The plushy report

Lion kitty Maxx is doing just fine today, still on the mend. He sends purrrrrs out to all of his plushy thralls.

Mr. Plushy!!

For his fan club.

Busy Day

A very, very busy day for me, but rest assured, Mr. Plushy seems to be on the mend. In the meantime, go read Billmon, he has all the scoop on the Israel/Lebanon clusterfuck.

It appears to me that the Israelis have simply lost their minds. My suggestion to them is that they quit listening to Cowboy George and Biggus Dickus. They don't know what the fuck they'e doing. And now, it appears the Israelis don't either. And the entire arab world knows it.

Get a grip.

Condolences

Max Baucus's (D-Montana) nephew was killed in Anbar province over the weekend.

Montana senator's nephew dies in Iraq

Terrible.

Plushy update

Lion kitty Maxx was sleeping peacefully in my desk chair when I left for work this morning, so all seems well for now. His abcess is still draining, but he seems comfortable enough. (Once I held him down and squirted his antibiotics in his mouth)

Thanks for all the good vibes everyone has been sending.

So far so good

The first round of tests came back and so far it looks like it's just an infection. We won't know for sure without a biopsy, but with his history we're going to wait and see how he responds to the antibiotics. No bartonella results until the end of the week.

Many thanks to all of you who sent Mr. Plushy good juju today.

Send good juju now, please

Mr. Plushy isn't feeling so brave today. And neither am I, for that matter. I'm worried sick that his tests are going to come back showing that he has a malignancy.

Any positive spells, prayers or other alternate dimension interventions would be appreciated.

Brave kitty blogging

Mr. Plushy is being very brave about taking his meds today. What a good boy.

Insanity

I had the misfortune to log onto c-span to stream the presser with Blair and Bush today. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. From Bush:

BUSH: It's an interesting period because, instead of having foreign policies based upon trying to create a sense of stability, we have a foreign policy that addresses the root causes of violence and instability.

For a while, American foreign policy was just, "Let's hope everything is calm" -- kind of, managed calm. But beneath the surface brewed a lot of resentment and anger that was manifested on September the 11th.

Too bad Bush doesn't have a fucking clue what the root causes of terrorism are, and he is clueless to the fact that our actions today are going to be the root cause of terrorism for decades to come.

"This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East," Bush said in an appearance with Blair in the East Room. "Yet our aim is to turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for a broader change in the region."

Another moment of clarity, eh?

What's crystal clear to every arab on the planet is that Bush thinks large numbers of arab civilian casualties are acceptable as long as the US and Israel are safe. That message is unmistakable.

This nonsense that "they hate us for our freedom" has got to stop. They hate us for what we do, pure and simple.

I have to ask, isn't there a single, sane person around Bush who has the balls to stand up and tell him he's off his fucking rocker? And would someone put Blair back in his kennel? His yapping is beginning to get on my nerves.

I am astonished, once again, that a man so profoundly stupid, so profoundly ignorant of both world affairs and human nature is president of the United States.

Let the plushypalooza commence!!

Just because this week has been so fucking depressing.... I think everyone, including lion kitty Maxx, could use a little cheering up.

I hate the vet

Mr. Plush is not a happy camper today. I tell him that going to the vet is going to make his mouth feel better, but he is having none of it.

All he knows is that I broke my promise and left him there for hours and the vet poked him in the mouth with a needle. And someone stuck a thermometer up his butt.... and he saw that package on the counter.... four legs is gonna make him take some nasty medicine tonight.

Hmmmffff.

The Peep Strikes Back!!

Eeeeeeek!!!!!!!!

There's a peep on my cat.

tigers

Reuters/Thierry Roge

Just because.

Ecological Disaster

Reuters/Jamal Saidi

This makes me furious.

Oil spill adds ecological crisis to Lebanon's agony

BEIRUT, July 27 (Reuters) - Along Lebanon's sandy beaches and rocky headlands runs a belt of black sludge, 10,000 to 30,000 tonnes of oil that spilled into the Mediterranean Sea after Israel bombed a power plant.

Lebanon's Environment Ministry says the oil flooded into the sea when Israeli jets hit storage tanks at the Jiyyeh plant south of Beirut on July 13 and 15, creating an ecological crisis that Lebanon's government has neither the money nor the expertise to deal with.

"We have never seen a spill like this in the history of Lebanon. It is a major catastrophe," Environment Minister Yacoub al-Sarraf told Reuters.

"The equipment we have is for minor spills. We use it once in a blue moon to clean a small spill of 50 tonnes or so. To clean this whole thing up we would need an armada ... The cost of a full clean-up could run as high as $40-50 million."

The spill is especially threatening since fish spawn and sea turtles nest on Lebanon's coast, including the green turtle which is endangered in the Mediterranean, local ecologists say.

I am sorry, but it is not permissable to burn down your neighbor's country and kill its people to get at the bad guys. They are every bit as criminal as anyone in Hezbollah.

(hat tip to that fabulous equine, smarty jones)

Daily plush fix

The little scamp has been remarkably camera shy lately.

Plushy Action Alert - Save Benjy

I was doing some research this afternoon and I stumbled across this website. I encourage all of you to go there and read the story of Benjamin Margulies. Benjy has Tay Sachs disease and he needs our help.

When he was originally diagnosed, Benjy's parents found a doctor who was pioneering a stem cell therapy to treat Tay Sachs. Benjy was approved for the experimental treatment, and his insurance company, Aetna, approved payment for the treatment.

The treatment stopped the progress of the disease, and after months of therapy, Benjy had been making good progress, but in the spring of 2006, Aetna decided they would no longer pay for the nursing and therapy.

Please take a minute and help Benjy by writing to Ronald Williams, the CEO and President of Aetna and politely (please be polite) thank him for agreeing to review this decision and ask him to not abandon Benjy.

