BBC NEWS | Americas | Race to rescue hurricane victims

The BBC has several Katrina articles, plus video. The title-link is to the latest as of post time.

Update: BBC has a Katrina In Depth section on its website: articles, links, message areas.

Hundreds now feared dead in Katrina's Wake - NEWS.com.au

Another Katrina update, from Australian correspondents in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Las Vegas SUN: Dress code idea for planned casino could get cold shoulder

Actor George Clooney is floating the idea of having a dress code for customers at a casino at a hotel/condo complex he is helping finance in Las Vegas -- and various and sundry people are having public hissy fits over it. As a matter of fact, according to Las Vegas Sun reporter Liz Benston:

Jerry Markling, chief of the Gaming Control Board's enforcement division, said he believes enforcing a dress code would run afoul of a state law requiring that gambling be conducted in the public eye.

Uh, right.

(Do I laugh or cry?)

NOLA.com: Times-Picayune Breaking News Weblog

The Times-Picayune has a breaking news blog which is, as you might expect, heavy on Katrina-related news right now.

It is on the www.nola.com website, which bills itself as "Everything New Orleans" and which has other disaster information as well.

There is also Jon Donley's Nola View blog with neighborhood information, contact info, reports from readers, etc.

WWLTV.com | News for New Orleans, Louisiana | Local News

Tom Planchet is posting Katrina updates as they come in at WWLTV.

hat tip: Blanco: New Orleans Must Be Completely Evacuated at WeatherBlog, which has several good Katrina-related posts.

Michelle Malkin: NEW ORLEANS UNDERWATER

Hour by hour, the news gets worse all along the Gulf Coast. The water keeps rising in New Orleans, now that the levees have breached. Across the South, people are sitting on rooftops, hoping for rescue. Rescue workers are having a hard time getting in, and so many people decided to try to ride out the storm that the need for immediate help is staggering.

Michelle Malkin is doing a good job of Katrina coverage and of linking to other sites and resources.

I'm listening to Fox News in the background, and they are just now reminding that Katrina isn't done. We're looking at tornadoes and floods up through state after state northward.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Green petite cars tempt tourists

Clark Boyd, technology correspondent for The World, a BBC World Service and WGBH-Boston co-production, reports on a tiny, blobby electric car being offered by a rental service in Cordoba, Spain - an entrepreneurial project getting money (and dedicated parking spaces) from the local Communist-controlled government.

The local taxi drivers call them "caracoles" (translation: snails) and honk at them.

The Spanish car rental company is called Blobject. It has recently opened a second office in Seville. The Blobject cars come equipped to provide GPS-linked tourism information in Spanish, English or French.

The cars themselves are Gems, or Global Electric Motorcars, made in the US by a division of Daimler-Chrysler.

Mr. Boyd's article here.

Semi-related previous Suitable For Mixed Company post about using something other than the standard automobile or truck to get around town here.

New blogger : Fiona Pinto

Fiona Pinto just started her blog August 1, so possibly you haven't met her yet. Pop over and give her a welcome, and maybe a link, what do you say? Help a newbie get launched?

I have to admit that I like this part of her "about me" message quite a lot:

...I am setting up this blog primarily to highlight media inaccuracy, and also to point out some first class examples of investigative journalism and reporting.

I think too many people have fallen into the rut of only pointing out the bad reporting, and aren't giving enough thought to highlighting what gets done right.

Pinto has been active in prolife campaigning for the last five years, she says. She seems to be UK-based, from what I see in her links and from I'm reading in her posts.

hat tip: ProLifeBlogs

Update: Fiona confirms via the comments that she's in the UK. She's updated her profile to make that clear.

Michelle Malkin: HURRICANE KATRINA: RELIEF EFFORTS

Michelle Malkin is compiling a round-up of relief efforts, both public and private, lined up to help communities in Katrina's path.

B. Austin Higgins is wondering Who in the international community will help us?

At this point, we can't know how bad it's going to be, but it's a scary, scary big storm.

Augusta Free Press : Priceless

R.J. Del Vecchio was a combat photographer in Vietnam. He recently attended a reunion of vets and their families. He got to help pick the music. His pick for opening song was...

hat tip: Michelle Malkin

Telegraph | Opinion | The EU can work for Britain - if we quit

Daniel Hannon, Conservative Member of the European Parliament (MEP) offers a series of reality checks in an opinion piece in the Telegraph.

He provides some suggestions for the UK in its future dealings with the EU, with an eye on the success of the countries that have struck special deals with Brussels. By standing somewhat apart, the members of the European Free Trade Area (Efta) - Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Lichtenstein - are doing much better than EU members, Hannon notes.

And he easily dispenses with some of the lines put forth by "Euro-apologists" too:

...You can't compare us to Iceland," they say, "Iceland has fish." So, of course would Britain, but for the ecological calamity of the CFP. "We're nothing like Norway," they go on, "Norway has oil." Indeed; and Britain is the only net exporter of oil in the EU. Then my particular favourite: "But Switzerland has all those banks." Yes. And London is the world's premier financial centre - although it is, admittedly, being slowly asphyxiated by EU financial regulation...

hat tip: Orrin Judd

Eric Cohen -- A Jewish-Catholic Bioethics?

Eric Cohen addresses something that has puzzled me for a long time. Why is it that Catholics and Jews have almost identical ethics when it comes to most matters involving the sanctity of human life - but some Jews veer apart when it comes to embryonic stem cell research and cloning?

Eric Cohen is editor of the New Atlantis and resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly . COVER STORY . Right to Live . August 26, 2005 | PBS

Leslie Burke, the British man fighting to not be killed by his doctors (via dehydration and starvation) when his disease progresses to where he can no longer talk, was just featured on Religion & Ethics Newsweekly on PBS (public television in the United States).

He came across very well, I thought, and the broadcast itself was more even-handed on the subject than I've come to expect from public broadcasting.

Liz Sayce, of the Disability Rights Commission, was given a chance to put in some good points, including that nondisabled people shouldn't be making assumptions about how 'awful' life is for someone with a disability - that once a person adjusts to a disability they can have a great quality of life.

Charles Wilkes, a spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference, was allowed to explain why the bishops held back their support for Burke's legal campaign (short answer: in their view, as presented, it opens the door for euthanasia).

Dr. Graeme Catto of the General Medical Council, and Dr. Michael Wilks of the British Medical Association were also interviewed, and expressed their concerns about patients being allowed to ask for more than was good for the patient or the system (I'm paraphrasing, and perhaps not charitably. After all, it would be impossible to cover all patient requests, if the law enshrined patient wishes as the end-all and be-all of allocating resources. But I do think they're over-reaching in this case. Burke simply wants to have food and water guaranteed for as long as his body can deal with it. It's not like he's asking for anything fancy, hard to get, or experimental.)

Transcript and video

I only have a couple of quibbles with the broadcast. First of all, it refers to "artificial nutrition" - a term I think is ridiculous and harmful, since getting food by tube isn't that drastically different than getting food and water by mouth - it's still basic nutrition, nothing artificial about it. And, secondly, it assumes, as do most media reports sadly enough, that end-of-life care is hugely expensive and therefore drains the overall health care budget - which I concede is possible, but not if what people are fighting for, like Leslie Burke, is to die of natural causes instead of having their death imposed by dehydration. If a person isn't demanding extensive care, but only wants to spend their last days in peace, there's no way that's hugely expensive. We're back, I think, to the initial, honest hospice idea, where the idea was to fend off the doctors, hospital administrators, social workers, et al, and be more sensible, sane, and caring during someone's last days.

North County Times - Lawsuit against UC system claims religious bias

The University of California system has refused to give college-entrance credit for some courses taught at Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, California. The school, five of its students, and the Association of Christian Schools International have jointly filed a lawsuit claiming anti-Christian bias. Among the denied courses: "Christianity's Influence on America," and "Christianity and Morality in American Literature." According to reporter Jennifer Kabbany of the North County Times, UC documents cited the rejected courses as "too narrow (and) too specialized."

On the other hand, according to the lawsuit, UC has approved credit for "A study of Western Caribbean Culture," "The 60's: A Closer Look," "Existential Literature," "Gender, Sexuality and Identity in Literature," "Intro to Buddhism," and "Feminist Issues Throughout U.S. History," and dozens of other courses which the complaint contends are narrower and more specialized than Calvary Chapel's courses.

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No Left Turns: Which novelist would you vote for?

Joseph Knippenberg is asking, "Which living novelist could you support if he or she ran for office?" He tosses out Mark Helprin and Leon de Winter as likely contenders. Orson Scott Card is getting some early support from commenters, as is William F. Buckley, Jr.

This whole discussion started with a jab by Daniel Akst that novelists would do anything - including running for office - to help sell books (a dubious claim, I'd say). But, putting that aside, this gives you an excuse to speak up for favorite authors that seem to fall into this category. (Caveat: You do know there is sometimes a substantial difference between a writer and his and her fiction, yes? We shall take pains to not take ourselves too seriously, no?)

