I've been watching the results of the elections in Iraq with some interest. I'm still not sure where the Kurds are at with everything. Some news suggests they're onboard with the Shia Islamic alliance that swept into near-complete control; at the least I haven't seen any news about Kurts protesting the results as Sunnis and non-theocratic Shias have been. I'm not sure how their position is looking in light of everything.

And now this:

It has long been suspected that Sunni Arabs are severely underrepresented in the new military and police.

But the new voting results, which elections officials say include most of the ballots cast by Iraqi military and police, are a sign of how complete the reversal of the fortunes has been for the Sunnis, who ran those security forces under Saddam Hussein.

Basically it would appear that the Iraqi army and police we are equipping are a completely different population of people than the Iraqi army that we disbanded after invading the country. You wanna know what that means? There there are two armies in Iraq.

UPDATE: via John Robb, the Times is now reporting that 45% Iraqi Army votes went for Kurdish candidates. 40% went Shia. Curiouser and curiouser...

I sent Surge-enthusiast Mike Cambell the link to Save Surge. His response is worth posting, I think:

Indeed, I am familiar with savesurge.org. They almost succeeded in bringing Surge back, but Coca-Cola cancelled plans for a limited production run back in March. Never have I felt more cheated. The whole idea of a free market is that I can exchange money for goods and services, and yet Coca-Cola had stuck me with a hearty, "Fuck you, we don't want your money." I was literally filled with rage.

Then it turned out that Coke was releasing a new citrus soda called Vault. According to nerds on the Internet, it's like 95% Surge. Well, nerds on the Internet know squat, because in a side-by-side taste test between a stockpiled Surge and Vault, Surge was at least 400% better. Vault tastes like piss and has no edge, but Surge is fully loaded and in my face at all times. I'm not ashamed to say that I have an eXtreme leisure style, and there is no place in my life for bullshit fakes marketed as "hybrid energy drinks."

He also included this link to an article about Iraqi insurgents dosing up before combat. Interesting Jacob's Ladder type speculation.

If you're not doing anything, vote for folkbum. It would be cool if he won.

New study shows people feel politically empowered through the use of the internet. A little acadmic vindication for me and my types, though I feel compelled to point out that there's a bit of an important distinction between "feel politically empowered" and "have increased their political power."

I think we'll get there, but to be frank we've still got a ways to go on that front.

The study also has some interesting stuff inside. Net use is about to top 80% in the US, with 2/3 of all citizens having access in the home. The fastest-growing demographic in terms of access is those earning below $30k. Close to 50% of all users are on broadband, and the net is more valued than television, meaning, if you had to dump your internet or your TV, which would you prefer... people would kill their televisions before they'd kill their internet.

Also interesting, people who visit certain websites frequently have an 80% degree of confidence in the information they get there. Considering that confidence levels in traditional media, political parties, government and even the M-F church fall well below 80%, I think there's something going on here.

Ironically, the full report costs $500 (or $1500 if you're corporate), but you can get the highlights, which is where I culled all of the above, as a PDF.

This information aught to be free.