Bush, lie?

"a wiretap requires a court order. ...When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."

George Bush at an April 2004 event promoting the Patriot Act

Powell Speaks Out on Domestic Spy Program

Much funnier when Kerry does it. Powell? just not funny. Go figure.

Loyalty (to Bush) over country: we paid the price

Brownie knew two years before Katrina that FEMA would fail. AND he put in in writing AND he sent it to his boss,Tom Ridge, who was appointed by BUSH. (Once again, you can blame George Bush)
Brown remained loyal to the organization at the cost to his country:
What price loyalty?
You do NOT work in the executive branch if you are not loyal to George Bush: screw the country, bow to Bush.
"The writer warned that the shift would make a mockery of FEMA's new motto, 'A Nation Prepared,' and would 'fundamentally sever FEMA from its core functions,' 'shatter agency morale,' and 'break longstanding, effective and tested relationships with states and first responder stakeholders.'"

Idea born of some scientists' gnawing doubts about Darwin | IndyStar.com

Would a future race of computers be the result of our Intelligent Design? Or would it plausibly been seen as confoundlingly serendipitous, happy accident upon happy accident, as many discoveries have been ?
Nanorobot constructed bodies and minds running on light and lasers and memory and capable of making modifications to themselves to produce "better" ones?
What we know is very very recent, as is our own actual being on this planet: when indeed did we become "human"? We have emotions and "morals" most by denying such attributes to any other living thing and that's just wrong (eg, the squid takes care of her young). We are but beings that are capable of getting to what we are, but take todays mind and body and remove all accumlated knowledge and we would be, literally, starting again: language? tools? clothings? society?
What would robots living in an environment that had become totally hostile to carbon based life forms find to be a resonable progression? Anybody NOT find snippets of totally useless code in old programs? Here, we talk of a few decades. What would machine readable code for a machine whose instruction set hasn't been seen for 100K years be thought to be?
That all being said, saying "Intelligent Design" and shuttering the labs and burnings the scientists doesn't seem very noble.

"Now tell me. Am I lyin?"*

A simple analysis of what is and what went wrong in Iraq: Bush.

*from True Romance

Avian influenza - World Health Organization

16 December 2005

The Ministry of Health in China has confirmed an additional case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case is a 35-year-old man from the south-eastern province of Jiangxi. He developed symptoms of fever on 4 December followed by pneumonia. He remains hospitalized and is receiving intensive care.

Agricultural authorities have confirmed the presence of the H5 virus subtype in ducks in the vicinity of the patient’s residence. Family members and close contacts have been placed under medical observation.

This is China’s sixth laboratory-confirmed human case. Of these cases, two have been fatal. To date, China has reported human cases in five provinces and regions: Hunan, Anhui, Guangxi, Liaoning,and Jiangxi.

14 December 2005

The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed a further case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case occurred in a 35-year-old man from West Jakarta. He developed symptoms of fever, cough and breathing difficulty on 6 November, was hospitalized on 9 November, and died on 19 November.

Family members and close contacts were placed under observation and tested for possible infection. No evidence of additional cases has been detected.

Investigations have been undertaken to determine the source of the man’s exposure. While he did not keep poultry in his household, chickens and other birds were found in his neighbourhood. Samples from these birds have been taken and are undergoing tests to determine whether they may have been the source of infection.

The newly confirmed case is the 14th in Indonesia. Of these cases, nine have been fatal.

Bleak House

The data is right there. Zakaria, the guy who writes the data, seems to choke on reading what it really says: it ain't pretty. Bush performs for a constituency of his own selection, and it is not the people of the United States: his friends and family.
Zakaria calls him the most isolated president in modern history, and this in an age of speedy global communication and trade.

Reality television...

Bizarre. This guy must have spent too much time on the set. I thought Tony already took care of this loser?

An American city is lost: blame Bush.

New Orleans.
For heaven's sake, blame Bush.
It is time: hold him accountable, fully accountable, like you would any other terrorist.

Oh, not to be in Nebraska

Weekly US Map: Influenza Summary Update
Week ending December 3, 2005-Week 48

Make Headlines!

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Don't just read the news, talk about it with other readers. Create your own news channel. Comment on stories. Follow your favorite topics. Blog about the news. At CommonTimes, you are the editor.

http://www.commontimes.org/

Eyewitness: "I Never Heard the Word 'Bomb'"

A passenger on Flight 924 gives his account of the shooting and says Rigoberto Alpizar never claimed to have a bomb

"I don't believe he should be dead right now."

Chinese Police Kill Villagers

Chinese Police Kill Villagers During Two-Day Land Protest

By Edward Cody

Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, December 9, 2005; Page A01

DONGZHOU, China, Dec. 8 -- Paramilitary police and anti-riot units opened fire with pistols and automatic rifles Tuesday night and Wednesday night on farmers and fishermen who had attacked them with gasoline bombs and explosive charges, according to residents of this small coastal village.

The sustained volleys of gunfire, unprecedented in a wave of peasant uprisings over the last two years in China, killed between 10 and 20 villagers and injured more, according to the residents. The count was uncertain, they said, because a number of villagers could not be located after the confrontations.

[more...]

This you gotta watch!

Holy shit: George Bush could actually speak 10 years ago, and he was good!
Whoever is in the office of president now is NOT the man we saw 10 years ago.
You watch. And tell me if I'm lyin'.

The US under Bush: the undoing of America

The US has come under heavy fire for renewed refusals to commit itself to binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions targets.
At a major UN summit on climate change held in Montreal, which is entering a crucial stage, Washington has blocked a Canadian proposal for a two-year round of multilateral talks on a global long-term strategy to curb climate change.
Y'know, maybe it's just Christianity:-) That's pretty much where we totally lead.

Council on Foreign Relations

From the opening remarks of a speech of Bush by Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations

"Those who established the Council nearly 85 years ago wanted to help prepare the American people for the challenges of world leadership."+

How does one "prepare" the American people for "world leadership" anyway, and why should we "lead"?

One world war and one cold war later, the United States faces a very different set of challenges in a very different world. One constant, though, is that U.S. leadership remains essential if there is to be order, prosperity, and opportunity around the globe.

So is it me, or could you read that as a threat?

The Debt To the Penny

Current           Amount

12/06/2005        $8,122,710,788,511.92

Scalia demonstrates he is unfit to serve

The lawyer for Planned Parenthood – fighting to declare the law unconstitutional – said requiring doctors to go to a judge would delay medical treatment, which could jeopardize a pregnant minor’s health, including “stroke and even infertility.”
Justice Scalia was unimpressed with that argument, saying it “takes 30 seconds to make a phone call” to a judge before performing an abortion.
Justice Scalia is simply a fool. Just that.
In commenting on the possible requirement to consult a judge on an emergency abortion case, Scalia suggests that it would only take 30 seconds to make a phone call. And that is true, but this supreme court justice fails to consider the sequence of events that must immediately follow, and that is the conversation and the details of the case in progress upon which the judge, assuming she is asked to render a decision, MUST insist on knowing in great detail before rendering a decision.
This kind of lapse in judgement by Scalia, a supreme court justice is so flippant and so eggregious as to render him unfit for office.

Transcript of Wilkerson interview

BBC NEWS
Transcript of Wilkerson interview
Col Lawrence Wilkerson, the chief of staff to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, was interviewed by Carolyn Quinn for the BBC's R4 Today programme. Here is a transcript of the interview.

I asked Colonel Wilkerson why he felt the post-war planning had been so inadequate.

The post-invasion planning for Iraq was handled, in my opinion, in this alternative decision-making process which, in this case, constituted the vice-president and the secretary of defence and certain people in the defence department who did the "post invasion planning", which was as inept and incompetent as perhaps any planning anyone has ever done.

It consisted of largely sending Jay Garner and his organisation to sit in Kuwait until the military forces had moved into Baghdad, and then going to Baghdad and other places in Iraq with no other purpose than to deliver a little humanitarian assistance, perhaps deal with some oil-field fires, put Ahmed Chalabi or some other similar Iraqi in charge and leave.

