Work Your Brain — 11/1/06

Tales of the Detainee Kind

• The Case Of Bilal Hussein — Justin Gardner @ Donklephant reports on Bilal Hussein, an AP war photographer, accused by the U.S. military of helping some insurgents kidnap a couple journalists. Only those journalists have been rescued and they say Hussein is a hero. The AP wants to know why he’s been detained since April with no charges having been filed against him while right-wing bloggers call for his head.
  

  Six months is more than enough time to get some facts together and make a case against Hussein. The military hasn’t done that, and they should…or else they should release Hussein without charge.

  As Gardner points out, Hussein isn’t the first journalist to be treated as such.

  More

  Tags: detainees, Bilal Hussein, Abdul Rahim Al Ginco, Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, al-Qaeda, Insurrection Act, FEMA, Lynne Cheney, Bill O'Reilly, liberals, rightwingers, patriotism, pragmatism, American soldiers, Republicans, Democrats, GOP, Georgia, Genital Cutting, abortion, pro-choice, pro-life, TSA, airport security, bomb-making materials, Christopher Soghoian, Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, Indiana University, fake boarding passes, Ed Markey, FBI, Police State

  comments See also in Politics & Causes, In the News, Geekery, Blogging & Other Blogs, The World, 9-11 & Terrorism, Iraq & Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, Natural Disasters, Women's Rights, The Middle East

My 2 Cents On The ABC 9/11 Docu-Drama

I haven’t seen it.  I can only comment on what I’ve read.  There seems to be a lot of posting flurry going on.  Plus, it’s been covered by the MSM.

So, I can’t really comment on the actual movie because as I said I haven’t seen it.   I wasn’t one of the ones chosen to preview it.  I’m apparently not right-leaning enough if what the rumors say is true.  I do find it odd that ABC didn’t honor President Clinton’s office’s request for an advanced copy but handed it out to all of those right-wing bloggers.  That just smacks of rudeness.  I mean, he was the President and the movie is about him.

I have no problem with a movie attacking a former President, even a former living President, as long as it tells the truth and is factual.  Even ABC admits that this 9/11 “docu-drama” stretches the truth and isn’t factual; however, they have packaged it as an educational tool for children as if it is in fact a truthful telling of the events as they happened.

Right-winger blogs seem to be interpreting the public outrage against the ABC 9/11 Docu-drama as a political thing, as if it’s all about Clinton, as if Democrats and liberals are all about circling the wagon because Clinton is being solely blamed in the movie for 9/11.  Once again they don’t seem to be paying attention.  They’re own unhealthy preoccupation with Clintion has kept them from seeing the true problem is the fact that this movie is about lying to the public, an Orwellian refabricating the facts.  But then maybe they don’t care.  After all, maybe the facts and the truth aren’t important to the right so much as having a President in power and being in control of the facts and the fact-telling.

Tags: ABC 9/11 Docu-Drama, lie, truth, Bill Clinton, rightwinger

Quote of the Day: On When People Lie

“People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.”
– Otto von Bismark

Tags: Quote of the Day, lie

Best Headline Ever!

(Click on the graphic for a clearer view.)

Hat tip: lambert @ CorrentWire

Tags: aliens, Roswell

Work Your Brain — 09/02/06

First Some Fun

• Thursday Thirteen #3 — Baggage @ Baggage That Goes With Mine wrote thirteen reasons why the internet is better than real life. This is my favorite.
  

  11. On the internet, you can pop into a forum or a blog and tell a person that their beliefs are dumb, they should be breastfeeding, they should never co-sleep, they should divorce their husband, they should shave their legs, and they should stop wearing mom jeans. In real life, people would punch you in the face.

In Memory Of Katrina

• But you can keep them for the birds and bees — Mac @ PeskyApostrophe wonders about all of that Katrina aid money the U.S. asked for and got from other countries last year. She comes to the same conclusion I did.
  

  I’m appalled at a variety of things when it comes to the Katrina rebuilding effort and FEMA’s role in it all, but this is a whole new level of incompetence. As part of my new job, I am now involved in grant-writing. In a good portion of grants, the grantee expects a report as to how the money was used. While I’m sure these gifts did not come with any reporting requirements, if one of our grantees found out their money had been either wasted or didn’t got to the program for which it was intended that would pretty much guarantee they’d never give money to us again. And you have to wonder if, should another emergency situation arise, these countries would think twice about giving aid money to the U.S. if we’re not going to use it and use it wisely.

