The Neglected Levees of New Orleans: A Victim of Iraq War Spending
"It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to
handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the
price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished,
and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security
issue for us."
-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish,
Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.
Today the New Orleans Times-Picayune wrote: "No one can say they didn't see
it coming. For years before Hurricane Katrina roared ashore Monday morning,
devastating the Gulf Coast, officials from Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama have been warning about their vulnerability to the storms..." See:
<http://www.nola.com>,
<http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1125468020104100.xml&coll=1>
WILL BUNCH, (215) 854-2957, bunchw@phillynews.com,
http://www.editorandpublisher.com
Will Bunch is a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News. The
article states: "Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?
'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues" for Editor
& Publisher. He wrote: "After 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA
[Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project] dropped to a trickle. The
Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war
in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal
tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the
Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a
reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars." Bunch is
continuing to write on his blog: <http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood>.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a five-part series in 2002 titled
"Washing Away" about the threat of a major hurricane. The series is
available at: <http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway>.
Wednesday, 31 August 2005
Wednesday, 24 August 2005
Mullan launches attack on SSP
Mullan launches attack on SSP
ROBBIE DINWOODIE, Chief Scottish Political Correspondent August 24 2005
from The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/45576.html
PETER Mullan, the actor, has launched a withering attack on the Scottish Socialist party.
The star, a high-profile supporter of the SSP, has claimed the party's treatment in forcing out Tommy Sheridan as convener was "disgraceful and disgusting".
In a TV interview, he added: "Their treatment of Tommy has as good as destroyed them for now."
The actor claimed that saying Mr Sheridan had resigned for family reasons, then leaking the fact that he had effectively been sacked, "smacked of Blairite tactics, of them playing politics. I was enraged."
He also castigated its MSPs' antics in the Holyrood chamber, when four brought business to a halt in the parliament before the summer recess, as "looking like the lunatics had taken over the bleeding asylum".
Mullan added: "Behave yourselves and start acting like grown-ups, because it's grown-ups who have voted for you. If you think growing up means selling out, you have personality issues and have yet to grow up and leave the student union.
"The parliament is a big enough joke . . . as it is, but you are the ones who stood up to get voted into it, so don't suddenly try and deny its protocol."
The SSP last night insisted it would go ahead with a legal battle over the punishment meted out to the four MSPs.
With no legal papers served and suggestions that the SSP was unable to finance a legal battle, it was widely believed yesterday that the party was about to drop its action.
However, a spokesman said: "There are many complex issues involved and cost is one.
"We have discussed that but, as things stand, we are still going ahead with our legal action."
Four of the party's six MSPs will be banned from the parliament when business resumes in two weeks, and the loss of pay will extend to the allowances used to pay their staff.
ROBBIE DINWOODIE, Chief Scottish Political Correspondent August 24 2005
from The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/45576.html
PETER Mullan, the actor, has launched a withering attack on the Scottish Socialist party.
The star, a high-profile supporter of the SSP, has claimed the party's treatment in forcing out Tommy Sheridan as convener was "disgraceful and disgusting".
In a TV interview, he added: "Their treatment of Tommy has as good as destroyed them for now."
The actor claimed that saying Mr Sheridan had resigned for family reasons, then leaking the fact that he had effectively been sacked, "smacked of Blairite tactics, of them playing politics. I was enraged."
He also castigated its MSPs' antics in the Holyrood chamber, when four brought business to a halt in the parliament before the summer recess, as "looking like the lunatics had taken over the bleeding asylum".
Mullan added: "Behave yourselves and start acting like grown-ups, because it's grown-ups who have voted for you. If you think growing up means selling out, you have personality issues and have yet to grow up and leave the student union.
"The parliament is a big enough joke . . . as it is, but you are the ones who stood up to get voted into it, so don't suddenly try and deny its protocol."
The SSP last night insisted it would go ahead with a legal battle over the punishment meted out to the four MSPs.
With no legal papers served and suggestions that the SSP was unable to finance a legal battle, it was widely believed yesterday that the party was about to drop its action.
However, a spokesman said: "There are many complex issues involved and cost is one.
"We have discussed that but, as things stand, we are still going ahead with our legal action."
Four of the party's six MSPs will be banned from the parliament when business resumes in two weeks, and the loss of pay will extend to the allowances used to pay their staff.
Tuesday, 23 August 2005
Clarke may be sound-ish on jazz and Iraq - but what about BAT?
Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Smoke and mirrors: "Let us begin by examining BAT's contribution to public health. Smoking, according to the World Health Organisation, 'is currently responsible for the death of one in 10 adults worldwide ... Half the people that smoke today - that is about 650 million people - will eventually be killed by tobacco.' BAT sells one-sixth of the world's cigarettes. Were responsibility to be divided according to market share, we could accuse it of causing the deaths of 100 million people."
