Free Republic

Campaigning may be difficult after Katrina By JEREMY ALFORD Courier Capitol Correspondent January 08. 2006 12:41AM BATON ROUGE -- While state officials have spent recent months devising a plan to hold elections in the hurricane-ravaged portions of Louisiana, those who run campaigns have been concocting new schemes for the actual campaigning process. It will certainly be a different picture from what voters and candidates find familiar. Deserted cities will complicate media launches, limited resources will make fund raising difficult, and hordes of displaced voters could forever change the face of get-out-the-vote efforts. Additionally, by all accounts, there will only be...

Tourists queue for disaster trips in the ruins of New Orleans By Alec Russell (Filed: 07/01/2006) Every morning Isabelle Cossart sets off in her white minibus to pick up tourists from their hotels to take them on a tour of the Big Easy and its swampy surroundings. She has followed the same routine for 27 years. But in recent weeks her guests have headed into more controversial territory as they bump around an area that is not mentioned on any of the city's tourist maps: the Lower 9th Ward, the mainly black and poor neighbourhood that was all but levelled...

The Mirage that Is Derailing the Rebuilding of New Orleans By Ari Kelman 1-02-06 Mr. Kalman, the author of A River and Its City: The Nature of Landscape in New Orleans, teaches history at the University of California, Davis. The flood was voracious; it swallowed whole neighborhoods, ending hundreds of lives. But the battered levees have been repaired. They again stand between New Orleans and catastrophe, holding the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain in check. The antique drainage system, too, is back online. Any water that falls in the city, every drop of rain or tear shed, ultimately flows through canals...

This close to voting Friday, December 30, 2005 One of the hallmarks of a working democracy is that elections happen when they're scheduled to happen. But while special elections are now set in three parishes damaged by recent hurricanes -- Jefferson, St. Bernard and Acadia -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco has ordered an indefinite delay in New Orleans' regular citywide elections, which had been scheduled for Feb. 4 and March 4. Not surprisingly, the matter ended up in federal court. And while U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle declined to set an election date, he did say he was "this close" to...

Clothes also make the woman trying to look smart amid disaster Leonard Pitts Jr. / Syndicated columnist New Orleans cultural ambassador, Irvin Mayfield, plays a tribute to first responders as Mayor Ray Nagin, left, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, second from left, Lt. Gov Mitch Landrieu, and Gov. Kathleen Blanco, center, listen during an Interfaith Celebration in front of the Superdome in New Orleans, La., Sunday Jan. 1, 2006. The event was sponsored by Louisiana Rebirth celebrating the strength of those dedicated to the rebirth of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Apparently, Brownie wasn't the only one. You remember the grief that...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Dec. 20, 2005) -- When Donald R. Williams, Jr. played basketball for Marion-Abramson High School in his hometown of New Orleans, he had everything all planned out. The young basketball star wanted to attend Louisiana State University on a basketball scholarship and then the sky was the limit. He soon found out that things don’t always go one’s way. After graduating in 1997 and receiving only a partial scholarship for basketball, Williams decided it was time to look at other options. “Because I didn’t get the full scholarship I needed to go to college,...

NEW ORLEANS (Dec. 10) - In the dark, dank recesses of what was once one of the great wine cellars of the world, the fabled bottles sit. The 1870 Lafite Rothschild, the Chateau Moutons, Chateau Magaux - fine wines with enormous price tags, or at least they were. The wine cellar at Brennan's Restaurant, winner since 1983 of Wine Spectator magazine's Grand Award as one of the 85 top cellars in the world, has 35,000 bottles that since Hurricane Katrina have gone from vintage to vinegar. "They may be drinkable, but they're probably better for salads," said Ted Brennan, whose...

Guardsman: New Orleans duty worse than Iraq By MARY BROWNFIELD Published: December 9, 2005 'IT WAS a difficult deployment, because a lot of the guys had just come back from Iraq,” said John Hanson, a U.S. Army National Guardsman and building maintenance specialist for the City of Carmel. “And what we found in New Orleans made it worse.” It wasn’t the hurricane-destroyed homes or the emptiness of the city that made the mission a challenge, but the state of the high school he and his platoon were ordered to get ready to reopen. Hurricane Katrina left 119 schools closed, according...

Correction: Aug. 18 New Orleans Story Friday December 2, 2005 12:46 AM By ALAN SAYRE Associated Press Writer In an Aug. 18 story about crime in New Orleans, The Associated Press, relying on information from a University of New Orleans criminologist, erroneously reported that university researchers conducted an experiment in 2004 in which police fired 700 blank rounds in a New Orleans neighborhood in a single afternoon and that no one called to report the gunfire. Instead, about 900 rounds of live ammunition were fired by officers over a two-day period in December 2003 during a demonstration of a gunshot...

Black caucus suing over budget cutsBy ELLEN TANDY etandy@wbrz.com 2theadvocate.com staff From a report by News 2's John Pastorek jp@wbrz.com Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco gestures during her address at the opening of a joint session of the state legislature in the House chambers of the State Capitol Sunday evening Nov. 6, 2005 in Baton Rouge, LA.. The Govenor called a special session of the legislature to deal with hurricane recovery efforts in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. (AP Photos/Stephan Savoia) A Baton Rouge judge Wednesday put off hearing a lawsuit against Gov. Kathleen Blanco's budget cuts. The Legislative...

Support for Category 5 Storm Protection in New Orleans Ebbs in D.C. BY BILL WALSH And BRUCE ALPERT Newhouse News Service Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco speaks at a Rebuilding and Recovery Conference in New Orleans, La., Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005. Blanco talked about the effects of Hurricane Katrina and how the state would have to rebuild. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak) WASHINGTON -- In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the tattered Gulf Coast received an outpouring of sympathy -- and money -- from Washington. Congress appropriated $62 billion for relief and recovery, and President Bush vowed to rebuild New Orleans "higher...

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana's black lawmakers filed a lawsuit against Gov. Kathleen Blanco on Wednesday, saying she exceeded her constitutional authority by making deep budget cuts without legislative approval. Blanco cut $431 million from state agencies by executive order to start coping with a nearly $1 billion deficit in the state's operating budget caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Though lawmakers meeting in a special session could undo all of the governor's cuts, the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus asked in its lawsuit for Blanco's executive order, issued Saturday, to be thrown out. "The Governor's budget cuts, no doubt well meaning,...

State may take over New Orleans' schools NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Budget woes, poor test scores and the effect of Hurricane Katrina have Louisiana officials talking about taking New Orleans schools under the state's wing. Gov. Kathleen Blanco gave her support to legislation Tuesday to put schools that don't meet the state average on scores under state control, The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Blanco said the state should take "responsibility for that city's failing schools," and recommended a charter school model as one way of doing so. The Orleans Parish School Board voted Friday to set up some...

La. Gov. Blamed for Slow Removal of Bodies By LARA JAKES JORDAN Associated Press Writer Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, left, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, background center, and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco leave a meeting where they addressed the immediate, post-hurricane priorities for the New Orleans hospitality industry, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Cheryl Gerber) WASHINGTON — Bodies of people killed by Hurricane Katrina went uncollected for more than a week in the New Orleans area as the federal government waited for Louisiana's governor to decide what to do with them, according to memos released Thursday...

NEW ORLEANS - The head of the Orleans Levee Board has quit amid questions about no-bid contracts to his relatives in the days after Hurricane Katrina. The final days of board president Jim Huey's tenure also had been marred by his collection of nearly $100,000 in back pay several weeks before the storm. Huey had led the board for nine years. Huey defended the contracts and said he was legally entitled to the back pay. "Every single decision made during this crisis situation was made in the best interest of the levee district, and that will be proven in time,"...

City officials grilled on recovery process Wednesday, October 26, 2005 By Bruce Eggler Staff writer New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin takes a bite of a beignet (pastry) during the re-opening of the 153-year old Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, October 19, 2005. Wednesday is the first day of business for the New Orleans landmark since it was closed down due to Hurricane Katrina. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Members of a state legislative committee pressed New Orleans officials Tuesday for answers to a long list of questions about the status of post-Katrina recovery efforts and plans for...

NEW ORLEANS - Searing heat and lack of electricity throughout New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina ruined hundreds of thousands of bottles of rare wines by degrading corks and cooking the contents. Owners fear that even those bottles that appear to have survived the hurricane may hold spoiled wine. This city's once-vibrant culinary industry, already beaten back by disaster, has been further injured by damage to its wines. Losses are estimated to be as much as tens of millions of dollars. Private collectors, restaurants and distributors are preparing to destroy much of their stock. Insurance companies are just...

Louisiana officials bristle at Washington's focus on corruption By MELINDA DESLATTE Associated Press Writer October 23. 2005 10:53AM New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, right, along with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, left, and Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, answers questions from business leaders about the city's immediate priorities for the hospitality industry Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Cheryl Gerber) Louisiana has been painted broadly and regularly as a state teeming with corruption, a place where politics is a sport that many unethical, roguish and thieving people like to play. Now, the reputation that many of Louisiana's own residents...

