Okay, the stuff in the "drafts" folder is piling up...

First, my very own article about flu season and precautions:

How to stay healthy during flu season - Get a flu shot, wash your hands frequently, avoid crowds and be careful what you touch

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Iraqis to Pay China $100 Million for Weapons for Police - washingtonpost.com

Those eternally ungrateful Iraqis are now buying weapons from the Chinese! Don't they know we're the number one weapons merchants in the world?

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Fort Hunt's Quiet Men Break Silence on WWII - washingtonpost.com

How we used to "extract information" from detainees back before the War on Terror, when the only threat to the civilized world was Hitler's genocidal marauders.

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5 Myths About Sick Old Europe

You may be surprised to learn how our estranged transatlantic partner has been faring during these roller-coaster times -- and how successfully it has been knocking down the Europessimist myths about it.

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Last, and with sorrow, two links on Burma that my friend Gail of Thinking Out Loud emailed to me:

Burma fades from view
Heart of Darkness

Interesting, I wrote back. This morning I searched the entire New York Times Web site and found not a word on Burma.

I was outraged, but Steve pointed out that if no news is allowed out of Burma, it's pretty hard to write an article on it. Still, I think there are a number of issues that ought to keep Burma in the headlines, such as the implications of the Burmese government's total information blackout, and the role other countries and corporations play in the Burmese government's grip on power there.

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(Does anyone know how to insert a divider in a blog post, so I don't have to use these stupid asterisks? I thought that used to be one of the formatting options, but can't find it.)