Campus Crusade for Kitsch

TWU: News & Events: "'Kitsch” may be a new word for some people, but it has existed for many years. In the contemporary world it is evident in everything from “Jesus is my homeboy” T-shirts, to the commercializing of Christmas; the sentimentality of what was once sacred and meaningful replaced by cheap reproductions. This September, Trinity Western University art professor and kitsch expert Betty Spackman, released her debut book, A Profound Weakness, Christians and Kitsch, a collection of questions and discoveries from her own artistic journey which grapples with kitsch in the western world."

Talk about a Quagmire

Transterrestrial Musings: "As this bloody and futile war enters its fourth year, the casualties continue to rise, and while it's hard to know how many American soldiers have been lost, due to a secretive Roosevelt administration, many analysts think that the number of deaths in brutal battle is now approaching a quarter of a million."

The wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time?

A proud member of the UN

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran leader defends Israel remark: " Iran's president has defended his widely criticised call for Israel to be "wiped off the map".

Attending an anti-Israel rally in Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his remarks were "just" - and the criticism did not "have any validity".

His initial comment provoked anger from many governments, and prompted Israel to demand Iran's expulsion from the UN...

Shouting 'Death to Israel, death to the Zionists', the protesters dragged Israeli flags along the ground and then set them on fire."

The Cover Up

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "In each of the counts, the basic allegation against Libby is that he lied to investigators or Fitzgerald's grand jury about his conversations with reporters. He is not accused of purposely revealing the identity of a covert officer, the potential charge that Fitzgerald was initially appointed to investigate. "

No crime, just a cover up. It's always about the cover up.

Strong, Sweet Smell Reported in Manhattan

That is news.

Michelle Malkin: DEMONIZING CONDI

Michelle Malkin: "No, Condi isn't possessed; the photo was manipulated."

Media bias (Condi's freaking eyes) that you can see with your own freaking eyes.

MY ADVICE TO CHRISTIANS, JEWS, HINDUS, ETC:

Instapundit.com: "MY ADVICE TO CHRISTIANS, JEWS, HINDUS, ETC: Start blowing things up and beheading people. This will gain you enormous solicitude from the powers-that-be:"

Read the whole thing.

The Gospel According to Anne

MSNBC.com: "They've been worried about her. After 25 novels in 25 years, Rice, 64, hasn't published a book since 2003's 'Blood Chronicle,' the tenth volume of her best-selling vampire series. They may have heard she came close to death last year, when she had surgery for an intestinal blockage, and also back in 1998, when she went into a sudden diabetic coma; that same year she returned to the Roman Catholic Church, which she'd left at 18. They surely knew that Stan Rice, her husband of 41 years, died of a brain tumor in 2002. And though she'd moved out of their longtime home in New Orleans more than a year before Hurricane Katrina, she still has property there—and the deep emotional connection that led her to make the city the setting for such novels as 'Interview With the Vampire.' What's up with her? 'For the last six months,' she says, 'people have been sending e-mails saying, 'What are you doing next?' And I've told them, 'You may not want what I'm doing next'.' We'll know soon. In two weeks, Anne Rice, the chronicler of vampires, witches and—under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure—of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish 'Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt,' a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself. 'I promised,' she says, 'that from now on I would write only for the Lord.' It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's 'Slow Train Coming' announced that he'd been born again."

Only Liberals Need Apply

Dr. Helen: "Here is another USA Today article looking at the disturbing trend of fewer men attending college--especially liberal arts colleges (gee, there's a surprise). It is easy to see why boys avoid these types of feminine empires--to succeed, one has to adopt a liberal point of view."

The Mental Ward (Churchill)

The Mental Ward (Churchill): "Todd Beamer, one of the heros of 9/11 doomed flight 93, is a graduate of DePaul University! He received his masters from the same school that financially supports Ward Churchill, who called the victims of 9/11 “little Eichmanns”."

Starbucks with a God on cups

Yahoo! News: "Coffee drinkers could get a spiritual jolt with their java in the spring when Starbucks begins putting a God-filled quote from the Rev. Rick Warren, author of the mega-selling The Purpose-Driven Life, on its cups."

Out of the mainstream...

