A Look at Major Earthquakes Last 50 Years: "A Look at Major Earthquakes Last 50 Years
By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Saturday, October 8, 2005; 9:04 AM
-- Major earthquakes around the world since early last century:
_ Oct. 8, 2005: Pakistani Kashmir; magnitude 7.6; hundreds killed.
_ March 28, 2005: Sumatra, Indonesia; magnitude 8.7; up to 1,000 killed.
_ Dec. 26, 2004: Sumatra, Indonesia; magnitude 9.0; more than 176,000 people killed in 11 countries from earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
_ Dec. 26, 2003: Bam, Iran; magnitude 6.5; more than 26,000 killed.
_ May 21, 2003: Northern Algeria; magnitude 6.8; nearly 2,300 killed.
_ March 25, 2002: Northern Afghanistan; magnitude 5.8; up to 1,000 killed.
_ Jan. 26, 2001: India; magnitude 7.9; at least 2,500 killed. Estimates put death toll as high as 13,000.
_ Sept. 21, 1999: Taiwan; magnitude 7.6; 2,400 killed.
_ Aug. 17, 1999: Western Turkey; magnitude 7.4; 17,000 killed.
_ Jan. 25, 1999: Western Colombia; magnitude 6; 1,171 killed.
_ May 30, 1998: Northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan; magnitude 6.9; as many as 5,000 killed.
_ Jan. 17, 1995: Kobe, Japan; magnitude 7.2; more than 6,000 killed.
_ Sept. 30, 1993: Latur, India; magnitude 6.0; as many as 10,000 killed.
_ June 21, 1990: Northwest Iran; magnitude 7.3-7.7; 50,000 killed.
_ Dec. 7, 1988: Northwest Armenia; magnitude 6.9; 25,000 killed.
_ Sept. 19, 1985: Central Mexico; magnitude 8.1; more than 9,500 killed.
_ Sept. 16, 1978: Northeast Iran; magnitude 7.7; 25,000 killed.
_ July 28, 1976: Tangshan, China; magnitude 7.8-8.2; 240,000 killed.
_ Feb. 4, 1976: Guatemala; magnitude 7.5; 22,778 killed.
_ Feb. 29, 1960: Southwest Atlantic coast in Morocco; magnitude 5.7; some 12,000 killed, town of Agadir destroyed."
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Term Limits for Supreme Justices?
Power Line: Reaching our limits: "Reaching our limits
Peggy Noonan has a long, insightful column about the Miers nomination. She concludes by advocating term limits for Supreme Court Justices.
I've supported such term limits, and the Roberts confirmation process coupled with the Miers nomination throws the case for them into sharper relief. Under the current rules of engagement (the Ginsburg precedent), nominees refuse to tell the Senate and the public much about what they are likely to do on the bench. And the large number of Democrats willing to vote against Roberts on ideological grounds increases the incentive for presidents to nominate individuals who haven't publicly said much about constitutional issues. Finally, Miers notwithstanding, we can expect relatively young nominees going forward.
In short, we are getting less and less information about individuals who are likely to serve on the Court for longer and longer periods of time in an era when the Court has never been more important. In this perfect storm, the case for term limits seems overwhelming, and my skepticism about the possibility of enacting them is diminishing a bit. Whatever happens to Miers (and I'm pretty sure she will be confirmed), the process will leave a bad taste in the mouth of many Senators on both sides."
Peggy Noonan has a long, insightful column about the Miers nomination. She concludes by advocating term limits for Supreme Court Justices.
I've supported such term limits, and the Roberts confirmation process coupled with the Miers nomination throws the case for them into sharper relief. Under the current rules of engagement (the Ginsburg precedent), nominees refuse to tell the Senate and the public much about what they are likely to do on the bench. And the large number of Democrats willing to vote against Roberts on ideological grounds increases the incentive for presidents to nominate individuals who haven't publicly said much about constitutional issues. Finally, Miers notwithstanding, we can expect relatively young nominees going forward.
