57 Articles

Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Dishing the dirt at my housing co-op: The special "I Want Revenge" issue of my newsletter
Good grief! The Board of Directors at my housing co-op is at it again! Only this time they are going after my daughter. But I gotta be grateful to this bunch -- they taught me how to deal with people like Cheney and Bush. So. What is Savo Island up to this time? I'm more than willing to spill.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
"Expect the Best": My new mantra -- which also involves sushi & chocolate
Raised in a Republican town, I learned early on to always expect the worst. But now I'm trying to learn to expect the best instead. How's it going? Well, maybe I can expect America to finally wise up and throw Bush in jail? Or maybe not. But my daughter's new job at a small-but-wonderful Berkeley "Gourmet Ghetto" food court is DEFINITELY THE BEST!

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Illegal Aliens: NAFTA, Bush's Middle East blunders & the great migrations in the EU & here
(2 comments) Just like birds fly south for the winter, illegal aliens migrate to Europe and America from Mexico and the Middle East when it gets too hot for them in their own countries. What to do? If we get rid of both NAFTA and George Bush, then people who WANT to stay in their own countries can do so without risking starving to death or getting blown up.

Sunday, June 17, 2007
The American military: Are they Bush's flying monkeys -- or not?
(2 comments) It's time for America's military to stop acting like flying monkeys, carrying out GWB's every undiciplined whim. Kansas needs them more than Iraq does! Just say, "There's no place like home..." And in the meantime, I plan to throw water on the Wicked Witch of The White House in the form of a lawsuit because the State Dept. is systematically denying me freedom of the press, allegedly in order to protect GWB's [arse].

Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Rule of Law In Iraq: My address to the Berkeley-Albany Bar Association
Despite all the bad lawyer jokes, it is the Rule of Law that holds a country together. And when that breaks down, all Hell breaks loose. And BushCo deliberately eliminated most aspects of the Rule of Law in Iraq....

Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sinking to their level: Bush's flea-bitten mafia is dragging America down -- and me too!
(1 comments) If Americans start to follow the Bush example, pretty soon we'll be lying to everyone, committing murder and stealing little kids' lunch money too! We need to follow Bobby Kennedy's example and put those White House mafia wannabes in jail for tax evasion -- if nothing else.

Sunday, June 10, 2007
Flowers in the Attic: GWB's blatant abuse of America's military & why it continues...
(2 comments) Like an abused child, the American military clings to its abuser despite all the terrible treatment it continually receives from Bush and Cheney. Any normal American would stop child abuse but no one is speaking out to save our troops from being stretched beyond endurance. But wait! Now someone IS speaking up for our troops! Who could it be? Paris Hilton! You just go, girl!

Saturday, June 9, 2007
Pirate Masters: "Mates, there's treasure to be had in that Iran war!" Har har har...
(1 comments) Have Cap'n Cheney and his scurvy parrot Dubya been plotting the Iran expedition just so they can score more pirate booty? Yar, mateys! It's time to throw these two pirate masters into the brig, cut them adrift and give them the dread Black Spot before they can bury OUR treasure somewhere in the Cayman Islands! Don't you just hate getting robbed by pirates?

Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Catching up on hot gossip: Friends & lunch & 1 bath a week in Australia
At lunch yesterday, six of us who used to work together in a law office went out for lunch in order to catch up on each others' lives. We were joined by a friend of one of us survivors from past legal wars. She had just gotten back from drought-ridden Australia and what she told us made us all...thirsty! "No one is even allowed to wash dishes in one small town in Australia. They all use paper plates," she said.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007
The National Security Presidential Directive: Now we're just one hurricane away from a dictatorship!
(1 comments) I'm getting tired of "viewing with alarm" all the tricks BushCo is constantly up to. When do I finally get to "point with pride"? At the failed education system, the Iraq debacle, oil prices, the new Presidential Directive, the lack of Freedom of the Press? No. But how about pointing with pride at America when it throws Bush & Cheney in jail for corrpution and hurting our troops? Works for me.

Sunday, June 3, 2007
Day 3, 2007 Book Expo: Partying with librarians & Liberians & Plame....
I'm scheduled to meet Rob Kall here today. But in the meantime, I got the lowdown on Valerie Plame's speech here and partied with a bunch of librarians and heard about the 64-year-old grandmother who is trying to reform the corruption in Liberia. And then she could go reform the corruption in Iraq....

Saturday, June 2, 2007
Day 2 of the NYC Book Expo: Christopher Hitchens & Independent Book Publishers....
I visited small presses and was pleased by the books that they offered. Then I was totally entertained by a talk by Christopher Hitchens, the bad-boy author who writes for Vanity Fair.

