September 2005 Archives

I walked past a store selling discounted, remaindered books today, and the front window was full of the title, The Guide to Understanding Iraq for Complete Idiots. Apparently, it's meant to be quite good. But still. The jokes just write themselves, don't they? So I won't bother.

I passed two people who seemed to be operating under a modified theory of the Bugblatter Beast of Traal... that is, if they can't see the person that they're talking to, nobody else can hear their conversation. Sadly, they are mistaken. I nearly turned around to the girl who was loudly asserting to her friend that "I won't assume that I'm on birth control just because I'm on the pill. I can hardly remember to take these things every day. The only reason I'm on it at all is for my cramps..." and forthrightly explaining to her that if you skip too many doses, you'll ovulate, your hormones will be their usual cranky selves, and there goes your cramp prevention strategy. Likewise, the young man telling his bud on speakerphone, "Man, that's hella GAY. That's HELLA GAY!!!" narrowly missed me asking him about the roots of his gender anxiety.

I KNEW there was a reason for two-way pagers... 

With apologies to Frank Sinatra (who, rumor has it, knew a thing or two about organized crime)

 What a day this has been
What a rare mood I'm in
Why it's almost like being in loveTom Delay being indicted on campaign finance-related conspiracy charges
There's a smile on my face
For the whole human race
Why it's almost like being in love Tom Delay being indicted on campaign finance-related conspiracy charges
All the music of life seems to be
(Just) Like a bell that is ringing for me
And from the way that I feel
When the bell starts to peel
I would swear I was falling, I could swear I was falling
- It's almost like being in love Tom Delay being indicted on campaign finance-related conspiracy charges

(Via A Star from Mosul) You don't even need to be able to read the language!

The Cranky Little Old Letter-Writing Lady (CLOLWL^TM) strikes again!

Editor -- I think the most significant thing about the protests this weekend was not the crowds at the anti-war marches on Saturday so much as the distinct absence of them at the pro-war rally on Sunday.

How can supporting this war help the troops in any way? It's hard to get excited about a losing cause that was a bad idea in the first place. It's hard to cheer as we close in on a death toll of 2,000 U.S. soldiers and uncounted numbers of Iraqi citizens.

Americans, who at the end of the day do truly value life and freedom, are coming to see that this war is profoundly destructive to these cherished values. Perhaps this is bad news for the 400 die-hard true believers, but it's good news for those who hope for a better future for all, here and abroad.

KATHERINE FALK

Oakland

Meanwhile, that war just gets worse and worse and worse... Sigh...

I AM a stinkin' Socialist.

It says so, in this very scientific quiz.

You are a Social Liberal (76% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (10% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating

I have to admit when I read this article and looked at the pictures, one word floated into my mind.

"Nazis." 

• What if they threw a pro-war rally and (almost) nobody came? (really, almost nobody... they were hoping for 20,000 and 400 showed up)
  
• Quit your (my) bitching about the ANSWER crowd and oppose the war, already!
  
• Get out of Dodge, says Juan Cole
  

Hey, when a New York Times article leads off with "Vast numbers of protesters..." and continues thusly:

"...poured onto the lawns behind the White House over the weekend to demonstrate their opposition to the war in Iraq, pointedly directing their anger at President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney."

something's going on. Good for the country, not so good for BushCheneyCo. 

Oh, and...

Rallies held Saturday in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and other cities drew considerably smaller crowds, but unlike the more varied themes of recent protests against administration policies, antiwar sentiment was consistent throughout.

Yeah, there were pro-war protesters there too.  (What kinds of signs can they really, honestly, hold up? GREED IS GOOD! YAY KILLING!) I hope they're scared s**tless. (Though they shouldn't be... but they'll never come to their senses.)

A hell of a way to wake up at 4:25 in the morning...

Mother Nature delivered an early morning wake-up call to the East Bay Saturday as a 3.2 magnitude earthquake -- centered in Piedmont -- jolted many residents from their sleep.

There were no reports of damage from the 4.25 a.m. quake that occurred on the Hayward Fault. That fault zone is among the most dangerous in the Bay Area because it runs though Hayward, Oakland and the Berkeley Hills.The shallow point of the quake -- just 3.7 miles below the surface -- was the reason the quake was felt throughout the Bay Area.

Yeah, felt throughout the Bay Area, but especially by us, who live literally around the corner from Piedmont!

Sick fucks

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 - Three former members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division say members of their battalion in Iraq routinely beat and abused prisoners in 2003 and 2004 to help gather intelligence on the insurgency and to amuse themselves.

The new allegations, the first involving members of the elite 82nd Airborne, are contained in a report by Human Rights Watch. The 30-page report does not identify the troops, but one is Capt. Ian Fishback, who has presented some of his allegations in letters this month to top aides of two senior Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, John W. Warner of Virginia, the chairman, and John McCain of Arizona. Captain Fishback approached the Senators' offices only after he tried to report the allegations to his superiors for 17 months, the aides said. The aides also said they found the captain's accusations credible enough to warrant investigation.

An Army spokesman, Paul Boyce, said Friday that Captain Fishback's allegations first came to the Army's attention earlier this month, and that the Army had opened a criminal investigation into the matter, focusing on the division's First Brigade, 504th Parachute Infantry. The Army has begun speaking with Captain Fishback, and is seeking the names of the two other soldiers.

In separate statements to the human rights organization, Captain Fishback and two sergeants described systematic abuses of Iraqi prisoners, including beatings, exposure to extremes of hot and cold, stacking in human pyramids and sleep deprivation at Camp Mercury, a forward operating base near Falluja. Falluja was the site of the major uprising against the American-led occupation in April 2004. The report describes the soldiers' positions in the unit, but not their names.

Interrogators pressed guards to beat up prisoners, and one sergeant recalled watching a particular interrogator who was a former Special Forces soldier beating the detainee himself. "He would always say to us, 'You didn't see anything, right?' " the sergeant said. "And we would always say, 'No, sergeant.' "

One of the sergeants told Human Rights Watch that he had seen a soldier break open a chemical light stick and beat the detainees with it. "That made them glow in the dark, which was real funny, but it burned their eyes, and their skin was irritated real bad," he said.

A second sergeant, identified as an infantry squad leader and interviewed twice in August by Human Rights Watch, said, "As far as abuse goes, I saw hard hitting." He also said he had witnessed how guards would force the detainees "to physically exert themselves to the limit."

Some soldiers beat prisoners to vent their frustrations, one sergeant said, recalling an instance when an off-duty cook showed up at the detention area and ordered a prisoner to grab a metal pole and bend over. "He told him to bend over and broke the guy's leg with a mini-Louisville Slugger that was a metal bat."

Even after the Abu Ghraib scandal became public, one of the sergeants said, the abuses continued. "We still did it, but we were careful," he told the human rights group.

What was that quote I mentioned earlier?

"Red state America doesn't understand what these people are talking about and doesn't want to."

So, it seems that the organizers of the march tomorrow are trying to make it more inclusive.

With a formality unusual for the anti-war movement, the two main groups organizing Saturday's demonstration have signed a three-page agreement covering everything from who will hold the lead parade banner to how big protesters' placards can be (3 feet by 3 1/2 feet). In a reference to past political differences, mainly over the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians, the pact signed by International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice also says, "Between now and the end of the demonstration on Sept. 24, each coalition agrees not to attack the other coalition."

And let's face it. As irritating as ANSWER can be, they don't hold a candle to crap like this:

But Melanie Morgan, the conservative San Francisco talk show host whose Move America Forward is coordinating a conservative countermarch Sunday on the Mall in Washington, was dubious about the left's articulating a positive message.

"Red state America doesn't understand what these people are talking about and doesn't want to," Morgan said.

So, in short... "Red state America" is 1) stupid and 2) is happy being stupid. Excellent.

And the poison is infecting every aspect of our society.

This DailyKos post clued me in to these stories:

• A reporter for the London-based newspaper The Independent was barred from visiting the U.S. because his papers weren't in order.
  
• Greyhound has a policy in place to fire employees who sell tickets to undocumented immigrants.
• Bush is easing off on the pressure to get Saudi Arabia to crack down on slave trade
• The UN says that the War on Terror is hurting human rights

And then there's this article in the Washington Post mentioned by TalkingPointsMemo.com:

Limiting Government's Role
Bush favors one-time fixes over boosting existing programs to help Katrina victims.
By Peter G. Gosselin and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Times Staff Writers

September 23, 2005

WASHINGTON — Two days after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced plans to issue emergency vouchers aimed at helping poor storm victims find new housing quickly by covering as much as $10,000 of their rent.

But the department suddenly backed away from the idea after White House aides met with senior HUD officials. Although emergency vouchers had been successfully used after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the administration focused instead on a plan for government-built trailer parks, an approach that even many Republicans say would concentrate poverty in the very fashion the government has long sought to avoid.

A similar struggle has occurred over how to provide healthcare to storm victims. White House officials are quietly working to derail a proposal by leading Republican and Democratic senators to temporarily expand Medicaid. Instead, the administration is pushing a narrower plan that would not commit the government to covering certain groups of evacuees.

As President Bush tackles the monumental task of easing the social problems wrought by Katrina, he is proving deeply reluctant to use some of the big-government tools at his disposal, apparently out of fear of permanently enlarging programs that he opposes or has sought to cut.

Instead of depending on long-running programs for such services as housing and healthcare, the president has generally tried to create new, one-shot efforts that the administration apparently hopes will more easily disappear after the crisis passes. That has meant relying on the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has run virtually all of the recovery effort.

"FEMA can help fill some immediate needs after a disaster, like giving grants to help people repair their roofs or pay for temporary housing," said John P. Sucich, a former senior FEMA official who oversaw the recovery from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. "But it is not the agency to turn to to ensure the kinds of continuing help that families need to begin putting their lives back together.

"That's what the rest of government is for," Sucich said.

And Karl Rove is on the case... 

White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove , who's been given a lead role in the Katrina relief effort, came in for criticism for taking off to Aspen, Colo., last week to attend what U.S. News and World Report called a "super-exclusive" conference of wealthy folks.

A "GOP insider," the magazine said in this week's issue, "wondered whether it was appropriate for Bush's political guru to hobnob with the rich and powerful at the exclusive resort at a time when the administration is supposed to be focused on helping the victims of hurricane Katrina and showing empathy for their plight."

Well, Rove is fully capable of multi-tasking. That's why tomorrow, just about when Hurricane Rita will be blasting Galveston, Tex., he probably will be safe and sound in the auditorium at Grazies Italian Grill in Fargo, N.D., speaking to 57 members of the North Dakota state GOP committee. And he's to be the featured guest at a fundraiser that night. (There's also been talk Rove may induce popular Gov. John Hoeven (R) to run against Sen. Kent Conrad (D) next year.)

State GOP executive director Jason Stverak e-mailed late yesterday afternoon to say that the press will be allowed to cover the speech "at the end of our state committee meeting."

Evil. Pure, unadulterated. Evil. 

It's September 11! And you can invoke it in any context. From President Bush's speech to the dumb-ass fools with short memories Republican Jewish Coalition:

It's important. We got a lot of work to do. But when it's all said and done, people are going to realize that this country can respond to crises and help a neighbor in need. This country has got enormous heart and enormous compassion. After it's all said and done, because of the compassionate outpouring of our people, the country's heart, collective heart, is going to be stronger and better.

You know, something we -- I've been thinking a lot about how America has responded, and it's clear to me that Americans value human life, and value every person as important. And that stands in stark contrast, by the way, to the terrorists we have to deal with. You see, we look at the destruction caused by Katrina, and our hearts break. They're the kind of people who look at Katrina and wish they had caused it. We're in a war against these people. It's a war on terror. These are evil men who target the suffering. They killed 3,000 people on September the 11th, 2001. And they've continued to kill. See, sometimes we forget about the evil deeds of these people. They've killed in Madrid, and Istanbul, and Baghdad, and Bali, and London, and Sharm el-Sheikh, and Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. Around the world they continue to kill.

