Tuesday, October 31, 2006
it's the remix to Ignition, hot and fresh out the kitchen:
Catherine bakes. I cook. It's Punk Rock Kitchen, coming soon to a YouTube near you.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XXI:
No. 1101-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 31, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty



The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.


Lance Cpl. Troy D. Nealey, 24, of Eaton Rapids, Mich., died Oct. 29 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Lansing, Mich.

For further information related to this release the media may contact the Marine Forces Reserve public affairs office at (504) 678-4177.
--Spencer Ackerman
whoever got the kilos got the candy, man:
I got red tops (twizzlers), orange tops (Reese's peanut butter cups), yellow tops (butterfingers)... I'm ready for you kids. Holler.
--Spencer Ackerman
all the way around the world, a kilo is a measure:
On the subject of slinging, Yglesias writes:
Street level dealers, by contrast, are a bona fide nuisance. You wouldn't want those dudes slinging on the corner where you live or right outside the shop where you buy stuff.
OK, sort of. It so happens that I've lived in two places where street-level dealing was totally open-air, Wire-style: On Plum Street in New Brunswick, NJ, in 1998-9; and 11th Street NW between Columbia and Harvard in late 2002. Both, at the time, were relatively high violent-crime areas. A lot of cocaine moved on Plum Street, which once resulted in a very strange encounter during my old band Yakub's Saturday basement practice, whereby an addled 40-something calling himself Native Born decided he was going to join the group. On 11th Street in '02, it could be genuinely frightening: this was during the height of the MS-13-inspired Salvadoran gang wars in Columbia Heights, and you could mississippi-count how long it took between hearing shots fired and hearing police sirens.

On both blocks, however, not a hair on my head was touched. That's for a very simple reason, one The Wire explains time and again: violence on drug corners is extremely bad for business. No one can sell anything when two crews are beefing. You have to bring in extra muscle, which is expensive. And the extra police presence makes the whole thing a genuine nuisence. The last thing especially any crew wants is to piss off a civilian resident more than absolutely necessary, since those are the people who, pushed too far, will raise hell at neighborhood, precinct and even city council meetings -- which is, again, bad for business. Letting civilians walk on by without harassment, by contrast, is a sound business plan.

I'm sure if I were to have polled my neighbors on both blocks, everyone would have prefered the drug trade move to a Hamsterdam-like area. And I've never lived in a hellhole like East Baltimore. Matt is right that it's a nuisance to see four guys sitting on a milk crate 50 feet from your house with closed palms looking for clientele. But what's a nuisance is not always what's dangerous. In Columbia Heights in '02, it was the territory where no dealers worked that got shot up -- no-man's-land is typically more dangerous, appearances aside. Meanwhile, the beefs get decided at higher levels, meaning that it's sounder police work to go after the higher-ups, even if you know that the drug market will replace its old vendors in a flash. Them's the wages of criminalizing drugs: true amelioration defies policing solutions, but as long as drugs are illegal, it makes more sense to lock up the bigger players than the corner kids.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XX:
No. 1098-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.


Pvt. Michael V. Bailey, 20, of Waldorf, Md., died on Oct. 27 in Salerno, Afghanistan, from non-combat related injuries.Bailey was assigned to 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, New York.

This incident is under investigation.

For further information related to this release, contact the 10th Mountain Division public affairs office at (315) 772-5461.
--Spencer Ackerman
Monday, October 30, 2006
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XIX:
No. 1097-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sgt. Luke J. Zimmerman, 24, of Luxemburg, Wis., died Oct. 27 from injuries suffered while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Media with questions about this Marine can call the 2nd Marine Division public affairs office at (910) 451-9033.
--Spencer Ackerman
Saturday, October 28, 2006
For every lie you tell, you're gonna cry, cry, cry:
From page 419 of State of Denial:
Libby had broken a bone in his foot and did not have a car. He was literally put out on the street, hobbling away on his crutches. Later, when he saw a copy of the indictment, United States of America versus I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, he broke into tears.


--Spencer Ackerman
Friday, October 27, 2006
One minute closer to the hour of your doom:
Mike Scheuer, he of Alec Station, Through Our Enemies Eyes, Imperial Hubris, the bin Laden hunter above them all, is voting Republican in 2006. I've been baffled by Scheuer in the past, but this is more than a mistake, it's a betrayal of what he believes.

For Scheuer, this is The Case:
If Americans vote for what sounds like sweet reason from the Democrats, bin Laden and company will rejoice. What they will hear is the death knell for any prospect of effective U.S. military resistance to militant Islam. With the Republicans out, the Islamists will be confident that Democrats will deliver the best of both worlds: less emphasis on military force and a rigid maintenance of U.S. foreign policies that are hated with passion and near-unanimity by 1.3 billion Muslims. If Osama approved of music, he would be whistling "Happy Days Are Here Again!"
This is madness! Mike, please -- you know UBL wants us in Iraq. We know this because al-Qaeda says so, and you're the one who, wisely, has always warned us to pay close attention to al-Qaeda's stated wishes. Should we give UBL what he wants, or withdraw from Iraq to leave al-Qaeda to the tender mercies of the Iraqi Sunnis while we redouble our efforts to destroy their camps, disrupt their finances and stop the appeal of their message? Those are the stakes
in this election.

To translate something from the Scheuer-ese that may be a bit obscure, when Mike says the Dems will provide "a rigid maintenance of U.S. foreign policies that are hated with passion and near-unanimity by 1.3 billion Muslims," he means things like support for Israel. And he's right: the Democratic Party will support Israel. Of course, if that sort of thing bothers Mike, he should ask himself why it's preferable to vote for a Republican Party that will support Israel blindly, on top of doing all sorts of things that UBL likes without actually destroying al-Qaeda. Please, Mike, can't you see this?

One last word. In 2004, I was having drinks with a former Democratic leadership aide who was interested in all my reporting on the low-intensity conflict between the White House and the CIA. Several beers into the evening, the aide turned to me and asked, "Why won't the CIA just make it easier on us and take him down?" (The aide meant politically; he didn't mean the Agency should just cap Bush.) I told him that's just not what the CIA does -- if Bush won reelection with a CIA in actual open revolt, it would be screwed. (It was screwed anyway.) But Scheuer's op-ed goes a long way toward demonstrating the aide's broader point: how difficult it is for people with Republican or conservative inclinations of a Reagan-era vintage to break with the party, even on the most important issues they themselves believe are out there.
--Spencer Ackerman
turn and face the strange:
Remember when Nouri al-Maliki was the conquering hero of Iraq, the serious non-sectarian who would impose order after the floundering premiership of the weak-willed Ibrahim Jaafari? The right does. Here's Joe Loconte in NRO, as recently as July. He's upset with you, you pessimist!
There is a tenacity, a resolve, a certain moral seriousness about Nouri Al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, that many politicians here must find unsettling. His determination was on full display Wednesday, when he addressed Congress to discuss the future of Iraq. In a 30-minute speech interrupted 27 times by applause, Al-Maliki poignantly described the existential terrorist threat facing his country.

“Thousands of lives were tragically lost on September 11th when these imposters of Islam reared their ugly head. Thousands more continue to die in Iraq today at the hands of the same terrorists who show complete disregard for human life,” he said. “Should democracy be allowed to fail in Iraq and terror permitted to triumph, then the war on terror will never be won elsewhere.”

This is, more or less, the charge made by the Bush administration — a charge flatly rejected by most of the Democratic leadership and their liberal allies. In the fight for Iraq, Al-Maliki sees the Battle of the Bulge. Detractors see only the quagmire of Vietnam.
Ah, but Andy McCarthy on NRO tells us that the clear-eyed thinkers of the right have never been under any such illusions about Maliki:

Many of us have zero confidence in Maliki, and have repeatedly noted his ties to Sadr, cozy relations with Iran's Ahmadinejad, and enthusiastic support for Hezbollah. Others counter that he is the right man for this time, that these troublesome affiliations go with the perilous terrain in Iraq, and that the Bush administration's expressions of confidence in him are well founded.

