Chief Justice Roberts

Whoop dee doo.

Leadership Failure: Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division : I. Summary

Leadership Failure: Firsthand Accounts of Torture of Iraqi Detainees by the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division : I. Summary: "The torture of detainees reportedly was so widespread and accepted that it became a means of stress relief for soldiers. Soldiers said they felt welcome to come to the PUC tent on their off-hours to “Fuck a PUC” or “Smoke a PUC.” “Fucking a PUC” referred to beating a detainee, while “Smoking a PUC” referred to forced physical exertion sometimes to the point of unconsciousness. The soldiers said that when a detainee had a visible injury such as a broken limb due to “fucking” or “smoking,” an army physician’s assistant would be called to administer an analgesic and fill out the proper paperwork. They said those responsible would state that the detainee was injured during the process of capture and the physician’s assistant would sign off on this. Broken bones occurred “every other week” at FOB Mercury.

“Smoking” was not limited to stress relief but was central to the interrogation system employed by the 82nd Airborne Division at FOB Mercury. Officers and NCOs from the Military Intelligence unit would direct guards to “smoke” the detainees prior to an interrogation, and would direct that certain detainees were not to receive sleep, water, or food beyond crackers. Directed “smoking” would last for the 12-24 hours prior to an interrogation. As one soldier put it: “[the military intelligence officer] said he wanted the PUCs so fatigued, so smoked, so demoralized that they want to cooperate.”

The soldiers believed that about half of the detainees at Camp Mercury were released because they were not involved in the insurgency, but they left with the physical and mental scars of torture. “If he’s a good guy, you know, now he’s a bad guy because of the way we treated him,” one sergeant told Human Rights Watch."

I agree with DCist -- I wish this were a joke.

There is never anything good when the word Segway is involved.DCist: "Feeling that maybe a new, hipper identity would do better in attracting visitors to Fairfax County, tourism officials have announced that the county will now be known as 'fxVA,' writes the Post. Taking after the popular 'NoVA,' the well-known 'OBX,' and other such locale brands, county officials have also unveiled a new slogan ('Fx Marks the Spot') and announced plans for a segway scooter at Tysons Corner Shopping Center to serve as a mobile information booth. We wish this were a joke; we really do."

Bush hitting the bottle? I doubt it, but the National Enquirer says so.

VHeadline.com - US president George W. Bush has fallen off the wagon again! Booze Crisis!: "the wagon again! Booze Crisis!

The National Enquirer (USA) reporters Jennifer Luce and Don Gentle write: Faced with the biggest crisis of his political life, president Bush has hit the bottle again.

Bush, who said he quit drinking the morning after his 40th birthday, has started boozing amid the Katrina catastrophe.

Family sources have told how the 59-year-old president was caught by First Lady Laura downing a shot of booze at their family ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he learned of the hurricane disaster. His worried wife yelled at him: 'Stop, George.'

Following the shocking incident, disclosed here for the first time, Laura privately warned her husband against 'falling off the wagon' and vowed to travel with him more often so that she can keep an eye on Dubya, the sources add.

'When the levees broke in New Orleans, it apparently made him reach for a shot,' said one insider. 'He poured himself a Texas-sized shot of straight whiskey and tossed it back. The First Lady was shocked and shouted: 'Stop George!'"

The Rude Pundit: "So let's stop playing these stupid fucking games of 'Is-he-really-a-moderate?' The Bush White House knows exactly what Roberts will do, on every goddamn case that makes it to the Supreme Court. Or else they wouldn't have nominated him. This adminstration micromanages every fuckin' message that it's associated with. And you can bet they've got photos of Roberts in his Peppermint Patty outfit going down on the male classmate who played Snoopy or some such shit as insurance that Roberts will play nicely.

