kanye west speaks

this is from crooks and liars

via (my personal favorite blog) skippy the bush kangaroo from pudentilla


NBC censors Kanye West
The corporate big wigs didn't take too kindly to West's tirade against President Bush earlier today on the Concert for Hurricane Relief, so they edited his remarks on the West Coast feed. (hat tip Digby.......

..............Breaking News: Kanye West: George Bush doesn't care about black people"
During the Concert for Hurricane Relief, Kanye West and Mike Meyers were celebrity narrators during the segment, West said: (rush transcript)
Video-WMP-QT coming (video is still loading-sorry for the delay)
Video-QT
(fuller Transcript by Tracy& Eric)
"I hate the way they portray us in the media. "If you see a black family it says they are looting if you see a white family it says they are looking for food.
"We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war now fighting another way and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us.""George Bush doesn't care about black people."
Mike Meyers was floored...

i was actually WATCHING this. i came in midsentence and didn't know what was going on. i wasn't quite paying attention at first, but certainly when kanye (whom i didn't recognize i must admit) said, 'george bush doesn't care about black people' i stopped what i was doing and started to pay attention. unfortunately mr west was cut off at that point...................

un autre musician of the day

zachary richard

musician of the day

keith and the soileau zydeco band
yeah he's from sw louisiana!

keith frank

i heard a song of his, 'movin' on up' (yup, the VERY same theme from the jeffersons) on a college radio station wwuh a little while back. when he started out he was still in high school so his touring was quite limited. i've never seen him in person, but i would hope to some day.

forwarded JUST NOW by cass!

Open Letter To President Bush From Michael Moore Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush: Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag. Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with? Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her! I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike? And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ! On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that. 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. Yours, Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com www.MichaelMoore.com P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

world's smallest pong game

now something to make you smile

there was only ONE person i went to for help in finding a website that would lighten the mood a bit.

my pseudo-daughter, cass! (thank you dear cass!!!!!!!!!!!!)

here he is.......................

the asian prince!

(i tried to post his picture - you just HAVE to see it to believe it, but the site won't let me copy any of the images, damn!!!!!)

we don't have nowhere to go

pitiful and a shame.....................

(from a nine year old in new orleans)

american red cross

salvation army

what?????????????????

Halliburton gets Katrina contract, hires former FEMA director

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- The US Navy asked Halliburton to repair naval facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the Houston Chronicle reported today. The work was assigned to Halliburton's KBR subsidiary under the Navy's $500 million CONCAP contract awarded to KBR in 2001 and renewed in 2004. The repairs will take place in Louisiana and Mississippi.KBR has not been asked to repair the levees destroyed in New Orleans which became the primary cause of most of the damage. Since 1989, governments worldwide have awarded $3 billion in contracts to KBR's Government and Infrastructure Division to clean up damage caused by natural and man-made disasters. Earlier this year, the Navy awarded $350 million in contracts to KBR and three other companies to repair naval facilities in northwest Florida damaged by Hurricane Ivan, which struck in September 2004. The ongoing repair work involves aircraft support facilities, medium industrial buildings, marine construction, mechanical and electrical improvements, civil construction, and family housing renovation. In March, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is tasked with responding to hurricane disasters, became a lobbyist for KBR. Joe Allbaugh was director of FEMA during the first two years of the Bush administration. Today, FEMA is widely criticized for its slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Allbaugh managed Bush's campaign for Texas governor in 1994, served as Gov. Bush's chief of staff and was the national campaign manager for the Bush campaign in 2000. Along with Karen Hughes and Karl Rove, Allbaugh was one of Bush's closest advisers. "This is a perfect example of someone cashing in on a cozy political relationship," said Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington watchdog group. "Allbaugh's former placement as a senior government official and his new lobbying position with KBR strengthens the company's already tight ties to the administration, and I hope that contractor accountability is not lost as a result."

transcript of mayor c ray nagin's radio interview

Published: September 2, 2005
Mayor C. Ray Nagin lashed out at federal officials, telling a local radio station "they don't have a clue what's going on down here." The following is a transcript of the interview with WWL-AM. Listen to the mp3

MAYOR RAY NAGIN: I told him we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice. And that I have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we're outmanned in just about every respect. You know the reason why the looters got out of control? Because we had most of our resources saving people, thousands of people that were stuck in attics, man, old ladies. ... You pull off the doggone ventilator vent and you look down there and they're standing in there in water up to their freaking necks. And they don't have a clue what's going on down here. They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of goddamn -- excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed. WWL: Did you say to the president of the United States, "I need the military in here"? NAGIN: I said, "I need everything." Now, I will tell you this -- and I give the president some credit on this -- he sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done, and his name is [Lt.] Gen. [Russel] Honore. And he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving. And he's getting some stuff done. They ought to give that guy -- if they don't want to give it to me, give him full authority to get the job done, and we can save some people. WWL: What do you need right now to get control of this situation? NAGIN: I need reinforcements, I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man. We ain't talking about -- you know, one of the briefings we had, they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out here. I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans." That's -- they're thinking small, man. And this is a major, major, major deal. And I can't emphasize it enough, man. This is crazy. I've got 15,000 to 20,000 people over at the convention center. It's bursting at the seams. The poor people in Plaquemines Parish. ... We don't have anything, and we're sharing with our brothers in Plaquemines Parish. It's awful down here, man. WWL: Do you believe that the president is seeing this, holding a news conference on it but can't do anything until [Louisiana Gov.] Kathleen Blanco requested him to do it? And do you know whether or not she has made that request? NAGIN: I have no idea what they're doing. But I will tell you this: You know, God is looking down on all this, and if they are not doing everything in their power to save people, they are going to pay the price. Because every day that we delay, people are dying and they're dying by the hundreds, I'm willing to bet you. We're getting reports and calls that are breaking my heart, from people saying, "I've been in my attic. I can't take it anymore. The water is up to my neck. I don't think I can hold out." And that's happening as we speak. You know what really upsets me, Garland? We told everybody the importance of the 17th Street Canal issue. We said, "Please, please take care of this. We don't care what you do. Figure it out." .................

accountablility...........again

Across U.S., Outrage at Response

By TODD S. PURDUM
Published: September 3, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 - There was anger: David Vitter, Louisiana's freshman Republican senator, gave the federal government an F on Friday for its handling of the whirlwind after the storm. And Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, declared, "We cannot allow it to be said that the difference between those who lived and those who died" amounted to "nothing more than poverty, age or skin color."

