noise to signal:
Fulminations and Jeremiads

In which I get a creepy invite from a shill for the local corporate media

I got an evite from the lockergnome:

KOMO-TV and its owner, Fisher Communications, has graciously agreed to serve as host for a blogger meet-up at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday August 2nd. The event will be at Fisher Plaza, 140 Fourth Avenue North in downtown Seattle. Light hors d'oeuvres and refreshments (alcoholic and otherwise) will be served and everyone who attends is promised a cool piece (or pieces) of KOMO swag. That's right; we're digging deep for this.

This is a social event, so come prepared to meet and make new friends. If you know of a local blogger who's not on the list here, please let me know or feel free to invite them, too. We'd like to meet everybody.

If you don't already know me, I'm Chris Pirillo - coffee addict, Seattlite, and a regular ol' blogger. If you have any questions about this event, feel free to contact Leanne Dillon from KOMO-TV at (206) 404-6055.

KOMO-TV is interested in getting to know bloggers in the area, and what better way to do that than with a little party? Again, this is a social event; there's no agenda for the station other than helping facilitate this meet-up. Fisher Communications recognizes the significance of the personal media revolution, and they want to listen and pay attention to what you're saying. I think this is a good way to start.

KOMO-TV news anchors will be there, so don't forget to bring your camera! You'll also be able to take pictures of yourself (and your co-anchors) at the anchor desk.

Please use the RSVP function of this Evite to let us know if you're coming. We want to make sure we have enough food for everybody.

We should all use "komomeetup" as the tag for photos, videos, blog posts, etc.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyeah.

My response: "See, it's funny, because I'm not interested in getting to know Fisher Communications. "

Periodically I think I'm paranoid

And then I read something like this:

Vet: Chaplains tried to convert me

U.S. Navy veteran David Miller said that when he checked into the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, he didn't realize he would get a hard sell for Christian fundamentalism along with treatment for his kidney stones.

Miller, 46, an Orthodox Jew, said he was repeatedly proselytized by hospital chaplains and staff in attempts to convert him to Christianity during three hospitalizations over the past two years.

He said he went hungry each time because the hospital wouldn't serve him kosher food, and the staff refused to contact his rabbi, who could have brought him something to eat.

[ . . . ]

Over the past two years, Miller said, he has been asked over and over by the Iowa City VA medical center's staff within its offices, clinics and wards, "You mean you don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah?" and "Is it just Orthodox Jews who deny Jesus?" He said one staffer told him, "I don't understand; how can you not believe in Jesus; he's the Messiah of the Jews, too, you know." ...

I'll just throw this image from my Flickr stream in as well... a little something I found in the grocery store. I didn't see a copy of the Heart of Wisdom Sutra or the Guide for the Perplexed there next to it.

Today's rules for bus riders

If you race for the bus, and the bus pulls away, and the driver stops for you or lets you on while the bus is out of the stop zone but waiting at a stop light... THANK THE DRIVER.

If you race for the bus, and the bus pulls away, and the driver doesn't stop for you or doesn't let you on even though the bus is waiting at a stop light... DON'T FLIP OFF THE DRIVER.

Look, I don't give a rat's ass if you're late or you had a hard morning or a hard night or your job is hard or your lover just left you or your coffee isn't hot enough or your car wouldn't start or your laptop is slow or your jeans chafe your ass. YOU WILL BE CIVIL TO THE BUS DRIVER.

Why? Two reasons. First, because the bus driver is a human being, and thus deserving of your respect. Second, because the health and wellbeing of the other sixty people on the bus depends on the driver's attention and focus. And I will not risk my damn life because you were a little late to the bus stop.

That is all.

Game theory probably has some input on this

Here's a question that came to me after running errands today:

Suppose you purchase product A at one store, to solve some need you have. When you're at another store, you see product B, which you realize might actually be the right product, and that A might be the wrong product.

Do you:

1) Wait until you get home, and then find out either that A was right all along, or that B was actually the right one, which means you're going to have to go return A at the first store and buy B at the second store, or

2) Buy B, so that in case A was wrong, you'll only have to go back to one store -- either to the first store, to return A, or the second store, to return B?

This obviously changes depending on your confidence level -- if you're pretty sure A is right, but have a minor suspicion that B might be, then you'll probably go with #1, above. But if on seeing B, you suddenly have low confidence that A is right, then you'll probably go with #2. Or will you?

It also seems like it changes based on how binary the a/b split is, and whether you have someone at home you can call and ask them to check.

What do you think?

Not all of you will enjoy this as much as me...

But those of you who do will enjoy it very, very much.

