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It is so much easier to deal with the dead than with the living. The dead are out of the way, merely characters from stories about the past, never again unreadable, no misunderstandings possible, the pain coming from them stable and manageable. Nor do you have to explain yourself to them, to justify the fact of your life.
– Aleksander Hemon, The Lazarus Project
sarahcooley:

evangotlib:

Read the copy.  All of the copy.

sarahcooley:

evangotlib:

Read the copy.  All of the copy.

At Fibber Magee you can hear live music almost every night. Photo: Chris Warde-Jones for The New York Times (via Belfast’s Folk Revival - The New York Times > Travel > Slide Show > Slide 4 of 12
)

At Fibber Magee you can hear live music almost every night. Photo: Chris Warde-Jones for The New York Times (via Belfast’s Folk Revival - The New York Times > Travel > Slide Show > Slide 4 of 12

)

49 million: The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to food in 2008, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. The number was up by 13 million Americans over the previous year and was the highest since the government began tracking what it calls “food insecurity” 14 years ago. In about one-third of those households, lack of money forced members to skip meals, cut portions or otherwise forgo food at some point. The rest had enough to eat, but only by eating cheaper or less varied foods or by relying on government or private help.
Dither, dither, speech. Foreign trip, bow, reassure. Seminar, summit. Shoot a jump shot with the guys, throw out the first pitch in mom jeans. Compromise, concede, close the deal. Dither, dither, water down, news conference.

Maureen O’Dowd

Obama’s time so far, condensed.

Maj

Mads Teglers

Views of Pakistani Youth
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Pretty bad if 28% don’t know is democracy or sharia would be a better basis for government.

Views of Pakistani Youth

|

Pretty bad if 28% don’t know is democracy or sharia would be a better basis for government.

US Turning To Afghan Militias

As Afghans Resist Taliban, U.S. Spurs Rise of Militias - NYTimes.com

The American and Afghan officials say they are hoping the plan, called the Community Defense Initiative, will bring together thousands of gunmen to protect their neighborhoods from Taliban insurgents. Already there are hundreds of Afghans who are acting on their own against the Taliban, officials say.

The endeavor represents one of the most ambitious — and one of the riskiest — plans for regaining the initiative against the Taliban, who are fighting more vigorously than at any time since 2001.

By harnessing the militias, American and Afghan officials hope to rapidly increase the number of Afghans fighting the Taliban. That could supplement the American and Afghan forces already here, and whatever number of American troops President Obama might decide to send. The militias could also help fill the gap while the Afghan Army and police forces train and grow — a project that could take years to bear fruit.

The Americans hope the militias will encourage an increasingly demoralized Afghan population to take a stake in the war against the Taliban.

“The idea is to get people to take responsibility for their own security,” said a senior American military official in Kabul, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “In many places they are already doing that.”

The growth of the anti-Taliban militias runs the risk that they could turn on one another, or against the Afghan and American governments.

The Americans say they will keep the groups small and will limit the scope of their activities to protecting villages and manning checkpoints.

For now, they are not arming the groups because they already have guns.

The Americans also say they will tie them directly to the Afghan government.

Why are these militias fighting the Taliban? It seems to be plain vanilla tribalism: local triabl leaders are resisting the Taliban since they will lose power. At least the resaons are simple, although the outcome may not be.

The Deep State

Ergenekon Case in Turkey Casts a Wide Net of Suspicion - NYTimes.com

Proponents of the investigation argue that the trial is a long-overdue historical reckoning aimed at bringing to account what Turks call “the deep state”: a murky group of operatives, linked to the military, thought to have battled perceived enemies of the state since the cold war. The military, which sees itself as the guardian of Turkey’s secular state, has overthrown four elected governments in the past 50 years.

"It is so much easier to deal with the dead than with the living. The dead are out of the way, merely characters from stories about the past, never again unreadable, no misunderstandings possible, the pain coming from them stable and manageable. Nor do you have to explain yourself to them, to justify the fact of your life."
"49 million: The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to food in 2008, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. The number was up by 13 million Americans over the previous year and was the highest since the government began tracking what it calls “food insecurity” 14 years ago. In about one-third of those households, lack of money forced members to skip meals, cut portions or otherwise forgo food at some point. The rest had enough to eat, but only by eating cheaper or less varied foods or by relying on government or private help."
"Dither, dither, speech. Foreign trip, bow, reassure. Seminar, summit. Shoot a jump shot with the guys, throw out the first pitch in mom jeans. Compromise, concede, close the deal. Dither, dither, water down, news conference."
US Turning To Afghan Militias
The Deep State

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