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Here's the Story of a Hurricane

This is good enough for a complete read here.

WEATHER
Here's the Story of a Hurricane

In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked a major hurricane strike on New Orleans as "among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country," directly behind a terrorist strike on New York City. Yesterday, disaster struck. One of the strongest storms in recorded history rocked the Gulf Coast, bringing 145 mph winds and floods of up to 20 feet. One million residents were evacuated; at least 65 are confirmed dead. Tens of thousands of homes were completely submerged. Mississippi's governor reported "catastrophic damage on all levels." Downtown New Orleans buildings were "imploding," a fire chief said. Oil surged past $70 a barrel. New Orleanians were grimly asking each other, "So, where did you used to live?" (To donate to Red Cross disaster relief, click here or call 1-800-HELP-NOW). While it happened, President Bush decided to ... continue his vacation, stopping by the Pueblo El Mirage RV and Golf Resort in El Mirage, California, to hawk his Medicare drug benefit plan. On Sunday, President Bush said, "I want to thank all the folks at the federal level and the state level and the local level who have taken this storm seriously.” He’s not one of them. Below, the Progress Report presents "How Not to Prepare for a Massive Hurricane," by President Bush, congressional conservatives, and their corporate special interest allies.

SLASH SPENDING ON HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS IN NEW ORLEANS: Two months ago, President Bush took an ax to budget funds that would have helped New Orleans prepare for such a disaster. The New Orleans branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suffered a "record $71.2 million" reduction in federal funding, a 44.2 percent reduction from its 2001 levels. Reports at the time said that thanks to the cuts, "major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. ... Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now." (Too bad Louisiana isn't a swing state. In the aftermath of Hurricane Frances -- and the run-up to the 2004 election -- the Bush administration awarded $31 million in disaster relief to Florida residents who didn't even experience hurricane damage.)

DESTROY NATURAL HURRICANE PROTECTIONS: The Gulf Coast wetlands form a "natural buffer that helps protect New Orleans from storms," slowing hurricanes down as they approach from sea. When he came into office, President Bush pledged to uphold the "no net loss" wetland policy his father initiated. He didn't keep his word. Bush rolled back tough wetland policies set by the Clinton administration, ordering federal agencies "to stop protecting as many as 20 million acres of wetlands and an untold number of waterways nationwide." Last year, four environmental groups issued a joint report showing that administration policies had allowed "developers to drain thousands of acres of wetlands." The result? New Orleans may be in even greater danger: "Studies show that if the wetlands keep vanishing over the next few decades, then you won't need a giant storm to devastate New Orleans -- a much weaker, more common kind of hurricane could destroy the city too."

GUT THE AGENCY TASKED WITH DEVELOPING HURRICANE RESPONSES: Forward-thinking federal plans with titles like "Issues and Options in Flood Hazards Management," "Floods: A National Policy Concern," and "A Framework for Flood Hazards Management" would be particularly valuable in a time of increasingly intense hurricanes. Unfortunately, the agency that used to produce them -- the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) -- was gutted by Gingrich conservatives several years ago. As Chris Mooney (who presciently warned of the need to bulk up hurricane defenses in New Orleans last May) noted yesterday, "If we ever return to science-based policymaking based on professionalism and expertise, rather than ideology, an office like OTA would be very useful in studying how best to save a city like New Orleans -- and how Congress might consider appropriating money to achieve this end."

SEND OUR FIRST RESPONDERS TO FIGHT A WAR OF CHOICE: National Guard and Reserve soldiers are typically on the front lines responding to disasters like Katrina -- that is, if they're not fighting in Iraq. Roughly 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is currently deployed in Iraq, where guardsmen and women make up about four of every 10 soldiers. Additionally, "Dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators" used by the Louisiana Guard are also tied up abroad. "The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," Louisiana National Guard Lt. Colonel Pete Schneider told reporters earlier this month. "Recruitment is down dramatically, mostly because prospective recruits are worried about deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan or another country," the AP reported recently. "I used to be able to get about eight people a month," said National Guard 1st Sgt. Derick Young, a New Orleans recruiter. "Now, I'm lucky if I can get one."

HELP FUEL GLOBAL WARMING: Severe weather occurrences like hurricanes and heat waves already take hundreds of lives and cause millions in damages each year. As the Progress Report has noted, data increasingly suggest that human-induced global warming is making these phenomena more dangerous and extreme than ever. "The hurricane that struck Louisiana yesterday was nicknamed Katrina by the National Weather Service," science author Ross Gelbspan writes. "Its real name is global warming." AP reported recently on a Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis that shows that "major storms spinning in both the Atlantic and the Pacific ... have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 percent" since the 1970s, trends that are "closely linked to increases in the average temperatures of the ocean surface and also correspond to increases in global average atmospheric temperatures during the same period." Yet just last week, as Katrina was gathering steam and looming over the Gulf, the Bush administration released new CAFE standards that actually encourage automakers to produce bigger, less fuel efficient vehicles, while preventing states from taking strong, progressive action to reverse global warming.

Nero Strumming

White House resident Bush reacts on Tuesday to one of the worst natural disasters to hit the U.S. in its history. From Yahoo!

I guess he does have to get on with his life after all.

Clever

Room for improvement, but a great start. A great great start.

Robertson issues official "my bad"

Oh, I guess that's OK then. Hey, didn't you actually run for president one year?

Fascism and Nazism Defined

Fascism and Nazism Defined. At least according to Britain's Channel 4. Fascism is here in America too, it wraps itself in the flag and it wears a cross.

Fascism and Nazism

In the first half of the century, there were two types of right-wing ideological response to both liberal democracy and Communism.

Fascism

'Fascism' is derived from the Latin fasces, which means a bundle of rods with a projecting axe – the symbol of authority in ancient Rome. The term was first used by an Italian anti-socialist militia, the Fascio di Combattrimento, in 1919, and was applied by Mussolini to his movement after his rise to power in 1922.

The ideological basis of the movement was vicious anti-Communism and anti-liberalism. Communists were seen as unpatriotic traitors and liberals as weak muddlers. Fascists praised the strong bellicose leader, exalted in dreams of national glory and had a nostalgic vision of the past. Although some elements among Mussolini's followers had anti-capitalist prejudices, especially focusing on decadent rich people, the ideology was not opposed to private property.

Once in power, Fascism relied on an authoritarian state apparatus, and directed discontent against marginal groups such as Jews and gypsies. Its main appeal was irrational, using emotive slogans and ancient prejudices to bolster the leader's strongman appeal. Fascism was a direct influence on Hitler's Nazism, and on several other right-wing movements, including the Falange in Franco's Spain and the Ustase in Croatia.

Nazism

The name comes from the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartie (NSDAP, German National Socialist Workers party), which was shortened to Nazi. Originally called the German Workers party, founded by Anton Drexler after World War I, it was renamed in 1920. The following year, Hitler became party leader and introduced the Führerprinzip (leader principle), which meant that all authority came from himself.

During the 1920s, Nazism had a radical socialist side, blaming rich capitalists for the country's woes, but this was eliminated when Hitler came fully into power. Nazism, as expounded in his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle), was based on virulent hatred of the Jews, wild fantasies about a world Jewish conspiracy, hatred for all foreigners and contempt for the peoples of eastern Europe as half-breeds and degenerates.

An emotional rather than intellectual theory, it borrowed from such philosophers as the 19th-century radical thinker Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as incorporating racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic ideas common in European culture. The theory that the Aryan race was superior and needed extra living space (meaning more land in eastern Europe) led to World War II and the destruction of Hitler's dream of a '1,000-year Reich'.

Nazism became attractive to the German people during the massive crisis following the economic crash of 1929, which resulted in 3.2 million unemployed in Germany by 1930. After that, the Nazis remained in power because of their innovative use of propaganda and evocative symbols such as the swastika; the economic recovery that came from rearmament and the imposition of work by a totalitarian state, whose secret police eliminated any opposition – and, not least, because of the mesmerising personality of Hitler himself. In 1945, following Hitler's death and Germany's defeat, the Nazi party was abolished and banned.

