He Won Every Race He Ever Finished

Such a sad story



He always will be remembered when subject is Roses.
New York Daily News

This was a very special horse. He won every one of the races he was able to finish. He won the Kentucky Derby, the only race America cares about. He won important races on the grass and on the dirt. And, yes, of course, he was being compared to the great Secretariat, the too-easy flattery you hear about so many horses. Until they make the serious mistake of finishing second. Barbaro never finished that far back. Not even close.

The Eclipse Awards, given to the outstanding horses and two-legged stars of the previous year, were handed out in Beverly Hills on Jan. 21. Barbaro came up empty. His owners won a special Eclipse for shelling out all that money on what was always a longshot - keeping their horse alive. Dr. Dean Richardson, the veterinarian who operated on Barbaro after the Preakness, and spent almost every day since May 20 visiting his patient, was handed another piece of silver. Barbaro's jockey, Edgar Prado, was another winner.

Prado was crouched on Barbaro's back, a few hundred yards out of the Preakness gate, when he realized the 3-year-old was in trouble. His quick reaction, easing up, surely prevented more serious injuries. Gave us all the chance - because we suspected how special this athlete was - to hope for a happy ending.

After the race, the media crowd was scrambling in the stable area, when the track veterinarian, or maybe a vet with even more initials after his name, finally let us know just how bad it was. By then, Barbaro was on the road, the back of a van, heading for the operating table at New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., his home for a little more than eight months.

They were nice enough to give us regular updates. Probably because they realized how much people cared. (I mean, how many horses have hundreds of bouquets left for them at the hospital gate?) I was constantly surprised by the number of people, who thought jockeys were something you bought in the underwear aisle, who asked me, "How's that horse doing? He gonna make it?"

Most of the news out of New Bolton was promising. The occasional setbacks were usually accompanied by some piece of optimism. No matter what happened, he would never race again. We knew that. There wasn't much hope that we'd be betting on his sons and daughters some day. All we wanted for him was a pasture to gallop in, and an extra carrot in the feed tub.

But that first Saturday afternoon in May, convinced we had seen greatness, so much more was anticipated. The morning after the Derby, interviewing trainers of the beaten horses (the closest one was 6-1/2 lengths away), collecting superlatives about Barbaro, I left on a path that took me past Barclay Tagg's stable. Tagg won the 2003 Derby with Funny Cide, the New York-bred owned by a bunch of guys from upstate who bought their gelding for $22,000 and caught lightning in a bottle. A beer bottle, it turned out, with Funny Cide on the label.

Tagg got his first look at Barbaro last November, at Laurel, his second race. The horse drew away to win by eight. "He looked like a real machine," Tagg remembered. "Like a Triple Crown winner. I never saw a horse run with such enthusiasm. Not since Secretariat."

Tagg, who saddled his first winner 35 years ago, is one of the most respected horsemen on the Belmont backstretch. If you own a horse and think of him as the next Secretariat you're marked down as a dreamer. If the same praise comes from the guy on the next bar stool it's time to walk away. Tagg doesn't kid.

Now we'll never know. The Derby was his first race in five weeks, an unusually long layoff for a horse trying the Derby's mile and a quarter. A lot of smart horseplayers wrote him off. So the undefeated horse went off at 6-1, the only time in his short life he hadn't been favored, and he won like a 2-5 shot, exactly the odds he was bet down to in the Preakness. When everybody was starting to realize how special he was.

He never made it past the first turn. Two hundred and fifty-six days later, "a vast majority of which he was a happy horse," Richardson said, Barbaro "had a difficult night and he was clearly distressed. We said all along that if we couldn't control his discomfort we wouldn't go on."

Barbaro, heavily tranquilized, was given a massive overdose of an anesthetic that stopped the heart of a horse who won every race he finished.

Originally published on January 30, 2007

'Wowi' Leads a New Berlin

"'Wowi' Leads a New Berlin"
By Suzy Gustafson
Jan 29 2007".

Every year, hundreds of students burst the bubble better known as Ithaca to try themselves against this wide world. The Daily Sun presents the first in a series of dispatches from undergraduates abroad.

BERLIN — He dates a neurosurgeon named Jörn, once bought his whole neighborhood drinks for New Years after an apartment building caught on fire and despite being a law nerd all through college, still garners a party boy reputation for antics like drinking champagne out of the red stiletto heels of a friend's wife — the photos made the papers. Klaus Wowereit is the mayor of Berlin. Re-elected September 2006, in these parts he goes by "Wowi" (but think German: "Vo-vee"). Some think he is hardly in the position to roll his eyes and giggle at problems like poverty, but when his gaffe during an originally off-the-cuff interview in Focus magazine — where he described Berlin as "poor, but sexy" — turned into a citywide buzz-word, the Berliners made t-shirts.

