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Parker was prideful. A few months earlier the Mississippi River had flooded a million acres of Louisiana and left 40,000 people homeless. The entire Louisiana congressional delegation had pleaded with him to ask for federal aid, or at least help from the national Red Cross. He had refused to do either, stating, "Louisiana has issued no call for help and will not."

  For Immediate ReleaseSeptember 10, 2005 President's Radio Address      Audio      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On Sunday, our nation will observe the fourth anniversary of the September the 11th terrorist attacks. Every American has memories of that day that will never leave them. We remember the images of fire and terror at the Pentagon, in Pennsylvania, and in the heart of New York City. We remember the ruthlessness of those who murdered the innocent and took joy in their suffering. We remember the courage of the police and firefighters and rescue personnel who rushed into burning buildings to save lives,...

In politics, especially national politics, perceptions are paramount and facts are secondary in moving public opinion on large issues. While there is enough blame to go around, regarding official responses to Katrina, the images of what actually took place on the ground to thousands of people, while the National Guard had not yet arrived in force, is simply overwhelming, staggering, horrendous. It would be impossible for it to not to have adverse political repercussions to the national leadership, no matter - NO MATTER - what the facts are. When failures of this magnitude occur, the nation has failed and people...

This is what passes for compassionate dialog on a Katrina survivor's forum and Yahoo's response to my harrassment complaint... check the link for the original post by this 18 year old "progressive".Hello, Thank you for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and thank you for your report of potential violations on Yahoo! Message Boards. We take every report of abuse on our site seriously and value the feedback you provide to us. If you feel that another user is harassing you, have you tried our "Ignore User" feature? If the person is disruptive to...

I did not stop to help a * supporter today. I had no idea how deeply my hate for that man ran. My lack of an interaction, with a * supporter is still haunting me a couple of hours later. I was on my home and was on the ramp getting off the highway. I saw a mini-van on the side of the road. There was a lady standing next to the van and in her arms she held her child. I can only assume her mini-van had broken down. I don't know, perhaps with so many gad stations being...

The grieving room was arranged like a doctor's office. The families and loved ones of 33 soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan were summoned to a large waiting area at Fort Bragg, N.C. For three hours, they were rotated through five private rooms, where they met with President George W. Bush, accompanied by two Secret Service men and a photographer. Because the walls were thin, the families awaiting their turn could hear the crying inside. President Bush was wearing "a huge smile," but his eyes were red and he looked drained by the time he got to the last widow,...

The Supreme Court's medical marijuana decision this past June was a minor defeat for the so-called states' rights cause but a major setback for compassion and common sense. It marked one of the few defeats suffered by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in her long campaign against federal regulation of the national economy and for the enhancement of individual rights. This time, she should have won. Although the decision temporarily halted the conservative assault, it allowed federal authorities to deny a locally grown and marketed drug with proven therapeutic value to people who desperately need it. In Gonzales v. Raich,...

As usual, the Republican Party surrendered the moral and political high ground to the losers when Sen. Bill Frist cravenly accepted Mr. Durbin's phony apology. Republicans talk tough about the war, radical judges, illegal aliens, affirmative action and term limits. Once elected, though, they thumb their noses at the voters and hide behind liberal power grabs. The American people have completely lost control of their government.It is time for a counterliberal revolution, but this latest Republican capitulation shows that the feckless Republican Party is incompetent to lead it. Timid and submissive, the Republican Party remains viable only as the nominal...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush, under pressure to provide more help to Africa ahead of a Group of Eight summit next week, proposed on Thursday that Washington take on a greater role in combating malaria in sub-Saharan Africa as part of what he called a doubling of U.S. aid. With Africa a top agenda item for G8 leaders meeting July 6 to 8 in Gleneagles, Scotland, Bush said he would ask Congress to spend $1.2 billion through 2008 to help fight malaria, which claims an estimated 1.2 million people a year worldwide, 95 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa. In...

Church leaders to discuss role in immigration Leonard MartinezEl Paso Times A Catholic cardinal, 17 bishops from the United States and Mexico, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and the Mexican foreign minister will meet in El Paso next week in what is being described as a historic meeting about the church’s spiritual, moral and legal obligation toward immigrants. The conference, the first of its kind along the U.S.-Mexico border, will include 150 diocesan staff members from the two countries and will feature a variety of workshops on treating immigrants and fulfilling their religious needs. “As members of a universal church, we...

