the wisdom of herr rumsfeld

...if they [(the American people)] constantly see something that they begin to learn wasn't the case, not a single fact because nobody's perfect, but in the aggregate if they're getting one impression from traditional channels and they're getting another impression from the people who are on the ground, they then will begin having a lesser opinion of the people that are getting the impression that they have concluded is not correct. And to the extent they get a poorer impression of those people and what they do, they will end up believing them less, they will have less credibility, and over time it sorts out.

-Donald Rumsfeld, 10/11/05 (he was speaking of the MSM, but what the hell)

don't let the shit-eating grin fool you

A mug shot's a mug shot.

sanity

via AP:

Cornell University Interim President Hunter Rawlings III on Friday condemned the teaching of intelligent design as science, calling it "a religious belief masquerading as a secular idea."

"Intelligent design is not valid science," Rawlings told nearly 700 trustees, faculty and other school officials attending Cornell's annual board meeting.

"It has no ability to develop new knowledge through hypothesis testing, modification of the original theory based on experimental results and renewed testing through more refined experiments that yield still more refinements and insights," Rawlings said.

Rawlings, Cornell's president from 1995 to 2003, is now serving as interim president in the wake of this summer's sudden departure of former Cornell president Jeffrey Lehman.
...
Many Americans, including some supporters of evolution, believe intelligent design should be taught with evolution. Rawlings said a large minority of Americans — nearly 40 percent — want creationism taught in public schools instead of evolution.

For those reasons, Rawlings said he felt it "imperative" to use his state-of-the-university address — usually a recitation of the school's progress over the last year — to speak out against intelligent design, which he said has "put rational thought under attack."

[emphasis mine.]

can't have davis-bacon cutting into halliburton's profits

Illegal workers allegedly hired for recovery work at naval base
06:32 AM CDT on Friday, October 21, 2005
Cain Burdeau / Associated Press

Immigration agents detained a large number of illegal immigrants working for a Halliburton subcontractor hired to do Hurricane Katrina recovery work, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's office said on Thursday.

The workers -- numbering possibly more than 100 -- were involved in setting up a tent city at a Navy base just outside New Orleans when they were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Wednesday, according to Landrieu's office.

Landrieu's office claimed that the alleged illegal workers were employed by BE&K. The Birmingham, Ala.-based subcontractor acknowledged that immigration officials descended on its work site, but said none of its employees were detained. Susan Wasley, a BE&K spokeswoman, said that about 136 workers from a different company on the project were detained. She would not name the other company.

What do you want to bet it's a wholly-owned subsidiary?

She added that all BE&K's workers have valid work documents and that only about three of the 150 workers at the Navy base are green-card holders.

BE&K was awarded the work by Halliburton, which won contracts after Katrina to repair several military bases in the hard-hit Gulf Coast region, said Adam Sharp, a Landrieu spokesman.

"It is a downright shame that any contractor would use this tragedy as an opportunity to line his pockets by breaking the law and hiring a low-skilled, low-wage and undocumented work force," Landrieu said in a statement.

The Democratic senator sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Tuesday urging him to investigate allegations that the use of illegal workers was becoming "chronic" in rebuilding of the Gulf Coast region.
...
Allegations that illegal workers might be employed at the Navy base surfaced during congressional testimony given by Louisiana electrical contractors with Knight Enterprises who said they were hired by BE&K to build a 7,500-person tent city at the base.

Al Knight, the general manager of Knight Enterprises, testified that his 75 workers were fired after they trained the low-wage, out-of-state BE&K workers. BE&K denies that allegation, Wasley said.

[emphasis mine.]

just as soon as you give up that bridge, don

what Atrios sez:

Congressman Moron

There isn't necessarily anything wrong with selling disaster relief bonds but what a stupid argument for doing so:

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - The federal government could sell bonds to cover the cost of disaster recoveries under legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska.

Young introduced the bill Tuesday and spoke in favor it on the floor of the House of Representatives.

