Giant Ice Island Breaks Off from Greenland

A Giant Ice island has broken off from Petermann glacier in northern Greenland. It is 100 square miles - more than four times the size of Manhattan.

Cracks were noticed early in the year. Not since 1962 has such a large chunk of ice broken off in the Arctic. This scares me as much as killing civilians in Afghanistan or Iraq. It has a major effect on our future, yet no one is paying attention.

Combat Troops Not Leaving Iraq

Firedoglake has a good post on what exactly Obama means by Combat troops. The press has been reporting that all combat troops are leaving Iraq. Obama has never said this, though surely he has insinuated it. The units in Iraq will be "fully functional combat" units. The only difference is that we will now be calling them a different name. They are now termed Advise and Assist brigades by the Obama administration. The word Combat has been taken out.

As Firedoglake puts it, "no wonder the press missed it...they can't be expected to take dictation and fact-check it too." We are now left with the impression that we have troops over there, but they are filling up water jugs for kids or something. Not so. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Oh and by the way: July, 2010 was the deadliest month in Iraq since May, 2008.