Keyword: disaster

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  • VIDEO: "Disaster Preparedness From Ready.gov"

    01/18/2009 10:29:23 PM PST · by Cindy · 18 replies · 692+ views
    Video and Ready.Gov ^ | Added September 10, 2008 | n/a
    VIDEO: "Disaster Preparedness From Ready.gov" VIDEO DESCRIPTION - Snippet: "Three steps on how to prepare for an emergency or disaster."
  • Why Our Military is So Hated Around the World

    01/03/2009 10:41:26 AM PST · by Starman417 · 61 replies · 2,149+ views
    Flopping Aces ^ | 12-02-08 | Wordsmith
    An Afghan woman holds a U.S. flag during a ceremony in Kabul marking the donation of more than 5000 wheelchairs to Afghanistan, September 22, 2003. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood Ted Turner and Jane Fonda must be political soul mates. From a transcript of Bill O'Reilly's interview with Ted Turner: O'REILLY: All right. Is America a good country? TURNER: Oh, it's a great country. O'REILLY: Are we exploitative overseas? Is the war on terrorism largely our fault? TURNER: No, I wouldn't say largely. But I think if we stopped bombing people and sent doctors and scientists and engineers around the world that...
  • Rift widens as the African Union stands by Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe

    12/09/2008 4:44:51 PM PST · by GOPGuide · 24 replies · 957+ views
    Times of London ^ | December 10, 2008 | Foreign Staff
    The international rift over how to deal with Zimbabwe widened yesterday after the African Union rejected proposals for tougher action against the regime even as President Bush joined calls for Robert Mugabe to step down. “It is time for Robert Mugabe to go,” Mr Bush said in Washington. “Across the continent, African voices are bravely speaking out to say, 'Now is the time for him to step down'.” But the African Union made clear that it would support a resolution only through talks. “Only dialogue between the Zimbabwean parties, supported by the AU and other regional actors, can restore peace...
  • FR Gun Club: Sighting In A New Rifle

    12/08/2008 9:26:18 PM PST · by Neil E. Wright · 115 replies · 4,619+ views
    via email | unknown
    You can't be to careful when sighting in your expensive new deer rifle ......... 1. Shiny new, high-powered deer rifle..............$ 1,200.00 2. Quality, high-powered scope........................$ 550.00 3. Bore sighting device.....................................$ 140.00 4. Hospital Visit......................$ 4,893.00 5. Forgetting to remove the bore sighting device prior to actually shooting? Disastrous "Life's tough......It's even tougher if you're stupid." -John Wayne
  • Asteroid may hit Planet Earth on March 21, 2014.

    09/02/2003 6:39:19 AM PDT · by bedolido · 176 replies · 8,507+ views
    SkyNews ^ | 09/02/03 | Staff Writer
    Scientists monitoring an asteroid have warned it could collide with Earth in just over a decade. The newly discovered asteroid, known as 2003 QQ47, is around two-thirds of a mile wide and has been classified as "an event meriting careful monitoring" by astronomers. It is around one tenth fo the size of the meteor that is thought to have wiped out dinosaurs on Earth 65 million years ago. In the event of it hitting the Earth, the rock would have the force of 350,000 mega tonnes - around eight million times more powerful than the bomb dropped at Hiroshima at...
  • Postville may not qualify for disaster aid

    11/26/2008 6:54:12 AM PST · by HollyButler · 9 replies · 398+ views
    The Gazette ^ | November 25. 2008 | Orlan Love
    The Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division expressed doubt Tuesday that it could provide assistance following the Postville City Council's declaration of the town as a humanitarian and economic disaster area. Disaster declarations are based on natural emergencies, "so I don't know how that would qualify," said division spokesman Bret Voorhees. The resolution, passed unanimously by the council Monday night, was sent to state officials Tuesday in an effort to secure financial assistance for the community devastated after a May 12 federal immigration raid that led to the recent closing of town's leading employer, kosher meatpacker Agriprocessors Inc. Voorhees...
  • The Fools Who Did This Now Own It Big Time-Payback Will Come Your Way!

