News – Gulf Coast Disaster Area

North America

Survivors are evacuate from Louisiana while authorities confront rising lawlessness. It’s a dire situation down there, with refugees often left without a place to go to, lingering along the sides of highways. Some dying there. Desperate people do desperate things, sadly. I think some, though not all of the looting would be solved if aid was cemented down there. I have heard a new load of necessities is on the move, so hopefully it will help improve the situation. Also, Bush and congress are working on an aid package, which will need to be significant considering the scale of the disaster.

Some poor in Biloxi, Mississippi feel they were left behind, not having the resources to head north and away from Katrina. No car and no hotel money makes for few reasonable choices. Resentment such as this, misguided or not, could be a catalyst in some of the looting in that region. One thing is for certain, the coverage I’ve seen has been largely filled with black people and the poorer residents. Something I noted as I watched two different specials on two different channels, one after the other.

The US military is beefing up local National Guard presence with 10,000 more state National Guard troops headed to Louisiana and Mississippi by late Friday.

Ultimately it looks like New Orleans will have to be abandoned for a time, as initial attempts to stem the breaks in the city’s dykes have failed. Though they are keeping at it. Though even if they succeed, getting the water out will take a long time. On a news special the other day, I heard the plan is to plug the breaks, then make a new break in an area where the water level behind the dykes is lower than that of New Orleans, letting the city drain out. A pretty sound idea overall.

Bloggers are all over various topics around Katrina. One particular aspect, the looting, is an interesting topic for discussion. After all, if you’re on the side of the street with minimal money and mouths to feed, without clear sign that food will be available soon, can you say you wouldn’t contemplate entering that busted up supermarket over there to provide for a family, friend or even just random people you’re traveling with? People looting luxuries are a different story, but I have some understanding of those who loot for necessities.

Some of the oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve could be loaned to refiners soon to help soften the blow of having Gulf rigs shot down by Katrina. Personally, I maintain that we wouldn’t be having these sort of problems if we did real work on alternative fuels. Some push for more oil in response to this, but I think we should get off of that entirely as quickly as possible. It won’t be easy, but some hardship today would mean less worry tomorrow.

A history lesson on New Orleans.

A Connecticut library chooses to fight an FBI request for records of a library patron without identifying the threat posed by the person. The argument is that the FBI probe would be threatened if the name of the library and other details were disclosed.

Middle East

Israel’s defense ministry decides that the killings of four Israeli Arabs by Private Eden Nathan Zaada, done in opposition to the withdrawl from Gaza and called “a despicable act by a bloodthirsty terrorist”, aren’t terrorism because the killer was Jewish and the law only recognizes terrorism as committed by “organizations hostile to Israel”. Therefore the families of the four dead are not entitled to the usual compensation for life. The ministry proposes, instead, to pay the families an unspecified lump sum rather than the life long monthly amount. Personally, I think it is because the families are Arab. I’ll bet you the government would have paid the normal sum if the families were Jewish.

People mourn in Baghdad in the wake of the stampede that killed upwards of 1000 Iraqis.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri announces his country has decided to “engage” with Israel in recognition of its withdrawal from Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom says Israel hopes to use the meeting as a springboard for broader diplomatic relations with the Muslim and Arab world. I won’t hold my breath, but we can hope. Getting Muslim nations not directly effected to the table isn’t as hard as getting together with those directly involved, which would provide clearer indication of progress.

Europe

The anniversary of the school siege in Beslan highlights lingering grief and anger at the Russian government.

General

Traffic-Power.com sued Aaron Wall, who maintains a blog on search engine optimization alleging defamation and publication of trade secrets. But not for what he wrote. It is for what some of his readers commented back on his blog.

There’s a new catalyst that can produce hydrogen from water. Now all we need to do is store and utilize it properly and we’ll finally have something to work with in reducing the use of oil in society.

Explainer looks at what happens with a flooded house.

Today’s Papers has a note of Sunnis rushing to help the Shiite victims of the recent stampede and even Sunni groups sympathetic to the insurgency offering condolences and condolences and gathering aid, skimping in the recent past by this Administration on non-terrorism related disaster preparedness, and more random tidbits from the gulf coast in the one page news.

Amusements

Daytona Beach police crack down on people who leave cars running while buying coffee. $71.50 ticket costs almost as much as wasted gas

American Express sinks big bucks into ad campaign about Andy Roddick in NY for U.S. Open, which isn’t looking like a good investment since he got spanked in the first round.

Two naked hotties swim up to remote location of “Lost” during filming, beg for work

New speculation suggests that big bad rap mogul may have accidentally shot himself in the ass following MTV music awards

It’s not everyday, you come home, hear a noise behind the TV and find a venomous South American centipede hiding under some papers

Scientists discover biological drawback of large genitalia: it gets in the way when you have to run away quickly

Not having worked since the last one, Neve Campbell considering Scream 4

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this shaving-cream hairdo

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Theme: The secret life of insects

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Today’s Iron Photoshop ingredient: Anvils