The Berliners seem to appreciate the provocative nature of this half-truth. After all, the city has been home to the likes of everything sexy — from Marlene Dietrich to the cutting-edge of green architecture — yet sits in the middle of formerly communist East Germany. Berlin is a little island of riddles with more than one problem in its financial ledgers. But Berlin is neither destitute nor, for that matter, free of the specter of neo-Nazi un-sexiness.

The ironies and surprises of Berlin make it one of the most intriguing, dense, urban stories on the planet. The one-word question we look at today is one I have asked myself since flying over the funny city into Tegel Airport in late August, with the funny-looking, bright row-housing down below: Huh?

It starts normally enough. At roughly 3.4 million urban residents, Berlin is Germany's capital and only true multimillion-strong metropolis. Germany in 2006 ranked the fifth strongest economy on earth, and trailed only the U.S. and Japan in pure gross domestic product. Host to last summer's soccer World Cup and the accompanying tourist pandemonium, the city still oozes bilingual ease. In fact, try ordering beer here in German with a hint of an accent; the chances are you'll get your answer in English that is embarrassingly crisp. Next month, the Berlin international film festival Berlinale — one of the true giants on both mainstream and indie movie circuits — will take over party and cinema venues like the Sony Center all over town, bringing the glamour and creativity of the movie industry along with it. Berlin is almost too cosmopolitan for Germany. When American tourists arrive here, they get angry. Where are the biergartens, the snowy peaks, the funny hats and the lederhosen? You must go south, my friends, you must go south. And go during Oktoberfest, if you're really set on seeing men in funny pants.

Berlin nurtures not only one of the most avant-garde arts scenes on the continent, it is also the dream of modern architecture junkies everywhere, perhaps as much for its controversy as for its masterpieces. Since German Reunification in 1989, Berlin has been the playground for a whole slew of superstar architects, eager to play a part in the dramatic remaking of a decades-long divided city. Hurricane Kyrill just took an embarrassing bite out of our gargantuan brand-new Hauptbahnhof, "Central Station," the largest, newest train depot in Europe.

Though city officials and residents alike shake their heads at the unending complications, the rejuvenation of Berlin's cityscape has prevented things from getting dull and depressing around here. With Radio Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) reporting the city's unemployment rate last month at around 16 percent, and seemingly eternal winter rain, it does not hurt to talk up the good stuff.

In 1999, English architect Sir Norman Foster completed stunning renovations to the German federal government building, the Reichstagsgebäude, crowned by its enormous, energy-saving, glass dome. Renowned Cornell architects' works are scattered throughout the center of town as well; it is a menagerie from such folks as Peter Eisenman '54 — his hotly debated, undulating Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe opened in 2005 — and Rem Koolhaas, whose Dutch Embassy opened in 2004.

Yet behind the sheen and whirr of fashionably controversial urban debates, the question of "poor, but sexy" remains unanswered. "Poor" is a dangerous word outside of regional context. It is simply offensive to call Berlin poor at an international level, and, even at a European level, the tag does not really fit. Though clearly the "poor" eastern counterpart to her richer German economic powerhouse brothers like Munich and Hamburg, Berlin is nowhere near the economic straits of the former Warsaw Pact cities to her east, eager simply to be viable enough to convert to Euros. And the only people starving in Berlin are those unable to make it back to a homeless shelter in the evenings. But I turned to the natives for some authentic German no-nonsense. Who's calling Berlin poor? And why the negativity? It took a few tries. After a few university cafeterias and a public library café, I called my last resort.

My last and most helpful "native" was my former host-brother Patrick, who is also, coincidentally, Berlin spokesperson for Greenpeace. Of course, I did promise him the views he shared with The Sun would be kept apart from those of his organization. Among other things, he explained a bit of Reunification economics:

When the wall was still up, Berlin used to be like an economic beauty contest. You had to look good compared to the competition. West Berlin was a tiny pod of democratic capitalism in a relatively closed-off sphere of Soviet-controlled communism. West Berlin had to "represent," if you will. The Federal Republic of Germany, West Germany, sent along tax breaks to encourage big business to set up camp in West Berlin. During the German separation, West Berlin was a beacon of capitalist success, and a reminder to the "Ossies" — inhabitants of East Berlin — of what they did not have. Then the wall came down, government aid switched over to rebuilding the scraggly East, and industry taxation leveled off, matching other German cities. At the same time, highly economically desperate Eastern Europe opened up. Well! Businessmen worth their name move production to where the going is cheap, and Berlin lost out.