As for the Democrats who are deciding how to vote on Roberts, howzabout this advice: is there a reason to vote for him? So often, when Bush nominates someone, the Democrats are put in the position of having to find out where Alberto Gonzales buried his hobos, to try to come up with reasons not to vote someone into a position. But this ain't the cabinet. Roberts may be the grand glorious bench-sittin' fucker in the nation; he may be the shit and a half as a lawyer. But Roberts ain't up for assistant manager at McDonald's. How fast he can dish out the fries doesn't make a bit of difference. This is for the biggest motherfucker on the biggest motherfuckin' court in the land, so perhaps the standards oughta be higher than, 'Well, shit, he didn't give us any reason to say no.' No, see, the standard here is 'Did he give me a reason to say 'yes'?'
"

Just when you think they can't get dumber, they do.

The Many Faces of Dr. Coburn: "On the first day of hearings on Judge John G. Roberts Jr.'s nomination to Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, before a Russell Senate Office Building Caucus Room overflowing with members of the media and Congressional staffers, with klieg lights shining and flashbulbs popping all around, and with seventeen other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee arrayed beside him, Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn busied himself with a crossword puzzle.

On April 7, five months prior to this hearing, Michael Schwartz, Coburn's chief of staff, told me, 'Tom doesn't know anything about this judiciary stuff, so I'm feeding him piles and piles of memos every day.' Though Schwartz didn't specify the nature of his memos to Coburn, I assumed they were made up of primers on legal jargon and history, not word games, puzzles or other such brainteasers.

I met Schwartz outside a downtown Washington hotel, where a gathering of Christian-right activists called 'Confronting the Judicial War on Faith' was taking place. In a speech earlier that day, Schwartz told conference attendees he favored 'the mass impeachment of judges' and denounced the Supreme Court for giving Americans 'the right to commit buggery.' Later, while a think tank researcher and I accompanied him to the Dupont Circle subway station, coincidentally located in the heart of one of America's most vibrant gay neighborhoods, Schwartz held forth with his vision for the judiciary."

John Roberts -- Weasel

Confirmation Report - Oh, the humanity! By Dahlia Lithwick: "Senate Democrats have had it up to here with 'John Roberts the lawyer.' And it's hard to blame them. John Roberts the lawyer won't answer any questions. At least, as the sole arbiter of what questions he'll answer, he's doing a rather phenomenal job of broadly defining great classes of questions as unanswerable:

* He won't answer questions about any case currently pending before the Supreme Court (abortion, right-to-die);
* He won't answer questions about any case that might someday conceivably be pending before the Supreme Court (separation of powers, contested presidential elections);
* He won't answer questions he's decided on the court of appeals (since they may someday conceivably be pending before the Supreme Court);
* He won't answer questions about prior nominees (Robert Bork) because that is not appropriate;
* He can't answer questions about general legal doctrine because they are too general;
* He can't answer questions about specific legal doctrine because they are too specific;
* He can't answer questions about his early memos because a robot wrote them."

He's the last real man, and he's Australian.

The Australian: Strewth: Latham off the lead [September 14, 2005]: "DEDICATION to one's life calling is generally a noble cause, but we can't help wondering if South Australian footballer Brett Backwell is taking things too far. Backwell, who plays for Glenelg in the South Australian National Football League, broke the ring finger on his left hand three years ago. Since then he has been in constant pain and has suffered from restricted movement that has hampered his beloved game. Yesterday he announced that, after consultation with medical specialists, he has decided to have the offending finger amputated to improve his playing prospects. 'I love my footy and love playing sport, and if that's going to help me succeed at this level then it's something you've just got to do,' the 24-year-old said."

I am surprised.

Salon.com Wire Story: "Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown said Monday he has resigned 'in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president,' three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

'The focus has got to be on FEMA, what the people are trying to do down there,' Brown told The Associated Press."

How Bush Blew It - Newsweek Hurricane Katrina Coverage - MSNBC.com

How Bush Blew It - Newsweek Hurricane Katrina Coverage - MSNBC.com: "President Bush knew the storm and its consequences had been bad; but he didn't quite realize how bad.

The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.

How this could be—how the president of the United States could have even less 'situational awareness,' as they say in the military, than the average American about the worst natural disaster in a century—is one of the more perplexing and troubling chapters in a story that, despite moments of heroism and acts of great generosity, ranks as a national disgrace.

President George W. Bush has always trusted his gut. He prides himself in ignoring the distracting chatter, the caterwauling of the media elites, the Washington political buzz machine. He has boasted that he doesn't read the papers. His doggedness is often admirable. It is easy for presidents to overreact to the noise around them.

