'I'm with the federal government . . . and I'm here to @#$! you up'

From The Associated Press, via MSNBC:

NEW ORLEANS - The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush’s promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The 2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never pressed into action. But the Corps and the politically connected manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty pumps working properly.

The pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration, Corps officials said. Other problems have included overheated engines, broken hoses and blown gaskets, according to the documents obtained by the AP.

Col. Jeffrey Bedey, who is overseeing levee reconstruction, insisted the pumps would have worked last year and the city was never in danger. Bedey gave assurances that the pumps should be ready for the coming hurricane season, which begins June 1.

The Corps said it decided to press ahead with installation, and then fix the machinery while it was in place, on the theory that some pumping capacity was better than none. And it defended the manufacturer, which was under time pressure.

“Let me give you the scenario: You have four months to build something that nobody has ever built before, and if you don’t, the city floods and the Corps, which already has a black eye, could basically be dissolved. How many people would put up with a second flooding?” said Randy Persica, the Corps’ resident engineer for New Orleans’ three major drainage canals.

The 34 pumps — installed in the drainage canals that take water from this bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city and deposit it in Lake Pontchartrain — represented a new ring of protection that was added to New Orleans’ flood defenses after Katrina. The city also relies on miles of levees and hundreds of other pumps in various locations.

The drainage-canal pumps were custom-designed and built under a $26.6 million contract awarded after competitive bidding to Moving Water Industries Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla. It was founded in 1926 and supplies flood-control and irrigation pumps all over the world.

MWI is owned by J. David Eller and his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

MWI has run into trouble before. The U.S. Justice Department sued the company in 2002, accusing it of fraudulently helping Nigeria obtain $74 million in taxpayer-backed loans for overpriced and unnecessary water-pump equipment. The case has yet to be resolved.

Archbishop Sheen explains it all (Part 3)

Archbishop Sheen explains it all (Part 2)

Archbishop Sheen explains it all (Part 1)

Or . . . as Johnny Carson used to say on The Tonight Show, "I did not know that."

For instance, do you know what -- or more precisely, who -- the unconsecrated bread and wine represent before Father blesses it and it becomes the Body and Blood of Christ?

You. Us.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, whose cause for canonization you can learn about here, explains that in the Liturgy of the Eucharist we sacramentally die to ourselves -- are crucified with Christ -- that we might have new life in Christ.

Cool, huh?

Parts 2 and 3 of Archbishop Sheen's "Family Retreat" follow. Watch . . . and learn.

Hat tip: The Dawn Patrol

Psalm 93

1 The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
2 Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.
4 The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.
5 Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever.

I don't care who ya are, THIS is funny

Killing the messenger: That's what we do

I was tempted to say something like this: Only in Louisiana would the obvious newspaper lede be . . .

Moments after learning of its first-round opponent in the NCAA tournament, the LSU women’s basketball staff began preparations to play North Carolina-Ashville — preparations that will include assistant coach Carla Berry.

Acting head coach Bob Starkey said Monday that Berry’s status on the staff had not changed in the wake of reports that Berry is the coach who went to LSU officials with allegations of improper conduct between former LSU coach Pokey Chatman and one or more players.

APPARENTLY, Carla Berry is the LSU women's assistant coach who blew the whistle last month on former Coach Pokey Chatman's reputed romantic interest in a former player (or players) when that player (or players) weren't former yet.

And, apparently, the first thing that comes to the mind of Baton Rouge sportswriters is that, somehow, the natural thing is that people who report wrongdoing somehow will suffer the same fate as a leper shipwrecked on Hypochondriac Island.

How retrograde. How uncivilized. How corrupt.

How spot on, actually.

In high school, no one liked a "narc." In the world of work -- not to mention the world o' government -- nobody likes a whistleblower (with the possible exceptions of taxpayers and reporters).

In the Catholic Church . . . . Well, let's not spend several days and hundreds of casualties revisiting all the ways the Bride of Christ has been defiling herself lately, 'kay?

NOPE, nobody likes a narc. Narcs get beat up; narcs get fired. Sometimes, narcs get dead.

It's a beautiful thing, that fallen human nature. And because we're so loathe to acknowledge how routinely rotten we really are, our first reaction to such obvious honesty in sportswriting is to think "How ridiculous!"

Now that's ridiculous.

Psalm 84

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.

1 How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.
4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.
6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
9 Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

Big Sister Is Nagging You

This retooled version of Apple's legendary "1984" ad is popping up everywhere in the blogosphere.

The original -- which aired only once, during the Super Bowl -- introduced us to the Macintosh computer. This brilliant pro-Barack Obama retread introduces us to Big Sister.

Lord help us.

Psalm 70

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.

1 Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD.
2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.
3 Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.
4 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.
5 But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.

Rollin' on the River

The abomination of desolation?

