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Hanna picture 1100
Month: September 2008
Hanna Update: 1045am
Preparing for Hanna
Picked up all the junk in my yard
Tied my canoe up about 15 feet above sea level
Filled coolers and pots with drinking water.
Filled trash can, buckets and bathtub with water for toilets (joy of a well pump w/ no power)
Filled generator with gas
Bought more gas
Bought milk, bread, water, soda, chips, and eggs.
Mowed the lawn and put down new seed (free rain)
Here are some pics on the Bay and of my water factory.
Hurricane / Tropical Storm Hanna Webcam
Was Russia's invasion of Georgia all to benefit the Iranians?
Well, that’s what you could say after reading Debka today.
Apparently Russian commandos raided Georgian airbases that were hosting Israeli spy drones, used to look at the nuclear facilities of Iran. This was the result of a secret agreement between Georgia and Israel to allow Georgian military facilities to be used in any attack on Iranian nuclear weapons plants. However, the Russians seized the drones and turned them over to the Syrians and Iranians after the invasion of Georgia.
It’s Debka so your mileage may vary…
]]>US warship lands in Poti, Georgia which is surrounded by Russian forces
The USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the Sixth Fleet (and heavily laden with intelligence gathering gear) has arrived in the city of Poti, despite the presence of Russian forces at checkpoints outside the city.
Humanitarian antennas
The USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the US Sixth Fleet, is the latest of three vessels sent by the US to deliver blankets, hygiene kits, baby food and other supplies to Georgia after its brief war with Russia.
“I can confirm it has arrived in Poti. Anchoring procedures are still ongoing but it has arrived,” said a US naval official quoted by the AFP news agency.
The Russians are still annoyed that we are using warships to delivery aid.
]]>Mayor Cheye Calvo dogs were legitimate targets
Police were justified when they shot and killed two dogs during a July drug raid at the home of Mayor Cheye Calvo according to an internal review by the police.
“They had a legitimate court order to be there,” he said. “Unfortunately we had to engage the animals, but that engagement was justified.”
…a scientific examination of the carcasses of the two dogs (was) conducted by a veterinarian with the Maryland Department of Agriculture at the request of Mayor Cheye Calvo. The necropsy concluded one dog was shot four times and the other twice, including once in the dog’s back legs.
Mayor Calvo isn’t buying it. Not only was he not interviewed for his witness statements of the shooting but he feels the dogs were not threatening, as proved by the fact the dog was shot in the back.
]]>US spied on Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki, insurgents using 'groundbreaking' covert techniques
Bob Woodward has a new book out so we’re getting drips and drabs from the Washington Post today. It seems the US has been spying on the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (no surprise there, honestly) but using was Woodward calls ‘groundbreaking’ new covert techniques.
Woodward does not disclose the code names of the covert programs or provide much detail about them, saying in the book that White House and other officials cited national security concerns in asking him to withhold specifics. But he quotes “several authoritative sources” as saying that “85 to 90 percent of the successful operations and ‘actionable intelligence’ had come from” the breakthrough techniques.
The book also details the dissension behind the surge, and the fact that Bush made his decisions without the advice (and against the advice) of the Pentagon. It also mentions that he fired Rumsfeld without consulting Cheney (Rumsfeld’s cheif supporter).
Bush informed Cheney of his decision on Nov. 6, 2006, the day before the midterm elections. “Well, Mr. President, I disagree,” Cheney is quoted as saying, “but obviously it’s your call.”
Anyway, we’ll see how it plays when it gets released on Monday. Some of Woodward’s recent books have been self-serving on the part of his ’sources’ (which can be easily seen in some parts).
]]>Hurricane Ike track is confused, to say the least
Hurricane Ike is the one we’ll probably be talking about for a few days. It’s a pretty major storm that will be off the coast of Miami on Monday, probably. It’s track is going in many different directions, but right now it is a category 4 (though it will weaken a bit tonight).
Where it goes > 5 days from now is a million dollar question. Will it slice across Florida or will it turn north and threaten most of the East Coast. Unfortunately we don’t have an idea. The models have just started to show a curve (though some still have it as a line drive straight into the Gulf of Mexico.
We’ll be watching this one.
Confused, to say the least.
International Criminal Court investigating FARC network in Switzerland
I haven’t written about FARC lately as the storms and Olympics and the war in Georgia, but the battle against the FARC is continuing and has taken a new twist lately.
The International Criminal Court prosecutors have decided to look into allegations that a FARC financial support network exists inside Switzerland. Following the allegations against Swiss negotiator John-Pierre Gontard the Colombian government has been keeping up the pressure against Switzerland.
]]>Spain informed us of the detention of a woman, at the request of Colombia, accused of delivering funds to another person who lives in Switzerland, Omar Arturo Zabala Padilla, known as Lucas Gualdron, who is the chief of FARC in Europe,” Ocampo told “Le Temps” newspaper.
The development adds another wrinkle to a relationship already strained by Colombian demands that Swiss professor Jean-Pierre Gontard be investigated for his role in delivering half a million dollars to the guerrilla group for the release of kidnapped employees of Swiss Pharmaceutical company Novartis.
While Gotard has repeatedly stated he delivered the money while acting as a mediator, Colombian prosecutors accuse the professor of financing terrorism.