September 2005

There were 33 posts published in September 2005 (this is page 5 of 6).

Torture Fundraiser

All in the name of a good cause:

Delone Catholic High School in McSherrystown, Pa., has a fun fundraising program called “Stop the Bop.”
Suggested by a few members of the student council, the school is playing Hanson’s 1996 hit “MMMBop” through the loudspeakers before classes begin, between periods and during lunch. The idea? Annoy students into donating; have them pay to stop the music.
The goal is $3,000, which could be reached if each of the 659 students donates $5.
“MMMBop” has been playing since Wednesday, and the school has raised about $2,300 so far.

It’s a good thing this isn’t a public school, or someone might make a constitutional claim of cruel and unusual punishment. I wonder if the interrogators at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay have considered this.

Ophelia

I just talked to my brother-in-law, who lives in Wilmington, NC. He reports that it is windy and raining. Their power was out briefly this morning, but it’s currently on. Unfortunately, we don’t have the technology for him to take a video camera out to the beach and file a live report. You’ll have to check TV news for that.
I saw an interesting report on CNN a couple weeks ago on how a hurricane took out much of the housing on North Carolina barrier islands about 10 years ago. As you can see, it’s all been replaced, funded, in part, at taxpayer expense.

Sooner or later, these houses will again be knocked out by another hurricane. But until then, some people will have nice vacation houses.

Katrina Explained

Why did Hurricane Katrina hit the United States? Various experts weigh in.
Given that natural disasters have occurred all over the globe throughout history, doesn’t it become difficult to attribute them to particular practices or policies?

BREAKING: BUSH ADMITS RESPONSIBILITY

I guess desperate poll numbers call for drastic measures:

Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government and to the extent the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility,” Bush said during a joint news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
Bush said he wants to know what went right and what went wrong so that he can determine whether the United States was prepared for another storm, or an attack.
“I’m not going to defend the process going in, but I am going to defend the people who are on the front line of saving lives,” Bush said.

It’s not just the process that’s at issue here; it’s also the people. I haven’t heard any reporters asking Bush tough questions about what made “Brownie” qualified to run FEMA.
Anyway, as AMERICAblog points out, only in this administration would a straightforward recognition of responsibility be considered “breaking news.”