``I must give him his due. He has considerably cretinized me.'' Lautréamont

Pics click to enlarge.

Friday, September 30, 2005

FDNY Chaplain Resigns After 9/11 Remarks

political correctness meets diversity

Scoppetta said Habib, who was educated in Islamic law in Saudi Arabia and preaches at a New York mosque, had appeared qualified and passed a background check.

White House Condemns Bennett's Remarks

sound bite crime

"But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down," said Bennett, author of "The Book of Virtues."

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Ind. Man Falls Asleep While Siphoning Gas

modern siphons work uphill

Officers found him asleep inside the van next to a 55-gallon tank and a battery-operated pump. A hose from the pump led to the gas station's underground tank.

U. of Ga.: Hacker May Have Student Info

not long ago tax forms came with ss numbers printed on the address label, and nothing bad happened.

what changed is various organizations leaping at their own convenience, using ss numbers as security checks, which is not what they are.

stop being lazy and the problem disappears. the ss number is useful only for ss again, and not, eg., bank accounts and mortgages and credit cards.

University officials say 2,429 Social Security numbers were exposed, but there was some repetition and the number of affected people is expected to be smaller.

Last year, a hacker broke into a UGA computer and may have accessed credit card information for about 32,000 students. The university never caught the hacker, but was not aware of any misuse of that information, said Tom Jackson, a UGA spokesman.

Conditions Primitive in Texas After Rita

issue marshmallows

WOODVILLE, Texas -- Five days after Hurricane Rita came ashore, conditions remained primitive in parts of Texas, where some residents were taking baths and brushing their teeth using water from the Neches River and others were sleeping in tents.

Museum Dropped From WTC Site for Now

i suggest issuing a memorial 9/11 candy bar, heavy with nuts, to make everybody happy.

NEW YORK -- Bowing to pressure from Sept. 11 families, Gov. George Pataki on Wednesday removed a proposed freedom center from the space reserved for it near the planned World Trade Center memorial, saying the museum project had aroused "too much opposition, too much controversy."

Bush Warns of Iraq Violence Before Vote

where does he warn? violence is good. Bush thinks so too.

substitute ``boast'' for ``warn'' throughout.

violence = bad is for women, the readership of AP.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Wednesday warned there will be an upsurge in violence in Iraq before next month's voting, but said the terrorists will fail. "Our troops are ready," he said. Bush's remarks in the Rose Garden came a day after Iraqi and U.S. forces announced they had killed Abdullah Abu Azzam, the No. 2 al-Qaida leader in Iraq, during a weekend raid in Baghdad.

"This guy's a brutal killer," Bush said.

New Areas of New Orleans Re-Opening

doctor worry always supports the importance of doctors

nobody has suggested the obvious solution : massive early air drops of stockpiles of FEMA porta-potties to refugees.

"The two things that are absolutely necessary to ensure public health _ clean drinking water and proper sewage systems _ simply are not available in the East Bank area of New Orleans at this time," said Dr. Fred Cerise, secretary for the state Department of Health and Hospitals.

FEMA's Brown Was Warned Early of Shortages

gotcha prose.

the reason nothing works is, among other dysfunctions, that intra-agency goals come first in every agency ever created on earth.

when that happens, if the agency has to turn a profit, it simply disappears, having lived its useful life.

if it has taxing power, it grows, and it grows by encroaching.

see John Gall _Systemantics_ (best in the original small 1975 edition, before it grew like topsy like every system).

"However, FEMA's systems do not support effective or efficient coordination of deployment operations because there is no sharing of information," the audit found. "Consequently, this created operational inefficiencies and hindered the delivery of essential disaster response and recovery services," it said.

Rep. Blunt to Fill In for Indicted DeLay

jail congressmen until you get ones that don't tolerate soap opera.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri emerged as temporary House majority leader Wednesday in a fast-paced episode of Republican power politics triggered by the indictment of his one-time patron.

Brush Fire Destroys 9,300 Acres in Calif.

in other words the same as last year, and with the same effect : constant news hype.

destroy is a little strong. even the houses grow back.

So far this year, wildfires have charred 8.16 million acres nationwide, compared with 7.74 million acres at the same time last year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Arctic Ice Melts Faster As It Gets Warmer

soon to join western forest fires where they will annihilate each other in the news

i hold with those who favor fire. it has better audience ratings.

"The melting and retreat trends are accelerating," Ted Scambos, of the University of Colorado at Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center, said in a statement released by the university.

Friday, September 23, 2005

President Cancels Texas Visit

creative writing 101 lands a fatal blow

Even as Hurricane Rita continued to weaken in the Gulf of Mexico this afternoon, though still a strong and dangerous Category 3 storm, its turbulent winds widened their reach, lashing out with tropical storm-force winds as far as 205 miles from its churning center.

compare Francis Ponge (french prose poet)

The washing machine is so contrived that, having been filled with a heap of ignoble tissue, the inner emotion, the boiling indignation that it feels from this, when channelled into the upper part of its being, falls back down on the heap of ignoble tissue turning its stomach - more or less perpetually - it being a process that should end up with a purification.

So here we are the very heart of the mystery. The sun is setting on this Monday evening. Oh housewives! And you, near the end of your study, how tired your backs are! But after grinding away all day long like this (what is the demon that makes me talk this way?) look at what clean and proper arms you have, and pure hands, worn by the most moving toil!

Certainly the linen, once it went into the washing machine, had already been cleaned, roughly. The machine did not come into contact with filthiness as such, with snot, for example, dried out, filthy, and clinging to the handkerchiefs.

It is still a fact, however, that the machine experiences an idea or a diffuse feeling of filthiness about the things inside of itself, which, through emotions, boilings, and efforts, it manages to overcome - in separating the tissue: so much that, when rinsed in a catastrophe of fresh water, these will come to seem extremely white...

And here, in effect, is the miracle:

A thousand white flags are suddenly unfurled - attesting not to defeat, but to victory - and are not just, perhaps, the sign of corporal propriety among the inhabitants of the neighborhood.

More Colleges Offering Game Theory Courses

von Neuman's invention of Pong particularly noteworthy

TROY, N.Y. -- More and more, video game-related courses are being offered in colleges around the country in response to the digital media industry's appetite for skilled workers and the tastes of a new generation of students raised on Game Boy and Xbox.

Katrina Turns the Poor Into the Destitute

it's easy to recover if you're poor because you don't have to recover much

you can recover your life savings in a single day

WASHINGTON -- Before Hurricane Katrina, they were among the poorest of America's poor. In the hardest hit counties, some 305,000 people not only lived in poverty, their families' income fell below 50 percent of the poverty line _ about $7,500 for a family of three. Now, many live in strange towns with only a few dollars in their pockets.

Rita Sparks Evacuation from Flood-Prone Areas

orwell's inversion : the confusion of input and output

By late Thursday night, the traffic was at least moving slowly, but was still backed up for about 100 miles in what White called "one of the largest mass evacuations in American history."

Democrats Seeking Voice as Bush Struggles

it will always be soap opera because that's the media's target audience, and nothing goes out that doesn't fit the soap opera genre :

inner turmoil, soul searching and eternal frustration.

WASHINGTON -- The dip in President Bush's popularity has Democrats dreaming of brighter days for their out-of-power party, but only if they show voters clear leadership and a fresh message.

Feds Promise Fuel to Fleeing Evacuees

government solutions are new problems

WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities began counting down to Hurricane Rita's arrival with last-minute promises to deliver fuel to hundreds of thousands of evacuees fleeing the shifting storm that covered half of the Gulf of Mexico.

Rita's Rains Start Falling on New Orleans

story tie-in, or reporters with nothing to do

NEW ORLEANS -- A steady downpour fell on New Orleans as Hurricane Rita lashed the coast, turning dust to mud, forcing engineers to hurriedly shore up broken levees and interrupting the city's search for its dead.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Quote Comparison : Ambiguity

Japanese poetry expert : It's not a doctrine but a simple fact. Semantic undecideability of all text and speeches is far from being a weakness to be corrected or deplored, a keen and constant awareness that your words can be apprehended in unexpected ways, like in lalanku someone else would put a completely surprising verse to your own verse, a common benevolent readiness to all for a variety of interpretations and misinterpretations by different people in different contexts paradoxically is the only hope we have left for true mutual understanding between different cultures. So I think that wordplay is a trivial thing but there is something really important in this kind of verbal construct. (Radio Japan, Sep 16)

Stanley Cavell : (Macbeth Appalled 1992)

I will call these features language as prophecy and as magic or mind reading.

