Gulf Coast Residents Flee Ahead of Gustav
Tens of thousands of residents of coastal parishes and cities streamed out of harm’s way Saturday as Hurricane Gustav, with winds reaching 150 mph, swelled to an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 and took dead aim at the Gulf Coast.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation for all residents, effective 9 a.m. ET along the vulnerable west bank of the Mississippi River and at 1 p.m. ET on the east bank.
Nagin called Gustav the storm of the century and told residents to “get your butts out of New Orleans now.”
“This is the real deal, not a test,” Nagin said, emphasizing that the city will not offer emergency services to anyone who chooses to stay behind.
The National Weather Service issued a hurricane watch from near High Island, Texas, to the Alabama-Florida border. The weather service described the storm as “extremely dangerous.” Gustav hurtled past Cuba and into the Gulf Saturday night, with estimated wind speeds of about 140 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Scientists Discover New Virus Invading US Honeybees
August 30, 2008 by admin
Filed under Featured, Stories Of Interest
The invading bee virus newly discovered in the U.S. is called Varroa Destructor Virus -1 VDV-1. First definitively identified in Europe in 2006, VDV-1 is carried by both honeybees and the tiny varroa mites that affect them. VDV-1 is related to a family of paralytic viruses that causes a breakdown of some membranes.
In silkworms the virus causes flaccid disease, which causes the worms to digest themselves internally.
The virus was discovered using a technology developed for battlefield detection of viruses. This technology, called Integrated Virus Detection System / Proteomic Mass Spectrometry, reveals virus by size and peptide information contained in a sample and compares that information against known genetic sequences.
When A Civilization Begins To Fall
When a civilization begins to unravel, the first action is always internal. It is hidden, spiritual, and unobserved by the public. Brazilian philosopher Olavo de Carvalho recently pointed out that Western Civilization has produced more “educated” people than we have positions for. In fact, we’ve educated them beyond their intelligence, giving them tools too advanced for their character, putting a simple life of contented drudgery out of their reach. In other words, we’ve mass-produced a horde of impotent wits, angry because their princely education cannot produce for them a princely sum or a kingdom.
When a civilization is far along the path of unraveling, the barbarians sense the Empire’s growing weakness. They gather at the frontiers. They push, threaten and fuss. Earlier this week the president of Russia, having invaded and looted a small country, warned that Russia would crush anyone who got in its way. Menacing language was used with regard to Poland and Ukraine. In response to this NATO was split. Some member states were unwilling to hold Russia accountable because Russia supplies them with natural gas and oil.
It’s funny how things play out. The price of oil should start rising again. There is a leaky pipeline in the North Sea, and the world’s second-largest pipeline has been damaged in Georgia. Funny thing, too, and most will think it a coincidence; but a Ukrainian patriot recently explained to me that energy prices bottomed out just before the Chernobyl reactor blew up in April 1986, releasing a radioactive cloud that blew across Europe. People who’ve experienced such an event aren’t eager to build nuclear power plants. What better advertisement could there have been for Russian natural gas? And now Europe depends on Russian gas.
The West is ideologically divided. Too many of us believe the Russian lies. We believe, in our simplistic way, that tiny Georgia provoked mighty Russia. We haven’t bothered to find out what actually happened. Here are just a few indications that Moscow planned everything in advance: 1 Last month the Russian army practiced invading a small country; 2 Russia recalled its ambassadors to Moscow for a meeting on July 15 to discuss a new foreign policy concept connected to the necessity of “defending” Russian speaking people in unnamed other countries; 3 Moscow’s South Ossetian proxy evacuated ethnic woman and children before beginning an intense bombardment of Georgian villages; 4 The South Ossetian artillery opened fire at 11 pm, while the Georgian artillery didn’t return fire until 12:30 am; 5 Russian mechanized columns were actually moving into Georgia prior to Georgia’s push into South Ossetia on 8 August ; 6 The Russians were mobilizing ships in the Black Sea weeks before the supposed “Georgian aggression”; 7 Georgian internet sites came under intensive Russian attack in advance of military operations.
Russia Plans To Raise Navy Presence In Syria
The Russian navy will make more use of Syrian ports as part of increased military presence in the Mediterranean, a Russian diplomat said on Wednesday.
The announcement comes as tensions rise between Moscow and the West over Russia’s role in Georgia. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad backed Russia’s recent offensive on Georgia in support of a separatist province during a visit to Russia last week.
“Our Navy presence in the Mediterranean will increase. Russian vessels will be visiting Syria and other friendly ports more frequently,” Igor Belyaev, the Russian charge d’affaires, told reporters in the Syrian capital.
“The visits are continuing,” he added.
Russia relies on Syria’s Tartous port as a main stopping point in the Mediterranean, although ties between the two countries have cooled since the collapse of Communism, when Moscow supplied Syria with billions of dollars worth of arms.
Internet news sites have reported that a Russian naval unit, including the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, docked at Tartous earlier this month.
Belyaev would not be drawn on specifics, or whether new military agreements with Syria were reached during Assad’s meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a Black Sea resort on Thursday.