What can I say about this op-ed by James Matthew Wilson from The Observer, the student newspaper at Notre Dame? Other than, of course, "Yep. That about covers it."

Read on:

We are now well into the second generation of Catholics growing up almost entirely ignorant of the faith their Church proclaims. The precipitous decline of Catholic school enrollment serves as one obvious indicator that fewer nominal Catholics are receiving the basic catechesis necessary to understand what goes on at Mass, or Who it is we worship there.

In a fashion typical of a culture in decline, most persons in the Catholic community subsist in their observances by habit or listlessly fall away, while a small flowering of devout and engaged Catholics blossom in increasing isolation. The fruitfulness of this group has been great, resulting in moving witnesses to life in Christ, and in an impressive emergence of attempts to address the crises of our age with the rich intellectual traditions of the Church. Most Catholics, however, float through their sacramental velleities, hearing nothing consciously and absorbing a little through proximity and habit.

The greater numbers of young Catholics get their only exposure to the life of the Church at a weekly guitar Mass. They attend public schools, where they are told everything they need to know is taught in its classrooms. They watch their daily glut of television, where they see that everything they desire can be bought somewhere. And they escape their childhood with at best a few years of weekly C.C.D. class, where they get their souls rubber-stamped for Confession, Communion and Confirmation.

Those who go on to attend a Catholic university are likely to receive a couple semesters of theology and perhaps a couple more of philosophy. This, in most circumstances, gives them an understanding of their Church and its sacraments slightly inferior to that which their grandparents imbibed through the Baltimore Catechism by the fifth grade.

Such ignorance of the narratives, creeds and traditions of Catholicism is itself grave. If asked, "Why do Catholics receive the Eucharist?" or "Why must they receive sacramental forgiveness for their sins?" most Catholics could not provide an answer. Indeed, many of the Catholics I know, practicing or not, would stare blankly at such questioning. It would never occur to them that there might be an answer to such queries. Moreover, they would be bored and in disbelief that anyone would bother to ask them.

Ignorance of the Church's faith, however, is just a symptom of an even more grave condition. It is one thing not to know the doctrinal expressions of particular sacred truths; it is another thing - and a more serious thing - to live one's life with a worldview blind to and uninformed by those truths. The great achievement of the so-called secularizing forces of modernity has been in reshaping the way in which we live in and perceive the world. Plenty of persons deny the religious truths their parents and grandparents approved and defended confidently. But plenty more persons affirm their belief in God, or confess they accept myriad other formal doctrines of our faith, while they see the world with the eyes of indifference and unbelief. One can claim to believe in the God Who died for our sins, while at the same time thinking about the world as if none of that business had happened. I do not speak of hypocrisy, but of a loss of religious feeling.

Hat tip: The Parousian Post

Psalm 79

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.
4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
5 How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;
12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.

Baton Rouge, 1981

IT IS DIFFICULT

to imagine that these places once were new.

That they once were bustling centers of commerce, crowded with downtown shoppers.

Hotel guests at the old White House Inn.

Concertgoers at the old Independence Hall.

People just hangin' on a Saturday afternoon on Third Street . . . before suburbia, malls and the Interstate killed off downtowns across the United States.

I TOOK THESE PHOTOS for my photojournalism class (J 3065) at Louisiana State University . . . long ago and far away from where I am -- and who I am -- now. Just like Baton Rouge in 1981 was long removed and far away from what it was in, say, 1963. What remained were its ghosts.

AND NOW even those ghosts exist only in the furthest corners of the memories of aging folk. Like me.

NOTHING PICTURED HERE REMAINS. See the abandoned buildings straight above the lake in the top photo? The old Our Lady of the Lake Hospital.

HUEY LONG DIED THERE. I was born there. Gone.

THE DECAYING, ghostly presences from a heyday long lost fell to make room for new construction and the promise -- maybe -- of a new heyday in the Red Stick someday. Somehow.

MAYBE.

THAT, I SUPPOSE, depends on what still haunts Baton Rouge (or insert name of your hometown here). On whether it can hold on to its benevolent spirits and exorcise its demons . . . while it still might.

AMEN.

Psalm 75

To the chief Musician, Altaschith, a Psalm or Song of Asaph.

1 Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.
2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.
3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.
4 I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:
5 Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.
6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.
9 But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

(INSERT SNARKY FEMALE-JOCK STEREOTYPE HERE)

ESPN and the New Orleans Times-Picayune are reporting that Louisiana State women's basketball coach former women's basketball coach Pokey Chatman abruptly quit because her LSU bosses got wind that she was in "an inappropriate sexual relationship" with a former player (ESPN) or engaged in "inappropriate conduct with players" (T-P). Take your pick.

Allegedly. Sources say.

LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman -- who got his start in college baseball before the advent of the batting helmet -- wouldn't say much to Baton Rouge's WAFB television, except that the Picayune reporter, James Varney, ought to be "baked in oil."

Famed New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse told reporters that LSU officials should be careful not to leave Varney in the oven too long, and not to turn the heat above 375. He said that so long as the reporter "didn't get all dried out and tough," he'd be "scrumptious drizzled with lemon juice and butter, with a sprinkling of chives and a radicchio garnish. BAM! Kick it up a notch wit some Bac-Os!"

I made that Emeril part up. But not the "baked in oil" part.

For what it's worth, here's an excerpt from the ESPN story:

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Pokey Chatman resigned as the head women's basketball coach at Louisiana State University on Wednesday after the university became aware of an alleged inappropriate sexual relationship between Chatman and a former player on Chatman's team, sources told ESPN.com. The university, the sources said, learned of the relationship from an employee within the basketball program.

ESPN.com's attempts to reach the employee by telephone and e-mail on Thursday night were unsuccessful.

Chatman, who initially revealed plans to quit after the postseason, says she will not coach the Lady Tigers in the NCAA Tournament. In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Chatman said: "My resignation yesterday has prompted speculation and rumors that far exceeded my expectations and it is clear that my presence would be a great distraction during the NCAA Tournament."

Assistant coach Bob Starkey, who will take over the team for now, declined to say whether he was aware of any improper conduct.

"There's been 20 to 25 things that are just floating out there, and I think she thought if she just stepped away from it she could eliminate that from even multiplying," Starkey said. "She has her reasons, and hopefully, soon she'll address that herself.''

LSU athletic director Skip Bertman told the Times Picayune of New Orleans, which first reported Chatman's alleged misconduct with one or more players Thursday on its Web site, that no formal inquiry into Chatman's conduct had been opened by the university. He did acknowledge, though, that an informal investigation "might have happened."

"The girl did what she did and LSU had no control over that," Bertman said, referring to Chatman.

IF POKEY WERE A MAN -- and praise Jesus that, with a name like "Pokey," she ain't . . . not now -- I would say, "Dammit, why couldn't he just keep it in his damn pants?" But when it's a 30-something woman coach allegedly getting all lovey dovey with the girls, I am sooooooo at a loss for a snappy rejoinder.

At least one I can print.

Let the 'trials of Job' end with the triumph of Job

And so one day, while his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the asses grazing beside them, and the Sabeans carried them off in a raid. They put the herdsmen to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

While he was yet speaking, another came and said, "Lightning has fallen from heaven and struck the sheep and their shepherds and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you."

While he was yet speaking, another came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three columns, seized the camels, carried them off, and put those tending them to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

While he was yet speaking, another came and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, when suddenly a great wind came across the desert and smote the four corners of the house. It fell upon the young people and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you."

Then Job began to tear his cloak and cut off his hair. He cast himself prostrate upon the ground, and said, "Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I go back again. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!"

In all this Job did not sin, nor did he say anything disrespectful of God.

Once again the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.

And the LORD said to Satan, "Whence do you come?" And Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming the earth and patrolling it."

And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, faultless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil? He still holds fast to his innocence although you incited me against him to ruin him without cause."

And Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has will he give for his life.

But now put forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face."

And the LORD said to Satan, "He is in your power; only spare his life."

So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with severe boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

And he took a potsherd to scrape himself, as he sat among the ashes.

Then his wife said to him, "Are you still holding to your innocence? Curse God and die."

But he said to her, "Are even you going to speak as senseless women do? We accept good things from God; and should we not accept evil?" Through all this, Job said nothing sinful.

Now when three of Job's friends heard of all the misfortune that had come upon him, they set out each one from his own place: Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuh, and Zophar from Naamath. They met and journeyed together to give him sympathy and comfort.

But when, at a distance, they lifted up their eyes and did not recognize him, they began to weep aloud; they tore their cloaks and threw dust upon their heads.

Then they sat down upon the ground with him seven days and seven nights, but none of them spoke a word to him; for they saw how great was his suffering.

Job 1:13 - 2:13

ON THIS EARTH, the Lord has no hands and no feet but for yours and mine. We know from the end of Job's story that the afflicted and tested servant of God ended up getting back more than he lost.

But in this Lenten season, when we're called on to do penance and give alms, we find that 26-year-old Kristy Dusseau has lost everything -- everything but her life and her family's great love -- to her fight against leukemia. And she won't begin to be restored from her "trials of Job" unless we help do it.

So let's do it.

Go to Kristy Recovers.com to learn about Kristy and about how to donate.

Here's the address to send checks:

KDLife Trust
28406 Sheeks
Flat Rock, MI 48134

Psalm 127

EDITOR'S NOTE: Just in case you forgot, we continue today with Revolution 21's "Psalms for Lent" series.

A Song of degrees for Solomon.

