Posts from — May 2011

No one gets charged when the IMF screws a country so the ABC reports Shock as IMF chief charged over sex assault

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Sunday it remained “fully functioning and operational,” despite the arrest in New York of its managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on charges of sexual assault.

In its first statement since Strauss-Kahn’s arrest, the IMF said it had no comment and referred all inquiries to Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer and local authorities.

The IMF chief was arrested on Sunday and charged with a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment of a New York hotel maid, in a scandal that appeared to wreck his hopes of running for president of France.

The 62-year-old, a key player in the response to the 2007-09 global financial meltdown and in Europe’s debt crisis, was taken by police off an Air France plane about to leave for Paris from John F Kennedy International Airport.

It would appear that Mr. Strauss-Kahn, if guilty, was attempting international flight to avoid prosecution. NYPD must have physical evidence to have pursued the case this quickly, because they knew who the suspect was, and don’t always act immediately without a good basis when a suspect has pull.

Of course, it is possible that someone in the chain of command is fighting or suffered foreclosure and has a “problem” with financiers as a result.

The ABC reports that Azerbaijan takes home Eurovision prize.

This is a story that belongs in the “Offbeat” or “Strange” category, rather than “Entertainment”. The Eurovision song contest is a cruel joke played on television viewers. Ostensibly, it is a talent show, but it has more in common with The Gong Show than any attempt at finding people with talent.

It is best viewed in a local bar or pub that has a Mystery Science Theater 3000 tradition.

The BBC reports that Tepco halts Fukushima cooling plan

Japanese engineers have abandoned their latest attempt to stabilise a stricken reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The plant’s operator, Tepco, had intended to cool reactor 1 by filling the containment chamber with water.

But Tepco said melting fuel rods had created a hole in the chamber, allowing 3,000 tonnes of contaminated water to leak into the basement of the reactor building.
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Tepco says it will come up with a new plan to stabilise the reactor by Tuesday.

Japanese broadcaster NHK said Tepco was now studying a plan to circulate water from the basement through a decontamination filter and back into the reactor.

The Japanese government is still claiming that the cold shutdown will take place in January. This despite the fact that TEPCO has no idea what needs to be done to cool these reactors.

Maybe it’s time to ask someone who knows what they are doing to help before TEPCO manages to make the entire Pacific Ocean a dead zone?

Osama bin Laden is still dead.

Despite the warning given by the meltdown of Blogger, I will be attempting to upgrade WordPress this weekend. If the blog disappears I will be found at the Why Now annex bemoaning my problems.

I have waited through two minor updates to ensure that what I upgrade to will actually work, but it now seems to be stable.

Update: It were appear to be successful with only minor mucking about to clear away all the “improvements” made to enhance “ease of use” that are simply annoying distractions.

CNN reports that the diversion into the Atchafalaya River basin has begun: First bay of Louisiana spillway opens, in attempt to lower river level

Morganza, Louisiana (CNN) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the first of potentially several bays of the Morganza spillway on Saturday afternoon, a move intended to spare some areas from severe flooding while redirecting water into others.
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[Colonel Ed] Fleming said that one or two other additional bays of the flood-control structure would likely be opened Sunday, and more gates could be opened later depending on water levels. The Corps could choose to let out as much as 600,000 cubic feet of water per second, with Saturday’s opening leading to the release of 10,000 cubic feet per second.

“As the river needs it, we’ll open it,” said Fleming, referring to the spillway’s bays.

This is easily a 100-year event, as nothing like it was seen in the 20^th century, and may well be a 500-year event. It is to be hoped that nothing like it happens for at least another century.

Officials in Manitoba have had to breach a levee [dike] on the Assiniboine River to reduce the pressure on their flood control system that could result in a major failure. The CBC reports: Water flows through Manitoba dike breach

The intentional release of water through the Assiniboine River dikes at the Hoop and Holler Bend in Manitoba has begun.

The Manitoba government released a Twitter post saying the process began at 7 a.m. CT when two excavators made the first cut on the east and west sides of the release point, southeast of Portage la Prairie.

“We’ve never had to do anything like this in Manitoba flood-fighting history so this is certainly an unprecedented move that the province is engaging in,” Jay Doering, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Manitoba, said moments after the spill started.

Excavators initially created a 20-metre wide breach then began to remove rocks, bit by bit, from a makeshift dam built behind the dike.
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[Read more →]

Update: For the latest posts and all posts related to the flooding, go to the Categories box on the Right sidebar and select Flood from the drop down list.

Update: Dr. Jeff Masters has a very detailed technical post with good graphics, America’s Achilles’ heel: the Mississippi River’s Old River Control Structure, about what is occurring along the Mississippi system.

The BBC reports on the “fun on the bayou” this weekend” US to open Louisiana gates

The Mississippi River has risen to levels not seen in decades this year.

Fed by rainwater and the spring thaw, the river and its tributaries have caused massive flooding upstream, and officials have said the flooding in Louisiana is the worst since 1927.