    11/04/2008 9:43:30 PM PST · by Stayfree · 36 replies · 2,860+ views
    The Obama Disaster.com ^ | November 4, 2008 | Stayfree
    Prime example of why you never put your life in the hands of young people, because they, like Obama, do not have the life experience and mature judgment to make such decisions. But, now they own the consequences big time. I know of several businesses who will start laying off people tomorrow based on what Obama and the Democrats have stated that are going to do to us. These fools bought the lies hook, line and sinker without doing any due diligence. Business people know better, which these fools will soon find out when the layoffs accelerate.
  • Obama Is A Fraud, If He Wins This Election With All His Fraud, He Will Go To Jail or Else!

    11/01/2008 7:35:32 PM PDT · by Stayfree · 27 replies · 924+ views
    Vanity ^ | November 1, 2008 | Stayfree
    As Lawrence Eagleburger has said, "He is a charlatan!" And he has flaunted our election laws by accepting huge illegal campaign contributions, encouraged voter registration fraud through ACORN to steal the election and lied about his entire background...the guy is a fraud and a commie crook...he should go to jail! If he is elected, I will personally spend every waking moment of my life to get him put in jail for all of his fraud on the American people and that is a promise!
  • Thanks to Everyone at FR, The Obama Disaster.com is almost complete & #3 on Google!

    10/26/2008 11:00:22 PM PDT · by Stayfree · 20 replies · 1,247+ views
    The Obama Disaster ^ | October 26, 2008 | Stayfree
    Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and links...we hope to have all the rest uploaded by tomorrow afternoon. We still have more media and organizations to contact, but great response so far. If you have any more suggested info/articles/links, please let us know...and thanks again for all the help. God bless you all!
  • The Obama Disaster.com has all the reasons why voting for Obama is a very, very bad idea!

    10/26/2008 8:02:47 PM PDT · by Stayfree · 5 replies · 858+ views
    The Obama Disaster ^ | October 26, 2008 | Stayfree
    We have begun listing all of the Reasons Why Obama Would Be A Disaster For America! We expect to have hundreds of reasons listed overnight!
  • Need everything negative about an Obama win to complete "The Obama Disaster.com" website!

    10/24/2008 1:20:05 PM PDT · by Stayfree · 34 replies · 18,147+ views
    The Obama Disaster ^ | October 24, 2008 | Stayfree
    We decided to set up a new website over this weekend called "The Obama Disaster.com" to highlight all of the reasons why the election of Obama as President is a very, very bad idea!! We need everyone's help to gather all of the articles and information about the effects upon the stock market, the economy, small businesses, lost jobs, more mortgage defaults, home prices, taxes, your 401(k), mandatory health care, more liberal programs, more government, the Supreme Court, marriage, religious freedom, free speech, less freedom, etc.
  • Wall Street's 'Disaster Capitalism for Dummies'

    10/23/2008 5:00:32 PM PDT · by Lorianne · 9 replies · 586+ views
    Wall Street Journal, Market Watch | Oct. 20, 2008 | Paul B. Farrell
    Yes, we're dummies. You. Me. All 300 million of us. Clueless. We should be ashamed. We're obsessed about the slogans and rituals of "democracy," distracted by the campaign, polls, debates, rhetoric, half-truths and outright lies. McCain? Obama? Sorry to pop your bubble folks, but it no longer matters who's president. Why? The real "game changer" already happened. Democracy has been replaced by Wall Street's new "disaster capitalism." That's the big game-changer historians will remember about 2008, masterminded by Wall Street's ultimate "Trojan Horse," Hank Paulson. Imagine: Greed, arrogance and incompetence create a massive bubble, cost trillions, and still Wall Street...
  • Have you noticed?

