So, when will Israel allow Condi to go to the ME? French PM already

[cantstandbush]

in Lebanon.

[cali]

1. This suggestion

that Israel is the puppet master of the US gov't, is reprehensible.

[saltpoint]

2. It's Condi's call. I think she's waiting to hear back from her banks on

whether her card is good at that region's ATMs.

And whether the shoe shops are open -- you know, with all the bombardment and stuff goin' on.

Once she has the green light on the shoe shops, off she goes.

[gratuitous]

3. There's a certain wisdom in waiting

But I think that the United States needs to move sooner rather than later in this case, and the delay is unconscionable, particularly after Chimpy basically told Israel to blow the hell out of everything for a while, and the U.S. will step in if the fight starts to get too even for our tastes.

Waiting can be a good thing, as I reflect on my high school days. Two kids were squaring off, and the teacher supervising the playground was moving toward the impending fracas. One of the kids was quite a bit bigger than the other, and it had all the earmarks of being a real uneven affair. Surprisingly, the smaller kid had his dander up and punched the bigger kid in the nose, stopping his advance cold. Having waited just a little bit of time, the teacher then intervened saying "Now come on, you boys don't want to fight," which was now absolutely true.

I don't ordinarily advocate or condone violence, but one bop on the bazoo finally stopped the bigger kid from picking on the littler kid, and the situation was resolved. Of course, none of those conditions apply in this matter, and for the U.S. to abandon its role as self-appointed police officer to the world only fuels anger and resentment around the world when Israel is again accorded special treatment by the U.S.