ALL YOUR HOUSE ARE BELONG TO US

There's a lot of this entertaining crap going around:

Everybody get your Koran and Burqas. America's end is near. Our government is now securely in the hands of Liberal TRAITORS and our borders will be ransacked. Our nation will be overrun with Mexicans and terrorists financed and trained by Chavez and possibly also Daniel Ortega. What a great time for America to lose the Global War on Terror. The patients are runing the Asylum! God SAVE US! The terrorists will be on CNN and FNC tomorrow celebrating in the streets with DEATH TO AMERICA chants shooting their AK47's. They will be emboldened by this victory to swell their ranks and step up the slaughter of inocent Americans everywhere ESPECIALLY here in the next 6 months or so after we pull out or troops. It's over, y'all. Go home, get on your knees, and pray to God for His mercy. Be especially prepared to meet Him soon.

(thanks to Uncle Vinny for pointing me to that bit of deliciousness)

There's a lot I could say about that, but instead I'm just going to point you to Tom Peters' latest post, which says in part:

Will Speaker Pelosi be "ultra-liberal"? Who the hell knows. What we do know is that if you erased a few "liberal hotbeds" such as Cambridge MA, Boston MA, Pelosi's San Francisco, and Silicon Valley this great country of yours and mine (most readers) would economically be in the tank.

Steven Colbert opens a can of whoopass on Mr. Bush

Sure, you've probably seen it before. But if you haven't.... click and weep.

(via Timmy)

David responds to the headlines

Seattle Times, this morning: Are terrorists recruiting "white muslims"?

Well, of course they are. They'd be fools not to.

And mama didn't train no fools at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, where peace activists have protested for years, many of them predicting exactly this kind of blowback scenario, all the while being dismissed as idealistic hippie whiners who didn't understand modern geopolitics.

Thugs and sociopaths, sure, but no fools.

Not that I'm bitter or nothin'.

Like watching a train wreck

Yes, it's The Video. Experts warning about the magnitude of Hurrican Katrina. Bush lying. I really don't know what to say.

Something like a ray of hope

I was saying to Miz Becky the other day that the Bushies have me right where they want me — I'm no longer surprised by anything they do, so my outrage levels are kept right around the apathy horizon.

It's nice, then, to start my day with a news item that reminds me that, first, it could be worse, and second, that even from that condition things can get better.

Multicutural Hub Restored in S. Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - Strains of jazz echoed through suburban streets Saturday as Sophiatown's former residents returned with a boisterous parade to reclaim the legendary black cultural hub wiped off the map under apartheid.

The destruction of one of Johannesburg's oldest black settlements more than 50 years ago came to represent the callousness and brutality of white racist rule. The new white suburb that emerged from the rubble of Sophiatown was named 'Triomf,' Afrikaans for triumph.

There was dancing, cheering, ululating and the odd tear Saturday as scattered residents returned to see Johannesburg Mayor Amos Masondo unveil a sign officially restoring the neighborhood's original name in bold black letters.

"'Triomf' meant the victory of white supremacy," Masondo told more than 500 people gathered under a white marquee in the heart of Sophiatown. "Let me hasten to add, however, that Sophiatown was never erased from the hearts and minds of its people."

Despite its overcrowded squalor, the close-knit community was a place where black, white, Indian and Chinese mingled freely on Johannesburg's western edge, It produced some of the country's most famous writers, musicians, politicians and gangsters.

International jazz stars like Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba cut their teeth at its Odeon Cinema and in the many illegal taverns. A magazine called Drum was a vehicle for emerging black writers like Can Themba, Lewis Nkosi and Es'kia Mphahlele.

Elizabeth Kallesen, a former resident, could not contain her excitement as jazz legends from Sophiatown's heyday in the 1940s and 1950s took to the stage. While others swayed and clapped their hands in time, she leapt to the floor and started swinging her hips like the young tap dancer she once was.

"I feel I can dance the whole day because they are singing the songs from Sophiatown," the 64-year-old said with a grin.

[ . . . ]

A few current residents also emerged from their homes and were drawn into the festivities.

Among them were 37-year-old Stander Kotze, a struggling white mechanic, and his two young children. Kotze, who grew up in the neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement, hesitated to come but was delighted by what he saw.

"You get spoon-fed to hate other people just because they are different," he said. "But this is change. It's beautiful and it can only get better."

[ . . . ]

It's always nice to get confirmation of what you already knew

From today's New York Times:

White House Was Told Hurricane Posed Danger

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 - The White House was told in the hours before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans that the city would probably soon be inundated with floodwater, forcing the long-term relocation of hundreds of thousands of people, documents to be released Tuesday by Senate investigators show.

A Homeland Security Department report submitted to the White House at 1:47 a.m. on Aug. 29, hours before the storm hit, said, "Any storm rated Category 4 or greater will likely lead to severe flooding and/or levee breaching."

The internal department documents, which were forwarded to the White House, contradict statements by President Bush and the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, that no one expected the storm protection system in New Orleans to be breached.

