August 2003

"The Iraqi criminal code ran about 150 pages, but the coalition has [lopped off] the 90-plus pages that were crimes against Saddam or 'the state'."

"advanced power-electronics and energy storage devices are massaging and managing power flows from wind turbines, enabling them to contribute to electricity grids"

"a person who confuses scholarship with propaganda and who pursues petty vendettas with scant regard for objectivity"

"it is the job of every designer to blunt and, where possible, eliminate the lawyer's attempts to sabotage your company's products"

"G. my friend got beaten up by US Army last night, he was handcuffed and had a bag put on his head. he was kicked several times and was made to lie on his face for a while. ... He got more kicks for speaking english. his sin: he looks Iraqi and has a beard."

"She actually described Paul Bremer as another Saddam; we see him every day on TV, and the news is all about what he says and what he does"

"Law enforcement agencies seem to have been encouraged to publicly make their case on the same basis as other stakeholders."

US troops panic when attacked and fire blindly in the dark, then leave the wounded to die in the streets

"Throughout his career, Ledeen has insisted that war and violence are integral parts of human nature and derided the notion that peace can be negotiated between two nations."

US companies are not allowed to tell customers whether products are made in Israel, and must report any who ask

I try to avoid linking to pages that require registration or have intrusive advertising - popups, animations, etc - but I use Mozilla with popups blocked, without a Flash plugin, and with images from most advertising sites blocked, so I may inadvertently inflict those annoyances on you.

"At one point this spring, about 60 percent of the supply line supporting troops in Iraq was devoted to carrying bottled water, food and ice"

"Failure to invest in the new Iraqi broadcasting service means foreign channels are gaining popularity"

when it attacks environmental and social regulation, that's fine, but interfering with corporate subsidies is just not on

"one can see how appeals to religion, like those that are currently being made by the religious right, can work in a democracy to subvert all of the values to which they give lip service. It worked brilliantly with the Roman Empire."

"Book burnings aren't a new part of our country's history, but Dr. VanElderen says the last time he remembers burning Bibles was in the South in the 1950s."

The older men said the true resistance had not yet begun. "These are simple operations. It's the work of juveniles. But the professionals are waiting"

"Before, when we could fine people, everybody kept to the law. Now they just swear at us. Insulting a traffic policeman used to get you six months in jail."

"We've got thousands of angry, ignorant American troops running around with tanks and guns pointed at everyone."

the origins of Chinese culture civilization have traditionally been sought in the North Chinese plain rather than in the South