Let's Make This Quick

Really, I want to go home and eat and read more British Foreign Office dispatches from WWI.

• To paraphrase America, by John Stewart and the writers of The Daily Show, what is it about Americans and our ability to merchandise in the face of tragedy? Witness, therefore, Hurricane Katrina the Alcoholic Beverage. All I will say is the following: it's slogan is "Get Blown Away" and it was created by two lawyers. The only fitting punishment for this is to provide all stricken people with a lifetime supply. God knows, of anyone, they could use a drink.
• The NYT cutting people? That is a pretty big cut. This can mean one of several things. Dwindling readership of print editions, redundancy or something bigger. Who actually reads the NYT? Is it the "paper of record" anymore? What about making up news? Can there ever be a paper of record? Are newspapers becoming more and more irrelevant?
• Iraqi officials have embezzled billions from their own budget? Well, they certainly have the whole "robbing the budget blind" part of government down well enough. They learn fast and I am sure that Saddam was a good teacher. Things couldn't be going better.