The Daily Background

Less on the Middle East today, but expect a special briefing on gas prices later today…

The Middle East
500,000 Israeli civilians are now estimated to be living in bomb shelters, and an estimated 800,000 Lebanese civilians have fled their homes and are now considered refugees.

Despite media reports suggesting the contrary yesterday, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are still refusing to join the rest of the world in calling for a ceasefire to end the violence which has killed a reported combined 600+ civilians.

Longer range Hezbollah rockets have illegally hit an Israeli hospital (no casualties resulted from this strike).

Israeli public support for military action against Lebanon was in the 80% percentile range last week, has now sunk about ten points. U.S. approval among Lebanese has also sunk 30 points over the last two weeks of Israel’s illegal offensive supported by the White House. Egypt, which initially was optimistic about the U.S.’s role in peacekeeping efforts, is now calling it “too little too late.”

Several other countries (most notably Saudi Arabia, a staunch ally of the United States), which were originally very critical of Hezbollah’s illegal bombing of Israeli civilians (something the White House bragged about “we’ve even got Arabs on our side on this one!”) are now “scrambling to distance themselves from Washington.”

E&P’s reliably-excellent Greg Mitchell writes that the press is ignoring the American role in supplying weapons to fuel the middle eastern conflict.

Break out the Ghostbuster’s II theme and never mind that Bob Novak isn’t impressed by her diplomatic skills, because Condi’s going back! In addition, reports of preliminary peace talks are circulating. Some Hezbollah politicians are now reportedly calling for peace.

Iraq– Due to particularly intense recent violence (the worst since the initial illegal American invasion in 2003), U.S. troop level to be increased to a total of 135,000. About 3,500 Americans who were previously scheduled to come home are being kept in the middle eastern country as an added measure. According to a recent NYT report, even the one of the ‘brightest successes’ in Iraq are failures.

Minimum wage politics
As I wrote yesterday, House Republicans are planning to hold a vote forced a vote late last night on their own minimum wage increase bill because they can’t afford not to in this election year. This, despite some Republicans best efforts to stop the impending recent vote by spreading lies.

The vote was forced by about 50 Republican congressmen who wrote a joint leader to Republican House Majority Leader John A. Boehner pleading for it. Almost all of the 50 are up for re-election this year and can’t afford politically to be hit on Dem attack ads on the issue. The federal minimum wage, which has sit at $5.15 an hour, has not been raised for nearly 10 years and is an issue Democrats have been trying to raise for years now.

The bill passed, 230-180. Senate Dems said they would kill it.

So what’s wrong with the Republican bill to increase the minimum wage by two dollars? Well, unlike Democratic bills, it would also seek to make the rich much richer at the same time. It would also cost 300 billion dollars.

Tax money waste
The Department of Homeland Security spent $34 billion dollars of American tax money on improperly awarded and managed private contracts, a new report says. Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA) and Henry Waxman (D-Ca) together decided that “The cumulative costs to the taxpayer are enormous,” in their report which slams the agency which spent for example a half a million dollars on artwork for the TSA, and $915 billion dollars oni FEMA trailers that were never used because of federal regulations.

The latter of which I originally explained here back in March, and later followed up on it noting that American taxpayers are paying monthly rent for the trailers as well; to the tune of an extra 47 million dollars a year.

Bits and Pieces
Congressman William Jefferson (D-La, likely corrupt) has gotten a chance to review all evidence collected by FBI investigators in a controversial raid on his office back in May. This will likely delay the inevitable indictment against him.

NSA whistle-blower Russ Tice has been called before a federal grand jury in a hostile move by the government.

Man, some criminals are really, really dumb.

Interestingly enough, the Iranian government has banned The Da Vinci Code, aligning itself with… many conservative Christians.

And finally…
Are Senators McCain and Clinton secret drinking buddies?

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog