What, No Hurricanes?

If I had reason to be spiritually downcast last week with another hollow Independence Day celebration, the developments since then have been even more dispiriting, if that is possible for a week in which I was not personally physically ill.

I received an e-mail from my Rotisserie partner on Tuesday saying "devastating news about Darryl," and I was hoping against hope that something dreadful had happened to Darryl Strawberry (against whom I hold no grudge) because the alternative would have been more dreadful. As it was, the alternative was what happened--a member of my Rotisserie League named Darryl had succumbed to prostate cancer. Of course he was about the nicest guy I've known. (Only the good die young, as our benevolent "god" decrees). A loss for his family, for his friends, the League, and Hollywood in general. Also a reminder of my own fragile health in that regard.

Then there are the wildfires growing in an overheated Southland, the impending death of the beloved but unsalvageable horse Barbaro, and--last but clearly not least--an impending conflagration of the entire Middle East.

A few months ago I read an article somehwere that warned of a high possibility for regional war in the Middle East as early as this summer. Like most jeremiads, it set off a defensive denial in my consciousness, just as Republicans are trying to deny that global warming is impacting us already. But now that first prediction is coming to awful fruition, as Israel has responded to a provocative act by Hezballah with a vigorous (to put it mildly) attack on the nation that harbors the terrorists. It is hard to condemn Israel for its reaction against an established group that is being financed by Iran and has sworn to destroy Israel. Whether the fury of Israel's attack is "disproportionate" is certainly arguable.

But it is also moot. Ohmert's decision to go to full-scale war against a terrorist organization is rather Bushian in its naivite. Sure, in the short-run Hezballah will be hurt, but at what risk? Large attacks foment other retaliatory acts. And I'm not just referring to missiles being lobbed over the entire Israeli territory, with the threat of expansion into Syria, Iran etc. If we think that this is confined to that nasty region of religious fanaticism, then we have all forgotten 9/11, London, Bali, and Mumbai (whatever happened to Bombay, I've thought irrelevantly).

I am currently writing this as two ambassadors, one from Israel, the other from Syria, are arguing on "Hardball" about who is more in the wrong; the Syrian refuses to sit in the same studio but will talk from an adjacent room. Diplomats squabble, innocents die, weapons are brandished and God is pleased. I hope very much for Israel's survival, but think it out, guys--can so well-entrenched an organization as Hezballah, and its terrorist allies, be wholly defeated by any military attack? At best they would be driven into their caves, more bitter and mroe resolute to continue their attacks. It would be easier to wipe out all the cockroaches in the world.

So much shit, so little time.