1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

LBJ on acid

Rod Dreher over at Crunchy Con noted the phony Southern accent Sen. Hillary Clinton affected for her speech commemorating the 1965 attack on civil-rights marchers in Selma, Ala. Br'er Dreher says the hilarity ensuing from the senator's doofusey attempt at a Black Southern drawl -- and better yet, attempted at an African-American church service -- reminded him of Officer Hopkins ("Hoppy") on the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son.

Certainly Hillary (as in Hillary for President . . . if she's elected, will she become like one of those single-named Afghan warlords?) was Hoppy-esque in her fish-out-of-watertude, but calling the woman "Hoppy" doesn't quite cover what it was I heard in the above clip.

I'm a few years older than Rod, and I know EXACTLY what I heard on that clip:

Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States.

On acid.

Psalm 20

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

1 The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.
6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

We interrupt Mr. Soprano Goes to Washington for this Revolution 21 special report . . .

We have just received information from the Radio and Internet Newsletter of some glaring discrepancies in how the federal government treats internet broadcasters seeking to webcast music programs legally and radio conglomerates completely innocent of even thinking about violating federal law (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

With the details, here is Kurt Hanson at RAIN headquarters:

I checked my notes last night from hearing a recent speech by Pandora founder Tim Westergren in Chicago, and the amount owed could potentially be even greater than I estimated in the article.

Westergren says Pandora currently has 6 million registered users; let's guess that at the end of 2006 they had at least 5 million. If the average user sets up 1.5 "stations," that's a 2006 royalty obligation of $3.75 billion.

That's billion with a "B."

MEANTIME, we understand the Chicago Tribune has the scoop on a settlement between the Federal Communications Commission and several large radio chains involving alleged transgressions of federal "payola" laws:

Tired of the same old thing on the radio?

So are federal regulators and independent music labels.

Weary of the illicit, recurrent practice known as payola, the two groups have reached tentative agreements with leading broadcasters to curb pay-for-play schemes and expand radio playlists.

Sources said Monday that four major radio companies are close to finalizing not only a consent decree with the Federal Communications Commission, but also a deal with a group of independent music labels promising 8,400 half-hour airtime segments to local and lesser-known artists.

CBS Radio, Citadel Broadcasting, Clear Channel Communications and Entercom Communications were accused of accepting money, airline tickets, clothing and other gifts from major labels to play certain songs by artists such as Liz Phair, Jessica Simpson and Avril Lavigne.

Now they will be expected to throw open the airwaves to a more eclectic mix.

"There are plenty of empty gestures out there. This one has the reality of a number attached to it, which makes it all the more serious of a commitment and an extraordinary one," said Peter Gordon, president of Thirsty Ear Recordings, who led the negotiations on behalf of the American Association of Independent Music.

Gordon said independent music actually may wind up being accounted for "on a track-by-track basis" rather than in half-hour blocks.

Separately, the broadcasters, under the terms of the three-year settlement with the FCC, would pay a total of $12.5 million in fines. They also would agree to restrictions and closer scrutiny of their dealings with record labels, including greater record-keeping and the hiring of compliance officers, but admit no wrongdoing.

The FCC has no authority over record labels, but used the evidence gathered in the payola investigation begun in 2004 by former New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer.

Now governor of New York, Spitzer thwarted payola in that state by EMI Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.

The new music agreement gives airtime to labels not owned or controlled by those major music companies.

"Payola breaks the link between merit and airplay," FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said. "It's who's got wads of cash, not who's got the best song. The public loses out in that. I think we see radio being damaged.

"People I talk to all across the country are tired of hearing the same songs over and over again. Hopefully, by taking payola out of the equation, and on top of that adding some new fresh sounds from local and independent artists, you can bring back the vitality that's missing from radio. So it's a historic commitment."

One radio industry veteran who requested anonymity said the only certain effect of the deal would be add paperwork and bureaucracy to the business.

A spokeswoman for CBS Radio declined to comment. Representatives of Citadel and Entercom did not return calls. Andy Levin, Clear Channel's executive vice president and chief legal officer, said in a statement that his company was glad the FCC's investigation was effectively over, noting no violations were found.

YOU CAN'T SAY the good ol' U.S. of A doesn't have the best government money can buy.

Now, if only I could get me some money to buy me some government.

Digital copyright law, explained

SEE, IT'S LIKE DIS.

Da record companies is like da Syndicate, ya' see? And da front, dat SoundExchange dat collects da royalty payments fum people, it's like yer neighborhood bookie.

Y'unnerstand?

Now da bookie is in da pocket uh da Syndicate, right? And he does what he's told, if he knows what's good fer 'im. So nowadays, when yer a webcaster or whaddevah, you gots ta deal wid da neighborhood bookie -- SoundExchange -- if you want ta get inna da action, right?

