Rumors abound that Kerry won't get the nomination because nobody likes him. The Democrats will get a sizable number of anti-Bush and auto-Democrat votes, but there are too many undecided and independents who aren't pathetic enough to simply vote against the other candidate. The reality is too stark this time: these are our choices?! But who to replace him with? I can think a number of Republican candidates, but the Democrats need a whole new bullpen....

What happened at Falluja? Who had the big idea to suddenly wuss out there? I'm sure the Marines weren't too pleased about conceding the fight before it really began (; if you think they were happy to avoid the chance of getting killed in return, you haven't known a Marine); I suspect the commanders worried that pulling back would embolden the enemy and risk more future conflict; and I know that a large and vocal number of Americans weren't thrilled by the reflections of Mogadishu this has been allowed to cast. So who decided this? Bremer? Rumsfeld? GWB?

Maybe I'm some sort of sexist but I'm confused by this girl in the Iraq prison abuse scandal. She looks a lot like someone I once knew very well, so maybe that's why she's the most shocking aspect of all this for me, but it does seem bizarre that a woman would not only be involved in such behavior, but would so obviously be enjoying it. But then I have always had a distorted view of women.

Another aspect that interests me is the degree to which Abu Ghraib holds up mirrors on our perspective. My initial reaction to the story was: "So what, it's a war"; but I soon made that old sympathetic reversal and realized how violently pissed off I would have become had these been American prisoners in the hands of Iraqi captors. (And feared for those Americans still held captive by Iraqis now treated to these photographs.) Are we no better than those animals who raped and brutalized Jessica Lynch, those monsters filmed cutting off tongues at the behest of Saddam Hussein? But certainly one difference is that Hussein condoned such behavior -- whereas our military is now sprucing up some cells at Levinworth in preparation for some new inmates. Lately there have been some rumors that the photographs might be doctored, might be false. Which sounds a lot like what Iraqis said about the Uday and Qusay corpse photos. It is all difficult to believe in.

I'm miserably bored with everything. Outside, the siege continues, this apartment complex a Falluja of the mind. My own private Falluja? Who Falluja baby? And Brad Pitt is Peleus' son, O godlike, noble and goodly Achilles. And the mighty arms of Atlas hold the heavens from the earth. And Will Smith is Lije Bailey, forced to partner with a contemptible robot. Robots killed my sister! Or maybe that wasn't Elija Bailey. But I'm bored with it already. And the President of the United States (who is not yet Kilgore Trout) appears on Arab Television (TM) to apologize for the cute cigarette chick with the dirty mind and shocking deeds, the one who must be hiding like Paris from the godlike Achilles of American Media (to no similar end I'll promise). But that's all very boring. I'll have nothing to do with it! And John Kerry gets $1000 haircuts. And Howard Stern gets fined by the FCC for making fart jokes. And Bob Woodward loads up another 125mm mortar book. And the Sudan is re-elected to the U.N. Human Rights Commission while forcibly recruiting genitally mutilated 9 year old girls to fight in their ancestral civil war. And Troy still stands, mocking the foolish Greeks who had hoped to bring Democracy to the Middle East. And it's terribly, miserably boring.

Iraqis hanging bodies from bridges, al Qaida sawing off people's heads, Palestinians holding body parts for ransom. Oh God is great alright, God is great. Welcome to the Summer of Blood.

I have an extra-special aversion to white chairs thanks to Iain M. Banks' novel Use of Weapons, so seeing this chair here -- so white -- spooks me to begin with. And it *does* look like the same chair.... And the orange jumpsuit *is* a little peculiar.

What makes us so certain that Democracy is a universally valued and just form of government? Why should 50.001% of the people know what's best for governing a nation? And doesn't a lot of the success of a Democracy depend upon the education and social values of its electorate? Wouldn't a nation of stupid sadists elect a stupid sadist to be their leader? Or worse: a smart sadist? We have evolved a system to elect people most capable of running for office -- which is not a synonym for effectively leading a country. Did this start with television? With radio? I find it unsettling that some people spend their entire adult careers in elected office -- these consummate politicians should be avoided: they are masters of deception and compromise, but moreover, this is the path to oligarchy.

Come back Teddy Roosevelt.

This is curious: Garry Kasparov -- grandmaster of chess -- presents his views on the Terror War. It's an interesting concept, a chess master's perspective on waging war. While not making the parallels explicit, the patterns of positional chess logic are clearly evident in his analysis: Kasparov is known for brilliant offensive maneuvering, and has what must be a reflexive understanding of the degree to which an active defense may inhibit it; he understands tempo and how to incorporate the successes and failures of the past into projected strategy. There's no Ba4!! here, but again -- an interesting concept.

Once more affirming the truism: Don't mess with Scotsmen.

America needs a Foreign Legion modeled after the French Foreign Legion. Recruit a mass of soldiers from client states (Falluja seems a good place to start) with the promise of US citizenship after three years service, put them under the command of American commissioned officers, train them into an effective and obedient fighting force, foster in them a sense of maniacal loyalty to the Legion (and only the Legion), and start swapping out American troops with Legionnaires. This would eventually solve the problems of pending troop shortages, the negative social effects of American casualties, and many of the political constraints put upon traditional military units. Recruiting and training indigenous forces isn't good enough; these men need something worth fighting for in countries that generally aren't. The one thing they all seem to want is to come to America (even the ones who claim to hate it). And an Empire needs a Legion.

There's a new series on FOX called "The Jury" -- which looks dull and typical at first glance, but then -- but THEN -- check out who's making it: Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana, James Yoshimura, Jim Finnerty (which is to say, the creators/writers of Homicide and Oz). So maybe it actually won't suck.

Um, yeah, check out the airships

This is a somewhat useful political party platform comparison. According to the results, my affinities lie Libertarian (74%), Green (52%), Republican (48%), Democratic (36%). It would be better if it were more extensive.

A-and btw, if John Kerry really believes this is the most important presidential election of our lifetimes he should drop out of the race right now. Anyone who believes himself suitable for such a task is manifestly unsuitable for it. And still his shills wonder why people believe Kerry arrogant!

Son of a screaming bitch monkey! This movie is worse than Independence Day. Better than Godzilla (1998). Much worse than Stargate -- which, let's face it, sucked -- and... I haven't seen Universal Soldier. This kraut Roland Emmerich needs to go back to Bavaria; oh I've known his type -- I know his type right now. And his type annoys me. America-hating America-milking neo-Marxist dill bottle. This is a movie that features daring escapes from blood-thirsty ice crystals, first-world self-loathing like Michael Moore on a drunken rampage, horrifyingly pointless plot points, ridiculous set pieces (like an oil tanker on 5th Avenue), a rabid and unfair caricature of a sitting US President. It seems the whole thing was made in order to say told-ya-so about an event that hasn't taken place (which happens several times). 2of10.

But -- but! -- it's better than Van Helsing. Whatever you do, if you value your self-respect, do NOT give anybody any money in order to see Van Helsing!. 1of10!