U.S. soldiers killed at least 13 Iraqi civilians who marched on a school west of Baghdad to demand the troops leave the building and get out of Iraq, doctors and witnesses said on Tuesday.

Hundreds of Iraqis frantically dug through the ruins of destroyed homes and screamed at U.S. troops, blaming them for a series of explosions at a U.S.-held weapons cache that pummeled a residential area and killed at least six people.

This was allegedly posted very briefly on the McDonnell Douglas Website by an employee there who obviously has a sense of humor. The company, of course, does not have a sense of humor, and made the web department take it down immediately. Or so the story goes.

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Deborah Wolfe, a Canadian citizen who was just breast-feeding her son and changing his diaper while en route between Houston and Vancouver, says her "subversive" actions led to her being threatened with detainment, RCMP involvement and legal charges for terrorist action against a U.S. citizen in international airspace while on an American flight during a time of war.

Members of the news media and U.S. soldiers are being investigated for taking art, artifacts, weapons and cash from Iraq, with criminal charges already brought in one case, federal officials said Wednesday.

Ages ago, I saw a sketch on The Two Ronnies, a British comedy show of the 70s (I think I saw the sketch in the 80s, but I can't actually remember now).

The sketch has "words" made up of letters. Example: F U N E X? when said with the correct "accent" is "Have you any eggs?" and the reply to that question in the sketch is, "S V F X." (Yes, we have eggs.) (The entire sketch is online if you want to read it, but it's a little hard to tell what all the words are meant to be by just reading it).

Anyway, I was quite taken with this sketch and found it extremely funny, and for years afterward when I went to buy eggs or get some out of the fridge or order eggs or, well, pretty much anything to do with eggs, I'd often say, "F U N E X?" Nobody ever had the slightest idea what I was talking about. I got a lot of strange looks over the years, which, of course, never stopped me (I'm used to getting funny looks).

When I was first living with Andrew, we were in the kitchen one night making dinner. I don't recall what we were making, but it called for eggs. I opened the fridge and took out the eggs and said, "F U N E X?" and Andrew responded, without missing a beat, "S V F X."

If I hadn't believed up until that point that we were meant for each other, that was what confirmed it. I was just amazed that he knew what I was talking about.

So there you go. How do you know your perfect lifemate? They know the next line of a favorite sketch from a British comedy show. At least, that's how I know. I have mentioned, haven't I, that Andrew's as big of a Monty Python fan as I am?

I've posted this link before, but not for a long time. Someone reminded me of the site again and I thought I'd pass it on. It's really, really amusing: Engrish.com.

By golly, here's yet another thing they didn't expect and failed to plan for: As Iraqi Shiite demands for a dominant role in Iraq’s future mount, Bush administration officials say they underestimated the Shiites’ organizational strength and are unprepared to prevent the rise of an anti-American, Islamic fundamentalist government in the country.

My wonderful friend, Sara seems to be having a lot of trouble with her blog lately. I don't understand this.

She's not nearly as obnoxious as I am (well, honestly, not many people are, but that's beside the point). She does express herself, but other than the occasional use of strong language (hey, she's a grownup, grownups can swear if they want to), I've never seen anything in her blog that I would have thought was offensive.

I'm a LOT more offensive than she is. I'm a lot more strident about my opinions. I'm just not as nice a person as she is, and it shows (I'm not putting myself down here; Sara's just a nice person).

So how come she's the one getting all kinds of hassles from the general public and wandering morons about stuff she posts in her blog?

I suspect (but can't confirm, of course) that it's because she lets people post comments in her blog. This is a good thing most of the time, for most people. I don't do it because I don't trust the general public to behave themselves in my web space, frankly, but I read comments and post them in other people's blogs and I think it's pretty cool. So I'm not putting down the comments thingy (I just don't want to do it myself).

If people want to flame me, they have to actually shoot me an email, and for some reason people don't like doing that. Maybe they don't like the idea that I might know who they are or something, but I have to tell you, people can get your IP address when you leave a comment, too, so it's not like you're anonymous.

