Dickie's Quickies

Singing lesbians to rescue opera house. I don't write the headlines, but when they are as good as this one, I'm happy to share them.

In the sick joke category, I present Katrina: The Gathering. Hopefully, geek readers will see the humor and the political will exercise their righteous anger. In the meantime, everyone give what they can.

Oh, speaking of Katrina, here's a nifty website where you can keep track of the government contracts awarded for it. Note the several Halliburton-related entries.

Bruce Schneier links to a Florida story about DUI cases being thrown out of court due to a breathalyzer manufacturer's refusal to disclose how their product works. I think Bruce is correct in his criticism of the manufacturer, but it sure has sparked a LOT of comments on his blog today.

The Seattle Times today reports on a story about how New Orlean's residents, attempting to escape their flooded city, were blocked from taking one bridge by the police of neighboring Gretna Parish. Notes the article that the escapees were mostly black and the parrish is mostly white. Two other things of note: most of the evacuees were black and the parish of Gretna is mostly white and the original story was ignored by much of the mainstream media after being reported by eyewitnesses in a socialist journal (link to original story). Tell me this wasn't about racism and classism.