The IDF is reporting that Hezbollah is “preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon”: […] Roadblocks have been set up outside some of the villages to prevent residents from leaving, while in other villages Hizbullah is preventing UN representatives from entering, who are trying to help residents leave. In two villages, exchanges of fire between residents and Hizbullah have broken out. For his part, Juan Cole is reluctant to

Standing in front of the bread kiosk at the grocery store moments ago—and well aware that the personal is the political—I found myself torn between selecting a delicious, hard-crusted Viennese artisan loaf (a product of Old Europe, whose appeasement culture is threatening to weaken the west), and a loaf of pre-cut Wonder Bread, with it’s red white and blue packaging and a titular optimism so quintessentially American. In the end,

From an AF reader: First Air Force, (Air Forces Northern), and the Continental U.S. NORAD Region 9-11 Remembrance-Reunion is scheduled for Sept. 9 and 10 at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The event includes a wreath laying ceremony, Combined Air Operations Center/F-22 tour and mission briefing, remembrance-reunion dinner and a religious service. This event will remember and honor those who served on Sept. 11, 2001, and also recognize service members

Ezra Klein, taking to task the press while putting into perspective the President’s outrageous—OUTRAGEOUS!—use of the word “shit” (uttered off-the-cuff to British PM Tony Blair): [The substance of Bush’s remarks are] a big deal: Bush believes it within the Syrian government’s power to calm the conflict. Theoretically, that should have major implications for American diplomacy and, possibly, policy. So what’s CNN’s headline? “Open mic catches Bush expletive on Mideast”! The

One-time Yale hopeful, Professor Juan Cole, analyzes the Israeli airstrike pattern in Lebananon and reaches a rather (sadly) predictable conclusion: Thousands of innocent Lebanese have been forced from their homes by the bombings, especially in the South, and have headed up to Beirut (which the Israelis are also indiscriminately bombing). Some 100,000 Lebanese have fled to Syria, though Israeli bombing of roads and bridges has not made it easy for

I just drank a bottle of Estancia Cabernet and a good half bottle of chilled Cuervo Añejo, and it occurs to me that the hank of jalapeno Havarti I set out on the coffee table next to the tapenade and loaf of Old Country rye has gone missing. My wife is claiming ignorance, and my son’s breath smells like grape juice box—so I’m thinking that the dog might have had