April 30, 2009 archive

1. The Guardian reports Taliban vow to meet U.S.-led surge with violence against Karzai government. The Taliban vowed to meet any U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan with a summer of violence. “Mullah Brother Akhund, the second most powerful man in the hardline movement, published a statement on the Taliban website announcing the start of ‘Operation Victory’ today, which he said will involve ambushes on security forces and suicide bomb attacks.”

   “Zabihullah Mujahid said the promised upsurge in violence was a response to the decision of the US and several other Nato allies to send more troops to Afghanistan to challenge the influence Taliban insurgents who influence over huge swathes of countryside in the south and in the provinces next to Kabul, the capital.”

2. The LA Times Scientists see this flu strain as relatively mild.

   As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza — at least in its current form — isn’t shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.

   In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare.

Four at Four continues with DoJ corruption, Somali piracy, and same-ol’, same ol’ in Iraq.

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 10, 2009. If you need a reminder just check your calendar.

What you might not find on that calendar, however, is that the Friday before Mother’s Day is designated as a day of remembrance for another very special group – it’s called Military Spouse Day.

Military Spouse Day was first celebrated 25 years ago. President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation assigning the Friday before Mother’ Day as a time to honor and commemorate the contributions of military spouses. It is likely that few people are even aware this special day exists.

Military families clearly live a different life then their civilian counterparts. The military family might have the opportunity to travel to wondrous places they might never had a chance to visit as civilians. Their duty stations could be in Europe, the Far East, the South Pacific, or even beautiful areas of this country. But, there is another side to being a military spouse. >>>>>Rest Here

The First 100 Days Are

Important

Don’t Forget That There

Are More Than 3 Years Left

And They Are Just as Important    

Chrysler Bankruptcy Looms as Deal on Debt Falters



By ZACHERY KOUWE and MICHELINE MAYNARD

Published: April 29, 2009

DETROIT – Last-minute efforts by the Treasury Department to win over recalcitrant Chrysler debtholders failed Wednesday night, setting up a near-certain bankruptcy filing by the American automaker, according to people briefed on the talks.

Barring an agreement, which looked increasingly difficult, Chrysler was expected to seek Chapter 11 protection on Thursday, most likely in New York, these people said.

The automaker, which is in talks with the Italian automaker Fiat, would file for bankruptcy first. It subsequently would present an agreement with Fiat to the court for approval, possibly on Monday, these people said. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for the government.

New health threat system was slow to alert

Scores were dead before authorities were fully aware of swine flu outbreak

By David Brown

WASHINGTON – Despite huge efforts in the past six years to make the reporting of disease outbreaks fast and automatic, there were significant delays in bringing Mexico’s swine flu outbreak to the full attention of international authorities.

News of an outbreak of severe respiratory illness in Mexico burst into public consciousness last Friday, April 24.

That was 18 days after public health authorities there started looking into unusual cases of pneumonia in their country, eight days after Mexican authorities notified the World Health Organization of the growing outbreak and four days after the events came to the full attention of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

USA

Swine Flu Is Suspected in Region; WHO Warns of Likely Pandemic

6 Possible Cases Investigated in Md. as Global Alert Is Raised

By Rob Stein

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, April 30, 2009

The World Health Organization took the unprecedented step yesterday of warning that the world is probably on the verge of a pandemic, as new cases of swine flu mounted, the first death was reported in the United States and the dangerous virus appeared to arrive just outside the nation’s capital.

The Geneva-based agency raised the alert level for the second time in three days, elevating it to one notch below a full-scale pandemic, after concluding that the virus was causing sustained outbreaks in the United States and Mexico.

The heightened alert is intended to prompt every nation to activate an emergency response plan, to spur pharmaceutical companies to increase production of antiviral drugs and help speed development of a vaccine, and to prod bankers to help poor countries afford measures to fight the virus, officials said.

I really like DocuDharma and my family does too.  My brother actually posts here on occasion and my Aunt is a regular reader.

What they tell me sets this place apart is that we are mellow and relaxed and I definitely think that’s the kind of atmosphere that buhdy and the rest of the founders intended to create, a space where you are free to express yourself in ways that are not rigidly limited by considerations of electoral victory.

I think our site’s tone is an accurate reflection of it’s readership and contributors.  I’ve always tried to feature the essays of others.  My opinions are mine to the extent I express them and to me that includes signing off on my promotions though I don’t always check every link.  All the Contributing Editors have the power to promote or at least draw attention to content so if you feel you’ve been unfairly overlooked all I can say is I’m sorry my arbitrary laziness offended.

While others aspire to more lofty goals I’m happy that we can give some exposure and consideration to content that might get missed at faster paced blogs, not that we’re slow.  We have 14 regularly scheduled slots a day that we mostly fill with member promotions.

Our anchor spots are mishima’s Late Night Karoke (3 am et) and early morning (7:30 am et) DocuDharma Times, Robyn’s (6 am et) Muse in the Morning, and Magnifico’s 4 @ 4 (pm, et).

Almost every day buhdy has something to say around 2 pm (et).

The regular weekly contributors are mishima again with Random Japan Fridays midnight (et), Pony Parties are published 2 pm (et) Wednesdays and 11 am (et) Sundays.  I kick in with Weekend News Digests on Saturdays and Sundays at 4 pm (et), Monday Business Update and Wednesday Science Supplement at 8 am (et).  Robyn has Friday Philosophy (6 pm et), Nightprowlkitty the aptly named Friday Night at 8 (pm et).  NLinStPaul is Sunday at 11 am (et).

Otherwise it’s up to you.

The payoff should be eyeballs.  In addition to the editorial freedom you have to create something that conforms to your own “artistic vision” (that I have no hesitation crushing like a bug without explanation should I decide to promote you), everything you publish here is more exposure for your work.

You can’t count on comments to measure effectiveness, between us and Democrats.com we’ve rounded up about 50,000 signatures urging AG Holder to prosecute torture.

But the bottom line is that I want to encourage your active participation- commenting, publishing, and contributing.  I value the service we provide and I hope you do too.

Also.

Torture used against criminal suspects in the US is not new, but two cases illustrate that we can appoint a special prosecutor now to investigate the Bush gang and then move on, or we can ignore the rule of law to let it fester over decades before justice in any form is served.

The GOP love to fawn over President Reagan yet ignore that it was his DOJ that prosecuted a Texas sheriff and deputies for waterboarding prisoners to get confessions.  Politicians can push the move-on meme for the Bush gang, but the appointment this week of a special prosecutor to investigate decades-old allegations of police torture against prisoners shows that justice may be slow, but tenacious advocates of human rights will not surrender.