Middle of the bombed out road

Lebanese Political Journal gives the view from inside. You have to feel for its contributors. They are caught between the proverbial rock and hard place. Too bad both the rock and the hard place have firepower.

Here's a sample:

A Rant. As I've said, what does Israel realistically hope to accomplish?

I'm serious in asking this question. If Israel isn't wrong right now, when will the US, the international community, the rest of the world, and Israelis ever admit that Israel does horribly atrocious things?

This is hyperbole. I know there are many Israelis who question their government, etc., etc., so on and so forth.

Most of the Israelis seem to say, "We don't want civilians killed, but we think that what our government is doing is good. It is decreasing the power of Hezbollah." Well, that government is killing civilians and increasing Hezbollah's power. Never before has Hezbollah experienced the amount of support it has after the Qana massacre. Not even during Israel's occupation.

The Lebanese government is powerless. The Lebanese people are powerless (quite literally, in fact).

Don't try and tell me that the Lebanese government was powerless before. Oh, yes, it was weak. But powerless? Definitely not. If it was powerless before, then what is it now? A black hole?

Israel is asking Lebanese to turn against Hezbollah. You know, we were already against Hezbollah. Anybody who's read a Lebanese newspaper in the last two years would know that. We were even more vocal in our opposition to Hezbollah during the first two days of the conflict. Many Hezbollah supporters considered turning against their party then.

No one is talking like that any more.

Hezbollah has already declared that it's won this battle. In fact, it has. Because Israel is not going to stick around to clean up the damage. Hezbollah comes out of this more powerful than ever before.

Bi-blogging

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED:

Lisa Goldman is a Canadian journalist in Israel who blogs here. She has been hosting a rather poignant exchange between, well, here are her words ...

Samir El-Youssef is a Palestinian author and journalist who was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon; today he lives in London. In 2005 he was the recipient of the Swedish PEN Tucholsky Award. His friend Etgar Keret is a bestselling Israeli author, screenwriter, playwright and film director who has won several prestigious awards, including the Prime Minister's Prize.

There are other "Letters of Peace" in that section, including some from Canada.

H/t to Mark Federman.

WELL THAT WAS FAST: Lisa writes:

Thanks for the kind words and link. Just a couple of small corrections: It's true that I am Canadian, a journalist and live in Tel Aviv, but I am also Israeli.

Also, the letters of peace are strictly a one-off exchange between Etgar Keret and Samir El Youssef. They were originally published in Corriere Della Sera, for which I work. There are no Canadian letters of peace on my blog, although there are some nice comments from Canadian readers.

Blogging Beirut

Here's a good one.

You are getting sleepy, very sleepy ...

My cousin Eirini in Montreal just forwarded this freaky little timewaster to me.

http://www.milaadesign.com/wizardy.html

You have to copy and paste the link into your browser window. It only takes about 15 seconds and is office-safe.

WEIRD!

If somebody could explain how they do that, I would be pathetically grateful.

Stop signs

Now this promises to get nasty: A website called Stop Iggy. (Emphasis theirs.) 

We are Liberals who are deeply concerned by Michael Ignatieff’s candidacy for leadership of the Liberal Party.  His campaign has already mobilized all across the country, and there is a very real possibility that he could become the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.  Should that happen, Mr. Ignatieff might actually have a shot at becoming Prime Minister.  But it is not too late!  If each and every one of us commits to work together, we can STOP IGGY!  Please take a moment to view our website to find out how, and to discover some disturbing things you may not have known about the Man Who Could Be Prime Minister.

The web site references all sorts of ''nasty'' pronouncements by Ignatieff on war and torture and American imperialism.

The domain name's registrar is Tucows Inc. (har, har) in Calgary and the registrant is Thunderline Internet Solutions in Thunder Bay.

But the ''Stop Iggy'' symbols were first seen in Drummondville, Quebec in April -- when this site was registered. Here's the top of a Montreal Gazette story published April 30.

