What I have learned today

Iraqis hate Al Qaida more than they hate the U.S.

We have to get out of there.

Politicization

As one blog after another, and one news article after another, recounts the politicization of the justice department, the CDC, the FDA, the GSA, and whoever's next, let us not forget the mother of all politicization efforts, and by far the one with the most tragic consequences:

Iraqi reconstruction in the early (potentially effective) days.

We can, after all, fix our own infrastructure, however slowly and painfully, without the loss of a hundred thousand plus civilian lives.

HBO

Why does HBO show its HD movies in fullframe (the HD equivalent of pan and scan)? Showtime HD shows its movies letterboxed.

And why are the only seven exceptions to the above rule (that I've ever seen) the six Star Wars movies and...Without Limits, the Robert Towne movie about Steve Prefontaine??

'04 Kandyd vs. '07 Kandyd

Things I am learning while re-reading my posts from 2004:

• I was pissed-the-fuck-off at the way this country was being run. (Now, I'm mostly numb with occasional bouts of sadness, followed immediately by a resigned lowering of the head and topped off by playing Nintendo Wii.)
• I wrote a couple of coherent, long-ish posts that hold up pretty well. I'm not sure I could do that today.
• I was occasionally pretty funny, and the things that made me post funny things in 2004 are still making me laugh in 2007.
  

Has it really been two-and-a-half men...er, years?

The best thing about waiting 2 and a half years between posts (my post-election depression was rapidly replaced with the depression of having my worst fears realized) is that all the crap I wrote in August of 2004 is still on my main page. Here's a sample:

Still waiting for him to give that speech about sending troops to Sudan. Thursday's only a couple of days away....

That was from Tuesday, August 31, 2004.

Still waiting.

Banana Republicans

Kevin Drum, so far as I know, came up with the term.

(No, actually, apparently there's a book from 2004 with the title, though it didn't feel quite as banana republic-y back then.)

In any case, it couldn't be more fitting. I hope it catches on. Could be our answer to being called the Democrat Party.

Jingoism

Not usually prone to it, but I have to admit that it really irritates me when I have to go all the way down to "U" to select "United States" in a drop-down menu on a web form.