From [AMERICAblog](http://www.americablog.com/), and I found it amusing:

Enjoy.

Hello all– Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I’m in the process of mov­ing and other life issues. Will be back next week. My apolo­gies.
The Management.

BEIRUT — Lebanon is known for its wines. The Bekaa Val­ley pro­duces some truly excel­lent vin­tages. But what’s the favorite wine of the Gemayel polit­i­cal dynasty? “Michel Aoun won the elec­tion with Armen­ian votes, waaaaah!” (Say it out loud, it’s fun­nier.)
Yes, Michel Aoun’s can­di­date Camille Khoury, who no one has heard of before, won the elec­tion in the Metn dis­trict by a few hun­dred votes because the [Armenians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenians_in_Lebanon) strongly backed him. The Maronite Chris­tians, how­ever, backed for­mer pres­i­dent Amin Gemayel by a large mar­gin. This has led Gemayel, the father of [Pierre Gemayel](http://www.back-to-iraq.com/2006/11/pierre_gemayel_has_been_assass.php), the slain indus­try min­is­ter for whose seat the elec­tion was held, to com­plain that Aoun doesn’t rep­re­sent the real Chris­tians of Lebanon and his elec­tion is some­how ille­git­i­mate. News­flash: Arme­ni­ans are Chris­tians and have been before any other nation could say that, dat­ing back to 301 A.D., before there even *were* [Maronites](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maronite). Gemayel is also call­ing on the reli­gious author­i­ties and the state to force a recount or even a new elec­tion in the Bourj Ham­moud dis­trict, an Armen­ian enclave where Gemayel said the dead were vot­ing. As I said before, Bourj Ham­moud looks noth­ing like Chicago.

Con­tinue read­ing →

BEIRUT — Well, in the words Dan Rather, the elec­tion in Metn is as tight “as the rusted lug nuts on a ’55 Ford.” Pha­langeist Party offi­cials say they won by a few hun­dred votes. The Free Patri­otic Move­ment says *they* won by a few hun­dred votes. Both sides have claimed vic­tory and both sides have said there were vot­ing irreg­u­lar­i­ties.
[Here’s a round up of the var­i­ous sto­ries from Google News.](http://news.google.com/?ncl=1118537831&hl=en) In gen­eral how­ever, it looks like 43 per­cent of the vot­ers came out in Metn, an aston­ish­ingly high num­ber for an off-year elec­tion. (How many of those votes were Syr­i­ans nat­u­ral­ized as Lebanese and bused in from Dam­as­cus is unclear. But the voted for the Aounist can­di­date.) Today’s con­test shaped up as a bat­tle for the right to claim the lead­er­ship of the Chris­tians in Lebanon. If Aoun loses, his chance of ever becom­ing pres­i­dent will be lower than a snake’s belly, chan­nelling Rather again, because his appeal to the Shi’ite-led oppo­si­tion was that he claimed to rep­re­sent the Chris­tians. If Amin Gemayel loses, it will be a huge blow for the pro-government forces. (Amin Gemayel is the father of Pierre and a for­mer pres­i­dent. There is much pub­lic sym­pa­thy because he lost his son.)

Con­tinue read­ing →