For a cat whose kidneys are shutting down, Tig had an awfully normal day. He went in and out in the rain, as he usually does, causing extreme fluffiness in the coat after being rubbed down with a towel several times. He had an argument with a new interloper—a Tuxedo cat—in the front yard this evening, which I interrupted (thankfully) after hearing the preliminaries. And a few minutes later, when I thought Tuxedo would have gone, I let Tig out the back where, apparently, they took up the fight again. I am ashamed to say that Tig let Tuxedo chase him indoors. I blame that on his being four pounds underweight and sick. Oh, and he hissed at me when I wanted him to get down off the sink after my shower, so I could comb and dry my hair. He hasn’t done that in a while. I decided not to test whether or not his illness was making him grumpy and come within reach of his claws. I just plugged in the hair dryer, which made him head for the hills. Then we had words later, when he hissed at me because he walked in front of my legs and got stepped on. I won that argument. I understand grumpy because you’re sick, but I won’t stand for bad behavior from my pets.

I’ve successfully gotten his pills down him two days in a row, and reading up on his ailment, Lynn discovered that polycystic kidney disease is a genetic problem in Maine coons, and also treatable. Tig goes into the vet’s tomorrow to have subcutaneous fluids to wash out his kidneys a bit. And we’ll go from there. But I am feeling much more hopeful about his future. I really want to fatten him up again, though. I mean, yeah, he’s probably at the right weight now, but he just looks wrong at that weight.

Two days ago, I wrote this:

The spin will be that Israel doesn’t want the truce.

Toldja so.

Olmert Rules Out Truce Talks With Hamas
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday ruled out cease-fire talks with the Gaza Strip’s Islamic Hamas rulers, vowing to press ahead with a “true war” against Palestinian militants who attack southern Israeli communities with rocket and mortar fire.

Let’s look at that quote from the Ynet article:

Despite much weekend talk of a possible “hudna” (ceasefire), Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday that “the events transpiring in southern Israel can only be described as full scale war between the IDF and Palestinian terror groups.”

The prime minister noted that “the operations in Gaza will continue, though with great care not to bring about a humanitarian crisis that would impact innocent civilians”. Olmert also pointed out that “this type of humanitarian policy requires a great deal of patience and resilience”.

Now the AP version:

The Israeli military has struck hard in recent weeks against Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. With troops appearing to make substantial gains, Olmert told his Cabinet there were no plans to slow down.

“Operations against terrorists will continue as they have been conducted for many months,” Olmert said. “There is no other way to describe what is happening in the Gaza Strip except as a true war between the Israeli army and terror groups.”

He said Israel would continue to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza to protect the area’s civilians.

And one last look at Olmert’s words in Ynet:

Addressing weekend rumors of an impending ceasefire with Hamas, Olmert resolutely stated that “Israel will not negotiate with those (Palestinian groups) that do not except the basic ‘Quartet tenets’, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” and that “this governmental policy will not change”.

You see the difference? The AP spins it to make Olmert look like a bloodthirsty warmonger. They omit or bury the quotes where Olmert says he won’t have a truce with an organization that refuses to renounce terror. And they make it look like Hamas and the terrorists are the ones who want peace, but Israel refuses. It’s all spin, all backwards, all blaming the victim of terrorism for the acts of terror. And in the meantime, yet another kassam rocket landed yet again in Israel, yet again almost murdering civilians. Sorry, make that two rockets. Between the time I started writing this post, and the time I got this far into it, another kassam landed in Ashkelon. Time elapsed: Fifteen minutes.

And yet, the headline “Olmert Rules Out Truce Talks With Hamas” is the headline that will go around the world on the AP wires. It’s the headline that will show up on your local paper’s website, and in the World News section tomorrow. Not, “Terrorists launch rockets into Israel.” “Olmert Rules Out Truce Talks With Hamas.”

Because after all, why on earth would any sane human being refuse to talk truce with a terrorist organization that launches rockets into their country, and then says that launching rockets has nothing to do with keeping or breaking a truce?

You would think the AP would get tired of publishing the same crap over and over again. You would be wrong.

However, it’s obvious that the IDF tactics in Gaza are working, and working well. Hamas never sues for peace unless they’re on the run. Word is that the senior leadership has gone underground for fear of being targeted by Hellfire missiles. Again, we see this behavior only when Israel successfully hunts down and kills terrorist leaders. Another sign of Hamas’ discomfort: They’re claiming they uncovered a “network of collaborators.”

