Israel, Hamas, and moral idiocy  —  Much of the world's response is a false moral equivalence that simply encourages the terrorists.  —  Israel's decision to take military action against Hamas rocket attacks targeting its civilian population has been long in coming.

Another bad choice by ethically bankrupt gov  —  The people of Illinois didn't need another reason to throw Gov. Blagojevich out of office.  —  They had plenty already.  —  But on Tuesday, the governor gave the state one more excellent reason, this time by going back on his word and appointing …

Gonzales Defends Role in Antiterror Policies  —  WASHINGTON — Alberto Gonzales, who has kept a low profile since resigning as attorney general nearly 16 months ago, said he is writing a book to set the record straight about his controversial tenure as a senior official in the Bush administration.

Arab youths open fire on Israelis working at mall in Denmark  —  A group of Arab youths opened fire Wednesday evening on a number of Israelis working at a mall in the Danish city of Odenza, some 200 kilometers north of Copenhagen.  —  The Israelis, who were operating a stall in the shopping center, were lightly wounded in their legs.

Village Voice Lays Off Nat Hentoff and 2 Others  —  The troubled Village Voice laid off three employees Tuesday, including Nat Hentoff, the prominent columnist who has worked for the paper since 1958, contributing opinionated columns about jazz, civil liberties and politics.

Bobby Rush on CNN  —  Here's Rush arguing for the importance of a black senator.  To which I respond—Nigga, please!!  —  I don't know if I've shifted politically or what.  But after watching a black man named Barack Obama—who couldn't get into the Democratic convention eight years ago …

No end in sight  —  More evidence?  A weak case?  Behind-the-scenes negotiations?  —  Anyway, it goes on:

HAMAS H.Q. BOMBED; POWER LINE, TOO  —  Talk about disproportionate response.  Just an hour or so after Power Line posted a series of videos from the Israeli Defense Forces—videos that, as Scott discovered, YouTube had pulled—we experienced a Denial-of-Service attack from a cabal …

Re: The Sense of Proportion  —  I want to add two cents to the much needed efforts of Ramesh and Victor (see, e.g., here and here) to correct the perversion of the concept of proportionality.  I noted this trend back in the summer of 2006, when it was applied to Israel's military operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Nobody Goes There Anymore, It's Too Crowded  —  I think trying to build housing in shopping malls is a potentially promising idea.  It's a reminder that I've been meaning for a while to write a post about separating the idea of “walkable urbanism” from the idea of “living in a city.”