I think the morons who feel the need to post idiotic comments in weblogs do so because they enjoy the idea that no only is the blog owner getting their message, so are a bunch of other people, maybe a lot of them. It's like they relish the idea of being able to dis you in your own home in front of an audience.

Another thing that just amazes me is that these morons don't understand that when they're in YOUR webspace using YOUR bandwidth, you have every right to delete their stupid comments if you want to. That whole free speech thing in the U.S. Constitution applies to the government enacting laws to prevent the press and other appropriate media from printing or publishing information. Private citizens are not obligated to listen to your bullshit, and when you're on someone else's property, they have a right to ask you to leave. By the same token, they're not obligated to give you free web space.

Sara blogs for the same reason I do. She does it for herself, for her own reasons, to write stuff down and thereby vent it or get a handle on it or otherwise keep herself from going crazy. She makes that clear in her weblog, that it's her space, her thoughts, her venting, etc., and if you don't like it you should leave, but this is another thing that the morons of the world don't seem to understand, and that's how to GO AWAY. Don't like what you're reading? FINE! Go read something else! What's so hard about that? No one's holding a gun to your head and forcing you to read anyone's blog, let alone Sara's, and certainly no one's forcing you to post your stupid comments in her web space.

The lastest stupidity is someone who threatened to stop linking to and reading Sara's blog if she continues to play a particular online game he disapproves of or doesn't like or something (I don't know what that's about and I don't care). So I decided that instead of the usual text link that I give to other blogs, I'd put a full-fledged linking graphic to her blog.

See, I don't care in the least if she's pro- or anti-war, I don't care if she goes to church regularly, I don't care if she plays online games. I like her for who she is and when we differ (which isn't actually all that often), it's nothing we can't get past or decide to "live and let live" on. Pettiness and judgemental attitudes are the direct enemy of friendship, and I'm pleased to call Sara a friend.

And totally aside from that, she's got a great blog.

Pretty weird stuff. (It doesn't seem to handle the CSS very well, though).

Confused? Go here.

Asked if the administration expected U.N. inspectors looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to return any time soon, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the United States and its war allies were doing that job.

They are? Hmmm. Seems like nobody can find these dang things that the United States swore up and down that Iraq had, and what about all that information as to where they were? So much for that greatest of oxymorons, "military intelligence".

"These antispammers should get a life," she said. "Do their fingers hurt too much from pressing the delete key? How much time does that really take from their day?"

With little to show after 30 days, the Bush administration is losing confidence in its prewar belief that it had strong clues pointing to the whereabouts of weapons of mass destruction concealed in Iraq, according to planners and participants in the hunt..

My, my, my. Not only are they not finding what they swore up and down they were positive was there, they totally neglected to guard the places that would have had the information telling them where to look.

But don't worry! The oil is secure!

You know... I actually never believed this war was "about the oil" as so many people kept saying. I think it's about a lot of things, but I always thought the oil was just an added bonus as far as the administration was concerned. Now, after seeing the utter pig's breakfast they've made of the aftermath of this war, after I've seen how many things they utterly failed to secure and the only thing they DID manage to secure, I'm starting to wonder...

I am almost positive you'll never read this and that even if you did, you'd be too blind and self-deluded to recognize yourself in it. Nevertheless, I'm going to write it, because I want to say it "out loud", as it were. I don't need to say it to you, personally, for it to have the desired effect.

I was curious, and more than a little bored, and I went to find out some more about you. I have to say, you seem to have no idea who you are or what effect your actions have.

You put forth this as your favorite quote: "People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but People will never forget how you made them feel."

Yes, that's got a lot of truth in it. You've made me feel angry, outraged, irritated, somewhat nauseaus, and pity toward you. Is that what you meant? I think not. You like to imagine you make people feel good, feel loved, feel appreciated. But, well, you've had the opposite effect on me and on an awful lot of other people, as well.

You also put forth this quote, "Life is too short to be mean."

Then why do you knowingly engage in deliberately obnoxious meanness and absolutely unethical behavior? Do you even understand that you're acting completely contrary to what you say you believe? Are you so entirely deluded about who you are and what you're like that you can't see the dichotomy here?