Shock Jock's Audience Is Beating Him to the Door: "Air America, the liberal talk network carried on WWRC-AM (1260), went from bad to nonexistent. After WWRC recorded a mere fraction of a rating point in the spring with syndicated shows from the likes of lefty talkers Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Stephanie Miller, Arbitron couldn't detect a measurable listenership for the station this time around."

In Her Shoes (2005)

In Her Shoes is a great movie.

Warm, sad, very funny and spot on perceptive.

The best movie of it's kind since As Good as it Gets, except that there's no strong male character here (at least not as strong as Jack Nicholson).

Great movie. (Disclaimer: Of the 40 people in the theatre last night, I was one of 3 males.)

My Rating: Own it

Myths About Gun Control By John Stossel

RealClearPolitics - Commentary - Myths About Gun Control By John Stossel: "'Don't tell me this bill will not make a difference,' said President Clinton, who signed the Brady Bill into law.

Sorry. Even the federal government can't say it has made a difference. The Centers for Disease Control did an extensive review of various types of gun control: waiting periods, registration and licensing, and bans on certain firearms. It found that the idea that gun control laws have reduced violent crime is simply a myth.

I wanted to know why the laws weren't working, so I asked the experts. 'I'm not going in the store to buy no gun,' said one maximum-security inmate in New Jersey. 'So, I could care less if they had a background check or not.'

'There's guns everywhere,' said another inmate. 'If you got money, you can get a gun.'"

To see gun control laws in action, watch the movie Lord of War.

The Democratic Civil War

WorldNetDaily: Sheehan thrashing 'war hawk' Hillary: "Cindy Sheehan, the so-called 'peace mom' on a crusade to end U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, is publicly blasting Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for her continued support of the ongoing conflict."

Preview of coming attractions...

Babysitter twofer

Kate was our most recent babysitter and Emily was for a time before that. Both were CU students that we worked with in CCC. Now they are both in Russia, sharing the Gospel.

This is why we do what we do.
My Life Commentary: in the nature with God: "In this country, the outdoors is referred to as nature. My teammates, Kate and Steph, went to meet with a new Russian friend and upon deciding how they should spend their time togehter, Masha asked, 'Would you like to go to the natyre?' So Kate, Steph, and Masha strolled through the nature, got to know eachother, discussed life, and talked about God. As they talked, Masha confessed that she had never heard the word grace before, neither in English nor in Russian. She had believed in God all of her life, and also believed in Jesus, but had never heard the entire Gospel before. The three girls stood on a peninsula overlooking the lake, and Masha prayed to recieved Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. God had been working on her heart preparing her for this moment. Masha was just waiting for someone to tell her."

ScrappleFace: Senators Not Qualified to Question Miers

ScrappleFace: Specter: Senators Not Qualified to Question Miers: "'Most of us in the Senate used to be lawyers,' said Sen. Specter, 'and you can't expect a simple ambulance chaser to understand the kind of weighty issues that come before the Supreme Court.'

The chairman noted that Senators not only 'lack the intellectual heft' to comprehend Constitutional law and formulate questions about it, but many of them became lawmakers through 'what amounts to a popularity contest.'

'The average senator holds his seat thanks to personal wealth, political cronyism and the ability to perform for the camera,' Sen. Specter said. 'Those are hardly qualifications for scrutinizing a potential Supreme Court justice about the various theories related to original intent.'"

Gorgeous views can be seen...

If you want to buy our house, click here.

Please do. Then we can move to Boston.

Update: Yu-Gi-Oh cards on basement desk, sold separately. And what's up with the paint in the master bathroom. Looks like someone forgot to finish their photoshop sweetening. ...What a bargain! Spacious! blah blah blah...

stronger than the scumbags. . .

Instapundit.com -: "Here's some gloating from a Marine. Excerpt: 'The fact that there wasn’t a major mass casualty of voters, SBVIED in polling centers or assassinations conducted that the foaming mouth reporters could get in the middle of just reinforces how far the Iraqi forces have come and how they are getting stronger than the scumbags. . . . Reporters countrywide saturated the area days prior to the elections to hopefully catch the US forces failing. Well too damn bad it didn’t happen so pound sand! . . . I know that if there were an unsuccessful election, it would have been nothing but 'Breaking News' shots about how we failed.'"