The jury is out. Berlin appears "poor" compared to its former self, and "sexy" by its own standards. In a city with four large public universities, a gay mayor, an interest in renewable energy technology that approaches "mainstream" and, all the same, a nearly religious fear of crossing the cross walk before the light turns green, Berliners value the flow of ideas and the comfort of anonymity, the embracing of progressive politics and the pursuit orderly conduct. True to Berlin irony, capitalizing on its alternative life-style, tourism in this strange city is ever on the rise, and oddballs from all over flock eagerly to where the flats are cheap and the graffiti is clever.

Female Logic At Its Finest

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.

I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, "If I give you this money, will you buy some wine with it instead of dinner?"
"No, I had to stop drinking years ago," the homeless woman told me.

"Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?" I asked.
"No, I don't waste time shopping", the homeless woman said, " I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive".

"Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?" I asked.
"Are you NUTS?" Replied the homeless woman. "I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!"

"Well," I said, "I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight."

The homeless woman was shocked. "Won't your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting."

I said, "That's okay. It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and wine."

A Special Comment About Sacrifice

This is a transcript from Keith Olberman's Jan 2nd show.
He is on MSNBC every night.

I got this off of JagerBombTom's page... thanks man!

Finally tonight, a Special Comment about "Sacrifice."
If in your presence an individual tried to sacrifice an American serviceman or woman, would you intervene?
Would you at least protest?
What if he had already sacrificed 3,003 of them?
What if he had already sacrificed 3,003 of them — and was then to announce his intention to sacrifice hundreds, maybe thousands, more?
This is where we stand tonight with the BBC report of President Bush's "new Iraq strategy" and his impending speech to the nation, which it quotes a senior American official, will be about troop increases and "sacrifice."
The President has delayed, dawdled, and deferred for the month since the release of the Iraq Study Group.
He has seemingly heard out everybody… and listened to none of them.
If the BBC is right — and we can only pray it is not — he has settled on the only solution all the true experts agree, cannot possibly work: more American personnel in Iraq, not as trainers for Iraqi troops, but as part of some flabby plan for "sacrifice."
Sacrifice!
More American servicemen and women will have their lives risked.
More American servicemen and women will have their lives ended.
More American families will have to bear the unbearable, and rationalize the unforgivable — "sacrifice" — sacrifice now, sacrifice tomorrow, sacrifice forever.
And more Americans — more even than the two-thirds who already believe we need fewer troops in Iraq, not more — will have to conclude the President does not have any idea what he's doing - and that other Americans will have to die for that reason.
It must now be branded as propaganda — for even the President cannot truly feel that very many people still believe him to be competent in this area, let alone "the decider."
But from our impeccable reporter at the Pentagon, Jim Miklaszewski, tonight comes confirmation of something called "surge and accelerate" — as many as 20-thousand additional troops — for "political purposes"…
This, in line with what we had previously heard, that this will be proclaimed a short-term measure, for the stated purpose of increasing security in and around Baghdad, and giving an Iraqi government a chance to establish some kind of order.
This is palpable nonsense, Mr. Bush.
If this is your intention — if the centerpiece of your announcement next week will be "sacrifice" — sacrifice your intention, not more American lives!
As Senator Biden has pointed out, the new troops might improve the ratio our forces, face relative to those living in Baghdad (friend and foe), from 200 to 1, to just 100 to 1.
"Sacrifice?"
No.
A drop in the bucket.
The additional men and women you have sentenced to go there, sir, will serve only as targets.
They will not be there "short-term," Mr. Bush; for many it will mean a year or more in death's shadow.
This is not temporary, Mr. Bush.
For the Americans who will die because of you… it will be as permanent as it gets.
The various rationales for what Mr. Bush will reportedly re-christen "sacrifice," constitute a very thin gruel, indeed.
The former Labor Secretary, Robert Reich, says Senator McCain told him that the "surge" would help the "morale" of the troops already in Iraq.
If Mr. McCain truly said that, and truly believes it, he has either forgotten completely his own experience in Vietnam… or he is unaware of the recent Military Times poll indicating only 38 percent of our active military want to see more troops sent… or Mr. McCain has departed from reality.
Then there is the argument that to take any steps towards reducing troop numbers would show weakness to the enemy in Iraq, or to the terrorists around the world.
This simplistic logic ignores the inescapable fact that we have indeed already showed weakness to the enemy, and to the terrorists.
We have shown them that we will let our own people be killed, for no good reason.
We have now shown them that we will continue to do so.
We have shown them our stupidity.
Mr. Bush, your judgment about Iraq — and now about "sacrifice" — is at variance with your people's, to the point of delusion.
Your most respected generals see no value in a "surge" — they could not possibly see it in this madness of "sacrifice."
The Iraq Study Group told you it would be a mistake.
Perhaps dozens more have told you it would be a mistake.
And you threw their wisdom back, until you finally heard what you wanted to hear, like some child drawing straws and then saying "best two out of three… best three out of five… Hundredth one counts."
Your citizens, the people for whom you work, have told you they do not want this, and more over, they do not want you to do this.
Yet once again, sir, you have ignored all of us.
Mr. Bush, you do not own this country!

NEW PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION

"We the sensible people of the United States, in
an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some
semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our
nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the
blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our
great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more
time to ordain and establish some common sense
guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden,
delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters. We hold
these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of
people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so
dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights."

ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new
car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More
power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no
one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never
be offended. This country is based on freedom, and
that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You
may leave the room, turn the channel, express a
different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of
idiots, and probably always will be.

ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be
free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your
eye, learn to be more careful; do not expect the
tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives
independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free
food and housing. Americans are the most charitable
people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in
need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing
generation after generation of professional couch
potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of
another generation of professional couch potatoes.

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free
health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of
public housing, we're just not interested in public
health care.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to
physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape,
intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be
surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the
electric chair.

ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the
possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce
away the goods or services of other citizens,
don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and
lock you away in a place where you still won't have
the right to a big screen color TV or a life of
leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a
job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will
gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you
to take advantage of the opportunities of education
and vocational training laid before you to make
yourself useful.

ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to
happiness. Being an American means that you have the
right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is
a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over
abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who
were confused by the Bill of Rights.

ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country.
We don't care where you are from, English is our
language. Learn it or go back to wherever you
came from!

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change
our country's history or heritage. This country was
founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you
are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any
faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of
persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is
part of our heritage and history, and if you are
uncomfortable with it,
TOUGH!

I Wonder Why...

Here are some
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

1. Ever wonder about those people who spend
$2.00 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water?
Try spelling Evian backwards: NAIVE

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

2. Isn't making a smoking section in a restaurant like
making a peeing section in a swimming pool?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

3. If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea...
does that mean that one enjoys it?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

4. There are three religious truths:
a. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
b. Protestants do not recognize the Pope
as the leader of the Christian faith.
c. Baptists do not recognize each other
in the liquor store or at Hooters.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

5. If people from Poland are called Poles,
then why aren't people from Holland called Holes?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

6. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as
adults enjoy adultery?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

7. If a pig loses its voice,
is it disgruntled?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

8. Why do croutons come in airtight packages?
Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

9. Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist,
but a person who drives a racecar is not called a racist?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

10. Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety-one?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

11. If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked,
then doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted,
musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed,
tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

12. If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge,
would they call it Fed UP?
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

13. Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
14. What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses
of bald men?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

15. I was thinking about how people seem to
read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older;
then it dawned on me...
they're cramming for their final exam.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

16. I thought about how mothers feed their babies
with tiny little spoons and forks, so I wondered
what do Chinese mothers use. Toothpicks?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

17. Why do they put pictures of criminals up
in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do,
write to them?
Why don't they just put their pictures
on the postage stamps so the mailmen can
look for them while they deliver the mail?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

18. If it's true that we are here to help others,
then what exactly are the others here for?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

19. You never really learn to swear
until you learn to drive.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

20. Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be
if it didn't zigzag?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

21. If a cow laughed,
would milk come out of her nose?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

22. Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

24. As income tax time approaches, did you ever notice:
When you put the two words "The" and "IRS" together,it spells "THEIRS"?

Blog Disease

"It's Catching: BLOG DISEASE".

Jan 26 at 3:48 am by Lorelle VanFossen - Clare Panton reports she has "Blog Disease", a virus spreading across the globe:

This disease is caused by the descent into madness caused by blogging. The symptoms of this disease should be monitored closely and are as follows:

1. You are excited when anyone visits your blog.
2. You visit random blogs hoping to get tips on how to make the blog more interesting to just about anyone.
3. You are excited when your blog visits enter double digits/day.
4. You are excited when people you don't know visit your blog.
5. You are excited when your monthly traffic hits triple digits after only 2 months and grows each month.
6. You are excited when someone leaves a comment on your blog.
7. You are sooooo excited you giggle when someone else's blog links to your blog.
8. You are soooooooo excited you dance around the kitchen when someone else's blog (that you don't even know) links to your blog in their text and even thanks you for leaving a comment…

If you have been experiencing the same symptoms, you now have a name for it. It is the ubiquitous "Blog Disease".

Should I start a support group for those suffering with Blog Disease? What about a telethon? Or blogathon? Wanna help raise money for all of us blog sufferers?

Only in America

ONLY IN AMERICA:

Only in America ....do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in America......do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

Only in America .....do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

Only in America .....do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

Only in America .....do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

Only in America .....do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.

Only in America.....do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

Only in America...can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance...

Only in America...is there a box for a "blind" person to check on their tax return...

... but you know what, these are just some of the things that make America great!

Cat in the Bottle

So I kinda stole this off of another site... Thanks Pumpkinman and Aiane!
But who knew a cat could do that!!??!!