Friday, June 1, 2007
My "Dear Jane" letter: There's not even ONE embed available in all of Baghdad!
(2 comments) I've been trying to re-embed in Iraq. Now CentCom Baghdad is telling me that there are NO embeds available in all of Baghdad. None? Is Bush's war going that badly? That CNN and ABC aren't being allowed in either? Or is it just me? PS: I'm writing this from the Press Room of the NYC 2007 Book Expo, a book-lover's dream!

Friday, June 1, 2007
The NYC 2007 Book Expo: I just met Walter Mosley!
I just heard the author Walater Mosley speak at the NYC Book Expo. He was terrific. The whole Expo is terrific. And I LOVE New York.

Monday, May 28, 2007
How my housing co-op is following the national trend: Bye-bye Rule of Law!
GWB is demanding that the average American citizen must obey all the laws -- but feels no compunction about breaking them himself. This is how the Rule of Law starts to break down in a nation -- first nationally and then locally. Why should my housing co-op members behave themselves when Bush and them obviously do not?

Monday, May 28, 2007
Like a drunk blowing his paycheck on booze, will Bush blow his $100B on Iran?
Is anybody in America who has seen Bush in action over the last seven years still naive enough to think for an instant that he is actually planning to use his new-found 100 billion dollars to "support the troops" in Iraq and/or "keep America safe" here at home? Face it, guys. Iraq was last year's toy. Bush is no longer interested in playing with last year's toy. Bush wants to spend his money on a new toy -- IRAN

Friday, May 25, 2007
Millennium Challenge coincidence: The war on Iraq began with war games too
(2 comments) What was the opening move in Bush's war on Iraq? The Millennium Challenge war games. Are Bush's new war games in the Strait of Hormuz his opening move in a war on Iran? You bet.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007
"Dancing with George Bush": He may have lost the call-in vote but....
(1 comments) While watching "Dancing with the Stars" I was so cheering for Leila Ali that when she didn't win, I almost thought that the vote counting was rigged just like it is in our presidential elections. But then I got a grip. The Bush legacy of election corruption hasn't quite trickled down that far -- yet.

Sunday, May 20, 2007
GWB's new Iraq strategy: "Keep Jane Stillwater out of the Red Zone -- and the Green Zone too!"
At long last! I discovered who has placed the glass ceiling on my latest embed request. It's George Bush himself! But I'm in good company. Me and Jimmy Carter and the Dixie Chicks. PLEEZE, George? Embed me in June and I promise that I'll come and visit you in jail when I get back? Deal? Or no deal?

Saturday, May 19, 2007
The weapons industry: With the world already overstocked with misery, why keep manufacturing more?
(1 comments) With all the millions and millions of people in this world who are hurting and dying, why does the one of world's largest industries keep manufacturing a product whose only goal is to make sure that even MORE people are hurting and dying? What's the point? It seems to me that deliberately manufacturing even more ways to create misery in this world is a bad business practice. Get a clue! Has anyone heard of Adam freaking SMITH?

Saturday, May 19, 2007
Jane's armchair tour: Learning about Afghanistan & Kabul the easy way...
While waiting for my June 16 embed in Iraq to get approved, I decided to type up my notes on Afghanistan. Here are some of them. I hope you enjoy them. I'll type up the rest when my fingers stop bleeding!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Flogging my book: "Disaster: A Personal Journey Through George Bush's Middle East"
(2 comments) Writing a book is a piece of cake. Typing it up is a bit more difficult. But getting it published and/or distributed is almost impossible! Does anyone out there know how to do this? Help help help.

Monday, May 14, 2007
Madame Jane predicts stuff about Iraq: Get 2 fabulous predictions for the price of 1!
(4 comments) Bush is creating chaos in the Middle East -- and guess what? Chaos is contageous. Chaos spreads. And it is coming our way.... Plus Madame Jane predicts that I need to go back to Iraq and make sure that our troops are being accorded the right to die a soldier's death instead of being rushed to Final Judgment by the Bush war machine.

Sunday, May 13, 2007
They killed Kenny!: Did my friend Kenny really need to die?
(3 comments) When my friend Kenny got melanoma cancer and yet couldn't get health insurance, I couldn't resist the chance to cry, "They killed Kenny!" Well, it's time for Bush and Congress to stop pandereing to insurance companies and start answering to US instead. But Kenny had a big heart and I think he would probably appreciate my attempt at dark humor if it meant that others wouldn't have to go through what he did.

Monday, May 7, 2007
Eating well in Iraq -- an article I wrote for my friend Yoko's food blog
My friend Yoko has a food blog. I love food! So I wrote her an article which is basically an ode to the military food in Iraq. I know it's only a clever way to get soldiers to re-up but still....

Monday, May 7, 2007
The reluctant blogger: Wracking my brains for a solution to the disaster in Iraq
How about we get a Neighborhood Watch going over in the Middle East? Iraq has lots of neighbors who are willing to help. And to get the ball rolling, China, Russia, the EU and America can bring the refreshments to the organizational meeting -- but nothing else. Except for a certificate stating that Bush and Cheney are going on trial for their crimes.