They have a strategy. They want to achieve certain objectives. They want to break our will. They want the United States of America and other freedom-loving nations to retreat from the world. Why? Because they want safe haven. They want to topple government. Just think Taliban in Afghanistan. That's their vision. And we can't let them do that. We have a solemn duty as a United States government to protect the American people from harm. (Applause.)

We have a solemn duty to remember there are generations coming behind us. We have a solemn duty to stay on the offense against these people, to defeat them in other lands so we don't have to face them here at home. And we have a solemn duty to lay the foundation of peace for generations to come. (Applause.)

Iraq is the central battlefront in the war on terror. It's not the only place we're fighting the terrorists, but it's the central front right now. You see, the terrorists want to turn that country into what Afghanistan was. Imagine a place like Iraq, where they've got safe haven to plot and train. That's what they want. That's why they're pouring in there. That's why they're going into the country. That's why they're trying to create instability. They got a powerful weapon -- these car bombs that end up on our TV screens. They got the capacity to affect our conscience because we value every life. Every person matters to the United States -- people of the United States of America. It doesn't matter whether it's a -- living in Iraq, or right here at home, we care, deeply. And they know that. And they're trying to get us out of there, is what they're trying to do, for a strategic objective. They want to be able to continue their war against freedom-loving people, with Iraq as the base.

We got our own strategy. We got a strategy for victory. Our troops -- we've got incredibly brave troops -- are hunting these people down and bringing them to justice. We're training the Iraqis so they can fight -- take the fight to the enemy alongside of us. Our motto is this -- it's important for you to understand -- as Iraqis stand up, we stand down. That means as they become more and more capable. It's up to them to take the fight to the enemy, with our help. It's up to them to be on the front lines of dealing with these people.

We're also going to defeat the enemy because they have no vision for the future that's positive. You can't be successful in convincing people to follow you if your vision is so dark and so dim as that of the terrorists. They have nothing to offer except violence.

We've got something to offer, and that's freedom. And freedom is powerful. I believe this -- (applause.) I believe this. At the heart of my belief is, one, there's an Almighty; and two, that freedom is a gift from the Almighty God to each man and woman in this world. That's what I believe. (Applause.) Freedom is not exclusively American; freedom is universal. And last January, the people of Iraq showed the universality of that freedom. It seems like a decade ago, doesn't it, since those 8.5 million people went to vote, but it wasn't all that long ago. And a lot of people around the world didn't believe that there was this great desire to be free. And yet, 8.5 million people showed up to the polls. They said, we want to be free. We want something other than the dark vision of these cold-blooded killers, people who kill our children, and kill police, and kill aid workers, and try to kill coalition forces.

And now the people have come together in difficult circumstances, and written a constitution. And it's a good constitution. It's a constitution written with compromise, not with guns. It's a constitution where they're trying to overcome years of brutality because of a tyrant. And then the people are going to go to the polls again and vote for a government. No matter how many car bombs there are, these terrorists cannot stop the march of freedom in Iraq. (Applause.)

But that march of freedom is not contained to Iraq only. I don't know if you paid attention to it the other day, this past weekend, but the Afghan people went to the polls again. They had a successful presidential election; now they voted for the parliament. It's amazing progress in a country that not all that long ago was a safe haven for Osama bin Laden and his plotters, that plotted the September the 11th attacks.

Feh.

Because International ANSWER is running it once again. I have written before about why I dislike them.

But here's another reason which is rather interesting...

It is vitally important to the future of our nation to have articulate and passionate progressives leading on national security policy.  Otherwise we will move ever closer to a militarized state. Our president and his cohorts in Congress are about to start fiddling with posse comitatus--the law that prevents the military being used for domestic law enforcement. While the issue deserves discussion, in the hands of this crowd, it's scary. Without progressive voices getting involved in the debate about lessons learned in Iraq, our troops will not get  the training and preparation they need for future conflicts,  humanitarian included. This would be tragic. Lacking pro military progressive voices, the anti-recruitment drive taking place across the country will be portrayed as the same old anti-military antics on the left. Yes, high school dragoon tactics  are awful,  bounties to join-up are a perversion of service.  BUT, we  civilians are the ones who put the military in this  desperate situation. The buck stops with us, the American public. They are desperate because we've forced it on them.

Remember, the military will hardly ever say "no" to a request.  They will do or die until the very end.  This is why we love them but it is also exasperating for those of us who would like to see military professionals offer more expert advice to policy makers about how to share responsibilities with civilian agencies.  But they are not the ones who will ultimately establish the limits placed on themselves.  This is a task for civilian elected leaders. Progressives must be at the table, and soon.

Like the military itself, the average American citizen’s notion of national security is in transition. The Cold War framework of the nineties has given way to a new era defined by less discernable threats: terrorism, climate change, global pandemics, and a growing energy crisis. Because increasing numbers of Americans are aware of the need to do things differently, and are unhappy with the polarization of our political system, there presently exists a window of opportunity to reframe the public conversation away from antagonism and toward cooperative problem solving. In my opinion, this is what a true progressive should focus on.

The military and peace activists have much more in common than meets the stereotype.  Both seek cooperation over conflict. Besides the pacifists, both want force to only be used as a last resort. These are long term strategies that can be dashed by the tactics of groups like ANSWER.

 Please, somebody... give us a decent, focused peace movement! We can't wait much longer!

But it's kinda cool to see your name in the paper anyway...

True obscenity

Rabbi Avi Shafran should stop beating around the bush and just come out and say it in his Sept. 16 article “It’s hard to look past the prurience of the ‘Big Easy.’” He thinks God used Hurricane Katrina to tell us that we shouldn’t enjoy smutty entertainment so much.

