Sovereign Iraq! Sovereign Iraq!
It's like Christmas coming on December 23!

As part of the transfer of sovereignty, every member of Iraq's new government receives a Kevlar vest and a copy of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Representative Democracy.

I was listening to the BBC at around 1:00 or 2:00 AM when the story broke and the transfer became official. They said that the U.S. had transferred the "documents of sovereignty." First, I thought "documents of sovereignty" sounded like a very Monty Pythonesque phrase. Second, I imagined that what really happened was Paul Bremer placed a paper bag on Iraq's porch, set it ablaze, rang the doorbell and ran away: Ding dong "Here's your sovereignty Mr. Alawi."

But I'm sure Iyad Allawi, et. al. will be happy to step in it for their country.

Where the hell have I been?

Bill Clinton has some sort of Jedi mind trick that he does when a camera is in front of him. he certainly seems to think of himself as one of the great presidents of the twentieth century and he seems to have the ability to project that thought into your mind. It actually takes a bit of concentration to dispel it. I wonder if he ever took Hillary to a sex club?

The "acb news" site is not dead. It will return at some point. And I've got to put something up on the "vote acb" site because it's time to get this campaign started. I think I can beat Nader.

You may be aware that Borders has a promotion wherein if you buy 3 DVD's you get a fourth for free. Perhaps it's time once again to clear out some inventory. Well, I wandered into a Borders over the weekend (mainly for the coffee) and discovered, set before me on display, a DVD I had been waiting for the arrival of: "The Fog of War."

Naturally, it occurred to me that I could get "The Fog of War" for free if only I bought three other DVD's. The difficulty was that "Fog" at $23.99 was a premium priced item. (Why this is the case, I don't know. Probably just to take advantage of my enthusiasm over the release.) So, in order to get it for free, I had to buy items of the same or greater value: Akira Kurasawa's "Ran" The Masterworks Edition, "Unforgiven" Special Edition and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" Special Edition. And so I succeeded in getting "The Fog of War" for free, and helping Borders clear out some inventory.

And now for some incoherent rambling:

I think the first time I saw "Unforgiven" I was in Champaign-Urbana and the movie was being shown on laser disc. (Remember laser discs? They were the size of vinyl records.) Someone said then that he had never met a woman who liked that movie. I'm always dubious of such claims, but the women in attendance were entirely disinterested.

Anyway, you should see "The Fog of War." And see "Ran" if you haven't. Hey, who doesn't love a 2 1/2 hr Japanese feudal epic?

(More discussion on "The Fog of War" at some later point.)