Happy weekend.

Have a fun and safe Halloween.
Happy All Souls/All Saints too.
No posts here for that first week of November; that transition from life to death hits too close to home. Family anniversaries and general ambiance, you see.

All right people, let's just cut the shit, shall we?

Right about now, this country needs a uniter, a hard and smart worker, a positive spirit... a little brown power, you might say.

So to hell with mayoral duties:

! OZZIE GUILLEN for SCOTUS !

(heh.) (Or to quote one of my mom's phrases:
"Put that in your pipe and smoke it.")

Good News

The White House promised to restore the 74-year-old Davis-Bacon prevailing wage protection on Nov. 8, following a meeting between chief of staff Andrew Card and a caucus of pro-labor Republicans.

"Of course, who doesn't like their whine slightly chilled?"

For me, the most beautiful part of last night's game came in the middle of the 7th:
... Stand beside Her
and Guide Her
Through the Night
With the Light
From Above...
From the Mountains
to the prairies...
to the Oceans
White with Foam...
I was in the other room listening, but you could tell Aaron Neville was singing... every ... word. As opposed to just singing a song. You know, it's really a little like living your life. Not just going along racking up accomplishments, and living for how things look. But singing... every... word. Thinking about what it all really means. Not how it looks from the outside, but how it really feels (yes, feels) day to day, minute to minute, individual to individual. "That's life, the one you get, so go and have a ball."

No, I didn't make it to the 14th. Other than the headline quote, which I lifted from this Yahoo story, I'm not gonna be verbally cocky here either. Been there... Sure, I thought of a great blog post after the top o' the 5th. Was finally comfortable enough to think about a little bit o'trash talking here on Subsumed, maybe finally confident enough to post, "Say Texas. Feel free to bring it on, anytime now."

Course they did have some fight still in them, I like that. So the comment now would be just cocky talk. But may I ask, why anyone would leave their pitcher in, the third game of the WORLD SERIES, down 2-0? After: a homer, a single, a strikeout, a single, a single, a single, a fly out, a double, a walk, a hit batter(!), a flyout. I mean... Hello?? Leadership, bullpen?

Here's another link, from today's PBPost. I like Stoda's line after this list: "Apparently exhausted, Chicago promptly went on an eight-inning nap." Followed up by: "Houston, meanwhile, tied the game in the eighth on two walks and a double. That double? It was the Astros' only hit after the fourth inning, which made the White Sox look positively hyperactive by comparison. By the end, it only seemed as though the game had lasted 88 years."

I probably would have pulled Hernandez a little sooner too, though. Didn't see much control there, the swinging strikeouts notwithstanding. But I suppose you give a guy the chance to pitch himself out of his own mess. Pull him after he walks the leadoff batter though, if it looks like he's heading down that path again...

So yes, not the most exciting game. But you know something? When you live life day to day, taking care of business -- as opposed to delegating, hiring out your chores because well, it's just more cost effective and you plain don't have it in you to do the job yourself anymore -- it's not always happy and exciting.

But the payoff when you get the job done yourself, when you're really singing... every... word? Priceless, no matter how they value you from the outside.
----
Go go, Sox. If you don't finish it up tonight, no worries. You'll be back home for good soon enough.

What matters

A few years back, my parents bought a little place in Florida. On one of the barrier islands on the treasure coast. Really, they bought more than a very small parcel of land and place to live. It's a retirement village, with people from the East Coast, Midwest and the South. There are professional and working-class retirees living side by side by side. I'd guess about 25 to 30 percent are year-round residents, with the rest snow birds. They have a mens' choir (my dad doesn't sing), put on a play every year at their annual Spring Fest, have mens' and womens' clubs (mom belongs), fishing and golf tournaments (dad is a fresh-water fisherman -- very different), etc. etc. My folks are in their 60s and 70s (my dad is the eldest in his family -- calls himself a geezer), and I think it did them good to move down there and realize how old people really can live. Damn, in Florida, they are young!

Anyway, last time I was at home, Mom was eager to head back for social reasons. (My sister said heading back there each year was like going back to college -- you'd greet friends and catch up on what everyone had done over the summer.) Dad would have preferred to stay home and take care of the leaves -- we are very pro-tree in my family -- until there were no more hurricanes predicted. She argued that you could get hit by a bus crossing the street and was eager to go. "I ride my bike around the block here -- everyone I know in this neighborhood is dying." How can you argue with that? He went.

