Language lessons

"As a member of Lebanon's multi-confessional government, the militant Shia Muslim movement Hezbollah is formally committed to its own removal as a military presence in south Lebanon."

I saw this paragraph, by Martin Asser, at the BBC. The word multi-confessional stuck out. I've seen it a few times in recent weeks and wondered about it's usage. Apparently it's correct, but it is new to me and it strikes me as odd. See also: Parliament of Lebanon

"Although distributed confessionally, all members, regardless of their religious faith, are elected by universal suffrage, forcing politicians to seek support from outside of their own religious communities, unless their co-religionists overwhelmingly dominate their particular constituency."

It's fun learning something new!

US to roll out electronic passports

"Despite ongoing privacy concerns and legal disputes involving companies bidding on the project, the U.S. State Department plans to begin issuing smart chip-embedded passports to Americans as planned Monday."

I've got $20 on these things never working properly and some 12 year old hacks the system in a week.

Your tax dollars at work folks!

Did pictures of the creature also known as Suri Cruise ever show up? What about Bigfoot? Nessie?

Definition of pyrrhic victory: Hezbollah claims victory against Israel. How many people have died in Lebanon during the past month - 900+? It's estimated that it will cost approximately $2.5 billion to rebuild what the Israeli's have destroyed. And that money will come from... where? Lebanon was deeply in debt before this started and was just starting to pay some of it down. Where will they get the funds for this? Their devastated tourism industry?

Hell'uva victory.