Stein and Hitchens, updated
Two articles at the American Spectator (via Jim), the first one, by Ben Stein, talks about Gratitude

Today and every day, men and women are fighting in Iraq in horrible conditions, with saboteurs and terrorists among them to give that poor nation a chance to live in peace and democracy and to deny it as a haven for terrorism.

How much do we owe them? Far, far more than we can ever pay them. How much do we owe them for spending Christmas so far from their families, so far from safety, so far from comfort? How much do we owe men and women who offer up their very lives for total strangers like the people like me who were strolling up and down Beverly Drive?

The second article's a book review of Christopher Hitchens's latest collection of essays Love, Poverty, and War, titled Contrary to Popular Belief by Shawn Macomber. Macomber quotes

"I did not, I wish to state, become a journalist because there was no other 'profession' that would have me," Hitchens writes in the introduction. "I became a journalist because I did not want to rely on newspapers for information."

I'll have to read the book!
Update Mike referred me to Shawn Macomber's blog. Thank you Mike!