But it is not clear what President Bush does read or watch, aside from the occasional biography and an hour or two of ESPN here and there. Bush can be petulant about dissent; he equates disagreement with disloyalty. After five years in office, he is surrounded largely by people who agree with him. Bush can ask tough questions, but it's mostly a one-way street. Most presidents keep a devil's advocate around. Lyndon Johnson had George Ball on Vietnam; President Ronald Reagan and Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, grudgingly listened to the arguments of Budget Director Richard Darman, who told them what they didn't wish to hear: that they would have to raise taxes. When Hurricane Katrina struck, it appears there was no one to tell President Bush the plain truth: that the state and local governments had been overwhelmed, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was not up to the job and that the military, the only institution with the resources to cope, couldn't act without a declaration from the president overriding all other authority."

Juan Cole on where we are four years after 9/11

Informed Comment: "On top of the failures in the fight against al-Qaeda and the quagmire in Iraq, the US suffered a major blow with Hurricane Katrina and the Great Flood of 2005 in New Orleans (or what used to be New Orleans). The blow was not primarily to the US economy, which is resilient and enormous ($13 trillion?), and which will recoup-- though the economic recovery may slow. The blow was psychological and political. The abysmal job that Bush and Co. did in responding to the disaster, which cost so many lives, will not soon be forgotten. What, many security experts are asking, if this had been a terrorist strike? Unpreparedness of this epochal sort could sink the government.

Bush has given us the worst of all possible worlds-- a half-finished job against al-Qaeda, an Iraqi imbroglio that could still explode into civil or even regional war-- and which serves as an al-Qaeda recruiting tool--, a government starved for funds, an enormous windfall for the rich at the expense of the middle class (which saw average wages actually fall recently), and an inability to respond effectively to a major urban catastrophe.

Four years after September 11, al-Qaeda's leadership should have been behind bars or dead. Four years after September 11, Afghanistan should have been stabilized. Four years after September 11, the government should have been ready to save lives in an urban disaster.

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

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

Four years.

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

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

James Carroll on the truths laid bare by Katrina.

Katrina's truths - The Boston Globe: "Hurricane Katrina was more than a natural disaster. It was a political epiphany, laying bare difficult truths from which, mainly, the United States has been in flight. Most obviously, the flooding of the cities and towns along the Gulf Coast has pulled a curtain back on a huge population of desperately impoverished people. The ''other' America, as Michael Harrington called it a generation ago, has shown itself as hardly ever before. The wealthiest nation on earth has its hidden legion of have-nots, and all at once the rest of us saw them. The scandal of rank poverty was exposed, and if beholding it was like seeing something indecent, that's because such poverty in this nation is exactly that -- indecent.

At the same time, the abstraction of ''poverty' has been made concrete. Face after anguished face appeared on television to tell us, This is what it is like to live with absolutely no margin of safety or comfort. There was dignity in those faces, at times nobility. Mostly, though, there was pain. Diabetics without insulin, babies without diapers, evacuees with no mode of transport, urban hospital workers entirely without backup. America has its river of refugees now, tens of thousands of people who, herded into sports palaces-turned-charnel-houses, are alike in having nothing to return to.

The spectacle of failure, how for days the government was powerless to help such people, only put on display how government was already failing them and everyone else. Here was Katrina's second main epiphany -- what it means that the United States, after a generation of tax-cutting and downsizing, has eviscerated the public sector's capacity for supporting the common good. The neglect of civic infrastructure, the destruction of social services, the abandonment of the safety net, the myth of ''privatization,' the perverse idea, dating to the Reagan era, that government is the enemy: It all adds up to what we saw last week -- government not as the enemy, but as the incompetent, impotent bystander. The bystander-in-chief, of course, is George W. Bush, whose whining self-obsession perfectly embodies what America has done to itself.

"

Once a douchebbag, always a douchebag.

Man Convicted in '64 Case and Out on Bail Is Rejailed - New York Times: "A judge sent Edgar Ray Killen, the former Klansman convicted of the 1964 killing of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, back to prison yesterday, saying Mr. Killen had deceived the court about his health when he asked to be released on bond.