This was not only inept and incompetent, it was day-dreaming of the most unfortunate type and ever since that failed we've been in a pick-up game - a pick-up game that's cost us over 2,000 American KIAs [killed in action]and almost a division's worth of casualties.

Now you call this alternative decision-making as a process and you seem to be laying the blame pretty fairly and squarely at the door of Dick Cheney. Am I correct in assuming that?

Well in the two decision-making processes into which I had the most insight - the detainee abuse issue and this issue of post-invasion planning for Iraq - I lay the blame squarely at his feet.

I look at the relationship between Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld as being one that produced these two failures in particular and I see that the president is not holding either of them accountable, or at least up to this point he is not, and so I have to lay some blame at his feet too.

But you're talking about the abuse - the alleged abuse - by American forces aren't you?

I am, and I concluded that we had had an impassioned debate in the statutory process. And in that debate, two sides had participated: one that essentially wanted to do away with all restrictions and the other which said no, Geneva should prevail and the president walked right down the middle.

He made a decision that Geneva would in fact govern all but al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda look-alike detainees. Any other prisoners of course would be governed by traditional methods, international law, Geneva and so forth.

Who was calling for doing away with all the normal practices if you like?

Who is right now very publicly lobbying the congress of the United States, advocating the use of terror? The vice-president of the United States.

There was a presidential memo ordering that detainees be treated in a manner consistent with the Geneva Conventions that forbid torture. Are you saying that Dick Cheney ordered that to be ignored?

Well my critics have said that the president's continuing phrase in what you just quoted, "consistent with military necessity", was an out, under which almost anything could be done.

If I'm a soldier in the field - I'm an NCO [non-commissioned officer ] or I'm a private or a corporal - and I need to shoot even a detainee who might be threatening to kill one of my buddies or even me then I can do that.

It does not mean that I can go into a darkened cell with a detainee shackled with his hands above his head to the wall and beat him so that eventually he dies, and the army coroner declares it homicide, and two years later when the army quits obfuscating and throwing obstacles in the way of the investigations, people are actually punished for having murdered two individuals in Bagram, Afghanistan in December 2002.

And there were more than 70 such deaths - questionable deaths - of detainees under US supervision when I left the state department and I have people who are now telling me that the death toll was up to around 90.

And that question of detainee abuse - are you saying that the implicit message allowing it to happen was sanctioned by Dick Cheney - it came from his office?

Well you see two sides of this debate in the statutory process. You see the side represented by Colin Powell, Will Taft, all arguing for Geneva.

You see the other side represented by Yoo, John Yoo from the Department of Justice, Alberto Gonzales - you see the other side being argued by them and you see the president compromising.

Then you see the secretary of defence moving out in his own memorandum to act as if the side that declared everything open, free and anything goes, actually being what's implemented.

And so what I'm saying is, under the vice-president's protection, the secretary of defence moved out to do what they wanted to do in the first place even though the president had made a decision that was clearly a compromise.

It is quite difficult to believe though that Colin Powell wasn't aware of what was going on - if this alternative decision-making process was happening as you say - why didn't he do something?

Well you don't know that it's happening.

If what you say is correct, in your view, is Dick Cheney then guilty of a war crime?

Well, that's an interesting question - it was certainly a domestic crime to advocate terror and I would suspect that it is - for whatever it's worth - an international crime as well.

You've got also John Kerry recently accusing President Bush of orchestrating one of the great acts of deception in American history, and saying that flawed intelligence was manipulated to fit a political agenda. Now Colin Powell would be tarred with that same brush wouldn't he? Did he feel that he had correct information about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction when he outlined the case against Saddam?

He certainly did and so did I. I was intimately involved in that process and to this point I have more or less defended the administration.

I have basically been supportive of the administration's point that it was simply fooled - that the intelligence community, including the UK, Germany, France, Jordan - other countries that confirmed what we had in our intelligence package, yet we were all just fooled.

Lately, I'm growing increasingly concerned because two things have just happened here that really make me wonder.

And the one is the questioning of Sheikh al-Libby where his confessions were obtained through interrogation techniques other than those authorised by Geneva.

It led Colin Powell to say at the UN on 5 February 2003 that there were some pretty substantive contacts between al-Qaeda and Baghdad. And we now know that al-Libby's forced confession has been recanted and we know - we're pretty sure that it was invalid.

But more important than that, we know that there was a defence intelligence agency dissent on that testimony even before Colin Powell made his presentation. We never heard about that.

Follow that up with Curveball, and the fact that the Germans now say they told our CIA well before Colin Powell gave his presentation that Curveball - the source to the biological mobile laboratories - was lying and was not a trustworthy source. And then you begin to speculate, you begin to wonder was this intelligence spun; was it politicised; was it cherry-picked; did in fact the American people get fooled - I am beginning to have my concerns.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4481092.stm

Published: 2005/11/29 12:07:38 GMT

© BBC MMV

30K jobs to be cut by GM.

Business should not be the provider of services, like schools, police or health care.

Another hilarious misadventure starring Larry, Curly, and...GW in "Moe meets Mao!"

For Thousands of Years...

Now I am not commenting on the value of what they have to say or the validity behind reasons they do these things. I think people should investigate things with an open mind. None-the-less, the promo for the "Tributaries" radio show below is, well, funny.



10/30/05 : Ray Kong discusses the reasons why he has eaten clay everyday for the past 27 years. This timeless practice by humans and other animals alike provides nutrients and detoxification. Find more information on our guest by clicking here.



Listen to this program. :: Read more about this program.

Know anyone like this?

"It is the specific brand of faith that devalues reason and confers the mantle of infallible, absolute authority upon a leader or a book. "

You can call me conservative...

But call me a Republican and there is going to be a fight...

Stop the "re-writing" of history

Sent to: WebEditors@newsweek.com

Dear Newsweek Editor:

In your online article titled “Autumn of Discontent” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10013594/site/newsweek/) you have the sentence: "a leader who rode comfortably to reelection just a year ago" in reference to President Bush. This is down right wrong! The man barely won a very close election. The closest for a sitting president since 1918! Why do you feed us this "re-writing" of history?

Beware: use of English may present an unseen hazard

Dems Didn't Know What Bush Knew:
They knew that he said.
They did NOT have the same information that was available to him, and that is totally for sure. That's a lot of executive priviledge in there.
Not that knowing what Bush knows is any great goal to reach for, unless you're in a football pool or such.

FEMA struggle to stay on course without Brownie

Bush provides the necessary continuity. All hail.
Here, we see cronyism effectively deployed.

Tell me a bad joke.

OK: Kansas.

Consider this thoughtful mans words...

"The long-term effect of US culture as it spreads to every nook and cranny in every desert and every mountain valley will be the end of mankind. Our extraordinary greed for material possessions, the ways we go about nurturing that greed, the lack of balance in our lives, and our cultural arrogance will kill us off within a century unless we learn to stop and think. It may be too late."
Wilfred Thesiger

That is some heavy shit!
Now, think: if such were true, and there is some truth to much, wouldn't it be reasonable to fight to the death too contain such a culture, to maintain another culture, other cultures, separate and protect them?

blogblogblog

too bad, it's taken. but then it's rather good.

Creationists refuse vaccination

Mutation, shmutation, it's just another word for evolution and we're not buying it," said some unidentified spokesperson/schmuck speaking outside a Kankas court.

Just kidding, but....

Apple Shape Predicts Heart Attack Risk Better than BMI

"Dr. Sharma and colleagues showed last year with Interheart data that abdominal obesity accounts for about 90% of the risk for myocardial infarction around the world, with eight other risk factors -- including cigarette smoking, diabetes, poor diet, and lack of exercise -- accounting for the rest."

American Express to be the sole advertiser on sundays live west wing

"American Express to Be Sole Advertiser On Sunday's Live 'West Wing' Episode " WSJ reports. (article for paid subscription viewers only)

On the basis if this alone I would invest in Amex. Fully invested now, all I can do is just use their card some more, which I will do: first card played at the cashier.
First, I like their politics: it is American.
Second, I am absolutely captivated by their management decision.
You wait: this is one American Corporation.
And with them I'll put Google and Apple.

