Things I Found September 14, 2008

September 14: Today In History.

Weather
Ike kills 2 in Louisiana, floods homes: LAKE CHARLES, La. - Hurricane Ike spared Louisiana a direct hit, but its winds and waters killed two people as coastal areas were inundated with a storm surge that crawled some 30 miles inland, flooding tens of thousands of homes and making many roads impassable.

Officials Still Unsure of Ike Death Toll, Damage Costs: From the sea-swamped neighborhoods of Galveston to the pine-covered hills north of Houston, people across Southeast Texas awoke Saturday to a stunning tableau of devastation caused by the passage of Hurricane Ike, the first hurricane in a quarter-century to score a direct hit on the state's most populous region.

Tropical Depression IKE Public Advisory: The NHC has issued its final advisory on this system. Public Advisories from the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center will provide updates as long as the system remains a flood threat.

Hurricane remnants blamed for 3 deaths in Midwest: MUNSTER, Ind. - A father and son drowned in northwest Indiana while trying to rescue children from a flooded ditch as heavy rains from the remnants of Hurricane Ike forced hundreds of evacuations across the Midwest on Sunday.

Typhoon injures 14, cancels flights in Taiwan: TAIPEI (Reuters) - A powerful typhoon packing winds of up to 160 kph (100 mph) hit northeastern Taiwan on Sunday, dumping up to a meter of rain, causing hundreds of mudslides, injuring 14 and forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights.

Sci/Tech
Hackers infiltrate Large Hadron Collider systems and mock IT security: As the first particles were circulating in the machine near Geneva where the world wide web was born, a Greek group hacked into the facility, posting a warning about weaknesses in its infrastructure.

Tragedy
Plane Crash in Russia Kills All 88 Aboard: MOSCOW -- A plane carrying 88 people crashed in central Russia early Sunday killing all aboard, an emergency official said.

Death toll from China mine mudslide climbs to 254: BEIJING (Reuters) - The death toll from a mudslide caused by the collapse of a mine waste reservoir in northern China has climbed to 254, state media said on Sunday.

Foreign Affairs
Turkmenistan clashes 'kill police': At least 20 members of the Turkmenistan's security forces have reportedly been killed in clashes in the capital Ashgabat, according to to media reports and diplomatic sources.

Russians troops leave west, but remain in Georgia: TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Russian soldiers and armored vehicles pulled back from positions deep in western Georgia on Saturday, meeting a closely watched withdrawal deadline a month after the war between the former Soviet republics.

Venezuelan military holds anti-invasion exercises: CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has observed military exercises with planes dropping bombs and commandos resisting a mock invasion.

Venezuela's Bonds Tumble After Chavez Expels U.S. Ambassador: Venezuela's bonds plunged to the lowest since June 2004 after President Hugo Chavez called for the expulsion of the American ambassador and threatened to cut off oil exports to the U.S.

U.S. in push for foreign arms deals: report: NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Bush administration is pushing through a wide range of foreign weapons deals in a bid to rearm Iraq and Afghanistan and contain North Korea and Iran, The New York Times reported.

Pakistan order to kill US invaders: KEY corps commanders of Pakistan's 600,000-strong army issued orders last night to retaliate against "invading" US forces that enter the country to attack militant targets.

Things I Found September 13, 2008

September 13: Today In History.

Weather
Hurricane Ike Slams Texas: GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- Howling ashore with 110 mph winds, Hurricane Ike ravaged the Texas coast Saturday, flooding thousands of homes and businesses, shattering windows in Houston's skyscrapers and knocking out power to millions of people.

Foreign Affairs
Bolivia's Morales defiant after sign of compromise: LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales defied rightist opponents on Saturday by vowing to introduce divisive reforms just hours after signs of a compromise had emerged to halt violence that has killed 17 people and prompted martial law.

Culture
Saudi scholar issues TV death fatwa: A Saudi scholar has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of television networks broadcasting "depravation and debauchery".

Things I Found September 12, 2008

September 12: Today In History.

Foreign Affairs
U.S. Sanctions Ratchet Up Pressure on Venezuela: ELORZA, Venezuela -- The U.S. government, ratcheting up a diplomatic crisis with one of its leading suppliers of crude oil, placed sanctions on several high-ranking Venezuelan officials Friday, accusing them of aiding the drug trafficking of Colombia's main guerrilla army.

US Reported to Kill 12 in Pakistan: Islamabad, Pakistan - As the American campaign against suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal areas seemed to intensify on Friday, two missiles fired from remotely piloted American aircraft killed 12 people on Friday in an attack on a village compound in North Waziristan, according to a local journalist and television reports.

Weather
Hurricane Ike could be "potential catastrophe": GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) - Massive Hurricane Ike bore down on the Texas coast on Friday with a wall of water that threatened a potential catastrophe for the United States.

Economy
Credit Crisis Strains: A year into a credit crisis that started with troubled mortgages to sketchy borrowers, the financial system is reeling once again, casting a pall over a widening array of financial institutions just days after history-making efforts by policy makers to contain the problem.

Ticking Time Bomb Explodes, Public Shocked: The failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, setting in motion the biggest government bailout/takeover in U.S. history, brings a grim sense of fulfillment to competent economists. After all, what did people expect, that water would flow uphill forever?

New York Fed Holds Emergency Meeting On Lehman's Future: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York held an emergency meeting Friday night with top Wall Street executives to discuss the future of venerable firm Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the parlous state of U.S. financial markets.

Science
Near-Death Experiences: What Really Happens?: Many reports of near-death experiences sound the same: a welcoming white light and a replay of memories. But now scientists aim to study what really happens to the brain and consciousness when someone is on the verge of dying.

Commentary
Secession and Slavery: An interesting commentary, “Lincoln, Secession, and Slavery” by Tibor Machan, published by the Cato Institute on June 1, 2002, was recently brought to my attention. I should say at the outset that I have long been a fan of Machan, and have the utmost respect for his positions. I just think he got it way wrong here.

Our Trillion-Dollar War: No, it’s not the War in Iraq—it’s the War on Poverty. Incredible as it may seem, Americans transfer more than a trillion dollars each year to low-income families through a bewildering variety of programs, all in the name of fighting poverty and inequality. That’s about seven times the cost of the Iraq war.


More to come...

Things I Found September 11, 2008

September 11: Today In History.

News
Russian bombers will return in days from Venezuela: Two Russian long-range bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons will return to base from Venezuela in four days, the Air Force was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying on Thursday.

US expels Bolivian ambassador: The US has ordered the expulsion of the Bolivian ambassador in an escalating diplomatic row after Washington's envoy to Bolivia was expelled by Evo Morales, the president.

Venezuela expels US ambassador: Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has ordered the US ambassador to leave the country amid a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions between Bolivia and the US.

Weather
Hurricane Ike takes aim at Texas coast, Houston: GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people fled coastal areas in the path of Hurricane Ike on Thursday as the storm gathered strength on a collision course with the Texas Gulf Coast, threatening to swamp populous areas around Houston under a massive wave of water.

Economy
Small Fannie, Freddie Holders Take Issue With Washington: Adam Freid, a general contractor in Thousand Oaks, Calif., says he was through day-trading stocks and instead looking for a promising long-term investment when he read some of Henry Paulson's recent comments about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Lehman in sale talks as survival questioned-sources: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc was forced into talks about a possible sale after the Wall Street investment bank's shares plunged more than 40 percent on Thursday, raising questions about its survival.


Commentary
The American secessionist streak: In a recent poll, one in five agreed that states have the right to peacefully secede from the Union.

Stop the Bailout: It was the singular achievement of Murray Rothbard's America's Great Depression to have demonstrated that the Great Depression was a crisis manufactured and prolonged by the attempts to stop an inevitable downturn. The policy response – creating more money, propping up prices, ginning up employment, and a host of other devices – took a stock-market price collapse and a banking liquidation and spread the mess throughout every sector of the economy. What might have lasted a year to 18 months instead lasted 16 years.

More to come...

Things I Found September 9, 2008

September 9: Today In History

News
WSJ: Fannie, Freddie To Be Removed From S&P 500: Standard & Poor's will remove Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from its S&P 500 Index after the close of trading Wednesday.

Alfalfa Sprouts Recalled in Salmonella Outbreak: New incident reported in Washington state. With the Salmonella-St. Paul outbreak finally contained, the Food and Drug Administration reports 13 cases of Salmonella Typhimirium in Oregon and Washington State. The outbreak is apparently linked with the consumption of raw alfalfa sprouts.

Weather
Ike gives Cuba final kick, moves to Gulf of Mexico : HAVANA - Hurricane Ike moved into the warm waters of the Gulf and took aim at the U.S. and Mexican coasts Tuesday after bringing down aging buildings in Havana and tearing through western Cuba's tobacco country.

Science
Will the Large Hadron Collider Destroy Earth? The potential for the world's largest atom smasher to destroy Earth is one question weighing on the minds of some lay people as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) prepares to go online Wednesday.

Politics
Takimag: The Palin Illusion: Having been listening to happy talk for more than a week about the “Palin factor,” courtesy of all my local friends and the commentaries of Pat Buchanan, and having felt at least for a few minutes some of the same euphoria about the GOP vice-presidential candidate, it now seems appropriate to look at the gaping hole in the donut.

Things I Found September 7, 2008

September 7: Today In History

Pakistan Cuts Supply Lines to NATO Troops in Afghanistan: In a major development, the federal government on Friday announced disconnection of supply lines to the allied forces stationed in Afghanistan through Pakistan in an apparent reaction to a ground attack on a border village in South Waziristan agency by the Nato forces.

Russia Today Covers Rally for The Republic (YouTube): Texas Congressman Ron Paul may not be the next US President. But the firebrand Republican, who failed to win the party's nomination this year, is still hugely popular with grassroots supporters.

BBC: US Takes Over Key Mortgage Firms: US financial officials have outlined plans for the government to take over the failing mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

BBC: Caribbean Lashed By Hurricane Ike: Thousands of people have taken refuge across the Caribbean as one of the season's fiercest hurricanes barrels across the islands, on course for Cuba.

TimesOnline: Scramble For Cash As Central Banks Dry Up: British banks soon could be scrambling for short-term funding once more amid reports that supplies from Threadneedle Street and from Frankfurt may be drying up.

LiveScience: The Top 10 Mad Scientists: From mildly eccentric to downright wacky, these 10 hyper-intelligent characters didn't just march to a different beat, they each played their own tune altogether, all while changing how we look at the world.

Venezuela, Russia May Hold Joint Naval Exercises: President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Venezuelan and Russian ships could soon hold joint naval exercises in the Caribbean — a move that would likely raise concerns in Washington.

Asia bourses cheer US bailout: Asian stock markets have soared following the US government's takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.