One Night in Bangkok

I'm completely nuts about Thai food and have learned to make quite a bit of it. The recipes I use to judge the quality of a new restaurant kitchen I'm trying out are the classic soup, tom kha gai, and the Thai street food dish, pad thai. There are some foods I think I could eat every day (Greek avgolemono soup and tom kha gai would be among them. I think I warded off the flu last year with avgolemono from the Greek Deli on 19th Street in DC, and DemfromCT is recommending chicken soup for avian flu this year. Make the Greek version and be very, very happy. My new blog colleague premiere Greek kitchen in the DC metro, and he may well be right. The link takes you his DC ethnic resaurant reviews. If you live around DC, Baltimore or Annapolis, you might want to bookmark the link. He just updated it. He owes me lunch right now (he's in Texas researching a book on Barbeque and globalization) so we'll be eating in one of these places next week.

Anyway here is a reliable tom kha gai recipe. This makes two servings without the traditional rice Thai addition, you can scale it up for a larger crowd. Here is a link to a mail order source for Thai goods (galangal, lemon grass) if you don't have an ethnic grocery nearby. One of the things I love about living in the DC metro (there are many, many things I *don't* love) is the plethora of excellent ethnic restaurants (cheap!) and ethnic grocery places. I've got Mercado Maria right down the street for an excellent source of queso fresco for my enchiladas.

Tom kha gai is not difficult, if you can find the ingredients.

Ingredients

16 fluid ounces soup broth (chicken stock)
4-5 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
4 or 5 2 inch pieces fresh lemongrass, bruised to release flavor
1 inch cube (or a bit more) galangal sliced thinly.
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 oz chicken breast cut into smallish bite sized pieces
5 fluid ounces coconut milk
small red Thai chile peppers, slightly crushed (to taste)
coriander (cilantro) leaves to garnish.

Note the number of red peppers is a personal choice. It can be as few as half a chilli per diner, to
as many as 8-10 per diner, but the dish should retain a balance of flavors and not be overwhelmend
by the chili peppers. We suggest about 8-12 chili peppers for this recipe.

Method

Heat the stock, add the lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal, fish sauce, and lime juice. Stir thoroughly,
bring to a boil, and add the chicken and coconut milk, then the chile peppers. Bring back to the boil,
lower the heat to keep it simmering and cook for about 2 minutes (until the chicken is cooked through).
Enjoy!

Not really intended to be eaten as a separate course, we like it served ladled over a bowl of steamed
Thai jasmine rice. This quantity serves 4 with other food, but is probably only enough for two if eaten
separately.

Pad Thai

Ingredients

* 1/2 Pad Thailb. dried thin gkuay dtiow or rice noodles (also known as ban pho to the Vietnamese)
* 3 Tbs. fish sauce, to taste
* 3 or more Tbs. tamarind juice the thickness of fruit concentrate, to taste
* 2 Tbs. palm or coconut sugar, to taste
* 4 Tbs. peanut oil
* 1/3 lb. fresh shrimp, shelled, deveined and butterflied
* 3/4 cup firm pressed tofu, cut into thin strips about an inch long, half an inch wide and a quarter inch thick
* 4-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
* 3 shallots, thinly sliced (or substitute with half a medium onion)
* 1/4 cup small dried shrimp
* 1/4 cup chopped sweetened salted radish
* 2-3 tsp. ground dried red chillies, to desired hotness
* 3 eggs
* 3 cups fresh bean sprouts
* 1 cup garlic chives, cut into 1 1/2-inch-long segments (optional)

Garnish

* 2/3 cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
* 1 lime, cut into small wedges
* A few short cilantro sprigs
* 4 green onions - trim off root tip and half of green leaves and place in a glass with white end in cold water to crisp (optional)

Soak the dried rice noodles in cool or lukewarm tap water for 40 minutes to one hour, or until the noodles are limp but still firm to the touch. While the noodles are soaking, mix the fish sauce with the tamarind juice and palm sugar; stir well to melt the sugar. Taste and adjust flavors to the desired combination of salty, sour and sweet. Prepare the remaining ingredients as instructed.

When the noodles have softened, drain and set aside. Heat a wok over high heat until it is smoking hot. (Note: If your wok is small, do the stir-frying in two batches. The recipe may also be halved to serve two.) Add 2 teaspoons of oil and quickly stir-fry the shrimp until they turn pink and are almost cooked through. Salt lightly with a sprinkling of fish sauce and remove them from the wok.

Swirl Pad Thaiin the remaining oil, save for 1 teaspoon, to coat the wok surface and wait 20 to 30 seconds for it to heat. Add the tofu, frying 1 to 2 minutes, or until the pieces turn golden. Add garlic and stir-fry with the tofu for 15 to 20 seconds. Follow with the sliced shallots and cook another 15 seconds. Then add the dried shrimp, sweetened salted radish and ground dried chillies. Stir and heat through a few seconds.

Add the noodles and toss well with the ingredients in the wok. Stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes and when most of the noodles has changed texture and softened, push the mass up along one side of the wok. Add the teaspoon of oil to the cleared area, crack the eggs onto it and scramble lightly. When the eggs have set, cut into small chunks with the spatula and toss them in with the noodles.

Add the sweet-and-sour seasoning mixture. Stir well to evenly coat noodles. If the noodles are still too firm to your liking, sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of water over them to help cook. Taste and adjust flavors as needed to your liking by adding more fish sauce or tamarind juice; if the noodles are not sweet enough, sprinkle in a small amount of granulated sugar.

When the noodles are cooked to your liking, toss in 2 of the 3 cups of bean sprouts and the garlic chives (if using). Sprinkle with half the chopped peanuts and return the shrimp to the wok. Stir and when the vegetables are partially wilted, transfer to a serving platter, or dish onto individual serving-size plates, and garnish with the remaining bean sprouts and chopped peanuts, the lime wedges, cilantro and green onions.

Serves 4 as a one-dish lunch with rice. Squeeze lime juice over each portion before eating.

I like to order a meal of appetizers in Thai places. Satays are among my favorite foods because there is so much to play with. Indonesians and Malaysians also make satays, and I enjoy the slight differences in the cooking traditions of each country. This is super finger food and your kids will like it because of the peanut butter sauce. You can make this with beef, pork or chicken, whatever you've got in the house, just adjust which broth you use for the sauce.

6 Chicken breast halves
- boned, skinned -- and cut
- into 1/2" wide strips

-----MARINADE-----
1 Tablespoon Light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon Curry powder
2 Tablespoons Crunchy peanut butter
1/2 Cup Soy sauce
1/2 Cup Freshly squeezed lime juice
2 Garlic cloves -- minced
Crushed dried chile peppers

----------------------------PEANUT SAUCE--------------------------------

2/3 c Crunchy peanut butter 1 1/2 c Coconut milk, unsweetened 1/4 c Freshly squeezed lemon juice 2 tb Soy sauce 2 tb Molasses (or brown sugar) 1 ts Fresh ginger root, grated 4 Garlic cloves, minced 1/4 c Chicken broth 1/4 c Heavy cream Cayenne pepper Grated lime zest Fresh cilantro sprigs.

To make the marinade, combine the first 7 ingredients in a shallow dish. Thread the chicken strips onto bamboo skewers in a serpentine fashion. Place the skewers into the soy sauce mixture and let marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours, although overnight is preferable.

Make the peanut sauce by combining the next 7 ingredients (peanut butter through garlic) in a saucepan. Season to taste with cayenne pepper. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce is as thick as heavy cream (about 15 minutes). Transfer to a food processor or blender and puree briefly. Add chicken broth and cream and blend until smooth. This mixture can be made several hours ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Prepare moderate-hot charcoal coals or preheat a broiler.

Cook the skewered chicken, turning several times and basting with the marinade, until crispy on the outside but still moist on the inside, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle grilled chicken with lime zest and garnish with cilantro leaves. Serve with the peanut sauce for dipping. Rest the skewers on lettuces on the presentation plate and garnish the plate with more chopped cilantro and grated carrots which have been marinated in rice wine vinegar with juilliened green pepper slivers.

Traditionally, this is served with a salad of cucumbers and chilis in a vinigar dressing.

My favorite Thai place serves three different chili sauces on the table to Thai customers, but anglos have to ask for them. Warning, Thai chilis are not for the faint of heart. I measure my chilis in Scoville Units and one of the local mom and pop Thai places challenged me (Tyler likes this one). I asked for my favorite beef dish "Bangkok hot" one night and barely lived to regret it. The garden hose was involved after I got home. And I use Tabaso pretty much like water.

Cooking with hot chilis means using food hygiene: you have to keep your hands away from your face when working with these really hot things. God help you if you rub an eye with a contact lens in it. Been there, done that, learned the lessons. I now wear gloves. And my glasses.

First Courses

It's easy to find good, fresh mussels in ordinary grocery stores these days. I like them in the classic Italian preparation. Typically this is served as a first course, but with a crusty loaf of bread, it's a meal for me. The wonderful Italian place down the street makes a recipe similar to this. They also serve a selection of breads with herbed olive oil on the table for dipping the bread. Yum. This serves four as a first course.

steamed mussels in a white wine sauce

Mussels are best if served as quickly after purchase as possible. If you must store them, keep them in icy cold water in the refrigerator. When you are ready to prepare them, check to see if any of the mussels have opened. If so, discard them.

4 pounds of mussels, washed and beards removed

for sauce:
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups light white wine wine (Pinot Grigio is great)
3 crushed garlic cloves

preparation:
1. Using a vegetable steamer, or a collander in a heavy sauce pan, steam the mussels over one quart of boiling water approximately 20 minutes. At this point the mussels should open - discard those that have not opened.
2. Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat, add the onions, wine and garlic. Simmer until the wine reduces to half.
3. Once the mussels are steamed add three cups of the mussel broth to the sauce and stir together.
4. Place the opened mussels in a large bowl and pour the sauce over them.

Mussels are tricky to eat. First separate the shell at the joint. Using the empty side of the shell loosen the mussel from the other side. Scoop up some of the broth in the shell and eat together with the mussel. Messy but delicious! You can also serve them with seafood forks and dig the meat out that way.

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone is safe and having fun and had lots of little goblins and witches come by. The area we went trick or treating in had more kids than I've ever seen.

Happy Halloween!

PS. Let me know if you see the Great Pumpkin...

An Italian Evening

Enough politics for tonight!

This is a lighter version (meatless) of the Sicilian classic. Local eggplants are available most places in the US right now. The preparation time is about 2 hours (much is letting the eggplant sit), and cooking time an hour. To serve 5-6:

Sicilian Macaroni Timballo -- Timballo di Maccheroni alla Siciliana

INGREDIENTS:

* 3/4 pound rigatoni (ridged pasta similar to ziti but larger)
* 1 1/4 pounds eggplant
* 1/3 cup unsalted butter
* 1 1/4 pounds sun-ripened plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded and chopped
* 1 medium-sized onion
* 1 clove garlic
* 1 tablespoon minced basil
* 1/4 pound fresh caciocavallo or mild provolone cheese
* Oil for frying

PREPARATION:
Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch slices, salt them, and let them sit in a colander for an hour. While they're sitting prepare the tomatoes, dice the cheese, and mince the onion, garlic and basil.

Sauté the minced onion and the garlic in 1/4 cup butter until the onion begins to brown, then stir in the tomatoes, season with salt, and cook for about a half hour, or until much of the liquid has evaporated.

At the last minute, stir in the minced basil, then remove the sauce from the fire and let it cool.

Heat the oil, and bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil for the pasta.

Rinse the sliced eggplant, pat the slices dry, and fry them in the oil, a few slices at a time. Drain them on absorbent paper and keep them warm. While you're frying the eggplant, cook the pasta until it's quite al dente, drain it, and season it with a few tablespoons of the sauce.

Once you have assembled the ingredients, oil a container large enough to hold them and preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C). Lay down a first layer of pasta, then a layer of eggplant and diced cheese, and some sauce. Continue layering until all is used up, and dot the surface of the timbale with the remaining butter.

Heat through for about a half hour, and serve. It's also quite good warm.

As a variation, you can use a mixture of equal parts zucchini and eggplant.

I'd go with a white wine, for example a Fiano di Avellino, here, or perhaps a zesty red, along the lines of an Aglianico del Vulture, though not a riserva.

Serve with a salad of mixed Italian field greens dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette and bruschetta.

You will need 4 six-inch wide slices of Tuscan bread. Toast them, gently rub them with a cut clove of garlic (you don’t want to overwhelm the oil), then drizzle them with good olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste, cut the slices in half, and serve.

There are lots of variations to bruschetta. Here's one of the tastiest: After rubbing the slices with the garlic, rub them with a very ripe cut tomato as well (or spread a thin layer of chopped tomatoes seasoned with basil, salt & pepper over the slices). Then sprinkle with olive oil and season. In addition to being a fine appetizer, this is a traditional merenda, or afternoon snack (unfortunately it’s not as common now that Kinder and other companies are producing pre-packaged cakes).

For dessert, here is a simple tiramisu:

This is a no-frills, basic Tiramisu that is simple to make. It uses poundcake instead of ladyfingers, and calls for a simple sugar syrup that's easy to make. Makes 12 servings.

Ingredients

* POUNDCAKE, 6 oz. (about half of a 10.75 ounce package), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
* MASCARPONE CHEESE, 8 ounces
* HEAVY CREAM, 1-1/4 cups
* EGGS, 2
* SUGAR, 2/3 cup + 1/4 cup, divided
* UNFLAVORED GELATIN, 1 envelope
* KAHLUA or AMARETTO, 6 tablespoons
* VANILLA, 1/4 teaspoon
* UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER (optional)
* SWEETENED WHIPPED CREAM (optional)
* SHAVED CHOCOLATE for decorating

Directions

1. Divide cake pieces evenly among 12 1/2-cup capacity custard cups; set aside.
2. In bowl with mixer at high speed beat cheese with heavy cream until mixture falls from spatula in thick ribbon, about 1 minute; set aside.
3. In another bowl with mixer at high speed beat eggs until fluffy, 6-8 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in pot over high heat, combine 2/3 cup sugar with 1/4 cup water; bring to a boil.
5. Cook until sugar dissolves and temperature reaches 250 degrees Fahrenheit on candy thermometer.
6. Gradually beat the boiling sugar syrup into beaten eggs.
7. Continue beating until slightly cooled, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl; set aside.
8. In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons of water with gelatin; let stand 5 minutes.
9. In a small pot over high heat, combine 1/2 cup water with remaining sugar; bring to a boil.
10. Cook until sugar dissolves, 3-4 minutes.
11. Remove from heat; stir in liqueur, vanilla and reserved gelatin until gelatin dissolves.
12. Fold 3/4 of the liqueur mixture into the egg mixture; fold in the cheese mixture.
13. Drizzle the remaining liqueur mixture over the cake in thecustard cups, dividing the cheese mixture evenly among the cups.
14. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
15. Garnish each with sprinkling of cocoa, whipped cream and chocolate shavings, if desired.

This will make a lovely "company" dinner or buffet. You can make the tirimisu while the pasta is baking.

If you are a Martha Stewart type, your dinning table can be set with a low, seasonal flower arrangement (so that your table mates can see each other over it,) but you can do something taller and more dramatic for the buffet table. I love dried flower arrangements and have them scattered around the house. Dried eucalyptus has a lovely scent, but don't use it on the dining table.

As you can tell, I love to cook for appreciative audiences. Since you, the readers and commentors, are the best part of this blog, I'm showing you the things I would cook for you if I could have you over to dinner.

If you live alone, or there are only two of you and you need help adapting these recipes for a smaller household, just ask. I can help you. I try to cook one of these relatively "fancy" meals for myself once a week, in smaller quantities, and then freeze the leftovers down in single serving containers to nuke later.

The tirimisu recipe is easy to halve. It will keep in the fridge covered tightly with plastic wrap (although I'll probably end up eating it for breakfast!) for a few days.

Political Action Alert

DeWine Threatens To Kill Filibuster

POSTED: 2:42 pm EST October 31, 2005
UPDATED: 2:48 pm EST October 31, 2005

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine said he'll support conservative threats to change Senate rules if anyone dares filibuster President George W. Bush's latest Supreme Court nominee.

The Republican senator said veteran appeals court Judge Samuel Alito is "within the mainstream of conservative thought." He's rejecting early suggestions by Democratic leaders that the nominee is too radical.

DeWine is one of 18 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings on the nomination.

He's vowing to go along with conservative efforts to take away the Democrats' right to filibuster if the minority party tries to block a confirmation vote for Alito.

Oh, man, it is going to be a long month. Time to call your senators. Do it tomorrow.

Lies and the Lying Liars

All the Prosecutor's Hints

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, October 31, 2005; 3:30 PM

In a none-too-subtle attempt to change the subject first thing this morning, President Bush summoned the press to the White House and named appeals court Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Coverage of a divisive nomination fight -- with Bush's right flank solidly behind him this time -- is much more to the White House's liking than all that nattering about the president's seemingly doomed second term in general, and the indictment of former vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby in particular.

But Friday's announcement of Libby's indictment on five felony counts for intentionally obstructing the investigation into the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity is not the end of that story.

And the press, while blithely chasing another scent this morning, will be back in the hunt soon enough. If nothing else, Libby's public arraignment should bring out the media hordes. (Mark your calendars: it will be Thursday morning at 10:30 before Judge Reggie B. Walton in Courtroom 5 of the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse.)

Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald may yet have some more indictments in store for us. But even if he doesn't, the information he released on Friday -- which initially struck many media observers as maddeningly short on details -- is in fact a still largely unmined treasure trove of hints about potentially serious ethical missteps by all sorts of senior Bush officials.

Just because a lot of the things Fitzgerald discovered evidently fell short of his very conservative prosecutorial standards -- they weren't out-and-out, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt crimes -- doesn't mean they were up to the standards the public reasonably expects from its White House.

"I know that people want to know whatever it is that we know, and they're probably sitting at home with TVs thinking, 'I want to jump through the TV, grab him by his collar and tell him to tell us everything they've figured out over the last two years,' " Fitzgerald said at his long-awaited Friday news conference.

Include me in.

But consider the constraints Fitzgerald was working under, and take a closer look at the news conference transcript and the indictment .

There is plenty of reason to believe that Fitzgerald has discovered evidence that Libby leaked Plame's name; that Karl Rove did the same; that Vice President Cheney's role was central to the drama; and that there was a lot more loose talk at the White House than anyone had imagined. Fitzgerald just isn't 100 percent sure that he can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any other crimes took place. And grand jury secrecy rules forbid him from disclosing anything that isn't directly related to the filed charges.

Nevertheless, he sure doled out a lot of hints. One of the most intriguing, of course, involves "Official A" -- who several sources have identified as none other than Rove himself.

According to the indictment: "On or about July 10 or July 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke to a senior official in the White House ('Official A') who advised LIBBY of a conversation Official A had earlier that week with columnist Robert Novak in which Wilson's wife was discussed as a CIA employee involved in Wilson's trip. LIBBY was advised by Official A that Novak would be writing a story about Wilson's wife."

If "Official A" is indeed Rove, then how does the White House explain his public insistence, directly and through the White House spokesman, that he was not involved in the leak to Novak? And how does the White House justify his continuing to work there?

Exactly.

Spoiling for a Bruising

From The New Republic's new blog, The Plank:

APOCALYPSE NOW:

So, it looks like the Bush White House learned from its mistake. This time, they made sure that they nominated a favorite son of the right. And they distributed their talking points early and widely. My snap pundit judgment: They've played their best hand. With the Bush presidency collapsing, George W. needs a base of support that goes beyond Barney. And now he's delivered the right what it really wants--an end-of-days showdown with liberals, where both sides fall back onto first principles and then bludgeon one another mercilessly. The right's somewhat perverse logic holds that these debates actually represent an ideal occasion for propagandizing; that these fights expose conservative ideas to mainstream America and reveal conservatives to be thinking, feeling people, too.

Of course, Bush could have gone right and simultaneously avoided this kind of Battle- of-Somme scenario. Or to re-frame that assertion: Why didn't he nominate Judge Michael McConnell? After all, McConnell would have nearly the same Federalist Society friendly views as Alito. But he would also bring along the endorsement of liberal academia. My best guesses for why he skipped over McConnell: 1) Bush actually needs a bloody confirmation fight. 2) He probably can't stand McConnell's heretical position on Bush v. Gore. 3) McConnell represents the kind of pointy-headed intellectualism that the president can't abide. 4) He's not physically fit enough to deserve a promotion to the highest court in the land.

Take it away, Ralph Neas and Boyden Gray.

--Franklin Foer

Search Me?

Via TChris at TalkLeft

Trial set to begin to decide constitutionality of subway searches

By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press Writer

October 30, 2005, 12:07 PM EST

NEW YORK -- The constitutionality of the city's random searches of bags in the subways to deter terrorism will be challenged at a federal trial Monday by civil liberties lawyers who say the searches do nothing to accomplish that goal.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman in Manhattan was scheduled to hear evidence and testimony in the case for two to three days. Afterward, lawyers will present written and oral arguments to the judge before a ruling is made.

At issue is a random search of the subways that was put in place in the nation's largest subway system after deadly bombings by terrorists in London's subway system in July.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of several subway riders, said in court papers filed last week that its own survey from Aug. 25 to Sept. 16 of 5,500 subway turnstile entrances found a total of 34 searches underway.

It said the search program in the 468 subway stations serving 26 train lines "has no meaningful value in preventing the entry of explosive devices into the system by the terrorists the NYPD is attempting to thwart."

This is same logic that says that the death penalty reduces the number of murders or attempted homicides because people are afraid of being put to death. Um... no, they might be afraid of being caught but not being put to death.

It seems like so many people want to hand over their rights to "feel" more secure, though I have no idea how these random searches would really stop a terrorist. Here's a hint: Either have them everywhere or don't do them.

The same is true with airport securtiy btw.... we've flown in and our of Texas twice this past month and the security at DFW is quite different than at RDU (home) or Houston Hobby. All three in theory met FAA and Homeland Security standards but they were all different in how strict they were with their machines and searches (how can the same #@$! pair of shoes be fine in 5 scans, but not the 6th?).

I hope there is enough of a United States left when the grown ups get back in charge to put back together.

Cover-up?

Canadian birds found with flu virus
Last Updated Mon, 31 Oct 2005 13:40:07 EST
CBC News

Several wild birds in Canada have been discovered to be carrying unidentified H5 flu viruses, but early indications suggest it is not the dangerous subtype of the avian flu, officials said.

The infected birds were discovered in 28 samples from Quebec and five from Manitoba and were among thousands sampled in Canada.

"These findings do not indicate that we are dealing with a virus strain capable of causing significant illness," said Dr. Jim Clark, of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Clark said the evidence "strongly indicates" that the birds were not infected with the same virus currently present in Asia.

The World Health Organization says outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 virus have infected 121 people and caused 62 deaths in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia.

All the birds tested in Quebec and Manitoba were healthy, Clark said.

Bullshit. CFIA won't know what subtype it is until the tests come back next week.

Screw Refugees

I covered this earlier.

A Novice for Refugees

Monday, October 31, 2005; Page A18

IT'S NEARLY too obvious to say so, but the senior American diplomat responsible for refugees and worldwide humanitarian emergencies should be well-versed or even expert in, well, refugees and worldwide humanitarian emergencies. Certainly, the last several officials were before they were picked, by the two most recent presidents, for the job of assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration. Yet in nominating Ellen R. Sauerbrey for the position, President Bush has instead opted for a Republican Party loyalist whose qualifications and knowledge of the field are tenuous at best. If she is confirmed by the Senate, think of her as the Michael D. Brown of the refugee world.

Mrs. Sauerbrey, 68, was a big wheel in the Maryland General Assembly who lost consecutive races for governor in 1994 and 1998, then went on to become a television host. She was Maryland state chair for Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign; her reward was to be named U.S. representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, where she was mainly interested in pressing an antiabortion agenda.

How any of that qualifies her to take charge of a key government agency that often finds itself in the thick of dire international calamities is a mystery. She has had no substantial involvement with any of the great refugee or humanitarian crises of recent years -- not in Sudan, nor in Southeast Asia after the tsunami, nor in Kosovo or Rwanda amid bloodshed. Her background in management is similarly modest -- her only claim to qualifications there involves having overseen the U.S. census in a handful of Maryland counties more than 30 years ago. Yet as the State Department's refugee chief, she would take responsibility for a budget of $700 million and a staff of 100.

It's clear that the WaPo doesn't get it. Bushco regards patronage jobs as payoffs for political cronies, rather than actually being job-jobs that are actually supposed to get things done. If they could completely gut the entire Federal civil service and turn the entire government into politcal pay offs, they would.

The Other Shoe

WashPo reporter Dan Balz took part in a live chat this morning with his readers. Here is an excerpt:

Boulder, Colo.: Is there any chance that enough moderate Republican senators might come to oppose Alito so that his nomination would go down in a floor vote, or is the only realistic strategy to defeat the nomination a filibuster?

Dan Balz: An excellent question and one we're going to be monitoring. My guess is that some moderate GOP senators are feeling uncomfortable this morning.

Note that we haven't heard a peep out of Arlen Specter yet today.

Monthly Wrap

On Last Day of a Deadly Month, Six More U.S. Troops Are Killed

By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: October 31, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 31 - The American military today announced the deaths of seven Americans, making October the bloodiest month for United States forces here since January.

Six soldiers were killed today when their vehicles were attacked with homemade bombs in Yusifiya, south of Baghdad and near Balad, north of the capital, the military said in a statement. On Sunday, a marine died in a bomb attack near Amiriyah in Anbar, a Sunni Arab province in western Iraq, the military said.
Skip to next paragraph

The attacks brought the number of Americans killed in October to 92, the highest monthly toll since January, when 107 Americans troops were killed in violence ahead of national elections here. That death toll has been surpassed only two other times since the war began in March 2003: In November and April 2004, when Americans battled Sunni Arab rebels in Falluja, west of Baghdad, and Shiite loyalists to a religious leader in Najaf in the south.

The deaths announced today came as American forces struck back at insurgents in western Iraq, near the border with Syria, a common entry point for foreign militants. The military said in a statement that it had killed a senior Al Qaeda leader, a Saudi citizen, known as Abu Saud. In an operation in Ubeidi, a town near the border, Marines killed the militant and three other men who were in a car that the Marines fired on, the military said.

The attacks today came a day after gunmen assassinated an adviser to the cabinet of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and wounded the country's deputy trade minister in a spate of attacks around Baghdad that left at least 11 people dead, the authorities said.

The American military said Sunday that a marine was killed on Saturday by an explosion next to his vehicle during combat operations in Anbar Province, a stronghold of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency. At least nine Americans have died in the past four days.

The cabinet adviser, Ghalib Abdul Mahdi, who is also the brother of Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite, was killed along with his driver on their way to work in the capital Sunday morning, government officials reported.

A midafternoon shooting in the upscale Mansour neighborhood of Baghdad wounded Iraq's deputy trade minister, Qais Dawood al-Hassan, and killed two of his bodyguards, an official at the Interior Ministry reported. Six other bodyguards were wounded, the official said.

In an effort to destabilize the Shiite-dominated government, insurgents regularly attack civil servants and elected officials, often ambushing them in daylight on the capital's streets.

Earlier in the day, two employees of the International Baghdad Airport were killed by gunmen in the Hay Al Risala district of the city, the ministry official said. At least four other people, including a member of the militia loyal to the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, were killed in three other attacks, and at least three others were wounded, the official said.

When are the MSM going to wake up to the fact that we are both losing AND getting a batch of Iraqis killed?

The Stakes

Samuel A. Alito Jr. Profile

Compiled by washingtonpost.com
Monday, October 31, 2005; 6:24 AM

Samuel A. Alito Jr., 55, is a jurist in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia. Nicknamed "Scalito," or "little Scalia," by some lawyers, the federal appeals court judge is a frequent dissenter with a reputation for having one of the sharpest conservative minds in the country.

Educated at Princeton University and Yale Law School, Alito was nominated by President George H.W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in 1990. He had worked for the Justice Department in the Reagan administration and served as U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey.

In 1991, he was the lone dissenter in a 3rd Circuit decision striking down a Pennsylvania law's requirement that women tell their husbands before having an abortion. Alito also wrote a 1997 ruling that Jersey City officials did not violate the Constitution with a holiday display that included a creche, a menorah and secular symbols of the Christmas season.

Three years ago Alito drew conflict-of-interest accusations after he upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit against the Vanguard Group. Alito had hundreds of thousands of dollars invested with the mutual fund company at the time. He denied doing anything improper but recused himself from further involvement in the case.

Hmmm. Tino Scalito has some ethical issues, too. Alito is emulating his role model.

Love Those Internets

The Washington Post's Supreme Court blogger, Fred Barbash, gave an interview to MSNBC earlier today. Click on the link to view it.

Speaking Truth To Power

Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy, Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee, On The Nomination Of Samuel Alito To Be Associate Justice Of The Supreme Court

posted October 31, 2005

This is a needlessly provocative nomination. Instead of uniting the country through his choice, the President has chosen to reward one faction of his party, at the risk of dividing the country. Instead he should have rewarded the American people. America could have done better through consultation to select one of the many consensus conservative Republican candidates who could have been overwhelmingly approved by the Senate.

Last week, the President succumbed to the partisan pressure from the extreme right wing by withdrawing the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. In doing that, the President allowed his choice to be vetoed by an extreme faction within his party, before hearings or a vote. With turmoil engulfing the White House, with no way out of the disastrous and deadly occupation of Iraq, with a worsening federal debt, and with obscenely high profits that continue to pile up for the Administration's Big Oil friends, catering to an extreme wing of one political party risks removing checks and balances for the majority of Americans. It is unfortunate that the President felt he was in such a weak position that he had to bend to a narrow but vocal faction of his political base. The Supreme Court is the ultimate check and balance in our system that protects the fundamental rights of all Americans.

The Miers nomination was an eye-opening experience for the country to see what a vocal faction of the Republican Party really wants. This experience exposed the right-wing litmus test that they insist be used, rather than selecting judges and justices who will be fair and impartial in applying the law. They, in fact, demand judges who will guarantee the results that they want.

With the announcement of Judge Samuel Alito to fill the position being vacated by Justice O'Connor, the White House failed to follow through with initial discussions and engage in meaningful consultation. The Democratic Leader of the Senate and I wrote to the President last week, urging him to pick one of the many qualified mainstream women and minority candidates who can win widespread bipartisan support in the Senate and among the American people. I regret that the President has not chosen the clear path of a consensus candidate to unite the American people and the Senate. The nation and the Senate would have overwhelmingly welcomed his choice if he had.

I have not formed a final judgment as to the merits of this nomination, although a review of Judge Alito's record suggests areas of significant concern. Judge Alito's record on the bench demonstrates that he would go to great lengths to restrict the authority of Congress to enact legislation to protect civil rights and the rights of workers, consumers and women. Judge Alito has also set unreasonably high standards that ordinary Americans who are the victims of discrimination must meet before being allowed to proceed with their cases.

The Dems are signaling trouble. Schumer is on the tube rumbling away. My sense is that the caucus hasn't come up with a position yet, but Schumer's presser indicates that there is going to be substantial resistence. He's characterizing this as a bow to the extreme right wing.

Batters' Box

My spies were right.

Nomination Likely to Please G.O.P., but Not Some Democrats

By CHRISTINE HAUSER and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: October 31, 2005

President Bush nominated Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., who currently serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, to the Supreme Court today, four days after his previous choice withdrew her nomination.

The nomination is likely to please Mr. Bush's conservative allies, whose sharp attacks on Harriet E. Miers were instrumental in prompting her to withdraw last week. But the president is more likely to get a battle from Democrats and liberals who may believe Judge Alito's views are too extreme.

Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. was nominated at the White House this morning.

Over the weekend, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, warned President Bush not to pick Judge Alito, 55. "I think it would create a lot of problems," Mr. Reid said on "Late Edition" on CNN.

Mr. Bush this morning described Judge Alito as having an "extraordinary breadth of experience" and as being "tough and fair." Referring to his long career and his current role on the appeals court, the president said Judge Alito now has "more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years."

"I urge the senate to act promptly so that an up or down vote is held before the end of this year," Mr. Bush said at the White House as he presented Judge Alito as his nominee.

Judge Alito, speaking as his wife and two children looked on, said that he was deeply honored to be nominated. He said he had long held the Supreme Court "in reverence," and reminisced about his first time arguing a case there in 1982, when Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whom he would replace on the court, sensed that he was a "rookie" and made sure that the first question he was asked was a kind one. "I was grateful to her on that happy occasion, and I am particularly honored to be nominated for her seat," he said.

He said he was also struck with a sense of awe by what the court stands for as an institution: equal justice under law.

Judge Alito said he looked forward to working with the Senate in the confirmation process.

An early signal of conservative approval came from Gary Bauer, a prominent social conservative, who called the choice of Judge Alito a "grand slam home run." Mr. Bauer, interviewed on CNN, called the judge a "mainstream conservative" and predicted that while there would be a battle from Democrats, Judge Alito would ultimately be confirmed. "They'll try to label him as extreme, but when you get into the hearings, you'll get into specifics," he said.

Republicans close to the selection process had said over the weekend that Judge Alito, Judge J. Michael Luttig of the Fourth Circuit, Judge Alice M. Batchelder of the Sixth Circuit, and Judge Priscilla R. Owen of the Fifth Circuit were leading candidates.

Mr. Reid had already said he would object to the selection of Judge Luttig or Judge Owen. And on Sunday, he did not rule out the possibility that Democrats would try to block a nominee by a filibuster or refusing to close debate and vote. "We are going to do everything we can" to see that the president names "somebody that's really good," Mr. Reid said.

But Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, fired back Sunday, saying that if the Democrats staged a filibuster against Judge Alito or Judge Luttig because of their conservatism, "the filibuster will not stand."

Mr. Graham's warning was significant because he played a crucial role earlier this year in helping block a Republican effort to change the Senate rules - known as the nuclear option - so that Democrats could not filibuster judicial nominees. His comments on Sunday indicated that this time, he would support that rule change; Democrats have threatened to retaliate with a battle that could snarl Senate business for months.

The fun begins. I'm waiting to hear from Harry Reid's office.

2nd Time Around

You know, I was wondering what the White House was going to do for Halloween this year.... personally I would prefer a pumpkin carving contest, but Homeland Security might object. Still, I guess this isn't scary so long as you aren't a rich, white male.

Bush picks conservative judge for supreme court

Monday October 31, 2005

George Bush today put forward a judge with a well-attested conservative track record to replace Harriet Miers as his nominee for the US supreme court.

Mr Bush announced Samuel Alito's nomination as he began an effort to move on from the events of last week, one of the most damaging in his presidency.

Where Ms Miers was criticised for her lack of qualifications to take a seat on the supreme court bench, Mr Bush said Mr Alito had more experience than any nominee for the court in 70 years.

He said he had shown "great promise" from the beginning of his legal career at Yale and marked himself out as "tough and fair" chief prosecutor for New Jersey before he was moved to the 3rd circuit court of appeals in 1990.

Mr Alito is admired by conservatives for his 15-year track record on the Philadelphia-based court. He is a frequent dissenter on what is one of the most liberal federal benches, and, say supporters, his record shows a commitment to a strict interpretation of the US constitution.

Liberal groups are concerned about Mr Alito's record on civil and reproductive rights. He was the lone dissenter when the 3rd circuit court struck down a Pennsylvania state law requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses.

Mr Alito has been called "Scalito" or "Scalia-lite" by some lawyers because his judicial philosophy invites comparisons to supreme court justice Antonin Scalia, the leading conservative on the bench.

Just in case any moderate Republicans got confused last week by all of the big words in the media, this should be all the evidence they need to see how much of a "big tent" their party has right now (memo to the them: Tom Thumb wants it supersized so he won't get wet).

The media is still confused on Harriet though, her glaring lack of qualification wasn't what really doomed her with the Republicans... it was her vagueness on key issues like Civil Rights and Abortion that did her in. Sure, she was underqualified, but since when did that stop anyone in this administration.

At least Harry Reid and company can replay all of the quotes from their fellow senators about the need for close questioning and even some of the mumblings about filibusters... after all, there reaches a point where the cognitive dissidence gets too much for even a Conservative to handle. And maybe the media might even call them on it, especially if 60% + of the public agrees with them.

Fun in Japanese

This works well for a couple or a dinner party for four. I use my old fondue set to put this up on the dinner table. Works great.

Sukiyaki

If you are a Japanese food lover, you might have had sukiyaki. It's a very popular one-pot meal in Japan. The main ingredient is thin sliced beef, and it is simmered in a skillet or pan in the sukiyaki sauce with many vegetables and other ingredients. The word "yaki" means "sautee" or "grill" in Japanese. The word is used because the beef in sukiyaki is sauteed in the hot skillet.

The quality of beef used in Sukiyaki is very important. You might want to ask a butcher to slice the tender part of the beef into very thin slices. The best beef for sukiyaki is called "shimofuri" beef in Japan. Shimofuri beef has lots of fat, but it's very tender and is also very expensive.

Sukiyaki is usually cooked at the table, and it's common to eat with others from the same pan. Sukiyaki is a typical menu when people gather together in Japan. It's a fun and perfect dish for a party! All you need to do is cut ingredients and place in a large plate and cook in a skillet placed on the table. You don't have to cook in the kitchen, you can cook while you are eating.

In different regions of Japan, sukiyaki is cooked differently. I will give you my recipe with some tips so that you can cook your own sukiyaki at home. This is Kanto-style (eastern Japan) sukiyaki.

Sukiyaki Recipe

Ingredients (4 servings):

* 1 pound of thinly sliced beef
** It tastes better if the beef is cut very thin.
* A handful of shirataki noodles (made from yam cakes) or cellophane noodles
* 7-8 shiitake mushrooms
* 1 enoki mushrooms
* 1 medium size leek
* 1 Chinese cabbage
* 1 block of yaki-dofu (grilled tofu)

For sukiyaki sauce:
(** You can also buy sukiyaki sauce in a bottle).
* 3 tbsps soy sauce
* 3 tbsps sake (Japanese rice wine)
* 3 tbsps sugar
* 1 cup soup stock

For dipping:
* 4 eggs

How to Cook and Eat Sukiyaki:

1. Cut all ingredients into bite-sized pieces.
2. Arrange all ingredients on a large plate and place the plate at the table.
3. Mix soy sauce, sake, sugar, and soup stock to make sukiyaki sauce.
4. Set a hot plate or gas grill at the table.
** After this point, everything is done at the table as you eat.
5. Heat a little oil in a shallow skillet (can be a fry pan or a hot plate) at the table.
6. Fry meat, then add sukiyaki sauce.
7. Add other ingredients when the sauce starts to boil.
8. Simmer until all ingredients are softened.
9. Dip the cooked sukiyaki into the raw, beaten eggs and begin to eat!
10. As the liquid boils away, add more sukiyaki sauce. If you are not able to obtain the above ingredients, you can use any meat and vegetables. It's ok to create you own sukiyaki.

This is both dinner and entertainment. Serve with bowls of steamed rice and edemame, the finger food of the asian set, and a whole lot healthier than chips and dip. I can buy ready-to-eat edamame at my local grocery. Look and ask and perhaps you can, too!. This is food as fun, and good for a party.

Pasta Aglio e Olio

This is my ultimate comfort food. And it might be a health food, too

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

Mark Bittman in "The Minimalist Cooks at Home" calls this the mother of all pasta sauces, and it’s true! It’s perfect for a lazy lunch dish, or a side dish. You can turn it into anything with the addition of just a couple more items (or a lot). The recipe is in every basic cookbook (and needless to say every pasta/Italian cookbook). There’s a nice extra tip from the folks at ATK that I sometimes use when I’m not taking shortcuts — add a bit of water to your garlic before you add it to the hot olive oil and that will help prevent it from burning.

Salt for the pasta water
1 pound linguine, spaghetti, fettucine or other long, thin pasta
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
salt and freshly ground black pepper
any of the additions listed below

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. When boiling, add salt and pasta and cook until al dente (if you’re cooking angel hair, however, cook your garlic/oil first as angel hair/cappellini cooks in no time at all). While pasta is cooking, heat oil and garlic in a skillet over medium heat. Do not let the garlic burn — what I do sometimes is mash it to a paste with some salt, and cook it over lowest heat for quite a bit — the garlic flavor is more intense that way. When pasta is done, reserve 1/2 cup of the liquid, then drain the pasta. Toss with the garlic and oil mixture, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste, and some of the water if it’s too dry.

Flavorful Additions you can use

- handful of minced flat-leaf parsley, or another green herb like oregano, or shredded basil leaves, or a mixture, tossed with the pasta before serving
- grindings of parmigiano reggiano or pecorino, toss with pasta before serving
- 1/4 teaspoon or more of dried red hot peppers along with the garlic
- cooked beans, added 20 seconds into cooking the garlic
- a couple of tablespoons of chopped capers, added the last 20 seconds or so of cooking the garlic, then tossed
- a handful of olives, black and/or green; kalamatas and gaetas are wonderful, as are herbed olives from the olive bar, minced and added to garlic the last 20 seconds or so
- mashed anchovies, cooked together with the garlic
- chopped up tomatoes, added 10 seconds after the garlic — cook down if you want a rich garlic-tomato taste
- a combination of a bunch of things on this list!

I like to add a handful of chopped fresh basil in the summer. I'm a Roman purist with this recipe: the less added, the better. Saute the garlic (the more, the better) in a small sauce pan over the lowest heat your range will produce. Remove it when it starts to brown (it gets bitter.) but your sauce should be done along with your pasta if you start both at the same time. If you want to be a bit more courageous (and Roman) add a couple of tablespoons of butter while the oil and garlic are getting to know each other in the saute pan, that's the real Roman version of this recipe. I treat garlic like a vegetable, and you should ingest as much of the sauteed product as possible this flu season. Um, I make this with six cloves of garlic in a serving for one, but then, I live alone.

Simple Living

I live on the Mediterranean diet, mostly (with excursions to the Orient.) This simple pasta recipe will welcome a salad or a soup as a first course. If you can find a real Italian granito for dessert, that would be a good thing. This is simple Roman cooking.

PENNE ARRABBIATA SAUCE WITH TOMATOES, HOT CHILIES AND GARLIC
ARRABIATA

Penne all'arrabbiata.

Rome - Lazio
Preparation - Easy
Serves 4

This pasta along with all'Amatriciana and their variations are favorites in Roman trattorias. All'Amatriciana , with little pieces of cured pork in the sauce, comes from the Abruzzese town of Amatrice. So do many of the hosts of the old Roman trattorias, osterias, and tavole calde, where Romans take their meals, and so all'Amatriciana has become a Roman style of pasta. Penne all'arrabbiata, without the cured pork, simply means "enraged pasta," referring to the heat of the peppers.

Control the heat of the dish by using more or less hot red pepper.

* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 3 large garlic cloves, minced
* 1 28 oz can Italian tomatoes with their juice, chopped or 1 1/2 lb fresh tomatoes.
* 1 or 2 dried hot red chilies, broken into pieces, or 1 t hot red pepper flakes to taste
* Salt to taste
* 1 lb penne or other short thick round pasta
* 2 TBSP chopped parsley for garnish
* 6 quarts water

HEAT the oil in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat and sauté the garlic, stirring constantly, until it is just beginning to turn golden - about 6 minutes.

SAUTÉ the garlic, stirring constantly, until it is just beginning to turn golden - about 6 minutes.

ADD the tomatoes and chilies, reduce the heat to medium-low, and continue cooking until the tomatoes are soft and the sauce is dense but not pureed - about 20 minutes with canned tomatoes.

CONTINUE cooking until the tomatoes are soft and the sauce is dense but not pureed - 15 - 20 minutes.

REMOVE from the heat and taste for seasoning, adding more salt if necessary.

Cook the pasta.

DRAIN thoroughly, turn into a warm serving bowl, and pour the sauce over it, mix well.

SERVE immediately.

You'll want a lot of freshly grated parmesan to top this.

(Adapted from::
The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook
Nancy Harmon Jenkins
Bantam Books)

Boo!

You can't give this out to the assembled little monsters, but it is really good carmel corn. Yum. There were simpler times, when you could put something home made in the bag wthout worrying that it had razorblades in it.

Baked Caramel Corn

A recipe for baked caramel corn, made with popcorn and a syrup made with brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, vanilla, and other ingredients. Scroll down to see more related snack recipes.

INGREDIENTS:

* 6 quarts popped popcorn
* 1 cup butter
* 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup corn syrup, light or dark
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 250°. Oil or spray a large roasting pan with vegetable cooking spray, regular or butter-flavored. Pour popcorn into the pan. In a heavy pan, slowly melt butter; stir in the brown syrup, corn syrup, and salt.

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. Gradually pour the syrup over popcorn, stirring to blend well. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool completely and break apart.

Yum.

Posted by Melanie at 09:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Under the radar

House Amendment Tilts Playing Field for Death Penalty

Radical Changes to the Federal Death Penalty May Soon Be Law

(Washington, October 27, 2005) -- The House has slipped an amendment into the Patriot Act Reauthorization Act that would dramatically skew federal death penalty cases in favor of the prosecution, Human Rights Watch said today.

The legislation would radically increase the number of federal crimes drawing the death penalty, allow judges to reduce juries deciding the death penalty to fewer than twelve persons, and allow the prosecutor to start afresh in trying to get the death penalty with a new sentencing jury any time even one juror resists imposing the death penalty in a capital case.

Under current federal law, the defendant is given a life sentence if a jury of twelve does not unanimously vote for the death penalty. Under this legislation, the prosecutor could re-impanel a new jury and try for death once again.

“It’s a strange notion of justice indeed to give prosecutors multiple bites at the apple,” said Jamie Fellner, U.S. Director of Human Rights Watch. “Death penalty cases are already riddled with unfairness. Why would Congress want to make them worse?”

Human Rights Watch said that the legislation would give dramatic power to a single juror who could hold out for the death penalty – and thus enable the prosecution to secure a new jury. Juries in death penalty cases are already “death-qualified,” meaning that anyone who opposes the death penalty on moral, religious, or practical grounds is excluded from the jury. Yet another legislative provision passed by the House would tilt the trial in favor of death even further by permitting the judge to reduce the number of jurors below twelve, with no minimum number set. A smaller jury would make it even easier for prosecutors to secure a unanimous verdict in favor of death.

The House provisions would also triple the number of death penalty-eligible terrorism related crimes and allow the government to impose the death penalty even if the defendant had no knowledge or intent to kill. Under this legislation, an individual could be sentenced to death for providing financial support to a designated terrorist organization whose members caused the death of another, even if this individual did not know or in any way intend that the members engage in any specific acts of violence.

Rep. John Carter (R- Tex.) introduced these death penalty provisions as last minute amendments to the House version of the Patriot Act Reauthorization Act. They were passed by voice vote, without debate. The Patriot Act Reauthorization Act passed by the Senate contains none of these death penalty provisions. A final version of the legislation is expected to emerge from conference with the Senate in the next one to two weeks and go to the floor of both the House and Senate for an up or down vote.

Emphasis mine. While we were all atwitter waiting for Fitzmas, the House was busily stuffing coal in our stockings.

Plan, not Panic

Companies across Asia bracing for bird flu catastrophe

SINGAPORE, (AFP) - Just two years after the SARS outbreak sent Asian economies into intensive care, companies across the region are bracing themselves for the vastly more malignant threat of a bird flu pandemic.

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis of 2003 killed about 800 people out of 8,000 cases and cost regional economies an estimated 18 billion dollars, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The hardest hit were Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia. Travel-related industries were the most severely affected by the disease, which was spread by air passengers from China and Hong Kong.

On the other hand, an avian flu pandemic has the potential to kill millions worldwide and affect all economic sectors.

The ADB says in the Asia-Pacific region alone, the economic cost of a bird flu pandemic could exceed 250 billion dollars.

At the moment, the
World Health Organization (WHO) says the bird flu threat is still in the third of six phases, with over 60 deaths recorded in Asia since 2003 and rare instances of suspected human-to-human infection.

Phase 6 is the doomsday scenario -- the full pandemic phase with sustained human-to-human infection in the general population.

"Phase 3, where we are now, is kind of the warning phase. It's out there, we know it's out there, we really have to pay attention. We have to plan," said Dr. Jeffrey Staples, senior medical advisor to emergency services firm International SOS.

"My guess is that at Phase 5, governments will probably impose international travel restrictions," he told AFP in an interview.

"So what this gives us is a window of opportunity whereby we can consider moving people around in Phase 4," he said, referring to the possibility of relocating expatriate corporate staff out of affected countries.

"Phase 3 is probably too early to move people, but it's not too early to think and to start planning in a holistic way."

With the virus now confirmed to have spread into Europe, companies across Asia are preparing emergency plans for a pandemic which it is widely assumed will hit in only a matter of time.

Contingency measures ranging from free Vitamin C pills for workers and taking poultry off the canteen menu to costly evacuation plans for expatriate staff and their families are being drafted by companies.

Nestle Malaysia said it was in the process of drafting a bird flu contingency plan, with guidance from local authorities and its headquarters in Switzerland.

Shell Malaysia said the group's "contingency planning, initially in some 50 countries, is well advanced".
....
Medical advisor Staples of International SOS said that "multinational corporations are still struggling to understand the full scope of a pandemic and the full threat to business continuity".

"Think of it just as a matter of scale. SARS killed about 800 people and the numbers the WHO is throwing out (for bird flu) are in the millions, possibly more. Just on that level, it's several orders of magnitude greater.'

"It's a fundamentally different virus with a different epidemiological pattern so if it goes pandemic, it will probably spread more quickly and kill more people, and it's just going to be on a completely different scale than SARS was," Staples said.

I don't see any signs of this kind of planning going on in this country. I don't even see hospitals or localities doing any planning. As a result, there will be chaos.

I got to spend an hour on the phone with George Mason University economics professor and flu blogger Tyler Cowen of Avian Flu-What We Need to Know this afternoon. He's working on a big paper on avian flu and I talked through some of the problems I have with his draft, it was great to talk to another local blogger who is on the flu beat. Tyler is also a great devotee of DC's superb ethnic restaurants, the link takes you to his guide. We'll get together and dine at one of them when he returns from a research trip to the capital of Texas barbecue next week.

In The Stars

I'm having one of those mind-bending sorts of days. When I find myself in substantive agreement with a paleo-con like Bill Lind, it seems to me like there might be grounds for finding a new left-right political alignment.

True Confessions

By William S. Lind

On October 19, 2005, the American Secretary of State, aka the Tea Lady, did something extraordinary for the Bush administration. She told the truth. According to the October 20 Washington Times, in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Miss Rice said

that it was always the Bush administration’s intent to redesign the Middle East after the September 11 attacks, which exposed a “deep malignancy growing” in the region, and that the Iraq was part of that plan.

Well. There we have it. It’s now official: Saddam’s eternally elusive Weapons of Mass Destruction were just eyewash. The decision to invade Iraq came first, and the various contrived justifications came after. Those Iraqi WMDs were as real as Polish attacks on Germany in 1939, and as cynical. The cynicism is, if anything, ever more brazen: Herr Ribbentrop never testified to the Reichstag that “Polish aggression” was just a set-up, even if everyone knew.

Does it matter? To the American press and people, apparently not. Miss Rice’s official confirmation of everyone’s suspicions got virtually no coverage. After all, the NFL season has started.

But in other respects, I think it does matter. It matters, first, because it reveals this administration’s utter cynicism, a cynicism born of the neo-cons, who seldom met a lie they didn’t like. In effect, Miss Rice testified, “Yea, we lied. So what?”

Well, beyond 2,000 dead and 15,000 wounded [DNI editor's note: US casualties only], so cavalier an attitude toward the truth suggests the lies have probably continued. As they have: the administration routinely engages in (illegal) domestic propaganda, puffing anything it can call a “success” in Iraq while classifying or otherwise burying the bad news. The latest example is the spin on the Iraqi constitutional referendum. The Bushies are hailing it an “another victory of democracy,” when in fact the outcome could not have been worse. The Sunnis pulled out all their stops and still lost, telling them the system is stacked so heavily against them they have no political future. Where ballots fail, bullets still offer promise.

Another reason the WMD lie matters is that the real reason the administration invaded Iraq, “to redesign the Middle East,” reveals (officially) a truly breathtaking hubris, coupled to a monumental ignorance of the region in question. Redesign the Middle East? What do the Bushies think it is, a Chevrolet?

At it happens, the war in Iraq is redesigning the Middle East, but not exactly in a planned fashion. Just as the calling of the Estates General in 1789 opened the door to the French Revolution, so the American destruction of the Iraqi state has opened the door to a broader collapse of the state system in that region, an outcome the administration is now pushing in Syria as well. Osama, sitting in his cave, no doubt continues to thank Allah for President George W. Bush.

Finally, the official revelation, in Congressional testimony no less, that the Bush administration’s motto is “Lies R US” will matter politically, as the American people begin to come to grips with the fact of a lost war. That may happen by the elections of 2006; it will certainly happen by 2008. It is safe to say that the public will not be happy, and the realization that they were lied into the lost war won’t make them any happier. As Republican Members of Congress are beginning to realize, the blowback may be of historic proportions. Anyone seen any Whigs lately? (The fact that the Democrats continue to offer a profile in cowardice on the war might even open the door to a serious third party, God willing. There have to be some real, small-r republicans out there still.)

Missing the Point 2

Saving the second term

CAMP DAVID IS WHERE PRESIDENTS often go to lick their wounds. So President Bush's departure Friday for the Maryland retreat was as predictable as it was necessary; within the span of a week, he has seen a high-ranking administration official indicted for obstructing justice in the Valerie Plame inquiry and his White House counsel forced by critics within his own party to withdraw as a nominee to the Supreme Court.

Bush's horrible week came at an already dismal time for his presidency — even before the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and the Harriet E. Miers debacle, Bush's approval ratings were sinking. The president's legislative agenda is stalled, the war in Iraq is turning into a quagmire and Hurricane Katrina has raised urgent questions about Bush's competence and priorities.

The White House seems bereft of initiative or momentum — on any front. Bush still has three more years in office, but they will be interminable and unproductive unless he revises his game plan and makes some needed substitutions on his team.

For starters, it's time to retire "the architect." Karl Rove may have escaped indictment on Friday, but in a larger sense "Rovism" — the notion of governing from the far right to pander to the party's most active extremists — has been indicted, tried and convicted. Regardless of whether his top political advisor stays on the payroll, Bush needs to dust off his old claim of being "a uniter, not a divider" if he is to have any chance of regaining his political footing and building a positive legacy.

Vice President Dick Cheney's days as a leading voice in this administration should also be numbered. It would be a considerable favor to Bush if Cheney decided to step down from office now, but don't expect that to happen.

Still, Cheney should spend the bulk of his time at undisclosed locations and funerals for foreign dignitaries, at least when he is not testifying at his former chief of staff's trial, which would be an unseemly spectacle.

Bush would do well to loosen the unprecedented control exerted by the vice president's office across a number of agencies and departments. He needs to bring in seasoned advisors from the more moderate wing of his party to occupy key White House positions, so they can prod him to govern from the center and mend ties with moderate Democrats. Someone also ought to tap Donald Rumsfeld's shoulder and tell him it's time to go.

The last year has been a cautionary tale about post-electoral hubris and the dangers inherent in believing you can govern successfully while shedding even the pretense of trying to work with the opposition or of appealing to the center. Rovism is tribal politics at its worst — a feeling that the world is divisible by two: those on our side, and those who need to be pummeled at every turn.

Such shrill partisanship, with its accompanying hardball tactics, has hurt the White House. The Miers debacle is partly explained by the bunker mentality and insularity of Bush's inner circle. Did no one on Bush's team dare raise obvious questions about an unqualified crony's chances of getting confirmed?

This page has been critical of the Bush administration, but no one should feel gleeful about the depth of this administration's woes. It is not healthy for the nation to be led by such a hobbled president. That is one reason why change is so imperative. The credibility of the Cheney-Rove-Rumsfeld cabal, particularly when assessing threats to our national security, is dangerously low.

In the coming days and weeks, Bush needs to show signs that he has been chastened by recent events. The president could begin recasting his second term by appointing a superbly qualified Supreme Court nominee who is not a radical judicial activist intent on rolling back the clock.

The LAT ed page has a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem. These neocons are not rational actors. Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld are all textbook cases of narcissistic personality disorder. Such people are completely unable to ever admit error or change course. They are sociopaths. The mere idea that they would do something "for the good of the country" is laughable.

Missing the Point

Stop the Campaigning
The Bush White House Is in Trouble Because of Its Disdain for Governing

By Lewis L. Gould

Sunday, October 30, 2005; Page B01

AUSTIN

There is an old theatrical adage that tragedy is easy, comedy is hard. For politicians, that could be reformulated as: Campaigning is easy, governing is hard. The Bush administration, long disdainful of governance as an exercise for wimps and Democrats, now finds its political and legal troubles mounting while its time-tested campaign mode falters. The divide between campaigning and governing has existed for all administrations, of course, and was particularly and painfully evident during the darker moments of Bill Clinton's second term. But under the rule of George W. Bush and his outriders -- Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Andrew Card -- the disconnect between the pleasures of campaigning and the imperatives of governing has become acute.

Continuous campaigning, dating back to Richard Nixon and perfected in succeeding decades, has evolved into the approach of choice. Stage-managed events, orchestrated by masters of spin, provide the appearance of a chief executive in charge of the nation's destiny. Some presidents -- Ronald Reagan, Clinton and the younger Bush -- were or are masters of the art. Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush were less adept on the hustings and more at home with policies, diplomacy and personnel choices. Their performances varied but their impulse was toward making the government run, not creating the illusion of an executive in perpetual motion.

The Bush team brought its campaign skills from the 2000 presidential contest into the White House and never stopped its reliance on these methods. Along with that style went the assumptions rooted in the Republican DNA of the president and those around him: The Democratic Party is not a worthy partner in the political process; repealing key elements of the New Deal is but a prelude to overturning the accomplishments of the Progressive Era; and negotiations with a partisan opponent are not opportunities to be embraced but traps to be avoided.

The other part of the recipe for Bush's success was an unstated but evident identification of the president himself with the nation at large. Accompanied by a willing array of incense swingers in the White House, Bush attained (particularly in the minds of his base) a status that embraced both the imperial and in some cases the quasi-deified. Why then become involved in the details of running a government from the Oval Office? Appoint the right Republicans to key posts, and the federal government would run itself while providing an unending source of patronage for supporters, contracts for friendly businesses and the sinews of perpetual political dominance. It seemed to cross no one's mind that the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- a post where dealing with extraordinary crises is all in a day's work -- might need to be super-competent rather than just a superintendent.

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the war in Iraq insulated the president from questioning whether his government was operating effectively. In the first term, criticism and contrary advice could be (and often was) labeled as mere partisan sniping, as happened with such figures as former National Security Council counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke and, more notably, former ambassador Joseph Wilson.

During a campaign, attacking the opponent's motives is part of the cut and thrust of politics, and so the substance of charges can be finessed with the claim that their author had worked for the opposition or had some other hidden agenda. In the case of Wilson, the attack on him fit with the principle of rapid retaliation so characteristic of a campaign. Less thought was apparently devoted to whether revealing the identity of his wife, a CIA employee, served the interests of wise and prudent governance. Whatever the outcome of the charges filed Friday against Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the apparent blurring of the line between campaigning and governing is evident in the indictment returned by the federal grand jury.

Meanwhile, many in the administration -- and in the media -- simply turned their minds away from engaging a dissent from a Bush policy on its merits if the critic wasn't a Republican. That a critic might be a Democrat and correct -- or a Republican outsider offering a useful counterpoint -- seemed to be a contradiction in terms for people around Bush.

This strategy worked well during the first term and culminated in a larger margin of victory last November. Once the president was no longer a candidate for office, he turned to the issue of a mandate for change with his seemingly abundant political capital. Remaking the Social Security system loomed as the big domestic goal of the second term. Hammering out an actual proposal ("Negotiating with ourselves" in the president's parlance) was not to the taste of inveterate campaigners. Campaign first, program last seemed the slogan to be followed. So the president made numerous speeches before captive audiences touting the virtues of change in Social Security as a platonic ideal, but refused to provide a specific plan. Since popular enthusiasm for an alteration in retirement policy failed to materialize, the president was left with a campaign in search of a governing objective.

Hurricane Katrina, and the political and atmospheric storms that followed, underscored the deficiencies of continuous campaigning as a response to real-life crises. Getting assistance to storm victims is a matter of logistics, competent administrators and coordinated planning. A presidential visit to express sympathy for those who have lost homes, jobs and loved ones is a one-day nostrum that leaves the basic situation changed, no matter how many times the chief executive jets in with concern. When the government does not work, it does not matter how many officials are told they have done "a heck of a job." Citizens see for themselves that their government is absent and help is not on the way.

Gould is unnecessarily mealy-mouthed. Bush can't govern. He doesn't know how and has no interest in doing so. He has surrounded himself with sycophants and yes-men who have no expertise in the departments that they've been handed to run. The only thing that Bushco is interested in is looting taxpayer dollars on behalf of their corporate friends. They've been extraordinarily efficient at doing that. Check out the Q3 profits of the oil companies.

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

White House Ethics, Honesty Questioned
55% in Survey Say Libby Case Signals Broader Problems

By Richard Morin and Claudia Deane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 30, 2005; Page A14

A majority of Americans say the indictment of senior White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby signals broader ethical problems in the Bush administration, and nearly half say the overall level of honesty and ethics in the federal government has fallen since President Bush took office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News survey.

The poll, conducted Friday night and yesterday, found that 55 percent of the public believes the Libby case indicates wider problems "with ethical wrongdoing" in the White House, while 41 percent believes it was an "isolated incident." And by a 3 to 1 ratio, 46 percent to 15 percent, Americans say the level of honesty and ethics in the government has declined rather than risen under Bush.

In the aftermath of the latest crisis to confront the White House, Bush's overall job approval rating has fallen to 39 percent, the lowest of his presidency in Post-ABC polls. Barely a third of Americans -- 34 percent -- think Bush is doing a good job ensuring high ethics in government, which is slightly lower than President Bill Clinton's standing on this issue when he left office.

The survey also found that nearly seven in 10 Americans consider the charges against Libby to be serious. A majority -- 55 percent -- said the decision of Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald to bring charges against Libby was based on the facts of the case, while 30 percent said he was motivated by partisan politics.

"One thing you can't ever, ever do even if you're a regular person is lie to a grand jury," said Brad Morris, 48, a registered independent and a field representative for a lumber company who lives in Nashua, N.H. "But multiply that by a thousand times if you have power like [Libby had]. And if anybody wants to know why, ask Scooter. He's financially ruined; he'll be paying lawyers for the rest of his life."

Taken together, the findings represent a serious blow to a White House already reeling from the politically damaging effects of the slow government response to Hurricane Katrina, the continuing bloodshed in Iraq, the ongoing criticism of its since-repudiated claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and the bungled nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

The ethics findings may be particularly upsetting to a president who came to office in 2000 vowing to restore integrity and honor to a White House that he said had been tainted by the recurring scandals of the Clinton years.

Morin and Deane fail to mention that the House majority leader has been indicted for money laundering and the Senate leader is being investigated by the SEC. Corruption isn't just a White House problem, it is a Republican problem.

Thirsty

This is round one in the water wars, which will make all the yak over oil look like baby talk in the decade to come.

States, Canada Move to Block Sales of Water

Sunday, October 30, 2005; Page A03

CHICAGO -- As clean, fresh water becomes an increasingly scarce commodity in many parts of the world, the fear is that thirsty eyes are turning toward the Great Lakes.

In 1998, a group of entrepreneurs won approval from Ontario to export Lake Superior water to Asia. And others discussed pumping Great Lakes water to the depleted Oglala aquifer in the Great Plains. Neither effort went anywhere.

But given that the dry southwestern United States is developing at a rapid clip and gaining congressional seats while the Great Lakes region is losing them, Great Lakes governors and Canadian premiers decided in 2001 to prevent any future large-scale water sales.

Final drafts of two agreements that would attempt to limit water diversions are to be finished by the end of the year.

Though no large-scale diversions are currently on the table, smaller battles over water diversion are raging.

The groundwater in Waukesha, Wis., is contaminated with radium so local officials have said they want to tap Lake Michigan. But because the town is outside the Great Lakes basin, it cannot access the water without approval from all eight governors of the states bordering the lakes. A legal fight is expected.

In Michigan, activists are furious that Nestl Waters North America is pumping water for its Ice Mountain brand from an aquifer that feeds Lake Michigan. A judge ordered Nestl to stop pumping, but an appeals court sided with Nestl. Then in May, Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm (D) used the rules process to require permits for pumping bottled water, and to mandate that water pumped in Michigan cannot be sold outside the Great Lakes basin.

I'm living in the Potomac watershed and we draw our water from the river. It needs to be heavily treated to be potable, and I filter mine to make it drinkable. There are a couple of thinks I invite you to think about before you next turn on your tap: where does your water come from? Do you know? How safe and adequate is the supply? What are the challenges the supply will face? What can you do about it?

Water, even before oil, will be the great conflict the US will face in this century, but no one is paying attention to it yet (unless you are in California.)

Down the Swirly

Kurds Reclaiming Prized Territory In Northern Iraq
Repatriation by Political Parties Alters Demographics and Sparks Violence

By Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, October 30, 2005; Page A01

KIRKUK, Iraq -- Providing money, building materials and even schematic drawings, Kurdish political parties have repatriated thousands of Kurds into this tense northern oil city and its surrounding villages, operating outside the framework of Iraq's newly ratified constitution and sparking sporadic violence between Kurdish settlers and the Arabs who are a minority here, according to U.S. military officials and Iraqi political leaders.

The rapidly expanding settlements, composed of two-bedroom concrete houses whose dimensions are prescribed by the Kurdish parties, are effectively re-engineering the demography of northern Iraq, enabling the Kurds to add what ultimately may be hundreds of thousands of voters ahead of a planned 2007 referendum on the status of Kirkuk. The Kurds hope to make the city and its vast oil reserves part of an autonomous Kurdistan.

Kurdish political leaders said the repatriations are designed to correct the policies of ousted President Saddam Hussein, who replaced thousands of Kurds in the region with Arabs from the south. The Kurdish parties have seized control of the process, they said, because the Iraqi government has failed to implement an agreement to return Kurdish residents to their homes.

But U.S. military officials, Western diplomats and Arab political leaders have warned the parties that the campaign could work to undermine the nascent constitutional process and raise tensions as displaced Kurds settle onto private lands now held by Arabs.

"If you have everyone participating, it'll be a clean affair and you can accomplish your goals," said Lt. Col. Anthony Wickham, the U.S. military's liaison to the Kirkuk provincial government for the past year. "But don't go behind people's backs, which they have a bad habit of doing," he said, referring to the Kurds. "Does that bring greater stability to Kirkuk? No. It brings pandemonium."

In late August, Arabs shot and killed a Kurdish official who was chalking out settlements in Qoshqayah, a disputed village 24 miles north of Kirkuk. An Iraqi soldier was also killed and six Arabs were wounded in skirmishes with Kurds before U.S. and Iraqi troops restored order, arresting two dozen Arabs and cordoning off the village. Arab residents said it was the latest of several violent incidents between security forces in the area over the past two years.

"Our patience is about to end," said Hussein Ali Hamdani, a 64-year-old Sunni Arab tribal leader. "There are 137 houses in this village now and in each there are at least five" Kurds. "We will protect our land and not abandon it. It's our honor."

"The Arabs will not give up Kirkuk," said Mohammed Khalil, the leader of an Arab bloc within the Kurdish-dominated Kirkuk provincial council. "If America really wants to help Iraq, it will try to stop the Kurds from gaining control over Kirkuk, which would start a civil war."

U.S. military officials said they had sought unsuccessfully to persuade Kurdish political leaders to avoid repatriating Kurds onto private lands, a practice they said had inflamed tensions across the region.

You don't have to be some sort of military genius to notice that our little Iraq adventure is spinning completely out of control. Feith and Wolfowitz to the contrary, anybody who knows a shred of military history could have told that psychopath Rumsfeld that it would have taken a minimum of a half-million troops to take and hold Iraq. A half million properly equipped troops. As opposed to the third tour, badly equipped Guard and Reserve troops the Pentagon has impressed into service through stop loss we have on the ground "to finish the job" or whatever rationale Bush is using this week.

Why is it that we are in Iraq? I forget.

Note that this WaPo story is filed from their "foreign service." Whatever happened to their Baghdad bureau, hmmm?

The Cancer at 1600 Penn

A Leak, Then a Deluge
Did a Bush loyalist, trying to protect the case for war in Iraq, obstruct an investigation into who blew the cover of a covert CIA operative?

By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 30, 2005; Page A01

Air Force Two arrived in Norfolk on Saturday morning, July 12, 2003, with Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff aboard. They had come "to send forth a great American ship bearing a great American name," as Cheney said from the flag-draped flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.

Defending the war became the animating priority aboard Air Force Two that day. According to his indictment on Friday, Libby "discussed with other officials aboard the plane" how he should respond to "pending media inquiries" about the critic, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. Apart from Libby, only press aide Catherine Martin is known to have accompanied Cheney on that flight.

The crimes alleged in Libby's indictment would come later. But the flight from Norfolk marked a transition in the four-month slide from politics as usual -- close combat in defense of the president's policies -- to what a special prosecutor described as perjury and obstruction of justice. Summer would give way to fall before Libby reached the point of no return, with his first alleged lies to the FBI. But he skirted the line soon after stepping off the aircraft.

That Saturday afternoon, the indictment states, is when Libby confirmed for Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and disclosed to Judith Miller of the New York Times the classified fact that Wilson's wife, who was known as Valerie Plame, "worked at the CIA." Just over two weeks earlier, after a previous conversation with Cheney, Libby had told Miller more tentatively that Plame "might work at a bureau of the CIA."

It may never be clear what drove Libby, the most cautious of Washington insiders, to take such risks, ostensibly to protect the administration. In a news conference Friday, Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald described the question as unanswerable so far. "If you're asking me what his motives were, I can't tell you; we haven't charged it," Fitzgerald said. The obstruction of his inquiry, he said, "prevents us from making the fine judgments we want to make."

Libby's possible motive is only one of many unknowns left in the aftermath of Friday's indictment, which prompted the resignation of one of the most powerful figures in the White House and left the Bush administration reeling politically. Still to be determined is who first leaked Plame's name to syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak -- the original act that led to Fitzgerald's investigation -- and the roles of many other administration officials, including Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove.

Even so, the grand jury's 22-page indictment fleshes out a saga that has been largely shrouded for almost two years by grand jury secrecy. While Friday's disclosures allege no wrongdoing by Cheney, they place the vice president closer than has been known before to events at the heart of the case.

One notable disclosure is that Libby and Cheney made separate inquiries to the CIA about Wilson's wife, and each confirmed independently that she worked there. It was Cheney, the indictment states, who supplied Libby the detail "that Wilson's wife worked . . . in the Counterproliferation Division" -- an unambiguous declaration that her position was among the case officers of the operations directorate. That conversation took place on June 12, 2003, a month before the Norfolk flight and nearly two weeks before Libby first told a reporter about Plame's CIA affiliation.

I'm sure the Sabbath Gasbags are going to be filled with the same garbage. Look, people, Cheney and his ilk are going to fuck with you because they can. Period. This is not that hard to figure out. Get in the way of the cabal and your ass is grass. The faux naifs at the WaPo can't bring themselves to acknowledge this, which has been true since Nixon. Idiots.

The Poisoned Voter

Pombo Time

Published: October 30, 2005

Richard Pombo has had a hard time keeping himself out of the news lately. In late September, a watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Mr. Pombo, a seven-term House member from California, one of the 13 most corrupt politicians in Congress. Three weeks later the Center for Public Integrity accused him of taking junkets paid for by the International Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources - the kind of organization, heavy with corporate donors, in which the word "conservation" is a wink to the wise. And last week the League of Conservation Voters accused him of selling out to a long list of corporate interests.

But what has really put Mr. Pombo on everyone's radar is the steady stream of environmentally destructive legislation flowing from the House Resources Committee, which he runs. The legislation would undermine environmental safeguards and raise broad new threats to endangered species and public lands.

Mr. Pombo, of course, makes no apologies. First elected in 1992 - he was a first-term city councilman in Tracy, Calif., at the time - he is philosophically an outspoken product of the extreme property rights movement. He once liked to claim, falsely as it turned out, that his rights had been trampled by environmentalists and by the provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

He came to Congress as a result of redistricting. With luck he will leave the same way. The 11th District, once largely agricultural, has been overwhelmed by development; and while the East Bay and Central Valley are still nominally Republican, it is far from certain that they will continue to support a man of Mr. Pombo's radical turn of mind.

In 2003, thanks to the support of the hard-nosed Republican leader Tom DeLay, he became, at age 42, the Resources Committee chairman and thus the bottleneck through which most legislation involving energy and the environment must pass. Mr. Pombo has more than lived up to Mr. DeLay's expectations, pure in ideology, tough in legislative combat.

In September, he engineered floor approval of a bill that would completely undermine the Endangered Species Act, which is something he has wanted to do since arriving in Washington. And last week, in a tour de force, he engineered committee approval of a budget bill that is ostensibly meant to raise federal revenues but in fact represents a major assault on the public lands.

In its original form Mr. Pombo's bill called for the sale of 15 national parks. He withdrew that idea - a stunt, he says - as well as the notion of selling mineral rights within the parks. He now proposes allowing mining companies to buy lands on which they have staked claims. This practice, known as "patenting," was banned in 1995, and under present rules companies can only lease federal land.

Mr. Pombo says his proposal will help the federal budget because companies will have to pay $1,000 an acre to buy the land. But the provision is so vaguely drawn - companies, for instance, will not have to show that the land contains valuable minerals - that it could potentially expose hundreds of millions of acres, including the national forests, to development. This has nothing to do with mining, and everything to do with stealing land that is owned by the American public.

If his district is big on the complete rape of the environment, he'll be re-elected. This is a wingnut who is so in the bag for corporate interests that I doubt he remembers he has constituents who are just, you know, voters. Poison 'em all!

Great Second Acts

In Italian cooking, there are second acts, and here is one. After you've served the pasta or the soup, here is an entree with some meat on its bones.

In Italian resaurants, the menu will often be divided into first and second plates. This is a classic second plate.

Chicken Breasts with Mustard Sauce, or: Petti di Pollo in Salsa di Senape
Your Guide, Kyle Phillips
: The most common use for mustard in Italy is probably to make mostarda, the pungent fruit in syrup whose zing is such a perfect complement to boiled meats in the winter. However, one does occasionally come across other recipes that call for mustard, and this summery one caught my eye. To serve 4 you'll need:

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 small chicken breasts (about a pound, or 500 g, in all), halved and butterflied
* 1 tablespoon mustard, mild or strong as you prefer
* 1 tablespoon vinegar, ideally white wine
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* A small bunch of parsley, minced
* Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION:
Whisk the olive oil, mustard, and vinegar to make a homogenous sauce and stir the parsley into it. Lightly pound the chicken to spread the slices, season them with salt and pepper, and grill them over the coals or on a cast-iron grill for 3-5 minutes or until done, turning them once midway through. Serve them hot with their sauce.

Serve with grilled veggies and herbed rice. This is an easy weekday dinner. And, oy, does it taste good.

A Hero for our Time

I have got to get my hands on these.... someone tell my wife.

Mandela's comic role means 'fame at last' for a modest hero

FRED BRIDGLAND
IN JOHANNESBURG
October 29, 2005

NOTING with typical self-deprecatory wit that at last he might become famous, Nelson Mandela yesterday launched a comic book series tracing the 86 years of his remarkable life.

"You know you are really famous the day you have become a comic character," he said as he presented The Madiba Legacy Series. Madiba is the affectionate family name by which South Africans know Mr Mandela.

The first of the nine comic books has an initial print-run of a million, of which half a million will be presented free to South African schools. The final part will be published in 2007.

Mr Mandela, who spent 27 years behind bars after narrowly avoiding death by hanging for trying to overthrow the apartheid government, is portrayed as a precocious youngster with a rebellious streak. Indeed, the name he was given at birth in 1918, Rolihlahla, means "troublemaker". Nelson was added only when he went to school.

The comic does not avoid the painful question of the tradition in the Xhosa tribe of circumcising teenagers as an entry to adult life. "As a Xhosa, I count my years as a man from the date of my circumcision," says the comic book Mandela. "Flinching or crying under the blade was a sign of weakness and stigmatised one's manhood." As the cut is administered, the comic book Mandela says it was "as if fire was shooting through my veins. Now I might marry, set up my own home and plough my own field."

Mr Mandela, dressed in a gold shirt that fellow comic book hero Superman might have envied, told reporters the strips were aimed mainly at youngsters. He hoped they would be encouraged to move on and read "really good books".

Mr Mandela added: "If it is easy to read for other people like me, with eyes not like they used to be, and it reaches entirely new readers, then the project will prove to be worthwhile."

It is just in America where we are obsessed with the idea that comics are for kids only, while they work for all age groups. In Japan, the adults consume piles and piles of manga (graphic novels) on every subject know to literature. Comics though can provide a bridge for the reluctant reader since there are pretty pictures for them to look at. In many ways, this project reflects the hopes and dreams of many people who love comics, like Scott McCloud who wrote one of the great studies of the field, Understanding Comics .

I wonder if we could convince public libraries to get these. I can certainly think of worse ways to spend our taxpayers' money than to educate the public about the complex and amazing life of one of the great leaders of our time.

Baby Steps

Kashmir Border to Be Opened for Quake Aid

By REUTERS
Published: October 30, 2005

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 30 (Reuters) - Rivals India and Pakistan agreed Sunday to open the border dividing Kashmir, to allow earthquake survivors and relief supplies to cross.

The accord to open the border on Nov. 7 is politically significant for old enemies who have been talking peace for almost two years.

And it will be logistically helpful in getting aid to isolated villages in the mountains near the five points where the border will be opened.

A joint statement issued in the early hours of Sunday called the move "a humanitarian gesture."

The opening of the border, which is called the Line of Control, may help to dispel perceptions that India and Pakistan have been wasting time criticizing each other during the disaster, and will lift the spirits of Kashmiri families who will be allowed to see kin on the other side.

Ok, it's a start. Granted, Pakistan and India are still having problems working together despite this crisis, but considering how close they were to open warfare, with potential use of nukes, the fact that they are working together at all is significant.

I know many of us are tapped out of donations with all of the natural disasters that have struck in the last few months, but winter is coming to the Himalayas soon so any relief you can give through various charities is badly needed. Much like they say on the NPR pledge drives, any amount can help.

The New Single Mother

Births to Unmarried U.S. Women Set Record

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer

Friday, October 28, 2005

Nearly 1.5 million babies, a record, were born to unmarried women in the United States last year, the government reported Friday. And it isn't just teenagers any more.

"People have the impression that teens and unmarried mothers are synonymous," said Stephanie Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics.

But last year teens accounted for just 24 percent of unwed births, down from 50 percent in 1970, she commented.

The increases in unmarried births have been among women in their 20s, she said, particularly those 25 to 29.

Many of the women in that age group are living with partners but still count as unmarried mothers if they haven't formally married, Ventura noted.

Among teens, more than 80 percent of mothers were unmarried.

There were 1,470,152 babies born to single women in 2004, 35.7 percent of all births in the country, NCHS said. That was up from 1,415,995 a year earlier.

Births to older women continued to increase, Brady Hamilton of NCHS pointed out, reflecting choices these women are making in terms of careers and having families.

The birth rate for women aged 35 to 39 increased 4 percent from 2003 to 2004. It was up 3 percent for women aged 40 to 44 and 9 percent for those 45 to 49.

The article has some other interesting demographic statistics to it and makes me wonder how long it is going to take our leaders to understand how important the :kitchen table" issues are for families today.

It's really easy to run again the evil "single mother", especially if you put in the picture of someone in a trailer park or a rebellious teen, but as these stats show, that's not so much the case anymore. More to the point, society has to adapt to these changes and fast.

Issues like affordable health and child care are a MUST. A family should not have to spend 1/2 of it's monthly income on these two areas (we do, but we also have twins) because if they do, then you can kiss affordable housing good bye. And if that's the case, then what kind of school district will they be in? What is it costing the employer in the form of a distracted and worried employee who is not as productive?

You would think this is a no-brainer of an issue, so where are the politicians? I'd take this and the debacle in the Middle East as the central planks for a run at Congress if I had a couple million floating around.

In the Wings

Appellate Judges Cited as Focus of New Search
Supreme Court Candidates on Short List Were Vetted This Summer, Sources Say

By Jo Becker and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 29, 2005; Page A04

With President Bush expected to pick a new Supreme Court nominee within days, several sources close to the selection process said the White House is focusing on a short list of appellate court judges vetted this summer before he nominated John G. Roberts Jr. to the high court.

The administration has backed away from any insistence that the nominee be a woman or a minority. Rather, it is focused on potential nominees who have previously won Senate confirmation, whose intellectual qualifications would be unquestioned and who have paper trails that make clear their conservative credentials, said one source who is close to the nomination process.

Those candidates, according to the sources, include several federal appellate judges, among them: Samuel A. Alito Jr., J. Michael Luttig, Michael W. McConnell, Emilio M. Garza, Priscilla R. Owen and Edith H. Jones. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the discussions.

By focusing on such candidates, the Bush administration is shifting to what one source described as President Ronald Reagan's doctrine of picking justices. "The nominee can't be a stealth candidate for a number of reasons," the source said. "There are very, very few people who have the kind of credentials that the administration can put up in this environment that would not have a record."

The administration's efforts are in line with demands by conservatives on both sides of the fractious debate that doomed White House Counsel Harriet Miers's Supreme Court nomination. The conservatives are urging Bush to brush aside any concerns about triggering a polarizing confirmation battle with Senate Democrats and to pick a candidate who has displayed a long, stark record of conservative legal thought.
....
Alito, a former federal prosecutor, has strong enough credentials to satisfy and reunite Bush's conservative base, which fractured over the Miers nomination. Nicknamed "Scalito" for his philosophical similarities to Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative darling, Alito has the type of lengthy record that should please many conservatives.

In Planned Parenthood v. Casey , for instance, he was the sole dissenter when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit struck down a Pennsylvania law that required women seeking abortions to consult their husbands. But supporters say that Alito's varied record, affable demeanor and reputation for intellectual vigor would make him difficult to attack as an ideologue.

"The reason his name is popping up is he's probably the closest thing out there to John Roberts," said former Bush White House associate counsel Bradford A. Berenson. "And he's got even more of a full record that people on both sides of the aisle can evaluate."

Adding to the speculation were reports by those close to the process that Alito arrived in Washington Thursday night. Asked why the judge came to town and whether he was in chambers yesterday, Alito's clerk laughed and said he would have to take a message. The White House, meanwhile, declined to comment.

He's a cultured and affable wingnut.

See no evil, speak no good

UN presses China for more details on bird flu scare

Fri Oct 28, 2005
By Lindsay Beck

BEIJING (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) pressed China on Friday to provide information on a 12-year-old girl who Chinese officials say died of pneumonia, but who was initially suspected of contracting deadly bird flu.

"After SARS they know they should really provide timely information about what is going on," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a news briefing in Geneva.

China was accused in 2002 of covering up the extent of an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the south of the country, contributing to its eventual spread to 8,000 people around the world, 800 of whom died.

WHO officials say the H5N1 strain of bird flu is far more lethal than SARS. While SARS had a mortality rate of around 15 percent, H5N1, which has now spread from Asia to Europe, kills up to a third of people it infects.

Since last week China has revealed three outbreaks of the H5N1 virus that killed 3,800 chickens, ducks and geese.

But another WHO spokeswoman, Maria Cheng, said Chinese officials had as yet provided no information on the death of the 12-year-old girl on October 17 in southern Hunan province, the site of China's latest bird flu outbreak.

The girl's 9-year-old brother is reported to be in a stable condition in hospital, also with pneumonia.

"We need more clarification because both apparently had been exposed to sick chickens," Cheng said.

Some Chinese media reports have said the girl's body was cremated and it was unclear what samples were taken, Cheng said.

A Chinese Health Ministry official, Chen Xianyi, told reporters the girl and her brother had contracted pneumonia. "There have been no cases of human infection of H5N1," he said.

China has reported no human bird flu infections since the latest H5N1 outbreak first surfaced in Asia in late 2003. Since then, 62 people have died in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia and the virus has spread to Europe's eastern border.

Farmers in China, as in many parts of Asia, live alongside their poultry and other livestock, increasing the chances of the disease spreading to humans, experts say. It also raises the chance of the virus mutating into a form that could spread easily among people, triggering a pandemic. Millions could die.

You would think the Chinese officials would have learned their lesson from SARS.

The Glaringly Obvious

Poll: Bush losing support from military
Members disapprove of way war is handled

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLOTTE

More than half of North Carolina military members surveyed in the latest Elon University poll disapprove of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and his overall job performance.

Nearly 53 percent of military members said they strongly disapproved or disapproved of Bush's handling of his job. Just more than 56 percent of the same group strongly disapproved or disapproved of how he has dealt with the Iraq war.

Overall, 53 percent of those surveyed for the poll released yesterday did not approve of Bush's job performance, while 57 percent did not approve of his handling of the Iraq war.

"We see that those most involved in the Iraq situation, the military, are not so different from the general public after all and share the same concerns about Iraq," said Hunter Bacot, the poll's director. "Conventional wisdom might suggest that the military would be more supportive of Bush in Iraq, but that simply isn't the case if you look at the numbers."

North Carolina has one of the nation's largest military presences, with major Army, Marine and Air Force installations based in Eastern North Carolina. Active-duty and reserve units from North Carolina have seen extensive action since the United States attacked Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Of the 539 adults surveyed for the Elon poll, 80 - or 14.8 percent of the sample - were active-duty, reserve, retired or veteran members of the military.

Um, when you are IED bait for no detectable good reason, you just might have an opinion about it.

Wheels Within Wheels

Via Suze:

'Official A' stands out in indictment

By PETE YOST
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- In a sign of the trouble lingering for the Bush administration, the indictment handed up Friday in the CIA leak probe refers to someone at the White House known as "Official A."

The unidentified official could become a courtroom witness against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who left his job as vice presidential aide shortly after his indictment on charges of obstruction of justice, making false statements and perjury.

Several other unnamed officials mentioned in the indictment were identified Friday afternoon by Justice Department officials.

But not "Official A."

The mysterious official is identified in the indictment only as "a senior official in the White House."

No mention is made of Karl Rove, the president's political adviser who remains under investigation by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.

advertising
It has been known that columnist Robert Novak spoke to Rove on July 9, 2003, saying he planned to report over the weekend that Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, had worked for the CIA. Rove told the columnist he had heard similar information.

Friday's indictment says "Official A" is a "senior official in the White House who advised Libby on July 10 or 11 of 2003" about a chat with Novak about his upcoming column in which Plame would be identified as a CIA employee.

Late Friday, three people close to the investigation, each asking to remain unidentified because of grand jury secrecy, identified Rove as Official A.

It looks like someone pleaded down. And dumped it all on Libby, who is covering for his boss. This may be mostly over, but the layers haven't all been plumbed.

The No-Naval Gazing White House

A New Moment of Truth For a White House in Crisis

By Dan Balz and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 29, 2005; Page A01

With yesterday's indictment of Vice President Cheney's top aide, President Bush's administration has become a textbook example of what can go wrong in a second term. Along with ineffectiveness, overreaching, intraparty rebellion, plunging public confidence and plain bad luck, scandal has now touched the highest levels of the White House staff.

Not surprisingly, Democrats were quick to condemn the president and his administration over the perjury and obstruction indictments of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. But even some Republicans suggested that the president and his team will have taken away the wrong lesson if they conclude that, other than the personal tragedy of Libby's indictment, the long investigation changes nothing of significance.

House Government Reform Committee Chairman Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) was stinging, saying he was "very disappointed in Libby, and the White House, and the vice president and the president."

"They should have taken care of this a long time ago," Davis said in an interview. "They should have done their own investigation. They're going to get very little sympathy on Capitol Hill, at least from me. . . . They brought this on themselves."

The indictment of Libby, but no colleagues, was not the devastating blow that some in the administration had feared. But the action of Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald nonetheless added to the sense that this is now an administration staggering to regain its equilibrium. The question now facing the embattled president is whether he will use this moment of vulnerability to reflect on what has gone wrong this year and why, and then look for ways to regain his effectiveness.

As you read all of this, keep a few things in mind (methinks that Bumpers can walk and chew gum.) The WH press corps are openly obsequieous as they seek to keep access to "senior White House officials." The military and the intel services are in open revolt against Bush and seeking to bring him down (this is true.) Tom Davis may be aggreived, but, as the chair of a powerful House committee, will he bring an investigation? No, he won't.

Balz and Eilperin suggest that this is a moment for self-reflection on the part of GWB. Pardon me while I blow coffee out of my nose. Preznit Flightsuit hasn't demonstrated that, in 56 years, he has any skills in that direction.

Reporters on Reporters

Novel Strategy Pits Journalists Against Source

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE and ADAM LIPTAK
Published: October 29, 2005

In pressing his indictment of I. Lewis Libby Jr., the special prosecutor is pitting three prominent journalists against their former source, a strategy that experts in law and journalism say has rarely been used or tested.

It is all but unheard of for reporters to turn publicly on their sources or for prosecutors to succeed in conscripting members of a profession that prizes its independence.

Yet Mr. Libby's trial on perjury and obstruction charges will largely turn on whether jurors are more inclined to believe a government official who played a critical role in devising the justifications for the Iraq war or members of a profession whose own credibility has been under assault.

"We don't have much of a track record," said Jeffrey H. Smith, a former general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency, "because journalists so rarely testify."

The three reporters all initially resisted subpoenas for their testimony, hoping to avoid not only testifying before the grand jury but also having to appear as a prosecution witness at trial. Such challenges have often been successful in the past. But all of them lost, and ultimately relented, saying that Mr. Libby had granted them permission to testify about confidential conversations.

"This is exactly the thing," said Jane Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, "that journalists fear most - that they will become an investigative arm of the government and be forced to testify against the sources they've cultivated." While the special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, is all but certain to call at least some of the reporters as witnesses, whether they will be judged credible is an open question.

Relying on the journalists - Tim Russert of NBC News, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of The New York Times - will present Mr. Fitzgerald with challenges, said William E. Lawler III, a former federal prosecutor in Washington.

"Tim Russert, for instance, on the one hand is someone used to communicating well, is recognizable and is probably well liked," Mr. Lawler said. "On the other hand, the media is not universally beloved these days."

Mr. Russert addressed the case briefly on NBC yesterday.

"Clearly the special counsel has made a judgment," Mr. Russert said, "that when taking the comments and statements of Matt Cooper and Judy Miller and myself as opposed to Scooter Libby, he has decided that Mr. Libby was not telling the truth."

Richard A. Sauber, a lawyer for Mr. Cooper, said that the trial would not turn on personalities involved. "Atmospherics can make a difference when the case is on the margin," he said. "I don't know that this is really that kind of case."

Mr. Fitzgerald has gathered documents and other evidence showing that Mr. Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, learned of the identity of a C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, weeks before he talked with the three reporters. But, according to the indictment, Mr. Libby told the grand jury that the information came from Mr. Russert.

The reporters fought subpoenas, arguing among other things that they should not be converted into an investigative arm of the government. All eventually testified, relying, they said, on Mr. Libby's permission.

Mr. Russert's testimony, in August 2004, was particularly noteworthy. As part of a deal with Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Russert testified only to his end of a July 2003 conversation with Mr. Libby. According to a statement issued by NBC News at the time, Mr. Russert said he did not provide information about Ms. Wilson to Mr. Libby. Indeed, this statement said, Mr. Russert said that he had first learned of Ms. Wilson's identity on July 14, 2003, when it was disclosed by Robert D. Novak in his column.

Only with yesterday's indictment, however, did it become clear just how crucial reporters will be to proving the case, Professor Kirtley said.

"They were used to get the indictment," she said of the reporters, "and will be a central part of how the prosecution proceeds."

Floyd Abrams, the First Amendment lawyer, said he could not recall a previous case that depended so heavily on testimony by reporters or in which reporters could be so exposed.

"It's troubling that reporters are being asked to play so central a role, but even more troubling that reporters may be obliged to play the role of testifying against someone that they had promised confidentiality to," said Mr. Abrams, who has at various times represented The New York Times, Time, Ms. Miller and Mr. Cooper.

This is Kit Seelye and Adam Liptak, both of whom have something less than sterling reputations with me at the Washington bureau of the NYT. If they are correct, Fitz is going to have one hell of a time making a case. I read them as just another arm of the opinionate, rather than real reporters, however.

Try Not To Laugh

Sauerbrey's experience challenged in hearing

10/26/2005

WASHINGTON (AP) - Ellen Sauerbrey, a Republican loyalist chosen by President Bush to head the State Department's refugee program, is the latest nominee to face tough questions from senators about her qualifications.

The State Department's refugee and migration program needs a chief with experience handling crises of displaced people, Democrats said Tuesday.

"It doesn't appear that you have very specific experience," said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., during Sauerbrey's confirmation hearing before the Foreign Relations Committee.

Sauerbrey, a two-time Republican candidate for Maryland governor who ran Bush's 2000 campaign in the state, said she had the management, budgetary and humanitarian experience of three decades of public service and, currently, as U.S. envoy on women's issues to the United Nations.

Sauerbrey is expected to win confirmation despite the questions, with a committee vote as soon as next week.

She's a ditz who ran two completely inept campaigns in Maryland with absolutely no background in refugee issues. She's another Bush crony appointment. It appears that refugees aren't interesting enough to arouse any Dem opposition. Until they get some interest in something besides the same corporate agenda that run the Repubs, they are just another branch of the same party. Where is the loyal opposition? We don't have one, we just have a minor branch of government who gives people like Sauerbrey a pass. If Congress cared about you or me, they'd install people who could actually pass the HR process out here in the field. Sauerbrey's CV sure as hell wouldn't get her hired in any refugee agency that I know of.

Focus, group!

Fitzgerald Speaks, Up to a Point

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 29, 2005; Page A01

For 22 months, Patrick Fitzgerald was an actor in a silent movie, saying little more than "good morning" while others raised questions about his hauling top administration officials before his secret grand jury. Yesterday, the prosecutor finally got his day in the court of public opinion.

