Funding Homophobia In Africa

The Bush administration may not have meant this (yes, I know, the benefit of the doubt again) but it comes with the territory when you're funding abstinence-only programs in Uganda. Ed Brayton comments here.

A Time to Investigate

The NYT investigates how U.S. tortue policies have crumbled via the current administration. It's all there. Dig in.

Andrew Sullivan asks the important question: "We have war criminals in the White House. What are we going to do about it?"

Oh, and just so everyone will stop quoting Bono and praising him as an international spokesman against torture, let's not forget someone said it first (and better):

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

-Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 146

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Steve Clemons, filling in for newlywed Andrew Sullivan (Congrats, Andrew!), posts a highly appropriate suggestion , today, on the 2nd anniversary of Katrina. The ethics of Mississippi governor Haley Barbour have been called into question more times than I can count, but who knew they were this twisted?

"Many Mississippians have benefited from Governor Haley Barbour's efforts to rebuild the state's devastated Gulf Coast in the two years since Hurricane Katrina.

The $15 billion or more in federal aid the former Republican national chairman attracted has reopened casinos and helped residents move to new or repaired homes.

Among the beneficiaries are Barbour's own family and friends, who have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from hurricane-related business. A nephew, one of two who are lobbyists, saw his fees more than double in the year after his uncle appointed him to a special reconstruction panel.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in June raided a company owned by the wife of a third nephew, which maintained federal emergency-management trailers.

Meanwhile, the governor's own former lobbying firm, which he says is still making payments to him, has represented at least four clients with business linked to the recovery."

The Nation's Walter Mosley suggests a more somber marker.

"If we call ourselves Americans (and mean it), then we are all victims of Katrina. If we breathe the air or eat fresh fruit, if we call on our cellphones, drink water from a plastic bottle or just nibble on a chocolate bar, then we are Katrina; we are the rising waters around the ankles of this world.

When the day comes to mark off the two-year point since the deluge descended on the Gulf of Mexico, we should take care not to make too much noise. We shouldn't march in that shadow of time or even protest. Rather, we should sit alone in a room with our imaginations open to feel what they experienced on that day: the waters rising, rising and us climbing stairs and ladders, chairs and fire escapes; sitting on rooftops while bodies float by; calling out to passing boats and helicopters that go by in mute witness; being pressed to the roof by the rising tide and being engulfed shouting, shouting out for the ones we love underwater, unheard; the darkness swirling around us as we die with no one coming to save us, or themselves."

Meanwhile, at a New Orleans charter school, President Bush and Laura "pray to Santa Jesus" to mark the occasion.



From the NYT:

"The front page of The Times-Picayune advertised a scathing editorial above the masthead: ''Treat us fairly, Mr. President.'' It chided the Bush administration for giving Republican-dominated Mississippi a share of federal money disproportionate to the lesser impact the storm had there than in largely Democratic Louisiana. ''We ought to get no less help from our government than any other victims of this disaster,'' it said.

It is the president's 15th visit to the Gulf Coast since the massive hurricane obliterated coastal Mississippi, inundated most of the Big Easy with floodwaters and killed 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi when it roared onto land the morning of Aug. 29, 2005 -- but only his second stop in these parts since last year's anniversary."

Gonzales to resign

Buen riddance!

'Law and Order' President?

You may know him best as Arthur Branch, one of the more recent D.A.'s on Law & Order. Offscreen he's former (TN) Senate member, Fred Thompson. If that still doesn't ring a bell, don't worry, you're not alone. The majority of voters know little of his Senate record or acting gigs, but that doesn't seem to be a handicap. According to a recent poll (tired of hearing that yet?), Thompson is sandwiched between Rudy Giuliani and John Mccain, pulling in 21% of Republican support. With this much backing early on (Fredheads, they're calling themselves) and still without a formal bid, Thompson is clearly someone to take note of in the red camp.

On the issues, Thompson says he:

Opposes gun control. "You check my record. You'll find I'm pretty consistent on that issue."

Opposes same-sex marriage, but would let states decide on civil unions. "Marriage is between a man and a woman, and judges shouldn't be allowed to change that."

Opposes abortion. "I think Roe vs. Wade was bad law and bad medical science. And the way to address that is through good judges. I don't think the court ought to wake up one day and make new social policy for the country. It's contrary to what it's been the past 200 years."

Supports President Bush's troop surge in Iraq. "Wars are full of mistakes. You rectify things. I think we're doing that now."

Supports an immediate pardon for former White House Aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby. "This is a trial that never would have been brought in any other part of the world. This is a miscarriage of justice. One man and his wife and 14-year-old and 10-year-old children are bearing the brunt of a political maelstrom here that produced something that never should have come about."

Does he have a wife named Babs, too? Not quite, but his current wife, Jeri Thompson, is an attorney and a political media consultant at the Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, and McPherson law firm in Washington, D.C.

Personally, I'd like to see Sam Waterson get in the game. Anyone? Ah, it's Friday. Give me one.

Radio: Stay tuned for President Ronald Reagan's weekly radio address.
Peter: Ronald Reagan? The actor? He's president?
Brian: Peter, you're the one from the future, you should know - ah, forget it.