Of Earthquakes and Other Disasters…

By InsightAnalytical-GRL

As I write this, a tsunami is bearing down on Hawaii, a consequence of the terrible earthquake in Chile.  Japan was also hit with a quake, and, of course, Haiti is still suffering terribly from the quake that hit weeks ago.

There are a few sites that track such things that I visit to keep up-to-date.

My favorite is based in Hungary and features maps and information that track both natural and man-made disasters ranging from quakes, to storms, to major traffic accidents and pandemics. The site has been updated and is fantastic!  Under the “Disaster and Emergency Alert Map” heading, click the “Global” link for a world map; there are also sections different areas on the globe.  Click on an icon on the map to get a brief description of what’s going on in a specific area.  For example, there is a threat of epidemic in Viet Nam today.  Be sure to scroll down the page under the map for a lot more details on current happenings. The amount of information is amazing!

Check it out at:

RSOE EDIS – Emergency and Disaster Information Service

For a huge database of links to information on all sorts of disasters, plus terrorism information, go to:

CBS NEWS Disaster Links

Finally, there is a site (which requires registration to use) that is dedicated strictly to terror and suspicious incidents. Find it at:

Global Incident Map Displaying Terrorist Acts, Suspicious Activity, and General Terrorism News

On Being “Disagreeable”

~~By kenosha Marge

I seldom listen to anything Obama has to say, perhaps because he seldom has anything to say. Political rhetoric is not worth my time or effort. Spare me the high-flying phrases and simplify all our lives by saying something of substance.

We know this will not happen. What savvy politician would actually say something substantive when his adoring fans don’t require it from him? The adolescent mindset of a good share of our population annoys and at the same time scares the hell out of me. Is this what much of humanity has become, perpetual adolescents screaming for Elvis or the Beatles?

Since the Rick Warren controversy began there is no escaping what passes for an explanation from President-elect Barack Obama. His advertising agency phrase about being able to “disagree without being disagreeable”  is played endlessly on television. Perhaps because the big Zero is off in Hawaii on vacation and thus the poor, pathetic 24-hour news folks didn’t have anything else to run.

“Disagree without being disagreeable,”  for some reason that utterly puerile phrase, one among many, stuck in my craw. I wondered if the wordsmith extraordinaire Favreau took time out from groping cardboard cutouts to write that phase. Inquiring minds and all that.

I intend to be very disagreeable about Rick Warren. He is the happy face the Obama Administration has chosen to put on bigotry. Our lefty friends tell us he isn’t as bad as Falwell or Pat Robertson. Sorry,  lefty friends,  but I find it simply amazing that you now are willing to settle for someone who isn’t as bad as whoever. Not being as bad as is a sad little excuse not worthy of adults. Damn, there we are back at the adolescent mindset.

I have a new yardstick for what I find tolerable these days. I ask myself would I accept this Warren fellow if George Bush chose him? Would I find his folksy manner acceptable if he was the choice at a Republican Inauguration? In other words, would I be as accepting if we weren’t talking about a Democrat? Because if you are willing to make excuses for a Democrat that you wouldn’t make for a Republican then it’s not about choice or character or about bigotry so much as it is about partisanship. And hypocrisy.

Beneath the benevolent corpulence of Rick Warren beats the heart of a misogynistic, homophobic, creationist. Not someone you could believe would have a place of honor at the Inauguration of a Democratic President. Not someone you would expect liberals to embrace. Not someone acceptable to the progressive community.

Au contraire,  mes amis! Our lefty friends are working so hard to keep from being annoyed with PEBO that they are abandoning or ignoring every belief they ever had. PEBO wants to give a religious bigot a place of honor at his inauguration? Fine and dandy. He’s just trying to bring all those nasty fundamentalists that want to deny civil rights to other citizens on board the Soul Train. Women can board so long as they are submissive to their husbands. Gee whiz folks, sure lacks something I looked for in a progressive movement. Like progress maybe?

How about this from “Not Your Sweetie” about Rick Warren:   Women Obots in Shock: Warren Hates Women Too?

