a couple of alternative to a regular leash. The anti-pull harness that goes on his front legs/shoulders. It works like a charm and completely halted the pulling, however, with our dog he became more aggressive when he would see other dogs (barking more). Now I know its his play with me bark but to a small dog it is not convincing. We have switch to a gentle lead, that is looped through his collar, it is a partial choke chain collar (small chain attached to strap on collar so it doesn't constrict past a certain point), he cannot get the lead off, does not pull and seems a little calmer.

What is Ghost Whisperer? Never mind, I don't really need to know. RD, I'm touched by your confession and will gladly give absolution with all my vast authority.

Back to Monsters Inc on Disney Channel (with commercials, ick).

Joel's buddy, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, just won a National Book Award (and the $10k that goes with it) for his book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone." Congrats, dude.

Seems like Joel manages to buddy up to all those hot-shot writers.

Yet he won't drop by the BPHs. If I were you, Mudge, I'd start to feel slighted ;).

Thanks, Wilbrod, Wilbrodog & dmd. We went to Petsmart, she liked the harness even less than the GL, I refuse to muscle her into a harness every day.

My solution was somewhat like dmd's. Got an extra snap on each end piece, will put one on the GL and one on her collar. And walk pretty dodge fast, so she can't paw it all off!

Ivansmom,
Good to hear you were aquainted with Gulf coast beach mice (Perdido Key beach mice). I'm barely acquainted with the Atlantic coast ones. Sebastian Inlet has nicely restored habitat (several intentional fires to control the shrubbery and promote sea oats), and another area south of there has beach mice further inland than you'd expect.

Good idea. I was trying harnesses (not non-pull) on Wilbrodog a while ago and I realized that I simply couldn't adjust (not fasten) the straps without bending over so long I got seriously dizzy. I gave up on the idea.

Keep the collar as backup and don't leave the GL on for long when unattended, or so long that the dog can plot how to get it off;).

Finally-- encourage your dog to learn heel position by your side, treat for that position and practice walking offleash at that proper position. It will really help your dog understand what you want. Won't mean his self-control is perfect, no, but a dog can't do the right thing if he doesn't know what it is. Very simple.

Wow.

Joel, please pass congrats to Mr. Chandrasekaran on his award. Clearly, it is well-deserved.

bc

Wilbrod, the goofy thing is the dog made it easy to put on the non pull harness, he would sit and raise his paw to put the harness through. You are right about the heel position, my problem is he general uses an adjustable length leash, I only keep him close when necessary, other people around or other dogs, cars etc then he must be close or sitting. I like the idea of him being able to get as much exercise as possible on a walk and run a little. Ironically if we take him to the off leash park (doggy park) he is really good, no barking, first time didn't even leave our side to play with the other dogs.

By the way I really like the way you explain the dog tips.

One more thing Martooni - I loved your song for the little one. My husband made up a song when our eldest was born.

I think Emz was willing to try the harness, but I'm beginning to understand why she's on her 3rd family at 3 yo. I got her from a lab rescue mid-June.

She's incredibly sweet, smart, good with kids & dogs, affectionate, obedient and housebroken. I think she also has some elbow dysplasia, and while she could be trained to step into a harness, being put into it now must have hurt. She and the big guy usually just run in our fenced yard, but we're going upstate and she'll be walking on a leash this weekend. We'll have to start practicing staying by my side.

Her vet wants to wait until she shows real signs before sending her to an ortho, I figure this is what pet insurance is for. She is not moving onto family #4.

I've never used an adjustable leash more than once-- a friend bought one and I found the handgrip too big for my hand.

Also it rewards pulling at the leash. Instead I bought a long line (20 feet long) and used that for running exercises. It's harder to reel in, of course, and I rely on offleash romps a lot more now that Wilbrodog is obedient.

I'm glad you keep the leash short in crowds; Wilbrodog once nearly tripped over a bulldog on one of those flexileds running in between his legs. I'm very lucky the bulldog didn't run around his legs or he could have been hurt-- those leads are extremely sharp on skin.

Somebody once said to me, not sure if it was jokingly, that in those cases, she has a pair of scissors ready and snips the lead right there and moves on. That is certainly the safest alternative to attempting to physically unentangle from a flexi-lead, but it is very difficult to catch the dog by the severed lead in that case.

Whether that was true or not, that is a disturbing scenario.

Well, I'll say it.

RD, snap out of it, man! Get a hold of yourself.

Wilbrod, the adjustable leash I have has the think strap not the wire, the pet store where I bought it mentioned how the others can hurt. The dog does occasionally get wrapped up so far no damage!

SCC Thick leash, time for me to go to bed.

RD, is the the good plot lines of Ghost Whisperer you like so much? :-)

I didn't even know they made those with wires, dmd. The ones I've seen have a 3/8 inch wide ribbon lead.

I watch Ghost Whisperer too - because of the hunky David Conrad. He doesn't act much, but he does spend lots of time in sleeveless t-shirts. Lisa de Moraes, the WaPo TV critic, said in a chat recently that J Love Hewitt's wardrobe (plunging necklines) propels the story line! So I know why you like the show, RD.

David Conrad was in Relativity, a short-lived TV series years ago - Kimberly Williams starred. It was short-lived because I liked it a lot.

And please, no talk of data, archiving, retrieving, etc - too close to what I do for work! Just spent a few stressful hours because a network connection got unplugged - as it is the one that the automated tape library needs to function, a lot of data was not getting backed up. Took 3 hours and 4 phone calls for the automated ticketing system to get to the guy who could plug it back in. Yikes - sorry - I feel better now.

*apprehensively checking online weather reports*

Thanks to everyone for the weather updates, and restaurant recommendations.

The aerial avalanche that hit Buffalo has caused an emergency reassessment of our itinerary. We've aba