We have a winner!

Congratulations to Tony Soll, originally of London, England, more recently of Brooklyn, New York, who, with the help of Google, came up with the correct answer for our mystery quote. It was Mark Twain who wrote:

<<For in a republic, who is "the Country"? Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. Who, then, is "the Country"? Is it the newspaper? is it the pulpit? Is it the school superintendent? Why, these are mere parts of the country, not the whole of it; they have not command, they have only their little share in the command. They are but one in a thousand; it is in the thousand that command is lodged; they must determine what is right and what is wrong; they must decide who is a patriot and who isn't.>>

In addition to his talent for Internet research, Tony is a teacher and musician. You can listen to some of his music on his web site or on The Stream at BigListen.com.

Meanwhile, it's been a week now since we heard from blogger Salam Pax in Baghdad; we hope he and his family are safe. The fictitious Saddam Hussein, however, is still posting, as are the spoof versions of Kim Jong-Il and Osama bin Laden. Here's one of the fake Osama's recent posts:

<<There are things in this world that even Allah would be hardpressed to explain....
For example, we have been constantly on the run for months now. Every day we move to a new cave, or a new campsite, or a new mountain pass.
The world's top law enforcement agencies have been searching for us since the fall of 2001, but to no avail.
Even the world's most powerful and technologically advanced military force has been engaged in a massive, unrelenting hunt for our hideouts. Yet they, too, have repeatedly failed to track us down.
Quite frankly, there are times even WE don't know where in the name of Mecca we are.
In light of all this, how is it that those cursed free AOL Version 8 disks continue to find us?>>

In other bin Laden news, while her uncle hides, Osama's niece is seeking the spotlight.

On porpoise? At least one of the dolphins (officially known as "marine mammal systems") working with U.S Marines to sniff out mines at the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr has gone AWOL.

Though the generals at the daily Centcom briefings in Doha, Qatar, never exactly confirmed reports from embedded reporters that some U.S. Marine units in Iraq were down to one meal a day due to disrupted supply lines, a group of Iraqis fleeing the fighting didn't wait for official word. They stopped their bus on the way to safety to share their own rations with a group of hungry Marines. "Man I never thought a boiled egg could taste so damn good," one grateful Marine reportedly said. Another said the displaced Iraqis (within a country they're "displaced," outside it they're "refugees") told him, "We like Americans," and some said they planned to go to the U.S. after the war:

<<"They told me they wanted to go to America after the war. I said where. They said California. I said why? They said the song Hotel California and they left singing Hotel California." >>

Was it just wistful California dreaming, or were the displaced Iraqis offering a warning when they sang, "You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave"?