All these months later, a (hopefully) next-to-last Gracie update.

I have been gradually reducing her Prednisone, which was once at 10 mg a day and is now at 1.25 mg a day. No more two pills a day. Just a quarter-pill, once a day. This is her fourth day on the quarter-pill, and she is sleeping comfortably in her tissue-paper nest. Of course, in about a minute I’m going to grab her and give her today’s pill, but that’ll be over in a flash and she’ll be purring soon after.

The last time I tried to change her dosage, it didn’t work. She was miserable until I put her back to the prior amount. It’s extremely good news that she’s yowling at me for attention, and playing when I do pay attention to her.

I think our IBD may be in full retreat, and my golden girl may be back to normal soon. Which is a good thing. Not only does she hate getting the pill, but I’m not very fond of giving it to her anymore, either. And I’d really like my freedom back. Some days, I’d like to stay overnight in the DC area and work two days in the office, or see the sights of DC with my friends. When Gracie gets better, I’ll be able to do that again.

Abbas has let loose the hounds of Fatah.

Forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah were ordered Tuesday evening to defend their positions in the Gaza Strip, and counter a “coup” by rival Hamas Islamists.

Hamas, stepping up a rapidly expanding power struggle, on Tuesday afternoon launched attacks against installations of security forces allied to Fatah, seizing a number of smaller positions and laying seige to others.

“Advance, our forces! Confront the seekers of the coup. Defend your dignity and your military honour. Defend the security of your people,” the command of Abbas’ National Security Forces said in a statement issued in Gaza.

The statement giving the order described Hamas as a “bloody party which is launching a coup against the president and against the authority and national unity government.”

Witnesses said they saw vehicles carrying members of the National Security Forces to battles in western and northern Gaza City.

Now things should get interesting. Once again, we emphasize that we hope both parties win. Huge body counts, boys. We want to see a lot of dead terrorists. Leave the civilians alone, please.

The anti-Israel contingency swore that this would be the biggest anti-Israel rally ever. Hundreds of thousands would march and shout in Washington, and the beginning of the end of the occupation would occur.

Except, well, nobody showed.

Billed as a massive rally and the first national demonstration focusing on an end to the Israeli occupation, a pro-Palestinian protest held on the Capitol lawn Sunday afternoon drew upwards of 2,000 protesters chanting anti-Israel slogans, waving Palestinian flags and calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

The sponsors, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, United for Peace and Justice and 300 supporting organizations, said they were pleased with the turnout at the rally. Critics, though, called the smaller-than-expected turnout a poor showing for a nationally planned event.

Wow. Three hundred supporting organizations, and less than 3,000 people showed. They couldn’t even average ten people per organization. And there’s no real excuse. Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day, just perfect for a rally in front of the Capitol. There were no traffic incidents to stop the flow of people into DC, either. Gee. And still, nobody showed. What a disappointment to the anti-Israel side.

How can you tell it was a crushing disappointment? By the organizers’ refusal to acknowledge the horrendous showing.

The dozens of empty port-a-potties lining one side of the rally perimeter suggested that many more protesters had been expected, but US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation organizer Phyllis Bennis said she was “absolutely” pleased with the turnout. She wouldn’t estimate the size of the crowd as she didn’t want to get into a “numbers game.”

Denial is not just a river in Egypt, you know.

“This is a historic event. This is the first time there’s been a national rally focused solely on ending US support for the Israeli occupation,” she said, standing in front of the towering Capitol building. She added that the demonstration was aimed mainly at Congress and would be followed up by a lobbying day Monday with 200 visits to members of Congress representing 30 states.

Wow. Representing 30 states, and 2,000 protestors. That’s, um, let’s see, carry the two… almost 67 voters per state! Hoo-wee, it’s a mandate!

“There’s a sea-change happening in public opinion” regarding Israel, said Bennis, explaining the timing of the rally, which also coincided with the 40th anniversary of Israel’s victory in the 1967 war. “Public opinion is changing, but it doesn’t happen overnight.”

