Comments are working again, thank goodness. Fire away.

Commenting is broken at the moment. Something in the CSS of the new skin. Will be back later today.

“The fact that government is secretly tracking my life and sharing that information with private corporations in a completely unaccountable way shows me that America has crossed over into a fascist twilight of sorts.”

« Here’s » something interesting that needs to be more widely read than it will be:

‘The FBI now issues more than 30,000 national security letters a year, according to government sources, a hundredfold increase over historic norms. The letters — one of which can be used to sweep up the records of many people — are extending the bureau’s reach as never before into the telephone calls, correspondence and financial lives of ordinary Americans. Issued by FBI field supervisors, national security letters do not need the imprimatur of a prosecutor, grand jury or judge. They receive no review after the fact by the Justice Department or Congress. The executive branch maintains only statistics, which are incomplete and confined to classified reports. The Bush administration defeated legislation and a lawsuit to require a public accounting, and has offered no example in which the use of a national security letter helped disrupt a terrorist plot. The burgeoning use of national security letters coincides with an unannounced decision to deposit all the information they yield into government data banks — and to share those private records widely, in the federal government and beyond. In late 2003, the Bush administration reversed a long-standing policy requiring agents to destroy their files on innocent American citizens, companies and residents when investigations closed. Late last month, [the Emperor] signed Executive Order 13388, expanding access to those files for “state, local and tribal” governments and for “appropriate private sector entities,” which are not defined.’
—Washington Post

More than 30,000 top secret NSLs with no oversight of any kind. And perhaps even more egregious: Sharing of all this data with ‘appropriate private sector entities.’

Which would be … who? Your employer? Wal-Mart? Experian? Blackwater? Undoubtedly. The fact that government is secretly tracking my life and sharing that information with private corporations in a completely unaccountable way shows me that America has crossed over into a fascist twilight of sorts. It certainly is not the nation that I grew up believing I lived in or of which I was a comfortable citizen. Simply put, this is an imperial tyranny.

Another feature of this article is how the people who create monstrosities like this look back and are amazed that what they created has been turned into something else entirely:

‘In Room 7975 of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, around two corners from the director’s suite, the chief of the FBI’s national security law unit sat down at his keyboard about a month after the Patriot Act became law. Michael J. Woods had helped devise the FBI wish list for surveillance powers. Now he offered a caution. “NSLs are powerful investigative tools, in that they can compel the production of substantial amounts of relevant information,” he wrote in a Nov. 28, 2001, “electronic communication” to the FBI’s 56 field offices. “However, they must be used judiciously.” Standing guidelines, he wrote, “require that the FBI accomplish its investigations through the ‘least intrusive’ means. . . . The greater availability of NSLs does not mean that they should be used in every case.” Woods, who left government service in 2002, added a practical consideration. Legislators granted the new authority and could as easily take it back. When making that decision, he wrote, “Congress certainly will examine the manner in which the FBI exercised it.”
‘Looking back last month, Woods was struck by how starkly he misjudged the climate. The FBI disregarded his warning, and no one noticed. “This is not something that should be automatically done because it’s easy,” he said. “We need to be sure . . . we don’t go overboard.” One thing Woods did not anticipate was then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft’s revision of Justice Department guidelines. On May 30, 2002, and Oct. 31, 2003, Ashcroft rewrote the playbooks for investigations of terrorist crimes and national security threats. He gave overriding priority to preventing attacks by any means available.’

Well, duh. Let’s see. You made it possible for the FBI to do this, but told them not to use it very much. And now … 30,000 NSLs a year. Who knew?

‘To Jeffrey Breinholt, deputy chief of the Justice Department’s counterterrorism section, the civil liberties objections “are eccentric.” Data collection on the innocent, he said, does no harm unless “someone [decides] to act on the information, put you on a no-fly list or something.” Only a serious error, he said, could lead the government, based on nothing more than someone’s bank or phone records, “to freeze your assets or go after you criminally and you suffer consequences that are irreparable.” He added: “It’s a pretty small chance.” “I don’t necessarily want somebody knowing what videos I rent or the fact that I like cartoons,” said Mason, the Washington field office chief. But if those records “are never used against a person, if they’re never used to put him in jail, or deprive him of a vote, et cetera, then what is the argument?” Barr, the former congressman, said that “the abuse is in the power itself.” “As a conservative,” he said, “I really resent an administration that calls itself conservative taking the position that the burden is on the citizen to show the government has abused power, and otherwise shut up and comply.” At the ACLU, staff attorney Jameel Jaffer spoke of “the profound chilling effect” of this kind of surveillance: “If the government monitors the Web sites that people visit and the books that they read, people will stop visiting disfavored Web sites and stop reading disfavored books. The FBI should not have unchecked authority to keep track of who visits [al-Jazeera’s Web site] or who visits the Web site of the Federalist Society.”’

