This Post Will Bump Up For The Foreseeable Future -- New Posts Below!

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ORIGINAL POST DATE -- AUGUST 31, 2005

Like most of America, I've been watching the saga of Hurricane Katrina unfold over the course of several days. Now the levees have broken, leaving massive flooding on top of that directly caused by the storm. I've been really quite stunned and horrified by what I've seen and heard. Such devastation and destruction have left me at a loss for words to effectively express my thoughts on this disaster.

We need relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. There is a need for much flood aid.
What I can do is urge every reader to help. Give what you can to the charity of your choice. I'm recommending Samraitan's Purse and the Humane Society to offer relief to both man and beast.

On a personal note, I suspect that I'm going to be working directly with refugees from Katrina very soon. Many of the children displaced by the hurricane are now here in Texas -- and they will be appearing in Texas classrooms soon. I am sure that some of them will be entering my classroom, as I teach only half-a-mile from I-10 on the east side of Houston

(PART OF THE INSTAPUNDIT CARNIVAL OF HURRICANE RELIEF)

Posted by: Greg at 05:59 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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IÂ’ve waited a week to write this piece. It has taken me this long to get enough perspective to say what I want to say, and to relate the stories in a way that I think does them justice. It has also taken me this long to get my life back in order so that I can really take the necessary time to do it right.

Let’s go back to last Wednesday, September 21. At 5:00 PM we got a reminder call from the city of Seabrook, telling us that our evacuation time was 6:00 PM. Well, we were ready to be on the road by 6:45, and so left our home to catch the evacuation rout to the area we planned to stay – Beltway 8 to Hardy Toll Road to I-45, and thence through Dallas-Fort Worth to Ardmore, Oklahoma. At 7:00 we got on the Beltway at Fairmont Parkway in Pasadena. It was then that Hell began.

By 10:30, we had traveled along the Beltway to I-10 – a grand total of 11 miles that would usually take about 12 minutes to drive. It didn’t get much better, as we spent the night talking about how we would rebuild our house (10 feet above sea level, 4 blocks from Galveston Bay) after the Category 5 storm sent a 25 foot storm surge into our neighborhood. I know that I cried as we talked about rebuilding our lives, and I think I saw a couple of tears in Paula’s eyes as well.

By 7:00 the next morning, we had only been able to creep a total of 45 miles to I-45 and Rayford Road, which is usually less than a 1 hour trip. We were sucking fumes, and there was not an open gas station in sight. When road service dispatched a tow truck to bring me gas, they had none – but the owner of the garage was kind enough to tell the driver to bring us in to the shop, where they had gas in storage tanks to use in generators. Those two gallons of gas that Paula and I were given were heaven-sent, and I would like to thank the wonderful folks from Milstead Automotive in Spring, TX for their kindness and generosity, especially since they would not even take money for the gas. That was the first act of true kindness and compassion that I encountered in what was shaping up to be a really lousy day.

Back on the road by 8:00 AM on Thursday, it seemed to me that we might get lucky and find gas – but my hopes were pretty dim. But around 11:00, having traveled about another 10 miles, we happened upon a Sam’s Club with full gas tanks, so we were set.

And then the unthinkable happened. At 2:10 PM, just past the Outlet Mall in Conroe, TX (about 65 miles from where we got on the Beltway 19 hours before) we felt a jolt from behind. A Dodge Ram pickup had hit my new car (a Suzuki Forenza) from behind. The driver not only did not stop, but he and his girlfriend/wife smiled and waved at us as they pulled around us into an open spot in the next lane and drove off. Paula, with her medical history, was transported to the hospital in Conroe for treatment in the ER, and was released about 4:45 PM. At that point, aching and exhausted, I called one of my colleagues who lives in Conroe and asked for a place to stay the night. Ann, her husband Doug, and her daughters treated us so very kindly that evening, and sent us on the way the next morning with directions that got us away from I-45 and over to Highway 6, through Bryan-College Station, and on to I-35 at Waco.

The rest of the trip was relatively easy. We met some great folks at the volunteer fire department in Marlin, TX, where the Red Cross and the fire department had set up a rest stop for evacuees. When we left, they were trying to find shelter for an extended family of about 40 who were traveling together, as well as helping them get some medication that had run out.

At last we reached the Super 8 in Ardmore, which was the closest place we could find that would let us bring our dog, Carmie, with us. Upon arrival, we found that the manager had not only held our room for us, but had moved us into a room that would be better for Paula after the accident. We watched the storm make landfall, and were happy to see coverage from Nassau Bay (Fox News) and Baytown (MSNBC) that confirmed that the storm would not do great damage to our home.

We stayed through the weekend and drove home Monday. We had to do a lot of “on the fly” navigation to make sure that we were not caught in traffic, and made it home in about 9 or 10 hours.

Would I evacuate again? Yeah, I would. I’d prefer to take the back roads rather than follow the recommended evacuation routes, but I know I cannot stay in my house when the big one is expected to come blowing. I might even be willing to go as far as Oklahoma again – but I will probably want to make my reservations sooner so that I don’t have to.

My evaluation of the state and local response is mixed. I think the plan worked well on the drawing board, but had several flaws, many of which have been commented upon since the evacuation. I do, however, want to comment on them to make it part of the public record here on the blogosphere.

First, I believe the contraflow lanes should have been opened at the same time the evacuation began – and certainly no later than Wednesday night, when the evacuation was in full swing. Had this been done at 8:00 PM on Wednesday rather than noon on Thursday, much of the congestion would have cleared up during the overnight hours.

Second, there needed to be more gas available readily available. One of the most infuriating things I heard on the radio was Governor Perry’s comment that “some people obviously did not follow my directions” to make sure their gas tank was full. I head this some 16 hours into my trip, having traveled no further than 50 miles and having burned a full tank of gas in the process. I had left home with gas enough to reach any of the state designated evacuation states, and even to make it to the site of my choice in Oklahoma. What I could not plan for was the gridlock.

Third, I believe that there needed to be more professional behavior from some members of law enforcement. We passed one constable on the Hardy Toll Road (I believe a Harris County Precinct 4 officer, but I could be wrong) playing solitaire on his in-vehicle computer. We honked the horn, but he would not even acknowledge us. When he did, about 30 minutes later, respond to a group of vehicles that were stalled on the side of the road next to us, we shouted a question to ask about gasoline availability. He simply laughed at us and shouted “good luck”. I suggest this pot-bellied, white-haired constable with a mustache (if this isn't him, then his twin also works for Precinct 4) probably needs to be retired by his boss, Constable Ron Hickman – and if action isn’t taken, perhaps Hickman needs to be retired by the voters for poor management of his officers during the crisis.

Lastly, I think there needs to be consideration of the use of other highways besides those suggested for evacuation. State officials knew that I-35 was running freely – but never put up suggestions that we could find better traffic if we went only 30 minutes west on a smaller highway. What’s more, most of the towns along those roads had gasoline, which would have solved a second problem. The problem was that none of those roads began in Harris County, so the planners didn’t think about directing people to them. That needs to be reconsidered, with additional state involvement and coordination to make the plan truly regional.

Ultimately, I have to say that we were very lucky in the Houston area. The storm turned in a manner that we never expected. The area was saved, at a high cost to others in the region. The people of Houston were generous with those harmed by Katrina, and I fully expect that generosity to continue with those whose lives were disrupted by Rita.

And let me say “Thank you” to all who offered up prayers or kind thoughts, during this time, when we needed them desperately – and also to my guest blogger, Rhodey, to the lurker from Bryan who out of the blue offered my family shelter (you don’t know how touched we were by the offer, but I didn’t get the message until we had reached Ardmore), and to all who just looked in to see how we were doing.

Posted by: Greg at 12:24 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Finally, some more media coverage of the case of Seabrook City Councilman Rick Sammons' arrest on weapons charges back in July. All charges have been dropped.

During City Council's Sept. 20 meeting, Sammons, 36, who is not eligible for re-election in May because of term limits, made his first public comments about his arrest.

Reading from a prepared statement, he said he was awakened by the sound of a man's voice in Sammons' home on July 23 about 12:30 a.m., which prompted him to grab a gun to "protect my family and my property."

Sammons said the man's voice was that of his neighbor, who told him there was a situation at the man's home he was "unable to control."

Sammons said he went to the neighbor's home, where he discovered a domestic dispute between his neighbors.

He said he then left the residence to return to his home and in doing so, encountered the sister of one of those involved in the squabble.

"I (informed) her I had a gun and I was going back into my house," Sammons said in his statement.

Shortly thereafter, he said, Seabrook police arrived.

He said he walked out of his home to talk to them about the situation, but was quickly arrested.

"The officer immediately read me my rights and put me in the back of the squad car and explained I was being charged with deadly conduct," Sammons said in his statement.

Now this is all well and good,, but I am still quite concerned about the media coverage -- or, more accurately, the lack thereof -- of this situation.

Other than scanty coverage in a couple of locations, there was no coverage of the arrest. There were no follow-up stories about the case in any media source. It was as if a great curtain of silence had descended around the incident.

It lead me to wonder what other stories are not being covered in the Houston press.

Posted by: Greg at 12:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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There have long been questions about the location of Ithaca, the home of Homer’s great hero, Odysseus. Scholars may have found it.

Homer's legendary hero Odysseus wandered for 10 years in search of his island kingdom, Ithaca. Now, a British amateur archaeologist claims to have ended the ancient quest to locate the land described in "The Odyssey."

Although the western Greek island of Ithaki is generally accepted as the Homeric site, scholars have long been troubled by a mismatch between its location and geography and those of the Ithaca described by Ancient Greece's greatest poet.

Robert Bittlestone, a management consultant, said Thursday that the peninsula of Paliki on the Ionian island of Cephallonia, near Ithaki, was the most likely location for Odysseus' homeland. He said geological and historic evidence suggested Paliki used to form a separate island before earthquakes and landslides filled in a narrow sea channel dividing it from Cephallonia.

"Other theories have assumed that the landscape today is the same as in the Bronze Age, and that Homer perhaps didn't know the landscape very well," Bittlestone told a central London news conference. "But what if the mismatch was because the geography has in fact changed?"

Two eminent British academics said they backed Bittlestone's theory. They have co-written his book, "Odysseus Unbound -- The Search for Homer's Ithaca."

James Diggle, a professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University, said the hypothesis worked because it explained why in one passage Homer describes Ithaca as "low-lying" and "towards dusk," i.e. lying to the west of a group of islands including Cephallonia and Zakynthos.

The Paliki peninsula is largely flat and connects to Cephallonia's west coast, whereas Ithaki is mountainous and lies to the east. Bittlestone's theory suggests that Ithaki corresponds to the island Homer calls Doulichion.

"I have never for once doubted that the theory is right because it explains all the details," Diggle told The Associated Press.

Cool stuff!

Posted by: Greg at 12:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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There have long been questions about the location of Ithaca, the home of HomerÂ’s great hero, Odysseus. Scholars may have found it.

Homer's legendary hero Odysseus wandered for 10 years in search of his island kingdom, Ithaca. Now, a British amateur archaeologist claims to have ended the ancient quest to locate the land described in "The Odyssey."

Although the western Greek island of Ithaki is generally accepted as the Homeric site, scholars have long been troubled by a mismatch between its location and geography and those of the Ithaca described by Ancient Greece's greatest poet.

Robert Bittlestone, a management consultant, said Thursday that the peninsula of Paliki on the Ionian island of Cephallonia, near Ithaki, was the most likely location for Odysseus' homeland. He said geological and historic evidence suggested Paliki used to form a separate island before earthquakes and landslides filled in a narrow sea channel dividing it from Cephallonia.

"Other theories have assumed that the landscape today is the same as in the Bronze Age, and that Homer perhaps didn't know the landscape very well," Bittlestone told a central London news conference. "But what if the mismatch was because the geography has in fact changed?"

Two eminent British academics said they backed Bittlestone's theory. They have co-written his book, "Odysseus Unbound -- The Search for Homer's Ithaca."

James Diggle, a professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University, said the hypothesis worked because it explained why in one passage Homer describes Ithaca as "low-lying" and "towards dusk," i.e. lying to the west of a group of islands including Cephallonia and Zakynthos.

The Paliki peninsula is largely flat and connects to Cephallonia's west coast, whereas Ithaki is mountainous and lies to the east. Bittlestone's theory suggests that Ithaki corresponds to the island Homer calls Doulichion.

"I have never for once doubted that the theory is right because it explains all the details," Diggle told The Associated Press.

Cool stuff!

Posted by: Greg at 12:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Look at this find from Creete -- life-size statues of Hera and Athena found in their original setting!

The works, representing the goddesses Athena and Hera, date to between the second and fourth centuries - during the period of Roman rule in Greece - and originally decorated the Roman theater in the town of Gortyn, archaeologist Anna Micheli from the Italian School of Archaeology told The Associated Press.

"They are in very good condition," she said, adding that the statue of Athena, goddess of wisdom, was complete, while Hera - long-suffering wife of Zeus, the philandering king of gods - was headless.

"But we hope to find the head in the surrounding area," Micheli said.

Standing six feet high with their bases, the works were discovered Tuesday by a team of Italian and Greek archaeologists excavating the ruined theater of Gortyn, about 27 miles south of Iraklion in central Crete.

Micheli said the goddesses were toppled from their plinths by a powerful earthquake around A.D. 367 that destroyed the theater and much of the town.

The statues fell off the stage, and were found just in front of their original position, she said.

"This is one of the rare cases when such works are discovered in the building where they initially stood," she added.

Hopes are high that other parts of the theater's sculptural decoration will emerge during future excavations.

"Digging has stopped due to the finds, but we suspect there may be more statues in the area," she said.

The town where the statues were found, Gortyn, has been occupied since around 3000 BC, and was a major center of the Minoan civilization that predated the Mycenaean Greece of Homer. It later served as the Roman capital of Crete, and was one of the cities in which St. Titus would have preached the Gospel.

Posted by: Greg at 12:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Colorado Senator Ken Salazar is a lying political hack who will break his word to the voters of Colorado and his fellow senators if President Bush nominates either of two highly qualified female jurists to the Supreme Court.

Saying President Bush sometimes acts "like a king," Sen. Ken Salazar warned Friday that he would vehemently oppose Bush's next Supreme Court pick if it turns out to be one of two controversial U.S. Circuit Court judges or someone else he considers an unqualified ideologue.

During a conference call with reporters, Salazar said he would oppose Janice Rogers Brown or Priscilla Owen, two circuit court judges the U.S. Senate recently installed on the bench following a blistering confirmation process.

By singling out Brown and Owen, Salazar made his most specific warning to the White House yet, calling for more advance consultation before the president makes a nomination to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

"This president, frankly, sometimes acts like a king," Salazar said. "He's imperious. He believes he controls Washington and controls our country, and does so sometimes in a way that, it's his way or the highway, and doesn't take into account what other people are thinking...when they have a different point of view or are (from) a different party."

Salazar wants the president to take an unprecedented step of publicly releasing its so-called "short list" of Supreme Court candidates before making an official nomination, which could come at any time.

"I have never filibustered a judicial nominee and I hope that I never have to," Salazar said. "I'd hope that if the president does move forward with someone like Janice Rogers Brown, many Republicans would join us in basically telling the president, 'No, we won't accept somebody who is professionally unqualified and is an ideologue...'"

But hold on, Senator – you told the voters of Colorado that you would give nominees an up or down vote. You also signed on to an agreement that specifically allowed Owen and Brown to be confirmed to their respective appellate seats and promising not to use the filibuster. Are you telling us that your word to your fellow senators is no good – and that you allowed two “unqualified” nominees to be placed on the federal courts when you made that agreement? Oh, and by the way, on what basis do you call them unqualified, given their many years of distinguished judicial service on the highest courts of their respective states – as well as their approval by the ABA, which leading Democrats once called the “gold standard” for judicial nominees?

No, Ken, it is clear that you are a partisan hack who lacks the integrity to abide by his word. Resign from office, sir, and allow the people of Colorado to elect someone worthy to serve in the Senate.

Posted by: Greg at 12:15 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Talk about an outrage! How could this guy even be considered for the position of chaplain with the New York City Fire Department?

An imam slated to be sworn in Friday as the second Muslim chaplain in Fire Department history said he questioned whether 19 hijackers were responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and suggested a broader conspiracy may have brought down the Twin Towers and killed more than 2,700 people.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Imam Intikab Habib, 30, a native of Guyana who studied Islam in Saudi Arabia, said he doubted the United States government's official story blaming 19 hijackers associated with al-Quaida and Osama bin Laden.

"I as an individual don't know who did the attacks," said Habib, 30, a soft-spoken man who immigrated to New York in July 2000 after spending six years in Saudi Arabia getting a degree in Islamic theology and law. "There are so many conflicting reports about it. I don't believe it was 19 ... hijackers who did those attacks."

Asked to elaborate on his reasons for doubting that story, he talked about video and news reports widely disseminated in the Muslim community.

"I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone," he said. "It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?"

Actually, that isn’t true. There are not that many conflicting reports – virtually the whole world agrees that the attack as a bin Laden production. Heck, Osama himself claims responsibility. The only folks who deny that the attack was an Islamist production are those with an anti-American or anti-Semitic (or both) agenda.

Questioned about who he believed was responsible for the attacks, Habib said he didn't know. He said, however, that he did not expect to raise his doubts with rank-and-file firefighters -- nor did he share them two weeks ago when he participated in several Sept. 11 memorials on behalf of the Fire Department.

"My position as a chaplain is that whoever did it, it's a tragic incident," he said. "I feel sorrow for the families who lost loved ones and for the firefighters who died in it. Whoever did it, it was a very wrong thing. It's always wrong to take an innocent human life."

Sorry – not good enough. If you cannot even acknowledge the fact that your co-religionists murdered hundreds of firefighters in the name of Islam, then you do not belong with FDNY. You are the moral equivalent of a Holocaust denier, and the city has a responsibility to reject you as unfit to serve.

UPDATE: Good news! The defender of Islamist terrorists has stepped aside.

Now letÂ’s deport him. There is no place for terrorist apologists in this country.

Posted by: Greg at 12:13 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Looks like the sensitivities of Muslims override the preferences of infidels in parts of Great Britain.

NOVELTY pig calendars and toys have been banned from a council office — in case they offend Muslim staff.

Workers in the benefits department at Dudley Council, West Midlands, were told to remove or cover up all pig-related items, including toys, porcelain figures, calendars and even a tissue box featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

Bosses acted after a Muslim complained about pig-shaped stress relievers delivered to the council in the run-up to the Islamic festival of Ramadan.

Muslims are barred from eating pork in the Koran and consider pigs unclean.

Councillor Mahbubur Rahman, a practising Muslim, backed the ban. He said: “It’s a tolerance of people’s beliefs.”

I'm curious -- in light of the campaign of murder conducted by Muslims against Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslims, will our sensitivities be respected -- by banning all Muslim symbols and all Muslims from governemt offices? After all, what's sauce for the infidel boar is sauce for the Muslim sow.

Posted by: Greg at 12:06 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Christians around the world face persecution from those who hate the Christian faith. Some end up jailed for their faith. One place to find out about such modern-day martyrs is through Voice of the Martyrs and their excellent blog. This item from the blog recently caught my eye.

I want to thank those of you who have written to the prisoners so far. Yesterday we started around 286 on the Prisoner Alert page and now the number is 325! That's very good and encouraging, and I know these precious sisters will be encouraged too.

Please remember to tell your friends and let's keep this challenge going!

Yes, the internet can be used to encourage our imprisoned brothers and sisters in Christ, and to loby government officials for their release! To learn more, click here.

Posted by: Greg at 10:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One more denial of human rights for Chinese Catholics -- one more reason to sanction the Chinese for their failure to live up to even the most minimal standards of religious freedom for those Catholics who follow the Pope and not Beijing in matters of religion.

The four Catholic bishops from mainland China who were named by Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) to participate in the upcoming Synod of Bishops will not be allowed by their government to attend, the AsiaNews service has confirmed.

With the Synod discussions opening in Rome on Sunday, October 2, none of the four bishops has obtained a passport, AsiaNews found. One of the four, Bishop Luke Li Jingfeng of Fengxiang, conceded that there is "very little" hope he can participate in the Synod.

Bishop Joseph Wei Jingyi of Qiqihar has been asking government officials every day for a passport. But local government officials told AsiaNews that the passport would not be granted-- and even claimed that "China and the Vatican agreed" on this decision.

AsiaNews said that the main opposition to the bishops' participation in the Synod appeared to come from the Catholic Patriotic Association, the government-approved body that aims to control the Church in China, maintaining its independence from the Holy See.

More information here.

Posted by: Greg at 10:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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We are back. I got the computer up and running this afternoon, but simply don't feel like making a long entry tonight.

What I will say -- for now -- is that we have virtually no damage (if it totals up to $500 I'll be surprised). Paula and I are well, though she is very sore after a miserable trip. Carmie has found her favorite spot to curl up under foot is still there, safe and dry. I go back to school tomorrow.

Many thanks to my guest blogger, Rhodey, for his keeping ths site alive while I was gone.

I will simply say that I now know that I have been blessed in many ways.

Posted by: Greg at 02:46 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Got a phone message from Greg while the family and I were out this afternoon: Good news! Greg heard from a person in his hometown, and there was minimal damage reported there. The power is actually still on in his neighborhood! Obviously, that's a verrrry good sign. Looks like he'll be back on his way home tomorrow, although his school will be closed until Wednesday.

Posted by: Rhodey at 12:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I got a call from Greg last night around 9:30pm ET. He and the family are doing fine -- they're safe and sound in Oklahoma. Did you see those massive traffic jams heading away from Houston? Greg was in 'em. It took him approximately 32 hours to drive a mere -- ready? -- 400 miles. 32 hours. Ugh.

At any rate, he wanted me to forward this info to y'all since he will be without an Internet connection for the time being. Keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Posted by: Rhodey at 01:10 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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After President Bush briefed reporters about Hurricane Rita, a reporter asks him "Sir, what good can you do going down to the hurricane zone? Might you get in the way?"

After a sensible response, another reporter (maybe the same one) yells "Well, critics are saying this is an overcompensation for the response to Katrina."

Just. Can't. Win.

Posted by: Rhodey at 12:34 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Hey all -- Rhodey here from The Colossus of Rhodey. Greg is still in transit, evacuating from the incoming Hurricane Rita, so he said I could throw a few posts in here every now and then until his return.

Those Air America nutcases just can't seem to get a decent analogy right. And that's putting it nicely. AA's Randi Rhodes recently compared to the evacuation of people from Hurricane Katrina to the Holocaust:

CALLER (continuing): The thing that really killed me was the fact that when they bussed some of them out of the Dome. They loaded them on the bus, and they wouldn't tell them where they were going.

RANDI: Yeah. What is that?

