Over 100,000 are now known to be dead. (*)
The SEA-EAT blog is serving as a clearinghouse for information on how to help. (†)
The International Committee of the Red Cross is accepting donations. (‡)
Donations can be also made through Amazon. (§)
Frequent flier miles can be donated through Delta (**) and Continental. (††)
The massive, 9.0 magnitude seaquake off of Aceh, Indonesia on December 26 caused massive tsunamis that inundanted coastal areas around the eastern Indian Ocean. (*) At least 80,000 are dead, and the figure will climb higher. Aid is thankfully pouring in, but the scale of the disaster will make it difficult to manage.
Piero Scaruffi lists some of the worst natural disasters in history. (†)
Munich Re states that 2004 is the “costliest natural disaster year ever.” (‡) Yet, most of the losses from the recent quake were not insured. With the growing threat of global climate shifts, destruction from storms will grow.
There is no known relation between tsunamis and global warming.
The world population has surged to 6.4 billion people.
China is up to 1.3 billion. India hovers at just over a billion. The EU has 456 million. (*) The USA is up to 295 million. (†) Pakistan has grown to 159 million. Russia is down to 143 million. Mexico is up to 105 million, but its demographic boom may be levelling off. Iran has 67 million. France checks in at 60 million. Canada enjoys 32 million. Afghanistan is estimated at 28 million. Iraq is estimated at 25 million. Saudi Arabia also has 25 million. North Korea is estimated at 22 million. Syria has 18 million.
At the low end, the Christmas Islands and Johnston Atoll are both at 396, while the Pitcairn Islands holds at 46.
Islam is a vastly different faith from both Christianity and Judaism. A small illustration of this is a recent report that a famed Arab astrologer, Hassan al-Sharibi, has predicted that President Bush will be assassinated in 2005. (*)
There are many good reasons to protect the President, among them being his position and the fact his father was nearly assassinated in Kuwait a decade ago. No soothsayer need be relied upon to know the danger.
In Christianity and Judaism, soothsaying is not allowed. In Islam, it is just part of daily life. For those who would defend the unity of all faiths, an explanation for such a major difference as this must be found.
Fox News reports that the marriage protection constitutional amendment is not likely to move ahead soon. (*)
The issue is too esoteric and abstract for most voters, and numerous Congressional representatives and Senators will not support the amendment until there is more pressure for it from the public.
Court challenges in favor of gay marriage continue. Eventually the courts will push the issue further. Another backlash may occur at that time.
Since his appointment as Director of Central Intelligence, Porter Goss has fired numerous high-level officials, including George Tenet’s former underlings and many from the clandestine unit. As the New York Times reports, the latest is the deputy director for intelligence at the CIA, head of the analysis unit. (*) Of course we won’t know all the circumstances of these personnel moves. Are all of them advisable? We can’t know.
What is heartening is that at last the government seems to be addressing the long-time need for an overhaul of the intelligence community.
I’ve been trying some Wordpress plugins to stop spam. At some point, one began to seemingly spontaneously block all comments. My deep apology to anyone who tried to post but was blocked. That plugin is now disabled and comments are working.
Comment moderation is still on, of course.
Update: I fixed the problm thanks to some help from the Wordpress support forum.
Update: 20 December 2004: Among others, the words “health insurance” are now banned from comments to prevent spam. You could substitute something like “health ins,” for example.
Americans for Better Immigration has a convenient report card for US Congressional representatives and Senators. (*)
Most of Congress scores poorly.
Conservative Joe Scarborough and liberal Paul Krugman agree. The Bush plan to privatize Social Security will end up costing far more taxpayer dollars than the current system. (*)
For years now payroll taxes (the FICA deductions on paystubs) have mostly gone to pay Social Security, and partially gone to finance the federal budget deficit. That will change. As baby boomers retire, payroll taxes will completely go to Social Security. Then, for a temporary period of time, a relatively small number of other taxpayer dollars will go to pay for the rest of Social Security. It will be a payback to American workers for all those years of payroll taxes financing the budget deficit.
There appears to be no Social Security crisis, and hence no need for privatization.