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September 29, 2005
Bushie Poo
Think Bush's nicknames are limited to Brownie and Kenny Boy? No, he's got lots of them, and here's the list. (Via Kevin Drum)
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Partisanship for Pre-schoolers
"Tommy and Lou open a lemonade stand to earn money for a swing set. But when liberals start demanding that Tommy and Lou pay half their money in taxes, take down their picture of Jesus, and serve broccoli with every glass of lemonade, the young brothers experience the downside to living in Liberaland".
This is not satire; it's an actual children's book that's been endorsed by prominent conservatives like Rush Limbaugh.
I am sure liberals have their own set of childrens' books focused on particular issues like teaching children to recycle or living with two mommies. But I can't find a children's book that obsesses over and demeans Republicans or conservatives as a group. While some consider it a flaw that liberals focus on their seperate issues rather than uniting based on ideology, at least they aren't teaching children to despise a large portion of the population.
As Andrew Sullivan points out, conservative ideology is becoming the equivalent of a religion. I don't like the idea of children being indoctrinated into anything. Children are not in a position to judge for themselves, particular when information is coming from their parents. But I can understand parents who want to pass religious beliefs on at a young age. But political ideology? Childhood is the age of innocense. Politics is vile, disgusting sludge-slinging contest that corrodes the mind and soul, and these people want to drag children into that?
I knew a professor in college who was extremely conservative and made his political ideology a large part of his identity. He was a young professor and had a three or four-year-old son. One day he brought his son to parade in front of the class. "Who do you like?" the professor asked his son in front of the students. "Geowge Bush," the kid said in cute baby-talk. "And who do you hate?" the professor asked. "Libwal Democwats."
Poor kid.
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September 28, 2005
Humor in its purest form
Decades from now, J.E. Swearington may be forgotten. He has not been immortalized in film or book, but he makes us laugh just the same. His is a different medium. He writes reviews on Amazon.com.
A review for HOOAH! Energy Bar, Apple Cinnamon, 15 pack:
Just ate one of these mean mothers and word of God can't stop typing or doing anything it's worse than when I thought my youngest kid's Adderol was the Advil took three of those couldn't stop talking called everyone did you just hear that pigeon across the street cause I sure did oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap I think I'm starting to crash and now sleepy gonna go sle
A review of Scent Shield Hunt Mate Easy Off Face Camo"
This is perfect for stalking prey in the forest, but perhaps a few more colors would be great, for other enviroments. I think a taupe would be great for blending in with vinyl siding, a deep red for pressing up against brick walls, or a pale blue and white combo, for remaining undetected while peering in through a window as the pale flickerings of a family (used to be your family but now just a family, any family, no more connection to you than to any of the other thousands of faces you pass by everyday and oh Jesus) watching television.
A review of Toddler Boys' Miles Brown Boat Shoes:
These shoes are working out great for our youngest son, Branathyn, but I found, after he was wearing them for a while, that I had to make some changes. First of all, we put some new laces in, because the old ones we're a little "raggedy." Secondly I cut the tongue out to keep the shoes from whispering lies in the dark of the night and poisoning my son against me.
The full list of the reviews can be found here. I highly recommend them. Hat tip: Sadly No!
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I think I'll wait for the movie
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, led by James Inhofe (R-OK), will hold a hearing today to “discuss the role of science in environmental policy making.”
The list of guests includes atmospheric scientists, Ph.Ds, and one Michael Crichton. What makes Crichton, a fiction writer, qualified to testify on the role of science in environmental policy making? Well, Crichton DID write a novel called State of Fear, which is about global warming. More specifically, it's "a heart-pounding, edge-of-your-seat story about its hero's struggle against those who are trying to dupe the world into thinking global warming is a real problem."
Yes, the same man who wrote a novel about a park full of cloned dinosaurs will pull up a chair next to atmospheric scientists and explain to the government why he thinks global warming doesn't exist. His opinions on the subject are actually surprisingly similar to President Bush's, which is "since we don't know everything, we actually know nothing" about global warming.
Another speaker at today's hearing will be David Sandalow, from the Brookings Institution, who has written a column about the faulty science used in Crichton's book. (And Sandalow is not the first to question Crichton's distorted science, see here).
But, all joking aside, this is an important precedent. Crichton's testimony opens the door for other authors to take part in governmental decision making. Now we can put Tom Clancy in charge of the war on terror, John Grisham can be the next Supreme Court nominee, and Sebastian Junger can take control of FEMA.
But if they really want a diverse and ficticious view of global warming, the committee should have also invited Bobby Henderson, who conclusively proved that global warming was inversely related to the number of pirates sailing the seas.
At least he was a physics major.
RELATED: Wonkette, Think Progress, Prometheus, Huffington Post, Tech Policy
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September 27, 2005
Quote of the day
"Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things."
- Douglas Adams
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 7:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Religion: Giving people hope in a world torn apart by religion
This is at the least, interesting:
According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.