    10/22/2008 9:07:28 PM PDT · by Binstence · 16 replies · 491+ views
    10/23/08 | LiveFreeOrDie
    Has anyone noticed that the more the fifth column media tells the world that Obama essentially has the election in the bag the market slides to a new low even after the 1 Trillion dollar bailout? The strongest evidence that the polls are dead wrong.
  • BREAKING: Countrywide agrees to $8.68 billion settlement

    10/05/2008 8:09:10 PM PDT · by jasonmyos · 53 replies · 2,847+ views
    Legal Newsline ^ | 10/5/2008
    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline)--In the largest predatory lending settlement in U.S. history, Countrywide Financial Corp. has agreed to modify home loans as part of a settlement with 11 states. Countrywide was sued by a handful of state attorneys general, who alleged that the lender engaged in predatory lending practices, including misrepresenting loan terms and borrowers' ability to afford loans.
  • PLASTIC - AN ECOLOGICAL DISASTER OF OUR OWN MAKING

    10/01/2008 6:46:16 AM PDT · by sportsone234 · 96 replies · 1,071+ views
    We are facing an ecological disaster of immense proportions. This is a disaster of our own making, one that could have been prevented if not predicted with precision. Let’s start with just a few facts. Every piece of plastic that has ever been produced and has not been re-cycled (less than 2%) still exists . . . all of it. According to a recent article in Salon, every year Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags after they’ve been used to transport a prescription home from the drugstore or a quart of milk from the grocery store. It’s equivalent...
  • Do Hurricanes Cause Shortages?

    09/16/2008 7:59:48 AM PDT · by djsherin · 16 replies · 394+ views
    Mises Institute ^ | September 15, 2008 | Art Carden
    The Huntsville Times reported on September 12 that, in response to the looming threat from Hurricane Ike, Alabama Governor Bob Riley declared a formal state of emergency. The governor's declaration of emergency activated the state's price-gouging law, which makes "unconscionable pricing" illegal during times of emergency. The Times quoted Riley as saying that he thinks "a threat to public health is a strong possibility due to the shortage of fuels." Hurricanes don't cause shortages, however. Price controls do. A "shortage" occurs when the amount of a good demanded exceeds the amount of a good supplied at the prevailing price. In...
  • Pakistan's Next President Is a Category 5 Disaster

    09/02/2008 6:38:20 PM PDT · by Bosco · 17 replies · 241+ views
    The Wall Street Journal Online ^ | 9/2/08 | Bret Stephens
    If there's a case to be made against democracy, few countries make it better than Pakistan. On Saturday, Pakistani legislators will elect a new president to replace Pervez Musharraf, the general-turned-strongman who resigned the office last month. In one corner there is Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a former journalist and one-time political prisoner of Mr. Musharraf who is nonetheless running as the candidate of the general's old party. Mr. Mushahid, probably the best of the bunch, stands next to no chance of winning. In another corner there is Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, candidate of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's party. Mr. Sharif --...
  • Lights Out: EMP Warfare

    08/18/2008 10:27:56 AM PDT · by Renfield · 51 replies · 247+ views
    American Thinker ^ | 8-17-08 | David Bueche
    Remember that guy that you made fun of because he got all caught up in the Y2K scare and wasted his money on water purification equipment, dried food and backup generators? Turns out he may be having the last laugh. Last month, the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse released a 200-page report detailing the potential effects of an Electromagnetic Pulse, (EMP), attack on the continental US. At this point you may be wondering what EMP is and how it ties in with the survivalist who's having a laugh on us. Electromagnetic Pulse is...
  • Fall in tiny animals a 'disaster'

    07/13/2008 9:53:36 AM PDT · by LibWhacker · 26 replies · 85+ views
    Experts on invertebrates have expressed "profound shock" over a government report showing a decline in zooplankton of more than 70% since the 1960s.The tiny animals are an important food for fish, mammals and crustaceans. Figures contained in the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) document, Marine Programme Plan, suggested a fall in abundance. Charity Buglife said it could be a "biodiversity disaster of enormous proportions". They said it could have implications for creatures all the way up the food chain, from sand eels to the seabirds, such as puffin, which feed on the fish. Defra described the Marine...
  • Will Smith's $150 Million Disaster

    06/28/2008 11:09:39 PM PDT · by Nachum · 188 replies · 302+ views
    Fox News ^ | 6-28-08 | Roger Friedman
    There’s some idea out there in the world that Will Smith "owns" the July 4 holiday weekend in terms of box office. I guess this is because of "Independence Day," one of my favorite movies, and "Men in Black," also quite good, released, respectively, in 1996 and 1997 on that weekend. Alas, all good hype must come to an end. "Hancock," with which Sony is hoping to have a merry July 4, 2008, may not duplicate Smith’s previous successes. It is one of the worst family holiday weekend releases of recent memory — and jaw-droppingly so. And that’s hard to...
  • ELCA Bishop Calls for Prayer, Action Concerning Domestic Disasters

