This has been a crappy day. So let’s end it with a gratuitous Tig belly shot.

He’s upstairs right now in the laundry basket, which was used to carry laundry. He waits anxiously while I empty it, then he jumps in, lies down, and purrs loudly. If I have a string, I dangle it at him through the bars of the basket, which he loves.

Meantime, Gracie generally runs like hell, because she’s afraid of the basket when I put it on the bed. She sleeps in it when it’s half-full of laundry, but then it’s on the floor where, apparently, it’s safe.

Tig joins me in wishing for peace for our friends in Israel tonight, and comfort for the mourners and the families of the wounded.

More cat therapy can be found here, at the latest Carnival of the Cats.

Israel thinks she can get the UN Security Council to condemn today’s suicide bombing.

WASHINGTON - Israel turned to the United Nations Security Council Monday demanding the world body condemn the suicide bombing attack in Tel Aviv that killed nine people.

The Council was already set to convene Monday to discuss Palestinian demands that Israel be condemned for military actions in Gaza two weeks ago, and Israel is hoping to turn the tables by using the opportunity to pass a decision condemning the Palestinians.

Under instructions from Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman asked the Security Council to condemn the attack. Israel also turned to the United States and to European members of the Security Council, including France, Britain and Denmark, and in the evening hours an informal meeting was held at the American embassy to pen a draft resolution condemning the attack.

Prediction: If the UNSC puts out a resolution, it will condemn both the bombing and Israel’s actions in Gaza and the terrortories.[sic]

John Bolton is only one man, after all.

The suicide bomber was sixteen years old:

The Islamic Jihad revealed on Monday afternoon that the suicide bomber who detonated himself at a falafel stand outside Tel Aviv’s old central bus station was Sami Salim Mohammed Hammed, from Jenin.

The next time Saeb Erekat or some other Palestinian mouthpiece whines about a teenager getting shot for hurling rocks or smuggling bombs because they’re just a child, keep this in mind.

UPDATE:
AKS points to this Flickr gallery from someone that was on the scene quickly.

The family is saying the bomber wasn’t 16, but a 21 year-old dropout from Al-Quds University:

Sami Hammad graduated from high school and studied social work through a distance-learning program of Al Quds University but was forced to drop out because his parents could not afford to support him, his mother said.

Blowing yourself up in the middle of a crowd, killing and maiming dozens says a lot about the society he was “studying” to do “social work” for.

When the leaders of Iran threaten explicitly to annihilate Israel, the media goes into overdrive to change or hide the meaning of their words.

CNN: Iranian president inflames tensions with Israel

The Washington Post via AP: Iran Leader: Israel Will Be Annihilated

Whoops, no, they’ve changed it to: Iran President Again Lashes Out at Israel

The New York Times (via AP): Iran’s Leader Says Israel Will Be Annihilated

Reuters: Iran president: “Zionist regime” a threat

Al Jazeera: Iran leaders criticise US and Israel

AFP: Iran’s leaders launch vitriolic assault on Israel, US

A question for you: Which of these is the Arab propaganda arm, and which are supposedly unbiased news services?

Media outlets are reporting that Mahmoud Abbas condemned the “terrorist attack” and used those very words.

No, he didn’t.

The exact wording from the WAFA News Agency:

President Abbas Condemns Tel Aviv Explosion

AMMAN, April 17, 2006, (WAFA)- President Mahmoud Abbas strongly condemned, on Monday, the terrorist operation took place in the Tel Aviv.

President stated, in Amman, that such operations are against the Palestinian national consensus and harm the high national interests.

Abbas asserted the necessity of international intervention to end the deterioration in the region.

Six Israelis were killed and others wounded when an explosion occurred in a bus station in Tel Aviv.

In the meantime, more than 80 isaraeli tanks invaded the West Bank city of Nablus.

S.A.S. (14:52 P) (11:52 GMT)

Show me a quote in there where he condemned it. Once again, it’s the non-condemnation condemnation, and the world media will parrot the AP/Reuters lies that Abbas used the words “terrorist attack.” He did not. But his PR people are good. This is all the West needs to fulfill its fantasies that the palestinians want peace with Israel.

Why let the truth get in the way of the facts?

Once more, for those who claim that the palestinian murderers use suicide bombing attacks because they don’t have tanks or other military weapons, I should like to point out that Tel Aviv has never been a part of the occupied territories.

The bombing took place in Tel Aviv. Six people dead so far, 52 wounded, two critically. The wounded, of course, carry nails and shrapnel in their bodies, as well as rat poison in many cases. The murderers put it in to cause more bleeding, in the hopes of killing more people. These are the bombs used in “self-defense.”

Islamic Jihad and Fatah — I’m sorry, Al-Aqsa — are claiming the bombing. Hamas says it was self-defense.

Sure. Self-defense. In Tel Aviv. At a bus station. At a falafel shop. Those are dangerous people, falafel-eaters.

Saab Erekat mouthed the usual “not in the palestinians interest” pseudo-condemnation.

Supposedly, Abbas called it a terror attack. He didn’t. Read this.

Yesterday, I read an article that said the IDF was unhappy that they’re not allowed to go into Gaza with a ground attack to stop the shelling. I suspect we’re going to see that ground attack, and soon.

Update: Seven are now dead. Once again, the security guard stopped the bomber from entering, saving many more lives.

Update 2: Eight, and 50 wounded.

Update 3: Nine. Wounded count is up to 65.

Update 4: The wounded count is up to 68, and a victim has been named: Philip Balahsan from Ashdod, who was there with his children. No word yet on his children.

Update 5: His children said he hugged them tightly, told them to call their mother, and soon thereafter collapsed. He died on the way to the hospital due to shrapnel that reached his heart.

I’ve been disturbed about the AIPAC spy case since the beginning. And the more I read about it, the more disturbed I get.

Gary Farber has an extensive analysis of why I should be even more worried about this case. He says it’s a First Amendment case, and that if the government wins, then regular reporters will be arrested for receiving classified information.

The case is drawing the attention of First Amendment attorneys because both Ellis and prosecutors have noted that the two lobbyists — in receiving and disseminating the information — are doing what journalists, academics and experts at think tanks do every day.

Floyd Abrams, a New York attorney who has represented the New York Times in a variety of high-profile cases, said in an interview this week that the AIPAC case “is the single most dangerous case for free speech and free press.” Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy, wrote on his Web site this week: “Anything other than a dismissal of the charges would mark a dramatic shift in national security law and a significant reduction in First Amendment protections.”

Attorneys for the AIPAC lobbyists argue that First Amendment protections bear on the case because their clients were exercising their free speech rights.

There’s much more over at Gary’s.

But we’ve never before convicted people of a crime for receiving classified material. That’s a whole ‘nother ball game.

The staff of the New York Times who reported on the NSA “Program,” including James Risen? Jail time.

Seymour Hersh? Jail time.

Pincus at the Post? Jail time.

And every other reporter, forever more.

Go read it all.