Louis Farrakhan: Levees Were 'Blown Up'
Blogger Thoughts: If Newsmax derides, it's probably true.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Joe's Dartblog: Exported Democracy and Happy Customers
Joe's Dartblog: Exported Democracy and Happy Customers
Blogger Thoughts: Does someone in the Bush Junta pay this guy to write this, or do they write it for him?
Blogger Thoughts: Does someone in the Bush Junta pay this guy to write this, or do they write it for him?
The most disingenous words of John Roberts
Today in response to Shumer indicating the condition that relevant documents were withheld by the Admin, John Roberts said (not quoting) he could hardly imagine that were documents that were withheld that could have important information, given that there were already 80,000 documents presented.
Michelle Malkin: INSIDE AIR AMERICA: THE LOAN SCANDAL DEEPENS
Michelle Malkin: INSIDE AIR AMERICA: THE LOAN SCANDAL DEEPENS
Blogger Thought: Even with my distaste for Malkin, I think this issue is important to review.
Blogger Thought: Even with my distaste for Malkin, I think this issue is important to review.
Angry Bear Disappoints
Angry Bear
"Charles Schumer is my hero. I'm starting to think that he may be one of the most intelligent and articulate senators..."
Blogger Thoughts: Angry Bear seems to be on the wrong track.
"Charles Schumer is my hero. I'm starting to think that he may be one of the most intelligent and articulate senators..."
Blogger Thoughts: Angry Bear seems to be on the wrong track.
xymphora: The Danziger Bridge incidents
xymphora: The Danziger Bridge incidents
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Here's the full text (also available here and here and here) of the Associated Press article on something that happened at Danziger Bridge in New Orleans on September 4:
"Police shot and killed at least five people Sunday after gunmen opened fire on a group of contractors traveling across a bridge on their way to make repairs, authorities said.Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said police shot at eight people carrying guns, killing five or six.Fourteen contractors were traveling across the Danziger Bridge under police escort when they came under fire, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers.They were on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to help plug the breech in the 17th Street Canal, Hall said.None of the contractors was injured, Mike Rogers, a disaster relief coordinator with the Army Corps of Engineers, told reporters in Baton Rouge.The bridge spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.No other details were immediately available."This is a revision of the first version (or here):
"Police shot eight people carrying guns on a New Orleans bridge Sunday, killing five or six, a deputy chief said. A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers said the victims were contractors on their way to repair a canal.The contractors were walking across a bridge on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to fix the 17th Street Canal, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Corps.Earlier Sunday, New Orleans Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said police shot at eight people, killing five or six.The shootings took place on the Danziger Bridge, which spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.No other details were immediately available."The Associated Press had severe second thoughts about the first version:
"Stations: The latest New Orleans-datelined urgent series Hurricane Katrina-Shootings has been KILLED. The Army Corps of Engineers says the contractors were shot at, then police fatally shot the gunmen who'd fired on the contractors. The contractors were NOT killed.A kill is mandatory. Make certain the story is not broadcast.A sub will be filed shortly.AP Broadcast News Center - Washington"The difference between the two AP stories is that one story has the police shooting and killing armed contractors, while the later story has them shooting and killing people who were shooting on armed contractors. A fairly significant change.
Reuters has what appears to be an even later version (or here) of the story:
"New Orleans police killed four looters who had opened fire on them on Sunday as rescue teams scoured homes and toxic waters flooding streets to find survivors and recover thousands of bloated corpses.A fifth looter was in critical condition but no more details were available about the incident in a city where authorities are slowly regaining control after a wave of looting, murders and rapes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.'Five men who were looting exchanged gunfire with police. The officers engaged the looters when they were fired upon,' said New Orleans superintendent of police, Steven Nichols.U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors working on a levee breach were fired on by gunmen but no one was hurt, said the Corps' Mike Rogers. It was not clear if the two incidents were connected."So now it appears there were two incidents, one where U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors were fired upon but no one was hurt, and one with no contractors, where police killed looters who were firing at them. The incident appears to have been reported on Australian television, together with the sound of live gunfire.
Quite the story. It made a considerable impression on various right-wing bloggers, who felt it showed how these dangerous black looters were so evil that they were preventing repair of the levees in order to keep the city flooded so they could continue looting. When you think about it, that theory seems to give the looters a degree of planning and organization which is not credible. It makes more sense that the police would get into a gunfight with looters, or even use the excuse of looters to explain why they killed a lot of people, but how then did the AP get the whole story so wrong - twice! - by adding the contractors to the mix?