I’m not sure if the good rabbi has looked at a map of the devastated area, but New Orleans’ French Quarter occupies a tiny part of it — and that sinful neighborhood survived the catastrophe fairly well intact. So a Category 4/5 hurricane seems like a rather clumsy and imprecise way to deliver this wake-up call.

Let us learn real lessons from this disaster, not use other people’s tragedies to fight another round of the culture wars.

Yes, we should take a long, hard look at ourselves. We as a society have failed — not because we enjoy a Mardi Gras parade or a little skin on television but because we have tolerated the growing disparity in our society between the richest and the poorest. A disparity that cost thousands of people their lives because they didn’t have the means to escape. That is truly obscene.

Katherine Falk | Oakland

Screw the troops!

From Army Times (thanks to David Sirota and DailyKos for mentioning)

A group of House Republicans have proposed a plan to offset the costs of relief and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina that includes trimming military quality-of-life programs, including health care.

Possible sources of funding cuts to free up money for Katrina relief include reduced health benefits, consolidation of the three military exchange systems and the closure of the military’s stateside school system.

The House Republican Study Committee, headed by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., is not singling out the military as it tries to raise the estimated $200 billion that the federal government will need for various Katrina-related spending.

Their proposal includes freezing congressional pay, charging federal workers for parking and cutting back on legislative earmarking — items added to agency budgets by lawmakers — as ways of raising money.

They call their effort “Operation Offset,” and hope to get spending cuts considered before Congress approves any more money devoted to Katrina relief and recovery operations.

Their offset list includes three provisions aimed at military quality-of-life programs:

• Service members would be offered cash if they are willing to accept reduced health care benefits for their families. “The less comprehensive plan would encourage individuals to be more cost-conscious when purchasing health care products by including deductibles, co-payments and a maximum annual out-of-pocket expenditure limit,” according to a written explanation provided by the study group. Reduced health care benefits could save $2.4 billion over 10 years.

• The three separate military exchange systems could be consolidated, saving up to $1.9 billion over 10 years, the study group says. The Army and Air Force share an exchange system, AAFES, while the Navy and Marine Corps have their own systems. “Consolidating … would eliminate inefficiencies from duplicative purchasing, different personnel departments, warehouse and inventory systems and management headquarters while retaining the current ability for service embers and their families to receive a wide selection of goods at a low price,” the statement says.

The Pentagon has studied the idea of exchange consolidation for years but has been unable to overcome bureaucratic obstacles and opposition from some service officials and industry groups. Several studies of the issue also have raised questions about how much money would be saved.

• The stateside system of elementary and secondary schools for military family members could be closed, saving $788 million over 10 years, the study says.

“This provision would phase out these domestic schools over time and shift these military children into the local public school systems,” the study group says.

The Pentagon also has been studying this idea, but has faced strong opposition from parents of children attending the schools because public schools are seen as offering lower-quality education.

From Kevin Drum:

The bottom line is simple: as much as we're all in favor of cutting unnecessary spending, spending is just not a big problem right now. The simple fact is that total federal spending is about 20% of GDP, the same as it was 30 years ago.

Thanks to George Bush's tax cuts, however, revenues are lower than they've been since the 1950s. So if you're really serious about paying for Katrina reconstruction, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has the answer: repeal of a pair of tax cuts scheduled to go into effect in January that are aimed exclusively at families with high incomes (97% of the benefit goes to families with incomes over $200,000). What's more, this windfall is solely a creature of Congress. President Bush never asked for it.

Well off families have already gotten plenty of tax cuts in the past four years. They can do without another one, and repealing these two measures would save an estimated $197 billion. It's not a tax increase, since it would leave current law just as it is, and it would save enough to pay for Katrina without blowing an even bigger hole in the budget than we already have. Responsible conservatives should give this their blessing.

From Knight-Ridder

WASHINGTON - Two days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, President Bush went on national television to announce a massive federal rescue and relief effort.

But orders to move didn't reach key active military units for another three days.

Once they received them, it took just eight hours for 3,600 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., to be on the ground in Louisiana and Mississippi with vital search-and-rescue helicopters. Another 2,500 soon followed from the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

"If the 1st Cav and 82nd Airborne had gotten there on time, I think we would have saved some lives," said Gen. Julius Becton Jr., who was the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Reagan from 1985 to 1989. "We recognized we had to get people out, and they had helicopters to do that."

Federal officials have long known that the active-duty military is the only organization with the massive resources and effective command structure to handle a major catastrophe.

In a 1996 Pentagon report, the Department of Defense acknowledged its large role in major disasters. Between 1992 and 1996, the Pentagon provided support in 18 disasters and developed five training manuals on how to work with FEMA and civilians in natural disasters.

"In catastrophic disasters, DOD will likely provide Hurricane Andrew-levels of support and predominately operate in urban or suburban terrain," the report said. "This should be incorporated into planning assumptions."

The delay this time in tapping the troops, helicopters, trucks, generators, communications and other resources of the 1st Cavalry and the 82nd Airborne is the latest example of how the federal response to Katrina lacked organization and leadership. And it raises further questions about the government's ability to rapidly mobilize the active-duty military now that FEMA has been absorbed into the massive, terrorism-focused Department of Homeland Security.

From the New York Times:

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials expected the state and city to direct their own efforts and ask for help as needed. Leaders in Louisiana and New Orleans, though, were so overwhelmed by the scale of the storm that they were not only unable to manage the crisis, but they were not always exactly sure what they needed. While local officials assumed that Washington would provide rapid and considerable aid, federal officials, weighing legalities and logistics, proceeded at a deliberate pace.

FEMA appears to have underestimated the storm, despite an extraordinary warning from the National Hurricane Center that it could cause "human suffering incredible by modern standards." The agency dispatched only 7 of its 28 urban search and rescue teams to the area before the storm hit and sent no workers at all into New Orleans until after the hurricane passed on Monday, Aug. 29.