I do feel sorry for you. I know that when you surround yourself with negativity, you bring negativity right back onto yourself. I know this because I've done the same thing, and still do on occasion. The difference is that I understand that I reap what I sow, I know that what goes around comes around. Do you? I'm sure you'd say that you do, just as you say that it's important how you make people feel. Clearly, you don't really understand it, or you don't really believe it, or you wouldn't do the things you do and take the attitudes you take.

Well, you can consider this a prophecy or a prediction or a curse, whatever you wish, but I can pretty much tell you that until you come to understand that your own negative actions have a negative effect on other people, and until you understand that when you send out negativity that's what you receive, until you understand that your own choices determine the path of your life and that you reap what you sow, you will never grow, evolve, or find true happiness.

Well, I didn't really need to take the quiz to find this out (I figured it out on my own. Many years ago.)

Which Sesame Street Muppet Are You?

As soon as I've got US$20,000 to spare, I'm getting one of these.

So this old man dies and goes to Heaven, only to find that the Pearly Gates are covered with chaser lights and Saint Peter himself is in an all-white polyester suit. "Welcome to Heaven!," the saint says in a voice that sounds suspiciously like Chuck Barris. "Yes, indeed, it's an eternity of divine happiness and unfettered bliss... if you can answer one skill testing question."

"Sounds fair," says the old man.

"All right! Now, for joy that goes beyond your human ken, tell me, in twenty five words or less, what's Easter?"

The old man thinks. "Easter. Easter. I used to know what -- ah, that's when the fat man comes down the chimney and leaves presents for all the good little girls and boys."

From behind the clouds, you could hear the Host, all saying "Awwwwwww" in Divine Disappointment. But Peter continued to smile: "No, that's not quite right. But you can try again. Think: what's Easter?"

"I just seem to forget what -- oh, of course, Easter. That's when you play tricks on all your friends, like leaving a whoopie cushion on their chairs."

Again, the Host voiced its disappointment with an "Awwwwwwwwwww", but Peter still continued to smile. "Well, that's getting closer, but it's still not right. Now, look, I can only give you one more chance, so think... (and a drumroll started somewhere behind a thunderhead)... very hard... (a second drumroll began from behind another majestic cloud)... and tell us: What's Easter?"

"Easter. Easter. Easter, Easter, Easter -- well, of course, why didn't you say so. Easter is when they put Christ on the cross..."

Peter's smile widened. "And?"

"And then they put Him in a tomb."

"And?"

"Three days later, He rolled back the rock, saw His own shadow, and we had six more weeks of winter."

After 30 years, a gynecologist decides he needs a change of profession. He looks around at different employment options and decides he wants to become a mechanic, since he's good with his hands.

He studies hard for three long years and spends three solid months cramming for his final exam. As he's something of a perfectionist, he considers anything less than 100% failure.

When he gets his results back, he's stunned and thrilled to see he received a whopping 150%. Wanting to know how it's possible to achieve such a high score, he asks the instructor to explain.

"Well," said the instructor, "you pulled the engine apart perfectly so I gave you 50% for that. Then you put it back together perfectly with no parts left over, so I gave you 50% for that. Then I gave you an extra 50% because in all my years of practice and teaching I have never seen it all done through the muffler".

Okay, I find this really hilarous. I've got to pass on the link to my best friend. She's got a very bizarre sense of humor (which happens to be very like my own), AND she's got a Jesus Christ Action Figure. Seriously. She's a Buddhist (now; used to be Catholic), so I wonder if I can get a Buddha action figure (a search of the net turned up nothing but standard Buddha figures, dangit).

This article by Robert Fisk is startling and chilling reading from an eyewitness to the aftermath of the war in Iraq, including some very scary observations on the widespread arson attacks in Baghdad. This is the most shocking and disturbing bit of reporting I've read yet.

"It's going to be very embarrassing when it turns out they have nothing to declare," said former defense intelligence analyst Eugene Betit.