Asked about criticism that he was a partisan on a witch hunt, the man who indicted a sitting White House official for the first time since the 19th century shot back: "One day I read that I was a Republican hack, another day I read that I was a Democratic hack -- and the only thing I did between those two nights was sleep."

Breaking his long public silence, Fitzgerald gave a 66-minute news conference yesterday explaining his case against Scooter Libby, the vice president's chief of staff. But his appearance was as much about answering the charge that will inevitably be lodged against Fitzgerald himself: that he exceeded his charter and brought charges on "technicalities" rather than major crimes.

The prosecutor had prepared his defense well. "That talking point won't fly," he said when a questioner raised the anticipated criticism. "If it is proven that the chief of staff to the vice president went before a federal grand jury and lied under oath repeatedly and fabricated a story . . . that is a very, very serious matter," said Fitzgerald, 44, licking his lips frequently and moving his eyes back and forth across the line of eight cameras. "The truth is the engine of our judicial system, and if you compromise the truth, the whole process is lost."

Fitzie, as some pals call him, came straight from prosecutorial central casting: He spoke with a street-tough Brooklyn accent and laid out his case with the matter-of-fact assurance of a police captain explaining how his officers gained entrance to the premises and apprehended the suspect.

Seldom glancing at notes and eschewing stage makeup, Fitzgerald expressed amusement with the attention he's getting ("I think someone interviewed the person who shined my shoes the other day") and a fierce determination to stay within what he called the "four corners of the indictment." Asked to compare his probe with that of Watergate or the Monica Lewinsky matter, he replied: "I don't even know how to answer that. I'm just going to take a dive."

In a political environment where prosecutions can become about the accuser as much as the accused -- a matter Ken Starr knows something about -- Fitzgerald's deft performance made it clear that the administration's defenders will have a difficult time presenting him as anything but clean and independent. The weight of his presentation could give pause to opponents who would say he brought charges only to justify the investigation.

If patience is a virtue, Fitzgerald is a saint. His message to the press is: keep the focus on this indictment, on these charges, against this individual. He knows if he gets this right the broader case will fall into place.

The Situation Room

Here is the morning read-around on the Scooter (can you believe an adult male has such a nick?) Libby situation:

The New York Times is sceptical. I wish they'd used some of that scepticism on Judy Miller, but it doesn't look like she'll be coming back.

The WashPo thinks they are digging but the article is by Balz and Eiperin, so it is surface deep.

David Savage and Harry Weinstein at the LAT do a marginally better job of reporting what we do know and what we still don't. I'm impressed that the LAT is building an investigative unit that makes the Beltway mob look bought. This is the most solid story of the three.

If you've scooped out that pumpkin, it is time to make pumpkin soup!

Steep Learning Curve

Power Slowly Being Restored in Florida

Friday October 28, 2005
By MELISSA TRUJILLO

Associated Press Writer

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Simple tasks like buying gas, cooking food and even turning on the lights got a little easier Friday, with power restored to nearly half the homes and businesses that lost it during Hurricane Wilma.

Lines still formed at gas stations early in the day, but there were more open than earlier in the week, the state Department of Environmental Protection said.

The department said oil companies got backup generators to their retailers, and the state's largest utility, Florida Power & Light, focused on restoring electricity to stations and supermarkets. Power returned for most of the fuel depot at Port Everglades, which supplies stations across South Florida.

President Bush got his first look at Wilma's damage on Thursday, taking a helicopter tour with his brother Gov. Jeb Bush. The president also visited the National Hurricane Center in Miami and made a surprise stop at a Baptist church where volunteers served storm victims a barbecued pork lunch.

``People are getting fed,'' the president said. ``Soon more and more houses will have their electricity. Their life will get back to normal.''

Risk Management Solutions, a risk modeling firm, said new estimates projected that Wilma's insured losses in the United States ranged from $8 billion to $12 billion, up from previous estimate of $2 billion to $10 billion. That would make Wilma the third costliest hurricane in U.S. history, after Katrina and Andrew.

In Florida, State Attorney General Charlie Crist said 279 complaints related to price gouging incidents had been made as of late Thursday. The punishment in fines ranges up to $15,000 per incident.

Local and county officials have complained about the latest federal relief effort, stirring memories of the criticism directed at Bush and the Federal Emergency Management Agency following Hurricane Katrina.

A day after nine of the 11 water and ice distribution sites in Miami-Dade County ran out of supplies, only one ran out Thursday, with four others running low.

Now, I'm the last person to expect the government to have instant supplies handy right after a hurricane hits. I lived through the fun and joy of Hurricanes Fran and Floyd here in the Raleigh area and know that it takes a while for damage assessments and to get people in place.... but....

You would think that after FEMA has gone through multiple MAJOR hurricanes in the last two months, including one that everyone knew where it was going to strike for over 5 days that they would have a better plan in place to deal with this. Yes, more people should have evacuated, but anyone who has ever lived in an area threatened by a hurricane knows that not everyone is going to leave, especially if the hurricane takes an unexpected twist.

It's funny that the media that jumped all over Nagin and Blanco are curiously silent since it's the brother of the President who is having these problems. In fact, many people are observing the difference in responses to the hurricanes this year and last year. I can't imagine what has changed... oh yeah, no election to rig.

And how about that financial situation at FEMA. I bet they aren't going to ask Florida to repay for damages and loans the same way they are of Louisiana.

Dress Codes

As a high school teacher, I'm very torn about dress codes. I know why they are needed but really wish that we did not have them and that students could be trusted to act properly. Furthermore, as a teacher, I have better things to do than to play "clothing police". For one thing, I'm not comfortable in telling a teen age girl that her shirt is too low or her outfit makes it look like she is *ahem* "open for business" for all of the boys. Quite frankly, I don't want, or need the hassle/potential lawsuit, of someone getting it stuck in their head that I take pleasure out of enforcing it. Likewise, we don't always have regular enforcement of it so what was acceptable in one room, isn't in another. And, there are 1st Amendment issues too, though I point out to the kids that they sign away most of their rights when they sign the code of conduct form for the school and that everything in there has been approved by the courts at some point.

But, the worst thing we have to do is sit through a mind numbingly dumb video explaining the dress code that we use from another school system in a different state. It's like the educational films that we were forced to watch as kids, but wanted to run and hide from but now we can't. Thankfully, my favorite vlog site got access to the one I had to sit through on dress code and decided to comment about it.

Go take a look and get a good laugh . They even link to the original one too.

Tom Delay and the Maxwell Corolary

I just love it when reality outpaces satire. Case in point:

Delay Blasts Democrats 'politics of destruction'

HOUSTON -- Representative Tom DeLay, indicted on charges of campaign finance violations, railed against Democrats yesterday, accusing them of engaging in ''the politics of personal destruction."

The Texas Republican, in a letter sent to constituents and contributors, connected his case with investigations into possible misconduct by White House adviser Karl Rove and Senate majority leader Bill Frist. ''What we're fighting is so much larger than a single court case or a single district attorney in Travis County," DeLay wrote. ''We are witnessing the criminalization of conservative politics."

You know, I had to check to see if this didn't come from the Onion but alas, it didn't.

For me, this reaches high enough to meet the Maxwell Corolary of absurdity.

The Maxwell Corollary came about due to something a Miss Maxwell did at work on day her Freshman year. You see, she couldn't stand her Freshman History teacher (not me, I didn't have her until Mass Media two years later) and so she decided to vent. So she went to her next class, English, and wrote the following missive on the board:

Mr. Sutton is Satan.
He teaches Bible History.
This is irony.

Now, not only is this how satan got his nickname (we even hung the sign from the Inferno over his door come exam time), but it also established the Maxwell Corollary for statements of obvious irony. That is, if it's so bad that it fits into that short statement, then everyone should be able to notice it and groan at it, especially if glaring hypocrisy is involved.

Guess what, Delay hit the mark for the MC and then some. Aside from that 37% or so that will believe anything these guys say, who honestly has forgotten about the way the Clintons, Gores, Kerrys, and even other Republicans were treated who dared to stand in their way. I realize he thinks his constituents are morons, but does he have to be this obvious. I would think that any self respecting, free thinking adult would be offended at this point.

I know Miss Maxwell would.

How Sad

Case of Gay Worshiper in Va. Splits Methodists

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 28, 2005; Page A11

The man had been attending a Methodist church in South Hill, Va., for several months. He sang in the choir. He owned a business and was well known in the community. But when he asked to become a formal member of the church, the pastor turned him down, because he is gay.

Those are the bare facts of a case that has split a 650-member congregation in southern Virginia and that threatens to divide the 8 million-member United Methodist Church, the nation's second largest Protestant denomination.

Yesterday in Houston, the Methodists' highest court heard an appeal from the pastor of South Hill United Methodist Church, the Rev. Edward Johnson. He was placed on unpaid leave after he rejected entreaties from his immediate supervisor and his bishop to admit the gay man, who has not been named by church officials and has declined to talk about the case.

Nationally, the Methodist Church prohibits "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from serving as ordained ministers. But it has declared that gay men and lesbians are "persons of sacred worth" and has repeatedly said there are no bars to their participation as lay people.

"The theme of our church for five years now has been 'Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors.' The issue here is, 'Are we really open or not?' " said the Rev. W. Anthony Layman, who was Johnson's district superintendent when the pastor was removed in June by a 581 to 20 vote of fellow ministers in the church's Virginia conference.

Johnson's legal counsel, the Rev. Tom Thomas, argued at yesterday's hearing that the Methodist Church gives its pastors sole discretion to admit or reject people as congregation members. He said Johnson believed that he could not, in good conscience, admit someone who acknowledged being in a same-sex relationship.

"Pastor Johnson was not drawing a line at a homosexual person, but at homosexual practice, which we think is an important distinction," he said in a telephone interview. "The first vow in taking membership in the United Methodist Church is to renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness and repent of your sins. The pastor felt that the person was not able to take that vow, because he did not honestly acknowledge that his practice was a sin."

Like other Protestant denominations, the Methodist Church has been fighting for decades over its understanding of sexuality and scripture. Its nine-member supreme court, the Judicial Council, also heard arguments yesterday about the Rev. Irene Elizabeth "Beth" Stroud, who had announced to her Philadelphia congregation that she was living in a "covenanted" relationship with another woman.

In December, a jury of 13 clergy members removed Stroud's credentials as an ordained minister. But a regional appeals panel overturned that verdict, citing legal errors in the trial and the ambiguity of a clause in the church's constitution that pledges no discrimination on the basis of "status."

I would like to think that in another generation, sexual orientation will cease to be an issue. I know a number of ministers who feel that way and refuse to engage in confrontation with their congregations over it. For the time being, this just makes me sad. As the Episcopal bishop of DC said a couple of years ago, "We've been arguing about this for 30 years. Isn't it time to just get on with it?"

Fitzmas

Perjury, false statements and obstruction indictments against Scooter Libby.

UPDATE: AP and CNN report that Libby tendered his resignation this morning.

Breaking the Code

Slate's Dahlia Lithwick frequently has insightful things to say about the politics of judicial nominations. Her contribution on the Miers situation is valuable.

Code Blue
What the Miers withdrawal means for abortion code-speak
.
By Dahlia Lithwick
Posted Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005, at 10:52 AM PT

The epitaph for Harriet Miers' failed bid to be an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court should go like this:

Here lies the nomination of Harriet Miers
Oct. 3, 2005 - Oct. 27 2005
With her died the ability to speak about Roe in code

The Miers nomination went off the rails about seven seconds after it was announced, in large part because President Bush tried to mollify his base in code. The nominee had no background or record as a movement conservative and no written promises to be the kind of right-wing activist who would spearhead a Supreme Court counterrevolution. What she had—according to the president—was a "good heart." She was a religious person and she was loyal to him. That, Bush thought, would suffice to assure everyone that she had it in for Roe v. Wade.

But it didn't suffice, because movement conservatives weren't willing to settle for a coded message anymore. They have built up a strong and capable stable of thinkers and jurists who are not speaking in half-promises or symbols. And they wanted a nominee with the brains and brawn to overturn Roe because it's bad law rather than just because it's "a sin." The code also didn't suffice because the right had heard the same coded promises about Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, and David Souter—and had dejectedly watched them go on to uphold Roe. Sick and tired of ambiguous messages and middle-of-the-road nominees, they would not be placated by anyone who wasn't willing to say, as are Janice Rodgers Brown or Priscilla Owen or Edith Jones, that Roe must die now.

John Roberts was the last wink, or coded nominee, the far right will ever accept. Not because he won't prove to be as conservative as they hope. But because they held their fire on Roberts as a quid pro quo; they were assured that an Owen or a Michael Luttig would be their payback for that acquiescence. Bush's base never loved Roberts. They worried about his moderation and his caution and they worried about his possible softness on gay rights after it became clear that he'd been on the wrong side of Romer v. Evans—the 1996 gay-rights case out of Colorado. The outrage you saw over Miers was the outrage of a promise broken.

The vociferous demands by both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to see Miers' work product from her time as White House Counsel reveal that coded messages are not doing it for either side anymore. The same GOP senators who would have fought to the death to keep John Roberts' work product secret were clamoring louder than anyone to see Miers'. Both sides needed to see tangible evidence of what she would do in the future because the currency of the wink died with Roberts.

Since the country broadly favors at least some rights to reproductive choices for women which include some availability of abortion, the right wing really does want to legislate from the bench against the will of the majority of the people. It's only judicial activism when our side does it.

My Tinfoil Hat

Jonathan Chait: Rove unmasked

There is a consistent pattern to Rove-driven decisions. He has an unerring sense of what the conservative base demands and what deviations it will tolerate. Rove may lose a battle every so often, but that happens only when Democrats have a chance to stop him (i.e., Social Security privatization). He always holds the Republican Party together. The result is sometimes a substantive disaster — no, make that usually a substantive disaster — but as a political formula, it works.

But in the case of Miers, Rove was out of the picture, distracted by his potential indictment in the Valerie Plame/CIA scandal. As the New York Times reported last week, "Some conservatives and Rove allies say [Chief of Staff Andrew] Card kept Mr. Rove in the dark about the seriousness of Mr. Bush's intentions until very late in the process, thus sidestepping the advisor who would have been best able to anticipate dissent among Republicans." This is what scientists call "isolating the independent variable."

The result was a disaster that bore none of the hallmarks of your normal Rove-driven strategizing. The outreach to the base was almost nonexistent. The smear campaign against the critics was clumsily handled. The Bush who made this selection bears almost no resemblance to the Bush we've grown accustomed to.

Ironically, the very fact that Rove is facing indictment is causing some of Bush's staunchest allies to admit Rove's influence at last.

In the latest issue of the Standard, Fred Barnes calls Rove "irreplaceable." Rove "made Bush more conservative," writes Barnes, and now that he's tied up with Plamegate, "Bush appears to be drifting ideologically."

What happened to Bush having thoughts of his own? I'll tell you what. Rove desperately needs conservatives to rally behind him to keep his job or maybe to stave off prison.

So now the pretense that Rove was never pulling the strings behind the surface has been dropped for the more immediate imperative of saving his hide.

All of this suggests two things.

First, if the Plame scandal takes Rove out of commission, Bush's second term might look awfully ugly.

And second, maybe we Bush-haters weren't just a bunch of paranoid conspiracy theorists after all.

I'll go Jon Chait a bit further: if you look at what GWB and the Repub Congress have done to this country, it is already very ugly and not going to be easy to undo.

The CW

National Journal's Congress Daily needs a subscription, so here is the bulk (within "Fair Use" guidelines) of their AM report on the Miers withdrawal.

Activists Say All Is Forgiven, If Bush Picks Stout Conservative Conservative groups said President Bush can quickly salvage his second Supreme Court appointment and rally his base -- if he heeds the lessons of withdrawn nominee Harriet Miers and selects a proven judicial conservative to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Bush allies who both favored and opposed Miers said they breathed a collective sigh of relief when she withdrew -- a step that sources said would allow conservatives to stop battling among themselves and regroup for an expected fight with liberal groups.

Judicial Confirmation Network attorney Wendy Long, whose group had initially spoken positively of Miers, said the nomination got "mucked up" and that her group's state-based membership became divided on her selection.

"It was a good development. It was the right thing to do," Long said. "The president has to get back on the tried-and-true formula ... highly qualified, proven candidates who share his judicial philosophy."

Long said Miers' confirmation rested too heavily on Bush's personal recommendation, rather than her record.

"The problem was, there wasn't a lot to go on, with her qualifications or aptitude," Long said.

Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, who has strong ties to conservatives and the White House, said a fight with liberal interest groups over Miers -- or whomever Bush appoints next -- was inevitable.

He said uncertainties about Miers' suitability for the court allowed liberal detractors to oppose Miers without engaging in the fundamental debate about judicial philosophy
.
"You're better off taking off the table all of the extraneous arguments," Norquist said. "The questions or concerns raised by the Miers nomination are gone."

Committee for Justice Executive Director Sean Rushton, whose group backed Miers, said her' nomination might have divided the conservative coalition, but it also sparked "a very intellectual and principled fight" that helped them distinguish themselves from liberals.

Many sources expressed regret that Miers faced such negative scrutiny, but said Bush made a mistake in trying to replace O'Connor with his White House counsel.

Conservative syndicated columnist Mona Charen said conservatives have been previously let down by Supreme Court appointments made by GOP presidents -- such as Justice David Souter -- and said they were not going to take that chance with the replacement for O'Connor, a key swing vote.

"I hope the lesson the president takes out of this is no more stealth candidates," Charen said. "She turned out, I think, much more liberal than even the president thought."

Charen was a leading member of Americans for Better Justice, which this week launched television and radio ads urging Bush to drop Miers.

She said it is better for Bush to accept defeat on Miers if it results in a stronger appointment and a chance to re-energize his supporters. "Sticking it out was dividing his base," she said.

Sources interviewed Thursday said they expect Bush to return to a list of well-vetted and established contenders that include federal appeals judges like Samuel Alito, Edith Jones, Michael Luttig and Michael McConnell.

Those interviewed also said conservatives poured few resources into backing Miers, leaving many groups with money available for a fight on Bush's next nominee.

Progress for America, which was among Miers' most ardent backers, fielded a run of cable ads, grassroots activity and surrogate speakers on her behalf.

However, sources said PFA's expenditure on Miers were far short of the $18 million the group said it had initially budgeted for a fight over the O'Connor vacancy.

Free Congress Foundation Chairman Paul Weyrich said conservative activists held a conference call Thursday and concluded their course will be determined by Bush's next choice.

"If he nominates someone who is good and with a track record ... and is someone that we can all get enthusiastically behind, all will be forgiven," Weyrich said. "If he gives us a nominee with no record and we keep finding out bad things, as we did with Harriet Miers, we won't."

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats and Republicans spent much of Thursday assessing the political fallout from Miers' sudden withdrawal and preparing for the fight over Bush's replacement nominee.

Democrats warned Bush that he must not give in to activists' demands that Miers' replacement be a hard-line conservative.

Saying "it is imperative that the president now focus on the future, and not the past," Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., warned that Bush "should take his time to carefully consider this next nomination."
Dodd also cautioned that picking an ideologue would be unwise.

"We need someone with judicial experience and independence who can bridge divides and not further deepen chasms that separate our people and nation," Dodd said. "Too much is riding on this nomination to fill it in haste."

National Journal represents the collective "inside the Beltway" perspective. Consider this the "conventional wisdom." I think it is a little harder to see if all the fractures in the right wing of the GOP are going to be healed by having Bush come up with the "correct" name. It looks to me like some real damage was done.

Fitzmas

The grand jury is meeting this morning and Patrick Fitzgerald has called a 2 PM EDT press conference. Be still my beating heart.

Back to Square One

Baker and Goldstein don't tell you, but this story is all leaks. It makes me wonder whose ox is being gored. Click on the link and read the whole thing, it's a fascinating study in inside-the-beltway journalism.

Nomination Was Plagued By Missteps From the Start

By Peter Baker and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 28, 2005; Page A01

For Harriet Miers, the "murder boards" were aptly named. Day after day in a room in the Justice Department, colleagues from the Bush administration grilled her on constitutional law, her legal background and her past speeches in practice sessions meant to mimic Senate hearings.

Her uncertain, underwhelming responses left her confirmation managers so disturbed they decided not to open up the sessions to the friendly outside lawyers they usually invite to participate in prepping key nominees.

It was clear that Miers was going to need to "hit a grand slam homer" before the Senate Judiciary Committee to win confirmation to the Supreme Court, as one adviser to the White House put it. "Her performance at the murder boards meant that people weren't confident she'd get the grand slam."

By nearly all accounts, the 24 days of the Miers nomination was hobbled by a succession of miscalculations. President Bush bypassed his own selection process to pick Miers, his onetime personal lawyer and White House counsel since February. His aides ignored warnings by some of the administration's closest conservative allies that she would prove difficult to confirm, and took for granted that its base would ultimately stick with the president.

And in perhaps the biggest misjudgment, Bush assumed that Miers would somehow shine in a Washington klieg light she had never before faced.

It did not take a call from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to convince the White House that Miers's nomination was in trouble. By the time Miers withdrew her name from consideration yesterday morning, her own colleagues had all but despaired of rescuing her nomination. With top Bush aides facing possible indictment as early as today, the White House concluded that it was time to move on and brace for the more threatening crisis.

"This thing never got off the launching pad very well," said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because public airing of self-criticism is not encouraged in the White House.

"What we ran up against may be a different bar and maybe discomfort with the unfamiliar," another official said. "Did we learn anything? I don't know."

I don't see any signs that Bushco learns from their mistakes.

Reporting: the Sport

A Long, Rocky Road With 39 Months to Go

by TODD S. PURDUM
Published: October 28, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 - George W. Bush has been in the White House for 248 weeks, through a terrorist attack, two wars and a bruising re-election. But it seems safe to say that he has never had a worse political week than this one - and it is not over yet.

Harriet E. Miers arriving Thursday at the White House. She called President Bush on Wednesday night asking him to withdraw her nomination and delivered a formal letter of withdrawal Thursday morning.

"I think all bets are off," said former Senator Warren B. Rudman, Republican of New Hampshire. "Who knows what's next?"

The biggest question for Mr. Bush now is what he can make of the 39 months remaining in his presidency. For this horrible week has been months - even years - in the making. The 2,000th American fatality in Iraq was just the latest daunting milestone in a war that will soon be three years old. The C.I.A. leak investigation that threatens to indict a top White House aide or two on Friday grew out of the fierce debates over the flawed intelligence that led to that war.

And Harriet E. Miers's withdrawal of her nomination to the Supreme Court is the bitter fruit of Mr. Bush's own frailty in the wake of all those storms - and Hurricane Katrina - and of his miscalculations about how her appointment would be received.

His effort to avoid a fight by choosing a nominee with a scant public record (whose conservative fidelity only he could vouch for) instead prompted a ferocious backlash from the conservative activists he has courted for years.

"There's all this talk about the Republican base and the conservative base of the Republican Party, and the conservative base of the president and how it's important to play to the base and please the base and fawn over the base," said former Senator John C. Danforth, the Missouri Republican who was Mr. Bush's ambassador to the United Nations.

"And look what it gets President Bush," Mr. Danforth continued. "It just gets him a kick in the rear. That's what they've done to him, and they've done it to him at a time when he's vulnerable, and they've done it at the expense of a perfectly fine human being."

Some scholars and Republican elders say it is now time for Mr. Bush to do what Ronald Reagan did when the Iran-contra scandal threatened to derail his second term: shake up the White House staff, retool his domestic and foreign policy agenda and move on. But most say they see few signs that Mr. Bush intends to do so.

"Assume there are several indictments," said Richard Norton Smith, the head of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill., and a biographer of several prominent Republicans.

"The question becomes: Is there a Howard Baker moment?" Mr. Smith added, referring to the former Tennessee senator whom Mr. Reagan tapped as chief of staff to clean house. "And if there's a Howard Baker moment, who's Howard Baker? There aren't as many 'wise men' around Washington as there were 20 years ago."

Ms. Miers's withdrawal is all the more remarkable because Mr. Bush so seldom backs down. Again and again, he has racked up legislative victories that once seemed improbable, or at least managed to save face. His instinct, abetted by Vice President Dick Cheney, will once again be to grind out advances where he can find them.

In that sense, the abandonment of Ms. Miers seemed deliberate, an effort to shift the spotlight, however briefly, from the expected actions of the special prosecutor investigating the leak of a C.I.A. agent's identity, and reposition the president for a new confirmation battle with conservatives by his side.

But the president's second term legislative agenda is at a standstill on matters large and small. His hopes for overhauling Social Security are dead for this year; the goal of reshaping the estate tax stalled with Hurricane Katrina; and his administration was even forced to backtrack this week on its post-Katrina suspension of a law that requires paying locally prevailing wages for construction projects financed by federal money.

The White House had argued that suspending the law, the Davis-Bacon Act, could speed hurricane repairs. But critics, including some Congressional Republicans, complained that the administration was taking advantage of the disaster to upend a law important to unions.

Mr. Bush blamed Ms. Miers's withdrawal on Senate demands for information about her views on constitutional and legal questions during her service as White House counsel and in other top staff jobs.

I'm struck by the fact that the Times is having qualms about Bushco now, after having done so much to get him elected. The paper looks silly.

Info-Security: Pay Attention

Bird Flu Trojan Poses Danger To Word Users
Oct. 27, 2005

A new Trojan horse, dubbed "Navia.a" by Panda Software, uses avian flu-related subject heads to dupe recipients into opening an attached Microsoft Word document.
By Gregg Keizer
TechWeb News

Spammers and scammers have already used the public's fear and curiosity about the avian flu to spread their schemes, but now hackers have turned to the trick, a security company warned Thursday.

A new Trojan horse, dubbed "Navia.a" by Panda Software, uses subject heads of "Outbreak in North America" and "What is avian influenza (bird flu)?" to dupe recipients into opening an attached Microsoft Word document.

That's when Navia.a goes old school: the Word document is infected with malicious macros.

One of the macros makes several Windows kernel calls to allow the Trojan to create, change, or delete files, while the second installs "Ranky.fy," another Trojan that opens a back door to the PC.

“Unfortunately, we were expecting something like this," said Luis Corrons, director of Panda's research, in a statement. "This is not the first time, and won't be the last, that writers of malicious code have taken advantage of people's misfortune and anxieties to spread their Trojans and worms."

Word macro threats were once among the most visible, and most dangerous, but have fallen out of fashion. The most infamous macro threat was the Melissa virus of 1999, which debuted a propagation technique -- grabbing e-mail addresses from Microsoft Outlook -- that's still used by most mass-mailed worms and viruses.

To protect against a macro-based exploit, Word users should make sure that the macro security level is set at "Medium," which triggers a warning when a Word document containing one or macros is opened, or "High," to disable macros entirely.

In Word 2003, the setting is under the Tools menu, in the Macro/Security item.

Update your A/V software, please. And if you aren't in the habit of checking in with Secunia, please get the habit, please.

Spouting

The hurricanes are going to limit the produce we can get from the gulf and florida, so California produce is in my sights. Here is a balsamic vinagraite I like a lot.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
* 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar
* 1 clove crushed garlic
* 1 teaspoon ground mustard
* 1 pinch salt
* ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, garlic, and mustard powder. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Stir in minced fresh herbs if desired>

If it gets much better than this, I don't need to know about it. Over fresh greens, this sizzles.

Hurricane Fatigue

Tropical Storm Beta Strengthens in Southwest Caribbean
By VOA News
27 October 2005

Tropical Storm Beta, the record 23rd storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, has strengthened since developing in the southwestern Caribbean late Wednesday.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Beta is expected to dump up to 25 centimeters of rain across western Panama, Costa Rica, northeastern Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Colombian islands of San Andres and Providencia.

At last report the storm was located 115 kilometers south-southeast of San Andres Island and about 260 kilometers east of Bluefields, Nicaragua. Forecasters say Beta is expected to continue slowly drifting north, bringing its center near San Andres on Friday.

Colombia has issued a hurricane warning for San Andres and Providencia. A hurricane watch is in effect for Nicaragua's entire Caribbean coast.

I never in my life so looked forward to the end of the hurricane season. This is nuts.

Robber Barons

Exxon Mobil Profits Soar on Surging Oil and Gas Prices

By VIKAS BAJAJ
and JAD MOUAWAD
Published: October 27, 2005

Exxon Mobil and other energy companies reported strong gains in their third-quarter profits today on surging prices of oil and gasoline both before and after the hurricanes struck the Gulf Coast.

The world's largest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil said its earnings jumped 75 percent. Royal Dutch, meanwhile, said its earnings climbed 68 percent, and Marathon Oil said its earnings more than tripled.

Some of the increase in profits was attributable to rising oil prices this summer even before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast. After the hurricanes, though, the price of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined oil products soared because of shutdowns at refineries in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Exxon, based in Irving, Tex., outside Dallas, said the hurricanes took down 50,000 barrels of oil production a day and raised the company's costs by $45 million before taxes. Natural gas production fell 9 percent, to 7.7 million cubic feet a day.

The company's top executive appeared to address and deflect the public backlash that followed Katrina when gasoline prices soared past $3 a gallon in many cities.

"Following the hurricanes, Exxon Mobil maximized gasoline production from all of our refineries which were operating in the U.S., and increased imports from overseas affiliates to meet U.S. demand," Lee R. Raymond, Exxon's chief executive and chairman, said in a statement. "We acted responsibly in pricing at our company operated service stations, and we also encouraged our independent retailers and distributors to do the same."

But the news of the record profits by oil companies is sure to draw criticism by politicians and energy industry critics, who say the industry has not done enough to invest in increasing oil and gasoline supplies even as they earn billions of dollars.

Today, Exxon Mobil reported net income of $9.92 billion, or $1.58 a share, in the third quarter, up from $5.68 billion, or 88 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 31.9 percent, to $100.7 billion, from $76.38 billion.

The company's profits included a special one-time gain of $1.6 billion from the restructuring of the company's stake in a Dutch gas business. Without that, profits for the third quarter were $8.3 billion.

This year, Exxon Mobil's nine-month profits - $25 billion - are so far equal to those of 2004, already a record year for the company. Its sales are on track to exceed those of Wal-Mart this year.

Follow the link to see the profit figures for the other oil companies. Whatever happened to the excess profits tax? These guys had a license to print money before the hurricanes.

Pullback

Dan Froomkin's quick analyses are frequently spot on.

Strategic Retreat

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, October 27, 2005; 1:29 PM

Facing unprecedented ferocious challenges on a variety of fronts, the White House is suddenly adopting a shocking new tactic: Full-out strategic retreat.

Today's withdrawal of Harriet Miers's bedeviled nomination to the Supreme Court is, of course, Exhibit A. But there's also an Exhibit B: The White House's quiet but total cave-in yesterday, reinstating the wage protections for workers involved in Hurricane Katrina reconstruction. (More on that below.)

Strategic retreat of course has two parts. One is retreat. The other is strategy.

For the moment, the Miers withdrawal has certainly taken Washington wonkery's attention away from the looming indictments in the CIA leak case, which are now widely expected to come down tomorrow.

But think it through, and it seems obvious that the Miers withdrawal was timed not to distract from the indictments, but rather to be quickly overshadowed by them.

As Candy Crowley suggested on CNN, if there are indeed indictments tomorrow, the Miers withdrawal will be quickly forgotten. That wipes the slate clean, more or less, and gives President Bush an opportunity to pivot away from the leak scandal with a new Supreme Court nomination sometime in the next week or two.

CNN's Jeff Greenfield also noted that the Miers withdrawal headlines in tomorrow's papers will be a nice gift to Bush's conservative base -- on the very day indictments presumably come down and Bush really needs his most ardent supporters firmly in his court.

I can't possibly keep up with all the Miers developments today. For that, a good first stop is Fred Barbash's Supreme Court Blog on washingtonpost.com.

I should point out, however, that the White House's move today was both suggested and anticipated a week ago by Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer . I quoted Krauthammer in my Friday column and then asked: "Would a Friday night be best? Or a really big news day?"

Answer: The day before a really big news day.

In the Larger Scheme of Things

Roche Suspends Tamiflu Shipments to U.S.

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER
The Associated Press
Thursday, October 27, 2005; 7:23 AM

GENEVA -- Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG said Thursday it had temporarily suspended shipments of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu to wholesalers and other private sector recipients in the United States to ensure that enough treatments will be available for the regular influenza season.

Roche spokesman Alexander Klauser stressed that the suspension would not affect the U.S. government's order for the drug.

"We have agreed orders with governments and we will fulfill them," Klauser said. "It is important that this is seen separately from the pandemic offers."

He said Roche's U.S. management proceeded with the temporary suspension because of the increased global demand for Tamiflu, the drug that experts believe would be most effective in treating a pandemic strain of flu. Demand has increased due to fears of the potential spread of bird flu.

"The priority is that there is enough Tamiflu for the people who need it at the start of the influenza season," Klauser told The Associated Press. "At the moment, there is no influenza currently circulating."

Supplies have become tight because governments and other organizations are stockpiling it in case the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu spreading from Asia to Europe mutates into a form that can pass easily to and between people, sparking a human flu pandemic.

Experts are pinning their hopes on Tamiflu to soften the impact of a pandemic. It would be used to treat the sick and those who have come into close contact them in hopes of saving their lives and stopping the spread of the virus while scientists rush to make a vaccine.

Klauser said the increased demand would mean that "over the next few weeks, limited stocks would be available in most countries."

He declined to comment on what the temporary halt in shipments would mean for U.S. pharmacies and wholesalers. The suspension was reported in Thursday editions of The New York Times.

On Tuesday, the Swiss drug giant's Canadian branch made a similar announcement that it was suspending private sales of Tamiflu in Canada until the flu season begins in December because soaring stockpile demand threatened the seasonal flu allocation.

Paul Brown, a vice president of Roche Canada, said they saw more demand for Tamiflu on one day last week than in all of 2004.

I can only say yet again: do not pin your hopes on Tamiflu. Prepare to not get sick instead. Wash your hands and keep them away from your face. Stockpile food and water.

Keep On Hand

Cash is king during power outages

Area banks said they had plenty of cash on hand to service South Florida's post-storm cash-based economy. Branch locations are opening and ATMs are coming on line with power restoration.

BY MONICA HATCHER

The good, old-fashioned greenback is making a comeback in South Florida.

Knocked powerless by Hurricane Wilma, scores of grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and other retail outlets are operating on a cash-only basis. People are pulling the almighty dollar from their wallets again, instead of the almighty credit card, and heading en masse to the nearest ATM, which needs electricity to spit out 10s and 20s.

It's an unusual scenario in a society long-sold on the convenience of plastic. But banks in South Florida said they were ready to handle the largely cashed-based economy in the potentially powerless weeks ahead.

''We have not been experiencing any cash issues,'' said Washington Mutual spokeswoman Nova Barnett. ``We were well prepared prior to the hurricane's impact. We had stockpiled the cash.''

It's not as intriguing as it sounds. Banks generally ship cash receipts from their branches once a week. Miami-based TotalBank, for instance, simply canceled their shipment scheduled last Friday to ensure they had extra money.

''I'm probably OK . . . to carry me through the week,'' said Martha Guerra-Kattou, who oversees the bank's 13 locations.

Since many business clients are now tendering in cash, coffers at many banks are being replenished with large deposits made by those who don't want to keep huge cash receipts on location. ''We had one customer deposit $80,000 at one of our branches,'' Guerra-Kattou said.

On Wednesday, some of TotalBank's branches had to limit cash withdrawals to $300 per individual and $500 per business.

Keep this in mind: disaster planning for any crisis which might include power outages (from blizzards to pandemic influenza) means that you should keep a stash of cash in the house.

Gazing Into The Crystal Ball

White House Plans to Deflect
# If top aides are indicted in the CIA leak case, the administration strategy is to keep its distance.

By Doyle McManus, Warren Vieth and Mary Curtius, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — The prosecutor hasn't announced any indictments, but President Bush's aides and their allies in Congress are working on strategies to counter the blow if White House officials are accused of crimes.

The basic plan is familiar to anyone who has watched earlier presidents contend with scandal: Keep the problem at arm's length, let allies outside the White House do the talking, and try to change the subject to something — anything — else.

The White House doesn't plan to attack Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation — at least not directly, several GOP officials said. Instead, expect Bush to unveil a flurry of proposals on subjects from immigration and tax reform to Arab-Israeli peace talks.

"We've got a lot of work to do, and so we don't have a lot of time to sit back and think about" possible indictments, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday, reflecting the strategy. "We're focusing on what the American people care most about, and that is winning the war on terrorism, succeeding in Iraq, addressing high energy prices … and helping the people in the Gulf Coast region recover and rebuild."

Republicans outside the White House are pleading with Bush to act quickly and decisively if aides are indicted. "What is of most concern is that the president handle it properly — that he ask [officials who are indicted] to step down; that he not vacillate, not equivocate; that he be decisive," said Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), a leading Republican moderate.

"Changing the subject will not work," said David Gergen, a former aide to Presidents Reagan and Clinton. "Giving more speeches about Iraq or the state of the economy doesn't have the weight that action does…. It's dangerous for the country to have a disabled president for three years, and we're getting close to seeing that happen. I worry that they [Bush and his aides] are in denial."

And GOP pollster David Winston warned that discontent among Republicans in Congress was rising. "This is not the environment that Republicans want to run in next year," Winston said.

The immediate reason for Republicans' worries was the growing expectation that Fitzgerald, who is investigating the 2003 leak of a CIA officer's identity to reporters, was on the verge of issuing indictments. His probe has focused on the actions and statements of several high-ranking White House officials, including Karl Rove, Bush's top political advisor, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

So far, the probe has attracted relatively little attention from the public. One recent poll found that 50% of those surveyed recognized Rove's name; NBC's "Today" show ran a three-minute primer on the case Wednesday morning called "Leak Investigation for Dummies."

But at a time when Bush's standing in public opinion polls has been battered by soaring gasoline prices and rising pessimism about the war in Iraq, the prospect that several White House aides might be indicted was being treated — despite McClellan's public dismissals — as a potentially major political crisis.

"We've had discussions; we've gamed out different scenarios," said one Republican strategist in frequent contact with the White House. "But to try to put together a big binder with 18 different tabs is a fool's errand at this point. There are so many different ways this could play out."

Some key elements of the post-investigation game plan have emerged, GOP advisors said:

• Any indicted White House officials would immediately step down, and Bush would quickly name their successors. If Rove is indicted, more than one person might take over his many responsibilities.

• The president and other White House officials would limit their public comments on the case. Outside interest groups and allies would do most of the talking.

• Whenever possible, Bush and other administration officials would try to change the subject. Among the issues the president plans to put atop his new agenda are spending restraint, tax changes and immigration. In addition, Bush's foreign policy advisors have discussed launching a more visible presidential effort to prod Israel and the Palestinians toward peace, one official said.

• The White House would try to insulate Bush from the scandal allegations. Officials would argue that the president has not been accused of any direct involvement in the leaking of information in the CIA case or subsequent efforts to minimize the political damage. Although it is not yet clear who would coordinate the defense, several advisors said they expected Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman would be heavily involved. One official said former Cheney aide Mary Matalin was another likely participant. Neither Mehlman nor Matalin could be reached for comment.

White House officials and allies are hoping that intensive news coverage of the Fitzgerald investigation will be short-lived. On Nov. 7, they predicted, attention would shift to the Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers.

"Let's say something happens in the next 48 hours," said one official. "It will dominate the news cycle until the 7th of November. Then a new cycle begins: Harriet will be the news."

Okay, what's plan B?

Looking for Hints

Via Suze:

The Washington Note's Steve Clemmons says:

New Information: First the Website, Now the New Office Space

Patrick Fitzgerald's intermediaries denied that there was any significance to the establishment of a new website, minimalist as it is, for the Office of the Special Counsel which is investigating the "outing" of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA responsibilities to the media.

Fitzgerald's people said that the investigation coming to a close and the website going up was just coincidence.

Well, news has just reached TWN that Patrick Fitzgerald is expanding not only into a new website -- but also into more office space.

Fitzgerald's office is at 1400 New York Avenue, NW, 9th Floor in Washington.

What I have learned is that the Office of the Special Counsel has signed a lease this week for expanded office space across the street at 1401 New York Avenue, NW.

Another coincidence? More office space needed to shut down the operation?

I think not. Fitzgerald's operation is expanding.

Steve includes a picture of the office building. This is very nice space.

At Last

Grand Jury Hears Summary of Case On CIA Leak Probe
Decision on Charges May Come Friday

By Carol D. Leonnig and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 27, 2005; Page A01

The prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation presented a summary of his case to a federal grand jury yesterday and is expected to announce a final decision on charges in the two-year-long probe tomorrow, according to people familiar with the case.

Even as Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald wrapped up his case, the legal team of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has been engaged in a furious effort to convince the prosecutor that Rove did not commit perjury during the course of the investigation, according to people close to the aide. The sources, who indicated that the effort intensified in recent weeks, said Rove still did not know last night whether he would be indicted.

Fitzgerald is completing his probe of whether senior administration officials broke the law by disclosing the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the media in the summer of 2003 to discredit her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, an administration critic. The grand jury's term will expire Friday.

But after grand jurors left the federal courthouse before noon yesterday, it was unclear whether Fitzgerald had spelled out the criminal charges he might ask them to consider, or whether he had asked them to vote on any proposed indictments. Fitzgerald's legal team did not present the results of a grand jury vote to the court yesterday, which he is required to do within days of such a vote.

Yesterday's three-hour grand jury session came after agents and prosecutors this week conducted last-minute interviews with Adam Levine, a member of the White House communications team at the time of the leak, about his conversations with Rove, and with Plame's neighbors in the District.

Should he need more time to finish the investigation, Fitzgerald could seek to empanel a new group of grand jurors to consider the case. But sources familiar with the prosecutor's work said he has indicated he is eager to avoid that route. The term of the current grand jury has been extended once and cannot be lengthened again, according to federal rules.

The down-to-the-wire moves in Fitzgerald's investigation have made for a harrowing week at the White House, where officials are girding for at least one senior administration official to be indicted, according to aides.

Most concern is focused on Rove and Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Both had testified that they talked with reporters about Plame in the summer of 2003, according to lawyers familiar with their accounts, but both said they did not discuss her by name or disclose her covert status.

Yesterday was another surreal day at the White House, according to aides, with staff members wondering about who might be indicted. Rove and Libby continued to sit in on high-level meetings.

"We certainly are following developments in the news, but everybody's got a lot of work to do," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

A new USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll reminded the White House of the damage the CIA leak case has already inflicted: Eight in ten people surveyed said that aides had either broken the law or acted unethically.

Fitzmas tomorrow!

This is Going to Leave a Mark

Statement by President Bush

Published: October 27, 2005

Following is a statement this morning by President Bush, as released by the White House.

Today, I have reluctantly accepted Harriet Miers’ decision to withdraw her nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States.

I nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court because of her extraordinary legal experience, her character, and her conservative judicial philosophy. Throughout her career, she has gained the respect and admiration of her fellow attorneys. She has earned a reputation for fairness and total integrity. She has been a leader and a pioneer in the American legal profession. She has worked in important positions in state and local government and in the bar. And for the last five years, she has served with distinction and honor in critical positions in the Executive Branch.

I understand and share her concern, however, about the current state of the Supreme Court confirmation process. It is clear that Senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House ­ disclosures that would undermine a President’s ability to receive candid counsel. Harriet Miers’ decision demonstrates her deep respect for this essential aspect of the Constitutional separation of powers ­ and confirms my deep respect and admiration for her.

I am grateful for Harriet Miers' friendship and devotion to our country. And I am honored that she will continue to serve our Nation as White House Counsel.

My responsibility to fill this vacancy remains. I will do so in a timely manner.

This is a badly wounded White House. I'm hearing that Fitzgerald will release his indictments tomorrow.

Ain't Over

With the withdrawal of Miers, a number of issues are left unresolved, including what information the Senate can request (and be given) by the executive. The Senate has legitimate questions in its advise and consent role to ask for documents that will speak to the judicial philosophy and history of any nominee. The secretive Bushco is historically stingy about sharing information. Miers had very little paper trail, and any believable next nominee will have to have some kind of judicial record. The paper trail will be the next battleground.

One Down

Miers's Autonomy Will Be at Issue
Panel to Question Her Judicial Reasoning

By Amy Goldstein and Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 27, 2005; Page A01

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee warned Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers yesterday that he intends during confirmation hearings to probe her views of the Bush administration's detention of suspected terrorists in the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, making clear he remains uncertain of her command of complex constitutional issues.

Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) dispatched a letter to Miers, the White House's top lawyer, saying that she must also convince the Senate that as a justice she would be independent of President Bush and would not give him "any special deference" on cases before the court.

In particular, Specter said, he will press her to disclose her personal views of three recent Supreme Court rulings that detainees in the terrorism fight have somewhat greater rights than the administration has wanted to give them.

The new pressure from Specter, who will preside over the hearings that are to begin on Nov. 7, came as Republican senators and conservative groups voicing qualms about the Miers nomination grew louder. Her visits to senators on and off the judiciary panel are so far failing to win commitments of support, senators and their aides said.

Adding to Miers's burden, some opinion leaders and grass-roots organizations on the right said yesterday that they are troubled by her writings and speeches from a short-lived political career in Dallas and years as a leader of Texas's legal community. Disclosure this week of some of Miers's words from the 1990s suggest a liberal tinge and inconsistent thinking on social issues, they said.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) emerged from a meeting with Miers yesterday to say that he is uncertain whether he could support her. Calling her engaging, Vitter said in a statement, "My central question still remains to be answered, however: Is there objective, written evidence from prior to her nomination that fully shows that she has a truly consistent and well-grounded conservative judicial philosophy?"

At least two conservative groups, which had taken a neutral position on Miers, called on her to withdraw yesterday, after The Washington Post published decade-old speeches. In one such speech, to a Dallas women's group in 1993, Miers said that "self-determination," not government, should guide the outcome of issues such as abortion and school prayer when law and religious beliefs collide in court. Those statements differed from the opinion Miers had expressed four years earlier when, as a candidate for the Dallas City Council, she told an anti-abortion group that she would support a constitutional amendment to ban the procedure, except to save a woman's life.

One of the new critics, M. Edward Whelan III, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, posted a memo on the Web saying, "Her comments reflect such a profound confusion, and such an inattention to the respective roles of the courts and the political branches, that they call seriously into question her fitness for the Supreme Court." And echoing the call for her to withdraw, Wendy Wright, executive vice president of Concerned Women for America, said, "Every time she quotes or cites women she admires, they're to the left of Betty Friedan."

Tony Perkins, the head of the influential Family Research Council, stopped short of opposing Miers's nomination outright but made clear his doubts were rising. The speeches "certainly tend to lean toward judicial activism," Perkins said.

In 1993, while she was president of the Texas Bar, Miers gave a speech titled "Women and Courage" during confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Miers praised both the nominee's courage and her selection by President Bill Clinton.

In another speech slightly earlier, titled "Women and the Law," Miers said she hoped that "before too long," the United States would have women as president and vice president. Referring to then-Gov. Ann Richards, a Democrat, Miers said, "You can hear, if you are listening, speculation that our Texas governor is destined to remove one or both of those positions from the list of 'never before held by a woman.' " Richards lost her 1994 reelection bid to Republican George W. Bush.

The controversy over Miers's old words came as Specter and the judiciary committee's ranking Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), awaited a reply from the nominee, due yesterday, to a revised questionnaire about her background views. They denounced the original answers Miers turned in last week as inadequate.

I was listening to NPR last night during dinner and a boatload of conservative pundits condemned her as a closet liberal in her recent past.. Methinks GWB is going to have to get over it. Not that we'll love whatever wingnut he nominates instead, but I don't think Harriet is going anywhere.

UPDATE: NPR is reporting that Miers has withdrawn her nomination.

Pasta 101

I keep telling you to make fresh pasta but I've never given you a recipe. Here is one you can use with a pasta maker and food processor or with a rolling pin (which is the way I learned.) Until you've eaten the fresh stuff, you have no idea what you have been missing. It will add 30-45 minutes to your toil on one day and give you a freezer full of pasta so wonderful that you will kick yourself for not having it before. You can make this even faster in a food processor, if you have one.

Basic Egg Pasta
Ingredients

14 oz. (3 2/3 cups) all purpose flour
7 oz. (1 3/4 cups) Semolina
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Combine flour and semolina on a large work surface in a mound.

2. Form a well in the mound and add the eggs, salt and oil.

3. Begin mixing with the fingers of one hand while using the other hand to push flour from the edges of the well into the egg mixture.

4. Continue mixing with one hand taking more and more flour from the interior of the well as you go and keeping the walls of the well intact with the other hand. At one point, the dough will be intact enough to fold the well over the dough so that you can continue mixing.

5. Form the dough into a ball and knead for 5 minutes or longer until the dough is smooth and feels silky.

6. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for one hour.

7. Remove from the refrigerator and allow the dough to rest for about 15 minutes before rolling.

8. To finish pasta by hand roll it out with a rolling pin until quite thin (1/16 inch.) Cut the dough as desired.

9. To finish with a pasta machine, cut dough into quarters and form them into a rectangular shape that will fit in the pasta machine. Lightly dust the dough with flour and roll it through the machine, starting at the thickest setting. Then fold the dough once and roll it through the machine using the next thinner setting. Repeat this process until the pasta is the right thickness.

This will cook very fast, within a couple of minutes. If you are used to starting a pesto or other sauce while dried pasta cooks, you can't do this with the fresh stuff. It will demand your immediate attention because it will be done "al dente" almost before you can tooth-test it. Fresh pasta is also even "clingier" than the dried variety and will need your immediate attention as it drains in a colander after cooking. It needs to go onto the serving plates with sauce immediately, or to be covered with oil or butter before it is combined with its final destination. A couple of tablespoons will do, but they are not optional.

Fresh pasta, once dried, will keep in your freezer. Well, the target date won't matter because you will eat it long before the due date.

Fresh pasta, once made, needs to dry if you are going to store it. If you make it fairly often, drying racks that fit on your kitchen counters are available. If you aren't making it regularly, you can do what I do and use the laundry racks I use to dry my dainties. It's a bit of a tussle to keep the cats out of the bathroom where I do this, but in a couple of hours you will have pasta for months, the good stuff, locked down in freezer bags. Turn the exhaust fan "on."

And do keep the kitties (and puppies) out of the room. After which you have some good eating in front of you and, as I tell my cats, when mommy is happy, everybody is happier. Mommy is really happy with a freezer filled with fresh pasta.

We've got freeze warnings for tomorrow, so it is time to harvest the fresh basils and rosemary for the winter kitchen. They will be frozen down in many different ways. They will be plopped into a soup, a sauce or a chicken as a frozen icecube or as duxelles. Ah, duxelles, what a fine way to scent the house.

Exquisite Excess

Fettucine and Smoked Salmon with Vodka Cream Sauce.

I had this in a to-die-for version in a restaurant in Turin several decades ago and I've been trying to recreate the recipe ever since. This version comes close. Hint: spring for the best smoked salmon you can find, freshly sliced so thin that you can read a newspaper through it. Marinated gravlax will also work, but you'll need to adjust the seasonings to deal with the dill. Again, slice transparently thin. This recipe deserves your best pasta, so make it from scratch.

Cover with the most velvety salmon you can find.

1/2 cup of olive oil
1 tsp butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup onions choped
1 large can whole peeled tomatoes
1 pint heavy cream
1/2 cup vodka
salt and pepper to taste

In a sauce pan, add oil, butter onions and garlic. Saute until onions are clear.

Add vodka, tomatoes and parsley. Slowly mix in the cream.

Salt and pepper to taste, add pasta, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

This is so good that I'm struck dumb. Just make it.

FEMA Still Failing

Miami: Emergency Supplies Are Dwindling

Wednesday October 26, 2005 6:46 PM

By ALLEN BREED
Associated Press Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - The mayor of Miami-Dade County warned that emergency supplies were dwindling Wednesday, a new blow to victims of Hurricane Wilma who had hoped to avoid another frustrating day of long lines for food and water.

At least one distribution site in Miami-Dade was out of supplies, and the other 10 were running low with material from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mayor Carlos Alvarez said.

``We are not hoarding supplies anywhere. They have been distributed,'' he said. ``When this inventory runs out at these different distribution centers, we do not know and FEMA cannot tell us when they will be resupplied.''

He said it could be Wednesday night before the stocks are resupplied. ``I cannot give you a timetable because, ladies and gentlemen, quite frankly, we don't control those assets.''

Alvarez called the relief process ``flawed'' and called for more control and oversight.

FEMA spokeswoman Nicol Andrews said she has ``seen the hundreds of trucks prepositioned'' at Homestead and in Jacksonville full of supplies. But she said she would check into the specifics of Alvarez's complaints.

Items Americans usually take for granted - a bag of ice, a fast-food burger, a gallon of gas - have taken hours of patience to get since Hurricane Wilma made its destructive sweep through southern Florida.

Police watched over the few gas stations that were open as a precaution in case motorists' tempers flared while they waited for up to five hours to buy fuel.

``I need gas for my generator so I can go to work and make some money,'' said Hector Vasquez, 36, who repairs windows. ``This shouldn't be this difficult.''

Florida Power & Light, the state's biggest utility, said Wilma affected more of its 4.3 million customers than any other natural disaster in the company's history. By Wednesday, service was restored to about 20 percent of the 3.2 million customers who lost service - but the company warned Floridians that total restoration may take weeks.

When category 1 Hurricane Isabel hit here two years ago, many of my friends were without power for more than a week. I can easily believe Florida P&L; will need weeks to repair the damage, southern Florida is among the most densely settled parts of the country. Given the amount of experience Florida has with hurricanes, you'd think that FEMA would have their act better together.

Page 6 Material

Senate May Probe Miers' Lottery Days

By LIZ AUSTIN, Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN, Texas - A Senate panel may seek testimony from a former Texas lottery official who claimed Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers let a company keep its contract because one of its lobbyists helped President Bush get into the National Guard in the 1960s.

Miers, whose confirmation hearings begin Nov. 7, chaired the three-person Texas Lottery commission from 1995 to 2000.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings on Miers' nomination, recently asked GTECH Corp., the Texas lottery's main contractor, whether it would object to testimony from Lawrence Littwin about allegations in his 1998 lawsuit against the company, GTECH spokesman Bob Vincent said Wednesday.

Littwin, the lottery's second executive director, was fired in 1997 after just four months on the job. He sued GTECH, saying it took "illegal, unethical and coercive steps" to get him fired because he was asking too many questions about the company's contract with the state.

He claimed the Rhode Island-based company kept its contract in exchange for former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes' silence about how he had helped Bush get into the National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam. Barnes was a lobbyist for GTECH from 1991 until 1997.

Littwin, who signed a confidentiality agreement when he settled his lawsuit against GTECH, declined to comment other than to say he would agree to testify if subpoenaed.

Vincent said his company told the Senate committee that Littwin didn't need permission to testify because the confidentiality agreement he signed when he settled his lawsuit allowed him to discuss the issues with government authorities.

If the issues are raised at the hearings, GTECH will provide any additional information the senators need, Vincent said.

Is there anyone around Bushco that isn't tainted by some kind of scandal?

What It All Means

I learn something new from WaPo'sDan Froomkin nearly every day. This is from today's Live Chat, my favorite WaPo feature:

Sunnyvale, Calif.: Do prosecutors in this type of investigation typically send target letters to those who may/will be indicted? I assume that's what a target letter does. What's the benefit to the prosecution of target letters?

Dan Froomkin: Yes, target letters are pro forma in the federal system. They offer the targets a chance to come and explain themselves to the grand jury one last time if they so wish. And they give prosecutors cover from the accusation that they didn't give the defendant a chance to explain.

"Takings"

I'm sort of an agnostic on Kelo v. New London but I'll admit to a bias having to do with the fact that one of my grandfathers lost his homestead to the state of Minnesota for the widening of an interstate highway. He was 80, and hardly got rich in the deal. I have a healthy scepticism about the wisdom of governments to treat ordinary citizens well.

That said, I called a colleague for his take on this story, the neighborhood being one of the few truly integrated ones in DC. He said that this move is going to take out a bunch of crappy fast food places and mini-markets that sell junk to the black community and this is a good thing, as local governments usually compensate residents and business owners well above market value. He's a lawyer and knows more about this stuff than I do.

I'm fairly violently opposed to governments building and owning sports stadiums, and that colors my feelings as well. I'm not a sports fan, so this isn't a facility I'm ever likely to use.

D.C. Seizes 16 Owners' Property for Stadium
As Negotiations With City Continue, Tenants Given Three Months to Vacate Land in Southeast

By David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 26, 2005; Page B01

The District government filed court papers yesterday to seize $84 million worth of property from 16 owners in Southeast, giving them 90 days to leave and make way for a baseball stadium.

By invoking eminent domain, city officials said last week, they hope to keep construction of the Washington Nationals' ballpark on schedule to open in March 2008. The city exercised its "quick take" authority, in which it takes immediate control of the titles to the properties.

Under law, the property owners and their tenants must vacate the land within three months unless a judge declares the seizure unconstitutional.

In papers filed in D.C. Superior Court, city attorneys said: "The Properties subject of this action . . . are taken for an authorized municipal use, namely the construction and operation of a publicly owned baseball stadium complex."

A spokeswoman from the D.C. attorney general's office did not respond to a message left for her yesterday evening.

In all, 23 property owners control 14 acres at the stadium site near South Capitol Street and the Navy Yard along the Anacostia River.

City officials said they have agreed to buy land from seven owners, who were not named in the court filing. The city had offered them a total of $13 million, but it is not known whether that was the final sale price.

The other 16 property owners have not agreed to sell, and their holdings include some of the largest and most expensive properties: an asphalt plant, a trash transfer station and adult-oriented businesses.

Negotiations are continuing, city officials said. But M. Roy Goldberg, an attorney for Eastern Trans-Waste, the trash transfer station that the city valued at $8.7 million, said yesterday that the company intends to fight.

The company's owners have told the city their property is worth $14.3 million, plus $18 million if they cannot find another site.

"We're going to fight the amount of the taking and the way they've gone about doing it," Goldberg said. "I don't think they've been negotiating in good faith since Day One."

The city deposited the $84 million in a court-monitored trust. Property owners have 20 days to challenge the constitutionality of the takeover. As long as the District can show that the land was taken for a legitimate public purpose, the court probably will have no objections, land-use lawyers said.

Some activists have argued that the stadium is a private project for Major League Baseball, but District leaders say the $535 million project will create significant tax revenue. Developers have snatched up land just outside the stadium plot in anticipation of a waterfront revival, and the city is planning to create a "ballpark district" featuring restaurants and retail.

If the court does not block the city's action, property owners can continue to negotiate with the city, but in lieu of an agreement, a jury would ultimately decide the sale prices. But that could happen months, even years, after the owners are forced to leave, land-use lawyers said.

The city's offers for the land are about 2 1/2 times as high as the amounts that it had assessed the properties to be worth for tax purposes last year. But some owners said they want more money because owners of property just outside the stadium land have received higher offers from developers.

This isn't going to be over any time soon. The friend I consulted on this issue says that, typically, stadia are touted as engines of economic development. I dunno. Color me doubtful.

Above International Law

Oh, how I hate the "orotund and orbicular" language of the NYT op-ed pages:

Legalized Torture, Reloaded

Published: October 26, 2005

Amid all the natural and political disasters it faces, the White House is certainly tireless in its effort to legalize torture. This week, Vice President Dick Cheney proposed a novel solution for the moral and legal problems raised by the use of American soldiers to abuse prisoners and the practice of turning captives over to governments willing to act as proxies in doing the torturing. Mr. Cheney wants to make it legal for the Central Intelligence Agency to do this wet work.

Mr. Cheney's proposal was made in secret to Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who won the votes of 89 other senators this month to require the civilized treatment of prisoners at camps run by America's military and intelligence agencies. Mr. McCain's legislation, an amendment to the Defense Department budget bill, would ban the "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of prisoners. In other words, it would impose age-old standards of democracy and decency on the new prisons.

President Bush's threat to veto the entire military budget over this issue was bizarre enough by itself, considering that the amendment has the support of more than two dozen former military leaders, including Colin Powell. They know that torture doesn't produce reliable intelligence and endangers Americans' lives.

But Mr. Cheney's proposal was even more ludicrous. It would give the president the power to allow government agencies outside the Defense Department (the administration has in mind the C.I.A.) to mistreat and torture prisoners as long as that behavior was part of "counterterrorism operations conducted abroad" and they were not American citizens. That would neatly legalize the illegal prisons the C.I.A. is said to be operating around the world and obviate the need for the torture outsourcing known as extraordinary rendition. It also raises disturbing questions about Iraq, which the Bush administration has falsely labeled a counterterrorism operation.

Mr. McCain was right to reject this absurd proposal. The House should reject it as well.

Every time I think that Bushco/Cheneyco has reached the natural end of their braindead strategies, they manage to amaze me. This takes the cake, the ice cream and most of the rest of dinner.

Breaking News

CNN is reporting no Fitzmas today. Hang on to your hats.

Modern Myths

Measure Would Alter Federal Death Penalty System
House Legislation to Renew USA Patriot Act Would Loosen Some Provisions for Execution

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 26, 2005; Page A02

The House bill that would reauthorize the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law includes several little-noticed provisions that would dramatically transform the federal death penalty system, allowing smaller juries to decide on executions and giving prosecutors the ability to try again if a jury deadlocks on sentencing.

The bill also triples the number of terrorism-related crimes eligible for the death penalty, adding, among others, the material support law that has been the core of the government's legal strategy against terrorism.

The death penalty provisions, which were added to the House bill during a voice vote in July, are emerging as one of the major points of contention between House and Senate negotiators as they begin work on a compromise bill to renew expiring portions of the Patriot Act. If approved, the provisions could have a significant impact on future Justice Department terrorism prosecutions.

The Senate version of the bill does not include the death penalty expansions. Senate Democrats say that the proposals are extraneous to the Patriot Act and should not be approved without fuller debate. Death penalty opponents and defense lawyers also contend that the measures, by removing some of the safeguards now in place, would increase the risk that innocent people could be executed.

"These are radical changes in the way federal death penalty cases are litigated, and they were added virtually without any debate," said Jennifer Daskal, U.S. program advocate for Human Rights Watch.

The Justice Department has endorsed the provisions and a spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said yesterday that the proposals were viewed as relatively uncontroversial because they were overwhelmingly approved on the House floor.

"I would expect that the House will forcefully advocate for those provisions," said Jeff Lungren, a spokesman for Sensenbrenner. "I would say its prospects look fairly good."

A Republican staffer on the Senate Judiciary Committee said the death penalty issue was "one of several concerns" about the House bill, which also includes fewer restrictions on surveillance and search powers than the Senate version.

The death penalty provisions were added as an amendment by Rep. John Carter (R-Tex.), who had originally proposed the changes in a separate bill called the Terrorist Death Penalty Enhancement Act. The same package was included in a House intelligence reform bill last year but was stripped out during conference negotiations with the Senate, officials said.

Carter spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said the proposals are important because "the congressman believes capital punishment is a deterrent for all kinds of crimes, including terrorism."

The death penalty is a deterrent? That's a big hoot: we are the only industrial democracy with the death penalty and our murder rate is how much higher than all the others? Gawd, you'd think these congressthings would come up with some new jokes.

Blue and Red

Roll Call needs a subscription, so I'll give you the bulk of the article here.

Newcomers on Right Key to Miers’ Fate?

By Paul Kane
Roll Call Staff

October 26, 2005

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers faces a critical test in meetings this week with a handful of conservative Senate Republicans who are relative newcomers to the chamber but could have a great deal to say about her prospects for confirmation.

Those Senators — a group that includes George Allen (Va.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Ensign (Nev.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.) and David Vitter (La.) — are representative of a large bloc of votes in the Republican Conference, most of whom were elected to office in campaigns based at least in part on pushing conservative jurists.

That group has, to date, been among the most tepid in their support for the controversial nomination, distancing themselves from the pick and sometimes voicing open displeasure with the fact that President Bush’s selection has led to internal fighting among conservatives.

No one among the group of Senate conservatives has openly announced opposition to Miers, but neither are they voicing ringing endorsements, making this week’s meetings all the more critical, particularly for Senators such as Allen, Ensign and Vitter who don’t sit on the Judiciary Committee and won’t witness her performance at the hearings in person.

Some of the newer Republicans who have met with Miers remain neutral on the nomination, including Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who talked to Miers last Tuesday. Coming out of the weekly luncheon, Thune voiced some optimism that almost all Republicans were likely to take a wait-and-see attitude toward Miers. But Thune left open the possibility that a subpar hearing performance could prove to be decisive for many conservatives, no matter how many friends and supporters speak out on her behalf.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to her ability to make the sale,” said Thune, elected last year in a race in which he pilloried then Minority Leader Tom Daschle’s (D-S.D.) “obstruction” on issues such as judicial nominations.

Combined, there are 21 Senate Republicans who have been elected to the chamber since 1998, making them more than a third of the entire Conference.

None of those 21 Republicans has ever served with former Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), who was picked by the White House to serve as its official emissary to the Senate during the Miers nomination. Coats retired at the end of 1998.

One veteran Senator said there was “very little” talk about Miers at the Tuesday luncheon, although Coats gave a brief pep talk about the nomination that the lawmaker said received a lukewarm response from the Conference.

On Monday, Miers met with Coburn, who released a neutral statement characterizing their meeting as “cordial” but adding little else about the nominee. One of the most conservative Members of the Senate, Coburn has since refused to elaborate on his views about the nominee and insisted that no one will publicly know his thoughts until the hearings open Nov. 7. Unlike four other conservatives Miers is meeting this week, Coburn sits on Judiciary and will witness her firsthand at the hearings.

The newest Repubs are the most beholden to the far right base. The politics here are complex, because the country is more moderate. This won't be a boring week.

PR

Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
and MICHAEL BARBARO
Published: October 26, 2005

An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.

In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.

To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering)."

The memo acknowledged that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had to walk a fine line in restraining benefit costs because critics had attacked it for being stingy on wages and health coverage. Ms. Chambers acknowledged that 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees were uninsured or on Medicaid.

Wal-Mart executives said the memo was part of an effort to rein in benefit costs, which to Wall Street's dismay have soared by 15 percent a year on average since 2002. Like much of corporate America, Wal-Mart has been squeezed by soaring health costs. The proposed plan, if approved, would save the company more than $1 billion a year by 2011.

In an interview, Ms. Chambers said she was focusing not on cutting costs, but on serving employees better by giving them more choices on their benefits.

"We are investing in our benefits that will take even better care of our associates," she said. "Our benefit plan is known today as being generous."

Ms. Chambers also said that she made her recommendations after surveying employees about how they felt about the benefits plan. "This is not about cutting," she said. "This is about redirecting savings to another part of their benefit plans."

One proposal would reduce the amount of time, from two years to one, that part-time employees would have to wait before qualifying for health insurance. Another would put health clinics in stores, in part to reduce expensive employee visits to emergency rooms. Wal-Mart's benefit costs jumped to $4.2 billion last year, from $2.8 billion three years earlier, causing concern within the company because benefits represented an increasing share of sales. Last year, Wal-Mart earned $10.5 billion on sales of $285 billion.

A draft memo to Wal-Mart's board was obtained from Wal-Mart Watch, a nonprofit group, allied with labor unions, that asserts that Wal-Mart's pay and benefits are too low. Tracy Sefl, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Watch, said someone mailed the document anonymously to her group last month. When asked about the memo, Wal-Mart officials made available the updated copy that actually went to the board.

Under fire because less than 45 percent of its workers receive company health insurance, Wal-Mart announced a new plan on Monday that seeks to increase participation by allowing some employees to pay just $11 a month in premiums. Some health experts praised the plan for making coverage more affordable, but others criticized it, noting that full-time Wal-Mart employees, who earn on average around $17,500 a year, could face out-of-pocket expenses of $2,500 a year or more.

One case of flu, one diabetic crisis, one orthopedic issue and you are above $1,000. On $17,500, how in the hell are you supposed to afford that. This is lipstick on a pig.

Team B

NEWS ANALYSIS

Bush team sought to snuff CIA doubts
Differences over Iraq WMD latest attempt to override agency

Jeff Stein, Special to The Chronicle
Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Washington -- Whether or not Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald decides to bring indictments in the outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative -- and whether or not any crimes were actually committed -- one element of the case is central to an understanding of what happened and why: At the time of the leak, administration supporters of the Iraq war were determined to neutralize the CIA's doubts about the White House case that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, most notably nuclear weapons.

It is also not the first time -- and it most likely won't be the last -- that conflicts over intelligence have had momentous political consequences.

As far back as the 1950s, when the Air Force claimed there was a missile gap between the United States and Russia, the CIA proved to be a sticking point. Only when the agency sent its new U-2 spy plane soaring over the Soviet Union, taking pictures of air bases and missiles from 80,000 feet, did U.S. arms-control advocates have the ammunition they needed to beat back the furor.

In the 1970s, when President Richard Nixon's policy of detente was under attack by some former military officials and conservative policy intellectuals, Ford administration officials Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were among those challenging as too soft the CIA's estimate of Moscow's military power.

Rumsfeld and Cheney wanted to create a "Team B," which would have access to the CIA's data on the Soviets and issue its own conclusions. Cheney, as White House chief of staff, and Rumsfeld, as secretary of Defense, championed Team B, whose members included the young defense strategist Paul Wolfowitz, who a quarter-century later would be one of the chief architects of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

CIA Director William Colby rejected the Team B idea and was fired. Colby's successor as head of the spy agency, George H.W. Bush, the current president's father, accepted it.

Team B's conclusion that the CIA was indeed soft on the Soviets was leaked to sympathetic journalists and generated public support for a new round of military spending, particularly on missiles. Team B's conclusions turned out, years later, to be false.

"In retrospect, and with the Team B report and records now largely declassified, it is possible to see that virtually all of Team B's criticisms ... proved to be wrong," Raymond Garthoff, a former U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria, wrote in a paper for the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence three years ago. "On several important specific points it wrongly criticized and 'corrected' the official estimates, always in the direction of enlarging the impression of danger and threat."

Another run at controlling the CIA was taken when then-President Ronald Reagan appointed businessman William Casey CIA director with a mandate to ride herd on supposed agency liberals. Casey set up the irregular, covert operation led by Marine Corps Col. Oliver North, which eventually ended in the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal. Likewise, when Reagan's Secretary of State George Schultz wanted to secretly back Saddam Hussein against the Iranians, Schultz bypassed the CIA and sent Rumsfeld, then a businessman, to Baghdad to seal the deal.

The path to Plame's outing also led through Baghdad, this time via Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi, who had been abandoned by the CIA in the late 1990s as too troublesome, unreliable and corrupt.

Among Chalabi's key supporters were Rumsfeld, Cheney and Wolfowitz. When the three came back into power in January 2001, the CIA and State Department still refused to back Chalabi.

Cheney began visiting CIA headquarters to challenge its analysts over their intelligence on Hussein's weapons. To Richard Kerr, the former chief of CIA analysis who later studied the agency's pre-war reporting on Iraq, Cheney displayed no anti-CIA animus at the time.

"My experience was to the contrary," Kerr said by e-mail. "He would not accept all our analysis without skepticism and believed we were better on some subjects than others. But those are the characteristics of a good customer."

Over at the Pentagon, however, Rumsfeld was reprising Team B by creating his own intelligence shop. The Chalabi organization's alarmist reports on Hussein's nuclear weapons, which later proved to be false, bypassed the CIA and went directly to the White House.

"That's why they set up an intelligence unit in [Undersecretary of Defense Douglas] Feith's office," said intelligence historian James Bamford. "The whole purpose was to get that kind of information and send it to Cheney."

The Cheney-Rumsfeld Cabal has been at this for a long time.

Plamegate Recap

Dan Froomkin gives us the state of play in the Cheney-Plame case as we prepare for Fitzmas:

The New York Times this morning reports that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby apparently first learned that Joseph Wilson's wife was a CIA agent from none other than his boss -- Vice President Cheney.

This new revelation suggests that special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's investigation into the leak of Valerie Plame's identity has reached even closer to the vice president than was previously known.

Fitzgerald is expected to wrap up this week, possibly tomorrow. Libby and Bush senior adviser Karl Rove are widely seen as most likely to be indicted.

Just how the White House first learned of Plame's identity has been one of the elusive mysteries of this case.

Rove is said to have initially told the grand jury he first heard about Plame from some reporter, but he couldn't remember who. Then he said he heard it from Libby.

Libby is said to have initially told the grand jury he first heard about Plame from reporters -- but they denied it. And now, says the Times, Libby's own notes show he heard it from Cheney.

But today's news raises even more questions than it answers, among them:

* Who told Cheney, and under what circumstances?

* Did Cheney acknowledge his own role when he spoke to prosecutors last summer? If not, could he be indicted himself?

* Did Cheney encourage Libby not to disclose their conversation?

* Did President Bush know about Cheney's role?

* Who leaked this latest development -- and what was their motivation?

* Does this mean the White House will stop blaming reporters for everything? (That one was rhetorical: The answer is no.)

Bird Flu Update

Preparing for a pandemic 'unprecedented' task in emergency response: Martin

Helen Branswell
Canadian Press

October 25, 2005

OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Paul Martin called for unprecedented international collaboration Tuesday on the issue of pandemic preparedness, saying the task is something "no one nation can accomplish alone."

Martin made the remarks as he opened the second session of a 1 1/2 day meeting on pandemic readiness that Canada organized and is hosting, a meeting which draws together health ministers from developed and developing countries to find ways around response shortfalls that plague all nations.

"The challenge we face today is extraordinarily complex; an unprecedented task of emergency preparedness and response," Martin told officials of the 30-plus countries attending. Also taking part in the discussions are officials of the key UN agencies involved in animal and human health.

Where remarks that emanated from Monday's opening session focused on the need to combat the pandemic risk at source - in the H5N1 avian flu poultry outbreaks that have ravaged Southeast Asia since late 2003 - Martin's comments appeared to be refocusing attention on the need to ready the human health response in case containment efforts fail.

"We ... have to recognize that in many countries, these preventative measures are very difficult to undertake," he warned.

"Despite our best efforts at containment, this disease, like others, could continue to spread."

Martin said the world has a "collective obligation to mitigate this risk," noting that Canada along with other countries is working to strengthen the surveillance and diagnostic capacities of affected countries in the region.

Scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, for instance, have established strong ties with the National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi, working to enhance laboratory testing skills among the Vietnamese scientists.

Physician survey question flu preparation

FLEMINGTON, N.J., Oct. 25 (UPI) -- A majority of U.S. doctors in a national survey believe neither the U.S. government nor the medical community is prepared to deal with a bird flu epidemic.

The survey of 846 physicians was conducted by HCD Research and Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Flemington, N.J. in response to reports that the flu has been identified in several European countries.

About 42 percent of the doctors in the survey said the federal government is very unprepared to deal with an epidemic and 37 percent said the government is somewhat unprepared.

Similarly, 43 percent said the medical community is somewhat unprepared and 32 percent said the community is very unprepared.

The survey said 57 percent of the respondents reported they are somewhat concerned there will be a pandemic over the avian flu, while nearly 20 percent said they are extremely concerned.

Does your county or city have a pandemic plan? Have you asked?

Consumers Are Leaving the Field

Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Falls
Tuesday October 25, 11:04 am ET
By Anne D'Innocenzio, AP Business Writer
Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Falls in October Due to Hurricanes, Gas Prices and Job Market Worries

NEW YORK (AP) -- The outlook for the holiday shopping season darkened Tuesday as the latest consumer confidence reading showed Americans even more pessimistic about the economy during October. Hurricanes, surging gasoline prices and worries about the job market took a further toll on consumer psyches.

A separate report on home sales during September also pointed to consumers' growing uneasiness.

The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 85 in October, the lowest level since October 2003 and down from September's revised reading of 87.5, which had been the sharpest drop in 15 years. Analysts expected an October reading of 88 for the index, which is compiled from a survey of U.S. households.

"Much of the decline in confidence over the past two months can be attributed to the recent hurricanes, pump shock and a weakening labor market," said Lynn Franco, director of the private research group's Consumer Research Center in a statement.

She said the "degree of pessimism, in conjunction with the anticipation of much higher home heating bills this winter, may take some cheer out of the upcoming holiday season."

The decline in confidence helped send the Dow Jones industrial average down 15.37, or 0.15 percent, to 10,369.63 in morning trading.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously owned homes were unchanged in September. The Realtors said sales would have fallen without an increase in demand among people left homeless by Hurricane Katrina.

The nation's retailers are already preparing for a difficult season. Although gasoline prices have slipped back from recent weeks, they still are quite high, and home heating costs are expected to soar this fall and winter, forcing many consumers to budget carefully for the holidays.

"The unexpected decline means optismism is under more pressure than we thought," said Patrick Fearon, senior economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. Fearon believes all the political uncertainty is also weighing on consumers' confidence.

"There is certainly more going on than just hurricanes and a resulting spike in gasoline prices," said Fearon. He noted President Bush's drop in approval ratings, political unrest in the Middle East and concerns about the Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers "could weigh on people's attitudes."

The local housing market has been overheated for a while and I'm hearing from local realtors that it is beginning to act more ordinary with stock remaining on the market rather than getting competative offers before it is entered into the MLS computer. The news is all grim for me as a job seeker, however, and since my brother and his wife are in retail and the Christmas shopping season is the make or break time for them, I've got plenty to be worried about.

Clueless

What Rice Can't See

By Eugene Robinson

Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Page A21

Like a lot of African Americans, I've long wondered what the deal was with Condoleezza Rice and the issue of race. How does she work so loyally for George W. Bush, whose approval rating among blacks was measured in a recent poll at a negligible 2 percent? How did she come to a worldview so radically different from that of most black Americans? Is she blind, is she in denial, is she confused -- or what?

After spending three days with the secretary of state and her entourage as she toured Birmingham, where she grew up in a protective bubble as the tumult of the civil rights movement swirled around her, I have a partial answer: It's as if Rice is still cosseted in her beloved Titusville, the neighborhood of black strivers where she was raised, able to see the very different reality that other African Americans experience but not to reach out of the bubble -- not able to touch that other reality, and thus not able to really understand it.

Rice's parents tried their best to shelter their only daughter from Jim Crow racism, and they succeeded. Forty years later, Rice shows no bitterness when she recalls her childhood in a town whose streets were ruled by the segregationist police chief Bull Connor. "I've always said about Birmingham that because race was everything, race was nothing," she said in an interview on the flight home.

When she reminisces, she talks of piano lessons and her brief attempt at ballet -- not of Connor setting his dogs loose on brave men, women and children marching for freedom, which is the Birmingham that other residents I met still remember. A friend of Rice's, Denise McNair, was one of the four girls killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. That would have left a deep scar on me, but Rice can speak of that atrocity without visible emotion.

She doesn't deny that race makes a difference. "We all look forward to the day when this country is race-blind, but it isn't yet," she told reporters in Birmingham. Later she added, "The fact that our society is not colorblind is a statement of fact."

But then why are the top echelons of her State Department almost entirely white? "That's an artifact of foreign policy," she said in the interview. "It's not been a very diverse profession." In other words, there aren't enough qualified minority candidates. I wondered how many times those words have been used as a lame excuse.

One of the things she somehow missed was that in Titusville and other black middle-class enclaves, a guiding principle was that as you climbed, you were obliged to reach back and bring others along. Rice has been a foreign policy heavyweight for nearly two decades; she spent four years in the White House as the president's national security adviser. In the interview, she mentioned just one black professional she has brought with her from the National Security Council to State.

As we were flying to Alabama, Rice said an interesting thing. She was talking about the history of the civil rights movement, and she said, "If you read Frederick Douglass, he was not petitioning from outside of the institutions but rather demanding that the institutions live up to what they said they were. If you read Martin Luther King, he was not petitioning from outside, he was petitioning from inside the principles and the institutions, and challenging America to be what America said that it was."

The civil rights movement came from the inside? I always thought the Edmund Pettus Bridge was outside.

She's a bubblegirl inside the Bubbleboy administration. Notice how little influence either she or Colin Powell ever had with this administration, however. She's arguably the least effective Secretary of State in modern history.

I have a few African American friends. Not one of them is under the illusion that they are on the inside.

Milestones and Headstones

U.S. military death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000
Iraqi draft constitution passes, election officials say

Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Posted: 12:17 p.m. EDT (16:17 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The war in Iraq saw two milestones Tuesday that reflect the country's path to democracy and its human toll as officials said the referendum on a draft constitution passed and the U.S. military's death toll reached 2,000.

CNN's count of U.S. fatalities reflects reports from military sources and includes deaths in Iraq, Kuwait and other units assigned to the Iraq campaign.

Among the latest casualties, an American soldier was killed Saturday by a roadside bomb, and a roadside blast killed two Marines in combat Friday near Amariya in the western Anbar province, according to the U.S. military.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, more than 15,000 American service members have been wounded in the conflict, according to the Defense Department.

According to CNN's tally, 2,194 coalition troops have died in the war.

Democracy. Whiskey. Sexy. The damn draft consititution doesn't mean diddly.

The 37% Preznit

The Seattle Times is having a little attitude problem this morning, in both the news pages and the editorial section.

Miers' opposition escalating

By Michael A. Fletcher and Charles Babington

WASHINGTON — Conservative activists intensified their opposition to the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers on Monday, launching two Web sites and planning radio and television advertising aimed at forcing her withdrawal.

The advocacy groups, which had expected to use their vast mailing lists and fundraising networks to support President Bush's Supreme Court nominees, instead are employing those tools to sow concern about Miers' conservative credentials and lack of judicial experience among their constituents outside Washington.

The public effort against Miers is supported by a wide range of well-known conservative figures and organizations, whose individual misgivings about the nomination have now coalesced into a coordinated effort to derail it.

Bush, speaking to reporters, again rallied to Miers' defense, but he warned that he would not accede to requests from senators for documents detailing her work as White House counsel. He said this would violate his right to receive confidential advice, but senators in both parties said the documents might allay concerns about her qualifications.

Some conservatives believe Bush could avoid this dispute by pulling the plug on the nomination.

"We've had three weeks here to try to sort out what kind of judge she is going to be," said Brian Burch, vice president of Fidelis, a Catholic anti-abortion organization urging Miers' withdrawal. "We really do want to support the administration, but we just feel like we've reached a situation with this nomination that is beyond repair."

The campaign marks a dramatic escalation in the battle over Miers' nomination that has fractured Bush's conservative base. While right-leaning columnists and publications, including George Will and the National Review, have called for her withdrawal, the new efforts are the first direct attempts at turning grass-roots conservatives against Miers.

Bush sidestepped a question about whether the White House was preparing a "contingency plan" in case Miers' nomination fails. "Harriet Miers is a fine person, and I expect her to have a good, fair hearing on Capitol Hill," he said.

On the question of documents, he said: "It's a red line I'm not willing to cross. ... People can learn about Harriet Miers through hearings, but we are not going to destroy this business about people being able to walk into the Oval Office and say, 'Mr. President, here's my advice to you, here's what I think is important.' "

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, urged the White House to be more forthcoming with "non-privileged documents." Such records, he said, might illuminate general areas in which Miers gave advice to the president but stop short of making her divulge the advice itself.

Dream on, Arlen.

Miers not qualified for Supreme Court

It's time for President George W. Bush to give up on Harriet Miers. She is not qualified to be on the U.S. Supreme Court.

For chief justice, this page endorsed John Roberts, who was a federal appellate judge. As a lawyer, he specialized in arguing cases before the Supreme Court. Miers has never been a judge, and has never argued a case before the Supreme Court. She has offered the court three cases — including one questioning the 2000 election results because Bush and Dick Cheney both lived in Texas — but the court didn't accept any of those cases.

On her list of publications, one of the most recent is, "Steps for a Successful Firm Merger." Most of her writings were the president's column in the Texas Bar Journal — such pieces as, "Focusing on the Positive," "Our Number One Priority" and "Parts of the Whole Working Together."

We have not studied these essays, but David Brooks of the New York Times reviewed some of them, and not favorably.

More important, they were not about constitutional law. The mission of the Supreme Court is to enforce the Constitution on the executive and legislative branches of government. A nominee needs to know the words and structure of the document, the history of its writing and ratification, and the major cases and doctrines that have evolved over two centuries.

Miers' recent reference to "the proportional representation requirement of the Equal Protection Clause" shows that she comes up short.

Miers was apparently chosen under the 100-foot rule: that is, the president saw her every day. That is how Bush chose his vice president, his secretary of state and his attorney general.

Well, I have studied those essays, and they wouldn't pass muster in an English 101 composition course. What I want to know is how someone who is so undistinguished a communicator can go on to pull down big bucks as a corporate litigator. Law school must be a whole lot easier than I thought it was. Finding mediocrities in the Oval Office is a commonplace, but having them run major law firms is not what I expected.

Lifetime Appointments

The Bloomberg News Service has long been a business-friendly and mostly non-partisan outlet.

Miers Joins Long March of Mediocrity to Court: Andrew Ferguson

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court has touched off many amusing spectacles these last few weeks -- including the insistence, by critics of the nomination, on the immeasurably high standards of intellectual accomplishment that a Supreme Court nominee must meet.

You have to wonder which Supreme Court these high-minded critics have in mind. Surely they can't be referring to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has historically served as a lifetime employment service for party hacks, bar association schmoozers, sycophantic coat holders and political cronies.

Cronies? Did someone say cronies? Yes, indeed. For this is what the court has been -- off and on, but mostly on --throughout its history.

If you were to categorize Supreme Court nominees according to the reason presidents chose them, the slot for ``Presidential Pal'' would quickly flood over -- while the category ``Distinguished Constitutional Scholar'' would be significantly less populated than ``Sop to Special Interests.''

The Supreme Court, in other words, has seldom been a showcase of intellectual distinction. To judge by her background and public writings, the choice of Miers appears in line with the court's most hallowed traditions.

Historically speaking, Ferguson is mostly right, but things have changed a bit in modern times. Post-Rehnquist, we do ask that our judges on the Federal benches to actually know something about the law and the Constitution. Consider it a modern innovation.

Unwrapped

Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Lawyers Report

By DAVID JOHNSTON, RICHARD W. STEVENSON and DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: October 25, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 - I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.

Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby's testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.

The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson's husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration's handling of intelligence about Iraq's nuclear program to justify the war.

Lawyers involved in the case, who described the notes to The New York Times, said they showed that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003.

Mr. Libby's notes indicate that Mr. Cheney had gotten his information about Ms. Wilson from George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, in response to questions from the vice president about Mr. Wilson. But they contain no suggestion that either Mr. Cheney or Mr. Libby knew at the time of Ms. Wilson's undercover status or that her identity was classified. Disclosing a covert agent's identity can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent's undercover status.

The first package of Fitzmas week. Make sure to put the wrapper into the big trash bag on the floor.

The State of the 'Sphere

Blogmeister David Sifry's latest report is out:

State of the Blogosphere, October 2005 Part 1: On Blogosphere Growth

It is that time of the year again, and I've got some new information on the continued growth of the blogosphere. I made this presentation as part of my 10 minute talk at Web 2.0 on October 6, 2005. You can download the entire presentation, complete with underlying data as well, for research use, or to make part of other presentations. All I ask is that you keep attribution and the Technorati logo in a prominent place wherever the data is used.

So, What's New?

Well, first, the basics. The chart below shows the continued growth of the blogosphere. Technorati is now tracking 19.6 Million weblogs, and the total number of weblogs tracked continues to double about every 5 months. This trend has been consistent for at least the last 36 months. In other words, the blogosphere has doubled at least 5 times in the last 3 years.

About 70,000 new weblogs are tracked every day, which is about a new weblog created each second, somewhere in the world. It also appears that blogging is taking off around the world, and not just in English. Some of the significant increases we've seen over the past 3 months have been due to a proliferation of chinese-speaking weblogs, both on MSN Spaces as well as on Chinese sites like blogcn.com.

Now that we've been tracking spam and fake blogs, we've included the daily tracking statistics for spam and fake blogs from June 1, 2005. We are currently tracking about 2% - 8% of new weblogs are fake or spam weblogs. They are represented as the red spikes that are over and above the legitimate (human-created and updated) blogs shown in blue below. (see chart on the link)

In the past 2 weeks, there were 805,000 new weblogs created. In addition, Technorati tracked an additional 39,000 new fake and spam weblogs, which means that about 4.6% of the total weblogs tracked were fake or spam.

One of the remarkable things that comes out of looking at the data is that while spam and fake blogs are a problem, they are not an overwhelming problem - In fact, we've experienced much worse spam attacks in the past. The key difference in the spam attack over the weekend is that the attackers' posts included many popular search terms including popular bloggers' names - which is a common ego search on engines like Technorati. This made this particular attack much more visible to a number of high profile bloggers than attacks in the past.

You can see from the post statistics that there are on average, between 700,000 and 1.3 Million posts made each day. That's about 33,000 posts per hour. Spam and fake posts are reported here as well, and on average an additional 5.8% of posts (or about 50,000 posts/day) seen each day are spam or fake. This number changes on a daily basis as we track spam attacks, and have reached as high as an additional 18% over the regular daily volume.

One may argue that the numbers I'm reporting are way too low, or that Technorati isn't finding all of the spam weblogs out there. That's a legitimate argument, and by no means am I asserting that Technorati is capturing all of the spam and fake weblogs in existence. We know we're not getting them all, and every day we're working on improving our algorithms and data quality. However, our hard work means that we can still provide you with comprehensive timely results without having to do anything drastic, like removing a major hosting provider with millions of legitimate blogs from our indexes.

We're also working closely with the other players in the industry in order to close the gaps. In October, we helped organize the second Web 2.0 Spam summit, and representatives from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Six Apart, Tucows, Wordpress, Feedster, and many more companies and organizations participated. The summit was quite successful, and I expect that there will be many more to come.

To summarize:

* As of October 2005, Technorati is now tracking 19.6 Million weblogs
* The total number of weblogs tracked continues to double about every 5 months
* The blogosphere is now over 30 times as big as it was 3 years ago, with no signs of letup in growth
* About 70,000 new weblogs are created every day
* About a new weblog is created each second
* 2% - 8% of new weblogs per day are fake or spam weblogs
* Between 700,000 and 1.3 Million posts are made each day
* About 33,000 posts are created per hour, or 9.2 posts per second
* An additional 5.8% of posts (or about 50,000 posts/day) seen each day are from spam or fake blogs, on average

What's Next?

Of course, one important question rears its head - how to make sense out of this monstrous onrush of conversation, and just get what you want - the best information from the most authoritative or influential people, in the most timely manner.

More on that in my next two posts, covering the growth of tags and of context in search and discovery.

Bookmark Dave's Blogreport on the link if you are interested in keeping tracks of the stats on where our strange medium is going.

The Vision Thing

A Very Loose Blindfold

Published: October 25, 2005

The Securities and Exchange Commission is still investigating the sale by Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, of his stock in HCA, the hospital company his family helped found. There is more at stake than whether Mr. Frist violated securities law through insider trading or whether the advantageous timing was merely coincidental. Mr. Frist must answer to the American people for the fact that his statements before the sale were, at the very least, misleading.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that the trustees of Mr. Frist's so-called blind trusts have written to him 15 times since 2001 describing sales and contributions to the trusts. While legal, those notifications make clear that "blind trust" is a red herring of a term for politicians to hide behind.

The Post reported that in 2003, barely two weeks after he was notified that one of his trusts had received between $15,000 and $50,000 in HCA stock, Mr. Frist told CNBC, "As far as I know, I own no HCA stock." Mr. Frist's office says that he misspoke, and meant that he did not know exactly what was in the trusts. But in the same interview, he also said that he had "no control" over it, a statement he disproved this year by selling the stock.

Senate ethics rules do not even require blind trusts, another example of the weakness of ethics rules for the nation's legislators. Tougher conflict-of-interest standards would be nice, but with Mr. Frist in the leadership, we're not holding our breath.

Senator Frist seems to have a very flexible idea about what constitutes ethics for himself. His idea of a "blind trust" is one which simply seems to need eyeglasses.

Do It To Me One More Time

Lee and Collier Counties of Southwest Florida took the hit as Wilma came on shore yesterday. I expect that it will be days before I hear from my friends in Ft. Myers.

South Florida took a pretty severe hit from this storm which regained major hurricane status before it clobbered Florida. If you can spare yet another dime for your kith in the Gulf who took it on the chin again, Lee County's Charity Navigator is on the link to help you give intelligently. My friend Kenn is on the steering committee for this, so I trust it. He still doesn't know how badly his home got messed up and won't for a few more days. He evacuated to a family wedding and visit with his folks near Chicago and won't get back until SW Florida International Airport re-opens for business.

The Foodbank of Lee County can always use help, and never more so than now..

If you can't give to them, give to your local food pantry. I bought a box of groceries for mine tonight. As I type this, the remnents of our first winter rain storm are getting ready to combine on the coast with the ghosts of Tropical Storm Alpha, Wilma's legacy and whatever other is out there to give the East Coast the first Nor'easter of the season. We'll be okay, but northern New England is going to collect thier first snow.

Winter Nor'easters are historically spawned in the warm Gulfstream waters off the North Carolina Cape, and continue up the east coast spewing snow. They are the great snow machines of the blizzards that rake New England from time to time. This one will be a rain event except for the highest altitudes of New England, where it will be the first snow event of the winter. Hello, Mount Washington! Virginia west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the mountains of Western Maryland have their first freeze warning of the season tonight.

Winter is here. Mind your low income neighbors. Give to your local charities, your dollars have their greatest punch in your own community.

Rosa Parks R.I.P.

Rosa Parks, civil rights heroine, is dead

I just wish that so many of the kids and grandkids of the kids that she stood up for could understand how much this simple and amazing woman did to make their lives better. I get so tired of hearing some of them say that "so and so is racist" because they made the kid actually behave or expected them to have pride in themselves and treat each other with dignity. How many of them understand who "Jim Crow" was?

Rosa Park's courage in the face of a system that was so ingrained in the culture that people (white and black) did not even think to question it just flabbergasts me. This was the SOUTH. Not just the SOUTH, but the deep SOUTH, a place where time stood still. Yet, she not only found the gravitas to say, "No" but to stick with that "No" even when thngs got nasty. Her life is a testament to the power that each one of us has to stand up (or sit down) for our rights and to demand to be dealt with equally and fairly.