"When a natural disaster, be it a hurricane, earthquake, tornado or flood, hits a particular region or state, the rest of us can often feel disconnected because it's happening to 'them' and not 'us,'" Young said.

"Buying bonds that are specifically designated for these types of disasters can help bring together Americans and create a sense of patriotism."

America has averaged 31 major federal disaster declarations annually for the past 50 years, Young said.

"We must find a way to meet the inevitable needs that will arise after future disasters," he said. "We cannot continue deficit spending."

oy. so stupid my head hurt.

and yet more bigotry

St. John officials balk at evacuee housing
Unrelenting resident opposition kills plan
Thursday, October 20, 2005
By Allen Powell II

Logo* of First Baptist Church, LaPlace

Fierce objections by neighbors has led the St. John the Baptist Parish Planning and Zoning Commission to reject the first concrete proposal for housing large numbers of displaced Hurricane Katrina victims in the parish.

If approved, a park in LaPlace would have housed the first large concentration of FEMA trailers in the parish. The parish has been allowing individual trailers to be placed on homeowners' lots through an executive order by parish President Nickie Monica.

On a unanimous vote with two of its nine members absent, the planning commission denied a zoning change that would have permitted more than 30 travel trailers in a mobile home community along West Fifth Street.
...
However, neighbors complained to the commission that the trailers issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency would attract riffraff.
....
The commission's decision was met with resounding applause from opponents, who said they feared increased crime, traffic and immorality. Opponents also said that the existing mobile home community is not compatible with the neighborhood.

Edwin Duhe Jr., 44, of LaPlace, said his neighborhood is home to many retired residents who are uncomfortable with the idea of residents from New Orleans' inner city being housed in large numbers near their homes. They are worried that the new trailers will bring increased drug activity.

Why doesn't he just come out and say he's afraid of black people?

Several residents at the meeting called the trailers an unfair burden.

"I kind of have to stand up for the older citizens of my community who cannot move quickly toward these things," said Duhe, who added that there needs to be better planning before communities are considered for FEMA trailers.

I continue to be amazed by the number of white Christian folk who trumpet their brave pioneer stock, their strength and fortitude ... and then refuse to show compassion out of fear.

*I may have added some text.

dirty minds

I'm a parent. We have, at different times, lived downstairs from child murderer Joseph Kondro (he was arrested after we moved out), and two blocks from a houseful of registered sex offenders. And yet I still do not understand why, the instant a bunch of displaced New Orleanians move into the neighborhood, the local sheriff feels duty-bound to start sniffing around for convicts and sex offenders:

BATON ROUGE -- The sheriff's office here wants a list of all residents of the recently established trailer park set up north of Baton Rouge by federal authorities as temporary housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency says that would be against it's policy.
...
Signed by Col. Greg Phares of the sheriff's office, the letter states that the park residents have no "significant expectation of privacy" because, like federal employees, the residents receive federal funds...

So, I presume if his sainted mother receives social security and medicare, she has no "significant expectation of privacy" either?

"We want to make sure we don't have convicted felons or sex offenders or parole violation people there," Raiford said.

FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said his understanding was that the sheriff's office wanted to use the resident list to compare to a list of known sex offenders. He said FEMA would be willing to get a list of sex offenders from the sheriff's office, compare the list to the FEMA database of residents and turn over anyone on the list.

"We will work with them," McIntyre said.

But FEMA has no plans to turn over an entire list of residents for anyone's perusal, he said.

"That's an invasion of privacy," said McIntyre.

I never thought I'd say it, but: Good for FEMA.

pigs at the trough, part iii

From AP:

When Hurricane Katrina struck, Ashbritt Inc. was well-positioned to take advantage of the torrent of government dollars that followed. The Pompano Beach, Fla., firm had spent years cultivating its relationship with the federal government, contributing tens of thousands of dollars to the Republican Party and, more recently, hiring a powerful firm to lobby the Army Corps of Engineers on "disaster mitigation."

After Katrina hit, Ashbritt was given the largest award to date -- a deal worth up to $1.1 billion from the Corps for debris removal.