“The two leaders gave their directions to advance ties in the economy, trade and energy fields, as well as military cooperation,” he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week Russia was prepared to sell Syria more arms as long as they do not disturb the “regional balance of power.”
Lesser-known Fault From Canada to California Capable of 9.0 Quake
August 27, 2008 by admin
Filed under Featured, Stories Of Interest
Stretching from British Columbia to Northern California, the Cascadia Subduction Zone is the earthquake fault that gets all the attention in the Pacific Northwest, despite that — and partly because — it only moves every 300 to 500 years.
Quiet but gigantic in its potential to wreak havoc, this convergence of two tectonic plates is capable of producing a 9.0 earthquake, which would bring down buildings as far away as the Willamette Valley and send a roaring tsunami toward the Oregon Coast at jetliner speeds.
But other, lesser-known faults are in the same region, and scientists at Oregon State University now have a better understanding of one off of Oregon and more active than the San Andreas Fault in California — the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta and the 1906 San Francisco earthquakes that killed thousands.
For the first time, scientists now know that the Blanco Transform Fault Zone, some 200 miles off the southern and central Oregon Coast, has produced 1,500 or more earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater during the past four decades, along with thousands of smaller quakes. It has the potential to cause a magnitude 7.0 quake, which could trigger a much larger temblor from its neighbor, the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
Hurricane Gustav Could Become Extremely Dangerous
Gustav is now a Category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of 90 mph and a direct threat to Haiti. But forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warn this morning that the storm will soon be moving over very warm waters, and “most indications are that Gustav will be an extremely dangerous hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean Sea in a few days.”
Here is the current advisory. And here is the view from space.
The current forecast track sends Gustav into the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday morning. Surface waters there are a bit cooler than those south of Cuba. But they are warm enough at this time of year, and conditions are sufficient to warrant concern.
Gustav – the seventh named storm of the 2008 Atlantic season – became stronger still over night after growing yesterday from a tropical distubance, to a tropical depression, tropical storm and finally a hurricane all in one day.
The storm’s center was about 75 miles south southeast of Port au Prince, Haiti this morning, moving toward the northwest at about 9 mph. Hurricane warnings were posted for the southern portions of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
A ridge of high pressure to the north was expected to steer the storm more toward the west for the next few days. A hurricane watch is posted for southeastern Cuba, including the U.S. military outpost at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The storm was expected to pass just south of Guantanamo on Wednesday.
Top sustained winds were forecast to reach Category 2 strength (top sustained winds 96 mph) later today before making landfall in southwestern Haiti. residents of that region were told to expect rainfall of 4 to 7 inches, with some spots receiving up to 15 inches. Storm surges of 2 to 4 feet above normal tides were anticipated.
Rice Urges Israel To Divide or Split Jerusalem In Two
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, completing a visit to the region today, has been pressing Israel to sign a document by the end of the year that would divide Jerusalem by offering the Palestinians a state in Israel’s capital city as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to top diplomatic sources involved in the talks.
The Israeli team, led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has been negotiating the division of Jerusalem – despite claims to the contrary – but would rather conclude an agreement on paper by the end of the year that would give the Palestinians a state in the West Bank, Gaza and some Israeli territory, leaving conclusions on Jerusalem for a later date, the informed diplomatic sources told WND.
The sources said the Palestinian team has been pushing to conclude a deal by January on all core issues, including Jerusalem, and has been petitioning the U.S. to pressure Israel into signing an agreement on paper that offers the Palestinians eastern Jerusalem.
DNC Embraces Homosexual Agenda
August 27, 2008 by admin
Filed under Moral Decay
Pro-family leader Matt Barber says the “radical San Francisco-style social experimentation” promoted by Barack Obama and the Democratic Party is not what is best for the country.
The Denver Post reports 358 openly homosexual delegates are in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, the largest number ever to take part in a major party national convention. A special DNC program called “Pride in the Party” was set up to recruit more homosexual delegates and homosexual delegates of color.
Matt Barber, director for cultural affairs with Liberty Counsel, says radical homosexual activists have permeated the Democratic Party. “Because of that the Democrat Party has moved further and further to the left and has really adopted the homosexual lobby’s wish list in its entirety,” he continues.
Source – Read More
Mystery Fever ‘Virus’ Kills 210 In India
August 27, 2008 by admin
Filed under Featured, Stories Of Interest
The reports of 35 more patients falling to the mystery fever in Kanpur Dehat villages on Tuesday put the administration on tenterhooks.
While senior officials miserably failed to confirm the toll as teams of state health department and experts of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, who were rushed to Kanpur by the Centre to collect samples, too failed to shed light on the disease.
The deadly virus has, so far, claimed 210 lives across 350 villages of Akbarpur, Rasoolabad, Bhognipur and Sikandara tehsils of Kanpur Dehat, leaving villagers panicky. While they have helplessly watched their near ones dying, health experts have no idea about how to check spread of the killer virus.
After making its presence felt in about 350 villages of Kanpur Dehat within a couple of weeks, the virus is now spreading its tentacles into bordering districts of Mainpuri, Etawah, Farrukhabad and Kannauj.
