Katrina, Then and Now

First: A Katrina Timeline

Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake wrote For the Love of Cheney, two years ago, and now, For the Love of Cheney — The Second Anniversary Edition.

Author Poppy Z. Brite refused to leave the city, though she doesn't live in the same area anymore:

• Not OK
• We Are Still Not OK

There's also a New Orleans community on livejournal.

And, of course, there's Digby: What, Me Worry?

Bush, Katrina, and the Shame of a Nation -- Two Years Later

Fool me once... Fool me twice...

The Great Iraq Swindle

It was an awful idea, perhaps the worst America has ever tried on foreign soil. But if you were in on it, it was great work while it lasted.

C'mon, everybody! Let's line our pockets while Baghdad burns!

Reckless Abandonment

Reckless Abandonment

Unfortunately, one of the biggest misperceptions the American public harbors is that Katrina was a week-long catastrophe. In truth, it's better to view it as an era. Remember, the Dust Bowl of the 1930s lasted eight or nine years. We're still in the middle of the Katrina saga.

Bold action has been needed for two years now, yet all that the White House has offered is an inadequate trickle of billion-dollar Band-aids and placebo directives. Too often in the United States we forget that "inaction" can be a policy initiative. Every day the White House must decide what not to do.

Speak From the Heart

Because that's how people connect with you.

The Political Brain

"Respecting Copyright"

I'm making these remarks spurred by a brief article about Prism, an astroturf org apparently devoted to restricting knowledge by "respecting copyright".

At least in the US, copyright isn't a natural, god(s)-given right that must be guarded by the state. Rather, it is a tool, to keep scientists and inventors at the task of invention, by rewarding them, personally (not their heirs ad infinitum), for their efforts. Copyright is a *tool*, a means. Not an end.

To promote the progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

Who That?

Bush had lots of nice things to say about this guy Alberto Gonzales -- honorable and all that. A real mensch. This must some other guy than our Alberto Gonzales.

Truly, Bush lives in Bizarro World.

Wanna Have an Adventure?

Yeah!

Gonzo Resigns, Finally

Too late to do any damn good.

Finally, Enough of "A Distraction" to Warrant Resigning.