"The idea is to put Palestinians on a diet but not make them die of hunger," commented Dov Weisglass, senior advisor to Israeli Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Enud Olmert, when asked how Israel should deal with the new Hamas government. Even these disgustingly callous words scarcely do justice to the collective punishment to Palestinians (illegal under international law) being inflicted by Israel on the people of Palestine for democratically electing a government that refuses to accede to Israeli demands.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Gee, the Republicans seem to have lost their moral compass since Tom DeLay quit. Who knew it could get worse without that pillar of rectitude from Texas? What a snakes' nest of corruption and nastiness.

The latest involves Speaker Denny Hastert and a land deal.

Hastert had sold to a developer a 69-acre portion of a 195-acre farm that had been purchased in his wife's name. The developer also purchased an adjacent plot of roughly equal size owned in trust by Hastert and two of his "longtime supporters." The area of west of Chicago is growing madly, and Hastert -- through an earmark appropriation process -- dedicated $207 million in taxpayer dollars as the first appropriation on the Prairie Parkway, which will run 5.5 miles from the Hastert land. Went through in the fall of 2005. Three months later, Hastert and his partners sold the land for a $3 million total profit, $1.8 million to Hastert.

Against a backdrop of constant Repuglican criticism that Democrats don't have a plan and don't stand for anything, the Dems unleashed their platform this week, "A New Direction," aimed at demonstrating to voters that they're worthy of regaining control after 12 years of right-wing rule. The platform includes the following promises:

-to raise the minimum wage to $7.25
-to make college tuition tax deductible
-to cut the interest rates of student loans by 50%
-to eliminate subsidies to oil and gas companies
-to impose lobbying restrictions
-to negotiate lower drug prices in the Medicare prescription plan
-to maintain social security
-to increase funding for stem-cell research
-to restore the pay-as-you-go policy for federal budgets
-to reduce oil consumption 25% by 2020 through development of fuel alternatives
-to help millions of illegal immigrants work towards U.S. citizenship
-to shore up homeland security
-to bring the troops home from Iraq "at the earliest practicable time"

Before me are three press releases for the recent "Campaign for America's Future" (staged by progressive Democrats) conference announcing the three daily schedules for their mid-June sessions in Washington, D.C., entitled "Take Back America." The Iraq war did not feature at all on the first two days, and popped up briefly as one of the last panels on the last day. In other words, in an election year, the organizers decided to avoid almost entirely any scheduling of political discussion of a war to which about 70 percent of all Americans are opposed, and which is topic A on every newscast and newspaper front page.

There was no spot for the prime Democrat calling for speedy withdrawal, Jack Murtha, on these schedules.

The war grinds on, but the pwog Democrats prefer to talk about other matters, such as the fact that Rove is not going to be indicted. Thank God. The left will have to talk about something else for a change. As a worthy hobbyhorse for the left, the whole Valerie Plame scandal has never made any sense. What was it all about in the first analysis? Outing a CIA employee. What's wrong with that?

“Before his swearing-in, Bilbray said he looked forward to replacing the images of airplanes that used to decorate the walls with photos of surfboards and sailboats." — USA Today

Unfortunately, the immigrant-bashing Brian Bilbray wasn't talking about decorating his dorm room. California's newest congressman is moving into the Rayburn House Office Building, specifically the office vacated by Randall “Duke" Cunningham, bribe taker extraordinaire, who is now serving eight years in prison. Bilbray edged past Democrat Lorraine Busby in a special, allegedly closely watched election on June 6, allowing Republicans to hold the 50th District in traditionally conservative San Diego County.

And the folksy detail about Bilbray's taste in poster art, in lieu of reportorial outrage, seems to signal that, once again, America has moved on from a shoddily conducted election — making Congress seem about as trustworthy as a New Orleans rebuilt atop the toxic waste stirred up by Hurricane Katrina. Somebody's going to get sick from this sooner or later.

Indeed, the “democracy extremists" out there — the ones who take