Israel attacks Gaza ... again

Guess what? Israel claims provocation, whether by Hamas, George Mitchell's gratuitously buttinsky arrival, or Obama's unwelcome recent chat on Al Arabiya is uncertain; however, neutral observers notice the familiar 1,000 eyes for an eye pattern — and the timing is interesting.

Until Israel re-attacked, the body count at a border crossing so obscure you need to look it up was 1 Israeli solder, 1 "Hamas official" on a motorbike and 1 innocent non-Israeli bystander, so the "response" rather does beg the question. Judging by body language, however, Israel is simply underlining its underlined underlinings underlined several days ago, in case anybody in Gaza ACCIDENTALLY missed the goddamn memo!!!

Israel is nuts. The place reminds me of NI₃, in fact, a mind bogglingly extreme decrepitant any high school chem student can muggle up from ingredients under the bathroom sink, but so ludicrously touchy (even alpha particles can set it off), it's useless as a high explosive.

Oh, yeah, I get it. Yesterday was Year of the Ox. Chinese New Year.