‘Civil liberties objections are eccentric.’

I repeat:

An Imperial official says, ‘Civil liberties objections are eccentric.’

Gosh.

I never thought I’d ever agree with Bob Barr on anything, but hell, I’d shake the bastard’s hand over this one. The abuse is in the power itself, exactly.

‘In the executive branch, no FBI or Justice Department official audits the use of national security letters to assess whether they are appropriately targeted, lawfully applied or contribute important facts to an investigation. Justice Department officials noted frequently this year that Inspector General Glenn A. Fine reports twice a year on abuses of the Patriot Act and has yet to substantiate any complaint. (One investigation is pending.) Fine advertises his role, but there is a puzzle built into the mandate. Under what scenario could a person protest a search of his personal records if he is never notified?’

Well, that’s obviously the point. A completely secret government operation doing things that no one ever finds out about. Such as konzentrationslagers in eastern Europe.

What a country.

Dear UM Undergraduates,

I’ve accepted that it’s part of the social landscape now for you to walk into a wing of a library that is supposed to be used for study and instead use it as an open-air forum for your cell phone conversations, and I’ve accepted that some of you don’t care what you discuss on those cell phones in front of God and the world, whether it’s your bets on major league baseball playoffs, your breakups with the latest frat boy, your failure to convince your mother to loan you money for your trip to Cancún, your rage at your professors for assigning you so much work, your inability to skip a class to be at your girlfriend’s tryouts for some collegiate activity because you’ve already skipped four lectures in a row, your cretinous roommate and the noises that emanate from her alimentary canal, or your numerous and fascinating sexual dalliances.

But I must draw the line somewhere. One of you walked in this afternoon while I was sitting at the reference desk, and as though it were a perfectly normal and indeed necessary thing to do, opened your laptop, turned on your laptop’s MP3 player and speakers, and without so much as a hint of awareness that this might be anything but an act for which you deserved praise and applause, started playing — no, broadcasting — Alphaville’s “Forever Young.” I will admit to a split second of curiosity as to how a song that was released before you were born wound up on your laptop, because I thought that nowadays any song older than a few weeks is automatically suspect if not anathema, but I figured it was probably a track on the latest “OC” soundtrack or something.

I was limitlessly grateful to this young woman for cutting off the next MP3 on her playlist (a vapid re-recording of “Strawberry Fields Forever” by some anonymous latter-day stand-and-model outfit who wouldn’t be fit to lick the soles of Lennon’s shoes if he were still alive) before it got beyond the :30 mark. Thank you. However, in the future, if you feel the suuden, overwhelming urge to play Alphaville in a library, please use a set of headphones.

From our « Clueless Department »:

‘Delta Air Lines Inc. will likely ask its pilots union to extend an agreement to recall retired pilots to prevent staffing shortages as it ambitiously expands its international service while operating under bankruptcy protection, chief executive Gerald Grinstein said Tuesday. Grinstein made the comments after a news conference set up to launch new nonstop service to several European destinations beginning in May. The nation’s third-largest carrier has seen 1,190 of its pilots retire over the last year, many of them early. The mass exodus came as many pilots feared losing their pension benefits if the airline filed for Chapter 11, which it did Sept. 14. Asked if the Atlanta-based airline is concerned about its ability to maintain its new international schedule long-term, Grinstein said Tuesday that it wasn’t. He said Delta will likely ask the pilots union to extend an agreement first reached in September 2004 that allows it to recall retired pilots on a limited basis to help prevent staffing shortages. He said the current agreement runs out Dec. 31. “We expect to be able to man that equipment,” Grinstein told reporters gathered at the Atlanta airport. … Delta has said it would make international travel a bigger part of its operations as part of its effort to return to profitability. It has announced 50 new international destinations this year.’

Clueless, I tell you.

From our « What the ?! Department »:

‘A deadly bacteria listed among bioterrorism agents was detected in the US capital last month during a mass protest against the Iraq war, a top health official said. District of Columbia Health Director Doctor Gregg Pane told WTOP Radio late Saturday that biological agent monitors on the National Mall, an esplanade in downtown Washington, gave positive readings for a small amount of tularemia on September 24 and 25. The sensors are operated by the Department of Homeland Security, but officials were not notified of the potential hazard until Friday, according to Pane. “We’ve stepped up our surveillance and have notified doctors in the area about what to look for,” Pane told the radio station. He urged people who were at the Mall last weekend and who have been experiencing symptoms of pneumonia to immediately seek medical help, but added that there was no evidence that anyone had been affected by the bacteria. … The Washington Post reported Sunday that national security officials believe the bacteria was probably not intentionally spread. “There is no known nexus to terror or criminal behavior. We believe this to be environmental,” the paper quoted Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, as saying.’