• First the Flood, Now the Fight — Spencer S. Hsu @ WashingtonPost.com wrote a special report on the butting of heads between FEMA and state and city officials in the rebuilding of the Gulf States and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. FEMA swears it’s not trying to be difficult but the process seems to be designed to wear down those requesting help until they just give up and either take what little they’ve been given, which isn’t much if anything.
  

  Through hundreds of such disputes large and small, the most costly disaster in U.S. history is fast becoming its most contentious, with appeals and disputes worth nearly a billion dollars bogging down repairs of critical public systems and delaying the return of residents.

  Current and former officials at all levels blame FEMA workers’ inexperience with eligibility rules, weaknesses in U.S. disaster laws and inconsistent treatment by Congress for much of the wrangling. The huge scale of the storm and honest disagreement over whether federal or local taxpayers should pay the tab add to the conflict.

  “Disasters should be difficult to declare. . . . But once you get them, FEMA should not worry about cutting costs,” said Daniel A. Craig, who stepped down in October as head of FEMA’s recovery division and is now consulting for New Orleans. “Public entities are eligible for everything they have lost due to the disaster. It is not up to FEMA to cut corners or makes sure money is saved.”

  Gil H. Jamieson, FEMA’s deputy director for Gulf Coast recovery, agreed that “we’re in this to rebuild the city” and added: “We are not in it to delay for the sake of delay. Are there folks who sometimes hose it up? Absolutely. But I think we’re doing a good job of helping it recover.”

  The disputes come as the costliest part of the recovery begins: restoring water, power, roads, bridges, schools and other public facilities along the Gulf Coast. Agency veterans said the spending will have more impact on the physical rebuilding of the Gulf area than anything else FEMA does over the next decade, possibly eclipsing its role in aiding individual victims of the storm.

  The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, for instance, sustained $446 million in storm losses, said Executive Director Marcia St. Martin. But FEMA has committed just $113 million so far.

  FEMA notes that New Orleans promised U.S. environmental regulators $640 million in repairs before Katrina, and that the antiquated system is too big for the Crescent City’s reduced population.

  “That’s what makes a city — if you don’t have water, sewer and drainage, you don’t have a city,” lamented Robert Jackson, spokesman for the sewer board. “The money so far only scratches the surface of the devastation.

  Hat Tip: Susie @ Suburban Guerrilla

More

Tags: Thursday Thirteen, Internet, Hurricane Katrina, FEMA, aid money, Gil H. Jamieson, Daniel A. Craig, Gulf Coast recovery, New Orleans, Islamofascism, George W. Bush, Muslims, women in the media, Support the Troops, defense appropriation bill, Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Iraq, Afghanistan, Congress, Pentagon, Lower 9th Ward, National Hurricane Canter, 9/11, Max Mayfield, Osama bin Laden, Hezbollah, terrorism, Ann Jones, Taliban, NATO, Christians, American Dream, Martin Niemoller, Germany, Nazis, Rocky Anderson, Utah, Salt Lake Tribune, patriotism, lie, Walter Jones, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Caddam Hussein, Donald Rumsfeld

A Fear To Give

Humanitarian Aid Charities collecting for Lebanon have run into difficulties collecting in the United States. It’s not that there’s a lack of desire to give, but it turns out there’s a fear to give…apparently, Americans are a little afraid of what their government might have to say if they donate…because after all the NSA is watching and what if you accidently donate to the wrong charity and your name ends up in a database somewhere listing you as a supporter of terrorists? Remember, if you’re doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about.

Some people want to get around that by donating goods, but this complicates matters because it’s expensive to the charities — goods have to be sorted by people which takes time and shipped which also takes time …and also costs the charity money…

Charities prefer that people send money rather than food, medicine or other goods, because in-kind donations force the charities to pay for shipping, delay the arrival of the aid, and saddle relief workers with the task of sorting and distributing items that may not be needed.

The problem, according to relief groups, is that many people who are inclined to write checks for emergency aid and reconstruction in Lebanon are afraid of ending up in some government database of suspected supporters of terrorism.

Arab American leaders say this is one of the unintended consequences of the U.S. government’s crackdown on charities run by Muslims. Though aimed at cutting off illicit funding for terrorist groups, the crackdown has complicated legitimate humanitarian relief efforts in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank.

“Dozens of people have approached me. They want to help, they want to send money to buy medicine, and they’re afraid of the government reaction to their contribution,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Some do it anyway. They can’t sit idly. But they worry that one day they’ll hear a knock on the door.”

