dt_3pin

Good lord, that's awful.

Off the hook would be by "15 minutes"! No Kevbone. Climbing the Nose in 2:48:35 is off the hook.

Pay your bills on time and you shouldn't have too much of a problem. Works better than indignancy. Except when there is a snafu, and a burden of prooving innocence to get it corrected. True dat. Do you think the government would provide better services than the private sector with respect to credit scoring?

Pay your bills on time and you shouldn't have too much of a problem. Works better than indignancy.

Nice one. JM is the deal.

When getting fucked by a corporation, which orifice is (((correct)))? 8D

Lynwood? Damn, that hurts man. Tvash, I understand your point. I think illuminating light on the gruesome underbelly of war is important, and the role of private contractors and the general outsourcing (aka tax farming) of traditional military duties deserves more attention than it's getting. While we likely agree that the use of military contractors is dubious, and the lack of legal accountability is repugnant, there is no guarantee that the situation in that square would have been any different were it regular grunts, special operators, or private contractors. Sure, we should point to that incident to frame the question "what the fuck are we doing over there - what are we accomplishing?" Pointing to that incident to say that BW or any other private contractor outfit is bad kind of missess the point. Enlistees and contractors alike (but not all) are doing fucked up shit. If they start a draft, conscripts likely will as well. I guess I feel there are bigger fish to fry and this is but another distraction that benefits the Bush team by drawing fire away from the real policy debates about our involvement in the middle east. Reasonable minds, of course, can disagree.

THat is not what happened, according to reports. If you're going to take the time to post your opinion, at least make sure it's informed. The Iraqi doctor was shot first, then his car drifted (not hurtled) towards the convoy...because he was dead and his weight was still on the accelerator. The convoy then opened fire in all directions at everything that moved, including those trying to flee. Hardly a trained, professional response. Boy, if informed opinions are a prerequsite for posting on cc.com, they might as well shut this place down. I'm aware that the Dr. was shot and the car kept heading towards the convoy, and I apologize if my post didn't make that clear. In a context where vehicles are regularly used as moving weapons, I think their reaction was perhaps not all that unreasonable. I wasn't there, so I'm a bit hesitant to pass judgment on people's actions under the duress of combat. You suggest that wasn't a trained professional response, but I wouldn't be to sure, and I wonder how you would react in the same situation. Again, nitpicking the responses of individual combatants is pretty meaningless in the end. The war, and the larger policy decisions that caused it, are the problem. Unfortunate killings are simply the result. Treat the disease, not the symptoms.

Well done dinomyte and ericb. Those are some cute kids. I'll second the ergo pack endorsement. Those things are really comfy and wee Henry likes it way more than the bjorn.

can I have a poster of that for my wall? Thanks for the new avatar pic.

Uh, okay

Christ, if Neo from the Matrix and Yoda somehow spawned a retarded love child, I suspect it would sound a lot like V7.

This post hits the nail on the head, kind of. It's easy to criticize without offering pragmatic solutions, and I haven't heard any good proposals from the Left on how to withdraw without conflagrating the chaos that is contemporary Iraq. On the otherhand, the Right has left me unconvinced that the current approach will result in a favorable outcome and avoid the worst-case results KK identifies above. As I see it, the lack of good options from either side of the debate brings one word to mind - quagmire.

Perhaps not.... Despite my concern about military contractors, nepotistic war profiteering, and the US fiasco in Iraq in general, I have a hard time with criticisms of Blackwater's actions. What happened is really fucked up and its sad that innocent people were killed. But innocent people are slaughtered every day in Iraq, whether by suicide bomb, guided bomb, or Blackwater. Who knows why the first Iraqi was shot, but I suppose I would react the same way if I saw a car hurling at my convoy. It's a pretty fucking high-threat enviornment those folks are operating in, and shit happens. It doesn't sound like they lined the Iraqis up and mowed them down, Mi Lai syle. Instead, it looks like, IMHO, they were responding to a legitimately percieved threat. I'm not really willing to second guess individual troops on the ground in a combat environment. The problem isn't so much what Blackwater or US troops do in any one specific instance, on account of those are just symptoms of the bigger foreign policy blunder. These hearings seem kind of like a forest for the trees issue.

Damn, that sucks balls. Who was the Judge? That'd be good beta for folks who find themselves in the same situation.

as a REMF, right? Better a REMF than a chickenhawk.