Saturday, 20 August 2005
Glasgow Show 2005
Glasgow Show 2005 with The Drifters, even!
scorching day and lots of kid-type fun on the green
...
eliz back with catriona mairi
1pm out with suze and kids
bus to glasgow show at glasgow green
rally cars
bouncing for kids
janice and christine and christine of twinkles
j & c now working in wise group near glasgow green
eliz on bungee ropes, cm to ferris wheel
hoopla at park dept tent then cows, dog and ducks
then clydesdales
elaine smith and van
motor bike display
6pm
home on 16 bus
scorching day and lots of kid-type fun on the green
...
eliz back with catriona mairi
1pm out with suze and kids
bus to glasgow show at glasgow green
rally cars
bouncing for kids
janice and christine and christine of twinkles
j & c now working in wise group near glasgow green
eliz on bungee ropes, cm to ferris wheel
hoopla at park dept tent then cows, dog and ducks
then clydesdales
elaine smith and van
motor bike display
6pm
home on 16 bus
Friday, 12 August 2005
Cycling trip...
Clyde walkway cycle route in East end of Glasgow
2pm
cycled out clyde walkway aiming for cambuslang heron sculpture but didn't see it
lots else though - met a woman cyclist in st peters cemetery, she said you go on a little cambuslang and there's a morrisons
4.30 reached a business park just before cambuslang and decided to return to meet mike in doublet
back via north street and woodlands road to doublet
2pm
cycled out clyde walkway aiming for cambuslang heron sculpture but didn't see it
lots else though - met a woman cyclist in st peters cemetery, she said you go on a little cambuslang and there's a morrisons
4.30 reached a business park just before cambuslang and decided to return to meet mike in doublet
back via north street and woodlands road to doublet
Forrest spams
weird spam probably virus email - deleted - from " forrest"
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 20:15:01 -0800
From: Forrest < forrest @ myself.com >
To: Forrest < forrest @ mysterian.com >
Subject: [No Subject]
Part(s):1 unnamed text/html 0.05 KB Download
2 The_taxation.rar application/octet-stream 24.20 KB Download
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 20:15:01 -0800
From: Forrest < forrest @ myself.com >
To: Forrest < forrest @ mysterian.com >
Subject: [No Subject]
Part(s):1 unnamed text/html 0.05 KB Download
2 The_taxation.rar application/octet-stream 24.20 KB Download
Thursday, 11 August 2005
Another Time, Another Place (1983)
Another Time, Another Place (1983)
gft another time, another place 6.15
strange - i must have only seen this once when it came out but i could remember almost every frame... great film
GFT - http://www.gft.org.uk/
gft another time, another place 6.15
strange - i must have only seen this once when it came out but i could remember almost every frame... great film
GFT - http://www.gft.org.uk/
Tabloid dregs
When you finish drinking something unpleasant enough already and then you find a bit of it's precipitated leftovers in your mouth...
a story of humiliation and degradation, it's almost enough to make you sorry for bobby parker and what's wrong with being a binman anyway...
The Daily Record - NEWS - News Feed - SEX PEST UNION BOSS IS BINMAN
By Janice Burns
A SEX pest union boss has a new job - as a council binman.
Former £50,000-a-year GMB Scottish secretary Robert Parker, whose behaviour cost the union £600,000 before he quit in disgrace, is now earning just £14,000 a year.
Parker, who pestered his personal assistant for an affair, groped her and exposed himself to her is working as a waste awareness officer, sifting through rubbish bins.
The 47-year-old high-flier, once tipped to become GMB general secretary, has 'hit rock-bottom', according to one source close to him.
a story of humiliation and degradation, it's almost enough to make you sorry for bobby parker and what's wrong with being a binman anyway...
The Daily Record - NEWS - News Feed - SEX PEST UNION BOSS IS BINMAN
By Janice Burns
A SEX pest union boss has a new job - as a council binman.
Former £50,000-a-year GMB Scottish secretary Robert Parker, whose behaviour cost the union £600,000 before he quit in disgrace, is now earning just £14,000 a year.
Parker, who pestered his personal assistant for an affair, groped her and exposed himself to her is working as a waste awareness officer, sifting through rubbish bins.
The 47-year-old high-flier, once tipped to become GMB general secretary, has 'hit rock-bottom', according to one source close to him.
Tuesday, 9 August 2005
Cook-ites?
reading news online martin kettle said cook was not as good as eulogised
only cookites may have been chris smith and brian wilson - interesting way of looking at them
Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | A man who saw politics as the art of the impossible: "This week many people are saying that Cook represented that lost soul. And so, in certain ways, he did. But he was never Labour's lost leader, save possibly in Scotland, and it's an indulgence to imagine that he was. A Cook government would not have been a pretty sight. For one thing, there never were many Cookites beyond Robin himself - Chris Smith and Brian Wilson excepted, perhaps. Maybe Cook died believing that he had a frontbench future in a Brown government. I wonder if that really would have happened. Now we shall never know."
only cookites may have been chris smith and brian wilson - interesting way of looking at them
Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | A man who saw politics as the art of the impossible: "This week many people are saying that Cook represented that lost soul. And so, in certain ways, he did. But he was never Labour's lost leader, save possibly in Scotland, and it's an indulgence to imagine that he was. A Cook government would not have been a pretty sight. For one thing, there never were many Cookites beyond Robin himself - Chris Smith and Brian Wilson excepted, perhaps. Maybe Cook died believing that he had a frontbench future in a Brown government. I wonder if that really would have happened. Now we shall never know."
Friday, 5 August 2005
The responsibility we share for Islamist shock and awe
Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | The responsibility we share for Islamist shock and awe: "Suicide bombings seem worst of all. We feel unable to do anything to make ourselves safer. It's no good being vigilant for 'suspicious' packages because the bomber carries his cargo on his back and, even if you think you've spotted it, he can still blow everybody up. Even a police officer can only shoot for the head, and risk killing an innocent person, as happened at Stockwell tube station. That innocent, particularly if you have a darkish skin, could be you.
And a home-grown suicide bomber, dreaming of 72 virgins for himself and 'a painful doom' (in the Qur'an's words) for his victims, seems an unpleasantly self-absorbed figure. What does he hope to achieve? He issues no statement, no programme, no final words to secure his place in the history books. It seems to be pure nihilism.
Yet a bomber needs support: he needs to find like-minded fellow bombers, people to supply explosives and detonators, people to organise his operation. The bombers may be 'bastards', to use the term favoured by red-top newspaper writers, but from what does their bastardy spring? Perhaps it is just another version of the mindset that makes white thugs in Liverpool sink an axe into the head of a black 18-year-old. Or perhaps it is another internet phenomenon, whereby a man who gets his kicks out of exploding deadly bombs can find soulmates, just as a German cannibal can find someone who wants to be eaten. But I think there is more to it; the attacks are 'explicable' (which is not the same as 'justifiable') in the sense that Dominic Grieve, the shadow attorney general, used the word on Wednesday.
A section of the Islamic world believes the west is waging war on it, that this war has intensified with the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, and that it could intensify further with an invasion of Iran. It's no use saying the 2001 attack preceded those invasions. As far as many Muslims are concerned, it went on for most of the 20th century. Arabs were expelled from Israel in the 1940s; Israel occupied the West Bank from 1967; the first Gulf war took place in 1991 and, to Bin Laden's rage, led to US troops polluting sacred Saudi soil. The US has propped up corrupt, secular, pro-western tyrannies throughout the Islamic world - and then blamed and even bombed Muslims for their failure to embrace democracy."
And a home-grown suicide bomber, dreaming of 72 virgins for himself and 'a painful doom' (in the Qur'an's words) for his victims, seems an unpleasantly self-absorbed figure. What does he hope to achieve? He issues no statement, no programme, no final words to secure his place in the history books. It seems to be pure nihilism.
Yet a bomber needs support: he needs to find like-minded fellow bombers, people to supply explosives and detonators, people to organise his operation. The bombers may be 'bastards', to use the term favoured by red-top newspaper writers, but from what does their bastardy spring? Perhaps it is just another version of the mindset that makes white thugs in Liverpool sink an axe into the head of a black 18-year-old. Or perhaps it is another internet phenomenon, whereby a man who gets his kicks out of exploding deadly bombs can find soulmates, just as a German cannibal can find someone who wants to be eaten. But I think there is more to it; the attacks are 'explicable' (which is not the same as 'justifiable') in the sense that Dominic Grieve, the shadow attorney general, used the word on Wednesday.
A section of the Islamic world believes the west is waging war on it, that this war has intensified with the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, and that it could intensify further with an invasion of Iran. It's no use saying the 2001 attack preceded those invasions. As far as many Muslims are concerned, it went on for most of the 20th century. Arabs were expelled from Israel in the 1940s; Israel occupied the West Bank from 1967; the first Gulf war took place in 1991 and, to Bin Laden's rage, led to US troops polluting sacred Saudi soil. The US has propped up corrupt, secular, pro-western tyrannies throughout the Islamic world - and then blamed and even bombed Muslims for their failure to embrace democracy."
A tale of Stornoway life or a pile of 'tosh'?
A tale of Stornoway life or a pile of 'tosh'?
PHIL MILLER ARTS CORRESPONDENT
The Herald. Glasgow
The Stornoway Way, by Kevin MacNeil, was launched last night and has already had a clutch of glowing reviews.
MacNeil, who was born and raised on [Lewis], said he had not intended to cause controversy, but to write a serious work of literature. "Stornoway's the kind of place, " he writes in the book, "where the birds are woken by the sound of drunks singing".
check amazon at:
Amazon.co.uk: Books: The Stornoway Way
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0241143209/qid%3D1125567617/026-1551789-1416437
PHIL MILLER ARTS CORRESPONDENT
The Herald. Glasgow
The Stornoway Way, by Kevin MacNeil, was launched last night and has already had a clutch of glowing reviews.
MacNeil, who was born and raised on [Lewis], said he had not intended to cause controversy, but to write a serious work of literature. "Stornoway's the kind of place, " he writes in the book, "where the birds are woken by the sound of drunks singing".
check amazon at:
Amazon.co.uk: Books: The Stornoway Way
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0241143209/qid%3D1125567617/026-1551789-1416437
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