It compares the social peformance of relatively secular countries, such as Britain, with the US, where the majority believes in a creator rather than the theory of evolution. Many conservative evangelicals in the US consider Darwinism to be a social evil, believing that it inspires atheism and amorality.
Many liberal Christians and believers of other faiths hold that religious belief is socially beneficial, believing that it helps to lower rates of violent crime, murder, suicide, sexual promiscuity and abortion. The benefits of religious belief to a society have been described as its “spiritual capital”. But the study claims that the devotion of many in the US may actually contribute to its ills.
The paper, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, reports: “Many Americans agree that their churchgoing nation is an exceptional, God-blessed, shining city on the hill that stands as an impressive example for an increasingly sceptical world.
“In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.
This is a fairly typical media (mis)interpretation of statistical research. The first sentence of the Times article states, "RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today." While the study does show a correlation, it does not necessarily imply causation. The journalist jumps to his own conclusion. For example, although global warming has increased as the number of pirates had decreased, it would be irresponsible to imply that one has caused the other. (In addition to shoddy journalism, the actual research paper is not much better and equally full of assumptions).
Keeping the criticisms of this research in mind, it does raise (without answering) some interesting questions. There does seem to be a correlation between the religiousity of a developed nation and certain social ills.
"A few hundred years ago rates of homicide were astronomical in Christian Europe and the American colonies. In all secular developing democracies a centuries long-term trend has seen homicide rates drop to historical lows (Figure 2). Despite a significant decline from a recent peak in the 1980s, the U.S. is the only prosperous democracy that retains high homicide rates, making it a strong outlier in this regard. Similarly, theistic Portugal also has rates of homicides well above the secular developing democracy norm."
While the article assumes that the high crime rate is directly caused by the United States' religiosity, you could also hypothesize that the U.S. is more religious in an attempt to deal with its prevelant social ills. Both are just theories. But the question remains. Why DOES the U.S. have such high crime rates compared to other developed nations? We are not only more religious than these nations, but we also have higher income disparities and (I think) more diversity. There are a slew of other variables that could produce a similar correlation.
I can see how the higher rate of STDs might be attributed to cultural religion. A scientific approach to sexual education seems more effective than an abstinence-only approach based on religion. But to assume that a whole host of social ills is attributable to this one variable is irresponsible on the part of the researcher.
As I go back and look at the paper again, I am surprised this was even published. If I had submitted this in a Statistical Research Methods class, it would have gotten a C at best. And while the paper doesn't PROVE anything, it at least rules out the hypothesis that the more religious a society it is the better it functions.
But common sense can tell you that much.
 | A = Australia C = Canada D = Denmark E = Great Britain F = France G = Germany H = Holland I = Ireland J = Japan L = Switzerland N = Norway P = Portugal R = Austria S = Spain T = Italy U = United States W = Sweden Z = New Zealand |
Related: Pharyngula, Omniorthogonal, To the Point, Don't Go Into the Light
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September 26, 2005
Quote of the day
"Religion. It's given people hope in a world torn apart by religion."
- Jon Stewart
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No more separation of Church and Head Start
From Crooks and Liars:
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted Thursday to let Head Start centers consider religion when hiring workers, overshadowing its moves to strengthen the preschool program's academics and finances.The Republican-led House approved a bill to renew the Head Start program through 2011. The bill includes a provision that would let churches and other faith-based preschool centers hire only people who share their religion yet still receive federal tax dollars.
Democrats blasted that idea as discriminatory.
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September 22, 2005
More wisdom from the Daily Show
The Daily Show ran a segment last night that visually expressed something we have all known for years. It was a circular diagram with the following steps:
Step 1: A Republican beats a Democrat in a presidential election by criticizing the Democrat for high taxes
Step 2: After winning the election, the Republican cuts taxes for the wealthy and promises to cut government spending.
Step 3: Wars, pet projects (like going to Mars), and unforseeable natural disasters prevent actual budget cuts, leading to massive deficit.
Step 4: At the end of eight years, the deficit is enormous. A Democrat then wins the election and is forced to raise taxes to balance the budget.
Step 5: A Republican beats the Democrat by criticizing the Democrat for high taxes. Republican inherits a good economy, balanced budget, and repeats the process.
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Yankees suck!
Actually, I don't watch baseball much anymore. But I'm in Boston now, so it had to be said.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 3:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 21, 2005
Wiki
In the good ol' days, before the Internets, men would travel around the country, going door to door, selling large volumes of books known as "encyclopedias". These encyclopedias took up space and were surprisingly expensive. To navigate the set, you had to select from the appropriate book based on the letter of the topic you were interested in.
How archaic.
Now, the wonderful power of the Internets has brought us wikipedia. It's free, it's accessible, and it has eliminated the door to door salesmen. It is the first place I visit to learn about a new topic.
I'm not writing about wiki because it is a new phenomenon. Computer-savvy people, or "geeks", have known about wiki for a long time. But what is fascinating is the sociological implications of the technology. Wiki is similar to open-source software, it is open for contributions. From anyone (with some careful editing). Before, a large company hired experts and writers to compile a knowledge base (which became outdated quickly) and sold it to consumers who could afford it for a profit. Now, Wikipedia is open to experts on a global level. You could say it is communally created, communally maintained, and communally available. What Marx envisioned happening with agriculture and manufacturing has happened to information.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 5:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 20, 2005
The prophet speaks
Bobby Henderson, a 24-year-old out of work physics major, is interviewed about his role as a prophet for the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Related: Letter to Kansas School Board, Atrios
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Bushvilles, pass it on
John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential candidate, said the hurricane was a sober reminder that widespread poverty exists throughout the nation. He said it will persist if the poor are concentrated in specific neighborhoods far from jobs"If the Great Depression brought forth Hoovervilles, these trailer towns may someday be known as Bushvilles," John Edwards told an audience at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington.
The former North Carolina senator criticized Bush for suspending the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act that sets wages for workers on federal contracts. Democrats contend the waiver will allow lower pay.
"When the only shot many people have is a good job rebuilding New Orleans, the president intervened to suspend prevailing wage laws so his contractor friends can cut wages for a hard day's work," Edwards said.
In his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, Edwards frequently talked of "Two Americas," one for rich, the other for the poor. In his speech, Edwards said Bush is wrong to think Americans aspire to create a "Wealth Society," but rather they wish for a "Working Society."
I think Katrina added a bit of weight to the "Two Americas" theme Edwards pitched during the election.
(CNN)
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September 19, 2005
An intelligently designed puddle
". . . imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, 'This is an interesting world I find myself in, an interesting hole I find myself in, fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!' This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, it's still frantically hanging on to the notion that everything's going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise. I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for."
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 7:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 17, 2005
Pre-emptive attack on environmentalists
From the Clarion-Ledger (via Phronesisaical via Cursor):
Federal officials appear to be seeking proof to blame the flood of New Orleans on environmental groups, documents show.The Clarion-Ledger has obtained a copy of an internal e-mail the U.S. Department of Justice sent out this week to various U.S. attorneys' offices: "Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation."
Cynthia Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said Thursday she couldn't comment "because it's an internal e-mail."Shown a copy of the e-mail, David Bookbinder, senior attorney for Sierra Club, remarked, "Why are they (Bush administration officials) trying to smear us like this?"
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups had nothing to do with the flooding that resulted from Hurricane Katrina that killed hundreds, he said. "It's unfortunate that the Bush administration is trying to shift the blame to environmental groups. It doesn't surprise me at all."
Federal officials say the e-mail was prompted by a congressional inquiry but wouldn't comment further.
Whoever is behind the e-mail may have spotted the Sept. 8 issue of National Review Online that chastised the Sierra Club and other environmental groups for suing to halt the corps' 1996 plan to raise and fortify 303 miles of Mississippi River levees in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.
The corps settled the litigation in 1997, agreeing to hold off on some work until an environmental impact could be completed. The National Review article concluded: "Whether this delay directly affected the levees that broke in New Orleans is difficult to ascertain."
The problem with that conclusion?
The levees that broke causing New Orleans to flood weren't Mississippi River levees. They were levees that protected the city from Lake Pontchartrain levees on the other side of the city.
When Katrina struck, the hurricane pushed tons of water from the Gulf of Mexico into Lake Pontchartrain, which borders the city to the north. Corps officials say the water from the lake cleared the levees by 3 feet. It was those floodwaters, they say, that caused the levees to degrade until they ruptured, causing 80 percent of New Orleans to flood.
Bookbinder said the purpose of the litigation by the Sierra Club and others in 1996 was where the corps got the dirt for the project. "We had no objections to levees," he said. "We said, 'Just don't dig film materials out of the wetlands. Get the dirt from somewhere else.' "
If you listen to what some conservatives say about environmentalists, he said, "We're responsible for most of the world's ills."
In 1977, the corps wanted to build a 25-mile-long barrier and gate system to protect New Orleans on the east side. Both environmental groups and fishermen opposed the project, saying it would choke off water into Lake Pontchartrain.
After litigation, corps officials abandoned the idea, deciding instead to build higher levees. "They came up with a cheaper alternative," Bookbinder said. "We didn't object to raising the levees."
John Hall, a spokesman for the corps in New Orleans, said the barrier the corps was proposing in the 1970s would only stand up to a weak Category 3 hurricane, not a Category 4 hurricane like Katrina. "How much that would have prevented anything, I'm not sure," he said.
Since 1999, corps officials have studied the concept of building huge floodgates to prevent flooding in New Orleans from a Category 4 or 5 hurricane.
