NYC Subway v. Paris Metro: The Smackdown

There have been reports that the New York City Transit Authority is looking to build the Second Avenue Subway (proposed as the T line) complete with barriers between the platforms and the tracks. It's an intriguing idea, and given that I had just been to Paris, it gives me the opportunity to compare and contrast the systems.

The Paris Metro is of a similar size and is nearly as old as the NYC subway. In my experience using the Metro, only one line had barriers such as the ones being proposed for the Second Avenue Line. I thought it was an interesting idea, even if it was only available on some of the Paris metro stops.

It would make the subways a whole lot safer and would encourage the MTA to expand the program to other stations where it was feasible. If such a system were installed, track fires would become a whole lot less common and the system could theoretically run more efficiently. Station comfort could also be improved as a result.

But, this story also gives me the opportunity to give the tale of the tape between the Paris Metro and the NYC Subway.

Size (track miles):
New York: 660 miles
Paris: 133.7 miles
Winner: New York, by a huge margin. This is due, in part, to the express track system that enables multiple trains to run on certain lines.

Stations:
New York: 468 stations
Paris: 380 stations
Winner: New York by a huge margin. New York has just 35 fewer stations than all other the subway systems in the US combined.

Hours of operation:
New York: 24/7/365
Paris: Shuts down for several hours overnight.
Winner: New York. It is the city that never sleeps precisely because the subways mean that you can get around town all day and all night.

Number of lines:
New York: 26 lines and three shuttle services
Paris: 14 lines and two branches
Winner: New York. And yet there are some parts of the city that are extremely poorly served, like the East Side of Manhattan and parts of the outer boroughs.

Ridership:
New York: 1.5 billion
Paris: 1.3 billion.
Winner: New York.

Comfort:
New York: What's that? Seats are hard plastic and there are plenty of places to stand. No more straps though. Air conditioned cars (when working) are effective.
Paris: Cushioned seats, jumper seats (which are near to the doors and flip up when cars become crowded. Some of the newest cars have bars that are almost sculptural in nature and let more people grab on without feeling like you're intruding too much into the personal space of others. Windows work to aerate the cars.
Winner Draw. New York subway cars carry far more people and because of the 24/7/365 service, cushioned seats would quickly get worn out. Jumper seats don't make sense in a system that carries as many passengers daily as the New York system. The Metro seats are quite comfortable, but you can't get as many people into the subway cars as the New York system, especially during rush hour.

Signage:
New York: The New York maps are fairly good at getting you where you need to go and the number and color system is pretty clear. Trying to figure out the express and local trains isn't nearly as easy. However, knowing which exit to leave an individual station could be a crapshoot.
Paris: Excellent signage and local area maps are present throughout the system. You simply follow the numbers to see which exit to leave the station.
Winner Paris. Simply follow the numbers to know which station exit to leave instead of guessing whether the SE corner is closer to your destination.

Smell:
New York - a combination of pungent odors and urine in quite a few stations, some with raw sewage.
Paris - body odor, urine in a few stations.
Winner: Anyone with a clothespin.

Express Service:
New York: They are one of the few large systems to maintain express service, which means you're just as likely to be stuck in an express car as a local should there be delays in the system.
Paris: Good luck, though trains do run very frequently during the day.
Winner: New York. When it works, the New York subways can get you to your destination far quicker with express service. Paris doesn't really need express service because the city is quite compact.

Style points:
New York: While there are quite a few stations that have art nouveau, beaux arts, or even modern art features, many stations are utilitarian in nature. The City is working on rehabilitating stations and improving the art, but with hundreds of stations, it is a huge undertaking.
Paris: An art lovers paradise. The Louvre-Rivoli stop extends the museum into the Metro, as there are pieces of art displayed behind glass. Concorde is a word lover's paradise. There is station art honoring writers who made Paris home, and the decorative flair at many stations is noteworthy.
Winner Paris, by a hair. New York could benefit from additional art in the subways and the rehabilitation work is a big step in the right direction. If you're going to wait for a subway that might never come, you should at least be mildly entertained in the process.

Station announcements:
New York: Often makes the teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoons seem like they're speaking Queen's English. Incomprehensible and when you can actually understand them, may be wrong.
Paris: Announcements are often quite clear, even if you don't understand the French.
Winner Paris.

Information screens:
New York: What are those?
Paris: Many Paris stations are equipped with signs letting you know when the next two trains are coming.
Winner: Paris. New York may be looking to install similar systems on some of the subway lines, but it is a long time coming and it may be a decade before it is expanded systemwide.

Overall winner: New York 6 - Paris 4 with two draws. New York wins on the brute force approach. Size does matter. Paris gets the style points.

Lebanese Slam Pelosi's Syria Trip

We can thank the US speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for having informed Syrian President Bashar Assad, from Beirut, that "the road to solving Lebanon's problems passes through Damascus." Now, of course, all we need to do is remind Pelosi that the spirit and letter of successive United Nations Security Council resolutions, as well as Saudi and Egyptian efforts in recent weeks, have been destined to ensure precisely the opposite: that Syria end its meddling in Lebanese affairs.

Pelosi embarked on a fool's errand to Damascus this week, and among the issues she said she would raise with Assad - when she wasn't on the Lady Hester Stanhope tour in the capital of imprisoned dissidents Aref Dalila, Michel Kilo, and Anwar Bunni - is "the role of Syria in supporting Hamas and Hizbullah." What the speaker doesn't seem to have realized is that if Syria is made an obligatory passage in American efforts to address the Lebanese crisis, then Hizbullah will only gain. Once Assad is re-anointed gatekeeper in Lebanon, he will have no incentive to concede anything, least of all to dilettantes like Pelosi, on an organization that would be Syria's enforcer in Beirut if it could re-impose its hegemony over its smaller neighbor.

Inasmuch as it is possible to evoke sympathy in such cases, one can sympathize with Hizbullah. In 2000, the party lost much of its reason to exist as a military force when the Israelis withdrew from Southern Lebanon. The manufacturing of the Shebaa Farms pretext, thanks to the diligent efforts of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, bought Hizbullah an extension, a handy fig leaf allowing it to keep its weapons. Last summer, however, the party's initiation of a war devastating to Lebanon, followed by its efforts to lead a coup against the majority, demolished any lingering cross-sectarian support that Hizbullah had enjoyed.

Hizbullah's weapons are no longer regarded as weapons of resistance by most Lebanese, but as weapons of sectarian discord.

Pelosi's statements and visual cues by visiting Syria have damaged human rights in the region, especially in Lebanon, which has been trying to get out from under Syria's yoke of oppression for years. Syria continues to provide assistance to Hizbullah, which is a major source of destabilization in Lebanon, and precipitated a bloody and disastrous war in Southern Lebanon last year. Syria has yet to be held accountable for those actions, along with its involvement in the Hariri assassination.

Yet Pelosi thinks that Syria can be a partner in peace? What planet is she on? Assad's only concern is insuring that he continues to stay in power and will use any and all means to accomplish this, including using gullible American neophyte leftists to push his agenda.

UPDATE:
Trackposted to Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, Is It Just Me?, guerrilla radio, Adam's Blog, basil's blog, Stuck On Stupid, Cao's Blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Phastidio.net, , Conservative Cat, Jo's Cafe, Conservative Thoughts, Pet's Garden Blog, Rightlinx, Faultline USA, Woman Honor Thyself, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Palestinians Continue War Against Israel

Abbas continues to claim that Gilad Shalit will be released. Too bad there's absolutely no evidence to support his empty claims. It's just his word. There's no sign that he's even alive, so the Palestinian terrorists holding him are just trying to extract concessions from Israel without anyone knowing whether he's alive.

The head of the Egyptian security delegation spearheading the negotiations with Hamas for the release of Cpl. Gilad Schalit, who was kidnapped in a cross-border raid near Kerem Shalom on June 25, denied recent reports that the delegation had delivered to Schalit a pair of glasses to replace those he lost in the raid, Israel Radio reported.

General Jamal Hamad told the Al-Quds newspaper, published in east Jerusalem, that the reports were only "guesses," and that media rumors would not facilitate the release of the captive soldier.