On Tuesday, a FEMA official who had just flown over the ravaged city by helicopter seemed to have trouble conveying to his bosses the degree of destruction, according to a New Orleans city councilwoman.

"He got on the phone to Washington, and I heard him say, 'You've got to understand how serious this is, and this is not what they're telling me, this is what I saw myself,' " the councilwoman, Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, recalled.

 So what are we supposed to try to learn from all of this?

Because he's having trouble seeing the big picture with his head so far up his ***.

In addition, though, to being an opportunity for helping others and fixing systems, Katrina should also be a spur, especially for Jews, to individual introspection.

Although the destruction wrought by Katrina affected a broad swath of the Gulf Coast, the city with which the hurricane has become inextricably coupled is New Orleans. Might the venue of the recent tragedy hold some meaning for us?

What occurs, at least to me, is that the “Big Easy” received its nickname from the lifestyle it exemplified, one of leisure and (in the word’s most literal sense) carelessness. The city is probably best known — or was, at least, until now — for the unbridled partying and debauchery that yearly characterized its annual Mardi Gras celebrations.

I cannot and do not claim to know “why” the hurricane took the terrible toll it did; but our inability to understand should not preclude us — those of us who believe in a God who wants us to reflect on and grow from events around us — from trying to respond to the wind-driven wake-up call by asking “what”: What can I do spiritually as a result?

And one message we might well choose to perceive is the need to recognize how belittling to meaningful life is the contemporary culture of recreation and entertainment.

There is no need to go into the crass detail of what passes for pastime in our age. Even those of us who do not own televisions or frequent movie theaters cannot escape the artifacts of our culture’s decadence; they are ubiquitous. The objectification of human beings, their debasement as mere animals and their reduction to skin and flesh saturate the visual arts and popular music, and have bled into other realms as well. Could we not all benefit from critically confronting that fact, from recognizing the toll such reductionism takes on the deepest meaning of our lives? Could we not benefit, in other words, from pointing our fingers at ourselves, the consumers of the crudeness?

There can be little doubt that we could. And that doing so would be — at least from a traditional Jewish perspective — a most fitting reaction to the maelstrom we have witnessed of late.

Yeah. This is the most fitting reaction, as opposed to trying to help people suffering from this disaster? Focus on the smut in one tiny part of the area that got wiped out. Ignore the other possible lessons of this disaster... like, we ignore the poor and our infrastructure at our own peril! Sanctimonious idiot. Feh.

Updated to add: Here's a parody news story in which Pat Robertson makes a similar argument. Parody just can't keep up with reality, can it? And here's another perspective on this essay, far more eloquent than mine.

A little something I whipped up:

In response to this post on TalkingPointsMemo.

They linked to it.

Hee! 

There's been a lot of fuss over the use of the word "refugee" as applied to victims of Hurricane Katrina that have lost their homes and have to go live somewhere else, perhaps in the Astrodome.

The fuss bugged me more than the word itself, but I had trouble articulating why.

So these guys did it for me.

A major metropolitan area - and that's not even including the small towns and cities strewn across the rest of the affected area - has not simply been damaged, but destroyed. One hundred billion dollars' damage so far. Months of uninhabitability. Years to decades of reconstruction if it even happens. Thousands killed, thousands injured, and one point five million people - half a percent of the American population! - made homeless and strewn to the four winds and most of the continental United States, generally with naught but their lives and a few meagre possessions.

Generally speaking, if this happened to a population anywhere else in the world, we (and the people Howling in Outrage right now) would call them "refugees" without a second thought. There's a reason for that, and it's a simple reason: they are refugees.

"Anywhere else in the world." That's the key here.

The main reason a lot of people are complaining about the word "refugee" isn't because it's dehumanizing, or too generous, or a matter of colour, or whatever. It's because they believe Americans can't be refugees, because that's a term which applies to "other people" instead.

By the way, I'm really enjoying Melissa Etheridge's cover of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "Refugee." Covers can be dicey, the original was so good, and she can be a little over the top... but somehow, all the elements in this song just work for me. It sounds particularly poignant in the wake of everything that's happened.

From Nola.com:

Corruption tip line
The FBI has opened a tip line to receive complaints of public corruption and government fraud resulting form Hurricane Katrina aftermath. The line, open 24 hours, seven days a week, is 1-800-CALLFBI or 1-800-225-5324.

FBI officials said the phone lines will be manned by bureau personnel who will collect, analyze and investigate the information or share it with state, local or other federal law enforcement agencies.

Public corruption cases involve elected or appointed officials or those under contract to a public agency, as well as individuals who have allegedly engaged in a corrupt scheme involving abuse of the individual’s powers or whose actions undermine the integrity of federal, state or local operations, officials said.

FBI officials said the tip line will also take calls dealing with “fraud activity and corruption by businesses or persons engaged in purported contract fraud, procurement or purchasing fraud or fraud of federally-funded programs.’’

Hurricane Katrina online scams, such as fake donation Web sites, can be reported to the FBI’s Web site at www.ic3.gov, while identity theft complaints should be reported to the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov or to the agency’s toll-free ID theft hotline, 1-877-ID-THEFT, federal officials said.

"Hello, FBI? I saw this really sleazy TV ad last night, with this con man on it..." 

Bad news all over.

That "unproven theory" about global climate change...

Global warming 'past the point of no return'
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 16 September 2005

A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.

They believe global warming is melting Arctic ice so rapidly that the region is beginning to absorb more heat from the sun, causing the ice to melt still further and so reinforcing a vicious cycle of melting and heating.

The greatest fear is that the Arctic has reached a "tipping point" beyond which nothing can reverse the continual loss of sea ice and with it the massive land glaciers of Greenland, which will raise sea levels dramatically.

Satellites monitoring the Arctic have found that the extent of the sea ice this August has reached its lowest monthly point on record, dipping an unprecedented 18.2 per cent below the long-term average.

