Jonathan Kantrowitz

I’ve had in with my elected representatives – yes the Democrats, mostly:

1. Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said today that President Obama should once more invite Republicans into health care discussions, Politico reports. And, after a meeting with fellow Senate Democrats, Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “There is no rush.” The comments came as “centrist” Sens. Evan Bayh and Blanche Lincoln “said they would oppose” using reconciliation to pass the bills.

2. President Obama, following in the lead of that great economic thinker, Herbert Hoover, now favors a freeze on Federal spending – something he strongly opposed when John McCain advocated it. Paul Krugman reacts to this insanity:

It’s appalling on every level.

It’s bad economics, depressing demand when the economy is still suffering from mass unemployment.

It’s bad long-run fiscal policy, shifting attention away from the essential need to reform health care and focusing on small change instead.

And it’s a betrayal of everything Obama’s supporters thought they were working for.

Vince McMahon denies responsibility:

After being locked for over 250 years, tectonic plates along the Enriquillo Plantain Garden Fault finally slipped free. As the massive plates slipped past each other, they triggered a massive earthquake, devastating the Caribbean nation of Haiti and its capital within seconds.

In its wake, the magnitude-seven quake in Port-au-Prince created a humanitarian crisis that the world is still trying desperately to respond to. While the foremost concern is getting aid to the people of Haiti, many have questions about the quake itself. Why did it cause so much destruction? Why was it so strong? Why wasn’t it predicted?

While much information remains unknown, John Gosse, professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, says there are many factors that could have led to the seismic events on January 12th and the 5.9 aftershock on January 19th.

“The Caribbean is surrounded by many active plates so the whole area is earthquake prone,” says Dr. Gosse, Canada Research Chair in Earth System Evolution. “The segment (of the Enriquillo Plantain Garden Fault) that ruptured runs right through Haiti but continues offshore and on to Jamaica.” It is one of a system of faults that are separating Cuba (North American plate) from Haiti (Caribbean Plate) over the past 30 million years.

Haiti and its neighbours such as the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Jamaica, rest on the Caribbean Tectonic Plate. The relatively small plate is surrounded by larger plates, such as the North American Tectonic Plate, which is constantly applying pressure. The opposing forces create a great deal of seismic activity resulting in earthquakes and volcano formation.

Each year, the Caribbean Plate moves roughly 21 millimetres eastwards relative to the North American Plate and about seven millimeters of this is taken up by the Enriquillo fault. The last major earthquake along the Port-au-Prince segment occurred in 1751, significant because if that fault line was stuck or locked over the last 259 years that would account for a slip deficit on the fault segment of nearly two metres.

“If the plate is moving at least 21mm, the whole plate doesn’t move at one time, some parts stick,” explains Dr. Gosse. “So if you haven’t had major activity for 250 years, there is a lot of strain and about one to two metres of movement missing.”

“The longer the pressure builds, the greater the magnitude of the earthquake, explaining why this was a seven,” he continues. “Because this was a shallow earthquake, at about a depth of 10 kilometres, and right below Port au Prince, the destruction was massive. We normally don’t see this strength so shallow — bigger earthquakes usually occur at deeper depths.”

As to why this earthquake wasn’t predicted, Dr. Gosse explains that a number of factors play into the difficulty of predicting earthquakes.

“We’re good at knowing the magnitude and the area where earthquakes will occur, but bad at the when,” says Dr. Gosse. “The best way to estimate when is by doing detailed work around the fault by trenching – actually cutting through and looking at the sediment to map the history of slip in the area and try to determine frequency.”

But geologists haven’t done the detailed work required to get a very precise prediction of when earthquakes will occur near Haiti, largely due to resources. Detailed work is done in areas of high population that have the funding for geologists to get there and do it, like at the San Andreas Fault in California.

“Unfortunately this area should have been studied, considering the large populations on the islands along this plate boundary,” says Dr. Gosse.

Another factor that can cause an earthquake is other earthquakes. The shockwave from one earthquake can trigger more earthquakes. While he can’t be sure of the cause, Dr. Gosse said seismic activity in the region the day before may have played a role.

“On January 11, there were two 4.9 earthquakes in Central America around Guatemala,” explains Dr. Gosse. “A wave coming from a 4.9 in that system could trigger the larger one, and could be a trigger for aftershocks.”

Aftershocks can start immediately following a quake and are unpredictable. They can last days or weeks, depending on magnitude, location, movement at the fault, depth, frequency, history of strain, and so on. For example, the 2004 magnitude-nine earthquake off the Sumatran coast, triggering the Indian Ocean tsunami, was followed by weeks of aftershocks.

Dr. Gosse hopes this tragedy will result in greater education and assistance to Haiti, to hopefully avoid another humanitarian crisis like this. “Geologists need to get there and do the detailed work – to get paleoseismic records so that we can establish frequency and understand the mechanics of the fault,” he explains.

Since damage depends largely on the quality of infrastructure and the topography of the region (surface features) Dr. Gosse hopes for greater awareness on the importance of building codes and proper construction.

“You can see on news coverage that houses were built on steep slopes and earthquakes will trigger landslides, potentially burying whole villages, so people need to be educated on what needs to be done to protect themselves,” he says.

While earthquakes are continually occurring all over the world, with over a thousand a year in the Caribbean alone, massive earthquakes are not as common. “

“If faults are continuously slipping, they will generate only small magnitude earthquakes,” explains Dr. Gosse. “However, over the last 300 years there have been about 20 major earthquakes in that area, revealing that some fault segments are locking.”

Save the Children and AmeriCares have partnered to bring medical aid to more than 85,000 Haitians affected by the earthquake. Westport-based Save the Children’s emergency response team in Haiti has distributed more than 16.5 tons of medical supplies in the town of Leogane and at the general hospital in Port-au-Prince – supplies donated by AmeriCares, the global health and disaster relief organization based in Stamford, Conn.

“The situation is still dire and children remain the most vulnerable part of the population during emergencies of this magnitude,” said Carolyn Miles, Chief Operating Officer of Save the Children. “But with the help of our long-time partner, AmeriCares, our health team is getting medical treatment to thousands of children and their families.”

“Haitian hospitals had little to begin with, but now they have nothing – no pain medicines for patients with trauma injuries and no anesthesia for patients who need surgery,” said Elizabeth Furst Frank, Senior Vice President of Global Programs for AmeriCares. “AmeriCares is proud to deliver lifesaving medicines and supplies to our health care partner, Save the Children. Our work together will benefit earthquake survivors in the days, weeks and months ahead.”

With the death toll feared to be in excess of 100,000 lives, the earthquake that rocked the impoverished island nation 11 days ago is the worst in modern Haiti history. Save the Children currently has four mobile health teams in operation and its mobile clinic in Leogane is treating 100 people each day.

Here’s more info:

Donate any amount to Save the Children here or by calling 1-800-728-3843 or 1-203-221-4030 OR DONATE $10 BY TEXTING “SAVE” to 20222.

Donate to AmeriCares here, or call 1-800-486-HELP (4357)

Save the Children is the leading, independent organization that creates lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. Save the Children USA is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a global network of 29 independent Save the Children organizations working to ensure the well-being and protection of children in more than 120 countries. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

AmeriCares is a nonprofit global health and disaster relief organization which delivers medicines, medical supplies and aid to people in crisis around the world. Since it was established in 1982, AmeriCares has distributed more than $9 billion in humanitarian aid around the world and across the United States.

Rob Simmons is often portrayed as a former moderate who has taken a sharp turn to the right. And that may be true up to a point. But as Dave Collins, a better columnist at the Day of New London, points out, that may have been more talk than actual voting behavior:

H/T CT Blue

He supported the war in Iraq, a decision he arrived at, he said, after reading thousands of pages of classified documents about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Never mind that, in the end, there weren’t any.

He talked down the Bush tax cuts for the very rich, calling himself a political moderate and fiscal conservative, then voted for them anyway. He also called himself an environmentalist and then voted for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

He also voted for cuts to Medicaid and student loans, after he said he wouldn’t.

In the developing primary race against wrestling mogul Linda McMahon, Simmons has all but abandoned any pretense to moderate credentials, taking increasingly rightist, tea party positions on everything from stimulus spending to tax cuts.

Kevin Rennie, a Republican political commentator (who apparently doesn’t now the difference between the words anecdote and antidote) writes about heaaring the 7 Republican candidates for governor speak. Only Mark Boughton impressed him.

Here’s a sample:

Nelson “Oz” Griebel, wants a constitutional amendment to protect transportation funding. He’ll “think big” and “speak candidly,” as governor, and [Cliche Alert] act “outside the box.” He’s going to bring smart people together, though there was no evidence on Thursday he’d yet convened that meeting.

Chester First Selectman Tom Marsh owes everyone in that room $250 for the stream of consciousness therapy session we provided. There can be no other description of what the audience endured in his rambling, chaotic, time-stood-still turn at the podium. He wants to use “the power of shame” in governing, but is immune to it himself. He mistook as encouragement what sounded from the back of the room like the beginnings of a slow-clap to get him to stop.

Mark Boughton provided an anecdote to all that preceded him with a crisp review of how he’s made a success of his five terms as mayor of Danbury.