Follow Hungary’s lead on junk-food taxes
At least the politics are healthy:
"3d term for Hungary prime minister" | Associated Press April 07, 2014
BUDAPEST — The Fidesz Party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban won Sunday’s parliamentary election and narrowly secured a new two-thirds majority in Parliament, according to preliminary vote totals.
With over 95 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Office said Fidesz had won 134 seats in the 199-seat Parliament. Fidesz, a right-wing populist party, and its small ally, the Christian Democrats, received 44.5 percent of the list votes, good for 37 seats, and also won 97 of the 106 individual constituencies.
A coalition of left-wing groups is projected to have 37 lawmakers, while the far-right Jobbik will probably have 23 seats. Jobbik received 20.7 percent of the votes, improving on the 16.7 percent they achieved in 2010.
The green party, Politics Can Be Different, got 5.2 percent and five deputies in Parliament.
Orban, who is seeking his third term, said he hoped for a heavy turnout to give legitimacy and a clear mandate for the future.
“It allows the government to do a more vigorous job,” Orban told reporters after casting his ballot in a school.
Fidesz and the Christian Democrats won a two-thirds majority in 2010, which allowed them to write a new constitution and pass legislation unchallenged.
Telling off the bankers means they are fascists.
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Globalist left being rejected everywhere, huh? First France, now Hungary.
Must be the global warming doing it.
"Wash. county weighed buying imperiled homes; Risk of landslide studied in 2004" by Phuong Le | Associated Press April 04, 2014
SEATTLE — A decade before a colossal landslide buried a Washington community, county officials considered buying people’s houses to protect them from such a disaster.
A 2004 Snohomish County flood-management plan said the cost of buying Oso properties and removing residents from the path of a potential slide ‘‘would be significant, but would remove the risk to human life and structures.’’
But after weighing several options, the county instead recommended a project to shore up the base of an unstable hillside near the community about 55 miles north of Seattle, according to documents first reported by the Seattle Times.
The county built a huge wall to reduce landslide and flood risks.
It was not enough to hold back the square mile of dirt, sand, and silt that barreled down the hillside March 22, leveling houses and killing at least 30 people.
Some residents and their family members say they knew nothing of the landslide danger or house-buyout proposals.
‘‘There’s never been any document that we’ve seen regarding that,’’ said Irene Kuntz, whose sister Linda McPherson died in the landslide.
Kuntz said her father bought land in the area in 1940, and he ‘‘never was given any notice that it was in danger’’ from landslides. Her son’s house also was destroyed in the slide.
The Darrington woman said she did not know whether they would have taken a buyout if offered.
Geologic reports noted previous landslides in the area and warned of a potential disaster.
In 2004, county officials evaluated three options, including voluntarily buying properties at the base of the hillside that collapsed nearly two weeks ago.
The county recommended building a log wall. While technically feasible, the plan noted, ‘‘stabilizing any large slide such as this is a difficult task.’’
The 1,300-foot wall was built in 2006.
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Related: Death toll in Washington mudslide rises to 33
You can slide back through the links.
"The warning comes less than two weeks after at least 30 people were killed by a mudslide in Washington state."
"Severe thunderstorms crawled across the Southeast on Monday, dumping heavy rains and causing flash flooding in central Alabama. The storms walloped Mississippi on Sunday and spread overnight into Alabama and Georgia. Strong winds downed trees and power lines and snarled rush-hour commutes."
"For many researchers, this tiny, shiny cue ball of a moon, just more than 300 miles wide, is now the most promising place to look for extraterrestrial life elsewhere in the solar system."