It is a story of government ties that is repeated time and again for the winners of the 10 largest Katrina contracts, according to an Associated Press review. At least four of those contracts are now being reviewed for possible waste and abuse.

All 10 companies are located outside the affected Gulf Coast region, most are politically active and most got the work after a limited bidding process.
...
FEMA also has pledged to rebid four contracts worth $100 million each to politically connected firms -- Shaw Group Inc., Bechtel Corp., CH2M Hill Inc. and Fluor Corp. -- that were awarded with little or no competition. Priority will be given to small and minority-owned businesses.

But the winners of even larger Katrina deals -- those valued at $170 million or more -- will not have to rebid or renegotiate. Most of the companies had done previous work for the government, either with earlier hurricanes or in Iraq, and those existing relationships were key to winning new deals.
...
Some of the deals:

--A $521.4 million contract to Gulf Stream Coach of Nappanee, Ind., for travel trailers to house evacuees. Since 2000, company founder James F. Shea and his family have contributed more than $20,000 to GOP candidates, including President Bush and Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Administration Committee.

That would be this Bob Ney: "The complaint against Rep. Ney is based on his conduct with regard to the Tigua Indians of El Paso, Texas, a tribe represented by lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is known to be close to Ney," Sloan said today. "The complaint is based on e-mails made public by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, sworn testimony before the Indian Affairs Committee, tax records, and Mr. Ney's campaign committee and political action committee Federal Election Commission filings."

--A no-bid modification to an existing contract with Landstar Express America Inc. for about $300 million worth of trucking services. Company chairman Jeffrey Crowe recently headed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose political action committee regularly contributes to the GOP.

In a preliminary review, government auditors this week found that the Transportation Department approved payments on the Landstar contract without issuing written orders or otherwise recording them in ways to allow adequate oversight.

--A $236 million rush order with Carnival Cruise Lines for six months of temporary housing. The Miami company or its executives have contributed more than $200,000 each to both the Republican and Democratic parties since 2000.
...
Still, FEMA and the Army Corps have declined to rebid more than the four construction contracts. "A lot of the contracts that were previously awarded without competition are completed or are beyond the point where it would be economically feasible to re-compete," said Larry Orluskie, spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, which oversees FEMA.

Watchdog groups such as Taxpayers for Common Sense say one contract that should be rebid is Ashbritt's. The company, which did about $56.7 million in initial Katrina work based on an existing contract, won a $500 million deal for debris removal with an option for $500 million in additional work based on an expedited, open-bid process.

Since 2000, company executive Randal Perkins and his wife Saily have given $50,000 to the Republican National Committee, $10,000 to the Florida Senate campaign of Republican Mel Martinez, Bush's former Housing and Urban Development secretary, and thousands more to Florida's GOP, according to the nonpartisan Political Money Line.

Ashbritt earlier this year hired the lobbying firm Barbour Griffith & Rogers, which was founded by Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and paid the firm $40,000 to lobby the Army Corps and Congress, according to Senate records.

That would be this Haley Barbour: "Barbour solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hong Kong businessman Ambrous Tung Young to subsidize the National Policy Forum, a GOP think tank founded by Barbour and subsidized by the RNC. That money was used as collateral for a $2.1 million commercial bank loan to the NPF. The same day it received the loan, the NPF gave $1.6 million of it to the RNC, which then provided a comparable amount to state Republican parties and other GOP organizations in 15 states during the crucial closing weeks of the 1994 election."

It is illegal for foreign citizens to make campaign contributions. This was money laundering of exactly the same type that Tom Delay has been indicted for.

...
Barbour Griffith & Rogers, which began representing Ashbritt in March, declined to comment; Ashbritt referred media inquiries to the Army Corps.

Doug Garman, a spokesman for the Army Corps, said it selected Ashbritt and three other companies for debris removal -- Ceres Environmental Services, Environmental Chemical and Phillips & Jordan, which have all done prior government work -- out of 22 bids submitted in three days. Typically the bidding period is at least 30 days.

[emphasis mine.]