We can't help all the children in Baghdad or Beirut tonight, but maybe we can help this one little boy. BTW, Benjy's dad was one of the original "draftwestlyclark" guys, so he's one of us.

Thanks. Mr. Plushy will luv ya for it. (AND IF YOU DON'T WRITE I'LL WITHHOLD PLUSH FOR A MONTH!!)

Your daily Plush

Yes, it's a rerun, but one goes to blog with the plush one has, not the plush one wishes for.

Children of a Lesser God

Reuters/Nikola Solic

"...what future other than one of fear, frustration, financial ruin and fanaticism can stem from the rubble?"

Fuad Siniora
Prime Minister, Lebanon
July 26, 2007
Siniora's Agony

What future indeed? Via Froomkin, A Whole New War

Please stop bombing us

That sounds like a pretty clear request to me. The BBC is reporting that Israel troops 'ignored' UN plea to halt the shelling before someone was killed. Oddly, or maybe not, the WAPO doesn't mention the story on their front page, and the NY Times just has a subheading mentioning that "an Irish Officer Warned Israel on Threat to U.N. Staff". From the BBC report:

UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says.

The post was hit by a precision-guided missile after six hours of shelling, diplomats familiar with the probe say.

Madness all around.

Just an observation, but what Israel has done is the global equivalent of scratching a poison ivy rash. Now the rash has spread, become virulent and infected, and is threatening to kill the patient.

Back in the day, the US used to be the global player who could generally be counted on to insert a note of sanity into these situations. Unfortunately, we're just as bat-shit crazy as the rest of them now.

Watching dry paint.

Modo has another scathing column up about Bush (sorry, behind the subscription wall).

Newsweek’s Richard Wolffe says he conducted four “freewheeling” interviews with the president last week, and concluded: “Bush thinks the new war vindicates his early vision of the region’s struggle: of good versus evil, civilization versus terrorism, freedom versus Islamic fascism. He still believes that when it comes to war and terror, leaders need to decide whose side they are on.”

The president sees Lebanon as a test of macho mettle rather than the latest chapter in a fratricidal free-for-all that’s been going on for centuries. “I view this as the forces of instability probing weakness,” he said. “I think they’re testing resolve.”

The more things get complicated, the more W. feels vindicated in his own simplified vision. The more people try to tell him that it’s not easy, that this is a region of shifting alliances and interests, the less he seems inclined to develop an adroit policy to win people over to our side instead of trying to annihilate them.

snip

...But W. prides himself on his changelessness and regards his immutability as the surest sign of his virtue. Facing a map on fire, he sees any inkling of change as the slippery slope to failure.

That’s what’s so frustrating about watching him deal — or not deal — with Iraq and Lebanon. There’s almost nothing to watch.

What's frightening is that I wouldn't hire Bush to run a Taco Bell, and in a rational world, no one else would either. He hasn't got the faintest idea what is going on in the Middle East.

Great shooting, Tex

Are they taking lessons from Cheney? An Israeli airstrike hit a U.N. outpost today, killing 4 UN observers. I guess that'll teach Kofi Annan to ask for a cease fire.

I take it all back. I'm not stuck in Mansquito, I'm stuck in Aliens, and the Israelis are shooting off their power rifles too close to the reactor core.

Not feeling so good myself, oh no

Billmon feels like he's trapped in a bad remake of Planet of the Apes and that the world is a madhouse.

I feel like I'm trapped in the middle of Mansquito, and the mansquitos are in charge. How about you?

Update: 12:02 am. Eli has identified the problem. The end of the world is being brought on by the evil league of neoconsquitos. Aiiii-yeeeee!!

Tuesday lion kitty Maxx

Plushiferousness.

The crosses make targeting easy

Associated Press

Billmon points us to a Sfgate story about the IDF bombing of a Lebanese Red Cross Ambulance.

Qana was a convenient meeting point for the two Red Cross ambulances from Tibnine, a town about 12 miles southeast of Tyre. Since it had become too dangerous to make the run to Tyre directly, the drivers decided to meet in Qana to pick up the wounded. Both vehicles were plainly marked with Red Cross logos and flashed a blue emergency light to signal their humanitarian intent.

snip

As he closed the back hatch on his white Toyota van, Chaalan's world became one of heat, light and concussion wave. A guided missile struck the vehicle with the three civilians inside. Overhead, an Israeli Apache helicopter buzzed. It was the first attack by Israel on a Red Cross ambulance in the two-week conflict, wounding five volunteers and three patients, according to the Red Cross.

In previous conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel has struck ambulances when it believed the vehicles were being used to smuggle weapons and personnel to militants. In a statement Monday, an Israeli army spokesman said the ambulances in Qana were attacked "in an area known to be one of the main sources of the launching of hundreds of missiles," according to Cox News Service. The Red Cross has asked Israel for a more detailed explanation.

Anything is fair game in this war. The Israelis have apparently adopted Cheney's One-Percent Doctrine and applied it to war time tactics. "Is that ambulance carrying arms? is there at least a one percent chance? Bombs away!! That house over there... I can't see it very well, but it might be a Hezbollah stronghold... I think I see a Hezbollah flag in the window... better safe than sorry, AIRSTRIKE!!"

At this point the Israelis remind me of the doomed marines in Aliens, pointlessly shooting at anything moving out of sheer terror.

In the Levant, no one can hear you scream.

How much?

I just saw on CNN that the US has pledged $30 million for humanitarian relief in Lebanon.

Ummmkay.

Anyone have a dollar figure to the amount of aid we give to Israel each and every day? or how many millions in american munitions the IDF has dropped on Lebanon each day for the past fortnight?

It's like Billmon said the other day. "It's just like Vietnam, blow them up and then give them a bandaid." Color me unimpresssed.

