Jay Manifold (who really needs to put in a title for the HTML of his index page) says that the “meteor shower” (which was really a single object that exploded high in the atmosphere) over Chicago last week could have been a lot worse. It wasn’t another Tonguska, but it could have killed a lot of people, and done a lot of damage.

You’ve probably seen the email going around about how to argue with a pacifist. You know, the one that says that you should just listen to their arguments, and then suddenly, without warning, punch them in the nose? Rinse, lather, repeat until they get the point?

Well, someone sent it to some peace activists, and they took it as a physical threat. They’re upset because they can’t get the police to do anything about it. But my favorite line of the story was the last one:

Police filed an initial report after receiving a complaint and will likely interview Howell, Atkinson said. But because it contained no specific threats, the e-mail is most likely not criminal, Atkinson said.

Diana Hirschi, who issued Thursday’s press release, worries the e-mail might jeopardize protesters, who have already been pelted by eggs during recent rallies.

“I’m a pacifist,” Hirschi said. “But if somebody punched me in the nose, I don’t know what I’d do.

[Update at 2:10 PM PST]

Someone in the comments section was looking for the original essay. Here’s a link to it.

And thanks to Dave Neiwert–a lefty freelance journoblogger (whose politics can be inferred from his blogroll–Atrios tops the list…) through whom I found it because he was whining about it. In his foolishness, he takes it to be “…describing how to physically assault war protesters.” He obviously misses the point as well.

Or maybe it’s just the Afghanistan concussion talking.

Robert Fisk claims that we haven’t taken the airport. We’re not even in the area.

That’s my response to the news that Human Rights Watch is actually criticizing the Iraqi government for mining mosques. Even more amazingly, they almost manage to get through the entire story without criticizing the US, other than for using mines in the initial Gulf War.

If the tape of Saddam being cheered in the streets being shown right now is a recent one, I’d bet it’s not Saddam. He does have doubles, as we’ve been told for months.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter whether it’s real, so much as whether the Iraqi people, and particularly Baghdad residents believe that it’s real, or at least now have to doubt that he’s out of power. This is to a large extent a psychological war, and this tape will lengthen the war and make it more difficult, so from that standpoint, it’s excellent propaganda. It’s one of the first smart things that I’ve seen the regime do, and I’m surprised they haven’t done it sooner.

[Update at 10:38 AM PST]

Dave over at Greeblie blog points out in the comments that Saddam looks kind of young here. Because of the smoke in the distance, it’s either a very recent tape, or a very old one (i.e., from the Gulf War, when we were bombing the snot out of Baghdad with much less precise munitions).

That possibility could be eliminated if we knew whether that monument of Iraqi-Palestinian solidarity existed back then.

[One more thought at 11:09 AM PST]

I would think that the primary audience for this would be the inhabitants of Baghdad (though he may be trying to hold what remains of the rest of the country together as well). But I thought the power was out in the city, so who’s going to see it?

[Yet another update to the last one at 11:40 AM PST]

Now the BBC is reporting that the power is back on, at least in some parts of the city.

Many “Palestinians” are marching for Saddam.

(Link requires registration)

I was going to post something about the story I heard on NPR last night, about the international lawyers who somehow, absurdly, think that it will not be possible for us to administer Iraq, or control its oil, because it would be “against international law,” but Den Beste has done it already, and there’s little left to be said.

Except that it reminds me (as many things do) of a Simpsons episode. The family is trying to escape some predicament, and are in the car getting ready to roll, but for some reason (I don’t recall why) Homer doesn’t have his driver’s license.

Lisa cries, “Dad! We can’t go–you don’t have your driver’s license.” Homer, dismayed, nonetheless grits his teeth and mutters, “Well, I’m going to try anyway.”

He turns the key, the car starts, and off he goes.

Elated, he cries, “Hey, it worked!”

I was going to post something about the story I heard on NPR last night, about the international lawyers who somehow, absurdly, think that it will not be possible for us to administer Iraq, or control its oil, because it would be “against international law,” but Den Beste has done it already, and there’s little left to be said.

Except that it reminds me (as many things do) of a Simpsons episode. The family is trying to escape some predicament, and are in the car getting ready to roll, but for some reason (I don’t recall why) Homer doesn’t have his driver’s license.

Lisa cries, “Dad! We can’t go–you don’t have your driver’s license.” Homer, dismayed, nonetheless grits his teeth and mutters, “Well, I’m going to try anyway.”

He turns the key, the car starts, and off he goes.

Elated, he cries, “Hey, it worked!”

I was going to post something about the story I heard on NPR last night, about the international lawyers who somehow, absurdly, think that it will not be possible for us to administer Iraq, or control its oil, because it would be “against international law,” but Den Beste has done it already, and there’s little left to be said.

Except that it reminds me (as many things do) of a Simpsons episode. The family is trying to escape some predicament, and are in the car getting ready to roll, but for some reason (I don’t recall why) Homer doesn’t have his driver’s license.

Lisa cries, “Dad! We can’t go–you don’t have your driver’s license.” Homer, dismayed, nonetheless grits his teeth and mutters, “Well, I’m going to try anyway.”

He turns the key, the car starts, and off he goes.

Elated, he cries, “Hey, it worked!”

Courtesy of Lileks, I’ve added a new logo up there on the left, to represent American values, as seen by an anticipatory Iraqi.

Right on.

Of course, he wouldn’t have said that if he’d ever tried rum.