Per The Untouchables, it stinks like a whorehouse at low tide. Jeanne d'Arc has more at This Modern World.

i hope billmon's wrong,

but Rove won't go down without pulling one last Bush-ass-covering rabbit out of the hat:

I wonder about the suspiciously specific rumors floating around about 18 or 22 or some other impressively large number of indictments to come. Maybe people are just getting overexcited, like kids counting and recounting their presents on Christmas Eve. But the paranoid in me thinks that perhaps, just perhaps, the Rovians are up to their old tricks.

Creating exaggerated expectations of a Halloween Massacre could be a way of trying to deflate the actual indictments, assuming Fitzgerald plans to hand some down.

This would be textbook Rove. I can only hope the MSM interest doesn't peak before the indictments, however many their are, finally come down.

If only there were some penalty for Rove that would counterbalance his gluttony for power and manipulation; but for this particular sick bastard, even a couple of years in the federal pen will be well worth it if it means getting an E ticket back to the inner circle on release.

slow torture

Slow forward movement is not what you want in a hurricane.

This is one of those situations where you don't know what to wish for. My parents and sister are on the south side of Tampa Bay, on the northernmost periphery of Wilma's projected landfall; but the storm looks like it's headed for Punta Gorda, where last year's Charley's victims are still living in FEMA trailers. It's gonna hit somewhere, and unfortunately in Florida there is little coastline left that isn't heavily overbuilt and overpopulated. All those in Wilma's path are on my mind today.

I used to love hurricane season in Florida - it was our only chance at weather-related school holidays, and the big storms blowing in off the gulf were a way to relieve the weeks of unrelenting sun and humidity. I would open my bedroom window wide and watch the black clouds roil in, watch the wind swing the boats on their dock davits, watch the dolphins come up river to chase the mullet that were schooling frantically in some storm-induced frenzy, the normally brackish, tannin-stained river turned steel dark. Those hurricanes in the 70s and 80s never seemed to get worse than a Cat. 3, and they were more often just tropical storms.

It will be nice when this hurricane season is finally over.

Sorry for all the hurricane posting, but being 3,000 miles away from loved ones and favorite places in the path of destruction keeps me turning back to it.

the nixon danger zone

As usual, Wolcott ties it up with a bow:

If it looks as if Cheney has to resign and Bush himself enters the Nixon danger zone, we'll hear the same frets and cries from the pundit shows about the country being torn apart and Americans losing faith in their government. But it isn't the country that will be torn apart by Plamegate any more than the country was torn apart during Watergate (which provided daily thrilling news entertainment value that bound citizens together); it's the Washington establishment that will be torn apart. And it should be torn apart. It's failed the country, and it's played by its own rules for too long, and "criminalizing politics" is exactly what should be done when political criminals deceive a nation into a war with Judith Miller serving as the Angie Dickinson to their Rat Pack and Richard Cohen auditioning for the part of Joey Bishop.

right this way, rep. delay

A Texas court on Wednesday issued a warrant for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's arrest...

via Atrios.

UPDATE: The glorious thing itself, via Americablog:

I only hope the FSM can forgive my schadenfreude.

new orleans shotguns

New Orleans' charm is not just in the French Quarter and the Garden District. It's in the modest shotgun neighborhoods and centuries-old churches, in the human scale of its architecture. Nearly a third of the city's buildings are more than a half-century old, and many date back to the 1700s and 1800s. It is a city that makes you feel that you are a part of it's lifeblood, instead of feeling that you are a cog in a grinding economic machine the city is built to move you through. It's a place where people spend hours over a meal, where waitstaff know that turning tables is not the way to the best tip-out.

