Saturday

Hurricane Katrina and the War in Iraq: "WGNO-TV, the ABC affiliate in New Orleans, reported on August 1 that 'Dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators are now abroad,' warning that 'in the event of a major natural disaster, that could be a problem.' They interviewed Lieutenant Colonel Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard, who observed that 'The National Guard needs that equipment back home.'"
calendarlive.com: A warning sent but left unheeded On Sept. 2 Bush said, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."

Friday

Mercy Corps > Countries > Hurricane Katrina: A highly regarded secular charity focusing on both short- and long-term needs of hurricane survivors, their plan is:
"# Helping kids get back to school and deal with the trauma. ...
# Getting people to work and small businesses up and running. ...
# Finding and supporting those who fall through the cracks. ...we will target this often-marginalized group of people."
Reports that looting started before the hurricane
ABC News: Evacuation Disrupted by Gunshot Report: "we have a report that one shot was fired at a Chinook helicopter,' Schneider said, adding that the Chinook is 'an extremely large aircraft.'
Laura Brown, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman in Washington, said she had no such report.
'We're controlling every single aircraft in that airspace and none of them reported being fired on,' she said, adding that the FAA was in contact with the military as well as civilian aircraft."

Wednesday

Notice how Operation Blessing is prominently featured among organizations seeking donations for hurricane relief? How, in otherwise alphabetical lists of a dozen or more charities, Operation Blessing appears second after the American Red Cross?

What's unstated in these appeals is that Operation Blessing was founded by Pat Robertson, who continues to serve on its Board of Directors and to take credit for its charitable works. One might not realize that from Operation Blessing's website, either, which identifies its founder only as "M.G. Robertson."

Tax filings fail to disclose what percentage of the charity's revenues is spent on assassins.
FairEconomy.org - Labor Day report: CEO: worker pay ratio shoots up to 431 : 1: "The ratio of average CEO pay (now $11.8 million) to worker pay (now $27,460) spiked up from 301-to-1 in 2003 to 431-to-1 in 2004. If the minimum wage had risen as fast as CEO pay since 1990, the lowest paid workers in the US would be earning $23.03 an hour today, not $5.15 an hour. [At top defense contractors] average CEO pay increased 200% from 2001 to 2004, versus 7% for all CEOs....

[T]he report singled out for praise two bosses worthy of membership in an ''Executive Pay Hall of Fame.'' Brad Anderson, CEO of consumer electronics retailer Best Buy in 2003 decided to forgo $7.5 million in stock options and instead gave them to ''outstanding non-executive employees,'' the report said. At supermarket chain Whole Foods Market, it added, CEO John Mackey's pay is limited to no more than 14 times the average workers' pay."

Tuesday

The Free Press -- Independent News Media - Election 2004: "the media has ignored the fact that Noe is also former Chair of the Lucas County Board of Elections, a major Bush-Cheney donor, and a key player in the theft of Ohio's 2004 electoral votes. He is reportedly under federal investigation for laundering money into the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign."
The Progress Report - American Progress Action Fund: "Here's the Story of a Hurricane"
Lexington Herald-Leader | 08/29/2005 | Fletcher grants amnesty to 9 charged in probe Gov. Ernie Fletcher tonight pardoned nine current and former officials who have been indicted along with anyone who “might … be charged.”
No trials, no convictions. Just pardon 'em all and let God sort it out!

Monday

3.082605BC2_toon.jpg (JPEG Image, 504x315 pixels)
ZNet |Iraq | How Easily We Have Come To Take The Bombs And The Deaths In Iraq For Granted: "But hold on a moment, I say to myself again. The 7 July bombings would be a comparatively quiet day in Baghdad....

And it dawns on me, sitting on my balcony over the Mediterranean at the end of this week, that we take far too much for granted. We like to have little disconnects in our lives. Maybe this is the fault of daily journalism - where we encapsulate the world every 24 hours, then sleep on it and start a new history the next day in which we fail totally to realise that the narrative did not begin before last night's deadline but weeks, months, years ago."
Halliburton Contract Critic Loses Her Job While so many others got medals...
Measuring the Economy May Not Be as Simple as 1, 2, 3: "Don't believe the numbers."

Sunday

AP Wire | 08/27/2005 | SEC lawyer critiques Petro's handling of investment warnings: "'Why wouldn't they care when constituents' money is at stake?'"