Having said that, I'd probably vote for Jan Karon, if it came to that. She comes across as classy and good humored, seems to understand people, appears to keep things in perspective, and can handle hostile television interviewers.

The Common Room: Music Question

A first-time guitar buyer is looking for advice on what to look for and what to avoid. Go here if you can help, or to read the suggestions from her readers.

The Advertiser: Lost dog catches train home

They grow some smart dogs in Scotland, apparently ;-)

Book Notes: Hard Bargain by Robert Shogan

Hard Bargain

I just finished reading Hard Bargain: How FDR Twisted Churchill's Arm, Evaded the Law, and Changed the Role of the American Presidency by Robert Shogan (1999 trade paperback, ISBN: 0813336953). It's a good read, but not a fast one. I'd recommend it for history buffs, WW II military buffs, and anybody trying to get a handle on how the United States government morphed into its present shape and size.

Up until the last chapter it's a pretty straightforward, well-documented look at history as it unfolded rather than any sort of advocacy book. (In the last chapter Shogan gives an overview of what he sees as oversteps made by more recent Presidents using FDR's actions as precedent, and lets loose with what he thinks we should take away as the main lessons from all this, and what he thinks we should do about it.)

Shogan provides analysis, but is amazingly even-handed overall, as far as I could see. As it says in the Author's Note:

...Those who seek either to sanctify or demonize Roosevelt will find little support here. Neither angel nor devil, FDR emerges from these pages as a politician, seeking after the light as he saw it, but also seeking after reelection. This is not the story of villains against heroes, etched in black and white. The fundamental contest here is between principle and expediency, which can be glimpsed only in various shades of grey. It is my hope that the past seen through this prism can help to illuminate the future.

I don't know about the future, but I kept running into bits and pieces that seemed to help explain some of what is going on these days.

This book has extensive endnotes - a fact I didn't tumble to right away because the text isn't littered with numbers. There's also an extensive bibliography (roughly four pages for books, two pages of other sources), as well as an index.

The book is full of interesting vignettes, fascinating people, information that has come to light since the declassification of World War II documents, and quotes from contemporary sources. I find myself wanting to follow up on people and events to which I was only introduced here: "Wild Bill" Donovan and his unofficial-official end run around Joseph Kennedy, the situation around Trinidad during the war, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter's active role in advising people in the administration and also all those proteges he steered into the executive branch, and also, surprisingly enough, I'd now like to learn more about British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. (Yes, I knew about Neville Chamberlain, but I didn't know FDR sent him a I-think-you're-right cable after the Munich meeting where Britain and France agreed to let Hitler have his way with Czechoslovakia. Wait a minute, let me find the text. Ah, here it is, page 48. FDR cabled: "I fully share your hope and belief that there exists today the greatest opportunity in years for the establishment of a new order based on peace and law." Both men, of course, found out soon enough that their hopes were ill-founded.)

Hard Bargain was originally published 1995. The 1999 edition was issued with a new preface on "Clinton and the Bombing in Kosovo."

More on the author: 'Bad News' is an August 21, 2001, NewsHour transcript of a discussion by Robert Shogan, Richard Reeves and Terrence Smith about how well the media covered the 2000 elections in the United States, which used Shogan's ninth book Bad News: Where the Press Goes Wrong in the Making of the President as its starting point.

Little One Sweet Poster Series

Here's a poster showing "The first nine months - watch me grow!" Each panel is also available as a separate poster. They are currently available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Latvian and Polish.

The posters were designed to be used in the Spiritual Adoption program at the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The Archdiocese has examples of ways the posters are being used.

Panel makes own changes in Air Guard - The Washington Times

Liz Sidoti of the Associated Press notes that the base-closing commission has taken Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's restructuring proposal as a starting point but has "shuffled personnel and aircraft as they saw fit." Among other things the commission has voted to keep Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota open. (I have South Dakota ties, so this makes me happy.) Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico also got a vote to stay open - but without its aircraft and with an eye toward closure in 2010 unless the Pentagon finds a new mission for it.

This isn't over. According to Sidoti, the panel must send its final report to President Bush by September 8. He can go any of three ways: accept, reject, or send it back for revisions. Then Congress gets a shot at vetoing the plan in its entirety, if it feels like it. Then, once we get a plan, there's about six years of changes in store as the plan gets put into effect.

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