I didn't post on the appointment of the 23-member "Louisiana Recovery Authority" yesterday because I don't know enough about the members, though it strikes me as distinctly business, rather than community, oriented. But reading today about the decimation of the city's historic preservation commission has made me take a second look:

Decimated by citywide layoffs, the body that regulates architecture in the historic French Quarter took emergency action Tuesday in hope of keeping pace with the rush to repair hurricane-damaged buildings.
...
Appointed by the mayor, the commission is supposed to have a staff of nine but now is down to two -- its director and architectural historian. Gone are administrative staff and inspectors who did the leg work to ensure renovations and repairs were done according to approved permits in the French Quarter.
...
The city's historic districts extend far beyond the cast-iron balconies, colorfully painted facades and slate roofs of the French Quarter and the grand, columned mansions of the Garden District. There are numerous homes, including modest shotgun homes of some of the badly flooded neighborhoods, that were built from water-resistant cypress and with tall windows, high ceilings, Victorian facades and other artistic features that are difficult and expensive to replicate today.

"What we were saying is that in this city, historic preservation is not a luxury. It's a necessity," said Nathan Chapman, president of Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates....
...
"We don't see neighborhood leaders or historic preservation leaders we recognize (on those boards), but we do see plenty of business people we recognize, so that's just creating a lot of fear," Chapman said. "It's not like the city leaders don't know who we are. We really understand these neighborhoods and have a lot of expertise to offer. The fact we're being ignored is just really creating a bad perception at best. Or it's intentional at worst."

Here is the membership of the Louisiana Recovery Authority:

Norman Francis, chairman; president of Xavier University since 1968. Born in Lafayette/lives in New Orleans.

Walter Isaacson, vice chairman; president/CEO of the Aspen Institute, former chairman/CEO of CNN. Born in New Orleans/lives in Washington.

Dale Atkins, civil district court clerk for Orleans Parish, member of Southern University Board of Supervisors.

Donna Brazile, chair of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute, adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

Philip Burguieres, vice chairman of Houston Texans NFL team, CEO of EMC Holdings LLC, a private energy investment firm.

Rene Cross, construction company owner that works with most of the major and independent oil companies in Louisiana.

James Davison, founder/chairman of Davison Transport Inc. and Davison Petroleum Products LLC.

Donna Fraiche, chair, Louisiana Health Care Commission; president of the Louisiana Bar Foundation; shareholder in the New Orleans office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.

Tom Henning, civil litigator at Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock LLP, the largest law firm in Lake Charles.

Sibal Holt, former president of the state AFL-CIO.

Linda Johnson, human resources supervisor for the Georgia Gulf Corp. (petrochemicals), secretary-treasurer of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

John T. Landry, development coordinator, University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Laura Leach, owner, of Sweet Lake Land & Oil Co. in Lake Charles.

Walter Leger, co-owner of the New Orleans Zephyrs; former chairman of New Orleans Regional Chamber of Commerce and former co-chairman of Metrovision Economic Development Partnership.

Calvin Mackie, co-founder of an educational and motivational consulting company; associate professor of mechanical engineering at Tulane University.

Mary Matalin, former assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Sean Reilly (former GOP state rep, 1988-1996), chief operating officer and president of Lamar Advertising Company; member of the board of supervisors for the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.

Virgil Robinson Jr., president/CEO of Dryades Savings Bank; chairman of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana; former player for the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints; member of the Louisiana Board of Regents.

Mary Ella Sanders, radiation oncologist; former interim chancellor of the LSU Health Sciences Center.

Matthew Stuller Sr., CEO Stuller Inc., a jewelry manufacturer/distributor based in Lafayette.

Susan Taylor, editorial director of Essence Magazine.

David Voelker, part owner/manager of Frantzen/Voelker Investments LLC, specializing in energy investments; chairman of National D-Day Museum.

Rod West, director of regulatory affairs for Entergy New Orleans member of the LSU Board of Supervisors.

Ex-officio members of the board include: Senate President Don Hines, Senate President Pro Tempore Diana Bajoie, House Speaker Joe Salter and House Speaker Pro Tempore Yvonne Dorsey.

As far as I can see, there is not a single community activist/representative, cultural authority or historic preservation expert in the bunch. It's mostly business people with a few African Americans thrown in for color, a few boards of regents/supervisors members to give it that tang of academe, and one labor person, who will likely go along with anything that looks to bring skilled union jobs back to the state.

