Barry Bonds's personal trainer from the steroid years, Greg Anderson, is in the slam for contempt of grand jury because he refuses to testify with regard to his professional relationship with Barry Bonds. Must suck to be either one of them right now. Victor Conte sang like Madonna and did six months and is long out now. Stupid Barry Bonds could easily have gotten out in front of this whole issue long ago and received little or no actual punishment but no, then people would know that he was a cheater. Of course, we know that now, and you can add liar and idiot. Way to go Barry. Maybe Ken Lay knew something we don't.

Hey Mr. President, they're having another problem in the Mid-East and they need your genius to sort it all out for them. Specifically I see that the story indicates that the two sides are having trouble seeing that there is only one truth. Since you always see the one truth you should hop on over and clue them in. OK? Attaboy! Mission accomplished!


Why dreams must die if peace is to come
By Jeremy Bowen
Middle East editor, Jerusalem

When it comes to the Palestinians and the Israelis, it is usually a tale of two stories.

They are able to take the same set of events and draw utterly different conclusions about how they got to where they are, what is happening now and what to do next.

When it is not a tale of two stories, it is a tale of more than two, when one side cannot even agree with its confreres what is happening. For people who live under the same sun and breathe the same air, empathy is a foreign land.

In that sense the crisis in Gaza is business as usual.

The Israelis and Palestinians are levelling the same accusations against each other, accusing each other of terrorism and oppression. Both believe that they are acting in self defence.

Forget whether one version is true and the other false. The important thing is that the people who hold these views believe that they are true, and their leaders make decisions based on them.

Maybe that is entirely reasonable. After all, there is no political process of any sort between the Palestinians and Israel, and to talk of a "peace process" is a bad joke.

Traditional responses

At times like this, when leaders are under intense pressure, they fall back on some of the old formulas that have been tried - and which have failed - many times before.

Ehud Olmert, an experienced Israeli politician who is still low down on the learning curve of being a prime minister, has fallen back on traditional responses to a security crisis with the Palestinians.

Their only chance of creating a decent future for their children is to make a political agreement about sharing the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean


He has taken a tough line, and backed it with Israel's armed forces. He and his staff would argue that they are using force sparingly, that they are taking care to avoid unnecessary Palestinian casualties and any risk to the missing soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit.

And they would also say that they have no alternative, that they did not start it, that force used by the Palestinians must be answered with force.

The two leaders of the Palestinians who live in the land that they want for a state, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah are under pressure too.

Mr Haniya is in a particularly uncomfortable position. Unless Hamas put down their guns [at present highly unlikely] and release their prisoner [very unlikely without the release of Palestinian prisoners] he could end up being killed by Israel, like other Hamas leaders.

But he argues that the Palestinians did not start this crisis; that Israel has used its power recklessly in Gaza in the last few months, without regard for the lives of Palestinians.

This is the first big armed crisis since Palestinians voted Hamas into power in January.

It is not quite the same as the standoffs and clashes that Israel had over the years with Fatah, the rival Palestinian faction.

After the Oslo peace process started in 1993, Fatah had an ambivalent attitude to the armed struggle.

Hamas does not have that problem. It has a political strategy, and until recently it was on a long ceasefire, but it has never promised to put down its weapons. So now it is using them, and will fight as Israel pushes further into the Gaza Strip.

'Force does not work'

But in the 39 years since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza, history has delivered a few fundamental lessons, which neither side at the moment is in any mood to absorb.

The most important lesson for Israel is that force does not work.

It can deliver some tactical advantages. The assassination of many of the leaders of Hamas, for example, was a severe blow to the movement. But did it kill it? Not even slightly. Hamas can still kill Israelis, and it has expanded its operations to winning elections.

The most important lesson for the Palestinians is that force does not work.

It can deliver some tactical advantages. Resistance to occupation, at the moment, is popular. But has it ever threatened the existence of the Jewish state? Not for a second. And is it bringing the creation of an independent Palestinian state any closer? Not by an inch.

I can already hear supporters of the Palestinians and the Israelis protesting that they have tried making political concessions and have had them hurled back on a tide of blood. But the alternative to not trying again could be another generation of bloodshed, and who wants that?

If this crisis escalates further, Israel may well be tempted to topple the Hamas government. But what will happen after that? Would there be more or less chaos in the territories?

And Hamas may be tempted, if this crisis escalates, to kill Israeli civilians. But would that make the Israelis get out of Gaza? No: It would encourage them to stay longer, and to use more force.

Even if the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians agreed with this interpretation of the use of force over 40 years, it will not help this time round. The Gaza crisis is doomed to run its course, in the same way that Palestinians and Israelis are doomed to live alongside each other.

But eventually, their only chance of creating a decent future for their children is to make a political agreement about sharing the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean that is acceptable to both sides.

To do that they will both have to recognise that peace has a price. Up to now, in all the years of negotiations, neither side has been prepared to pay what is needed in lost dreams and hard choices.

You cannot do peace on the cheap. But the alternative is much more costly, for everyone.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5151718.stm

Published: 2006/07/05 19:08:54 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Who's up for a play-off tomorrow? The U. S. Women's Open Golf Championship, that's who. I got to see the finish today, like the last six holes or so and it looked good. Annika Sorenstam versus Pat (why do I wanna say Patty?) Hurst (oops, just figured it out), eighteen holes for the championship. They each ended at dead even par 284, with 16 year old Michelle Wie tied with I think three others at +2. The USGA loves it when even par is the winning, or even tying score. It's hard for me not to root for Annika but ever since Mike Donald in 1990 I've realized that when somebody has his one and only chance to win an Open I should be rooting for him, and not Hale Irwin, with two already, or Annika Sorenstam, also with two already. Gonna be tough for me to see though, at 8:00 a.m. What's that all about, anyway? Maybe I'll see the start, I'll probably still be up though maybe not, and I suppose I could tape it but watch it when, then?

Soon to come: an actual post

I just heard my man, GWB, on the radio saying "...the oil belongs to the Iraqi people..."

Interesting concept. I guess he's looking at Iraq as a democratic country and in such a country, the resources of the country belong to the people. Kind of like in the U.S.A. Wait...