Great dinner (kraut dogs with mustard and chips).  I'm of German-Jewish descent, so I decided that if I'm biting the green weenie tonite, I wanted one that has an ethnic flavor. 

If I were brave, I'd have gotten a Star of David tattooed on my buttocks, but I was afraid they'd charge by the yard .....

Oh yeah -- here's a date/time thingy for Tehran, Iran.  Not that I'm watching it.  I just wanted to know when August 23 rolls around over there.

In the morning, I'll check Lucianne.com.  If I'm alive, I'll enjoy the humor and wonder at the world's patience with another deranged Islamofascist kook with too much time/money on his hands.

Shalom.

  If Iran indeed casts an illuminating mushroom-shaped cloud over Jerusalem tonight, we can likely expect retaliatory illuminations to follow. 

And if that Iranian lunatic Amadie-jamba-haddi (I took creative license with his name -- so sue me) doesn't celebrate the return of some prophet riding a camel or a carpet or a cloud or a winged horse on his return to a temple in Jerusalem, maybe -- just maybe Amadie-jamba-haddi will take a ride of his own. 

Like on a camel.  Wedged between the humps.  Backwards.  Into the desert.  Without a canteen. 

Or maybe he'll take the other path referenced in the Koran and find a cave to illuminate himself with white light. 

Anyway -- time for (hopefully not my last) supper. 

I'll finish this muse later ....  Ever mindful that Iran is in another time zone and August 22 will come sooner there than here.   

Surely I'll have time to post before some mushroom fall-out drifts to the East Coast of the US of A ...... If not, Dawg and I will ride it out here, in front of the monitor with the TV playing in the background.  Until we lose connections, that is, and that would really be a drag. 

Yanno?

This op-ed by Ben Stein was buried in the business section of the New York Times today (registration required). 

 to Lucianne.com  -- It's a must read.  You may not agree with his premise(s) on the softening of America, but for dang sure -- if I'm destined to be in a chair on the deck of the Titanic, I'd be honored to sit next to Ben Stein. 

IT'S been a bitter month or so.

Mighty Israel, the redeemer of faith in what free men and women can do with arid desert if they are motivated, redeemer of faith that maybe there is a place for the Jews as a sovereign people and technological superpower, has been fought to a standstill by Hezbollah.

Can it possibly be that Hezbollah is better motivated, better led, better dug in and better armed than the Israeli army, which is supposed to be the best army, pound for pound, in the world? Can it be that Israel, which used to beat whole armies of countries like Egypt and Syria, has been humbled by a few thousand very well-motivated and well-armed men firing from between apartment buildings?

Or could it be that what's different this time is the trumpet and, specifically, its uncertain sound? Israel geared up for a huge offensive, then called it off, then huffed and puffed, then called it off again, then said, "Watch out, this time we're really going to blow your house down," and then called it off again.

Now, Israel's very survival is on the line, and it is a tiny state, about the size of New Jersey. If Israel cannot get it together to fight a serious war against a group, Hezbollah, that the State Department identifies as a terrorist organization, who will?

So, Israel, which was supposed to be the shining light of how peace is won, is not shining as bright — despite President Bush's extreme support for a good long time.

Terrorists are still hatching plots against the air traffic system of the West, and this time bigger and worse than before. Obviously, Al Qaeda is far from dead. We have much to fear from it still. The fact that the suspects were almost all home-grown Britons makes the situation that much more frightening and unpredictable. How long will it be until American-born terrorists strike against American targets? We are a big country and we have a lot of unhappy people. How long until they organize themselves to kill? Not long, I am afraid.

While we're at it, yes, it's miraculous and wonderful that the plot was foiled, if it was. But now the whole Western world will be seriously inconvenienced in its travel for years, maybe decades. Isn't this already a victory for our enemies? Isn't this already a blow against world business? Might it be enough to push our already slowed growth into a recession?

But the worst is what is to come: I got a jolting hint of this when I read the obituary for John L. Weinberg, who ran Goldman Sachs from 1976 to 1990. Mr. Weinberg was 81 when he died this month in Greenwich, Conn., after a lifetime of major achievement. I had the pleasure of dealing with him when he and I were a lot younger and I was in law school, also studying finance, at Yale.

My dear old father was a friend of his father, the venerable Sidney J. Weinberg, who ran Goldman Sachs from 1930 to 1969. My dad wangled a job interview for me with John Weinberg, an unprepossessing figure but obviously a smart guy. After some talk, he offered me a job. I would start by spending two years sitting at a desk until late at night going over spreadsheets. "Really?" I asked. That did not seem to be so glamorous. "Yes, really," he said. "That's how we all start."

I turned it down and became a poverty lawyer instead. But what I did not know about John Weinberg was that even though he was rich and well connected, as a young man he joined the Marines to fight the Japanese in the Pacific, then fought again in Korea. That was America's ruling class then. The scions of the rich went off to fight.

My longtime pal and idol, Peter M. Flanigan — a former high honcho of Dillon, Read; a high aide to my ex-boss, Richard M. Nixon; and heir to a large brewing fortune — was once a naval aviator. My father left a comfortable job in Washington to join the Navy. The father of my pal Phil DeMuth left a successful career to be an Army Air Corps pilot, flying death-defying missions over Burma. Congressmen resigned to serve. Senators resigned to serve. Professional athletes resigned to serve in the uniform.

Now, who's fighting for us in the fight of our lives? Brave, idealistic Southerners. Hispanics from New Mexico. Rural men and women from upstate New York. Small-town boys and girls from the Midwest. Do the children of the powers on Wall Street resign to go off and fight? Fight for the system that made them rich? Fight for the way of life that made them princes? Surely, you jest.

And that's the essence. The other side considers it a privilege to fight and die for its beliefs. Those on the other side cannot wait to line up to blow themselves up for their vision of heaven. On our side, it's: "Let the other poor sap do it. I've got to make money." How can we fight this fight with the brightest and best educated rushing off and working night and day to do private equity deals and derivatives trading? How can we fight this fight with the ruling class absent by its own sweet leave?

I keep thinking, again, that if Israel, with its back to the sea, cannot muster the will to fight in a big way, then the fat, faraway U.S.A. will never be able to do it. I keep saying this and it terrifies me.

We're in a war with people who want to kill us all and wreck our civilization. They're taking it very seriously. We, on the other hand, are worrying about leveraged buyouts and special dividends and how much junk debt the newly formed private entity can support before we sell it to the ultimate sucker, the public shareholder.

We're worrying whether Hollywood will forgive Mel Gibson and what the next move is for big homes in East Hampton. We're rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The terrorists are the iceberg.

WHAT stands between us and the iceberg are the miraculously brave men and women of the armed forces. They're heroes and saints as far as I'm concerned. But can they do it without the rest of us? Can they do it while we're all working on our tans and trying to have our taxes lowered again? How can we leave them out there all alone to die for us when we treat the war to save civilization as something we can just wish away?

If we don't win this war against the terrorists, there's not going to be business as usual ever again. If the terrorists get to their goal, there's not going to be a stock exchange or hedge funds or Bain Capital or the Carlyle Group or even Goldman Sachs. If the terrorists get their way — and so far, they're getting their way — there's not going to be business, period.

Everyone with the really big money at stake is — again — bidding for the best deck chairs as the iceberg looms, not so far, any longer, under the surface, and very large and very cold and very solid.

On second thought --- if I had a choice, I be somewhere with a flamethrower -- melting that iceberg before it hit.

Lebanese Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt Criticizes Nasrallah:  (from YouTube)

For the Lebanese people and its Druze sect, the worst may be yet to come.

  As we learn more about the transparency of the Lebanese government, the reality of a coup by Hezbollah's Nasrallah -- primarily with the backing of Syria's President Assad -- becomes  more credible.