Walter Isaacson's recent piece in Time extols the virtue of cultural heritage over a strictly economic calculus in rebuilding:

What makes New Orleans eating so joyous is not just classic restaurants like Antoine's or Commander's Palace. It's the neighborhood places like those just up Napoleon from Tipitina's: the pan-roasted oysters at Manale's and the fried ones at Casamento's, nestled between a costume store and a building-ornament supply shop.

My family home was, and I hope still is, on Napoleon Avenue as well. It's a raised West Indian cottage, at merely 100 years old not historic by local standards, yet part of the distinctive mix that makes even the uncelebrated neighborhoods of New Orleans so seductive. It was in neighborhoods such as these, more than the famous ones, where people lost their lives and cherished communities were washed away. I glimpsed on CNN our avenue under water and felt like crying.
...
But saving New Orleans will require not merely re-creating the French Quarter. It will involve nurturing back to health the genuine and distinctive neighborhoods that serve as an incubator for the city's music and food and funkiness. A friend of mine, Stephanie Bruno, has run an organization that restores old shotgun cottages, the long and narrow houses built of old barge planks that dominate in the older areas. A New Orleans rebuilt with tract homes rather than shotguns would no longer have the same soul.
...
It's probably not in the nature of most New Orleanians to roll up their sleeves and quickly build a grander city. They're better at making things akin to Creole gumbo and Cajun jambalaya--which involve a variety of ingredients and spices that are blended slowly. You start by making a roux, the mix of hot oil and flour that can hold the tastes together, a process that ought not be rushed.

This easygoing lethargy might actually serve New Orleans well as it rebuilds. The city needs to restore itself authentically rather than produce a theme-park re-creation. It needs shotguns, not cold condos. Its talented preservation and community-planning experts should be offered the chance to devise a land-use approach that revives charming old neighborhood patterns rather than producing alienating cul-de-sacs or artificial quaintness. It has the opportunity to rebuild itself in a way that emerges from its rich heritage while guarding against any projects that would sap its soul.

But Isaacson is just one voice, and he has not lived in Louisiana for a long time, which will make it unlikely that his opinions will carry much weight.

that was fast

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 175 MPH...280 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. WILMA IS A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY ARE COMMON IN HURRICANES OF THIS INTENSITY...AND ARE LIKELY DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 50 MILES... 85 KM... FROM THE CENTER... AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 160 MILES...260 KM.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 882 MB...26.05 INCHES.

The lowest sea-level pressure ever recorded was 25.69 inches, 300 miles west of the island of Guam in October 1979; the U.S. record is 26.35 inches, produced by the 1935 Labor Day hurricane which crossed the Florida Keys in 1935.

Evidently Wilma is the strongest and most rapidly strengthening hurricane on record. It's supposed to lose some of it's punch when it moves from the Caribbean to the slightly cooler Gulf of Mexico, but I grew up in SW Florida and my parents, sister and friends are still there. Wilma is going to keep me awake the next few nights.

habitat's plan for new orleans

I've been giving them $10/month for years - they always do good work:

The New Orleans affiliate of Habitat for Humanity is poised to build at least 150 homes for low-income residents of the city during the next nine months -- an unprecedented feat for a nonprofit organization that averages about nine homes a year, said Jim Pate, director of the local chapter.

In the following 24-month period, another 1,000 to 2,000 Habitat houses will be constructed in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes, according to a home-building effort fueled by Habitat for Humanity International.

The Americus, Ga.-based group -- assisted by New Orleans-born entertainers Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis -- recently began a $200 million fund-raising campaign called "Operation Home Delivery" to help families in areas ravaged by hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

"We're ready and waiting for the green light" from Pate, said Chris Clarke, a spokesman for Habitat for Humanity International. "We have well over 20 (partial homes) to ship right now and an unprecedented number of volunteers ready to come in."

Pate said he expects to break ground on Habitat's first post-Katrina homes in four to six weeks.

