About

I'm an expat Californian who is obsessed with traveling to strange and exotic destinations in the former Communist Bloc. I also like tacos, beer, surfing, trapshooting, and the geopolitics of oil. I currently live in Arlington, Virginia and work in Washington, DC. Read more about me here, check out my photo album, or send me an e-mail.

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    Iraq, anyone?

    Iraq is officially welcoming tourists:
    Well, here she was in the lobby of a Baghdad hotel, ending a 17-day tour around one of the world’s ultimate danger destinations.
    “It had always been on my list,” said Ms. Gilbert, wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with a cartoon cat and the phrase “Life Is Good.” “If it opened up, I [...]

    Generational theft?

    Via Paul Krugman:
    …the rhetorical response of conservatives to the stimulus plan — which will, it’s worth bearing in mind, cost substantially less than either the Bush administration’s $2 trillion in tax cuts or the $1 trillion and counting spent in Iraq — has bordered on the deranged.
    It’s “generational theft,” said Senator John McCain, just a [...]

    I guess we’ll have to bail out the Iraqis, too

    Heeey, I coulda sworn the Bush administration said the reconstruction would pay for itself:
    Plummeting oil prices may force Iraq’s government to slow ambitious reconstruction plans, and the country could face a budget shortfall by next summer, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
    “We’re in a situation where Iraq is … potentially going to be in a deficit [...]

    What Blackwater hath wrought

    Justice officials revealed shocking new details of the attacks at a DOJ press conference today, which they said included shooting a grenade into a nearby girl’s school and the killing of an Iraqi man who has his hands up in the air.
    All of the victims were unarmed and none were insurgents, officials said.
    “Many were shot [...]