Sunday, their island was evacuated, even though it was a hot day with the sun shining brightly, she reports. They went to a PGA resort about 30 miles west, with some of their neighbors to wait out the storm. Mandatory evacuation; FPL cut the power to the island to get people to leave.

So today, I've been checking the online papers to follow the storm path, and maybe see pictures of any damage to their island. My sister is acting as the family point-person; the power went out where they are staying and the cell phone battery is precious. They are doing fine, trying to keep spirits up, and eager to get back home tomorrow at sunup when the curfew lifts. Reports from friends who stayed on the island -- my sister called to check up -- has only minor damage to their place. The year they first bought the place, they stayed in late September or early October for a storm they swore was a hurricane, but I think it only made it to tropical storm levels. The sounds are what they talked about.

I'm glad they're ok, hope their property is too. Things like this put other things in perspective for me. Just wanted to share...

"We've got 25 guys pulling on the same rope."

Greg Stoda in today's PBPost.

---------------

"The difference is that China spends its own money."

Tom Blackburn in today's PBPost.

Luck

o' the Irish...

Related reading

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Thursday October 20, 2005
The Guardian

The Israeli military has blocked Palestinians from driving on the main artery through the West Bank in a first step towards what Israeli human rights groups say is total "road apartheid" being enforced throughout the occupied territory.
The army sealed off access to Route 60 after the fatal shooting of three settlers near Bethlehem on Sunday. No private Palestinian cars are permitted on the road although public transport is still allowed.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv yesterday said the government quietly gave the military the go-ahead earlier this week for a plan to culminate in barring all Palestinians from roads used by Israelis in the West Bank. "The purpose is to reach, in a gradual manner, within a year or two, total separation between the two populations. The first and immediate stage of separation applies to the roads in the territories: roads for Israelis only and roads for Palestinians only," the newspaper said.

The Palestinian leadership and others claim the separation plan, and the road network to make it possible, are elements of a wider strategy to carve out new Israeli borders inside the West Bank alongside the 420-mile security barrier under construction and expansion of settlements.

The plan for the occupied territory reserves the main roads for Jewish settlers and other Israelis while Palestinians will be confined to secondary routes, many little better than dirt tracks or roads which have yet to be built. Palestinian vehicles, including heavy lorries, travelling from Bethlehem to Ramallah, for instance, will be forced to take a lengthy route on a narrow road through the hills while Israelis driving between settlements near to each of the towns will travel on a highway.

The Israeli government is building a number of new roads for Palestinians in areas where there are none, and plans 18 tunnels under or around roads or areas from which Palestinians will be barred. Israel is seeking foreign funding but the EU has said it is not prepared to pay for roads used in a parallel system.
...
Israeli human rights group BTselem said Palestinians are barred from or have restricted access to 450 miles of West Bank roads, a system with "clear similarities" to South Africa's former apartheid regime. Sarit Michaeli, of BTselem, said: "Israel is cynically manipulating the security fears of ordinary Israelis."
------------------------------------------
10/18/05
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
The Guardian
...
Foreign leaders, including Tony Blair, praised Mr Sharon for his "courage" in pulling out of Gaza last month, Israel was accelerating construction of the West Bank barrier, expropriating more land in the West Bank than it was surrendering in Gaza, and building thousands of new homes in Jewish settlements.

"It's a trade off: the Gaza Strip for the settlement blocks; the Gaza Strip for Palestinian land; the Gaza Strip for unilaterally imposing borders," said Dror Etkes, director of the Israeli organisation Settlement Watch. "They don't know how long they've got. That's why they're building like maniacs."

At the core of the strategy is the 420-mile West Bank barrier which many Israeli politicians regard as marking out a future border. Its route carves out large areas for expansion of the main Jewish settlements of Ariel, Maale Adumim and Gush Etzion, and expropriates swaths of Palestinian land by separating it from its owners.

In parallel, new building on Jewish settlements during the first quarter of this year rose by 83% on the same period in 2004. About 4,000 homes are under construction in Israel's West Bank colonies, with thousands more homes approved in the Ariel and Maale Adumim blocks that penetrate deep into the occupied territories. The total number of settlers has risen again this year with an estimated 14,000 moving to the West Bank, compared with 8,500 forced to leave Gaza.

Israel is also continuing to expand the amount of territory it intends to retain. In July alone, it seized more land in the West Bank than it surrendered in Gaza: it withdrew from about 19 square miles of territory while sealing off 23 sq miles of the West Bank around Maale Adumim.

Israel's strategy is to "strengthen the control over areas which will constitute an inseparable part of the state of Israel", the prime minister said after the Gaza pullout.

