For what it’s worth: The Associated Press [via MSNBC] is reporting that anonymous Israeli officials are claiming that Iranian troops helped Hezbollah attack the INS Hanit, Israel’s newest Sa’ar 5-class missile boat [March 1994].

AP reports that the ship was struck with the “Iranian-made, radar-guided C-102” anti-ship missile, but there is no such missile. Other sources claim it was a C-802 [Chinese Ying Ji-82, NATO reporting name: CSS-N-8 Saccade].

Initial reports were that it was a drone [think large radio-controlled model airplane] packed with explosives.

Apparently the Israeli Navy never bothered to turn on any of its defensive systems which should have protected the ship from a missile, because they obviously didn’t believe Lebanon was a real threat.

Let me emphasize that the story being pushed is that the nation of Israel is under dire threat to its existence which justifies the bombing of civilians in Beirut, but the Israeli Navy didn’t bother to turn on its defensive systems.

Because the Shrubbery wants to bury the news and Echidne of the Snakes asked people to post it:

On Friday the Department of Education released a report showing that private schools are no more successful than public schools when it comes to teaching children.

The New York Times report mentions that the there was no effort to publicize the information by the Department of Education.

During the firing range training at the police academy you have a portion called Shoot, Don’t Shoot. The purpose is to train officers to recognize when it is appropriate to fire their weapon. This is strictly a PASS/FAIL course, and you cannot finish the academy until you pass. If you make the wrong decision and are judged to have died, your error will be explained to you. If you shoot an innocent person you automatically fail and have to repeat the course.

Everyone has the right of self-defense, but there are limits. If someone is pointing a gun at you, you would normally have the right to fire. If that person is standing in the middle of a grade school class, you do not fire, because the probably of an innocent person being injured or killed is too high.

No one is saying that Israel doesn’t have the right to defend itself, but it is required to factor in the probably of killing the innocent.

[Read more →]