Mark Twain: On Risk

Eric Swanson: "'Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.'--Mark Twain in Life and Leadership, Volume 5, Issue 7"

Well said.

Well, on to Boston.

Football cruise was allegedly a sex party

Vikings cruise was allegedly a sex party: "Minnesota Vikings players are being investigated in connection with a lake cruise that turned into a wild sex party last week on Lake Minnetonka."

I don't understand. I thought only college football players engaged in illicit sex. Fascinating.

Phi Tau and out

Colorado Daily News: "After 81 years at CU-Boulder, the local chapter of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity is closing its doors for the remainder of the academic year - maybe longer."

This won't warm the heart of several of my good friends.

Average age of newspaper readers: 55

Average age of newspaper readers: 55: "Newspaper readership is down. Fewer young people are picking them up, and the average age of a newspaper reader is now 55, according to a Carnegie Corporation study. Many papers have been losing circulation at alarming rates across all age groups."

My Dad is over 55. He loves his LA Times.

I don't get a newspaper.

Good News from Iraq?

New York Times: "BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 11 - Iraqi political leaders agreed to an important last-minute revision in the draft constitution this evening in exchange for a promise by some prominent Sunni Arab leaders to support the document in this Saturday's nationwide referendum.

The revision would create a panel in Iraq's next parliament with the power to propose broad revisions to the constitution, which would otherwise have been largely set in stone if the public approved it on Saturday.

The agreement was a major victory for American officials, who have spent weeks urging Iraq's Shiite and Kurdish leaders to make changes that would soften Sunni opposition to the charter."

It must be unimpeachable good news if the New York Times can't ignore it.

More: Explosive Device Detonated Near UCLA

lgf: "Meanwhile, in Westwood near UCLA last Friday: Explosive found at Midvale."

More non news

11Alive.com: Atlanta News - Explosives Found Near Tech Dorms: "Three explosive devices found in a courtyard between two Georgia Tech dormitories on the East Campus Monday morning were part of a 'terrorist act,' an Atlanta police official said.

One of the devices exploded, injuring the custodian who found them inside a plastic bag. Two others were detonated by a bomb squad."

If it doesn't make Bush look bad...

...then it's not news.
CBSNews.com: Blog: "Has there been more happening at the University of Oklahoma than hazing and all-nighters? The blogosphere, led by Michelle Malkin, has been chronicling the suspicious explosion at the University of Oklahoma just over a week ago, and wondering why the big media doesn’t appear interested. "

Sigh.

Sex Education

Breitbart.com: "Americans are playing a risky game of sexual roulette, according to a new poll that found only 39 percent of respondents always ask a new lover if they are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The new poll by Zogby for MSNBC.com also found that 73 percent of respondents were involved in a monogamous relationship and 66 percent of those surveyed had had unprotected sex while under the influence of alcohol.

Just 39 percent of respondents to the online survey, conducted between September 12 to 16, said they always asked whether a new partner is infected with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases.

Thirty-one percent said they never discuss the touchy issue with a new partner, according to a summary of the survey findings published on MSNBC.com.

The same survey also found that 15 percent of Americans had paid someone for sex, and 25 percent of those surveyed anonymously in the online poll had sex three times a week or more, while 20 percent made love fewer than twice a month.

Some 35 percent of respondents said they had been with between one and five sexual partners, while 19 percent said they had gone through more than 25 partners.">BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "Americans are playing a risky game of sexual roulette, according to a new poll that found only 39 percent of respondents always ask a new lover if they are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The new poll by Zogby for MSNBC.com also found that 73 percent of respondents were involved in a monogamous relationship and 66 percent of those surveyed had had unprotected sex while under the influence of alcohol.

Just 39 percent of respondents to the online survey, conducted between September 12 to 16, said they always asked whether a new partner is infected with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases.

Thirty-one percent said they never discuss the touchy issue with a new partner, according to a summary of the survey findings published on MSNBC.com.

The same survey also found that 15 percent of Americans had paid someone for sex, and 25 percent of those surveyed anonymously in the online poll had sex three times a week or more, while 20 percent made love fewer than twice a month.

Some 35 percent of respondents said they had been with between one and five sexual partners, while 19 percent said they had gone through more than 25 partners."

