The World Report

Saddam's number two man has been captured. This is very good news. After a fierce gunbattle outside a health clinic near Tikrit, he was taken into custody.

Now the world is seeing what our intense public assessments (IPA) already revealed. Kerry will not replace George Bush as President of the United States. Articles and journalists are hitting their keyboards with stories about the failing Kerry candidacy even as you read these words. In a few days, or less, new post-convention poll numbers will be released that show Bush up even further. Our own IPA shows a fifteen percentage point spread in a two way race between Bush and Kerry. (58%-43%)

This is good. The sooner Bush can show dominance, the quicker our foreign allies and enemies will pay attention to our policies and requests. It's no secret that the EU has worked against the President at every chance, protecting their own investments in the Middle East. Schroeder, of Germany, has his own disaster. The Christian Democrats are back in power in the Saar state after winning 47.5 percent. They are Germany's conservative party. Last Monday 70,000 people protested Schroeder's policies throughout Germany, many in the eastern portion which is particularly struggling. This is good news for Bush. Schroeder ran on re-election on a Bush-bashing platform that ensured the US received no support from one of our, supposedly, closest allies. It's payback time for Schroeder. It couldn't have happened to a more self-serving politician.

Anyone wondering why there was a run on cement in the world, causing delays and building materials shortages here in parts of the US? Look no further than the Israeli security wall as well as China. The wall is made of concrete and is 30 feet tall. The length of the wall is roughly 725 kilometers and the wall is several feet wide and even wider at the base. That's a LOT of concrete. It's certainly not the great wall of China but it tries. China's building boom is equally responsible for diverting cement imports as they modernize an enormous nation with the profits from all those happy meal toys. The third world has been pretty busy building, which is a good sign for the global economy.

I now have another reason not to watch Steven Spielberg's films. French President Chirac, in a move so blatantly calculated that it makes me wither to think how unsophisticated the French President's PR people are, made Steven Spielberg a knight in the French Legion of Honour on Sunday. So instead of policies that reduce antisemitism in France, they give the producer of Schindler's List an award. That will surely stop those synagogue burnings and Jewish school children beatings! In 2007 Chirac can either step down or run for re-election. Most think he will be replaced by this chap. No one will miss Chirac. He has certainly been a self-serving, force for bad in global politics.

China has been hit by fierce storms taking over 76 lives. It has been a nasty month for the world in storms. These storms are the byproduct of increased spikes in particular types of solar radiation. I fear we will be seeing more storms like Charlie, Frances and Ivan. New technology is needed to tap that solar energy as it impacts the atmosphere or to disrupt the coherency of the atmospheric vortex which is formed. Someday these tools will be at the world's disposal. Talented folks are working on these and other wonders so that future generations won't have to fear the weather.

Surely for the folks in China and Florida that day can't come too soon.