CAIR, which is one of the country’s largest Muslim organizations, reluctantly is encouraging donations of goods, on the grounds that they are better than nothing. Its Web site, http://www.cair-net.org , lists needed items, such as rice, sugar and cooking oil, along with detailed instructions on how to pack and send them.

“We’re forced to go the least effective route, which is sending actual relief supplies, because of the restrictions on, and the problems associated with, sending financial relief to the Middle East,” CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said. “If you send lentils, at least no one can accuse you of supporting terrorism.”

Some other groups, such as the Arab American Institute, are taking the opposite tack, recommending against in-kind donations.

“We’ve been encouraged not to do that by the Lebanese Embassy and others — not to send goods, because it’s inefficient and it takes money to sort it out and decide what to do with it. What’s needed is cash so people on the ground can buy what they need, when they need it,” said James J. Zogby, president of the institute, a Washington-based advocacy group.

[…]

“In the context of the NSA monitoring everything under the sun, people are afraid,” he said, referring to the National Security Agency’s monitoring of international phone calls and e-mails. He added that he has repeatedly urged U.S. officials to publish a list of legitimate charities, to no avail.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. government has shut down three major U.S.-based charities for allegedly funneling support to terrorists, and it has designated more than 40 charities internationally as terrorist financiers. Last week, the Treasury Department barred U.S. citizens from contributing to two more groups: the Philippine and Indonesian branches of the Saudi Arabia-based International Islamic Relief Organization.

Treasury Department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said that the department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control maintains a “one-stop shopping” list of banned entities, known as the Specially Designated Nationals List, on its Web site, http://www.treasury.gov/ofac .

But she said the department has declined to produce a list of approved charities in the Middle East “for two reasons: No. 1, any charity that we deemed clean, we could not guarantee that it would always remain so. And No. 2, it would put the government in the position of playing favorites.”

[…]

” United Jewish Communities, an umbrella organization for 155 Jewish charities across the country, announced last week that it will raise at least $300 million in emergency aid for Israel. The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington alone intends to raise $10 million toward that goal.

By comparison, the flow of private U.S. donations for humanitarian aid in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories is a mere trickle, estimated by relief groups at a few million dollars. Donors who fear giving to Muslim charities can contribute to the International Committee of the Red Cross or groups such as CARE and Mercy Corps — large, international relief groups that are the major conduit of such aid.

Laila Al-Qatami, a spokeswoman for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the organization has decided to funnel its Lebanon relief contributions through Mercy Corps, an Oregon-based group that she pointedly noted “is not an Islamic charity.”

But some Muslim groups are intent on proving that they, too, can collect money and distribute it without problems.

Ziad J. Asali, a retired physician in Illinois who heads the American Task Force on Palestine, said his group is giving $20,000 each to Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem and St. Luke’s Hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus. After consulting with the State Department, he said, the task force decided to pay the bills for medical supplies that the hospitals order from their regular suppliers. [“Muslim Charities Say Fear Is Damming Flow of Money” (WashingtonPost.com)]

How free do you feel now? Free to feel as compassionate as you want to whomever you want? You can’t even write a check to help someone without worrying that you might wind up on the wrong side of an interrogation table one day under the current Administration’s game plan…

Tags: Humanitarian Aid, Lebanon, Arab, charity, spying on Americans, Treasury Department, United Jewish Communities, CAIR, Arab American Institute, NSA, International Islamic Relief Organization, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Task Force on Palestine, State Department

comments See also in Politics & Causes, In the News, The World, Featured, The Middle East

Recommended Reading - 08/04/06

• Tin Foil Hats And Tiaras For Everyone! — The (liberal)Girl Next Door talks about the recent poll revealing that 1/3rd of Americans believe that 9/11 was “an inside job” and what that staggering fact could or should mean for our future as a country.
  

  One out of three people think the Bush administration could very well have organized the deaths of 3,000 innocent Americans for the sole purpose of furthering their foreign policy objectives. In other words, a third of this country’s citizens believe that the Bush administration is a terrorist organization. How is it possible that impeachment isn’t even on the table if that many Americans think he’s a killer? Yes, it’s a rhetorical question and we can all say in unison, “it’s possible with the help of a lapdog press.”

