September 15, 2005
Metro Emergency Evacuation Instructions
http://www.wmata.com/riding/safety/evac.swf
Torah scrolls rescued from toxic flood waters
Jewish searcher takes helicopter, then boats to damaged synagogue
September 14, 2005 In a dramatic rescue operation yesterday that involved a helicopter and inflatable boat, the leader of a Jewish group searching for dead bodies in New Orleans waded through waist-deep toxic floodwaters to save six Torah scrolls from a hurricane-battered synagogue. The group, while focusing on Jewish victims, is also helping others along the way…
ZAKA, based in New York and Israel, is an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group that ensures proper burial of Jewish bodies. Members regularly arrive after terror attacks in Israel to scrape body parts from blast areas since Jewish tradition requires all flesh be buried. The group participated in missions after the recent tsunami in Southeast Asia….
… "The Torah scrolls were brought out, but unfortunately most were ruined and will need to be buried. Some perhaps can be repaired." …The vest Leider was wearing will be buried as well because a piece of a scroll got stuck to it.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46322
College backs off on dissenting professor
Colleagues wanted 'unconstitutional inquisition' into his views
September 15, 2005 Faced with the threat of legal action, a New York City college pledged not to investigate a professor who objected to the school's policy of requiring education students be committed to a particular definition of "social justice."
…Since May, Johnson has spoken out against the use of "dispositions" theory by Brooklyn College's School of Education. The theory requires that education students' commitment to "social justice" be evaluated along with academic performance…In an article in the magazine Inside Higher Ed, Johnson contended its use constitutes an ideological litmus test and invites viewpoint discrimination. But dozens of instructors in the school's Department of Education demanded in a June 20 letter that Johnson cease his "attacks."
… at an "emergency academic freedom meeting" of the faculty union, it was said Johnson would face an official investigation by an "Integrity Committee."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46325
House Adds Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation to 'Hate Crimes' Measure
September 15, 2005 The U.S. House of Representatives passed a "hate crimes" measure on Wednesday, something that would expand federal protection to people victimized because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability.
…Homosexual advocacy groups have long pressed for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity, but many conservative groups reject the notion of "hate crimes" entirely.
"Criminalizing thoughts as well as actions, and creating special categories of victims, are contrary to our entire system of laws," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins in a statement released after the House vote. "Furthermore, granting special protections based on one's 'sexual orientation' has repeatedly been rejected by Congress. It is shocking that a bill designed to protect children from sexual predators is now being used to protect the sexual preference of homosexuals."
…On the other side of the issue, groups such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Human Rights Campaign welcomed House passage of the measure.
The hate crimes measure would allow the U.S. Justice Department to assist local authorities in investigating and prosecuting cases in which violence occurs against specially protected groups of people. [So basically if a criminal beats ups a heterosexual person he gets a less severe sentence that if he beats up a homosexual or transvestite and it can be proved that the person didn't like homosexuals or transvestites to any degree… then rally lower the boom!! Assault & battery should carry the same weight regardless of the sexual orientation of the victim. It is interesting that it is never applied the other way…]
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called the bill long overdue: "Hate crimes have no place in America," she said. [I guess other crimes are okie-dokie]
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200509\CUL20050915a.html
FAA was told of al Qaeda hijack threat in 1998
Warning revealed in previously secret part of 9/11 report
9/15/05 …American aviation officials were warned as early as 1998 that al Qaeda could "seek to hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a U.S. landmark," according to previously secret portions of a report prepared last year by the Sept. 11 commission...Restored information...This passage was one of those that had been removed when the Sept. 11 commission's report was originally released:
"In 1998 and 1999, the FAA intelligence unit produced reports about the hijacking threat posed by Bin Laden and al Qaeda, including the possibility that the terrorist group might try to hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a U.S. landmark. It viewed this possibility as 'unlikely' and a 'last resort.' FAA perceived as far more likely that al Qaeda would hijack a flight overseas, where the terrorists had access to safe havens. They believe that from those safe havens, Bin Laden could use passengers to bargain for the release of Islamic extremists imprisoned in the United States." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/14/MNG7PENB6J1.DTL
FEMA versus Wal-Mart
...Well before Katrina reached New Orleans…Wal-Mart was rushing electric generators, bottled water, and other emergency supplies to its distribution centers along the Gulf coast... Nor was Wal-Mart unique. Federal Express rushed 100 tons of supplies into the stricken area after Katrina hit. State Farm Insurance sent in a couple of thousand special agents to expedite disaster claims. Other businesses scrambled to get their goods or services into the area.
