Posts from — May 2008

BBC’s latest report.

While some troops have arrived at the area of the epicenter, progress is extremely slow because everything is being carried in by foot. In addition to the damage to the roads and rail lines, there is heavy rain in the area making aerial drops impossible. The survivors are staying away from the few buildings still standing because of the continuing after shocks, so they are cold, wet and hungry.

Rescue efforts are generally human-powered, and there are relatively few professional teams with the necessary tools available.

Until there is a break in the weather, nothing large scale can be attempted. Thousands are walking in to help, carrying what they can.

Over at Corrente myiq2xu sees the headline reporting the Clinton win [currently 66 to 27] as:

Obama Wins Second Place In WV, Hillary Finishes Next To Last!

Mustang Bobby notes that Bob Barr is running and uses Josh Marshall for some insight, but Lambert isn’t so sanguine about Barr running as libertarian. As Jerome Doolittle says: Why Settle for Pale Imitations?

May as well look at Barr’s Wikipedia entry and his official campaign site, where you can find Barr’s blog. People are running around thinking that this is bad for the GOP, not understanding who Bob Barr is.

Barr was a Congresscritter from Georgia, but he was born and raised in Iowa, then attended USC and Georgetown. Barr doesn’t sound or act like Zell Miller. He is a member in good standing of the NRA, and a card-carrying member of the ACLU. The time limits on the PATRIOT Act were added by Bob Barr, and he wants the US out of Iraq yesterday. He uses the classic definition of “liberal” and considers himself one. He shares more positions with Dennis Kucinich than the Shrubbery or McCain. Truth be told his views are closer to Kucinich than Clinton or Obama in many ways.

He is a privacy and civil liberties advocate in the first tier, and the closest thing to a true libertarian you are ever likely to meet.

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The USGS has upgrade the earthquake to a 7.9 from 7.8. If you are not aware of the nature of the scale, each larger whole number represents a ten-fold increase in power. A 6.0 quake is ten times more destructive than a 5.0 quake, so the 0.1 increase is significant.

This is the current CNN reporting on the China quake

CHENGDU, China (CNN) — Rainy weather and poor logistics thwarted efforts by relief troops who walked for hours over rock, debris and mud on Tuesday in hopes of reaching the worst-hit area of an earthquake that killed nearly 10,000 in central China, state-run media reported.

Setting out from Maerkang in Sichuan Province at 8 p.m. Monday, the 100 or so troops had to travel 200 kilometers (124 miles) to go before reaching Wenchuan, the epicenter of the quake, also in the province, Xinhua reported. After seven hours, they still had 70 kilometers (43 miles) to go.

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I “hooked” this at Noon.

From: “Internal Revenue Service” <refunds @ irs·gov>
Subject: Get Your Annual Tax Refund
Date sent: Mon, 12 May 2008 13:52:22 -0400
Send reply to: <refunds @ irs·gov>

[Insert nice fake IRS logo here]

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $109.30. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it.

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CNN reports on the Wildfire battle continues as interstate reopens

(CNN) — Wildfires scorched two counties in eastern Florida Sunday, closing a major interstate and forcing the evacuation of some coastal residents.

Interstate 95 reopened Monday, in time for the morning rush hour. It had been shut down in both directions from U.S. Highway 192 to the Indian River County line.

Thick smoke continued to drift across the highway, according to CNN affiliate Central Florida News 13.

A state trooper told the station that visibility on the interstate was less than 10 feet.

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The BBC reports that Thousands dead in Chinese quake

A powerful earthquake has killed at least 8,500 people in China’s south-western Sichuan province, up to 5,000 of them in just one county.

Many more are feared killed and injured in other parts of the country after the quake, which had a magnitude of 7.8, struck at 1428 local time (0628 GMT).

At least 50 bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a school where an estimated 900 students were buried.

President Hu Jintao has urged “all-out” efforts to rescue victims.

The epicentre of the earthquake was about 92km (57 miles) from Chengdu, Sichuan’s provincial capital.

