I've decided that I'm no longer going to worry about the crazy people who are running our country in Washington attacking Iran. The question, "You and what army?" comes to mind immediately.

While there is clearly a sustained effort in some parts to get Americans angry about Iranian interference in Iraq and the spectre of their nuclear program, it is far from universal policy out of Washington. Nobody is out there beating the drum every day like all of them were in the run up to our invading Iraq. Furthermore, some of the casus belli they've pulled out of their asses of late have only generated ridicule and not concern. See the recent revelation that better targeting of mortars and rockets fired into Baghdad's Green Zone is indicative of advanced training that could only happen in Iran. HO HO HO

The wheels are FINALLY coming off of the Washington/Texas/Pentagon/Republican/Military-Industrial Complex/Jesus Freak express. Many of the people involved at the top can't tie their own shoes, let alone lead us into a shooting war with a country that will make our problems in Iraq look like the stuff of children.

1. The bullet-wound to Petraeus' chest was accidentally fired by an American soldiers who "tripped" with his rifle during a live-fire exercise.

2. The parachute accident occurred during a civilian (i.e. completely voluntary, non-military) parachute jump wherein the parachute properly deployed but "collapsed at low altitude due to a hook turn, resulting in a hard landing" that broke his pelvis.

This isn't to say that the man isn't a genuine tough-guy - I have no doubt that he is - or that these injuries weren't significant. If O'Hanlon is going to attempt to portray Petraeus as GI Joe then the whole story surrounding the circumstances of his injuries should be presented.

How did O'Hanlon and Pollack travel to and from Iraq?

Did they fly on regularly scheduled commercial airline flights? If so, who paid? Themselves? The Brookings Institution? The New York Times? The US Military?

Did they fly on commercial airliners chartered/leased by the US? If so, did they or any other organizations reimburse the military for this travel?

Where did O'Hanlon and Pollack stay in Baghdad? Did they stay in a hotel or were they provided with accommodations by the military or the State Department? If they stayed in a hotel, which one did they stay in and who paid?

O'Hanlon makes it clear in his discussion with Greenwald that he had an expectation of security being provided by the US military. Was his security in fact provided exclusively by the US military? Is this a privilege afforded to any visiting journalist? Are there circumstances where people/organizations who have been provided with security in Iraq by the US military are expected to reimburse the federal government? Were there any charges associated with the security for this trip and if there were, who paid?

I've got 25000 spam emails in my GMail account - but it's actually ingenious. I've probably actually seen less than 10 a day. The spam emails all end up in a spam folder, sight unseen. An occasional stock tip spam makes its way into my inbox. The "Report Spam" button works great - they even have it on the Blackberry GMail application.

I was a Eudora user for years and years. I never thought I'd switch to web based email - until GMail came around.

Give GMail a try - you'll never go back!

Whew! I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only geek with tens of thousands of emails in my Gmail account. I also signed on in July, 2004 and my inbox currently has 39,000+ messages consuming 88% of my 2887 meg.

Knowing now that I'll never actually have to sift through the mail to clear up space so I don't go over my limit makes the $20 for 6 gig a no brainer.

I'm still using - and loving - my it's-shaped-kinda-like-a-lamp iMac. Unfortunately, with a massive mp3 library, several thousand family snapshots in iPhoto and a two hundred meg of documentaries liberated via .torrent, the machine gives me the spinning rainbow beach ball more often than not these days. It is time for me to move up. This new iMac sounds like just the right thing.

Now if only I had some way to PAY for it...

I thought that they chose a nice photo for this article. I don't think that Hillary would find it unflattering.

Obama needs to be careful not to sound too enthusiastic about stepping up the pace of the war in Afghanistan and across the border into Pakistan.

Yes, rhetorically it makes sense to emphasize the Bush Administration's illogical shift away from al-Qaeda in the Afghan/Pakistan border region towards Iraq, but while leaving Iraq and refocusing on Afg/Pak makes sense, I'd hate to see people start advocating for picking up the 135000+ troops in Iraq and redeploying them into Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I recently finished "Holy Cow - An Indian Adventure" by Australian hipster Sarah MacDonald - a book I absolutely loved.

In the book, MacDonald skeptically takes in a number of high-profile religious events from each of the major South Asian disciplines. Her chapter on traveling to and experiencing "Amma" in Kerala was probably the most interesting in the book.

Like me, MacDonald is an atheist. She doesn't end up finding religion in the book - thank god - but she does learn to appreciate the act of seeking itself.

If you're interested in India, I highly recommend "Holy Cow," along with Suketu Mehta's "Maximum City," Vikram Chandra's "Sacred Games," and Gregory David Roberts' "Shantaram," all of which explore spirituality in some capacity.

No, I'm not joking - and please don't call me Shirley.