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2006 August 11 — Why Now?
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We Can Hope

CNN is reporting: Security Council passes resolution to end conflict in Lebanon. Israel won’t vote on the measure until Sunday because of the Sabbath.

No word yet on whether Hezbollah is willing to accept the deal.

Everything I’m hearing and reading indicates that not long after the fighting stops, Likud will force a no confidence vote and call for elections to replace Kadima and Olmert. There will probably be a major purge in the IDF staff.

The reason is that people are upset that the IDF couldn’t roll into Beirut in 48 hours, like the last invasion.

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August 11, 2006   3 Comments

Hit Blegging

In addition to John at archy, now Watertiger at Dependable Renegade want hits before her birthday on Monday.

It would be nice if people with nothing else to do dropped by.

August 11, 2006   2 Comments

Are They Getting A Clue?

At the beginning of a segment of Day to Day with Juan Williams titled: Lieberman’s Loss Sparks Iraq War Debate , Madeleine Brand noted that people were using the UK terrorist arrests for political purposes, and she specifically pointed to Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney.

I may be wrong, but the media might be beginning to understand the difference between reality and spin.

August 11, 2006   5 Comments

Unintended Disasters

It didn’t occur to me, but the airline security regulations are going to cause chaos for the arts: Cabin baggage ban hits musicians.

The baggage holds are unheated and the baggage handlers are not known for delicacy. Insurance companies won’t cover instruments that are put in the hold. Most musicians buy a separate ticket for their instrument so that it has its own seat, so even if they buy a special case to protect the instrument, they are uninsured and the airlines are going to lose that second ticket.

Ships and trains may come back in vogue.

August 11, 2006   4 Comments

The Pundits Are Worried

But only about import things: their jobs.

From Eric Alterman’s piece, The Punditocracy vs. History:

It’s 1972 all over again or so Cokie, Broder, Marty, Jacob, Bill, Bob, Joe, are telling us. The Democrats blew it by endorsing a left wing “elitist” antiwar candidate who hated Middle America back then, and now are getting read to do the same. Here’s the thing, being a pundit makes you stupid. All these pundits supported the war, natch, and understand at some subliminal level, that they too are being rejected by the voters who blame Lieberman for trusting Bush and getting us into this horrific war. They reach for the nearest historical analogy they can find to bolster their argument and settle on 1972. Thing is, they understand very little of history, most of them having stopped reading anything but one another in college.

Later he capture this: “White House spokesman Tony Snow put it more succinctly, ‘A white flag [in Iraq] in short means a white flag in the war on terror.'”

Actually, most of the “liberals” I know felt and feel that Iraq is a distraction from the real “war on terror”: the dismantling of al Qaeda and the capture of Osama bin Laden. The failure to capture bin Laden makes us look impotent in the Muslim world.

After five years of the Shrubbery our border’s a sieve; there are minimal cargo inspections; we can’t respond to disasters; the military is broken; and we are several trillion dollars further in debt. Why would any sane individual want to continue on this course?

August 11, 2006   3 Comments

Terrorism Is A Crime

Metropolitan Police

In June it was the RCMP and CSIS in Canada and now it’s the Metropolitan Police Services and MI5 in the United Kingdom who are blocking “terrorist plots.”

Terrorism is a crime. When criminal investigations are conducted in accordance with existing procedures, the criminals are caught. There is no meaningful difference between al Qaeda and other “crime families.”

August 11, 2006   Comments Off on Terrorism Is A Crime

Friday Cat Blogging

Computer Room Security

Friday Cat Blogging

I’ll protect them.

[Editor: Sox assumed guard over the latest manual Ringo knocked off the desk and my moccasins when he heard there was heightened security.

Friday Ark

August 11, 2006   2 Comments