Nazi rally, Berlin: 1933

Video Transcript About this clip

The successors

Although both Fascism and Nazism were defeated during World War II, several neo-Fascist political parities have emerged in Europe since 1945. These include the British National Party (BNP), the French Front Nationale (National Front), the Liberal Party in Austria and the Italian Allianza Nationale (National Alliance). Although these parties are usually anti-Semitic, their main appeal is their xenophobic and nationalistic message.

From Democracy Now! this morning.

AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Well, can you talk about who Pat Robertson is, and is this statement unusual for him?

CHRIS HEDGES: Well, this fits a pattern of essentially seditious statements that have been made by Pat Robertson since the early 1980s, when he embraced this new doctrine within the Christian right known as Christian reconstructionism or dominionism -- that's not a term that he would use to describe it, but that's how shorthand for those of us who look at it from the outside -- where he calls for the creation of a Christian America, a Christian state. And there has been an assault against the democratic system, largely unseen, I think, by the majority of the American people, ever since the early 1980s.

[more]

Bush what?

AP/Douglas C. Pizac

Bill Moyer, 73, wears a "Bullshit Protector" flap over his ear while President George W. Bush, on screen at rear, addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars at their 106th convention Monday, Aug. 22, 2005, in Salt Lake City. Moyer served in Korea and Vietnam, and in the post- WWII occupation of Germany.

The tipping point

The heart wasn't recognized as a pump earlier because there was no such thing as a pump.
We've had exponential, geometric, random, expansion, choas.... but we haven't had tipping point. That doesn't say that we're going to do anything about it, or that the notion has come in time.
Greenspawn might say that you don't know if it was a tipping point until it tipped.
The overarching principle is immortalized in "The Tragedy of the Green"
And distractions, like Iraq, starvation, over population... but we're back to the green again.

What is the sound of rats fleeing a sinking ship?

AUG. 23, 2005: MORE READERS SPEAK

I've added a new selection of reader mail below. Just to give some feeling for the overall tide of NRO reader opinion: Since my post on the president's VFW address went up early Tuesday morning, I've been flooded with almost 200 emails - all but five of them sharing my concerns.

I know well how beleaguered a White House can feel in tough times. I know that they look to their friends in places like NRO for support, not criticism - and I know that the people who bear the responsibility must contend with a wide range of difficulties often unimagined by those who do not bear the responsibility.

But all that acknowledged: This war and this war president are in real political trouble - and the administration is responding with deadly dangerous passivity. It's not the administration's critics who are delivering this warning. It's the administration's strongest supporters. Don't believe me. Believe the emails below.

The Peking Duck: Oil Wars

The Peking Duck: Oil Wars

The chaos created by sudden fuel shortages in Guangdong Province continues. Even yesterday, I noticed several petrol stations guarded by armed PLA troops. The signs outside warned that fuel was only available for public and government vehicles. The official reason for the shortages proffered by the central government, laughably, concerned last week’s typhoon that hit the province. Additional speculation for the shortages blamed market distortions due to price controls, alas this was only partly correct. Finally, the Hong Kong media got it right yesterday, the real reasons for the shortages have been common knowledge in Guangzhou for several weeks...

Iraq: Juan Cole Interview

This is worth the read/listen/watch. Democracy Now! is a radio & TV program that is available on the net. In this segment they interview Juan Cole (www.juancole.com) an expert on Iraq that gives details on how the U.S. can best disengage from this conflict. Here are some excerpts.

I think it's hard for Americans to realize the ethos there. I'm not sure we could get a big car loan from most of our first cousins, but in Iraq, family really matters. And so, the U.S. military, by its tactics, has been incurring a series of feuds with all of the major clans in Iraq.

I think there are political steps that need to be taken. The Iraqi -- present Iraqi government, dominated by Shiite religious parties and Kurds, has been extremely harsh towards the Sunni Arabs. They have adopted punitive policies towards ex-Baathists. Almost anybody who was anybody in the old Iraq was a member of the Baath Party, and most of those people hadn't committed any crimes personally.

