The 2013-2014 Mideast Peace Talks (8)

Pushing hard for a deal simply to extend talks, John Kerry succeeds in persuading Obama to agree to release the Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. Naturally, everything falls apart, for the Middle East is where hope goes to die.

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The Israel Question

The Israel question has been vexing our thoughts again lately: the legitimacy of Israel. It's funny: when I first came to the blogosphere, the issues of Israel seemed to be the biggest and most contentious questions of debate, and so it is again as the war between Israel and Hamas has turned hot again. It is a little baffling to me that Israel should be so important for us. In any case, Roger Cohen gives us a nice, concise summation for those of us who believe in a Jewish state but are feeling disillusioned by the slaughter in Gaza, as well as by the incremental annexation of the West Bank by the building of all those Jewish settlements.

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Wednesday

Our routine during this high-summer is that I go outside to pour the elephant ears a second drink of water when Pop returns from his rounds, and while I am out, I help him if he has a lot of stuff to unload. He dresses in shorts and wears his baseball cap instead of a cowboy hat. I guess the hat and shorts do clash a little, though I can imagine other men not having any problem wearing their cowboy hats in shorts. Personally, I think he is more of a baseball-cap man. This afternoon, he happily reports that he found his little ice cream sundae cups. He likes them, I suppose, because the cups are small containing scarcely more than a half-dozen moderate spoonfuls, as he likes to snack small. I will eat a few myself. It is quick and neat: no bowls and no scooping.

Hamlet (4,5) Ophelia's Valentine

The reluctant queen gives audience to poor Ophelia, who is quite, quite down!

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