Month: January 2010

Updated – Latest News on Haiti Earthquake – As many as 100,000 feared dead

As I reported last night, a 7.0 Earthquake hit Haiti.

Now the death toll and damage tolls are being shown. Reader GWSSDelta told me about a video, that comes via CBS News:

CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all have in depth coverage. Memeorandum has an excellent Blog roundup on the political front.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper is in Haiti now:

No word on death tolls yet; but this does sound very bad. I will have more in a bit.

Update: Here is how you can help with the relief effort, via DIPNote:

For those interested in helping immediately, simply text “HAITI” to “90999” and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

Or you can go online to organizations like the Red Cross and Mercy Corps Mercy Corps to make a contribution to the disaster relief efforts.

The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747. We’ll provide more details and opportunities to help as we learn more. To stay up-to-date, follow us on state.gov.

Update #2: The Anchoress Reports a list of Relief Organizations helping: (H/T Malkin)

Catholic Relief Services
United Methodist Committee on Relief
The Red Cross
Salvation Army
Providence in Haiti
American Jewish World Service
Lutheran World Relief
Cross International
World Vision
International Orthodox Christian Charities

Ya’ll know what to do. 😀

Update #3: As Always, our awesome Military is “on it!” Military Times is reporting:

The aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was rerouted Wednesday to support humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti, according to U.S. Southern Command. The carrier is expected to arrive off the coast of Haiti Thursday.

The command confirmed additional Navy ships are underway to Haiti, but did not specify what vessels would be going.

The command, based in Miami, also deployed a team of 30 people to Haiti to work with U.S. Embassy personnel as well as Haitian, U.N. and international officials to assess the situation and facilitate follow-on U.S. military support, according to the press release. The team includes military engineers, operational planners, a command and control group and communication specialists. They will arrive in Haiti today on two C-130 Hercules aircraft.

Elements of the Air Force 1st Special Operations Wing were deploying to the international airport at Port-au-Prince to provide air traffic control capability and airfield operations. They are expected to arrive in Haiti on Wednesday afternoon.

Early Wednesday morning, Coast Guard helicopters evacuated four critically injured U.S. Embassy staff to hospital at Naval Station Guantanamo, Cuba, for further treatment.

A U.S. P-3 Orion from the Forward Operating Location at Comalapa, El Salvador, also conducted aerial reconnaissance of the affected area.

SouthCom has supported 14 major relief missions in the region since 2005, including assistance to Haiti in September 2008. During that mission, forces from the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge and other units airlifted 3.3 million pounds of aid to communities that were devastated by a succession of major storms.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Haitian people and all those affected by this devastating earthquake,” said Army Col. James Marshall, SouthCom spokesman.

Vinson and its crew of approximately 3,200 sailors left Norfolk on Tuesday en route to their new homeport in San Diego. The carrier, which is commanded by Capt. Bruce Lindsey, was joined by Carrier Air Wing 17 and the cruisers Lake Champlain and Bunker Hill. As flagship of the newly established Carrier Strike Group 1, Vinson was to provide maritime security as it circumnavigates South America and provide humanitarian assistance or disaster relief, if required.

The call came fewer than 24 hours later.

Major Kudos on our Armed Forces for being ready for the call; wherever it might be from. Good Job men!

Update #4: The Daily Caller is linking to a story in the Daily Mail in the U.K. that as many as 100,000 are feared dead.

It is times like these, when I do wish that my Ham Radio Station was Operational… 🙁

Fox News also gives the background as to why this happened. Simply put, the earth is just old.

Update #5: The Anchoress links in. Thank you! 😀

Update #6: ….and of course, the Stupidity of the Christian Right Starts.

Update #7: Man, 2 two days and about 5K viewers later and I realize, I have the Country misspelled in the headline! D’oh! 🙄

BREAKING NEWS – 7.0 quake hits Haiti

Uh, Oh… This is not good.

PORT-AU-PRINCE — A huge quake measuring 7.0 rocked the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti Tuesday toppling buildings and causing widespread damage and panic, officials and AFP witnesses said.

A tsunami alert was immediately issued for the Caribbean region after the earthquake struck at 2153 GMT.

An AFP correspondent said the ground shook for more than a minute. Just minutes later two aftershocks measuring both 5.9 and 5.5 on the moment magnitude scale hit, US officials said.

“I think it's really a catastrophe of major proportions,” the country's ambassador to the United States, Raymond Alcide Joseph, told CNN television.

