From WWL-TV:

12:15 P.M. - Army Corps: 1,200 sandbags that are 20,000 pounds each are being brought in to bridge gap…water level is no longer rising.

12:11 P.M. - Army Corps: Water has become level with the Lake in the city so no more water should flow into the city, except at high tide.

12:10 P.M. - Engineers and construction experts are at the 17th Street Canal. They’ve filled 100, 3,000 pound sandbags and are trying to drop the bags and concrete barriers into the area.

Now, a quick note. I have noticed a distinct lack of ability to restrain one’s political beliefs, even in a thread that is distinctly non-political. I’m going to ask politely one time: please keep the politics out of these threads. If you want to spout your political ideology in a thread about Hurricane Katrina and the rescue of tens of thousands of people, do it in another blog. If this continues to be a problem, I will have to start banning IP’s and/or disabling comments, and I don’t really want to do that.

And yes, this goes for people on BOTH sides of the aisle.

**Update**

Not good. Riots and hostage taking at Orleans Parish Prison. Some of the hostages include children.

And the attempts to stop the break in the levee have failed.

This is the best blog I’ve found dealing with the aftermath of Katrina. Some notes:

-12:44 P.M. - (AP) The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port did NOT suffer major damage as a result of Hurricane Katrina. And a port official says the flow of oil could resume within “a matter of hours” once its power supply is restored.

-1:26 P.M. - Officials at LSU and local hospitals say they are triaging thousands of people being brought from outside the Baton Rouge area for medical care. The people are being bused in.

-2:01 P.M. - Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard says there is no plumbing and the sanitary situation is getting nasty. He told WAFB-TV that he is carrying around a bag for his own human waste.

-4:21 P.M. - WWL-TV Reporter quotes officials as saying there may now be 60,000 people in the Superdome and that more people are still being urged to go there.

-4:40 P.M. - (AP) State officials say they are working on plans to evaucate inmates from the Orleans Parish prison and the Jefferson Parish jail. Both facilities face a threat of flooding.

The state Corrections Department is trying to figure out how to transfer 4,000 inmates from the New Orleans jail and another 1,000 from the Jefferson Parish jail in Gretna.

The inmates would be moved to state prisons including the highest-security at Angola. Corrections spokesman Pam LaBorde says it’s quite a logistical situation to accomplish.

I also meant to crib this meme from Dusbury over the weekend, but got distracted.

Rules: Pick seven songs that you’re into right now, list them. Pick seven friends who have to repeat this process, list them.

I can’t pick just seven. If you’ve got a blog, I’d love to know what you’ve been listening to lately. Or just leave a comment.

Here’s my list.

1- Dakota (Stereophonics). Grabbed this while surfing around iTunes and it’s been on every cd I’ve burned for my car this summer. Six or seven weeks of hearing it every day and I’m still not sick of it.

2- When In Rome (Nickel Creek). The new single from the neo-bluegrass band. It’s a little heavier than most of their other stuff, but it sounds great.

3- It Ended On An Oily Stage (British Sea Power). Sounds like a new version of Psychedelic Furs.

4- ELT (Wilco). I cannot get enough of the first 90 seconds or so of this song. The pedal steel guitar blending with the synthesizer just sounds so perfect.

5- Space Age Love Song (Flock of Seagulls). A classic.

6- Don’t Change (INXS). Another classic. Saw some guy perform this on Rockstar: INXS the other night. It’s a shame Michael Hutchense isn’t around anymore. And what a way to go.

7- Wires (Athlete). This is one of those Coldplay-ish bands. I downloaded this song when it was free on iTunes and I really like it, yet I have no desire whatsoever to get their whole album, because I think it’d be song after song of the same thing. This one song’s good enough for me.

By the way, the free iTunes download this week is by “Oklahoma City-based band” Hinder. Who the hell is Hinder? I’ve only been gone a year and a half. I have never heard of this band before. BTW, I didn’t particularly care for the song. Sounded like a Nickelback rip-off.

Another link from Dustbury: the Top 100.

This has been all over the place, and I suppose I’ve stalled long enough.

The rules:

Go to musicoutfitters.com and, in the search box provided, enter the year you graduated high school.

From the search results, click the link for the top 100 songs of that year.

With the resulting list:
bold the songs you like

strike through the ones you hate

underline your favorite

and ignore the ones you don’t remember/don’t care about.

My list below the fold.
Read More »

John Hawkins answers 10 Common Questions About Iraq.

The California Yankee has a list of organizations helping victims of Katrina.

Edu-blogger Joanne Jacobs is going to be teaching this semester.

Michele points out The Breakfast Club is 20 years old. Ack.

Chaz at Dustbury wonders where Oklahoma City’s “inner city” is located.

While scores of anti-war protesters gather in Washington, D.C. on September 24th, Oklahoma City residents will get their chance to speak out that same day.

NEWS ADVISORY
Immediate Release: 8-27-2005
CONTACTS: See Below

OKLAHOMA CITY “ANTI-WAR FAIR” WILL SUPPORT
NATIONAL PEACE EVENTS IN WASHINGTON DC,
— all on SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th

“Anti-War FAIR” @ Memorial Park in OKC
Saturday, September 24th
Noon to 4 pm — and “after party” all evening.

This event will be a mass demonstration against the Iraq War to coincide with
other national demonstrations including Washington DC, New York, San
Francisco, and Seattle. The staging area for the Oklahoma City event will be Memorial
Park on the Classen Blvd side, south of NW 36th Street.

One of the Keynote Speakers will be Dave MacMichael a former CIA analyst who
is on the steering committee with Ray McGovern for “VIPS” (Veteran
Intelligence Professionals for Sanity).

The second Keynote Speaker will be former Oklahoma Governor David Walters.
A third notable speaker will soon be announced.

Tables and booths of aligned organizations will offer information, petitions,
action alerts, buttons, bumper stickers, t-shirts, etc. These will include
The Peace House, Oklahoma Committee for Conscious Objectors, Veterans for
Peace, Mennonite War Relief, Codepink, and others.

A “Children’s Activity Area” will offer arts & crafts opportunities for kids.

A “Youth Peace Table” will engage teenagers in actions they can take, and
information about conscientious objection.

The “Anti-War FAIR” from noon to 4 pm will offer a free concert in the Park
including a line-up of 7 bands and local musical acts. Numerous opinion
leaders in additin to the “keynotes” will speak briefly about their opposition to
the war.

After the event, bands will continue playing music in the park into the
evening for a celebratory “after-party.”

I hope someone will be blogging this. If you don’t have a blog but plan on going out and covering this, let me know. I’d be happy to host your report here.

Virginia’s Tim Kaine, the Democratic candidate for governor, has had a few John Kerry-type moments this campaign season.

Patric Ruffini does a pretty good job of compiling them. My favorite has to be this one.

At the debate sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association, Tim Kaine repeated his pledge to close the “gun show loophole.”
…
“And so, yes, if there is a proposal that comes forth to close the gun show loophole, that would be enforcing the current laws of Virginia that felons should not have guns, and I would be favorable.” (Tim Kaine, Virginia Bar Association Debate official transcript, July 16, 2005)

And yet…

At a Richmond gun show the weekend of August 14 and 15, a man who is not a licensed firearms dealer was selling a Knight muzzle-loading 12-gauge shotgun for $250 without conducting background checks. This gentleman was selling the shotgun at a Sportsmen for Kaine booth.

Heh.

Here are a couple of quick clips from the Code Pink vigil/protest outside Walter Reed on Friday night.

Quicktime only. I’m not smart enough, nor do I have enough time in the day to convert this to Windows Media.

A quick note on the speakers: the first speaker is one of the organizers of the Code Pink protest/vigil. The 2nd speaker had with him a sign that read “The extreme right slanders grieving mothers, shoots up peaceful vigils, runs over crosses. How long ’til they start burning them again?” The third guy was a conscientious objector during Vietnam.

This next clip features some of the counter-protesters.

The first counter-protester is named “Rick”. He’s a member of Rolling Thunder and a veteran of Afghanistan. The next speaker was one of several Young Republicans who came out from Northern Virginia as part of Operation: Red, White, and Blue. The third speaker is Javier, a former Marine whose loud voice pierced the night with his cry of “For Shame!” directed towards the Code Pink folks.

This third clip just features some of the sounds and sights from the protests.

Katrina’s a Category 5 right now, headed towards New Orleans. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the area right now.

Dr. Jeff Masters is blogging about Katrina, and I’m finding more informative than watching the cable news networks.

**Update**

Michelle has lots of links on where you can donate money to relief efforts.

**Farrah Adds**

If your budget is as tight as mine is these days, you can still help. Make an appointment today to donate blood. Red Cross blood supply levels are at critical lows.

