Lessons of Abu Ghraib - I'm sick of reading American-biased coverage of the Iraqi prison scandal. Coverage like this article in The Atlantic suffer from two problems-- first, they make claims that Saddam's crimes were worse, thus somehow making us feel that our crimes are acceptable. (Why does nobody explore why our crimes were sexual while Saddam's were primarily physical?) Second, they claim "outrage" at how a small number of misguided soldiers can ruin the "ruputation" of the American armed forces. This tactic again can make us feel better, trying to put this under the rug and pretend it was an exception to our "high morals". We need to instead realize that the American war machine and prison systems intentionally breed aggression. Combine this with American "popular culture" (reality-TV shows such as Survivor which plays up sexual power games and scheming) and somehow we end up surprised? I'd rather see more coverage saying that not only were the Abu Ghraib offenses not surprising, but in fact they were predictable, and then do some real soul searching on root causes. ¶8:38 AM; digg

Generic Names for Soft Drinks by County is pretty but where is "tonic"? (Thanks to smitty for the link.) ¶8:02 AM; digg