Fouad Ajami has an excellent article in relation to the president's recent statement repeating his request that the (rich) Arab countries give assistance to the Iraqi government including some facts on the geography, and thus population, of Iraq in relation to adjoining states. A part, from behind a subscription wall, is quoted here.

In the best tradition, like our Marines, the Israeli military is leaving no man behind; nice photo of tanks moving into position. They have also said they will grant immunity to no one. Apparently the commander of the kidnappers is in Syria. Not acting out of bravado, the Israelis are apparently talking to Abbas and Hamas officials

Patterico has struggled with some Coulter quotes from 'Godless:..'. The best opinion seems to be that of Mark Steyn.

Kesher Talk has uncovered evidence of an outbreak of rationality in American Protestantism and reciprocates with mentioning what sounds like a good book on Jesus from one of the participants. Dr. Helen talks of social isolation. One of the things we do naturally is let people have kind of a manic perspective, i.e. grandiose, superior, without confrontation in a new social setting so as to allow relationships among the group to form. The New York Times reports, from Pew, '65% of Muslims in Indonesia said the 9/11 attack were not carried out by Arabs, 35 to 65% of Muslims elsewhere did' (Dallas Morning News June 23,2006, p. 13A). This is the kind of thing and rationale, in my opinion, that the NYT and Pew are doing. The Dallas Morning News makes it a lot easier to orient oneself to the manic position of the Muslim world by citing believed 'facts' which are easily seen as evidence of denial. In the face of this, sometimes you enjoy some music of persistence with some tonality of an archaic Protestant hymn.

Roger Simon nicely displays the conventional wisdom on problems in our public schools. I see the problem a little differently as noted in comments.

Bob Sturm, sportscaster, discusses the end of hoop dreams for the Mavericks, a.k.a. the 'UN Peacekeepers,' in a late decathecting comment by me.

Annika comments on what a good shot Giuliani should have at the electoral college.

Annika in her journal recently brought up her essay on Leopold and Loeb and the 'crime of the century' in Chicago. I commented in part:

One thing that is possibly missed in the understanding of the 2 criminals is the significance of the luminosity of their prior achievements, their graduations from noted colleges at times others would be starting college. I imagine that mother or father for each may have driven them very hard. They may have imagistically reexperinced this as a thought to murder when they saw themselves as adults, pseudoparents, in relation to the younger boy.

I feel bad for the kids killed, tortured first, today in Iraq.

Liberalism and Catholicism collide in Commonweal's article "Benedict at Auschwitz." My thoughts are in the comments, June 17. Jews continue to seem to be an inordinately useful and seemingly fissionably combustible chemical reagent in politics and society. In Pfaff's piece in Commonweal, we learn that the 'clash of civilizations' involving the U.S. and Islam 'results from Washington's largely uncritical support of Israel,' the war in Iraq has as one it's main cause 'to defend and promote Israel's security interest,' and, in case the complex sentences are interfering with your learning, 'Jihad terrorism is merely a sideshow in the affair.' Goebbels call your agent; is methodology patentable? And then again a good article from an American student in Germany on what the pope said in the class he taught as a professor in 1968.

Dr. Helen discusses what a girl might do.

Patterico gets a tad vulgar to asks if Ann Coulter is anti-semitic? Also in Patterico, filed under Morons, 'Are those who believe in evolution brainwashed?' This is an Ann Coulter assertion. My comments are there.

The metal hawk brings Zarqawi to ground.

Considering Berg's view, a respectful interview with whom was the first item on the Michael Medved radio show, is a way of shrinking from joy at our victory. It should be tempered not by deluded masochism but by consideration of some good men who fought lawfully to achieve it (realize it is standard on a mission of this sort to have an Air Force combat controller on the ground).

Perhaps the tragedy just referred to suggests why Zarqawi felt free to prance around Iraq. He may have had agents in our allies. Perhaps this was an example of a suicide crash or sabotage by one of his agents who knew of a mission to kill him. Surviving like that could give you some bravado. For whatever reason he had it, the scourge of his life is finally at an end.

Aint that a shame

Kesher Talk has addressed the issue of an anti-Israel policy appearing as a sophisticated, caring and encouraged gesture among well to do teenage students. Right Thinking Girl has brought up the issue of whether or not to be for Homosexual marriage in a manner reflecting that of many considerate people. Somehow, when I get to this point I think of the "it" recently divorced female physician at the VA, and me the cockroach that has avoided Raid, who would always put in her notes "..no homocidal ideation..." The reason for both 'caring' behaviors which their advocates are trying to induce is in the interest of shame reduction. The usual argument is over whether or not homosexuality is natural. A really more fruitful enquiry would be over whether shame is natural in homosexuality. I think it is as well as masochistic or sadistic satisfaction. For me, it is an anal level sexual identity and there is shame in anal level expressions. To leave this beginning of psychodynamic enquiry, look at political level expressions. 30 years ago we had the demonstrations to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. I think this was in large part, by it's proponents, to protest against shame. If this was all society's problem, then I think this would have solved it. Now we have another step to 'normalize' homosexuality, which I think betokens an internal shame rather than social stigma. For the Muslim, whose proxy here is the Palestinian, submission to Allah yields, according to the Koran, dominion over all nonMulims. WTF, the Israelis appear to have more money and don't even have Allah's gift of oil. The Israelis have stayed in land they have the nerve to claim rather than joining the sea fishes as the Arabs and Allah, of course, would have seemed to prefer. What a terrible narcissistic insult. How shameful that the Arabs do not have the status granted by Allah. If dominion is what Allah grants to men who are Muslims what part of this equation, description, are they not? So to be pro-Palestinian is to fight against Palestinian shame. Let's all be nice.