ThinkFast: July 24, 2006
ThinkFast: July 24, 2006
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Lebanon today. The total death toll from the recent violence has climbed to 36 people in Israel and nearly 400 in Lebanon. The estimated damage cost from the conflict is $1.5 billion in Israel and $3 billion in Lebanon.
Stephen Hawking, the “world’s best-known living scientist,†urged Europe not to “follow the reactionary lead of President Bush†on stem cell research. “Stem cell research is the key to developing cures for degenerative conditions like Parkinson’s and motor neuron disease from which I and many others suffer,†he said.
In a “dramatic escalation of violence,” bombs killed more than 60 people and wounded more than 200 Sunday in Baghdad and the northern oil center of Kirkuk.
The father of modern conservatism, William F. Buckley, on President Bush: “If you had a European prime minister who experienced what we’ve experienced it would be expected that he would retire or resign.”
The Institute of Science and International Security concluded Pakistan is building “a powerful new reactor for producing plutonium, a move that, if verified, would signal a major expansion of the country’s nuclear weapons capabilities and a potential new escalation in the region’s arms race.â€
The World Trade Organization will formally announce today that the Doha round of trade talks has been suspended “anywhere from months to years.â€
“Wage stagnation, long the bane of blue-collar workers, is now hitting people with bachelor’s degrees for the first time in 30 years. Earnings for workers with four-year degrees fell 5.2% from 2000 to 2004 when adjusted for inflation, according to White House economists.”
“Hundreds of Taliban guerrillas firing rocket-propelled grenades attacked a police station on Monday in southwestern Afghanistan, amid heightened violence in the south before a NATO deployment.â€
And finally: Is Pootie-Poot the prankster who turned on a mic near Bush at the G-8 summit? A British television station thinks so. “The footage on Britain’s Channel 4 shows Blair finally spotting and turning off the ‘telltale red light,’ and then the film cuts to Putin, grinning about something. A British reporter asked a Putin spokesman about this, but the spokesman insisted the broadcast was ‘an accident.’â€
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
The total death toll from the recent violence has climbed to 36 people in Israel and nearly 400 in Lebanon.
It’s funny how news outlets continue to try to paint Hezbollah as some sort of jihad juggernaut, ‘raining’ rocket fire down on Israel, despite Israel’s ‘best efforts’ to stop them…
The media is so slanted on this topic it’s positively perpedincular.
July 24th, 2006 at 9:11 amPakistan is building “a powerful new reactor…”
and is rewarded with fighter jets…
keep stirrin’ that pot, george…
July 24th, 2006 at 9:17 amOh, come on! Just because he teaches the same class that Newton once taught we have to believe him. What the hell does he know?
July 24th, 2006 at 9:24 am(Sarcasm off)
kudos to Pooty-Poot! he must have known he’d tag a fool…
Accidental tapings of private conversations happen a lot in some countries.
July 24th, 2006 at 9:25 am“accidental”…
Is William Buckley setting the stage to somehow portray hapless, poll-dropping Bush as maybe more like a liberal so that the other neocon politicians can distance themselves, look more attractive to the public, and continue to get elected as “reformers”?
July 24th, 2006 at 9:30 am……and intentional recordings happen a lot in some countries as well…………
July 24th, 2006 at 9:32 amConserve America’s Energy….resign now George.
You are unfit for office.
#5….
July 24th, 2006 at 9:35 amUndoubtedly.
Buckley does his usual mincing dance around the obvious.
And, Dubious is much more of a Fascist than a Conservative, truth be told.
Buckley – “…I think his legacy is indecipherable”
oh, i think we already know it’s a “disaster”…
July 24th, 2006 at 9:38 am410 Representatives Admit Owned By Israel
Sunday 23rd of July 2006
by Jay Randal
This past Thursday: 410 members of the US House of Representatives voted YEAS for Resolution 921, the support for Israel aggression on civilians of Lebanon, so the 410 admit that they are compromised by Israel!
223 Republicans, 186 Democrats, and 1 Independent voted for appeasement of Israel’s barbaric war on the Lebanese people, under the phony trumped up pretext of Israel defending themselves from war they created!
The abduction of 2 Israeli soldiers, by the Hezbollah in Lebanon, created an excuse for the Israeli Prime Minister Olmert to justify a pre-planned assault on Lebanon to destroy its infrastructure and economy!
Several hundred Lebanese civilians have been slain so far in the carnage, as the Israeli military amasses troops & tanks for a full scale invasion of Lebanon, to cripple Hezbollah and to intimidate Syria & Iran!
