Mr. David Corn,

Another good post. I too have a hard time with the "rest in peace" thing but am reminded of the fact that dead are gone and their contribution be it good or bad has ended.

Like a victim of state sponsored murder by injection, what the person did or did not do matters very little when life has left their physical body. They have paid the ultimate price and as we all hope for a peaceful respite let all of the dead "rest in peace".

Thanks again

Kirk

Dear Mr. Corn,

In all sincerity sir, that was the best "spitting on someone's grave" that I have read in a long time. Keep up the good work.

Here is something that makes for a good bookmark!

The complete 2005 Congressional Pig Book is a searchable database of 13,997 pork projects. Search by keyword, city, state, or appropriations bill.

Thanks to JoeTrippi.com

capt

Katrina: Why did help take so long to arrive?



03 September 2005 08:25

"It is incredible, the government had no evacuation plan ... the first power in the world and it left its own population adrift."

It will be particularly galling that the man voicing those thoughts, echoed on Friday by many across the United States and around the world, was Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela, and one of the Bush administration's main hate figures.

That bewilderment, tinged with anger towards officials at local and national level, was shared at the scene of the disaster and by political commentators and disaster relief experts. In Louisiana, local and state officials voiced anger on Friday at the Bush administration's response.

What went wrong with the relief effort? Why, so many days after Katrina struck, is there still such chaos, despite the fact that there was ample warning of what might befall the Gulf Coast?

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) has been accused of being so concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack that it failed to prepare properly for a much more inevitable natural disaster.

After the authorities in Baton Rouge had prepared a field hospital for victims of the storm, Fema sent its first batch of supplies, all of which were designed for use against chemical attack -- including drugs such as Cipro, which is designed for use against anthrax.

"We called them up and asked them, 'Why did you send that?', and they said that's what it says in the book," said a Baton Rouge official.

*****end of clip*****

The problems are institutional, as all institutional problems are the result of bad management, heads should roll.

The buck stops at the man in the oval office, whomever is in charge Cheney, Bush, Rove, etc. not one is man enough to admit a single mistake. That will not change now. The only heads that will roll will be underlings if any.

Just like Abu Graib, the mistakes in policy will be addressed by punishment for a handful those forced to obey the failed policy. Those in the front line are the only ones actually doing anything and that is always punishable by those that make policy and do nothing.

It will happen, we have already heard this WH plame. . . I mean blame the Army Corps of Engineers for problems caused by funding cuts.

capt

In all sincerity sir, that was the best "spitting on someone's grave" that I have read in a long time. Keep up the good work.

Well, actually, it's called "telling the truth." You can read Town Hall or one of the other wingnut sites if you don't care for it.

Thought I was alone in my inability to be other than non-pulsed by the death of another of America's bigots.

Here is a thought:

It is widely accepted that the 9/11 attacks were the result of an intelligence failure. Assuming that is true, why would anybody go to war on intelligence from a department that has just failed so miserably?

Military action as a response to an intelligence failure of biblical proportion based on more "intelligence" from the same failed source. The question is why would anybody trust a CIA with such a new and monumental failure on their books?

Of course Bush was going to invade Iraq with no regard for anything or anybody in opposition. The intelligence community cannot be blamed after the failure of 9/11, they should have been all charged with dereliction of duty. Instead they are kept as a disposable whipping boy for the action Bush had decided upon before 2000.

I cannot see how it could be made more clear. IF 9/11 was the result of failed intelligence then Bush should be held to account for believing them about the looming mushroom clouds just 45 minutes away.

Of course all of the blame pointing anywhere but the WH is just a distraction, more misinformation sold as a "possible" truth to insulate Bush and his corporate cronies from the failed policies and messed up plans they devised to enrich themselves and their ilk.

Sitting exposed, waiting for one more intelligence failure to complete the destruction of our American freedoms and rights. Will it be because of continuing and consistently bad intelligence or from the ill conceived master plan to destroy and loot the our country?

At what point should we be concerned with holding Bush to account? After the next "terror attack"[sic] or on the heels of the complete mismanagement of a calamity that cannot be blamed on the intelligence community?

