A thousand more new wildfires roared to life since Monday as dry lightning strikes found fertile tinder across the sun-scorched dry-bone American West prompting besieged firefighting crews to seek reinforcements from international sources-- 68 large blazes charring the grasslands, the sage, and the timber as well as homesites across 12 western states--300 fire-threatened homeowners under-statedly would more than likely no longer moniker themselves kin to their home division's appellation in and about Happy Camp in the Klamath National Forest-- California's Peachtree Canyon denizens augur dread under an evacuation order as the Zaca fire with advancing potential of several miles per hour sights in on their endangered dreams with forecasts for continued high temperature and more winds--
The 6.8 earthquake that rocked Japan earlier this week inflicted considerably more serious damage to a nuclear power plant than the now profusely apologetic industry and government officials first reported resulting not only in a sizable up-tick in the anxiety quotient of ordinary Japanese citizens, understandably concerned for their immediate physical health and safety, but also added to the disquiet concerning the long term repercussions surrounding the less than energy-rich Japanese apprehension over future resource availability in an increasingly oil and gas hungry region of the world--
Havoc ran roughshod on Lexington Avenue at 41st street near Grand Central Station in midtown Manhattan yesterday as an 83-year-old underground 24 inch diameter steam pipe exploded, geysering huge steam clouds, roiling, rumbling brown water 120 feet high into the busy city air-- Panic led evacuees from the Chrysler building to charge down 43 flights of stairs wildly presaging death-- Pedestrians some covered in ash, mud and street soot, some pelted by pebbles and dislodged concrete and some anxiously crying at the perceived terrorist attack sprinted for cover-- Memories of 9/11 vividly enveloped the scene as 200 firefighters and dozens of siren blaring fire-engines and ambulances converged on the area cratered with a 20 foot mud hole-- Rumors of building collapse, asbestos contaminated smoke, hurricanes, and bombs permeated the rush hour--
Wall Street may have avoided the panic in Mid-town but many there are expressing frayed nerves about the visible exposure of banks and lenders caught in the downward squeeze of the sub-prime market--
Fed Chairman Bernanke recently removed his pollyannish dome from a theoretically academic realm long enough to
forewarn all those interested that the sub-prime crisis could lead to staggering losses somewhere in the
'contained' vicinity of $100 billion-- Bernanke also lowered the Fed growth forecast as well as testifying before Congress that the mortgage meltdown could spread to the healthy loan sector and could get worse before better-- Welcome to reality, Ben, where were you last month???-- Brent crude has danced around the $78/barrel level for the best part of July and Ben boy now surmises overextended consumers/debtors may be peering down the proverbial barrel of a cocked shooting iron-- Not to worry, Ben, consumers have employed your easy credit for quite some time now and for many of them a necessary purchase ingredient may have been, Ben, ....a semi-automatic weapon of choice-- Believe it, Ben, they
are already locked and loaded and the object of their aim is what should keep you awake nights--
Foreclosures already at record highs continue to spike pummeling homeowners currently besieged by spiraling gasoline prices and an added upsurge in food costs--Bear Stearn's two troubled hedge funds found little salvation from their recent bail-outs, one now being touted as completely valueless and the second nearly moribund-- Scattered across the country lesser-named funds are closing their doors with destabilizing frequency-- Everyday there is a new headline featuring another state or another megalopolitan region suffering a major drop in home sales and/or home prices, this morning California weighed in/down with sales hitting a 12 year low while Las Vegas home sales fell 42%-- Meanwhile those who did manage to sell their house
found the sinking value of the crumbling dollar cookie almost a hidden tax, if you will, eroding the purchasing stature of their profit-- A glass of Coke costs the lowly American tourista about four Euros on the continent-- Imagine, (and please don't ask 'why?', it's simply a mundane way of spelling out the immediacy of the oblivion our currency faces) paying 35 bucks for an egg MacMuffin breakfast and another seven-fifty for a coffee-- Our money,......... sucks!!!!
A few days ago 80 people in the city of Kirkuk were killed and several hundred more were wounded-- Scores of cars destroyed, buildings and apartments damaged beyond repair-- Suicide bombers assaulted the Red Mosque complex in the capital of Pakistan and tallied 37 dead including police and citizen bystanders while northwest and southern Pakistan played host to the metastisizing violence region-wide-- In Iraq the government sits in paralytic stupor and void of any urgency before their August recess while al-Sadr, the savvy hoodlum from the slums of Sadr city, strengthens his political prowess and wins the very hearts and minds the anti-insurgency tactics of General Petraeus were intended to secure--
Sadr's crew dispenses protection, social services and money to the ragged poor, and used the downtime produced by Bush's Surge into his poor Shiite-homeboy turf to extend the reach of their armed militias to areas the under-manned Surge couldn't possibly cover tactically-- Sadr repeatedly creates fresh tactical elements and simple strategic maneuvers that consistently confound the political leaders of both Iraq and the US-- The General Petraeus meanwhile is purported to be searching for yet another tide-turning tactic to replace the dismally stalemated Surge, while the White House spends its precious energy concocting faux rationales to defend defenseless tactics no longer capable of producing results large-scale enough to produce optimum leverage against the insurgency-- Whatever new strategy Petraeus advances demands an authentic criteria which, of course, either the on-time insurgents or both Cheney and Bush, weeks and miles behind current events, have the wherewithal to overrule--
Yes, the same Surge the President positively declared had 'surprised' the insurgents even after advertising the ballyhooed strategery for six months in every major media outlet in the world including Al Jazeera-- Now 16 agencies comprising the National Intelligence Estimate, which even esteemed presidential contenders find insufficient time to read, agree that Al-Qaeda as an organization is now stronger, broader and better organized than ever while the isolated president thinks he has these same Qaedas on the run-- Defense department deadwood prognosticate
their increasing fear that spectacular attacks mirroring the '68 Tet Offensive in Vietnam are in the offing even imminent while seven Sunni insurgent organizations and their leaders begin formation of a
public political alliance anticipating potential negotiations as the daunting scent of withdrawal permeates the frustrated killing grounds-- Sparking my curiosity and raising a question concerning coincidental intent, headlines acknowledged the US recently called for more face-to-face talks with Iran--
Be that as it may, this somewhat cursory perusal of a few pertinent news postings concerning prominent ongoing world events was dealt a savage blow, one the winds of rumor barreled up the boulevard bringing word the demies had left their feeble shame on the dugout bench and were actually going to step up to the plate-- That's right!!!-- The same demi-Party that couldn't possibly lose to Joe Lieberman and did, was now lugging the heavy lumber to the batter's box-- Repo-men weakened by high profile defections were said to be quaking in their guccis-- No sniveling little leveraged buyouts here-- No, this would be hammer-and-tong, hand-to-hand, face-to-face, knock-down, drag-out, fight-to-the-finish, last-man-left-standing but when former-boxer and demi-captain Harry Reid unveiled his strategic schema, it smelled a lot more like salad than demi-Surge--
Not even jack-rabbits and dead bucaroos in the parched deserts of Nevada could cotton something this lame-- Alcohol ravaged Joe McCarthy deserved less shame than this silly sham-- Al-maliki could never have proposed something this profoundly insipid-- Jerry Bremer?,.... maybe-- Winning elections may be heady and grand but failing to deliver the goods, especially when failing to ascertain the true nature of the goods in the first place means your credibility is in hock to trouble-- Shuffling back to the inane popularity of their office with an air of resignation, the demies, uncertain and chagrined are simply void of new workable ideas-- Even if more repo-men favored defection from further Bush idiocy, the demies offer nothing to which good-faith renegades might ally themselves-- This is not leadership-- The country is going nowhere--
A (bleeping!!)
all-nighter????-- Un-(bleeping)-believable!!........ And then it flops.............
'Big Time'--