It was a big day at Danziger Bridge. Later in the day a helicopter crashed there. From USA Today (or here):
". . . in the evening, a civilian helicopter crashed near the Danziger Bridge, but the two people on board escaped with only cuts and scrapes, according to Mark Smith of the state office of emergency preparedness."More, from CNN (more CNN here):
"On Sunday, a helicopter that had been involved in rescue operations crashed northwest of New Orleans.No evacuees were on board the Eurocopter AS 332 Super Puma and the pilot and crew were rescued safely, according to an official with Helinet Aviation Services, which had a chopper flying above the crash site."More, again from the AP:
"A civilian helicopter that was not involved in rescue operations crashed in New Orleans on Sunday and the two people on board were slightly injured, a state official said.The helicopter crashed in the area of the Danziger Bridge, said Mark Smith, spokesman for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.'The helicopter came down hard and rolled over on its side and broke its blades off and broke its tail off,' Smith told reporters in Baton Rouge.'There were two civilians on the helicopter. Both sustained cuts and scrapes,' he said.It was not known why the helicopter was in the area, Smith said.The US military and Coast Guard have conducted hundreds of helicopter flights in the New Orleans area in recent days searching for Hurricane Katrina survivors and have rescued thousands of storm victims.Early media reports said the crashed aircraft was a Coast Guard helicopter.Live television footage from the scene showed the red helicopter lying on the ground near a roadway, with smoke drifting from its cockpit. The ground around the wreck was blackened and churned up by the aircraft's rotor blades.Smith said he did not know if shots had been fired at the helicopter. Gunfire has been reported on numerous occasion in the New Orleans area in recent days.'It could have been mechanical failure,' he said."So now a coast guard helicopter has morphed into a civilian helicopter, which is showing a peculiar fascination with the Danziger Bridge. This mysterious helicopter was also described as a 'rescue helicopter' and a 'Coast Guard Super Puma helicopter":
"A rescue helicopter has crashed in New Orleans, US television networks say.The two crew members from the Coast Guard Super Puma helicopter were safe, MSNBC said.Live television footage from the scene showed the red helicopter lying on the ground near a roadway, with smoke drifting from its cockpit. The ground around the wreck was blackened and churned up by the aircraft's rotor blades."This is an awfully specific description to be wrong. On the other hand, the Coast Guard doesn't appear to use the Super Puma, but rather another Aerospatiale product called the Dolphin. Of course, the Coast Guard might have contracted with somebody with a Super Puma, so you never know. You have to wonder why a rescue helicopter was flying around the Danziger Bridge, not a residential area where there would be somebody in need of rescue, and on all accounts a dry enough area for quite a bit to be going on.
Some good questions from Nur al-Cubicle:
"For certain, the Danzinger Bridge is nowhere near the breaches nor should the industrial area be a magnet for looters looking for television sets."and:
"The implication is that something is occuring on and near the Danziger Bridge which is both extraordinary and alarming. A simple mind says the helicopter was a news aircraft gone out to follow up on the shooting and was forcefully not permitted to photograph. A dull person could think that 3:00 pm in the afternoon is an odd hour to be on foot in the hot Gulf sun and rather late in the day to be getting around to starting repairs on breached levees. A disinterested so-and-so might wonder about the police escort after having heard press accounts of the reduction of New Orleans police to skeleton crew on the point of exhaustion."I would add that it is an odd way to make repairs in a breech in the 17th Street Canal by launching barges into Lake Pontchartrain.
My best guess is that the police killed some people and used the Army contractor story to cover it up. The victims are unlikely to have been looters, but may have used guns in self-defense. The police story inadvertently disclosed that people working for the army were up to some mysterious job, a job that was supposed to be a secret. The helicopter went to take a look at what was going on, and was shot down. Discrepancies in the official story are starting to lead to theories that at least some levees and floodwalls were intentionally destroyed, theories that gain some credence in that even the experts are baffled at what happened to the floodwalls. Its a bit too convenient that storm surge gauges stopped functioning during a . . . storm surge, thus removing inconvenient questions about how a nine foot storm surge went over a wall designed to stop an 11.5 foot storm surge.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Here's the full text (also available here and here and here) of the Associated Press article on something that happened at Danziger Bridge in New Orleans on September 4:
"Police shot and killed at least five people Sunday after gunmen opened fire on a group of contractors traveling across a bridge on their way to make repairs, authorities said.Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said police shot at eight people carrying guns, killing five or six.Fourteen contractors were traveling across the Danziger Bridge under police escort when they came under fire, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers.They were on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to help plug the breech in the 17th Street Canal, Hall said.None of the contractors was injured, Mike Rogers, a disaster relief coordinator with the Army Corps of Engineers, told reporters in Baton Rouge.The bridge spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.No other details were immediately available."This is a revision of the first version (or here):
"Police shot eight people carrying guns on a New Orleans bridge Sunday, killing five or six, a deputy chief said. A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers said the victims were contractors on their way to repair a canal.The contractors were walking across a bridge on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to fix the 17th Street Canal, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Corps.Earlier Sunday, New Orleans Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said police shot at eight people, killing five or six.The shootings took place on the Danziger Bridge, which spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.No other details were immediately available."The Associated Press had severe second thoughts about the first version:
"Stations: The latest New Orleans-datelined urgent series Hurricane Katrina-Shootings has been KILLED. The Army Corps of Engineers says the contractors were shot at, then police fatally shot the gunmen who'd fired on the contractors. The contractors were NOT killed.A kill is mandatory. Make certain the story is not broadcast.A sub will be filed shortly.AP Broadcast News Center - Washington"The difference between the two AP stories is that one story has the police shooting and killing armed contractors, while the later story has them shooting and killing people who were shooting on armed contractors. A fairly significant change.
Reuters has what appears to be an even later version (or here) of the story:
"New Orleans police killed four looters who had opened fire on them on Sunday as rescue teams scoured homes and toxic waters flooding streets to find survivors and recover thousands of bloated corpses.A fifth looter was in critical condition but no more details were available about the incident in a city where authorities are slowly regaining control after a wave of looting, murders and rapes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.'Five men who were looting exchanged gunfire with police. The officers engaged the looters when they were fired upon,' said New Orleans superintendent of police, Steven Nichols.U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors working on a levee breach were fired on by gunmen but no one was hurt, said the Corps' Mike Rogers. It was not clear if the two incidents were connected."So now it appears there were two incidents, one where U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors were fired upon but no one was hurt, and one with no contractors, where police killed looters who were firing at them. The incident appears to have been reported on Australian television, together with the sound of live gunfire.
Quite the story. It made a considerable impression on various right-wing bloggers, who felt it showed how these dangerous black looters were so evil that they were preventing repair of the levees in order to keep the city flooded so they could continue looting. When you think about it, that theory seems to give the looters a degree of planning and organization which is not credible. It makes more sense that the police would get into a gunfight with looters, or even use the excuse of looters to explain why they killed a lot of people, but how then did the AP get the whole story so wrong - twice! - by adding the contractors to the mix?
It was a big day at Danziger Bridge. Later in the day a helicopter crashed there. From USA Today (or here):
". . . in the evening, a civilian helicopter crashed near the Danziger Bridge, but the two people on board escaped with only cuts and scrapes, according to Mark Smith of the state office of emergency preparedness."More, from CNN (more CNN here):
"On Sunday, a helicopter that had been involved in rescue operations crashed northwest of New Orleans.No evacuees were on board the Eurocopter AS 332 Super Puma and the pilot and crew were rescued safely, according to an official with Helinet Aviation Services, which had a chopper flying above the crash site."More, again from the AP:
"A civilian helicopter that was not involved in rescue operations crashed in New Orleans on Sunday and the two people on board were slightly injured, a state official said.The helicopter crashed in the area of the Danziger Bridge, said Mark Smith, spokesman for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.'The helicopter came down hard and rolled over on its side and broke its blades off and broke its tail off,' Smith told reporters in Baton Rouge.'There were two civilians on the helicopter. Both sustained cuts and scrapes,' he said.It was not known why the helicopter was in the area, Smith said.The US military and Coast Guard have conducted hundreds of helicopter flights in the New Orleans area in recent days searching for Hurricane Katrina survivors and have rescued thousands of storm victims.Early media reports said the crashed aircraft was a Coast Guard helicopter.Live television footage from the scene showed the red helicopter lying on the ground near a roadway, with smoke drifting from its cockpit. The ground around the wreck was blackened and churned up by the aircraft's rotor blades.Smith said he did not know if shots had been fired at the helicopter. Gunfire has been reported on numerous occasion in the New Orleans area in recent days.'It could have been mechanical failure,' he said."So now a coast guard helicopter has morphed into a civilian helicopter, which is showing a peculiar fascination with the Danziger Bridge. This mysterious helicopter was also described as a 'rescue helicopter' and a 'Coast Guard Super Puma helicopter":
"A rescue helicopter has crashed in New Orleans, US television networks say.The two crew members from the Coast Guard Super Puma helicopter were safe, MSNBC said.Live television footage from the scene showed the red helicopter lying on the ground near a roadway, with smoke drifting from its cockpit. The ground around the wreck was blackened and churned up by the aircraft's rotor blades."This is an awfully specific description to be wrong. On the other hand, the Coast Guard doesn't appear to use the Super Puma, but rather another Aerospatiale product called the Dolphin. Of course, the Coast Guard might have contracted with somebody with a Super Puma, so you never know. You have to wonder why a rescue helicopter was flying around the Danziger Bridge, not a residential area where there would be somebody in need of rescue, and on all accounts a dry enough area for quite a bit to be going on.