“We are actually at a loss as how to tackle it,”said a paediatrician at the District Hospital. The hospital is already struggling to cope with the heavy influx of patients suffering from fever and viral infection.
FDIC – Bank Profits Drop By 86 Percent – 117 Banks In Trouble
The government says U.S. banking profits fell 86 percent in the second quarter, while the number of troubled banks rose to the highest level in about five years.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says the roughly 8,500 banks and thrifts also set aside a record 50 billion dollars to cover losses from soured mortgages and other loans in the second quarter.
FDIC says 117 banks and thrifts were considered to be in trouble in the second quarter, up from 90 in the prior quarter.
Russian President Warns U.S. Of Military Response
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning of a military response to the U.S. missile shield in Europe.
“We will have to react somehow, to react, of course, in a military way,” Medvedev was quoted as saying Tuesday by the state-owned news agency.
Medvedev, who announced that his government will recognize two breakaway regions of Georgia as independent states, also made some strong comments during an interview today with BBC News.
“We don’t like the fact that NATO is really coming closer to the borders of Russia,” he tells the British broadcaster.
A Russian commander echoed those concerns in another RIA Novosti story. “NATO’s naval deployments in the Black Sea, where nine foreign vessels have already been sent, cannot but provoke concern,” Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said.
UK – Women Leaving Church For Witchcraft – Wicca
August 25, 2008 by admin
Filed under Stories Of Interest
The report claims more than 50,000 women a year have deserted their congregations over the past two decades because they feel the church is not relevant to their lives.
It says that instead young women are becoming attracted to the pagan religion Wicca, where females play a central role, which has grown in popularity after being featured positively in films, TV shows and books.
The study comes amid ongoing controversy over the role of women in all Christian denominations. Last month its governing body voted to allow women to become bishops for the first time, having admitted them to the priesthood in 1994, but traditionalist bishops have warned that hundreds of clergy and parishes will leave if the move goes ahead as planned.
The report’s author, Dr Kristin Aune, a sociologist at the University of Derby, said: “In short, women are abandoning the church.
“Because of its focus on female empowerment, young women are attracted by Wicca, popularised by the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
“Young women tend to express egalitarian values and dislike the traditionalism and hierarchies they imagine are integral to the church.
“Women’s ordination, as priests and now bishops, has dominated debate and headlines – but while looking at women in the pulpit we have taken our eyes off the pews, where a shift with more consequences for the church’s survival is underway.”
Her research, published in a new book called Women and Religion in the West, cites an English Church Census which found more than a million women worshippers have left churches since 1989.
Over the past decade, it claims, women have been leaving churches at twice the rate of men.
In addition, the census is said to show that teenage boys now outnumber girls in the pews for the first time.
Israel and Iran: The Armageddon Scenario
It is becoming increasingly likely that Israel will attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in the next few months. Indeed, over the past few weeks, signs of an impending strike have been widely reported, with the Israeli government itself fueling much of the speculation.
While much of the recent media commentary has revolved around the question of whether Israel has the military capability to undertake such a difficult mission, this emphasis misses the larger point, which is that an Israeli strike may set off a chain reaction that could prove difficult to control.
Assuming that the Israeli Air Force attacks — regardless of whether or not the raid is successful — the Iranian response will be the key to determining how serious the crisis becomes. Thus, how Tehran retaliates will result in either a tense — but ultimately limited — crisis, one where threats will be issued and warnings made but military action will be measured and somewhat predictable, or conversely, in a rapidly escalating crisis that might threaten the stability of the entire region, and may result in the total devastation of some states.
The former scenario is easier to envisage. Under it, after the Israeli strike, Iran’s leaders would issue numerous threats, but in the end Tehran would limit its military activities to sponsorship of terrorism through its regional proxies (i.e. Hamas and Hezbollah) and the stepping up of attacks against American forces in Iraq. In addition, Iran would likely attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping, which could cause panic on world oil markets.
Israel and Iran: the Armageddon scenario
Syria’s Bid For Missiles Stirs Alarm In Israel
Fears that Russia might sell advanced weaponry to Syria have raised concern in Israel.
Syrian President Bashar Assad, in Russia for talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, has been openly campaigning to acquire weapon systems that include long-range surface-to-surface missiles.
Russian media reports of Mr Assad’s ambitions prompted hand-wringing by Israeli officials on Thursday. Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel was analysing the ramifications of Mr Assad’s two-day visit.
The Haaretz newspaper, citing Russian media, said Mr Assad offered to host Iskander missiles, surface-to-surface missiles with a reported maximum range of 270 kilometres, as a response to a deal signed by Washington and Poland this week to deploy elements of a US missile defence system in Poland.
Silvan Shalom, a member of the Knesset, or parliament, said Israel should demand that Moscow refrain from “arming its enemies” because it could destabilise the Middle East.
The deal, however, is far from done. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would consider Syrian requests for arms but added: “We are indeed prepared to sell only defensive weapons which do not violate the regional balance of power.”