Bush sucks big time either way.

IMHO

capt

Don,

The truth is spitting on someone's grave?

I am reminded of a certain Paul Welstone's funeral when the rabid Reich-wingnuts were screaming?

Not one thing factual was dished from the Reich, just more neocon cry babies.

See, they spit without a single truth.

That post qualifies for the bottom of the barrel so far today, I bet there will be a few that try to out limbo the low blow. *sigh*

capt

"Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives. " ~ A. Sachs

"Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not. " ~ Epicurus (341 BC - 270 BC), from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers

"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh. " ~ George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

capt

The emperor truly has no clothes. I'm watching Chertoff, Rumesfeld, et all at 10:30 Sunday morning, Sept. 4, 2005 having yet another press conference [photo op] to tell us how they didn't see this catastrophic event coming. Where have they been post 9/11? Isn't this the entire reason for the Homeland Security Department? We watched Katrina coming for several days. This is a catastrophic event we actually saw coming and yet these people act like no one ever predicted, foresaw or analyzed the aftermath unless we actually had a master plan in place. Guess what. We didn't. If the catastrophe were man made, the aftermath would be even worste. That is what this event is making abundently clear to everyone. This is the result of a philosophy, an ideology, that promotes survival of the fittest, every man for himself and the reliance on volunteerism and charity as the primary way of dealing with this kind of catastrophic event. These people literally don't believe it's the role of government to deal with it. That's why their mantra is to cut taxes above all. Let the private sector deal with it. As we are clearly wittnessing now, this philosophy, this ideology does not work. These people have sold us a bill of goods. Perhaps now the rest of us are beginning to understand the falicy of their philosophy.

and how exactly will they anticipate and respond to another 9-11 when a buncha wind and rain throws them for a loop?

I think you, David Corn, damage the very concept of democracy every day with your efforts. But on your death I will do nothing but offer sorrow. Shame on you for this immature, ill-timed and childish outburst. We may be in political war with one another just now, but when it's over, we will still have to live with one another. Please revise your remarks.

at least I hear Bush is looking to replace Rehnquist with someone more moderate...you know, in an effort to be a uniter
someone in the middle
that everyone can relate to
that's right folks
captain fair and balanced
Sean Hannity

To Richar :
revising words takes the D out of democracy

hey, Richard
I think I found your D

--->D

"We may be in political war with one another just now, but when it's over, we will still have to live with one another." I have to agree with Richar [sic] on that one point. For shame.

Lies Lies Lies.
This is from Think Progress.
Chertoff Learned of Levee Failure 36 Hours After Mayor Nagin?
Homeland Security chief Mike Chertoff today offered the administration’≥ (first, second) third excuse for their lack of preparedness for Katrina:

Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, Ҏew Orleans Dodged the Bullet.ӠBecause if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse. It was on Tuesday that the levee Ѡmay have been overnight Monday to Tuesday Ѡthat the levee started to break. And it was midday Tuesday that I became aware of the fact that there was no possibility of plugging the gap and that essentially the lake was going to start to drain into the city. I think that second catastrophe really caught everybody by surprise.

In other words, it’≥ not that we didn’¥ expect the levee system would burst. It’≥ that the storm passed and the levees remained in tact, and when we found out afterwards they had failed, it was already too late.

The problem: we didnմ learn that the levees were failing on ҭidday Tuesday.ӠWe learned Monday morning:

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said on NBCճ Ҕoday ShowӠthere was already ҳignificant floodingӠin the city, most of which lies below sea level.

҉նe gotten reports this morning that thereճ already water coming over some of the levee systems,Ӡhe said.

oh boo hoo
we'll feel as free to rip your dead as you feel to rip ours
Fair AND balanced

Behold Ed M. Perry. Be sure to pick up his new book "How I Love To Hate," available now wherever progressives talk about tolerance but spend more energy ripping their opponents than acutally working for social justice.

Egyptian poll monitors 'banned'


Sunday, 4 September 2005

Egypt's electoral commission says it will not allow independent groups to monitor Wednesday's presidential election, defying a court ruling.