Last month, he told a meeting of his Likud party allies that it was important to expand the settlements without drawing the world's attention. "There's no need to talk. We need to build, and we're building without talking," he said. A few days later, one of the prime minister's senior advisors, Eyal Arad, publicly advocated "a strategy of unilaterally determining the permanent borders of the state of Israel".

The greatest impact of recent Israeli actions has been in and around Jerusalem, as Israel stepped up construction of the wall along the most controversial part of its route.

"What we are seeing is an acceleration of construction of the barrier," said David Shearer, head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jerusalem.

"Because of the barrier, Jerusalem is being sealed off from the rest of the West Bank. Movement in Jerusalem will be with a magnetic card and a sophisticated system of gates. The access the Palestinians have enjoyed to their places of worship, to some of the best schools, to hospitals is now going to be severely restricted."
--------------------------
Chris McGreal
Thursday October 20, 2005
The Guardian

The strange and uneasy embrace between the Jewish state and America's evangelical right is being tightened. At the beginning of next year Israel's oldest English-language paper, the Jerusalem Post, is to launch a Christian edition. The Post, a widely respected paper until it fell into former owner Conrad Black's clutches, is seeking to bolster its North American circulation by building on the blossoming relationship between the Israeli right and Christian fundamentalists.

The relationship is not an easy one. Bush-backing evangelists are among Ariel Sharon's best friends in a hostile world. The politics mesh easily but underpinning them is a belief among the fundamentalists that the revival of the Israeli state is a precursor to the Second Coming.

And with that goes a desire to get Jews to recognise the First Coming and save themselves from eternal damnation. Israel passed laws against that kind of evangelising decades ago, but these days the Jerusalem Post, like the government, is less concerned with the hereafter than the here and now.
...
A couple of years ago, the vice president of the World Jewish Congress, Isi Leible, pondered the meaning of the newfound relationship between Israel and the American religious right in an article for the Jerusalem Post. He said many Israelis would have been appalled at ties with people regarded as "anti-Semites obsessed with a fanatical urge to convert us".

Politics has overcome - as has the Post's dire financial situation. But Leible concluded it is better that some things remain undiscussed. "Their [the evangelists'] support for Israel is based upon the belief that the Jews must be sovereign in their land as a precursor to the Second Coming. These and other theological issues should never be explored".

Thanks

again for coming, and ... http://featurepage.creators.com/startribune.html?name=jjd ...
have a great day.

ps It's akin to following the WWF storylines.

Analysis

UW Law Professor Althouse (althouse.blogspot.com) writes today:
"The point should be that a judge who would rule from religious belief is not a proper judge. It's not a matter of whether we would like the outcomes or not. It's a matter of the illegitimacy of accepting the role of judge and then operating from religious tenets rather than the law. In fact, I would think a genuinely religious person would perceive it as a sin to assume power in such a fraudulent way."
...
"Maybe Bush didn't promise much of anything. Even so, he owes us excellence. He met the standard with Roberts, and then he stumbled miserably."
------
I really think it might be too early to conclude anything about Justice Roberts before he has reached a SCOTUS decision. Can you hold your praise until maybe 5 or 10 years down the line. Will people re-evaluate their position, if and when Justice Roberts authors some important decisions? You may not be so keen on his nomination depending on his actions. I suspect that is why a number of Democratic senators voted against his confirmation. Despite his presentation at his hearings, his pro bono support in the gay case (Romer?), and his vague indications on Griswold and privacy, they may have an instinctual feel for him, his background, and what is coming in the pipeline. In the future, it may be necessary to point out, "I didn't vote for him. I wasn't fooled by the rhetoric. I questioned, got no good answers, and acted on my intuition or internal reasoning based on my years of experience." For some, I suspect it's going to be less a matter of using the vote as political leverage; more a matter of personal principle, knowing what is coming, of going down with the ship. Some people are still ethical like that, damned the personal consequences, taking action when you sense something is just not right. Even if it means... going down with the ship. I suspect some of those voting against Justice Roberts, depending on in how many years they die, will be proud to have that fact listed in their obituary.