• Internet “Conspiracies” — In contrast Red Bull uses the same poll to champion Net Neutrality. More

  Tags: Conspiracy Theories, 9/11, net neutrality, gay hate crimes, Homeland Security, FAS, disaster preparedness, Israel, U.S., Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East, Military Families Speak Out

  2 comments See also in Politics & Causes, In the News, Geekery, Blogging & Other Blogs, The World, Featured, 9-11 & Terrorism, Conspiracy Theories, Natural Disasters, The Middle East

Thoughts Of A Soldier’s Mother

Georgia Stillwell is a member of Military Families Speak Out and the mother of a soldier serving in Iraq. She’s active in organizations working for peace and to bring her son and our military home from Iraq.

Below is are her amazing thoughts as presented on Stories in America: (emphasis mine)

Distracted, damn right I am!

When I returned home from my trip to Washington DC. Where I met with various Senators, Representatives and the Speaker of the House as part of Military Families Speak Out Operation House Call, I received a notice of pending termination of my employment on Aug. 31st. It seems I have been distracted.

My priorities in life have changed since the war began. It has become my passion, my mission to be part of the frontline of peace.

How can I not be? On a personal level my son is still suffering from his participation in this war. He has killed men, women and children. Yes let us not pretend that our soldiers are not killing innocents. My son lives with it everyday. “We thought the little boy had a bomb.” My son weeps as he sits in the bottom of the shower and I recently found out he is experiencing combat flashbacks. No wonder my son drove his car over an embankment. No wonder he feels there is nothing left of his spirit at 22. Alive but dead inside.

On a global level…I deeply feel the pain of others. I listen to Gold Star Mothers cry and beg God to bring back their child just one more time. I relate to the Mother’s whose soldiers cam back and killed themselves. I still wonder when I am going to get that phone call. I hear the similarities of stories like my son’s. I think about the wives whose husbands return and vent their frustrations on them. I work in human services and have started to see the Iraq vet’s here. They are in so much pain, bleeding all over the place with invisible blood. And then there are the Iraqi people. Forgive us! My heart breaks again.

Most nights I don’t sleep well. I keep thinking is there more I can do? We do not have another second, not another child to spare! My job has become so unimportant. And I can’t stop being distracted.

I have been to DC twice this year already. Telling my story, telling other’s stories. “Bring them home now, Take care of them when they get here and never put our loved ones in harms way again for a lie.”

I remember looking in Dennis Hastert’s blue eyes and thinking about PFC. Steven Sirko’s blue eyes that will never open again. The Congressman comparing Iraq to a football game and me touching his arm and saying “Congressman our children don’t die in football games.” “We don’t have another child to give you.”

Begging Senator Obama help us. “We are looking to you for great things.” Save our children.

I can not express in words the urgency I feel. So I may lose my job. I may lose my home. I may not eat on a regular basis. Since I started on this mission of peace I have been evicted (some landlords don’t like when you post the number of dead) I have had an IRS audit. I have had people look at me with so much hate at times it was unnerving. So What? There our people dying as I write this and another Mother cries.

I am driven; my spirit will not let me rest. I will still stay in the frontlines. I will engage in acts of civil disobedience if necessary, I will not let a politician say they can not see me. And I will always be of peace. I have hugged the recruiter in my town and we have shed tears together. I have hugged the Speaker of the house. I must always show that I am of true peace. I shake the hand or hug every soldier I see. And the soldiers that have made it home, if I come into contact with them I tell them if they ever need help I am here. If there is a soldier who wants out , I will find you refuge.

Martin Luther King Jr. said “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” I have embraced that thought 100%. I do not pretend to have political savvy or be well versed on foreign affairs. I am just the mother of a soldier.

I beseech the people of America step out of your comfort zones; get out of those easy chairs. Pour out into the streets and demand an end to this war. Many of us are out here in the frontlines are waiting, wondering “Where is America?” Our children are dying, again.

Georgia Stillwell

Member of Military Families Speak Out

Tags: American soldiers, Iraq, Military Families Speak Out, Georgia Stillwell, Gold Star Mothers, politics

Bush Sold Us The War Based On The Biggest Sand Toilets In The World

So, back to those missing WMD we never found…remember when Bush told us that we found evidence of mobile biological laboratories in Iraq which further proved Sadaam was up to no good? Apparently they were just “the biggest sand toilets in the world” and Bush knew it and yet he like the incorrect “evidence” he had Libby leak to Judy Miller, he pushed the “find” of the trailers on the media as a victory of the war.

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile “biological laboratories.” He declared, “We have found the weapons of mass destruction.”

The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq — not made public until now — had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president’s statement.