The hearing was called after Mr. Killen, who was granted bail after testifying that he was confined to a wheelchair, was seen up and walking by sheriff's deputies.

'That's incredible to me,' the judge, Marcus Gordon, said. 'I feel fraud has been committed on this court.'

'Without the testimony of the defendant's poor physical condition,' Judge Marcus's written order said, 'the court finds that the defendant has failed to show by clear and convincing evidence that he is not a danger to the community'"

Someone in the Bush Administration finally gets fired for incompetence.

Now the only people left are Donald Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, Michael Chertoff...

FEMA chief relieved of Katrina duties - Hurricane Katrina - MSNBC.com: "Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being removed from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, government sources said Friday.

Government sources disclosed the move but spoke on condition of anonymity because the change hadn't been officially announced. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff was expected to announce the change at a 1:45 p.m. ET news conference.

Brown will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who earlier this week was named his deputy to oversee relief and rescue efforts."

This can't be good news for us single men.

Reproduction without sperm.

Salon.com Wire Story: "Britain has granted permission to scientists to create a human embryo with genetic material from two mothers, officials said."

White Foragers Report Threat Of Black Looters

God Outdoes Terrorists Yet Again | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "White Foragers Report Threat Of Black Looters

NEW ORLEANS—Throughout the Gulf Coast, Caucasian suburbanites attempting to gather food and drink in the shattered wreckage of shopping districts have reported seeing African?Americans 'looting snacks and beer from damaged businesses.' 'I was in the abandoned Wal-Mart gathering an air mattress so I could float out the potato chips, beef jerky, and Budweiser I'd managed to find,' said white survivor Lars Wrightson, who had carefully selected foodstuffs whose salt and alcohol content provide protection against contamination. 'Then I look up, and I see a whole family of [African-Americans] going straight for the booze. Hell, you could see they had already looted a fortune in diapers.' Radio stations still in operation are advising store owners and white people in the affected areas to locate firearms in sporting-goods stores in order to protect themselves against marauding blacks looting gun shops."

Dispatch From New Orleans - The people who won't evacuate. By Josh Levin

Dispatch From New Orleans - The people who won't evacuate. By Josh Levin: "On Napoleon a few blocks north of the bar Tipitina's, I find a normal New Orleans scene: five guys, several shirtless, drinking cold beers on the porch. In the shade next to the neighbor's house, there are enough bottles of liquor and mixers—Maker's Mark, Crown Royal, pineapple juice, Dr. Pepper—to keep the party going for at least a few more days.

Kirby Gee, who owns the house, works as a bartender at Miss Mae's down the street. He says the bar did pretty good business even through last Wednesday—the cops kept them in shotgun shells as long as they kept pouring drinks. Gee says the police taught everyone around here how to loot. They were the first to bust into the grocery store down the street and the Wal-Mart a mile or so up the road. He also says they took to breaking into car lots in the days after the storm and driving off with brand-new Escalades. I'm not sure whether to believe him, until a cop car drives buy towing what looks like a mint-condition Corvette Stingray. 'And these are the people telling us to evacuate,' says one of the porch dwellers. Every time a Humvee rolls by, a few of the guys make sure to flash the peace sign."

Looming Bankruptcy Law May Hurt Victims of Hurricane

Looming Bankruptcy Law May Hurt Victims of Hurricane: "The new bankruptcy law that goes into effect Oct. 17 could compound problems for people whose lives have been disrupted by Hurricane Katrina.

The new law will make it harder and more expensive for people to completely wipe out their debts, and consumer groups that oppose the law say it couldn't come at a worse time for Katrina victims. For one thing, they note, many will be unable to provide the paperwork -- tax statements, pay stubs and six months of income and expense data -- required by the new law. Nor will they have the time to attend mandatory credit-counseling courses.


Those groups are pushing Congress to delay the law's implementation date or change the law to guarantee that Katrina's victims will be able to get relief from their bills.

"

All right, California.

