News - September 1, 2005

New Orleans Mayor Issues 'Desperate SOS' - "Storm victims were raped and beaten, fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday. "This is a desperate SOS," the mayor said."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/hurricane_katrina

Desperation, chaos engulf New Orleans - "Looting spiraled so out of control that Mayor Ray Nagin ordered virtually the entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts and focus on the brazen packs of thieves who have turned increasingly hostile."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-31-katrina_x.htm

Katrina: Evacuation disrupted by arson, gunfire - "Fights and rubbish fires broke out, rescue helicopters were shot at and anger mounted across New Orleans today, as National Guardsmen in armoured vehicles poured in to help restore order across this increasingly desperate and lawless city."
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=154485508&p=y54486zy4

Doctors plead for help as hospitals run out of food, power - "Doctors at two desperately crippled hospitals in New Orleans called The Associated Press Thursday morning pleading for rescue, saying they were nearly out of food and power and had been forced to move patients to higher floors to escape looters."
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-18/112559544048020.xml&storylist=louisiana

"No one can say they didn't see it coming" - "In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2005/08/31/disaster_preparation/index_np.html?x

The Education of the Vulgar - "Why should the world’s leading nation have reelected a man of such debilitating limitations? First off, we must acknowledge the fact of life that Presidents who engage in global conflict have always been reelected unless, like LBJ, they chose to step down. But to stop with this explanation is to ignore a huge cultural phenomenon: millions of Americans support George Bush because they think like George Bush. They are bored by information and ignore learning. Their idea of wit is a bumper sticker. They seek macho leadership and easy answers to issues. They believe that they have been saved by the Lamb of God."
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1153

Joseph Farah: Impeach Bush - "Some will remind me I endorsed Bush just two years ago for re-election. My response? I made it very clear at the time that I was not really endorsing Bush, per se, but seeking the only practical way to defeat his reckless and irresponsible and treasonous opponent. There is no contradiction here. Kerry had to be defeated. Now Bush must go. America can do better."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46062

Police: Miss. Man Kills Sister Over Bag Of Ice - "Police in Hattiesburg, Miss., said a man fatally shot his sister in the head over a bag of ice."
http://www.local6.com/news/4923019/detail.html

Stories of heartbreak and hope in Katrina's wake - "Doctors told me that while trying to evacuate critical patients from Charity Hospital in New Orleans, two of the evacuation vehicles came under fire. The doctors said they were able to get all but one of the patients out of the hospital. Who was shooting at these vehicles? The doctor I spoke to had no idea. He said a person in a white shirt from a high building started firing upon them as they were trying to evacuate."
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/scene.blog/index.html

Experts: $4 a gallon gas coming soon - ""There's no question gas will hit $4 a gallon," Ben Brockwell, director of pricing at the Oil Price Information Service, said. "The question is how high will it go and how long will it last?" ... Brockwell said with gasoline prices now exceeding $3 a gallon before even reaching the wholesale level, it "doesn't take a genius" to expect retail prices to hit $4 a gallon soon. "Consumers haven't seen the worst of it yet," Brockwell said."
http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/31/news/gas_prices/index.htm?cnn=yes

Bush warns looters, urges Americans conserve gas - "President George W. Bush said on Thursday looters in New Orleans and elsewhere in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina should be treated with "zero tolerance" and urged Americans not to buy gasoline if they do not need it because of looming shortages. "It's going to be hard to get gasoline to some markets," Bush said."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/01/MTFH46447_2005-09-01_20-33-54_DIT140857.html

Gas Rage Spikes as Fuel Prices Soar - "First there was road rage, then air rage, then sports rage, and now -- gas rage. As gas prices soar to a record high of more than $3.00 per gallon, so too do incidents of violence and theft at the pumps. ... And "it may get worse before it gets better, especially if we have periods of acute shortages, price hikes, or both where we will see more rageful incidents, anger, and irritability at the pumps," says Jerry Deffenbacher, PhD, professor in the department of psychology at Colorado State University."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,168101,00.html

$4 a gallon - "America is over. America is like Wile E. Coyote after he's run out a few paces past the edge of the cliff – he'll take a few more steps in midair before he looks down. Then, when he sees that there's nothing under him, he'll fall. Many Americans suspect that they're running on thin air, but they haven't looked down yet. When they do ... We may hobble along with more or less the same way of life for the next dollar or so of hikes, but at around $4 America changes. Drastically. The "exburbs" and the rural poor will feel it first and hardest. Exburbians moved to the farthest reaches of suburbia for cheap real estate, willing to drive at least an hour each way to work. Many live marginally now. What happens when their commute becomes prohibitively expensive, just as interest rates and inflation rise, while their property values plummet? Urban real estate will go up, so they won't be able to live near their jobs – and there's nowhere else to go. In addition, thanks to Congress' recent shameless activity, bankruptcy is no longer an option for many. What happens to these people? Exburb refugees. A modern Dust Bowl."
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2005-04-29/cols_ventura.html

Motorists urged to drive less as gas supplies drop - ""This is a crisis. You are going to see some runs on supply," said Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20050901/bs_usatoday/motoristsurgedtodrivelessasgassuppliesdrop

At Least Ten U.S. Airports Face Closure Due to Jet Fuel Shortages - "Airlines and oil companies are working on plans to supply jet fuel to at least ten U.S. airports that could be shut down due to a lack of jet fuel caused by refinery and pipeline shutdowns from hurricane Katrina. The airports in most jeopardy for closure include Atlanta, Charlotte, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Orlando, Tampa, Washington Dulles and West Palm Beach."
http://www.airportbusiness.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=3343

Most scientific papers are probably wrong - "Most published scientific research papers are wrong, according to a new analysis. Assuming that the new paper is itself correct, problems with experimental and statistical methods mean that there is less than a 50% chance that the results of any randomly chosen scientific paper are true."
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7915

45.8 Million in U.S. Now Lack Health Insurance - "The number of Americans without health insurance rose by 800,000 last year, reaching a record high of nearly 46 million, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday. Officials blamed the increase in part on the continuing erosion of workplace-sponsored health insurance. A majority of Americans still get their coverage by sharing costs with their employer, though a smaller and smaller percentage of American jobs are now accompanied by medical benefits."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,167856,00.html

It's a miracle: mice regrow hearts - "SCIENTISTS have created "miracle mice" that can regenerate amputated limbs or damaged vital organs, making them able to recover from injuries that would kill or permanently disable normal animals.The experimental animals are unique among mammals in their ability to regrow their heart, toes, joints and tail."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16417002^30417,00.html

Arizona high school trades textbooks for laptops - "School officials believe the electronic materials will get students more engaged in learning. Empire High, which opened for the first time this year, was designed specifically to have a textbook-free environment."
http://www.detnews.com/2005/technology/0508/23/0tech-285633.htm

Apes 'extinct in a generation' - "Some of the great apes - chimps, gorillas, and orangutans - could be extinct in the wild within a human generation, a new assessment concludes."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4202734.stm

Quote of the Day
"The Universe doesn’t give a damn about you, pal! Nor does Mother Nature who spends most of her time kicking butt with floods, forest fires, blizzards, tornadoes, and other fun 'weather events'."
~ Alan Caruba