AddieStan

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/addiestan

In this morning's edition of "Meet the Press", host Tom Brokaw confronted Democratic vice presidential hopeful Joe Biden with an admonishment delivered to Nancy Pelosi by Archbishop Edward Cardinal Egan of New York in response to Pelosi's assertion that "doctors of the Church have not been able to define when life begins and that over the history of the Church, this is an issue of controversy." Egan issued a statement that concluded: "Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being 'chooses' to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name." Biden handled the situation brilliantly, stating that his personal belief that life begins at conception stems from his faith (ergo, not science), and he has no right to impose his faith on others. When pressed on the Pelosi/Egan controversy, Biden showed off his Jesuit edu...

Follow me: http://twitter.com/addiestan Here's a sample: McCain to deliver his acceptance speech at 9:11 PM (CDT). Exploit much?

Amy Goodman , the host of Pacifica's "Democracy Now!" radio program, has been arrested in St. Paul while trying to free two of her producers. All manner of mayhem has broken out in the Twin Cities, with water hoses and tear gas being used in answer to a handful of some 50 or so ruffians who went on a window-breaking spree after breaking away from a 10,000-strong peace march. Yesterday, police raided at least one peace group's headquarters -- a private home -- with guns drawn. Here's the press release from "Democracy Now!": Amy Goodman and Two Democracy Now! Producers Unlawfully Arrested At the RNC FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE www.democracynow.org September 1, 2008 Contact: Denis Moynihan 917-549-5000 Mike Burke 646-552-5107, mike@democracynow.org ST. PAUL, MN—- Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested he...

It appears that FEMA is doing a good job in Louisiana. Of course, the real test is yet to come, since FEMA's real job is to deal with the post-disaster issues of housing and general survival of storm survivors and evacuees. Your blogstress hopes the administration truly learned its lessons and has heeded the advice of what career civil service employees remain in its ranks. What happened during FEMA was not some sort of general incompetence on the part of FEMA's rank and file; it was the result of the politicization of the agency by the Bush administration. Indeed, well ahead of Katrina, FEMA workers tried to turn the attention of Congress to the lack of readiness created by political decisions made by the administration, but found no takers for the suggestion of an investigation. Here's Siobhan Gorman of the Wall Street Journal 's Storm Tracker blog: After overseeing one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will now sh...

In light of fears that the GOP will exploit the suffering of Gulf-Coast people to its own favor, Michael Tomasky says , not so fast: Now consider a flood, especially in the aftermath of Katrina, and especially a flood hitting an urban area, a situation that finds many African American people being interviewed on television, as is the case today. Your average American is not going to bring information to this picture that will make her conclude that the Republicans are the party to handle this. She will think, without even really knowing that she's thinking it, that this is a matter for the Democrats to take care of – that the Democrats will handle this situation with more empathy and, post-Katrina, more competence. CLICK HERE TO READ TOMASKY'S 'GUSTAV AND THE HARD-WIRED MIND'

http://digg.com/world_news/Police_gasssing_protestors_in_St_Paul_h2o_hoses_horses UPDATE: Joe Johns of CNN said the police were responding to a small group that broke away from the main protest in order to break windows and "generally make a nuisance of themselves."

This is a problem for everyone in Lousiana, since Baton Rouge is the staging area for first response elsewhere in the state. Accoring to CNN, the FEMA command center lost power temporarily, and may now be running on emergency generators. Your blogstress was in Baton Rouge less than two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, and it's hard to overstate the role of the Red Stick in managing such a crisis. UPDATE: Turns out, according to CNN, that a transformer was blown, and the power company was able to reroute power to the command center.