Suitably Flip

Mom, Google Keeps Touching Me!

Worse still, it's those pesky Googlebots.

Lately, upon tracking my blog traffic at Sitemeter, I've noticed a sudden wellspring of readership coming out of Mountain View, California.  While flattering, I get the feeling these users might struggle with the Turing Test.

See that cluster of white dots about midway up the west coast?

In addition to hailing from Google's hometown, they surf a Google-branded ISP and they're all being referred by Bloxor (the self-affirmed "Best online aggregator ever!").

Not that I have a problem with this, mind you.  It inflates both my traffic numbers and my e-go, and I'm sure it's integral to Google's beta BlogSearch having gotten so good so quickly.

It's just mildly sad that the bots are such efficient blogcrawlers that they're often the first "readers" to log a visit after I publish a new post.

The Dawn of the Roberts Court

Now that John Roberts has been sworn in as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States, and despite the inevitable attention that's been heaped on divisive social issues, the less mused reality is that we may be entering a protracted period of Reaganomically delicious judiciousness.  An early corporate-related docket already seems to be taking shape, ranging from taxation to healthcare to antitrust law.

Despite the fact that John Roberts was never actually born, but rather synthetically grown in the Consummate Supreme Court Justice Laboratory ®, 22 Democrat Senators managed to muster nay votes with straight faces.

For posterity (via Confirm Them), they were:

Evan Bayh, Indiana
Joseph Biden, Delaware
Barbara Boxer, California
Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York
Jon Corzine, New Jersey
Mark Dayton, Minnesota
Dick Durbin, Illinois
Dianne Feinstein, California
Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts
John Kerry, Massachusetts
Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey
Barbara Mikulski, Maryland
Barack Obama, Illinois
Harry Reid, Nevada
Charles Schumer, New York
Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
Jack Reed, Rhode Island
Tom Harkin, Iowa
Daniel Inouye, Hawaii
Paul Sarbanes, Maryland
Maria Cantwell, Washington
Daniel Akaka, Hawaii

Death rattles and base-blandishings from the leftside lame ducks?  Possible, given that 10 of the 22 are up for re-election.  They are Reid, Dayton, Sarbanes (not expected to run), Feinstein, Clinton, Corzine (in 2005), Kennedy, Stabenow, Akaka, and Cantwell.

I think we can go ahead and chalk up all 10 for nay votes on Bush's second nom, unless they find a way to reanimate Fred Vinson.

Rainbowbacks

Sometime early next year, Alexander Hamilton will join Presidents Jackson and Grant in the sacrilegiously multicolored world of modern U.S. currency.

According to the Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing:

The new $10 note, which is the third denomination to be redesigned in the series, includes subtle shades of orange, yellow and red along with images of the Statue of Liberty's torch and the words "We the People" from the United States Constitution. The new $10 note will enter circulation in early 2006.

"Orange, yellow, and red" seems a touch euphemistic.  If they use the same palette as the rejiggered $20 and $50, the new sawbucks promise to be a jarring gallimaufry of pink, beige, and peach.  Just like the old bills, only covered in sherbet.

To blunt our disrelish, the Bureau has cooked up this semi-fun interactive exhibit that lets you zoom in to a hi-res image of the bill, hold it up to a virtual backlight, etc.

Counterfeiters, kindly disregard.

Howard Dean as Technophobe

Howard "I agree with Charlie Rangel that 'George Bush is Our Theophilus "Bull" Connor'" Dean recently voiced his endorsement for Democratic New York Mayoral nominee Fernando Ferrer.  What's so appealing about Ferrer?  Maybe it's his everyman roots.  From today's New York Sun (excerpting, emphasis, and annotation mine):

The Democratic mayoral candidate, Fernando Ferrer, claimed on his campaign Web site that he was "educated in public schools for most of my education," when in fact he went to Catholic school for 12 years before attending a private university.

[It was NYU.]

Mr. Ferrer yesterday blamed an editing error for the mistake and corrected it after it was highlighted by the campaign of Mayor Bloomberg. Mr. Bloomberg attended public school in Medford, Mass.

From an AP story posted on Ferrer's own website:

[Bloomberg's] campaign caused a stir on Tuesday by pointing out a blog entry on Ferrer's Web site that said he grew up in the South Bronx and was "educated in public schools," when in fact he attended Catholic private schools. The heading said "posted by Fernando Ferrer."

At a Ferrer campaign event, Dr. Dean was mystified about the significance of the misleading blog entry:

When reporters continued questioning Mr. Ferrer about the blog entry, Dr. Dean downplayed the importance of blogs, despite the fact that his own campaign Web site, which prominently featured a blog, boosted him to a new level of national prestige last year.

"What is this obsession with blogs? Does anyone care about education in this city?"
...
I really think the people of New York are going to be more interested in what a Mayor Ferrer is going to do for the school system than they are about whatever Mayor Bloomberg's nonsense about blogs is."

Can someone remind me what it was that Dean did that was of any pith or magnitude (other than gaffe after gaffe) besides his community-based web movement that assembled and motivated his much ballyhooed corps of donors and volunteers?

And he poo poos the "obsession" with blogs?

He doesn't even have the Mary "I'm Bitter Toward the Blogosphere for Giving Voice to Facts and Opinions that Tend to Work Against Me" Mapes motivation, but rather attempts to downplay the significance of a candidate spreading false information about himself (inadvertent though it may have been) via the medium, as if the inaccuracy of the claim is somehow nullified because of its new-fangly method of distribution.

Well, no one ever accused the man of stickling for consistency.

Tag, You're President

Exciting new bells and whistles adorn Patrick Ruffini's September GOP Presidential primary straw poll.

Now, in addition to both real and fantasy candidates, you can tag your vote with self-descriptive key words like conservative, moderate, rabid moonbat, etc.

With 17,000 votes cast in August's poll (in which Giuliani took top honors on the main ballot, but Condi easily won the fantasy gold), this new twist ought to give the blogosphere's demographic data doyen some interesting new statistics.

See last month's results.

King of all [Mainstream] Media

Radioblogger has the text and audio of Rep. Peter King (fellow Notre Dame alum and formerly my Congressman) swinging for the fences on Hardball today.  The topic at hand was media coverage of the aftermath of and emergency response to Hurricane Katrina.

A representatively unlickspittly snippet:

King: Chris, you are totally distorting reality, and that's the problem with you. You're distorting reality.  You're wrong on this story.  You and MSNBC are carried away with this. You should be ashamed of yourself. You've disgraced yourself and the media.

Duel!  Duel!  Duel!

Hear all 4 parts.

The Smears of a Clown

It's amazing how strongly some people are drawn to the siren call of victimhood.  From the New York Post (emphasis and excerpting mine):

PAGE SIX's cartoon on Monday, which depicted Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin as greasepaint-wearing buffoons, was no laughing matter to Queens clown Judy Beber. The fuming funny gal — who performs as "Sassafras the Clown" — claims the drawing ... has made a mockery of clowns the world over.

Honestly, what kind of monster would mock a clown?

"It portrayed us as bumbling idiots," Beber says. "I am just so disgusted with how we're portrayed as stupid or silly."

That might be the stupidest, silliest, most bumblingly idiotic thing I've ever read.

Beber points out clowns across the country are heading to New Orleans to entertain children stranded in shelters under the banner of Red Nose Relief. Given that fear of clowns is a common phobia among children and adults alike, Red Nose Relief's Web site has posted some handy tips for "Hurricane Katrina clowning." Among the suggestions: "Fear of clowns can be multiplied in a shelter environment. Full makeup and costume should be avoided. Wearing just a red nose and clown shoes will be enough to identify you as a caring clown."

Yes, and the cloying supplication for sympathy and attention (which I guess I'm acceding) also identifies you as empathetic to all those actual victims.

Want more?  Visit Red Nose Relief on the web, including a genuinely endearing statement by RNR founder Jeremy "Krispy" Cohen.

Just don't laugh.  They're a sensitive bunch.

Don't get me wrong - anyone who goes out of their way to help Katrina victims is top shelf in my book (to mix metaphors).  But the notion that comparing politicians to clowns is more insulting to the clowns than to the politicians... well, that's just all kinds of squandered potential for high comedy.  Sassafras and her associates somehow managed to befoul a solid derivative punch line into a simpering me-too auto-victimization.

Paying Attention is For Chumps

The pros make their minds up ahead of time.

From Page Six:

September 21, 2005 -- SEN. John Kerry doesn't need to listen to President Bush to criticize him. Kerry sat down to dinner at Café Milano in Georgetown last Thursday at 7:30 p.m. with three other men, and never glanced at the TV set at the bar during Bush's address from New Orleans. "Mr. Bush's speech ended at approximately 9:25 p.m. local time," Washington Times columnist John McCaslin noted. "Lo and behold, when he was still seated at the table wiping squid from his chin, Mr. Kerry responded to the president's address with a statement of his own, issued at exactly 9:54 p.m." Buried in Kerry's statement was this nugget: "Americans want an end to politics as usual." Pass the calamari.

Talabani Speaks

Cindy Sheehan asks what noble cause her son died for.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani answers (excerpting and emphasis mine):

Americans should be proud of what its soldiers have achieved. The presence of foreign forces has prevented a renewed civil war in Iraq--renewed because there has already been a civil war in Iraq. For 35 years, Saddam and his Baath Party made war on the Iraqi people. The liberation of Iraq ended that civil war.

Above all, American forces provide Iraq with a much-needed deterrence capability. In the past, Iraq sought an illusory security through the follies of aggression, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Today, our external security comes from our alliance with the United States.
...
Without American forces, the vision of American leadership and the quiet fortitude of the American people, Iraqis would be almost alone in the world. With its allies, the United States has provided Iraqis with an unprecedented opportunity. Iraqis have responded by enthusiastically embracing democracy and volunteering to fight for their country. By giving us the tools, your troops help us to defend Iraqi democracy and to finish the job of uprooting Baathist fascism.

Read the full text of President Talabani's piece in the Wall Street Journal.

Koz to Oz

Former Tyco chief Dennis Kozlowski and former CFO Mark Swartz were both sentenced to up to 25 years in prison today, following their convictions on counts involving the better part of a billion dollars worth of grand larceny, conspiracy, securities fraud, and falsifying documents.

For a reminder of the grotesque excesses that coarsed through Kozlowski's Tyco tenure, revisit the bizarre Sardinian birthday party/Buffet concert Denny threw for his wife on the company Lira.

Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before?

Well that's familiar (HT: Michelle Malkin).  What was this man telling us last time he struck this pose?

Vote the Rock

What do distortion guitars, electric keyboards, skinny ties, and Chuck Taylors have in common?

That's right - they're all integral components of any self-respecting 1980's movie montage.  As goes without saying, there are two types of 1980's movie montages: 1) training montages (Karate Kid, Rocky, Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, etc.) and 2) all other montages.

This poll is dedicated to #2, only because I feel like that's the more neglected category and, well, it's about time it got a little love.

So bask for a moment in this lost artform and cast your vote for greatest non-training-related 1980's movie montage:

1) Movie: The Secret of My Success
Task: Climbing the corporate ladder
Groove: "I'm Walking On Sunshine", by Katrina and the Waves

2) Movie: Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Task: Hijacking a parade float
Groove: "Danke Schoen/Twist and Shout", by Wayne Newton/The Beatles

3) Movie: One Crazy Summer
Task: Fixing the boat to beat Teddy Beckersted in the Nantucket Regatta
Groove: "Boat Building", by James Di Pasquale

4) Movie: Real Genius
Task: Building Professor Hathaway's super Army laser
Groove: "Number One", by Chaz Jenkal

5) Movie: The Naked Gun
Task: Courting and cavorting with Priscilla Presley
Groove: "I'm Into Something Good", by Herman's Hermits

6) Movie: Ghostbusters
Task: Paranormal extermination, strutting around NY in jumpsuits
Groove: "Ghostbusters", by Ray Parker, Jr.

7) Movie: The Muppet Movie
Task: Disguising a bus by painting it psychedelic colors, thus eluding Doc Hopper
Groove: "Can You Picture That?", by Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem

8) Movie: Back to the Future
Task: Bumper surfing to high school
Groove: "The Power of Love", by Huey Lewis and the News

Which movie montage gets St. Elmo's Fire burning in you?

The Secret of My SuccessFerris Bueller's Day OffOne Crazy SummerReal GeniusThe Naked GunGhostbustersThe Muppet MovieBack to the Future

Free polls from Pollhost.com

The First Rule of Project Mayhem...

Er, uh, I mean have you heard about Patrick Ruffini's new ECorps technology initiative?

(Patrick's the blogger that brings us all that gorgeous election research.)

Per Patrick:

ECorps allows web geeks, blog aficionados, and graphic designers across America to come in and share what they're good at. From this, we'll build a community of like-minded people just like you. You don't have to be especially political to join, and you don't have to have architected a Fortune 500 company web site either: a snazzy blog, or even just a willingness to learn will do just fine. If you're not the person for this, is the webmaster or database administrator at the office a closet Republican? Then send this to them. I'll need everyone's help to spread the word far and wide beyond the blogosphere.

And he won't even make you stand on his porch for three days without food or water to prove your resolve.

Go here to join.

Address to the Nation

No real surprises tonight, other than the certitude with which Bush is calling for an increased federal purview over future disaster response coordination.

The messages of hope, rebuilding, resolve, and even contrition were appropriate, capably delivered and certainly needed to be heard, but in terms of policy stances and action plans, I heard two things: the expansion of federal disaster injunction and the Cabinet-wide formal review.  Knowing this administration, that's more than just lip service.  I'm guessing the Secretaries have their work cut out for them.

Bloggers react:

• Measured praise from Bulldog Pundit at Ankle Biting Pundits
• Epoch3 recounts ABC's desperately slanted follow-up
• Lorie Byrd at PoliPundit has more on media follow-ups
• Hugh Hewitt reviews Bush's "perfect pitch"
• Michelle Malkin ponders the tact of Presidential hotline recitation
• Bob Cesca at Huffington Post declares Bush "an evil deadbeat Dad"
• Wonkette liveblogged a spastic fury of foul-mouthed sarcasm
• Scrappleface gives us gold (well, day-old gold, but it's still shiny)

If you missed it, The Political Teen has the video of the speech  Or click the link below for the full transcript. 

Transcript: Bush Katrina Address

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Good evening. I am speaking to you from the city of New Orleans – nearly empty, still partly under water, and waiting for life and hope to return. Eastward from Lake Pontchartrain, across the Mississippi coast, to Alabama and into Florida, millions of lives were changed in a day by a cruel and wasteful storm.