There was shock at the slow response: Joseph P. Riley Jr., the 29-year Democratic mayor of Charleston, S.C., and a veteran of Hurricane Hugo's wrath, said: "I knew in Charleston, looking at the Weather Channel, that Gulfport was going to be destroyed. I'm the mayor of Charleston, but I knew that!"
But perhaps most of all there was shame, a deep collective national disbelief that the world's sole remaining superpower could not - or at least had not - responded faster and more forcefully to a disaster that had been among its own government's worst-case possibilities for years.
"It really makes us look very much like Bangladesh or Baghdad," said David Herbert Donald, the retired Harvard historian of the Civil War and a native Mississippian, who said that Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's destructive march from Atlanta to the sea paled by comparison. "I'm 84 years old. I've been around a long time, but I've never seen anything like this.".....................

accountability

it is not the fault of anyone a hurricane arrived on monday and tore up a section of our great land, killed hundreds if not thousands, displaced goddess knows how many, destroyed homes and businesses and hospitals and schools and on and on and on. we (those of us lucky enough to live elsewhere) will NEVER know the pain of those that ARE there. we never will. we who live elsewhere will suffer SOME effects from this storm (gas prices, delivery schedules are off, etc) but things we can certainly live with, even if we don't like them). HOWEVER it IS the fault of ONE person (and his advisors) and ONE person alone, HELP DID NOT ARRIVE IN LA, AL AND MS ON TUESDAY. any idiot could see this was the WORST NATURAL DISASTER that happened to us. everytime i watched coverage on tv, i had to turn away after a few moments. every time i attempt to read an article i have to stop after a few sentences. i can't handle reading about it and seeing it from a distance AND I'M SAFE AND FED AND CLOTHED AND HOUSED AND HAVE MY MEDS AND MY NEIGHBORHOOD STORES ARE OPEN AND SCHOOLS ARE OPEN AND I HAVE ELECTRICTY AND PHONE SERVICE. I'm drinking a coffee now as i'm typing on my laptop. i'm comfortable. THEY ARE NOT.

if we don't hold president bush accountable for F**KING UP the relief effort i will be the most stunned i have ever been! the day he arrives massive amounts of help arrive? what great photo ops for him as well.

bush has said the response was not acceptable. i agree. who the f**k does he THINK WAS responsible? hint: HIM

Bush faults recovery efforts as 'not enough'
President signs $10.5 billion air package


Friday, September 2, 2005; Posted: 10:34 p.m. EDT (02:34 GMT)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Scorched by criticism about sluggish federal help, President Bush acknowledged the government's failure to stop lawlessness and help desperate people in New Orleans. "The results are not enough," Bush said Friday in the face of mounting complaints from Republicans and Democrats alike..........................

the company i work for

is donating $1,000,000 to aid the hurricane victims. all employee donations will also be matched 50% (to a specified total limit)

wicked good news!

i was going to say this, but now it's published

By Jack ShaferPosted Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005, at 4:22 PM PT

Lost in the FloodWhy no mention of race or class in TV's Katrina coverage?

can't say I saw everything that the TV newscasters pumped out about Katrina, but I viewed enough repeated segments to say with 90 percent confidence that broadcasters covering the New Orleans end of the disaster demurred from mentioning two topics that must have occurred to every sentient viewer: race and class.
Nearly every rescued person, temporary resident of the Superdome, looter, or loiterer on the high ground of the freeway I saw on TV was African-American. And from the look of it, they weren't wealthy residents of the Garden District. This storm appears to have hurt blacks more directly than whites, but the broadcasters scarcely mentioned that fact.
Now, don't get me wrong. Just because 67 percent of New Orleans residents are black, I don't expect CNN to rename the storm "Hurricane" Carter in honor of the black boxer. Just because Katrina's next stop after destroying coastal Mississippi was counties that are 25 percent to 86 percent African-American (according to this U.S. Census map), and 27.9 percent of New Orleans residents are below the poverty line, I don't expect the Rev. Jesse Jackson to call the news channels to give a comment. But in the their frenzy to beat freshness into the endless loops of disaster footage that have been running all day, broadcasters might have mentioned that nearly all the visible people left behind in New Orleans are of the black persuasion, and mostly poor............

and from the washington post

The Racial Dimension
'To Me, It Just Seems Like Black People Are Marked'
By Wil HaygoodWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, September 2, 2005; Page A01

BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 1 -- It seemed a desperate echo of a bygone era, a mass of desperate-looking black folk on the run in the Deep South. Some without shoes.
It was high noon Thursday at a rest stop on the edge of Baton Rouge when several buses pulled in, fresh from the calamity of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans......

"To me," said Bernadette Washington, "it just seems like black people are marked. We have so many troubles and problems."...........

........It took two days for a helicopter to fetch them. They were delivered not to some kind of shelter, but to a patch of land beneath a freeway.
"I thought we were going to die out there," Bernadette Washington said. "We had to sleep on the ground. Use the bathroom in front of each other. Laying on that ground, I just couldn't I just couldn't take it. I felt like Job."........

.........Then, somehow, a bus, and then Baton Rouge. At that moment, a lady -- white -- came by the rest stop and handed her some baby items.
"Bless you," Washington said.
That exchange forced something from Warren Carter: "White man came up to me little while ago and offered me some money. I said thank you, but no thanks. I got money to hold us over. But it does go to show you that racism ain't everywhere."..........

rapes riots and anarchy

and it's NOT a sex pistols song

IT'S REAL

why did it go this far? why on the fourth day AFTER the disaster are there still dead bodies floating around? where is the food and water for the living? where is the medical care? why are people shooting at the police and emt's? why did bush say (on tv) 'they have food and water and help is on the way', when they DIDN'T have food and water? why did bush wait until today (friday) to survey the damage in person? why weren't we prepared TO SAVE OUR OWN?

New Orleans in Anarchy With Fights, Rapes

A City of Despair and Lawlessness

Local Officials Criticize Federal Government Over Response

Astrodome filled, turns away refugees
Violence disrupts New Orleans rescues, evacuation

Chaos erupts amid New Orleans’ desperation

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

i am going to try to get right to the point here. i have been SICK all day. i went to the atm machine this morning at about 11:30. the machine ate my card BUT spit out a note about my card being reported as lost. of course it wasn't LOST, it WAS in my hand just prior to being swallowed. i went in the bank and patiently waited in line. when i got to the teller (who just HAPPENED to be a manager) i told her my story. she got on the phone and started writing all sorts of things down. 1,400.00 to something or other. 700.00 to another something. 300.00 to another place. a few WERE mine (netflix, etc) but when she got to the charge at THE TALBOTS i KNEW I DIDN'T do it (hell, i'm not even ALLOWED in the same town where there IS a talbots). someone stole my card number. we went to her desk and she got me a printout of some of my charges and my checks (it was a debit card). we went over the outstanding ones and they were marked as to be HONORED and NO fees applied should they bounce. some of the charges were stopped by the vendors (THANKS!) and some were stopped by the bank. however, the ones that were NOT stopped, i have to allow to go through. i then have to go BACK to the bank and fill out some paperwork. i would like to thank muriel from the domain name company who recognized the scam (she called my bank). i guess someone was trying to open up some domains in viet nam. i also had some charges from the uk. so PLEASE all BE CAREFUL. i did hear a rumor (i have a DAMN good network of friends) of where the theft could have occurred. i do NOT wish to name that place yet because if it is TRUE, it is a SERIOUS BREACH (and they NEVER contacted me........) anyway, i am calmed down just a bit. i'm still shaky but the bank (thanks pat!) was great and again, MURIEL was great! oh and i tried to charge a donation to the american red cross this morning (before i found out about my card) and it didn't go through (so i'll have to write them a HARD COPY CHECK). sorry for the rambling

more dilly dallying - by the extreme right

Assistant FDA Commissioner Susan F. Wood, shown yesterday, cited interference in the agency's decision-making in her move to resign. (By Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)

FDA Official Quits Over Delay on Plan B

Women's Health Chief Says Commissioner's Decision on Contraceptive Was Political
By Marc KaufmanWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, September 1, 2005; Page A08

The top Food and Drug Administration official in charge of women's health issues resigned yesterday in protest against the agency's decision to further delay a final ruling on whether the "morning-after pill" should be made more easily accessible. Susan F. Wood, assistant FDA commissioner for women's health and director of the Office of Women's Health, said she was leaving her position after five years because Commissioner Lester M. Crawford's announcement Friday amounted to unwarranted interference in agency decision-making. The top Food and Drug Administration official in charge of women's health issues resigned yesterday in protest against the agency's decision to further delay a final ruling on whether the "morning-after pill" should be made more easily accessible. Susan F. Wood, assistant FDA commissioner for women's health and director of the Office of Women's Health, said she was leaving her position after five years because Commissioner Lester M. Crawford's announcement Friday amounted to unwarranted interference in agency decision-making............

DONATE (as blogged by my FAVORITE, skippy)

the skippy challenge this is not about red states v. blue states...this is not about left v. right...this is not about liberal v. conservative...the people in louisiana, mississippi and alabama are americans. this is about america. and americans have historically always rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to help out their fellow countrymen in need.skippy has donated $100.01 to the red cross for hurricane relief. and now, skippy challenges everyone who writes a political blog, no matter what side of the spectrum they inhabit, to do the same.but that's not all of the challenge. skippy then dares everyone on his blogroll (who will be receiving an email with this double-dog dare), after they donate, to (a) blog about it, and (b) send an email to everyone on their blog roll.the $100 is to make a difference. if every political blog donates $100, think of the hundreds of thousands of dollars the red cross can use to buy food and supplies for the people that need it now.and the 1 cent is to let everyone know where that the donations came from blogtopia (yes! we coined that phrase!) and know that for once, in reality, the blogs are making a difference.if the server is busy, call 1-800 help now.if you can't contribute $100.01, then make it $50.01 or $20.01, or at least $5.01 (the minimum the red cross requires, plus 1 cent). give up your saturday movie date this week, take your lunch to work instead of eating out, do something!americans are starving, with no place to live, in conditions that are rapidly deteriorating. it's time we all pitched in and helped our fellow citizens! do it!
skippy needs a million dollars...to go to the red cross!addendum: dc media girl has a great list of charities, along with the red cross, that can help...donate to any one of them (but be sure to add on that 1 cent, so they know it came from blogtopia! and yes! we coined that phrase!)double addendum: glenn reynolds of instapundit is also on the case, with many more charities to donate to, and links to other blogs who are touting same, including our righty buds chuck simmins and n.z. bear.triple addendum: the lovely ann (formerly of two tears in a bucket , and who donated yesterday) also recommends checking out the united methodist committee for relief ("umcor") which has suggestions on tangible supplies that you can donate. and thanks to blogtopus for being the first to answer the skippy challenge, and for donating even more than us!