De. Nial. Yep. That river in Egypt, she flows swiftly past (and through) the anti-Israel moonbats. From their press release on the result of the rally:

June 10-11 Mobilization a Huge Success
(Washington DC, June 11, 2007) The largest ever national demonstration against the Israeli occupation took place yesterday in Washington DC. More than 5,000 demonstrators from all over the country declared that “40 years of Israel’s occupation are enough.”

Okay, even taking their numbers at face value, they still couldn’t even get much more than 16 people per organization to show. What a stunning showing. Very meaningful. Looks like that tiny minority of Israel-haters really is a tiny minority.

The rally took place in front of the Capitol and continued with a march to the White House – the two centers of US foreign policy. This demonstration was sponsored by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and United for Peace and Justice, two major national coalitions. More than 300 organizations nationwide participated.

I wonder if any members of Congress even bothered to meet with them.

We are now two-for-two in failed anti-Israel protests. They didn’t show up in Britain, either.

This is very good news for the good guys. People are starting to see the inherent anti-Semitism in the anti-Israel crowd. No, all criticism of Israel isn’t anti-Semitism. But an astonishingly high amount of it is.

Imagine if the IDF had done any of this:

On Tuesday morning, a gun battle erupted at the European Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Hamas gunmen controlling the rooftop traded fire with Fatah-allied security forces posted nearby. Fifteen children attending a kindergarten in the line of fire were rushed into the main building of the hospital, funded largely by European donations.

[...] Separately, Hamas gunmen attacked the home of a senior Fatah security official with mortars and grenades, killing his 14-year-old son and three women in the house, security officials said. Other Fatah gunmen stormed the house of a Hamas lawmaker and burned it to the ground.

[..] The latest fighting disrupted final exams for university and high school students. The three Gaza universities called off final exams set for Tuesday. High schools were trying to move test centers to areas out of the range of fire, said Mohammed Abu Shkeir, the deputy minister of education.

The headlines would be screaming: “IDF Threatens Palestinian Children, Closes Schools.”

Meantime, the terrorists are trying to hit children on their way to school in Sderot.

Did you know that 17 Palestinians were killed by “infighting” yesterday? Yep. Check it out.

Rival gunmen exchanged fire at two Gaza hospitals on Monday and Cabinet ministers fled their weekly meeting after the government headquarters was caught in the crossfire of a brutal day of infighting that killed 17 Palestinians.

Damn that infighting! It’ll get you every time.

The battles came a day after two militants from the rival Hamas and Fatah factions were dragged onto high-rise rooftops and thrown to their death in a power struggle that appears to be rapidly descending into all-out confrontation.

Ya think? Really? Please, don’t tease us anymore!

After sundown Monday, gunmen, apparently from Hamas, laid siege to the house of Jamal Abu al-Jediyan, the senior Fatah official in northern Gaza. They then dragged him outside and killed him, security officials said. Medics said he was hit by 45 bullets.

Okay, I was wrong about the bullet shortage causing the defenestrations. Obviously, Hamas still has plenty of bullets. But I think they may have made a tactical error here.

Al-Jediyan was a top aide to Gaza Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan and al-Jediyan’s brother was also killed, apparently in the same shootout.

Fatah spokesman Maher Mikdad harshly denounced the killing and threatened revenge.

Of course you realize, this means war.

“What is this, if not a war,” he said.

Fatah called on its members to target all Hamas political and military leaders.

I do believe we have a full-blown civil war on our hands. At least, I sure hope so. I wonder how the Saudis are going to get them to kiss and make up this time.

I’m thinking it won’t be long before the media admit what this really is: A civil war. The AP isn’t ready to say so yet.

Hamas gunmen attacked the headquarters of the security forces in northern Gaza, a key prize in the bloody power struggle between the two sides. About 200 Hamas fighters surrounded the compound, where some 500 Fatah gunmen were holed up, and fired mortars and RPGs at the building in the Jebaliya refugee camp.

Hamas also demanded that Fatah-allied security forces abandon their positions, threatening to attack those who remained.

