blog.shrub

The Katrina Help Wiki is here. There are a few tasks to be done:

• scraping structured data
• hand entering unstructured data
• building a web site
• marketing/publicizing the site

For more details, see the wiki.

if you’re a geek and want to help, head over to the Katrina Tech Resources wiki and see what’s going on and join the list.

Update: More on Chris Holland’s blog. Also see the Katrina Help Wiki.

the daily kos found out that FEMA director Mike Brown was fired from his last job managing the International Arabian Horse Association:

Well, for 3 years Michael Brown was hired and then fired by our IAHA, the International Arabian Horse Assoc. He was an unmitigated, total fucking disaster. I was shocked as hell when captain clueless put him in charge of FEMA a couple of years ago.

Update: The Boston Herald is confirming this:

The federal official in charge of the bungled New Orleans rescue was fired from his last private-sector job overseeing horse shows.
And before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a deputy director in 2001, GOP activist Mike Brown had no significant experience that would have qualified him for the position.
The Oklahoman got the job through an old college friend who at the time was heading up FEMA.
The agency, run by Brown since 2003, is now at the center of a growing fury over the handling of the New Orleans disaster.

“I look at FEMA and I shake my head,” said a furious Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday, calling the response “an embarrassment.”

As boing boing reports, Bush joked about Trent Lott’s new house during a press conference:

We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we’re going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we’re going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is — and it’s hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)

what do you do in the face of one of the greatest natural disasters in the history of your country? go shoe shopping:

The criticism is all the sharper because the President did nothing to alter his holiday schedule for 48 hours. Vice-President Dick Cheney remains on holiday in Wyoming. Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, returned to Washington after being seen shopping for $7,000 shoes in Manhattan as New Orleans went under.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned

Originally uploaded by asmythie.

Unbelievable…. President Bush plays a guitar presented to him by Country Singer Mark Wills, right, backstage following his visit to Naval Base Coronado, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Bush visited the base to deliver remarks on V-J Commemoration Day. (AP Photo/ABC News, Martha Raddatz)

Kutztown, Pa. school district: Downloading iChat is a felony - IO ERROR

Thirteen high school students in Kutztown, Pa., have been charged with computer trespass, a third degree felony, for simply trying to use the laptops the school district forced on them.

Hastert Tries Damage Control After Remarks Hit a Nerve:

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert began his day yesterday explaining that he really does not want to see New Orleans bulldozed, and he ended it defending his absence from the Capitol when Congress approved a $10.5 billion hurricane aid package.

In Syracuse, N.Y., former president Bill Clinton was discussing New Orleans’s dilemma when someone described the speaker’s comments. Had they been in the same place when the remarks were made, Clinton said, “I’m afraid I would have assaulted him.”

George Bush’s Spin Doctor Speaks.