...Meanwhile, laws prevent the federal government from coming in without the permission or a request from state or local authorities. Unfortunately, the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana are of a different party than President Bush, which may have something to do with their initial reluctance to have him come in and get political credit.
In the end, there was no political credit for anybody. There was just finger-pointing and the blame game. Politics is only one of a number of reasons why governments are not the best handlers of many emergencies. Nor is the United States unique in this respect...
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20050915.shtml
French Quarter May Reopen Monday (or perhaps this weekend)
Sep 15 NEW ORLEANS Although the cleanup will likely take months, Mayor Ray C. Nagin said the tourist-friendly French Quarter and central business district may reopen as early as Monday after the Environmental Protection Agency said the foul-smelling air in the city was not overly polluted...Nagin said he expects about 180,000 people to return to the city within a week or two, when power and sewer systems are restored. Some retailers should be operating by then, as well as two hospitals....The most obvious sign of progress has come from the lights flickering on. About 168,000 customers were still without power in the New Orleans area, mostly in places still flooded, but that number has gone down 10,000 in a day...About 40 to 50 percent of the city was still flooded, down from 80 percent after Katrina hit, as pumps worked to siphon off 8 billion gallons a day.
In Baton Rouge Wednesday, Gov. Kathleen Blanco echoed Bush's words from a day earlier, taking responsibility for missteps in the immediate response to Katrina. "We all know that there were failures at every level of government: state, federal and local," Blanco told lawmakers in a special meeting of the Louisiana Legislature. "The buck stops here, and as your governor, I take full responsibility." [we'll see... ]
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/15/D8CKK6NO0.html
Katrina's colorblind relief
Jeff Jacoby September 15, 2005 The slimy and toxic water covering much of New Orleans does not stink nearly as much as the slimy and toxic accusation that help didn't reach the victims of Hurricane Katrina quickly enough because most of those victims were black.
...Already, a new poll by the Pew Research Center finds that two-thirds of black Americans think the government would have responded faster if most of the victims had been white...
...Why wouldn't they think it? For nearly two weeks that false charge has been leveled over and over, sometimes with breathtaking malice and irresponsibility: "I saw 5,000 African Americans on the I-10 causeway," Jesse Jackson told CNN. "It looked like Africans in the hull of a slave ship." He later repeated that incendiary comparison on ABC's "Good Morning America," adding the ugly allegation that when churches were contacted about helping some of the victims, the first thing they wanted to know was, "Are they black or white?".
..Katrina devastated more than black-majority Orleans Parish. Four other Louisiana parishes and three coastal Mississippi counties, all with substantial white majorities, suffered heavily too. Government relief reached them no faster than it did New Orleans. If this were truly a racist country, it would have....
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jeffjacoby/jj20050915.shtml
Justice Ginsberg OK with Child Sex
Sept. 14, 2005 Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg once argued that girls as young as twelve should be able to have sex with adult males, Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday - "She argued that the age of consent for a woman should be twelve," Graham told ABC Radio host Sean Hannity. "She wasn't representing clients," said. "She was writing an article about her own views." …Other radical left positions advocated by Justice Ginsberg: the legalization of prostitution, Coed prisons for men and women…
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/9/14/105926.shtm l
DeLay declares 'victory' in war on budget fat.
... "House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an 'ongoing victory,' and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget. Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans' choice to borrow money and add to this year's expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some Republicans have said Congress should make cuts in other areas, but Mr. DeLay said that doesn't seem possible. 'My answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets, I'll be glad to do it. But nobody has been able to come up with any yet,' the Texas Republican told reporters at his weekly briefing. Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, 'Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we've pared it down pretty good.'"
