wet drunk

* blah3 has done a great wrapup of all the potemkin-ness of blinky visiting Lake George - including all the stage-sets and the cost to human lives - make sure u read it. (link)

* scott horton had another couple of great interviews on saturday - phillip giraldi again, and Karen Kwiatkowski. u can listen to them both here. (both 50mins)

* KLo: "IF FOLKS LIKE THE NYTIMES DEVOTED ONE-HALF AS MUCH TIME to promoting abstinence and fidelity that they devote to hyping condoms, I can't help but think we would have done Africa a great service." from here
cos NYT-reading africans who dont use condoms are a major threat to the world. ive really fucking had it with wingnuts.

* lets not forget the one horrible appointment by the maladministration which we havent seen fuck up yet since his promotion - wolfowitz at the world bank. perhaps he'll hand out $gazillions to NOLA - i wonder if it will come with the requisite 'fiscal austerity'

* driftglass: "I don't believe for one minute in a petulant and vengeful Deity that murders people to score debating points. However, if I did actually put my faith in such childish superstitions, I think I would be be much less inclined to blame gays for every single bad thing that happens and pay very close attention to the fact that God is at His most wrathful when foolish men in great nations make monsters into kings.
May God forgive us for letting criminals and madmen run our country."

* bob herbert, setting limbo-level hurdle rates: "After days of withering criticism from white and black Americans, from conservatives as well as liberals, from Republicans and Democrats, the president finally felt compelled to act, however feebly. (The chorus of criticism from nearly all quarters demanding that the president do something tells me that the nation as a whole is so much better than this administration.)"
he continues:
"Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever by a president during a dire national emergency. What we witnessed, as clearly as the overwhelming agony of the city of New Orleans, was the dangerous incompetence and the staggering indifference to human suffering of the president and his administration.
Like a boy being prepped for a second crack at a failed exam, Mr. Bush has been meeting with his handlers to see what steps can be taken to minimize the political fallout from this latest demonstration of his ineptitude. But this is not about politics. It's about competence. And when the president is so obviously clueless about matters so obviously important, it means that the rest of us, like the people left stranded in New Orleans, are in deep, deep trouble."
damn that liberal media.

* "But Mr. Bush, reflecting concern within the White House about the president's standing among blacks, notably said in his radio address that "we have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters all along the Gulf Coast, and we will not rest until we get this right and the job is done."" (link)
bruthas and sistahs? fuck you honky.

* "a distraught Ms. Landrieu said that if she heard any more criticism from federal officials, particularly about the evacuation of New Orleans, she might lose control.
"If one person criticizes them or says one more thing - including the president of the United States - he will hear from me," she said on the ABC program "This Week." "One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him. Literally."" (link)
speaking of punch and president - i wonder if he'd be less dangerous if he was a wet drunk

* the good news for the president is that cindy sheehan is off the front page. the bad news for the president is that im sure she'll be back.