"You know I read it in a magazine"

-Bennie And The Jets, Music by Elton John & Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

Men's Journal, 2/08

Raid on the Killing Cove by Peter Heller
Every year in a hidden lagoon in Japan, some 2000 dolphins are slaughtered in brutal fashion.

"Behind the museum is a marine park, where dolphins perform choreographed shows. The Japanese tourists laugh and clap and eat dolphin sandwiches."

Ah yes, I always like to celebrate the Kentucky Derby with an equine steak. To the tourists: seriously, don't you get it!?

A.W.O.L by Ivan Solotaroff
James Circello enlisted in the army a week after 9/11 to defend his country. Two years later he was a decorated paratrooper in Iraq. Four years after that, he deserted in disgust.

"Ten thousand AWOL soldiers, and no one wants to acknowledge it - not Bush, not the press, not even the army itself. Someone's gotta wake the sheep up." - James Circello

Consider me awake. I had no idea that between 2003 and 2006, there had been 10,000 AWOLs. I would like to see how many of those AWOL's developed into DFRs (dropped from the rolls), which occurs on he 31st day of being AWOL.

It's odd to me that there are so many AWOLs in an all volunteer army.

According to the article in 2007, 4,698 or 3 percent of the army soldiers in Iraq deserted.

In 1971 (six years into the Vietnam War, for which there was a draft), 33,094 army soldiers or 3.4 percent of the army deserted.

The Trouble with Keith by Paul Tullis
Keith Olberman has never been afraid of trashing people publicly, even his employers.

"But I've ripped the Democrats for holding back on ending the Iraq war in hopes of maintaining it as a campaign issue for 2008; they know that the most effective use, politically, of what they're facing is to throw it all back to the Republicans in the next 12 months. Which is great except how many kids are going to be killed in Iraq in that time?"

Reagan and Carter monkeying around during the Iran hostage crisis is one thing continuing a war because of an upcoming election, the thought of it makes me ill.