In short, we are getting less and less information about individuals who are likely to serve on the Court for longer and longer periods of time in an era when the Court has never been more important. In this perfect storm, the case for term limits seems overwhelming, and my skepticism about the possibility of enacting them is diminishing a bit. Whatever happens to Miers (and I'm pretty sure she will be confirmed), the process will leave a bad taste in the mouth of many Senators on both sides."
Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Breaking America's grip on the net
Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Breaking America's grip on the net: "After troubled negotiations in Geneva, the US may be forced to relinquish control of the internet to a coalition of governments "
READ IT HERE!
READ IT HERE!
BREITBART.COM - Just The News
BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "Here is the text of former Vice President Al Gore's remarks at the We"
Good speach !
Good speach !
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Energy Prob Solved
EconoPundit
How to achieve full energy independence in fifteen years...
Here's the EconoPundit national energy policy.
1. Impose an immediate and permanent oil import tax set on a sliding scale between $95/bbl and current world price. If world price is $70, the tax is $25/bbl. If world price sinks to $35, the tax automatically rises to $60/bbl.
This tax is permanent. Energy costs as seen by households and businesses will initially rise substantially but will quickly stabilize and won't fluctuate even one tiny bit from year to year. What now goes "up and down" is import tax revenue, not domestic energy costs. It is possible there are massive cost reductions in many if not all areas of production to be realized if energy costs are permanently and credibly stabilized.
2. Spend some of the new massive revenue on whatever redistribution is necessary to ease the transition to the new economy. Spend some of it on alternative energy and conservation. Spend some of it on lowering other taxes here and there. Heck, I don't care.
3. Spend the rest on speeding the development of domestic recoverable oil shale. James Perry, who provided this link, describes the situation as follows:
The largest known oil shale deposits in the world are in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Estimates of the oil resource in place within the Green River Formation range from 1.5 to 1.8 trillion barrels. Not all resources in place are recoverable. For potentially recoverable oil shale resources, we roughly derive an upper bound of 1.1 trillion barrels of oil and a lower bound of about 500 billion barrels. For policy planning purposes, it is enough to know that any amount in this range is very high. For example, the midpoint in our estimate range, 800 billion barrels, is more than triple the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.
At current rates of consumption these deposits would keep a U.S. petroleum-based economy going for another 100 years with no oil imports.
How to achieve full energy independence in fifteen years...
Here's the EconoPundit national energy policy.
1. Impose an immediate and permanent oil import tax set on a sliding scale between $95/bbl and current world price. If world price is $70, the tax is $25/bbl. If world price sinks to $35, the tax automatically rises to $60/bbl.
This tax is permanent. Energy costs as seen by households and businesses will initially rise substantially but will quickly stabilize and won't fluctuate even one tiny bit from year to year. What now goes "up and down" is import tax revenue, not domestic energy costs. It is possible there are massive cost reductions in many if not all areas of production to be realized if energy costs are permanently and credibly stabilized.
2. Spend some of the new massive revenue on whatever redistribution is necessary to ease the transition to the new economy. Spend some of it on alternative energy and conservation. Spend some of it on lowering other taxes here and there. Heck, I don't care.
3. Spend the rest on speeding the development of domestic recoverable oil shale. James Perry, who provided this link, describes the situation as follows:
The largest known oil shale deposits in the world are in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Estimates of the oil resource in place within the Green River Formation range from 1.5 to 1.8 trillion barrels. Not all resources in place are recoverable. For potentially recoverable oil shale resources, we roughly derive an upper bound of 1.1 trillion barrels of oil and a lower bound of about 500 billion barrels. For policy planning purposes, it is enough to know that any amount in this range is very high. For example, the midpoint in our estimate range, 800 billion barrels, is more than triple the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.
At current rates of consumption these deposits would keep a U.S. petroleum-based economy going for another 100 years with no oil imports.
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