An' it's a losin' propasishun, if ya see what I'm sayin.

Kinda like bettin' on da Cubs ta be in da Series, ya' see? Yer screwed, an' after ya' lose yer ass, ya' gotta pay da pipah. Dat's da bookie -- SoundExchange.

And, of course, any good bookie got muscle, y'see? Like Rocky Balboa was before he got his shot at Apollo Creed, only dese guys don't got no heart of gold, right? And da muscle is da feds and da courts, and dey in da pocket uh da Syndicate. Dey got a little somethin' somethin', don'tcha know?

Da bookie -- and da Syndicate -- dey don't get no cut of the action . . . you don't pay up, somebody's legs is gonna get broke. Da feds don't screw aroun'.

Y'unnerstand, pally?

It takes a little story to tell the Big Story

From the Monroe (La.) News-Star:

Northeastern Louisiana might have missed out on a Toyota Motor Corp. assembly plant and 2,000 jobs because of litter and a workforce that lacks basic skills, according to state Sen. Robert Barham.

Barham, R-Oak Ridge, said that he had dinner with a site selector for a major auto manufacturer last month who outlined the strengths and weaknesses of Louisiana’s Franklin Farms Industrial Megasite near Holly Ridge in Richland Parish.

Barham wouldn’t identify the site selector or the project, but Toyota announced last week that it will build a new manufacturing plant in Tupelo, Miss., that will employ 2,000.

“He was very open and forthright about the plusses and minuses of the site,”
Barham said. “There were two big negatives. One was a woefully unprepared workforce and the other was he said that he doesn’t know of a trashier place.”

Barham, who was attending the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry legislative luncheon at the West Monroe Convention Center, said that the site selector drove a group of Japanese auto executives from the Monroe Regional Airport to the Franklin Farms Megasite via Interstate 20.

“He told me that he could tell that when they saw the amount of litter they wanted to get back on the plane and leave,” Barham said. “Their thinking was, ‘If anybody can do this to the place they live how can we count on them to make sure a bolt is tight.’

“We ought to take this on as a project – make sure that the corridor from Monroe to Holly Ridge is Disney World clean.”

Tana Trichel, the local contact for the Franklin Farms site, said the unidentified site selector is on target.

“Our own national consultant has told us that litter is a problem,” Trichel said. “We need to have a huge beautification program throughout the corridor from our commercial hub of Monroe all the way to the site.”

Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo said that the litter problem “is getting worse instead of better.”

“There has to be more pride of ownership by our citizens,” Mayo said. “It doesn’t do any good for a municipality to clean up a site when the next day it’s going to be overrun by litter again.”

TRASH-STREWN WASTELAND. Ill-educated, unskilled workforce. Broken civic culture. With what does one usually associate such things?

And why is such Third World civic dishevelment tolerated in the world's richest nation? After all, don't we spend billions of taxpayer dollars to alleviate such in various Middle Eastern, Latin American and African hellholes?

What? Is it not politically correct to demand of our fellow Americans what we aspire to achieve halfway across the world -- and then commit the resources and political will to help make it so?

Psalm 3

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

1 LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.
2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
4 I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.
7 Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.

Washington Post lifts up rock, all kinds of things slither out

You knew it wasn't just Walter Reed, right?

Right?

The Washington Post gets an earful:

Ray Oliva went into the spare bedroom in his home in Kelseyville, Calif., to wrestle with his feelings. He didn't know a single soldier at Walter Reed, but he felt he knew them all. He worried about the wounded who were entering the world of military health care, which he knew all too well. His own VA hospital in Livermore was a mess. The gown he wore was torn. The wheelchairs were old and broken.

"It is just not Walter Reed," Oliva slowly tapped out on his keyboard at 4:23 in the afternoon on Friday. "The VA hospitals are not good either except for the staff who work so hard. It brings tears to my eyes when I see my brothers and sisters having to deal with these conditions. I am 70 years old, some say older than dirt but when I am with my brothers and sisters we become one and are made whole again."

Oliva is but one quaking voice in a vast outpouring of accounts filled with emotion and anger about the mistreatment of wounded outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Stories of neglect and substandard care have flooded in from soldiers, their family members, veterans, doctors and nurses working inside the system. They describe depressing living conditions for outpatients at other military bases around the country, from Fort Lewis in Washington state to Fort Dix in New Jersey. They tell stories -- their own versions, not verified -- of callous responses to combat stress and a system ill equipped to handle another generation of psychologically scarred vets.

The official reaction to the revelations at Walter Reed has been swift, and it has exposed the potential political costs of ignoring Oliva's 24.3 million comrades -- America's veterans -- many of whom are among the last standing supporters of the Iraq war. In just two weeks, the Army secretary has been fired, a two-star general relieved of command and two special commissions appointed; congressional subcommittees are lining up for hearings, the first today at Walter Reed; and the president, in his weekly radio address, redoubled promises to do right by the all-volunteer force, 1.5 million of whom have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But much deeper has been the reaction outside Washington, including from many of the 600,000 new veterans who left the service after Iraq and Afghanistan. Wrenching questions have dominated blogs, talk shows, editorial cartoons, VFW spaghetti suppers and the solitary late nights of soldiers and former soldiers who fire off e-mails to reporters, members of Congress and the White House -- looking, finally, for attention and solutions.

Several forces converged to create this intense reaction. A new Democratic majority in Congress is willing to criticize the administration. Senior retired officers pounded the Pentagon with sharp questions about what was going on. Up to 40 percent of the troops fighting in Iraq are National Guard members and reservists -- "our neighbors," said Ron Glasser, a physician and author of a book about the wounded. "It all adds up and reaches a kind of tipping point," he said. On top of all that, America had believed the government's assurances that the wounded were being taken care of. "The country is embarrassed" to know otherwise, Glasser said.

The scandal has reverberated through generations of veterans. "It's been a potent reminder of past indignities and past traumas," said Thomas A. Mellman, a professor of psychiatry at Howard University who specializes in post-traumatic stress and has worked in Veterans Affairs hospitals. "The fact that it's been responded to so quickly has created mixed feelings -- gratification, but obvious regret and anger that such attention wasn't given before, especially for Vietnam veterans."

Across the country, some military quarters for wounded outpatients are in bad shape, according to interviews, Government Accountability Office reports and transcripts of congressional testimony. The mold, mice and rot of Walter Reed's Building 18 compose a familiar scenario for many soldiers back from Iraq or Afghanistan who were shipped to their home posts for treatment. Nearly 4,000 outpatients are currently in the military's Medical Holding or Medical Holdover companies, which oversee the wounded. Soldiers report bureaucratic disarray similar to Walter Reed's: indifferent, untrained staff; lost paperwork; medical appointments that drop from the computers; and long waits for consultations.

Sandy Karen was horrified when her 21-year-old son was discharged from the Naval Medical Center in San Diego a few months ago and told to report to the outpatient barracks, only to find the room swarming with fruit flies, trash overflowing and a syringe on the table. "The staff sergeant says, 'Here are your linens' to my son, who can't even stand up," said Karen, of Brookeville, Md. "This kid has an open wound, and I'm going to put him in a room with fruit flies?" She took her son to a hotel instead.

"My concern is for the others, who don't have a parent or someone to fight for them," Karen said. "These are just kids. Who would have ever looked in on my son?"

Capt. Leslie Haines was sent to Fort Knox in Kentucky for treatment in 2004 after being flown out of Iraq. "The living conditions were the worst I'd ever seen for soldiers," he said. "Paint peeling, mold, windows that didn't work. I went to the hospital chaplain to get them to issue blankets and linens. There were no nurses. You had wounded and injured leading the troops."

Hundreds of soldiers contacted The Washington Post through telephone calls and e-mails, many of them describing their bleak existence in Medhold.

From Fort Campbell in Kentucky: "There were yellow signs on the door stating our barracks had asbestos."

From Fort Bragg in North Carolina: "They are on my [expletive] like a diaper. . . . there are people getting chewed up everyday."

From Fort Dix in New Jersey: "Scare tactics are used against soldiers who will write sworn statement to assist fellow soldiers for their medical needs."

From Fort Irwin in California: "Most of us have had to sign waivers where we understand that the housing we were in failed to meet minimal government standards."

Soldiers back from Iraq worry that their psychological problems are only beginning to surface. "The hammer is just coming down, I can feel it," said retired Maj. Anthony DeStefano of New Jersey, describing his descent into post-traumatic stress and the Army's propensity to medicate rather than talk. When he returned home, Army doctors put him on the antipsychotic drug Seroquel. "That way, you can screw their lights out and they won't feel a thing," he said of patients like himself. "By the time they understand what is going on, they are through the Board and stuck with an unfavorable percentage of disability" benefits.

Nearly 64,000 of the more than 184,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who have sought VA health care have been diagnosed with potential symptoms of post-traumatic stress, drug abuse or other mental disorders as of the end of June, according to the latest report by the Veterans Health Administration. Of those, nearly 30,000 have possible post-traumatic stress disorder, the report said.

VA hospitals are also receiving a surge of new patients after more than five years of combat. At the sprawling James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., Spec. Roberto Reyes Jr. lies nearly immobile and unable to talk. Once a strapping member of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, Reyes got too close to an improvised explosive device in Iraq and was sent to Walter Reed, where doctors did all they could before shipping him to the VA for the remainder of his life. A cloudy bag of urine hangs from his wheelchair. His mother and his aunt are constant bedside companions; Reyes, 25, likes for them to get two inches from his face, so he can pull on their noses with the few fingers he can still control.