    06/20/2008 4:22:26 PM PDT · by lightman · 16 replies · 250+ views
    ELCA New Service ^ | 20 June AD 2008 | John Brooks
    June 20, 2008 ELCA Bishop Calls for Prayer, Action Concerning Domestic Disasters 08-095-MRC CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), asked the 4.8 million-member church to join him in "prayer and action" for people facing adversity this spring after tornadoes and floods struck the central United States and the humanitarian crisis following an immigration raid in Postville, Iowa. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested about 390 workers May 12 at a meat processing plant in Postville, making the raid the largest at a single location in U.S. history....
  • Government Says 27 Levees Face Overflow Risk in Midwest

    06/17/2008 10:00:33 AM PDT · by TonyInOhio · 20 replies · 76+ views
    The Wall Street journal ^ | 06/17/08 | Unattributed
    OAKVILLE, Iowa -- Southeastern Iowa and other parts of the Midwest filled sandbags in anticipation of the Mississippi River's wrath Tuesday as the rest of Iowa began the slow move from protection to cleanup. The federal government predicts that 27 levees could potentially overflow along the river if the weather forecast is on the mark and a massive sandbagging effort fails to raise the level of the levees, according to a map obtained Monday by the Associated Press.
  • American Red Cross: Disaster funds are depleted

    06/16/2008 6:20:36 PM PDT · by LonghornFreeper · 26 replies · 97+ views
    Associated Press ^ | June 16, 2008 | AMY LORENTZEN
    DES MOINES, Iowa - The American Red Cross said on Monday that its Disaster Relief Fund is wiped out and it's being forced to borrow money to help flood victims throughout the Midwest. Jeff Towers, the organization's chief development officer, said the balance for domestic disaster relief efforts is zero. He said the American Red Cross would borrow to keep workers and volunteers in the field helping flood victims. "The Red Cross remains committed to providing the scale of services that people expect of the Red Cross when disaster strikes, and the way that we are doing that right now...
  • BIG Earthquake in Japan Just Now! Predicted in Advance by Two Minutes (Live)

    06/13/2008 4:58:12 PM PDT · by AmericanInTokyo · 239 replies · 840+ views
    Japanese news; direct experience ^ | 14 June 2008 | AmericanInTokyo
    We just had a very strong earthquake which fiercely rocked and rolled the main Island of Honshu in Japan. TV broke with news on all channels IN ADVANCE OF EARTHQUAKE, warning people to "get ready". 8:43 a.m. local time Saturday (just about 10 minutes ago). 7:43 p.m. Friday Eastern Time. Then, sure enough, the long, rolling shaking began, and increased in intensity. I estimate the shaking to have gone on for at least 45 seconds. It hit here at 8:45 a.m. It literally gave us 2 minutes to prepare. I have never experienced an advance earthquake warning. The epicenter is...
  • Today's DNC disaster drill looks like the real deal

    06/10/2008 9:20:39 AM PDT · by Dawnsblood · 14 replies · 91+ views
    Rocky Mountain News ^ | 6/10/08 | Kevin Vaughan
    Eight Denver hospitals and city police officers and firefighters are preparing for the worst today — a mass casualty, biological disaster — in anticipation of the Democratic National Convention. The incident — details of which began to surface midmorning — will involve volunteer "victims" who will be treated at area hospitals as though they were contaminated with a biological agent. Just after 9 a.m., the hospitals received a report of an "explosion" at the Pepsi Center, involving pesticides and an unknown number of injuries among 20,000 people in attendance. A few minutes later the hospital received a second report that...
  • Earthquake survivors in China receive another six water purification systems from Water Missions