...
Sponsors provide materials and money for licensed contractors and permit fees. The homeowner contributes 350 hours -- 250 to help build the Habitat homes of others and 100 hours to help with the construction of his or her home. Other volunteers, from 10 to 25 a day, provide much-needed labor.

"Typically, we can build a home in 12 to 14 days," Pate said.

In some cases, the group effort results in mortgages less than the rent paid by some public housing residents.
...
Individuals and organizations also can help the home-building effort by contributing directly to the New Orleans affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. Those interested can e-mail the organization at info@habitat-nola.org or write the nonprofit group at P.O. Box 15052, New Orleans, LA 70175.

[emphasis mine.] You can find Habitat's national online donation link at right.

just a great picture from new orleans

Sister Mary Cecilia Goodrum attempts to block a shot by 6th-grader Lawrence Garrison, with the help of Archbishop Alfred Hughes, Monday at St. Louis Cathedral Academy.

go read tom tomorrow

bob harris sums up why i don't post on plamegate

another guy hears that this afternoon somebody else is going to report the name of someone saying stuff we can't hear in an investigation nobody knows all that much about

I am impressed by Jane's and ReddHedd's (at firedoglake) tenacity on this, but if I read too much about Judy, Scooter and the rest of the playground shitkickers who lured the credulous among us into Iraq ambush nightmare, one where the roles shift as soon as the dark door opens, the goaders disappear, automatic weapons materialize in the hands of the duped victims and innocents get slaughtered, I risk eroding my esophagus with bile.

So instead I just wait with baited breath for Fitzgerald to indict the whole teeming snakepit.

at least wilma's not headed to nola -but she's following charley's path

"FEMA City" in Punta Gorda, housing victims of 2004's Hurricane Charley, is about 50 miles north of Wilma's current storm track, an unprotected trailer park built on gravel and crushed shell.

FEMA's City of Anxiety in Florida
Many Hurricane Charley Victims Still Unsure of Next Step
By Marc Kaufman, Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 17, 2005

"FEMA City is now a socioeconomic time bomb just waiting to blow up," said Bob Hebert, director of recovery for Charlotte County, where most FEMA City residents used to live. "You throw together all these very different people under already tremendous stress, and bad things will happen. And this is the really difficult part: In our county, there's no other place for many of them to go."
…
Most troubling, they said, is that while the badly damaged town of Punta Gorda is beginning to rebuild and even substantially upgrade one year after the storm, many of the area's most vulnerable people are being left badly behind.

The hurricane began that slide, destroying hundreds of modest homes and apartments along both sides of the Peace River as it enters Charlotte Harbor, and almost all of Punta Gorda's public housing. Then as the apartments were slowly restored -- a process made more costly and time-consuming because of a shortage of contractors and workers -- landlords found that they could substantially increase their rents in the very tight market.
…
The unhappy consequence is that FEMA City's population has barely declined -- its trailers are occupied by 1,500 check-out clerks, nurse's aides, aluminum siding hangers, landscapers and more than a few people too old, too sick or too upset to work....

FEMA City is about 10 miles from Punta Gorda, its rows of white trailers covering 64 acres between the county jail and Interstate 75. The trailers are rent-free, but evacuees must pay for utilities.
…
Tons of gravel, sand and crushed shells were trucked in to build up a low-lying meadow, and electrical and sewer lines were quickly laid. Officials say that last Christmas season, many homes were cheerfully lighted, and a sense of relief and thanks prevailed.

Today, that cheer is gone. That gritty soil makes the south Florida sun even hotter, and few people venture outside except to go to their cars. There are no trees, no shrubs, and only two small playgrounds for several hundred children.

driftglass asks colin powell "why?"

Well worth reading it all, but here's the gist:

From Bush I never expected anything other that cowardice and mediocrity, and from Cheney I never expected anything other than bile and theft. They have traversed no moral arc: they started out as despicable and there they have stayed.

But from Powell I expected more.

Powell was the one man in the whole reeking whorehouse I had a little faith in. The one who lent integrity upwards, to those who did not deserve it.

