Deja Vu All Over Again

FEMA is not learning from its mistakes. (Memo to the Bush Administration: learning from mistakes is the bare minimum of what the American people can demand -- at least manage that much, OK?)

The End of History, or Just The End of the Bush Administration?

It's pretty clear from this sort of account that Western values have not universally triumphed, wouldn't you say?

Palmeiro Makes Even More Enemies

What is wrong with this guy? Now that he's violated every code of sportsmanship and honor in the book, there's no way he'll ever make the Hall of Fame.

Memo to Raffy: take your lumps, and don't drag other people into the gutter with you.

Bulletin: Philippines Surpasses US in Genetics Research

I think we all know who we have to thank for that.

Founding Father Lays Smackdown On Katrina "Parasites"

Thomas Jefferson, now working for the Federalist Patriot, comments on the so-called "victims" of Katrina...

I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.

You tell 'em, Tom. (Hiding behind DWM quotes seems to be the method these wingbats have chosen to code what seems to be a sick message of racist neglect. Very sad.)

Put JetBlue Pilot In Charge of Katrina Relief?

Now there's an idea.

Fussing and Counter-Fussing

Is the WaPo coddling anti-war protesters? NRO thinks so. (Why is it always some little tiny thing -- like a harmless, practically meaningless epithet for Tom Hayden -- that provokes such howls from the Angry Right?) Maybe I'm just "fussing".

Red Alert: Rita Looks Like A Shlong!

Only Sullivan would find this funny.

What's Next? The Apprentice: Senator Bill Frist?

Beware: Shared European Values

The good news: EU doesn't have plans to regulate the Internet at the moment. Bad news: it might change its mind.

Will Sullivan Correct? I'll Keep You Posted...

I don't know why these two Sullivan posts are yoked, but I'll comment on both anyway. Human rights groups are already outraged at the violence and injustice of the Iranian regime. Governments, at least right-minded people in government, are already outraged. Don't expect --don't even ask -- for ESPECIAL outrage at the persecution of gays.

It's the same with terrorism and 9/11. IF YOU'RE NOT ALREADY OFFENDED, YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION.

And what's this crap?

Armando is wrong; and he needs to correct the item. In fact, this is a good test of leftist blog credibility. Will he correct? I'll keep you posted.

My letter to Andrew:

In your post on Armando's post about Larry Summers, you write that "Armando is wrong; and he needs to correct the item. In fact, this is a good test of leftist blog credibility. Will he correct? I'll keep you posted."

Leave aside the question of whether this serves a higher purpose than shaming someone for using imprecise language. ("Crusade" is the word that comes to mind.) The important question is why you would think this is a good "test" of leftist blog credibility. I have a "leftist" blog -- and what Armando says has nothing to do with the credibility of my blog. Is what Glenn Reynolds writes a test of YOUR credibility? Should we start holding YOU accountable for Dan Drezner's posts? This is nonsense.

Will Andrew correct? I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE: Sullivan's reply: "kos is by far the biggest leftist blog - indeed the biggest blog on the planet." Non-sequitur?

Cool Alligator Picture

Q: What's George W. Bush's position on Roe v. Wade?

A: Actually, he really doesn't care how people get out of New Orleans.

Pie (or Pork) in the Sky

Didn't the Administration say that Social Security was going to be hemorrhaging by 2018? And then it turned out we actually had until 2050?

So maybe we'll get back to the moon by mid-century.

Gonzales Vies For Republican Nomination in '08?

Or is Karl Rove just trying to shore up support for Bush by 'legitimizing' his appointments to the Christian right?

Or both?

Death Penalty Politics

There's a new report out on the racially prejudicial administration of the death penalty in California, and the results are not quite what you'd expect... (for instance, the race of the defendant doesn't really seem to matter, per se.)

Reporters Without Borders

Why are the French so can't-be-bothered when it comes to democracy for third-world peoples?

The Artful (But Cheerful!) Dodger

Note how many references to "upbeat" and "cheerful" there are in George Will's latest column on the Governator. Why do conservatives love Arnold so much? It's obvious. He's so optimistic... just like Reagan!

Andrew Sullivan takes a potshot at Arnold.

And CA-statehouse reporters are getting a little (or a lot) fed up with Arnold's posturing. Read (or listen to) John Myers's reporting on the special election for public radio's "California Report." A sample:
__________

On tomorrow morning's edition of "California Report," we're trying something different with this interview: we're giving the listener a chance to hear what it's like when a reporter's question is artfully dodged. In this instance, I asked the governor about where to cut state spending, and it became an 8 minute discussion of everything from seismic safety to the economy...
__________

It's not the only or best way to expose a phony, but it's a start.

US Constitution: Charity Shmarity

Here's what the "Federalist Patriot" -- the "conservative e-journal of record" -- had to say today about Katrina relief:
____________

"I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity. [To approve such spending] would be contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded." —President Franklin Pierce
____________

Pierce, let's see... which one was he? Oh yeah, President I-Suck-But-At-Least-I'm-Not-James-Buchanan.

Let This Be A Lesson To Arnold...

Call off the election, or we'll sue!

UPDATE: An AP audit seems to show that Freddy actually DID get over the 40% hump.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

From a Q&A with New Orleans native Nick Lemann in the current New Yorker:
________

After storms like Betsy passed, was there a sense of relief—that the city had somehow escaped the worst?

I’ll be honest and tell you that, as with many things like this in life, from the perspective of a kid it’s just a fun experience. The movie “Hope and Glory,” by John Boorman, explores this idea. It’s about British kids during the Second World War, and it’s very good at capturing how something that is objectively awful registers on children as a sort of adventure. That was how Hurricane Betsy was for me. I remember it vividly. I remember being briefly frightened, but then thinking that it was fascinating to live through something like this, and to be able to go around paddling boats through the streets and things like that.
_________

Ah, children... Today, NPR's "This American Life" played some interviews with kids in the Astrodome who declared they'd never had so much fun in their lives as during the general anarchy in New Orleans and the first few days in the Houston refugee camps. Future looters of America, apparently.

He's a R.I.N.O.

Can there be any doubt left?