Let’s start the day on an up note, and since that is something I am incapable of right now, go here for positive developments.
And we also use this as an open thread for Joe Albanese (the resident spammer) to post all of his off topic rants.
by John Cole| 11 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Let’s start the day on an up note, and since that is something I am incapable of right now, go here for positive developments.
And we also use this as an open thread for Joe Albanese (the resident spammer) to post all of his off topic rants.
by John Cole| 97 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
This will be making waves tomorrow:
It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that’s 7 feet under sea level, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said of federal assistance for hurricane-devastated New Orleans.
Democratic lawmakers from Louisiana were quick to disagree Thursday and Hastert sought to clarify the comment during the day.
“It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed,” the Illinois Republican said in an interview Wednesday about New Orleans with the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill.
Louisiana Rep. Charlie Melancon called the comments irresponsible and Sen. Mary L. Landrieu urged Hastert to focus on the humanitarian crisis at hand.
Hastert, in a transcript supplied by the suburban Chicago newspaper, said there was no question that the people of New Orleans would rebuild their city, but noted that federal insurance and other federal aid was involved. “We ought to take a second look at it. But you know, we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake fissures and they rebuild, too. Stubbornness.”
Asked in the interview whether it made sense to spend billions rebuilding a city that lies below sea level, he replied, “I don’t know. That doesn’t make sense to me.”
Hastert later issued a statement saying he was not “advocating that the city be abandoned or relocated.”
“My comments about rebuilding the city were intended to reflect my sincere concern with how the city is rebuilt to ensure the future protection of its citizens and not to suggest that this great and historic city should not be rebuilt,” the statement said.
Perhaps the most tin-eared statement to come out of a politician’s mouth in a long time, but absolutely right. Look at New Orleans and ask yourself if it makes sense if it is there.
But it is there, and we will rebuild. But we should discuss how we rebuild.
by John Cole| 3 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
This seems positive:
two developments that could help avoid a recurrence of last year’s influenza vaccine shortage, the government yesterday said it approved a new flu shot and took a step toward allowing a major flu-vaccine supplier to resume distribution in the country.
Only two manufacturers sold flu vaccines in the United States last year, down from up to five within the past 20 years, a fact drugmakers blame on the high cost of producing the doses and the fluctuations in demand every year.
But the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Fluarix, produced by GlaxoSmithKline PLC for adults 18 and older, will introduce a third supplier for the coming flu season, which typically begins in October. The British company is expected to produce 8 million doses for the United States this year.
That will add to what is already in the pipeline: Sanofi Pasteur is expected to ship up to 60 million doses to the United States, and MedImmune Inc. of Gaithersburg is slated to make about 3 million doses of its nasal-spray flu vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And yes, I am struggling to find something good to report this week, and this is the best I can come up with.
by John Cole| 70 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
I was actually looking for something to talk about other than the hurricane, and I found this in the Science section of the Times. Some more info rolling in on the levee that failed:
In an interview last night, Mr. Naomi said the cuts had made it impossible to complete contracts for vital upgrades that were part of the long-term plan to renovate the system.
This week, amid news of the widening breach in the 17th Street Canal, he realized that the decadeslong string of near misses had ended.
“A breach under these conditions was ultimately not surprising,” he said last night. “I had hoped that we had overdesigned it to a point that it would not fail. But you can overdesign only so much, and then a failure has to come.”
No one expected that weak spot to be on a canal that, if anything, had received more attention and shoring up than many other spots in the region. It did not have broad berms, but it did have strong concrete walls.
Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, said that was particularly surprising because the break was “along a section that was just upgraded.”
“It did not have an earthen levee,” Dr. Penland said. “It had a vertical concrete wall several feel thick.”
The story also has this:
Since 2001, the Louisiana Congressional delegation had pushed for far more money for storm protection than the Bush administration has accepted. Now, Mr. Naomi said, all the quibbling over the storm budget, or even over full Category 5 protection, which would cost several billion dollars, seemed tragically absurd.