Two cultural advisers to the Bush administration have resigned in protest over the failure of U.S. forces to prevent the wholesale looting of priceless treasures from Baghdad's antiquities museum.

Well, it's nice to know that at least someone in Washington cares about this issue.

And get this, apparently "antiquities experts have said they were given assurances months ago from U.S. military planners that Iraq's historic artifacts and sites would be protected by occupying forces."

Experts: Looters Had Keys to Iraqi Vaults. According to the article, "One expert said he suspected the looting was organized outside the country." Hmmmm.

Here's an odd bit of Australia.

Eggs here are brown. I've only once seen white eggs in any store. Brown is the normal, usual color.

In the States, of course, eggs are primarily white, and brown eggs are something of a speciality item. I actually know of (American) people who swear brown eggs taste better. My experience, of course, is that they taste exactly like white eggs.

Why are eggs here brown but in the States they're mostly white? I have absolutely no idea whatsoever.

Oh, and Australians don't really do the dying of Easter eggs thing. Andrew says that some people might paint or otherwise decorate eggs, but I've certainly never seen "Easter egg kits" in stores on anything like that.

But, hey, when your eggs are brown anyway, there's not much point, I guess...

Absolom, Absolom is a thoughtful essay on the loss of precious ancient artifacts in Iraq. (Thanks for the link go to Murray, a regular reader and correspondant, who often turns me on to interesting things; thanks, mate.)

Another link, no commentary. Just read it (if you want) and make up your own mind. Shiite Cleric Claims to Control Iraq City.

Well, I have to say, this doesn't surprise me at all. Sneaky Canadians, all nice and quiet and everything, with their hockey and beer and Mounties and suchlike. Heck, they even speak French there! It's about time they were exposed in their vile plans to take over the world...

No commentary from me. Just a link. Make of it what you will. Many Iraquis Turn Anger Toward the U.S..

Nero in Baghdad outlines a lot of the points that has some people (myself included) really angry and sickened by what happened in Bagdad with regard to the National Museum of Antiquties and the National Library.

Just for the record, I'm not actually always inclined to assign blame. I'm someone who happens to believe strongly that sometimes, pardon my language, shit happens. Some things just are beyond control and can't be anticipated. I accept that, I know it's true.

SOME things, however, can be anticipated, and there's good evidence that the organizers of the occupying forces in Iraq could have and should have anticipated that looting would take place. And they did absolutely nothing to stop it.

It makes me literally sick to my stomach. This whole thing makes me ashamed to be part of the human race and makes me hate this disgusting spinning mudball of a planet even more than I usually do.

And something else it does is evoke intense feelings of despair and helplessness, because not only will nothing bring back the irreplacable and unbelievably precious artifacts that were lost, I think it's a pretty good bet that no one will ever be held accountable for any of it. Nothing I say, feel, think, or want will make any difference whatsoever in the grand scheme of the world, least of all in this matter.

Gee, and people wonder why I'm a cynic and a skeptic...

"They that give up liberty for safety deserve neither." - Benjamin Franklin

Quoting:

"Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

Guess who said that? It was Hermann Goering. I'd say he knew what he was talking about.

And by the way, because I'm something of a skeptic (meaning, I rarely believe anything until I check it out for myself), I did a little investigation of this quote. It chilled me to read it, and I wondered if it was just a little too convienient, especially since it's attributed to the notorious and unquestionably evil Goering. Apparently, the quote is absolutely legitimate.

"The only difference between myself and a madman is that I am not mad." - Salvador Dali

Now looters have ransacked and burned Iraq's National Library, and priceless and irreplacable books have been lost forever. What's the shameful part?

Armored vehicles were positioned on the nearby street, manned by U.S. Marines. They did nothing to stop Tuesday's continuing trickle of looters.

If you get an email from word-of-mouth.info saying they have some kind of "report" on you and want you to pay them $20 to see it, don't do it. It's a scam. Read more about it here and here.

Oregon Law Would Jail War Protesters as Terrorists. So that stuff about the right to peaceful assembly and the right to free speech? Forget it. Protest ANYthing and you're a terrorist, with a jail sentence of up to twenty-five years.