Well, he says he's going to take action on the Shiite militias. Here's his chance to start doing it. What is he going to do to secure the return of our soldier — one of the 150,000 or so over there who, at great personal sacrifice, are giving him, and all Iraqis, a chance to have a country?

Of course, it's not enough to have a giggle at the expense of NRO. There's something deeper at work: the tendency, pronounced on the right but also in existence on the left, to view America's allies of the moment as representing the apotheosis of American ideals and interests. The cynical mind at work here seeks to invest a failing policy with a certain swelling of the heartstrings in order to keep the mistake alive. As much as I hate to admit it, Frank wrote a great piece about this in 2003. We should learn many lessons from Maliki -- something about avoiding quagmires when possible comes to mind -- but one lesson is certainly about caution in lionizing this week's batch of friends.
--Spencer Ackerman
a liar loves to lie:
Exhibit A: Dick Cheney to a conservative radio host.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al-Qaida suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called "water-boarding," which creates a sensation of drowning.

Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn't regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. "It's a no-brainer for me," Cheney said at one point in an interview.

Exhibit B: Tony Snow at the White House:
"You know as a matter of common sense that the vice president of the United States is not going to be talking about water boarding. Never would, never does, never will," Snow said, according to the Reuters news agency. "You think Dick Cheney's going to slip up on something like this? No, come on."
So: will it be me or your lying eyes? And "as a matter of common sense" Cheney wouldn't be endorsing torture. Oh, no, wait, that's a matter of common decency.
--Spencer Ackerman
Thursday, October 26, 2006
sail away, sail away, sail away:
That's right, I'm against the very idea of Air Force Space Command! The science-fiction literature on this is overwhelming: space is a core competancy of the Navy. Admiral Kirk? Admiral Adama? If you need to board a Martian spacecraft, you're going to need Space Marines. The proper role of the Navy is forward defense. The Air Force should establish a perimeter defense within our atmosphere in case of a Martian invasion. God help us if the Navy's outer perimeter is breached.
--Spencer Ackerman
Till your daddy takes the T-bird away:
Your Donald Rumsfeld quote of the day. He gets asked in his press conference today about Maliki's recent criticism of Bush's "timetables":
Now we just sit back and enjoy the democracy that's there.
I know I do!
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XVIII:
No. 1089-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pfc. Daniel B. Chaires, 20, of Tallahassee, Fla., died Oct. 25 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Media with questions about this Marine can call the Hawaii public affairs office at (808) 257-8870.

Lance Cpl. Jonathan B. Thornsberry, 22, of McDowell, Ky., died Oct. 25 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Johnson City, Tenn.

For further information about this release the media can contact the Marine Forces Reserve public affairs office at (504) 678-4287.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XVII:
No. 1090-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pfc. Donald S. Brown, 19, of Succasunna, N.J., died Oct. 25 from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

For further information related to this release the media may contact the Marine Corps Base Hawaii public affairs office at (808) 257-8870.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XVI:
No. 1088-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Navy Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Charles V. Komppa, 35, of Belgrade, Mont., died Oct. 25 from enemy action while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.He was serving with the 3rd Naval Construction Regiment, Multi-National Corps - Iraq, and was assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 18, Detachment 0618 in Billings, Mont.

For further information related to this release the media may contact the Navy public affairs office at (703) 697-5342.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XV:
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

1st Lt. Amos C. R. Bock, 24, of New Madrid, Mo., died on Oct. 23 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Bock was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the 101st Airborne Division public affairs office at (270) 798-9966.
--Spencer Ackerman
I been walking Central Park:
Jen Snow is someone I should have been better friends with in college, and not just because she's Jewish royalty. I don't mean she's Jappy, son, I mean she's Jewish royalty: her relatives are prominent members of the Jewish literati, including some I used to work with. But even if she was as unconnected to famous Jews as I am, she'd still be great in my book. Luckily our long-delayed friendship seems to be getting back on its destined course, and I'd be remiss if I didn't direct you to her fantastic blog and her fantastic photographic portfolio.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XIV:
No. 1082-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died Oct. 22 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when their patrol came in contact with enemy forces. Both soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Killed were:

Spc. Nathaniel A. Aguirre, 21, of Carrollton, Texas.

Spc. Matthew W. Creed, 23, of Covina, Calif.

For further information related to this release the media may contact the Fort Hood public affairs office at (254) 287-9993.
--Spencer Ackerman
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XIII:
No. 1081-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Carl A. Eason, 29, of Lovelady, Texas, died Oct. 23 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Eason was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the 1st Armored Division public affairs office at 011-49-611-705-4862.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XII:
No. 1080-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Lance Cpl. Richard A. Buerstetta, 20, of Franklin, Tenn.

Lance Cpl. Tyler R. Overstreet, 22, of Gallatin, Tenn.

Both Marines died Oct. 23 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. They were assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Nashville, Tenn.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the Marine Forces Reserve public affairs office at (504) 678-4287.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: XI:
No. 1078-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Nicholas K. Rogers, 27, of Deltona, Fla., died Oct. 22 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered when his patrol came in contact with enemy forces during combat operations. Rogers was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

For further information related to this release the media may contact the Fort Drum public affairs office at (315) 772-5461.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: X:
No. 1079-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Navy Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Seaman Charles O. Sare, 23, of Hemet, Calif., died Oct. 23 from enemy action while conducting combat operations in the Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Sare, a Hospital Corpsman, was assigned to Naval Ambulatory Care Center, Port Hueneme, Calif. and was currently serving with Multi-National Corps - Iraq.

For further information related to this release the media may contact the Navy public affairs office at (703) 697-5342.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: IX:

No. 1077-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sgt. Willsun M. Mock, 23, of Harper, Kan., died Oct. 22 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Mock was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.

For further information related to this release the media may contact the 1st Armored Division public affairs office at 49-611-705-4862.

--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: VIII:
No. 1076-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Maj. David G. Taylor, 37, of North Carolina, died Oct. 22 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Taylor is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the 1st Armored Division public affairs office at 49-611-705-4862.
--Spencer Ackerman
Like a castle in its corner, in a midieval game, I foresee terrible trouble but I stay here just the same:
Does K-Lo know Steely Dan got their name from a fictional vibrator? What does she really want Andy McCarthy to do to her?

Not that there's anything wrong with that.
--Spencer Ackerman
I want to break free:
It's been forever since I heard Queen's "I Want To Break Free" outside of a car commercial. Luckily, Andrew posted the YouTube of its video on his blog. Oh my God, what a powerful song: a simple, non-negotiable demand for the dignity we all deserve by virtue of our humanity. Sorry for the corniness, but when Freddie sings "God knows I'm in love," all arguments end.
--Spencer Ackerman
ain't lost yet so i gotta be a winner:
Freelance assignments/Prospect-ing not withstanding, today's the first day I really feel unemployed. It's 9:45 a.m. and I'm watching Rachael Ray's new chat show because I heard during the World Series that David Boreanaz was today's guest. I set my alarm to make sure I wouldn't miss it. When the show's over I'll start making the day's round of phone calls.

This is the first time since my first semester of freshman year in college that I haven't had a job. My mother prefers to believe it's my first time out of work since I was 15, but I didn't work continuously through high school, so that doesn't count.

Interesting fact: tons of Webb-vs.-Allen ads finance the Rachael Ray show. My favorite so far is the NRSC ad with a female narrator that dredges up Webb's Tailgate comments (in The Weekly Standard!) before declaring him right for "'06 -- 1806!" Lindsay, my fellow unemployed IM-partner, is scandalized.

