August 11, 2006--Friday Fanaticism XLV--Check the Lipstick

On a day when air travelers are being told that they will no longer be allowed to take lipstick on board with them because it might be turned into an explosive device; and Israel is asking the US to hurry the delivery of the M-26 cluster bombs it ordered because their current weapon systems are not doing a good enough job of wiping out Hezbollah fighters (and civilians); and Joe Lieberman is claiming that because he was defeated in the primary Al Qaeda is feeling emboldened and as a result the world is in fact a more dangerous place (Dick Cheney is nodding in agreement); and when Bernard Lewis, the eminent historian of Islam warns, in the Wall Street Journal, that we should worry that the president of Iran may attempt to jump start Armageddon (yes, that Armageddon) on August 22nd, claiming that in the Moslem calendar it is a propitious time to do so; if you ever wondered why I devote Friday’s blogs to example of how fanatics of various stripes are a mortal danger to the world, today you have more of an answer than you might have been seeking.

(By the way, no NY Times or WSJ articles are linked below because they are just too depressing.)

You don’t need to hear anything more from me today. I will, though, post the first part of a new story on Saturday.

Just try to enjoy the weekend.