East Hampton, New York -- Anthony Marshall, the tabloids tell us, wouldn't buy his elderly mother her prescribed medicine, locked her poodles in the pantry and refused to buy her hair dye or her favorite make-up.  His mom is Brooke Astor, the ultra-rich socialite, now frail, helpless and dependent on her son.

While others merely gossiped about this tragedy of dogs and cosmetics, George Bush acted.  In a deft maneuver at the end of last week, Bush rammed through Congress a massive reduction in the inheritance tax.  As a result of the tax change engineered by the White House, Marshall stands to save $9 million on the $45 million he expects to inherit from his mom.

George W. Bush could feel Anthony's pain.  It's not easy being a child of incredibly wealthy parents.  Indeed, as the President noted, "death taxes" are supremely unfair to those who've earned these millions.  As Mr. Bush often mentions, he himself worked long hours his whole life to be born into a rich family.

Can you name the one country on earth where the government can steal elections, strip away basic rights, spy on citizens, and launch wars based on lies, but where the people do not take over the nation's capital in protest?

If you said the United States, you'll be wrong on September fifth when Camp Democracy begins on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.   http://www.campdemocracy.org

At long last, Americans are preparing to say "Enough is enough," and to do what Ukrainians, Mexicans, or any other people not drugged into acquiescence would do when things got this bad: occupy the capital city to demand peace, justice, and accountability.

I think Condi's right. As Israel wreaks biblical vengeance on Lebanon, we may well be witnessing, as she put it, "the birth pangs of a new Middle East." But the devil baby that crawls out of the wreckage will be one that makes even her boss pause mid-swagger.

God help us. The reckless cynics are in control. Just like that - hundreds dead, half a million refugees, a nation's infrastructure shattered. The perpetrators beat their chests and reload. The U.S. expedites its delivery of bombs to Israel, which is driving Lebanon "to the gates of hell and madness," as Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said.

"I don't want to remember, but I can't help it. What I remember most is the sound, the sound of the planes, and I was scared because I thought there were so many. I fell asleep last night, but all I could hear in my sleep were the planes."

Birth pangs. Maybe the bombs that destroyed the home of the 8-year-old girl in the southern Lebanon village of Ayta Chaeb, quoted by an AP reporter from her hospital bed in Tyre, were autographed by little Israeli girls. Maybe they were decorated with hearts and Stars of David. Maybe they said "from Israel with love."

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Mystical twin boys, reputedly born with black tongues and bullet-proof animist powers, no longer lead a deadly God's Army of 200 guerrillas along the violent Burma-Thailand border.

Johnny Htoo, one of the sensational twins, surrendered with nine other God's Army rebels to the military in Burma, mainland Southeast Asia's biggest country, which is also known as Myanmar.

Eighteen-year-old Johnny Htoo's brother, Luther, was not mentioned in Wednesday's (July 26) announcement in Burma's government-produced New Light Of Myanmar newspaper.

The "ten-member armed group of God's Army, led by Johnny Tu [Htoo]," surrendered to soldiers in Burma's southeast Coastal Region Command camp.

The 10 men abandoned a "base in the other country," it said, referring to Thailand.

Johnny Htoo, and nine others, also gave up some assault rifles, ammunition, and a hand grenade.

They "returned to the legal fold" on July 17, the report said without elaborating, an indication they received amnesty.

AUSTIN, Texas -- State of play in the Middle East: Lebanon, extensively damaged plus a half-million refugees; Syria, tired of being dissed; Israel, disproportionate. Are you kidding? Did it work last time they occupied Lebanon? Condi Rice, undercut by neocons at home? Iraq, completely fallen apart. Iran, only winner? Everybody else, mad at Bush. Most under-covered story, collapse of Iraq.

And what do I think this is? A media story, of course.

From the first day of 24/7 coverage, you could tell this was big. By the time Chapter 9,271 of the conflicts in the Middle East had gotten its own logo, everyone knew it was HUGE. I mean, like, bigger than Natalee Holloway. Then anchormen began to arrive in the Middle East and people like Anderson Cooper and Tucker Carlson -- real experts. Then Newt Gingrich -- and who would know better than Newt? -- declared it was World War III. Let's ratchet up the fear here -- probably good for Republican campaigning.