Although the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2001 listed a hurricane striking New Orleans as one of the top three catastrophic events the nation could face (the others being a terrorist attack on New York City and an earthquake in San Francisco), funding for corps projects aimed at curbing flooding in southeast Louisiana lagged.
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., has said the White House cut $400 million from corps' requests for flood control money in the area.
In fiscal 2006, the corps had hoped to receive up to $10 million in funding for a six-year feasibility study on such floodgates. According to a recent estimate, the project would take 10 years to build and cost $2.5 billion.
"Our understanding is the locals would like to go to that," Hall said. "If I were local, I'd want it."
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 7:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 16, 2005
Global Warming, Global Schwarming
Republicans have become increasingly dominant in the cultural and political "war of ideas" that they constantly claim to be losing because of the "liberal media" and "liberal academia". Particularly in terms of science. The counter every scientific report about global warming by declaring "It's just a theory!" Yes, it is just a theory, which is backed up with empirical evidence and supported by a large portion of the scientific community. But somehow Republicans have managed to make the idea that global warming played a hand in Katrina's strength no more credible (or just as credible) as the idea that Katrina was a manifestation of God's wrath over America's sinful culture.
From NY Times: WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (AP) - Storms with the power of Hurricane Katrina are becoming more common, in part because of global warming, according to a report from a team of researchers that will be published Friday.The number of storms in the two most powerful categories, 4 and 5, rose to an average of 18 a year worldwide since 1990, up from 11 in the 1970's, according to the report, which will be published in the journal Science.
I have racked my brain and I just cannot come up with any logical reason why the scientific community would fabricate the idea of global warming. It would not benefit them in the least (well, maybe a few people would land some book deals). But as for why Republicans would oppose the idea, it is so mind-numbingly obvious that it makes you want to pull your hair out. Like Halliburton landing no-bid contracts or the 2000 election.
It's Oil. And this isn't exactly a reactionary conspiracy theory like claiming the war in Iraq if for nothing but oil. The theory of global warming essentially paints oil companies as bad guys, and we can't have that.
This isn't the first global warming warning scientists have issued. But Bush says, "We still don't know enough" about global warming, the same thing he said when he campaigned in 2000. Surely this administration could have learned a litle about the issue in five years.
More:
- Artic ice melting, global warming past 'point of no return'
- Majikthise weighs in
- Think Progress comments on the politics of Katrina
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 6:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Fun with Google
I know this has been around for a while, but not everyone has come across it.
Step 1: Go to www.google.com
Step 2: Enter "miserable failure"
Step 3: Click the 'I'm feeling lucky' button
Step 4: Enjoy
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 3:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 15, 2005
Open-source software
I've recently become a fan of open-source software, which is basically free software with open source code that can be modified or improved by anyone. Instead of Microsoft Office, I use the similar, and completely free, Open Office.
The amazing thing about open-source software is that it is communally maintained. When there is a problem of shortcoming in the code, instead of calling Microsoft's customer support and waisting a good hour, you can post your problem on a related message board, and usually within no time at all the community of software programmers will respond with an answer.
Aside from being a fascinating model of social interaction through technology and an alternative mode of production, open-source technology has promising practical applications in developing nations (much like generic forms of prescription drugs). For example, South Africa's Science and Technology Minister recently called for more open-source software in government departments.
The use of open source rather than proprietary software would have enormous benefits for the economy and society of SA, he said. But the unwillingness of some hi-tech suppliers to adopt more open, accessible and flexible technologies would mean technology remained unaffordable and inaccessible to most people in developing countries."Open source should be promoted to compete with the other software and I am trying to see if we can have some government departments migrating to use both proprietary and open-source software," Mangena said.
Open-source isn't likely to bring software giants like Microsoft to their knees, but maybe it can help struggling nations off of theirs.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 8:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The designer of the designer of the designer
From the various proponents of Intelligent Design I've heard, their argument seems to be fairly basic: If you look at the natural world, down to a molecular level, it is too complex to statstically have happened by chance; therefore it must have been intelligently designed.
Their argument makes sense, but it hardly qualifies as science. A scientific theory is something that can be disproved and backed up by observable evidence. The observation of the complexity of nature is a valid critique of evolution, but jumping to the conclusion that it was intelligently designed should exclude it from science classrooms.
When you really think about it, the whole theory is a paradox. If life is to complex to be random, then it must have been intelligently designed. But it is certainly highly unlikely that the intelligent designer was created randomly, so the designer must have been designed. And the designer of the intelligent designer is too complex to happen randomly, so the designer of the designer must have been intelligently designed. And so on.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 3:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 14, 2005
One nation, under an Intelligent Designer
A federal judge ruled that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in schools is unconstitutional, saying the pledge's "reference to 'under God' violated school children's right to be 'free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.'"
This will likely go all the way to the Supreme Court. I hope this ruling holds up. I don't like the idea of a "coercive requirement" to affirm God or State. Most people who object to the pledge do so because of its reference to God. But isn't it somewhat Orwellian, somewhat totalitarian, to require children to pledge their allegiance to the nation? Patriotism should not be forced onto people. But then again, you could debate for hours on whether or not a nation-state could hold up without being somewhat coercive.
