For all of the endless talk about religion as a cause of war in the Middle East, it is rare that a media account mentions the actual resources that are being fought over. This welcome exception from the Los Angeles Times, Aug. 10:

QASMIYA, Lebanon — Israeli bombing has knocked out irrigation canals supplying Litani River water to more than 10,000 acres of farmland and 23 villages in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, prompting accusations here that Israel is using its war against Hezbollah to lay claim to Lebanon's prime watersheds.

From The Forward, Aug. 11:

JERUSALEM — Young Israeli activists are fighting back against Hezbollah — with a boycott on smoking hash.

More insidious lies from the liberal media. We all know that global warming is just a myth. So what if people make money by stating this truth? Why does the liberal media hate capitalism?* From ABC News, July 27:

Making Money by Feeding Confusion Over Global Warming
WASHINGTON - Ever wonder why so many people still seem confused about global warming? The answer appears to be that confusion leads to profit -- especially if you're in some parts of the energy business.

Talk about addictive behavior. 4,000 more US troops are sent into Baghdad, where they are mixing it up with Moktada al-Sadr's militia in a small urban counter-insurgency operation. (LAT, Aug. 8) So 4,000 more troops can become so stressed out that they commit atrocities and further swell the ranks of Sadr and other jihadist forces. Good thinking! From the New York Times, Aug. 9:

BAGHDAD — Five homemade bombs and a bank robbery left 24 people dead in Baghdad on Tuesday as the level of violence here remained undiminished despite a buildup of American and Iraqi troops meant to restore a sense of order.

Another grisly paramilitary attack in the Colombian oil zone of Putumayo, in the Amazon basin along the Ecuadoran border. From the local Asociación Minga, Aug. 9 via the Colombian human rights network Red de Defensores (translation by WW4 REPORT):

On Aug. 5, 2006, near nine at night, a group of approximately 50 men, armed with rifles, some dressed in camouflage uniforms, other with camouflage pants and black t-shirts, their faces covered with bandanas or hoods, and wearing armbands emblazoned with the letters AUC, entered the cock-fighting ring [gallera] Las Heliconias, located in the hamlet [vereda] Villa de Leiva, district [corregimiento] La Carmelita, municipality of Puerto Asís, department of Putumayo, where a communal festival was taking place.

Trees, it seems, can be ideological. But the ideology, as Grace Slick once sang, "doesn't mean shit to a tree." Or, as Gertrude Stein might have had it, a tree is a tree is a tree. In other words, even if it is a Zionist symbol, it is still holding down topsoil and protecting groundwater. And the fact that forests are burning in this arid part of the planet is not a good thing, no matter what side of an international border they are on, or what they symbolize. From the New York Times, Aug. 8 (emphasis added):

The carnage in Lebanon has pushed Gaza from the headlines. But lest we forget... From Reuters, Aug. 8:

Hospitals in the Gaza Strip have seen a significant increase in war casualties with severe injuries over the past month and are running out of medical supplies, British medical aid agency Merlin said today.

How perversely ironic. Last Wednesday, Aug. 2, was Tisha b'Av, the Jewish holiday commemorating the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, as well as several other calamities in Jewish history. Yet this year, Tisha b'Av came as Jews were inflicting a calamity on their Lebanese neighbors, and Israel's chief rabbis issued a decree officially exempting soliders fighting on the front from having to fast for the holy day. (YNet, Aug. 1) Meanwhile, the paradox of Tisha b'Av falling in the middle of the assault on Lebanon (and the near-forgotten Gaza Strip) has jacked up the always-high level of paranoia at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. From YNet, Aug. 2: