Rich folk moved inland just far enough away from those white sand beaches after the storm surge devastated their mansions. They displaced a lot of poor blacks and Vietnamese renters who worked service jobs in the casinos and at those big mansions. Of course there was no other rental housing available and it became a real clusterf*ck.

But you bring up another issue I also saw in Mississippi. Part of the reason the destruction was so bad was because of overdevelopment of fields and wetlands. Marshes and cypress swamps that used to absorb storm surges had been cleared to make way for those sandy beaches and backfilled to build malls and wealthy housing. Thus Katrina's devastation was amplified 10-fold as inland tributaries (sometimes miles inland) flooded up to 10 feet under the surge.

May you stay safe, Friend.

to keep the poor people divided - and not join together to overthrow their corporate overlords. Given the economic climate these past four years, this news doesn't surprise me in the least.

FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps!

From today's Denver Post:


Eat that, Republicans!

Here ya go: Modern History Sourcebook: Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Discourse on Inequality, No 2. The year is irrelevant; Michael Servetis discovered the human circulatory system in the 1540's, but that doesn't mean it's not applicable to humans today.

A little more digging finds this link to a pdf. from Oxford Journals that reports on the adverse effect of clozapine (cited in the ninth and tenth paragraph of the original article): http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/24/3/381.full.pdf. I found this in less than 10 minutes with very little background in medical research.

The idea that all articles have to be indexed is ridiculous. TIME doesn't source it's articles, nor does the NY Times or any other mainstream publications. Does that mean everything they publish is rubbish? Of course not. If you find reason to be skeptical, by all means research it for yourself and draw your own conclusions. But one shouldn't dismiss it out of hand just because all the information isn't served to you on a plate.

Everything is open to debate in a free and open democracy. If you seek to limit debate among even people who support Obama's goals (if not his ways to reach them), you are advocating behavior no better than lock-stepping Republicans.

And while I agree with O'Donnell that liberals were responsible for the list he's outlined here, to say Republicans objected to extending voting rights, ending segregation, passing civil rights, etc., is disingenuous. There were plenty of Southern Democrats who opposed these measures. It would be more appropriate to say that these measures were opposed by conservatives because parties morph over time. Lincoln - a Republican - ended slavery, after all.

Jesus consistently sided with the poor, they are the chosen ones illustrating his parables. Consider Luke 18:2-8, the parable of the unjust judge who hears the pleas of the widow to help her against one who is persecuting her.

There's Matthew 20:1-16 which advocates fair wages for laborers.

Most damning to your argument is Matthew 25:31-46 in which he admonishes those who did not feed the hungry, house the homeless, or clothe those who needed clothes - for free, since he does not mention the poor needing to pay for these services.

As for Jesus being celibate, we don't know that, particularly if looking at the extant gnostic gospels. Mary was not only Jesus' especially close confidant, some of the other disciples were jealous of their closeness. In particular, the Gospel of Philip refers to Mary Magdalene as the koinônos (Greek variously translated as companion, partner, confidant) of Jesus, going so far as to note that Jesus used to kiss her often on the lips. (See http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gop.html, about half way down the page.)

He would hardly have considered himself a self-made man. He spends a lot of time crediting other people with giving him opportunities to excel in his endeavors, including lending him money and doing him favors.

Douglass had help escaping from slavery from other free blacks and white abolitionists who lent him money, provided free transportation, and harbored him.

Clay got his early start in law - for which he never went to school - through job arranged for him by a prominent Virginia lawyer who took a shine to him.

None of these examples are self-made men.

It was set up like a flow chart. Had something about exemptions for low income people. Anyone have any idea what graphic I'm thinking of? I tried to recall its salient points to my boyfriend but got tangled up in details half-remembered.

Thanks in advance!

Listening for her head to explode and post to be deleted in 3... 2... 1...