These features interpret conditions what what can be called the possibility of language as such. Prophecy, or foretelling, takes up the condition of words are recurrent; mind reading takes up words as shared. Philosophy has wished to explain the recurrence of words (which may present itself as their evanescence) by a theory of what it calls universals; and similarly (taking universals as ocncepts or as rules) to explain their sharing or mutuality, so far as this is seen to be a separate question...

My idea of the first the conditions of langauge acknowledged by this play [Macbeth] - language as prophecy - is that a kind of foretelling is effected by the way the play, at what prove to be charged moments, will bond a small group of generally small words so that they may then at any time fall upon one another and discharge or expel meaning. The play dramtizes the fact that a word does not exist until it is understood as repeated ...


Emmual Levinas : (Totality and Infinity 1961)

The word by way of preface which seeks to break through the screen stretched between the author and the reader by the book itself does not give itself out as a word of honor. But it belongs to the very essence of language, which consists in continually undoing its phrase by the foreword or exegesis, in unsaying the said, in attempting to restate without ceremonies what has already been ill understood in the inevitable ceremonial in which the said delights.

Katrina Raises Voters' Doubts About Bush

the media line laid out

WASHINGTON -- Hurricane Katrina and the bungled government response have weakened President Bush, raising questions among Americans about his Iraq and Gulf Coast spending plans and spreading fears among fellow Republicans that his troubles could be contagious.

New Orleans Mayor Faces Leadership Crisis

get rid of the clown suit, is my advice

NEW ORLEANS -- Weeping and cursing in frustration at one point, jauntily announcing the city's comeback at another, Ray Nagin has pursued an erratic course as mayor of this woeful city over the past three weeks.

First Lady Tackles Poverty, Race Issues

the nation will respond in the same old way because soap opera demands it and soap opera governs the media

WASHINGTON -- Laura Bush, former inner-city teacher, says Hurricane Katrina could have a silver lining if it forces the nation to respond "in a different way" to difficult poverty and racial problems.

Tax Breaks for Katrina May Aid Rich More

the poor can't lose much. that's what being poor is. they can lose their life savings and earn it back in a day.

not to quibble at the moment about the difference between being poor and being broke.

being poor is a life calling and occupation.

WASHINGTON -- House and Senate tax writers agreed Tuesday on a package of tax breaks designed to help Hurricane Katrina victims recoup their losses and access needed cash.

Judge Orders Tattoo Ink Health Warnings

another use for writing

LOS ANGELES -- A judge ordered two manufacturers of ink used for tattoos to place labels on their bottles warning consumers of potential health risks, a watchdog group said Tuesday.

Governors Seek Gas Price Gouging Probe

the optimistic theory is that they know better and are just cynical about the intelligence of the american people

the media is based on the unintelligence of a specific target audience

so whichever it is, there's a synergy that gives you these sound bites and not others.

MADISON, Wis. -- Eight Democratic governors asked President Bush and congressional leaders on Tuesday to investigate possible gasoline price gouging in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Rita Grows Into a Category 3 Hurricane

the anxiety audience is also the eternal frustration audience

KEY WEST, Fla. -- Hurricane Rita strengthened into a Category 3 storm packing 115 mph winds early Wednesday after lashing the Florida Keys and sparking anxiety as it headed into the Gulf of Mexico.

Jury Selection Begins in Therapist Killing

cain and abel _plus_ soap opera

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jury selection in the trial of a woman accused of killing her husband, whom she first met as her therapist, began Monday in a case that will pit one son against another.

Miss. Town Seemingly Forgotten After Storm

the seven warning signs of story winding down

PEARLINGTON, Miss. -- For more than a week, Pearlington survived largely on its own.

Who Will Bush Tap As Next Court Nominee?

free-association story genre

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's supporters want him to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor with a rock-solid conservative jurist, but Bush's low poll numbers have given liberals hope he'll nominate a moderate to avoid a raucous fight in the Senate.

New Orleans Suspends Reopening of City

the big uneasy

NEW ORLEANS -- Under pressure from President Bush and other top federal officials, the mayor suspended the reopening of large portions of the city Monday and instead ordered nearly everyone out because of the risk of a new round of flooding from a tropical storm on the way.

Tropical Storm Rita Barrels Toward Land

it can't ravage it. it's already ravaged. there's nothing there to ravage again.

but if you liked the story the first time, you can look forward to the same coverage again.

nothing changes until the audience no longer is interested.

