If America had philosopher kings, George Carlin would have been one.
Carlin looked at the same world all of us do, but saw it differently. He saw connections we didn’t, as in his famous comparison of football and baseball. He could boil down everyday life to an essence that eluded the rest of us, as when […]

Here we go. George Bush has been trying to ram a Status Of Forces Agreement down Iraqi throats. Basically, the American side is demanding that the Iraqi side agree to a continuation of the present situation, that the US military can do what it pleases in Iraq. Under Bush’s plan, US forces would have powers […]

Well, Muqtada al-Sadr has started to put people in the streets. Here are photos from a Sadrist website.
I have seen a definite learning curve on the part of the Sadrists. They have gone from open military conflict to political activism. The one thing that has not changed is their desire to expel us. Period. On […]

Here are some thoughts I wrote in response to people on the other forum I write on, Historic Battles.com. There are some people on that forum who very much approve of torture, basically they say that some people are bad and deserve it.
Americans are a little unique in thinking their culture is the […]

In a previous writing, I had described how Muqtada al-Sadr has become the most powerful Shia. Now the Ayatollah al-Sistani is shifting his support to Al-Sadr.
A little history. Other than Muqtada, the Ayatollah al-Sistani is the most powerful single figure in Iraq. With a word, he forced Bremer to cave in and permit free elections […]

Will be Muqtada al-Sadr. Hands down. There is no other figure in Iraq with comparable stature and power. This is not very good for what remains of American goals in Iraq. Frankly, outside of rebuilding the Green Zone as a Disneyesque entertainment complex, I really do not know what concrete goals […]

McCain is just an echo chamber for Bush. He says we can win the Iraq war in four years. How? We have been at it for five years and all progress has been negative. What trick does he have up his sleeve?
By the way, we did not invade Iraq to establish Democracy, we invaded because […]

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve watched the McCain Misdirection America Tour take flight and have been really frustrated that neither of our “dream” candidates have taken the obvious opportunity to define McCain before he gets up and running. After all, this guy is as much bait and switch as Bush’s compassionate conservative […]

I think all of us who can recall the 1950’s (OK, I was a little tyke, but I saw the movies) know what the game of “chicken” is. Two cars full of screaming teenagers go at each other at high speed, the first one to pull the wheel and steer out of the […]

I just read the interview with Keith Olberman that occurred just before the Pennsylvania primary. Hillary’s attack ad tells us she is the one who should answer the phone at three in the morning. But she has very different memories of going to Tuzla than every one else there. There was no […]