Employee Handbook Updated for the New Millennium

So I'm writing the dress code for the office I work in...
Actually it is more difficult than you might consider, and of course I have to get everything cleared with the big boss... so that becomes even more difficult.

But I was doing a search on the internet for ideas, and came across this...
LOVE IT!

*******************************************


DRESS CODE

It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary. If we see you wearing $350 Prada sneakers and carrying a $600 Gucci Bag, we assume you are doing well financially and therefore you do not need a raise. If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes, and therefore you do not need a raise. If you dress somewhere in-between, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a raise.

SICK DAYS

We will no longer accept a doctor's statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.

PERSONAL DAYS

Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturday and Sunday.

BEREAVEMENT LEAVE

This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives or co-workers. Every effort should be made to have non-employees attend to the arrangements. In rare cases where employee involvement is necessary, the funeral should be scheduled in the late afternoon. We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave one hour early.

RESTROOM USE

Entirely too much time is being spent in the restroom. There is now a strict 3 minute time limit in the stalls. At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, the stall door will open and a picture will be taken. After your second offense, your picture will be posted on the company bulletin board under the "Chronic Offenders" category.

LUNCH BREAK

Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch as they need to eat more, so that they can look healthy. Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a balanced meal to maintain their average figure. Fat people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim Fast.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for your loyalty to our company. We are here to provide a positive employment experience. Therefore, all questions, comments, concerns, complaints, frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations, allegations, accusations, contemplations, consternation, and input should be directed elsewhere.

Have a nice week!

THE MANAGEMENT

What Baby Bush Didn't Tell You...

I don't even know how to put all my thoughts together... so let's just do some bullets.

- GW wants the American people to believe that adding a few more soldiers to the fight in Iraq will make it all better... and stop the civil war... wrong. GW wants to keep giving a few more soldiers and a lot more money to the fight so he can wait it out until he is out of office and some other unlucky stiff gets to take the rap for "America's lost war". Reminds me of Johnson.

- 3 previous "surges" have made no difference and haven't stopped the infighting. Similar pledges have been blown apart by an Iraq insurgency a fraction of the size it is today.

- He is asking for more money to be thrown into the den of thieves and bureaucracy in Washington and Baghdad that have already squandered BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars through corruption and mismanagement.

- In the worst type of management style he has lined up another group of generals and said that this team will perform better than the last team... or should I say the last three teams...

- Bush is once again saying that he will push Nouri al-Maliki to take the reins in Iraq, but this isn't really going to go the way he expects it. al-Maliki's government is a puppet organization but not to GW... they move right along with the majority Shia leadership in Tehran. They are just waiting for the U.S. to get the hell out of there so Iran can run Iraq the way they've been wanting to do for decades.

- He didn't even get close to admitting that America is losing the war in Iraq. Actually America isn't really even in the fight in Iraq any more. Now American soldiers spend most of their time just making sure they don't get killed in the sectarian cross-fire in an escalating civil war.

- He has never talked about the fact that the valuable Iraqi middle class (the people who would be instrumental in rebuilding a solid Iraq) have long ago left that country in droves. When they saw the outside fighters coming into the hornets nest, they got out of Dodge. They knew that Bush wouldn't keep them safe, and they picked up and left. Now all that is left of real Iraqis are those that want to fight against each other. The few people that are left are cowering from the daily bombs aimed no longer at American soldiers, but at everyday citizens.

- The "hell that is now Iraq" - quoting Saddam, is going to spill out past the borders into a regional mess.

- Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and of course Saudi Arabia (our good buddy in the area) have been warning the White House that they are prepared to take up arms to help protect their fellow ethnic Sunnis in Iraq, perhaps by invading the war-torn country themselves.

- Even Turkey, one of America's best allies in the area, is having to squelch a possible Kurdish uprising as Iraqi Kurds are expressing ambitions of making their own state which would unite Kurds in Iraq, Southern Turkey and northern Iran.

- Thank you W for opening that lovely Pandora's Box

- Think about what would happen to the price of oil in the world if the area were to erupt into a real war.

- What would happen to the whole Israeli-Palestinian peace process...?

- To continue this war in Iraq, W must go against the will of Congress, the recommendations of Congress's Iraq Study Group, and don't forget the 70% or so of the American people that do not want such an escalation.

But what the hell should he do now? Just like his Daddy... he didn't pull out in time... Pandora's Box has been opened, the nightmare is reality for the 25 million Iraqi citizens still living in their country.

- Maybe he could use the troops on the ground to patrol the borders of the country to stop the influx of insurgents and to be close enough to do something when the inevitable ethnic cleansing starts.

- Perhaps he could divide the nation along ethnic lines and set up a fund using the country's own oil to give the profits to the people of Iraq. Surely citizens benefiting from the oil profits would be more likely to pinpoint the insurgents that have been busily destroying Iraq's oil infrastructure since the Americans have been stirring the hornet's nest.

- Next he should actually start TALKS with those countries around Iraq... these are the countries that are now turning a blind eye to the insurgents divulging on Iraq. These countries have a lot to lose if the fighting expands into their borders as well. I don't think Condi Rice would be the best "man" for this job though... she's been spouting W's lies too long... it would have to be someone else... heck James Baker seems to be willing to haul his old ass around in hopes of saving lives... what about him? He hasn't been involved in this mess so far, and he might be able to assemble a genuine coalition of countries both in the region and out that would like to see this crappy quagmire stopped.

All of this crap... so that Bush won't go down as the President that lost in Iraq... well, in my book he will.

New Years Resolutions

New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.
Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.
~Mark Twain

I have given myself a New Year's Resolution... Normally that isn't something I do... It always seems delusionary... because most people make them and just break them within a few weeks. I don't know if that makes me a realist or a pessimist... but it has always come off as a bunch of bullshit to me.

But here I am... stepping into something I would not only like to do... but really NEED to do. At this point I'm ashamed that I've been in Germany for two years and I can barely muddle through a normal conversation in the local language... Wie Bitte?

This year I will work harder on learning German. There is always a good reason... I don't have the time, energy, brainpower, or whatever... hell, everyone here in Berlin speaks lovely English... and they all want to practice... why should I stop them??

So today I spoke with the pharmacist entirely in German... no, I didn't revert back to English words for German vocabulary I didn't have, no I didn't use Denglish... I went the whole way. When she switched to English because she could hear my English accent, I kept up with the German and she switched back.

Wish me luck!

The Letter Out of Iraq

I have to say that I really don't like what our government is doing in Iraq... BUT!
That doesn't mean that we shouldn't support the hard-working soldier on the ground.
I had this e-mail hit my in-box a few months ago. Up until now I'd never gotten any kind of proof that it was true... when I saw this piece in "Time Magazine", I wanted to post this on the blog immediately.




The Secret Letter From Iraq
A Marine's letter home, with its frank description of life in "Dante's inferno," has been circulating through generals' in-boxes. We publish it here with the author's approval

Posted Friday, Oct. 06, 2006
CLARIFICATION APPENDED

Written last month, this straightforward account of life in Iraq by a Marine officer was initially sent just to a small group of family and friends. His honest but wry narration and unusually frank dissection of the mission contrasts sharply with the story presented by both sides of the Iraq war debate, the Pentagon spin masters and fierce critics. Perhaps inevitably, the "Letter from Iraq" moved quickly beyond the small group of acquantainaces and hit the inboxes of retired generals, officers in the Pentagon, and staffers on Capitol Hill. TIME's Sally B. Donnelly first received a copy three weeks ago but only this week was able to track down the author and verify the document's authenticity. The author wishes to remain anonymous but has allowed us to publish it here — with a few judicious omissions.

All: I haven't written very much from Iraq. There's really not much to write about. More exactly, there's not much I can write about because practically everything I do, read or hear is classified military information or is depressing to the point that I'd rather just forget about it, never mind write about it. The gaps in between all of that are filled with the pure tedium of daily life in an armed camp. So it's a bit of a struggle to think of anything to put into a letter that's worth reading. Worse, this place just consumes you. I work 18-20-hour days, every day. The quest to draw a clear picture of what the insurgents are up to never ends. Problems and frictions crop up faster than solutions. Every challenge demands a response. It's like this every day. Before I know it, I can't see straight, because it's 0400 and I've been at work for 20 hours straight, somehow missing dinner again in the process. And once again I haven't written to anyone. It starts all over again four hours later. It's not really like Ground Hog Day, it's more like a level from Dante's Inferno.

Rather than attempting to sum up the last seven months, I figured I'd just hit the record-setting highlights of 2006 in Iraq. These are among the events and experiences I'll remember best.

Worst Case of Deja Vu — I thought I was familiar with the feeling of deja vu until I arrived back here in Fallujah in February. The moment I stepped off of the helicopter, just as dawn broke, and saw the camp just as I had left it ten months before — that was deja vu. Kind of unnerving. It was as if I had never left. Same work area, same busted desk, same chair, same computer, same room, same creaky rack, same... everything. Same everything for the next year. It was like entering a parallel universe. Home wasn't 10,000 miles away, it was a different lifetime.

Most Surreal Moment — Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact. We had put the word out earlier in the day to the Marines in Fallujah that we were looking for Bad Guy X, who was described as a midget. Little did I know that Fallujah was home to a small community of midgets, who banded together for support since they were considered as social outcasts. The Marines were anxious to get back to the midget colony to bring in the rest of the midget suspects, but I called off the search, figuring Bad Guy X was long gone on his short legs after seeing his companions rounded up by the giant infidels.

