And the war, it keeps on taking...

Four security professionals, Ronald Hyatt, Robert McCoy, Robert Pole and Ryan Young, serving in Iraq with Triple Canopy were killed on Wednesday while conducting a protective security operation for the U.S. Department of State in Basra.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our colleagues," said Ignacio "Iggy" Balderas, CEO of Triple Canopy. "They were an elite corps of highly skilled security professionals who died in continued service to their country. Our thoughts, prayers and support go out to their families."

They weren't soldiers, so they probably won't appear on any Defense Department list. But, one still has to ask, as Neil Young did years ago in "Ohio", how many more?

by Last Night in Little Rock

One good thing about the Neo-Cons is that they don't pay attention to The Daily Show or any show on Air America Radio because it provides comic relief and exposes them for the fools they are.

Everyday this past week, both sources lined up the video or audio of various Administration flacks, including the President, repeating the "phrase of the day." One can imagine Karl Rove faxing it around every morning: "This is the li[n]e for the day." After the third time, you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Tonight's on The Daily Show was "The Blame Game" being spoken by the President, DHS Secretary Chertoff, Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency Director Brown ("Brownie, you're doin' a great job" destroying a great city and my Presidency, not that I can't do a good job of it myself).

On the Al Franken Show Wednesday was the line about "It was in all the papers: New Orleans dodged a bullet," as to why DHS and FEMA were caught with their pants down after the storm. Chertoff, Joint Chief of Staff General Myers, and others dutifully repeated the phrase to absurdity. There was no such article in any paper. They made it up. Franken was outraged today, as well he should have been, because I was outraged listening to it. Liars.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The Chicago Tribune today has a classic editorial by John Kass: "Mother's remark puts silver foot in Bush's mouth."

I saw some interviews with holdouts in New Orleans - those that say they won't leave. It's so sad. There's no place else they want to go, they don't want to give up on their city. It's their past and present, and they can't imagine anything different for the future.

For them, some Jackson Browne, from Hold On Hold Out [clip here]:

Hold a place for the human race
Keep it open wide
Give it time to fall or climb
But let the time decide
...Hold on hold out, hold on
For the countless souls beaten by their goals
Keep a hold on now
....If you hold your ground it'll turn around
Keep a hold somehow
Hold on hold out, keep a hold on tight

Of course, they really do need to leave. The toxins, bacteria and diseases will be rampant and devastating. I wish I could think of a happier song for them.

by Last Night in Little Rock

George W. Bush "wanted posters" are available at CafePress (shirts), here, and here, for crimes against humanity.

And that was before he and his feckless lackies shamelessly scre**d the pooch on Katrina and still can't admit what the rest of the world already knows: George Bush is an insensitive punk who would sell out his own citizens for political gain, unless, of course, they are fat cat contributors to the Republican Party or the precious group of the rich that got tax refunds at the expense of the New Orleans levee project. In other words, less than 1% of the people, and the other 99% can be duped into voting for "homeland security." What a farce. Watching the Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency is like watching a Three Stooges movie. If I wasn't so pissed, I would cry.

The Guardian reports that the waters of New Orleans are ten times over their toxic limit.

The disclosure from the first tests conducted by the US government into conditions in New Orleans added a growing urgency to an order for thousands of inhabitants remaining in the wretched city to leave or face forced evacuation.

At least three deaths from bacterial infections have been reported from the carnage wrought by Hurricane Katrina. The EPA warned that there was a risk not just from drinking water but from skin contact as well. "Human contact with the floodwater should be avoided as much as possible," said Stephen Johnson, an EPA administrator.

by Last Night in Little Rock

CNN.com reported about an hour ago in its "Breaking News" e-mail alerts that between 25 to 30 bodies have been found in a nursing home in St. Bernard Parish outside New Orleans. (Nothing on CNN.com as of the time of this post.) The NY Times reported today that the elderly in Katrina's path were hard hit.

This apparently is a cost of the Bush Administration's extolation of "personal responsibility" for their own lives. They should have just evacuated, like all the "white people" with cars. They probably were trapped in their rooms or died in their beds. I pray they did not even know what was happening to them.

As Barbara Bush would say, the evacuees are better off anywhere else other than in New Orleans, like a dormitory for 20,000, since they had nothing to begin with. "Let them eat cake."

And so it goes...

Update:

Soledad O'Brien on CNN's Larry King Live reports "more than 30" dead at nursing home.

From CNN tonight:

• FEMA has 25,000 body bags on hand.
• 70% of New Orleans police are homeless.
• New Orleans Remains 60% under water
• 15,000 people are still in New Orleans, many refusing to leave.
• Dr. Henderson was on again. He said people died because of the late response. Mostly old people but babies too. One woman delivered a baby at the Superdome or Convention Center and it died.
• Michael Brown is standing his ground, back giving interviews and refusing to resign

by Last Night in Little Rock

The California legislature today adopted a same sex marriage bill, making California the first state to adopt legislation authorizing gay marriage.

The legislation could be vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has expressed an acceptance of gay marriages but said it's an issue that should be decided by voters or the courts.

"He will uphold whatever the court decides," spokeswoman Margita Thompson said Tuesday after the state Assembly approved the same-sex marriage measure, 41-35. The Senate had approved it last week.

Update (TL): Gov. Arnold now says he will veto the bill.

by TChris

Mara Leveritt titled her proposed book “Losing New Orleans.” She hit on the idea after Hurricane Ivan made a fortuitous change of course, bypassing New Orleans. She started thinking about the people who would be stranded if a hurricane hit the city: the residents of nursing homes, the disabled and hospitalized, the poor. She wondered what would happen to gas prices if pipelines ruptured. She pondered the ability of the levees to keep the water out, and worried that they might trap water inside a flooded city. The ramifications of a full-force hurricane, striking at the heart of New Orleans, seemed to make a grimly fascinating story.

As she researched her book proposal, she discovered that she wasn’t alone in considering the potential catastrophe.

All this was well understood by any officials who had bothered to look. In early 2001, FEMA had issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely U.S. disasters, and that included a terrorist attack on New York City.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Yesterday we reported "word on the street" that a coroner was going on "Larry King Live" to talk about the Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency's refusal to allow coroners to handle the remains of the dead in New Orleans.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette confirms today that he will be on.

Chai Vang, the Hmong immigrant from Minnesota who killed six hunters in Minnesota Wisconsin last year, is about to go on trial. Jury selection begins Thursday. The Chicago Tribune has a very detailed two part series on the case, beginning today.

Why would an ambitious immigrant, a healer, suddenly turn into a methodical killer? Did the alienation Vang experienced in America play a role in the shootings? Was the clash of cultures a factor?

Vang's lawyers initially said they may raise a cultural defense. That appears not to be the case now. It will be a self-defense case, hinging on who shot first: