I hate it when this happens . . .

I tend to agree with Democrats almost as often as I agree with Republicans. The only difference is that I tend to agree with Democrats about subjects that I barely care about (abortion, gay marriage and the right of everybody to burn the American flag) and with Republicans about things I care about intensely (killing jihadis and their sympathizers without mercy, keeping taxes low, tort reform, and spending as large a portion of the federal budget on defense as is conceivably worthwhile). So I usually vote for Republicans.

Yeah, that's pretty close to where I am.  We'll quibble over "gay marriage" vs. "civil union" (i.e. I think there is a positive public good served by giving preferential treatment, let's call it "marriage," to heterosexual couples who choose to procreate, but I concede that this is perhaps a debatable point).  Otherwise, what Tigerhawk writes is pretty close to what I think, too.

India is cracking down on monkeys on trains:

NEW DELHI - In an effort to keep monkeys out of the New Delhi subways, authorities have called in one of the few animals known to scare the creatures -- a fierce-looking primate called the langur, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported Wednesday.

The decision to hire a langurwallah -- a man who trains and controls the langurs -- came after a monkey got into a metro car in June, the newspaper reported.

I wanna be a langurwallah.  There's a song in there somewhere.

Murtha being sued by Marine:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine suspected in the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, will sue Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) for libel after the war critic made public comments about the case and accused the serviceman of murder, attorneys said on Wednesday.

Lawyers representing Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, 26, said Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, made false, misleading and defamatory statements.

Loose cannons eventually get tied down.

Found on FreeRepublic, these two Reuters pictures:

Israeli special forces and their llamas wait to cross the Israel-Lebanon border west of Avivim, late night August 1, 2006. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (ISRAEL)

Battle Llamas.  I should feel guilty being this amused about it, and I do, no question about it.

Battle llamas.

What do Iran's President Ahmadinejad and (alleged) inebriated actor Mel Gibson have in common:

Rabid antisemitism.

Gibson was drunk at the time. What's Ahmadinejad's excuse?

Photo credit: AFP

This banner was unfurled only a couple of hours after the Qana attack, according to Pajamas Media/Power Line. The Arabic legend reads:

The massacre of children in Qana 2, is the gift of Rice. The clever bombs..Stupid

Almost like somebody knew ahead of time what was going to happen today, isn't it?

There is also some doubt regarding exactly when the building containing the 55 dead collapsed. The IDF attacked around midnight, but the building apparently did not collapse until 8 a.m.

"The attack on the structure in the Qana village took place between midnight and one in the morning. The gap between the timing of the collapse of the building and the time of the strike on it is unclear," Brigadier General Amir Eshel, Head of the Air Force Headquarters told journalists at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, following the incidents at Qana.

Is it beyond imagining that the same mentality that would drive two jetliners into skyscrapers to kill over 3,000 would sacrifice 50 of their own for public relations purposes?

It may be useful to recall who initiated these hostilities in the first place. It was not Israel.

It may also be useful to recall which side disregards the Geneva Conventions by taking hostages then refusing Red Cross access to those hostages; hiding as civilians in civilian areas; attacking civilian areas without warning--or for that matter without any regard for whether the target being hit is civilian or military. It is not Israel.

Dakotas at 'epicenter' of U.S. drought, says Yahoo News:

An area stretching from south central North Dakota to central South Dakota is the most drought-stricken region in the nation, Svoboda said.

"It's the epicenter," he said. "It's just like a wasteland in north central South Dakota."

Conditions aren't much better a little farther north. Paul Smokov and his wife, Betty, raise several hundred cattle on their 1,750-acre ranch north of Steele, a town of about 760 people.

North Dakota's all-time high temperature was set here in July 1936, at 121. Smokov, now 81, remembers that time and believes conditions this summer probably are worse.

"I could see this coming in May," Smokov said of the parched pastures and wilted crops. "That's the time the good Lord gives us our general rains. But we never got them this year."

Brad Rippey, a federal Agriculture Department meteorologist in Washington, said this year's drought is continuing one that started in the late 1990s. "The 1999 to 2006 drought ranks only behind the 1930s and the 1950s. It's the third-worst drought on record — period," Rippey said.

That's the problem with living in a semi-arid region.  Sometimes you get the semi, other times you get the arid.

If you live through the wet times (like the 1970's and 80's, for instance) without planning for the dry, life gets mighty hard.

Mighty, mighty hard.

Yahoo News is to blame for reporting this:

NEW YORK - A man accused of biting the head off his pet rooster was arrested Friday and faces up to a year in prison if convicted, an animal protection spokesman said.

A neighbor had complained about a dead rooster near his Manhattan apartment and agents found the body of the beheaded rooster on a fire escape, said Joe Pentangelo, spokesman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The rooster's head was not located.

Does anybody . . . I mean ANYBODY really want to know where the rooster's head is now?  Really?

Part I was where we discovered that U.S. forces did in fact find Iraq-Iran War-era chemical weapons in Iraq.

Part II is where we see translated documents giving further reinforcement to the allegation that many of Saddam's WMD's were trucked to Syria just prior to the start of the Iraq war.  FreeRepublic poster JVeritas provides the translation:

Dear Respected Sir

Warm salute… and then

To review with regards and please and return the document to Mrs. Mona after the translation with thanks.

Signature

Abu Abdallah

13/7

To the Respected Responsible for the bureau of follow up and coordination.

CA11 RD

Subject: We have information about the location of the Weapons of Mass Destruction

In the day of 10 Mouharam before the coalition forces started the war on Iraq, 50 trucks for land transportation entered Syria on an intermittent convoy. I met some of the drivers and they did not know what they carried in these trucks. These trucks were loaded from an unknown location in Baghdad and was brought to the drivers and the Iraqi Intelligence was with them. Each time they crossed a certain distance, the Iraqi Intelligence stopped them and asked them what are they carrying and their answer was we do not know. And when these trucks arrived to Syria in the area of Deir Al Zour the drivers were taken out of their trucks and the Syrian Intelligence ride instead. These trucks were entered into large warehouses and when these trucks were emptied it was given back to the Iraqi drivers. And they were given a reward worth of 200 dollars for the safety of arrival. One of the drivers mentioned to me that this was second time they carry these secrets loads and the first time was 1 Mouharam.

I have a friend in Syria who works in a Syrian company as partner with a Syrian merchant. This person is an Iraqi ex-Consul in the Iraqi embassies and he resigned from the diplomatic circle and he has strong connection with the Iraqi Embassy in Syria and he knows all the Iraqi Intelligence and those knows that I work for the Iraqi opposition in Syria. I was visiting him daily during this period to find out the important news. When the trucks entered Syria I went to him and told him that Iraqi Weapons entered Syria so he said to me who told you that and I said to him I knew from my sources, and he told me to keep this confidential and not tell anyone because it indeed entered.

Singature

7/13

Under translation and print

Moustafa Al Khaliye.

D.O.D only, 7/13

Not proof, but evidence.  Those who have rushed to conclude "there were no WMD's in Iraq" may still be found to be mistaken.

Report from KOMO-TV web site:

Patti Simon was at work at the federation's newspaper on the first floor when she heard screaming, shots and what sounded like furniture crashing on the floor above.
. . .
"People got shot, some of our co-workers," Simon said, her voice shaking. "I just got back from Israel and made it out of there a half hour before the rockets started."

Simon said the federation has security in the building.

"Somebody must have lied there way in," Simon said.