The three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped “secret” and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories. [“Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried Case For War” (The Washington Post)]

Tags: George W. Bush, WMD, Saddam Hussein, Washington Post, lie, Conspiracy Theories, Iraq

Merrilee Carlson Deserves Her Time In The Spotlight Too

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
–Voltaire

Without going back and digging through my own posts about Cindy Sheehan, I’m sure when she first arrived on the scene last summer in Crawford, Texas, I thought she was kind of nifty. I figured as long as she was participating in peaceful, anti-war protest she was doing a good thing and I pretty much backed her.

I’m all for Freedom of Speech. I mean, I have my limits of what’s good taste and what’s appropriate. I’m from the “harm none” mentality and also the “you don’t wear jeans to church” crowd.

So, anyway, I don’t recall if what I’ve said about Cindy here. I haven’t exactly agreed with everything she’s said or done in public and let’s face it, she’s said and done some real doseys. I think she makes us serious liberals look like “moonbats”, but I will defend her right to say what she believes as long as it isn’t gay bashing, sexist, racist, or otherwise outright hateful.

And I don’t believe that liberals are the only ones with a right to Freedom of Speech either.

Merrilee Carlson also lost her son in Iraq, but unlike Cindy Sheehan, her name hasn’t become a household name and she hasn’t been making the rounds of late night talk shows or public press events. Yet, she has her own message and her own organization and she’s been trying to get the word out. Merrilee Carlson believes that “we have to take a step back and look at what we have asked our military to do. We have asked them to do a job. It doesn’t matter how we got there. The fact is we are there and we have a job to finish.”
O.K. So I don’t agree with her message exactly. I understand it. I understand where she’s coming from. I understand why she feels that way even, but I don’t agree. However, I do think she has as much a right as Cindy Sheehan to make her message known. Starting last August and September, when Cindy started making headlines, Merrilee started to feel the need to balance things out, to “correct the record”. After all, her opinion is just as justified and right as Cindy’s.

In the last couple of weeks the organization that Carlson chairs, Minnesota Families United, has been in the center of a controversy that, by any objective reasoning, should have made national news.

Minnesota Families United teamed with Progress for America Voter Fund and produced two television spots. Minnesota was used as a test market for the spots and PFA made a rather large statewide television buy. The ABC affiliate in the Twin Cities market, KSTP, refused to air the spots.

The decision not to air the first MFU commercial was made by Rob Hubbard, General Manager. His objection was over two lines in the spot:

1) The media only reports the bad news, but American troops are making real progress
2) You would never know it from the news reports, but our enemy in Iraq is Al Qaeda.

Hubbard’s position was that those lines did not apply to his television station; therefore, he would not allow the spot to run. Hubbard says he would have run the spot if they edited it to make it clear they were talking about the media in general, but not KSTP specifically.

It is certainly understandable that Hubbard is worried his viewers might get the wrong impression. After all, the reason these spots were produced in the first place is that these families of our fallen heroes believe millions have gotten the wrong impression regarding the progress our soldiers have made in Iraq. Still, the question remains: Do these families deserve to have their voices heard, or should they be stifled?

This debate is not happening, because this story never made national news. To recap: In an election year, a group used Minnesota as a test market for a possible national buy and one of the prominent stations took the position that the spot should not air. Maybe this didn’t become news because of the hypocrisy of the industry. They often try their best to protect themselves from the type of stories they inflict on others.

The news hook gets better.

On Thursday, February 16th, the Chair of the Democrat Party in Minnesota called on all TV stations to pull the ad. The top Democrats in Minnesota want to suppress the message of Carlson’s group.

Merrilee Carlson was born and raised a Democrat. She doesn’t like politics and she wants to make it clear that her group is non-political. So, the Democrats in Minnesota are trying to suppress the message from mainstream families who have suffered the loss of their children from the war in Iraq. Why is this not news?

That other mom was a full-time, anti-war protester for more than a year before she came up with the PR stunt to go to Crawford during the president’s vacation. The media accepted the stunt and gave her message enormous coverage. This prompted Carlson to take action for her message. Now Carlson is in the middle of legitimate news and the media is silent. [“Pro-military mom silenced by mainstream media” (Townhall.com)]

A Google search of Merrilee Carlson brought up precious little than a few opinion articles about the above issue and this article about the death of Sgt. Michael Carlson — o.k. 29,100 links. In comparison, I could look at about 9,770,000 different links on Cindy Sheehan if I had the time and interest.
Anyway, I find it fascinating that Democrats are campaigning to keep her commercial from airing. Yet another disappointment from that party and proof that they’re all alike. I find it interesting that she is a Democrat to begin with. I also find it terribly fascinating that I found this violation of an American’s Civil Rights on not one of the liberal blogs I read but on the most right-wingingest blog I read.