Last month over 1,500 family members who have lost a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan gathered at Arlington National Cemetery at the behest of an organization called Faces of the Fallen, which has assembled dozens of artists to paint portraits of those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was the keynote speaker. While his speech managed to strike a few emotional chords, it was what he did after speaking that was remarkable. Hours after his speech concluded General Myers was still standing out in a cold drizzle talking at...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - An 86-year-old woman has been released from jail after being accused of calling emergency dispatchers 20 times in a little more than a half-hour to complain about a pizza parlor. Dorothy Densmore of Charlotte was released late Tuesday after spending two nights in jail. She complained that a pizza shop wouldn't deliver to her home and wanted shop employees arrested, police said. She faces a July 14 court date on three misdemeanor charges of resisting a public officer and two counts of misusing the 911 system, jail spokeswoman Julia Rush said. District Judge Phil Howerton ordered authorities...

<p>MOSUL, IRAQ (May 3, 2005) – After further investigation it was determined that two Iraqi children were killed and another 15 Iraqi citizens were injured when a combined suicide car bomb and improvised explosive device attack detonated in a western Mosul neighborhood Monday. Initial reports had indicated only one child was killed in the attack.</p>

Hello again...& Welcome to ATRW for Tues., Apr. 19!As the week continues....John Bolton's name is set to be sent to the Senate Floor for confirmation as UN Ambassador...Longtime Republican Cong. from Illinois, Henry Hyde announced his retirement at term's end.For the first time in 4 weeks, gasoline prices at the pump have dropped...a few cents.An Iraqi Maj. General and his son were assassinated late Monday returning to Baghdad from Madain.And the Cardinals met for the first day of their deliberations with no new Pope selected.We Will Not Tire, We Will Not Falter, and We Will not Fail!

The toothless skull of an early human ancestor, discovered in the Republic of Georgia, may attest to evolution's oldest known example of some kind of compassion for the elderly and handicapped in society, scientists are reporting today. Other experts agreed that the discovery was significant, but cautioned that it might be a stretch to interpret the fossil as evidence of compassion. The well-preserved skull belonged to a male Homo erectus about 40 years old. All his teeth, except the left canine, were missing. The empty tooth sockets had been filled in by a regrowth of bone, the scientists said, indicating...

A professor at a Bible college near Scranton, Pa., was arrested Tuesday as he tried to storm into the hospice caring for Terri Schiavo. Dow Pursley, 56, was zapped with a Taser stun gun and tackled to the ground by officers before he reached the door, Pinellas Park police said. He became the 47th protester arrested. Pursley, who is on the faculty of the Baptist Bible College & Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pa., had two bottles of water with him, police said. He was charged with attempted burglary and resisting arrest. Baptist Bible College officials said in a written statement...

Pinellas Park police Lt. Kevin Riley, standing upper right, prepares to arrest members of the Keys family as they were attempting to bring Terri Schiavo water Wednesday morning, March 23, 2005 outside the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla. The Keys family, of Burnet, Tex., kneeling, from left, Josie, 14, Gabriel, 10, Chris, the children's father, and Cameron 12, were all taken into custody. Galen Keys, upper left, the children's mother looks on, but was not arrested.The mother insists it was the children's idea: "I am proud of them," said the boys' mother Geilen Keys from Texas, who was not...

I drove by the Hospice on lunch, they are blocking the road, and there are cops everywhere. I fear something is happening.

A SAUDI academic has been sentenced to 200 lashes and time in jail for insulting an Islamist colleague, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported today. Hamza al-Muzaini, a lecturer in linguistics at King Saud University, was accused by Abdullah al-Barak, a lecturer of Islamic culture at the same university, of defamation and insult, the London-based Al-Hayat reported. Barak, who is described as a radical salafist - a strict form of Sunni Islam - reportedly accused Muzaini of "mocking long beards" and questioning his knowledge in an article published a few months ago, other reports said. Muzaini was sentenced to 200 lashes, four...