Kevin Drum at Political Animal introduces us to the new verb in Israeli government circles: Lecondel, to Condel (from Condoleezza Rice) – “to come and go for meetings that produce few results.”

The BBC reports from the Arab League summit: Saudis to attend Mid-East summit

Saudi Arabia has said it will attend next week’s meeting on the Middle East at Annapolis in the US.

Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said he would go to the Maryland summit but that there would be no “theatrical show” with Israeli officials.

So, why are there no results expected?

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Ana Maria at A.M. in the Morning! found an article by Joseph Treaster in The New York Times covering the changes by property insurance companies following Hurricane Andrew. People don’t realize that while their premiums have been going up, their actual coverage has been coming down.

Rook at Rook’s Rant found the core of Bill O’Reilly’s worst fear: the Christmas Resistance Movement!

Peter Whoriskey writing in the Washington Post tells us that Biloxi’s recovery shows post-Katrina divide

BILOXI, Miss. – Nowhere has the rebound from Hurricane Katrina been gaudier than along Mississippi’s casino-studded coast.

Even as the storm’s debris was being cleared, this city’s night sky was lighted up with the high-wattage brilliance of the Imperial Palace, then the Isle of Capri, then the Grand Casino. More followed, and so did vacation-condo developers.

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It would appear that YouTube is down, which is why you are seeing all of the large blank spaces on blogs.

All it says when you try to go directly to the site is: Http/1.1 Service Unavailable

Nothing yet to indicate what the problem is.

Update: it’s back with no indication as to the problem at 12:45 CST.

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.