News Blog @ i66.com

Major Minneapolis Bridge Collapses Over Mississippi River

Update KSTP is reporting:

Seven dead, 60 injured in 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis

Update: MyFox Twin Cities is reporting:

Bridge operations were shut down around 9:30 p.m. due to shifting pavement.

Update: CNN is reporting

6 dead as Mississippi River bridge falls amid rush hour in Minneapolis

 

I-35W bridge collapses; at least 6 dead

The Interstate Hwy. 35W bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed during the evening rush hour Wednesday, dumping an estimated 50 vehicles into the water and onto the land below, creating a horrific scene of damage, fire, smoke, injuries, frantic rescuers and bloody, terrified motorists.

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Original Post

Fox, CNN, MSNBC and the local affiliates are all over this horrible disaster in Minneapolis. We will update this post.

MINNEAPOLIS —  The I-35W highway bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed during evening rush hour Wednesday, sending many cars and motorists into the water.

A doctor confimed at least one person died due to drowning, at least six people suffered critical injuries and at least 22 people have minor injuries. Two other deaths have been reported.

Click here to the see live report on MyFoxTwinCities.com.

Dr. Joseph Clinton of Hennepin County Medical Center, who confirmed the fatality, said he wasn't sure what to expect concerning rising death and injury tolls toward the evening.

Authorities tell FOX News that between 20 to 30 people may fell into the river while KARE-TV reports at least 50 cars may still be in the water.

Tons of concrete have collapsed and survivors are being carried up the riverbank. Both the northbound and southbound lanes of 35W are lying in the Mississippi River, according to local CBS TV affiliate WCCO.com.

Pieces of bridge wreckage lay on the east bank of the river, while large portions of concrete roadway lay on the west bank. Rescuers are scrambling to help people caught on parts of the roadway in the river gorge, according to the Star-Tribune.com.

 

Major Minneapolis Bridge Collapses Over Mississippi River - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

Prince William Co. Moves to Deport Illegal Immigrants

WASHINGTON -- Some officials in Prince William County are making moves to deport illegal immigrants who commit other crimes.

Next month, county supervisors will consider a plan to allow corrections officers at the county jail to start deportation procedures on illegal immigrants, instead of leaving that task completely up to the federal government's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division.

"If somebody's been detained for a crime in any case and we check their immigration status and determine that they're here illegally we can immediately begin deportation proceedings instead of releasing them," says Chairman Corey Stewart.

Link: Prince William Co. Moves to Deport Illegal Immigrants.

F*ck Da Eagles or What was Fox thinking?

This video found by i-gape.com says it all.

Link: YouTube - F*ck Da Eagles or What was Fox thinking?.

MidEast Crisis: Kofi Annan Is Pissed Off

Why? Because Israel hit a UN observation post near the Lebanon border and killed 4 UN peacekeepers. Kofi Annan is calling for heads Israel to investigate what he termed a deliberate targeting of the UN forces. Israel has at least told Condi Rice (apparently not by official release to the media) that the incident was an accident. Bush and Rice are still sticking to the desire for a sustainable cease-fire, but that only appears to get more difficult if Israel keeps mistakenly hitting UN observation posts. Palestinians protested Rice’s visit by shutting down entertainment and restaurants - it appears Rice was sped through town anyway and didn’t have time to see the sites since she was kept safely in her bullet-proof van. Seriously though, did they think she’d actually get out and have dinner? The shutdown protest of Rice’s visit certainly didn’t help the debt-riddled Palestinian government, who were keen in talks with Rice for additional US aid. Might want to keep those shops and businesses open next time, it at least shows you’re trying to have an economy. Meanwhile, Hezbollah leaders are yelling that they *are* going to bomb further inside Israel than Haifa, however they will have to do that while dodging Israeli missiles targeted at their own homes today. Israel might want to be careful who they are aiming at, since they are now saying that the crash of an IDF Apache helicopter Monday was brought down by friendly fire. The quote of the day comes from Hezbollah leader Mahmoud Komati:

"The truth is - let me say this clearly - we didn’t even expect (this) response.... that (Israel) would exploit this operation for this big war against us," said Komati.

He said Hezbollah had expected "the usual, limited response" from Israel.

In the past, he said, Israeli reponses to Hezbollah actions included sending in commandos into Lebanon and kidnapping Hezbollah officials or briefly targeting specific Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon.

He said his group had also anticipated negotiations to swap the soldiers with three Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails, with Germany acting as a mediator as it has in past prisoner exchanges.

Sometimes it does not pay to go into a chess match without considering all the alternative moves your opponent can make.