nyt editorial

Editorial
Waiting for a LeaderPublished: September 1, 2005

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end. We will, of course, endure, and the city of New Orleans must come back. But looking at the pictures on television yesterday of a place abandoned to the forces of flood, fire and looting, it was hard not to wonder exactly how that is going to come to pass. Right now, hundreds of thousands of American refugees need our national concern and care. Thousands of people still need to be rescued from imminent peril. Public health threats must be controlled in New Orleans and throughout southern Mississippi. Drivers must be given confidence that gasoline will be available, and profiteering must be brought under control at a moment when television has been showing long lines at some pumps and spot prices approaching $4 a gallon have been reported. Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis. While our attention must now be on the Gulf Coast's most immediate needs, the nation will soon ask why New Orleans's levees remained so inadequate. Publications from the local newspaper to National Geographic have fulminated about the bad state of flood protection in this beloved city, which is below sea level. Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection? It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America "will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal.

Sorry - all circuits are busy - please try again later

Katrina scatters a grim diaspora
By Will Walden BBC News, in Baton Rouge, La & Memphis, Tn

The only certainty here now is uncertainty.

Across the south hundreds of thousands of Americans have been unceremoniously dumped: displaced by Katrina in rest stops and hotel lobbies; among strangers in shelters and in hospitals.
And for most there is no going back, for weeks, and more probably, months.

Many families who made it out have no place to stay.

They sleep where they can.
The lucky ones, and they are indeed the lucky ones, have hotel rooms.
Entire families crowd into one room with little information, power that comes and goes, and no air conditioning.
For some, who thought initially Katrina wasn't as bad as the authorities had predicted, fate has dealt them a cruel hand.
Having checked out for the long journey home, they now find themselves back in hotel lobbies across the state pleading to have their rooms back.
The rooms of course have been filled with others seeking refuge......

At this point most reach for the cellphone in the hope that those who stayed are safe.
But there is no dialing tone, just a recorded message that says "Sorry - all circuits are busy - please try again later".
It is the new norm. These people have nowhere to go...............

now even some 'conservatives' are seeing reality

Editorials Raise Questions About President's Response to Katrina--and Lack of Preparations By E&P Staff Published: August 31, 2005 10:30 PM ET
NEW YORK As the truth sinks in--this is the worst natural disaster in the nation's history--editorials in a wide range of newspapers have now raised critical issues about the lack of preparation, the effects of so many National Guard sent to Iraq, and the response of President Bush to the tragedy this week. One of the most stalwart conservative newspapers in the nation, the Union Leader of New Hampshire, today blasted Bush's response to the great Gulf Coast hurricane. "A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed, clothed, sheltered and free of disease," the editorial declared. "The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished. In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty..............

they're hurting

Biloxi Newspaper Slams Relief Effort, Begs for Help By Greg Mitchell Published: August 31, 2005 10:15 PM ET
NEW YORK The Sun Herald of Biloxi, Miss., in an editorial today, criticized the relief effort in its ravaged area so far, and told officials and the nation-at-large: "South Mississippi needs your help."It angrily revealed: "While the flow of information is frustratingly difficult, our reporters have yet to find evidence of a coordinated approach to relieve pain and hunger or to secure property and maintain order. People are hurting and people are being vandalized. "Yet where is the National Guard, why hasn't every able-bodied member of the armed forces in South Mississippi been pressed into service?" Pointedly, it declared that earlier today, "reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics."It added: "We need the president to back up his declaration of a disaster with a declaration of every man and woman under his command will do whatever is necessary to deal with that disaster."The newspaper has managed to publish two print editions this week as well as keep its Web site updated.

he's just a chump after all............you know it, i know it

Leisurely Bush, Bumbling Feds

Only the Coast Guard looks good after Hurricane Katrina
by James RidgewayAugust 31st, 2005 12:54 PM


WASHINGTON, D.C.—At his usual leisurely pace, George Bush has returned here to take a look at what’s been going on down South. With dire warnings all over the news a good day before Hurricane Katrina struck, this former Texas governor, who ought to know firsthand what the weather can do to the oil industry, let alone human beings, remained on vacation until a day after the storm struck. Only after the levees in New Orleans were breached, inundating the city with floodwaters and stranding desperate people atop their houses, did the president return from his Crawford ranch to take up the reins of government. Just as on 9-11 itself, the president preferred to wait until he achieved what his administration sometimes refers to as “situational awareness” before taking any rash action, like sending a lot of drinking water to the stricken Gulf Coast, for example. CNN showed him peering out of the window of Air Force One on Wednesday as the plane circled the flooded streets. Below, people bumped along on inner tubes or waved white sheets from their balconies. ..................

relief

THE BEST WAY TO HELP VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA



also tips on WISE giving

what a guy!

he's cutting his vacation short (BY TWO EFFING DAYS)

Bush to return to Washington early
President cuts vacation short to monitor hurricane relief efforts

Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Posted: 1:08 p.m. EDT (17:08 GMT)

CORONADO, California (AP) -- President Bush will cut short his vacation to return to Washington on Wednesday, two days earlier than planned, to help monitor federal efforts to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina, the White House said Tuesday.