Want 'War and Peace' Online? How About 20 Pages at a Time? - New York Times

If I can buy a piece of a book, why do I have to subscribe to the NY Times?
"Here's a penny: I'd like to see Krugman today"
And then, how about getting my money back on stuff that wasn't true? Heck, I'd be willing to pay extra up front for information that had some guarantee to it.
And how about this: you pay me to read some of the stuff you write. Or I bill you if you just wasted my time with some garbage. Doesn't even have to be money: just a simple vote.
Put in that context, the incredible value of friends and family and conversation (where it's all free and guaranteed and really really valued) comes into focus.

Bush's Integrity Is Questioned, According to Post-ABC Poll

If you can trot out Bush's integrity numbers, pages of them, and never compare them to say, Clinton, I'd say you've got an elephant in the room you're not talking about.
That's like discussing racing speeds in furlongs. That's like talking about big buildings and neglecting the empire state building and anything bigger.
Tell me when the needle goes into the red zone... until then, I think I've got an ingrown hair that needs attention.

Democratic Judge Is Removed From DeLay Case

Hey, man, like it's Texas. What'd you expect?
You want something really scarey? what if one of them were president?

I'm for Alito

Unless and until someone comes up with something besides he's conservative.
Like, he lacks judicial temperament, like Scalia. Or he lacks a mind of any sort at all, like Thomas. Or she's a good lawyer but oh my god we are talking about the supreme court of the United States, George Bush notwithstanding*, like Harriet: that was one of the most obscene gestures I've been exposed to, and that's including the roped off section in the porn shops in Time Square.
Here's what Edwards (who, alas, is supposed to be reasonable says):
Alito is a far-from-moderate judge in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia. His record is troubling: he has tried to sharply restrict a woman's right to choose and to eliminate protection for unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. He has regularly worked to cut back on protections for the victims of discrimination based on race and sex. Just imagine how he might restrict other essential freedoms if he is allowed to sit on the Supreme Court.
First, we want a person with a mind. And then we hand that person the constitution, and we bring cases before that person and they work with all sorts of other legal minds and 8 others on the bench but mostly, they have the constitution and bring their own brilliant minds to bear. That's all I ask.
If they can find that there can be no abortions unless the wife pays the rapist 3 times her annual salary, if they can find the all the Jews have to be roasted at 350 degrees and then served on toast to Arabs, if they should find that big lips and dark skin really do render a person sub-human, if they can really do that, the constitution and the executive branch and the legislative branch and the rest of the world notwithstanding, then this is a crap shoot: put your bets down, shooter has the dice, and lets get on with the game. Just keep all the mumbling praying down to a whisper so we can hear the points.
You cannot break something by adding or subtracting one twit, not if it was not already broken, and badly broken at that.
Now, could we please get Alito on the bench and do something sensible, like arrest and prosecute Bush for war crimes?
*How the f**k can anyone take us seriously with George Bush as the president? Really. Why don't we all just strap on great big day glow luminescent dildos and whatever and just wander the streets like open house at the asylum day?

My ship has come in again!

What's amazing about this is I was contacted just last week about another lost relative of mine who was ALSO killed in a trajic accident and also left me a large sum of money. So sad for them...but I always knew life held great things for me! Thank God for the internet.
___________________________________________________________________

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 16:23:52 +0100 (CET)
From: barristerojonla@yahoo.fr
Subject: YOUR RELATIVE INHERITANCE

Dear Matt,

I am Barrister Ojonla Ojo a solicitor at law.I am the personal attorney to ENGR.J.B.Walli, a national of your country, who Work with Shell Petroleum Company and have spent most of his life in my country (Togo) Here in after shall be referred to as my client. On the year 2003, my client, his wife and their only son were involved in a plane crash in a village called Adjarra near Porto Novou after take off from Cotonou in Benin Republic.For more on the plane crash log on to

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3348109.stm

All occupants of the plane crash unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives,this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to track his last name over the Internet, to locate any Member of his family hence I contacted you.

I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the assets and Capital valued at US$17million left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the management of the Finance/security company, where these huge deposits were lodged declared as Family treasures of Gold Jewelry and personal precious effects. The said finance/security company, has issued me a notice to provide the next of Kin or have the Consignment confiscated within the next twenty Official working days.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 1 year now, I seek the consent to present you as the Next of kin to the deceased since you have the same last names, so that this Consignment ould be released to you as wished. Therefore, on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer. I have all necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for claim. All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through.I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Awaiting to hear from you.

Best Regards,

BARRISTER OJONLA OJO,
CONSULTANT SERVICES
N0 14 RUE LE PRESIDEN
LOME-TOGO WEST AFRICA
___________________________________________________________________

Neocons cry "No More Special Counsels!" here's how they lie

"It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law had not been violated. Plame was not a 'covert' agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters"
See, that's a lie. Plame was a covert agent. And there was a lot of covert activity went up in smoke: they outed everyone who had anything to do with her. "Plame? You know Plame? She's in the CIA, you know. Are you?"
Everyone IS entitled to their own opinion: no one is entitled to their own facts. And if you run a newspaper, you have certain responsibilities. Different, I submit, from if you run a comic book.

Big Oil

Cheney Adviser Indicted in CIA Leak Probe

Reminds me of the tear away jerseys the backfield uses. Or the skink that willinging lets you keep its tail while it goes and grows another. Or what was that bird? "Wow, that was fast. He must have shit in your hand and flown off!"
"What that part you got?"
"I dunno. Looks like Scooter."
"Is that all?"
"Looks like it."
"Oh. Well, check for fiber evidence."
In any case, Karl Rove aka Indiana Jones slipped the rope, Cheney is off somewhere hiding some kind of injury and the boy president, Bush: with no one around to guide hiim, he has been assigned just to wait and meet with the leaders of the smaller countries of the UN and make them various promisses.

"Thank you SIR! May I have another?"

Expel Iran from UN

But why should Israel have to make the call?
But how about this: let's take a look at the total plusses and minuses of Iran in the UN and make the call out in the open, instead of just some wacko. I mean, what if we were all judged by the actions of George Bush?

"The world's largest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil said profits jumped 75 percent, to $9.92 billion"

So, umm, rising prices... it isn't just "I pay more so you pay more. The actual profits, real solid money, that got banked.
Meantime, alas, the stock price: it was all over the place, just in case you thought "hey, that's a sure thing, a good investment"... nope. You could get seriously burned. And its not too late (to get burned) in case you can't read the warnings in the volatility.

Iraqi Government Received Oil-for-Food Kickbacks

"'The cumulative impact of this is pretty impressive,' Volcker said in an interview before the report was released. 'Somebody* should have stood up and said, 'Enough.'"
Volker also added that he was "shocked to find that gambling was going on!" and ordered Ricks casino closed.

*if Somebody, who has been named in many recent cases, is ever found, somebody is going to be in deep trouble! Meanwhile, Mr. Nathan P. Somebody has requested that he be allowed to please please change his name.

Red herrings

Did anyone not consider that Miers had NO chance in getting to the supreme court? None? And if she did, well, that was the total end of the court, putting someone in there lower than Thomas (Thomas and Scalia: what pair).
Then too there was something obscene in Miers once again (well, of course that was her job) spreading her legs on behalf of Bush and any one else who wanted a quick push): hey, Harriet, distract these twits for a while. They are all over me with Fema and Iraq and Chency and Halliburton.
When you want to walk past the dogs ( eg, the press) through a piece of meat to them and that will keep them busy while you go about your legitimate business.
Used to be a cowboy put his hat out on a stick to see if it would draw fire: now they put out the village skank. Poor Harriet. Poor sexist Harriet. A nice ugly woman would have told the pres to shove it.

Generalisimo Franco is still dead

A similar lack of movement of George Bush is has proven to be a challenge for the effete Amreican Press.
Disney has deployed time lapse photography hoping to catch some movement in the off hours, and has placed a tv remote close by the president to temp movement.

I agree with the Moose

The level of anger in this country is palpable. I don't give a damn about parties or party politics. It's time for reform because our political class has lost their fucking minds.

speaking about debt....

Gee, what a beatiful ship. I wonder what makes it go?
And look at all those oars!

Panel to Urge Bush to Consider 2 Alternative Tax Plans

How stupid are we?
Yes. That stupid.

Energy Prices to Drag Economy

poor george bush: everything happens to him!

They're just crooks

A nice tirade from "Hunter" at DailyKOS

You don't have far to look, in the Republican Party, to find true conservatives. I may not like the political stances of a John McCain or an Arlen Specter, but nor do I fear for the nation if they come to lead the Republican party. Men of integrity can disagree on the principles of government; men whose sole moral compass is directed by what they can technically get away with, however, aren't political men. They're just crooks.

The West Wing Episode Guide

proposed: the national debate should be focused on the issues being well and fairly addressed by a fictional drama because it has more content and coherent presentation of the issues than the political show which has only reality to recommend it, as seen on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, Hardball, Meet the Press, various print publications, and press releases.

Comrade Dear Leader

And this which reminds me of the Soviet Union

Washington, DC — The National Park Service has started using a political loyalty test for picking all its top civil service positions, according to an agency directive released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Under the new order, all mid-level managers and above must also be approved by a Bush administration political appointee.

[more...]

analysis by expert analysts was doctored by Bush political appointees

I know this is no big surprise but here it is anyway...

The Commerce Department has responded to a half-year-old request by Manufacturing and Technology News for the release a long-awaited study on the issue of "offshore outsourcing" of IT service-sector jobs and high-tech industries. But the 12-page document represented by the agency as its final report is not what was written by its analysts. Rather, it was crafted by political appointees at Commerce and at the White House, according to those familiar with it.

At an estimated cost of $335,000 -- or $28,000 per page -- the document MTN received from the Commerce Department's Technology Administration contains no original research and forsakes its initial intent of providing a balanced view of outsourcing, according to those inside and outside the agency.

[more...]

Laura Bush Joins President's Defense of Miers

Heavy hitters weigh in on serious constitutional matters and the supreme court. The Bush daughters are on deck.
"Mediocre America needs representation too. And the superstitious."

Bush touts immigration and economic benefits of refugees

Gale Norton informed him she had written "refuges", not "refugees". Bush looked at her quizically and said, umm, well, yes! And that is good news!

This is one to remember as in "don't forget"

From the "so you want to be an atheist" dept
Also from the warning section on "Atheism for god dammed doomed to hell Dummies":

Recently departed (for points unknown) Rehnquist noted that the "under god" words were added by a unanimous congress
"'That's only because no atheist can get elected to public office 'elicited so much applause that Rehnquist had to threaten to clear the gallery."

The author is, and I quote, a self professed atheist.
(you could put "communist, trans sexual, eater of human flesh" or that sort of thing.
Oh,I left out pedophilia.

Is this news in the United States?

reported in Europe, BBC, other places...

God would tell me, 'George, go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan'. And I did. And then God would tell me, 'George go and end the tyranny in Iraq'. And I did."

Shaath's public recounting of his conversations with Bush on the subject divine missions, good evil, religious wars, crusades and Americans as the chosen people, come two years after the Palestinian delegation publicly refused to acknowledge the US President's remarks to be true when they were published in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz.

Whining at the Student Union

From Operation Yellow Elephant, a blog dedicated to exposing Hypocrisy.

From the Rocky Mountain Collegian:

The second lie liberals have been spouting lately is that conservatives, most notably the College Republicans, are being hypocritical for supporting the war in Iraq/on terror and the troops serving in those wars without enlisting themselves. This is ludicrous. Supporting the troops means letting them do their jobs and praying for their safety, NOT saying you support them and then holding a rally damning the cause they are fighting for. Also, where exactly do the people spreading this garbage think the military gets their officers and best leaders if not from the ranks of college graduates?

I reply:

As the founder of Operation Yellow Elephant, the movement that popularized the hypocrisy of College Republicans who refuse to fight in the war they demanded, I find it amusing to watch them justify their refusal to match their words with actions.

The College Republicans were among the most vocal proponents of this war. They characterized it as one of the greatest struggles of all time and made ludicrous comparisons to WWII and the Civil War. Yet, at a time when the military faces its greatest recruiting crisis in decades, they hold affirmative action bake sales and attack those who want to bring our soldiers home.

If you really believe in the rightness and the importance of this war, put off college for a couple of years and sign up. Otherwise, shut up. Your whining is pathetic.

Bush: U.S. Has Disrupted 10 Al Qaeda Plots

3 in the US.
Two we already knew about.
One was Jose Padilla, another guy was going to begin by blowing up the Brooklyn Bridge.
The third? Cindy Sheehan?
I see in todays NY Times that 1/3 of Americans believe the bible literally, including creation. So why was I surprised to find 1/3 of the country supports Bush.
The GOP is not the problem.
The news doesn't say how the audience was auditioned/screened/cleansed and checked for loyalty and GOP registration.

Gore Speech

"The invasion of Iraq, I believe, will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history."

- Former head of the National Security Agency, Retired Lt. General William Odom


Our democracy has been hallowed out. The opinions of the voters are, in effect, purchased, just as demand for new products is artificially created. Decades ago Walter Lippman wrote, "the manufacture of consent...was supposed to have died out with the appearance of democracy...but it has not died out. It has, in fact, improved enormously in technique...under the impact of propaganda, it is no longer plausible to believe in the original dogma of democracy."

Like you, I recoil at Lippman's cynical dismissal of America's gift to human history. But in order to reclaim our birthright, we Americans must resolve to repair the systemic decay of the public forum and create new ways to engage in a genuine and not manipulative conversation about our future. Americans in both parties should insist on the re-establishment of respect for the Rule of Reason. We must, for example, stop tolerating the rejection and distortion of science. We must insist on an end to the cynical use of pseudo studies known to be false for the purpose of intentionally clouding the public's ability to discern the truth.

Geroge Will on George Bush on Harriet Miers... where'd this come from?

"He has neither the inclination nor the ability to make sophisticated judgments... "
Here Wills talks about constitutional matters, but hold up: in what area has Bush the inclination or ability to make a sophisticated judgment. Indeed, one may ask all the Georges, when was such ability construed to be a good thing at any place in this administration? Sophisticated, insightful, reasoned, well thought out: none of this is Bush! He'd be bereft of all his charm!
I suggest that the utter lack of sophistication is Bush's calling card, a distrust of sophistication rich among his devotees. Indeed, "born again" bespeaks an innocence humbly extracted from a life of sophistication, a leader who's followers will love him with the same lack of sophistication.
Ah, but would anyone say Rove is without sophistication? So, what is such an attribute doing anywhere near Bush, and what could that mean? surely nothing good. Lay? DeLay?
No, we have an unsophisticated president, fullfilling the roles of the TV heroes of American Idol and sitcoms and where no one works unless there is a laugh track to keep it going and Survival where success falls on the studiously unprepared, master of a stupid dog trick in life, who wins his position with good looks and good likes and good luck: hard work is really such a bore.
Even the 3 stooges have more sophistication in their perfection of the unsophisticated.

'Tis an ill wind... disaster lottery

Local public radio interviewed a local newspaper: the man said he had nine reporters on the case, a web site that would be updated hourly, and he squeezed in at the last minute maybe even more frequently. He expressed some involutary joy as he noted that even the BBC was carrying the story:
21 old people died on Lake George when a boat turned over.
What would happen if say WAMC, this public radio station, might have said "we won't know all the details for a few days so we won't be reporting on this story."
There are other pressing things in this country: it's not just about selling the papers, providing us with unhealthy diversion. Otherwise, I'd just as soon have drugs for my diversion of choice.

oil storm

It's been done. Lousiana and Texas are hit by accidents and tornadoes as the United States moves into autumn and winter.
Two two hour parts, channel 24, FX, about 3 months ago.
The silence on this one is amaaing, absolutely amazing. And very scarey: is the media deliberatelyl avoiding letting us think about what might happen? I think so.

