Couple of Tidbits: Terhan, Ann and Jules

I'm still on the road for a little while. But though I am away from the computer right now, a few small things have caught my eye over the last few days which I will briefly post:

First, from The Economist: Did you know Tehran, Iran is in a major earthquake zone such that some have advocated the entire city of 12 million people be moved? If a massive earthquake ever hits the city, it could wreck the national economy. About 40% of the country's GDP is produced in Tehran. And we thought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the only thing that could bring down the Iranian economy in short order.

Other cities with high GDP in similar precarious positions for natural disasters are: Mexico City with 40% GDP, Seoul, Korea with 50%, and Cairo, Egypt with 50%.

We tend to think politics and war change the course of human events in large cities more than anything else, but a major natural disaster--an act of God--can do more in a short period of time than any of the above. Just ask the citizens of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.


Second, from the New York Post a rather appalling report: Conservative writer Ann Coulter ---latest book, If Democrats Had Any Brains They'd Be Republicans--has been seen out with former New York City Democratic politico and liberal Andrew Stein, first at the black-tie Lincoln Center Film Festival several weeks ago where they turned heads, and most recently at Soho House where they appeared "in passionate lip-lock." Stein's only comment is that she's attacked lots of his friends but in the end, opposites do attract. All I can say is that Ann succeeds in getting attention in every outrageous she puts her mind to doing. And people continue getting hooked by her outrageousness.

Finally a quote I like from Jules Crittenden, a man I respect: "Well, the libs are slowly starting to figure out that Bush is right about Iraq and Iran, as reluctant as they are to admit it."