"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," Mr. Bush said in a television interview on Sept. 1. "Now we're having to deal with it, and will."

I don't even know why it's worth mentioning when it's proven that Bush lied again... and yet I'm strangely compelled to.

How about a little damn research?

Miz Becky often tells me that I'm an old, crabby man before my time, and that my rants at newspapers prove her point.

Before my time or no, the state of editorial quality in modern newspapers drives me frickin' batshit. The most common example, of course, is papers running spellcheck in lieu of an editorial sweep of an article. The result, of course, is tens of examples in any given day — often nearly one per article — of the incorrect homonym being used. "Riding a slay"? "They gave last rights"? I'm sorry, I thought I was reading a newspaper, but this is obviously a MySpace blog.

Today's rant, though, is inspired by an even more egregious bit of lousy editorship. In what's nominally an article in the science section (The Cute Factor), New York Times writer Natalie Angier writes:

If the mere sight of Tai Shan, the roly-poly, goofily gamboling masked bandit of a panda cub now on view at the National Zoo isn't enough to make you melt, then maybe the crush of his human onlookers, the furious flashing of their cameras and the heated gasps of their mass rapture will do the trick.

[ . . . ]

The 6-month-old, 25-pound Tai Shan - whose name is pronounced tie-SHON and means, for no obvious reason, "peaceful mountain" - is the first surviving giant panda cub ever born at the Smithsonian's zoo.

"For no obvious reason"? Excuse me?

First of all, what is this sentence doing in this article? Is this an editorial? No, it's an article. Does this move the article forward? No, it's an awkward, throwaway hiccup in an otherwise pretty interesting article on what we humans respond to as cute.

Second, if you're going to bring the meaning of the name up, instead of being so cavalier about it (again, in the science section of what the editors like to call our nation's paper of record), maybe Ms. Angier should have taken the same nine seconds it took me to do a google search and find an article that explained where the name came from:

Panda Cub's Birthday Present: A Name

The National Zoo's giant panda cub was officially dubbed Tai Shan yesterday and heralded as a symbol -- a very cute symbol -- of friendship between the United States and China.

Tai Shan, pronounced tie shahn and meaning "peaceful mountain," was the favorite in the zoo's online poll offering five choices approved by the China Wildlife Conservation Association. One of three names suggested by the Panda House staff, it garnered about 44 percent of more than 202,000 votes cast.

[ . . . ]

Chinese officials noted that Tai Shan is the name of a famous mountain north of the city of Tai'an in Shandong Province in eastern China. They embraced the theme of peace embodied in the choice.

"Giant pandas are a valuable resource in China and also a great gift of China to the world and the United States," Yan Xun, deputy director of China's Conservation Department, said through a translator.

Whew. Hang on a sec while I rest up from the effort of tracking that obscure piece of information down.

Now, I don't blame Ms. Angier. She's a writer. It's her job to write. She wrote. But where the hell was an editor to cut that out?

Sure, it's possible I'm overreacting. But it's exactly this kind of lack of effort on the part of editors and fact-checkers that let someone like Jayson Blair (I did the search for you) slip fabrications through.

I tell you, if they come anywhere near me, I'm going to whack them with my cane.

Let's finish off the year right

... with a scary )(!* story about the genetic drift activists against genetically modified (GM) food have been warning us about all along:

GM crops created superweed, say scientists

Modified genes from crops in a GM crop trial have transferred into local wild plants, creating a form of herbicide-resistant "superweed", the Guardian can reveal.

The cross-fertilisation between GM oilseed rape, a brassica, and a distantly related plant, charlock, had been discounted as virtually impossible by scientists with the environment department. It was found during a follow up to the government's three-year trials of GM crops which ended two years ago.

The new form of charlock was growing among many others in a field which had been used to grow GM rape. When scientists treated it with lethal herbicide it showed no ill-effects.

[ . . . ]

The scientists also collected seeds from other weeds in the oilseed rape field and grew them in the laboratory. They found that two - both wild turnips - were herbicide resistant.

[ . . . ]

To assess the potential of herbicide-resistant weeds as a danger to crops, a French researcher placed a single triazine-resistant weed, known as fat hen, in maize fields where atrazine was being used to control weeds. After four years the plants had multiplied to an average of 103,000 plants, Dr Johnson said.

What is not clear in the English case is whether the charlock was fertile. Scientists collected eight seeds from the plant but they failed to germinate them and concluded the plant was "not viable".

But Dr Johnson points out that the plant was very large and produced many flowers.

He said: "There is every reason to suppose that the GM trait could be in the plant's pollen and thus be carried to other charlock in the neighbourhood, spreading the GM genes in that way. This is after all how the cross-fertilisation between the rape and charlock must have occurred in the first place."

Since charlock seeds can remain in the soil for 20 to 30 years before they germinate, once GM plants have produced seeds it would be almost impossible to eliminate them.

I've said this before, but it bears repeating. I'm not inherently against GM plants or animals for some nebulous moral reason. I think it's a bad idea because I work in the software industry. Software is human created, using human-created and human-readable programming languages, and it's vastly simpler than almost all genetic codes. And yet... there are uncountable instances where mysterious, unfixable bugs occur because we don't really understand how things interact. Most of them are minor weirdnesses; some of them cause spectacular, data-destroying crashes.

Usually at this point someone brings up cross-breeding, AKA "old skool GM". I have absolutely no problem with cross breeding (although of course it does depend on the ethics of the cross-breeder -- see any number of freakish, over-delicate dog breeds). The most important difference here is that with cross breeding, as opposed to direct genetic modification, we're using the "compiler" that's built into the system. Instead of just changing one line of a code that we have an incomplete understanding of, we're giving two inputs with desirable characteristics to the existing compiler, which changes hundreds of lines of code at once in mysterious and complex ways.

It's not that I think genetic code is inherently too complex for humans to understand; anyone who makes that claim is sure to be proven wrong in some period of time. My concern is that until we can clearly and perfectly understand the complexities of software we created, it's pure hubris to pretend that our partial understanding of code we didn't create means that we can tinker with it safely.

Today in conspiracy theory

Remember, it's only a theory like evolution is only a theory.

From today's What's New newsletter, stolen verbatim because I'm not going to say it any better than Mr. Park:

3. SHAMIFLU: THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE AND THE WAR AGAINST BIRD FLU.
President Bush went to Congress early this month to ask for $7B to prepare the nation for a possible outbreak of Asian bird flu. The federal government has since become the world's biggest customer for Tamiflu, produced by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Roche. That was good news for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, who doesn't have bird flu. He doesn't have stock in Roche either, but he does have millions of dollars worth of stock in a company named Gilead Sciences, having been Gilead's Chairman prior to joining the Bush administration. Low-profile Gilead Sciences owns the rights to Tamiflu, which it outsources to Roche. There is little evidence that the antiviral drug would help much in a flu pandemic.

A lovely bit of logic

Via Bob Park's "What's New" newsletter of November 4.

This is the final week of the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Board trial in a Harrisburg, PA federal court. Back in August, before the trial was underway, President Bush came down on the side of intelligent design, much to the delight of the religious- right (WN 5 Aug 05) . On Tuesday, however, he announced that he would ask Congress for $7.1 billion to prepare the nation for a worldwide outbreak of flu. It's a hedge against evolution. Although a virulent strain of bird flu has killed at least 62 people in Asia, there have been no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission. The fear is that the H5N1 virus will mutate (evolve) making that possible. Does this mean that Mr. Bush has changed his mind on evolution?

Q.E.D., muthaf*cka.

RIP Rosa Parks, 92

God bless. Enjoy that front-row seat on the bus ride to the happy place.

Rosa's always been personally important to me, as a symbol of the power for change ordinary people can have. Dr. King was already an accomplished minister when he took up the cause of civil rights. Ghandi was university-educated when he was thrown off a train. Rosa? Rosa was a woman who believed in dignity.

"People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day.- … No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."

UPDATE: In her own words, Rosa Parks describes the event in an interview she gave for a Berkeley radio station in 1956.

That's one approach, I suppose

Truth > fiction.

Christian group wants to 'redeem' US states

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Cory Burnell wants to set up a Christian nation within the United States where abortion is illegal, gay marriage is banned, schools cannot teach evolution, children can pray to Jesus in public schools and the Ten Commandments are posted publicly.

To that end, Burnell, 29, left the Republican Party, moved from California and founded Christian Exodus two years ago with the goal of redirecting the United States by "redeeming" one state at a time.

First up for redemption is South Carolina.

Burnell hopes to move 2,500 Christians into the northern part of the state by next year and to persuade tens of thousands to relocate by 2016. His goal is to fill the state legislature with "Christian constitutionalists."

I just wish they had picked New Hampshire, instead, so they could fight it out with the Libertarians.

Yet more on intelligent design ...

... but not something that's likely to give regular readers an aneurism: The ACLU has posted an excellent FAQ on Intelligent Design.

Some excerpts:

Q: How does ID undermine science education?
A: Teaching ID as a so-called “alternative” to evolution would misinform students as to the scientific standing of the theory of evolution and the workings of the scientific method. In addition, it would improperly prepare them for postsecondary science education, placing them at a significant disadvantage to their peers. All scientists and physicians who study such diseases as SARS and AIDS, as well as those who trace how bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics, completely rely on evolutionary theory to understand the phenomena they are examining. We are certain that even ID proponents would prefer to rely on these scientists rather than a scientist who believes that SARS or AIDS was created by intelligent design and can be explained only by intelligent design.

Q: How does ID undermine religious freedom?
A: ID is attempting to insert its particular religious beliefs into science education – as if it were science. By trying to use governments to give the prestigious label of “science” to their controversial theories, they are misleading children and parents. By attempting to elevate a single religious viewpoint over others and situating religion in conflict with science, they are endangering the religious freedom of all Americans. In the words of Theologian John F. Haught, “If a child of mine were attending a biology class where the teacher proposed that students consider ID as an alternative to…evolution I would be offended religiously as well as intellectually.” (Haught, J, rep. App. 3, tab F, at 7.)

Q: What's wrong with the claim that evolution is “just a theory”?
A: Calling evolution “just a theory” is deeply misleading because it confuses the everyday meaning of the word “theory” (a “hunch” or an “opinion.”) with the scientific meaning (requiring an explanation that is testable, grounded in evidence and able to predict natural phenomena better than competing theories). The scientific theory of evolution is one of the most robust theories in modern science. It has been corroborated by hundreds of thousands of independent observerations and has succeeded in predicting natural phenomena in every field of the biological sciences, from paleontology to molecular genetics. No persuasive evidence has been put forward in the last 150 years to contradict the theory of evolution. In the words of Theodosius Dobzhansky, one of the most prominent geneticists of the 20 th century, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution.”

Q: But what about gaps in the theory of evolution that cannot be explained by scientists?
A: Most important scientific theories have gaps that need to be filled, and unanswered questions do not render a theory invalid. Doubters of Galileo's theory of the earth's rotation around the sun asked, why, if the earth is spinning, don't we all fly off it? It took roughly a half-century for Isaac Newton to develop the theory of gravitational pull, which answers this question. A scientific theory is not disqualified simply because it raises new questions; in fact, the ability of a theory to inspire new questions and experiments is a measure of its quality. Furthermore, most of the so-called “unexplainable gaps” pointed out by ID proponents have in fact been answered by scientists. For many years “creationists” argued that there were serious gaps in the “fossil record” and that there was no fossil record of transitional species. During the last twenty years several such transitional species have been found - something that ID people are reluctant to admit -- making the original assertion more and more dubious.

Nice choice for a first veto

From Molly Ivins, via David Gans, whose edit of this essay I confess I stole whole hog:

Sen. John McCain proposed an amendment to the military appropriations bill that would prohibit "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of prisoners in the custody of the U.S. military.

This may strike you as a "goes without saying" proposition -- the amendment passed the Senate 90 to nine. The United States has been signing anti-torture treaties under Democrats and Republicans for at least 50 years. But the Bush administration actually managed to find some weasel words to create a loophole in this longstanding commitment to civilized behavior.

According to the Bushies, if the United States is holding a prisoner on foreign soil, our soldiers can still subject him or her to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment -- the very forms of torture used by the soldiers who were later prosecuted for their conduct at Abu Ghraib. Does this make any sense, moral or common?

So deeply does President Bush feel our country, despite all its treaty commitments, has a right to torture that he has threatened to veto the bill if it passes. This would the first time in five years he has ever vetoed anything. Think about it: Five years of stupefying pork, ideological nonsense, dumb administrative ideas, fiscal idiocy, misbegotten energy programs -- and the first thing the man vetoes is a bill to pay our soldiers because it carries an amendment saying, once again, that this country does not torture prisoners.

That's where we are, folks. What frightens me? That 38% of this country still thinks the man is doing a good job. That's )(#!* terrifying to me.

I knew it would wind up like this, and yet I'm still disappointed

I suppose that's optimistic pessimism.

Liberal Hopes Ebb in Post-Storm Poverty Debate

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 - As Hurricane Katrina put the issue of poverty onto the national agenda, many liberal advocates wondered whether the floods offered a glimmer of opportunity. The issues they most cared about - health care, housing, jobs, race - were suddenly staples of the news, with President Bush pledged to "bold action."

But what looked like a chance to talk up new programs is fast becoming a scramble to save the old ones.

Conservatives have already used the storm for causes of their own, like suspending requirements that federal contractors have affirmative action plans and pay locally prevailing wages. And with federal costs for rebuilding the Gulf Coast estimated at up to $200 billion, Congressional Republican leaders are pushing for spending cuts, with programs like Medicaid and food stamps especially vulnerable.

"We've had a stunning reversal in just a few weeks," said Robert Greenstein, director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal advocacy group in Washington. "We've gone from a situation in which we might have a long-overdue debate on deep poverty to the possibility, perhaps even the likelihood, that low-income people will be asked to bear the costs. I would find it unimaginable if it wasn't actually happening."

Mr. Greenstein's comments were echoed by Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut: "Poor people are going to get the short end of the stick, despite all the public sympathy. That's a great irony."

[ . . . ]

Indeed, even as he was calling for deep spending cuts last week, Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, who leads the conservative caucus, called tax reductions for the prosperous a key to fighting poverty.

Wait... you mean there are other world views? Get out.

Looks like the American Values Tent Revival Tour isn't going exactly to plan. Emphasis mine.

Saudi Women Have Message for U.S. Envoy

JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 27 - The audience - 500 women covered in black at a Saudi university - seemed an ideal place for Karen P. Hughes, a senior Bush administration official charged with spreading the American message in the Muslim world, to make her pitch.

But the response on Tuesday was not what she and her aides expected. When Ms. Hughes expressed the hope here that Saudi women would be able to drive and "fully participate in society" much as they do in her country, many challenged her.

"The general image of the Arab woman is that she isn't happy," one audience member said. "Well, we're all pretty happy." The room, full of students, faculty members and some professionals, resounded with applause.

The administration's efforts to publicize American ideals in the Muslim world have often run into such resistance. For that reason, Ms. Hughes, who is considered one of the administration's most scripted and careful members, was hired specifically for the task.

Many in this region say they resent the American assumption that, given the chance, everyone would live like Americans.

The group of women, picked by the university, represented the privileged elite of this Red Sea coastal city, known as one of the more liberal areas in the country. And while they were certainly friendly toward Ms. Hughes, half a dozen who spoke up took issue with what she said.

Ms. Hughes, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, is on her first trip to the Middle East. She seemed clearly taken aback as the women told her that just because they were not allowed to vote or drive that did not mean they were treated unfairly or imprisoned in their own homes.

[...]

Is it really even worth commenting on this?

Holy crap, even though he was thrown to the wilderness as a scapegoat, he's still staying on message.

Brown blames locals for Katrina response WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former head of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, who resigned under a hail of criticism over the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, blamed local officials on Tuesday and said his agency had done a good job.

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing, by Saturday (before the storm made landfall), that Louisiana was dysfunctional," Michael Brown told a House of Representatives panel looking into the aftermath of the catastrophic storm.

"I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade (Louisiana) Governor (Kathleen) Blanco and (New Orleans) Mayor (Ray) Nagin to sit down, get over their differences and work together," he said. "I just couldn't pull that off." ...

This really explains a lot

A little documentary on Mr. Bush's Speechologist, via the illustrious Magdalen.

He's doing a great job... at what he was hired for.

David Gans pointed out this column in the SF Chronicle:

George W. Bush Still Rocks!
Stop criticizing! The rich man's CEO president is executing his job requirements perfectly

Everyone is slamming poor Dubya. Everyone is saying, oh my God, he's more inept than we ever imagined, he has no idea what's really going on, he's oblivious and in denial and he pretty much let all those poor black people die in filth and misery, and he basically ignored the massive Katrina disaster for days before finally being pressured into cutting his umpteenth vacation short and actually taking action.

[ . . . ]

But it's so unfair, isn't it, to attack poor Dubya like this? Just a little misplaced? After all, Bush has always been the rich white man's president. He is the CEO president, the megacorporate businessman's friend, the thug of the religious right, a big reservoir-tipped condom for all energy magnates, protecting against the nasty STDs of humanitarianism and progress and social responsibility.

He has always been merely an entirely selective figurehead, out of touch and eternally dumbfounded, a hand puppet of the neoconservative machine built and fluffed up and carefully placed for the very specific job of protecting their interests, no matter what. Repeat: No. Matter. What. Flood hurricane disaster war social breakdown economic collapse? Doesn't matter. Corporate interests über alles, baby. Protect the core, reassure the base, screw everyone else unless it begins to affect the poll numbers and then finger-point, deflect, prevaricate. All of a piece, really. Because Bush, he was never actually meant to, you know, lead.

So maybe it's time to stop with the savaging of poor Dubya. He is, after all, doing a simply beautiful job of kowtowing to his wealthiest supporters while slamming the poor and running the nation into a deep hole and creating the largest deficit in American history, all while his cronies in oil and industry and military supply and Big Energy gain immense and staggering wealth and pay less and less tax on it. This is what he was hired to do. This is why he is in office. Hell, the day after Katrina, Bush flew right by Louisiana and headed straight to San Diego to party with his Greatest Generation cronies. Reassure the masters, first and foremost, eh Shrub? Understood.

Piling on

A quick survey of other sites show that this is already well-distributed on the web, but for those of you who read my site and don't read many of the politics blogs, this little image is priceless.

Thanks to RFKJ for sending me this little delight.

Pigs flying part 2

Go media! Don't be distracted by red herrings!

Was FEMA's Brown the fall guy?

WASHINGTON — 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 this week, federal documents 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 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 landfall on Monday, Aug. 29, 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.

[ . . . ]

Flying pigs are skiing in Hell

Bush: 'I take responsibility'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush took responsibility on Tuesday for failures in the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do it's job right, I take responsibility," Bush said. "I want to know what went right and what went wrong."

No, thanks, we don't want help from your kind

The thing that struck me the most about this year's anniversary of 9/11 was that, despite all of my expectations to the contrary, despite all of the Bush administration's... well, let's just summarize and say "the negative image they've projected to the rest of the world", we're seeing a repeat of that brief beautiful moment I wrote about two years ago. Offers of help and financial assistance are pouring in from the rest of the world.

And, unsurprisingly, what's the response from Mr. Bush and his camp?

Katrina aid from Cuba? No thanks, says U.S.

HAVANA — Dr. Luis Sauchay is the kind of hands-on physician you want in an emergency.

Though relatively young at 34, Sauchay has chalked up more than a decade of practicing hardship medicine.

Right out of medical school, he spent two years on the high seas, the only doctor for hundreds of fishermen aboard an industrial vessel.

During two other years, he cared for the sick and forgotten in an understaffed African clinic, treating countless cases of tuberculosis and cholera.

For the last five years, he has been the local family doctor for 200 working-class families in Havana’s Párraga neighborhood.

And after last February’s tsunami, Sauchay joined a Cuban medical brigade to comfort the shell-shocked in Sri Lanka.

So it was no surprise when just a day after Katrina decimated the Gulf Goast that Sauchay volunteered to help victims even though it means leaving his wife alone with their 2-month-old son.

“I can do a lot of good there,” he stressed, “because I have years of experience dealing with this type of catastrophe.”

Sauchay, though, may never get the chance to prove his worth. Despite Bush administration assurances that international aid offers will be kept free of politics, Cold War tensions seem to be freezing out help from Cuba.

(MSNBC via Phoebe's dad)

Yeah.

While I'm here, I'd like to recommend this morning's column from Joe Conason:

The bitter lessons of four years

Standing among the wreckage of two national disasters, it is no longer possible to deny the plain truth: Bush and his administration are unfit to wield power.

(from Salon, watch a brief ad for one day's access)

More in the category of "oh, really?", plus an extra bonus quote

First, something to get your blood pressure up. Wait for the payoff in the final paragraph...

Bush faces new questions on relief

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Rescue crews prepared to speed up the retrieval of the dead from Hurricane Katrina on Friday amid reports that President George W. Bush chose unqualified political supporters rather than disaster experts to head the agency leading the relief effort.

[ . . . ]

The Washington Post reported that five of the top eight FEMA officials had little experience in handling disasters and owed their jobs to their political ties to Bush.

As political operatives took the top jobs, professionals and experts in hurricanes and disasters left the agency, the newspaper said.

FEMA director Michael Brown, already under fire for his performance as the disaster unfolded, came under further pressure when Time magazine reported that his official biography released by the White House at the time of his nomination exaggerated his experience in disaster relief.

Brown was a friend of former Bush campaign director Joe Allbaugh, the previous FEMA head. Brown had also headed an Arabian horse association. Last week, as criticism of his response to the disaster swelled, Bush gave him a public vote of confidence, saying, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Brown's biography on the FEMA Web site said he had once served as an "assistant city manager with emergency services oversight," but Time quoted an official in Edmond, Oklahoma, as saying the job was actually "assistant to the city manager," with little responsibility. The magazine also said Brown padded his academic accomplishments.

"The assistant is more like an intern," city spokeswoman Claudia Deakins told the magazine. "Department heads did not report to him."

And now, something to make you laugh bitterly. From Jon Stewart via Salon:

"Now, for you people who are saying, 'Well, stop pointing fingers at the president ... left-wing ... the media's being too hard.' No. Shut up. No. This is inarguably -- inarguably -- a failure of leadership from the top of the federal government.

"Remember when Bill Clinton went out with Monica Lewinsky? That was inarguably a failure of judgment at the top. Democrats had to come out and risk losing credibility if they did not condemn Bill Clinton for his behavior. I believe Republicans are in the same position right now. And I will say this: Hurricane Katrina is George Bush's Monica Lewinsky. The only difference is this: Tens of thousands of people weren't stranded in Monica Lewinsky's vagina."

Hey, I know, we'll bribe 'em!

I don't even know what to say about this.

Cash handed to hurricane victims

... The Federal Emergency Management Agency, scorched by criticism that it failed to act fast and fully when the storm hit, was handing out $2,000 debit cards to thousands of survivors. At the Houston Astrodome where 16,000 New Orleans evacuees are being housed, long lines formed to collect the cards. ...

Oh, really? What a )(!*# surprise.

Bush resists immediate probe into Katrina response

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, facing demands for an investigation into what went wrong in the initial response to Hurricane Katrina, resisted any immediate probe on Tuesday into what has become the worst U.S. humanitarian crisis ever.

[ . . . ]

Bush, after a Cabinet meeting devoted to the myriad challenges posed in the wake of the crisis, said he wanted to save lives and solve problems before assessing blame.

"I think one of the things that people want us to do is to play a blame game," Bush told reporters. "We've got to solve problems. We're problem solvers. There will be ample time for people to figure out what went right, and what went wrong. What I'm interested (in) is helping save lives."

So much has happened...

... while I've been switching hosts. I think my response to the last several days comes down to these statements, in no particular order:

I don't know who's fundamentally to blame for the lack of response. I don't know what their motivation was, or if (as usual) it was simply compounded incompetance.

I do know that we could have, and in fact have been predicting just this kind of disaster, since before Memphis Minnie and her husband Kansas Joe recorded "When the Levee Breaks" back in 1929.

I don't know if Kanye West is right. But he did manage to provoke discussion.

It may be true that people in New Orleans should have done more for themselves, either by leaving earlier or by taking more initiative to keep their surroundings as tidy as possible under the situation. However, I have never been in their historical, socio-economic, or immediate circumstances, so I can't really say what I would have done in that situation.

Finally, I know that when there is a congressional hearing, Aaron Broussard's raw, bereft interview must be admitted as testimony.

Reposted posts

(Here are the rants I posted while I was in the middle of changing hosts)

A perspective from outside the US
Passed on by an Australian co-worker:

Thirty years ago after Cyclone Tracy, within 36 hours, including Christmas Day, Australia had a flotilla of planes flying aid and equipment in and people out of Darwin. Almost 100,000 people were evacuated to other capital cities within hours and days, not weeks. The evacuation of Darwin was finished in four days, not started. And in contrast to Katrina, the severity of Tracy was largely unexpected.

Even still more cheery information
Mr. Jahrling, ever the bluebird of sunshine, continues to feed me links like this depressingly-titled article from Scientific American: Drowning New Orleans. Nobody could have predicted it, my ASS. That article is from October of 2001. If you don't look at anything else, check out this chilling illustration.

Next, Rove takes fiddle lessons
It just keeps getting better, or worse, depending on your perspective. The greatest natural disaster in modern American history is happening. Bush finally drags himself away from his vacation, and tells people down there not to be naughty looters and to chin up, it's all going to be OK. And instead of walking back and forth with a concerned look in DC or, say, the FEMA offices in Houston, what does Dr. Condi do?

Breaking: Condi Rice Spends Salary on Shoes

What does surprise us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman.

Homeland security, my ass
Well, we're not quite up yet, but I still had to post a link to this article.

Why the Levee Broke
[ . . . ]
New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

[ . . . ]

I'm sure he meant "... on a date!"

I had a long rant written in my head about Pat Robertson calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez... but then I saw DC Simpson's much more eloquent and succinct take on the issue: What would Jesus do?

For accuracy's sake, here's the actual quote:

Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition and a presidential candidate in 1988, said on Monday of Chavez, one of Bush's most vocal critics: "If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it."

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability." He made the comments during his "The 700 Club" television program.

Anyone want to take any bets on how long it'll take the White House to repudiate Robertson's suggestion? Yes, there are spots in the pool for both "a laughably long time" and "never".

The white house press office says "blah blah blah"

OK, it's a cheap shot, but still funny. Thanks for the tip go to Uncle Vinny, who says "Renewal in Iraq, eh?"

What part of this seems reasonable?

OK, maybe it's because of my long, long week (this last leg of Virtual Earth is aging me somethin' fierce), but I just can't see how someone could justify any of this with a straight face.

White House Calls Editing Climate Files Part of Usual Review

Bush administration officials said yesterday that revisions to reports on climate change made by Philip A. Cooney, a former oil-industry lobbyist now working at the White House, were part of the normal review before publishing projects that involved many agencies.

At his morning briefing for reporters, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, defended Mr. Cooney's participation and said the reports were "scientifically sound."

[ . . . ]

The revisions, many of which cast doubt on findings that climate scientists say are robust, prompted strong criticisms of the administration from scientists and environmental groups after they were reported yesterday in The New York Times.

Mr. Cooney, 45, is chief of staff to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which helps shape and carry out the president's environmental policies. A lawyer with no scientific training, he moved to the White House in 2001 after having worked for more than 10 years for the American Petroleum Institute, the oil-industry lobby. His last title there was climate team leader, and his focus was defeating plans to restrict heat-trapping gases.

[ . . . ]

Seriously, now. What the fuck?

Vindication

And now I feel a little less ashame