Maria Mendez, his aunt, complained about the hospital staff. "They fight over who's going to have to give him a bath -- in front of him!" she said. Reyes suffered third-degree burns on his leg when a nurse left him in a shower unattended. He was unable to move himself away from the scalding water. His aunt found out only later, when she saw the burns.

Going . . . going . . .

Jackson Square, 1984. This (as well as the courtyard below) will be oceanfront
property by 2024 -- probably sooner -- to be left in ruins by the first decent
hurricane's storm surge.

HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES to be the great exposer of Louisiana's -- indeed, America's -- Rot Below the Surface (TM). Back on the front burner, thanks to Bob Marshall's staggering series in the New Orleans Times-Picayune this week, is the little matter of Disappearing Louisiana.

Literally. Sinking beneath the Gulf waves, day by day, no end in sight.

The satellite map in Kerry St. Pe's office shows the great sweep of marshes protecting New Orleans from the Gulf in bright red, a warning they will vanish by the year 2040, putting the sea at the city's doorstep.

Coastal scientists produced the map three years ago.

They now know they got it wrong.

"People think we still have 20, 30, 40 years left to get this done. They're not even close," said St. Pe, director of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, which seeks to save one of the coast's most threatened and strategically vital zones.

"Ten years is how much time we have left -- if that."

That new time frame for when the Gulf could reach New Orleans' suburbs sharply reduces projections that have stood for more than three decades. Unless the state rapidly reverses the land loss, coastal scientists say, by the middle of the next decade the cost of repair likely will be too daunting for Congress to accept -- and take far too long to implement under the current approval process.

Interviews with the leading coastal scientists, as well as state and federal officials, brought no disagreement with that stark new prognosis. And while the predictions stand at odds with nearly a decade of official optimism, scientists said the death and destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina prompted them to voice private concerns that have been growing in recent years.

"I think that shocked us as much as any other group," said Robert Twilley, director of Louisiana State University's Gulf restoration initiative who has worked on the issue for years. "I think our concern now is that we may have contributed to false optimism."

Unless, within 10 years, the state begins creating more wetlands than it is losing -- a task that will require billions of dollars in complex and politically sensitive projects -- scientists said a series of catastrophes could begin to unfold over the next decade.

In 10 years, at current land-loss rates:

-- Gulf waves that once ended on barrier island beaches far from the city could be crashing on levees behind suburban lawns.

-- The state will be forced to begin abandoning outlying communities such as Lafitte, Golden Meadow, Cocodrie, Montegut, Leeville, Grand Isle and Port Fourchon.

-- The infrastructure serving a vital portion of the nation's domestic energy production will be exposed to the encroaching Gulf.

-- Many levees built to withstand a few hours of storm surge will be standing in water 24 hours a day -- and facing the monster surges that come with tropical storms.

-- Hurricanes approaching from the south will treat the city like beachfront property, crushing it with forces like those experienced by the Mississippi Gulf Coast during Katrina.

The entire nation would reel from the losses. The state's coastal wetlands, the largest in the continental United States, nourish huge industries that serve all Americans, not just residents of southeastern Louisiana. Twenty-seven percent of America's oil and 30 percent of its gas travels through the state's coast, serving half of the nation's refinery capacity, an infrastructure that few other states would welcome and that would take years to relocate. Ports along the Mississippi River, including the giant Port of New Orleans and the Port of South Louisiana in LaPlace, handle 56 percent of the nation's grain shipments. And the estuaries now rapidly turning to open water produce half of the nation's wild shrimp crop and about a third of its oysters and blue claw crabs. Studies show destruction of the wetlands protecting the infrastructure serving those industries would put $103 billion in assets at risk.

Despite such dire threats, the most disturbing concern may be this: Coastal restoration efforts have been under way for two decades, but not a single project capable of reversing the trend currently awaits approval.

The modest restoration efforts already under way have no chance of making a serious impact, experts say.

"It's like putting makeup on a corpse," said Mark Schexnayder, a regional coastal adviser with LSU's Sea Grant College Program who has spent 20 years involved in coastal restoration.

Decades after scientists alerted the nation to the problem, the Gulf not only continues to eat into the coast, its appetite remains insatiable: For every square mile the state has created since 1989, when serious restoration efforts started, the Gulf has devoured 5 more miles. Looking at just the wetlands surrounding New Orleans, the prognosis grows even more ominous, because these are the areas with the highest rates of loss on the coast.

Congress provided a note of hope last year, voting the state a permanent 37.5 percent slice of offshore oil revenues for coastal restoration work. But full financing -- some $650 million annually -- won't kick in until 2017. During the critical next decade, the state will be receiving only about $20 million a year, a pittance in the face of a problem that will require tens of billions of dollars to solve. Although the state could borrow against future revenues, scores of logistical and political hurdles remain.

