Saturday, September 10, 2005

New Orleans gun confiscations "blatantly illegal"?

There is a discussion going on among the law profs at The Volokh Conspiracy. Sounds like the gov't types could get in trouble over this, tho I won't hold my breath.

Friday, September 09, 2005

"I did not see the utility": New Orleans squashes Astrodome help effort

Are we surprised?

Volunteers tried to set up a low power radio broadcasting system so that refugees in the Astrodome could get timely and useful information. A few bureaucrats took the classic approach to that:
Rita Obey, a local official from Harris County Public Health Services, gave them a laundry list of prerequisites. The most notable of these was the command to procure 10,000 personal, battery-powered radios -- and batteries.

"She said she was afraid of 'people fighting over the radios,'" said Liz Surley, a KAMP volunteer....
So, they got the radios.
RW Royall Jr., the incident commander of the Joint Information Center -- the group temporarily governing the operations of the Astrodome campus -- told KAMP they could not install their equipment...

Obey, speaking to Wired News, explained that the JIC couldn't see a use for the radio station when they had the ability to communicate via the loudspeaker system and newsletters.

"I did not see the utility," said Obey.
No wonder the NO cops are being told to disarm the people.

Joel Johnson has the story in Wired. Thanks to ArtsJournal for the tip.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

FEMA uses 1400 firefighters to...

...hand out phone numbers, and, of course, take classes:.
"They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet."
Well, it was only an eight hour class, and it'll make the victims feel better about themselves.

Lisa Rosetta has the story in the Salt Lake tribune.

Let's guess that a firefighter costs an employer $40,000/year (that seems conservative: I Googled and found salaries between $39,000 and $55,000 in Grand Prairie, TX. Wichita: starts them at around $600/week. Metro Washington starts at $40,228 and tops at $60,342). Anyway a total cost to the employer of $40000/year is $20 per hour. Lemme see, 1,400 firefighters times 8 hours times $20....$224,000.

Thanks, FEMA.

Big blue "Bomb Me!" signs may go up all over Britain

This might work when you are up against normal, garden variety bad guys, but it seems like a very bad idea in an age of Islamist (and other) bombings. Let's put bullseyes on all the best stuff.

Owen Bowcott has the story in The Guardian:
Nominations for the country's most valuable cultural treasures are being sought so they can be protected by a blue shield emblem - theoretically powerful enough to ward off marauding enemies.
Powerful magic, blue shields. Much more so than green ones, you know. Well, unless you're an Islamist: Green might just do the trick with them.
Whether listing the country's most cherished institutions makes military sense in an era of terrorist atrocities may have been discussed. Perhaps the intelligence services could forward a list, with misleading addresses, to the Pakistani/Afghan border?
Yes, that might work.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Arthur Chrenkoff's Round Up of Good News from Afghanistan

Click here: OpinionJournal - Extra

Thanks to OpinionJournal for providing him with space.

Maynard G. Krebs...

...has gone to that great big campus in the sky.

R.I.P.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Tiger stripes on Enceladus

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Hail Bopp!

Or whutever. Beats Il Duce, anyway.

It's a Cool Space Pic of the Day .

Did the New Orleans Police bug out?

Sounds like it from this , (scroll down to the last section) which this is consonant with some other reports.

Can't say that I really blame them, tho.

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