It’s weird to think that I woke up in my own bed this morning but will be performing tonight in another city in another country. It’s only a 30-minute flight away, mind you, but it’s still strange. I took Nyquil at around 8:30 last night and went to bed. This meandering head cold is really, really pissing me off. So tonight will be a rather interesting experiment in under rehearsed hilarity, but I’m sure that it’ll all be fine in the end. The death toll ...More »

First up this morning, two quick film reviews… Redacted Based on the rape and murder of a teenaged Iraqi girl in Mahmoudiya (and the execution of other members of her family) by US Marines manning a nearby checkpoint, the film is a wake up call that received little to no attention in the United States. While the crime is one of the major focuses of the film, another important aspect is the pressures faced by the individual that finally came forward and revealed that it happened. Into ...More »

There’s no questioning the fact that Israel’s ultimate goal in Gaza is to remove the Hamas led provisional government from power. Hamas doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to exist, which is, of course, an immense problem with regards to the ability to negotiate – that being, no one will meet with them, let alone negotiate with them. So what is the answer? Who, in all of this madness, is willing to be courageous enough to employ the sort of timeless wisdom that takes into account the ...More »

While the Israeli government looks into the legality of targeting civilian areas from which rockets have been fired into Israel, the Israeli Defense Force has claimed that of the 100 plus Palestinians killed in their recent incursion into Gaza, 90 of them were Hamas militants. During operations in Gaza’s suburbs, the IDF have been guilty of employing snipers that have taken the lives of civilians. In one instance, a 12-year-old girl was shot in the stomach as she stood several feet from a window after ...More »

In a surprising move after reports that Turkey’s offensive in northern Iraq would be sustained for the foreseeable future, Turkish forces began withdrawing yesterday in force. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the withdrawal occurred just after President Bush called on the Turkish government to end the offensive and a day after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the Turkish capital to deliver Washington’s message that the incursion must not be open ended. Of course, the Turkish government and military is claiming ...More »

There are wars currently being fought around the world. Off the top of my head I can think of Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan, and I am sure there are others that I just can’t think of at the moment but feel free to add to the list. I guess I am just appalled by the main media news. The only time you hear about what is going on in those parts of the world is when there is some sort of ...More »

Lebanon is fighting a War on many fronts. There is the War on Terror in Naher Al Bared Refugee camp, which continues on its 4th week of fighting. The army today released that they have made considerable progress in the fight and that they are close to an end. What is “close” no one really knows. We keep on hearing “in the next few days” but then weeks pass and the fighting continues. Many of the Palestinians in the camp ...More »

Obviously it’s been a busy week, which would be why I’ve done little more than cut and paste old Dear San Diego entries. I find myself writer, producer, and primary musician sixteen hours a day of late, so please excuse the lack of entries. A great deal has occurred over the last week, most notably the official apology and compensation package given Maher Arar by the Canadian government and the idiotic comments of US Ambassador David Wilkins, who actually had the audacity to criticize the ...More »

I am reminded of a comment made by a blogger yesterday about the residents of Gaza, presumably all of which are not die-hard members of Hama’s militant wing, celebrating the Democrat’s successes last night. According to the BBC, which may or may not be on Charles Johnson’s pro-terrorist, pro-Islamofascist, anti-Semitic list of news agencies, there were at least 18 Palestinians in Gaza that weren’t able to celebrate the Democratic capture of the House today. Unfortunately, they were killed by Israeli tank fire in Beit ...More »