St. Pe and others say 10 years will be too late for many coastal communities; they'll have to be moved within the next decade if serious land-building hasn't already started.

"If we aren't building land I can walk on inside of 10 years, we'll be moving communities," St. Pe said. "It's already the witching hour for a lot of these places, and a lot of other places are next."

TAKE NOTE. Inside of 20 years -- if social and political dysfunction doesn't do the deed sooner -- the defining story of our time will be the evacuation of New Orleans . . . forever . . . and the collapse of much of this nation's petrochemical infrastructure.

And because we did not care that a Third World state existed amid First World opulence, because we did not care that that Third World state sank from our consciousness into the deep blue sea, we will inevitably become a poorer, dessicated shell of the nation we once were.

Enjoy your wealth while you still can indulge your greed, America.

Boycotting the RIAA

Gizmodo has the scoop, and the "why," on fighting the recordo-thugs:

In case you missed it, last Friday we declared the month of March Boycott the RIAA Month. We've gotten sick and tired of always seeing the RIAA pulling deplorable moves and decided it was time for us to do something about it. We're kicking the month off with this, our manifesto. We want to be absolutely clear about what this fight is about and why it's so important. This is an overview of what the RIAA does, why it's damaging, and what we need to do to stop it. Consider this our planted flag.

First off, we want to be clear that this battle won't be over on March 31st. We declared March the Boycott the RIAA month to draw a line in the sand and to make a strong statement, but this is merely the beginning. Everything we're going to lay out here will still be true in April, in May, in June, and in the months that follow. March will be not the entirety of our efforts, but rather a kick off of our organized campaign to make a difference. We'll be posting tips for how to get the word out, ways to support artists without supporting the RIAA, and keeping you updated with everything that's going on throughout the entire month. With your help, we can educate people about how important this issue is and really make a difference.

The RIAA is the industry group that represents the four major record labels — Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Sony BMG — and all of their subsidiaries. They work on behalf of their members, and they have been accused of a wide range of offenses, from price-fixing to stifling innovation. They're able to perpetuate these crimes due to their huge bankroll, but that happens to be the one aspect of their organization we have control over. As consumers, we are the ones who stuff their coffers. By buying albums released by RIAA labels, we're giving them the money they use to sue our peers, stifle innovation, and force DRM down our throats. By cutting off their income stream, we can help make the RIAA less effective and therefore less damaging.

We're huge music fans here at Gizmodo, and that's why it's really hard to advocate not purchasing albums from artists we love. However, what everyone needs to understand is that we are in no means advocating piracy or not supporting musicians. The fact of the matter is, the RIAA's practices do not, in the end, support musicians or put money into their pockets. A fraction of the money from album sales actually makes it to artists, and not a single penny that the RIAA has received from their series of lawsuits has actually made it back to the artists that had their "copyrights infringed" in the first place.

The goal of the RIAA's lawsuits is to make people so afraid of being sued that they will stop downloading music. However, in their lawsuits they circumvent the law and extort money from people who haven't been given the benefit of a legal trial.

The process that the RIAA has in place to find and sue plaintiffs is designed not to provide a fair trial and prove guilt, but rather to confuse and intimidate people into settling out of court. What exactly happens is too detailed and lengthy for me to go into here, but Grant Robertson's Layperson's Guide to Filesharing Lawsuits is a must-read for anyone interested in what exactly happened in the 20,000+ lawsuits (so far) the RIAA has brought upon the citizens of this country.

Recently, the RIAA began looking to streamline the entire lawsuit process by cutting courts, lawyers, and any semblance of due process out altogether. Their new plan is to have ISPs point people to p2plawsuits.com (catchy!) and offer to discount their settlement by $1,000 if they pay up without going to court at all. By avoiding the court system, the RIAA can avoid paying those pesky lawyer's fees. Even better for them, they plan to require ISPs to retain all of their customer records for at least 180 days in order to be eligible for the $1,000 discount. This would make everyone's surfing and downloading history available to a non-governmental organization in order to make it easier for them to gather evidence for their intimidation lawsuits.

Beyond the harassment, extortion, and privacy invasion that the RIAA commits under the guise of lawsuits, they also stifle innovation by treating any open Internet source as a potential way for people to violate their copyrights. Recently, they filed a "motion for reconsideration" in a suit claiming that anything downloaded via an Internet connection is the responsibility of the owner of said connection. While the RIAA is trying to make it easier for them to get money out of the parents of kids they sue, the precedent that it would set would make it difficult, if not impossible, for open WiFi hotspots to exist. That means that the RIAA would make it impossible for you to connect to the web for free while out in a city that provides Internet access merely because you might use it to download music.

READ THE WHOLE THING on the Gizmodo website here.