    05/31/2008 8:32:28 AM PDT · by AngieGal · 2 replies · 46+ views
    ASSIST News Service ^ | May 30, 2008 | Michael Ireland
    Water Missions International (WMI) deployed six water purification systems to earthquake-ravaged China late Wednesday, May 28. The systems were airlifted by FedEx at no cost to WMI and are expected to reach Shanghai tomorrow. Upon arrival in Shanghai, the systems will be transported into Chengdu to the areas of greatest need. According to a media release, WMI's International Project Director, Andre Mergenthaler, has been on the ground in China leading a water resource team of engineers and technicians through installation and operation of systems previously deployed for this disaster relief effort. The media release says that since the disaster struck,...
  • Disaster Earthquake Scenario Unveiled For Southern California

    05/22/2008 2:27:21 PM PDT · by blam · 42 replies · 374+ views
    Science Daily ^ | 5-23-2008 | U.S. Geological Survey
    Disaster Earthquake Scenario Unveiled For Southern CaliforniaShakeMap Intensity of an 7.8--Earthquake. (Credit: USGS)ScienceDaily (May 23, 2008) — Scientists have unveiled a hypothetical Scenario describing how a magnitude 7.8 Southern California earthquake -similar to the recent earthquake in China- would impact the region, causing loss of lives and massive damage to infrastructure, including critical transportation, power, and water systems. In the Scenario, the earthquake would kill 1800 people, injure 50,000, cause $200 billion in damage, and have long-lasting social and economic consequences. This is the most comprehensive analysis ever of what a major Southern California earthquake would mean, and is the...
  • $800 Oil?

    05/21/2008 6:51:38 PM PDT · by B-Chan · 59 replies · 91+ views
    urbansurvival.com ^ | 2008.05.21 | George Ure
    The price of oil futures, passing through the $130 level as they have this morning, likely headed far north of $200, is really secondary to the Bigger Picture of how the economy and oil are tied together. But is $800 oil in the cards? Oh, yeah... A conversation with ... petroleum geologist Jeffrey J. Brown ... explains the concept of oil going nonlinear from here: "In my opinion, we are looking at an accelerating net oil export decline rate, combined with a requirement for an accelerating rate of increase in oil prices, in order to balance supply & demand, as...
  • "Far From Normal"

    05/21/2008 6:41:22 PM PDT · by B-Chan · 32 replies · 22+ views
    kunstler.com ^ | 2008.05.19 | James H. Kunstler
    "Far from normal". Those were the words that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke used to describe the financial markets (and by extension the economy) these heady spring days when everybody else with a rostrum, it seems, has pronounced the so-called liquidity crisis contained. There's a great wish for American finance to return to business-as-usual -- raking in fantastic fees for innovating new modes of tradable paper, and engineering mergers and buy-outs that generate huge fees plus $100 million kiss-offs for corporate CEOs in the noble struggle to dismantle America's productive capacity -- but apparently events are still out of hand. The...
  • `Disaster fatigue' leads to drop in giving

    05/19/2008 5:43:46 PM PDT · by hole_n_one · 25 replies · 35+ views
    AP ^ | 5/19/2008 | LISA TOLIN
    `Disaster fatigue' leads to drop in giving NEW YORK (AP) — The numbers are almost too large to fathom, so many Americans stop trying. As bodies pile up in disaster after global disaster, even the most sympathetic souls can turn away.Charities know this as "donor fatigue," but it might be more accurately described as disaster fatigue — the sense that these events are never-ending, uncontrollable and overwhelming. Experts say it is one reason Americans have contributed relatively little so far to victims of the Myanmar cyclone and China's earthquake.Ironically, the more bad news there is, the less likely people may...
  • PCA Relief Effort: The Cyclone in Myanmar (Proddie Caucus)

    05/16/2008 9:03:55 AM PDT · by Gamecock · 11 replies · 318+ views
    MTW ^ | May 2008
    All, Mission To The World, the PCA's international ministry, has issued an appeal for funds to aid in the relief of Myanmar cyclone victims. I know that most of us have heard stories about countries and large relief agencies having their hands tied, but God will provide a way for His church to break through manmade barriers. _________________________________________________________________ Horrifying and harrowing stories are emerging in the aftermath of the catastrophic tropical cyclone that devastated much of already poverty-striken Myanmar. Reuters News is reporting as many as one million people left homeless. No one really knows how high the death toll...
  • New storm heads toward Myanmar