Teen Boys staying home for entertainment

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "Teenage boys and young men lead disillusioned US movie-goers in staying away from cinemas as ticket prices rise and the quality of home entertainment soars, a new survey showed.

As Hollywood wages an epic battle against falling ticket sales, the poll revealed that one of the industry's most crucial audience groups, males aged between 13 and 24, are opting to stay home to watch DVD and play video games.

Boys and young men in the key demographic group reported watching a whopping 24 percent fewer films in the all-important summer cinema season in 2005 than they did over the same period in 2003, consumer research firm Online Testing eXchange (OTX) said."

The Veritas Forum

Click here for some good stuff.

Remarks by Student Body President Noah Riner at Convocation Sept. 20, 2005 - 09/20/05

Dartmouth News: "Character has a lot to do with sacrifice, laying our personal interests down for something bigger. The best example of this is Jesus. In the Garden of Gethsemane, just hours before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed, 'Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.' He knew the right thing to do. He knew the cost would be agonizing torture and death. He did it anyway. That's character.

Jesus is a good example of character, but He's also much more than that. He is the solution to flawed people like corrupt Dartmouth alums, looters, and me.

It's so easy to focus on the defects of others and ignore my own. But I need saving as much as they do.

Jesus' message of redemption is simple. People are imperfect, and there are consequences for our actions. He gave His life for our sin so that we wouldn't have to bear the penalty of the law; so we could see love. The problem is me; the solution is God's love: Jesus on the cross, for us.

In the words of Bono:

[I]f only we could be a bit more like Him, the world would be transformed. …When I look at the Cross of Christ, what I see up there is all my s—- and everybody else's. So I ask myself a question a lot of people have asked: Who is this man? And was He who He said He was, or was He just a religious nut? And there it is, and that's the question.

You want the best undergraduate education in the world, and you've come to the right place to get that. But there's more to college than achievement. With Martin Luther King, we must dream of a nation – and a college – where people are not judged by the superficial, 'but by the content of their character.'"

Exceptional.

One Nation Under Zod

Zod 2008 - General Zod - 2008 Presidential Candidate: "When I first came to your planet and demanded your homes, property and very lives, I didn't know you were already doing so, willingly, with your own government. I can win no tribute from a bankrupted nation populated by feeble flag-waving plebians. In 2008 I shall restore your dignity and make you servants worthy of my rule. This new government shall become a tool of my oppression. Instead of hidden agendas and waffling policies, I offer you direct candor and brutal certainty. I only ask for your tribute, your lives, and your vote.
-- General Zod
Your Future President and Eternal Ruler"

Ask General Zod

"Q. Nicholas Cage's wife, Kim, has given birth this day to a son, who they have named Kal-El Coppola Cage. This sort of insolence must not be tolerated. I caper in gleeful anticipation of seeing what punishment you inflict upon them, their offspring, and the surrounding countryside.

-- Murray Dodds

A. What kind of traitor dares such foolishness? Will anyone accept responsibility and step before Zod? This is mockery and treachery of the highest order. I dare say that I promise swift and ruthless executions of those responsible."

Late night blogging...

I'm up late trying to fix both of my computers. They both crapped out on me and I've been working on them all day (and night).

Dear Microsoft,

My voice shall be heard, crying out in this wilderness. And I will be delivered from this fetid and festering sewer.

Regards,

A Victim

Elite Conservatives have been blogged down by Miers pick...

The American Thinker: "There is also a palpable hunger for a struggle to the death with hated and verbally facile liberals like Senator Chuck Schumer. Having seen that a brilliant conservative legal thinker with impeccable elite credentials can humble the most officious voices of the Judiciary Committee, they demand a replay. Thus we hear conservatives sniffing that a Southern Methodist University legal education is just too non-Ivy League, adopting a characteristic trope of blue state elitists. We hear conservatives bemoaning a lack of judicial experience, and not a single law review article in the last decade as evidence of a second rate mind."

I think there are many on the right who feel right now, what Dan Rather felt last fall.

Who in the world does this hick from the sticks think she is? Well who were these "bloggers" from Minnesota and Atlanta taking on the almighty CBS (Oz) and Dan Rather (the Wizard).

It turns out that people know things, even if they didn't earn an Ivy League education.

I think the most interesting aspect of the Miers pick is the fact that she is from "fly over country". I think some on the right are all for the "wisdom of crowds" until one of the crowd gets promoted to elite status. Then it's fits (like the one I heard from Ann Coulter today) about how someone without a degree from the right law school couldn't be fit for the SCOTUS.

I'm sure Dan Rather still thinks that journalists can only be qualified if they earn degrees from the best journalism schools. Turns out that's not true.

I imagine the same is true of SCOTUS justices.

George Bush's greatest political sin...

Townhall.com :: Columns :: Miers is the wrong pick by George Will: "In addition, the president has forfeited his right to be trusted as a custodian of the Constitution. The forfeiture occurred March 27, 2002, when, in a private act betokening an uneasy conscience, he signed the McCain-Feingold law expanding government regulation of the timing, quantity and content of political speech. The day before the 2000 Iowa caucuses he was asked -- to insure a considered response from him, he had been told in advance he would be asked -- whether McCain-Feingold's core purposes are unconstitutional. He unhesitatingly said, ``I agree.'' Asked if he thought presidents have a duty, pursuant to their oath to defend the Constitution, to make an independent judgment about the constitutionality of bills and to veto those he thinks unconstitutional, he briskly said, ``I do.''"

Now, you know I am a fan of GWB. But this, in my book, will go down as his worst decision. Whatever you and I might think about Harriet Miers, the Constitution was undermined by Bush when he signed McCain-Feingold.

It may seem that I am unswerving in my praise for GWB. Hardly. It's just that the left (read: MSM) never critiques him with anything I can agree with. If the left would criticize Bush for McCain-Feingold, overspending, and lax border security, then I'd have something to blog with. But all you hear is how Iraq is the worst possible calamity to befall the human race since Moses was wearing short pants. Silly.

Our democracy is in trouble because we lack a serious opposition party.

In Midcareer, a Turn to Faith to Fill a Void

In Midcareer, a Turn to Faith to Fill a Void - New York Times: "But she still felt something was missing in her life, and it was after a series of long discussions - rambling conversations about family and religion and other matters that typically stretched from early evening into the night - with Nathan L. Hecht, a junior colleague at the law firm, that she made a decision that many of the people around her say changed her life.

'She decided that she wanted faith to be a bigger part of her life,' Justice Hecht, who now serves on the Texas Supreme Court, said in an interview. 'One evening she called me to her office and said she was ready to make a commitment' to accept Jesus Christ as her savior and be born again, he said. He walked down the hallway from his office to hers, and there amid the legal briefs and court papers, Ms. Miers and Justice Hecht 'prayed and talked,' he said.

She was baptized not long after that, at the Valley View Christian Church."

World Magazine Blog

World Magazine Blog: "Miers has been a member of Valley View Christian Church in Dallas for 25 years, where Hecht has been an elder. He calls it a 'conservative evangelical church... in the vernacular, fundamentalist, but the media have used that word to tar us.' He says she was on the missions committee for ten years, taught children in Sunday School, made coffee, brought donuts: 'Nothing she's asked to do in church is beneath her.' On abortion, choosing his words carefully for an on-the-record statement, he says 'her personal views are consistent with that of evangelical Christians... You can tell a lot about her from her decade of service in a conservative church.'"

Anatomy of a Photograph: MSM Bias

Anatomy of a Photograph: "The San Francisco Chronicle featured the original photograph on its front Web page in order to convey a positive message about the rally -- perhaps that even politically aware teenagers were inspired to show up and rally for peace, sporting the message, 'People of Color say 'No to War!'' And that served the Chronicle's agenda.

But this simple analysis reveals the very subtle but insidious type of bias that occurs in the media all the time. The Chronicle did not print an inaccuracy, nor did it doctor a photograph to misrepresent the facts. Instead, the Chronicle committed the sin of omission: it told you the truth, but it didn't tell you the whole truth.

Because the whole truth -- that the girl was part of a group of naive teenagers recruited by Communist activists to wear terrorist-style bandannas and carry Palestinian flags and obscene placards -- is disturbing, and doesn't conform to the narrative that the Chronicle is trying to promote. By presenting the photo out of context, and only showing the one image that suits its purpose, the Chronicle is intentionally manipulating the reader's impression of the rally, and the rally's intent. "

Click the link to see the photographic evidence of bias.