California Legislature Approves Gay Marriage: "The California Assembly voted Tuesday to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, making the state's legislature the first in the nation to deliberately approve same-sex marriages and handing a political hot potato to an already beleaguered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).

After a vehement floor debate in which legislators quoted the Pledge of Allegiance and accused each other of abusing moral principles, the state Assembly passed the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which recasts the definition of marriage as between 'two persons,' not between a man and a woman. The state Senate passed the bill last week."

Print Story: Bob Denver, TV's Gilligan, Dead at 70 on Yahoo! News

Print Story: Bob Denver, TV's Gilligan, Dead at 70 on Yahoo! News: "Bob Denver, whose portrayal of goofy first mate Gilligan on the 1960s television show 'Gilligan's Island,' made him an iconic figure to generations of TV viewers, has died, his agent confirmed Tuesday. He was 70.

Denver, who underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery earlier this year, died at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina, according to agent Mike Eisenstadt. Denver's death was first reported by 'Entertainment Tonight.'"

Proof that there is no God, and no decency.

CNN Programs - Larry King Live: "Hurricane survivors share their emotional stories of loss and survival with Dr. Phil. Plus, the latest on relief efforts. Tune in at 9 p.m. ET. "

What a horrible human being Barbara Bush is.

Barbara Bush: Things Working Out 'Very Well' for Poor Evacuees from New Orleans: "
She was part of a group in Houston today at the
Astrodome that included her husband and former
President Bill Clinton, who were chosen by her son,
the current president, to head fundraising efforts for
the recovery. Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack
Obama were also present.

In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of
evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: 'Almost
everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to
Houston.'

Then she added: 'What I’m hearing which is sort of
scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is
so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

'And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them.' "

Wow

Salon.com Wire Story: "Louisiana's largest newspaper is lashing out at the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

In an open letter to President Bush, the Times-Picayune is calling for every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be fired -- especially director Michael Brown.

The editorial says 'We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry.'

The newspaper goes on to say 'Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame.'

The letter says 'No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced.'"

Things are going well in Iraq, too.

Insurgents Seize Key Town in Iraq: "Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led Al Qaeda in Iraq took open control of a key western town at the Syrian border, deploying its guerrilla fighters in the streets and flying Zarqawi's black banner from rooftops, tribal leaders and other residents in the city and surrounding villages said.

A sign newly posted at the entrance of Qaim declared, 'Welcome to the Islamic Kingdom of Qaim.' A statement posted in mosques described Qaim as an 'Islamic kingdom liberated from the occupation.'

Zarqawi's fighters were killing officials and civilians seen as government-allied or anti-Islamic, witnesses, residents and others said. On Sunday, the bullet-riddled body of a woman lay in a street of Qaim. A sign left on her corpse declared, 'A prostitute who was punished.'

Zarqawi's fighters had shot to death nine men in public executions in the city center since the weekend, accusing the men of being spies and collaborators for U.S. forces, said Sheikh Nawaf Mahallawi, a leader of a Sunni Arab tribe, the Albu Mahal, that had battled the foreign fighters."

Holy shit!

Bush Nominates Roberts as Chief Justice: "President Bush announced this morning that he will nominate John G. Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States."

Tim Wise: a God with Whom I am not Familiar

Tim Wise: a God with Whom I am not Familiar: "This is an open letter to the man sitting behind me at La Paz today, in Nashville, at lunchtime, with the Brooks Brothers shirt:

You don't know me. But I know you.

I watched you as you held hands with your tablemates at the restaurant where we both ate this afternoon. I listened as you prayed, and thanked God for the food you were about to eat, and for your own safety, several hundred miles away from the unfolding catastrophe in New Orleans.

You blessed your chimichanga in the name of Jesus Christ, and then proceeded to spend the better part of your meal--and mine, since I was too near your table to avoid hearing every word--morally scolding the people of that devastated city, heaping scorn on them for not heeding the warnings to leave before disaster struck. Then you attacked them--all of them, without distinction it seemed--for the behavior of a relative handful: those who have looted items like guns, or big screen TVs.

I heard you ask, amid the din of your colleagues 'Amens,' why it was that instead of pitching in to help their fellow Americans, the people of New Orleans instead--again, all of them in your mind--chose to steal and shoot at relief helicopters.