"We have got a lot of work to do," Bush said, referring to the damage wrought by the hurricane along Gulf Coast areas.

The president had been scheduled to return to the nation's capital on Friday, after spending more than four weeks operating from his ranch in Central Texas. But after receiving a briefing early Tuesday on the devastation Katrina unleashed, the president decided that he needed to be in Washington to personally oversee the federal effort, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said......

and don't forget this is the man that just 'sat there' for approximately fifteen minutes AFTER 9/11 happened

ok, now let's DO something about it!!!

damn you!

President's Poll Rating Falls to a New Low

In Post-ABC Survey, 53 Percent of Respondents Say They Disapprove of Bush
By Richard Morin and Dan BalzWashington Post Staff WritersWednesday, August 31, 2005; Page A06

Rising gas prices and ongoing bloodshed in Iraq continue to take their toll on President Bush, whose standing with the public has sunk to an all-time low, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey found Bush's job approval rating at 45 percent, down seven points since January and the lowest ever recorded for the president in Post-ABC surveys. Fifty-three percent disapproved of the job Bush is doing. The war has been a drag on Bush's presidency for many months, but his Iraq approval ratings in the new poll were little changed from two months ago, despite widespread violence, a rash of U.S. casualties, antiwar protests outside the president's Texas ranch and a growing debate about reducing U.S. troop levels. What may have pushed Bush's overall ratings down in the latest poll is pervasive dissatisfaction over soaring gasoline prices. Two-thirds of those surveyed said gas prices are causing financial hardship to them or their families. Gas prices stand to go even higher after Hurricane Katrina's rampage through the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.

c'mon, NO one is surprised are they?

Republicans accused of witch-hunt against climate change scientists
Paul Brown, environment correspondent Tuesday August 30, 2005 The Guardian

Some of America's leading scientists have accused Republican politicians of intimidating climate-change experts by placing them under unprecedented scrutiny.
A far-reaching inquiry into the careers of three of the US's most senior climate specialists has been launched by Joe Barton, the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on energy and commerce. He has demanded details of all their sources of funding, methods and everything they have ever published.
Mr Barton, a Texan closely associated with the fossil-fuel lobby, has spent his 11 years as chairman opposing every piece of legislation designed to combat climate change.
He is using the wide powers of his committee to force the scientists to produce great quantities of material after alleging flaws and lack of transparency in their research. He is working with Ed Whitfield, the chairman of the sub-committee on oversight and investigations............

we ALL know there IS no crisis on our planet, right? there is NO such thing as global warming, right? there is NO need to be careful what we dump in the air and oceans and land, right?

hmmmm perhaps i should attend

Judicial hearing on Patriot Act regarding library records open to public
RAW STORY
A federal judge today announced that a hearing scheduled tomorrow in the American Civil Liberties Union's challenge to a provision of the Patriot Act will be open to the public, RAW STORY has learned.
#
The ACLU is seeking an emergency court order to lift a gag imposed by the FBI so that its client can participate in the public debate about the Patriot Act as Congress prepares to reauthorize or amend it in September. The Patriot Act provisions can gag those challenging it from even speaking publicly about their case.
The lawsuit challenges the National Security Letter (NSL) provision of the Patriot Act, which authorizes the FBI to demand a range of personal records without court approval, such as the identity of a person who has visited a particular Web site on a library computer, or who has engaged in anonymous speech on the Internet. The Patriot Act dramatically expands the NSL power by permitting the FBI to demand records of people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing..........The ACLU filed the lawsuit in Connecticut on behalf of an organization that possesses "a wide array of sensitive information about library patrons, including information about the reading materials borrowed by library patrons and about Internet usage by library patrons." Because of the gag order, the ACLU is currently unable to identify the client in the case.
More information on this case, including a redacted version of the complaint, is available online at www.aclu.org/nsl..................

not PEW but PEEEEEEEE YEEEEEEEEWWWWW

August 30, 2005

Most Americans Favor Teaching Creationism A new Pew Research Center poll finds that "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." Nonetheless, "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... Even many who are politically liberal and who believe in evolution favor expanding the scope of public school education to include teaching creationism."However, "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.'" .........

our thoughts and prayers are with you

more on that doc..........

turns out he MIGHT be a racist misogynist a-hole after all.......................

N.H. Doctor in Hot Seat Again Over Remarks

Wednesday August 31, 2005 12:46 AM
By J.M. HIRSCH
Associated Press Writer

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The state is investigating a doctor accused of telling a patient she was so obese she might only be attractive to black men and advising another to shoot herself following brain surgery.
``Let's face it, if your husband were to die tomorrow, who would want you?'' the state Board of Medicine says Dr. Terry Bennett told the overweight patient in June 2004.
``Well, men might want you, but not the types you want to want you. Might even be a black guy,'' it quoted him as saying, based on the woman's complaint.
The board said it also is taking a second look at a 2001 allegation - deemed unfounded at the time - that Bennett told a woman recovering from brain surgery to buy a pistol and shoot herself to end her suffering.
Bennett made national news last week when the complaint from the obese woman became public without any mention of the racial comment. But Senior Assistant Attorney General Richard Head, who leads the state Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau, said Tuesday the woman complained about the racial remark, not about being lectured.
In a telephone interview Tuesday from Rochester, Bennett denied any wrongdoing and defended his message to her, saying he has read polls that say black men prefer overweight women.....................

we're on a mission from god

i'm a movie SNOB - i admit it. BUT i still love this movie

the blues brothers

i'm jake
and
i'm elwood


Get 'The Blues'
By Jen Chaney
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer

"The Blues Brothers: 25th Anniversary Edition" (List price: $22.98)Release Date: Aug. 30
There's one major reason to add the new, 25th-anniversary release of "The Blues Brothers" to your DVD collection. And no, it's not because the movie is on a mission from God.