In the aftermath, we have seen fellow citizens left stunned and uprooted … searching for loved ones, and grieving for the dead … and looking for meaning in a tragedy that seems so blind and random. We have also witnessed the kind of desperation no citizen of this great and generous Nation should ever have to know – fellow Americans calling out for food and water … vulnerable people left at the mercy of criminals who had no mercy … and the bodies of the dead lying uncovered and untended in the street.

These days of sorrow and outrage have also been marked by acts of courage and kindness that make all Americans proud. Coast Guard and other personnel rescued tens of thousands of people from flooded neighborhoods. Religious congregations and families have welcomed strangers as brothers and sisters and neighbors. In the community of Chalmette, when two men tried to break into a home, the owner invited them to stay – and took in 15 other people who had no place to go. At Tulane Hospital for Children, doctors and nurses didn’t eat for days so patients could have food, and eventually carried the patients on their backs up eight flights of stairs to helicopters. Many first responders were victims themselves – wounded healers, with a sense of duty greater than their own suffering. When I met Steve Scott of the Biloxi Fire Department, he and his colleagues were conducting a house-to-house search for survivors. Steve told me this: “I lost my house and I lost my cars, but I still got my family ... and I still got my spirit.”

Across the Gulf Coast, among people who have lost much … and suffered much … and given to the limit of their power, we are seeing that same spirit: a core of strength that survives all hurt … a faith in God no storm can take away … and a powerful American determination to clear the ruins and build better than before.

Tonight so many victims of the hurricane and the flood are far from home and friends and familiar things. You need to know that our whole Nation cares about you – and in the journey ahead you are not alone. To all who carry a burden of loss, I extend the deepest sympathy of our country. To every person who has served and sacrificed in this emergency, I offer the gratitude of our country. And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes … we will stay as long as it takes … to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know: There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again.

The work of rescue is largely finished; the work of recovery is moving forward. In nearly all of Mississippi, electric power has been restored. Trade is starting to return to the Port of New Orleans, and agricultural shipments are moving down the Mississippi River. All major gasoline pipelines are now in operation, preventing the supply disruptions that many feared. The breaks in the levees have been closed, the pumps are running, and the water here in New Orleans is receding by the hour. Environmental officials are on the ground, taking water samples, identifying and dealing with hazardous debris, and working to get drinking water and waste water treatment systems operating again. And some very sad duties are being carried out by professionals who gather the dead, treat them with respect, and prepare them for their rest.

In the task of recovery and rebuilding, some of the hardest work is still ahead – and it will require the creative skill and generosity of a united country.

Our first commitment is to meet the immediate needs of those who had to flee their homes and leave all their possessions behind. For these Americans, every night brings uncertainty, every day requires new courage, and the months to come will bring more than their fair share of struggles.

The Department of Homeland Security is registering evacuees who are now in shelters, churches, or private homes – whether in the Gulf region or far away. I have signed an order providing immediate assistance to people from the disaster area. As of today, more than 500 thousand evacuee families have gotten emergency help to pay for food, clothing, and other essentials. Evacuees who have not yet registered should contact FEMA or the Red Cross. We need to know who you are, because many of you will also be eligible for broader assistance in the future. Many families were separated during the evacuation, and we are working to help you reunite. Please call 1-877-568-3317, that’s 1-877-568-3317, and we will work to bring your family back together, and pay for your travel to reach them.

In addition, we are taking steps to ensure that evacuees don’t have to travel great distances or navigate bureaucracies to get the benefits that are there for them. The Department of Health and Human Services has sent more than fifteen hundred health professionals, along with over 50 tons of medical supplies – including vaccines, antibiotics, and medicines for people with chronic conditions such as diabetes. The Social Security Administration is delivering checks. The Department of Labor is helping displaced persons apply for temporary jobs and unemployment benefits. And the Postal Service is registering new addresses so that people can get their mail.

To carry out the first stages of the relief effort and begin the rebuilding at once, I have asked for, and the Congress has provided, more than 60 billion dollars. This is an unprecedented response to an unprecedented crisis, which demonstrates the compassion and resolve of our nation.

Our second commitment is to help the citizens of the Gulf Coast to overcome this disaster, put their lives back together, and rebuild their communities. Along this coast, for mile after mile, the wind and water swept the land clean. In Mississippi, many thousands of houses were damaged or destroyed. In New Orleans and surrounding parishes, more than a quarter million houses are no longer safe to live in. Hundreds of thousands of people from across this region will need to find longer-term housing.

Our goal is to get people out of shelters by the middle of October. So we are providing direct assistance to evacuees that allows them to rent apartments, and many already are moving into places of their own. A number of states have taken in evacuees and shown them great compassion – admitting children to school, and providing health care. So I will work with Congress to ensure that states are reimbursed for these extra expenses.

In the disaster area – and in cities that have received huge numbers of displaced people – we are beginning to bring in mobile homes and trailers for temporary use. To relieve the burden on local health care facilities in the region, we are sending extra doctors and nurses to these areas. We are also providing money that can be used to cover overtime pay for police and fire departments while cities and towns rebuild.

Near New Orleans, Biloxi, and other cities, housing is urgently needed for police and firefighters, other service providers, and the many workers who are going to rebuild those cities. Right now, many are sleeping on ships we have brought to the Port of New Orleans – and more ships are on their way to the region. And we will provide mobile homes, and supply them with basic services, as close to the construction areas as possible, so the rebuilding process can go forward as quickly as possible.

And the federal government will undertake a close partnership with the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, the city of New Orleans, and other Gulf Coast cities, so they can rebuild in a sensible, well planned way. Federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone, from roads and bridges to schools and water systems. Our goal is to get the work done quickly. And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely – so we will have a team of inspectors general reviewing all expenditures.

In the rebuilding process, there will be many important decisions and many details to resolve, yet we are moving forward according to some clear principles. The federal government will be fully engaged in the mission, but Governor Barbour, Governor Blanco, Mayor Nagin, and other state and local leaders will have the primary role in planning for their own future. Clearly, communities will need to move decisively to change zoning laws and building codes, in order to avoid a repeat of what we have seen. And in the work of rebuilding, as many jobs as possible should go to men and women who live in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Our third commitment is this: when communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before the storm. Within the Gulf region are some of the most beautiful and historic places in America. As all of us saw on television, there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well. And that poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality. When the streets are rebuilt, there should be many new businesses, including minority-owned businesses, along those streets. When the houses are rebuilt, more families should own, not rent, those houses. When the regional economy revives, local people should be prepared for the jobs being created. Americans want the Gulf Coast not just to survive, but to thrive … not just to cope, but to overcome. We want evacuees to come home, for the best of reasons – because they have a real chance at a better life in a place they love.

When one resident of this city who lost his home was asked by a reporter if he would relocate, he said, “Naw, I will rebuild – but I’ll build higher.” That is our vision of the future, in this city and beyond: we will not just rebuild, we will build higher and better.

To meet this goal, I will listen to good ideas from Congress, state and local officials, and the private sector. I believe we should start with three initiatives that the Congress should pass.

Tonight I propose the creation of a Gulf Opportunity Zone, encompassing the region of the disaster in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Within this zone, we should provide immediate incentives for job-creating investment … tax relief for small businesses … incentives to companies that create jobs ... and loans and loan guarantees for small businesses, including minority-owned enterprises, to get them up and running again. It is entrepreneurship that creates jobs and opportunity … it is entrepreneurship that helps break the cycle of poverty … and we will take the side of entrepreneurs as they lead the economic revival of the Gulf region.

I propose the creation of Worker Recovery Accounts to help those evacuees who need extra help finding work. Under this plan, the federal government would provide accounts of up to five thousand dollars, which these evacuees could draw upon for job training and education to help them get a good job … and for child care expenses during their job search.

To help lower-income citizens in the hurricane region build new and better lives, I also propose that Congress pass an Urban Homesteading Act. Under this approach, we will identify property in the region owned by the federal government, and provide building sites to low-income citizens free of charge, through a lottery. In return, they would pledge to build on the lot, with either a mortgage or help from a charitable organization like Habitat for Humanity. Home ownership is one of the great strengths of any community, and it must be a central part of our vision for the revival of this region.

In the long run, the New Orleans area has a particular challenge, because much of the city lies below sea level. The people who call it home need to have reassurance that their lives will be safer in the years to come. Protecting a city that sits lower than the water around it is not easy – but it can and has been done. City and parish officials in New Orleans, and state officials in Louisiana, will have a large part in the engineering decisions to come – and the Army Corps of Engineers will work at their side to make the flood protection system stronger than it has ever been.

The work that has begun in the Gulf Coast region will be one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen. When that job is done, all Americans will have something to be very proud of – and all Americans are needed in this common effort. It is the armies of compassion – charities and houses of worship and idealistic men and women – that give our reconstruction effort its humanity. They offer to those who hurt a friendly face, an arm around the shoulder, and the reassurance that in hard times, they can count on someone who cares. By land, by sea, and by air, good people wanting to make a difference deployed to the Gulf Coast – and they have been working around the clock ever since.

The cash needed to support the armies of compassion is great, and Americans have given generously. For example, the private fundraising effort led by former Presidents Bush and Clinton has already received pledges of more than 100 million dollars. Some of that money is going to governors, to be used for immediate needs within their states. A portion will also be sent to local houses of worship, to help reimburse them for the expense of helping others. This evening the need is still urgent, and I ask the American people to continue donating to the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, other good charities, and religious congregations in the region.

It is also essential for the many organizations of our country to reach out to your fellow citizens in the Gulf area. So I have asked USA Freedom Corps to create an information clearing house, available at usafreedomcorps.gov, so that families anywhere in the country can find opportunities to help families in the region … or a school can support a school. And I challenge existing organizations – churches, Scout troops, or labor union locals to get in touch with their counterparts in Mississippi, Louisiana, or Alabama, and learn what they can do to help. In this great national enterprise, important work can be done by everyone, and everyone should find their role and do their part.

The government of this nation will do its part as well. Our cities must have clear and up-to-date plans for responding to natural disasters, disease outbreaks, or terrorist attack … for evacuating large numbers of people in an emergency … and for providing the food, water, and security they would need. In a time of terror threats and weapons of mass destruction, the danger to our citizens reaches much wider than a fault line or a flood plain. I consider detailed emergency planning to be a national security priority. Therefore, I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to undertake an immediate review, in cooperation with local counterparts, of emergency plans in every major city in America.

I also want to know all the facts about the government response to Hurricane Katrina. The storm involved a massive flood, a major supply and security operation, and an evacuation order affecting more than a million people. It was not a normal hurricane – and the normal disaster relief system was not equal to it. Many of the men and women of the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the United States military, the National Guard, Homeland Security, and state and local governments performed skillfully under the worst conditions. Yet the system, at every level of government, was not well coordinated, and was overwhelmed in the first few days. It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces – the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment’s notice.

Four years after the frightening experience of September 11th, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, I as President am responsible for the problem, and for the solution. So I have ordered every Cabinet secretary to participate in a comprehensive review of the government response to the hurricane. This government will learn the lessons of Hurricane Katrina. We are going to review every action and make necessary changes, so that we are better prepared for any challenge of nature, or act of evil men, that could threaten our people.

The United States Congress also has an important oversight function to perform. Congress is preparing an investigation, and I will work with members of both parties to make sure this effort is thorough.

In the life of this nation, we have often been reminded that nature is an awesome force, and that all life is fragile. We are the heirs of men and women who lived through those first terrible winters at Jamestown and Plymouth … who rebuilt Chicago after a great fire, and San Francisco after a great earthquake … who reclaimed the prairie from the dust bowl of the 1930s. Every time, the people of this land have come back from fire, flood, and storm to build anew – and to build better than what we had before. Americans have never left our destiny to the whims of nature – and we will not start now.

These trials have also reminded us that we are often stronger than we know – with the help of grace and one another. They remind us of a hope beyond all pain and death – a God who welcomes the lost to a house not made with hands. And they remind us that we are tied together in this life, in this nation – and that the despair of any touches us all.

I know that when you sit on the steps of a porch where a home once stood … or sleep on a cot in a crowded shelter … it is hard to imagine a bright future. But that future will come. The streets of Biloxi and Gulfport will again be filled with lovely homes and the sound of children playing. The churches of Alabama will have their broken steeples mended and their congregations whole. And here in New Orleans, the street cars will once again rumble down St. Charles, and the passionate soul of a great city will return.

In this place, there is a custom for the funerals of jazz musicians. The funeral procession parades slowly through the streets, followed by a band playing a mournful dirge as it moves to the cemetery. Once the casket has been laid in place, the band breaks into a joyful “second line” – symbolizing the triumph of the spirit over death. Tonight the Gulf Coast is still coming through the dirge – yet we will live to see the second line.

Thank you, and may God bless America.

Pharma, Pharma, Pharma, Pharma, Pharma Conundrum

Joe Kernan at CNBC's Squawkblog makes an interesting point about the dilemma facing pharmaceutical companies conducting trials on experimental drugs, many with the promise to improve or extend human life, but which may show evidence of dangerous side effects in clinical trials (emphasis and excerpting mine):

Last night [60 Minutes] ran a piece on [Amgen's] experimental drug for Parkinson's disease. In a nutshell, patients in Phase II clinical trials were given the drug, and many felt it benefited them greatly in slowing the progression of the disease.
...
Unfortunately ... studies showed brain lesions as a possible side effect. At this point it seems logical that development of the drug should end.

But where does that leave the people who volunteered for the clinical trials, who are convinced the drug works? Well it leaves them begging Amgen to supply it. And it puts the company in the unenviable position of denying people a drug for compassionate use.

In viewing this piece I was reminded of another "60 Minutes" report, on Merck and the controversy surrounding Vioxx. In that case, a drug with potentially serious side effects made it to market, and we all know the rest of the story. Merck currently plans to vigorously defend itself against each case. Liability estimates run as high as $30 billion.

Which company occupies the high ground? How should the FDA view what happened in each situation? As a society, what is it that we want from drug and biotech companies? Should we rush promising drugs to the market or conduct 10 years of follow-up research on every new compound before it comes to market?

