Morning News Roundup July 20th

Bush is live at the NAACP convention right now, discussing education...needless to say the crowd's not all that enthusiastic, but there is some applause. He's doing okay, but I think it's telling that the loudest applause he's gotten so far was when he asked if anyone from Texas was in the audience. Besides education he's harping on the inequality of opportunity in this nation and the importance of home and business ownership as well as what his administration's done to further those goals. Now...death tax. Guessing this one will go over like a lead balloon. Talking Condi up...talking about the Voting Rights Act as well, to thunderous applause.

Israel dropped twenty-three tons of high explosive on the suspected refuge of Hizbullah high command; as far as I can tell, the Israelis didn't get any of their targets. Israel's also talking about a full-scale invasion, an option that isn't out of the question considering their goal of at least driving Hizbullah out of rocket range from northern Israel. The New York Times cites some military analysts who note that this operation might not be succesful without boots on the ground - and I suspect they may be right in that. But whereas I suspect the NYT is trying to suggest that Israel cannot succeed, I disagree - they have the chutzpah to do what's nececssary to secure their northern border.

The collateral damage toll continues to rise, with some estimates claiming 300 Lebanese civilians dead (and half a million in flight), and about a tenth of that dead in Israel (can't find Palestinian death tolls). As tragic as all of this is, I'll reiterate what I've said before: the blood is on the hands of the terrorists who take refuge among civilian populations and deliberately target civilians leaving the Israelis no option but to respond.

Marines are aiding in the evacuation of US civilians from the region. I think it's pretty clear that the greater the efforts to get our people out of there, the greater the level of concern at State and elsewhere about the potential for this to get worse before it gets better.

After Bush's first veto on that stem cell bill (HR 810?), the House failed to override by about 50 votes. A lot of critics are claiming this was little more than a ploy for socially moderate Republicans to distance themselves from the President, but regardless, the President's veto was a bad move.

The Kossacks are jubilantly citing a new Quinnipiac poll showing Lamont narrowly beating Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary. But it's really just a moot point when the poll shows Lieberman romping to victory as an independent. Though he'll never caucus with the Republicans, it'll be interesting to see Lieberman's greeting when he returns to the Senate as an independent...

Back After the Break

So now that my six week stint of sitting in a cubicle for 45 hours a week is over, I'm finding it slightly more difficult to sit down and blog. But I promise I'll try to do so, just because I know I have a small cadre of devoted readers out there. Anyways...

The Middle East continues to blow up, if you weren't aware, I think you're beyond any help. Anyways, Bush was caught on open mike today using less than diplomatic four-letter words while expressing a correct and crucial sentiment. The setting's even better:

"'See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s--- and it's over," Bush told Blair as he chewed on a buttered roll."

A caller on Cavuto today complained about his manners - I think Bush's disapproval just shot up among the Newport and Martha's Vineyard demographics...

Israel also launched a brief incursion into southern Lebanon this morning, but pulled back after a brief stay. They were clearly trying to drive off or destroy rocket launchers and crews; whether or not they were succesful is debatable at present. Obviously, early suspicions that this might be the recreation of a buffer zone such as the one that existed previously in southern Lebanon were unfounded. However it is noteworthy that the most recent rocket barrages have not been the regular Katyushas, but rather more sophisticated missiles designed by Iran and built by Syria, intended to do maximum damage to people by spraying a concentrated blast of ball-bearings (think a rocket shotgun). Bastards.