Erick's Blog

The situation grows ever more dire in Lebanon. Evacuations continue; blogger fears about this turning big have turned out all too true. So sad to compare this with the Lebanon of just three weeks ago.

The good news? The Lebanese PM Siniora continues to be a beacon of statesmanship: "The entire world must help us disarm Hezbollah". The vast majority of Americans support Israel's war. Israel may have killed the Hezbollah leadership (here's Al Jazeera's take on the same event). Hamas seems eager to negotiate in the south. Israel and Syria/Iran are not waging war on each other yet.

The scary news? Israel has begun the invasion. Bush has little interest in a cease-fire--not that the UN could do anything anyway. The Senate condemned Iran and Syria, who are determined to prevent peace. They seem determined to nuke Israel.

For the first time in five years, Japan's economic report does not contain the word, "Deflation". Japan also recently ended its zero-percent interest-rate policy.

The economy over there seems very healthy. Time to invest in Yen?

The PM of Lebanon says that he expects Israel to pay for the rebuilding of Lebanon. That seems very reasonable and fair if Lebanon gets Israel's soldiers back and if Hizb'allah and Syria are ejected from the country and if Hizbullah is prevented from participating in the government or country in the future and if Lebanon refuses any and all aid from Iran or Syria going into the future.

If that is the case, then the United States, UN and every other peace-loving nation in the world should pitch in.

Terrorism is such a useless enterprise. I have no idea why Hezbollah and Hamas even bother. Their strength is deceptive. They can threaten Israel, blow up tanks, sink ships, shoot down planes and kill a few people. So what?

In the United States, the country I am from, people kill each other every day: over money, over land, over vengence. It is very sad. The deaths in Lebanon are very sad. And so are the deaths in Israel. But America lives on. Israel will live on.

For comparison: if America had the same number of people as Israel, car accidents would kill around 1,000 people every year. If Israel had the same murder rate as America, between 70 and 700 people would be murdered every year.

In 2004, terrorism killed 117 people in Israel. In 2005? 45.

In these past few days, Hezbollah angered Israel. In return, Israel has killed hundreds of people, destroyed bridges and roads, imposed a naval and air blockade on the country...all so that Hezbollah can be almost as big a problem as car accidents.

Idiots.

The word, "Need", first appeared in English in 1929. It has since vanquished must, have to and the like; it is now our primary means of compelling someone.

Check out this crazy project: A cockroach powered robot.