I watched you wipe salsa from the corners of your mouth, as you nodded agreement to the statement of one of your friends, sitting to your right, her hair neatly coiffed, her makeup flawless, her jewelry sparkling. When you asked, rhetorically, why it was that people were so much more decent amid the tragedy of 9-11, as compared to the aftermath of Katrina, she had offered her response, but only after apologizing for what she admitted was going to sound harsh.

'Well,' Buffy explained. 'It's probably because in New Orleans, it seems to be mostly poor people, and you know, they just don't have the same regard.'

She then added that police should shoot the looters, and should have done so from the beginning, so as to send a message to the rest that theft would not be tolerated. You, who had just thanked Jesus for your chips and guacamole, said you agreed. They should be shot. Praise the Lord.

Your God is one with whom I am not familiar."

The hollowness at the heart of America.

CounterPunch: "America's Best Political Newsletter": "We're at that point here. Malthus, a Christian, proposed locating the surplus poor next to unhealthy marshes, in the hope they would get sick and die. How much of a difference is there between that and the 'emergency preparedness' and evacuation procedures before, during and after Katrina? How did Washington perceive New Orleans and most of the Gulf coast? Basically as a vast huddle of the mostly poor and the mostly black. So, year after year, they denied funds to shore up levees that all experts agree are bound to give way in more than a Force Three storm. They hollowed out every state economy so that in the end Mississippi's tax base was its cut of the gambling take, from floating casinos because the Christians said the Devil's Work couldn't take place on dry land.

Mainstream politics in America has ceased to deliver the goods in anything but the meanest terms. The bigger the hog, the bigger the bucket of slops. There's no worthwhile opposition at the established level. Generally I think people are looking at the scenes along the Gulf coast and in the Delta with horror, at the realization of what our society has come to."

German cleric asks God to protect His victims.

This should be about as effective as what FEMA's been doing.

Salon.com Wire Story: "Pope Benedict XI offered his prayers Sunday to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and his blessings to those helping in the recovery.

'These days we are all pained by the disaster caused by the hurricane in the United States of America,' Benedict XVI said, delivering his traditional Sunday blessing from his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills south of Rome. "

What the fuck is going on?

There's a Navy vessel stationed off New Orleans with hospital beds, food, electricity and able-bodied sailors and marines, and no one has asked them to do anything?
And I thought there wasn't anything that could be more screwed up than the occupation of Iraq. (link via Americablog)

Chicago Tribune | Navy ship nearby underused: "The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day. And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came roaring ashore.

The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore, awaiting relief orders. Helicopter pilots flying from its deck were some of the first to begin plucking stranded New Orleans residents.

But now the Bataan's hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty. A good share of its 1,200 sailors could also go ashore to help with the relief effort, but they haven't been asked. The Bataan has been in the stricken region the longest of any military unit, but federal authorities have yet to fully utilize the ship.

Captain ready, waiting

'Could we do more?' said Capt. Nora Tyson, commander of the Bataan. 'Sure. I've got sailors who could be on the beach plucking through garbage or distributing water and food and stuff. But I can't force myself on people.

'We're doing everything we can to contribute right now, and we're ready. If someone says you need to take on people, we're ready. If they say hospitals on the beach can't handle it ... if they need to send the overflow out here, we're ready. We've got lots of room.'"

Maureen Dowd on the Boy King

United States of Shame - New York Times: "Shirt-sleeves rolled up, W. finally landed in Hell yesterday and chuckled about his wild boozing days in 'the great city' of N'Awlins. He was clearly moved. 'You know, I'm going to fly out of here in a minute,' he said on the runway at the New Orleans International Airport, 'but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what I've seen.' Out of the cameras' range, and avoided by W., was a convoy of thousands of sick and dying people, some sprawled on the floor or dumped on baggage carousels at a makeshift M*A*S*H unit inside the terminal.

Why does this self-styled 'can do' president always lapse into such lame 'who could have known?' excuses.

Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.

Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports.

Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl."

I can't believe anybody voted for this guy.