This double-sided disc contains both versions of the comedy favorite -- the 148-minute extended cut and the previously unreleased-on-DVD, 133-minute original -- allowing fans to explore the longer version as well as the theatrical release that first made them fall in love with Jake and Elwood Blues....................


Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses. Jake: Hit it.

and as mrs murphy said; 'don't you blaspheme in here'!!!

after all there IS a separation of church and state

Air Force Bans Leaders' Promotion of Religion

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: August 30, 2005

The Air Force issued new religion guidelines to its commanders yesterday that caution against promoting any particular faith - or even "the idea of religion over nonreligion" - in official communications or functions like meetings, sports events and ceremonies.
The guidelines discourage public prayers at official Air Force events or meetings other than worship services, one of the most contentious issues for many commanders. But they allow for "a brief nonsectarian prayer" at special ceremonies like those honoring promotions, or in "extraordinary circumstances" like "mass casualties, preparation for imminent combat and natural disasters."
The Air Force developed the guidelines after complaints from cadets at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs that evangelical Christians leaders were using their positions to promote their faith.
The guidelines apply not just to the academy, but also to the entire Air Force. They will be made final later this year after Air Force generals meet and consider recommendations from their commanders........

now the question is; WILL THEY HONOR THIS?

i'm (almost) speechless

The Kosos at home in his parents' basement. "I couldn't be any happier than I am right now," said Matthew Koso, who could face prison time. The couple married in Kansas with their parents' consent.


EXCEPT to say, TEACH PROPER BIRTH CONTROL METHODS EARLY ON! so much bull shite so very much. a fourteen year old grrrl MARRIED and a state that allows it???????? parents who allow it??????????? parents who are proud of their son (22 year old who impregnated a 14 year old)???????????????

Rape Charge Follows Marriage to a 14-Year-Old
By JODI WILGOREN
Published: August 30, 2005

FALLS CITY, Neb., Aug. 29 - On Sunday evening, Matthew Koso tipped three ounces of formula into his 4-day-old daughter's mouth, then hoisted her atop his shoulder in hope of a burp. On Tuesday morning, he is scheduled to be arraigned on charges for which the newborn is the state's prime piece of evidence. Mr. Koso is 22. The baby's mother, Crystal, is 14. He is charged with statutory rape, even though they were wed with their parents' blessing in May, crossing into Kansas because their own state prohibits marriages of people under 17. The Nebraska attorney general accuses Mr. Koso of being a pedophile; they say it is true love. "We don't want grown men having sex with young girls," said Jon Bruning, the attorney general. "We make a lot of choices for our children: we don't allow them to vote; we don't allow them to drink; we don't allow them to drive cars; we don't allow them to serve in wars at age 13, whether they want to or not; and we don't allow them to have sex with grown men." But Mr. Koso's mother, Peggy, said she and her husband of 25 years were proud that their son did not disappear like so many deadbeat dads. ........... .........Studies show that one in five teenagers have sex before they turn 15, and about 150,000 babies are born each year to a minor parent. In Nebraska, there were 25 births to mothers under 15 in 2002, the latest year for which statistics are available. In Kansas, five girls under 15 were married in 2003, three in 2002 and six in 2001.............

another ugly practice

Namas Bhojani for The New York Times
Nesam Velankanni had to pay to see her daughter, Arokya, at her birth 16 months ago in Bangalore, India. She has an older daughter, Ruby, 6.





The Hidden Scourge
In Bangalore, India, a Cuddle With Your Baby Requires a Bribe
By CELIA W. DUGGER
Published: August 30, 2005
BANGALORE, India - Just as the painful ordeal of childbirth finally ended and Nesam Velankanni waited for a nurse to lay her squalling newborn on her chest, the maternity hospital's ritual of extortion began.

Before she even glimpsed her baby, she said, a nurse whisked the infant away and an attendant demanded a bribe. If you want to see your child, families are told, the price is $12 for a boy and $7 for a girl, a lot of money for slum dwellers scraping by on a dollar a day. The practice is common here in the city, surveys confirm.

Mrs. Velankanni was penniless, and her mother-in-law had to pawn gold earrings that had been a precious marriage gift so she could give the money to the attendant, or ayah. Mrs. Velankanni, a migrant to Bangalore who had been unprepared for the demand, wept in frustration.

"The ayah told my mother-in-law to pay up fast because the night duty doctor was leaving at 8 a.m. and wanted a share," she recalled.

The grand thefts of rulers may be more infamous, but the bitter experience of petty corruption, less apparent but no less invidious, is an everyday trial for millions of poor people across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Increasingly, it is being recognized as a major obstacle to economic development, robbing the impoverished of already measly incomes and corroding the public services they desperately need............

i SWORE i would NOT become addicted

TOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

sudoku

BUT I AM!

change is good

out with the OLD in with the NEW

some good news from the arizona daily star - they are making some changes

she's gone (as in the hall and oats song) FINALLY!


More words. More letters. No more Ann Coulter............
...................Finally, we've decided that syndicated columnist Ann Coulter has worn out her welcome. Many readers find her shrill, bombastic and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives.
Taking her place on Saturdays will be Tony Snow, host of "The Tony Snow Show," syndicated nationally on Fox News Radio, and "Weekend Live with Tony Snow" on Fox News Channel. He has worked at a number of daily newspapers and is a former speechwriter for former President George H.W. Bush. ............

can you BELIEVE THIS?

he (w) is gonna compare THIS war with world war ii.


