Today we are going to touch on a little economics, the DOW seems to be holding it's own now not as many violent swings. The oil is down 120 a barrel, after Dolly takes a turn away from the oil rigs. My local fuel is down a few cents already. Ford makes big news with article the Model T turns 100 todayhttp://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/22/fords-model-t-turns-100/ first good news i heard from one of the (most) US car manufactures.

One thing that bears watching is our friendly little dictator for life down South. The next Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez. Here is an article about him buying a lot of Russian hardware (guns and such) and that is what they are saying out loud.

Russia increases weapon sales to Chavez
Move seen as slap at Bush over missile defense
Betsy Pisik Tuesday, July 22, 2008
UNITED NATIONS Russia is showing its irritation with U.S. intervention in its back yard by selling more weapons to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
Mr. Chavez is to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday with a reported billion-dollar shopping list of armaments, including submarines and helicopters.
It is the controversial Latin American leader's third visit to Moscow since 2006, when he purchased $3 billion in Russian weapons systems.
The choreographed display of commerce and camaraderie provides a rare opportunity for two of Washington's most passionate antagonists to tweak the Bush administration, with the added benefit for Russia and Venezuela of raising their profiles in their own regions.
CAUDILLO: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is again heading to Moscow with an arms shopping list. (Associated Press)
Russia is furious with the Bush administration's plans to base missile defenses in former Soviet satellites Poland and the Czech Republic, while Venezuela is chafing at U.S. support for rivals Colombia and Brazil.
"The Russians also see this as a way to push the notion that there is a multipolar world," said Michael Shifter, adjunct professor of Latin American studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. "And if Chavez is not all that strong, these [military purchases] boost him up a bit."
Mr. Chavez, who has portrayed himself as the leader of Latin America and a socialist alternative to U.S. hegemony, has been rattled lately by the Colombian military's daring rescue of hostages held by the FARC rebel group, as well as by Brazil and Argentina's economic surge, Mr. Shifter added.
Besides missile defense, the Russian leadership has tangled with the United States in the U.N. Security Council over political conflicts ranging from Georgia to Zimbabwe.
In a recent essay, Ariel Cohen and Ray Walser, both senior foreign-policy researchers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, warned that Venezuela could be the new Cuba in a 21st-century Cold War, one that is emboldened by rising oil revenues.
"Russia and Venezuela, together with Iran, are among the trend-setters in the democracy rollback taking place since the late 1990s, especially in petro-states," they wrote. "The rise of oil prices has accelerated this process and helped precipitate the rise of statism and the decline in democratic governance, while energy revenues provide the means to buy off political opponents and the media, build up internal security forces, and insulate regimes from any domestic and international criticism."
The Venezuelan leader told reporters in Caracas that his goal inMoscow is "to consolidate a strategic alliance with Russia in the political, economic, technological and military fronts," according to the Venezuelan publication El Universal.
Mr. Chavez, who has been spending Venezuela's oil windfall on a variety of conventional weapons, has bought more than $4.4 billion in Russian arms in the past five years and plans to add to this arsenal by purchasing $2 billion more.
The Russian Interfax news service Monday quoted an unnamed Russian Defense Ministry official as saying that Mr. Chavez might order three Varshavyanka submarines and up to 20 Tor-M1 air-defense systems. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported May 12 that Mr. Chavez wants Project 636 Diesel submarines, Mi-28 combat helicopters and Ilyushin airplanes.
The Venezuelan purchases are feeding a regional arms race.Chile, Colombia and Brazil also have been modernizing their militaries.
"It could get out of control," Mr. Shifter warned. "I don't think the U.S. has anything to fear from Venezuela militarily, but you can see a scenario where, if things get tense, there is with Chavez an element of unpredictability. If he feels threatened, under attack, there is a potential for destabilization" in the region.
Venezuela's weapons purchases have been difficult to track. Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N. Konstantin K. Dolgov on Monday maintained that all sales are within international covenants and guidelines.
The United Nations maintains two sprawling voluntary databases on international arms purchases, one to track total military expenditures and the other to break down purchases and sellers.
Venezuela has not contributed to either since at least 2002, according to Ewen Buchanan of the U.N. Department of Disarmament.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/22/russia-increases-weapon-sales-to-chavez/

Glad to see they are finally narrowing down the cause of the salmonella outbreak. The lowly jalapeno pepper, if you were smart you would be growing some of your own food. Peppers are one of the easiest things to grow. http://wtop.com/?nid=106&sid=1417313



In another thread we touched on the letting immigrants and travelers into this country with diseases, here is the link for a similar article. http://wtop.com/?nid=106&sid=1444918



Seems like this is going to be a health related thread, a few Bird Flu articles that jump out today in the news are:


Bangladesh reports 1st human case of H5N1 bird flu May 22, 2008 - 9:18am
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Bangladesh's Health Ministry says the nation's first human case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu has been detected.
The Directorate General of Health Services statement says a child was infected by the virus in January.
The statement Thursday did not give the child's name, age, or other details, but said the child was recovering after treatment.
The statement says the case was diagnosed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Bangladesh has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of birds in recent months after the H5N1 virus was detected in the impoverished South Asian nation last year

http://wtop.com/?nid=345&sid=1408492


Bird flu detected in Hong Kong market June 7, 2008 - 6:47am

HONG KONG (AP) - Hong Kong health workers slaughtered 2,700 poultry in a market Saturday after chickens were found to be carrying the dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus, officials said.
The slaughter may be extended to all live poultry in the territory if the virus is detected in any other locations, Secretary for Food and Health York Chow said.
"Since we have detected the virus in the market, we will cull all the chickens in this market," Chow told reporters. "If we find another positive detection in another market, then we will assume that the risk is much higher and we need to cull all the chickens in all the markets."
Hong Kong TV Cable showed health workers wearing protective gear placing live poultry from nine stalls into bags to prepare for the slaughter.
Routine bird flu checks detected the H5N1 virus in five samples of chicken waste. The samples were collected June 3 from three vendors in the market in the Sham Shui Po residential district, Chow said.
Health officials declared the market an infected area and suspended all sales of live poultry there, a government statement said.
Chow said authorities were tracing the origin of the infected chickens.
Chow also ordered a 21-day ban on the supply of live poultry from mainland China and from local farms.
Occasional H5N1 infections in wild birds are common in Hong Kong but the territory has not suffered a major outbreak of the disease since the virus killed six people in 1997.
That prompted the government to slaughter the territory's entire poultry population of about 1.5 million birds.
At least 241 people have died of bird flu worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.
Most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds, but health experts worry the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, sparking a pandemic that might kill millions of people.

http://wtop.com/?nid=345&sid=1336337



'Inevitable' flu pandemic will kill 75,000 Britons and 50 million worldwide, warn Lords
By Tamara CohenLast updated at 8:26 AM on 21st July 2008
Threat: The committee slammed Britain's 'poorly coordinated' disease control systems
Britain is facing an 'inevitable' and 'devastating' flu pandemic which will kill up to 75,000 people, a government committee revealed today.
The outbreak – most likely a strain of bird flu which could claim the lives of up to 50 million worldwide – will be on a scale not seen for decades.
The pandemic will require an ‘urgent’ response to prevent the rapid spread of infection, the powerful House of Lords Intergovernmental Organisations Committee warned.
They slammed Britain’s ‘poorly coordinated’ disease control systems, which are run by too many similar groups.
And the Lords also attacked the World Health Organisation (WHO) as ‘dysfunctional’ and lacking the ‘organisation and resources’ to curb a major outbreak.
The next pandemic will kill between two and 50 million people worldwide and a fair fraction of that in the UK, it said.
Echoing the report, the Government said: ‘While there has not been a pandemic since 1968, another one is inevitable.
‘Estimates are that the next pandemic will kill between two million and 50 million people and between 50,000 and 75,000 in the UK. Socio-economic disruption will be massive.’
Peers are calling for international alert systems for disease threats, which will spread rapidly due to our changing lifestyles.
The last pandemics to hit Britain, caused by mild influenza, were in 1918 and 1968.
But the report raised concerns that an outbreak caused by the H5N1 strain, found in birds and poultry, could be utterly devastating, as prevention methods were ‘less comprehensive’ than for human illnesses. It predicted human-to-human transmission ‘in the near future.’
Three-quarters of newly-emerging human infections come from animals, but experts have warned that they are currently only identified after humans have been infected.
Committee chairman Lord Soley said: ‘The last 100 years have seen great advances in public health and disease control through the world, but globalisation and changes in lifestyles are giving rise to new infections and providing opportunities for them to spread rapidly throughout the world.
‘We were particularly concerned about the link with animal health. Three quarters of new human infectious diseases start in animals.
‘We urgently need better surveillance systems to deal with this problem.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1036865/Inevitable-flu-pandemic-kill-75-000-Britons-50-million-worldwide-warn-Lords.html

One last thtought it goes anolong with one of the eariler blogs about unfair rasist remarks, here is a link to a video showing John Kerry calling John McCain a "Tar baby", in an interview with MSMBC. http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=136513