Good questions all.  Given the significant (and ever-increasing) impact of new drugs on the length and quality of life, I'd lump the following onto the pile:

By what processes do the FDA, judges delivering jury instructions, the pharmaceutical companies themselves, and other key decision makers come to their decisions that impact the above considerations?  Has anyone gone through the process of formulating a coldly calculated, hidden-from-the-public cost-benefit workup that balances the risks and rewards of trial subjects' health, the informational value of trial data, the scope of the drug's expected public health benefits, financial profits, legal liabilities, and so on?  Clearly one can't discard every drug with potentially dangerous side effects.  A cure for cancer that led to lethal heart attacks in every millionth patient would be hard to disparage.  So how would you go about divining where to set the risk threshhold?

Any attempt to address the issue quantitatively surely would be viewed unsavorily.  It didn't work out too well for Ford after all (though that was strictly a dollars-to-lives/lawsuits calculation, not a dollars-to-lives-to-other-lives-to- additional-health-benefits-to-knowledge-to-etc.).  But the public disagreeability of the task doesn't render it less vital to making fully informed decisions.  If there are trade-offs to go or no go decisions, the head-in-the-sand approach of abstaining from a methodical, reasoned, and ultimately quantitative decision process and instead always erring to one side (e.g. non-production) may be better for sleeping at night, but all but guarantees a suboptimal outcome.

See Joe's post here.  I recommend reading it, if for no other reason than its reproach of "60 Minutes".

Delta Makes Like a Spinal Tap Amplifier

...and goes to 11.

So does Northwest.

Maybe Gordon was right about airlines making for lousy investments.

The Hottest Show in Vegas

Who subjects their employees to harsher working conditions - Wal-Mart, or the union employing temp workers to protest working conditions at Wal-Mart?

Let's compare:

       
                                                                                     

	United Food and
	Commercial Workers	Wal-Mart
Average Wage:	$6.00	$10.17
(in Nevada)
Benefits:	None	401k; Profit sharing;
		Subsidized insurance
Creature Comforts:	104 degrees	Air conditioning;
	(with occasional shade	Protection from elements;
	from Wal-Mart sign)	Plumbing
Health Hazards:	Heat stroke;	Accidental lashings
	Huge Blisters	by Rollback Smiley?
Nearest First Aid:	Wal-Mart	Wal-Mart

Guess where the blister-sufferer went for some soothing balm at an everyday low price...

More from (and a hat tip to) Andrew Roth at the Club for Growth blog.

The Big Grapple

Here in New York, we're counting down the hours until the Mayoral primary election.  A broad field of Democrat challengers has winnowed down to 4 realistic contenders:

• Fernando Ferrer (Former Bronx Borough President)
• C. Virginia Fields (Manhattan Bororough President)
• Gifford Miller (Speaker of the City Council)
• Anthony Weiner (U.S. Congressman)

Not surprisingly, given the city's precarious budgetary footing and incessant financial hemorrhage, fiscal policy is a key issue.  Most of the campaigning to date has been pretty kid gloved in terms of intraparty swipes, but once a nominee emerges (which may well not be until after a run-off), we should be treated to a fairly heated policy debate.

In the meantime, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research has assembled a digest of the hopefuls' fiscal intents (read: their respective crippling tax packages).  Each of the 4 is pledging to solve the budget problem with his or her own customized instrument of economic stagnation.

Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer would impose taxes on Wall Street trades to pay for school-spending increases, and on owners of vacant property to pay for subsidized housing. Congressman Anthony Weiner would hike taxes on households making more than $1 million a year to fund a middle-class tax cut. City Council Speaker Gifford Miller would hike taxes on all three groups: high-income earners, insurance companies, and commuters. Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields has not proposed a new direct tax on city residents or businesses, but, like Miller, she has proposed a commuter tax.

Lest you should suspect any of them plan on using the proceeds to stem the projected budget shortfalls, rest assured each has his or her own gargantuan supplemental spending package as well, ranging from $830 million to $2.2 billion.

Ferrer, the front-runner, would not only levy new taxes on Wall Street (by restoring the "stock transfer tax"), as noted above, but has sublimely earmarked an estimated 12.5% of his $2 billion spree to [get ready to put on your incredulous face] help Wall Street invest in new technology.

This defies belief.  Of course, the revenues generated from the Wall Street taxes (an estimated $1.25 billion) won't all be going straight back.  The lion's share will go to the more palatable cause of improving public schools.  But that's still a quarter of a billion dollars that Ferrer plans to strip out of the very financial engine of our city's (not to mention our country's) economy, just to funnel it back from whence it came.  This suggests a truly disturbing sense of entitlement and paternalistic spending discretion that Ferrer feels is a rightful function of city government.

The inescapable message to the Street is: "We're going to help ourselves to a hefty chunk of this money you're making, some of which we think is better allocated elsewhere, and some of which we think you should keep, but we want to show you how to spend it.  Also, you can expect the envelope to be a little lighter when you get it back, after it's been spun through a couple cycles of the bureaucratic wash."

Beyond the plan-specific perplexities, the more fundamental flaws in each candidate's proposal are two-fold.

1. The plans are short-sighted.
2. The incentives they create are directly contrary to those that would encourage sustainable fiscal balance and economic welfare.

To the first point, as noted in the Manhattan Institute piece:

...[None of the Democrat candidates] has proposed rational budget reform to address what city Comptroller William Thompson Jr. has called New York’s “central budgetary challenge: The fact that the growth of the city’s expenditures outpaces the growth of its revenues” between now and 2009, due, mainly, to rising Medicaid, pension and debt-service costs.

The problem with taxes (well, one of the problems with taxes) is that they can't be grown indefinitely simply by amping up the rates.  A lot of wealth can be wrung out of the corporate and upper-income purses in a single year - often enough to make a policy of boosted tax rates seem more fiscally responsible.  But even a casual consideration of the trends and the longer-term effects betrays the policy's flaw of short-sightedness.

Rising expenditures can't be offset forever (if at all) simply by raising the effective tax rate on a stagnant tax base.  Eventually, you've got to find a way to grow the tax base itself, and to do that, you need to encourage income and productivity growth.  If there's one thing enormous tax packages driven into the economic heart of city don't do, it's encourage income and productivity growth (enter the second flaw).

Compounding the incentive problem is the fact that these anti-business, anti-growth plans couldn't come at a worse time for New York.  Given the already high cost of doing business here, further amplified by terrorism concerns, the city has a fragile relationship with many of the financial powerhouses and other heavyweight corporate citizens.

We can no longer (and never should have) take(n) as a given that companies will pay whatever premium we attach to locating here.  Particularly with regard to financial institutions, as physical presence becomes increasingly irrelevant to the ability to transact business - whether retail banking or futures trading - City Hall pick pockets will be rightfully less and less abided.

New York was likely spared a larger post-9/11 corporate exodus because of the enduring allure of and affection for the city among its corporate citizens.  Ultimately, though, corporations are critically rational entities.  And policy-makers would do well to recognize the city's true vulnerability to the threat of a more pronounced emigration.  Our identity as a worldwide financial and cultural epicenter is our greatest stock in trade, and our primary leverage in keeping the big revenue-generators in town.  If enough of them get fed up and head across the river or up I-95, we may quickly observe a self-reinforcing trend.  The immense network effect that binds the corporate culture of New York might rapidly erode.

Time will shortly tell which of these four Gracie Mansion hopefuls moves on to the November title fight against Mayor Bloomberg.  Whoever it is will have an enviable shot, given the local electorate’s drastically lopsided party registration.  Ultimately though, New Yorkers are also critically rational entities, ones who I expect will be able to distinguish among policies that make for tidy and palatable soundbites and policies that engender the long-term prosperity of our city.

Query Qualms

If you've looked at Technorati (a popular blog search tool) lately, you've probably noticed that "Impeach bush" is listed as the "top search this hour".  Just as it was last hour.  Come to think of it, it's been the top search term the last several times I've been to the site.

To quote a great man: highly dubious.

To be fair, it's possible Technorati doesn't define "top" as "most frequent", but rather uses some special subjective measure known only within the Technorati walls.  Or it's possible some tech-savvy Bush-basher out in the blogosphere set up a script to query the site with that term over and over.  It's hard to know, since the site doesn't seem to offer further visibility into the raw data or the ranking methodology.

But let's assume (a valiant assumption, I'll concede) that blogger focus and blogreader focus tend to track fairly closely.  Then, with the help of the Technorati search engine, and using the frequency of new blog posts (tagged with a given search term) as a proxy measure for search requests using the same search term, then let's have a little pro forma popularity contest:

Katrina:  20 posts in 13 minutes
"September 11":  20 posts in 19 minutes
"Ipod Nano":  20 posts in 50 minutes
"Impeach Bush": 20 posts in 7 hours

So which is it - is my methodology fatally flawed?  Is the Technorati software vulnerable to hacking/gaming of its ranking algorithm?  Or is Technorati editorially falsifying its data?

(Post CC'd to Technorati, care of Media Contact.)

In Memoriam

Never Forget.

