I'm back from a long working vacation

We're re-organizing the company and life is good. On to Serious subjects

Get this from David Ignatious in the WaPo. In this piece, the author unwittingly gives you all you need to know regarding the oppressively negative coverage of the Iraq War in the second paragraph (ital mine):

Yesterday's release of American journalist Jill Carroll makes this a good moment to celebrate the work that reporters are doing every day in Iraq. They are taking huge personal risks to bring back the news -- not "good news," as some supporters of the administration often seem to want, but the news.

Anyone taking potshots at the "mainstream media" should read the description of what it's like to cover Baghdad that appears in the April/May issue of the American Journalism Review. The story opens with a description of NPR's Deborah Amos, dressed in Arab clothes, anxiously scanning the street for bombers and kidnappers as she heads for an interview in the protected Green Zone. And that's an easy assignment.

The reporters cover Baghdad. Not Iraq, Baghdad. Not Kudistan, Baghdad. That's like covering all of California from a barrio in South Central LA, and then guessing that it's the same across the entire state.

These people should not be listened to....