David told me about some of these stories, and I ran across some of them today and decided to stick them all together. NPR : Reporters Give Voice to Post-Katrina Desperation Others are also pressing senior public figures for specific answers. On National Public Radio Thursday afternoon, Robert Siegel questioned Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff about the dire conditions for thousands of people who were not allowed into the New Orleans Superdome but were directed instead to the city’s convention center. Chertoff said aid workers were confronted by a “double catastrophe” – a hurricane followed by a flood that complicated…

Profile In Blurrage When President Bush left Texas for Washington DC, he left just as storm refugees were set to arrive at the Houston Astrodome, which has been turned into highly organized emergency housing. Very convenient timing – he gets away from Cindy Sheehan and her supporters, and also gets away from all those icky refugee people who might make him look like he’s not helping very much. He can certainly do more from Washington, can’t he? If this were 1977, Jimmy and Rosalind would have been in N’Awlins for 3 days already, coordinating relief efforts and handing out food…

I don’t really have words to describe my reaction to the images and stories coming from New Orleans and the other places where the hurricane laid waste to the puny works of man. I am a little worried, however, for a client who called yesterday. He started off by inquiring about corporate/temporary housing, because it turns out he thinks his house in a small Louisiana town is “gone.” Then he told me that he hasn’t heard from his son since the day of the storm, and the last piece of advice that he gave him was to take the chainsaw…

Hey, it’s late summer! Time for a good story about a guy on a bulldozer going on a rampage, like this one: Man Charged With Drunken Bulldozer Ride – Yahoo! News Last June, a man went on a tear through a small Colorado town because he was pissed off at local government. Remember, friends don’t let friends drive bulldozers.

Chicago Tribune | Televangelist Calls for Chavez’ Death Yes, he thinks our gummint should send some special ops guys in to kill Chavez, because it’s cheaper than starting a war to take out a nasty horrible anti-Bushite, and by the way the oil won’t stop flowing. You know what? Pat Robertson is a kook. He’s been saying kooky, wacky, zany things for years. So why is he a major religious leader? Is he the head of a movement made up of other like-minded people? Sometimes I wonder. Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested…

Chicago Tribune | Chicago, other cities told attack possible around Sept. 11 Oh, goodie. They’re not saying it’s a very credible threat or that the source is reliable, but oh goodie. Supposedly, the terrorists would use hijacked fuel trucks, something counterterrorism experts have been concerned about for years. Gas is already more expensive in the Chicago area than in the rest of the country (for reasons that remain obscure) but imagine how prices will climb if fuel trucks start exploding.

President George Bush has said he “sympathised” with the mother of a US soldier killed in Iraq but refused to heed her call to pull out the troops. Speaking from his Texas ranch where Cindy Sheehan has been holding a roadside protest, Mr Bush said withdrawing would be a “mistake”. Later in the story, Bush is quoted as saying he “thought long and hard about her position.” There you have it: this President is screwing us all over. Hur, hurh, hurrrr. Seriously, though, it disgusts me that he won’t meet with her and explain his “rationale” – the REAL one…

BBC NEWS | UK | ‘All four’ July 21 suspects held Now that’s what I call a satisfactory outcome, so long as they’ve got the right men. They thought they had a righteous takedown the other day, and we know how sadly that turned out. So I hope they’ve got the July 21 bombers, and I hope they’re getting useful leads to track down any more that might still be lurking about. And… Rome? Zambia? Obviously this investigation could lead absolutely anywhere.

Here’s a drug bust story with a twist: sekrit tunnel built between Canada and the US, pretty much under surveillance by US and Canadian authorities almost from the beginning of construction, with sekrit cameras and microphones placed during a “sneak and peek” inside the US endpoint, an abandoned house. Hundreds of pounds of “B.C. Bud” seized when the smugglers were pretty much under the eye of authorities the whole time other than when they were underground. Look for this to show up on an episode of “The Wire” soon, except with no dipshit locals in flannel shirts. All of the…