Search






Jeff's Amazon.com Wish List

Archive Calendar

September 2005
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  

Archives

September 2005

Well, it’s Friday, and I think we could all use a break from Katrina, Jeff. If you know what we mean&#8212

—Well, sorry to disappoint again, but as I told you last week, the little fella headed down to Houston a few days after Katrina hit to entertain the NOLA kiddies who’d been relocated to the Astrodome.  Since then, he’s joined up with the tri-state rescue efforts (after completing a accelerated life saving course in TX)—catching a ride down to Mississippi in the back of a Toyota pickup with a couple

My third brief conversation with the Ghost of Louisiana “Kingfish” Huey Long (updated to excoriate the Corner’s Rod Dreher)

Me: “So, did you hear that the Administration recalled FEMA director Michael Brown?” Long:  “Yeah?  Attaboy, Georgie!  Scapegoat some bureaucratic monkey, then have yourself a nice big plate of pipin’ hot jambalaya.  That’s just the way the ol’ Kingfish woulda done ‘er, too!” **** related:  FOXNews’ Major Garrett, who’s been a steady and honest reporter in a toxic “journalism” stew of hyperbolic, Shep Smith-style grandstanding, is reporting that, despite reports

Sentences you hope never to hear uttered by a member of active duty military, #17

“Uh, sir?  I’m afraid one of our Gibbons is still unaccounted for…” (h/t Craig C)

Katrina Breakdowns, continued.

From UPI: Police from surrounding jurisdictions shut down several access points to one of the only ways out of New Orleans last week, effectively trapping victims of Hurricane Katrina in the flooded and devastated city. An eyewitness account from two San Francisco paramedics posted on an internet site for Emergency Medical Services specialists says, “Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the city on foot.” “We shut

“Political Issues Snarled Plans for Troop Aid”

From The New York Times: As New Orleans descended into chaos last week and Louisiana’s governor asked for 40,000 soldiers, President Bush’s senior advisers debated whether the president should speed the arrival of active-duty troops by seizing control of the hurricane relief mission from the governor. For reasons of practicality and politics, officials at the Justice Department and the Pentagon, and then at the White House, decided not to urge

BREAKING:  FEMA head Michael Brown removed from Katrina relief, recalled to Washington

Revelations over “discrepencies” in Brown’s resume likely gave Bush an excuse to remove the beleagured head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from national firestorm. Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff will announce a new leader for on-the-ground Katrina relief efforts.

The iceberg lettuce post (or, existential outsourcing, 1)

You know, when you stop to think about it, she’s really passing judgment on you…

Pulled Pork

From the Washington Post, “Projects Plentiful in Louisiana”: Before Hurricane Katrina breached a levee on the New Orleans Industrial Canal, the Army Corps of Engineers had already launched a $748 million construction project at that very location. But the project had nothing to do with flood control. The Corps was building a huge new lock for the canal, an effort to accommodate steadily increasing barge traffic. Except that barge traffic

Uh, probably not the time, Tom…

From Roll Call: Citing what he said was a “history” of public corruption in Louisiana and the “abysmal failure” of current state officials to respond to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) on Wednesday urged Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to prevent local politicians from controlling any part of the billions of federal disaster relief dollars slated for the state. Tancredo’s heart is in the right place—I honestly

Retreads

In light of today’s WaPo story, “Judge Orders Berger to Pay $50,000 for Taking Classified Material,” I thought now might be a good time to repost some old material.  From my “blue” period. The Sandy Berger’s Lament poem Were I a marsupial, none of you would care what I stuffed in my pockets.  Instead, you’d love me and pet me and feed me tasty eucalyptus leaves. Still brings a tear