It Takes a Village to Staff a Gestapo Unit Update.

Michelle Malkin exposes Hitlery's latest campaign ploy.

Dead bodies are still floating all over New Orleans. Hundreds, if not thousands, of children are still searching for their parents. Wiped-out communities are still awaiting water and power.

So, what is armchair first responder Sen. Hillary Clinton's first response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster?

A commission.

"It has become increasingly evident that our nation was not prepared," Sen. Clinton, D-N.Y., lectured in a Labor Day letter to President Bush. Yes, thank you, Sen. Sherlock. Those gleaming degrees from Wellesley and Yale Law are really paying off.

Sen. Clinton's "Katrina Commission" would be modeled after the "independent" 9/11 Commission. I can see it now: Democrat Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, whose main imperative is covering up her own culpability, will be the next Jamie Gorelick; Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, the local corrupt-o-crat who got his 15 minutes of fame on "Meet the Press" last week, will be the next Richard Ben-Veniste.

And this time for "diversity," maybe they'll call on Randall "Black people are eating corpses . . . oh, never mind" Robinson and rapper Kanye "It's all about me" West to share their deep expertise.

Despite the abject failures of local and state officials to prepare for the worst, abide by their own evacuation plans, maintain an effective police force, and crack down on looters, Sen. Clinton's commission would only examine the "adequacy of federal response efforts."

Translation: Bash Bush.

Look, there's no question the feds fell down on the job. The president himself said he was "not satisfied" with the response. If the White House's purportedly brilliant strategists had any sense, they would advise Bush to fire Federal Emergency Management Agency head Michael Brown in a heartbeat. Brown is the most cretinous of political cronies, a college roommate of a former FEMA official with no prior experience in disaster management before he was hired in 2001 -- unless you count managing his own checkered job history.

All that aside, a Katrina Commission modeled after the 9/11 Commission is a recipe for more disaster and dissembling.

Do we really need another group of staunch Democrats and milquetoast Republicans (Repansycans! - F.G.) appointed to furrow their brows and pull their chins and stab their fingers in the air on cue for weeks on end while they find 50 different ways to tell us "We are not prepared"?

The congressional investigation(s) had better nail every politician and bureaucrat who did not do his job: state, local, and federal. (I'll not hold my breath on that one, kiddies.)

I'll bet you $20 no criminal charges are ever filed. Shoot, I'll bet you nobody lower than the FEMA director loses his job.

Coulter contra Senator Murder.

Ann Coulter (My latest litmus test for so-called "conservatives") wonders why the Bay State Blimp should be considered America's conscience when it's obvious he's hiding something by drowning his.

Sen. Teddy Kennedy has demanded that the Bush administration waive attorney-client privilege and release internal memos John Roberts worked on while in the solicitor general's office 15 years ago, all of which were supposed to be held in the deepest confidence. Apparently, Kennedy thinks public officials have no right to keep even their attorney-client communications secret.

This surprised me because the senator is such a strong advocate of the (nonexistent) "right to privacy." And not just in the way most drunken, Spanish quiz-cheating, no-pants-wearing public reprobates generally cherish their own personal right to privacy. I mean privacy in the abstract.

I know as much about the "right to privacy" as I know about any other made-up, nonexistent right, but I would have thought that any "right to privacy" would protect confidential attorney-client conversations at least as much as, say, abortions in public buildings.

But I'll have to defer to the expert.

Consequently, applying the principle even-handedly to members of the executive branch as well as the legislative branch, I demand that Kennedy immediately waive all attorney-client privilege relating to his communications with his lawyer after he drove Mary Jo Kopechne off the bridge at Chappaquiddick. It's time to clear up, once and for all, the many questions that have swirled around Kennedy since Chappaquiddick.

Oops — "swirled" may have been a poor choice of words there. How about "floated"? Nope. "Surfaced"? Oooh — even worse, in terms of irony. "Come to light"? OK, now I'm just being obtuse. "Beset"? Yes, that's better.

Youth is no defense. John Roberts was 26 years old when he wrote the documents that Kennedy demands on behalf of the Senate. Kennedy was 36 when he drove Mary Jo Kopechne off a bridge.

If the Senate needs to know what Roberts thought about the law at age 26, then the Senate certainly needs to know what Kennedy thought about the law at age 36, when he drowned a girl and then spent the rest of the evening concocting an alibi instead of calling the police.

This isn't a "rehash" of Chappaquiddick; it's never been hashed. The Senate needs to know whether Kennedy was guilty of manslaughter. How else can the Senate be expected to carry out its constitutional duty to expel Kennedy unless Kennedy makes these key documents available?

