Dave Koppel, Second Amendment expert, explains why the confiscation of firearms in New Orleans is both illegal and foolish.

The power of "regulating and controlling" is not the same as the power of "prohibiting and controlling." The emergency statute actually draws this distinction in its language, which refers to "prohibiting" price-gouging, sale of alcohol, and curfew violations, but only to "regulating and controlling" firearms. Accordingly, the police superintendent's order "prohibiting" firearms possession is beyond his lawful authority. It is an illegal order.

Last week, we saw an awful truth in New Orleans: A disaster can bring out predators ready to loot, rampage, and pillage the moment that they have the opportunity. Now we are seeing another awful truth: There is no shortage of police officers and National Guardsmen who will obey illegal orders to threaten peaceful citizens at gunpoint and confiscate their firearms.

The New York Times has an exhaustive article on Government foul-ups in the Katrina castastrophe. The lead-in:

An initial examination of Katrina's aftermath demonstrates the extent to which the federal government failed to face domestic threats as a unified, seamless force.

Left Coaster sums up the article and notes::

Bush told the Governor on Friday, four days after the crisis began, that he would send in more National Guard forces, but only if Governor Blanco transferred control to him. After seeing the Feds botch their job the entire week, Blanco would be justified in being hesitant to hand Bush the keys to her car, let alone handing him control over her state’s affected areas, at a time when the Feds couldn’t even deliver upon their basic responsibilities.

The Times also has new article on how Mike Brown came to be relieved of Katrina duties.

This should be another public relations disaster for the Bush Administration - playing favorites with Katrina contracts:

Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

This White House thinks it's untouchable. As TChris pointed out earlier today, Bush's poll numbers continue to drop. Sooner or later, the American public is going to say "enough."

I'm watching React Now, MTV's hurricane relief concert now. Bon Jovi is on (I could watch his face for hours), Sheryl Crow was just on. Coldplay too. Jon Stewart is one of the hosts. Tune in and give. If you're not by a tv, you can watch it on the computer.

Fast moving show, Bono's on now.

So, it turns out that while thousands of people languish in our jails for abusing prescription drugs, the late Chief Justice Rehnquist had a habit of his own: Placidyl. I thought they stopped making the drug when they stopped making Quaaludes - they were very similar. I never knew anyone who took it for pain, only to party. Guess I was wrong.

And for the nine years between 1972 and the end of 1981, William Rehnquist consumed great quantities of the potent sedative-hypnotic Placidyl. So great was Rehnquist's Placidyl habit, dependency, or addiction—depending on how you regard long-term drug use—that by the last quarter of 1981 he began slurring his speech in public, became tongue-tied while pronouncing long words, and sometimes had trouble finishing his thoughts.

....The standard dose for adults is 500 milligrams, taken at bedtime. Rehnquist initially took 200 milligrams daily but by 1981 was taking 1,500 milligrams a day.

But he sat on the bench, and affirmed drug sentence after drug sentence. Nice. Here's more on Rehnquist's Placidyl dependency:

Once again, those with a criminal history are treated like second class citizens. Utah is conducting criminal background checks on evacuees.

No one has been expelled yet, and Utah says the evacuees have been exemplary in their conduct. Still, this is troubling.

Update: As Mike Ditto points out in comments below, Colorado also is doing background checks. But I'll give them a bit of a pass for this statment:

"The community does not have to be concerned," said Chief Jones. "We think people are safe because all of these evacuees have served their sentences.

About three weeks ago, we wrote about the 89 detainees on a hunger strike at Guantanamo. The strike continues and has grown to 98 prisoners. The military has begun forced tube-feeding of more than a dozen of them.

Some of the 89 striking detainees at Guantanamo have not eaten for a month, said Guantanamo detention mission spokesman Sgt. Justin Behrens. The others have refused at least nine consecutive meals, he said.

Fifteen have been hospitalized, and 13 of those were being fed through tubes, Behrens said. British lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, who represents one of the hunger strikers, said some of the inmates were willing to starve themselves to death.

"People are desperate. They have been there three years. They were promised that the Geneva Conventions would be respected and various changes would happen and, unfortunately, the [U.S.] government reneged on that," he said.

by TChris

This is why some were unable to leave New Orleans:

Police agencies to the south of New Orleans were so fearful of the crowds trying to leave the city after Hurricane Katrina that they sealed a crucial bridge over the Mississippi River and turned back hundreds of desperate evacuees, two paramedics who were in the crowd said.

Officers reportedly shot over the heads of people who resisted their command to turn back. According to four witnesses, an officer told 200 evacuees to leave their encampment, then confiscated their food and water.

"The police kept saying, 'We don't want another Superdome,' and 'This isn't New Orleans,' " said Larry Bradshaw, a San Francisco paramedic who was among those fleeing.

by TChris

Newsweek reports that the country's satisfaction with President Bush has reached a record low.

Only 38 percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is doing his job overall, a record-low for this president in the NEWSWEEK poll. (Fifty-five percent of Americans disapprove of his overall job performance.) And only 28 percent of Americans say they are “satisfied with the way things are going” in the country, down from 36 percent in August and 46 percent in December, after the president’s re-election. This is another record low and two points below the satisfaction level recorded immediately after the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal came to light. Fully two-thirds of Americans are not satisfied with the direction of the country.

by TChris

A strange kind of freedom will be celebrated in the nation's capitol tomorrow. If you try to join the celebration, you'll be arrested.

A "Freedom Walk" on Sunday in honor of the military, from the Pentagon to the Washington Mall, is open only to those pre-registered - and the U.S. Park Police has warned that it will arrest anyone who shows up without a pass.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The NY Times reports today that police officers from neighboring states and from around the nation have taken leave at home and come to NOLA with cars and equipment from their departments to aid NOLA Police in restoring order: Duty Binds Officers Who Have Come to Help After Storm.

by TChris

Comment at your leisure.

Update: (TalkLeft) I'm back now. TChris and Last Night in Little Rock did a great job while I was gone, I can't believe how much time they spent updating the site. I am very grateful to them.

I'm also so glad to be back at my desktop with a big monitor and mouse. I made peace with my Powerbook after 2 days, and actually like it now, and used many of your suggestions from the other day. Particularly helpful was Paul in LA's info that the apple key functions like a control key on the PC when it comes to cut, copy and paste. Anyway, it's good to be home.