Sometimes we must acknowledge the trivial nature of those things that seem so important.

This one of those times!

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- At least 20 American service personnel were killed in military operations Saturday in one of the deadliest days for U.S. forces since the Iraq war began, and authorities also announced two U.S. combat deaths from the previous day.

Read the rest

Life, and death, intrude.

Bless them all and I hope our thanks follow them on this long journey. By the ones and twos these folks are giving their all, but sometimes a slap in face is needed. Let's hope it does some good.

[edit] Since some may have misunderstood the above... We lead lives of trivial import compared to some. Maybe these deaths will be the slap in the face needed to remind us collectively as a nation what's at stake. I feel I'm repeating myself, but apparently not?

Contributed by Zero Ponsdorf on January 20, 2007 at 06:46 PM in Current Affairs, Iraq, Zero Ponsdorf | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: Bill Faith

Click here to read the webmaster's response to this post.

Posted by: Bill Faith | Jan 20, 2007 7:23:43 PM

Posted by: John

Zero:

Not having had the benefit of a Harvard MBA, I am no wiz at cost-benefit analysis. When it comes to diplomacy, the same goes for my lack of a degree from Georgetown or Hopkins. That said, here is my undiplomatic cost-benefit analysis. IMO, whatever discomfort you may have experienced following Bill's intemperate response to this post is "trivial" compared to the benefit flowing from Rurik's long and saddening manifesto. If he is right, and Bill's main aim is to increase traffic, Bill is failing miserably. We have recently dropped nearly 200 levels in the TTLB Ecosystem rankings. Considering that the Site Meter reflects an aggregate of any and all hits on this and related blogs, the total count of 91K or so is pitiful. Ultimately, OneStat tells it all. In the entire history of OWD, the number of visitors who have made 4 or more visits is exactly zero. I have long suspected that OWD in fact has no readership. One Stat confirms.

I have finally reached the conclusion that I have had enough of this. At first, it was flattering to enjoy a kind of vanity-press where I could "publish" my personal bleats for my private delectation. I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it. I am outa here. I will miss some of you more than others, but I owe it to whatever dwindling sense of personal dignity that I may retain to resign as of now. Permanently. "Je ne regrette rien."

Posted by: John | Jan 22, 2007 12:04:23 AM

Posted by: antimedia

Hmmm....methinks you don't understand a few things, John. First of all, Sitemeter is BS. So is TTLB. The rankings only reflect the number of blogs that use TTLB that link to you. They do not in any way reflect all of the links to your site. For example, Technorati says there are 1,212 links to this URL (www.oldwardogs.us).

Finally, I read this blog every single day, so that should tell you something about how accurate the statistics are that claim no one has visited more than 4 times.

Having said all that, I suspect your reasons for leaving are more complex than simple numbers, and I wish you well in life.

Posted by: antimedia | Jan 22, 2007 11:06:50 PM