Not since Thomas Paine...

has the nation been called upon to see that the problem is George. The DC Post might wish to be a Paine: that is too much to expect, but it is a start, and it does clear a path.
Last time time there was a revolution. What will it take this time? Now that we know to a certainty that all elections are for sale and those worth buying, like slaves at the market, are.

Officer Criticizes Detainee Abuse Inquiry - New York Times

Consider: The US under Bush is nobody home, substitute teacher who doesn't care, nobody minding the store.
There were lots of kids in school, lots of goings on when there was no adult in the house, lots of free candy when there was nobody watching the store. And every one of those kids liked it.
Who likes it when the police are out? firemen on strike? teachers walk? bankers look the other way? Lots of people rush to defend that. Pat Roberston likes that.
The nature of the executive is visited on every citizen and public servant to the least of us. We cannot escape the fate we have aided and abetted.

the "leader": Bush

"'We came forward because of the larger issue that prisoner abuse is systemic in the Army. I'm concerned this will take a new twist, and they'll try to scapegoat some of the younger soldiers. This is a leadership problem.'"

Justice is served.

Let's use the regular Armed force right here! what a good idea!

The notion of preparation and training is simply not present in any mind of this administration... certainly such thought has never touched the mind of George Bush.
The soldiers are trained to kill people and destroy property. If you assign them to some other task, well, they kill people and destroy property. They direct traffic and help little old ladies and keep order and carry AK-47s and various explosive devices... you never know when the little old ladies might turn ugly, or that guy you thought was dead and drowned isn't.
What we see in Bush is a man who realized that if he took time to train his dumb ass, he'd never finish. So, he dropped out and lived on daddy's dime. And now as president he vacations, still dosn't read, and he and all of his friends and moms friends and daddy's all life of our dime.
So, how dumb are we?

The Great Unraveling

Yes, I know that is the title of a Pual Krugman book about the Bush presidency. But the moniker is somehow fitting now that there seems to be a confluence of events that are exposing the gross ineptitude of the Bush administration.

We see today that a bus, loaded with the elderly being evacuated from Houston, exploded. The oxygen that many were using is suspected in the blast. Wow, billions of dollars spent on "homeland" security and you can just picture the panic of Bush administration hacks after their response to hurricane Katrina, "Get 'em out of there. Stuff them on any bus you can find, just get 'em out of there." Of course if there had been an actual plan for an evacuation maybe there would have chosen a system of transportation that wouldn't explode when transporting elderly oxygen users. But, as we all know, government is bad (that is unless it's military governemnt...)

In another indication that our pals in the White House are blithering idiots one of our "allies" in the Gulf Region, Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister (ally here means that they have lots of money and oil, not that their populous give a damn about us. In fact, they hate our guts, hell most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis) has warned that Iraq is on the verge of total collapse (not unlike the Bush administration itself). He warns that if this were to occur that it would most likely lead to a regional war. Oh joy! You know if we only had someone who gave a shit in office.

Speaking of collapse, there is a book out (Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed) by that name authored by Jared Diamond (he is the author of the very good book Guns, Germs, and Steel). I haven't read the book myself but from what I understand the general premise is that societies collapse because they choose to. What happens is that the interests of the power structure in a society come into conflict with the interests of the society itself. That is the destructive force, and one that we as TRUE Americans should be aware of. Why? Jeez, where oh where do the interests of the power class come into conflict with that of the society as a whole? Hmm. (Tax breaks for the wealthy - $200 billion on a war in a far away land (most of which has gone where exactly?). The luxury goods market is hot - Poverty has been increasing for the last four years. Crony government - Levees break in New Orleans. Creationism in the classroom - threat to our economic future from well educated foreign workers and NO plan to do anything about it.)

Bill Clinton

"Welcome to Planet Clinton, an interconnected world that's a solar system and a wormhole away from Bush country."

A New Deadly, Contagious Dog Flu Virus Is Detected in 7 States

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. and CARIN RUBENSTEIN

A new, highly contagious and sometimes deadly canine flu is spreading in kennels and at dog tracks around the country, veterinarians said yesterday.

The virus, which scientists say mutated from an influenza strain that affects horses, has killed racing greyhounds in seven states and has been found in shelters and pet shops in many places, including the New York suburbs, though the extent of its spread is unknown.

Jesus is coming...

better stuff some mushrooms.

When wondering about Bush, remember Norquist

A key and senior strategist of the Republican Party for decades, and for Bush for all of his service, Norquist says:
"He wants to shrink the size of government until it is small enough to drag it up to the bathroom and drown it in the tub".
He doesn't want to make it efficient, effective, better: he wants to kill it. That of course is a euphemism for "overthrow and replace". But he doesn't really need to make it small: anything that diminshes the government ability to be effective, anything that runs it out of money, discredits it and its people or strengthens alternatives to "government" like ultra rich contributors: that's just fine.
These people did not mince words. They told you what they wanted. Believe them, that is what they are doing.

Gerogie (que sera) Bush

“It’s Gonna Cost Whatever It Costs”
Bush, on cleaning up Katrina.
For this we need a president?

The more things change...

A fascinating and humorous review of the political events of the last century, and a reminder that many fundamental issues confronted then still face us today.


National Security Blanket

A Bush for all seasons

The same Bush. A constant.
Bush change? Why ever would he do that? Everything is working just fine.
Bush learn? Learn what: he knew everything when he started, and he's made no mistakes.
That is a perfectly good and rational policy. Now, if people don't like that, and many don't, beseeching change is a total waste of time. If they want to do anything, they can predict to a faretheewell where he is going and start setting up the roadblocks: make them vewy vewy strong, be vewy vewy quiet. (ala E. Fudd)

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

Note we have had two soft landings in the market after an interest rate hike: under John Kennedy and under William Jefferson Clinton.
Democrats.
Quite revealing.
Not at all unlike New Orleans.

Ex-FEMA Chief Tells of Frustration and Chaos

If you consider who his boss is, and how the rest of the government was staffed, I wonder if Brown could have done any better... you can read what he was up against... consider at least he had to manage the disaster for a president was on a long and continuing vacation.
Then consider the mess itself: the evacuation. The mayor said there was a plan: get the people to high ground and then wait for the rescue. Only, the rescue never came because the national guard wasn't there and Fema was under homeland security and New Orleans was Democratic and was not a city in Texas and we saw how the president felt for California during the so called energy crisis.
And the mayors plan was totally right: there was high ground, there was shelter, what there was not was any timely federal support, which was totally expected but not a shred turned up.
Yeah, when things get messed up and not cleaned up for too long, shit happens. And it did. (Notice that the white Christians of Ireland are rioting... that's what people do and it is not a "for Muslims only" game.)
Finally, note the opportunity for Bush, again: the nation in some distress, some panic, turns to their president who spends money he hasn't got and money we haven't got anymore because he's given it away or spent in on a war of his choice which he lied to get us to.
"Oh", the people cry, "maybe Bush has learned!"
No, Bush already knew everything he needed to know, it's the people that haven't learned. Bush will advance his agenda. Period. Game, set, match.

The president: a history of going AWOL

Read what Brown says, and understand what he doesn't say but is obvious: the president was needed.
It's one thing going AWOL... the problem is the s.o.b .comes back. No, he cannot be impeached for doing a bad job. That's the voters' job.

My Favorite Country Songs

1. Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In Bed

2. Get Your Tongue Otta My Mouth 'Cause I'm Kissing You Goodbye

3. Her Teeth Was Stained, But Her Heart Was Pure

4. How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?

5. I Can't Get Over You, So Why Don't You Get Under Me

6. I Don't Know Whether To Kill Myself Or Go Bowling

7. I Got In At 2 With a 10, And Woke Up At 10 With a 2.

8. I Hate Every Bone In Your Body Except For Mine

9. I Just Bought A Car From A Guy That Stole My Girl, But The
Car Don't Run, So I figure We Got An Even Deal

10. I Keep Forgettin' I Forgot About You

11. I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well

12. I Still Miss You Baby, But My Aim's Gettin' Better

13. I Wouldn't Take Her To A Dog Fight, Cause I'm Afraid She'd Win

14. I'll Marry You Tomorrow But Let's Honeymoon Tonight

15. I'm So miserable Without You, It's Like Having You Here

16. I've Got Tears in My Ears From Lying On My Back While I Cry Over you

17. If I Can't Be Number One In Your Life, Then Number Two On You

18. If I Had Shot You When I Wanted To, I'd Be Out By Now

19. Mama Get A Hammer (There's A Fly On Papa's Head)

20. My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink, And I Love Rovers

21. My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend, and I Sure Do Miss Him

22. Please Bypass this Heart

23. She Got The Ring and I Got The Finger

24. You're the Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly

Katrina Disaster Needs

Cleaning Supplies (glass cleaner, bleach, disinfectant, etc.)
Aspirin and other basic over the counter drugs.
Bottled Water
Canned Goods
Hygiene Supplies
Baby Supplies - Baby Food Formula, diapers #4, #5, Wipes, Pedialyte
Sterile Gloves
Batteries - All kinds, from AA to watch and hearing aid batteries.

What is most needed now are FAMILY PACKS.

What's a Family Pack? Enough supplies for a family of four for 3 to 4 days.

Ex:

3 Sterno Cans
Matches (items cannot be sent via UPS)
Canned Food
Napkins
First Aid Kit
Candles
Dried fruit
Dried Goods
Water
Powdered Milk
Baby Food
Toiletries
Fruit Drinks
Utensils
Flashlight
Batteries
Perhaps a small radio.

Send via UPS to

Veterans for Peace
Omni Storage
74145 Hwy. 25
Covington LA

Bush Takes Responsibility for Katrina Failures

42% approve of the job he's doing. Today, right now. Anyway. Ah, the faithful.
I mean, shouldn't that be, like, 11%? a 42% base that can hang on after all this is really formidable.

I never thought I'd see the day

But today is it. President Bush actually had the buck stop with him. It's as if he were replaced by a real leader. Who knows the possibilities of such a revelation. Maybe we can start to get leadership out of Bush? I doubt it, but one can always hope.

Bush on Failed Rescue: 'I Take Responsibility'

President says the disaster exposed "serious problems" in the nation's disaster response system.

Beltway insiders, rich lawyers, ideologues, incompetents and their strap-hangers

Go to Original After Katrina Fiasco, Time for Bush to Go By Gordon Adams The Baltimore Sun Thursday 08 September 2005 The disastrous federal response to Katrina exposes a record of incompetence, misjudgment and ideological blinders that should lead to serious doubts that the Bush administration should be allowed to continue in office. When taxpayers have raised, borrowed and spent $40 billion to $50 billion a year for the past four years for homeland security but the officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency cannot find their own hands in broad daylight for four days while New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast swelter, drown and die, it is time for them to go. When funding for water works and levees in the gulf region is repeatedly cut by an administration that seems determined to undermine the public responsibility for infrastructure in America, despite clear warnings that the infrastructure could not survive a major storm, it seems clear someone is playing politics with the public trust. When rescue and medical squads are sitting in Manassas and elsewhere in northern Virginia and foreign assistance waits at airports because the government can't figure out how to insure the workers, how to use the assistance or which jurisdiction should be in charge, it is time for the administration to leave town. When President Bush stays on vacation and attends social functions for two days in the face of disaster before finally understanding that people are starving, crying out and dying, it is time for him to go. When FEMA officials cannot figure out that there are thousands stranded at the New Orleans convention center - where people died and were starving - and fussed ineffectively about the same problems in the Superdome, they should be fired, not praised, as the president praised FEMA Director Michael Brown in New Orleans last week. When Mr. Bush states publicly that "nobody could anticipate a breach of the levee" while New Orleans journalists, Scientific American, National Geographic, academic researchers and Louisiana politicians had been doing precisely that for decades, right up through last year and even as Hurricane Katrina passed over, he should be laughed out of town as an impostor. When repeated studies of New Orleans make it clear that tens of thousands of people would be unable to evacuate the city in case of a flood, lacking both money and transportation, but FEMA makes no effort before the storm to commandeer buses and move them to safety, it is time for someone to be given his walking papers. When the president makes Sen. Trent Lott's house in Pascagoula, Miss., the poster child for rebuilding while hundreds of thousands are bereft of housing, jobs, electricity and security, he betrays a careless insensitivity that should banish him from office. When the president of the United States points the finger away from the lame response of his administration to Katrina and tries to finger local officials in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, La., as the culprits, he betrays the unwillingness of this administration to speak truth and hold itself accountable. As in the case of the miserable execution of policy in Iraq, Mr. Bush and Karl Rove always have some excuse for failure other than their own misjudgments. We have a president who is apparently ill-informed, lackadaisical and narrow-minded, surrounded by oil baron cronies, religious fundamentalist crazies and right-wing extremists and ideologues. He has appointed officials who give incompetence new meaning, who replace the positive role of government with expensive baloney. They rode into office in a highly contested election, spouting a message of bipartisanship but determined to undermine the federal government in every way but defense (and, after 9/11, one presumed, homeland security). One with Grover Norquist, they were determined to shrink Washington until it was "small enough to drown in a bathtub." Katrina has stripped the veil from this mean-spirited strategy, exposing the greed, mindlessness and sheer profiteering behind it. It is time to hold them accountable - this ugly, troglodyte crowd of Capital Beltway insiders, rich lawyers, ideologues, incompetents and their strap-hangers should be tarred, feathered and ridden gracefully and mindfully out of Washington and returned to their caves, clubs in hand.

A Deepening Gloom About Ground Zero's Future - New York Times

Blame Bush. Blame the man who holds the office of the presidency, the single most powerful position in the world, now or ever.
NY, Iraq, California, Alaska, energy prices, New Orleans... it is the desires, the dreams of one man and the power he by dint of office weilds: the road to "success" is to divine the will of the president and deliver.
There are probably no less than a million Americans for whom that is a part of their lives, every single day: do what might please Bush.
We got it. The country acts like Bush.

Billions and billions

Cost of Recovery Surges, as Do Bids to Join in Effort
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and CARL HULSE
White House officials and Congressional budget experts now assume that federal costs for the hurricane will shoot past $100 billion

It's time to start seriously considering a tax increase. We need a Katrina tax and an Iraq tax. Iraq has monetary costs of over $170 billion dollars and now Katrina will cost over $100 billion. The profligate Bush administration shouts out numbers to keep the angry population at bay, but how the hell are we going to pay for this? Where is the money coming from? Raise taxes. That's what needs to happen. Have a special Katrina tax and a special Iraq tax that will phase out after X years.

As for all that money, the real shame is that this is yet another dive for government handouts by the well connected.

Bush in action

From DailyKOS

by kos

Wed Sep 7th, 2005 at 09:23:57 PDT

Note, the two superimposed photos were taken the same day.

From Boing Boing.

about the dumbest thing I ever heard a white boy say...

From a black man who was on the same foorball team as Ronnie Reagan who "never saw any prejudice or discrimination."
But, wait, George (weapons of mass destruction) Bush is still pushing:

"Yesterday Mr. Bush made an utterly fantastic claim: that nobody expected the breach of the levees." Planet Bush. The only possible retort is the bitch slap.

Critics, however say that Reagans' identifyting trees as a source of air polution, had covered that position already.

Friday night

"The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home, and every day she called him and said, `Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?' And he said, `And yeah, Momma, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday' — and she drowned Friday night. She drowned on Friday night," Broussard said.

FEMA knew

FEMA knew storm's potential, Mayfield says

“It’s not like this was a surprise. We had in the advisories that the levee could be topped."

Sunday, 4:44 p.m.

By Mark Schleifstein
Staff writer

Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, said
Sunday that officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, including FEMA Director Mike Brown and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, listened in on electronic briefings given by his staff in advance of Hurricane Katrina slamming Louisiana and Mississippi and were advised of the storm’s potential deadly effects.

Mayfield said the strength of the storm and the potential disaster it could bring were made clear during both the briefings and in formal advisories, which warned of a storm surge capable of overtopping levees in New Orleans and winds strong enough to blow out windows of high-rise buildings. He said the briefings included information on expected wind speed, storm surge, rainfall and the potential for tornados to accompany the storm as it came ashore.

