Just remember, someone is always watching... 

Storm of the Century...

This is a picture of a map of Australia from the Bureau of Meterology, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. On it, as you can see, is Cyclone Monica, more severe than Cyclone Tracy, which destroyed Darwin Christmas Eve night, 1974.

No one, back in those days, could accurately distinguish what the actual wind speed was as technology was not what it is today, and can only guesstimate what the destructive wind speed was. We do know that Tracy moved at only 8 kilometres per hour when she crossed the coast at Darwin. She stayed with us the entire night of 24 December. Many people died that night as the weather bureau, following the path of Tracy, was located in our national capital, Canberra, over 1500 miles to the south.

36 years later and here comes Monica, a catagory 5 cyclone with winds at the destructive centre measured near 350 kilometres per hour. That is over 200 miles per hour on the old scale. Try standing up in those conditions. This storm surpasses Katrina and is indeed the storm of the century, but then again, this is no pissing contest.

To make matters worse are the high tides experienced in this part of the world, up to nine metres, or 27 feet on the old scale. Big tides indeed! Storm surges, if Monica hits at high tide, will wipe out a large portion of the population if it hits Darwin. We were lucky in 1974; Tracy struck at low tide. Let's hope luck is still on our side.

As I am not a weatherman so I will leave you with this Cyclone warning issued by the Bureau of Meterology:

Darwin Regional Forecasting CentreTOP PRIORITYMEDIA:
Transmitters serving the Gove area are requested to use the cyclone mergency warning signal with this message.

TROPICAL CYCLONE WARNINGTROPICAL CYCLONE ADVICE NUMBER 56 Issued by the BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY, DARWINat 5:00 pm CST Sunday 23 April 2006

A CYCLONE WARNING is now current for coastal and island communities between CAPESHIELD and POINT STUART, including NHULUNBUY, JABIRU AND COBOURG PENINSULA.

CYCLONE WATCH extends southwest between POINT STUART and PORT KEATS, including DARWIN and the TIWI ISLANDS.

At 4 pm CST SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE Monica CATEGORY 5 was located about 110 kilometres northeast of NHULUNBUY, and 210 kilometres east northeast of ELCHO ISLAND, moving west at 12 kilometres per hour.

The cyclone should remain close to its current intensity as it moves further west, just north of the north coast overnight. The VERY DESTRUCTIVE core of SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE Monica with gusts to 350 kilometres per hour is expected to impact islands of northeast Arnhem Land, including ELCHO ISLAND tonight. The VERY DESTRUCTIVE core is expected to impact the north coast of western ARNHEM LAND between MILINGIMBI and CROKER ISLAND during Monday. The cyclone is expected to weaken slightly as it passes over the base of the COBOURG PENINSULA before reaching the northwest DARWIN-DALY and TIWI ISLAND area on Tuesday.

GALES with gusts to 100 kilometres per hour are currently being experienced on the far northeast Arnhem Land coast and Wessel Islands. DESTRUCTIVE WINDS with gusts to 160 kilometres per hour are expected to develop along the Arnhem Land coast between NHULUNBUY and ELCHO ISLAND tonight and extend further west to MANINGRIDA and GOULBURN ISLAND during Monday. GALES near the outer edge of the cyclone may extend as far as POINT STUART and COBOURG PENINSULA on Monday night. GALES will continue to extend westward and may develop over the northwest DARWIN-DALY and TIWI ISLAND area during Monday night and Tuesday morning.

DANGEROUSLY HIGH TIDES could cause EXTENSIVE FLOODING at the coast between CAPESHIELD and ELCHO ISLAND during today. HEAVY RAIN is expected to cause significant stream rises and flooding of lowlying areas in northeastern Arnhem land today, extending across the remainder ofthe northern Top End on Monday.

Details of SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE Monica at 4 pm CST:

Centre located near...... 11.4 degrees South 137.4 degrees East .
Location accuracy........ within 30 kilometres . +
Recent movement.......... towards the west at 12 km/h . Wind gusts near centre... 350 kilometres per hour .
Intensity................ CATEGORY 5 .
Central pressure......... 905 hectoPascals

REPEATING: A CYCLONE WARNING is now current between CAPE SHIELD and POINT STUART, including NHULUNBUY, JABIRU and COBOURG PENINSULA. A CYCLONE WATCH extends southwest to PORT KEATS, including DARWIN and the TIWI ISLANDS.

The next advice will be issued at 8 pm CST.This advice is available on telephone NT-1300 659 211

DARWIN Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre

I decided to publish a photo of myself instead of George W because he is much uglier than my good self and besides, I believe you should be able to look another person in the eye when you are declaring your thoughts...

Speaking of George W, I would like to remind him that "freedom of speech is not sedition".

I have already written on the subject of rights of American citizens and how they seem to erode, almost daily. George W and his cronies seem to have this passionate fear of criticism, whether it's about their job performance, intellect or person. The only logical reason I can come up with for them trying to stop anyone and everyone from saying bad things about them, is because of their insecurities.

I have also previously stated it would not surprise me if George W decided to become dictator and never leave the White House. How scary of a thought is that!!!

Donald Rumsfield came under attack from a group of retired Generals and George W was quick enough to interrupt his Easter sabbatical to defend his personally selected war monger. Wouldn't you think Generals who have commanded troops in various military combat situations know what they are talking about?

The forseeable outcome of these remarks by retired Generals may be they are charged with sedition and put before the courts on charges of treason. By some obscure reasoning this course of events would not surprise me in the least.

I find it amazing that the commander in chief would not listen to men who learned valuable lessons in fields of combat in Viet Nam and Korea, wars that favoured others with their outcomes.

If you think my critisism of George W and his cronies seems harsh or strongly leans towards the left, you are probably right, in more ways than one. I have never liked, trusted or respected George W. A man who cannot look another person in the eye when they are telling lies should have never been elected in the first place, but he was, by Americans. Seems you made your bed and now you have no choice but to lay in it for the next two years.

Seems comedian David Letterman sums it all up in a nut shell with this comment, “President Bush has said that he does not need approval from the UN to wage war, and I'm thinking, well, hell, he didn't need the approval of the American voters to become president, either.”
Host of the Late Show with David Letterman 

The lying Bastard…

Get this, it seems President Bush authorized White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose highly sensitive intelligence information to the news media in an attempt to discredit a CIA adviser. The adviser expressed views that undermined the rationale for the invasion of Iraq, according to a federal prosecutor's account of Libby's testimony to a grand jury.

The court filing by, for the first time, places George W and his gunslinging partner "Slick Dick" Cheney at the heart of what Scooter said in testimony, was “an exceptional and deliberate leak of material designed to buttress the administration's claim that Iraq was trying to obtain nuclear weapons.”

The information was contained in the National Intelligence Estimate, one of the most closely held CIA analyses, of whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

The thing is, this creepy sleazeball that occupies the Oval Office would knowingly put the blame on someone else avoiding the finger pointing at him. I know which finger I would point at George W.

I somehow knew you couldn’t trust the lying Bastard.