On to the truly bizarre

We finally have the answer for why Israel is bombing Lebanon to bits. No, it's not the Hezbollah kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers or the firing of rockets into northern Israel. And it's not knee-jerk hawks in the Israeli government who think every provocation should be met with overwhelming force.

Nope. It's the gays.

That's right, according to a couple of Jerusalem's Orthodox rabbis. God is displeased with the coming WorldPride event in Jerusalem and has withdrawn protection from Israel. Rabbi Pinchas Winston said it best: "God has told the Jewish people, 'If you are not going to fight for my honour, you will be forced to fight for your own honour." He should talk to Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who also like to blame bad things--like 9/11--on gay people.

God's honor is so important that it's evidently worth the lives of more than 300 Lebanese civilians and about 20 Israeli ones. And we wonder why so many people think "organized religion" is a bunch of hooey.

Far be it from me to get involved in another religion's disputes, but I prefer gay Rabbi Mark Solomon's attitude: “The true sodomites, in Jewish tradition, are not homosexuals, but those who show selfish intolerance of visitors or anyone who is different." Take that, you big meanies.

Of course, all this does little for the people of the Holy Land, who probably wonder if the "peace of Jerusalem" is ever going to be anything more than a pipe dream.