Most Profound Man in Iraq — an unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines if he had seen any foreign fighters in the area replied "Yes, you."

Worst City in al-Anbar Province — Ramadi, hands down. The provincial capital of 400,000 people. Lots and lots of insurgents killed in there since we arrived in February. Every day is a nasty gun battle. They blast us with giant bombs in the road, snipers, mortars and small arms. We blast them with tanks, attack helicopters, artillery, our snipers (much better than theirs), and every weapon that an infantryman can carry. Every day. Incredibly, I rarely see Ramadi in the news. We have as many attacks out here in the west as Baghdad. Yet, Baghdad has 7 million people, we have just 1.2 million. Per capita, al-Anbar province is the most violent place in Iraq by several orders of magnitude. I suppose it was no accident that the Marines were assigned this area in 2003.

Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province — Any Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD Tech). How'd you like a job that required you to defuse bombs in a hole in the middle of the road that very likely are booby-trapped or connected by wire to a bad guy who's just waiting for you to get close to the bomb before he clicks the detonator? Every day. Sanitation workers in New York City get paid more than these guys. Talk about courage and commitment.

Second Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province — It's a 20,000-way tie among all these Marines and Soldiers who venture out on the highways and through the towns of al-Anbar every day, not knowing if it will be their last — and for a couple of them, it will be.

Worst E-Mail Message — "The Walking Blood Bank is Activated. We need blood type A+ stat." I always head down to the surgical unit as soon as I get these messages, but I never give blood — there's always about 80 Marines in line, night or day.

Biggest Surprise — Iraqi Police. All local guys. I never figured that we'd get a police force established in the cities in al-Anbar. I estimated that insurgents would kill the first few, scaring off the rest. Well, insurgents did kill the first few, but the cops kept on coming. The insurgents continue to target the police, killing them in their homes and on the streets, but the cops won't give up. Absolutely incredible tenacity. The insurgents know that the police are far better at finding them than we are — and they are finding them. Now, if we could just get them out of the habit of beating prisoners to a pulp...

Greatest Vindication — Stocking up on outrageous quantities of Diet Coke from the chow hall in spite of the derision from my men on such hoarding, then having a 122mm rocket blast apart the giant shipping container that held all of the soda for the chow hall. Yep, you can't buy experience.

Biggest Mystery — How some people can gain weight out here. I'm down to 165 lbs. Who has time to eat?

Second Biggest Mystery — if there's no atheists in foxholes, then why aren't there more people at Mass every Sunday?

Favorite Iraqi TV Show — Oprah. I have no idea. They all have satellite TV.

Coolest Insurgent Act — Stealing almost $7 million from the main bank in Ramadi in broad daylight, then, upon exiting, waving to the Marines in the combat outpost right next to the bank, who had no clue of what was going on. The Marines waved back. Too cool.

Most Memorable Scene — In the middle of the night, on a dusty airfield, watching the better part of a battalion of Marines packed up and ready to go home after over six months in al-Anbar, the relief etched in their young faces even in the moonlight. Then watching these same Marines exchange glances with a similar number of grunts loaded down with gear file past — their replacements. Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said.

Highest Unit Re-enlistment Rate — Any outfit that has been in Iraq recently. All the danger, all the hardship, all the time away from home, all the horror, all the frustrations with the fight here — all are outweighed by the desire for young men to be part of a band of brothers who will die for one another. They found what they were looking for when they enlisted out of high school. Man for man, they now have more combat experience than any Marines in the history of our Corps.

Most Surprising Thing I Don't Miss — Beer. Perhaps being half-stunned by lack of sleep makes up for it.

Worst Smell — Porta-johns in 120-degree heat — and that's 120 degrees outside of the porta-john.

Highest Temperature — I don't know exactly, but it was in the porta-johns. Needed to re-hydrate after each trip to the loo.

Biggest Hassle — High-ranking visitors. More disruptive to work than a rocket attack. VIPs demand briefs and "battlefield" tours (we take them to quiet sections of Fallujah, which is plenty scary for them). Our briefs and commentary seem to have no effect on their preconceived notions of what's going on in Iraq. Their trips allow them to say that they've been to Fallujah, which gives them an unfortunate degree of credibility in perpetuating their fantasies about the insurgency here.

Biggest Outrage — Practically anything said by talking heads on TV about the war in Iraq, not that I get to watch much TV. Their thoughts are consistently both grossly simplistic and politically slanted. Biggest Offender: Bill O'Reilly.