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." - Anonymous

George W. Bush is now rattling his sabre at Syria and making charges that Syria has chemical weapons. And what the hey, Damascus is an ancient city with museums full of ancient works of art and anthropological treasures. Maybe those can get looted and destroyed, too. George W. Bush really scares me. I think he won't rest until he's made war on the entire Middle East.

And by the way, where are those pesky Weapns of Mass Destruction that the Bush Administration claimed they knew positively and for sure that Iraq had?

A man suspected of SARS is lying in bed with an mask over his mouth. A young auxiliary nurse appears to sponge his face and hands.

"Nurse," he mumbles from behind the mask, "Are my testicles black?"

Embarrassed the young nurse replies, "I don't know, sir, I'm only here to wash your face and hands."

He struggles again to ask, "Nurse, Are my testicles black?" Again the nurse replies, "I can't tell. I'm only here to wash your face and hands."

The Head Nurse was passing and saw the man getting a little distraught so she marched over to inquire what was wrong.

"Nurse," he mumbled, "Are my testicles black?"

Being a nurse of long-standing, the Head Nurse was undaunted. She whipped back the bedclothes, pulled down his pyjama trousers, moved his penis out of the way, had a right good look, pulled up the pyjamas, replaced the bedclothes and announced, "Nothing wrong with your testicles!!!"

At this the man pulled off his mask and asked again, "I SAID: Are my test results back?!?!"

The looting of Iraq's National Museum of Antiquities is pretty horrible in an of itself. The knowlege that there are apparently a group of American art dealers who are trying to cash in on the fall Hussein's regime is even more disgusting.

Yes, boys and girls, the Iraque Information Minister who kept coming up with those astounding and, I thought, absurdly amusing statements about the state of Iraq and the progress of Coalition troops has a fan site. We Love the Iraqui Information Minister, don't you? Although I'm told that's not the original fan page. That, apparently, is Mohammed @ Croque Fan.

I particularly like this quote, "Therefore, in reality whatever this miserable Rumsfeld has been saying, he was talking about his own forces," which I think is sort of the equivalent of "I know you are but what are we?"

And yes, I still think that war is horrible, but I've got this very twisted sense of humor and I have to say, I found this guy's little speeches pretty funny. Seriously.

Russel and Mehndi have zebra finches, and the zebra finches are expecting babies. To follow the progress of the eggs as they (hopefully) hatch and grow into baby birds, they've set up a FinchCam.

Kinda cool, I think.

Iraqi Disaster is an interesting read. Not sure how much of it to take as "truth" and how much to take as simple opinion, but it does raise some points worth considering.

Oh, and yes, I have stopped watching war coverage, pretty much. If there's a bit of it on the regular news I can handle that because it's brief and not generally too gory, but the "wall to wall" war coverage has stopped in our house. Right now I'm listening to Winnie the Pooh in the background as I write this. It's a pleasant escape from the reality of the world, frankly.

Meat! Meat! Meat! is funny, funny, funny. And if you haven't had your fill by the end of that, be sure to check out part two. Mmm, mmm, good.

Free software gives hackers taste of own medicine. Cool idea! Go on and download it. It'll be worth the registration process, I promise. *looks innocently at the date*

Some people can't stand it that there are other people in the world who disagree with their point of view. Politically, religiously, philosophically, you name it, if someone else has a different viewpoint and they hear about it, they go ballistic.

They curse the people who hold that view. They call them stupid for holding it. They call them names, they attempt to "set them straight" and "show them the error of their ways". They just can't stand it that someone else might think something different, might believe something different, and heaven forbid those others actually give voice to their contrary opinions or beliefs.

I think the root of this is insecurity. If your beliefs won't hold up to someone's differing opinion, how secure are you? More likely, that counter view is forcing you to look at your own views or beliefs, and you don't want to do that, because you might find out that you're not entirely correct or, worse, that you're wrong. And if you're wrong about this, maybe you're wrong about other stuff, too...