The focus is now on what went wrong. Why was Israel unable to defeat Hezbollah outright?What are the ramifications for peace? What was achieved by a war that claimed more than 1,000 dead and left tens of thousands homeless?

Far from being destroyed, Hezbollah has arguably emerged from the war stronger and more influential in a weakened and destabilized Lebanon, which can now be more easily manipulated by the real architects of the conflict, Syria and Iran.

The fighting in Lebanon may be far from over, the UN-imposed ceasefire more a pause than a peace."This morning, when the ceasefire goes into effect, we begin the countdown to the next war in Lebanon," declared an editorial in the Israeli newspaper Maariv yesterday.

Hezbollah won't disarm. Of course, that is a term of the cease fire, and if/when they violate it and fuck with the UN, they may bring the entire world down on lebanon.

Why Israel failed to achieve its goals

"What we are looking for are patterns of behavior that indicate something all terrorists have: the fear of being caught," he says.

They look for... subtle signs like vocal timbre, gestures and tiny facial movements that indicate someone is trying to disguise an emotion.

"All you know is there's an emotion being concealed. You have to find out why the emotion is occurring..."

The explanations for hiding emotions often are innocent: A traveler might be stressed out from work, worried about missing a flight or sad because a relative just died.

SPOT teams have identified about 100 people who were trying to smuggle drugs, use fake IDs and commit other crimes, but not terrorist acts.

Don't hide your emotions from the TSA. Hide nothing from the goverment. Only criminals have something to hide. We're watching.

WSJ.com - Which Travelers Have 'Hostile Intent'? Biometric Device May Have the Answer

With Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto hanging on its back like a “kick me” sign, the company got cut very little slack.

I seriously doubt the company would be cut additional slack if they had never said "don't be evil." However, I do think its interesting to see certain quaters start to refer to Google's "Don't be evil" motto as a burden or a mistake.

Xooglers: Never Say don't be evil

"What helped the British in this case is the ability to be nimble, to be fast, to be flexible, to operate based on fast-moving information," he said. "We have to make sure our legal system allows us to do that. It's not like the 20th century, where you had time to get warrants."

Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security

Warrants are so 20th Century. Thats the meme of the year. Remember, the Constitution talks about Warrants, but it doesn't say you always have to have one. It just says that you can't perform an unreasonable search. If the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security thinks its reasonable, then obviously it must be. In the future, Warrants will only be required when you're searching the offices of a corporation or a public official. I'm not kidding. Mark my words.

The strategy here is to win the 2006 elections on an anti civil liberties platform.

We have to get away from this concept that we have to apply civil-liberties protections to terrorists," Peter King (R., N.Y.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee

What is a terrorist, Mr King? Who determines who is or is not a terrorist so that we know when to apply civil liberties and when not to apply them? What is a trial, Mr. King? What does a trial determine? How can you determine guilt without a trial? If you don't need a trial to determine guilt, then why have them? What is their purpose? Has the federal government ever prosecuted an innocent person? How many, exactly? Has the federal government ever spied on anyone for an inappropriate purpose? Has the federal government ever detained someone for an inappropriate purpose?

Meme of the Year: Warrants are so 20th Century

In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports.

NBC: Disagreement over timing of arrests - Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit - MSNBC.com

Over the past 20 years, the number of Americans unsure about their stand on evolution has tripled from 7 per cent in 1985 to 21 per cent in 2005.

In other words, Americans are getting dumber.

"Republicans do it because it works.”

Yes, it does work. However, it is extremely irresponsible for the aformentioned reason. These people have damaged the strength of our country and its future for their own personal ends.

In evolution, Americans are big non-believers

"I met my wife on your captcha!!!" -- Steve, from New York

OK, this is funny... Hotornot captcha.

Captcha Mashup

Its not about how many dozens of imperialists we can kill, its about how many millions we can inconvenience at airports for decades to come!

Wondermark by David Malki ! - 220: In which a Plan comes together

The TSA screeners at SFO (San Francisco International Airport) are handing out these stickers to deserving young travelers.

The TSA must figure they'll need more searchers in the future, so they're starting the kids off thinking about it now.

Saffo: Junior TSA Screener

The appeals court said that expert testimony established that terrorists seek predictable and vulnerable targets and that the subway search program "generates uncertainty that frustrates that goal, which, in turn, deters an attack."

If you see they are searching today, you can take an alternate means of transportation, or walk to the next stop. Terrorists are unlikely to do this, because it screws up their operational plan. Frankly, if they can search everyone getting on an airplane, they can search people getting on trains. They can search people going into schools, going into malls, going into stores. They can search people everywhere. They can search them all the time. As long as its possible that a bomb might go off there, the searches will be considered reasonable.

Searches of Bags in Subway Upheld