Archive: September 2005
DeLay Indicted
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's indictment yesterday in a prompted a swift riff across the washingtonpost.com talk-o-sphere. I found some interesting comments from our readers beyond the expected talking points. Caveman takes the long and patient view. "Don't get too giddy yet folks. This still has to work its way through court and possibly honest prosecutors...Drink a glass of wine today celebrating the indictment and save the champagne for an upheld conviction." Napactivist isn't quite sure what to make of DeLay's public comments on the indictment, writing, "So Tommy Boy is all defiant about how the conviction was due to a crazed prosecutor who is a partisan zealot, but isn't the Texas Grand Jury Judge the one who is responsible for the decision? Is the Judge a partisan zealot, too? What am I missing here?" Uh, you're missing page 43 from the best seller "Partisan Zealots Ate My Homework--101 Plausible...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 30, 2005; 3:00 PM ET | Comments (7)
Faith, Funds and the Feds
FEMA's recently announced pledge to reimburse churches and religious organizations for their charity work in the Gulf region has spawned a little storm surge in the reader forums. "This, I personally feel, is not a good thing," writes June AJD. "Religious groups are not held to the same standards as not-for-profit non-religious organizations. They are not required to provide public accounting of funds received or how those funds are used. If the churches are prepared to provide itemized listings of the services and material goods provided...I might be more receptive to reimbursement. However, if ...religious organizations are able to present a bill for 'services' in any amount, without full disclosure of what those services were, I am very much opposed to my tax dollars being spent this way."...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 30, 2005; 2:45 PM ET | Comments (5)
Roberts Inspires Poetry
What can anyone say about John G. Roberts and the Supreme Court nomination that hasn't already been said? Well, Joel Achenbach's riff off of John Roberts's baseball metaphors was pretty good. Readers continue to offer their prose, and even a little poetry. "Although I like that he's respecting the precedent of Roe v. Wade - the guy just creeps me out," complains Mo. "He's a little too stepford wives for me...his hair is perfect, he's good looking, his suits are perfect, he doesn't ruffle any feathers nor do his feathers get ruffled... Wait--conspiracy theory here... maybe Bush MADE him! I'll bet he's a robot! Like Data on Star Trek (yeah, a Star Trek reference). Maybe they'll give him an emotion chip..." Bayou Self hits one outta the park with this little vignette......
By Lindsay Howerton | September 27, 2005; 9:27 AM ET | Comments (2)
Is It About Race or Crime?
America's apparently insatiable appetite for news of abducted white girls has prompted criticism over the seeming dearth of coverage when abductees are black. Readers have noticed, too. "Do the poor and non-white women not get abducted," asks gmoney06. "It goes to show that the media looks at its audience in racial and classist tones. It assumes that the audience will be more interested in a criminal story if the victim is of certain class or color...I hate to pull the the so called 'race card' when it comes to issues like this because it is unfortunate to have any women victimized, but whether America likes it or not, race and class play too big a part of our society in 2005, and it shouldn't." It would be hard to argue that the media has never been guilty of racially tinged coverage -- but the Post's ombudsman concludes that wasn't the...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 27, 2005; 8:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
Homeland Security Tactics Examined
Early Warning blogger William M. Arkin argues in an entry that the Department of Homeland Security is wrongly spending loads of money on idiotic brainstorming sessions, yielding useless, even laughable reports that do nothing to effectively assess or plan for security and terrorism scenarios. Not all of his readers agree....
By Lindsay Howerton | September 19, 2005; 2:22 PM ET | Comments (2)
Supreme Court Hearings Begin
Senate confirmation hearings begin today for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts and readers are weighing in on the process and on the would-be chief justice. In response to Fred Barbash's Campaign for the Court blog this morning, Chad Reese writes, "..., I'd like my elected officials to concentrate less on Roberts' personal views (which could well change over time) and more on his fairness in deciding cases, his consistency in constitutional interpretation, and his ability to make sound judgments in general. I'm sure I'll disagree with the guy on a lot of things, but a good judge will look beyond their personal feelings in a case and decide fairly anyway." "...it will be a difficult task to discredit Roberts' glowing resume," says Justin. "His legal expertise is essentially 'perfect' for a Supreme Court nominee, but I think once the ideological discussions ensue, Roberts' responses to the questions at hand will...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 12, 2005; 12:47 PM ET | Comments (1)
The Future Of New Orleans
Several interesting conversations on post.com are considering the future of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The Debate blogger, Emily Messner, wonders whether too much optimism undermined disaster preparation, and whether excessive glad handing now may be setting up false expectations about the Big Easy's future. In response, The Debate reader Jack L cited a litany of faults among Louisiana government officials, alleging that local and state government is getting a pass for its failures because they're Democrats coddled by a liberal press. But Ron rebutted those charges with links to Louisiana's pre-disaster preparedness plans and post-disaster relief contingencies. What about the future of this vulnerable city? Frankly, when I asked readers to send in their thoughts last week, I didn't expect many resounding calls to raise New Orleans from the swamp....
By Lindsay Howerton | September 12, 2005; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (4)
FEMA In The Hot Seat
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) head Michael Brown has been replaced as the lead federal official in the Katrina recovery effort and criticized for his agency's response to the disaster. But some readers question whether the criticism is justified or politically motivated. "Mike Brown is NOT the problem," writes artthedart . "Brown exemplifies the highest standards one could expect of a Presidential appointee. He is intensely dedicated to the FEMA mission and...his track record at FEMA has been universely praised until a week ago... Ask the senators now crucifying Mike Brown for being uncredentialed in emergency management why they voted to confirm him several times."...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 12, 2005; 5:00 AM ET | Comments (6)
HAZMAT Coast
"How they running?" "Are they fat?" I'm afraid for Bayou state fishermen its a gonna be Sac-รก-lait no more and Poison Poisson instead. Confused? Time to catch up on your Cajun. Translation for ya'll way up north: New Orleans is an environmental mess, fuh shore, for true. Here's the gumbo ya ya from our readers. "The big issue right now is what toxic mix will remain in the flooded areas of the city as it dries out. This will become mixed with the soil for a persistent contamination that will bubble up every time there is a heavy rain," says PaHunter. "Something will have to be done to clean this mess and with the volume, it may be better to turn the areas that were flooded into landfills to be covered by soil and vegetation. Move the people out to new neighborhoods and let the earth heal itself in this...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 9, 2005; 12:55 PM ET | Email a Comment
What Does It All Mean?
A frustrated Joel Achenbach sought to cajole his readers into responding to another of his deep thoughts, this time on whether human beings are special in the grand spectrum of the mighty, mighty cosmos. Fittingly, they took the bait. BC let loose an unabashed musing. "As we Observe the Cosmos at the Deep Field level, it looks more or less the same in every direction, doesn't it? One could make a case for us to be at the center of the Universe, based on that piece of evidence...the human race may in fact be ants on a stick in the Ocean of Night, but each of us ants Observes ourselves to be the centers of the Multiverses. Consciousness: a spark of divinity and an evil curse." Ommmmmmmmmmm.........
By Lindsay Howerton | September 9, 2005; 5:00 AM ET | Comments (10)
Behemoth SUVs To Die a Natural Death?
The honeymoon is over. It cost me $67. bucks to fill up my fat, ugly mini-van this morning. Still reeling from this -- I won't confide the outrageous proportion of my weekly salary that this took -- I was more than grateful to see the Achenblog obituary for SUVs and related comments when I got to work. "At the risk of sounding cranky, I do find our preoccupation with cars and auto travel remarkable considering the pollution they cause and the levels of obesity in the US... but at least autoculture gives us an excuse to war once every decade or so," muses Untethered. "The world on two wheels, though -- wheels pedaled as I meander to and from work each day -- is a pretty nice alternative. Try it... if you can't ride to work, try a trip to the grocery store. You might even feel better..."...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 7, 2005; 2:18 PM ET | Comments (6)
Reader E-Mail
This thought from Raymond, which arrived by email, on how we could house those displaced by Katrina: "With over 140 thousand American troops in Iraq and with hundreds of military bases currently closed, and more that are closing, surely there is room on these bases for all of these unfortunate people," Raymond writes. "The rent is already paid by guess who? It would make it so much easier to keep track of them and their needs"...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 6, 2005; 4:36 PM ET | Comments (14)
What Else is Happening?
The forums are still hopping with Katrina comments and gas price gripes, but I thought I'd take a gander around the rest of the place to see what else is on readers' minds. Most subjects are pretty slow, but Iraq discussions remain very active and over 400 responses have been registered in Politics Talk (not for the faint of heart,) on President Bush's poll numbers. I figured that was worth at least a little attention. Here's what readers are saying. Samsuitt is not happy. "After doing little to prepare for the aftermath of Katrina (just like his non-planning for Iraq,) and despite at least 3 days knowing the approaching storm would probably be devastating, he waited 3 MORE days before returning to D.C. to 'take command' of disaster efforts. Why the delay even AFTER the storm hit? Well, one day was more vacation time. The second day he flew to...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 6, 2005; 3:20 PM ET | Comments (8)
More on Gas Prices
I swear I'm not a one trick pony, or a two trick pony as it were, in spite of the fact that I've only covered gas prices and Hurricane Katrina in the last three days. But there's no getting around that folks have so much to say on the repercussions of Katrina, including how she's impacted already high gas prices. Have a listen. Misterjk writes that,"...SUV/Grocery Grabbers had this coming and deserve it entirely. The shame is that the price hike had to be attached to such a terrible loss of life, meaning that no one will learn a lesson from the events. We'll all just write it off to an act of God and line up at the Hummer dealership."I wonder how many people are making a b-line for the hybrid dealers now? Sirwash is also unsympathetic. "America deserves this rise in gas because we have to learn and...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 2, 2005; 5:00 AM ET | Comments (18)
Rebuild or Relocate?
Comments continue to come in on the Katrina and its aftermath, many touched off by a a moving essay on the Big Easy, some discussing whether it makes sense to rebuild New Orleans. "I question the whole idea of rebuilding both in New Orleans and on the Miss. Gulf Coast. The area is very susceptible to hurricanes," writes Truthdr. "The availability of Federal Flood insurance encourages more and more development on the coast which means that the country subsidizes the whole process. In light of sea level rising is it smart to continue building so heavily along the coast?"...
By Lindsay Howerton | September 1, 2005; 7:06 PM ET | Comments (16)