I don't know what the big deal is. I thought conservatives didn't even talk about God these days. They should just change the pledge to, "One nation, under an Intelligent Designer..." and everyone would be happy.
Perhaps the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 10:09 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
All penguins go to heaven?
From the NYTimes:
On the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com, an opponent of abortion wrote that the movie "verified the beauty of life and the rightness of protecting it."At a conference for young Republicans, the editor of National Review urged participants to see the movie because it promoted monogamy. A widely circulated Christian magazine said it made "a strong case for intelligent design."
What movie is this? The Passion of the Christ? A new religious film from conservative Hollywood? No, it's a documentary about penguins. March of the Penguins is the second highest grossing documentary of all time, just behind Farenheit 9/11, and social conservatives are using it to back up every issue in their arsenal.
That's right. Penguins, which are one of only six monogamous animals on the planet (all of them birds).
A few quotes about the movie:
"That any one of these eggs survives is a remarkable feat - and, some might suppose, a strong case for intelligent design. It's sad that acknowledgment of a creator is absent in the examination of such strange and wonderful animals. But it's also a gap easily filled by family discussion after the film." - Andrew Coffin writing in Christian publication, World Magazine"You have to check out 'March of the Penguins.' It is an amazing movie. And I have to say, penguins are the really ideal example of monogamy. These things - the dedication of these birds is just amazing." - Rich Lowry, editor of National Review speaking to Young Republicans.
"Some of the circumstances they experienced seemed to parallel those of Christians. The penguin is falling behind, is like some Christians falling behind. The path changes every year, yet they find their way, is like the Holy Spirit." Minister Ben Hunt
Didn't these people hear about Central Park Zoo's gay penguins (second article down)? Roy and Silo are male penguins that "entwine their necks, they vocalize to each other, they have sex." When offered female companionship, they have refused it, and females haven't shown interest in them, either.
So what does all this mean? Are penguins the ideal animal? Is this why nuns wear black and white? Does the popularity of this movie attest to the strength of the conservative movement?
These are many questions the will remain unanswered, and given the scientific evidence and the article about gay penguins, only one thing is certain: Even penguins can go to hell.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 5:32 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 13, 2005
Another tragedy you don't hear about everyday
From the Independent (via Phronesisaical):
When the UN asked the world to give $88m to avert famine in Malawi, not one penny was forthcoming. How hungry does a nation have to be before help is at hand? Meera Selva reports from Chikwawa
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 6:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Remember Afghanistan?
I came across this BBC article about Afghan President Hamid Karzai's call to rethink security operations, and I was amazed at how much attention the BBC paid to Afghanistan compared to American media.
One problem with the war in Iraq is that it has completely shifted focus away from Afghanistan, in terms of reconstruction and aid. The result? The Taliban has claimed more lives this year - both Afghan and American - than any year since the war in 2001. Once again, America is forgetting about rebuilding Afghanistan after aiding in its destruction, and once again it will bite us in the ass.
But at least the BBC remembers. Granted, American media is a bit preoccupied with Katrina coverage right now, but you generally won't find much about Afghanistan other than reports of troop casualties. But here are a few pieces of the BBC's comprehensive coverage:
- Afghanistan's post-Taliban media: This article looks at the media landscape in Afghanistan, observing that a "strong oral culture" has made radio more popular than print or televised media.
- Afghanistan's security challenges: This article examines Afghanistan's security challenges, not in terms of Western interests or American interests, but Afghan interests. Top security challenges include: re-emergence of the Taliban (coming in part from our "ally" Pakistan), poppy cultivation, and "aggressive foreign coalition forces" that are creating resentment.
- One day in Afghanistan - September 13 is BBC's "Day in Afghanistan" in which Afghans will talk about everyday experiences throughout the day.
- Demographics: BBC offers a current demographic breakdown of Afghanistan, with statistics on ethnicity, rural and city life, health, education, economy, and government.
Go HERE for BBC's full coverage. They also have picture essays, history, articles about women in cinema and life in the Afghan army. You can even check the weather in Afghanistan or set your clocks to Kabul time.
Good show, BBC. Good show.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 3:42 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 9, 2005
Not breaking news, fixing it
I agree, but I would go as far as to say that Bush is the worst disaster to hit the world, not just the U.S.
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September 8, 2005
The Onion covers Katrina
From the Onion:
NEW ORLEANS—Throughout the Gulf Coast, Caucasian suburbanites attempting to gather food and drink in the shattered wreckage of shopping districts have reported seeing AfricanAmericans "looting snacks and beer from damaged businesses." "I was in the abandoned Wal-Mart gathering an air mattress so I could float out the potato chips, beef jerky, and Budweiser I'd managed to find," said white survivor Lars Wrightson, who had carefully selected foodstuffs whose salt and alcohol content provide protection against contamination. "Then I look up, and I see a whole family of [African-Americans] going straight for the booze. Hell, you could see they had already looted a fortune in diapers." Radio stations still in operation are advising store owners and white people in the affected areas to locate firearms in sporting-goods stores in order to protect themselves against marauding blacks looting gun shops.
