Democrats prepare for Leadership, while the Republicans play around with Power Plays

Hillary Clinton to campaign for Lunsford
Senator to visit state on Sept. 20

...Lunsford's campaign announced yesterday that Clinton, of New York, would attend campaign events on Sept. 20 in Lexington and Pikeville.
The nature of the events is still unclear. Cary Stemle, a spokesman for the campaign, said he didn't know if the events are rallies, fundraisers or both.
But Lunsford, a Louisville businessman, is clearly hoping that the Clinton family's ability to get votes in Kentucky will transfer to him on Nov. 4 when he tries to oust Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell....

US Withdraws From Nuclear Deal with Russia

By Meredith Buel Washington
08 September 2008
The United States has pulled out of an agreement with Russia for civilian nuclear cooperation. VOA correspondent Meredith Buel has details from Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement that President Bush is notifying Congress he is rescinding a request for consideration of the nuclear cooperation deal with Moscow.The nuclear agreement, which would have required U.S. congressional approval, was signed earlier this year in Moscow and was designed to allow U.S. and Russian companies to become partners in joint ventures involving the nuclear industry. Analysts say business generated by the agreement could have been worth billions of dollars. In the statement read by State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, Rice says U.S. nonproliferation goals contained in the agreement remain valid, but the timing is not appropriate for such an accord....

McCain encourages war in Europe by insisting Georgia and the Ukraine be instilled in NATO

McCain is "W"rong on National Defense and Defense of European Allies.

Russia pulls forces from port city (click here)
13 hours ago
A Georgian official said Russian forces have left the Black Sea port city of Poti.
Interior Ministry official Shota Utiashvili says Russian troops have withdrawn completely from the two posts they maintained on the outskirts of Poti.
Russia has maintained two dozen posts in Georgia beyond separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia following last month's war over South Ossetia.
The presence in Poti has been particularly galling for Georgia because it is hundreds of miles from where most of the fighting occurred.
Russia promised last week to withdraw from Poti by this coming Monday.
Russia is to withdraw all its forces from Georgian territory outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia next month.


...."The Russians were right; we're wrong," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said this week at a hearing of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
"The Georgians started it; the Russians ended it," he said.
Rohrabacher claimed that unidentified intelligence sources had assured him that Georgia started the fighting that began Aug. 7 when Georgia's military tried to re-establish control over its breakaway, pro-Russian province of South Ossetia....

EU accused of Georgia duplicity (click here)

Russia has accused the EU of signing a deal with Georgia on the deployment of ceasefire monitors that contradicts one agreed hours earlier with Moscow.
Russia's foreign minister said it would not permit EU monitors in South Ossetia or Abkhazia but that the deal signed by the EU with Georgia allowed this.
Georgia's breakaway regions have been recognised as independent by Russia.
The EU said it was not discussed with Moscow whether the observers could go into the separatist breakaway regions....

Medvedev describes Georgia attack as Russia's 9/11 (click here)
· President says US backed assault on South Ossetia · Nato membership 'would destabilise region'

Georgia's attack on the breakaway region of South Ossetia was unnecessary and unprovoked and was encouraged by the United States, Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, said in an interview yesterday.
"For Russia, August 8 was like September 11 for the United States," he told a group of foreign journalists and academics. "I would like to see major lessons from it for the world."
He made clear that the lessons, as Russia sees them, are that the post-cold war "illusion" that a world with one super power is a safe and predictable place is now over.
The 42-year-old president said George Bush had phoned him shortly after he had ordered Russian forces to drive the Georgians back. "'You're a young president with a liberal background. Why do you need this?' Medvedev quoted Bush as saying. "I told him we had no choice," he said.
The Russian president's interview followed a day after a similar interview with the prime minister, Vladimir Putin. He seemed to be talking from the same script, though there were important differences between the two. The president was more blunt about his Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, calling him "burdened with a host of pathologies" and alleging he often appeared in public under the influence of drugs.
"Russia had to recognise South Ossetia as an independent state - a move widely criticised in the west - because otherwise Georgia might attack again....

Economic transformation opens road to Damascus

It appears that the Bush leadership has not resulted in stronger allies, so much as vulnerable one. Expect the same from McCain.