If, as expected, the Army Corps of Engineers this weekend opens the Morganza floodway for the first time in 38 years, it will unleash Mississippi River water through the Atchafalaya River basin, flooding parts of seven parishes in southern Louisiana near the Gulf of Mexico.

CNN reports on the reaction in the basin: For Louisiana town, a collective gasp as it braces for floodwaters

(CNN) — On a two-lane road that cuts through a dense forest of Louisiana cypress trees, intermingled with narrow, dark creeks, sits a small community trapped in the path of a looming disaster.

Hundreds of people packed into the Butte La Rose firehouse to learn about the flood projections from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Col. Ed Fleming delivered the dire news.

[Read more →]

The CBC reports on the continued flooding: Lake Manitoba swells with diverted water

The flood crisis has expanded into areas around Lake Manitoba as increasing amounts of water from the raging Assiniboine River is sent there by the Portage Diversion.
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Built during a five-year span from 1965-1970, the Portage Diversion provides flood protection for the City of Winnipeg and areas along the Assiniboine River.

It is designed to handle floodwater flows of up to 25,000 cubic feet per second but this year, the province is trying to squeeze 34,000 cfs through it, sending it all to Lake Manitoba.

The authorities are having to make the choice as to who gets flooded, because there is no good way of getting the water to someone who would like it in a drought stricken area, or to pipe it into an aquifer that is depleted.

The Japanese government has had to step in to ensure that victims of the Fukushima disaster are compensated the day after TEPCO finally admits the obvious, that at least one of the reactors has melted through its containment vessel.

From the BBC: Japan’s government approves Tepco compensation scheme

Japan’s government has approved a plan to help Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) compensate victims of the crisis at its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant.

Payouts are expected to run into the tens of billions of dollars over the Fukushima nuclear plant breakdown.

The assistance could help Tepco avoid bankruptcy, but the government insisted it was not meant as a bail-out.
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Under the plan a state-backed institution will be created from which Tepco can draw money to pay out claims.

In return the company will fall under close government supervision. It will remain listed on the stock exchange but will use profits to pay back the money over a period of years.

Tepco – which serves an area that accounts for 33% of Japan’s economy – had earlier agreed to drastic restructuring in return for government help.

The conditions agreed by the company include massive cost-cutting, no upper limit for compensation payouts and accepting an investigation of its management.

Other electricity companies with nuclear power stations will also be expected to contribute, says the BBC’s Roland Buerk in Tokyo.
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[Read more →]

From CBS News – McCain: If U.S. uses torture, nation will suffer

(CBS News) Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years, has rejected the argument that torture was necessary to successfully combat terrorism – and denied claims that waterboarding detainees provided intelligence that helped end the manhunt for Osama bin Laden.

On Thursday McCain spoke passionately on the U.S. Senate floor about waterboarding and other forms of torture (referred to by some as “enhanced interrogation techniques”) that some former Bush administration officials (including former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former Secretary Donald Rumsfeld) claim gave the U.S. the information that led years later to the hideout of Osama bin Laden.
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“The fact is that this courier was identified first by a person who was not been held in U.S. custody,” McCain said. “In fact, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed not only did not tell the truth about this courier, he even tried to mislead the interrogators by saying that the courier had retired, gotten married, and lived in Peshawar!”

McCain told anchor Erica Hill this highlights the fact that, “If you inflict enough physical pain on someone, they will tell you whatever they think is necessary to get that pain to stop.

“Through normal, conventional interrogation techniques – and by the way I’ve seen it in Bagram – and with without these enhanced interrogation techniques, we can get more accurate, more valuable information,” McCain continued. “And most importantly, preserve our commitments by our Constitution, by the Geneva Conventions, and by other agreements, that we will not practice cruel and inhumane treatment on people who are in our custody.”

John McCain was a POW who was subjected to torture in a North Vietnamese camp, and I was an interrogator. He is a conservative and I am a liberal. We are both telling you the same thing – TORTURE DOES NOT WORK.

In an effort to avoid Friday the 13^th, Blogger is staying with Wednesday the 11^th.

From Blogger Status:

Friday, May 13, 2011

We’ve started restoring the posts that were temporarily removed and expect Blogger to be back to normal soon.

Posted by at 06:07 PDT

Update: Some people are back now.

Update 2: Well, they can add new material, but the posts from Wednesday night through Thursday are still missing.

Yes, it’s Friday the 13^th again. The 13^th falls on a Friday more than any other day of the week, so get over it. It’s only valid in in English and Portuguese speaking countries, so go visit a Spanish-speaking neighborhood for the day.

If you want to blame someone, it’s the calendar of Pope Gregory XIII that created this imbalance. [He obviously didn’t have a problem with the number on any day.]

Tonto’s Kitten

Oh, hi!

[Editor: Tonto’s kitten made an unanticipated visit to my Mother’s kitchen, but didn’t go beyond the rug, as Tonto stood outside being annoyed. The kitten is still in the roly-poly stage at about 5 weeks when the picture was taken.]

Friday Ark