According to reports, the three suspects who were detained had a Hamas official directly involved in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit under surveillance and assisted the Israeli army in the recent killing of eight senior Islamic Jihad and Hamas members in Gaza.

Hamas also suspects that the collaborators were involved in the death of a member of Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz al-Din el-Qassam Brigades, as well as that of six activists in the al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s military division.

Watch for them to be murdered in the public square, after a kangaroo court trial. And no, I will never get tired of reprinting these words from the Hamas op-ed that made it into the Times:

“Palestinians want, on their terms, the same thing Western societies want: self-determination, modernity, access to markets and their own economic power, and freedom for civil society to evolve.”

[…] Our stated aim when we won the election was to effect reform, end corruption and bring economic prosperity to our people. Our sole focus is Palestinian rights and good governance. We now hope to create a climate of peace and tranquillity within our community.

I’m sure they’ll remember that when wondering how to deal with the “collaborators.”

First it was Sarkozy:“I have reached the end of the road with [Syrian President Bashar] Assad. Words alone won’t suffice, I want actions,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy was quoted as telling reporters Wednesday at the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

France has grown increasingly impatient with Syria, particularly over its intervention in Lebanese politics and its alleged involvement in political assassinations in the country.

(via LGF)

Next it was President Bush:

“My patience ran out on President Assad a long time ago,” Mr. Bush told reporters at the White House.“The reason why is because he houses Hamas, he facilitates Hizballah, suiciders go from his country into Iraq, and he destabilizes Lebanon.”

(via Contentions)

Abe Greenwald observes in Commentary

For that, the President gets a B+. He left out Syria’s active interest in conspiring with Iran on WMD. The Assad regime constitutes the full spectrum of Middle East threats: Baathist tyranny, Sunni terrorism, Shia terrorism, Iraq sabotage, and coddling of Iran.Additionally, the Syrian regime exercises suzerainty by assassination in Lebanon. Lebanese statesmen actually live in their offices for fear of Syrian bombs. The Lebanese government is in near-literal paralysis. George Bush’s pronouncement is a welcome return to common sense. While Assad took a state hostage before the eyes of the world, Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi thought it only right to pay a visit to Syria’s President “with the assurance that we came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace.” Recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suffered a similar lapse in reaching out to Syria during peace talks in Annapolis.

Greenwald approves of President Bush’s diplomatic snub of Syria and argues that the president has more clout now that matters in Iraq are improving. But why then is he paying lip service to the “legitimate” PA of Abbas and Fayyad? Why honor Egypt and Saudi Arabia with visits?

Since Annapolis Saudi Arabia has treated Ahmadinejad to a Hajj.

Egypt in the meantime has been caught helping Hamas smuggle weapons into Gaza. (The NY Times allows Egypt to defend itself with:

The clashes come amid continuing criticism by Israeli officials of what they say is a lax approach to security on the Egyptian side of the porous border. In addition to the trafficking of humans and drugs, Israeli officials say that the Islamic group Hamas, which holds sway in the Gaza Strip, has smuggled tons of explosives and weapons through tunnels running beneath Egypt’s border with Gaza, to the north.

followed by

Egyptian officials have argued that the peace agreement with Israel severely limits the number of guards they are allowed to place along the border. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt said last month that he would be happy to have increased cooperation and intelligence sharing with Israel to help improve security along the border.

So it becomes Israeli “charges” vs. Egyptian adherence to the peace treaty. Nice jujitsu.)Finally Bush is rewarding Fatah with a visit. As Jewish Current Issues points out

The Bush administration is now devoting maximum effort in its final year (and trip after trip by its Secretary of State) to establish a state that has already failed, pushing weak and compromised “leaders” into final status negotiations that are doomed to failure until the real “core issue” — a culture of terror — is addressed:Ending the chaos, strife, lawlessness, and corruption that have characterized life in much of the West Bank will require far-reaching political reforms, the inculcation of a culture of political compromise, and strong leadership — conditions not likely to be fulfilled soon.

I agree that it’s nice to see President Bush take a stand versus Assad. (The proximity of Bush’s complaint to Sarkozy’s suggests some coordination.) But I wish he were more scrupulous in holding the Arab world to its commitments. He’s better on this score than his predecessor, but perhaps diplomatic imperatives dictate his softness regarding other Arab regimes who are clearly working against his diplomatic efforts.

It would be nice if he showed them some impatience too.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.