Read Bill Ardolino’s account of going hunting for IEDs in Fallujah.

(I saw this the other day and meant to link it; Allah’s link reminded me.)

Between that and Teflon Don’s account, you get as good a picture as you’re going to get without going yourself.

I was traveling yesterday, as I return to work today. I didn’t get to finish a number of posts I’ve got on the back burner. Here are a few random notes from my day of travel.

Hollywood Station

I have read all of Joseph Wambaugh’s nonfiction books. “The Onion Field” is one of the best books I’ve ever read, and along with Vincent Bugliosi’s “Helter Skelter,” helped inspire me to become a prosecutor.

But I had never read any of Wambaugh’s fiction until now. Yesterday, on one of our plane rides, I finished “Hollywood Station,” which came out in November. Mrs. P. and my daughter got it for me for Christmas.

It’s a great book. It’s even more realistic than Michael Connelly’s books. This is the kind of book that could have been written only by someone who has actually worked as a Los Angeles Police Officer. Everything in it rings true.

I’m officially hooked on Wambaugh and will now be checking out his other fiction books as soon as I get a chance.

The Illusionist

On the other plane ride, we watched “The Illusionist” with Edward Norton. I am a big fan of Norton’s; I consider him to be one of the more talented, interested, and intelligent actors out there. The film was good. It might have been even better if the flight crew had not started droning on about their lack of gate connection information — at the precise dramatic climax of the movie.

Comments

I’ve had ongoing problems with the spam filter, and some legitimate comments have been swallowed up in it. I try to check it every so often and approve them. But if this happens to you, write me and let me know.

However, if your comment is nothing more than a set of insults directed at me personally, made from behind a veil of anonymity — and especially if it is also chock-full of provable falsehoods and makes veiled insinuations about trying to affect my real-life activities — you don’t have a right to comment here, and your tripe may be sitting in moderation. I will probably publish your comment anyway, as it pleases me; comments like that usually help discredit the cause of the person making them. But don’t be totally surprised if you made all that effort to write all those dishonest, threatening comments and they go nowhere.

David E.

I wasn’t talking about David E. in the previous item. But for those who can’t get enough of him, and miss him since he’s been banned here, there is a comment thread at Cathy’s World here featuring an exchange between him and me regarding gay marriage in California. This guy needs a remedial civics class . . .