JUST WOW
'Frozen tsunamis' stun Alaska residents
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Ridges of Arctic Ocean sea ice were shoved onto a Barrow road in quantities not seen in nearly three decades.
Two ice surges, known to Alaska Natives as ivus, stunned residents who had never seen large blocks of ice rammed ashore.
"It just looked like a big old mountain of ice," said L.A. Leavitt, 19, who left his nightshift job at the city early Tuesday to check out the ridges.
Ivus are like frozen tsunamis and crash ashore violently. They have killed hunters and are among the Arctic's most feared natural phenomena.
Residents said the northernmost ivu, about 20 feet high and 100 feet long, contained car-size blocks and left coastal Stevenson Road with only one lane.
The ice stopped about 30 feet short of a borough pump station that provides access to Barrow's underground water and sewer system, said North Slope Borough disaster coordinator Rob Elkins.
Strong winds from Russia and eastward currents began pushing pack ice toward Barrow on Saturday, Elkins said.
By late Monday night, thick, old sea ice, called multiyear ice, had shoved younger, thinner ice onto shore.
Elkins, who got a 5 a.m. Tuesday wake-up call from police, said a second ivu on the south side of town came to rest near a smaller coastal road and an empty playground. That ridge stretched about 200 feet.
"It was just an amazing sight," said Elkins, a five-year Barrow resident. "It looks like huge stacks of huge ice cubes."
The ivus, about two miles apart, had stopped moving when Elkins arrived. Bulldozers cleared the ice.
Winds from the west slowed Tuesday afternoon. Whalers also noted that a protective pressure ridge had formed more than a mile offshore.
Whaling captain Charlie Hopson, who coordinates oil spill responses in the area, said he could see blocks of ice churning slowly in the frozen ocean.
Whalers were happy to see the approach of multiyear ice. A solid platform of nearshore ice means safer travel and butchering.
"We always want this thing to happen before the whaling season to help get the ice solid and safe to travel on and then we can pick our way out to the lead," Hopson said.
Whaling co-captain Lloyd Leavitt said he had not seen such a big ivu since 1978, when winds peaked at 80 mph and blocks of multiyear ice about 12 feet thick slid ashore like pancakes from a frying pan.
"It knocked down all the power poles on the beach front, every last one from the Barrow mechanical building to Browerville," he said.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2006-01-27-ice-surge_x.htm
China's Gang-Related Crimes at Peak Period
Severe social problems in China create breeding ground for gangs and crimes
Epoch Times Staff Jan 29, 2006
On October 12, 2005, the Meishan Intermediate People court in Sichuan Province sentenced six members of a gang to death (Getty Images)Under the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) rule, the unfair social wealth distribution, poverty gap, and other negative social phenomena are growing more noticeable. More and more disillusioned and upset members of society are joining gangs and mafias as a last resort. These people include laid off workers, peasants, unemployed people, those with no power, those who live in poverty and also those who have not had their injustices addressed. For these people, joining gangs and mafias is their final gamble. China's social problems provide a breeding ground that allows these organizations to grow in strength everyday. Outlook News Weekly , owned by the CCP, has already alerted the public that organized crime has reached a new pinnacle in China.
Disadvantaged Groups Make Up Mainstream of Gangs in China
Investigations by Outlook News Weekly indicate that disadvantaged groups that wish to rid themselves of their weak position through dark means exist at each stage of the development of gangs. Nearly half of the more than 20 suspects involved in the Yunliang Ling criminal syndicate in Hebei Province are unemployed, the rest are laid off workers and peasants. In the case of the WenBo Zhan gang that was uncovered in Jiling Province, two thirds of the 19 criminal suspects were the unemployed, peasants, and drivers. Data also shows that large portions of criminal organizations eradicated by the police are similarly composed of the unemployed, people who were arrested and released, and other disadvantaged social groups..
Sociologists point out that unbalanced economic developments and unbalanced wealth distributions have brought about urban-rural differences, unemployment, income distribution imbalance and other societal problems, which provide gangs and mafias with their social base.
Gangs' Partners
Some policemen know that a group of corrupt officials will be exposed every time a gang is destroyed. Corruption and gangs are in cahoots. To attain criminal goals, gangs pressure and bribe police officers, who, in turn, control and hire gangs in order to pursue their own economic or political goals..
In a few cases involving gangs and mafias that have been uncovered in recent years, some police have been known to offer advice and suggestions to some criminals, even lending them firearms. In a major and key criminal case uncovered in Liaoning Province two years ago, among the 64 Party and government personals involved in illegal activities, 32 were police officers, including directors of the public security bureau, criminal policemen, patrol policemen, and civil policemen. The rest came from a great variety of party and government organs, such as the industry and commerce bureau, tax bureau, financial bureau, audit bureau, land and resources bureau, banks, neighborhood offices, and even law offices.
Officials Turn to Gangs for Help
In recent years, officials in mainland China have frequently committed crimes by hiring thugs and gangs to murder political opponents, individuals who expose their corruption, mistresses who pester them, and district-attorneys in charge of their cases.
To protect their power or to win promotions and gain wealth, some officials hire gang members at high prices to murder their political opponents by means of shooting, traffic accident, and other vicious means. Thus gangs and mafias can now make their dirty money from the masses while under the protection of officials. This allows these underground organizations to thrive, and results in a mixing of "mafia" and "police," making it difficult to discern good from bad.
Some local government officials' lacking in governing abilities create power vacuums that give gangs the opportunity to interfere with government affairs by "helping" the government "manage affairs."
In some rural towns in northeastern China, local authorities allow gangs to break into peasants' homes in order to enforce the "Program to Return Farmland to Forests," or to collect electricity fees. In some places, gangs are even issued, and wear uniforms, thus allowing them to directly "enforce the law."
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-1-29/37500.html
Wow, I have never heard of frozen tsunamis before. Scary!
"IVUS" another example of the global warning, just ask gore.
For those who worry about the ice melting and flooding the area, Dr. Bill gives them an experiment to do, it proves his point of "NO danger".
Take a glass, fill it with ice cubes, then add water to the top.
Set the glass down and allow it to melt and come to room temperature.
Notice that the melted ice did not cause the glass to overflow.
He says the same holds true in the Alaska Ice, it will not raise the level of the ocean.
KOA new:
Cindy Sheehan, is going to protest President Bush at his state of the union speech.
Bob Woodruff and his cameraman, both have head injuries, from the IED, attack this morning in Iraq, it will be several days, before they are out of critical condition.