Technorati Tags: Current Affairs, News, Hezbollah, UN, Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Palestinians, Condi Rice

MidEast Crisis: Phosphorus and Armageddon

The most disturbing film thus far on any media covering the Middle East crisis happened to be shown this evening on CNN’s Paula Zahn Now. The clip was shown during an interview Zahn had with an Israeli Ministry official - she specifically asked him if Israel was using phosphorus in military bombs and missiles. The footage displayed during the questioning depicted a very badly and cruelly burned boy and a baby. Israel denies that it using phosphorus, but that footage was disturbing and meant to be so. Phosphorus, by the way, is used in military incendiary bombs, smoke pots, and tracer ammunition, and burning phosphorus burns human skin beyond imagination and cannot be put out easily; people who have been covered with it have been known to commit suicide from the pain.

Zahn’s show also contained a report on the Book of Revelations as it relates to current events - Armageddon. Pentecostal and other evangelical churches were represented, and some of their ministers believe we’re in the thick of it. Jerry Falwell also alluded to the same thing recently, and The Left Behind Series are selling just as well as when they first began to be published in 2003. However, 2 panelists (one the esteemed author of "Walking the Bible" Bruce Fieler) were concerned that people are believing the literal interpretation of Revelations and Armageddon.

Since we’re speaking of Armageddon, Condi Rice made an unexpected stop in Lebanon on the way to talks with the Palestinians and Israelis. Rice promised some aid from the US for Lebanon, but wouldn’t commit to pressuring Israel to stopping strikes on southern Lebanon. Interestingly, we finally saw the Syrian ambassador back on TV - and Zahn must have been having a good night, because she didn’t hesitate to mention to him that Syria has rather been dealt right out of any talks the US is having with Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon. His eyes nearly left his head at her audacity (GO PAULA!) and you could see he probably wanted to swat her through the camera for her blatant American insolence. Meanwhile, Lebanon didn’t find Rice too encouraging, since she didn’t don a burka and just say "absolutely" when Lebanon wanted her to. Instead, she said there would be "no cease-fire before Hezbollah freed the soldiers unconditionally and pulled its forces back at least 12 miles from the border." Palestinians, hearing she’s in the region, want a "day of rage." Funny, I thought they were always in a rage, but maybe that’s me. Finally, Israeli Defense Forces also report that Hezbollah has some long range missiles somewhere, and a strike on Tel Aviv is not particularly out of the question.

Update: 10:51PM - Haven’t seen this anywhere else - Israel is apparently targeting financial institutions in Lebanon who they believe fund or support Hezbollah.

Technorati Tags: Current Affairs, News, Hezbollah, Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Revelations

Mideast Conflict: The Israelis Are Coming, The Israelis Are Coming!

So, Israel has stepped up some troop deployment at the Lebanese border - calling up reserve units so they can eventually go into Lebanon and flush the Hezbollah units out of their tunnels and bunkers. Weird, but why do terrorists seem to dig earth so much? (No pun intended, but doesn’t Osama bin laden and his merry band of terrorist rather do the same thing?) Hezbollah militants keep firing rockets at the northern Israeli city of Haifa, numbering 11 today; I guess your options are limited when you only have small rockets to fire. Stands to reason you’re just going to keep targeting the same places, although they did manage to hit towns near the Sea of Galilee.

Condoleeza Rice, our current Secretary of State and NFL commissioner-in-training, will be en route to the Middle East for talks next week. (Side note: how being Secretary of State lends experience to being an NFL commissioner, which she has professed she wants to be, is some food for thought - but I digress.) The UN, France (ugh) and the Red Cross are demanding that Israel stand aside or allow humanitarian aid to Lebanon’s people. Apparently the Israelis intend to allow the French to do that, and specific note has been made by the UN that Beirut only has about a couple days of fuel left. Meanwhile, an increasing number of Beirut’s cabin-fevered citizens are starting to venture outdoors, and some shops have opened. Evidently, Beirut itself has become a city of refugees as many southern Lebanese are fleeing north and ending up in the city’s school, parks and hotels if they can afford them.

As far as Syria and Iran are concerned, not a peep from them and we’re entering Day 3 of media silence from the governments of those respective countries, but Iranian clerics sure are vocal.

The US expects that some 8,000 Americans will be evacuated from Lebanon by the end of this weekend. That leaves about 17,000 more, and as I suspected earlier in the week, the number of evacuees passing through Cyprus is taking a toll on the resources there.

Now, news from our sponsors.... just to lighten the plethora of Middle East news a little, perhaps focusing on Hillary Clinton’s statements about how advertisers would resort to "putting chips in kids’ brains" today might do the trick. One wonders how anyone could *possibly* think that Democrats are "misunderstood"....

Technorati Tags: Current Affairs, News, Beirut, Evacuations, Lebanon, Israel, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria

Mideast Conflict: American Public Survey'd Says Nuh Uh, Not Us

A recent poll by a independent research team of about 630 or so American adults reveals that almost 2/3rds of those who responded want the US to stay out of the Israel-Hezbollah-Palestinian-Syria-Iran fracas. Most had sympathy for Israel, but were evenly matched on the topic of whether or not Israel has just, well, gone too far in their efforts. And not surprisingly, the majority held that the US has done a good job of evacuating Americans trapped in Lebanon; apparently none of the people surveyed were on CNN. However, 2 American evacuees with children paid a whole lotta money to get to the US embassy - this is a MUST read, because it shows finally some folks who took some personal responsibility for themselves and does lead me to believe that perhaps the US embassy in Lebanon is not run as well as it should be.

The JPost is reporting that the Lebanon Defense Minister is telling Israel that if Israeli ground troops start amassing in Lebanon, the Lebanese Army will hook up with Hezbollah to fight them. (Like that will be any different than them NOT doing anything about Hezbollah in the first place.) Israel, in turn, has told residents of southern Lebanon to leave the area and an intense firefight has now broken out in Lebanese territory between the IDF and Hezbollah - and according to Haaretz, the IDF troops number in the thousands. Israel also lost 2 helicopters which appeared to have collided in midair - investigations ensue. In a weird turn of events, the Hezbollah chief has apologized for the deaths of 2 Israeli Arab boys in Nazareth yesterday; Nazareth apparently doesn’t have the same number of bomb shelters as other Israeli cities and had no warning when bombs hit there. Hezbollah is also denying Israel’s claim that IDF forces have destroyed 50% of Hezbollah’s weapons.

Heard several interesting commentaries about the unofficial support Israel seems to be getting from many countries, including other Arab countries who don’t want an axis of power to exist with Iran and Syria. For their part, Iran and Syria have been strangely quiet - rather unnerving for the second day since prior they were extremely vocal on any channel or media they could find the time to be interviewed by.

We hadn’t heard from Hamas in a while, but word is that Hamas is negotiating through Egypt for the release of Gilad Shilat, the Israeli soldier taken by Hamas militants during the first stages of the conflict. And lastly, Anderson Cooper is still in Cyprus, while the rest of his media peers are much closer to the action or in the case of ABC and NBC, coming home. Tonight though, there aren’t any breaking news banners all over the place, which must really disappoint him.

10:26PM Update: I spoke too soon. The obligatory Anderson Cooper breaking news banner has reared its head.

10:34PM Update: Found this on Brietbart, and had to laugh. If any country on the planet shouldn’t criticize another country for fighting terrorism or invading a country at its border, it’s Russia. Did or did not the Soviets fight a war in Afghanistan? Did they not invade that country under the guise of a treaty and literally execute its leader? Didn’t they also use gunship helicopters, ground troops, and a "scorched earth" campaign where they destroyed whole villages, farms, and houses? That’s like a bank robber pointing a finger at a thief. I would think it would be difficult to forget a thing which lasted for almost 10 years.....and then there’s the Soviet-Chechen rebel conflict, which Russia calls an "anti-terrorist" campaign. (Thanks, Alla :))

Technorati Tags: Current Affairs, News, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, Israel, Middle East, Lebanon, Hamas, Gaza

An Inconvenient Truth: Britain Hits Highest Temp Since 1911

From our Storm Digest Blog:

How odd that the first news article I should see after taking in an afternoon matinee of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth is that London experienced its highest temperature of record for a July day since 1911 - 97 F. The all time record of 101 F set in August 2003 still stands, but that’s not much relief to London Underground passengers having to deal with 116 F temperatures and 125 F recorded on London’s city buses. The heat wave the US has been experiencing this week is mirrored in Europe, where French scientific researchers are attributing the climate change to global warming. The topic of global warming, the subject of Gore’s book and movie, appears to be dead center this week.

Since we live pretty far from a theater showing this documentary, the opportunity afforded us the ability to take off work on a sultry summer afternoon and spend it in an air-conditioned and almost-vacant movie theater with popcorn, soda and hotdogs for lunch. I hadn’t read Gore’s book, but have a fiance who was convinced we couldn’t miss this movie. It turned out he was right. I’ve never been a fan of Al Gore, but in the documentary he is personable, funny, touching and above everything else, committed that what he is presenting. He believes that this is the moral and ethical thing for him to do and for us to consider; for that alone, I respect him. His motivation, from the beginning to the end, starts with a Harvard course he took with Professor Roger Revelle, who co-authored a paper in 1957 with another scientist about greenhouse effects causing global warming over time - the only such paper of it’s time that linked greenhouse emissions and increased cardon dioxide in the atmosphere to mankind’s burning of fossil fuels.

Gore clearly articulates scientific data and analysis to support climate changes as indicators of global warming to a non-technically focused audience in layman’s terms and anyone who presents technical data should take this film as a object lesson in how to do so effectively and successfully. He unabashedly lends the full weight of his persona and passion towards telling you the story of how we came to be experiencing the increasing instability of our weather, including the intensity of damaging hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, heat waves and thunderstorms not just in the US, but all over the globe. Gore intersperses this with his own life experiences, including his son’s accident at age 6, his life growing up in Tennessee and his defeat as a Presidential candidate. Then you get taken to places like Antarctica, where the Larsen B Ice Shelf (as large as Rhode Island) collapsed and broke up in a 35 day period in 2002. Gore shows how glaciers and ice shelves worldwide have diminished over time, especially focusing on Greenland where glaciers are melting twice as fast as they were 5 years ago. He shows you models and predictions of what would happen to some of the shorelines of the most populated places in the world if only Greenland’s glaciers were to melt completely away - a displacement of millions of people. Gore explains the world’s ocean currents and their cooling/heating effect on the Earth and again shows you models of how they could change in the not-so-distant future. He also presents a dismal view of American automakers - sorry Ford, GM and all, but looks like the Chinese and Japanese are 5 or more years ahead of you and have your asses stomped when it comes to fuel economy and alternatives as well as emissions. (Note to Ford Motor Company: *Don’t* play those CEO commercials about how you were the "first" American automaker to produce a hybrid, when the efficiency of that hybrid, well, sucks in comparison to your overseas competition. We knew that before we went to see this movie - it just made it more appallingly obvious.)

The first question co-workers asked us when we went back to work to pick up our laptops (do NOT leave laptops in your car unless you wish for them to be stolen) was "will you be recycling now?"and "will you eat vegan?" What’s weird is the people who asked us this weren’t even in the same room at the time, so the general impression is you’re about to become an eco-warrior after seeing the film, and that really isn’t so. I went into the theater thinking that I understood what global warming meant - I came out understanding better what it is, what it’s believed to be caused by, and what I could do about it. I also unexpectedly came out with a tremendous amount of admiration for Al Gore.

So you see, whether global warming is caused by human factors or not, it can’t hurt to be more conscious of our affects on our environment - if the film’s message is true, the damage that could be done by not doing anything is not one that can be undone readily.

Technorati Tags: Books, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, Kyoto Protocol, Global Warming, Glaciers, Heat waves, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Tropical Storm, Ford, GM, Hybrid, London, Britian, Al Gore

Middle East Conflict: How Much Breaking News Can CNN Have?

Sheesh. Even Fox’s Shep Smith was taking shots at CNN today live on Studio B for the unending Breaking News banner that I think Anderson Cooper must have mandated in his contract! Paula Zahn took up the first half of her show with Lebanon evacuee interviews (I swear, my neighbors are going to think I’m crazy (they know, they know) for all the yelling I am doing at the TV about this.) Really CNN, is all this focus on the complaints of those who CHOSE to be in Lebanon truly necessary? What’s more, the Pentagon is considering sending Marines in helicopters over Hezbollah-held territory to pick up those Americans who are dispersed throughout Lebanon and can’t get to Beirut. As a friend said, "On one hand, good to rescue folks, Americans, in danger. But on the other hand, it really puts Marines in danger, too." (Thanks Betsy, couldn’t have expressed that better myself!) One does wonder what will happen to the conflict if Hezbollah fires on US helicopters....

Meanwhile, the Israelis have sent special forces into Lebanese held territory (about 20 miles over the border) and then dropped 23 tons of bombs on a bunker they believe Hezbollah leaders were hiding in. Hezbollah says that none of its members were harmed, and fired at least a 100 rockets into Israel and hit Nazareth for the first time. Two Arab boys were killed there, and now the Lebanese Prime Minister is imploring for help to stop the bombing in Lebanon on the basis of the potential humanitarian crisis as approximately 500,000 have been forced to leave their homes. Here in the US, Condi Rice isn’t expected to go to the Middle East until early next week, so bombing continues unabated and for the first time, bombs fell in a wealthy section of Beirut. The Israeli attack was carried out with precision, but one imagines that those with money won’t be too happy about this latest development. It’s always better if it’s happening in someone else’s yard.

I have noticed the overwhelming coverage of the war, the casualties, the bomb count, and the status of American evacuees, but only one paragraph in any of the articles I read deals with demands and negotiations at all. It would appear that Israel’s got unofficial sanction, even from Arab countries who typically would back other Arabs, to continue bomb the burkas out of Lebanon unimpeded. Very little today was said of Iran (except for yesterday’s statement about Iran’s Hizbollah organization having 2000 recruits ready to be armed and attack Israeli and American interests anywhere) and Syria - and they didn’t appear on some of the American broadcast media as they have in the last several days. Is this the calm before the storm?

Technorati Tags: Current Affairs, Fox News, Shep Smith, Anderson Cooper, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Evacuation, Hezbollah

US Evacuation of Americans in Lebanon: Whose Personal Responsibility Is This, Really?

I’ve been watching the cable news this evening, and currently CNN’s Anderson Cooper has started his broadcast with the plight of Americans currently "trapped" in Lebanon; an estimated 25,000 Americans are there. What’s been very overt tonight is CNN’s coverage of these folks, and how frustrated they are at how slowly they believe the effort is being handled by the US government, and the not-so-vague allusions to FEMA’s response for Katrina. They complain that they are unable to get through to the US Embassy in Beirut for updates and they don’t know what’s going on. There’s also sensitivity about Americans having to repay the government for getting them out - at $200 a person, either at time of departure or signature on a promissory note. (Apparently this is being rescinded by the Bush administration, per Fox News at 9PM this evening.)

These comparisons to the handling of the Katrina disaster are completely and utterly ridiculous; if I’m not mistaken, the State Department has always warned Americans travelling to Lebanon that events can get out of hand in a hurry there and anyone who traveled to Lebanon should have read the State Department’s May 2, 2006 travel advisory which was readily available on the State Department’s website. How can people, who willingly went to a country known for its instability, blame the US government for their response to get them out? Well, it doesn’t help that the State Department posted this on their Travel Advisory section of their website July 13th:

"This Travel Warning is being updated to alert American citizens that, due to ongoing security concerns in Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy has been granted authorized departure status. Family members and non-emergency American employees have permission to depart Lebanon. The Department of State urges American citizens to defer travel to Lebanon. This supersedes the Travel Warning issued on May 2, 2006. "

As any employer would, the US, who assigns embassy personnel to their foreign posts, must keep their promise to employees: anything happens in a foreign country, we’ll get your family out of there first and if your job is deemed non-emergency, you’re allowed to go too. This, my friends, is totally reasonable. These people represent our government in places we might not be too happy to go, and they do it every single day. Can you imagine the US trying to evacuate some 25,000 Americans out of Lebanon at once? Can’t happen: first, Beirut’s airport is blasted to bits, and contrary to popular thought, Cypress and their infrastructure wouldn’t be able to handle the traffic of all the Americans, much less all the other countries who are doing the same thing at the same time with their citizens. Like it or not, a staged evacuation is totally correct and is necessary to get people out in an orderly fashion.

This $200 evacuation charge is a pittance when you think of the fact that people CHOSE to go to Lebanon, even with travel advisories. I understand fear, but I’m sorry: if the Israelis are really targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, would that not be your responsibility and those you visit to make sure you aren’t in the vicinity of them? If you have enough money to purchase a plane ticket to Lebanon and stay, one would assume you have enough to pay a small fee if you wished to leave that badly. The words patience and appreciation might apply here, if you’re truly that frightened.

Note to State Department: If you really mean to stage the evacuations, for crying out loud, communicate it to the people who want to leave. Thus far, this looks like a chess match. One could speculate that at the expense of putting Americans at risk, you’d chose to save face by trickling Americans out of Lebanon (rather than a crisis exodus scenario) for the Israelis, who profess not to be targeting civilians and to show that as long as you’re not around Hezbollah, you’re perfectly safe. You can’t mean to do that, do you?

Update 11:15PM: Israel has ground troops in Lebanon and then I also found this blogger who believes some of the Americans coming back from Lebanon are Hezbollah supporters. And then there’s this, which while probably true about the dwindling supplies in Lebanon and destroyed infrastructure, borders on hysterics that Hezbollah would take US citizens as hostages. No, I don’t think so - that would pull Iran squarely into the picture and they truly don’t want that - they like being the spider spinning the web. It’s very passive-aggressive this way.

Technorati Tags: Breaking News, Current Affairs, Lebanon, Evacuations, Israel, Beirut, Cypress, State Department, Travel

Syria: We Opened Our Borders To Americans Without Visas

CNN’s Paula Zahn is currently interviewing the Syria ambassador to the US, and a surprising development: Syria has opened its borders to American civilians "no visas required" to leave Lebanon. This might be welcome news to people like chef Anthony Bourdain and his crew from The Travel Channel’s "No Reservations" who all flew to Beirut to film an episode of the series last week and got stranded when Israel bombed the airport. The New York Post’s PageSix reports that Bourdain commented that the "mojitos are great" and professes that the Lebanese people are "really, really nice" and that most Lebanese he’s met have professed their embarrassment of Hezbollah actions in their country. Then again, maybe they know he’s not picky about what he eats - including the still-beating heart of a snake. (That’s not for shock value, it’s true.) There are an estimated 25,000 American citizens in Lebanon, and while no evacuations have been ordered for them, they are being asked to keep in contact with the US embassy there.

During the day today, Hezbollah was 1-1 in shooting rockets as Israeli warships. While they tagged one, the other they attempted to bomb didn’t go nearly as well - they missed and hit an Egyptian ship. This happened after Israel bombed Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut and also targeted the Hezbollah militant group leader’s own home. Hezbollah is now declaring that if Israel wants open war, they’re ready and they’ll take their retaliation to Israel’s soil in Haifa and, as they say, "beyond". This isn’t so interesting, since they have been launching rockets towards the northern part of Israel for the last several days already - they’ve just named a city to target. The truly mysterious event that happened today involved the US brokering a deal for Israel to not bomb one of recently repaired Beirut airport runways, so that a plane carrying the Lebanese Prime Minister and 5 other planes could take off. Not surprisingly, Israel bombed the hell of the runway afterwards. About the only news worthy note about Palestine is the fact that militants there forced open a gate at the Egyptian border, allowing Palestinians trapped in Egypt when fighting commenced to go home. Unfortunately, Israel believes that their soldier Hamas is holding could be smuggled into Egypt through the same gate.

