New Orleans population has crumbled in the last 10 years

It was dropping before Katrina, but it dropped off a cliff after. It's hard to rebuild when you're missing 29% of the recent population.

Figures released this week show that there are 343,839 residents of New Orleans, down 29% from the previous count of 485,000 in 2000. The current population is also substantially depleted from the 455,000 people believed to have been living in the city just before hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.

The powerful storm overpowered the city's levees and caused flooding that forced about 200,000 residents to flee.

Families relocated to makeshift camps elsewhere in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. No one knows what has happened to those people — the census records current location but does not show the movement of individuals between counts — but it is evident that many have never returned.

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Congress asking questions about Facebook's privacy-of-the-week policies

While it's perfectly valid and the right thing to do, it might be better if everyone moved on from that annoying business. Facebook has probably already reached its peak and if it hasn't, it's not far off. Maybe it won't go MySpace right away but someone is going to replace Facebook soon enough. CNN:

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, sent the bipartisan request Wednesday with a deadline: Zuckerberg has 15 business days to cough up the answers.

The congressmen's intrigue centers on Facebook's recent announcement - and postponement - of a plan to make the addresses and cell phone numbers of its users available to third-party websites and application developers (apps).

"Please explain why Facebook, while previously acknowledging in its letter to us that sharing a [Facebook User ID] could raise user concerns, subsequently considered sharing of a user's home address and mobile phone number - even more sensitive personal information than a UID - to be information that should be more easily accessible to third parties," they wrote in the letter.

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Reagan myth versus reality

How does "raised taxes eleven times" always manage to be ignored by the Republicans? CBS News:

But following his party's losses in the 1982 election, Reagan largely backed off his efforts at spending cuts even as he continued to offer the small-government rhetoric that helped get him elected. In fact, he went in the opposite direction: His creation of the department of veterans affairs contributed to an increase in the federal workforce of more than 60,000 people during his presidency.

And while Reagan somewhat slowed the marginal rate of growth in the budget, it continued to increase during his time in office. So did the debt, skyrocketing from $700 billion to $3 trillion. Then there's the fact that after first pushing to cut Social Security benefits - and being stymied by Congress - Reagan in 1983 agreed to a $165 billion bailout of the program. He also massively expanded the Pentagon budget.

Meanwhile, following that initial tax cut, Reagan actually ended up raising taxes - eleven times. That's according to former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, a longtime Reagan friend who co-chaired President Obama's fiscal commission that last year offered a deficit reduction proposal.

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Obama looking for common ground with business

Please make it stop. This administration has already gone too far in appeasing business by going easy on Wall Street and then pumping the banks with more via QE2. If Obama's actions against Wall Street were so bad, his economic team wouldn't have left so easily to find highly paid work with Wall Street. The revolving door between Washington and Wall Street hasn't missed a beat during the last few years. Quit playing this game and face the fact that his center-right policies have provided much more benefit to the rich business executives than to the middle class. The problem for the rich is that they don't know when to say when. They want it all and Obama is there to help. Read the rest of this post...

Governor Perry to slash child services spending as Texas child poverty hits 24%

That's what they call "compassionate conservatism." Read the rest of this post...

Palin is worried that US is out of step with Reagan values

I would certainly hope so. Reclassifying ketchup as a vegetable for kids isn't what I would consider proper values and I would hope most Americans feel the same. I grew up during the Reagan years and remember him laying the groundwork for the Wall Street debacle that brought down the global economy. For some crazy reason, I don't understand the annoying obsession with that man. Halfwits like Palin overlook how Reagan was a "tax raising, amnesty giving, cut-and-running, negotiating with terrorist" kind of guy.

When he left office, I recall being shocked that he cashed in with a speaking tour in Japan where he made millions. In today's world, that would be like Bush leaving office and doing a highly paid speaking tour in China. Americans (my father included) were losing their jobs due to competition from Japan and there goes the president, doing a few speeches for a few million. (And yes, Clinton's cashing in was even more disgraceful, but even more money.) Reagan also had "friends" buy him a multi-million house in California after leaving office. He did eventually pay them back, but that was quite easy to do after his profitable speaking tour. Forget about the myth of Reagan and let's remember reality. The more the US moves away from his horrible legacy the better. Read the rest of this post...

Egypt's make-shift helmets

Various photos of what protesters are using as helmets to protect their heads (it's kind of cool). Read the rest of this post...

