A PETA worker is going to be tried for felony theft for stealing a foxhound. She says she was rescuing a stray. Except, well, she took a tracking collar off the dog, and also ignored the fact that the dog’s name and owner’s phone number were on the other collar.

Courtland, VA - An animal rights advocate who said she was rescuing a stray will be prosecuted on a felony theft charge for loading a deputy sheriff’s hunting dog into a van and driving away.

A judge on Tuesday allowed the case to proceed against Andrea Florence Benoit, 25, who contends she was worried about the dog’s welfare and only wanted to return it to its owner.

The Chesapeake woman picked up the fox hound while working in Southampton County for Norfolk’s People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Prosecutors dropped charges against another PETA worker in the van.

A motorist who saw the women pick up the dog called Southampton County Deputy Sheriff J.T. Cooke Jr., an animal control officer for the county. Cooke found the van a few minutes later and discovered his Walker hound in the back.

Cooke testified that he had let out several of his hounds the night before to chase foxes, and one failed to return. The dog carried dye markings of numbers on its side and “JT” on its hip and wore a neon yellow collar bearing Cooke’s name and cell phone number, the deputy said.

The animal also had been outfitted with an orange collar fitted with an antenna that could track the animal for three to four miles.

The tracking collar was found near the side of the road where the dog was picked up.

Oops. Apparently, though, she was following PETA policy. Yes, that’s right, PETA tells its workers to steal animals and not contact their owners directly.

The women were following PETA policy by not directly trying to contact the dog’s owner through the phone number on the other collar, Benoit’s lawyer, Stephen D. Benjamin, said. They intended to call their office so PETA could reach Cooke, he said.

While General District Judge Robert B. Edwards said he had no doubt that Benoit believed she was doing the right thing, “the right thing in this case was a felony.”

I like that judge. Of course, it’s going to be plea-bargained down to a misdemeanor, just as the case of the PETA workers taking animals from vets, killing them, and throwing them into a dumpster was.

It’s good to know that Olmert thinks he can make peace with Abbas. Because it’s obvious that Abbas has changed and is totally ready to crack down on terrorism and work towards a two-state solution.

You can tell by the statement he released in response to the IDF’s operations in Gaza earlier today.

“The crimes that were committed in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation must be strongly condemned,” read a statement released by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s office Wednesday.

The statement continued: “This bloody escalation, which was initiated by the Israeli government, is a distinct violation of the tahadiyeh, and will lead to a chain of retaliations and the prolongation of violence.”

The PA chairman’s office went on to say that “this aggression comes only a single day after the Sharm e-Sheikh summit and calls into question whether Israel really intends to seal an agreement and negotiate to end the occupation.

Yep. Sounds to me like a man Israel can work with. Uh-huh. Sure.

Hey, kids. If it’s a day that ends with a “y,” it’s time for the AP anti-Israel media bias. Let’s start, as always, with the headline.

Israeli Troops Kill 10 Palestinians

No doubt there what happened. But please note that the word “militants” is nowhere to be found in the headline. Just for comparison’s sake, let’s check out this story from a few days ago, about the Lebanese army killing Palestinian “militants.”

10 die as clashes move to Tripoli

Isn’t that fascinating? When Israel isn’t killing the “militants,” they simply “die.” Or they “die in clashes.” Or sometimes, the passive “are killed” is used. But when it comes to Israel killing terrorists, the active voice is always, always used. Palesitinians—rarely “militants”—are killed by Israelis, or the army, or the IDF, in the headline. And the lede.

Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday killed 10 Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy, Palestinians said, the bloodiest fighting in the area since the Hamas militant group violently seized control two weeks ago.

Wow. Strong stuff. Let’s check out that story on the Lebanese Army going after Palestinian terrorists.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanese troops raided a house suspected of containing al-Qaeda-inspired militants in the northern port city of Tripoli early Sunday, sparking a gunbattle that left 10 people dead, including a soldier and six gunmen, security officials said.

Notice the passive “left 10 people dead.” You also have to travel down several paragraphs to have it spelled out for you that civilians were killed—note the lack of civilian casualties in the lede graf, except as an implied number subtracted from the “10 die” total. Here’s the graf where they are described:

An army soldier, a policeman and two family members were killed in Sunday’s confrontation, which began with troops laying siege to a building where the gunmen had taken refugee after nighttime clashes in the area, the security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The names and ages of the civilians are not in evidence. This graf was buried very deeply within the story, as opposed to in the first few paragraphs, where they’d be if it was a story about the IDF. But you can find them, surprisingly, in this Reuters article in Ha’aretz.

The militants killed a policeman, his two daughters, aged 4 and 8, and his father-in-law after using them as human shields in an apartment, sparking the siege.

A police statement said the policeman and his daughters were visiting the father-in-law who lived in the building when the militants stormed their flat and seized them, then later killed them.