Also -- PS -- if you're interested, I'll be on the Sam Seder show on Air America at 11:30 a.m., talkin' permanent bases in Iraq.
--Spencer Ackerman
The drama you've been craving: II:
Mike Calderone wrote about the firing in today's Off The Record for the New York Observer. Lots of great Frank quotes, lots of me quotes. An abridged recounting of the now-infamous "skullfucking" incident. Also, Marty says I had no right to call someone a fool on The Plank on account of my age, yet somehow it's OK to call the checkout girl at the supermarket an anti-semite.
--Spencer Ackerman
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: VII:
No. 1074-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Staff Sgt. Ronald L. Paulsen, 53, of Vancouver, Wash., died on Oct. 17 in Tarmiya, Iraq, from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Paulsen was assigned to the Army Reserve's 414th Civil Affairs Battalion, Utica, N.Y.

For further information related to this release, contact the Army Reserve's 70th Regional Readiness Group at (206) 281-3026.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: VI:

No. 1073-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Lance Cpl. Eric W. Herzberg, 20, of Severna Park, Md., died Oct. 21 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

For further information about this release the media can contact the 2nd Marine Division public affairs office at (910) 451-9033.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: V:
No. 1072-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pvt. Edwardo J. Lopez, 21, of Aurora, Ill., died Oct. 19 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Media with questions about this release may contact the Hawaii public affairs office at (808) 257-8870.
--Spencer Ackerman
The killing clowns, the blood money men are shooting those Washington bullets again:
It's hours past midnight in Iraq and forever until the dawn, and yet, according to the Post, U.S. officials still believe there's something to be "done" about the militias/death squads. Consider:

Although the statement was bolder than usual for Maliki, it fell short of directing that the illegal militias be disbanded, a move that American officials are increasingly urging as sectarian bloodletting and other violence soar.

There was a moment, perhaps, when disbanding militias was possible. That was the very very beginning of the war, when the U.S. still had the benefit of at least some "awe" and the militias were much less entrenched. The Bush administration opted to do nothing, and by the time it took its best shot, it was way too late: Iraqi militia leaders who eagerly signed the anti-militia law, CPA Order 91, had no intention to comply, and didn't. That's in this story, "Badr To Worse," from July 2005. It took me a solid year to report.

If U.S. officials in Iraq are urging Maliki "disband" the militias, they are issuing impotent, senseless pleas. Let's say Maliki did, at the stroke of a pen, "disband" them, and let's also say that the militias comply. What happens? Exactly what happened in 2003 when Jerry Bremer abolished the Iraqi Army: thousands -- possibly tens of thousands -- of ruthless men with guns are out on the streets. Think they'll act with malice toward none and charity toward all?

But, of course, Maliki doesn't have that power. At best, as with the late-period Soviet Union, Maliki will pretend to issue an order and the militiamen will pretend to comply. Some problems, when metastacized, are beyond remedy.
--Spencer Ackerman
Monday, October 23, 2006
you gotta cheat, cheat, no reason to play fair:
OK. Kenny Rogers, discussed below, cheated. His pitching hand was covered in pine tar. True to form, MLB says it's not going to investigate the matter -- and, truth be told, what could Bud Selig do? Order a do-over of Game 2?

What it could do is publicly humiliate Rogers. Bill Plaschke observes, insightfully, that baseball is acting like an "ugly fraternity," scorning outside scrutiny and insulating its guilty brothers from the scorn they deserve. Does it need to be said that this attitude is what led to the steroid scandal?

George Mitchell should call a press conference. He should humiliate Rogers, and then humiliate the players' union if it comes to his defense. Rogers has to do much, much better than to plead a clump of dirt. His locker should be flipped. Rarely has another profession hid so deeply behind the presumption of innocence. This washout has now tarnished yet another World Series.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: IV:
No. 1069-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of four Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Lance Cpl. Clifford R. Collinsworth, 20, of Chelsea, Mich.
Lance Cpl. Nathan R. Elrod, 20, of Salisbury, N.C.
Lance Cpl. Nicholas J. Manoukian, 22, of Lathrup Village, Mich.
Cpl. Joshua C. Watkins, 25, of Jacksonville, Fla.
These Marines died Oct. 21 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.
Collinsworth, Elrod and Manoukian were assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Watkins was assigned to 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
For further information about these Marines, please call the 2nd Marine Division public affairs office at (910) 451-9033.
--Spencer Ackerman
So I got with a sick-ass clique at went all-out:
TAPPED for life, muh'fucka.
--Spencer Ackerman
You're phone's off the hook, but you're not:
PRESS ADVISORIES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 100-06
October 23, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711


U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and Multi-National Force-Iraq Commanding General George W. Casey Jr.'s joint press conference in Baghdad will be broadcast live in the Pentagon briefing room Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 7 a.m. EDT.This press conference will highlight the issues concerning the current U.S. Mission-Iraq and Multi-National Force-Iraq efforts to assist and support the people and Government of Iraq.

This will be a one-way feed; journalists will not be able to ask questions from the Pentagon.
--Spencer Ackerman
Stay with me, be my wife:
Dear Iraq,

I'll be the first to admit it: We've had our problems. Your friends all told me you were totally into me, and wanted me to come by -- some of them were telling me to back off, I was coming on too strong -- and then when I showed up, I thought we really had something. I'll be honest, too, although I know you think I haven't been. When you started taking all those shots at me, it hurt. I tried to shrug it off, say it wasn't serious, but they wounded me, and I'm not used to being wounded. You have a point when you say I've been too controlling, but I don't think it justifies what you've done.

But, look: I'm not going to leave you. You say you want me gone, and sometimes parts of you say I need to stay, and my friends now tell me I'd be better off without you, but I'm just not going to listen. I want you in my life forever, as this brand-new article by Spencer Ackerman explains. I'm not going anywhere, girl. If you hear me say otherwise, don't believe me: sometimes I just need my friends to get off my back. It's me and you, Iraq. FOREVER.

Love,

The United States of America
--Spencer Ackerman
out of gas, out of road, out of car, I don't know how I'm gonna go:
My friend Tim, the New Peter Gammons, has a great, great column in today's New York Sun about the alleged rebirth of Kenny Rogers. Rogers may be turning into the pitcher he spent the last 15 years telling us he was, but a little perspective is in order. It's not that Rogers hasn't been shockingly good this postseason -- Marchman actually compares him to Whitey Ford -- but keep in mind, a) "this postseason has featured the least impressive great pitching I can recall"; and b) with the exception of the Yankees, he faced/is facing A's and Cards offenses that have been underperforming for months now.

I can't find it in my heart to love the cameraman-smacking Kenny, but he's been really great, as everyone knows, this October. Yet, damn it, it's time to ask the question: after the Jason Grimsley revelations, is it not possible that Rogers' very-late-career rennaisance is fueled by steroids or HGH? I welcome the stat-heads who'll say that maybe Rogers isn't really overperforming this last month relative to his starts this season or last or whenever, but the man is a) about to turn 42 and b) is a famous, famous choker
. Color me skeptical.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: III:
No. 1067-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Staff Sgt. Jesus M. Montalvo, 46, of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, died Oct. 18 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered from enemy small arms fire during combat operations. Montalvo was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

For further information related to this release, contact the Fort Hood Public affairs office at (254) 287-9993.
--Spencer Ackerman
this town has turned into a ghost town:
The destruction of Balad, a mixed-but-mostly-Shiite-city in a Sunni-dominated province, is excellently recounted by Ellen Knickmeyer of The Washington Post. About a year and a half ago, I was at a barbeque with a prominent Iraq-war enthusiast, and in the process of explaining to me why I was wrong to advocate withdrawal, he mentioned that Iraqis' high rates of sectarian intermarriage would be a strong bulwark against civil war. Well, goodbye to all that.

Several things stand out here, but let's focus on the most important. The U.S. learns about the sectarian rampage a day after Sunni death-squadders murder 17 Shiites. Balad, it should be said, is the site of a huge and probably permanent U.S. military base. The U.S. puts together what Knickmeyer calls a "quick-reaction" platoon to respond to what's now a mass killing. But the Shiite officials in Balad say, essentially, hang back and let us finish what we started here.

