On Sept. 13 Stars and Stripes ran a story headlined: "Another casualty of war: Iraqis' waistlines." A pickup from the Los Angeles Times, its premise was that because of sectarian violence, Iraqis largely had remained indoors, did not exercise and ate too much. Hence, there was a growing problem of obesity in the war-ravaged country. Most of the story was about a single obese man, a 25-year-old, former photo supply store owner named Haider Kareem Said. He weighs 495 pounds. A photo showed him smiling broadly, over a very rotund body.

It’s again time to look at Stars and Stripes’ coverage of the presidential election campaign. This follows a letter-to-the-editor questioning whether the paper had a bias toward Democrats. Coverage of the Democrats’ and Republicans’ conventions, the letter argued, favored the former.  I’d have to say I can understand what prompted Spc. Arthur Ketchum to write, but to my mind the question whether on the whole the coverage was unbalanced is too close to call.

In a letter-to-the-editor, Capt. Matthew Shannon said Stars and Stripes was irresponsible for picking up a Los Angeles Times review of a rock concert without editing out just one word. That word, in the lead paragraph of the story about the band Metallica, was methamphetamine, as in: "Imagine the smell of barbecue and methamphetamine under the Texas summer sun." There was no other reference to the dangerous drug.

For those of you who may have missed it in the Pacific edition of Stripes Sept. 7, or just want to reread it, I offer a link to a story about a young Marine cut down in Iraq, his Japanese widow and the future of their unborn son.

The story's brought to you by reporters David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida of the Okinawa bureau. Though unable to talk with Sgt. Michael Ferschke's buddies, they got many weighty quotes from his family. Written straight and unsentimentally, the story makes it hard to keep a dry eye.

Here it is.

Granted, military life is not the same as civilian life when it comes to the exercise of some individual privileges and rights. But one would expect that when it comes to rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and upheld by the Supreme Court, what holds for one sphere would hold for the other.

A syndicated column in Stars and Stripes contained this startling advice for a jealous wife: “Menage a trois. Everybody wins.” The column, July 28 , was Male Call, an often tongue-in-cheek offering from McClatchy Newspapers. Stripes periodically runs it on Page 2, which carries items for readers who might appreciate a break from the day’s serious happenings. Especially targeted are younger readers. More about them later.

It's amazing how a controversy with no meaning for the real issues in an election campaign can persist for days and days. Then again, we're in what journalists call the summer doldrums, and any spark of a tussle can fan the flames of public attention.

For a week each year Daechon Beach in South Korea is turned into a glorious mud hole. Mineral-rich mud is pumped onto the beach and in the ensuing days more than 2 million people frolic in the slimy stuff. As many as 100,000 foreigners may have taken part in this year’s event earlier this month, including a number of U.S. servicemembers.