Who will be the next one to refuse to move, sway, or relent in the face of an injustice so glaring that we can't hide our eyes from it? I don't know, but I'll bet that Ms. Parks will be by their side all the way.

God Bless you.

Doing It Up Right

Any shrimp or oyster recipe without horseradish isn't worth the time. This makes a showy first course or buffet dish. Figure on five shrimp per person as a first course, three as part of a buffet. Hey, I used to be a caterer.

Home > Recipes
Grilled Shrimp Cocktail with Horseradish Cream Dipping Sauce
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray
Show: 30 Minute Meals
Episode: Surf Then Turf

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 6 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

1 1/2 pounds jumbo shrimp, about 20 shrimp, deveined, peel in tact
1 teaspoon coarse salt
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs, 3 handfuls
1/2 cup prepared horseradish
1/2 cup half-and-half or light cream
1/2 teaspoon salt, eyeball it
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper sauce or 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, for garnish
4 leaves Romaine hearts

Preheat a grill pan over medium high heat.

Loosen shells of shrimp and butterfly them cutting down the devein line of the back of the shrimp. Toss shrimp with 1 teaspoon coarse salt. Combine melted butter with lemon juice and zest. Using a pastry brush, cover shrimps with lemon butter and set on hot grill. Grill shrimp 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until pink and firm.

In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, horseradish, cream and salt. Let the cream soak into the bread crumbs 2 minutes. Loosen bread crumbs with a fork. Stir in cayenne sauce or cayenne and combine with sour cream. Spoon equal amounts of sauce into ramekins on individual plates or a dip bowl in the center or 1 large platter.

Arrange 5 grilled shrimp down the center of 1 leaf of romaine lettuce. Serve shrimp with seafood forks alongside dipping sauce, for a crowd arrange them on lettuce leaves covering a cake platter with a well of cocktail sauce in the center. Have plenty of toothpicks and identified place to dispose of them (like a cup with a prominently displayed "Dispose of toothpicks here!" sign over it, other wise people will think it is someone's disgarded drink.

Serve real seafood cocktail sauce on the side,which also goes if you can swing a raw bar. This recipe needs a lot more horseradish, however.

Please don't just dump expensive shrimp on ice where they will get soggy and loose their flavor, which is what you paid good bucks for. Learn to arrange them fantail around your bowls of dipping sauces arranged on leaf lettuces on glass plates. Silver ones will wilt the lettuces.

Hey, I used to be a caterer and presentation is everything. Really. How it looks is at least as important as how it tastes You want this client to sell your next client by phone referral, don't you? If she thinks she had a fabulous party, then she had a fabulous party. If everybody else noticed that the food was extraordinary, they'll be on the phone to their bookers first thing in the morning. You aren't impressing the hostess, you are reaching out to her guests. ;\>) Word to the wise.

My Brothers of the Graph

George Mason University's Tyler Cowen brings us the WSJ read-around of the professional economists' judgement on Ben Bernanke's choice as the new Fed chief: the consensus is that he isn't a lunatic, is liked and respected in the profession. In short, one of Bushco's better picks.

If you want to know what watercooler chit-chat between economists sounds like, read that comments thread.

DC is a funny city. In the public mind, it's the lawyers on the Hill and the lawyers on K Street that define this region. Oddly, I know more economists than I do lawyers or pols. They are planted densely in this part of the world.

My preliminary judgement on Mr. Andrea Mitchell (which couple I've spotted a couple of times in some of the better dining rooms around town, they have excellent food judgement) is that he wasn't bad, but he wasn't the economic Svengali that Paul Volcker was. Greenspan is coming off of five bad years that aren't mostly his fault, but he reacted with Fed tools (blunt weapons) to a Bush admin which constantly churned its monetary policy people and, therefore, never had a monetary policy.

Even Comrade Max isn't horrified, and that's saying something.

Oh, you think we have a monetary policy now? How many of your friends and relations have been out of work for more than six months? From one day to the next I can't decide if we are the Weimar Republic or New York on October 28, 1929.

Tyler is also, of course, a member of the blogger confraternity of Flu Bloggers and we are looking forward to talking about it later this week.

Signs and Wonders

WaPo's Dan Fromkin writes:

About That Web Site

My Friday column caused a bit of a ruckus, with my scoop that Fitzgerald had launched a new Web site -- and my observation that one of the documents on it showed that he had received explicit authority from the Justice Department to expand his inquiry to include criminal attempts to interfere with his probe.

Friday was a pretty slow news day and my exclusive -- uncredited, alas -- made headlines in newspapers all over the country and was great fodder for the television talking heads.

I was the first to suggest that this did not look like the work of an office about to close shop, and I still believe that. But some of the speculation over the Web site's significance was a bit over the top. For instance, I can assure you that the prosecutors were not intentionally sending a sign to anyone.

When I spoke to him Friday morning, Fitzgerald spokesman Randall Samborn was surprised and clearly not happy that I had discovered the Web site, which he acknowledged had actually first gone up on Wednesday night. It was my distinct sense that Fitzgerald would have been much happier if no one had noticed it until they were ready to post something new.

On an unrelated media note, would someone please throttle CNN's Kyra Phillips? The thought of listening to another week of her is enough to drive me to drink.

Greek Proportions

Niall Ferguson and I know some of the same stuff.

Board up the windows in D.C.
# Several forces are propelling the 'Plamegate' scandal. It may swamp Bush and his White House, but it's unlikely to seriously harm America.

SOME NATURAL disasters — especially earthquakes — strike without warning. As we have seen in Kashmir, they are the ones that do the worst damage. Other disasters, however, can be foreseen, such as the hurricanes that have pummeled the United States in recent months.

The disaster about to engulf Washington, D.C., is more like a hurricane than an earthquake. That is to say, you can see it coming.

The first intimations of its approach are small squalls. A succession of these struck lately. The one to watch is currently raining on Karl Rove, President Bush's most trusted advisor, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Like the financial squalls that have simultaneously struck the top Republicans in both Houses of Congress, these may conceivably turn out to be mere storms in teacups. But there are three reasons to think otherwise.

Let's just assume for a second that Messrs. Rove and Libby did knowingly tell journalists that Valerie Plame was a CIA "covert operative" in order to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. Exposing a secret agent is a crime. Now the chances that it was authorized by the president himself are relatively small; and the chances that his authorization was recorded on tape à la President Nixon are even smaller.

So this is unlikely to be the next Watergate. Still, if his most trusted advisor goes down, the president will not merely be a lame duck. He will be a Peking duck. His enemies will be able to flake him off the bone and wrap him in Oriental pancakes.

The second reason why this is likely to be a hurricane is that so many people have an incentive to make it one. Watergate not only destroyed Richard Nixon, it also made the reputations of prosecutors such as Archibald Cox and reporters such as Bob Woodward. So you can always assume heroic levels of professional commitment when a quality scandal such as this one comes along.

At the same time, aggrieved sources within an administration have a powerful incentive to leak. We finally learned who "Deep Throat" was this year — and only because W. Mark Felt decided to 'fess up after 30-plus years. If that doesn't prove that American journalists know how to protect their sources, I don't know what more you want.

So let's just ask ourselves how many people — particularly those associated with intelligence gathering — might have a grudge against Bush. I should think there are enough potential Deep Throats in Washington today to form a baritone male-voice choir.

The third reason to expect a hurricane is simply poetic justice. The ancient Greeks had a term for those who are intoxicated by their own power into thinking themselves equal to the gods. That word was "hubris." Those who succumb to it are doomed to be brought low by the implacable goddess Nemesis.

Nemesis is no slouch when it comes to devising appropriate forms of divine retribution. This time she has really excelled. The way things are going, the trials of Saddam Hussein and Karl Rove could happen more or less simultaneously.

As Brad deLong says: Impeach George W. Bush. Impeach him now.

"When Iraqis Stand Up, We Will Stand Down"

Three car bombs rock downtown Baghdad

Monday, October 24, 2005 Posted: 1504 GMT (2304 HKT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Three car bombs exploded Monday in Baghdad, not far from a hotel that is home to international journalists, according to Iraqi police.

The third blast was larger than the initial explosions and apparently was designed to hurt police and rescue crews.

At least one fire could be seen burning in the area, and the flash from the explosion could be seen more than a mile away, CNN's Nic Robertson said.

The bombs went off near the Palestine Hotel, which overlooks the square where Iraqis and U.S. troops pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein after the April 2003, U.S.-led invasion.

Authorities had no information yet on casualties in the attack.
24 killed in attacks

Violence throughout central Iraq on Sunday and Monday left at least 24 people dead, authorities said.

In southwestern Baghdad, gunmen killed a city official in the Saydiya neighborhood Monday morning, the Interior Ministry said.

About the same time, the body of a man was found in a sewage canal in the Rustumiya area of southern Baghdad.

Also Monday, the Interior Ministry said a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol in northern Baghdad's Shaab neighborhood, wounding five people, including two Iraqi police officers.

A Marine assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), was killed in action Sunday by small-arms fire during combat operations in Ramadi, the U.S. military said on Monday.

The death brings to 1,994 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the U.S. invasion.

Twelve construction workers were killed Sunday evening near the city of Musayyib, about 40 miles (60 km) south of Baghdad, when gunmen opened fire on them, police said.

Another person at the construction site was kidnapped.

In Iskandariya, north of Baghdad, police found six bodies -- three male and three female -- late Sunday afternoon. No additional information was immediately available.

Also Sunday evening, gunmen fired on an Iraqi army checkpoint in western Baghdad's Adil neighborhood, killing two people -- including one Iraqi soldier -- and wounding four Iraqi soldiers, the Interior Ministry said.

Another Iraqi police officer, 1st Lt. Saad Chasib, was shot dead in northwestern Baghdad. He was driving his private car when gunmen attacked him.

The Raw Story reports:

These are the major findings from the secret MoD poll as published in The Daily Telegraph:

• Forty-five per cent of Iraqis believe attacks against British and American troops are justified - rising to 65 per cent in the British-controlled Maysan province;

• 82 per cent are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops;

• less than one per cent of the population believes coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security;

• 67 per cent of Iraqis feel less secure because of the occupation;

• 43 per cent of Iraqis believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened;

• 72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces.

Around the 'Sphere

N. Z. Bear at The Truth Laid Bear is surveying the blogs and finds that 73% oppose the Miers nomination. I oppose the Miers nomination.

Strong Arm Tactics

When the likes of me are quoting John Fund in the Wall Street Journal, you know that we are living in strange times, indeed.

What Went Wrong
Lessons the White House should learn from the Miers debacle.

Monday, October 24, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

President Bush has returned from a weekend in Camp David, where much of the discussion centered on the beleaguered nomination of Harriet Miers. While the president is determined to press forward, the prognosis he received was grim. Her visits with senators have gone poorly. Her written answers to questions from the Senate were sent back as if they were incomplete homework. The nominee herself has stumbled frequently in the tutorials in which government lawyers are grilling her in preparation for her Nov. 7 hearings.

The president trusts his instincts, and they are usually right. But when they fail him, the result can be calamitous. Take last December's nomination of Bernard Kerik to head the Department of Homeland Security. After several scandals involving his time as head of New York City's police quickly surfaced, it was then learned he had employed an illegal alien as a nanny and failed to submit required Social Security payments. After only a week, Mr. Bush quietly allowed Mr. Kerik to withdraw his name.

Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, even suggested to ABC News that Mr. Bush had merely "intended" to nominate Mr. Kerik and insisted that "many of the questions that have been raised in the media were well understood by the White House when they considered Bernie Kerik." He wouldn't elaborate on which ones, leading many reporters to conclude the White House was more intent on spinning the story than learning lessons from the botched pick. The president reinforced that impression during a post-Kerik news conference, when he insisted, "I've got great confidence in our vetting process. And so the lessons learned is continue to vet and ask good questions and get these candidates, the prospective nominees, to understand what we expect a candidate will face during a background check, FBI background check as well as congressional hearings."

The botched handling of the Kerik nomination was a precursor of much that has gone wrong with the Miers nomination. This time, the normal vetting process broke down, with Mr. Card ordering William Kelley, Ms. Miers's own deputy, to conduct the background checks--a clear conflict of interest. Even Newt Gingrich, a supporter of Ms. Miers's nomination, says that "the president believes in her so deeply, he is so convinced she's the right person, that I don't think it ever occurred to him to go through the kind of normal opposition research and normal vetting."

The big difference between the Kerik nomination and the Miers nomination is that Mr. Bush has a long history with Ms. Miers and he is still bravely fighting for her after three weeks of brutal criticism. But Ms. Miers has not been well-served by Bush supporters who have engaged in increasingly strained arguments to overcome the skepticism about her. Three approaches in particular have alienated many people who are vital to Ms. Miers' confirmation:

Intimidation and arm-twisting. Many longtime supporters of President Bush have been startled to get phone calls from allies of the president strongly implying that a failure to support Ms. Miers will be unhealthy to their political future. "The message in Texas is, if you aren't for this nominee, you are against the president," one conservative leader in that state told me. The pressure has led to more resentment than results.

Similar pressure has been applied in New Hampshire, site of the nation's first presidential primary in 2008. Newsweek has reported that "when George W. Bush's political team wanted to send ambitious Republican senators a firm message about Harriet Miers (crude summary: 'Lay off her if you ever want our help')," they chose loyal Bush ally and former state attorney general Tom Rath to deliver it. Plans were even launched to confront Virginia's Sen. George Allen, a likely 2008 candidate for president, and demand he sign a pro-Miers pledge. Luckily, the local Bush forces were warned off such a move at the last minute.

At least they stop short of the horse's head in the bed. This is pure political thuggery.

Block That Metaphor

Bush Choice Gets Criticisms Rare for Nominees to Court

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: October 24, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 - On Oct. 22, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon nominated to the Supreme Court a corporate lawyer and former bar association president with no judicial experience. On Dec. 6, his choice, Lewis F. Powell Jr., was confirmed with fanfare by a vote of 89 to 1.

Harriet E. Miers, President Bush's nominee to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, brings a similar résumé, along with five years in the White House and one year as its counsel. But in just three weeks, her nomination has provoked a range of opposition that some scholars say may have no modern precedent.

"I would be very hard pressed to think of a good historical analogy," Richard Baker, the Senate historian, said. "I don't think there is one."

Though past nominees have faced swift opposition, what makes Ms. Miers's nomination extraordinary, historians say, is the combination of doubts about her philosophy from within the president's own party and attacks on her legal qualifications from both sides of the aisle.

"Harriet Miers is in a real danger zone," said Lee Epstein, a political scientist at Washington University in St. Louis who uses statistical models to study public perceptions of past Supreme Court nominees. "Our models right now are showing that she would get confirmed, but I would be worried if I was the president," she said. The early calls for withdrawal, the "intraparty attacks" and the questions about her qualifications, Ms. Epstein said, are what make Ms. Miers's nomination "reasonably unique."

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said, "I think if you were to hold the vote today, she would not get a majority either in the Judiciary Committee or on the floor."

"The hearings are going to be make or break for Harriet Miers in a way that they have not been for any other nominee," Mr. Schumer said, adding, "Right now, she has a rough row to hoe."

Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican on the committee and a close ally of the president, responded in a statement, "No senator can speak for the entire Senate." Mr. Cornyn added, "Even if you believe his characterization, and I don't, she should be given the opportunity to appear before the committee."

The criticism of Ms. Miers may, in part, reflect changes in public expectations. Justice Powell and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, named the same year, were the last nominees who did not have judicial experience. Ms. Miers's meetings with senators have also been marred by misunderstandings, including one with Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, over her views on privacy rights. Some of her backers have also suggested an element of sexism in her treatment.

And the debate comes at a moment when social conservatives feel that their electoral victories entitle them to a change in the court.

Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, said that the reaction was like "a triple root canal" but added: "It really isn't Harriet in my mind. It is the president." Mr. Simpson blamed a sense of weakness around the White House because of concerns about the C.I.A. leak investigation, the war in Iraq and the handling of the recent hurricanes. "It is like a huge raptor seeing a rabbit running on only three legs," he said.

The ferocity of Simpson's simile is a little breathtaking, but says something about how high feelings are running on the Right.

Dobson in the Dock

Senate panel may call evangelical leader
Dobson had hinted at inside knowledge of Miers' views

Charles Babington, Washington Post

Monday, October 24, 2005

Washington -- The Senate Judiciary Committee is likely to summon a leading conservative Christian to explain the private assurances he says he received from the White House about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, the committee's chairman said Sunday.

Testimony by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson would heighten the political and religious overtones of the confirmation hearing for Miers, scheduled to start two weeks from today.

Dobson is among several evangelical leaders enlisted by the White House to vouch for Miers' conservative credentials among right-leaning groups unhappy with her nomination. He spoke with Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove shortly before President Bush announced the nomination, and later hinted he had received privileged information. "When you know some of the things that I know -- that I probably shouldn't know -- you will understand why I have said, with fear and trepidation, that Harriet Miers will be a good justice," Dobson told his national radio audience Oct. 5.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Sunday that his panel is likely to require Dobson and perhaps others to testify about such purported conversations. Asked on CBS' "Face the Nation" whether the committee will "bring some of these people who said they were told things that perhaps they shouldn't have been told, like Mr. Dobson," Specter replied: "My instinct is that they'll be called. And the American people are entitled to clarification."

I can't attribute this to anything other than intuition at this point (though I note that George Will and Robert Novak get paid a lot of money for their hunches) but I have a funny feeling that the evangelical Christian Right is going to learn the hard way that the First Amendment non-establishment clause is more for the benefit of religion than for secular society.

Imperial Hubris

Conservatives fear increase of dissent in the ranks
Some say divisions could weaken party

By Nina J. Easton, Globe Staff | October 24, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Conservative leader Paul M. Weyrich says membership rolls and donations to groups on the right have fallen off. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich worries that the reformist movement he helped godfather has been hurt by corruption allegations surrounding some of its leaders.

The chairman of the American Conservative Union, David Keene, normally a White House loyalist, proclaims that activists are fed up with President Bush. And among conservative books in the works are these sour titles: ''Can This Party Be Saved?" and ''Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy."

The conservative movement that reshaped modern American politics is in its deepest funk since 1992, when the right rejected Bush's father and was blamed for Republican losses. After displaying unprecedented unity last year, a range of leaders -- from antitax activists to the religious right -- now say they distrust the White House and worry that internal divisions could sap the movement's strength.

The conservative movement was ''on an upward path, even after the 2004 elections, but the growth has stopped," said Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation.

''People now say, 'I'm not sure that this is the right gang to belong to,' " Weyrich, who runs a weekly strategy session, said last week. That ''gang" is the White House and GOP leadership, both of which rely on a loyal cadre of self-described conservatives to win elections. A disgruntled base that stays home on election day could fuel Democratic gains in Congress.
Christian radio host may testify on Miers

''The persuasion part of winning elections is over," said GOP pollster Alexander P. Gage. ''It's all about mobilization."

Some analysts say disenchantment on the right could double the number of House seats considered competitive from 40 to 80.

Much attention has focused on conservative dissent over Bush's choice of Harriet E. Miers as his second Supreme Court nominee, with critics on the right arguing that she lacks the stature to reshape the court on critical constitutional questions.

But conservative leaders say Miers was merely the last straw in a series of disappointments with Bush that have divided their ranks.

Fiscal conservatives date their distress with Bush to his first term, when he increased education spending and added a Medicare prescription drug plan. Social conservatives complain about White House resistance to pushing a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

And looming over all this is the hot-button issue of immigration. ''I know of no issue more divisive among Republicans," said veteran GOP strategist Edward J. Rollins. Many activists accuse Bush of failing to enforce borders, and condemn his proposal for a guest-worker program for illegal immigrants.

The Miers nomination lit a fuse to these disputes because conservatives put a premium on changing a court system that they believe has been trending liberal for decades.

''As chair of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee [in 2004], I'd go all over the country," said Senator George Allen of Virginia, a likely 2008 presidential candidate. '' I'd say we're for less taxation, less regulation, greater energy independence. But I'd always finish with judges -- and they would stand up and cheer. This was the motivating issue."
....
To be sure, the conservative movement is far stronger than in the early 1990s, with a vast network of think tanks, grass-roots machines and talk radio outlets. And commentators believe the debate over Miers reveals the movement's strength.

''This is no 'crackup,' " Rush Limbaugh wrote in the Wall Street Journal. ''It's a crackdown. We conservatives are unified in our objectives."

Still, among leading thinkers in the movement there is suddenly talk that conservatives might have been corrupted by the power they fought so hard to attain.

''To a real degree, the Republican Party has become a party of governance, not of reform," said Gingrich, a 2008 presidential prospect.

I gave an interview to a Reuters reporter a few months back who asked me what I found interesting about the judicial nominations process right now. I replied that I was sure that it was going to reveal the splits in the conservative coalition the Republican party was barely holding together.

Gingrich's comment above is revealing, but not illuminating, and demonstrates how movement conservatism partakes of American ahistoricism. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The party today has returned to its Nixonian base and will pay the price for it.

Temper Tantrums

Bushies feeling
the boss' wrath
Prez's anger growing in hard times - pals

BY THOMAS M. DeFRANK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

President Bush is facing specter of losing irreplaceable aide Karl Rove.

WASHINGTON - Facing the darkest days of his presidency, President Bush is frustrated, sometimes angry and even bitter, his associates say.

With a seemingly uncontrollable insurgency in Iraq, the White House is bracing for the political fallout from a grim milestone that could come any day: the combat death of the 2,000th American G.I.

Last week alone, 23 military personnel were killed in Iraq, and five were wounded yesterday in a relentless series of attacks across the country.

This week could also bring a special prosecutor's decision that could shake the foundations of the Bush government.

The President's top political guru, Karl Rove, and Vice President Cheney's right-hand man, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, are at the center of a two-year criminal probe into the leak of a CIA agent's identity. Many Bush staffers believe indictments are likely.

"He's like the lion in winter," observed a political friend of Bush. "He's frustrated. He remains quite confident in the decisions he has made. But this is a guy who wanted to do big things in a second term. Given his nature, there's no way he'd be happy about the way things have gone."

Bush usually reserves his celebrated temper for senior aides because he knows they can take it. Lately, however, some junior staffers have also faced the boss' wrath.

"This is not some manager at McDonald's chewing out the help," said a source with close ties to the White House when told about these outbursts. "This is the President of the United States, and it's not a pleasant sight."

The specter of losing Rove, his only truly irreplaceable assistant, lies at the heart of Bush's distress. But a string of political reversals, including growing opposition to the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina's aftermath and Harriet Miers' bungled Supreme Court nomination, have also exacted a personal toll.

Presidential advisers and friends say Bush is a mass of contradictions: cheerful and serene, peevish and melancholy, occasionally lapsing into what he once derided as the "blame game." They describe him as beset but unbowed, convinced that history will vindicate the major decisions of his presidency even if they damage him and his party in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

At the same time, these sources say Bush, who has a long history of keeping staffers in their place, has lashed out at aides as his political woes have mounted.

"The President is just unhappy in general and casting blame all about," said one Bush insider. "Andy [Card, the chief of staff] gets his share. Karl gets his share. Even Cheney gets his share. And the press gets a big share."

The vice president remains Bush's most trusted political confidant. Even so, the Daily News has learned Bush has told associates Cheney was overly involved in intelligence issues in the runup to the Iraq war that have been seized on by Bush critics.

Bush is so dismayed that "the only person escaping blame is the President himself," said a sympathetic official, who delicately termed such self-exoneration "illogical."

"Lion in winter" my ass. The incompetent-in-chief's numerous mistakes are catching up with him. Like the narcissistic personality disorder he is, it's everybody's fault but his.

The Next Wave

Show Me the Money

By ELIZABETH WARREN
Published: October 24, 2005

Academic research shows that about half the families in bankruptcy filings have serious medical problems. Two-thirds of those who file have lost a job or a small business. Twenty percent have just suffered a family breakup - a husband who disappeared, a wife who died, a family separated by long distances.

Many have sustained multiple hits: illness and a layoff, divorce and business failure. Because of the hurricanes, in the next few years, bankruptcies in Louisiana and Mississippi are likely to grow at a rate that is about 50 percent faster than in the rest of the country.

And when the crisis passes - when debtors get back to work or sweep the muck out of their homes - they will still face a mountain of bills and a ferocious onslaught by collection agencies. If those in such straits can't find a way to get current on their debts quickly, they'll face foreclosure on their homes, repossession of the cars they need to get to work and morning-to-night debt collection calls.

Punishing debtors this way won't put money in creditors' pockets. Creditors who planned to reap windfalls from this new law may be sorely disappointed as they discover that their lobbyists promised more than they can deliver. And if the bankruptcy system becomes unworkable for both debtors and creditors, pressure will build for change.

Sometime soon, politicians will realize that those who find themselves in bankruptcy are solidly middle-class people who have been to college, married and bought houses. This year, about 300,000 will be small-business owners who want a chance to try again. Married couples with children will be about twice as likely to file as those with no children, and single parents will be about four times more likely than those with no dependents at home. Families caring for elderly relatives are also at special risk.

These are hard-working people who have been laid low by forces far beyond their control. They are the constituents of the politicians who took the credit industry's side over theirs.

The new bankruptcy laws will surely squeeze some people harder, and they may well improve short-term corporate profits. But those laws won't solve the underlying problems of unemployment, inadequate health insurance or failing small businesses. They won't stop hurricanes or floods. And because those problems aren't going away any time soon, the need to restore common sense to the bankruptcy system will not go away either.

The industry should enjoy its cake and Champagne today. It won't last forever.

The new bankruptcy law is a disaster, but the author thinks there will be pressure for change once the credit companies realize that it won't help them collect. She's probably right, but the spector of debtors' prisons lurks behind this bill and I can't get that picture out of my mind. What I see immediately is more homlessness and greater reliance on food banks, which are already over burdened.

Phantom Numbers

Enemy Body Counts Revived
U.S. Is Citing Tolls to Show Success in Iraq

By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 24, 2005; Page A01

Eager to demonstrate success in Iraq, the U.S. military has abandoned its previous refusal to publicize enemy body counts and now cites such numbers periodically to show the impact of some counterinsurgency operations.

The revival of body counts, a practice discredited during the Vietnam War, has apparently come without formal guidance from the Pentagon's leadership. Military spokesmen in Washington and Baghdad said they knew of no written directive detailing the circumstances under which such figures should be released or the steps that should be taken to ensure accuracy.

Instead, they described an ad hoc process that has emerged over the past year, with authority to issue death tolls pushed out to the field and down to the level of division staffs.

So far, the releases have tended to be associated either with major attacks that netted significant numbers of enemy fighters or with lengthy operations that have spanned days or weeks. On Saturday, for instance, the U.S. military reported 20 insurgents killed and one captured in raids on five houses suspected of sheltering foreign fighters in a town near the Syrian border. Six days earlier, the 2nd Marine Division issued a statement saying an estimated 70 suspected insurgents had died in the Ramadi area as a result of three separate airstrikes by fighter jets and helicopters.

That Oct. 16 statement reflected some of the pitfalls associated with releasing such statistics. The number was immediately challenged by witnesses, who said many of those killed were not insurgents but civilians, including women and children.

Privately, several uniformed military and civilian defense officials expressed concern that the pendulum may have swung too far, with body counts now creeping into too many news releases from Iraq and Afghanistan. They also questioned the effectiveness of citing such figures in conflicts where the enemy has shown itself capable of rapidly replacing dead fighters and where commanders acknowledge great uncertainty about the total size of the enemy force.

Nevertheless, no formal review of the practice has been ordered, according to spokesmen at the Pentagon and in Baghdad. Several senior officers and Pentagon officials involved in shaping communications strategies argued that the occasional release of body counts has important value, particularly when used to convey the scale of individual operations.

"Specific numbers are used to periodically provide context and help frame particular engagements," said Brig. Gen. Donald Alston, director of communications for the U.S. military command in Baghdad. He added, however, that there is no plan "to issue such numbers on a regular basis to score progress."

During the Vietnam War, enemy body counts became a regular feature in military statements intended to demonstrate progress. But the statistics ended up proving poor indicators of the war's course. Pressure on U.S. units to produce high death tolls led to inflated tallies, which tore at Pentagon credibility.

It appears Gen. Alston wants to be remembered as the William Westmoreland of Iraq. Viet Nam era babies like me will remember the reference. For those of you who are younger, he was the Pentagon spokesmodel who released each day's body count, destroying his own reputation and that of the US government while the anti-war movement grew.

The WaPo's Bradley Graham remembers.

Convenient Memories (Not Misty, Water Colored)

Bastards.

Republicans Testing Ways to Blunt Leak Charges

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
and DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: October 24, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 - With a decision expected this week on possible indictments in the C.I.A. leak case, allies of the White House suggested Sunday that they intended to pursue a strategy of attacking any criminal charges as a disagreement over legal technicalities or the product of an overzealous prosecutor.

Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel in the case, is expected to announce by the end of the week whether he will seek indictments against White House officials in a decision that is likely to be a defining moment of President Bush's second term. The case has put many in the White House on edge.

Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, and I. Lewis Libby Jr., who is Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, have been advised that they are in serious legal jeopardy. Other officials could also face charges in connection with the disclosure of the identity of an undercover C.I.A. officer in 2003.

On Sunday, Republicans appeared to be preparing to blunt the impact of any charges. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, speaking on the NBC news program "Meet the Press," compared the leak investigation with the case of Martha Stewart and her stock sale, "where they couldn't find a crime and they indict on something that she said about something that wasn't a crime."

Ms. Hutchison said she hoped "that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars."

The Times has a very short memory. Very short. How much did the Ken Starr investigation, which came up with nothing, cost the taxpayers? And I seem to remember that embarrassing little perjury case the Republicans persued all the way to impeachment that, er, wasn't about a crime but was about private sexual behavior.

On the other hand, outing a classified state secret CIA agent is a crime. Sen. Hutchison is one of the grande dame whores of the GOP establishment.

Disaster Planning: Lessons Learned

Looting Breaks Out in Mexico After Wilma

By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 39 minutes ago

CANCUN, Mexico - Mexicans and stranded tourists, hungry and frustrated after a two-day beating by Hurricane Wilma, stood in line to buy supplies Sunday or simply raided grocery or furniture stores, dragging goods from shops ripped open by the storm.

The hurricane's steady march toward southern Florida meant an end here to two days of howling winds and torrential rains that shattered windows, peeled away roofing and sent the ocean crashing into hotel lobbies. The sun emerged over Mexico's sugar-white Caribbean beaches.

Wilma regained its Category 3 status late Sunday, with sustained winds of 115 mph, after it returned to open waters and headed toward southern Florida, the
National Hurricane Center said. It had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane after making landfall in Mexico.

In Cancun, chaos took over, as police shot into the air to scare looters away from a shopping center, and looters responded by throwing rocks and chunks of concrete.

Downtown, officials feared looters would turn on tourists, so they quickly evacuated more than 30 foreigners from a downtown area overrun by people raiding stores. Military officials and police stood guard outside businesses and set up checkpoints to seize stolen goods.

"It's chaos," said fire official Gregorio Vergara. "They are taking things all over the city."

One group of residents pushed carts against the boarded-up windows of a grocery store in an attempt to break in. At a convenience store, Cancun resident Alex Aguilar took batteries and aspirin.

"The window was broken, so we just went in and got what we wanted," he said.

Others waited in long lines at the few stores that were open. Some American tourists without local currency offered $100 bills for $5 calling cards.

Meanwhile, military aid convoys rolled into the resort town, handing out bottled water and medical aid. City officials distributed food packages of rice, beans, crackers and cooking oil to people standing in lines that stretched for blocks.

Larry Lowman, of Beaufort, S.C., carried away armloads of emergency supplies for the shelter where he was staying. "It's an expedition to bring food for everybody," he said.

There was little food left on the isolated island of Cozumel, as well, making some people anxious.

"Right now, there is nothing to buy on the island," resident Daniela Ayala told The Associated Press by telephone. "People are in the streets looking for food, and they are starting to get desperate."

Did the Mexican states of Yucatan and Quintana Roo have a disaster plan? Did the federal government of Mexico. I don't speak Spanish, so I wouldn't know, but I think that having a cat 4 hurricane overhead for more than 36 hours would overwhelm most of what we know about hurricane disaster planning. Wilma has been a record making storm in a lot of ways that are both not good and point to what the future of tropical storms might be like. This isn't something to look forward to.

Note that the AP reporter said that loss of food makes people anxious and leads to social breakdown.

Pandemic flu, anyone?

End of the Summer Menu

Pear Salad I

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 pears - peeled, cored and sliced
* 1 cup port wine
* 2 shallots, thinly sliced
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 6 cups assorted salad greens
* 1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
* 1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven's broiler. Arrange pear slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Broil until nicely browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Pour port wine into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook until the wine is reduced by 1/2. Remove from the heat and cool. Pour the cooled wine into a blender or food processor, and add the shallots, garlic, mustard, and vinegar. Puree until smooth.
3. Divide the salad greens evenly between four serving plates. Arrange some of the broiled pear slices over each pile of greens. Sprinkle with Gorgonzola cheese. Drizzle dressing over each plate, then sprinkle with walnuts. If you like, this can also be made in one large bowl instead of individual serving

Note:

To toast walnuts, place them in a dry skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and fragrant, about 8 minutes.

This makes a main course at lunch if you serve hearty appetizers, baguette and soup, or a first course at dinner, where it would be perfect with a leg of lamb or lamp chops as an entree. This salad is light but ripe with flavor from the pears and the wine reduction. You can enjoy it on the patio or terrace or back yard picic table while you have some London Broil on the grill, perhaps with twice baked potatoes. Split them open when they are 3/4 of the way done and mix the innerds with Allouette herbed cheese mixed with the potato and then return the mixture to the potato shell and let them finish roasting to a golden brown crust. Grease the potato skin with olive oil before roasting if you like them crispy. This is positively sinful. And a side of broiled vegetables. Clean and scrub carrots and corn on the cob soaked in salt water for 15 minutes. Give them 15 minutes on the grill and you'll wonder why you didn't think of it before. The corn and silk are easier to peal after they have been browned on the grill; they'll strip right into a paper bag. Drizzle a little butter and cinnamon on the carrots and you'll wonder why you never noticed before how sweet they are before they had grill marks on them. Hot butter and popcorn salt on the freshly cleaned corn will make your corn skewers laugh with delight. Figure on two cobs per person, unless you and the guests are planning to make a stand on the London broil.

Roast red and yellow peppers garlic-macerated in a little vinegar, olive oil, herbs and garlic and serve them proudly grill striped on the plate with your other concoctions. A well grillled veg is a good meal in itself. Since it is the season for grill roasted garlic on good bread, I'll give you that in a day or so.

A scoop of ice cream with sprinkles to finish wouldn't be out of order. :>)

Imagined Scenarios: Avian Influenza Through the Eyes of a Doc

Have you guys discovered Dr. Charles? I read him off
and on. I found this post tonight, the guy is a hell
of a writer of fiction, one of the many gifts I don't
have, and I found this one moving and chilling.

The Ghost of Influenza Season Future

A cold ache was in my fingers before I even finished
locking the door to my apartment. I hunched over and
bent my neck to keep it warm within the collar of my
winter coat. I trudged through the snow to my car, and
decided that although I was the only person on the
street at six o’clock in the morning I should really
be wearing my facemask. My frozen fingers fumbled with
the elastic band as I lowered it into place behind my
ears, effectively sealing my mouth away from the
virus. I hoped.

The warm moisture of each breath was strangely
comforting as it reflected back onto my face . There
was hardly any traffic. Many people were either sick
or hiding. I passed several store windows that had
been shattered by looters.

Eventually I arrived at my office. Half of the front
desk staff had stayed at home, citing runny noses, bad
coughs, and general terror. The other half was present
but similarly masked. With muffled voices and darting
eyes they dutifully answered the riotous phones as
quickly as they could.

“You can’t come in with those symptoms. We suggest you go to the hospital right away… except that all the hospitals are full.”

“Are you sure you’re just coming in for a sinus
infection?”

“No, we ran out of flu shots two months ago, and we
only had enough for our sickest patients anyway.
Tamiflu? No, no one has that either. Only the CDC is
able to dispense that to select hospitals anymore… I
know! It’s crazy! The U.S. only had enough to treat 1%
of its population… It makes us sick too. We’ve been
told the new vaccine won’t be ready for six months.”

“Mrs. Walker, you sound horrible. I think you should
call 9-1-1... I know they might take three hours to
get to you, but with that cough you sound…
well…”

I saw fifty patients that day. Almost all of them were
wearing masks, some as rudimentary as handkerchiefs.
One came in with a sprained ankle. Another showed up
to discuss her diabetes. The other forty-eight came in
with panic attacks, frayed nerves, stories of people
they knew who were dead or dying, and questions
galore. But it was the quiet ones, the ones with
headaches and muscle aches and low grade fevers that
terrified me the most.

Over lunch I scanned my emails from the state
department of health, the CDC, and from my friends
asking for advice. By now everyone knew that the
overdue influenza pandemic had arrived. It first
appeared in Southeast China as a mutated variety of
bird flu and finally gained the ability to transmit
itself between humans. Initially the quarantines, the
local disbursements of antiviral medications, and the
somewhat effective H5N1 vaccine seemed to contain the
monster. But the illness was difficult to distinguish
from the “regular flu,” and soon outbreaks occurred in
Los Angeles, London, and Hong Kong before going
global. The Western European countries faired
relatively well, having stockpiled antiviral
medications and funded their vaccination
infrastructures for years. Only a few tens of
thousands died. Elsewhere the world tally was
approaching 100 million people dead.

Those persons who had received the regular flu shot in
the fall gained a slight protection against the new
pandemic strain of the flu. The year’s supply was
exhausted quickly, however, and counterfeit vaccines
were selling for $100 on the internet. Despite the
government’s warning people still paid for them. A
five day course of antiviral medication was selling
for $5,000, even though it was only weakly effective
by February.

The US government had a few protocols in place, but
due to under-funding of public health and skewed
priorities many people died unnecessarily. Most other
countries looked upon us with pity and confusion that
was reminiscent of the twin hurricanes of 2005.

By the end of the day I had developed scratchiness in
the back of my throat and a runny nose. I started to
worry when my temperature read 100.2 degrees
Fahrenheit, and I felt the first twinges of pain in my
head. I guess I knew that sooner or later I would
inevitably contract the virus, and that it would be a
roll of the dice whether it killed me or not. I
couldn’t tell if the beads of sweat on my forehead
were from a worsening fever or simply from a growing
panic. I had already given away my stash of antiviral
medication to a family member (who turned out to have
been just sick with a cold). I closed my eyes behind
the mask and tried to calm down. This couldn’t be
happening.

Could it?

That was Charles. This is me. Read and see if you
want to add him to your bookmarks. This is awfully fine writing about a current and terrible subject.

Maximal Leaks

Via Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

The Gathering Storm
How Katrina hurt Harriet—and what's next for the embattled high-court nominee.

By Richard Wolffe and Daniel Klaidman
Newsweek

The tale of how Katrina hurt Harriet is just one glimpse inside a White House that seems overwhelmed by crisis and in desperate need of some kind of relief. It helps explain how a lawyer known for her hard work and meticulous attention to detail could have delivered a questionnaire that was so full of holes even GOP senators sent it back for a do-over. Bush's aides, who say the White House Counsel's Office is getting plenty of backup from the Justice Department, maintain that they've got the votes necessary to see Miers through. The president himself brushed off the unrest with an easy smile, telling reporters in the Rose Garden it was nothing more than "a lot of chatter."

Behind the scenes, however, the comfort level is very low. Some White House officials are already worried that Miers's rehearsals for her hearings are not proceeding smoothly, according to current and former administration sources who declined to be named because the sessions are secret. Whether the White House now prevails with its nominee says as much about its qualities under fire as those of Harriet Ellan Miers.

Last week was supposed to mark a retooled rollout, concentrating on Miers's intellect and credentials rather than her Christian faith. Instead there were new questions about her competence and conservatism that left loyal supporters in despair. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who will lead Miers's Senate hearings, has assured the White House he will move her successfully out of the Judiciary Committee. Still, he was stunned by her incomplete questionnaire. Her sparse answers undercut some Judiciary staffers who had been defending Miers against conservative attacks; hours after receiving the questionnaire, the aides were Googling for names and dates of cases that Miers had failed to provide. "We wanted to help them and it seemed like they didn't want to be helped," said one Republican Judiciary staffer who requested anonymity because his boss had not formally decided how to vote.

This is of a piece with the story immediately below. The picture is of a White House staff in complete disarray. Given how damaging these leaks are, the staff obviously wants her pulled or to hurt her so badly that she voluntarily withdraws.

Confused Response

List of Foiled Plots Puzzling to Some
White House Document Mixes Half-Baked Plans With Serious Terrorist Threats

By Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 23, 2005; Page A06

A White House list of 10 terrorist plots disrupted by the United States has confused counterterrorism experts and officials, who say they cannot distinguish between the importance of some incidents on the list and others that were left off.

Intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the White House overstated the gravity of the plots by saying that they had been foiled, when most were far from ready to be executed. Others noted that the nation's color-coded threat index was not raised from yellow, or "elevated" risk of attack, to orange, or "high" risk, for most of the time covered by the incidents on the list.

The president made it "sound like well-hatched plans," said a former CIA official involved in counterterrorism during that period. "I don't think they fall into that category."

President Bush announced the list of attacks on Oct. 6, describing them as serious al Qaeda terrorist plots disrupted by the United States and its allies since Sept. 11, 2001. The document included never-before-disclosed plans to use hijacked commercial airliners to attack the East and West coasts in 2002 and 2003.

Three of the 10 plots were aimed at U.S. soil, and the government also halted five al Qaeda efforts to case possible targets or infiltrate operatives into the country.

Counterterrorism experts said they could not explain why some of the U.S. government's bigger successes did not make the list, including the thwarted attack by Richard Reid, who tried to set off explosives in his shoes aboard a transatlantic flight in December 2001, and the capture a year later of Ali Saleh Kahlah Marri, a graduate student at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., who officials believe had ties to Sept. 11 terrorists.

"We don't know how they came to the conclusions they came to," said one counterterrorism official, who spoke anonymously for fear of angering the White House. "It's safe to say that most of the [intelligence] community doesn't think it's worth very much."

I think it is safe to say that the White House is completely confused and doesn't know what the hell they are doing.

The Perplexity Plan

Prognosis perplexing

Lack of drug pricing info in new Medicare prescription program makes it difficult for seniors to choose plan

BY RIDGELY OCHS
STAFF WRITER

October 22, 2005

The government's roll-out of its $40-billion-a-year Medicare prescription drug plan has hit another snag.

People trained to help seniors figure out which plan to choose under the new program said they don't have the pricing information they need and seniors are scratching their heads in confusion.

Earlier this week, Dr. Mark McClellan, head of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, launched a prescription drug plan finder designed to help those on Medicare plug in specific financial information and prescription needs so they can determine which plans are best for them. The tool is available on www.medicare.gov and is also used by those trained to counsel seniors.

But a crucial piece of data -- pricing information on the drugs -- is still not available, making it difficult for 42 million Medicare participants nationwide to figure out the best coverage at the lowest cost. Enrollment for the new Medicare prescription drug program starts Nov. 15. Forty-six drug plans are being offered in New York State alone.

"People are asking questions and we don't know the answers," said Jim, who is one of 9,000 customer service representatives hired to answer questions at 1-800-Medicare. Jim, who asked that his last name not be used, said he and his colleagues joke that "it's kind of the same way FEMA is run; I guess we're using the same playbook."

Deane Beebe of the Medicare Rights Center in Manhattan said its 183 volunteers who are trained to answer questions for the 2.5 million seniors in the state are frustrated. "The tool is useless," Beebe said. "The phones are ringing and we can't help anybody."

"It's definitely a slow start for CMS," said Holly Rhodes-Teague, head of Suffolk's Office for the Aging. She said her office's phones "have been ringing off the hook." A mistake in the "Medicare & You 2006" handbook, which outlines the different plans being offered, "didn't help," she said. The handbook tells low-income beneficiaries eligible for extra help that all drug plans are available with no monthly premium. However, 60 percent of the plans require premiums.

Medicare spokesman Peter Ashkenaz said drug pricing information is not available because some of the health plans did not provide the information in a usable format. To keep the "playing field level," Medicare officials decided to withhold the pricing information until it was all available, he said. But it is unclear when that will be.

Your Federal Emergency Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Management Agency is doing a heckuva job!

Irresponsible Controversy

This is called "disinformation."

Sure, it kills birds, but it won't kill you
By Wendy Orent, Wendy Orent is the author of "Plague: The Mysterious Past and Terrifying Future of the World's Most Dangerous Disease."

IT MUST SEEM like the sky is falling — that it's about to rain chaos and death as the dreaded H5N1 avian flu appears to close in.

Last spring, bird flu broke out in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. It spread to western China, Siberia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia in the summer. How did it travel half a continent?

Though maps of the outbreaks show the flu following roads, railway lines and national borders, many flu experts insist that migratory birds spread the virus across Asia. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that some of the birds might fly to Alaska, then down into the United States, bringing the bird flu with them. That hasn't happened, but the virus appears to be in Europe. Last week, ducks and chickens were found dead in Romania, Turkey and Greece.

News reports make the threat even more ominous. In resurrecting the 1918 pandemic virus, the deadliest flu strain of all time, researchers recently learned that this strain was far deadlier than any other human virus — it killed mice, while normal human flu won't even ruffle a mouse's fur. They also found out that all of its genes came, directly or indirectly, from birds. Unlike the pandemics of 1957 and 1968, the 1918 version didn't arise from a combination of bird and mammal genes. Instead, the bird genes evolved into a human virus that killed as many as 50 million people.

This means, say breathless news reports, that what happened in 1918 could happen again, this time with H5N1.

But Peter Palese doesn't think so. He is lab director at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, where the technique that re-created the 1918 genes — known as reverse genetic engineering — was developed. He and associate Adolfo Garcia-Sastre contend that what the resurrected virus really shows is how supremely adapted it is — how well its parts fit together, how perfectly it works. The sublime malignance of the 1918 virus doesn't lie in one part but rather in how the genes function together. Evolution shaped this virus to be a sleek, effective killing machine.

We don't know what bird the genes came from originally. It wasn't a domestic duck, chicken or goose, because their flu strains are quite different. According to Jeffery Taubenberger, the senior researcher at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the 1918 flu originated in an unknown bird reservoir, one equally distant from American and Eurasian birds. "To me, it's from an unknown host, evolutionarily isolated from other birds," Taubenberger said last year.

But all wild-bird viruses are mild. They have to be: Sick birds don't fly far, and dead birds don't fly at all. Although H5N1, which evolved among domestic poultry in the crowded conditions of Asian farms and markets, has demonstrated the ability to kill wild birds in the hundreds, it cannot continue to be so deadly and still spread among them.

This, on the other hand, is how responsible experts in the field of risk communication discuss avian influenza:

Bird Flu:
Communicating the Risk
by Peter M. Sandman and Jody Lanard

Public health officials have a pandemic-size communication problem. Experts believe a deadly influenza pandemic is quite likely to be launched by the H5N1 avian virus that has killed millions of birds and dozens of people in Asia. They are more anxious than they have been in decades. But infectious diseases are unpredictable. H5N1 could disappear—as swine flu did in 1976—and "The Great Pandemic of 2___" could arise from a strain that doesn't even exist yet. Even if H5N1 does cause a human pandemic, it might weaken and produce only mild disease. So it's hard for officials to know how aggressively to sound the alarm. They don't want to be accused of needlessly frightening the public. They also don't want to be accused—later—of leaving the public underprepared for a disaster.

Communication wouldn't be such a problem if it were possible to get ready for the next pandemic without talking to the public. It isn't. Health authorities want the public to be aware of this grave threat for three fundamental reasons: so people will prepare themselves emotionally and logistically; so people will help their schools, businesses, hospitals, and other organizations prepare; and so people will support the preparedness efforts of their governments. And there's a fourth reason: If and when a pandemic begins, people who have had time to get used to the idea are likelier to understand their risks, follow official advice, and take an active role in protecting themselves.

Wendy Orent has been getting a lot of ink lately because the newspapers like controversy. If none exists, they will invent one. That's what her whole story is, an invention to create controversy on the Sunday op-ed pages.

The Accountability Administration

C.I.A. to Avoid Charges in Most Prisoner Deaths

By DOUGLAS JEHL and TIM GOLDEN
Published: October 23, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 - Despite indications of C.I.A. involvement in the deaths of at least four prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, C.I.A. employees now appear likely to escape criminal charges in all but one of those incidents, according to current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials. Skip to next paragraph

Manadel al-Jamadi died in Iraq in November 2003 after being beaten by members of the Navy Seals and turned over to C.I.A. interrogators.
WRAL, via Associated Press

David A. Passaro, a contract worker, is the only person linked to the C.I.A. to be charged in the deaths of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Federal prosecutors reviewing cases of possible misconduct by C.I.A. employees have recently notified lawyers that they do not intend to bring criminal charges in several cases involving the handling of terrorism suspects and Iraqi insurgents, the officials said.

Some of the cases are still technically under review by the Justice Department, but the intelligence and law enforcement officials said they had been told that the department was not preparing to bring charges against C.I.A. employees in those cases.

The Justice Department has charged only one person linked to the C.I.A. with wrongdoing in any of the cases: David A. Passaro, who was a contract worker, not a C.I.A. officer. The details of the C.I.A. cases remain classified, as do the Justice Department reviews.

But the prosecutors' decisions appear to reflect judgments that the C.I.A. was far less culpable in the mistreatment of prisoners than was the military, where dozens of soldiers have been convicted or accepted administrative punishment for their actions in cases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The cases became public in April 2004, with reports about abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and have led to the convictions of Pvt. Charles A. Graner Jr., Pfc. Lynndie R. England and other soldiers implicated in those episodes. The decisions are based on reviews of eight dossiers referred to the Justice Department by the C.I.A.'s inspector general, describing possible misconduct by a half dozen to a dozen C.I.A. employees in the deaths and other cases.

A case still technically under review by the Justice Department, the officials said, involves a high-profile episode in which a C.I.A. officer has been linked to mistreatment of prisoners, in a case involving an Iraqi who died under C.I.A. interrogation in a shower room at Abu Ghraib. But in another case, involving the hypothermia death of an Afghan at a C.I.A.-run detention center called the Salt Pit in Afghanistan in November 2002, the Justice Department has signaled that it does not intend to bring charges.

A third episode studied within the C.I.A. involves a former Iraqi general who died of asphyxiation after being stuffed head-first into a sleeping bag at the base at an American base in Al Asad, in western Iraq, on Nov. 26, 2003, after several days of interrogation. The questioning involved beatings by a group that included at least one C.I.A. contract worker. One official said that case was never referred to the Justice Department for prosecution.

Mr. Passaro is awaiting trial in North Carolina in connection with his role in a fourth case, involving the death of a prisoner in Afghanistan in June 2003.

It was not previously known that the C.I.A. had sent eight dossiers to the Justice Department. An article by The New York Times in February said only that the C.I.A. inspector general had made at least two such referrals, asking that the Justice Department review the cases for possible prosecution.

All of the cases have been reviewed by the C.I.A. inspector general, and in at least two of the cases - the deaths at the Salt Pit and Abu Ghraib - the individuals could still face punishment by internal accountability review boards, which could be convened at the discretion of Porter J. Goss, director of the agency.

Ah, yes, the spectacularly successful Porter Goss, against whom the entire Agency is in open revolt.

The Week Ahead

Walter Pincus's Fitzmas story includes a decent tick-tock, for those who need to catch up.

Letter Shows Authority to Expand CIA Leak Probe Was Given in '04

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 23, 2005; Page A05

Weeks after he took over the investigation 22 months ago into the unauthorized disclosure of a CIA operative's identity, special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald got authority from the Justice Department to expand his inquiry to include any criminal attempts to interfere with his probe, according to a letter posted Friday on Fitzgerald's new Web site.

Fitzgerald is nearing a decision on whether he will prosecute anyone when the federal grand jury term ends Friday. The letter specified that he could investigate and prosecute "perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence and intimidation of witnesses."

According to a lawyer familiar with the case, the current speculation about such charges eventually arising appeared to have occurred to Fitzgerald in the first months of his inquiry.

In a letter dated Feb. 6, 2004, then-Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey said that he was clarifying, "at your [Fitzgerald's] request," the added authority to investigate and prosecute "crimes committed with intent to interfere with your investigation." Fitzgerald's appointment as special counsel on Dec. 30, 2003, after then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft recused himself, gave him specific authority to investigate "the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee's identity," according to another letter from Comey posted on the Web site.

"The fact that he [Fitzgerald] asked for authority that he probably already had, but wanted spelled out, makes it arguable that he had run into something rather quickly," Washington lawyer Plato Cacheris said yesterday.

The investigation was triggered by a July 14, 2003, syndicated column by Robert D. Novak in which he identified Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. Plame's husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, had been sent to Niger to check whether Iraq was trying to get uranium from that country. Novak wrote that two senior administration officials had suggested that Wilson's wife had proposed him for the trip.

After Novak's column appeared, the CIA notified the Justice Department that publication of Plame's name and CIA employment was an unauthorized leak of classified information. The CIA then looked into whether the disclosure had caused damage to Plame and to people familiar with Plame and her job at the agency. The CIA's report went to the Justice Department, which determined in late September 2003 that a criminal investigation of the leak should be initiated.

Ashcroft recused himself because the inquiry would focus on White House personnel. Comey then named Fitzgerald, a highly regarded prosecutor and the U.S. attorney in northern Illinois, as special counsel.

I have no idea what is going to happen, but I thought it was interesting that Fitzgerald's DC staff unveiled a new website at their DC office rather than his Chicago homebase last week.

Enough Already

Tropical Storm Alpha Sets Mark for Storms

By RON WORD
The Associated Press
Saturday, October 22, 2005; 10:49 PM

MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Alpha formed Saturday in the Caribbean, setting the record for the most named storms in an Atlantic hurricane season and marking the first time forecasters had to turn to the Greek alphabet for names.

The previous record of 21 named storms had stood since 1933. Alpha was the 22nd to reach tropical storm strength this year, and the season doesn't end until Nov. 30.

At 8 p.m. EDT, Alpha had sustained winds of about 40 mph _ 1 mph over the threshold for a tropical storm.

It was centered about 70 miles south of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and moving northwest at about 15 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

A tropical storm warning was in place for Haiti and parts of the Dominican Republic, and a tropical storm watch was in effect for the Turks and Caicos islands and the southeastern Bahamas.

Since 1995, the Atlantic has been in a period of higher hurricane activity, a cycle expected to last at least another 10 years.

Scientists say the cause of the increase is a rise in ocean temperatures and a decrease in the amount of disruptive vertical wind shear that rips hurricanes apart.

The busy seasons are part of a natural cycle that can last for at least 20 years, and sometimes 40 to 50, forecasters at the hurricane center say. The current conditions, they say, are similar to those in the 1950s and 60s.

The U.S. Gulf Coast has been battered this year by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Dennis _ and Wilma will be next. It had sustained winds of about 100 mph as it moved over the Yucatan Peninsula on Saturday and was expected to turn northeast, pushed by a strong wind current, and approach southern Florida on Monday. A hurricane watch was in effect for the state's entire southern peninsula.

Wilma was the last on the list of 21 storm names for 2005; the letters q, u, x, y and z are skipped. The Greek alphabet provides a continuation of that list but had never been used in six decades of regularly naming Atlantic storms.

Sigh. And it ain't over. Tropical storms are unusual this late in the year, but it is a measure of the amount of heat that the Carribean has picked up this year. I have to admit that I'll be surprised if we see Tropical Storm Beta. Surprised but not shocked. I'm ready for this to be over: the climatologists at the NOAA are predicting a warmer and dryer winter for the mid-atlantic.

A Little Bit of Everything and Why I'm Here

I grew up on "City Chicken Legs." Nobody where I grew up ate pork or veal shoulder so the meats were relatively cheap. There is something about this recipe which is addictive, and I expect it is the proximity of the two meats. I'm trying to get as close to my grandmother's recipe as I can here, she was the pro and gave the recipe to my mother. When my mother asked me what I wanted for dinner on my birthday when I was a child, I invariably asked for these and the memory of the taste is evocative of those simpler times. The aromatic vegetables and stock along with slow cooking are critical for this recipe. The meat will fall apart on the fork.

Mock Chicken Drumsticks (City Chicken) 6 servings

Cut into 1-1/2 inch cubes:
1 pound veal shoulder
1 pound pork shoulder
(the butcher may be willing to do this for you and it saves a lot of waste)

Arrange the veal and pork cubes alternately on 6 skewers. Press the pieces close together into the shape of a drumstick. Roll the meat in flour seasoned with salt and pepper

Beat 1 egg, 2 tablespoons water

Dip the sticks into the diluted egg then roll them in the rest of the flour (do all of this flouring in a paper bag, roll it closed at the top and shake them well then discard the bag when done. No flour all over you, your fingers or the kitchen and no nasty dirty dish.)

Heat a skillet and brown a quarter cup of minced onion in a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Cook the onions until translucent and remove. In the same skillet, braise a half cup each of finely chopped celery and carrot in beef stock. Cook the stock down by half and reserve both stock and veggies. Wipe out the pan.

Add two more tablespoons of oil to the skillet and brown the skewers of meat well. Cover the bottom of the skillet with boiling beef stock or stock substitute or water and add the braised vegetables. Put a lid on the skillet and cook the meat over a very slow fire until it is tender, about an hour. Thicken the gravy with flour (2 tablespoons four to 1 cup of liquid). If preferred, the skillet may be covered and placed in a slow oven 325 degrees F. Until the meat is tender. The braising liquid should be just barely above the simmer.

These unlikely sounding birds are extraordinarily tasty. They don't taste like either pork or veal (or chicken, for that matter.) but the name is a creation of the Victorian era where making "mock" foods was all the rage. I like to serve them with Minnesota Wild Rice to soak up the sauce and french green beens with slivered almonds. A Merlot would fit well with the combination. For dessert, sponge cake with thawed frozen berries topped with powdered sugar and a spritz of whipped cream. This is a winter recipe.

I never saw a can of beef stock, or made it, until I was out of my teens. My mother made everything with bouillion cubes. To this day, I keep them in the cupboard if I need to come up with a stock really quickly and don't have time to make one from scratch. They aren't perfect, but they are good enough. That bottle of Bovril has come in handy for soups and gravies more times than I can remember. Don't be a food snob. Prepared concentrated stock flavorings have more sodium than I would like, but they can also add that instant boost of base flavor that you can't get without a stock. The professional trade has stock bases that you can buy that don't have all the added chemicals. Sometimes you can find them at places like Whole Foods if you don't have access to the trade places. I've even found them in my local humongous chain store. My Brother The Chef gets them at the local grocery store, but the coverage is a little spottier here.

Veal Birds, Mock Chicken Legs or City Chicken, whatever you call it, these freeze well after cooking. Take one out of the freezer and nuke it for dinner. Also, they are better the second day. Delicious for dinner on night one, they are fabulous hot or cold for lunch on day two. The only good memories I have of high school are the lunches my mother would pack me. And a half dozen really spectacular teachers who inculcated into me a lifelong love of learning and reading. But I wouldn't have been learning without those superb lunches my mother packed. How can you tell she loves you? She threaded the leftover rare sirloin steak from Sunday dinner in long slices onto toothpicks in a plastic bag, sliced fresh oranges into another bag, and cubes of cheese into a third. All before getting ready to be at work herself at 7:30. Needless to say, I rarely forgot my lunch. I was glad that my locker had a sturdy lock on it. Cafeteria food back then didn't include a salad bar and a pizza station. Those of you who are my age will remember. Mystery meat AND mystery vegetables. The stench of the kitchen is what I remember from every school I walked into for debate meets and speech tournaments.

Just a Bump in the Beltway: policy wonking since 1970, one way or another. I gave my first universal healthcare speech in 1970. I won second place at State that year in Original Oratory.

Speaking of which, I spoke to the national conference of the Universal Health Care Activist Network this evening for their annual conference and dinner. I'm going to have to get used to doing more of this, The Flu Lady is who I've become and people want me for public health issues. The calendar is filling up, and this is a good thing. Knowledge is power, and the The Flu Wiki is about saving lives. Pass it on. Please pass it on.

Blame Game

Tim Rutten: Regarding Media
How Miller was used by source
In an extraordinary memo on the Judith Miller affair sent to the New York Times staff late Friday afternoon, the paper's executive editor, Bill Keller, did something far more important than admit errors and explain why they occurred.

He took the focus of this lacerating incident off the Times' internal workings as a media institution and put it squarely where it belongs: on Miller, the individual journalist.

Miller is the Times reporter who spent more than two months in jail for refusing to reveal the identity of a confidential source to a federal grand jury investigating whether presidential political advisor Karl Rove, vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and others may have broken the law by revealing the identity of Valerie Plame, a covert agent of the CIA. Her cover may have been blown to punish her husband, former U.S. diplomat Joseph C. Wilson IV, who wrote an opinion article charging that President Bush had distorted intelligence reports on Saddam Hussein's purported attempts to purchase African uranium that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

As we now know, Libby was Miller's source. Keller's memo said, "If I had known the details of Judy's entanglement with Libby, I'd have been more careful in how the paper articulated its defense and perhaps more willing than I had been to support efforts aimed at exploring compromises." He also noted that Miller had misled her editors about whether she'd been "on the receiving end of the [administration's] anti-Wilson whispering campaign."

The Times is a great news organization with a newfound capacity for self-criticism and a demonstrated capacity to renew itself. Miller, the reporter, represents something far more persistent and pernicious in American journalism. She's virtually an exemplar of an all-too-common variety of Washington reporter: ambitious, self-interested, unscrupulous and intoxicated by proximity to power.

Unfortunately, she has also become the poster child in the push for a national reporter's shield law, and this week she went before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify for the Free Flow of Information Act. There, she didn't even blush when she told the lawmakers: "Confidential sources are the life's blood of journalism. Without them ... people like me would be out of business."

Probably so, but there's still a case to be made for this legislation.

In a 3,400-word personal account of her conduct, published in the Times last Sunday, Miller includes this extraordinary — and extraordinarily revealing — description of her second conversation with Libby, two days after Wilson's opinion piece had appeared:

"Our meeting, which lasted about two hours," she wrote, "took place over breakfast at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington ... I almost certainly began this interview by asking about Mr. Wilson's essay, which appeared to have agitated Mr. Libby. As I recall, Mr. Libby asserted that the essay was inaccurate."

Miller also recalled that, when she testified before the grand jury, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald "asked about a notation I made on the first page of my notes about this July 8 meeting, 'Former Hill staffer.'

"My recollection, I told him, was that Mr. Libby wanted to modify our prior understanding that I would attribute information from him to a 'senior administration official.' When the subject turned to Mr. Wilson, Mr. Libby requested that he be identified only as a 'former Hill staffer.' I agreed to the new ground rules because I knew that Mr. Libby had once worked on the Capitol Hill.

"Did Mr. Libby explain this request? Mr. Fitzgerald asked. No, I don't recall, I replied. But I said I assumed Mr. Libby did not want the White House to be seen as attacking Mr. Wilson."

You can bet he didn't. As the Los Angeles Times' Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger reported Friday, Libby was obsessed with Wilson and determined to discredit — and defame — him. Why take the chance of leaving your own fingerprints at the scene of the crime, when the Washington press corps continues to be studded with useful idiots like Miller, who would whack their own grandmothers for a byline above the fold.

I disagree with Ruten: yes, Miller is culpable for her own behavior, but Keller shares some of the blame for not supervising her closely.

The Unkindest Cut

Washington's Cold Shoulder

Published: October 22, 2005

The weather is turning cold, and home heating fuel is increasingly unaffordable. The Energy Department recently reported that households should expect to pay 48 percent more this year for natural gas, on average, and nearly a third more for oil and propane - assuming a "normal" winter and no further supply disruptions like Katrina.

In and of themselves, those increases will be too much for an estimated seven million low-income Americans, including old people, disabled people and families with children. On top of gasoline prices that are already high and wages that are stagnating, the rising cost of heating fuel is bound to be devastating.

Yet Congress is balking at approving an additional $3 billion in federal heating subsidies that would help meet the coming need. (Lawmakers allocated $2 billion to the subsidy program last summer, before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita sent prices soaring.) Earlier this month, and again on Thursday, measures in the Senate to provide the extra funds were defeated, largely by a bloc of Republican lawmakers, though with each vote, a handful of Republicans voted in favor and a few Democrats voted against.

At the same time, Republican majorities in Congress are unrelenting in their drive to pass $70 billion in new tax cuts this fall, most of them for wealthy investors, and $35 billion in spending cuts, most in programs that benefit the poor.

With Congress's priorities so obviously skewed, the best chance for adequate heating subsidies this winter lies with President Bush. Advocates for the poor are hoping that Mr. Bush will ask for the additional money in a future hurricane-related emergency spending request to Congress. But so far, Mr. Bush has not said whether he will ask for more heating aid, and, if so, when or how much.

I'm dreading my heating bills this winter.

Resolve This

Bush Voices Resolve, Invoking the Cold War Reagan

By Michael A. Fletcher and John Pomfret
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 22, 2005; A02

SIMI VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 21 -- Comparing his determination to overcome terrorists to the resolve of Ronald Reagan to confront the Soviet Union, President Bush said Friday that Islamic radicalism is doomed to failure because he will not yield until it is defeated.

Speaking before several hundred guests at the opening of a new pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Bush attempted to grasp the mantle of Reagan, who he said demonstrated that the key to victory is "the resolve to stay in the fight until the fight was won."

Joined by former first lady Nancy Reagan, Bush made his remarks in a new, glass-walled pavilion housing an Air Force One jetliner that carried Reagan, Bush and five other presidents on more than 1,400 flights covering about 1.3 million miles.

Bush sought to embrace the legacy of Reagan, an icon of modern conservatism, even as his presidency is wobbling under multiple problems, including intensifying criticism from some on the right who say he has betrayed them.

Angry about the staggering cost of several Bush initiatives, including the Medicare prescription drug plan and the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, some conservatives are pushing back. In Congress, some budget hawks have balked at the Katrina spending, insisting on spending cuts to offset it. But many of the proposed cuts would affect programs targeting the poor, who suffered the most from the hurricane.

Some conservatives are outraged that Bush passed over several well-known and well-respected conservative jurists to nominate White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Miers, who spent decades as a high-powered corporate lawyer but whose constitutional views are a mystery, has been attacked by some on the right as an intellectual lightweight with questionable conservative credentials.

Robert H. Bork, Reagan's 1987 Supreme Court nominee who was rejected by the Senate, has called the Miers pick "a disaster on every level." Writing in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal he went further, declaring that "Bush has not governed as a conservative" and has proven to "be indifferent, if not actively hostile, to conservative values."

Emphases mine. "Resolve" doesn't cut it anymore.

Falling Down on the Job

Miers' Answer Raises Questions
# Legal experts find a misuse of terms in her Senate questionnaire 'terrible' and 'shocking.'

By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Asked to describe the constitutional issues she had worked on during her legal career, Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers had relatively little to say on the questionnaire she sent to the Senate this week.

And what she did say left many constitutional experts shaking their heads.

At one point, Miers described her service on the Dallas City Council in 1989. When the city was sued on allegations that it violated the Voting Rights Act, she said, "the council had to be sure to comply with the proportional representation requirement of the Equal Protection Clause."

But the Supreme Court repeatedly has said the Constitution's guarantee of "equal protection of the laws" does not mean that city councils or state legislatures must have the same proportion of blacks, Latinos and Asians as the voting population.

"That's a terrible answer. There is no proportional representation requirement under the equal protection clause," said New York University law professor Burt Neuborne, a voting rights expert. "If a first-year law student wrote that and submitted it in class, I would send it back and say it was unacceptable."

Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan, also an expert on voting rights, said she was surprised the White House did not check Miers' questionnaire before sending it to the Senate.

"Are they trying to set her up? Any halfway competent junior lawyer could have checked the questionnaire and said it cannot go out like that. I find it shocking," she said.

White House officials say the term "proportional representation" is "amenable to different meanings." They say Miers was referring to the requirement that election districts have roughly the same number of voters.

In the 1960s, the Supreme Court adopted the "one person, one vote" concept as a rule under the equal protection clause. Previously, rural districts with few voters often had the same clout in legislatures as heavily populated urban districts. Afterward, their clout was equal to the number of voters they represented. But voting rights experts do not describe this rule as "proportional representation," which has a specific, different meaning.

"Either Miers misunderstood what the equal protection clause requires, or she was using loose language to say something about compliance with the one-person, one-vote rule," said Richard L. Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in election law. "Either way, it is very sloppy and unnecessary. Someone should have caught that."

Wow, is Bushco ever mishandling this one! Her "murder boards" are going to have to be spectacular to get her through the hearings without a disqualifying gaffe.

Falling and Failing

A Split Between The Times & Miller?
Editor Says Reporter May Have Misled The Newspaper in Plame Leak Case

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 22, 2005; Page C01

New York Times executives "fully encouraged" reporter Judith Miller in her refusal to testify in the CIA leak investigation, a stance that led to her jailing, and later told Miller she could not continue at the paper unless she wrote a first-person account, her attorney said yesterday.

The comments by Robert Bennett came as Executive Editor Bill Keller accused Miller of apparently misleading the newspaper about her dealings with Vice President Cheney's top aide, signaling the first public split between Miller and the management of a newspaper that had fully embraced her in the contentious legal battle.

Bennett, Miller's lawyer, said he argued with Times executives that her agreement with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to testify before a grand jury did not entitle her to put "in the newspaper" her off-the-record conversations with Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff.

Disputing a lengthy Times story last Sunday in which Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said that "this car had her hand on the wheel," Bennett said Sulzberger and Keller "were making it very clear what they thought she should do. . . . She may be controversial in some things, but the bottom line is she spent 85 days in jail, mostly on a principle which the New York Times fully encouraged her to assert." He added that the executives left the final decision to Miller.

Bennett's comments, in response to a reporter's inquiry, followed a memo to the Times staff in which Keller distanced himself from Miller even while acknowledging several mistakes on his part.

"Until Fitzgerald came after her," Keller wrote, "I didn't know that Judy had been one of the reporters on the receiving end of the . . . whisper campaign" against Joe Wilson, the husband of CIA operative Valerie Plame. "I should have wondered why I was learning this from the special counsel, a year after the fact." Citing a 2003 conversation with Miller that was recalled by Washington bureau chief Philip Taubman, Keller wrote: "Judy seems to have misled Phil Taubman about the extent of her involvement."

Further, Keller said, "if I had known the details of Judy's entanglement with Libby, I'd have been more careful in how the paper articulated its defense and perhaps more willing than I had been to support efforts aimed at exploring compromises."

It's clear from this and other accounts I've read that Judy is a head case who should never have been at the paper in the first place. That no one was looking over her shoulder AT ALL is a scandal of poor management. It's discouraging to watch the Gray Lady descend further into disgrace.

No Magic Bullet

Run on Drug for Avian Flu Has Physicians Worried

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 22, 2005; Page A01

What fallout shelters were to worries about the Bomb, and duct tape and plastic sheeting were to fears of terrorism after Sept. 11, Tamiflu is starting to be for the specter of pandemic influenza.

Across the country, people appear to be building home stockpiles of the prescription antiviral medicine, according to reports by drugstores, pharmaceutical benefit managers and physicians.

Retail demand for Tamiflu, considered the first line of defense against avian flu, took a sharp upturn last month. Health officials fear supplies will not be available for patients who need it, in the case of a pandemic.

The run on Tamiflu was apparently spurred by government warnings, here and abroad, that chances for a worldwide flu epidemic are rising, and by news that Southeast Asia's H5N1 bird flu -- the leading candidate for a pandemic -- is moving westward.

For more than a year, demand for the drug, known generically as oseltamivir, has been rising as more than three dozen countries began to lay in millions of doses for national stockpiles. Retail demand, however, took a sharp upturn last month. A five-day course of two pills a day costs $80 to $90.

The trend worries many physicians and public health experts because widespread home stockpiling could undermine international efforts to fight a flu pandemic. Some doctors are refusing their patients' requests except in special circumstances.

"I do know that I personally can't give everybody who wants Tamiflu a prescription for it. It just doesn't seem right to me," said Harry Oken, 51, an internist in Columbia. "If there really was an avian flu epidemic, people who don't need it have it, and people who really need it can't get it."

Oken said he and his four partners at Charter Internal Medicine are each getting one or two calls a week from patients seeking the medicine. They have agreed not to prescribe it for home stockpiles.

"Last week a patient of mine called about having Tamiflu on hand, and I must have been on the phone with him for 20 minutes. He wanted four prescriptions. We went back and forth on all the issues, and he finally asked, 'Well, what would you do?' "

"I told him, 'Well, I'm not writing it for my family,'" Oken said. He knows that some doctors are keeping a supply for their own use but believes "that's not right, either."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Infectious Diseases Society of America are each drawing up advice to practitioners on the issue of home stockpiles, spokesmen said this week. With no vaccine available yet, an abundant supply of Tamiflu is one of the few weapons public health agencies could wield to try to stop an emerging pandemic. Mathematical models published this summer by two research teams concluded that spread of a contagious new strain of influenza virus could be slowed or even stopped by widespread use of Tamiflu at the outbreak site. Other experts, however, think that even with unlimited quantities of the drug, this is unrealistic.

I was IMing with DemfromCT, one of my Flu Wiki partners last night and we were talking about Tamiflu, among other things. Americans are used to thinking that drugs are a silver bullet that will cure whatever ails you. Tamiflu is not. It is not a cure for flu. At best, it may shorten the duration and severity of a flu infection. Whether or not it is even effective against H5N1 influenza is unknown.

Do not regard Tamiflu as your firewall against pathogenic flu. What you really need to be thinking about is behavior modification and preparation. There is no substitution for compulsive hand-washing, keeping your hands away from your face, and adequate supplies of food and water to weather extended home isolation.

Busy Saturday

Yes, I got a late start this morning, owing to an attack of comment spam over night which needed to be deleted, and then the entire site needed to be rebuilt. Over the next month, the site will be moved to the new version of Movable Type in order to make it spam proof, but that will take time and money. If you can help with the latter, hit the Paypal link up on the top right. Thanks if you can help. You'll get a better browsing experience and a blogger who is a little less frazzled.

Today is going to be really busy. I've got a speaking engagement late afternoon into evening, so guest posters, feel free to chime in.

Global Climate Change

Are we heading for a new winter of discontent?
By Jonathan Brown, Jeremy Laurance and Barrie Clement
Published: 22 October 2005

Britain could be left paralysed by energy shortages, a health crisis and gridlock on the roads if the predicted Arctic winter strikes with severity.

Prolonged sub-zero temperatures after nearly a decade of mild winters could result in the death of tens of thousands of people, with fears that the National Health Service faces the prospect of a full-blown winter bed shortage for the first time since Labour came to power in 1997.

The Confederation of British Industry warned that power shortfalls caused by the rising domestic demand to keep warm and Britain's dwindling strategic stockpiles could lead to factory shutdowns and a return to the three-day week. At present, only 11 days' supply of gas is being held in reserve, compared with 55 days' worth elsewhere in Europe. Consumer groups fear that hardest hit will be members of the two million poor households already struggling to cope with the 40 per cent rise in energy prices since 2003.

Transport specialists also warn that the authorities have not acted fast enough to keep motorways and other routes open in the event of heavy snowfalls. The situation would be worse in Scotland.

Concern has been mounting since the Meteorological Office took the unprecedented step of issuing a long-range forecast predicting the likelihood of a much harsher-than-average winter. The "amber alert" was based on lower-than-average sea temperatures recorded near Iceland and off the Azores this spring. The findings are a typical precursor for a phenomenon known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) which has resulted in some of the harshest winters on record. The effects of the NAO were felt most spectacularly in 1963, when temperatures dropped as low as minus 22C, the Thames iced over and large swaths of southern England were blanketed more than a foot of snow for weeks on end.

Forecasters say they are 67 per cent confident that this winter will be among the coldest on record, and are urgently working on models predicting exactly how cold it will be and for how long Britain will freeze. A spokesman said the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott,had been informed immediately, as had the NHS, the Highways Agency and other relevant departments. "We told them to go back and look at their plans. We have had nearly 10 years of warm winters and society has changed in that time," the Met Office spokesman said.

The Arctic temperatures could not come at a worse time for Britain's energy consumers. All six power companies have relentlessly increased prices in the past two years in the midst of worsening volatility in the global energy markets. Average customers can now expect to pay £750 a year on fuel costs. Already two million households are spending 10 per cent of their income on gas and electricity bills. Three-quarters of these are classified as vulnerable - among them the elderly, sick or very poor. "When it is really cold at a time when prices have already gone up dramatically, will people make the decision to keep warm? We pray to God that they do," said Adam Scorer, head of campaigns at Energywatch.

An extra 8,000 deaths are anticipated for every one degree centigrade that the temperature falls below the winter average. When home temperatures drop below 16C, resistance to respiratory diseases falls. Cold air temperatures lead to a rapid rise in the number of strokes and heart attacks.

A DoH spokeswoman said plans were being made to clear beds and cancel operations should the worst-case scenario unfold. A spokesman for the department said: "We are aware of the Met Office's severe weather forecast for this winter but we always prepare for the worst anyway." Concerns are growing that the Government has seriously underestimated the impact of an exceptionally cold winter on business. Sir Digby Jones, the director general of the CBI, said this week that "businesses will shut down" and that the biggest energy users will be forced to "throw the switch".

Demand peaked in the relatively mild January of 2003, when 449 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas were used. This year, total availability will be lower than in previous years at 476mcm - allowing a margin of error of just 6 per cent. Lord Woolmer of Leeds, chairman of the House of Lords European Union Committee, warned that the situation had deteriorated since he submitted a report on the supply situation last year.

North Sea supplies have been run down faster than envisaged over the summer to exploit high prices on the Continent. Meanwhile the European energy market, from which Britain must now import much of its supplies, remains unreformed, and serious doubts have been expressed that it can meet the extra demand.

The severe hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico means that production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been badly disrupted. Consignments destined for Britain have been diverted to the United States. Big industrial energy users, such as steel and chemical companies, may have tohalt production on very cold days to allow domestic suppliers to take precedence. "The Government said that voluntary agreements will be sufficient. But the real danger is that they may not be enough," Sir Digby said.

The Energy minister, Malcolm Wicks, dismissed the talk of a three-day week as "scaremongering". A Department of Trade and Industry spokesman said: "The market is likely to correct itself in the event of any shortfall of supplies. A mechanism is in place to restrict supplies to some parts of industry should the situation require it."

Britain could be left paralysed by energy shortages, a health crisis and gridlock on the roads if the predicted Arctic winter strikes with severity.

Prolonged sub-zero temperatures after nearly a decade of mild winters could result in the death of tens of thousands of people, with fears that the National Health Service faces the prospect of a full-blown winter bed shortage for the first time since Labour came to power in 1997.

The Confederation of British Industry warned that power shortfalls caused by the rising domestic demand to keep warm and Britain's dwindling strategic stockpiles could lead to factory shutdowns and a return to the three-day week. At present, only 11 days' supply of gas is being held in reserve, compared with 55 days' worth elsewhere in Europe. Consumer groups fear that hardest hit will be members of the two million poor households already struggling to cope with the 40 per cent rise in energy prices since 2003.

Transport specialists also warn that the authorities have not acted fast enough to keep motorways and other routes open in the event of heavy snowfalls. The situation would be worse in Scotland.

Concern has been mounting since the Meteorological Office took the unprecedented step of issuing a long-range forecast predicting the likelihood of a much harsher-than-average winter. The "amber alert" was based on lower-than-average sea temperatures recorded near Iceland and off the Azores this spring. The findings are a typical precursor for a phenomenon known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) which has resulted in some of the harshest winters on record. The effects of the NAO were felt most spectacularly in 1963, when temperatures dropped as low as minus 22C, the Thames iced over and large swaths of southern England were blanketed more than a foot of snow for weeks on end.

Forecasters say they are 67 per cent confident that this winter will be among the coldest on record, and are urgently working on models predicting exactly how cold it will be and for how long Britain will freeze. A spokesman said the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott,had been informed immediately, as had the NHS, the Highways Agency and other relevant departments. "We told them to go back and look at their plans. We have had nearly 10 years of warm winters and society has changed in that time," the Met Office spokesman said.

The Arctic temperatures could not come at a worse time for Britain's energy consumers. All six power companies have relentlessly increased prices in the past two years in the midst of worsening volatility in the global energy markets. Average customers can now expect to pay £750 a year on fuel costs. Already two million households are spending 10 per cent of their income on gas and electricity bills. Three-quarters of these are classified as vulnerable - among them the elderly, sick or very poor. "When it is really cold at a time when prices have already gone up dramatically, will people make the decision to keep warm? We pray to God that they do," said Adam Scorer, head of campaigns at Energywatch.

We aren't the only ones with energy problems.

Dead Parrot

Bird Imported to Britain from South America Dies of H5 While in Quarantine

LONDON (AFP) - A parrot imported from Latin America has become the first bird to die of avian flu in Britain, bringing the danger of the deadly virus much further west across the European Union as the global battle against the disease continues.

Meanwhile yet another avian flu outbreak was reported in Russia, this time in the southern Urals region of Chelyabinsk, and among swans at a Croatian lake.

Officials confirmed cases of the virus found in the parrot from Surinam, which died in British quarantine.

The parrot tested positive for the H5 strain of the bird flu virus. It arrived in Britain from South America last month and had been held with a consignment of birds from Taiwan, Britain's agriculture ministry said.

The chief veterinary officer declined to speculate whether it had the lethal H5N1 strain, which has spread to Romania and Turkey.

There's more in the story about the spread of avian flu in eastern Europe, but that's not the important bit.

Assuming the story means what it seems to mean - that the parrot was put in quarantine upon its importation to Britain, and died there - then it picked up the H5 virus in Surinam where it came from, or possibly from the Taiwanese birds it was quarantined together with. It says more about the risk to other parts of the world than to Britain.

Worst case scenario for us North Americans: if the parrot had H5N1, and brought it from Surinam, the avian flu is a lot closer to us than we thought. If it's present in South American birds now, then it's a good bet that migratory birds will bring it to North America in the spring. So keep an eye on this one.

Staff of Life

This is bread 101. The sturdy French Baguette isn't a bad place to start if you have never made bread before.

6 cups all-purpose flour, sieved
1/4-ounce active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
1-tablespoon cornmeal
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, yeast and salt. Stir in 2 cups of warm water and beat until well blended using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

On a lightly floured surface, knead in enough flour to make stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes total. Shape into a ball. Place dough in a greased bowl, and turn once. Cover, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled.

Punch the dough down and divide in half. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each half into a large rectangle. Roll up, starting from a long side. Moisten edges with water and seal. Taper the ends.

Grease a large baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place the loaves, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly beat the egg white with 1 tablespoon of water and brush on. Cover with a damp cloth. Let rise until it has nearly doubled, around 35 to 40 minutes.

With a very sharp knife, make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts about 1/4 inch deep across the top of each loaf. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for 20 minutes. Brush again with egg white mixture. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until the bread tastes done. If necessary, cover loosely with foil to prevent over browning. Remove from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.

After the dough has risen once, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. The recipe we use calls for the dough to be separated into 3 equal pieces. Other recipes may yield more or less dough and recommend portioning the dough differently. Be sure to consult the recipe you are using before portioning the dough. Use a dough cutter to portion the dough. Properly portioned dough will ensure that the baguettes bake in a consistent amount of time.

A baguette needs to be rolled tight so that it will rise well. Flatten the portioned dough with the palm of your hand to force out any excess gas. Roll the dough up and away from you, tucking it in with your fingers as you roll. You should feel the outside of the dough stretch, but not tear, as you roll.

A seam will be formed when the dough piece is completely rolled up. Unless the seam is sealed the dough can unroll as it rises and bakes. Seal the seam by pinching both sides together tightly. If the dough doesn't seal, moisten the seam slightly with water and pinch the sides together again.

Begin stretching the dough by placing your hands on either side of the loaf's center. While applying gentle downward and outward pressure, roll the dough back and forth on the work surface. The loaf should lengthen and you should feel the dough stretch, but not tear.

Now we have our 3 rolled loaves. Don't worry if your baguettes are a little misshapen; it takes a lot of practice to make perfect baguettes.

Place the dough on trays that have been sprinkled with cornmeal. Place the dough in a warm area to rise for 30 to 45 minutes.

Once the dough has risen it will be nearly double in size. If mishandled, the dough may fall and you will have a tough, flat baguette.

Bake at 480º F for at least 20 minutes. A trick to making good baguettes is to steam the oven at the beginning of the bake. Spraying water on the surface of the loaves before you put them in the oven is one way to create steam. Placing a baking tray full of ice cubes or water on the bottom of the oven will also cause a steaming effect. When the loaves are done they should be golden brown and their bottoms should sound hollow when tapped.

Allow a minimum of 1 hour for the baguette to cool before eating.

And then go and have fun.

Bread is both work and therapy. I bake when I have some serious issues to work out.

If you are the only person in the neighborhood who knows how to bake bread when panflu comes, work out your audience accordingly. It will pay you later.

Roast Tenderloin of Beef

So, how do you roast a whole beef tenderloin?

These things come cryovaced from the processors these days and not aged for the household market. See if you can find an online or local butcher who has them aged. The difference is stunning.

A 2-4 pound tenderloin will feed 6-8. Or, if your party is smaller, you'll have lots of great leftovers.

If you can't get aged beef, remove your precious from its vac-sleeve. Let it rest on paper towels and dry the surface completely. Give it an hour at room temperature and then put it in an appropriate sized cassarole dish and cover it with: 3 crushed cloves of garlic, 1/2 cup olive oil, a boatload of black pepper, a tot of wine vinegar and a splash of red wine and return it, doused now, to the fridge, covered with plastic wrap. Let it marinade at least an hour, but overnight is splendid.

Prepare your Roemertopf as usual and remove the roast from the fridge. When the pot is ready, lay the beef on a bed of carrots and celery. Pour the marinade over and cook at 500 degrees for an hour for medium rare. Let the roast rest in the pot for ten minutes before carving to acheive medium on the thin end. You'll want some baked or boiled potatoes on the side (twice baked potatoes are very nice with this. Split them open when they are 3/4 of the way done and mix the innerds with Allouette herbed cheese mixed with the potato and then return the mixture to the potato shell and let them finish roasting to a golden brown crust. Grease the potato skin with olive oil before roasting if you like them crispy. This is positively sinful. One of these potatoes and a salad makes a meal for a small person such as myself, but I'm prob'ly going to regret the carbs later. Sigh. Pogge, the reveres and DemfromCT are all skinny. I am not.

Want to know what to do with the leftovers? Eye this toothsome picture and recipe and I suspect you'll know all that you need to. Pay the premium for locally grown, organic beef at your local farmers' market and support their work. After all, how often do you eat beef? Skip the middleman and support your local farmers, egg growers, cheesemakers and winegrowers. When the panflu comes, if it does, we'll be relying on our local growers. And God bless them, please.
'

Cute Panda Video...

...for a rainy Friday afternoon.

Video link.

Animal Planet Link.

This Ain't the End of It

Hunger strikers allege 'force feed torture' at Guantánamo

Jamie Wilson in Washington
Friday October 21, 2005
The Guardian

Prisoners on hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay have alleged US troops punished them by repeatedly inserting and removing dirty feeding tubes until the detainees vomited blood.

Declassified notes released by defence lawyers for three men being held at the prison camp on Cuba said the prisoners came to view the large feeding tubes - described as the thickness of a finger - as objects of torture. "They were forcibly shoved up the detainees' noses and down into their stomachs," the lawyers reported to a federal judge in August. "No anaesthesia or sedative was provided."

According to their affidavits force feedings resulted in prisoners "vomiting up substantial amounts of blood. When they vomited up blood, the soldiers mocked and cursed at them, and taunted them with statements like 'look what your religion has brought you'."

Yousef al-Shehri, 21, of Saudi Arabia, said guards had removed a nasal feeding tube from one prisoner and reinserted it into another without cleaning it. Another said a navy doctor had put a tube in his nose and down his throat and "kept moving the tube up and down" until he finally "started violently throwing up blood".

If Bushco were smart, they would get it all out at once, given American's short attention spans. Given how distracted the White House is right now, they run the risk of death by a thousand cuts.

A Case for Government Intervention

Slouching Toward Disaster
In a flu pandemic, many of us may pay the ultimate price for our sluggish national leadership.

By Paul Starr
Web Exclusive: 10.21.05

Most of us do not ordinarily consider our lives to be at stake in matters of public policy. The prospect of an avian flu pandemic, however, puts us all in jeopardy, and if the dilatory response of the Bush administration proves fatal in this case as it did after August 2001, when the president was told that Osama bin Laden was about to strike within the United States yet did nothing, or in the years leading up to Hurricane Katrina, when engineers repeatedly warned that the levees in New Orleans were inadequate, we will pay an even greater price for our slothful, ideologically driven, and crony-ridden national leadership than in either of the epochal disasters that have so far befallen America in the Bush years.

Scientific concern about avian flu did not just emerge recently, though one might have thought so from the flurry of administration activity this past month. Nor is the concern about a pandemic solely the result of the appearance of the H5N1 virus and the high mortality rate among the small number of known cases. Flu pandemics are a recurrent historical phenomenon. The concern about flu is not like the anxiety about killer asteroids, which, it is true, have struck before -- millions of years ago. The flu pandemic that took 50 million to 100 million lives worldwide in 1918 was followed by lesser pandemics in 1957 and 1968. Scientists have told us for years that it was not a question of “if” but “when” another flu pandemic would strike.

Yet, in recent years, the United States allowed itself to become totally dependent on foreign manufacture of flu vaccine -- sources that would be grossly inadequate, in both quantity and speed of production, in the event of a pandemic. For national defense, we refuse to become similarly dependent on foreign suppliers of weapons; indeed, the Department of Defense tries to maintain more than one supplier for its various needs. Vaccines ought to fall under that same policy, and for much the same reason: Our lives may depend on the availability of multiple domestic sources in a crisis. Although one manufacturing facility for flu vaccine is now under construction in the United States, it will still leave us far short of the necessary capacity.

Conservatives, always ready to blame the tort system, say pharmaceutical manufacturers have fled the vaccine business because of the potential liability, and that if we want them to make vaccines, the government should absolve them of any liability for defects. But, as there is a serious risk of contamination in vaccine production, eliminating liability could invite new dangers. The real problem is that, given the size of the market, the commercial incentives to invest in vaccine development and production are incommensurate with the social need. Sales of all vaccines represent only 2 percent of the total market for pharmaceuticals. Unlike the most profitable drugs, which need to be taken frequently, a vaccine is typically given once or a few times. Every year, because of mutations in the virus, the flu vaccine must be changed, and the past year’s unsold inventory becomes worthless.

This is an instance, in other words, where government has to provide the incentives -- and direction -- that the market cannot be expected to generate on its own. The threat of a flu pandemic demands large-scale public financial commitments, comprehensive planning, a crash effort to develop new vaccine technologies and build new facilities to produce both vaccines and antiviral drugs, and local public-health preparedness. Unfortunately, none of these things comes naturally or quickly to an administration averse to bold public action and in a society where public-health organization has suffered long neglect. Trying to assure the public he’s on the case, the president has spoken of calling in the military to quarantine affected regions -- a display of his instincts that showed just how little he understands the problem.

I've commented on this before: Bush may have read Barry's book, but he clearly learned nothing from it. You can't stop a pandemic with a military enforced quarantine. The idea is both idiotic and expensive.

We are on our own. Read The Flu Wiki to learn what you can do to keep your family and friends safe.

Augery

Fitzgerald Launches Web Site

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, October 21, 2005; 1:00 PM

Special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has just launched his own brand-new Web site .

Could it be that he's getting ready to release some new legal documents? Like, maybe, some indictments? It's certainly not the action of an office about to fold up its tents and go home.

Fitzgerald spokesman Randall Samborn minimized the significance of the Web launch in an interview this morning.

"I would strongly caution, Dan, against reading anything into it substantive, one way or the other," he said. "It's really a long overdue effort to get something on the Internet to answer a lot of questions that we get . . . and to put up some of the documents that we have had ongoing and continued interest in having the public be able to access."

OK, OK. But will the Web site be used for future documents as well?

"The possibility exists," Samborn said.

Among the documents currently available on the site:

* The December 30, 2003, memo from then-acting attorney general James B. Comey establishing Fitzgerald as an independent special counsel with "all the authority of the Attorney General with respect to the Department's investigation into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee's identity."

* A Feb. 6, 2004, follow-up confirming that his mandate "includes the authority to investigate and prosecute violations of any federal laws related to the underlying alleged unauthorized disclosure, as well as federal crimes committed in the course of, and with intent to interfere with, your investigation."

The Web site is "bare bones" and is "still a work in progress," Samborn said. "We have some document formatting issues that we're still resolving." As a result, the site has not yet been officially announced -- although there is a link from Fitzgerald's home page as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois .
Up until now, the only official repository for documents related to the special counsel's investigation had been a page on the U.S. District Court's Web site. But it only included court motions and rulings.

Incidentally, if you call the number the new Web site lists for Fitzgerald's D.C. office, the phone is somewhat mysteriously answered "counterespionage section."

But as Samborn explained to me, that's because the special prosecutor is borrowing space in the Justice Department's Bond Building from the counterespionage section. "The office of special counsel doesn't really have its own dedicated space," he said.

I suspect that Froomkin is correctly interpreting the tea leaves.

Unimpressive

Stand Down
Miers signals to the right, uselessly.
By Emily Bazelon
Posted Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005, at 2:08 PM PT

Harriet Miers tried. She tried to reassure conservatives in her written responses to the Senate judiciary committee, and not only by handing over evidence that in the past she supported a near-total constitutional ban on abortion. Miers also signaled that she supports another fond hope of the right—shutting the doors of the federal courthouse to annoying plaintiffs, like the ones who don't like Ten Commandments displays in government buildings or clear-cutting in government forests. On the subject of raising the bar for the sorts of cases to be heard in a court, Miers was tapping out signals as furiously as John Roberts did. Maybe more furiously. But code gets the desired message across only when the receivers trust the sender.

