Rotation Of The Earth Plunges Entire North American Continent Into Darkness | The Onion

Rotation Of The Earth Plunges Entire North American Continent Into Darkness The Onion - America's Finest News Source

OMG!! It's the End of the World. Armageddon (sp?). The End Times! OMG, OMG. !!!!!

I couldn't resist the ONION article. Ever get the feeling that the news media makes a point of making life scary, anxiety-filled, and dangerous?

Listen to the tone of TV news announcers - no, not the actual newscasters - the announcers. The guys who are trying to sell you on the idea of watching their news during the commercial breaks.

For example, listen for this on CNN. Tense, anxious, hushed, dramatic...

(When it's not doing it's Voice of God thing, brought to us by the big-voiced James Earl Jones. {{{"This is CNN..."}}} Where's the lightning bolts and thunder?)

CNN also has what I call their "scary water music" - used for the Asian tsunami, used for hurricanes.

Note also that CNN also has their regular "Security Alert"s. Do we really need such a thing? Guess they'd like to think we do - or think we should. So we'll watch them. Of course.

NO, it's not just CNN. It's all over the TV news, national and local. If we're too mellow we simply won't watch them as much.

PS: I actually like CNN and watch it regularly (how else would I know this stuff?). Miss Aaron Brown, what was the deal with that?! Okay, Anderson Cooper is a good guy/journalist and reporter, but why not have both of them? I digress. Yes, the sun will come up tomorrow.

Bourbon Street Journal - NOLA Rising

Bourbon Street Journal - NOLA Rising - "Voices of Katrina" blog by Jon Donley, NOLA.com

I especially like the woman who went to Mardi Gras dressed as Hurricane Katrina (Katrinarita Gras, blog entry 2/27).

It's good to see the people of New Orleans take a break from their grim and difficult situation - and celebrate. Good for them!

Kobe Bryant Named As 2008 Olympic Basketball Team | The Onion

Kobe Bryant Named As 2008 Olympic Basketball Team The Onion - America's Finest News Source

We're overdue for some of the lighter side of news from SoCal.

Hey, Kobe pretty much is the Lakers these days...

Arab Co., White House Had Secret Agreement

Arab Co., White House Had Secret Agreement - Yahoo! News

What the heck...? See the following from the article:

Bush personally defended the agreement on Tuesday, but the White House said he did not know about it until recently. The AP first reported the U.S. approval of the sale to Dubai Ports on Feb. 11, and many members of Congress have said they learned about it from the AP.

This situation is head-spinning - on the one hand, the L.A. Times , as well as Jimmy Carter, both very respectable sources, IMO, condone this ports arrangement, while, OTOH, intuitively at least, it defies common sense, big time.

At least, Long Beach/Los Angeles is not involved... But, still!

SO, THREE MUSLIMS WALK INTO A PORT - Coulter's Op

SO, THREE MUSLIMS WALK INTO A PORT - Yahoo! News

I cannot believe it's come down to this... Ann Coulter and I actually agree!

From the article above...

The Bush administration defended Muslims rioting over cartoons, saying, "We certainly understand why Muslims would find these images offensive." Hey, while they're at it, why don't they invite some Muslim leaders with well-known ties to terrorism to the White House for a reception? Oh wait, I forgot ... They did that right after 9/11. Yes, now I see why we must turn over our ports to the United Arab Emirates.

The University of Illinois has suspended editors of the student newspaper, The Daily Illini, for republishing the cartoons -- even though the kiss-ass editors ran a column accompanying the cartoons denouncing them as "bigoted and insensitive."

That was still not enough for Richard Herman, the chancellor of the university, who wrote a letter to the editor saying that he was "saddened" by the publication of the cartoons. You want sad? The University of Illinois' sports teams are known as the "Fighting Illini." Now they're going to have to change it to the "Surrendering Illini."

I normally can't abide Coulter, and she sure can't abide my ilk, but I agree with not one, but two, of the points she makes above. About the ports and about "the cartoons."

(Worse, my husband is an Illini alumni. He's not going to appreciate that U of I stuff.)

Bush Unaware of Ports Deal Before Approval

Bush Unaware of Ports Deal Before Approval - Yahoo! News

Huh? I quote from the AP article:

"WASHINGTON - President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday."

Our president is too often unaware - in general, IMHO.

Anyway, I thought the security of our ports was a problem before...and now this?

Bush Shrugs Off Objections to Port Deal

Bush Shrugs Off Objections to Port Deal - Yahoo! News

Why does the phrase "King George" come to mind?

Balance of powers; please, balance of powers!

I'll admit I did find it interesting when Jimmy Carter, as interviewed on CNN yesterday, didn't seem to think there was a problem with this ports deal. ?

Calif. Execution Postponed Indefinitely

Calif. Execution Postponed Indefinitely - Yahoo! News

Good news. IMO, the death penalty is barbaric, certainly backward.

And, I especially don't want to be a part of it, which as a resident of California, is what happens whenever an execution is performed in this state. It means, as a resident, that I bear some responsibility (along with another 30 million people, but still...) for the execution. I don't like that.

CNN.com - Ridge: White House should explain port deal

CNN.com - Ridge: White House should explain port deal - Feb 20, 2006

That's Tom Ridge, our former Homeland Security Chief - not exactly a flaming anti-Bush maniac.

What is the deal with having an Arab company managing our major seaports, anyway?!

Just sounds bizarre. Not to mention at cross purposes with our national security.

Google Criticizes Gov't in Court Papers

Google Criticizes Gov't in Court Papers - Yahoo! News

Keeps being news about Google (my business partner, in a small way) these days.

This article is about Google and the government and our privacy online.

Iran Renames Danish Pastries...

Iran Renames Danish Pastries - Yahoo! News

...to "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad."

Remember Freedom Fries? This is about as lame.

I understand that the Muslim religion forbids images of Muhammad, but this whole cartoon brouhaha has gone much too far. It's not worth death and destruction.

I resent that anti-Christian and anti-Jewish cartoons are okay in these Muslim countries. I guess that version of freedom of speech is okay.

What has happened to America's Jesus?

What has happened to America's Jesus? - Yahoo! News

Interesting and on-target opinion article.

This is the crux of it, the italics are mine:

"...I thought about telling my family what's happened to Jesus in the United States - how he's been kidnapped by politicians and preachers who decide what he does and doesn't think. They speak for him, and it doesn't always make sense."

Sierra Fire is defended

From the O.C. Register - Article: News - Fire and aviation chief defends burns

This guy had some 'splaining to do...

(I still am sick from this fire.)

'Least the Feds will pick up the tab. Good news that.

Programs Bush Wants to Cut or Kill

Programs Bush Wants to Cut or Kill - Yahoo! News

Why so many education cuts?

We could do a lot for our budget deficit if we withdrew our troops from Iraq and did away with those tax breaks for the wealthy...

I do wish it was 2008 already...

Update on Sierra Fire & Interesting Links

Update on Sierra Fire

Today's fire map from the Orange County Fire Authority: http://www.ocfa.org/docs/sierra_fire_map.htm

Health advice from the Sheriff-Coroner Dept., Orange County, regarding our smoke-filled air: http://www.ocfa.org/allriskcomsafety/2006smokeinair.pdf

We'll be having this bad air quality probably through the weekend. Get your rest, hydrate, take your asthma meds, stay indoors and keep windows shut...

Let me add to all this - it's HOT as bleep out there. 90 degrees here on the Orange Coast today! Rare even in August. Accordingly, add this heat to your health concerns as well.

I unpacked a fan first thing today - the apartment is so hot. I'm going to go hydrate now...

Take care of yourselves.