The Nazareth-based A-Sinara newspaper had reported early Friday that Schalit received his glasses, which his parents attempted to send him two months ago.

Of course, the Palestinian terrorists aren't simply content with holding Shalit.

They're continuing their rocket attacks against Israel. Yet another kassam rocket was fired at Sderot, hitting a warehouse but caused no injuries. Abbas calls for PA security to stop the attacks. That's a laugh considering that the same PA security is just another side of the terrorist group operations, just in uniform.

A Palestinian terrorist was killed by an IAF airstrike because he was attempting to place a bomb on the Gaza security fence. Of course, the Egyptians turn around and complain that the Israelis fired on the terrorists. That's right - Israel can't go after the terrorists because that would undermine the chances for peace.

There were yet other skirmishes in the West Bank, including one where a senior member of Fatah's al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade was wounded.

Hamas says that they're not going to give up armed resistance. Figures. There's no reason for them to. They see the weakness in the Israeli resolve and think it is a matter of time before they will achieve success.

Finally, the inter-Palestinian warfare continues with Palestinian gunmen wounding a union leader who has ties to Fatah.

Photo of the Day

 

French word games. The walls of the Concorde Metro station are adorned with tiles that are the equivalent of a word scramble game. See how many words you can find in the photo.

Stage Managing

Many years ago, I was a stage manager for several high school productions and worked on theater productions in college as well. I directed folks on stage as to their placement, designed and built sets and lighting schemes and ensured that everyone was operating in a safe environment. So, let's just say I know a thing or two about stage managing.

So, when Iran complains about how the British are stage managing the return of the 15 Britons, I can't help but chuckle just a bit. What exactly were the Iranians doing when they released videos, letters, and then conducted photo ops showing the 15 purportedly admitting to being in Iranian waters, and then urging Britain to get out of Iraq? Or, how about the additional photo ops showing the British receiving gifts including hijabs for the female sailor - Ms. Turney - and suits without ties for the men along with meeting Ahmadinejad. No messages there, right?

Pot. Meet Kettle.

Others blogging: Hot Air and Wizbang.

New York City Health Gurus Considering Circumcision Push

With all the recent concern about restaurant health safety, an issue that affects millions of New Yorkers and visitors, one would think that the New York City Department of Health would concern itself with ensuring that it takes the job of investigating and inspecting restaurants for health code violations and not take up issues that are little more than a diversion.

City health officials are considering a program to urge circumcision for men at high risk of AIDS, noting studies that the procedure can reduce the chances of getting the disease.

The city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has sought feedback from gay rights groups and community organizations, and it approached the agency that runs city hospitals and health clinics about possibly offering the procedure for free to men without health insurance, The New York Times reported in Thursday editions.

Health department spokeswoman Sara Markt confirmed Thursday that the agency was in discussions "with the community about the possibility of increasing access to the service and educating the public about the risks and benefits of circumcision."

Food poisoning affects millions of people annually. Thousands die from food poisoning, some of whom are actually in New York.

Yet, the City Health Department thinks that they should interpose themselves in the ongoing debate over whether circumcisions should be mandated or made available for free (to the men in high risk groups) to reduce the chances of the spread of AIDS. There are studies from Africa showing that circumcized men are less likely to contract the disease and spread it to others.

Since the City has a limited budget, does it not make more sense to prioritize where the money is spent? Fund more inspectors to ensure food safety for millions of people or fund a new program that may provide some protection against AIDS.

Frieden is continuing to pursue the wrong priorities, and Mayor Bloomberg seems to have no problem with this, despite the bad press that comes from having rats running through restaurants. Frieden responded with a ticket blitz that either shows that the Department wasn't doing its job before the rat videos surfaced or it was overcompensating for being caught with its pants down, or both.

It's far easier to take up a sexy subject like circumcisions for men to reduce the possible spread of AIDS than to do the heavy lifting of ensuring food safety for patrons of New York City restaurants, which is about as unglamorous as it gets.

Signs of Life ... Or Not

Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen aka Mahmoud Abbas says that Gilad Shalit may be released soon. If I had a nickle for every time I heard that, I'd be able to buy a house in Saddle River, New Jersey (I'd be a real rich guy).

"We are undertaking efforts to free Shalit and these efforts will soon come to fruition," Abbas told France 24 television of Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was seized last June in a cross-border raid from Gaza into southern Israel. "We are optimistic.

He will be freed soon," Abbas said in comments due to be broadcast Friday evening.

However, he gave no specifics and previous comments by him about Shalit have not resulted in the soldier's release.

Abbas said there were also 9,500 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel who should be released too, although he said the two issues were not related.

Channel 2 reported Friday evening that Hamas has given Israel a list of prisoners it is demanding be freed in exchange for Shalit.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian militants holding captured Shalit recently brought him a pair of eyeglasses, the Nazareth-based newspaper A-Sanara reported on Friday.

He's been held since June 2006, and there's been no sign that he was alive, and there's no reason to believe that anything has changed in Israel's stance on prisoner releases or giving in to threats.

Hizbullah also continues to hold two Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, and there's no sign of life on that front either though Hizbullah claims that they were treated humanely. Goldwasser and Regev were captured by Hizbullah terrorists who invaded Israel to specifically capture Israeli soldiers to be used as bargaining chips. Hizbullah didn't count on Israel taking serious military action, including a month-long military campaign to degrade Hizbullah's capabilities in South Lebanon.

There's no reason to believe that the terrorists have decided to release their captives, though there is one possible reason for the news on this front.

Iran.

Has the situation with the British 15 forced Iran to put the screws to its proxy terrorists in Lebanon and Gaza to buy time for the Iranians so that they can continue their nuclear ambitions?

I think the simpler explanation may be that Abu Mazen is simply trying to gain credibility with the West by claiming Shalit will be released soon, and is hoping for a quid pro quo from Israel to release Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have Israeli blood on their hands.

Yet More Pet Food Recalled

Menu Foods continues to add to the items already being recalled. The problem is that the recall now extends to products sold even earlier than first acknowledged.

A recall of pet food tainted with melamine, a chemical used to make plastic products, has been widened to include 22 types of dog biscuits, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday.

The biscuits, made by Sunshine Mills Inc., contain wheat gluten imported from China that contained melamine, said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the F.D.A.

Sunshine Mills, of Red Bay, Ala., manufactures branded and private label dry pet food and biscuits. The recalled biscuits include Nurture Chicken and Rice Biscuit, Ol’ Roy Peanut Butter Biscuit and Pet Life Large Biscuit.

Conrad Pitts, a lawyer for Sunshine Mills, said 80 percent of the tainted biscuits were sold by Wal-Mart, under the Ol’ Roy brand. Mr. Pitts said that the company had produced about 24 truckloads of biscuits with the contaminated gluten, and that the majority of the product was large biscuits. He said wheat gluten accounted for less than 1 percent of the total weight of the biscuits.

Until last week, when moist cat treats, dog jerky and a type of dry cat food were added to the recall, it had been limited to wet pet food sold under a variety of brand names.

Menu Foods, which last month recalled more than 90 brands of its “cuts and gravy” pet food, said yesterday that it had extended the period of time covered by its recall to include food made after Nov. 8, 2006. The company, based in Ontario, initially recalled only food made from Dec. 3, 2006, to March 6, 2007.

The ongoing and growing list of recalls means that you almost have to check back hourly or daily to see whether the recalls have affecting the pet food you may have bought. The FDA has compiled the list and provides additional information.

UPDATE:
The Chinese companies implicated in the tainted pet food are hemming and hawing over their role.

The Chinese agency that monitors food exports says China has never exported wheat or wheat gluten to the U.S.

The accused company, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development, at first said the U.S. was its main overseas customer for wheat gluten. But then the company said it had never shipped gluten directly to the U.S.

A company official was later quoted as saying it sold the suspect gluten to another Chinese food processor, and that company "probably" shipped it to the States.

This is the latest in a series of food scares in China in recent years.

Considering that the Chinese government has been notorious in its coverup of environmental disasters and poisonings, I would be reluctant to trust the Chinese government when it issues definitive statements denying a role in the pet food poisonings.

Photo of the Day

 

More gargoyles at the cathedral of Notre Dame. They're just hanging around.

