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I spent my Labor Day at the Reliant complex. I spent time in all three shelters (Astrodome, Reliant Center, Reliant Arena) and most of what I witnessed is impossible to describe...at least with the limited writing skills I possess. Here are a few observations I am able to express; the rest remain my own. The Good:The number of volunteers When I arrived (and finally figured out where to go), my orientation class of volunteers was between 200 and 300 people. At the same time as our class, the staging area was filled with roughly 500 people receiving job assignments. I...

The initial word on the Darfur Report is that it stops short of calling the situation in southern Sudan genocide: A U.N. commission investigating atrocities in Sudan has concluded that the government did not pursue a policy of genocide in the Darfur region but that Khartoum and government-sponsored Arab militias known as the Janjaweed engaged in "widespread and systematic" abuse that may constitute crimes against humanity. The report is available for anyone to read (all 176 pages of it) here. In the summary they do decline applying the label of genocide but they are not soft in their condemnation of...

It seems that recent analysis of Tony Blair is actually a case of missing person: A page of doodles found on Tony Blair's desk at last week's economic summit in Davos sparked a wave of excitement in the media. Psychologists and handwriting experts were drafted in by the press in the hope of getting a glimpse into the inner workings of the prime ministerial mind. Newspaper stories contained phrases such as "struggling to concentrate" and "not a natural leader". Now - and with not a little glee - Downing Street has revealed that the scribblings were not the work of...

Two days from now, January 27th, marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army. Here is a brief chronology of the camp, and a moving virtual tour of the site can be found here. Commemorating the liberation of this place of horror seems like it would be a simple thing, but in today's world, nothing is ever simple. For starters, some Muslims are feeling rather left out: British Muslims will boycott a state ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz unless it also commemorates the "holocaust" of the Palestinian intifada. The...

This article in today's Times Online declares that Aids 'will overwhelm wider world', noting that experts warnings that India, China and Russia were all on the brink of epidemics like those in Africa: High-risk groups still dominate the Aids problem in Russia and China. But allowing the virus to leapfrog into the wider population as it has elsewhere could swallow up resources for African countries. HIV infections in Africa remain far higher than those in the Asia-Pacific nations. In China, 0.1 percent of people aged 15 to 49 are infected, compared with 7.5 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. But that...

I held on until about 4 am last night, waiting for either Bush to speak or for them to dip one of the 3 remaining states in the red paint. The daily routine started all over again at 7, so today will be something like a horror movie: "The Zombie King - Writing Questionable Code to Manage Your Healthcare." At least I'm a happy zombie. I keep telling myself Kerry has to see the writing on the wall, but I'm not sure even a reprise of "Mene , Mene , Tekel , Parsin" would be enough to bring him to...

The lovely Queen (May She Live Forever) and I are now administering the children's ministry at our church. As we were gathering supplies for last week's classes, we discovered a new product by Crayola which I had never seen before: I fondly remember coloring in my early years. My favorite color was always brick red, although I have no idea why. (Possibly because it was one of the few cool colors that came in the 24 pack, which is all my family could ever afford. My choice might have been different if the assortment of 64 had fit within the...

Colorado Springs, CO (Sports Network) - American cyclist Tyler Hamilton, the champion in the road time trial at this year's Olympics, may lose his gold medal due to a blood doping violation. Gerard Bisceglia, the CEO of USA Cycling, said Tuesday that the organization was waiting for the 'B' sample results to come back from another doping test. The follow-up tests were to be conducted on Tuesday. USA Cycling was informed last week that Hamilton had tested positive shortly after he captured the gold medal on August 18. Hamilton reportedly also tested positive at the Spanish Vuelta on September 18,...

As the distributed intelligence of the blogosphere continues to take form, researchers have developed a preliminary mapping. This map is by no means complete but it does show significant regions of one side of the collective blogmind:

One lefty blogger who was an early responder to the Wilson story is Joshua Micah Marshall. I thought about his comments yesterday and was going to post about them until I happened upon a very solid response to his spin here. You should read both. One very interesting quote Marshall pulls from the Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq (very large PDF; registration required) is this one: Although the NSC had already removed the uranium reference from the speech, later on October 6th, 2002 the CIA sent a second fax to the White House which...

Politics is a blood sport. If you cannot take the heat, it is best to avoid the political arena altogether. The level of intensity and the ferocity of the attacks increase with the level of the office. For months, the Democratic Presidential candidates have been fighting to represent their party next November. Their attacks have not been limited to their current opponents; they have also taken every possible opportunity to take the offensive against the current President. Here are some examples from the September 4, 2003 Democratic Presidential debate: Joe LiebermanNo planning was done by this administration. I believe it's...

Healing IraqToday was the first day 250 banks all over Iraq commenced the exchange of the old Iraqi currency(ies) with new unified notes recently printed abroad, in Britain I guess. It was surprisingly a peaceful and quiet day, contrary to all expectations and rumours circulating in Baghdad that banks would be targetted the first day they started the exchange process. Many Rafidain bank divisions across Baghdad received warnings and threat letters. My aunt works as a bank manager, and she found a letter on her desk a few days ago signed by a group called The Army Of Mohammed 'Jaish...

The man walked down the path, his first-born son in his arms. His wife trailed behind, trying to hide her tears. The valley ahead was still too far off for him to see their destination, but the smoke rising in the distance assured him that all was ready. The dusty soil swirled around their feet as they walked, evidence of the extended drought upon the land. Eventually they reached the rim of the basin and started down the narrow path. Below them, they could see the idol and the crowd around it. They continued to the floor of the valley...

Lately, Andrew Sullivan has brought up the concept of a Federalist, state-by-state approach to defining marriage several times. Yesterday he pointed out a quote from Clarence Thomas which he feels supports this position. (Link is here) Here is the Thomas Quote: "We have said that Congress may regulate not only "Commerce... among the several states," U.S. Const., Art. I, 8, cl. 3, but also anything that has a "substantial effect" on such commerce... [I]t seems to me that the power to regulate "commerce" can by no means encompass authority over mere gun possession, any more than it empowers the Federal...

Vote for Me, I'm a Chump "Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Wednesday that President Bush broke his promise to build an international coalition against Iraq's Saddam Hussein and then waged a war based on questionable intelligence," the Associated Press reports from Lebanon, N.H., where the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam, was campaigning for next year's primary: "He misled every one of us," Kerry said. "That's one reason why I'm running to be president of the United States." Well, actually, "every one" overstates the case. The Senate vote in favor of authorizing force in...