8 House Reps voted nays, 4 voted present, and 10 not voting, so all of them deserve praise for NOT taking part in a travesty to encourage more Israeli mayhem!
( Jay Randal, political activist and writer in Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA.)
July 24th, 2006 at 9:39 am[...] From Thinkprogress: “Stephen Hawking, the “world’s best-known living scientist,†urged Europe not to “follow the reactionary lead of President Bush†on stem cell research. “Stem cell research is the key to developing cures for degenerative conditions like Parkinson’s and motor neuron disease from which I and many others suffer,†he said.” [...]
July 24th, 2006 at 9:40 am1.5 Billion damage in Israel?? I highly doubt that. Even TP’s starting to sound like Faux News. A few rockets versus massive artillery and tank, and plane bombardment. Get real.
July 24th, 2006 at 9:42 amIn today’s bizarre Washington Post op-ed (”Surveillance We Can Live With”) pitching his ill-conceived NSA eavesdropping compromise, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) shows all of the hallmarks of a man in the throes of severe cognitive dissonance. While essentially pronouncing the illegality of George Bush’s illegal domestic surveillance program, he cannot bring himself to harm his President or his party.
For the disturbing details, see:
July 24th, 2006 at 9:45 am“Specter’s Op-Ed: Cowardice He Can Live With.”
Post 11 > the Israelis are claiming that inflated figure of 1.5 billion > I would say the damage to Israel from Hezbollah rockets is at max about 50 to 100 million! Damage reported of 3 billion to Lebanon is probably way low > more like 10 to 20 billion or more and climbing! Israel knows the US government will pay every penny they claim in damages, so the reason that they inflate the amount of damage, plus it gives them more PR coverage of being the victim when actually they are the aggressor nation!
July 24th, 2006 at 9:51 am#13 – Jay, not to be a naysayer against your opinion, but on what are you basing your claim that damage in inflated in one country and deflated in another?
Have you actually seen the damage done to Israel? I haven’t seen the damage on either side, other than a few quick photo’s of a burning building or dead bodies. I would not want to definitively state a dollar amount until I had seen the damage done.
Now, I do agree that 1.5 billion in damage done to Israel seems a suspiciously high number considering the much lower number of rockets that they’ve been the victim of receiving. Are the Hezbollah rockets that much better at targeting than the Israeli rockets? I seriously doubt that.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:06 am#12 – Excellent article.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:10 amSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Lebanon today…
Everything is going to ok now…
I crack myself up.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:16 am“Hundreds of Taliban guerrillas firing rocket-propelled grenades attacked a police station on Monday in southwestern Afghanistan, amid heightened violence in the south before a NATO deployment.â€
But the Taliban is gone, right…..? Rummy?
July 24th, 2006 at 10:18 amSen. Bill Frist was in the area on Saturday, which was reported in the local paper. Among other things he said he was going to introduce a resolution in the Senate to allow drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
He said that Democrats have been blocking the drilling for 10 years and that it’s a shame that we are buying so much oil from the Mid East when we have billions of gallons off our coast.
On the surface I find it interesting that the minority party has had this much power to prevent drilling. Does anyone have links to any info regarding this issue?
July 24th, 2006 at 10:19 amStephen Hawking, the “world’s best-known living scientist,†urged Europe not to “follow the reactionary lead of President Bush†on stem cell research.
Pffft, scientists. Did everyone hear the news? Oprah is not a lesbian!
July 24th, 2006 at 10:21 amIs Pootie-Poot the prankster who turned on a mic near Bush at the G-8 summit?
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:24 amPerhaps the damage estimates from both sides are taken from a no-bid contract by Halliburton?
July 24th, 2006 at 10:27 amToday, the NYTimes reported that Lebanon does not distinguish between genuine innocents and Hezbollah in it’s “civilian” death toll. The Times also reported that at least 100 Hezbollah fighters are part of the “nearly 400″ dead that the media has focused on. Thus, the number is closer to the upper 200’s of civilians killed over the course of 12 days. This works out to a daily average of less than a 1/3 of the arab civilians killed by fellow arabs in Iraq on a daily basis. TP is right to include this count too in its ThinkFast segment, begging the question, where is the outcry from the world against these civilian deaths? (Bush screwed up and never should have gone into Iraq, and perhaps the world stays quiet to remind him just how badly he screwed up).
