17 May 2008
News and Comments - 05/17/08
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: What's News .
I DRIVE WAY TOO FAST TO WORRY ABOUT CHOLESTEROL.
7 Comments so far...
Cameron Says:
17 May 2008 at 8:02 am.
Myanmar death toll soars
By Aung Hla Tun 7 minutes ago
YANGON (Reuters) - Diplomats witnessed “huge” devastation in the Irrawaddy delta on Saturday and the toll of dead and missing from the cyclone rose above 133,000 people, making it one of the most damaging to hit Asia.
With about 2.5 million people clinging to survival in the delta, and the military government refusing to admit large-scale outside relief, disaster experts say the death toll from Cyclone Nargis which struck on May 2 could rise dramatically.
“It was useful to catch the magnitude of the devastation. It’s huge,” Bernard Delpuech, head of the European Commission Humanitarian Office in Yangon, said of the trip.
“For the recovery you can’t expect it to be six months or a year. It will take longer,” he told Reuters from Yangon, the former Rangoon.
Helicopters took some 60 to 70 diplomats split in three groups to different parts of the delta, where Nargis struck with 120 mph (190 kmh) winds and a 12-foot (3.5 meter) wall of water.
The itineraries were arranged by the Myanmar government, under fire for refusing to allow significant numbers of foreign aid workers and major international aid operations. The generals running the country say they have things in hand.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080517/wl_nm/myanmar_cyclone_dc
Cameron Says:
17 May 2008 at 8:59 am.
Thousands flee as China lake bank feared broken
By John Ruwitch and Jason Li
BEICHUAN, China (Reuters) - Thousands of Chinese fled to the hills on Saturday amid fears a lake formed near the epicenter of this week’s earthquake would burst its banks.
The water level at the lake formed after aftershocks blocked a river was rising rapidly in Beichuan and “may burst its bank at any time,” the official Xinhua news agency said.
A paramilitary officer told Reuters the likelihood of the lake bursting its banks was “extremely big.”
A witness said by telephone the military was evacuating everyone in Beichuan, even rescue workers.
A Reuters journalist fled an area near the Beichuan Middle School, which President Hu Jintao visited on Friday. Soldiers were talking on the radio saying “all retreat” and there was a lot of dust in the air. Troops were leaving fast.
China has said it expects the final death toll from Monday’s 7.9 magnitude earthquake to exceed 50,000. About 4.8 million people have lost their homes and the days are numbered in which survivors can be found.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080517/ts_nm/quake1_dc_1
Benjamin Says:
17 May 2008 at 12:49 pm.
For those who cry that we should let market forces solve this problem, we can’t. The government won’t let us. They tie our hands. We get no more oil refineries and they won’t let us drill domestic oil. It’s almost like they don’t want us to be energy dependent.
Saudi oil output hike would not solve US problems: Bush
US President George W. Bush said on Saturday that a hike in oil output by Saudi Arabia would not solve American energy problems.
“It’s not enough, it’s something but it doesn’t solve our problem,” Bush told reporters in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Bush said he was “pleased” with a Saudi decision taken on May 10 to increase its oil production by 300,000 barrels per day in response to customers, but said that he was “also realistic” about what the Americans should do.
“Our problem in America gets solved when we aggressively go for domestic exploration. Our problem in America gets solved if we expand our refining capacity, promote nuclear energy and continue our strategy for the advancing of alternative energies as well as conservation,” he said.
“One interesting thing about American politics these days is those who are screaming the loudest for increased production from Saudi Arabia are the very same people who are fighting the fiercest against domestic exploration, against the development of nuclear power and against expanding refining capacity.”
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080517140327.thd0wmmy&show_article=1
M.G. Says:
17 May 2008 at 1:51 pm.
Congress keeps voting against letting us drill. People need to get ahold of their reps and tell them they are watching this crucial issue. The media is part of the problem. They don’t cover this right. They need to highlight what needs to be done and show how congress is voting against this and then they can show how environmentalist wackos are the whole problem. All three candidates are environmentalist wackos so we are in big trouble.
T. Fan Says:
17 May 2008 at 4:20 pm.
No one can explain why we aren’t building more refineries. Then there is the weird fact that they weren’t running at full production this year. I feel like something is really manipulating things behind the scenes because none of this makes any sense.
Concerned American Says:
17 May 2008 at 7:06 pm.
Russia: A totalitarian regime in thrall to a Tsar who’s creating the new Facist empire
By JONATHAN DIMBLEBY
As ex-President Putin settles in to his new role as Prime Minister, he has every reason to congratulate himself.
After all, he has not only written the script for his constitutional coup d’etat, but staged the play and given himself the starring role as well.
Of course, he has given a walk-on role to Dmitry Medvedev, his personally anointed successor.
But the transfer of power from Putin to his Little Sir Echo, Medvedev, and the show of military strength with those soldiers and clapped-out missiles in Red Square on Victory Day which followed it last week, made it clear who is really in charge.
No decision of any significance for the Russian people or the rest of us will be made in the foreseeable future without the say - so of Medvedev’s unsmiling master.
Just before he stood down as President, Putin declared: “I have worked like a galley slave throughout these eight years, morning til night, and I have given all I could to this work. I am happy with the results.”
As he surveys the nation today he reminds me of that chilling poem by Ted Hughes, Hawk Roosting, in which the dreaded bird sits at the top of a tall tree musing: “Now I hold all Creation in my foot - I kill as I please because it is all mine - I am going to keep things like this.”
Jesse Says:
17 May 2008 at 8:10 pm.
I’m a concerned American when it comes to Putin. This is a dangerous man who hates us. I can’t believe the Russian people are so apathetic to just roll over and let this man steal their country.
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