Oh Molly, I can't tell you how disappointed I am to learn that you support Ron Paul.  I actually respected you until now.

Wow, great quote indeed. Thank you for sharing that!

Thank you so much for sharing this with the Ricochet community.

Congratulations, Joe! That's great news!

I've been following this story since you first wrote about it on Ricochet, as one of my pet peeves (as a lawyer) is frivolous bully-type lawsuits like this one. So good to know it ended well.

I agree with both jonorose and Claire; while there is no doubt about the nature of the Assad regime (and its allies), there is no reason to expect what follows it to be any better.  In fact, from the analysis I've read I would guess that the successor regime is likely to be Salafist / Muslim Brotherhood.
None of this means that one ought to allow the current regime to survive, however, and any chance to weaken Syria, Iran and Hezbollah is to be seriously considered. It just means that (to paraphrase Claire) we need to think very, very carefully about our steps.

I have to go with Israel P and Judith's initial responses to this question. I, too, almost laughed out loud when I read Peter's quote from the article. Not because it's funny, but because human psychology simply doesn't allow for obsessing over mortal danger when you have a day-to-day life to live. 

To quote a therapist who once helped me get over my own brush with terrorism (many years ago): we compartmentalize.

For me, as an Israeli, the really scary part is not knowing if we (Israel) are even capable of taking out the Iranian nuclear projects on our own. I am pretty certain that the US, under the current administration, is incapable of making the necessary decision to do that, even if it does has the necessary hardware.

And I think it's fair to doubt (though not rule out) that Israel has the tactical nukes that theoretically could, say after a first wave of bunker busters, take out the hardened sites.

The distinct impression I get, as a layman with no real inside track, is that both Israel and the US are in a rather desperate race to get themselves into a better position than they currently are in (recall the downed US drone, for example) vis-a-vis Iran, before it's too late.  This does not bode well.

And as for the "if they hit us first" arguments, don't even get me started. Whoever is volunteering to get hit first, just please move at least 3000 miles away from me.

This is what happens when most of Congress is lawyers.

And I say that as a lawyer (although not a litigator). 

Of course, it's not true what they say about lawyers - it's only 99% that give the rest of us a bad name.

That is so cool! I had no idea - too bad the idea caught on after my Tel Aviv pub-hopping days ended.

That is amazing - so funny!

I must admit, though: I'm glad that the standards of parental participation aren't as high at Chanuka parties at the Ramat HaSharon kindergartens...

Happy Jewish Christmas!

Loved the clip - especially the "Oi to the Voild" at the end. :-)

Hear hear! Great post, Judith!

Here's a second Merry Christmas from Israel to all our Christian Ricochetois!

Personally, I prefer a fresh hot jelly sufgania over latkes any day.

I'm not sure that I agree with the argument made in the comments that Hanuka is such an insignificant holiday. Sure, it's less important than Passover, but still - the re-dedication of the Temple after its destruction by the Greeks was a VERY big deal, and it was the real miracle of Hanuka (as opposed to the side story of the last bit of holy oil lasting 8 days).  Not just any contemporary (as it then was) event was so big as to make it into the Jewish calendar. The Hanuka events were akin to the founding of the State of Israel, the last contemporary event to become a religious holiday.

Another interesting thing is its length of 8 days. This is because it was effectively a second "Sukkot" (about two months earlier in the year), which like Passover was a traditional annual pilgrimage (hence 8 days), when people went up to the temple in Jerusalem to make sacrifices. This was denied to the people during Sukkot, when the temple was destroyed, so Hanuka was their second chance.

By the way, that clip is awful... not in an offensive way, just, well... there's got to be something funnier out there! It's such perfect material for Jewish humor!

Here in Israel, Hanuka is also known as "hag urim", or the festival of lights. It's a great holiday for kids, with chocolate and jelly donuts ("sufganiot") everywhere - but unfortunately for us adults, there is, rather inexplicably, no work holiday. I've never understood that, especially since the kids do have time off from school, making things extra crazy for parents.

Any chance for an iPhone app? I hate using Safari...