Radiohead's new ablum, Rainbows, will be released on October 10th. It will only be available for the first two months on Radiohead's website. You can download it for how ever much you feel like paying. From http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=1c844068-b6b5-4db6-8dcc-65ba18916ed7&entry=index The clouds are about to part for Radiohead fans. With speculation increasing that the band's hugely anticipated new album wouldn't arrive until March or later due to a lack of a record deal, the British art-rockers dropped a bombshell Monday, announcing their seventh studio album, In Rainbows, will be out on Oct. 10. "Hello, everyone. Well, the new album is finished, and it's coming out in 10 days," reads a characteristically terse statement from lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood. But there's a catch. Since Radiohead is self-releasing the 10-track LP, Rainbows will only be available for the first two months as a digital download and only via the band's official Website. Befitting its reputation as innovative trendsetters in an increasingly staid music biz, Radiohead is giving fans the opportunity to pay as much or as little as they want for the new material. "It's up to you," reads a disclaimer on the checkout page after one clicks on a question mark next to the price field. (Cheapskates, beware: There is a $1 credit card transaction fee.) For those who prefer get their hands on an actual, physical copy, they'll have the opportunity to snap up a hardcover Rainbows "discbox" on Dec. 3. The special edition goes for 40 pounds (about $80) and includes an extra album with eight new tunes, some of which, such as "Down Is the New Up" and "Bangers and Mash," Radiohead unveiled during last summer's tour. In addition to the bonus disc, the discbox will include a double-vinyl record, photos, artwork and lyrics encased in a hardback book and slipcase. The digital download is included and can be accessed on Oct. 10. Both options are available now for preorder at a special site the Grammy-winning quintet has set up to handle the sales. Meanwhile, a rep with the band's U.S.-based PR firm, Nasty Little Man, says the band is in discussions to release the album in stores in January. It was initially assumed LP7—as it was then known—wouldn't be issued until next year, because Radiohead was believed to be shopping for a new record deal after leaving longtime label EMI in 2005 upon fulfilling the terms of their contract. Anticipation was further stoked after some devotees claimed to have decoded mysterious drawings posted on the band's Dead Airspace blog purportedly staking out Mar. 10 as a possible release date. Further clues about Rainbows came in the form of JPEG info for a blurred picture posted of singer Thom Yorke standing before microphone, which listed the name "Up on the Ladder," a song Radiohead debuted several years ago. That song is on the bonus disc. Because of the unique distribution method Yorke and mates are employing this time around—i.e., essentially enabling buyers to decide how much they want to pony up for the music—the band's publicist at Nasty Little Man isn't sure whether Rainbows will be eligible for listing on album charts. Radiohead's last release, 2003's Hail to the Thief, debuted on the Billboard 200 at number three and at number one in the U.K. Here's the complete track listing for the Nigel Godrich-produced In Rainbows and its bonus disc: In Rainbows (vinyl, CD and digital download): 1. "15 Step" 2. "Bodysnatchers" 3. "Nude" 4. "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" 5. "All I Need" 6. "Faust Arp" 7. "Reckoner" 8. "House of Cards" 9. "Jigsaw Falling into Place" 10. "Videotape" Bonus disc: 1. "MK 1" 2. "Down Is the New Up" 3. "Go Slowly" 4. "MK 2" 5. "Last Flowers" 6. "Up on the Ladder" 7. "Bangers and Mash" 8. "4 Minute Warning"

Just finished and highly recommend: Currently reading (and enjoying) Wife is currently reading and next on the list: Also, this is the coolest book I've gotten in a long time, and I look through it all the time:

"rich" is a culturally relative concept.

Today: Periods of snow showers. High near 23. West southwest wind around 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 7 to 11 inches possible. Tonight: Periods of snow showers. Low around 11. West wind between 11 and 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 16 to 22 inches possible. Wednesday: Periods of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. High near 19. West southwest wind between 10 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 10 to 14 inches possible. Wednesday Night: Periods of snow showers. Low around 8. South southwest wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Thursday: Periods of snow showers. High near 19. South southwest wind between 7 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Thursday Night: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 11. Friday: A 30 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 22. Friday Night: Snow likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 14. Saturday: Snow likely. Cloudy, with a high near 29. Saturday Night: A chance of snow. Cloudy, with a low around 16. Sunday: Periods of snow. Cloudy, with a high near 31. Sunday Night: Periods of snow. Cloudy, with a low around 17. Columbus Day: Periods of snow. Cloudy, with a high near 31.

Allergic to bourbon? That's a fucking bummer. . .

That's crazy. Reminds me of when Judge Ferris from the 9th Circuit had a hundred or so trees whacked from Coleman Park to improve his view of Lake Washington. He settled with the City for $500K.

In retrospect, I suppose I should have used some masonry adhesive or something, but it's a dry stack wall and doesn't need it structurally. I hadn't considered the theft angle . . .