More on Musharraf. I always had a hunch that this guy was playing it both ways. It seems pretty clear now that Bin Laden's in Pakistan. Does this mean we're going to invade? How about reinstate the draft? This is the only logical outcome of the neocon approach to world affairs.

Remind me why this fucking guy is our ally again?

It has been at least ten years since I plopped on "Mind Bomb" by 80s group The The, but the song "Armageddon Days Are Here Again" has been stuck in my head on and off for the past couple of weeks. The song taken as a whole is rather pretentious, but for the chorus:

Islam is rising
The Christians mobilising
The world is on its elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds

Those who know me know that I am generally "hooked on phonics" when it comes to song lyrics. I am the kind of listener that remembers all the little nuances of chord changes, small augmentations in the music, the vocal inflections, the effects put on the drums/vocals/guitars, the key itself...anything but the damn words themselves. And the music for this song (even though I have not yet dug out the old tape I have of it) is certainly late 80s crap production values. But credit Matt Johnson for that chorus, as it is a mantra for our time. And I will never forget those words. The moment I bought that record, it was one of those rare times for me where I went "whoa, that's a really good fucking verse." And this was 1989. It was well into 1991 when the chumps in Jesus Jones were singing "Right here, right now."

I've beaten this subject to a bloody pulp, but Bin Laden's got his holy war. And, though still agnostic, I am becoming more and more of an atheist as the months and years go by. Usually this pattern goes in reverse as one gets old.

On the subject of Contango, if this report is true, then how else to explain the sharp rise of oil prices during the same period?

Relating to my blurb a while back about Khatami, here is another clue to why I think he's leaving the country. I would not like to look into a crystal ball at the moment.