Chris praised my blog by way of welcoming me back to the information superhighway, so I shall endeavor to live up to the standard he seems to think I've set.

I like his blog a bunch, by the way. It has pictures, for one thing, and I've never managed to put any in my own blog.

So away I go . . .

Since last I blogged in any serious way, a few things have happened which I never expected. These include

* the Cubs made it to the playoffs
* the MARLINS made it to the playoffs (and won the whole thing, no less)
* my next-door neighbor fenced in his dogs properly
* Rush Limbaugh admitted to a drug addiction
* a Mexican cable channel showed a weekend-long Seinfeld marathon, which my landlord taped for me
* I rode a horse
* I managed to go days without seeing the news and didn't lose what was left of my mind
* The US women's soccer team failed to win the World Cup

Several other things happened which did not surprise me in the least. These include

* the occupation of Iraq has gone really rather badly for the US
* Arnold Schwartzeneggar became governor of California
* the Braves blew it
* the Cubs blew it
* public opinion has turned on the war (a bit)

I was thinking about what to write when I noticed
this commentary in the Guardian. The basic thrust of it is that it appears that both Saddam and the Taliban attempted to negotiate before they got crushed. George Monbiot, the author of the piece, rightly notes that this revelation is potentially very big. I was a bit surprised by the Iraq part of the story, but I wasn't surprised by the Afghanistan one.

I distinctly remember the Taliban's offer. I recall that as soon as the giant finger started wagging in their direction right after 11Sept they said, basically, "show us a bit of evidence and we may very well hand over any number of folks for trial in a third country to be named later". I actually deployed that nugget in arguments with a few people about the war. Since I'm just a humble news junkie, my knowledge of this must mean that it was pretty clear at the time and simply got chucked down the memory hole. I don't recall hearing about Iraq offering the sort of negotiations Monbiot mentions, but that may be because BushBlair jumped on it fast enough to keep it hush hush.

But who cares, right? All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

I heard, as I blogged, "Monk Hangs Ten" by Andy Summers, "Hava Nagilla" by an unknown Israeli folk group, "Aria Con Variazioni" by Andres Segovia, "the Blue Danube Waltz", "Sabrosa" by the Beastie Boys, and "Answer Me, My Love" by Nat King Cole.

iTunes is being unusually random in its randomness tonight.