we're all losers in this scenario.

i finished the 9/11 commission report. so now it's time to play a game. there will be an actual winner. with an actual prize.

i wrote a lot of things in the margins of this book. it started out with substantial criticism. toward the end of the book, i was so worn out and frustrated i started writing things like "UGH" instead of "this is a phrase used to justify new and creative ways of bending the constitution to the will of the executive."

so here's the game. can you match my vague margin note with the quote that inspired it? whoever wins gets to choose from this selection of prizes:

1) an edible american treat
2) a book on a political topic you'd like to learn more about but don't know where to start
3) a conversation with me about THIS book

if i was you, i'd pick number two. i tried to come up with a few options for different personality types. you have people that like to read. people that like to talk. and people that just like to win and want a treat. plus, i want to include those outside my baking radius.

let's play.

first, the margin notes:

1) ? wow.
2) ahh, i miss the days when we frowned on assassinations.
3) YES
4) what a great example of how rational our government is
5) and who painted that picture?
6) oh, so close
7) for crying out loud, is this a PR campaign or a genuine desire for change?
8) to put it mildly.
9) what incredible irony
10) this makes me want to puke in someone's face.

and the quotes to match them with...

A) "Before concluding our narrative, we offer a reminder, and an explanation, of the one period in which the government as a whole seemed to be acting in concert to deal with terrorism - the last weeks of December 1999 preceding the millennium."

B) "In chapter 4, we mentioned officials worriedly discussing, in 1998, reports that Bin Ladin's associates thought their leader was intent on carrying out a 'Hiroshima.'"

C) "Vague goals match an amorphous picture of the enemy. Al Qaeda and its affiliates are popularly described as being all over the world, adaptable, resilient, needing little higher-level organization, and capable of anything. The American people are thus given the picture of an omnipotent, unslayable hydra of destruction."

D) "...the administration, and the CIA in particular, was in the midst of intense scrutiny and criticism in May 1999 because faulty intelligence had just led the United States to mistakenly bomb the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the NATO war against Serbia."

E) "American foreign policy is part of the message. America's policy choices have consequences. Right or wrong, it is simply a fact that American policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and American actions in Iraq are dominant staples of popular commentary across the Arab and Muslim world. That does not mean U.S. choices have been wrong."

F) "...Berger recalled that to go to war, a president needs to be able to say that his senior intelligence and law enforcement officers have concluded who is responsible."

G) "In the nearly three years since 9/11, Americans have become better protected against terrorist attack. Some of the changes are due to government action, such as new precautions to protect aircraft. A portion can be attributed to the sheer scale of spending and effort. Publicity and the vigilance of ordinary Americans also make a difference. But the President and other officials acknowledge that although Americans may be safer, they are not safe."

H) "Officers at the CIA had worried that giving him a green light might cross the line into violation of the assassination ban."

I) "Allegations that the United States abused prisoners in its custody make it harder to build the diplomatic, political, and military alliances the government will need."


J) "The United States should rebuild the scholarship, exchange, and library programs that reach out to young people and offer them knowledge and hope. Where such assistance is provided, it should be identified as coming from the citizens of the United States."

isn't this so fun?

if people tie, whoever answered first wins.