Some good questions from Nur al-Cubicle:
"For certain, the Danzinger Bridge is nowhere near the breaches nor should the industrial area be a magnet for looters looking for television sets."and:
"The implication is that something is occuring on and near the Danziger Bridge which is both extraordinary and alarming. A simple mind says the helicopter was a news aircraft gone out to follow up on the shooting and was forcefully not permitted to photograph. A dull person could think that 3:00 pm in the afternoon is an odd hour to be on foot in the hot Gulf sun and rather late in the day to be getting around to starting repairs on breached levees. A disinterested so-and-so might wonder about the police escort after having heard press accounts of the reduction of New Orleans police to skeleton crew on the point of exhaustion."I would add that it is an odd way to make repairs in a breech in the 17th Street Canal by launching barges into Lake Pontchartrain.
My best guess is that the police killed some people and used the Army contractor story to cover it up. The victims are unlikely to have been looters, but may have used guns in self-defense. The police story inadvertently disclosed that people working for the army were up to some mysterious job, a job that was supposed to be a secret. The helicopter went to take a look at what was going on, and was shot down. Discrepancies in the official story are starting to lead to theories that at least some levees and floodwalls were intentionally destroyed, theories that gain some credence in that even the experts are baffled at what happened to the floodwalls. Its a bit too convenient that storm surge gauges stopped functioning during a . . . storm surge, thus removing inconvenient questions about how a nine foot storm surge went over a wall designed to stop an 11.5 foot storm surge.
Underneath Their Robes: Bench-Slapped: Souter v. Rehnquist!
Underneath Their Robes: Bench-Slapped: Souter v. Rehnquist!: "torpedo any "
Blogger Thoughts: This is my theory as well.
Blogger Thoughts: This is my theory as well.
AMERICAblog: Because a great nation deserves the truth
AMERICAblog: Because a great nation deserves the truth: "Wanda Sykes on Jay Leno (hey, I'll watch anything) was very funny about Katrina.
Jay: 'But President Bush took responsibility.'
Wanda: 'I don't think the President should have taken responsibility.... I don't blame the President. I blame the American people. Y'all knew the man was slow when you voted him in. You can't blame the blind man for wrecking your car when you're the one who gave him the keys.'"
Jay: 'But President Bush took responsibility.'
Wanda: 'I don't think the President should have taken responsibility.... I don't blame the President. I blame the American people. Y'all knew the man was slow when you voted him in. You can't blame the blind man for wrecking your car when you're the one who gave him the keys.'"
Ready? Cue the Sun... - New York Times
Update 9/15 11:23
More principled criticism of Brooks' Column here
===========================
Ready? Cue the Sun... - New York Times
Blogger: I have included Brooks NYT Column below. Here is my letter to the public editor about this column:
--------------------------------------
Dear Sir:
In this time when the business model of the NYT is transitioning to charging for access to your editorial content, I must commend Mr. Brooks and the Times for putting out today's "Ready? Cue the Sun." Seeing this trash has taken away any lingering doubts that I might have had about whether I wanted to give the Times a dime for their content.
Mr. Brooks, who was kind enough to let us simpletons know a few days ago that it was common knowledge among insiders that the Bush PR machine wasn't even pretending to be honest, now gives us an absolute mockery of our Senate Judiciary Committee. Brooks, displaying sneering disrespect that I doubted even Mr. "I knew Bush was lying all along but didn't need to share it with you" could muster, must find pleasure in such games of putting words in the Pol's mouths. I'm sure the Kennedy haters, and other isolated readers, may have found glee in the Column.
However, the great majority of your readers are quite capable of tuning into Rush L. or finding Ann Coulter on the Tube to get such crap.
It's one thing to be wrong, misinformed, or otherwise out of step with the truth, all of which Mr. Brooks has been in many of your cases over the last few years. However, when he lowers his standard (and thereby the NYT) to sick sarcasm like this, perhaps the stress of meeting his Column deadlines has overtaken any whit of decency from him?
----------------------------------------------------
NYT 9/15/2005
Ready? Cue the Sun...
By DAVID BROOKS
Arlen Specter Welcome to Day 3 of the confirmation hearings of John Roberts. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind the nation of what a wonderful job I'm doing chairing this committee, and I'd like to let the ranking member tell me so.
Patrick Leahy Absolutely, Mr. Chairman! And let me kick off this morning's platitudes about the grandeur of our Constitution by quoting its first three words, "We the People." That means that here in America the people rule - except on issues like abortion, where their opinions don't mean spit.
Specter Very well put, Senator Leahy! And welcome Judge Roberts back before our committee.
John Roberts Jr. Aw, shucks. This has been a humbling experience, Mr. Chairman. To think that a boy from an exclusive prep school and Harvard Law could grow up and be nominated for the Supreme Court - it shows how in America it's possible to rise from privilege to power! That's the hallmark of our great nation.
So while, of course, I can't talk about specific cases, or any emotions, weather patterns or sandwich meats that may come before the Supreme Court at any time between now and my death in 2048, I do want to reiterate that I feel humbled by this experience. I feel humbled that my wife is dozing off behind me. I feel humbled by this committee's inability to lay a glove on me. And I feel modest. You see this suit? I skinny-dip in this suit. That's how modest I feel.
Tom Coburn Well put, Judge Roberts. Yet when I think of the polarization that still divides this great nation ... waaaahhhh ... waaaahhhh. (Senator Coburn breaks down weeping.)
Jeff Sessions This may be a good moment to remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that in this country unelected judges don't write the laws. We have unelected lobbyists to do that. Under our system, judges merely interpret the law and decide presidential elections.
Specter Senator Sessions, let me interrupt you right there. We're not here to argue among ourselves and ignore the nominee. We're here to deliver 30-minute speeches disguised as questions and ignore the nominee. So let me turn to Senator Bid - -
Coburn And when I think of the flaws in the reconciliation process! And the gerrymandering! Oh, the suffering! Oh, the humanity! Waaaahhhh ... waaaahhhh. (Senator Coburn collapses and is taken back to his office on a stretcher.)
Specter As I was saying, Senator Biden, you have the floor.
Joseph Biden Jr. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thought this might be a good moment to give the committee a complete history of my heroic sponsorship of the Violence Against Women Act, but before I do that I'd like to interrupt myself by mentioning that I ride the train every day, often speaking with regular Americans, but before I do that I'd like to interrupt my interruption of myself by asking the chairman to restrain the nominee. During my first round of questioning, the nominee continually interrupted my questions by trying to give answers. I could barely keep up my train of thought on stare decisis.
Edward Kennedy Starry De Cysis? Didn't she do a fan dance down at that old burlesque house in Providence?
Roberts Mr. Chairman, I certainly don't mean to draw attention to myself, for, as I have said, judges are like umpires - not home plate umpires, but those umpires stuck way out by the right-field foul pole. Nobody ever went to a game to watch the umpires.
But as you know, Judge Ginsburg, during her confirmation hearing, had herself wrapped in duct tape for fear that any involuntary reflex gestures she might make would mar her impartiality in deciding cases later on. Following her example, I have decided to spend the rest of these hearings in a soundproof booth, sunk in a tank of ravenous sharks and accompanied only by the illusionist David Copperfield. But before I go into isolation, I would like to mention the intense modesty I feel at this moment, notwithstanding the fact that not a single one of you slobs could have charged $700 an hour the way I did in private practice.
Richard Durbin Judge Roberts, before you go, one of the ways we in the Senate prove our superior souls is by emoting mawkish sentimentality on cue. Would you please emote sadness and pain on behalf of politically powerful but downtrodden groups?
Roberts I am emoting, senator.
More principled criticism of Brooks' Column here
===========================
Ready? Cue the Sun... - New York Times
Blogger: I have included Brooks NYT Column below. Here is my letter to the public editor about this column:
--------------------------------------
Dear Sir:
In this time when the business model of the NYT is transitioning to charging for access to your editorial content, I must commend Mr. Brooks and the Times for putting out today's "Ready? Cue the Sun." Seeing this trash has taken away any lingering doubts that I might have had about whether I wanted to give the Times a dime for their content.
Mr. Brooks, who was kind enough to let us simpletons know a few days ago that it was common knowledge among insiders that the Bush PR machine wasn't even pretending to be honest, now gives us an absolute mockery of our Senate Judiciary Committee. Brooks, displaying sneering disrespect that I doubted even Mr. "I knew Bush was lying all along but didn't need to share it with you" could muster, must find pleasure in such games of putting words in the Pol's mouths. I'm sure the Kennedy haters, and other isolated readers, may have found glee in the Column.
However, the great majority of your readers are quite capable of tuning into Rush L. or finding Ann Coulter on the Tube to get such crap.
It's one thing to be wrong, misinformed, or otherwise out of step with the truth, all of which Mr. Brooks has been in many of your cases over the last few years. However, when he lowers his standard (and thereby the NYT) to sick sarcasm like this, perhaps the stress of meeting his Column deadlines has overtaken any whit of decency from him?
----------------------------------------------------
NYT 9/15/2005
Ready? Cue the Sun...
By DAVID BROOKS
Arlen Specter Welcome to Day 3 of the confirmation hearings of John Roberts. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind the nation of what a wonderful job I'm doing chairing this committee, and I'd like to let the ranking member tell me so.
Patrick Leahy Absolutely, Mr. Chairman! And let me kick off this morning's platitudes about the grandeur of our Constitution by quoting its first three words, "We the People." That means that here in America the people rule - except on issues like abortion, where their opinions don't mean spit.
Specter Very well put, Senator Leahy! And welcome Judge Roberts back before our committee.
John Roberts Jr. Aw, shucks. This has been a humbling experience, Mr. Chairman. To think that a boy from an exclusive prep school and Harvard Law could grow up and be nominated for the Supreme Court - it shows how in America it's possible to rise from privilege to power! That's the hallmark of our great nation.
So while, of course, I can't talk about specific cases, or any emotions, weather patterns or sandwich meats that may come before the Supreme Court at any time between now and my death in 2048, I do want to reiterate that I feel humbled by this experience. I feel humbled that my wife is dozing off behind me. I feel humbled by this committee's inability to lay a glove on me. And I feel modest. You see this suit? I skinny-dip in this suit. That's how modest I feel.
Tom Coburn Well put, Judge Roberts. Yet when I think of the polarization that still divides this great nation ... waaaahhhh ... waaaahhhh. (Senator Coburn breaks down weeping.)
Jeff Sessions This may be a good moment to remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that in this country unelected judges don't write the laws. We have unelected lobbyists to do that. Under our system, judges merely interpret the law and decide presidential elections.
Specter Senator Sessions, let me interrupt you right there. We're not here to argue among ourselves and ignore the nominee. We're here to deliver 30-minute speeches disguised as questions and ignore the nominee. So let me turn to Senator Bid - -
Coburn And when I think of the flaws in the reconciliation process! And the gerrymandering! Oh, the suffering! Oh, the humanity! Waaaahhhh ... waaaahhhh. (Senator Coburn collapses and is taken back to his office on a stretcher.)
Specter As I was saying, Senator Biden, you have the floor.
Joseph Biden Jr. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thought this might be a good moment to give the committee a complete history of my heroic sponsorship of the Violence Against Women Act, but before I do that I'd like to interrupt myself by mentioning that I ride the train every day, often speaking with regular Americans, but before I do that I'd like to interrupt my interruption of myself by asking the chairman to restrain the nominee. During my first round of questioning, the nominee continually interrupted my questions by trying to give answers. I could barely keep up my train of thought on stare decisis.
Edward Kennedy Starry De Cysis? Didn't she do a fan dance down at that old burlesque house in Providence?
Roberts Mr. Chairman, I certainly don't mean to draw attention to myself, for, as I have said, judges are like umpires - not home plate umpires, but those umpires stuck way out by the right-field foul pole. Nobody ever went to a game to watch the umpires.
But as you know, Judge Ginsburg, during her confirmation hearing, had herself wrapped in duct tape for fear that any involuntary reflex gestures she might make would mar her impartiality in deciding cases later on. Following her example, I have decided to spend the rest of these hearings in a soundproof booth, sunk in a tank of ravenous sharks and accompanied only by the illusionist David Copperfield. But before I go into isolation, I would like to mention the intense modesty I feel at this moment, notwithstanding the fact that not a single one of you slobs could have charged $700 an hour the way I did in private practice.
Richard Durbin Judge Roberts, before you go, one of the ways we in the Senate prove our superior souls is by emoting mawkish sentimentality on cue. Would you please emote sadness and pain on behalf of politically powerful but downtrodden groups?
Roberts I am emoting, senator.
In Roberts Hearing, Specter Assails Court - New York Times
In Roberts Hearing, Specter Assails Court - New York Times: "'Judge Roberts, I'm not talking about an issue,' he said. 'I'm talking about the essence of jurisprudence. I'm talking about the essence of a man-, woman-made test in the Supreme Court which has no grounding in the Constitution, no grounding in the Federalist Papers, no grounding in the history of the country. It comes out of thin air.'"
Is 9/11 Urban Moving Owner / Manager back in the US?
Wayne Madsen Report
September 14, 2005 -- Is Urban Moving Systems chief back in US? There are indications that Israeli national Dominik Suter, the former head of Urban Moving Systems in Weehawken, NJ is back in the United States, this time in south Florida and may be using his actual name. An informed source claims that Suter is working for an aviation-related firm in south Florida.
Suter ran the Weehawken, NJ-based moving company on 9-11 when a number of Urban Moving Systems vans were spotted around north Jersey before and after the hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center. One Urban Moving van was seen at Liberty State Park in Jersey City as the first plane hit the towers. The five occupants, all Israeli nationals, were seen videotaping and celebrating the attack and were dressed in Arab clothing. The five were later arrested near Giant Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. One of the Israelis told police they were at Liberty State Park to "document the event."
Mysterious 911 moving van operator reportedly back in the US
After the Israelis were detained for several months in Brooklyn as terrorist suspects, they were quickly deported to Israel. After the FBI questioned Suter on September 11, he fled the United States on September 14, 2001. The FBI was due to question Suter again before he fled the country. Later, Federal law enforcement agents discovered pipes, caps, explosive chemical materials, and traces of anthrax at the Weehawken warehouse. Suter's name and those of some of his moving employees turned up in a CIA database of foreign intelligence agents. Suter's name also appeared on an FBI 9-11 terrorism suspect list. Suter's year of birth is listed as 1970 with a social security number of 129-78-0926. His addresses before 9-11 are listed as 28 Harlow Crescent Rd., Fairlawn, NJ 07410; 312 Pavonia Ave., Jersey City, NJ 07302; and 15000 Dickens, Suite 11, Sherman Oaks CA. If Suter has been permitted to re-enter the United States, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and its chief Michael Chertoff have a lot of explaining to do.
September 14, 2005 -- Is Urban Moving Systems chief back in US? There are indications that Israeli national Dominik Suter, the former head of Urban Moving Systems in Weehawken, NJ is back in the United States, this time in south Florida and may be using his actual name. An informed source claims that Suter is working for an aviation-related firm in south Florida.
Suter ran the Weehawken, NJ-based moving company on 9-11 when a number of Urban Moving Systems vans were spotted around north Jersey before and after the hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center. One Urban Moving van was seen at Liberty State Park in Jersey City as the first plane hit the towers. The five occupants, all Israeli nationals, were seen videotaping and celebrating the attack and were dressed in Arab clothing. The five were later arrested near Giant Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. One of the Israelis told police they were at Liberty State Park to "document the event."
Mysterious 911 moving van operator reportedly back in the US
After the Israelis were detained for several months in Brooklyn as terrorist suspects, they were quickly deported to Israel. After the FBI questioned Suter on September 11, he fled the United States on September 14, 2001. The FBI was due to question Suter again before he fled the country. Later, Federal law enforcement agents discovered pipes, caps, explosive chemical materials, and traces of anthrax at the Weehawken warehouse. Suter's name and those of some of his moving employees turned up in a CIA database of foreign intelligence agents. Suter's name also appeared on an FBI 9-11 terrorism suspect list. Suter's year of birth is listed as 1970 with a social security number of 129-78-0926. His addresses before 9-11 are listed as 28 Harlow Crescent Rd., Fairlawn, NJ 07410; 312 Pavonia Ave., Jersey City, NJ 07302; and 15000 Dickens, Suite 11, Sherman Oaks CA. If Suter has been permitted to re-enter the United States, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and its chief Michael Chertoff have a lot of explaining to do.
Did the Wrong Guy Resign (FEMA / Brown)
Salon.com - War Room
Did the wrong guy resign?
Michael Brown stepped down as the director of FEMA Monday, but a new report from Knight Ridder walks responsibility for the Katrina debacle a little bit higher up the chain of command. While Brown has taken much of the blame for the federal government's slow response in New Orleans, Knight Ridder says that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff failed to give Brown the authority he needed to mobilize a massive federal response to Katrina until 36 hours after the storm struck land.
Who had the authority in the meantime? Michael Chertoff.
Knight Ridder says that "Chertoff -- not Brown -- was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government's blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents." But according to a memo Chertoff wrote to other Cabinet secretaries and agency heads, the Homeland Security secretary didn't hand over that power to Brown until late afternoon or evening on Aug. 30 -- a day and a half after Katrina struck. And even then, he suggested that a to-be-launched White House task force would lead the response to Katrina and that the Department of Homeland Security would merely "assist" in that effort.
Chertoff appears not to have understood that he had the lead role in the federal government's response, Knight Ridder says. Both the National Response Plan and long-standing presidential orders give the Department of Homeland Security authority to act in the face of a national disaster without waiting for further direction from the president. The Department of Homeland Security defends Chertoff's actions, but it won't say much about what they were: So far, the department has refused to release details about the secretary's schedule during the early days of the crisis.
Former Federal Emergency Management Agency officials tell Knight Ridder that they were shocked by the slow response from Homeland Security and puzzled by Chertoff's hesitation while awaiting marching orders from above. "It shows that the president is running the disaster, the White House is running it as opposed to Brown or Chertoff," George Haddow, a deputy FEMA chief during the Clinton administration, tells Knight Ridder. Haddow says that Brown is a "convenient fall guy," but that the problem is "a system that was marginalized."