What the ?!, I ask you.

And lastly tonight … from our « The Dude is Obviously Insane Department »:

‘George Bush told the Prime Minister two months before the invasion of Iraq that Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea may also be dealt with over weapons of mass destruction, a top secret Downing Street memo shows. The US [Emperor] told Tony Blair, in a secret telephone conversation in January 2003 that he “wanted to go beyond Iraq”. He implied that the military action against Saddam Hussein was only a first step in the battle against WMD proliferation in a series of countries. … Bush said he “wanted to go beyond Iraq in dealing with WMD proliferation”, says the letter on Downing Street paper, marked secret and personal. No 10 said yesterday it would “not comment on leaked documents”. But the revelation that … Bush was considering tackling other countries over WMD before the Iraq war has shocked MPs. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have been close allies of the US in the war against terror and have not been considered targets in relation to WMD.’

Insane, I tell you. Obviously insane.

God help us all.

“These weren’t the works of psychopaths — they were people fighting against something intolerable that many of us know is there, but hasn’t been named yet.”

« The Kinder, Gentler American Empire »:

‘… it’s a fairly powerful event to find a decent-sized book that does nothing but articulate a series of truths about the American Life you’ve hardly read about or spoken about, but just simply felt. Mark Ames’ Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion — From Reagan’s Workplaces to Clinton’s Columbine and Beyond (Soft Skull, 2005) is such a book. Ames takes a systematic look at the scores of rage killings in our public schools and workplaces that have taken place over the past 25 years. He claims that instead of being the work of psychopaths, they were carried out by ordinary people who had suffered repeated humiliation, bullying and inhumane conditions that find their origins in the “Reagan Revolution.” Looking through a carefully researched historical lens, Ames recasts these rage killings as, essentially, failed slave rebellions.’
— Alternet

Mark Ames explains what’s behind the book:

‘What got you interested in American rage murders? Did you have an inkling about what their underlying cause might be before you started piecing the articles and background information about them together in a systematic fashion?
‘Columbine. I had just flown home from Moscow to visit a friend who was dying of cancer when Columbine happened, and my first, unmediated reaction to the news was something between sympathy and awe. Officially everyone was horrified, but a lot of friends I talked to, ranging from artists to yuppies, told me they had the same reaction, that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were like heroes, and we were all surprised it didn’t happen sooner. So I started to ask myself why I had this sympathy, why it was so widespread (and sympathy for the killers is incredibly common, just highly censored), and that led me to look at the larger phenomenon of rage murders. On my next visit there was a massacre at Xerox in Honolulu. At the time I was trying to cover the start of the 2000 Democratic presidential nomination campaign, and I felt overwhelmed by the intolerable insanity of the culture, and that feeling of being crushed, and then I remembered, “This is why I left the US for Russia in the first place.” That was when I finally linked the two, workplace and school rage murders. These weren’t the works of psychopaths — they were people fighting against something intolerable that many of us know is there, but hasn’t been named yet. There isn’t a Marx to give a name to post-Reagan middle-class pain. How do you fight against something horrible, oppressive, and debilitating before it even has a name? Especially when everyone, especially middle-class people, sneer at it and refuse to believe it’s valid. When you’re too deep in the culture, you start to think that the most horrible/mundane aspects are normal and just the way things are. When you’re outside of it for awhile, it’s a little easier to see the insanity and brutality for what it is.’

An « excerpt from the book »:

‘On April 20, 1999, the bloodiest of all school rage massacres took place at Columbine. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered twelve students and a teacher, wounded twenty others, and then killed themselves. Americans wanted to blame everything but Columbine High for the massacre — they blamed a violent media, Marilyn Manson, Goth culture, the Internet, the Trench Coat Mafia, video games, lax gun control laws, and liberal values. And still skipping over the school, they peered into the opposite direction, blaming the moral and/or mental sickness, or alleged homosexuality, of these two boys, as if they were exceptional freaks in a school of otherwise happy kids. They searched all over the world for a motive, except for one place: the scene of the crime. In fact, a typical Columbine school day for Harris and Klebold was torture. Former student Devon Adams told the Governor’s Columbine Review Commission that the boys were regularly called “faggots, weirdoes, and freaks.” As one member of the Columbine High School football team bragged after the massacre, “Columbine is a good, clean place except for those rejects. Most kids didn’t want them there … Sure we teased them. But what do you expect with kids who come to school with weird hairdos and horns on their hats? … If you want to get rid of someone, usually you tease ‘em. So the whole school would call them homos.”’
— Alternet

Quite interesting stuff.

“As with most of the Mayberry Machiavellians’ schemes, this is yet another one that is coming unraveled.”

