Last night we had the pleasure of attending a real live Manhattan “liberal elite” salon hosted by Mother Jones magazine, moderated by MoJo’s publisher, Mr. Steve Katz, and featuring the magazine’s Washington bureau chief David Corn (also a blogger for...
Levees Not War
Talkin’ to You, Barack (and You, America)
Yesterday’s piece “The Silence of the Dems” was originally meant to introduce some choice excerpts from a tough, hard-hitting post by our friend Pat at Hurricane Radio titled “Why the GOP Is Going to Win in November.” We do not concede that heavy losses are...
The Silence of the Dems
Now, finally, the president’s out there on the stump doing what we wish he’d been doing for the past 16 months or so: drawing sharp, biting distinctions between Democrats and Republicans. Great timing, five weeks before election day. We pray it ain’t too late. It...
We’re Not “Whining,” Mr. Biden,
But Democrats in Congress Are Cringing
“Campaigning for Democratic candidates in New Hampshire, Vice President Joe Biden said Monday the party’s base should ‘stop whining.’ . . . [Mr. Biden] said Democrats can win . . . if they draw clear distinctions between themselves and their Republican opponents, and...
Democrats Entering Campaign Mode as if to Win?
“Wonder What’s Gone Wrong . . .”
From “American Tune” by Paul Simon [ YouTube video ] * . . . And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered I don’t have a friend who feels at ease I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered or driven to its knees but it’s all right, it’s all right for we lived...
Venice (Calif.) Hearts Venice (La.)
* 9/21 Rock and Rally for Victims of Oil Spill (with live stream) A benefit concert to aid citizens of Venice, Louisiana, and help with restoration of the BP oil–stricken Gulf Coast. The fund-raiser is the idea of Melissa McGinnis (in video below), host of the hit...
Eisenhower on the Opportunity Cost of the War Machine
“Humanity hanging from a cross of iron” “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money...
Is Katrina More Significant Than September 11?
Thoughts on Two American Traumas [ Cross-posted at Daily Kos. ] Between 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, which do you think gets most attention, and why? What if the national focus on 9/11 is exaggerated and the nation should focus instead on 8/29—Hurricane Katrina—as the...
9/11 “Battle of New Orleans” Joins Victims of BP Oil Spill, Exxon Valdez, Hurricanes, and 9/11 First Responders
[ The following press release is presented as a public service announcement ] NEW ORLEANS — In a historic gathering, Gulf Coast residents devastated by the BP oil spill will join 9/11 first responders, victims of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and survivors of hurricanes...
Launching Midterm Campaign, Obama Mocks Republican Recklessness
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klO3pM_7YHo&feature=related * “We are united. We are strong. That’s why they call them unions.” President Obama was in full campaign mode as he rallied a lively Labor Day crowd of some 5,000 supporters at Milwaukee’s LaborFest on...
New Oil Explosion, Fire, off Louisiana Coast
Long, Hot Summer [ Update: Think Progress’s Ben Armbruster reports, “One day before its gulf oil rig exploded, Mariner Energy said ‘Obama is trying to break us’ with the deepwater drilling moratorium,” even though the platform that exploded today was not affected by...
Celebrity Sighting: Levees Not War Meets FEMA’s Fugate
Tomorrow we’ll post some comments on President Obama’s remarks at Xavier University on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But first, allow us to babble excitedly about the public-safety-and-disaster geek’s idea of a celebrity sighting: After all the...
Live-Blogging from Rising Tide 5 in New Orleans
Winner of the 2010 Ashley Morris Award: Clifton Harris of Cliff’s Crib New Orleans blogger Clifton Harris, right, receives the Ashley Morris Memorial Award from emcee George “Loki” Williams, center, and Mark “Oyster” Moseley. Photo courtesy of M. Styborski. Cliff...
Come Surf the Rising Tide : Aug. 28 in New Orleans
* We’ll be in New Orleans for Rising Tide 5—and you’re invited too. First, on Friday afternoon, we’re embarking on a boat tour of Barataria Bay southwest of New Orleans—thanks to friendly connections at the Plaquemines parish government, Loyola University, and the...
Anti-Islamic Furor Helps al Qaeda, Endangers America
“The World Trade Center Site will forever hold a special place in our City, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves—and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans—if we said ‘no’ to a mosque in Lower Manhattan. . . . We would betray our...
As Combat Troops Leave Iraq, Where’s Our National Security?
Out of Iraq, on to Afghanistan The last combat troops have left Iraq, as a convoy of the 4th Stryker Brigade rumbled in the wee hours of August 19, 2010, from Iraq toward U.S. bases in Kuwait. At the end of August, Operation Iraqi Freedom will end and 50,000 advisory...
Disarmament Experts Clarify Film’s Position on Nuclear Power
Last week we reviewed the excellent new documentary Countdown to Zero, released in late July, just in time for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries (Aug. 6 and 9). While we praised Countdown and hope everyone will see it, we had some questions about the film’s...
Melancon Blasts Vitter’s Worse-Than-“Serious Sin” Record of Voting Against Women
We’re Levees Not War, and We Approve This Message: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BfjpU_yHw0&feature=player_embedded * The text of the commercial, running in various media markets in Louisiana, goes like this: We know how David Vitter handled his “serious sin.”...
Nagasaki, Not Forgotten
Today, Aug. 9, is the 65th anniversary of the atomic (plutonium) bombing of Nagasaki. (Hiroshima was bombed first, with a uranium bomb, on Aug. 6, 1945.) Some 60,000 to 80,000 civilians died, most of them instantly; others, like Sumiteru Taniguchi, pictured below,...