In the last of 28 questions it posed to Miers a few weeks ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee asked her to "discuss your views" about various criticisms of "judicial activism." This isn't one that Sens. Arlen Specter and Patrick Leahy testily sent back for a do-over yesterday, because Miers diligently answered. She started with a platitude: "The role of the judiciary in our system of government is limited." But then she hit the nail harder: She explained that the federal district judge for whom she once clerked, Joe Estes, took pains to ensure that he stayed well within a federal court's designated limits. Estes' "first task—and therefore mine in assisting him—in every case before him was to examine whether the case was properly in court," Miers wrote. "Was there a party with standing? Did subject matter jurisdiction exist? Was venue proper?" If the answer to any of these questions was no, she continued, "the case was dismissed promptly." Summarizing the lesson she apparently took away from Estes' instruction, she concluded: " 'Judicial activism' can result from a court's reaching beyond its intended jurisdiction."

Worrying over standing (can this plaintiff bring this case?) and subject-matter jurisdiction (do the federal courts have the authority to hear a case?) is movement-conservative code for making it harder for plaintiffs in the political minority—atheists, tree-huggers—to throw a wrench into the work of legislatures by charging that the lawmakers have run afoul of the Constitution. (As this post on Volokh Conspiracy points out, venue is a bit of a misnomer here, since a case that's filed in the wrong "venue," or place, can presumably be sent somewhere else immediately rather than dismissed outright. Chalk that one up to the growing list of Miers' little legal errors.) If no one has standing to sue to take down a Ten Commandments monument, then you can pretty much cross the Establishment Clause out of your copy of the Constitution. Which is convenient—if you don't like what it says about separating church from state.

She's not ready for prime time. I haven't been to law school, but even I know enough con law to know she's talking red herrings.

Hear No Evil

A Palpable Silence at the White House
Few Ready to Face Effects of Leak Case

By Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 21, 2005; Page A01

At 7:30 each morning, President Bush's senior staff gathers to discuss the important issues of the day -- Middle East peace, the Harriet Miers nomination, the latest hurricane bearing down on the coast. Everything, that is, except the issue on everyone's mind.

With special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald driving his CIA leak investigation toward an apparent conclusion, the White House now confronts the looming prospect that no one in the building is eager to address: a Bush presidency without Karl Rove. In a capital consumed by scandal speculation, most White House senior officials are no more privy than outsiders to the prosecutor's intentions. But the surreal silence in the Roosevelt Room each morning belies the nervous discussions racing elsewhere around the West Wing.

Out of the hushed hallway encounters and one-on-one conversations, several scenarios have begun to emerge if Rove or vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis Libby is indicted and forced out. Senior GOP officials are developing a public relations strategy to defend those accused of crimes and, more importantly, shield Bush from further damage, according to Republicans familiar with the plans. And to help steady a shaken White House, they say, the president might bring in trusted advisers such as budget director Joshua B. Bolten, lobbyist Ed Gillespie or party chairman Ken Mehlman.

These tentative discussions come at a time when White House senior officials are exploring staff changes to address broader structural problems that have bedeviled Bush's second term, according to Republicans who said they could speak candidly about internal deliberations only if they are not named. But it remains unclear whether Bush agrees that changes are needed and the uncertainty has unsettled his team.

"People are very demoralized and unhappy," a former administration official said. "The leak investigation is [part of it], but things were not happy before this took preeminence. It's just been a rough year. A lot has gotten done, but nothing is easy."

The White House is paying the price for appointments of political cronies rather than competent professional across a broad swath of government. I've been hearing complaints from friends who work for the Feds for five years that all of their agencies are dysfunctional because the top appointments are both professionally incompetent and ideological hostile to the mission of the organization.

Where We Are

Challenges on many fronts

For now, Bush seems to be struggling to find his footing:

• He has disappointed many in the conservative bulwark of his party — the voters instrumental in twice electing him president — by nominating White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Conservatives had hoped that he would nominate a proven conservative in the mold of justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

The White House's challenge now is not to win Democratic senators' votes, but to hold on to enough Republicans to confirm her.

• Bush envisions that a democratic Iraq would be the catalyst for historic changes across the Middle East that would diminish the threat of terrorism and spread freedom.

Although Iraqis passed a constitution last week, violence continues in Iraq and democracy's advance in the Middle East is not rapid. In a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll last month, 53% of Americans said that the Iraq war was a mistake.

• The inadequate federal response to Hurricane Katrina undermined Bush's claim that he has made the government more competent. Jesse Jackson and other critics say the response raises doubts about his empathy for the minorities his party is trying to recruit. It distracted Bush for weeks as he made eight trips to the region to demonstrate his concern.

The huge price tag of cleanup and reconstruction limits Bush's options for future spending and makes it less likely that he will be able to fulfill a pledge to halve the federal budget deficit by 2009.

• The investigation into the leaking of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame could have implications for Bush's future success.

Reporters have told a grand jury that two of the administration's most powerful officials — deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby, Cheney's top adviser — discussed Plame with them. Whether they or anyone broke the law has yet to be determined by the special prosecutor looking into the matter.

Investigations into possible wrongdoing have also touched Republican leaders of Congress and may hurt all Republican candidates next year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into Senate Republican leader Bill Frist's sale of family stock from a blind trust. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was forced to leave his post after he was indicted on charges related to campaign financing. Both Frist and DeLay say they've done nothing wrong and hope to be exonerated before the elections.

"When you are under siege and you have to react to every day's crises and the media are in a feeding frenzy, it is hard to stay on message, let alone in control of your message," says Lanny Davis, who helped Clinton manage crises such as probes of his campaign fundraising.

"When problems reach a critical mass, as they have in this White House, a feeling of futility and a total lack of control sets in."

What has been accomplished

Bush's supporters say he has accomplished a lot despite his recent problems. John Roberts' nomination as chief justice was a success. A Central American trade agreement, a budget that extended some tax cuts, a highway bill and a law limiting payments in class-action lawsuits were passed this year, notes Republican strategist Charlie Black.

"We haven't had a bad year," he says. "Some things will be delayed ... but the president has three years to accomplish his agenda."

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who hopes to be the next chairman of the GOP's House campaign committee, says the party's congressional candidates will "be in a difficult situation if the poll numbers are the same next November." But he says there's time to turn things around, particularly if Republicans can rack up some legislative victories.

Republican Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker, has a more apocalyptic view. "This is the biggest turning point for the Republicans since Ronald Reagan won the nomination in 1980," he says. "We either are going to change substantially and become the party of change again or we're going to end up defending the indefensible."

This USAToday piece is a pretty decent summary of the trouble Bushco finds itself in. Republican over-reaching has taken it to the place Lord Acton described: absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Won't Go Away

Miers firm received Bush campaign payments
By FRANK BASS, Associated Press Writer
Last Updated 5:55 am PDT Friday, October 21, 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) - George W. Bush's rising political fortunes provided a windfall for Harriet Miers' law firm.

Campaign records show Bush's Texas gubernatorial campaigns paid Miers a total of $163,000 in legal fees, most of it for work done during the future president's 1998 re-election bid.

Some senators are planning to explore Miers' legal work for Bush during her confirmation process to be the newest Supreme Court justice, but the White House says it won't release any memos detailing that work.

"I think people across the country recognize the importance of attorney-client privilege," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission show that two payments of $70,000 were made to Miers' Locke, Purnell, Rain and Harrell firm in Dallas within a month of each other during the 1998 campaign. Another $16,000 in payments were made between March and December 1999.

The 1998 totals dwarfed the $7,000 Bush paid Miers' firm during his first run for governor in 1994, and are extremely large for campaign legal work in Texas, an expert said.

"I'm baffled," said Randall B. Wood, a partner in the Austin firm of Ray, Wood and Bonilla, and former director of Common Cause of Texas. "I've never seen that kind of money spent on a campaign lawyer. It's unprecedented."

The amount received by Locke, Purnell for the 1998 Texas race approaches the national tab for the 2004 Bush presidential re-election campaign, when at least $191,000 was spent on lawyers, Federal Election Commission records show.

In 2000, the Bush presidential campaign spent about $365,000 on legal services, the records show.

The Associated Press reviewed Texas records between 1993 and 2000, although detailed reports weren't available for the last half of 1995. A state commission spokeswoman said the panel had planned to retain all of the records because of their historic significance when Bush became president, but some were misplaced.

Dana Perrino, a White House spokeswoman, said the legal fees to Miers' firm were for routine campaign work, but declined to be more specific. Presidential aides declined to say whether Miers ever worked on researching Bush's past, such as his military record.

If Bush continues to push this nomination, he risks re-opening the entire Texas Air National Guard episode again. Given the boneheaded moves he is making these days, he had better hope the lapdog press continues to nap.

Popcorn Territory

By way of The Agonist, I came across this little gem in yesterday's National Review Online:

The Miers Support Team: Gloomy and Demoralized
Now they’re discussing stopping her visits to the Senate.

Strategists working with the White House in support of the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers are becoming increasingly demoralized and pessimistic about the nomination's prospects on Capitol Hill in the wake of Miers's meetings with several Republican and Democratic senators. On a conference call held this morning, they even discussed whether Miers should simply stop visiting with lawmakers, lest any further damage be done — and so that time spent in such get-acquainted sessions will not cut into Miers's intensive preparation for her confirmation hearing. The strategists discuss issues on a twice-weekly conference call led by Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of the Federalist Society who has taken leave to help the White House shepherd the nomination through the Senate. A number of people who have taken part in the calls described the conversations to National Review Online. None wanted to be identified, because they do not want to openly oppose the White House or defy loyalists like Leo who are trying hard to defend Miers. Nevertheless, they paint a grim portrait of morale among those close to the nomination.

"The number of participants is declining," says one knowledgeable source. "With Roberts, these calls occurred five or six or seven times a week. Pretty early on, the calls on Miers were scaled back to twice a week. That says something in and of itself."

"It's been a gradual descent into almost silence," says a second source of the calls. "The meetings with the senators are going terribly. On a scale of one to 100, they are in negative territory. The thought now is that they have to end....Obviously the smart thing to do would be to withdraw the nomination and have a do-over as soon as possible. But the White House is so irrational that who knows? As of this morning, there is a sort of pig-headed resolve to press forward, cancel the meetings with senators if necessary, and bone up for the hearings."

"They are going to be keeping the meetings that they've already scheduled," says a third source. "But they have scheduled murder boards today from 12 to 5. She has to focus on her hearing. And the questionnaire that wasn't filled out, to me that's an indication [the White House] hasn't done the vetting. She has to spend a lot of time discussing stuff that should have been done before. So between those two things — finishing the questionnaire and preparing for the hearing, which is going to be make or break — they prefer to put her time into that."

"In the early days, there were people on the call who tried to give facile defenses of Miers, and they were immediately shot down," says a fourth source. "And by the way, those defenses weren't as insulting as the White House line — no way would they have done the 'sexist, elitist' line."

Pretty amazing, isn't it?

Grow Up

The timeless art of flattery
# Harriet Miers. Eddie Haskell. Your co-workers. They've all indulged in currying favor with higher-ups. But the payoff isn't always clear -- unless you live in Los Angeles or Washington, where there seems to be no such thing as inappropriate fawning.

By Robin Abcarian, Times Staff Writer

Move over Eddie Haskell. Harriet E. Miers could teach you a thing or two about sucking up. Papers released last week by the Texas state archives show a woman who admired the boss and wasn't afraid to show it, with puppy dog cards and flowery notes in her own hand, often added to official typed correspondence.

"You are the best Governor ever — deserving of great respect!" Miers wrote to George W. Bush in a belated card for his 51st birthday. (Which is why the puppy on the front of the card has such a hangdog look). At the bottom of the greeting card, she added, "At least for thirty days — you are not younger than me." In a flowery thank you card, she wrote, "Hopefully Jenna and Barbara recognize that their parents are 'cool' — as do the rest of us … All I heard is how great you and Laura are doing … Texas is blessed!"

Her strong words of praise did not end after her boss attained the White House (taking her with him.) This week, lawmakers released some of her recent speeches and other public remarks. As recently as June, she told White House interns what a fantastic editor the president is: "All those editing skills and you should think the president was a lawyer himself. He works so constantly." In July, she told a Washington law firm, "My admiration for the president's leadership and Mrs. Bush's leadership has been reaffirmed on virtually a daily basis."

Can flattery this blatant work?

Can you say Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers? "Boy, is she good," says business consultant Richard Brenner of Chaco Canyon Associates in Boston. The little aside in the birthday card about their age difference is particularly impressive, he says.

"With that personal, almost private connection between the two of them, she is building a secret little treehouse where they can both sit sometimes."

As simple as it may sound, currying favor is a complicated dance. It can be fraught with danger — not just for the employee, but for the boss and the workplace. In his 2000 book, "You're Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery," Richard Stengel has a chapter called "Sucking Up to Caesar." Yes, it worked back then too.

"We like to think that the smarter a person is, the higher she ascends up the ladder of success, the less susceptible that individual is to flattery," Stengel writes. "In fact, the opposite seems to be the case. People of high self-esteem and accomplishment generally see the praise directed at them as shrewd judgment rather than flattery."

It doesn't always work, of course. And most people in positions of power like to believe they have built in, ah, baloney detectors. But no boss is entirely immune to blandishments from underlings.

"I have been a victim of false flattery and I have been a false flatterer," says Peter Guber, the former chief of Sony and Columbia studios. "Sometimes I recognized it after I've said it, or even when I've said it. I've basked in false praise."

If art lies in concealing art, unfortunately in Miers' case, says Guber, "the curtain has been pulled back." Not that he judges her poorly for her efforts. "The reality is she was trying to set an emotional tone for the relationship. I don't think that's necessarily always bad. It's a question of whether it's sincere."

Flattery and sincerity: a potent brew. For instance, Bush was a famously average student and has never pretended to be part of any intellectual elite. (In fact, he has honed his reputation as a regular guy over his years in public service.) So when former White House speechwriter David Frum wrote on his blog that he'd once heard Miers describe Bush as "the most brilliant man she'd ever met," tongues across the political spectrum were set wagging: Could she really mean it? And if she was sincere, did this reflect poorly on her judgment?

"I assume she is not sincere because if you're smart enough to be on the Supreme Court, you should be smarter than the president," says Ben Austin, who is working for Rob Reiner on his campaign for universal preschool in California.

In this day and age, perhaps the American centers of what social scientists call "ingratiatory behavior" are Hollywood and Washington, D.C., two places where flattery is not only the coin of the realm, but even when it's an obvious counterfeit, is still valuable to the recipient.

By the time one reaches a certain age, one should be able to have a certain dry-eyed ability to look at one's co-workers, know what one is seeing and act appropriately. Miers' behavior is juvenile.

Hubris Always Brings Nemesis

Bush Critic Became Target of Libby, Former Aides Say
# Cheney's chief of staff reportedly sought an aggressive campaign against Wilson.

By Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff was so angry about the public statements of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, a Bush administration critic married to an undercover CIA officer, that he monitored all of Wilson's television appearances and urged the White House to mount an aggressive public campaign against him, former aides say.

Those efforts by the chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, began shortly after Wilson went public with his criticisms in 2003. But they continued into last year — well after the Justice Department began an investigation in September 2003, into whether administration officials had illegally disclosed the CIA operative's identity, say former White House aides.

While other administration officials were maintaining a careful distance from Wilson in 2004, Libby ordered up a compendium of information that could be used to rebut Wilson's claims that the administration had "twisted" intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq before the U.S. invasion.

Libby pressed the administration to publicly counter Wilson, sparking a debate with other White House officials who thought the tactic would call more attention to the former diplomat and his criticisms. That debate ended after an April 2004 meeting in the office of White House Communications Director Daniel Bartlett, when staffers were told "don't engage" Wilson, according to notes taken during the meeting by one person present.

"Scooter had a plan to counter Wilson and a passionate desire to do so," said a second person, a former White House official familiar with the internal deliberations. Like other former White House staff, this person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing criminal investigation.

Libby's actions and those of top White House political advisor Karl Rove are being scrutinized as special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald concludes his 22-month investigation into the exposure of Wilson's wife, covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Fitzgerald is examining whether Plame's name was leaked to the media by administration officials in violation of a federal law that prohibits knowingly disclosing the identity of a covert agent.

Libby's anger over Wilson's 2003 charges has been known. But new interviews and documents obtained by The Times provide a more detailed view of the depth and duration of Libby's interest in Wilson. They also show that the vice president's office closely monitored news coverage.

On one occasion, the office prohibited a reporter from traveling with Cheney aboard Air Force Two, because the vice president's daughter said Cheney was unhappy with that newspaper's coverage.

Libby "would see something had appeared in the newspaper or on television and wanted to use the White House operation to counter it," one former official said.

After Wilson published a book criticizing the administration in April 2004, during the closely fought presidential campaign, Libby became consumed by passages that he believed were inaccurate or unfair to Cheney, former aides said. He ordered up a meticulous catalog of Wilson's claims and public statements going back to early 2003.

The result was a packet that included excerpts from press clips and television transcripts of Wilson's statements that were divided into categories, such as "political ties" or "WMD."

The compendium used boldfaced type to call attention to certain comments by Wilson, such as one in the Daily Iowan, the University of Iowa student newspaper, in which Wilson was quoted as calling Cheney "a lying son of a bitch." It also highlighted Wilson's answers to questions from television journalists about his work with Sen. John F. Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee.

The intensity with which Libby reacted to Wilson had many senior White House staffers puzzled, and few agreed with his counterattack plan or its rationale, former aides said.

I remember one of my mentors telling me to be careful who you step on while climbing your way up. You'll see them again on your way down.

Strange Voices

Miers: The Only Exit Strategy

By Charles Krauthammer

Friday, October 21, 2005; Page A23

It's no secret that I think the Harriet Miers nomination was a mistake. Nonetheless, when asked how she will do in her confirmation hearings, my answer is, I hope she does well. I have no desire to see her humiliated. Nor would I take any joy in seeing her rejected, though I continue to believe it would be best for the country that she not be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

And while I remain as exercised as anyone by the lack of wisdom of this choice, I part company with those who see the Miers nomination as a betrayal of conservative principles. The idea that Bush is looking to appoint some kind of closet liberal David Souter or even some rudderless Sandra Day O'Connor clone is wildly off the mark. The president's mistake was thinking he could sneak a reliable conservative past the liberal litmus tests (on abortion, above all) by nominating a candidate at once exceptionally obscure and exceptionally well known to him.

The problem is that this strategy blew up in his face. Her obscurity is the result of her lack of constitutional history, which, in turn, robs her of the minimum qualifications for service on the Supreme Court. And while, post-Robert Bork, stealth seems to be the most precious asset a conservative Supreme Court nominee can have, how stealthy is a candidate who has come out publicly for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion?

So, imagine the hearings. First she will have to pass an implicit competency test. As case upon case is thrown at her on national television, she dare not respond, as she apparently did to Sen. Chuck Schumer while making the rounds, that she will have to "bone up on this a little more." Then there will be the withering fire of conservatives such as Sen. Sam Brownback who will try to establish some grounds to believe that (a) she has a judicial philosophy and (b) it is conservative.

And then there will be the Democrats who, in their first act of political wisdom in this millennium, have held their fire on Miers, under the political axiom that when your opponent is committing suicide, you get out of the way. But now that Miers is so exposed on abortion, the Democrats will be poised like a reserve cavalry to come over the hills to attack her from the left -- assuming she has survived the attack from the right.

The omens are not good. When the chairman and ranking minority member of the Judiciary Committee express bipartisan exasperation, annoyance and almost indignation at her answers to the committee's simple questionnaire, she's got trouble. This after she confused Chairman Arlen Specter about her position on Griswold , the second most famous "right to privacy" case, and seemed confused when answering ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy's question about her favorite justice.

But it gets worse: There's the off-stage stuff. John Fund reports that in a conference call of conservative leaders, two Miers confidants explicitly said that she would overturn Roe v. Wade . The subsequent denial by one of these judges that he ever said that, and the subsequent affirmation by two of the people who had heard the call that he did say so, create the nightmare scenario of subpoenaed witnesses contradicting each other under oath. We need an exit strategy from this debacle. I have it.

Sen. Lindsey Graham has been a staunch and public supporter of this nominee. Yet on Wednesday he joined Brownback in demanding privileged documents from Miers's White House tenure.

Finally, a way out: irreconcilable differences over documents.

For a nominee who, unlike John Roberts, has practically no record on constitutional issues, such documentation is essential for the Senate to judge her thinking and legal acumen. But there is no way that any president would release this kind of information -- "policy documents" and "legal analysis" -- from such a close confidante. It would forever undermine the ability of any president to get unguarded advice.

That creates a classic conflict, not of personality, not of competence, not of ideology, but of simple constitutional prerogatives: The Senate cannot confirm her unless it has this information. And the White House cannot allow release of this information lest it jeopardize executive privilege.

Krauthammer, attorney and psychiatrist, has no clinical background in either discipline, but likes to practice in his column. His lack of experience in both disciplines is on display today, along with his lack of historical understanding. Miers' advice to the president is the work product which is owed to the American people. If she is such a great choice, we should be able to see what we paid for.

Tyranny from the Left

I got this from Advertising Liberally's Chris Bowers. I'm still steaming, and you'll note that the AL bug has been pulled from the site. Chris wrote:

To all members of the Liberal Blog Advertising Network:

In the interests of transparency and branding, Markos Moulitsas, Jerome Armstrong and I have together developed a list of network standards required for network membership. The standards are as follows:

1. Politically liberal in agenda and content, and American in focus;

2. Traffic consistently of 2,500 page views per week at a bare minimum (for at least six months without a break to join).

3. Frontpage must be set-up as a blog—having blogposts in reverse chronological order, with blog content above the fold.

4. Posting entire articles from other sites or blogs with disregard to copyright laws is a disqualification.

5. A frontpage blogroll that contains other liberal bloggers.

6. Consistent content (ie, one post a week doesn’t cut it, the closer to daily the better).

7. Only one adstrip in the network, usually that is the lowest priced adstrip on the blog.

8. The site must not lock in a visitor that comes from a link.

9. Blogads (not necessarily this strip) must be the highest advertising medium on the site.

10. The use of pop-ups, roll-overs, pop-under ads, or any other type of such ads is a disqualification.

I am the managing director of the network and Markos and Jerome and the two founders. These standards will be enacted by the unanimous consent of all three of us. All future decisions for entry and removal from the network will be made on the basis of these standards. Any point of contention will be determined by a majority of the three of us. As I have done for the past five months, I will conduct the day-to-day management of the network. Any questions can be directed to me over email.

These standards will go into effect on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005. All websites that do not meet these standards will be removed form the network at that time. Websites that currently do not meet these standards will have the next two weeks to meet them. In this interim period, no new blogs will be added to the network.

This decision was not directed at any one website or group of websites, but rather to increase transparency, develop an improved network brand, and to help grow blogads as a company. Although I have not currently determined which websites this will impact, and while I also imagine that a significant majority of members on the network will not be affected, in all likelihood multiple websites will be removed.

Any website that is removed from the network will be allowed re-admittance once they meet the above listed standards. Further, blogads currently features a wide variety of other advertising networks websites may join. Still further, anyone with a blogads account may create and develop a new advertising network.

As I have already noted, this decision was made with the unanimous consent of all three decision makers in the network, and any questions on this matter can be directed toward me.

Onward,

Chris Bowers

I didn't sign up for an oligarchy where all of the decisions are made by a Gang of Three. They've also never brought me a dime. What I see are three arrogant young men who think they know how the world is run, and want to run it. What I see are three puppies with big egos. I decide what I write and how. Likewise, the guest posters have complete editorial freedom (as long as they don't subject me as publisher to any legal liability and none have ever come close.) I have steam coming out of my ears right now and I think you can probably tell that.

I was collecting paychecks as a writer before these young assholes were born, and I will not be dictated to by a group of young bucks who think they know better than I do. Asshole punks. Each and everyone of which could use an editor.

Chris and his network got a blistering email from me which makes this look pretty tame. They literally don't understand how destructive they've become. They are the new Dem purity test for the net. I'm not playing.

That he can use the word "transparency" in the same 'graf where he, Kos and Jerome make all the rules, well, what is there to say? It's a dictatorship. And these ahistorical children can't even see the irony in their own words.

I'm going to go play with the grownups.

Glogg for the Holidays

I'm wearing a jacket today for the first time this fall. My thoughts have begun to turn to the winter menu. I want to share with you a recipe that I've been making between Halloween and New Year's every year for more than 20 years. If you are of Scandinavian descent, this may be familiar to you. It's called Glogg, the potent hot wine punch that is made in the winter all over Scandinavia. It is both delicious and potent, which is a dangerous combination. The Aquavit is important, the caraway flavour is noticeable in the glogg so don't substitute vodka or any such stuff.

Ingredients:

* 2 quarts, dry red wine
* 2 quarts, muscatel
* 1 pint, sweet vermouth
* 2 tablespoons, Angostura Bitters
* 2 cups, raisins
* 1 orange peel (without white part)
* 12 whole cardamoms, bruised in mortar & pestle
* 10 whole cloves
* 1 piece, about 2" fresh ginger
* 1 stick cinnamon
* 12 ounces, Aquavit
* 1--1/2 cups, sugar
* 2 cups, whole blanched peeled almonds

Procedure:
Mix all the ingredients up to and including the 1 stick of cinnamon in a 6--8 quart enamel pot. Let stand, tightly covered, at room temperature for at least 12 hours. Shortly before serving, add Aquavit and sugar. Mix well. Heat rapidly to full boil. Remove from heat as soon as mixture boils. Add almonds. Serve hot, in small cups. Have spoons ready so that everyone can eat their almonds and raisins (which are delicious.)

A small but telling sign...

I just found out today about both flu and pneumovax shots in my area through the usual places around here - grocery and drug stores.

Usually, it's the retired folks and the "immunologically impaired" that get first dibs on flu shots. This year, if you have $60 or so, you can get both shots, no questions asked about your age. (They still prefer specially-prepared flu shots for kids, and none are given to healthy kids under 12.)

I personally can't remember a time when a healthy person under 62-65 could get their flu shot so early in the queue.

Spectacular Incompetence

FEMA Official Says Boss Ignored Warnings

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 20, 2005

Filed at 3:47 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Emergency Management Agency officials did not respond to repeated warnings about deteriorating conditions in New Orleans and the dire need for help as Hurricane Katrina struck, the first FEMA official to arrive conceded Thursday.

Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA regional director, told a Senate panel investigating the government's response to the disaster that he gave regular updates to people in contact with then-FEMA Director Michael Brown as early as Aug. 28, one day before Katrina made landfall.

In most cases, he was met with silence. In an Aug. 29 phone call to Brown informing him that the first levee had broke, Bahamonde said he received a polite thank you from Brown, who said he would check with the White House.

''I think there was a systematic failure at all levels of government to understand the magnitude of the situation,'' Bahamonde said.

The testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee contradicted Brown, who has said he wasn't fully aware of the dire conditions until days later and that local officials were most responsible for the sluggish response.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the panel, decried the testimony and e-mail released by Bahamonde on Thursday as illustrating ''a complete disconnect between senior officials and the reality of the situation.''

''His urgent reports did not appear to prompt an urgent response,'' Collins said.

In e-mails to various FEMA officials, including one to Brown, Bahamonde described a chaotic situation at the Superdome, where many of the evacuees were sheltered. Bahamonde e-mailed FEMA officials and noted also that local officials were asking for toilet paper, a sign that supplies were lacking at the shelter.

''Issues developing at the Superdome. The medical staff at the dome says they will run out of oxygen in about two hours and are looking for alternative oxygen,'' Bahamonde wrote in an e-mail to regional director David Passey in a call at 4:46 p.m. CDT on Aug. 28.

Less than an hour later, Bahamonde wrote: ''Everyone is soaked. This is going to get ugly real fast.''

Bahamonde said he was stunned that FEMA officials responded by continuing to send truckloads of evacuees to the Superdome for two more days even though they knew supplies were in short supply.

''I thought it amazing,'' he said. ''I believed at the time and still do today, that I was confirming the worst-case scenario that everyone had always talked about regarding New Orleans.''

Later, on Aug. 31, Bahamonde frantically e-mailed Brown to tell him that thousands are evacuees were gathering in the streets with no food or water and that ''estimates are many will die within hours.''

''Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical,'' Bahamonde wrote.

Less than three hours later, however, Brown's press secretary wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. ''He needs much more that (sic) 20 or 30 minutes,'' wrote Brown aide Sharon Worthy.

''We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you.''

Heads, quite a lot of them, should roll from this.

Unglued

Former Insider Lashes Out

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, October 20, 2005; 1:12 PM

It didn't make the front page this morning, but it seems to me that it's a big deal when a former top administration official declares that a secret cabal led by the vice president has hijacked U.S. foreign policy, inveigled the president, condoned torture and crippled the ability of the government to respond to emergencies.

Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell until both men resigned in January, unleashed his blistering attack on the Bush White House yesterday at a luncheon at a Washington think tank.

Edward Alden writes in the Financial Times: "Vice-President Dick Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the government's foreign policy apparatus, deciding in secret to carry out policies that had left the US weaker and more isolated in the world, the top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed on Wednesday.

"In a scathing attack on the record of President George W. Bush, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: 'What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.'

" 'Now it is paying the consequences of making those decisions in secret, but far more telling to me is America is paying the consequences.' . . .

"The comments, made at the New America Foundation, a Washington think-tank, were the harshest attack on the administration by a former senior official since criticisms by Richard Clarke, former White House terrorism czar, and Paul O'Neill, former Treasury secretary, early last year."

Alden summarized some of Wilkerson's other points:

* "The detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere was 'a concrete example' of the decision-making problem, with the president and other top officials in effect giving the green light to soldiers to abuse detainees. 'You don't have this kind of pervasive attitude out there unless you've condoned it.' "

* "Condoleezza Rice, the former national security adviser and now secretary of state, was 'part of the problem.' Instead of ensuring that Mr Bush received the best possible advice,' she would side with the president to build her intimacy with the president.'"

Timothy M. Phelps writes in Newsday that Wilkerson yesterday "unleashed possibly the broadest attack on the Bush administration from one of its own since former Counter Terrorism Chief Richard Clarke last year. . . .

"He accused President George W. Bush off 'cowboyism' in dealing with foreign leaders and said that Cheney and Rumsfeld and others could not be kept under control by a president 'not versed in international relations and not too interested in them either.' . . .

"Wilkerson said his central complaint was that too much power was centered in too few people who kept the rest of the bureaucracy in the dark. . . .

"Asked what role Bush played with the 'cabal,' Wilkerson said the president 'was very integral to the process. When the president's [intervention] was needed the president's office was entered by one person and the president's consent was obtained,' Wilkerson said."

Dana Milbank writes in The Washington Post: "Wilkerson accused Bush of 'cowboyism' and said he had viewed Condoleezza Rice as 'extremely weak.' Of American diplomacy, he fretted, 'I'm not sure the State Department even exists anymore.'. . . .

"A 31-year military veteran and former director of the Marine Corps War College, he worked for Powell in the public and private sectors for much of the past 16 years, and he was often described by colleagues as the man who would say what Powell was thinking but was too discreet to say. . . .

"Wilkerson, part military man and part academic, said 'hell' a lot but also used words such as 'desultory' and 'titular.' Peering from large wire-rimmed glasses, armed with a flag lapel pin, he spoke with barely restrained anger. He had given critical quotes about the administration before, but yesterday's New America Foundation speech was his coming out as an administration critic."

Here's the video link.

The Tangled Web

We are living in strange political times when the likes of me is quoting Novakula.

The vulnerable nominee

Oct 20, 2005
by Robert Novak

WASHINGTON -- George W. Bush's agents have convinced conservative Republican senators who were heartsick over his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court that they must support her to save his presidency. But that does not guarantee her confirmation. Ahead are hearings of unspeakable ugliness that can be prevented only if Democratic senators exercise unaccustomed restraint.

Will the Judiciary Committee Democrats insist on putting under oath two Texas judges who are alleged to have guaranteed during a conference call of Christian conservatives that Miers would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade? Will the Democrats dig into Miers's alleged interference nine years ago as Texas Lottery Commission chairman intended to save then Gov. Bush from political embarrassment?

Officials charged with winning Miers's confirmation told me neither of these issues is troublesome, but in fact they suggest incompetence and neglect by the White House. To permit a conference call with scores of participants hearing close associates of the nominee predict her vote on abortion is incompetent. To nominate somebody implicated in a state lottery dispute in the past without carefully considering the consequences goes beyond incompetence to arrogant neglect.

President Bush was not originally prepared for the negative reaction from the Republican base when he nominated White House Counsel Miers, his longtime personal attorney. Former Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie, leading the confirmation campaign, over two weeks convinced skeptics that Miers is conservative enough. Whatever her qualifications, dubious Republican senators after hearing from Gillespie decided they could not deny his chosen court nominee to a president on the ropes. Bush has solidified Republican support not because he is strong but because he looks weak.

Miers remains so shaky, however, that she may not be able to survive confirmation hearings that go beyond sparring over how much of her judicial philosophy she will reveal. That is why John Fund's column in Monday's Wall Street Journal chilled the president's backers. He reported a conference call with religious conservatives Oct. 3, the day the Miers nomination was announced, that indicated a lack of White House control over the process.

Fund wrote that Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht and U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade, on the conference call, flatly predicted that their friend Miers would rule against Roe v. Wade. Although the two jurists deny that, I checked with two sources on the conference call who confirmed Fund's version. That raises the possibility of bringing two judges under oath before the Senate committee to grill them on what they said and what Miers told them.

The possibility of the Lottery Commission controversy being the subject of confirmation hearings is even more daunting for the White House. The story now is only being printed in alternative publications, such as the Dallas Observer of Oct. 13. These reports recalled the lawsuit brought by Lawrence Littwin alleging that Chairman Miers fired him as the Lottery Commission's executive director because he had uncovered corruption involving Gtech, the lottery management firm.

Littwin's federal suit claimed Miers protected Gtech because its lobbyist, former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, as Texas House Speaker had pushed Bush ahead of other applicants for the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. Democrat Barnes had been silent until a 1999 deposition by him said he had pushed young Bush to the head of the line. Barnes, who received from Gtech $3 million a year and $23 million in separation pay, told me that the Bush Air National Guard story has "absolutely nothing" to do with his settlement. Littwin is silent under terms of a $300,000 settlement ending his suit. Former Texas Chief Justice John Hill, a member of the Lottery Commission at the time, told me: "There is no substance at all to these charges." Miers handled the case "with care and judiciousness," Hill added.

Funny how everything comes back to GWB needing to cover his a**.

Menu Planning

It is going to be a cold and rainy weekend here, after which we'll get a brief visitation from the remnants of Wilma. I'm staying in to get caught up on laundry and thinking about making soup. And that means roasting a chicken, too. I'm starting to get into the mood for fall cooking.

Blame Game

There is a reason why WaPosties call the "Style" section "the sandbox" and there is a reason why Tina Brown is relegated there. I won't quote from her incoherent mumblings this morning, but the link is there is you want to go over and look. Summary: she blames the NYT's Judy Miller troubles on bloggers. Yes, it is all our fault. Time for another blogger ethics conference, I guess. I figure I could probably live on a fraction of what the two Papers of Record pay Brown and Miller.

Who Is Minding The Store?

Repeated Defect in Heart Devices Exposes a History of Problems

By BARRY MEIER
Published: October 20, 2005

It was March in the high desert West but the day felt more like early summer - warm, bright and breezy - as the young couple rode out on rented mountain bikes along a trail that ran through the majestic red rock canyons outside Moab, Utah.

The two college students met only a few months earlier, in late 2004. But the couple, Jessica Lemieux and Joshua Oukrop, had talked in recent days about their lives together and marriage. "I told him he had met his match," Ms. Lemieux recalled. "That I had started finishing his sentences for him."

It was one of the last things she told him. From behind, where Mr. Oukrop was riding, she heard him call out, "Hold on, I need to..." When she turned, he was already falling backward, the bike tumbling on top of him. She pulled off his helmet. He gasped once, and then he stopped breathing.

Mr. Oukrop, a 21-year-old student who suffered from a genetic heart disease, died of sudden cardiac arrest even though a medical device known as a defibrillator had been implanted in his chest to protect him from potentially fatal heart rhythms.

His death set off a series of events that would expose flaws in how producers of critical heart devices disclose defects to doctors and patients. It also would reveal that the Food and Drug Administration's oversight of the fast-growing heart device industry is, at best, loose.

Those disclosures have resulted in calls for change in how and when companies and the F.D.A. alert doctors about malfunctions and, in turn, what physicians tell patients.

Two months after Mr. Oukrop's death, the Guidant Corporation, the country's second-biggest maker of heart defibrillators, acknowledged that it had not told doctors for three years that one model had short-circuited in about two dozen cases, including the one involving him.

Guidant, which has said it did nothing wrong, has characterized the student's death as a tragic event. But it turns out that the same type of electrical defect that destroyed Mr. Oukrop's defibrillator also caused another heart device from Guidant to malfunction.

Short circuits involving that device, an advanced pacemaker that also contains a defibrillator, have been associated with the deaths of three patients. Guidant said recently that it was aware of 49 short-circuit reports involving both devices, out of a total of 42,000 units produced, a malfunction rate that the company has characterized as low.

The devices' problems may be linked to Guidant's use of an insulating material that in some cases can deteriorate if exposed to moisture like body fluids.

Another device maker, Medtronic Inc., said it had stopped using the material, called polyimide (poly-IM-ed), in the 1990's when it changed how all its devices were made. Another company, St. Jude Medical, said it used polyimide only inside the sealed part of its heart devices, where the material was shielded from moisture.

Executives of Guidant, who declined to be interviewed for this article, have said the company made all required reports to the F.D.A. about the devices, including malfunction reports. The agency is investigating the company; F.D.A. criminal investigators are involved in the inquiry.

Over the summer, Guidant, which is based in Indianapolis, issued recalls affecting tens of thousands of defibrillators and pacemakers, including the models that short-circuited.

These events have played out amid the backdrop of a high-stakes business deal: Johnson & Johnson's announced in December 2004 that it would buy Guidant for $25.4 billion. Johnson & Johnson's target was Guidant's crown jewel: its heart device unit, which accounted last year for almost half of Guidant's total sales of $3.8 billion.

As a result of Guidant's recent problems, however, that deal may be renegotiated at a lower price or even unravel.

Maybe, someday, we'll have a government that actually cares about the lives of just ordinary consumers like you and me, rather than the shareholders of Corporate America. Hey, it could happen.

Getting Ready

Indonesia Neglected Bird Flu Until Too Late, Experts Say

By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, October 20, 2005; Page A01

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 19 -- Indonesian officials covered up and then neglected a spreading bird flu epidemic for two years until it began to sicken humans this summer, posing a grave threat to people well beyond the country's borders, according to Indonesian and international health experts.

Unlike Southeast Asian countries that began to see human cases almost as soon as avian influenza was identified in their poultry, Indonesia had a generous head start to prevent an outbreak among people. But since July, it has registered more human cases than any other country, including three deaths confirmed by international testing. Influenza specialists agree that the actual number of human cases is higher and expect it to rise with the approach of the rainy season.

Health experts fear that the discovery of the virus in Turkey might develop into a strain that passes easily from human to human, the genesis of the 1918 epidemic that killed tens of millions of people worldwide, as new research has shown.

Health experts say the Indonesian epidemic started in commercial poultry farms, spread among the tens of millions of free-range chickens raised in back yards across the country and then finally infected people. At each step, the Indonesian government failed to take measures that could have broken the chain, while discouraging research into the outbreak.

As a result, specialists are concerned that the cases in Indonesia pose a worldwide threat if the bird flu virus changes and becomes contagious among humans.

"If the government had acted sooner to stamp it out, there would be no outbreak. They have wasted so much time," said Chairul A. Nidom, an Indonesian microbiologist who first identified the virus in this country's birds. "What terrifies me is that it just won't affect Indonesia."

In recent days, the virus has killed birds in Turkey, Romania and possibly Greece, for the first time presenting a danger to European poultry. Russia on Wednesday reported that preliminary tests, conducted after hundreds of birds died south of Moscow, showed the presence of the virus, according to news services. And China reported a fresh outbreak of bird flu in its northern grasslands, where 2,600 birds have died of the disease.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the chances were increased that avian flu would move to the Middle East and Africa.

Health experts stress, however, that a human pandemic is still most likely to erupt in East Asia. Bird flu is already deeply entrenched among Asian poultry. Moreover, many countries in the region lack both basic agricultural safeguards to prevent the disease from spreading to humans and health care systems able to contain the virus if it does.

The Flu Wiki is staying on top of everything you need to know to prepare, rather than panic, to keep your community ahead of the possible pandemic.

Thinking About Disaster

This Hurricane Shopping List from TV-4 in Miami is a good place to begin your avian influenza preps. Of course, if you live in Florida, listen to local authorities, assemble your cooler and jump bag and get the hell out if they tell you to.

Here is a good hurricane pantry list:

Cooking

• sterno
• portable camp stove or grill
• stove fuel or charcoal, lighter fluid
• aluminum foil
• oven mitts

Non-Perishable Foods*

• canned meats, fruits, vegetables
• bread in moisture-proof packaging
• cookies, candy, dried fruit
• canned soups & milk
• powdered or single serve drinks
• cereal bars
• condiments
• peanut butter & jelly
• instant coffee & tea

Equipment & Other Items

• manual can opener*
• disposable plates, cups & eating utensils
• napkins & paper towels
• flashlight* (one per person)
• portable battery powered lanterns
• glass enclosed candles (only for use after the storm)
• battery powered radio or TV
• battery operated alarm clock
• extra batteries, including hearing aids
• ice chest & ice
• first aid kit, including aspirin, antibiotic cream & antacids
• mosquito repellent
• sun screen (SPF 45 recommended)
• waterproof matches/butane lighter
• money*
• bleach or water purification tablets
• maps of the area with landmarks

Babies

• disposable diapers & moist towelettes*
• formula, food & medication*

Documents

• photo copies of prescriptions*
• photo identification*
• proof of residence (utility bills)*
• medical history*
• waterproof container for document storage
• back up discs of your home computer files
• camera & film

Other Necessities

• tools: hammer, wrenches, screw drivers, nails, saw
• trash bags (lots of them)
• cleaning supplies
• plastic drop cloth
• mosquito netting
• ABC rated fire extinguisher
• duct tape or strong masking tape for emergency repairs (not to tape windows)
• outdoor extension cords
• spray paint
• rope

Personal Supplies

• prescriptions* (1 month supply)
• toilet paper
• soap, shampoo & detergent
• toiletries & feminine hygiene products*
• changes of clothing*
• extra glasses or contacts
• bedding: pillows, sleeping bag*
• rain ponchos & work gloves
• entertainment: books, magazines, card games, etc.*

Pets

• dry & canned food
• water (half gallon per day)
• litter box supplies

Water*

• One gallon of water per person per day (half for drinking, half for bathing etc.) Store water in clean, plastic containers such as soft drink bottles or milk jugs.

Have TWO WEEKS supply of each item for each person in your home.

I've got friends in the possible path of Wilma. All have checked in and are preparing to get out. I hear that the anxiety level is pretty high on the Gulf coast. I'm glad to hear it and that people haven't gotten cynical about their ability to ride out the big one.

Getting Played

Senators Reject Miers' Replies to Questions
# Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court hits a new snag as lawmakers of both parties say she has not fully answered their written queries.

By Maura Reynolds and Janet Hook, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers, already troubled by a lack of enthusiasm on Capitol Hill, ran into more rough ground Wednesday when senators from both parties rejected her responses to a questionnaire as insufficient.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and the panel's top Democrat, Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, complained that her answers were at best incomplete — Leahy said some lawmakers considered them insulting — and asked Miers to resubmit answers to some of the questions, especially those about her work in the White House as counsel to President Bush.

"Sen. Leahy and I took a look at it and agreed that it was insufficient and are sending back a detailed letter asking for amplification on many, many of the items," Specter said at a news conference.

It was the latest problem for Miers and the White House in a nomination that has attracted much criticism and mostly lukewarm support, even from the president's most ardent backers.

Specter said it was too soon to say Miers was "in trouble." But he described her nomination process as chaotic and said it was being further confused by backdoor messages from the White House intended to reassure conservative leaders — some of whom went public about those discussions — about what she would be like as a judge.

"What I'm referring to are all of the forces which are at work out here commanding media attention and commanding public attention," Specter said. "There's been more controversy before this nominee has uttered a formal word than I have ever heard."

He and Leahy asked their colleagues to withhold judgment until after Miers' confirmation hearings, scheduled to begin Nov. 7.

When Bush nominated Miers to the high court this month, he told skeptics that they would appreciate her virtues as soon as they got to know her. But after meeting with more than 20 members of the Senate and delivering the 57-page questionnaire to the committee Tuesday, Miers seems no closer to winning them over.

She had a misunderstanding with Specter over what she told him about the right to privacy. She stumbled over a softball question from Leahy about whom she most admired among past Supreme Court justices. Even some Republicans who are inclined to support her came out of their meetings damning her with faint praise.

"I might have liked a different type nominee myself, but that's the president's choice," Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said after his meeting with Miers.

The lackluster beginning of her campaign to be confirmed raises the stakes for Miers, and the president, when she appears before the Judiciary Committee. Senators of both parties say her nomination will succeed or fail based on how well she performs.

Senators and aides have been reluctant to provide details of their meetings with Miers because they do not want to antagonize the White House. But some described her as surprisingly reticent and, in a word used by more than one of them, "underwhelming."

Even those who were impressed said that she offered up little of herself in conversation. "In these meetings she has been very guarded," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

One senator found her much too quiet. The lawmaker had such a hard time hearing Miers that aides had to tell people outside the meeting room to quiet down.

"She doesn't have the gravitas in terms of the constitutional issues," said another senator who has been critical of Miers. The nominee, the senator said, would not answer questions about whether she would recuse herself if issues involving her work with Bush came before the high court.

"Generally when you hold these interviews, people want to show you what they know," the senator said. "She did not respond. Nothing came back."

Miers' questionnaire did little to improve her standing.

"The answers in the questionnaire that came up — the comments I've heard ranged from incomplete to insulting," Leahy said. "Certainly it was inadequate and did not give us enough to prepare for a hearing. We will need to have more."

The senators' request for more detailed answers was unusual in that it was bipartisan and sent one day after Miers delivered the questionnaire.

Do you get the sense that there is a problem here? Everybody I know dislikes the idea that somebody is trying to put something over on them. Bush is facing bipartisan pressure because nobody likes to be gamed

Party Hardy

Here is a classic beouf bourgignion presentation. Cook this with joy. It will serve about 12, so make your freezer happy.

4 lbs beef shoulder (stewing beef)
6 oz bacon
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 bottle red burgundy wine (young wine)
2 cups of beef bouillon (beef stock)
1ounce flour
4 tablespoons olive oil
1ounce butter
1 small bunch parsley
1 sprig thyme
1 clove garlic, mashed
18 small white onions
Salt and black pepper

Boeuf Bourguignon Recipe (serve 6)

Step 1: Cut bacon into small strips. Simmer bacon for 10 minutes in water. Dry bacon.

Step 2: Cook bacon in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan with the olive oil at moderate heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove bacon.

Step 3: Cut the beef in 2-inch cubes. Using the same saucepan, cook the beef in the bacon's fat until browned. Remove the beef.

Step 4: Still in the same pan, put the onion, carrots, celery and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Remove the fat from the saucepan.

Step 5: Mix the butter and the flour to make a paste.

Step 6: Put again the beef and bacon with the vegetables in the pan. Add salt and pepper. Cover the beef cubes with the butter and flour mixture. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes, uncovered, and turn the beef cubes.

Step 7: Pour in the wine and enough bouillon so that it covers the ingredients. Add small, white onions, garlic and herbs. Bring to a boil.

Step 8: Cover the pan and simmer for 3 hours on a low heat. Boeuf Bourguignon heat very slowly. The meat is done when the fork slides out easily a beef cube. Remove from heat.

Step 9: Saute mushrooms in butter. Add mushrooms to Boeuf Bourguignon. Garnish with parsley and small white onions.

Boeuf Bourguignon is traditionally served with boiled potatoes.

I traditionally serve this on New Years Day. New Years Eve parties bore me and I'd rather have a dinner party on the first dayof the new year. This classic is how I start the New Year. With friends, well fed.

Morning Meetin

The Perfect Party Food

It has enough fat to buffer the drinks, enough protein and vitamins to qualify as real nutrition and it tastes good. Make lots in muffin cups and store them in ziplock bags for emergency coffees that run into the noon hour or late afternoon meeting that run into dinner. You'll be a hero if you can pull these from the office freezer. Trust me.

Easy Mini Quiches

"This quiche recipe can be made in a large pie pan, a regular muffin pan, or mini muffin pan. They taste great, and you can add more ingredients to suit your tastes such as mushrooms or spinach." Original recipe yield: 24 mini quiches.

INGREDIENTS:

* 6 slices bacon, chopped
* 1 onion, chopped
* 3 eggs
* 3/4 cup buttermilk baking mix
* 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
* 2 cups shredded American cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 mini muffin pans. In a large skillet over medium heat, fry bacon and onion together for about 5 minutes, or until bacon is crisp. Drain and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the baking mix, parsley, shredded cheese, bacon and onion. Spoon into greased muffin cups.
3. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops are lightly browned. Allow mini quiches to cool in the pan before carefully removing with a small knife or spatula.

Freeze 'em down in the office freezer. You'll be the hero when the execs who love beef can't find a package of cheetos in the basement coin machines.

Posted by Melanie at 09:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tech Trouble Open Thread

Yes, we took a little powder this afternoon. We had problems with some malicious track-back scripts and the host server firm blocked us until pogge could get us fixed. I'm basically happy with the service we've been getting from A+ Hosting, the uptime has been excellent and they've been responsive with the few problems I've had.

You will be seeing some changes here in the coming weeks. Pogge will be upgrading us to the newest build of Movable Type, which will kill the trackback and comment spam completely and has some other new features I'm just starting to learn about. It's been an exhausting day dealing with all of this tech stuff, so I'm going to call it a day and make this an open thread.

Disarray

Waiting for the Sword

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, October 19, 2005; 1:15 PM

The White House is suffering from a bad case of the nerves as the feverish speculation over special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's intentions increasingly points toward the likelihood that he will indict one or more senior administration officials next week.

Among the latest developments:

* The Associated Press reports that senior adviser and possible target Karl Rove appears to be clearing his schedule of public events as he awaits word.

* The New York Times reports that Fitzgerald is not intending to file a final report on its investigation -- and the paper interprets that as a strong sign that he intends to file charges. (The unlikely alternative being that he and his grand jury just fold up and disappear.)

* The New York Daily News reports that Bush scolded Rove two years ago for his "ham-handed" behavior regarding the leak, but is now firmly backing him.

* The National Journal details the possible case against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff.

* There are scattered reports that Fitzgerald has a cooperating witness from inside the White House.

Pass the popcorn.

Bad News

Chertoff Says FEMA Was 'Overwhelmed' by Katrina

By Spencer S. Hsu and William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 19, 2005; 1:18 PM

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff acknowledged today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was "overwhelmed" by Hurricane Katrina and called for a buildup of the government's "preparedness capability" to deal with major natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

Appearing before a special House committee investigating the government's response to the hurricane, Chertoff said his department must "retool FEMA . . . so that it can fulfill its historic and critical mission supporting response and recovery."

In response to questions, Chertoff defended the Bush administration's decision to fold FEMA, formerly an independent agency, into the Homeland Security Department when the new department was created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But he implicitly recognized that FEMA suffered from a loss of expertise in the reorganization, and he said the agency "must work to replenish its ranks at the senior level with experienced staff."

Chertoff appeared as yet another hurricane, Wilma, made its way toward the Gulf of Mexico on a course predicted to take it into the southwestern coast of Florida this weekend. The latest storm comes less than two months after Katrina slammed ashore on the U.S. Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane, wrecking nearly 250,000 homes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, inundating New Orleans with floodwaters from broken levees and claiming the lives of more than 1,200 people.

Calling Katrina "one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history," Chertoff said it forced more than 1.5 million people to evacuate the Gulf Coast and has left an estimated 600,000 people requiring shelter.

"We now know that its [FEMA's] capabilities were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the storm," Chertoff told the committee.

"Although we had made significant progress in preparedness" before Katrina struck, "we were not where we needed to be," Chertoff said. He said the agency did not have "integrated capabilities," such as the ability to plan sufficiently with state and local agencies and the U.S. military.

The Homeland Security Department is working with federal, state and local officials to review emergency operations plans for every major American city, Chertoff said. Part of the review involves taking "a hard, realistic look" at planning for evacuations necessitated by everything from earthquakes to subway bombings, he said. He vowed to build up preparedness in the weeks and months ahead.

"It's not something that's going to be done overnight," he cautioned, but "there is nothing more urgent."

With the most intense hurricane in recorded history bearing down on the Florida coast, I don't think that this is what we want to hear.

Voter Activism

Getting to Know Her

Wednesday, October 19, 2005; Page A20

DISAPPOINTMENT awaits anyone who hoped that Harriet Miers's written Senate questionnaire would begin to explain who she might be as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. The 65 pages made public yesterday contain a financial statement and a career history replete with conventional legal practice, bar activities, and worthy charitable and public service stints. Yet they contain a great deal more information than insight, and they do nothing to illuminate why President Bush regards this particular lawyer, among the countless available to him around the country, as "uniquely qualified" to serve on the nation's highest court. The most revelatory fact about Harriet Miers emerged yesterday not from her questionnaire but from her past: her commitment, as a candidate for Dallas City Council in 1989, to "actively support" a constitutional amendment to ban abortion except when the life of the mother is at risk.

Insofar as Ms. Miers addresses substantive questions at all, her answers seemed closely modeled on those of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. She, too, professes belief in a "humble" judiciary that respects the importance of "stability in the law" and consequently respects established precedents except when reconsideration of those precedents "under appropriate circumstances is also necessary." She, too, emphasizes that judges are not policymakers and occupy a limited, though critical, role. All of which are noble, important sentiments, but they are also noble, important sentiments that the American public has just heard from someone else. The burden on Ms. Miers is heavier than the one on Chief Justice Roberts, whose nomination arrived at the Senate with an enormous presumption in its favor given his stellar credentials and reputation. Simply reading off his script will not do.

Ms. Miers did not even attempt to reassure skeptics that she will be adequately independent of the White House in which she has served for nearly five years or of the president she has represented for even longer than that. Asked how she would handle potential conflicts of interest on the court, she noted that she would "abid[e] by both the spirit and letter of the law." Even Chief Justice Roberts, who had nowhere near the baggage she carries on this issue, laid out his presumptive recusals more specifically than that.

The last graf gets to the heart of the politics, if not the question of basic competence. My senators have heard from me. Have yours heard from you?

Cat 5

I've got friends in harm's way. Gene, Cindy, Phil and Kenn, if they recommend evacuation, please leave. You are in Hurrican Wilma's bulls-eye.

New Storm Measures as Most Intense Ever for Atlantic Basin

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Published: October 19, 2005

Hurricane Wilma, which appeared headed toward Cancun, Mexico, and possibly the Gulf Coast of Florida by this weekend, intensified into the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean basin today , with winds of 175 miles per hour.

The hurricane is "potentially catastrophic," the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory.

"All interests in the Florida Keys and the Florida peninsula should closely monitor the progress of extremely dangerous Hurricane Wilma," the hurricane center said.

The hurricane center, based in Miami, added however, that if Wilma traveled across the gulf and made landfall in southwest Florida, it would likely be a substantially weakened storm. This morning, officials in the Florida Keys asked tourists to leave the area - which is usually a precursor for a larger evacuation order.

Forecasts project Wilma to move through the Yucatan Channel, the body of water between Cuba and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. Once it gets to the gulf, Wilma is expected to make a sharp turn to the east, and head toward Florida.

The storm is not expected to affect the region from Texas to Mississippi struck by hurricanes Katrina and Rita the past two months; those storms killed more than 1,200 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.

"We are not concerned about the Gulf Coast and we expect little if any impact on the oil industry," said Stacy Stewart, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center. "This is mostly going to be a Florida peninsula storm."

Since August of last year, seven hurricanes have passed over Florida.

Hurricane Wilma's winds extend 15 miles out, and tropical storm force winds extend to 160 miles, according to the hurricane center.

The storm's central pressure of 26.06 inches, or 882 millibars, is the lowest recorded of a storm in the Atlantic Ocean basin, which includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Lower pressure translates into higher wind speeds.

New Chance

Leonard Pitts: Miers not such a stealth nominee after all
By Leonard Pitts
Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, October 17, 2005

In a way, you can't blame the Bush administration for turning the conversation to Harriet Miers' religion. What else are they going to talk about? Her qualifications? Those, as we have learned in the two weeks and counting since President Bush nominated her to the Supreme Court, are a trifle thin.

The woman who would become one of the nine most important judges in the land has never been a judge before. Worse, she lacks significant experience in constitutional law. But on the plus side, she is -- big surprise here -- Bush's longtime lawyer and friend.

MLS
Miers has built a successful career, primarily in corporate law, that has left little paper trail. One might be forgiven for thinking she was meant as a stealth nominee, the idea being that a woman who had never taken a publicly recorded stand offered detractors a smaller target.

It's not turning out that way.

Predictably, Miers' nomination raised red flags among Democrats. Less predictably, it has also upset Republicans, already plenty upset over the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, the budget-busting plan to rebuild New Orleans and the scandal over the leaking of a CIA operative's name. They fear that in Miers, they are not getting what Bush implicitly promised them: a nuclear weapon in the culture wars, a justice who would vote to roll back previous rulings on gay rights, school prayer and abortion.

Key GOP senators have been cool toward the nomination, and a virtual who's who of conservative punditry -- Charles Krauthammer, Kathleen Parker, George Will, William Kristol among them -- has lined up to condemn it.

Faced with this uprising among his political base, the president's first response was that his people should trust his judgment. He said the other day that Miers was not the type to change and "that 20 years from now she'll be the same person with the same philosophy that she is today." Which was a not-so-coded message that she would not, after being sworn in, betray the conservative cause like other justices he could name. The comment did not answer the question of why the inability to change would be a selling point. Worse, from the president's point of view, it did not quell the rebellion.

With an extraordinarily dangerous Category 5 bearing down on Florida, Bushco has one more chance to get it right. Let's see if they pass the test.

Morning Meetings Open Thread

I'm in meetings all morning, so if the guest posters can jump in, that'll be great. Otherwise, we'll start the day with an open thread.

Cat 5

Overnight, Wilma's become a Category 5 hurricane, with sustained winds of 175 mph.

If they had a Category 6, she'd be borderline for that.

Floridians, brace yourselves.

Having the Right Tools

The post on beef tenderloin below assumes that you have some basic tools. I'm a fairly minimalist cook and not much into gadgets. I use my grandmother's iron frying pans. Yes, I have a set of Cuisinart sauce and saute pans and a Cuisinart food processor, but you don't need any of those things to cook well. (A food processor of some kind is very handy, but it does not have to be the most expensive one you can find.) A good set of knives are more important. I grind my own coffee, that's important to me, but there aren't a lot of machines on my counter top. I have a Braun cordless mixer on the wall, and I'm sure there is a heavy duty mixer underneath the cabinets someplace, but I can't remember the last time I used it. The food processor does nearly all of my mixing, slicing and chopping tasks when I need volume beyond what I can do with a knife.

That said, there is one other tool which I don't ever want to do without, and that is my Roemertopf. This clay roasting pot is the most flexible and versatile tool I can think of for anyone who roasts or bakes. You can use it to make lasagna or bake bread. It will turn out a beouf bourgignon or roast Greek chicken to die for. The pot and lid get soaked in cold water in your kitchen sink for 15 minutes before you start cooking, at high temperature so everything cooks quickly and never dries out because of the steam the pot generates. You can do large roasts of nearly everything in it in under 90 minutes. Everything from beef stew to pork tenderloin with apples and red potatoes comes out flavorful and moist with a minimum of seasoning. It is a truly amazing invention. It will give you a crusty french baguette or truite bleu and cleans up between cooking with little more than a sponge with a scrubby on one side and a box of baking soda as an abrasive. NEVER USE SOAP. It will linger in the clay. Baking soda alone is sufficient.

As you can see from the illustration on the link, the pot comes in a variety of sizes which will fit your cooking needs and household size. I use the medium pot, but I'll add the small ones (for bread) and the largest one as well, because I can fit a whole turkey or ham in it for the holidays. I'll be working collaboratively with The Blondies (Anne, Leigh, Darby and Sadie) to craft the Thanksgiving meal. That ham was so good last year that I'm going to suggest to Leigh that we do it again. For some reason, I'm feeling a touch "off" poultry this year.

The Roemertopf is indispensible to my cookery. It is a relatively inexpensive investment in yours, they are available in department store homewares departments and come with a very basic cookbook. I also use The One-Pot and Clay-Pot Cookbook and The Best of Clay Pot Cooking Cookbook. Once you've been introduced to the basic principles of clay pot cooking, you'll be making up your own recipes with glee and joy. Find out how easy a ginger glazed salmon filet can be in your own oven. Your dinner guests who don't know about clay pot cooking will be stunned by the kinds of meals you can turn out with little apparent effort in next to no time.

Here is how to care for it. It is worth the little bit of attention it needs because of the work it will save you. I disagree with some of it: I never use a meat thermometer, for example, because opening the pot before the meal is finished cooking releases the steam, which is the point of the venture, and dries out your food. I disagree with this author's point about salt. I use next to none. The pot enhances the flavors of the other herbs and spices I use and makes salt next to irrelevant.

I have friends who complain to me that they are terrible cooks, yet I know that these are people who value good food. It's not hard to be a good cook if you have the right tools. Then, it becomes both easy and pleasurable to cook for both yourself and your friends. There is nothing I love more than cooking for an audience of knowledgable and appreciative friends who know a good meal when they eat. Even if the only member of that audience on any given night is me. When Madame dines alone, she treats herself like a guest, the candles on the table are lit and the table is set with china and the good stainless. And a real napkin.

Good tools: a good set of knives, a set of plastic cutting boards, some decent, not-expensive pans, a food processor, a juicer (manual or electric), a manual can opener, a coffee pot, a corkscrew and the Betty Crocker Cookbook. With that, you can set up housekeeping with paper plates and cups if you have to. Add a Roemertopf, a set of candleholders and china and tableware from IKEA and you are ready for guests if you can throw a little cool jazz on the stereo.

My little place here in DC is too small for parties, but if I can help you to have some, then I've done my job.

Tending Your Investment

Tips On Making Great Steak Everytime
By Chef Mick Rosacci, Tony's Meats and Specialty Foods

DENVER -- There is nothing like a truly great beef steak; tender, juicy, bursting with flavor and supremely satisfying, it's the ultimate meal! But not all steaks are created equal. What makes a steak tender? What makes it juicy? What makes it flavorful? Why is there such a big difference in price? All very good questions!

There are no secrets or tricks; great beef is a result of good genetics, excellent animal husbandry, high quality feed, extended time in the feedlot, and long-term aging. The USDA Grading Test measures beef's potential quality, assigning each carcass a USDA Grade. USDA Prime is the highest quality grade, followed by Premium Choice (a sub-category of USDA Choice), Standard Choice is the middle grade, and Select is the lowest grade.

The key factor to a high USDA Grade is internal marbling, those thin lines of fat that streak the center of steaks. It's internal marbling that makes a steak flavorful and juicy -- and the more, the better! Marbling is developed in the feedlot; unfortunately, record demand for beef has significantly shortened the time most beef spends in the feedlot, creating a real shortage of high-grade beef in today's marketplace.

The butcher can further enhance tenderness and flavor of quality beef by extended aging -- that is hanging sides or primal cuts in a cooler for three to four weeks before cutting. During aging, natural enzymes work to tenderize as they enhance and mature flavor. Due to the extra cost, the extended aging of beef is rare these days and often misrepresented.

This week's food page is dedicated to making you a steak expert. I've detailed four key factors to great steak below; understand them and you'll know how to get a great steak in a steakhouse and at home.

Steak Cuts

Each cut has it's own unique texture and flavor; they also vary in size, price and tenderness.

Rib Steak -- Thanks to abundant marbling, the rib steak is the juiciest and most flavorful of all steaks. Exceptionally tender, it's available bone in or boneless (rib eye). Steaks from the 'large end' of the rib are the highest in marbling and a real prize for the lover of juicy steak.

Tenderloin or filet mignon is beef's most tender cut, and with only 6-8 pounds per steer, it's also the most expensive. Slender, irregularly shaped, and completely encased in gristle and fat, they require special care from the butcher. Filets are often wrapped in bacon to make up for their lower fat level.

Strip Steaks are boneless, medium to well marbled, and easy to carve. Juicy, flavorful and tender, strip steaks are one of beef's most popular cuts.

T-bone On one side of the T-shaped bone is the tenderloin, and on the other, the strip steak -- but cooked with the bone, this steak is more than simply the sum of its parts! Large in size (1-2 pounds), tender, juicy and flavorful; the T-bone is a first-class steak.

Sirloin lacks the marbling and tenderness of other quality cuts, but it's fine flavor and low price makes it a particularly good value. Large in size (from 1-2 pounds), moderate in price and usually boneless, sirloin steak is a fine choice for the budget-minded.

Beef Grades

The United States Department of Agriculture offers an optional Grading Inspection that assesses potential quality. Inspectors evaluate size, animal age, color and most importantly, fat marbling; then assign the appropriate USDA Grade.

USDA Prime offers abundant marbling and the greatest potential to yield juicy and tender steaks. Only 2 percent of all beef can meet the stringent standards for the Prime grade, making it more expensive and relatively rare. USDA Prime steaks are the most juicy and flavorful of all steaks. [ed. Virtually all Prime beef is sold to the restaurant trade. You may occasionally find some in high-end butcher shops.]

USDA Choice grade is also of high quality, but has less marbling than Prime. This grade represents a wide range of marbling levels from slight to abundant, generally producing steaks that are tender, juicy and flavorful.

Premium Choice is a sub category representing roughly the top 18 percent of USDA Choice beef, or those with the most abundant marbling. Very close to Prime grade, Premium Choice beef is of exceptional quality.

USDA Select has the lowest level of internal marbling and lacks the juiciness and flavor of higher graded beef. Only the most tender of USDA Select cuts should be cooked with dry heat. Select is the least expensive grade of quality beef. [ed. And is a good value for dishes that profit from braising or stewing, like soups and stews.]

Standard and Commercial grades are frequently sold as non-graded or store brand meats.

Note: The term organic is not a grade or measurement of quality and has no bearing on taste, juiciness or tenderness.

Extended Aging

Butchers and chefs have long known that aging sides or primal cuts of beef for three to four weeks can dramatically improve both tenderness and flavor. During aging, the muscles own enzymes are the principal elements of change, breaking down tissue as they enhance and mature flavors.

Aging beef is an expensive step because in the process valuable weight is lost to evaporation and additional trimming. In today's price conscious market, the extended aging of beef is rare and often misrepresented.

Aged beef exhibits visual clues that the savvy buyer can identify. While fresh cuts of beef are a very bright red, shiny and wet looking, aged cuts have a duller appearance, lacking that moist, wet shine on the surface. Some cuts will even have a dark edge. Once the steaks are cut, aging stops and spoilage begins so you cannot age a steak in your refrigerator. [ed. Aged beef for the home cook is hard to find, once again some of the high-end butcher shops will do it. It is worth looking for, it is several cuts in flavor and texture above what you can find at the grocery store. I haven't looked, but finding aged beef by mail is one source. Here in DC, I have Wagshal's, Wegman's, Balducci's, Dean and DeLuca and the historic butcher shops of Eastern Market.]

Cooking Beef Steaks

Use 'Dry' Heat
Dry heat from a grill is clearly the best way to cook quality beefsteaks. Hot, dry heat has a searing effect, evaporating excess liquids as it browns, this is very important with steak. If the heat is not high enough, the steaks stew in their own juices, great for a chuck roast but ruinous to steak.

Allow Steaks to Rest
Once removed from the grill, a steak or roast continues to cook, rising in internal temperature from 10 to 15 degrees -- this is called carryover cooking. Resting your steak after grilling takes advantage or carryover cooking, allowing cooking to finish and internal juices to settle. To serve a juicy steak at medium rare to medium, remove it from the grill at approximately rare to medium rare. Place on a plate, cover with foil and rest for ten minutes before slicing and serving.

Don't Pierce a Steak
Poking a steak with a mechanical tenderizer or a fork allows valuable juices to escape during cooking, robbing a steak of juiciness and flavor. Never poke your steak before cooking, pierce with a fork to turn, or cut into it to see if it is done.

Finger Poking to Perfection
Professional chefs usually rely on a practiced sense of feel to judge a steak's doneness. Try it; with practice you'll be able to judge a steak quickly and accurately. Poke the steak with your finger from time to time as it cooks; the more it done it is, the firmer it becomes.

How to get those perfect Grill Marks
Preheat gas grill on highest setting. Once your grill is good and hot, brush the grate clean with a grill brush.

With your grill as hot as possible, place steaks on cooking grate evenly spaced, close lid and LEAVE THEM ALONE! If temperatures are right, your steaks should develop dark brown grill lines in approximately three minutes. Rotate 45 to 90 degrees, but do not turn over, placing them on a new, hot part of the grate. Close lid for another two to three minutes.

Turn steaks over and repeat. For thicker or more well done steaks, reduce grill temperature after browning the first side so the second side doesn't burn before the steaks are done to your liking. Rest and serve with grilled crosshatch pattern facing up.

This is a great beef primer! The advice comports well with the advice and teaching I've gotten from My Brother the Chef over the years. These grilling instructions are correct, but to find a meat market that can cut you a good cut of beef, properly trimed, isn't easy. In this day and age, beef is a pretty big expense and I want you to spend your dollar well.

More information, rather than less, is what I do here.

If your local market carries "Laura's Organic" beef, save your coin. This is badly trimmed beef that doesn't taste like much of anything. If you want real organic beef, head for Fresh Fields. They do a decent trim job.

Follow the instructions above to get beef that tastes like beef, and that spritz of lemon juice ain't optional. And if you want beef that is more than medium well done, I ask the same question that the best waiters in the New York steak places will ask, "And your point, sir/madam, would be?..."

If you can afford this (I can't remember the last time I ate a steak) treat the meat with respect. And serve it with respect, the way that a London Broil, or Sirloin or Fillet should be served.

Like most working people these days, I eat very little meat. But when I do, I want it to be really good.

For more affordable filets, learn how to trim whole tenderloins. You'll need a good knife for this--I mean restaurant chef quality--that's freshly sharpened. Your 9" chef knife is the tool for this job. Knives are one of the places in the kitchen where you don't cut corners. The blocky tallow is relatively easy to trim away, but the "blue skin," the membrane that runs down at least one side of all commercially prepared whole tenders, needs a deft touch and a sharp knife. If I can find a video lesson for trimming whole tenders on the Internets, I'll toss you a link, since I can't invite you to my house for a cooking lesson.

And avoid Omaha Steaks by mail. They charge you through the nose for badly trimmed meat. If you are willing to do a little work yourself, you can eat much better beef for a whole lot less.

The many advantages to trimming your own tenders include the fact that you can cut them to the size you like. I prefer a 4 oz. filet, the big guys out there may find an 8 ouncer too petite. You can stock your freezer with the sizes that work for your household.

What to serve with it? If you want to go to the moon, serve Bernaise sauce on the side. I like to make this with freshly chopped tarragon rather than parsley or chives.

Of course, you can also roast the whole tenderloin, and I'll deal with Chateubriand and other variations in a separate post. A whole roast tenderloin is an utterly stunning and nearly decadent center piece for a dinner party or a buffet. This site hosts plenty of vegetarian, ovo-lacto and vegan recipes you can serve to your meatless friends.

Cooking Jack-o-Lantern

Since a lot of us are going to be having fresh pumpkin around the house soon, here is something really delicious you can make with it. This is easy and totally scrumptious.

Pumpkin Soup

Here's a pumpkin soup that ya'll are gonna love...and it's a much better use of pumpkin than that sweet marshmellow thing that we so often do for the holidays.
# 1 onion, quartered
# 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
# 2 or three potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks an equal amount of peeled and seeded pumkin meat (as the potatoes)
# 4-6 cups chicken stock
# 1 Scotch bonnet chile - use an habanero if you must.
# 1 bay leaf, broken
# other spices that you like - i used allspice and salt and freshly ground pepper.
The method:

Peel and cube potatoes and pumpkin into equal sized chunks heat some olive oil in a big pot and add the onion and garlic - saute a few minutes Add the chicken stock, potatoes and pumpkin meat, bring to a boil, reduce reat, add the scotch bonnet and spices of you choice. Cook over low heat, just simmering, for maybe two hours until the potatoes and pumpkin are mushy. Remove the scotch bonnet and bay leaf if you used one.

Transfer the mixture, in batches, to a food processor and puree till smooth. Return the mixture to the pot, reheat and adjust seasonings - I added a splash of cognac. Be forewarned that if you actually do use a scotch bonnet or habanero chile, this is a pretty spicy soup, even if you discard the chile. You might experiment by removing the chile earlier in the process; but mine was delicious!
Enjoy.

Serve this as a first course before roast poultry or as a main dish with a tossed salad of wild field greens. It's a hearty enough soup to base a meal around with a crusty bread.

Qualifications?

Ryan Lizza writes at The New Republic "&c.;" blog:

DUE DILIGENCE: You can't make this stuff up. The counsel to the president of the United States wasn't licensed to practice law in D.C.:

Earlier this year, I received notice that my dues for the District of Columbia Bar were delinquent and as a result my ability to practice law in D.C. had been suspended. I immediately sent the dues in to remedy the delinquency. The nonpayment was not intentioned, and I corrected the situation upon receiving the letter.

I guess we can knock "detail-oriented" off her ever-shrinking list of qualifications.

Shrinking Middle Class

U.S. Labor Is in Retreat as Global Forces Squeeze Pay and Benefits
By David Streitfeld, Times Staff Writer

Workers at auto parts maker Delphi Corp. will be asked this week to take a two-thirds pay cut. It's one of the most drastic wage concessions ever sought from unionized employees.

Workers at General Motors Corp., meanwhile, tentatively agreed on Monday to absorb billions of dollars in healthcare costs. Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler employees are certain to face similar demands.

The forces affecting Delphi and GM workers are extreme versions of what's occurring across the American labor market, where such economic risks as unemployment and health costs once broadly shared by business and government are being shifted directly onto the backs of American working families.

Four years into an economic recovery, workers across America should be riding high. Instead, they're facing new demands to surrender hard-won benefits and agree to wage concessions. Companies say these cutbacks are essential to stay competitive in an increasingly globalized economy.

In recent weeks, there have been numerous examples — and they aren't limited to manufacturers.

Grocery workers at the 71-store Farmer Jack chain in Michigan agreed to take a 10% wage cut to make their operation more palatable to a new owner. Hundreds of workers at a hose plant in Auburn, Ind., approved a $2 cut in their $18-an-hour pay to keep the plant open. Police officers in Wyandotte, Mich., agreed to a three-year wage freeze and to pay more for healthcare.

Jerry Jasinowski, president of the Manufacturing Institute at the National Assn. of Manufacturers, said such givebacks would simply become a fact of life.

"From airline pilots to auto assembly workers, employees need to help reduce their costs," he said. "We can't afford to live with the very generous benefits we provided 10, 15 years ago."

Workers' reduced leverage has many origins, including a slack labor market and the offshoring of jobs to low-cost countries such as China and India.

Some companies, challenged by low-cost rivals, say they can't afford more than minimal raises. And even at firms doing well, high premiums for healthcare insurance take away from the pool of funds that could be used to provide raises.

Only 60% of businesses offer health insurance to their workers, down from 66% in 2003 and 69% in 2000, according to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.

Companies also are asking workers to produce more for the same pay.

The result is that the cost of living has been outpacing wage increases for most workers all year. Driven by high energy costs, inflation rose twice as fast as wages in September, the government reported last week. The liberal Economic Policy Institute called it "the largest decline in real earnings in decades."
....
Some economists see little to worry about. The U.S. unemployment rate, at 5.1%, "is evidence that our economy's ability to provide jobs on a sustained basis has not been impaired" by international competition, Federal Reserve Gov. Donald Kohn said in a recent speech.

Others aren't so sanguine. "How do U.S. firms compete in the global economy?" asked UC Berkeley economist Harley Shaiken. "If the only way to compete is with $10 wages, we have a problem that is much larger than just Delphi. We're looking at a society where people exit rather than enter the middle class."

Last year's presidential election prompted a debate over globalization and the offshoring of jobs that yielded a lot of heat but little light. Some said the phenomenon was overblown in an economy that creates and destroys millions of jobs a year.

Others contended that it would swell over time and soon affect millions.

"Maybe we were looking under the wrong rock," said Jared Bernstein, an Economic Policy Institute economist.

A few hundred thousand jobs may have been lost directly to cheaper jobs overseas, he said. But what's under-recognized is how millions of others might have kept their jobs — or at least, a job — but lost current or future benefits.

The labor historians offering the bleakest outlook say they don't know what will arrest this downward process.

"There used to be a kind of floor for worker welfare," said Leon Fink, editor of the journal Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas. "But we're now living in an age in which all those old standards have come unglued."

None of this will come as news to most of you.

Avian Influenza Update

What can nervous Americans do about bird flu?
Deadly H5N1 has spread to Europe, but no signs of virus in U.S.

By Jane Weaver
Health editor
MSNBC
Updated: 9:21 a.m. ET Oct. 18, 2005

As the U.S. heads into the regular influenza season, Americans are already anxious about the spread of the bird flu virus.

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been handling numerous fearful phone calls from the public and the media, fielding such questions as "Is it safe to have a bird feeder in my yard?" and "Is it still OK to have turkey at Thanksgiving?"

“It’s been insane,” said Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the CDC, which has been getting an average of 447,000 hits a day on its avian flu information Web page.

That’s more than the CDC got from people wanting to know about the flu shot shortage last October or the West Nile virus outbreaks in 2003.

While strains of the deadly H5N1 virus have been identified in poultry in eastern Europe, no signs of the virus have been found in the U.S.

"For us in this country, it’s still a theoretical risk," says Dr. Brian Currie, vice president and senior medical director of New York's Montefiore Medical Center.

In the last several weeks there has been heightened attention on the bird flu virus and how the U.S. government plans to cope with a possible global pandemic. Currently the highly lethal H5N1 strain of the virus almost never passes between people, but scientists believe that the virus, which has infected 117 and killed over 60 people in Asia, will eventually mutate into a form that would spread easily among humans.

"Nobody really knows what the risk is," says Dr. Richard Webby of the Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. "Are we on the verge of a huge pandemic? We don’t know."

Don't panic, prepare. Let The Flu Wiki be your guide.

Here is a link to the interview I gave to Northeastern Public Radio. It's about 5 minutes long and starts at the 8:05 mark.

The Rebuild

I have to admit that WaPo's Dana Milbank's sense of humor appeals to me>

Some Critics Still See Bugs

By Dana Milbank

Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Page A17

Yesterday was the scheduled release of Miers version 2.0, in which the White House would introduce a better-qualified Harriet Miers to the American public. But was it an upgrade?

President Bush, in the Oval Office with some Texas jurists who back Miers, said his Supreme Court nominee has "high character" and "integrity," is "a pioneer" and a "leader" and is one of the top "women lawyers" who would bring "excellence to the bench." Miers "will be a superb Supreme Court judge," Bush said.

This was meant to be an improvement on the announcement of Miers's nomination two weeks earlier, in which Bush praised her "character" and "integrity" and called her a "pioneer" and a "leader" among "women lawyers" known for her "professional excellence." Miers is a "superb choice," he said back then.

Up on the Hill, meanwhile, the pioneering, superb and excellent nominee was still having difficulty getting respect yesterday. Miers arrived about 10 minutes early for a get-acquainted session with Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D), but he was still traveling from the airport. The nominee had to cool her heels in the public reception area, making small talk about an old Schumer campaign poster under the watchful eyes of a dozen television cameras.

"I apologize," the senator said when he arrived to rescue Miers. "We sat on the runway."

In the fortnight since Miers was nominated to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the administration has been upended by criticism from typically loyal conservatives. So the White House sought to relaunch Miers yesterday, dropping the appeal based on her religious beliefs in favor of an appeal based on her credentials as a first-rate lawyer.

To that end, the Republican National Committee issued a news release highlighting the considered opinion of, among others, the Grand Island (Neb.) Independent. "She is a woman of strong character and deep experience as a legal practitioner," asserted the Grand Island editorialists.

But conservatives, who are seeking evidence that she is a judicial fellow traveler, were unimpressed. "A nomination that invites a discussion of qualifications is a nomination that is in serious trouble," declared Manuel A. Miranda, who leads a conservative legal group calling for Miers to withdraw before Bush "is further embarrassed."

I'm enjoying watching the meltdown so much that I'm thinking about moving from popcorn to something better suited as an entree.

Going to School

Tom Engelhardt has posted part one of his two part interview with University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole. Class is now in session and I invite you to take a seat for a comprehensive tour of the the modern history of the middle east and Bush blunders. Tom promises to post part two later today.

I've been reading Juan since his blog went live in 2002. One of the great gifts of the Web and the blogosphere is the generosity of experts like him who are willing to share their expertise for the price of an Internet connection. What I've learned from him has made the cost more than worthwhile.

Payback is Hell

'Rule of Law'? That's So '90s

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Page A25

Since Bush took office, many of those who raised their voices in opposition to the president or his policies have found themselves under assault, although the president himself has maintained a careful distance from the bloodletting.

In [former ambassador Joseph] Wilson's case, the administration suggested that his hiring by the CIA to investigate claims that Hussein was trying to acquire nuclear material was an act of nepotism, courtesy of his wife. But administration figures wanted to wipe their fingerprints off any smoking gun that would link them to the anti-Wilson campaign. Judith Miller, a New York Times reporter who went to jail to protect Libby until she got what she took to be a release from a confidentiality agreement, offered a revealing fact in an account of her saga in Sunday's Post.

Before he trashed Wilson to Miller in a July 8, 2003, meeting, Libby asked that his comments not be attributed to a "senior administration official," the standard anonymous reference to, well, senior administration officials. Instead, he wanted his statements attributed to a "former Hill staffer," a reference to Libby's earlier work in Congress. Why would Libby want his comments ascribed to such a vague source? Miller says she told the special prosecutor that she "assumed Mr. Libby did not want the White House to be seen as attacking Mr. Wilson."

These cases portray an administration and a movement that can dish it out, but want to evade responsibility for doing so and can't take it when they are subjected to the same rule book that inconvenienced an earlier president. An editorial in the latest issue of the conservative Weekly Standard is a sign of arguments to come. The editorial complains about the various accusations being leveled against DeLay, Libby, Rove and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and it says that "a comprehensive strategy of criminalization had been implemented to inflict defeat on conservatives who seek to govern as conservatives."

I have great respect for my friends at the Weekly Standard, so I think they'll understand my surprise and wonder over this new conservative concern for the criminalization of politics. A process that was about "the rule of law" when Democrats were in power is suddenly an outrage now that it's Republicans who are being held accountable.

Day by day, Judy Miller looks more and more like the neocon shill she is. She's taking the NYT down with her.

The Real Roe

Jamal Simmons posted this at The Huffington Post last night, and I like the way he cuts to the chase:

Jamal The Right is Not Wrong about Harriet Miers – She Can't be Trusted

The conservative criticism of Harriet Miers as being unqualified for the job should remind most observers of the liberal and legal community criticism of Clarence Thomas in 1991 as being unqualified after less than two years as a judge. Before Miers, Thomas was the least qualified person to ascend to the court in generations and conservatives decided that he would do just fine.

Why the difference?

Clarence Thomas was plainly in bed with the conservative movement and they knew he could be counted upon to defy the sensitivities of most women and people of color to have compassion for individuals stuck in circumstances only remedied by the hand of justice. He proved his fealty to the right wing in earlier rounds as chairman of he Equal Employment Opportunity Commission where he was all too willing to deny justice to black, brown and female complainants and was an outspoken critic of Roe v. Wade..

Her religious conversion experience not withstanding, Harriet Miers is completely untested. Though John Roberts had little paper trail and no tough court decisions to defend, he had been a member of the club – literally – as a member of the Federalist Society.

What lurks beneath the conservative critique of Miers is a very rational fear by the right wing. Because she has not been a part of the club, has not promoted herself as a conservative and is a ...well...woman (gasp!) she can't be trusted on the bench to be hard-hearted enough to look a pregnant fifteen year-old girl in the eye who has been raped by her father and tell her that she has no right to end the pregnancy unless she goes to her bastard of a father or her mother to ask for permission. What if the mother refuses to believe the daughter's incest story?

They have been masking this fear in other arguments and more flowery language, but at heart, this is the only thing that makes sense. Miers is a trusted evangelical Christian ally of George Bush who assures the world of her fealty to “the cause” in every code word he can utter. She would be the perfect foil for the Democrats who would find it hard to filibuster a genial woman with no paper trail and solid conservative support.

Instead, a civil war has broken out on the right and the nomination is in some amount of trouble. Democrats have a tough row to hoe on this nomination. The thing that gives me the most pause is something Kirsten Powers has also pointed out. I find it hard to take seriously a woman who believes that President Bush is the most brilliant man she has ever met.

This is pretty bald, but this is what the nutty critique of female sexuality which is the Roe debate shakes out to in the end: women can't be trusted with their own sexuality and reproductive choices without having someone else review them. The patriarchy has to have the power of review. Simmons cuts to the chase and I thank him for it.

Breaking Down

The Conservative Machine's Unexpected Turn

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Page A17

For four years, the White House believed it would need an army to install President Bush's choices on the Supreme Court, and it set about building one. Political committees were formed, millions of dollars raised, coalitions of allied groups assembled, action plans mapped out, media campaigns scripted.

Yet now, as the president struggles to sell the nomination of Harriet Miers, much of Bush's army is refusing to leave the barracks -- and part of it is even going over to the insurgency.

The apparatus constructed largely by Bush strategist Karl Rove and deployed effectively on behalf of recently confirmed Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has splintered over Miers and broken free from its commander. Conservative organizations that generated millions of e-mail messages on behalf of Roberts have silenced their servers. Airwaves that sizzled with commercials demanding a Senate vote just weeks ago carry no such ads into living rooms now. The followers of these groups are not flooding their senators with supportive telephone calls and letters.

The split seems to be evolving into one of the most profound schisms in years within a conservative movement whose unity has buoyed Bush through his most difficult moments and earned the envy of the political left. While conservative groups have disagreed over policies in the past, rarely have they turned against a president so normally aligned with them on such a central, legacy-building priority.

"I don't know of anybody that is right now planning to go all out, whereas I know that had a different kind of nominee been selected, that people were prepared to go full tilt," said Paul M. Weyrich, founder of the Free Congress Foundation, who so far has declined to support Miers.

"They are still fully armed, loaded for bear, but they're not about to fire on behalf of someone whose qualifications they're still questioning," added Janet M. LaRue, chief counsel of Concerned Women for America, another group that has withheld its backing.

During the Roberts confirmation process, LaRue helped mobilize her organization's 500,000 members to press the Senate. "We were doing stuff every day -- press releases every day, sometimes a couple a day, e-alerts every day or every other day," she said. "Now all I can do is explain why we haven't. . . . Right now you've got hardly anything being done for Miers. It's so noticeably silent."

So silent, in fact, that the White House is trying to step in to do some of the salesmanship it otherwise might have preferred to leave to outside political groups. Bush hosted half a dozen former Texas Supreme Court justices in the Oval Office yesterday to highlight their support of Miers, the sort of validation event he did not need personally to mount on behalf of Roberts.

"They're here to send a message here in Washington that the person I picked to take Sandra Day O'Connor's place is not only a person of high character and of integrity but a person who can get the job done," Bush said, flanked by the ex-judges. The president added, "She's impressed these folks. They know her well. They know that she'll bring excellence to the bench."

The White House hoped the appearance would help it refocus attention on Miers's qualifications and away from issues such as her religion and position on abortion. But it found that such topics continued to assert themselves amid a report from a Wall Street Journal columnist that two other judges who are close to Miers told conservative activists on a conference call the day she was nominated that they believed she would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade , the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

Such disjointed messages are easier to avoid with an integrated campaign backing a president, and Bush advisers rue the fragmenting of the team they put together. Through intermediaries and more conference calls and e-mails, White House officials are trying to lobby estranged supporters and reassemble the coalition.

When "message discipline" spins apart, this is what you get. I'll have more to say about this unwinding of the conservative movement later. There is a lot to examine here.

The Tip of the Spear

Cheney's Office Is A Focus in Leak Case
Sources Cite Role Of Feud With CIA

By Jim VandeHei and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Page A01

As the investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's name hurtles to an apparent conclusion, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has zeroed in on the role of Vice President Cheney's office, according to lawyers familiar with the case and government officials. The prosecutor has assembled evidence that suggests Cheney's long-standing tensions with the CIA contributed to the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame.

In grand jury sessions, including with New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Fitzgerald has pressed witnesses on what Cheney may have known about the effort to push back against ex-diplomat and Iraq war critic Joseph C. Wilson IV, including the leak of his wife's position at the CIA, Miller and others said. But Fitzgerald has focused more on the role of Cheney's top aides, including Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, lawyers involved in the case said.

One former CIA official told prosecutors early in the probe about efforts by Cheney's office and his allies at the National Security Council to obtain information about Wilson's trip as long as two months before Plame was unmasked in July 2003, according to a person familiar with the account.

It is not clear whether Fitzgerald plans to charge anyone inside the Bush administration with a crime. But with the case reaching a climax -- administration officials are braced for possible indictments as early as this week-- it is increasingly clear that Cheney and his aides have been deeply enmeshed in events surrounding the Plame affair from the outset.

It was a request by Cheney for more CIA information that, unknown to him, started a chain of events that led to Wilson's mission three years ago. His staff pressed the CIA for information about it one year later. And it was Libby who talked about Wilson's wife with at least two reporters before her identity became public, according to evidence Fitzgerald has amassed and which parties close to the case have acknowledged.

Lawyers in the case said Fitzgerald has focused extensively on whether behind-the-scenes efforts by the vice president's aides and other senior Bush aides were part of a criminal campaign to punish Wilson in part by unmasking his wife.

In a move people involved in the case read as a sign that the end is near, Fitzgerald's spokesman yesterday told the Associated Press that the prosecutor planned to announce his conclusions in Washington, where the grand jury has been meeting, instead of Chicago, where the prosecutor is based. Some lawyers close to the case cited courthouse talk that Fitzgerald might announce his findings as early as tomorrow, though hard evidence about his intentions and timing remained elusive.

I just knew that this was the direction this was going to take, but I couldn't point to anything until today. I'm going to eat popcorn for breakfast.

Party Food

This Dolmas recipe produces one of the more perfect party finger foods; flavorful, rice-and-pine-nut-stuffed grape leaves. The Dolmas recipe is a welcome addition to a Greek theme-party or any party. It pairs very well with Tzatziki (Cucumber Dip).

Dolmas (Stuffed Grape Leaves)

8 ounces grape leaves, in brine (about 40-45 leaves)
1/2 cup olive oil , divided
2 cups cooked long grain rice
4 green onions or scallions, finely chopped
1 small red or white onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh chopped mint
1 tablespoon zest of lemon
Salt to taste
1/2 cup pine nuts, finely chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

Preparation: The Dolmas Recipe is not difficult but it does take some time. Start by draining the grape leaves and placing them in a large heat-proof bowl. Pour just enough boiling water over the leaves to cover and let them soak for about 20 minutes. Drain again and rinse under cold running water.

In the meantime, heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the onions and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the rice, mint, lemon zest, salt to taste and pine nuts. Mix thoroughly; making sure the rice is well-coated with oil.

Assembling the Dolmas: To fill the grape leaves, spread out one grape leaf in front of you, vein side up and stem end toward you. Place about 2 teaspoons of the rice mixture in the center, fold stem end over the filling, bring the sides of the leaf toward the center and roll tightly, forming a cylinder. Repeat until all the filling in the Dolmas recipe is used.

Cooking Instructions: Place the Dolmas close together and seam side down in a large skillet, in a single layer, if possible. If not, separate the layers with extra grape leaves. Drizzle the lemon juice and the remaining olive oil over the Dolmas and add boiling water to cover. Cover the pan tightly and simmer for 1 hour. Let the parcels cool in the liquid, then transfer them to a serving platter . Serve at room temperature. Makes about 40 to 45 appetizers.

For a party table, these go well with a big bowl of hummous, pita bread slices, and
TABOULI

6 oz. bulgur wheat
1 c. water
3/4 c. lemon juice
6 med. tomatoes
1 1/2 c. chopped green onions
1 1/2 c. diced green pepper
3/4 c. parsley
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground coriander
1/8 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. pepper
24 leaves Romaine lettuce

In large bowl combine bulgur wheat, water and lemon juice; cover and refrigerate until all liquid is absorbed, about one hour. Add remaining ingredients, except lettuce to wheat mixture and stir to combine; line serving dish with lettuce leaves and spoon tabouli over lettuce. Serves 6

Serve all with a big bowl of mixed olives and plenty of paper bowls to stash the stones. To go a little further into the Lebanese cookbook, a big bowl of mjadra.

Grins Open Thread

New American Patriot sent along a a retrospective gallery of the many faces of modern Repugnican art. This is pretty funny. At least it made me smile and I had a beastly day and need it. Gotta learn how to Photoshop.

I don't know if you'll get much more out of me tonight besides recipes, at most. I'm so tired that I nodded off over the keyboard this afternoon, in addition to meetings and running errands

Pass the Popcorn

Brace for Impact

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, October 17, 2005; 12:51 PM

The Bush White House this week is bracing for the possible indictments of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, the president and vice president's two most essential aides. The damage to the White House could be incalculable.

So what went wrong? Here's my theory.

If in fact Rove and Libby are indicted, it could turn out to be because the kind of hairsplitting, enigmatic answers that have worked so well as staving off the White House press corps over the years served them very poorly once a resolute federal prosecutor entered the picture.

From the get-go, Rove and Libby (and their lawyers) have cleaved to a very precisely constructed defense: That they didn't leak Valerie Plame's name to anyone -- and never explicitly told anyone that she was a covert CIA agent.