Just got back from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the temporary home to many of our men and women wounded in Iraq. Since March, it’s also been the home to a protest/vigil against the war. Since CNSnews.com broke the story yesterday, I decided to go out and join those counterprotesters in support of the troops. I’m pleased to tell you I was not alone.

Three of the four corners outside of Walter Reed were taken up with those standing in support of our troops and in opposition to Code Pink (the group organizing the protests/vigils against the war).

Those were the signs they were handing out to people like me who just showed up. Others had their own signs, most of which were non-political in nature…

There were plenty of veterans to go around, including several members of “Rolling Thunder” who stopped by.

This was my favorite sign of the night.

My least favorite? A sign that read Cindy Sheehan= Bride of bin Laden. I believe some of the other counter-protesters must have talked to the creator of that sign, because I didn’t see it after about ten minutes. Unfortunately, a reporter did see it, so expect that to get significant coverage in a story set to be released on Sunday. A note to any future counter-protesters out there: show some class.

And really, that was the only sign that I thought was completely inappropriate. Most of the people countering Code Pink were just happy to support the troops.

As I mentioned before, the Code Pink crowd was pretty small (about a dozen people or so). They also left the “Maimed for Lies” and “Enlist here and die for Halliburton” signs at home tonight. No fake caskets like they’ve had in the past either. I have a feeling they realized there’d be some media out tonight.

There was one interesting sign, however.

If you can’t read it, I was able to get a little bit better view.

Support soldiers, not war profiteers. My co-worker Mike, who was able to interview several of the Code Pink folks, asked two of them who the war profiteers were. As you’d expect, Halliburton and Exxon came out on top. But the protesters also felt that civilian contract employees (even those not providing security) were also war profiteers. On Monday I’ll attempt to harness all of my HTML skill and host the video clips.

I didn’t manage to catch it with my camera, but about 9 o’clock, a big white bus full of soldiers back from an outing pulled in. The look on their faces and the smiles they gave us was fantastic. In fact, all evening long I was shocked by how many people were honking and giving a thumbs up to us, and another finger to the Code Pink people. This is Washington, D.C… hardly a hotbed of the conservative movement.

I also found out heard that Walter Reed hosts an open house on the second Saturday of the month. September 10th is the next open house. I’m going to get confirmation on Monday. Look for more details then.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about some more of the people I met, including a gun-blogger from Montgomery County, Maryland.

**Update**

Thanks Michelle! And be sure to check out more photos of the protest over at The Gunn Nutt (Beth was right).

**Update**

A couple more picture posts can be found here and here. The second link features a lot of photos of the Code Pink protestors and some good commentary by a former US Air Force navigator/weapon systems officer on F-4E Phantom fighters.

Rich Lowry takes on the chickenhawk argument today.

The Cindy Sheehan controversy has revived the long-running chicken-hawk argument, since so much of her appeal has to do with her unique standing to pronounce on the war given the sacrifice of her son. Amazingly, after three years, President Bush critics still write chicken-hawk letters as if they have arrived at something clever and cutting, when they are really rehashing a bottom-of-the-barrel ad hominem argument. The chicken-hawk line is the “Oh, yeah? Your mama!” of antiwar arguments.

Its logic, if taken seriously, actually would boost the hawks. If only members of the military — who are overwhelmingly conservative — were considered competent to decide the nation’s posture on matters of war and peace, we would have an even more forward-leaning foreign policy. I’m comfortable letting the 82nd Airborne decide what we do about anti-American rogue states. Are opponents of the war? I’m guessing that even if you let only mothers of fallen soldiers in Iraq direct our Iraq policy, the result would be stay-the-course rather than the immediate pullout favored by Sheehan.

The chicken-hawk argument is nakedly partisan. During the Kosovo war waged by Bill Clinton and supported by Democrats in 1999, a cry didn’t go up from the Left that no one could support the war unless they were willing to strap themselves into B-2 bombers for the 33-hour ride from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to Belgrade and back to degrade Serbian infrastructure.

By the same token, we could say to proponents of leaving Saddam Hussein in power: “That’s an illegitimate position unless you yourself are willing to move to Tikrit to live for the duration of Saddam’s regime.” Or to supporters of “containing” Saddam: “You’re a hypocrite until you go help patrol the no-fly zone.” Or to advocates of inspections: “You can’t support them unless you don a baby-blue cap and sniff around his suspected chemical-weapons sites yourself.”

Why should this line of argument be limited to Iraq? “You think we should help fight AIDS in Africa? Well, go work in a clinic in Lavumisa, Swaziland.” “You oppose land mines? Go clear them from the Korean DMZ.” “You think there should be a new U.N. protocol in favor of [insert fashionable cause here]? Then spend interminable hours helping negotiate it yourself.” “Support jobless benefits? Become a clerk at an unemployment office.”

Yeah, but Lowry never served. So he has no right to speak.

From the “Don’t Support the Troops” file:

How can someone be opposed to the war, be convinced that it is in every way an illegal and immoral policy of the US government, and yet still claim to support the troops charged with carrying out the illegal and immoral policy? Some critics have responded by claiming the apparent paradox stems mainly from a disagreement about the true meaning of “support the troops”. They allege that conservatives have sought to equate that phrase with “support the war”, and that this is an unfair or unnecessary view, given that one of the things antiwar types wish to do is to save the troops by bringing them home and out of harm’s way. In other words, the war critics say, it is certainly possible to be FOR the troops, in the sense of being sympathetic with their plight of being ordered into a dangerous place, while still being opposed to what they’ve been ordered to do there. The problem with that view is that it ignores a basic premise of the duty of any soldier—to carry out his orders even if he should disagree with the political wisdom of them. Thus, if one thinks the policy of this war is bad, for example in that it has resulted in many Iraqi citizens, of all ages, losing their lives at the hands of the US military, and if on the other hand it would have been possible to spare some of those Iraqis by having some American soldiers die instead, how does one truthfully or consistently maintain that he supports the troops but not what they do?

As much as I disagree with this guy, at least his anti-war position is consistent.

I’ve been thinking about this one for awhile. Can you “support the troops but not the war”?

I’ve discussed this with several people, and the most popular answer I get it “I support the troops because I want them to come home safe, but I disagree with the war.”

Well, that’s nice and all, but in my mind it doesn’t really count as support. I mean, when Steve went over to Iraq for his brief trip, I didn’t wish any ill will for him. In fact, I prayed he got home safe. On the other hand, I don’t consider myself supportive of Steve or his mission. I don’t wish any ill will or harm on abortion providers, but I’m hardly supportive of them.

How can you support someone when you don’t approve of the job they’re doing?

So… can you support the troops but not their mission? Discuss.

**Update**

Janine makes an excellent point in the comments, and one I agree with.

I think “support” implies action, or a willingness for action. As someone who would never even make it into the military, let alone pass boot camp, I support the troops. I send care packages to men and women I don’t know. I donate money occasionally to help buy better equipment or to help the troops’ efforts to teach Iraqis trades like carpentry or sewing and buy the equipment. Some people support the troops by rallying public opinion.

“Care about” doesn’t imply action. Maybe the “Support the troops - bring them home” people really do care about them as people, but they don’t care about them as troops and they sure don’t support what they’re doing.

As I’ve asked this question, I’ve heard a lot of “I care about the troops”, “I want them to come home”, “I don’t want them to die”, “I value their lives”. That’s great, and I’m being sincere. But that to me seems to be theoretical support.

Perhaps a better question would be: can you actively support the troops while you’re actively opposing the war?

I’m not much one for protests, but I’ll be out at one tomorrow night.

Specifically, I’ll be letting the men and women recovering from their wounds suffered in Iraq know that I support them.

By now you’ve probably read this report by Marc Morano. I just find this to be an incredibly cruel thing to do. So I’ll be out with the counter-protesters tomorrow night.

If you’re in the DC area, I hope you’ll join me. I don’t say “thank you” enough. Spending three hours supporting those who fight for freedom is the least we can do.

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Saw this at Tim Saler’s blog.

At this point, Henry has to be considered at least a weak favorite for re-election in 2006, if only because Republicans are not putting up their best candidates. If re-elected, Henry may be considered for the vice-presidential slot on the 2008 ticket, and some of Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer’s supporters could theoretically swing down to Henry, since Schweitzer has denied any interest in 2008 and proceeded to insult those who wanted him to run.

Interesting speculation. The Democrats could do a lot worse than a red-state governor, although if Hillary’s the candidate Henry’s not going to be enough to turn Oklahoma “blue” in ‘08. Personally, I’d go for a red-state governor with some more electoral votes (Bedresen in TN or Easley in NC. And don’t forget Mark Warner in VA, who’s leaving office this year).