The US Geological Survey said the powerful quake was initially measured at 7.3 on the scale and struck 16 kilometers (ten miles) from the capital Port-Au-Prince, and 27 kilometers (17 miles) from Petionville.

An AFP correspondent in Petionville said one three-story building, housing two offices, was toppled, and a tractor was already at the scene trying to dig out victims as people fled onto the streets in panic.

The up-scale area is home to many foreign diplomats and members of a major United Nations mission to the country.

via AFP: Fears of major catastrophe as 7.0 quake rocks Haiti.

Oy… California Yesterday, Hati today…

Thoughts and Prayers for the people down there. Stay tuned for updates, if any.

Michelle Malkin gets it wrong

I hate to be the one to do this; but, seeing she’s not answering my e-mail.

Michelle Malkin royally screws one up.

She links to this story here, about a container of PETN getting punctured with the comment of:

Okay, how does this just happen?

However, if you actually click to the website and look, you will see this:

Morehead City Mayor Jerry Jones says a forklift operator accidentally punctured at least one container filled with PETN, forcing the port to shut down.

Has Malkin corrected the damn story? No. 🙄

Do not misunderstand me here, I am all for the reporting and exposing of Islamic Jihad. But, I am not for the stoking of irrational fear and that is what Malkin is doing here; she’s feeding a damned talking point.

My feeling is, either report factual information and responsible enough to post updated info, or don’t bother posting at all.

Michelle is better than this; but yet, she does it anyway. It is quite disgusting. Color me unimpressed.

Countdown to Malkin-bots calling me a racist, sexist, and whatever else in 5….4….3…2…

Stick a fork in 'em, The Clinton dynasty is over

I saw this yesterday, But I really did not feel like writing about it:

A new book is out with a highly critical but unsourced portrait of Hillary Clinton. This familiar occurrence — it’s happened too many times to count over the years — has usually been greeted with an equally familiar response: A fast and furious counterattack from the Clinton inner circle.

What’s notable about the highly publicized release of “Game Change,” however, is the virtual silence from the Clinton camp. The lack of public outrage seems to mark the sputtering end of what was once known as the Clinton political machine and underlines a fact that onetime Clinton loyalists acknowledge: The book’s primary sources about the former candidate and current secretary of state are her own former staffers and intimates.

As a result, there is no campaign of veteran Clintonites spinning the press corps and trying to pre-emptively discredit the book’s scathing depiction of Hillary Clinton as a rudderless candidate and a cheerleader for vicious tactics against eventual winner Barack Obama. There is no team of Clinton proxies going on cable television to denounce authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann as scurrilous and unworthy of belief.

This time, Bill and Hillary Clinton are virtually alone.

via Game over: The Clintons stand alone – Ben Smith – POLITICO.com.

If the things in this book are even remotely true; then you can kiss the Clinton dynasty goodbye. Much of what was said in this book has been already said; by the people that made “Hillary, The Movie.” Which the Clinton machine worked like hell to keep from being promoted, during the 2008 election. Although there are some very new juicy tidbits that have been brought up. Like Ben says in this piece, the Clinton’s and their inner circle have not tried to come out and defend Hillary or Bill. So, it does look like they are either guilty as charged or just do not feel like dealing with it.

Bottom Line: Hillary Clinton made a huge mistake in trying to run for President, her ego and elitism got the best of her. In the long run, she did more harm than good, to her and her husband’s reputation by running.  This book also justifies Newt Gingridge and his Movie about Hillary.

Harry Reid-Gate Continues

As much as I hate to write about a subject, that I have already written about once, I will again. Because I need to make my personal position clear.

Regarding the media stampede over Harry Reid’s comments; Now this is where I am going to break from the normal Conservative Blog and media talking points. This blog has never been about talking points, ever. Nor will it ever be. I am a clear and free thinker and I am not afraid to go against what I feel to be blatant stupidity.

First off, regarding Trent Lott‘s comments: Those comments were highly racist in nature, they were given at a Birthday Party for a very well known former segregationist. Hell, Even Michelle Malkin was none too pleased with what he said, at the time; although her position on it was a bit different, than what I felt at the time. Second of all, it is being reported that Trent Lott was kicked out of the Senate for his remarks. This totally bogus lie and needs to be corrected. Trent Lott’s leadership position in the Senate was removed for his comments. Trent Lott left the Senate because of changes in the rules for lobbyists in the Congress.