Condi Rice's remarks to the U.N. Security Council two weeks ago -- when Resolution 1701 was passed -- may have foreshadowed what we are seeing today:

... the "hard work of diplomacy" was only beginning with the passage of the resolution ... it would be unrealistic to expect an immediate end to all violence. Rice demanded other nations stop interfering in its affairs. "Today we call upon every state, especially Iran and Syria, to respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese government and the will of the international community."

The Lebanon President has announced that Lebanon will now "hunt and arrest" Hezbollah fighters who fire rockets into Israel.  He didn't sound very confident or convincing, however. 

Definitely NOT lacking in confidence has been Hezbollah's leader Nasrallah.  In recent speeches, he has criticized the Lebanon government -- outlining what he feels should be a "strong and fair" Lebanon.  His minions can be seen in photo opts passing out $12,000 in cash to Lebanese citizens displaced by Israeli bombings --- notably in advance of government assistance.

Toss into the mix Syrian President Assad -- calling the current Lebanon government a "tool" for Israel.  (Fortunately for Israel and the Lebanese government, Assad has little to no credibility among Arad leaders.)

Those who expect a diplomatic resolution in the Middle East may have to wait while Nasrallah lays plans to forge his (i.e., Syrian-Lebanon Conflict Part II) coup of Lebanon.

A coup attempt, coincidentally, which would incur civil war in Lebanon and which other Arab nations will not permit.

Israel might fare best to stand guard and watch the war from the border.

  While Turkey was flagging down Iranian planes in its air-space this week,  Iran's leading lunatic, Ahmadinejad, was rationalizing why his country needed nukes:  'cause de Amurikans gott'em. 

"How can the Iranian nation give up its obvious right to peaceful nuclear technology, when America and some other countries test new atomic bombs each year?"

Peaceful nuclear technology?   [Sounds more like war-head envy, but I'll play along ..... ]

My goodness, Ahmadie.  Why didn't you tell us you only wanted nukes to develop alternative fuels -- to augment the oil you've pledged to Russia. 

And all this time we thought you were ..... Oh, my.  Forgive us.  How ... how ... how utterly humanitarian of you!!

Do I smell a Nobel Peace prize in someone's future?  Eh?  Eh?

And just in case you're fibbing and planning a realllllly bigggggggg surprise for everyone on August 22 ----  Just remember:

While visions of alternative fuels dance through your cluttered head, U. S.  aircraft are consuming massive quantities of jet fuel, stealthing the stratosphere 24/7 -- loaded with all those new atomic bombs we allegedly test each year. 

A conservative radio host/TV commentator/author is calling for Condi Rice's resignation as Secretary of State. 

I posted a response at the host's blog this evening:

Though disappointed in how the Lebanese have responded/shirked their obligations RE: the UN Resolution -- I certainly don't blame Condi Rice. 

Remember that Russia and China had threatened to abstain in that vote? (Remember the aside between Condi and a Russian official during the G-8 Summit?) Condi Rice is the reason the Resolution was passed unanimously.

We need Condi Rice's temperament and resolve to deal with Russia and other Middle East shadow players.  (After all --- no SoS has successfully or effectively dealt with them previously! And Russia may very well be the darkest shadow of all ....)

I, too, was disappointed in the Resolution wording, the lack of a stronger UN role and a failure to demand the disarmament of Hezbollah. I've had no expectation that Lebanon could disarm the Hezzies without Hezbollah's cooperation -- even if Lebanon wanted to.

With Lebanon totally wimping out, approx. 16 nations have now either reduced and/or reassessed their peace-keeping roles in Southern Lebanon. Does anyone actually think Condi could have averted these reactions?  Come on -- armchair quarterback the collective results if you wish, but give the woman credit for what she has actually achieved!  And how many times did she refer to this resolution as "the first phase" of the ME peace process??

In spite of my disappointment(s) -- I'm certainly not giving up on Condi Rice as being instrumental in bringing about a more united global front against terrorism and subsequent Israeli-Hezbollah/Lebanese resolutions. 

