Hammer Mill Days

Saints preserve us. Not that we're saints, but then... if we were, wouldn't we be preserving ourselves rather than asking others to do it for us? What's with the look? Hey... you've got to think about these things when you're an explorer, you know. Right. Leaving matters of religion out of this (since, after all, we represent many faiths), avid readers of Big Green 's putrid blog "Hammermill Days" will know that we have embarked upon an intrepid journey northward from the mysterious and little known island the inhabitants refer to in their obscure dialect as "manna-hat-un" and sometimes "nuu-yawk" or "nuu-yawk, gah-dammit." (Several natives used an even more complex variant of the second term - I believe it's pronounced, "nuu-yawk, yuhfuggin-nidiot".) Whatever the name may be, we chose to leave this place behind, with its deep grimy canyons, overpriced lunches, and peculiar honking denizens, so northward we w...

Just when the pundits were predicting all-out pandemonium in Gaza, things seem to be kind of... well... not so chaotic, considering the place is being starved by a maniacal "international community" (i.e. Europe and America) and beaten by the local military hegemon (i.e. Israel). In just a couple of short weeks, Hamas has managed what Fatah couldn't do in months - free BBC reporter Alan Johnston. They're cracking down on organized crime, drug trafficking, even celebratory gunfire. Aside from that last item, it's unclear to me why Bush doesn't fucking love them, inasmuch as they're religious conservatives as well. And now reporters and the "experts" who love them (including many who thought the Iraq war was a great idea and are still on television) are finding themselves backed into saying something not entirely disparaging about Hamas, which by their expressions appears to be roughly equivalent to drinking their own urine. Oh my god! Hamas is g...