From the transcript of Bush's remarks this afternoon (via Wonkette) -- here's just a little thing. He used his nickname for FEMA Head/Incompetent Hack Michael D. Brown.

Wonkette - george w. bush: "Again, I want to thank you all for -- and, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The FEMA Director is working 24 -- (applause) -- they're working 24 hours a day."

No, they're not doing a great job, and you can hear the smirk.

Beer and Music for Katrina Relief

From the Washington Post

Brickskeller and R.F.D. Red Cross Fundraiser
Through Sept. 30, 5 percent of all draft beer sales at the Brickskeller and R.F.D. will be donated to the Red Cross, and the owners will match those totals.

The Brickskeller (Dupont Circle) and RFD (Gallery Place/Chinatown) have truly amazing beer selections.

The Grandsons
At the Iota show on Sept. 2, the band will accept Red Cross donations to aid hurricane relief and will play extra New Orleans tunes at the show. A recent band e-mail says the musicians also "hope to share some New Orleans stories and hear some of yours."

Donating to Katrina relief.

I want to contribute, but I'm suspicious of most religious organizations, and I figure the Red Cross gets enough publicity.

I've contributed to Mercy Corps. I'm also going to donate to the United Jewish Appeal Katrina Humanitarian Relief Fund -- it's safe to donate to the UJA, because Jews don't proselytize. Similarly, I would give to the American Friends Service Committee -- those Quakers really know how to do good.

If anybody actually reads this, I'm going to try and post anything I know about fundraisers in DC -- especially if they are beer-oriented.

I know that there will be a fundraiser next Wednesday at Domku in Petworth.

Here's what my bestest friend Joel says on his website

September 7: Margie Perez & the Part-Time Goddess Band!
NEW ORLEANS RESCUE BENEFIT : Our dear Marge moved to the Crescent City last year, and her basement apartment was just turned into an aquarium by that bitch Katrina... Trooper that she is, Marge is turning her Domku show into a fund-raiser to help her fellow Nawlinsers recover from the storm and flood.

Margie is an amazing person and performer. See you there.

Michael Moore at his acid best.

Welcome to MichaelMoore.com!: "There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit."

Some in the media finally grow a pair.

Evidently Anderson Cooper has joined the reality-based world. Here's part of what he said to Mary Landrieu (a Democrat) after she just praised the Prez.

Think Progress -- Cooper to Landrieu: Americans Want Answers: "Senator, IÂ?m sorryÂ? for the last four days, I have been seeing dead bodies here in the streets of Mississippi and to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other Â? I have to tell you, there are people here who are very upset and angry, and when they hear politicians thanking one another, it just, you know, it cuts them the wrong way right now, because there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman has been laying in the street for 48 hours, and there is not enough facilities to get her up. Do you understand that anger?"

Now is not the time to suck up to Bush. Now is the time to insist taht he, for the first time since he became President, actually do something competently.

What the Fuck is wrong with people?

Here are results of a recent Pew Center poll on religion in American life.

Summary of Findings: Religion A Strength And Weakness For Both Parties: "The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, conducted July 7-17 among 2,000 adults, also finds deep religious and political differences over questions relating to evolution and the origins of life. Overall, about half the public (48%) says that humans and other living things have evolved over time, while 42% say that living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. Fully 70% of white evangelical Protestants say that life has existed in its present form since the beginning of time; fewer than half as many white mainline Protestants (32%) and white Catholics (31%) agree.

Despite these fundamental differences, most Americans (64%) say they are open to the idea of teaching creationism along with evolution in the public schools, and a substantial minority (38%) favors replacing evolution with creationism in public school curricula. While much of this support comes from religious conservatives, these ideas -- particularly the idea of teaching both perspectives -- have a broader appeal. Even many who are politically liberal and who believe in evolution favor expanding the scope of public school education to include teaching creationism. But an analysis of the poll also reveals that there are considerable inconsistencies between people's beliefs and what they want taught in the schools, suggesting some confusion about the meaning of terms such as 'creationism' and 'evolution.' "

Darwin published Origin of the Species in 1859, and still it's a matter of controversy in these United States.

No wonder we are such a fucked up country.