    05/14/2008 7:49:21 AM PDT · by MplsSteve · 13 replies · 103+ views
    Another powerful storm headed toward Myanmar's cyclone-devastated delta, where so little aid has reached that the U.N. warned on Wednesday of a "second wave of deaths" among an estimated 2 million survivors. The U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center said there is a good chance that "a significant tropical cyclone" will form within the next 24 hours and head across the Irrawaddy delta area. The area was pulverized by Cyclone Nargis on May 3, leaving at least 34,273 dead and 27,838 missing, according to the government. The U.N. says the death toll could exceed 100,000. An estimated 2 million survivors...
  • a chinese boy have words to say to MARKUSPRIME and others

    05/13/2008 10:59:47 PM PDT · by chinaboy · 191 replies · 221+ views
    To: All I want to let the chinese that are really here for support know that I am sorry for being so rude,and crass during this time. Now I do not like the CCP at all and belive in democracy for everyone. I feel angry and jaded at the world at this moment in my life because someone really close to me in my family died a few weeks ago. I have had a rough year and can be very snappy and mean at times. I do apologize and my prayers go out to all the innocents lost. I was...
  • Water Missions International prepares water purification systems to aid cyclone survivors in Myanmar

    05/07/2008 8:08:16 PM PDT · by AngieGal · 7 replies · 117+ views
    ASSIST News Service ^ | May 7, 2008 | Michael Ireland
    Help for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis is on the way from Water Missions International (WMI). WMI is preparing 44 water purification systems for immediate deployment to aid survivors of last Saturday's deadly cyclone in Myanmar. The 44 Living Water(TM) Treatment Systems (LWTS(TM)) have been requested from other organizations around the United States who are working to get relief to the people of Myanmar. World Vision has requested 20 water systems, Operation Blessing has requested up to 12, and Samaritan's Purse has asked for 12 water systems to be ready for transport this Friday, May 9. According to a media...
  • World Food Prices May Worsen Burmese Disaster

    05/06/2008 1:28:44 PM PDT · by blam · 13 replies · 51+ views
    New Scientist ^ | 5-6-2008 | Debora MacKenzie
    World food prices may worsen Burmese disaster 14:49 06 May 2008 NewScientist.com news service Debora MacKenzie As the scale of the disaster in Burma caused by Cyclone Nargis starts to emerge, relief agencies and rich countries are lining up to provide emergency aid. But with agencies already hit hard by soaring food prices, and Burma's own rice crop devastated, it is not clear where the relief will come from. Nargis hit Burma on Saturday, bringing with it a reported oceanic storm surge more than 3 metres high, which is said to have destroyed some low-lying towns. The storm wreaked havoc...
  • Gingrich warns GOP of ‘real disaster' this fall

    05/06/2008 1:03:42 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 160 replies · 113+ views
    The Hill ^ | 5/6/08 | Jackie Kucinich
    Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) is calling on Republicans to seek "real change to avoid a real disaster" in the wake of another Democratic victory in a special election on Saturday. In a letter to House Republicans posted on www.newt.org, Gingrich urges House leaders to call an “emergency meeting” of House Republicans to address what he describes as a “catastrophic collapse of trust in Republicans.” “If a majority of the House Republicans vote for real change, they should instruct Republican Leader John Boehner [Ohio] and his team to come back with a new plan by the Wednesday before the...
  • 50,000 Dead, Millions Homeless After Myanmar Cyclone

    05/06/2008 4:34:53 AM PDT · by nancyvideo · 14 replies · 129+ views
    Times UK ^ | 5-6-08
    Foreign aid workers in Burma have concluded that as many as 50,000 people died in Saturday’s cyclone, and two to three million are homeless, in a disaster whose scale invites comparison with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
  • Medicare "drifting towards disaster": U.S. official

    04/29/2008 7:08:28 PM PDT · by libertarianPA · 39 replies · 213+ views
    Reuters via Yahoo! News ^ | 4/29/08 | Reuters
    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medicare is lurching toward disaster and it is too late for the Bush Administration and Congress to do anything about it, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said on Tuesday. He said the next administration will have to act to stop rising costs and get control of the $400 billion federal health insurance plan for the elderly, which now covers 44 million people. "Higher and higher costs are being borne by fewer and fewer people. Sooner or later, this formula implodes," Leavitt said in a speech to the right-leaning Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute...
  • BREAKING: Tornadoes in Virginia Bring Love

    04/29/2008 7:29:34 AM PDT · by tcg · 15 replies · 88+ views
    Catholic Online ^ | 4/29/08 | Deacon Keith Fournier
    Dr. Weiss spoke exclusively to Catholic Online about his experience in the dramatic events which occurred in Suffolk on Monday. He told of a medical community and facility which, through their response, transformed tragedy into triumph.
  • Summit to combat fuel poverty a 'disaster', campaigners say

    04/23/2008 6:18:45 PM PDT · by Libloather · 11 replies · 78+ views
    Guardian ^ | 4/24/08 | Miles Brignall
    Summit to combat fuel poverty a 'disaster', campaigners sayMiles Brignall The Guardian Thursday April 24 2008 One of Britain's biggest charities has condemned yesterday's energy industry summit as a "disaster" for the 4.5m households living in fuel poverty. Mervyn Kohler, special adviser to Help the Aged, described the lack of concrete measures to come out of the summit as a slap in the face to the poorest consumers - those who are forced to spend at least 10% of their income to heat and light their home. Seven government ministers and representatives from each of the big power companies attended...
  • What the Fed's Job Isn't

    04/20/2008 1:17:11 PM PDT · by The_Republican · 9 replies · 35+ views
    Real Clear Politics ^ | April 20th, 2008 | George Will
    The description of the Fed as the "lender of last resort" is accurate without being informative. Lender to whom? For what purposes? Last resort before what? Did the bank "lend" $29 billion to Bear Stearns, or did it, in effect, buy some of the most problematic securities owned by Bear? If so, was this faux "loan" actually to J.P. Morgan Chase? The purpose of the money was to give Morgan an incentive to buy Bear -- at a price so low that an incentive should have been superfluous.In 1979, when the government undertook to rescue Chrysler, conservatives worried not that...
  • California Earthquake Coming Soon

    04/14/2008 5:24:34 PM PDT · by Larry R. Johnson · 51 replies · 984+ views
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 14th April, 208 | David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor
    (04-14) 11:32 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A strong and potentially deadly earthquake is virtually certain to strike on one of California's major seismic faults with a magnitude of at least 6.7 within the next 30 years, scientists said Monday in releasing the first official forecast of statewide earthquake probabilities.
  • Italians Vote As Economic Disaster Looms

    04/13/2008 7:58:09 PM PDT · by blam · 18 replies · 69+ views
    The Telegraph (UK) ^ | Malcolm Moore
    Italians vote as economic disaster looms By Malcolm Moore in Rome Last Updated: 2:41am BST 14/04/2008 Voting began yesterday in Italy's general election but the winner will inherit a country on the brink of disaster. A man in Sorrento was arrested after he announced 'politics makes me sick' and ate his ballot paper According to the International Monetary Fund, Italy's economic growth will not rise above 0.3 per cent this year, and could be zero. The country's growth is the slowest in Europe and Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy, warned that "the crisis is not yet...
  • How to avoid a Democratic disaster

    03/29/2008 11:48:28 AM PDT · by Bobkk47 · 45 replies · 970+ views
    Boston.com ^ | March 29, 2008 | Mario Cuomo
    A DEMOCRATIC disaster in the November election looms, but it can be avoided by a demonstration of true leadership by the two candidates. By the end of the primary process, no matter how robust the turnout appears, less than half of all Democratic voters will have expressed their preference. And because the primaries will have extended over such a long period, some voters will have changed their preference by the convention in August. Other entanglements also threaten the possibility of a selection at the convention that would be supported by both constituencies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Two states...
  • The Democrats' Super Disaster