Powell, who knew better enough to starkly warn George Bush of the consequences of being even a little bit wrong, but in the end found it easier to serve a bad President than a good principle. Who allowed himself to be tricked out like a hooker, and turned out on the corner.

Without Powell, there is no Iraq, because there is no one else of sufficient stature to close that deal: Powell the Statesman, reduced to Powell the Salesman, and finally to Powell the Sellout.

Powell is the one who took his beloved military up in his arms, carried them out into the desert, and left them there to be slaughtered.

Powell is the one who has broken “faith with us who die” and the dead -– the civilian women dead, the children dead, the fathers dead, our soldiers dead, ALL the dead -- want to know, Colin, why you have abandoned them?

[emphasis in original.]

deep tissue ass massage

Go read this week's slowpoke.

scapegoating

Bus driver faces charges in explosion
10/17/2005
Associated Press

The driver of the bus that caught fire while fleeing Hurricane Rita has been charged with criminal negligent homicide in the deaths of 23 passengers, a spokesman for the Dallas County Sheriff's Department said Monday.

The charges against Juan Robles Gutierrez, a 37-year-old Mexican national, were forwarded to District Attorney Bill Hill, Sgt. Don Peritz said.

Robles was taken into federal custody on an immigration violation five days after the Sept. 23 explosion near Dallas.

From the beginning, investigators have focused on the condition of the bus brakes. A motorist told investigators he pulled the bus over shortly before the fire broke out after seeing a rear wheel hub that was glowing red.

Peritz declined to give specific examples of illegal actions by Robles, saying it would be released if he is indicted by a grand jury.

"The bus is under his care, custody and control and so is every one on board," he said. "Safe transportation from the nursing home to the final destination is his responsibility. Based on the end result, he failed in that responsibility."

The phone at the bus company, Global Limo Inc. of Pharr, was disconnected Monday.

This is bullshit. The company may face strict liability, but not the driver. Global Limo was in bankruptcy, foregoing maintenance to save money. It's James H. Maples who should be in jail:

DALLAS -- Federal officials on Friday ordered an immediate shutdown of the company whose bus caught fire last month, killing 23 elderly hurricane evacuees along a Texas highway.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it ordered Global Limo Inc. off the road because the conditions of its vehicles and drivers "are likely to result in serious injury or death if not discontinued immediately."
...
From the beginning, investigators have focused on the condition of the bus brakes. A motorist told investigators he pulled the bus over shortly before the fire broke out after seeing a rear wheel hub that was glowing red.

Some passengers and the driver escaped, but flames, fed by 18 oxygen tanks that also caused explosions, trapped many inside the bus.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said this week that brakes on the right rear failed because of the loss of bearings and disc calipers and brakes on the left rear were "not maintained in good working order."

A lawyer who sued the company on behalf of a dead passenger accused Global Limo of shoddy maintenance.

James H. Maples, the operator of the company, declined to comment late Friday on the shutdown order. Earlier in the day he said the company was still driving people to Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints football games.
...
Investigators have said maintenance of the bus was Global Limo's responsibility. The bus was owned by a company in Vancouver, Canada. At the time of the crash, it was carrying license plates from another bus, which was not properly registered.

round and round and round she goes,and where she stops...

Still doubt global warming? Meet TS Wilma, #21 of the season.

She doesn't look like much now, but they say she'll be a hurricane by Wednesday:

Long-term forecasts show the storm would likely move west and north, putting the storm in the Gulf of Mexico later this week. Forecasters said water temperature and other conditions were favorable for it to become a significant hurricane.

"Once storms get into the Gulf of Mexico, I'm aware of only one storm on record that dissipated," hurricane specialist James Franklin said. "It has almost nowhere to go except land somewhere."
...
Hurricane season ends Nov. 30. Wilma is the last on the list of storm names for 2005; there are 21 names on the yearly list because the letters q, u, x, y and z are skipped. If any other storms form, letters from the Greek alphabet would be used, starting with Alpha. That has never happened in roughly 60 years of regularly named Atlantic storms.

[emphasis mine.]