Who knew that it is the norm in the railway industry to leave the motor on, the doors unlocked and the conductor asleep in a hotel? Something is very wrong with that picture as was tragically and graphically illustrated this weekend in a small, sleepy town in Quebec called Lac-Megantic when oil cars derailed in the center of town. One cannot fathom the sheer terror of waking up to rivers of fire racing toward people’s homes. Those who woke up and were able to literally run for their lives were indeed the lucky ones.
We, as many other people, live not that far from railway tracks where one can see the trains rolling by daily. Whoever thought to look what they were carrying? Crude oil is but one of the products. Poisonous gasses and other highly flammable materials seem to be the norm. The biggest issue is that it appears this industry is not regulated by any inspectors. Did you know that federally regulated rail companies don’t have to share information with the municipalities they run through. It is a sad commentary that on the lives of innocent people, changes and safety measures which should have been implemented long ago, may now finally take place.
Remember client number 9? We’ll jog your memory. His name is Elliot Spitzer and when he was governor of New York a short five years ago, he was caught, shall we discretely say, with his pants down? (Blanche…really, puns are funny but this one is dizguzting.) After being discovered he skulked out of office and disappeared – until this week. Guess what? He’s running to be state comptroller of New York! Wait – the story gets better. One of the ‘madams’ with whom he was ‘friends’ (hehehehe), is running against him for this position!
Yes Blanche – first it’s Weiner and now Spitzer. Ya gotta love those New Yorkers – they just forgive and forget.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/09/196211/linchpin-for-obamas-plan-to-predict.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/09/196211/linchpin-for-obamas-plan-to-predict.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/09/196211/linchpin-for-obamas-plan-to-predict.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/09/196211/linchpin-for-obamas-plan-to-predict.html#storylink=cpy
This next little ditty is one of those you-just-won’t-believe-it stories. Five men from Indonesia were trapped in a tree for five days while hungry tigers circled them, drooling and growling. While tigers can climb trees, it is believed the men had lodged themselves onto slender branches that would not have borne the wait of a tiger. Nu, so how did they get rescued? A holy man uttered a special mantra – a mind-calming chant that orginates from ancient India. After hearing a few bars of the chant, the tigers turned around and went back into the jungle – poof just like that. True story.
Edward Snowden is still holed up in the airport in Moscow. He must be getting pretty bored by now. Seems he may be going to Venezuela, not exactly the most democratic country in the world, to put it mildly. How he’s going to get there is another story as he cannot fly over any airspace with an extradition treaty to the US as they will intercept the plane. One of the suggestions given is the scenic route: Sending a plane along an elaborate Arctic and Atlantic route to avoid any airspace save Russia’s and Venezuela’s – about 7,000 miles.
The problem with that scenario is not many planes can fly that long without refueling. Gulfstream V-series jet could do it, but those planes cost tens of millions of dollars and may need refueling anyway. Hope he has rich friends somewhere cause Russia is getting mighty tired of him.
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