World Trade Center Victims

Gordon M. Aamoth, Jr.
Edelmiro Abad
Maria Rose Abad
Andrew Anthony Abate
Vincent Abate
Laurence Christopher Abel
William F. Abrahamson
Richard Anthony Aceto
Jesus Acevedo Rescand
Heinrich Bernhard Ackermann
Paul Acquaviva
Donald LaRoy Adams
Patrick Adams
Shannon Lewis Adams
Stephen George Adams
Ignatius Udo Adanga
Christy A. Addamo
Terence E. Adderley, Jr.
Sophia Buruwad Addo
Lee Allan Adler
Daniel Thomas Afflitto
Emmanuel Akwasi Afuakwah
Alok Agarwal
Mukul Kumar Agarwala
Joseph Agnello
David Scott Agnes
Brian G. Ahearn
Jeremiah Joseph Ahern
Joanne Marie Ahladiotis
Shabbir Ahmed
Terrance Andre Aiken
Godwin Ajala
Gertrude M. Alagero
Andrew Alameno
Margaret Ann Alario
Gary M. Albero
Jon Leslie Albert
Peter Alderman
Jacquelyn Delaine Aldridge
David D. Alger
Sarah Ali-Escarcega
Ernest Alikakos
Edward L. Allegretto
Eric Allen
Joseph Ryan Allen
Richard Dennis Allen
Richard Lanard Allen
Christopher E. Allingham
Janet M. Alonso
Arturo Alva-Moreno
Anthony Alvarado
Antonio Javier Alvarez
Victoria Alvarez-Brito
Telmo E. Alvear
Cesar Amoranto Alviar
Tariq Amanullah
Angelo Amaranto
James M. Amato Joseph Amatuccio
Christopher Charles Amoroso
Kazuhiro Anai
Calixto Anaya, Jr.
Joseph Anchundia
Kermit Charles Anderson
Yvette Constance Anderson
John Andreacchio
Michael Rourke Andrews
Jean Ann Andrucki
Siew-Nya Ang
Joseph Angelini, Jr.
Joseph Angelini, Sr.
Laura Angilletta
Doreen J. Angrisani
Lorraine Antigua
Peter Paul Apollo
Faustino Apostol, Jr.
Frank Thomas Aquilino
Patrick Michael Aranyos
David Arce
Michael George Arczynski
Louis Arena
Adam P. Arias
Michael Armstrong
Jack Charles Aron
Joshua Aron
Richard Avery Aronow
Japhet Jesse Aryee
Patrick Asante
Carl Asaro
Michael Asciak
Michael Edward Asher
Janice Marie Ashley
Thomas J. Ashton
Manuel O. Asitimbay
Gregg Arthur Atlas
Gerald T. Atwood
James Audiffred
Louis Frank Aversano, Jr.
Ezra Aviles
Sandy Ayala
Arlene T. Babakitis
Eustace P. Bacchus
John J. Badagliacca
Jane Ellen Baeszler
Robert J. Baierwalter
Andrew J. Bailey
Brett T. Bailey
Tatyana Bakalinskaya
Michael S. Baksh
Sharon M. Balkcom
Michael Andrew Bane
Katherine Bantis
Gerard Baptiste
Walter Baran
Gerard A. Barbara
Paul Vincent Barbaro
James William Barbella
Ivan Kyrillos F. Barbosa
Victor Daniel Barbosa
Colleen Ann Barkow
David Michael Barkway
Matthew Barnes
Sheila Patricia Barnes
Evan J. Baron
Renee Barrett-Arjune
Nathaly Barrios La Cruz
Arthur Thaddeus Barry
Diane G. Barry
Maurice Vincent Barry
Scott D. Bart
Carlton W. Bartels
Guy Barzvi
Inna B. Basina
Alysia Basmajian
Kenneth William Basnicki
Steven Bates
Paul James Battaglia
Walter David Bauer, Jr.
Marlyn Capito Bautista
Jasper Baxter
Michele Beale
Paul Frederick Beatini
Jane S. Beatty
Lawrence Ira Beck
Manette Marie Beckles
Carl John Bedigian
Michael Earnest Beekman
Maria A. Behr
Yelena Belilovsky
Nina Patrice Bell
Debbie Bellows
Stephen Elliot Belson
Paul M. Benedetti
Denise Lenore Benedetto
Maria Bengochea
Bryan Craig Bennett
Eric L. Bennett
Oliver Duncan Bennett
Margaret L. Benson
Dominick J. Berardi
James Patrick Berger
Steven Howard Berger
John P. Bergin
Alvin Bergsohn
Daniel Bergstein
Michael J. Berkeley
Donna M. Bernaerts
David W. Bernard
William Bernstein
David M. Berray
David S. Berry
Joseph J. Berry
William Reed Bethke
Timothy Betterly
Edward Frank Beyea
Paul Beyer
Anil Tahilram Bharvaney
Bella J. Bhukhan
Shimmy D. Biegeleisen
Peter Alexander Bielfeld
William G. Biggart
Brian Bilcher
Carl Vincent Bini
Gary Eugene Bird
Joshua David Birnbaum
George John Bishop
Jeffrey Donald Bittner
Albert Balewa Blackman, Jr.
Christopher Joseph Blackwell
Susan Leigh Blair
Harry Blanding, Jr.
Janice Lee Blaney
Craig Michael Blass
Rita Blau
Richard Middleton Blood, Jr.
Michael Andrew Boccardi
John P. Bocchi
Michael Leopoldo Bocchino
Susan M. Bochino
Bruce D. Boehm
Mary Catherine Boffa
Nicholas Andrew Bogdan
Darren Christopher Bohan
Lawrence Francis Boisseau
Vincent M. Boland, Jr.
Alan Bondarenko
Andre Bonheur, Jr.
Colin Arthur Bonnett
Frank Bonomo
Yvonne Lucia Bonomo
Genieve Bonsignore, 3
Seaon Booker
Sherry Ann Bordeaux
Krystine Bordenabe
Martin Boryczewski
Richard Edward Bosco
John H. Boulton
Francisco Eligio Bourdier
Thomas Harold Bowden, Jr.
Kimberly S. Bowers
Veronique Nicole Bowers
Larry Bowman
Shawn Edward Bowman, Jr.
Kevin L. Bowser
Gary R. Box
Gennady Boyarsky
Pamela Boyce
Michael Boyle
Alfred Braca
Kevin Bracken
David Brian Brady
Alexander Braginsky
Nicholas W. Brandemarti
Michelle Renee Bratton
Patrice Braut
Lydia E. Bravo
Ronald Michael Breitweiser
Edward A. Brennan III
Francis Henry Brennan
Michael E. Brennan
Peter Brennan
Thomas M. Brennan
Daniel J. Brethel
Gary Lee Bright
Jonathan Briley
Mark A. Brisman
Paul Gary Bristow
Mark Francis Broderick
Herman Charles Broghammer
Keith A. Broomfield
Ethel Brown Janice
Juloise Brown
Lloyd Stanford Brown
Patrick J. Brown
Bettina Browne
Mark Bruce
Richard George Bruehert
Andrew Brunn
Vincent Brunton
Ronald Paul Bucca
Brandon J. Buchanan
Gregory Joseph Buck
Dennis Buckley
Nancy Clare Bueche
Patrick Joseph Buhse
John Edwards Bulaga, Jr.
Stephen Bunin
Matthew J. Burke
Thomas Daniel Burke
William Francis Burke, Jr.
Donald J. Burns
Kathleen Anne Burns
Keith James Burns
John Patrick Burnside
Irina Buslo
Milton G. Bustillo
Thomas M. Butler
Patrick Byrne
Timothy G. Byrne
Jesus Neptali Cabezas
Lillian Caceres
Brian Joseph Cachia
Steven Dennis Cafiero, Jr.
Richard M. Caggiano
Cecile Marella Caguicla
Michael John Cahill
Scott Walter Cahill
Thomas Joseph Cahill
George Cain
Salvatore B. Calabro
Joseph Calandrillo
Philip V. Calcagno
Edward Calderon
Kenneth Marcus Caldwell
Dominick Enrico Calia
Felix Calixte
Frank Callahan
Liam Callahan
Luigi Calvi
Roko Camaj
Michael F. Cammarata
David Otey Campbell
Geoffrey Thomas Campbell
Jill Marie Campbell
Robert Arthur Campbell
Sandra Patricia Campbell
Sean Thomas Canavan
John A. Candela
Vincent Cangelosi
Stephen J. Cangialosi
Lisa Bella Cannava
Brian Cannizzaro
Michael Canty
Louis Anthony Caporicci
Jonathan Neff Cappello
James Christopher Cappers
Richard Michael Caproni
Jose Manuel Cardona
Dennis M. Carey
Steve Carey
Edward Carlino
Michael Scott Carlo
David G. Carlone
Rosemarie C. Carlson
Mark Stephen Carney
Joyce Ann Carpeneto
Ivhan Luis Carpio Bautista
Jeremy M. Carrington
Michael Carroll
Peter Carroll
James Joseph Carson, Jr.
Marcia Cecil Carter
James Marcel Cartier
Vivian Casalduc
John Francis Casazza
Paul R. Cascio
Margarito Casillas
Thomas Anthony Casoria
William Otto Caspar
Alejandro Castano
Arcelia Castillo
Germaan Castillo Garcia
Leonard M. Castrianno
Jose Ramon Castro
Richard G. Catarelli
Christopher Sean Caton
Robert John Caufield
Mary Teresa Caulfield
Judson Cavalier
Michael Joseph Cawley
Jason David Cayne
Juan Armando Ceballos
Jason Michael Cefalu
Thomas Joseph Celic
Ana Mercedes Centeno
Joni Cesta
Jeffrey Marc Chairnoff
Swarna Chalasani
William Chalcoff
Eli Chalouh
Charles Lawrence Chan
Mandy Chang
Mark Lawrence Charette
Gregorio Manuel Chavez
Delrose E. Cheatham
Pedro Francisco Checo
Douglas MacMillan Cherry
Stephen Patrick Cherry
Vernon Paul Cherry
Nester Julio Chevalier
Swede Chevalier
Alexander H. Chiang
Dorothy J. Chiarchiaro
Luis Alfonso Chimbo
Robert Chin
Wing Wai Ching
Nicholas Paul Chiofalo
John Chipura
Peter A. Chirchirillo
Catherine Chirls
Kyung Hee Cho
Abul K. Chowdhury
Mohammad Salahuddin Chowdhury
Kirsten L. Christophe
Pamela Chu
Steven Chucknick
Wai Chung
Christopher Ciafardini
Alex F. Ciccone
Frances Ann Cilente
Elaine Cillo
Edna Cintron
Nestor Andre Cintron III
Robert Dominick Cirri
Juan Pablo Cisneros-Alvarez
Benjamin Keefe Clark
Eugene Clark
Gregory Alan Clark
Mannie Leroy Clark
Thomas R. Clark
Christopher Robert Clarke
Donna Marie Clarke
Michael J. Clarke
Suria Rachel Emma Clarke
Kevin Francis Cleary
James D. Cleere
Geoffrey W. Cloud
Susan Marie Clyne
Steven Coakley
Jeffrey Alan Coale
Patricia A. Cody
Daniel Michael Coffey
Jason M. Coffey
Florence G. Cohen
Kevin Sanford Cohen
Anthony Joseph Coladonato
Mark Joseph Colaio
Stephen Colaio
Christopher M. Colasanti
Kevin Nathaniel Colbert
Michel P. Colbert
Keith E. Coleman
Scott Thomas Coleman
Tarel Coleman
Liam Joseph Colhoun
Robert D. Colin
Robert J. Coll
Jean Collin
John Michael Collins
Michael L. Collins
Thomas J. Collins
Joseph Collison
Patricia Malia Colodner
Linda M. Colon
Sol E. Colon
Ronald Edward Comer
Sandra Jolane Conaty Brace
Jaime Concepcion
Albert Conde
Denease Conley
Susan P. Conlon
Margaret Mary Conner
Cynthia Marie Lise Connolly
John E. Connolly, Jr.
James Lee Connor
Jonathan M. Connors
Kevin Patrick Connors
Kevin F. Conroy
Jose Manuel Contreras-Fernandez
Brenda E. Conway
Dennis Michael Cook
Helen D. Cook
John A. Cooper
Joseph John Coppo, Jr.
Gerard J. Coppola
Joseph Albert Corbett
Alejandro Cordero
Robert Cordice
Ruben D. Correa
Danny A. Correa-Gutierrez
James J. Corrigan
Carlos Cortes
Kevin Cosgrove
Dolores Marie Costa
Digna Alexandra Costanza
Charles Gregory Costello, Jr.
Michael S. Costello
Conrod K. Cottoy
Martin John Coughlan
John Gerard Coughlin
Timothy J. Coughlin
James E. Cove
Andre Cox
Frederick John Cox
James Raymond Coyle
Michele Coyle-Eulau
Anne Marie Cramer
Christopher S. Cramer
Denise Elizabeth Crant
James Leslie Crawford, Jr.
Robert James Crawford
Joanne Mary Cregan
Lucy Crifasi
John A. Crisci
Daniel Hal Crisman
Dennis Cross
Kevin Raymond Crotty
Thomas G. Crotty
John Crowe
Welles Remy Crowther
Robert L. Cruikshank
John Robert Cruz
Grace Yu Cua
Kenneth John Cubas
Francisco Cruz Cubero
Richard J. Cudina
Neil James Cudmore
Thomas Patrick Cullen lll
Joyce Cummings
Brian Thomas Cummins
Michael Cunningham
Robert Curatolo
Laurence Damian Curia
Paul Dario Curioli
Beverly Curry
Michael S. Curtin
Gavin Cushny
John D'Allara
Vincent Gerard D'Amadeo
Jack D'Ambrosi
Mary D'Antonio
Edward A. D'Atri
Michael D. D'Auria
Michael Jude D'Esposito
Manuel John Da Mota
Caleb Arron Dack
Carlos S. DaCosta
Joao Alberto DaFonseca Aguiar, Jr.
Thomas A. Damaskinos
Jeannine Marie Damiani-Jones
Patrick W. Danahy
Nana Danso
Vincent Danz
Dwight Donald Darcy
Elizabeth Ann Darling
Annette Andrea Dataram
Lawrence Davidson
Michael Allen Davidson
Scott Matthew Davidson
Titus Davidson
Niurka Davila
Clinton Davis
Wayne Terrial Davis
Anthony Richard Dawson
Calvin Dawson
Edward James Day
Jayceryll de Chavez
Jennifer De Jesus
Monique E. De Jesus
Nereida De Jesus
Emerita De La Pena
Azucena Maria de la Torre
David Paul De Rubbio
Jemal Legesse De Santis
Christian Louis De Simone
Melanie Louise De Vere
William Thomas Dean
Robert J. DeAngelis, Jr.
Thomas Patrick DeAngelis
Tara E. Debek
Anna Marjia DeBin
James V. Deblase
Paul DeCola
Simon Marash Dedvukaj
Jason Defazio
David A. DeFeo
Manuel Del Valle, Jr.
Donald Arthur Delapenha
Vito Joseph DeLeo
Danielle Anne Delie
Joseph A. Della Pietra
Andrea DellaBella
Palmina DelliGatti
Colleen Ann Deloughery
Francis Albert DeMartini
Anthony Demas
Martin N. DeMeo
Francis Deming
Carol K. Demitz
Kevin Dennis
Thomas F. Dennis
Jean DePalma
Jose Depena
Robert John Deraney
Michael DeRienzo
Edward DeSimone III
Andrew Desperito
Cindy Ann Deuel
Jerry DeVito
Robert P. Devitt, Jr.
Dennis Lawrence Devlin
Gerard Dewan
Sulemanali Kassamali Dhanani
Patricia Florence Di Chiaro
Debra Ann Di Martino
Michael Louis Diagostino
Matthew Diaz
Nancy Diaz
Rafael Arturo Diaz
Michael A. Diaz-Piedra III
Judith Berquis Diaz-Sierra
Joseph Dermot Dickey, Jr.
Lawrence Patrick Dickinson
Michael D. Diehl
John Difato
Vincent Difazio
Carl Anthony DiFranco
Donald Difranco
Stephen Patrick Dimino
William John Dimmling
Marisa DiNardo Schorpp
Christopher M. Dincuff
Jeffrey Mark Dingle
Anthony Dionisio
George DiPasquale
Joseph Dipilato
Douglas Frank DiStefano
Ramzi A. Doany
John Joseph Doherty
Melissa C. Doi
Brendan Dolan
Neil Matthew Dollard
James Joseph Domanico
Benilda Pascua Domingo
Carlos Dominguez
Jerome Mark Patrick Dominguez
Kevin W. Donnelly
Jacqueline Donovan
Stephen Scott Dorf
Thomas Dowd
Kevin Dowdell
Mary Yolanda Dowling
Raymond Mathew Downey
Frank Joseph Doyle
Joseph Michael Doyle
Stephen Patrick Driscoll
Mirna A. Duarte
Michelle Beale Duberry
Luke A. Dudek
Christopher Michael Duffy
Gerard Duffy
Michael Joseph Duffy
Thomas W. Duffy
Antoinette Duger
Sareve Dukat
Christopher Joseph Dunne
Richard Anthony Dunstan
Patrick Thomas Dwyer
Joseph Anthony Eacobacci
John Bruce Eagleson
Robert Douglas Eaton
Dean Phillip Eberling
Margaret Ruth Echtermann
Paul Robert Eckna
Constantine Economos
Dennis Michael Edwards
Michael Hardy Edwards
Christine Egan
Lisa Egan
Martin J. Egan, Jr.
Michael Egan
Samantha Martin Egan
Carole Eggert
Lisa Caren Ehrlich
John Ernst Eichler
Eric Adam Eisenberg
Daphne Ferlinda Elder
Michael J. Elferis
Mark Joseph Ellis
Valerie Silver Ellis
Albert Alfy William Elmarry
Edgar Hendricks Emery, Jr.
Doris Suk-Yuen Eng
Christopher Epps
Ulf Ramm Ericson
Erwin L. Erker
William John Erwin
Jose Espinal
Fanny Espinoza
Bridget Ann Esposito
Francis Esposito
Michael Esposito
William Esposito
Ruben Esquilin, Jr.
Sadie Ette
Barbara G. Etzold
Eric Brian Evans
Robert Evans
Meredith Emily June Ewart
Catherine K. Fagan
Patricia Mary Fagan
Keith George Fairben
Sandra Fajardo-Smith
William F. Fallon
William Lawrence Fallon, Jr.
Anthony J. Fallone, Jr.
Dolores Brigitte Fanelli
John Joseph Fanning
Kathleen Anne Faragher
Thomas Farino
Nancy Carole Farley
Elizabeth Ann Farmer
Douglas Jon Farnum
John G. Farrell
John W. Farrell
Terrence Patrick Farrell
Joseph D. Farrelly
Thomas Patrick Farrelly
Syed Abdul Fatha
Christopher Edward Faughnan
Wendy R. Faulkner
Shannon Marie Fava
Bernard D. Favuzza
Robert Fazio, Jr.
Ronald Carl Fazio
William Feehan
Francis Jude Feely
Garth Erin Feeney
Sean B. Fegan
Lee S. Fehling
Peter Adam Feidelberg
Alan D. Feinberg
Rosa Maria Feliciano
Edward Thomas Fergus, Jr.
George Ferguson
Henry Fernandez
Judy Hazel Fernandez
Julio Fernandez
Elisa Giselle Ferraina
Anne Marie Sallerin Ferreira
Robert John Ferris
David Francis Ferrugio
Louis V. Fersini
Michael David Ferugio
Bradley James Fetchet
Jennifer Louise Fialko
Kristen Nicole Fiedel
Samuel Fields
Michael Bradley Finnegan
Timothy J. Finnerty
Michael Curtis Fiore
Stephen S R Fiorelli, Sr.
Paul M. Fiori
John B. Fiorito
John R. Fischer
Andrew Fisher
Bennett Lawson Fisher
John Roger Fisher
Thomas J. Fisher
Lucy A. Fishman
Ryan D. Fitzgerald
Thomas James Fitzpatrick
Richard P. Fitzsimons
Salvatore Fiumefreddo
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Joseph John Perroncino
Edward J. Perrotta
Emelda H. Perry
