Off the beaten (press) path...

Source: AP

Some days, in this land of snow, Tim "Tobacco" Horton's coffee, and Ben Mulroney, I feel like I can actually smell Iraq burning. Of course, even trying to consider and contemplate the reality on the ground is almost an insult to the brave men, women, and children who must go through the 24/7 mental chaos and anguish of living in a country swimming in the Abyss. The drill holes, the orphans' cries, the lives left behind by the millions to flee what can only be considered yet another piece of hell on earth.

Despite the focus on Iraq, and the criminals who created this mess in the first place, life (and its loss) goes on in the rest of the world. With the magnifying glass of a laptop and an Internet connection, some stories off the beaten (press) path:

- Courtesy of the Observer (UK), "House of Death," a gripping story about mistaken identity on a Texas border town, the US' ongoing (failed) war on drugs, and yet another example of an informant living off of Uncle Sam, and wiping his bloody hands with taxpayers' money in the process.

Source: CPimages/Atalante

- The story of the spy caught in the cold: The Toronto Star reports on the other spy saga in the news, this case unfolding in Montreal after an alleged Russian agent, living in Canada under an alias for at least 10 years, was caught by Canadian authorities and suspected of engaging in a range of economic espionage activities. He'll now be deported to face quite a dull life following his blown cover and a return to some secret service desk job. Hey, at least we're not having to deal with a cross-continental radiation assassination, blamed on alleged rouge elements of the Russian secret services...

Source: US Government/AP

- The New York Times reported this past weekend that the only American citizen to be charged in the United States' "war in error" has been subjected to treatment unfitting for a dog - a video shows Jose Padilla being chained, goggled, and forced to wear earphones while being escorted by a massive team of riot police on his way to get... a root canal. Padilla, who was previously detained in solitary confinement and without charge for over three years now appears to be so docile and mentally incompetent as a result of his treatment at the hands of the Bush Administration, his lawyers contend that his behaviour is now that "of a piece of furniture." American justice has come so far...