Thursday, May 3, 2007
Mothers Day: The good, the bad and the ugly!
Mothers Day is coming up and my son Joe made me a video and put it on YouTube as my Mothers Day present -- reenacting all the joy and pain of motherhood (with a few anti-war statements thrown in)

Monday, April 30, 2007
The Dalai Lama & Costco: When Ultimate Truth met Relative Truth...
(3 comments) This week, the Dalai Lama talked about Ultimate Truth. It was wonderful. Then I compared how four major religions had each reacted to their own Holocaust experiences -- and Tibetan Buddhism won that competition hands down. Then we went shopping at Costco....

Friday, April 27, 2007
Blackwater mercenaries, West Point graduates & other contractors' tales
(4 comments) I thought I might have radioactive teeth from brushing them in Euphrates River water -- but then I met a KBR contractor who was in much worse shape. And my friend Stewart almost got blown up in a market bombing. Are we living in the world of "Lord of the Rings" evil or what?

Sunday, April 22, 2007
Contracting the troop death tolls out: Why more US soldiers died in Nam than Iraq
(6 comments) Let's make a gesture of good faith to the people of Iraq -- let's put George Bush in jail. Maybe it would make them feel better knowing that Americans still value justice and aren't totally at the mercy of crazy gunmen who shoot up innocent people for no reason.

Thursday, April 19, 2007
Cannon fodder: What will happen next in Iraq -- and America?
(2 comments) When I saw all those young and green U.S. troops at that airbase in Kuwait, all lined up and ready to get transported off to Iraq, two words kept running through my brain. "Cannon fodder."

Monday, April 16, 2007
Bringing it all back home: I'm almost on my way back from Iraq....
(3 comments) Maybe the reason I didn't get embedded was actually the reason they claim; that I was just the innocent victim of too much paperwork. Okay. Maybe we should defeat the enemy that way -- smother them all in triplicate forms! Well, at least I got to fly over Diwaniyah in a helicopter and finally meet Michael Ware.

Friday, April 13, 2007
Friday the 13th: No luck getting out of the Green Zone -- or the war
(10 comments) I was at the Combat Support Hospital when the injured Iraqi Parliament delegates started streaming in. It turned me off of "war" forever.

Friday, April 13, 2007
Courage & Grief: Iraqi Parliament's memorial service for its slain members
(7 comments) Today I went to the moving and heart-felt special session of the Iraqi Parliament held in honor of its injured and dead. I also saw the cafeteria where the bomb went off. Here's a description, written through tears.

Thursday, April 12, 2007
Sadr City: My fall-back date to the prom
(3 comments) The Iraqi Army was supposed to take me on patrol yesterday and they stood me up. But I scored a interview with two female Parliamentarians instead. So there!

Thursday, April 12, 2007
An hour after I left it, the Iraqi Parliament was attacked by a suicide bomber!
(20 comments) I'm in shock. An hour after I left the Iraqi Parliament, two members were killed and approximately 20 wounded by a suicide bomber. Right where I stood. That brings this war home. That's for sure.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tales from the Press Room: Camping out with journalists in Iraq
(4 comments) Being stuck in the press room does have its advantages. Reporters always have interesting tales to tell. And at the press conferences, you can always count on Iraqi reporters to ask the hard questions.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Too much stuff: The Paris Hilton rationale for not leaving Iraq
(8 comments) There are many good reasons for leaving Iraq -- and many good reasons for staying. The situation here is very complex. But if US troops DO decide to leave, maybe Paris Hilton will teach them how to pack.

Saturday, April 7, 2007
Make War not Love: Sex & the City (of Baghdad)
(3 comments) Sometimes the repressed sexual tension in the air around here is so palpable you could almost cut it with a knife. Let's do something about that!

Saturday, April 7, 2007
Green Zone Cabin Fever: Prime Minister Maliki, help help help!
(2 comments) Please PM Maliki, help me embed in the Red Zone! Don't make me rent a Humvee and go out there by myself. And Muqtada Al Sadr, you want people in the street for your demonstration this week? Here I am!

Friday, April 6, 2007
Message from the Green Zone: Humpty Dumpty was here
The Iraqi egg has broken. It's past time to even make an omelet with it. I have a suggestion -- Let's give every Iraqi $15,000 and a passport, send them off to Cleveland and start again with all new people. No one can put Humpty Dumpty back together again -- not even Bush! Especially not Bush....

Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun: Highway Baghdad revisited
(1 comments) At a press conference today, General Caldwell stated, "Democracy is good for debate, but what is NOT debatable is our commitment to Iraq. Every day we are putting boots on the ground...." Did he really just tell the American people to go take a flying leap?

Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Baghdad days: Playing at being a tourist in the Green Zone
Unable to embed out in the REAL Iraq for the next few days, I relaxed and became a tourist in the Green Zone

Monday, April 2, 2007
Report from Baghdad: MREs, swift-boating & Kevlar
(2 comments) Instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars on obsolete missile systems, let's protect our troops and invent some body armor that doesn't weigh 40 pounds! And my interview with CNN was canceled. Rats!

Sunday, April 1, 2007
Report From Baghdad; Jane Stillwater Talks To McCain,
(11 comments) Was the locale McCain took his walk known for it's safety or danger? OpEdNews own Jane Stillwater had done it!! She's in Baghdad getting answers to questions the mainstream media don't ask.

Saturday, March 31, 2007
Letters from Iraq: The Charge of the Light Brigade, Part 1
(3 comments) Leaving Kuwait for Baghdad by troop transport has really forced me to bond with the troops. GWB, this are my guys now. Hurt them and you will have to go through me. Stop blundering, fool!

Friday, March 30, 2007
A review of the US troop chow hall in Kuwait: Would Michelin give it three stars?
(4 comments) When entering a war zone, it's always first things first. What is the FOOD like!

Thursday, March 29, 2007
The Great American Dream still exists -- in Iraq!
(1 comments) The wonderful economic miracle of 1950s America still exists -- in Iraq. However, it's built on the blood of a million dead people. Bobby Kennedy has something to say about that! Me too.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Not smarter than a 5th grader: How runaway inflation has slipped under our radar
The only difference between the high inflation rate of the late 1970s and now is that in the 1970s we were constantly being told about it -- and now we are constantly being told that it doesn't exist. But have you BEEN to a gas station lately? It's time for us to judge for ourselves.

Saturday, March 24, 2007
Woman of Steel: I'm off to Iraq & need Kevlar by Wednesday!
(6 comments) Just because GWB sends our troops into a combat zone without adequate body armor, this doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. Plus after being told for almost a year that I couldn't embed because I wasn't "fact-based", I'm finally being allowed to go over. Or am I? Read on....

Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Our youth in crisis: Where is Tookie Williams when we need him!
(2 comments) There is an epidemic of gang-bangers in America today but these kids CAN be reached -- by strong role models who can give them a sense of future. Tookie Williams was one of these people. He could have helped. But where is he now when we really need him? Offed by a state-sactioned drive-by shooting. Schwarzenegger terminated a valuable resource when he approved Williams' execution -- one that we couldn't afford to lose.

Thursday, March 15, 2007
America's Next Top Spin: "The sooner we defeat Al Qaeda, the sooner we can come home"
(1 comments) Can you believe it? Bush's latest spin is that Al Qaeda has now overrun Iraq and we can't leave until it is defeated. What does THAT mean? That after four years of American occupation, Al Qaeda has spread through Iraq like a cancer? Geez Louise! We had better bring our troops home now before Al Qaeda spreads throughout the whole Middle East!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Girl Scout cookies: The true story of how our troop sold 60,000 boxes!
(2 comments) How did our Girl Scout troop manage to sell 60,000 boxes of cookies? It is an epic saga. And what did we do with the profits? We went on a Caribbean cruise. Great story. Inspiring. TWO TONS of cookies? Yeah!

Friday, March 9, 2007
Black like me: What do Strom Thurmond, 50% of all Americans & me have in common?
Judge Judy's producer just called and asked if I wanted to be on her show because I'm being sued for discriminating against my neighbor because she drives a Lincoln Navigator. That got me thinking about racial discrimination too. Did you know that approximately 50% of all Americans have "Negro" DNA? That would explain my sister's luxurious dark thick rich "naturally curly" hair! Why didn't I get hair like that!

Sunday, March 4, 2007
Bad Karma: Scalping Dalai Lama tickets & front row seats to World War III
If I scalp these tickets to the Dalai Lama's two-day seminar in April in San Francisco, I'll probably be reborn as a cockroach. But if that happens, I'll be safe when that Count Dracula wannabe in the White House nukes the rest of the planet. Cockroaches are supposed to be able to survive nuclear radiation. Anybody wanna buy an extra ticket to this marvelous event?

Tuesday, February 27, 2007
COPS: America's #1 employment agency goes headhunting
What happens to so many of our young men who spend their teenage years in juvenile hall? With that amount of specialized on-the-job training skills, they are ready to move on to permanent employment in their life-time career path specialization -- prisoner, convict, jailbird!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007
A death in the family: Unfortunately Slim the Cat did NOT have nine lives
My cat was in pain. What should I do? Then I remembered that today was my father's birthday and that, before he died, he had not wanted to suffer either. So I followed my father's example. I miss my father. I miss my cat. But both of them are now no longer in pain.