The commission said only supervisors, candidates and their representatives would be allowed in polling stations.

The decision has fuelled fears of vote rigging in the country's first multi-candidate presidential poll.

Campaigning ends on Sunday, with incumbent President Hosni Mubarak widely expected to win.

Mr Mubarak, who has been in power for 24 years, is running for another six-year term against eight other candidates.

On Saturday, the Egyptian judiciary overruled a ban by the government-appointed commission prohibiting local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from monitoring the poll.

But the electoral commission chief, Osama Attawiyah, told the BBC that the ban would remain in force.

*****end of clip*****

Why do they even pretend? Election, is a Selection. I bet there are a few private polling companies that already know the numbers that will be published as "results."

Power, like drugs or money, is an addiction. Those in power will use that power to stay in power.

I hate to be the skunk at the picnic but watch for a wildly successful GOP in 2006. If not a super-majority a super-majority if you throw in the turncoat blue-dog democrats. They no longer make any effort to deceive. They are so very much Republican light. Hillary, Biden, Loserman, Feinstein and the rest. They should all be drummed out of the party but that too would require a spine from somewhere in the DNC.

Rename the DLC "Rangers" or "Pioneers" at least it would be closer to the truth.

I think everybody is getting sick and tired of the lies. Rumbling from the right says it must be half true.

capt

LOL
I'm a Liberal, of course I hate everyone
don't be silly
I listen to Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter
they are dead on
most Liberals live in grand castles with brown house slaves and pools of liquid platinum
we dine on pickled fetuses served on Bible pages
we cause poverty and subject the masses
we divide people and cause wars
Liberals caused Cancer, AIDS and the last Ice age
believe me
I know who powerful and dangerous we are?
what are you again?

tell me next how I have no plans

I'm glad to see that David is not being lured into that phony, disingenuous "thing" people do when someone dies -- turning the undeserving into a saint.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=17&did=453

The clip below is from Robert Sherill's January 8, 2001, "Death Trip: The American Way of Execution" from The Nation.

"Rehnquist-izing Justice
One thing became quite clear as the 1980s rolled along: The Court was getting meaner, as the ranks of its hard-liners got bigger. In 1953, when William Rehnquist was a clerk at the Supreme Court and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were about to be electrocuted at Sing Sing, he wrote a memo saying, "It is too bad that drawing and quartering has been abolished." When he grew to Justicehood, perhaps he was no longer so bloodthirsty, but he was not shy about saying the death industry's execution line was far too slow. His impatience was shared by Justices Byron White and Lewis Powell. In 1981 Rehnquist gained another ally in Sandra Day O'Connor, and in 1986 he could celebrate not only being promoted to Chief Justice (over great protests from Senate liberals) but also being joined on the bench by Antonin Scalia, that philosophical heir of Torquemada."

And we have a contestant for the low blow post!

Richar who we can all assume goes by Dick takes a dhot but loses on the personal SCHWING at Mr. David Corn.

Watch, we will likely go all day with snipes, yips and yaps but not one fact from David's post will even be challenged.

Facts are too confusing for blind ideology.

I still give the award to Kevin for his effort at brevity.

capt

Dick's de-railer and distractions is another SCHWING and a miss, still Kevin by a few points.

I agree with David Corn. Rehnquist helped create a climate in this nation of prejudice and every man for himself.
I am amazed the Christian Right supports "intelligent design" so strongly. In their world, as in Rehnquist’≥, only the fittest survive.
If I seem a little angry it’≥ because I don’¥ like to see grown men cry on TV while describing tales of promised rescue for five days only to have the person drown on the fifth evening. America abandoned Americans? No, No, No. Your president did. Go to Buzzflash for the story.
http://www.buzzflash.com/

that or argue a point with me
I play both sides; debate and outrage
I prefer the former

honest debate should, but rarely does, sway a mind a tad to one side or another
outrage is fun because it mocks the tone, thereby proving points through honest insincerity

With guys like Ed Perry around, why does anyone from the Right bother to come by here and engage in any civil conversation whatsoever? Some of us would like to reach out to each other on both sides--if you'd like to join us, take a lesson in manners, Ed. Otherwise, why don't you be quiest and learn while civilized conservatives and liberals try to work together to build this nation up and find commond ground? It's called mutual respect--and though I disagree with you, I respect your opinion and your right to hold it and express it. Hate me all you want. That's your burden, not mine. Someday, Ed, I hope you find something to live for, instead of only things to live against. Best, Richard

Ed,

You forgot "Tax and spend" nobody but "libruls" runs a government by taxing the people then spending that income. Jeeze, you forgot?