Despite everyone’s initial fear of world war 3, this will not occur. In fact, the opposite result is far more likely. Iran will find itself in a deeper hole than it imagined (becareful for what you wish for you just might get it). Syria will cut and run from its support of Hezbollah and Iran in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and the chance to regain a portion of the Golan Heights. Further, Israel will accept European peacekeepers (something they previously would not) provided they will actually keep the peace and prevent Hezbollah attacks. Any hesitation on the part of the EU to provide these troops jeapordizes the European claims of wanting to play a greater role in the mideast. So the EU will send in its troops and become fully engaged. Hezbollah having already cost itself support, will hesitate to endanger the sympathies of Europe through additional violence when it is already part of the Lebonese gov’t.
Next, because enough in the arab world have been willing to criiticize Hezbollah for causing this action and have chosen to remain on the sidelines instead of attack Israel as they have in the past, perhaps to punish Iran for fomenting trouble in their own countries, shows that the mideast is actually far closer to a comprehensive settlement involving recognition of Israel’s right to exist and full economic cooperation, in exchange for the creation of a palestinian state with all “militant” groups joining a coalition government and with financial payments from Israel to those displaced from 1948 but no right of return since they will have their own country. Upon these conditions the world will then resume full financial assistance to the palestinians. Israel will also be expected to provide some financial assistance to help rebuild both the new palestinian country and Lebanon.
However, for this to work, Russia and other pro-arab countries will also have to agree that any resumption of terrorist attacks, such as missles launched into Israel will require an immediate cessation of all aid, including humanitarian to that particular country . Thus the governments with terrorist elements will have a direct incentive to move against those willing to put their own interests above their people’s best interests.
Simplistic? Perhaps. But, also workable. In the end, its never been about the land. It’s about respect and above all else, its about money. All of the mideast nations stand to gain financially from peace. Especially as the world seeks alternative sources of energy which directly effects the oil producing nations bottom lines. Money talks and BS walks.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:29 am14 Dem Soldier
I just find it odd…
1.5 Billion damage, 36 deaths
3 Billion Damage – 400+ deaths?
Who’s kidding who… Geuss all the jews were not at home or work when the rockets fell.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:29 amPost 14 > I have seen numerous pics of Lebanon’s damage and lists of what has been destroyed > over 49 bridges > one of which spans a deep canyon and will take a long time to rebuild; dozens of high rise buildings destroyed in Beirut; electric plants destroyed along with oil tanks; severe damage to the International airport; hundreds of homes destroyed; factories bombed; military facilities bombed; television stations damaged; etc. > that would put the damage in to the billions! Remember the flood of New Orleans caused over 100 billion in damage to just one small city!
As for Israel’s damage > a few dozen homes damaged or destroyed; a few apartment buildings damaged; a few businesses damaged; train station roof blasted; misc. damage to other facilities and roads; etc. > looks like millions to me and NOT 1.5 billion!
AS for what the actual figures are? Nobody knows at this time, only guesstimates!
July 24th, 2006 at 10:34 am23 – from what I read earlier, it seems Israel has quite a network of bomb shelters. Hezbollah’s rockets most likely did fall on empty buildings.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:36 amOff to my first day on the new job! Play nicely, all ya’ll weirdos!
July 24th, 2006 at 10:45 amAnother thought about stem-cell research. As others have pointed out, the government is not financing such research. If it were, the discoveries would be public domain. This does not preclude private research, where the discoveries would be proprietary property – patentable.
Can you imagine what the legal and financial consequences could be if a Corporation held the patent on human genes?
Corporations already hold patents on many, if not all, the seeds for the food we eat. And when patented plants cross-pollinated with non-patented plants in the fields, Corporations have been able to get compensation for the “appropriation” of their patented material. Apply the same logic to human offspring from someone who has been treated via stem-cell research and …??? Could parents be made to pay royalties to Corporations?
July 24th, 2006 at 10:46 amRe: Buckley’s comment regarding a European PM.
Two words, “Tony Blair”.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:48 amPlus of note: about 1,200 Hezbollah rockets have been fired at Israel since the war began > of those Israel claims that half of them landed in the ocean, or in open non-developed areas, and many were duds that did not explode. Then Israel claims that about another 1/4 hit streets, or cars, or blew up landscaping, or hit orchards. So about 300 rockets hit things in Israel like houses or some other buildings. Campare that to the thousands of precision bombs dropped on Lebanon!
