Be There..Or Be Square

This is a very comprehensive article outlining the problems with the administrations approach to disaster relief in N.O. It's a virtual repeat (ironically) of Bush I handling of hurricane Andrew. It's also really sad and pathetic:

Federal government wasn't ready for Katrina, disaster experts say

Red Cross Donation Site

Here

Hope Not.......

So many posts today.

The news reports are coming fast and furious. Katrina has turned the normally dull summer into a bluster of news.....unfortunately.

This post from The Oil Drum comes from an "anonymous insider" in the oil industry that these folks consider highly credible. Let's hope...sincerely...that it's not true. Excerpt:

There are MANY production platforms missing (as in not visible from the air). This means they have been totally lost. I am talking about 10's of platforms, not single digit numbers. Each platform can have from 4 to 100+ wells on it. Most larger ones have 20-30 wells in this area, with numerous caisson wells. They are on their sides, on the bottom of the gulf - they will likely be left as reef material, provided we can get permission. MMS regulations require us to plug each of the wells that were on these platforms - HUGE cost now, as the platforms are gone... Hopefully, MMS will grant `abandon in place' status for these wiped out structures.

We also set individual wells as satellites and pipe them back to existing platforms. These stand-alone wells are called caisson wells. 90% of those in the storm path are bent over, rendering them a total loss, We would have to remove the existing bent structure and drill a new well, as bent pipe is basically unusable.

[...]

In short, the Gulf area hit by the storm is basically in about the same shape as Biloxi. The damage numbers you have gotten from the government and analysts are, in my opinion, much too low. We are looking at YEARS to return to the production levels we had prior to the storm. The eastern Gulf of Mexico is primarily oil production...

Loss of the MARS platform alone cost us 95,000 barrels a day for a year or maybe more.

YEARS, people. I know what this means - hope everyone else gets it too...

This source also references this article as further proof that the Saudis are tapping out in production. And remember, this area provides about a 1/4 of domestic production.....

$5/gal gas anyone?

Oh my......

Update: Via Atrios, CNN is reporting $4.99/gal gas and gas lines in Atlanta. Panic as much as anything can drive this thing in the short run.

Update II: Gas lines in South Carolina and North Carolina.

The Blame Game

I've been hearing and reading a lot of left-leaning commentators discussing the problems with funding for flooding prevention in New Orleans. The question being asked, legitimately in my view is, were the levee breaks a "natural disaster" or not?

From Salon:

So we wondered the other day whether the president had gotten another PDB when he was down in Crawford this August -- one that said, "Hurricane Katrina Determined to Strike in U.S."

Metaphorically speaking, it turns out, Bush did get such a PDB -- and he got it years ago. Experts have warned for years that New Orleans is particularly vulnerable to hurricane damage. And as the folks at the Center for American Progress note, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report in early 2001 that identified the three catastrophes most likely to hit the United States: a terrorist attack on New York, an earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane in NewOrleans.

I live in the S.F. Bay Area...and personally, I'm checking my earthquake insurance as I type.

They cut funding for flood and hurricane projects planned by the New Orleans district of the Army Corps of Engineers. According to one published report, the New Orleans district had $147 million to spend on such projects in 2001. In fiscal year 2005, which ends next month, the district will have had about $82 million, a drop of about 44 percent. As we reported earlier this week, the Bush administration proposed further cuts for the district for fiscal year 2006.

There are many other published reports of a shortage of National Guardsmen and rescue equipment due to the war. Kevin Drum finds evidence that FEMA is botching the job as does Josh Marshall, perhaps due to Bush appointees rolling back reforms implemented in the Clinton administration. I suspect more will come out about the problems of repairing the first failed levee, and much much more. And over at AmericaBlog, John Avarosis has been grilling Bush continually over his "I have a life too" attitude towards the disaster.

Is this all evidence that we can lay much of the New Orleans disaster on Bush's doorstep? I don't know. I suspect that both the left and right will fire up the spin machines to assign blame, politically. But just because it gets shrill doesn't mean it's all wrong. Political leadership at all levels have been denying the problem that is New Orleans for a long time. Billmon does a fantastic job outlining what an environmental disaster area New Orleans has been for some time, noting that it can't go on forever building levee's ever higher and pumping ever more.

I think there's plenty of blame to go around. And I think that Bush bears a pretty fair share. Too bad there's no (realistic) way for him to be held accountable. But perhaps, just maybe, if his poll approval numbers fall consistently to the 30's, we can expect some breakup in Republican party discipline and some real changes.