Prosecutors crack down on Katrina fraud By Kevin Krolicki NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced a coordinated initiative to fight fraud related to Hurricane Katrina and said billions of dollars in hurricane relief funds were at risk of being wasted or stolen. The anti-fraud command center will include representatives from the FBI, tax authorities, Secret Service and state and local police. The storm-battered Gulf Coast region is preparing for an influx of federal money that could top $200 billion. "We all know why we are here," assistant FBI director Chris Swecker said at a meeting of officials...

We are back! Following Hurricane Katrina, we are open effective Monday, October 10th. We thank everyone for your patience, understanding and continued support.

Fired New Orleans city workers get final paychecks 20 minutes ago Final paychecks were issued to thousands of New Orleans city workers laid off in the wake of ruinous hurricanes, according to city officials. A message posted on the city website provided further details of the layoffs from Mayor Ray Nagin, seen here 6 October(AFP/Getty Images/File) NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - Final paychecks were issued to thousands of New Orleans city workers laid off in the wake of ruinous hurricanes, according to city officials. "In addition, all employees who are part of the layoff are asked to turn in...

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...

Return To New Orleans Is Urged Mayor Travels Louisiana to Tout Work, Housing By Peter Whoriskey and Spencer S. Hsu Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, October 13, 2005; Page A01 ALEXANDRIA, La., Oct. 12 -- Amid fears that the effort to repopulate New Orleans is stalling, Mayor C. Ray Nagin hopscotched shelters across the state Wednesday to assure Hurricane Katrina evacuees that the city is beginning to operate again and urged them to "come on home." For the charismatic first-term politician, it was a novel kind of political campaign: not for votes necessarily, but for voters themselves. It is a...

Blanco gives cold shoulder to Nagin's hotel casino proposal Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco listens during hearings conducted by the US Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Blanco called on the US government to help pay local cops and other 'critical public safety' workers dealing with widespread hurricane-wrought ruin.(AFP/Luke Frazza) BATON ROUGE, La. Governor Kathleen Blanco delivered a decisive blow today to New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's proposal to revitalize his devastated city by placing casinos in large hotels, saying gambling shouldn't be the basis for economic development in New Orleans. Nagin said he hoped the governor would...

New Orleans Police Struggle With Upheaval Tuesday October 11, 2005 1:46 AM By MARY FOSTER Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Their homes are gone, their families scattered, their reputations sliding by the day. Home for most New Orleans police officers is a cramped cruise ship, and work is 12- to 14-hour days in a wrecked city. When time off does come along, there is nowhere to go and no one to spend it with. Experts say the personal and professional upheaval is catching up with the New Orleans police force in the form of desertions, suicides, corruption and...

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) departed New Orleans Oct. 8 to return to her homport in Baltimore after providing several weeks of disaster relief to the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Comfort has been acting as an emergency trauma center for the city since Sept. 28. During the ship's 10 days in New Orleans, Comfort's medical staff has worked alongside local civilian physicians to treat trauma patients aboard ship in a partnership between the Navy and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Comfort...

<p>Nine months before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, three emergency-preparedness officials from Louisiana were indicted, accused of obstruction and lying in connection with the mishandling of $30.4 million in disaster-relief money. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has tried unsuccessfully to recover the money following an investigation of a program to buy out homeowners in flood-prone areas.</p>

New Orleans criminal justice system facing severe money woes 10/7/2005, 5:34 p.m. CT By MELINDA DESLATTE The Associated Press ST. GABRIEL, La. (AP) — Struggling to restart New Orleans' crippled criminal justice system, the parish district attorney and chief criminal judge said money problems from Hurricane Katrina have forced layoffs and threaten to stymie court proceedings. The cash shortage compounds problems for a system that already was troubled with prosecutors trying to track down witnesses who scattered as evacuees, a clerk of court's office assessing whether flooding and mold damaged evidence and a criminal court temporarily holding limited proceedings at...

Senators accuse EPA of minimizing health hazards in New Orleans WASHINGTON The Bush administration was accused today 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 September eleventh attacks. More than a month after the storm, compounded by Hurricane Rita, Environmental Protection Agency officials said one (m) million people lack clean drinking water around New Orleans. Some 70 (m) million tons of hazardous waste remain on the Gulf Coast. While E-P-A officials have warned of serious health hazards...

"Martial law on civil rights" in New Orleans: Jesse Jackson 10-04-2005, 21h49 NEW ORLEANS (AFP) Sonya Jones (L) and her cousin Mitchell Jones remove family photos from their grandmother's house in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, more than a month after Hurricane Katrina filled the home with more than five feet of water. US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson showed up unannounced in a hurricane-ravaged New Orleans neighborhood and condemned the latest developments in the US response to the storm as "marshal law on civil rights." (AFP) US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson showed up unannounced in a...