First read this. Then read this. It’ll take you awhile, but it’s worth it.

Over at Fark, there’s a discussion about bad album covers.

Here are some of my favorites (courtesy of the Museum of Bad Album Covers, not all of which are safe for work or children).

Yikes. How’d that one get by the marketing department?

Those dummies scare the bejeebers out of me.

Julie doesn’t look to happy to be celebrating with you, Pops. Now, hands off the underage girl and come with us.

This one just scares me.

I understand the BTK Killer was a big fan of this one.

The worst cover from my own collection would probably have to be this one.

(Maybe) more later.

Kind of a quiet day around the blog. Wiredhub has switched to a new control panel, which seems to be down for the moment. That means I can’t get to my email, so if you need to reach me, try camedwards-at-gmail-dot-com.

Elaine and the kids are almost home. By the time I get off work they’ll be at the house. Can’t wait to see them.

I think I’m ready for a vacation. I’ve been burned out on the Cindy Sheehan nonsense for awhile. I’m not emotionally invested in the missing girl in Aruba. Tired of complaining about high gas prices. Even the gun control issue’s kinda quiet, although it’ll be interesting to see how this story develops.

Yep, I could use a couple of days off. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon.

Animal rights “activists” have won a battle in England. And all it took was grave-robbing.

A family that breeds guinea pigs for medical research announced yesterday that it was to close its farm in a final attempt to get back the remains of a relative whose body was dug up by animal rights extremists.

Yes, these sickos dug up the remains of an 82-year old woman and are holding them hostage until the family stops breeding guinea pigs.

Monsters. And I’m not talking about the farmers.

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*Note*
This will be cross-posted at The Right Noise, where I’m doing a little side-blogging.

Two of the people convicted of trying to buy votes in the 2004 election are back at work… at their city jobs!

Sheila Thomas and Jesse Lewis were back at their jobs in the department of regulatory affairs yesterday. Thomas is a clerk and Lewis a housing inspector.

Both were fired after their June convictions and they’re due to be sentenced in October.

A federal jury convicted Thomas, Lewis and three others of felony conspiracy to commit vote fraud in the November Second election. Thomas, Lewis and two others were also convicted of election fraud.

Gateway Pundit had extensive coverage of the guilty verdicts back in June, including the fact that one of the defendents is accused of running a prostitution ring out of City Hall.

This stinks to high heaven.

via Brian J. Noggle.

The more things change the more they stay the same, as evidenced in this clip from an old Bob Hope movie.

Seriously, very amusing. At least to a conservative like me.

via Dustbury.

Pat Robertson is a lunatic.

Carry on.

Seriously, this is the guy who suggested nuking the State Department. We’re shocked and suprised that he’s advocated assassinating Hugo Chavez? I’m surprised he hasn’t advocated the public stoning of Dolphins running back Ricky Williams.

Actually, Ricky Williams is often stoned in public. Bad example.

Regardless, Pat Robertson is probably as culturally relevant as Barbra Streisand. And since I’m poking fun at Babs for being a moonbat, I should probably be fair and poke fun at Robertson for being a wingnut. Babs doesn’t sing for me, and Robertson doesn’t pray for me.

Babs is back, this time with an anti-war song.

Streisand’s Stranger in a Strange Land debuted Tuesday on a notable parcel of Internet real estate — it’s spending one week as an exclusive (and free) streaming video on the home page of Amazon.com. It is culled from Guilty Pleasures, the singer’s upcoming collaboration album with Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb, who wrote and produced all the songs for the project, slated for a Sept. 30 release.

The video shows Streisand, wearing an evening gown and an intense expression, singing lyrics that include “You may be someone else’s sweetheart/Fighting someone else’s war,/And if you suffer for the millions/Then it’s what you’re fighting for.” The video intercuts her studio performance with footage of American troops shipping off to theaters of war past and present.

Soldiers don’t fight for the “suffering of the millions”. Americans don’t fight “someone else’s war”. And Babs doesn’t sing for me.

A couple of new blogs have debuted this week.

Human Events Online has debuted Right Noise. Not sure I like the title (a play on white noise, perhaps. Even then, white noise isn’t something that we consciously pay attention to. But don’t let the title distract from the good posts there).

And Jeffrey (the NRAnews.com teenager formerly from Gaithersburg, MD who now lives in Las Vegas) has unveiled Teenage 2nd Amendment. Looks like a great start for a blog that could find a real niche.