TIME.com: How Reliable Is Brown's Resume? It's not.

Brown's bio on FEMA.gov
Brown was never an "assistant city manager" nor was he ever a "professor."

Attytood: "How do you know that we're finally taking the situation in New Orleans seriously? We're sending in the private mercenaries"

The Black Commentator - Unbearable Crime on the Mississippi - Issue 149 - September 8 2005: "Even people who own land there are going to be in deep trouble trying to hold onto it when the real estate boondoggle gets in the courts. I'm afraid we'll be reading a lot of stupid crap about how they couldn't be found, taxes were owed, etc. as in times past throughout the South....And the developers are probably asking for eminent domain to be declared even as I'm typing."

Yahoo helped Chinese to prosecute journalist: printer friendly version: "Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, Cisco and other major Internet service and equipment providers have come under scrutiny for helping China to monitor and censor content available to China's 100 million Internet users."

Welcome to WorkingForChange The War on Weather

Project Censored

Oil-for-Food Panel Rebukes Annan, Cites Corruption: "It also accused U.S. officials of approving 'the single largest episode of oil smuggling' out of Iraq, by Jordan, in the weeks before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The United States and Jordan declined Volcker's requests for interviews and documents, the report said, saying his panel had no authority to investigate oil smuggling outside the oil-for-food program."

Letting Predatory Lending Back Out of Its Cage: Federal, State Officials Warn That Federal Bill Would Weaken Protections in States: "Ney-Kanjorski Bill Would Roll Back State Protections for Consumers, Spur New Abuses"

AlterNet: The Bigotry of Low Expectations: "As Katrina wiped out New Orleans' communications infrastructure, panicky rumors of violence in evacuation centers quickly filled the airwaves. The only problem--few of the reports were true. "

West 'Registers' No. 1 Album Debut The Dixie Chicks effect.
Also the top album download on iTunes yesterday and today.

Navy Pilots Who Rescued Victims Are Reprimanded - New York Times: "In protest, some members of the unit have stopped wearing a search and rescue patch on their sleeves that reads, 'So Others May Live.'"

Hurricane KATRINANWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
4 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
...POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC HURRICANE KATRINA HEADED FOR THE
NORTHERN GULF COAST...
PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE COMPLETED THIS EVENING....
COASTAL STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 18 TO 22 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS...LOCALLY AS HIGH AS 28 FEET...ALONG WITH LARGE AND DANGEROUS BATTERING WAVES...CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR AND TO THE EAST OF WHERE THE CENTER MAKES LANDFALL. SOME LEVEES IN THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA COULD BE OVERTOPPED. SIGNIFICANT STORM SURGE FLOODING WILL OCCUR ELSEWHERE ALONG THE CENTRAL AND NORTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO COAST.

Totally unexpected.

NOLA.com: Times-Picayune Breaking News Weblog: "Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.
In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn't known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, 'We've provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they've gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day.'

Lies don't get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.
Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, 'You're doing a heck of a job.'

That's unbelievable."

That's our Bush.

CBC News: Race issue haunts President Bush in his response to Katrina

White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage - New York Times: "In a reflection of what has long been a hallmark of Mr. Rove's tough political style, the administration is also working to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana who, as it happens, are Democrats. "
"White House political operation had fallen short in part because the president and his aides were scattered outside Washington on vacation, leaving no one obviously in charge"
Where's Al Haig when you need him?

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."

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."

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."

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!

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."

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?'"

Independent Online Edition > Middle East : app3: "She was the Iraqi activist who became a symbol of the possibility of a brighter future for Iraq...'But look what has happened: we have lost all the gains we made over the past 30 years.'"

US Pentagon to hold Caspian Sea energy security confab in Germany - Irna: "Participants and observers are expected from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhastan, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, NATO, the US Departments of State, Defense and Energy, academia, private industry and consulting. "

But no war opponents, even host country Germany.

village voice > news > Mondo Washington by James Ridgeway, with Natalie Wittlin: "The Republican right wing is raising the Atta issue at a time when Bush is sinking in the polls, people are fed up with Iraq, and there are continuing questions about the administration's handling of 9-11 and the war on terror. One way to take some of the heat off is to shift the blame to Bill Clinton."

1010 WINS - ALL NEWS. ALL THE TIME.: Rangel Questions Dick Cheney's Health "A White House spokesman did not immediately comment."

Daily Egyptian Sp03 : American refugee Have you any idea why they're lying to you?