CALLER: That is like when you transfer prisoners to one --

RANDI (interrupting): Actually, you know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of a little visit I made to the Holocaust Museum, and I saw these cattle cars.

CALLER: Yes!

RANDI: And they took people to go on them, but they didn't tell them where they were going.

CALLER: Yes! They do that to prisoners. If they're taking prisoners from one high-security prison to another, they do not --

RANDI: So, what are you supposed to do? Just do a "faith-based evacuation"? (Changing voice, as if an evacuee) "I'm sure he wouldn't send me to Auschwitz."

CALLER: Yeaaw! But why were these people patted down? There was an assumption of criminality made because they were poor and they were black --

RANDI: Check this out. Let's just -- Think about it this way. People were taken one place. Their children were taken another place. THIS IS SO MUCH LIKE THE HOLOCAUST. I can't even -- You know, it's like, you're not supposed to forget the Holocaust so that it can't happen again. And here you have people being loaded onto transportation vehicles, not being told where they're going, and their children are being taken someplace else ...

If you've ever wondered why, given that President Bush's approval ratings are dismal, the Left just cannot gain any ground on him or other conservatives, just consider this idiot Rhodes and the other cretins that gab on Air America.

Posted by: Rhodey at 09:14 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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This is not good news.

Hurricane Rita intensified into a Category 4 storm today with winds of 135 mph, deepening concerns that the storm could devastate coastal Texas and already-battered Louisiana by week's end.

Mandatory evacuations have already been ordered for New Orleans and Galveston today, one day after Rita skirted past the Florida Keys as a Category 2 storm, causing minimal damage.

I'm halfway between Galveston and Houston proper -- this is not good at all.

NOTE: The Houston Chronicle is operating two very good blogs dealing with Hurricane Rita -- Sci Guy and Huricane Rita. How long they reamin up is, of course,an open question, givent he coming of the storm and its intensity.

UPDATE DURING LUNCH (2;30 PM) -- In light of current projections, Paula, Carmie and I will pull the trigger at midnight, regardless of what is left undone. It is eight hours -- at least -- to Huntsville, and that is only about 100 miles from here. Hopefully traffic will thin out then, but who knows?, given the mandatory evacuations kicking in.

Traffic crawled along Houston's freeways today as officials ordered the mandatory evacuation of vulnerable areas in advance of Hurricane Rita, which was chugging toward the Gulf Coast as a dangerous Category 4 storm.

Mayor Bill White and County Judge Robert Eckels said today that some mandatory evacuations would begin at 6 p.m. They encouraged residents to leave voluntarily if possible before the evacuations become mandatory, and it was clear that thousands of residents were heeding the advice.

Traffic was especially heavy on the south end of Interstate 45, the main evacuation route from Galveston and the Clear Lake area, moving somewhat faster north of Loop 610. Speeds averaged about 20 mph on I-45 through Houston.

Although evacuees departing during rush hour this morning reported arriving in Dallas in the usual five hours, as of 1:30 p.m., it was taking at least two hours just to get from Galveston to Houston on I-45, AAA reported.

One reason so many residents were trying to get out of town before they had to: Once a mandatory evacuation begins, residents will no longer get to choose their own evacuation routes. Roads will be blocked off to funnel traffic to evacuation shelters in designated cities further inland according to a resident's zone.

Michelle Malkin has a good piece on some differences from Katrina.

Posted by: Greg at 01:18 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Plywood, screws, and tools are purchased -- I start to boarding the place up in the morning.

Hotel reservations are made and confirmed.

Evacuation route is printed and placed where it cannot be forgotten.

We are supposed to evacuate within 30 hourse of this post.

I don't know when I will post next, or where I will be.

Pray for Paula, Carmie, and I -- and for the rest of us in Rita's path.

I just hope I will have a home to come home to -- and that it will be fit to live in.

Posted by: Greg at 06:25 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Is she coming to visit?

We donÂ’t know, yet, but she may stay to the south of us, which means tropical storm-like weather instead of a Category 3 storm that would require evacuation.

Keep packing that suitcase and hold off on a sigh of relief, but the National Hurricane Center's latest official forecast names the stretch of coast just north of Matagorda Island as Hurricane Rita's most likely target instead of Galveston.

With landfall on the Gulf Coast not expected until Friday night, meteorologists caution that predictions remain unreliable: Long-range forecasts such as this are typically off by hundreds of miles, and different computer models call for different landfalls. Morever, the overnight course shift is small, so preparations continue in the danger zone from Brownsville to Lake Charles, La.

"We're definitely not out of the woods yet," said Kent Prochazka, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in League City.

If Rita does in fact hit closer to Matagorda than Galveston as a Category 3 hurricane, the Houston area would be in for high winds, heavy rain and possibly tornadoes, but that wouldn't be as dangerous for Houston as a direct hit on Galveston, Prochazka said.

Instead of devastating Galveston and then moving over downtown Houston still packing the 100 mph winds of a Category 2 hurricane, a hurricane making landfall near Matagorda would to be expected to roll over Houston with tropical force winds in the 70 mph range.

"The difference between that and making landfall in Galveston is huge," Prochazka said.

I made hotel reservations for our evacuation tonight, and the closest I could get was in the Ardmore, Oklahoma. – “only” 400 miles from home. Here’s hoping I get to call and cancel them rather than bugging-out.

Oh, and by the way – only four more storms until they run out of names for the year – meaning we could see “Hurricane Alpha” in the event we get five more this year.

Posted by: Greg at 03:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A group of old soldiers gathered the other day to keep alive the memory one of their own -- 2nd Lt. Robert Ronald Leisy, who gave his life in Vietnam at age 24 so that others might live.

The day Leisy died, a reconnaissance squad of eight or nine men scouting a valley strayed into a North Vietnamese regiment of several hundred men and were being cut to pieces.

"We aren't going to leave those guys down there," Leisy said.

In the face of withering fire, Leisy raced to position his men and was moving with Baillargeon, calling in artillery, to the front of the line.

" 'Bernie, this is like the valley of the Little Big Horn.' That's the last thing he said to me," Baillargeon remembers.

And then Leisy saw a North Vietnamese sniper in a tree aim and fire a B-40 rocket at them.

In a fraction of a second, he smothered Baillargeon with his body. Gene Clark, 57 and a retired Macomb, Ill., police officer, was the medic who braved bullets to save lives that day. He saw that one of Leisy's hands was gone, his leg and abdomen shredded.

"He said, 'I'm not going to make it, am I?' " Clark recalls.

Yet Leisy continued to direct the fight, waving off Clark to help others.
Leisy was strapped into a litter, but the fighting was so intense no helicopter could approach, and he died within three hours.

LeisyÂ’s heroism was recognized by a grateful nation when he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1971.

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It seems to me like this FEC attempt to cripple the Club for Growth should wake up every American who believes that citizens have a right to participate in the electoral process.

The Federal Election Commission yesterday filed its first court challenge against so-called "527 groups," suing a powerhouse Republican advocacy group for violating campaign-finance laws from 2000 to 2004.

The FEC charges that the Club for Growth raised and spent at least $4 million more than the limit, and so the group should have had to register as a political committee and abide by donation and spending limits. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

"This litigation is an important test case on when 527 groups are required to register with the FEC and follow hard-dollar restrictions in federal law," said Michael E. Toner, the commission's vice chairman.

The 527 groups, named for the part of tax code that governs them, played a major role in the 2004 election, the first under the campaign finance rules that Congress passed in 2002. Those rules were intended to eliminate so-called "soft money," the large donations that political parties and interest groups used to flood the airwaves with issue ads.

Instead, the parties have to rely on limited "hard dollar" contributions.

The FEC justifies this action by saying that the Club for Growth refused to make a compromise agreement with the agency.

In the complaint, the FEC said it tried to work out an agreement with the club, but the organization would not agree to a remedy. The FEC is considering action against other 527s.

Any compromise would, of course, include limits upon the organization to engage in robust and unfettered political speech of the type envisioned by the Founders who wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think that the group’s president, former Pennsylvania Congressman Pat Toomey, has it right when he describes this action as an act of war against the First Amendment. To compromise, which would effectively be a surrender, would be a betrayal of the Club for Growth’s limited government principles.

I think the solution that needs to be adopted here needs to be framed along the following language.

Congress shall make no law. . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. . . .

Short, simple, and in harmony with our nation’s founding documents, this standard would make it clear that the FEC has only one task – closing up shop and ending its unconstitutional interference with the political speech of Americans.

Posted by: Greg at 02:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It seems to me like this FEC attempt to cripple the Club for Growth should wake up every American who believes that citizens have a right to participate in the electoral process.

The Federal Election Commission yesterday filed its first court challenge against so-called "527 groups," suing a powerhouse Republican advocacy group for violating campaign-finance laws from 2000 to 2004.

The FEC charges that the Club for Growth raised and spent at least $4 million more than the limit, and so the group should have had to register as a political committee and abide by donation and spending limits. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

"This litigation is an important test case on when 527 groups are required to register with the FEC and follow hard-dollar restrictions in federal law," said Michael E. Toner, the commission's vice chairman.

The 527 groups, named for the part of tax code that governs them, played a major role in the 2004 election, the first under the campaign finance rules that Congress passed in 2002. Those rules were intended to eliminate so-called "soft money," the large donations that political parties and interest groups used to flood the airwaves with issue ads.

Instead, the parties have to rely on limited "hard dollar" contributions.

The FEC justifies this action by saying that the Club for Growth refused to make a compromise agreement with the agency.

In the complaint, the FEC said it tried to work out an agreement with the club, but the organization would not agree to a remedy. The FEC is considering action against other 527s.

Any compromise would, of course, include limits upon the organization to engage in robust and unfettered political speech of the type envisioned by the Founders who wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think that the groupÂ’s president, former Pennsylvania Congressman Pat Toomey, has it right when he describes this action as an act of war against the First Amendment. To compromise, which would effectively be a surrender, would be a betrayal of the Club for GrowthÂ’s limited government principles.

I think the solution that needs to be adopted here needs to be framed along the following language.

Congress shall make no law. . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. . . .

Short, simple, and in harmony with our nation’s founding documents, this standard would make it clear that the FEC has only one task – closing up shop and ending its unconstitutional interference with the political speech of Americans.

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IÂ’ve never figured out why this guy in a costume enrages so many mouth-breathers out there.

The taunts, nasty gestures and occasional Frisbee or soda can tossed his way don't ruffle Kyle Lincecum's feathers. But days like Sunday, when he was pummeled and sent sprawling into the path of busy Fry Road traffic, make him feel like an endangered species.

Lincecum, 20, is the guy inside the oversized green and orange bird suit whose loony antics lure the weekend crowds to the Mattresses for Less store at Fry and the Katy Freeway. The Sunday afternoon attack, which pitted a young assailant against Lincecum in his 12-foot-tall Citrus bird suit, brought traffic to a screeching halt.

The assault was the second time in his 2 1/2 -year career as an advertising bird that Lincecum has been pitched into traffic. But there have been other attacks; in January 2004, he was featured in the Houston Chronicle after being assaulted by a gang of skateboard-riding teens.

"Like every job," Lincecum said Monday, "this one has its ups and downs."

Uhhhh—yeah. Folks trying to kill you while you are trapped in a 12-foot-tall aluminum mesh and fake-fur costume certainly qualifies as a down-side in my book. Is the up-side the opportunity to stand out in Houston’s often-unbearable heat and humidity while wearing the costume?

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In recent weeks, we have heard that it is racially discriminatory public policy for the GOP to insist that photo ID should be required to vote. So what does the private bi-partisan Commission on Federal Election Reform urge as one of the tools to make sure the exercise of the right to vote easier and more secure?

Warning that public confidence in the nation's election system is flagging, a commission headed by former president Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state James A. Baker III today will call for significant changes in how Americans vote, including photo IDs for all voters, verifiable paper trails for electronic voting machines and impartial administration of elections.

Now I like some of these proposals, but not all of them. But notice, please, the call for photo ID. Are we to believe that those on the commission who supported this recommendation, including Carter, are crypto-racists who want to disenfranchise black voters? Or are they patriots who are seeking to ensure that Americans can vote in an easy, secure manner?

Posted by: Greg at 11:42 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Stephen Markman supplies us with a vocabulary list of words and phrases to use to discern judicial activism. Some examples follow.

Spirit of the Law: Where the actual language of the law is incompatible with the policy preferences of a judge, it is not uncommon for a judge to claim that the “spirit of the law” nonetheless compels the preferred result. A judge may invoke such a “spirit” as a basis for decision-making as if somehow, via this necromancy, that which is not within the law may be conjured into it. Opinions relying upon a "spirit," nowhere incorporated in the actual language of the law, should be scrutinized carefully.

Balancing: The process of “balancing” rights and interests is predominantly a legislative, not a judicial, function. When, in the course of interpreting the law, a judge purports to engage in a “balancing” determination, more often than not he has misconstrued one of the allegedly-competing rights or interests. Concluding that one interest or right is entitled to a 30-percent weight, instead of a 70-percent weight in the “balancing” process not only constitutes an essentially standard-less, legislative decision, but it also implicitly concedes that neither of the rights or interests established by the lawmaker will be accorded full respect.

Public Policy: A judge will often resort to “public policy” as a basis for disregarding the words of the law. Unless such policy is grounded in the actual words of some law, this is simply another way for a judge to replace the determination of the lawmaker with his own determination of what the law ought to be. The most reliable basis for ascertaining “public policy” is for a judge not to examine his own sense of conscience, but to examine the principle repository of such policies in a democratic society, the actual enactments of representative, public bodies.

Notice, please, that each of these is based upon the premise that something other than the text of the Constitution or the law in question is superior to the text or texts being examined. That ultimately becomes the judge’s sense of what ought to be, rather than the views of the legislative and executive branches of government or of the people themselves. Thus, to take one example, the spirit of the laws forbidding racial discrimination requires racial discrimination as a matter of implementing a public policy of affirmative action, which balances the rights of minorities to preferential discrimination in a manner that outweighs the rights of non-minorities to non-discriminatory under the Constitution and the nation’s civil rights laws.

Posted by: Greg at 11:40 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Stephen Markman supplies us with a vocabulary list of words and phrases to use to discern judicial activism. Some examples follow.

Spirit of the Law: Where the actual language of the law is incompatible with the policy preferences of a judge, it is not uncommon for a judge to claim that the “spirit of the law” nonetheless compels the preferred result. A judge may invoke such a “spirit” as a basis for decision-making as if somehow, via this necromancy, that which is not within the law may be conjured into it. Opinions relying upon a "spirit," nowhere incorporated in the actual language of the law, should be scrutinized carefully.

Balancing: The process of “balancing” rights and interests is predominantly a legislative, not a judicial, function. When, in the course of interpreting the law, a judge purports to engage in a “balancing” determination, more often than not he has misconstrued one of the allegedly-competing rights or interests. Concluding that one interest or right is entitled to a 30-percent weight, instead of a 70-percent weight in the “balancing” process not only constitutes an essentially standard-less, legislative decision, but it also implicitly concedes that neither of the rights or interests established by the lawmaker will be accorded full respect.

Public Policy: A judge will often resort to “public policy” as a basis for disregarding the words of the law. Unless such policy is grounded in the actual words of some law, this is simply another way for a judge to replace the determination of the lawmaker with his own determination of what the law ought to be. The most reliable basis for ascertaining “public policy” is for a judge not to examine his own sense of conscience, but to examine the principle repository of such policies in a democratic society, the actual enactments of representative, public bodies.