“The warning which we have given you to surrender has ended, and we will attack this position of Zionist collaborators,” Hamas warned over a mosque loudspeaker in Gaza City, shortly before taking up positions near the headquarters of the pro-Fatah Preventive Security Service. Later, there were heavy exchanges of fire.

Reuters is nearly ready to do it.

Hamas gunmen stormed a Fatah security headquarters in Gaza City on Tuesday, moving Palestinians closer to civil war, minutes after the Islamist group’s deadline for its rival to quit key strongholds expired.

A spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction said its Central Committee would meet at 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) to weigh whether to remain in the unity government it formed with Hamas in March in a bid to stop internal violence and ease Western sanctions.

In an ultimatum verging on a declaration of war, Hamas’s armed wing had given Fatah until 1100 GMT to evacuate the military intelligence, presidential guard, national security and preventive security headquarters in Gaza City.

After the deadline passed, witnesses said Hamas fighters attacked a large compound controlled by the Fatah-dominated national security forces in Gaza City.

Yep. Civil war. Finally. And again, may both sides win, expending as many men and as much materiel as possible. Please do kill as many terrorists as you can. And watch out for the civilians. Not that I think you will, but actually, I do care about civilian casualties. Innocents are innocents.

Watch for the barrage of rockets into Israel to increase again.

So, have you been keeping up with the war in Lebanon? Interesting, isn’t it, how the media isn’t sending out six thousand screaming headlines per day, plus all-news, all-the-time on cable stations—because it isn’t Israel involved. Funny how they keep on calling the aggressors “terrorists” too, isn’t it? (Well, okay, Reuters doesn’t, but other news services have.)

Two members of the Lebanese Red Cross were killed today, and another wounded, but there are not several thousand screaming headlines—because the IDF didn’t do it. In fact, I don’t know who killed them, because the article doesn’t say.

Four Lebanese soldiers and two relief workers were killed in fierce fighting on Monday between the Lebanese army and al Qaeda-inspired militants at a Palestinian refugee camp.

[...] Security sources said two members of the Lebanese Red Cross were killed and a third was wounded when they were hit by a shell. A military source said four soldiers were also killed in the fighting.

And note the matter-of-fact way the deaths of civilians are reported here, and remember what happens when a single civilian is killed by the IDF.

At least 136 people have been killed, including 60 soldiers, in three weeks of fighting, the worst internal clashes since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. Eleven soldiers died and more than 100 were wounded in battles at the weekend alone.

No. There’s no anti-Israel media spin. None at all. Why do you ask?

Just in case you thought they had, no, the kassams are still being launched. Every day.

Palestinian gunmen fired six Qassam rockets at the town of Sderot and the western Negev communities on Monday morning, following a number of relatively quiet days in southern Israel.

The rockets landed in open areas, and there were no reports of injuries or damage.

The murderers were aiming for children.

The al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad’s military wing, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets.

The Qassams were launched while children were making their way to schools and kindergartens. Due to the state of emergency in the area, the children are traveling in fortified buses.

Still no UN resolutions condemning the indiscriminate bombing of Israeli civilians.

Update: And one hurt a man in the Negev.

Still no UN condemnation.

It seems that my juvenile scorn muscles have been in great need of exercise.

Poor, poor, pitiful Pals. They’re all depressed over the mess their democratically-elected government has made of their lives.

Ninety-two percent of Palestinians suffer from depression-related anxiety, caused by despair over violence between Hamas and Fatah gunmen and the apparent demise of the Palestinian unity government, according to a poll published by the Washington Times on Monday morning.

amil Rabah, the director of Ramallah-based Near East Consulting, polled 801 Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem for the latest survey, which has a margin of error of 3.4 percent.

The poll was taken last month, following a deadly flare-up between Hamas and Fatah gunmen that left dozens dead in Gaza and laid bare a dysfunctional unity government. The unrest cuts across region, political affiliation and social class, according to the poll findings.

Here’s a suggestion: Don’t vote for bloodthirsty terrorists or corrupt kleptocrats to lead you, and maybe your society might actually achieve something.

Guess maybe you shouldn’t have cheered Arafat’s return from Tunisia after all, hm?