Chumley's Collapsed - Updated With Corrections

The legendary Greenwich Village speakeasy Chumley's appears to have succumbed to a building collapse. The building facade collapsed earlier today and the FDNY is on the scene and will be taking down the rest of the building. There have been problems with the facade for some time, and the owners of the building have been trying to get the repairs done, but the bar and another tenant had managed to block the repairs claiming that the repairs would force them out in favor of higher paying tenants.

Curbed has the details, including photographs. (HT: Anonymous emailer)

For a history of Chumleys, see here. Forgotten NY has a roundup of old-time bars and speakeasies, including Chumley's.

I've had the opportunity to visit Chumley's once, but never got to experience the full effect. It will be missed.

UPDATE:
I got the opportunity to walk past the building earlier today (4:50PM) and saw emergency personnel walking around the site. I didn't see a facade collapse, but there was scaffold up along with several pieces of wood blocking. The streets immediately adjacent to the site have been blocked off and there was some press on the scene though no camera crews from the local tv stations. As Curbed notes, the facade itself did not collapse as first reported, but there was an interior wall collapse and the engineers have determined that the building does not appear to have to come down just yet. Chumley's may not be a total loss, though it also appears that there was work going on illegally.

Official word from the Dept. of Buildings: "Earlier today, Buildings inspectors and engineers were called to assess structural damage to the building at 86 Bedford Street in Manhattan. The chimney at 86 Bedford Street separated from the interior wall and collapsed into the bar area. There were no injuries. Two buildings have been temporarily vacated pending the completion of the shoring work. The Red Cross is assisting with relocating the tenants. Buildings engineers have determined the building is not in danger of collapse. Demolition of the building is not being considered at this time. Buildings is working with the building owner and shoring company to stabilize the collapsed area. The building owner had been issued a permit to remove and replace the landmarked façade. The building owner had submitted an application to the Buildings Department to conduct construction work on the interior of the building. The Buildings Department has not issued a permit for that application. The Buildings Department is issuing three violations for working without a permit and unsafe construction practices."

Video Coming From the Great Beyond?

CENTCOM is reporting that one of the jihadi websites is claiming that they're going to be releasing a new video showing Osama. I can't wait to hear what they've cooked up. Andrew at the Counterterrorism Blog can't remember whether CENTCOM has ever issued a release such as this before. This might be the first time, as I can't either.

Allahpundit is somewhat dubious at the possibility that Osama will appear. He thinks it is more likely that it will be a video from Number 2 - Zawahiri.

The fact is that al Qaeda is taking a pasting in Iraq and getting it from every corner. Sunnis, Shiites, Iraqi forces, US forces. He's got to do something to reverse the trend, and making an appeal to the jihadis is about all Osama can offer these days.

The Islamists were booted from Somalia, despite his calls for jihad there. Ethiopia had delivered quite the beating to jihadi forces there, despite Osama's calls for the jihad to spread to the Horn of Africa. The Islamic Courts are engaging in an insurgency, but they're the ones on the run. The same goes for al Qaeda and Taliban along the Afghan-Pakistani border, despite the safe haven afforded by some elements inside Pakistan.

Others blogging: Jammie Wearing Fool, LGF, Michelle Malkin, and The Jawa Report.

Calling Out Pelosi

Kudos to the editorial board of the Washington Post for getting this one right. Nancy Pelosi has absolutely no authority to conduct foreign policy that goes against the policy of the President of the United States. She cannot substitute her own judgment for that of the President.

For starters, that is unconstitutional. It doesn't matter whether you agree with this President's foreign policy choices or not. Congress does not have the power or right to substitute its own foreign policy for that of the Presidency.

And this doesn't even begin to touch on the tone deaf approach by Pelosi, the meddling and misleading nature of her comments that included making statements about Israeli intentions for peace with Syria:

HOUSE SPEAKER Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered an excellent demonstration yesterday of why members of Congress should not attempt to supplant the secretary of state when traveling abroad. After a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that "Israel was ready to engage in peace talks" with Syria. What's more, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to "resume the peace process" as well. Having announced this seeming diplomatic breakthrough, Ms. Pelosi suggested that her Kissingerian shuttle diplomacy was just getting started. "We expressed our interest in using our good offices in promoting peace between Israel and Syria," she said.

Only one problem: The Israeli prime minister entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such message. "What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel," said a statement quickly issued by the prime minister's office. In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that "a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel." In other words, Ms. Pelosi not only misrepresented Israel's position but was virtually alone in failing to discern that Mr. Assad's words were mere propaganda.

The WaPo tries to argue that the GOPers on the trip with Pelosi were just as culpable for sending mixed messages, but the difference is not simply nuance. Pelosi is the highest ranking Democrat in the House and third in line to the Presidency. Her words carry far more weight than the other members on the trip combined. Her actions carry more weight.

That she doesn't realize this shows her inexperience and failure to appreciate the difficulty of wading into Middle East politics without understanding that appearances are as important as words or deeds. By appearing in Damascus, she played right into the hands of the butcher Assad. By wearing a hijab while she was out on the streets of Damascus, she showed that she was subservient to Muslim dictates, despite the fact that it is a sign that women are treated as second class citizens.

UPDATE:
After a discussion/question at LGF over what kind of reporting on the subject was done by the WaPo, I came up with the following:

There's this piece getting opinions on Pelosi's foreign policy adventures. Carter "demurs" but others say she was within what some observers call such trips. It was interesting to note that it was Democrat House Majority leaders who have expanded their role in foreign policy well beyond what it had been for generations.

This piece notes the competing political interests in foreign policy and the absence of Bush in the developments, including the release of the 15 Brits (go figure that someone would try to make spurrious connections between Pelosi's visit and the release). Also, it tries to suggest that being a superpower still has limits. I'd argue that the only limits are what are self imposed. A lack of will to take action - defensive or otherwise - defines the power downward.

This article notes that Pelosi's visit may signal a return of Syria to prominence within the region as a dealmaker. Great - Pelosi succeds in bringing back thugocracies and dictatorial regimes that seek to eliminate democratically elected governments on their borders [that's my observation, not that of the writer, who thinks this is just swell].

However, the key graf has really nothing to do with Pelosi and everything to do with the GWoT, Iraq, al Qaeda, Iran, and Islamofascism in general (though the article doesn't quite go that far):

Analysts say Syria is in part playing a waiting game, confident it will outlast the Bush administration. But its official media played up the symbolism of the Pelosi visit as a recognition of Syria's role in the region and a break in its isolation.

All the regimes in the region are playing a waiting game, knowing that they can simply outlast US commitments to its allies. Terrorists will take advantage of our lack of will, dictators will take advantage of neophyte political hacks who don't recognize evil for what it is, and the symbolism of such visits will resonate for a long time to come.

UPDATE:
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, sissunchi, Faultline USA, stikNstein... has no mercy, basil's blog, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, Pursuing Holiness, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Homecoming

The 15 British service members captured by Iran on March 23 have arrived back in Great Britain. That's got to be a relief to the families and friends of those 15.

Now, the questions begin in earnest. What really happened and what were the fateful decisions that were made that resulted in the capture of the 15? Was their a failure to follow the rules of engagement or did the Royal Navy follow them?

Who won and who lost as a result of the confrontation? I would lean towards Iran winning the confrontation because they've been the ones playing the media brilliantly despite the fact that their propaganda was in violation of international law.

Ahmadinejad may have won, though there are reports that suggest that others inside the Iranian government forced the release because they didn't want to get into a military encounter with the British and/or US when they know they'd get pasted heavily. It was a timing thing - they don't want to get ahead of themselves before their own capabilities are such that they can produce a standoff weapon that would make anyone think twice about military action.

Tony Blair was a loser in this. He looked weak and didn't send the right signals to the Iranians and the rest of the world that they would take decisive action if Iran didn't immediately release the 15. More to the point, the British looked weak because a closer look at the assets at their disposal shows that they were incapable of mounting a major military action on their own to rescue their service members.

Blair says he holds no ill will. He might not, but the British military should. The Iranians are certainly keeping score on this front and see that they were able to get the British to bend in the breeze.