KEY WEST, Fla. -- Thousands of residents fled the Florida Keys as Tropical Storm Rita barreled toward land, poised to grow into a hurricane with a potential 9-foot storm surge and sparking fears it could eventually ravage the hobbled Gulf Coast.

Bush Concerned About New Storm

presidential concerns should have names too, eg. presidential concern aaron, to keep track

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said he was concerned that Tropical Storm Rita could hit the already devastated Gulf Coast as he prepared for a fifth trip to the region to survey hurricane recovery efforts.

FEC Sues Pro-Republican Political Group

influencing elections and preempting soap opera on TV

FEC Vice Chairman Michael Toner rated the case "one of the most important suits the commission has brought in recent years."

"At stake is whether Club for Growth will be able to continue raising and spending millions of dollars in soft money for activities influencing federal elections," said Toner, a Republican.

Holocaust Survivor Simon Wiesenthal Dies

godwin's law, it's called

"When history looks back I want people to know the Nazis weren't able to kill millions of people and get away with it," he once said.

La. Guardsman Returns Home From Iraq

for the sentimental trinket audience

NEW ORLEANS -- Lt. William Besselman came back after a year in Iraq to find a mess in his home from Hurricane Katrina: ruined photographs of his children, an overturned china cabinet his wife had inherited, a couch sprouting mold.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Quote Comparison : Race

Today, Star Parker :

It is not simply a moral claim, but a well-documented empirical one, that family and education are the keys to success in our free country. Black children don't need politicians of any color who claim to hold the keys to their future. They need parents who know their names. Two of them.

1991, Vicki Hearne (_Bandit_)

I keep thinking, too, about that nine-year-old boy whose ``pit bull'' was rescued from his clutches on television [in the ASPCA pit bull wars]. We have his testimony that his dog went everywhere with him, which means that his dog knew him, so he is now stripped of the protection he had from the continual presence of his dog's knowledge. I wonder how he will fare in the world, unfortified by Spike's adroit recognitions of him, how he will manage now to sort out real language from pseudolinguistic behaviors that are the form in which justice and truth will be presented to him, most of the time. That is, how smart will he be without his dog and therefore unable to locate the just city?

Saturday, September 17, 2005

World Leaders Fall Short of Summit Goals

meanwhile in the rest of the world

After three days in which Syria was the only one of 191 member states not to give a speech before the General Assembly, the leaders adopted a 35-page document that commits their governments to achieving U.N. goals to combat poverty and creates a commission to help move countries from war to peace.

Mississippi Begins Massive Katrina Cleanup

victim of creating writing 101

D'IBERVILLE, Miss. -- In a sandy construction site on the outskirts of town, more than a dozen trucks wait their chance to unload tree limbs and feed a huge bonfire that will burn from dawn until dusk every day for months.

Ill. Governor Denies Wrongdoing

where there's fingerpointing, there's wrongdoing

CHICAGO -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich insisted Friday that he is not connected to corruption at a teachers pension fund and that he does not tolerate misconduct by anyone who works for him.

Bush Turns Attention to 2nd Court Vacancy

reporter omniscience genre

WASHINGTON -- With Chief Justice-nominee John Roberts cruising toward confirmation, President Bush is turning his attention to a second vacancy on the nine-member Supreme Court.

N.J. Candidate Bucks Tradition With Beard

hillary in 2008

The last U.S. president with a beard was Benjamin Harrison, who left office in 1893.

New England Braces for Approaching Ophelia

princess di proved that no story can be overdone

BOSTON -- Residents of the southeast corner of New England moved boats to safe anchorages and warned people to stay out of the surf Saturday as Tropical Storm Ophelia headed past with a threat of coastal flooding.

Friday, September 16, 2005

World Leaders Demand Greater U.N. Role

meanwhile traffic fines pile up

UNITED NATIONS -- World leaders nearing the end of a three-day summit urged the United Nations to play a bigger role on the world stage _ in everything from the fight against terrorism to protecting immigrant rights to easing the crunch caused by high oil prices.

Nagin Declares Plan to Reopen New Orleans

welfare office reopens

"The city of New Orleans ... will start to breathe again," Nagin said. "We will have life. We will have commerce. We will have people getting into their normal modes of operations and the normal rhythm of the city."

