Letter from a soldier

In a letter from a soldier who died in Iraq to his girlfriend:

"Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this, that is why I'm writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances. I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark."

What part was published in the Times' story on the 2,000 dead milestone?

''I kind of predicted this,'' Corporal Starr wrote of his own death. ''A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances.''

It's all about context.

(HatTip: Malkin)

The best arguments

Browsing, I stumbled across this blog: The Iraq War Was Wrong Blog.

In the comment section of one post (it's not important which one, they are all same) I found the following gem:

"One thing I've noticed about dhingers is... They are imprevious to even the best arguments. You can say quagmire, quagmire, quagmire until you are blue in your face, will they listen? (No.) Always about the 'good' news of 'elections' and 'constititions' and 'blue fingers' etc. and 'Saddam was a badman' blah blah blah. Mean while, if you point out that insurgent/freedom fighters are just getting madder and madder all the time, doing car bombs and beheadings and IUD's, and you can't do democracy on a gunpoint, they just get mad because you called them freedom fighters! It's rediculus! They are not reality-based.

The best arguments: quagmire, quagmire, quagmire!

Beautiful!

Invitation to whinge

The Phantom Professor is one of my favourite blogs. The professor tells interesting, extremely well written stories about her experiences as an adjunct professor. Recently, she took the innovative step of inviting her readers to join in an online writing class via her blog. Unfortunately, every now and then the PP feels the need to engage in some gratuitous "Bush Bashing." I enjoy intelligent debate, but it's been my experience that many people are simply unable to discuss Bush rationally. As soon as the topic come up, reason departs.

Recently, as part of her online writing class, she invited readers to suggest "fat" questions they would ask public figures. She links to an article (see here) suggesting that professional interviewers are not asking Bush the right questions. The author suggests reporters need to ask the sort of questions "regular folks" would ask given the opportunity. For example:

"Mr. President, why did you block the reimportation of safer and inexpensive drugs from Canada which would have cut 40 to 60 percent off of the cost?"

Of course, anyone with even a basic understanding of economics can see the problem with reimporting government subsidized drugs.

The PP's example of a "fat" question was particularly snarky:

Can you imagine anyone in the WH press corps these days daring to ask about the Bush kids' problems with substances? They'd be marched to the Rose Garden and shot at dawn.

Why is the anti-bush camp so antagonistic towards his children?

Readers "fat" questions were predictable. This was my favourite:

So in those Conversations with God, how high were u?

With opponents like these, the Republicans can't lose.

And so a beginning is made ...

The magic of the first post. In later years will avid readers search through the archives to find the post that began it all? Almost certainly not, but I can dream.

According to this article, 15,000 new blogs are created every day. So the odds that anyone except me will ever read this blog are vanishing small. Then why bother? It seems to me that the answer to this question cannot be separated from questions about my blog's intended focus. Do I want to write a political blog, a personal diary, a comedy blog, or what?

Let's just wait and see.

One thing seem clear: Whichever direction this blog takes, I will be writing first, and probably exclusively, for myself.