The Burning Middle East

In the past week or so as you all must know, Israel and Hezbollah have been battling each other in southern Lebanon. This situation has the potential to quickly get out of control and poses many problems to us here in America.

Israel had several soldiers taken prisoner by Hezbollah, the extremist muslim group that occupies most of south Lebanon. Israel retaliated by bombing much of the infrastructure of Beirut, including the airport and a UN OutPost (oops!!!). Hezbollah has several seats in the legislature of Lebanon though its operations are generally not supported by the majority of the Lebanese government. Enter Syria/Iran/etc. who finance and arm Hezbollah. Lebanon has been under the control of Syria to one degree or another for many years, and now Syria chooses to use Hezbollah to further its goals, which include constant threats and violence against Israel.

There are several issues we as Americans should consider. We have had many of our soldiers kidnapped over the years and have generally not bombed a country into the stoneage for it, especially when done by a non-sanctioned group. Israelis tend to have hot-heads, and usually do not care about the "big picture" when undertaking operations, which is fine, since they are a sovereign nation.

The problem is that the US government continues to fund Israel and many other countries with billions of dollars in foreign aid. If you want to give Israel, Egypt, Tanzania, and the rest of the third world money, that's good, but don't make me give it through tax dollars, especially when Israel is directly contributing to the high prices we are paying at the gas station. After Israel launched this recent attack, oil went up by several dollars per barrel, which will translate to 20-40 cents extra at the pump.

My recommendation is this: repeal the federal gas tax, giving everyone an immediate 18 cents per gallon cut. To make up the resulting budget deficit, cut off all foreign aid to everyone. Why force Arab-Americans to pay for Israeli buildings and Jewish-Americans to pay for Saudi mosques?

Israel is right to do what it thinks it needs to do to secure its country, but I shouldn't have to pay for it.

Tip

OK so its 2:40 in the morning. Problem was, I couldn't get my Motorola V710 to charge, I got the lovely, "unable to charge" message no matter what I did. This incident has happened with previous motorolas.

Here's a tip on how to fix the problem, if you encounter it. Take the battery out of the phone. Dip a Q-tip into some rubbing alcohol, and rub all the electrical contacts with it (they are on the battery, inside the phone where it connects to the battery, the charger, and where the charger connects). Allow a minute or so to dry, and it should work. Fuckin dirty contacts!

PS: I do still recommend Motorolas, only phones I ever use these days, only problem is with the charging.