Local News - The Advocate - www.newarkadvocate.com: "Military recruiters can still talk to students at school, even if their parents filled out the opt-out form. According to Cameron Carr, recruiters are at his school, Licking Valley High School, every day.

Opting-out, as an increasing number of parents at Licking Valley have, creates a problem when students apply for colleges, said Dave Hile, principal at Licking Valley High School....'If (parents) tell us that we can't have that information for recruiters, then we cannot give out that information to colleges.' The reverse is true as well, also according to the No Child Left Behind Act. 'If one of our kids asks us to send their transcript to a university, as soon as we do that, recruiters must be treated in the same manner and we must give them access to that information,' Hile said."

- toledoblade.com -: "a kickback scheme that was institutionalized by this administration to reward their campaign contributors"

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: August 21, 2005 - August 27, 2005 Archives Recess-appointed U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton is doing exactly what his critics expected of him. He is sticking it to the world. . .hard and nasty.

Senatorial Courtesy, 8/26/2005 - The Texas Observer

A CIA Cover Blown, a White House Exposed "a series of misjudgments by White House officials"

Profiling Report Leads to a Demotion - New York Times: "The Bush administration is replacing the director of a small but critical branch of the Justice Department, months after he complained that senior political officials at the department were seeking to play down newly compiled data on the aggressive police treatment of black and Hispanic drivers."

Troop graves bear operation names - The Boston Globe: "It seems like it might be connected to politics."

Craving the cookie - OrlandoSentinel.com: Health & Medicine: "Kraft scientists continued to take part in meetings with Philip Morris researchers, leading to a 1998 memo that suggested applying their combined expertise in brain science and flavor perception to develop products.

The 'possible business implications' of such work included ways to shape people's perception of hunger and fullness, known as satiety. The memo stated that applications could include 'food/drinks whose aroma/flavor are engineered to influence satiety, drinkability, perceived freshness, mood, behavior, purchase intent, etc.'"

Inside Bay Area - Local News: "So why is a ranking Democratic operative who was convinced Republicans ``stole'' the 2000 election working for Diebold and O'Dell, a battlestate fund-raiser for Bush-Cheney 2004?"

Toxic waste sparks violent protest at China factory - Yahoo! News:Trigger for the demonstration omitted from the more widely circulated AP story.

"'Some children died of lead pollution and the demonstration might have been initiated by the parents.'...Residents said children were falling ill from high levels of lead that had poisoned water and vegetables in several villages in the area."

Three Texas surgeons were playing golf together and discussing surgeries they had performed. One of them said, "I'm the best surgeon in Texas. A concert pianist lost 7 fingers in an accident. I reattached them, and 8 months later he perfomed a private concert for the Queen of England." One of the others said, "That's nothing. A young man lost both arms and legs in an accident. I reattached them, and 2 years later he won a gold medal in field events at the olympics."

The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs. Several years ago, a cowboy, who was high on cocaine and alcohol, rode a horse head-on into a train traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the horse's ass and a cowboy hat. Now, he's president of the United States."

OpEdNews.Com Progressive, Tough Liberal News and Opinion: "The 'findings' about Democrat wrongdoing are not surprising considering that the three public faces of the nonpartisan group are very partisan Republican operatives -- including one who claims to be a sounding board for senior White House adviser Karl Rove. "

The Onion | Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory

Al-Ahram Weekly | Region | Exception to the rule: "Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem indicate that its unilaterally imposed disengagement was never meant to start a peace process but rather to end one....'By giving up Gaza, the Israelis are winning 15 years advance in materialising their project,' Jarbawi explains. 'The formula for Sharon now is not land for peace, but land for time,' he added."

U.S. Diplomat Is Named in Secrets Case - New York Times: "The second-highest diplomat at the United States Embassy in Baghdad is one of the anonymous government officials cited in an Aug. 4 indictment as having provided classified information to an employee of a pro-Israel lobbying group"

Library Missing Roberts File A file folder containing papers from Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr.'s work on affirmative action more than 20 years ago disappeared from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library after its review by two lawyers from the White House and the Justice Department in July

Religious Right Discovers Investment Activism

whatever already!

FindLaw's Writ - Klarevas: Will the Precedent Set by the Indictment in a Pentagon Leak Case Spell Trouble for Those Who Leaked Valerie Plame's Identity to the Press?

Rove's indictment: Perjury or Espionage?

