CHURCH SPEARHEADS DRIVE
Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile is spearheading a fund drive to help hurricane Katrina victims. If you can help send your donation to:

Cottage Hill Baptist Church
attn: Scott Crawford
4255 Cottage Hill Road
Mobile, Al 36609

LAW FIRM RACING TEAM TO HELP WITH RELIEF
The BeasleyAllen.com race transporter is being emptied of race cars, tools, tires and most of the equipment which is carried to the race track, in order to make room for hurricane relief donations which will be gathered in Montgomery Friday afternoon.
The BeasleyAllen Racing transport rig will be at the Winn Dixie Promenade location at 2739 Eastern Bypass this Friday September 9th. Donations will be accepted from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m., and then delivered to the Robertsdale center. Willa Carpenter will be coordinating this effort for Beasley Allen, and any volunteers who can help receive, box and load the donations should contact Willa.

www.BeasleyAllenRacing.com
grantenfinger@yahoo.com
251 454 5211

PICTURES IN THE PRESS
Here are two pictures that ran in the Atlanta Constitution. One of them is of the Madden kids and the other one is Dennis Knizley checking out the oil rig that beached itself on Dauphin Island. (You can see the rig in the aerial photo below.)

TREE SERVICE IN MOBILE AND BILOXI AREA
If anyone needs tree service, please let them know that Jim Walker, is now in business. He is equipped with all the saws and a huge utility truck that goes about 65 feet up.

Shannon Harley will be taking all the calls, setting up the appointments, and lining up the estimates, etc...Spread the word and give them this cell phone 251.209.3564

KATRINA RELATED EMERGENCY SOURCES

One of the best sources for people looking to help or for assistance in finding people in NOLA is CRAIG'S LIST.

The SouthWest Emergency Response Network is the central repository for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. If you or your organization / agency / corporation have resources that may be made available to the response agencies, please list them in the Resource Registry. (PS: The southeastern regional is HERE)

Again, if you want to see what happened or have a relative and would like to check out their house if you haven't heard from them, GO HERE

REPORT FROM LODA
Just got back to the house. Had stayed here for the hurricane but left on Wednesday when I got fed up with living under martial law. (Carlos had been with me until the morning of the hurricane but them left for Pace when it seemed that the storm was moving westward. He was back in school by Tuesday.) About the only real horrible part of the hurricane was listening to the constant wind and the roof tearing off on the houses across the street (which took 10 hours!).

Zack evacuated from Baton Rouge to Gonzalez and spent the night of the hurricane with his girlfriend's parents. He is still working at the hotel and the influx of people into Baton Rouge has him quite frazzled. He is scooting back and forth between Gonzalez and Baton Rouge and is seriously depressed about the whole thing. Click Here for a website that quotes him

Obviously, Mobile, although hit quite hard, was nothing compared to our friends to the west. Kathryn and Carlos put me up in their guest house in Pace and it was quite nice after that. They have a pleasant and beautiful farm out there with horses and goats, etc and that seemed like such a pleasant sojourn from living with a flashlight on my chest and having the mosquitoes taunt me with their pre-puncture buzzing.

As if putting up an ex-husband wasn't enough generosity, she and her husband Doug (and her sister Leslie) put together a caravan on Thursday and went into Mississippi with about $3,000 worth of stuff they had purchased at the local Wal-Mart. To do this, remember, they had to disregard all of the hysteria about looters and carjackers, get around the blocked highways choked with emergency vehicles coming from points east, deal with the lack of gasoline, and somehow find a way into an area that was being cordoned off by the authorities.

They didn't get back till late that night but very rightly so were proud that they had done that. They say the need is desperate. Had an old codger of a chief of police cry on them and thank them for their generosity. They are going back again Tuesday and are collecting things to take: baby items, diapers, tents, camping gear, bug spray, disinfectant, medicines, light clothing, etc. Let me know if you can help. In Mobile, Leslie is helping coordinate the effort.

The image above is Wendell's beach house on Dauphin Island. Notice the oil drilling rig beached across on the other shore. If you want to see what happened or have a relative and would like to check out their house if you haven't heard from them, GO HERE

OUCH!
"Authorities have charged two people with castrating a man who got into a fight with another man who was supposed to give him a tattoo. They were charged with malicious castration; assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury; kidnapping; and maiming of body parts."
(WISI-TV, unearthed by Garet Cox)

NOW, THAT'S NOT VERY CHRISTIAN PAT!
Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club host Pat Robertson founder of the Christian Coalition of America has called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias.

"I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it.
It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... this is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen."
(VHeadline.com, unearthed by Art Heitzer. Image used by permission from artist. Click on the image to see more of his magnificent work.)

