Plan B: OTC

So, the FDA has finally decided to make Plan B an over the counter medication. There's a catch. There's always a catch! You must be at least 18 and prove it. Well, thats not really surprising. No one should be self medicating under the age of 18.

On to more pressing matters. Lt. General Dan Halutz (דן חלוץ), the Chief of Staff for the IDF, admitted in a letter to his troops that he failed and "exposed shortcomings in the military's logistics, operations and command." I respect the man for making an apology to the IDF for the apparent loss in the recent conflict but it was like Vietnam. You could drop lots bombs, send mortars, missles and grenades over but Hezbollah ()حزب الله), just as the Viet Cong did. They fought using Guerrilla tactics. Evidently even Mossad(המוס למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים) doesn't use those anymore. What happened to the days of yore when the IDF could lay waste to its enemies? What happened to the days when Israel could outsmart anyone? The possibilty exists that I srael may have gotten cocksure. The United States sure did. When we strut around and act like just because we liberated France from the Nazis, along with the British and Canadians, we deserve the world's thanks forever, we doom ourselves to being toppled; to being defeated. So heed this warning Israel: get your underdog stripes back. They serve you well. Swelled heads and a swagger do not. That may be the real cause behind a failure to "defang" Hezbollah, not a stock-selling leader.

Not to get on Israel's case, which apparently I am, but now it appears Israel has been accused of war crimes. Amnesty International has recently accused Israel of deliberately targetting civilian populations in its crusade to root out Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Honestly, they can't go after the other combatant in this melee so Israel will likely take the brunt of the aftermath in the arena of public opinion. There may be other more serious consquences. In Israel's defence, there is little they could do not to target civilian areas. Hezbollah was firing their Katusha rockets from neighborhoods in Lebanon.

Now moving on to Israel's other conflict. "What other conflict?" you ask. Seriously, there is another one in Gaza(قطاع غزة). Gilad Shalit is still sitting in Gaza, still alive, God willing, and waiting to be rescued. Israel made an incursion in to Gaza again today. No one was killed.

Moving on to other fare, a headline at the BBC sparked my interest: "Communists join Wal-Mart's ranks". Wal-Mart, the nassive discount chain started by the late Sam Walton, is now in China with unions. Wal-Mart has never been overly keen on unions and China likes to have party-contolled ones. So what's the point of having them anyways if neither wants them and they will be useless? Note: It took 11 days for this to make it to the BBC.

One politically juicy bit. Republican Sentor and candidate George Allen of Virginia made a comment to DemocraticIndian-American volunteer S.R. Sidarth. Sidarth was videotaping the senator at a rally when the senator called him Macaca. in fact, here's some quotes:"This fellow over here with the yellow shirt -- Macaca or whatever his name is -- he's with my opponent," and "Let's give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." He later tracked him down (through Google) at the University of Virginia where he is an engineering student and called to apologize. No word from Sidarth on how he took it. Apparently, he did ask for it and you get what you ask for...

News Flash! Pluto is demoted: Only 8 planets in our Solar System! Students, teachers, and Encyclopedia Writers everywhere tremble...

On this day back in 79 CE, Pompeii and Herculaneum were smothered and buried in volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius. So if you think you're having a bad day...