However, that news is in paragraphs four and five of a story with this passive headline, and there is no civilian death count in the lede:

Twelve die in Lebanese army raid on militant hideout in apartment

Interestingly, Reuters doesn’t think the total number of civilians killed by the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam in their “gunbattles” is worth mentioning. The deaths are all lumped together in a single total, something that has never, ever been done in stories about Israel versus, well, anyone.

A similar raid on a Tripoli flat on May 20 sparked the fighting in Nahr al-Bared, where 176 people have been killed in Lebanon’s worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war.

And there you have it. The wire service media bias against Israel. Only in evidence on days that end with a “y.”

Sgt. Mom wrote a book. So far, she hasn’t gotten a publisher, but that’s not stopping her. Now she’s going to try to self-publish, but that’s not inexpensive, either.

So go check out Sgt. Mom’s post where she tells you about her book, the rejections, Plans B, C, D, and E, and if you have a few extra bucks, hit her tipjar. It’s all my fault, you see. I liked her writing so much when she was a plain old blogger, that I told her she should turn her words into a book. So she did.

So, maybe if only 5% of the manuscripts floating into agents’ offices, and publisher’s submissions sub-sub-sub contractors are good for anything other than landfill. Everyone thinks they have a book in them, and the fact that in most cases it should have stayed right there is beside the point. The OK to Pretty Damned Good stuff is still an absolutely unmanageable quantity. All the competent and ethical agents seem to have about all they can do to look at hundreds of similar OK to Pretty Damned Good submissions clamoring for their attention and time and make a snap decision on accepting and managing the tiny percentage that will pay off with the least amount of effort on their part.

Yeah, they kept sending me these letters admitting that they just didn’t feel the passion for my book that they felt was necessary to represent me adequately. So, apparently no one feels sufficiently passionate about “To Truckee’s Trail” except for me, and about a dozen people who have read the entire thing and loved it passionately as well.

Unfortunately, all those people were just readers and other writers… so, here goes Plan B.; a fund drive to do a POD version, to buy advertising, and put review copies where they will do the most good. I think I can promise an autographed copy of “To Truckee’s Trail” to anyone who contributes over a certain amount.

Hey, conservative readers: give her the money you were going to give the RNC before the Republicans jumped ship on the amnesty bill. And then send a letter to the RNC telling them. Two birds with one stone!

Liberal readers: Well, geez, she’s an underdog. And a writer. And a woman. Pick a cause.

Centrist readers: We just like her. And we support the military.

Anarchist readers: Oh, like I have any of those that come here to do more than leave an offensive comment for me to delete.

He may not have much wisdom, but he has heart. The father of a woman killed by terrorists says he would agree to her murderers’ release from prison in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

The MK said he had sent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a letter that read, “There is only one way in which the release of Palestinian prisoners would be acceptable, and that is to remove them from Israel and the West Bank and deport them to another Arab country.

“I propose that the release of any prisoner be conditioned on his or her leaving the country and the Palestinian territories,” Levy said in the letter.

He added that he would agree to the release of prisoners “with blood on their hands” if it would bring Israel’s captive soldiers back home.

“We can release these prisoners as long as they do not return to Gaza or the West Bank,” the MK said. “It is clear that if they return to these areas they will continue with their terror activity.

“I am not driven by vengeance, and Gilad’s return home is more important than holding any Palestinian prisoner,” Levy said.

The problem here is that they wouldn’t stay in whatever country they are transferred to. But it’s a noble gesture, one which I don’t think I would be able to make if I were in his place.

The other problem is that Hamas won’t agree to a reasonable exchange. They want a 1,000-1 exchange. And last, but certainly not least—you are once again proving to the terrorists that kidnapping works. So there will be more.

You think American politicians are stupid? Well, so are the politicians of the rest of the world. This one is PETA’s best bud:

MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) proposed Tuesday that the Knesset ban MKs from wearing leather garments within its walls.

Tibi proposed the act as part of the new code of ethics the Knesset wishes to issue its members.

“This is a moral act that carries with it an important public message,” said Tibi at the meeting held by the code of ethics committee, which discussed the proper dress code for MKs.

“If my motion is carried, MKs would not be able to come to the Knesset wearing leather coats or shoes, or sporting clothes with fur.

I’m sorry, but are there men’s dress shoes that aren’t leather? And why exactly would this be an important issue?

Yep. Politicians are stupid all over.

It’s a watershed moment. Not a single word in the article points to blaming anyone but Muslims.

The ransacking of a Catholic convent and an adjacent Rosary Sisters school during Hamas’ sweep to power broke more than wood and plaster. It signaled the end of a relatively peaceful, if sometimes uneasy, relationship between Gaza’s 1.4 million Muslims and 3,000 Christians.

Despite promises of protection by Hamas leaders, Christians fear more attacks, and some say they want to leave. Gaza’s flock already has been hit hard by emigration in recent years, and a new exodus could remove what is left of one of the Arab world’s oldest Christian communities.

“We don’t trust them. Our time is coming,” said a Greek Orthodox Christian, who in the current climate of fear asked not to be identified.