Back here at home, the Dow has dropped 400 points and the price of crude oil has risen to above $77 per barrel due to the tensions in the Middle East. Most analysts say that should the price reach $100 a barrel, Americans will be paying $4 per gallon.

Update 9:22pm: On Larry King Live at the moment, the Lebanese advisor to the Prime Minister of that country wants to have dialog with Israel, but since they don’t recognize Israel as a state, they have to have that dialog through "other means." Seems to me if you wanted to save your people from all this bombing, you might forego that view and start speaking directly to them whether you recognize Israel as a state or not. They’re bombing you back 20 years and counting...

Technorati Tags: Breaking News, Current Affairs, Syria, Dow, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Anthony Bourdain, CNN

Syria: We're Victims, Damn You

Just now, CNN’s Paula Zahn interviewed the Syrian Ambassador to the UN. He’s just depicted the Israelis as warmongerers for the last 60 years, and Syria and Palestine as victims. (Apparently it’s irrelevant that the Israelis have been living for years with Palestinian and Syrian suicide bombers around every corner.) The ambassador would not answer Paula’s direct question about whether Syria expects that Israel will attack them, instead replying that Israel does this whenever peace is at hand. Syria also skated the question of whether the Syrian or Lebanese government was in touch with Hezbollah. When Zahn asked the ambassador if he could confirm that the Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah were still alive, he countered with the plight of 10,000 Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. Maybe it’s just me, but the guy looked like he was reading from a teleprompter - his eyes were darting back and forth faster than a tennis ball at Wimbledon. At this very moment, Israeli warplanes are bombing the hell out of a suburb of Beirut.

To recap, Israel today took out the fuel depot at the Beirut Airport, struck Lebanese army bases, and a bridge or 2 in both Lebanon and Gaza. Then, in response to Iran’s statement that a strike on Syria would be an attack on the Arab world, the Israelis bombed the road to Damascus (how poignant that sounds) - on the Lebanese side, just to show the Syrians and Iranians that route is closed. They’ve also blocked Lebanon’s ports, effectively cutting off supply routes to Hezbollah or any other militant faction holed up in Beirut. Hezbollah militants totally deny they launched a rocket which hit the Israeli city of Haifa - a city of civilians. This morning Fox News correspondent David Lee Miller was fired upon by Israeli forces in Gaza while broadcasting on Fox and Friends. Miller, after leaving the scene with his photographer, reported that he thought that the Israeli troops wanted them to "move." I guess that’s one way to get the message across, hm?

Meanwhile back at the barely effective UN, a group of Arab states introduced a resolution to condemn Israel’s actions, which was veto’d by the US- the vote being 10 to 1, with 4 countries abstaining. BTW, someone should tell Condi to get on the same page as her boss, since Condi made a statement advising Israel to maintain some "restraint" while the President says Israel should be able to defend themselves. (That may be on purpose so George W. wouldn’t have to say it.)

It’s gonna be a busy news night....stay tuned. Before I forget, oil rose above $78 bucks a barrel.

Update 9:24pm: Fox News reporting Israel believes that Iranian forces working with Hezbollah militants launched the rocket that hit Haifa today. Woo boy.

Technorati Tags: Current Affairs, Lebanon, Beirut, Israel, Hezbollah, CNN, Fox News, UN, Condi Rice, Paula Zahn, Syria

Israel Strikes Palestinian Foreign Ministry

Cable news has been busy tonight. The better part of 40 minutes Shepherd Smith’s Fox News broadcast was devoted to live coverage of the Israeli strike against the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, a strike aimed at letting the Palestinians know this is personal now. Haaretz reports that 3 people were injured, however it looks as though the action taken by Hezbollah in Lebanon earlier in the day (the abduction of 2 Israeli soldiers) was intended to escalate the situation and get Israel out of Gaza - well, that didn’t work well, did it? Instead, Israel has responded with striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and more strikes and skirmishes in both Gaza and at the Lebanon/Israeli border. And heads up, it may not stop there.

Thus far, we have the following players in this budding Middle East war:

• Israel
• Palestine
• Hamas
• Hezbollah
• Lebanon
• Syria (in the background)
• Iran (in the background)

Note that Iran is also involved in UN security issue surrounding their development of nuclear weapons - makes one wonder if this is a race against time in the Middle East. As far as the Israelis are concerned, this is by no means the first such escalation of tensions they’ve experienced: such turmoil has reared its head with its neighbors after Israel’s establishment, such as 1948’s War of Independence, 1968’s War of Attrition, and Israeli’s 1982 attack against Lebanon for terrorist attacks against northernmost Israeli settlements. These conflicts are very, very deep in Middle East culture - most of the same countries or organizations are involved in the latest events.

Couple this with the upcoming G-8 summit this weekend, train bombings by terrorists in India, insurgents in Iraq, and last week’s North Korean missile tests...well, it’s an alarming picture.