Intelligent Falling

"Anti-falling physicists have been theorizing for decades about the 'electromagnetic force,' the 'weak nuclear force,' the 'strong nuclear force,' and so-called 'force of gravity,'" Burdett said. "And they tilt their findings toward trying to unite them into one force. But readers of the Bible have already known for millennia what this one, unified force is: His name is Jesus."

Pat Robertson, Christian

Via huffingtonpost.com

Pat Robertson On Venezuela's Prez: Assassinate Him... “It's A Whole Lot Cheaper Than Starting A War”...

Bush: now there's an ugly American

The basic Bush doctrine translates as "Do as we say or die". Alright, maybe that's too strong, maybe just get sick, or something.
(I'm so glad I ordered my "F Bush" T-shirt!)

Quotes

"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre."

-Frank Zappa, circa 1977

"I'm weary, ladies and gentlemen, of even having to express sympathy. 'Oh, she lost her son!' Yes, yes, yes, but (sigh) we all lose things."

-Rush Limbaugh commenting about Cindy Sheehan

People's Daily Online -- US military team tried to alert FBI about attack in 2000

"But according to Shaffer, US military lawyers forced members of Able Danger to cancel three scheduled meetings with the FBI [on Al Qaeda cells in the US] at the last minute because they feared controversy if Able Danger was portrayed as a military operation that had violated the privacy of civilians who were legally in the United States."
I hope there is some really good reason, something other than touchy-feely. I hope there is some rational, objective review of the process that happened here

"Racial and Ethnic Minorities Gain in the Nation as a Whole"

"'Our future in Texas is increasingly tied to our minority populations,' Mr. Murdock said. If their education and skills continue to lag, he added, the state will be less competitive in the global economy."
Somehow, this doesn't sound like a gain.

The Right Science

The right, as with so many insitutions, has its own science too. Follow the link to discover the true answers to the seven rightwing science myths.

"Condoms are full of holes"
"Phonics is the only effective way to teach reading"
"Abortion causes breast cancer"
"Remote prayer cures disease"
"Emergency contraception is a health hazard"
"Terri Schiavo could have gotten better"
"Humans are not descended from pre-human ancestors."

Of course the left had its huge science myth that I guess some still believe.

"History is predetermined"

The banality of evil

The Klan is violent, and so are protestors at the abortion clinics. The Klan was opposed to Blacks, Jews, Catholics. The protestors at the abortion clinics are perforce directed against women Does the court really need to be informed that only women have abortions even though men may be present.
Did the court need to be informed that the Klan was anti black because there were white people present?

Air Force colonel accused of political vandalism

Buck Fush!

DENVER - An Air Force Reserve colonel could face criminal charges for allegedly vandalizing cars at Denver International Airport bearing pro-Bush bumper stickers.

Lt. Col. Alexis Fecteau, director of operations for reserve forces at the National Security Space Institute in Colorado Springs, is believed responsible for defacing at least 10 parked vehicles between December and June, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said Tuesday.

From Juan Cole

CONSTITUTION

"They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years and we're not using it anymore."

George W. Bush will pardon Karl Rove.

(I saw this first on BFA here.)

Paul Begala
08.07.2005

I Predict: Bush Will Pardon Rove

Arianna Huffington, Lawrence O'Donnell and others on this post have done a terrific job of staying on top of every new fact in the Plame-CIA leak case. I, however, want to go beyond the facts and engage in a little conjecture:

George W. Bush will pardon Karl Rove.

I know I'm getting WAY ahead of the facts, but this thing has the smell of a serious legal problem for the Bush Administration. From the outside, Mr. Fitzgerald does not look like a prosecutor who sees wrongdoing but believes it falls short of criminal conduct, like, say, Joe DiGenova did when he investigated allegations that the Bush 41 Administration rummaged Bill Clinton's passport file.

The Bush team excels at political strategy. They pride themselves on seeing three moves ahead on the chess board. So let us look a few moves ahead as well:

Mr. Fitzgerald indicts Mr. Rove. Maybe for violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, maybe the Espionage Act (which outlaws mishandling classified information). Perhaps the charge is a criminal cover-up –- obstruction of justice, perjury, conspiracy or lying to a federal investigator.

What does the President do? What does he say?