Monday plush

Busy day for me. Mr. Plushy will keep you company.

The End of Democracy

Via Billmon, I see that yet another professor has come forward to defend the killing of civilians in Lebanon, cause, well, you know... they aren't really all that innocent.

For its part, Israel is gambling that the right strategy is to make the people who elected Hamas and a government that includes Hezbollah reckon the costs of their representatives' recklessness. That is why Israel has targeted not only Hezbollah leaders and strongholds but has also bombed infrastructure that sustains daily life for everybody in Lebanon. From Israel's standpoint, this is no longer a fight with nonstate terrorists who are holding their fellow citizens hostage to their tactics. It is, rather, war between Israel and countries that are pursuing (or tolerating) violent policies endorsed (or at least accepted) by their electorates.

As Billmon notes, that's precisely the argument used by Bin Laden justifying the bombings on 9/11. And it strikes me that it's a reckless argument to be making.

Are we, the american people, not complicit for the policies of our current government? No matter that I did not vote for Bush, and do not support his policies, especially in the mideast. By Professor Noah Feldman's logic, I'm fair game, as is every other American civilian.

Don't any of these assholes think these things through before they open their stinking yaps?

I have to say that I never thought I'd live long enough to hear an American law professor make apologies for policies that callously result in the deaths of civilians.

The Lady in the Water

I went to see The Lady in the Water this afternoon, and I'm going to disagree with all the reviewers out there because I really, really liked the film. I imagine my friends at eschaton will disagree. I couldn't care less.

Shyamalan writes and makes films about something that is important to me- the intersection of the uncanny, the divine, with the ordinary, physical world. It's about fate, and destiny and one's place in the cosmos. And it's always about ordinary people having a larger, more extraordinary purpose in life. It's the theme that runs through all of his work and it's something that resonates with me.

Wouldn't you like to be touched by something uncanny? Wouldn't it be delightful to live in a universe with water nymphs and other unworldly creatures? Don't you want there to be something more? If you say no, then that makes me sad.

People can disagree about whether Shyamalan is successful in translating his vision to the screen- but I am glad that that he at least tries.

Intent Revealed

Billmon points us to this astonishing Daily Telegraph story about Rice's upcoming trip about the Lebanon problem.

President George W Bush intends to build an "umbrella of Arab allies" against Hezbollah while giving Israel a free hand in attacking the group's strongholds, according to American officials.

White House aides have said they consider the Lebanon crisis to be a "leadership moment" for Mr Bush and an opportunity to proceed with his post-September 11 plan to reshape the Middle East by building Sunni Arab opposition to Shia terrorism. Yesterday Mr Bush cited the role of Iran and Syria in providing help to Hezbollah.

Billmon is perplexed and puzzled:

The question is whether this astonishing statement is the product of bad writing, the slack-jawed stupidity of the Telegraph's Washington correspondent, or a deliberate Eastasia/Eurasia switch by our fun-loving Orwellians in the Cheney administration.

I'll admit the story had me scratching my head for a moment. We've always been fighting against Shia terrorists? Really? What about Bin Ladin? I thought he was an wahabist sunni?

On further reflection, I believe I have the answer. The cheney administration isn't being inconsistant, they're merely demonstrating their adherence to the principles of radical authorial intentionalism (as I recently articulated during the Thersites/Pasty-boy dust-up).

Simply put, what Bush meant after 9/11 is what he says he meant right this second. The rest of us just need to try to keep up.

Weekend Plush

Sorry the plush has been eratic the past few days. I seems jarring to put fluffy kitty pictures up with all the horrific news coming out of the middle east.

Just an appearance?

The US is speeding up delivery of bombs to Israel. Nice.

he Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday.

The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah.

Please. The "appearance" that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign? Is the NY Times so cowed that they can't say the truth straight out?

Of course we're aiding them. We're giving them arms and the money to pay for them, and we've blocked any and all efforts by the international community to get a cease fire. For fuck's sake. Quit pussy footing around reality.

I suppose the Cheney administration thinks the situation needs a little more clarity. Not enough bouncing rubble or corpses yet.

Friday kitty blogging

The best lion kitty in the world. In all his whiskery glory.

False Promise

Via CNN breaking news banner:

"U.S. Secretary of State Rice says a cease-fire would be a "false promise" if it simply returns Israel and Lebanon to the "status quo.""

CNN.com
July 21, 2006

Of course. It would be a false promise to the Lebanese that they might actually survive this catastrophe. They obviously haven't had enough "clarity" yet to be ready for a cease-fire. Rice will let them know when the rubble has bounced high enough. What's next? a quote from Rice on how, "no one could have imagined that so many civilians would be killed by bombs."?

Another goddamned day when I am horrified to be an american.

More Clarity

AP/Mohammed Zaatari

Billmon links to a Washington Post story that illustrates something I wrote about a few days ago. In Mideast Strife, Bush Sees A Step to Peace. Billmon excerpts this quote:

One former senior administration official said Bush is only emboldened by the pressure from U.N. officials and European leaders to lead a call for a cease-fire . . . "He thinks he is playing in a longer-term game than the tacticians," said the former official, who spoke anonymously so he could discuss his views candidly. "The tacticians would say: 'Get an immediate cease-fire. Deal first with the humanitarian factors.' The president would say: 'You have an opportunity to really grind down Hezbollah. Let's take it, even if there are other serious consequences that will have to be managed.' "

Nice. Serious consequences that have to be "managed."

I think this quote is even more illustrative:

"The president believes that unless you address the root causes of the violence that has afflicted the Middle East, you cannot forge a lasting peace," said White House counselor Dan Bartlett. "He mourns the loss of every life. Yet out of this tragic development, he believes a moment of clarity has arrived."