“We were briefing them way before landfall,” Mayfield said. “It’s not like this was a surprise. We had in the advisories that the levee could be topped.

“I keep looking back to see if there was anything else we could have done, and I just don’t know what it would be,” he said.

[more]

"You cannot just blame the president, or any one person.s

Oh yes you can. And you should. Because it is the fault of one man. That's where it starts, and it grows from there. That is not a philosophical position, it simply is the way we, we humans, we mammals, work: when a president speaks, we may rail and protest but we cannot dodge his power.
You know what? This whole country acted like it was George Bush.

American poodles: the free lunch press

The reporters were invited to eat, but not report. How curious.
Brings back memories of Reagan: he served them breakfast, fed them nicely, every day...
Isn't that nice.

Moved to the head of the line

3:34 P.M. - (AP) The evacuation of Superdome refugees was interrupted briefly when school buses rolled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt hotel. They were move to the head of the line to be evacuated -- much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the stinking Superdome for days.

The 700 had been trapped in the Hyatt just like the others, but conditions were considerably cleaner, even without running water, than the unsanitary crush inside the dome.

Updates

3:14 P.M. - St. Bernard Parish officials say that FEMA has not called them yet...five days after the storm.

3:07 P.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- U.S. Sen. David Vitter said FEMA's efforts to deal with the hurricane have been completely ineffective, and he called the federal government's response a failure.

"I think FEMA has been completely dysfunctional and is completely overwhelmed, and I don't know why. This situation was utterly predictable," said Vitter, R-Metairie. "It seems like there was no coherent plan, which I don't understand because this precise scenario has been predicted for 20 years," he said.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin

"They are thinking small"

PAULA ZAHN NOW

Aired September 1, 2005 - 20:00 ET

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR
&
MICHAEL BROWN, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

ZAHN: Sir, you aren't just telling me you just learned that the folks at the Convention Center didn't have food and water until today, are you? You had no idea they were completely cut off?

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Paula, the federal government did not even know about the Convention Center people until today.

What the hell? What are they doing? They were ALL on vacation. In fact I think we now know that they are ALWAYS on vacation. Five years of failure is enough. Impeach the bastard now and call a special election.

Photos

From KOS

Think Progress has this screen capture from CNN:

Notice the nicely positioned Coast Guard helicopters in the background, not rescuing people and delivering supplies. Notice the uniformed personnel standing at attention in the back, providing a nice backdrop to Bush, not rescuing people and delivering supplies.

Again, politics trumps everything in this administration.

$100 billion

11:31 A.M. - NEWARK, CA (AP): A leading risk assessment firm is projecting the economic loss from Hurricane Katrina and flooding in New Orleans at over $100 billion.

Risk Management Solutions says the losses are the result of two separate catastrophic events: the landfall of Hurricane Katrina last Monday, and the New Orleans flood which resulted from failure of the levee systems that protect the city.

The company says at least 50% of the total economic loss is expected to come from flooding in New Orleans, in addition to hurricane losses from wind and coastal surge, infrastructure damage, and indirect economic impacts.

On Monday, RMS issued preliminary insured loss estimates of up to $25 billion for Hurricane Katrina, prior to evidence of the levee failure and flooding.

Credit rating agency Standard and Poor's has said that damage from the hurricane could reach $50 billion once damage to bridges, roads and other public infrastructure is counted.

GOP: Out of touch with reality

As what might be the worst natural disaster to hit the country continues to unfold, as gasoline supplies dwindle in the South East and prices go over $3.00 a gallon (in some places $6.00 a gallon), as 25,000 go without food or water at the New Orleans convention center alone, the head of the Republican Party in Washington sent out a message for help to people in Ohio

please call Sen. Voinovich and demand he repeal the estate tax.

Chaos at the convention center

From CNN

'A scene of anarchy'

Posted: 10:02 a.m. ET
CNN's Jim Spellman in New Orleans, Louisiana

I don't think I really have the vocabulary for this situation.

We just heard a couple of gunshots go off. There's a building smoldering a block away. People are picking through whatever is left in the stores right now. They are walking the streets because they have nowhere else to go.

Right now, I'm a few blocks away from the New Orleans Convention Center area. We drove through there earlier, and it was unbelievable. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people spent the night sleeping on the street, on the sidewalk, on the median.

The Convention Center is a place that people were told to go to because it would be safe. In fact, it is a scene of anarchy.

There is absolutely nobody in control. There is no National Guard, no police, no information to be had.

The Convention Center is next to the Mississippi River. Many people who are sleeping there feel that a boat is going to come and get them. Or they think a bus is going to come. But no buses have come. No boats have come. They think water is going come. No water has come. And they have no food.

As we drove by, people screamed out to us -- "Do you have water? Do you have food? Do you have any information for us?"

We had none of those.

Probably the most disturbing thing is that people at the Convention Center are starting to pass away and there is simply nothing to do with their bodies. There is nowhere to put them. There is no one who can do anything with them. This is making everybody very, very upset.

US won't let Canada help Katrina victims

Outrage fatigue

Canadian agencies are saying that foreign aid is probably not being permitted into Louisiana and Mississippi because of "mass confusion" at the U.S. federal level in the wake of the storm.

James Lee Witt

We need to keep the heat on those who are responsible for the lack of preparedness. We are see the effect of cutting taxes and the war in Iraq along with patronage hires (rife in this administration) are making what would have been a bad situation MUCH WORSE.

It seems we've got part of our answer from James Lee Witt in this article from Knight-Ridder, which a number of readers were kind enough to send in.

Here's a passage

...

Being prepared for a disaster is basic emergency management, disaster experts say.

For example, in the 1990s, in planning for a New Orleans nightmare scenario, the federal government figured it would pre-deploy nearby ships with pumps to remove water from the below-sea-level city and have hospital ships nearby, said James Lee Witt, who was FEMA director under President Clinton.

Federal officials said a hospital ship would leave from Baltimore on Friday.

"These things need to be planned and prepared for; it just doesn't look like it was," said Witt, a former Arkansas disaster chief who won bipartisan praise on Capitol Hill during his tenure.

FEMA said some of its response teams were prepared.

Some were prepared.

-- Josh Marshall

Patronage Hires

More repost, this time from talkingpointsmemo

Much was made at the time and since about the fact that James Lee Witt was the first head of FEMA who had a professional background in emergency and disaster management.

No one seems to dispute the fact that prior to 1993, the agency was a dumping ground for patronage hires. (The change was also furthered by a devastating 1992 GAO report.)

President Bush replaced Witt with Joe Allbaugh, whose main qualification was that he was one of the president's main political fixers from Texas.

When Allbaugh left FEMA in 2003 to cash in on the Iraqi contracts bonanza, he was replaced by Michael Brown. Allbaugh originally brought Brown to FEMA as General Counsel. His qualification was that they were college buddies.

When Allbaugh bailed, he apparently gave the top job to Brown.

-- Josh Marshall

Live Feed from New Orleans TV station

http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=beloint_khou&props=livenoad

Here's the Story of a Hurricane

This is good enough for a complete read here.

WEATHER
Here's the Story of a Hurricane

In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked a major hurricane strike on New Orleans as "among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country," directly behind a terrorist strike on New York City. Yesterday, disaster struck. One of the strongest storms in recorded history rocked the Gulf Coast, bringing 145 mph winds and floods of up to 20 feet. One million residents were evacuated; at least 65 are confirmed dead. Tens of thousands of homes were completely submerged. Mississippi's governor reported "catastrophic damage on all levels." Downtown New Orleans buildings were "imploding," a fire chief said. Oil surged past $70 a barrel. New Orleanians were grimly asking each other, "So, where did you used to live?" (To donate to Red Cross disaster relief, click here or call 1-800-HELP-NOW). While it happened, President Bush decided to ... continue his vacation, stopping by the Pueblo El Mirage RV and Golf Resort in El Mirage, California, to hawk his Medicare drug benefit plan. On Sunday, President Bush said, "I want to thank all the folks at the federal level and the state level and the local level who have taken this storm seriously.” He’s not one of them. Below, the Progress Report presents "How Not to Prepare for a Massive Hurricane," by President Bush, congressional conservatives, and their corporate special interest allies.