    03/23/2008 9:29:58 PM PDT · by jdm · 41 replies · 1,857+ views
    WSJ ^ | March 24, 2008 | by John Yoo
    ** EXCERPT ** Until recent weeks, one of the least understood aspects of the Democrats' primary contest was the role of superdelegates. These are Democratic Party insiders, members of Congress, and other officials who can cast ballots at the party's national convention this summer.But now these unelected delegates are coming in for a close inspection, because neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama can win their party's nomination without superdelegate support. The big Pennsylvania primary on April 22, for example, has only 158 delegates at stake (each of them will be pledged to support one of the candidates). By comparison, there...
  • Iraq FM: American pullout would bring disaster

    03/18/2008 2:02:21 PM PDT · by jdm · 2 replies · 204+ views
    Hot Air ^ | March 18, 2008 | by Ed Morrissey
    How badly would an American pullout affect Iraq?  According to the nation’s foreign minister, all of the security gains would evaporate and bring the country back to the brink of civil war.  Hoshyar Zebari spoke to the Associated Press to make sure Americans know exactly what is at stake: Iraq’s foreign minister said Tuesday that he believes his country has averted a civil war after five years of “tears and blood,” and warned that an abrupt U.S. troop withdrawal would be disastrous.Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told The Associated Press that mistakes had been made by all sides but Iraq has...
  • Rush for biofuels threatens starvation on a global scale

    03/07/2008 9:57:20 PM PST · by TBP · 46 replies · 990+ views
    Times Online ^ | March 7, 2008 | Lewis Smith and Francis Elliott
    The rush towards biofuels is theatening world food production and the lives of billions of people, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser said yesterday. Professor John Beddington put himself at odds with ministers who have committed Britain to large increases in the use of biofuels over the coming decades. In his first important public speech since he was appointed, he described the potential impacts of food shortages as the “elephant in the room” and a problem which rivalled that of climate change. “It’s very hard to imagine how we can see the world growing enough crops to produce renewable energy and...
  • Snow disaster leaves 1.6 mln people frostbitten in NW China province

    03/03/2008 8:12:04 AM PST · by BGHater · 31 replies · 67+ views
    Xinhua ^ | 02 Mar 2008 | Yan Liang
    Severe snow disasters have left 1.65 million people snowblind and frostbitten, 500,000 livestock and wildlife dead and 3.1 million others on verge of starvation in Tibetan prefectures of northwestern Qinghai Province. Since October last year, consecutive low temperature had gripped the province. The temperature plunged to minus 36.3 degrees centigrade, the record lowest in January in the province, said the provincial meteorological bureau. In Yushu, Guoluo and Huangnan Tibet Autonomous Prefectures, most of the grassland was covered by snow, usually 16 to 32 cm thick, which had brought great losses to local animal husbandry. In the disaster-stricken prefectures, 130,000 people...
  • Citigroup Stops Withdrawals from Hedge Fund: WSJ

    02/18/2008 7:30:22 PM PST · by B-Chan · 32 replies · 315+ views
    CNBC ^ | 2008.02.15 | Reuters
    Citigroup has barred investors in one of its hedge funds from withdrawing their money, and a new leveraged fund lost 52 percent in its first three months, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Citigroup Headquarters The largest U.S. bank suspended redemptions in CSO Partners, a fund specializing in corporate debt, after investors tried to pull more than 30 percent of its roughly $500 million of assets, the newspaper said. Citigroup injected $100 million to stabilize the fund, which lost 10.9 percent last year, the newspaper said. The fund's manager, John Pickett, left following a dispute with Citigroup executives and complaints...
  • National Guard Responds to Tornado Disaster

    02/06/2008 4:42:56 PM PST · by SandRat · 4 replies · 175+ views
    American Forces Press Service ^ | Tech. Sgt. Mike R. Smith, USAF
    ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 6, 2008 – More than 160 National Guard members turned out today to support recovery missions in three states hit by a violent string of tornadoes last night. The National Guard Bureau reported that Guard members were called out to perform search and rescue missions, provide security at traffic control points, and to support civilian authorities in other ways in Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. Many of the Guard soldiers who responded were undergoing pre-deployment training at the Wendell H. Ford Regional Training Center in Greenville, Ky., about five miles from one of the areas hit by a...