The Royal Navy lost. What were the rules of engagement and why didn't the support ships take action to save their crew? Has the fleet been so degraded that they cannot handle missions and protect themselves from what can only be regarded as piracy?

Blair denies that the British sent a letter of apology for the incident. It may take some time, but we may eventually learn how and why the 15 were released, and I doubt it had anything to do with a gesture of goodwill on the part of the Iranians.

Meanwhile, the US is considering Iranian requests to visit five Iranians being held inside Iraq. The five were captured in Irbil and are accused of assisting the insurgency.

UPDATE:
Hot Air has a good roundup including questions over the photos taken of the 15 before they left Iran for Britain. Several of the Brits didn't smile for the pictures, and it's curious that their images were cropped from some of the photos. Journalistic and editorial choices were made, but some are lauding those Brits who didn't smile while some are wondering just how much of an effort was made to resist the Iranian demands to apologize.

UPDATE:
Jay Tea has a very good piece on how there are ramifications to the Iran-Britain situation that will not simply be papered over by apologies. Iran's mad mullahs do not work that way.

The precedent has been set: Iran has kidnapped sailors, kept them prisoner, denied them their Geneva Convention rights, used them as PR props, and then let them go in a grand ceremony -- and the world is trampling all over itself to pat them on the back. "Consequences? Why, those would be mean-spirited and punitive and not at all conducive to civil discourse! Besides, everyone is safe, so what's the problem?"

He also makes a point I've stated from early on - this incident gives Iran the mojo to claim Iraqi waters in the Shat al Arab as their own.

Iran has tried this before, and they'll learn from the experience how to do it even better the next time and the demands will be more than simply an apology. As Michelle Malkin notes, there are specific requirements for US soldiers, sailors, and Marines to resist as much as they are capable of doing for as long as possible. The US Chief of Naval Operations was quite blunt in saying that there was no way US sailors would have been taken without a fight.

That compares with the British military who dismissed questions that the Britons behaved improperly.

There are questions over how the British responded once they were in Iranian custody. Some of that will undoubtedly related back to training and preparation for the possibility of being captured. That will reflect back on the Admirals and Generals, not just on the 15. The questions will certainly intensify and take on a life of their own, not to mention become politicized, especially considering that the Royal Navy is continuing operations in the Persian Gulf and is deployed around the world.

What is the price of liberty? That's what Pajamas Media asks, and apparently Pat Dollard says it was Iranian the Iranian “diplomat” Jalal Sharafi, aka Mohammed Javad Sharaf-Zadeh, who was traded for the 15 British sailors. Eli Lake has more. As much as some on the left think that the US didn't have a role in securing the freedom of the 15 Brits, it appears that there was a quid pro quo involved. Too bad the Administration chose to provide assistance by releasing someone who provides assistance and material support to terrorists who are attacking US forces in Iraq. That said, I can understand how they could justify the release because he was a diplomat and civilized nations are supposed to respect certain rules and honor diplomatic immunity. Too bad the Iranians laugh at the idea of diplomatic immunity.

He did, however, warn of giving into the demands of hostage takers. "Once people start taking hostages or kidnapping folks on the high seas and then are rewarded for it by getting some kind of political concession or some other thing of value, that would be unfortunate," he said.

An adviser to the National Security Council and the State Department in the Reagan administration, Michael Ledeen, who himself was an interlocutor with the Iranians when America secretly sold arms to free Americans taken by Iran's proxies, Hezbollah, said yesterday, "There is always a quid pro quo, we don't know yet what it was."

Not all Iran watchers, however, believe that Iran got the best of the exchange yesterday. The deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Patrick Clawson, said yesterday, "I don't think the British gave them anything."

Mr. Clawson said, "The Iranians got very little for this.

Very little is a whole lot more than they should have ever gotten in this whole mess of their own designs.

Photo of the Day

 

The statue of Eros and Psyche by Antonio Canova at the Louvre.



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Blocked

More than 100 Jackson Hewitt tax preparation centers around the country were shut down because they were involved in tax scams and defrauding the government out of nearly $100 million.

The Justice Department accuses the franchises of bilking the government out of more than $70 million through fraudulent practices such as using phony W-2 forms, bogus deductions and fuel tax credits and false claims regarding the earned income tax credit.

Jackson Hewitt Tax Services Inc. is the nation's second largest tax preparer. The franchises were either totally or partially owned by Farrukh Sohail, the Justice Department said, and involved "a pervasive and massive series of tax-fraud schemes," according to court filings.

Sohail and other defendants "created, directed, fostered, and maintained a business environment" at the Jackson Hewitt franchises "in which fraudulent tax return preparation is encouraged and flourishes," according to court documents.

Employees were encouraged to ignore telltale signs of fraudulent information and to file claims even when it was obvious customers were using fake W-2 forms or false deductions.

A sample of returns prepared by franchises connected to Sohail found 31 percent contained false information such as phony earned income tax credit claims, bogus deductions and fraudulent W-2 forms.

HR Block is certainly smiling at this turn of events. Usually, it is HR Block who is in the crosshairs of government investigations for predatory lending on their refund anticipation loan program or misleading advertising. Or that they need tax preparation services themselves.

New Building Code Coming To New York City

The push to update the NYC building code, which was last revised in 1968, was brought about by the collapse of the World Trade Center in the 9/11 attacks. The revision involves looking at all aspects of building construction and received input from hundreds of experts in the industry.

The new code, drafted with the help of more than 400 industry figures — including architects, real estate developers, engineers, government officials, and union representatives — will be presented to the City Council later this month.

It is modeled on the International Building Code in use in cities across America, but it will contain provisions specific to New York City. Many experts consulted during the three-year revision process say it will finally bring the city into the 21st century when it comes to building and safety requirements.

A final draft has not yet been released, but Marolyn Davenport, the senior vice president of the city's most powerful lobbying group representing the real estate industry, the Real Estate Board of New York, said the new code could lead to building cost increases, a perennial concern among developers.

"I think there will be some increases in costs," Ms. Davenport, who has attended committee meetings on the new code over the past few years, said. "There are potentially new requirements that could cost more. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, necessarily, if it's something people should be doing" for safety reasons.

While there are some who think that the new code will increase costs of construction, others think that the new code will actually simplify and reduce costs in the long run.

Mr. Bell also said he thinks the new code would be easier to read and understand. Since it is modeled off of the International Building Code, architects and engineers hailing from outside the city will have an easier time navigating construction requirements in New York.

However, unlike the International Building Code, a 664-page document that measures about one and a half inches thick, the city's code is thousands of pages long and stuffed with memorandum, technical policy and procedure notices, rules, and local laws added over the past 39 years.

A managing director at Real Capital Analytics, Dan Fasulo, said remaking any city's building code prompts a careful dance between safety concerns and cost constraints.

"You want the code to protect the quality of construction," he said. "You want to make sure the code is up to modern standards. At the same time, you don't want to make it too onerous, so it's too expensive to build in the city."

Corzine Warns Property Taxpayers to be Skeptical of Savings

Where were these kinds of articles before Gov. Corzine signed into law this property tax reform that actually has enough loopholes to drive through crushing property tax increases despite the claims that this will solve some of the state's problems?

But people will have to wait at least several years to see the results of more substantial reforms to New Jersey's property tax system that grows over 7 percent a year, Governor Corzine said after he signed the measures.

Residents have heard lawmakers promise for decades that change will come, and they have a right to be leery of these new actions, despite the coming payments that could average $1,000, Corzine said.

"I'd be skeptical too, if I was a taxpayer. Until I see the results, it's show-me time," Corzine said, adding that those results will take years to happen. "The reforms take time. It's not one of those things where you're going to get instant gratification."

The measures signed Tuesday bring to a close the Legislature's special session on property tax reforms, launched in July. Corzine and Democratic leaders pledged to enact significant changes to the property tax system by December, but that deadline came and went with enactment of a handful of mostly minor changes. This year, Democrats regrouped and focused on the bills Corzine signed Tuesday.

The first provides a 20 percent tax credit for homeowners who meet income guidelines. It also caps local tax bills at 4 percent a year, although several costs, such as negotiated pay raises and insurance, will not be counted toward the new cap. It is not an iron- clad cutoff, either -- voters can agree to raise taxes beyond the 4 percent and state officials still have discretion to approve higher rates.

For most residents, the tax credit will be the biggest and most visible change in the coming months. Homeowners earning $100,000 or less will see a credit of about 20 percent of the property tax bill paid in 2006. Higher income households will receive a smaller credit and none will be provided for those earning more than $250,000.

So, the cap on local tax increases isn't a hard cap, but permits municipalities to raise taxes above the 4% cap to cover certain costs, and even then, state official have discretion to approve higher rates.

The state continues to play a shell game on its fiscal situation and that property taxes will continue to rise at or above the rate of inflation despite this so-called reform shows that the situation is far from under control.

Live Free or Die Harder Trailer

I'm a big fan of Die Hard. It had one of the best movie villains of all time and Alan Rickman played the part to perfection and Bruce Willis was believable as an everyman cop placed into an extraordinary situation. The latest Bruce Willis blockbuster looks like it's got the wizbang special effects that top the prior movies combined.

Out of Hand

Protestors decided that their freedom of speech included throwing items at Karl Rove's car when Rove was leaving the campus of American University after giving a speech to College Republicans:

Rove was on the campus to talk to the College Republicans, but when he got outside more than a dozen students began throwing things at his car, an American University spokesperson said.

The students then got on the ground and lay down in front of his car as a protest.

The students said security officials picked them up and carried them away so Rove could leave.

Police said they have dealt with a lot of protests on campus and this one was handled peacefully.

Will assault charges be filed against those who threw items at Rove's vehicle? There's video of the encounter but it's of rather poor quality.

Jammie Wearing Fool also comments on the situation. Hot Air also weighs in and wonders about the leftist thuggery.

House of Cards

New Jersey's house of cards, otherwise known as the state budget and fiscal outlook, is a very fragile thing. The latest sign that the situation is out of hand is a report by the New York Times indicating that the state has been shortchanging the pension fund by billions of dollars. This means that not only are the pension funds underfunded but that the operating budgets are in danger as well.

In 2005, New Jersey put either $551 million, $56 million or nothing into its pension fund for teachers. All three figures appeared in various state documents — though the state now says that the actual amount was zero.

Recycled Money The phantom contribution is just one indication that New Jersey has been diverting billions of dollars from its pension fund for state and local workers into other government purposes over the last 15 years, using a variety of unorthodox transactions authorized by the Legislature and by governors from both political parties.

The state has long acknowledged that it has been putting less money into the pension fund than it should. But an analysis of its records by The New York Times shows that in many cases, New Jersey has overstated even what it has claimed to be contributing, sometimes by hundreds of millions of dollars.

The discrepancies raise questions about how much money is really in the New Jersey pension fund, which industry statistics show to be the ninth largest in the nation’s public sector, with reported assets of $79 billion.

State officials say the fund is in dire shape, with a serious deficit. It has enough to pay retirees for several years, but without big contributions, paid for by cuts elsewhere in the state’s programs, higher taxes or another source, the fund could soon be caught in a downward spiral that could devastate the state’s fiscal health. Under its Constitution, New Jersey cannot reduce earned pension benefits.

The Times’s examination of New Jersey’s pension fund showed that officials have taken questionable steps again and again. The state recorded investment gains immediately when the markets were up, for instance, then delayed recording losses when the markets were down. It reported money to pay for health care costs as contributions to the pension fund, though that money would soon flow out of the fund. It claimed it had “excess” assets that allowed it to divert required pension contributions to other uses, like providing financial assistance to poor school districts.

Trenton is blaming the Treasury Division officials while Treasury is blaming the Legislature for directing them to take these actions. Either way, this double whammy is going to leave taxpayers on the hook to make up the shortfall.

And we all know what that means. More taxes.

Gov. Corzine has been warning that the pension system is in crisis, but he's not willing to take the political hit necessary to get the state on a sound fiscal footing. He's unwilling to cut state jobs and reduce state expenditures all the while promising (and getting) property tax reform in the form of higher sales tax rates to curb the growth in property taxes for the next couple of years. He's also looking at one-shots to get the budget in line, but that will not provide a permanent fix.

Cutting state spending is the only way to achieve a sound fiscal picture for New Jersey, but that is not going to happen with the legislature and governor wedded to the unions and state workforce.

Resolution in Iran-Britain Standoff at Hand?

Reports indicate that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has pardoned the 15 Britons held by the Iranians. The Iranians have been claiming that the British entered Iranian waters and were apprehended inside Iranian waters. The British and Iraqis have held that the British forces were well inside Iraqi waters in the disputed Sha'at al Arab waterway. BBC has more:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says 15 British naval personnel captured in the Gulf will be freed.
He repeated allegations that the British sailors and marines "invaded" Iranian waters, but said they would be freed as a "gift" to Britain.

He made the announcement at a news conference, in which he also awarded medals to the commanders who captured the British personnel in the Gulf.

Britain says the 15 were in Iraqi waters under a UN mandate.

Mr Ahmadinejad also criticised the US-led invasion of Iraq and Israel's war in Lebanon.

He used a news conference marking the Persian New Year to condemn the countries he said were behind "misery" and "destruction" in the world.

He said there did not appear to be anyone "to stand up and defend the rights of those oppressed".

He opened the news conference with references to the Islamic holy book, the Koran, then made a wide-ranging speech about the modern history of the Middle East, while attacking the West.

Before we get all giddy with excitement over the news of this release, let's remember that the Iranians had promised to release Faye Turney, the sole female Briton being held, and she's still in their custody. Until all the Britons are released and back in Britain, I'm not going to hold my breath.

One looming question, if this story pans out, then becomes who blinked and the ramifications of this act going forward.

Ahmadinejad also uses the opportunity to rail against the US and British involvment in Iraq saying that they are responsible for the death and misery afflicting the country. I'd say go look in the mirror as there is ongoing evidence that the Iranians are doing their best to cause mayhem and chaos in Iraq to further their own ambitions in the region. Dictators love stability because it means that their power isn't challenged. The US chose to upset the apple cart by going and removing a dictator that had shown himself to be a threat to US strategic interests, US allies, and was a sponsor of international terrorism.

Iran is currently taking a page out of the Iraqi playbook, and is also operating from the playbook Iran invented in 1979 by taking hostage foreign citizens to shape international foreign policy.

UPDATE:
Kim at Wizbang and Hot Air are monitoring the situation. Allah notes:

The fact that they let/made Ahmadinejad make the announcement smacks of a face-saving gesture. According to the Times, Ahmadinejad’s hardliners were split with the pragmatists about how far to pursue confrontation here. You may remember the Times of London claimed a few days ago that the hardliners themselves were split, with the head of the Revolutionary Guard advocating that the sailors be freed. Sounds like “Mahdi” and his crew lost the debate but Khamenei threw him a bone by letting him look powerful and magnanimous by framing the release as a presidential pardon. The fact that it’s a pardon also assumes that a crime was committed, of course, which is another face-saving gesture.

The question now, given the de facto prisoner exchange yesterday involving that Iranian diplomat kidnapped in Iraq, is how much Britain — or we — gave up to make this happen.

Ed Morrissey also wonders what this means for the Blair government and whether there was a quid pro quo involved in this deal.

UPDATE:
This report has Ahmadinejad criticizing Britain for deploying Turney because she has a child.

He then interrupted his speech and pinned medals on the chests of three Coast Guard officers involved in capturing the British sailors and marines in the northern Gulf on March 23.

"We are sorry that British troops remain in Iraq and their sailors are being arrested in Iran," Ahmadinejad said.

He criticized Britain for deploying Leading Seaman Faye Turney, one of the 15 detainees, in the Gulf, pointing out that she is a woman with a child.

Also Wednesday, Iran's state media reported that an Iranian envoy will be allowed to meet five Iranians detained by U.S. forces in northern Iraq since January.

That's rich. Real rich.