Does that sound familiar? As I noted a few days ago, this view isn't new.

"The President, in fact, had said in the first NSC principals meeting of his administration that Clinton had overreached at the end of his second term, bending too much toward Yasser Arafat - who then broke off productive Camp David negotiations at the final moment - and that "We're going to tilt back toward Israel." Powell, a chair away in the Situation Room that day, said such a move would reverse thirty years of U.S. policy and that it could unleash the new prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Israeli army in ways that could be dire for the Palestinians. Bush's response: "Sometimes a show of force by one side can really clarify things.""

The One Percent Doctrine
Ron Suskind
2006

Remember that this was before 9/11. Billmon is right. Bush is a psychopath.

Canada

AP/Jonathan Hayward

If I were Canadian, I might have seen this lovely sunset and I might not be so annoyed at my government today.

Welcome to the party, Pal.

Via TalkingPointsMemo, the WAPO reports that republicans on the hill are cautiously backing away from their previous protestations of PROGRESS!! in Iraq. GOP Lawmakers Edge Away From Optimism on Iraq

Rep. Gil Gutknecht (Minn.), once a strong supporter of the war, returned from Iraq this week declaring that conditions in Baghdad were far worse "than we'd been led to believe" and urging that troop withdrawals begin immediately.

I'm sorry, worse than who had been lead to believe? Doesn't the man read the papers? Are they really that delusional? Good grief.

The shift is subtle, but Republican lawmakers acknowledge that it is no longer tenable to say the news media are ignoring the good news in Iraq and painting an unfair picture of the war. In the first half of this year, 4,338 Iraqi civilians died violent deaths, according to a new report by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq. Last month alone, 3,149 civilians were killed -- an average of more than 100 a day.

"It's like after Katrina, when the secretary of homeland security was saying all those people weren't really stranded when we were all watching it on TV," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.). "I still hear about that. We can't look like we won't face reality."

What assholes. People are dying over there and they're worried about how it will affect them politically.

We broke Iraq and your party was cheerleading all the way. Live with it. And for once, take responsibility for what you've done.

Late night plushapalooza

Mr. Plushy wants to help his Aunt Vicki with her high blood pressure.

Rubble

Via CNN, apparently the US has decided to give Israel the time they need to "defang" Hezbollah.

Senior administration officials said more time is needed to shape the diplomacy and to create conditions on the ground for a permanent change of the situation -- not merely a cease-fire. Israel needs time to "defang Hezbollah," said one of the officials, who asked not to be named in light of the ongoing diplomacy.

Allow me to translate, "We'll stop bombing when all of Lebanon looks like this:"

AP/Smaer Husseini

More Clarity

AFP/Qassem Zein

For the first time, we're hearing accurate reports of just how many civilians are dying in Iraq. The answer is, over 100 per day, and over 3,000 in June alone. The numbers are truly horrific. Just yesterday a suicide bomber killed 53 near a Shi'ite mosque and today 20 sunnis were abducted.

Our goverment is on the case though:

The American energy secretary, Samuel W. Bodman, who met with Iraq’s oil and electricity ministers in Baghdad, had a rosy view of progress here since his last visit in 2003.

“The situation seems far more stable than when I was here two or three years ago,” he said in an interview in the fortified Green Zone. “The security seems better, people are more relaxed. There is an optimism, at least among the people I talked to.”

Delusional to the last.

On a personal note, when I saw the photo above, I was immediate moved to tears. Of all the terrible photos I've looked at, this one struck me the hardest. There it is- all the terrible agony of war and the cost to the civilians caught in a war zone. What I hate the most is that our government, and our president, seem incapable of seeing these casualties for what they are- terrible tragedies visited on people who never asked us to come there.

They did not ask for this. What we have done to Iraq is monstrous.

Think about it. Over a hundred a day dead. Over a hundred families everyday shattered and in mourning. Billmon is right. Satan has a special place ready for Bush and his minions.

Plushy mind wipe

When all the news is bad, ease your fevered brains with a little plushy fix.

War is Bad. The End.

From CNN: Boys wounded in an Israeli warplane missile attack in Srifa, Lebanon, sit on hospital beds.

"Custer was a cunt. The End."

Calamity Jane
Deadwood: Episode 25

Israel is continuing its assault on Lebanon today, complete with gun battles on the ground with Hezbollah fighters. Via CNN.com.

More than 300 Lebanese have been killed and more than 1,000 injured after a week of Israeli airstrikes, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a televised address to the nation Wednesday.

Siniora denounced Israel, which he called "this savage war machine," and restated his call for a comprehensive cease-fire.

29 Israelis have died in the conflict so far. More than 500,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon while the U.S. looks away, whistling.

People who wage aerial war on civilian populations without regard to their lives are cunts. Plain and simple. The boys in that photograph are not terrorists.

Will anyone be surprised when they become terrorists in the future?

Late Night lion kitty

Mr. Plushy!!

Something beautiful

AP/Larry Price

"The sun sets over Conanicut Island as viewed from the Newport side of The Claiborne Pell Bridge in Rhode Island, in this August 2005 photo."

My mood is pretty bleak today, as all the news is infuriating. I've rarely been so angry with my government. So I went searching for something beautiful to take the edge off.

Promissory Note

It's official. US citizens being evacuated from Lebanon are being asked to sign a promissory note before the US will take them out of the war zone. Via CNN:

Before being evacuated on U.S.-chartered ships, Americans are being asked to sign promissory notes to repay the U.S. government for the journey.

That demand outraged House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who said the United States has an obligation to get citizens out of harm's way without "quibbling over payment."

~snip~

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Tuesday that the payments -- or "reimbursements" -- to the State Department were mandated under the 2003 Foreign Relations Authorization Act passed by Congress.

Is that true? And if so, WTF?? Oh, right. The president can ignore law whenever he thinks it's convenient, but in this case, his hands are tied.

Update: As usual, it appears Tony Blow is speaking out of his ass. I googled the 2003 Foreign Relations Act and this is what I found:

Reimbursements for Emergency Overseas Evacuation. Section 201 would allow the State Department to seek reimbursements for the emergency evacuation of employees of the U.S. government, their dependents, private U.S. citizens, and foreign nationals. According to the department, this section of the bill codifies existing practice and would have no impact on the budget. (my emphasis)

From the Congressional Budget Office H.R. 1646, Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003, Pay as you go Estimate.

Mandated my centaur ass.

Weeks

AFP/Oussama Ayoub

Israeli generals are saying the offensive will last only weeks, not months. (article here). I'm sure the Lebanese people are so relieved to hear that. But if the Israelis want the Lebanese army to take control, why are they targeting them?

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said talks are needed, although he offered no specifics on how to bring any of the parties to the bargaining table. Blair's office said he believed any cease-fire would have to include halting Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel and releasing two captured Israeli soldiers.

"Unless there is some negotiated process, then we're not going to be able to get a cessation of hostilities," Blair said.

The Lebanese base in Kfar Chima took a direct hit as troops rushed to bomb shelters, killing at least 11 soldiers and wounding 35, the Lebanese military said. The base is in a hilly area adjacent to Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut that have been frequently targeted by Israeli jets in recent days.

There was no indication why the base was hit, but Lebanese media suggested Israel may be trying to prevent the quick repair of previously destroyed bridges and roads.

The Lebanese army has largely stayed out of the fighting, confining itself to firing anti-aircraft guns at Israeli planes. But Israeli jets have often struck Lebanese army positions.

Not for nothing, but just what is going to be left of Lebanon to bomb after another week of this? It occurs to me that the Israelis have adopted Cheney's "One Percent Doctrine," deciding that there's a one percent chance that the Lebanese army or lebanese civilians will side will Hezbollah. Which makes it okay to bomb a sovereign nation into rubble.

I think I'm with Wolcott on this war:

You know what, I don't want to be an Israeli. Include me out. Pardon me for not wanting to be conscripted into the Israeli division of the 101st Fighting Wankers. I'm an American, a New Yorker, and a world citizen, and I don't see why empathy is supposed to reside exclusively on the Israeli side when Lebanese civilians are suffering so. Why I should identity with the humanity of those fleeing Haifa and not with those fleeing Beirut? Is this supposed to make me want to become an honorary Israeli?

"Israel struck at large numbers of targets on Sunday, and early Monday morning, that had nothing to do with Hezbollah. The far north of Lebanon is Sunni, as is the port of Tripoli, where the Israelis killed a Catholic Lebanese soldier. They also hit factories in north Beirut, not a Shiite area. They bombed a village near Zahle, a notorious center of Greek Orthodox, killing 3 civilians. The Israelis are either not very good shots, since they have murdered 140 civilians since Wednesday and only managed to kill about 17 Lebanese military personnel. Or they just don't give a damn." (via Juan Cole)

While I'm at it, let me just add that I agree with Professor Cole on this as well, here:

If the reports coming out of Lebanon can be believed, the Israelis are only sometimes striking known Hizbullah safe houses or facilities or missile emplacements. A lot of their bombardment appears aimed at punishing civilian populations and forcing them north to Beirut. Such an approach would help explain the high number of civilian casualties. That is, there may be an element of ethnic cleansing in Israeli tactics.

The situation is intolerable, as is our government's decision that civilian deaths are tolerable in pursuit of the bigger boogeyman.

We could pressure Israel to knock it off. But we won't. It's another day when I'm embarrassed to be an American.

Midday plushiness

He always looks annoyed these days, doesn't he? It must be the heat.

Update: Just in case any of you are worried, he's actually not annoyed with life at all. He spents oodles of time purring and being a cuddlemonster.

This is really bugging me

I've seen it several times on the leading networks this evening. American nationals who wish to leave Lebanon will receive a bill for their evacuation costs to Cyprus. From Cyprus they're expected to pay their own costs to get back to the US.

This is beyond outrageous. American citizens are trapped in a war zone, and the US government has not only refused to call for a cease-fire, they've blocked other nations from doing so as well. But if you want out, plan on paying for it.

Are other governments doing this? From what I can tell, no. Governments Help Nationals Flee from Lebanon and Israel:

Leah Byrne, 26, an Ohio native, said that she had tried phoning the embassy nonstop — “literally every five seconds” — after Israeli planes began bombing targets south of her central Beirut apartment last week. “I never got through,” she said.

“We could hear all the bombs, could almost feel the bombs in our bodies,” her partner, Miguel Betegon, a 24-year-old Spaniard, said by telephone from Madrid. “She was worried and I was worried because at the time, the only way to get out of the country was by road” — and she had already been turned away once when attempting to enter Syria.

But Mr. Betegon, an intern at the Spanish Embassy in Beirut who made clear he was speaking only in a private capacity, learned that the embassy was planning a bus convoy to Syria, and was told that his friend could come along.

The three-bus convoy, escorted by Lebanese police, reached the no-man’s-land at the border after midnight. The scene, Mr. Betegon said, was “absolutely chaotic,” including vehicles jammed with people and belongings and other people fleeing on foot. Finally the convoy made it to Damascus, where a Spanish military plane flew the evacuees — 116 Spaniards and 10 other nationals, including Ms. Byrne — to Madrid. The Spanish government covered all costs. (My emphasis added.)

I don't know what the French and British are doing, but I'll be surprised if they're as miserly as our bunch of fucking wackos.

I want to know who made the decision to charge evacuees. Is there not a single person in the cheney administration with an ounce of common decency?