Remember this every time you hear that U.S. troops are the only thing standing between Iraq and total sectarian chaos. The Shiites in Balad say let us finish this and the U.S. says yessir. Maybe a different account will emerge in the coming days, but consider this to be the wages of pretending that Iraq has a "national unity" government instead of competing centers of sectarian power: when the "Iraqi officials" say stop the U.S., under pains of inconsistency, must stop, even when that means the revenge killings will go unrestrained. This is the necessary consequence of the fiction that Iraq is a sovereign country; the fiction that Iraqi forces are standing up; and the fiction that Iraq's rulers are more interested in stopping the sectarian violence than in instigating it.

The obvious objection to this point: Well, Ackerman, are you saying the U.S. should have defied the orders of the Balad officials and reinvaded the town? No, I'm saying U.S. troops should get the hell out lest they be drawn into that nightmare, and no amount of force will represent a prophylactic to such a nightmare when the will to fight among Iraqis is there, particularly among the leaders that the U.S. believes it needs to answer to in order to avoid the charge of imperialism. And speaking of willpower, consider the will of the U.S. commander here: he dispatched a "platoon-sized quick-reaction force. " A platoon! For a city of thousands! Clearly, the U.S. Army and MNF-I does not want to get drawn in to their civil war. I sang a different tune for the Balkans, but the Balkans was a different situation. Here, let's give the Army what it wants.

A final thought, courtesy of Hussein Abid Ali, who ran a falafel shop in Balad. You can tell he's a Shiite from his name.

Balad's Shiites had been living alongside Sunnis for hundreds of years, Ali said, staring bleakly at the road outside. He had a Sunni son-in-law and Sunni friends, he said. It took the American occupation, he said, to change all that.

"What do you want to know?" Ali demanded bitterly. "How we reached this level? How we started to kill people according to their identity? How this sectarian strife was brought to us?"

--Spencer Ackerman
Sunday, October 22, 2006
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives: II:
No. 1066-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 22, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Staff Sgt. Kevin M. Witte, 27, of Beardsley, Minn., died on Oct. 20 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during a combat patrol.

Witte was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.

For further information related to this release, contact the 1st Armored Division public affairs office at 0611-705-4859.
--Spencer Ackerman
I ride for you, I rhyme for you, I roll for you, it's all for you:
To all the TNR Talkback poster-boys and -girls on the Plank, the Spine and Deep in the Count, thank you so, so much. Your support means the world to me, especially that of those who disagree with my writing or reporting.

Also, to clear up a minor point, when eoverpec referred on DitC to my use of the term "douches," it wasn't in reference to anything I had said about my editors. Baseball makes me potty-mouthed, and I used the word to describe, say, Scott Spezio or David Wells or Ronnie Belliard.
--Spencer Ackerman
Saturday, October 21, 2006
The time is so precious, the time belongs to us:
It's been a long time since hardcore felt like home to me, but today I'm nostalgic for something that was never mine. That's on account of the rush-of-memory documentary American Hardcore 1980-1986. Oh God. Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, SS Decontrol... Many years later -- say 1996 --a Michigan band called Jihad once sang, "I can see you, but you can't see me." That was how I felt: marked as part of an invisible tribe, reinforced but not stifled by people who felt like I did. You were on the lookout for the tell-tale signs of your brethren: Does she have a patch on her hoodie? Does he have a couple pins on his bookbag? Are those tattoos peeking out from under those sleeves? Didn't I see you at ABC last Saturday?

I guess that's my only problem with an otherwise-perfect movie: it's invested in suggesting that it all dies after 1986, when Greg quits Black Flag and Ian MacKaye decides he's sick of the violence. That makes sense. The story told is about a specific era. But we need to make a new film, one about what happens when Ian makes that decision. What happens is Revolution Summer 1985, when Embrace and Rites of Spring emerge and change everything. Then Maximumrocknroll decides to open Gilman Street in Berkeley. Krishnas meld with a new generation of straight edge kids in New York City, who decide that they can play a new style of hardcore and call it old. A bunch of women in Silver Spring and Olympia decide punk rock is theirs, and they can play it like they live it and it'll be better than what the boys play. A bunch of kids in Richmond decide that someone needs to make a stand for community. A bunch of zines like No Answers and Anti-Matter and Bikini Kill and HeartattaCk and Inside Front and Icarus Was Right and Rumpshaker and Slave decide that they have something they need to tell you.

But that's our movie, and it's something else entirely. In the meantime, two quick stories.

1) Derya Golpinar in March of 1995 opts to make me a trade. She's going to make me a tape of Minor Threat. In return, I dub a bunch of Slant 6 and Run-DMC songs. I was 14 and that tape changed my life. You know it's hardcore when it sounds better on a fourth-generation dubbed cassette than on its master reel. About a month later, my mother and I drive to see Leslie's first sermon as an ordained rabbi in Connecticut and she asks me what I'm listening to on my walkman. I put the tape in the car's tape deck and excitedly ask her what she thinks. As un-PR as it is, I want mom to like Minor Threat because I love both of them. She says, "But, to me, it just sounds like BLAH-BLAHBLAH-BLAH! BLAH-BLAHBLAH-BLAH!" And I reply, "No, there's more there."

2) It's September of 1996, the first day of junior year of high school. Miraculously, MDC is playing that afternoon at ABC No Rio, their first show in New York in probably a decade or more. Colin, Michael, Eibhy and myself decide there's no way we're missing that. But the first day of school is a half day, and so we have a lot of time to kill. We go to the Hudson River, probably half a mile north of Canal Street. And we see the boats bobbing along from here to New Jersey. Colin gets an idea. We're going to hijack a dingy. From the dingy, we find a schooner. We hijack the schooner. Then we find a tugboat. From the schooner, we hijack the tugboat -- and so on, and so on, with larger ships, ripping our shirts so we can fly the black flag, and sail out to international waters, free on our little anarchist pirate ship. If we run afoul of a Navy Destroyer, we're taking that motherfucker by force. The MDC show was good, but nothing could be better than that afternoon daydream.

When you see the telltale signs of the HC tribe, you can rest assured that you can walk into their insect colony and scream, You tell me that I make no difference, and they'll all yell back, At least! I'm! Fucking! Trying! What the fuck have YOU done? And if hardcore is about anything, it's about finding your way to answer that question.
--Spencer Ackerman
It's like a bottle to the head, I'm seeing stars I'm seeing:
Catherine turned on Studio 60 as we were eating breakfast (scrambled eggs over slices of beefsteak tomato, garnished with raw white onion and parsely, accompanied by fried okra) and suddenly it hit me: One of the actresses on the show is Merritt Weaver, whom I last remember as a fresh-faced 14-year old at Red Diaper Baby summer camp. I haven't seen Merritt in 12 years, I suppose, but I'm thrilled at her success. Will the "I Can Moon You" song make a guest appearance on Studio 60? We'll see.
--Spencer Ackerman
Friday, October 20, 2006
how will you know your enemy? by their colour or your fear?:
Oh, Jonah. Today:
In the dumbed-down debate we’re having, there are only two sides: Pro-war and antiwar. This is silly. First, very few folks who favored the Iraq invasion are abstractly pro-war.

Jonah, April 23, 2002:
I've long been an admirer of, if not a full-fledged subscriber to, what I call the "Ledeen Doctrine." I'm not sure my friend Michael Ledeen will thank me for ascribing authorship to him and he may have only been semi-serious when he crafted it, but here is the bedrock tenet of the Ledeen Doctrine in more or less his own words: "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business."
--Spencer Ackerman
I'm not an idiot! I'm not an idiot! I'm not a fucking stooge!:
At least McNamara was an intelligent man. Try this Rumsfeld argument on for size:

Casey and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, "are currently working with the Iraqi government to develop a set of projections as to when they think they can cast off various pieces of responsibility," [Rumsfeld] said.