Notice, please, that each of these is based upon the premise that something other than the text of the Constitution or the law in question is superior to the text or texts being examined. That ultimately becomes the judgeÂ’s sense of what ought to be, rather than the views of the legislative and executive branches of government or of the people themselves. Thus, to take one example, the spirit of the laws forbidding racial discrimination requires racial discrimination as a matter of implementing a public policy of affirmative action, which balances the rights of minorities to preferential discrimination in a manner that outweighs the rights of non-minorities to non-discriminatory under the Constitution and the nationÂ’s civil rights laws.

Posted by: Greg at 11:40 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Well, this certainly settles matters. Gwyneth Paltrow has spoken on the policies of George W. Bush and found them wanting.

"I've always been drawn to Europe. America is such a young country, with an adolescent swagger about it," she said.

"But I feel that I have a more European sensibility, a greater respect for the multicultural nature of the globe. And it's a strange time to be an American now."
"I feel like we're really in trouble. I just had a baby and thought 'I don't want to live there.' Bush's anti-environment, pro-war policies are a disgrace."

I mean, what is the purpose of having any further discussions on the issue. After all, AmericaÂ’s most prominent and revered political commentators pointed out the obvious some years ago.

Actors – is there anything they don’t know?

Thank you, Homer Simpson, for helping us understand why we should heed Ms. PaltrowÂ’s sagacious utterances.

Posted by: Greg at 11:38 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 You're right, of course, but, for whatever reason, stupid people want to know what celebrities think, wear, etc. I'm just glad that Paltrow is insightful enough to realize how bad Bush is.

Posted by: Dan at Mon Sep 19 15:44:07 2005 (aSKj6)

2 If ole Gwynnie is so smart, why isn't she President? If Europe is so mature, smart, and good, why aren't any of their countries superpowers?

Europe abounds with racism. I've got clients in England, France, Belgium, and Germany with whom I interact on a regular basis, and they're going insane with immigration. They hate it and they hate the immigrants. Racist jokes abound.

CRIPES but these people are completely stupid.

Bartleby

Posted by: Bartleby at Tue Sep 20 04:14:19 2005 (lkCzp)

3 Why would she want to be president? Doesn't pay as much as being an actress, and you don't get to work with Jude Law.

Posted by: Dan at Tue Sep 20 04:26:58 2005 (HBqfk)

4 She, and many others in Hollywood, are (here comes the phrase of the day) "Stuck On Stupid."

Posted by: reverse_vampyr at Wed Sep 21 07:25:37 2005 (Ns5kk)

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Looks like we have one senator who cannot understand basic concepts from Economics 101.

Righteously incensed over the price of gas, government on all levels is springing into action.

Congress has been busiest of all, conducting hearings, holding news conferences and drafting legislation. One bill being written by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would make price gouging a federal offense and heavily fine violators. Another bill to be introduced in the House will call for increased fuel efficiency, and still another, to be introduced in both houses, would impose a windfall profit tax on oil companies.

So, we are now going to have a federal law dictating gas prices? Does this mean that we will see the ever-efficient federal government telling us what acceptable profits are, no doub via an efficiet bureaucratic structure akin to the Post Office?

And listen to Senator Cantwell's reasoning for her bill.

"We need to make price gouging illegal," Cantwell said Wednesday. "We need to make sure that there is a federal price-gouging law on the books, so that in times of national emergencies, oil companies aren't tempted to rake in outrageous profits."

Cantwell is seasoned by her experience with the West Coast electrical crisis of 2001, when Enron traders manipulated the market in California and drove prices to record highs across the West.

In that case, she says, government regulators insisted that spiraling prices were the result of normal market forces. Only years later was it proven that energy traders manufactured the crisis.

Cantwell sees a parallel in the price of gas.

"Oil barons are making $200 million a day in profits," she said. "There is absolutely no reason for gas to go up in Washington as the result of a hurricane."

The problem is that there were sound economic reasons for prices to go up after the hurricane. The reason was an increase in demand and a perceived decrease of supply.

Let me explain.

As Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast, we were told to expect a decrease in production, combined with shortages. Suddenly, the value of inventory on hand went up as the expected cost of replacing that inventory also increased. A prudent businessman in such a situation raises his prices accordingly because of questions regarding the supply of his product. In this case, that meant an increase in gas prices based upon an expected increase in wholesale gas prices.

At the same time, hearing of a potential shortage, people all over the country rushed out to buy gasoline. I know I did after getting a frantic concerned ( I am reliably informed by said wife that she was NOT frantic, therefore I retract the earlier characterization in the interest of marital bliss) call from my wife about possible shortages due to the expected disruption of production in the New Orleans area. And as anyone who got a C or higher in Economics 101 knows, increased demand leads to higher prices. Station owners raised prices accordingly.

But let's look what happened.

During the last week of August, I was paying $2.52 a gallon at the corner station. By the end of that week, gasoline was up to $2.99 at the same station due to market forces. The the following Monday, they had dropped back to $2.85 -- and one local station had gas for $2.79. Yesterday I could buy gas at the place on the corner for $2.57. Given recent oil price fluctuations and minor supply disruptions, this is not an unreasonable increase from what the prices were three or four weeks ago, especially considering we are all now aware that there is no real shortage, simply a perceived one that created a panic-induced spike in prices. In other words, Adam Smith's invisible hand has worked just like it is supposed.

Maria Cantwell, of course, doesn't get this. She sees these price increases as the nefarious actions of unethical businessmen and women -- she calls them "oil barons". I call them capitalists -- and I call her a socialist. She wants us to live in a land of governent controlled prices. I prefer to live in a land of free markets. But then again, I can understand the basics of economics, and Cantwell can't.

Posted by: Greg at 11:34 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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John Paul the Great's final words were released to the world today.

"Let me go to the house of the Father."

I cannot help but believe that the late pontiff's final words were an invocation of Psalm 122.

1 A song of ascents. Of David. I rejoiced when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."

2 And now our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem, built as a city, walled round about.

4 Here the tribes have come, the tribes of the LORD, As it was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

5 Here are the thrones of justice, the thrones of the house of David.

6 For the peace of Jerusalem pray: "May those who love you prosper!

7 May peace be within your ramparts, prosperity within your towers."

8 For family and friends I say, "May peace be yours."

9 For the house of the LORD, our God, I pray, "May blessings be yours."

Indeed -- may we all go, rejoicing, to the house of the Lord.

Posted by: Greg at 06:03 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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This line from K. M. Semmel's Washington Post column sort of leaped out at me.

For me, voting Democratic has always been a no-brainer.

[INSERT YOUR JOKE HERE]

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You have to wonder if the lack of hurricane and flood preparedness in Louisiana might have had something to do with state and local government corruption. After all, charges were already pending before the Katrina hit. It seems that$60 million in FMA funds granted to the the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness are missing -- and the federal government had requested the return of $30.4 million back in March.

Much of the FEMA money that was unaccounted for was sent to Louisiana under the Hazard Mitigation Grant program, intended to help states retrofit property and improve flood control facilities, for example.

The $30.4 million FEMA is demanding back was money paid into that program and others, including a program to buy out flood-prone homeowners. As much as $30 million in additional unaccounted for spending also is under review in audits that have not yet been released, according to a FEMA official.

One 2003 federal investigation of allegedly misspent funds in Ouachita Parish, a district in northern Louisiana, grew into a probe that sprawled into more than 20 other parishes.

Mark Smith, a spokesman for the Louisiana emergency office, said the agency had responded to calls for reform, and that "we now have the policy and personnel in place to ensure that past problems aren't repeated."