Of course, if you respect the credentials, no matter the reasoning, you will conclude the logic is sound. With a Jesuit (I believe) education, I am certain he will be able to sell his opinions to the majority that matters, despite the outcomes. Lawyers are good like that. But we shouldn't be results oriented, they say. Sure, I agree. But we are. You will not, don't waste your time trying, convince me that, for example, Scalia's background does not factor in any way into his decisions. I'm sorry but I do not think his inconsistencies and language can be explained away by theoretical posturing or logical subtleties. There's something more there, and if you understand that culture, you would not so easily conclude that he and Justice Roberts are viewpoint neutral. (sound anti-Catholic? I dunno. I was brought up in that faith, not a convert like some -- nothing wrong with that -- but I have instinctual reasons to doubt.)

I hope and pray even that I am wrong about the future decisions of Justice Roberts. If I am, I will revisit. I can admit making a mistake and I will be pleasantly surprised if there is no baggage encumbering his decisions. But really, many conservatives do not revisit their important decisions and assumptions, when the facts contradict. (see Middle East intervention and occupation). This has not been cost effective, and taking out Hussein and his funding for suicide bombers, overall will not prove beneficial to the region as a whole. It has satisfied some personal objectives, sure, but is not a success if you are evaluating from a neutral viewpoint of whether our specific intervention will prove overall beneficial to America (or Iraq, the region, or the international community.) We are not helping to create a lasting peace, (I still strongly believe an external source can not impose "democracy" at gunpoint) but are counting down to a nuclear option -- there or here. Again, I hope and pray I am wrong. (sound anti-Israel? I dunno. I think we'll eventually be able to have an open dialogue about the proper roles and relationships between the two countries without having to clam up because people are going to point the bigot finger. Probably this discussion will start, if it hasn't already, as: 1) we begin to contemplate our presence in the Middle East, 2) our economy begins to slip internationally and there simply is less to spend, and 3) the religious right and other conservative voices in the party slowly part paths, as they appear to be doing regarding this particular nomination. Did either "side" ever really trust the other and not see this split someday coming down the pipe? I wonder.)

As to the question of why Democrats are not fighting the current nomination... they tried. Everyone who wanted to participated a little less than a year ago, analyzed and evaluated the president's performance at an effective pre-election time, and one side lost. Those of you who supported this president, please, please, take responsibility for your actions and learn to fight your own battles. Particularly battles that your own actions are responsible for. Please. You can't always expect somebody else to pay in money or blood for the consequences of your actions. Shit, that would make all these decisions easy to opine on, if you didn't have any stake in how things really turn out down the line. For example, criticize Cindy Sheehan all you like, but she is no free rider. I think it would be refreshing, and show unity to really believe -- that like it or not, we are all in this mess together. Shared sacrifices and all. My 2 cents. (Sorry it's not funnier; I know it's a lot easier to present ideas within humor, but that's not my nature. I like to be funny about funny things, and more serious about things with serious consequences. I suppose that's why I prefer to read, and not watch much current tv comedy. That's not really my culture, as the books maybe are.)

Why, I just can't get too worked up.

I just remembered. It was Steely Dan, not Santana. Doh. Sometimes I get the little details wrong, but that's like choosing if you'd rather be near-sighted or far-sighted, I suppose. Looks like it's going to be a great Tuesday here. 73 for an afternoon high. It's so colorful out the windows here, I'm going to hang it as a Ruby Tuesday. Well, it is changing with every new day; you can just see it more now.

"Five pitchers, which just happens to be the number of fingers on a clenched fist."

Dave George, in today's PBPost:

"The entire Angels team is batting just.174 against the combined efforts of four, count 'em, four White Sox pitchers. Freddy Garcia, who won the clincher in last week's playoff sweep of Boston, will try tonight to make it five pitchers in four games. Five pitchers, which just happens to be the number of fingers on a clenched fist."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/sports/epaper/2005/10/15/z1c_george_1015.html

"We were taken aback."

"Our programs are well-respected. We're all about helping girls see possibilities and dream big dreams,"said Joyce Roche, the president of Girls Inc., a New York based organization.
...
"We are profoundly disappointed that certain groups have chosen to misconstrue American Girl' s purely altruistic efforts and turn them into a broader political statement on issues that we, as a corporation, have no position," read the statement issued by American Girl.

Had a little birthday...

there, in the past few days, which got me to thinking. And you know something? damn I really like where I'm at in life. Really. It's a good age, fairly healthy, fair amount of disposable income. Good people in my life -- longterm friends, family, and a smattering of children who, though I'm not responsible for their daily welfare, will be around in the future, if the past 15 or 20 years are any indicator. It's fun watching them make those transitions from children to school-aged to teens to young adults. Feel sorry for those around 15 or 16 right now, gas being high I think they're the ones most affected. It makes you feel good to slip them a $20 at family gatherings, ostensibly for a "missed birthday" months ago, really more because you know they could use that $20 in gas more joyfully than you would miss it. In short, I do like my current lifestyle, aging though I am. In fact, just a few days ago I was online, and came across this, which I thought I'd post as further proof of my permanent (or least current) coolness factor. (I want this one in the permanent record.)