July 24th, 2006 at 10:50 amTHE EQUATION:
100 “senators” + 410 “representatives” = 510 war criminals + X number of bush regimists + Y number neo-cons + Z number of zionist sympathizers/murdrers.
maybe this whole equation will cancel itsellf out and go away
July 24th, 2006 at 10:56 amjay – friendly advice: call it “opinion” or “commentary”… qualify and phrase it as such and you would have no trouble with being taken seriously… it’s the conjecture implied to be fact that is wrong and misleading… sourcing would solve that problem…
July 24th, 2006 at 11:03 amjust sayin’…
One day all visits will be surprise visits…
Or perhaps the media will stop thinking “Hey, this is now newsworthy” and broadcasting non-stop coverage of such things.
I would be more impressed if they had announced it in advance and said “we want to bring stability to the region so we’re going to try democracy”.
Z.
July 24th, 2006 at 11:14 amBriseadh na Faire – also worth noting, is the pharms that want to PATENT ancient Ayurverdic therapies. Some guy tried to PATENT yoga moves. Other pharms are claiming PATENTS on native plants in South America. This issue is GETTING OUT OF HAND!
July 24th, 2006 at 11:19 am“Monday’s never were any good anyway, tuesday I get a little bit side way’s, Wendsday I get better just for spite, thursday, friday take to long”..on and on words from an old song.
Good Morning all. I think not…..CNN has had some coverage from the Lebanon side, massive distruction shown compared to Israel. Of course Israel keeps wining they were attacked first and making out like their losses are higher and since the news reports show mostly them one would think that to be true…..For several day’s now the losses of citizens in Lebanon have been much higher than Israel. Just this morning 37 Israel’s dead to 400 on the Lebanon side.
A tiny mention here when the 2 children were killed by Hezbollah the leader of them appoligized on the news media for the losses………..I have not heard a mention of appologee or any note of sincere concern from the Israel murderers for killing the family on the beach, bombing the buses carring men, women and children after Israel had droped bombs and leaflets telling the people to leave Lebanon. All I keep hearing over and over again is it is their right to stop Hezbollah….The entire bunch of lies are not panning out when you look at the actual distruction being unleashed and condoned by Israel and america…Look at the losses and to whom is paying the cost…….Tit for tat is beyond all this madness….
I am an old woman and only capable of protecting my little patch of land and helping my close neighbors to do the same, but if I did have the ability, I would be over there helping the Lebonese….I didn’t feel that way to this extreme untill now…..It sickens me that it is our supplied bombs and support fueling this murderious madness……
If we cut the funds to our own government maybe we could stop all the killing all over the world…. If we had massive shut downs, sick days where all the concerned citizens here just didn’t go to work on a given day maybe this administration would be forced to listen. Even if it were just the minorety that stage the walk outs we could shut the country down, no work, no buying, no nothing that supported all the killing around the world..Peaceful shut downs and cutting the funds may be all that will work….
Have all the posters that agree with my thinking written, called and faxed their representatives? If not why not.? Do something please, I am…..Blessings…Peace…..Demand it now…..Show outrage and help stop the killings and wars….
July 24th, 2006 at 12:05 pmToo bad we’re not a real democracy.
July 24th, 2006 at 12:25 pmIf Wm Buckley were so smart, why didn’t he recognize Bush for the fool that he is a long time ago? Buskley, too, was blinded by his own partisanship and couldn’t see what was before his eyes.
July 24th, 2006 at 3:05 pmTake a look at this website. I have no idea that the casualties are so horrible:
http://fromisraeltolebanon.info/
I just never realized that war is like that. I’m sure those images are great recruiting tools for Hizballah.
Also, regarding the $1.5 billion that Israel has put out there. I think most of it is in lost business from companies closing and people not coming to work and less than actual physical damage to buildings and roads.
On the other hand, you should calculate it the same way when assessing damage to Lebanon’s tourist industry. It definitely doesn’t make sense that Lebanon’s figure is only 2x that of Israel.
July 24th, 2006 at 4:59 pmWe’ve started a collection of videos from the current round of fighting:
http://warzone-video.magnify.net/
Please feel free to review and comment, link to videos from YouTube and Google, or post your own video clips.
July 24th, 2006 at 5:40 pmDoes anyone know for sure why the US media doesn’t show these images? Is it because they are grotesque or is it ensure that the “average viewer” doesn’t get upset/outraged. I’m sure there are similar images from Israel when Hamas suicide bombers kills Israelis, but we don’t see those either. So, I don’t want to jump to the conclusion that its media bias towards the Israeli’s. I don’t know, its really confusing.
July 24th, 2006 at 5:45 pm[...] So for 7/24/06 ThinkProgress wrapped up a few things nicely [...]
July 24th, 2006 at 6:05 pm[...] Think Progress [...]
July 24th, 2006 at 8:07 pm