this is the worst procrastination i've done in forever. not worst as in most egregious lack of attention to necessary work -- although i'm approaching that status as well -- but rather as in generally most distressing. i've decided to give up on american coverage of world events and am consequently busy combing through the bbc and the guardian (which i'll link sometime after i regain my sanity), but there's not much *coverage* can do to mute the impact of suicide bombings, american rhetoric on suicide bombings, saddam's mass graves, summary death sentences for looting...

it's hard to know the correct way to think about all of this. there's the fact that this week makes the temptation to moan rather than consider rather stronger than it's been in awhile. and there's the fact that everything, every fact and detail and point of rhetoric, has been spun by everyone at this point. my first priority, i suppose, is to attempt some sort of middle ground...it seems obvious at this point that we can't lay everything at the feet of american imperialism, but it seems equally obvious that we should be asking whether our current course is making things better or worse.

is it understandable, or pathological, or both, that every time i try to memorize a distribution i find myself agonizedly theorizing about foreign policy?