Look at what the people that Cindy Sheehan and other Leftoids call "freedom fighters" and the moral equivalent of our Foundng Fathers did in the town of Tel Afar.

When the terrorists took over the city, McMasters said, they replaced all the imams from the mosques with Islamic extremist laymen; replaced all teachers from the schools with people who "preached hatred and intolerance"; and kidnapped and murdered large numbers of people, "including a Sunni Turkmen imam and a city councilman who was shot about 30 times to the head in front of his family.

"The enemy here did just the most horrible things you can imagine," McMasters said, "in one case murdering a child, placing a booby trap within the child's body and waiting for the parent to come recover the body of their child and exploding it to kill the parents."

Would someone explain to me why the Saddamites paints the US as the attrocity-committing bag guys because of unintended collateral damage, but won't point out this sort of gross evil when it is committed intentionally by terrorists?

(Hat Tip: Jawa Report

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Lest you think that the friendly Islamofascists at CAIR don't want to impose Ssharia law on unwilling women and men here in America, look at this entry from Robert Spencer's JihadWatch.

What happens if a woman shows up for a CAIR photo-op without a hijab? No problem! They'll just Photoshop one on!

Seeing is believing -- and the pictures (both versions) are up at JihadWatch. Not only was one of the speakers at the press convference given a Photoshop hijab, so werre two women just standing in the audience!

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Here in Houston, we've been trying to integrate Katrina's kids into our classrooms. As far as I know, this has worked well, with the exception of one unfortunate incident. Many of these children, though, are going to be dispersed in the community before long, so any impact on a single school will likely be short-term. But what about areas where there will be a significant student population in a single location for a longer period of time. How should their education be handled? That issue is being looked in several locations around the country.

Consider the situation in San Antonio where 25,000 evacuees are living on a colsed military base. If only 20% are children, that means an influx of 5000 students into a districtt. In the "real world" of rnning a school district, you would have several years to "ramp-up " to such an influx of kids, but not in this case. If a subdivision or three were being built in a district, neighborhood schools would be built to accommodate them. But that did not -- and could not -- happen in the case of this calamity. When you have such a situation, you have to improvise a solution. It is, by definition, unforeseeable.

So what some officials are proposing is that evacuee children in such settings be educated in their shelter setting. That would require a waiver of the McKinney-Vento Act, which forbids segregating homeless children. In the case of evacuee children, many of whom are black, there are also racial segregation questions.

Let's look at the Texas situation I mentioned above.

Texas Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley, noting that 25,000 evacuees are housed at a closed Air Force base in San Antonio, asked the federal Education Department last week for "flexibility" to serve students "at facilities where they are housed, or otherwise separate from Texas residents during the 2005-2006 school year." U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, introduced legislation Monday that would grant Secretary Spellings authority to waive McKinney-Vento.

Such proposals are arousing consternation among advocates for the homeless, who fear that nearly two decades of gains in public-school enrollment for homeless children will be wiped out. They note that the act, which also requires school systems to enroll homeless children even without documentation such as health and residency records and to employ liaisons to the homeless, was vital to the swift, open-armed response of school districts to the student influx in the hurricane's aftermath. Also, they say, thousands of storm-battered children have already enrolled in public schools across the country without ill effects.

Gary Orfield, director of a Harvard University project that monitors school integration, said that segregating a predominantly black group of evacuees could raise "constitutional questions of racial discrimination." He also said that because many of them may be traumatized, have learning deficits, or come from failing schools, it would be "terrifically difficult" to teach a separate class of the displaced students, and that placing them in middle-class schools and communities would benefit them educationally.

William L. Taylor, chairman of the Citizen's Commission on Civil Rights, said the administration's plans to ease McKinney-Vento and No Child Left Behind could leave the displaced students warehoused and forgotten. "We need some focus on the needs of the children, and not go around waiving a lot of regulations without deciding whether there's a need," Mr. Taylor said.

Now let me begin by noting that the concerns about racial segregation are somewhat overblown. Racial segregation in schools is legal if it is de facto and not de jure. Government action did not create this situation -- nature did. Therefore the constitutional issue is really a red herring. And having worked for Dr. Neeley for a number of years, I can tell you that race is not even a consideration in this request -- she came to her position from a district that is substantially non-white and overwhelmingly low-income, and which was the largest majority-minority district in Texas to obtain an Exemplary rating.

No, what is being sought here is the ability to educate an existing community of students and keeping them together -- essentially neighborhood schools. The bulk of these kids will likely be heading back to Louisiana by next year, and so a separate program where there is a substantial population of students in an evacuation center will allow them to be taught using the Louisiana curriculum standards. These separate schools could also employ Louisiana teachers displaced by the storm. It creates a situation in which everyone wins, as far as I see. Am I missing something?

And for those who are concerned about undermining the educational rights of homeless kids, I do not see how you can argue with the logic of Pamela Atkinson, an advisor to Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., and Senator Orrin Hatch.

But Pamela Atkinson, a special consultant to Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., had other ideas. The displaced families had experienced "so much trauma, anxiety and separation" that the parents "wanted their children close by," said Ms. Atkinson. "Since we had classrooms at Camp Williams, it made more sense to keep them there."

She contacted Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, who then asked Secretary Spellings to seek to waive McKinney-Vento. "These displaced and homeless children are not the typical homeless children," Sen. Hatch wrote. "Nearly all of them are with their families. It is important to keep families together as the Katrina victims receive aid and support."

This situation is different than the situation facing most homeless kids. Their needs are different. Let's not try to make them fit into a mold designed for kids in a different situation.

Now I will agree with those who oppose concept making the rounds.

Businesses from charter schools to distance-education providers are already pressing for permission to teach the homeless in shelters and other makeshift housing, hoping to gain broader acceptance for their approaches to education. Mark Thimmig, chief executive of White Hat Ventures LLC, which educates nearly 5,000 students in Pennsylvania and Ohio via the Internet, said last week that his company would be eager to educate displaced students in the Astrodome.

Absolutely not -- there should be no experimentation on these kids. It simply is not acceptable to use them to "try out" approaches that are not generally accepted. These kids need a normal school experience, whether they are integrated into local schools or are educated in their own special school. As for the Astrdome, those kids are scheduled to be out by Saturday, so that is a moot point.

The important thing is that these kids are educated, no matter where they are. If they are integrated into local schools, as is happening in my district, that is wonderful. But if logistics make a separate program the optimal solution for Katrina's kids, then regulations be damned.

Additional commentary from liberal bloggers at Think Progress, Huffington Post, Liquid Toast, Cory Holt. Hopefully conservative bloggers will pic this story up and contribute to the discussion.

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Another California judge has ruled the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional.

Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was ruled unconstitutional Wednesday by a federal judge who granted legal standing to two families represented by an atheist who lost his previous battle before the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God."

Karlton said he was bound by precedent of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 2002 ruled in favor of Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools.

However, I detect one flaw in the argument made by the judge.

Since the Supreme Court tossed out the Newdow case on the standing issue, shouldn't that have vacated the entire set of rulings on the case, including the Ninth Circuit decision? Doesn't that mean that the ruling by the Ninth Circuit was nullified and of no effect? And wouldn't that mean that the decision of the Nith Circuit has no precedent value whatsoever?

Judge, you weren't bound by anything except your own predilections.

More at Michelle Malkin, Ankle Biting Pundits, How Appealing, California Conservative, Stop The ACLU, Deep Freeze, Double Toothpicks, and Jawa Report

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New Orleans teachers are receiving their last paycheck from before Hurricane Katrina -- and are being informed that they will not be paid again util schools reopen.

he paycheck issued this week to teachers is for the last pay period before the storm hit, said Bill Roberti, a director with the restructuring firm of Alvarez & Marsal, which runs the school system.

"This is the last payroll we will be able to issue for the time being," Roberti said in a briefing. "We were not able to move forward with the $50 million financing we were pursuing to keep the district afloat. We are very low on cash at this time."

The 7,000-employee, 116-school system was already in dire financial shape before Katrina hit, which is why the firm was pursuing the $50 million finance package.

A total of $13 million in payroll is available at Western Union branches across the country for teachers to pick up, Roberti said.

The state's schools superintendent said Tuesday he will ask Congress for $2.4 billion in aid for teacher benefits and salaries, and Alvarez & Marsal sent a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush as well, asking for help.

I pray for these teachers, since I know what terrible shape I would be in if the school where I teach closed and my salary were to be cut off.

And I am thankful that my district has found places for a few teachers, as have most of the other districts in the Houston area. Houston ISD itself held a job fair last week to try to find teachers for the 3000 extra students thay have taken in.

And while some of you may have seen the awful story from Jesse Jones High School, that is not typical of what is going on around here. Most of these kids are being welcomed with open arms at their new schools. I know the two in my classes are simply outstanding young people, and none of my colleagues have had a negative word to say about the evacuee kids in their classes, either.

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John Roberts hit a homerun with this quote.

"The Constitution is the court's taskmaster and it's Congress' taskmaster as well."

If he had included the executive branch in there, it would have been a grand slam.

Remember -- every branch can check the other two, within the limits set by the Constitution. The ultimate arbiter is not the courts, but the Constitution itself.

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I always liked the book 101 Uses For A Dead Cat. No, I don't hate cats that much (after all, they have some intrinsic value while they are still kittens), but the book did provide a lot of cheap laughs and sight-gaga.

Well, the updated edition will have to add this one.

A German inventor has angered animal rights activists with his answer to fighting the soaring cost of fuel -- dead cats.

Christian Koch, 55, from the eastern county of Saxony, told Bild newspaper that his organic diesel fuel -- a home-made blend of garbage, run-over cats, and other ingredients -- is a proven alternative to normal consumer diesel.

"I drive my normal diesel-powered car with this mixture," Koch said. "I have gone 170,000 km (106,000 miles) without
a problem."

The website of Koch's firm, "Alphakat GmbH", says his patented "KDV 500" machine can produce what he calls the "bio-diesel" fuel at about 23 euro cents (30 cents) a litre, which is about one-fifth the price at petrol stations now.

Koch said around 20 dead cats added into the mix could help produce enough fuel to fill up a 50-litre (11 gallon) tank.

But the president of the German Society for the Protection of Animals, Wolfgang Apel, said using dead cats for fuel was illegal.

"There's no danger for cats and dogs in Germany because this practice is outlawed in Germany," Apel told Bild on Wednesday in a story entitled "Can you really make fuel out of cats?"

"We're going to keep an eye on this case," Apel said.

Dead cats or dead dinosaurs -- which is a renewable resource?

(Cool -- thae Amazon link offers a bargain if you buy The Book of Bunny Suicides, too!)

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Just so you don't forget what happens to private individuals when the government wants to seize their property to give to other private interests.

A group that won a Supreme Court victory allowing it to seize property for private development is telling some residents to vacate their homes in the latest flash point in a nationwide controversy.

Representatives of the homeowners accused the quasi-public New London Development Corp. on Tuesday of reneging on a promise not to seize the properties while lawmakers considered changing the state's eminent-domain laws.

State House Minority Leader Robert M. Ward (R) called for a special session to enact a moratorium on property seizures, and homeowners vowed to continue fighting.

"They're going to have to pry my cold fingers from the house," said Michael Cristofaro, who received one of several vacate notices sent this week.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R) and state lawmakers had urged local governments to refrain from seizing property for development. Rell also favors a special session on the issue, a spokesman said.

But because the state had previously sanctioned the city's use of eminent domain for the Fort Trumbull neighborhood, it was unclear whether lawmakers could make New London delay its plans.

The notices order the property owners and tenants to vacate within 30 to 90 days and start paying rent to the development corporation during that period, according to the Institute for Justice, a Washington-based group representing the homeowners. If residents do not comply, the agency has the option of pursuing an eviction in court.

The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 in June that New London could take homes in Fort Trumbull to build a privately owned hotel and office space. The court also said states are free to ban the taking of property for such projects.

And by the way -- the "just compensation" that the property owners are to be paid will be pegged to the 2000 market-value of the propeties (when the homeowners and other property-owners filed suit against New London), not the value of the property today. That makes it unlikely that any of the displaced families or busineses will be able to remain in the community, while the city will receive 2005 market value from the private developers.

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Could it have been the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a 40 -year-old underutilized channel funnelled the storm surge into the New Orleans Industrial Canal and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway -- and from there into New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish and beyond?

Authorities have not yet concluded what caused the drowning of New Orleans, and most attention has focused on two breached floodwalls near Lake Pontchartrain, to the city's north. But now experts believe that the initial flooding that overwhelmed St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans came from the Gulf Outlet, a channel that was an ecological and economic disappointment long before Hurricane Katrina.

Satellite images show that levees along the outlet were severely damaged by storm surges. Flyovers by the Army Corps of Engineers have revealed a path of destruction consistent with Mashriqui's theory that the Outlet provided a pathway for storm surges from the Gulf and neighboring Lake Borgne.

Mashriqui had warned that the confluence of the MRGO and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway created a funnel that would direct storm surges into the New Orleans Industrial Canal and on into St. Bernard Parish. On the Friday before Katrina made landfall, the parish's state senator, Walter Boasso, complained at a congressional hearing that the federal government was "playing Russian roulette" with his constituents.

Katrina's first storm surges apparently shot up the Gulf Outlet and neighboring Lake Borgne from the southeast, then overtopped levees along the Outlet and the Industrial Canal. The floodwaters eventually breached the Industrial Canal's levees, and officials believe a large portion of the Outlet's levees have been destroyed as well.

"That funnel was a back door into New Orleans," said G. Paul Kemp, an oceanographer at the LSU Hurricane Center. "I don't think there's much doubt that was the initial cause of the disaster."

In other words, it may have been a failed attempt to create an efficient port that caused the flooding and the levee breakage, not the storm itself.

Oh, and by the way, please note this.

Before Katrina, the Corps was already studying whether to close the canal. The initial conclusion was no, but the Bush administration ordered the agency to redo its analysis.

The main advocates for the channel were the Port of New Orleans and its supporters in the Corps of Engineers and in Louisiana's congressional delegation. "You had the people of St. Bernard Parish against the Port of New Orleans," Boasso said at a community meeting Monday. "And the Port of New Orleans had the clout."

* * *

John Paul Woodley Jr., the assistant Army secretary who oversees the Corps, said the Bush administration had to instruct the agency to restart its study of whether to close the channel, because it hadn't taken into account the channel's destruction of wetlands, even though it was conducting a separate study of a $14 billion project to restore Louisiana's coastal wetlands. Woodley said there was also concern that further erosion could merge the channel with Lake Borgne -- which happened after Katrina.

So, whose priorities resulted in this catastrophe? Sounds like those local congressional delegation, not the president.

More at Strata-Spere and Liberal Common Sense (the title of this blog is the only way you'll ever see those three words adjacent to each other on RWR)

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It seems that the New York Times was against levee and drainage projects in Louisiana before they were for them. Unfortunately, the paper didn't come out for those projects until after Hurricane Katrina.

Look at this from April.

"Anyone who cares about responsible budgeting and the health of America's rivers and wetlands should pay attention to a bill now before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The bill would shovel $17 billion at the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and other water-related projects, this at a time when President Bush is asking for major cuts in Medicaid and other important domestic programs. Among these projects is a $2.7 billion boondoggle on the Mississippi River that has twice flunked inspection by the National Academy of Sciences.

"This is a bad piece of legislation."

The legislation, S. 728, would have spent $512 million on hurricane and storm damage reduction.

Now the Times wants is complaining that money wasn't given to the Corps of Engineers for hurricane and storm damage reduction projects.

I guess hindsight is 20/20.

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A recent sting by the Houston Police Department aimed at getting a burglar resulted in the arrest of a number of illegal aliens. There has, of course, been an outcry about the operation from all the usual liberal suspects.

Today the Houston Chronicle weighs in, taking a thouroughly predictable position.

On any given day, dozens of would-be laborers mill about Washington and Shepherd streets. Residents, many of them Latino, complained that the men were disrupting traffic by wading into the street whenever potential employers passed. So the local HPD unit devised a plan: Masquerading as contractors, officers hired dozens of day laborers from the street, then promptly arrested them. The ruse didn't yield the burglar; it did lead to 30 charges of solicitation by pedestrians — a Class C misdemeanor. Days later, most of the men were back on the streets.

Neighborhood residents were delighted, but the police sweep smacked of entrapment. It also sent the wrong message to Houston's immigrants, compromising public safety. Police, the arrests implied, were the enemy of people just trying to get work.

Actually, the arrests implied that if you break the law you are subject to arrest. In all honestly, the bulk of those cited should have been turned over to federal officials for deportation. -- but they weren't. Some laws, you see go unenforced by the Houston Police.

My question to the Chronicle and its supporters is a simple one -- When will you accept that these people are in violation of our nation's laws, and that they should be treated accordingly?

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I swear this is a real news story -- I could not have made it up to save my life.

At 10.15pm on Thursday the relative brought the 32-year-old woman to the bomohÂ’s house in Permatang Badak, near here, to seek a cure.

After relating her problem to the bomoh, he asked her to lie down.

He then took an egg and rolled it over her body, purportedly to sap out the spirit that was dwelling in her.

He then allegedly fondled and sucked her breasts.

Stunned, she immediately got up and demanded an explanation from the bomoh, to which he replied that she was “unclean” and he wanted to remove the bad spirits from her body.

Do you really mean it wasn't strange before he started to fondle and suck her breasts? Heck, that seems like the most normal part of the whole story.

(Hat Tip -- Raging Right Wing Republican)

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I just found this in my site log.

Referring Link: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=wallace b. jefferson&btnG=Google Search

Host Name: wdcsun26.usdoj.gov

IP Addres: 149.101.1.126

Countr: United States

Region: District Of Columbia

City: Washington

ISP: US Dept Of Justice

Who is Wallace B. Jefferson? He is the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

The link takes you to this old post of mine from November.

Does it mean anything?

After all, I hear there is an opening on the US Supreme Court -- and a second African-American justice on the Court could mend some storm-damaged fences.

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Could someone explain why I would want to?

Come Monday, Sept. 19, fans of New York Times columnists Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, and David Brooks will have to break out their credit cards. Sept. 19 is the launch date of TimesSelect, a new subscription service designed to diversify the newspaper's revenue stream beyond traditional Web site advertising.

The popular Op-Ed columnists are the main selling point behind the $49.95 a year subscription. (The service will be free for the paper's home delivery subscribers). The paper's news, features, editorials, and analysis will remain free, as will interactive graphics, multimedia, and video.

I feel overcharged paying nothing for Krugman and Dowd – and can get Brooks from other sources. Ditto most of the major articles I would want to access.

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Hey, if it is acceptable to take the tissues of slaughtered innocents for scientific experimentation, why not the tissues of the guilty for consumer products?

A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an investigation by the Guardian has discovered.

Agents for the firm have told would-be customers it is developing collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners after they have been shot. The agents say some of the company's products have been exported to the UK, and that the use of skin from condemned convicts is "traditional" and nothing to "make such a big fuss about".

Think about it. The killings are legal under Chinese law, and the tissues arguably benefit others. And unlike aborted babies, the criminals whose tissue is used are actually guilty of a crime, so their execution does not raise the same moral concerns as using the stem cells of infants killed for convenience. The Chinese have even tied the two issues together as part of their research and marketting.

The agent told the researcher: "A lot of the research is still carried out in the traditional manner using skin from the executed prisoner and aborted foetus." This material, he said, was being bought from "bio tech" companies based in the northern province of Heilongjiang, and was being developed elsewhere in China.

He suggested that the use of skin and other tissues harvested from executed prisoners was not uncommon. "In China it is considered very normal and I was very shocked that western countries can make such a big fuss about this," he said. Speaking from his office in northern China, he added: "The government has put some pressure on all the medical facilities to keep this type of work in low profile."

The agent said his company exported to the west via Hong Kong."We are still in the early days of selling these products, and clients from abroad are quite surprised that China can manufacture the same human collagen for less than 5% of what it costs in the west." Skin from prisoners used to be even less expensive, he said. "Nowadays there is a certain fee that has to be paid to the court."

So see, there is even a societal benefit to this product, for the government makes money selling the skin of the executed prisoners. So why be skittish about this? Is it really so different from the harvesting of fetal stem cells? What is the real difference?

The story also notes that this is not out of line with Chinese practice. Stories of organs and other tissues being harvested from executed prisoners in China have been circulated for years.

Of course, I oppose these products and the ghoulish practices that lead to their creation. But then again, I also have serious moral reservations about the use of fetal stem cells for medical research. I guess it just comes down to a question of respect for human life and the reduction of human beings to commodities.

