From Sky News….

The video portrays the Republican as a hero but the message may be tarnished as he is filmed smoking a cigarette.

In the footage an emotional and shirtless McCain passes a message to his wife saying he will get well and loves her.

He also describes being shot down over Hanoi in 1967, and parachuting into a lake.

At times, when speaking of his family, McCain’s lower lip trembles and his voice breaks.

“I was on a flight over the city (Hanoi) … and I was bombing and I was hit by a missile or anti-aircraft fire, I’m not sure which,” he said, adding that his plane “went straight down”.

After landing in the lake, McCain said he “was picked up and taken to the hospital, where I almost died”.

If finding a video of McCain smoking in a prison camp back in the 60’s is the only thing that tarnishes his heroic image he must be a saint. I know he his not a saint, but this kind of thing is a little over the top. (h/t Rod Dreher)

From Wired….

When the next big earthquake hits the San Francisco Bay Area, it will be a catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina proportions. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people will die, and hundreds of thousands will become homeless. Economic losses will be on the order of $200 billion, the vast majority of it uninsured. Outside help will be desperately needed, but difficult to coordinate and execute.

The article goes into some detail as to why it will be so bad. But really who does not realize that that San Francisco Bay Area is at risk for bad earthquake?

The real disgusting thing is who few people in the bay area are prepared for one. But it will be all the government’s fault when the calvary fails to arrive fast enough for their liking.

From the BBC….

Scientists from Porton Down have been deployed in the UK a “number of times this year”, the government’s head of counter-terrorism has told MPs.

The lab mainly specialises in nuclear and biological warfare but the reason for the deployments is not known.

Given that people in the U.K have been known to drink radioactive tea, I am not all that surprised that they keep them people busy.

These reports from Londonstani on the Darfur conflict are interesting. They don’t focus on atrocities like most other reports. Instead they focus on the combatants. They won’t change how you look at the conflict, but there are some interesting tidbits to be found in these reports.

Here is part one (don’t worry, they are all short). Here is part two. And here is part three.

From a blog….

Although American intelligence and government sources are maintaining a strictly observed silence, the same does not apply to the Russians and so it is that we learn the real story of the MV Iran Deyanat. She was an enormous floating dirty bomb, intended to detonate after exiting the Suez Canal at the eastern end of the Mediterranean and in proximity to the coastal cities of Israel. The entire cargo of radioactive sand, obtained by Iran from China (the latter buys desperately needed oil from the former) and sealed in containers which, when the charges on the ship are set off after the crew took to the boats, will be blasted high into the air where prevailing winds will push the highly dangerous and radioactive cloud ashore.

I don’t know if I buy this, but the news blackout regarding this ship is starting to make me paranoid.

Edit: This comment makes more sense to me given what has been reported…..

“Radioactive sand?” This sounds like a load of monazite of which China has plenty. Monazite ‘sand’ is a source of rare earth metals, and was probably being shipped to Iran for processing there into F.C.C., fluid cracking catalyst, which is necessary for converting heavy crudes to fluid oil. The load may even have been one of rare earth oxide (REO) concentrates produced from monazite sands. In either case the sand or the concentrates made from it could and most likely would contain radioactive thorium, which is always found associated with the rare earths in monazite. Interestingly enough thorium is now being researched in China, India, Russia, and Norway for use as a nonproliferative nuclear fuel. Perhaps the Iranians were going to extract it also for such research?

The truth is usually boring.