Got HDTV, Just Need Electricity

Ann Althouse has written on the looting in New Orleans, charges of racism, and the way media presents it all. There's some excellent commentary on these matters beneath Ann's post, and it demonstrates the value of the blogopshere because the sum of the parts is greater than the Dan, Peter, or Tom Shows. Here are some highlights:

Looters were stealing food and water at times, but others were stealing TVs and clothing. Disasters like this usually bring out the very core of a person. For many, it appears, their first impulse was compassionate, even to heroism. For others, their very first consideration was what can I steal?. I think we can (and should) judge here. Such looting is wrong. It's why looters are often shot.

There is no denying the editorial filter that influences the images of looting we see. Equally, however, there is no denying that the vast majority of those looting are black. But, where I sympathize with blacks (and whites) who grasped for food and water, I feel nothing but disgust for those who took this tragic opportunity to loot so indiscriminately!

Yahoo ran one photo of a young white couple swimming along with a loaf of bread and some drinks tucked underarm, in chest-high water, with the caption "couple finds bread and soft drinks in New Orleans grocery store", and another picture of a young black man in dreadlocks, with a loaf of bread underarm, in chest high water, captioned, "man walks with bread after looting New Orleans grocery store." That's your liberal media at work!

This is horrific enough as it is. But for the armed guys running around carjacking people trying to evacuate still, or shooting at cops, or breaking into hospitals and generally being thugs, well, that's what force is for.

Isn't giving a 'pass' to people who loot unneeded items, the same as giving terrorists a pass because of "what they have been through"? Sure, I would hate being photographed doing something so abhorrent, but it wouldn't be the photograph or the circumstances that would make me hate it as much as it would be the mirror it held up to my ego-- showing me and the world exactly who I was deep down.

I was in Manhattan both during 9/11 and the last blackout. In both cases the conditions for civil breakdown were present but the mass of citizens kept it together and rose above the situation. In fact, common courtesy and neighborliness actually increased, strangers helped one another and even made eye contact! This is apparently in contrast to the blackout in the 70's. I firmly believe that the cleaned up, orderly NY of Guliani led in large part to a much lower tolerance of crime and disorder on the part of even the poorest citizens, especially in our recent crisises. Confucius observed somewhere that true order is kept by observation of taboo rather than law; that is laws can and will be broken, but a taboo is so strong that only those beyond the pale will break them.

From the Mouths of Babes

Barney Peterson of Minneapolis is either stupid or he is a child. Only the latter can be forgiven:

Thanks to President Bush and his unjust and ill-conceived war in Iraq, there are about a thousand fewer Army National Guard members in Louisiana to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Isn't the point of the National Guard to protect us at home and help out in natural disasters?

Barney Peterson, Minneapolis.

First, congrats to Barney for being the first desperate shill to link Bush, Iraq, and Katrina (he's got a chip in the ranting moonbat game now), and to the Strib for getting it in print before the rain even stopped.

Second, no Barney, the point of the National Guard is not to pick up branches and serve coffee after the storm. Since the 1903 Militia Act, it's mission is to supplement regular armed forces on the federal level. National Guard units may be made available to individual states based upon declaration of emergency by a state governor, and the reason National Guard is frequently injected into natural disasters because they are not subject to the Posse Comitatus Act, and may engage in civil law enforcement.

My bet is that Barney thinks the point of a city fire department is to rescue cats from trees. Even I knew better as a kid. Anyway, the federal government, using ample and available military resources, is not behind the curve on disaster relief, not by a long shot.

More than 9,000 National Guard members have been called to duty for hurricane relief work in those three states, Kucharek said. Tuesday, the Pentagon ordered five Navy ships and eight maritime rescue teams to the Gulf Coast to bolster relief operations. One Navy amphibious assault ship, the Bataan, with six Sea Stallion and Sea Hawk helicopters that could be used for search and rescue missions, was en route from Texas. Four other vessels from Norfolk, Va., were expected to sail within 24 hours and take four days to reach the gulf, Northern Command Kucharek said. The ships will carry food, fuel, medical and construction supplies, as well as hovercraft that can be used for evacuation and search-and-rescue missions. Also Tuesday, the Coast Guard called back to duty 500 reservists as part of the hurricane response. "The biggest challenge is getting enough resources, especially helicopters and small boats to the area for the rescue work we have to do," said Lt. Gene Maestas, a Coast Guard spokesman in Washington.