BREAKING: Mubarak resigns as head of his party

Per Al Jazeera (h/t FDL):

6:08pm Egyptian TV reports that Hosni Mubarak resigns as head of the ruling NDP party - he is still the president though.

6:00pm General Hassan El-Rawani, the head of the army's central command, speaks to the masses in Tahrir Square urging them to leave the square, they chant back at him "We are not leaving, He [Mubarak] is leaving". ...

5:36pm The leadership of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party resigns, including Gamal Mubarak, the son of Hosni Mubarak. The new secretary general of the party is Hossam Badrawi, seen as a member of the liberal wing of the party.

Looks like the transition has begun, but perhaps not all the negotiations are complete. (And if you like following closely, that Al Jazeera blog site is worth a bookmark.)

Note the middle item, about the military. I'll have something soon about the forces within the military. They are not monolithic; they are both powerful and corrupt; there's a difference between the rank and file and the generals in culture; and never forget, they are the recipients, for the most part, of those billions in military aid.

That's a lot of Wheeties to give up if the protesters end up on the wrong side of Washington (and Israel). As always, stay tuned.

UPDATE: CBS News confirms.

GP Read the rest of this post...

So Sarah Palin trademarked her name

I'm sorry, but what a freak. I can't wait until reporters have put a small TM after Palin's name every time they write about her. But on a more serious level, what is wrong with this woman? It's difficult to know if it's the megalomania, the unquenchable desire for fame, or a rather pathetic lack of self-awareness (she has no idea how mediocre she truly is).

Proclaim the virtues of "real America" all you want, but when the Jerry Springer Show runs for president - and worse, is the front runner in your party - something is wrong.

PS Ten points if she can even spell her name. Read the rest of this post...

A map of pop vs soda

UPDATE: I think it's time for my Black Cow story.

I had moved to DC not that long before, and went with my new roommates for lunch at Pizzeria Unos, which had recently opened and was a sorry excuse for the real restaurant in Chicago. Anyway, the waitress came up and here's what happened.

Waitress: Hi what would you like to drink?

John: Well, what kind of pop do you have? (It's possible I asked her what kind of coke she had, it's all a bit fuzzy after 25 years.)

Waitress: Pop? Oh you mean soda!

John (who had planned on getting a coke): Soda? Oh that's a good idea! Can I have a black cow?

Waitress: Huh?

John: You know, coke and ice cream.

Waitress: Oh you mean a float.

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Protests in Egypt enters 12th day, gas pipeline to Israel attacked

How much longer can Mubarak cling on to power? If the military is not going to give him complete support, it hardly seems likely that he can remain in power for much longer. Al Jazeera:

The protests entered their twelfth day on Saturday, a day after the city's Tahrir Square, the focal point of protests in Egypt, saw demonstrators observe a "Day of Departure".

The morning has been calm so far except for a standoff between two separate groups chanting slogans. However, the military soon moved in and there are more soldiers on the ground now.

The demonstrations, which commenced after Friday prayers, were also held in the cities of Alexandria, Mahalla and Giza.

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The White Stripes - The Hardest Button to Button

Pity they're breaking up.

While we look at the weather in the US and shiver, we're having a great start to February. It was a little chilly to start, but still above freezing. This weekend it's supposed to be just over 50F. At this point, I'm going to start keeping a close watch on my camellia's outside because they could even start to bloom later this month. I spent a good part of the week in London and noticed daffodils popping up (obviously not yet in bloom) in Green Park. Read the rest of this post...

Irish left positioned for victory in elections

What is especially interesting in this story is that the left bothered to get out there and work in the field. They have been making their case to the public following the economic implosion. In comparison, why is it that the hard right (the Teabaggers) surged in the US following the crisis? Surely much of it had to do with racism though the Democrats answer to the banking failure was a continuation of the Bush/Paulson policies. Did that deflate the left and energize the right? The Guardian:

The recession has been unkind to centre-left parties across much of Europe, but Ireland is poised to buck the trend. The Irish Labour party is anticipating record support in the general election on 25 February, which could propel it into government. This is due to a political shift that also looks likely to send a bloc of Trotskyist-aligned deputies into parliament.

Opinion polls give Labour about 24% – only nine points less than Fine Gael. A poll in the Irish Times found that Labour chief Eamon Gilmore is, at 26%, the most popular party leader.

Even in one of the most affluent parts of Ireland's eastern coast the left is enjoying a renaissance, thanks in part to two candidates born in 1968 – the year of global student revolution.

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