Inner Prop's Take on the Election

New President, historic election, we knew that. Now let's see what we didn't know. What's going to come of this?

What do you think?

I put some of my opinions on Illini6, but let me sum up here:

I'm nervous.

Everybody calm down!

It's Okay, It's Frozen Over By Now

Tuesday morning a water main broke near Ashland and Montrose (I grew up a couple miles west and a half block south of there) in Chicago.

The street flooded in reminiscence of the Great Chicago Flood of '92. I don't think this one was caused by careless city workers though.

Back in '92 it was suggested another star be added to the Chicago Flag. One of the current stars commemorates the Chicago Fire (1871, not the MLS team) and one is for the Fort Dearborn Massacre so there is precedence.

I think we should wait for the Olympics and let that be the fifth star. After all, if we didn't add one for this year's Bears' season I don't think a lesser disaster like a flood would rate a star.

News of Afghanistan ۴۷

Ah, the past weekend reminds me of what one of my favorite interpreter's father would say... "Snow in the mountains is better than gold in the bank." As, I do not have any farmland along the Panjshir River, he may have my allotment of snow. Please come and remove it ASAP.

A great muddle if you ask me - Talbin scum...

Testifyin' about security.

The Canadians mull over a very old problem.

Britain's Prince Charles greets President Hamid Karzai at Clarence House in London. Afghanistan is at a "tipping point" ahead of an expected Taliban spring offensive, a hard-hitting report warned, despite upbeat comments from Karzai and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.(AFP/POOL/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Oh brave Talib - got enough children to flee behind?

Rebuilding Torkham.

I am wary of the numbers cited here. But one shouldn't downplay all of the report.

Photo: IRIN

I weep for our media when I can look at an article in the Tehran Times and see they are very much more careful in how they treat claims by a "purported" Talib commander than our own...

Another good Canadian idea!

Ugh.

At e-ariana.com

Gimme energy!

I wonder if he said this with a straight face....?

Uh, wait one...over.

A bit of an angry, historical oriented polemic.

Over to you, Airborne.

Go watch this - it's a bit long. I, and my co-workers, helped a bit with this...

The leading citizens of Rogmati. [photo by...me]

News of Afghanistan ۴۶

Oh happy day. Shall we start with the News then?

From Maxwell Street, to Columbia? "A few years ago, anyone with a folding chair and a table could deal...now, eh..."

I can only imagine how busy the tazkera offices will be.... (the tazkera is a sort of cross between state ID and birth certificate and Social Security card).

Get out! Anyone who worries about how illegal immigrants might be treated in the US, Australia, etc., take note. [note - internal problems too.]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (L) greets to his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak (C) next to NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (R) during an informal meeting of NATO defence ministers in Seville February 8, 2007. The meeting will be held in Seville from February 8-9. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo (SPAIN)

Oooh, this isn't gonna play well....

Nor did this.

Artistes, arise!

© IRIN
Rights groups oppose a draft law which grants immunity to former warlords, such as Ismail Khan (left) and Rashid Dustum.

Good for her!

Note two things: the paper this review appears in, and the irony of the possible trouble the Iranian government is causing/has caused Afghanistan. I take more hope from this than dismay. The Iranian people have a great interest and bond with the Afghans - no matter what their regime's attitudes and actions.

Talk about squeezing blood from a turnip...

My favorite of all the pictures I took in Afghanistan. Opening day of a girl's school in Parwan Province

I'd bet you won't find much current US pop music allowed.

The AQ coming into Afghanistan - they couldn't care less who they hurt. Mortar shells hit kids - they don't care. Bastards.

Oh, that porous Pak border...

Good on ya moment of the week: The Aga Khan Foundation is helping rebuild the Babar Garden - one of the nice things the terrifying conqueror and founder of the Mughal Dynasty, Babar - the Tiger of the North - left behind. Go look at the pictures.

News of Afghanistan ۴۵

Man, I must be getting old - good thing I have a mug of Alokozay Tea at hand (thanks to The World's Greatest Military Contractor)...

e-ariana posts the following:

I can only surmise they may have found the Thomas Nast of Afghanistan!

I think that this is called "self-interest"... at least for several members. This is why the amnesty really pisses me off. #$%&!

Chiding the Pakistanis...I wonder if the reporter and her photog hadn't been messed with, would we be seeing this article?

© Sultan Massoodi/IRIN

The only targets they can't hit are economic?

Speaking of Pakistan - a reply by a former FM.

Ungood. Plus ungood.

photo: UNHCR/N.Behring-Chisholm

Ungood. Double plus ungood.

Ha! I actually said this would happen back in 2005...so I was just a couple of years off...

Say, any contraband in that there truck?

I just wanted to post this photo of Squadron Leader Rich Langley ... because I could [photo by me!]

Heh. First thing I'd do is make the Germans and French hustle.

Cell phones - leading the way to Afghan prosperity! CSM Bones had one (was that Roshan or Afghan Wireless?)

Yea, Japan!