GOP Voters Think Obama Favors Islamic Law

Seriously, the GOP has lost its mind: A majority of self-identifying Republicans apparently agrees that "Barack Obama sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world."

[I digress: Yet Obama "lets his wife" show bare, muscular arms in public? Let's his daughters be photographed in swim suits? Oh well.]

Seriously. I'm not joking, that's what a Newsweek poll tells me. These people are delusional. And the GOP leadership, with only a few admirable exceptions, does what it can to keep them that way. Anybody remember Dean Wormer's advice to Flounder?

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/30/obama-islamic-fundamentalist-gop-polled-majority-says_n_699883.html
For the full Newsweek poll: http://nw-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/pdf/1004-ftop.pdf"

Spinal Tap vs. Katrina-- well, vs Katrina Myths

Harry Shearer has continued, over the years, doing whatever he can to explain the real causes of the Drowning of New Orleans. Hint-- it wasn't the storm so much as incompetence and corruption.

It was clear for years what was needed to protect New Orleans. Somehow, nobody could be bothered to do what was needed. Here's the short version:

"Two independent teams of scientists and engineers investigated the cause of the flooding, and they reached remarkably similar conclusions. The event, they agreed, was a man-made disaster—the result of more than fourdecades’ worth of mistakes, misjudgments, and misfeasance by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency tasked by Congress to build a hurricane protection system for the city. Had the system worked correctly, one of the investigators said, the worst effect of Katrina on New Orleans would have been “wet ankles.”"

Here's the long version:
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/08/hurricane-katrina-anniversay-201008

John Cole over at Balloon Juice asks the right question: "Is BP an Oil Company or a Criminal Enterprise?" His link to NYT tells another stunning tale of corporate greed & risk-taking, combined with a cover-up:

"While the world was focused on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP refinery here released huge amounts of toxic chemicals into the air that went unnoticed by residents until many saw their children come down with respiratory problems. . .

"For 40 days after a piece of equipment critical to the refinery’s operation broke down, a total of 538,000 pounds of toxic chemicals, including the carcinogen benzene, poured out of the refinery.

"Rather than taking the costly step of shutting down the refinery to make repairs, the engineers at the plant diverted gases to a smokestack and tried to burn them off, but hundreds of thousands of pounds still escaped into the air, according to state environmental officials

"Neither the state nor the oil company informed neighbors or local officials about the pollutants until two weeks after the release ended, and angry residents of Texas City have signed up in droves to join a $10 billion class-action lawsuit against BP. The state attorney general, Greg Abbott, has also sued the company, seeking fines of about $600,000."

Our pals the Governor of Texas and BP looking out for us.

Links:
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/08/30/is-bp-an-oil-company-or-a-criminal-enterprise/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/us/30bprefinery.html?_r=1&hp