By the way -- It was a Lebanese official who first referred to Hezbollah as a militia.  Possibly Condi was diplomatically (or sarcastically?) reflecting his reference. After all, Lebanon will allow Hezzies to keep their arms -- in that context, those scum-bags are a militia!

Now more than ever, we need a person of insight and intellect -- not another bull in the global china shop -- to garner support for the battle(s) ahead.  If Lebanon allows Hezbollah to take control militarily and politically, don't be surprised if there is a civil uprising before the Hezzies regroup to attack Israel again. 

Fortunately for Israel and other allied "peace-keeping" interests, the US will send a flight of surveillance planes to monitor the Lebanese and Syrian borders.  Even France's 200 (as opposed to the 2000+ originally promised) troops should feel [a tad more] secure. 

Replace Condi Rice?  If she leaves -- there also goes the [global] neighborhood .... 

We need Condi Rice.  We may also need some new catch-words: 

"Blame Bush if you gotta, but appreciate Condi Rice."

Patience  ... patience .... patience .......

-- In spite of having a weak and self-serving idiot as Secretary General of the UN. 

-- In spite of asking a weak, ineffective government to do what is asked.

Let's assume that IF the U.N. authorized a "robust" force to disarm Hezbollah, they (the U.N.) would have to recognize Hezbollah as some type of governing entity instead of a terrorist organization.  Instead, the U.N. has authorized the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. 

Lebanon can't do it?  Then the U.N. can only impose sanctions.  Big deal.

Or the Israelis will have to -- in the name of defensive action/reaction.  Rest assured that Lebanon will never recover from the next bombardment.

So if the Israelis begin "round two" (i.e., signifying the end of the current cease fire), then Syria and Iran may become OFFICIALLY involved ..... An involvement for which the U.N. may intercede.  May.

By a similar token -- the PLO and Hamas are discussing a joint-governing structure in the Gaza Strip.  One problem, however.  Both the Israelis and the U. N. must approve recognition of such a joint venture.  Resolutions prevent such recognition. 

How much weight Resolutions carry remains to be seen.  In some cases, we've already seen their ineffectiveness.

So we head back to square one.  Or was that round one?

Make that round two.

Patience .... Patience .... Patience .......

What an absolute, power-grubbing, pro-Hezbollah idiot.

You have to read the authority this oil-stained sack of unmentionable stuff has bestowed upon himself:

If Hizb’allah breaks the ceasefire – as they already have – and shoots at Israeli citizens or population centers, territory or forces, the IDF may in most cases not respond before informing the United Nations Secretary General of the violation, and obtaining his permission to shoot back.

This is the expectation of Kofi Annan, as spelled out in a letter from him to the sovereign government of the State of Israel earlier this week.

Annan said Israel and Lebanon must immediately inform him if either side has been fired upon, giving as much detail as possible, but "refraining from responding except where clearly required in immediate self-defense."

Under the terms of the ceasefire, when Israel is firing on Hizb’allah Israel is firing on Lebanon.

Annan is an openly pro-Arab world leader who has on more than one occasion accused Israel of deliberately killing civilians and UN peacekeepers, but has never been heard to unequivocally and passionately denounce acts of Arab terrorism against Jews.

While the Hizb’allah’s invasion of sovereign Israeli territory on July 12 – when it killed eight IDF soldiers and kidnapped two – and its raining down of nearly 4,000 missiles deliberately on Israeli civilians in their homes constitute war crimes, Annan’s United Nations at no time during the 33-day long conflict discussed indicting Hizb’allah or condemning the Lebanese government for permitting these war crimes to take place.

Annan’s letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert contains an additional list of “requirements” from this man, who seeks to establish himself as the impartial ceasefire supervisor, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post Tuesday.

Thus he also demands of Israel that its forces no longer occupy, or seek to occupy, any additional territory on the Lebanese side. Should Israel observe Hizb’allah forces restocking their rocket supplies north of the Litani River, for example, IDF forces may not cross that boundary to deal with the threat.