Standing on the Shoulders of Perjury Law - Los Angeles Times: "Fitzgerald's 20-month-long investigation initially focused on whether administration officials had broken a federal law that made it a felony to knowingly disclose the identity of covert agents. But more recently, the inquiry is believed to have shifted to the question of whether officials -- including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove -- who discussed Plame with journalists may have misled Fitzgerald and his investigators."

Talk show hosts accuse Ney of intimidation: "A trio of West Virginia radio talk show hosts claim St. Clairsville GOP Rep. Bob Ney tried to intimidate them after they read newspaper stories on the air that raised ethical questions about Ney's relationship with a controversial Washington lobbyist. "

'Wash Post' Hit For Sponsorship Of 'Freedom' March: "'It is dismaying, to say the least, that I can be fired for participating in a peace march while my employer feels free to co-sponsor an event that so blatantly beats the drum of war,' [science reporter Rick] Weiss stated."

No comment from the political reporters or war correspondents, apparently.

U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq: "What we expected to achieve was never realistic "

But we did it anyway.

- toledoblade.com -: "Mrs. Noe was one of several coin-fund wives who benefited financially from their husbands' jobs."

THE NEWSROOM: Cheney + Pakistan = Iran: VP Helped Cover-Up Pakistani Nuclear Proliferation So US Could Sell Country Fighter Jets

The Free Press -- Independent News Media - International Issues: "Scandal-plagued Halliburton -- the oil services company once headed by Vice President Cheney -- sold an Iranian oil development company key components for a nuclear reactor, say Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge into both companies' business dealings"

U.S. Newswire : Releases : "Culture of Corruption Grows: Sixth Bush Fundraiser..." UNDER INVESTIGATION: MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR A BASKETBALL TEAM

Bloomberg.com: U.S.: "U.S. House Republicans, Beset by Scandal, Want Higher Donations"

:: Jack in the House :: How Jack Abramoff bought Congress ::

KR Washington Bureau | 08/11/2005 | Audit: Fraud drained $1 billion from Iraq's defense efforts: "a pattern of deception and sloppiness that squandered more than half the Defense Ministry's annual budget.....with about 20 American civilian advisers working alongside Iraqi defense chiefs..... [Defense minister] al-Dulaimi said, 'I blame those who posted them (the officials under investigation). And, by the way, the CPA posted them.'"

Iraqis thirst for water and power | csmonitor.com: "This summer, the third since the fall of Baghdad, has been the worst yet when it comes to basic services. Interruptions to electricity and water supplies - caused by both decay and sabotage - are driving up the frustrations of millions of Iraqis. "

LaTourette attributes flip-flop on CAFTA to tariff no one pays: "He's either been duped or is not being honest"

- toledoblade.com -: "Tom Noe used his American Express credit card from Thomas Noe, Inc.--the same entity he's accused of using as a vehicle to steal millions of dollars from Ohio's rare-coin funds--to contribute $10,000 to California's governor."

Criminal No. 1:05CR225: USA V.a Lawrence Anthony Franklin, Steven J. Rose, Keith Weissman

ZNet |Foreign Policy | Bigger Than AIPAC

Sirotablog: The D.C. Democratic Establishment's disconnect on Iraq: "in a memo sent to all Democratic House Members about what Democrats should learn from the Hackett race, the DCCC makes not one mention of the Iraq War and its effect on the election. Not one. It is as if the party is going out of its way to deny the importance of Democrats taking a strong position against the war"

CounterPunch: America's Best Political Newsletter: "In the 21st century job growth in the US economy has consistently reflected that of a Third World country--low productivity domestic services jobs. This goes on month after month and no one catches on--least of all the economists and the policymakers"

DIRELAND: THE REAL AIPAC SPY RING STORY--IT WAS ALL ABOUT IRAN

Country Joe McDonald, My First Protest Song And here, for comparison, is my latest protest song: Support the Troops

American Prospect Online - ViewWeb: "The new disclosure that Miller and Libby met on July 8, 2003, raises questions regarding claims by President Bush that he and everyone in his administration have done everything possible to assist Fitzgerald's grand-jury probe."

Banksy - News

Los Angeles Times: The myths of Hiroshima
Hiroshima Film Cover-up Exposed

U.S. Military Presence in Paraguay Stirs Speculation - Yahoo! News Paraguay reverses itself on exempting US troops from local and international law; speculation that the troop buildup is intended to establish control over a major aquifer in anticipation of a global water shortage.