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September 6, 2005
It's not what you know, it's who you know
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Michael Brown, its director, have taken a lot of heat for the delayed and bungled Katrina relief operations. With such memorable moments as blaming the victims for staying and claiming the federal government was unaware of the situation at the convention center, one has to wonder how Brown managed to land a job overseeing the most important disaster relief organization in the country?
The answer: His college roomate. Before joining FEMA, Brown spent 11 years as the commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association. Not only was Brown's previous work experience limited entirely to judging horses, but he was fired from that job for "supervision failures." Luckily, after he was fired, he old college roomate and previous head of FEMA, Joseph Allbaugh, landed him a job where apparently experience doesn't matter.
The White House talking points lately seem to be pointing blame to the local level, the the Democratic governors and mayors involved with the situation. Granted, state and city officials bear a part of the burden for this failure. But if any heads should roll, Brown's should be the first. FEMA and Brown mismanaged the situation beyond forgiveness.
This tragedy has failed to bridge the partisan divide the way 9/11 did. However, if there is one thing that liberals and conservatives seem to agree on, it is that the relief effort was mismanaged and Brown is to blame. But does the buck stop at Brown? Why did the president allow someone into his administration based on nothing more than the good ole' boy system?
Quote of the Day: ''He's [Michael D. Brown] done a hell of a job, because I'm not aware of any Arabian horses being killed in this storm,'' said Kate Hale, former Miami-Dade emergency management chief who oversaw emergency response during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. "The world that this man operated in and the focus of this work does not in any way translate to this. He does not have the experience.''
More: Link courtesy of Donklephant, new Fema Failures blog documents the failures, Crooks and Liars has more.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 8:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
The Blame America First crowd knows what caused Katrina
This is hardly even worth posting because we all knew it was coming eventually. After 9/11, extremist blamed the tragedy on America's moral decline, citing an angry, vengeful God, rather than 12 fanatical terrorists, as the true puppetmaster behind the events. And now Rick Scarborough, in his latest newsletter, suggests American immorality is the true force behind Katrina's devastating winds.
From Crooks and Liars and Huffington Post:
After September 11, 2001, "God bless America" was on everyone's lips. But what, exactly, are we asking God to bless - a nation moving a breakneck speed toward homosexual marriage, a nation awash in pornography, a nation in which our children are indoctrinated in perversion in the public schools, a nation in which most public displays of The Ten Commandments are considered offensive to the Constitution, a nation in which the elite does all in its considerable power to efface our Biblical heritage?We are sowing the wind. Surely, we shall reap the whirlwind.
One other factor which must be considered: Days before Katrina nearly wiped New Orleans off the map, 9,000 Jewish residents of Gaza were driven from their homes with the full support of the United States government. Could this be a playing out of prophesy ("I will bless that nation that blesses you, and curse the nation that curses you")?
Please read on. I want to give you two examples - from today's headlines - of how we are bringing disaster on ourselves. And then tell you what you can do - right now, today - to begin to reverse the process.
So what were Scarborough's examples of "how we are bringing disaster on ourselves?" First, he cited California's AB 849, a bill changing the definition of marriage in that state from "a man and a woman" to "two persons." Scarborough's second example was even weirder, and more reflective of the Christian right's curious focus on, shall we say, unorthodox sex acts. Check out what he wrote:
In Washington State, a man recently died from internal injuries sustained from committing bestiality with a horse. The incident led police to raid a farm where people were going to have sex with animals.Though they discovered hundreds of explicit videotapes, apparently, nothing can be done about it. Washington is one of only a handful of states that does not have a law against bestiality....
But to suggest that global warming might have had something to do with this particularly strong hurricane season. Now THAT'S crazy.
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September 2, 2005
It's just a game
I like football as much as the next guy, but sometimes you have to remember that it's JUST A FRIGGIN GAME:
Hundreds of Katrina evacuees who fled to Tallahassee seeking refuge from the storm have been politely told by their hotels and motels to leave this weekend to make room for a football game: FSU vs. Miami.Hotel space is traditionally scarce any time the Florida State Seminoles take on the University of Miami Hurricanes, one of the choicest tickets on the college football schedule.
But with hotels packed with families from Louisiana and Mississippi, and room space booked for Monday's game for months, hotel operators say they are trying to accommodate the evacuees but have no choice but to nudge them out.
''We have to let them know what's going on in town and they're going to have to leave,'' said Angie Rayman, manager at the Howard Johnson. ``Many of them are trying to get closer to home anyway.''
