Burma: Maybe it's not over yet...

But if there's going to be any hope, these guys are going to need a little bit of support.
So where are all the Superpower friends of democracy and freedom now?

Related: U.S. Policy on Burma: A Point for Semantics; Now What?

Maybe I spoke too soon...

... about giving FEMA the benefit of the doubt. I hadn't realized that Tuesday's "news conference," at which Deputy Administrator Harvey Johnson talked about lessons learned from Katrina being applied to the wildfire response, was held with FEMA staffers pretending to be reporters, since none of the real reporters could make the briefing that was held with only 15 minutes prior notice.

Is it sympathy for the devil to just feel sorry for these guys?

I mean, the guy in that photo is no Dana Perino. Poor dude; he obviously never got fashion advice from Naomi Wolf on how to pick a power suit. Maybe he should just stay out the press conference business, especially the deciding-whether-to-hold-one-even-if-no-one's-there part.

Paulison spoke confidently of the response itself in an interview with NPR.

As long as they do their job, I guess that's what counts. But then I'm only a blogger with a snarky (and sometimes overly generous) opinion. Hell hath no fury like a press corps implied to be irrelevant. We're going to be hearing about this one for awhile.

And who else is doing a heckuva job?

No, I'm not going to trash FEMA again until their (earnest, at least) new leadership under David Paulison proves or disproves itself in response to the California wildfires.

This year's award has got to go to First Kuwaiti, for turning the (grandiose and ill-conceived, to begin with) U.S. embassy in Iraq into arguably the most disastrous construction project in the Mesopotamian region since the Tower of Babel. And yet we just awarded them another three contracts.

Related: Filipino "contractors" in Iraq: OK, this is bad...

Speaking of The Colbert Report, on Thursday's show...

... Stephen had Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist, as a guest, and Newmark (or let's just call him Craig) mentioned a really cool thing: DonorsChoose.org, which allows donors to choose the precise amount of their donation to students and classrooms in need, as well as the specific project they would like to fund.

Politico on Stephen Colbert's Alleged "Favorite Son" Bid

Ah, Politico, whether his run is for real or not, you're just playing into his hands by taking it so seriously with this lengthy analysis of the legal implications of the bid. You just want him to mention your article on his next show, don't you?
He may be fumbling giddily about on-air, drunken with the sheer bravado of it all, (he being the character rather than the "real" Stephen Cole-burt, of course) but I'm sure he has plenty of "people" around him who know what's what, and will advise him not to push it farther than will sell books and entertain his minions.
(Yes, there's already a copy sitting on our living room table, so I guess I'm one of said minions. And he should feel free to mention this post on his next show, too ;)

Nobel Watch Update: Yep, he did.

Not a big surprise, but good news, nonetheless, from an earth-based perspective (hard to imagine an alternative perspective, but some factions may claim one...)
Maybe he'll run and maybe he won't. Polls show him with a much better chance to beat Giuliani than Hillary. I'll be honest. I'd like to see a woman (not just any woman; I'm not talking Elizabeth Dole or Condi Rice) but a moderate-to-liberal woman in the White House, whether as veep or in the top spot. Reservations notwithstanding, (in a nutshell, the hawkish persona she's cultivated for this campaign) I think Hillary would do a fine job at the top. But I wouldn't mind seeing another Clinton/Gore / Gore/Clinton ticket, and I could get behind Gore/Obama or Gore/Edwards as well.
But regardless of that omnipresent election year question, and regardless of the precise details on what's happening environmentally, (that's what Gore's co-recipients, the IPCC, are trying to find out) the more attention paid to the planet on which we depend for our survival, (barring that expedition to Mars) the better. And this can't hurt.

Related: Nobel Watch: Will he get it? Will he get it?

A Chessman's Life

I think I've seen this guy before, playing a game in "the circle" down in D.C.

Homeless man is chess king of Washington

But I hadn't realized he was a tournament champion and aspiring master (the highest title in American chess.)
If he could just beat the bottle the way he beats his challengers... but nothing's as easy as black and white...
Wishing him luck, though.

Nobel Watch: Will he get it? Will he get it?

Yes, with all that's going on in the world, sometimes it's still fun to engage in a little frivolous speculation... and some Democrats are acting a bit like kids waiting for Christmas morning.
A) Will Al Gore receive the soon-to-be-announced Nobel Peace Prize?
B) If so, will it prompt him, as some diehard Gore fans are hoping, to ride the momentum into the race?

Warning to English Verbs: You Will Be Regularized

... according to this study by Harvard mathematicians on the evolution of the English language over time.
"Wed" is next on their prediction list of irregular verbs that will take the dominant "-ed" ending for its past tense form.

What does a U.S. security contractor have to do to get kicked out of Iraq?

Apparently engaging in manslaughter (at the least) and conspiring to cover it up isn't quite enough to put you on the bench for more than two months.

The information that the Blackwater employee who was involved in the Christmas party "incident" was back to work in February for a DOD contractor in Kuwait, after being quietly flown home by Blackwater, in complicity with the State Department, was tactfully not submitted to the House oversight committee in time for last week's hearing, although the meager payoff to the victim's family was disclosed. And he's since been sighted back in the Green Zone in Iraq.

And apparently the Army didn't know any more than DOD did, according to Chairman Waxman's letter:

The report also stated that in April 2007, the U.S. Army tried to call Mr. Moonen, a veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division, back to active duty, but cancelled the request upon learning that he was already overseas.

But I'm sure that even if these facts were mentioned, Ranking Member Davis and Reps. Mica and Westmoreland would still spend most of their questioning minutes complaining about what a tragic waste of time the hearing was and how the good folks at Blackwater and the State Department are just trying to do their jobs and don't deserve all this pointless harassment from those meanies on the other side of the aisle.

Speaking of off-the-radar countries...

This blog by Sokwanele Civic Action Support Group is documenting the catastrophic economic collapse within Zimbabwe.

This is Zimbabwe

Sokwanele is local slang for "enough is enough."

U.S. Policy on Burma: A Point for Semantics; Now What?

The brutally repressive regime of the country referred to in English by the name Myanmar (its name in the Burmese language had never changed, according to the notes on etymology in the Wikipedia article) is still known as Burma (from Bama or Bamar) by the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, and Australia. And for good reason, I think.
Colonial history aside, the name change was instituted by an illegitimate government that has been holding the democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest indefinitely.
The U.N. uses the name Myanmar.

But regardless of what you call it, a tragedy is unfolding there, while once again the world stands by and looks on sadly, as if there's nothing it can possibly do. Where's the sense of urgency that always seems (now that "radical Islamic regimes" and their oil have replaced Russia and the Red Scare as Bogeyman #1 on our radar) to surround crises in countries a bit to the west of Southeast Asia, a bit to the north of Africa?

Buddhist monks are being rounded up by the thousands, with possibly 200 or more protesters killed.

This assessment by a Swedish diplomat is heartbreaking in its sense of hopelessness for the country's future:

Liselotte Agerlid, who is now in Thailand, said that the Burmese people now face possibly decades of repression. "The Burma revolt is over," she added.

"The military regime won and a new generation has been violently repressed and violently denied democracy. The people in the street were young people, monks and civilians who were not participating during the 1988 revolt.

"Now the military has cracked down the revolt, and the result may very well be that the regime will enjoy another 20 years of silence, ruling by fear."

So that's it? It's "over?" Just like with Tiananmen Square, only, without economic prosperity, even less hope?