But Mike Byrne, who served as the director of the National Capital Region Coordination for Emergency Response under former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, says that the system isn't the problem. He tells Knight Ridder that the new National Response Plan isn't all that different from the old version, and he doesn't understand why things didn't work this time around. "Our history of responding to major disasters has been one where we've done it well," Byrne says. "We need to figure out why this one didn't go as well as the others did."
Yes, we do, but will we? Republicans in Congress are resisting Democrats' attempts to create a 9/11 Commission-style independent panel to investigate what went wrong in the wake of Katrina; Tom DeLay says that the Republican-controlled House and Senate are "more than capable of looking at it" themselves. And with Bush taking "responsibility" for anything that might have gone wrong, they may ultimately decide that there's no reason for them to look too hard.
Did the wrong guy resign?
Michael Brown stepped down as the director of FEMA Monday, but a new report from Knight Ridder walks responsibility for the Katrina debacle a little bit higher up the chain of command. While Brown has taken much of the blame for the federal government's slow response in New Orleans, Knight Ridder says that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff failed to give Brown the authority he needed to mobilize a massive federal response to Katrina until 36 hours after the storm struck land.
Who had the authority in the meantime? Michael Chertoff.
Knight Ridder says that "Chertoff -- not Brown -- was in charge of managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster, according to the National Response Plan, the federal government's blueprint for how agencies will handle major natural disasters or terrorist incidents." But according to a memo Chertoff wrote to other Cabinet secretaries and agency heads, the Homeland Security secretary didn't hand over that power to Brown until late afternoon or evening on Aug. 30 -- a day and a half after Katrina struck. And even then, he suggested that a to-be-launched White House task force would lead the response to Katrina and that the Department of Homeland Security would merely "assist" in that effort.
Chertoff appears not to have understood that he had the lead role in the federal government's response, Knight Ridder says. Both the National Response Plan and long-standing presidential orders give the Department of Homeland Security authority to act in the face of a national disaster without waiting for further direction from the president. The Department of Homeland Security defends Chertoff's actions, but it won't say much about what they were: So far, the department has refused to release details about the secretary's schedule during the early days of the crisis.
Former Federal Emergency Management Agency officials tell Knight Ridder that they were shocked by the slow response from Homeland Security and puzzled by Chertoff's hesitation while awaiting marching orders from above. "It shows that the president is running the disaster, the White House is running it as opposed to Brown or Chertoff," George Haddow, a deputy FEMA chief during the Clinton administration, tells Knight Ridder. Haddow says that Brown is a "convenient fall guy," but that the problem is "a system that was marginalized."
But Mike Byrne, who served as the director of the National Capital Region Coordination for Emergency Response under former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, says that the system isn't the problem. He tells Knight Ridder that the new National Response Plan isn't all that different from the old version, and he doesn't understand why things didn't work this time around. "Our history of responding to major disasters has been one where we've done it well," Byrne says. "We need to figure out why this one didn't go as well as the others did."
Yes, we do, but will we? Republicans in Congress are resisting Democrats' attempts to create a 9/11 Commission-style independent panel to investigate what went wrong in the wake of Katrina; Tom DeLay says that the Republican-controlled House and Senate are "more than capable of looking at it" themselves. And with Bush taking "responsibility" for anything that might have gone wrong, they may ultimately decide that there's no reason for them to look too hard.
ProfessorBainbridge.com: Britney: Too Posh to Push?
ProfessorBainbridge.com: Britney: Too Posh to Push?
Blogger Comment: Bainbridge closes in on channeling Coulter here.
Blogger Comment: Bainbridge closes in on channeling Coulter here.
Sept. 11 Commission Rejects Atta Claim - Los Angeles Times
Sept. 11 Commission Rejects Atta Claim - Los Angeles Times
Blogger Thought: Clueless Commission Members
Blogger Thought: Clueless Commission Members
Civil Commotion � You-can�t-make-this-stuff-up department
Civil Commotion � You-can�t-make-this-stuff-up department
"Tom Delay is the stupidest man in The Whole Big Universe"
"Tom Delay is the stupidest man in The Whole Big Universe"
Law, not his own personal views, would be his guide in deciding right-to-die cases
Roberts Says He'll Decide Cases by Law: "law, not his own personal views, would be his guide in deciding right-to-die cases"
Blogger Thoughts: Distilled News about Roberts is that he seems to be less allied with Religious Right than they would like.
Blogger Thoughts: Distilled News about Roberts is that he seems to be less allied with Religious Right than they would like.
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