Monday WH Briefing: President to Push World War II/Iraq War Parallels By E&P Staff Published: August 29, 2005 5:00 PM ET

NEW YORK In a briefing for reporters aboard Air Force One today, en route to Arizona, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, who has been absent for awhile, spoke about the president's response to Hurricane Katrina, but also his visit to San Diego tomorrow. Here is that portion of the transcript:***Q Scott, can you look ahead a little bit to tomorrow, to what the President is going to talk about in San Diego? MR. McCLELLAN: It might be better for me to do a little bit more on that later today. I mean, just as a very general matter -- you're asking about the remarks, or you're just asking about the day, or all of the above? Q Mostly remarks. MR. McCLELLAN: First, on the remarks, tomorrow's remarks are really focused on commemorating our World War II veterans and it's a commemoration of World War II. Now, in the context of the remarks, the President will draw some historical comparisons between the war that we were fighting then and the war that we are fighting -- the global war that we're engaged in now. So I think that there will be some comparisons there between the murderous ideology that we were -- that we joined together to defeat back in World War II and the murderous ideology that we're working to defeat today. But it's -- the remarks really are focusing on commemorating World War II and our veterans and all those who sacrificed -- made the ultimate sacrifice in the sense of freedom.......................

pictures of war

Not a pretty picture: Otto Dix's Skull, 1924.

Dix and Beckmann: Two Painters Convey The Horror of War

By Hilton Kramer
Given the horrific history of Germany in the modern era, it was not to be expected that German art from the period would have much to do with scenarios of sweetness and light. A culture of violence and intolerance was bound to produce an art dominated by violent emotions and a sense of dislocation and loss. Exactly how individual talents respond to such extreme situations depends, however, not only on their artistic gifts but on the moral compass that each brings to such a daunting challenge.

It’s one of the many virtues of War/Hell: Master Prints by Otto Dix and Max Beckmann, the new exhibition at the Neue Galerie, that it gives us such vivid accounts of the way two tough-minded artists confronted this challenge without in any way minimizing its gravity or otherwise avoiding its tragic implications. Both artists had the misfortune of having had firsthand experience of trench warfare in the First World War—Beckmann as a medical orderly who suffered a nervous breakdown, Dix as a foot soldier in the trenches whose vision of life remained permanently defined (and permanently impaired) by his encounter with battlefield carnage..........

IF i belived in hell

phelps would surely burn...............


Anti-gay church protests at soldiers’ funerals
Counterdemonstrators in Tennessee chase away members of small church



Updated: 5:38 a.m. ET Aug. 28, 2005
SMYRNA, Tenn. - Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq.
The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars’ down a highway, waving flags and screaming “God bless America.”
“My husband is over there, so I’m here to show my support,” 41-year-old Connie Ditmore said as she waved and American flag and as tears came to her eyes. “To do this at a funeral is disrespectful of a family, no matter what your beliefs are.” The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps’ children, grandchildren and in-laws.
‘God hates you,’ signs read. The church members carried signs and shouted things such as “God hates fags” and “God hates you.”............

i don't know how they call themselves 'christians'.

this is rather cool.......

Icehouse, Tunnel Investigated Researchers Dig For Artifacts That May Link Site To Underground RailroadAugust 29, 2005 By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press

WESTON -- Up a steep and narrow road in a remote part of this small town sits an old icehouse with only the four stone walls still standing. A tunnel runs from the icehouse more than 20 feet and suddenly ends, but the mystery surrounding it has lingered for generations.Legend has it that the property was a stop on the Underground Railroad, a secret and informal network of safe houses used by fugitive slaves in their quest for freedom in the 1800s. A team of archaeological experts from Central Connecticut State University spent several days at the site this month digging for clues. Experts don't expect to know for months whether the property was a stop for slaves because they need to sift through artifacts found in the dirt and walls and conduct more research of the area and historical documents. But their findings, which include ceramics stuffed in the wall, a bone-handled knife, nails and animal bones, left them intrigued...........

whoops!

Glen Chadwick of Houston, Texas tears down a sign by a protester not wanted at the rally for President Bush in Crawford, Texas on Saturday Aug. 27, 2005.

One problem, though (as TBogg reported earlier), the sign belonged to one of the pro-Bush Protest Warriors. They were on the same team. Oops.

just bring our women and men HOME (in one piece)

In the Struggle Over the Iraq War, Women Are on the Front Line
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: August 29, 2005
WASHINGTON

As President Bush traveled around the country last week, he got caught up in a battle of women. Women - mothers and widows of men killed in Iraq - were the most vocal leaders of antiwar protests in Texas, Idaho and Utah that dogged Mr. Bush all week. Another woman, Tammy Pruett, whose husband and five sons have served in Iraq, was showcased by the White House as a pro-war counterpoint. The tableau was a striking change from the 1960's protests against the Vietnam War, when the demonstrations were largely led by young men, who were subject to the draft. Although mothers protested that war too, they were not in the forefront of the movement. What happened in 40 years? How has that changed how the White House responds? In interviews last week, some of the female protesters suggested that decades of feminism had pushed them more easily into leadership and public speaking roles in the antiwar vigils inspired by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a slain soldier, who is demanding to meet with Mr. Bush in a protest outside his ranch. But they also viewed the war through the traditional prism of mothers and wives, and said that women felt the pain of loss more intensely than men.........

pro-war? WHO THE HELL IS PRO-WAR?

light a candle

Mark Wilson/Getty Images The normally bustling French Quarter was nearly deserted Sunday night as New Orleans residents sought shelter from Katrina.
or say a prayer or keep a good thought.

another surprise

not! Halliburton Contract Critic Loses Her Job
Performance Review Cited in Removal
By Griff Witte Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, August 29, 2005; Page A11