Fecal Touch?

As Atrios says,

Everything he touches turns to shit

Small Miracles

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"Thank God - what is today? Tuesday? - thank God it's Tuesday, and my whole family is alive."

TONYA ROSE, of Biloxi, Miss., who narrowly escaped Hurricane Katrina.

Donations

Katrina....where to donate

The Dam Breaks

How Bush's policies doomed New Orleans

Impossible To Make It Up

Blogger "Eve's Apple" got this email from Columbia Christians for Christ:

From: Columbia Christians for Life
Subject: Hurricane Katrina satellite image looks like 6-week fetus
To: Columbia Christians for Life

Satellite picture of Hurricane Katrina at NOAA.com looks like a 6-week unborn human child as it comes ashore the Gulf Coast, vicinity states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida at 12:32 PM, Monday, August 29, 2005



Hurricane "Katrina" (reportedly means "Pure" in Russian) - satellite image - Monday, 29 Aug 05, 12:32 PM (EDT) - coming ashore Gulf Coast - satellite image looks like 6-week fetus

check out NOAA website: www.noaa.gov/

The image of the hurricane above with its eye already ashore at 12:32 PM Monday, August 29 looks like a fetus (unborn human baby) facing to the left (west) in the womb, in the early weeks of gestation (approx. 6 weeks). Even the orange color of the image is reminiscent of a commonly used pro-life picture of early prenatal development (see sign with picture of 8-week pre-born human child below). In this picture, and in another picture in today's on-line edition of USA Today*, this hurricane looks like an unborn human child.

Louisiana has 10 child-murder-by-abortion centers - FIVE are in New Orleans
www.ldi.org ('Find an Abortion Clinic [sic]')

Baby-murder state # 1 - California (125 abortion centers) - land of earthquakes, forest fires, and mudslides
Baby-murder state # 2 - New York (78 abortion centers) - 9-11 Ground Zero
Baby-murder state # 3 - Florida (73 abortion centers) - Hurricanes Bonnie, Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne in 2004; and now, Hurricane Katrina in 2005

God's message: REPENT AMERICA !

Update: No, they can't be right, because this group says Katrina hit N.O. because of gays!

Worse Than Predicted (Updated)

It's looking like Katrina was every bit as bad...or worse than expected. The governor has ordered a complete evacuation of New Orleans.

Awful.

Updated: American Red Cross Blog:

MSY -
40,000-50,000 people in the superdome, including seriously injured people, and evacuees from the Hospitals.
There are no running water or sewage facilities -- and no power. Temperatures are in he 90's
within the building
One man just committed suicide by jumping. 'Unrest' is growing within the superdome - and their
are there are now military as well civilian police on the scene.
There are now several; major fires in view of city. There is evidently a fair amount of oil and gas floating
on the flood waters.

Water is still rising and the Mayor is just now being evacuated by helicopter as City hall is now surrounded by water that can only be reached by small boat, water is about 3 feet deep at the steps of City Hall.

80% of New Orleans is totally submerged now, and will likely become 100% submerged tonight
The depth of the water in the BIZ district is around 6-10 inches at this time.

This is a result of 2 MAJOR BREACHES OF THE LEVEE. The first one ,is about 400 feet long, and appears to have given
way around 9PM last night. The Corp of Engineers have now said there is also a second breach as well. Within the hour
the Pentagon will be taking over the coordination and manpower / machinery to assist in closing the 2 breaches.

The COE indicates there is no other way to resolve the problem, and they will be using huge cranes, barges of sand and intend
to 'plug' the breached area. Until that is accomplished, News Orleans will continue to fill up with water
No time table is known on how long it will take. The COE indicated they have 'great concern' for the a specific
pumping station - the largest in the world -- and it will be eventually used to drain the water out of the
city after the levee has been repaired.

This is turning into a 'slow motion version' of the worst case scenario for New Orleans.
Over 1,200 people have been rescued by 40 coast guard recovery helicopters where people are standing on
roofs - since yesterday. Untold numbers of dead - likely in the hundreds and possibly near 1,000 or more
Disease is expected to take a heavy toll within days. This could claim thousands of lives. The key seemingly
is to somehow to evacuate everyone from the city. Whether this can be done I have no clue.

ELSEWHERE:
Video from the air just now showed the complete devastation of the coastal area from Mobile west to Gulfport.
An oil platform (LARGE) was brought across D auphin island and dumped to the north of the island just south
of that mouth of Mobile Bay.

TROPICS

A strong wave -0 that briefly was classified as a Tropical depression, is drifting WNW, and showing no sign
or organizing. However, the global models are indicating that conditions will become more conducive for development of this system, located about 1500 miles east of the Lesser Antilles.

Dazed and Confused

I'm so confused.

Bush Cuts Short Vacation

Though they insisted he wasn't really on vacation, the White House announced that President Bush "will cut short his vacation to return to Washington on Wednesday to help monitor federal efforts to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina," the AP reports. Bush had been scheduled to return on Friday.

Let Them Eat Cake

Hurricane? Where?




White House Caption:

President George W. Bush shares a laugh with Myrtle Jones during a Conversation on Medicare Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, at the James L. Brulte Senior Center in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Medal Award Winners

For those of you who may not be familiar, the conservative and more extreme blog sites are often referred to as the "Fighting 101st Keyboarders". Well, now our friends at The News Blog have decided it time for awards:

The kombat keyboard badge

The kombat keyboard badge with single
chickenhawk


And the Penultimate award (drum roll please)



The Kombat Keyboard Badge with double
chickenhawks


Congratulations to those brave Freepers (Free Republic is a hack conservative blog) who have been awarded these medals for bravery while keyboarding in their jammies.

Sex Offenders

The other day, I sent out an email to friends pointing to a Justice Department web site publicizing facts vs. myths regarding sex offenders. Personally, I was very surprised at what I read, particularly reconviction rates and treatment success. Turns out, that reconviction rates run from 13% to 27%, depending on the category of offense.

In psychotherapeutic circles, it's commonly accepted that sexual perpetrators are "untreatable". Yet, the Justice Department has this to say about treatment:

Several studies present optimistic conclusions about the effectiveness of treatment programs that are empirically based, offense-specific, and comprehensive (Lieb, Quinsey, and Berliner, 1998). The only meta-analysis of treatment outcome studies to date has found a small, yet significant treatment effect—an 8% reduction in the recidivism rate for offenders who participated in treatment (Hall, 1995). Research also demonstrates that sex offenders who fail to complete treatment programs are at increased risk for both sexual and general recidivism (Hanson and Bussiere, 1998).

The "only studies"?

Seems like that psychotherpeutic attitude has penetrated to the treatment research circles too! That 8% may not seem like much, but remember that the reconvict rate is pretty low to begin with.

When I was a practicing psychotherapist, I had the experience of treating a couple of sexual offenders....let's call them Bobby and Jimmy. Bobby was 11 years old when he, and another 11 year old boy, were caught groping and touching each other in the school bathroom. After questioning (by a police officer in an isolated room with his gun showing, and without Bobby's mother present), Bobby admitted to the behavior. Despite arguments that Bobby wasn't mirandized (neither he or his mother was until after the questioning) he was convicted of a felony and listed as a sexual offender.

Jimmy was another dangerous character. He was about 8 years old when he was caught groping his niece. He too was convicted and became a card-carrying (yes, they have to carry a card) registered sex offender FOR LIFE. And as a part of the terms of probation, until he turned 18 Jimmy's parents were required to insure that he was under the supervision of an adult at all times he was around other children (doesn't sound like much, but think about it).

I know, I know. You may be saying to yourself, "self, there must be more to these stories". There isn't. These were ordinary boys...boys with some problems to be addressed for sure...but not dangerous sexual predators.

As you may know, there are now laws requiring convicted sex offenders to register with localities as to their address, and the common practice of publicizing offenders addresses on the internet or other media. There's a local news story of legislation to equip all convicted sex offenders with GPS devices, so law enforcement officials can know where they are all the time.

Then I read this via TalkLeft:

Two released sex offenders who were on a registration list available on the Internet have been murdered. A man is believed to have posed as an FBI officer, went to their apartment and shot them.

The man presented himself to the three roommates as a member of the FBI and said he wanted to talk to them about their Level III sex offender status, according to police.

The fake FBI agent told the roommates that one of them was on a “hit list” on an Internet site, according to the police. The roommate who reported the deaths left while the FBI imposter was still there, Ambrose said.

Is this an isolated case of vigilante justice, or will this be the beginning of a trend?

Well, I realize that sexual crimes are terrible crimes. Believe me, in my practice I treated a number of individuals who were the victims of unspeakable abuse. But perps being murdered by vigilantes who find them on the internet after they've served their sentences?

I personally think the laws requiring public notification should be carefully reviewed, using knowledge and not hysteria as a basis for legislation. More and more, we hamstring judges whose job is to evaluate cases individually, and to determine what is an appropriate societal response to the offense.

And I certainly don't think the idea of strapping on a GPS device to every single registered offender makes any sense at all.

What Season Is It?

Anyone have a guess?

:)

Roll Over

This is a very strange news story reported from our local newspaper:

Hollywood producer Terry Carr and his daughter appear to have snacked on yogurt and chips, then prepared to go to sleep in the back of their car just before they died under bizarre circumstances in the parking lot of a Clearlake Oaks gas station, according to autopsy reports released this week.

Carr, 62, whose credits include "On Golden Pond," "The Innocents" and "Predator 2," died of a heart attack. Arieka Carr, 9, was killed when her dying father fell backward across her torso, suffocating the child as she lay in the back of their Jeep Grand Cherokee, the report said.

The autopsy reports ruled out foul play, intoxication with either drugs or alcohol, and sexual abuse.

[...]

Two days before leaving Ashland, he dumped a box of personal belongings in a pasture on the outskirts of Ashland. And a black suitcase and a duffel bag were found inside the Jeep the day Terry and Arieka Carr died, according to the autopsy reports.

Terry Carr also had told his brother, John Carr, who lives in Clearlake Oaks, he would be visiting. But he didn't say when and did not contact his brother Aug. 1, according to Lake County detectives.

The Tower Mart parking lot where the bodies were found is a short distance from John Carr's home. Employees at the store reported seeing Terry and Arieka Carr walking around in the early morning hours. Their bodies were discovered inside the car in the early afternoon.

Inside the Jeep were four empty yogurt bottles and an opened bag of potato chips on the front passenger seat, according to the autopsy reports.

[...]

Detectives noted several details that led them to believe the Carrs planned to take a nap.

The back seat of the car was folded away to make room in the cargo department and several things had been placed in a shopping cart outside of the vehicle, according to the report.

Both victims also had removed some of their clothing.

Arieka Carr was in a pink polo shirt and underwear on a blue blanket that partly covered her face. She lay face down on the left side of the cargo compartment with her head toward the rear and her hands clenched in fists. Her pants and sandals were stacked at her feet.

Her father was face up in his T-shirt and underwear. His feet were toward the right passenger door and his head at the right.

The weight of his body on the child's back prevented the child from moving or taking sufficiently deep breaths to stay alive, according to the report.

Terry Carr weighed 212 pounds. Arieka Carr weighed just 55 pounds.

Very very strange......

Pool Party

I've been meaning to expand on this since the story first surfaced. I've been steaming since I read about the pool getting to go to the pool. Via Dan Froomkin, who writes a great daily summary blog of the White House doings.

Froomkin:

I wrote in Friday's column about the off-the-record party Bush threw for the White House press corps last week, earning me my first-ever mention in a Maureen Dowd column in the New York Times.

Only two of the reporters actually present at the dinner seem to have had enough courage to actually write about it.

Julie Mason of the Houston Chronicle writes that "as it often can be when strange bedfellows find themselves at a party, the evening had a somewhat awkward atmosphere. Was it work or social? Neither side seemed sure.

"Nothing the president said could be quoted, but it's rare that reporters get uninterrupted access to him for 90 minutes, particularly when beer is served. Bush, who gave up drinking years ago, drank a non-alcoholic Buckler."

NBC News producer Antoine Sanfuentes blogged: "Over a fare of fried catfish, potato salad, coleslaw, and chocolate-chip cookies, reporters were offered a brief glimpse inside the presidential retreat as well as an opportunity to speak informally with the President."

I find the cozy cozy cocktail crowd gathering offensive. But not for the reasons that you may think.

I'm quite sure that in times past, reporters who covered the President had a cozy social relationship with those they covered. And I'm also sure that this resulted in some skewed reporting. But something has changed.

The level of reporting in the midst of these dual relationships has been appalling. Everyone's (including me) favorite whipping girl, Judy Miller, is the poster child for what has gone wrong. And it involves corporate ownership of the media, laziness of reporters, and affluence.

In times past, the media was much more competitive. Ownership was as committed to the quality of the "fourth estate" as the reporters themselves.

No longer.

Now the only thing ownership cares about is stock price, price to earnings ratio's, and return on investment.....which leads to only caring about ratings...which means pandering to the LCD (lowest common denomenator).....which means lots of rubbernecking/trainwreck stories. Reporters know that they need to come up with the dramatic, glitzy story to get the attention viewers, and of those above them. Thus, stories have gotten more superficial, more glitzy and less meaty.

The laziness and affluence of the reporters seems to go hand-in-hand. In this gilded age, greed runs rampant over the strong sense of inner values. As much as ever, rubbing elbows with the rich and famous (remember that show?) has become important for a reporters image. After all, noterity leads to punditry, which leads to influence, fawning fans and cashola. This pull of fame and fortune, combines with an immediate 24 hr. news cycle to create superficial stories with strong rubbernecking possibilities. And the Rovian Bush administration LOVES to drive a truck through that weakness.

Thus, a poolside party for the reporting pool carries special dangers today. I wish they would stop it, but moreover I wish the American public would recognize the role we play in stopping it. I for one, have totally eliminated any of the cable news stations from my viewing. And when I actually watch any news show, I'm continually yelling at Oprahization of a 15 second piece.

Maybe less actual rubbernecking means lower ratings and, imagine this, the need to provide more meat! Then they can swim away if they want at Bush's "ranch" because the public will demand incisive stories with accountability. But alas, it's awfully hot down in Crawford and the water looks mighty fine......

Update: Digby has the take down of the Kewl Kidz here

Momentum

Friend and fellow blogger JAGE put up a very sad post. His cousin, and best friend from childhood, committed suicide after a long history of problems centered around chronic addiction to drugs, mostly meth. How awful and sad.

I thought one thing JAGE said was particularly interesting:

Of course, the administration in charge of the federal funding flow for state and local police departments have, in their infinite wisdom, recently cut over 50% of the amounts granted to programs specifically battling Methamphetamines. Instead, they roar and beat their chest, ‘Get the pot smokers first!’…as always. And don’t for a second think that their stance comes from any moral high-ground. I’ve been there and I’ve seen why the Marijuana drums beat so loudly. Sadly, it’s a centuries old reason…pure greed. If you don’t believe me, go spend a full day in a municipal court for a moderate to large city and see how much money gets raked in from possession and paraphernalia fines related to Marijuana. I use to sit in amazement, waiting to testify for one case or another, as the increasing total would hit $10,000 then $15,000 and at times higher yet. And that was just one municipal courtroom in one medium-sized town. On a nationwide scale, there are millions of dollars being poured into the system each and every day from these sorts of fines. During my law enforcement days, I vividly recall planning sessions where the raid of a Meth manufacturer would be shelved and a simple Marijuana user targeted simply for the reason that the pot-smoker had more assets to be seized. Needless to say, I didn’t last long in an industry with that brand of mentality.

I wanted to add or embelish that the law enforcement industry....yes industry....has an enormous economic stake in continuing a vigorous "war on drugs". Increased funding over the last couple decades has meant increased manpower. All those employees have a voice and political clout, and a vested interest to keep their jobs. And the civil servants involved have a vested interest in keeping their fiefdoms intact.

Mind you, I'm not for the legalization of all drugs. However, I do feel that liberalization (and some kind of rationalization) of drug laws would be better for society as a whole. I also favor greatly increased funding for treatment programs. But, unfortunately, the momentum of the political forces against it are quite strong and unlikely to yield anytime soon.

Update: Found this very interesting little site on the costs of the "war on drugs"

Signage

In a post below, I had posted the nasty sign being held up by a pro-war protester. Just to be fair, this from local news reports:

Ken Robinson, of Richardson, Texas, who described himself as a Vietnam veteran, was carrying a sign at a “You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy!” rally. The sign read, “How to wreck your family in 30 days by ‘b**** in the ditch' Cindy Sheehan.”

Kristinn Taylor, an event organizer with FreeRepublic.com, heard about the sign and rushed up to Robinson.

“This is our rally and you can't do that here,” he said, only for Robinson to insist he was within his rights.

Camera crews rushed in and Taylor turned to face them.

“To all the media here, this sign is not representative of the crowd here today,” Taylor announced. Some of the crowd around Robinson came forward to shake his hand, while others chanted, “Idiot, go home.”

The two men then squared off and raised their voices.

“Just get outta here!” Robinson yelled, and aimed a kick at Taylor's midsection. Taylor called for security, and a young Woodway policeman quickly showed up.

“I have the right to freedom of speech,” Robinson said.

Robinson continued to protest loudly as police handcuffed him and led him awa

Looks like a mini-feud in amongst the pro-war crowd.

The other day, I was sitting in my car listening to "Big Ed Schultz" (who has an ego the size of the great outdoors), when he did an interview with Cindy Sheehan. If you haven't heard, Cindy is the mother of Casey Sheehan who was killed in Iraq, and who has been waiting outside the Bush compound in Crawford Tx. to ask President Bush a question.

Anyway, Ed continually tried to bait her into making inflammatory statements, particularly about the counter protestors that were coming to Crawford.

Cindy refused.

Cindy, with great eloquence, diverted the focus of the interview to compassion and understanding for everyone affected by the war no matter how much Ed tried to get some red meat for his broadcast. Jim Qualls lost a son in Iraq too, and he disagrees with Cindy Sheehan's questioning of the war. In fact, he took out a TV ad (probably with some help from some swift boat types) challenging Cindy to a debate.

Cindy refused.

She calmly explained that she understands Qualls pain and respects his right to disagree. With a voice that is gentle and calming, she explained to Ed that she still doesn't know the noble cause for which her son died, and desperately wants to know. While maintaining her beliefs, she described Qualls as "that poor man" giving you the impression.....no.....making you KNOW, that she knows exactly how Qualls feels. And she respects that.

Cindy Sheehan is no Ghandi. But that's exactly who came to mind as I listened to her talk. Her use of a soft, caring message to confront even her most venemous detractors is gold, and certainly a contrast to most political discourse these days. It struck me then that this is precisely why Cindy Sheehan may have struck a cord in the American public, why when she hits us all with the pillow of her beliefs, we can hear it.

Fubar

I ran across this yesterday at Juan Cole's site. Juan has consistently been ahead of the curve in understanding and reporting on Iraq, particularly Shia politics. You know, the kinda stuff you used to find in good newspapers.

Anyway, he quotes an Iraq-American reader on some of the dynamics of the upcoming vote in Iraq to ratify the "constitution":

Shiites are probably the majority even in Baghdad, or at minimum 50% of the Baghdad population (especially with sadr city's 2 million shiites, and other prominent shiite districts like Sha'ab, Shu'la, Khadhimiya). Almost certainly Baghdad would NOT be included in the shiite federation of the south as envisioned by Al-Hakim and others because then the concept of a federation really doesn't make much sense when you pretty much include all the major cities except for Anbar and provinces to the north. Shiites in Baghdad will not want to be left to being a minority in a "Sunni" federation, and Sunnis in Baghdad will not want to be part of a "shiite" federation. There is a strong possibility then that most shiites in Baghdad would vote AGAINST the constitution over the federalism issue. That would most certainly seal the constitution's fate when combined with votes from Anbar, Sallahudin, and Mosul.

It only takes (I believe) three provinces to vote against the constitution to cause the whole political process to go back to "GO". Remember, this means going back to having a provisional parliamentary election and starting a new constitutional "draft". Then again, thus far the Iraqi politicos haven't honored any sort of rule of law yet, so they may just ignore the letter of the law and implement the constitution anyway. I personally think it's all pretty much moot as long as the U.S. in in Iraq.

It seems to me that as long as the U.S. is in Iraq there will be no true ownership of country. The Shiites will never get respect as long as their power is supplied by American firepower. The Sunni's will continue to fight as long as the Shiites haven't proven they can stand on their own, enabling the Baathists to believe they can regain power. And this doesn't even take into account the radical fundamentalist elements. In short, as long as the country is dependent on the Americans, there's not reason for it to stand on it's own.

This is a pic of a pro-war protester sign in Crawford. From Crooks and Liars:

It's got Glen Beck's name on the bottom and if that's really his sign I'd say he's another from the long line of bottom feeders that call themselves right wing talk show hosts. Notice it's all the B-list hacks that are revving up the venom.

Nice...huh?

NutBars

Some nutbar, from somewhere in the red part of the U.S. of A. suggested I needed to start blogging. Well,....what the hay, everyone else is. And my opinion is at least as good as Judy Miller's, so why not?

So, this serves as a test post as I learn how to use this dang thang.

So, how do I make this dang thang show quotes?

So, that does it. I'm almost ready to roll!