Smoke on the water

While enjoying the company of friends with whom we share similar political beliefs, Tom noted that Jim Leher was back on PBS for the first time in quite a while. This led to a discussion of the travails of the newspaper industry which has been laying off staff and cutting down on content. I mentioned that the Bush Administration has continued to cut funding for PBS, and the trend for PBS and NPR to "get that other point of view out there" in an attempt to soften charges of liberal bias.


"The way things are going, where are we going to get our news?" asked Tom.


Al-Jazeerah's pretty good, I offered. So's CBCnews (Canada), The Black Commentator. BBC, perhaps.


So I've been perusing "foreign" press lately. Here's more on extreme weather, fires in California, from CBCnews:

Lightning strikes have been blamed for starting about 1,000 fires recently in northern California, which has seen drought conditions for the past two years.

Areas hardest hit by the lightning fires include Butte County, where fires threaten 1,200 homes; Mendocino County, with 121 fires threatening 900 homes; and Shasta-Trinity counties, where 230 homes are at risk.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked President George W. Bush on Friday for a federal emergency declaration to free up more resources, saying most of the major fires are less than 20 per cent contained.

The blazes also have spread a smoky haze over much of the San Francisco Bay area and Central Valley, prompting air regulators to urge people to stay indoors.

This is pretty extreme stuff - 1,000 fires, most less than 20% contained, smoky haze. All entirely consistent with the phenomena called global warming.