Best Intel Work — Finding Jill Carroll's kidnappers — all of them. I was mighty proud of my guys that day. I figured we'd all get the Christian Science Monitor for free after this, but none have showed up yet. [CLARIFICATION FROM THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: "Regarding the writer's comments about his unit's "Best Intel Work", the Monitor is very grateful for all of the efforts the US government made to secure Jill Carroll's freedom after she was held against her will for 82 days. Monitor Editor Richard Bergenheim expressed his gratitude in a press conference he conducted on the day that the capture of Jill's kidnappers was announced, and Jill directly thanked the men who participated in the operation. Also, the Monitor has offered to send the marine who wrote this letter and his unit 25 gift subscriptions to its weekly international edition."]

Saddest Moment — Having an infantry battalion commander hand me the dog tags of one of my Marines who had just been killed while on a mission with his unit. Hit by a 60mm mortar. He was a great Marine. I felt crushed for a long time afterward. His picture now hangs at the entrance to our section area. We'll carry it home with us when we leave in February.

Best Chuck Norris Moment — 13 May. Bad Guys arrived at the government center in a small town to kidnap the mayor, since they have a problem with any form of government that does not include regular beheadings and women wearing burqahs. There were seven of them. As they brought the mayor out to put him in a pick-up truck to take him off to be beheaded (on video, as usual), one of the Bad Guys put down his machine gun so that he could tie the mayor's hands. The mayor took the opportunity to pick up the machine gun and drill five of the Bad Guys. The other two ran away. One of the dead Bad Guys was on our top twenty wanted list. Like they say, you can't fight City Hall.

Worst Sound — That crack-boom off in the distance that means an IED or mine just went off. You just wonder who got it, hoping that it was a near miss rather than a direct hit. Hear it practically every day.

Second Worst Sound — Our artillery firing without warning. The howitzers are pretty close to where I work. Believe me, outgoing sounds a lot like incoming when our guns are firing right over our heads. They'd about knock the fillings out of your teeth.

Only Thing Better in Iraq Than in the U.S. — Sunsets. Spectacular. It's from all the dust in the air.

Proudest Moment — It's a tie every day, watching our Marines produce phenomenal intelligence products that go pretty far in teasing apart Bad Guy operations in al-Anbar. Every night Marines and Soldiers are kicking in doors and grabbing Bad Guys based on intelligence developed by our guys. We rarely lose a Marine during these raids, they are so well-informed of the objective. A bunch of kids right out of high school shouldn't be able to work so well, but they do.

Happiest Moment — Well, it wasn't in Iraq. There are no truly happy moments here. It was back in California when I was able to hold my family again while home on leave during July.

Most Common Thought — Home. Always thinking of home, of my great wife and the kids. Wondering how everyone else is getting along. Regretting that I don't write more. Yep, always thinking of home.

I hope you all are doing well. If you want to do something for me, kiss a cop, flush a toilet, and drink a beer. I'll try to write again before too long — I promise.

Dancing

"Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire." - George Bernard Shaw

New Years In Germany

Where I am from, fireworks are strictly controlled. People buy them to shoot off on July 4th, but they are rather tame and mild. The "big stuff" is usually something which the average person can't get, or if you do it is because you went across state lines and got them illegally. Every year in the news you hear about someone getting hurt or starting a fire. Pictures of little kids with only 3 fingers comes to mind when I think about fireworks. Actually the controls seem to make sense when you think about it that way. So it comes as something of a shock to find large volumes of highly professional fireworks are set off by people of all ages in Germany over the New Year's holiday.

The celebration is marked with the brash banging of fireworks, drinking and cheering very much like our American 4th of July. But I was blown away (forgive me) by the lackadaisical attitudes to masses of fireworks set off anywhere-in quiet apartment communities, busy streets, city squares and parks- and aimed in any direction with apparently no thought to what might happen to someone else.

December 30th I was walking in my neighborhood noticing an occasional BANG, BANG. Soon I saw the source, two boys of about 16 were riding along on bikes (you know the kind, black hoodies, black pants too long and exposing their underwear, with the bikes that look like they are sized for a 6 year old which forces the big kids to fold over with their knees hitting their chins) who were using the cigarette dangling out of their mouths to light an explosive which they carelessly tossed under any car they were passing.

The day after is absolute madness as well. There are entire areas which are strewn with the red paper and brown debris of the party. Since New Years it has rained and the brown leftovers turned into something resembling dog shit. The city actually works very hard to get it all cleaned up very quickly, but a person still sees the remnants of the night everywhere.

No matter how much I am in awe at this craziness, there is nothing to describe what happens at midnight. All throughout the day there are random popping sounds and shooting of rockets which is much like the 4th… but at midnight there is a HUGE combustion of bangs, pops, and beautiful lights. I have NEVER seen anything like this in America. During the 4th it is a random scattering of fireworks. But imagine the whole city is lit up simultaneously with pyrotechnics! It is a sight to behold!