Billmon - July 8, 2005

Little America

Via Jesus' General:

The Green Zone is a curious place. Next to the Republican Palace, leading to the little PX, the Burger King, the Pizza Inn and the crumby Romainian gyro shop, you find two large parking lots. They're guarded 24/7 by the Gurkha's, who, incidentally, live in squalid conditions in the part of the Green Zone that is most exposed to insurgent fire . . .

Every night there are high stakes poker games next to the pool. People with some time off covort in the pool, while down the street guys go out in various convoys, risking their lives. Go to the Assassin's gate and you'll see helicopter gunships dropping flares and sometimes hear small arms fire.

Rocky Mountain Low

If you want supporting evidence for my thesis that the American "marketplace of ideas" is in an advanced state of decay, you could do worse than read some of Liquid List's posts from the Aspen Institute's "Festival of Ideas" conference.