Milking it?  —  For an update on this post, see here.  —  Certainly, the photographs are distressing, and indeed they are meant to be.  As this piece tells us: … But the photographers, it seems, are not too fussy about how they go about "adding to the shock value".

Robert Fisk: 'How can we stand by and allow this to go on?'  —  They wrote the names of the dead children on their plastic shrouds.  " Mehdi Hashem, aged seven ­ Qana," was written in felt pen on the bag in which the little boy's body lay.  "Hussein al-Mohamed, aged 12 ­ Qana" …

Child Victims Incite Anger in Lebanon and Beyond  —  The images of the dead children in southern Lebanon played across the television screens on Sunday over and over again — small and caked in dirt and as lifeless as rag dolls as rescuers hauled them from the wreckage of several residential …

Ned Lamont's First Video Blog: Let's Talk About Iraq  —  Over the weekend Ned filmed his first video blog.  Since Joe Lieberman doesn't want to talk about his war in Iraq, I guess it's up to the rest of us.  —  If you think there is more to be said on the topic and things aren't going quite …

Fooling the Voters  —  The two bills passed by the House last Friday and Saturday reflect a single Republican electoral strategy.  Representatives want to appear to have accomplished something when they face voters during their five-week summer break, which starts today …

France says Iran is respected, stabilizing force in 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 …

The Qana smokescreen  —  First, take a look at mob scenes across the Muslim world this weekend, ostensibly—ostensibly—in response to the civilian deaths in Qana, Lebanon (via Yahoo! News).  Angry Muslims from Beirut to Gaza to Lahore are setting fire to American and Israeli flags.

Men Not Working, and Not Wanting Just Any Job  —  ROCK FALLS, Ill. — Alan Beggerow has stopped looking for work.  Laid off as a steelworker at 48, he taught math for a while at a community college.  But when that ended, he could not find a job that, in his view, was neither demeaning nor underpaid.

'The Putting of First Things First'  —  The revival of the romance of the antiwar left is a potential disaster for the Democrats.  It's what gave the world Richard Nixon in 1968.  —  To the consternation of my children, I once spent an afternoon with Monica Lewinsky.

And Now, The Good News  —  The world seems aswirl.  Where do we stand today?  —  Let's use the analysis of bestselling author Thomas Barnett, who divides the world into a functioning "Core" (North America, Europe, East Asia, rising China and India) and a nonfunctional "Gap" (the Middle East …

Romney apologizes for use of expression  —  To some, `tar baby' is racial pejorative  —  Governor Mitt Romney yesterday apologized for using the expression ``tar baby" — a phrase some consider a racial epithet — among comments he made at a political gathering in Iowa over the weekend.

Schumer Says Bolton Won't Face Filibuster  —  A Democratic filibuster of John Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador is "unlikely," Senator Schumer said yesterday.  —  Mr. Schumer supported an effort last year to block Mr. Bolton's nomination from gaining a full Senate vote …

Sistani Threatens US over Israeli War on Lebanon  —  The US punditocracy and ruling elite is fixated on Hizbullah as a "terrorist group" even though the organization hasn't engaged in international terror against American civilians in many years.  What they forget about Hizbullah …