Currently there is a US-led offensive in the Iraqi town of Najaf--you have to deliberately ignore the news to not notice that. Najaf is probably what you'd call a mecca, a holy place, and it is home to the Iman Ali shrine and a vast cemetary, the Wadi-us-Salaam (ironically means "Valley of Peace"). And now there are US soldiers, tanks, and helicopters swarming the city, trying to, depending on the way you look at it, put down Shiite uprisings or inflict an an American presence on their way...

Dear friends, I've never been quite so angry as I was last night. It was nothing personal and I certainly won't hold it against you in the long run. But let me explain some things: Just because you don't like Bush doesn't mean he's wrong on every move he makes, every person he appoints, every time he takes a breath. You don't have to criticize every little thing he does every day of every fucking month for the last twelve or fourteen months. I know this has been an awful election season...

This is Sudan. Many of us aren't super great at geography, so here's some perspective for you: This is what's happening in that country right now: "Every single day you go out to see another burned village, and more dead bodies," he said. "And the children - you see 6-month-old babies that have been shot, and 3-year-old kids with their faces smashed in with rifle butts." --Brian Steidle, former African Union team monitor. Read more about him in Kristof's article in the NYT: Link ...

I used to hate the absurd plethora of advertising ( Link ) that abounds in America. I swear there are people who would sell their souls for a few bucks--the idiot from eBay who is selling his forehead space not withstanding. But lately I've come to embrace a part of it, being the concerned environmentally conscious citizen that I am. Anyway. Today I opened up our credit card bill (oh gee what a thrill!) and out tumbled not one, not two, not three, but four slips of paper for various compan...

All dignity aside--I'm delighted that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is getting released in the U.S. and the U.K. on July 16. 12:01 a.m., of course, though I intend to have my order into Amazon or some other site so that it will be delivered to me and I won't have to wait for our local bookstore to restock. So seven months.... That's gonna seem like a long time, but it seemed like forever waiting for book V and there was a three-year gap between books III and IV, I'm told. I didn...

Two teenage girls made cookies and delivered them to people in their neighborhood. The thanks they got? A $900 lawsuit by one of the recipients. Short version: Girls made cookies and started delivering them around 9 p.m. to houses that had lights on, with little notes that said, "Have a great night. Love, the T & L club" (their initials). They got to this particular recipient's home at about 10:30 p.m. (seems a bit late to me, but it's not like it's two in the a.m.). These houses are a bi...