He said earlier problems were largely administrative mistakes, not due to corruption.

But federal officials disagreed. They said FEMA for years expressed concerns over patterns of improper management and lax oversight throughout the state agency, and said most problems had not been corrected.

They point to criminal indictments of three state workers as evidence the problem was more than management missteps. Two other state emergency officials also were identified in court documents as unindicted co-conspirators.

I wonder -- if that money had been properly spend, might we be seeing significantly fewere problems in Louisiana in the aftermath of this horrific storm? And if the waste, mismanagement and fraud came at the state and local level, isn't that again where much of the blame belongs for the inadequacy of the disaster preparedness and response that we have seen?

ANd please note some of the examples of how this money (what can be traced) was spent.

The report also said the Louisiana agency had misspent $617,787 between May 2000 and September 2003.

Questionable expenditures identified by the inspector general included $2,400 for sod installation, several thousand dollars for a trip to Germany by the deputy director, $1,071 for curtains, and $595 for an L.L. Bean parka and briefcase. The inspector general also challenged unspecified spending for camera equipment, professional dues and a 2002 Ford Crown Victoria.

And we won't get into the fact that 97% of disbursed funds from one of the FEMA grants have no receipts at all to account for spending.

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Only about 17% of summoned jurrors show up for duty in the Houston area. That cna cause serious problems with holding trials.

Here's what one local county did.

Dozens of people avoided contempt of court charges and possible fines by agreeing to appear for jury duty in the next 90 days.
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A Fort Bend County judge summoned the people to court and asked them to explain why they didn't appear for jury duty last month.

"The intent is not to generate fine money for Fort Bend County but to get people to comply with the process," state District Judge Thomas Culver said Friday to about 120 people in the courtroom.

Almost all the potential jurors said they never received the jury duty summons, while one person said she was in Louisiana doing relief work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The decision to summon the no-shows to court was made because on Aug. 23, the county did not have enough people to fill juries for the day's trials. Bailiffs had to roam courthouse hallways and press into service whomever they could find for jury duty.

It was the first time in several years the county ran short of jurors. But Culver said judges have been concerned recently that fewer people are appearing for jury service and the decision was made to summon all the people who did not show up for the Aug. 30 jury call and have them explain why they were absent.

State law says failing to appear for jury duty can result in contempt of court charges with fines ranging from $100 to $1,000.

"I am going to defer the contempt of court and a $200 fine if you will agree to appear within 90 days for jury duty," Culver told almost every person who stood before him Friday.

So remember -- SHOW UP!

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How are the kids displaced by Huricane Katrina being received in Texas? Pretty well, it seems, if this Houston school is an example.

The governor, along with state and federal education officials, visited a southwest Houston middle school on Friday where more than 50 students displaced by Hurricane Katrina have enrolled.

U.S. Secretary of Education and Houston Independent School District alumni Margaret Spellings, Gov. Rick Perry, Texas Commissioner of Education Shirley Neeley and Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams toured Pin Oak Middle School at noon.

Educators and classmates at the school have welcomed the displaced students with open arms. Pin Oak Principal Michael McDonough and the school's social worker, Alyson Bricker, sat down individually with each student and his or her family during the enrollment process to talk about their needs.

The displaced students were assigned a regular Pin Oak student as a buddy, given three Polo shirts with the school's logo on it, a spirit shirt that can be worn on Fridays and a school planner. School officials also organized a clothing drive for the families.

More than 1,200 students attend Pin Oak, located at 4601 Glenmont, which has served as a middle school in the district for four years and offers a foreign language magnet program.

Officials said the district has enrolled more than 4,000 students evacuated from the Gulf Coast region.

I teach at a high school in a neighboring district, and I can tell you that we've done many of the same things. We've gotten kids needed clothing and school supplies, assigned them buddies, organized a support group,and started to integrate them into our extracurricular activities.

The three students I have are wonderful -- a shy and quiet girl, a young lady with a melodious laugh that I hear often, and a serious, studious football player who can't wait to get in the game. We've got 50 in all on our campus , and we are ready to take more if they come. I can tell you without a doubt that every Houston educator feels the same way.

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Look who is seeking to make money off of her grief and notoriety. I wonder what this does to her unassailable moral authority.

There are moments in history when the courageous actions of one individual act to galvanize a movement – whether for civil rights, women's rights, pro-democracy, or against a war.

The summer of 2005 will forever be remembered with one mother's vigil for her lost son at President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Cindy Sheehan has re-energized the nation's anti-war movement with her unflagging desire to meet with the president to ask: “What is the noble cause for which my son died in Iraq?”

Cindy Sheehan has become a national symbol of the powerless confronting the powerful, of a mother mourning the loss of her child and seeking answers from the nation's commander-in-chief, the man who made the case for the war in which her son lost his life.

Sheehan's activism has not ended with the president returning to Washington after his vacation. She is now involved in public speaking to groups around the country: one mother with one voice and one mission – to find a way to bring our troops home and spare other parents the grief of losing a child in an unjust war.

For additional information on Cindy Sheehan and her public speaking availability, visit www.speakingmatters.org.

I guess the “personal matters” she needed o deal with when she abandoned her bus caravan last month might have been arranging for a lucrative public speaking contract.

UPDATE: Look at this shameless grave robber's latest outrageous comment.

George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power.

Incredible!

(Hat Tip -- StrataSphere, Bogus Gold, Combs Spouts Off, California Conservative, and Blogs for Bush)

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Does CAIR want to call this racial profiling?

When FBI agents walked into Mahmoud Maawad's spartan apartment at 3557 Mynders # 5 on Sept. 9, they found a desk, chair, computer and a Koran.

They also found an airline pilot's uniform, a chart of Memphis International Airport, and instructional DVDs, including one called "How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act."

A federal magistrate Thursday ordered Maawad, a 29-year-old University of Memphis student from Egypt, jailed until his trial on charges of wire fraud and fraudulent use of a Social Security number.

"The specific facts and circumstances are scary," Asst. U.S. Atty. Steve Parker said, arguing against Maawad's release.

Since Maawad can't get a Social Security number, "he can't get a pilot's license, and can't go to flight school," Parker said. "But he wants to get behind the wheel of an aircraft."

Parker said "we don't know either way" if Maawad is a terrorist or connected to any terror groups.

U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Thomas Anderson ruled that Maawad be held without bond.

Oh, yeah – he’s here on an expired visa.

Sound familiar?

(Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin)

Posted by: Greg at 12:16 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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When California paramedic Michael Sprinkles was killed on his way home from work by immigration criminal Juan Bibinz, it was a preventable accident. Bibinz, you see, had been arrested several times before by the LAPD and has been convicted of multiple felonies. He was even deported once – but that was insufficient to get LAPD to hold him and turn him over to immigration officials. Why not? A little something called Special Order 40.

How can an illegal alien be arrested again and again, yet sent home only once? Maybe because it’s official L.A.P.D. policy that officers can’t ask about a suspect’s citizenship. “Special Order 40, enacted in 1979, bars police from enforcing federal immigration laws,” is how the ACLU put it in a 2001 news release. And, it noted, “the Police Commission’s own Independent Review Panel noted how critical the Order is to ensure public safety.” Tell that to Michael Sprinkles.

The ACLU claims that Special Order 40 is “essential.” But a better word for it would be “illegal.” The state’s penal code reads, “Every law enforcement agency in California shall fully cooperate with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service regarding any person who is arrested if he or she is suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.” Not much ambiguity there.

Special Order 40 is useful, though. It explains why the United States is facing an illegal immigration crisis: We donÂ’t take illegal immigration seriously.

So because Los Angeles police wonÂ’t follow state law and help enforce federal law, a good man died.

Nice going, Los Angeles – here is hoping that Sprinkle’s family ends up owning your city by the time litigation is finished, and that several city officials end up in jail. After all, city officials acted illegally in order to aid a known criminal, resulting in Sprinkle’s death. That is more than mere negligence.

Posted by: Greg at 12:13 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Well, weÂ’ve already got the first opportunistic government official filing suit against the insurance industry in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The attorney general of Mississippi sued five major insurance companies on Thursday, alleging that they're cheating Hurricane Katrina survivors.

The five companies are divisions of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., State Farm Fire and Casualty Co., Allstate Property and Casualty Co., the United Services Automobile Association and Mississippi Farm Bureau Insurance.

The suit is the opening shot in what's expected to be a protracted legal battle over homeowner and business claims after the nation's most devastating storm.
Attorney General Jim Hood sued in state court in Jackson, Miss., alleging that the insurance companies are skirting claims by insisting that damage to homes was caused by flooding, which isn't covered under homeowner policies.

"Is it right to write in the fine print a provision that takes away the reason for the contract in the first place?" Hood asked in an interview after filing suit. "You can't put this stuff in fine print and bankrupt half the coast and say, `Oh well, they should have known.'"

Interestingly, one of these companies is my insurance company, so I am familiar with their practices. When I bought my house, four blocks from Galveston Bay, I was EXPLICITLY told that the policy didnÂ’t cover flood damage. I was EXPLICITLY told I needed to get flood insurance to cover such damage. So when the next hurricane rolls up the Texas coast towards Houston, IÂ’m covered, whether the water comes from above through a hole in the wall or roof (homeownerÂ’s policy) or from below as the water rises (flood policy).

For whatever reason, these people didnÂ’t get the message. Now they want their policies to cover excluded damage, and you have a politician trying to get money out of these companies on behalf of those who did not act in a proactive manner. Look at Mississippi.

FEMA officials have acknowledged that 60 percent of the affected property owners in Katrina's zone of destruction may lack federal flood insurance. To rebuild, they'll have to take out low-interest government loans.

For the 40 percent who have flood policies, the federal government pays claims of up to $250,000 for residences and $500,000 for commercial property. It doesn't cover living expenses until a home is rebuilt.

In Mississippi, there were only 42,320 flood policies in place at the end of last year, a fraction compared with a hurricane-prone state such as Florida, with more than 1.8 million flood policies.

Ahhhhhhh – I see. Folks decided to save a buck, figuring that they would continue to dodge the bullet. Now they want someone else to pay for their choice not to spend the money to protect themselves. Got it.

Toss this suit out of court – with extreme prejudice. And sanction those who filed it.

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So, Gov. Blagojevich, would you care to explain this allegation? Did you attempt to steer state contracts those who agreed to make donations to your campaign?

Blagojevich said he had "no knowledge whatsoever" about any pension deals being traded for contributions to his campaign. "Absolutely not," the governor said. "I know nothing about any of that."

Cari's 17-page plea offers no indication he ever spoke directly to Blagojevich or anybody from his political fund-raising operation, but the document laid out a broad "fund-raising strategy" outlined to Cari by Levine. Levine told Cari that he and Blagojevich's two fund-raisers would "not let an Illinois public pension fund . . . invest in a private equity fund" unless that firm hired a consultant they chose, and that consultant agreed to make "certain political or charitable contributions."

Blagojevich was not specifically named in the Cari plea, which referred to him as "Public Official A." Sources confirmed to the Chicago Sun-Times that the governor is Official A. The administration said it had no idea who Official A is.

Top Blagojevich fund-raisers Antoin "Tony" Rezko and Christopher G. Kelly were referred to in the plea as "two close associates" of the governor who helped him "pick law firms, investment banking firms and consultants that would help Public Official A." The Sun-Times confirmed their identities through the same sources.

Blagojevich, Kelly and Rezko have not been charged with any wrongdoing. Attempts to reach Kelly and Rezko were unsuccessful.

Also Thursday, former teacher pension board outside counsel Steven Loren, 50, pleaded guilty to tax-related charges tied to the alleged scheme. Both Cari and Loren are cooperating with prosecutors.

The scheme outlined in Cari's plea deal is similar to allegations raised earlier this year by Blagojevich's estranged father-in-law, Chicago Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), who accused Kelly of orchestrating appointments to state boards and commissions in exchange for contributions to Blagojevich

Why is it that “Public Official A” Blagojevich is getting a pass from the national media for actual corruption involving the diversion of funds into his campaign coffers, while House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is being tarred by allegations that relate to accounting questions and technical definitions? Could it be that the reason relates to the letters R & D, not the letter A?

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This comes as no surprise to me -- I've alread had one of the Katrina kids at my school tell me his family is staying.

Fewer than half of all New Orleans evacuees living in emergency shelters here said they will move back home, while two-thirds of those who want to relocate planned to settle permanently in the Houston area, according to a survey by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.

The wide-ranging poll found that these survivors of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath remain physically and emotionally battered but unbroken. They praised God and the U.S. Coast Guard for saving them, but two weeks after the storm, nearly half still sought word about missing loved ones or close friends who may not have been as lucky.

However, I do have a methodology question about this poll. So does the Post, but they bury that nformation deep in the article.

A total of 680 randomly selected evacuees living temporarily in the Astrodome, Reliant Center and George R. Brown Convention Center, as well as five Red Cross shelters in the Houston area, were interviewed Sept. 10 to 12 for this Post-Kaiser-Harvard survey. More than 8,000 evacuees were living in these facilities and awaiting transfer to other housing when the interviewing was conducted.

More than nine in 10 of these evacuees said they were residents of New Orleans, while the remainder said they were from the surrounding area or elsewhere in Louisiana. The margin of sampling error for the overall results is plus or minus four percentage points. Potential differences between these evacuees and those not living in shelters or those who lived elsewhere in the affected Gulf Coast region make it impossible to conclude that these results accurately reflect the views of all Gulf Coast residents displaced by Katrina.

Most of the evacuees never resided in our big public buildings or the Red Cross shelters. Those who were in those public buildings were among the poorest of the poor, according to reports. Those left there are often among the hardest-luck cases. And more importantly, theey are likely very unrepresetative of the 70-80 thousand who never lived in any of those locations. After all, those who never went to the shelters would have self-evacuated and are therefore less likely to be hard-core chronic poor.

But we will live this and see what happens.

(More from Captain's Quarters, Neo-Neocon, and Publius Rendevous)

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Look what the GOP has found in the state of New Jersey.

At a news conference in Trenton, Republican officials said their analysis found:

# 54,601 people were registered in more than one county, and 4,397 appeared to have voted twice in the 2004 presidential election.

# 170,558 people were registered to vote in New Jersey as well as other states. Of those, 90,025 voted in New Jersey last year, and 6,572 appeared to have voted in two states.

# 4,755 individuals listed in county records as deceased also were listed as voting last year.

Voting from the grave has long been the stuff of Jersey lore, especially in Hudson County. But the GOP analysis found matches between the lists of the dead and the lists of the voting in all 21 counties around the state.

The highest number, 609, was found in heavily populated Bergen County. Monmouth (450), Camden (430), Essex (354) and Union (325) all had more than Hudson, which tied with Morris at 298.

How serious do the Democrats take documentation of such voter irregularities?

Richard McGrath, spokesman for the Democratic State Committee, reacted skeptically. "If the Republican Party conducted the investigation, it's safe to assume the facts and figures are wrong and the findings are suspect," he said.

Given that response, it is safe to assume that the fraud benefits the Democrats and they will fight solving the problem tooth-and-nail.

America, it is time to ask a pointed question.

How much more evidence is necessary to force a complete purge of the voter rolls, the implementation of mandatory photo identification on election day, and other common-sense voting reforms in this country?

Posted by: Greg at 11:10 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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