What do I hate about soccer?  Well, first of all, it’s so very European—what with the ridiculous colored socks, and with the hand made to feel guilty over what is its clear superiority in most activities requiring dexterity.  That is to say, for the offense of being so useful, the hand is marginalized to the point of criminality.  In soccer, using your hands is akin to committing a hate crime. 

From the WaPo: Two U.S. soldiers missing since an attack on a checkpoint last week have been found dead near a power plant in Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad, according to U.S. officials, and Iraqi officials say the soldiers had been tortured. Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Muhammed-Jassim, head of operations at the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, said the soldiers had been “barbarically” killed. U.S. officials would not confirm or deny that

*must credit protein wisdom* Not to get too far out in front of the news cycle here, but it appears TruthOut has been fully exonerated with respect to its earlier Rove reportage, and that Marc Ash, Jason Leopold, and their unnamed sources in federal law enforcement and government are actually heroes—albeit heroes who have been victimized by their own heroism in such a way that it appears that they’ve made

J. Peter Pham, director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University and an academic fellow of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, on the growing threat taking shape in Somalia.  From the WSJ, “The New Taliban” (subscription only): On June 5, an armed Islamist group, the Union of Islamic Courts, took control of Mogadishu, Somalia’s largest city, after heavy fighting against “warlords” representing

Behind the curtains here at protein wisdom, a team of highly trained military specialists is hard at work trying to correct the server optimization problem that is causing my site to crash repeatedly.  In the mean time, I sit and wait and laugh as they put themselves in such cyber peril—like the vile, presumptuous CHICKENSERVERFIXERHAWK that I am… Dance for DADDY, IT boys!

What follows is an excerpt from a June 18 transcript of “Meet the Press,” featuring a Tim Russert interview with Rep John Murtha (D-PA) that I’m hoping somebody will please translate for me.  Because I’m afraid I don’t speak Murtha—which I’d previously assumed was a variant of English, but after reading the transcript, I’m no longer sure about even that much: MR. RUSSERT: You say redeploy. Again, Mr. Rove challenges

DVDs for sale.  Perfect shape.  $6 ea. (which includes first class domestic shipping) or all 3 for $15.  Titles below the fold.

From Time, an excerpt from a new book by Ron Suskind: Al-Qaeda terrorists came within 45 days of attacking the New York subway system with a lethal gas similar to that used in Nazi death camps. They were stopped not by any intelligence breakthrough, but by an order from Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman Zawahiri. And the U.S. learned of the plot from a CIA mole inside al-Qaeda. These are

Here are a few practical questions to consider as we hope for the best and prepare ourselves for the worst:  does al Qaeda in Iraq believe that any public exploitation of the death and/or torture of American soldiers is likely to help their cause—either in terms of recruiting or in terms of winning the support of Iraqis?  More importantly, will it?  Similarly, how are Americans likely to react to any