As a former White House speechwriter, I've taken the liberty of drafting the speech for Mr. Bush:

My fellow Americans. We meet once again in dark and dangerous times. I remember well the terrible tragedy of September the 11th, 2001. Today, we have the terrorists on the run, and yet they attack our soldiers nearly every day in Iraq. They bomb tourists in Egypt, kill innocents in London and Madrid and Indonesia and Kenya. This truly is a global struggle against violent extremism.

This is not a conventional war, and it will not be fought nor won by conventional means. At the heart of our success will be tactics and techniques that I am not free to divulge to you -- strategies and secrets you will never know. At a time like this, in a post-September the 11th, 2001 world, preserving, protecting and defending our national security secrets is literally a matter of life and death.

That is why I was so angry when the name of one of our CIA agents was revealed two years ago. I vowed then to cooperate in every way to bring the wrongdoers to justice, and I have done so. But what started as an investigation into national security has gone off track. Those who seek to undermine me politically are now pursuing a course that will harm America's security and could invite another September the 11th, 2001.

Let me put this as plainly as I can: the charges against Karl Rove are false. He is an innocent man. He was a strong and steady presence at my side on September the 11th, 2001. And he has a right to defend himself, his good name, his lifetime of service to our country and his wonderful family. The charges that have been filed against him are the result of a secretive grand jury proceeding in which Karl has not been shown the evidence against him, has not been able to confront his accusers, has not even had a lawyer present when he was questioned -- a right every murderer in every police station has.

But now that the secret grand jury proceedings are over, more than anything else, Karl wants to stand up in the cold, clear light of day and defend his good name.

But here's the problem. If Karl were to explain how and why he is innocent; if he were to offer his strong and compelling defense in public, it would reveal even more of our nation's secrets. The terrorists have CNN, you know, and Karl's trial would give them a daily tutorial in just how we fight the war on terror. They would learn lessons from the trial that might allow them to attack us here at home, just as they did on September the 11th, 2001.

I cannot allow this to happen. I cannot jeopardize the lives of our fighting men and women -- no matter how much I love Karl and no matter how badly he wants to clear his name. I have not forgotten the lessons of September the 11th, 2001. And I will not allow anything to happen that makes another September the 11th, 2001 possible. And so, in an act of selfless patriotism, Karl has agreed not to offer any public defense. He has agreed to keep secret all the evidence that clears him. And he has agreed -- at my insistence -- to accept a full, free and absolute pardon.

Although innocent, Karl will pay dearly. Those who oppose our efforts to combat terrorism will vilify him. I would remind them that in front of the Department of Justice stands a statue of Nathan Hale. A noose around his neck, Hale stands defiant, about to be executed by the British for keeping secrets that led to America's independence. Nathan Hale said he regretted that he had but one life to give to his country. Karl himself has told me he regrets he has but one reputation, but he is willing to sacrifice it for his country, especially if it helps to prevent another September the 11th, 2001.

Karl's selfless act will end the matter immediately and allow us all to get back to the life and death struggle against those who hate us for our freedoms, and who attacked us on September the 11th, 2001.

God bless you all, and may God bless the United States of America.

Economic News Hurting Bush

What's wrong with this sentence? Do you think you can tell?
Ah, I thought you could!
Since you got that one, here's another:
14 Marines getting blown in Iraq up really hurting Bush on war.
OK... one more: can anyone remember what a newspaper used to do?

Swallowing a Lie... The possibilities are limitless

Wow, is this a scary result! Another piece of bad news from this Matt is that Morgan will likely never eat popovers again.

A team led by psychologist Elizabeth F. Loftus of UC Irvine found that it could persuade people to avoid fattening foods by implanting unpleasant childhood memories about them — even though the memories were untrue.

In a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team said it successfully turned people off strawberry ice cream and, in earlier studies, it had done the same with pickles and hard-boiled eggs — in each case by manipulating the subjects to believe that the foods made them sick when they were children.

The scientists say they have also successfully implanted positive opinions about asparagus by convincing subjects that they once loved the vegetable.

Ho hum

The president, by Mencken

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

Ain't it the truth.