A Raid? What Can You Be Thinking? Airspace violations. No declaration of war. Fuel theft. Unsafe aircraft operation. No UN sanction and the wanton killing of the enemy. By any measure, Belmont Club concludes, the Israeli raid on Entebbe would be ruled illegal today.

"Activists" are the New Murderers John Weidner writes “More on perverting the language…”

His Safeword is "Banana Plantation" Andrew Sullivan adds another item to his poignant torture collection: “Here’s one detail about Don Rumsfeld’s summer home that a historian found poignant: it was once a renowmed [sic] center for torturing slaves.”

"The .45 is in my right hand in condition one." Pierre Legrand confronts a stalker and the stalker lives to leave town. “If you are going to carry a weapon spend some time thinking about the implications of what you may have to do.”

"Teach the Children Well" Sol @ Solomonia continues “exposing Ron Francis, the Andover Massachusetts High School physics teacher who supports Hamas and its goal of destroying Israel.”

Are African Americans Natural Democrats? Rattler Gator looks at: “The necessary glossing over of an extreme political mistake made by African Americans for which we, as a readily-identifiable group with remarkable patterns of virtual unanimity in voting, have never been held responsible for.”

IDF Captive Not a POW -- Lawyer From Dan Izenberg, Law Expert @ the Jerusalem Post: “IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit is not a prisoner of war and is therefore not entitled to the full protection that international law affords POW’s, Hebrew University international law expert Yuval Shani told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.” But then Izenberg goes on to say, neither are terrorists captured by Israel.

Desecrating Lady Liberty Andrew Sullivan reports that Christianists are desecrating the Statue of Liberty. A replica, anyway.

Ken Lay's Death by Wiki CNN reports that accounts of Kenneth Lay’s death went through a variety of revisions at Wikipedia, as the given cause went from “apparant suicide” to “massive coronary”.

Access to Translated Documents The Foreign Military Studies Office has a website which allows the public to examine and search translated documents captured during Operation Iraqi Freedom — and much else.

The Dragon Slays St. George Samizdata comments on efforts by the Church of England to replace St. George with St. Albans because St. George was too warlike and did things which might offend Muslims.

Italian Intel Officer Linked to CIA Arrested Italian intelligence officers were arrested in connection with an investigation into the “extraordinary rendition of Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr”. CIA officers may be tried in absentia. The Jurist has details.

The Nervous Count in Mexico The nerve-biting count of votes in Mexico continues. Bloomberg reports that Obrador is now leading Calderon in the early counting. Mark in Mexico says that the LA Times is totally misreporting the ballot tally process. Publius Pundit has more.

Fruit and Votes notes that reports of Calderon’s lead came at a time when returns were incomplete. Bottom line: the election will be close.

Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer describes the controversy over the vote count.

Mark in Mexico is liveblogging the count. Global Voices has a roundup from Mexican bloggers.

El Universal reports Calderon now leads. The leads have switched. Obrador is behind by 0.01% with 97.70% tallied at 02:09 Pacific.

New York Times Launches Retaliatory Strike AskMom has the details in her sidebar: “A NYT Spokesman said that recent missile launches from its wholly-owned subsidiary dictatorship were ‘carefully timed to send a message, dude.’ The assumed target, a charter boat full of financial analysts on a sportsfishing trip in the Sea of Japan, was considered to be a ‘hostile force and known enemies of the paper’ claimed the Times.”

Kracked Kim Is Kim Jong-Il crazy for firing seven missiles in the general direction of Japan (and of the US)? Other evidence points even more convincingly to Kim’s irrationality: stealing from the Chinese. (HT: Fausta)

A Real Spaceship Vodkapundit links to a Space.com story describing Jeff Bezos’ purchase of a private spacecraft venture called Blue Origin. This rocket takes off and lands on its tail, just like in ’50s sci-fi. From a space base on a Texas ranch, too.

The Fifth Estate Tim Blair says that Stephen D. Cooper’s new book, Watching the Watchdog: Bloggers As the Fifth Estate mentions him, “but otherwise should be completely acceptable”.

Expectations of Privacy Glenn Reynolds looks at declining standards of privacy. Why is it OK to list the location of the Vice President’s vacation house, but not New York Times’ staffers? Is publishing the telephone numbers of university officials and employers of bloggers OK?

The Heavy Tail Max Boot, writing in the Los Angeles Times, thinks the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan have too heavy a logistical tail. “… any organization prefers to focus on what it does well. In the case of the Pentagon, that’s logistics.”

Dept. of Juvenile Behavior Check out every 10-year-old’s (and one PJMer’s) dream come true at PhoneTrick.com.

Wrapped in Tin Foil From the Huffington Post, Marc Coffey culls the Top Ten (best? worst? paranoid? all three?) responses to the sudden death of convicted Enron executive Ken Lay.

Gives a New Meaning to the Word "Catfight" Yet2 reports on a new innovation for women’s self-defense: “The FingerNails” concept is unique in that ten tiny but razor sharp steel blades can be deployed instantly by the wearer once the safety key has been displaced and the remote trigger mechanism is actuated.

Overly Secret Program Outed Because It Wasn't a Secret Bill Keller and friends continue to give conflicting information regarding the rationale for publishing details of the classified US government program designed to track terror funding, while many others—including Cassandra @ Villainous Company, look on in amazement. (HT: Power Line)

Another Crackdown Coming in Iran? An important anniversary—on July ninth—is looming in Iran and Doctor Zin hopes that the Western MSM are as prepared as the Iran’s State Security Forces seem to be.

Dead White Guilt Betsy Newmark and Dr. Sanity counter columnist Mark Kurlansky, who wonders why Americans should care about the opinions of the Founding Fathers.

Seeking and Finding It’s difficult to obey the law when looking for a home-construction contractor, says John Derbyshire, but not impossible.

Boldly Going A white, gleaming innovation is now a part of Roger Simon’s life.

Adam Smith on Declinism Virginia Postrel quotes The Wealth of Nations and says: “Some things never change.”

Goodbye To All That Daniel Berczik @ Bloggledygook announces he stops blogging.

Mexico Update From Robert Mayer @ Publius Pundit: “Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Mexico’s leftist presidential candidate, wants a vote-by-vote recount and has vowed to call street protests to back up his claim to victory if the numbers don’t turn out in his favor. A colored revolución.”

He Knows Where Osama Is Hiding Planck’s Constant: “I did a very bad thing: I broke into the NY Times offices and stole some of their subscription lists. I think the Times will understand that, in the end, I did nothing wrong, for after all, it is in the public interest to know what I found out.”

The Greatest President? Both Nathan Newman and Mahablog remember Ulysses S. Grant.

Ken Lay Dies Former Enron chairman Ken Lay has died of a heart attack, CNN and Fox News are reporting. No links from blogs or MSM yet.

UPDATE: Click2Houston: “Former Enron Corp. chairman and founder Ken Lay died of a massive heart attack Tuesday, KPRC Local 2 reported. Lay, 64, was admitted to the Aspen Valley Hospital overnight with a massive coronary, sources told KPRC. Doctors said his heart simply “gave out” and the death was unexpected.”

And Laurence Simon, from Houston: “Let’s see… shuttle… Mexican elections… and now Ken Lay. Three major out-of-town stories.”

Solidarity with Oriana

La Fallaci

Legendary journalist Oriana Fallaci is on trial for her work in Italy. The Europe Future association, founded in Wroclaw, Poland, May 2005, is circulating a petition of protest against this assault on freedom of speech. Among those signing: Lech Walesa, Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Adam Michnik.

Fighting Fire With Fire The Iraqi government is considering a request by local insurgent groups to give them weapons to fight al-Qaeda foreign fighters, USA Today reports. Ed Morrisey @ Captain’s Quarters thinks that “still, it sounds too cute. They want arms to fight the terrorists. If the native insurgents want that, they should have enlisted in the Iraqi Army. These groups could simply provide the Iraqi Army with their intel and let the government handle the problem.”

Lighting the Candle Billmon: “One of the more interesting jobs I had during my years in Washington was as a contract writer for the Rogers Commission, which investigated the first space shuttle disaster, in 1986.”

There Goes The Seventh North Korea has just launched a seventh missile; Wizbang writes: “The missiles of real concern are the Taepodong-2 long range missiles which appear to be failing miserably. Also, North Korea is launching from a different site than was expected. How can North Korea have a second site that no one knew about?”

Meanwhile, StrategyPage has found something something more bizarre than missile tests.

Genocide Blues “When teaching and researching mass murder gets you down, listen to this album,” writes Brian Brivati: it’s Scribbled in Chalk, by Karine Polwart. He explains why it works for him.

Close Guantanamo! No, Wait... President Bush offers sending four prisoners to Germany, and Davids Medienkritik writes: “I mean, that’s great! The undisputed champion of human rights - Germany, of course - could finally show the world how to deal with terrorists in a democratic fashion! Except, these aren’t exactly the type of guys you’d have over for dinner. Therefore, unsurprisingly, Germany is willing to take only two of them, at best.”

Another Priest Killed in Anatolia Brussels Journal reports on yet another killing of a priest in Anatolia, Turkey.

The North Korea-ization of Iran The Spirit Of Man looks aheads and sees Iran launching missiles as North Korea did yesterday.

The Knotty Question Neo-neocon keeps reflecting on assimilation and its importance for immigrants’ integration into the mainstream.

Lady Clairol Hair Coloring For Elephant-Seals Thomas Holsinger @ Winds of Change recalls his times as a student at UC Santa Cruz.

The Rocket's Red Glare Roger Simon focuses on the other missile launching — Hamas’ dispatch of Qassam rockets into the center of the Israeli city of Ashkelon, population 120,000. Simon asks whether Israel can live next to state openly at war with it.