Fall Races and other news

The link above sends you to a fairly cool interactive map of where there are important races going on this November. There are very few places that aren't in contention for either governor, house or senate, so get informed.

Now, on to what happened in Lebanon today...... the ongoing atrocities committed by both Hezbollah and Israel are appalling. The problem this really represents to U.S. foreign policy is strikingly complex as Hezbollah represents a militant arm of Iran (to some) and therefore complicates the nearly stagnant US negotiations with Iran. In this case Israel and Hezbollah are almost acting as pawns for reactionary elements within Iran who may want a conflict with the US (not that this should be considered the popular opinion in Iran by any means). US support for an overly aggressive Israel helps to polarize formerly progressive elements within the Iranian government into positions that support a hard line stance.

all in all, bad news