Quick bite: Dr B good, Sam Alito bad.
Bitch Ph.D. has a long list of the reasons “this Alito guy is bad, bad news,” as well as links to about a dozen other people’s arguments against him, in Samuel Alito: an undue burden on us.
Cheney’s adviser “Scooter” Libby indicted
Following in brother G Gordon’s footsteps, I Lewis Libby (chief of staff to VP Cheney) has been indicted by the Fitzgerald grand jury.
Libby was indicted on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements. The five-count indictment charged that he gave misleading information to the grand jury, allegedly lying about information he discussed with three news reporters. It alleged that he committed perjury before the grand jury in March 2004 and that he also lied to FBI agents investigating the case.
Shortly after the indictment was announced, Libby resigned his White House positions.
Rove was not indicted. . . . yet.
What the Fuck? #2
Help Working Assets and The League of Independent Voters put this billboard up outside Grover Norquist’s office, where dozens of conservative leaders meet weekly.
Random Roundup number Whatever-the-Fuck-I’m-Up-To
Can you say ‘recusal‘? Apparently John Roberts can’t. . . .
“On Monday, September 12th, between the hours of 5:00pm and 7:00pm, bar customers across the nation will raise their glasses for a “Save New Orleans Cocktail Hour” as bar and restaurant owners shake up New Orleans’ classic cocktails to directly benefit New Orleans food and beverage industry workers who are out of work and sorely in need of funds for rebuilding their lives.” (via a later date)
Cal economics prof Brad DeLong suggests that maybe future presidential candidates should actually have some skill in public administration.
That story about FEMA director Mike Brown having been fired from his last job, as head of judging for the International Arabian Horse Association? The Boston Herald has details.
Penn State literature and cultural studies prof Michael Bérubé renames a few key players in the ‘recovery’.
The Rude Pundit takes A God’s Eye View of Recent Events: “[T]he hurricane and its vengeful aftermath are not God’s penance on New Orleans and Biloxi for the sins of sex and gambling. For God is far wiser than that. No, Hurricane Katrina was God’s way of wrecking the Republican agenda.” (The link on ‘agenda’ in the original post, while very pretty, crashed Opera. Twice. Beware.)
Google Maps has posted satellite pictures taken Wednesday morning over New Orleans. Here’s the Superdome.
over at Common Monkeyflower, U-M urban planning student Murph has some interesting ruminations on the rebuilding of New Orleans—whether it should be done at all, f’rinstance. Sensible coastal policies as the 21st century version of building codes?; Abandoning NOLA, revised; The suburbia of rebuilding.
Language Log’s Mark Liberman, on whether Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff is pulling a Clinton.
I must drink beer.
LIKE the Japanese soldier marooned on an island for years after V-J Day, President Bush may be the last person in the country to learn that for Americans, if not Iraqis, the war in Iraq is over. “We will stay the course,” he insistently tells us from his Texas ranch. What do you mean we, white man?
—Frank Rich rocks. (NYT)
Work has been so boring the last three days, I’ve done almost nothing but read Goats. I’ve now made it through three years of the archives—only five and a half years left to catch up. . . .
Don’t miss the Litany of Beer.
Assorted bits. Pieces, too.
Orientation campus tours make me wish I could wear earplugs at work.
Thomas L Friedman actually has something interesting to say, for once.
Apparently, at least according to Google Maps, the bridge we all know and love as the Swinburne Bridge is not, in fact, Swinburne St. Mapquest agrees, although not as prettily.
“They treat a woman like a cow.”
Nicholas Kristof continues telling the story of Dr Shazia Khalid this week:
[T]he family’s patriarch, Mr. Khalid’s grandfather, sent word that because Dr. Shazia had been raped, she was “kari” - a stain on the family’s honor - and must be killed or at least divorced. Then, Mr. Khalid said, his grandfather began gathering a mob to murder Dr. Shazia.
“I was very angry because he must know that Shazia is innocent,” Mr. Khalid said. “They treat a woman like a cow.”
General Musharraf was finding this couple’s determination to get justice increasingly irritating. So, Dr. Shazia and Mr. Khalid said, the authorities ordered them to leave the country, and warned that if they stayed, they would be killed - by government “agencies” - and that no one would even find their bodies.
- Part 0: The 11-year-old Wife, 21 June
- Part 1: Another Face of Terror, 31 July
- Part 2: A Pakistani Rape, and a Pakistani Love Story, 2 August
Well. . . . it’s a start, anyway.
Proposed by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the Librarian Education Development Act would provide up to $5,000 in loan forgiveness to qualified librarians, teachers, and child-welfare workers in low-income communities.
—American Libraries, “House Bill Would Forgive Student Loans for Librarians”
nineteenfishes: only 5k? seems a little bit lame
DangerCat20: yeah, well.
DangerCat20: i don’t think the teachers get any better a deal.
UPDATE: Jessamyn at librarian.net mentions the story (linking to ALA’s press release instead of the news story linked above), and wonders at the ALA’s motives. Mark at …the thoughts are broken… also comments, pointing out that by the time you’ve worked long enough to get the deferment, you’ll have paid off that much already. . .