Standards and Grudges

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Is Israel’s response disproportionate? Many people think so. I on the other hand don’t believe in a proportionate response. What would be a proportionate response anyways? Should Israel kidnap a couple Hezbollah members and then launch a few rockets into southern Lebanon? What would that solve?

Israel’s response should be swift and overwhelming. That is the only way to respond to Hezbollah. Israel can’t negotiate with them. Their goal is the total destruction of Israel and the Jewish population. When faced with an enemy that will stop at nothing short of your annihilation, the only option is to destroy them first. If that means Israel needs to invade Lebanon, then so be it. The government of Lebanon can’t control Hezbollah. In fact, Hezbollah members hold positions in the government. It’s nearly impossible to distinguish between Hezbollah and innocent Lebanese citizens. However, if Israel invades, Hezbollah forces will attack and make it obvious they are not innocent civilians. It’s also a much better idea than sitting back and waiting for Hezbollah to strike within Israel. If Hezbollah is allowed to set the tempo and time of attacks, then Israel loses the strategic advantage.

The world had a chance to address this issue last February when the pro-Syria government fell apart and Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon. If more was done then, perhaps this situation would have never developed. Instead as soon as Syria withdrew, Hezbollah began reinforcing its position in Lebanon. It does appear that at least one country didn’t ignore Lebanon however. A C-802 anti-ship missile which was used to attack an Isreali naval vessel. It’s most probable that the missile was supplied by Iran.
My question for all of the people criticizing Israel is simple. What would have been a proportionate response? How would you respond to an organization dedicated to your destruction? And not just some organization of poor downtrodden rebels. This is a battle hardened group of vicious killers that are being supplied with sophisticated weapons.

Is there a large population in America that wants a new computer and can’t perform simple math? That’s what I have to assume, otherwise Blue Hippo couldn’t possibly be in business. I’ll do the math for you.

Here’s the specs on the desktop computer Blue Hippo is currently offering.

Deluxe Desktop 2006
256 MB of RAM
2.66 Gigahertz Intel Processor
80 Gig hard drive
17″ color monitor
CD Rom drive with CD Burner
Microsoft® Windows XP
$700 worth of software
3 year warranty with free tech support
Color Printer
20″ LCD TV with speakers, remote, and mounting brackets

You get this for the AMAZING DEAL of $39.99 per week for 52 weeks. Or translated to $2,079.48 total. Would I ever spend that much on a desktop? Possibly, but certainly not a computer with such pathetic specs. For that much money I’d expect a decent gaming video card, 512MB of RAM and at least a 200GB hard drive.

But just for kicks, let’s compare this computer to a model being offered by HP.

m7500y series
512MB RAM
3.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 524 w/HT
80GB hard drive
48x CD-RW/DVD-ROM (48×32x16×48x)
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
9-in-1 Memory Card Reader
2 USB 2.0
1 1394 Port
Microsoft Works 8.0/Money 2006/MSN Encarta Plus

The basic model doesn’t include the monitor or networking hardware, so let’s add that.

HP 17-inch Flat CRT monitor
802.11 b/g Wireless LAN PCI Card

The total cost so far is $769.99, which HP will finance for $27.00 a month with 12 months of no payments. But let’s get crazy. Let’s add the 3 year extended service plan since the Blue Hippo model has the 3 year service plan. But why stop there, let’s also add Microsoft Office Basic Edition, a 24 month activation of Norton Internet Security 2006 with AntiSpyware and upgrade the optical drive to Double Layer DVD +/- R/RW. The total price is now $1,197.98, which HP will finance for $40.00 a month.

So basically, the inferior model being offered by Blue Hippo costs $881.50 more than what you can get from HP. I didn’t even look for the best deal. I simply found a better deal. You can find cheaper computers from HP, Gateway or any number of manufacturers. But the point is, you’re not doing yourself any favor by buying anything from Blue Hippo. The major computer manufactures have competitive prices and financing options. You simply need to look. And the major manufactures offer something Blue Hippo doesn’t, customization. Do you need $700 worth of software? Probably not, especially since you don’t know exactly what you’re getting? Buy what you need.

OK, so what if you can’t finance because your credit is wreaked? Save up. If you can afford to pay $39.99 a week for an overpriced computer, you can save up to buy a fairly priced computer in fairly short order. If you sock away $39.99 per week for 6 months, you’ll have all the money you’ll need to buy a computer. Or if you talk with the financing department, you might be able to save up for 3 months, pay for half of the computer and finance the other half. The point is, just because your credit record is wreaked, doesn’t mean you need to overpay for a computer. Talk with the financing department and find out what you can do. Their job is to sell computers to people that don’t have the full cost up front. Let them do their jobs and save yourself some cash.

Friends don’t let friends buy Blue Hippo.