Standing in the crowded lobby of a local hotel, Marsha Akman was like a kid on a shopping spree.

"We have a meeting right now with Stephane Dion, then we're meeting Carolyn Bennett at 12, then we're going to be meeting (Ken) Dryden afterwards," said Akman, a Liberal activist in the riding of Mount Royal and a member of the party's women's commission. "We're going to start talking issues and get a feel for how they are and go from there."

Like many members of the federal party's Quebec wing, Akman does not yet know who will get her vote when Liberals meet in early December in Montreal to choose their next leader.

However, she has already scratched one candidate off her list. "It's anybody but Ignatieff," said Akman, sporting two "Stop Iggy" stickers on her shirt to protest what she sees as Michael Ignatieff's right-wing views.

Could there be a connection?

I doubt that any card-carry Liberal would be so self-destructive. (Oh wait ...!)

According to conservative blogger Steve Janke:

The person behind this (the registration information says only to contact Thunderline, which is a company run by a fellow named David James) doesn't care who wins, as long as it is not Michael Ignatieff. Even Joe Volpe would be better. Here's the insightful analysis that explains why:

Although we at STOP IGGY know very little about this guy, we are happy he is running because he is NOT IGGY!

Against intellectual titans like these, what chance does Ignatieff have?

I can't handicap this race but it looks like it may be a fun ride for political observers.

Eat the Press

A cool new tool from the folks at Huffington Post. (Be sure to check out the People Ranker.)

And ya gotta love this.

Choose your timewaster

Frankly, all the Liberal attack ad parodies are growing somewhat tiresome. But I kind of liked this one. (Flash Player).

Here comes the judge

Go ahead. Have some fun.

Artful questions

As my Star colleague Martin Knelman points out in his two most recent columns (here and here), the arts are getting short shrift this election.

Last go-round, the cultural community, which knows that a Conservative government won't be big on funding and supporting foo-foo frills such as opera, ballet, painters, actors, writers, musicians, producers, and last but not least, the dreaded CBC, rallied round with a ''Stop Harper'' campaign. I don't know if it was effective, but it was galvanizing. This time, except for the Star and, to a lesser extent, CBC, the arts issue doesn't even seem to be on the table. That despite the tens of thousands of Canadians the sector employs, the $39 billion it contributes to our GDP  (more than the agriculture, forestry, mining and oil and gas sectors COMBINED according to arts groups), and what a tourism draw it can be (jazz fests, comedy fests, movie fests etc.)

Of course, most people in the sector are in Toronto and Montreal. So why should the Conservatives pay any attention? But are the other parties any of better?

Not according to Vote Arts, a website which points out how you can take some action.

If you have a $20 bill, check out the back. There you'll find a quote from Gabrielle Roy:

Can we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?

UPPITY DATE: Some people in the comments section have asked for sources on the figures. I was told that they stem from a speech by Heritage minister Liza Frulla. But I can't find the speech. Instead, I found confirmation for the $39 billion in this StatsCan document for 2002. As for the other sectors, well, it looks like agriculture, forestry, mining and oil and gas add up to $60 billion in 2003 -- although that figure includes hunting and fishing.

Incidentally, the culture sector employs more than half a million Canadians. None of whom know how to add. My bad for citing the news release without checking.

Business as usual

Too bad about the timing. This would have been very funny about a month ago. Now, not so much. (I added the links.)

Despite being in the middle of a vicious ad war, the Conservatives and Liberals remain a perfect fit. This is the message of an optimistic, positive new campaign for a new era of unity and consensus in Canadian politics from the creators of PaulMartinTime.ca.

Introducing UniteTheRight.ca.

"Fundamentally, our priorities are very, very similar," said Paul
Martin at the secret UniteTheRight.ca launch party held last night in
an unspecified Montreal location. Also in attendance were Stephen
Harper, Belinda Stronach, and Thomas d'Aquino of the Canadian Council
of Chief executives.

Some say d'Aquino is the real prime minister of Canada -- and this satirical web site really goes after him.

Somebody has to.