Monday Plush

Busy day for me, but Maxx will keep you company.

A Show of Force

No one should be under any illusions that Bush gives a damn about civilians in either Gaza or Lebanon, or that the U.S. is ever going to play referee in the current crisis. From Suskind's new book:

Relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States were in tatters. The Saudis has been stewing for more than a year, in fact, ever since it became clear at the start of 2001 that this administration was to alter the long-standing U.S. role of honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to something less than that. The President, in fact, had said in the first NSC principals meeting of his administration that Clinton had overreached at the end of his second term, bending too much toward Yasser Arafat - who then broke off productive Camp David negotiations at the final moment - and that "We're going to tilt back toward Israel." Powell, a chair away in the Situation Room that day, said such a move would reverse thirty years of U.S. policy and that it could unleash the new prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Israeli army in ways that could be dire for the Palestinians. Bush's response: "Sometimes a show of force by one side can really clarify things."

Ron Suskind
The One Percent Doctrine

I think the Palestinians and the Lebanese have had about all the clarity they can stand.

On Journalism

WAPO legendary reporter Walter Pincus has advice for the rest of the Washington press corps, Fighting Back Against the PR Presidency:

But I believe a new kind of courage is needed in journalism in this age of instant news, instant analysis, and therefore instant opinions. It also happens to be a time of government by public relations and news stories based on prepared texts and prepared events or responses. Therefore, this is the time for reporters and editors, whether from the mainstream media or blogosphere, to pause before responding to the latest bulletin, prepared event, or the most recent statement or backgrounder, whether from the White House or the Democratic or Republican leadership on Capitol Hill.

~snip~

A new element of courage in journalism would be for editors and reporters to decide not to cover the President's statements when he -- or any public figure -- repeats essentially what he or she has said before. The Bush team also has brought forward another totally PR gimmick: The President stands before a background that highlights the key words of his daily message. This tactic serves only to reinforce that what's going on is public relations -- not governing. Journalistic courage should include the refusal to publish in a newspaper or carry on a TV or radio news show any statements made by the President or any other government official that are designed solely as a public relations tool, offering no new or valuable information to the public.

Amen.

Bonus plushy!!

Lion kitty Maxx finds wanker republicans rather irritating.

Inevitable

Only a fool wouldn't connect this incident today with all the wingnuttian charges of treason directed at the NY Times. Suspicious Package Sent to The Times

Police and environmental workers responded to The New York Times offices today after an employee in the postal services department opened a letter addressed to the newspaper and saw a powdery substance he believed to be suspicious, the police said.

The incident unfolded at about 12:35 p.m. on the eighth floor of the newspaper’s West 43rd Street offices as the mailroom worker opened the white, business-sized envelope with no return address and saw what he later described as a white powder, the police said.

The letter had a postmark from Philadelphia, the police said, and contained an editorial published by The New York Times on June 28 titled "Patriotism and the Press," with a red "X" written across it, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

How long until some deranged wingnut actually perpetrates a real act of violence on a reporter or editor? Just a reminder, the horrors of Rwanda started with radio talk show hosts urging their followers to take care of the opposition. They went to jail for their part in the genocide that followed.

And yet, in this country, such outrageous speech is met with :: crickets :: Wingnuttians, please look in the mirror - you have become the very people you profess to hate and fear. I have nothing but contempt for the lot of you.

Retro lion kitty

Just for a change of pace.

friday plush

I have lots to say today, and no time to say it. In the meantime, let Mr. Plushy soothe your frazzled psyches.

Thursday evening plush

The news is all bad tonight, but Mr. Plushy always cheers me up. I hope he cheers you up too.

Beirut Bombed

Reuters/Adnan Hajj

Israel has bombed the Beirut Airport and a hezbollah television station. Israel intensifies attacks against Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel blasted Beirut's airport and other Lebanese targets Thursday, bringing its air and naval campaign to the doorsteps of the capital and threatening massive retaliation after guerrilla rockets for the first time reached Israel's third-largest city, Haifa.

The fighting, which killed 57 people, was a dramatic escalation in the battle between Israel and Hezbollah, an Islamic militant group which has a free hand in southern Lebanon and holds seats in parliament. The Lebanese government, caught in the middle, pleaded for a cease-fire.

But Israel said it was determined to beat Hezbollah back and deny the militant fighters positions they traditionally held along the northern border.

"If the government of Lebanon fails to deploy its forces, as is expected of a sovereign government, we shall not allow Hezbollah forces to remain any further on the borders of the state of Israel," Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said.

Israel's offensive was its heaviest in Lebanon in 24 years, launched after Hezbollah guerrillas snatched two Israeli soldiers in a brazen cross-border raid Wednesday. Two days of Israeli bombings killed 45 Lebanese and two Kuwaitis and wounded 103. Two Israeli civilians and eight Israeli soldiers have also been killed, the military's highest death toll in four years.

I lay this all at Bush's door. Afterall, he's the one who, against State Department warnings, unleashed Sharon 5 years ago, signalling that the US would no longer be an honest broker in the middle east. Israel has known they could act with impunity ever since.

Kidnapping soldiers is horrible. But the revenge bombings and collective punishment Israel is imposing on civilians in both Gaza and Lebanon is worse.

And frankly, chimpy's statement today that al-Assad, "needs to provide leadership to promote peace" is plain irresponsible. A pox on him, cheney and Bolton too.

Daily beauty

The riotously, ridiculously gorgeous hibiscus growing on my patio.

Your evening Plush

I think he's looking particularly handsome tonight, don't you?

Baffle!!!

Baffle and his crocodilian leetle friend. I blame Watertiger.

Progress!!

