It's 2007 here in Iraq, and I'm transcribing interview material for a lengthy post. In the meantime, what cheerier way to commemorate 2006 than Bill Roggio's super-handy "The State of Jihad" round-up?

His section on Iraq:

Since the destruction of the Golden Dome of the Al-Askaria Mosque in Samarra, the sectarian violence has risen dramatically. After the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, command of Al-Qaeda in Iraq was passed to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, a protege of Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Qaeda is attempting to create a political front and put an Iraqi face on the insurgency. Under the leadership of of Abu Omar al-Iraqi, al-Qaeda is attempting to unite the fractious insurgent groups in the Sunni areas, and has created an umbrella political organization called the Islamic State of Iraq. Some smaller Sunni insurgent groups, along with some leaders of Iraqi tribes and have been rolled under the banner of the Islamic State of Iraq, along with al-Qaeda in Iraq's Mujahideen Shura Council.

Muqtada al-Sadr and his Iranian backed Mahdi Army continue to lead the sectarian violence in Baghdad and efforts to sideline Sadr from political power have so far failed. An Iraqi government was formed after month of painful negotiations to create a ruling Shia coalition, and power was peacefully transferred. There are real concerns about the willingness of the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki to disarm the Shia militias. The Iraqi Army has made significant progress in taking control of the battlespace, yet is still heavily dependent on US forces. In general, the Iraqi police has a long way to go before approaching the effectiveness of the Army. The Baghdad police are said to be riddled with militias. Saddam Hussein was executed on December 30, 2006.

Read the whole thing.

Media watching media at the Baghdad convention center.

As Greyhawk notes, manifesting on an Air Force flight is not at all the same as actually getting on a flight; it's been a challenging day of travel. Lowlight: waking up in a tent at 3AM, dusted by a fine coating of chalky powder. Tasty. Highlight: a first helicopter ride over Baghdad. Just as you've seen in countless footage, the city is a tan sprawl of squat flats punctuated by architecturally impressive monuments, government buildings and palaces.

Brief anecdotes and impressions:

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Headed out in a few minutes to manifest for a Baghdad-bound flight tomorrow morning. I'm not sure how good internet access will be, so sit tight and thanks for your patience.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Kuwait's "Not to Forget Museum," a small complex devoted to archiving the history of the Invasion of Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm and the atrocities by and ultimate fate of Saddam Hussein and his regime. This seemed like a timely place to be, given Hussein's rapidly approaching rope-dance for crimes against humanity; if some in the West blithely shrug their shoulders at the atrocities and wars of conquest endeavored by the Iraqi Baath regime, the government of Kuwait and many of its citizens do not.

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Michael Totten is publishing material from his recent trip to Lebanon:

I returned to Beirut after eight months and a hot summer war and found that the city had little changed, at least on the surface. My old neighborhood in West Beirut was intact. Civil war reconstruction continued downtown. More restaurants and pubs had opened close-in on the east side of the city. Solidere sported a brand-new Starbucks. Beirut did not appear to be reeling from war. Post-Syrian gentrification had proceeded as scheduled.

On second glance, though, all was not well. I was the only guest in my eight-story hotel, and I genuinely shocked the staff when I stepped into the lobby first thing in the morning. "Why are you still here?" one bartender asked me. Almost all my friends and even acquaintances left the country during the July War and hadn't returned. Milk was still hard to come by in grocery stores and even some restaurants because the Israeli Air Force destroyed Lebanon's milk factory. Party and sectarian flags were flown on the streets in abundance, a tell-tale sign that the post-Syrian patriotism and unity were coming apart.

All that and, you know, the private army of an enemy state was threatening to topple the government.

RTWT.

Electronic equipment comprises the lion's share of initial embed start-up costs. Some pieces and variations are optional, but Citizen Journalism 101 demands a laptop, digital voice recorder, camera and camcorder. Advanced Citizen Journalism in the Middle of Nowhere suggests a durable laptop, rbgan satellite modem and phone. The specifics:

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I've arrived in Kuwait City and will spend about 48 hours here prepping coverage and breaking in equipment before manifesting on an Air Force flight to Baghdad.