Writers Group Won't Give Judith Miller 'Conscience in Media' Award After All: "The First Amendment is designed to prevent government interference with a free press. Miller, by shielding a government official or officials who attempted to use the press to retaliate against a whistleblower, and scare off other would-be whistleblowers, has allied herself with government interference with, and censorship of, whistleblowers. When your source IS the government, and the government is attempting to use you to target a whistleblower, the notion of shielding a source must be reconsidered. To apply standard practices regarding sources to hiding wrongdoing at the highest levels of government perverts the intent of the First Amendment."

Top military QC condemns Guantanamo trials. 02/08/2005. ABC News Online: "There has been condemnation from one of Australia's top military lawyers of the process set up by the United States to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including South Australian David Hicks.
Yesterday, the ABC obtained emails from two prosecutors with the US military commissions, saying the procedures are rigged and describing the cases being pursued as marginal."

- toledoblade.com -: "Currently being investigated for possibly laundering campaign donations to President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign and under civil and criminal investigation for his role with a failed rare-coin investment with state money, Mr. Noe's friendship has become a liability for many people."

- toledoblade.com -: "Special counsel sought in Noe case"

What Went Wrong in Ohio? (Harpers.org)

The Free Press -- Independent News Media - Election 2004: "New charges filed against Ohio Governor Bob Taft's former top aide have blazed a new trail between 'Coingate' and the GOP theft of the 2004 presidential election."

E.P.A. Holds Back Report on Car Fuel Efficiency - New York Times: "loopholes in American fuel economy regulations have allowed automakers to produce cars and trucks that are significantly less fuel-efficient, on average, than they were in the late 1980's"

- toledoblade.com -: "Tom Noe used state money to try to pump up an online gambling company in which he and other prominent Republicans were investors, records show."

State: Is a loud concert a state service?: "The Texas-based company says its lease with the Florida State Fair Authority means Clear Channel, a private company, and the Fair Authority, a state agency, have the same rights.
Because of that link to the state, Clear Channel says it should have immunity from local noise laws.
And more. Clear Channel also says it should not be required to pay county property taxes."

t r u t h o u t - Roberts Listed in Federalist Society Leadership Directory: "The questions about Roberts's involvement with the society may come down to the meaning of the word 'membership.'"

Shots to the Heart of Iraq: "Innocent civilians, including people who are considered vital to building democracy, are increasingly being killed by U.S. troops."

- toledoblade.com -: "That particular passage, I think, was not well written"

Independent Online Edition > Middle East : app4 Iraq: This is now an unwinnable conflict

Justices won't sit out case against Taft: "Authorities are trying to determine whether Noe illegally disguised donations to President Bush."

- toledoblade.com -: "The documents also show Mr. Noe authorized millions of dollars in loans from the state's Capital Coin funds - including $285,000 to himself - while using state money to foot the bill for legal work to fight public records requests to release coin-fund documents."

nbc4i.com - News - Consultant: BWC Investments Showed 'Inadequate Oversight'

nbc4i.com - News - AG: Noe Took Nearly $4 Million Improperly

Memo Gets Attention in Probe of CIA Leak - Yahoo! News: "the memo focused on Wilson's trip and the State Department intelligence bureau's disagreement with the White House's claim about Iraq trying to get nuclear material. He said the fact that the CIA officer and Wilson were husband and wife was largely an incidental reference."

Report Shows Karl Rove May Have Lied to Federal Agents, a Federal Crime, During Oct 2003 Testimony Into CIA Agent Leak: "During questioning by the FBI about his role in the Plame affair, Rove told federal agents that he only started sharing information about Plame with reporters and White House officials for the first time after conservative columnist Robert Novak identified her covert CIA status in his column on July 14, 2003."

New York's Premier Alternative Newspaper. Arts, Music, Food, Movies and Opinion: "The crime is that hundreds, if not thousands, of journalists and politicians in this country have over the years cheerily honored this vile, scum-sucking pig of a human being by calling him names like 'genius' and 'boy wonder' and 'wizard'--as though the business of Rove's life was somehow cute, quirky and lovably mischievous."

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Two-thirds believe London bombings are linked to Iraq war: "Two-thirds of Britons believe there is a link between Tony Blair's decision to invade Iraq and the London bombings"

The New Yorker: Fact: "Did we have eleven hundred Americans die--the number of U.S. combat deaths as of last September--so they could have a rigged election?"