Daniel Gordis:

And even though Jerusalem is, so far, beyond the reach of the rockets, even here, the air has started to take on a war-like feel. A colleague of mine, in her 40’s, cancelled a meeting yesterday because her real-estate agent husband was just called up and sent to the Egyptian border. A friend I met later in the afternoon cut a meeting short because his son was getting a few hours off. The kid hasn’t even finished basic training, but was sent out to Samaria to guard an outpost so that more experienced kids could get sent to the front. And we were going to try to get together with other friends this morning, but they can’t. Their twenty year old son got called up from his yeshiva, and sent to south of Hebron, and they’re going to try to get out there to bring him some food for Shabbat. And our daughter won’t be home for Shabbat – she’s got guard duty on base. With the other two kids away for the summer, we’re home by ourselves. The house feels empty, hollow. Like the towns in the north.

And so it goes. Another all out war, when it could have been different. If they’d wanted something else. But they don’t. Not the Iranians, not the civilians in Syria interviewed on CNN who spoke with admiration of Nasrallah, not the Palestinians on the West Bank who’ve posted his picture everywhere, and not even the Israeli Arabs in Nazareth who, from the depths of their mourning, blame Israel and not Nasrallah for the loss of their children.

Via Daniel360.

Hey, all the cool cats are doing it.

This is what I’m currently using as my desktop. The Audacity shortcut icon is on his tail. I wonder if that means anything?

Nah. I like Audacity.

Threatening Israel, supplying Hezbullah with 13,000 rockets and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to launch them, and fighting the IDF with Iranian soldiers are apparently not enough for the mad mullahs of Iran.

Now they’re sending suicide bombers.

Is Tehran stepping up its involvement in the Israeli-Lebanese confrontation? Iran is set to send the first group of suicide bombers to Lebanon on Wednesday, the Iranian news agency ILNA reported.

The expeditionary force, dubbed by the Iranian regime as “Loyalists of Islamic Justice,” will be the first ever to be sent to Lebanon. According to the report, the force is compiled of seekers of the Shahadah (death for the sake of heaven), who are set to depart from Tehran after the noontime prayer on Wednesday.

What good are suicide bombers going to do against the IDF, you may be wondering. So was I. Well, apparently, they’re not going to kill Israelis. They’re going to kill Lebanese civilians.

Other reports claimed that two groups made up of 27 volunteers have already left for Syria on their way to Lebanon. The volunteers’ task, after having undergone a months-long training, would be to carry out suicide bombings aimed at wreaking havoc and fear around military and civilian targets. According to the report, the group’s mission is to trigger a civil war within the divided Lebanese society, and cause the situation in the country to deteriorate even further.

I cannot begin to describe how depraved even the thought of this is. And Gorilla Boy? He’s bragging:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in this regard that “the storm in the Middle East is approaching. Those who caused the storm shall bear the consequences.”

Yes, storm-maker. You will bear the consequences of your actions. But I don’t think they’re going to be what you think they’ll be.

Tell me again about this so-called “religion of peace.” I could use a good bedtime story.

So now I’ve been home for three days, and, well, I don’t feel my stress levels down at all.

I just spent the last hour online searching for a local fitness club that has Tai Chi classes (I took one in Montclair and loved it), or, failing that, a program that works for me budget-wise, location-wise, and content-wise. I have left a few messages at places which may have Tai Chi classes, and will check out a few local fitness clubs that don’t have Tai Chi, but that do have other classes. The ones high on my list right now are Curves, and the one in the West End that actually does have Tai Chi, but only on Thursday mornings, which means I can probably take it for, oh, two weeks, tops. But it also has a month-by-month payment plan that I like. I hate year-long contracts. They irritate me. Why I changed my hosting service plan from quarterly to yearly I cannot tell you, and I regret it, especially because I want to change hosting services.

I think I need to take classes. I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to get on my Gazelle Glider, which is staring at me mournfully and trying to guilt me into sessions. I don’t have a climbing partner, so climbing at the rock-climbing gym isn’t as easy as it could be. Yeah, I could go and hop in with some people. That’s what you do when you don’t have a partner. But I’m so out of shape I think one climb will knock me out, and that’s embarrassing.

I need to find my Yan Xin Qigong books, too. Yes, I am a woman of many layers, and one of them is a deep respect and liking for Chinese meditation and exercise. I have never cared for Yoga or any Indian meditation. But Qigong and Tai Chi? I like that a lot.

Think I’ll go searching for the books now. Yan Xin Qigong got me through my father’s death without going back to smoking, and without the usual stress-related stomach problems that I get when stressed. I think it will get me out of my current stressed-out state.

Sorry. You’ll have to go check with Soccer Dad every morning if you want your war news fix. He’s doing a daily Haveil Havalim.

I have to stop reading the news and watching the newscasts so much. One big roundup in the morning, and some updates later, is about all I think I should do these days.

In a stunning reversal of reality, the UN’s “humanitarian chief” (wtf is a “humanitarian chief,” anyway?) has discovered that Hezbullah is the main reason for civilian deaths in this war.