For those not familiar with college football mascots, Miami's team is called the Hurricanes.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 8:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Ray Nagin speaks French
The following is a transcript of an interview with Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans, who expresses in some colorful words displeasure with the way the situation is being handled. Read the whole things, it's interesting.
RAY NAGIN, MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: I told him we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice. And that I have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we're out-manned in just about every respect.
You know the reason why the looters got out of control? Because we had most of our resources saving people, thousands of people that were stuck in attics, man, old ladies. When you pull off the doggone ventilator vent and you look down there and they're standing in there in water up to their freaking necks.
And they don't have a clue what's going on down here. They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of goddamn -- excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed.
GARLAND ROBINETTE, WWL CORRESPONDENT: Did you say to the president of the United States, "I need the military in here"?
NAGIN: I said, "I need everything."
Now, I will tell you this -- and I give the president some credit on this -- he sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done, and his name is General Honore.
And he came off the doggone chopper and he started cussing and people started moving. And he's getting some stuff done.
They ought to give that guy -- if they don't want to give it to me, give him full authority to get the job done, and we can save some people.
Read the full interview after the jump...
ROBINETTE: What do you need right now to get control of this situation?
NAGIN: I need reinforcements, I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man. We ain't talking about -- you know, one of the briefings we had, they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out here.
I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound busline in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."
That's -- they're thinking small, man. And this is a major, major, major deal. And I can't emphasize it enough, man. This is crazy.
I've got 15,000 to 20,000 people over at the convention center. It's bursting at the seams. The poor people in Plaquemines Parish. They're air-vacing people over here in New Orleans. We don't have anything and we're sharing with our brothers in Plaquemines Parish.
It's awful down here, man.
ROBINETTE: Do you believe that the president is seeing this, holding a news conference on it but can't do anything until Kathleen Blanco requested him to do it? And do you know whether or not she has made that request?
NAGIN: I have no idea what they're doing. But I will tell you this: You know, God is looking down on all this and if they are not doing everything in their power to save people they are going to pay the price. Because every day that we delay, people are dying and they're dying by the hundreds, I'm willing to bet you.
We're getting reports and calls that are breaking my heart, from people saying, "I've been in my attic. I can't take it anymore. The water is up to my neck. I don't think I can hold out." And that's happening as we speak.
You know what really upsets me, Garland? We told everybody the importance of the 17th Street Canal issue. We said, "Please, please take care of this. We don't care what you do. Figure it out."
ROBINETTE: Who'd you say that to?
NAGIN: Everybody: the governor, Homeland Security, FEMA. You name it, we said it.
And they allowed that pumping station next to Pumping Station 6 to go under water. Our sewage and water board people -- Marcia St. Martin (ph) -- stayed there and endangered their lives.
And what happened when that pumping station went down, the water started flowing again in the city and it starting getting to levels that probably killed more people. In addition to that, we had water flowing through the pipes in the city. That's a power station over there. So there's no water flowing anywhere on the east bank of Orleans Parish. So our critical water supply was destroyed because of lack of
action.
ROBINETTE: Why couldn't they drop the 3,000-pound sandbags or the containers that they were talking about earlier? Was it an engineering feat that just couldn't be done?
NAGIN: They said it was some pulleys that they had to manufacture. But, you know, in a state of emergency, man, you are creative, you figure out ways to get stuff done.
Then they told me that they went overnight and they built 17 concrete structures and they had the pulleys on them and they were going to drop them.
I flew over that thing yesterday and it's in the same shape that it was after the storm hit. There is nothing happening. And they're feeding the public a line of bull and they're spinning, and people are dying down here.
ROBINETTE: If some of the public called and they're right, that
there's a law that the president, that the federal government can't do anything without local or state requests, would you request martial law?
NAGIN: I've already called for martial law in the city of New Orleans. We did that a few days ago.
ROBINETTE: Did the governor do that, too?
NAGIN: I don't know. I don't think so.
But we called for martial law when we realized that the looting was getting out of control. And we redirected all of our police officers back to patrolling the streets. They were dead-tired from saving people but they worked all night because we thought this thing was going to blow wide open last night. And so we redirected all of our resources and we hold it under check.
I'm not sure if we can do that another night with the current resources.
And I am telling you right now: They're showing all these reports of people looting and doing all that weird stuff, and they are doing that, but people are desperate and they're trying to find food and water, the majority of them.
Now, you got some knuckle heads out there and they are taking advantage of this lawless -- this situation where, you know, we can't really control it, and they're doing some awful, awful things. But that's a small majority of the people. Most people are looking to try and survive.
And one of the things people -- nobody's talked about this. Drugs flowed in and out of New Orleans and the surrounding metropolitan area so freely it was scary to me, and that's why we were having the escalation in murders. People don't want to talk about this, but I'm going to talk about it.
You have drug addicts that are now walking around this city looking for a fix, and that's that reason why they were breaking in hospitals and drug stores. They're looking for something to take the edge off of their jones, if you will.
