A Voice of America story from November 6 says that Israel isn't too happy with a United Nations resolution accusing Israel of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip while fighting with Palestinians almost a year ago.

The story says Israel characterized the UN General Assembly as "completely detached from reality." I can sympathize with Israel on this one. The UN has demonstrated an anti-Israeli bias for decades, and the one-sided nature of debate in UN concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become increasingly ridiculous over recent years.

VOA says, "The resolution was approved by 114 countries with 18 opposed and 44 abstentions. It calls on both Israel and Hamas to open credible investigations into the report's charges within three months. Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor says the investigation by the U.N.-appointed Goldstone Commission was one-sided and biased from the beginning. 'The mandate of the commission already pre-establishes Israel's guilt; it says clearly that Israel is guilty of massive human rights violations and a number of crimes that are already listed in a mandate,' said Palmor."

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-06-voa21.cfm

The Politico reported November 6 that two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of the House and Senate are millionaires. The story is based on a report from the Center for Responsive Politics. That means nearly half of the guys and gals elected to jobs on Capitol Hill are millionaires, while only 1 percent of the general population is.

From the Politico: "CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million. Next in line: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), worth about $244.7 million; Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worth about $214.5 million; Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), worth about $209.7 million; and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), worth about $208.8 million. All told, at least seven lawmakers have net worths greater than $100 million, according to the Center’s 2008 figures."

So only one Republican in the top 5, huh?

Dave Levinthal, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, is quoted as saying, "Many Americans probably have a sense that members of Congress aren't hurting, even if their government salary alone is in the six figures, much more than most Americans make. What we see through these figures is that many of them have riches well beyond that salary, supplemented with securities, stock holdings, property and other investments."  

Can we say out of touch?  I wonder what it's like to have that kind of money? I certainly wouldn't mind finding out, at least for a little while. For Senators the median amount was $1.79 million, down from just over $2.25 million in 2007. For the House the median amount was $622,254, down from nearly three quarters of a million in 2007. 

And this is always nice (just forget about the ethics for a moment): Politico says, "Some lawmakers have profited from investments in companies that have received federal bailouts; dozens of lawmakers are invested in Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America."

Don't worry. I'm sure that didn't play into their decision to bail these firms out.   

Among executive branch officials, CRP says the richest is Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary L. Schapiro, with a net worth estimated at $26 million.

And what about the lawmakers with a net worth less than zero (now we're talking about folks similar to a lot of Americans, except for that six figure salary): According to the Politico, Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), freshman Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.), Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.) and Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) each a net worth of less than zero, CRP says. One caveat on those numbers: Federal financial disclosure laws don’t require members to list the value of their personal residences. That information could alter the net worth picture for many lawmakers."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29235.html

The Sacramento Bee reported November 6 that as many as one quarter of the more than 100,000 jobs reported as "saved" by President Obama's stimulus in California were likely never in jeopardy of being lost. The report is based on a review of the jobs by the Sacramento Bee.

The story says, "California State University officials reported late last week that they saved more jobs with stimulus money than the number of jobs saved in Texas – and in 44 other states. In a required state report to the federal government, the university system said the $268.5 million it received in stimulus funding through October allowed it to retain 26,156 employees. That total represents more than half of CSU's statewide work force. However, university officials confirmed Thursday that half their workers were not going to be laid off without the stimulus dollars."

So why would they report the jobs as saved if the jobs weren't going to be terminated anyway? Are they trying to pad the numbers to help the President? Or to get more dollars because of their "success?"

Clara Potes-Fellow, spokeswoman for California State University, is quoted as saying, "This is not really a real number of people. It's like a budget number."

What kind of coded talk is that? It sounds like she should be in Washington. She'd fit right in with the clowns in the House and Senate.

Referring to the talk about budget numbers versus "real people," the Bee says, "That certainly was not the way Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger described it at a news event with Vice President Joe Biden late last week, where he focused on people, not budgets. 'Anyone that criticizes the stimulus money should talk to those 100,000 people that have retained their jobs or gotten jobs because of the stimulus money, especially the 62,000 teachers that have kept their jobs or gotten jobs,' Schwarzenegger said."

Sounds like a bit of a disconnect, doesn't it?

