Didn’t catch this until a little while ago. Phil Rizzuto, the ex-Yankee who broadcast the Yankees games during the time I was an absolutely fanatic Yankee fan, died Monday night.

Phil Rizzuto, the sure-handed Hall of Fame Yankees shortstop nicknamed The Scooter, who extended his Yankee life as a popular and even beloved broadcaster, punctuating his game-calling with birthday wishes to fans and exclamations of “Holy cow!”, died late Monday night. He was 89.

[...] Rizzuto’s ramblings and pro-Yankee sentiments maddened detractors. But his fans adored Rizzuto as they would a delightful uncle, and colleagues were fond of recalling his scorecard notation of “W.W.,” for “Wasn’t Watching.”

Rizzuto often left a game at Yankee Stadium before its conclusion to beat the traffic over the George Washington Bridge. As one game headed into extra innings, he asked Messer, “Want a cup of coffee?” Messer nodded. But Rizzuto was gone, to his home in New Jersey. As he entered the broadcast booth the next day, Rizzuto tapped Messer on the shoulder and said, “Here’s your coffee.”

Love him or hate him, he was the voice of the Yankees for decades. When the Yankees were in post-season play during the 70s and 80s, my father and I would turn off Howard Cosell or whoever was announcing on TV, and turn on the radio for the Yankees teeam. Mind you, we really wanted to hear Frank Messer and Bill White, because even back then Rizzuto drove us nuts, but still—he made us laugh.

Say, you know how every so often I get tired of the same-old, same-old and want to change things around a bit?

I’m tired of the same-old, same-old.

I may start blogging about politics after all.

Or my trip to look at condo complexes today. First one, eh, second one, wow, I think I found my home. Okay, not really, because it’s only the second one I’ve seen, but I really like it, and I already know someone who lives there. Mind you, I won’t be buying until next year for a variety of reasons, not least of which is paying down the debt I’ve accumulated through the years of under- and unemployment (and may I say again how incredibly happy I am to be gainfully employed, full-time, with a company that has a future).

But I’m adding a few grand to the cost of whatever I buy. That’s for my home theater system. I want a big-screen TV and speakers. I want my mini-movie theater in my home. And to think, it’s less than a year away.

Life is good right now.

Britain has been slowly but surely refusing to sell Israel weapons over the past few years, claiming that the weapons may be used in violating Palestinian human rights.

The British government has blocked almost one third of British military exports to Israel this year, citing possible threats to regional stability and fears the equipment might facilitate human rights violations.

According to official figures, the value of UK military sales arms to Israel declined by one third last year, and has fallen by a drastic 75 percent since 2005.

And they are paying the legal costs of a Palestinian man who is trying to outlaw British weapons sales to Israel.

Outside of government, the opposition Liberal Democrat party has called for a rethinking of arms sales to Israel, while in May the UK’s Legal Services Commission, the state agency that provides funding for attorney’s fees for indigent defendants, agreed to underwrite the costs of litigation brought by a Palestinian man in a British court seeking a ban on arms sales to Israel.

The U.K. has no trouble selling weapons to Jordan. They don’t seem to be interested in Jordanian human rights policies.

Statistics published by the committee showed that arms exports to Israel totaled 14.5 million pounds last year (about $29 million), compared to GBP 22.5 million in 2005. Between 1997 and 2006 Britain granted Israel 1561 Standard Individual Export Licenses (SIELs) valued at GBP 113 million. During the same period it authorized 626 SIELs valued at GBP 136.5 million for shipment to Jordan.

However, over the last 10 years, 190 application for military sales to Israel have been prohibited, comprising 11 percent of all applications for sales of military equipment. During the same period, only two such applications were rejected for military and restricted goods bound for Jordan.

But they’re very interested in Israel’s human rights record:

The 14 rejected SIELs violated various “Consolidated EU and National Arms Licensing Criteria,” the Foreign Office stated, citing concerns the shipments would not respect “human rights and the fundamental freedoms in the country of final destination,” would worsen the “the internal situation in the country of final destination;” and would harm “regional peace, security and stability.”

One SIEL was denied due to the “behavior of the buyer country with regard to the international community; in particular its attitude to terrorism, the nature of its alliances and respect for international law,” while concerns the equipment would be “diverted” for non-approved uses or “re-exported under undesirable conditions” were cited in rejecting three SIELs.

VERY interested.

Testifying before the committee on March 15, foreign secretary Margaret Beckett stated that the Foreign Office kept a “close eye” on the uses made by the IDF of British military equipment.

The then-foreign secretary said: “If we discovered that equipment had been sold to Israel and was being used contrary to agreed terms, we would regard that with grave concern and we would make sure we did not issue licenses for such equipment in the future.”

