First Stop, Iraq. 04:00 pm

This Is Gulf War 2. while these pictures are quite horrible, they're at least a little more informative and realistic a view of the war than the grainy pictures of a tank driving through a sandstorm. 12:16 pm

A Live Report From Baghdad By Nate Thayer 02:43 pm

argh. bbc news is totally bogged down. my favorite news source appears to be everyones' favorite lately. sigh. 10:17 am

The real reasons so many are marching. it's not just the french who have a loathing for americans.

"Now, among nations, there is only America to fear, and it has never been difficult to get Britons to feel antagonistic towards the Yanks. There is, lurking, some kind of folk/race memory of the time when GIs came courting our girl-friends with nylons and oral sex, neither of which our boys could offer. Americans are pushy, insensitive, rapacious, successful and rich. We watch their films, drink their coffee and loathe them."

David Hirst, Riyadh. i find these numbers very scary.

"The Saudi perspective on the war is the same as that of every other Arab country. They are against it.
Only 3% of the population had what could be defined as a favourable view of the US, whereas last year it was 12%."

Bush war budget 'does not add up'. 10:02 am

Bin Laden's victory. 10:00 am

The Command Post - A Warblog Collective. at least it's all in one place. 06:46 pm

AIBO/Dog Attack Movie. lol. 06:27 pm

Things to Come. i too am scared of the aftermath. 01:30 pm

Study: Beds in US Homes Are Hoppin' with Dust Mites. ew. via dangerousmeta. 06:59 pm

A Decision Made, and Its Consequences.

Yet a defeat at the Council would create a legal nightmare as well, because this is a preventive war, not a pre-emptive one. The distinction is important.

Pre-emption, the doctrine made famous last year in Mr. Bush's national security strategy, gives countries the right to strike a nation that is about to strike them. Iraq, most experts say, does not fit the definition, unless Mr. Bush can prove it is handing off weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. So far, he has talked about that prospect, but offered no evidence it is happening.

A preventive war is conducted by a powerful state against a potential enemy that it fears could become powerful some day. That seems to fit the current circumstance, though administration officials do not like to talk about it in those terms, because preventive war has not been judged kindly by history.

this is the first time i've seen someone make a distinction between preemptive and preventive. now the sentence: iraq may make a preemptive strike in the next few days against the preventive war that bush is about to wage." is an example of accurate usage of those two words. via dangerousmeta. 06:56 pm

Greenspan's Course: Steady but Ready. i'd reached the conclusion that interest rates couldn't possibly go any lower. i don't know why i'd concluded that. then again, i bought stocks at $10/share that "couldn't possibly go any lower". what would i know. 06:33 pm

He drew a comparison over the impatience shown with Iraq over its failure to comply with the will of the UN and the situation in Palestine.
"It is over 30 years since resolution 242 called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories," he reflected.

sigh. we officially go to war in 48 hours. what i don't understand is the whole 48 hours thing. the bush adminstration and the rest of the world know that there isn't a chance in hell of saddam going into exile. so why bother giving the ultimatum? just do it already instead of dangling that one last thread of hope in front of everybody who doesn't want to go to war. 05:37 pm

ps3 this year? 05:35 pm

DVRs get stylish at CeBIT. this sounds neat. 04:54 pm

Bush Has Audacious Plan to Rebuild Iraq Within Year. interesting. is this also a plan to jumpstart the economy. $1.5 billion is a nice chunk of change for US companies. 04:38 pm

With Ears and Eyes Closed.

"Last night was a time of sadness around the world as people who think that war should always be a last resort lit candles to express their sorrow, their frustration and, however unrealistically, their last faint flickerings of hope."

George W. Queeg 04:05 pm

Media Watchdogs Caught Napping 04:00 pm

i'm depressed now. andrea got a gamecube for $66.98 from fao schwarz. unfortunately, the link no longer works. 02:43 pm

i'm gradually going insane. too many things going on, too much stuff to do, too many things to keep track of, too much to handle. arrrggh. last week our house sale finally closed. we are now renters rather than homeowners. unfortunately, very little of the stress has been relieved since there's still a shitload of stuff to do before we move. not least of which is closing on our new house. and painting, and refinishing floors, and tenting of said new house. 90% of my waking hours last week were spent cramming for the real estate exam. studying for 10-12 hours/day is not fun. i took my exam on thursday. a fun day trip to oakland. not. it was worth it, however, i found out this morning that i passed. i've spent the last 2 days catching up on all the unpaid bills and paperwork that had been neglected due to my 12 hour study days. today i found out that i'm over my bandwidth limit on my hosting account. the portal is using about 420 meg of my 500 meg allowance. which leaves me 2 choices, upgrade to a high-traffic account which will cost me another $300/yr or shut down the portal. neither of which are attractive options and neither of which are something i want to deal with at the moment.

i just want my life back. this stream of consciousness whinge is all you're gonna get out of me for a while until i do.

oh, and before i forget, i want to wish liz a happy birthday, my appearance at her party was a casualty of my insane schedule of late. sorry liz :( 02:07 pm

more pics. 11:30 am

every time i pick up a new graham joyce novel, i can't imagine how this new one could be any better than the rest. every time i put down a new graham joyce novel, i marvel at how much better it was than the last. The Facts of Life won't be released in the US until june, but i would highly recommend picking up the uk version. i think these quotes sum it up perfectly.

"You don't merely read a Graham Joyce novel, you live through it. Quite simply brilliant." - SFX

"Graham Joyce is like a salve for the soul. The Facts Of Life is simply formidable." - The Third Alternative

Democrats Lambaste Bush on Iraq. it's about time. 12:21 pm

Press corps doyenne gets no notice. you have to wonder what is wrong with bush when someone who has covered every president since jfk calls him "the worst president in all of American history." 12:14 pm

Bush Gets Taken in the Diplomatic Bazaar. 11:59 am

i was playing with my dad's clie yesterday. i quickly discovered the pleasures of having a thumbpad on a pda. i think it may be time to upgrade my ancient palm v. 11:39 am

buying a house has turned into a saga. we looked at a place about 3 weeks ago but when we called the agent he already had gone into escrow with a backup offer. 1 week later, the first buyers dropped out and the agent offered us backup. we took it figuring there was no way it would drop out twice. on monday, we went into escrow this house. on wednesday we got the reports for the house and it needs about ~25k worth of work. the decks are all rotted out from termites and the chimney is pulling away from the house. ugh. a few hours later, we got notice that the first house had fallen out of escrow. we had to decide within 24 hours whether we wanted to cancel the one house and go into escrow on the other. arggh. we opted for the first one. it's smaller, but in a nicer neibhorhood with a better commute, and *hopefully* needs much less work. i am now keeping my fingers crossed that this will go through smoothly. i want to get settled again. 11:33 am

i found the whole observer story to be just par for the course. but, i am disturbed that no major american news source has mentioned the story.

"Bright said that he had agreed to interviews with NBC, CNN, and Fox News Channel -- and that all three had called and canceled."

heh. for once my horoscope is applicable.

"At this time you might find yourself contemplating a change of residence, or at the very least a change in your household."

we went into escrow on our new house last night. 08:55 am

Can Bush Alter Course, or Is War Inevitable? via dangerousmeta. 08:51 am

New Research Into Anti-Epileptic Medication And Birth Defects. 08:32 am

Fallacies and War 03:30 pm

No Relief in Sight. 03:12 pm

The Long Bomb. 03:00 pm

US prepares to use toxic gases in Iraq. 02:45 pm

Why does Bush push to silence free speech?. via dangerousmeta. 09:50 am

Caught on Film: the bush credibility gap. via dori. 12:27 pm