Anyway, go check out Merrilee’s website and watch her commercial, whether you agree with her or not.

Tags: Merrilee Carlson, Cindy Sheehan, politics, Freedom of Speech, anti-war, pro-military, Iraq, grieving mother, Minnesota Families United, Democrats

New Orleans Library Book Collecting

Just a reminder that the New Orleans Library still needs books.

If you think you live too far away to collect books and mail them, let me just point out that I’ve collected several large piles of books thanks to generous souls in my writing group and at work and in a test mailing last week, I discovered that mailing books at the media rate through the post office is really quiet cheap. When I think that someone else could be making good use of those books rather than having them collecting dust on my overcrowded bookshelves, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Plus, my mother has concocted a rather smart plan. She’s collected some books from her friends in New Mexico on her own thanks to an email she forwarded from me. A friend of theirs in the process of moving from New Orleans to Las Vegas is making back and forth trips between the cities and on his next stop back toward New Orleans, she’ll pass on the books to be dropped off at the New Orleans Public Library from the citizens of Silver City, New Mexico. Of course, you do kind of have to know someone who’s going that way for the plan to work.

As always, if you live in the Portland, ME, area and can’t afford to mail books but would like to donate, contact me via the contact link in the sidebar and we’ll work out an arrangement.

The library is also accepting monetary donations.

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Public Library, relief

New Orleans Public Library Needs Books

New books will be used to replace those that were damaged; used books will be distributed to families in need or sold for library fundraising. Please send books to:

Rica A. Trigs, Public Relations
New Orleans Public Library
219 Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70112

If you tell the post office that they are for the library in New Orleans, they will give you the library rate which is slightly less than the book rate.

You can also click here to contribute to the New Orleans Public Library Foundation Rebuilding Campaign.

UPDATE: If you live in the Portland, ME area and have books to donate but cannot afford shipping, please contact me and we’ll work something out. Thanks!
More

Tags: New Orleans, Public Library, Hurricane Katrina, relief

Quotes of the Day: Wiretaps

Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so. –President Bush, April 20, 2004

Our position is, is that the authorization to use force, which was passed by the Congress in the days following September 11th, constitutes that other authorization, that other statute by Congress, to engage in this kind of signals intelligence. — Attorney General Gonzales, December 19, 2005.

Tags: warrantless wiretapping, George W. Bush, lie, Alberto Gonzales

The White House War On The Facts

Wasn’t there a book about a world where the government controls everything including the information and the history, where history is officially changed in the archives to agree with what the government wants people to believe, and where people are told what to believe and remember?

People — o.k. Left-wingers — have been making a lot of references to 1984, comparing many of the things the current administration has done to the Orwellian world. Let’s face it, there’ve been a number of revelations of press releases and press ops that appear to have been completely staged or have been suggested to have been, including the Jessica Lynch rescue, the capture of Saddam Hussein, Bush’s recent teleconference with soldiers in Iraq, and his photo ops with rescue and restoration crews in New Orleans and Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina. Then there have been the efforts by the White House and the administration to hide the American dead, whether it be coffins returning from the Middle East or bodies found unattended in New Orleans.

But those things are just an effort to formulate opinion, to positively shape the image of the President and his administration and their causes and efforts, but where do they draw the line from trying to shape the image they present to the press to trying to change the facts to fit their agenda?

No, ironically, I’m not even talking about the whole conspiracy to misled Americans into a war with Iraq with falsified information, I’m talking about something much simpler.

Wonkette has an interesting tale about how the White House attempted to alter history. Think Progress summarizes:

Everyone agrees NBC’s David Gregory said this:

Q Whether there’s a question of legality, we know for a fact that there was involvement. We know that Karl Rove, based on what he and his lawyer have said, did have a conversation about somebody who Patrick Fitzgerald said was a covert officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. We know that Scooter Libby also had conversations.

Congressional Quarterly and FNS both transcribed Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s answer as “That’s accurate.” The White House transcript lists McClellan’s answer as “I don’t think that’s accurate.”

We’ve isolated the clip so you can judge for yourself:

Watch in QuickTime streaming.

If you listened to the clip, it’s clear McClellan says “that’s accurate.” Nevertheless, the White House is trying to get CQ and FNS to change their transcripts. They’ve refused. [” That’s Not Accurate: White House Alters Transcript of Press Briefing (Think Progress)”]

Wonkette also quotes CQ, if you’d like to hear their version of the story.

O.K. So now I’m going to talk the conspiracy to use fabricated intelligence to mislead Americans into a war without win. If the White House is willing to try to alter the facts about a press conference that’s on publically available video feed after the fact, how big a leap is it to think that they might have tried to alter the facts about the intelligence on Iraq beforehand?

Just a little “point to ponder” as a friend of mind says.

Tags: 1984, paranoia, lie, propaganda, Scott McClellan

Chenney’s History of Denial

This morning, listening to an NPR story about Chenney’s denial that he even knew who Joseph Wilson was before the newspaper article revealing Wilson’s wife’s identity was published and I suddenly flashed back to the Vice Presidential debate last fall:

I’m up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they’re in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight.
– Vice President Dick Chenney to then-Senator Edwards, September 30, 2004 [“2004 Vice Presidential Debate”]

Of course, they’d met before…

Addressing the National Prayer Breakast, Cheney said: “Thank you. Thank you very much. Congressman Watts, Senator Edwards, friends from across America and distinguished visitors to our country from all over the world, Lynne and I honored to be with you all this morning.” [FDCH Political Transcripts, Cheney Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, 2/1/01] [“Cheney LIES LIES LIES (Daily Kos)”]

Really that was a childish tactic on Chenney’s part. But apparently, it’s one he’s used to using.

I don’t know Joe Wilson. I’ve never met Joe Wilson.
– Vice President Dick Chenney, September 14, 2003 [“Meet the Press”]

Lawyers involved in the case, who described the notes to The New York Times, said they showed that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003.

Mr. Libby’s notes indicate that Mr. Cheney had gotten his information about Ms. Wilson from George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, in response to questions from the vice president about Mr. Wilson. [“Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show”]

It’s not a warm-fuzzy feeling to know that your Vice President has a history of lying and denying. If he lies about “small stuff” like this, how can we trust anything that comes out of his mouth?

Tags: Dick Cheney, Joe Wilson, lie

US Snubs UN Rations

Food meant for Katrina Victims donated by the UK, Spain, Italy, and Isreal is being held by the U.S. government because it’s been deamed unfit for human consumption. Never mind that the food donated by the UK is the same UN-approved rations fed to British troops in Iraq. If the red-tape isn’t worked out, all the food could be sent to be incenerated. [“Up in Flames”]

Makes you wonder who friggin’ is making these decisions, doesn’t it?

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, relief, U.N., politics

Iraqi Soldiers Raise Money For Hurricane Katrina Relief

Defend America has a heart-warming story about Iraqi soldiers at Taji military base raising 1 million Iraq dinars for Hurricane Katrina victims. While the conversion to American dollars is only about $680, it’s still a large sum in perspective.

“We are all brothers. When one suffers tragedy, we all suffer their pain.”
Iraqi Col. Abbas Fadhil

Iraq isn’t the only country offering aid in some form or another. I must say that this outpouring of generosity world-wide after all of the hatred for America is a relief all of it’s own. Let’s not destroy this outpowring of good-will this time around. Let’s use this opportunity to mend fences.

Tags: Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, relief

More Ways to Help Hurricane Katrina Victims

The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) has announceed plans to help the New Orleans-based Audubon Nature Institute, which includes the Audubon Zoo, the Aquarium of the Americas, the Audubon Center for Research of the Endagered Species.

Today, Saturday, September 10th, Zoo New England’s Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo will donate all admissions revenues received on Saturday, September 10 to the cause as well as have donation boxes out through the end of 2005.

In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Zoo New England has joined the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, along with many other member zoos and aquariums, in setting up a fund to benefit New Orleans’ Audubon Zoo and Aquarium of the Americas.

At present, circumstances prohibit sending Zoo staff down to assist with recovery efforts, and funds have been requested to purchase food, water, and other supplies for the institutions. To this end, Zoo New England’s Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo will donate all admissions revenues received on Saturday, September 10 to the cause as well as have donation boxes out through the end of 2005. [“Zoo New England”]

For additional information please click on the following URL: http://www.aza.org/Newsroom/hurricaneupdate/

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For those of you like me who cannot travel down to the affected areas in person, but wish you could donate more than just money, The Geaux Library Project is looking for volunteers.The Geaux Library Project was started by geeks volunteering at the Lamar-Dixon shelter in Gonzales, LA. They decided they could put their skills to better use by coordinating an effort to bring computers staffed by “librarians” and other volunteers to shelters across the region. Everyone involved has full-time jobs but want to help in any way they can. They are looking for both onsite and remote volunteers including researchers and a webmaster.