But you know whose human rights record they are absolutely uninterested in?

Hamas.

Britain’s and the international community’s refusal to speak to the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas is doing more harm than good, a British parliamentary committee said on Monday.

Pursuing a “West Bank first” policy — where Britain and others deal with the West Bank, which is run by the more secular Fatah group, and isolate the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip — will further jeopardize peace, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said in a report on the Middle East.

“The government should urgently consider ways of engaging politically with moderate elements within Hamas,” the all-party group of lawmakers said.

The Foreign Office—the organization that authorizes weapon sales to Israel—thought that was a peachy idea. They don’t seem to be overly bothered by Hamas’ lack of respect for human rights. The beating of wedding celebrants, the clampdown on journalists—that doesn’t bother them at all. Not when Hamas does it, anyway.

Reacting to the report, Britain’s Foreign Office said in a statement: “We continue to make clear that we are ready to respond to any significant movement by Hamas.”

However, it said it was not unreasonable to expect that engagement should be based on the three conditions.

The Foreign Office is at least paying lip service to demands that Hamas end violence, recognize Israel, and adhere to previous peace agreements. But those human rights? Who gives a damn? It isn’t Israelis oppressing Palestinians. It’s Palestinians oppressing Palestinians.

Funny how the Brits also have no trouble at all selling the Saudis weapons, when you can’t even bring a Bible into Saudi Arabia. Or wear a cross. Where women can’t do much of anything, but since the Saudis aren’t actually using the British weapons on their women, I suppose human rights don’t come into the equation.

Yet another example of Israeli Double Standard Time. Yet another example of anti-Israelism, which looks a whole lot like anti-Semitism.

Have I mentioned lately how glad I am that my great-grandfather left Scotland for America in 1914?

One shy of 100, our really big shew, coming up next. But this time, it’s Douglas Murray, the feature interview, and yes, I have a contribution this week. I’ll have one in number 100 too, and word is that Lair Simon is going to brush off his outrage and bring it.

The trial of the man who tried to kidnap Elie Wiesel to “force” him to recant his Holocaust testimony has begun with an apology.

A man charged with dragging Holocaust scholar Elie Wiesel from a hotel elevator apologized in court Monday to the Nobel laureate over the attack.

Eric Hunt, 22, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment, battery, stalking, elder abuse and hate crimes following the February incident at San Francisco’s Argent Hotel.

The apology came in the midst of a hearing to determine whether Hunt, who originally pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but later changed his plea, should stand trial.

Hunt raised a shaking hand and spoke up suddenly from his seat next to his lawyer just as Wiesel had finished describing his ordeal in Nazi death camps, where his parents and sister died.

“Mr. Wiesel, I’m sorry for scaring you and I’m sorry you experienced the Holocaust,” Hunt said. “My grandfather fought the Nazis and I’m sorry about what happened.”

Wiesel did not respond but went on to describe the Feb. 1 incident in which he said Hunt grabbed him from the elevator and demanded that the 78-year-old professor come to his room for an interview.

And here’s where my readers are going to be very surprised: I think there’s more to the story than a neo-Nazi stalking and frightening Elie Wiesel.

Hunt, of Vernon, N.J., has been in a San Francisco jail psychiatric ward since May, when he was flown to California to face the charges.

His lawyer, San Francisco defense attorney John Runfola, said in an interview Monday that prosecutors had “overcharged” his client.

Hunt is not an anti-Semitic stalker, but a man suffering from mental illness, Runfola said. When he confronted Wiesel, he was in the grip of a “manic episode” triggered by his grandfather’s death, he said.

The defense has sent the results of a psychiatrist’s evaluation to Wiesel along with 20 letters from Hunt’s family, friends and teachers describing the incident as deeply out of character for the high school honor student and college graduate, Runfola said.

I know a lot of people think that it’s easy to fake mental illness, but it’s not. And the single thing that is setting off my feeling that there is more to this story is the age of the perpetrator. He’s 22. Schizophrenia strikes young men in their twenties. They are perfectly normal until then, and suddenly become a complete stranger to what they were. And I know this because I know a family that has schizophrenia, and I was attacked by my friend’s sister, who was obsessed with a conspiracy of Jews trying to kill her (her ex-husband was Jewish). And because one of my closest friends is a psych nurse with more than twenty years experience. We talk about crazy people a lot.

Mind you, I’m not this kid’s doctor, or his lawyer—but I am willing to hear more about this case before signing off on Hunt being just another Jew-hater.

Figuring out how to get rid of that damned “Jessica Alba bra-less” spam that’s been filling my mailbox this week.

This is why I could never be a political blogger. I could not care less that Rove is gone.