Here's today's carnage report from Iraq, via the NY Times. Another Violent Day Kills at Least 50 in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD, July 11 — At least 50 people were killed in Baghdad today in a stunning array of violence that included a double suicide attack near busy entrances to the fortified Green Zone, beheadings, shootings, a series of car bombs, mortar attacks and the ambush of a bus carrying Shiite mourners returning from a burial.

The day’s killings, many of them clearly carried out as sectarian vengeance, raised the three-day death toll in the capital alone to well over 100, and deepened the sense among residents that the violence was not going to ebb anytime soon — and that Iraqi and American security forces were powerless to stop it.

While responsibility was claimed for only one of today’s attacks, many bore the hallmarks of sectarian militias, both Sunni Arab and Shiite, which now appear to be dictating the ebb and flow of life in Iraq and that have left the new government of Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and his American counterparts scrambling to come up with a military and political strategy to combat them.

Let's review a few of the day's events (from the NY Times article) :

• In today’s most deadly attack, two pedestrians wearing vests fashioned with explosives blew themselves up near a restaurant outside the walls of the Green Zone yet within a few hundred yards of three busy entrances, Iraqi and American officials said. Soon after the initial blasts, a hidden bomb was detonated nearby, adding to the carnage, officials said. At least 15 Iraqi civilians and one Iraqi police officer were killed in the blasts.

• In a predominantly Sunni area of the Dora district in southern Baghdad, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying Shiites mourners from the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where they had buried a relative, government officials and relatives said. The gunmen pulled 10 people from the bus and executed them, according to an Interior Ministry official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

• An hour earlier, in Taji, north of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed another bus, killing one person and wounding five, the ministry official said.

• Two mortar grenades hit a Shiite mosque in Dora, killing 9 and wounding 11 civilians, the Interior Mnistry official said.

• In other violence, a family of five — a father and mother and their grown daughter and two teenage sons — were found beheaded in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Mahdiya in Dora, according to an official at Yarmouk Hospital, the main medical facility in western Baghdad.

• The police and hospital officials also reported that four car bombs around Baghdad killed at least 7 people and wounded at least 18.

• Gunmen raided a company’s offices in the upper middle class Mansour neighborhood, killing three employees and wounding another three, officials said.

• According to the official at Yarmouk Hospital, five bodies were discovered early today in Jihad, the neighborhood where dozens of people were reportedly executed by marauding gunmen on Sunday.

• Wisam Jabir Abdullah, Iraq’s envoy to Iran, who was on vacation in Baghdad, was kidnapped by gunmen from his home today, the Interior Ministry official said.

• In Baquba, north of Baghdad, the mayor of the Um Al Nawa district was assassinated by gunmen, the ministry official said. In the Shiite holy city of Karbala, a drive-by shooting killed two workers in the central market, according to the Interior Ministry official.

• An engineer and his bodyguard were assassinated on their way to work in Kirkuk this morning, according to Col. Adel Zain Alabdin of the Iraqi Police.

I'm trying to imagine living in the middle of that horror and failing utterly.

Conservatives Without Conscience

John Dean's new book is out today, Conservatives Without Conscience. And if you missed his riveting (and somewhat disturbing) interview with Keith Olbermann last night, Crooks and Liars has the video here.

Dean explores the authoritarian culture of the modern right wing and tells a chilling tale of G. Gordon Liddy from the Watergate years. At one point Liddy says to Dean (paraphrased), "I have all this knowledge in my head that could hurt the president. You need to shoot me- but not in my home, not in front of my kids. Take me out of a street corner and shoot me there."

Absolutely chilling.

If Dean is right, a good 30% of the american public are beyond help or reason. And we're in real trouble.

Pot, Meet Kettle

Via the AP, a group in Iraq has posted a video claiming the abduction and killing of two american soldiers was in retaliation for the rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza in the Youssifiyah area and the killing of her parents and a younger sister. Group: Soldiers killed over rape-slaying:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An al-Qaida-linked group posted a Web video Tuesday purporting to show the mutilated bodies of two U.S. soldiers, claiming it killed them in revenge for the rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman by American troops from the same unit.

The Mujahedeen Shura Council previously claimed responsibility for killing the two soldiers, who were seized in a June 16 attack near the town of Youssifiyah, southwest of Baghdad. A third soldier was killed in the attack.

But the statement was the first time the group linked the slaying to the rape case.

A statement by the group said the video was released as "revenge for our sister who was dishonored by a soldier of the same brigade."

It said that as soon as fighters heard of the rape-slaying, "they kept their anger to themselves and didn't spread the news, but were determined to avenge their sister's honor."

"God Almighty enabled them to capture two soldiers of the same brigade as this dirty crusader," said the written statement posted along with the video.

The U.S military has charged five soldiers, including two sergeants, in connection to the March 12 alleged rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza in the Youssifiyah area and the killing of her parents and a younger sister. The U.S. military released the identities of the suspects Monday.

This is dreadful, but is it really so surprising? From the same article:

The U.S. military said Tuesday it condemns "in the strongest of terms" the release of the video showing the two mutilated American soldiers. "It demonstrates the barbaric and brutal nature of the terrorists and their complete disregard for human life," it said in a statement. "Coalition Forces remain resolute in our in commitment to catch the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice."

Ahem. I think at this point the Iraqis think we're just as bad. To them, we are the ravening hordes from Mordor, who have invaded their land on false pretenses and destroyed their society. We've made it clear that we do not value Iraqi life.

On Sunday, Andrew J. Bacevich had an important piece in the Washington Post about this very issue. What's an Iraqi Life Worth?, which is well worth your time. The fact is that we've never valued Iraqi lives. The whole calculus "we must fight them there so we don't have to fight them there" proclaims that. We've said, "sorry if we blow up your country and kill a bunch of you, it's justified to keep us safe."