According to a report in Ha’aretz Tuesday, a compromise agreement is currently “being hammered out between Hizb’allah and the Lebanese government [that] would allow the Shi'ite guerillas to keep hidden weapons in south Lebanon.”

Israel must furthermore give Annan a detailed description of precisely where all its armor and soldiers were deployed at the moment the ceasefire came into effect. Israel may not change the number or location of its troops without informing the UN chief.

In this way Annan believes he will be able to closely police Israel to ensure its compliance.

He plans to watch Israel like a hawk.

Precisely what he plans to do about infractions on the other side is not clear.

Should any firing occur, Annan said in his letter, “the UN undertakes to bring, in an impartial manner, such incidents to the attention of the Security Council as quickly as possible.”

Since the ceasefire went into effect early Monday, at least two Hizb’allah terrorists have been killed after firing on IDF forces in southern Lebanon.

Overnight Monday Hizb’allah fired 10 Katyusha rockets and at least four mortars at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

This is in line with Hizb’allah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s vow to keep attacking Israeli forces as long as a single IDF soldier remains in Lebanese territory.

And it has been and will continue to be made possible by the refusal of Lebanese Prime Minister Hannah Siniora, as spelled out by him Monday, to in any way try to disarm the Hizb’allah.

Annan has thus far not indicated whether or when he will bring this matter to the attention of the Security Council.

Don't hold your breath, Kofi. 

Better still --- 

Hold that vile breath as you await Israel's request to take defensive action to protect itself.

I read this apt reference (subject line) to Hezbollah and Lebanon somewhere tonight.

Coupled with the U.N. Secretary's un-response to Lebanon's refusal to disarm Hezbollah (don't show; don't tell), Kofi Annan's bias appears more and more obvious.  While browsing blogs who reacted to the current scenario (see previous post), I found this group

and joined.  (See link at bottom of sidebar.)

I'll post more of my sentiments on the ineffectiveness of the UN later.   This archaic (incompetent?) organization has evolved into a "legalized" haven for global graft and corruption.  If there were to be any wonder why Kofi Annan is biased against the US and our allies -- review his role in the oil-for-food scandal. 

Meanwhile back in the Middle East:

Looks as if Lebanon intends to shirk even the onus for abiding by the recent U.N. resolution.  Will the Security Council allow Lebanon to refuse to meet one condition of its resolution? 

Will the peace-keeping force be made "robust" to compensate for Lebanon's cowardice? 

If Israel initiates a "second round" and does (in self-defense) what the Lebanese refuse to do -- will the Israelis be sanctioned for breaching the resolution?

A state within a Non-State?   Hezbollah controls Lebanon.  Iran and Syria control Hezbollah.  But we knew that, didn't we?  And look who's lining up their tanks along the Syrian-Israeli border -- in anticipation for what?  Need we really speculate?    

Could Israeli troops returning from Lebanon be in deployment to another region? 

Egypt has closed its border into Gaza ....

I have a suggestion.

Let all Sunni and Shiite militias gather somewhere (like in Syria) to settle their differences.  Liquid bombs allowed.  WMD's permitted.  Go guerrilla.  Winners get seven LIVE virgins and three camels. 

Let the Iraqi Parliament challenge the Iranian clerics to a soccer game, officiated by Jordan.   At the end of the match, tunics are NOT exchanged.  Winners receive a trophy that's shaped like a nuclear reactor and ticks.

Let Israel finish annihilating Hezbollah and Lebanon.  Let "disproportionate response" be an understatement.  Make Reuters' fauxtographs look amateurish.  Keep the man in the green helmet so busy he'll need to hire a battalion of location directors.

When the dust settles, pack up the PLO and Hamas and deposit them in what's left of Lebanon. Finally they will have their own state. 

Oh yeah -- sell the United Nations building to Donald Trump and let him turn it into low rent apartments for out-of-work NY cab drivers.