Posts from — July 2006

I was listening to the BBC World Service at about 5:10AM in London and Israel’s UN ambassador, Dan Gillerman was being interviewed about Qana. One of his many complaints was that Israel had apologized for killing dozens of civilians in Qana, but Hezbollah has never apologized for killing Israelis.

I guess Mr. Gillerman missed the CNN article: Hezbollah leader apologizes for attack’s child victims. It was about Hassan Nasrallah apologizing on Al-Jazeera for the death of two Israeli Arab children in Nazareth.

Perhaps Mr. Gillerman doesn’t accept the Arabs living in his country as “real” Israelis.

Bob Scher at LiberalOasis caught Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on a Sunday talk show repeating his formula for a permanent solution to the Israeli-Lebanese conflict: an immediate ceasefire followed by Israel withdrawing from Shebaa Farms and giving up Lebanese prisoners in exchange for the captured Israelis and the disarmament of Hezbollah.

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CNN reports that US Secretary of State Rice hopeful of cease-fire ‘this week’: “As I head back to Washington, I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both a cease-fire and a lasting settlement,” Rice said. “I am convinced we can achieve both this week.”

The top group and the bottom group are involved in this disaster, with the middle group getting messed over in the process. To get a consensus the top group should be talking to the bottom group, but Lebanon is the only one the top group wants to talk to, and it has told the top group to stuff it after Qana.

Yeah, a real consensus.

The world’s first billionaire author is 41 today.

Rumsfeld to the 172^nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team: instead of going home after a year in Iraq, I’m sending you to Baghdad for four months.

Lurch at Main and Central and DJH Lights at Exit Stage Left cover the basics that can be found in the MSNBC article.

Saturday’s All Things Considered checks with the families in: Home Base Weighs In on Extended Iraq Stay for Brigade .

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If you are going to repeat a failed campaign you should at a bare minimum avoid the worst mistakes of the original.

Operation Grapes of Wrath started a decade ago with the same cast of characters. The original Qana Massacre is a Lebanese day of remembrance.

While CNN reports Israeli air attack kills 60 civilians, including 19 children, BBC runs Analysis: A second Qana Massacre?

Juan Cole titles his post: The Qana Massacre, Part II.

The US Secretary of State was told in no uncertain terms that she is not welcome in Beirut, and the American embassy could be pulled down by crowds of angry Lebanese.

Why is the IDF general staff trying to destroy the state of Israel?

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

The House of Representatives has just passed the Paris Hilton Diamond Dog Collar Protection Act. Working on the weekend in one of their rare sessions of any kind for any purpose the Republicans leadership has labored to protect the children of their obscenely wealthy campaign contributors from the terror of being merely rich beyond the imagination of most of the workers in the United States. Responding to the possibility that one or two of the multimillionaire/billionaire class are too miserly or stupid to avoid paying taxes on their own, the whining wieners hid the tax cut inside a bill to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour over three years. They then left for a 5 week vacation.

Note that the increase in Social Security taxes from the minimum wage increase would help to hide the real budget deficit.

Via Exit Stage Left: “An Israeli girl on Monday writes a ‘message’ in Hebrew on shells ready to be fired by mobile artillery unit towards Lebanon (AP photo by Sebastian Scheiner) – 7/18/06”

In Salon Mitch Prothero writes about The “hiding among civilians” myth. Short version: Hezbollah avoids civilians fearing Israeli spies [with some justification].

Israel sets up an artillery battery in a town with children and then accuses Hezbollah of hiding behind civilians. I believe it’s called projection.

[Understand that Hezbollah’s ultimate goal is to establish a Shi’ia Islamic theocracy in Lebanon, something I oppose in my very core. Israel’s actions are making it more possible every day.]

It’s Beatrix Potter‘s birthday, so go read The Tale of Peter Rabbit at Project Gutenberg.

Billmon is reduced to calling for: A Blight Unto the Nations.

‘Noz has a friend who wonders if the Israelis were expecting to be reined in by the US, and are lost because that didn’t happen.

The Pensacola Beach Blogger looks at the news through Middle East Prisms.

Glenn Greenwald wonders: Why is being right or wrong on Iraq so irrelevant? I wonder why what was obvious to a doctor and governor of a New England state was so badly misinterpreted by the so-called pundits? Monsieur Pierre Coeur de Haricot and the other cheerleaders should just stop commenting on foreign policy until they’ve volunteered for a few of the wars they advocate.

Tony Blair’s wife has a family connection to Republican Presidents: Cherie Booth QC is from a long line of actors in Britain and the US, including John Wilkes Booth.

She is a prominent human rights barrister [attorney] and makes the  real money in the family.

It’s About Time

Hey, I live here too!

[Editor: Sox hasn’t gotten a lot of Friday time.

Friday Ark

Because the distribution of emergency aid was so filled with fraud and mismanagement FEMA has decided to use ChoicePoint again.

I admit that to the best of my knowledge ChoicePoint is not currently under indictment for anything.

The new Washington editor for the Time magazine web site is the blogger formerly known as Wonkette: Ana Marie Cox!

Warning: the comments have degenerated, as  you would have assumed if you had ever read Wonkette.