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050914-120153-3878r.htm
“...You understand what DeLay is doing here? The key sentence here is, "My answer to those that want to offset the spending is, sure, bring me the offsets, I'll be glad to do it, but nobody's been able to come up with any yet." Meaning, "Hey, you want to offset some of this Katrina spending with budget cuts, I'm all for it, but nobody is getting any ideas to me. Not one member of Congress is willing to do without their pork."
...if you really want to find a quick cash infusion for Hurricane Katrina relief, go to the transportation bill, the highway bill, there's like $25 billion of pork in that bill. Over 6,000 projects. Go tell Congressman Blowhard to give up the bridge that's being built to nowhere in Alaska. Go get these guys to give this back, but none of them are doing it. DeLay says, "Well, I guess we're running at peak efficiency, there's nothing to cut out there, why, if we can't cut any more, why, I guess this is as thin as we're going to get." And I think he's baiting people. I think this is his way of -- it's a mock display of throwing up his arms in frustration, "Hey, if there's no more budgets to be cut, and if there's no more money to be trimmed, why, we Republicans need to claim victory. We have pared federal spending down to the bare minimum. We can't cut any more." Well, obviously we can. That's why everybody thinks DeLay has lost his mind because nobody has a sense of humor anymore, and nobody understands what he's doing. He's issuing a challenge to these members of Congress, because everybody is out there worried about spending but who is it that spends the money? It's Congress! And if nobody in Congress is willing to give up something in their district or some pork project or even to cut spending in a redundant social program or anywhere else, take your pick, even defense, I don't care, for the sake of this discussion, nobody is willing to cut a dime anywhere. What's DeLay supposed to say? "Well, I guess there's nothing to cut. After 11 years, it's time for us to claim victory."
...He's begging the Democrats to come up with, "What do you mean? How can you say this?" And then DeLay is going to fire back, "Oh, there's more to cut? ...So everybody is just willing now to believe that DeLay is stupid and said something stupid, when in fact he's the smartest guy in the room on this....
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_091405/content/truth_detector.guest.html
'Gouging' and 'dumping'
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/le20050915.shtml
http://www.freewill-predestination.com
http://www.wmata.com/riding/safety/evac.swf
Torah scrolls rescued from toxic flood waters
Jewish searcher takes helicopter, then boats to damaged synagogue
September 14, 2005 In a dramatic rescue operation yesterday that involved a helicopter and inflatable boat, the leader of a Jewish group searching for dead bodies in New Orleans waded through waist-deep toxic floodwaters to save six Torah scrolls from a hurricane-battered synagogue. The group, while focusing on Jewish victims, is also helping others along the way…
ZAKA, based in New York and Israel, is an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group that ensures proper burial of Jewish bodies. Members regularly arrive after terror attacks in Israel to scrape body parts from blast areas since Jewish tradition requires all flesh be buried. The group participated in missions after the recent tsunami in Southeast Asia….
… "The Torah scrolls were brought out, but unfortunately most were ruined and will need to be buried. Some perhaps can be repaired." …The vest Leider was wearing will be buried as well because a piece of a scroll got stuck to it.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46322
College backs off on dissenting professor
Colleagues wanted 'unconstitutional inquisition' into his views
September 15, 2005 Faced with the threat of legal action, a New York City college pledged not to investigate a professor who objected to the school's policy of requiring education students be committed to a particular definition of "social justice."
…Since May, Johnson has spoken out against the use of "dispositions" theory by Brooklyn College's School of Education. The theory requires that education students' commitment to "social justice" be evaluated along with academic performance…In an article in the magazine Inside Higher Ed, Johnson contended its use constitutes an ideological litmus test and invites viewpoint discrimination. But dozens of instructors in the school's Department of Education demanded in a June 20 letter that Johnson cease his "attacks."
… at an "emergency academic freedom meeting" of the faculty union, it was said Johnson would face an official investigation by an "Integrity Committee."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46325
House Adds Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation to 'Hate Crimes' Measure
September 15, 2005 The U.S. House of Representatives passed a "hate crimes" measure on Wednesday, something that would expand federal protection to people victimized because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability.
…Homosexual advocacy groups have long pressed for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity, but many conservative groups reject the notion of "hate crimes" entirely.
