Someone buy those (alleged) thieving, convicted murdering (manslaughter, whatever) kids a plane ticket to Siberia.

Why are they saying there will never be another Love Parade? There have been stampedes that have killed people before, including the Hajj because of poor planning and forcing large crowds into small, inescapable routes. There is no reason there should never be another Love Parade. There should, however, be a thorough investigation looking into the cause of the tragedy and people responsible should be brought to justice.

@2, it's just too big. They were prepared to cope with 500,000, but 1.5 million showed up. There's no way to realistically prepare for that many people.

Afghanistan: America's longest-ever war (longer than WWI and WWII combined) just gets better and better, huh? We're paying to arm the people we're fighting against. Genius.

Here's to Murr the Blur, best bartender who ever lived. In the old days at Il Bistro watching him work the crowd unobtrusively was a treat. From what I could tell nobody at the bar proper ever waited for their next drink or had time to light their own cigarette.

I especially love the way the only official response to the Afghanistan thing from the administration has been "How dare they leak all those documents!"

I read this in Harper's last week, "America is funding both sides of what is clearly an Afghan civil war." Guess that's true, unfortunately.

Huh. I never noticed that the Chef wears a wedding band before...

Re: Afghanistan.

Told you so.

Time to end both of the foreign civil wars that serve no US strategic interest but only serve to provide cheap resources for China and Russia using US blood, toil, and tears.

@3 We are talking major tourist dollars here.