The Bee continues, "Multiple cases of inflated and underreported job tallies have surfaced since the federal government released detailed stimulus reports last week, said Craig Jennings, a senior policy analyst at OMB Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group that tracks federal spending. 'I don't think recipients know what they are supposed to put down,' Jennings said, referring to guidelines for estimating the number of jobs retained."

And then there's this: "In the case of the CSU system, spokeswoman Potes-Fellow said university officials followed federal reporting guidelines in calculating the numbers." So maybe the federal guidelines are structured to pad the numbers or to make the stimulus look more effective than it actually is.

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2309303.html

The recent explosion of new ARI cases in Ukraine raise concerns that the H1N1 virus has subtly mutated, with an associated increase in cases and deaths which nearly doubled in the past two days. The numbers below represent the latest update from Ukraine.

The number of ARI infected patients has almost reached ½ million, compared to the report two days ago (see map compiled using data from official news sources).

478,456 Influenza/ARI | 24,003 Hospitalized | 60 Ventilators | 81 Deaths.

Additionally, a national H1N1 epidemic was also Declared in Bulgaria as a rapid spread raised serious concerns that there will be a dramatic increase in cases and deaths in the area. Spikes in deaths have also been reported in Turkey and Italy, although their numbers have not reached that of the Ukraine.

ICU cases are not listed in the update, however hospitalized patients also have spiked higher to 24K from 15K. The rapid rise in reported infections, hospitalizations, and deaths in the past few days raise concerns that the virus is transmitting very efficiently.

The more severe manifestation of ARI, Acute Respiratory Infection in the Ukrainian cases are clearly defined as a hemorrhagic disease that fills lungs with blood and produces bleeding at all orifices, a stark reminder of 1918 pandemic cases which reportedly were also linked to the swine H1N1.  The ARI disease exhibits symptoms very similar to the ebola virus of which the family Filoviridae is responsible for severe and often fatal viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in primates, gorillas, chimpanzees, humans, and domestic pigs.

The disease is characterized by extreme fever, rash, and profuse hemorrhaging.  In humans, certain strains of the virus can cause fatality in 50 to 90 percent of cases.

Ebola is closely related to the Marburg virus and the two are the only members of the Filoviridae that cause epidemic human disease.

Previous to the Ukraine incident another incident took place in mid-July 2008, where a man suddenly died from an unidentified disease (believed to be a strain of Filoviridaevirus) in Shandong Province, China.  Confirmed Reports stated, his entire body turned dark purple, and he bled from his mouth, nostrils, ears, and eyes just as he died.

Shortly after the man died, two other men who been in contact with him, died showing the same symptoms. Villagers who had left the village to work said, “Three people died 10 days ago. People have been to the area to investigate, but they are unable to classify the disease.”  It is possible that the Chinese regime is not allowing news about the situation to be known. Most people outside of the village do not know about the illness. Their families do not want people who have left the village to return. article>

The Ukranian Health Ministry has said that the origin of the virus is unknown, but its affinity for the lungs and the way it attacks young people strongly suggests it is a virulent form of the H1N1"swine flu"  virus. President Viktor Yushchenko has reportedly asked the United States, the European Union, NATO and Ukraine's neighbours for drugs and equipment to fight the spread of the virus, according to a statement released by his office.

There are numerous conflicting media reports regarding the Ukrainian outbreak which seems to suggest that top government officials and some politicians are trying to play-down the seriousness of this disease and quell the possibility of public panic.  There are also reports (unconfirmed) of Vitkor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine who has asked the Defense Ministry to prepare mobile military hospitals to deal with the outbreak, prompting fears that Yushchenko will soon effectively place Ukraine under martial law.

Updates to this article will be made available as the outbreak progresses.

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References:

ZIK - Information is Power, Unidentified Flu Outbreak in Western Ukraine (site)
ZIK - Information is Power, Flu Death Toll Ukraine: 109 Dead, Updated 11/6/2009 (site)
Radio Netherlands Wordwide, Ukraine Virus Mystery Deepens (site)
WHO - World Health Organization, Vaccine Research, Acute Respiratory Infections (site)
WHO - World Health Organization, Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Ukraine - Update 1 (site)
New York Times, Virus' Tangled Genes Straddle Continents, Raising Concerns - (site)
PRNewswire, Recombinomics, Inc. Identifies Sequences in the H5N1 Virus (site)