"And there's no doubt in my mind but that some of those projections we won't make," he said. "It'll be later or even earlier in some instances. And in some cases, once we meet the projection, we may have to go back and do it again if it doesn't work."

But that does not amount to a "strategic error," Rumsfeld said. And it may not even be a "misjudgment," because the enemy may simply have focused on a particular place to make a point.

When most people say "Failure is not an option," they don't mean it's not an option as a matter of logic. But here we have the Mahdi Army seizing a southern city, which was previously the territory of a different militia under the guise of a local police force. To be as non-political as possible, that, um, wasn't part of the plan. Whatever one thinks about the merits of staying vs. leaving Iraq, the seizure of Amara is clarion call that the situation is way, way out of control from the occupier's perspective. What's so interesting is that this is neither the first, nor will it be the last, instance of a militia controlling a city: Basra, for instance, the most important city in Iraq from the perspective of foreign goods exportation, is ruled by the Badr Corps. If anything, Amara is a lagging indicator, bringing into relief for a foreign audience trends that have taken hold in Iraq for a long time and will be incredibly difficult to roll back.

On the other hand, it's possible that this is what Donald Rumsfeld thinks is basically acceptable. After all, the Mahdi Army is a) willing to Stand Up so we will Stand Down, and b) answerable (kind of) to people who are part of Iraq's elected government. How long until Rumsfeld starts to suggest that this was part of the plan all along?
--Spencer Ackerman
Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant:
Brad DeLong is one super-awesome guy, as are his commentators (also super-awesome ladies, as appropriate).
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:
No. 1061-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of four soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died Oct. 18 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle. The soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Killed were:

2nd Lt. Christopher E. Loudon, 23, of Brockport, Pa.

Cpl. David M. Unger, 21, of Leavenworth, Kan.

Cpl. Russell G. Culbertson III, 22, of Amity, Pa.

Spc. Joseph C. Dumas Jr., 25, of New Orleans.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the Fort Hood public affairs office at (254) 287-9993.
--Spencer Ackerman
When the bomb drops it'll be a bank holiday:
Charles Krauthammer and a nuclear Japan: perfect together. Hey, Charles, why is it that many in this country feel so uneasy about the Japanese getting a nuke?

The American reaction to such talk is knee-jerk opposition. Like those imperial Japanese soldiers discovered holed up on some godforsaken Pacific island decades after World War II, we continue to act as if we, too, never received news of the Japanese surrender. We applaud the Japanese for continuing their adherence to the MacArthur constitution that forever denies Japan the status of Great Power replete with commensurate military force.

Damn it, he's got me. My concerns have not a thing to do with a general disinclination toward nuclear proliferation, particularly in vital regions such as East Asia or the Middle East. Rather, I rive in fear of the Yerrow Terror. Curse you, Krauthammer! You're just too good at this!
--Spencer Ackerman
OK, let's get this over with:
On Wednesday, The New Republic and I parted ways, ending my four-year association with the magazine. The ostensible reason for my release concerns my relationship with Franklin Foer and the magazine's other editors. However, the irreconcilable ideological differences between myself and the top editors at the magazine have been clear to me for months now, and clear to them as well. The magazine gave me the opportunity to report on controversial subjects such as Iraq and the war on terrorism, and for that I am deeply grateful. I hope, and expect, that The New Republic will continue its 90-year tradition of truth-telling.

I would like to send a note of appreciation to the many friends and respected colleagues who work at the magazine. You have taught me very much, and I hope to live up to your high standards in my future work.

--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:
No. 1056-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Jose R. Perez, 21, of Ontario, Calif., died Oct. 18 in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, from injuries suffered from enemy small arms fire.Perez was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.

For further information related to this release, contact the 1st Armored Division public affairs office at 49-0611-705-4862.
--Spencer Ackerman
Thursday, October 19, 2006
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:
No. 1055-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.They died Oct. 15 in Samarra, Iraq, of injuries suffered when two land mines detonated near their HMMWV.Both soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Killed were:

Sgt. Lester D. Baroncini Jr., 33, of Bakersfield, Calif.

Pfc. Stephen D. Bicknell, 19, of Prattville, Ala.

For further information related to this release, contact the 82nd Airborne public affairs office at (910) 432-0661.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:
No. 1054-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Daniel W. Winegeart, 23, of Kountze, Texas, died Oct. 17 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries sustainedwhen his Light Medium Tactical Vehicle drove off an overpass.Winegeart was assigned to the 5th Group Support Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, Fort Campbell, Ky.

This incident is under investigation.

For further information related to this release, contact the Fort Campbell public affairs office at (910) 432-6005.



Spc. Daniel W. Winegeart, 23, of Kountze, Texas, died Oct. 17 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries sustainedwhen his Light Medium Tactical Vehicle drove off an overpass.Winegeart was assigned to the 5th Group Support Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, Fort Campbell, Ky.

This incident is under investigation.

For further information related to this release, contact the Fort Campbell public affairs office at (910) 432-6005.

[Interesting fact about this release: the HTML version in the e-mail makes it clear that whoever typed it up simply cut-and-pasted the specific information about Specialist Winegeart into a standard template, which appeared in my inbox in purple font. I can't really say why this bothers me, but it seems a bit disrespectful.]
--Spencer Ackerman
My only release -- is when I get smashed!:
WHICH well-known foreign-policy writer used to play in the semi-classic NYHC '88 band Breakdown? ... WHICH well-known foreign-policy writer lent me a CD (that I need to return) of Breakdown's June 1988 show at the Ratt in Boston (where Joe King would later meet his girl)? ... WHICH well-known foreign-policy writer neglected to mention the sheer awesomeness of that show? ... And is that Vinny Stigma I see in the crowd? ... JUST ASKING.
--Spencer Ackerman
just keep it on the low:
What you need to know about torture, according to the president: (Thanks, Andrew.)

O'REILLY: But if the public doesn't know what torture is or is not, as defined by the Bush administration, how can the public make a decision on whether your policy is right or wrong?

BUSH: Well, one thing is that you can rest assured we're not going to talk about the techniques we use in a public forum. No matter how hard you try because I don't want the enemy to be able to adjust their tactics if we capture them on the battlefield.

But what the American people need to know is we've got a program in place that is able to get intelligence from these people. And we've used it to stop attacks.

The intelligence community believes strongly that the information we got from the detainee questioning program yielded information that made America safer, that we stopped attacks.

And yet, I feel as if I need to know more. But thanks for thinking of me, George. In all seriousness, for all the talk of Bush as jes-folks, it's rather astonishing how freely he substitutes his prerogatives for what we "need to know." No one finds that... imperious? Arrogant?

And big-up to O'Reilly -- I've actually been on the guy's show once -- for pressing the issue. I mean it.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:
No. 1053-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Staff Sgt. Garth D. Sizemore, 31, of Mount Sterling, Ky., died Oct. 17 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries suffered when his patrol came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. Sizemore was assigned to 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the 1st Infantry Division at 49-931-889-6408.
--Spencer Ackerman
a devil born in paradise, a liar loves to lie:
Exactly the sort of book endorsement Robert Kagan was hoping for in the Weekly Standard: "Trust us."
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:
No. 1052-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

2nd Lt. Joshua L. Booth, 23, of Fiskdale, Mass., died Oct. 17 while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

For further information relating to this release the media can contact the Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay public affairs office at (808) 257-8870 or (808) 457-8841.
--Spencer Ackerman
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
stumble over tombstone shoes, i go for a kiss but it's too soon:
Ogged thinks we should rename The Heart of Dupont -- I didn't know Capps called our place The Awesome House of Bloggers -- Chez Blog. I'm open to it, but for the record, the reason for the name is that the brokers who showed Capps and Yglesias the place falsely assured them that it was located in the "heart of Dupont Circle," which is at least a mile away. But we can't expect everyone to know that, so that's a knock against the name.

Yet there's something to having an inside joke christen your house. During my sophomore year at Rutgers, the crappy apartment I shared on Somerset Street -- the future home of buddy and porn-empress Joanna Angel (if it needs to be said, NSFW) -- was called the Disco Casino. Why? Well, in "Spanish Bombs," Joe refers to "Spanish weeks in my disco casino," and for the life of me, I have never heard nor seen nor patronized a disco casino, and I would not have the Clash succumbing to a betrayal of verisimitude. By proclaiming the Heart of Dupont to exist at our Florida Avenue digs, I think that, much like Moshe Levinger (and, depending on your views of gentrification, perhaps as perniciously), we establish the facts.
--Spencer Ackerman
doom-style is immensely strong, and can defeat any weapon:
After seeing Jet Li's Fearless, a war with China looks like a great idea! Also, it's good to remember that Wushu is never for revenge, but for inner strength, discipline and respect toward one's fellows.
--Spencer Ackerman
No truce, no mercy, no surrender, no rest, no more. This is war.:
Megan, don't worry about us not having a good Mid October Party. I have no idea who you are, but you are officially banned from the Heart of Dupont.
--Spencer Ackerman
I will ride you like a nightmare:
On the burning question of al-Qaeda's uneasy relationship with Iraqi Sunnis, Marc Lynch -- who, apparently, was Jen Sawaya's teacher in college -- does yeoman work. Via the Blogger Formerly Known As Praktike.
--Spencer Ackerman
despite all my rage I am still just a rat trapped in a garbage can:
Catherine threw the remains of last night's jumbo slice in the garbage can outside our house. Not an unreasonable thing to do. But now there's a rat trying desperately to escape the trap she had inadvertently laid for him, and finding that getting in the can is a lot easier than getting out. Life imitates The Wire. I have named the rat "Rategger," but he's got to learn that this is a cold world, so I'd only be doing Rategger a disservice by helping him.

By the way, I name all animals with the -egger suffix. Kingsley, when I choose, is Dogegger, for instance. The only exception is an animal whose formal name ends in an N, which would just be too George Allen for my tastes.
--Spencer Ackerman
public witness, ain't seein too much:
My man Eli does it again. This time, the best right-of-center national-security journo in the Game obtains an al-Qaeda document outlining their wacky misperceptions of U.S. intelligence capabilities. It turns out that they believe South Korean intelligence has a powerful influence over U.S. foreign policy via The Washington Times.

By the way, not to toot my own horn: Eli mentions another document, by an Qaeda theoretician named Abu Musab al-Suri. I'll have more on that -- way more -- soon, insh'allah.
--Spencer Ackerman
Look at us, we formed a band:
That is, Lindsay, Sommer, Kriston and myself. We are The Diabetes. It's a bit inconvenient after last night's Art Brut show, given that Eddie, their singer, has this bit where he instructs the audience to all form bands, and he'll check up on the progress of his Art Brut-spawn next time they come through town. Well, next time Art Brut comes through, we might in fact be ready to play, and so that'll be a situation full of confusion. For the record: The Diabetes were incubating before the October 17 Art Brut show, though admittedly we hadn't scheduled a practice, and the closest we came to a musical brainstorming session was when Lindsay drunkenly attempted to "direct" my drumming at the Mid October Party. Diabetes!
--Spencer Ackerman
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:
No. 1047-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Capt. Mark C. Paine, 32, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., died Oct. 15 in Taji, Iraq, from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.Paine was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

For further information related to this release, contact the Fort Hood public affairs office at (254) 287-9993.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:

No. 1046-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.They died Oct. 14 of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle in Baghdad, Iraq.All soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Killed were:

1st Sgt. Charles M. King, 48, of Mobile, Ala.

Staff Sgt. Joseph M. Kane, 35, of Darby, Pa.

Spc. Timothy J. Lauer, 25, of Saegertown, Pa.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the Fort Hood public affairs office at (254) 287-9993.

--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:
No. 1045-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pfc. Keith J. Moore, 28, of San Francisco, died Oct. 14 in Baghdad, Iraq, of a non-combat related injury.Moore was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

The incident is under investigation.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the Fort Drum public affairs office at (315) 772-5461.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:

No. 1044-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died Oct. 15 of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle in Kirkuk, Iraq, during combat operations. Both soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Killed were:

1st Lt. Joshua Deese, 25, of North Carolina. He died in Balad, Iraq, following the incident.

Sgt. Jonathan E. Lootens, 25, of Lyons, N.Y.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the 25th Infantry Division public affairs office at (808) 655-4815 or (808) 655-8729.
--Spencer Ackerman
a specialist, not a ventriloquist, don't hang out with suckas worth less than piss:
Sean Naylor is a fantastic defense reporter, and his new piece in Armed Forces Journal should be required reading to anyone interested in the future of the U.S. military. This is going to get very wonky, but Naylor has gotten deep into the latest military controversy to bubble up from the Pentagon: Poorly-thought out mandates in the Quadrennial Defense Review to expand Special Operations Forces far beyond reason, without strategic consideration and without a sense of either a realistic timetable for expansion or its effects on mission-capability. I told you we were going to get wonky!

The 10,000 soldiers in the Army's five active and two National Guard Special Forces groups make up the largest component of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCom) and are the U.S.' pre-eminent exponents of unconventional warfare (working with guerrilla groups to overthrow an enemy regime) and foreign internal defense (training friendly governments to defend themselves against insurgencies). But many SF officers feel that U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) has left them in the dark about how it plans to deliver on the QDR's promise to expand the number of SF battalions by a third over the next several years. They are deeply concerned that, despite the generals' protestations to the contrary, a rushed expansion of Army special operations forces will result in an SF contingent that, while bigger on paper, will contain half-filled units manned by troops who are less mature, less experienced and less skilled in languages and foreign cultures than SF soldiers traditionally have been.

Ultimately, active and retired Special Forces officers said, any attempt to expand Army special operations without a corresponding increase in the size of the regular Army from which the special ops units recruit is doomed to failure and risks pushing Special Forces away from its unconventional warfare and foreign internal defense missions toward the direct-action role that is already the specialty of the Rangers, Delta Force and Navy SEALs.

--Spencer Ackerman
Swaddled in red like a target, I am your sacrifice:
More good news! From the Iraqi Press Monitor:

PARLIAMENT WANTS AL-SHARQIYA AND AZZAMAN SHUT
(Azzaman) The Iraqi parliament has called on the government to shut down the Al-Sharqiya satellite channel and the international issue of Azzaman newspaper for their coverage of the parliamentary session on decentralisation legislation last Wednesday. In its statement, parliament said that both outlets described the law as "dividing Iraq and dragging it into a civil war". Hamid al-Sa'idi, a lawmaker from the United Iraqi Alliance, said his party did not support the closure call and said there should be room for criticism. Sunni lawmaker Hussein al-Faluji called the parliamentary move a dictatorial step.
(London-based Azzaman is issued daily by Saad al-Bazaz.)
--Spencer Ackerman
your crib or car becomes a torture chamber:
Bush signed the Military Commissions Act today. We are now a nation that, officially, designates anyone we like subject to a kangaroo court in the name of national security; that tortures such designees in the name of national security; that allows hearsay evidence in the name of national security; that denies habeas corpus petitions in the name of national security. Bush has decided to vindicate nearly every America-hating leftist's rabid suspicions about the essential evil of our country. If we were to employ Doug Feith's logic, Bush and Noam Chomsky are allies.

But Bush is right about one thing:
''Over the past few months, the debate over this bill has been heated and the questions raised can seem complex,'' he said. ''Yet, with the distance of history, the questions will be narrowed and few."
Oh, yes, indeed, he is right about this.
--Spencer Ackerman
Understand it, we're fighting a war we can't win:
Back to Iraq'd for a second. The prevailing presumption -- you can see it here, from Reuel Marc Gerecht, but liberals as well as conservatives buy in -- is that the more hospitable Sunni-Iraq becomes for foreign jihadis, the greater the danger for U.S. national security. That is, inexorably, jihadi training camps will disgorge its membership onto Baltimore harbor, lower Manhattan, the Golden Gate Bridge, etc. It's not a bad presumption, after all: it happened in Afghanistan, of course, and it's better not to be sanguine about terrorist camps.

But let's put some stress on it.

Yesterday, we saw that Sunni Iraqis don't much care for al-Qaeda and its ilk. But let's stipulate for the sake of argument that the Sunnis will tolerate the foreigners in the name of defending themselves against the marauding Shiites and the soon-to-be-marauding Kurds. If this means anything, it means that the Sunnis aren't going to have any patience at all for any jihadi who says, "OK, you guys raid Najaf and you other guys defend Balad. We're going to Disneyworld!" The former Saddam general replies, "You guys abandon your positions or neglect your orders, and we'll hang you from the lampposts!"

To be less flippant, the pressures that Sunni Iraq faces will make it near-prohibitive for the foreign jihadis to consider attacking the U.S. outside of Iraq for at least some undetermined period of time. Like all terrorist cells, they require far more logistical support than they can themselves produce, and must rely on the goodwill of the local Sunnis. Those Sunnis are simply not going to tolerate foreign jihadis who promise to save Iraq and then go fight an enemy 8,000 miles away while Shiite death squads slaughter their children. It's more likely that terrorist exfiltration will, in the forseeable future at least, focus on targets in Iran than here in America.

That's not an argument for not giving a shit about terrorist entities in Iraq. It is, however, an argument that takes into account local considerations in Iraq, which in conditions of failing states or sectarian implosion frequently trump Far-Enemy calculations. In this country, we have an unfortunate tendency to impose American-centric models of behavior on complex and often-confounding foreign situations. But there are more enemies, grievances, fissures and temporary alliances in Iraq than are dreamt of in our philosophy -- a philosophy which reduces the war on terrorism to Us and Them.
--Spencer Ackerman
Monday, October 16, 2006
a long time ago, we used to be friends:
Not really. But I see through the wilds of the blogosphere -- that is, from Julian -- that Dinesh D'Souza has a new book forthcoming. It's called The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11. And here I was thinking that was al-Qaeda! Why didn't I suspect that it was Stanley Fish, Judith Butler and Joe Eszterhas. It was all right there in the 9/11 Commission Report!

So, according to Random House, here's the book's argument:
D’Souza shows that liberals—people like Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Barney Frank, Bill Moyers, and Michael Moore—are responsible for fostering a culture that angers and repulses not just Muslim countries but also traditional and religious societies around the world. Their outspoken opposition to American foreign policy—including the way the Bush administration is conducting the war on terror—contributes to the growing hostility, encouraging people both at home and abroad to blame America for the problems of the world. He argues that it is not our exercise of freedom that enrages our enemies, but our abuse of that freedom—from the sexual liberty of women to the support of gay marriage, birth control, and no-fault divorce, to the aggressive exportation of our vulgar, licentious popular culture.

He's right! That's all totally in the '98 Declaration of War! Birth control! None of this shit about supporting Israel, the bombing of Iraq, the support for corrupt apostate Muslim regimes and other American activities in the Middle East. No-fault divorce! In fact, before his death, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi revealed that he was motivated by John Kerry's stem-cell-research advocacy! Don't get Zawahiri started on Terry Schiavo, either. (It turns out al-Qaeda is pretty OK with Mark Foley. Live and let live, you know?)

Once, when I was writing for New York Press, I went to hear D'Souza speak about his then-current book; I suppose it would have been around 2000. He didn't appear to me frivolous or venal. Was I wrong, or is this what happens when a new generation of Regnery authors emerges to locate the sources of evil in you and your friends and neighbors?
--Spencer Ackerman
We are reaching a new low:
Hey, Mac from Superchunk and Portastatic has a blog. And he shouts out Duncan Black. See, all the cool kids hate TNR.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:
No. 1040-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 16, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Marine Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of three Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sgt. Brock A. Babb, 40, of Evansville, Ind., died Oct. 15 while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Babb was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, Terre Haute, Ind.

Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Hines, 26, of Olney, Ill., died Oct. 15 while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Hines was assigned to Marine Forces Reserve's 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, Terre Haute, Ind.

Sgt. Jonathan J. Simpson, 25, of Rockport, Texas, died Oct. 14 while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Simpson was assigned to 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

For further information related to Sgt. Babb and Lance Cpl. Hines the media can contact the Marine Forces Reserve public affairs office at (504) 678-4177.

For further information related to Sgt. Simpson the media can contact the 1st Marine Division public affairs office at (760) 725-5044.
--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:

No. 1041-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 16, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

2nd Lt. Johnny K. Craver, 37, of McKinney, Texas, died Oct. 13 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. Craver was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
--Spencer Ackerman
war with no mercy:
Peter got me talking about Iraq today at Mozart, so let's return to the heady days of Iraq'd
for a moment. As you may have read over the last few days, the multi-pronged civil war is escalating rapidly, with Sunnis streaming out of their beseiged cities in droves, fleeing across the Tigris, and eagerly exacting vengeance on any Shiites they can find. For the last several years, I've been arguing that withdrawal will have at least one beneficial consequence for U.S. national security that the stay-forever crowd doesn't acknowledge: Iraqi Sunnis really, really don't like al-Qaeda. In Latifiyah, Mahmudiyah and Fallujah, when American forces have moved out, the Iraqis have taken actions against the residual foreign jihadis who use the occupation as a pretext to control Sunni Iraq.

So Beinart asked: well, if there's a civil war, won't the Iraqi Sunnis have another excuse to stand shoulder to shoulder with al-Qaeda? Namely, the Shiite threat?

Good question. My answer was perhaps, maybe, but during Fallujah II there were reports -- Ghaith Abdul Ahad in the Washington Post had a great one that I'll google for you guys later -- that the Iraqi insurgents actually shot foreign jihadis during the Marine invasion, since they proved to be unreliable allies. But in today's Post there's more evidence for that view:

Across the river,[Balad] police Maj. Hussein Alwan said, commandos believed to be members of the Shiite Badr Organization entered Duluiyah. The organization, also known as the Badr Brigade, is a militia of the other largest Shiite religious party in Iraq's government, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Alwan accused members of al-Qaeda in Iraq of setting off the violence and then standing by as Sunni civilians were killed in retaliatory attacks.


"When the commandos of the Badr Brigade entered the town, we did not see Qaeda fighting them. They were only spectators to see how the Sunnis are being slaughtered," he said.

In tiny Sunni towns throughout the area, Sunni men and boys as young as 10 took up arms to defend against any Shiite militias entering, said Khaled al-Jubouri, a Sunni sheik in Duluiyah. Jubouri said that he had declined a request for peace talks with the Shiite elders of Balad and that he wanted the Shiite militiamen surrendered to Sunni authorities and an apology.

[End blockquote, motherfucker! Blockquote now ends here!] Anyhow, the police chief is hardly an impartial source, but given that Balad is itself under siege it would stand to reason that he would at least skirt the issue of al-Q defending the city if that was what was happening. Additionally, the Mujahideen Shura of al-Q & accomplices have declared an Islamic Republic of Iraq stretching across the Sunni areas. The Iraqi-as-fuck Association of Muslim Scholars and Islamic Army promptly denounced the declaration. Evidence is mounting that even under the most dire conditions of sectarian rampage, al-Qaeda just isn't welcome in Sunni Iraq -- in which case, I vote we leave al-Qaeda to the tender mercies of Iraqi Sunnis and get the fuck out of their country.


--Spencer Ackerman
What gives you the right to fuck with our lives:
NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense

No. 1039-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 16, 2006
Media Contact: (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public/Industry(703) 428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Cpl. Luis E. Tejeda, 20, of Huntington Park, Calif., died Sept. 30 in Al Asad, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations in Hit, Iraq. Tejeda was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.

For further information related to this release the media can contact the 1st Armored Division public affairs office at 011-49-0611-705-4862.
--Spencer Ackerman
I'm not talkin bout a Beatles song:
I've lived in D.C. for four years. Most of that time I've gone completely unencumbered by any sightings of D.C. royalty. All of a sudden, Ian Svenonius is everywhere I go. At the Gossip show. Outside L'Enfant when I pass by. Hanging with his crew on the steps of the barber shop at 1843 14th Street NW while I ride by on the 52. He was freshly dipped: a better blazer than I was wearing, sunglasses hanging out the breast pocket, coiffured in that Jackie O-as-a-dude style he does. Is it wrong to assume the girl he was talking to with her back to my window-view was Michelle Mae?
--Spencer Ackerman
you are the shadow of fear:
Misery: it's getting, every day for three and a half years, the Defense Department's casualty-identification e-mails and breathing a sigh of relief that the name I read isn't Lieutenant J's. The people who sent you there, J, need to pray every night that your name is never on my screen, because I won't try to control myself if it is.
--Spencer Ackerman
It's not made by great men:
You see that CBGB post below? Notice that its three sections, consecutively, begin with the same word, "It's." In Experience, Martin Amis teaches that he learned from his father, the namesake of my dog, never to begin two consecutive sentences with the same word unless the third also begins the same way. Three is good, two not. If you want to be a writer, you should do what Kingsley Amis instructs.
--Spencer Ackerman
The drama you've been craving:
TNR's webdesign software, very appropriately, is called Coma.
--Spencer Ackerman
Belongs to the museum, its rotten soul been sold:
The world's filthiest madeleine: Three stories about CBGB, now that it's a museum in a literal as well as figurative sense.

1) It's January of 1996. Snow has blanketed the city. Mio is too excited to sleep, owing to the Hysterics playing their first show ever -- at CB's! -- in the morning. The rest of us sleep pretty fitfully as well in my mother's basement, but for us, the ragged upstart crew unfortunately named Prozac Nation, that's owing to the tequilla we've been passing around.

I get a phone call. It's Sammy Generic, Mio's drummer and not someone I like at all. Sam is arrogant, overconfident, impatient, pretentious and way, way too much like me. With typical exasperation, he wants to know if he can borrow a cymbal stand from me, because don't I know the Hysterics are playing at CB's tomorrow. Sure, Sam, whatever you need. I'm not going to let Mio's big day get ruined, and, besides, I want to see the Hysterics at CB's.

Next morning Prozac and Mio get on the D train to Broadway-Lafayette and trudge through the snow to meet the Hysterics before soundcheck. Like a drug dealer, the first thing Sam asks when he sees me is if I have the stand, which I very obviously do. Good. Transaction sealed, the Hysterics disappear into a self-righteous pre-show huff, leaving Prozac exactly where they (except for Mio) want them: outside, in the snow, frigid, and definitely not inside CBGB.

One thing. Sam? Yeah? Can you get me and Michael and Colin into the show, seeing as I just got you that cymbal stand? You know we're not 16 yet, so we can't see you guys if you don't get us in.

Sam didn't.

2) It's about a year and a half and a lifetime later. Sam is my best friend and I'm here on a mission. There's this really interesting band called Catharsis -- I think they're from Georgia or one of the Carolinas -- coming through CB's, and the singer is the guy who does Inside Front, which is charting a completely unfamiliar political path within HC. Find out for the not-yet-titled Paperweight what they're about.

CB's is not a comfortable fit for Catharsis. The singer peels off his shirt to reveal the living evidence of malnutrition. His skin is pasty, caked with the filth of dried sweat and engine grease, and his hair is starting to mat. He looks like Charles Manson. As soon as Catharsis hit their first song -- which I seem to remember, surely incorrectly, as "Choose Your Heaven" -- the singer is crawling through the audience. And I mean crawling in that CB's filth, belly nearly scraping the floor, as if he was scavaging for his dinner. His real dinner is the bourgeoise NYHC bovines, who don't appreciate a feral singer, snapping at his mic cable as if it were the leash preventing him from hunting the crowd, spitting on them -- wet, meaty gifts from his lungs -- in lieu of between-song banter. I fall in love.

After they're finished, I go over to the singer, whose name is Brian, and we agree to meet in their van. It's summer, and the lot of them -- drummer Alexi, guitarist Live Fast Dan Young (RIP), bassist/future guitarist Matt and roadie/future bassist Ernie -- are shivering cold. Brian has a bag of pistachios that's feeding the entire crew. The rapidity with which he can switch from snarling to compassionate is absurd, and yet it doesn't appear remotely insincere. He motions me to the bag of pistachios and asks, "Have you eaten today...?"

Now we're talking absurdity. For the rest of my life, this exchange will be ambiguous. Was Brian, who writes essays and songs against the mechanistic ritualization of everyday life, ritually asking me, a comfortable middle-class HC bovine, if I was going capital-H hungry as a way of assuaging his conscience that Catharsis is more than entertainment for the overfed bourgeoisie? Or was Brian trying to tell me, as his comrades often put it, that another world is possible? Ambiguous, but fucking hilarious.

For the rest of my life as well, Brian would be good to me. In another year, Brian would put up Derek Moore, Sam, Eric Boehme and myself in Chapel Hill when the Refused played its triumphant 1998 American tour, during which the greatest rock and roll band of its time self-destructed. More recently, Brian allowed me to visit him in his hometown two weeks ago to help me reconfigure the broken pieces of my life. CB's, I'll always thank you for making the introduction.

3) It's last year, before everything collapses. At this point, she and I are still living at Rhode Island Avenue. For some reason I'm flipping through a copy of the Village Voice, and I don't know why. But suddenly I see it, in the music ads. Gorilla Biscuits are reuiniting to play a final show to benefit CB's defense fund. She asks me if I think we should go. I think a moment. No. Not only is GB not worth seeing, they're really not worth seeing 15-plus years after the fact, and for that matter, it's long past time for CBGB to die. We keep our money, letting Hilly Kristal take his fill from others.
--Spencer Ackerman
Sunday, October 15, 2006
They bring me product by the bundle:
Yglesias has a problem with me inveighing on subjects beyond my area of expertise, but just a quick word on The Wire. Tonight Randy violated rule number one: Stop Snitching. At the same time, Namond, son of the fallen Barksdale empire, has to prove himself as a soldier. Isn't it clear how this is going to turn out? Randy is going to die, and Namond is going to have a hand in his death.

It's no accident, as the Marxists used to say, that the writers had Michael decline to help Namond move his package: Namond is going to feel increasingly alienated from his crew, as he already does as a Barksdale scion. (Line of the show, from when Namond was pulled out of class in what seemed like an arrest: "Can I have your X Box? You ain't gonna need it where you goin'.") Similarly, Namond told us everything we need to know about him in last week's episode. When Chris the Zombie-Master strolled through the alley to talk to Michael and ordered the boys to disperse, Namond ostentatiously obeyed, making sure to spew Chris's name from his lips in a moment of revealing obsequiousness. Killing his friend is a very short step, and Namond wants to prove he has very long legs.
--Spencer Ackerman
Mid October Party a smashing success:
Just ask Matt and Catherine, or our hundreds of attendees. (From left: Yglesias, myself, an obscured Kriston, a very happy Catherine, and Becks.)

Highlight of the evening goes to Nick Schwellenbach's rather unhinged girlfriend, who left many a partygoer asking, "What the fuck is with that girl?" Other highlight: Dana and Kate exploring their sexuality in my living room. Final highlight: the very lovely Amanda.
--Spencer Ackerman
everyone else in my house has one:
so this is a test message.
--Spencer Ackerman