Because the earthquake struck in the middle of the day, it is feared that many schoolchildren may be among the victims.

The USGS Earthquake Center has recorded almost twenty aftershocks ranging between 6.0 and 4.9 in the 9 hours after the initial event, so relief efforts are hampered by the continued shaking.

One of the reasons people put up with the aggravation of working in the public sector for less money than the private sector is the promise of a decent retirement package. They should have known better.

David Cho of the Washington Post writes that Growing deficits threaten pensions

The funds that pay pension and health benefits to police officers, teachers and millions of other public employees across the country are facing a shortfall that could soon run into trillions of dollars.

But the accounting techniques used by state and local governments to balance their pension books disguise the extent of the crisis facing these retirees and the taxpayers who may ultimately be called on to pay the freight, according to a growing number of leading financial analysts.

The politicians don’t want to tell the public the real cost of their government, so they create fantasies about various funds. Well, reality is about to pay a very unpleasant visit. Public employee pension funds are a very important investor, and if they run into trouble, it will be extremely nasty for the economy.

I reported earlier on the suicide attack of a spotted eagle ray, and now we learn of a pelican attack near St. Petersburg from the BBC: Pelican ‘bombs’ bather in Florida

A woman required 20 stitches to her face after a pelican crashed into her in the sea off Florida, apparently diving for fish.

The pelican is “pining for the fiords” as some would day.

If there was a Florida university with any money left, they might try to figure out why the wildlife is conducting suicide attacks on female tourists.

The Associated Press reports on the unintended consequences of the anti-immigration provision of the “economic stimulus package” in ‘I’ve done exactly what I was supposed to do’

SAN FRANCISCO – When Maulit Shelat heard about the Bush administration’s plan to pump up the economy by sending out stimulus checks, he sat down with his wife and drew up a list of priorities: first up, remodeling the bathroom.

But Shelat is married to a foreigner who still hasn’t completed the often years-long process that allows her to apply for a Social Security number. Her not having that number makes even him ineligible for the tax rebate checks that started going out last week because they filed jointly.

This problem also affects military personnel with foreign wives, which means that the troops fighting for the “American way” on their fourth tour in Iraq won’t get a rebate check because they married a German. Yet another brilliant move by Congress in their War On Sanity™.

The BBC reports that the Serbian reformers claim victory

Serbian President Boris Tadic has claimed victory in the general election with early results suggesting a big lead for his pro-Western alliance.

Mr Tadic said Serbs had chosen the path of integration with Europe but he vowed his new government would not recognise Kosovo as an independent state.

Despite its lead, his bloc will have to seek a coalition with other parties.

Its ultra-nationalist rivals say they could still muster enough support for a nationalist coalition against him.

This is certainly better than if the nationalist had won outright, but Tadic still needs to form a governing coalition, and that won’t be easy. While a plurality of Serbians want to move on with their lives, there is still a large group that cling to the pseudo-history promoted by Milosovic that led to the deaths of so many in the former Yugoslavia.

While I could muddy the waters and discuss И.В. Сталин and his particular kульт личности, as outlined at the 20^th Party Congress by N.S. Khrushchev, visitors would probably be more comfortable basing this on Richard J. Daley and his variation of the cult of personality that resulted in the Chicago political machine – the catapult that launched the career of a certain Senator.

Let’s see, DDay can start it off with The Obama Party, the 50 state voter registration drive by Obama, for Obama. Having trashed and complained about the WVWV registration efforts, Obama is going to task his followers with registering voters, after the majority of the primaries are over, because he wants to help himself and not the Democratic Party.

Ian Welsh looks at The Obama Squeeze, and the changes coming to the Democratic Party. His take is that Obama isn’t McCain, and he might not be as bad as a Republican.

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To everyone who functions as a Mother, take the day off and annoy your kids, especially those that “don’t call” or live in an alternate universe and haven’t seen the sales. Even small children need to be inculcated with guilt early and often.

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.