Also home to Origin Systems and the notorious mansion and biannual Halloween Party of Richard Garriott. The party was free and open to anyone, but only a few hundred were allowed in, so you had to line up the night before to get tix. Apparently there was a “haunted house” ride that pulled out all the stops that professional Hollywood special effects could produce.

I regret never going there in the 10 years I lived in Austin.

That is what I meant about posters with erudition and sensibility. I had forgotten the name Eddie Adams and that he had died.

Photojournalism is elevated to a higher nobler form of artistry in times of war, bringing to

us the horrors, the humanity and the courage so that we may judge, reflect, question and try to make sense.

Thanks for your apt comments.

We must be very cautious when looking at a specific photo—that may distract us from seeing the larger picture. Eddie Adams took the photograph of the South Vietnam general shooting the Vet Cong prisoner. He died a few years ago regretting that that many people perceived this officer as some sort of war criminal. Adams considered him to be a hero:

http://www.11thcavnam.com/main/shedding_some_light_on_another_p.htm

The terrorists are deliberately targeting innocent people. They desire to demoralize the so-called pampered citizens of the decadent West. We can ill afford to fall into their diabolical trap.

this site, I have always been impressed by

the sensibility and erudition of its owner and posters. So when I posted earlier that the photo of the GI with the dead child blasted me; it was the reality of war brought home with such shocking vividness that its impact rivals the war photographs of Capa, Mydans and those Vietnam photographs of the naked girl running, weeping on the street and the general’s elimination of the Viet Cong. A photographic moment; “a decisive moment” in the words of Cartier Bresson, it is indecent to use “artistry,” but at the moment I can find no other.

I feel the same as jedrury here. Yes, the terrorists are on the run, the “insurgents” can’t win, but when will the violence end? Probably not until Syria and Iran have their own regime changes.

I donít think that many people were murdered. However, for the sake of the argument, letís go with this figure. If the death rate remained consistently that high for a full year, the total would reach some 41,600 victims. Iraq is populated by around 26,000,000 people. Do the math, the victim rate still does even come close to 1/10th of 1% of the total population. We need to occasionally take a chill pill and not overlook the bigger picture. The war is over and the ìinsurgentsî have no chance of returning to power.

As soon as someone is captured, the bad guys know anyway. Believe me. It doesn’t have to be announced to the world to be known to them. Whether the little black book is real or not doesn’t matter, the bad guys can’t take a chance that it’s disinformation.

monsters can not erase the photo of the GI carrying the dead infant wrapped in a bloodied blanket. A stomach punch more powerful than any boxer can muster.

—Austin Bay update

In the James Bond movies the villain is always brilliant and rarely makes mistakes. This, fortunately, is often not the case in the real world. Sometimes our enemies are bumbling fools. Although I could be wrong, I get the distinct impression that Abu Faraj al-Libbi didnít even bother to encode his valuable information. And if my theory is correct, then the coalitionís intelligence groups were chasing down the bad guys within the first few hours after his capture. It would be entirely sensible to publicly release the story 72 hours later and see what happens. Have you ever watched cockroaches running for cover when the lights are turned on?