Clipmarks | merrie's clips

Natural Disaster In Beichuan: A Vision Of Hell

Sat, 17 May 2008 03:45:22 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Anger, too, is growing about the poor quality of buildings. In Mianzhu, an apartment block collapsed on itself. The flats had been built using contributions from a local work unit, a group of workers organised by the Communist Party at a factory or office. Residents searching for survivors said it was because corrupt officials had demanded so much in kickbacks that the building fell. The neighbouring buildings had not collapsed, including one which housed cadres from the Communist Party. "Show me the structural steel in that building," said one woman, whose mother is missing in the rubble. "It all went into some official's pocket," she spat.

The foreign media have a poor image in China
This makes reporting the disaster difficult; before the anti-Chinese riots in Tibet, and the sympathetic view of Tibetans in the Western media, foreign journalists were popular. Now we are seen as a threat.

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

The rescue effort is centred on one very small section on the edge of town, and only a tiny part of Beichuan has been explored so far. Premier Wen Jiabao, who has flown around from disaster area to disaster area in a helicopter, has visited the town twice so far, but he has been able only to voice words of encouragement to the rescue workers.

It is still impossible to get through to Beichuan with meaningful assistance and aid: most of the cranes, medical supplies and military personnel are all still back down the valley at the disaster relief headquarters.

People are also angry that it has taken so long for the relief effort to make it to Beichuan, saying there were hundreds of people crying and shouting in the rubble even on Wednesday, but that it was too late now. There was little evidence of sniffer dogs, hi-tech equipment, and not too many helicopters around either; you would expect to see choppers ferrying supplies and people.

Tags: beichuan, earthquake rescue, wen jiabao, aid, foreign journalists, sub-standard structures, corrupt oficials, military rescue effort

Senate Votes To Roll Back Media Ownership Rule

Sat, 17 May 2008 03:19:13 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: "Today the Senate stood up to Washington special interests by voting to reverse the FCC's disappointing media consolidation rules that I have fought against," he said. "Our nation's media market must reflect the diverse voices of our population, and it is essential that the FCC promotes the public interest and diversity in ownership."

The FCC decision allows one company to own a newspaper and a broadcast station in the nation's 20 largest metropolitan areas. The TV station may not be among the top four in the market, and post-transaction, at least eight independent media voices must remain. The rule replaced an outright ban on cross-ownership.

The FCC's media ownership decision has been met with opposition on both sides. The newspaper industry has complained that the FCC did not go far enough, while activists who want to keep big media companies from getting bigger said the agency went too far.

Clip Source: biz.yahoo.com

The unusual "resolution of disapproval," sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and 26 other senators, was approved by a voice vote. The measures sponsors include both Democratic candidates for president, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.

The House is also considering a nullification of the ownership rule, but even if supporters are successful, the measure would likely be rejected by President Bush.

Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii opposed the FCC's action.

"In recent years, we have seen an increase in coarse and violent programming, coupled with a decrease in local news and hard-hitting journalism," Inouye said Thursday night. "To say these trends are not in the best interest of the American people, and especially our youngest citizens, is clearly an understatement."

Obama issued a statement supporting the vote.

Tags: fcc media rules, passed, newspapers, tv, markets

Huge moth stuns family

Fri, 16 May 2008 23:47:29 GMT

clipped by: swampfoxz

Clip Source: www.cairns.com.au

Huge moth stuns family

Behemoth: Mitch Ralston has a great story for school after this Hercules moth took up residence in his Port Douglas home," />

Measuring 26cm wing tip-to-wing tip, this Hercules moth stopped in at Sue and Iain Ralston’s home near Port Douglas, north of Cairns, for two days, fascinating their nature loving sons Sam and Mitch.

The giant insects have a 10-day lifespan and are attracted to veranda lights, Australian Butterfly Sanctuary manager Anja Bakker told The Cairns Post yesterday.

Click here for pictures of other famous Cairns animals: frogs, snakes and crocs

"We’re really lucky that we’ve got the largest moth flying around here," she said.

"They come out throughout the year but they are more frequent in summer months."

The nine and six-year-old brothers were disappointed when they awoke to find the moth gone from the family’s bi-fold door on their Spring Creek property.

Mrs Ralston said the boys would have liked to preserve the insect at the end of its short lifespan.

"They were slightly disappointed," Mrs Ralston said.

"They wanted it to stay here but they understood it was nature."

Tags: huge moth

Transport of Ethanol

Fri, 16 May 2008 20:41:29 GMT

clipped by: Miriam Marcus
clipper's remarks: The question remains: how do we get the ethanol from middle America to the coasts where most energy consumers are?

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

The vast majority of ethanol is produced in five states--Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota and South Dakota--all roughly 1,500 miles away from the approximately 80% of the population who live on the coasts. Ethanol will live or die with its ability to bridge that gap.

Ethanol producers are likely to have particular problems because of the hazardous material certifications required to haul the loads. Add to this the cost of diesel fuel, the extra carbon emissions and the further strain the trucks would place on the nation's highways and the outlook for clean, supposedly green ethanol looks dimmer and dimmer. What's the solution? Good question.

15 Strangely Shaped Trees

Fri, 16 May 2008 20:08:11 GMT

clipped by: einbar

Clip Source: www.oddee.com

15 Strangely Shaped Trees

Re: Common Sense From Samuelson Mark Steyn

Fri, 16 May 2008 09:39:56 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Robert Samuelson's argument is so self-evident no politician can ever state it. A couple of weeks back, Statistics Canada reported that, after adjustment for inflation, Canadian wage-earners are earning less than in 1980.

When advanced economies admit ever larger numbers of unskilled workers (plus a chain of relatives through "family reunification"), they are importing poverty. The President says this is to do "the jobs Americans won't do". For the sake of argument, take him at his word. So why won't Americans do them? Because they're a great way to ensure you live in poverty. So we import foreigners to be our poor people. Can we import just the right number to ensure that poverty doesn't "grow"? Unlikely.

There are arguments to be made both for and against immigration, but you can't be in favor of mass unskilled immigration and then pledge to fight the "war on poverty". It's like spooning out a bathtub with a thimble while leaving the faucets running.
corner.nationalreview.com

Clip Source: www.canada.com

Baffling, eh? The middle-of-the-pack Canadian wage-earner was paid less in 2005 than in 1980 -- after, like belts or suspenders, adjustment for inflation.

Dollars added since 1980 were simply currency junk food: they expanded the waistline. But they shrunk budgetary muscle.

StatsCanada also reported that since 1980 immigrants have sharply lower incomes than those before 1980

Let me help by stating the obvious. In recent decades immigration, especially in British Columbia, has massively swung away from Europe to the less-developed (awful phrase) world like China, South Asia, Iran -- people whose language and very alphabets are utterly dissimilar, and whose cultures and religions are not only unlike but in some cases hostile to the values and norms of the West, especially of what brilliant writer Mark Steyn (now there's a man embroiled in the new, Proper Canada's grim Star Chambers and kangaroo courts) calls the Anglosphere, the global community of English-speaking people.

Tags: canada, wages, immigration, language, culture, religion, values