If it makes Bush look bad, it's news. Or should I say: If you can make it make Bush look bad, it's news.

Abortion vs. Black America

OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today: "In other words, whereas Bennett rejects the idea of reducing crime by aborting black babies, Levitt and Donohue argue that that is exactly what has happened over the past three decades, as a result of liberal policies. If they are right, there is, to say the least, a fundamental tension between blacks and pro-abortion feminists, two of the core components of the Democratic coalition. No wonder Bennett's comments have caused such discomfort on the left."

Princeton New Media: TigerHawk

Here's a Princeton guy, doing what the MSM refuses to.

He covers a speech by a commanding Lt. General who has just returned from Iraq.

Here are some highlights:

The festivities surrounding the 75th anniversary of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School For Public and International Affairs continued yesterday with a speech by Lt. General David Petraeus (M.P.A. '85, Ph.D. '87). General Petraeus has recently returned from Iraq, having served as the Commander, Multi-National Security Transition Command and NATO Training Mission. Before that, he was Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division during its year in Iraq.

There are 115 Iraqi battalions in combat right now, and every single one of them has a ten man American training team. The American training team teaches the Iraqi officers how to lead and helps coordinate Coalition assistance in logistical matters and combat support. “A huge effort paying enormous dividends.”

So, what's the "bottom line up front?" Iraqi soldiers and special police are “very much in the fight,” as evidenced, “sadly,” by the casualties they have taken in combat, which are at least twice the American.

The most impressive thing about the Iraqi units is how tenacious they have become, notwithstanding early reports that they would cut and run. According to General Patraeus, since the January elections, from which the Iraqi security forces “took an enormous lift that still persists,” the Iraqi forces "have not run from a fight, they have not backed down." This strikes me, by the way, as enormously hopeful for the future of Iraq, the persistence of the counterinsurgency, and the power of democracy to motivate the fight against the war on terror.

There are 105,000 “trained and equipped” Iraqi forces through basic training and in the field under the Ministry of Interior Forces, which covers police, police commandos, highway patrol, dignitary protection, etc. These units are not “fully independent,” but they are getting there.

Ministry of Defense Forces Trained and Equipped 89,000, including the Iraqi Army, Special Operations, Air Force, Navy, and Combat Support.

“These are not people who have just walked across the stage. They are out there and in combat. For example, this number is about 12,000 fewer than the number of police trained, because some of them don’t make it.”

Soldiers are graduating every day. By the October 15 referendum on the constitution (which Patraeus predicted will pass), trained and equipped military and special police will total 200,000, and 300,000 by next summer.

The progress since the summer of 2004, when General Patraeus assumed command, has been considerable. Fifteen months ago, only six battalions of Iraqi army (less than 2,000 men) were in training, and none were "in the fight." Now, 14 battalions are in training, and 74 are operational and in the fight.

A year ago, there were no special police units. Now there are 27 battalions in the fight, and five more serving as border patrol and emergency response. These are all top-down units, none that have failed “like the homegrown Fallujah brigade.”

These units are all classified according to "readiness reports" that are very similar to those used for the American army.

Level 1 is fully independent, “capable of planning and executing operations, and sustaining itself, without coalition support.” This is a very high standard, and because it requires no coalition support in combat, whether logistical or in the form of indirect fire support. As reported this week, only one battalion operates at this level now, but the press accounts did not make clear what a difficult standard this is.

The other interesting question involved the "public relations" war. "Are we losing the PR war to the enemy? What are you doing on the marketing PR front?"

General Patraeus said that they have given the media an enormous amount of information, including countless important metrics for measuring progress, but that it is largely ignored. He observed that the enemy “On many days it is impossible to break through the steady drumbeat of sensational attacks occurring in Baghdad throughout the country. The opening of the new military academy got no coverage at all, even though it was a big event with the whole Iraqi government in attendance."

Patraeus is obviously extremely unhappy with the monomaniacal press coverage.

Sounds like quite a quagmire doesn't it?

If it doesn't make Bush look bad, it's not news.