LARNACA, Cyprus - The UN humanitarian chief accused Hezbollah late Monday of “cowardly blending” among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds during two weeks of cross-border violence with Israel.

The militant group has built bunkers and tunnels near the Israeli border to shelter weapons and fighters, and its members easily blend in among civilians.

Jan Egeland spoke with reporters at the Larnaca airport in Cyprus after a visit to Lebanon on his mission to coordinate an international aid effort.

Yes, this is the same bozo who just accused Israel of violating “humanitarian law” a day or so ago.

“Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending … among women and children,” he said. “I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don’t think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men.

“We need a cessation of hostilities because this is a war where civilians are paying the price,” said Egeland, before flying to Israel.

Actually, we need a cessation of Hezbullah, but that’s being worked on.

The IDF has taken control of Bint Jbeil, a Hezbullah stronghold.

After nearly a week of fighting, the IDF has completed its takeover of the area stretching between the village of Maroun al-Ras and the town of Bint Jbeil in the central region of southern Lebanon.

Golani, Paratroopers, and Armored Corps forces with aerial backup completed the takeover during the night hours.

“We are currently occupied with collecting evidence, bodies of Hizbullah terrorists, and various testimonies, while preparing for the next stage, Lieutenant Colonel Itzik Ronen of the Armored Corps’ Division 7 said.

I really love the Ynet teasers above each story:

Army forces take over area between Maroun al-Ras and town thought to be Hizbullah’s capital ahead of continued ground operations. ‘We will decide rules there, we’ll end the mission – and we’ll leave,’ says army source

They cut straight to the point, which is something I appreciate.

Condi Rice is telling the palestinians that in spite of the fact that they hate Israel, elected Hamas, murdered and kidnapped Israeli soldiers, and are raining rockets down on the population every day—we should fast-track palestinian statehood. Shyeah.

Rice said on Tuesday there was a need to remain focused on establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel despite the current crisis in Lebanon.

Rice met Abbas after visiting Lebanon and Israel, where she discussed the two weeks of fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas.

“Even as the Lebanon situation is resolved, we must remain focused on what is happening here, in the Palestinian territories,” Rice told a news conference. “On our desires to get back to … (the) vision of two states living side by side in peace.”

Rice also told Abbas “how very much admiration there is for you in the United States for your courage and your continuing leadership of the Palestinian people.”

So, except for the idiots in CAIR and the nutjobs on the extreme left, that admiration society can probably hold its annual meetings in a phone booth. (Yes, it’s an old joke, but my father was an old man, so I have a lot of them.)

Thanks so much, Condi, for supporting terror while saying you want to stop the rule of terror in the Middle East:

“It is time for a new Middle East,” she said. “It is time to say to those that don’t want a different kind of Middle East that we will prevail. They will not.”

The old Middle East is right there, in Hamas and the PA. I didn’t hear a call for the unconditional release of Cpl. Shalit in that speech. But there was this:

Earlier Tuesday, Palestinian police clashed with hundreds of Palestinians who were holding an anti-U.S. protest outside a government building ahead of the meeting.

Chanting “Rice, out, out!” and carrying the flags of militant groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, about 1,000 protesters clashed with police in front of Abbas’ headquarters in Ramallah.

Sure. They want peace. Uh-huh.

Another child was killed by rocket fire, but you won’t see her name or age in the AP report. However, you will read a heartbreaking account of a Lebanese family in the village near Bint Jbeil, who were in a house struck by an IAF bomb. Of course, you won’t hear why they’re still there, and whether or not their family members are Hezbullah terrorists—but you can read the account of the death of Shireen’s family.

In Ha’aretz, you get a few details:

In Maghar, a 15-year-old girl was killed when a rocket directly struck a residential home in a Muslim neighborhood in the Galilee village.

Magen David Adom medical crews reported that the girl’s 30-year-old brother was seriously hurt and her 12-year-old sister was moderately wounded.

No doubt we will hear Nasrallah talking about the “martyrdom” of the poor girl, since she was not a Jew.

And oh yeah—Iran is threatening Israel again.

Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad-Reza Sheybani says ‘Israel can’t deal with our capabilities’ Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad-Reza Sheybani says ‘Israel can’t deal with our capabilities; Lebanon war beginning of end of Israel’

There, that’s the YNet teaser. Doesn’t it make you want to read the whole article? Be my guest.

My server was totally screwed up a little while ago, and I was impatient, so I went to look at my email on the server. 307 messages were in my mailbox since last night. Took a quick look, and the first 25 were all spam. So I decided I didn’t want to play find-the-real-email, and logged out, and waited until the server worked normally (this is a regular problem here, and I am strongly considering a new hosting service as a result). Now there are 64 email messages.

14 of them were not spam.

If my math isn’t wrong, that means 95% of my email is spam.

And why is it, again, that we shouldn’t send spammers to jail?

I have totally changed my mind about that.

Ninety-five percent of my email is spam. Ninety-five percent. Ninety-effing-five percent.

Lock ‘em up and throw away the key.