"Criminalizing thoughts as well as actions, and creating special categories of victims, are contrary to our entire system of laws," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins in a statement released after the House vote. "Furthermore, granting special protections based on one's 'sexual orientation' has repeatedly been rejected by Congress. It is shocking that a bill designed to protect children from sexual predators is now being used to protect the sexual preference of homosexuals."
…On the other side of the issue, groups such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Human Rights Campaign welcomed House passage of the measure.
The hate crimes measure would allow the U.S. Justice Department to assist local authorities in investigating and prosecuting cases in which violence occurs against specially protected groups of people. [So basically if a criminal beats ups a heterosexual person he gets a less severe sentence that if he beats up a homosexual or transvestite and it can be proved that the person didn't like homosexuals or transvestites to any degree… then rally lower the boom!! Assault & battery should carry the same weight regardless of the sexual orientation of the victim. It is interesting that it is never applied the other way…]
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called the bill long overdue: "Hate crimes have no place in America," she said. [I guess other crimes are okie-dokie]
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200509\CUL20050915a.html
FAA was told of al Qaeda hijack threat in 1998
Warning revealed in previously secret part of 9/11 report
9/15/05 …American aviation officials were warned as early as 1998 that al Qaeda could "seek to hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a U.S. landmark," according to previously secret portions of a report prepared last year by the Sept. 11 commission...Restored information...This passage was one of those that had been removed when the Sept. 11 commission's report was originally released:
"In 1998 and 1999, the FAA intelligence unit produced reports about the hijacking threat posed by Bin Laden and al Qaeda, including the possibility that the terrorist group might try to hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a U.S. landmark. It viewed this possibility as 'unlikely' and a 'last resort.' FAA perceived as far more likely that al Qaeda would hijack a flight overseas, where the terrorists had access to safe havens. They believe that from those safe havens, Bin Laden could use passengers to bargain for the release of Islamic extremists imprisoned in the United States." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/09/14/MNG7PENB6J1.DTL
FEMA versus Wal-Mart
...Well before Katrina reached New Orleans…Wal-Mart was rushing electric generators, bottled water, and other emergency supplies to its distribution centers along the Gulf coast... Nor was Wal-Mart unique. Federal Express rushed 100 tons of supplies into the stricken area after Katrina hit. State Farm Insurance sent in a couple of thousand special agents to expedite disaster claims. Other businesses scrambled to get their goods or services into the area.
...Meanwhile, laws prevent the federal government from coming in without the permission or a request from state or local authorities. Unfortunately, the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana are of a different party than President Bush, which may have something to do with their initial reluctance to have him come in and get political credit.
In the end, there was no political credit for anybody. There was just finger-pointing and the blame game. Politics is only one of a number of reasons why governments are not the best handlers of many emergencies. Nor is the United States unique in this respect...
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20050915.shtml
French Quarter May Reopen Monday (or perhaps this weekend)
Sep 15 NEW ORLEANS Although the cleanup will likely take months, Mayor Ray C. Nagin said the tourist-friendly French Quarter and central business district may reopen as early as Monday after the Environmental Protection Agency said the foul-smelling air in the city was not overly polluted...Nagin said he expects about 180,000 people to return to the city within a week or two, when power and sewer systems are restored. Some retailers should be operating by then, as well as two hospitals....The most obvious sign of progress has come from the lights flickering on. About 168,000 customers were still without power in the New Orleans area, mostly in places still flooded, but that number has gone down 10,000 in a day...About 40 to 50 percent of the city was still flooded, down from 80 percent after Katrina hit, as pumps worked to siphon off 8 billion gallons a day.
In Baton Rouge Wednesday, Gov. Kathleen Blanco echoed Bush's words from a day earlier, taking responsibility for missteps in the immediate response to Katrina. "We all know that there were failures at every level of government: state, federal and local," Blanco told lawmakers in a special meeting of the Louisiana Legislature. "The buck stops here, and as your governor, I take full responsibility." [we'll see... ]
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/15/D8CKK6NO0.html
Katrina's colorblind relief
Jeff Jacoby September 15, 2005 The slimy and toxic water covering much of New Orleans does not stink nearly as much as the slimy and toxic accusation that help didn't reach the victims of Hurricane Katrina quickly enough because most of those victims were black.
