Hammer Mill Days

Can't see. Must wipe the sweat from my tormented brow. That's it... that's got it. Finished... my work here is through! And now for the final... OH, MAN-GODDAMN! Hey, out there. How long has it been since you were last here? A week, already? I've spent practically that whole time trying to fix my A-90 keyboard controller. I suppose if you were to be charitable about it, you could describe me as technically challenged. And with help of the sort you get from Mitch Macaphee ( Big Green 's mad science advisor) and Marvin (my personal robot assistant), I feel like the proverbial one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. Hell, if this is a horse race, I'm the nag hopping along on one hoof. (Hmmmm... what other colorfully rustic aphorisms can I employ here?) It's hard enough trying to prepare for a tour under these conditions. But when you're also dealing with the uncaring vacuum of space, it's, well, kind of life-threatening. Speaking of life threatening,...

Well, what did we learn this week, girls and boys? We learned that the Afghan war is more pointless and destructive than many of us had given it credit for, thanks to the wikileaks papers. We also learned that the Iraq war is - very much like its predecessor, the Gulf War - leaving a trail of grave illness and lingering death years after the height of our attack. Patrick Cockburn of the Independent of London reports that cancer and infant mortality rates in Fallujah have reached ridiculously high levels in the wake of the U.S. assault, very likely the result of our use of depleted uranium munitions. The casing materials from these armor-piercing shells caused untold misery in Iraq in the years following the Gulf War, during which time essential medical supplies were being withheld from them by virtue of U.S. /U.K. sanctions. (Cockburn's colleague Robert Fisk tells the story in his book The Great War for Civilization .) This is a vastly underreported impact of war and its aftermath...