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, relief

The 911 From My Red Cross Contact In Houston

I spoke with my mother tonight. She is apparently dealing with infection control there in Houston. She somehow fell into a management position that only she can do though she says she’s not truly qualified — I don’t believe her on that. Anyway, I thought I’d share some of her tidbits.

• People claiming to be medical folk are coming out of the woodwork there. Nurses are showing up at the Astrodome without any prior warning. Red Cross cannot use these instant volunteers as Red Cross medical-type volunteers must go through prior clinical background checks among other things. Unfortunately, not every organization dealing with the relief is that strict and apparently a suspected mentally ill man presented himself as a doctor and then barracaded himself in a room in the Astrodome for two days after he was trusted to perform medical tasks.If you are a medical-type person wanting to volunteer, it’s best to do so through your local hospital in the 2nd or 3rd wave of medical-types going down there. In fact, there will be a large number of medical “clinics” set up for Katrina victims and manned by hospitals (including the one I work for).
• My mother heard a rumor that some of the prisoners who were being evac’d escaped into the general population but she stressed that it was just a rumor. She has not heard that from any official-type sources.
• My mother heard the rumor that there was an outbreak of cholera in the Astrodome. That is absolutely not true. While some people have experienced diarrhea, that is expected in cases where people have been dehydrated, starved, and in filfth for days.
• There was a rumor today that FEMA was going to be handing out checks at the Astrodome. Thousands of people tried to storm the Astrodome and there had to be a lockdown where even Red Cross people could not enter or leave.
• I mentioned to my mother about collecting used books and such to send to the victims and she suggested this was a bad idea. This apparently causes more work than is necessary as everything sent has to be sorted and there are hundreds of volunteers who are just sorting all day through clothes and other donations in the Astrodome. She said that money is better as Red Cross or whomever the money is sent to can be spent on items that do not require as much processing and often they hand out gift cards with that money so the purchases can be tracked and the victims can buy things they need, not what they’re told they need.

By the way, in case I haven’t mentioned it, my mother really is my hero. I told her so tonight too. I found an article online from her local paper that was all about her and her good works. I’m sure she’s pleased they published her age.

Also, my mother stressed that it’s time to stop finger-pointing and stop worrying about investigations about what went wrong and start doing something about it. This is a tremendous tragedy that is going to affect the entire country for years to come. Not only is New Orleans a major port, not only will gas and oil prices be high, but a lot of these people will never go back to New Orleans. Most of these displaced New Orleaneans will find jobs and start new lives wherever they are. They may trickle back eventually but for now, there has been an influx in Texas of at least 60,000 people and that will effect the economy of that state in many ways. But my mother is definitely upset about the fact that Red Cross has been warning of this impending disaster for years and no one wanted to listen — heck, she was one of the voices there telling them to have a plan. She is probably most upset that they didn’t appear to have ever planned on what to do in the aftermath.

Despite everything she’s seen and heard, she seemed to be in good spirits.

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Red Cross, relief, FEMA

Hurricane Katrina: Public Assistance Programs

The following was sent to me by a friend who works in LA in the US Border Patrol:

In case anyone is interested in looking into the services, the state is offering
some public assistance programs to aid victims of the disaster.

1. Unemployment Assistance. The state has relaxed rules on collecting unemployment. If you aren’t actively working and getting paid because of the storm, drop by your local one-stop or LAWorks office and register. An extra $250 a week can’t hurt.
2. Foodstamps. The state has relaxed foodstamp rules. If you walk in and don’t
   have an active job, or are seperated from your money due to your bank being local and underwater, whatever, they can get you a couple hundred a month in foodstamps.
3. Other services. Call 211 in Louisiana and you will be connected with an “aid
   facilitator” that will help you waid through the vast ocean of aid programs that are coming on line to help us.
4. I believe that FEMA has aid programs for owners, renters, and even kids. Check with FEMA to see if they offer a program that fits your needs.

Everything else is between you and your biller/mortgager/landlord. Just remember, no one likes bad publicity leveled at them. We are in the process of using some of that muscle against one of our mortgagers to get a few months of deferment (to help pay for initial repairs).

In addition, several people I have talked to have told me that AOL has given them several months free and most major credit cards are waving fees and interest for several months. Also, most airlines, AirTrans in particular, are being extremely helpful to anyone who lives in one of the disaster area zip codes.

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, relief, New Orleans, FEMA