A high-level contracting official who has been a vocal critic of the Pentagon's decision to give Halliburton Co. a multibillion-dollar, no-bid contract for work in Iraq, was removed from her job by the Army Corps of Engineers, effective Saturday. Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock, commander of the Army Corps, told Bunnatine H. Greenhouse last month that she was being removed from the senior executive service, the top rank of civilian government employees, because of poor performance reviews. Greenhouse's attorney, Michael D. Kohn, appealed the decision Friday in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, saying it broke an earlier commitment to suspend the demotion until a "sufficient record" was available to address her allegations.

more laws AGAINST women

it's not surprising since as i have been saying all along, we are considered SECOND CLASS CITIZENS. if men could get pregnant (as i have said) birth control would be dispensed for FREE on EVERY street corner! Access to Abortion Pared at State Level This year's state legislative season draws to a close having produced a near-record number of laws imposing new restrictions on a woman's access to abortion or contraception.
Since January, governors have signed several dozen antiabortion measures ranging from parental consent requirements to an outright ban looming in South Dakota. Not since 1999, when a wave of laws banning late-term abortions swept the legislatures, have states imposed so many and so varied a menu of regulations on reproductive health care. Three states have passed bills requiring that women seeking an abortion be warned that the fetus will feel pain, despite inconclusive scientific data on the question. West Virginia and Florida approved legislation recognizing a pre-viable fetus, or embryo, as an independent victim of homicide. And in Missouri, Gov. Matt Blunt (R) has summoned lawmakers into special session Sept. 6 to consider three antiabortion proposals.............

this woman makes leona look like tinkerbelle

via the huffington post

Ann Coulter: New Yorkers "Would Immediately Surrender" If Attacked...

Fox News Posted August 26, 2005 03:52 PM

Watch the video here.
From "Hannity and Colmes," August 25, 2005:

COLMES:...And I want to ask you about something, Ann, that you wrote in your most recent column. You had a very funny line, actually, that it is hard to find a parking spot in New York City. There's no question about it. You've had a pretty good day if you can do that.
But then you said, "It's far preferable to fight them on the streets of Baghdad than in the streets of New York, where the residents would immediately surrender." Now, some New Yorkers...
HENICAN: Ooh...
COLMES: ... felt that you were calling them cowards by making that statement.
COULTER: No, I think I was calling them supporters of Cindy Sheehan.
COLMES: Is that what that is? You certainly don't feel that New Yorkers are cowards?
COULTER: I think they would immediately surrender.
COLMES: So you do?
COULTER: I don't -- I don't think -- I think I'd rather have them trying to invade Mississippi or Georgia, Alabama, you know, the states where I want Cindy Sheehan's bus tour to go.

Supernatural Selection: Creationism's Latest Evolution

GREAT little animation by Mark FioreAugust 25th, 2005 6:27 PM

the 50th anniversary of emmett till's death

this is OUR history. it happened not that long ago. if you think everything is equal now, you are sadly mistaken.
How Photos Became Icon of Civil Rights Movement

By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: August 28, 2005

Chicago Tribune, via Associated Press
Emmett Till's body was shown in a open coffin in Chicago in 1955. Close-up photographs of his face appeared in black publications.

Mutilated is the word most often used to describe the face of Emmett Till after his body was hauled out of the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi. Inhuman is more like it: melted, bloated, missing an eye, swollen so large that its patch of wiry hair looks like that of a balding old man, not a handsome, brazen 14-year-old boy. But if the lynching of Emmett Till was, as the historian David Halberstam called it, the first great media event of the civil rights movement, it became so largely because of the photographs of that monstrous face. Today is the 50th anniversary of the killing, an occasion for a new documentary film, re-examinations of the story in the news media and updates on the progress of a reopened investigation. The Clarion-Ledger, a newspaper in Jackson, Miss., reported last week, for example, that the body federal agents exhumed from Emmett's grave near Chicago in June had been positively identified through DNA. But little has been said about the photographs of Emmett taken at his open-coffin viewing, which were first published nationally in Jet magazine and shunned by mainstream news organizations but have since become iconic, textbook images of the Jim Crow era. In "Eyes on the Prize," the PBS documentary on civil rights, Charles Diggs, a former congressman from Detroit, called the Jet photographs "probably one of the greatest media products in the last 40 or 50 years, because that picture stimulated a lot of anger on the part of blacks all over the country.".........

musician of the day

mississippi john hurt and the delta blues i can't listen to avalon and candy man enough. i was lucky. a friend turned me on to john hurt when i was very young. i developed a love for acoustic, blues, pure american music. music from the heart and music from the soul

haven't i been saying 'send the twins' all along?

Press Wants to Know if Pro-War Officials Will Send Their Own Kids to War By E&P Staff Published: August 27, 2005 7:45 PM ET

NEW YORK It's a question from the press sure to be posed more and more as the months go on, directed at public officials who continue to support the Iraq war: If you believe in the cause so deeply, why aren't your own kids signing up? Most prominently, President Bush (through his press spokesmen) is now hearing it, but it's now trickling down to the congressional and state level.Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, a strong backer of Bush policy in Iraq -- who has give sons age 24 to 35 -- heard the query yesterday, from a Boston Herald reporter. Romney, who has promoted National Guard recruitment, replied, a bit angrily, that he has not urged his own sons to enlist -- and isn't sure whether they would. The Herald tossed the question as Romney as he was honored by the Massachusetts National Guard. "No, I have not urged my own children to enlist. I don't know the status of my childrens' potentially enlisting in the Guard and Reserve," Romney said, his voice tinged with anger, the Herald reported. Neither the Romney children nor the governor have served in the military, a Romney spokeswoman said...........