Glenn C. Perry
John William Perry
Franklin Allan Pershep
Danny Pesce
Michael John Pescherine
Davin Peterson
William Russell Peterson
Mark Petrocelli
Philip Scott Petti
Glen Kerrin Pettit
Dominick Pezzulo
Kaleen Elizabeth Pezzuti
Kevin Pfeifer
Tu-Anh Pham
Kenneth Phelan
Sneha Ann Philips
Gerard Phillips
Suzette Eugenia Piantieri
Ludwig John Picarro
Matthew M. Picerno
Joseph Oswald Pick
Christopher Pickford
Dennis J. Pierce
Bernard Pietronico
Nicholas P. Pietrunti
Theodoros Pigis
Susan Elizabeth Pinto
Joseph Piskadlo
Christopher Todd Pitman
Joshua Piver
Joseph Plumitallo
John Pocher
William Howard Pohlmann
Laurence Polatsch
Thomas H. Polhemus
Steve Pollicino
Susan M. Pollio
Joshua Iousa Poptean
Giovanna Porras
Anthony Portillo
James Edward Potorti
Daphne Pouletsos
Richard N. Poulos
Stephen Emanual Poulos
Brandon Jerome Powell
Shawn Edward Powell
Antonio Pratt
Gregory M. Preziose
Wanda Ivelisse Prince
Vincent Princiotta
Kevin Prior
Everett Martin Proctor III
Carrie Beth Progen
Sarah Prothero-Redheffer
David Lee Pruim
Richard Prunty
John Foster Puckett
Robert David Pugliese
Edward F. Pullis
Patricia Ann Puma
Hemanth Kumar Puttur
Edward R. Pykon
Christopher Quackenbush
Lars Peter Qualben
Lincoln Quappe
Beth Ann Quigley
Michael Quilty
James Francis Quinn
Ricardo J. Quinn
Carlos Quishpe-Cuaman
Carol Millicent Rabalais
Christopher Peter A. Racaniello
Leonard J. Ragaglia
Eugene Raggio
Laura Marie Ragonese-Snik
Michael Ragusa
Peter Frank Raimondi
Harry A. Raines
Ehtesham Raja
Valsa Raju
Edward Rall
Lukas Rambousek
Maria Ramirez
Harry Ramos
Vishnoo Ramsaroop
Lorenzo E. Ramzey
Alfred Todd Rancke
Adam David Rand
Jonathan C. Randall
Srinivasa Shreyas Ranganath
Anne T. Ransom
Faina Aronovna Rapoport
Robert A. Rasmussen
Amenia Rasool
Roger Mark Rasweiler
David Alan Rathkey
William Ralph Raub
Gerard P. Rauzi
Alexey Razuvaev
Gregory Reda
Michele Reed
Judith Ann Reese
Donald J. Regan
Robert M. Regan
Thomas Michael Regan
Christian Michael Otto Regenhard
Howard Reich
Gregg Reidy
James Brian Reilly
Kevin O. Reilly
Timothy E. Reilly
Joseph Reina, Jr.
Thomas Barnes Reinig
Frank Bennett Reisman
Joshua Scott Reiss
Karen Renda
John Armand Reo
Richard Cyril Rescorla
John Thomas Resta
Luis Clodoaldo Revilla
Eduvigis Reyes, Jr.
Bruce Albert Reynolds
John Frederick Rhodes
Francis Saverio Riccardelli
Rudolph N. Riccio
Ann Marie Riccoboni
David H. Rice
Eileen Mary Rice
Kenneth Frederick Rice III
Vernon Allan Richard
Claude Daniel Richards
Gregory David Richards
Michael Richards
Venesha Orintia Richards
James C. Riches
Alan Jay Richman
John M. Rigo
Theresa Risco
Rose Mary Riso
Moises N. Rivas
Joseph Rivelli
Carmen Alicia Rivera
Isaias Rivera
Juan William Rivera
Linda Ivelisse Rivera
David E. Rivers
Joseph R. Riverso
Paul V. Rizza
John Frank Rizzo
Stephen Louis Roach
Joseph Roberto
Leo Arthur Roberts
Michael Roberts
Michael Edward Roberts
Donald Walter Robertson, Jr.
Catherina Robinson
Jeffery Robinson
Michell Lee Jean Robotham
Donald A. Robson
Antonio A. Rocha
Raymond James Rocha
Laura Rockefeller
John Rodak
Antonio J. Rodrigues
Anthony Rodriguez
Carmen Milagros Rodriguez
Gregory Ernesto Rodriguez
Marsha A. Rodriguez
Mayra Valdes Rodriguez
Richard Rodriguez
David Bartolo Rodriguez-Vargas
Matthew Rogan
Karlie Barbara Rogers
Scott Williams Rohner
Keith Roma
Joseph M. Romagnolo
Efrain Romero, Sr.
Elvin Romero
Juan Romero
Orozco James A. Romito
Sean Paul Rooney
Eric Thomas Ropiteau
Aida Rosario
Angela Rosario
Wendy Alice Rosario Wakeford
Mark Rosen
Brooke David Rosenbaum
Linda Rosenbaum
Sheryl Lynn Rosenbaum
Lloyd Daniel Rosenberg
Mark Louis Rosenberg
Andrew Ira Rosenblum
Joshua M. Rosenblum
Joshua Alan Rosenthal
Richard David Rosenthal
Daniel Rosetti
Norman S. Rossinow
Nicholas P. Rossomando
Michael Craig Rothberg
Donna Marie Rothenberg
Nicholas Rowe
Timothy Alan Roy, Sr.
Paul G. Ruback
Ronald J. Ruben
Joanne Rubino
David M. Ruddle
Bart Joseph Ruggiere
Susan A. Ruggiero
Adam Keith Ruhalter
Gilbert Ruiz
Obdulio Ruiz Diaz
Stephen P. Russell
Steven Harris Russin
Michael Thomas Russo, Sr.
Wayne Alan Russo
Edward Ryan
John Joseph Ryan, Jr.
Jonathan Stephan Ryan
Matthew Lancelot Ryan
Tatiana Ryjova
Christina Sunga Ryook
Thierry Saada
Jason Elazar Sabbag
Thomas E. Sabella
Scott Saber
Joseph Francis Sacerdote
Neeraha Sadaranghgani
Mohammad Ali Sadeque
Francis John Sadocha
Jude Safi
Brock Joel Safronoff
Edward Saiya
John Patrick Salamone
Hernando Salas
Juan G. Salas
Esmerlin Antonio Salcedo
John Salvatore Salerno, Jr.
Richard L. Salinardi, Jr.
Wayne John Saloman
Nolbert Salomon
Catherine Patricia Salter
Frank Salvaterra
Paul Richard Salvio
Samuel Robert Salvo, Jr.
Rena Sam-Dinnoo
Carlos Alberto Samaniego
James Kenneth Samuel, Jr.
Michael San Phillip
Sylvia San Pio
Hugo M. Sanay
Erick Sanchez
Jacquelyn Patrice Sanchez
Eric M. Sand
Stacey Leigh Sanders
Herman S. Sandler
James Sands, Jr.
Ayleen J. Santiago
Kirsten Santiago
Maria Theresa Santillan
Susan Gayle Santo
Christopher Santora
John A. Santore
Mario L. Santoro
Rafael Humberto Santos
Rufino Conrado Flores Santos Iii
Jorge Octavio Santos Anaya
Kalyan Sarkar
Chapelle R. Sarker
Paul F. Sarle
Deepika Kumar Sattaluri
Gregory Thomas Saucedo
Susan M. Sauer
Anthony Savas
Vladimir Savinkin
Jackie Sayegh
John Michael Sbarbaro
Robert L. Scandole, Jr.
Michelle Scarpitta
Dennis Scauso
John Albert Schardt
John G. Scharf
Frederick Claude Scheffold, Jr.
Angela Susan Scheinberg
Scott Mitchell Schertzer
Sean Schielke
Steven Francis Schlag
Jon Schlissel
Karen Helene Schmidt
Ian Schneider
Thomas G. Schoales
Frank G. Schott, Jr.
Gerard Patrick Schrang
Jeffrey H. Schreier
John T. Schroeder
Susan Lee Schuler
Edward William Schunk
Mark E. Schurmeier
Clarin Shellie Schwartz
John Burkhart Schwartz
Mark Schwartz
Adriane Victoria Scibetta
Raphael Scorca
Randolph Scott
Sheila Scott
Christopher Jay Scudder
Arthur Warren Scullin
Michael Herman Seaman
Margaret M. Seeliger
Anthony Segarra
Carlos Segarra
Jason Sekzer
Matthew Carmen Sellitto
Howard Selwyn
Larry John Senko
Arturo Angelo Sereno
Frankie Serrano
Alena Sesinova
Adele Christine Sessa
Sita Nermalla Sewnarine
Karen Lynn Seymour
Davis Sezna
Thomas Joseph Sgroi
Jayesh S. Shah
Khalid M. Shahid
Mohammed Shajahan
Gary Shamay
Earl Richard Shanahan
Neil Shastri
Kathryn Anne Shatzoff
Barbara A. Shaw
Jeffrey James Shaw
Robert John Shay, Jr.
Daniel James Shea
Joseph Patrick Shea
Linda Sheehan
Hagay Shefi
John Anthony Sherry
Atsushi Shiratori
Thomas Joseph Shubert
Mark Shulman
See Wong Shum
Allan Abraham Shwartzstein
Johanna Sigmund
Dianne T. Signer
Gregory Sikorsky
Stephen Gerard Siller
David Silver
Craig A. Silverstein
Nasima Hameed Simjee
Bruce Edward Simmons
Arthur Simon
Kenneth Alan Simon
Michael J. Simon
Paul Joseph Simon
Marianne Teresa Simone
Barry Simowitz
Jeff Lyal Simpson
Khamladai Singh
Kulwant Singh
Roshan Ramesh Singh
Thomas E. Sinton III
Peter A. Siracuse
Muriel Fay Siskopoulos
Joseph Michael Sisolak
John P. Skala
Francis Joseph Skidmore, Jr.
Toyena Skinner
Paul A. Skrzypek
Christopher Paul Slattery
Vincent Robert Slavin
Robert F. Sliwak
Paul K. Sloan
Stanley S. Smagala, Jr.
Wendy L. Small
Catherine Smith
Daniel Laurence Smith
George Eric Smith
James Gregory Smith
Jeffrey R. Smith
Joyce Patricia Smith
Karl T. Smith
Keisha Smith
Kevin Joseph Smith
Leon Smith, Jr.
Moira Ann Smith
Rosemary A. Smith
Bonnie Jeanne Smithwick
Rochelle Monique Snell
Leonard J. Snyder, Jr.
Astrid Elizabeth Sohan
Sushil S. Solanki
Ruben Solares
Naomi Leah Solomon
Daniel W. Song
Michael Charles Sorresse
Fabian Soto
Timothy Patrick Soulas
Gregory Spagnoletti
Donald F. Spampinato, Jr.
Thomas Sparacio
John Anthony Spataro
Robert W. Spear, Jr.
Maynard S. Spence, Jr.
George Edward Spencer III
Robert Andrew Spencer
Mary Rubina Sperando
Tina Spicer
Frank Spinelli
William E. Spitz
Joseph Spor, Jr.
Klaus Johannes Sprockamp
Saranya Srinuan
Fitzroy St. Rose
Michael F. Stabile
Lawrence T. Stack
Timothy M. Stackpole
Richard James Stadelberger
Eric Stahlman
Gregory Stajk
Alexandru Liviu Stan
Corina Stan
Mary Domenica Stanley
Anthony Starita
Jeffrey Stark
Derek James Statkevicus
Craig William Staub
William V. Steckman
Eric Thomas Steen
William R. Steiner
Alexander Steinman
Andrew Stergiopoulos
Andrew Stern
Martha Stevens
Michael James Stewart
Richard H. Stewart, Jr.
Sanford M. Stoller
Lonny Jay Stone
Jimmy Nevill Storey
Timothy Stout
Thomas Strada
James J. Straine, Jr.
Edward W. Straub
George J. Strauch, Jr.
Edward T. Strauss
Steven R. Strauss
Steven F. Strobert
Walwyn W. Stuart, Jr.
Benjamin Suarez
David Scott Suarez
Ramon Suarez
Yoichi Sugiyama
William Christopher Sugra
Daniel Suhr
David Marc Sullins
Christopher P. Sullivan
Patrick Sullivan
Thomas Sullivan
Hilario Soriano Sumaya, Jr.
James Joseph Suozzo
Colleen Supinski
Robert Sutcliffe
Seline Sutter
Claudia Suzette Sutton
John Francis Swaine
Kristine M. Swearson
Brian Edward Sweeney
Kenneth J. Swenson
Thomas Swift
Derek Ogilvie Sword
Kevin Thomas Szocik
Gina Sztejnberg
Norbert P. Szurkowski
Harry Taback
Joann Tabeek
Norma C. Taddei
Michael Taddonio
Keiichiro Takahashi
Keiji Takahashi
Phyllis Gail Talbot
Robert Talhami
Sean Patrick Tallon
Paul Talty
Maurita Tam
Rachel Tamares
Hector Tamayo
Michael Andrew Tamuccio
Kenichiro Tanaka
Rhondelle Cheri Tankard
Michael Anthony Tanner
Dennis Gerard Taormina, Jr.
Kenneth Joseph Tarantino
Allan Tarasiewicz
Ronald Tartaro
Darryl Anthony Taylor
Donnie Brooks Taylor
Lorisa Ceylon Taylor
Michael Morgan Taylor
Paul A. Tegtmeier
Yeshauant Tembe
Anthony Tempesta
Dorothy Pearl Temple
Stanley Temple
David Tengelin
Brian John Terrenzi
Lisa M. Terry
Shell Tester
Goumatie T. Thackurdeen
Sumati Thakur
Harshad Sham Thatte
Thomas F. Theurkauf, Jr.
Lesley Anne Thomas
Brian Thomas Thompson
Clive Thompson
Glenn Thompson
Nigel Bruce Thompson
Perry A. Thompson
Vanavah Alexei Thompson
William H. Thompson
Eric Raymond Thorpe
Nichola Angela Thorpe
Sal Edward Tieri, Jr.
John p Tierney
Mary Ellen Tiesi
William R. Tieste
Kenneth Francis Tietjen
Stephen Edward Tighe
Scott Charles Timmes
Michael E. Tinley
Jennifer M. Tino
Robert Frank Tipaldi
John James Tipping II
David Tirado
Hector Luis Tirado, Jr.
Michelle Lee Titolo
John J. Tobin
Richard Todisco
Vladimir Tomasevic
Stephen Kevin Tompsett
Thomas Tong
Doris Torres
Luis Eduardo Torres
Amy Elizabeth Toyen
Christopher Michael Traina
Daniel Patrick Trant
Abdoul Karim Traore
Glenn J. Travers
Walter Philip Travers
Felicia Y. Traylor-Bass
Lisa L. Trerotola
Karamo Trerra
Michael Angel Trinidad
Francis Joseph Trombino
Gregory James Trost
William P. Tselepis
Zhanetta Valentinovna Tsoy
Michael Tucker
Lance Richard Tumulty
Ching Ping Tung
Simon James Turner
Donald Joseph Tuzio
Robert T. Twomey
Jennifer Tzemis
John G. Ueltzhoeffer
Tyler V. Ugolyn
Michael A. Uliano
Jonathan J. Uman
Anil Shivhari Umarkar
Allen V. Upton
Diane Marie Urban
John Damien Vaccacio
Bradley Hodges Vadas
Renuta Vaidea
William Valcarcel
Felix Antonio Vale
Ivan Vale
Benito Valentin
Santos Valentin, Jr.
Carlton Francis Valvo II
Erica H. Van Acker
Kenneth W. Van Auken
Richard B. Van Hine
Daniel M. Van Laere
Edward Raymond Vanacore
Jon C. Vandevander
Barrett Vanvelzer, 4
Edward Vanvelzer
Paul Herman Vanvelzer
Frederick Thomas Varacchi
Gopalakrishnan Varadhan
David Vargas
Scott C. Vasel
Azael Ismael Vasquez
Arcangel Vazquez
Santos Vazquez
Peter Anthony Vega
Sankara S. Velamuri
Jorge Velazquez
Lawrence G. Veling
Anthony Mark Ventura
David Vera
Loretta Ann Vero
Christopher James Vialonga
Matthew Gilbert Vianna
Robert Anthony Vicario
Celeste Torres Victoria
Joanna Vidal
John T. Vigiano II
Joseph Vincent Vigiano
Frank J. Vignola, Jr.
Joseph Barry Vilardo
Sergio Villanueva
Chantal Vincelli
Melissa Vincent
Francine Ann Virgilio
Lawrence Virgilio
Joseph Gerard Visciano
Joshua S. Vitale
Maria Percoco Vola
Lynette D. Vosges
Garo H. Voskerijian
Alfred Vukosa
Gregory Kamal Bruno Wachtler
Gabriela Waisman
Courtney Wainsworth Walcott
Victor Wald
Benjamin James Walker
Glen Wall
Mitchel Scott Wallace
Peter Guyder Wallace
Robert Francis Wallace
Roy Michael Wallace
Jeanmarie Wallendorf
Matthew Blake Wallens
John Wallice, Jr.
Barbara P. Walsh
James Henry Walsh
Jeffrey P. Walz
Ching Wang
Weibin Wang
Michael Warchola
Stephen Gordon Ward
James Arthur Waring
Brian G. Warner
Derrick Washington
Charles Waters
James Thomas Waters, Jr.
Patrick J. Waters
Kenneth Thomas Watson
Michael Henry Waye
Todd Christopher Weaver
Walter Edward Weaver
Nathaniel Webb
Dinah Webster
Joanne Flora Weil
Michael T. Weinberg
Steven Weinberg
Scott Jeffrey Weingard
Steven George Weinstein
Simon Weiser
David M. Weiss
David Thomas Weiss
Vincent Michael Wells
Timothy Matthew Welty
Christian Hans Rudolf Wemmers
Ssu-Hui Wen
Oleh D. Wengerchuk
Peter M. West
Whitfield West, Jr.
Meredith Lynn Whalen
Eugene Whelan
Adam S. White
Edward James White III
James Patrick White
John Sylvester White
Kenneth Wilburn White, Jr.
Leonard Anthony White
Malissa Y. White
Wayne White
Leanne Marie Whiteside
Mark P. Whitford
Michael T. Wholey
Mary Catherine Wieman
Jeffrey David Wiener
Wilham J. Wik
Alison Marie Wildman
Glenn E. Wilkenson
John C. Willett
Brian Patrick Williams
Crossley Richard Williams, Jr.
David J. Williams
Deborah Lynn Williams
Kevin Michael Williams
Louie Anthony Williams
Louis Calvin Williams III
John P. Williamson
Donna Ann Wilson
William Wilson
David Harold Winton
Glenn J. Winuk
Thomas Francis Wise
Alan L. Wisniewski
Frank Thomas Wisniewski
David Wiswall
Sigrid Wiswe
Michael Wittenstein
Christopher W. Wodenshek
Martin P. Wohlforth
Katherine Susan Wolf
Jennifer Yen Wong
Siu Cheung Wong
Yin Ping Wong
Yuk Ping Wong
Brent James Woodall
James John Woods
Patrick J. Woods
Richard Herron Woodwell
David Terence Wooley
John Bentley Works
Martin Michael Wortley
Rodney James Wotton
William Wren
John Wayne Wright
Neil Robin Wright
Sandra Lee Wright
Jupiter Yambem
Suresh Yanamadala
Matthew David Yarnell
Myrna Yaskulka
Shakila Yasmin
Olabisi Shadie Layeni Yee
William Yemele
Edward P. York
Kevin Patrick York
Raymond R. York
Suzanne Youmans
Barrington Young
Jacqueline Young
Elkin Yuen
Joseph C. Zaccoli
Adel Agayby Zakhary
Arkady Zaltsman
Edwin J. Zambrana, Jr.
Robert Alan Zampieri
Mark Zangrilli
Ira Zaslow
Kenneth Albert Zelman
Abraham J. Zelmanowitz
Martin Morales Zempoaltecatl
Zhe Zeng
Marc Scott Zeplin
Jie Yao Justin Zhao
Ivelin Ziminski
Michael Joseph Zinzi
Charles A. Zion
Julie Lynne Zipper
Salvatore Zisa
Prokopios Paul Zois
Joseph J. Zuccala
Andrew S. Zucker
Igor Zukelman

       

List of Victims on American Airlines Flight 11

     

Anna Allison
David Lawrence Angell
Lynn Edwards Angell
Seima Aoyama 
Barbara Jean Arestegui 
Myra Joy Aronson
Christine Barbuto
Carolyn Beug
Kelly Ann Booms
Carol Marie Bouchard
Robin Lynne Kaplan
Neilie Anne Heffernan Casey
Jeffrey Dwayne Collman 
Jeffrey W. Coombs
Tara Kathleen Creamer
Thelma Cuccinello
Patrick Currivan
Brian Paul Dale
David Dimeglio 
Donald Americo Ditullio
Alberto Dominguez
Paige Marie Farley-Hackel
Alexander Milan Filipov
Carol Ann Flyzik
Paul J. Friedman
Karleton D.B. Fyfe
Peter Alan Gay 
Linda M. George
Edmund Glazer 
Lisa Reinhart Gordenstein
Andrew Peter Charles Curry Green
Peter Paul Hashem
Robert Jay Hayes
Edward R. Hennessy, Jr.
John A. Hofer
Cora Hidalgo Holland
John Nicholas Humber, Jr.
Waleed Joseph Iskandar
John Charles Jenkins
Charles Edward Jones
Barbara A. Keating
David P. Kovalcin
Judith Camilla Larocque 
Natalie Janis Lasden
Daniel John Lee 
Daniel M. Lewin
Sara Elizabeth Low
Susan A. Mackay
Karen Ann Martin
Thomas F. McGuinness, Jr.
Christopher D. Mello
Jeffrey Peter Mladenik
Carlos Alberto Montoya
Antonio Jesus Montoya Valdes
Laura Lee Morabito
Mildred Naiman
Laurie Ann Neira
Renee Lucille Newell
Kathleen Ann Nicosia
Jacqueline June Norton
Robert Grant Norton
John Ogonowski 
Betty Ann Ong
Jane M. Orth
Thomas Nicholas Pecorelli
Berinthia B. Perkins
Sonia M. Puopolo
David E. Retik
Jean Destrehan Roger
Philip Martin Rosenzweig 
Richard Barry Ross
Jessica Leigh Sachs
Rahma Salie
Heather Lee Smith
Dianne Bullis Snyder
Douglas Joel Stone
Xavier Suarez
Madeline Amy Sweeney 
Michael Theodoridis
James Anthony Trentini
Mary Barbara Trentini
Pendyala Vamsikrishna
Mary Alice Wahlstrom
Kenneth Waldie
John Joseph Wenckus
Candace Lee Williams
Christopher Rudolph Zarba, Jr.

List of Victims on United Airlines Flight 175

     

Alona Abraham 
Garnet Edward Bailey
Mark Lawrence Bavis
Graham Andrew Berkeley
Touri Bolourchi
Klaus Bothe
Daniel Raymond Brandhorst
David Reed Gamboa Brandhorst
John Brett Cahill 
Christoffer Mikael Carstanjen
John J. Corcoran III
Dorothy Alma de Araujo
Ana Gloria Pocasangre Debarrera
Robert John Fangman
Lisa Anne Frost
Ronald Gamboa 
Lynn Catherine Goodchild
Peter M. Goodrich
Douglas Alan Gowell
Francis Edward Grogan 
Carl Max Hammond, Jr.
Christine Lee Hanson
Peter Burton Hanson
Susan Kim Hanson
Gerald Francis Hardacre
Eric Hartono
James Edward Hayden
Herbert Wilson Homer
Michael Robert Horrocks
Robert Adrien Jalbert
Amy N. Jarret
Ralph Kershaw 
Heinrich Kimmig 
Amy R. King
Brian Kinney
Kathryn L. LaBorie
Robert G. Leblanc
Maclovio Lopez, Jr.
Marianne Macfarlane
Alfred Gilles Marchand
Louis Mariani
Juliana McCourt
Ruth Magdaline McCourt
Wolfgang Peter Menzel
Shawn M. Nassaney
Marie Pappalardo
Patrick J. Quigley IV
Frederick Charles Rimmele III
James Roux
Jesus Sanchez 
Victor J. Saracini
Mary Kathleen Shearer
Robert M. Shearer
Jane Louise Simpkin
Brian David Sweeney
Michael C. Tarrou
Alicia N. Titus
Timothy Ray Ward
William Michael Weems

     

List of Victims at the Pentagon (Not Including Flight 77)
Note: USA - United Stated Army; USN - United States Navy

     

SPC Craig S. Amundson, USA
YN3 Melissa Rose Barnes, USN
MSG Max J. Beilke, Retired
IT2 Kris Romeo Bishundat, USN
Carrie R. Blagburn
COL Canfield D. Boone, ARNG
Donna M. Bowen
Allen P. Boyle
ET3 Christopher L. Burford, USN
ET3 Daniel M. Caballero, USN
SFC Jose O. Calderon-Olmedo, USA
Angelene C. Carter
Sharon A. Carver
SFC John J. Chada, USA, Retired
Rosa Maria Chapa
Julian T. Cooper
LCDR Eric A. Cranford, USN
Ada M. Davis
CAPT Gerald F. DeConto, USN
LTC Jerry D. Dickerson, USA
IT1 Johnnie Doctor, Jr., USN
CAPT Robert E. Dolan, Jr., USN
CDR William H. Donovan, USN
CDR Patrick Dunn, USN
AG1 Edward T. Earhart, USN
LCDR Robert R. Elseth, USNR
SK3 Jamie L. Fallon, USN
Amelia V. Fields
Gerald P. Fisher
AG2 Matthew M. Flocco, USN
Sandra N. Foster
CAPT Lawrence D. Getzfred, USN
Cortez Ghee
Brenda C. Gibson
COL Ronald F. Golinski, USA, Retired
Diane Hale-McKinzy
Carolyn B. Halmon
Sheila M.S. Hein
ET1 Ronald J. Hemenway, USN
MAJ Wallace Cole Hogan, Jr., USA
SSG Jimmie I. Holley, USA, Retired
Angela M. Houtz
Brady Kay Howell
Peggie M. Hurt
LTC Stephen N. Hyland, Jr., USA
Lt Col Robert J. Hymel, USAF, Retired
SGM Lacey B. Ivory, USA
LTC Dennis M. Johnson, USA
Judith L. Jones
Brenda Kegler
LT Michael S. Lamana, USN
David W. Laychak
Samantha L. Lightbourn-Allen
MAJ Stephen V. Long, USA
James T. Lynch, Jr.
Terence M. Lynch
OS2 Nehamon Lyons IV, USN
Shelley A. Marshall
Teresa M. Martin
Ada L. Mason-Acker
LTC Dean E. Mattson, USA
LTG Timothy J. Maude, USA
Robert J. Maxwell
Molly L. McKenzie
Patricia E. Mickley
MAJ Ronald D. Milam, USA
Gerard P. Moran, Jr.
Odessa V. Morris
ET1 Brian A. Moss, USN
Teddington H. Moy
LCDR Patrick J. Murphy, USNR
Khang Ngoc Nguyen
DM2 Michael A. Noeth, USN
Ruben S. Ornedo
Diana B. Padro
LT Jonas M. Panik, USNR
MAJ Clifford L. Patterson, Jr., USA
LT Darin H. Pontell, USNR
Scott Powell
CAPT Jack D. Punches, USN, Retired
AW1 Joseph J. Pycior, Jr., USN
Deborah A. Ramsaur
Rhonda Sue Rasmussen
IT1 Marsha D. Ratchford, USN
Martha M. Reszke
Cecelia E. (Lawson) Richard
Edward V. Rowenhorst
Judy Rowlett
SGM Robert E. Russell, USA, Retired
CW4 William R. Ruth, ARNG
Charles E. Sabin, Sr.
Marjorie C. Salamone
COL David M. Scales, USA
CDR Robert A. Schlegel, USN
Janice M. Scott
LTC Michael L. Selves, USA, Retired
Marian H. Serva
CDR Dan F. Shanower, USN
Antionette M. Sherman
Diane M. Simmons
Cheryle D. Sincock
ITC Gregg H. Smallwood, USN
LTC Gary F. Smith, USA, Retired
Patricia J. Statz
Edna L. Stephens
SGM Larry L. Strickland, USA
LTC Kip P. Taylor, USA
Sandra C. Taylor
LTC Karl W. Teepe, USA, Retired
SGT Tamara C. Thurman, USA
LCDR Otis V. Tolbert, USN
SSG Willie Q. Troy, USA, Retired
LCDR Ronald J. Vauk, USNR
LTC Karen J. Wagner, USA
Meta L. (Fuller) Waller
SPC Chin Sun Pak Wells, USA
SSG Maudlyn A. White, USA
Sandra L. White
Ernest M. Willcher
LCDR David L. Williams, USN
MAJ Dwayne Williams, USA
RMC Marvin Roger Woods, USN, Retired
IT2 Kevin W. Yokum, USN
ITC Donald M. Young, USN
Edmond G. Young, Jr.
Lisa L. Young