Iran, after all, is a country, that had absolutely no problem recruiting thousands of children to serve as cannon fodder in the Iran-Iraq war. Lacking minesweeping equipment, the Iranians used the children to trigger the explosives so that the tanks wouldn't be damaged. The Iranian government gave the children keys to wear around their necks, signifying their entry into Paradise when they were killed on the battlefield:

The first modern use of child soldiers in the region was actually during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Iranian law, based on the Koranic sharia, had forbid the recruitment of children under 16 into the armed forces. However, a few years into the fighting, the regime began to falter in its war with its neighbor, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. So it chose to ignore its own laws, and in 1984, Iranian President Ali-Akbar Rafsanjani declared that “all Iranians from 12 to 72 should volunteer for the Holy War.”24 Thousands of children were pulled from schools, indoctrinated in the glory of martyrdom, and sent to the front lines only lightly armed with one or two grenades or a gun with one magazine of ammunition. Wearing keys around their necks (to signify their pending entrance into heaven), they were sent forward in the first waves of attacks to help clear paths through minefields with their bodies and overwhelm Iraqi defenses. Iran’s spiritual leader at the time, Ayatollah Khomeini, delighted in the children’s sacrifice and extolled that they were helping Iran to achieve “a situation which we cannot describe in any way except to say that it is a divine country.”

Once again, Iran's Ahmadinejad gets to 'lecture' the West on its military practices and actions without criticism for his country's own actions.

UPDATE:
Pajamas Media has a big roundup of the developing situation. Rick Moran wonders what price was paid to secure the release. That's the big question and it's the one with the lasting ramifications. If there was a quid pro quo, such as the release of Iranians captured inside Iraq, then Iran knows it has leverage to secure further goals via the same means.

Chinese Wheat Gluten Implicated in Pet Deaths Banned

The U.S. is blocking imports of wheat gluten from a company in China, acting after an investigation implicated the contaminated ingredient in the recent pet-food deaths of cats and dogs.

The Food and Drug Administration took action against wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. in Wangdien, China, after the U.S. recall of nearly 100 brands of pet food made with the chemically contaminated ingredient. The pet food, tainted with the chemical melamine, apparently has resulted in kidney failure in an unknown number of animals.

Wheat gluten from China has been suspected in the outbreak since the first of multiple recalls was announced in mid-March. Even more pet food could be recalled in the next few days, though there probably has been no contamination of human food, FDA officials said Monday.

The FDA reported last week that it had found melamine in samples of the vegetable protein source used in the recalled wet and dry pet foods and treats, as well as in cats that died after eating contaminated food.

"The wheat gluten that is positive for melamine all has come from this manufacturer," Neal Bataller, director of the division of compliance with the FDA's veterinary medicine office, told reporters. Melamine is used in plastics, countertops, glue, fire retardants and other products. Its toxicity to dogs and cats is unknown, but it is not allowed in food in any quantity.

Geng Xiujuan, Xuzhou Anying's sales manager, said the company was aware of the FDA's import alert and was looking into it. However, Geng said the company had not manufactured the wheat gluten but had instead bought it from companies in neighboring provinces.

Investigators are still trying to track down the source of the contamination and how it entered the food stream for pets.

For those who aren't quite sure what products have been recalled thus far, here's what claims to be a comprehensive listing. That list may yet expand further.

There's another recall of pet food that is unrelated to the one that felled so many pets in the past couple of weeks. This recall relates to potential salmonella contamination.

Did UN Know About North Korean Counterfeiting Years Ago?

Spokesmen for the United Nations Development Program have said top officials at the agency's New York headquarters learned in February that their safe in Pyongyang contained the counterfeit bills and immediately reported it to American authorities. But several documents shown recently to The New York Sun indicate that higher-ups knew much earlier that the safe held counterfeit money.

The documents are part of a worldwide reporting system that allows the agency to keep track of the contents of its office safes.

One "safe contents count record" — shown to the Sun with the stipulation that the paper omit such details as the exact issuing date, which was before February — confirms that fake money was in the safe in Pyongyang. According to a source familiar with the system, this and similar records were filed with UNDP headquarters twice a year.

Internal UNDP communication shown to the Sun also indicates that in at least one incident, a Pyongyang office manager reported the existence of the counterfeit money to his successor. Similar reports were filed with the seven managers that have served in North Korea since 1995. Some of these managers have returned to UNDP headquarters since then and now serve as top officials there.

The Secret Service and federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York are investigating the matter and have sought out at least 13 UNDP officials for interviews. But questions about diplomatic immunity and whether lawyers can represent the officials during those interviews have yet to be resolved.

Follow the money and the paper trail. The UN has another scandal on its hands, though the media will be slow in covering yet another instance of malfeasance in their favorite international institution.

The US Treasury Department and Secret Service (which is the agency tasked with ensuring the security of US currency) have a lot of questions for the UN officials and why they withheld information on counterfeit currency that was obtained from a North Korean enterprise.

Others blogging: Ed Morrissey and Prairie Pundit.

Grading the Storm Predictions

How many times will this prediction be revised?

An active hurricane season is predicted.

Last year, scientists predicted a very strong hurricane season and it turned out to be just the opposite.

The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season should be "very active," with 17 named storms, a top storms forecaster said Tuesday.

Those named storms are expected to include five intense or major hurricanes, according to forecaster William Gray's team at Colorado State University. Gray said there is a 74 percent probability of a major hurricane hitting the U.S. coast.

The team's forecasts are based on global oceanic and atmospheric conditions.

Last year, Gray's forecast - as well as government forecasts - was higher than what the Atlantic hurricane season produced. Gray's team said the reason was a late El Nino that altered oceanic conditions.

There were nine named Atlantic storms and five hurricanes, two of them major, in 2006. That was considered a "near normal" season. None of those hurricanes hit the U.S. Atlantic coast

This is the part that the article leaves out. Scientists had predicted 17 named storms, 9 hurricanes, and five major storms (Category 3 or higher). In other words, they predicted nearly double the amount of storms that actually occurred. Throughout the 2006 hurricane season, the scientists continually revised their predictions downward.

This isn't to say that the scientists didn't get some things right. They've gotten better at predicting the path of the storms once they formed. That's important in predicting landfall and issuing warnings and watches for shoreline communities to prepare for the damaging winds, surge, and other storm related damage possible from these storms.

I'll be revisiting this subject from time to time to show just how the meteorologists are doing.

Arson Doubted in Synagogue Fire

Arson is being doubted as the cause for the fire that destroyed the synagogue and residence of a fringe Orthodox Jewish group known as the Neturei Karta.

Per the New York Times report:

But on Monday afternoon, hours after calling the blaze suspicious, investigators with the Ramapo Police Department reversed themselves and said that although the fire, which began in a washroom on the ground floor, remained under investigation, they had determined that arson was almost certainly not a factor.

Detective Lt. Brad Weidel of the Ramapo police said that dogs had gone through the rubble but failed to detect any traces of an accelerant, leading investigators to believe that a gas or electrical problem might have touched off the blaze.

“We understand that there is some controversy surrounding this group,” Detective Weidel said at a news conference on Monday. “But our best investigators are telling us that they believe this was not an arson. At this time, the fire is not suspicious.”

That statement brought some small measure of relief to Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of the Neturei Karta congregation. Earlier in the day, he had suggested that the fire had been started by people linked to the Jewish Defense Organization, a militant group that organized the protest outside the synagogue in January and encourages other Jews to harass its members.

But the preliminary conclusion did not bring calm. Several times throughout the day, as Rabbi Weiss and other members of the group stood beside the rubble denouncing Zionism and calling for peace, they were met with angry chants of “Go back to Iran” and “You hate Jews” from Orthodox Jews and other residents who lined the street.

Over the years, Neturei Karta, which has thousands of members worldwide, has been the subject of scorn and ridicule. Founded in the 1930s to counter the Zionist movement in what was then Palestine, the group — whose name translates to “guardians of the city” in Aramaic — calls for the “speedy, peaceful dismantlement” of the state of Israel because God has forbidden the formation of a Jewish state until the Messiah arrives.

Photo of the Day

 

That's the exterior of the Pantheon, where France inters its most honored citizens including: Louis Braille, Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Émile Zola.

As impressive as the exterior is, the interior is even more spectacular. However, I'm not quite sure what the yellow banners were for though.

Solomon Islands Recovering From Tsunami

The tsunami that struck the South Pacific island chain following a magnitude 8 earthquake has led to 15 deaths and hundreds missing.

