NBA rock-paper-scissors

I think I agree with this John Hollinger take on the virtual version of rock-paper-scissors that we will have in the NBA playoffs this year:

If you're handicapping the race for the title, it also sets up a rock-paper-scissors situation among the contenders. I think Boston likes playing Miami more than trying to handle L.A. or San Antonio. I think Miami would much rather face L.A. or San Antonio than Boston. And I think L.A. or San Antonio would much rather face Boston than see Miami in the Finals.

I agree that the Lakers would MUCH rather play Boston than Miami, and would add that they would rather play San Antonio than Dallas in the West. Although they are very likely to have to beat both of them, unfortunately.

Jew baiting in The Guardian

James Taranto catches a hilarious correction in London's Guardian:

A quote by Tzipi Livni, Israel's former foreign minister, within a panel that formed part of the Palestine papers, was cut in a way that may have given a misleading impression. The quote appeared as: "The Israel policy is to take more and more land day after day and that at the end of the day we'll say that it is impossible, we already have the land and cannot create the state." To clarify, the full quote is: "I understand the sentiments of the Palestinians when they see the settlements being built. The meaning from the Palestinian perspective is that Israel takes more land, that the Palestinian state will be impossible, the Israel policy is to take more and more land day after day and that at the end of the day we'll say that it is impossible, we already have the land and cannot create the state." (What they said ... 24 January, page 4.)

See, the actual quote is a Livni describing Palestinian propaganda, but the paper edited it to present the Palestinian propaganda itself! Hilarious (in a macabre sort of way) example of the fundamental anti-Semitism that is so matter of fact on the European left.