Yes, I was there -- the Fire meets the Fury. Jeff Beck with the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan. Truth be told, it was more my beau at the time, who was into great guitar. He was 25 right around then; I was a fresh 21-year-old, finishing up my last year of college after having spent the spring quarter and summer working on a copydesk in South Florida. He was a pressman who joined the paper out of high school, and was physically fit from running up and down the stairs responding to jams (before they installed a new, high-tech color press) and from having to walk everywhere that summer because he had temporarily lost his license. (That was before I had met him, so I didn't really judge on that.) Anyways, we were two young Libras in love. He came to Chicago to visit for his birthday, and I scored nosebleed seats at the UIC Pavilion. It was a great concert, another story of expanding your horizons via love. For spring break that year, I flew down to Florida and remember he was driving a muscle car by then, which we took to the Keys for a few days, playing Santana all the way down. Alas, it was more a friendly relationship continued long distance, than a "meant for each other" pining, but I'm glad, and pretty lucky I guess, to have happy memories, photos and letters from past "beaus" like this.

Plus, who cares about aging when you can tell the kids you saw Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray jamming way back when, on a tour where one guy would open one night, the other the next, and eventually they'd share the stage and gift us all with their greatness?

What the ... ?

(My blog seems to have gone far left, no margins to maneuver in even. Go figure.) This story caught my eye:

Julie Lamoureux, account director at Publicis for the campaign, said the agency's original plans were toned down.

"We wanted something that was real war - Smurfs losing arms, or a Smurf losing a head -but they said no."

I was a little old for Strawberry Shortcake and the Smurfs, but this is too bizarre. Using the little blue characters to show the "realities" of war. And I don't buy the "casualty pictures for porn" way of bringing it all home for us, either. Can't people read text and create their own visual images anymore, or have we evolved past that?

Hap Erstein and Tom Blackburn on the late playwright August Wilson.
-------
In other news, it turns out John Roberts (the justice) has a long-lost, identical sister. Put her up for the Court, the masses plead. But even with the same exact backgrounds, she's just not the same. Same aptitude, not the same opportunities. Left the religion even. I really like how his stock has been rising, rising, rising lately, even though he really hasn't done much new but been there. Ah well, give the people what they want.
-------
Weekend sports wrapup: Little brown jug goes to Minnesota. Packers beat up on the homeless. Go Yanks, for now.

Here's a well-reasoned Saturday morning column from Stebbins Jefferson in today's PB Post:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2005/10/08/m12a_jeffersoncol_1008.html

I like columns like this, and others I've read recently, that stick to the relevant facts. I dislike criticisms that are all over the place, based on coarse cultural factors. This is why tv columnists generally don't write political columns, and vice versa.

If HM is not qualified based on her work, why would you bring up that she is single and childless, went to SMU way back when, doesn't apply makeup well, or wears too many baubles? There could be, and are, other reasons that she made these decisions. And please don't tell me you're highlighting these issues because you're expecting someone else will, so you want to beat them to the punch.

Accept responsibility for what you put out there. Stick to the professional qualifications please. Don't attack a person's personal choices or look to them to signal anything. That would be like voting for a president based on his looks. Not that people don't do that, it's just not something we should aspire to if we really care about the future of our country. Or is it too late to be caring about that?

October thoughts

Another day nearing its end here at the office. Being a salaried employee means putting in non-traditional hours, and getting the work done -- with diversions and reward breaks -- is the name of the game.

We finally had our cold spell last evening, following a decent rain. The rivers are running fast north of here, and I, for one, am looking forward to the weekend. The foliage on the riverbanks after the cold should make kayaking especially fun, though I'll be using my "skirt" to keep the cooler water off my body, which usually I like. Am even considering getting a used F-150, great prices on the trucks these days. Now I know gas is high, but I would still keep my smaller vehicle for road trips and longer travels. My commute to work is brief, and it would be good to be able to throw 2 or more kayaks in the bed, plus this one I am looking at has a topper. I know the guy selling it, so I am thinking win-win, as it's a good price and well cared for, nice body still.

