Emma Berry

Archive for the ‘World News’ Category

News from the Guardian:

Among the dead were dozens of children who had tried to collect petrol as it poured from ruptured container

More than 230 people were killed when a fuel tanker overturned and ignited in the centre of a village in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. More than a quarter of the victims were children who had rushed to scoop up leaking oil after the crash.  MORE

On June 7, 2010, Dutch voters went to the polls to elect a new parliament. Each voter entered the voting booth, unfolded a large piece of paper, and used a red pencil to check a box next to their preferred candidate. Not one voting machine was used.

The Dutch returned to voting with pencils because computers can’t guarantee the privacy of voters. The return to voting with a pencil has attracted interest from democracies around the world. The Netherlands is the first country to go back to voting with paper ballots, after making the transition to computers. Other countries are wondering if they should follow the Dutch example.

Instead, it appears that the Cheonan was destroyed  in one of the ever-growing incidents of American “Friendly”-fire accidents.

On March 26, the Cheonan was thought to have been sank by a North Korean torpedo.  Now, however, it is looking more and more likely that a U.S. rising mine sank the Cheonan in a “friendly”-fire accident.

Read the full report by Yoichi Shimatsu on Axis of Logic--Finding Clarity in the 21st century mediaplex.

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EMMA’S COMMENTS

Well I guess we can just thank our stars that the Obama administration’s plate was so full with other ongoing world and national crises–otherwise we might be deepening the channel to nuclear war with North Korea.

All this reminds me of a comment in the  Pogo Comic strip years ago:  “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

NOTE: Walt Kelly, creator of Pogo, first used the quote “We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us” on a poster for Earth Day in 1970.  In 1971, he did a two panel version with Pogo and Porky in a trash filled swamp.  Pogo responding to Porky with “YEP, SON, WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US.”

More of our elected officials in Congress should study the wisdom of Pogo as well as Pooh.

President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last Thursday signed the biggest nuclear arms pact in a generation–a giant step in the right direction.

Of course, Rudi Giuliani, like most Republican buffoons from the Knights of No had to use that historical event as an opportunity for political posturing.  But his criticism ended badly for Giuliani when the words of Ronald Reagan were thrown back in his face.  Reagan was one of the most enthusiastic champions of nuclear disarmament that we have ever had as a leader of our nation.

The New York Times reports that the death toll in Chile was expected to rise, particularly around Concepción, Chile’s second-largest metropolitan area, which is roughly 70 miles from the quake’s center. The aftershock was reported around 8:30 local time Sunday morning from the capital of Santiago, where it shook buildings, according to Reuters.

More than 1.5 million people have displaced by the quake, according to local news services that quoted the director of Chile’s emergency management office. In Concepción, which appeared to be especially hard hit, the mayor said Sunday morning that 100 people were trapped under the rubble of a building that had collapsed, according to Reuters.

The earthquake in Haiti was 7.0 on the Richter Scale. The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile early this morning is 700 times stronger than the one in Haiti.