SLASH SPENDING ON HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS IN NEW ORLEANS: Two months ago, President Bush took an ax to budget funds that would have helped New Orleans prepare for such a disaster. The New Orleans branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suffered a "record $71.2 million" reduction in federal funding, a 44.2 percent reduction from its 2001 levels. Reports at the time said that thanks to the cuts, "major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. ... Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now." (Too bad Louisiana isn't a swing state. In the aftermath of Hurricane Frances -- and the run-up to the 2004 election -- the Bush administration awarded $31 million in disaster relief to Florida residents who didn't even experience hurricane damage.)

DESTROY NATURAL HURRICANE PROTECTIONS: The Gulf Coast wetlands form a "natural buffer that helps protect New Orleans from storms," slowing hurricanes down as they approach from sea. When he came into office, President Bush pledged to uphold the "no net loss" wetland policy his father initiated. He didn't keep his word. Bush rolled back tough wetland policies set by the Clinton administration, ordering federal agencies "to stop protecting as many as 20 million acres of wetlands and an untold number of waterways nationwide." Last year, four environmental groups issued a joint report showing that administration policies had allowed "developers to drain thousands of acres of wetlands." The result? New Orleans may be in even greater danger: "Studies show that if the wetlands keep vanishing over the next few decades, then you won't need a giant storm to devastate New Orleans -- a much weaker, more common kind of hurricane could destroy the city too."

GUT THE AGENCY TASKED WITH DEVELOPING HURRICANE RESPONSES: Forward-thinking federal plans with titles like "Issues and Options in Flood Hazards Management," "Floods: A National Policy Concern," and "A Framework for Flood Hazards Management" would be particularly valuable in a time of increasingly intense hurricanes. Unfortunately, the agency that used to produce them -- the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) -- was gutted by Gingrich conservatives several years ago. As Chris Mooney (who presciently warned of the need to bulk up hurricane defenses in New Orleans last May) noted yesterday, "If we ever return to science-based policymaking based on professionalism and expertise, rather than ideology, an office like OTA would be very useful in studying how best to save a city like New Orleans -- and how Congress might consider appropriating money to achieve this end."

SEND OUR FIRST RESPONDERS TO FIGHT A WAR OF CHOICE: National Guard and Reserve soldiers are typically on the front lines responding to disasters like Katrina -- that is, if they're not fighting in Iraq. Roughly 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is currently deployed in Iraq, where guardsmen and women make up about four of every 10 soldiers. Additionally, "Dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators" used by the Louisiana Guard are also tied up abroad. "The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," Louisiana National Guard Lt. Colonel Pete Schneider told reporters earlier this month. "Recruitment is down dramatically, mostly because prospective recruits are worried about deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan or another country," the AP reported recently. "I used to be able to get about eight people a month," said National Guard 1st Sgt. Derick Young, a New Orleans recruiter. "Now, I'm lucky if I can get one."

HELP FUEL GLOBAL WARMING: Severe weather occurrences like hurricanes and heat waves already take hundreds of lives and cause millions in damages each year. As the Progress Report has noted, data increasingly suggest that human-induced global warming is making these phenomena more dangerous and extreme than ever. "The hurricane that struck Louisiana yesterday was nicknamed Katrina by the National Weather Service," science author Ross Gelbspan writes. "Its real name is global warming." AP reported recently on a Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis that shows that "major storms spinning in both the Atlantic and the Pacific ... have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 percent" since the 1970s, trends that are "closely linked to increases in the average temperatures of the ocean surface and also correspond to increases in global average atmospheric temperatures during the same period." Yet just last week, as Katrina was gathering steam and looming over the Gulf, the Bush administration released new CAFE standards that actually encourage automakers to produce bigger, less fuel efficient vehicles, while preventing states from taking strong, progressive action to reverse global warming.

Nero Strumming

White House resident Bush reacts on Tuesday to one of the worst natural disasters to hit the U.S. in its history. From Yahoo!

I guess he does have to get on with his life after all.

Clever

Room for improvement, but a great start. A great great start.

Robertson issues official "my bad"

Oh, I guess that's OK then. Hey, didn't you actually run for president one year?

Fascism and Nazism Defined

Fascism and Nazism Defined. At least according to Britain's Channel 4. Fascism is here in America too, it wraps itself in the flag and it wears a cross.

Fascism and Nazism

In the first half of the century, there were two types of right-wing ideological response to both liberal democracy and Communism.

Fascism

'Fascism' is derived from the Latin fasces, which means a bundle of rods with a projecting axe – the symbol of authority in ancient Rome. The term was first used by an Italian anti-socialist militia, the Fascio di Combattrimento, in 1919, and was applied by Mussolini to his movement after his rise to power in 1922.

The ideological basis of the movement was vicious anti-Communism and anti-liberalism. Communists were seen as unpatriotic traitors and liberals as weak muddlers. Fascists praised the strong bellicose leader, exalted in dreams of national glory and had a nostalgic vision of the past. Although some elements among Mussolini's followers had anti-capitalist prejudices, especially focusing on decadent rich people, the ideology was not opposed to private property.

Once in power, Fascism relied on an authoritarian state apparatus, and directed discontent against marginal groups such as Jews and gypsies. Its main appeal was irrational, using emotive slogans and ancient prejudices to bolster the leader's strongman appeal. Fascism was a direct influence on Hitler's Nazism, and on several other right-wing movements, including the Falange in Franco's Spain and the Ustase in Croatia.

Nazism

The name comes from the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartie (NSDAP, German National Socialist Workers party), which was shortened to Nazi. Originally called the German Workers party, founded by Anton Drexler after World War I, it was renamed in 1920. The following year, Hitler became party leader and introduced the Führerprinzip (leader principle), which meant that all authority came from himself.

During the 1920s, Nazism had a radical socialist side, blaming rich capitalists for the country's woes, but this was eliminated when Hitler came fully into power. Nazism, as expounded in his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle), was based on virulent hatred of the Jews, wild fantasies about a world Jewish conspiracy, hatred for all foreigners and contempt for the peoples of eastern Europe as half-breeds and degenerates.

An emotional rather than intellectual theory, it borrowed from such philosophers as the 19th-century radical thinker Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as incorporating racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic ideas common in European culture. The theory that the Aryan race was superior and needed extra living space (meaning more land in eastern Europe) led to World War II and the destruction of Hitler's dream of a '1,000-year Reich'.

Nazism became attractive to the German people during the massive crisis following the economic crash of 1929, which resulted in 3.2 million unemployed in Germany by 1930. After that, the Nazis remained in power because of their innovative use of propaganda and evocative symbols such as the swastika; the economic recovery that came from rearmament and the imposition of work by a totalitarian state, whose secret police eliminated any opposition – and, not least, because of the mesmerising personality of Hitler himself. In 1945, following Hitler's death and Germany's defeat, the Nazi party was abolished and banned.

Nazi rally, Berlin: 1933

Video Transcript About this clip

The successors

Although both Fascism and Nazism were defeated during World War II, several neo-Fascist political parities have emerged in Europe since 1945. These include the British National Party (BNP), the French Front Nationale (National Front), the Liberal Party in Austria and the Italian Allianza Nationale (National Alliance). Although these parties are usually anti-Semitic, their main appeal is their xenophobic and nationalistic message.

From Democracy Now! this morning.

AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us. Well, can you talk about who Pat Robertson is, and is this statement unusual for him?

CHRIS HEDGES: Well, this fits a pattern of essentially seditious statements that have been made by Pat Robertson since the early 1980s, when he embraced this new doctrine within the Christian right known as Christian reconstructionism or dominionism -- that's not a term that he would use to describe it, but that's how shorthand for those of us who look at it from the outside -- where he calls for the creation of a Christian America, a Christian state. And there has been an assault against the democratic system, largely unseen, I think, by the majority of the American people, ever since the early 1980s.

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