The Daily Background

The Middle East
Lebanon now estimates that 600 of its civilians have been killed in the illegal air attacks upon Lebanese cities and towns by the Israeli military. Although Hezbollah casualties are not known, they are estimated to be less than 50.

52 Israelis have been killed, 33 of them soldiers and the other 19 civilians who died from Hezbollah’s illegal rocket attacks on northern Israeli cities and towns (see same article as above).

The United Nations is not allowed to investigate how four of its unarmed observers were killed by an Israeli airstrike, according to Israel. The airstrike, which if purposeful constitutes a war crime, lasted 8 hours, and occurred after the Israeli military was warned more than one dozen times about the location of the UN post which had been clearly marked and has been in the same location for 50 years. Israeli military officials were asked to stop bombing during the 8-hour attack during which the UN base suffered multiple direct hits, culminating in the deaths of four peacekeepers. See this CNN video report for more details.

Former President Clinton has done what current President Bush won’t do: he has called for a ceasefire and said Israel has gone too far in their illegal attacks on Lebanon.

President Bush for his part made the captain-obvious statement “I know Hezbollah is connected to Iran,” and called on the world to “confront this danger.” He also said “I view this as a clash of forms of government.” That makes it sound as though there was some sort high-minded debate centering around the differences between absolute democracy and representative democracy. I think the rest of the world kind of sees this as a war. You know, just kind of.

The Israeli military, in its campaign to destroy the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon (including airports, sea ports, highways, bridges and even toilet paper factories), has bombed an oil refinery, resulting in spilling between 10,000 to 30,000 tons of oil into the Mediterranean sea, causing a major environmental crisis in the area. The cost to clean the area is estimated to be as much as 50 million dollars, meanwhile sea life is dying in swaths.

Confirmation Hearings: John Bolton
Bush’s recess-appointed US United Nations ambassador John Bolton (the one who once said “There is no such thing as the United Nations”), is finally up for confirmation hearings in the Senate (about a year ago). Although it was clear that he would not have made it through Senate confirmation hearings back in January (hence the recess-appointment), it is not clear what his chances are now.

ThinkProgress has some notes on why Bolton’s first year has been a failure, as well as a video from yesterday’s hearings in which Bolton trying to explain why he hasn’t gone with other UN envoys to Darfur (hint: he was too busy making money with his conservative buddies in England to care about human suffering).

CNN says that a vote on Bolton may happen around September. Bolton’s recess-appointment expires in January, so if the Dems re-take Congress he would almost certainly not be confirmed. This may explain the rush to confirm him now from the White House.

Video– click to see John Bolton’s parade getting “rained on.” Oh, and protested too.

Bits and Pieces
Video– click to see the Attorney General of the United States asked how often he reads the U.S. Constitution (spoiler: he isn’t able to answer).

CNN says that Wisconsin is the most “representative” state in the country. From the same article: Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid discovers he is a victim of identity theft.

House Republicans may bring a minimum wage increase vote to the floor (something Democrats have been fighting for for years and that 73% of the American public supports), simply because they can’t politically afford to screw over working class Americans any longer. MyDD has some analysis on this.

The pharmaceutical industry reportedly spends 1 billion dollars every year on giving free lunches to doctors while trying to get them to prescribe their drugs to patients.

And finally…
Doing community theater can get you fired from military service. Apparently the military buys into gay stereotypes.

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