Storm Surge Sucks

If the owner is dead in the house, I understand. If the owner hopped in the Grand Am and left the doggy behind to fend for itself, I pray for their painful death.

Shouting At The Wind

Come to my press conference. I have noting tangible to say, but I'll spout anyway, so come to my press conference:

St. Paul mayoral candidate Elizabeth Dickinson questioned Monday whether Mayor Randy Kelly could legally allow a top Xcel Energy executive to raise money for his campaign while at the same time the city is negotiating a new franchise agreement with the energy company.

Ooooooo . . . . the mayor's so busted!

Dickinson, the Green Party candidate, stopped short of accusing the mayor of breaking any laws, but said: "I think that a lot of people looking at this would say it may not pass the smell test."

That depends on who stinks, Liz baby.

St. Paul City Attorney Manuel Cervantes said "ex parte" laws apply to conversations, not social functions, fundraisers or relationships. "As long as you're not in communication about the issues that are on the franchise negotiation table, the prohibition is not in place," he said.

Darnit; non-partisan expert opinion; always a buzzkill when you're trying to play 'gotcha.'

Mary Sandok said in a statement that Xcel encourages employees to be politically active, "recognizing that such involvement is strictly voluntary and shall take place on the employee's own time."

Dickinson has made renegotiating the franchise agreement a campaign issue. This year, fees from Xcel Energy will bring about $17 million to the city, the third-largest revenue source behind property taxes and the state's local government aid. Dickinson has proposed increasing the franchise fees paid by residents to raise $1 million to $2 million, which she would use to pay for public safety.

Hate the big utility, but milk it up one side and down the other. Tax, spend, tax, spend; I've seen this movie.

Dickinson said she is not planning to make a formal complaint against Kelly or his campaign at this time.

Particularly because there's nothing to legitimate to complain about, but I seriously doubt that'll keep Liz from tilting at windmills.

I keep scouring her platform for answers to my questions. For instanace, how does one apply social and economic justice to plow the snow? How can a city implore grassroots democracy in policing the streets? Can we use ecoligical wisdom to clean the ice at the hockey arena? How do we attract jobs to Saint Paul via non-violence? Liz?

I'll keep my Randy Kelly yard sign for now, thanks.

Jihad This

They've passed the 12,000-submission mark over at We're Not Afraid.

Terrorism is all about the disruption of daily life. Although the United States and other places are not lacking in spineless appeasers, who simultaneously buckle to terrorist demands and gripe about increased security, every person who chooses to carry on in defiance sticks a thumb in the eye of Islamo-fascist cavemen everywhere.

Shameless plug: Mine is in gallery #130.

Larger Trophy Case For Anfield

As they'd holler at a Topeka Corvette Club awards presentation, "More gold!"

Liverpool seem to need all the time that the rules allow. The Reds were able to snatch victory from CSKA Moscow, 3-1, to win the UEFA Super Cup. The match was eerily similar to the Champions League Final vs. AC Milan last spring, with Liverpool going throughout the motions until it was almost too late, and then exploit a snoozing side in extra time.

The man of the match was clearly Djibril Cisse, who scrounged two goals and added a perfect cross to set up Luis Garcia for the Liverpool's third. I couldn't tell from the broadcast, but it seems that the crowd in Monaco was chanting Michel Owen's name, which could be exactly what made Cisse a one-man team in the last 20 minutes.

On another note; Fulham 1, Everton 0.

What Will Stick to the Wall Tonight?

What to spout about?

I'm a bit late on the bandwagon with the crooks that run Air America, but justice is catching up with them quickly. Cap'n Ed has Able Danger in hand, I'm a bit behind on the details, but I'm sure I'll be going off on Jamie Gorelick and Louis Freeh soon enough.

Not much happening with the local hockey outfit; season's still over a month away. The Reds have some time off from the EPL for Champions League qualifiers.

I suppose I can lob an easy harpoon my US Representative for being a crybaby and hypocrite. Remember when she spazzed upon learning Mark Kennedy would attend a public forum hosted by the St. Paul Hmong community? Kennedy (not McCollum) had actually gone to the refugee camps in Thailand, and his perspectives were of interest to the forum organizers. Betty flipped out, screaming that Kennedy, who represents Minnesota's 6th, was in her back yard, the 4th, ostensibly to campaign for Mark Dayton's US Senate seat. Betty contends that anytime Mark pops his head out of his house, he's campaigning.

See, Betty wants that Senate job too, so if Mark crosses some line on a map he's just not playing fair like nice boys and girls. That hardened outlook didn't get in the way of Betty soiling a perfectly good Mustang in Minneapolis' PRIDE Parade this past June 26th. Somehow, when Betty, who's running for Senate (see correction in 'comments' below), makes a public appearance in warmed-over Martin Sabo's 5th district, THAT'S perfectly fine and dandy.

Oh . . . that's right; Sabo is a Democrat stoodge, too. I guess there's no conflict there . . .

Markets Will Work If You Let Them

I miss Larry Kudlow in prime time:

Meanwhile the impact on the economy has been negligible, at least so far. And the Fed has prevented oil inflation from spreading to the rest of the economy. So much so that I think they should quit raising rates while they're ahead.

I can't get too worked up about the price of gasoline. Not yet. It's really a TeeVee news story, like a hurricane or a missing blonde white girl. I haven't been driving forever, and, of course I make more money now than in 1984, but I don't think I'm alone in realizing it's just a number, and not the punitive bite Katie Couric wants you to think it is.

Donuts. Is There Anything They Can't Do?

Let's Give it up for Homer Simspon, perennial Man of the Year:

You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college!

You know those balls that they put on car antennas so you can find them in the parking lot? Those should be on every car!

Marge, I'm going to miss you so much. And it's not just the sex! It's also the food preparation.

When I look at the smiles on all the children's faces, I just know they're about to jab me with something.

Whenever Marge turns on one of her "non-violent" programs, I take a walk. I go to a bar, I pound a few, then I stumble home in the mood for love.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England!

Or what? You'll release the dogs? Or the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when they bark they shoot bees at you?

You're saying butt-kisser like it's a bad thing!

Mmmmmm - 52 slices of American cheese.

Marge, it takes two to lie. One to lie, and one to listen.

If you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now, quiet, they're about to announce the lottery numbers!

All right, let's not panic. I'll make the money by selling one of my livers. I can get by with one.

Woo hoo! 350 dollars! Now I can buy 70 transcripts of Nightline!

Son, a woman is a lot like a... a refrigerator! They're about six feet tall, 300 pounds. They make ice, and... um... Oh, wait a minute. Actually, a woman is more like a beer.

Weaseling out of things is what separates us from the animals. Except the weasel.

I saw this movie about a bus that had to SPEED around a city, keeping its SPEED over fifty, and if its SPEED dropped, it would explode! I think it was called "The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down."

I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me, Superman!

Oh, they have Internet on computers now.

Marge I swear, I never thought that you would find out.

Like, Ohmigod, Gaza Settlements and, um . . .

On the ol' DirecTV dish, I used to get a channel called News World International (NWI). Its schedule featured news programs from around the world; England, Germany, Canada, Japan, etc. I took to it on September 11th, 2001, as I found the CBC's coverage to be much more reasoned and far less hyped than the drool of CNN and their clones.

