JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian democracy activist who has campaigned for non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation said on Saturday he would run for president to succeed Yasser Arafat. Mustafa Barghouthi, a physician educated in Russia and the United States, will challenge frontrunner Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas, the new head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, was chosen by the dominant Fatah movement to run in the Jan. 9 poll. Barghouthi shares a family name with jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi but is not closely related. Marwan Barghouthi dropped his potential bid for the presidency that Fatah leaders had feared could split the group.The non-jailed Mr. Barghouti faces long odds, though, as he seems to be borrowing from the John Kerry playbook:
"Enough is enough. We have been dragged into so many tunnels without hope. I think everything will depend on the vote of the young people ... I think there is a huge demand for change.I wonder how Arabs would respond to P. Diddy's VOTE OR DIE campaign...
A case for less government
I know this is normally James Taranto's gig, but I couldn't help laughing at this headline:
US may have found new case of mad cow disease: official
I've always thought that some of our officials are a little nuts. . .
New Hampshire It Ain't
Now that Arafat has bid us his final "Thank you, bye-bye!", it appears that the Palestinians are just about ready to hold elections.
How do we know? Because their primary season has started. It happens to coincide with hunting season.
You must be shot accurately when mourning General Arafat! Be quiet!
Buh-bye
Three days after I wish him a long life, Arafat finally does the decent thing and kicks the damn bucket.
Well, I can't have everything.
Guilty pleasures
OK, I admit it: part of the reason I voted for Bush was to see the outrage from Europe. Europe did not disappoint.
The groaning about the outcome of the US election is deafening... Four more years with [Bush]! You Americans, what have you done to us? More brusqueness, more going it alone, more wars? The groaning is deafening.That's the editor-in-chief of one of Germany's two public TV channels. German unemployment rate is 10.5% -- twice that of the U.S. Muslims next door are slaughtering Dutch movie producers for not singing praises to Islam. And what causes the Germans to caterwaul? Four more years of Bush's "brusqueness"! Waaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaah!
Linking to an incoherent rant by Keith Olbermann, Michael Moore asks:
That would be you, Mikey. Why do you ask?
Here is where you'll always find them...
Ann Althouse points us to the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Update: Where are my manners?! I didn't even give proper credit to the creators of this image: Docweasel of the eponymous web site, and Ed Hopper. Shame on me.