And so it continues… the insane Israeli bombardment of Lebanon continues with attacks against Christian-dominated areas north of Beirut, following over 100 Hizbollah rockets fired into Israel (killing at least 8), and for good measure, a rather large protest against Israel and the United States took place in Baghdad. I realize that not merely as an American Jew, but as an American, neither I, nor anyone, is to question the actions of Israel (or of course, the United States). But things have gone way too far now: the ordinarily savvy Israelis (say what you will, but up to now, their...

The Grey Lady informs us that the voters from Kansas have thrown out the members of the State School Board who imparted “intelligent design” to the state’s science curriculum. It appears that the primary voters of Kansas (at least a majority of them) have reconsidered, and perhaps realized that condemning their public school children in this ever more competitive world to a science curriculum at odds with the best rational scientific evidence available was not, as a curriculum matter, “intelligent design”. The new board wiill be primed to reverse Kansas’s current foray into the arguably unconstitutionally theocratic. It would probably...

This morning’s WaPo gives us this analysis of Middle East events. There are some great money lines (I’ll give you some in a second), but the premise seems to be that the immaturity and stupidity that thinks that Middle East problems have been intractable for something and therefore “something” has to be done, or even “something different,” no matter how shortsighted or irresponsible, has put the United States, and in this case, Israel, in about as isolated and untenable position as they have been in… well, anybody remembers. One money line calls what will happen in Lebanon now, especially after...

Oceania’s favorite comedy duo, our beloved President and Airstrip One’s regional premier Tony Blair, got together to offer their pathetically inadequate and untimely proposal to handle the current internal crisis raging in Western Eurasia, by proposing an international buffer force in Lebanon. I’ve already alluded to our complete loss of an honest broker role, having more or less permitted Israel to open fire, damn the consequences. The problem as noted in numerous posts by Billmon is that Israel’s military has fallen pray to the American maladies of becoming bloated on overfunding while fearful of casualties from ground-fighting and hence not...

Yes, shocked I tell you to find that the Arab street has wholeheartedly embraced Hizbollah as the battle between the well-armed militia/terrorist group within Lebanon and the Israeli state continues into its third week. For its part, Israel has evidently decided against expanding the conflict beyond its current (pretty damned wide) parameters. Hundreds of Lebanese (and dozens of Israelis) have been killed in the fighting, with many times that wounded. It appears that Israel has recognized that it is unlikely to eliminate Hizbollah, with its thousands of rockets and millions (well, over a million, anyway) likely supporters in Lebanon, and...

The Grey Lady gives us this discussion of a request by Israel for accelerated delivery of precision guided munitions for use in its attacks on Lebanon, a request that has been duly honored by the United States. It comes in conjunction with a clear screwing around by Secretary of State Incompetentalleezza Rice, who asks the musical question “what’s the point of shuttle diplomacy now?” One might suggest that the point might be to, oh, stop the killing, which has resulted in hundreds of Lebanese and dozens of Israelis killed, and large parts of Lebanon (and smaller parts of Israel) laid...

It seems that Republican senators who wanted to reorganize the propaganda show trials military tribunals against Guantanamo detainees along lines similar to that already provided by the Uniform Code of Military Justice have received… “mixed signals” from the Bush Administration… which, surprise, surprise, wants Congress instead to rubber stamp the existing kangaroo court military commission structure, which has already been ruled unlawful in the Hamdan case. As Bruce the Veep notes in forwarding this, given that Arlen Spector (Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman) has been as reliable a poodle to the President as Tony Blair has, brazenly looking the other way...

In this case, it appears to be the first time that this President will exercise his veto over an Act of Congress, in this case, a bill which would have expanded the category of stem cell research to which federal funding could attach. It’s an interesting choice for the first veto after 5 1/2 years in office, but then… why bother with the veto when one can just issue signing statements that smack outright of the intent to thumb one’s nose at the people and their elected representatives in Congress by ignoring the jack-jive laws they pass that are found...

The Grey Lady treats us to a discussion of the political plight of Joe Lieberman, who seems… a tad down in the dumps… and in the polls. Frankly, I have considered, and still consider the Connecticut intra-mural urinating contest among Democrats to be hopelessly counterproductive: lots of money, energy and volunteer time is going to multi-millionaire Ned Lamont, who is perfectly capable of paying for this kind of run on his own, but isn’t (paying for things yourself is inconsistent with becoming a multi-millionaire, of course). This money, energy and volunteer time, of course, is not going to House candidates...