Great national hero and former darling of the fascists, Pat Tillman, has, gasp the horror, been « outed as a Noam Chomsky lover » — and boy is Ann Coulter ever pissed:

‘“I don’t believe it,” seethed Ann Coulter. Her contempt was directed at a September 25 San Francisco Chronicle story reporting that former NFL star and Army Ranger war hero Pat Tillman, who was killed in Afghanistan last year, believed the US war on Iraq was “f***ing illegal” and counted Noam Chomsky among his favorite authors. It must have been quite a moment for Coulter, who upon Tillman’s death described him in her inimitably creepy fashion as “an American original — virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be.” She tried to discredit the story as San Francisco agitprop, but this approach ran into a slight problem: The article’s source was Pat Tillman’s mother, Mary. …
‘Tillman’s transition from one-dimensional caricature to critically thinking human being is a long time coming. The fact is that in death he was far more useful to the armchair warriors than he had ever been in life. When the Pro Bowler joined the Army Rangers, the Pentagon brass needed a loofah to wipe their drool: He was white, handsome and played in the NFL. For a chicken-hawk Administration led by a President who loves the affectations of machismo but runs from protesting military moms, this testosterone cocktail was impossible to resist. The problem was that Tillman wouldn’t play their game. To the Pentagon’s chagrin, he turned down numerous offers to be its recruitment poster child. But when Tillman fell in Afghanistan the wheels once again started to turn. Now the narrative was perfect: “War hero and football star dies fighting terror.” The Abu Ghraib scandal was about to hit the press, so the [Emperor] found it especially useful to praise Tillman as “an inspiration on and off the football field, as with all who made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror.” His funeral was nationally televised. Bush even went back to the bloody well during the presidential campaign, addressing his team’s fans on the Arizona Cardinals’ stadium Jumbotron.’
—The Nation

As with most of the Mayberry Machiavellians’ schemes, this is yet another one that is « coming unraveled » and as usual, it’s a long litany of deceit and treachery on the part of this government:

‘The battle between a grieving family and the U.S. military justice system is on display in thousands of pages of documents strewn across Mary Tillman’s dining room table in suburban San Jose. As she pores through testimony from three previous Army investigations into the killing of her son, former football star Pat Tillman, by his fellow Army Rangers last year in Afghanistan, she hopes that a new inquiry launched in August by the Pentagon’s inspector general finally will answer the family’s questions: Were witnesses allowed to change their testimony on key details, as alleged by one investigator? Why did internal documents on the case, such as the initial casualty report, include false information? When did top Pentagon officials know that Tillman’s death was caused by friendly fire, and why did they delay for five weeks before informing his family? “There have been so many discrepancies so far that it’s hard to know what to believe,” Mary Tillman said. “There are too many murky details.” The files the family received from the Army in March are heavily censored, with nearly every page containing blacked-out sections; most names have been deleted. (Names for this story were provided by sources close to the investigation.) At least one volume was withheld altogether from the family, and even an Army press release given to the media has deletions. On her copies, Mary Tillman has added competing marks and scrawls — countless color-coded tabs and angry notes such as “Contradiction!” “Wrong!” and “????”’
—SF Chronicle

It just never ends.

“I wanna go supersonic before I die and time’s a-wastin’!”

Finally, « some visionary thinking », which has been in major short supply here in the 21st century:

‘Barely two years since the last Concordes were retired, Airbus, the European aircraft consortium, is looking at plans for a new generation of supersonic passenger jets. The manufacturer, in which Britain’s BAE Systems is a partner, is drawing up designs for a 250-seat plane with a range of up to 6,000 miles that could reach speeds approaching 1,500mph. It believes that rapid growth in the aviation market means that by 2050 there could be demand for supersonic travel on hundreds of long-haul routes. Corinne Marizy, an Airbus researcher, told a conference at Cambridge University last week that by 2050 supersonic travel could account for 10% to 20% of flights. Airbus’s design is one of a number of blueprints being drawn up around the world for supersonic jets, the first of which Marizy said could be in service by 2015. By 2025 the market would be growing fast, she added.’
London Times

Well, get after it! I wanna go supersonic before I die and time’s a-wastin’!

Dear Fascist Michigan Voters-For-Prop-2: « Screw. You. »:

‘A Michigan judge ruled on Tuesday that a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage does not prevent the state from offering health insurance benefits to the same-sex partners of state workers. Ingham County Circuit Judge Joyce Draganchuk said health care benefits are benefits of employment, not marriage. Twenty-two same-sex couples filed suit against the state in March after Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), acting on the advice of Attorney General Mike Cox ®, terminated domestic partner benefits that had been won by state unions. One partner of each of the 22 couples works for the state of Michigan.
‘In a legal opinion to the governor, Cox said that the constitutional amendment passed by voters last year bars all public employers from providing domestic partner benefits. But, although Granholm removed the benefits from the contracts she disagreed with Cox’s interpretation of the amendment and in July she entered the case on the side of the gay couples. Cox was obligated to argue the case against benefits as Attorney General. “Health care benefits are not among the statutory rights or benefits of marriage,” Judge Draganchuk said in her written ruling. “An individual does not receive health benefits for his or her spouse as a matter of legal right upon getting married.”
‘The twenty-two couples were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. “Today’s ruling affirms what we’ve believed all along — Michigan voters never intended to take health insurance away from families,” said ACLU attorney Deborah LaBelle. The case was closely watched by municipalities across the state. After telling Gov. Granholm the benefits were illegal, Cox warned several cities that benefits packages they were contemplating were also illegal. Cox’s office has not said if it will appeal the ruling.’
—365Gay.com

I’ll bet the pig appeals. And I hope he and his ilk get slapped on their asses again.

(Or was that all too passionate?)

« Jeff Sessions and Jon Kyl = Despicable Low Lifes »:

‘Federal troops aren’t the only ones looking for bodies on the Gulf Coast. On Sept. 9, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions called his old law professor Harold Apolinsky, co-author of Sessions’ legislation repealing the federal estate tax, which was encountering sudden resistance on the Hill. Sessions had an idea to revitalize their cause, which he left on Apolinsky’s voice mail: “[Arizona Sen.] Jon Kyl and I were talking about the estate tax. If we knew anybody that owned a business that lost life in the storm, that would be something we could push back with.” …
‘It’s been hard. Only a tiny percentage of people are affected by the estate tax—in 2001 only 534 Alabamans were subject to it. And for Hill backers of repeal, that’s only part of the problem. Last year, the tax brought in $24.8 billion to the federal government. With Katrina’s cost soaring, estate tax opponents need to find a way to make up the potential lost income. For now, getting repeal back on the agenda may depend on Apolinsky and his team of estate-sniffing sleuths, who are searching Internet obituaries among other places.’
—Time

Disgusting.

And whoever still believes that old 80s fairy tale about the Fascist Republican Party being the Party of Fiscal Responsibility needs to go back to grade school. I’m teaching second graders who are smarter about money than these people.

« Bill Maher has a message for the Failed Boy Emperor »:

‘You’ve performed so poorly I’m surprised that you haven’t given yourself a medal. You’re a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes. On your watch, we’ve lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you’re just not lucky. I’m not saying you don’t love this country. I’m just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side. So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: ‘Take a hint.’‘
—Huffington Post

Something tells me the Failed Boy Emperor has selective hearing when it comes to conversations with the Invisible Cloud Being.

‘I’ll send my sons if he sends his daughters. Put those two drunk bitches on a plane and let them go fight. At least I know my sons would be getting some on the way.’
—Comedian Damon Wayans, quoted by the New York Daily News, on the conditions for the Emperor to send Wayans’ sons to fight in Iraq.

I think Cornel West « perfectly sums up the state of the Empire »:

‘What we saw unfold in the days after the hurricane was the most naked manifestation of conservative social policy towards the poor, where the message for decades has been: ‘You are on your own’. Well, they really were on their own for five days in that Superdome, and it was Darwinism in action – the survival of the fittest. People said: ‘It looks like something out of the Third World.’ Well, New Orleans was Third World long before the hurricane. …
‘Poverty has increased for the last four or five years. A million more Americans became poor last year, even as the super-wealthy became much richer. So where is the trickle-down, the equality of opportunity? Healthcare and education and the social safety net being ripped away – and that flawed structure was nowhere more evident than in a place such as New Orleans, 68 per cent black. The average adult income in some parishes of the city is under $8,000 (£4,350) a year. The average national income is $33,000, though for African-Americans it is about $24,000. It has one of the highest city murder rates in the US. From slave ships to the Superdome was not that big a journey. …
‘Bush talks about God, but he has forgotten the point of prophetic Christianity is compassion and justice for those who have least. Hip-hop has the anger that comes out of post-industrial, free-market America, but it lacks the progressiveness that produces organisations that will threaten the status quo. There has not been a giant since King, someone prepared to die and create an insurgency where many are prepared to die to upset the corporate elite. The Democrats are spineless.’
—The Observer

To which I can only add, amen.

In among all of the commentary and images over the past few days about Katrina, I’ve noticed a recurring strain along the following lines: the people who remained in New Orleans during and after the hurricane were too stupid, lazy, or both to leave; and nobody who lived in a place like New Orleans (either because it was too sinful, too corrupt, or not located in the “right” spot geographically) deserved to be helped or saved anyway.