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As a follow-up to yesterdayÂ’s post on questions for John Roberts, here are some others that are a bit more whimsical from John Tierney.

If Roe v. Wade were a tree, what kind of tree would it be?

In your best judgment, did Brad and Jen really just grow apart, or was it Angelina's fault?

From your analysis of constitutional history, would you classify James Madison as a dog person or a cat person?

Suppose you'd been in Solomon's place when he proposed cutting the baby in two. And suppose neither woman objected. Would you have cut the baby? Flipped a coin? Or opted for foster care?

Would Thomas Jefferson have preferred the Beatles or the Stones?

When you were a clerk at the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Warren Burger was disliked for his pretentiousness. What nickname did the clerks have for him? Burger King?

The rest are equally amusing, though my favorite has to be this one.

Ashley or Mary-Kate?

Enjoy!

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The right to free exercise of religion is clearly found in the Constitution.

The right to an abortion is, at best, an abstraction constructed from extensions of and inferences from the Constitution.

Why is it, then, that every time the two meet head-to-head, the supporters of abortion demand that the right of an individual to choose to exercise his/her religious freedom be limited or quashed altogether?

A group representing obstetricians and gynecologists is under attack for asking Congress to force doctors who morally object to abortion to give their patients referrals to doctors who will perform the procedure.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is guilty of "hypocrisy," according to the Christian Medical Association (CMA), for promoting the freedom to have an abortion on one hand, but opposing the choice of doctors to oppose the procedure on the other hand.

"Promoting choice has been the rally cry, but now they're saying we don't want our doctors having choice," CMA Associate Executive Director Dr. Gene Rudd said.

An Aug. 30 letter from ACOG to U.S. senators asked them to "require doctors with moral objections to refer abortions."

So I guess being “pro-choice” on abortion means being “no-choice” on the First Amendment.

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And you thought that the cafeteria food at YOUR school was weird.

A public junior high school in Japan's northern port town of Kushiro had a new item on the menu for its students Monday _ rice topped with whale curry.

The meat is from minke whales the local whalers had caught just off the coast of Kushiro on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, Kyodo News agency reported.

Whale meat returned to public school lunches in Kushiro, the former whaling hub about 560 miles northeast of Tokyo, last year for the first time in 38 years as part of the city-sponsored campaign to promote whale meat.

Whale meat dishes, however, are not on the menu every day.

The whale curry will be served at elementary schools in town on Tuesday, and whale meat croquettes are planned in January, Kyodo said.

I still think it beats “mystery meat”.

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Conservative criticism of the judiciary has been called a threat to judicial independence and un-American by American liberals, who see the judicial branch as the only way of enacting their preferred policies over the objection of the American people.

What do these liberals have to say about this comment from an Ohio abortionist?

[Akron Women's Medical Group executive director Carol] Westfall didn't mince words about the decision issued late Thursday by U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith in Cincinnati. That decision upheld a 1998 state law that requires teenage girls to obtain parental consent before getting an abortion.

It also requires adults seeking abortions to meet in person with a doctor at least 24 hours beforehand to get a description of the procedure and information about alternatives. Under the former law, that information could be given over the phone or by videotape.

It was the 24-hour requirement that was causing problems at the local clinic.
``This ruling came out at quarter to five on a Thursday night. It was impossible to get a hold of these patients,'' Westfall said. ``My opinion is, the judge should be lynched.''

Excuse me? Lynched? For making a ruling you find inconvenient to your business interests? DoesnÂ’t your threat against the life of a federal judge compromise judicial independence?

I look forward to Ms. WestfallÂ’s indictment and arrest.

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It seems that the Gitmo hunger strike is growing.

Military officials have characterized the protest as a "fast" of prisoners aimed at grabbing attention, and say it involves 128 prisoners. They say its significance is exaggerated by their lawyers.

Weir said no detainees are in danger of dying and that the military's treatment is preventing them from losing critical nutrition. Of the 18 people hospitalized, 13 are being force-fed through nasal tubes and five are being given intravenous hydration.

Hey – their bodies, their choice. I’m opposed to stopping any enemy of the United States from committing suicide -- provided they are not taking innocents with them. Just call me “pro-choice”.

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Wow!

Rising land prices and falling attendance will close Houston landmark Astroworld at the end of the current season on Octover 30.

Something of that size will probably become a mixed-use development, including multifamily housing, retail and office, said Edmonds, who described the property as one of the largest contiguous pieces of land near the Medical Center.

Harris County officials said they did not know that Six Flags would be putting AstroWorld on the market, but they were not completely surprised.

"The park seems to underperform in comparison to some of their other parks," said County Judge Robert Eckels.

Mike Surface, chairman of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp., which oversees Reliant Park, said: "There have been discussions for years about the viability of that location. You have a park that was obviously an aged park and limited in space needed for expansion."

Surface estimated that the land along the Loop, Kirby and Fannin could be worth $1 million an acre and that non-frontage property might go for $600,000 an acre.

After AstroWorld closes, an investor will likely build an amusement park in the Houston-area suburbs, some said.

"There is strong market in Houston for this type of facility," Eckels said.

Six Flags will continue to have a presence in the Houston area with Six Flags SplashTown water park.

I don't know about building another amusement park. Six Flags has FiestaTexas over in San Antonio, and Six Flags over Texas in the Dallas. Between the water parks in the Houston area and the additional parks in San Antonio (SeaWorld). I wonder how much interest there really will be in another amusement park -- especially depending on where it is located. After all, AstroWorld was close to downtown and centrally located -- any replacement is likely to be out towards katy and the west suburbs, bringing it ever closer to San Antonio .

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Katrina: Response Timeline by Right Wing Nut House, and 10 Things I learned From Hurricane Katrina. by Varifrank.  The full results of the votemay be found here.

The Watcher's offer of link whorage may be found here.

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The New York Times published five sets of five questions for Judge Roberts in todayÂ’s edition, set forth by various legal professionals. Some are mundane, some are arcane, and some are actually pretty good. IÂ’d like to highlight some of them.

From Stanford Law professor Kathleen Sullivan:

2. As a student of history, you know that the past is not always prologue. What are three constitutional issues you think will be more important by 2020 than any on which we are focusing now?

From former attorney general Dick Thornburgh:

5. Do you believe that it would further citizens' understanding of our judicial process if arguments before the Supreme Court were to be broadcast or televised live?

From Ron Klain, a former Democrat Judiciary Committee staffer and Clinton judicial selection director:

4. In a memo you wrote in 1981, you criticized affirmative action "preferences" based on race, calling them "objectionable." If preferences given to those born into families that have suffered past discrimination are objectionable, what is your view of preferences given to those born into the families of privilege - namely, the preferences that many universities give to the families of their alumni?

5. Chief Justice William Rehnquist held an annual Christmas celebration in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court, complete with avowedly religious carols, despite periodic objections from some of his colleagues and non-Christian law clerks. As chief justice, will you continue with this practice, and do you find it at odds with the spirit of the court's edicts regarding church and state?

From Marshall University Professor and John Marshall biographer Jean Edward Smith:

1. Chief Justices John Marshall, Charles Evan Hughes and Earl Warren were extraordinarily effective working with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and with differing political views. Can you think of any characteristics these men may have shared that facilitated this?

3. Is it important for a chief justice to have had judicial experience?

5. One of John Marshall's first actions upon becoming chief justice was to take his colleagues out of their multicolored robes and put them in simple black. Do you intend to revert to that tradition, and retire that Gilbert and Sullivan chief justice costume William Rehquist designed?

From the Instapundit himself, University of Tennessee Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds:

1. The Ninth Amendment provides that "the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Do you believe that this language binds federal courts, or do you believe - as Robert Bork does - that it is an indecipherable "inkblot?" If the former, how are federal courts to determine what rights are retained by the people? On the other hand, if the Ninth Amendment does not create enforceable rights, what is it doing taking up one-tenth of the Bill of Rights?

3. Could a human-like artificial intelligence constitute a "person" for purposes of protection under the 14th Amendment, or is such protection limited, by the 14th Amendment's language, to those who are "born or naturalized in the United States?"

5. Is scientific research among the expressive activities protected by the First Amendment? If not, is Congress free to bar research based solely on its decision that there are some things we're better off not knowing?

From a purely intellectual standpoint, I love many of the questions that appeared. I encourage readers to look at them all, if only for the fun of having fodder for discussion and rumination.

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Jonah Goldberg points to this little gem from the latest al-Qaeda communiqué.

"Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, Allah willing. And this time, don't count on us demonstrating restraint or compassion," the tape warns. "We are Muslims. We love peace, but peace on our terms, peace as laid down by Islam, not the so-called peace of occupiers and dictators."

Restraint? Compassion? Really?

Sounds to me like these terrorists accept the notion of Islam as a religion of peace – provided that it is an Islamic peace extorted through murder and mayhem, imposed upon those to cowardly to fight back.

For that reason alone, we must institute a full-blown Crusade Against Islamic Terror.

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After all, how could one possibly see anti-Semitism in this?

As the last IDF soldiers were heading out of the Gaza Strip early Monday morning, thousands of celebrating Palestinians took to the streets and made their way to the abandoned Jewish settlements.

Palestinian bulldozers began on Monday afternoon to knock down the synagogues left in Gaza.

In Neveh Dekalim – formerly Gush Katif's urban center – Palestinians set fire to what was just last month a yeshiva.

Gunmen from several Palestinian factions stormed through the settlement. One group planted a flag from the ruling Fatah movement on the roof of the yeshiva, while others set a fire inside.

Flames also shot skyward from the synagogue building in the isolated settlement of Morag in southern Gaza.

I guess the “drive the Jews into the sea” mentality is still prevalent, even when the Israelis unilaterally give into the demands of the Palestinians.

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It is always interesting to watch an atheist wave his hand and dismiss the faith-based claims of religious believers as so much hogwash. That is usually followed by an assertion that religion is the greatest force for evil in society and the greatest blight upon the history of mankind. What one rarely sees is such a rejection of the articles of faith combined with an acknowledgement that religion makes believers better people, not worse. Yet that is what one gets in todayÂ’s edition of the Guardian, courtesy of Roy Hattersley.

I believe a good Fisking is in order.

Hurricane Katrina did not stay on the front pages for long. Yesterday's Red Cross appeal for an extra 40,000 volunteer workers was virtually ignored.

The disaster will return to the headlines when one sort of newspaper reports a particularly gruesome discovery or another finds additional evidence of President Bush's negligence. But month after month of unremitting suffering is not news. Nor is the monotonous performance of the unpleasant tasks that relieve the pain and anguish of the old, the sick and the homeless - the tasks in which the Salvation Army specialise.

Actually, Roy, there won’t be any need for evidence – the press will simply make some up, or accept the charges of partisan hacks as holy writ.

The Salvation Army has been given a special status as provider-in-chief of American disaster relief. But its work is being augmented by all sorts of other groups. Almost all of them have a religious origin and character.

Notable by their absence are teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers' clubs and atheists' associations - the sort of people who not only scoff at religion's intellectual absurdity but also regard it as a positive force for evil.

While the most notable private charity involved in relief is the American Red Cross, I agree with your more general point – it is religious charities and faith-based groups that are doing the bulk of the work in this country. When one considers that many of the volunteers are, in fact, part of organized groups from churches and other houses of worship, the degree of religious involvement in the relief effort is staggering. And, of course, most charity work in this country has some faith-based component anyway.

The arguments against religion are well known and persuasive. Faith schools, as they are now called, have left sectarian scars on Northern Ireland. Stem-cell research is forbidden because an imaginary God - who is not enough of a philosopher to realise that the ingenuity of a scientist is just as natural as the instinct of Rousseau's noble savage - condemns what he does not understand and the churches that follow his teaching forbid their members to pursue cures for lethal diseases.

Well known? Perhaps. Persuasive? Obviously not, given the degree of adherence to religious belief around the world.

As for the Irish problem, it has less to do with sectarian division than it has to do with a longstanding British policy of subjugation of the Irish to English control in their own homeland – a policy that predates the Reformation by centuries. Though Henry VIII, Oliver Cromwell and the Stuart Pretenders give the matter a religious gloss, it is more properly understood as based in ethnicity than in theology.

And I wonÂ’t even dignify the argument on stem-cell research with a response, for the personhood question is grounded as much in philosophy as theology. For that matter, it is grounded as much in biology as it is in either theology or philosophy.

Yet men and women who believe that the Pope is the devil incarnate, or (conversely) regard his ex cathedra pronouncements as holy writ, are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others. Last week a middle-ranking officer of the Salvation Army, who gave up a well-paid job to devote his life to the poor, attempted to convince me that homosexuality is a mortal sin.

Of course they are. After all, they accept that there is something to life that extends beyond the simple pleasures of the world. Life has meaning because it leads to something beyond life. For those who believe that there is nothing else, why waste a moment of life on pursuits that are other than hedonistic?

Late at night, on the streets of one of our great cities, that man offers friendship as well as help to the most degraded and (to those of a censorious turn of mind) degenerate human beings who exist just outside the boundaries of our society. And he does what he believes to be his Christian duty without the slightest suggestion of disapproval. Yet, for much of his time, he is meeting needs that result from conduct he regards as intrinsically wicked.

But that is where you are wrong. I do not doubt that your companion does view these individuals as degraded and degenerate. But Christianity teaches that we are ALL degraded and degenerate because of our sinful nature. The reason for the lack of disapproval is that he recognizes that he is no better than those to whom he ministers, not that they are no worse than him. If asked, he will probably tell you that he, too, is a sinner and that he, too, has areas in his life in which he manifests behavior that is equally wicked in the eyes of God.

Civilised people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags and - probably most difficult of all - argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment. Good works, John Wesley insisted, are no guarantee of a place in heaven. But they are most likely to be performed by people who believe that heaven exists.

So, we are uncivilised if we view the trade in human flesh as contrary to the laws of God? We are not up to your standards if we see addiction to be wrong in the eyes of God? My, what a sad thing your “civilization” is! What you fail to see is that we seek to end prostitution and drug addiction and a host of societal ills because they promote actions that block one’s relationship with God. All the acts of charity you list are about meeting the basic needs of our fellow man so that they are in a position to encounter God – something that is hard to focus on when one is starving or seeking one’s next fix.

The correlation is so clear that it is impossible to doubt that faith and charity go hand in hand. The close relationship may have something to do with the belief that we are all God's children, or it may be the result of a primitive conviction that, although helping others is no guarantee of salvation, it is prudent to be recorded in a book of gold, like James Leigh Hunt's Abu Ben Adam, as "one who loves his fellow men". Whatever the reason, believers answer the call, and not just the Salvation Army. When I was a local councillor, the Little Sisters of the Poor - right at the other end of the theological spectrum - did the weekly washing for women in back-to-back houses who were too ill to scrub for themselves.

What you fail to recognizes is that religious faith, particularly Christianity, is often based around a call to charity. It isn’t “Do good because it is pleasing to me.” Rather, it is “Do good because it is pleasing to God.” If one sees oneself as a God’s servant rather than one’s own, there is a tenaciousness to serve one’s Master by helping to bring about the order God seeks.

It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian or, better still, to take Christianity à la carte. The Bible is so full of contradictions that we can accept or reject its moral advice according to taste. Yet men and women who, like me, cannot accept the mysteries and the miracles do not go out with the Salvation Army at night.

But it isn’t. A Christian life is infused by grace, which comes through faith. The rejection of faith is the rejection of grace – the putting of self ahead of God and the rejection of his gift.

The only possible conclusion is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make them morally superior to atheists like me. The truth may make us free. But it has not made us as admirable as the average captain in the Salvation Army.

Exactly – true faith does have a packet of moral imperatives that makes believers morally superior to atheists. That you have discovered this truth should tell you that the atheism you hold to so fervently might not be truth at all. Could the problem be that most atheists ultimately believe in “government” or “society” as having responsibility to act – and therefore write off the importance of a personal commitment to do good, while religious individuals see such action as a part of their duty to God? In short, are the fruits of belief in God proof of the existence of God – and the lack of fruits from atheism the proof of that belief system’s ultimate bankruptcy?

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They are already looking to re-open one French Quarter strip-joint. The only things missing are water, electricity, and, oh yeah, strippers.

Not that the owner is worried.

But Jones, a corpulent man with a strawberry blond beard wearing a black t-shirt reading "I'm smiling because they haven't found the bodies yet," foresaw few problems getting strippers.

"It shouldn't be too hard. Everyone's going to come back in town and want to work. You know, if you've got 50 dancers in Houston and they're not making money, they're going to spread out," he said.

At the risk of trashing my own town, Jones obviously does not know Houston.

The Bayou City features more strip-joints than I had ever seen in my life before I had moved down here.

I think he might just have a problem getting the girls back after all.

Posted by: Greg at 09:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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They are already looking to re-open one French Quarter strip-joint. The only things missing are water, electricity, and, oh yeah, strippers.

Not that the owner is worried.

But Jones, a corpulent man with a strawberry blond beard wearing a black t-shirt reading "I'm smiling because they haven't found the bodies yet," foresaw few problems getting strippers.

"It shouldn't be too hard. Everyone's going to come back in town and want to work. You know, if you've got 50 dancers in Houston and they're not making money, they're going to spread out," he said.

At the risk of trashing my own town, Jones obviously does not know Houston.

The Bayou City features more strip-joints than I had ever seen in my life before I had moved down here.

I think he might just have a problem getting the girls back after all.

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The design of the memorial to the Heroes of Flight 93 has caused a furor. A.M. Siriano offers this analysis of what is wrong with the design -- not merely the inclusion of a Muslim crescent, but also of a structure that mimics a Muslim minaret!

I can think of no greater affront to American honor than to slap a blatantly Islamic symbol across a 9/11 memorial, but that is exactly what is in the works. The winning entry for the Flight 93 National Memorial, unveiled on September 7th, just four days before the fourth anniversary of 9/11, includes both the Islamic symbol of the Crescent--the "Crescent of Embrace"--and, more carefully disguised, a minaret-like structure called the "Tower of Voices" whose chimes continually "celebrate a living memory of those who are honored." Just who is being honored is in question.

The Los Angeles-based architect who submitted this disgraceful design is Paul Murdoch, who insists that no connection to Islam was intended, that his memorial is "not about religion, per se," but is to be a spiritual, sacred place open to all. So is this much ado about nothing? ...a mere coincidence?

If you believe that, then you don't understand the nature of artists, which is what architects are. (Try to debate with them that they are not; you will get an earful.)

The inclusion of symbols of the malign theology that led to the deaths of the passengers and crew of Flight 93, as well as of so many other Americans on 9/11 is unacceptable.

Especially because of what will not be included at Ground Zero.

But let's imagine that Murdoch had, by naïve coincidence, incorporated a giant Cross in his designs, and nearby a building that looked something like--by sheer chance, mind you--a cathedral. Imagine the atheistic outcry from the left!

The fact is, that very thing has already happened, at Ground Zero itself, when a Cross of Steel was found amidst the rubble and hoisted high for the faithful to come and offer prayers. Some folks, like me, wanted to see that Cross become a permanent fixture of the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan (it never mattered to us if it was a natural or supernatural manifestation, only that it was a worthy and comforting symbol). The American Atheists and other groups killed the proposal with little trouble. The Cross, discovered by a Christian, Frank Silecchia, now resides on "the high walkway over West Street." How's that for a weak testimony to the Christian heritage upon which this country was founded?

Yes -- the symbol of the faith of so many of the honored dead of 9/11 will not be inculded at the site of their deaths -- but the symbols of their murderers will be included at another 9/11 memorial.

I urge those responsible to scrap the current Flight 93 memorial plan and to go back to seek another design.

(More on Flight 93 Memorial here and here.

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I'm not a Ray Nagin fan, and think that many decisions made on the local level made this disaster worse. I find his analysis of the president's response to Hurricane Katrina to be rather surprising, and refreshing, given some of his comments early in the recovery process.

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin yesterday said President Bush "made things happen" in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but offered no praise for Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, who remains in control of the National Guard and refuses to order a mandatory evacuation of the devastated city.

Mr. Bush has been criticized by Democrats for the federal government's response to the storm, but the Democratic mayor -- whose own actions are now under scrutiny -- suggested major mistakes were made on the state level.

"I think [Mr. Bush] was probably getting advice from some of his key advisers or some low-level folk that had been on the ground that this was serious, but not as serious as it ended up being," Mr. Nagin said.

"My interactions with the president, at any time I talked with him and gave him what the real deal was and gave him the truth, he acted and he made things happen," Mr. Nagin told NBC's "Meet the Press."

Take that, Kanye West and the rest of you ranting liberals.

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The AP offers this report from Massachusetts about the likely failure of a compromise constitutional amendment on the gay marriage question.

A fragile coalition of lawmakers cobbled together to support an anti-gay marriage amendment is falling apart, virtually assuring that same-sex marriage will for now remain legal in Massachusetts, according to an Associated Press poll.

The survey, conducted between Sept. 6-9, found at least 104 lawmakers who plan to vote against the proposed constitutional amendment, which would ban gay marriage but create civil unions.

The amendment, which is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday, needs the support of at least 101 of the state's 200 lawmakers to get on the 2006 ballot.

I'd like to remind members of the Massachusetts Legislature of the following words from the Declaration of Independence.

. . . Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it. . .

I urge members of the Massachusetts legislature to permit the people of massachusetts the opportunity to alter the Massachusetts Constitution, as is their fundamental right as a free people.

UPDATE: Jefferson weeps in the Great beyond -- people of Massachusetts denied the right to alter their state Constitution.

Will this usurpation by the Massachusetts legislature result in the denial of the right of the citizens of all 49 other states to determine what constitutes marriage in their states?

Posted by: Greg at 11:22 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Robert Novak seems to think that Judge Priscilla Owen of the Fifth Circuit Court Of Appeals is the leading candidate for Supreme Court.

With Senate confirmation of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. as chief justice virtually assured, the struggle for the Supreme Court returns to replacing retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The belief in legal and political circles is that President Bush will name a conservative woman, and the front-runner is federal Appellate Judge Priscilla Owen (5th Circuit, Austin, Texas).

According to White House sources, Bush met secretly with Owen last week. While not decisive evidence, this was no mere get-acquainted session beginning a long exploration. He knows and admires his fellow Texas Republican. The countervailing political pressure on Bush is to name a Hispanic American, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a Texas Republican the president knows and likes even better than he does Owen. But signals last week he might name Gonzales probably should not be taken seriously.

Novak notes that Owen's four months on the appeals court is more than what David Souter had when he was nominated by the first Bush -- and that she has over a decade of experience on the Texas Supreme Court. A negative is that she just survived a very close confirmation vote, having been filibustered for four years by Senate Democrats, though her recent confirmation could be a positive given the deal to end the filibuster. This analysis from the Supreme Court Nomination Blog in July lays out some interesting arguments in favor of her nomination.

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Originally Posted on September 11, 2004

So many died that horrible day.

One was my classmate at Washington and Lee University, Commander Robert Allan Schlegel.

I would love to tell you he and I were close. That would be a lie.

I would love to share stories of great times together. I don't have any.

What I can tell you is that I remember Rob Schlegel as a good guy, a friend of some friends. I remember him as being a bright guy, sitting a couple rows over and a couple seats back in a US History class. One of those classmates you later wish you had gotten to know when you had the chance.

Rest in Peace.

May all all the victims of September 11 and the many men and women of our armed forces who have died fighting terrorism since that day rest in peace.

And let us not forget those heroes who still live.

Posted by: Greg at 05:59 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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I've always questioned the showing of graphic photos of the dead to children. Yeah, I know that they were a staple of driver's education -- but they were not local photos. If you show local photos, you risk something like this.

A 12-year-old girl saw her father's remains in a gruesome photograph shown during a presentation by police warning teenagers about the dangers of drunken driving.

The girl's mother, Marla Cabbage Higginbotham, said her daughter was traumatized by the experience at her middle school last month in which she saw her father lying in a pool of blood with a crushed skull and mutilated face and torso.

She said the family did not know he had been drinking when he died.

An attorney representing the mother and daughter sent a letter to the Knox County law director's office calling for an investigation.

"Why are we showing 12-year-olds mutilated dead bodies when they can't even drive a car for four more years?" attorney Gregory P. Isaacs said Friday. The police "are good people with good intentions who have made a terrible, terrible mistake."

Police officers say the names of the victims about to be shown and ask if any students knew them. They called out the name of William F. Cabbage before showing pictures of the wreck.

The girl did not recognize his name because she knew her father as Lynn Cabbage.

I'm sorry -- this is unacceptable. Shouldn't there have been family permission before using the photos in any presentation? Shouldn't there have been family permission before the kids were subjected to the photos?

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When the man is right, he's right. And on the issue of appointing Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court, he is definitely right.

``I believe it's a little too soon for Attorney General Gonzales to move up,'' Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' program. ``He's an able fellow, but we just went through a tough confirmation hearing, and my sense is that the national interest would be best served if he stayed in that job right now.''

The confirmation fight was bruising, but ultimately some folks voted for him because a president is really entitled to have the peopel he wants in the Cabinet. An appointment to the Supreme Court will draw much more fire -- and would very likely be defeated even without the opposition of members of the political right who are concerned about the former Texas Supreme Court justice's judicial philosophy.

For the sake of the country, sir, pick somenone else.

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The evacuees in the shelter in the People's Republic of Austin were pleased to see the Vice President of the United States.

At the convention center, where some 1,500 evacuees remained Saturday, Cheney met briefly with 23-year-old Telisha Diaz, who told him she spent four days at the New Orleans convention center before being brought to Austin a week ago.

"It's overwhelming that the state of Texas is giving so much, just giving us everything — jobs, food," Diaz told the vice president, who was surrounded by local officials and congressmen.

Cheney said Diaz's sentiments of gratitude were echoed by all of the evacuees he had spoken with in the two weeks since the hurricane pummeled Gulf Coast communities in Louisiana and Mississippi. He applauded Texas' response to the disaster and the outpouring of support from the state's leaders and residents.

"I was impressed with the caliber of the effort that was mounted here, and it's a good place to come learn some valuable lessons," Cheney said.

But for about two dozen residents of the state's officially designated sanctuary city for endangered socialists, it was an opportunity to take a national tragedy and expolit it for political purposes, chanting "Cheney, Cheney, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide.".

While the evacuees seemed to appreciate Cheney's visit, protesters saw it as an opportunity to voice frustration over a Halliburton Co. subsidiary's involvement in emergency repairs at Gulf Coast naval and Marine facilities.

Cheney headed Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, and Democrats have questioned whether the company has gotten favorable treatment because of his connection.

"Cheney is profiteering off of murder," said 36-year-old Debbie Russell of Austin, who flashed an obscene gesture at the vice president when he waved at her and other protesters as he got into his vehicle.

Nice show of class, Debbie. You seem to have ignored the fact that the company was the low bidder for the contract whenit was awarded over a year ago.

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Louisiana Libertarian, having survived Katrina relatively intact (and having scared a number of us by his long silence -- good to have you back, dude!), gives us this round-up from the persepctive of a survivor. One of his links is to a story about Gov. Blanco and her apparent decsision to avoid the evacuees.

At the Rayne Civic Center, emotions are high. The people are desperately waiting the arrival of Governor Blanco. All they are looking for are answers.

"I want her to tell us that she's going to find a way very soon for us to get housing," says Sidney Matthews, an evacuee from New Orleans.

"All we're asking for is help," exclaims Cassandra Dellihoue. "We're not here to badger anybody. We're not here to lose control. We're asking for help."

Despite the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, Beverly Godfrey remains positive. "No, I'm not. I'm not ever giving up hope."

As a glimmer of hope pulled into the parking lot, Governor Blanco is not on the bus, only her representatives.

"The governor wished she could be here," explains Connie Nelson, a Blanco representative.

"Here everybody's under the impression the Governor coming here and she's sending representatives," says one evacuee. "She's not here. It's nothing but lies and lies constantly. Enough is enough."

"I'm very disappointed because I feel like I'm being brushed away," says Dellihoue.

Lynette Byrd has been a Blanco supporter for years but her loyalty is beginning to shift. "I've always been for Governor Blanco, always. I'm a woman. But right now, I feel she's let us down."

And what about the answers to all of the evacuees questions?

Blanco representative Nelson had this to say to evacuees. "We don't have those answers and I have to apologize that we do not have those answers but we will get those answers to you."

"When you need us, we are there," says Dellihoue. "When you need our votes, we are there. Now that we need you, come and get us. We need you now!"

Lynette Byrd makes a final plea. "Governor Blanco, I'm begging you to get us some help. Please!"

Somehow, though, Blanco never has a problem finding the media. Maybe if we shipped those folks some video cameras and microphones, they might get some attention fom their governor.

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The speculation is out there. Will President Bush replace Sandra Day O'Connor with a Hispanic or a woman? Thre are some of both on everyone's list -- but over at RedState.org, we are hearing that the eventual choice may not be a that was widely mentioned.

That got me to asking about possible nominees who fill BOTH categories. Why not a Latina?

If the President does go that direction, there are a few possible nominees with the experience.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who's sat on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York for seven years, often is mentioned, though far down the list. A Princeton University and Yale Law School graduate, she worked as a prosecutor in New York and was put on the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush. Maybe it works against her that President Bill Clinton promoted her to the appellate court.

If Bush wants his own appeals court judge, he might consider Consuelo Maria Callahan, who has as much time on the 9th Circuit as Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. had on the D.C. Circuit. Callahan graduated from Stanford University and Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento (where Justice Anthony Kennedy once taught), then worked as a prosecutor and judge in California.

If he prefers Ivy Leaguers, Bush could try U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga, whom he appointed in 2003. After graduating from Yale Law School, she worked as a Miami-Dade County prosecutor and was appointed to a state circuit court seat by Gov. Jeb Bush before moving to the federal bench.

Altonaga has dealt with a case involving a nativity scene on public property and a lawsuit over same-sex marriage laws. She even sentenced a child pornographer to 100 years in prison. (Full disclosure: In 1984-85, she lived a floor above me in a Yale residence.)

I'll toss the question out there to folks -- what do you know about these judges? Are any of them Supreme Court material?

Posted by: Greg at 03:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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No, I'm not kidding. The choice of athletic wear for an Indian Muslim tennis player has resulted in a fatwa from an Islamic cleric in India.

Sania Mirza, 18, who became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam at the US Open last week, is hugely popular in India.

The fatwa - in effect, a demand that she cover up - was issued by a senior cleric of the Sunni Ulema Board, a little-known group. Similar fatwas have been issued against Mirza, who comes from a devout Muslim family, but none has ever gained popular support among India's 130 million Muslims.

"The dress she wears on the tennis courtsÂ…leaves nothing to the imagination," Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui told The Hindustan Times. "She will undoubtedly be a corrupting influence."

He said she should follow the example of Iranian women who wore long tunics and headscarves to play in the Asian Badminton Championships.

There is mixed reaction in India and abroad.

Expressing shock, Nanduri from Werribee, Australia writes, "Sania is an Indian and is Muslim by birth, and not by her own choice. She represents India and not the Muslim group of such self-centred religious leaders. India should ban such leaders from making such rubbish statements."

"Sania goes to the field to play the match and not to portray her religion. And one does not become a Muslim by growing beard and by wearing a veil," says Ambrin, another reader from Dubai. Avnish from the US flashes a cogent argument, "Indonesia has 90 per cent population, which is Muslim and most ladies wear skirts above the knees?"

But there are other views as well, Javed, from Toronto says, "Why can't a woman wear a long sleeve shirt and sports pants and play tennis if men can do it? Nadal wears pants that go below his knee. Why can't Sania wear pants that go all the way to her ankles?" he argues.

Taking a broader perspective on the subject Badri Raina from New Delhi says, "The very fact that Sania is out there playing suggests that she has the correct perspective on history; from the time of the first organised human societies, residual notions have sought to make targets of select individuals and events to attempt continued survival in the face of the knowledge that they are on the way out."

My question is what comes next -- will Sania be the next Muslim girl murdered for her failure to follow a sharia dress code?

More at MasalaSpice, Pickled Politics, Fine? Why Fine?, IsraPundit, In The Bullpen, and Instant Kaapi,

Posted by: Greg at 12:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I read the Washington Post's editorial on Jose Padilla with great interest -- given that it essentially concedes the correctness of yesterday's ruling which effectively says that Padilla may be detained until the end of the conflict with al-Qaeda.

And strangely enough, I found myself -- sort of -- in agreement with the position that the paper takes at the end of the article, namely that the time has come to prosecute Padilla.

At this stage, there is no good reason to keep holding Mr. Padilla in a status that raises so many troubling questions and that risks so much. His intelligence value is exhausted, and he would be as disabled from rejoining the fight in a federal prison as in a military brig. Instead of trying its luck before the Supreme Court, the administration ought to seek congressional legislation to regulate such cases. In the immediate term, it should file criminal charges against Mr. Padilla, if it continues to insist he is a dangerous terrorist. Allowing Mr. Padilla a full opportunity to defend himself in a regular criminal proceeding would not only protect liberties, it would avoid another damaging setback for presidential war powers by the high court.

So yes, I retract my support for Padilla's indefinite detention and lend my support for an immediate trial. But whereas the Post envisions a civilian trial for this al-Qaada operative, I propose instead the Executive Branch dispose of this case as was done with the Nazi saboteurs in Ex Parte Quirin. Yeah, that's right -- a military trial.

Padilla's crimes are essentially those of an enemy fighter acting unlawfully to make war upon the United States. Under American law and all international law precedents, a military court is the appropriate place to handle such a case. Supreme Court precedent makes it clear that this in no way violates the Constitution, and military courts are subject to the essential due process requirements of the Constitution. Furthermore, it would be a travesty of justice for one who entered teh US intent on making war upon it to be subject to greater legal protection than our own military personnel who have sworn to uphold, protect, and defend this country and its Constitution.

So let's begin the prosecution of Padilla (or should we be super-sensitive and call him by his chosen name, Abdullah al-Muhajir) before a military court -- to be followed, one should sincerely hope, by a swift and speedy execution upon his conviction.

(Hat Tip -- The Southern California Law Blog

Posted by: Greg at 11:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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