From CBS: Student Loan ID Data Breached.

All of the personal information for 21,000 people with student loans was available on the Internet after a software upgrade. It was the Department of Education that messed up this time.

These people just can’t be trusted with anything. They outsource all of these projects and no one is responsible for anything.

Facing South links to the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch report, One Year after Katrina [PDF] that highlights some good, a lot of bad, and way too much ugly 12 months after this disaster.

Scout of First Draft has returned to New Orleans and has been posting videos to remind people of what has and hasn’t happened.

Anntichrist S. Coulter of Blonde Sense writes of her experiences in What I remember, one of the strongest memories being the total failure of the Red Cross for days as it waited for the Feds to tell them they could help.

Despite my personal aversion to the Salvation Army for some of its policies, an aversion that means I will not support their normal operations, when it comes to a disaster, that’s where I send my money. The Salvation Army goes in and goes to work feeding people and helping them out, without waiting for government permission.

CNN reports Northwest jet turns back; 12 arrested:

Some of the passengers pulled out cell phones during the flight and appeared to be trying to pass the cell phones to other passengers, a U.S. government official said.

In addition, some passengers unfastened their seatbelts while the light requiring they be fastened was still illuminated, the official said.

…

The passengers who were arrested were looking into plastic bags and were busy with their cell phones, an airline source in Amsterdam said.

An AP report adds:

While Flight NO0042 was over German airspace shortly after takeoff, the pilot radioed for permission to return to Schiphol Airport and asked for an escort of jet fighters because some of the passengers were acting suspiciously, the Defense Ministry said.

Northwest Airlines flight NO0042 originates in Minneapolis and goes to Mumbai [formerly Bombay], India with a stop in the Netherlands. I wonder what the chances are that some of the passengers are dark skinned Asians speaking something other than English? They don’t obey the “fasten seat belt” sign, they rummage in plastic bags, and they pass things around – Omigod! It sounds like an extended family traveling together!!

Update: Dutch spokesperson plays Emily Litella tape.