Orleans council meets for first time since storm By JOE GYAN JR. jgyan@theadvocate.com New Orleans bureau KENNER -- Several New Orleans levees that failed during Hurricane Katrina and caused catastrophic flooding in parts of the city will be back to their pre-Katrina heights by the start of next year's hurricane season, a top U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official promised City Council members who met as a group Tuesday for the first time since the hurricane. But several council members who lost their homes in the storm said having the same level of levee protection as before -- capacity to...

NEW ORLEANS (Army News Service Sept. 29) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced today it is establishing a new team here to begin restoring federal elements of New Orleans’ battered hurricane-flood system to provide pre-Hurricane Katrina protection. The team – dubbed Task Force Guardian – consists of a cadre of Corps personnel from the Mississippi Valley Division’s St. Louis District as well as a larger group from the New Orleans District. Initially, this mission has been assigned to Col. Lewis F. Setliff III. Setliff normally serves as commander and district engineer in St. Louis. As the New Orleans...

NEW ORLEANS (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) arrived here Sept. 28 at the request of the Department of Health and Human Services and Louisiana government state officials. The ship, one of the largest trauma facilities in the nation, is preparing to act as an emergency trauma center for New Orleans as its citizens begin to repopulate the Crescent City. During this mission, Comfort will be under the operational control of Joint Task Force Rita. “We are looking forward to helping the city of New Orleans get back on its feet and...

“Be ready to see something you’ve never seen before in your life.” Kenneth Ortolano, a volunteer with the Plaquemines Parish Emergency Operations office, pointed out the windshield of a Michigan Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopter. Below and coming up quick, the crew could see what was left of Venice, Louisiana. After hurricane Katrina, it wasn’t much. “Look at all the boats on the backside of the levee. That was a marina with a bunch of condos. See where the white truck is? That’s the end of the road. The barge is right over there.” The Chinook crew and New...

Is the Orleans Levee Board doing its job? Critics allege corruption, charge the board with wasteful spending By Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit NBC News Updated: 11:52 a.m. ET Sept. 15, 2005 Lisa Myers Senior investigative correspondent The unveiling of the Mardi Gras Fountain was celebrated this year in typical New Orleans style. The cost of $2.4 million was paid by the Orleans Levee Board, the state agency whose main job is to protect the levees surrounding New Orleans — the same levees that failed after Katrina hit. "They misspent the money," says Billy Nungesser, a former top...

Twice victimized September 3, 2005 GLOBE EDITORIAL IN DISASTER movies, people flee. In real disasters, thousands of people have nowhere to go. In the land of SUVs, they don't have cars or enough cash for a bus ticket. Just as the need for levee repairs was forgotten, the poor in New Orleans were long overlooked, ignored until Hurricane Katrina left them stranded in a drowned city and awash on national television. The mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, knew that poverty would hinder the evacuation of the city's 445,000 people. He asked churches, relatives, and friends to help poorer residents...

NEW ORLEANS (Army News Service, Sept. 26. 2005) — Soldiers of the Nebraska National Guard helped the U.S. Treasury Department rescue an estimated $50 to $100 million earlier this month from a flooded vault in New Orleans. The soggy, stinking cash and coins were removed from a flooded Loomis, Fargo & Co. building in New Orleans by members of the National Guard Counter Drug Task Force who dubbed the mission “Ocean’s 13,” as a sequel to the recent heist movie. The mission was top secret, said Spc. Tyler Miles, a member of the 134th Infantry Detachment (Long Range Surveillance) who...

Nation of Islam chief Minister Louis Farrakhan has expanded on his theory that New Orleans' levees were blown up during Hurricane Katrina, announcing Friday that divers working on the levee break have found evidence of explosives. "These explosives are from the government side," he said during a press conference in Memphis held to promote his upcoming Million Man Anniversary March. In quotes picked up by Memphis TV station WMC, Farrakhan demanded an investigation into the Bush administration's levee plot. If true, he insisted: "somebody is guilty, then not only of mass destruction of property, but of mass murder." Farrakhan predicted...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The nearly 200,000 residents returning to some of New Orleans' neighborhoods beginning next week will face military checkpoints, a lack of clean tap water and a dusk-to-dawn curfew that could keep the good times from rolling for a while.

Orleans Parish Link only above!Daily Advertiser stuff can't be posted on FR, so here's the link....