I liked watching NWI because I'm interested in the daily lives of other people. That's one of the best things about traveling; getting a sense of what it's like to live here, no matter where that 'here' is. On NWI, I could see stories about commuting in Osaka, school reform in Heidelberg, the dairy business in Cardiff and so on. I don't need some pre-packaged happy-talk government-funded diversity spin to make me appreciate life in the rest of the world. I get it from my own sources.

Well, in the past few months, the channel was purchased by a group of fools led by Albert Gore, Jr., and was renamed Current TV.

Current is about what's going on. We follow the global pulse via Google Current, a real-time view of what the world's searching for, presented every half-hour around the clock. We slice the rest of the schedule into short pods -- each just a few minutes long -- that range far and wide, from international dispatches to profiles of cool people to intelligence on new trends. This is not a traditional TV network; watching Current, you'll see more, on more topics, from more points of view.

How can I describe what CurrentTV is? Try to imagine very early MTV, devoid of structure, along with a very weak news effort, mixed in with all the clumsiness or trying to create a video version of internet interactivity, and finished with incessant on-air self-congratulation for creating this lack of programming. To call it shallow and vapid doesn't begin to do it the injustice it deserves. Thanks, Al; another middle-aged guy telling youth what's good, hip and important. Believe me, this isn't a 24-7 commercial for the Democratic National Committee; this outlet is so lame, it transcends party politics.

Please enjoy this hard-hitting clip from Current TV. It'll take a second or two to load up. It is proof that there is no sense of shame anymore.

Between the Walrus and the F-Body

Happy Birthday to Sergent Pepper and the Summer of Love. Was 1967 really so long ago? It's also the 40th anniversary of those same Beatles playing The Met in Bloomington. As usual, the rube Minnesotans hardly used up the seating. Mr. Soucheray will tell you half of it was a walk-up crowd. Within a year of the sparsely-attended show, the lads would stop touring, and the tide began to recede.

Happy Birthday to the Camaro & Firebird; also products introduced as 1967 models. In that time-honored tradition of "us, too!" GM tried to build their own Mustang. Well, the genie can only leave the bottle once, but the F-body cars still proved to be both internationally notable and iconinc through their run. Then GM killed them to build a stupid cartoon truck. Nice going, waterheads.

Happy Birthday to me, by the way. I creak on for another year with minimal wear and tear. I've outlived the Camaro, but SPLHCB is surely timeless, so I guess I land somewhere in the middle. Today, the office, tonight Mexican food, tomorrow, just another day.

On the Topic of Music

Because I know you come here for exceptional music recommendations, I will oblige.

I've added SomaFM to the internet radio station list on the right column. I admit I'm not clever enough to use the ACC Stream, but most channels are available as WMP. I discovered it recently when I was in a Geek Squad precinct getting my computer straightened out.

Also now to my fortress of music are the following singles:

"Copacabana" by Anderson Noise
"Neighborhood 3 (Power Out) by Arcade Fire
"Please Break My Heart" by Caitlin Carey and Thad Cockrell
"Endless Factories" by Division of Laura Lee
"Gone Darker" by Elecrtelane
"Your Little Hoodrat Friend" by The Hold Steady
"Cheap Linguistics" by Magneta Lane
"Departures" by The Karminsky Experience

I've also been wearing out the digital grooves on "Hollywood Barn Dance" by The Dave and Deke Combo, Canned Heat's eponymous 1967 release, 'cuz it's the blues.

Mother Sheehan

Mark Steyn speaks for me on Cindy Sheehan:

Casey Sheehan was a 21-year old man when he enlisted in 2000. He re-enlisted for a second tour, and he died after volunteering for a rescue mission in Sadr City. Mrs. Sheehan says she wishes she'd driven him to Canada, though that's not what he would have wished, and it was his decision.

His mother has now left Crawford, officially because her mother has had a stroke, but promising to return. I doubt she will. Perhaps deep down she understands she's a woman whose grief curdled into a narcissistic rage, and most Americans will not follow where she's gone -- to the wilder shores of anti-Bush, anti-war, anti-Iraq, anti-Afghanistan, anti-Israel, anti-American paranoia. Casey Sheehan's service was not the act of a child. A shame you can't say the same about his mom's new friends.