No one has claimed responsibility for damaging the convent and school, and Hamas vehemently denied involvement.

However, signs point to Muslim extremists rather than ordinary vandals. A statue and picture of the Virgin Mary - who is held in high esteem by Muslims - were left untouched.

[...] Missak suggested the vandals were acting on their own. “They were ignorant people. They don’t represent all Muslims,” he said.

Other Christians blame Hamas - at the least for not preventing the destruction. One woman said only Hamas militants could enter the convent during the fighting, when Gaza’s civilians were pinned down in their homes.

The attack marked a watershed for Gaza’s Christians, crushing the belief that a shared Palestinian identity would override Muslim-Christian differences.

Bernard Sabella, a researcher who has conducted surveys among Palestinian Christians, said the problem needs to be dealt with urgently because it tears at the fabric of Palestinian society. “People think seriously about migrating after such sectarian acts,” he said.

Oh, there’s where I got the word “watershed” from. Actually, it’s not a watershed moment for Gaza’s Christians. They’ve known about their dhimmi status for decades. It’s the AP that’s finally discovering the discrimination against Christians in the Muslim world. Whoops, sorry, there is no discrimination of Christians. It’s the Religion of Tolerance.™

I guarantee you will not hear from PC-USA about this, nor will you hear from any other major Christian group about the discrimination and terror tactics used against the Christian minority. Because they can’t blame Israel for it. Yet.

Yes, we already knew that UNIFIL had no teeth, but tell me again, what, exactly, are they there for? Because it can’t possibly be to stop the re-arming of Hezbullah.

The border between Syria and Lebanon is porous, claims a UN report submitted Tuesday to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. According to the report, checkpoints set up by the Lebanese Army to monitor the border were failing to prevent the smuggling of arms and other goods.

According to the report, “the present state of border security is insufficient to prevent smuggling, in particular smuggling of arms, to any significant extent.” The assessment team stated that “not a single on-border or near-border seizure of smuggled arms has been documented.”

“The procedures used to control arriving vehicles are inadequate,” the report stated. “Lack of such standards and the absence of risk analysis/profiling serves to limit the ability of customs officials to target potential smugglers and prevent the smuggling of weapons and explosives or other dangerous items.”

This is why Israel should never, ever trust the UN to protect her borders. Because every time she has, Israel ha been screwed.

On May 15, Israel’s Independence Day, Egyptian troops began moving into the Sinai and massing near the Israeli border. By May 18, Syrian troops were prepared for battle along the Golan Heights.

Nasser ordered the UN Emergency Force (UNEF), stationed in the Sinai since 1956 as a buffer between Israeli and Egyptian forces after Israel’s withdrawal following the Sinai Campaign, to withdraw on May 16. Without bringing the matter to the attention of the General Assembly (as his predecessor had promised), Secretary-General U Thant complied with the demand. After the withdrawal of the UNEF, the Voice of the Arabs radio station proclaimed on May 18, 1967:

As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.(6)

An enthusiastic echo was heard May 20 from Syrian Defense Minister Hafez Assad:

Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united….I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation.(7)

And now, the UNIFIL forces are right there, acting as a buffer for Hezbullah, and is anyone out there stupid enough to take a bet with me that when Hezbullah finally attacks, the UN manages to interfere with Israel?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Okay, less than 60 seconds after writing and saving the above as this post, I found proof that it’s a sucker bet.

UNIFIL officials have slammed the IDF for refusing to set up a hot line that could connect senior military commanders and, according to the peacekeeping force, allow them to quickly deal with misunderstandings and border incidents that could spark conflict.

[...] Senior UNIFIL officers told The Jerusalem Post recently that they had established a hot line with the Lebanese army and that it was used often to quickly connect senior officers to calm situations that had the potential of escalating.

The IDF, the UN officers claimed, had refused to set up the hot line since it did not want to be committed to talking with senior officers like Graziano in the middle of an incident, instead preferring to take its time in making real-time decisions.

[...] Senior Israeli defense officials said UNIFIL was turning an unimportant issue into a “big deal” that could have negative repercussions for Israel, which is already being blamed for not completely implementing Security Council Resolution 1701 by continuing overflights in Lebanon and by not withdrawing from the northern part of Ghajar, a village that has been cut in two by the UN-delimited Blue Line border between Israel and Lebanon, and has been used by Hizbullah to launch attacks.

Right. UNIFIL can’t stop Syria from sending a constant stream of Iranian-purchased weapons over the border, and what are they bitching about? That the IDF won’t set up a Bat-phone with Commissioner Gordon so he can send out a bat-signal when the big, bad terrorists attack UNIFIL. Like, say, last week. When they murdered half a dozen peacekeepers and have, to date, suffered no ill effects whatsoever. Oh, wait. I forgot. The UNSC issued a resolution condemning the bombing.

UNIFIL, landfill. I can’t seem to tell the difference. Sorry. That was my inner Lair Simon striking out.