The Haze Filter

On The Invasion Of Iraq!

Here's a bit from Juan Cole this morning:

One of the contributors to the project of counter-insurgency embraced by Gen. David Petraeus, David Kilcullen, said it was "f***ing stupid" to invade Iraq in 2003.

I can't disagree with this assessment!

Billmon Is Back!

Well, sorta. He has a post up at Daily Kos which is well worth the read. He has been sorely missed and I'm glad to see him back. Now, if River would just reappear!

Obama Photos Published More Than McCain Photos!

Deborah Howell, the Washington Post's ombudsman, has nothing better to do than compare the number of Obama photographs published to those of John McCain.

What we found: 122 photos of Obama have been published in the paper during that time to 78 for McCain, counting tiny to big. Most of those photos ran inside the paper; most on the politics page. The Page 1 photos are closer: Obama had nine to McCain's seven. Five of Obama's were above the fold; McCain had four. Obama also got more color photos, 72 to 49, and more large photos -- mostly those that spanned three or more columns, 30 to 10.

[snip]

Part of Obama's visual success in The Post is due to three factors, like them or not -- Obama as phenomenon; that he's photogenic; and good photo opportunities. But none of that gets The Post off the hook for the McCain photo gap. There is no Post policy that the paper must run pictures of equal size and color and quality. But there is the rule that everyone knows: Be fair.

I guess that the Post's photo editors will now be insuring that McCain photos are published on a par with those of Obama, but wait, here's another little snippet from the Post article:

Readers look at photos when they don't read stories. But Obama leads in stories since June 4, too -- 139 to 94. They were both featured in 23 stories. Again, part of this is due to Obama being the new kid and less well known.

But these kinds of discrepancies feed distrust on the part of readers, eshttp://pecially conservative ones, who already complain that The Post is all for Obama. Next week, I will examine the stories.

(note: the added emphasis here is mine, but the typo in the paragraph above belongs strictly to the WaPo!)

I eagerly await Howell's dissection of the Obama/McCain story disparity!

Catblogging On Friday ::

Here's the mighty kitten, Missy, stalking the elusive grasshopper:

Kittens are a hoot!

The Price Of Food ::

Late yesterday afternoon I thought that a rib-eye on the grill sounded good. I don't eat much red meat, but I had a yen for some and I had to make a quick trip to the local Wal-Mart anyway. Turns out they were out of steak so I went across the street to the Publix. They had rib-eyes, but they were $12.99/lb. I wasn't about to pay that and I had to drive right by a Piggly Wiggly on the way home and they had the rib-eyes for $8.99/lb which was still high but at least manageable. One steak each provides 2 meals for J. and me so I didn't really mind the expenditure especially since it is something we do so seldom.

For the past few months I have been picking up pork steaks in the Piggly Wiggle for around $2.20 to $2.50/package. Yesterday I noticed that the price has almost doubled. I didn't look closely at the chickens, but I have been seriously considering raising my own free-range yard birds both for the eggs as well as the occasional chicken-on-the-grill. When I was a young lad growing up in rural South Carolina with my grandparents we always had yard birds for food!

I also know a lot of the local growers and truck farmers and I have been able to freeze some squash, zucchini, okra and green tomatoes. Next year I hope to have a large garden primarily to fill my freezer, but also with the hope that I can grow enough to share as much as possible.

I think I'll call it my Bush Garden!

Food Prices ::

I had to go to the store earlier and J. and I had decided that we would grill a couple of rib-eye steaks this evening for the first time in months. The Wal-Mart didn't have any so I went across the street to Publix, which is a store I like. Unfortunately rib-eye steaks at Publix were $12.99/lb. I couldn't see myself paying that for 2 steaks so I went on down to the Piggly Wiggly in New Hope where the rib-eyes were $ 8.99/lb. In the past I have bought pork steaks from the Piggley Wiggly for just over $2.00/package. This afternoon I noted that the same package was now over $4.00/package.

I look for there to be an upsurge in rustling!

Sunday Morning Catblogging ::

I didn't get a chance to do this Friday when everyone normally does their catblogging, but here is the new little kitten which adopted me a couple of weeks ago:

She is becoming much bolder than when she first appeared on the scene!