Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread 6

Voice of America ^ | 01 Apr 2004 | Nick Simeone

[Cindy]

Good news for now.

[Sean Osborne Lomax]

"Must keep eyes on Iran."

I agree. We must watch them like a hawk.

[Cindy]

You're welcome in regard to the link.

I've never read the Jesus Freaks books.

Faith is so important.

[Domestic Church]

UN Oil Corruption puts a new light (though no surprise) on everything. Maybe this will bring down that soggy org.

I hope this news is revved up so nations want to dump it or disconnect from its assembly. The media will try to put the lid on it.

[Domestic Church]

"...baking is better when the liquid is in you or in the baking?"

It's best when sipped while looking at the art of Fra Angelico but it's mighty fine used in place of vanilla extract as well (double or triple the amount of course.)

[Domestic Church]

We just have to dip all ammo in pig fat. This was written of right after 9/11 so by grassroots it might be in effect. You know the Israelis must be doing it.

[Velveeta]

'End of America' will be soon, al-Qaida convert warns

If America ends before my kitchen remodel is finished, I'm gonna be very, very angry. You hear me al-Qaida??? Don't mess wit me.

[Velveeta]

Got it Jill, thanks.

[Voteamerica]

bookmark

[freeperfromnj]

Here's one for the keeper of the bird flu files (I don't remember who was in charge of mystery illnesses):

WESTCHESTER COUNTY MAN CONTRACTS BIRD FLU

UPDATED: 8:06 am EDT April 20, 2004

NEW YORK -- Health officials have confirmed that a Westchester County man was infected with a strain of flu that normally affects birds -- only the second such case reported in the United States.

The man, whose name was not released, reported to Westchester Medical Center in November with symptoms including fever and cough. Doctors tentatively identified a human flu strain in sputum samples taken from the man, but sent the samples to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation.

Scientists at the CDC said in March they had identified the virus as H7N2, a strain of avian flu. The identification was confirmed last Friday after the man's blood was tested for antibodies, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The diagnosis raised questions because the man apparently did not work with birds or poultry, health officials said. The patient in the only known previous human case of avian flu in the United States was a poultry worker in Virginia.
The man's wife, children and co-workers were also tested, but none appeared to have been infected, the state Department of Health said.

"We can't figure out how he was exposed and why he's an isolated case," CDC influenza expert Nancy Cox told the Times. "We need to understand how he got infected."

http://www.wnbc.com/health/3021968/detail.html

[4thygipper]

Another Train Incident.

'We were very, very lucky'
Derailed cars carried butane, propane, posed major threat
By MARY ELLEN MacINTYRE and CATHY VON KINTZEL / Truro Bureau

SUTHERLANDS RIVER - Victoria Timbang was more than a little unnerved when a uniformed RCMP officer showed up at her door after midnight on Monday morning.

"It was scary," Ms. Timbang said of her forced nighttime evacuation. She was not even able to change out of her nightclothes.

Ms. Timbang and the elderly woman she cares for grabbed some clothes and fled after being told that a 10-car derailment including potentially explosive propane and butane had occurred at about 11:40 p.m. Sunday.

"They say it could be three to four days" before she can return to her house, Ms. Timbang said later in the day. She was allowed to stop by the house briefly to collect some clothes.

Six of the 10 cars that left the track contained propane while three had butane and one was filled with paper products. One of the butane cars stayed near the tracks.

Experts on the scene Monday morning shivered at the thought of what could have been.

"Oh, we were very, very lucky - this could have been really bad," said Bill Horne, a senior environmental emergency officer with Environment Canada.

"If the cars had been ripped open, and especially if there had been ignition, it would have been awful," he said.

Four people from two homes in the immediate area were evacuated and classes at two nearby schools were cancelled after the last 10 cars of the 64-car train derailed in rural Pictou County. Had an explosion followed the derailment, the homes and school would have been destroyed, officials said.

Neither the engineer nor the conductor were injured when the train derailed. It had passed over the bridge crossing Sutherlands River, and when the last 10 cars derailed, it came to a stop by an embankment overlooking a soft, marshy area.

The first two cars to derail came to rest upside down in the bog. The others wound up either on their side or their roof in ditches. Car wheels were scattered on both sides of the rail bed while twisted track and chewed up wooden rail ties were strewn about the site.

The general manager of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway, which owns the train and the rail line from Truro to Cape Breton, said the derailment wrecked at least 350 metres of track.

"The train was leaving Port Hawkesbury on the way to Truro and travelled at 30 miles per hour (just under 50 km/h)," Peter Touesnard said.

Officials from the Transportation Safety Board were on the scene early Monday morning.

RCMP in Pictou County are also investigating the cause of the derailment but issued a news release Monday indicating criminal activity did not appear to be a factor.

Mr. Touesnard said the tankers had been filled in Port Hawkesbury and were to be shipped to Truro and points west.

"The tank cars are the strongest cars in the industry," he said when asked why there wasn't a breach.

As well, the cars were fairly new and the area where they fell was marshy and quite soft.

"Our priority was to secure the cars and the people who were at risk - they were evacuated," Mr. Touesnard said.

Most area residents were unaware of the derailment until late morning when a news release was issued. Mr. Touesnard said officials felt their immediate responsibility was to the people who were the most vulnerable.

Don MacKenzie, Emergency Measures Organization co-ordinator for Pictou County, said there was little danger of explosion because the tankers were not leaking.

"That was quickly determined but two houses were evacuated as a precaution, because when you're dealing with propane there's always a danger," Mr. MacKenzie said.

"The (hazardous materials team) from the New Glasgow Fire Department was on the scene with gauges, monitoring for leaks all night."

Monitoring will continue while the contents of the derailed cars are pumped out and into other cars and the track is fixed. The work is expected to take a week or more to finish.

Officials say no one will be allowed on the scene until the cleanup is completed and the site is safe.

Classes will not resume at Frank H. MacDonald Elementary and East Pictou Rural Middle School until then.

[freeperfromnj]

This could have been horrible. These train accidents seem to happen on a daily basis lately.

[freeperfromnj]

Check out the pictures of this accidental explosion. It happened in my neck of the woods yesterday morning and I didn't even know about it until I opened up this morning's newspaper.

http://www.app.com

[Alamo-Girl]

I join in prayer for your mother and for you!

[Oorang]

Thanks Jill. I read the 6/23 reference and it doesn't make any sense to me :-) The jihadis often don't make sense to me. Their website certainly seems to have a lot of data and links which makes me want to know what they are saying and what they are up to. Especially the drop down box that takes you to "special messages", etc.

StillProud2BeFree has mentioned more than once that machine translations are often poor substitutes for human translations. I wonder if she has seen this site. She is such an asset with her understanding of the language and culture.

[Oorang]

Excelling post and link. Thanks JP.

[4thygipper]

LAX Hit With Second Power Outage

POSTED: 6:34 am PDT April 20, 2004
UPDATED: 6:50 am PDT April 20, 2004

LOS ANGELES -- A widespread power outage hit Los Angeles International Airport Monday -- the second time in eight days the facility has had electricity problems.

The city Department of Water and Power blamed the problem on a malfunctioning transformer.

No air traffic control problems resulted from Monday's shutdown -- thanks to backup batteries in the air control tower.

Last week's power failure lasted less than a second but caused radar and communications systems at the control tower to malfunction -- forcing dozens of planes to be delayed.

Monday's blackout began around 11:30 a.m.

Although power returned to some buildings immediately, others remained on emergency units until about 1:20 p.m.

[StillProud2BeFree]

Yes, I follow that site on a daily basis.