I would like to thank the folks over at Silent Running for reminding me to back up this blog on a regular basis.

Did it as soon as I saw what happened there.

Sorry for your loss, guys. Hope you can find the old files.

I wonder if WP has a backup script?

The world expects Israel to help the palestinians create their own state. Well, Israel has done her job: She’s given them back the Gaza Strip. Now, Ariel Sharon says, Gaza is on its own. And he intends to tell that to the world.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon departed Tuesday for a gathering at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he is set to tell world leaders that Israeli responsibility for the Gaza Strip has come to an end.

[...] On Thursday, Sharon will address the UN General Assembly, this year including heads of state, and will highlight the step Israel made with the disengagement.

He will call on the Palestinians to take advantage of the opportunity and advance toward implementing the road map. Sharon will demand that the PA combat terrorism as a condition for progress in the peace process, and he will say that he will not discuss Jerusalem. He will speak in Hebrew, in time for the main news programs of Israeli television channels.

There’s something interesting going on, though.
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WTO members must conduct free trade with other members. Except, of course, when it comes to Israel.

Saudi Arabia has agreed to lift certain aspects of its boycott against Israel in an attempt to satisfy US demands regarding the Saudi request to join the World Trade Organization.

An agreement between US and Saudi trade representatives was signed last week. As part of this agreement, the Saudi government declares it will not enforce a boycott against American firms that have trade relations with Israel. The Saudis also commit themselves to obeying WTO trade rules regarding all member countries of the organization, including Israel. This does not mean that Saudi Arabia is abandoning the Arab boycott against Israel, but it does limit the scope of the boycott.

“This [agreement] represents progress for Saudi Arabia, the US and the WTO,” said a statement issued Friday by US trade representative Rob Portman.

One of the conditions set by the US for signing a trade agreement with Saudi Arabia was abandoning the boycott against Israel, and the final wording of the agreement is a result of lengthy negotiations on this issue.

What does this mean?

Saudi Arabia hopes to join the WTO by the end of this year and the agreement reached with the US paves the road to reaching this goal.

Good to know that the U.S. is Israel’s ally.

The palestinians are trashing their own future, and yet, of course, this will be blamed on Israel.

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian police Tuesday blocked off abandoned Jewish settlements and chased after scavengers in a first attempt to impose order after chaotic celebrations of Israel’s pullout from Gaza. The overwhelmed forces were unable to halt looting of the area’s prized greenhouses.

Egyptian guards, meanwhile, failed for a second straight day to control a rush across the Gaza-Egypt border, which was a formidable barrier when patrolled by Israel. With the Israelis gone, Gazans dug under walls and climbed over barriers to get to Egypt, where they stocked up on cheap cigarettes, medication and cheese. Egyptian forces on Monday fatally shot a Palestinian during the mad rush, witnesses said.

The chaos raised new questions about the ability of Palestinian forces to impose order in Gaza.

The greenhouses, left behind by Israel as part of a deal brokered by international mediators, are a centerpiece of Palestinian plans for rebuilding Gaza after 38 years of Israeli occupation. The Palestinian Authority hopes the high-tech greenhouses will provide jobs and export income for Gaza’s shattered economy.

So what do you think? Think the pals are going to ensure their own economic future?

Nah, me neither.
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Two foster [kaff] parents deny that they abused or neglected their 11 charges. After all, all they did was lock them cages every night. You know. Crated like dogs. Because children are so much like dogs, right?

WAKEMAN, Ohio (AP) - Sheriff’s deputies removed 11 children from a home where they were locked in cages less than 3 1/2 feet high, authorities said.

The children’s adoptive and foster parents, Mike and Sharen Gravelle, denied that they’d abused or neglected the children during a custody hearing Monday in Huron County. No charges had been filed as of Monday night.

“The impression that we got was that they felt it was OK,” said Lt. Randy Sommers of the Huron County Sheriff’s Office.

The Gravelles said a psychiatrist recommended they make the children - ages 1 to 14, with conditions that included autism and fetal alcohol syndrome - sleep in the cages at night. The cages were stacked in bedrooms on the second floor of their house, said prosecutor Russell Leffler, who was reviewing the case.

The children were found by a children’s services investigator on Friday when he stopped by the Gravelles’ home outside Wakeman, about 50 miles west of Cleveland. Deputies returned to the house that evening.

Some of the cages were rigged with alarms, Sommers said; others had heavy furniture blocking their doors. The children didn’t have blankets or pillows.

One of the boys said he’d slept in the cage for three years, Sommers said.

The children were placed with four foster families Monday.

A woman who identified herself as Sharen Gravelle’s mother but refused to give her name said the children were happy and loved. “This year they have played and had fun and laughed like no other children have, which they have never been able to do,” she said.

Oh, so that’s all right then. Never mind.

Un-be-LIEV-able.

By the way, do the math. Eleven foster/adopted children times government benefits for caring for them each month equals not having to work for a living, and gee, you can lock the kids up at night and do whatever!

Perhaps Family Services should have noticed this a while back. A house with eleven foster children should be extremely well supervised. This is on the child welfare agency.