'Rita on the Rocks...

I know Hurricane Rita blew over Key West and left it relatively unscathed, but I still don't think I would have taunted her quite like this, right on the heels of Katrina:

Anyway... On a bit of what I consider to be a silly note regarding these hurricanes, I give you a story taken from Fox News' "Out There" section regarding one weatherman's hypethesis that these storms are man-made. (My favorite parts have been highlighted in red) So, without further adieu:

Global warming? Act of God? Nope, says one Idaho weatherman -- Hurricane Katrina was part of a man-made plot against America.

Scott Stevens, a meteorologist who for nine years has been forecasting the weather on KPVI-TV in Pocatello, says the Yakuza -- the Japanese mafia -- is using a Russian-made electromagnetic generator to launch terrific storms against the U.S. mainland.

The devastation of New Orleans was in revenge for the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Stevens explains on his Web site. He says it will soon be used again against another major American city.

"A battle in the skies is waged daily. Some battles are won and others lost. We know not which," Stevens writes on the front page of his site. "For years this massive global project has been under way, but only now is it making it to the forefront of the consciousness of those with curious minds."

Rumors have long circulated of a secret Soviet weather weapon, but Stevens told the Idaho Falls Post Register he became convinced it existed after noticing strange patterns in a Montana cold front in 2004.

"I just got sick to my stomach because these clouds were unnatural and that meant they had [the machine] on all the time," Stevens told the newspaper. "I was left trying to forecast the intent fo some organization, rather than the weather of this planet."

Nor is it a coincidence that both Katrina and Ivan -- the huge hurricane that hit Florida a year ago -- are Russian names, Stevens says.

At least one other scientist, however, thinks it's all a bunch of hooey.

"I have been doing hurricane research for the better part of 20 years now, and there was nothing unusual to me about any of the satellite imagery of Katrina," Robert S. Young, an associate professor of geology at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., told the newspaper. "It's laughable to think it could have been man-made."

Other hurricane experts explain that the spate of severe North Atlantic storms in recent years is part of the natural 25- to 30-year cycle. There was a wave of damaging hurricanes between 1935 and 1965, then a lull before the number of bad storms increased again around 1995.

The U.S. government has apparently tried to influence hurricanes, but its Project Stormfury, which from 1962 to 1983 sought to weaken cyclones by seeding the storms' eyewalls with silver iodide, was a failure.

Stevens is unperturbed by those who scoff at his findings.

"I fully expect one more 'event' this year to impact the United States," he writes. "My gut feeling is that it will be an earthquake/volcanic even with intensity of at least 7.45 in magnitude resulting in insured losses to exceed $25 billion."

His bosses at KPVI-TV don't mind his views, as long as he keeps them off the air.

"He doesn't talk about it on his weathercast," General Manager Bill Fouch told the newspaper. "He's very knowledgeable about weather, and he's very popular."

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Ahhhh, so does that mean the Japanese could also be held responsible for their own typhoons, monsoons, tsunamis, etc.? Those kooky Asians...