Fish Used to Assess Environment Damage

refrigerators threat to whales

During the voyage, the crew spotted hurricane debris that included refrigerators, televisions and power poles. As the vessel surveyed the gulf, state and local agencies were checking rivers, inlets and bays for contamination.

Viewers Skeptical Over Bush Speech

the handoutee reaction

"He had no intention of coming to help us," said Samuel Lewis, 31, an evacuee who watched the speech in a Houston shelter. "He should have been there 24 hours after. He is telling me he is going to rebuild my city. Still, when I go back home, you are going to rebuild my city, but what about all the stuff I lost? What about jobs?"

New Orleans Cops Work Despite Losing Homes

known as a ``job''

NEW ORLEANS -- Danny McMullen and the other detectives on the cold-case squad started work at 6:30 a.m. the day before Hurricane Katrina smashed into their city more than two weeks ago. Their work days have yet to end.

Jailed Diabetic Grandmom Ordered Released

press release bureaucracy against the enforcement bureaucracy

diabetic is there for women

KENNER, La. -- A 73-year-old diabetic grandmother and church elder who fled Katrina's floodwaters for the safety of a hotel ended up in prison instead for more than two weeks _ all over a bite of food.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Truth Is Casualty of Katrina's Aftermath

on the other hand audience ratings are up owing to a nation of women tuned in

WASHINGTON -- One of the bigger casualties of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath has been the truth itself. From federal emergency managers to Democrats, much fingerpointing _ and even the promises not to engage in it _ have fallen short of the facts.

Bush Urges End of Trade Tariffs, Subsidies

must have talked to an economist in the last hour

UNITED NATIONS -- Saying poverty breeds terrorism and despair, President Bush challenged world leaders on Wednesday to abolish all trade tariffs and subsidies _ worth hundreds of billions of dollars _ to promote prosperity and opportunity in struggling nations.

Newsview: 3 Crises Define Bush Presidency

soap opera review for the women

WASHINGTON -- It's August in Crawford, Texas, and President Bush is on vacation. His poll ratings are slumping. He hears warnings of a looming crisis that will soon change the course of his presidency. Is this August 2001? Or August 2005?

Radioactive Waste on Track to Be Moved

not a flushing-in-the-station deal after all

WASHINGTON -- Almost 12 million tons of radioactive waste will be moved from the banks of the Colorado River, the source of drinking water for more than 25 million people across the West, the government said Wednesday,

La. Drawing Up Charges for Flood Deaths

juries drawing up acquittals and voting out of office

NEW ORLEANS -- The arrest of two nursing-home owners in the deaths of 34 people marked the beginning of what prosecutors said Wednesday is a large-scale investigation into whether New Orleans-area hospitals and other institutions neglected their patients during Hurricane Katrina's onslaught.

Airlines Ask Congress for Fuel Tax Relief

explain why jet blue makes money, southwest makes money

no labor unions

so it's a labor union support measure

"It's a small step in the right direction," May said, noting that major airlines have lost more than $32 billion since the terrorist attacks.

Major Quake Could Be Worse Than Katrina

soemthing to hope for

WASHINGTON -- As many as 18,000 people dead. More than $250 billion in damages. Hundreds of thousands of people left homeless. That's not the latest estimate of Hurricane Katrina's toll on the Gulf Coast. That's a worst-case scenario if a major earthquake were to hit Los Angeles.

Court says flag pledge violates Constitution

wrong case, it was long ago settled that children cannot be coerced into saying the pledge with or without god.

In the Wednesday decision, Judge Lawrence Karlton said: "The court concludes that it is bound by the Ninth Circuit's previous determination that the school district's policy with regard to the pledge is an unconstitutional violation of the children's right to be free from a coercive requirement to affirm God."

A Look at Scenarios if Big Quake Hit L.A.

news organizes new anxieties for women

-- In May, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Southern California Earthquake Center published a study showing what would happen if a major quake were to hit Los Angeles on the Puente Hills fault.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Blanco: Katrina Will Teach Critical Lessons

shuttle astronaut material

SLIDELL, La. -- The lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina will lead to huge improvements in the nation's emergency planning, Louisiana's governor said Saturday as she visited this flood-ravaged city across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans.