“It would take $2.5 billion to build a Category 5 protection system, and we’re talking about tens of billions in losses, all that lost productivity, and so many lost lives and injuries and personal trauma you’ll never get over,” Mr. Naomi said. “People will be scarred for life by this event.”
I don’t understand why the levee’s were not already at Cat 5 level, and I don’t understand why they hadn’t been there or under construction since Camille. And I am all for a debate on the spending priorities of this administration and congress, and I have no answers for the cuts in light of all the gigantic spending bills this congress and President have passed and signed.
But until we know what happened, and according to the information that keeps coming in, the cuts and unfinished projects had little to do with the actual failure, I would appreciate it if folks would cut the noxious attempts to pin this levee failure on Bush and this administration.
*** Update ***
by John Cole| 41 Comments
This post is in: Outrage
And one thing about this tragedy (among a list of things) that I simply can not understand, something I simply do not have in me to recognize, is what is motivating the behavior of whatever deranged, subhuman scum is sniping the people attempting to evacuate the hospital.
I simply can not fathom the type of person that does this sort of thing. I just can’t.
*** Update ***
And The Fat Guy and Haley Barbour were right. I was wrong. These deranged bastards did/do need to be dealt with ruthlessly.
*** Update ***
And while this in no way is the equal to the behavior discussed in the rest of this post, I don’t know what makes people think like this:
I’m not going to post the piece I started to write.
My original reaction to the Katrina catastrophe was going to be: “NOT ONE DIME.”
For an hour or so, I contemplated the idea of turning it into a crusade: No-one in the blue states (where the money is) should give one dime of aid to the victims of this hurricane, which devastated Bush-friendly regions.
Why did I flirt with such a callous attitude?
Because it should be obvious to all that this tragedy was not just an act of God. Dubya and his diety conspired to transform mere disaster into an unprecedented mega-catastrophe.
Scientists warn us to expect more Katrinas. Global warming — the existence of which W would prefer to rationalize away — caused the temperature of the sea’s surface to rise in the Gulf of Mexico, thereby transforming what should have been a manageable hurricane into a monster.
The National Guard was off in Iraq stealing oil — and everything else in that nation — all to benefit Haliburton and the oil companies. They could have been in N.O. earlier, building levies, overseeing evacuation.
Bush financially eviscerated the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The money went to his Iraq debacle.
Sure, he didn’t actually write it. Woops- except he did. And the rest ain’t much better. I don’t know how anyone can look at what is happening down there and even THINK like this.
And Something I Simply Can Not UnderstandPost + Comments (41)
This post is in: General Stupidity
Anderson Cooper just was yelling on CNN at Mary Landrieu- “Who are you mad at?” (Video here)
Because, as you know, this is someone’s fault.
I intend to blame the snowfall this winter on Senators Byrd and Rockefeller. And Shelley Moore Capito. And Governor Manchin, even though I like him.
by John Cole| 24 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Today is the blogwide fund-raising drive for the hurricane victims, and as previously, I am sticking with the American Red Cross, and later on, I will contribute to the American Kennel Club.
They are there, they know what they are doing, and the money will help. Do your part.
If you, for whatever reason, would like to use another charity to help, the best round-up is at the Instapundit’s, who has quite literally, dozens of places for you to choose from.
One quick thing- these are charity organizations, but I don’t think of this as charity in the sense of mere benevolence. This is an obligation we have to help. This is a necessity.
I will also have a blogad up and running shortly via Kos and crew, and I am donating all proceeds from blogads. I also will be donating every payday until the end of the year or until things stabilize. These folks don’t have any paydays coming up. They don’t have adequate water. They don’t have adequate food. They don’t have adequate clothing and shelter and medical help. Even if they have money in the bank, they have no way to get to it, no id, no ATM cards.
They have nothing but needs, hunger, illness, fear, hurt, pain, anguish, anger, grief, sorrow, desperation, and, thankfully, you. So please help. I fear we have only begun to see the world of trouble in New Orleans and in the gulf, and things are going to get worse over the next two weeks. That is inevitable at this point, but acting now, and donating more than you can afford can mitigate the damage.
*** Update ***
The Mercy Corps link is to the left in the blogads.