We'll pick them up in the same van we send to collect John Kerry's military records and Bill Clinton's medical records.

While we wait, here's my guess as to what those attorney-client conversations sounded like, based on the facts in Leo Damore's book "Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up":

Interview with client Teddy Kennedy, July 19, 1969:

Teddy: May I approach the bench?

Lawyer: It's not a bench, Teddy. It's my desk. And no, you can't have another Chivas Regal.

Teddy: (Hiccup)

Lawyer: Let's start at the beginning.

Teddy: I'm going to say you were driving.

Lawyer: No, you are not saying I was driving.

Teddy: OK, someone in your family was driving.

Lawyer: They weren't even in Massachusetts that week. Can we move on? Why didn't you call the police after the accident, Teddy?

Teddy: I had to protect my political career, obviously. But this wasn't just about me! I was thinking about future drunk, philandering U.S. senators who may or may not have just drowned some chick they met at a party.

Lawyer: But what about Mary Jo —

Teddy: Yes, precisely! How would it look if I, a United States senator, were driving off to a secluded beach at midnight with a beautiful, nubile female after a private party? How would that look?

Lawyer: But Mary Jo was still alive for two hours —

Teddy: Did I mention my wife was pregnant? You think I should have reported the accident now, Mr. Smartypants?

Lawyer: She was trapped in that car, struggling to breathe!

Teddy: Do you know that two of my brothers were assassinated?

Lawyer: She was still alive! You could have saved her!

Teddy: Yeah, and say goodbye to my presidential ambitions. There was the future of the country to consider — as well as the future of the Chivas Regal company and all their employees. I am a Kennedy. I have a divine right to the presidency. I had to put that ahead of my lawyer's conscience. Anyway, Mary Jo was driving.

Lawyer: Teddy, we can't say Mary Jo was driving.

Teddy: What if some phony witness claimed that the driver stopped to ask for directions. Wouldn't that prove it was a woman driving?

Lawyer: But what about the witnesses?

Teddy: We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Hey, what's so funny? Did I just say something funny?

To be continued ...

Here's Part Deux:

Interview with client Teddy Kennedy, July 19, 1969 (based on the facts in Leo Damore's book "Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Cover-Up"):

Lawyer: Let's get back to the night of the accident. Why didn't you call the police?

Teddy: Stop nagging me! Mary Jo was driving. I wasn't even in the car.

Lawyer: No, Teddy. People saw you leave the party together.

Teddy: I had spurned her sexual advances and the poor girl was distraught. That's probably why she drove off the bridge.

Lawyer: A police officer saw you behind the driver's wheel speeding toward the bridge with a blonde in the passenger seat shortly before the accident.

Teddy: I asked Mary Jo to take the wheel after realizing I was too drunk to drive.

Lawyer: Now I know you're lying.

Teddy: How would that cop like a new NASA facility named after him?

Lawyer: You were soaking wet when you got back to the cottage.

Teddy: I went for a swim.

Lawyer: Fully clothed?

Teddy: I like to go for a little dip after a night of drinking and attempted extramarital sex. It clears my head.

Lawyer: There were any number of houses with lights on near the bridge – these are people who like you, Teddy – but they can't understand why you didn't ask them to call for help.

Teddy: I can't remember anything that happened that night! It seems like I was wandering for days, dizzy from the loss of oxygen after my heroic attempts to rescue Mary Jo. If you think about it, it was a lot like my brother Jack's rescue of his men on PT-109. He was driving when the ship got hit, and he didn't save all of them either. (Teddy singing now) The car was in, the Chappaquiddick bay, fearless man, who jumps and swims, a man who means, just what he says ...

Lawyer: What are you doing?

Teddy: It's a song I'm writing. I call it "The Ballad of Mary Jo."

Lawyer: You already told your confidant Paul Markham and your cousin Joseph Gargan the truth.

Teddy: Yes, get those names. They'll back me. Mary Jo was driving.

Lawyer: You're going to ask all these people to perjure themselves for you?
Teddy: I already have. They're balking of course, but I left them no choice.

Lawyer: What do you mean you've left them no choice?

Teddy: When they dropped me at the dock after they tried diving for Mary Jo, I told them I would report the accident the moment I got back to my hotel. But they knew I was lying. An hour went by and no police had come by to question them? They knew I hadn't reported it. They're as guilty as I am!

Lawyer: Well, arguably, you are more guilty, inasmuch as you drove off the bridge --

Teddy: Mary Jo was driving. And I've been drowning my sorrows ever since. Get it? "Drowning my sorrows"? Can I at least have a beer?

Lawyer: – and then you went to absurd lengths back at the hotel to create an alibi for yourself – drying off and changing clothes, making a point of complaining to the hotel owner about the noise from the next room even though everyone was sound asleep at that hour, asking the hotel owner to tell you what time it was.

Teddy: That was a nice touch, wasn't it?

Lawyer: How can you explain that behavior as anything other than trying to create an alibi?

Teddy: Are you listening? I'm a married man! Mary Jo was a babe! I was drunk, speeding toward a secluded beach with her. Do you think we were going to look for seashells? Now how would that look?

Lawyer: Hey – what are you doing with that neck brace?

Teddy: Look! Now it's a hat! Hey – there aren't any cameras in here, are there?

Lawyer: I don't know how I'm going to get you out of this ...

Teddy: Do you know who I am? I am a Kennedy! JFK, Jackie O, Camelot, Prohibition-era rum-running Kennedy clan – any of that ring a bell? The judge is a Democrat, and the weenie DA keeps sending me mash notes promising not to prosecute. Ha ha! He must think I need a new chauffeur!

Lawyer: You are in a lot of trouble, Teddy.

Teddy: I've got it all in hand. Hey, I'm feeling a little loaded. Which side of this neck brace is up? My press conference is in 10 minutes.

People think Ann Coulter is some crazed witch who can't control herself. My guess is she uses humor like a pressure release valve. If she did not beat down morons like Senator Murder every couple of weeks, she'd spend all her time slamming doors and shooting up televisions, a la Elvis.

Buchanan: Whither conservatives?

Brother Pat is mostly dead on here, as usual. The Repansycans do not have the cajones to stop the Mexican invasion. Hitlerly is talking tough about it. But if you believe that Leninist-Leninist power-whore is actually going to do something about it, I have a wonderful investment opportunity for you...

While the Republican Party today controls the White House and Congress, how stands conservatism, using Reagan-Helms as the gold standard?
On tax cuts, a strong national defense and the nomination of federal judges who believe America is a republic where the people rule through elected representatives, not a judicial dictatorship, George W. Bush meets the gold standard.

But on spending, Bush and Congress do not even meet the Clinton standard. They qualify as Great Society Conservatives. The Republican Revolution of 1994 turned out like that vaunted Vanguard we launched after Sputnik that got four feet off the ground.

Anti-communism and resistance to the "evil empire" once united the Right. But that unifying cause died with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

On foreign policy, conservatives are no longer a house united. While all but six GOP House members voted to authorize President Bush to take us to war in Iraq, and 75 percent of Republicans still believe in the war, among conservative and libertarian writers, there was no such plurality, and some are having second thoughts. There is no conservative consensus on foreign policy today.

The neoconservative position, to make promoting democracy the altarpiece of our foreign policy, to increase U.S. forces in Iraq, and to extend the war to Iran and Syria to win it, appears no longer to be Bush policy. And despite the president's resolve to stay the course, his generals continue to talk of substantial withdrawals by spring.

On foreign aid – given the increases for Africa, the Middle East and the Millennium Challenge – the president and Congress seem squarely in the liberal internationalist tradition. They believe in it.

On social issues, the GOP remains a pro-life party, but less volubly than it once was, with House and Senate Republicans moving to back embryonic stem-cell research. Rather than battleground issues on which the GOP likes to fight, these are wedge issues on which the GOP likes to campaign in October to rally the Red Staters. And the base is beginning to get the message. They are the girls of summer who are dumped when the boys go back to school.

On sovereignty, the White House has maintained its opposition to the Kyoto Protocol and International Criminal Court but continues to accept the dictations of a World Trade Organization, to which the Gingrich-Dole internationalists subordinated U.S. sovereignty in '94.

But on two issues, besides the war, the Bush Republicans are starting to lose their conservative base as well as the country.

House Republicans voted 7-1 for CAFTA, but enthusiasm for that trade deal was nonexistent, and Bush had to twist arms in his own party to win. Weekly stories of factory closings, jobs being outsourced, and foreign workers coming in to take American jobs at Third World wages are killing the old faith in free trade.

The Business Roundtable and its house organ, the Wall Street Journal, have lost the country, which is why Democrats voted 14-1 against CAFTA. You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing on globalization.