Technorati Tags: Breaking News, Current Affairs, Israel, Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon, Middle East, Terrorism, Hezbollah

Bombs Hit Trains in India 7/11/06

The death toll in India continues to rise in India.

BOMBS HIT BOMBAY TRAINS DURING RUSH HOUR 

High alert...

Over 160 Dead in Blasts... 

Mumbai Blasts Kill at Least 142 People, Injure 450 (Update3)

Bombs Explode on Trains in India, Killing Scores

7 explosions rock commuter trains in Mumbai, India; over 100 ...

Harry Potter: How Harry Might Not Be A Horcrux

There is a way that Harry might not be a Horcrux. Hold on to your hat as I explain.....

First the AK spell and the creation of the Horcrux (encasing the torn part of the soul inside an object) look to be separate acts, e,g. spells. Both Slughorn and Dumbledore allude to this in canon:

"There is a spell, do not ask me, I don’t know!" said Slughorn shaking his head like an old elephant bothered by mosquitoes.

IMO, Dumbledore almost exclusively discusses the encasing of the soul - and as we have seen and if Dumbledore is right, an AK itself isn’t necessary: Hepzibah Smith was poisoned. In other words, if Voldemort did create a Horcrux with her death, the spell couldn’t be predicated on an AK due to the poisoning. This leads me to the conclusion that the creation of the Horcrux is predicated on any murdering means, but not exclusively linked or combined at the same time as an AK because it takes a unique spell to encase torn part after killing has been accomplished.

For these reasons, I am not convinced that Harry is a Horcrux, even an accidental one, just because an AK bounced about in GH. I do believe Dumbledore’s statement in CoS that Voldemort accidently gave Harry some his powers the night the scar was created - if we go by the diary as an example, Harry should have been possessed as Ginny was by part of Voldemort’s soul if Harry was a Horcrux. I also wonder about this from OoP:

"The Death Eater had pulled his head out of the bell jar. His appearance was utterly bizarre, his tiny baby’s head bawling loudly while his thick arms flailed dangerously in all directions, narrowly missing Harry, who had ducked. Harry raised his wand but to his amazement Hermione seized his arm.

’You can’t hurt a baby!’"

Ok, so wonder what happens if you *do* try to hurt a baby? Maybe that’s how some of Voldemort’s powers ended up in Harry.....

Technorati Tags: Books, Harry Potter, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Horcrux, Horcruxes

Harry Potter Fandom: All Manners of Wanky Weirdness

I couldn’t help but post my thoughts about some recent revelations via the FanHistory Wiki and a new JournalFen blog by Charlotte Nox. There’s so many links to so many people involved in this "story" that you can spend an entire weekend reading about it and still only touch the surface - and I am not a fanfic participant nor do I like it, but I do respect the rights of others to do what they wish and what makes them happy. That said, someone who is looking to write an thesis for their sociology or pyschology Master’s degree in this case has a plethora of documentation with which to work, and then wonder why the hell they were all so gullible as to believe a virtual individual whom they had never seen, nor had a cup of joe with? What IS it that people on the Internet trust each other in such a blase manner? We teach and repeatedly tell our children who have interaction online to be careful, but we certainly don’t seem to take the same advice as adults.

The saga (which apparently is not a work of fan fiction) centers around a budding fanfic writer who, by all accounts, manipulated her way to the top of the exclusive fan fiction writers circle - people who have not been published by any other means than their own online creations about characters in Harry Potter books. These same want-to-be writers, and their virtual friends/fans, frequent such forums as The Sugar Quill and FictionAlley, among others. Her main obsession? Get close to Cassandra Claire, writer of the Very Secret Diaries, a popular and funny mock set of diaries of the Lord of the Rings characters. Cassandra herself is an enigma - while she attended Nimbus 2003 and apparently got a free ticket to The Witching Hour in 2005, she’s known for her fanfiction and that’s about it. According to her blog, she’s a professional writer now and is about to publish an original work in 2007, albeit not under the pen name of Cassandra Claire; a not too shabby an accomplishment for someone who has written slash about other published authors’ characters. (Slashfiction, BTW, has been around for quite a while and is not limited to just the Harry Potter fandom.) She’s also popular enough that when it was stated by a close inner circle friend that she and her roommates had gotten robbed and her computer stolen, fans contributed to purchase her a replacement laptop. (I’ve been unable to find where they posted a police report for that - I am wary when "donations" of this sort are taken.)