Jefferson downplays stop at his New Orleans house By WILL SENTELL wsentell@theadvocate.com Capitol news bureau During a National Guard-led tour of his hurricane-ravished district, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson asked to stop at his New Orleans home, a guard spokesman said Wednesday. Lt. Col. Pete Schneider, public affairs officer for the Louisiana National Guard, told news reporters that the guard was assisting Jefferson in his check of damage Sept. 2, four days after Hurricane Katrina struck. Guardsmen were getting around the Democrat's congressional district in a truck designed to navigate the high waters that crippled the New Orleans area for days...

Admirals, I made a day trip to the Gulf Coast this weekend to visit with and thank our Sailors for the extraordinary work they are doing in the recovery and relief effort. I spent time at the Seabee base in Gulfport, NSA New Orleans and NAS/JRB New Orleans, as well as aboard HARRY S TRUMAN, BATAAN, TORTUGA and IWO JIMA. It was at once both a grim and an incredibly uplifting experience. Some of my impressions:

... "Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever during a dire national emergency," wrote New York Times columnist Bob Herbert in a somewhat more strident expression of the conventional wisdom. But the conventional wisdom is the opposite of the truth... ... "The United States military can wipe out the Taliban and the Iraqi Republican Guard far more swiftly than they can bring 3 million Swanson dinners to an underwater city through an area the size of Great Britain which has no power, no working ports or airports, and a devastated and impassable road network....

Louisiana governor's political future in doubt Associated Press Sept. 11, 2005, 5:33PM Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco acknowledges applause from worshipers after she was introduced during a mass at Saint Joseph's Cathedral in Baton Rouge, La., Sept. 4.SLIDELL, La. — "I've probably been to hell and back," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said as she traipsed back to a military helicopter that would lift her from this hurricane-ravaged city back to Baton Rouge. Her eyes were bleary but she looked fitter than she had in the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina's Aug. 29 strike. Waylaid by one reporter after another, she granted interviews...

See link for pdf file containing mortality rates for Louisiana on a Parish by Parish basis. Use this to compare Katrina related death count versus normal.

New Orleans mayor crosses party lines, endorses Jindal Staff Reports Posted on November 4, 2003 New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin crossed party lines Monday and endorsed Republican Bobby Jindal for governor. "Bobby Jindal understands that all of Louisiana benefits from and needs a strong New Orleans," Nagin said. With Jindal as governor, "New Orleans and the rest of the state will be partners, not adversaries - which is critical because we can only move this state forward together." Pollster Verne Kennedy surveyed voters on the possible impact of Nagin's endorsement of Jindal prior to its announcement. "It will be a...

KATRINA'S AFTERMATH A Barrier That Could Have Been Congress OKd a project to protect New Orleans 40 years ago, but an environmentalist suit halted it. Some say it could have worked. By Ralph Vartabedian and Peter Pae, Times Staff Writer September 9, 2005 latimes.com In the wake of Hurricane Betsy 40 years ago, Congress approved a massive hurricane barrier to protect New Orleans from storm surges that could inundate the city. But the project, signed into law by President Johnson, was derailed in 1977 by an environmental lawsuit. Now the question is: Could that barrier have protected New Orleans from...

Who is the black community to think they own New Orleans? This wan't a crime about them. The response of the nation, or lack thereof, was not about them. New Orleans is one of the most beloved cities in the country to all of us: white Americans, graduates of Tulane, Loyala, countless universities, lawyers, doctors, professionals, the white and black middle and upper class, partiers and historians. This isn’t about African Americans, this is about New Orleans- America’s loss. The blame for the thousands of deaths in this city can be placed at the feet of two people: The mayor...

In the 2000 census, the population of New Orleans in the metropolitan area was 1,337,726. In the city proper, the population was 484,674. 80% of the people of New Orleans obeyed the evacuation order. The 77,000 people who went to shelters were 5.75% of the metropolitan area population and 15.89% of the population of the city proper. 66% of the people in New Orleans were black. So, about 319,885 people in New Orleans were black and 164,789 were white. If the entire 77,000 people who stayed behind were black (they were not), there were still 242,885 black residents who evacuated...

It's Bush who's to blame for the London subway bombings in July, according to Jann Wenner, founder and publisher of Rolling Stone magazine. "If the London bombings are the work of an al-Qaida offshoot," contended Wenner, "then you have to fairly say, in the same way we condemn other's terror, this is in part the result of Bush's War on Iraq." In Wenner's world, a swaggering and trigger-happy Bush is driving people nuts, causing four otherwise normal guys to go wild and simultaneously blow themselves to smithereens during the morning rush hour in London. Of course that doesn't explain former...