"as-Salaam Alaykum" (Roughly: "Photoshop away.")

More later, including some first impressions of a Kuwaiti mall.

*** My only response to the Rago article is "Hey, we're not all Glenn Greenwald." But this is genius.

*** The IMAO book isn't bad either, though I can't decide if it's Bush as viewed by the left and media, or right-wing wish fulfillment. I'm not sure it knows either.

*** I might write something about this subject, just because it's so annoying. Empiricism doesn't work when decisions are made using bad data. Access to valid information is crucially important.

*** And if you have any vestige of a Y chromosome you noticed this story -- but did you see this one? Of course the real question is which of them will be sent to steal Rosie's wife.

Dorkafork, Dave Price, the Ghost of Hubris and I wish you and yours a joyous Holiday Season.

Reuel Marc Gerecht doesn't like the idea of replacing Maliki, but his reasoning seems based on some flawed assumptions.

Changing the Shiite parts of the Iraqi government and quickly taking on Mr. Sadr would do nothing to end the Sunni insurgency and the holy war of foreign jihadists against the new Iraq.

In fact it might be the only thing that can. Our soldiers keep telling us the violence is primarily a political problem, as opposed to a military one. If moderate Sunnis, Kurds, and Shia band together to form a governing coalition against extremists of both Sunni and Shia stripe, then we'd have to consider that a major political step toward ending the sectarian strife.

...the sine qua non for peace in Iraq, and for a democratic future for the country, has always been unity among the Shiites. Any violent struggle between the Mahdi Army and Supreme Council could provoke anarchy throughout the entire Arab Shiite zone

Well, there's been very little indication that a purely intra-Shia civil war is even possible, let alone as likely as Reuel seems to suggest. If that were going to happen, the most likely point for it to have occurred was back when Sadr's militia was occupying Najaf. They made a lot of people very angry with that move, and there were some firefights with the Badr group at the time. The Shia have long-established mechanisms for defusing conflicts, and since then many of the Badr people have joined the ISF.

In Iraq, the United States is much weaker than in 2004.

That seems obviously wrong: we have a couple hundred thousand more ISF fighting alongside us, and the insurgents no longer hold any major cities (remember the 2004 sieges of Fallujah and Najaf?). It's been over a year since they even attempted a larger than platoon-sized battle. The elected government has a constitution and three elections on which to stake its claim to legitimacy. And the Anbar sheiks are starting to throw in with the government.

It's unclear how Prime Minister Maliki will react to any American effort to diminish Mr. Sadr. His party, Islamic Dawa, is a bundle of mostly militant contradictions. In the end, President Bush may have to ignore the prime minister if the latter sides with Mr. Sadr.

We can just ignore the wishes of the democratically elected leader of the country? We are not an imperial power and they are not a vassal state; we don't get to just toss aside their leaders when they displease us, and the notion that we could or would is frankly appalling -- it's exactly the sort of thing Chomskyites are always accusing us of, not to mention potentially the best way to foment a more popular insurrection. If the Iraqis form the cross-sect alliance of moderates to exclude Sadr and select a new PM on their own as has been bruited about, that's their decision, but regardless we don't get to ignore the people in charge. We can no more sell out democrats in Iraq than we can sell them out in Israel.

Maliki's main game seems to be to play for time while his ISF get stronger; every month puts another 5-10,000 bodies at least ostensibly on his side, and the rest get another month of training/action under their belts. Part of power politics is that as you become stronger, weaker players are less likely to clash with you, thus preventing bloodshed. He may be delaying acting against Sadr in the hope that it will eventually be unnecessary. That may not be the best course, but ultimately that will be for Iraqis to determine.

From the Washington Post.

Local Muslim leaders lit candles yesterday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to commemorate Jewish suffering under the Nazis, in a ceremony held just days after Iran had a conference denying the genocide.
...
Major American Muslim and Arab-American organizations have condemned the Iran conference. The Muslim speakers at yesterday's ceremony did not mention that event but called for recognition of the suffering Jews experienced in the Holocaust and condemned religious hatred. Asked afterward why they did not single out Iran, the Muslim leaders said the problem was broader than the recent conference.

"The issue here is: There might be somebody from X and Y country, a Muslim, saying the same thing," Magid said. If anyone wants to make Holocaust denial an Islamic cause, he said, "we want to say to them: You cannot use our name."

(in case you missed it at Instapundit.)

DW's Mary Madigan photoblogs Beirut. Very interesting.

And there will be more, much more, at Michael Totten's place:

I'm back from a three-week under-the-radar trip to Beirut and South Lebanon. I wanted to write about events there while they were happening. But I went to Hezbollah's southern "capital" of Bint Jbail, and also to their blasted-apart command and control center in the dahiyeh, the suburb south of Beirut. I'm on their "list," so to speak, and it was both easier and safer to work without announcing my presence and giving them the chance to run interference.

Totten once mentioned that he likes to gather most of his coverage and then take time to write & publish, so keep an eye on the homepage for a few weeks.

50 Heroes from 50 States

(Via DW)

Roggio on the Iraqi Army and US MTTs:

While critics of the Iraq Army continue to question the capabilities of the units and soldiers, a real move towards operational independence is occurring within the Iraqi Army. Last year, I embedded with the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines (the Teufelhunden) in Husaybah, as well as the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (The Raiders) in the Haditha Triad. The 3/6 was working with the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division of the Iraqi Army, the most seasoned unit in the Army, while the 3/1 worked with the 7th Division, the greenest unit in the Iraqi Army. In western Anbar, a platoon of Marines paired up with a platoon of Iraqi Army soldiers in small outposts called Battle Positions. The Iraqi Army patrolled jointly with the Marines, and were directly dependent on the Marines for food, supplies, ammunition and transport.

I hesitate to more than scan the piece, as I'll be covering some of the same ground and would like to form independent impressions for comparison. You, however, should closely read the rest, which includes a list of "Shortcomings", "Successes" and "Recommendations."

The WaPo takes a whack at farm subsidies:

The very policies touted by Congress as a way to save small family farms are instead helping to accelerate their demise, economists, analysts and farmers say. That's because owners of large farms receive the largest share of government subsidies. They often use the money to acquire more land, pushing aside small and medium-size farms as well as young farmers starting out.

"Historically, when you think of family farms, you think of Mom and Dad and three generations working a small or mid-sized farm. It gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling," said Alex White, a professor of agricultural economics at Virginia Tech. "In the real world, it might be a mid-sized farm. But it also might be a huge farm. It might be a corporation."

Large family farms, defined as those with revenue of more than $250,000, account for nearly 60 percent of all agricultural production but just 7 percent of all farms. They receive more than 54 percent of government subsidies. And their share of federal payments is growing -- more than doubling over the past decade for the biggest farms.

Aside from the implication that the way subsidies are distributed is the problem, rather than the breadth and existence of subsidies themselves, it's a good article.

"If the purpose of farm policy was to save the family farm and help stabilize rural communities, then it hasn't worked," Oswald said. "What the government is really doing is subsidizing land and assets, not people."

Funny how that ends up ...

More Roggio from Fallujah:

The Iraqi soldiers, or jundi, in southwestern Fallujah run multiple patrols on their own; the Marines do not accompany the jundi every time they leave the wire. They provide for their own food, ammunition, "3 Company gathers their intelligence, plan and execute their own operations," said Lt. Cortez, the lead adviser at The ROC.

These soldiers are volunteers, and are highly motivated to kill "Ali Baba" - the name they give the insurgents. There are major shortcomings with the Iraqi Army in Fallujah: logistics, pay and the lack of heavy weapons hold the jundi back from being fully independent (this will be covered in more depth along with the police in future posts on the MTTs/PTTs). But a fighting spirit is not one of these shortcomings.

As they say, RTWT.

Is this Bush's new plan for Iraq? Fred Barnes thinks so.

Highlights:

We must change our focus from training Iraqi soldiers to securing the Iraqi population and containing the rising violence. Securing the population has never been the primary mission of the U.S. military effort in Iraq, and now it must become the first priority.

We must send more American combat forces into Iraq and especially into Baghdad to support this operation. A surge of seven Army brigades and Marine regiments to support clear-and-hold operations starting in the Spring of 2007 is necessary, possible, and will be sufficient.
...
The president must request a dramatic increase in reconstruction aid for Iraq. Responsibility and accountability for reconstruction must be assigned to established agencies. The president must insist upon the completion of reconstruction projects. The president should also request a dramatic increase in CERP funds.

Interestingly, it claims the other options proposed by the ISG and Pentagon will fail, as they don't adequately address what they see as the center of gravity of the entire effort: the effect of Iraqi violence on American public opinion. I have my doubts that seven brigades of U.S. forces will be "sufficient" to accomplish what they're talking about (one consequence of the asymmetrical nature of the conflict is that it takes much less effort for our enemies to maintain the status quo), but I certainly agree public opinion is central and that more reconstruction funds should be allocated.

And the Keane/Kagan plan sure beats the "it's time to cut our losses and write Iraq off" conventional wisdom. I've been a fan of Fareed's work in the past, but the cause of liberty is rarely advanced by giving up, and squandering real progress for some vague notion of promoting freedom by being better liked seems both reckless and feckless.

This idea seems to be gaining momentum among Iraqi politicians, as I'm seeing it raised more and more often recently:

Here's the background. Iraqi lawmakers have told reporters that they are ready to oust Maliki over his utter failure to deal with Iraq's continuing security crisis. Under Iraqi law, they could do so with a majority vote in parliament. Indeed, Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish and secular MPs have been gradually shaping a parliamentary majority that specifically excludes followers of Al Sadr. This new emerging majority bloc would be headed by the Shiite leader Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, who met with President Bush in Washington earlier this month. Hakim is well known to be close to Iran, but he doesn't want to be prime minister, and it is doubtful that anyone else wants him to be PM, either. Instead, Hakim backs Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Everyone celebrated when the purple fingers arrived in Iraq. Remember the joy, the optimism, the sudden swing in conventional wisdom, the doubts among war critics? Well, that event was the icing, the plodding laborious process of political moderates banding together against extremists is the cake. This unheralded dynamic is a primary reason why, as Rudy Rummel has exhaustively demonstrated, liberal democracy is the least worst form of government.

(excerpted link via Glenn)

Krauthammer on the ISG report:

The ISG has not just been attacked by left and right, Democrat and Republican. It has invited ridicule. Seventy-nine recommendations. Interdependent, insists Baker. They should be taken as a whole. "I hope we don't treat this like a fruit salad and say, 'I like this but I don't like that.'" On the basis of what grand unifying vision? On the authority of what superior wisdom? A 10-person commission including such Middle East experts as Sandra Day O'Connor, Alan Simpson and Vernon Jordan?

This kind of bipartisan elder-statesmen commission is perfectly appropriate as a consensus-building exercise for, say, a long-range problem such as Social Security. It is a ludicrous mechanism for devising strategic changes in the middle of a war.

More Roggio from Fallujah:

As the the Iraqi Army, Fallujah Police and U.S. military work to secure Fallujah, the war in the shadows continues. Insurgents rarely fight in the open. Their tactics consist of intimidation, drive by shootings, roadside bombs, indirect mortar fire and the increasingly dangerous sniper attacks. The units currently here in Fallujah have yet to encounter a coordinated attack where the enemy maintained contact.

Read the rest.

The dust-up over Jamil Hussein takes a twist, with former CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan joining the hunt for the mystery man:

Who is Jamil Hussein? Michelle Malkin is leading the charge for an answer, and she put that question to me in her blog. The AP is in the midst of a public firestorm regarding whether supposed Iraqi police captain Jamil Hussein actually exists and, if so, whether he was a legitimate news source for a disputed November 24 AP-reported story saying Shia thugs in Baghdad "grabbed six Sunnis as they left Friday worship services, doused them with kerosene and burned them alive near Iraqi soldiers who did not intervene." The U.S. military, the Iraqi government, and many others insisted the AP story was false and that Jamil Hussein either was fictitious or was not an Iraqi police officer, as asserted in the AP's report. The AP has issued two strong statements defending its initial report and produced fresh statements from witnesses of the alleged crime, but the AP has not produced Jamil Hussein himself.

So the search for Jamil Hussein is on, and rightly so. IraqSlogger's team in Baghdad is working to track him down. If we find him, we'll get back to you with details. If we can't find him, we'll report that, too. If Michelle Malkin wants to join the search in Baghdad, IraqSlogger will pay for her trip, and I'd even be willing to accompany her. Stay tuned.

Recall that Jordan resigned from CNN after bloggers exposed his comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos about Coalition troops ostensibly targeting journalists. Jordan's new gig is Iraq Slogger, described here:

IraqSlogger is the world's premier Iraq-focused Web site. The free 24/7 up-to-the-minute news service provides an unrivaled combination of exclusive and third party reporting and analysis on Iraq. IraqSlogger reports on traditional topics as well as extraordinary topics: black market prices in Baghdad, the buzz on Iraq's streets, the latest graffiti in Iraq, and more. IraqSlogger's contributors include journalists in Iraq, the U.S., and elsewhere who are committed to providing insightful and, at times, unconventional, reporting and analysis, as well as links to, and critiques of, reporting and analysis in U.S. and Iraqi news outlets. IraqSlogger is committed to providing clarity, truth, and confidence in reporting on Iraq.

Given the comments that forced his resignation and his admission that CNN covered up for Saddam Hussein's regime to maintain access, many bloggers are skeptical about Jordan's new enterprise and this specific effort to find the AP's source; but if Jamil Hussein can be found - or if he can't - the story will make a great contribution to sussing out truth from lie in the AP's rigid yet oblique defense of its questionable stories.

Oh and, by the way - it looks like Malkin's accepted Jordan's invitation to Iraq, a decisive parry of the "Chickenhawk Gambit." Kurt from Flopping Aces (the original site that questioned the AP source) may also go, pending his ability to get time off from his job as a police officer. He also voices some skepticism:

I worry, as others have, that this may be a set-up of some kind. Think about it. Eason Jordon should have a easy time of finding Jamil Hussein since the AP has said they have been talked to him for over two years. I have blogged many times that there may indeed be a man named Jamil Hussein but my argument has always been he is a fraud. It has already been confirmed that he is NOT employed by the Iraqi government so why would we go skipping around Iraq in search of someone the AP could supposedly produce in a heartbeat?

Picture this, we are tooling around Baghdad and then Eason say's "AH-HA!" There he is. Jamil produces a fake police ID badge and then asks us to comment. When we say that we would like him to come with us to the Ministry of Interior and have the MoI verify he is indeed a employee Mr. Jordan would spin it as "big time journalist (Michelle obviously, not me) refusing to accept proof that Jamil is real." His story would be "Jamil found" and thats how it will be filed across the land.

Eason Jordan has already proven to us all that he is void of any ethics when it comes to journalism so why should we trust him now?

If Hussein is produced but cannot be verified as who he claims to be, blogs and other electronic media will have a large part in determining how the story will "filed across the land." Whether Jordan is attempting honest brokerage or not, his ability to control the narrative once it takes place is no greater than the collectively focused will of a decentralized blogosphere. Just my take.

Thanks for the welcome Bill, I'd just about forgotten that amusing interlude at Swords Crossed. I wonder what Armando's doing these days? Well, I hope he's fully recovered from the various impalings. Anyways, it's a great honor to be posting here on one of the sites where I first learned of blogs, during the heady halcyon days of RatherGate, when Bill played a critical role in bringing down a legendary, powerful media icon making an old man cry.

I generally post from a more-or-less classical liberal, Deist perspective on Iraq, technology, and current events (though perhaps I'm best known for my controversial views on cat litter). I'll be filling in as Bill preps for the exotic desert vacation that he somehow conned his readers into footing the bill for (but if we're lucky he may deign to post some material in between sneaking into houris' tents). Perhaps he'll even luck onto the fabled Jamil Hussein, darling of AP reporting and Iraqi milk cartons; I'm told Bill has successfully completed a rigorous missing-persons training course so I'd say his odds are better than average.

Dave Price will be joining dorkafork and me to author posts at INDC Journal, helping pick up the slack while I prep for my trip. You might know Dave from his posting at Dean's World, an infamously brief stint at Swords Crossed or his comments on most every single blog known to man. Thanks, Dave.

DaF is still acting probational number two at INDC since Hubris's sudden departure, but between you and me, it won't take much to knock him off. Good luck.

I Marine Expeditionary Force Public Affairs has posted a video tribute to Major Megan McClung. USA Today also features a prominent write-up:

A major who rejoined the Marines so she could go to Iraq has become the highest-ranking female servicemember to be killed in the war.

Megan McClung, a 1995 graduate of the Naval Academy, was remembered Tuesday by family and friends as having steel-like constitution. She was a triathlete who organized and ran a marathon in Iraq and competed in six Ironman competitions - running, swimming and bicycling - around the world.

They say that a person's legacy is reflected in the number of lives touched by his or her time on Earth. Given the quantity of google searches that wound up at INDC in the past few days, I'd say that McClung made a heck of an impression.

Time Magazine's Mark Kukis on Ramadi:

Since June, the U.S. effort to quell sectarian violence in Baghdad has drawn thousands of troops to the country's capital, where the world's attention remains largely focused. But outside of Baghdad, U.S. forces are suffering the heaviest death toll these days as they continue to wage a grim, uncertain struggle to defeat insurgents in the predominately Sunni province of Anbar. Tallies of the war dead from August to November show that more than two-thirds of the U.S. casualties in Iraq were outside Baghdad, with four in 10 of those deaths occurring in Anbar Province. Much of the killing happens in Ramadi, where insurgents and fighters from al-Qaeda in Iraq attack Marines, U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces almost daily.

RTWT, and be sure to note the audio accompanying the story.

(Via Fumento, who has more)

After varying assessments for more troops from NCO's, junior officers, (retired) senior officers, military analysts, Senators and Congressmen, and wondering why the Administration and Congress haven't taken aggressive steps to expand the military ...

Why didn't the Administration (through Congress) use the past 3-5 years to restructure the composition of the service branches to meet the needs of an occupation, insurgency and massive reconstruction project? The answer for planning in 2001 to late-2003 is simple: they didn't anticipate a long insurgency and occupation. For late-2003 and beyond, I have no idea.
...
And the fundamental question remains: given that current military spending as a percentage of GDP is below levels of spending during the first Gulf War, the Reagan defense build-up, Vietnam and Korea, ("The Sustainable Economics of War") why is this Administration not pushing Congress for a level of investment necessary to win out the critical strategic gambles in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as make ready for the next conflict?

... an official request is on the horizon:

The Army and Marine Corps are planning to ask incoming Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Congress to approve permanent increases in personnel, as senior officials in both services assert that the nation's global military strategy has outstripped their resources.

In addition, the Army will press hard for "full access" to the 346,000-strong Army National Guard and the 196,000-strong Army Reserves by asking Gates to take the politically sensitive step of easing the Pentagon restrictions on the frequency and duration of involuntary call-ups for reservists, according to two senior Army officials.

The push for more ground troops comes as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have sharply decreased the readiness of Army and Marine Corps units rotating back to the United States, compromising the ability of U.S. ground forces to respond to other potential conflicts around the world.

"The Army has configured itself to sustain the effort in Iraq and, to a lesser degree, in Afghanistan. Beyond that, you've got some problems," said one of the senior Army officials. "Right now, the strategy exceeds the capability of the Army and Marines."

Not to mention explains the practical limits on significant surges of personnel for contingencies that arise in Iraq and Afghanistan ...

Do note that the numbers are relatively small, however: the Army may be requesting a 6% increase from its officially budgeted "end-strength," but that's really less than a one percent increase when compared to the number of personnel currently on active duty. The report is less than specific on the Marines, citing a requested increase of "a few thousand."

These requests are also intended to shift the accounting away from the emergency defense bills and into the regular budget, lending incremental gains an imprimatur's permanence.

Soft drinks: a fundamental component of rising obesity rates:

Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It's because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don't immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.

20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There's plenty of that at this particular moment)

I can barely smell a glass of Coke, much less drink the vile syrup. Read the rest.

I've been remiss in not promoting recently published books written by several friends of this site. In my defense, I haven't had time to read them due to my impending trip. That said, all three authors are respected bloggers and superb writers & editors, so I have no hesitation issuing a recommendation.

*** First up, a novel by Arthur Chrenkoff, he of the groundbreaking and invaluable "Good News from Iraq" round-ups: Night Trains:

Martin is an ordinary Australian twenty-something, whose comfortable, well-ordered life gets turned on its head when he starts seeing and hearing things each night at the nearby semi-deserted railway yards: mysterious lights, people who disappear when followed, steam trains that aren't supposed to be there. Taken to the edge of sanity, Martin eventually learns that he is to ride the "night trains" every night back to wartime Europe to rescue Jews and help the resistance. But before the war ends, Martin will have to confront his SS nemesis, save the woman he loves, and face a terrible secret from the past that can destroy him before he can accomplish his mission.

Schindler's List meets the Polar Express. Very cool.

*** Next is Voting to Kill, Jim Geraghty's explanation for GOP political ascendance after 9-11:

Geraghty made his mark blogging coverage of the Kerry presidential campaign for National Review. In this insightful book, he deconstructs all the theories about Republican popularity as part of a craving for family values and focuses on what he considers the real issue: national security and safety in the face of terrorist threats. Americans favor a political party they think will not hesitate to kill terrorists. Drawing on recollections by ordinary Americans of the fear they felt on 9/11 as they faced the harrowing choice of which child to pick up from school first, Geraghty believes this fear created "Security Moms and Dads" singularly focused on safety who believe that Republicans are most likely to deliver on that issue.

Even in today's dim political environment for the GOP, Jim's thesis is sound. For example:

[F]ewer than 1 in 5 have "a great deal" of trust in Bush to "recommend the right thing" for the United States to do in Iraq.

Confidence in Democratic congressional leaders to chart the proper course is even lower, at 14%.

*** And finally, Blog of War, written by various bloggers on the front lines of the Long War and edited by Blackfive:

"Exciting, entertaining...and insightful; this book breaks new ground and allows us to get a better understanding of what is happening and has happened in our current war...The book is destined to set a trend for other blogger books as this one certainly leads the way with an excellent telling of our experiences in this current war. This will be a hard act to follow for the others! The Military Writer’s Society of America (MWSA) gives this book its highest rating of FIVE STARS." - Bill McDonald, President, MWSA

I can't sell it any better than that.

Congrats and well done to the 'sphere's newly minted authors.

*** Make it stop. Make it stop. Please, make it stop.

*** On the heels of a report noting the outsized impact of "cow emissions" on Global Warming comes the musical story of the Great Cow Revolution.

(Via DW)

*** This sounds a little like my college dorm room:

Police and firefighters yesterday rescued a Long Island man who had been trapped in his bedroom for four days after piling up a 7-foot-high mountain made up of bags of his own feces, jars of urine and other debris.

Ok, maybe a lot.

*** Dean Esmay has been nominated for Jihad Watch's "Dhimmi of the Year," joining such luminaries as Jimmy Carter, George Bush and Condoleeza Rice. The finalists were culled from the most frequent Jihad Watch reader nominations.

They sure seem like reasonable analysts, those commenters.

But they forgot the biggest Dhimmi of all: INDC Journal co-blogger Dorkafork, whose post today on Dennis Prager is a clear manifesto for submission to Islam. Oh well DaF, there's always next year - practice your ululation.

*** And finally, Donnah is soliciting ideas to celebrate her third blogiversary.

Feel free to leave a suggestion.

Recently I mentioned Dennis Prager's opinion on Keith Ellison swearing in on the Koran as an example of "hateful, intolerant, bigoted response to the mere idea of a Muslim holding office." I realize that's a pretty inflammatory statement which could use further explanation; more than one commenter defended Prager, describing him as far from bigoted and "a truly decent human being." I'm sure that for the most part he is remarkably decent. But I believe his views in this particular case are based on prejudice rather than sound reasoning. Let me try and lay out the reasons why I believe that to be the case.

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