The Haze Filter

The Karl Rove Stage Show In Post-Katrina New Orleans ::

Excerpted from "Machiavelli's Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove," by Paul Alexander

Of all of the stories and subplots, there would be one that, in many ways, symbolized the whole of Katrina, what it revealed about the Bush administration, and how it would affect the lives of so many people. On Friday, Mary Landrieu had been with Bush and Blanco as they toured the 17th Street Canal, where, at last, major work had commenced to repair the damage that had been caused when the levee broke. "Then, on Saturday," Landrieu says, "George Stephanopoulos called and asked to do an interview with me, and I said, 'George, I'm tired of doing interviews. I have to work. And nothing you are airing is accurately showing what's going on down here.' He wanted to go to the Superdome, and I said, 'We still have people stranded on their roofs. If you want to tell the right story, I will help you tell the right story. You get a helicopter and I'll go up and I will show you what is actually happening. It's awful what's happening at the Superdome, but the reason the people can't understand the story is because the entire region is under 20 feet of water. People can't get into the Superdome to help. They can't get out. People are drowning in their homes.'

"So George and I went up in the helicopter and for three hours his jaw was dropping. Then I said, 'George, before we finish I have to show you one positive thing because I can't send you back to Washington to produce a story that shows nothing but devastation and disaster.' So I told the pilot to tack right so I can show George the 17th Street Canal and the work that was going on there. I swear as my name is Mary Landrieu I thought that what I saw with the president was still there -- people working, trucks, sandbags, everything. Then I looked down and saw one little crane. It was like someone took a knife and stabbed me through my heart. I lost it." There, in the cabin of the helicopter, as they flew above the breached canal below them, Landrieu sat devastated.

"I could not believe that the president of the United States, staged by Karl Rove himself, had come down to the city of New Orleans and basically put up a stage prop. It was like you had gone to a studio in California and filmed a movie. They put the props up and the minute we were gone they took them down. All the dump trucks were gone. All the Coast Guard people were gone. It was an empty spot with one little crane. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen in my life. At that moment I knew what was going on and I've been a changed woman ever since. It truly changed my life."

Obama Embraces Howard Dean ::

From TPM I have long been an advocate of Howard Dean's 50 state strategy and I am heartened that Obama recognizes Dean's part in the victory!

McCain being McSame :;

Tom Tomorrow On John McCain

John McCain: Bob Dole without the charisma, and with a scary death-rictus grin and weird Batman-villain giggle.

I love the part about the Batman-villain giggle. Visit Tom Tomorrow at This Modern World. On secondthought the "death-rictus grin" is even better!

NASA Explores The Possibility Of Earthquake Predictions ::

This is pretty interesting. Here are some excerpts from the BBC News article:

Nasa scientists have said they could be on the verge of a breakthrough in their efforts to forecast earthquakes.

Researchers say they have found a close link between electrical disturbances on the edge of our atmosphere and impending quakes on the ground below.

[snip]

Despite years of searching for earthquake precursors, there is currently no method to reliably predict the time of a future earthquake. Yet, most scientists agree that some form of early warning system could save tens of thousands of lives.

The ionosphere is distinguished from other layers of Earth's atmosphere because it is electrically charged through exposure to solar radiation.

On a significant number of occasions, satellites have picked up disturbances in this part of the atmosphere 100-600km above areas that have later been hit by earthquakes.

One of the most important of these is a fluctuation in the density of electrons and other electrically-charged particles in the ionosphere.

I hope that this line of research is followed, especially given the devastation we have just witnessed in China.

Many years ago I was in the U.S. Navy stationed on Adak, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands are a hotbed of seismic activity. It was not unusual for us to have several strong tremors per day, but all of the buildings had been constructed with this in mind so we never had much severe structural damage although cracks in the walls were not unusual. After a relatively short period of time one gets used to the ground shaking, but one evening at work we experienced a much more pronounced quake.

After having gone through dozens of relatively mild quakes I got accustomed to the precursor feelings. Normally the ground seemed to shake almost imperceptibly and one night at work I felt a tremor coming on, rolled my chair back from the large computer bays, and yelled "earthquake". As it turned out this one was a 6.5 magnitude, but luckily it only lasted a very short time and there was no damage and no one was hurt.

The feeling of the ground moving underneath one's feet is a strange sensation and one not easily forgotten!

The Game Is Afoot!

I can't wait until Obama and McSame are on the same stage!

Bo Diddley ::

Passed away today. I wonder if Harvey Korman likes blues music!

I have been a blues fan since I was in high school and first heard Bo Diddley on John R.'s show on WLAC out of Nashville. I remember having one of those small transistor radios and I could pick up WLAC pretty well late at night and I developed my love of blues music at an early age. I don't get out to listen to the blues much anymore, but I do have a fair LP, CD, and MP3 collection.

Bo, you'll be missed!

Obama

Speaking about the coming war in 2002:

"But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda."

Says a lot to me! In 2002 I was a member of a group of 10 to 12 who met with a staff member of my congressional representative, Bud Cramer, of Alabama's 5th district. I was appalled at the lack of knowledge this guy displayed given the enormity of what was about to happen in Iraq. Cramer is retiring this year and, to tell the truth, I'm not at all sorry to see him go although I see no viable progressive alternative in the race!