Dresses are displayed in a shop window in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Sept. 8, 2008. Today's Syria, at least on the surface, is starkly different from the bland socialist country it was few years ago. But as it transforms itself economically, many are wondering whether the country can break with its hard line, rigid reputation as it emerges from the shadows of its past and change politically, too, at the same pace. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

Lebanon ranks 99th globally on ease of business (click here)

Country comes in 10th among 19 states in mena regionDaily Star staff

Saturday, September 13, 2008

BEIRUT: The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation ranked Lebanon in 99th place among 181 countries worldwide and 10th among 19 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region in terms of Ease of Doing Business in 2009, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group.
Lebanon also ranked in 26th place among 35 upper-middle income countries and came in 98th place globally in the 2008 survey. The index is a composite of 10 sub-indices of business regulation that track the time and cost to meet government requirements in business start-up, operation, trade, taxation, and closure. Globally, Lebanon ranked behind Dominican Republic and Yemen and came before Zambia and Jordan, while it ranked ahead of Seychelles and Croatia and behind Belarus and Palau among upper-middle income countries.
Lebanon ranked in 98th place globally on the Starting a Business sub-index, up 38 places from 2008, and in 10th place in the MENA region. This category reflects the challenges to launch a business in a country....

The "eye wall" made landfall over Galveston Bay, Texas, but, the worst of the storm was over the Port Arthur

'Certain death' warning over Ike (click here) - That is the best warning I ever heard come from Homeland Security, and I thank them. They need to keep up that level of concern in the future. Perhaps people really responded this time.

I know there had to be some deaths, there just isn't reports of them yet. There were reports of a man leaving his home with nine feet of water and seeking shelter. He stated the sea was moving toward the town.

Ike strengthened as it came over land which is unique for a hurricane, but, the land is a heat source and probably more of one now that Human Induced Global Warming is roasting the southern USA everyday. I am not surprised.

Hurricane Ike makes landfall near Beaumont/ Port Arthur (click here)
By Genevieve Wedholm
Story Created: Sep 13, 2008 at 10:55 AM CDT
Story Updated: Sep 13, 2008 at 10:55 AM CDT
BEAUMONT, Texas- Lindsay Landry and photojournalist Jess Winfrey continue our coverage from Beaumont, where they spent the night in at Parkdale Mall where wind gusts were reported up to 91 miles per hour.
Signs have been ripped off and several items are being tossed in the rain.
Our KETK News Team will have your latest breaking news through out the rest of the day.


September 13, 2008
0630z
UNISYS Enhanced Southeast USA Infrared Satellite

...Of particular note is the hurricane protection structure in Port Arthur (click here). The structure was completed in 1984 to provide protection to the urbanized and industrial areas of Port Arthur, to include the City of Port Arthur and the associated petrochemical complex from a hurricane surge up to 14 feet. It is maintained by the Jefferson County Drainage District No. 7, and was last inspected by the Corps in June of this year....

September 13, 2008

0600z

UNISYS Enhanced Infrared GOES East Satellite

47A 28.20 -93.80 09/12/23Z 95 954 HURRICANE-2

47B 28.40 -94.30 09/13/01Z 95 952 HURRICANE-2

48 28.60 -94.40 09/13/03Z 95 952 HURRICANE-2

48A 28.90 -94.50 09/13/05Z 95 952 HURRICANE-2

Landfall - Kindly notice the central pressures. The winds at Port Arthur were in the 90 mph range while in Galveston they were registered in the 60 mph range. The corner of the storm that landed on Port Arthur caused far higher storm surges and more concern for safety. The folks in that area were actually in more danger than in Galveston, although everyone needed to pay attention and leave before anyone could incur injuries or worse.

48B 29.20 -94.70 09/13/07Z 95 953 HURRICANE-2

49 29.70 -95.00 09/13/09Z 95 954 HURRICANE-2

The Weather Channel had really exceptional coverage through the entire storm.

Ike closes one local refinery, should drive up gas prices (click here)
By HEATHER NOLAN
September, 11, 2008
...ExxonMobil, Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Co. were among companies in Texas halting operations as the storm closed in, according to the Associated Press.
Valero's refinery in Port Arthur shut down its 325,000 barrel-a-da capacity plant around 5:30 Thursday afternoon, said spokesman Bill Day....

Port Arthur Levee System Holds; Ike Causes Damage, Power Outages in SE - TX. (click here)
September 13, 2008 - 5:02AM
Scott Lawrence
Law enforcement officers and utility executives say it's too early to gauge the full extent of Hurricane Ike's impact on Southeast Texas, but Greg Bostwick says the levee system in Port Arthur held and the water level began falling at about 4 a.m.
The level rose to more than 11 feet in Port Arthur. The lowest point of the levee is about 14 1/2 feet.
The Sabine Pass tide was 14.24 feet. The levels began receding at about 4 a.m.
With that type of tide, storm surge damage can be expected.
There are also reports of flooding in the Bridge City area, but until daylight, the extent of the flooding won't be known.
We have received reports of damage from viewers across the area, including some reports of tree and wind damage to homes.
Entergy Texas reports about 175,000 customers without power in its service area. Those numbers are expected to rise.
You can call 1-800-9Outage to report a power outage.