The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Jeff:

Regarding water, you can get high-quality filtering water bottles for not a lot of money. I don't recall the brand we have, but they'll even make toilet water safe to drink and were about $20. Depending on the types of emergency you're likely to face and what sources of water you would likely have, they could provide a very light alternative to keeping fresh water in your go bag.

This conversation reminds me of The Stand and Lucifer's Hammer

I'm reminded of A Matter for Men, in which the protag's father has a very well thought out survival plan. He tells his son that, no matter where you live, you can expect to bugout at least twice in your life. Sound advice.

Tracina, do you mean www.blackboxvoting.org ?

TNH, let me point out that the Daily Kos page you linked to begins with: "All right. Everyone, take a breath. Stop freaking out. Stop accusing everyone of ignoring the issue; it isn't being ignored." Not that you shouldn't help spread the word, but I wouldn't call out the military just yet.

Yeah, it'd be copyright infringement. But as I understand it, there's tons of MP3 swapping over there anyway.

The soldier I was keeping supplied with good coffee and computer games said that he could get just about any movie on DVD for a dollar in Baghdad, including summer blockbusters that hadn't finished their first run in the US. Some of the bootlegs even had silhouettes of movie goers on them.

I found that computer game magazines with demo CDs were very well received.

I'm more inclined to believe that the administration was fooled by Chalabi because conspiracy theories tend to give this group way too much credit for intelligence.

It would fit in with the pipedream mentality of the neocons: if it fits into our plan, then it must be true.

The situation in the Mideast has a handful of countries ruled either by dictators, kings, or corrupt pseudo-democracies, using anti-Israel, anti-West sentiment to distract the populace from whose really screwing them, causing a whole lot of resentment that's been allowed to fester on the basis of false unity.

Any alternative histories written in which there is no coup to overthrow Mossadeq? We'll never know if he would have fallen into that trap or stuck to his ideals. If the latter, there are some interesting possibilities to consider.

I'd take tumbling a bicycle over puking on a PM any day.

it seems we are still capable of foolish blunders, where a ring is slipped into our nose.

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them? ;)

Iraq had oil, and SH took a shot at Shrub's dad. That's why we went. Period.

Erik, if you're going to take the administration to task for this, you need to get their reasons straight. All our Middle East policies eventually boil down to either oil or Israel, but the specific reasoning behind the Iraq War was made clear years ago by the neocons. Pick a nation that is centrally located, weak, and has a leader no one will miss; overwhelm it militarily as a show of power; install a US-friendly government that will allow the US military to set up camp there; and convince the now-awed neighboring states to reconsider their support for terrorism. Iraq was a perfect match for the plan and had the bonus of being easily justifiable to the public; "WMD! WMD!" All they needed was a "lucky event" to set everything in motion. Enter 9/11.

The invasion really was about terrorism, just not in any way Bush ever told us about. One of many ironies is that, initially at least, it was fairly effective in changing the behavior of neighboring nations, but the administration had to present that as a bonus and not a primary goal achieved. Thanks, however, to the neocons insistence that all would be roses and light once we got in there, chaos has reigned, which rather dampens our show of power.

When all is said and done, let us hope that the neocons are forever disgraced in the eyes of conservatives and never again put in positions of power. Even though I know to wait for significantly more information, I must confess that when I saw the report on the Chalabi raid, I chuckled. A lot. And chuckles still slip out in unguarded moments. Like now, it seems.

Jill, Mr. Pierce may thank you for distracting everyone from the hunt. :)

I have a BA in Mathematics and a MS in Computer Science. (The latter is from Clemson, no less, with years spent slaving away in a cave right next to Strode Tower). Currently I copyedit video games for a living, although in my defense, I was a systems administrator for several years. My current job does not pay nearly as well, but it is much more satisfying and much, much less stressful. Oh, and then there's that "play games for a living" part.

Tina said, I am now wondering if I should be talking about embarking on an editing career if I am going to continue to begin sentences with "but".

That reminds me of my favorite scene in Finding Forrester. Time to watch it again.

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