What principles? Oh, you mean quick-fix cosmetic solutions to complex problems?
WASHINGTON — Facing criticism that he appeared disengaged from the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina, President Bush has been looking for opportunities to show his concern. But the White House will take the effort a step further Tuesday, venturing into untested waters by putting the [...]

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I can hardly wait to see how this all turns out:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 - The Justice Department’s inspector general and the F.B.I. are looking into the demotion of a veteran federal prosecutor whose reassignment nearly three years ago shut down a criminal investigation of the Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, current and former department officials report.
They [...]

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You don’t suppose he was chosen because he’ll tell them what they want to hear, do you? Sorry, I’m choking on my own laughter here…
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 - President Bush has nominated Maj. Gen. Michael D. Maples of the Army to be director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the first time in decades that someone [...]

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You can’t make this shit up.

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We were a tad anxious that we wouldn’t make it into the screening of “Serenity” tonight, but our worries were for naught; the theater was only half-full. (We even had time to enjoy a leisurely meal at the nearby Manayunk Diner.) And after all that drama about the passes, the ticket takers didn’t even look [...]

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Weird. Just yesterday I was actually trying to track down someone I knew in high school, and tonight I got an email from her. I haven’t heard from her in over 30 years.
Strange, huh?

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As Julia points out, those poor people who were stranded in the Superdome simply didn’t do their job.
You just can’t count on anything these days.

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The PA ACLU has a new website to update the lawsuit arguing against teaching intelligent design in a state school district. Check it out!

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Juan Cole:
Things in the Sunni Arab areas are getting worse, not better.
I conclude that the presence of the US ground troops is making things worse, not better.
Let’s get them out, now, before they destroy any more cities, create any more hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons, provoke any more ethnic hatreds by installing Shiite [...]

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You have to expect this sort of thing when you keep drawing appointments from the same hacktacular crowd:
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox is recusing himself from the SEC’s investigation into stock sales made by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, people familiar with the matter told the WALL STREET JOURNAL Monday.

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Matt Yglesias:
The LA Times has a nice report on how the Bush administration is looking at effective ways to help the poor people displaced by Katrina, then rejecting those methods in favor of less effective ones. The reason for deliberately choosing ineffective measures is that the White House fears that implementing effective measures would make [...]

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TIME Magazine points out the BushCo incompetents aren’t limited to FEMA:
The White House makes no apologies for organizing government in a way that makes it easier to carry out Bush’s agenda. Johnson says the centralization is “very intentional, and it starts with the people you pick … They’re there to implement the President’s priorities.” Johnson [...]

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Oh boy, just what you needed - another addictive online timewaster.

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Bad news last week for the moneyed media - 500 layoffs at the New York Times - 50 from the newsroom, 35 from the Boston Globe; 75 at the Philadelphia Inquirer, 25 at the Philadelphia Daily News and the entire news operation at the local Inquirer-affiliated WPHL-17 news station. Fifty-two newsroom jobs to be slashed [...]

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Big court case today in Pennsylvania, reminiscent of “Inherit the Wind“:
A federal judge in Pennsylvania will hear arguments Monday in a lawsuit that both sides say could set the fundamental ground rules for how American students are taught the origins of life for years to come.
At issue is an alternative to the standard theory of [...]

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Josh Marshall does a good job explaining how Timothy E. Flanigan, currently awaiting confirmation as Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff are connected, and what Abramoff was up to:
On paper, Jack Abramoff was a lobbyist. And he made a great deal of money for himself. But if you [...]

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What TBogg says about Ralph Nader? Me, too.

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Between the ear cyst, my strained eyes and a screaming TMJ attack, I was too cranky to be around people today. So I settled in with a new library book, curled up on the futon. The extra pair of dollar-store glasses was perched on my nose in front of my bifocals while the Eagles game [...]

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Michael Bérubé is more than a little pissed off at Sen. Sam Brownback’s anti-abortion showboating at the Roberts hearings:
OK, Senator Brownback, listen up and listen good. Jamie Bérubé is a 14-year-old with Down syndrome, and I celebrate Jamie every mother-lovin’ day. Right now, in fact, Janet and I are celebrating his right to [...]

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Live on C-SPAN now… Looks like they got about 200 people to turn out for the Pro-War Rally Rally to Honor Military Families - you know, the one that was supposed to be the counterpart to yesterday’s anti-war rally? The voice of “real” Americans?
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama (aka Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III) referred to [...]

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Someone needs to stage an intervention and get this guy over to Co-Dependents Anonymous:
Tony Blair has admitted that he is changing his views on combating global warming to mirror those of President Bush - and oppose negotiating international treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol.
His admission, which has outraged environmentalists on both sides of the Atlantic, [...]

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Andrea Mitchell was the guest interview on Real Time with Bill Maher, and after he asked her which president left the biggest mess, she did her “on the other hand” journalist schtick: “And some people ignored Osama bin Laden after the first World Trade Center bombing.” Bill slapped her down but good, pointing out [...]

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There are probably no peaceful reasons to do this, so they’re most likely up to no good:
The US military wants to buy large quantities of anthrax, in a controversial move that is likely to raise questions over its commitment to treaties designed to limit the spread of biological weapons.
A series of contracts have been [...]

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This site features the real names of celebrities. I’m shocked to learn Mickey Dolenz is really George Michael Braddock, and that George Michael’s mom called him Georgios Krylacos Panayiotou.
Who knew?

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I don’t know if you’ve already been following this, but it’s pretty scary to see the lengths to which the feds will go to punish dissenters:
The first federal conspiracy trial of civilian war resisters nears a close today, and twelve jurors –eight women and four men — will be asked to determine the new landscape [...]

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The devil’s in the details, of course, but it looks like this will finally come true:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eighteen of the poorest nations will have their debts to the International Monetary Fund wiped out after rich countries bridged differences on Saturday that threatened a pact first signed this summer.
Leaders of the Group of Eight nations [...]

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So what are we waiting for?
British troops will start a major withdrawal from Iraq next May under detailed plans on military disengagement to be published next month, The Observer can reveal.
The document being drawn up by the British government and the US will be presented to the Iraqi parliament in October and will spark fresh [...]

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Bubble Boy is still struggling with reality - versus the neocon wet dreams, I mean:
When President Bush looked out over the devastation of New Orleans’ wet and moldy Lower Ninth Ward, he didn’t see poor people who lost what little they had; he saw future owners.
Bush’s “ownership society” agenda (also known as the “you’re [...]

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John Nichols in the Nation:
No matter what happens in 2006, the debate over Iraq is likely to dominate the fast-starting 2008 Democratic presidential race. The jockeying for the nomination has already begun, with potential Democratic candidates visiting the Iowa and New Hampshire precincts that will play a definitive role in identifying the party’s next nominee–and [...]

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According to William Rivers Pitt, CNN estimated the march attendance at 500,000.
And whether the media reported it or not, you can be sure Karl Rove knows.

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