Around the Web on 8-28-05

Katrina's Refugees

If my blogging and email correspondence are on the spotty side for the next few days, it's because some friends of my wife's family are staying with us due to the hurricane evacuation from New Orleans.

The [Louisiana State University Hurricane Center]'s latest computer simulations indicate that by Tuesday, vast swaths of New Orleans could be under water up to 30 feet deep. In the French Quarter, the water could reach 20 feet, easily submerging the district's iconic cast-iron balconies and bars.

Estimates predict that 60 percent to 80 percent of the city's houses will be destroyed by wind. With the flood damage, most of the people who live in and around New Orleans could be homeless.

I have been concerned about something like this for years.

Reason Roundup

The Reason Roundup has returned to the Charlotte Capitalist.

Welcome to the Reason Roundup! While the cat is away, the mice shall play. Putting wild cats in America. Military myths. Pat Robertson. 32-bit girl. Iran - today! Keep those doggies rollin'.

Lindeskog: Back in the Saddle Again

Martin Lindeskog is back from his vacation over at Ego. Among other things, he reports on airline privatization in Hungary.

Useful Idiot Writes Fawning Piece on El Loco

In today's Houston Chronicle was a leftist propaganda piece disguised as news only by its appearance in the "news" portion of the paper.

For many people around the world, however, the Chavez experiment represents an inspiring model for the left -- a mix of capitalism, nationalism and sweeping anti-poverty programs. The San Francisco group Global Exchange, which organizes educational "reality tours" to 27 countries, says Venezuela is its hottest destination.

Unlike Cuba and Nicaragua, where international work brigades once showed up to cut sugarcane and pick coffee, Venezuela is rich in oil profits.

But few political tourists know how to pump petroleum. Instead, they spend their days visiting literacy classes in Caracas shantytowns, meeting with government officials and quizzing opposition politicians.

The article sounds like its author (one John Otis of the Chron's South American Bureau) took one of these "'reality' tours" (and did little else) to research his article. For example, the article mentions that the Bush administration views Chavez as a menace, buts says nothing about his threats to cut off petroleum exports to America or his feverish military buildup or his cozy relationship with Red China. And the article both quotes an Australian political tourist ("There was so much excitement in the room," said Marcus Pabian, an Australian wearing a Vladimir Lenin pin who attended the [mock] trial [of the United States]. "It brought tears to my eyes.") and notes that Chavez "holds forth for hours on his TV program, Hello Mr. President"and yet misses Chavez's internationally famous moniker, El Loco, which his own people bestowed upon him.

Shameful.

Update: Among other things, this article also strongly implies that Chavez is not guilty of quashing dissent. Blair at Secular Foxhole points to a post at the Devil's Excrement that does a good job of laying that myth to rest. I guess that's why only oppostion politicians get "quizzed" over there.

More Evidence that Grasp of Science by Media is Slippery

Via Glenn Reynolds, is a piece on "Meth Mouth" that shows quite a few journalists to be a bit lacking in even a basic understanding of science. Most egregiously:

The Kansas City Star (Jan. 26, 2005): "What causes the problems is the acid content in some of the ingredients used to make methamphetamine, including anhydrous ammonia, ether and lithium. The acid can decrease the strength of the enamel on the teeth." Nice try, Star, but anhydrous ammonia, ether, and lithium are not acids.

And what if the people who should understand science better err? You can count on their mistakes being faithfully propagated.

The Albuquerque Journal (April 12, 2005) collects this artful anecdote from a local dentist: "Meth use is an emerging epidemic. ... It explodes people's teeth. It's like ice crystals forming in the crevices of rock, fracturing the teeth."

The writer points out that "None of the articles blaming 'contaminated' methamphetamine for meth mouth cite any literature or authority, perhaps because it doesn't exist." Perhaps! Perhaps if it did, these "journalists" still wouldn't have cited it! Of course, it could also be that the Sierra Club had nothing to say on the matter, either.

-- CAV

Updates

8-29-05: Added links to Secular Foxhole and Devil's Excrement WRT Chavez.