That's all I have really. Next week is a business agents' meeting for a day and an afternoon, and then a evening PFC hearing scheduled. I've been swimming at a health club with a new saline chlorinated pool, which I love. My dad tells me he thinks chlorine will be the next asbestos, in terms of not really knowing the dangers of a product, so for somebody who has spent a lot of time indoors in the water, this new technology is satisfying. I would never give up swimming, it's a true lifelong sport.

For some reason it feels like a Friday to me, so don't think this is strange taking stock of my week like this. What else? My new place I am really liking too. One of our neighbors down the street is a funeral home; oddly enough, our next door neighbor when we lived in the Florida warehouse was a ... mortician. Didn't find this out for a while until we met and got to know him, but he had a contract with the county and would take bodies in and "bleed" them (drain the blood?) and prep them for burial. It was kind of spooky, but not really. No, we never saw him working, just heard that bay door go up and heard him bringing some one in. Damn, that is spooky now that I think of it. He did have special drains, and was regulated, had to be inspected every now and then.

Birdwise, the geese are on the move, and hopefully this weekend see a lot more. I got (bought) a great picture that Friday afternoon I headed up to CranBerry fest -- a flock silhouetted against an orange sky at sunset, over the water. They show as black figures, but very detailed, some wings up, some down and with the long necks in front. It was a good price (somebody shot it with a digital and framed in black). Size is about 8 x 12, and it's sitting on one of the shelves in my office.

That's all. Thanks again for reading.

Wondering what Martha's doing this weekend?

It's a special day for another reason too.

Norm is 90 today. Still on his feet, living at his home, coffee with his pals every morning, driving over to eat dinner with his wife every night -- she's home for a few days to help celebrate and maybe sing the birthday song. He gave up golf last year, sold the cart, and made it through a summer without. Helps with the garden, where years ago in retirement he and his wife broke the ground. Still likes to putter in the basement, gets creative in the kitchen with his breads and sauces and rubs. Enjoys the new smoker out in the garage, big enough to fill with a lot of meat. Watches the Vikings, Twins and golf on tv, but mature enough not to take games too seriously. Local hockey fan. Church every Sunday. I've heard him wake up praying in the morning, almost a chanting, with lots of repeated thank you, thank you, thank you's.

He's not a perfect man, if anyone is, and I'm not into hero worship, but I respect him immensely for setting a strong living example and making changes over the years. He's got great stories of growing up in St. Paul -- I especially like hearing about the racially integrated city high school he attended way back when and hearing about the differences between ethnic groups, in where and how they lived. He's a young man at heart and it shows in his great smile. One of his nieces even designed an elderly "doll" after him, that she sells through the Richard Simmons collection.

Love is a wonderful, wonderful thing, as the song goes...

Wow. Too bad all this discussion going on over the qualifications of the Supreme Court nominee doesn't carry over to other national decisions that affect all of us. Probably not an area of expertise for so many bloggers, who have been educated in this field.

It's a funny, funny time though. Just have this gut feeling that things are changing, no matter how this one politically shakes out.

Meanwhile, in other news...

"No! No! No!" a young Iraqi man screamed after Tuesday's bombing as he crouched behind the sandbags and barricades of one of the outer checkpoints at the Green Zone, the base of the U.S. presence in Iraq and the new Iraqi government.

The blast had blown part of the man's right hand from his wrist. He held his right hand on with his left, bone sticking out and strings of clotting blood falling to the checkpoint concrete.

A U.S. soldier ripped the man's shirt from his back, kneeling down to gnaw it with his teeth, tearing it to make a bandage.

...

It was the first bombing of Ramadan, for Baghdad.

"Nothing will change the course of events,'' Jamal Ali, 31, an electrical technician who works for Abu Jihad, said after walking into the appliance store.

The optimism that many Iraqis had managed to sustain -- despite bombings -- after the elation of January's national elections seems gone less than two weeks before the next round of voting.

"Things are heading for the worse, and I expect more deterioration, more violence, because the course of events is set in that direction," Abu Jihad said. He spoke of neighborhoods he no longer visits because of violence, of barely escaping a kidnapping attempt in one.

"A real change has taken place inside people's minds and hearts, and it is going to take a long time to reverse the course,'' he said, on the unhappy, quiet street. "People are being killed because they are Shiites, and others are killed because they are Sunnis. This is terrible."

I was going to make a Thomas Wolfe joke about my weekend, but really I'm still processing. Feels like when you get off a good amusement park ride that messes with your inner balance. Not a neighborhood carnival ride, mind you. Those things mess with your innards in a way mother nature did not intend for people over the age 25. I'm convinced of it.