From Jenna Orkin:


Call me the scummiest hypocrite but right now with infinite relief (which feels a whole lot like gratitude) I greet you from the heart of Corporate America, Burger King, which is my sole access to the internet at the moment.

So while it's a thrill to have access to the blog after 36 hours, I can't check video links and am leery of posting them; hence the disappointment some of you may experience.

Before me is a photo of a workman sitting atop a steel girder which is attached to exactly nothing, - like a forty-storey flagpole - having not yet met its horizontal mate in the construction of what is probably the Empire State Building; it's hard to recognize the New York of seventy years ago although given a couple of minutes one could figure it out from the ever- mercurial orientation of Broadway.

The workman is waving triumphantly with his left hand while holding a half-smoked celebratory cigarette (as well as the top of the girder) in the other. His right leg is also wrapped around the back of the girder. Or perhaps he only has one leg; it's all a little dizzying.

Then again, that may be in the eye of the beholder. Life is a Rorschach, as a shrink friend of mine says. And we are feeling a little dizzy these days as the global economic crisis gets forgotten faster than a one night stand (I'm trying to write like a guy for one sentence) in favor of the potential global pandemic.

But back to the matter(s) at hand:

In response to the eyebrow-raising about links from Pravda: Links are sometimes posted on this blog for reasons other than their content. It can be useful to see who's saying what, where; whether on Fox or CBS, in US DOD announcements or Russian propaganda. As you read any links posted here, bear in mind who the messenger is and make appropriate adjustments.

Economic/Flu Crisis
World Bank: Economic Crisis Turning Into Calamity
Has Globalization Made Us More Catastrophe Prone?
Gold Hits Four Week High as Swine Flu Fears Grow and China Builds Reserves
Cryptome on Smallpox
note the mention of David Kelly in this article
From the FTW archives on pandemics:
FDA Warns of Salmonella in Sprouts
Flu Pandemic Timeline - Homeland Security
Obama's Host Dies From Flu-Like Symptoms
Obama Admin. Releases Stockpile of Anti-Flu Viral Drug
Swine Flu Fears Prompt Global Quarantine Plans
Sanofi Aventis Invests 100 Million Euros in New Facility in Mexico to Produce Seasonal and Pandemic Flu Vaccine
Napolitano Says US Should Prepare for New Flu Outbreak Soon Even If This One Fizzles Out Pentagon Prepared for Flu Outbreak
Drug Companies Prepare for Swine Flu Epidemic
Pharmaceutical stocks are expected to rise on Monday morning, after Roche and GlaxoSmithKline said they may need to supply millions of vaccine doses to help protect against the swine flu that has killed up to 81 people in Mexico.
Toxic Asset Plan Stirs Fears

UK
British Economy Shrinks at Fastest Pace For Thirty Years
Revealed: The Titan Prison Sites the Government Kept Secret
G20 Protesters 'Offered Cash' by Police to Spy on Environmental Groups
Plan to Monitor All Internet Use

Russia/Central Asia
Russia Sets New World Record in Conquest of North Pole
Russia Has Five Uneasy Questions to (sic) Finland
All Moscow Police To Be Tested For Sanity After Officer Shoots 9
Russian Bomb Found Near Chancellor Merkel's Apartment
Russian Troops Based Just 40 km. from Georgian Capital
Russia to Move More Warplanes to Kyrgyz Military Base
India to Become Russia's Main Customer for Warplanes
Russia to Sell 6 Submarines to Vietnam, Not Venezuela: Paper
Russia May Fail Foreign Arms Supplies Contracts: Expert
Russian Army is Short of Men: Medvedev
South Caucasus Emerging as Crossroads of Energy Exports
Kazakhstan Expects to Join EU
Turkmenistan Defends Right to Diversify Export Routes
Tajik Border Guards Open Fire on Kyrgyz Bus
Kyrgyz Police Detain 80 After Interethnic Tensions
Unrest in Georgia, Moldova? Blame Kosovo
Russia's Lavrov Calls NATO Drills in Georgia "Dangerous"
Moody's Expects Turkish Economy to Shrink By At Least 4%

Asia
Saudi Arabia Considers Giving Women the Vote
One small step for woman, one giant step off the treadmill. "...the move comes as Saudi women learned they could be forced out of their female-only sports clubs and gyms because the government seems likely to agree licensing of the clubs for men only, the Guardian reports."
Private Banks in Asia Suffer Hangover After Party
Japan Facing Worst Economic Outlook on Record
Bin Laden Could Be Dead; Whereabouts Unknown: Zardari

Surveillance Vehicles Take Flight Using Alternative Energy