Go see it.

Really. There isn’t much more to say. It was funny, it was sweet, it has a fantastic cast, and the kid that plays Juno is simply amazing. It gets a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It deserves 100%.

Really, really good.

A happy and a healthy new year to all my readers.

I am rejoicing in the fact that I found no need to drink myself silly last night. I was up at 9 a.m. this morning (and a late morning that is for me!), completely hangover-free.

There’s something to be said for middle age.

(Ow. It hurt me to type those words.)

I also have some happy news: Tig has regained more than half a pound, and spent several hours yesterday sleeping in my lap. And he once again purrs when I ask him if he wants a “snug” (that’s when I pick him up and hold him for a minute or two while he purrs; it’s a snuggle and a hug), and he purrs when I pick him up. He wasn’t purring much at all the last week. He was also outside most of the day yesterday after we got back from the vet. They gave him another dose of subcutaneous IV fluids, which help wash some toxins out of his kidneys.

He is obviously feeling better. Plus, we have finished with his course of antibiotics. Phew. No more pills.

I’m off to the movies today with Heidi and Sorena. Juno movie review to follow.

Fatah and Hamas are killing each other in Gaza again. And of course, the AP waters down the headline.

Rival Palestinian Factions Clash

It’s like they’re reporting on the Jets-Sharks feud. It’s all fun and games until the knives come out and Bernardo lies dead on the street. However, the real-life Bernardo here would be the teenaged supporter of Fatah who was shot dead by Hamas. And oh yeah—there were civilian casulties, too. Lots of them. But the AP story doesn’t really play up civilian casualties when they’re not caused by the IDF.

Deadly clashes erupted Monday between rival factions in the Gaza Strip for the first time in more than a month, despite a conciliatory speech toward Hamas by Fatah’s leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Five Palestinians were killed on Monday, and a sixth died of his wounds Tuesday morning. Medics said some 60 were injured.

The number of deaths is up to eight now. The teenager was fourteen. One of the deaths was that of an elderly man caught in the crossfire. Once again, marvel at the lack of interest of the murder of boys and old men by terrorists, especially compared with the world’s interest when the IDF, which now has a 97% accuracy rate for killing terrorists, accidentally hits a civilian.

Ynet had a bit more information than that. And in the lede, too.

One Fatah supporter, a teenager, and two Hamas members were shot dead at a demonstration commemorating Fatah’s 43rd anniversary in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.

Fatah officials said the teenager was shot by Hamas security forces. Hamas said it was Fatah gunfire that killed him.

Hamas said one of its supporters was shot dead as he exited a mosque and a security officer was killed after his jeep was attacked by Fatah gunmen.

So what started the fighting?

Fireworks lit the skies of Gaza after nightfall Monday in celebration of Fatah’s 43rd anniversary, and Fatah backers fired rifles in the air all over Gaza, defying a ban on celebrations by Hamas rulers.

That’s actually not an accurate description. The ban was specifically on celebrations of Fatah’s 43rd anniversary. Hamas doesn’t want the citizens of Gaza to have the freedom of expression that they talked about so nobly, so articulately, in those famous op-eds in major American newspapers. So much for their desire for “freedom for civil society to evolve.” But then, I knew they were lying. You knew they were lying. And they knew they were lying. The only ones who didn’t, apparently, were the editorial page editors of the New York and Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.

Ah, well. New year, same-old, same-old. No real surprise there.

Don Surber

Nicolas Sarkozy — L’Americain — continues to show more courage in his little pinky than the Democratic Party combined when it comes to the War on Terrorism. L’Intifada sent a message to Sarkozy and the people who elected him president of France.After meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Sarkozy cut off diplomatic relations with the Syria over Syrian interference in Lebanon.

(via memeorandum)
Alas, it’s not only Democrats.
Daled Amos

It would be a shame if Specter went to Syria to talk only about Israel, and not address Syria’s share in the murder of US troops:Syria’s Baathist regime provides a base of operations for its Iraqi Baathist comrades involved in the Sunni insurgency. Suicide bombers from Saudi Arabia and North Africa arrive by plane in Damascus, and, with the help of facilitators, some 50 to 80 cross into Iraq each month. The Syrians say they lack the ability to stop them; what they lack is the intention.

Just what was Specter doing in Syria anyway?

Contentions.Emanuele Ottolenghi

Given this realization, it strikes me as odd that, at the very same time that Sarkozy told the Syrians off, a bipartisan congressional delegation emerged from a two-day visit to Damascus exuding optimism about peace and calling on “George W. Bush to be forthcoming in his dealings with Syria.” Republican Senator Arlen Specter and Democratic Congressman Patrick Kennedy spent only two days talking with Syrian oficials. France has spent a little longer monitoring their deeds. After so many years of wrongdoing, perhaps it’s time itinerant U.S. officials stop giving a free pass to one of the most radical state sponsors of terrorism in the region, whose role in every crisis in the area runs contrary to the interests and the values of the U.S.

Hot Air

The relevant question isn’t whether Israel gave approval, but whether the Bush administration gave approval. If Specter and Kennedy are conducting their own foreign policy in meeting with Syria, they ought to stop. If the administration sent these two, then it’s hard but not impossible to imagine fielding a less stellar team.

Mere Rhetoric

Just in time for the stellar Specter-Kennedy team that’s in Damascus to make peace. Because why not: A Syrian criminal court on Monday convicted a political activist of insulting the regime and contacting ”hostile parties,” and sentenced him to one and a half years in prison, a human rights group said. Faiq al-Mir’, a member of the outlawed Syrian Democratic People Party was arrested in December 2006 after visiting Lebanon to offer condolences to the family of assassinated Lebanese politician George Hawi, a critic of Syria’s role in the neighboring country.

We’re doing such a great job in the Middle East. A totally, totally awesome job. Everything is under control.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.