As you can tell from my two previous posts I have no qualms about discussing the politics of disaster relief.

At the same time I'm inclined to think that the following image is a bit of a pot shot. It is, however, a very well aimed pot shot.

( Read more... )

truth is stranger than . . . well, stranger than whatever I had been comparing it to.

(Katrina related)

Montage. Gary Farber has been covering Katrina extensively on his blog.

A variety of good links from the washington monthly on the lack of federal response:

photos

Providing chronology of FEMA preparedness.

On the lack of response.

On the people involved

On the frustration.

Two very good posts from Ezra Klein offering his perspecting to discussions about media bias.

First read this post (which is actually the second of two but, I think, the sharper).

"Alright -- I know this'll be even less popular than the last post, but since I've already sprayed flame-retardant on, let's do it: Is Bush really that popular with the ( Read more... )

In the middle of a comment thread about the nature of fantasy and Gawain and the Green Knight here a very good question is asked.

""The reason I wouldn't is that magic realism isn't so much a category as a literary movement or maybe a school -- like "nueva cancion" is a musical movement ( Read more... )

funny (and probably better without introduction but that may just be my self-serving justification for not writing a real post :)

More news about the Brazillian Electrician killed by London Police last month.

"The papers, from the probe into Jean Charles de Menezes' death, and leaked to ITV, suggest he was restrained before being shot eight times ( Read more... )

Thinking about this post by Prof B. reminded me of this song:

"Everybody needs a fire inside
Everybody needs a dream to ride
Everybody with a growing soul
Everybody needs a stone to roll

Everybody needs some old, loose shoes
Everybody needs some new, good news
Everybody needs a sheet to fold
Everybody needs a stone to rollThe post is a wonderful ( Read more... )

I struggled deciding how to phrase the subject header for this one. But however you want to connect the dots here are two short pieces that are very much worth reading.

1) Brad Plummer looks at cultural cognition and how it relates to politics.

"As I say, that's all pretty obvious so far. Cultural cognition structures facts, and it also filters ( Read more... )

Kung Fu Monkey responds to GWB's endorsement of teaching intelligent design (and does one of the best jobs of chanelling HST that I've seen):

"I'm not going to rehash the whole ridiculousness of Intelligent Design, or as it's more commonly known: "Creationism Trying to Look Serious By, Say, Squinting -- Like Denise Richards Playing the Nuclear ( Read more... )