Now for Reid’s comments; Sorry to my fellow Conservatives, but, I do not believe that Harry Reid’s comments are to be considered the moral equivalence of what Trent Lott said. That is because Harry Reid’s comments were factually correct; however, his choice of words were, quite bluntly, stupid. However, because I believe in a equal standard in the Senate and House, I believe the Senator Reid ought to resign his leadership position, because it is the right thing to do. If you going to have a standard, of when leadership within both houses of Congress make stupid mistakes and resign leadership posts, it should be equal for both sides. Partisanship ought not to be a deciding factor in this situation, sadly, I believe that it is a big part of what is happening in this situation.

The Bottom Line: While what Reid said was incredibly stupid. I do not believe that it should be compared to Trent Lott’s statement at all.

The Republican Party's Resident Shrieking Harpy gets a Fox Contract

Oh Wonderful, wonder what she’ll do, show Russia from her house?

Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska has signed on as a contributor to the Fox News Channel.

The network confirmed that Ms. Palin would appear on the network’s programming on a regular basis as part of a multiyear deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ms. Palin will not have her own regular program, one person with knowledge of the deal said, though she will host a series that will run on the network from time to time. This person would not elaborate, but the network does have a precedent for such a series. Oliver L. North is the host of an occasionally running documentary series on the military called “War Stories.

via Sarah Palin to Contribute to Fox News – Media Decoder Blog

Hmmmm, what’s it going to be called; “How to keep the media from finding out if your daughter is knocked up”? God knows that’s what she’s good at. The good thing about this is, that she most likely will not be running for President, which is a good thing for the Republican Party as a whole. We need someone that can articulate fiscal Conservative ideas, not stupid muddled populism. Besides all that, we need someone who was actually raised here in the continental 48 and not some psycho shrieking harpy; who was raised on some obscure piece of land, that was not even a state in the union until 1959. We need restrained, disciplined leadership. Not some idiot moose hunting soccer mom, who thinks she on some sort of mission from God and would push the nuke button at a drop of a hat.

Bottom Line: Sarah Palin is the perfect embodiment of female entitlement and the highly hypocritical Evangelical Christian right. That is the LAST thing we need in the White House. I love Jesus and believe the Bible to be literally true; However, I do not want my Country being run as the Christian equivalent of Sharia law. Keep Christianity where it belongs, in the home and in the Church; and out of the Federal Government.

Okay, Who peed in modo's evian bottle?

My goodness what a difference 8 months makes.

Quotes from Modo’s Latest:

We are under attack.

There is evil in the world.

Yemen is a dangerous place that breeds people who want to kill us.

Al Qaeda is determined to attack inside the United States.

Al Qaeda is casting a wide recruiting net for vulnerable young men.

Aspirational terrorists eventually become operational terrorists.

Our airports are not safe.

Metal detectors can’t detect nonmetal explosives sewn into underwear.

Our incomplete no-fly lists are more like “Welcome aboard” lists.

We still can’t connect the dots, even when the dots are flying at us like 3-D asteroids.

The sun rises in the east.

Two plus two equals four.

Heh. Sounds like the lyrics to a heavy metal song. All it would need is that riff from the Marilyn Manson Song; you know, “The Beautiful People“?

and she goes on:

Unlike the Republicans, who have yet to take responsibility for a single disastrous thing they did, President Obama said “ultimately the buck stops with me.”

But when he failed to immediately step up to the microphones in Hawaii after the Christmas terror and thank the passengers for bravely foiling the plot that his intelligence community had failed to see, President Cool reached the limits of cool.

No Drama Obama is reticent about displays of emotion. The Spock in him needs to exert mental and emotional control. That is why he stubbornly insists on staying aloof and setting his own deliberate pace for responding — whether it’s in a debate or after a debacle. But it’s not O.K. to be cool about national security when Americans are scared.

Our professorial president is no feckless W., biking through Katrina. He is no doubt on top of the crisis in terms of studying it top to bottom. But his inner certainty creates an outer disconnect.

He’s so sure of himself and his actions that he fails to see that he misses the moment to be president — to be the strong father who protects the home from invaders, who reassures and instructs the public at traumatic moments.

He’s more like the aloof father who’s turned the Situation Room into a Seminar Room.

Hmmmm, Where the hell was she at around election time? Oh, that’s right, she was swimming the tank! My Bad. Nothing like an Al-Qaeda attack to wake up a Crypto-Leftist out of the Hope and Change stupor.

Barack Obama's 2012 Campaign Song??

Seeing they can get away with it; so should I, right?

Plus, there’s this:

[A]s Hillary bungled Caroline, Bill’s handling of Ted was even worse. The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.

Heh…. Quite true though, or shining their shoes or something else. 😮