But it is on America's bleeding border that the GOP faces a crisis. If President Bush is unwilling to protect this border where 1 to 2 million attempt to break in yearly, and half a million succeed, this issue could sink the party in 2006. Mass immigration is eating up tax dollars – in health, education, welfare, and prison, police and court costs – bankrupting states and imperiling our security.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pray for us, Blessed Mother.

Today's reading is Micheas 5:1-4.
Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23.


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Prayer to Saint Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Help build the Victims of Communism Memorial.

Professor R. J. Rummel of Democratic Peace brings us the story of a worthy cause.

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation link here is working its way through the red tape required to get design approval for its Memorial site at Massachusetts Ave., N.W. and New Jersey Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. The cost of the memorial will be about $700,000, of which the Foundation has raised $350,000 so far.

It is across from Georgetown University Law Center and will have a clear view of the U.S. Capitol. The most important part of the memorial is a 10-foot bronze replica of the "Democracy" statue erected by Chinese students in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and based on our own Statue of Liberty. Radiating from the stature are ten charcoal black radians, each representing 10 million victims of communism. One inscription will read: "To the more than one hundred million victims of communism and to those who love liberty."

Another gem from Larry at BlameBush!

I certainly can sympathize (Or is that empathize, Larry?) with a guy who blames bush for all his problems.


Bush World's Biggest Hurricane

I briefly awoke from my NyQuil coma last night to discover that CNN's 24-hour coverage of Cindy Sheehan's courageous vigil had been interrupted to report on Katrina's aftermath, with running commentary from Cindy Sheehan.

"Katrina was only a 4.9 on the Richter scale," Cindy spoke in her pleasingly robotic Janeane Garafolo monotone. "But if the severity of hurricanes was measured by the amount of lives lost, families destroyed, and damage wrought to the natural environment, then George W. Bush is by far the biggest hurricane of all. Isn't that right, Casey Dawg?"

"You go, Ma!!" replied her son, Spc. Casey Sheehan, whose spirit Cindy now channels through a sock puppet on her right hand.

It all made perfect sense to me. The deadliest in a long line of Bush hurricanes, Katrina was practically a metaphor for Bush's illegal and immoral War in Iraq. It attacked from the south with unbelievable shock and awe, brutally murdered millions of helpless innocents but spared the oil wells, then veered severely off course and petered out somewhere in Ohio. It was as if Katrina had followed a script plucked straight from the devious mind of Karl Rove himself.

Why? For the answer, one need look no further than New Orlean's leaky Superdome, which is quickly becoming a giant bowl of Negro soup. With the South's entire Black voting population under 15 feet of water, Bush is guaranteed an all-white electorate when he revokes the Constitution and runs for an historic third term in 2008. And with the French Quarter completely obliterated, the Führer will have little opposition as he continues his Blitzkrieg across the Middle East.

After years of denying the truth, it appears that the scientific community and members of the mainstream press are finally beginning to realize what we progressives have known all along: that Bush's refusal to ratify Kyoto is not merely the unfortunate result of his unbridled greed and stupidity, but a calculated plot to eliminate his political enemies with seemingly "natural" disasters.

Hopefully, the international community will move quickly to save America from Liar Bush and his big polluter buddies - even if it means stationing armed U.N. regulators in all our major corporations. If Coward Bush is too much of a cowardly coward to meet with one woman and her sock-puppet, then maybe 3000 French troops on his front lawn will scare him straight.
It may be too late for New Orleans and the rest of Georgia, but once the world becomes convinced that bad weather is caused not by natural forces beyond our control, but by greedy conservatives and even capitalism itself, then perhaps Casey Sheehan will not have died in vain.

I sighed with inspiration as our Commander in Grief bid America goodnight, likely off to perform another one of her hourly cross-kneeling photo-ops for peace. There was a mechanical whirring sound as the hydraulic kneepads George Soros gave her kicked into gear, and then she was gone. Permalink

Even more of the Find The Hottest TV News Babe Contest.

From WBZ in Boston: Sara Underwood



Pauline Chiou


Melissa Bell

And just to prove all the talent isn't on the big city teams...

...I proudly present the babes of KGBT in Harlingen, TX.

Martha Benavides (TOP) and April Norris (BOTTOM).

The Find The Hottest TV News Babe Contest hits the jackpot in St. Louis.

These are the babes of KMOV in St. Louis. They have a huge lead in the race for the coveted team title.



Virginia Kerr (Oh, my.)



Donna Savarese (Wow.)



Vickie Newton (Double wow.)



Richelle Carey (Wowee wow wow wow.)

Louisiana Officials Could Lose the Katrina Blame Game

From CNSNews.com: (See their running news ticker at the bottom of the page.)

The Bush administration is being widely criticized for the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina and the allegedly inadequate protection for "the big one" that residents had long feared would hit New Orleans. But research into more than ten years of reporting on hurricane and flood damage mitigation efforts in and around New Orleans indicates that local and state officials did not use federal money that was available for levee improvements or coastal reinforcement and often did not secure local matching funds that would have generated even more federal funding.

In December of 1995, the Orleans Levee Board, the local government entity that oversees the levees and floodgates designed to protect New Orleans and the surrounding areas from rising waters, bragged in a supplement to the Times-Picayune newspaper about federal money received to protect the region from hurricanes.

"In the past four years, the Orleans Levee Board has built up its arsenal. The additional defenses are so critical that Levee Commissioners marched into Congress and brought back almost $60 million to help pay for protection," the pamphlet declared. "The most ambitious flood-fighting plan in generations was drafted. An unprecedented $140 million building campaign launched 41 projects."

The levee board promised Times-Picayune readers that the "few manageable gaps" in the walls protecting the city from Mother Nature's waters "will be sealed within four years (1999) completing our circle of protection."

But less than a year later, that same levee board was denied the authority to refinance its debts. Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle "repeatedly faulted the Levee Board for the way it awards contracts, spends money and ignores public bid laws," according to the Times-Picayune. The newspaper quoted Kyle as saying that the board was near bankruptcy and should not be allowed to refinance any bonds, or issue new ones, until it submitted an acceptable plan to achieve solvency.

Blocked from financing the local portion of the flood fighting efforts, the levee board was unable to spend the federal matching funds that had been designated for the project.

By 1998, Louisiana's state government had a $2 billion construction budget, but less than one tenth of one percent of that -- $1.98 million -- was dedicated to levee improvements in the New Orleans area. State appropriators were able to find $22 million that year to renovate a new home for the Louisiana Supreme Court and $35 million for one phase of an expansion to the New Orleans convention center.

The following year, the state legislature did appropriate $49.5 million for levee improvements, but the proposed spending had to be allocated by the State Bond Commission before the projects could receive financing. The commission placed the levee improvements in the "Priority 5" category, among the projects least likely to receive full or immediate funding.

The Orleans Levee Board was also forced to defer $3.7 million in capital improvement projects in its 2001 budget after residents of the area rejected a proposed tax increase to fund its expanding operations. Long term deferments to nearly 60 projects, based on the revenue shortfall, totaled $47 million worth of work, including projects to shore up the floodwalls.

No new state money had been allocated to the area's hurricane protection projects as of October of 2002, leaving the available 65 percent federal matching funds for such construction untouched. (Emphasis mine.)

"The problem is money is real tight in Baton Rouge right now," state Sen. Francis Heitmeier (D-Algiers) told the Times-Picayune. "We have to do with what we can get."

Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Mark Drennen told local officials that, if they reduced their requests for state funding in other, less critical areas, they would have a better chance of getting the requested funds for levee improvements. The newspaper reported that in 2000 and 2001, "the Bond Commission has approved or pledged millions of dollars for projects in Jefferson Parish, including construction of the Tournament Players Club golf course near Westwego, the relocation of Hickory Avenue in Jefferson (Parish) and historic district development in Westwego.

"There is no record of such discretionary funding requests being reduced or withdrawn, but in October of 2003, nearby St. Charles Parish did receive a federal grant for $475,000 to build bike paths on top of its levees.

Earlier this year, the levee board did complete a $2.5 million restoration project. After months of delays, officials rolled away fencing to reveal the restored 1962 Mardi Gras fountain in a four-acre park featuring a new 600-foot plaza between famous Lakeshore Drive and the sea wall.

Financing for the renovation came from a property tax passed by New Orleans voters in 1983. The tax, which generates more than $6 million each year for the levee board, is dedicated to capital projects. Levee board officials defended more than $600,000 in cost overruns for the Mardi Gras fountain project, according to the Times-Picayune, "citing their responsibility to maintain the vast green space they have jurisdiction over along the lakefront."

Democrats blame Bush administration

Congressional Democrats have been quick to blame the White House for poor preparation and then a weak response related to Hurricane Katrina. U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, joined two of his colleagues from the Transportation and Infrastructure and Homeland Security committees Tuesday in a letter requesting hearings into what the trio called a "woefully inadequate" federal response.

