We’re moving to a new address — I hope the last move for a long time. Please visit us over at the new site. Go there and bookmark it now, so you don’t forget — wouldn’t want to miss Monday’s posts, would you? How can you possibly start your week without yelling at me?

http://fwnextweb1.fortwayne.com/ns/editorial/oa/

In case you don’t already have enough to worry about:

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – People in a vast seismic zone in the southern and midwestern United States would face catastrophic damage if a major earthquake struck there and should ensure that builders keep that risk in mind, a government report said on Thursday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said if earthquakes strike in what geologists define as the New Madrid Seismic Zone, they would cause “the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States.”

FEMA predicted a large earthquake would cause “widespread and catastrophic physical damage” across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee — home to some 44 million people.

That’s nothing we didn’t already know. What we don’t know is how likely such a catastrophe is, which they . . . don’t say. Thanks. If an airplane hits your house tomorrow, there will be catastrophic damage, so it would be best if your weren’t home! Chances of that happening — somewhere between zero and 100 percent. You’re welcome.

Germans are weird – and 14 other images you will

think are Photoshopped but really aren’t. (via FARK)

Ain’t progress wonderful?

AS the world celebrates World Toilet Day today, sanitation experts have called for the end of the flushing dunny to save water and provide fertilizer for crops.

Leading health advocates have called for the use of “dry” toilets which separate urine from faeces and remove the need to flush.

Speaking at the recent World Toilet Summit in Macau, World Toilet Organisation founder Jack Sims said the concept of the flushing toilet was unsustainable.

We will save the planet by reducing all societies to third-world status. I’m kind of rushed for time — aything else I’m supposed to feel guilty about today?

This is never, ever going to end, is it?

The Indiana House will once again invite clergy members and other guests to give opening prayers before legislative work begins, a tradition that had been halted temporarily because of a lawsuit challenging the practice.

A U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled last year that taxpayers who sued over the prayers did not have the legal standing. So on Tuesday, as lawmakers gathered for an organization day at the Statehouse before the January session begins, the House started its business with a prayer from the Rev. Matthew Barnes of Indianapolis.

[. . .]

The ACLU of Indiana, which represented the taxpayers in the previous lawsuit, says it could bring another lawsuit if sectarian prayers continue in the General Assembly.

I’ve heard all the arguments from both sides so often I can recite them in my sleep, and I’ve written about the issue until I’m sick to death of it. You can choose whichever side you think is the most right if you want to keep playing that game, but the fact is that whether prayers are said or not and what kind and who says them do not matter to Hoosiers’ real lives one whit. So whichever side just walks away and says, “We have more important things to do, so we’re not doing this anymore,” will win our undying gratitude.

Consumer prices dropped by the largest amount last month in the 61 years the records have been kept. Why that’s not the immediate good news we might think:

While falling prices especially for such key products as gasoline can provide a break for consumers, analysts said the worry is if price declines become so entrenched that consumers stop buying things, awaiting further price drops. That is one of the problems facing housing as buyers in some markets stay on the fence, expecting home prices to drop further.

We can’t put off filling the car’s tank until gas hits $1.50 a gallon, but if something we want has already come drastically down in price, why buy it now when there’s every chance the price will come down even more? I’d sort of like a new laptop, but any day now I can probably pick one up for pocket change. If a lot of people behave that way — and a lot are — hello, deflation and . . . that other “d” word.

There’s someone in my gift-exchange circle who gives me cash every Christmas and birthday — not a lot, but it can add up if you don’t spend it. I put it aside one year, then forgot about, Next birthday and Christmas, I did the same thing. The more money I accumulated, the less likely I was to spend it. It’s quite a tidy sum right now, and, guess what? It’ll grow a little more this year.

So there you have it. It’s all my fault. Well, yours, too. Our economy is so consumer-driven that we can pump it up or tear it down just by our collective mood. So let’s get out there and spend to save the country!

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could stay home for the first few snows until all the idiots completed their winter-driving remedial education?

The Indiana State Police suggest drivers look in the mirror before pointing a finger at Mother Nature for weather-related traffic accidents.

With the snow and ice having turned Indiana roads treacherous lately, the state police are full-go in an effort to limit the number of weather-related accidents by emphasizing responsible driving.

“Sometimes it’s a shock to the system when the first snow hits,” said Sgt. Ron Galaviz of the Indiana State Police.

Yeah, sometimes, it’s a shock to the system — like every single year. My previous feline — Pierre — was an inside-outside cat. The first snow of winter, he’d step boldly onto the porch, then immediately come zooming back inside, shaking the stuff off his paws and giving me an accusing look. Then, he’d walk through the house and wait by the back door until I let him out there — “Surely that stuff isn’t everywhere,” I knew he was thinking. Sadly, it was always snowing outside the back door, too. He always forgot, year after year, and we went through this annual routine until the day he died. So now you know: Fort Wayne drivers — dumb as cats.

A fascinating interview with Robert Novak, who has been the man so many have loved to hate for so long. A tease:

Reagan was a great leader. I think Kennedy was terribly overrated, but he was a good leader. I don’t think George Bush even comprehends the demands of leadership. I went to see him when he was governor of Texas. I should have gotten a warning at the time. He expressed such contempt for Washington. If I were smarter, I would have seen huge trouble ahead from somebody who has that many negative feelings about the job.

The only president in my time I give a passing grade to is Reagan. I thought Nixon was the worst — a vicious little man. He never should have been president. The one I have the hardest time giving a grade to is Clinton. Did he have talent? Absolutely — he was a very accomplished man. But what did he do? I don’t think he accomplished anything. I think he was very good on the Cold War. But he seemed to be a man with limited horizons and ambitions.

You might have some sympathy for him because he’s dying of a brain tumor, but he’d snarl at you for that, too. Gotta love this:  “I find that politicians as a class are up to no good. Sometimes they accidentally do the right thing.”

The Sistine Chapel it ain’t:

What $23 million buys.

The U.N. Human Rights Council, frequently accused of coddling some of the world’s most repressive governments, threw itself a party in Geneva Tuesday that featured the unveiling of a $23 million mural paid for in part with foreign aid funds.

In a ceremony attended by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo told the press that his 16,000-square-foot ceiling artwork reminded him of “an image of the world dripping toward the sky” — but it reminded critics of money slipping out of relief coffers.

Oh, well. A lot of real damage could be done with $23 million, so maybe we ought to be happy it’s staying, um, in house. Hundreds of thousands of citizens of the Congo could not be reached for comment. Or anything else.

On Monday, I did a post taking The Journal Gazette to task for not identifying those quoted in a story about illegal immigration:

I wonder if the JG would pull that “first names only” stunt if this were a bank robber or a burglar. As a matter of fact, would law enforcement let them get away with it, or would some reporter be hauled in front of a grand jury?

An alert reader (and, coincidentally, a JG employee) e-mailed to point out something I’d forgotten, a column by The News-Sentinel’s own Kevin Leininger from Aug. 4, 2007, about a man named Juan: “Juan is here illegally. That’s why he doesn’t want his last name used, even though he was willing to be photographed.” Now, it’s a lot more fun to bash The Journal Gazette, because — well, just because. But we deserve our lumps, too. By not naming illegal immigrants — by helping them stay “in the shadows” — newspapers contribute to the notion that immigrants who break the law by coming here are a separate class of lawbreakers whose only sin is that the rest of us are so heartless and xenophobic. Things are either illegal or they are not. Breaking the law either has consequences or it does not. Those who insist on blurring the lines because they have sympathy for the people in question help breed a disrespect for all laws and the very notion of law.