...Already, a new poll by the Pew Research Center finds that two-thirds of black Americans think the government would have responded faster if most of the victims had been white...
...Why wouldn't they think it? For nearly two weeks that false charge has been leveled over and over, sometimes with breathtaking malice and irresponsibility: "I saw 5,000 African Americans on the I-10 causeway," Jesse Jackson told CNN. "It looked like Africans in the hull of a slave ship." He later repeated that incendiary comparison on ABC's "Good Morning America," adding the ugly allegation that when churches were contacted about helping some of the victims, the first thing they wanted to know was, "Are they black or white?".
..Katrina devastated more than black-majority Orleans Parish. Four other Louisiana parishes and three coastal Mississippi counties, all with substantial white majorities, suffered heavily too. Government relief reached them no faster than it did New Orleans. If this were truly a racist country, it would have....
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jeffjacoby/jj20050915.shtml
Justice Ginsberg OK with Child Sex
Sept. 14, 2005 Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg once argued that girls as young as twelve should be able to have sex with adult males, Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday - "She argued that the age of consent for a woman should be twelve," Graham told ABC Radio host Sean Hannity. "She wasn't representing clients," said. "She was writing an article about her own views." …Other radical left positions advocated by Justice Ginsberg: the legalization of prostitution, Coed prisons for men and women…
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/9/14/105926.shtm l
DeLay declares 'victory' in war on budget fat.
... "House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an 'ongoing victory,' and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget. Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans' choice to borrow money and add to this year's expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some Republicans have said Congress should make cuts in other areas, but Mr. DeLay said that doesn't seem possible. 'My answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets, I'll be glad to do it. But nobody has been able to come up with any yet,' the Texas Republican told reporters at his weekly briefing. Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, 'Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we've pared it down pretty good.'"
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050914-120153-3878r.htm
“...You understand what DeLay is doing here? The key sentence here is, "My answer to those that want to offset the spending is, sure, bring me the offsets, I'll be glad to do it, but nobody's been able to come up with any yet." Meaning, "Hey, you want to offset some of this Katrina spending with budget cuts, I'm all for it, but nobody is getting any ideas to me. Not one member of Congress is willing to do without their pork."
...if you really want to find a quick cash infusion for Hurricane Katrina relief, go to the transportation bill, the highway bill, there's like $25 billion of pork in that bill. Over 6,000 projects. Go tell Congressman Blowhard to give up the bridge that's being built to nowhere in Alaska. Go get these guys to give this back, but none of them are doing it. DeLay says, "Well, I guess we're running at peak efficiency, there's nothing to cut out there, why, if we can't cut any more, why, I guess this is as thin as we're going to get." And I think he's baiting people. I think this is his way of -- it's a mock display of throwing up his arms in frustration, "Hey, if there's no more budgets to be cut, and if there's no more money to be trimmed, why, we Republicans need to claim victory. We have pared federal spending down to the bare minimum. We can't cut any more." Well, obviously we can. That's why everybody thinks DeLay has lost his mind because nobody has a sense of humor anymore, and nobody understands what he's doing. He's issuing a challenge to these members of Congress, because everybody is out there worried about spending but who is it that spends the money? It's Congress! And if nobody in Congress is willing to give up something in their district or some pork project or even to cut spending in a redundant social program or anywhere else, take your pick, even defense, I don't care, for the sake of this discussion, nobody is willing to cut a dime anywhere. What's DeLay supposed to say? "Well, I guess there's nothing to cut. After 11 years, it's time for us to claim victory."
...He's begging the Democrats to come up with, "What do you mean? How can you say this?" And then DeLay is going to fire back, "Oh, there's more to cut? ...So everybody is just willing now to believe that DeLay is stupid and said something stupid, when in fact he's the smartest guy in the room on this....
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_091405/content/truth_detector.guest.html
'Gouging' and 'dumping'
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/le20050915.shtml
http://www.freewill-predestination.com
posted by David Bennett | 8:15 PM
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