Hugh Nicoll's Blog

Mark Bernstein’s “What Ended” is one of the best responses to the horrors of Katrina’s aftermath I’ve read so far, and a great example of writing with power.

What ended this week is the illusion that words can substitute for real work and real knowledge. This was the last, spectacular failure of the internet bubble, the final burnout of paper businesses that had no business and paper politicians who had no cause and paper experts whose expertise lay in their bogus credentials or in the wealth of their pals.

Mark’s latest follows several other very useful posts, including links to Kathryn Cramer’s blog and the terrifying intelligence of press conference assertions by Chertoff so ably discussed at Talking Points Memo and the TPM Cafe.

The whole spectacle has felt like too much, too much to comprehend, and too shameful to be believed, except that it was — as Mark so ably points out — the entirely predictable result of the crony-ridden politics of the Bush administration. (and please, oh Lord, let some wisdom grow within the citizenry that will act a restraint on the dangerous possibilities unfolding with John Bolton as the U. S. representative to the U. N.)

links — the mainstream press and the blogosphere responding in a crescendo of commentary and reflection

• Flushing out the ugly truth — Joan Walsh at Salon
• FloridaBlues — summaries and links
• The Two Americas — Marjorie Cohn on the Cuban government response to hurricanes
• Two Americas — John Edwards’ take
• “What Happens to a Race Deferred” — Jason DeParle at The New York Times
• Dereliction of Duty — Greg Mitchell at Editor and Publisher