I see that the season's first hurricane Adrian has struck El Salvador. I can't remember ever hearing of a hurricane hitting any country in May. Here in San Francisco winter is having a difficult time letting go while in the tropics, summer has started early. Maybe this will be the year that Mother Nature takes over and turns the world on its head with devasting storms and earthquakes. Perhaps the earthquake and tsunami off Sumatra in December was just a warning shot across the bow. Who knows. We could be in for a rough time in the months ahead.

Things are crazy all over. Locally the City and County of San Francisco has a new jail facility they can't use because many of the security locks do not work and other security systems within the building do not work. Apparently the builder claims they finished the job and departed, leaving the city and county stuck with an unusable facility which will cost millions to repair. I think a big lawsuit could be in the works on this one if the contractor does not do what is right.

In Iraq the situation does not improve but only gets worse and moves towards a possible civil war while Bush still has his head stuck in the sand. Then the photo in a London tabloid of Saddam Hussein in his underwear in a jail cell will only make the enemy (whoever they are) angrier at the west than they already are. What stupidity!

I saw a report on a U.S. military buildup at our base in Guam last night. Looks like they could be preparing for possible action against North Korea. Such a war would be difficult to contain given its proximity to China who we are already upset with over trade and monetary policies. Then there is China's growing consumption of rapidly depleting oil supplies. I once heard, many years ago, a prediction that WWIII would be fought over oil. Now it is looking more and more like that China and the U.S. would be the big players in such a scenario.