Set aside all the blame and pointing fingers and rhetoric about the Israel/Lebanon catastrophe.  Set aside your own personal feelings.  Now, go read Chris Clarke’s take on it.  In his words: “I cannot stop thinking of kisses.”  It’s a beautiful read, a spark of compassion that takes no sides but instead pours his heart into words from personal experience.  I share his feeling in this case given my own friends in the region.

Grand Rounds 2:45 is available to address your medical blogging fix.

Notice how, when science is used rather than idiotic personal opinion, studies clearly demonstrate that alcohol and tobacco are significantly more harmful than marijuana, LSD, GHB, anabolic steroids, ecstasy, and many other drugs currently deemed illegal.  Huh.  Do you think we should expect a rapid reclassification of drugs based on this unarguable science?

Fill your invertebrate quota at Circus of the Spineless #11.

What are the odds?  “A bar waitress checking to see if a woman was legally old enough to drink was handed her own stolen driver’s license, which was reported missing weeks earlier…”

Red-tailed hawks: This is the species of hawk that lives here in my area and is often seen hunting over the lake.

Mel Gibson doesn’t deserve mention.  He screwed up.  I had a DUI a very long time ago.  Everyone makes mistakes, even the rich and clueless.  We already knew he was an anti-Semite, so his comments are unremarkable despite their revolting nature.  The fact that he’s a misogynist should be news to no one except the newborn.  Who doesn’t know or hasn’t known a belligerent drunk?  To top it off, he’s given two very (on the surface) heartfelt apologies.  I don’t get the hoopla.  It’s just not that important.  He got drunk, he drove, he got caught, his true colors came out, and that’s the whole story.

The cat and the rat: best friends.  You can’t go wrong with that second picture.  And yet, am I the only one bothered with the Mighty Mouse-esque red cape on the rat?

One final thing on the Israel/Lebanon conflict: It’s helping to squash political reform in Iran, thereby strengthening the hold of the good (read as “VERY BAD”) folks in charge of that country at the moment.  I’m glad this has turned out for the best on all fronts.  Aren’t you?  [via Unscrewing the Inscrutable]

I hate saying that, but I’m right in doing so.  I told you so:

The Bush administration may have badly miscalculated in insisting that any Mideast cease-fire be tied to long-term objectives. As the toll on Lebanese civilians has soared, even moderate Arab governments have turned into U.S. critics, and Hezbollah’s support has climbed across the region.

Bush’s most steadfast ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, joined the ranks of those expressing frustration after Israel’s Sunday bombing in the village of Qana that killed many civilians, most of them women and children. “We have to speed this whole process up,” Blair said. “This has got to stop and stop on both sides.”

Anger was brewing all across the Arab world as the U.N. Security Council prepared to take up the issue. Calls for an immediate cease-fire were coming from traditional U.S. allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.

Even the democratically elected prime minister of Lebanon, Fuad Saniora — whose leadership Bush often salutes — insisted that talk of a larger peace package must wait until the firing stops. “We will not negotiate until the Israeli war stops shedding the blood of innocent people,” said Saniora.

And where Saniora initially was critical of Hezbollah, he is now praising the militant group and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, for helping to defend Lebanon.

But let’s support Israel no matter what, even if it alienates what few remaining friends our nation has, strengthens the position of terrorist groups, and turns our limited Arab allies into enemies.  That’s what happens when you give people a blank check — whether it be Israel or our own president.  They run amok, they step on the little guy, they push their way to the front of the line while pissing off everyone else, and they victimize the globe with death and destruction.

Israel has every right to defend itself.  It’s hard to imagine anyone thinking otherwise.  Doing so by causing significant civilian deaths (in the hundreds) while only killing a few dozen of the enemy in no way helps anyone.  It has the opposite effect.  And here we are: Israel has strengthened Hezb’Allah; America has angered all of its Arab friends; Great Britain has finally turned its back on America; and terrorism is being dealt a winning hand.

I hope all of you who blindly and ignorantly supported Israel without a thought as to the method or toll now feel happy with yourselves.  Along with Israel, you’ve all made the world a more dangerous place, and you’ve left America standing alone for the first time in its history.

Oh, and let’s not forget this little tidbit:

Bowing to pressure from Rice and complaints about a mounting humanitarian crisis, Israel agreed to a 48-hour halt in the airstrikes while investigating the Qana bombing. But, hours later, Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon.

That simply exacerbates the situation.  Israel lied.  The humanitarian crises continues unabated.  Civilians continue to die as if killing almost 40 children in a single attack wasn’t enough to temporarily halt the violence.

Let me reiterate what I’ve said before, and why I would not blindly bow to Israel’s horrific actions, by finishing with this bit:

Mehdi Noorbaksh, associate professor of international affairs at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, said the United States miscalculated on two grounds in its stance on the Israel-Hezbollah violence.

“Buying time for the Israelis” allowed violence against Lebanese citizens to rise and turned the tide of world opinion against both Israel and the United States, he said. At the same time, the U.S. position helped fan support across the Arab world for Hezbollah.

Huh.  I see that worked out well, just not for us or Israel.

I told you so.

As I was walking up the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there.
He wasn’t there again today.
I wish, I wish he’d stay away.

— Hughes Mearns