Win Some, Loose Some

We are the champions... of competitiveness. Thats right, for the 15th straight year the United States ranked as the most competitive country, followed closely by Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. The Swiss project director said, "The big question is whether the United States will be No. 1 after this year. Everyone is catching up very quickly, but so far the U.S. economy is showing a lot of resilience." The domestic economy of the United States, being the world's strongest, keeps the U.S. on the top of the list, thanks to all the investment, stock purchases and commercial service exports. But times may be a changing.

But some people are losers. Specifically those who live in Picher, Oklahoma. A tornado ravaged the town, but state and local officials have decided that "Rebuilding here is not going to be a real option." The area already had mine collapses, acid water, and lead contamination before the tornado made things worse. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff describes the situation: "It really is like a small nuclear bomb went off." What makes it even better is how a resident of the area described what happened, "It felt like evil... It didn't feel like Mother Nature. It felt personal."

In International News

China suffered a major set back as a 7.9 earthquake has led to the death of about 15,000 people. In addition the economy is taking a hit, not only is the aid cost over $125 million, stock markets have been closed, and about 10 million people have been directly affect by the quake. And we thought what just happened in Myanmar was bad? There is still about 25,000 people trapped and thousands more missing. The up side, this will keep China's economy down a little to prevent too much completion for the United States.

Mexico's acting federal police chief was assassinated and it would appear that a police officer was involved. The suspects are involved with the Sinaloa drug cartel, and the leader of the group had been assigned to a federal police , and is suspected in the killing of another federal police officer just days before Millan's death. A U.S. State Department spokesman said, "We are shocked by the escalating violence against Mexican law enforcement officials." Am I the only person not shocked by this?

Meanwhile in Columbia, 13 top paramilitary warlords were extradited to the United States as they continued to traffic cocaine while in custody and failed to cooperate with authorities after being incorporated into a government-run peace process. President Uribe said, "The country has been generous with them, but the government cannot tolerate their return to crime, their failure to truly and efficiently collaborate with justice." Really, drug dealers and warlords keep retuning to crime? Again, am I the only one not surprised? To top it off, one academic explained the problem with extraditions: "It becomes harder to ask them about their ties with politicians... The agenda of the United States is drug trafficking, and our agenda is crimes against humanity, the political scandal and learning the truth." So its almost as if they were moved out of the county to protect a politician... naw, couldn't be! Could it?

Science in Our Lives

Windmills are not just for ruining the migratory patterns for birds... as a new government report lays out a possible plan to gain as much as 20% of the national electricity by 2030 from the beasts often attacked by Don Quixote. In order to do this we must build about 75,000 wind turbines, much bigger than the ones which exist today. In addition there would be major infrastructure expansion costs, and people living in the areas where they are being proposed don't want them. So why would states bother doing this? Well the federal and state incentives do help. Why not just build more nuclear power plants you ask? Heh... I've been trying to figure that one out for years!

In Local News

Ants are taking over Houston! Ok, it sounds like a B horror film, but the "crazy rasberry ants" came off a cargo ship and are not causing havoc. One woman in Pearland describes: "There's just thousands and thousands of them. If you've seen a car racing, that's how they are. They're going fast, fast, fast. They're crazy." While they do eat fire ants... they also kill plants and beneficial insects, and bite humans! To make it even better, they are attracted to electrical equipment and have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. To make it even creepier, the ants pile up their dead, sometimes using them as a bridge to cross safely over surfaces treated with pesticide.