Update on Sierra Fire

Update on Sierra Fire

I'm really getting sick from this... Dizzy, headache, chest ache, trouble breathing. Started yesterday really, but it's worsening. Time for some more Albuterol, perhaps. Needed it last night so I could sleep. My heart was going too fast - a lack of oxygen thing - for me to fall asleep.

Back to the fire... This pisses me off. This is almost as bad as if an arsonist had started this fire:

"PRELIMINARY CAUSE OF FIRE: Escaped Prescription Burn" - quoting from the Update, the link at top.

I'm somewhat surprised that they didn't figure out this cause immediately - if they were the freaking ones who did it. Hmmm...?

So, the fire is 10% contained as of 2/7, 5:40 pm PT, and ash is falling down on the Orange Coast. We had two sunsets tonight - in both the eastern and western skies. A slight pale pink glow can be seen low on the eastern horizon now. No, not city lights -this is new and different.

OCFA Update on Sierra Fire & LInks

Update on Sierra Fire - from the Orange County Fire Authority

From the [Fire] Incident Information System - InciWeb - http://inciweb.org/incident/184/ - the Sierra Wildland Fire.

Not so good how it says on this last link that the fire will double and won't be controlled until the 16th. Well, these big fires take a long time to entirely extinguish.

Sierra Peak fire map & Latest News

Sierra Peak fire map - great map from the Orange County Register newspaper. More accurate than the CBS/KCAL one, frankly, which had the fire located north of the 91 (right on top of my family!). Looks as if the fire's been moving south as it grows, heading toward Irvine Lake.

Good news: The fire evacuations are expected to lifted at 4 pm today.

CBS 2 / KCAL 9: Fires Rage In Anaheim Hills

CBS 2 / KCAL 9: Fires Rage In Anaheim Hills - Check out the news videos.

The good news is that this Sierra fire in the Cleveland National Forest is still being kept on the forest-side of the 241 keeping it away from nearby residential neighborhoods. As usual, our firefighters are doing a terrific job.

Personally, on the Orange County coast we're downwind from this - far away, but still dealing with ashes and unhealthy air quality. From here the smoke is very visible today - mostly white, tinged with brown and black - as a plume low across the eastern sky.

I do have some family in Yorba Linda rather close to the fire, but not in its path at all, thank God. They're getting some amazing sights.

I hope and pray that the fire continues to be held back from moving into the residential areas. So far so good... "Cautiously optimistic" was a phrase used by one of the firefighters today.

CBS 2 / KCAL 9: Cleveland Forest Fire Rages Out Of Control

Cleveland Forest Fire Rages Out Of Control

CBS & Local TV coverage of the ongoing Cleveland National Forest fire - articles, videos and TV news broadcasts.

I'm located in coastal Orange County. From my home I can see the fire's hazy white smoke pouring into the north-east sky. This fire is in far inland Orange County near the Santiago Canyon. The Cleveland National Forest contains the Santa Ana Mountain Range (as well as the border between Orange County and Riverside County).

For now the fire hasn't moved out of the Forest, but many homes and schools are being evacuated. Anaheim Hills is not far away.

The location of this fire seems to be of particular concern as it is located where winds gust the worst and where so much fuel is available from the Forest and the many very dry hills. This area is like a funnel for the desert wind as it rushes through and around passes, canyons, hills, and mountains on its way west, and into the Los Angeles Basin (aka Santa Ana winds). Basically, this fire is located in this funnel, therefore the concern.

The good news is that since this is a very rural area few residences are threatened at this point. Crucial is that the firefighters knock this fire down before it does move into populated areas.

Obvioiusly, this will make for an even more difficult rush-hour commute on the 91 than usual.

Gates Speaks Out Against Net Censorship

Gates Speaks Out Against Net Censorship - Yahoo! News

This was good to read after all the bad news we've been hearing about Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google caving in to the Chinese.

I could hardly believe that the Chinese were blocking the word "democracy"!

PS: Bill was getting a little plump there for a while - it's good to see his recent slimming down. Good for him.