Take marriage. At his Saddleback Church, wifely submission is official doctrine: The church website tells women to defer to their husband’s “leadership” even when he’s wrong on important issues, such as finances

Never mind if she’s an accountant and he flunked long division, or if she wants to beef up the kids’ college fund and he wants to buy shares in the Brooklyn Bridge. The godly answer is supposed to be “yes, dear.” Is elevating this male chauvinist how President-elect Obama thanks women, who gave him more than half his votes?

According to PEBO and his suppine supporters we should all just hold hands with Regressive Religious Bigots like Warren because we can disagree without being disagreeable.

Maybe they can do so. I cannot. Some things in my creed are not subject to negotiation. I don’t choose to make nice with bigots. I don’t choose to play well with others when the others are smiling purveyors of evil.

In my world Rick Warren for all his bonhominie and pretense of being a good Christian is an evil man. I consider all bigots evil. Those that would restrict the civil rights of some citizens will always make my list of evildoers. A Democratic President-elect is honoring this man at his inauguration? I can find nothing in this fact to be agreeable about. I can find nothing hopeful in this. And so, I do not intend to be agreeable.

Dollars and Cents, Dirty Hands and Obamanomics

~~By American Lassie

Here is something I needed to get off my chest today. This is the last time I refer to the background  of the heir apparent unless something comes of the Berg lawsuit.

I’m not joining the “Hallelujah Chorus”.

I’ve said before, and I’m saying again, until he produces documentation proving his eligibility I do not consider Obama the legal POTUS. Perhaps Justice David Souter will get to the bottom of his eligibility – perhaps not.  But if not, nothing he does or anything he proposes under Executive Order will be legal.  This country could be reduced to utter chaos.

So far Obama refuses to satisfy the requirements under the Constitution to hold this office.  If our Constitution is trashed this way, none of our laws or institutions mean diddly squat.  Why don’t some of those people who are bowing down to him take a minute to ask him why he doesn’t just show a legal birth certificate and put a stop to all the speculation?  It would be so simple for him to tell the truth about where he was born.  He has named two different hospitals in Hawaii but neither one has any record of his birth.  He is getting ready to occupy the most powerful position in the world  – and we have no idea who he really is.  He has spent his whole political life running for office but has never done anything once elected, except prepare to run for the next higher office.  His administration is already tainted by the crooked way the primaries were run.

He has chosen Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff.  Emanuel comes to the position with dirty hands.  Emanuel sat on the Board of Directors of Freddie Mac during the time they were practicing questionable accounting and lending practices.  He contributed to the financial mess we are now in, and now he will be advising the president on how to clean the mess up.  This is putting the fox in the hen house to guard the chickens.  Is this change you can believe in?

Now the co-chair of Obama’s transition team** says the economic crisis will not prevent Obama from pursuing the priorities he outlined on the campaign trail.  What kind of magic do they plan to work?

My background is in accounting.  I’ve been an accountant long enough to know that what he is proposing isn’t possible without going further in debt to foreign governments or taxing the life out of the American people – or both.

I served on the Board of Directors of a United Way funded poverty agency for five years, and witnessed fellow board members try to spend more than we took in – time and time again.

I had my own tax business until a serious illness forced me to curtail my activities.  Now that I’m on my feet again, I intend to keep fighting for this country of ours with every fiber of my being.  I don’t profess to be the smartest person in the world, but I do know a little about finances and how to balance the books.  Enough to know that we are on a slippery slope to a complete melt-down.

Unemployment is up.  Retail sales are down. Our auto industry is tanking – and the hopey-dopey experts are promising champagne on a beer pocket book.

Both political parties are sick.  We can’t look to either one to straighten out this mess that Congress – yes, CONGRESS is primarily responsible for.  We have to fend for ourselves.

God help all those poor people who think the Messiah has come to deliver them from all their problems.

There won’t be enough Prozac in the world to take care of the mental depression that is on the way.

Luck to all.

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**IA adds: That’s Valerie Jarrett, long-time Obama buddy who said the other day that Obama will be ready to “rule” from Day 1….