I'll second the "ugh" of working over the misnomer that is our fall "break." I'm working so damn hard, and I can't tell if this outlining jazz is going to help me. I know, I know, it's what everyone does and it's what all of the professors harp on, but I don't feel like I'm retaining anything for all of this work. After all, my notes are pretty well organized by topic and sub-topic already... I sometimes feel like I'm just adding the veneer of roman numerals and letters to an organizational structure that's already present. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. Ah well.

Interesting news day, on this blissfully chilly (for this boy from "up nort") Thursday. The U.N. voted unanimously in favor of the much-maligned Iraq resolution put out by the Americans. Having read through it, I have to say that I agree completely with Fred Kaplan on Slate, that it is almost completely toothless and unbinding. I can see why the Bush administration is chalking up its passing as a victory. Truly, it is a good sign to all that we and our allies (even Syria, though it won't help them in other affairs) can agree on anything at this point. Still, I've been suffering under the delusion that we needed a commitment of money and warm bodies for Iraq. This resolution, however, doesn't appear to bind its signatories to any such thing. In fact, it bears certain similarities to Resolution 1441, in which both sides of the debate could reasonably agree upon it, come away with a victorious feeling, and yet have functionally agreed to nothing.

As evidence, one need only look at what occurred immediately following the vote. While Secretary of State Colin Powell was lauding the vote and grinning for the cameras, the delegates from the three main dissenting countries, France, Germany, and Russia, commented that they have no current intention of giving either money or muscle to the Iraqi effort. So, once again, everyone's happy that next to nothing happened.