"Hurricane Katrina was an unstoppable force of nature," Waxman wrote along with Reps. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). "But it is plain that the federal government could have done more, sooner, to respond to the immediate survival needs of the residents of Louisiana and Mississippi."

In fact, different choices for funding and planning to protect New Orleans may even have mitigated the flooding of the city," the Democrats added.

But Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) suggested that Waxman "overlooks many other questions that need to be asked, and prematurely faults the federal government for all governmental shortcomings; in fact, local and state government failures are not mentioned at all in [Waxman's] letter."

Davis wrote that Waxman's questions about issues such as the lack of federal plans for evacuating residents without access to vehicles and the alleged failure of the Department of Homeland Security to ensure basic communications capacity for first responders might "prematurely paint the picture that these are solely, or even primarily, federal government responsibilities.

"This is not the time to attack or defend government entities for political purposes. Rather, this is a time to do the oversight we're charged with doing," Davis continued. "Our Committee will aggressively investigate what went wrong and what went right. We'll do it by the book, and let the chips fall where they may."

The House Government Reform Committee will begin hearings on federal disaster preparations and the response to Hurricane Katrina the week of Sept. 12. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is schedule to hold hearings on the economic recovery from Katrina beginning Wednesday morning.

Good news from New Orleans: George Buck and his wife are safe.

This comes from Fred's News Page:

****************************************************************
UPDATE:
15/10/05 - Hi Fred, I've received A message from the George Buck set-up in New Orleans. The warehouse where they kept the LPs and books has been totally destroyed by Katrina. The offices are getting back into business but the person with whom I correspond has lost his home and everything. All the people working there are OK. We complain about our weather but it certainly is nothing compared with the extremes of other nations.
***************************************************************


04/09/05 - Good News from N.O. - "Hi Fred, I have heard from USA that George Buck is safe. I'll give more information when I hear. " - Mart Rodger :

- From Pete Vickers, "Hi Pete We are all safe. They airlifted us off of the roof of our building at 4am and we are now in Jackson Mississippi with family. More details when we meet which I doubt will be in September this year at the moment. Best wishes to all, John "Kid" Simmons. PS My van after 20 years of faithful service, is now a submarine."

For those of you not among the cognoscenti, Mr. Buck is the driving force behind Jazzology Records, where REAL jazz still lives.

Please continue to pray for those not as fortunate and those whose fates are unknown.

YES! Stuffed porpoise stomach!

The internet is an amazing thing. A medieval English recipe featuring porpoise is Fyodor's Animal Flesh Recipe of the Day. With a Catholic angle to boot!

Almond Milk Frumenty

Frumenty was one the most popular foods of the Middle Ages, used as an accompaniment to roast meat, venison being particularly favored. However, this particular recipe was intended for Lent and was meant to be served with boiled porpoise!

Frumenty recipes appear throughout surviving period cookbooks and manuscripts, proving that its preparation was wide-spread and common. Apparently, any cook worth his or her salt could prepare this dish.

Original recipe from An Ordinance of Pottage

16. Frumente yn lentyn. Take clene pykyd whete. Bray hit yn a morter, and fanne it clene, and seth hit tyl hit be brokyn. Than grynd blanchid almondys yn a morter; draw therof a mylke. Do hit togedyr and boyle hit tyl hit be resonabull thykke: than loke thy whete be tendyr. Colour hit up with safferyn. Lech thy purpas when hit ys sodyn, than ley hit on disches by hitsylfe, and serve hit forth with frumente.

— Hieatt, Constance B. An Ordinance of Pottage. An Edition of the Fifteenth Century Culinary Recipes in Yale University's MS Beinecke 163. London: Prospect Books Ltd, 1988.

What's the matter? Your Middle English a bit rusty? Haven't read The Canterbury Tales since junior high?

Translation :

Frumenty in Lent. Take clean picked wheat. Pound it in a morter, and remove the hull, and boil it until it cracks. Then grind blanched almonds in a morter; make an almond milk. Add the wheat to the almond milk and boil until reasonably thick; make sure the wheat is tender. Color it with saffron. Cut your porpoise after it's boiled, then set it in dishes with nothing else, and serve it with frumenty.


DIRECTIONS:

Stir together all the ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook for approximately 45 minutes, or until the bulgar is tender and the mixture becomes thick. Be careful not to scorch. Serve as a soup or as a sauce for meat.

Recipe Source: Boke of Gode of Cookery Recipes, A by James L. Matterer, 2000

Bring on the porpoise!

