Why should I be strong while watching others run away; Spain, Honduras, Thailand, human organizations, the UN and all the others who want (and it’s their right I must say) to avoid the dangers. But why did they disappoint us? Why abandon us in this moment when we really need them? . . . Why do others get discouraged easily? Don’t mistake me. I’m upset but will NEVER run away like some people did.--- Mohammed

Argh.

*My account is back over 70%!

My weight is in the same place, I did some cleaning, reading (not enough) and writing the RR, did not knit.

I can't believe I forgot to mention the roaster! We bought the George Foreman Lean Mean Contact Roasting Machine yesterday and today I tried a rump roast (with potatoes and carrots) in it. 90 minutes, and the kitchen didn't heat up, and oh, my, how good.

I've misplaced my brains. I run around with a fat lil' notebook which I use to remember everything. The old one was almost done, but I didn't yet transcribe my last bowling scores and a few other things. I was copying pertinent information to the new one which I planned to start on our Aridzona trip, but sometime yesterday morning I misplaced the notebook. It's surprising how much I depend on it! There was a GoE-letter I would write soon for which I was taking notes, the aforementioned bowling breakdown, religious songs I sometimes use in my morning 20-minutes-with-God... ARGH.

OK, we went and signed up with Cingular today. Got 250 anytime minutes, no roaming, no long distance, 1000 nighttime minutes (we figure, as little as we call, all our relatives will get calls at the end of the month because nothing rolls over!) a free phone and car cord, voice mail. It's a good deal. We protested about giving the social security number for the credit check... I picture Big Brother, or at least Big Uncle Cingular, tracking our calls, invading our privacy. Is it even legal for them to use the SSN# this way? But in the end, we wanted the phone, and we wanted it now.

It's taking some time to learn to use it. We've called ourselves in both directions now, so I think we know how to do that. I did think it would be nice to have when I'm out with Casey, in case there's a problem.

I had the kid today. We went down to the NASA exhibit at the library, which was too adult for this child. Then I read a couple of books (including one that made me laugh about a frog family taking their small child to the restaurant... somehow, it reminded me of Alex!) and then we went to a playground.

Between the phone, and the kid, however, we went caching. There's one that's a puzzle:

When we get back, we'll have quite a few to do. There's the Skiffy cache, another GoE memorial to be filled with all sorts of sci-fi things (hey, if we get to area 51, I should have plenty!), the one we want to put at Bobelaine Sanctuary, the two teeth I have. Oddly enough, Rich is a lot better about putting out the ones he invents than the ones I do, but eventually it all happens.

Then we just had time to squeeze in another. Hello, there's a couple of guys there! Why, it's the guys from Grass Valley! So we said hi and watched while they found the cache, which works for us!
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Nowadays the idea that Saddam had anything to do with terrorism is regarded as proof of a mind that refuses to accept reality. This, despite the payments to the suicide bombers’ families. This, despite the terrorists who had refuge in Iraq. This, despite the training camp. This, despite al-Ansar. This is something I’ve never understood: the belief that Iraq was somehow hermetically sealed off from the politics of the Arab world, as though it was actually located somewhere north of Turkey, as though it was immune to the temptation of using these transnational forces to its own advantage. At the very least you’d expect Saddam to buy these guys off, if only for insurance purposes. But no: Saddam was the one principled leader who refused to deal with terrorist organizations, because . . . he was secular? Please. A guy who commissions a Qu’ran in his own blood is not exactly unaware of the fundamentalist currents in his culture.

I don’t think he was behind 9/11; I don’t think he organized it, supported it overtly, or even knew what was up. That’s different from saying "Saddam had no connection to Al-Qaeda," which strikes me not only as a rash and premature judgment, but one that seems willfully blind to the realities of the region. To say something like that with confidence does not suggest, shall we say, evidence of a flexible, nuanced worldview. Because, well, you might be proven wrong. And then what? How do you recover from such a conspicuous admission of naivete?

The electorate might want to inquire: who else don’t you suspect?
---Lileks

More on Oil-for-Food. Also here. Here are the US recipients. Baghdad Jim returned his! My respect for him has risen, not that it had any other direction to go.

Iraqi blog roundup, and Saudi blogger. Why we're in Iraq.

Claudia Rosett suggests What the UN Could do:

Presiding over the legitimation of a new Iraqi government, which seems to be the current grand ambition, is not a good place for the U.N. to start. At the very least, a project of such complexity, requiring the highest possible degree of integrity, needs to wait until the various investigations now in motion, or about to begin, have reported back.

Backlash?: "Muslim terrorists might do well to recall that there are far more Christian holy places in the Arab world than there are Muslim vestiges in Europe."

Mark Steyn agrees: Mideast Instability might be a GOOD thing.

How an Italian died. Note al-JaPravda didn't cover it.