In one of Rove's few on-the-record pronouncements on the case, he said on CNN last year: "I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name."

Libby, in a letter to New York Times reporter Judith Miller just a few weeks ago, reminded her of his position: "The public report of every other reporter's testimony makes clear that they did not discuss Ms. Plame's name or identity with me."

The "no-name" defense may be technically accurate. Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, for instance, recalled Rove telling him about "Wilson's wife" and that she generically worked at the agency. Miller on Sunday wrote that she and Libby spoke about Wilson's wife three times, but that she couldn't be sure if Libby had ever used Plame's name -- and she couldn't say how two mangled versions of Plame's name showed up in the notebook she used to record the interviews. She also wrote that her notes did not show that Libby described Plame as covert -- although Libby did tell her precisely what unit within the CIA she worked for.

This particular defense allowed Rove and Libby -- and the White House spokesman, on their behalf -- to issue what the press corps interpreted as authoritative blanket denials about their involvement in the leak.

And in the face of the original, narrowly defined criminal investigation -- into whether anyone had intentionally disclosed the identity of a covert agent -- it may have seemed like a good idea.

But this particular defense may also have locked Rove and Libby into some statements that defied a common-sense interpretation of the facts. And indeed, a variety of leaked reports suggest that Rove initially told the grand jury that he had never talked to Cooper about Plame, and Libby said he never talked to Miller about Plame.

Common sense, however, says there's no real difference between referring to "Valerie Plame" and "Joe Wilson's wife" -- and that whether or not they knew she was covert didn't change the fact that she was.

Common sense sometimes has no better ally than a determined federal prosecutor -- especially one with the liberty to expand the investigation to include allegations of conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice.

And special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald has some significant advantages over the White House press corps when it comes to getting answers. He's not trying to curry favor with anyone. He has an intense professional aversion to being lied to. And perhaps most devastatingly, he can ask as many follow up questions as he wants.

The Buy In

Want to Be a Diplomat? Follow the Greenback Road

By Al Kamen

Monday, October 17, 2005; Page A13

The price of a fine ambassadorship has gone up dramatically in recent years. Maybe oil and the always-hot D.C. housing market have gone up more, but the plum postings, especially some of the cushy ones in Europe, are now going for a couple hundred thousand dollars each in political contributions.

The Netherlands went to Roland Arnall, who contributed perhaps a record-breaking $1.1 million. Portugal went to Florida developer Al Hoffman, who chipped in more than $400,000 -- and the Vatican went to Oklahoma businessman L. Francis Rooney III , who forked over a quarter-mil.

Presidents have been selling ambassadorships -- Franklin D. Roosevelt didn't send Joseph Kennedy to London because Kennedy was a skilled diplomat. President Bill Clinton, for example, didn't send the California hotelier Larry Lawrence -- who we recall was briefly buried in Arlington cemetery -- to Switzerland because of his foreign policy bona fides. Smaller, less diplomatically important European postings have typically been doled out by winners to their supporters.

Still, figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics show substantially different patterns between the Clinton and Bush administrations in filling even the more important ambassadorships -- especially in the second term.

Bush's appointees are heavily weighted to money and cronies, such as roller-bearing king William "Timmy" Timken Jr., investment guru Ronald P. Spogli and auto magnate Robert Holmes Tuttle. Texas Rangers buddy J. Thomas Schieffer is in Tokyo after a stint in Australia. Craig R. Stapleton picked up the usually pricey slot in France for a mere $116,000 -- but he's related by marriage to Bush.

There are a couple pols on Bush's list, though none with national credentials. Antonio Garza Jr. had been the Texas secretary of state. Former South Carolina House speaker David Wilkins, who helped save Bush's 2000 campaign after Bush lost the New Hampshire primary, was given Canada. (He'd been there once, visiting Niagara Falls.) In contrast, Clinton's picks leaned heavily to veteran lawmakers who lost elections -- former senators James R. Sasser and Wyche Fowler Jr., former House members Thomas S. Foley and Thomas Foglietta and former Ohio governor Richard F. Celeste.

Clinton crony and former White House deputy chief of staff Philip J. Lader replaced Adm. William Crowe in London. Longtime Hill staffer and Atlanta lawyer Gordon Giffin , who was raised in Montreal and Toronto, replaced former Michigan governor James Blanchard in Ottawa.

Of course, being a crony, even a wealthy one, doesn't mean you're not qualified for the job. Democratic moneyman Felix Rohatyn, a major civic leader in New York City, was given high marks in Paris. Bush's man in Beijing, Yale classmate and Asia businessman Clark Randt Jr., has lived in and worked in Asia for decades, including a couple of years in Beijing, and speaks fluent Mandarin.

But keep those checkbooks handy.

Circular Firing Squad?

Wow. I've been reading the National Republic On-Line's Ramesh Ponnuru for years as one of the more readable Righties, but he really heads off the reservation today in the New York Times:

Why Conservatives Are Divided

By RAMESH PONNURU
Published: October 17, 2005

Washington
....
To see where the fault lines really lie, it helps to review the history of conservatives' relationship with President Bush.

Conservatives entered the presidential race of 2000 holding a weak hand. The failure of the "Republican revolution" under Newt Gingrich had demonstrated that there was no sizable constituency for shutting down federal programs and departments. Republicans had previously succeeded in running against big government because it was associated, in the public mind, with a cultural liberalism weakened by its perceived excesses on issues of race and crime, sex and family, religion and patriotism, and welfare and work. President Bill Clinton had systematically detached big government from those liabilities, most significantly by signing welfare reform.

Mr. Clinton's political success got the Republicans to stop crusading against big government. While running for president, George W. Bush pointedly denounced the idea that "if government would only get out of our way, all our problems would be solved." The Gingrich Republicans had tried to abolish the Department of Education. Mr. Bush said he would give it new responsibilities.

Conservatives who were paying attention in 2000 knew that Mr. Bush would not be a budget-cutter. They knew, as well, that he did not share their opposition to race-conscious affirmative action, or the desire that many of them had for immigration restrictions. They calculated, however, that he would be good on their highest-priority issues - and that given difficult political circumstances, they had to give ground on their lower-priority issues. Mr. Bush could be counted on, conservatives thought, to make the nation more secure, to appoint "strict constructionist" judges in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, to cut taxes and to reform entitlements.

Moreover, Mr. Bush's reliability on those issues would mitigate the impact of his deviations. Conservative justices would set limits on racial preferences even if the president did not. Tax cuts would restrain federal spending, and Social Security reform based on private investment would make voters less dependent on government and thus, over time, more tolerant of budget cuts. So conservatives placed their bets on Mr. Bush.

But five years into Mr. Bush's presidency, conservatives have cause to re-evaluate their compromises. While most conservatives supported the invasion of Iraq, many have grave doubts about the conduct of the war. Medicare has been expanded more than it has been reformed. Social Security reform appears to be dead for now. Tax cuts may have inhibited spending - perhaps Medicare would have been expanded even more without them - but they have hardly imposed anything that could fairly be called "restraint."

The president appears not just to oppose immigration restrictions, but to be committed to liberalization. Hurricane Katrina shook conservatives, too. They rightly rejected overheated criticisms of Mr. Bush, especially those that portrayed him as indifferent to the suffering of blacks. But they want the federal government to perform its core functions competently.

It was against this backdrop that Mr. Bush nominated Ms. Miers. Counting on Mr. Bush to appoint conservative judges had always been risky. Even if he picked a conservative nominee, that nominee would have to be confirmed and then stay conservative on the bench. Conservatives are well aware that of the five justices who voted, in effect, to extend constitutional protection to partial-birth abortion, three were appointed by Republican presidents committed to "strict constructionism." That record of mixed results, combined with the increased prominence of the courts in American life, raised the stakes when Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired.

In the past, conservatives had overlooked disappointments and disagreements for the sake of getting solid appointments to the Supreme Court. The president's judicial appointments will be among his most lasting legacies. But then Mr. Bush nominated Ms. Miers. Conservatives are not sure she's a legal conservative at all, and they are still less sure that she will be a forceful advocate for originalism. Not even her strongest defenders outside the administration say she would have been their top choice.

Those defenders say that we should nevertheless trust Mr. Bush's judgment. At the very moment that conservatives have begun to conclude that their bets on Mr. Bush are no longer paying off, Mr. Bush has asked them to double down. That request has even pro-Miers conservatives feeling disillusioned, and other conservatives feeling betrayed. That's what's dividing conservatives - and it's why they're thinking more and more about life after President Bush.

This is whining, Ramesh. Your side elected and enthusiastically re-elected W. If he's the best candidate y'all could come up with, maybe y'all are intellectually bankrupt. It comes as no news to liberals that he's a small thinker with a small circle of sycophants.

End of An Era

David Brooks: In her own words, Miers makes weak case

Of all the words written about Harriet Miers, none are more disturbing than the ones she wrote herself. In the early '90s, while she was president of the Texas Bar Association, Miers wrote a column called "President's Opinion" for the Texas Bar Journal. It is the largest body of public writing we have from her and, sad to say, the quality of thought and writing doesn't even rise to the level of pedestrian.

Of course, we have to make allowances for the fact that the first job of any association president is to not offend her members. Still, nothing excuses sentences like this:

"More and more, the intractable problems in our society have one answer: broad-based intolerance of unacceptable conditions and a commitment by many to fix problems."

Or this: "We must end collective acceptance of inappropriate conduct and increase education in professionalism."

Or this: "When consensus of diverse leadership can be achieved on issues of importance, the greatest impact can be achieved."

Or passages like this: "An organization must also implement programs to fulfill strategies established through its goals and mission. Methods for evaluation of these strategies are a necessity. With the framework of mission, goals, strategies, programs, and methods for evaluation in place, a meaningful budgeting process can begin."

Or, finally, this: "We have to understand and appreciate that achieving justice for all is in jeopardy before a call to arms to assist in obtaining support for the justice system will be effective. Achieving the necessary understanding and appreciation of why the challenge is so important, we can then turn to the task of providing the much needed support."

I don't know if by mere quotation I can fully convey the relentless march of vapid abstractions that mark Miers' prose. Nearly every idea is vague and depersonalized. Nearly every debatable point is elided. It's not that Miers didn't attempt to tackle interesting subjects. She wrote about unequal access to the justice system, about the underrepresentation of minorities in the law and about whether pro bono work should be mandatory. But she presents no arguments or ideas, except the repetition of the bromide that bad things can be eliminated if people of goodwill come together to eliminate bad things.

Or as she puts it, "There is always a necessity to tend to a myriad of responsibilities on a number of cases as well as matters not directly related to the practice of law." And yet, "Disciplining ourselves to provide the opportunity for thought and analysis has to rise again to a high priority."

Throw aside ideology. Surely the threshold skill required of a Supreme Court justice is the ability to write clearly and argue incisively. Miers' columns provide no evidence of that.

The Miers nomination has reopened the rift between conservatives and establishment Republicans.

The conservative movement was founded upon the supposition that ideas have consequences. Conservatives have founded so many think tanks, magazines and organizations, like the Federalist Society, because they believe that you have to win arguments to win political power. They dream of Supreme Court justices capable of writing brilliant opinions that will reshape the battle of ideas.

Republicans, who these days are as likely to be members of the corporate establishment as the evangelical establishment, are more suspicious of intellectuals and ideas, and more likely to believe that politics is about dealmaking, loyalty and power. You know you are in establishment Republican circles when the conversation is bland but unifying. You know you are in conservative circles when it is interesting but divisive. Conservatives err by becoming irresponsible. Republicans tend to be blown about haplessly by forces they cannot understand.

For the first years of his presidency, George W. Bush healed the division between Republicans and conservatives by pursuing big conservative goals with ruthless Republican discipline. But Harriet Miers has shown no loyalty to conservative institutions like the Federalist Society. Her loyalty has been to the person of the president, and her mental style seems to be Republicanism on stilts.

So conservatives are caught between loyalty to their ideas and loyalty to the president they admire. Most of them have come out against Miers -- quietly or loudly. Establishment Republicans are displaying their natural loyalty to leadership. And Miers is caught in the vise between these two forces, a smart and good woman who has been put in a position where she cannot succeed.

I'm no big fan of Brooksie, and know from experience that a 700 word op ed has real limits of expression, but this piece embodies all of the flaws of his work. When Republicans began to adhere to personality more than to ideology, starting with Ronald Reagan, the movement began to unravel. Harriet Miers is the poster child for the bust-up of the movement.

From Scratch

One of my regular correspondents complains that he's no cook and doesn't own a lot of the equipment I assume that cooks who read this page have on hand. Here is something good for the "no cook" starting with next to nothing. Don't own a pie pan? A 9x9 cassorole dish will work. You can get a foil pie plate at the grocery.

CRUSTLESS SPINACH QUICHE

1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1 c. chopped onion
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1/2 c. plain low fat yogurt
3 eggs, beaten
5 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 tsp. salt
Dash pepper & nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drain spinach and heat in oil; saute mushrooms until golden brown and set aside. Add onion and garlic; cook until soft.

Combine yogurt, flour in bowl and add spinach, mushrooms, onion and remaining ingredients; mix and pour into 8 inch pie plate. Bake 40 minutes.

Talking Back to the Journos

Administration's Tone Signals a Longer, Broader Iraq Conflict

By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: October 17, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 - For most of the 30 months since American-led forces ousted Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration has argued that as democracy took hold in Iraq, the insurgency would lose steam because Al Qaeda and the opponents of the country's interim government had nothing to offer Iraqis or the people of the Middle East.

Over time, President Bush told troops at Fort Bragg, N.C., this spring, "the terrorists will lose their sponsors, lose their recruits, and lose their hopes for turning that region into a base for attacks on America and our allies around the world."

But inside the administration, that belief provides less solace than it once did. Senior officials say the intelligence reports flowing over their desks in recent months argue that even if democratic institutions take hold, the insurgency may strengthen. And that possibility has created a quandary for an administration that desperately wants to equate democracy-building with winning the war, but so far has not been able to match the two.

That internal struggle was evident this weekend, as Mr. Bush returned to Washington sounding less celebratory about Iraq's constitutional referendum - whose outcome is suspected but still unknown - than he did after Iraq's elections last January. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking from London on "Fox News Sunday," was somewhat more definitive: "The Sunnis are joining the base of this broad political process," she said. "That will ultimately undo this insurgency. But of course, they can still pull off violent and spectacular attacks."

Mr. Bush's own way of talking about the future, in Iraq and beyond, has undergone a subtle but significant change in recent weeks. In several speeches, he has begun warning that the insurgency is already metastasizing into a far broader struggle to "establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia." While he still predicts victory, he appears to be preparing the country for a struggle of cold war proportions.

It is a very different tone than administration officials sounded in the heady days after Saddam Hussein's fall, and then his capture.

After an extensive debate inside the White House, Mr. Bush has begun directly rebutting the arguments laid out in manifestos and missives from Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mr. bin Laden's top aide.

He did so again on Saturday, quoting from one of Mr. Zawahiri's purported letters - one whose authenticity is still the subject of some question - which predicted that the Iraq war would end as Vietnam had, and that, in Mr. Bush's words, "America can be made to run again." The president argued anew that the terrorist leader was "gravely mistaken."

"There's always the question of whether we give these guys more credibility by directly addressing their arguments," one of Mr. Bush's most senior aides said recently. "But the president was concerned that we hadn't described Iraq to the American people for what it is - a struggle of ideologies that isn't going to end with one election, or one constitution, or even a string of elections."

For an administration that has recalibrated and re-explained its strategy in Iraq many times in the past 30 months, this latest turn may be a recognition of changed realities.

Me, I'd like to get David Sanger in a stranglehold and ask him to explain to me when those heady days were taking place; those of us with a clue knew this was going to be a disaster. Mr. Sanger, you might want to pick up the clue phone.

Company Food

This is one of my all-time favorite foods and one that returning guests request the most. I use chicken and veal most often but as the recipe says, pork or turkey work well, too. This recipe is from one of my favorite cooks, Lidia Bastianich, from whose PBS program I acquired the daring to try a lot of new ideas. She's the one who got me making gnocchi from scratch.

Scallopine in Lemon-Caper Sauce
(Scaloppine Piccata)

This dish is usually made with lemon, butter, and sometimes capers. I have given it a little twist by adding olives and lemon slices. Made with chicken and served over braised spinach, this dish is a favorite at our restaurants in Pittsburgh and Kansas City.

Cerignolas are large green olives, each the size of a plump almond, with a very nutty, butter flavor. They are usually kept in brine. If you cannot find them, other brined green olives will do. But use the ones with pits, which you will remove. They have more flavor.

Makes 4 servings

* 2 lemons
* 4 servings Veal, Chicken, Turkey, or Pork Scallopine (instructions below)
* Salt
* Freshly ground black pepper All-purpose flour
* 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 cloves garlic, peeled
* 10 large green olives (preferably Cerignola), cut away from the pit in wide strips (about 1/2 cup)
* 1/4 cup small capers in brine, drained
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 1 cup Chicken Stock or canned reduced-sodium chicken broth
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

1. Squeeze the juice from one and a half of the lemons and reserve. Lay the remaining half-lemon flat side down and cut into very thin slices with a paring knife. Remove the pits and set the lemon slices aside.

2. Season the scallopine with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour to coat both sides lightly and tap off excess flour. Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a wide, heavy skillet over medium heat until the butter is foaming. Add as many of the scallopine as will fit without touching and cook until golden brown on the underside, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until the second side is lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining scallopine.

3. Remove all scallopine from the pan. Pour off the fat and carefully wipe out the skillet with a wad of paper towels. Pour in the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil and add the remaining 4 tablespoons butter, the garlic, and lemon slices. Cook, scraping the bottom of the skillet, until the garlic is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Scoop out the lemon slices and set aside. Scatter the olives and capers into the skillet and cook, stirring gently, until they begin to sizzle, about 4 minutes. Pour in the wine, bring to a vigorous boil, and cook until the wine is reduced in volume by half. Pour in the chicken stock, bring to a boil, and cook until slightly syrupy, about 4 minutes. Return the scallopine to the skillet, turning the cutlets in the sauce until they are warmed through and coated with sauce. Swirl in the parsley and divide the scallopine among warm plates. Spoon the sauce over them, including some of the capers and olives in each spoonful. Decorate the tops of the scaIlopine with the reserved lemon slices

Scallopine

Veal scallopine. Classically, veal scallopine are thin slices of veal cut across the grain from an individual muscle that has been completely trimmed of fat and connective tissue. Veal scallopine are cut about 1/4 inch thick, then pounded to about 1/8 inch. To serve four, start with twelve 2-ounce veal slices each about 1/4 inch thick. Place the slices, two at a time, between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them several times with the toothed side of a meat mallet. Switch to the smooth side of the mallet and pound the scallopine to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. (If the plastic wrap starts to look tattered, replace it with two new sheets.) Proceed with the recipe.

Chicken scallopine. To serve four, start with four 6-ounce boneless and skinless chicken-breast halves. (If the chicken breasts you are working with have the "filet"- the long strip of meat that runs the length of the underside of the breast-do your best to keep it attached to the breast as you cut and pound them.) Cut each breast crosswise on the bias into two more or less equal pieces. Place the pieces, two at a time, between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them with smooth side of a meat mallet to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Proceed with the recipe.

Pork scallopine. To serve four, start with eight 3-ounce slices of boneless center-cut pork loin completely trimmed of fat. Place the slices, two at a time, between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them several times with the toothed side of a meat mallet. Switch to the smooth side of the mallet and pound the scallopine to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. (If the plastic wrap starts to look tattered, replace it with two new sheets.) Proceed with the recipe.

Turkey scallopine. To serve four, start with eight 3-ounce turkey cutlets. (Most turkey cutlets are sold precut in supermarket meat cases; come as close as you can to these weights.) Place the slices, two at a time, between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them with the smooth side of a meat mallet to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Proceed with the recipe.

A note on cooking scallops of meat: these things, prepared properly, are really thin. You aren't going to cook them like a steak or a chop. The center will cook before the outside gets really brown. Put them in a saute pan over a medium flame, flip them quickly and they will be done as soon as the outsides just begin to brown.

If this looks like a lot of work, it really isn't. If you have a good meat mallet, this goes pretty fast and the meat cooks very quickly. You are going to want some kind of starch with this to soak up the sauce. I like orzo with scallopine, but any slender pasta will work, as will good white rice. Once you've drained the pasta, stir a little butter into the pot to keep it from sticking together and top your presentation, either French or Russian, with chopped parseley. Rather than a salad, I like to serve steamed broccoli rabe as a side dish with this. Dress it with a little vinaigrette. If you serving a red meat (including pork) serve this with a Petit Syrah. With fowl, a Pinot Grigio is a good choice.

For singles, this recipe cuts down easily (it doesn't freeze well.) Extra orzo or rice will keep well in the fridge or freezer. When I cook either, I always make it for four so I always have extras in the freezer to dress out a simple meal.

Gearing Up

Suppliers Working to Meet Expected High Demand for Flu Vaccine

By David Brown and Susan Levine
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 16, 2005; Page A15

The supply of vaccine for the coming winter's flu season may be the biggest in the country's history, but with vaccination clinics barely underway, it is too early to know if it will be enough to meet the demand.

Total supply could be as high as 97 million doses, about a third more than was available last year when the sudden loss of one company's total production created a frantic search for flu shots nationwide.

Partly in response to that shortage, the government and the biggest manufacturer have taken steps to assure that vaccine goes first this year to those who need it most. Ironically, that strategy may be the reason some clinics are reporting "spot shortages" because they have not yet received their full orders.

"Right now it looks like demand is going to be good. It also looks like supply is going to be good," said Donald E. Williamson, the state health officer of Alabama and spokesman for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. But, he said, health care providers will not know the true demand for flu shots until they start vaccinating low-risk people -- a process that under federal guidelines is not supposed to happen until Oct. 24, and will not begin in earnest until well into November.

In the Washington region, many public health agencies and hospitals ordered more doses than in a typical year -- anticipating higher demand because of last winter's problems -- and officials are confident they will receive those supplies in full. Clinics began in early October, with few problems or shortages reported.

"Everything seems to be going according to schedule," said Danna Kauffman of Mid-Atlantic LifeSpan, which represents more than 300 senior-care organizations in Maryland and the District.

Adding to the uncertainty is publicity about the spread of H5N1 avian influenza from Asia into Europe. (Its presence in birds in Romania was confirmed yesterday.) Although the seasonal flu vaccine does not protect against bird flu, fears of a possible pandemic of the latter may have raised public consciousness about influenza in general.

I'm getting my shot on the 19th. My local Giant food store is sponsoring a flu clinic that day. In this area, CVS drug stores will also be sponsoring clinics. With a little Google you should have no difficulty finding a public clinic near you. I'll be getting the pneumovax this year, too. I got pneumonia in both the pandemic years of '57 and '68. I'm not taking any chances this year.

Here We Go Again

Tropical storm warning; U.S. Gulf Coast likely threatened
10/16/2005, 12:49 p.m. CT
By JAY EHRHART
The Associated Press

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) — A tropical storm warning was in effect Sunday for the Cayman Islands and residents began preparing for the worst. The U.S. Gulf Coast could be affected later in the week, forecasters said.

The system could become Tropical Storm Wilma, which would make it the 21st named storm of the season, tying the record for the most storms in an Atlantic season, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The only other time so many storms have formed since record-keeping began 154 years ago was in 1933.

At 2 p.m. EDT, the tropical depression was centered about 195 miles southeast of Grand Cayman, forecasters said. It was nearly stationary over the past several hours and had sustained winds near 35 mph. Depressions become tropical storms when their winds reach 39 mph.

Long-term forecasts show the storm would likely move west and north, putting the storm in the Gulf of Mexico later this week. Forecasters said water temperature and other conditions were favorable for it to become a significant hurricane.

"Once storms get into the Gulf of Mexico, I'm aware of only one storm on record that dissipated," hurricane specialist James Franklin said. "It has almost nowhere to go except land somewhere."

A hurricane watch was issued for the Cayman Islands, meaning hurricane conditions could be felt there within 36 hours. A tropical storm warning, meaning tropical storm conditions within 24 hours, also was posted.

Revisionist History

Freeh's Self-Whitewash

By John Podesta

Sunday, October 16, 2005; Page B07

During his tenure as director of the FBI, Louis Freeh presided over a series of blunders and failures that brought the bureau to a low point in its history. From the embarrassment of the Russian mole Robert Hanssen to the bungling of the Wen Ho Lee investigation to the wasting of hundreds of millions of dollars in a failed attempt to build a modern, computerized case management system, the bureau under Freeh's leadership stumbled from one blunder to the next, with little or no accountability. The nadir, as the nation knows too well, was reached in the astonishing string of failures that helped leave America vulnerable to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In the face of this record, Freeh has now published "My FBI," a book distinguished by its shameless buck-passing. Nothing, it seems, was ever Louis Freeh's fault.

Who was to blame for the fact that there weren't enough FBI agents working on counterterrorism? According to Freeh, it was Congress. But in testimony three years ago, Freeh declared that "Congress has shown great foresight in strengthening" counterterrorism efforts, tripling the FBI's counterterrorism budget from $97 million in 1996 to more than $300 million in 1999. Whose fault was it that the FBI remained incapable of basic file management? Congress's, Freeh contends -- it underfunded the bureau's technology program. But as the report of the Sept. 11 commission points out, Congress did not meet FBI requests in the late 1990s because the bureau had squandered so much money already. Equally appalling is Freeh's recent claim on "60 Minutes" that the bureau was too distracted by the many "scandals" in the Clinton White House to attend to the terrorist threat. Of course, none of those politically motivated witch hunts, in which Freeh did the bidding of his congressional patrons on the partisan right, resulted in a conviction. And never mind that Freeh's FBI ought to have been able to protect the American people while pursuing other investigations at the same time.

Freeh's claim, moreover, that no one, including White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke, told him that radical Islamist terrorism was a major threat, is totally disingenuous. As the Sept. 11 report, the congressional joint inquiry and a book by former National Security Council officials Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon show, there were countless memos circulating in the bureaucracy and numerous meetings that Freeh refused to attend. As Benjamin and Simon aptly wrote in "The Age of Sacred Terror," the FBI under Freeh was "a surly colossus" that listened to no one, provided intelligence to no one and took direction from no one.
....
Other parts of Freeh's account of the unfolding of the Khobar Towers investigation are also riddled with distortions and inaccuracies. For example, Freeh writes as if no acknowledgment of Iranian involvement in the bombing was made until after George W. Bush came into office. This is false: The Clinton administration publicly and unequivocally placed blame on senior Iranian officials. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder made this point at a press conference on Oct. 4, 1999. Moreover, Freeh's story has changed. In "My FBI," Freeh leaves out the admission that he made to the New Yorker magazine in 2001: that he personally made the decision to hold back on an indictment of Iranian officials until a new administration came into office. The material for indictments was available, and there is no evidence that the Clinton administration did not want to pursue the case. Freeh, however, slow-rolled the case, apparently for political reasons.

A central claim of "My FBI" is that Clinton was more concerned about a rapprochement with Iran than about the safety of Americans. Yet Freeh fails to note the obvious: A principal aim of the administration's aggressive diplomacy and intelligence work was to reduce the terrorist threat coming from Iran and its surrogates in the Middle East.

I can understand why Freeh would write a book such as "My FBI" defending his tenure. After all, no one else would.

What astonishes me is that this mediocrity could get a book contract.

Rummy Broke the Army

Via YD at Today in Iraq:

Army is broken and in need of repair

By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - "Armies are fragile institutions and, for all their might, easily broken."

Remember those words? They were written here, in this column, at the end of September 2003. I laid out the recipe for how to break a magnificent Army that had taken nearly two decades to rebuild itself in the wake of the Vietnam debacle.

In that early fall two years ago, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was still running victory laps and the words of his boss, President George W. Bush, were still ringing: "Bring `em on!"

Sadly, those two were, and still are, in charge.

Now they've broken the Army, and after this administration is history, it will take 12 or 15 or 20 years to repair the damage it's inflicted on an institution that our country desperately needs in a century as dangerous as this one.

Both political parties, though, have failed the American voter by offering up candidates for high office who, in simpler times, would barely have qualified for tar and feathers and rides out of town.

How can I say this about the Army when just a week ago, at the Association of the U.S. Army convention, Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey and a veritable galaxy of stars were declaring, under orders, that everything in the Army was just fine; better than good; never better.

I say this because we don't jump when Mr. Rumsfeld yells frog, and I look at the evidence that accumulates day by day. I hear this from other generals, active and retired: The U.S. Army is utterly broken and in need of immediate repair.

It's not just recruitment, although that's bad enough this year and looks as if it will be a great deal worse in fiscal 2006. The Army fell more than 7,000 bodies short of recruiting the number of soldiers it needs this year. Some say that shortfall will become 15,000 or 20,000 during the next 12 months, even though the Army hopes to throw lots of money at the problem.

If Congress approves, the Army plans to double its $20,000 enlistment bonus for trigger-pullers to $40,000. And if a young enlistee further agrees to be sent to one of the divisions bound for Iraq or Afghanistan in the next rotation, he'll get an extra pay raise of $400 a month for 36 months.

Has it come to that? Must we now acknowledge that the only way we can attract young Americans to protect and defend us is to buy them? The Army has already relaxed its once-sacred standards so that twice as many recruits who score in the lowest category on mental aptitude tests can enlist, along with many more high school dropouts and other borderline candidates.

Now Secretary Harvey has laid out how, without increasing the Army's strength, he'll beef up what he calls "the operational Army," the Army that kills people and blows things up, without increasing the long-term permanent strength of the Army by even one soldier above the hopelessly low total of 482,400.

It's a brilliant capitalist stroke worthy of a cold-blooded CEO. We'll hire civilians who like to be paid low civil service wages to replace military people who treat and nurse the wounded coming home from Iraq; replace those who handle payroll issues for other soldiers; replace those who do a thousand crappy jobs well because they know that what they do is important to other soldiers. Then we can ship the "savings" off to Iraq or some other pre-emptive war.

Another part of the plan calls for shutting down some of the Army schoolhouses and shifting more than 11,000 of those who educate and train soldiers to more lethal jobs. It seems somewhat counterintuitive to reduce training at the same time that we begin to fill the ranks with the less intelligent, less fortunate or just plain unlucky who walk the streets of the black and Hispanic ghettos and people from the hills and hollows of Appalachia.

In other words, Rummy and the Joint Staff are lying through their teeth under oath every time they testify to a congressional committee.

Decapitation

At Tomdispatch.com, Nick Turse has a compendium of all the government career professionals who have either been forced out or resigned in disgust in reaction to the Bush administration. It's an astonishingly long list. Bushco has reinstated the loyalty oath in practice. The amount of talent, experience and expertise we've lost at the highest levels of government is frightening.

....And Getting Better

Dramatic slump seen in vehicle sales

Fri Oct 14, 9:58 AM ET

U.S. sales of new cars and trucks at the retail level appear to have fallen off the cliff in October, led by steep declines at General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., J.D. Power and Associates said on Friday.

A report from the industry tracking firm's closely watched Power Information Network cited a lack of high-impact incentives from major automakers, high U.S. gasoline prices, low inventory levels and an apparent pullback by consumers after exceptionally strong sales over the summer for the dramatic slowdown.

Retail new-vehicle sales were down 33 percent across the industry in the first nine days of October compared with the same period a year ago, the Power Information Network said.

It said results were down at nine major automakers, but GM led the pack with a 57 percent decline followed by Ford, which saw its retail sales drop 45 percent over the first nine days of the month.

The Chrysler arm of Germany's DaimlerChrysler posted a 32 percent drop over the same nine-day period compared with year-ago results.

The U.S. arm of Honda Motor Co. Ltd. posted the smallest drop, with retail sales down just 8 percent, followed by Toyota Motor Corp., with sales down 14 percent.

Of Japan's Big Three automakers, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. was the worst performer in the early days of October, with retail sales down 21 percent year-over-year.

"A lot could happen between now and the end of the month," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power and Associates. "But at this point, we're on track for an October like we haven't seen sine the early 1990s."

Slowing sales of fuel-thristy sport utility vehicles were a leading factor behind GM's overall sales decline of 24 percent last month. Ford's September sales fell 20 percent.

I'd say the economy is pretty much in the toilet. As Rich noted earlier, this is going to be a no-fun-for-retailers holiday shopping season.

Presumption of Abuse

Off with debtors' heads?
# Bankruptcy "reform" is anything but for Americans who are struggling.

By Steven E. Smith, Steven E. Smith is a Woodland Hills bankruptcy attorney and author of the blog "Idiotarian Savant."

THE much-hyped federal bankruptcy reform legislation goes into effect Monday, and Congress is already debating whether to suspend or modify the draconian law so that people battered into hopelessness by the Gulf Coast hurricanes don't receive another economic beating.

Other desperate Americans cannot count on such mercy. As the new law smashes into the nation's vulnerable economy, no one will escape suffering.

Breaking with 225 years of precedent, Congress passed the law in March, apparently encouraged that it will make bankruptcy even more onerous and humiliating — and oblivious to the fact that it will discourage the risk-taking necessary for innovation in an entrepreneurial economy. Among other changes, the act requires debtors to pass a means test before they are eligible for relief under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The most common personal bankruptcy filing, Chapter 7 lets filers receive forgiveness for most of their unsecured debt in just 90 days. Most people prefer this avenue.

But rather than permitting the financially overburdened to break free of their debts in Chapter 7, the new law will require that those who earn more than the median annual family income for their state (in California, $42,012 for an individual and $68,310 for a family of four) to proceed under Chapter 13. Under the new law, Chapter 13 will compel the repayment of debts over a period of five years, unless the bankrupt person can show that "special circumstances," such as "a serious medical condition or a call or order to active duty in the armed forces," apply to his or her case.

People who earn more than the median statewide income will be presumed to be "abusive filers" under the new law, and the Office of the U.S. Trustee, the agency of the Justice Department charged with administering the Bankruptcy Court, is empowered to seek dismissal or conversion of such cases. Unforeseen disasters of the type that typically overwhelm the middle class, such as family medical emergencies, job layoffs and natural disasters, may or may not count as "special circumstances" for people who file under Chapter 7 but make more than the median income.

After the mandatory meeting of creditors, the court-appointed Chapter 7 trustee, who administers the meeting, will need to decide whether the debtor has shown sufficient "special circumstances" to overcome the presumption of "abuse." There is little in the new law to give the trustee, or the Bankruptcy Court, any guidance in making the decision, and it is certain that more and more people who would have paid their debts under Chapter 7 will now be forced into the more onerous Chapter 13 filing.

People have filed a historic surge of personal bankruptcies since the law's passage, triggering what local bankruptcy lawyers call the "YBK Scenario": a wave of panic filings designed to beat the clock. In the week ending Oct. 7, bankruptcy filings soared to more than 20,000 per day, almost triple the number of filings per day in March.

The effect of the new law will be even more devastating as residential foreclosures continue to rise and adjustable-rate loans become increasingly more difficult to pay. Gasoline prices and the decision by credit card companies to raise monthly minimum fees already mean that consumers have significantly less money in their wallets to pay their debts.

Congress should ensure that the victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita do not have their hardship compounded. It should immediately pass legislation exempting them from the severity of the new law.

What, and risk the displeasure of their banking industry masters?

Winging Home?

Capital flight

IN AN INCREASINGLY GLOBAL economy in which national borders are becoming just lines on a map, the federal government gives U.S. airlines an archaic "protection" many of them don't want. A 1938 law limits foreign ownership of a domestic airline to no more than 25% of an airline's voting stock, effectively barring foreign control of U.S. airlines.

The Bush administration and several airline CEOs have called for the cap to be raised to 49%, still not enough to allow foreign control but a positive step that would give ailing domestic airlines access to a larger pool of capital. But in 2003, when it last considered the issue, Congress gave in to labor union fears that foreign owners would lay off U.S. workers.

The foreign ownership ban prevents U.S. airlines from consolidating with overseas carriers, an action many airline CEOs and analysts say is necessary. In April 2005, United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton, who knows a thing or two about ailing carriers, said he was alarmed that U.S. carriers were ""not leading the process" in consolidating the world's airlines.

Cross-border mergers are common, especially when a company is in economic distress. Before AT&T; Wireless was taken over by Cingular in February, it was close to a merger with Britain's Vodafone Group. It makes no sense that U.S. airlines, inherently global in scope, can't do the same.

I'm not enough of an economist to be able to say if this is wise. What I do know is that the US airline industry (minus SouthWest and Jetblue) is in trouble. If and when panflu strikes, that trouble is likely to be deadly for some traditional carriers. One of my best friends has put in 39 years with United and doesn't know if she has a pension left. I'd like to know if she'll be able to retire while she is still breathing.

Thought for the Day

Over at Kos, Armando says:

Yes the Constitution will win the vote. And then what? Will our troops come home now? Will the Iraqi government be able to govern? What is different now than yesterday?

Good questions.

When Reporters Go Bad

Update: Greg Mitchell at Editor and Publisher calls 'em as he sees 'em and I think he's right:

After 'NY Times' Probe: Keller Must Fire Miller, and Apologize to Readers As the devastating Times article, and her own first-person account, make clear, Miller should be promptly dismissed for crimes against journalism -- and her own paper. And her editor, who has not taken responsibility, should apologize to both readers and "armchair critics."

By Greg Mitchell

(October 15, 2005) -- It’s not enough that Judith Miller, we learned Saturday, is taking some time off and “hopes” to return to the New York Times newsroom. As the newspaper’s devastating account of her Plame games -- and her own first-person sidebar -- make clear, she should be promptly dismissed for crimes against journalism, and her own newspaper. And Bill Keller, executive editor, who let her get away with it, owes readers, at the minimum, an apology instead of merely hailing his paper’s long-delayed analysis and saying that readers can make of it what they will.

He should also apologize to all the “armchair critics” and “vultures” he denounced this week for spreading unfounded stories and “myths” about what Miller and the newspaper had been up to. If anything, this sad and outrageous story is worse than most expected.

Let’s put aside for the moment Miller exhibiting the same selective memory favored by her former friends and sources in the White House, in claiming that for the life of her she cannot recall how the name of “Valerie Flame” got into the reporter’s notebook she took to her interview with Libby; how she learned about the CIA operative from other sources (whom she can’t name or even recall when it happened).

Bad enough, but let’s stick to the journalism issues. Saturday's Times article, without calling for Miller’s dismissal, or Keller’s apology, made the case for both actions in this pithy, frank, and brutal assessment: "The Times incurred millions of dollars in legal fees in Ms. Miller's case. It limited its own ability to cover aspects of one of the biggest scandals of the day. Even as the paper asked for the public's support, it was unable to answer its questions."

It followed that paragraph with Keller's view: "It's too early to judge."

Like Keller says, make of it what you will. My view: Miller did far more damage to her newspaper than did Jayson Blair, and that’s not even counting her WMD reporting, which hurt and embarrassed the paper in others ways.

The Times should let Miller, like Blair, go off to write a book, with no return ticket. We all know how well that worked out for Blair.

Miller should be fired if for nothing more than this: After her paper promised a full accounting, and her full cooperation, in its probe, it reported Saturday, “Miller generally would not discuss her interactions with editors, elaborate on the written account of her grand jury testimony or allow reporters to review her notes.”

As for Keller’s apology (or more), consider just one of a dozen humbling sentences from the Times story: “Interviews show that the paper’s leadership, in taking what they considered to be a principled stand, ultimately left the major decisions in the case up to Ms. Miller, an intrepid reporter whom editors found hard to control.”

Longtime Times reporter Todd Purdum testifies that many on the staff were "troubled and puzzled by Judy's seeming ability to operate outside of conventional reportorial channels and managerial controls."

At another point, Keller reveals that he ordered Miller off WMD coverage after he became editor (surely, a no-brainer), but he admits “she kept kind of drifting on her own back into the national security realm.” Does he anywhere take responsibility for this, or anything else? Not that I can see.

But back to Judy, who tells us that she wishes she (and not Robert Novak) had the honor of outing Valerie Plame. Okay, to each her own, but what about lying to her own editors?

--In the fall of 2003, after The Washington Post reported that "two top White House officials disclosed Plame's identity to at least six Washington journalists," Philip Taubman, Washington bureau chief, asked Miller whether she was among the six. Miller, of course, denied it.

--Miller claims that, contrary to any available evidence, she really did want to write an article about Wilson, but was told “no” by an editor, whom she would not identify -- perhaps she did not get a personal waiver. Jill Abramson, then her chief editor, says Miller never made any such request.

But equally damning, from her own first-person account: Revealing her working methods, perhaps too clearly, Miller writes that at her second meeting with Libby on this matter, on July 8, 2003, he asked her to modify their prior understanding that she would attribute information from him to an unnamed "senior administration official." Now, in talking about Joseph Wilson (and his wife), he requested that he be identified only as a "former Hill staffer." This was obviously to deflect attention from the Cheney office's effort to hurt Wilson.

Surely Judy wouldn’t go along with this? Alas, Miller admits, "I agreed to the new ground rules because I knew that Mr. Libby had once worked on Capitol Hill."

There’s more, much more, including this gem: She calls Scooter Libby, who helped take the country to war based on false evidence -- with a big assist from Judy Miller and her paper -- “a good-faith source who was usually straight with me.”

This is the woman Bill Keller and Arthur Sulzberger decided to make a First Amendment martyr, tainting their newspaper’s reputation like never before. As their paper’s article reveals, neither asked Miller detailed questions about her conversations with Libby or examined her notes. Keller "declined to tell his own reporters" that Libby was Miller's source, Saturday's article dryly complains. The report also makes clear that he ordered ideas for articles related to the case killed. Most humiliating, the Times had a story about Miller's release from jail ready at 2 p.m. that day -- and it wasn't published until the end of the day, allowing other newspapers (even tiny E&P;) to get the scoop.

Asked by Times reporters what she regretted about the paper’s handling of the entire Miller matter, Jill Abramson, now the managing editor, replied: “The entire thing.” Who is responsible? And how will they make amends?

It has been pretty clear from the reporting of this story that Miller got "off the reservation" early and didn't have an editor from early days. How that happened should be the subject of an internal investigation which would make the Jayson Blair probe look like Journo 101. The Times credibility just took a hit which it is going to have a hard time regaining.

Stumbling From the Front

Sparring Between McClellan and Reporters Escalates
Bush's Press Secretary Says His Role Is To 'Mix It Up a Little Bit' With Media

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 16, 2005; Page A06

When CBS correspondent John Roberts asked about the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers at a White House briefing last week, he expected a boilerplate answer.

Instead, press secretary Scott McClellan lectured the reporter: "Let's talk about the way you're approaching things . . . I would encourage you -- I know you don't necessarily want to do this -- but to look at her qualifications and record." Moments later, Roberts accused McClellan of "attacking me."

Roberts said in an interview that President Bush's spokesman "has adopted this siege mentality in which the best way to deflect the question is to attack the questioner. I'm not quite sure who he's playing to -- maybe the segment of the Republican Party that believes we're a bunch of liberals who have our own agenda."

McClellan, for his part, said his job is "to mix it up a little bit and keep them on their toes. Reporters like to swing away at others, but they don't like it when you punch back. The pack mentality goes into overdrive . . . The media's trying to get under our skin and get us off-message. My job is to help the president advance his agenda."

As the White House has been forced onto the defensive in recent weeks -- over Hurricane Katrina, the CIA leak investigation, the Iraq war and the Miers nomination -- the daily sparring between McClellan and the press corps has turned increasingly testy. While there has been an element of theater in these sessions since live television coverage began in 1995 -- clips are now routinely posted on the Internet -- McClellan's rebuttals have lately become more personal.

"There's been an attempt to put reporters on the spot and question the motivation of reporters," said David Gregory, NBC's White House correspondent. "It is irritating, and I for one think it's an attempt by the White House to change the focus from what is a legitimate question to what the talking point is. It's an effort to cast the media as out for red meat."

At the same briefing Thursday at which McClellan challenged Roberts, he lit into Hearst columnist Helen Thomas when she asked about Iraq. After Thomas, who has repeatedly criticized Bush over the war, disputed McClellan's answer by saying that "Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11," McClellan said: "I'm sure you're opposed to the broader war on terrorism."

Despite these clashes, many reporters say they like McClellan personally. The morning after their dust-up, Roberts assumed a mock boxing stance upon seeing McClellan.

"I don't take it as a personal affront that someone who's an advocate is going to try to present things in the best light," said CNN correspondent Bob Franken. But, he said, "many of us thought Scott had crossed a line by characterizing the motives of the reporters . . . We are foils, because we're riffraff in the eyes of the public, the ink-stained wretches."

Jim VandeHei, a Washington Post reporter who also mixed it up with McClellan last week, said the spokesman's style has evolved since he succeeded Ari Fleischer in 2003. "He used to be nice-guy Scott who always gave the exact same answers, very polite. He's become increasingly feisty and increasingly confrontational with reporters."

Mike McCurry, who was a spokesman for President Bill Clinton, said he had a few such disputes. When a National Public Radio reporter asked whether Clinton would release all medical records amid rumors that the president had a sexually transmitted disease, McCurry pressed the reporter to "just think for a minute" whether that question should be asked.

Such exchanges "create an us-versus-them mentality," McCurry said. "It's precarious for any press secretary to get out there and start challenging motive and legitimacy. You get the hackles up of the rest of the press corps. I took plenty of reporters' heads off, but I did it by phone after the briefing."

Despite extraordinary tension with reporters during the scandals that led to impeachment, the Clinton press office regularly engaged reporters in attempts to leak favorable information and suppress damaging allegations. In the Bush White House, the press office has been less enmeshed in strategies to influence news coverage, in part because Bush cares less about the daily headlines than his predecessor did. Some reporters say they do not regard McClellan, a Texan who began working for Bush in Austin, as a valuable source.

Seemingly routine inquiries can trigger verbal combat. On Sept. 7, Gregory asked whether Bush retained confidence in Michael D. Brown, his embattled director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. McClellan responded that "what you're doing is trying to engage in a game of finger-pointing and blame game," which Gregory called "ridiculous." Five days later, Brown resigned.

At Thursday's briefing, Roberts drew a rebuke for saying that some conservatives had suggested Miers might withdraw her nomination, and asking whether she had the "tenacity" to "withstand all this fire."

VandeHei asked McClellan whether he was denying that White House officials had touted Miers's faith and evangelical church membership to conservative activists. "You're putting words in my mouth," McClellan said.

VandeHei said later that he was "offended" by the response and that McClellan was engaging in "distortion."

McClellan, maintaining that such exchanges are not personal, said some journalists view themselves as above reproach. "My criticisms are extremely mild in comparison to the tone of some of the questions fired in my direction," he said.

Scotty, the press corps has noticed that you lie all the time. Might that not make your relations with them a trifle testy? The complacent press corps has semi-awakened and now you have to deal with something like real reporters, Scotty, and all you have are evasions, which some are noticing. Too bad for you, little man. You look like shit in a real presser, by the way. I'm blown away that the Bushco White House can't hire someone who can complete a sentence without a string of "ums" and "ahs." But if that's good enough for the Cowboy in Chief, I guess it is good enough for his press sec.

The Long Slide

Here are the NYT stories in the Miller/Wilson/Plame saga for today. They do more to obscure than to enlighten:

The Miller Case: A Notebook, a Cause, a Jail Cell and a Deal

My Four Hours Testifying in the Federal Grand Jury Room

Both the Times and Judy Miller continue to think that this story is about them, a case of both corporate and individual narcissism which is hardly attractive. Miller's self-proclaimed case is so weak that it is hard to believe that she is still employed by a major news-gathering operation. This is not a place I'd want to work. I do know people who work there and can now fully believe why they call it "The Death Star."

The egregious errors of the The Gray Lady mean that she has lost her place as the Paper of Record. Her standards have slipped below those of the the WaPo. That's saying something.

Something for the Changing Weather

Chicken Minestrone Soup
From: Andree, Levis, Quebec, Canada

Servings: 6 to 8

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons [30 mL] butter
* 2 slices bacon, chopped
* 1 onion, sliced
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 pound [454 g] chicken breast meat, diced
* Salt and pepper, to taste
* 1 celery stalk, chopped
* 1 carrot, chopped
* 1 [19-ounce / 540 mL] can crushed tomatoes
* 1 can white beans, rinsed and drained
* 7 cups [1.75 L] chicken broth
* 1/3 cup [80 mL] small pasta [rings, macaroni, stars], cooked
* 2 teaspoons [10 mL] oregano
* 1 tablespoon [15 mL] chopped parsley
* Grated Parmesan cheese
* Crusty bread slices
* Seasoned oil

Preparation

# Melt butter; brown bacon, then brown onion, garlic and chicken dices.
# Sprinkle with salt and pepper; cook for 5 minutes.
# Add chopped celery and carrot; mix well.
# Then mix in tomatoes, white beans and chicken broth.
# Simmer for 30 minutes.
# Stir in cooked pasta, oregano and parsley.
# Pour into individual bowls; sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
# Serve, along with crusty bread slices, brushed with seasoned oil instead of butter.

That'll do. Add a spoonful of pesto to each bowl to make your joy complete.

Pesto Genovese

3 large garlic cloves
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano, coarsely grated (2/3 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups loosely packed fresh basil
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

With food processor running, drop in garlic and finely chop. Stop motor and add nuts, cheese, salt, pepper, and basil, then process until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil, blending until incorporated.

Cooks' notes:
• Pesto keeps, its surface covered with plastic wrap, chilled, 1 week.

Makes about 1 1/3 cups.

Flu Pandemic Preparation - Better Late Than Never...

Finally, finally, finally, here are some overdue updates and a single entry for access to the prep posts previously posted on Jump, with lots of post-cross-jump capability...

How are folks doing getting their homes in order? Any major or minor issues making preparation between a nuisance and a real problem?

Flu Pandemic Preparation - Introduction and Framework

Flu Pandemic Preparation - Food

Flu Pandemic Preparation - Water

Flu Pandemic Preparation - Medication and CAM

Flu Pandemic Preparation - Emergencies, Evacuation, Protection

Flu Pandemic Preparation - Entertainment & Acceptance

Tools

I *think* I own most of the things that a minimally competent kitchen needs for low production cooking. (If i had a larger space, I'd get a potato ricer, but for three or four a traditional masher works pretty well.) The one thing I can't do without is a Roemertopf. I've been using this thing for nearly 30 years and still can't believe the results I get from it, even as a single. All of my dinner parties have come out of it.

The definitive but first Gen cookbook is here. It's a pain to clean between cookings but oh. my. The food is so good that you'll gladly labour at the sink.

What this thing does to a couple of pork chops or a piece of fish cannot be believed unless you've tried it. What it does to a tenderloin of beef is breathtaking.

For Fright Night

Since there is a good chance that you are going to have a pumpkin around the house with its innards removed, I offer this. I had my first pumpkin soup at a gathering of activists at an artist loft in DC when I was on strike the last time. I was grateful for the food, as I hadn't had a check in 18 weeks and was living on 5/dollar ramen. This was delicious. I also have a little trick for avoiding heavy cream (as delicious and expensive and artery clogging as it is) at the end of the post.

Serves 8

4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)
3 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin or 6 cups of chopped roasted pumpkin*
5 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

1 Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan over mediium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.

2 Add pumpkin and 5 cups of chicken broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

3 Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan.

4 With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar and mix. Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Add cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. If a little too spicy, add more cream to cool it down. You might want to add a teaspoon of salt.

Serve in individual bowls. Sprinkle the top of each with toasted pumpkin seeds.

Melanie's hint: instead of using heavy cream, do this: take a plain Melitta coffee filter and plastic cone and set it on a large drinking glass. Into it dump the contents of a container (8 oz.) of plain, non-fat yoghurt and set in the fridge overnight. In the morning, you'll have a creamy substance that substitutes nicely for whipped cream (with a drop or two of vanilla) in your desserts and for cream in your cooked recipes. And none of the fat. Discard what's in the glass unless you are a cheesemaker.

And, oh, that pumpkinseed recipe is delicious for just casual snacking.

The Basics

There are some basics that need to be in the cupboard and the freezer at all times. This is one. Once made, it can be frozen in tablespoon-sized servings in icecube trays and removed hence into Glad-lock bags, to be removed as need to flavor a soup or a filet mignon. I make and freeze a batch of this down every couple of months.

DUXELLES:

1 1/2 lb. mushrooms
2 med. onions or 8 shallots
1/4 c. chopped parsley
Few drops of fresh squeezed lemon
Salt & pepper
2 to 3 tbsp. butter

Clean or trim stems of mushrooms. Chop very fine (or grate) mushrooms. Wrap in towel and squeeze out excess moisture. Heat butter and lightly brown chopped onions or shallots. Add mushrooms, salt, pepper and a few drop of lemon juice; stir over high heat until all moisture has completely evaporated. Stir in chopped parsley. Let cool.

Use shallots instead of onions: they have that interesting "is this garlic or is this onion?" quality about them and I love the ambiguity. I double the lemon juice. You can chop the 'shrooms coarsely with a steel knife in the food processor (no more than a couple of pulses) and get acceptable results.

Melt a cube of this over a filet while it is cooking on the second side, and you have an acceptable beef wellington without the phyllo. Put a cube each in the bowls of soup you serve your guests and, even if it is Campbells, you've just gone to France. Your chicken with rice just grew up rather nicely.

Small Bites

This is a nearly perfect food for a baby or wedding shower, or a reception for an afternoon wedding. High tea, that most British of institutions, has come back into fashion in the US (the hotels in DC charge a fortune for it) so even guys are eating this food. Ideally, this would be served on a tray with at least three other finger sandwiches. I'm bringing this particular sandwich up because most people haven't had watercress and don't know what they are missing. The classic preparation is with cucumber and cream cheese, but I'm a goat cheese fanatic and look for excuses to eat it.

Watercress Sandwiches

2 5 1/2-ounce logs soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet), room temperature
1/2 cup chopped watercress leaves
16 thin slices cinnamon-raisin, date or whole wheat sandwich bread, crusts trimmed
5 tablespoons (about) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup finely chopped toasted pecans Watercress sprigs (for garnish)

Mix cheese and chopped watercress in medium bowl. Season with salt. Spread mixture evenly over 8 bread slices. Top with remaining bread. Butter edges of sandwiches. Cut sandwiches diagonally in half. Place pecans on plate. Dip buttered edges of sandwiches into pecans. Arrange sandwiches on platter. Garnish with watercress sprigs. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover sandwiches tightly; chill.)

Makes 8 servings.

The bread must be very thin. Pepperidge Farm's skinny sandwich loaf is about the right thickness. I prefer the classic British presentation, which is a thin, firm white bread.

I ate these for the first time while still a teen, at a classic British high tea in England, which I toured for a summer in 1971 as a captain of the Twin Cities' "Transworld Top Teams" for the Brit version of what we in the States know as "High School Bowl" ("Top of the Form" in the UK). We lost every match but had the time of our lives, touring from Edingburgh to Glasgow to Isle of Mull to the Midlands and London. Teams from Metarie, LA (now hurricane ravaged) and Bremerton, OR competed with us against three teams from the UK. All of us Americans were very young and very provincial so this was an eye-opening experience which I still remember with great fondness. The foolish things we said to the KSTP-TV cameras when they greeted our return flight home at Twin Cities International I remember with less enthusiasm.

When I was growing up, there was a family down the street who were originally from Louisiana and I knew the kids and got invited to dinner fairly often, so I was already aware that people who hadn't grown up in northern Minnesota ate very different food from the white and bland food of my childhood (though I love my mother's potato salad to this day.) I learned about real Southern Fried Chicken at the Hansen's table, along with such oddities as pimiento loaf. I never acquired a taste for pig's trotters, however, though I retain an affection for Spam to this day. Spam is a good panflu stockpile food, if you can stand it. Keeping protein in the panflu diet has to go beyond tuna or I'll die of boredom. Somebody email me if you've found a decent shelf-stable meat protein that goes beyond Dinty Moore. Yecch.

Easy and Good

I made this recipe for my annual spiritual directors' peer group luncheon to rave reviews a year ago. I love it and, for singles, you can freeze it down well in individual containers.

Green and White Lasagna

Pre-heat oven to 350

6-8 lasagna noodles
1/2 cup chopped onion
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1-2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed (or you may use fresh basil, a quarter cup, chopped)
2 cups milk
Ground white or black pepper to taste
1 package fresh spinach, washed and chopped
1-21/4 oz. can slicd pitted ripe olives, drained
1 3/4 cups ricotta cheese
1 beaten egg
1 8-oz. package mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cook lasagna noodles in large amount of boiling salted water 10-12 minutes until tender; drain. Rinse in cold water, drain well.

In medium saucepan cook onion, garlic in hot butter till tender. Stir in cornstarch, parlsey, basil. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Stir in spinach, pepper and olives. Set aside. In medium mixing bowl, stir together ricotta cheese and egg. Add mozzarella cheese and half of the Parmesan cheese; mix well. Set aside.

Arrange 3 or 4 of the noodles in the bottom of a greased 12x71/2x2 inch baking dish. Top with half of the spinach mixture. Spoon on half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesean cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or till mixture in subbly. Let stand 10 minutes. Serves 8

This is a really toothsome recipe, one of those kinds of things it is hard to stop eating. Start with a hearty minestrone with pesto for a first course with an artisanal bread if you don't have time to make your own baguettes. These days I prefer a fruity Italian extra virgin olive oil with my bread in preference to sweet, unsalted butter, but your mileage may vary. Dessert should be very light, a sorbet would be perfect. Serve a Pinot Grigio with the meal.

Notes: if you are used to eating a lot more salt than I am, you may find this bland, even though most commercial mozarellas are pretty salty. I had gall bladder problems back in my early twenties and made huge changes in my diet, including going low fat and low salt. While this is not a low-fat recipe, it meets my low salt criterion. I no longer routinely add salt when I'm cooking. Pepper, I can't live without, but I'm inclined to use wine, lemon juice, aromatic vinegars or herbs in my cooking in preference to salt. So, taste the spinach and cheese sauces to make sure that they meet your taste for salt.

Before baking, I like to scatter the top with a good handful of chopped parsely which adds both visual and flavor interest.

Do I have any recipes in my collection that I prepare exactly to the printed ingredients and directions? Not that I can think of. My cookbook collection takes up an entire book cabinet, floor to ceiling. I read them like most people read favorite old novels.

Conflict with the North

Bush, Martin Spar on Lumber Tariffs
# The Canadian leader says the U.S. is violating NAFTA and promises to sue the government.

By Edwin Chen, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin clashed over U.S. tariffs on Canadian lumber in a 20-minute telephone conversation Friday that culminated in Martin accusing the Bush administration of violating the North American Free Trade Agreement, officials said.

When Bush proposed negotiations to resolve the long-standing dispute, Martin flatly rejected that approach. Instead, he vowed to launch a "double dose" campaign — by suing in U.S. courts and waging an advocacy drive south of the border to point out that the tariffs add an average of $1,000 to the cost of every new home built in the United States.

The detailed account of the pointed exchange came from officials in Martin's office, and the White House did not dispute it. Each side characterized the conversation variously as a cordial, direct and candid discussion between two leaders who are on a first-name basis.

Still, the summary of the conversation offered a glimpse of an encounter between the president and one of his counterparts in a form the White House is almost always loath to provide.

The exchange comes as Bush is trying to erase his global image as a leader who is too quick to abandon international diplomacy in favor of conflict. The president had testy relations with Martin's predecessor, Jean Chretien.

But U.S. and Canadian officials said Friday that Martin and Bush considered each other a friend.

Nonetheless, during their conversation, the two also rekindled their dispute over Bush's plan to open a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas exploration.

Martin reiterated his concern that such drilling could harm the indigenous population and wildlife while yielding little in the way of new energy sources. Bush rejected those concerns, saying that Canada has ample energy supplies, but the United States does not and therefore must proceed.

This was not the first time that strains in U.S.-Canadian relations had broken into public view.

In 2003, Canada opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and it further antagonized the White House this year by opting out of a missile defense system Bush has championed.

Martin, facing a possible election bid in coming months, has been under growing pressure at home to take a tougher line against the United States on the lumber issue. He and Bush had been scheduled to discuss the tariffs by telephone at the end of August, but the conversation instead focused on Hurricane Katrina.

Friday's follow-up talk, scheduled by the White House, began on a warm note.

Bush opened by thanking Martin for Canada's aid after Katrina and noted that when he arrived in Biloxi, Miss., on one of his visits to the storm-damaged region, the first people he saw were Canadians.

The men spent about 15 minutes on the lumber dispute, which has fueled strong anti-U.S. sentiments in Canada.

At issue is Canada's $10-billion-a-year export market in Douglas fir, pine, spruce and other softwood. U.S. lumber mills contend that the Canadian government, which owns much of the country's forests, subsidizes Canadian lumber producers. They also have accused the country of dumping lumber on U.S. markets at as much as 75% below cost.

But U.S. lumber importers, homebuilders and consumer groups are siding with Canada, saying the U.S. duties, which were imposed in 2002 and average about 21%, are unwarranted. Several special NAFTA panels have ruled in Canada's favor, whereas a World Trade Organization panel sided with the United States.

The WTO decision will not be finalized for months. But in the meantime, based on the NAFTA rulings, Canada is demanding that Washington return about $5 billion in deposits for tariffs levied against Canadian lumber producers.

In their conversation, Martin told Bush that in refusing to abide by NAFTA's rulings, the U.S. was in effect flouting the "integrity of dispute resolution."

I've been following this in the Canadian press for months. Bush seems to regard negotiated treaties as something to follow or ignore by momentary self-interest. Remeber the Geneva Conventions?

THE BIG SQUEEZE

Double whammy: Prices up, wages lagging

Saturday, October 15, 2005
By The Dallas Morning News and The Washington Post

Not since 1980 has inflation risen so quickly in one month.

The Labor Department reported yesterday that the widely followed consumer price index (CPI) jumped 1.2 percent in September from the previous month and was up 4.7 percent in the year ending Sept. 30 — the biggest 12-month spike since May 1991.

The numbers mean payments to millions of Americans receiving Social Security and other federal benefits will increase next year by the largest amount in 15 years, because of automatic cost-of-living adjustments based on the CPI, a measure of the average change over time in prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of goods and services. But most workers are losing ground, leaving them with less spending power.

The U.S. median income has fallen for five consecutive years, according to the Census Bureau. That's the longest such decline since officials started tracking those numbers in the 1960s.

"It's unprecedented," said Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute. "There is a large and growing gap between how the economy is performing and the living standards of the people stoking the engine."

Other analysts, however, said the worst monthly inflation increase in a generation does not signal a return to the economic turbulence of the 1970s and early '80s, with double-digit inflation and interest rates. Global competition and a vigilant Federal Reserve should prevent that, they said.

But consumers probably will have to live with higher prices and rising interest rates for months to come. That mixture, at a time when household debt is high and savings are low, already is slowing economic growth, several analysts said.

"I don't think these high energy prices are going away any time soon," said Richard Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research. That leaves households with less money to spend on other things, when many nonenergy companies are trying to raise prices, he said. "Consumers are pulling back."

Some folks will receive help.

Social Security payments to more than 50 million retired and disabled workers will increase 4.1 percent in January. For senior citizens enrolled in Medicare, part of the increase will be consumed by rising health-insurance premiums, which are deducted from Social Security checks.

Millions of recipients of other federal benefits — including military, Foreign Service and civilian federal retirees — also will receive a cost-of-living adjustment, known as a COLA, in their monthly checks.

Payments will increase 4.1 percent for retirees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System and those who receive military annuities. People who retired under the newer Federal Employees Retirement System and are 62 or older will get a 3.1 percent bump.

Benefits will rise by 4.1 percent for recipients of Supplemental Security Income, paid to low-income people.

But most U.S. workers don't receive automatic cost-of-living pay adjustments. After taking inflation into account, average weekly wages for production and nonmanagerial workers — more than 80 percent of the work force — fell 1.2 percent last month, the Labor Department said in a separate report. Those earnings bought 2.7 percent less than they did a year earlier, after adjusting for price increases.

"The problem isn't simply that families are facing higher prices, particularly at the pump," Bernstein said. "It's also that they're facing lower wages. If wages were keeping pace with inflation, the pinch wouldn't be as hard."

Energy prices, driven higher after Hurricane Katrina shut down and damaged oil rigs, refineries and pipelines when it hit Aug. 29, are most to blame for the CPI increases. Those prices were up 12 percent in September — the largest monthly increase since the Labor Department started collecting data in 1957 — and 35 percent for the year.

Emphases mine. The story of the upcoming holiday spending season may turn out to be a grim one.

Causing Giggles

Miers Hit on Letters and the Law
Writings Both Personal and Official Have Critics Poking Fun

By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 15, 2005; Page A07

Supreme Court confirmation battles usually involve excavations of the nominee's judicial opinions, legal briefs and decades-old government memos. Harriet Miers is the first nominee to hit trouble because of thank-you letters.

Miers's paper trail may be relatively short, but it makes plain that her climb through Texas legal circles and into George W. Bush's inner circle was aided by a penchant for cheerful personal notes. Years later, even some of her supporters are cringing -- and her opponents are viciously making merry -- at the public disclosure of this correspondence and other writings from the 1990s.

Bush may have enjoyed being told by Miers in 1997, "You are the best governor ever -- deserving of great respect." But in 2005 such fawning remarks are contributing to suspicion among Bush's conservative allies and others that she was selected more for personal loyalty than her legal heft.

Combined with columns she wrote for an in-house publication while president of the Texas Bar Association -- critics have called them clumsily worded and empty of content -- Miers may be at risk of flunking the writing portion of the Supreme Court confirmation test, according to some opponents.

"The tipping point in Washington is when you go from being a subject of caricature to the subject of laughter," said Bruce Fein, a Miers critic who served in the Reagan administration's Justice Department and who often speaks on constitutional law. "She's in danger of becoming the subject of laughter."

Blogs are posting satirical Miers correspondence featuring made-up grammatical errors. Via e-mail, authentic Miers quotations have raced around the country, prefaced by derisive comments about her qualifications.

One example, from a May 1996 letter asking George and Laura Bush to appear at a ceremony honoring her, displayed both an obsequious tone and a tortuous prose style. "I am respectful of both of your great many time commitments and I realize you receive many, many requests," she wrote. "Of course, I would be very pleased if either of you is able to participate. However, I will be pleased with your judgment about whether participating in this event fits your schedule whatever your decision. . . . I feel honored even to be able to extend this invitation to such extraordinary people."

This was among the Bush gubernatorial correspondence released this week by the Texas State Library, and posted on Web sites, including the Smoking Gun. Miers was Bush's personal lawyer and lottery commission chairman when he was Texas governor and later became his White House counsel. Her letters have provided recent fodder for sarcasm for writers such as Gerard Baker in the conservative magazine the Weekly Standard. "Miers has delivered some thundering dictums in her various legal and paralegal roles," Baker wrote in a column first published in the Times of London. He cited a 1997 handwritten card that mentioned Bush's daughters: "Hopefully Jenna and Barbara recognize that their parents are 'cool' -- as do the rest of us. . . . All I hear is how great you and Laura are doing. . . . Keep up all the great work. Texas is blessed!"

In addition to being a clumsy writer, she comes across as a ditz. None of this points to her being SCOTUS material, but one of my friends in the advocacy community says that she's no nutjob like Rogers Brown or Clement, who are waiting in the wings if she withdraws.

Mitigations

Bird Flu Virus That Is Drug-Resistant Is Found in Vietnamese Girl

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 15, 2005; Page A09

A strain of H5N1 bird flu virus found in an infected Vietnamese girl is resistant to the drug being stockpiled by more than a dozen countries, including the United States, as a defense against a possible global pandemic, researchers reported yesterday.

The new finding, while not unexpected, raises the possibility that oseltamivir, sold as Tamiflu, might be less useful than anticipated if resistant strains of the H5N1 avian flu virus become more prevalent and the virus gains the ability to pass easily from person to person -- a trait it does not possess now.

Yesterday's report is the first indication that tests have detected a drug-resistant strain of H5N1 since the virus began circulating among birds in Asia. It was found in a 14-year-old Vietnamese girl who became ill in February while caring for her brother, who was also infected. She had initially received a low preventive dose of Tamiflu, and then a higher dose when she became ill. She recovered fully.

The report, by Q. Mai Le of Vietnam's National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, in Hanoi, and 15 international collaborators, will appear in next week's issue of Nature. The journal released it early "owing to its relevance to current public debates," a spokeswoman said.

Tamiflu is in a class of antiviral drugs called neuraminidase inhibitors. Although resistant to Tamiflu, the strain reported yesterday remained susceptible to another member of the class, zanamivir, sold as Relenza. All H5N1 viruses are resistant to the other main class of flu drugs, adamantanes, which include amantidine and rimantidine.

The H5N1 strain has infected 117 people in Southeast Asia and killed 60 since December 2003. It has also killed, or led to the culling of, 140 million domestic birds.

Genetic fingerprinting of the resistant strain suggests that the girl was infected by her brother, as their viruses were extremely similar. But it appears that the resistance developed in the girl.

Drug-resistance mutations in viruses are rare and arise by chance. When they occur in the presence of a drug, however, a resistant strain can become dominant through natural selection as susceptible strains are killed off. The girl harbored three strains -- one resistant to oseltamivir, one partially resistant and one susceptible. All three were probably descended from the single strain that initially infected her.

Tamiflu resistance has appeared in other strains of the influenza A virus, the broad family that includes H5N1. Japanese researchers reported last year that in a small group of children treated with Tamiflu, 18 percent developed resistant viruses.

A major unanswered question is whether a Tamiflu-resistant virus can pass from person to person. No such cases have been reported for any strain of influenza A.

"People shouldn't think that Tamiflu is not going to work. Tamiflu is going to work," said Anne Moscona, an infectious-diseases specialist at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, who wrote a review of the drugs in the New England Journal of Medicine last month. "We have reason to hope that resistant strains will not be transmissible and will not be the ones spreading in a pandemic."

As my colleagues the reveres have said over and over again (along with CIDRAP's Mike Osterholm), Tamiflu is no panacea and, if the bug hits in the next couple of years, there won't be enough of it to make a difference. What you can do which will be more decisive is to learn to wash your hands constantly and keep your hands away from your face and stockpile food and water.

Another Purple Finger Day

Iraq's Referendum

Saturday, October 15, 2005; Page A18

TODAY, IRAQ stages a referendum on a constitution that most of its citizens have been unable to read. The document they will ratify or reject shifts crucial decisions about government, the judiciary and human rights to a future national assembly, and it may itself be rewritten in the first half of next year. Though planned as a landmark in Iraq's postwar reconstruction -- and still described that way by the Bush administration -- the referendum has been stripped of much of its substance. In the troubled Iraqi context, that amounts to good news.

Because it was rushed by a deadline-driven President Bush, the process of writing a constitution failed to produce an accord among Iraq's major factions about the country's future. Instead it yielded a draft that threatened to split the country and ignite a civil war. Fortunately, this deeply flawed document has been steadily devalued in backroom negotiations over the past six weeks, quietly brokered by the same U.S. administration that publicly compares the constitution drafters to those who met in Philadelphia in 1787.

The most important bargain was struck only on Tuesday. It provides for the establishment of a committee by the parliament to be elected in December to consider changes to the constitution next year. That deal led to the first crack in what had been universal opposition to the charter by the minority Sunni community, which is the main source of the armed insurgency U.S. troops are fighting. Though it's not the fundamental accord that the country needs, it provides more time for one, as well as the strongest signal yet that Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders are capable of compromising with each other.

Whether that happens will depend partly on what happens today: whether, as widely predicted, Sunni voters turn out at the polls in large numbers after mostly boycotting last January's elections, and whether U.S. and Iraqi forces can protect them from insurgent attacks. Sunnis will probably oppose the constitution, despite its endorsement by one group of leaders, and the charter will probably be ratified anyway with Shiite and Kurdish votes. But Iraq's longtime ruling elite will at least have joined the democratic process. The question then will be: Will Sunnis mobilize again for the December parliamentary elections? Their participation in that vote will be crucial to creating a representative body in which deals can be hammered out.

Iraq's hopes also depend on the election in December of a larger group of secular and liberal Iraqis and a greater number of Shiites who oppose the separatism recently embraced by the most powerful Shiite leaders. This week's accord did not alter the refusal of those politicians to yield on constitutional provisions that would allow the creation of a nine-province Shiite ministate that would control Iraq's largest oil reserves and could emerge as an Islamic republic and Iranian client. Oddly, the incompetence and growing unpopularity of Iraq's present, Shiite-dominated national government could strengthen factions that favor holding the country together.

Juan Cole on PBS's "Newshour" last night:

RAY SUAREZ: Well, Professor Cole, you've heard three colleagues talk about how important politics working is at this juncture. What's your view?

Juan ColeJUAN COLE: Well, I think it's important that politics is working and I think it's also important toward what goal it is working. I'm a pessimist on this process, and I'm a severe critic of this constitution. Professor Dawisha was polite in the way he put it, but it's full of trapdoors.

RAY SUAREZ: The constitution?

JUAN COLE: The constitution is full of trapdoors. There will be a provision that says revenues will be shared between the provinces and the federal government. In what way will they be shared? Well, there will be a law passed by subsequent parliament that will determine that.

So in many instances the people who are voting for this constitution have no idea what exactly it is, the substance that they're voting for. The constitution allows provincial confederations which have claims on resources and perhaps on enormous resources.

It would be as though Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico could form a confederacy, and then they could tell Washington, well, you're not going to be getting as much tax money from our oil as you used to, and moreover, if you want to talk to Austin, you have to go through our confederal parliament and our prime minister.

The last time we had a confederacy in this continent it caused a lot of trouble. And I'm very concerned that these provisions in the constitution could lead to such a weak central government and to such strong provinces that there will be centrifugal forces breaking the country apart.

And then 20 percent of the population, the Sunni-Arab population, seems to be pretty diehard against this constitution; that's going to weaken its legitimacy. '

Voter participation in a democracy

RAY SUAREZ: But à propos of what's been said earlier, is Iraq better off with passing a flawed constitution rather than having to go back to the drawing board and start from the beginning at a very, very fractious time in the country's life?

JUAN COLE: Well, certainly it's better off because if 80 percent of the population were supporting this process and this constitution, and they were disappointed, then the disappointment in the democratic process might be fateful for Iraq.

Certainly it's much better that it pass than it not pass, but it is an extremely troubling document, and it should be remembered that the failure of the United States framers of the Constitution to deal with the slavery issue did hold within it ultimately the seeds of the civil war in this country, and putting off difficult issues, having open-ended compromises that don't come to a decisive end can cause future trouble. It's much better if things are settled. '

In Context

Out-Saddaming Saddam - Mr. Bush goes to Tikrit (sort of)
By Jeremy Scahill, Counterpunch, October 13, 2005

Just when you think that President Bush couldn't out-Saddam Saddam any more, he goes and does something that proves you wrong. If any Iraqis caught the hilarious videoconference today between Bush at the White House and troops from the 42nd Infantry Division in Tikrit, it may have seemed like a high-tech version of a familiar scene from the old days when Saddam used to travel to Tikrit to feel (and more importantly to have others feel) his greatness.

The videoconference was a display of just how far the propaganda system has come since Bush took over from Saddam. Instead of visiting Tikrit, which the president lightly acknowledged he could not safely do, Bush addressed-- via satellite--an adoring bunch of US soldiers that had apparently been given a heavy dose of Kool-Aid before the telecast began. Oh, there was one Iraqi there--Sergeant Major Akeel from the 5th Iraqi Army Division, whose role in the affair was limited to smiling like a good Iraqi and saying to Bush, "I like you."

Comment by Paul Woodward -- We can't afford to gloat about President Bush's descent into political and psychological paralysis. A president who is crippled by loss of confidence and loss of support will inevitably be indecisive and ineffectual. That means that we can't expect any bold policy moves when it comes to Iraq. More than likely Bush will continue bumbling along looking for new prognosticators of happy days to come that like the false promises of a fortune-teller succor hope in the face of adversity.

Now that Karl Rove is still having his head tangled with the attentions of a federal prosecutor, expect the White House to be increasingly dumbfooted. The last week was revealing.

Wha???

Here is a Page One NYT stories that doesn't really tell you anything. No wonder the Grey Lady is in trouble.

Federal Agencies Often Paid Retail for Hurricane Aid
By SCOTT SHANE and ERIC LIPTON

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 - On the federal government's long shopping list for hurricane relief: $223,000 for flip-flops, $153,600 worth of underwear, three golf carts rented for $1,500 a month and flyswatters for $5.28. Oh, and four packs of playing cards bought by the United States Forest Service, for which records list no price but do offer an explanation: "to help morale during Hurricane Rita."

Most of the government's estimated $150 billion bill for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is going for disaster aid checks to thousands of victims and gargantuan contracts for debris removal and housing.

But there is a vast quantity of smaller purchases, made by an army of workers dispatched to the storm region, many carrying government credit cards. It was shopping on an epic scale - $66,632.37 for a single sale at a Wal-Mart store in La Place, La.; $129,568.40 spent in 195 trips to Home Depot outlets by workers of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; 3,000 sleeping bags bought from two sporting goods outlets for $60,639.61.

Auditors will take years to assess the propriety of the spending, and its scale is so great that many purchases are unlikely ever to get close scrutiny. A review of financial records provided by FEMA and four other agencies, however, shows that the government often paid retail prices or more even for items bought in large quantities. At least one transaction appears to have been split up to avoid a ceiling of $250,000 on credit card purchases, a limit already increased a hundredfold for Hurricane Katrina from the usual $2,500.

On their face, the records, detailing $19 million worth of federal government purchase-card spending, reveal no pattern of outlandish spending. But there is often no way to tell whether purchases were necessary or whether the items were ever used. The bulging shopping baskets reflect the rush to meet the needs of desperate victims and the fact that other people's money is easy to spend.

Did the Environmental Protection Agency really have to buy CamelBak backpack-style water containers for $2,024 (quantity not given), or could their workers have used ordinary plastic bottles? Why did the Forest Service spend $547 on a "horse trough"? (An agency spokesman could not say, but a salesman at Port Allen Hardware in Louisiana says it was used as a "giant ice chest" to keep drinks cool.) What about $89.37 for treatment of a toothache for an emergency worker at a mobilization center in Marietta, Ga.?

Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, questioned whether agencies were justified in buying so many items for full price in stores rather than seeking discounts from manufacturers. At Office Depot stores, for instance, FEMA employees put $382,162 for hurricane relief on government credit cards.

"I do understand that time is of the essence, but you can still buy very quickly without going to Best Buy," she said.

Several members of Congress say they will closely scrutinize transactions using "purchase cards," government-paid credit cards subject to past abuse.

"If something is wrong, it is like locking the barn door after the horse is stolen," Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Finance Committee, said. "But we are still going to pursue it. I want to know what they bought with the money."

Behind curious looking expenditures are entries tales that show how far the Hurricane Katrina buying departed from standard government practices.

For example, when FEMA paid $177,025 to the Banita Creek Hall, a banquet center in Nacogdoches, Tex., it was buying 18 flat-bottom motorboats from Mike Love, a lawyer in Lufkin, Tex., who owns a boat-hauling company.

Mr. Love said he got a call late one Saturday night asking him if he could quickly find boats to help collect bodies or survivors in flooded New Orleans. He scrambled to round up the boats from local dealers and asked a relative who owns the banquet hall to process the transaction with his credit card machine.

At nearly $10,000 apiece, including trailers and other options, the boats may have been costlier than if they had been bought with competitive bids. But that was not an option, Mr. Love said.

"They had bodies that were rotting and people who needed food," he said. "I was thinking outside this box on how to make this deal happen, fast."

Despite the increased purchase-card ceiling, agencies sometimes appear to have evaded it. For instance, on Sept. 14, FEMA spent $271,838 on medical supplies from an Ohio company, Bound Tree Medical. But the purchases were divided into three equal transactions of $90,612, staying under the purchase-card cap.

Larry Orluskie, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said that if the rules were indeed bent, it might have been justified by the urgent need for medical gear.

"I can't imagine anyone criticizing the contract officer who was constructive and made the system work to save lives," Mr. Orluskie said.

Some eye-catching line items turn out to be understandable when details are known. The flip-flops and underwear were for evacuees, many of whom fled without extra clothing and used public showers for weeks, FEMA says, and Jockey International says it provided the underwear at or under the company's cost. It seems odd that Steve's Christmas Trees, a California company, got nearly $2 million from FEMA for "hurricane relief" - but a call reveals that the company is a well-established supplier of water trucks, portable showers and portable laundry units.

The $66,000 Wal-Mart bill, the company says, was for a truckload of goods ordered directly from the retailer's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., but attributed to the La Place store for accounting purposes. A television set and a sofa on the Forest Service list were for out-of-town firefighters to rest between grueling runs, said Daniel Jiron, a spokesman for the agency.

The cost of operating in places that lacked basic necessities, though, was often high. A portable shower unit with 24 shower heads, supported by water trucks and a six-member team to keep it open 24 hours a day, costs $8,000 to $10,000 a day. When the Maritime Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, lost its New Orleans office to Hurricane Katrina, it spent more than $40,000 to equip from scratch a replacement office in Port Arthur, Tex.

The records suggest that the government has not skimped. It paid retail prices for huge quantities of everything from ink cartridges to Gatorade. Under a competitive contract with a Virginia supplier, FEMA paid $3,125 each for the latest tablet laptop computers, which allow the user to write text on a touch-sensitive screen, specially "ruggedized" for use in rough outdoor settings.

It paid an Alabama dealer about $40,000 apiece to deliver 50 Ford F-350 pickup trucks - a reasonable price, according to other dealers, because the agency also asked for dual rear wheels, larger cabs, and power windows and locks.

Agency representatives insist that purchases are reviewed before they are made. Mr. Jiron of the Forest Service said "buying teams" deployed along with "incident management teams" approved or rejected proposed purchases, even modest ones, on the spot.

Mr. Orluskie, of the Homeland Security Department, said that far from giving out purchase cards frivolously, FEMA limited them to just 20 employees, who have so far charged about $12 million in hurricane-related expenses.

Okay, what did you learn? Is there widespread graft in the disaster clean-up or are the restorers doing the best they can under the circumstances. Or both? What is this story about? Why is it on the front page of the NYT? I can't answer those questions, either.

Against Cold Winter

Here is a page about chilis and hot peppers which is authoritative. It redfines "hot." This is the good news for my brothers and sisters who love spicy-hot. It talks about scoville-units. YESS!

Comfort Food

So, let's say you are going to a pot luck baby shower next week and you're are on the alphabetical lists for entrees. What should you bring? Here is an old Bump favorite, provided for newer readers. We are in the High Holidays now, for Jewish readers, as well as Ramadan. This is a recipe for those on the dairy track. I simply consider it great good food for anyone who isn't on the South Beach diet. Jews traditionally break their fast with a dish like this, and non-Jewish readers can add another delicious recipe to their card catalogues. This is simple good food.

Noodle Kugel

Sweet noodle kugel is traditionally served on the last night of the High Holidays, a dairy repast breaks the fast at Yom Kippur. It's also a delightful brunch dish for Hanukkah.

For noodles
1 lb dried wide egg noodles
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup whole milk
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (1-lb) container sour cream
1 (1-lb) container small curd cottage cheese (4% fat)
1 (20-oz) can crushed pineapple, drained

For topping
2 cups cornflakes, coarsely crushed
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits

Prepare kugel:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 350°F. Butter a 13- by 9- by 2-inch glass or ceramic baking dish.

Cook noodles in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well in a colander, then return to warm pot and add butter, tossing until noodles are coated.

Whisk together milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt until combined, then whisk in sour cream. Stir in cottage cheese and pineapple and add to noodles, stirring to coat well, then spoon into baking dish.

Make topping and bake kugel:
Stir together cornflakes, sugar, and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over noodles. Dot with butter and bake until kugel is set and edges are golden brown, about 1 hour. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 8 to 10 side-dish servings.

Double the recipe and use a tinfoil cassarole and you have a different dish to bring to a potluck. Make two pans and you'll be a star.

This is so good that people will thank you for bringing it. It doesn't get much better than that.

Cooking Hot 102

I'm always looking for easier ways to cook things and get more use out of my microwave (which is the smartest way to cook fish that there is, by the way.) This has the advantage of allowing you to do your cooking in your serving dish, saving a skillet or pot. This recipe is easy and good:

SZECHUAN GREEN BEANS

Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time :0:00

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
6 Garlic cloves, peeled
2 Quarter-sized slices ginger
2 Scallions, cut in 2" lengths
1 tb Vegetable oil
1 t Hot red-pepper flakes
1 tb Soy sauce
1 tb Rice wine vinegar
1 lb Green beans, tipped/tailed

Peel garlic and ginger. Smash garlic. Trim scallions
and cut into 2" lengths (don't be fancy, the next step
is a food processor). Place garlic, ginger, and
scallions into a food processor and process until
finely chopped. Remove to a 14x11x2" dish. Add oil
and pepper flakes. Cook in microwave, uncovered, at
100% for 3 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir in
remaining ingredients, tossing gently to coat green
beans. Cook, uncovered, at 100% for 10-15 minutes,
stirring 4-5 times.
Serve hot or cold.

Melanie' corrections: I use sesame oil rather than vegetable. If you can't find fresh Chinese chilis, get the dried ones from the produce section of the grocery and slice them very fine. You'll need about a tablespoon full for a pound of green beans. Hot pepper flakes don't keep long enough in the cupboard to remain interesting. Dried chilis keep refrigerated for quite a while.

These beens are a natural accompaniment to a stir fry like General Tso's Chicken. The beans are low fat as is this chicken recipe (compared to some of the others I've seen. Instead of cornstarch, use arrowroot, it costs a little more but you use less and get a smoother product. If you don't have a wok, a deep iron skillet will work, but give you a slightly greasier finish. Serve the lot with white rice. of course. I drink beer rarely, but it is a natural pairing with Chinese food. Tsingdao, of course. Oddly enough, Rhine wines make an attractive pairing with spicy foods. Gewurztraminer works well with spicy Chinese food or Indian food. (You might have noticed that this is a theme in my cooking posts. I love spicy food. I didn't grow chilis this year, opting to use my limited space for more varieties of basil and the fact that I have good access to a wide variety of chilis and peppers in the local markets and the Farmers' Market.)

Embarrassing spicy food story: there is a home-style Thai restaurant near the place I used to live and the ex and I would go there for a cheap and quick dinner on nights when we were pushed for time or short on energy. We were regulars and had narrowed down our favorites to a list the staff knew. I ordered my favorite beef dish one night and the owner asked, "How hot?" (this is one of the places that indicates heat by a graphic of chili peppers next to the name of the dish on the menu. This listing had 5 chilis.) I replied "Bangkok hot." He rolled his eyes and said, "Okay." I'd asked for it. The next thirty minutes was an experience in pain the likes of which I'd never known. Thai chilis are off the scale on the capsaicin scale, but I ordered them, with not a little bluster, and I had to finish my meal and smile at the owner. I don't remember how many Thai beers and glasses of water I downed with that meal, but I finished it. And when I got home, I ran to the back yard and turned on the garden hose and irrigated myself until the pain passed. Take chilis seriously and know your limits. Know how to cook with them: use non-latex rubber gloves, or remember not to touch your face after you've chopped them. If you've ever gotten capsaicin in a contact-lensed eye, you know what I mean.

For dessert, Green Tea Icecream (I know it's Japanese, but...I like it a lot. It gives you a hint of sweet without the cloying sweetness of most American icecreams.)

If you buy Thai chilis at the market, use reasonable precautions with them. Scrubbing you hands with a nail brush and lots of soap and hot water is a good strategy. This suckers are serious.

Losing Mojo

Caught on Tape

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, October 14, 2005; 12:51 PM

White House spokesman Scott McClellan repeatedly insisted that the troops participating in a video conference from Iraq with President Bush yesterday morning hadn't been coached.

But the satellite feed of painstaking rehearsals led by a senior Pentagon official said otherwise.

And as a result, television journalists for once had a field day exposing the sleight of hand to which they are more often accessories.
...

But it's doubtful that anyone has had as much fun with this story as MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who under the rubric "White House follies" last night paired what he called "the president's choreographed satellite back-slapping session with the troops" with "the press secretary's knee-capping session with the White House press corps."

"It's like watching the Jesse Ventura show," he said after showing extensive clips of the troop rehearsal, and the ensuing event.

Olbermann asked Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank to explain what happened.

"It really is inexplicable," Milbank said. "This was a White House that did everything right, in terms of imagery, and now they just seem to have completely lost their mojo on fairly simple things. . . .

"It is tempting to say that none of this would have happened if Karl Rove were still alive, but that is oversimplifying. . . .

"I think what you are seeing here is a White House now sitting at 38 percent in the polls, and it has never been there before, and there's a bit of a panic setting in. They don't really know how to get out of this. They have always operated being out in front before and they don't know how to run it from behind."

Video Link

Soaking the Middle Class

A proposal that hits home

THERE ARE 74 MILLION HOMEOWNERS in the United States, and if they could find an issue they all agree on, they would be the most powerful voting bloc in the country. So President Bush's tax reform commission deserves credit for taking aim at the thing this group holds most dear: the home-mortgage tax deduction.

The presidential advisory commission has been studying tax reform for months, and on Tuesday it made a startling proposal: The cap on mortgage debt eligible for a deduction, which stands at $1 million, should be lowered.

Targeting the mortgage deduction is admirable, if politically unlikely. The deduction exists because of a deeply held conviction that owning a home is the ultimate expression of the American dream and that it makes people better citizens. But there are aspects of the tax code that do nothing to spur homeownership and may actually discourage it.

Buyers can deduct the interest paid on mortgages for second homes, for example, which simply encourages real estate speculation, drives up prices and shuts out other buyers by restricting the supply of housing. They can also deduct the interest paid on home equity loans, which aren't always used for home improvements; if a person finances a car with an equity loan, how does that encourage homeownership? And one can argue that home prices currently reflect the mortgage interest deduction, so without it, home prices would fall — and the lower prices would make up for the loss of the deduction.

Unfortunately, the commission didn't discuss phasing out the deduction on second homes or equity loans, though both are still up for debate. Its proposal to lower the ceiling is more problematic because it could disproportionately affect people in California, New York and other states with high home prices.

The nationwide median home price is estimated at $268,000; if the ceiling were lowered to, say, $350,000, it would only affect buyers of high-end homes in most of the country. But in California, the median price is $569,000, so even middle-class buyers would be hit. If the final proposal does call for a lower cap, it should vary based on local housing prices.

This is another screw the middle class proposal. I own a 900 sf condo. Comps in my complex are currently selling for $400K and above. You can't touch a single family home inside the Washington beltway for less than a half mil. The conventional wisdom is that the DC area is bubble-proof, but I don't see how these kinds of price inflation can be sustained.

Last time I checked, median household income in Fairfax County was about $95,000 a year. That means that I'm not even lower middle class in this part of the world.

Laying the Groundwork

Bush's Miers Predicament Forces GOP Split or Nominee Withdrawal

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush prides himself as a man who never runs from a fight and as a leader who pays careful attention to his political base. Harriet Miers has put those qualities in conflict.

A growing number of Republican activists say Bush blundered in naming Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court, failing to anticipate the firestorm it would ignite among conservative backers and leading opinion makers who question her qualifications. Bush now may be forced to choose between an embarrassing withdrawal of the nomination or accepting a fissure among conservatives that could jeopardize the party's hold on power.

``Right now the base is completely fractured and people are very concerned about the impact on the 2006 elections,'' said Manuel Miranda, who heads a coalition of 150 conservative and libertarian groups and opposes Miers. ``The troubling thing is that the Supreme Court was the gold ring and the president's thinking appears indiscernible, unless you're willing to take it as a matter of faith.''

Miers, 60, was nominated by Bush on Oct. 3 to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a pivotal vote on the court. Miers, the White House counsel and a close Bush confidant, was co-managing partner of a law firm in Dallas and president of the Texas state bar association who has never been a judge.

For conservatives who are seeking to turn the court to the right, she has a scant paper trail on issues like abortion, affirmative action and separation of church and state.

Conservative Rebellion

The White House, seeking to tamp down the internecine rebellion, is defending Miers as a judicial conservative and touting her 25-year membership in an evangelical Christian church whose members are opposed to abortion. Bush has rejected calls to pull back the nomination and said earlier this week that Miers's credentials would be clear after she appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee, probably next month.

Bush's spokesman, Scott McClellan, yesterday dismissed the idea that Miers might drop out if she decides that she can't withstand the uproar. ``No one that knows her would make such a suggestion,'' he said.

Public opinion polls also haven't done much to bolster the nomination. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released earlier this week found that just 29 percent of Americans thought Miers was qualified to sit on the high court, while 24 percent said she was unqualified and 46 percent said they didn't know enough about her to decide. The poll of 807 adults had an error margin of plus or minus 3.4 percent.

Editorial Opinion

This week the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called on Bush to drop the nomination ``to spare the country any more embarrassment.'' And the columnists have been scathing.

Peggy Noonan, who wrote speeches for Bush's father, this week urged Miers to ``take the hit'' and withdraw so the president could pick ``one of the outstanding jurists thoughtful conservatives have long touted.'' She mentioned federal appeals court judges Edith Jones, Edith Clement or Janice Rogers Brown.

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer was similarly blunt in an Oct. 7 article. ``If Harriet Miers were not a crony of the president of the United States, her nomination to the Supreme Court would be a joke, as it would have occurred to no one else to nominate her,'' he wrote.

2006 elections can't come soon enough. I've been listening to NPR local talk radio off and on for the last couple of days and I'm hearing things like "I've been a Republican all my life but I can never vote for these clowns again." GOTV will be critical next year.

Driving the Newscycle

This Financial Times piece is downright amusing:

White House fights anti-Miers bloggers
By Patti Waldmeir in Washington
Published: October 14 2005 03:00 | Last updated: October 14 2005 03:00

Top US Republicans are reaching out into to the world of high technology to tame the conservative backlash against Harriet Miers, Supreme Court nominee.

Within minutes of the nomination of Ms Miers last week, conservative blogs exploded with outrage, providing the first sign of serious conservative discontent over the choice Ms Miers.

Now the White House is trying to quell the revolt of the blogs: on Wednesday, Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, reached out to the bloggers who have been leading the charge against Ms Miers in a conference call whose content appeared almost instantaneously on the internet.

Professor Stephen Bainbridge, professor of corporate law at UCLA and a leading Miers opponent, "live-blogged" the conference call: that is, he took real-time notes and broadcast them on to the web on his popular "blawg", or law blog.

Mr Mehlman assured the bloggers - who were contacted by telephone - that though Republicans had been disappointed before by Supreme Court nominees who turned liberal on the bench, that would not happen with Ms Miers.

Within minutes, bloggers posted their reaction to the call: most were unpersuaded. Several noted that Mr Mehlman stressed that Ms Miers would be a loyal ally of Mr Bush on the war on terror (which bloggers call the WOT). Mr Mehlman said Ms Miers might have to recuse herself from cases in which she was directly involved, but "because the WOT will continue for quite some time, there will be many opportunities in the long term for her to make an impact on those issues", according to the conservative blog, PoliPundit.

Yesterday the blogs were broadcasting yet more bad news for Ms Miers: several carried a link to a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showing that only 29 per cent of people surveyed said she was qualified to serve. Nearly half said they did not know enough about her to judge. And one blog provided a link to some testimony by Ms Miers in which she says she refused to belong to the Federalist Society - a libertarian lawyers' organisation popular among conservatives.

I give a lot of interviews to the media and they always want to know what I think the relationship between the blogs and the MSM is. Yes, we are driving some of the coverage these days.

Flu Shot Time

Your Tots Are Making You Sick

Tuesday, October 11, 2005; Page HE03

This flu season there's additional reason to make your little ones wash their hands and keep their noses off their sleeves. A new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests that 3- and 4-year-olds drive flu epidemics -- and that flu symptoms in kids under 5, more than any other age group, are correlated with flu-related deaths in the general population.

Nothing to Sneeze At The study, which tracked more than 400,000 children and adults for four years, found that 3- and 4-year-olds on average presented with flu or flu-like illness a month earlier than adults. Harvard Medical School researchers John Brownstein and Kenneth Mandl explain that children share germs in preschool and day care, then spread the disease during, say, a visit to a grandparent's nursing home. There, patients' lowered immunity and close quarters could feed an outbreak.

Change in the Air? Although immunization recommendations have long targeted the elderly and immune-compromised, the researchers suggest a much broader approach: Immunize the frontline germ-spreaders, too. This makes sense, they argue, partly because vaccines aren't always effective in the elderly.

But don't expect the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to alter its recommendations anytime soon, said Carolyn Bridges, an epidemiologist with the agency's National Immunization Program. While current policy allows preschoolers to get immunized when vaccines are ample, a shift to promoting the shots for kids would require a major vaccine production and distribution effort. More data are needed to justify that move, she said.

There is more than ample reason for all of us to get into the frequent handwashing habit. I'm also buying Purell in the giant, economy size. Flu clinics in groceries and drug stores are starting next week. Take your kids with you. I'm getting my flu shot at the local grocery on the 19th. This would be a good year to get the pneumovax, too, if it is available.

Fscking the Troops

For Injured U.S. Troops, 'Financial Friendly Fire'
Flaws in Pay System Lead to Dunning, Credit Trouble

By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 14, 2005; Page A01

His hand had been blown off in Iraq, his body pierced by shrapnel. He could not walk. Robert Loria was flown home for a long recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he tried to bear up against intense physical pain and reimagine his life's possibilities.

The last thing on his mind, he said, was whether the Army had correctly adjusted his pay rate -- downgrading it because he was out of the war zone -- or whether his combat gear had been accounted for properly: his Kevlar helmet, his suspenders, his rucksack.

But nine months after Loria was wounded, the Army garnished his wages and then, as he prepared to leave the service, hit him with a $6,200 debt. That was just before last Christmas, and several lawmakers scrambled to help. This spring, a collection agency started calling. He owed another $646 for military housing.

"I was shocked," recalled Loria, now 28 and medically retired from the Army. "After everything that went on, they still had the nerve to ask me for money."

Although Loria's problems may be striking on their own, the Army has recently identified 331 other soldiers who have been hit with military debt after being wounded at war. The new analysis comes as the United States has more wounded troops than at any time since the Vietnam War, with thousands suffering serious injury in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"This is a financial friendly fire," charged Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, which has been looking into the issue. "It's awful." Davis called the failure systemic and said military "pay problems have been an embarrassment all the way through" the war.

Army officials said they are in the process of forgiving debts for 99 of the 331 wounded soldiers, all now out of the military. The other cases have not been resolved, said G. Eric Reid, director of the U.S. Army Finance Command. Complex laws and regulations govern the cancellation of debts once soldiers leave the service, he said.

Part of the problem is that the government's computerized pay system is designed to "maximize debt collection" and has operated without a way to keep bills from going to the wounded, Reid said. In the past seven months, a database of injured troops has been created to help prevent that. Now, he said, the goal is to make "a conscious decision . . . on the validity of that debt" in every case.

Early this year, the Army reported that, in looking at a two-month period, it had identified 129 wounded soldiers -- still active in the military -- who had debts. Those were resolved. But the Army cannot pinpoint the full number of wounded active-duty troops with debts.
....
At the root of the problem is an outdated Defense Department computer system, which does not automatically link pay and personnel records. This creates numerous pay errors -- and overpayments become debts, said Gregory D. Kutz, the GAO's managing director for forensic audits and special investigations. "They've been trying to modernize it since the mid-1990s," he said. "They have been unsuccessful."

No one can say how many troops have pay problems across the military, Kutz said, but the GAO has found that, in certain Army National Guard and Reserve units, more than 90 percent of soldiers have had at least one overpayment or underpayment during deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. Steps have since been taken to improve the system, but the problem will not be eliminated, Kutz said, until the larger computer system is reengineered.

Typically, troops get a boost in pay while in combat. When they come home, the system can take extra weeks to catch up with the change, and some people are overpaid. For wounded troops -- still adjusting to their injuries and changed futures -- a debt notice can be another bitter discovery.

"It was like I was being abandoned. I was no good to the military anymore," recalled Loria, who served more than five years. "They figured the pay glitch was my fault and I was going to pay for it."

As you well know, I have nothing good to say about this illegal, immoral war, but taking it out on the backs of the troops is simply mind-boggling. Inept, incompetent and heartless pretty much describes Donald Rumsfeld's Department of Defense. This is criminal negligence.

Spookery

Pogge sent me this overnight. He's working too hard these days to have time to blog.

US setting up new spying agency

The US has announced the creation of a new intelligence agency led by the CIA to co-ordinate all American overseas spying activities.

The National Clandestine Service (NCS) will oversee all human espionage operations - meaning spying by people rather than by technical means.

The move is the latest in the post-9/11 reforms of US intelligence agencies.

Analysts say the NCS restores some authority to the CIA after it lost overall control of US intelligence.

'Expression of confidence'

The chief of the new service will supervise the CIA's espionage operations and co-ordinate all overseas spying, including those of the FBI and the Pentagon.

The director of the new agency, whose identity will remain secret and is simply known as "Jose", will report directly to the head of the CIA, Porter Goss.

What? We're going to be pouring how many bucks into an agency headed by somebody called Jose? What kind of shit is this?

Back of the Hand

Katrina Food Aid Blocked by U.S. Rules
Meals From Britain Sit in Warehouse

By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 14, 2005; Page A01

In the early days of September, as military helicopters plucked desperate New Orleanians from rooftops and Red Cross shelters swelled with the displaced, nearly 400,000 packaged meals landed on a tarmac at Little Rock Air Force Base and were whisked by tractor-trailer to Louisiana.

But most of the $5.3 million worth of food never reached the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Instead, because of fears about mad cow disease and a long-standing ban on British beef, the rations routinely consumed by British soldiers have sat stacked in a warehouse in Arkansas for more than a month.

Now, with some of the food set to expire in early 2006 and U.S. taxpayers spending $16,000 a month to store the meals, the State Department is quickly and quietly looking for a needy country to take them.

In a disaster recovery effort that has been widely criticized as slow, inefficient and at times wasteful, the long and costly journey of the British rations is a tale of good intentions colliding with a cumbersome bureaucracy.

No fewer than six federal agencies or departments had a role in accepting, distributing and rejecting the food. Even now, there remains a disagreement within the Bush administration over which office shipped the meals to 14 locations in Louisiana and which is responsible for paying the mounting storage fees.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees domestic disasters, "knew from e-mails the stuff was moving out there, but we never had control or said anything about it," said spokesman Kim Pease. "It was under control of" the U.S. Agency for International Development, he said.

But USAID spokesman Kevin Sheridan said his agency simply provided logistic support, helping deliver to the Gulf Coast region foreign donations that were acquired by the State Department.

A spokesman for the British Embassy, citing diplomatic protocol in requesting anonymity, said he was puzzled by the turn of events.

"There was a specific request for emergency ration packs, and we responded to that," he said. "We had no reason to believe there would be a problem."

What is clear is that by late on Sept. 8, inspectors from the Agriculture Department halted the distribution because the packaged meals violated import laws that "no beef or poultry of any kind is accepted from Great Britain," spokeswoman Terri Teuber said.

Since 1997, the United States has banned beef products from Britain and several other European countries that have been affected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease. A degenerative disease of the central nervous system, BSE is fatal in cattle and can lead to a similar illness in humans called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

"There was a careful review of the law to determine whether there was some flexibility, and at this point that has not been the case," Teuber said.

That Was a Short War on Poverty

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Friday, October 14, 2005; Page A19

It has long been said that Americans have short attention spans, but this is ridiculous: Our bold, urgent, far-reaching, post-Katrina war on poverty lasted maybe a month.

Credit for our ability to reach rapid closure on the poverty issue goes first to a group of congressional conservatives who seized the post-Katrina initiative before advocates of poverty reduction could get their plans off the ground.

As soon as President Bush announced his first spending package for reconstructing New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the Republican Study Committee and other conservatives switched the subject from poverty reduction to how Katrina reconstruction plans might increase the deficit that their own tax-cutting policies helped create.

Unwilling to freeze any of the tax cuts, these conservatives proposed cutting other spending to offset Katrina costs. The headlines focused on the seemingly easy calls on pork-barrel spending. But some of their biggest cuts were in health care programs, including Medicaid, and other spending for the poor.

Thus, the budget Congress is now considering would cut spending by $35 billion and cut taxes by $70 billion. Excuse me, but doesn't this increase the deficit by a net of $35 billion?

Don't worry, said Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, one of the leading House conservatives. Cutting taxes for the rich is the best antipoverty program. "I'm mindful of what a pipe fitter once said to President Reagan," Pence said, according to the New York Times. " 'I've never been hired by a poor man.' A growing economy is in the interest of every working American, regardless of their income."

In other words, the conservatives have moved the conversation to ideas that go back to Calvin Coolidge's low-tax economics from the 1920s. And they say liberals are the folks with the "old" ideas?

If it didn't matter, I'd be inclined to salute the agenda-setting genius of the right wing. But since we need a national conversation on poverty, it's worth considering that conservatives were successful in pushing it back in part because of weaknesses on the liberal side.

Right out of the box, conservatives started blaming the persistent poverty unearthed by Katrina on the failure of "liberal programs." If there was a liberal retort, it didn't get much coverage in the supposedly liberal media.

It's conservatives, after all, who spent almost a decade touting the genius of the 1996 welfare reform and claiming that because so many people had been driven off the welfare rolls, poverty was no longer a problem.

Yes, welfare reform worked better than some of us expected in the 1990s. But Katrina underscored the limits of welfare reform by showing how many people had been left behind. It also brought home the failure of conservative economics. The Clinton economy -- bolstered by balanced budgets, tax increases on the rich and the expansion of innovative programs such as the earned-income tax credit and health coverage for the poor -- cut the number of poor people by 7.7 million between 1993 and 2000. Between 2001 and 2004, on the other hand, the number of those in poverty rose by 4.1 million.

Or consider that a recent Census Bureau report found that the percentage of Americans getting private job-based health insurance fell from 63.6 percent in 2000 to 59.8 percent in 2004. What held down the number of Americans without insurance altogether? The proportion insured under government programs -- Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program -- rose from 10.6 percent in 2000 to 12.9 percent in 2004. A time when more Americans than ever need government-provided health insurance is when we should expand government assistance for health care, not cut it back. It's also a good time for raising the minimum wage and increasing the help the earned-income tax credit offers the working poor.

But liberals also need to seize the initiative by speaking candidly and not defensively about the social causes of poverty. These include family breakdown and the heavy concentration of very poor people in a small number of neighborhoods in our big cities. Just because some conservatives are tempted, wrongly, to blame all poverty on problems in the family doesn't mean that liberals should shy away from talking about the difficulties faced by children in fatherless homes.

These two authors reveal what is true about the Bush administration: this is not a government which cares about you.

For Game Day

In the early 1980s, I spent part of the summers living with the two best resauranteurs of Mexican cuisine living in the Santa Cruz mountains. Those of you living near Santa Cruz will know of the near cult status which accrues to Manuel's. Manny and his wife spent their lives creating classic ostelaria, simple inns, in the northern Valley and did well by doing well. I lived through a 6.9 earthquake in thier house.

This guacamole recipe comes out of their kitchen, which is where I learned to cook Mexican for a birthday dinner for John Cage, a vegan. Lets just say that a day making veggie tamales was instructive.

This guacamole recipe is humbly offered with the NFL playoffs in sight.

Ingredients:
3-4 ripe avocados
1-2 minced garlic cloves
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 tbsp. minced chives
1 small tomato - cubed
salt to taste
salsa

Steps:
1. Find the ripest avocados you can - they should be soft when squeezed gently, with dark-green skin. Avoid brown avocados, which are too ripe.

2. Cut each avocado in half, working around the large, smooth pit. Separate the avocado halves and remove the pit.

3. Scoop the avocado flesh out of the skins.

4. Use a fork to mash the avocados until smooth - some chunks are OK. Use a food processor for large amounts of avocado if you like, but avoid overprocessing.

5. Add minced fresh garlic, lemon juice, chives and cubed tomato. Add salt and salsa to taste, if desired.

6. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.


Tips:
A potato masher works very well to mash avocados.

You also can add chopped cilantro, chile powder, jalapeño chiles or fresh garlic, if desired.

If you know you won't be able to find ripe avocados, plan to buy unripe ones five days ahead of time so they'll have a chance to ripen.

Serve with cold beer or margaritas.
I recommend using Hass avocados for guac - smaller than Florida avacodos but MUCH better!!

A commntor recommends; " I've
worked in a restaurant for years and our chef keeps the guacamole covered with a layer of diced tomatoes to keep it from turning brown! "

Lemon or lime juice spritzed on the assembly will work as well.

Silent Literature

British Playwright Wins Nobel Prize in Literature

NY Times
By SARAH LYALL
Published: October 13, 2005

LONDON, Oct. 13 - Harold Pinter, the English playwright, poet and political campaigner whose work uses spare and often menacing language to explore themes like powerlessness, domination and the faceless tyranny of the state, won the Nobel Prize for Literature today.

Mr. Pinter "uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms," the Swedish Academy said in announcing the award, which carries $1.3 million in prize money.

Now 75, Mr. Pinter has had an extraordinarily productive and versatile career, writing plays and screenplays, directing theater productions, appearing as an actor on screen and stage and winning awards across Europe. So precise and pared-down is his prose, so artful his use of pauses and omissions to invoke discomfort, foreboding and miscommunication, that the adjective "Pinteresque" has come to mean a peculiar kind of atmospheric unease.

The literature award is kept a close secret, and rumors of who is likely to win - this year, the names included the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, the Syrian poet Adonis and the American writer Joyce Carol Oates -- usually turn out to be wrong. Mr. Pinter was not considered a frontrunner, to the extent that anyone is, and he said today in a brief interview via email that he was "very surprised" and had not even entertained the possibility of winning.

"I was called 20 minutes before the official announcement," he said in his email. "The chair of the Nobel committee phoned and said, 'You have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. I remained silent, and then said, 'I'm speechless.' "

Mr. Pinter is known for plays like "The Caretaker," about the painful power struggles between two brothers and the tramp who comes to stay with them, and "Betrayal," which dissects a long adulterous liaison and is told chronologically backward, from the sad end of the affair to its hopeful beginning. Always committed to arguing against authority - in 1949, he was attacked when he challenged a group of fascists in the East End, and in the same year had to pay a fine for refusing to perform his National Service - he has become increasingly outspoken about international politics in the last several decades.

He is vehemently opposed to the Iraq war, to the British government under Prime Minister Tony Blair and to what he sees as bullying American imperialism in the Middle East and around the world. A recent poem, "The Special Relationship," refers to the alliance between the United States and Britain but concerns itself with bombs exploding, limbs being blown off and the atrocities committed at places like Abu Ghraib.

In plays like "The Birthday Party," "No Man's Land" and "The Homecoming," Mr. Pinter dispenses with the easy comforts of fluent speech; his characters speak in non-sequitors and sentence fragments; interrupt one another; fail to listen; fail to understand. He uses language to convey miscommunication and lack of understanding rather than shared comprehension.

"Harold Pinter is generally seen as the foremost representative of British drama in the second half of the 20th century," the Swedish Academy said today. "Pinter restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of each other and pretense crumbles. With a minimum of plot, drama emerges from the power struggle and hide-and-seek of interlocution."

While many people are making a big deal about Pinter's politics, which are probably far to the Left of most of the people reading this, it is his art I want to talk about.

When I was at Tulane, I hung out and took classes in the drama department. I had flirted with the Theatre in High School and wanted to try my luck at college, especially since the school's orchestra... sucked. In our Drama II class, one of the short plays we worked on was Pinter's The Dumb Waiter which was a great deal of fun and very hard, especially with the way Pinter's does his dialogue. We went on the read some more of his plays and I loved the little bits of humor that were thrown in through out. What amazed me was how much work he had done, even though I knew nothing about him. This site has a complete listing of his works, which cover nearly all media.

I hope that this award will bring him even more mainstream attention and production of is works. Much like Albee, a Pinter production is not one to be missed because of they way it stretches your perspectives on what entertainment and storytelling can be if looked at form the side instead of head on.

Party Food

Halloween party in your future? Spanakopita (Feta and Spinach pastries) are one of my favorite party foods. This a fair amount of work to make, but the results are delicious. Bring it to a pot-luck and get lots of demands for the recipe. If you want to serve it to guests at your dining table, this recipe will serve four with a first course of quickie Avgolemono soup (which I eat at least three times a week from the Greek deli near my old office.) This may be the best tool for warding off the avian flu that we have. To make your own quickie Greek egg-lemon soup, get a can of the best chicken with rice soup you can find--I like Progresso--and while it is heating juice a half lemon and add it to the pan. Just before serving, reduce heat to just below the boil and add 1 beaten egg per person. Make from scratch if you've got a chicken carcass in the freezer. The base is a standard minestrone, but substitute rice for the pasta. For the spanakopita:

2 lbs. fresh spinach leaves

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup chopped fresh dill

2 cups finely chopped green onions

1 1/2 tsp. fine Sea Salt

1/4 cup Organic Extra-virgin Olive Oil

3 cups chopped onion

1/4 tsp. coarse ground black pepper

1/2 lb. feta cheese, crumbled (traditionally made from sheeps milk, feta cheese from goat milk is also good)

14 filo leaves (usually sold frozen, thaw thoroughly!)

3/4 cup clarified butter (ghee), melted.

1) Wash and clean the spinach. Discard the stems. Drain & cut the leaves into shreds.

2) Combine the spinach, parsley, dill, green onions and grey sea salt in a bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes, then press out all of the liquid.

3) Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and saute the 3 cups of chopped onions until soft and transparent. Add the spinach mixture from step 2 and saute for a few more minutes. Add the feta cheese and black pepper.

4) Place each of 7 filo leaves in a buttered 10" x 17" x 2" baking pan, brushing each leaf with melted clarified butter. Add the spinach mixture from step 3, spread into a thick layer then add remaining filo leaves, again brushing each leaf with melted clarified butter. Cut into 3"x 3" pieces with a sharp knife.

5) Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Melanie's variation: in the traditional recipe this is made in a sheet, like lasagna, but to make it easier to pass at parties, cut the big sheets of phyllo into four inch squares. Using big muffin tins, grease the cups with clarified butter and line each cup with seven squares, each offset by 30 degrees from the one below it so that they give a fanned-out effect then fill and top with the remaining squares as in the recipe above. These will cook a little faster than a big sheet so keep your eye on them. Depending on your oven, they may well be done at 20-25 minutes. When they are golden brown on top, they are done.

Note on handling phyllo, which is critical for my variation: this stuff is fragile. Thaw it (it's usually sold frozen) between two moist (not sopping, just sprinkled with water) dish towels. That will keep it flexible enough to mold into muffin tins without turning into shards of unappetizing stuff. Even with this step, you are going to need to be gentle with it--don't expect that you can make the squares fit perfectly into the cups and the little packages will ride above the bottom of the cup. That's okay, the point here is to make good hand food that's easy to pass with drinks at a party. These are buttery so have plenty of napkins. You do put out little paper plates and napkins at a party, don't you? Someplace to park the dips and cruditees?

For a big sheet of spanakopita at a sit-down dinner, add a bottle of retsina, with the soup and entree and you've got yourself a Greek party. I love Greek food, the cuisine is informal, just like the people. Serve a Greek cheese like Haloumi with grapes for dessert and collect the accolades. A loaf of good Greek bread in the bread basket won't hurt.

Some time ago, I visited Greece and Iceland in a very short period of time. In Greece, if you are standing on a street corner with a map in your hand, clearly lost, you'll have a crowd around you trying to help (in God knows how many languages.) Stand on a street corner in Rejkjavik with the same problem and your personal space will never be invaded. I've had spectacular food in both places (Icelandic fish, shellfish and lamb is legendary) but Greece is better known. I'll try to give you some recipes from the Icelandic cookbook over the weekend. But the Greek Islands are my spiritual home, which is something of a surprise to this child of the Frozen North (Minnesotans are God's Frozen People.) When I die, I hope to land in Mykonos.

It goes without saying that you are passing Greek olives, in all of their magnificence with your drinks and cocktail food menu. Right? We'll deal with Nicoise olives and related foods in a later post, but I've got Greece on the brain.

Cute Panda Pix!

Panda Cub's Public Debut Postponed Until December

By D'Vera Cohn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 13, 2005; Page B08

The public debut of the National Zoo's giant panda cub will be delayed until at least December because he is not venturing out of his hidden den and his mother does not appear willing to let him do so, animal park officials said yesterday.

Although the black-and-white bear now resembles a toddler more than an infant and has been walking short distances on all fours, zoo spokeswoman Peper Long said officials have "pretty much decided" that he will not go on public display in mid-November, as previously announced. Now, they are looking at going public in December.

"He is not even coming out of the den yet," Long said. "She is not letting him out for any time at all."

The cub, born July 9, has been outside his den in the Panda House only for medical examinations. Keepers twice tried to put him in a more public area of the Panda House, but mother Mei Xiang quickly dragged him back to the den. When her cub crawls around, she sometimes pulls him close to prevent him from moving too far away. The den can be viewed only via closed-circuit camera, and zoo officials do not want to invite the public into the Panda House until they are sure the cub will be out for more than a few minutes.

Long said keepers do not think Mei Xiang is being overprotective. The cub has "just started to walk, so I don't think there's any concern that she's not nudging it out the door," Long said.

If the cub goes on display in December, he will be 5 months old. The first giant panda cub born in San Diego, Hua Mei, was about the same age when she made her public debut in February 2000. The zoo plans to offer timed-entry tickets to people wanting to see the cub.

Yesterday, the cub had his eighth medical exam. He weighed in at 12.7 pounds, compared with 1.82 pounds at his first checkup Aug. 2. He measured 25.5 inches from head to tail, compared with 12 inches at the first exam. Veterinarian Suzan Murray ran her gloved hand over his gums and found that he now has teeth: All four canines and 12 incisors have erupted through his gums, though not all are fully grown in.

The cub eventually will have 42 teeth, Long said. Unlike with human babies, teething does not appear to make him uncomfortable, she said.

There is a photo gallery and a video on the link. We need a feel-good story about now--at least, I do.

Breaking News

A Polling Free-Fall Among Blacks

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, October 13, 2005; 3:09 PM

In what may turn out to be one of the biggest free-falls in the history of presidential polling, President Bush's job-approval rating among African Americans has dropped to 2 percent, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

The drop among blacks drove Bush's overall job approval ratings to an all-time low of 39 percent in this poll. By comparison, 45 percent of whites and 36 percent of Hispanics approve of the job Bush is doing.

A few months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found Bush's approval rating among blacks at 51 percent. As recently as six months ago, it was at 19 percent.

But Bush's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina -- seen by many blacks as evidence that he didn't care about them (see my September 13 column ) -- may have brought support for the president in the African American community down to nearly negligible levels.

Tim Russert called attention to this startling statistic on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams yesterday: "Brian, listen to this," he said. "Only 2 percent -- 2 percent! -- of African-Americans approve of George Bush's handling of the presidency -- the lowest we have ever seen in that particular measure."

So this morning, I called Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, to get a better sense of the significance of the results.

"African Americans were not supporters, but I don't think that they outright detested him -- until now," Hart said. "The actions in and around Katrina persuaded African Americans that this was a president who was totally insensitive to their concerns and their needs."

Hart said he has never seen such a dramatic drop in presidential approval ratings, within any subgroup.

This latest poll included 807 people nationwide, and only 89 blacks. As a result, there is a considerable margin or error -- and the findings should not be considered definitive until or unless they are validated by other polls.

David Bositis, a senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which tracks African American public opinion, told me this morning that it's clear that Bush's job approval among blacks "has taken a hit from both the ongoing things in Iraq and what happened with Katrina."

But down to 2 percent? "I doubt that it's actually 2," he said.

"But would I be surprised if it's 10 or 12? No." And 10, he said, is typically "about as low as you can go" when it comes to approval ratings.

Global Climate Change

World Temperatures Keep Rising With a Hot 2005

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 13, 2005; Page A01

New international climate data show that 2005 is on track to be the hottest year on record, continuing a 25-year trend of rising global temperatures.

Climatologists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies calculated the record-breaking global average temperature, which now surpasses 1998's record by a tenth of a degree Fahrenheit, from readings taken at 7,200 weather stations scattered around the world.

The new analysis comes as government and independent scientists are reporting other dramatic signs of global warming, such as the record shrinkage of the Arctic sea ice cover and unprecedented high ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.

Late last month, a team of University of Colorado and NASA scientists announced that the Arctic sea ice cap shrank this summer to 200 million square miles, 500,000 square miles less than its average area between 1979 and 2000. And a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determined that sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico were higher in August than at any time since 1890, which may have contributed to the intense hurricanes that struck the region this year.

"At this point, people shouldn't be surprised this is happening," said Goddard atmospheric scientist David Rind, noting that 2002, 2003 and 2004 were among the warmest years on record.

Many climatologists, along with policymakers in a number of countries, believe the rapid temperature rise over the past 50 years is heavily driven by the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities that have spewed carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" into the atmosphere. A vocal minority of scientists say the warming climate is the result of a natural cycle.

Rind compared the warming trend to what happens when a major league baseball team owner spends lavishly on players' salaries. Pumping heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, he said, produces the same kind of predictable results as boosting a team's payroll.

"When they get into the playoffs, should we be surprised?" he asked. "We're putting a lot more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and we're getting a lot higher temperatures."

Global temperatures this year are about 1.36 degrees Fahrenheit (0.75 Celsius) above the average between 1950 and 1980, according to the Goddard analysis. Worldwide temperatures in 1998 were 1.28 degrees Fahrenheit (0.71 Celsius) above that 30-year average. The data show that Earth is warming more in the Northern Hemisphere, where the average 2005 temperature was two-tenths of a degree above the 1998 level.

We had a record hot and dry summer here. How was yours? I'm particularly interested in the experience of non-US readers.

Repairing NOLA

After the Deluge, Some Questions

By JOHN M. BARRY
Published: October 13, 2005

Washington

THE most important questions about rebuilding New Orleans are simple ones. Can the city be made safe, and if so, how? Who should chiefly bear the burden? Only by answering these questions can the city restore the confidence of would-be residents, investors, insurers and visitors that a rebuilt New Orleans won't be devastated by another hurricane.

Without that public confidence, the city will never be able to thrive. But earning it will require two important measures, both of which were recommended by the flood control working group I recently headed at the request of the Louisiana congressional delegation. Clearly, New Orleans needs a new comprehensive flood control plan for the future - yet no legislation yet introduced has called for developing one. Just as important, we need to understand the failure of the city's old levee system, both in order to build a better one and in order to apportion responsibility for the losses that New Orleans suffered. As it turns out, much of the destruction resulted not from an act of god but from human error.

Three teams of credible experts have initiated investigations into the failure of the levees. One is from the National Science Foundation in conjunction with the American Society of Civil Engineers; another, from the United States Army Corps of Engineers; and the third is from the State of Louisiana, led by scientists at the Louisiana State University hurricane center. Although each investigation is independent, the scientists have shared data and come to the same surprising preliminary conclusions, one of which has enormous ramifications.

We know that Hurricane Katrina made landfall with enormous power, devastating the Gulf Coast, and that the levee on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans was overtopped by a storm surge coming directly from the Gulf of Mexico. When a levee is overtopped, there is basically nothing that can be done. Water pouring over a levee long enough will, in effect, wash part of the levee away. That's what happened on the Industrial Canal, resulting in the flooding of part of the Ninth Ward, along with much of St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes.

But most of New Orleans was not flooded by water coming directly from the Gulf. It was flooded from the north and rear by Lake Pontchartrain, when levees failed along the 17th Street and London Avenue drainage canals. Initially, the Corps of Engineers said that the storm was so great that it overtopped these levees also. But after inspecting the levees and reviewing storm data, all three investigating teams agree: Hurricane Katrina hit Lake Pontchartrain with far less strength than it did the Gulf Coast, and the storm surge fell well short of the tops of the levees. In fact, a design or construction flaw caused them to collapse in the face of a force they were designed to hold. In other words, if the levees had performed as they were supposed to, the deaths in New Orleans proper, the scenes in the Superdome and the city's devastation would never have taken place.

Who is responsible? Many accusations, some of them valid, have been hurled at the Orleans Levee Board, a local body. But these accusations are irrelevant. The levee board did not design or build these levees. That was entirely the responsibility of the federal government, through the Corps of Engineers.
....
But instead of helping, Treasury Secretary John Snow recently told Congress that the administration would not guarantee the city's municipal bonds. So the city government announced the layoff of 3,000 workers. The Catholic archdiocese will let nearly 900 go. The largest employer in the city, Tulane University, may soon have to make similar cuts, and Xavier and Dillard universities, also large employers, are in even more desperate straits. How does one rebuild a city if one destroys its public services and intellectual capital?

It is still less obvious how the city can be rebuilt without a comprehensive and credible flood control plan for the future. Scientists believe that all of New Orleans, including the Ninth Ward and the parishes flooded by the Industrial Canal break, can be protected against hurricanes. Plans for that already exist, but in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina failures, they need close re-examination, both to correct for past mistakes and to account for changes the hurricane wrought in the geography of South Louisiana.

The working group I led called for the Corps of Engineers, in concert with the National Academies of Science, to develop a thoroughgoing new flood control strategy. Coming up with a new plan should not take long. The head of the relevant arm of the academies has projected that one could be prepared within four to eight months. Work on repairs to levees that would certainly be included in any comprehensive plan is already under way.

That does not make the need for such a plan any less urgent. Many of the rebuilding decisions depend on it. At the same time, the federal government needs to take responsibility for first the devastation and now the slow strangulation of one of the world's great cities.

In 1927 the homes of roughly one million Americans - then nearly 1 percent of the American population - were flooded. President Calvin Coolidge recognized the responsibility of the federal government to fix that problem, and it did. Now New Orleans needs neither rhetoric nor "enterprise zones," but concrete and immediate help.

John M. Barry is the author of both "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America" and "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History ."

Life and Death Questions

Staff at New Orleans Hospital Debated Euthanizing Patients

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Three days after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, staff members at the city's Memorial Medical Center had repeated discussions about euthanizing patients they thought might not survive the ordeal, according to a doctor and nurse manager who were in the hospital at the time.

The Louisiana attorney general's office is investigating allegations that mercy killings occurred and has requested that autopsies be performed on all 45 bodies taken from the hospital after the storm.

Orleans Parish coroner Frank Minyard said investigators have told him they think euthanasia may have been committed.

"They thought someone was going around injecting people with some sort of lethal medication," Minyard said.

Dr. Bryant King, who was working at Memorial when conditions were at their worst, told CNN that while he did not witness any acts of euthanasia, "most people know something happened that shouldn't have happened."

Over the course of several weeks, CNN spoke with staff members from Memorial, who recounted the dismal situation inside the hospital after levees protecting New Orleans were breached on Monday, August 29, and most of the city filled up with water. By Wednesday, the situation had become desperate.

"We weren't really functioning as a hospital but as a shelter," King said. "We had no electricity. There was no water. It was hot. People are dying. We thought it was as bad as it could get. Why weren't we being evacuated? That was our biggest thing. We should be gone right now."

Food was running low, sanitation wasn't working, and temperatures inside soared to 110 degrees. Floodwaters had isolated the hospital, where about 312 patients -- many of them critically ill -- were being treated when Katrina hit.

Hospital officials said as many as 11 patients had died before the hurricane, their bodies placed in the morgue. Family members of patients and staff filled the hospital, taxing the dwindling resources.

No one knew when rescuers would arrive. Without power to operate medical devices, staff could only provide basic care. Evacuations were sporadic -- an occasional boat or helicopter picking up patients.

"It was battle conditions," said Fran Butler, a nurse manager. "It was as bad as being out in the field."

The staff was desperate, Butler said.

"My nurses wanted to know what was the plan? Did they say to put people out of their misery? Yes. ... They wanted to know how to get them out of their misery," she said.

Butler also told CNN that a doctor approached her at one point and discussed the subject of putting patients to sleep, and "made the comment to me on how she was totally against it and wouldn't do it."

Butler said she did not see anyone perform a mercy killing, and she said because of her personal beliefs, she would never have participated.

She also said hospital staff "put their heart and souls into patients, whether that patient lived or died."

But King said he is convinced the discussion of euthanasia was more than talk. He said another doctor came to him at 9 a.m. Thursday and recounted a conversation with a hospital administrator and a third doctor who suggested patients be put out of their misery.

King said that the second physician -- who opposed mercy killing -- told him that "this other [third] doctor said she'd be willing to do it."

I've been hearing about this around the edges for a month.

Pandemic Planning

Pandemic prescription

October 13, 2005

HURRICANE KATRINA has achieved what the SARS outbreak in 2003 failed to do -- it has gotten the Bush administration to focus on the havoc that a flu pandemic could wreak on a nation as unprepared for a public health emergency as it was for a severe hurricane. The avian flu that is making its way around the world might not mutate into a strain easily transmitted between human beings, becoming this century's version of the flu that killed at least 20 million worldwide in 1918-20. But the United States is even more vulnerable than other industrialized countries to any new killer flu strain for which most of the population will have no natural immunity.

At the urging of the World Health Organization, many nations -- but not the United States -- have already come up with flu pandemic plans and are acting on them. Some countries have stockpiled an antiviral medication, Tamiflu, that could reduce the severity of a flu if administered within 48 hours of the initial infection. The United States has a very limited supply of Tamiflu, which is made only by Roche Pharmaceuticals.

The best weapon to prevent infection is a vaccine, but production of a flu vaccine takes at least six months, and this only after a deadly viral strain has been identified. Moreover, the world's total production capacity for flu vaccine of any kind is no more than 600 million doses, many fewer than would be needed. More companies might be willing to make flu vaccines if the federal government committed to buying any oversupply in years of weak demand.

The US pandemic action plan is still in a draft stage. According to some who have seen the draft, it leaves unclear who would be in charge of the federal government response. A bill sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy would create a special pandemic disease czar within the White House. In its final form, the plan should make clear that any quarantining of individuals, such as travelers from an infected foreign country, is to be left in the hands of state and local officials, not US troops, as President Bush and Pentagon officials have suggested.

And, as Katrina has shown us, we are going to be substantially on our own if pandemic flu comes to pass. The Feds will be worse than useless. It is time to start asking your local jurisdiction what their plans are, at the level of town, county, township, city and state. Ask your local reps: where is your plan? What is the preparation for surge capacity at the hospital? How are we going to keep the water treatment facility open? What's the plan for pressing recovered survivors into use as either volunteers or employees? Have you thought these issues through? If not, why not? I have a boatload of questions for my city council.

All Things Harriet

The Washington Post is the Harriet Meirs channel today.

Role of Religion Emerges as Issue

By Peter Baker and Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 13, 2005; Page A08

President Bush said yesterday that it was appropriate for the White House to invoke Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers's religion in making the case for her to skeptical conservatives, triggering a debate over what role, if any, her evangelical faith should play in the confirmation battle.

Bush said religion is part of Miers's overall background much like her work as a corporate lawyer in Texas, and that "our outreach program has been just to explain the facts to people." At the same time, his attorney general went on television and described Miers as "pro-life." But the White House said her religious and personal views would not affect her ability to serve as a neutral justice.

"People ask me why I picked Harriet Miers," Bush said in response to a reporter's question at an Oval Office appearance with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski. "They want to know Harriet Miers's background. They want to know as much as they possibly can before they form opinions. And part of Harriet Miers's life is her religion."

The issue was stoked by James C. Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, who recounted on a radio show taped Tuesday and aired yesterday that Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove raised religion in a private conversation to assure him of Miers's conservative bona fides. According to Dobson, Rove told him two days before Bush announced the nomination "that Harriet Miers is an evangelical Christian [and] that she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life."

Citing Rove, Dobson also revealed that the president chose Miers after other candidates withdrew. White House press secretary Scott McClellan confirmed yesterday that "a couple" of potential nominees asked not to be considered because of "the ordeal of going through the confirmation process." McClellan declined to identify those who withdrew. Dobson said Rove told him the president had decided to nominate a woman, which narrowed the list even before the withdrawals.

Liberals jumped on Dobson's comments to accuse the White House of imposing a religious litmus test, or of invoking faith to signal to conservatives that Miers would rule as they wish on such questions as restricting abortion rights. Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way, noted that conservatives complained when anyone questioned the influence of faith during the recent confirmation of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

"It's hypocrisy doubled and quadrupled," Neas said. "What's wrong for John Roberts can't be right for Harriet Miers. . . . The president and his people are using repeated assurances about Miers's religion to send not-so-subtle messages about how she might rule on the court on issues important to the president's political supporters."

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat, signaled his party may have more questions about the Rove-Dobson communications. "The rest of America, including the Senate, deserves to know what he and the White House know," Leahy said of Dobson in a statement. "We don't confirm justices of the Supreme Court on a wink and a nod. And a litmus test is no less a litmus test by using whispers and signals."

For Miers, Proximity Meant Power
Longtime Bush Confidante Became Gatekeeper of Access to the President

By Amy Goldstein and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 13, 2005; Page A01

In the days last November after he was elected to a second term, President Bush had chosen Alberto R. Gonzales as his next attorney general, and word was spreading that the president might replace him as White House counsel with longtime confidante Harriet Miers. A small number of advisers inside and outside the White House grumbled that she was ill-suited to become top lawyer to the president.

As a deputy chief of staff, these detractors quietly warned, Miers could be slow to make decisions, with a penchant for detail over strategic thinking. "People came to me with concerns," recalls Leonard A. Leo, executive vice president of the conservative Federalist Society, who said he heard complaints "that her management style was one that could miss the forest for the trees." Leo, who favored a friend for the job, confirmed that he forwarded the concerns about Miers when consulted by the White House.

Bush appointed Miers as his counsel nonetheless, and 11 months later nominated her to fill a pivotal vacancy on the Supreme Court created by the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Having now seen Miers at work, Leo said, "whatever concerns I may have harbored . . . have since evaporated" and he supports her nomination.

Still, the internal worries about how she would perform as counsel reflect a widespread view that, during five years in three jobs at the president's side, Miers has wielded formidable power with fairness and attention to detail -- but rarely was a strong voice in policy decisions the administration has faced.

"The thing about Harriet is, it wasn't about Harriet," said Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, a friend. "To her, it was a matter of moving the grist through the mill. . . . She was a manager of the process."

Unlike some high-level presidential aides, Miers has never sought to advance her own views. Amid the clash of ideas and egos in the West Wing, colleagues say, she has been an island of reserve and decorum. "She blushes when the rest of us got a little raunchy," said Spellings, who worked with her closely as Bush's domestic policy adviser.

At staff meetings, Miers spoke up only when she considered it essential. "There were plenty of us banging around with very strong views on issues, and she understood she was wearing the striped shirt," said Indiana Gov. Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. (R), who was Bush's first budget director. "A word from Harriet would calm everybody down. She did have that schoolmarm voice."

Her demure exterior, however, cloaks a tough will and an uncommonly close relationship with Bush. In the Oval Office and on the road, Miers has spent more time with him than perhaps any aide except Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. On Sept. 11, 2001, she was flying on Air Force One as it sped the president to the Midwest and back after the terrorist attacks.

The next is Tina Brown, so have another cup of coffee before perusing:

You've Come a Long Way, Ladies

By Tina Brown

Thursday, October 13, 2005; Page C01

The healthiest aspect of the Harriet Miers nomination is that women haven't rallied to her cause. Ten years ago, there would have been a lot of reflexive solidarity about keeping the Sandra Day O'Connor spot on the Supreme Court from reverting to male type. But every female lawyer I've spoken with in the past week skips right past the sisterly support into a rant about Miers's meager qualifications or her abject obeisance to power. The good news is that for women, it seems, Miers's nomination is like the moment for blacks in Hollywood when it was suddenly okay to cast an African American actor as something other than a perfect hero. The Sidney Poitier phase is definitively over.

Nevertheless, there's a feminist- or pre-feminist lesson here. Miers's whole story can be read as a cautionary tale for women on the move. It's about the sacrifices she made, the muzzled nature of her striving. The bleakest detail of Miers's résumé is that her decision to accept Jesus Christ as her savior took place at the office.

You can imagine the scene with painful vividness as the lamp burned late at her tidy desk on the 35th floor of the Republic National Bank tower in downtown Dallas, where she worked at the law firm of Locke Purnell Boren Laney & Neely. Another night without a date. Another night that would end with her key turning in the lock of a dark apartment, a bag of groceries in one hand, a briefcase bulging with documents in the other. Like Condi Rice, who sacrificed so much of her personal life to become a policy nun and ultimately the high priestess of the Temple of the Two Bushes, Miers had paid a price for her single-minded pursuit of career advancement. She had shattered every glass ceiling of the Texas bar, only to be waiting alone after hours for her old pal Judge Nathan L. Hecht to pad down the corridor from his office with a consoling Bible and the promise of being born again.

Reading the subtext of this story in the New York Times made me feel a twinge of empathy for Harriet Miers. At 60 she is a generation older than the other Bush women and her climb has come at the cost of a swallowed self. After all those years of pleasing and trimming and reassuring, how bewildered she must be to find herself cast as the wicked witch by the rabid Torquemadas of the Republican right.

And Fred Barbash continues to astonish as he cranks out the The Campaign for the Supreme Court blog for the WaPo on a schedule that would make Howard Bashman weary.

Open Thread, Disaster Edition

Hurricanes in the Gulf, wildfires in the west, floods in the northeast. Earthquakes in south Asia. It is hard to find good news these days. How are you holding up? What are you doing to keep from despair? This is an open thread.

Me, I'm continuing to fight the computer problems in the hope that I can do some good. It is my hope that here and at The Flu Wiki we can save some lives. That might be a delusion of grandeur on my part, but I continue to hold it.

Return to the War on Poverty

I think that one of the reasons why we have not heard a coherent and reasonable "War on Poverty" from the administration is because it would mean dealing with gender issues that they would rather not talk about. The Right seems to get really queasy when it comes to dealing with gender based discrimination, even though they are more than willing to play that card if it suits them (the Dole Senatorial race here in North Carolina was a prime example of that). Likewise, I think that is one of the main reasons, sublimimally, why they continue to refuse to address issues like affordable health care, day care, and increased minimum wages because the majority of people it would help are women. Now, maybe I'm way out on a limb here, but I don't think I am.

All of that being said, it's interesting to see what the UN is saying about improving conditions across the globe.

Only greater rights for women can end poverty, warns UN

There are some staggering statistics in this article. For example

* 500,000 women die in childbirth

* 600 million women are illiterate

* One in three women around the world is likely to suffer physical, sexual or
other abuse in her lifetime, usually at the hands of a family member or
someone she knows. Half of the sexual assaults in the world are on girls of
15 or younger.

One would hope that with some international leadership and targeted investment in social infrastructure that the world could start to deal with some of the myraid of problems across the globe. If we are really serious about improving economic conditions in many developing nations, then wouldn't this make a reasonable investment?

Start With The Basics

If you live in the DC metro area and haven't yet been to Argia's, you don't really love Italian food. This is piazza-style food rather than fine dining, but I've never had a bad meal there. If you appreciate rustica style Italian food, with pastas made in house, and a consistent kitchen, this is a first date restaurant, and one for family dining without busting the bank. Their eggplant parmagian is better than mine. Frankly, that's saying something. The gnocchi are like silk. The mussels are listed as an appetizer but the serving is so huge that I eat them as an entree. The white wine/butter/garlic sauce whispers rather than shouts, these may be some of the best mussels in the DC area.

The luncheon sandwiches are utterly spectacular for an inexpensive restaurant. Little touches, like finely crafted breads and sauces, add value. I hear that they buy their breads down the street at The Bread House, about which I've heard good things in the WaPo's weekly restaurant chats with critic Tom Seitsma. I haven't visited yet because I'm dieting, but I seemed to have reached my goal weight, judging from the waistband of this pair of jeans, so I'm off tomorrow to spend my nose in a high-yeast environment and come home with a bag of something I'll be glad to top with some unsalted butter, fresh mozzarella and pancetta from the market down the street.

I make a lot of my own pasta and freeze it, but Argia's serves up the stuff that it is hard for a single to do, like gnocchi. Did I mention the mussels? Oh, I did. If you live within 45 minutes of this restaurant, your dinner will make you glad of the commute. It is worth a trip up from Springfield, one of the better kitchens in a DC area that is finally seeing some excellent dining at the mid-levels.

I had a Syrian meal last summer on Capital Hill that was just top-notch, and now I don't have to leave my neighborhood for excellent food. While affording my condo is hard, living in a neighborhood with a lot of cheap ethnic restaurants is part of the trade-off. The food is good, keeping a roof over my head ain't so easy.

Preparing for avian flu means that I have given up restaurant meals entirely to spend my few bucks on stockpiling. This post is a thankful reminscense of the ghosts of meals past, which will have to keep my imagination occupied while I try to figure out how to trick out rice and beans for the third dinner in a week over an open stove.

Boredom will be one of the features of avian flu. Start figuring out how to deal with it now. Restaurants will close and you'll be left on your own devices as a cook. Ramen will get old so fast that it will make your head spin. Learn to cook now.

Oopsie

My spies over at Judging the Future sent me this:

Oct. 12, 2005, 8:51AM:
In '97, Miers faced claim she violated constitutional right

U.S. senators vetting the high court nominee may well review firings in Texas
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

AUSTIN - A lawsuit filed by a former Texas Lottery executive director in 1997 accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers of violating the director's First Amendment free-speech rights and the Texas Open Meetings Act while conducting a partisan political purge of the state agency.

The case, brought by former lottery Executive Director Nora Linares, never went to trial and was settled with a statement from the commission absolving Linares of any wrongdoing during her five-year tenure at the lottery.

But since President Bush nominated Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court, her actions as chair of the Texas Lottery Commission have taken on added significance.

With little information about Miers available in the public record, U.S. senators considering her confirmation are expected to scrutinize her tenure as lottery-commission chairman. The focus is likely to be on controversial firings of Linares and her replacement, Lawrence Littwin, and the lawsuits both filed.

Linares' lawsuit may carry greater weight because it alleges violations of law against Miers.

"I don't know how she (Miers) would rule on the constitutional rights of a third party, but when it involved her personally, she wasn't very concerned about the constitutional rights of Nora Linares," said Linares' lawyer, Randall "Buck" Wood of Austin.

Former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice John Hill served on the lottery commission with Miers and was a co-defendant in the Linares' lawsuit. Hill said there was no substance to Linares' lawsuit and no misconduct by Miers.

"It (Linares' firing) had nothing to do with politics or anything alleged in that lawsuit," Hill said Tuesday. "When the Senate, if they did go into all this, they're going to see it was all an open book and that Harriet Miers performed in a very exemplary fashion."

'Personnel matter'

Hill, a Democrat, noted he, not Miers, made the motion to fire Linares in 1997.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Miers would not discuss the Linares firing.

"Harriet Miers has never commented and will not now on what was a personnel matter during the time she was at the Texas Lottery Commission," Perino said. "She served for five years at the commission with distinction."

When then-Gov. George W. Bush named Miers, his personal attorney, as chairman of the lottery commission in 1995, the state lottery was the most successful in the nation. During her tenure, Texas dropped from first in the nation in lottery-ticket sales to fourth.

The controversy during Miers' tenure surrounded the state's lottery contractor, GTech Corp., which had paid Texas Democratic political operative Mike Moeller $30,000 in 1992-93 to serve as a consultant in New Mexico.

Linares was lottery director and Moeller was her boyfriend when he got the GTech contract, but she maintained she did not learn about his GTech contract until November 1996. Linares later married Moeller.

After the contract and relationship became public, Miers began an inquiry of Linares and threatened to rebid the GTech contract to run the lottery for Texas. Linares was fired by the commission in January 1997.

Immediately after her firing, Linares filed a lawsuit against Miers, Hill and another commissioner claiming Miers had violated her right to free speech by ordering Linares not to defend herself with the news media. Linares also claimed Miers violated state open-meetings law by discussing her firing with Hill before he was sworn in as a member of the commission.

Hill said no such discussions ever took place. Hill said the Linares firing arose from the "totality of the circumstances."

Linares declined to be interviewed by the Houston Chronicle for this report.

'Reckless charge'

Her suit also alleged she was fired because she was a prominent Democrat prior to becoming the lottery director in 1992.

The lawsuit claimed Miers made statements designed to leave the impression that Linares was destroying records to cover up wrongdoing.

"She (Miers) clearly made this reckless charge in order to buttress her and her partisan allies' effort to fire the highest-ranking female Hispanic officer in the state government," the lawsuit said.

The suit was settled with an agreement that neither Linares nor the lottery commissioners had committed wrongdoing.

This one is the killer. Mark my words, Harriet Meirs is gone. Can't you see the amount of fun Chuck Schumer is going to have with this? I can see the subpeonas now.

Cracking Up

For President Under Duress, Body Language Speaks Volumes

By Dana Milbank

Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Page A07

It's only 6:17 a.m. Central time, and President Bush is already facing his second question of the day about Karl Rove's legal troubles.

"Does it worry you," NBC's Matt Lauer is asking him at a construction-site interview in Louisiana, that prosecutors "seem to have such an interest in Mr. Rove?"

Bush blinks twice. He touches his tongue to his lips. He blinks twice more. He starts to answer, but he stops himself.

"I'm not going to talk about the case," Bush finally says after a three-second pause that, in television time, feels like a commercial break.

Only the president's closest friends and family know (if anybody does) what he's really thinking these days, during Katrina woes, Iraq violence, conservative anger over Harriet Miers, and legal trouble for Bush's top political aide and two congressional GOP leaders. Bush has not been viewed up close; as he took his eighth post-Katrina trip to the Gulf Coast yesterday, the press corps has accompanied him only once, because the White House says logistics won't permit it. Even the interview on the "Today" show was labeled "closed press."

But this much could be seen watching the tape of NBC's broadcast during Bush's 14-minute pre-sunrise interview, in which he stood unprotected by the usual lectern. The president was a blur of blinks, taps, jiggles, pivots and shifts. Bush has always been an active man, but standing with Lauer and the serene, steady first lady, he had the body language of a man wishing urgently to be elsewhere.

The fidgeting clearly corresponded to the questioning. When Lauer asked if Bush, after a slow response to Katrina, was "trying to get a second chance to make a good first impression," Bush blinked 24 times in his answer. When asked why Gulf Coast residents would have to pay back funds but Iraqis would not, Bush blinked 23 times and hitched his trousers up by the belt.

When the questioning turned to Miers, Bush blinked 37 times in a single answer -- along with a lick of the lips, three weight shifts and some serious foot jiggling. Laura Bush, by contrast, delivered only three blinks and stood still through her entire answer about encouraging volunteerism.

Perhaps the set itself made Bush uncomfortable. He and his wife stood in casual attire, wearing tool belts, in front of a wall frame and some Habitat for Humanity volunteers in hard hats. ABC News noted cheekily of its rival network's exclusive: "He did allow himself to be shown hammering purposefully, with a jejune combination of cowboy swagger and yuppie self-consciousness."

Perhaps, too, the president's body language said nothing about his true state of mind. But the White House gave little other information that might shed light on this. A White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, entered the press cabin on Air Force One to brief reporters at 1:58 p.m. He left two minutes later, after answering the only question by saying, "We don't have anything to announce."

Via WaPo's Dan Froomkin, here's a link to the video. It's NBC, so it needs Micro$oft software, which I refuse to install.

Grr.....

I'm having beaucoups computer problems this afternoon, so posting may be light while I try to get them straightened out. I've got to get this RAM upgraded.

UPDATE: I may end up with some geek cred, after all. I've still got some "issues" with the ISP, but I can pick up my mail with their webmail client. It is slow and insanely poorly designed, but it works.

The RAM upgrade will happen tomorrow, which should considerably improve the function of this computer.

Revolt in the Ranks

G.O.P. Aides Add Voices to Resistance to Miers

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: October 12, 2005

As the White House seeks to rally senators behind the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers, lawyers for the Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee are expressing dissatisfaction with the choice and pushing back against her, aides to 6 of the 10 Republican committee members said yesterday.

"Everybody is hoping that something will happen on Miers, either that the president would withdraw her or she would realize she is not up to it and pull out while she has some dignity intact," a lawyer to a Republican committee member said.

All the Republican staff members insisted on anonymity for fear of retaliation from their supervisors and from the Senate leaders.

At two stormy meetings on Friday - the first a planning meeting of the chief counsels to Republican committee members and the second a Republican staff meeting with Ed Gillespie, the former Republican Party chairman who is helping to lobby for the nomination - committee lawyers were unanimous in their dismay over Ms. Miers's qualifications and conservative credentials, several attendees said.

Many lawyers were critical or hostile, these people said, although Michael E. O'Neill, chief counsel to the committee chairman, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, tried to remain relatively neutral. Mr. O'Neill could not be reached for comment.

"You could say there is pretty much uniform disappointment with the nomination at the staff level," another Republican on the committee staff said. "It is clear there is quite a bit of skepticism, and even some flashes of hostility."

Another Republican aide close to the committee said, "I don't know a staffer who approves of this nomination, anywhere. Most of it is outright hostility throughout the Judiciary Committee staff."

In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Specter emphasized that the senators would make their own decisions.

"I think those staffers, like anybody else, have a right to their opinions and to express them," he said. "Senators will make independent judgments. You have some pretty strong staffers on the committee, but you have got some stronger senators."

Of the 10 Republicans on the panel, Senators Sam Brownback of Kansas and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma have expressed the most skepticism about Ms. Miers. Most decline to commit themselves.

Don Stewart, a spokesman for supporter on the committee, Senator John. Cornyn of Texas, said: "I think that the staff are all very well versed in the process and in this particular nominee, but so are the senators. I think you will see, and already have seen, quite a lot of support out of the senators."

The resistance among the panel lawyers reflects the challenge facing Mr. Bush in unifying his party and the conservative movement behind Ms. Miers.

Pass the popcorn.

A BIGGER CATHOLIC PROBLEM

The ongoing horror show regarding the lack of policing of abusive priests is the most familiar way in which American Catholic bishops have hurt their Church and destroyed lives through an attitude of timidity. The paralysis, confusion and neglect of the American Catholic episcopacy--talked about today by Melanie with respect to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles--has been primarily talked about with respect to the priesthood. That's what most Americans would view as the biggest failing of Catholic bishops in this country.

But more exclusively within Catholic circles, there's another outrage which competes with the lack of institututional governance as a black mark on the records of American Catholic bishops, the leaders of flocks and the spiritual servants of extended urban and regional communities across this country. That outrage is the silence not on matters of sexual absue among the clergy, but on the centrality and "non-optional" nature of doing justice for the least among us.

It's been a rather entrenched part of the written-down codes and principles of Catholic teaching, at least since Pope Leo XIII's encyclical, Rerum Novarum, was issued in 1891: doing justice and helping the poor are constitutive, non-optional elements of faith and practice for the Catholic Christian person. They demand and deserve a core place in the lives of Catholics, who--if their prayers and devotions are to be relevant, if their taking of Eucharist is to really mean something--must not only walk humbly with their God in personal, interior love, but also do justly and love mercy to the faces of Christ that surround them in the guise of the needy.

Yet, the sad reality persists: Catholic Social Teaching is still this nearly 2,000-year-old institution's "best-kept secret."

If you're Catholic, I double-dog dare ya to ask your fellow parishioners at this upcoming Sunday's post-Mass coffee hour if they know the principles and themes that embody Catholic Social Teaching (things like preferential option for the poor, the dignity of the human person, subsidiarity, the common good, peace and disarmament, economic justice). The likely paucity of informed answers will make you aware of the fact that Catholics in the pews--good, decent, generous, believing people--are simply not being informed, taught, encouraged or empowered by their bishops. When parish pastors and associate priests are straining under the priest shortage, thereby needing to visit the sick, tend to parish councils, and keep their communities together 24/7, it's the bishops in diocesan communities who are responsible for educating their flocks on the big picture, the larger responsibilities that transcend one's interior spiritual life or the sustenance of one's own household.

While the media is out to lunch in terms of covering the full scope of events and developments in worldwide Catholicism--exactly how many people read in their major dailies or (worse) saw on CNN that Hans Kung and Benedict XVI met a few weeks ago?--it's up to bishops, in America and everywhere else, to educate and update their people. Bishops have to be the ones to take a lot of Catholicism's (either) written or unwritten-yet-well-defined moral traditions and unpack them for the people in the pews, who don't exactly gravitate toward a reading of seminal, century-old encyclicals in their spare family time.

Bishops need to be information-deliverers in this postmodern age, just as much as they need to be effective administrators and good exegetical homilists from the pulpit or ambo.

They're not giving Catholics the information they need, and the motivation they crave, in order for the faith to be lived out with a greater eye toward justice, and a bigger urgency toward the problems cascading over American society these days.

Bishops, get off your cathedra and get into the information age. Tell your people that action in the service of justice is non-optional. Be the servant leaders you're supposed to be, instead of the disengaged power brokers and backroom operators you've become. We, the lay faithful, should be seeing your faces and hearing from you much more prominently than we do these days, and the silence that always seems to follow you--in just about every major Catholic diocese in this country--is a reflection of both your poor mass-communications skills and a lack of social and moral urgency that stands against the very principles of the social teachings of your Church.

American Catholic bishops, get off your dime. Please.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL HAS A PURPOSE

This is a lighter story with an outlet for giving at the end...

I've worked as a college football columnist for the past six years, trying--but failing--to make the kind of money that can enable me to significantly extend help and outreach to ever-widening circles of need and the people enmeshed in them.

But something amazing happened after Katrina. Whenever I'd write a story on the Louisiana State University football team, residents of Louisiana would tell me in e-mails that by writing on Southern-fried football--this bread-and-circus entity--I provided the greatest source of uplift they possibly could have used as they tried to sift through the wreckage and, worse, the grief. College football simply matters in the South in ways that no one outside the region can ever fully appreciate. It is hungered for with a force that is stunning in the depth of its intensity.

But the story gets better...

These outpourings from LSU football fans were also outpourings of emotionally and materially drained human beings. I heard from these Tiger fans because of our shared connection with college football, but these e-mail exchanges quickly morphed into interactions between human beings sharing precious moments of concern, prayer, empathy, mutual support, and thanksgiving. After two e-mail replies from a few LSU fans, the thought dawned on me: why not ask if these readers of college football columns needed help?

Yesterday, the fruit of this inquiry was provided.

The General Counsel for the Louisiana State Department of Revenue has supplied me with six particularly needy families reeling in the aftermath of Rita.

I have the contact info--addresses and phone numbers--for these families, and I have the phone number of the Louisiana official in the Dept. of Revenue if any of you would like to talk to him first to get some in-depth info and (perhaps) maintain a consistent contact that could prove to be a valuable on-going resource for this extended community known as the Bump.

Amazing how something as trivial as college football (well, trivial to those outside the American South or certain towns named Ann Arbor, Columbus, State College, Austin, Norman, and a few others) can sometimes be an avenue to so much good.

I'd still love to actually make money, but this is a payment for college football writing much bigger than anything I ever imagined.

Slip-Sliding Away

How the Republicans Let It Slip Away

By David Ignatius

Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Page A17

Watching the Republicans floundering over the past week, I can't help thinking of a school of beached whales. The leviathans of the GOP have boldly swum themselves onto this patch of dry sand, and it won't be easy for them to get back to open ocean.

The Republicans come to their present troubles from different directions: President Bush thought he was making a safe, pragmatic choice in nominating Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, but this soulless maneuver enraged the party's right wing and set it on a fratricidal binge. Tom DeLay thought he was ramrodding a permanent Republican government, but he managed to get himself indicted and, well before that calamity, had angered House Republicans who concluded that "The Hammer's" leadership style was marching them off a cliff. Looming over all these little problems is the crucible of Iraq.

What's interesting is that most of these wounds are self-inflicted. They draw a picture of a party that, for all its seeming dominance, isn't prepared to be the nation's governing party. The hard right, which is the soul of the modern GOP, would rather be ideologically pure than successful. Governing requires making compromises and getting your hands dirty, but the conservative purists disdain those qualities. They swim for that beach with a fiercely misguided determination, and they demand that the other whales accompany them.

The bickering over the Miers nomination epitomizes the right's refusal to assume the role of a majoritarian governing party. The awkward fact for conservatives is that the American public doesn't agree with them on abortion rights. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll in late August found 54 percent describing themselves as pro-choice and only 38 percent as pro-life, roughly the same percentages as a decade ago.

That's the political reality that Bush has been trying to finesse with his nominations of John Roberts and Miers. That's why he said in the 2000 primary campaign that he wouldn't impose any litmus test (when other Republicans were demanding one) and would instead focus on a nominee's character and judicial philosophy. The realist in Bush understands that he can't easily force a nominee who is openly antiabortion on a country where a solid majority disagrees.

Bush has been successful when he has connected with the American center. Political scientist Gary C. Jacobson notes that after Sept. 11, 2001, Bush "enjoyed the longest stretch of approval ratings above 60 percent of any president in 40 years." In that post-Sept. 11 period, when Bush was fulfilling his campaign promise to be "a uniter, not a divider," his approval rating among Democrats soared to an astounding 81 percent.

Bush and the Republicans had a chance after 2004 to become the country's natural governing party. They controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. The Democrats were in utter disarray, leaderless and idea-less. When Bush took the podium in January to deliver his soaring second inaugural address, the future seemed to belong to the Republicans.

Bush squandered this opportunity by falling into the trap that has snared the modern GOP -- of playing to the base rather than to the nation. The Republicans behave as if the country agrees with them on issues, when that demonstrably isn't so. The country doesn't agree about Social Security, doesn't agree about the ethical issues that were dramatized by the torment of Terri Schiavo, doesn't agree about abortion. Yet, in a spirit of blind partisanship, House Speaker Dennis Hastert announced last year that bills would reach the floor only if "the majority of the majority" supported them. That notion of governing from the hard right was a recipe for failure.

What you sense now, as conservative and moderate Republicans alike take potshots at their president, is that the GOP is entering the post-Bush era. A war of succession has begun, cloaked in a war of principles. The cruelest aspect of Bush's predicament is that the conservatives are treating him with the same disdain they showed his father. What a denouement to the West Wing Oedipal drama: A son who did everything he could to avoid his father's humiliation by the conservative wing of the party is now under attack by the right himself.

I agree with Ignatius up to a point: I think what the right has succumbed to is hubris. In the tradition of Greek drama, hubris always brings nemesis, and that is the scale in which the GOP is collapsing now, with all of their leaders under investigation or indictment.

New Poll: Growing Popular Demand for Truth about Iraq War

By Joel Wendland

As President Bush's approval rating sinks to around 37 percent, another poll number related to his job performance is up. This number is not good news for the White House, however.

A recent survey commissioned by the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition revealed this week that at least half of Americans agree that Bush should be impeached if he is found to have not told the truth about the reasons to go to war with Iraq.

Conducted by a survey and public opinion outfit that provides similar surveys for the Associated Press, this poll shows an eight-point increase since a June poll done by Zogby that asked a similar question about impeachment.

The new poll found that 50 percent agreed with the following statement:

"If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable by impeaching him."

Only 44 percent disagreed, representing a six-point drop since the Zogby survey.

"The results of this poll are truly astonishing," said AfterDowningStreet.org co-founder Bob Fertik. "Bush's record-low approval ratings tell just half of the story, which is how much Americans oppose Bush's policies on Iraq and other issues. But this poll tells the other half of the story – that a solid plurality of Americans want Congress to consider removing Bush from the White House."

Those who responded to the survey and identified themselves as Democrats favored impeachment if Bush is discovered to have lied by nearly a 4-to-1 margin over those who identified as Republican. Independents favored impeachment over Republicans by close to 3-to-1.

Support for impeachment was strongest in the West, the Northeast, and the South.

The results of this survey come on the heels of a June 23-26 ABC/Washington Post poll that found 52 percent of Americans believe the Bush administration "deliberately misled the public before the war," and 57 percent say the Bush administration "intentionally exaggerated its evidence that pre-war Iraq possessed nuclear, chemical or biological weapons."

Meanwhile, support for the continued occupation of Iraq has crept downward with some polls suggesting that as many as 60 percent of Americans want a withdrawal plan as soon as possible or immediately. Nearly as many have indicated that they regard the Iraq war as "not worth it."

Outside of a Small Circle of Friends

I rarely see Real Time with Bill Maher," but this segment caught my ear.

MAHER: And finally, New Rule: George Bush must meet some new people. You know, when Americans see their president giving every job to the same old cronies, they use words like "loyal to a fault" and "stubborn" and "close-minded," "lives in a bubble," "sock-puppet," "asshole." "Worst president ever." But they're missing the point. The problem isn't his political philosophy - "kill people and animals and take their gas" - the problem is he has to expand his circle of friends beyond his mom, Karen Hughes and the House of Saud. Which is why before George Bush makes another political appointment, he has to join Friendster.

This week, President Bush had to nominate a Supreme Court judge, and he picked the most qualified person within 30 feet of his office. Her qualifications: well, she is a lawyer and former commissioner of the Texas State Lottery. And she's seen every episode of "Judging Amy." Abortion, affirmative action, separation of church and state. Yeah, let's ask the lady who peddled scratch tickets to liquor stores.

Does he just go with the first person he sees? I wouldn't be surprised if Laura was his sister. Now, of course - I keep checking with him - of course, George Bush isn't the first politician to hand out graft gigs to his pals, but he doesn't seem to understand that that's what the bullshit jobs are for: ambassador to the Bahamas. The Recycling Czar. Head of the CIA. But George Bush puts stooges where they can do real damage: Director of FEMA? That guy from the horsie show is available. U.N. Ambassador? Dick Cheney knows a guy with a mustache and anger issues.

Supreme Court justice? Lady down the hall. Labor Secretary? The guy who helped me move that hooker's body at Yale could probably do it. You know - you know, Mr. President, when you got elected, we all figured you were no genius, but smart enough to hire qualified people. But it turns out you're just a dimwit who enjoys feeling superior. And the only way to accomplish that is to surround yourself with the likes of Mike Brown and Harriet Miers: Goober and Aunt Bea. Unspectacular souls who make you feel comfortable and unthreatened. Kind of like when Madonna used to hang out with Rosie O'Donnell.

Well, I hate to burst your bubble. But real friends are the ones who tell you the truth. They're also the ones who work hard so as not to embarrass you. These people who work for you aren't behaving like friends. They're behaving far worse. They're behaving...like family.

Yes, it's almost enough to make you miss the old pre-"honor and integrity" days. Because at least when Clinton talked about tapping the woman down the hall, he was just having sex with her.

Selling the Future

Supreme Court to consider cutting wetlands protection
U.S. oversight of areas far from lakes, rivers challenged

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide whether to curb federal regulators' power to protect wetlands whose waters flow into distant rivers or lakes, an issue that has served as a flash point in battles over the environment and the rights of property owners.

Most lower courts have ruled that the federal Clean Water Act, which allows the government to prevent pollution of navigable waters, applies to the filling of small wetlands connected to larger waterways.

But the high court granted review Tuesday of appeals by property owners and businesses in three cases that could end federal control of thousands of small marshes and ponds. The ruling, due by next summer, will address a question the court left unanswered in 2001 when it rejected federal authority over wetlands that were used by migratory birds but were isolated from navigable rivers and lakes.

"Federal officials have been exploiting the Clean Water Act to bully and take land and money from property owners for far too long,'' said Reed Hopper of the Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento, lawyer for a Michigan landowner in the principal case before the court. "We're asking the Supreme Court to rein in federal bureaucrats once and for all.''

Attorney James Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation countered that new restraints on federal agencies could be ruinous to wetlands that serve vital functions as clean-water filters, habitat for fish and wildlife and buffers for shorelines. He said the court's decision to review the cases was troubling.

"If they rule the wrong way ... then dumping pollution, filling those wetlands and degrading the habitat could be done without Clean Water Act oversight,'' Murphy said. Although states would retain the power to regulate wetlands, he said, some state governments have tried to attract businesses by weakening their rules, and others lack funding for effective enforcement.

The Bush administration supported federal regulation in all three cases and urged the court to deny review of lower-court rulings that upheld federal authority.

The cases are scheduled to be argued in early 2006. They pose the first environmental test for new Chief Justice John Roberts, and also for White House counsel Harriet Miers, if she is confirmed as the successor to retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Several environmental groups opposed Roberts' confirmation because of an opinion he wrote on a federal appeals court in 2003 questioning whether Congress had the constitutional authority to protect an endangered California toad that never crossed state boundaries and had no known impact on interstate commerce. At his confirmation hearing last month, Roberts said he had only questioned one rationale for the Endangered Species Act and had not cast doubt on the constitutionality of any environmental law.

What do we know about Harriet Meirs and environmental law? Nothing? Oh.

What "Working Class?"

">The Vanishing Middle

By Harold Meyerson

Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Page A17

We're leveling down.

With the bankruptcy filing Saturday of Delphi Corp., the largest American auto parts manufacturer, the downward ratcheting of living standards that has afflicted the steel and airline industries hit the auto industry big-time. As Delphi executives tell the tale, they need to reduce the hourly pay of their 34,000 unionized employees from the current $26 to $30 range to a somewhat more modest $10 to $12.

No one denies that Delphi is losing money -- about $5.5 billion over the past year and a half. Its labor costs are roughly 10 times those in Mexico and China, where an increasing number of parts that go into cars assembled in the United States are made.

The crisis for autoworkers, their families and communities isn't likely to be limited to parts suppliers. Delphi, which General Motors spun off in 1999, still sells about half its products to GM. Under the terms of the spinoff, GM is liable for the wages and pension payments of a number of Delphi workers, a fact that has not worked wonders for the value of GM shares since Saturday's bankruptcy filing. The specter of sharply reduced wages and benefits looms over the entire industry.

And in the United States, auto isn't just any old industry. For much of the 20th century, it was, by many measures, our premier industry, the pride of the nation. Its Big Three manufacturers employed the most workers, produced the most output, made the largest profits, and paid their workers enough to transform the economic profile of the entire nation. In 1914, one year after he opened his first assembly line, Henry Ford doubled the daily pay of his workers, saying he wanted them to make enough to buy the cars they produced. The Fordist compact was greatly enhanced by the rise in the 1930s of the United Auto Workers, whose contracts (along with those of the United Steelworkers) created the first employment-based health insurance benefits in the land and soon became the model for our mid-century economy. In the post World War II decades, America became home to the first decently paid working class in the history of the world. This was no mean distinction.

But that was oh, so then. If Delphi gets its way, its employees will clearly not be able to buy new GM cars. (At the rate things are going, they'll have to save up to buy gas.) In the face of the combined onslaught of globalization, de-unionization and deregulation, the bottom may not be falling out of the American economy, but the middle certainly is. The very notion of a decently paid working-class job has become a defining oxymoron of our time.

Those middle-income jobs that still come with benefits attached are increasingly clustered in the public sector, where they are becoming more vulnerable politically. In the 1960s, '70s and '80s, teachers, nurses and cops struggled to win contracts comparable to the auto and steelworkers' deals. Today, they are among the last workers in America -- along with chief executive officers, we should note -- to still have defined-benefit pensions. How long they can go on before their standards, too, are ratcheted down is anybody's guess. In California, whacking public employees has become the primary purpose of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; it is the goal that underpins his initiatives in the special election he has called for next month.

So we level downward, and the normal workings of the economy seem powerless to stop it. We are in the third year of a recovery, but poverty rates and the number of medically uninsured continue to rise, while median household income continues to fall. Many millions of Americans are doing very well, of course, but, the inflation of home values aside, their ranks don't include their countrymen whose jobs can be offshored or digitized.

But how many millions of American workers have jobs that can't be offshored or digitized? Two weeks ago, when the seven unions that have left the AFL-CIO held the founding convention of their new federation in St. Louis, that question was uppermost in the mind of Tom Woodruff, the accomplished organizer who will head the new group's organizing campaigns. By Woodruff's count, there are roughly 50 million private-sector American workers -- nurses, truckers, supermarket and other retail clerks, hotel and restaurant employees, construction workers, janitors, security guards -- whose jobs can't be shipped to Beijing or Bangalore. Only 6 million of those 50 million are union members, and it is the goal of the new federation (whose member unions have little in common save that they represent workers in these non-relocatable sectors) to organize the remaining 44 million.

That's no small task in a nation where the legal protections for union organizing have eroded to the point of nonexistence. But in a nation whose economically secure working class has gone the way of the dodo, few tasks are more important.

I live in that vast suburban nothingness called Northern Virginia, outside Washington, DC. The median income for a family of four is north of $90K. I've never made more than $35,000, and the cost of living here is jiggered for the higher figure. I'm 51, unemployed and can't get interviews because of my age.

Does the economy suck for the ordinary working stiff? Ya think?

Hiding From the Truth

Los Angeles Files Recount Decades of Priests' Abuse

By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: October 12, 2005

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 11 - The confidential personnel files of 126 clergymen in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles accused of sexual misconduct with children provide a numbing chronicle of 75 years of the church's shame, revealing case after case in which the church was warned of abuse but failed to protect its parishioners.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony has remained the leader of the Los Angeles Archdiocese despite numerous sexual abuse cases there.

In some cases, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and his predecessors quietly shuffled the priests off to counseling and then to new assignments. In others, parents were offered counseling for their children and were urged to remain silent.

Throughout the files, cases of child molesting or rape are dealt with by indirection or euphemism, with references to questions of "moral fitness" or accusations of "boundary violations." For years, anonymous complaints of abuse were ignored and priests were given the benefit of every doubt.

The personnel files - some of which date from the 1930's - were produced as part of settlement talks with lawyers for 560 accusers in a civil suit here. The church provided them to The New York Times in advance of their public release in the next few days. The archdiocese is releasing them in part to make good on a promise to parishioners to come clean about the church's actions in the scandal, church officials said. It also hopes that the release will spur settlement talks, which appear to have stalled in recent months.

Raymond P. Boucher, the lead lawyer for those suing the church, said the versions of the files released by the church were cleansed of much of the damaging details of the accusations and the church's response. Their release was chiefly a public relations move by the church as both sides prepared for the first cases to go to trial, Mr. Boucher said.

"Unfortunately, these files do not contain the full story of the participation by the church in the manipulation and movement of these priests," he said. "The full files would show how deep and pervasive this problem was and how much the church put its own interests ahead of those of the children and others who were molested by the priests. That is a broader and deeper story."

The files reveal that only recently did the church come to grips with the abusive and criminal behavior in its ranks and act aggressively to contain it.

The Los Angeles cases are in many ways typical of the sexual abuse claims that have stained the church around the country in recent years. The behavior of priests in Southern California was no worse than that seen elsewhere, and the response of senior church officials was generally no better. But the sheer scope of the claims and the potential for a huge payout to victims sets Los Angeles apart from archdioceses in other major American cities.

Perhaps the most egregious case here concerns the Rev. Michael Baker, who voluntarily revealed in 1986 to then-Archbishop Mahony a sexual relationship with two young boys from 1978 to 1985. Archbishop Mahony did not report the abuse to the police, but rather sent Father Baker for counseling and prohibited him from having any close contact with minors, the documents show. But he was soon assigned to parishes where he found it easy to prey on young boys again. After several more unsuccessful efforts at therapy, Father Baker was finally removed from the priesthood in 2000, but only after it was learned that he had molested as many as 10 victims over the previous 20 years.

There are many cases in which the accusations were not made until years after the alleged incidents and some in which early complaints were not deemed credible. But in all, the files paint a portrait of an institution in denial about what now looks like widespread sexual misconduct.

This isn't going to go away until the Roman Catholic Church comes completely clean about what it did about the cover-up. It's always the cover-up that bites you. The Church's sins are bad enough, but its denial is the ongoing awfulness.

Losing Hope in Louisiana

By Jennifer Moses
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Page A17

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Nearly six weeks after Hurricane Katrina altered both the landscape of Louisiana and the national psyche, most Americans seem poised for the next news cycle: the fight over the new Supreme Court nominee looks to be especially juicy, as does the fun brewing down in Texas over Tom DeLay. But here in what has become, by default, Louisiana's most populous city, the hurricane just won't go away, and the initial excitement of being the state's primary triage center, and suddenly finding ourselves elevated from Nowhere on the Bayou to the center of MediaWorld, has long since worn off.

For one thing, there wasn't just one hurricane, there were two, and while the national media focused on Houston's horrific traffic jams, Hurricane Rita managed to wipe out most of southwest Louisiana, displace additional tens of thousands and cause huge disruptions in the state's already crippled economy. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, always on its toes, managed to confuse Iberia Parish, where hundreds of homes were wiped off the face of the earth, with Iberville Parish, which had minimal damage, and gave disaster relief to the latter while withholding it from the former. In some neighborhoods, garbage hasn't been picked up in weeks. Local energy rates, already among the highest in the nation, are about to go a lot higher.

Jobs are as rare as snow in August, and thanks to Washington's prevailing ethic of handing out the goodies only to chartered members of the Goodies Club, barely a trickle of cleanup jobs are going to Louisiana businesses or Louisiana workers, and those few that are magically trickling down into the local economy are grossly underpaid. This because the president suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires that federal contractors pay workers prevailing wages on federally funded projects. The Louisiana State University system, which includes not only the state university but also three public hospitals, is about to lay off 5,000 more workers. Trailer parks intended to house the displaced are being set up in overstrained and underserviced areas that all happen to be -- surprise! -- majority black, while Baton Rouge's solid, if old and often abandoned housing stock, is left to rot. Meanwhile, the governor flails around, her heart in the right place and her hand in a wallet stuffed with IOUs. Happy fall, y'all.

What's the good news? Actually, there is some, but it's as amorphous as it is sad, having to do with the slow erosion of our shared national fantasy of an endless party, our waking up with a bad hangover, only to find that the living room is cluttered with empty bottles and overflowing ashtrays. Even in Louisiana, where the prevailing culture is almost outrageously laid-back and endlessly forgiving, people are getting angry.

But if you go down to the shelters, wait in one of the blocks-long social services lines, or drive out to any of the many churches where evacuees sleep in pews, you won't hear people talking much about the bursting of the myth of compassionate conservatism. Instead, what you hear in the giant River Center downtown, where some 1,000 evacuees are still living on fold-out canvas cots, is that there isn't enough underwear. Nor are there laundry facilities. Nor is there any kind of FEMA presence, FEMA having set up elsewhere. You'll hear mothers complain that a shelter is no place to school -- let alone raise -- a child. And you'll hear one horror story after another about how FEMA has denied evacuees any financial assistance, accused applicants of fraud, lost their case numbers or given a family's assistance to estranged ex-husbands who have long since moved to faraway states. The financial assistance the evacuees are waiting on is $2,000, a sum that would last me approximately five minutes. In the meantime, food, shelter and clothing are being provided not by the kindly hand of Uncle Sam but by the courtesy of the Red Cross.

Don't get me wrong: It's not that the Feds aren't here at all. Helicopters swoop overhead, young men in military fatigues -- many of them too young to shave -- patrol the shelters and the streets, and Gen. Russel L. Honore (the "Ragin' Cajun" from Lakeland, La.) continues to kick butt. It's just that the federal government, having apparently lost its ability to govern, has gladly allowed private organizations, and especially the churches, to shoulder most of the burden of care, granting Jesus primary responsibility for clothing the naked and feeding the hungry. But even Jesus is beginning to feel the strain. You can see it in the eyes of the faithful, as they line up for handouts at Bethany World Prayer Center or Istrouma Baptist Church. You can see it in the exhausted faces of children enrolled in the "second shift" of already dysfunctional, crowded schools. You can even see it on the roads, where ordinarily placid drivers, faced with hours-long commutes, morph into desperate maniacs.

No one knows what's to become of us. And, sure, folks are still patriotic, flying their American flags and displaying pro-American bumper stickers on their cars. But the whole state is in mourning for the place we once were, silently praying that we won't be washed away.

Jennifer Moses is a writer who grew up in McLean and has lived in Baton Rouge for 10 years.

Eating the Future

This is one of my favorite salads. It's a light touch on a hot day or a great first course before a pork or beef course. But I've been known to grab it at Union Station and follow up with one of Nathan's Famous Franks. Hey, when you take public transportation, you do what you can do.

Boston Salad

* 1/2 cup [125 mL] olive oil
* 1/4 cup [60 mL] peanut oil
* 1/4 cup [60 mL] wine vinegar
* 1/2 teaspoon [2.5 ml lemon pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon [1 mL] fresh parsley, chopped
* 1 Boston lettuce head, chopped
* 1 [11-ounce / 312 mL] can mandarins, drained
* 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced into rings
* 12 large fresh mushrooms, sliced

* In a glass jar, combine olive oil, peanut oil, wine vinegar, lemon pepper and parsley.
* Close hermetically and shake.
* Refrigerate vinaigrette several hours.
* In a salad bowl, gently combine lettuce, mandarins, onion and mushrooms.
* Serve salad with vinaigrette.

Goes nicely with a bowl of chowdah or a plate of scrod.

Putting My Body At Risk

I'm watching Tweety on Hardball. I never do this, Tweety always makes me sneeze in paroxyms, but this one is important on the Plame leak. I'll put up a link as soon as MSNBC posts their rough transcript. I want you to know that I'm sneezing my head off for you.

Green Law

ustices Take Case Disputing U.S. Power Over Private Wetlands

By DAVID STOUT
Published: October 11, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 - The Supreme Court said today that it would review the case of John A. Rapanos, a son of Greek immigrants who made a fortune as a developer in Michigan but ran afoul of environmental regulations along the way.

The court announced that was taking the case of Mr. Rapanos and two other cases involving the government's authority to regulate wetlands, defined in part as tracts that are often inundated or saturated by surface or ground water and supporting vegetation characteristic of such terrain.

But far more than wetlands regulation is at stake.

To many people who have followed the ordeal of Mr. Rapanos, his case is about a real-life American dream clashing with a nightmare of government bureaucracy. Mr. Rapanos's detractors say the ordeal is of his own making.

In the late 1980's, Mr. Rapanos began clearing part of a 175-acre tract he had bought in the Midland, Mich., area in hopes of selling it to a mall developer and adding to the already substantial fortune he had built through years of hard work. In preparing the land for an eventual mall, he spread sand over part of it, even though state officials had warned him that some of his property consisted of protected wetlands.

Environmental officials say wetlands are vital for flood control and as habitat for fish and wildlife, and that they must be guarded to avoid polluting nearby waterways. But most of the 100 million acres or so of wetlands in the contiguous United States are on private property, a situation that has spawned bitter debates over environmental protection vs. property rights.

And few, if any, of the disputes have been as bitter as the one with Mr. Rapanos at the center.

"Sure, I filled it, but I didn't fill wetlands," he said in a 2004 interview with The New York Times, disputing the official designation of his property. Anyhow, he went on, "when the government tells you to cease and desist when you're not breaking the law, what do you do, if you're an American?"

Still think those SCOTUS nominations don't matter?

Help Yourself

What to do if bird flu comes here

By RAMONA SMITH

[email protected]

It's still half a world away. And nobody knows whether it will ever turn up in Philadelphia.

But area flu experts say there are steps that people can take to improve their chances if the bird flu in Asia ever grows into a worldwide pandemic.

Some of the more obvious steps, however, won't do much good.

Getting a flu shot this year, for example, "will not protect you against avian influenza," says Dr. Neil Fishman, director of health-care epidemiology and infection control at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "The avian influenza is a different strain and is not covered by this vaccine."

Still, he and others said, it's a good idea to get the shot, which protects against more common but deadly types of influenza.

Another smart step, said Fishman, is pneumonia vaccine - for the young, chronically ill and people over 40 or 50. That's because most people who die with the flu actually die of its complications, largely bacterial pneumonia.

But attempting to stock up on prescription flu medicine in case there's a pandemic is a bad idea, he said. Besides putting a squeeze on the limited supply of drugs - primarily Tamiflu (oseltamivir) - hoarding could produce household stashes of medicine beyond its expiration date, and "a false sense of security," Fishman said.

And worse. Too much actual use of an anti-flu drug could cause a flu virus to become resistent to the medication later - rendering it powerless.

So what to do?

"Probably the single best thing that the public could do to protect themselves and protect others is to wash their hands," said Fishman. "It's not high tech, but it works."

This is important and can't be emphasized enough. Wash your hands constantly throughout the day and begin now to cultivate this habit, and get out of the habit of touching your face. I'm working on this myself, since I routinely scratch my nose when I'm thinking about a news article or working on getting a sentence "just right." Also, don't use anti-microbial soap: this just encourages bacteria to become resistant. Plain soap and water and scrub for two minutes each time, just as if you were scrubbing for surgery.

Purell and the other alcohol gels are worth keeping in a pocket or pocket book.

Posted by Melanie at 11:58 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Wha?

Perplexed by This Pick

By Eugene Robinson

Tuesday, October 11, 2005; Page A17

Was it impotence or omnipotence?

I've been wondering which variety of delusional thinking led George W. Bush to choose poor Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court. It must have been one or the other, it seems to me, and neither is particularly good news.

I have nothing against Miers, though I probably will once she dons those black robes and starts voting on cases I care about. Over the years, the president has had more than enough time to peer deeply into her heart, or her soul, or wherever it is he looks to discern what the person under scrutiny thinks about Roe v. Wade . I'm betting that she's no David Souter -- that she quickly signs up with the Scalia-Thomas fringe, even if she lacks Antonin Scalia's right-wing erudition or Clarence Thomas's persecution complex. They'll be like a middle-aged Mod Squad, a trio of groovy avengers fighting for truth, justice and the American Way circa 1805.

But that's only what the president has been promising, and at least Miers hasn't spent her whole adult life in the judicial monastery, illuminating manuscripts by candlelight. One reason for Sandra Day O'Connor's effectiveness -- she basically hijacked Rehnquist's court -- is that she's such a skilled politician. Miers is no O'Connor, but she did serve a term on the Dallas City Council, and maybe she has some passing familiarity with the real world.

Still, the smoke continues to puff from conservatives' ears. As they keep reminding us, Miers wasn't on anybody's short list, or even anybody's long list, for the Supreme Court. Her name occurred only to the president, her qualifications were evident only to the president, her loyalty is only to the president.

Any of a dozen other names would have brought joy to the hearts of his conservative supporters. So why did he pick Miers? Was he feeling impotent or omnipotent?

The impotence theory is easy to understand, since it's obvious that things haven't exactly been going according to plan, to the extent this administration has a plan. Iraq is still a bloody mess. Hurricane Katrina did structural damage to the administration's main pillar of public support, the illusion that whatever you thought of this crowd, it was cold-eyed and competent in a crisis. All the ethics investigations -- of Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby -- threaten the White House with a dim future: three lame-duck years in a bunker, pinned down by hostile fire.

Given all that, it makes sense that the president might decide this wasn't the best moment to send the Senate a well-known, red-meat Originalist. He might conclude this isn't the time for an all-out confirmation battle that could stiffen the spines of Democrats and weaken the nerve of Republicans who keep an eye on the opinion polls.

But if that impotence scenario is correct, then obviously the president just doesn't understand the need to dispel the odor of rampant cronyism -- the whole "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" thing. It's hard for me to believe that after the Katrina debacle, with the ethics controversies beginning to swirl like a newly formed tropical depression, the president would think that he could nominate a woman whose only unchallenged qualification to sit on the highest court in the land is her blind loyalty to Bush.

That leads me to the omnipotence scenario: that the president knew he would create a firestorm with the Miers nomination and decided to go ahead anyway. He knew Miers, knew she would be a reliable conservative vote on the court, knew that some of his allies might resent having to vote to confirm the Unknown Justice and decided to name her anyway because he's the president, and he can do anything he wants.

The Miers episode will probably have no real impact on the future of American jurisprudence. While there's nothing in her record to suggest she'll be a giant on the court, there's also nothing in her record to suggest that she'll be a rank embarrassment. I'm more worried that the president is feeling -- wrongly in both cases -- that he's either powerless or all-powerful.

The answer matters, since this presidency has three years and change to run. What I think is that it speaks to Bush's sense of entitlement, one shared to a greater or lesser extant by all boomers.

Still More Cronyism

Inexpert Selection

Published: October 11, 2005

The list of Bush appointees who seem to be rising on political connections rather than expertise continues to grow. A recent example is President Bush's choice to head a key office at the State Department that coordinates the delivery of life-sustaining emergency aid to refugees of foreign wars, persecution and natural disasters. The nominee is Ellen Sauerbrey, the former Maryland state legislator and twice-defeated Republican candidate for governor who was state chairman of Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign.

In 2002, Mr. Bush nominated her for another patronage job, to serve as the American representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. There she has relentlessly pressed an antiabortion and anti-family-planning agenda at international conferences meant to focus on urgent problems like sexual trafficking and the spread of AIDS.

Ms. Sauerbrey has no experience responding to major crises calling for international relief. As assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, she would oversee a vital $700 million a year bureau that coordinates with private relief groups and other international players like the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to set up refugee camps and arrange for adequate food, protection and other crucial assistance. She also would oversee the admissions of refugees for permanent resettlement in the United States. This is a post for an established expert in the field.

Concerned leaders of international relief groups have largely held their fire for fear of jeopardizing the government grants that support their work. But the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should give her careful scrutiny when it gets around to holding a confirmation hearing, perhaps by the end of this month. Before then, Mr. Bush ought to spike Ms. Sauerbrey's elevation, thereby voiding the need for responsible senators to do it for him.

It's utterly unclear if Sauerbrey is any good at much of anything, given the two utterly inept campaigns for governor she ran. This is really a shocking appointment.

Dissent on the Right

Townhall.com is one of the premiere websites on the Right. The Harriet Miers nomination has me visiting places that I seldom go.

The Fallacy of the 'Trust Me' Nominee

By Paul M. Weyrich

Oct 10, 2005

Washington Post reporter Dan Balz asked me why the Right was disappointed in the Harriet Miers nomination. In one of 27 interviews I did from 7 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. Eastern in a single day, I told Baltz that expectations were high.

After stealth candidate Judge John G. Roberts, Jr. was appointed chief justice, the conservative movement thought the president would nominate someone from among a number of well-qualified federal appeals court judges. There are women, there are Hispanics, there is a black woman.

Whatever the president was looking for was on the federal bench. There are many well-qualified scholars waiting in the wings as well.

What bothered Conservatives with whom I spoke or corresponded was that Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV) had recommended Harriet Miers to the president as a judicial nominee who easily could be confirmed. One prominent Conservative noted, "Harry Reid got his candidate. When do we get ours?"

It doesn't bother me that Reid has recommended Miers. Senator Reid knows Miers and has worked with her but he might not know her judicial philosophy any better than we do.

It also doesn't bother me that in 1988 Miers contributed to the Presidential Campaign of Vice President Albert Gore, Jr. Back then, nearly everyone in Texas was a Democrat. And Al Gore, believe it or not, ran as the more conservative presidential candidate that year, although he had repudiated his pro-life stance, recognizing that to get the Democratic Nomination, pro-life views are out of the question.

Frankly, it bothers me more to learn that as a Dallas City Council member, Miers reversed a high-profile position she had taken after a day of controversial votes and lobbying. Years ago, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said, "Don't just look for Conservatives to put on the High Court. Look for people who are conservative and have fought the wars and have survived." Miers has not.

If the Supreme Court appears to be an ivory tower where a Justice is subjected to no pressure and thus can vote at will, you are mistaken. Supreme Court Justices face almost as much pressure as legislators.

The national media plays an important role in pressuring the Judiciary. What would the editorial board of the New York Times think if a justice voted a different way on cases that were important to many justices? What about Miers? I am afraid she is pretty much on her own, as the president has given her as much support as he can.

Some evangelical leaders favor the Miers candidacy but this is based more upon the fact that Miers is the first evangelical to be nominated to the High Court since 1931 rather than because they know how she would vote.

Miers was raised Roman Catholic and found Christ in the late 1970s, according to one evangelical acquaintance. Since conservative Catholics are part of the Bush coalition, the White House would be ill-advised to discuss her conversion too loudly.

How Meirs does in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings could determine whether she gets confirmed. If she does well, the Senate floor vote could be at least 70-30. If she doesn't and the Democrats decide to oppose her nomination, a single "no" vote cast by a Republican, in effect, could kill the nomination.

Potential no votes on the Senate Judiciary Committee are those of Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Tom Coburn (R-OK). My guess is both senators could end up voting for Miers, but it is not certain.

I promised the White House that if I am satisfied with the hearings I'll support her as well. Unfortunately, not before.

