:: Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina
In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.

:: The 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2005
humorous and mostly true.

:: India's lost daughters: Abortion toll in millions
From IHT: In the two decades since ultrasound equipment, which allows prenatal determination of sex, became widely available, the number of girls born in India has declined steeply, despite a law banning doctors from disclosing the sex of a fetus to parents.

:: the long history of a bus ride
juan williams' nytimes op-ed on the fuller story that honors rosa parks. a must-read.

:: walk the tunnel:
bluejake covers the Campaign to End AIDS' protest walk through the lincoln tunnel.

:: bill bennett's genocidal comments:
"I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down." -- Bill Bennet, former GOP Education Secretary

be fucking horrified. absolutely nothing can sublimate the evil in this statement. no following sentence. no context. no "statistic." -- don't be naive; this is an example of de-humanization, which is an integral component of genocide.

listen for yourself and then take action...

:: barack obama's podcasts
the junior senator from illinois jumps onboard. maybe they were right when they said that the revolution would be podcast.

:: vloggers get political in norway
i've never seen the word "vlogger" before, but i did hear that norway is the best place to live five years running...

:: The district has identified $35 million in projects to build and improve levees, floodwalls and pumping stations...
in St. Bernard, Orleans, Jefferson and St. Charles parishes. but in june of this year, the president and the government were busy cutting New Orleans district budgets for 2006, including the financial support for the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project.

:: louisiana's wetlands
from national geographic, oct 2004: The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City.

:: "why should we care?"
Nicholas D. Kristof responds to a letter writer who questions the involvement of the U.S. in African problems like Darfur.
:: bill clinton lets his anger over a column show
since when are new york times articles written like rumor-mongering blog entries?
:: 'daily show' personality gets his own platform
stephen colbert flies solo in cable spoof.
:: copyright protection
LA photoblogger outafocus.com fights a case of photo-swiping with the help of the photoblogging community.
:: Bush urges more refineries, nuclear plants
wait, and coal is the future? are you fucking kidding?
:: chico - pope john paul II
on avenue b & houston in nyc, a vibrant catch at trevorlittle.
:: senate roll call to save the arctic refuge
we lost by two votes, but there are still ways to block the drilling...
:: fausto bertinotti and women in black
utterweb photos from an italian protest against the iraq occupation by the US and coalition troops, and for freeing hostage Giuliana Sgrena, an il Manifesto reporter kidnapped on Feb 4.
:: changing the face of power: women in the senate
a phenom portrait gallery of women senators by melina mara at digitaljournalist.org, via mileena.
:: chile 1
jake rocks the big photos from south america.
:: buy blue
dammit, amazon. at least i can still fly jetblue.

:: fuck the south
And no, you can't have your fucking convention in New York next time. Fuck off -- via hchamp and every angry blue stater who emailed or IM'd it to me.
:: the partisan project
political posters out of pittsburgh, PA.
:: sorryeverybody.com
we were simply outnumbered.
:: the left will rise
"not in our name" anti-war march and rally coverage, from lackadaisical in san francisco on nov 4... more photos beyond the first.
:: canada 2.0
mena, this idea isn't half-bad...
:: a note for the crushed...
"Get over it... The way you feel now is exactly how I felt when Nixon won a second term -- crushed. I just couldn't believe America was that stupid. But remember what happened to Nixon that term." ...from boingboing.
:: one down. one to go, motherfucker.
'nuff said.
:: betavote.com
What if the whole world could vote in the U.S. presidential election?
:: masood kamandy
new york friend and photographer masood kamandy is blogging from kabul, afghanistan.