The End of Happy Talk

There's a chance Minneapolis could turn a corner after the murder of Evelyn Geng.

The Minneapolis Police Department has a violent offender task force and a violent offender apprehension team, and the minute someone is shot, murdered or seriously assaulted, both of these teams go out and they will hunt the individuals down who did it. And we've had great success with these two units in apprehending violent offenders, and I say this as a warning to anyone who's considering, or will commit one of these crimes in the future: We will catch you. We are on the ball when it comes to tracking people down who commit these crimes, and we do it with just a little bit of information . . . So think twice before you come to Minneapolis to commit some violent crime . . . we will hunt you down if you do this (quote taken from accompanying audio clip).

I'm always told words have meaning. Let's hope so this time.

The press conference was held at the Minneapolis Urban League office, which is still a bit nonsensical, but Chief McManus' statement should offer at least some hope to anyone who lives in or visits Minneapolis. I'm pleased to hear confidence, and a perhaps a touch of hubris, from McManus; I like that in a surgeon, pilot or a chief of police.

On this situation, this issue, and at this press conference, the cowardly mayor was nowhere to be found.

UPDATE: The selective-viewing Nick Coleman is calling on the cops to get out there and crack skulls:

We all know that parts of a big city are no place for the faint of heart. But I marvel at how drug dealers can thumb their noses at the cops while law-abiding people fear for their safety and police chiefs get ticked off when community-relations meetings turn unpleasant. This is big stuff, the stuff that makes or breaks a place.

So far there's been no word on whether Coleman ran his initiative by the inner-city aplogists and chronic crime enablers before letting it out of the barn.

Show Me The Way To Go Home

Will the last biker to leave Gunners please turn out the lights?

Yea, Bill, If Only

Ed Morrissey fisks Bubba after his latest revision of history:

"I desperately wish that I had been president when the FBI and CIA finally confirmed, officially, that bin Laden was responsible for the attack on the U.S.S. Cole," Clinton tells New York magazine this week. "Then we could have launched an attack on Afghanistan early."

"I don’t know if it would have prevented 9/11," he added. "But it certainly would have complicated it.”

"I always thought that bin Laden was a bigger threat than the Bush administration did."

Clinton has tried on more than one occasion to adapt history to make his eight-year turn in the White House something more than a paean to lost time while Islamofascists gained ground. This particular effort fails miserably, mostly due to the efforts of the 9/11 Commission, which detailed exactly when the FBI and CIA made their determination that al-Qaeda had executed the attack on the Cole. On pages 192-3, the report shows that Clinton still had two months left in his presidency when that determination was made.

The whole post is worth your time.

It's All About the Children

I was afraid that the union thugs from Big Education might be spending too much time on educator development, childhood learning issues, you know; minding their own store. Now, thankfully, they're back on track putting union ahead of everything:

ST. PAUL (AP) - Teachers unions in Minneapolis and St. Paul are urging their members not to shop at Wal-Mart for back-to-school supplies because they say the retail giant doesn't pay its workers enough. The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers is considering whether to stop reimbursing members for school supplies bought at Wal-Mart.

I wonder if that's legal. If you are a teacher, do you have to bend over for union activism?

"This is the beginning of a much more in-depth education program, in which we tell our members why and what Wal-Mart does - not just to small towns, but to workers,'' said Louise Sundin, president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers.

No, you stoodge, this is about crumbling labor. This is about Big Education carrying the water for the United Food & Commercial Worker's union, who are batting about .019 against Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart called boycott is a "smear campaign'' stemming from unsuccessful attempts to unionize its employees. Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogelman said the chain helps teachers by selling school supplies at low cost. "This shouldn't be about politics,'' Fogelman said. "This should be about how you can best equip teachers for the classroom.''

I'm no fan of Wal-Mart, which I need not even raise to make the point that this is a preposterous use of taxpayer-subsidized union muscle.