It’s funny, I’ve never heard these sorts of statements made about other parts of the United States that have been subject to natural disasters (with the exception of San Francisco, which always gets hit by earthquakes because it “deserves” it). Nobody ever rages against the residents of Midwestern states for living in the paths of tornadoes. Nobody ever quarrels with the environmental choices of residents of Florida, which got smashed by a total of 4 major hurricanes last year alone. So why pick on New Orleans?

This snazzy « diagram » by Troll Princess sums up the feeling I have about the above arguments excellently.

The other thread of argument that astonishes me is the argument I’ve heard made that people shouldn’t expect the federal government to come to their aid in natural disasters because that’s not what government’s for.

Well, in that case, why do we have a federal government at all? If the government isn’t constituted to summon assistance to citizens in times of national crisis, what is it constituted for?

Oh, that’s right, I forgot: it’s there to be “drowned in the bathtub.” Grover Norquist was more of a prophet than he may have thought.

On top of all the shameful and outrageous things we’ve seen this week, comes « this »:

‘House Speaker Dennis Hastert dropped a bombshell on flood-ravaged New Orleans on Thursday by suggesting that it isn’t sensible to rebuild the city. “It doesn’t make sense to me,” Hastert told the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago in editions published today. “And it’s a question that certainly we should ask.” … The Illinois Republican’s comments drew an immediate rebuke from Louisiana officials. “That’s like saying we should shut down Los Angeles because it’s built in an earthquake zone,” former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., said. “Or like saying that after the Great Chicago fire of 1871, the U.S. government should have just abandoned the city.” … Hastert questioned the wisdom of rebuilding a city below sea level that will continue to be in the path of powerful hurricanes. “You know we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake issures and they rebuild, too. Stubbornness,” he said.’

And then somebody else chimes in from the cheap seats:

‘Hastert wasn’t the only one questioning the rebuilding of New Orleans. The Waterbury, Conn., Republican-American newspaper wrote an editorial Wednesday entitled, “Is New Orleans worth reclaiming?” “Americans’ hearts go out to the people in Katrina’s path,” it said. “But if the people of New Orleans and other low-lying areas insist on living in harm’s way, they ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property.”’
—New Orleans Times-Picayune

Good god.

So I sent a little letter to the editor to the following e-mail addresses (and encourage my faithful readers to do the same): [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]:

Letter to the Editor:
RE your editorial of 31-Aug-05, specifically this quote: ‘But if the people of New Orleans and other low-lying areas insist on living in harm’s way, they ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property. … And if the government insists on rebuilding ravaged homes and businesses along Gulf Coasts, it should stipulate that the next time a hurricane blows through, it will be up to the people living there to make themselves whole.’
People who live in glass houses really shouldn’t throw stones, dear Waterbury, CT. I haven’t ever been to Connecticut, but I wasn’t aware it was high and dry. Let’s review Connecticut’s hurricane history since you apparently haven’t, shall we?
Great Atlantic Hurricane, 14-Sep-1944 ($100 million in damages to the state). Hurricane Carol, 31-Aug-1954. Hurricane Edna, 11-Sep-1954. Hurricane Diane, 18-Aug-1955. Hurricane Donna, 14-Sep-1960 (3 dead and large crop losses). Hurricane Gloria, 27-Sep-1985. Hurricane Bob, 19-Aug-1991.
Or how about we talk about the Great New England Hurricane of 21-Sep-1938 which brought to Connecticut winds of 120 miles an hour and a storm surge of 12-16 feet. Whole beach communities in the state were washed away without a trace. A week after the storm, Connecticut reported 97 people killed, over 1000 injured, and several dozen missing. The 1938 hurricane did more damage than the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. According to several publications, ‘the total property damage was the greatest of any natural disaster ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere up to that time.’
I see that the City of Waterbury has been a member of FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program since 1-Nov-1979, according to FEMA’s website. You take government assistance provided by taxpayers like us in the rest of the country but write pompous and judgmental editorials like this? Wow. You guys are showing some chutzpah while working that Federal Gravy Train!
Sounds as if New Orleans is not the only place where people shouldn’t be living. I propose that we rewrite your snide, compassionless and self-absorbed editorial thusly: ‘But if the people of hurricane-prone Connecticut (particularly Waterbury) and other low-lying areas insist on living in harm’s way, they ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property. … And if the government insists on rebuilding ravaged homes and businesses in Connecticut (particularly Waterbury), it should stipulate that the next time a hurricane blows through, it will be up to the people living there to make themselves whole.’ Wonder how your neighbors would feel about that if it you dared to publish that?
And be sure and cancel your National Flood Insurance participation and write FEMA, the National Guard, the Red Cross and the United States Army that, after the next devastating Connecticut hurricane hits, that you, the Waterbury Republican-American, won’t be needing the rescue assistance, policing, tax dollars or donations of the rest of us Americans to rebuild your newspaper … and your flood- and hurricane-prone city and state.
Meanwhile, I encourage you, the editors and publishers of the Republican-American, to stop being ridiculous and join me in turning off the self-centered political rhetoric and sending whatever we can afford to help rebuild the hundreds of thousands of shattered human lives on the Gulf Coast of our country. It’s the humane (and American) thing to do.
With all due respect,
Steve Pollock
Ann Arbor, MI