And right now, they don't have anything to take the edge off. And they've probably found guns. So what you're seeing is drug- starving crazy addicts, drug addicts, that are wrecking havoc. And we don't have the manpower to adequately deal with it. We can only target certain sections of the city and form a perimeter around them and hope to God that we're not overrun.
ROBINETTE: Well, you and I must be in the minority. Because apparently there's a section of our citizenry out there that thinks because of a law that says the federal government can't come in unless requested by the proper people, that everything that's going on to this point has been done as good as it can possibly be.
NAGIN: Really?
ROBINETTE: I know you don't feel that way.
NAGIN: Well, did the tsunami victims request? Did it go through a formal process to request?
You know, did the Iraqi people request that we go in there? Did they ask us to go in there?
What is more important?
And I'll tell you, man, I'm probably going get in a whole bunch of trouble. I'm probably going to get in so much trouble it ain't even funny. You probably won't even want to deal with me after this interview is over.
ROBINETTE: You and I will be in the funny place together.
NAGIN: But we authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq lickety-quick. After 9/11, we gave the president unprecedented powers lickety-quick to take care of New York and other places.
Now, you mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place that is so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up -- you mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.
You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very clearly.
And I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's the governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the president's problem, but somebody need to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out right now.
ROBINETTE: What can we do here?
NAGIN: Keep talking about it.
ROBINETTE: We'll do that. What else can we do?
NAGIN: Organize people to write letters and make calls to their congressmen, to the president, to the governor. Flood their doggone offices with requests to do something.
This is ridiculous.
I don't want to see anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city. And then come down to this city and stand with us when there are military trucks and troops that we can't even count.
Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too doggone late.
Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.
ROBINETTE: I'll say it right now, you're the only politician that's called and called for arms like this. And if -- whatever it takes, the governor, president -- whatever law precedent it takes, whatever it takes, I bet that the people listening to you are on your side.
NAGIN: Well, I hope so, Garland. I am just -- I'm at the point now where it don't matter. People are dying. They don't have homes. They don't have jobs. The city of New Orleans will never be the same in this time.
ROBINETTE: We're both pretty speechless here.
NAGIN: Yeah, I don't know what to say.
I got to go.
ROBINETTE: OK. Keep in touch. Keep in touch.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 6:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Mismanagement
From here:
The crews for three U.S. Customs Blackhawk helicopters stationed at Crestview Airport in Florida are "livid" because they have not been directed to provide full-time support for the ongoing hurricane-relief effort in the nation's Gulf Coast region, according to Mark Conrad, a former regional Internal Affairs supervisor for U.S. Customs.Conrad says instead of helping people left desperate in the wake of Katrina's wrath, the Blackhawk's actually were slated to transport a CNN news crew to take video shots of those people.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection leadership in Miami is behind the press-play strategy, Conrad says.
"They have three Blackhawk helicopters and crew just sitting there doing nothing, just so they can look good for CNN. The crew is livid," Conrad says. "They made one trip earlier and flew over Biloxi, (Mississippi) where there are dead bodies everywhere. Those are highly trained crews and Blackhawk helicopters can carry a lot of food and water. They could be doing something."
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Jackass
(CNN) -- The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday those New Orleans residents who chose not to heed warnings to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina bear some responsibility for their fates.Michael Brown also agreed with other public officials that the death toll in the city could reach into the thousands.
"Unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings," Brown told CNN.
"I don't make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans," he said.
"And to find people still there is just heart-wrenching to me because, you know, the mayor did everything he could to get them out of there.
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September 1, 2005
The human storm
CNN is reporting that rescue operations in New Orleans have been suspended because people have been violent toward boat rescuers (I've seen reports of shooting).
David Brooks talks about the storm after the storm in his latest column, what he refers to as the "human storm": "Floods wash away the surface of society, the settled way things have been done. They expose the underlying power structures, the injustices, the patterns of corruption and the unacknowledged inequalities."
What has been revealed when the surface of society has been washed away? Crooked Timber weighs in:
As everyone knows, social order is under severe pressure in New Orleans at the moment, and the media coverage is slowly coming around to analyzing the differential impact of the disaster. The fact that those who have been left behind, or turned into refugees, are disproportionately Africian-American, poor, or elderly is simply impossible to ignore from the media coverage.
When you look at the the white per capita income ($31,971) compared to the black per capita income ($11,332), the picture becomes a little clearer. Most people can understand how the poor would be the ones left behind, perhaps with lack of transportation or money for a hotel. But few people can imagine looking around after the devastation and seeing that the majority of people left behind were of one race.
Does that excuse violence toward rescuers? No. But I've heard some surprisingly racist comments about the situation in New Orleans, from a lot of people who seem to imply that all the African-Americans were simply too stupid to get out of Dodge.
Posted by Elyas Bakhtiari at 5:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack