Didn't I Hear Something before the war about how invading Iraq could lead to military confrontations with Turkey in the north? Just about there, per Bloomberg.com.

Cats, Mice - Interesting article in Newsday on counter-ambush tactics the US Army is adopting in Iraq.

In Working Weblogs - Arthur Silber has completed his brief against interventionists of an otherwise libertarian bent. Well, "brief" is not the word, but worthwhile is.

Chris Bertram announces the launch of a new group blog, Crooked Timber, whose membership comprises some of the blogosphere's brighter liberals. Surely many straight things will be made therein. though I doubt I'll agree with much of it.

Most blogs, including my own, tend to error out on this connection, whether because of some page size issue or an undiscovered net nanny.

In vacation news, I caught four perch and a chain pickeral off the dock last night at dusk. Only one of the perch was of any size to speak of. Chain pickeral are basically pipsqueak pike, running to about 18 inches or so. Caught them on worms and a Rebel Crawfish. My brother-in-law and I drove down to the North Branch tonight to fish for trout, but the North Branch was big and muddy, looking more like April water than July. (I was hoping for May.) We've been getting heavy overnight thunderstorms every night since we got here. It obligingly clears up by late morning no matter what, so boating and swimming and such are perfectly viable, as is lake fishing. River fishing, however, is just not on.

Can You Spare a Dime (or More?) - Old friend Bruce Fleming points out that singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo, a favorite of both of us, has taken seriously ill. Escovedo has had one of those careers that can be called both "storied" and unprofitable. He's never sold as many records as he would have in a better world, but he has kept doggedly touring and recording excellent material year in and year out. This of course means he has no health insurance, mounting medical bills and no income while he convalesces. There are some benefit concerts in the works, and there's a support fund you can contribute to if you're minded. Do it for the live cover of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" on More Miles Than Money. Do it for the piano intro to "Paradise," the song that begins the Gravity CD. If you haven't heard Escovedo before, Amazon's free downloads are here. If charity is not your thing, but fine Americana music is, buy some CDs. In the fullness of time, royalties might come to the performer/author, like wisdom.

Slow News Days - Not much changes when you're on vacation. Sun comes up, sun goes down, thunderstorms at night and Troop morale in Iraq hits 'rock bottom' - at least, we have to hope it has:

Some frustrated troops stationed in Iraq are writing letters to representatives in Congress to request their units be repatriated. "Most soldiers would empty their bank accounts just for a plane ticket home," said one recent Congressional letter written by an Army soldier now based in Iraq. The soldier requested anonymity.

In some units, there has been an increase in letters from the Red Cross stating soldiers are needed at home, as well as daily instances of female troops being sent home due to pregnancy.

"Make no mistake, the level of morale for most soldiers that I've seen has hit rock bottom," said another soldier, an officer from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq.

You know where those guys ought to be deployed? Here at Deep Creek Lake. The humidity dropped a lot since early morning, sun's out and boat traffic is light. Heck, I wouldn't mind if they wanted to tool around on jet skis for awhile - they've earned it. And there's one more quality this area has that makes it appropriate for American soldiers:

It's in the United States.

The Monitor article quoted above goes into the structural details beyond the whole "A bunch of geniuses led us into war and all I got was this crummy drive-by problem" syndrome:

The rethink about troop levels comes as senior military leaders voice concern that multiple deployments around the world are already taxing the endurance of US forces, the Army in particular. Some 370,000 soldiers are now deployed overseas from an Army active-duty, guard, and reserve force of just over 1 million people, according to Army figures.

Experts warn that long, frequent deployments could lead to a rash of departures from the military. "Hordes of active-duty troops and reservists may soon leave the service rather than subject themselves to a life continually on the road," writes Michael O'Hanlon, a military expert at the Brookings Institution here.

So naturally we're thinking about packing another thousand or more soldiers off to Liberia.

Weekly Fitness Blog Item - There is way too much food in this house! And way too much of it is junk. And I'm taking it easy on exercise for a few days because of a back muscle pull I got during not mine but Mrs. Offering's workout the other night.

No scale in this house, so no numbers. Bought 32" regular-fit jeans last night and slipped into them easily, but god knows if that will be true by the end of the week. Until next Sunday, eat right and get plenty of exercise, Loyal Readers! Assuming you can even see this. I don't know if it's an ISP-specific thing or what, but while I can get into Movable Type from here, all attempts to view the weblog itself come up with a File Not Found.