And thoughts and prayers to the people of the Gulf Coast. Our friend Steve, who lived in downtown New Orleans, was able to escape through a sea of floating bodies to a shelter in Jackson, MS, and is now on his way (hopefully) to his parents’ house in Alabama. He’ll be looking for a job in North Carolina, but won’t be able to return for his belongs for at least four months. Still, we’re extremely grateful he, his roommate and his dog, Gibson, are safe and well. More on this stuff by Frank is on « Asquared AirBeagle ».

UPDATE:

I received the following reply from William J. Pape of the Waterbury Republican-American:

‘Our rational realistic thinking got out of hand with the New Orleans editorial, and we have been chastised in spades for it, justifiably so. It is unfortunate that some thought we were blaming the present citizens for the terrible calamity which has befallen them. Not so. My younger son is a graduate of Tulane and visiting New Orleans was always a pleasure. The food was the best I’ve even had without question. WJPape’

Well, that’s something … except it’s still deeply disturbing to think that he thinks the editorial reflected ‘rational and realistic’ thinking.

My friend phoned late last night (Wednesday) — he and his dog got out of New Orleans okay.

Here is a list of « FEMA-approved relief organizations » if you are interested in donating to the effort to save the glorious city of New Orleans, which from the looks of things is descending into unimaginable chaos.

Another story, one that is understandably going untold with everything else that’s going on, is the fate of the animals in the region. « Noah’s Wish » is an organization dedicated to saving and helping animals in disaster zones. Consider donating to them or helping in other ways. (Thanks to « A Socialite’s Life » for these links.)

I have a dear and old friend who lives in New Orleans. He has lived in the French Quarter for the past few years. He loves New Orleans, and he has always sounded profoundly at home there. I have never had the fortune of visiting, but his stories about being there have always made the birthplace of Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet come alive in my mind.

And now — well, he phoned yesterday afternoon and said that he was all right, except for broken windows and some flooding. But things are different 24+ hours later in the city. As far as I can tell from the conflicting reports, the French Quarter has escaped the worst of the flooding (thus far), but there’s been a lot of looting and mayhem. I pray that he’s all right. I pray that he continues to be all right in the days ahead. With no way to contact him for now, all I can do is hope.

If anybody has any friends or loved ones in the city and environs of New Orleans, the rest of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, or any of the other affected areas, my heart goes out to you.

If you can possibly donate anything to the relief efforts, please call the Red Cross at 1-800-HELP–NOW.

« Oops! Our Bad. »:

‘The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad. The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say. “What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground,” said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. “We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we’re in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning.” … But whatever the outcome on specific disputes, the document on which Iraq’s future is to be built will require laws to be compliant with Islam. Kurds and Shiites are expecting de facto long-term political privileges. And women’s rights will not be as firmly entrenched as Washington has tried to insist, U.S. officials and Iraq analysts say. “We set out to establish a democracy, but we’re slowly realizing we will have some form of Islamic republic,” said another U.S. official familiar with policymaking from the beginning, who like some others interviewed would speak candidly only on the condition of anonymity. “That process is being repeated all over.”’
—Washington Post

Sounds like the beginning of the end. All that’s left is figuring out how the Emperor can spin it into mission accomplished.

Looks like the undergrads are starting to stream back into town … a sure sign summer is coming to an end after the zenith (if you can term it that) of Art Fair. No tidal wave yet — I walked home from campus this evening and the neighborhoods around East University and Packard are still relatively quiet. But the center of campus was full of kids dragging cardboard boxes and shopping bags — I guess in preparation for the end of old leases and the start of new ones. School itself (at UM, anyway) starts September 6, exactly four weeks from today. It’s going to be strange not joining the flocks trooping off to class, but not strange in an unpleasant way.

« 30-Jul-05: Burns Park Beagle ».

« Just another day in Florida »:

‘A mobile home belonging to a gay couple was torched and an offensive epithet was spray-painted on the front steps, authorities said. Paul Day, 25, and Christopher Robertson, 23, returned home from errands Monday to find their house in Kings Manor Mobile Home Park in Lakeland burned and the words “Die Fag” spray-painted on the front steps. The case is being investigated as an arson with burglary, Lakeland Fire Department spokeswoman Cheryl Edwards said. But officials remain tightlipped about whether it was being investigated as a hate crime, which would allow for enhanced criminal penalties.’
—Local6.com

Maybe if Jebby Bush’s Florida really was based on Biblical law, they could invoke an eye-for-an-eye and torch the arsonists … Nah. Biblical American law works in only one direction, and it’s not the one us fags are travelling.

