Have at it.
Archives for 2009
Turn Me On, Dead Man
News from Gaza:
Israel on Thursday killed a senior Hamas political leader in an air strike in the Gaza Strip, the first such attack in its six-day-old offensive.
The air strike killed Nizar Rayyan along with nine other people, including his wife and three children, Hamas said. Another 25 people were wounded. Security sources told Ynet that the house was also used as an arms cache, a communications headquarters and concealed a tunnel’s opening.
Israeli military sources confirmed that Rayyan, who was considered the Hamas leadership’s liaison with the group’s military wing, was killed in an attack on his north Gaza home.
Prior to striking Rayyan’s house the IDF tried to warn his family about the imminent attack and urged them to evacuate the place, but they refused to do so.
Now, it goes without saying (assuming these reports are accurate) that Rayyan, as a man who advocated further suicide bombings against Israel, was a murderous cretin, and, as suspected, the usual suspects are thrilled. A few years ago, I probably would have joined them.
Now, however, my only thought is I wonder what the name of the guy they will kill in a few years will be, because it goes without saying Rayyan will be replaced, and probably with someone just as angry and just as hateful and radicalized by the death of his friends/family/lover, killed in this week’s raids (folks who we here in the States and in Israel will only obliquely reference as “collateral damage”).
Number Nine. Number Nine. Number Nine.
A Few Random Things
By the way, just want to make sure that all of you remember to vote in the contest to determine what politician said the dumbest thing in 2008 and to make your nominations for comment of the year.
Also, making a pork loin, some sauerkraut, black-eyed peas, brussel sprouts, and beets for dinner, but I just can’t decide how I want to season the pork. Any suggestions? And yes, I am aware that is an odd combination of vegetables, but when I was at the store yesterday, for some reason those veggies were the ones I wanted. Also, I have learned that a lot of people don’t like beets, which I just can’t figure out. They are good so many different ways, especially pickled. A friend’s grandfather was in a prison camp in WWII and hated beets because that was all the Germans fed them, but for the life of me I can not figure out why other people hate them.
Oh, and dessert. Does anyone know of a baked banana dish? I don’t want something super rich and fattening like Bananas Foster, but I am thinking about something involving bananas and cinnamon.
And, checking my email as I write this, I see that we are a finalist for Best Major Blog in the Weblog Awards. Since I don’t care about these things, and Tim is unmotivated because we are not running against Red State like we were last year, no one will be here to do the relentless pimping that needs to be done to get out the vote. Additionally, we are up against the Instapundit, who has a readership that probably doubles all the other contestants combined. As such, what I have decided to do is to beg each and every one who was inclined to vote for Balloon Juice to go to the Weblog Awards and vote for TBOGG or Outside the Beltway (depending on your political preference), who also has been nominated. That way, we can at least make the race somewhat competitive against the big dog in the fight.
One final thing. Not sure if any of you are watching or aware, as there seems to be so much going on over here in our own little American paradise, but things are really going to shit in Zimbabwe. It honestly looks like half the population is in jeopardy of starving to death, and it isn’t even making headlines here. I’m as guilty as everyone else, because I haven’t even mentioned it here before (and, indeed, am tacking my first mention of it on to a post discussing how I will feed my fat ass tonight), but we have to be able to help in some way- even if it is minor, every bit helps. We talked about donating to charities once we were done with the election, and now seems to be the right time. If any of you know of a charity that has a good track record and low overhead who is currently involved in the crisis over there, please let me know, and we will promote that daily and throw a widget in the sidebar (if there is one). The thought of all these people starving to death is horrifying.
Caretaker Cuomo?
My guess is this will be an acceptable option that will cut down most of the current whining:
Sen. Bill Clinton? Sen. Mario Cuomo? Don’t completely rule it out. The former president and the former New York governor are among several boldface names being touted as possible “caretakers” for New York’s Senate seat — people who would serve until the 2010 elections but wouldn’t be interested in running to keep the job.
As the process of picking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s replacement gets messier, the option may become increasingly attractive to Gov. David Paterson, who has sole authority to name a successor.
A spokesman for Bill Clinton, Matt McKenna, said Wednesday that the former chief executive isn’t interested in the job and plans to continue the work of his foundation. Cuomo declined through a spokesman to discuss the Senate seat.
If you ask me, the real problem here is the power of incumbency. If it were routine and normal for people to be elected and then kicked out of office every couple of elections, we would not be witnessing this freak-out about the replacement for Senator Clinton, because EVERY seat would be a caretaker seat. Instead of the sturm and drang about coronations and heirs to Clinton and all this other nonsense, we would have someone appointed for two years, and it would just be assumed they would have a tough election ahead of them in 2010. But, as it is now, once you get into office in the United States, you have to be pretty terrible at an almost epic level (think Liddy Dole, and even then it was dicey until her idiotic last minute commercial) to lose an election once you have the power of the incumbency.
It is just assumed that whoever takes Clinton’s seat will be there for the next three decades, and that changes all the calculations. That, to me, is the real problem, and it isn’t supposed to be like that. The point of elections every two years in the House and every six in the Senate is that if you screw one of them up, in a relatively short time, you get a do-over. When you just assume someone will be there for the next thirty years instead of six, it really makes the decisions much more important and… much more acrimonious.
Happy New Year!
It is now 2009, so time for a live action shot from Balloon Juice HQ:
Yep. Tunch is still undertall and grumpy.
2009 is looking a lot like 2008.