Ardolino from INDC Journal is back in Fallujah, and his first report, though tentative, is nonetheless positive: I’m still in the middle of my Civil Affairs (CAG) embed, and the ongoing missions coupled with intermittent power and internet access in my current billet make writing difficult. Polished commentary will be a few days out. But a quick teaser: the positive change in Fallujah since my January visit is astounding. Read

…Does this recruitment campaign strike anyone else as perhaps a bit needy…? Or does suggesting such mean that Geraldo will show up in the comments and threaten to spit on me?

In a follow-up to the story of a Houston police officer suspended and forced to attend diversity training by a local school district for distributing an eight page “guide to ebonics” to 15 Independent School District police officers during a meeting in May (essentially, what it amounted to was a short guide to common street slang), here’s Houston Chronicle letter writer Pamela D. Reed, diversity consultant and assistant professor of

The baby Rox are still hanging around — 4 games back in both the division and in the wild card after another crucial comeback win tonight. Who’da thunk it? Ahem.

So I’m at Sears today, checking out the new KitchenAid dishwashers, when out of the corner of my eye I catch sight of a table saw at 30% off! Instantly I was aroused. Could have drilled through a pile of flagstones, in fact, had there been a pressing need to do so just then. And my nipples? Like tiny diamond drill bits hunting about for some unsuspecting glass to carve

In a conspiracy of bad timing, we lost our washing machine to fatigue this weekend, and our dishwasher to poor design and the force of my foot (frustration, you see, for the wretched old Whirlpool’s inability to clean the Guinness residue out of my pint glasses; justifiable technocide, I believe). Looking for recommendations and testimonials in support of replacement machines. Thrall me with your acumen. Please.

From the Colorado Springs Gazette: On the playground of a northern Colorado Springs elementary school, tag is not “it.” The touch-and-run game and any other form of chasing was banned this year at Discovery Canyon Campus’ elementary school by administrators who say it fuels schoolyard disputes. “It causes a lot of conflict on the playground,” said Assistant Principal Cindy Fesgen. In the first days of school, before tag was banned,

Re: Dan’s post on the “Caric” effect: Ric Caric is a minor educator at a minor university. His academic “work” is entirely template-driven and circular, beginning with a common premise — white Americans, particularly men, are inveterately (for Caric’s ilk, the construct itself, when pressured, shows itself to be foundational) racist, sexist, and homophobic, and can only be saved by the Church of Progressive Politics, where the demons of HATE

A student’s MySpace page: August 27, 2007 – Monday The Caric Standard Current mood: accomplished I have a professor named Ric Caric. He’s easily the most influential person in my entire life. This is the guy who changed my entire ideological framework by tearing my preconceived notions to shreds. From day one he has challenged and tested me ideologically. It started with African American Political theory. bell hooks, Spike Lee,