Those of you who voted for the Fascists in the last election need to understand that a vote for Bush was a vote for « this »:

‘In Washington it is hardly a secret that the same people in and around the administration who brought you Iraq are preparing to do the same for Iran. The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing — that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack — but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections.’
—American Conservative
(Emphasis added)

Yes, I linked to a Fascist source. No charges of bias that way.

These people are truly deranged. If we make it to 2008, it’ll be a miracle.

As always, it’s smell-a-rat time; « what are the Mayberry Machiavellis trying to hide THIS time? »;

‘Citing privacy and precedent, the Bush administration indicated Sunday it does not intend to release all memos and other documents written by Supreme Court nominee John Roberts when he worked for two Republican presidents. … Fred D. Thompson, the former Tennessee senator who is guiding Roberts through the nomination process on behalf of the White House, said material that would come under attorney-client privilege would be withheld. He contended that previous administrations, both Republican and Democrat, have followed that principle. “We hope we don’t get into a situation where documents are asked for that folks know will not be forthcoming and we get all hung up on that,” Thompson told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”’

Yes, god forbid we should get hung up on open government and full disclosure. That wouldn’t be very … democratic of us, would it?

Asquared AirBeagle is back … now powered by WordPress, which does some truly awesome things, such as the weather report you see in the sidebar and the new ‘Subscribe to Comments’ feature, which allows you, the commentor, to receive notification if someone replies to your comment. Cool beans.

I also added PhotoStack to handle the photo galleries. It’s awesome, too. « First galleries are up. »

I fixed a few things and added some nifty features (WordPress is wonderful), so if you’ve had troubles reading or commenting on anything the last week or so, try again. You can now subscribe to comment threads; you’ll get an e-mail if someone replies to a comment you leave here. Thanks for reading!

Awwwww.

Excuse me, but I’m angry. God damn the Emperor. Damn him to hell:

« More »

While we’re all tied up in knots over suicidal nuts with explosives who kill 50 people at a time, « somebody else is talking about nuking millions of Americans »:

‘China is willing to use nuclear weapons against the United States if it is attacked in a conflict over Taiwan, a senior Chinese military official said last night. “If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” Zhu Chenghu, a major general in the People’s Liberation Army, said at an official press briefing for foreign journalists. General Zhu, a well-known hawk who has said before that China could strike the US with long-ranged missiles, said his comments were “my assessment”, and not the “policy of the Government”. Nevertheless, his threat, in which he emphasised that China’s definition of its territories included warships and aircraft, is the first time for a decade that a senior official in Beijing has used such provocative rhetoric.’
—The Times of London

Meanwhile, the Chinese have gobbled up IBM and are now taking aim at Unocal. And liberals and Muslim shoe bombers are the biggest threats to our national security?

Hello? Is the Emperor listening?

It simply doesn’t get any more clichéd than « this »:

‘Victor Edward Willis, the original policeman and lead singer from the Village People, had a chance to find out firsthand this week after he was arrested when police discovered a gun and drugs in his car during a traffic stop in Daly City, California. Willis was was arrested late Monday after police turned up a loaded .45, crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia while searching his convertible Corvette. … When police searched the “Macho Man” singer’s home at the Franciscan Mobile Home Park in Daly City, they found cocaine residue, more drug paraphernalia and two pit bulls locked in the bedroom.’
—Associated Press

Good lord.

I imported the old entries successfully from TextPattern, but I’ve lost a few trackbacks and comments. If yours was one of them, I do apologize. And I’m working on the link thing.

Like the new look?

Textpattern is … causing me some frustrations lately. So I’m switching to « WordPress ». Things will be very higgledy-piggledy for a little while. Thanks for bearing with me. Links will be back as soon as possible.

Awwwww.

There’s « wickedness afoot in God’s country ». Go. Sign the petition.

Yep, there was hail, albeit briefly. That thunderstorm we had this evening around 5.00 lasted about 45 minutes or so and was quite a fierce one. I stood in the entryway of Hatcher for about ten minutes and the rain disspiated for about ten minutes … then the real storm let loose, with major lightning, thunder, hail, the whole bit.

I found a recessed doorway to a Comerica bank branch on Thayer where I took cover while waiting for the bus home. Fortunately the storm had passed through by the time I got off the bus.

Me? I’m good. Survived the first two weeks of grad school, albeit with plenty of pain. Looks like I’ll survive the rest too, so it’s not been a bad week.

Today:

Hail.