Hot Air

Liberal Hopes Ebb in Post-Storm Poverty Debate

By JASON DePARLE
Published: October 11, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 - As Hurricane Katrina put the issue of poverty onto the national agenda, many liberal advocates wondered whether the floods offered a glimmer of opportunity. The issues they most cared about - health care, housing, jobs, race - were suddenly staples of the news, with President Bush pledged to "bold action."

But what looked like a chance to talk up new programs is fast becoming a scramble to save the old ones.

Conservatives have already used the storm for causes of their own, like suspending requirements that federal contractors have affirmative action plans and pay locally prevailing wages. And with federal costs for rebuilding the Gulf Coast estimated at up to $200 billion, Congressional Republican leaders are pushing for spending cuts, with programs like Medicaid and food stamps especially vulnerable.

"We've had a stunning reversal in just a few weeks," said Robert Greenstein, director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal advocacy group in Washington. "We've gone from a situation in which we might have a long-overdue debate on deep poverty to the possibility, perhaps even the likelihood, that low-income people will be asked to bear the costs. I would find it unimaginable if it wasn't actually happening."

Mr. Greenstein's comments were echoed by Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut: "Poor people are going to get the short end of the stick, despite all the public sympathy. That's a great irony."

But many conservatives see logic, not irony, at work. If the storm exposed great poverty, they say, it also exposed the problems of the very policies that liberals have supported.

"This is not the time to expand the programs that were failing anyway," said Stuart M. Butler, a vice president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research and advocacy group influential on Capitol Hill.

While the right has proposed alternatives including tax-free zones for businesses and school vouchers for students, Mr. Butler said, "the left has just talked up the old paradigm: 'let's expand what's failed before.' "

Doubt about the effectiveness of some programs is only one factor shaping the current antipoverty debate. Another is political muscle: poor people do not make campaign contributions. Many do not even vote.

A third factor is the federal deficit, which leaves little money for new initiatives. And a fourth is the continuing support for tax cuts, including those aimed at the wealthiest Americans, which further limits spending on social programs.

Indeed, even as he was calling for deep spending cuts last week, Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, who leads the conservative caucus, called tax reductions for the prosperous a key to fighting poverty.

"Raising taxes in the wake of a national catastrophe would imperil the very economic growth we need to bring the Gulf Coast back," Mr. Pence said. "I'm mindful of what a pipe fitter once said to President Reagan: 'I've never been hired by a poor man.' A growing economy is in the interest of every working American, regardless of their income."

Economic growth is crucial to reducing poverty, but the effect of tax rates is less clear. In 1993, President Bill Clinton raised taxes on upper-income families, the economy boomed and poverty fell for the next seven years. In 2001, President Bush cut taxes deeply, but even with economic growth, the poverty rate has risen every year since.

In 2004, about 12.7 percent of the country, or 37 million people, lived below the poverty line, which was about $19,200 for a family of four. The figure was 7.8 percent among whites, 24.7 percent among blacks and 21.9 percent among Hispanics.

Hurricane Katrina gave those figures a face as no statistic can.

"As all of us saw on television, there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region," with "roots in a history of racial discrimination," President Bush said in a Sept. 15 speech from New Orleans. Using the language of the civil rights movement, Mr. Bush pledged "not just to cope, but to overcome."

But liberal critics say his policies will have the opposite effect.

The week before his speech, Mr. Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, a 1931 law that prohibits federally financed construction jobs from paying wages less than a local average. The administration argued that the suspension, which applied only to storm areas, would benefit local residents by stretching financial resources.

You'll notice that Bush jawbones everything but doesn't actually DO anything, liberal or conservative. Governing entails actually doing things. Bush doesn't.

How Bad Things Happen

Airmen Fill the Gaps in Wartime
# Thousands of Air Force personnel are being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan to perform low-tech roles and help the Army keep up force levels.

By Mark Mazzetti and Greg Miller, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — Straining to find ground troops to maintain its force levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has begun deploying thousands of Air Force personnel to combat zones in new jobs as interrogators, prison sentries and gunners on supply trucks.

The Air Force years ago banked its future on state-of-the-art fighter jets and billion-dollar satellites. Yet the service that has long avoided being pulled into ground operations is now finding that its people — rather than its weapons — are what the Pentagon needs most as it wages a prolonged war against a low-tech, insurgent enemy.

Individual branches have spent decades carving out unique roles within the U.S. military, and Air Force officials insist that the redeployment of its personnel is temporary. Nonetheless, the reassignments come as another sign that the Pentagon is struggling to meet the demands of what military officials have begun calling "the long war."

As part of the effort, more than 3,000 Air Force personnel are being assigned new roles. And they are being dispatched to combat zones for longer tours of duty — as much as 12 months rather than four.

The changes within the Air Force, even if temporary, run counter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's overall vision of the military as a lighter, faster and more lethal force that relies on technology and efficiency to accomplish national security goals more quickly.

The situation also represents a reversal of sorts for the Air Force, which had played a dominant role in recent conflicts, including the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the war to expel Serbian troops from Kosovo.

"At that point the Air Force looked to be the dominant service," said Steve Kosiak, a military analyst at the independent Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

"That has changed."

In the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, Kosiak said, the Army has been the dominant branch.

"It's been the Army, and the Air Force has played a supporting role," Kosiak said.

Air Force officials said they are expecting to commit another 1,000 airmen to missions such as guarding prisons and driving trucks over the next few years, but they don't plan to make these jobs "core competencies" within the Air Force.

Pentagon planners believe that the counterinsurgency battles being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan could become the norm for the U.S. military. And, with the Pentagon engaged in a top-to-bottom assessment of the U.S. military's missions — an exercise known as the Quadrennial Defense Review — the high-flying service could be spending more time on the ground in the years ahead, Air Force officials said.

One urgent problem now being addressed by the Air Force is the shortage of trained interrogators to question the thousands of detainees being held in U.S. military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Reeling from a shortage of personnel specializing in military intelligence as well as from abuse scandals in the treatment and interrogation of detainees, the military is in the midst of a major overhaul to deal with the issue. In the next five years, the Pentagon plans to add 9,000 military intelligence personnel, including more than 3,000 new interrogators.

"The demand side is that there are people being put into the system that need to have folks talk to them," said Col. Steven Pennington, commander of the Air Force Operations Group. "I don't think any of us thought there would be this amount of demand."

The first Air Force interrogation teams were deployed to Afghanistan this year. Most belonged to the Air Force's internal investigative service, had experience questioning suspects and didn't require additional training. But subsequent Air Force interrogation teams, drawn from an array of unrelated jobs, are undergoing 16-week interrogation courses at the Army's intelligence academy at Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.

"They are not necessarily operating too far outside their basic skill set, but they are operating in an environment they're not normally trained to operate in," said Maj. Brenda Campbell, an Air Force spokeswoman.

The first class of 50 Air Force students arrived at Ft. Huachuca during the summer, and are scheduled to complete the course this month.

During one recent class, an Army instructor was giving his Air Force pupils an overview of interrogation "approaches" designed to get prisoners to talk. He spent the better part of an hour describing such psychological ploys as "fear up" and "pride and ego down," which are designed to prey on prisoners' anxieties and feelings of inadequacy.

But many students were still struggling with more elementary aspects of the job, such as how to manage the physical space of an interrogation booth.

Do you get the sense that our people don't have a clue? And that maybe we shouldn't be in Iraq in the first place? I don't have the sense that anybody joins the Air Force to learn to be an interrogator; probably they wanted to learn to fly airplanes.

It isn't just Gotcha

I just got back from watching the first half of the Monday Night Football game with a good friend of mine, someone I might even call my best friend. We met through church and after our last church started to dissolve at the seams (long story), both of our families travelled to the same new church together. Still...

Somehow we got onto politics where Wayne (not his real first name) admitted that Bush screwed up with Myers. Now, this came as a bit of a shock to me, since Wayne is a rock ribbed Republican. He's not a howling fascist, but more of a passive good old boy chuckle southern Republican.

"Welcome to reality," I told him. "I've been waiting for you since 1999... where have you been?"

"Now Chuck," he replied "I'm not in camp with you; I'm just saying he's made some bad decisions."

"Of course, because ignoring New Orleans while it flooded worked so well, he's almost moved the White House to my old Hometown to show that he cares when all it does is remind people how much he F****Ked up the first time. How about Karl and the fact he's on the verge of being charged with outing a CIA agent? If this was 7 years ago, you'd be screaming at the TV about it!"

"All that is with Karl is a game of Gotcha. They don't care. She went to parties with him."

"Not with a blinking neon nametage that said 'Hi, my name is Valerie. I'm with the CIA. Won't you be my friend?'"

"They did it with Clinton and Reagan and everyone. It's not that important..."

Since when has this country lost so much gravitas that treason isn't important?

Wayne, maybe I didn't make myself clear, but this isn't about gotcha. This is what it's about:

* It's about the fact that you scramble for overtime anytime you can get despite the fact that you are a lawyer for the Frederal Government. Why? So your wife can stay at home with your boys so if she goes to work, her entire paycheck doesn't go towards daycare like my wife's does.

*It's about the fact that my wife and I can't find a decent starter home inside the city limits even though we both work full time with professional jobs.

Sure, the DC Democrats aren't worth a tinker's damn, if they were they'd be a real oposition party worthy of demonizing on FOX every night, but they are a far cry better than what is there now. Where are those principles I heard your leaders preach in 1998 when Clinton was impeached about the sancity of law and some such. I know I didn't go through with law school, but how does all of this fall under that pious rule of law.

Maybe I learned something wrong from the lawyer in my life, but he taught me that no one is above the law and that we should expect the best from our leaders. Period.

It's not Gotcha. That's what will happen when you get your first heating bill in December.

Still Waiting

It's a couple of hours later and I note that my email is still not up yet. Cox.net has been a pretty good service until today, but they are failing badly now. If you haven't had an answer to your email yet, I'm waiting on Cox to solve their server problem.

The No Exit Strategy

The Labyrinth of Iraq

By James Carroll | October 10, 2005

THE ANCIENT myth has it that a person entering the maze will never find the way out. As if that were not terrifying enough, inside the maze lives the beast whose special appetite is for the young. The maze is a cluster of tricks, paths to nowhere, the realm of dead ends. There is no escape. The young must fear being eaten alive, but an eternity of false exits threatens everyone.

The maze is a daunting metaphor, an image of psychological imprisonment. At night, the dream of the maze comes to every sleeper, involving movement through a string of corridors that lead only into other corridors. Humans can be afraid even in the absence of the thing that kills. Not getting out can be terrifying enough. Dreams in which the monster actually appears, with child's blood on its teeth, have a simpler function -- to awaken the knowledge that the future itself can be at risk.

For ancient Athens, the maze was on the island of Crete, and the monster was the Minotaur. For America, the maze is in Iraq, and the monster is labeled ''insurgency." This is no myth, no metaphor, no dream. The war is America's prison. Our politics are paralyzed now because no one can imagine the way out. Youthful GIs and Marines hustle from one dead end to another, from the false exit of Iraqi ''sovereignty" to the trap door of the constitutional vote to the trick mirror of Iraqi armed forces that can take over ''security." This string of exitless corridors leads our troops ever deeper into the maze, more at the mercy of the devouring monster than ever.

Just as Athens sent its boys and girls to feed the Minotaur, keeping the beast appeased and far away, so -- just so -- does Washington. But in our circumstance, the sacrificial offering of the young is not quite working. Here is the ironic surprise that only recently dawns on the United States: We have followed our young ones into the maze. We are a lost nation, right behind them.

Iraq is far away, but its maze transcends locality. US foreign policy is the maze now; so is the evening news, and so are the pages of the newspapers that arrive each morning. We sit at our breakfast tables wide awake, yet the feeling of dreams is over everything. The corridors of American consciousness open only into other corridors. We hustle from one threshold to the next, busier than ever, but we never come out. This war was the entrance into a world with no exit. Those who oppose the war and those who support it are alike in feeling a vast demoralization. And if it remains true that, of Americans, the literal violence of the monster consumes only the uniformed young, the rest of us have begun to devour ourselves.

We were so afraid that some awful thing would come at us from outside our walls. It didn't have to. The walls defined us, walls that open only into other walls. No wonder the Democrats have nothing to say. No wonder the Republicans are reduced to whining about the indictments of their leaders. The president has given up pretending that he has a clue. Like a pink-eyed mouse in a laboratory, he makes his blind circuit through the maze of his own limited imagination. Unlike the president, the laboratory mouse knows better than to pretend its panicked running reflects the virtue of steadfastness. This is how the nation's leadership behaves when it sees no way out of the horror it has created.

Out of Touch

If you've emailed me today and are wondering why you haven't heard back from me, my ISP's incoming mail server has a problem. I've talked to them on the phone and they promise me it will be back up in a couple of hours.

A Weekend a Month

Death toll rises for U.S. reservists in Iraq

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Guard and Reserves are suffering a strikingly higher share of U.S. casualties in Iraq, their portion of total American military deaths nearly doubling since last year. Reservists have accounted for one-quarter of all U.S. deaths since the Iraq war began, but the proportion has grown over time. It was 10% for the five weeks it took to topple Baghdad in the spring of 2003, and 20% for 2004 as a whole.

The trend accelerated this year. For the first nine months of 2005 reservists accounted for 36% of U.S. deaths, and for August and September it was 56%, according to Pentagon figures.

The Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve accounted for more than half of all U.S. deaths in August and in September — the first time that has happened in consecutive months. The only other month in which it even approached 50% was June 2004.
....
Forty-five percent of all Guard and Reserve deaths since the start of the war — 220 of the 487 total — occurred in the first nine months of 2005, according to Pentagon figures. The deadliest month was August, when 49 Guard and Reserve members died.

The mounting casualties among reservists in Iraq has been overshadowed by the attention focused on a rising overall U.S. death toll, now approaching 2,000. It complicates recruiting for the National Guard and Reserve, which often attract people who think of the military reservists' role as something other than front-line combat.
....
At one point this year more than half of the combat forces in Iraq were National Guard.

"That's a first," said Army Maj. Les Melnyk, historian for the Pentagon office that manages the Army and Air National Guard. "The Guard can't claim that (level of combat) for World War II or World War I — the other major wars we fought in. Never more than 50% of the combat forces were Guard."

At present, of the approximately 152,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, about half are reservists: 49,000 Army National Guard, 22,000 Army Reserve and 4,000 Marine Reserve, according to figures provided by those organizations.

This will serve to make the war even more popular.

Tired of It

For GOP, Election Anxiety Mounts
Candidates Need Convincing for '06

By Charles Babington and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, October 10, 2005; Page A01

Republican politicians in multiple states have recently decided not to run for Senate next year, stirring anxiety among Washington operatives about the effectiveness of the party's recruiting efforts and whether this signals a broader decline in GOP congressional prospects.

Prominent Republicans have passed up races in North Dakota and West Virginia, both GOP-leaning states with potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Earlier, Republican recruiters on Capitol Hill and at the White House failed to lure their first choices to run in Florida, Michigan and Vermont.

These setbacks have prompted grumbling. Some Republican operatives, including some who work closely with the White House, privately point to what they regard as a lackluster performance by Sen. Elizabeth Dole (N.C.) as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the group that heads fundraising and candidate recruitment for GOP senators.

But some strategists more sympathetic to Dole point the finger right back. With an unpopular war in Iraq, ethical controversies shadowing top Republicans in the House and Senate, and President Bush suffering the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, the waters look less inviting to politicians deciding whether to plunge into an election bid. Additionally, some Capitol Hill operatives complain that preoccupied senior White House officials have been less engaged in candidate recruitment than they were for the 2002 and 2004 elections. These sources would speak only on background because of the sensitivity of partisan strategies.

Historically, Senate and House races are often won or lost in the year before the election, as a party's prospects hinge critically on whether the most capable politicians decide to invest time, money and personal pride in a competitive race. Often, this commitment takes some coaxing.

That is why Dole met twice with Rep. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and a third time with Capito and her father, former governor Arch A. Moore Jr., in an effort to persuade her to take on Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D). Bush won 56 percent of the vote in West Virginia last year, making many think Byrd, who will turn 88 next month, can be halted in his bid for a record ninth term. But last week, Capito said she has decided to stay put and seek election to a fourth House term.

Last month, White House political strategist Karl Rove flew to Bismarck to implore the North Dakota's popular Republican governor, John Hoeven, to challenge Sen. Kent Conrad (D). Rove could argue with some compelling numbers: Bush won 63 percent of the state's presidential votes last year, and Hoeven trounced his Democratic opponents in 2000 and 2004. But the governor said no thanks, and Republicans concede they have no strong second choice.

Perhaps no state has frustrated the GOP elite more than Florida, where Sen. Bill Nelson (D) is trying for a second term after winning his first with 51 percent of the vote. After failing to persuade Rep. Katherine Harris to stay out of the race, GOP leaders began a public search for an alternative candidate. State House Speaker Allan Bense was courted by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) before bowing out. Dole took a private plane to New York in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade conservative commentator and former Florida representative Joe Scarborough to make the race.

Has the public decided to turn their back on the Repub "culture of corruption?"

Government Responsibilities

Pandemic Preparedness

Monday, October 10, 2005; Page A18

SCIENTISTS AT THE Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta announced last week that they had reconstructed the genetic code of the flu virus that killed at least 50 million people in 1918. Meanwhile, administration officials are preparing a plan to bolster U.S. preparedness for another pandemic. These two facts are related: The more that is understood about the 1918 flu virus, the more similar it appears to the avian flu that has recently killed millions of birds, as well as some 60 people, in Asia. So far, the avian flu virus has jumped from birds to humans, but not from person to person. If that changes, this flu could be as deadly as -- or, given the speed of modern travel, more deadly than -- its predecessor. This is a potential disaster that, like the hurricane that devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, has long been anticipated. Also as with Hurricane Katrina, it is one for which the U.S. government is not prepared, as Mike Leavitt, the Health and Human Services secretary, acknowledged last week.

It's a good thing that Mr. Leavitt recognizes the problem. Unfortunately, it isn't clear that everyone in the administration understands it. It was disturbing to hear the president ruminate on the use of military troops for mass quarantines. That comment -- conjuring images of soldiers shooting as sick people try to cross a cordon sanitaire -- could have been a scare tactic. In fact, there is no legal, let alone ethical, means of enforcing mass quarantine in this country, and flu viruses, which don't always produce symptoms in the early stages, wouldn't obey them if there were.

So far the administration has concentrated on buying quantities of Tamiflu, an antiviral that looked as if it would be effective against avian flu but now, as the virus has mutated, might not be. There is also talk of U.S. help for surveillance teams in Asia, which is a good thing -- Mr. Leavitt is off to Asia this week -- but still insufficient, given the scant resources of the World Health Organization. Though many people assume otherwise, the WHO does not have thousands of employees who can be deployed to Asia on short notice, and it does not have vast stockpiles of Tamiflu or anything else.

The solution lies not in antivirals but in a vaccine that could be tailored, relatively quickly, to whatever form the virus takes, as well as help for U.S. hospitals, which are filled to capacity. The administration is aware of the former problem; the president met Friday with vaccine manufacturers, and the National Institutes of Health has been conducting vaccine research. But legislation is needed to facilitate research and rapid production of vaccines. That's a difficult task, given that American pharmaceutical companies, scared off by liability issues and low profits, no longer make vaccines at all.

Some in Congress have been working on a successor to last year's failed Bioshield legislation, which was intended to break the vaccine deadlock. Sens. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) have introduced Bioshield II, which would absolve vaccine manufacturers of liability and give them patent incentives to produce vaccines. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the bioterrorism and public health preparedness subcommittee, has announced his intention to introduce an innovative bill that would set up an agency, similar to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to invest in early research into drug and vaccine development in conjunction with the private sector.

The WaPo endorses this turkey of a bill which amounts to nothing more than a huge giveaway to big Pharma, whose profits are already obscene. The Post also fails to note that we are using antiquated technology from the 1950's for vaccine manufacture and some pushing on the part of the government to update the technology is in order.

Judicial Theater

Endorsement of Nominee Draws Committee's Interest

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: October 10, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 - Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and several Democrats on the committee said Sunday that they were considering calling the evangelical conservative James C. Dobson to testify on what he has been told about Harriet E. Miers, the president's Supreme Court nominee.

"If Dr. Dobson knows something that he shouldn't know or something that I ought to know, I'm going to find out," Mr. Specter said Sunday in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News program "This Week."

In response to a later question, Mr. Specter added, "If there are back-room assurances and if there are back-room deals and if there is something which bears upon a precondition as to how a nominee is going to vote, I think that's a matter that ought to be known by the Judiciary Committee and the American people."

Mr. Dobson, the influential founder of the conservative evangelical group Focus on the Family, has said he is supporting Ms. Miers's nomination in part because of something he has been told but cannot divulge. He has not disclosed the source of the information, but he has acknowledged speaking with Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, about the president's pick before it was announced.

On his radio program last Wednesday, Mr. Dobson said, "When you know some of the things that I know - that I probably shouldn't know - you will understand why I have said, with fear and trepidation, that I believe Harriet Miers will be a good justice." He added, in a reference to aborted fetuses, "if I have made a mistake here, I will never forget the blood of those babies that will die will be on my hands to some degree."

Dana Perino, a spokeswoman for the White House, said Sunday that Mr. Rove did not provide Mr. Dobson "any insight into how Ms. Miers may rule on any particular case." But the attention to the private reasons for Mr. Dobson's endorsement underscores the delicate problem the White House faces in trying to quell conservative dissatisfaction with Ms. Miers without arousing the ire of liberals or, for that matter, the handful of Senate Republicans like Mr. Specter who support abortion rights.

Even as liberal groups were raising questions last week about Mr. Dobson's sources, the White House put him on a conference call with conservative activists around the country to try to reassure them that Ms. Miers shared their views of the law.

Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Sunday on the same program as Mr. Specter that he, too, would consider calling Mr. Dobson to testify. Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, another Democrat on the committee, said in an interview on the CBS News program "Face the Nation" that he already believed the committee should call Mr. Dobson as a witness. "This is not a game of wink and whisper," Mr. Schumer said. "This is serious business."

Senator Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat on the committee, said Sunday on the CNN program "Late Edition" that the possibility that the White House might have given "inside information" about Ms. Miers to Mr. Dobson was "reprehensible." Senator Ken Salazar, Democrat of Colorado, has called on Mr. Dobson to disclose whatever he knows.

Mr. Dobson has not been invited by the Senate to testify and will wait to respond until he does, his spokesman, Paul Hetrick, said Sunday.

If she lasts until the hearings start, they ought to be entertaining.

The Crony

This was in the Vermont Guardian on Friday, but I just found it this morning:

Vermont to Leahy: Mess with Texas

The nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court shouldn’t come as a surprise. Still, Bush’s choice of a longtime, close confidant and ally is, we’re sure, not what Sen. Patrick Leahy and others had in mind when they sat down with the president just weeks ago to talk about judicial nominations.

Miers is not the qualified candidate that Leahy and others sought in return for their votes for John Roberts. With a lack of any experience on the bench, her corporate-heavy resume reveals no deliberative or constitutional background that would serve the interests of the people of the United States.

As Sen. James Jeffords pointed out, given her lack of a judicial record, committee hearings will be critical to learn more about how Miers would approach the law. But by failing to strip the cloak of secrecy from Roberts’ judicial temperament during his testimony before their panel, Leahy and the other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have set a dangerous precedent. They will be hard-pressed to demand answers from Meirs after they were satisifed with none from Roberts.

In fact, it was Miers who helped to shepherd Roberts through the nomination process and ensure that he would tread lightly when it came to revealing his judicial thinking. This should be a clear signal of Miers’ likely take on constitutional rights: The less we in the public know and have at our disposal, the better.

Bush has candidly described his former personal counsel as his “pit bull in size 6 shoes.” She has served as preemptive scandal counsel for his first Texas gubernatorial campaign, past president of the Dallas and Texas bar associations, and head of the state’s scandal-plagued Lottery Commission. She is also his Scalia appointment, a so-called “strict” constructionist who, in 1992, urged the American Bar Association to reject a resolution supportive of abortion rights.

Since the dominant spin is that actual judicial experience isn’t important (William Rehnquist had none prior to becoming an associate justice) and questions about specific issues that could come before the court are off limits, the only thing left to question seems to be Meirs’ competence. Which brings us to Texas, the so-called “tough on crime” state that still lacks the legal basics — enough crime labs, public defenders, and police training, not to mention an effective white-collar crimes division — but never skimps on money for prisons.

Texas is also the place where a poor defendant can get a lawyer who sleeps through much of his death penalty trial. Is this the kind of judicial atmosphere Miers cultivated as one of the state’s leading legal administrators? Given Bush’s talent for poor judgment, we could be looking at the high court equivalent of New Orleans — a fragile but avoidable situation made worse by an unqualified political hack.

When Leahy announced his support for Roberts, he said: “I have drawn the line only at those of President Bush’s nominees who were among the most ideologically extreme and who came to us in the mold of activists. Unfortunately, the president has opted not to seek moderate candidates. Instead, he has insisted on nominating several extreme choices and has politicized the process to a greater extent than I have seen in my 31 years in the Senate.” Given that statement, we still wonder how Leahy voted for Roberts.

When it comes to Meirs, Leahy needs to do more than act tough on procedural issues and documents requests. Vermont’s senior senator must remember that he is representing the conscience of our entire state, not just his own.

Miers’ candidacy could also be a classic bait-and-switch operation: Send up an obvious partisan first, allow her to be blocked, then cry foul and bring out the real judicial radical. It will be even harder to stop a second choice

I'm hearing this theory in so many places that I think I can take off my tin-foil hat.

Perfect Storms

Paper: Hurricane Center Equipment Broken

Sun Oct 9, 8:46 PM ET

MIAMI - Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center have struggled for more than a decade to issue accurate storm reports using broken equipment, an overbooked airplane fleet and tight budgets, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Key forecasting equipment used by the center has broken down or been unavailable for nearly half of the 45 hurricanes that have struck land since 1992, The Miami Herald found after an eight-month investigation.

"It's almost like we're forecasting blind," said Pablo Santos, a science officer at the
National Weather Service's Miami office, which assists the hurricane center during storms. "We've never really had the equipment to do it."

Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield and four former directors acknowledged that equipment gaps have compromised forecasts, including those for Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Erin in 1995 and Mitch in 1998.

The equipment problems include broken devices such as data-transmitting buoys, weather balloons, radar installations and ground sensors, as well as hurricane hunting airplanes that are overbooked and unavailable to fly weather-observation missions.

"We need help," Mayfield said. "We need more observation (equipment). There's no question."

National Weather Service officials cited the expense of the equipment and its maintenance. They also said there's an overlap, so if a radar installation or buoy fails, another one a few hundred miles away can help.

"Could the Hurricane Center do a better job? Yes. ... But we're working within a resources-available environment," Weather Service Chief D.L. Johnson said.

After the 2004 hurricanes, Congress approved $8.8 million to fix damaged equipment, add more buoys, upgrade hurricane hunter planes and bolster research.

The Herald reviewed audits, e-mails, government databases, maintenance records, accounting reports and congressional testimony, as well as flight logs and interviews. It found:

_Data buoys have been broken for months, and weather balloons are inoperable or missing in some areas, especially in the Caribbean.

_Despite nearly $2 billion spent in the 1990s for Doppler radar installations and electronic weather sensors, they often fail during lightning and power outages in severe weather. The weather sensors shut down more than 60 times during the four hurricanes that struck Florida last year.

_The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's two hurricane-hunting turboprop planes are sometimes sent on missions during hurricane season that have little to do with tropical storms. And the budget for the agency's Gulfstream jet isn't enough to fly continuous missions during storms.

I'll bet Halliburton doesn't function in a "resources-available environoment." But it is only your life and your safety which is at risk, not stockholder profits or CEO salaries, so your government ain't going to give a shit about it.

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance

The headline is a little misleading, but it is the WaPo, so what are you going to do?

Lack of Contracts Hampered FEMA
Dealing With Disaster on the Fly Proved Costly

By Renae Merle and Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, October 10, 2005; Page A01

Among the many failures in government planning revealed by Hurricane Katrina, one was particularly striking: No one, it seems, figured out ahead of time who was going to pick up the dead.

When the storm swept through the Gulf of Mexico six weeks ago and left hundreds of bodies to decompose in homes and streets, Louisiana officials looked to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help removing them. But since cities and localities had historically recovered bodies from mass casualties, FEMA says, it had made no arrangements.

So a week after the monster storm struck, FEMA hired Kenyon International Emergency Services Inc., a Texas company that specializes in mobile morgues. Within a few days, however, Kenyon officials complained that the company still had no contract and that it was caught in a "bureaucratic quagmire," asked to do far more than was called for in the original agreement.

The company spurned FEMA and went to work for the state of Louisiana.

The lack of a contract to manage body collection, and the difficulties with Kenyon, fit a pattern of breakdowns in FEMA's relationship with the private sector, a relationship that has become crucial to the agency's workings but that contributed to its flawed response to Katrina. With relatively few resources of its own, FEMA relies on the private sector to provide the manpower and logistical help necessary to deal with a major emergency, but there were major gaps in the arrangements it had made. Many of the contracts it did have were poorly executed because of miscommunication and lack of planning.

To fill the gaps, the agency was forced to acquire much of what it needed on the fly, signing deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars with little or no competition when its bargaining position could not have been worse.

Now under heavy pressure from Congress, FEMA has taken the unusual step of putting out for competition four huge contracts for housing assistance that it originally awarded as no-bid deals.

"There were contracts in place. But obviously they were not adequate," said Richard L. Skinner, the Homeland Security Department inspector general. "I don't think the contracts in place ever contemplated anything this devastating. . . . They weren't prepared upfront to obtain the products and services they would need."

Skinner said his office will take a hard look at whether the contracts signed in the frenzied aftermath of Katrina's landfall cost the government more than they should have. "We're hearing rumors that, yes, we're being gouged. That's exactly what we're looking at," he said.

Joshua I. Schwartz, co-director of the government procurement law program at George Washington University, said that when the government tries to buy what it needs after a major emergency, there is no chance to have an open competition and it loses its ability to get the best possible price. "You don't want to be doing this after a twelve-alarm emergency so your contractors don't have you over a barrel," he said.

Instead, Schwartz said, FEMA should have lined up contracts in advance from which it could draw as need arose. FEMA also could have made better use of government-wide contracts, negotiated by the General Services Administration and others, for which the prices are already set, he said.

In the case of body retrieval, a major problem was the lack of agreement over whose responsibility it was in the first place. FEMA says it has never undertaken such a job. "Body retrieval is a state responsibility," said Nicol Andrews, a FEMA spokeswoman, though the agency eventually picks up the cost.

With a category 5 hurricane bearing down on a major metropolitan area, all of this could have been foreseen, of course.

A Wal-Mart Economy

I don't do polls much since they are so well parsed at DKos, but this one stayed with me over the weekend. This historically awful presidency is hitting some historically bad numbers.

Poll: Bush Ratings Hit New Low

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2005 The President's approval ratings are at their lowest point ever. (CBS)

President George W. Bush's overall job approval rating has reached the lowest ever measured in this poll, and evaluations of his handling of Iraq, the economy and even his signature issue, terrorism, are also at all-time lows.

(CBS) This CBS News Poll finds an American public increasingly pessimistic about the economy, the war in Iraq, the overall direction of the country, and the president. Americans' outlook for the economy is the worst it has been in four years. Most expect the price of gas to rise even further in the next few months.

A growing number of Americans want U.S. troops to leave Iraq as soon as possible, rather than stay the course, and the highest percentage ever thinks the United States should have stayed out of Iraq. When given a set of options for paying for rebuilding the hurricane-racked Gulf Coast, only one — taking money from the Iraq War — gets majority support.

President Bush's overall job approval rating has reached the lowest ever measured in this poll, and evaluations of his handling of Iraq, the economy and even his signature issue, terrorism, are also at all-time lows. More Americans than at any time since he took office think he does not share their priorities.

The public's concerns affect their view of the state of the country. Sixty-nine percent of Americans say things in the United States are pretty seriously off on the wrong track — the highest number since CBS News started asking the question in 1983. Today, just 26 percent say things are going in the right direction.

The link has graphs which chart the awfulness. People are paying attention to the fact that the economy is in tatters and the war in Iraq was a really bad idea carried out incompetently.

ECONOMY WEEKAHEAD-Prices data, Fed's minutes in spotlight
Monday 10 October 2005, 2:00am EST

By Anchalee Worrachate

LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Inflation numbers in the U.S. and Europe as well as the Federal Reserve's minutes of its meeting last month will dominate financial markets this week as investors brace for higher interest rates in coming months.

The U.S. will release its consumer prices inflation data on Friday, and most economists expect higher headline and core numbers, which are likely to have been boosted by rising gasoline prices.

Financial markets have become more sensitive to inflation figures after Fed officials came out in droves in recent months to warn the public about the need to be vigilant on inflation.

The latest of such hawkish notes came from Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher who said last Thursday that core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as petroleum, was near the top of its acceptable range.

Fisher, a voting member of the Fed's policy committee, made it clear the U.S. central bank is not done yet with raising interest rates.

Markets bet the bank will raise rates to 4.0 percent at the next meeting on November 1, but are split on how much further it will go before halting its tightening campaign.

"I suspect the headline number is going to be ugly. The core figure might relatively benign, but that will not stop the Fed from hiking. Fed funds rate at 4.50 percent in the first quarter is a growing possibility," said Nick Stamenkovic, fixed income strategist at RIA Capital Markets in Edinburgh.

This is gonna get ugly.

Threat Level

New Cases of Avian Flu Are Reported in Europe

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL,
International Herald Tribune
Published: October 9, 2005

Asian bird flu appeared to continue its westward spread this weekend with reports of two outbreaks in birds in Europe. Romania reported its first cases of avian influenza on Saturday, and Turkey today, both presumed to involve birds that migrate from Asia in autumn.

There was no confirmation that the birds had succumbed to the deadly Asian H5N1 strain that has so worried scientists and politicians in recent month. There are a number of different bird flus that occur sporadically, and typing will probably not be completed before Monday, international health authorities said.

If the birds are infected with H5N1, it will be the first time that the virus has been seen in Europe.

This summer, veterinary experts had predicted that H5N1 might expand its territory into Europe, after the virus - previously limited to southeast Asia -- turned up among migratory birds first in Western China, then in Mongolia, and finally, just over the Ural Mountains, in Russian and Ukraine, a chain that divides Asia from Europe.

"In a way we are not surprised, since we had expected a possible expansion of the disease through wild life," said Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief of the Animal Health Service at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, which monitors the disease in animals.

He added that both Romania and Turkey had apparently followed United Nations recommendations about heightened surveillance and controlling the spread of the disease. "At this stage, even if it is the Asian virus, they seem to be addressing the issue very well and there is no reason to panic," he said.

Although this strain killed tens of millions of birds in Asia, it does not now have the ability to pass from human to human.

But international scientists have raised the alarm that it could acquire that ability through a variety of biological processes, and become the source of a devastating human flu pandemic. In those extremely rare cases where humans have become infected with H5N1, generally through close contact with birds, it has proved extremely deadly.

In Romania, animal outbreaks were reported in the region of the Danube Delta, with both wild and domestic birds affected, according to news reports Saturday night on the television station Antennae One.

To limit the spread of bird flu, the authorities took hundreds of birds from the farms and killed them and then declared a quarantine on the villages and six counties in the area, the station reported.

The authorities were taking the extra precaution of vaccinating local residents who might have had contact with sick birds against conventional influenza, said Dr. Adrian Streinu-Cercel, a prominent infectious disease specialist in Bucharest, as is suggested by the World Health Organization.

That vaccine does nothing to protect against the bird flu. Instead, the goal of the shots is to try to prevent a human who may be at risk for bird flu because of close contact with birds from becoming infected with normal seasonal flu at the same time.

Scientists have warned that such co-infection with the two types of virus was the most likely route for the bird flu virus to acquire the ability to pass readily from human to human, since conventional flu is highly contagious. In the same body - as in a laboratory -- flu viruses often exchange genes, creating new, more deadly pathogens.

Today is the last day of Pandemic Flu Awareness Week, and I thank the more than 400 blogs which took part. You will always be able to find the most current, non-partisan information on The Flu Wiki and as a member of the flu community, I'll continue to post news and critical commentary here at Bump. This is a story which isn't going away, but it will fall off the cable channels if nothing happens soon (and there is a good chance it won't happen for a while) but you'll continue to need information that you can share with family and friends. The guest bloggers and I will be here to provide it.

Devolution

A Central Pillar of Iraq Policy Crumbling
# Bush's administration has insisted that political progress would quell the insurgency. But the reverse may be true, U.S. analysts say.

By Tyler Marshall and Louise Roug, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — Senior U.S. officials have begun to question a key presumption of American strategy in Iraq: that establishing democracy there can erode and ultimately eradicate the insurgency gripping the country.

The expectation that political progress would bring stability has been fundamental to the Bush administration's approach to rebuilding Iraq, as well as a central theme of White House rhetoric to convince the American public that its policy in Iraq remains on course.

But within the last two months, U.S. analysts with access to classified intelligence have started to challenge this precept, noting a "significant and disturbing disconnect" between apparent advances on the political front and efforts to reduce insurgent attacks.

Now, with Saturday's constitutional referendum appearing more likely to divide than unify the country, some within the administration have concluded that the quest for democracy in Iraq, at least in its current form, could actually strengthen the insurgency.

The commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Army Gen. George W. Casey, has acknowledged that such a scenario is possible, while officials elsewhere in the administration, all of whom declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, say they share similar concerns about the referendum.

Iraq's Sunni Muslim Arabs, who are believed to form the core of the insurgency, are bitterly opposed to a constitution drafted mainly by the country's majority Shiite Muslims and ethnic Kurds. Yet from all indications, the Sunnis will fail to muster enough votes to defeat it.

"It could make people on the fence a little more angry or [make them] come off the fence," said a senior U.S. official who requested anonymity.

A growing number of experts outside the administration and in Iraq agree with such assessments.

"If the constitution passes in a non-amicable way, the violence will increase," said Ali Dabagh, a member of Iraq's transitional National Assembly who is believed to be close to Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari.

The White House has consistently linked the building of democracy in Iraq and the broader Middle East with the defeat of the insurgency.

President Bush repeated that assertion Thursday in a policy address to the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington. "If the peoples of [the Middle East] are permitted to choose their own destiny and advance by their own energy and by their participation as free men and women," he declared, "then the extremists will be marginalized and the flow of violent radicalism to the rest of the world will slow and eventually end."

Vice President Dick Cheney has put it more succinctly. "I think … we will, in fact, succeed in getting democracy established in Iraq, and I think when we do, that will be the end of the insurgency," he told CNN in June.

So, if the constitution passes, the "insurgency" grows worse, and if the constitution doesn't pass, the "insurgency" grows worse. Now, that's what I call a consistent foreign policy.

Post-Katrina Reflections

Block That Metaphor
What We Mean When We Call New Orleans 'Third World'

By Lynne Duke

Sunday, October 9, 2005; Page B01

So the question that bothers me is whether the depth of suffering brought about by Katrina's floods offended our humanity -- or our sense of national superiority.

This being America, a variety of impulses were probably jumbled all together. So perhaps I am splitting hairs in trying to parse this. And no pollster could actually get respondents to confess that they were more concerned about the nation's image than about the nation's people.

But different impulses yield different results. Genuine humanitarian concern can spark action, propel correction. Hurt national pride, on the other hand, can be salved in lots of ways that may have nothing to do with helping Katrina's poorest victims. I mean, for how many years has dire American poverty been ignored while America's sense of superiority marches on?

The ongoing General Social Survey of the National Opinion Research Center, perhaps the most authoritative measure of American thinking, shows that 40 percent of its respondents believe that "America is a better country than most other countries." (The 2004 survey doesn't exactly define better, so just what is being measured is not clear.) Also, 73.5 percent of the survey respondents described themselves as "very proud" of the nation's armed forces. That may explain why, in Katrina's aftermath, Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore, head of the military's Joint Task Force Katrina, assumed heroic stature. Admiringly dubbed the "John Wayne dude" by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Honore arrived in New Orleans with the troops -- of which so many Americans are proud -- and seemed to represent American power, American can-do.

Another item from the General Social Survey is worth noting. Only 25.6 percent of the survey's respondents described themselves as "very proud" of America's "fair and equal treatment of all groups in society" (up from 16.8 percent in 1996), while 46.6 percent said they were "somewhat proud." Another 18.1 percent said they were ''not very proud," and 5.7 percent said they were ''not proud at all."

Of course, if one requires evidence of our nation's usual cleavage over race, look no further than the debates over words such as "third world" and "refugee" -- a term normally used to describe people crossing international borders. And look no further than the recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showing that 63 percent of blacks believe that racial inequality explains the problems with the hurricane relief effort, while 70 percent of whites reject such a notion.

This newspaper documented the depth of this black-white disconnect years ago, in a 1992 opinion poll published with one of my articles back when I covered the subject of race. I will never forget the results, for they seemed to chart an almost desperate desire among whites not to believe that this society's ongoing discrimination had a negative impact on blacks. Those were the seemingly contradictory results of the poll: White prejudice against blacks was widespread, many of the white respondents agreed, but they did not believe it was an impediment to black progress. Go figure.

If you think about it long enough, another issue arises. If we as a nation believe that we now have seen the third world in our own midst, does that mean we will have greater empathy for and engagement with the cast-aside communities around the globe? And if we've suddenly realized how deep our national pockets of poverty really are, does this mean that we as a nation will correct that shameful problem? I do wonder.

Judging from the bitterly contested political, racial and economic ground on which Katrina's recovery now stands, it would seem that our brush with the third world has yet to foster a new American empathy.

I'm going to be thinking about this article for a long time because it speaks to something that has been troubling me ever since the post-Katrina images of the Gulf coast began flickering across our TV and computer screens. While I admire Lynne Duke's willingness to attempt some critical thinking on a difficult subject, I think there is a flaw in her analysis. Entrenched national superiority doesn't exclude genuine humanitarian empathy. We can hold two, even two opposing, motives in our minds and hearts at the same time. We are not purely rational creatures.

Parsing

On "Press the Meat," Pat Buchanan just said that the Harriet Meirs' nomination demonstrates a "lack of seriousness." That's about my take, too.

UPDATE: The Sabbath Gas Bags are making a big deal about all of the political calculations around this nomination. I think it was a mistake, but I don't think there was all that much calculation. Bush knows and likes Harriet Meirs and so he nominated her. The man just isn't that complex a political thinker.

Pay No Attention

The amazing shrinking president

By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist | October 9, 2005

IT'S HARD to listen to George W. Bush and not think about the Wizard of Oz.

What comes to mind is the weak, fallible human being who was revealed when Toto pulled the curtain.

There, in the small booth, a small, ordinary man, not an omnipotent sorcerer, frantically yanks at levers and dials. When the ''wizard" finally admits the obvious fraud, Dorothy says, ''Oh, you're a very bad man." Replies the wizard, ''Oh, no, my dear, I'm a very good man. I'm just a very bad wizard."

Of course, ''The Wizard of Oz" -- published first in 1900 as a children's story by L. Frank Baum, then made world-famous by the classic 1939 movie starring Judy Garland -- has long been debated as political allegory.

Today, some people will see presidential adviser Karl Rove as the man behind the curtain.

But I see President Bush -- a decent, but flawed man with grandiose intentions, who is looking right now like a very bad wizard-president.

Like the wizard, he huffs and puffs in an attempt to maintain bamboozlement in the Land of Oz. But once the curtain is pulled, the people of Emerald City can never look at the fellow behind it the way they did before.

The curtain has been pulled on Bush, not by a tiny, black terrier, but by the outcome of presidential decisions and policies.

In recent weeks, Hurricane Katrina revealed a nation unprepared for natural catastrophe. Bush looked weak and ineffective in his initial response to the hurricane. And he was further weakened by the bureaucratic ineptitude televised from New Orleans and personified by Bush's longtime friend, Michael Brown, the deposed head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It all raised serious questions about the nation's preparedness for terrorist attacks.

Bush's most recent Supreme Court nomination adds to the sense of a weakened president. Harriet E. Miers is known chiefly as a friend of Bush, not as a well-known attorney, judge, or legal scholar. In that, she is the opposite of John Roberts, who was confirmed as chief justice on the basis of his credentials and intellect.

But it is Iraq itself that pulled the curtain on Bush. His recent speech before the National Endowment for Democracy is yet another attempt to push the levers and turn the dials to gin up support for a ''war on terror" fought in Iraq. Instead of lions and tigers and bears, it is Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and ''a dictator who hated free peoples" (Saddam Hussein). Bush once again links the US invasion of Iraq to the ''great evil" of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Bush also tries to reverse the creeping feeling of national insecurity by telling Americans that the United States and its partners have disrupted 10 serious terrorist plots since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But the damage is already done.

What the president referred to in his speech as ''self-defeating pessimism" is reality. He cited some examples of reality in his speech -- Iraqi children killed in a bombing, Iraqi teachers executed, hospital workers attacked as they treat the wounded. But in that, he wants us to see a country fighting for democracy, with Iraqis ''arguing with each other." Bush must be living in Oz if waves of suicide bombings look to him like citizens ''arguing" rather than a country imploding.

Joan Venocchi writes what I've been thinking for some time.

Splits on the Right

The Crisis of the Bush Code
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

WHEN Gov. George W. Bush of Texas hit the presidential campaign trail, he seldom brought up his view of abortion. But with conservative Christian crowds, he never missed an opportunity to praise "pregnancy crisis centers." Abortion opponents, knowing such centers steered women away from the procedures, cheered and took heart.

It was the beginning of a delicate balancing act that, until President Bush picked Harriet E. Miers for the Supreme Court last week, had enabled him to forge an unprecedented bond with social conservatives without unnerving more moderate voters. President Bush may have perfected it during the 2004 presidential debates. He said he would not appoint justices who would approve of the Dred Scott decision - the 19th-century fugitive slave case that abortion foes compare to Roe v. Wade - but also pledged not to make the abortion issue a "litmus test" for judicial nominees.

The nomination of Ms. Miers demonstrated the fragility of a coalition built in part on code. The administration relied on subtle clues about her evangelical faith and confidential conversations with influential conservative Christians to enlist grass-roots support for Ms. Miers.

Instead the Miers nomination has threatened to shatter the coalition that Mr. Bush and his adviser Karl Rove hoped would be the foundation of a durable Republican majority. Social conservatives say that Mr. Bush made them tacit promises to appoint justices who would rule their way on abortion and other social issues. They wanted a nominee with a clear record and Ms. Miers had none.

The Christian conservative backlash is upending the expected battle lines in the nomination debate. Several Republican senators - two of them, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas and Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, on the Judiciary Committee - say that unlike their stance during the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to be chief justice, they are taking a wait-and-see stance on Ms. Miers. Even if their displays of caution prove to be short lived, some conservatives say the damage has already been done to Mr. Bush's Republican base. And at a time when polls show his approval rating hovering near its low point, the discontent of his most passionate supporters can only hasten the day when the term "lame duck" will apply.

Why would the social conservatives walk away from the president over a nominee he clearly admires?

Some on the right said the reaction reflected a growing discontent among conservatives with Mr. Bush even before he announced his selection over issues like federal spending, especially after Hurricane Katrina.

But the backlash from religious conservatives over Ms. Miers has deeper roots and threatens to become an even more serious rupture for Mr. Bush and his party. "The president has walked a fine line wanting to keep us inside the family," said the Rev. Donald Wildmon, founder of the evangelical conservative Ameri-can Family Association, based in Tupelo, Miss. "But at the same time - I might as well say it - being embarrassed to be seen in public with us, and that is what we are seeing here." He added, "Republicans have a serious problem on their hands right now."

Conservative Catholics are a relatively new addition to the Republican coalition, and many evangelical Protestants were reluctant to engage in politics in the first place and they remain prone to fatalism about going to the polls, said Prof. John Green, who studies religion and politics at the University of Akron. President Bush's assiduous courtship helped bring evangelical voting rates above the overall average for the first time in 2004, but they still trail the participation of mainline Protestants and Jews, Professor Green said.

Some reasons for the discontent over Ms. Miers may go back to the pessimistic view many evangelicals hold about society and culture, Professor Green said. "They kind of expect to be betrayed," he said. "They see themselves as an embattled minority. They feel the culture is moving in the wrong direction and they are fighting an uphill battle to turn it around, but they half expect to lose."

This is a long article but well worth a complete read. Kirkpatrick is being coy with his readers, but if you read between the lines you can pick up his unstated thesis: liberals should stay out of this fight and let the right self-destruct. If we engage the right on this issue, we risk unifying them.

Blank Justice

The Reticence Fallacy

By Michael Kinsley

Sunday, October 9, 2005; Page B07

Gosh, was it only a couple of weeks ago that Republicans were mocking attempts by Democratic senators to find out what John Roberts's views might be on some of the big legal issues? What happened to all those lectures about how it would be "improper" to call on a future justice to "prejudge" matters that might come before the court?

With President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers, it turns out that Republicans don't want to buy a pig in a poke any more than Democrats do. They were bluffing when they claimed not to know or care about Roberts's views, beyond a vague commitment to avoid "legislating from the bench." They did care, but they thought they knew. The surprising conservative bitterness about Miers reinforces the suspicion of many liberals that "they must know something we don't" about Roberts. Conservatives have been complaining about the Supreme Court for half a century. After a series of false dawns, this would seem to be their true moment. Would they really let Bush squander this opportunity? Apparently not.

Unless, that is, you buy the even darker conspiracy theory that Republican apparatchiks don't really want a counterrevolution at the Supreme Court. Roe v. Wade has been very good to the Republican Party, keeping social and religious conservatives at a full boil of resentment. The last thing the party needs is to turn these motivated activists into satisfied customers, while stoking a fire under activists on the other side. So there was a game of double bluff going on: The conservatives who bluffed that they didn't care about Roberts's views -- and liberals shouldn't either -- were themselves being bluffed, perhaps, by Bushies who assured them that Roberts was on their side.

In any event, someone has been had. Over the next several decades we will find out who. Meanwhile, conservative suspicions about Miers offer us an opportunity for a bipartisan end to the farce that judicial confirmations have become.

Robert Bork has said bitterly and often that his "paper trail" of strongly expressed views on big legal issues is what killed his 1987 Supreme Court nomination. Of course that same paper trail is why President Ronald Reagan nominated him in the first place. The Bork brouhaha is remembered as an appalling low point in democratic decency. But -- demagoguery on both sides aside -- it also was the last time our democracy had an open and reasonably honest debate about those big issues.

The way "advice and consent" has worked ever since is that presidents make their choice in private, based on any standard or evidence they wish. Then the Senate makes its decision in public, with as little to go on as can be arranged.

Roberts had a long and impressive paper trail, but he maintained successfully that most of it shouldn't count. Memos he wrote while in the Reagan Justice Department reflected official administration policy, you see, which a junior lawyer wouldn't presume to affect. And stands he later took as an attorney in private practice reflected the lawyer's obligation to mount a vigorous defense for his client. In both situations, it was said, you cannot assume that Roberts actually believed something just because he wrote it and put his name to it. That's what being a lawyer is all about.

Harriet Miers's filing cabinet, meanwhile, is so empty that journalists are fanning out in search of early yearbook inscriptions and letters home from summer camp -- anything with a clue about what she thinks. Hey, here's a thought: Why not just ask her? No doubt senators will try this when she testifies to the Judiciary Committee. No doubt she will reply with carefully measured generalities. No doubt she will graciously decline to get more specific, arguing the danger of prejudging future cases, politicizing the judiciary, etc. And no doubt she will get away with it. Unless Democrats and Republicans in the Senate join together and say: From now on you answer specific questions, or you don't get confirmed.

Where have I heard this before?

FEMA call-center workers say paychecks fall way short

Saturday, October 8, 2005

By KIM HORNER and HOLLY YAN

A scuffle broke out Friday at a Dallas FEMA subcontractor after many temporary workers did not receive their paychecks.

ne man was arrested for disorderly conduct at Cendera Technologies at 8700 N. Stemmons Freeway, but no injuries were reported, Dallas police Senior Cpl. Max Geron said.

Cpl. Geron said Dallas police patrolled the office building the past few weeks because large crowds gathered on payday.

About 1,500 temporary employees of the company work seven days a week, often double shifts, answering calls for federal financial assistance from people displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

After their shift ended at 2 p.m. Friday, many workers discovered they would not get paid.

Others received checks for only a fraction of the $10 an hour plus overtime they were promised.

"I'm a single mother. I want to get paid. My rent is due today," Luvena Moore said. "We're here helping someone else get a $2,000 check and we can't get a check at all."

The lack of answers worried employees.

LaQuesha Irvin said she has worked at the company since Sept. 13 with no paycheck.

But she said she has no choice but to keep coming back to work.

"If we don't work, we won't have any funds to pay our bills," Ms. Irvin said.

I wonder if anyone is going to ask the new Supreme Court nominee if the 13th Amendment (outlawing slavery) to the Constitution is still valid... and if so can we nail these B***rds on it?

Back in the good olde days, we called people like that Carpetbaggers and Robber Barons... so what do you call them if they are from your home state?

But hey, I don't have to discuss sex and the White House anymore so we're better off right?

For Special Meals

This recipe is a heart attack on a plate but it is so good that I cant disclude it here. Gee-willy, this is good if you can afford prime beef. Gee, howdee, this is good. I'm out of superlatives.

Beef Tenderloin in Creamy Porcini Sauce Submitted by: CYNTHIARUSSELL "This is a very hearty dish, ideal for a winter dinner. Serve with just the potatoes, or add your favorite veggies: they will taste great with the dried mushroom sauce!" Original recipe yield: 6 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
* 1 cup hot water
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
* 1 small red onion, finely chopped
* 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
* 1 cube beef bouillon
* salt and black pepper to taste
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 2 pounds new potatoes
* 2 pounds beef tenderloin medallions
* 1/2 teaspoon crushed dried thyme

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, soak dried mushrooms in hot water.
2. Heat butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic; cook until the onion is tender and transparent. Stir in beef bouillon cube, and pour in mushrooms with water. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in cream; simmer gently for 5 minutes. Set aside.
3. Place whole potatoes in a pan with water to cover; bring to a boil over high heat, and cook about 5 minutes. Drain water. When potatoes are cool enough to touch, cut them in half. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and fry potatoes until golden. Season with salt and thyme. Set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
5. Season beef medallions with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Place medallions in hot oil, and brown on both sides. Remove from heat, and place medallions in the center of a roasting dish.
6. Cover medallions with porcini sauce. Arrange potatoes around medallions. Cover dish with aluminum foil. Roast for 15 minutes.

Melanie here: I don't now how it gets any better than this.

Cook Something Good

Lobster Pie

Ingredients:
1 lb Lobster Meat
½ cup Ritz crackers, coarsely crushed
¼ cup Oyster crackers, coarsely crushed
4 Tbsp butter, melted, divided
1 Tbsp fresh onion, minced
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp black pepper
½ Tbsp parsley

Directions:
1. Blend Ritz and oyster crackers together.
2. Sauté onions in 2 Tbsp of butter.
3. Add thyme and black pepper.
4. Blend this mixture well with the crackers.
5. Place lobster in a casserole dish and top with cracker mixture.
6. Drizzle remaining butter on top and bake at 375º F for 20-30 minutes.

This is a famous recipe from Joe Fish Restaurant in Andover, MA. This will serve 2-3.

They Just Make Shit Up

Scope of Plots Bush Says Were Foiled Is Questioned
By Josh Meyer and Warren Vieth, Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — In the spring of 2003, Los Angeles police officials were summoned to a briefing with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force and told that the 73-story Library Tower might have been the target of a terrorist plot similar to that of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings.

When the plot was disclosed last year, authorities said publicly that they had viewed the claims by captured Al Qaeda chieftain Khalid Shaikh Mohammed with skepticism. They said that, at best, the alleged plot was something that had been discussed but never put into action.

By the time anybody knew about it, the threat — if there had been one — had passed, federal counter-terrorism officials said Friday.

Still, the broader idea for attacks on West Coast buildings that included the Library Tower was one of the cases President Bush was referring to when he said that three potential terrorist plots within the United States had been "disrupted" since Sept. 11, 2001. In his policy address Thursday, Bush spoke at length about terrorists and their organizations, saying that at least 10 plots had been foiled worldwide by the U.S. and its allies, including plots in the U.S.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan had said a day earlier that Bush's speech would provide "unprecedented" detail about terrorist threats, some of them never before disclosed.

However, Bush did not detail the foiled plans, and hours later, the White House released a sketchy list of "plots, casings and infiltrations" that had been disrupted or stopped by the United States and its allies since the Sept. 11 attacks. It did not explain whether any of the incidents were new or disclose how advanced the plots were, although most experts said they did not represent plans that had been put into operation.

On Friday, the White House responded to questions seeking clarification on the potential attacks by referring inquiries to the FBI or other counter-terrorism agencies. The FBI referred the questions to the White House.

"I'm not going to have more to say on those matters at this point," McClellan said.

He said the list of foiled plots had been prepared by "the intelligence community" and was released late in the day, hours after Bush's speech, because officials needed to make sure the information it contained would not jeopardize national security.

The White House acknowledged that many of the plots cited by Bush were based on previously known information. But it would not comment on whether Bush and his administration had claimed credit for thwarting terrorist plots in the United States that, in reality, had not risen to the level of a "serious" operational plot at all, as some federal counter-terrorism officials maintained.

At least the press is finally starting to show some scepticism.

This Is Starting To Get Old

Subtropical Depression Forms Near Bermuda

By JOHN PAIN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 21 minutes ago

MIAMI - A subtropical depression formed Saturday in the open Atlantic, prompting Bermuda to issue a tropical storm watch.

The system could strengthen into Tropical Storm Vince later in the day, according to the
National Hurricane Center in Miami. Vince would be the 20th named storm in one of the busiest hurricane seasons on record.

At 11 a.m. EDT, the depression's center was about 450 miles southeast of Bermuda. It was moving toward the northwest at about 15 mph. It had top sustained winds of about 35 mph, but was expected to strengthen even if it didn't become a tropical storm, forecasters said.

Long-term forecasts showed the system either reaching the United States mainland in about five days, or curving farther out to sea after passing Bermuda. But hurricane specialist Jack Beven said it appears the system might not survive if it gets closer to the U.S. because of other weather in the area.

"It's really too early to say just how much of a threat this will pose to the U.S. But right now, it's not too great of a threat," he said.

The depression's strongest winds are far from its center, but if they start closing in on its core it could strengthen into a storm, said Robbie Berg, a hurricane center meteorologist.

The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. The current one is tied for the second-busiest since record keeping began in 1851. The record is 21 tropical storms and hurricanes in 1933.

After Vince, only one name is left for storms this season — Wilma. After that, storms are named after letters in the Greek alphabet. That has never happened before in more than 50 years of regularly naming storms.

Noted Without Comment

Al-Jazeera Finds Its English Voice
David Frost Joins New International Television Network

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 8, 2005; Page A01

Al-Jazeera, which is launching an English-language network with Washington as a major hub, has landed its first big-name Western journalist: David Frost. And the veteran BBC interviewer says he's perfectly comfortable with the unlikely marriage.

"I love new frontiers and new challenges," Frost, 66, said yesterday from London. He said the new network, al-Jazeera International, has promised him "total editorial control" and that he had checked out the company with U.S. and British government officials, "all of which gave al-Jazeera a clean bill of health in terms of its lack of links with terrorism."

But the Bush administration has repeatedly denounced al-Jazeera. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused the Qatar-based operation of promoting terrorism and "vicious lies" and has banned its reporters from Iraq. The State Department has complained about "false" and "inflammatory" reporting.

Said Frost, who will host a weekly interview program: "For all the people who think it's anti-American, there are various countries in the Middle East who think it's too pro-Western. I would say the jury's out on al-Jazeera. Obviously, we all suffer from the handicap of not being able to sit there and watch in Arabic."

The Thursday announcement of the hiring of Frost, who will continue to work for the BBC, comes as al-Jazeera is looking for a few good Americans -- anchors, correspondents and producers -- for the network as it prepares to launch early next year. From a nondescript office building on K Street, where an armed guard mans the lobby, staffers have been calling television agents about their clients. But a number of those approached, including several well-known personalities whose agent would not identify them by name, have quickly rebuffed the overture.

"Some are a bit leery," said Nigel Parsons, the former staffer for BBC and Associated Press Television News who is running al-Jazeera International. "There is an image problem to be overcome."

Fatal Idiocy

Flu Wiki colleague DemfromCT points me to this op-ed in the BoGlo today by BU School of Public Health department chair George Annas, who deconstructs Bush's military quarantine "plan." This is the Bush reflex: got a problem? Whatever it is, call in the troops. As Annas says, this is more excuse than plan: you can't declare war on pandemic influenza.

First, historically mass quarantines of healthy people who may have been exposed to a pathogen have never worked to control a pandemic, and have almost always done more harm than good because they usually involve vicious discrimination against classes of people (like immigrants or Asians) who are seen as ''diseased" and dangerous.

Second, the notion that ruthless quarantine was responsible for preventing a SARS pandemic is a public health myth. SARS appeared in more than 30 countries; they all reacted differently (some used forced quarantine successfully, others voluntary quarantine, and others no quarantine at all), and all ''succeeded." Quarantine is no magic bullet.

Third, quarantine and isolation are often falsely equated, but the former involves people who are well, the latter people who are sick. Sick people should be treated, but we don't need the military to force treatment. Even in extremes like the anthrax attacks, people seek out and demand treatment. Sending soldiers to quarantine large numbers of people will most likely create panic, and cause people to flee (and spread disease), as it did in China where a rumor during the SARS epidemic that Beijing would be quarantined led to 250,000 people fleeing the city that night.

Not only can't we evacuate Houston, we cannot realistically quarantine its citizens. The real public health challenge will be shortages of health care personnel, hospital beds, and medicine. Plans to militarize quarantine miss the point in a pandemic. The enemy is not sick or exposed Americans -- it is the virus itself. And effective action against any flu virus demands its early identification, and the quick development, manufacture, and distribution of a vaccine and treatment modalities.

In 1918 the Spanish flu was spread around the US primarily by soldiers, and it seems to have incubated primarily on military bases. It is a misreading of history that a lesson from 1918 is to militarize mass quarantine to contain the flu. And neither medicine nor public health are what they were in 1918; having public health rely on mass quarantine today is like having our military rely on trench warfare in Iraq.

What has not changed in the past century, however, is the fact that national flu policy will be determined by national politics. In World War I, as Barry recounts, this policy demanded that there be no public criticism of the federal government.

That policy was a disaster, and did prevent many potentially effective public health actions. Today's presidential substitution of a military quarantine solution for credible public health planning will also be counterproductive and ineffective in the event of a real pandemic. It would leave US citizens sick with the flu to wonder -- like the citizens of New Orleans told to go to the Convention Center and the Superdome for help -- why the federal government had abandoned them.

Public health in the 21st century should be federally directed, but effective public health policy must be based on trust, not fear of the public.

As my colleagues continue to point out to me, the avian flu challenge is a metaphor for the complete collapse of the public health apparatus in the US. If Bush really cared about any of this, or any of us, he and his public health people would come up with something a little more robust than calling out the troops. Like employing an effective vaccine and anti-viral program years ago when the public health docs first started ringing the bells about avian flu. The aren't just morons, they are lethal morons.

Asleep at the Switch

Bush Plan Shows U.S. Is Not Ready for Deadly Flu

By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: October 8, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 - A plan developed by the Bush administration to deal with any possible outbreak of pandemic flu shows that the United States is woefully unprepared for what could become the worst disaster in the nation's history.

A draft of the final plan, which has been years in the making and is expected to be released later this month, says a large outbreak that began in Asia would be likely, because of modern travel patterns, to reach the United States within "a few months or even weeks."

If such an outbreak occurred, hospitals would become overwhelmed, riots would engulf vaccination clinics, and even power and food would be in short supply, according to the plan, which was obtained by The New York Times.

The 381-page plan calls for quarantine and travel restrictions but concedes that such measures "are unlikely to delay introduction of pandemic disease into the U.S. by more than a month or two."

The plan's 10 supplements suggest specific ways that local and state governments should prepare now for an eventual pandemic by, for instance, drafting legal documents that would justify quarantines. Written by health officials, the plan does yet address responses by the military or other governmental departments.

The plan outlines a worst-case scenario in which more than 1.9 million Americans would die and 8.5 million would be hospitalized with costs exceeding $450 billion.

It also calls for a domestic vaccine production capacity of 600 million doses within six months, more than 10 times the present capacity.

On Friday, President Bush invited the leaders of the nation's top six vaccine producers to the White House to cajole them into increasing their domestic vaccine capacity, and the flu plan demonstrates just how monumental a task these companies have before them.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration's efforts to plan for a possible pandemic flu have become controversial, with many Democrats in Congress charging that the administration has not done enough. Many have pointed to the lengthy writing process of the flu plan as evidence of this.

But while the administration's flu plan, officially called the Pandemic Influenza Strategic Plan, closely outlines how the Health and Human Services Department may react during a pandemic, it skirts many essential decisions, like how the military may be deployed.

"The real shortcoming of the plan is that it doesn't say who's in charge," said a top health official who provided the plan to The Times. "We don't want to have a FEMA-like response, where it's not clear who's running what."

Still, the official, who asked for anonymity because the plan was not supposed to be distributed, called the plan a "major milestone" that was "very comprehensive" and sorely needed.

The draft provided to The Times is dated Sept. 30, and is stamped "for internal H.H.S. use only." The plan asks government officials to clear it by Oct. 6.

Christina Pearson, a spokeswoman for Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt, responded, "We recognize that the H.H.S. plan will be a foundation for a governmentwide plan, and that process has already begun."

Ms. Pearson said that Mr. Leavitt has already had one-on-one meetings with other cabinet secretaries to begin the coordination process across the federal government. But she emphasized that the plan given to The Times was a draft and had not been finalized.

Mr. Leavitt is leaving Saturday for a 10-day trip to at least four Asian nations, where he will meet with health and agriculture officials to discuss planning for a pandemic flu. He said at a briefing on Friday that the administration's flu plan would be officially released soon. He was not aware at the briefing that The Times had a copy of the plan. And he emphasized that the chances that the virus now killing birds in Asia would become a human pandemic were unknown but probably low. A pandemic is global epidemic of disease.

"It may be a while longer, but pandemic will likely occur in the future," he said.

And he said that flu planning would soon become a national exercise.

"It will require school districts to have a plan on how they will deal with school opening and closing," he said. "It will require the mayor to have a plan on whether or not they're going to ask the theaters not to have a movie."

"Over the next couple of months you will see a great deal of activity asking metropolitan areas, 'Are you ready?' If not, here is what must be done," he said.

A key point of contention if an epidemic strikes is who will get vaccines first. The administration's plan suggests a triage distribution for these essential medicines. Groups like the military, National Guard and other national security groups were left out.

Beyond the military, however, the first in line for essential medicines are workers in plants making the vaccines and drugs as well as medical personnel working directly with those sickened by the disease. Next are the elderly and severely ill. Then come pregnant women, transplant and AIDS patients, and parents of infants. Finally, the police, firefighters and government leaders are next.

The plan also calls for a national stockpile of 133 million courses of antiviral treatment. The administration has bought 4.3 million.

The plan details the responsibilities of top health officials in each phase of a spreading pandemic, starting with planning and surveillance efforts and ending with coordination with the Department of Defense.

They must be fucking terrified if this leaked to the press. The Flu Wiki editors were up late last night discussing the meaning of this story, and I imagine that all three of us will have different takes this morning. But if this is The Plan, it means there is no plan. Which is just about what you would expect from the Bush administration. The Boy King and his minions don't seem to have caught up on the idea that their job is not just looting, it is also governing. What a novel idea.

My spies tell me that there are flu-y ducks and swans in Romania, so the bug has leaked into Europe. This is not good news.

This is Pandemic Flu Awareness Week. For more information about what you can do to prepare yourself, your family and your community, visit The Flu Wiki and add to the information, if you can. It is going to take all of us, working together, to get through the rough patches if pandemic flu comes. The USG will be hors de combat.

Oh, all those anti-virals and vaccines Bushco wants to stockpile? They don't exist and won't in the next year or two. If you are of a praying disposition, pray that the flu holds off until Bushco catches up. This is governance by wishful thinking. Look at how nicely that's working in Iraq and Afghanistan.

End of Drought

It's raining. There is just a tiny bit of thunder and lightning to make it dramatic. My part of the east coast has been in drought for most of the summer so this is greatly wonderful natural music. The Weather Channel says that it is going to rain all weekend.

I went to sleep last night and awakened this morning with rain against my deepset upstairs windows flashing, a sound I haven't heard in so long that it was great noise. I'm feeling refreshed for the weekend and hope to bring you some recipes along with the regular balance of attitude, news and commentary.

It's raining! My herb garden is lovin' it.

Just a smudge in ordinary operations

Can flu guru do the job? Critics question his credentials
By Jessica Heslam
Friday, October 7, 2005 - Updated: 07:27 AM EST

As the United States braces for a possible avian flu pandemic, the federal government's point man on the deadly virus is coming under fire. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness Stewart Simonson lacks a medical or public health management background. He received a bachelor of arts degree in 1986 and a law degree in 1994 from the University of Wisconsin, and worked as legal counsel to Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson from 1995 to 1999 before following his boss to Washington when Thompson was tapped to be Health and Human Services secretary. According to his HHS bio, Simonson previously served as corporate secretary and counsel for Amtrak. Simonson's record sparks concerns as flu fears spike. `` If the avian flu were to hit here, it would be like having a Category 5 viral hurricane hit every single state simultaneously,'' said Shelley Hearne, director of the nonprofit Trust for America's Health, yesterday. To some, Simonson's resume is disturbingly reminiscent of that of disgraced former Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown. ` `I'm concerned with what I see as a lack of field experience in Mr. Simonson's background,'' said Massachusetts Rep. Peter J. Koutoujian (D-Waltham), the house chairman of the public health committee. ` `We saw this with the former FEMA director. It looks on paper to be a political appointment. There were massive problems with that operation,'' Koutoujian said. U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) recently released a ``fact sheet'' blasting Simonson, Brown and other public safety officials. `` The Bush Administration has repeatedly appointed inexperienced individuals with political connections to important government posts, including positions with key responsibilities for public health and safety,'' the fact sheet read. ``Mr. Simonson is a lawyer, not a medical expert.

Threatening the Economy

Natural Gas's Danger Signs
Higher Costs Threaten Economic Growth, U.S. Manufacturing

By Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 7, 2005; Page D01

Soaring natural gas prices threaten to propel winter heating bills sharply higher, slow economic growth and push manufacturers overseas.

U.S. consumers could face bills averaging 48 percent higher this season than last year, according to predictions by the economic research firm Global Insight Inc. The escalating costs could cause Americans to cut back on dinners out, trips to the mall and spending, crimping U.S. economic growth. Businesses, squeezed by high energy costs, could limit expansion plans. The high prices also are pumping up inflation.

Manufacturers that use huge amounts of natural gas are scouring the world for cheaper prices and considering moving operations to ease their costs. A renewed exodus -- many companies have already shifted overseas -- could further knock back growth in the United States and boost unemployment.

Andrew N. Liveris, chief executive of Dow Chemical Co., told a hearing yesterday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the country is in a "natural gas crisis." The Midland, Mich., company, which uses large amounts of the fuel to produce chemicals, must consider locating new plants in other parts of the world, such as China and the Middle East, because of U.S. energy costs, he said.

"How can I recommend investing here?" Liveris said.

U.S. natural gas prices are among the highest in the world. Though the United States imports some natural gas, most is produced domestically. But supplies have failed to keep pace with demand.

Power plants have increasingly turned to natural gas for fuel over the past decade because it is cleaner-burning than coal. About 17 percent of the country's electricity is generated by natural gas, according to government data. Natural gas accounts for about 63 percent of energy consumed in U.S. households. The fuel heats 55 percent of the country's homes.

U.S. natural gas prices have been edging higher for years and shot up sharply in recent weeks because of hurricanes Rita and Katrina, which damaged production in the Gulf of Mexico along with onshore processing facilities.

Imports are not able to make up for the lost supplies -- as they have for oil and gasoline -- because not enough liquefied natural gas is available. Too few ships and terminals exist to handle a significant increase in imports. Domestic production, which has been flat in recent years, cannot be quickly increased without significantly more drilling, analysts said.

"There is justification for concern about natural gas prices at these levels," said Jason Schenker, an economist with Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte. "Prices now are essentially twice what they were last winter. That's likely to squeeze consumers."

The cost to heat homes with natural gas could increase about $500 this winter compared with last year, according to Global Insight in Lexington, Mass.

In the D.C. area, officials with Washington Gas forecast that consumer bills could jump as much as 32 percent compared with a year ago. The company said it put large amounts of natural gas in storage over the summer, when prices were slightly lower, which will help hold down prices a bit. Costs could increase if the winter is unusually cold and demand increases, company officials said.

Gasoline prices in the DC area are now uniformly over $3.00 a gallon. It's going to be a merry effing Christmas this year.

Way Out

WaPo political reporter Dana Milbank took part in a Live Chat with readers
this morning. This is my favorite part of the Post, the ability to interact with their reporters. They are often more forthcoming in person than they are on the inside of the A section. Today we get this interchange with a Gaithersburg, MD, reader:

Gaithersburg, Md.: President Bush looks like he is in a lose/lose situation with Harriet Meirs. Do you think she will withdraw her name from nomination and what effect will that have?

Dana Milbank:

The Miers nomination is really stunning, and now appears to be an extraordianry misstep for the White House.

If you'd asked me on Tuesday, I would have said there's no chance Bush would reverse a major decision like that -- it's just not part of his constitution.

But now he's embroiled, for the first time in his presidency, in a real fight with his base that threatens to undermine his source of power for the past five years. Bill Kristol suggested to me yesterday a face-saving way out: Miers withdraws from consideration to protect Bush, and the president can be publicly disappointed but privately relieved.

Panflu: The Background

Influenza Pandemic, Could Something Have Been Done?

By Marcela Sanchez
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, October 6, 2005; 10:30 PM

WASHINGTON -- World health officials are putting it bluntly -- that the world faces a new influenza pandemic is not a question of if but when. Whether the pandemic kills 2 million or 7.4 million people, as predicted by one expert, will hinge largely on how affected nations prepare and coordinate a response.

Health ministers from the Americas meeting here last week discussed their regional response to such a threat. The Pan American Health Organization is urging all governments to adopt immediate preparedness plans following global guidelines meant to prompt early action and containment. Most countries in the region have no such plans in place.

The predicted pandemic will undoubtedly originate as an avian flu virus. More precisely, it likely will erupt the day the deadly H5N1 influenza virus, found first in commercially produced chickens in Southeast Asia and more recently in Russia and Kazakhstan, becomes capable of jumping the species barrier and begins to spread among humans.

So as the world prepares for what looks already unavoidable, it is easy to lose sight of one basic fact: Highly virulent avian flu is easily preventable. The United States produces about 8 billion chickens every year, but those infected are in the mere thousands and only with a low pathogenic virus. That's because, according to David Suarez, lead investigator at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, "we do a good job in preventing avian influenza.''

In February 2004, the state of Delaware discovered that a flock of chickens was infected with H7 avian influenza. While the strain wasn't threatening to humans, immediate measures were taken to control it. About 72,000 chickens were killed and quarantines were imposed around the affected farms. Within months, the 23 countries that had banned imports of some or all U.S. poultry had lifted them.

But that is the United States. Things get much murkier in many other parts of the world where industrial chicken operations are growing exponentially thanks to the resettlement of large agribusinesses in search of lower operational costs. Last year in Latin America and the Caribbean, there were over 2.5 billion chickens, nearly 1 billion more than 10 years ago, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In 2004, according to the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, Brazil became the world's second-largest poultry producer, just behind the United States.

Such expansion of industrial farming in less developed countries usually is accompanied by poor surveillance and control. In 1992, for instance, an epidemic of a low pathogenic avian influenza began in Mexico and remained uncontrolled for three years, allowing the virus to transform into a highly fatal form within the country's poultry flocks.

Poor hygienic conditions in confined animal feeding operations, or factory farms, and their relative proximity to large concentrations of people compound the problem. Today, factory farms account for more than 40 percent of world meat production, up from 30 percent in 1990, according to the Worldwatch Institute's report, "Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry," released last week. Located near urban centers in countries with weak public health, occupational, and environmental standards, those farms "create the perfect environment for the spread of diseases, including outbreaks of avian flu,'' the institute said.

Sanchez overstates slightly: this is a bullet which can still be dodged, but not because we can do anything about it. The reason is because of poor surveillance in South America and Southeast Asian mass poultry farms, and cultures in which humans and poultry live intermingled.

Beyond the Mystery

In Slate this morning:

Culture of Litmus
Don't you dare judge Harriet Miers on abortion.
By William Saletan
Posted Friday, Oct. 7, 2005, at 4:51 AM PT

The day after President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, a reporter asked him whether he had ever "gleaned from her comments her views on" abortion. Bush replied that he had "no litmus test. What matters to me is her judicial philosophy." A White House spokeswoman added, "A nominee who shares the president's approach of judicial restraint would not allow personal views to affect his or her rulings based on the law."

Here we go again: Democrats pressing for a nominee's views on abortion; Republicans saying it's improper to screen nominees based on their beliefs and politics.

Let's drop the piety. Miers has already been screened for her abortion beliefs and politics by the White House and its allies. A few examples:

1. Karl Rove. According to the New York Times, Rove "started calling influential social conservatives to reassure them," in particular James Dobson. Subsequently, "Dobson said he came out to support her partly because of her faith and partly because he believed she opposed abortion. 'I have reason to believe she is pro-life,' he said." As to what Rove had told him, Dobson demurred: "Some of what I know I am not at liberty to talk about." According to the Associated Press, Dobson told his radio audience that Miers was pro-life and predicted she'd be a good justice based on "some of the things I know—that I probably shouldn't know."

2. Nathan Hecht. The Times reported that Monday morning, "the White House and the Republican Party began organizing a series of nearly a half-dozen conference calls with conservative organizers … In one call, friends of Ms. Miers, including Justice Nathan Hecht of the Texas Supreme Court, testified to her evangelical Christian faith and devoted participation in the theologically conservative Valley View Christian Church in Dallas. Mr. Hecht, in particular, assured them that she personally opposed abortion and had once attended 'pro-life' events with him, said participants in the call." The Dallas Morning News reported that Hecht, a former Rove campaign client, "worked the phones Tuesday on a mission authorized at the highest levels of the White House," spreading the good word about Miers through the press. Hecht told the Los Angeles Times, "Harriet goes to a church that is pro-life. … She gives them a lot of money. Her personal views lie in that direction." He told the Washington Post, "She thinks that after conception, it's not a balancing act—or if it is, it's a balancing of two equal lives." Presumably, Hecht made the same points on the conference calls.

3. Leonard Leo. Leo, the GOP's chairman for Catholic outreach, disseminated a memo telling conservatives that Miers "led a campaign to have the American Bar Association end its practice of supporting abortion-on-demand and taxpayer-funded abortions." According to the New York Times, Leo, enlisted by "staff members of the Senate Republican leadership," touted Miers' ABA campaign at a meeting with conservative activists.

4. Others. Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, has been proselytizing on the right for Miers. "I encourage people to connect the dots," he explained to the Los Angeles Times. "Hecht is a pro-life conservative, so we take a lot of comfort from that." Keith Appell, an influential conservative publicist, issued a statement trumpeting her $150 donation to Texans United for Life. And according to the Detroit Free Press, Sean Rushton, executive director of the Committee for Justice, said supporters are spreading "the story of Harriet Miers becoming a Christian"—a story "linked to her growing political conservatism."

I have to agree with Saletan, there is a lot less mystery here than meets the eye. Let's hope that all of these people are called to testify at the nomination hearing.

Take That!

U.N. Nuclear Agency and Its Chief Win Nobel Prize for Peace

By CRAIG S. SMITH
Published: October 7, 2005

OSLO, Oct. 7 - The International Atomic Energy Agency and its chief Mohamed ElBaradei today won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 for their work in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.

"The prize recognizes the role of multilateralism in resolving all of the challenges we are facing today," Mr. ElBaradei told a televised press conference at the agency's headquarters in Vienna. "The prize will strengthen my resolve and that of my colleagues to continue to speak truth to power."

Mr. ElBaradei, 63, has championed the peaceful use of nuclear energy while emphasizing quiet diplomacy in trying to dissuade countries from using the technology to develop weapons. He has been at the center of nonproliferation crises involving all three states that President Bush once labeled the axis of evil, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Iran and North Korea.

He faced intense pressure from Washington in the days before the 2003 American.-led invasion of Iraq, demanding more time for weapons inspectors to search the country for weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons were never found.

More recently, Mr. ElBaradei has resisted American pressure to ask the United Nations Security Council to consider sanctions against Iran for its past breaches of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, preferring to coax Iran into compliance. The agency's board finally voted to report the country to the Security Council in a watered-down resolution last month that set no timetable.

Mr. ElBaradei won a third term as chief of the I.A.E.A. earlier this year despite opposition from Washington. He had overwhelming support from the rest of the world community.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute's prize committee said it hoped that the prize will strengthen the United Nations organization and refocus energy on nonproliferation in the wake of a failure to strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty at a United Nations conference earlier this year.

"The director general has stood out as an unafraid advocate," the Nobel committee chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, said in making the announcement beneath crystal chandeliers in a small vaulted room on the third floor of the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo. He added that the I.A.E.A.'s work is of incalculable importance "at a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role."

Mr. Mjoes said the award to Mr. ElBaradei was not meant as a veiled criticism of Washington or of Mr. Bush. "This is not a kick in the legs to any country," he told reporters gathered for the announcement. A former committee chairman described the 2002 prize to former President Jimmy Carter as a "kick in the legs" to Mr. Bush.

Um, no? Well, maybe it's a poke in the eye rather than a kick in the legs.

Yet Another Incompetent

Over Here, an Earful

By Al Kamen

Friday, October 7, 2005; Page A21

Undersecretary of State Karen P. Hughes just finished her "listening" tour of the Middle East, and the reviews are coming in.

"Preachy, culturally insensitive, superficial PR blitz." -- USA Today.

"Faux Pas Trifecta; saying too much, saying the wrong thing, saying anything at all." -- the Washington Times op-ed page.

"Non-answers, canned message, macabre." -- the Los Angeles Times.

"Fiasco, lame attempt at bonding." -- Slate.com

"Painfully clueless . . . pedestrian . . . vapid . . . gushy." -- Arab News ("The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily")

"The marquee clown [in] America's circus diplomacy . . . total ineptitude . . . total disconnect." Al-Jazeerah.

This is harsh. The trip was, after all, styled a "listening tour," a chance to chat with people over there and gain some insight into their views.

And that's what she did. En route home, Hughes singled out to reporters "a really interesting meeting" with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul , who urged her to try to look at the Iraq war from the perspective of "a common man in Turkey."

"And he said: 'You know, for you all, when you're talking about Iraq, war in Iraq, and Iran and Syria, you're talking about countries over there. We're talking about our next-door neighbors,' " Hughes recalled, according to a transcript on the State Department Web site.

"And it's an interesting perspective and an important perspective that I will now try to bring to our policy debate," she said. "Not that it hasn't been present, but I consider it my job to make sure that it's really highlighted and considered."

Carrying a map of the region also might come in handy.

Hughes also defended President Bush . "I had one person at one lunch raise the issue of the president mentioning God in his speeches," she told reporters. "And I asked whether he was aware that previous American presidents have also cited God, and that our Constitution cites 'one nation under God.' "

Carrying a copy of the Constitution -- maybe also the Pledge of Allegiance -- might come in handy.

Hughes may or may not be a canny political operative, but it is pretty clear that letting her outside of the country as any kind of a public spokesperson is a pretty bad idea. But cronyism doesn't really have anything to do with competence, does it?

Panflu

A $3.9-billion first strike
# The Senate has earmarked funds in response to fears of a killer-flu pandemic. Now Washington just has to get its spending priorities straight.

By Laurie Garrett, LAURIE GARRETT is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.

PANDEMIC INFLUENZA anxieties have reached fever pitch in Washington amid growing concern that the H5N1 avian flu virus now circulating in Jakarta, Indonesia, may mutate into a human-to-human transmitter that could claim hundreds of millions of lives. After years of relegating flu preparedness to one small office inside the Department of Health and Human Services, the government, from the president on down, seems suddenly in a mad flurry to do something — anything — to prepare for disaster. Perhaps the hurricanes have taught them a lesson.

"The people of the country ought to rest assured that we're doing everything we can…. And we are," President Bush said in a news conference Tuesday. But racing around like a chicken with its head cut off (pun intended) won't put the United States any closer to safety than we were before flu anxiety hit.

For example, on Tuesday, the president suggested we might need to quarantine sections of the nation, adding, "and who best to be able to effect a quarantine? One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move."

But hold on, Mr. President: Even your own top flu experts at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control will tell you that human influenzas are so contagious there is little, if any, evidence that quarantine helps. Further, your top military leaders have told me that there is no Defense Department plan in place for the protection of active-duty personnel, much less one aimed at putting the armed forces in charge of domestic epidemic management.

Last week, the also agitated Senate, by unanimous consent, tagged a $3.9-billion "pandemic influenza preparedness" rider onto the 2006 Defense Department appropriation bill. If the House agrees to it, this would, among other things, guarantee a supply of the potentially lifesaving drug Tamiflu for about half of all Americans.

That's a start, but the White House has threatened to veto the entire bill, saying it considers the flu problem a domestic issue that shouldn't be addressed in defense appropriation legislation. The Bush administration should back down from its veto threat — especially if the president envisions a military epidemic response.

SCIENTISTS have been nervously following developments in Asia with the H5N1 avian influenza virus since it first emerged in 1996, and anxiety is rising. About three weeks ago, H5N1 broke out in Jakarta, population 9 million. About 60 suspected human cases of H5N1 have been placed under treatment there, and seven people have died. Statistics gathered since 2003 indicate that 55% of those who contract H5N1 will die of it. (In chickens, felines, ferrets and mice, H5N1 kills 100% of the time.)

For the moment, the pattern of H5N1 infection does not show that avian flu is easily transmitted from human to human. But viruses evolve quickly. The number of suspected cases in Jakarta increases the concern that H5N1 is spreading and mutating. It doesn't help that scientists studying the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic see key similarities between it and H5N1.

Last Friday, the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations approved a three-year plan that requires its 10 member nations to wage an "all-out coordinated regional effort" to quash the virus in bird populations. Similarly, the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is drawing up guidelines for controlling the virus in animals and, should it become a human epidemic, for limiting its effect on populations and economies. Last month, China's president, Hu Jintao, promised an open, scientific exchange with the United States in hopes of stemming a flu tsunami.

But the United States must do more. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) suggested last week that "we ought to wait" because avian flu "has not yet become a threat to human beings." But waiting until confirmed human-to-human transmission is underway means dooming millions to die. A human-to-human avian flu eruption would spread around our globalized world in a matter of weeks, perhaps days. The lessons of the hurricane season are clear: It costs less in lives and dollars to invest in adequate defenses than to react once disaster strikes.

Does the Senate rider do enough? The overall appropriation, $3.9 billion, may be about right, but the devil is in the details. The Senate plan sets aside 80% of that money primarily for buying Tamiflu. The other 20% would be used for global flu surveillance, bolstering local preparedness and improving flu vaccine production. The ratio isn't correct.

Tamiflu can suppress H5N1 at the beginning of infection, but it isn't a cure. It must be taken at the right time or it's ineffective. It also has not been approved for use in children. And in some adults, it may only partly suppress the virus, leaving them ambulatory carriers of infection. On top of that, the latest scientific studies indicate that some H5N1 viruses may already be resistant to the drug.

That means that instead of spending most of the appropriation on Tamiflu, we should demand that the pharmaceutical industry rev up flu vaccine production and then use some of the $3.9 billion to pull genuine innovations out of the lab and into quick mass production. Further, a hefty percentage of that money should be spent on helping Los Angeles and other cities and states prepare: Where will they put all the patients? The bodies? How will they feed house-bound millions? How can they keep the economies and machineries of their jurisdictions running while a deadly pandemic holds them in its grip for more than a year?

Still, the Senate plan is a step in responding to an urgent need. The House should fine-tune it, and the president should sign it into law. As Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said Thursday: "It's the midnight hour. We have to get moving … now, not next year, not after some study group in the White House bangs this thing around for another three months." He's absolutely right.

It's a 700 word op-ed and Garrett has to leave a lot out. She touches on but can't elaborate on stockpiling, social and economic churning and the many other issues around pandemic flu. Since this is Pandemic Flu Awareness Week, you can go to The Flu Wiki and learn about the ways that you can prepare to take care of yourself, your family and your community.

Small Achievements

Bush Says 10 Plots by Al Qaeda Were Foiled
Speech Aims to Rally U.S. Support for War

By Peter Baker and Susan B. Glasser
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 7, 2005; Page A01

The United States and its allies have thwarted at least 10 serious al Qaeda terrorist plots since Sept. 11, 2001, including never-before-disclosed plans to use hijacked commercial airliners to attack the East and West coasts in 2002 and 2003, President Bush and his aides said yesterday.

The reported plots aimed to strike a wide variety of targets, including the Library Tower in Los Angeles, ships in international waters and a tourist site overseas, the White House said last night. Three of the 10 were directed at U.S. soil, officials said. The government, they added, also stopped five al Qaeda efforts to case possible targets or infiltrate operatives into the country.

Most of the plots were previously reported in some form; a few were revealed yesterday. The White House had never before placed a number or compiled a public list of the foiled attempts to follow up the Sept. 11 attacks, but it offered scant information beyond the location and general date of each reported plot -- making it difficult to assess last night how serious or advanced they were or what role the government played in preventing them.

Bush cited the disrupted plans in a speech yesterday intended to shore up sagging public support for the war in Iraq and address more extensively than ever before the philosophical framework undergirding Islamic extremism. The radical movement, he said, goes beyond "isolated acts of madness," animated by a coherent philosophy akin to Soviet Communism and Nazi fascism with the goal to "establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia."

"While the killers choose their victims indiscriminately, their attacks serve a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs and goals that are evil but not insane," the president said. The disruption of some plots, he said, means that "the enemy is wounded but the enemy is still capable of global operations."

Bush singled out Syria and Iran for condemnation, calling them "allies of convenience" of Islamic radicals "with a long history of collaboration with terrorists" and saying they "deserve no patience from the victims of terror." He rebuffed calls to withdraw from Iraq, dismissing the "dangerous illusion" that pulling out would make the United States safer. And he rejected the argument that the Iraq war has only fostered terrorism, a position taken even by some in government.

The 40-minute address to the National Endowment for Democracy outlined no new strategy for the nation's four-year-old battle with al Qaeda but inserted Bush directly into the underlying war of ideas, as many security specialists have been urging for some time. In the past few years he has avoided personalizing the conflict for fear of building up terrorist leaders, but yesterday he talked repeatedly and in unusually personal terms about Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of the insurgency in Iraq.

Bin Laden, Bush said, deludes his followers into becoming suicide bombers. "He assures them that . . . this is the road to paradise -- though he never offers to go along for the ride," Bush said.

The president likewise quoted Zarqawi calling Americans "the most cowardly of God's creatures" and offered a direct rebuttal. "Let's be clear," he said. "It is cowardice that seeks to kill children and the elderly with car bombs and cuts the throat of a bound captive and targets worshipers leaving a mosque."

In the speech, Bush cited the numbers of disrupted plots and casings without giving details, and at first White House spokesmen were unable to document them. After scrambling all day and debating how much could be disclosed in response to media inquiries, the White House produced a list last night.

The three plots targeting U.S. territory included the well-known case of Jose Padilla, who was arrested after he allegedly explored a possible radiological "dirty bomb" attack, and two plans to use hijacked planes to attack the West Coast in mid-2002 and the East Coast in mid-2003. The White House document gave no further details about the timing or targets of the latter two.

ThinkProgress does a little fact checking and discovers that W's security record doesn't look so hot. Why is this not a surprise from our B- president?

Those ten cases? Three have documentation, the rest are "classified." Mr. Security Bubble hasn't done shit to make you or me safer. But I doubt that's news.

Watch the rats run

In Shift, FEMA Will Seek Bids for Gulf Work

By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ and ERIC LIPTON
Published: October 7, 2005

WASHINGTON, October 6 - The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told a Senate panel on Thursday that the agency would seek new bids on $400 million worth of contracts that had originally been awarded with no competition in the Katrina recovery effort.

In announcing the move, R. David Paulison, the agency's acting director, responded to sharp criticism after FEMA suspended normal contracting rules in the frantic first days of trying to help storm victims and rebuild the Gulf Coast.

The contracts up for bidding - worth up to $100 million each - were awarded to four giant firms specializing in construction, engineering and consulting, said Nicol Andrews, an agency spokeswoman. The businesses have long records of work for the federal government, and some have executives or lobbyists with close ties to the Bush administration.

Mr. Paulison did not indicate that his agency had found anything inappropriate in the contract awards, but he appeared to agree with critics who have warned that awarding contracts without bids could result in abuse and waste.

"I've never been a fan of no-bid contracts," Mr. Paulison said in an appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "All of those no-bid contracts we are going to go back and rebid."

Agency officials acknowledged that they had rushed in awarding the contracts and say they now have time to reconsider them. They can re-open the process because the four companies have already exceeded a $50,000 minimum threshold that allows the agency to terminate the deals. The recovery effort will not be slowed during the bidding because the contractors will continue to perform work, agency officials said.

The four contracts up for rebidding were awarded early last month to The Shaw Group of Baton Rouge, La., Fluor Corporation of Aliso Viejo, Calif., Bechtel National of San Francisco and CH2M Hill of Denver. They have already won commitments from FEMA for a total of $125 million in work, identifying sites for trailers and mobile homes for Hurricane Katrina evacuees and then installing the housing across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Government watchdog groups have been raising questions from the moment these contracts were awarded. The Shaw Group's lobbyist is Joe M. Allbaugh, the former FEMA director and a friend of President Bush. Bechtel has ties to the Republican Party; George Shultz, the former secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, is on the corporation's board, and Riley P. Bechtel, the chairman and chief executive, served on President Bush's Export Council.

Man, it's amazing how much quicker Congress is to react to obvious, no holds barred looting when it takes place on your backdoor instead of your new rental property on the other side of town.

Personally, I think a copy of this list needs to be mailed to every small and medium sized business owner in the Gulf region. Maybe some of them after reading the list will stop voting against their own self interests.

A good friend of mine who was at Tulane with me and is currently relocated in Mississippi says that she thinks the '06 elections will be a real eye opener... less llike '94 and more like a '32. People are beyond mad and the party in power is the one getting the blame. It's going to take more than the fear of gay weddings or President Hillary to make the voters forget Katrina or how badly their leaders have rected to it.

Toxic River

Via Suze:

Senators Accuse EPA of Minimizing Health Hazards in New Orleans.

By John Heilprin Associated Press Writer

Published: Oct 6, 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration was accused Thursday by senators in both parties of minimizing health hazards from the toxic soup left by Hurricane Katrina, just as they said it did with air pollution in New York from the Sept. 11 attacks.

More than a month after the storm, compounded by Hurricane Rita, Environmental Protection Agency officials said 1 million people lack clean drinking water around New Orleans. Some 70 million tons of hazardous waste remain on the Gulf Coast.

While EPA officials have warned of serious health hazards from bacteria, chemicals and metals in the region's floodwaters and sediment, they haven't taken a position on New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's aggressive push to reopen the city.

"EPA may not be providing people with the clear information they need," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. "EPA should be clear about the actual risks when people return to the affected areas for more than one day."

A week ago, on a visit to the Gulf Coast, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson stopped short of judging Nagin's plan to allow certain New Orleans residents and business people back into the city. Johnson said it created "a myriad" of potential health concerns, and the agency was "very concerned about the opening of those parts of the city."

Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee also were skeptical of post-Katrina work being done by EPA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.

"The people of New Orleans need to feel safe, need to feel like there's a plan," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La.

The committee's chairman, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., expressed skepticism about the two-page government handouts on environmental and public health risks that EPA helped compile.

"It bothers me a little bit," Inhofe said. "How many people are going to see the report?"

EPA Deputy Administrator Marcus Peacock said thousands of copies are being delivered door-to-door, at relief centers and other public places.

But Peacock acknowledged "room for improvement" in handling the Katrina cleanup and recovery. Agency workers first helped save 800 people's lives, then shifted to contaminant monitoring before focusing on long-range cleanups.

"We've been through a sprint, and now we're staging a marathon," he said. EPA is now assessing 54 Superfund toxic waste sites in the paths of Katrina and Rita. So far, Peacock said, there have been no signs of chemicals released or ruptures in the waste containers.

Samples of floodwater and sediment in the Gulf Region have shown high levels of bacteria, fecal contamination, metals, fuel oils, arsenic and lead. Air monitoring has shown high levels of ethylene and glycol. EPA said the results are "snapshots" that can quickly change.

Sen. James Jeffords, I-Vt., called the government's response to Katrina "apparent chaos."

Some recalled the Bush administration's response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, when the White House directed EPA officials to minimize the health risk posed by the cloud of smoke from the World Trade Center collapse. Within 10 days of those attacks, EPA issued five news releases reassuring the public about air quality without testing for contaminants such as PCBs and dioxin.

It was only nine months later - after respiratory ailments began showing up in workers cleaning up the debris and residents of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn - that EPA could point to any scientific evidence, saying then that air quality had returned to pre-Sept. 11 levels.

"I hope that we're not seeing history repeat itself," said Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.

Everybody I know who lived in lower Manhattan or Brooklyn after 9-11 has a permanent respiratory problem that they didn't have before. Here we go again and I'm freakin' tired of it. Government is supposed to solve human problems, not cause them. Bushco is America turned on its head.

Good Bread and the Things to Put on It

After a very droughty summer, there is finally thunder and lightening in the neighborhood. I don't know when I've welcomed it more, the herb garden is parched.

Here is something you can make with your early fall basil that will keep it around through the winter. I eat this for breakfast in the morning on hearty baguettes or solid Italian bread.

1 cup (lightly packed) fresh basil leaves - the fresher the better!
1 cup white vinegar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cups water">
6 1/2 cups sugar
Two 3 oz. pouches Certo liquid pectin
Green food coloring (just enough to give it a nice emerald green color,
about 7 drops or up to 1 teaspoon full)

Place the basil leaves, lemon juice and vinegar in an 8 to 10 quart sauce
pot. The larger size is necessary since this recipe boils up a LOT. Let
the basil, lemon juice and vinegar stand while you are measuring the two
cups water. Add the water and food coloring. Heat almost to
boil, stirring to blend, then add all the sugar at once. Stir to
dissolve sugar. Bring to hard boil, add two 3-ounce pouches of Certo
liquid pectin, 6 ounces total. (Make sure to get as much of the 6 ounces
as you can into the kettle, and not all over your hands and stove, like I
normally do! The jelly will not set without all the pectin.) Bring back
to boil, boil hard for 1 minute or until jelly point is reached. Remove
from heat. Remove basil leaves with slotted spoon. Pour immediately
into hot, sterilized 1/2 pint jars, seal and process 10 minutes in
boiling water bath. Makes 6 to 7 half pints.

This recipe produces a nicely set jelly that is sweet, but with a real
kick to it! Personally, I like to use 4 different types of basil leaves
in the recipe to add up to one cup, but you may use what you like. This
receipe can also be used for other herbs, like oregano, rosemary, mint,
parsley, thyme, etc.

I've never made it with Rosemary, but imagine that it would be wonderful served with bread on the side of a turkey dinner (hmm, maybe I'll bring it to Thanksgiving dinner this year... The rosemary had a real successful summer in the garden.)

Panflu: Today's Wrap

On the panflu beat, the reveres have been extraordinarily prolific today. This is Pandemic Influenza Awareness Week. Click on the link and go visit the reveres at Effect Measure. They are cranking out some exceptional work. Stuff you need to know about Tamiflu and Relenza.

Today has been another heavy panflu day. I hope you'll forgive the big posting holes today. I'm pretty fried, so the guest posters can chime in if they are in better shape than I this evening. I'm going to be on the West Coast next month for a big flu conference. If you are in the Bay area and have time to get together, email me.

Turdblossom to Testify

Rove Said to Testify in CIA Leak Case

By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th-hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer's leaked identity but have warned they cannot guarantee he won't be indicted, according to people directly familiar with the investigation.

The persons, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy, said Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has not made any decision yet on whether to file criminal charges against the longtime confidant of
President Bush or others.

The U.S. attorney's manual requires prosecutors not to bring witnesses before a grand jury if there is a possibility of future criminal charges unless they are notified in advance that their grand jury testimony can be used against them in a later indictment.

Rove has already made at least three grand jury appearances and his return at this late stage in the investigation is unusual.

The prosecutor did not give Rove similar warnings before his earlier grand jury appearances.

Rove offered in July to return to the grand jury for additional testimony and Fitzgerald accepted that offer Friday after taking grand jury testimony from the formerly jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

Before accepting the offer, Fitzgerald sent correspondence to Rove's legal team making clear that there was no guarantee he wouldn't be indicted at a later point as required by the rules.

Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, said Thursday he would not comment on any ongoing discussion he has had with Fitzgerald's office but that he has been assured no decisions on charges have been made. Rove would first have to receive what is known as a target letter if he is about to be indicted.

"I can say categorically that Karl has not received a target letter from the special counsel. The special counsel has confirmed that he has not made any charging decisions in respect to Karl," Luskin said.

He said that Rove "continues to be cooperative voluntarily" with the special counsel investigation and "beyond that, any communication I have or may have in the future are going to be treated as completely confidential."

For almost two years, Fitzgerald has been investigating whether someone in the Bush administration leaked the identity of Valerie Plame as a CIA officer for political reasons. Dozens of government officials were interviewed and boxloads of documents collected.

Reporters have been called before a grand jury to testify about their conversations with Rove and I. Lewis Libby, Vice President
Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

Leaking the identity of a covert agent can be a crime, but it must be done knowingly and the legal threshold for proving such a crime is high. Fitzgerald could also seek charges against anyone he thinks lied to investigators in the case.

Hmm. Smells like a perjury, obstruction and/or conspiracy indictments coming down.

Bird Flu Update

Changes Cited in Bird Flu Virus
Deadly Strain Acquiring Mutations Similar to Those in Reconstructed 1918 Virus

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 6, 2005; Page A03

The strain of avian influenza virus that has led to the deaths of 140 million birds and 60 people in Asia in the past two years appears to be slowly acquiring genetic changes typical of the "Spanish flu" virus that killed 50 million people nearly a century ago, researchers said yesterday.

How far "bird flu" virus has traveled down the evolutionary path to becoming a pandemic virus is unknown. Nor is it certain that the much-feared strain, designated as influenza A/H5N1, will ever acquire all the genetic features necessary for rapid, worldwide spread.

Nevertheless, the similarities between the Spanish flu virus of 1918 and the H5N1 strain slowly spreading through Asia provide unusually concrete evidence of how dangerous the newer virus is. At least four of its eight genes now contain mutations seen in the deadly strain that circled the globe during and after World War I.

"These H5N1 viruses might be acquiring the ability to adapt to humans, increasing their pandemic risk . . . there is a suggestion there may be some parallel evolution going on," said Jeffery K. Taubenberger, a molecular pathologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Rockville.

The comparison of the old and new flu viruses is the first practical use of a science-fiction-like scenario that concluded yesterday with the release of two papers, one by the journal Science and the other by its chief competitor, Nature.

After 10 years of work, Taubenberger and his team succeeded in reconstructing the Spanish flu virus, which was responsible for the deadliest epidemic since the Black Death of the Middle Ages. Reborn in mid-August at a high-security laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the pathogen appears in animal experiments to be as lethal as it was in humans 87 years ago.

The report came as the United States, many other countries and the World Health Organization are making increasingly urgent preparations for a new flu pandemic.

The Department of Health and Human Services is stockpiling antiviral drugs and is buying enough experimental bird flu vaccine to inoculate 20 million people. President Bush said in a news conference this week that he is considering the use of the military to enforce quarantines, if necessary, and that the government's long-awaited pandemic plan will be released soon.

What makes the accomplishment reported yesterday so remarkable is that no intact samples of the Spanish flu virus exist.

When the pandemic occurred in 1918 and early 1919 -- only American Samoa and parts of Iceland appear to have been spared -- microbiologists did not know for certain what caused it. (The influenza virus was not identified until 1933.) Although biologists were later able to deduce the broad family of influenza viruses the 1918 strain came from, its genetic identity was lost.

Taubenberger and his colleagues were able to piece together the 1918 virus's genes from two unconventional sources. One was fingernail-size pieces of lung tissue, preserved in wax after the autopsies of two soldiers who were among the pandemic's 675,000 American victims. The other source was the frozen body of an Inuit woman who died of influenza in November 1918 and was buried in the permafrost.

Unless new techniques for vaccine manufacture are used, there will be no vaccine until 6-12 months after the pandemic strain appears in humans. Dr. Brown should know better than that, but he and I have crossed swords before.

Change in the Weather

The Sales Calls Begin on Capitol Hill, but Some Aren't Buying

By Dana Milbank

Thursday, October 6, 2005; Page A04

The woman President Bush called the most qualified person in America to sit on the Supreme Court arrived early yesterday morning for her courtesy call on Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.). They talked about the weather.

"After Hurricane Katrina hit, it was 108 in Austin," the senator noted, calling it "unseasonably hot."

When Cornyn moved on to extoll the pleasures of Austin, Harriet Miers ventured her first opinion. "I agree," she said. "It's a great place."

Cornyn looked around. "What else should we talk about?" he wondered out loud.

The way things have been going since Bush nominated Miers on Monday, they'd have been well advised to stick with the weather.

Conservative columnist George Will, in yesterday morning's Post, found no evidence that Miers "possesses talents commensurate with the Supreme Court's tasks." At a morning meeting, conservative leaders told White House adviser Ed Gillespie of their unhappiness. And Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) told MSNBC he is "not comfortable with the nominee," asking rhetorically: "Is she the most qualified person? Clearly, the answer to that is 'no.' "

Whatever her qualifications are, Miers's optimism cannot be disputed. "We're having a good morning," she said after her first meeting, with Cornyn. By the time she arrived at her second meeting, with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), she raised the assessment. "It's a great morning, thanks very much," she said.

Miers sat silently and stiffly, hands folded in lap and legs crossed at the ankles, as Cornyn said "she fills a very real and important gap" on a Supreme Court filled with Ivy Leaguers and Beltway intellectuals. Miers nodded when the senator called her a "real leader." The pair finished their 45-minute private talk with 10 minutes to spare. After the nominee departed, Cornyn pleaded with conservatives to "reserve judgment" and promised that she has "ample qualifications" and is an "engaging person."

Cornyn, the administration's most loyal defender in the Senate, was trying to heal a rare rift between Bush and the conservative intelligentsia, which has openly challenged Miers's aptitude -- starting Monday morning, when conservative activist Manuel Miranda called her "possibly the most unqualified choice since Abe Fortas."

With understatement, Cornyn acknowledged the conundrum. "The president has disarmed some of his critics," he said, "but also made some of his supporters nervous."

Bush has also delighted late-night comics with the nomination. David Letterman came up with a "Top Ten Signs Your Supreme Court Pick Isn't Qualified" (8. "Her legal mentor: Oliver Wendell Redenbacher"). Liberal bloggers have dug up then-Sen. Roman Hruska's 1970 defense of doomed Supreme Court nominee G. Harrold Carswell: "[T]here are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. Aren't they entitled to a little representation and a little chance?"

Paying her call on Leahy yesterday, Miers again found herself in a meteorological colloquy. She wanted to know whether the leaves were changing in Vermont. "This weekend was especially nice," Leahy informed her, suggesting the assembled photographers all visit his home state.

Isn't this a lovely level of public discourse about the Republic and the law?

Friend of W

New Questions From the Right on Court Pick

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: October 6, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 - A growing chorus of conservatives from Republican senators to the columnist George F. Will cast skepticism on Wednesday on President Bush's selection of Harriet E. Miers for the Supreme Court, expressing worry not only about unanswered questions on her legal philosophy but also about her legal credentials.

"There are a lot more people - men, women and minorities - that are more qualified, in my opinion, by their experience than she is," Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, told MSNBC on Wednesday. "Right now, I'm not satisfied with what I know. I'm not comfortable with the nomination, so we'll just have to work through the process."

Senator George Allen, Republican of Virginia, considered a potential presidential candidate, said that "people who I have a great deal of admiration for" had said they were "disappointed or deflated" by the choice.

"I want to be assured that she is not going to be another Souter," Mr. Allen said, referring to Justice David H. Souter, a George H. W. Bush appointee who has upheld abortion rights and other liberal precedents. "I understand the president knows her well, but I don't."

The administration sent Ed Gillespie, the former Republican Party chairman helping to shepherd Ms. Miers through Senate hearings, to shore up support at a weekly meeting of conservative organizers convened Wednesday by the strategist Grover Norquist. There, Mr. Gillespie was pelted by criticism that the president had failed to pick a committed conservative or a legal star.

"There was pretty much unanimity," said one conservative who spoke anonymously because confidentiality was a condition of the meeting. "Morale is low right now at the base."

Ms. Miers, meanwhile, continued her rounds of Capitol Hill. Senator Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio, pronounced her "tough as nails" after an hourlong meeting with her. Responding to criticism that Ms. Miers had never been a judge, Mr. DeWine praised the breadth of her practical experience in the White House and in her long career as a private lawyer. "She is somebody who has gone out late at night to get someone out of jail," Mr. DeWine said she had told him.

None of the senators who spoke with her said they discussed constitutional issues. "She listens more than she talks," said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah.

Democrats, delighted by the division on the right, pushed Ms. Miers to repudiate assurances about her views that the administration has reportedly made through private conversations or closed conference calls with conservatives. "No Supreme Court nomination should be conducted by winks and nods," said Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

After a meeting on Wednesday of the so-called Gang of 14, a bipartisan group of senators who agreed earlier to block filibusters against judicial nominees except in "extraordinary circumstances," several members of both parties said they agreed that so far Ms. Miers "did not set off alarm bells," as Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, put it. If the Republican majority of 55 senators votes on party lines, a filibuster would be the only way Democrats could block a nominee.

On Wednesday, however, the Democrats mostly stood back as conservatives took aim at the selection of Ms. Miers. Mr. Will, a conservative essayist, made the case for her rejection in a syndicated column published on Wednesday. "There is no evidence that she is among the leading lights of American jurisprudence, or that she possesses talents commensurate with the Supreme Court's tasks," he wrote.

If 100 legal experts had each recommended 100 top candidates for the Supreme Court, Mr. Will added, "Miers's name probably would not have appeared in any of the 10,000 places on those lists."

Once again, the only thing that recommends her for the job is that she is a friend of W's. He doesn't appear to surround himself with a lot of raw talent.

The Power of Appointments

The Next Alan Greenspan

The job of chairman of the Federal Reserve Board is too important for another taste of cronyism.

The job of chairman of the Federal Reserve Board is one of the biggest and most important in Washington, and given President Bush's record of appointing his pals to fill every position from Supreme Court justice to director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it's small wonder there is a lot of fretting about who will be tapped to succeed Alan Greenspan.

During his news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Bush made reassuring noises aimed at global markets. "It's important that whomever I pick is viewed as an independent person from politics," the president said. "It's this independence of the Fed that gives people not only here in America, but the world, confidence."

Sounds great. But this is also the same man who said during that same news conference that he believes that Harriet Miers, his onetime personal lawyer and present White House counsel, who has never been a judge, is the most qualified of all the people in the United States to be a Supreme Court justice. The president's aides have made it clear that he wants someone at the Fed with whom he can have a rapport. That should be the last thing on the president's mind for this job, but we know from bitter experience that Mr. Bush often places feeling comfortable with an appointee above actual competence. It's just that kind of thinking that landed America with Michael Brown at FEMA and John Snow at the Treasury Department.

Mr. Snow's lackluster tenure at the Treasury, in particular, says a lot about Mr. Bush's detachment from economic policy. The hapless Mr. Snow, who thankfully is on no one's list for Fed chairman, remains completely removed from any real policy making within the administration. His biggest role at the Treasury has been as cheerleader for Mr. Bush's tax cuts and salesman for his misbegotten plan to privatize Social Security.

The four names circulating around Washington are Martin Feldstein, a Bush adviser on Social Security and an economics professor at Harvard; Glenn Hubbard, Mr. Bush's former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and now dean of Columbia University Business School; Lawrence Lindsey, the former director of the White House National Economic Council; and Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Two of them - Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Feldstein - come with some independent credentials. Mr. Bernanke is deeply conservative, economists say, but respected for independent thinking and not inclined to wear that conservatism on his sleeve. Mr. Feldstein has pushed for Social Security privatization, but in the past criticized deficits run up by Ronald Reagan, for whom he was working at the time, to the everlasting ire of many Republicans. That hardly makes him a shoo-in for the job, but those are exactly the independent traits that Mr. Bush should be looking for if he is indeed serious about appointing a Fed chairman who isn't politically beholden to the White House.

A mediocre intelligence is unlikely to surround himself with geniuses.

Open Thread

Sorry for the light posting. Almost all of my time is being spent on avian flu right now, and it is going to be like this for the rest of the week as I work with colleagues and friends to plan a major conference later this fall. Unfortunately, the avian flu isn't going away, as much as I would like it to.

Another Competence Breakdown

Oct. 5, 2005 — Both the FBI and CIA are calling it the first case of espionage in the White House in modern history

Officials tell ABC News the alleged spy worked undetected at the White House for almost three years. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, was a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I don't know of a case where the vetting broke down before and resulted in a spy being in the White House," said Richard Clarke, a former White House advisor who is now an ABC News consultant.

Federal investigators say Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers.

In 2000, Aragoncillo worked on the staff of then-Vice President Al Gore. When interviewed by Philippine television, he remarked how valued Philippine employees were at the White House.

"I think what they like most is our integrity and loyalty," Aragoncillo said.

Classified Material Transferred by E-Mail

Officials say the classified material, which Aragoncillo stole from the vice president's office, included damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines. He then passed those on to opposition politicians planning a coup in the Pacific nation.

"Even though it's not for the Russians or some other government, the fact that it occurred at the White House is a matter of great concern," said John Martin, who was the government's lead espionage prosecutor for 26 years.

Last year, after leaving the Marines, Aragoncillo was caught by the FBI while he worked for the Bureau at an intelligence center at Fort Monmouth, N.J.

According to a criminal complaint, Aragoncillo was arrested last month and accused of downloading more than 100 classified documents from FBI computers.

"The information was transferred mostly by e-mails," said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie at the time of Aragoncillo's arrest.

Since that arrest, officials say Aragoncillo has started to cooperate. He has admitted to spying while working on the staff of Vice President Cheney's office.

The Bushies like loyalty. I'd prefer competence.

Bad Science Reporting

This is a very poorly reported story that everyone has been sending me for the last day. In it, NYT science reporter Gina Kolata tries to tell us something and fails miserably in every paragraph. Here is what she is trying to tell you and failing:

Better understanding of the historical genetic roots of avian influenza might help us better understand the disease mechanisms of the pandemic flu now staring us in the face.

Experts Unlock Clues to Spread of 1918 Flu Virus
By GINA KOLATA
Published: October 6, 2005

The 1918 influenza virus, the cause of one of history's most deadly epidemics, has been reconstructed and found to be a bird flu that jumped directly to humans, two teams of federal and university scientists announced yesterday.

It was the culmination of work that began a decade ago and involved fishing tiny fragments of the 1918 virus from snippets of lung tissue from two soldiers and an Alaskan woman who died in the 1918 pandemic. The soldiers' tissue had been saved in an Army pathology warehouse, and the woman had been buried in permanently frozen ground..

"This is huge, huge, huge," said John Oxford, a professor of virology at St. Bartholomew's and the Royal London Hospital who was not part of the research team. "It's a huge breakthrough to be able to put a searchlight on a virus that killed 50 million people. I can't think of anything bigger that's happened in virology for many years."

The scientists painstakingly traced the genetic sequence, synthesized the virus using tools of molecular biology, and infected mice and human lung cells with it in a secure laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The research is being published in the journals Nature and Science.

The findings, the scientists say, reveal a small number of genetic changes that may explain why this virus was so lethal. It is significantly different from flu viruses that caused the more recent pandemics of 1957 and 1968. Those viruses were not bird flu viruses but instead were human flu viruses that picked up a few genetic elements of bird flu.

Why any of this is important to you is not contained in Gina Kolata's report.

Sadly, this is the state of medical and science reporting in the US right now.

For the Price of a Song

I expect to be governed by hacks most of the time. That isn't news. But when a pandemic flu is brewing, I'd like to have some doctors and scientists involved. These things don't come around every election cycle, so once in a while it would be nice to have the competent in the leadership.

Then, today, I get this in my email. Unqualified Crony in Charge of Pandemic Response
Posted on 10.05.05 by wieland @ 4:15 pm

This story may sound very familiar.

The National Response Plan (NRP), whose formulation was headed by the Department of Homeland Security, is intended to serve as the blueprint to the response to a host of possible disasters and terrorist attacks. The NRP contains several annexes which serve as situation-based response plans called Emergency Support Functions. “Function #8″ is the Public Health and Medical Services Annex and it tasks the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) leadership in responding to a health crisis, such as a flu pandemic, through the Assistant Scretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness (ASPHEP).

The former Assistant Secretary, John Hauer, is now director of the Response to Emergencies and Disasters Institute at The George Washington University. Prior to being appointed as assistant secretary, Hauer served as Director of Emergency Management for New York City. Hauer is a gradaute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and has served on the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine’s Committee to Evaluate R&D; Needs for Improved Civilian Medical Response to Chemical and Biological Terrorism.

His succesor, appointed in 2003 as ASPHEP, is Stewart Simonson. Like Michael Brown at FEMA, Brown is a lawyer who was close to a political benefactor. Simonson graduated from the University of Wisconsin law school in 1994 and served as legal counsel to Tommy Thompson while he was governor of Wisconsin from 1995 to 1999. Simonson then followed Thompson to Washington when the governor was appointed as head of HHS. Simonson’s bio at HHS states that “from 2001-2003, he was the HHS Deputy General Counsel and provided legal advice and counsel to the Secretary on public health preparedness matters. Prior to joining HHS, Simonson served as corporate secretary and counsel for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK).”

Congressman Henry Waxman has recently pointed to Simonson as an example where Bush has “repeatedly appointed inexperienced individuals with political connections to important government posts, including positions with key responsibilities for public health and safety.”

In addition to being very close to Thompson, Simonson has given generously to the Bush political machine. The website, Political Money Line’s contribution database shows that he contributed $3,000 to various Bush-Cheney committees in the 2004 election cycle and gave $250 to the RNC. (Which for a $134,000 a year job is more than chump change.)

The Washington Drug Letter published an article in its December 2004 issue in which Hauer was harshly critical of Simonson:

Speaking as part of a biodefense panel in Washington, D.C. Dec. 15, Jerome Hauer, formerly
the Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness (ASPHEP) at HHS, said the $877 million contract awarded to VaxGen to produce a new anthrax vaccine was insufficient. He also insinuated poor policymaking has left the country vulnerable to terrorist attacks using weapons of mass destruction.

Hauer faulted the current management at the ASPHEP Office, including acting secretary Stewart
Simonson, for not being better prepared to handle its duties. He called for the creation of a new federal
office to coordinate U.S. biodefense activities.
. . .
“The decisions being made do not appear to have a sound basis,” said Hauer, currently senior
vice president of government relations for consulting firm Fleishman-Hillard.

Last spring, Simonson came under fire from several Republican senators as well. Idaho Senator Larry Craig, during a Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing in April questioned the acquisition process for influenza vaccine:

Noting that the flu can be lethal to some populations such as the elderly, Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said the country was unprepared to deal with a possible flu pandemic.

Simonson . . . stopped short of agreeing with Craig’s assessment, but said “it would pose an enormous challenge.”

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Gregg also questioned if the process used by Simonson’s office to award vaccine development contracts ensured open competition and delivery to prevent a vaccine shortfall.

“Are we creating the same situation with anthrax?” Gregg asked, referring to the flu vaccine shortfall last winter.

Although Simonson said the different agreements show that they are “seeking not to put all our eggs in one basket,” he added that he remains unsure if the contract award process is being done right. “We’re learning as we go,” he said.

The bottom line is that there is a risk of a flu pandemic that could kill millions of people worldwide if it is able to jump from human to human. Hurricane Katrina amply demonstrated what happens when underqualified yet well-connected lawyers are in charge.

Melanie here: this isn't new news to most of us. Our "leaders" are completely unprepared. We are going to have to lead. Whether we like it or not.

Posted by Melanie at 11:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

The Newest Scandal

Espionage Case Breaches the White House
Accused Marine Worked in Vice President's Office
Spy

Federal investigators say Leandro Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers. (ABC News)
By BRIAN ROSS and RICHARD ESPOSITO

Oct. 5, 2005 — Both the FBI and CIA are calling it the first case of espionage in the White House in modern history.

Officials tell ABC News the alleged spy worked undetected at the White House for almost three years. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, was a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I don't know of a case where the vetting broke down before and resulted in a spy being in the White House," said Richard Clarke, a former White House advisor who is now an ABC News consultant.

Federal investigators say Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers.

In 2000, Aragoncillo worked on the staff of then-Vice President Al Gore. When interviewed by Philippine television, he remarked how valued Philippine employees were at the White House.

"I think what they like most is our integrity and loyalty," Aragoncillo said.

Classified Material Transferred by E-Mail

Officials say the classified material, which Aragoncillo stole from the vice president's office, included damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines. He then passed those on to opposition politicians planning a coup in the Pacific nation.

"Even though it's not for the Russians or some other government, the fact that it occurred at the White House is a matter of great concern," said John Martin, who was the government's lead espionage prosecutor for 26 years.

Last year, after leaving the Marines, Aragoncillo was caught by the FBI while he worked for the Bureau at an intelligence center at Fort Monmouth, N.J.

According to a criminal complaint, Aragoncillo was arrested last month and accused of downloading more than 100 classified documents from FBI computers.

"The information was transferred mostly by e-mails," said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie at the time of Aragoncillo's arrest.

Since that arrest, officials say Aragoncillo has started to cooperate. He has admitted to spying while working on the staff of Vice President Cheney's office.

If your mouth isn't hanging open, you aren't paying attention.

Posted by Melanie at 07:35 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

What Drives Us

The Rumor Mill

By Anne Applebaum

Wednesday, October 5, 2005; Page A23

Did you know that a monster crocodile was fished out of the New Orleans floodwaters? Had you realized that sharks were swimming through the submerged streets of the Lower Ninth Ward? Did you see the photographs of Katrina, the ones showing the hurricane menacing New Orleans like a Wizard of Oz cartoon twister? In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, all of those rumors were present on the Internet in one form or another. I personally received the crocodile photograph -- an authentic picture, apparently, taken in Congo some years ago.

Yet although all of these rumors were in the air -- or in the cyber-air, to be more precise -- none of them took hold. Few people were worried about monster crocodiles or sharks. The fake photographs of Katrina looking like the thing that blew Dorothy out of Kansas somehow never made it onto the evening news. Nevertheless, many did believe the other rumors: the babies being raped, the rat-gnawed corpses floating in the streets, the police officers being shot point-blank in the head, or the snipers firing at helicopters. These reports surfaced not only in mass e-mails but also on talk shows and in the press around the world. And now it seems that they were no more real than the man-eating sharks. Although investigations by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the New Orleans police and the National Guard have turned up a few bad incidents, none of the more grotesque stories of the horrors at the convention center or the Superdome can be substantiated.

Where did they come from? For once, it's really not possible to blame "the media," although naturally many have. For once, the sociologists -- and there's a whole flock of them who study rumors -- have something interesting to add. They point out that the main influence on whether people believe rumors is the reliability of the sources -- in this case, senior New Orleans officials. Some of the stories of infant rape came from New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. The tales of armed gangs of thugs outgunning the police in the convention center came from the New Orleans police chief, Edwin Compass. More important, both told these stories on television, to Oprah Winfrey -- possibly the most trusted woman in the nation.

But there was more. In fact, New Orleans post-Katrina was a textbook example -- or perhaps I should say the perfect storm -- of the conditions that rumors require to flourish. A lack of good communications is always a precondition for phony stories, and the telephones in New Orleans were down. A few true examples of bad behavior, inevitably embellished in the retelling, always help too -- and according to the Times Picayune, one of the four bodies (not 200, as rumored) recovered from the convention center might really have had stab wounds. Gunshots really were heard. As National Guard soldiers have confirmed, conditions in the convention center really were crowded and primitive, infants and old people really were starving and dehydrating in the heat, and help really was shockingly slow.

But in the end, the fact that so many people believed, as Nagin put it, that the crowds had degenerated into an "almost animalistic state" must have had deeper roots. For the rumor sociologists also tell us that the most deeply believed rumors are always the ones that express some profound public anxiety. Some think that anxiety had to do with race: As I am not the first to note, few would have believed that 25,000 white, middle-class suburbanites had reverted to an "almost animalistic state" within a few days. But then, I'm not sure that 25,000 black middle-class suburbanites would have inspired such stories either, and certainly black officials such as Nagin and Compass wouldn't have repeated them.

What I'm guessing the Katrina rumors revealed was not precisely racism but a much deeper fear of the poor, even of poverty itself. What I'm guessing they revealed is our imaginary picture of what life would be like without the civilizing elements and the social markings to which we're accustomed: our houses, our cars, our clothes, our possessions, our reputations, our authority. If all that was gone, who knows how our next-door neighbors would behave, how we would behave. Maybe the people across the street would turn out to be thieves. Maybe the people who live across the city, in the neighborhood we never visit, would turn out to be murderers.

The two most potent forces in human society are love and fear. Progress happens when love gets even a whisker ahead of fear. It doesn't happen very often.

No Checks and Balances

Storms Show A System Out Of Balance
GOP Congress Has Reduced Usual Diet of Agency Oversight

By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 5, 2005; Page A21

Government scholars and watchdog groups say the decline of congressional oversight in recent years has thrown out of kilter the system of checks and balances the Founding Fathers created to keep no one branch of government from becoming too powerful. Whether the Pentagon or the Environmental Protection Agency, if a department does not think Congress is paying attention, it could be more apt to waste money or allow problems to go unaddressed.

"There's a tendency to blame this on the bureaucracy, but this is the leadership of the Congress and the administration," said Joel D. Aberbach, a political scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles who specializes in government accountability.

"If there was ever an agency in need of oversight, FEMA is it," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a recent interview. "It's a very big management job, and because of the nature of the work they do, they have only one chance to get it right."

The agency has never faced as costly a challenge as Katrina and Rita, and Republicans and Democrats alike are calling for an inspector general, an auditor or some other overseer of the billions in taxpayer money that FEMA is paying out weekly. "This is when cooler heads need to prevail," said Foley, who continues to remind his colleagues that better FEMA oversight "is long overdue."

One problem in recent years, Aberbach says, is that political control in both chambers has been centralized within the leadership, depleting the authorities of committees. "You have to have realistic expectations of Congress -- it's a political body," he said. "But if you draw power away from the committees, you lose the expertise that they have, and that's certainly been a problem recently."

To illustrate the decline, Aberbach counted oversight hearings in the House and Senate, excluding those by the appropriations committees, for the first six months of 1983 and 1997. He found steep reductions in both chambers: from 782 hearings in the House in 1983 to 287 hearings in 1997, and from 439 hearings in 1983 in the Senate to 175 hearings in 1997.

Norman J. Ornstein, a congressional expert at the American Enterprise Institute, has a harsher assessment. "This Congress doesn't see itself as an independent branch that might include criticizing an incumbent administration. Meaningful oversight, because it might imply criticism, has been pushed off the table altogether."

New York University professor Paul C. Light, who has studied the federal bureaucracy, said the Government Accountability Office, Congress's independent oversight arm, has conducted extensive reviews of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, producing scores of detailed recommendations. But that is work done for naught if Congress does not follow up. "In a sense it's too much and too little," Light said.

Florida was not the only place where recent FEMA actions have raised questions. Lawmakers last year expressed concerns about disaster-relief overpayments in Ohio, Michigan and Alabama. After the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that FEMA paid $29.5 million to Mobile County, Ala., residents, even though local disaster officials told the agency that the area had suffered little damage.

"It's time to go and put this problem on the table and deal with it," Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) told the Sun-Sentinel in December. Sessions singled out then-FEMA Director Michael D. Brown, forced out because of his handling of Katrina, to confront reports of widespread fraud. "If he can't meet that challenge, maybe he's not the person for the job."

Collins called a hearing before her Senate panel in May on FEMA and the Florida hurricanes, and it proved to be a zinger. Her star witness was Richard L. Skinner, acting inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, who had audited FEMA's Florida activities and found that abuses in Miami-Dade County were particularly egregious.

Due to what Skinner called "very serious systemic weaknesses," nearly 12,600 Miami-Dade residents collected more than $31 million in payments after Hurricane Frances, although the storm hit about 100 miles to the north. The money paid for homes and cars that were not damaged, and even for funerals, when Miami-Dade reported no storm-related deaths.

Testifying then for FEMA was Brown. He conceded problems in "very marginal cases" and called Skinner "just wrong" about other findings.

Let's say it plainly: a Republican Congress won't hold a Republican executive branch accountable. Period.

Losing It

This is in the Manchester (NH) Union Leader this morning. This is a conservative paper.

Harriet the pick:
The President can do better

AMERICA is not supposed to work this way. We tell our children that here, in the land of opportunity, what you know is more important than who you know. Yet in politics, that maxim is too often inverted. For President Bush, “who” trumps “what” almost every time.

John Roberts was the happy exception to the President’s usual method. Here was a nominee unquestionably qualified, with as sharp a legal mind as anyone in Washington could remember a nominee ever having. Harriet Miers, the President’s legal counsel and nominee to succeed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, is no more or less qualified to sit on the Supreme Court than thousands of other attorneys with similar career highlights. What separates her from the others is a single attribute: friendship with the President.

America is a meritocracy for good reason. Survival depended upon it. While Europe decayed from the rot of cronyism (that Britain’s military was a cesspool of favoritism, while America’s was not, certainly contributed to Britain’s Revolutionary War defeat), America flourished under the ethics of individualism and self-sufficiency.

Yes, American politics has always been infected by cronyism to one degree or another. But that does not excuse its continuance — especially when applied to America’s highest court of law.

Harriet Miers has no demonstrated competence in or aptitude for operating the machinery of the Supreme Court. Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court never have been reserved for people with judicial experience, of which Miers has none. Yet they are hardly the place for on-the-job training in the complexities of constitutional law. Unless Miers can demonstrate an exceptional understanding of the subject matter a Supreme Court justice can be expected to have mastered, the Senate should reject her nomination.

Whoa. When you lose the Union-Leader, you've lost the conservative movement.

Compassionate Cronyism

The Right's Dissed Intellectuals

By Harold Meyerson

Wednesday, October 5, 2005; Page A23

You could cut the disappointment with a knife. "This is the moment for which the conservative legal movement has been waiting for two decades," David Frum, the right-wing activist and former Bush speechwriter, wrote on his blog a few moments after the president dashed conservative hopes by nominating Harriet Miers to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court.

Bypassing all manner of stellar Scalia look-alikes, the president settled on his own in-house lawyer, whose chief virtue seems to be that she's been the least visible lawyer in America this side of Judge Joseph Crater. Miers has authored no legal opinions that can be dissected, no Supreme Court briefs that can be parsed, no law review articles that can be torn apart.

Which, I suspect, is why her selection cuts so deep in right-wing circles. The problem isn't only that Miers is not openly a movement conservative but that she's as far from a public intellectual as anyone could possibly be. In one fell swoop, Bush flouted both his supporters' ideology and their sense of meritocracy.

Worse, he bypassed the opportunity to demonstrate their intellectual seriousness -- conservatism's intellectual seriousness.

Consider the following from George Mason University law professor Todd Zywicki, writing on a right-wing legal-affairs blog on Monday: "There are two possible ways to think about appointments: one is to appoint those who will simply 'vote right' on the Court, the other is to be more far-reaching and to try to change the legal culture. Individuals such as Brandeis, Holmes, Warren, all changed both the Court and the legal culture, by providing intellectual heft and credibility to a certain intellectual view of the law. . . . Bush's back-to-back appointments of [Chief Justice John] Roberts and Miers is a clear indication that his goal is at best to change the voting pattern of the Court. . . . Neither of them appears to be suited by background or temperament to provide intellectual leadership that will move the legal culture."

Note Zywicki's trio of legal heavyweights: Louis Brandeis, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Earl Warren, all figures in the liberal pantheon (though Holmes was less a liberal than a dissenter from his era's conservatism). Now, after three decades of a legal counterrevolution against the egalitarianism of the mid-20th century, the right had developed its own pantheon, its Brandeises-in-waiting. And Bush ignored them all.

Many conservatives assumed that Bush knows his Harriet Miers and concluded that she'd probably move the court, and nation, to the right. But her nomination was nonetheless an affront to the amour-propre of conservative intellectuals everywhere. "For all we know, she will be so conservative that she'll make Clarence Thomas look like Kanye West," wrote commentator John Podhoretz. "It's still an unserious nomination, which is what those of us who are objecting to it are objecting to."

But the conservative intellectuals have misread their president and misread their country. Four and a half years into the presidency of George W. Bush, how could they still entertain the idea that the president takes merit, much less intellectual seriousness, seriously? The one in-house White House intellectual, John DiIulio, ran screaming from the premises after a few months on the job. Bush has long since banished all those, such as Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who accurately predicted the price of taking over Iraq. Yet Donald Rumsfeld -- with Bush, the author of the Iraqi disaster -- remains, as do scores of lesser lights whose sole virtue has been a dogged loyalty to Bush and his blunders. Loyalty and familiarity count for more with this president than brilliance (or even competence) and conviction.

Meyerson cuts to the chase. It's cronyism.

Day Late, Dollar Short

Fear of Flu Outbreak Rattles Washington

By GARDINER HARRIS
New York Times

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 - Health officials have warned for years that a virulent bird flu could kill millions of people, but few in Washington have seemed alarmed. After a closed-door briefing last week, however, fear of an outbreak swept official Washington, which was still reeling from the poor response to Hurricane Katrina.

The day after the briefing, led by Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of Health and Human Services, and other senior government health officials, the Senate squeezed $3.9 billion for flu preparations into a Pentagon appropriations bill.

On Wednesday, Senate Democrats plan to introduce another bill calling for the creation of a flu pandemic coordinator within the White House and a federal buy-back program for unused flu vaccines, among other measures, according to a draft of the bill. Its authors include the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada; Senator Barack Obama of Illinois; and Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Thirty-two Democratic senators sent a letter to President Bush on Tuesday expressing "grave concern that the nation is dangerously unprepared for the serious threat of avian influenza."

Mr. Bush spent a considerable part of his news conference Tuesday talking about the risks of an outbreak and the measures the administration is considering to combat one, including whether to use the military to enforce quarantines.

"I take this issue very seriously," he said. "The people of the country ought to rest assured that we're doing everything we can."

But after the administration's widely criticized response to Hurricane Katrina, such assurances are no longer enough, several Democratic senators said.

" 'Trust us' is not something the administration can say after Katrina," Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, said in an interview. "I don't think Congress is in a mood to trust. We want plans. We want specific goals and procedures we're going to take to prepare for this."

So far, Mr. Harkin said, the administration has provided neither, despite requests from Congress.

Mr. Leavitt acknowledged in an interview that the United States was not prepared for a pandemic flu outbreak. He plans to spend next week touring Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, the countries most likely to be the source of an avian flu outbreak, and talking with health ministers there about a coordinated surveillance of outbreaks.

"No one in the world is ready for it," Mr. Leavitt said. "But we're more ready today than we were yesterday. And we'll be more prepared tomorrow than we are today."

Since 1997, avian flu strains seem to have infected thousands of birds in 11 countries. But so far, nearly all of the people infected with the disease - more than 100, including some 60 who died - got the sickness directly from birds. There has been very little transmission between people, a requirement for an epidemic.

An outbreak, therefore, may be years away, or may never occur. And if a strain does jump to people, such a mutation may make it far less lethal than it has been to those who have contracted it from birds.

Mr. Leavitt warned in the briefing last week that an outbreak could cause 100,000 to 2 million deaths and as many as 10 million hospitalizations in the United States, one person who was present said. Those numbers have been presented publicly many times before. But hearing them in closed session gave them urgency, some who were at the meeting said.

The briefing "scared the hell out of me," Senator Reid said recently.

The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, said he had been delivering speeches about improving the nation's preparedness for a flu pandemic since December. But as more birds have been discovered with the virus, concerns have grown.

The poor response to Hurricane Katrina is also a factor, Mr. Frist said. "People watching on TV see that the government wasn't there in times of need," he said.

Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, called the sudden interest in preparing for a flu epidemic the latest "post-Katrina effect."

"I don't think politically or perceptually the government feels that it could tolerate another tragically inadequate response to a major disaster," Dr. Redlener said. He said a flu epidemic was the "next big catastrophe that we can reasonably expect, and the country is phenomenally not prepared for this."

The government may not be able to tolerate it, but my best guess is that we are about three years behind in planning. DHHS Sec'y Leavitt may tell the TV cameras that this is important, but what is he doing about it?

The Cost of Climate Failure

A New Worry for Insurers
Firms Looking at Whether Climate Change Could Affect Their Bottom Lines

By Dean Starkman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 5, 2005; Page D01

The devastation and cost of Hurricane Katrina provided a new hook for a faction of the insurance industry that is trying to raise public awareness of global warming and push the topic onto the political agenda.

Some of the industry's largest companies have sided with environmental groups in recent years to argue that global warming exists and that man-made causes are adding to the severity and cost of natural catastrophes.

Although no insurer has cited global warming's increased risks as a reason for raising rates, some are funding their own research on the topic and, in the political realm, are supporting measures to reduce emissions.

American International Group Inc., the largest U.S. insurer, says it recognizes the possibility that climate change might be increasing insurance losses, though it is awaiting more scientific proof of a link. The New York-based company is considering a policy of targeting investments toward companies involved in mitigating greenhouse gases.

"We take the possibility seriously and efforts to address it seriously," said Chris Winans, an AIG spokesman.

The industry's interest goes beyond property damage caused by hurricanes. Swiss Reinsurance Co., a giant Zurich-based provider of backup insurance to insurers, says climate change could increase the severity and spread of contagious diseases by extending the ranges of disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes, altering markets for life and health insurance, while new rules on industrial emissions could generate shareholder suits, changing the market for directors' and officers' liability coverage.

"You can always find a scientist somewhere who says the opposite of what other scientists are saying," said Ivo Menzinger, head of sustainability and emerging risks for Swiss Re. "But the majority of scientists acknowledge today that there is global warming, first of all."

He added, "What we are saying is that despite the uncertainty, the potential effects of climate change are such" that companies should err on the side of safety.

In Nebraska, a series of droughts in recent years have devastated crops and local economies, draining a tax-funded crop insurance program and leading insurers to ask whether global warming is implicated, said L. Tim Wagner, Nebraska's insurance commissioner.

"It's more than hurricanes," Wagner said. "We're just seeing changes in weather patterns."

The insurance industry is split on the question. The American Insurance Association, which represents 400 property and casualty insurers, says the debate about global warming has not been resolved.

"The science isn't that definite," said David F. Snyder, the group's vice president and assistant general counsel. "There's no consensus in the insurance industry on the issue."

He said the group believes industry's clout would be put to better use pressing for stricter land-use rules to keep development out of dangerous areas and for better building codes in marginal areas where development is allowed.

I first covered this a year and a half ago. The AIA may not be convinced yet, but Swiss Re is.

Scepticism

Conservatives Split Over Bush Nominee
By JESSE J. HOLLAND

WASHINGTON - Some of President Bush's conservative supporters are unconvinced by his defense of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, creating dissension in a Republican Party that until now has reverently approved Bush's judicial candidates.

Conservatives in some cases are expressing outright opposition, some are in wait-and-see mode and some are silent, all bad signs for a Bush administration used to having the full backing of all wings of the GOP when it takes on the Senate's minority Democrats over judicial selection.

"I'm getting reports on both sides," said Paul Weyrich, a conservative leader from the Free Congress Foundation. "Some people are quite enthused about her and other people are very upset. The grass-roots are not happy, I can tell you that."

Miers, meanwhile, is trying to build up support by visiting senators at the Capitol on Wednesday, scheduling stops with GOP Sen. John Cornyn and top Judiciary Committee Democrat Patrick Leahy.

Bush defended the 60-year-old nominee at a Rose Garden news conference Tuesday, repeatedly implying that conservatives should trust his judgment in picking Miers to succeed the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor.

While insisting that he doesn't recall ever talking to Miers about abortion, he pointedly said, "I know her heart."

Bush, who emphasized that he's a proud conservative, said he hoped his supporters were listening. "I'm interested in someone who shares my philosophy and will share it 20 years from now," he said.

After a strong push from the president and his White House staff, some conservative groups are coming out in favor of Miers, the White House counsel and longtime Bush friend. "I trust that she will be an excellent addition to the high court and all Americans will be proud of her," said Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition.

And one of the Senate's senior conservatives, Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was one of the first senators to announce his support for Miers.

"A lot of my fellow conservatives are concerned, but they don't know her as I do," said Hatch, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "She's going to basically do what the president thinks she should, and that is be a strict constructionist" when it comes to deciding constitutional issues.

But many Senate conservatives are withholding judgment, and House Republican leaders have said little to nothing about Miers. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a Judiciary Committee Republican and a possible GOP 2008 candidate, even invoked a favorite target of conservatives when talking about Miers.

"There's precious little to go on and a deep concern that this would be a Souter-type candidate," Brownback said, referring to Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a little-known judge nominated for the court by the first President Bush who later turned out to be liberal on the bench.

What I'm hearing under the news noise is that she's a hard right, anti-choice true believer.

Militarizing Flu

Bush: Troops may be used to enforce bird flu quarantine

BY JENNIFER LOVEN

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, stirring debate on the worrisome possibility of a bird flu pandemic, suggested dispatching U.S. troops to enforce quarantines in any areas with outbreaks of the killer virus.

Bush asserted aggressive action could be needed to prevent a potentially crippling U.S. outbreak of a bird flu strain that is sweeping through Asian poultry and causing experts to fear it could become the next deadly pandemic. Citing concern that state and local authorities might be unable to contain and deal with such an outbreak, Bush asked Congress to give him the authority to call in the military.

The president already has indicated he wants to give the armed forces the lead responsibility for conducting search-and-rescue operations and sending in supplies after massive natural disasters and attacks -- a notion that could require a change in law and that even some in the Pentagon have reacted to skeptically. The idea raised the startling-to-some image of soldiers cordoning off communities hit by disease.

"The president ought to have all ... assets on the table to be able to deal with something this significant," Bush said during a 55-minute question-and-answer session with reporters in the sun-splashed Rose Garden.

Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness, called the president's suggestion an "extraordinarily Draconian measure" that would be unnecessary if the nation had built the capability for rapid vaccine production, ensured a large supply of anti-virals such as Tamiflu, and not allowed the degradation of the public health system."

"The translation of this is martial law in the United States," Redlener said.

It was the president's first full-fledged news conference in over four months, as the White House hopes to regain momentum lost amid sky-high gasoline prices, a rising death roll in Iraq, and a flawed response to Hurricane Katrina. Bush has seen a small rise in his approval ratings, but they remain near the lowest of his presidency.

So, Bush wants to call out the troops against avian flu? This guy has a military fixation. Rather than doing anything about the lack of vax and anti-virals, he wants martial law. This points to some kind of personality disorder. His presser yesterday was a study in verbal incoherence.

Letting Down the Side

This is from Salon, so you'll have to sit through an ad.

Spoiling the party
Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers, a loyalist with a mediocre résumé and no legal track record, leaves the left cautious -- and the right furious.

By Michael Scherer

Oct. 4, 2005 | WASHINGTON -- It was supposed to be a day of celebration, a time for conservative activists to finally claim victory in the great battle for the Supreme Court. They had waited decades to replace swing-voter Sandra Day O'Connor with a justice who could definitively shift American legal thought to the right. They had elected a Republican Senate and a Republican president, a man who claimed to favor the thinking of ideological revolutionaries like Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. They had suggested their list of preferred nominees, a who's who of right-wing legal thinkers that included women, Hispanics and African-Americans.

Then President Bush appeared in the Oval Office Monday morning to announce that he had chosen, instead, to replace O'Connor with his own lawyer, a former lottery commissioner from Texas named Harriet Miers.

The conservatives reacted first with befuddlement, then with horror. Rush Limbaugh called the nomination a sign of "weakness." The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol declared himself "disappointed, depressed and demoralized." Republican scold Pat Buchanan said Miers' qualifications were "nonexistent." Right-wing strategist Richard Viguerie suggested a betrayal. Former White House speechwriter David Frum, who worked with Miers, asked hopelessly, "What has been done with the opportunity?"

A few hours later, dozens of conservative activists called into a teleconference organized by Manuel Miranda, a former Republican Senate aide who now runs the Third Branch Conference, a coalition of organizations that supports conservative judicial picks. The callers, including some of the leading lights of the right wing, gnashed their teeth and vented their frustrations, according to several participants. It was no victory party.

"I am not ready to bring out the pom-poms and start the cheering. I was hoping I could," Jan LaRue, chief counsel of Concerned Women for America, said after the call had ended. "I think a lot of great résumés were set aside here, and I am not sure for the right reason."

Miranda predicted that several conservative groups will eventually announce their opposition to Miers on the basis of her thin public record, while others will refuse to actively support the nomination. "More than anything, you will see many groups sitting on the sidelines," said Miranda, who previously worked as an aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. "I think ultimately the president was very ill-served" by his advisors.

The nomination of Miers, Miranda added, sends a clear message that any conservative who wants promotion to the highest court must skirt the spotlight and be careful not to create a paper trail. "Because of this decision, a conservative woman today would be well advised, if she wants to sit on the court, never to write a controversial opinion," he said. "There is still a glass ceiling for conservative women in this country."

That message directly attacked one of President Bush's public rationales for choosing Miers. Bush used the phrase "first woman" five times in his nomination announcement, pointing out that Miers, 60, had blazed a trail for women in the male-dominated world of corporate law in Texas, eventually becoming president of the State Bar in 1992. Shortly after that achievement, Miers began working for the nascent gubernatorial campaign of George W. Bush. After his election in 1994, Miers continued on as Bush's personal attorney until he appointed her to head the Texas Lottery Commission. She later followed Bush to the White House, where she held several jobs, and was tapped in 2004 to become White House counsel.

Throughout her career, however, she has had little public involvement in constitutional law. This is in marked contrast to the president's last nominee, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, who was widely seen as one of the nation's most accomplished constitutional minds, having argued 38 cases before the Supreme Court. "These hearings are going to be a stark contrast to the Roberts hearings," said Roger Pilon, director of the Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. "Can you picture her answering some of the questions that Roberts was asked?"

Pilon spent Monday searching for published scholarship by Miers, but he found only two articles -- in Texas Lawyer, a trade magazine. One article concerned the challenges of merging corporate law firms. "Does that sound like the stuff of a Supreme Court justice?" Pilon asked, suggesting that Miers will have a far more difficult time than Roberts during her confirmation hearings. "Over 60 years, she has written almost nothing, and shows no involvement in the raging jurisprudential debates of the day."

Although a surprise to some, Miers name had been widely circulated last week as a possible replacement for O'Connor. Nan Aron, the president of the Alliance for Justice, said Miers' file was the only one she had taken with her on a weekend trip to New York. Some Democrats, like Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., expressed relief at Miers' nomination. His spokesman, Jim Manley, told Salon that Reid had suggested Miers name to the president as a possible nominee, though without any promise of support.

Aron is withholding judgment, awaiting more records that would shed light on Miers' legal philosophy. She's not convinced by the public collapse of a united front on the right based on the notion that Miers is too moderate a nominee. "It's hard to know what to make of some of the statements coming from some of the extreme, radical-right groups," Aron said.

But more information on Miers' personal views is not likely to be forthcoming. It was Miers, after all, who denied, as White House counsel, similar requests by Democrats to release memorandums written by Roberts during the administration of George H.W. Bush. This time, some groups on the right will be joining Aron in calling for more transparency regarding the nominee's judicial philosophy.

The "other side" weighs in, too, and I'm reading some writers you won't usually find me reading:

Can This Nomination Be Justified?

By George F. Will
Wednesday, October 5, 2005; A23

Senators beginning what ought to be a protracted and exacting scrutiny of Harriet Miers should be guided by three rules. First, it is not important that she be confirmed. Second, it might be very important that she not be. Third, the presumption -- perhaps rebuttable but certainly in need of rebutting -- should be that her nomination is not a defensible exercise of presidential discretion to which senatorial deference is due.

It is not important that she be confirmed because there is no evidence that she is among the leading lights of American jurisprudence, or that she possesses talents commensurate with the Supreme Court's tasks. The president's "argument" for her amounts to: Trust me. There is no reason to, for several reasons.

He has neither the inclination nor the ability to make sophisticated judgments about competing approaches to construing the Constitution. Few presidents acquire such abilities in the course of their pre-presidential careers, and this president particularly is not disposed to such reflections.

Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that Miers's nomination resulted from the president's careful consultation with people capable of such judgments. If 100 such people had been asked to list 100 individuals who have given evidence of the reflectiveness and excellence requisite in a justice, Miers's name probably would not have appeared in any of the 10,000 places on those lists.

Methinks the Resident is having a little problem with his base. Will is pretty harsh.

Baigain Bharta

Eggplant is not a staple in the US, but in other places it is as common as the potato, with a lot less carbs.

This has enough garlic to satisfy me.This is a traditional Indian dish, but I made up this recipe from eating it in restaurants, and adapting recipes I knew, and trial and error till I got something I liked. So I don't claim that the recipe itself is traditional, but, well, I like it. I think the most important points are to really cook the hell out of the eggplant, and not to be afraid to spice it up.

Peel it, first.

Ingredient list:

* 1 eggplant, peeled and cubed
* 1 small yellow onion, diced
* 7 or 8 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
* 1 Tbsp cumin powder
* 1 tsp coriander
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp turmeric
* 1/4 tsp group cloves
* 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
* 2 small serrano peppers, minced
* 4 roma tomatoes, chopped fine
* 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

First lay out the cubed eggplant on some towels and salt liberally. Let sit for a few minutes till the water starts to bead up on the outside of the eggplant, and then pat dry with the towels.

Sautee the eggplant in vegetable oil over medium high heat, stirring often. Eggplant absorbs oil like there's no tomorrow, so you'll need a lot; add more if it starts to stick. Once the eggplant is starting to get soft around the edges, add the onion and continue sauteeing until the onion browns and gets soft.

Generally at this point I mix up the dry spices in a little bowl. How much of them you use will depend on how big your eggplant is and how spicy you like it.

Next add the garlic and ginger and sautee a couple of minutes. Then add some of the dry spices, to taste, and mix thoroughly. Carefully add the serrano pepper -- it can produce smoke which hurts your eyes -- and then immediately add the roma tomatoes and stir it all up. Turn the heat down and let simmer for ten minutes, or until the eggplant has dissolved and individual cubes are no longer recognizable. A few minutes before serving, stir in the cilantro leaves.

As with dal, serve over basmati rice and garnish with cilantro leaves. I usually cook the rice with a few whole cloves and cardamon pods (whack them to crack them open and release the flavor) and a lemon slice, but this is of course optional.

Brunch

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

For 4

This one is really delicious, especially with the addition of the recommended ingredients.

2-3 beaten eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
Honey or a couple of teaspoons of sugar, to taste (a banana will make it naturally sweeter)
1 cup uncooked oatmeal

Optional, highly recommended ingredients:
banana
a sprinkle of cinnamon
a splash of vanilla

Grab your handy blender and dump the ingredients in, in the order they appear (otherwise the mixture will get all chunky). So, eggs in first, then start the blender. As it's blending, pour in the cottage cheese, then the banana if you're using it, then whatever sweeteners and spices you like, then the oatmeal. Once this is nicely blended, cook as you would pancakes, in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat. I love these plain or with fruit, but you can put syrup on them too, just like regular pancakes.

This is a superior Sunday Brunch Experience, an "invite people over" recipe. Serve these cakes hot with a fruit compote or plain unsalted butter and syrup. The protein factor is so high that they really don't need meat.

Good Eating

I'm burned out on all the bad news and bird flu, so it is time for some recipes. I eat ethnic when I go out (it is the cheapest way to eat in DC and I really like discovering new dishes.) I have a great Indian restaurant down the street from me and it is one of my favorite places to eat. I like really spicy food and lamb vindaloo is one of my favorite dishes. I make it in my own kitchen, too. This is a good, authentic recipe that a native cook would use in her own kitchen.

LAMB VINDALOO Yield: 4 servings 2 lb Lamb, cubed 2 T Coriander seed 1 T Cumin seed 2 lb Tomatoes, crushed 14 Garlic cloves, crushed 6 Bay leaves Ginger (fresh), 2 inches, -finely chopped 1/2 t Black pepper, ground 1/2 t Cardamon seed 1/2 t Cinnamon 1/2 t Cloves 1/2 t Cayenne 2 t Mustard seed, ground 1 T Turmeric 1 c Wine vinegar 2 md Onions 2 md Potatoes 2 T Butter Lightly roast the cumin seed and coriander seed by frying with no oil for a minute or so, stirring constantly. Grind these and combine them into a paste with the other spices, the garlic, ginger and the vinegar. Add the lamb to the marinade and mix well. Refrigerate for 3-24 hours while mixing every few hours as convenient. Finely chop the onions and potatoes and saute them for 5 minutes in the butter. Add lamb and spice paste and simmer over low heat for half an hour. The marinating does add a lot of flavor and makes the meat much more tender. This can be skipped if need be. NOTES: * A spicy hot Indian lamb dish -- Very loosely based on Dharamjit Singh's recipe in "Indian Cookery: A Practical Guide." Most restaurants that serve this dish pronounce it vinDAloo, with the stress on the second syllable. : Difficulty: easy (though it's easy to burn the spices while roasting them). : Time: 1 hour preparation, 1 day marinating, 1 hour cooking. : Precision: approximate measurement OK.

My notes: the dry roasting of the spices is essential. I have a cheap Braun coffee grinder that I use for grinding spices like these to get a nice, even consistency after they've been roasted and cooled. Mixing this condiment goes well if you have a food processor with a small food bowl, or one of those tiny food processors with a small bowl. One of those cheap grinders from late night TV is perfect for this and it only takes a couple of pulses to make the stuff. Trust me, it will send you to nirvana.

Serve this with basmati rice and raita (yoghurt-marinated thinly sliced cucumber, chopped mint and coriander/cilantro, give it an hour in the fridge) and some sort of pickle, that uniquely Indian spicy condiment (recipe for lemon pickle, my favorite, on the link) which serves as a side dish on the Indian table and is easy to find bottled in the ethnic groceries.

As a first course, Mulligatawny Soup is an easy preparation. For a real treat, make fresh coriander chutney, a condiment that I think I'm probably addicted to. For meals at Haandi, I go through two or three containers of it. At Haandi they bring pickle and chutney to the table with the entrees, heaven. While I eat the entrees (I think I've had everything on the menu) it is the condiments and the onion and potato kulcha, the indigenous bread of the region which keeps me coming back. This is really hard to make at home, it needs a tandoor clay oven but I've had decent luck with the Roemertopf. If you don't yet own one of these and you are a serious foodie, you are missing out on a lot. This gadget makes a lot of touchy dishes very easy. It will make your life so much better that you will wonder what the fuck you ever did without it. From a couple of pork chops, to a delicate trout to a hearty white lasagna, all will better and more flavorful. Want to cook Indian breads? Slap those pitas up against the sides of the clay oven and they will come out puffy and perfect. This will be the best $40 you've ever spent in your life if you are a foodie who likes to cook. I've been using this for ten years, the only tool I use more often in my kitchen is my Cuisinart and a fork. The food bowl fits in the top rack of your dishwasher.

Dunk the bread in the coriander chutney and ascend directly to heaven. Spoon the chutney next to the rice and curry and load all of them on your fork and you will get to the same place.

Of course, we aren't eating any poultry around here right now. And beef is not affordable, so Bump is vegatarian for the moment. I looked at the price of seafood and beef in the store tonight and checked my wallet. Not this week.

Pandemic Flu Awareness Week

Not ready for outbreak
Can world avoid flu pandemic?

Kerry Fehr-Snyder
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 4, 2005 12:00 AM

Infectious-disease specialists in Arizona and around the world are planning for a flu pandemic they call inevitable - if not this year, then soon.

But whether their plans can stem a worldwide flu outbreak is doubtful, critics say.

The reasons:

• A tiny national stockpile of anti-viral medication to treat those already sick or exposed to a pandemic flu strain.

• An insufficient supply of effective vaccines.

• A lack of capacity at Arizona hospitals to handle a big surge of critically ill patients.

Estimates of the potential worldwide death toll from a flu pandemic today range from 5 million to 150 million, according to the United Nations. In the United States, a pandemic could kill 89,000 to 207,000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

The most likely source of a pandemic flu now is a virulent bird flu that has killed dozens in Asia who handled infected birds.

State officials have been working on a pandemic flu response for five years, but their plan, like the federal draft plan so far, is skimpy on details. However, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is finishing a more detailed plan to be unveiled as early as this week. It may request billions of dollars more from Congress.

Scientists fear the lack of a thorough plan will leave officials and citizens as ill-prepared as the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"We're way off where anyone thinks we need to be," said Kim Elliott, deputy director of the Trust for America's Health, a non-profit group based in Washington, D.C.

In Arizona, for example, health officials have not stockpiled anti-viral medication because of the cost.

"We don't have the budget or the capacity to have a stockpile of such medication in the state," state epidemiologist David Engelthaler said.

In the event of an outbreak, vaccine and anti-viral medication would be allocated on a priority basis, according to Arizona's draft plan. But the plan doesn't detail criteria.

Among its few specifics, the plan cites several strategies to detect and control a flu pandemic, including:

• Discharging all but critically ill hospital patients to make room for flu patients.

• Expanding mortuary services to handle the dead.

• Ramping up state health lab testing to identify flu pandemic strains.

• Isolating and quarantining residents who are exposed to the virus or are ill from it.

State health officials say they're doing the best they can but may need to ration resources.

"There's a lot of discussions about the ethical use of public health resources during an emergency," said Engelthaler, who helped engineer the state pandemic flu plan.

Setting priorities ahead of time is difficult, especially for the distribution of anti-viral medication and vaccines, said Will Humble, the Arizona Department of Health Services' chief of public health preparedness.

"The whole key to this thing is, it's just like a forest fire. You've got to put it out quickly," Humble said. "Pandemic flu is always an A-list thing with us as far as public health preparedness because viruses from the beginning of time have been nature's Number 1 terrorist."

Don't panic, plan. There are a lot of things you can do to protect your family from this lurking killer. Flu Wiki is the place to start and the place to share your wisdom. Working together makes us stronger. Collaborating means we won't just survive, we'll thrive.

I'm keeping this post on the top of the site for the day. Scroll down for new content.

UPDATE: I just heard Michael Osterholm on CNN say that CIDRAP and the CDC wil be rolling out a new public information campaign over the next week, so we have a complementary effort going here. It's a happy accident.

UPDATE 2: The CNN reporter on Anderson Cooper 360 asks himself the question, "How likely is it that pandemic flu will spread to the United States?" He quotes an unnamed "expert" and says "Possible, but not likely." These idiots, morons and fools are what your friends and family are listening to. I imagine Mike Osterholm loses fistfuls of hair everytime this garbage is printed or broadcast.

If you are new to this topic, go to the search function on the right sidebar of this site and search for "radical discontinuity." It will help you understand why people don't "get it." As my friends the reveres say, avian influenza will be a thousand Katrinas, and much less visual. It will be very hard for TV to cover this story well. If you are completely new to this topic, use the search function and search "avian influenza." You will find that this pandemic threat has been covered here for the last year.

Compounding Catastrophe

Mayor of New Orleans Announces Layoffs

By AMY FORLITI
The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 4, 2005; 6:14 PM

NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin said Tuesday the city is laying off as many as 3,000 employees _ or about half its workforce _ because of the financial damage inflicted on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.

Nagin announced with "great sadness" that he had been unable to find the money to keep the workers on the payroll.

He said only non-essential workers will be laid off and that no firefighters or police will be among those let go.

"I wish I didn't have to do this. I wish we had the money, the resources to keep these people," Nagin said. "The problem we have is we have no revenue streams."

Nagin described the layoffs as "pretty permanent" and said that the city will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to notify municipal employees who fled the city in the aftermath of Katrina, which struck about a month ago.

The mayor said the move will save about $5 million to $8 million of the city's monthly payroll of $20 million. The layoffs will take place over the next two weeks.

"We talked to local banks and other financial institutions and we are just not able to put together the financing necessary to continue to maintain City Hall's staffing at its current levels," the mayor said.

Meanwhile, former President Clinton met with dozens of New Orleans-area evacuees staying at a shelter in Baton Rouge's convention center. And officials ended their door-to-door sweep for corpses in Louisiana with the death toll Tuesday at 972 _ far fewer than the 10,000 the mayor had feared at one point. Mississippi's Katrina death toll was 221.

A company hired by the state to remove bodies will remain on call if any others are found.

Mike Osterholm referred to this situation today when he was interviewed on CNN. New Orleans coronors and mortuaries are overwhelmed. Imagine what will happen if we get hundred of thousands of deaths in a 6-12 week period. This is just one of the industries which will be overwhelmed, as will be the casket builders. We may be seeing enforced cremations.

Miserable Incompetent

Bush raises notion of using military to quarantine areas where avian flu breaks out

Tuesday, October 4, 2005

BY JENNIFER LOVEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - President Bush, increasingly concerned about a possible avian flu pandemic, revealed Tuesday that any part of the country where the virus breaks out could likely be quarantined and that he is considering using the military to enforce it.

"The best way to deal with a pandemic is to isolate it and keep it isolated in the region in which it begins," he said during a wide-ranging Rose Garden news conference.

The president was asked if his recent talk of giving the military the lead in responding to large natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and other catastrophes was in part the result of his concerns that state and local personnel aren't up to the task of a flu outbreak.

"Yes," he replied.

After the bungled initial federal response to Katrina, Bush suggested putting the Pentagon in charge of search-and-rescue efforts in times of a major terrorist attack or similarly catastrophic natural disaster. He has argued that the armed forces have the ability to quickly mobilize the equipment, manpower and communications capabilities needed in times of crisis.

If Bush read John Barry's book, he learned nothing from it. Once a person is exposed to the virus, they are asymptomatic but shedding virus for the next 24-48 hours. Individual quarentine will work, but geography has nothing to do with it. We have another disaster coming, folks.

Credibility Trouble

Conservatives Are Wary Over President's Selection

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: October 4, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 - The White House scrambled on Monday to prevent conservative opposition to the president's choice of the White House counsel Harriet E. Miers as his next Supreme

Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, started calling influential social conservatives to reassure them about the pick even before it was announced. He called James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, over the weekend, and Richard Land, a top public policy official of the Southern Baptist Convention on Monday morning, said several people briefed on the calls. Paul Weyrich, the veteran conservative organizer, said Ed Gillespie, the former Republican Party chairman lobbying for confirmation, called at 7:10 a.m. to tell him the news.

In each call and in a series of teleconferences throughout the day, representatives of the White House promised their conservative supporters that as White House counsel, Ms. Miers had played a central role in picking the many exemplars of conservatism among Mr. Bush's previous nominees.

Some of the efforts evidently bore fruit. By day's end, Mr. Dobson, one of the most influential evangelical conservatives, welcomed the nomination. "Some of what I know I am not at liberty to talk about," he said in an interview, explaining his decision to speak out in support of Ms. Miers. He declined to discuss his conversations with the White House.

But the administration's early efforts failed to forestall a day of protests from many other social conservatives. Some of them say the president promised them a conservative nominee in the mold of Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, which would put within their grasp a victory in the 30-year fight over court decisions about abortion, gay rights, and religion in public life. Ms. Miers has made no clear statements of her legal views on any of those issues.

"Conservatives feel betrayed," Richard Viguerie, a pioneer of conservative direct mail, said in a statement. "President Bush blinked."

The conservative skepticism toward Ms. Miers threatens to force the administration to defend its right flank as well as fend off attacks from the left. Christian conservatives warned that Mr. Bush was not the only one who would feel a backlash..

"The ramifications will be felt not just against him but against the Republican Party," said Gary Bauer, president of American Values and a former Republican presidential candidate, who said conservatives had been warning the White House for weeks not to pick Ms. Miers.

Hmmm. Pass the popcorn.

One place in America trying to take pandemic flu seriously...

Ron Sims is the King County Executive, an area that includes Seattle, Washington and most of its immediate suburbs.

While King County has been out front on this issue for a while now compared to most entities, the local business community has not wanted to deal with it much at all. This article in the Seattle Times is definitely being used as a pry bar towards getting them off their butts and into action.

King County Executive Ron Sims urged business leaders yesterday to begin preparing now for a flu epidemic that could put a third of the local work force out of commission.

"Our culture was: I'm here at work, and I'm sick, and aren't I great?" Short said. "We had to create a whole new culture."

Lowering Standards

Army moves to recruit more high school dropouts

By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Army Secretary Noel Harvey and vice chief of staff Gen. Richard Cody said Monday that the Army was using looser Defense Department rules that permitted it to sign up more high school dropouts and people who score lower on mental-qualification tests, but they denied that this meant it was lowering standards.

Until Army recruiters began having trouble signing up enough recruits earlier this year, the Army had set minimum standards that were higher than those of the Defense Department.

The Army has a recruiting shortfall of 6,000 to 8,000 soldiers over the past 12 months. It hasn't fallen so short of its annual goal since 1979, several years after the Vietnam war.

Harvey and Cody addressed the recruiting issue in news conferences during the annual convention of the Association of the U.S. Army.

The Department of Defense "standards on qualification tests call for at least 60 percent Category 1 to 3 (the higher end of testing) and 4 percent Category 4," the lowest end, Harvey said. "The other services follow that standard and the Army National Guard always followed it as well. But the active Army chose a standard of 67 percent in Categories 1-3, and 2 percent Category 4." It now would use the Defense Department guidelines, he said.

Cody said that increasing the number of people with General Education Diplomas allowed to enlist in the Army wasn't really a lowering of standards. GEDs are certificates granted in lieu of high school diplomas to dropouts who can pass an examination.

The Army's figures show 6.5 percent of all enlisted soldiers held GED certificates at the end of 2004, the last year statistics were available. The Army plans to keep its limit on new soldiers with GEDs at 10 percent in any year.

Harvey said the Army was working hard to resolve its recruitment problem.

He said the number of soldiers on recruiting duty is increasing from 9,000 to 12,000, and the Army is asking Congress to increase enlistment bonuses from a maximum of $20,000 to a new limit of $40,000 for some who choose branches where there are shortages. The advertising budget for the Army was being boosted by $130 million.

The problem, Harvey said, is "a combination of three factors: a good economy, the war in Iraq and parents reluctant to see their sons and daughters enlist" because of the war.

Morning Reading

WaPo's Howard Kurtz has the complete read-around on Harriet Miers this morning, with links to all the blogs and the Main Stream Media. This is one stop shopping.

Bursting Bubble?

Slowing Is Seen in Housing Prices in Hot Markets

By DAVID LEONHARDT and MOTOKO RICH
Published: October 4, 2005

A real estate slowdown that began in a handful of cities this summer has spread to almost every hot housing market in the country, including New York.

More sellers are putting their homes on the market, houses are selling less quickly and prices are no longer increasing as rapidly as they were in the spring, according to local data and interviews with brokers.

In Manhattan, the average sales price fell almost 13 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter, according to a widely followed report to be released today by Miller Samuel, an appraisal firm, and Prudential Douglas Elliman, a real estate firm. The amount of time it took to sell a home was also up 30.4 percent over the same period.

In another sign that the housing market might have reached a peak, executives at big home builders have sold almost $1 billion worth of company stock this year. [Page C1.]

Outside Washington, in Fairfax County, Va., the number of homes on the market in August rose nearly 50 percent from August 2004. In the Boston suburb of Brookline, Mass., where many three-bedroom houses cost $1 million or more, the inventory of homes for sale has increased in just the last few weeks, said Chobee Hoy, a broker there.

For-sale listings have also swelled throughout California, according to the California Association of Realtors. In the San Francisco Bay area, they have increased 16 percent in the last year, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage said.

"We are seeing a market in transition," Leslie Appleton-Young, the association's chief economist, said.

Brokers said that some houses seemed to be on the market longer because sellers priced them too high, assuming that their value was still rising sharply. In other cases, people who otherwise would have waited a year or two to sell their homes - like empty nesters ready to move into smaller quarters - had listed them now out of fear that prices would soon fall.

The question remains whether all of this represents a momentary cooling off of some overheated housing markets, or it presages a more pronounced downturn that would end a decade-long boom.

Some economists and commentators have for years predicted the bursting of a real estate bubble, and previous slowdowns have turned out to be relatively brief pauses before prices started accelerating again.

But with mortgage rates now rising, the cost of gasoline hovering at or near $3 a gallon and house prices in some areas out of reach for many families, brokers and analysts said they thought that this slowdown could be the real thing.

For now, the change remains a far cry from the bursting bubble that some have predicted.

In Massachusetts, for example, the median house price remained flat from July to August, and the median condominium price fell only slightly, according to the Realtors' association there. At the start of the year, prices had been rising at an annual rate of more than 15 percent.

If anything, some brokers said, the recent slowdown meant a return to a healthier, more sustainable market.

"What we had was abnormal," said Dottie Herman, chief executive of Prudential Douglas Elliman. "People get used to abnormal times and then when they're normal, they think there's something wrong."

Alexander Shakhov, 47, listed his two-bedroom house in Frederick, Md., an outer suburb of Washington, for $529,000 in July, and it remained unsold for the rest of the summer. A month ago, he reduced the price to $499,000 at the suggestion of a broker. A week ago, Mr. Shakhov accepted an offer at the lower price.

The market "is not as hot as the last two years," Mr. Shakhov, a scientist at a biotechnology company, said, "but I'm pretty happy."

The real question is whether or not we are heading into a housing bust that undermines the economy. You can bet that that will be one of the economic consequences of a pandemic flu.

From the Right

Me? Quoting Pat Buchanan? These are strange days.

Miers' Qualifications Are 'Non-Existent'

by Patrick J. Buchanan
Posted Oct 3, 2005

Handed a once-in-a-generation opportunity to return the Supreme Court to constitutionalism, George W. Bush passed over a dozen of the finest jurists of his day -- to name his personal lawyer.

In a decision deeply disheartening to those who invested such hopes in him, Bush may have tossed away his and our last chance to roll back the social revolution imposed upon us by our judicial dictatorship since the days of Earl Warren.

This is not to disparage Harriet Miers. From all accounts, she is a gracious lady who has spent decades in the law and served ably as Bush’s lawyer in Texas and, for a year, as White House counsel.

But her qualifications for the Supreme Court are non-existent. She is not a brilliant jurist, indeed, has never been a judge. She is not a scholar of the law. Researchers are hard-pressed to dig up an opinion. She has not had a brilliant career in politics, the academy, the corporate world or public forum. Were she not a friend of Bush, and female, she would never have even been considered.

What commended her to the White House, in the phrase of the hour, is that she “has no paper trail.” So far as one can see, this is Harriet Miers’ principal qualification for the U.S. Supreme Court.

What is depressing here is not what the nomination tells us of her, but what it tells us of the president who appointed her. For in selecting her, Bush capitulated to the diversity-mongers, used a critical Supreme Court seat to reward a crony, and revealed that he lacks the desire to engage the Senate in fierce combat to carry out his now-suspect commitment to remake the court in the image of Scalia and Thomas. In picking her, Bush ran from a fight. The conservative movement has been had -- and not for the first time by a president by the name of Bush.

The he said/she said bobblehead interviews on the cable shows today will be entertaining.

Loss of Enthusiasm

Most Americans Upset with Bush’s Iraq Policies

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Few adults in the United States are satisfied with the way George W. Bush is dealing with the coalition effort, according to a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates published in Newsweek. 62 per cent of respondents disapprove of the way their president is handling the situation in Iraq.

The coalition effort against Saddam Hussein’s regime was launched in March 2003. At least 1,939 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and more than 14,300 troops have been injured.

Iraqis are set to ratify their new constitution in a nationwide referendum scheduled for Oct. 15. A new legislative election will take place in December.

In his Oct. 1 radio address, Bush warned Americans about a possible increase in violence, saying, "More difficult and dangerous work still lies ahead. The terrorists have a history of escalating their attacks before Iraq’s major political milestones, and two elections are fast approaching."

Americans are divided on their president’s organization skills. 49 per cent of respondents see Bush as a bad manager who doesn’t know enough about what’s going on around him and below him, while 43 per cent feel he is a good manager who focuses on what’s important and delegates well.

Why is it that we have a war in Iraq again? WMD? Democracy, whisky, sexy?

Documenting the Scandals

DeLay Is Indicted on Two New Charges
Money Laundering Alleged in Texas

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 4, 2005; Page A01

A Texas grand jury indicted Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) yesterday for alleged involvement in money laundering related to the 2002 Texas election, raising new and more serious allegations than the conspiracy charge lodged against the former House majority leader last week.

The surprising new indictments followed by a matter of hours a motion by DeLay's Texas legal defense team to quash last week's charge on grounds that the Texas prosecutor in charge of the case lacked authority to bring it. The lawyers alleged that the crime of conspiracy was not covered by the state election law at the time of the alleged violation.

Later on Monday, a different grand jury -- which had no prior involvement in the case -- brought the new charges, which roughly match allegations made against two of DeLay's political associates one year ago.

DeLay, who had earlier accused the prosecutor -- Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle -- of partisan zealotry, promptly issued a statement accusing him of stooping "to a new low with his brand of prosecutorial abuse." DeLay said Earle "is trying to pull the legal equivalent of a 'do-over' since he knows very well that the charges he brought against me last week are totally manufactured and illegitimate." The congressman added: "This is an abomination of justice."

One count of the new indictment accuses DeLay of conspiracy to commit money laundering. It says he agreed with one or more associates to launder $190,000 in corporate contributions through an arm of the Republican National Committee in Washington, allowing the funds to be passed illegally into the election campaigns of Republican candidates in Texas. Texas law prohibits the use of corporate money in political campaigns.

The aim of the assistance was to ensure that Republicans could gain control of the Texas House, and thus reorder the state's congressional districts in a manner that would favor the election of Republicans. The stratagem worked: Five more Republicans were elected to the U.S. House from the state last year, making it harder for Democrats to wrest control of Congress.

The other new count alleges that DeLay and the two associates "did knowingly, conduct, supervise, and facilitate" the transfer of the $190,000 to Washington and back to Texas in violation of the state's money-laundering statutes. Last week's conspiracy charge, in contrast, involved the state's election law, and it was that linkage that DeLay's attorneys challenged.

Earle, who spoke to reporters after last week's action, did not explain his decision to present his case to a new grand jury on the first day it met. DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden said that Earle's action came after he "panicked" after realizing his error in bringing last week's charges.

But a source close to the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he lacks authority to speak publicly, responded by noting that Earle told reporters last week his investigation was continuing, and asserting that Earle had intended to bring these charges even before the challenge raised by DeLay's lawyers.

Smith hasn't been paying attention, this is not surprising at all. These are much stronger charges than the conspiricy indictment the grand jury issued last week, but last week's indictment was pointed in this direction. DeLay is spinning like mad.

Hunkering Down

When a President Is Not Spoiling for a Fight

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
Published: October 4, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 - There is still much to learn about Harriet E. Miers, but in naming her to the Supreme Court, President Bush revealed something about himself: that he has no appetite, at a time when he and his party are besieged by problems, for an all-out ideological fight.

Many of his most passionate supporters on the right had hoped and expected that he would make an unambiguously conservative choice to fulfill their goal of clearly altering the court's balance, even at the cost of a bitter confirmation battle. By instead settling on a loyalist with no experience as a judge and little substantive record on abortion, affirmative action, religion and other socially divisive issues, Mr. Bush shied away from a direct confrontation with liberals and in effect asked his base on the right to trust him on this one.

The question is why.

On one level, his reasons for trying to sidestep a partisan showdown are obvious, and come down to his reluctance to invest his diminished supply of political capital in a battle over the court.

The White House is still struggling to recover from its faltering response to Hurricane Katrina. The Republican Party is busily trying to wave away a scent of second-term scandal. The relentlessly bloody insurgency in Iraq continues to weigh heavily on his presidency. And no president can retain his political authority for long if he loses his claim to the center.

"The swagger is gone from this White House," said Charles E. Cook Jr., editor of The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter, citing a litany of other difficulties afflicting the administration, including high gasoline prices and the failure of Mr. Bush's push to overhaul Social Security. "They know they have horrible problems and they came up with the least risky move they could make."

Looked at another way, the choice is much harder to explain. In selecting Ms. Miers, Mr. Bush stepped deeper into a political thicket that had already scratched up his well-tended image of competence, the criticism that he is prone to stocking the government with cronies rather than people selected solely for their qualifications.

Perhaps even more seriously for him and his party, he left many conservatives feeling angry and deflated, if not betrayed, greatly exacerbating a problem that has been growing more acute for weeks because of the right's concern about unchecked government spending following Hurricane Katrina. For an administration that has at every turn tried to avoid the mistakes of Mr. Bush's father, especially the first President Bush's alienation of his right wing and the subsequent lack of enthusiasm for his re-election effort in 1992, the fallout on Monday was especially glaring.

A few months and a political epoch ago, Mr. Bush was willing to go to the mat for a controversial conservative nominee, pressing the Senate repeatedly to confirm John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations and then giving Mr. Bolton a recess appointment when Democrats blocked him. On Monday, weakened and struggling to avoid premature lame duck status, the administration had to defend itself against suggestions from the right that it has not lost just its way but its nerve.

Writing for National Review Online, David Frum, a conservative commentator and former speechwriter for Mr. Bush, said the president's supporters had reason "to be disappointed and alarmed." When Vice President Dick Cheney, who was dispatched to the conservative radio talk shows on Monday, defended the choice to Rush Limbaugh, saying that in 10 years Ms. Miers will have proven to be a "great appointment," Mr. Limbaugh responded, "Why do we need to wait 10 years?"

Now we can watch the Repub coalitions chew themselves up. A reporter for one of the news services interviewed me about JTF a couple of months ago and asked me what was the most interesting thing going on in politics. I replied that it was the way that all of the strains in the Repub coalition were going to be revealed by the SCOTUS nominations. Voila.

The NEJM tells it like it is

These tidbits thanks to Declan Butler, whose journalistic vacuum cleaner is a lot better than mine. :)

The first item is for those one or two remaining Bumpers who are not yet quite convinced that there is real and most serious substance behind Melanie's warnings about avian influenza.

I'm pretty sure Melanie has already seen these. If not, well, here's another clip or two of ammunition. These virtual rounds should be armor piercing, versus anything but the strongest-held kevlar-backed cases of denial.

Let me preface what follows with an observation - I think we can all agree that the New England Journal of Medicine is about as authoritative and unimpeachable a source of medical information as there is on Planet Earth.

Onward to the first fun-filled abstract. The title is just purely heartwarming: "Probable Person-to-Person Transmission of Avian Influenza A (H5N1)". Kinda gives the reader that nice warm fuzzy safe feeling. The date of publication is even more delightful: January 17, 2005. More than eight months ago.

Emphasis mine.

Background During 2004, a highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus caused poultry disease in eight Asian countries and infected at least 44 persons, killing 32; most of these persons had had close contact with poultry. No evidence of efficient person-to-person transmission has yet been reported. We investigated possible person-to-person transmission in a family cluster of the disease in Thailand.

Methods For each of the three involved patients, we reviewed the circumstances and timing of exposures to poultry and to other ill persons. Field teams isolated and treated the surviving patient, instituted active surveillance for disease and prophylaxis among exposed contacts, and culled the remaining poultry surrounding the affected village. Specimens from family members were tested by viral culture, microneutralization serologic analysis, immunohistochemical assay, reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) analysis, and genetic sequencing.

Results The index patient became ill three to four days after her last exposure to dying household chickens. Her mother came from a distant city to care for her in the hospital, had no recognized exposure to poultry, and died from pneumonia after providing 16 to 18 hours of unprotected nursing care. The aunt also provided unprotected nursing care; she had fever five days after the mother first had fever, followed by pneumonia seven days later. Autopsy tissue from the mother and nasopharyngeal and throat swabs from the aunt were positive for influenza A (H5N1) by RT-PCR. No additional chains of transmission were identified, and sequencing of the viral genes identified no change in the receptor-binding site of hemagglutinin or other key features of the virus. The sequences of all eight viral gene segments clustered closely with other H5N1 sequences from recent avian isolates in Thailand.

Conclusions Disease in the mother and aunt probably resulted from person-to-person transmission of this lethal avian influenzavirus during unprotected exposure to the critically ill index patient.

Oh, joy.

This was published in the third week of January, so the case reported upon had to be at least a month previous, perhapes earlier.

Which means that this latest gift of Mother Nature's bounty has been spreading from human to human, just waiting for the right strain to recombine its genetic material with, for at least three quarters of a year.

Our next little comedy skit is fairly hot off of the press. The WHO, for once, seems to have decided not to minimize matters, so it seems. "Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Infection in Humans", dated September 29, 2005, is an entire article rather than an abstract only, so I'll just cite the parts that stood out during my own reading.

For human influenza A (H5N1) infections, evidence is consistent with bird-to-human, possibly environment-to-human, and limited, nonsustained human-to-human transmission to date.

Recently, intensified surveillance of contacts of patients by reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay has led to the detection of mild cases, more infections in older adults, and an increased number and duration of clusters in families in northern Vietnam, findings suggesting that the local virus strains may be adapting to humans.

In other words, it's learning how to infect us and pass through our populations more effectively.

Incubation

The incubation period of avian influenza A (H5N1) may be longer than for other known human influenzas. In 1997, most cases occurred within two to four days after exposure13; recent reports15,16 indicate similar intervals but with ranges of up to eight days (Table 3). The case-to-case intervals in household clusters have generally been 2 to 5 days, but the upper limit has been 8 to 17 days, possibly owing to unrecognized exposure to infected animals or environmental sources.

Initial Symptoms

Most patients have initial symptoms of high fever (typically a temperature of more than 38°C) and an influenza-like illness with lower respiratory tract symptoms1 (Table 3). Upper respiratory tract symptoms are present only sometimes. Unlike patients with infections caused by avian influenza A (H7) viruses, patients with avian influenza A (H5N1) rarely have conjunctivitis. Diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, pleuritic pain, and bleeding from the nose and gums have also been reported early in the course of illness in some patients. Watery diarrhea without blood or inflammatory changes appears to be more common than in influenza due to human viruses and may precede respiratory manifestations by up to one week. One report described two patients who presented with an encephalopathic illness and diarrhea without apparent respiratory symptoms.

This last is reminiscent of the 1918 influenza's occasional neurotropism. See John Barry's The Great Influenza for similar behavior over the long term.

Clinical Course

Lower respiratory tract manifestations develop early in the course of illness and are usually found at presentation (Table 3). In one series, dyspnea developed a median of 5 days after the onset of illness (range, 1 to 16). Respiratory distress, tachypnea, and inspiratory crackles are common. Sputum production is variable and sometimes bloody. Almost all patients have clinically apparent pneumonia; radiographic changes include diffuse, multifocal, or patchy infiltrates; interstitial infiltrates; and segmental or lobular consolidation with air bronchograms. Radiographic abnormalities were present a median of 7 days after the onset of fever in one study (range, 3 to 17). In Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, multifocal consolidation involving at least two zones was the most common abnormality among patients at the time of admission. Pleural effusions are uncommon. Limited microbiologic data indicate that this process is a primary viral pneumonia, usually without bacterial suprainfection at the time of hospitalization.

Progression to respiratory failure has been associated with diffuse, bilateral, ground-glass infiltrates and manifestations of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In Thailand,15 the median time from the onset of illness to ARDS was 6 days (range, 4 to 13). Multiorgan failure with signs of renal dysfunction and sometimes cardiac compromise, including cardiac dilatation and supraventricular tachyarrhythmias, has been common. Other complications have included ventilator-associated pneumonia, pulmonary hemorrhage, pneumothorax, pancytopenia, Reye's syndrome, and sepsis syndrome without documented bacteremia.

Mortality

The fatality rate among hospitalized patients has been high (Table 3), although the overall rate is probably much lower. In contrast to 1997, when most deaths occurred among patients older than 13 years of age, recent avian influenza A (H5N1) infections have caused high rates of death among infants and young children. The case fatality rate was 89 percent among those younger than 15 years of age in Thailand. Death has occurred an average of 9 or 10 days after the onset of illness (range, 6 to 30), and most patients have died of progressive respiratory failure.

Management

Most hospitalized patients with avian influenza A (H5N1) have required ventilatory support within 48 hours after admission,

And there are fewer than 200,000 respirators in the entire length and breadth of the United States, so I am told.

Yup, steely-eyed never-sleeping Dubya and his little band of heroes are really on rhe case, aren't they?

After all, we just have to leave reserves aside for the thorough and complete torture of Iraqi nationals, and anyone else who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or whose name was on the wrong list of "usual suspects".

as well as intensive care for multiorgan failure and sometimes hypotension. In addition to empirical treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics, antiviral agents, alone or with corticosteroids, have been used in most patients (Table 3), although their effects have not been rigorously assessed. The institution of these interventions late in the course of the disease has not been associated with an apparent decrease in the overall mortality rate, although early initiation of antiviral agents appears to be beneficial.

In other words, once this thig has taken hold, there is no evidence presently on the table which distinguishes the therapeutic efficacy of Tamiflu from that of candy mints.

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

I trust this clarifies the roots of the issue that has Melanie, myself, and many others extremely concerned of late.

PanFlu Epidemic Week

Fourth Laboratory-Confirmed Human Case of Avian Influenza in Indonesia
Friday September 30, 4:49 am ET

MANILA, Sept. 30 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed another fatal human case of H5N1 avian influenza. The patient, a 27-year-old woman from Jakarta, developed symptoms on 17 September, was hospitalized on 19 September, and died on 26 September.

Confirmatory testing was conducted at a WHO reference laboratory in Hong Kong. Initial investigation has revealed that the woman had direct contact with diseased and dying chickens in her household shortly before the onset of illness.

The woman is the fourth laboratory-confirmed case of H5N1 infection in Indonesia. Three of these cases were fatal. As a result of intensified surveillance and heightened public concern, growing numbers of people with respiratory symptoms or possible exposure to the virus are being admitted to hospital for observation and, when appropriate, treatment. Until a conclusive diagnosis is made, these patients are classified by the Ministry of Health as suspect cases. While many do not have symptoms compatible with a diagnosis of H5N1 infection, screening of patient samples is being undertaken in national laboratories as part of efforts to ensure that no new cases are missed.

Laboratory testing to confirm human infection with H5N1 avian influenza is technically difficult; some tests produce inconclusive or unreliable results. To ensure a reliable assessment of the situation in Indonesia, authorities are, after initial screening, continuing to send samples from people considered likely to have H5N1 infection to WHO reference laboratories for diagnostic confirmation.

According to FAO, highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza is now endemic in poultry in many parts of Indonesia. As influenza virus activity in Indonesia may increase during the wet season, from November to April, human exposure to animal virus could be greater during the coming months. Further sporadic human cases can be anticipated.

Xinhua isn't the most reliable source in the world, but when they start reporting pandemic disease, I start to pay attention. Chicken is one of their most reliable exports and if they have to start destroying them, thier economy is going to take a big hit, as have the economies of the south-east asian nations. Bird flu has already wreaked havoc before we've learned if this is going to be a human disease. It might be a human pandemic, we don't know yet, but all of the poultry producers in this country are shaking in their boots. If you are a poultry producer in this (US) country I'll bet you are shaking in your boots and wondering what the spring bird migration will bring. I talked to one epidemiologist who thinks that bird flu will be in our domestic stocks by April of 06.

If that is true, adjust your panflu preps accordingly.

Flu News

I hope you'll find this amusing: I'm giving an interview on flu blogging, the The Flu Wiki and pandemic flu to The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists tomorrow. Me. In The Bulletin. That's pretty funny.

You can leave your rocket scientist jokes in comments below.