Sunday roundup

-Absolutely maddening article in The New York Times Magazine focusing on Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, but this sentence really pissed me off:

"Two Israeli withdrawals, from Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005, have ended up bolstering two groups that the West and Israel brand as terrorists — Hezbollah and Hamas."

I won't go far into this, but it is well-recognized fact that the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon (1982-2000) created Hezbollah. Given that the article instead focuses on the Israeli withdrawal from a sovereign nation as bolstering the group tells us something (not the mention how eerily similar this is to what we hear about why the U.S. "can't" end the occupation of Iraq). Secondly, Hezbollah is not a group "that the West and Israel brand as terrorists." It is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Canada, and of course Israel. So if they've changed the definition of "the West" to include only the U.S. and Canada (and not the European Union for example), I missed the memo.

- A few weeks back I remember hearing about how several network stations refused ads for Trojan condoms because they didn't focus on the "health" aspects of condoms and were thus inappropriate. I won't even get in to how hard (no pun intended) it is to turn on the tv without some old guy talking about his erection and cialas or whatnot, but the whole issue really should make us focus on how contraception is treated by our politicians. Melissa Ryan over at MyDD has a list of questions we should ask of our presidential candidates. I think it would be especially good if so-called "moderate Republicans" knew where their presidential candidates stood on these issues. My guess is they wouldn't like it.

1. Do you support the right to use contraception?
2. Would you support legislations that requires pharmacies to both stock and fill prescriptions for birth control pills including Plan B emergency contraception?
3. As President (Senator/Congresswoman) would you support continued funding of Title X, which provides contraception and related reproductive health care services to low-income women?
4. Would you support legislation that require hospitals to offer information and prescriptions of emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault?
5. Would you support legislation requiring schools to include information about contraception as part of any sex ed curriculum?
6. Would you support legislation requiring health insurance providers to cover oral contraceptives in their prescription plans?

- Iraq is still burning.

- I'm still too crushed to write about the painfully close, heartbreaker of a Wimbledon final.

(photo) Revelers are chased by a pack of Miura's fighting bulls on the second day of the running of the bulls during the San Fermin fiestas in Pamplona, northern Spain, Sunday, July 8, 2007. The fiestas 'Los San Fermines' held since 1591, attracts tens of thousands of foreign visitors each year for nine days of revelry, morning bull-runs and afternoon bullfights. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)