The main antagonist in this real-life online soap opera uses deception, manipulation and the online tools of the day ( instant messaging, blogs, forums, email) to establish bogus online personalities and fans to create controversy (in effect, her interacting with herself) for attention and sheer mayhem. She even resorts to a fake hospitalization and claims of being stalked to gain the sympathy and support for her readers, who soon outnumber the fabricated fans with which she began. Once that’s effectively done, she proceeds to hook up as an admin for a popular forum, and pit that forum and the others against each other with accusations of trolling, spying, and just utter meaness overall. The forum she’s an admin for supported her, and wouldn’t hear anything damaging about her from anyone even though the other admins at the competing forums do discover what she’s doing. Shockingly, this didn’t go on for a month or 2- it went on for what appears to be at least 2, if not 3, solid years! When all starts to be revealed, hell breaks loose - the fandom comments each time a new revelation gets blogged; members of the exclusive fanfic group, fans and supporters of the antagonist offer what can be perceived as half baked and not very sincere apologies. Ultimately, it makes you very happy you never entered that particular virtual world in the first place.

The most astonishing thing is how this has spread throughout the Internet, and the almost vehement reactions from fans and participants alike - thousands of comments, replies and posts. The second most astonishing thing is how completely the antagonist used technology to keep the deception complete for so long. And the third astonishing thing? That anyone believed her in the first place. Anyone can be anybody on the Internet and don’t you forget it.

Technorati Tags: Books, Web, Tech, Blog, Blogging, Cassandra Claire, Laptopgate, CharityGate, MsScribe, Harry Potter, Fan Fiction, Slash Fiction

118 Killed in Siberian Airplane Crash

Link: 118 Killed in Siberian Airplane Crash

MOSCOW (AP) -- A Russian passenger plane skidded off a rain-slicked runway early Sunday and plowed through a concrete barrier, bursting into flames. At least 118 people were killed and about 30 still unaccounted for, officials said.

North Korea: Commentators Crack Me Up

Watching Larry King Live on CNN, Rep. Curt Weldon (PA) says that he believes the situation with North Korea can be resolved diplomatically because North Korea’s negotiator is very "reasonable." Madeleine Albright (former US Secretary of State under the Clinton administration) speaks of the rational behavior she observed from Kim Jong-Il when she met with him in 2000. What is wrong with these people? Kim Jong-Il is *not* normal and rational, no matter what suave demeanor he or his negotiators display to the outside world.

Fox News reported today that the reason North Korea pulled out from the six-nation talks is because the US discovered North Korea’s counterfeit of $100 US dollar bills(called "supernotes") and designated Banco Delta Asia SARL in Macau, China, as off limits for US bank transactions. This action, and several others related to the discovery of the supernotes, has had a harsh impact on North Korea’s already dismal economy. And who’s fault is that? Hello, that dubious honor belongs to none other than Kim Jong-Il. He’s chosen to spend his money and sacrificed the lives of his people in his pursuit of military and nuclear technology gains. It apparently means nothing to him that approximately 2 million North Koreans have died from starvation. Instead of supporting his people, Kim Jong-Il chooses to blame the US for not recognizing his country as a player in the world diplomatic arena. The guy is clearly deluded and can’t keep his word for anything. Trust, as one broadcaster observed, has eroded to the point that talks may not be possible.

China, South Korea, and Japan probably need to band together and come up with solution, since their borders are closest to North Korea. Of the 3, China has the most pull with North Korea, and they fear a collapse of the North Korean government. So while they dance around, North Korea is apparently preparing to launch more missiles. If I were China, I would be hoping that none of these missile launches go awry and lands in one of those 3 countries, which would take a tense situation and make it very very bad.

BTW, what do you think happened to the rocket engineers to launched the failed Taepodong intercontinental missile yesterday? Life must be hard for them after that abysmal failure....

Technorati Tags: Current Affairs, North Korea, Larry King, Fox News, Kim Jong-Il, China, South Korea, Japan, Missiles, Supernotes, Clinton

Spelling house resembles Carrington house from 'Dynasty' plot lines as well

So 12 days after Aaron Spelling dies a story has surfaced that Candy, his widow, has put the Spelling mansion on the market for $150 Million.

Spelling Mansion Secretly On the Market

TMZ has learned that Candy Spelling, Aaron’s widow, has quietly put the Spellings’ legendary mansion on the market for $150 million.

Sources in the real estate industry say Westside Estate Agency (WEA) has a pocket listing on the 56,000 square foot estate, meaning it is is quietly being shopped among realtors and select buyers.

Just last week we were reading about how horrible daughter Tori Spelling is.

Tori Spelling’s Story: Tacky Take on Family Affairs

The country’s celebration of dreck and bad taste reaches a new low today: Tori Spelling is on the cover of Us Weekly, a mere five days after the death of her father, beloved TV producer Aaron Spelling.

Think about this: Aaron Spelling passed away on Friday night, June 23. Tori would have had to have given her interview by Monday at the latest in order to make Us’ printing schedule. The funeral was on Sunday. Creepy does not even begin to describe what this girl has done.

Ostensibly, Tori’s appearance is designed to destroy her mother, Candy, with whom she has been feuding for no apparent reason. Even Fallon Carrington, one of Aaron Spelling’s most self-centered creations, wouldn’t have gone this far.

More at link above

Clerks II the countdown!!!!!

The sequel to Clerks by Kevin Smith is just 15 days away.