Actually, I'm pretty sure we're not very sorry. Just look at the hideous rhetoric coming out of the neo-con camp the past few days. This post from Lawrence Kaplan, "A Hideous Truth" paints the whole ugly picture:

How can you win over the heart and mind of someone who sews a dog's head on a girl? Would more U.S. troops alter Iraq's homicidal dynamic? Not really, given that, on the question of sectarian rage, America is now largely beside the point. True, U.S. troops can be--and have been--a vital buffer between Iraq's warring sects. But they cannot reprogram their coarsened and brittle cultures.

Just a thought, but perhaps not breaking that culture in the first place might have made the difference. And perhaps a "kill them all, let god sort them out" approach isn't helpful either.

Actions have consequences. We see it everyday in the endless parade of horrors that is Baghdad. Scores of civilians have died in the past month, and scores more will probably die in the months to come. All of it unneccessary.

This whole fiasco is the stuff of nightmares. It keeps me up at night. I only wish it were keeping someone in the White House up as well. Something tells me those sociopaths are sleeping just fine.

The incomparable Billmon has more.

Lunch time cat blogging

Plushage!!

Monday night lion kitty

We have lapage!!

He's actually sitting in my lap- I had to lean way back to get the shot. The things I do for you plushyfiends.

Bio Diversity!!

Here's something cool, via National Geographic News, tales of biodiversity in the urban jungle. Species Diversity High in U.S. "Urban Jungle," Event Reveals:

BioBlitz happening just miles from the White House might sound alarming, but have no fear.

The Potomac Gorge BioBlitz held last month was a 30-hour safari for seldom seen and underappreciated wildlife.

The blitz revealed more than a thousand species living in the suburban and urban environments of the Potomac River Gorge.

A globally rare species of snail, a beetle new to Virginia, and a species of fly never before found east of Iowa were among the surprises revealed by the blitz.

"A BioBlitz is part contest, part festival, part educational event, and part scientific endeavor," explained U.S. National Park Service (NPS) educator Giselle Mora-Bourgeois.

NPS cosponsored the species hunt with the Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit The Nature Conservancy.

The goal of the event was to provide a quick snapshot of species diversity in and around the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

It's nice to know that the republicans infesting Washington, D.C. haven't killed off all the wildlife yet.

BTW, The Nature Conservancy is an excellent organization. Check them out and throw them a couple bucks if you can.

Shocked and crushed

Oh, woe is me! My hero, the god of snark, James Wolcott has wounded me to the core. Pure Listening Pleasure:

Via Crooks and Liars (bless them, bless them), take a listen as Adam Carolla lays down the radio law to Ann Coulter: "Listen, you bitch, don't call in an hour and a half late and tell me you're 'tight on time.'"

I of course gallantly disapprove of the 'b' word being used against so gentle a centaur as Coulter. But it's hard to quarrel with Carolla's parting shot: "Just take your crappy book and pitch it to your cable outlets."

A gentle centaur? centaur? is that what James thinks of us? As funny as the linked clip was, I find my self unable to staunch my tears. Manimalphobia is still alive and well.

Sob. One hopes that Mr. Plushy will be able to comfort me.

And hey!! what's with withholding the kitten photos? We know you have a 4 month old kitten in that apartment!!! WE WANT PICTURES!!

Monday plush

Okay, so it's a rerun. Mr. Plushy wasn't being cooperative this weekend and I can't stand the whining. I can't take it, I tells you!!

Take your recycled Plush and be happy about it.

Something lovely

AP/Lech Muszynski

Since Vicki said that my blog has inspired her to change her life, I feel compelled to post something lovely each and everyday. Just in case it inspires someone else.

The pressure, the pressure!!

Photographed in Poland, during a recent heat snap.

Oh, Bobo. Stop displaying your stupidity

I sincerely wish Bobo would stop pulling crap out of his ass and labeling it sociology. In today's column:

What's happening to Lieberman can only be described as a liberal inquisition. Whether you agree with him or not, he is transparently the most kind-hearted and well-intentioned of men. But over the past few years he has been subjected to a vituperation campaign that only experts in moral manias and mob psychology are really fit to explain. I can't reproduce the typical assaults that have been directed at him over the Internet, because they are so laced with profanity and ugliness, but they are ginned up by ideological masseurs who salve their followers' psychic wounds by arousing their rage at objects of mutual hate.

Really?

But a lifetime's record is deemed not to matter any longer. For in the midst of the inquisition all of American liberalism has been reduced to one issue, the war. Just as some edges of the pro-life movement reduce all of conservatism to abortion, the upscale revivalists on the left reduce everything to Iraq, and all who are deemed impure must be cleansed away.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

But that is not the point, for the opposition to Lieberman is not about future actions or even politics as it is normally understood. It is about impurity, the scarlet letter, and the need to expunge those who have transgressed.

No Bobo. It's about replacing a senator who has consistantly backs the Bush administration on issues that matter to us. Issues that we consider vital. It's about his cloture vote on Alito, it's about his support for the bankruptcy bill, it's about his outrageous comment that catholic hospitals shouldn't be forced to provide emergency contraception to rape victims because other hospitals were probably just "a short ride away." It's about him opening for the oposition on the Kerry resolution. It's about his arrogance, his belief that his senate seat is his by divine right. It's about his contempt for the voters in his state, and his belief that his judgement is better than theirs. It's about principles. Our principles.

As Atrios notes, Brooks is nothing more than a concern troll. He closes his column with the hope that the netroots will so offend mainstream democrats that republicans will "scoop them up."

Why Bobo has a column in a major newspaper is baffling to me. Worse, why is he held up as a serious commentator on democratic issues? He is always dead wrong.

The only function bobo serves is to point out the path that dems shouldn't take. And why he thinks that his endorsement of Lieberman will be helpful is a mystery. Oh, wait. No it's not. Bobo is as delusional as Lieberman is.