Snapped Shot has more, including photos of the damage in the region.

Reports from Gizo are coming in and they're suggesting that there were no tsunami warnings issued and reports from other areas are slow coming in because of communications problems:

Julian McLeod of the Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office said there were unconfirmed reports that two villages in the country’s far west were flooded.

“Two villages were reported to have been completely inundated,” McLeod told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

National police spokesman Mick Spinks said “our biggest problem is communications, because most of the high frequency radio system there was submerged.”

Gizo resident Judith Kennedy said water “right up to your head” swept through the town.

“All the houses near the sea were flattened,” she told The Associated Press by telephone. “The downtown area is a very big mess from the tsunami and the earthquake,” she added. “A lot of houses have collapsed. The whole town is still shaking” from aftershocks.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured magnitude-8.0 and struck at 7:39 a.m. about 6 miles beneath the sea floor, 217 miles northwest of the capital, Honiara.

Regional warnings downgraded
The Pacific region from Australia to Hawaii went on high alert for several hours after the quake struck between the islands of Bougainville and New Georgia.

But the region-wide warnings were downgraded as the danger period passed. There was no repeat of 2004 tsunami disaster, when a magnitude 9 quake sent massive waves slamming into the coastlines of a dozen countries around the Indian Ocean’s rim, killing or leaving missing about 230,000 people.

Gizo, a regional center, is just 25 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter.

Public Service Announcement For Tax Filers

Here's a public service announcement for those folks who have not yet filed their tax returns. Tax Prof Blog provides the top five mistakes made on returns.

I'd add a couple others to that list. If you're still doing a return by paper, consider using a computer software program like TurboTax (disclosure - I've used the product years back and it finds deductions and does the math so you don't have to). The computer programs not only prompt you for all kinds of information, but it checks your math, deductions, and credits to ensure that you file an accurate return.

Math mistakes are a big problem, and can lead to delays in processing returns. If you're using computer software, those mistakes disappear. The same goes for SSN/tax id# mistakes. Typos can cause delayed returns.

Electronic filing also has the benefit of quicker handling of returns and refunds. States like the electronic filing because it means that the returns are easier to read and process and taxpayers should like them because they make the process of filing quicker and easier.

Finally, many states have moved their deadline for filing tax returns for tax year 2006 to either April 16 or April 17 because April 15 falls on the weekend and April 16 is a state and/or District of Columbia holiday. Even with the extra time, procrastinators always seem to find a way to wait until the very last moment to file. Note that when you wait to the last moment, you run the risk of making needless mistakes by rushing to get the return in without including items as basic as W-2 forms, interest declarations, math mistakes, or forgetting to sign your return.

All those omissions can result in delayed processing.

Iran Continues Agitprop Campaign While Holding Britons

The Iranians are continuing their propaganda campaign, releasing yet more videos purporting to show that the captured Britons are pointing to locations on maps claiming that they were inside Iranian waters when they were picked up by the Iranians. The Iranians are claiming that all 15 captured have admitted to being inside Iranian waters.

Given how effective those videos are, one has to wonder why Iran would stop airing them. Maybe it has something to do with the British government completely caving in to the Iranian demands?

Iran’s state-run radio on Monday cited what it called “positive changes” in Britain’s negotiating stance and said because of those, television stations would not broadcast additional videos of British sailors’ confessions.

The state-run radio did not detail what it meant by positive changes, nor quote any officials by name. A state-run TV station had said earlier Monday that all 15 British sailors and marines held captive by the country had confessed to illegally entering Iranian waters.

The British government response has been quite lacking, which is in stark contrast to events 25 years ago. On this day 25 years ago, the British fought back against the Argentine government that invaded the Falkland Islands. At the time, the British were supposed to be incapable of fighting a war thousands of miles away and with limited logistics. While they suffered serious casualties when several ships were hit with Argentine missiles, they did push Argentina to surrender and retook the Islands.

UPDATE:
The rumor mill is certainly flying today on this story. There is a report that the US military is preparing airstrikes against Iran for this Friday. How about providing the time and exact locations while you're at it? Iran's busy claiming that the US is already violating Iranian airspace with overflights. Well, this one is just a bit more believable.

"Two US aircraft trespassed into Iranian airspace northwest of (the port city of) Abadan before flying southwest into
Iraq," a Revolutionary Guards commander in Abadan identified only as Colonel Aqili was quoted as saying by the Al-Alam channel's website.

"The planes left white vapour trails, attracting the local people's attention," he said, without elaborating on when the alleged incursion took place.

The incident happened close to Iran's border with Iraq, where the US and British military are deployed in force, he said.

A US military spokesman told AFP that he had investigated the Iranian military's claim and found no evidence to support it.

"There is nothing that we saw that would indicate that that happened," he told AFP.

Then, there's the report that Britain has changed its stance and that a deal is in the works to secure the release of the 15.

Photo of the Day

 

The basilica of Sacre Coeur, as seen from Notre Dame.

Fire Destroys Neturei Karta Synagoguge in Monsey, New York

There was a synagogue fire in Monsey, NY last night. The shul, part of a residence, was destroyed and investigators are calling it suspicious.

The shul belongs to the Neturei Karta, who doesn't believe in Israel's right to exist and whose members went to Iran to join in the Holocaust deniers' conference set up by Ahmadinejad. In fact, this group had no problem cozying up to Ahmadinejad and planting a fat one on his grubby cheek. Their repugnant actions have resulted in condemnations from Jewish groups across theological and political lines. Members of the group think that this may have played a role in the fire.

No one was injured in Sunday night's fire. A senior Neturei Karta rabbi and his family, who lived on the top floor of the three-story structure in Monsey, N.Y., were not home.

"It may in the future be found to be accidental, but at this time we're treating it as a suspicious fire and we're investigating it as such," said Sgt. Daniel Hyman of the Ramapo Police Department, which serves the suburban Rockland County community of Monsey, about 35 miles north of New York City.

The Neturei Karta has been the target of threats in the past because of their involvement in the anti-Zionism movement. The group does not dispute that the Holocaust occurred, said Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of the Neturei Karta.

"There's no question that the issue is to stifle the opposition to Zionism," Weiss said of after the fire. "Anybody who would like to reveal to the world their opposition to this political, national movement of Zionism is attacked."

The fire was reported in a kitchen area shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday, one day before the start to the weeklong Jewish holiday of Passover.

When firefighters arrived, one side of the house was engulfed in flames and power lines had come down, Monsey Fire Chief Douglas Perry said. He said the building was destroyed.

All this comes right on the eve of Passover, so they're going to be without their shul and many priceless artifacts were damaged or destroyed including the Torah scrolls and prayer books.

The group, whose numbers are quite small, tend to get quite a bit of press because of their anti-Israel views and anti-Semites the world over usually seek this group out to attempt to split hairs and claim that they're not anti-Semitic but anti-Israel.

Tsumani Hits Solomons

A major 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Australia and caused a tsunami in the Solomon Islands. Damage reports are still coming in:

Sgt. Godfrey Abiah said police in the capital, Honiara, reported a wave several yards high had crashed ashore in the western town of Gizo shortly before communication lines with the region were cut.

Julian McLeod of the Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office said there were unconfirmed reports that two villages in the country's far west were flooded.

"Two villages were reported to have been completely inundated," McLeod told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "We have received reports of four people missing."

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at 7:39 a.m. about 6 miles beneath the sea floor, 217 miles northwest of Honiara.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for the Solomon Islands and neighboring Papua New Guinea. It ordered a lower-level "tsunami watch" for other places, including most South Pacific countries. The center said Hawaii's status could be elevated to warning or watch.

A tsunami was also possible at Willis Island and Cooktown in far northeastern Australia, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre said.

Abiah said police in Gizo had been warning residents to move to higher ground away from the coast when the tsunami hit. Communications were lost soon afterward.

If A Blogger Did This, The Media Would Be All Over Them- UPDATED

Tell me how this reporter still has his job? Michael Ware's job is to report the news, not become the news?

He was last seen heckling John McCain at a presser. Who does Ware think he is?

All I know is that if a blogger was in a situation where he was able to interview a major politician and then launched in to a tirade and heckled said politician, the media elites around the big media outlet would be yelling from the tallest trees that the bloggers were irresponsible, incapable of being objective, and otherwise biased.

Instead, we get Ware and his ranting and raving for the world to see.

How will the media play this one? Will they make excuses for him? What will CNN do?

UPDATE 4/2/2007:
Did Drudge get it wrong? Video that's been released seems to support Ware's contention that nothing untoward occurred. Very curious. It would be nice to see Drudge's explanation, or whether there was more video that was shot after the presser. If that's the case, then Drudge's headline was inaccurate at best.

Israel's Turn To Push Peace Plan

This plan has just as much chance for success as the widely touted Saudi plan that is little more than a rehash of earlier plans that stalled in their early stages.

The problem with every single peace plan proposal is simple. One side, the Palestinians, refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and seeks its destruction. That side is currently represented by Hamas and Fatah, neither of which is in any hurry to modify their foundation documents that call for Israel's destruction and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the ruins of the Jewish state in Israel.

The United States and Egypt have proposed that Israel agree to quickly start talks with a committee of Arab states on how to move the peace process forward, diplomats involved in the matter said on Sunday.

While generally welcoming the peace initiative endorsed by Arab leaders at a summit last week in Saudi Arabia, Israel has called several key components problematic and has been noncommital about how to proceed.

In weekend talks with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and other officials, Washington and Cairo proposed that Israel agree to take part "as soon as possible" in a meeting with a working group approved by the Arab summit that could begin negotiating a possible agreement.

"Arab League countries would talk formally and publicly as a collective with Israel," one diplomat said, calling the effort unprecedented in its potential scope. Talks in the past have generally been on a bilateral basis, the diplomat said.

U.S. and Egyptian diplomats were not immediately available to comment.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday called on Israel to take constructive steps in response to a new Arab peace initiative.

"I call on the Israeli government to take constructive steps to answer the peace initiative put forward by Arab countries," Abbas said at a news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

At the summit, Arab leaders revived a 5-year-old peace plan that offers Israel normal ties with all Arab countries in return for withdrawal from land seized in the 1967 Six-Day War, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinians displaced in 1948 with Israel's creation.

The Arab leaders have nothing to lose by rehashing old proposals because they know that all the risks are on the Israelis. If Israeli leaders recognize that the threat to their existence is existential and pervasive regardless of what the Arabs promise, they'll know that the Saudi plan and any other plan that comes to mind is a nonstarter.

The Arab countries must recognize Israel before discussing any further changes to the border, not the other way around. Israel should not be forced to change its borders to suit those nations and entities that have been seeking its destruction since 1947.

A just solution for those Palestinians displaced in the various conflicts is simple. Reparations and for the Arab countries where they took refuge to once and for all accept them as full citizens of their respective countries and to actually provide services to them instead of using them as a pressure relief valve for all that ails the decrepit Arab societies. The time for these nations to use Palestinians as pawns and cannon fodder is over. These nations have to take responsibility for what they've done and the Saudi plan does nothing to address this at all.

Israel can assist in providing reparations, though I believe that it will once again fall to the US to provide the lubricant on which a peace deal will happen (see 1979 Camp David where Egypt was paid $2 billion a year to make peace with Israel).

Of course, pushing the onus on those who sponsor terrorism and invoke Israel as a bogeyman is not going to sit well with those nations since they'd actually incur risks and take chances that their radicalized populations might not like. Yet, if they truly want peace [not peace on their terms where Israel is shattered and broken], then such risks are necessary preconditions to a real peace in the region.

Ferris Bueller's Protege

Ryan Leli - the smooth-talking Long Island teen arrested and banned from Shea Stadium after scamming his way into the locker room - has dined with Julia Stiles and Kirsten Dunst, watched a concert with Usher, got career advice from Tom Cruise, joked with Kanye West and lounged with Will Smith.

The 18-year-old actor wannabe, who from age 14 made it his mission to sneak into premieres, after-parties and VIP rooms, uses simple tactics: Arrive early, scope out the area, and chat up the people with passes.

"I don't go up to celebrities when everyone else is going up to them," Leli said. "I try to find them when they're sort of by themselves. It's a different atmosphere. It's not as hectic."

His family home is littered with photos of his boldface targets, ranging from Rudy Giuliani to The Rock. A framed photo of him with Pamela Anderson sits on the living-room coffee table.

But the pro party crasher got his comeuppance last year, when he was busted at Shea with a phony press pass he had made on his computer. He used it to access the visitors' locker room, where he sidled up to his favorite player, ex-Met Mike Piazza.

After snapping a photo with Padre Dave Roberts, he approached teammate Piazza, who agreed to pose. A Padres rep noticed the odd behavior and blew the whistle.

Pet Food Recall Crisis Deepens

This story just keeps getting worse. More brands and food lines are being recalled for fear that they include contaminants that are injuring and killing pets.

Alpo is the latest brand to be affected. Hill's dry pet food is still the only dry food to be recalled.

Nestle Purina PetCare Co. said it was recalling all sizes and varieties of its Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food with specific date codes. Purina said a limited amount of the food contained a contaminated wheat gluten from China.

The same U.S. supplier also provided wheat gluten, a protein source, to a Canadian company, Menu Foods, which this month recalled 60 million containers of wet dog and cat food it produces for sale under nearly 100 brand labels.

Menu Foods and the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the pet food industry, have refused to identify the company that supplied the contaminated wheat gluten.

Hill's Pet Nutrition said late Friday that its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food included the tainted wheat gluten. The FDA said the source was the same unidentified company. Hill's, a division of Colgate-Palmolive Co., is so far the only company to recall any dry pet food.

Federal testing of some recalled pet foods and the wheat gluten used in their production turned up the chemical melamine. Melamine is used to make kitchenware and other plastics. It is both a contaminant and byproduct of several pesticides, including cyromazine, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Melamine is toxic only in very high doses and has been shown in rats to produce bladder tumors, according to the EPA.

The federal pet food testing failed to confirm the presence of aminopterin, a cancer drug also used as rat poison, the FDA said. Cornell University scientists also found melamine in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating some of the recalled food.

Earlier, the New York State Food Laboratory identified aminopterin as the likely culprit in the pet food. But the FDA said it could not confirm that finding, nor have researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey when they looked at tissue samples taken from dead cats.

Pets around the country have been affected by the contamination, and the true toll is unknown. Veterinarians have been fielding calls for the past several weeks from pet owners trying to figure out what to do next.

The pet food manufacturers have a crisis on their hands and they've got to get ahead of the problem in a very aggressive manner. They also have to make amends to pet owners whose pets have been injured or killed by the contaminated pet food.

UPDATE:
Forget about trying to sue the manufacturers as an individual. The way that legal experts think this is going to shake out is in the form of class action suits. You get the benefit of shared legal representation, medical and scientific experts, and the weight of hundreds or thousands of participants spreading the risk of the case expenses.

Numerous pet owners around the country have sued or are considering legal action against Menu Foods. Some are seeking class action status.

"I would love to find an attorney to take on this company," said Brenda Hitchcock of Tampa, Fla. Hitchcock said she racked up $4,000 in veterinarian bills trying to save her 5-year-old cat "S.S." to no avail. She said she still has two pouches of the recalled food to prove her case.

Ontario-based Menu Foods has taken a low-key approach to the recall, expressing concern for people who have lost pets and offering to pay veterinary bills if a pet's illness or death can be directly linked to the food, but admitting no wrongdoing.

Jack Hall, a product liability lawyer from Pittsburgh, said the owner of a dog or cat used for breeding or of a specially trained animal could argue for higher compensation on the basis of lost potential earnings.

Hall said pet owners would fare better if they joined in a class action suit.

"I would think this kind of case would allow itself to a class action. That could work for somebody here," he said.

Still, Tobias said even a class-action suit could be tricky.

"The factual variations in the cases will make it very difficult to form a class action," he said. "Will people have the proof they need to trace the harm done to the animal back to Menu Foods?"

Well, one way to trace the harm would include retaining grocery and pet store receipts for the food purchased, along with health records for the pets and any tests done following the pets' illnesses. One has to establish a paper trail to show that their pet consumed the alleged tainted food.

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