An Exciting Week

In this, the dog days of winter, when we get teased by moderating weather only to get snowed on, it would normally be a very boring time. The two major restaurants are still closed here in Bayview, Idaho, waiting one would suppose for warmer weather and perhaps a tourist or two.

That would be the case if it weren't for Japan with a gigantic earthquake, an enormous tsunami and then topped off by the failure of six nuclear reactors. Built on the beach where active earthquakes are common, the authorities in the area apparently didn't take into consideration the effect of a tsunami or even a typhoon when they built the reactor park. None of the plants were really damaged by the quake, since stringent building codes built in a strong resistance to quakes. The loss of the backup generators which then caused water normally pumped into the cooling system to cease operating was the death knell. Stay tuned.

Now, predictably, CNN is huffing and puffing once again about reactors in the US. The largest of these issues is that the stored used fuel rods are stored on site, just as they are in Japan. Unfortunately, what they are not saying is that Obama promised Senate Majority Leader, Reid that he would close down the multi-million dollar storage facility cored deeply into the Nevada mountains. He kept that promise, wasting millions spent on the project which was close to ready for use and endangering those that live near these open storage facilities that were never intended to other than temporary use. The chickens, as they say are coming home to roost, Mr. President.

Now we have essentially declared war on Libya. President Obama indicated today that no ground troops would be landed. He didn't say whether Italians,the French or both might take care of that, plus with Iraq and Afghanistan active, we don't have the ground troops except and this is a big except, the MEU with 20,000 marines and a bunch of tanks not to mention a helicopter carrier that can control a battlefield from the air, destroying the tanks and tank carriers heading east toward Benghazi and Tobruk and the Egyptian border.

This week, except for those that have lost the roof over their heads and perhaps aren't eating regularly, our minds will be diverted toward these disaster areas. One caused by nature, the other by man. The Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times," comes to mind. Think Spring.