A sudden destruction.

"may ruin overtake them by surprise--may the net they hid entangle them, may they fall into the pit, to their ruin." I think that's from the book of Psalms. Chapter 35 or thereabouts. (One of my religious friends might want to confirm that for me.) In the song "Rat Race", Bob Marley sang about meeting up with a sudden destruction when you thought you were safe. I bet Bob got some of his lyrics from the book of Psalms in the Bible. The Rastafarian loves to quote from the book of Psalms. But I digress.

So anyway, the people of Japan are probably feeling like that scripture from the good book was meant for them right about now. It is now believed that over 10,000.00 people are dead and we still have a very serious nuclear threat on our hands. (Yes, our, as in all of us.) I think "Mother Nature" made her point: Don't *&^% with me! OK, but what are we supposed to do? It's not like we have anywhere else to go. Honestly, if you ask me; I think "Mother Nature" is a terrorist. She killed over 300,000 in Haiti a little over a year ago, and now this. The thing is, though, I am not too sure of her political leanings, or her agenda. If she does have one, I hope that I am on her side. This sudden destruction stuff is not cool.

Finally, speaking of terrorist, I see that we are still rounding up terrorist here in A-merry-ca who would do harm to our government and government officials. I am so glad for those Muslim hearings with Peter King. I think they might have actually done some good.

"Several members of a separatist Alaska militia have been arrested in an alleged plot to kidnap and kill judges and state troopers. Now the political associations of the group’s leader are coming to light ...Cox, 26, is a self-described “sovereign citizen” – whose adherents believe they are not subject to laws they do not wish to obey, and that judges, juries and police have no authority over them. Militia groups like Cox’s are said to draw inspiration from the Turner Diaries, which also influenced Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. The prior warrant charged that Cox failed to notify police that he had a concealed weapon when they responded to his home.

More about Cox’s group, via Reuters:

Cox and his associates had developed an extensive plan to launch their attacks, the troopers said in a statement.

They had already conducted extensive surveillance on Fairbanks-area troopers, locating the homes of two troopers, and acquired a large cache of weapons, some of them illegal, according to the statement.

According to prosecutors, the weapons amassed by the group included machine guns, multiple assault rifles, multiple pineapple grenades, at least one grenade launcher, dozens of high-powered rifles and pistols and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

The five are charged with conspiring to commit murder, kidnapping and arson, weapons misconduct, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence, the troopers said. They were arrested late on Thursday without incident, the troopers said .." [Full story]

Oh wait, my bad, these weren't Muslims, they were wingnut separatist. No sudden destruction to fear from these guys, (Would a bullet from a sniper be considered sudden?) they are on our side.

Carry on.

Sometimes "mother nature" isn't so motherly.

My heart goes out to the folks in Japan. I know that they are used to natural disasters but that earthquake that hit and the tsunami that followed looks like some seriously scary stuff. The images on television looks more like a Roland Emmerich movie than an actual event. Shout out to my sister and her fam in Seattle. I am glad you all are alright. But keep an eye on those tsunami warnings, sis.

I am having Katrina flashbacks watching those poor souls on top of buildings. No power. Water all around them. And all they have is each other. Natural disasters can be b*&^%. Then, to make matters worse, some of their nuclear reactors have been shut down in wake of the disaster, and one of the the reactors still isn't cooling down like it should. OH LAWD! Could one of you smart people reassure me that there is nothing to worry about, please?

Anyway, I am not going to get political with this post, because this is all about the poor people of Japan. So....wait a minute, did the wingnuts just get political with this tragedy? Yes, I think they did. OK, since you started it; please read this link from 2009 about the possibility of more quakes and tsunamis thanks to....wait for it....wait for it... global warming.

Finally, I have to do a "WTF?" for city officials in Spokane, Washington:

"SPOKANE, Wash. – Three cleanup workers who were hailed as heroes after finding a live bomb along the route of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade said they later lost their temporary jobs after supervisors questioned their handling of the situation.

The men were employed by Labor Ready and doing temporary work for the Spokane Public Facilities District when they found a backpack containing the bomb about an hour before the scheduled start of the Jan. 17 parade.

They alerted police, who were able to defuse the device.

"For the first two days, basically all we did was get chewed out," worker Mark Steiner told Spokane television station KHQ. "We did this wrong. We did that wrong. I don't know what you consider calling 911 wrong after two minutes after we found it."

Steiner, Brandon Klaus and Sherman Welpton had been hired to perform cleanup work during the parade and noticed the backpack on an outdoor bench.

Stacey Burke, a spokeswoman for Labor Ready, said the men were performing contract work for the facilities district and remain eligible to get more work through the temporary employment service when they ask.

"They can still find employment through us," Burke said, adding they had done some work since the bomb was found.

This was the first time that Labor Ready workers had to deal with a live bomb in Spokane, Burke said.

Kevin Twohig, head of the public facilities district, told The Spokesman-Review that the three men "we're messing around with the bomb."

"I think they put themselves at more risk than they needed," Twohig said.

Burke said the men should not have picked up the backpack.

"I would not wish for them to pick up a backpack that has a bomb in it," she said. "I'm sure they didn't know what it was." [Source]

Hmmm, it kind of makes you wonder if those clowns in Spokane got mad because the workers did find the bomb. I am just sayin.