Here are some weblogs that provide news on the war in Iraq. As I've mentioned before, The Agonist is a good source for news on the war. Intel Dump and The Command Post follow the military campaign, while Talking Points Memo focuses on the diplomatic and political aspects of the war.

Why did we go to war with Iraq? According to Joshua Marshall of Talking Points Memo:

"This war isn't really about Iraq or deposing Saddam or even eliminating his WMD, though each of those are important benefits along the way. Nor is it something so mundane as a 'war for oil.' The leading architects of this war in and out of the administration see this war, and have pursued it, as an opening blow in a far broader war against political Islam. They see it as the first in a series of wars and near-wars which will lead eventually to the overthrow of most of the current governments in the Middle East, the establishment of western-oriented democracies throughout the Arab world, and the destruction of nothing less than the political world of Islamic fundamentalism."

You can read a short discussion of these ideas on this Talking Points Memo post, or a longer discussion in this article from the Washington Monthly.

Mark Bowden discusses the upcoming battle for Baghdad in this New York Times Op-Ed column. Michael Tomasky explains why the war with Iraq is not a quagmire in this article from the American Prospect.

In this New York Times column, Paul Krugman explains what connects pro-war rallies, Clear Channel Communications, and the Bush administration.

Several months ago I linked to an article about people who explore the tunnels under Moscow. Now, here's an article about a Japanese journalist who thinks he's found evidence of secret tunnels under Tokyo.

The best coverage I've seen of the war in Iraq is on the weblog The Agonist. For example, here is the Agonist's list of questions the media is not asking.

Each year the Village Voice asks a few hundred American music critics to submit their lists of top albums and singles of the year. These lists are then combined into the Village Voice's Pazz and Jop poll. According to the poll, 2002's best album was Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The top 40 albums are listed here.

The Village Voice's Robert Christgau, the "Dean of American Music Critics", writes an introductory essay here, and the Washington Post's music critic, David Segal, makes fun of Christgau's essay here.

Slate has a page of links to many of the best internet sites that provide news about the war in Iraq.

A few years ago my father discovered steel drum music. He loved the music so much that he began building his own steel drums and started 7 steel drum bands in Mayville, Wisconsin. (Surprisingly, Mayville had not had a steel drum band before 1992.) They have recorded 2 tapes and a CD and have performed all over Wisconsin, in Florida, and on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. For more information, go to the Mayville Steel Drums website.

Here's a weblog written by Kevin Sites, who is reporting from Iraq for CNN. His blog is a "first-person account of a solo journalist's life on the front lines of war."

Here's something you don't see every day. It's a story from the New York Times about a talking fish.

The story begins:

"And so it came to pass that a talking carp, shouting in Hebrew, shattered the calm of the New Square Fish Market and created what many here are calling a miracle."

Are you thinking about trying a new look for spring? Why not try a hat of meat?

Here's a fun online game. You are a spider trying to catch and eat flying bugs. Watch out for the fireflies.

I pretty much gave up on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the year they inducted Billy Joel but rejected the Velvet Underground. However, this year the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted an impressive group of musicians including the Clash, the Police, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, and AC/DC. Read an article about the induction ceremony here.

In this New Yorker article Hendrik Hertzberg discusses the diplomatic catastrophe being caused by the upcoming war with Iraq.

I recently discovered the British comedy The Office on the cable channel BBC America. The show is a funny mock documentary about office workers at a paper supply company. Here's The Office's official home page and reviews from the Washington Post, Slate, and USA Today. The show is on Thursdays at 9:20 Central time on BBC America.

Global warming is causing the world's mountain glaciers to melt at a rate of about 90 cubic kilometers per year. This melting is making new archaeological and scientific discoveries possible as this article from the Boston Globe explains.

Should the American intelligence community be held accountable for failing to predict the events of September 11, 2001? If so, what changes should be made to American intelligence? In this New Yorker article Malcolm Gladwell discusses these questions by examining previous intelligence failures and subsequent reforms.

Here's a story from last week's Onion that I found particularly funny. It's called "Man has Derogatory Nickname for Every Neighboring Town".