WASHINGTON POST HAS THIS TO SAY ABOUT ROBERTSON'S GIFT FOR WORDS:

It's a pity Venezuelans don't know that "The 700 Club" broadcaster is a fading shadow of the Republican Party figure he once was. That Mr. Robertson once ran for his party's nomination, built a conservative religious advocacy group that had aspiring office-seekers quaking in their boots and -- entrepreneur that he is -- befriended every sub-Saharan kleptomaniac he managed to meet.

AMERICA'S GO-TO MAN FOR GLOBAL ISSUES
"Fareed Zakaria hosts Foreign Exchange which airs on Saturdays on PBS. He is America's go-to man for global chaos, providing some urgently needed outside perspective on our never ending war on terror. In the last few years, Zakaria has become a kind of bridge to the Arab world - an Asian-born Muslim with a Yale and Harvard education who seems willing to act as a cultural interpreter.
Zakaria stands out from the crowd of lily-white talking heads that populate American news shows thanks to his tan skin, clipped Bombay lilt, and his insistence that we pay attention to the rest of the globe. It was his post–9-11 Newsweek cover story "Why They Hate Us" that put him on the mainstream map as someone who could make sense of the now threatening outside world.
(VILLAGE VOICE)

HUNTER THOMPSON'S FINAL GONZO ACT
"Things are shaping up nicely for Hunter Thompson's final blast-off this Saturday. Hunter's ashes have been placed in 34 shells custom-designed by Zambelli Fireworks Internationale. The shells will be launched from a monument modeled after Thompson's Gonzo logo: a clenched fist, made symmetrical with the addition of a second thumb, perched atop a dagger.
Actor Johnny Depp is funding the event, which organizers estimate will cost roughly $2.5 million, to fulfill the vision that Thompson detailed in a 1978 BBC documentary and to his friends and family leading up to his suicide."
(5280, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

GAY MEXICAN GRANTED ASYLUM
"A federal appeals court in the United States has granted asylum to a homosexual man with Aids from Mexico on the grounds that if he was sent back to his country he could face persecution.
The court has made similar rulings in other cases involving homosexual and transgender asylum-seekers from Central and Latin America, because of concerns they would face persecution at home inflicted or condoned by the police.
(THE INDEPENDENT, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

CUBAN FIVE GRANTED RETRIAL!

United States v. Campa, ___F.3d ___(11th Cir No. 01-17176, decided August 9, 2005)
The defendant-appellants, Ruben Campa, Rene Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Luis Medina and Antonio Guerrero, were convicted and sentenced for various offenses charging each of them with acting as unregistered Cuban intelligence agents working within the United States. Hernandez was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder by supporting and implementing a plan to shoot down United States civilian aircraft outside of Cuban and United States airspace. They appeal their convictions, sentences, and the denial of their motion for new trial arguing, inter alia, that the pervasive community prejudice against Fidel Castro and the Cuban government and its agents and the publicity surrounding the trial and other community events combined to create a situation where they were unable to obtain a fair and impartial trial.
We agree, and REVERSE their convictions and REMAND for a retrial.
(Suggested by Art Heitzer)

PROSECUTORS CALL GITMO TRIALS FIXED
A third US military prosecutor has walked out of the commissions process set up to try Guantanamo Bay detainees because of concerns it was unfair. Air Force Captain Carrie Wolf chose to take a reassignment along with other prosecutors. Capt Wolf asked to leave the Office of Military Commissions at the same time as two other colleagues, Major Robert Preston and Captain John Carr. Earlier this week, the ABC revealed that in March 2004, Maj Preston and Capt Carr requested transfers because they believed the process was "rigged" and pursuing "marginal" cases.
(ABC, unearthed by Human Rights First)

WHO WE ARE
"Three Republican senators are giving the White House fits with their attempt to get legislation approved that would expressly prohibit cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody.
There was a dramatic encounter during the floor debate last week when our own Senator Jeff Sessions spoke out against the legislation, saying there was no need for it because, as he put it, the detainees are not prisoners of war, 'they are terrorists.
Senator McCain, of Arizona, argued that the debate "is not about who they are. It's about who we are." Americans, said Mr. McCain, "hold ourselves" to a higher standard."
(NYT, unearthed by Joe Paul)

BADA BING!
Sopranos fan? Check out Baer v. Chase, a dispute between the creator of the series an attorney who contributed ideas during the show's initial development.

"Unlike many half-baked 'He stole my idea' claims, however, this case contains concrete evidence of plaintiff's contribution. For example, Baer put Chase in touch with several good fellas who 'told true and sometimes personal stories involving loan sharking, a power struggle with two uncles involving a family business, and two individuals, Big Pussy and Little Pussy.' These facts (which exist in the public record) bear a striking resemblance to Sopranos characters Uncle Junior and Pussy Bonpensiero. Seriously, what writer could've dreamt up a mobster named 'Pussy'?"
(FINDLAW'S MODERN PRACTICE DIGEST)