Blue Crab Boulevard

It is not just me noticing the weirdness around what is going on with the media and Qana. Israeli Insider also dubs it 'Hezbollywood'.

It was to be a perfect Hollywood ending for Hezbollah. Just as the Israeli bombing of the village of Qana in 1996 brought a premature end to Israel's Operation "Grapes of Wrath," so too a sequel of Qana II could change, once and for all, the direction of Israel's current summer blockbuster, "Change of Direction." Ten years ago, world condemnation of an errant Israeli shell that hit a civilian compound forced then-PM Shimon Peres to curtail the offensive against terror bases.

The setting was also perfect: Kana was again being used as a primary site for launching rockets against Israeli cities. The IDF reported that more than 150 rockets had been launched from Qana and its vicinity at Israeli civilians, wreaking destruction in Kiryat Shmona, Maalot, Nahariya and Haifa. It was only a matter of time before the Israeli Air Force would come for a visit, using pinpoint targeting of the sites used to launch rockets, Hezbollah logistical centers and weapon storage facilities.

On the morning of July 30, according to the IDF, the air force came in three waves. In the first, between midnight and one in the morning, there was a strike at or near the building that eventually collapsed. There was a second strike at other targets far from the collapse building several hours later, and a third strike at around 7:30 in the morning. There too the nearest hit was some 460 meters away, according to the IDF. But first reports of a building collapse came only around 8 am.

Thus there was an unexplained 7 to 8 hour gap between the time of the helicopter strike and the building collapse. Brigadier General Amir Eshel, Head of the Air Force Headquarters, in a press briefing, told journalists that "the attack on the structure in the Qana village took place between midnight and one in the morning. The gap between the timing of the collapse of the building and the time of the strike on it is unclear."

Gen. Eshel appeared genuinely mystified by the gap in time. He "I'm saying this very carefully, because at this time I don't have a clue as to what the explanation could be for this gap," he added.

The army's only explanation was that somehow there was unexploded Hezbollah ordnance in the building that only detonated much later.

"It could be that inside the building, things that could eventually cause an explosion were being housed, things that we could not blow up in the attack, and maybe remained there, Brigadier General Eshel said.

Eshel reported that as recently as two days ago, military intelligence reported the building area had been used by the terrorists for storage or firing of weapons. It was a bad place to cram dozens of women and children.

There are other mysteries. The roof of the building was intact. Journalist Ben Wedeman of CNN noted that there was a larger crater next to the building, but observed that the building appeared not to have collapsed as a result of the Israeli strike.

Why would the civilians who had supposedly taken shelter in the basement of the building not leave after the post-midnight attack? They just went back to sleep and had the bad luck to wait for the building to collapse in the morning?

This is a must read. There are too many things starting to look very odd right now. There needs to be a full - and fair - investigation into this event. There are too many indications that manipulation is going on and all is not as the media would have us believe.

UPDATE: Confederate Yankee also has questions.

UPDATE: All Things Beautiful,

Welcome to the Grand illusion
Come on in and see what's happening
Pay the price, get your tickets for the show
The stage is set, the band starts playing
Suddenly your heart is pounding
Wishing secretly you were a star.

But don't be fooled by the radio
The TV or the magazines
They show you photographs of how your life should be
But they're just someone else's fantasy
So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because you never win the game
Just remember that it's a Grand illusion
And deep inside we're all the same.
We're all the same…
(Styx, The Grand Illusion)

The stories have been told for years. On a clear day, when it's very still, sometimes people say they can see the other side of Lake Erie, more than 50 miles away. The claims have been documented in newspaper articles, but no photographic evidence exists. But scientists say, it is quite possibly true.

CLEVELAND - Scientists say it's a mirage, but others swear that when the weather is right, Clevelanders can see across Lake Erie and spot Canadian trees and buildings 50 miles away.

Eyewitness accounts have long been part of the city's history.

"The whole sweep of the Canadian shore stood out as if less than three miles away," a story in The Plain Dealer proclaimed in 1906. "The distant points across the lake stood out for nearly an hour and then faded away."

"I can see how this could be possible," said Lawrence Krauss, chairman of the Physics Department at Case Western Reserve University.

Krauss and Joe Prahl, chairman of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at Case, said mirages can occur during an atmospheric inversion, in which a layer of cold air blankets the lake, topped by layers of increasingly warm air. When this happens, it can cause the light that filters through these layers from across the lake to bend, forming a lens that can create the illusion of distant objects.

The scientists said the air has to be extremely calm for the mirage to appear. If the wind blows, it distorts or dissolves the image.

The phenomenon has actually been noticed in other places as well. The stories also exist in Canada, where they claim they can see Cleveland, clear as a bell.

"It's not terribly unusual. Sailors are always exposed to this kind of thing," he said.

Prahl, who regularly sails his 30-foot sloop Seabird from Cleveland to Canada, has never seen it.

But Bob Boughner, a reporter for the Chatham Daily News in Ontario, said he's seen Cleveland from across Lake Erie twice, the first time four summers ago while driving along a road near the lake. He saw it again two summer ago while driving along the same road.

All of a sudden, there was Cleveland, just off the Canadian shore, as if it were just across a river, he said.

"I happened to look across the lake and, geez, I couldn't believe the sight," he said. "I could see the cars and the stoplights. I could even make out the different colors of the vehicles. It lasted a good two or three minutes."

Boughner said he remembers his aunt Melba Bates, who lived all her life on Lake Erie and recently died in her late 90s, talking about being able to see Cleveland, but he didn't believe her.

"I thought she was making up stories," he said. "But sure enough, I could see the same damned thing. When it shows up, it looks like you can touch it."

But fear not people! It is only an illusion. They haven't actually cloned Cleveland! The world just isn't ready for that.

In a sign of either senility or insanity, or both, the French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has announced that Iran is a "respected, stabilizing influence" in the Middle East.

Iran is a significant, respected player in the Middle East which is playing a stabilizing role, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Monday, during a visit to Lebanon.

"It was clear that we could never accept a destabilization of Lebanon, which could lead to a destabilization of the region," Douste-Blazy said in Beirut.

"In the region there is of course a country such as Iran - a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region," he told a news conference.

Asked whether he would meet his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki later Monday, Douste-Blazy said as he left for Beirut: "It's normal that politicians who want a political agreement can meet each other."

Iran and Syria are the principal sponsors of Hezbollah, and the two countries have applauded Hezbollah's July 12 capture of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers, which triggered the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

The French foreign minister repeated his country's call for an immediate cease-fire, saying the military situation was at an "impasse" so a political solution was needed.

"We can see clearly today, since July 12, that Israel will not reach its goals by a purely military solution," he said.

"What happened in Qana a few hours ago confirms to me the importance of the immediate end to hostilities and confirms to me also that an immediate end to hostilities is a condition for everyone to talk to each other, to negotiate and reach a political agreement," he said.

Douste-Blazy was referring to an IAF attack on a building in the south Lebanon village of Qana on Sunday, which killed 56 people, more than half of them children.

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin welcomed Monday a pledge by Israel to suspend air strikes in Lebanon for 48 hours but said it was not enough.

"It is, for France, a first step, but an insufficient step given the current stakes," he told reporters.

"We must all together redouble our efforts to achieve the immediate cessation of hostilities requested by the president," de Villepin added.

But Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema called the suspension a "ray of light," that must now turn into a real cease-fire, Italian news reports said.

D'Alema made the remarks during a two-day visit to Jerusalem, where he discussed the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other top officials.

D'Alema said the cessation in Israel's airstrikes was a "ray of light" and a "positive sign," the ANSA and Apcom news agencies said. But he urged caution.

"It's only a very first step," he was quoted as saying. "Now it's necessary to move from a humanitarian truce to a real cease-fire."

At this point, there is mounting evidence that something is very wrong about the media accepted storyline of what happened in Qana (aka Cana and Kana). Instead of jumping merrily aboard the condemnation bandwagon, it would be a smart move to investigate what really happened there. As for France, there is little hope for a cure for what ails them. They are too far out of touch with reality these days.

I was born to love no one
No one to love me
Only the wind in the long green grass
The frost in a broken tree.

I was made to love magic
All its wonder to know
But you all lost that magic
Many many years ago.

I was born to use my eyes
Dream with the sun and the skies
To float away in a lifelong song
In the mist where melody flies.

I was made to love magic…

I was born to sail away
Into a land of forever
Not to be tied to an old stone grave
In your land of never.

I was made to love magic…
(Nick Drake, I Was Made to Love Magic)

The World Championship of Magic kicked off today in Stockholm, Sweden. The winner can look forward to some lucrative performance contracts.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Cards sailed through the air to the rhythm of Chopin, and a rabbit — predictably — was pulled out of a hat as contestants from China to the Virgin Islands on Monday kicked off the World Championship of Magic.

The prize: lucrative contracts for stage shows in Las Vegas, Paris and Monaco.

Some 156 magicians from 64 countries are taking part in the main event, while thousands of others are performing in public shows, street acts and even workshops.

The performers each get 10 minutes on stage to impress a panel of judges, with the best advancing to a final session on Saturday, when the winners will be decided, said Dag Lofalk, president of the organizing committee.

Seth Engstrom, 18, is competing for Sweden in close-up magic, where magicians use slight-of-hand and small objects such as cards and coins. The other section of the main event is stage magic, with grand illusions involving humans and other props.

"It is always the creative ones who win," said Engstrom of his idea of mixing card magic and Chopin's piano music. "They want you to come up with new ideas."

The main event is actually closed to the public, but the organizers are making some portions available this year. The last champion won by turning his opposition into a newt.

Ok, we made that last bit up.

The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution demanding Iran cease all uranium enrichment activities. If Iran has not done so by August 31st, sanctions may be imposed.

The council adopted a resolution demanding the suspension by a vote of 14 to 1, with Qatar, the only Arab member of the council, voting against.

The resolution, under negotiation for weeks, demands Iran "suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development."

If Tehran does not comply by August 31, the council would consider adopting "appropriate measures" under Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which pertains to economic sanctions, says the draft.

The resolution is the first on Iran with legally binding demands and a threat to consider sanctions. The United States and its allies suspect Iran is developing a nuclear bomb and accuse it of hiding research over 18 years.

On the eve of the anticipated vote, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference the resolution was unacceptable and his country had the right "to take advantage of peaceful nuclear technology."

Germany and the council's five permanent members with veto power — the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain — negotiated the text.

But Russia and China are reluctant to impose sanctions and Moscow's U.N. ambassador, Valery Churkin, has said the sanctions provision meant the council would have "a discussion" only on punitive measures.

Churkin also said the August 31 date was to meet Iran's request that it be given until August 22 to respond to an offer in June from the six nations of an energy, commercial and technological package if Tehran suspended its nuclear work.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told reporters before the vote, "Our message to Iran is that we are open to negotiations (and) the package is quite clear (in) what it offers and what it requires."

Empty words will not be enough. Slipping deadlines to allow Iran aditional time will be interpreted as weakness by Iran.

Updating a story first posted on here, the former 80's icon, Boy George will be picking up trash from the streets during August to fulfill his court-ordered community service.

The one-time Culture Club singer will be issued a shovel, broom, plastic bags and gloves when he reports for five days of work on Aug. 14, department spokesman Vito Turso said.

"This is the epitome of community service," Turso told the Daily News for Monday editions. "It's not like he's going to be working in an air-conditioned office."

Born George O'Dowd, the singer has struggled with drug problems for years. He was ordered to do community service after pleading guilty in March to false reporting of an incident. He called police with a bogus report of a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment in October, and the responding officers found cocaine inside.

Turso's statement was the first indication of what sort of work the singer would be given. He could be assigned to pick up streets in Chinatown, Little Italy, Nolita or parts of the Lower East Side.

O'Dowd, 45, became an '80s icon with his androgynous appearance and vocals on hits like "Karma Chameleon" and "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" A Manhattan judge threatened the singer with jail time if he failed to complete his five days before Aug. 28.

His delaying tactics backfired. Now he gets to do his five days work at the peak of summer heat instead of the relative coolness of the spring. Fabulous planning.

A fairly large number of early American banknote printing plates are going up for auction. Once issued by private banks, the banknotes became obsolete overnight when the Federal government began printing it's own in 1866 and imposed a 10% transaction fee on the private notes.

"For historical significance, it's hard to overstate it," said Douglas Mudd, curator of exhibitions at the American Numismatic Association Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colo. "These are unique items. These are the plates that were used to produce notes and paper documents that built this country."

Before they go up for auction, the plates are being examined and catalogued by a New Hampshire firm that specializes in rare currency and coins, American Numismatic Rarities.

It sometimes needs to do detective work.

"When they come to us, it doesn't say `Hey, this was used in 1841 to print this.' We have to figure it out ourselves … and when we can, sometimes we have a eureka moment," said Q. David Bowers of American Numismatic Rarities.

The 200 tons of plates are from the archives of the American Bank Note Co., formed in New York in 1858 by the consolidation of seven major engraving and printing firms.

The collection comprises about 900 plates used for printing money plus 10,000 to 20,000 of various sizes that were used for other printing jobs.

"These were hand-engraved by highly skilled artists," Bowers said. "It would not be unusual for someone to spend weeks doing a whole scene. They wore eyepieces and had very fine tools and magnifiers and did it one line at a time."

American Bank Note inherited plates its predecessors had been accumulating for decades, including ones used to print advertisements, letterhead stationery and stock certificates that helped fuel the country's economic and westward expansion during the early 1800s.

The company, now based at Trevose, Pa., near Philadelphia, printed money for banks around the country until the federal government imposed a 10 percent tax on transactions involving such currency in 1866, Bowers said.

"People brought their state bank notes back to the bank and said `Give me federal money instead.' So almost overnight, they all left circulation," he said.

The plates were packed up and left in storage until 2004, when the collection was purchased for an undisclosed price by John Albanese of Archival Collectibles of Far Hills, N.J. He has been sending the plates to New Hampshire to be researched before selling them at a series of auctions.

The first, scheduled for Aug. 11 in Denver, will have 158 plates used to print currency and stock certificates for everything from early railroads to mining companies. They include "vignette" plates, which portray scenes of Americana or landmarks that banks and other companies used to embellish their currency, letterhead, checks or advertising.

The first auction will include the aforementioned $3 bill printing plates. They were used by a bank in Texas and were apparently a quite popular denomination at the time.

Supporters of the loser in Mexico's presidential election are choking the capitol city of that country in an attempt to influence the court that has to certify the election. They are setting up camps right in the middle of major intersections.

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Supporters of a defeated Mexican leftist presidential candidate blocked major arteries in the heart of Mexico City and vowed to hold their ground until the electoral court orders a vote recount.

Hours earlier, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rallied more than one million supporters in the capital to denounce alleged election fraud they blamed for his narrow defeat four weeks ago.

"I proposed to them that we stay here, in a permanent assembly, until the resolution of the (electoral) court," the former Mexico City mayor said at the rally in El Zocalo, the main square of the capital.

Government officials said some 1.2 million of his supporters filled the capital's streets chanting "no to fraud" and calling for a vote-by-vote recount of the 41.7 million ballots cast in the July 2 election.

Lopez Obrador asked his backers to set up 47 camping sites across the gridlocked city's main thoroughfares, promising they would be entertained with art and performances while peacefully lobbying for his cause.

"I told them I myself will be living in one of those sites while we are holding these meetings," he said.

"I know that what I propose is not easy, but it is essential for our cause."

Five hours after his speech, dozens of tents were already installed on two of the capital's main arteries as the sit-ins got under way ahead of the Monday morning rush hour.

One cannot help but wonder whether Hugo Chavez's hand is in this mess somewhere. That AMLO is taking advice from Al Gore's former campaign staffers seems quite likely as well.

Henry Kissinger in today's Washington Post reminds the world that there is still an issue that must be dealt with. Iran.

Heretofore the Six have been vague about their response to an Iranian refusal to negotiate, except for unspecific threats of sanctions through the United Nations Security Council. But if a deadlock between strained forbearance by the Six and taunting invective from the Iranian president leads to de facto acquiescence in the Iranian nuclear program, prospects for multilateral international order will dim everywhere. If the permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany are unable jointly to achieve goals to which they have publicly committed themselves, every country, especially those composing the Six, will face growing threats, be they increased domestic pressure from radical Islamic groups, terrorist acts or the nearly inevitable conflagrations sparked by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The analogy of such a disaster is not Munich, when the democracies yielded the German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, but the response when Mussolini invaded Abyssinia. At Munich, the democracies thought that Hitler's demands were essentially justified by the principle of self-determination; they were repelled mostly by his methods. In the Abyssinian crisis, the nature of the challenge was uncontested. By a vast majority, the League of Nations voted to treat the Italian adventure as aggression and to impose sanctions. But they recoiled before the consequences of their insight and rejected an oil embargo, which Italy would have been unable to overcome. The league never recovered from that debacle. If the six-nation forums dealing with Iran and North Korea suffer comparable failures, the consequence will be a world of unchecked proliferation, not controlled by either governing principles or functioning institutions.

His argument, that there must be a response from the six that brings Iran to the table ready to join the modern world. The problem, of course, is whether the Mullahs are willing to give up imperial ambitions. And they most definitely have such ambitions.

President Bush has announced America's willingness to participate in the discussions of the Six with Iran to prevent emergence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. But it will not be possible to draw a line between nuclear negotiations and a comprehensive review of Iran's overall relations to the rest of the world.

The legacy of the hostage crisis, the decades of isolation and the messianic aspect of the Iranian regime represent huge obstacles to such a diplomacy. If Tehran insists on combining the Persian imperial tradition with contemporary Islamic fervor, then a collision with America — and, indeed, with its negotiating partners of the Six — is unavoidable. Iran simply cannot be permitted to fulfill a dream of imperial rule in a region of such importance to the rest of the world.

At the same time, an Iran concentrating on the development of the talents of its people and the resources of its country should have nothing to fear from the United States. Hard as it is to imagine that Iran, under its present president, will participate in an effort that would require it to abandon its terrorist activities or its support for such instruments as Hezbollah, the recognition of this fact should emerge from the process of negotiation rather than being the basis for a refusal to negotiate. Such an approach would imply the redefinition of the objective of regime change, providing an opportunity for a genuine change in direction by Iran, whoever is in power.

It comes to to the world acting together to stop a growing menace before it reaches the crisis point. It remains to be seen if the world can pull it off.

Captain's Quarter's points to a truly frightening development in the uproar over Mel Gibson's drunken rant. The head of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League wants a criminal probe opened into Gibson's speech.

However, some people just cannot abide the fact that even stupid people have the right to free speech. Abraham Foxman, the director of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, wants the police to open a criminal probe into Gibson's stupid remarks:

Gibson's reported criticism of Jews, contained in a leaked police report detailing his arrest early on Friday morning, included the phrase: "F*****g Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."

He has since apologised for his actions, saying they were "despicable", but community Jewish leaders called for Gibson to be ostracised from Hollywood, where the A-list actor is considered an industry powerbroker.

Calling for a criminal investigation into the Oscar-winning actor and director's remarks, Abraham Foxman, the national director of the US Jewish Anti-Defamation League, said: "We believe there should be consequences to bigots and bigotry."

What crime does Foxman claim Gibson violated with these remarks? Americans have the right to say some pretty stupid things. Hell, the blogosphere proves that almost every day! We also can say some hateful things about our fellow man, and it's still not a crime.

Sorry, Mr. Foxman. Gibson broke no laws with his rant. You are not granted a constitutional right to never be offended. Gibson's rant was appalling, hateful and downright stupid. Welcome to free speech. Your call for criminalization of that speech is an abomination.