I haven't posted much, in part because I've been at APSA. But I also have trouble bringing myself to write anything more about Katrina. We lived in New York on September 11th, 2001; for all the horror of that day, the slow unfolding of the disaster in New Orleans, the gross incompetence of our government and our elected officials, and the bestial situation people faced in the refugee pens (what else are we supposed to call the Superdome, Convention Center, and a strip of I-10?) feels worse right now.We have met the enemy, and in so many different ways, it is us.After the hurricane, I wrote...

If you want to read a followup dispatch from New Orleans by Dr. Greg Henderson, I've found one and posted in on my blog. It's a holiday weekend, so I don't know how many people will be reading or searching. However, "Greg Henderson pathologist" has become a very popular search term for those finding my space in blogtopia. Filed as: Greg Henderson

This is the first year I've actually enjoyed APSA. The quality of the international-relations panels I attended was higher than I'm used to. The conference organizers did a great job of making sure that related panels were close together. I didn't have to do a lot of hopping between distant hotels.We had the usual SNAFUs. A number of panels with similar target audiences ran at the same time, making for hard choices about what to attend. The organizers also made a number of mistakes about what size room to assign to panels. I chaired a (very good) panel on event analysis which was highly...

This is a message I received in email from a third party. It was written in New Orleans by Dr. Greg Henderson, a pathologist who recently moved from Wilmington:Aug. 31, 2005I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2 PM. I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don't know how much information you are getting but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited Internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today.I am now a temporary resident of...

From Leviathan:From this equality of ability ariseth equality of hope in the attaining of our ends. And therefore if any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies; and in the way to their end (which is principally their own conservation, and sometimes their delectation only) endeavour to destroy or subdue one another. And from hence it comes to pass that where an invader hath no more to fear than another man's single power, if one plant, sow, build, or possess a convenient seat, others may probably be expected to come prepared with forces...

Today's New York Times reports the results of a current Pew Forum poll:The poll found that 42 percent of respondents held strict creationist views, agreeing that "living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time." In contrast, 48 percent said they believed that humans had evolved over time. But of those, 18 percent said that evolution was "guided by a supreme being," and 26 percent said that evolution occurred through natural selection. In all, 64 percent said they were open to the idea of teaching creationism in addition to evolution, while 38 percent favored...

News from the deep south just gets worse and worse. The good news is that the Federal Government is mobilizing its resources, with some possible caveats, along with other groups and organizations throughout the nation. On that note, let us take a moment to praise the advantages of economies of scale and remember why the balance of political power has, for good reason, tipped towards the federal government (and away from the states) over the last century. While we're doing so, let's also engage in some collective action and donate some money to the American Red Cross. Our fellow citizens are...

Sally Jenkins, sports columnist for the Washington Post, weighs in with a rather silly opinion piece about "intelligent design" as it might relate to athletics. "Athletes do things that seem transcendental," she opines; "Ever get the feeling that they are in touch with something that we aren't? What is that thing? Could it be their random, mutant talent, or could it be evidence of, gulp, intelligent design?" Her piece reproduces some of the major bits of conceptual confusion characteristic of the current public flap (I hesitate to call it a "debate," because debates have rules about logical...