     

List of Victims on American Airlines Flight 77

     

Paul W. Ambrose
Yeneneh Betru
Mary Jane Booth
Bernard C. Brown, II
CAPT Charles F. Burlingame III, USNR, Retired
Suzanne M. Calley
William E. Caswell
David M. Charlebois
Sarah M. Clark
Asia S. Cottom
James D. Debeuneure
Rodney Dickens
Eddie A. Dillard
LCDR Charles A. Droz III, USN, Retired
Barbara G. Edwards
Charles S. Falkenberg
Dana Falkenberg
Zoe Falkenberg
J. Joseph Ferguson
Darlene E. Flagg
RADM Wilson F. Flagg, USNR, Retired
1stLt Richard P. Gabriel, USMC, Retired
Ian J. Gray
Stanley R. Hall
Michele M. Heidenberger
Bryan C. Jack
Steven D. Jacoby
Ann C. Judge
Chandler R. Keller
Yvonne E. Kennedy
Norma Cruz Khan
Karen Ann Kincaid
Dong Chul Lee
Jennifer Lewis
Kenneth E. Lewis
Renee A. May
Dora Marie Menchaca
Christopher C. Newton
Barbara K. Olson
Ruben S. Ornedo
Robert Penninger
Robert R. Ploger III
Zandra F. Ploger
Lisa J. Raines
Todd H. Reuben
John P. Sammartino
George W. Simmons
Donald D. Simmons
Mari-Rae Sopper
Robert Speisman
Norma Lang Steuerle
Hilda E. Taylor
Leonard E. Taylor
Sandra D. Teague
Leslie A. Whittington
CAPT John D. Yamnicky, Sr., USN, Retired
Vicki Yancey
Shuyin Yang
Yuguag Zheng

     

List of Victims on United Airlines Flight 93

     

Christian Adams
Lorraine G. Bay
Todd Beamer
Alan Beaven
Mark K. Bingham
Deora Frances Bodley
Sandra W. Bradshaw
Marion Britton
Thomas E. Burnett Jr.
William Cashman
Georgine Rose Corrigan
Patricia Cushing
Jason Dahl
Joseph Deluca
Patrick Driscoll
Edward Porter Felt
Jane C. Folger
Colleen Fraser
Andrew Garcia
Jeremy Glick
Lauren Grandcolas
Wanda A. Green
Donald F. Greene
Linda Gronlund
Richard Guadagno
Leroy Homer, Jr.
Toshiya Kuge
CeeCee Lyles
Hilda Marcin
Waleska Martinez
Nicole Miller
Louis J. Nacke, II
Donald Arthur Peterson
Jean Hoadley Peterson
Mark Rothenberg
Christine Snyder
John Talignani
Honor Elizabeth Wainio
Deborah Ann Jacobs Welsh
Kristin Gould White

Le Jour D'Opposite

In a heroic stroke of economic discordance, France's Finance Minster has decided that the way to fight surging gasoline prices is... wait for it... a tax hike!

Gas in France is assuredly dear.  Once you deEuroize and unmetricate the measures, the current price is $5.70 per gallon.

But how does hanging a nice fat tax (what Finance Minister Breton calls "not...small amounts of money") on oil companies serve the common motoriste?  By what economic magic trick is France able to buck the normal tenets of economics and lower costs by raising taxes?  Why, the magic of extortion, of course.

He said the government planned to gather oil industry leaders and ask them to come up with concrete proposals on how to ease the problem.
...
If the proposals do not match the public's expectations, Breton said: "We do not exclude the possibility of submitting to a (parliamentary) vote the principle of an exceptional tax corresponding to the exceptional profits."

Gerald Prante at the Tax Foundation's Tax Policy Blog has more:

What they appear not to understand in Paris is that the government taking of profits from oil companies and giving it to buyers will discourage supply over time, while at the same time, encourage more gasoline consumption.  Thus, we have made the problem even worse by creating a shortage from de facto price controls.

With policies like this, it's no wonder the OECD's 2005 Economic Survey had the following take on the state of the French economy:  "Although a modest economic upturn seems to be established, low growth and, especially, high unemployment characterise recent economic performance."

Welcome PoliPundit Readers

Welcome, learned PoliPundit readers (and thanks for the link, Lorie).

Hot Off the Presses

A little light reading, courtesy of representatives from 41 conservative groups, on the veracity of a linkage between Hurricane Katrina and Chief Justice nominee John Roberts' judicial record.

The full text of the letter as faxed to Senator Minority Leader Harry Reid (and by carbon copy to his Senate Democrat colleagues), unretouched and unredacted:

By Facsimile

Cc: Senate Democrats 

September 9, 2005

The Honorable Harry Reid

Senate Minority Leader

528 Hart Senate Office Building 

Washington, DC  20510

Dear Senator Reid:

According to statements published in the Boston Globe, several prominent Senate Democrats have announced plans to exploit the destructive aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to launch fresh attacks on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts’ civil rights record. 

This is a new low.

Judge Roberts’ confirmation hearings come at a time when much of New Orleans remains underwater, bodies are still being recovered, and an entire nation is mourning the crushing losses suffered by hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of its fellow citizens.  Trying to capitalize on the worst natural disaster in our nation’s history for political purposes is both morbid and despicable.

 

As a senator, and as a representative of your party, you have the ability to stop such an abusive and exploitive political strategy from going any further.  We call on you to use your influence and to publicly reject this kind of nasty, extreme politics that threatens to shred the dignity and civility that should be the form for this confirmation process.

 

If you need encouragement, look no further than MoveOn.org, maybe the most caustically partisan interest group in Washington.  USA Today had reported on that group’s plans to run a television ad criticizing Judge Roberts’ civil rights record by using images of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.  The group’s advocacy director Ben Brandzel had gone so far as to say, “the connection [between Katrina and Roberts’ record] is obvious.”

 

However, in the face of withering criticism, MoveOn’s executive director almost immediately backtracked and disavowed any plans for such an ad, saying "We have no plans, and have never had plans, to produce such an ad.”

 

Translation: Even the most extreme elements of the Democratic Party aren’t willing to stoop that low. 

 

First the far left, in ads by NARAL that were rejected by the American people, tried to associate Judge Roberts with abortion clinic bombings.  Now, The Boston Globe reveals that Democrats are planning to engage a strategy that blames Judge Roberts for the devastation following in Hurricane Katrina’s wake. 

 

Politics is a bloodier game than ever, but there are some lines that should not be crossed.  We hope that you and your fellow senators will agree to reject this kind of extreme politics going forward during this confirmation process.  While many Democrat senators stood silent in the face of an outrageously false and nasty advertisement produced by NARAL, we only hope that you will stand up against this latest extreme left wing strategy that will only poor salt on the wounds of a mourning country.   

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Niger Innis

Congress of Racial Equality

 

Tom Minnery

Focus on the Family

 

Abigail Thernstrom

US Commission on Civil Rights

Senior Fellow, The Manhattan Institute

 

Sean Rushton

Committee for Justice

 

Gary A. Marx

Judicial Confirmation Network

 

Kay R. Daly

Coalition for a Fair Judiciary

 

George Landrith

Frontiers of Freedom

 

Gary Bauer

American Values

 

Mark Williamson

Federal Intercessors

 

Jeffrey Mazzella

Center for Individual Freedom

 

Nina May

Renaissance Women

 

Genevieve Wood

Center for a Just Society

 

Tom Shields

Coalition for Marriage and Family

 

William Murray

Religious Freedom Action Coalition

 

Leslee Unruh

National Abstinence Clearinghouse

 

Dr. Carl Herbster

AdvanceUSA

 

Kenneth Boehm

National Legal and Policy Center

 

Harvey Tettlebaum

Republican National Lawyers Association

 

Maurine Proctor

Family Leader Network

 

James Bopp, Jr.
James Madison Center for Free Speech

 

Dr. Ken Hutcherson

Mayday For Marriage

 

Jeff Ballabon

Center for Jewish Values

 

Mary Ericksen

Illinois Citizens for Life

 

Manuel Klaus

Individual Rights Foundation

 

Joseph A. D’Agostino

Population Research Institute

 

Joseph Cella

Fidelis

 

Cathie Humbarger
Three Rivers Educational Fund

 

Jim Martin

60-Plus Association

 

Thomas A. Glessner,JD

National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA)

 

Austin Ruse

Culture of Life Foundation

 

Manuel Miranda

Third Branch Conference

 

Kevin W. Blier

Center for American Cultural Renewal

 

Jason Wright

Institute for Liberty

 

J. C. Willke, MD

International Right to Life Federation

 

Bill May

Catholics for the Common Good

 

Bradley Mattes

Life Issues Institute

 

Donald E. Wildmon

American Family Association

 

Rev. Louis P. Sheldon

Traditional Values Coalition

 

James Lafferty

Christian Seniors Association

 

Larry Cirignano

CatholicVote.

 

C. Preston Noell III
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

 

Randy Brinson, MD

Redeem the vote

 

CC:   Senate Democrat Caucus

The $5 Billion Fritteraway

The Associated Press recently completed an investigation into a pair of programs administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) aimed at providing low-interest loans to businesses adversely impacted by 9/11.

Something, it seems, went horribly awry (emphasis and excerpting mine):

And while some at New York's ground zero couldn't get the assistance they desperately sought, companies far removed from the devastation — a South Dakota country radio station, a Virgin Islands perfume shop, a Utah dog boutique and more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts and Subway sandwich shops — had no problem winning the government-guaranteed loans.

... AP's nationwide investigation located businesses in dozens of states that said they did not know their loans were drawn from the Sept. 11 programs, suggesting at least hundreds of millions of dollars went to unwitting recipients.

The Small Business Administration, which administered the two Sept. 11 recovery loan programs, said it first learned of the problems through AP's review and was weighing whether an investigation was needed.

Let me save you the weighing.  It's needed.

Of the 19,000 loans approved by the two programs, fewer than 11 percent went to companies in New York City and Washington, according to an AP computer analysis of loan records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The pattern left some at New York's ground zero seething.

"You have to take it back and give it to us. Even now I could use it," said Mike Yagudayev, who said the SBA would provide him only $20,000 of a $70,000 loan he requested to rebuild his hair salon flattened by the collapse of World Trade Center towers in New York.

SBA documents obtained by AP show banks had a strong incentive to approve as many loans as possible from the terror program. The banks profited from the interest while incurring little risk because the government guaranteed 75 percent to 85 percent of each loan.

Your humble narrator lived within a few blocks of Ground Zero from 2002-2005 and did consulting work for a handful of small businesses that were indeed negatively impacted by 9/11.  Throughout that period, the area remained inhospitable turf for such businesses, as evidenced by the high percentage of local storefronts covered by metal gates day and night.

To be sure, a crucial part of this problem was (and continues to be) a persistent shortage of foot traffic, neighborhood residents, corporate lunch crowds, and other consuming contingencies that have yet to return abundantly to lower Manhattan.  Without sufficient local demand, local businesses stand little chance of success, with or without cheap financing.  In turn, without local businesses reopening, there's less incentive for residents to return, and round and round we go.

But given that the suite of local, state, and federal government incentives and financial programs (including a Lower Manhattan Development Corporation residential grant that I benefited from between 2002-2004) was meant to encourage a coordinated resurgence of residents, corporate citizens, and entrepreneurs, any significant component being so thoroughly and negligently squandered clearly represented a threat to a successful and timely recovery.

Frontier Fracas

A planeful of Katrina-displaced evacuees had a little extra ordeal befall them this week.

On board a Frontier Airlines plane taking them from Houston to Denver, a man named Jason Tervort (not himself an evacuee) reportedly took it upon himself to hop up out of his seat, stroll down the aisle and declare (per the federal arrest warrant that would soon follow), "Ladies and gentleman, I have an announcement to make. My name is Jason."

Not in and of itself a particularly menacing announcement I guess, but really any time a passenger stands up and begins addressing passengers en masse, it's probably time to start thinking about how to forcibly subdue.

From MSNBC:

When the flight attendant tried to get Tervort back to his seat, he allegedly poked her while saying, “I’m a man,” then began pushing and slapping her.

Several men got out of their seats to subdue Tervort, who was spitting, biting and yelling profanities, Denver police spokeswoman Virginia Lopez said Wednesday. The men then used duct tape to tie Tervort’s arms and legs to a rail on the seats.

Bravo, several men.

Tervort suffered minor injuries in the incident. Police officers who met the plane at the airport noticed blood on the floor where Tervort had been tied up.

None of the passengers who subdued Tervort will face charges, police said. “They used the amount of force necessary,” Lopez said.

Kudos, police.

Judging by reports of his court appearance, it sounds as though Jason may not have the benefit of all his faculties:

Tervort hesitated for long moments before answering questions from U.S. Magistrate Judge O. Edward Schlatter about his name and whether he understood his rights, Dorsch-ner said, and he gave conflicting answers.

He was confused "about his name"?  Wasn't the awless display of his command of his own name what started this mess?

Tervort is charged with a single felony count of interfering with a flight crew.  Time will tell if there's a legitimate mental capacity issue here, but it sounds like there ought to be an assault charge too, what with the alleged spitting, yelling, biting, poking, pushing, and slapping.

Germanathema

An abject disgrace (hat tip: Slant Point).

14 Years in Iraq?

According to a newly published Navy report, Captain Michael (Scott) Speicher - whose F/A-18 was shot down over Iraq on the first day of the first Gulf War in 1991 - may still be alive.  Further, the Navy believes Iraqi officials know where he is.

From Reuters' AlertNet:

"No credible evidence exists to suggest Captain (Michael Scott) Speicher is dead," a Navy board of inquiry headed by Rear Adm. Joseph Kilkenny said in a report released on Thursday.

