Today, I came across a small community paper from a place called Hopkinsville, Kentucky. My impression of the town is not an encouraging one. (The bulk of the paper's editorial content focuses on local high school sports.) But the op-ed that brought this paper to my attention is incredibly, brillantly bad. The opening pair of sentences is possibly one of the worst things ever written:

"No matter what anyone says, fiction usually is stranger than truth. That's because people who create fiction can make it as strange as they choose. "

There's nothing like dealing with the health insurance provider to put me in a confessional mode. Upshot is $444 for a crummy routine physical, of which I get to pay $333. May I note that I actually have very wisely-chosen personal health insurance? $500 deductible, 80% covered over that. Looks like I'll be needing it. We'll see how the tests turn out.

As long as the United States ignores the possibility of universal, state-funded health care, real public health agenda cannot be brought to the table. A country like this does NOT do well with epidemics.

On a random note, I nominate the silliest retail color name so far: "Shawl green" from Banana Republic.

"The Withdrawal of Foreign Troops is the Only Solution: The Media-hyped Fiction of a Handover of Power in Iraq is designed for US Voters"

My preference used to be for 1) multinationalization of the occupation force, starting with a steep scaling back of American presence, 2)the setting of firm dates for U.N.-monitored elections and foreign troop withdrawal, 3)economic aid, including forgiving of debts, and technology transfer from countries perceived as having no economic or political takeover intentions.

Unfortunately, the situation has degraded to the point that this solution--which would have been workable as late as June--will probably fail. The resistance we are seeing now is exactly that: resistance. Not terrorism, not civil war (though that's certainly on the menu now). The leadership at one flashpoint (Najaf) happens to be a young firebrand Shi'ite cleric, and theocratic ambitions may be partially motivating him. The resistance however, is pervasive and popular. Whatever its scale, one thing is for certain: there are no Iraqis on the Americans' side. Which is completely unsurprising.

"The Withdrawal of Foreign Troops is the Only Solution: The Media-hyped Fiction of a Handover of Power in Iraq is designed for US Voters"

My preference used to be for 1) multinationalization of the occupation force, starting with a steep scaling back of American presence, 2)the setting of firm dates for U.N.-monitored elections and foreign troop withdrawal, 3)economic aid, including forgiving of debts, and technology transfer from countries perceived as having no economic or political takeover intentions.

Unfortunately, the situation has degraded to the point that this solution--which would have been workable as late as June--will probably fail. The resistance we are seeing now is exactly that: resistance. Not terrorism, not civil war (though that's certainly on the menu now). The leadership at one flashpoint (Najaf) happens to be a young firebrand Shi'ite cleric, and theocratic ambitions may be partially motivating him. The resistance however, is pervasive and popular. Whatever its scale, one thing is for certain: there are no Iraqis on the Americans' side. Which is completely unsurprising.

So let's do a quick recap. Iraq was unilaterally invaded and occupied by the United States despite opposition from the international community as well as a sizable chunk of the population. Iraqis were assured that this was necessary because Saddam Hussein had WMDs, and OK, he actually didn't but he was killing y'all so we had to take him out. (This from the same cadre of people that bitterly opposed and punished then-president Clinton for going into the Balkans to stop a genocide.) As for taking out Saddam to stop the killing, the argument grows weaker by the day as the Iraqi body count (steadfastly uncompiled and ignored by the U.S.) reaches past the 37 thousand mark. Add to that the widely-known fact that the U.S. leadership is dominated by dispensationalist Christians who use unfortunate words like "Crusade", blatant civil rights violations and hate crimes against Arabs in the U.S. and the Abu Ghraib snapshots-from-hell, and what inescapable conclusion can we draw?

The U.S. cannot do any good in Iraq. Not now, not through troops, and certainly not through a puppet government. The U.S. has such a massive credibility deficit in Iraq that there is nothing it can do to fix what it broke. Oddly enought, there is such a burning desire by a majority of Iraqis to see the U.S. leave that it can probably cut a simple exchange deal: We'll pack up and leave if all parties concerned will agree to work towards a U.N.-monitored election at a set date. After that, it's up to the elected Iraqi leadership and the international community to incubate a stable, democratic and hopefully secular Iraq. It's not going to be cheap or easy.

SYDNEY, Australia -- Swinburne University of Technology's center for micro-photonics have constructed a model of the Sydney Opera House, see photo above, that is about half the diameter of a human hair. It is more than a million times smaller than the real Sydney structure. The model was built from a hybrid material of glass and polymer by firing intense laser light into the matter in a liquid state to create what to the human eye appears as an almost imperceptible dot, but under an electron microscope it contains the detail and the beauty of the iconic Sydney harbour side structure. (07/23/04 AP-Swinburne University)

Plus: the advent of Metal Rubber.

Like I said, everyone's having girl babies. In the case of London Zoo's month-old Francois Langur, this is a fortunate thing: there are only about 400 leaf monkeys of this species left in Guangxi province, China. The population in Vietnam and Laos was very badly eroded during the Vietnam War, and overall, the species is classed as "vulnerable" in the IUCN Red List. Laa Laa has an older brother, Grubb, born last summer.

I would like to note that in addition to being a happy new infusion for the gene pool of this embattled species, Laa Laa is adorable. Look at the little onion tuft on her head, it's just like Sun Wukong's.

Women who believe in long life, have more resources tend to bear sons. This syncs up well with the increase in femal births throughout the affluent industrialized world, independent of factors such as environmental toxins.

The Guardian has an excellent defense of loafing today:

The virtue of idleness
"From the Bible on, moralists and nags have promoted the benefits of hard work and early rising. They are mistaken, argues Tom Hodgkinson. For breathing space to create and time to reflect, indolence is essential. He offers a guide to easy living, pleasurable illness, and effortless sex."