Why do so many servicemen and women want to go back to a losing battle? Via Gina (remember to vote for her, too): Maybe this is why: I don’t know if my delicate psyche can take the specter of a Vietnam-like denouement to Iraq or Afghanistan. When I think of Vietnam, I am ashamed. I’m not alone: U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin futilely pleaded for $700 million in emergency aid, so

So, your post won’t be buried in dreck, by me.

By those who knew her: Megan was a friend of mine from the Naval Academy. She was a neat person and a great triathlete. I am sure she would appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Posted by Kara | permalink on 12/09 at 01:15 PM I met Megan McClung back in 2004 when we were both here in Baghdad in different civilian capacities. She ran into a friend from the Naval

From Wikipedia: Mise en abyme has several meanings in the realms of creative arts and literary theory. The term is originally from the French and means, “placing into infinity” or “placing into the abyss”. In Western art “mise en abyme” is a formal technique in which an image contains a smaller copy of itself, the sequence appearing to recur infinitely. The term originated in heraldry, describing a coat of arms

Wondering how to characterize something or somebody in the news?  APco’s Real Journalist Cheat Sheet can help you characterize like the Pros! h/t LGF (they don’t need the freaking link)

How cool is this? Serenifly cast turn up to cancelled convention. There’s no simplier way of putting this. Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Mark Sheppard, Jonathan Woodward, Christina Hendricks and Adam Baldwin have all turned up and are partying with fans at the hotel bar into the night at the cancelled convention Flanvention. These actors? I don’t have the words. h/t Instapundit (he doesn’t need any freaking link)

How about a Polar Ice Cap?  Jawa Report has the dope on A Skeptic’s Guide to Debunking Global Warming Alarmism by James Inhofe’s committee, now available as an Acrobat document. I wonder when Jay Rockefeller and Olympia “I’m Melting” Snowe will call on him to retract it. You can insulate your children against this heresy by buying this book from earth-friendly Wal-Mart. UPDATE: This looks totally cool.

proves Jews not responsible for all the world’s wars. Mel Gibson’s film about the Mayan civilisation has come under fire from indigenous members of the culture. Activists in Guatemala – once home to a large part of the central American Mayan empire – said Apocalypto was unrealistic. Well, at least they’re indigenous.  Not like that Ward Churchill guy. “The director is saying the Mayans are savages,” said Lucio Yaxon, a

Several days ago, I posted an entry about a journalist’s amazement that the Alexander Litvinenko story read so much like a spy novel.  I don’t read a lot of them, but there seemed to be substantial interest in them amongst the PW readership, so I thought I’d share this article from the WSJ by guest William Stevenson: Secret Agent Espionage is a secretive business, but these classics are the best

The Associated Press has broken new ground by giving us the posthumous interview: The slain terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi purportedly believed that Iraq’s Shiite Muslims were more dangerous than U.S. forces and more evil than dictator Saddam Hussein, according to a posthumous interview published Friday on the Internet.