Navy Secretary Gordon England concurred with the board's recommendation to continue Speicher's official status as "missing/captured," said Lt. Erin Bailey, a Navy spokeswoman.
...
The Navy board concluded that "Speicher likely ejected from  the aircraft and may have been captured by Iraqi forces." The report said "given that the Iraqi government produced on demand items from the aircraft and the flight suit some years after the shootdown leads us to conclude that elements of the former Iraqi regime know the whereabouts of Captain Speicher."

Dr. Rusty at Jawa Report has more.  So does MJ at Impossible Scissors.

Bayou Bamboozling

Via Drudge:

KATRINA SCAMS EMERGE
Wed Sep 07 2005 17:40:55 ET

Even as Americans rally to make donations to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Internet is brimming with scams, come-ons and opportunistic pandering related to the relief effort in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama -- and in greater numbers and varieties than any past disaster, according to Thursday editions of the NEW YORK TIMES.

Florida's attorney general has already filed a lawsuit against a man who mounted one of the earliest networks of Web sites -- katrinahelp.com, katrinadonations.com and others -- which purported to collect donations for victims of the storm. In Missouri, a much wider constellation of Internet domains -- with names like parishdonations.com and katrinafamilies.com -- displays pictures of the flood-ravaged south and drives traffic to a single site, InternetDonations.org, a nonprofit entity with apparent links to a white supremacist group.

Pretty despicable if true.

I don't know whether the Florida AG's suit has merit, but the alleged Katrina-squatter appears to be Robert E. Moneyhan, who, per Jacksonville news site News4Jax.com, is said to have solicited donations to his personal PayPal account through his newly registered sites.  According to state investigators, the donations would not have benefited hurricane victims and Moneyhan was not registered to solicit donations.

After a judge filed an injunction stopping him from soliciting donations on Web sites, it appears the domain names are being offered to the highest bidder.

The domains have since been transferred to Kevin Caruso of Chula Vista, CA.  According to a post bearing Caruso's name on NamePros.com, Moneyhan handed over the sites gratis:

Through the grace of God, a fine gentleman by the name of R. Moneyhan, as well as several citizens from the city of Tulee, Florida, donated Katrina Help.com to Project Care.com. They are angels.

Moneyhan may or may not be a fraudster.  But he's probably not a strong contender for "angel" or "fine gentleman".

In any event, following the transfer (whatever the terms may have been) Kevin Caruso is now the registrant or owner of [at least] the following domains, according to register.com:

kevincaruso.com
kcregister.com
katrinarelief.com
katrinarelieffund.com
katrinadonations.com
katrinahelp.com
tsunamis.com
PreventSuicideNow.com
projectcare.com (the ostensible parent organization of the above), and
MegaCheapDomains.com ("A Kevin Caruso Company")

None of Caruso's sites appear to solicit donations (other than to encourage visitors to give to legitimate charities).  In fact, many include what seem to be fairly comprehensive, if somewhat scattered, collections of resources for people in one or more of the above categories of distress.

Still, the site pointed to most often by its counterparts - preventsuicidenow - which Caruso has the odd proclivity to type "Prevent Suicide Now.com" (odd because the spaces serve to render the URL invalid), shows up notably elsewhere on the web.

At Amazon.com, Caruso's suicide prevention site has garnered a total of 31 user reviews in the last 8 months.  But strangely, all but 6 were posted on just two days (12 are dated January 11, and 13 are dated August 7).  The synchronized reviewers, bearing unique names and hometowns (but all offering similarly superlative reviews), have the same odd proclivity to type the URL "Prevent Suicide Now.com".

One of the 6 that's not like the others had this to say (emphasis and excerpting mine):

Kevin Caruso seems to have no personal experience with suicide yet boasts himself to have one of the best sites out. The reason he has so much information and names is by stealing them from other sites, including my son's name. It took me a long time to place my son on a suicide memorial wall and I did not do that thinking it would be taken and used elsewhere for monetary gain. [Caruso] owns his site along with kcregister.com that hosts his site - he promotes gambling and 'adult' sites which both are known to aid in the increaisng suicide numbers.

I have requested repeatedly to him to respect my son and my grief and remover my son's name from his site - no reply...

Other than as summarized above, I know nothing that otherwise supports or refutes Caruso's credentials or the reviewer's claims.

But she is correct about the gambling and the porn.

---

Elsewhere on matters of hurricane hoodwinkers:

- Rogers Cadenhead discusses the Moneyhan-Caruso situation at Workbench.
- Michelle Malkin is all over reports of FEMA fraud.
- Soon-to-be fellow CFE Jim Downing is tracking a slew of reported Katrina-related scams.

Update:  The New York Times piece presaged by Drudge.

Update:  Experts Warn of Katrina Identity Theft, from the Washington Post.

Aid 2.0

With thanks to Weblogs, Inc., from whom I poached the [slightly edited] source code, I would call your attention to this handy Red Cross online donation link.

Also accepting donations online (more than $2 million so far) is the fundraising dream team itself:

Less graphical, but equally functional, are the following links to other popular charities participating in Katrina relief efforts:

The Salvation Army
Catholic Charities
Samaritan's Purse
Mercy Corps
Feed The Children
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD)
Soldiers' Angels Katrina Relief Fund
America's Second Harvest
United Jewish Communities

Instapundit has many more.

If you're able to give, you can register your donation to these or any charity at The Truth Laid Bear's contribution log (which you can do anonymously).  With over $1.2 million already flowing in from thousands of donations via hundreds of blogs in dozens of countries, it's a nice illustration of a very tangible, positive externality of the interconnectedness of the blogosphere.

TTLB is also maintaining a list of web-based relief projects (e.g. clearinghouses for donated material goods, job boards, resources for housing assistance, and missing persons databases).  Many of the displaced, including those in the Astrodome, do have internet access, and are not only communicating with family members and keeping informed, but are reportedly also successfully locating missing loved ones online.

One project taking a well-reasoned approach to the problem is the Katrina Data Project.  Rather than simply hosting a public forum for the unstructured publication of personal data (which it considers dangerous and inefficient), it enables survivors, webmasters, and relief organizations to upload standardized, predictably formatted data for each person to a centrally stored Safe List.  The Safe List is not made public as a datafile, but can be queried by those in search of family and friends by designating certain biographical data and/or physical characteristics (searches which, according to the site, have already resulted in 1,325 matches).

If you're aware of other valuable web-based projects, I'd urge you to urge their developers to register them with the TTLB directory.

Finally, to borrow a page from FEMA (hat tip: Glenn):

Please check with your tax advisor or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for more information regarding the tax deductibility of your donation.

The listing of or omission of an institution or organization on this Web site does not refer to programmatic capability nor does it confer any official status, approval, or endorsement of the institution or organization itself. This listing does not purport to be a listing of all organizations that are providing relief in the affected area. Additionally, there may be organizations providing relief in the affected area that are not accepting donations at this time. It is not the purpose of this Web site to make, or enable to be made, any representation to the public concerning the organizations listed. This listing is for informational purposes only. Any contributions you choose to make from links on this Web site are at your sole discretion.

 

Gross Prophet

Have you seen this man?

He's Warren Jeffs, a man the FBI and Mohave County, Arizona, would like to get hold of.  In fact, his warrants for unlawful flight, sexual conduct with a minor, and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, have earned him a tour as the featured "Monthly Fugitive" on the FBI's most wanted list.

Warren Jeffs is the leader of a polygamous sect known as the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and is considered a "prophet" by his estimated 10,000 followers. Jeffs has ties to Utah,  Arizona, Texas, Colorado, and British Columbia. Jeffs may be in the Leesburg, Florida, area. Additionally, Jeffs may travel with a number of loyal and armed bodyguards.

Donny Deutsch showcased the story tonight on The Big Idea, including interviews with so called "Lost Boys", adolescents reportedly banished from the community to reduce competition for wives.  Estimates suggest Jeffs himself has dozens of wives, some of whom were inherited from his father Rulon, the former leader of the FLDS.

The Eldorado Success offers a number of audio recordings of both Warren and Rulon Jeffs, ranging from racist tirades to troublingly forward-looking speeches (emphasis and excerpting mine):

The audio clip contains long pauses and at several points another voice, believed to be Warren Jeffs can be heard prompting his elderly father. At one point, Rulon Jeffs says, "All I want to say is...to prepare for the judgments and establish Zion. Looking forward to moving to Zion. You know what I mean?"

To which the congregation responds, "Yes!"
...
"I am going forward and continuing building the storehouse and living the holy united order and God is going to handle anyone who fights against it."

Following another long pause the senior Jeffs can be heard asking someone nearby, "Do we have the lawyers?"

To which a second voice, believed to be Warren Jeffs replies. "Yes we do."

That is followed by a short pause and then Rulon Jeffs proclaiming, "We have the lawyers!...and God will fight our battles....we will continue celestial law and God will fight our battles."

Still another long pause is ended when Rulon Jeffs asks the crowd, "Are you worried about what the State of Utah and the State of Arizona are going to do?"

That draws a resounding, "No!" from the congregation.
...
"They have already started their attack!" Rulon Jeffs proclaims, "but we are going to go on...we are going to fight the battles and those who (garbled audio.)"

The clip ends with Rulon Jeffs asking, "Can I say more?"

The second voice answers, "Whatever you desire."

Rulon Jeffs then says, "God is on our side. Okay?"

Prompting the congregation to respond in unison, "Okay!"

Lots going on in the country that requires our attention right now, but it couldn't hurt to keep an eye peeled for this one.  Information concerning Jeffs goes to your local FBI field office.

Bush Smites Gulf Coast - Revisited

It's stunning sometimes how nimbly the sea of malcontent can vacillate between blamemongering and guiltmongering.

Part-Time Pundit compiles some highlights from the collectively false, irrelevant, and downright absurd:

"Now we are all learning what it’s like to reap the whirlwind of fossil fuel dependence which Barbour and his cronies have encouraged. Our destructive addiction has given us a catastrophic war in the Middle East and--now--Katrina is giving our nation a glimpse of the climate chaos we are bequeathing our children." Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
...
"Two things happened in one day that tell much about the abysmal failure of the Bush administration to get a handle on poverty in America. The first was the tragic and disgraceful shots of hordes of New Orleans residents scurrying down the city’s Hurricane ravaged streets with their arms loaded with food, clothes, appliances, and in some cases guns, that they looted from stores and shops." Earl Hutchinson.
...
"OK, you billionaires who have taken advantage of the very unchristian greed fest that is the hallmark of the Bush administration, it's time to step up and give some of that money back. CEO's should pony up and pay for the recovery of New Orleans, Gulfport, Biloxi, and the rest of the hurricane-devastated Deep South." Robert Smith on why he can't afford to help because he has to pay for his son's education at Rice.

If you can stomach it, Michelle Malkin has the goods on other opportunistic purveyors of pugnacity.

Revisit Bush Smites Gulf Coast.

The Tax Man Requesteth

In the movie The Firm, Mitch McDeere's wife Abby is told by another company wife, "The firm encourages children."  Her quizzical response:  "How do they do that, exactly?"

I expect that'll be the general tenor of the reaction of internet retailers to the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, an innocuous little misnomer fronting a group of 13 states keen on "encouraging" online companies to levy sales and use taxes on their customers, beginning this fall.

A 1992 Supreme Court decision prevents states from forcing companies without an in-state physical presence to collect taxes.

Via BusinessWeek:

"Certainly at Amazon, we have no plans to volunteer," said Rich Prem, top tax official at Amazon.com Inc., the online giant with $7 billion in annual sales. The company will work with state and federal leaders, but will only start collecting state taxes "if you make it simple, if you make it fair," he said.

The Direct Marketing Association, a trade group that represents many Internet and catalog sellers, says the effort is far too complex to work.

For a taste, take a peek at the Project's Amendments to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement on April 16, 2005.  Let's read together from Page 11, Substitute Amendment #6, Part I, Motion to amend Section 317B:

Each member state shall relieve sellers that follow the requirements of this section from the tax otherwise applicable if it is determined that the purchaser improperly claimed an exemption and to hold the purchaser liable for the nonpayment of tax.  This relief from liability does not apply to a seller who fraudulently fails to collect tax; or to a seller who solicits purchasers to participate in the unlawful claim of an exemption; to a seller who accepts an exemption certificate when the purchaser claims an entity-based exemption when (1) the subject of the transaction sought to be covered by the exemption certificate is actually received by the purchaser at a location operated by the seller and (2) the state in which that location resides provides an exemption certificate that clearly and affirmatively indicates (graying out exemption reason types on the uniform form and posting it on a state’s web site is an indicator) that the claimed exemption is not available in that state; or to a seller who accepts an exemption certificate claiming multiple points of use for tangible personal property other than computer software for which an exemption claiming multiple points of use is acceptable under Section 312.

Something about exemptions...  I don't know, I passed out about halfway through.

So long as we're adjuring to "encouragement", I'd like to encourage the Streamlined Sales Tax Project to drop the word "streamlined" from its handle.

For posterity, the roster:

The 13 states are Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Five that will be added in the next few years are Arkansas, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming.

Bush Smites Gulf Coast

To date, I've held my tongue (fingers) for the most part on the Cindy Sheehan front.  While the vigil-cum-media conniption out west has become steadily more farcical, grief can make people behave in peculiar ways, and I'm somewhat loathe to criticize someone so clearly in despair (especially when there are so many other issues ripe for rebuke).

But the situation - I must acknolwedge, perhaps belatedly - has officially become fatuous beyond all measure.

Brit Hume expounds (emphasis and excerpting mine):

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who was camped outside President Bush's Texas ranch for the past few weeks, says Hurricane Katrina is all President Bush's fault, insisting that the president is "[now] heading to Louisiana to see the devastation that his environmental policies and his killing policies have caused."

What's more, she says, "Recovery would be easier and much quicker if almost half of the three states involved National Guard were not in Iraq."
...
Sheehan is not the only one blaming President Bush for Hurricane Katrina. Germany's environmental minister says, "neglected environmental policies" in the U.S. have led to global warming and catastrophic weather. Minister Jurgen Trittin insists, "The Bush government rejects international climate protection goals by insisting that imposing them would negatively impact the American economy. The American president is closing his eyes to the economic and human costs his land and the world economy are suffering under natural catastrophes like Katrina."           

Do you suppose it's only doomsday weather that Bush has the power to summon?  Or if he were only less malevolent, could he offer us a meteorological paradise, crammed with sunshine and rainbows, where all our moons are blue and all our Christmasses are white?

Consider this shark jumped.  The good news (probably moreso for Democrats than Republicans) is that this ought finally to cast this debacle firmly, perhaps belatedly, into a state of irrelevance.