[olde north church]

I enjoy them, I have that photo of the Mayor of Saigon shooting that VC dude in the head as my screensaver. It makes me smile when things are done the right way.

[Triple Word Score]

I thought an old friend was in Baghdad. Sleeping in Saddam's palace, as a matter of fact...hearing bombs, living in what his wife told me was the green zone, which I guess is a phrase to make family back home think their breadwinner is relatively safe....

Turns out he's back safe (hooray!) and got his vasectomy reversed the week after he got back--trying to get his wife pregnant again. They're trying for the fourth, hoping for a girl. Just found out all of this! He's back to normal life. Doing Boy Scout stuff with his three sons. Ordaining his youngest a deacon. Mowing the yard. Isn't that a great thing? I thought he was still there in Baghdad...

I'm happy for him but he left a lot of friends behind. Maybe some of them died this week. I may not know anyone there anymore but no matter. My prayers for them are STILL personal. It's my sleeping butt they're protecting. It's my children whose world is being shaped by their courage and fidelity.

[Travis McGee]

I personally have no problem with the VC execution shot. But naked girls burning with napalm, or limbless faceless Iraqi kids.... those pictures must be avoided. They affect the course of the war via the home front morale.