@ Chronic

It was a far simpler time: "Harry Potter" was on everyone's lips, we didn't cower in fear of falling bridges, there was still doubt as to whether the attorney general had perjured himself, instead of just how badly. Yeah, last week sure was something, wasn't it? It was then that your humble Chronicle columnist and Chronic overlord appeared on MSNBC to explain the mother of all punch lines: how Austin's city government is serving as a model for Iraq -- specifically Baghdad.

Apparently, Toby Futrell and the gang have been exporting that "terminal democracy" thing of ours overseas through teleconferencing with the troops trying to create local Iraqi governments and providing advice on how to set up city services. These are the things you and I take for granted: a police force, water, wastewater, electricity, and solid-waste services. While the city started doing this three years ago, the story gained traction last month when the Army issued a press release trumpeting the partnership.

As for the interview: A pretty hilarious Freudian slip occurred on my part when I said Austin's got a "city manager-city staff" form of government.

But what I tried to make more clear in my second appearance (I was initially scheduled for four, but a bomb scare or some such bumped the last two) was the "government-by-bake-sale" aspect of the whole debacle. Bush and his bloodsucking sycophants have been fighting this war on the cheap ever since it kicked off four years back. Granted, the city's been lending a hand for three years, and our hat is off to them, but the fact that Washington didn't have any sort of contingency for this in the first place -- the fact that it's fallen to our city staff and incredibly overworked, overdriven city manager -- really speaks to the facile, incompetent lack of planning behind this entire clusterfuck.

Plus, the city manager's popularity has dropped, but I don't think she has any firsthand experience with sniper attacks or car bombs.

Adapted from an entry posted Friday, Aug. 3, to Chronic; read more and watch video of the MSNBC interview at austinchronicle.com/chronic.