Schools, teachers and the educational establishment are, in general, hyper-sensitive to esteem issues and hurt-feeling potential. That's why Minneapolis public schools gives free breakfast and lunch to everyone (can't stigmatize the poor) and the NCAA tells schools what they can and cannot call themselves (Forget what the Seminole Tribe says, we know better). How would you like to be a kid whose parent(s) works for Wal Mart and have them demonized by a teacher on a holier-than-thou power trip.

Hey, union goons, hate Wal-Mart all you want. Just do it on your own time, and on your own dime.

Yellow Journalism 101

Today's lesson: How to bury the lead by the Associated Press' Leslie Miller:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Babies have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout the nation because their names are the same as or similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly list."

It sounds like a joke, but it's not funny to parents who miss flights while scrambling to have their babies' passports and other documents faxed. Ingrid Sanden's 1-year-old daughter was stopped in Phoenix before boarding a flight home to Washington at Thanksgiving. "I completely understand the war on terrorism, and I completely understand people wanting to be safe when they fly," said Sanden, a Minnesota native. "But focusing the target a little bit is probably a better use of resources."

See, see, see what that evil Patriot Act has done? Babies cannot board flights without onerous and unreasonable background checks! Where is our freedom? Where are our rights?

The government's no-fly lists have grown markedly since the Sept. 11 attacks. Critics including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) say the lists don't provide enough information about the people on the lists, so innocent passengers can get caught up in the security sweep.

OK, let me get this one straight, the ACLU wants MORE data collected about airline travelers?

That can happen even if the person happens to be a baby such as Sanden's daughter. Children younger than 2 don't need tickets, but Sanden purchased one for her daughter to ensure she had a seat. "It was bizarre," Sanden said. "I was hugely pregnant, and I was like, 'We look really threatening.' "

Earlier, Sanden said she understood the point of increased security. I guess she forgot about the part where not 'looking threatening' doesn't mean a thing.

Sarah Zapolsky and her husband had a similar experience last month while departing from Washington Dulles International Airport. An airline ticket agent told them their 11-month-old son was on the government list. They were able to board their flight after ticket agents took a half-hour to fax her son's passport and fill out paperwork.

Well-known people such as Sen. Edward Kennedy, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and David Nelson, who starred in the sitcom "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," also have been stopped in airport security checks. The government has sought to improve its process for checking passengers since Sept. 11. But for now, airlines still have the duty to check passengers' names against those supplied by the government.

See, see, Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Haliburton, Patriot Act, all bad, bad, bad.

What, there's more to the story?

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which administers the list, instructs airlines not to deny boarding to children under 12 -- or select them for extra security checks -- even if their names match those on a list. But it happens anyway, according to Debby McElroy, president of the Regional Airline Association.

Wow. Surprise ending. The AIRLINES are screwing rover on this one. The big, heartless, unaccountable TSA says let junior board the plane, no questions asked, but it's United, Delta, Northwest, etc., that are dropping the ball.

There you go class; make sure the smoking gun is in the last graph.

You Think You Had A Hard Day?

Good journalism puts you there: Michael Yon is in Mosul:

Deuce Four is an overwhelmingly aggressive and effective unit, and they believe the best defense is a dead enemy. They are constantly thinking up innovative, unique, and effective ways to kill or capture the enemy; proactive not reactive. They planned an operation with snipers, making it appear that an ISF vehicle had been attacked, complete with explosives and flash-bang grenades to simulate the IED. The simulated casualty evacuation of sand dummies completed the ruse.

The Deuce Four soldiers left quickly with the "casualties," "abandoning" the burning truck in the traffic circle. The enemy took the bait. Terrorists came out and started with the AK-rifle-monkey-pump, shooting into the truck, their own video crews capturing the moment of glory. That's when the American snipers opened fire and killed everybody with a weapon. Until now, only insiders knew about the AK-monkey-pumpers smack-down.

Read the whole thing.

Go Midgets!

I did not photoshop this.