FUBAR

I look at the world, and all I can say is "Holy crap!"

Hamas wanted to provoke Israel and it succeeded. Hezbollah then decided on a copycat provocation and also succeeded.

In India, train bombings. In Afghanistan, eighteen U.S. soldiers died last month after a wave of fresh Taliban violence (yes, they're still out there); the Afghani defense minister is pleading for tens of thousands more troops to get the country back under control. In Somalia, complete chaos. There is governmental chaos in Ukraine, and in Russia there are worrisome signs that the old ways have not disappeared. And it's too depressing even to think about North Korea or Iran.

The planet is hot and getting hotter. Oil may be running out. And the Big One could hit Los Angeles at any time.

I could go on and on but it's just too depressing. Over at Salon, Sidney Blumenthal blames pretty much everything on the Bush administration; and although he's a former Clinton official who would be expected to say such a thing, still his broad-strokes condemnation is disturbingly convincing. And if you feel like having your heart broken, read any of reporter Phillip Robertson's articles from Iraq, here, here or here.

I have nothing to say about any of this just now, it's all too numbing. But hey, don't worry--here in the U.S. we have a new season of Project Runway, so everything must be okay after all, right?