" DeLay must avoid appearing to be continuing to run the House from the sidelines, lest the rule requiring that he step aside would appear to be a sham."

I like the double speak here. It's not that DeLay has to avoid running the House from the sidelines. It's that he has to avoid appearing to be running the House from the sidelines. Very important.

DeLay Faces Tough Road Back to Top (WP)

Does this make anyone else cringe? Red flags going up? Something not quite right here?

"As majority whip, Blunt, even more than DeLay before him, has created a formal alliance with K Street lobbyists, empowering corporate representatives and trade association executives to assist the House leadership in counting votes and negotiating amendments to bring holdouts into the fold."

Attempt to Pick Successor Is Foiled (WP)

'Casting itself as a living memorial along the lines of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the planned Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum, the [Internation Freedom] center pledged that its board would ensure that it hew to a mission of including the "heroes of Sept. 11" in its accounts of the history of freedom, sponsoring educational and cultural programs "to advance freedom's cause," and offering visitors opportunities to volunteer "on behalf of freedom within their own communities."'

What the hell does that even mean?

Freedom Museum Is Headed for Showdown at Ground Zero - New York Times

Ananova - Artists erect giant pink bunny on mountain

Ok, this is simultaneously freakish and totally awesome. What is it made of, I wonder? How easy will it be to climb? Will it really last for 20 years? Will people really want to look at it for 20 years? And can I see it when I go to Europe in the spring?

Any brilliant ideas for rival giant toys constructed on a mountainside in America somewhere?

"'And so, therefore, we're cautious about encouraging people to return at this moment of history,'[Bush] said."

What the hell kind of a sentence is that?


Bush Cites Concern as Residents Trickle Into New Orleans - New York Times

Yay! I love living in Massachusetts.

(Wow, did I just say that?)

Massachusetts Lawmakers Reject Bid to Stop Same-Sex Marriages

Here's hoping that, as the two major parties prove themselves to be mired in political corruption and completely disconnnected from, oh, reality, independent candidates start becoming more and more frequently elected to office.

Or maybe that's only in MY fantasy world.

Independent Announces Run for Senate in Md.

"Attitudes toward Bush and the government's overall response to Hurricane Katrina fracture along clear racial lines. Nearly three in four whites doubted the federal government would have responded more quickly to those trapped in New Orleans if they had been wealthier and white rather than poorer and black, the poll found. But an equal share of blacks disagreed, saying help would have come sooner if the victims had been more affluent whites.
More than six in 10 blacks -- 63 percent -- said the problems with the hurricane relief effort are an indication of continuing racial inequity in this country, a view rejected by more than seven in 10 whites, according to the poll."

The problem is that they're not asking the right questions. It's not that FEMA, or Bush, decided not to go in and begin rescue operations earlier because the majority of those trapped were black and poor. The problem is that the majority of those trapped were black and poor. Racism in America is rarely anymore a conscious decision on the part of an individual, or even an institution. It's revealed in the structural inequalities that are the foundation of our economic system.

To say that help would have come sooner if the victims had been more affluent whites to miss the point that the victims won't be more affluent whites. Not in a situation like this.

(And as an aside, which I perhaps don't really want to get into, but I think it's interesting that we're more willing, generally as Americans, to point the finger toward perceived racism than classism. I think Bush hates poor people more than he hates black people, and poverty is something we're never comfortable or willing to really address, legislatively or socially. But the race/class relationship is something for another time, maybe.)

Bush's Approval Rating Drops To New Low in Wake of Storm (WP)

Now we can see what happens when you are of the mindset that the federal government should be drowned in the bathtub.

CJR Daily: Unraveling the Mess at FEMA

Inadvertent cable news funniness. I heart this.

Too Good To Check - Wonkette

God, please let the shit be hitting the fan for the Bush administration. Please.

Leaders Lacking Disaster Experience

"'Marriage should be between a man and a woman, end of story. Next issue,' insisted Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy (R-Monrovia). 'It's not about civil rights or personal rights, it's about acceptance. They want to be accepted as normal. They are not normal.'"

It boggles me that there are still people, and people in power, who think ths way. I want to write a letter to all the California legislators who voted in favor of this bill, to thank them for being sane.

California Legislature Approves Gay Marriage (WP)

Argh! Mad scariness! I thought the Enlightenment took care of these freaks.

News from Agape Press

Oh man, I really wish I could have seen the press briefing/conference/photo op of Georgie W. in the airplane hangar in Mobile that was apparently just on. Priceless. I hope he and all his evil little neo-con friends go down in flames, and now.

Whoa! This is called a libertarian/right-wing ideology gone horribly awry.

"Americans' hearts go out to the people in Katrina's path. But if the people of
New Orleans and other low-lying areas insist upon living in harm's way, they
ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property."

Inside Politics?-?Nation/Politics?-?insider.washingtontimes.com

Er, wow. I do love that Rob Crow.

Pitchfork: Daily Music News - Goblin Cock

"Consumers angered over soaring gas prices made 5,800 calls yesterday to the Energy Department's price-gouging hotline. Motorists' ire was evident in an AP-Ipsos poll released yesterday showing that Americans want Bush and Congress to make the high fuel prices a top domestic priority."

Wow, this really is a country of selfish assholes.

Gas Supplies Tight; Bush Asks Drivers to Conserve (WP)

"Don't buy gas if you don't need it"??? Because most people are definitely in the habit of filling up on the gas, just for fun. Just to have some extra around, you know.

What a moron.

Senate Approves $10.5B in Hurricane Aid

Excellent. Very super excellent. The lack of candid discussions about race and class in our contemporary media is a constant source of contention and cause for protest and angry letter-writing in my world, so I'm always happy to hear someone else say it, too.

Lost in the Flood - Why no mention of race or class in TV's Katrina coverage? By Jack?Shafer

Ok, maybe this makes me an insensitive ass (as though that's a surprise), and I don't often disagree with things I read on CJR Daily, but I do disagree with this:

"...making fun of people driven out of their homes and huddled in a sports stadium with no running water is never acceptable... "

Maybe making fun of people driven out of their homes makes you a dick, but everyone has a right to be a dick. I gringe when I hear the words "unacceptable." It immediately triggers my "Oh yeah, says who?" rebellious teenager anarchist side.

I thought Johan Goldberg's Waterworld joke was funny.

Wow, I really AM an insensitive ass.

CJR Daily: All New Orleans All The Time

One less rational person in government. Awesome. Of course, not everyone agrees:

"Wendy Wright, policy director for Concerned Women for America and a critic of easier access to Plan B, welcomed Wood's resignation.
'Thank goodness there is now one less political activist at the FDA who puts radical feminist ideology above women's health,' she wrote in a statement. 'Now that Susan Wood has some free time on her hands, she can look at the studies from countries that have made the morning-after pill available without a prescription. She'll find it creates a public health hazard, with no decrease in pregnancies, no decrease in abortion, but a substantial increase in sexually transmitted diseases.'"

Not only is this not true, it's not even logical. I've read many studies of emergency contraception, and never once have I seen anything to back up Wnedy Wright's argument. Again, I'm at a loss for words.

FDA Official Quits Over Delay on Plan B (WP)