Biloxi Port Eases Back Into Business

reporters all on page 3 of the hurricane template

BILOXI, Miss. -- The harbor showed signs of life Saturday as the Coast Guard allowed limited commercial traffic for the first time since Hurricane Katrina.

Signs of Life Appearing in New Orleans

overpopulation of reporters hanging around

While the bodies of their fellow citizens are being removed and counted, while the monumental task of draining, cleaning and rebuilding looms, some residents are starting to reclaim a sliver of their pre-hurricane lives.

Jet Makes Emergency Landing in St. Louis

nonunion reporter attempts subjunctive

But Steve MacFarlane, assistant national director of the striking Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, said it would be impossible at this point to say if a replacement mechanic were to blame.

Search Broadens for Bodies in New Orleans

news junkies let down again

The confirmed death toll in Louisiana stood at 154 people, including some patients on life support who died when power went out, but the toll was expected to climb as crews collected bodies trapped in houses and floating in murky water.

Katrina May Cost U.S. as Much as Two Wars

not even counting the 80% payoff to louisiana politicians

Members of the Louisiana congressional delegation say it could cost $100 billion just in New Orleans.

Army Kept Truth of GI's Death From Family

the grieving mother role in soap opera

Ballard's mother, Karen Meredith, of Mountain View, Calif., said in a telephone interview that she is angry and will press for a full explanation. She is a public critic of the war and has attended anti-war protests in Crawford, Texas, outside President Bush's ranch, with grieving mother and peace activist Cindy Sheehan.

Families Rally Against Sept. 11th Museum

get-over-it demonstration unreported

NEW YORK -- Holding up pictures of their loved ones and signs that read "Preserve Sacred Ground," more than 500 relatives of Sept. 11 victims rallied at the World Trade Center site Saturday against a proposed museum.

Friday, September 09, 2005

Teams Find New Orleans Holdouts Wavering II

the absolute rule of government helping people : your pets must die

people are called on and made unique by their pets

you can't have unique people and state authority together

people must be helpless fluff

anything more complicated is bad propaganda

so it's a matter of breaking their spirit

then you will have helped

UPDATE Sept 12, Star Parker What we are witnessing is a well-honed black political public-relations operation geared to obfuscation, stoking hatred and fear, and nurturing helplessness and dependence among black citizens. Such efforts keep black politicians powerful, diversity businesses prosperous and blacks poor.

end update


Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Jason Rule said his crew pulled 18 people from their homes Thursday. He said some of the holdouts did not want to leave "unless we can take their animals."

Teams Find New Orleans Holdouts Wavering

police affronted

Across a flooded city where as many as 10,000 holdouts were believed to be stubbornly staying put, police made it clear in orders barked from front porches and through closed doors that they would return _ next time, getting tough.

New Orleans' Restaurateurs Vow to Return

bring in nascar formula one racing

-- Already, the chefs of New Orleans want to get back to their kitchens. It could take months, though, to know the extent of the damage to what was one of the nation's most vibrant restaurant scenes. And years for the tourists who fed it to return to the home of gumbo. And jambalaya. And andouille sausage. Dirty rice and crawfish, po'boys and oysters.

Katrina Heavily Damages Military Bases

waiting for the post office damage report

WASHINGTON -- Military housing, airport hangars, equipment and power lines were heavily damaged at six military bases across Louisiana and Mississippi, forcing nearly $1 billion in emergency repairs, according to base personnel and other defense officials.

Katrina Divides Rather Than Unifies U.S.

can the story be extended longer, is the question.

a million angles tried in order

WASHINGTON -- The extraordinary showing of national and political unity displayed after the trauma of Sept. 11, 2001, is missing now that Hurricane Katrina and her deadly winds have subsided, leaving behind an earthly disaster as catastrophic as the terrorist attacks themselves.

Illegal Immigrants Afraid to Get Storm Aid

big brown eyes story-angle tested

NEW ORLEANS -- Some sneak into shelters at night and then slip out in the morning, praying they won't be noticed. Others avoid government help altogether, preferring to ride out the chaos and destruction alone in a foreign land.

Debris From Storm Could Pose Fire Risk

western fire reporters brought east

avalanches next

BILOXI, Miss. -- It's easy to see devastation in millions of broken boards and snapped or uprooted trees, but firefighters and forestry officials see something else: fuel.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Police Vow to Get Remaining Residents Out of New Orleans

ie., people to whom it is entertainment

entertainment doesn't mean ``make happy.''

it means to fascinate and hold.

ie., makes an audience you can sell.

The statistics on the disaster's effects continues to overwhelm local and federal officials, and people across the country who have watched the drama unfold.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Rehnquist Funeral Arrangements Being Made

ashes to be launched in mall skyrocket

WASHINGTON -- In a sensitive ritual, Supreme Court officials and the Military District of Washington were coordinating funeral arrangements Sunday with the family of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.

AP News Alert

more bad publicity.

it never rains but it pours.

NEW ORLEANS -- A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers says that some of its contractors were killed Sunday by police as they walked across a bridge on their way to repair a canal.

Americans Open Wallets, Homes to Refugees

nationwide syllepsis

Across the country, Americans of all races and income levels are opening their wallets, their homes and their hearts to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans Couple Weds in Miss. Shelter

the soap opera kind of feel-good

the men are looking for crash photos page 4

lit. crit. remark : there's a wordsworth Lucy quatrain moment, a missing word alluded to, namely wept.

As children played and weary survivors slept, Williams and Kirsh exchanged vows before an Episcopalian minister and a crowd seated in folding chairs. Some snapped photos with instant cameras, while others used camera phones to capture the moment.

U.S. Vows More Aid to Katrina Victims

we use them as soap opera entertainment for women

"In America, we do not abandon our fellow citizens in their hour of need," the president said.

Mississippians' Suffering Overshadowed

not good soap opera material

"Something should've been on this corner three days ago," Chapman, 60, said Saturday as he whipped up dinner for his neighbors.

He used wood from his demolished produce stand to cook fish, rabbit, okra and butter beans he'd been keeping in his freezer. Although many houses here, about five miles inland, are still standing, they are severely damaged. Corrugated tin roofs lie scattered on the ground.

"I'm just doing what I can do," Chapman said. "These people support me with my produce stand every day. Now it's time to pay them back."

Katrina Evacuees Distraught Over Lost Pets

the state is the enemy of pets because pets do not recognize uniforms.

they're a threat.

pets recognize people, pets recognize neighborhoods.

like plato's just city, which was guarded not by bureaucrats but dogs.

depriving people of their pets is the first priority in establishing order favorable to state authority.

UPDATE Sept 8, Historian Douglas Brinkley on Imus : I went into the water the other day on boats, and I just brought people out, just relatively normal people, except they wouldn't leave their animals, wouldn't leave their dog, and, because I wasn't an authority, in our boat was a minister and kind of a rag-tag band of us going out there helping people, I was able to get the people in a long as you brought their dog with them, I would think there would be a measure for somebody allowing a dog to be with them, otherwise a whole group of people who have no kids, who are lonely, and animals become part of their life, and they just don't have the heart to leave it behind, they'd rather die with the dog that leave with[out] the dog kind of thing, so you have to bring them, and so some of the human touches are gone when a it's a bureaucracy that clicks in ...

real audio

entire interview real audio


end update



ATLANTA -- As Valerie Bennett was evacuated from a New Orleans hospital, rescuers told her there was no room in the boat for her dogs. She pleaded. "I offered him my wedding ring and my mom's wedding ring," the 34-year-old nurse recalled Saturday. They wouldn't budge. She and her husband could bring only one item, and they already had a plastic tub containing the medicines her husband, a liver transplant recipient, needed to survive.

New Orleans Left to the Dead and Dying

then there are dead spirits with no body

for instance reporters looking for the next angle

No one knows how many people were killed by Hurricane Katrina and how many more succumbed waiting to be rescued. But the bodies are everywhere: hidden in attics, floating in the ruined city, crumpled in wheelchairs, abandoned on highways.

Echoing the mayor's prediction, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Saturday she expected the death toll to reach the thousands. And Craig Vanderwagen, rear admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service, said one morgue alone, at a St. Gabriel prison, expected 1,000 to 2,000 bodies.

Bush Gets Chance to Name Chief Justice

eskimo, for the women's blubber interest group

Bush selected a conservative, white male to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, so he will face pressure to name a woman or a Hispanic next time. When O'Connor leaves, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be the sole female on the court.

Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies of Cancer

circumcenter of a rehnquist triangle

Rehnquist was surrounded by his three children when he died at his home in suburban Arlington, Va.

Hurricane Maria Forms Over Open Atlantic

once they pass zachariah, they start over with double letters, aaron

Maria is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, one of the busiest on record.

Eerie Saturday Night in the Big Easy

press pass

NEW ORLEANS -- The only lights Saturday night on Bourbon Street were the flashing blues of police vehicles on patrol, the headlights of rumbling military trucks and an occasional flashlight or cigarette glow among bedraggled holdout residents.

Bush Expresses Sadness at Rehnquist Death

i'll wear my black robe with gold stripes in his memory

WASHINGTON -- The White House said late Saturday the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist was "a tremendous loss for our nation" and issued a statement of condolence on behalf of President Bush.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Carnival Sending Three Ships for Refugees

big mistake to keep them in large groups

it guarantees they're a problem and have problems that would not otherwise exist.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Three Carnival Cruise Lines ships have been pressed into service by the government to provide shelter for as many as 7,000 hurricane victims.

La. Rep.: U.S. Must Ask Tough Questions

help each other has always been the plan.

bureaucrats miss out every time.

WASHINGTON -- In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Americans must start "asking tough questions" about their safety, a House member from Louisiana said in the Democrats' weekly radio address.

Astrodome Triage Center Treating Hundreds

fatal reporter temptation not resisted

All around her, where baseballs and footballs once flew over green turf, volunteers in Red-Cross vests, nurses and doctors are taking pulses, feeling foreheads, flipping through a 51-page list of generic medications, scribbling prescriptions as fast as they are able.

Patients Pay Big Bucks for Hospital Luxury

slow news day

DALLAS -- Byron and Marsha Hooper agreed that the birth of their first child deserved a hospital room with all the extras: high-speed Internet, two flat screen TVs and plenty of space.

New Orleans Left to the Dead and Dying

reporter succumbs to prose

A once-vibrant city of 480,000 people, overtaken just days ago by floods, looting, rape and arson, was now an empty, sodden tomb.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Mississippi's Morning After

brings out the best because you're not reduced to helplessness by bureaucrats

Meanwhile, back in Hattiesburg, the heat is grotesque and there are people doing wonderful things for each other. People getting food out to the needy, people giving free ice to people who need ice, the manager at the Wendy's sending out free burgers to the police officers directing traffic. The post-hurricane quotidian is so far the opposite of New Orleans: the ridiculous conditions are bringing out the best, not the worst, in the natives. I say "so far" advisedly and with considerable hope. Today the word is we're looking at two to four weeks without power and who knows what will happen. I'm gearing up for a long camping trip. That's what it's like here now - camping, enforced camping, required camping, the kind of camping from which you couldn't go home early if you wanted to.

New Orleans Mayor Issues 'Desperate SOS'

a similar effect happens with humane societies. they round up all dogs, not just problem dogs as in the old days, and put them in one place.

then they discover a population crisis when one place can't support all the dogs they've rounded up, where there's no population crisis when they're in the original environment, doing their thing to acquire a home by being cute or being friendly or looking helpless.

vast neutering programs are begun that never were necessary before; breeding bans are instituted.

don't round up dogs that aren't problem dogs; don't put them in one place when they can fend for themselves.

you just make them helpless.

in the case of people, helpless people then acquire dignity not by helping themselves or helping others but by lashing out at their helplessness, which makes it worse.

that instinct to acquire dignity works fine on their own.

officials like helpless people.

it seems like a good first step to them.

it never works.

goodness that goes public turns into the worst sort of evil.

because doing good is mostly deep knowledge of the individual case and lots of hard work.

even then it's retrospectively that you find out if your efforts have done good.

leave as much as possible up to the object of your beneficience.

In a statement to CNN, Nagin said: "This is a desperate SOS. Right now we are out of resources at the convention center and don't anticipate enough buses. We need buses. Currently the convention center is unsanitary and unsafe and we're running our of supplies."

Superdome Evacuations Enter Second Day

confiscating pets makes people more helpless. officials like that.

people can do something for a pet. it gives them dignity.

the emergency is of the officials' making.

compare Vicki Hearne http://home.att.net/~rhhardine/vickihearne.media.txt

in a sensible world, if a refugee doesn't have a pet, he would be given one.

Pets were not allowed on the bus, and when a police officer confiscated a little boy's dog, the child cried until he vomited. "Snowball, snowball," he cried.

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