Puddyng of purpaysse

PERIOD: England, 15th century

SOURCE: Harleian MS 279
CLASS: Authentic

DESCRIPTION: Stuffed porpoise stomach

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

.xl. Puddyng of purpaysse. Take þe Blode of hym, & þe grece of hym self, & Ote-mele, & Salt, & Pepir, & Gyngere, & melle þese to-gederys wel, & þan putte þis in þe Gutte of þe purays, & þan lat it seþe esyli, & not hard, a good whylys; & þan take hym vppe, & broyle hym a lytil, & þan serue forth.

- Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55.

London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.


GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION:

Pudding of porpoise.

Take the Blood of him, & the grease of him self, & Oatmeal, & Salt, & Pepper, & Ginger, & mix these together well, & then put this in the Gut of the porpoise, & then let it boil easily, & not hard, a good while; & then take him up, & broil him a little, & then serve forth.

INGREDIENTS:
Porpoise blood
Porpoise grease
Oatmeal
Salt
Pepper
Ginger
One porpoise stomach

DIRECTIONS:
Combine the porpoise blood, porpoise grease, and oatmeal, & season it with salt, pepper, & ginger. This should be a thick & moist stuffing-like mixture. Stuff the porpoise stomach about half full with this, as the stuffing will swell during cooking. Sew up the stomach tightly or secure each end with string, & prick it all over with a large needle to avoid bursting. Put an upturned plate in the base of a pot of boiling water, stand the stomach on this and bring back to the boil; boil steadily for 3 to 4 hours. Cook until done; remove from water and drain well. Place in a broiler and cook for several minutes on both sides to slightly crisp the skin, then serve.

This recipe is essentially a porpoise haggis, as it uses all the elements found in the traditional Scottich haggis of a boiled sheep stomach with an oatmeal stuffing.

If for some reason you are unable to find a porpoise stomach, you might try a sheep stomach, still used today when making haggis. Alternatively, you may do the "American" version of making haggis, which leaves out the stomach entirely and has the mixture baked in a loaf pan.

BOO! HISSSSSS! Porpoise stomach! Porpoise stomach!

I now have even more respect for medieval English Catholics.

Also, you may substitute a little white wine for the porpoise blood and butter or suet for the porpoise grease. Vegetable shortening may be also be used for the porpoise grease; the original recipe was probably intended for Lent and porpoise grease would have been an acceptable animal fat to use at that time. Vegetable shortening will probably be the closest and easiest alternative to fish grease if you wish to keep this a Lenten dish.

GLOSSARY OF MEDIEVAL COOKING TERMS

I must look for a porpoise recipe...

I'll keep you posted. Ha! Dead lawyer. I get it.

Those folks on the Gulf Coast are our neighbors. You know what to do.

First, last, and always, PRAY. Pray for the survivors. Pray for the repose of the souls of those killed by Hurricane Katrina. Pray for the families and friends. Pray for the relief workers, the cops, the firemen, the troops, and the technicians. Pray for the volunteers.

It is time to step up once again, kiddies. "Do unto others", "I was naked and you clothed me", et cetera.

Catholic Relief Services is on the job. The absolute best of crisis charities needs money now.

Mail Checks To:
Catholic Charities USA
Hurricane Katrina
PO Box 25168
Alexandria, VA 22313-9788
Call:(800) 919-9338

Contribute Now Online

Agencies Impacted:
Catholic Charities of Miami
Catholic Charities of New Orleans
Catholic Community Services of Baton Rouge
Catholic Social Services of Houma-Thibodaux
Catholic Social and Community Services of Biloxi, MS
Catholic Charities of Jackson, MS
Catholic Social Services of Mobile, AL

And, as always, give generously to the special collections for hurricance disaster relief in your local parish.

Fyodor asks a favor of you, his gentle readers.

If you have not noticed, (and really, there is no reason why you should have) there is now some evil ADVERTISING on my idiot blog courtesy of Google.

If any of you ever notice them trying to sell anything a good Catholic boy should not be promoting, please let me know and I'll drop all their ads immediately.

They change the ads constantly, so it is difficult for me to keep an eye on them.

Thank you for your support.

If you think the UN's Oil for Food scandal is bad...

...wait until Louisiana's Democrass Machine gets its hands on $150 billion of your tax money.

Book of the Day.

Because the horrors of the past are being swept under the rug and forgotten just as they were when they happened.

Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler

Koestler made his international breakthrough as a writer with Darkness at Noon. It depicted the fate of an old idealistic Bolshevik, Rubashov, a victim of Stalin's rule of terror. Rubashov is imprisoned in 1938 and persuaded to confess crimes 'against the state', of which he is innocent. In his own mind Rubashov knows he is guilty of working for system, that has cost too much suffering. "I no longer believe in my own infallibility," he admits. "That is why I am lost." The book was based partly on writer's own experiences a prisoner and on Stalin's trials. It revealed the totalitarian system and the decay of the Russian Revolution.

Bob Denver, Requiescat in pace.

May God have mercy on his soul.

There certainly are worse ways to be remembered. Thanks for Maynard G. Krebs. Thanks for being everybody's little buddy.

It was supposed to be just a three-hour tour and, if the critics had their way, "Gilligan's Island" would have been forgotten after its three short seasons on television. But somewhere along the line in rerun eternity, television audiences fell in love with the goofy character of Gilligan played by Bob Denver, who died Friday at age 70.

It became a love affair that endured throughout the life of Denver, who died of complications related to cancer treatment at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina. He had lived in recent years in Princeton, W.Va.

"One thing I can say about Bob and the show is he entertained generations, and everybody approached us and him in particular with love and a smile," said Russell Johnson, who played the egg-headed professor on "Gilligan's Island." "That's a tremendous legacy for someone from Hollywood to leave."

Gilligan may have been his signature role, but when he took the part in 1964 Denver was already widely known to TV audiences for another iconic character, Maynard G. Krebs, the bearded beatnik friend of Dwayne Hickman's Dobie in the "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963.

"In all the time I knew Bob, personally and professionally, we never had a harsh word," said Hickman, who added the two remained close friends over the years, even though they were as different in real life as the characters they portrayed.

California state Sen. Sheila James Kuehl, who played Dobie's love-struck pursuer, Zelda Gilroy, remembered Denver as a mentor, both in acting and life.

"What he taught me about acting was when you work to make the other person look good, you end up looking good yourself," she said. "What he taught me about life was that you could love your work, but it was really more important to love your friends and family."

Maynard G. Krebs' only desire was to play the bongos and hang out at coffee houses, and he would shriek with terror every time the word "work" was mentioned.

Gilligan on the other hand was industrious but inept. His bungling stranded his tour boat's skipper and their five passengers on an uncharted desert island for all of TV eternity and, when the seven castaways actually got off the island in a film sequel, they wound up back there when Gilligan bungled the reunion cruise a year later.

His character was as lovable as he was incompetent, and viewers embraced the skinny goofball kid with the white sailor hat. So did the Minnow's skipper, Jonas Grumby, played by Alan Hale Jr., and who always referred to Gilligan affectionately as "little buddy."

"As silly as it seems to all of us, it has made a difference in a lot of children's lives," Dawn Wells, who played farm girl Mary Ann Summers, once said. "Gilligan is a buffoon that makes mistakes and I cannot tell you how many kids come up and say, `But you loved him anyway.'"

TV critics were less kind, dismissing "Gilligan's Island" as corny at best and stupid at worst. It was canceled by the network in 1967, but found new audiences in syndicated reruns.

"It was the mid-'70s when I realized it wasn't going off the air," Denver told The Associated Press in 2001. "I certainly didn't set out to have a series rerun forever, but it's not a bad experience at all."

After "Gilligan's Island," Denver starred in other TV series, including "The Good Guys" and "Dusty's Trail." He also made numerous film and TV appearances.

But he never escaped the role of Gilligan, so much so that in one of "Late Show" host David Letterman's top 10 lists — things that would make the studio audience applaud — one of the items Letterman announced was Denver's presence. The actor's brief appearance yielded a raucous response.

Born in New Rochelle, N.Y., on Jan 9, 1935, Denver discovered acting while studying law at Loyola University in Los Angeles. While struggling to make it as an actor, he taught private school in Pacific Palisades and worked for a time at a post office. (Thanks to Yahoo!News.)

A little more on The Apostles Creed.

"The Apostles' Creed is so called because it is rightly considered to be a faithful summary of the apostles' faith. It is the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church of Rome. Its great authority arises from this fact: it is 'the Creed of the Roman Church, the See of Peter, the first of the apostles, to which he brought the common faith."

- from the Catechism of the Catholic Church; 194.


"This Creed is the spiritual seal, our heart's meditation and an ever-present guardian; it is, unquestionably, the treasure of our soul."

- Saint Ambrose.



I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of St. Madalberta, who came from a whole family of saints. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.

Today's reading is Colossians 3:1-11.
Today's Gospel reading is Luke 6:20-26.


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Prayer to Saint Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.