FEMA Official Says Agency Heads Ignored Warnings

Leo Bosner, an emergency management specialist at FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C., is in charge of the unit that alerts officials of impending crises and manages the response. As early as Friday, Aug. 26, Bosner knew that Katrina could turn into a major emergency.

In daily e-mails -- known as National Situation Updates -- sent to Chertoff, Brown and others in the days before Katrina made landfall in the Gulf Coast, Bosner warned of its growing strength -- and of the particular danger the hurricane posed to New Orleans, much of which lies below sea level.

But Bosner says FEMA failed to organize the massive mobilization of National Guard troops and evacuation buses needed for a quick and effective relief response when Katrina struck. He says he and his colleagues at FEMA's D.C. headquarters were shocked by the lack of response.

"We could see all this going downhill," Bosner said, "but there was nothing we could do."

From MSNBC, this is what happens when you put Karl Rove in charge of the reconstruction effort:

I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the live update edition of Nightly News that we fed to the West Coast. The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans. It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it... jump to certain conclusions.

We could stop talking about Hurricane Katrina...

But then we'll have to start talking about these horrific attacks in Baghdad.

And how the whole Iraq war thing isn't going so well.

Your choice... 

He asks for a bathroom break. So, OK, maybe in the middle of an important meeting at the U.N. isn't the best timing, but I was at a concert last night and missed one of the best songs because I was in the ladies' room, so I'm not one to judge.

The photos is currently up on Yahoo News, and has Reuter's as the photo credit. 

I won't be surprised if it turns out this is a Photoshopped prank that somehow made it past the normal journalistic barriers — it looks totally enhanced, and is that really what his handwriting looks like? — but damn, it's funny.

Also, wanna read a bad joke?

Q: What is Bush's position on Roe vs. Wade?
(Wait for it...)
A: He doesn't really care how people get out of New Orleans.

Ba-da-BUMP! (Thank you, TalkLeft and Lesley!)

Updated to add: Editor & Publisher seems to think the photo is for real! 

Updated again to add: and this is the unretouched version!

Updated yet again to add: here's Reuter's explanation of how the photo got there. (Basically, it's real, and, don't blame the photographer)

Long story short: good concert. High points: "Artistiya" and "Coulibaly" (which has one of the best intros in rock music I've heard; it's up there with Franz Ferdinand's "40 Feet", albeit in a completely different style). Amadou and Miriam come across as very genial and personable. Alas, they also speak French very rapidly, so I'd only get bits of what they were saying. (Miriam has this cute habit of saying, "Yeahhh," at the end of each of her numbers.) The backing band was good. The opening act (whose name I've forgotten and I'm too lazy to look up) we all agreed was a bit too Coldplay-ish for our tastes. I'm sure he's a nice guy too, but angsty singer-songwritery wasn't quite right in this context.

Since I'd been teasing Michael earlier about liking Phish so much, of course I got my comeuppance, since it turned out that Amadou and Miriam do the jam-band thing in concert... maybe I'm a closet hippie. Ack!

Analysis

Katrina moved us to act, so why not Darfur?

The Register Guard- 9/12/2005

In the absence of similarly detailed coverage of Darfur (or any coverage, for that matter), perhaps we can use the imagery of Katrina and its victims as a proxy. All the heart-wrenching emotions we have seen among Katrina's victims must surely be present among the victims of the Janjaweed. As we act to aid the victims of Katrina, should we not act, as well, to aid the victims of Darfur?

Genocide, One Year On
The Washington Post – 9/14/2005
A year ago, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell declared that the violence in the Darfur region of Sudan justified the term "genocide." That was the first time since the adoption of the U.N. Genocide Convention in 1948 that a government had accused a sitting counterpart of this worst of all humanitarian crimes, and Mr. Powell chose his words carefully. The progress over the past year demonstrates that the United States and its allies do have the power to save lives by the tens of thousands. It also suggests that, if the Bush administration had pushed harder and earlier, it could have saved many more people. This lesson must be remembered over the coming weeks.

Contact information:
- To subscribe, enter your email address under "get email updates" at www.SaveDarfur.org.
- To unsubscribe, please reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
- For other correspondence, please write to info@savedarfur.org.
- Please visit us at www.SaveDarfur.org.

Or finding the silver lining in this time of tragedy...

The Bush administration is treating Hurricane Katrina as an opportunity to ram through more of their stupid policies.

Bush already has dispatched his top strategist, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, and other aides to assemble ideas from agencies, conservative think tanks, GOP lawmakers and state officials to guide the rebuilding of New Orleans and relocation of flood victims. The idea, aides said, is twofold: provide a quick federal response that comports with Bush's governing philosophy, and prevent Katrina from swamping his second-term ambitions on Social Security, taxes and Middle East democracy-building.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), a Bush ally, said the recovery effort provides conservatives with an unusual opportunity to test ideas that have been hard to sell on a national scope, including vouchers to cover education for dislocated students and tax incentives for business investment. "There are a whole host of ideas being looked at," Kyl said.

"A quick federal response that comports with Bush's governing philosophy"?

You're lookin' at it.

I'm so happy that the Onion has put all its archives online for free, because they include gems like this one:

Jews To Celebrate Rosh Hashasha Or Something

September 11, 1996 | Issue 30•05

JERUSALEM—Jews the world over are preparing to celebrate Rosh Hashanukah or something this weekend, the traditional Jewish holiday marking some sort of rebirth and new beginning, or maybe the Jews' liberation from some foreign ruler 55,000 years ago. "Rash Kishansha is a very holy time for the Jewish people," said Paul Castellano, a guy from Houston whose gastroenterologist is Jewish. "I think Dr. Futterman said it's the holiday where they light that chandelier and blow that horn." Lasting 12 days, Ran Hosea is followed by Yor Kiplach, the Festival of Sand, during which no buttered bread may be eaten in remembrance of the flooding of the ancient Temple of Hosea.

 What, no "Chertie, you're doin' a heckuvajob"?

The federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not the former FEMA chief who was relieved of his duties and resigned earlier this week, federal documents reviewed by Knight Ridder show.

Even before the storm struck the Gulf Coast, Chertoff could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown had only limited authority to do so until about 36 hours after the storm hit, when Chertoff designated him as the "principal federal official" in charge of the storm.

As thousands of hurricane victims went without food, water and shelter in the days after Katrina's early morning Aug. 29 landfall, critics assailed Brown for being responsible for delays that might have cost hundreds of lives.

But Chertoff - not Brown - was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government's blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents. An order issued by President Bush in 2003 also assigned that responsibility to the homeland security director.

But according to a memo obtained by Knight Ridder, Chertoff didn't shift that power to Brown until late afternoon or evening on Aug. 30, about 36 hours after Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi. That same memo suggests that Chertoff may have been confused about his lead role in disaster response and that of his department.

"As you know, the President has established the `White House Task Force on Hurricane Katrina Response.' He will meet with us tomorrow to launch this effort. The Department of Homeland Security, along with other Departments, will be part of the task force and will assist the Administration with its response to Hurricane Katrina," Chertoff said in the memo to the secretaries of defense, health and human services and other key federal agencies.

On the day that Chertoff wrote the memo, Bush was in San Diego presiding over a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Chertoff's Aug. 30 memo for the first time declared Katrina an "Incident of National Significance," a key designation that triggers swift federal coordination. The following afternoon, Bush met with his Cabinet, then appeared before TV cameras in the White House Rose Garden to announce the government's planned action.

That same day, Aug. 31, the Department of Defense, whose troops and equipment are crucial in such large disasters, activated its Task Force Katrina. But active-duty troops didn't begin to arrive in large numbers along the Gulf Coast until Saturday.

White House and homeland security officials wouldn't explain why Chertoff waited some 36 hours to declare Katrina an incident of national significance and why he didn't immediately begin to direct the federal response from the moment on Aug. 27 when the National Hurricane Center predicted that Katrina would strike the Gulf Coast with catastrophic force in 48 hours. Nor would they explain why Bush felt the need to appoint a separate task force.

Chertoff's hesitation and Bush's creation of a task force both appear to contradict the National Response Plan and previous presidential directives that specify what the secretary of homeland security is assigned to do without further presidential orders. The goal of the National Response Plan is to provide a streamlined framework for swiftly delivering federal assistance when a disaster - caused by terrorists or Mother Nature - is too big for local officials to handle.

Even Reagan's FEMA director is shocked. REAGANS. FEMA. Director.

A former FEMA director under President Reagan expressed shock by the inaction that Chertoff's memo suggested. It showed that Chertoff "does not have a full appreciation for what the country is faced with - nor does anyone who waits that long," said Gen. Julius Becton Jr., who was FEMA director from 1985-1989.

"Anytime you have a delay in taking action, there's a potential for losing lives," Becton told Knight Ridder. "I have no idea how many lives we're talking about. ... I don't understand why, except that they were inefficient."

Tom DeLay in the Washington Times today...

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an "ongoing victory," and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget.

Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans' choice to borrow money and add to this year's expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some Republicans have said Congress should make cuts in other areas, but Mr. DeLay said that doesn't seem possible.

"My answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets, I'll be glad to do it. But nobody has been able to come up with any yet," the Texas Republican told reporters at his weekly briefing.

Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, "Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we've pared it down pretty good." 

 

Uh-huh. 

Who is black, if I'm not mistaken...

I think he just suggested that people who live near the levees are to blame for their plight, because they have single-parent households headed by women, and commit too many crimes, and should have taxed themselves to shore up the levees. How dare they blame George Bush? "More government, more government. That's all you progressives want!" These people are "too stupid to care for theyselves."

I wasn't aware that single moms and drug users and poor people had been sentenced to death by drowning.   

He does allow that children and the elderly deserve help, but not the able-bodied.

"You're just clearing the beach today. You're taking everyone!" jokes Ed Schultz. Bless his heart, nothing ever fazes him. I'd be cussing this guy out, myself.. 

President Bush is defending his relaxed attitude during the early days of the Katrina disaster.

When that storm came by, a lot of people said we dodged a bullet. When that storm came through at first, people said, Whew. There was a sense of relaxation. And that’s what I was referring to.

And I myself thought we had dodged a bullet. You know why? Because I was listening to people probably over the airwaves say, The bullet has been dodged. And that was what I was referring to.

And actually, I remember briefly thinking, "Oh, phew. It wasn't as bad as feared." And our San Francisco Chronicle said on Tuesday morning that the levies had held. 

On the other hand, some enterprising blogger has put together a montage of newspaper headlines on the East Coast on Tuesday morning.

Not a pretty picture...

And plus, I really hope he's not using what the newspapers say as an excuse. After all, the newspapers on the morning of September 11 didn't say anything about what happened to the World Trade Center that day either. 

What radio program was he listening to?  Rush Limbaugh? Shouldn't he have been talking to, I dunno... people in New Orleans?

They CAN kill people.

A bicyclist was charged with manslaughter after he ran through a stop sign and struck and killed a 71-year-old woman, police said Monday.

Jean Calder died at Good Samaritan Hospital after she was struck Friday night as she crossed a street at an unmarked crosswalk, Corvallis police Capt. Ron Noble said.

Christopher A. Lightning, 51, was charged with manslaughter and reckless driving.

"A car and a bicycle are both vehicles and if they are operated in a way that could be criminal, then charges are filed equally in both situations," Noble said. "He was going right through a stop sign."

I've seen some unpleasant expressions on Dubya's face before... but this one really takes the cake. Or the sour pickle. Or the sour pickle-flavored cake.

He must really be feeling defensive.

Mayor Nagin doesn't look so happy either.

Why am I not surprised...

Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade, a US government official has told The Independent on Sunday. And, he added, the Bush administration is covering up the danger.

 Juan Cole today.

Bush recently started likening his poorly conceived and misnamed "war on terror" to World War II.

What his handlers have forgotten is how long World War II lasted for the United States.

Four years.

In four years, Roosevelt and allies defeated Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. In four years, Bush hasn't managed even to corner Bin Laden and a few hundred scruffy terrorists; or to extract himself from the deserts of Iraq; or to put the government's finances in good order so that it can deal with crises like Katrina.

Four years. I think about the victims of 9/11, and now 7/7. We have let you down.

From the Oakland Tribune (scroll way down)

 Feds to blame for slow response

 IT WAS BAD ENOUGH watching all those people suffer in New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast area without help. I am beyond outraged to read that President Bush and his administration are trying to pin the blame for this slow response on state and local officials.

 On Aug. 27, the day before the hurricane struck, the governor of Louisiana sent a letter to President Bush urgently requesting federal aid to deal with the impending disaster. Did Bush not get the letter?

 The hurricane hit several states in the area, not just one. That makes it a federal issue.

 The damage from the hurricane and flooding were so massive, it requires resources and people from all over the country and as far away as Canada to deal with it. No state or local official has the right to order troops or equipment or vehicles from other states. The federal government does.

 Who works to maintain and shore up the levees? I do believe it's the federally-funded Army Corps of Engineers.

 If nothing is the federal government's responsibility, if it's all up to the states, counties and cities, then why do we have a Department of Homeland Security?

 It has just been clearly demonstrated to all that the last four years of talk about "protecting and defending the homeland" are so much hot air. Worse, the Bush administration has no qualms about kicking people when they're down — or in this case, half-drowned.

Katherine Falk
Oakland

Even Fox is pissed with him... as are some right-wingers.

But some groups aren't happy to hear that while many Republicans have been arguing that justices around the country have been engaging in judicial activism as they interpret the Constitution in ways that allow gay marraige [sic], the governor prefers that the courts handle the issue. "It's not an issue for the courts — he's inviting judicial activism and that's what we're opposed to," said Rich Ackerman, spokesman for the Pro-Family Legal Center, which is fighting gay marriage efforts in California. "I've never heard of any Republican who's actually looking to the courts to decide," said Peter LaBarbera, head of Protect Marriage Illinois, which is trying to get a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Illinois. He said he was disappointed with Schwarzenegger's comments. "That's sort of a naïve view, or just passing the buck," he added.

And yet another depressing New Orleans story. This time, it's neighboring suburbs whose cops wouldn't let people escape through their towns.

Evil mind-control zombie juice finally wearing off... a day late, a dollar short, and many many lives lost...

   
Americas

September 10, 2005

Powell regrets ‘mess’ of Iraq
From Tim Reid in Washington

COLIN POWELL, the former US Secretary of State, harshly criticised the Bush Administration yesterday for its failures in Iraq, calling the country a mess and voicing concerns that it may slide into civil war.

General Powell, who left the Administration in January, also said that his speech in February 2003 to the UN, making the case for war, was a painful blot on his record.

Making his most damning remarks about the conduct of the war since he was replaced by Condoleezza Rice, General Powell criticised the White House and Pentagon for their post-war planning and failure to send sufficient troops.

Asked in an interview broadcast on ABC whether he regretted his support for the war, he replied: “Who knew what the whole mess was going to be like?” He added: “What we didn’t do in the immediate aftermath of the war was to impose our will on the whole country, with enough troops of our own, with enough troops from coalition forces, or by recreating the Iraqi forces, armed forces, more quickly than we are doing now.

“And it may not have turned out to be such a mess if we had done some things differently.”

Turning to his pre-war address to the UN Security Council, when he forcefully made the case for invasion and offered proof that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, General Powell said that he felt terrible about the claims he made. Asked whether the speech would tarnish his reputation, he replied: “Of course it will. It’s a blot. I’m the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and (it) will always be part of my record. It was painful. It’s painful now.” 

http://blog.dccc.org/mt/archives/003475.html

Two shaky House incumbents, Democrat Melancon and Republican Boustany, hope response to hurricane rallies voters behind them. House Republican campaign chief Reynolds touts chance to market conservative social-policy solutions; Rep. Baker of Baton Rouge is overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." Baker explains later he didn't intend flippancy but has long wanted to improve low-income housing.

Remember Colin Powell's warning to Bush about Iraq— "You break it, you buy it?"

In light of the suspicious way Bush "won" the first election, got all his buddies and big donors into positions they were in no way qualified for, and the way this country has now been shown to be totally, completely broken...

How about, "You buy it, you break it?" 

• Fat hospital patient "euthanized" because staff were unable to evacuate him
• "Dammit, Jim, I'm a firefighter, not a P.R. hack!"
• Red tape snares West Virginia National Guard rescue effort: 5 planes return home empty
• "Welcome to Krakow"
• Nursing home residents left to die, houses will be demolished and incinerated, and other tales from the "clusterfuck" as reported by an EPA employee
  

What can I say?

On a lighter note... is it just me, or did anyone else notice that Gavin Newsom had a bit of a Barbara Bush-style silver-foot-in-mouth moment?

From the Chronicle:

Newsom said midday Wednesday that the 100 available units are vacant because qualified families who have been offered them were worried about the area's crime rate. But both Newsom and Housing Authority Executive Director Gregg Fortner, who grew up in New Orleans, expressed doubt that evacuees, if they came to San Francisco, would find its public housing foreign or frightening.

"Let me tell you this with respect. I've seen where a lot of the people were living before. I'll take West Point and Middle Point," Newsom said.

Fortner and Newsom also said the housing developments in question are getting safer. The homicide rate in the area has dropped significantly, Fortner said.

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Wednesday he will veto a bill that would have made California the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage through legislative action.

Schwarzenegger said the legislation, given final approval Tuesday by lawmakers, would conflict with the intent of voters when they approved Proposition 22. That measure was put on the ballot in 2000 to prevent California from recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

Ahnold, you really think this is going to save your career with the Republican party? You're toast with Californians.