JUNE 18, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
June 18 is … International Panic Day
President Nixon should have panicked after Watergate Day. It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. Yesterday was Watergate Day because on June 17, 1972 five men were caught burglarizing the Democratic National Headquarters located in the Watergate Hotel and Office Complex in Washington DC. The result was a Constitutional crisis in this country unprecedented before or since. No worry, however, President Obama still has 18 months to cause one.
What will we do without koala bears? I am glad I will not be around to see the world without them in the wild. The koalas are disappearing. Fast. According to Le Monde magazine despite a number of factors threatening the small marsupial, it seems the Australian government is hesitant to place it on the endangered species list. The problem is getting so bad that in some places in Australia the population has been reduced to 20% of what it once was.
But what's killing the koala is a bit surprising. While climate change and urban development have perhaps had the biggest impact on the animal, a third factor is also pushing it towards extinction, according to the Telegraph, chlamydia.
The bacterial infection, which is commonly known as a sexually transmitted disease among humans, has been decimating the koala population. Some estimates say koalas could go extinct in less than 30 years, according to the Telegraph.
Though it's true that in some areas the koala population has not significantly decreased, many of the local population are the result of reintroduction by conservationists, according to Le Monde. The lack of genetic diversity in the region as a result doesn't guarantee the creature's continued survival.
Yet the government hasn't taken significant steps to protect the animal, despite how much of a symbol it is for Australia, they are even on the country’s money. According to the report in Le Monde, the issue has finally reached the Australian senate, but won't be decided until August, when a special committee is expected to issue a recommendation.
For years one of the biggest killers of koalas has been death by falling from eucalyptus trees. It seems the koalas sit in the trees and eat the eucalyptus which causes a chemical reaction in them resulting in them getting intoxicated. They are loaded, lose their balance, fall and are killed.
Earlier this week, bin Laden’s successor was named. It was the number 2 guy, as expected. It seems appropriate since he looks like # 2. Al-Qaeda has selected its longtime No. 2 to succeed Osama bin Laden following last month's U.S. commando raid that killed the terrorist leader as he cowarded behind a woman, according to a statement posted Thursday on a website affiliated with the network.
Ayman al-Zawahiri or some other similar nonsensical name, who will turn 60 next week, is believed to be operating from somewhere near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He is the son of an upper middle class Egyptian family of doctors and scholars. His father was a pharmacology professor at Cairo University's medical school and his grandfather was the grand imam of Al-Azhar University, a premier center of religious study.
In a videotaped eulogy released earlier this month, al-Zawahiri warned that America faces not individual terrorists or groups but an international community of Muslims that seek to destroy it and its allies.
"Today, praise God, America is not facing an individual, a group or a faction," he said, wearing a white robe and turban with an assault rifle leaned on a wall behind him. "It is facing a nation than is in revolt, having risen from its lethargy to a renaissance of jihad." He continued, “Blah blah blah”
Al-Zawahiri also heaped praise on bin Laden, who was killed in a May 2 raid by U.S. Navy SEALs in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, and criticized the U.S. for burying him at sea. "He went to his God as a martyr, the man who terrified America while alive and terrifies it in death, so much so that they trembled at the idea of his having tomb," he said.
Al-Qaeda gave no details about the selection process for bin Laden's successor but said that it was the best tribute to the memory of its "martyrs." I am sure it was a democratic game of hot potato.
The statement announcing al-Zawahiri's succession was filled with the terror network's usual rhetoric, vowing to continue the fight against what it called "conquering infidels, led by America and its stooge Israel, who attack the homes of Islam." The group also said it will never accept Israel's legitimacy and will continue to support Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and North Africa. The al-Qaeda statement also stated the group's support for this year's popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria and Libya. "We encourage the people of Islam to rise up and continue the struggle, persistence and devotion until all the corrupt and oppressive regimes imposed by the West are gone," it said.
Just a couple of thoughts I had.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
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Book Titles:
Holmes the Ripper
A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction
"The Interstate highway system has made it possible to go from sea to shining sea without seeing anything."- Charles Kuralt
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