The Daily Background

Middle East Crisis
As several European countries take action, the State Department still has not begun a large-scale evacuation of Americans living in Lebanon. Rumor has it that Americans wishing to be evacuated will have to pay 300 dollars and will be dumped on the island of Cyprus to ‘sleep on the streets.’

The State Department has essentially confirmed these rumors by saying that it has no intention of providing free evacuations, nor does it have any intention of providing free flights out of Cyprus, nor does it have any intention of providing accomodations for Americans once they arrive in Cyprus. Several European countries by contrast are already evacuating their citizens and providing free charter flights back to their home countries. Apparently Americans who can’t pay the three hundred dollar evacuation fee on the spot will have to pay it later– plus interest.

Israeli air strikes killed 42 people yesterday, all of whom were civilians according to Reuters. More than 50 died in Iraq violence yesterday, with another 26 dying early this morning.

Israel has reportedly rejected proposals by several international leaders that the UN enter the area to monitor and try to calm the situation.

Some are now saying that asking Syria (which supports Hezbollah) to rein in the militant wing of the group would be impossible at this point even if Syria was agreeable, because ironically the U.S. forced Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon last year, leaving Hezbollah to function largely unchecked. Sorry no link, just something to think about.

*** Look out for a special post regarding the current situation early this afternoon titled “Middle East Crisis: Two simple thoughts”

The Environment and Weather
The EPA has announced that average American automobile fuel economy has hovered at only 21 miles per gallon for the second straight year. In the film An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore explains that American car companies like Ford and GM can’t sell their cars in China because Chinese fuel efficiency standards are actually significantly higher than they are here in the states. Very eye-opening as to how far behind the United States really is.

An Inconvenient Truth has grossed more than 17 million dollars at the U.S. box office making it the number four documentary of all time (and it will almost certainly make it to the number 3 spot (currently held by Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine) in a few weeks. Click here for the trailer, and then here to find a list of theaters showing the film in all 50 states (along with theaters near you that will be showing it soon).

Weather-wise several areas are experiencing extremes worldwide. In both the United States and Britain (along with other parts of Europe), heatwaves are undergoing heatwaves, while Indonesia has just experienced a tsunami which tragically took the lives of more than 230 people.

Bits and Pieces
The Post’s Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza had a fascinating article yesterday on A01 about an interesting new Democratic funding aparatus.

Yeah, the President said “shit” yesterday referring to the Middle East crisis and was caught on camera. As you’re probably already aware. What’s interesting to me is that CNN chose not to bleep it, and that the New York Times printed the “S-word” for the first time in its history when reporting about the incident, but then thought better of it and replaced the explicative with “a vulgarity” in this article.

Bob Novak is still nuts.

After a careful analysis of expert consensus, Stephen Colbert has concluded that the Middle East Crisis is either a World War III, or a World War IV. He’s just not sure which. Crooks and Liars has the video (multiformat: Quicktime and Windows Media choice).

And Finally…
The verdict is out on whether or not the President of the United States gives good massages.

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog