Ut-oh. I forgot to credit Rahel for the very funny Colbert link the other day. As a result, I have to pay a Non-linking Blogging fine, because we are not the AP, going around stealing links and material from other bloggers without credit.

So here’s my fine: Two Gracie pictures.

Gracie sleeping. All together now: Awwwww.

My goodness, she’s out of the dent! Alert the media!

Oh, wait. I AM the media, at least, the media that cares about Gracie. Oh. That makes me a medium. Well, better that than a large, I guess. For me, at least. (Oh, for the days of small.)

Say, is it truce yet?

Nope.

With less than 24 hours to go before the ceasefire, Palestinian terror groups opened fire at Israelis on the border and launched at least 28 Qassam rockets and ten mortar shells towards the western Negev. Seven rockets were fired within the space of 15 minutes and landed in open spaces south of Ashkelon and in the Sderot area.

Say it with me, folks: Subhuman bastards.

One year after Hamas took control of Gaza, what have we got?

• Thousands of rockets fired into Israel, and more every day
• Tons of weapons and explosives smuggled into Gaza
• Hamas terrorists trained by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who may also be in Gaza
• A truce about to go into effect that will allow Hamas to smuggle more weapons and materiel
• Gilad Shalit still a prisoner, and not be a part of the truce deal
• Terror alerts ahead of the truce going into effect
• Terrorists claiming victory over Israel
• Israelis claiming a terrorist victory over Israel
• Bigger, better weapons imported by Hamas, supported by Iran, and smuggled via Syria and Egypt.

Yeah, that truce is going to do a hell of a lot.

For Hamas, anyway.

Elder of Ziyon observes that a a list of supplies that Israeli has allowed into Gaza during the first half of June shows that the “terrible siege” that Israel has imposed isn’t exactly hermetic.

And Israelly Cool shows a photograph of three terrorists doing quite well in those terrible conditions in Israeli jail. He notes:

Especially Kuntar, who’s idea of a hunger strike seems to be not eating the second steak …

Kuntar, the vicious murderer about to be released has also married and earned a degree in jail.

Perhaps when Israel’s enemies refer to Gaza as a “jail” it means that the residents of Gaza are as prosperous as the terrorist that Israel has incarcerated.

But if the suffering of Gaza has been inflated, Israeli security concerns have been minimized.

Boker Tov Boulder observes

So as I was saying, Hornik mentions recent news reports… like the palestinian man who was trying to carry four pipe bombs through a check point near Nablus (Rice echoes in my head, about the “obligation” of Israel to improve the quality of life for poorpalestinians) and the one who was caught with a six-inch knife…

But then at the end, he writes about the real problem Rice has created for Israel.

She has — with the blessing of her boss, President George W. Bush–further eroded the legitimacy of Israel’s security concerns and Jewish essence, and whoever is her successor, if so inclined, will find it all the easier to continue her destructive path.

Of course Israel doesn’t help its case when it does things like ease pressure on Hamas or release prisoners getting little in return.

Worse, rather than help matters, Mere Rhetoric notes that Sec. Rice is actually hardening the position of Abbas:

The awesome thing about blaming Israel’s East Jerusalem construction is that it’s only a deal breaker because the State Department convinced the PA to make it a deal breaker. Of course the Palestinians will never sign a final status agreement without East Jerusalem. But in the meantime - for the sake of the vaunted 2008 date - they were at least willing to focus on other issues. Then the State Department unilaterally declared that - actually - East Jerusalem construction isa huge deal and it is tanking the peace process. So of course the Palestinians followed suit. Almost as if it was somewhat predictable US peacemaking would fail and that Israel would get blamed.

Just another week in the peace process. Peace is war.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Hey, the agency that slept through Pakistan, India, and North Korea getting nuclear weapons doesn’t think that Syria has the know-how to build a bomb. The organization that totally missed the A.Q. Khan nuclear weapons black market doesn’t think that Syria can field a nuclear program because, gee, it’s not like they could get it from, oh, North Korea or anything. Because that’s never happened before, one nation helping another get nuclear weapons. Right, Pakistan? Right, North Korea?

There is no evidence Syria has the skilled personnel or the fuel to operate a large-scale nuclear facility, the head of the United Nations atomic watchdog said in remarks aired on Tuesday.

“We have no evidence that Syria has the human resources that would allow it to carry out a large nuclear program. We do not see Syria having nuclear fuel,” International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamad ElBaradei told Al Arabiya television.

Uh-huh. And you have no evidence because Syria refuses to allow your inspectors onto the sites. Oh, wait. They buried the site beneath tons of sand. Guess you’ll have to just take a long hard look at it and determine whether or not Syria had the know-how.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m convinced.

Shyeah.