Yeah, we’re worried about Lair. But he’ll do the right thing.

Lair, I have a new twofer picture of the cats on the sofa, which I don’t think I’ve ever managed to get before. I’ll put it up after you settle in wherever you settle.

Folks, one of the things that is preventing me from putting some posts up is the amount of time they’ll take to convert. Link-heavy posts like “Meirav Was Two” are going to take a while to get to, even though most of the links are dead. Hm. Or maybe I shouldn’t reproduce dead links. That’d be, well, stupid.

Anyway, go ahead, make some more requests. I’ve got a few ideas of my own, but no time for it probably until after the High Holy Days (Mom’s coming to town).

Hamas is showing the world what it truly thinks is holy:

WASHINGTON - Emboldened by Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank, Hamas yesterday announced its plan to turn a synagogue in Netzarim into a museum that would display weapons employed by the terrorist group’s members against Israeli civilians.

A statement issued yesterday by Hamas said, “Qassam rockets and other locally made arms will be exposed, since it is the legal weapon that evicted the occupation forces.” The Middle East Media Research Institute yesterday reported that recent sermons delivered by Hamas leaders pledged to resist efforts from the Palestinian Authority to disarm the organization ahead of upcoming elections.

Sure, let’s force Israel to help the pals elect terrorists, and then watch the world go after Israel for refusing to deal with them politically.

Hat tip: Joel G.

Once again, our Secretary of State says the right things a day after she says the wrong things. I cannot tell what she means anymore without an interpreter.

QUESTION: Have you spoken to Prime Minister Sharon since his comments suggesting that if Hamas were to contest the Palestinian parliamentary elections that Israel would somehow intervene or — I’m not exactly sure, you know, what they’d be planning to do. But given that we classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, wouldn’t he be justified in doing that? I mean, should we expect Israel to recognize a Palestinian government that includes members of a terrorist organization or has representation of such a group?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, we are talking to the Israelis. I think there is a difference between the question of whether or not you interfere in somebody else’s elections, you know, in some way by not letting them take place or whatever — that’s one question. But look, on the question of whether or not you can have a situation in which a group maintains both an option for politics and an option for violence, I think that’s a real question for the international community. The Israelis shouldn’t be the only ones asking that question.

In multiple cases, take Afghanistan, for instance, one of the requirements of people running for office was that they had to disarm the militias. They had to either (inaudible) their weapons or — they couldn’t simultaneously be an armed militia and a political entity. If you look at the Northern Ireland situation, while Sinn Fein did (inaudible) while there was still an IRA, it was clearly a part of the Good Friday Agreement that the military wing of the Irish movement would disarm. There is a requirement under Resolution 1559 for the Lebanon to eventually disarm the militias.

Because people understand that there is not a circumstance that I can think of in which you have a functioning democracy in which part of that government or part of that political — of the political entity maintains an option for violence. Any functioning democracy has to have one authority and one gun, as Mahmoud Abbas has put it.

So I think we will want to work with the international community to address this question. I think it is an extremely important question because I don’t, frankly, think Hamas can have it both ways.

Now, I think it would be a good start for the Palestinians, by the way, if they would disarm the militias of Fatah. That would be a good start. They have a roadmap obligation to disarm terrorist organizations and militias. But as a starting point, because I understand that there are complications with Hamas and there are questions about how capable they would be of actually insisting on disarmament of Hamas. They really do need to start getting, as Abbas has called it, one authority and one gun.

But I would separate the question of how the Israelis approach the question of their elections, the Palestinian elections, where I think you will want to elect — the elections be carried out, from what I think is a legitimate question for the international community to ask about those who wish to keep a political option and a violence option.

She changes her opinion so fast I’m getting whiplash trying to keep up with her.

Hamas is winning in Gaza:

The PA is crumbling, its leader Mahmoud Abbas is too weak to enforce law and order, his Fatah party is in disarray, and Hamas is taking control of the Gaza Strip, Diskin said. “(Abbas) has no apparatus to control Fatah. He is a general without soldiers. Giving him more weapons won’t give Fatah strength.”

Interesting. Israel declared the Gaza-Israeli border international.

JERUSALEM, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Israel declared its frontier with the Gaza Strip an international border on Wednesday, formally setting part of a boundary for the first time with an eventual Palestinian state.

Israeli Interior Minister Ofer Pines-Paz called the measure, which he signed, “a first step to civilianise the passages and to turn them into borders” between Israel and Gaza after Israel completed a military pullout from the territory on Sept. 12.

For the past year or so–I’d have to look it up–Tig has not been on the kitty condo except to use it as a scratching post. I don’t know exactly what happened, but something frightened him from using it, probably having to do with a maintenance guy coming in to search for squirrels in the attic (no remarks, please).

A few days ago, he showed interest. I cleared it of the mail and other objects (hey, it’s right by the door, and a perfect spot for mail and things). Then I put him up there a day later, and he stayed for a few moments. The next day, up he went. Last night: Slept there all night.

And so, we have the following:

Let sleeping cats lie. (If you don’t, they scratch you.)