BTW - I cook by burning the pages from the bible like any civilized heathen, serve up my babies on golden platters with Satan’s pentagram stamped into the rim.

Just sayin', you know?

capt

PS - my spell check made me capitalize Satan. Hmmm

reach across the aisle then
how did you feel about pushing John Bolton with no consensus onto the UN through weekend appointment?
did you agree with that?

The President has the right to appoint whom he chooses with support of a majority of the Senate. A majority favored that choice but the majority were denied the right to vote--a favorite charge of yours.

name an issue where you think the Left and the Right can compromise without compromising their respective positions?

I'll say this, and then you guys can laugh.

In some cases my respect is not for the dead, but the living. Rehnquist was what he was, and I feel no need to eulogize him for it. I will however take no action to increase the sorrow of his family.

Those of you who are offended do more to spit on his family than on him. William Rehnquist is beyond our reproach, but you turn dislike for him as disrespect for those who will mourn him.

"compromise without compromising"? Can't be done. We each have to give up a little of what we want so we can all have some piece of satisfaction.

but still there was no real consensus, he was put through without an endorsement
the Right move would have been to drop his appointment and find a serious candidate
not say I don't care about the minority, some of which were conservative, I'll put him in when your not looking
also the President does not have the right to whomever he chooses, never has
he was still voted in by a 51/49 split in the nation...he still must serve both sides

so let's take an issue
abortion
what would be the give take scenario?

The Constitution grants the President the power to appoint whomever he chooses, and grants the Senate the power of advise and consent. The President was completely within his rights. It was a minority in the Senate who--also within their rights--prevented the majority from having a vote. The President, by law, gets the last word on this one.

FINE John, FINE. I'll be nice.

May he REST in Peace.

Abortion: I think the first step would be to make a dialogue among those of us who are willing to compromise. That, I believe, is a big majority. Those who oppose every single abortion in ever case are not welcome, because they will not compromise. Those who think abortion has no moral component--who portray it as a sacrament--are not welcome, because they will not compromise. Beyond that I'm not sure my single opinion is that useful. I do think that those who discuss it must grant that abortion is convenient, sometimes arguably necessary, but that it is at some point in the process the taking of some life, or potential for life. Surely we can work from that basis, all together, couldn't we?

consent is a large issue
Bush has not shown one inch of compromise
letting someone speak but not listening is not abiding by consent
tyranny of the majority comes to mind
how does one party getting everything their way, even by forcing certain items through, unite a nation divided nearly in half moreso than ever before...not quite Civil War but the similarties are coming back
the consent provision is to prevent such tyranny

Some of the knuckle heads here talk about how we all will have to live together? When this political war is over?

Please, only the survivors have to worry about such things.

From the looks of Bunnypants "plan" in Iraq and "plans" for disaster I think you guys might be assuming too much.

You come the site of a author that you comment as "I think you, David Corn, damage the very concept of democracy every day with your efforts." and expect to treated like your comment is reasonable discourse?

That is not a comment on this post that is a charge against the author (note the EVERY DAY?)

You are not kidding anyone here Dick, go spread your insults about what David does EVERY DAY in some small minded echo chamber where outright insults pass for political commentary.

You sir are a pathetic excuse for a poser.

So, where oh where is the reasonable crap you claim to spew? Insults and broad brush generalization are neither arguable nor reasonable.

capt

PS - if you just kept you cool a little bit and could post without the insult you might be met with the same. You only get the same measure of respect you give.

makes sense to me

there is room for that level of discourse on abortion...the first step though needs to come from those in power and if not then by the people who keep voting them there...the majority needs to reach out
I have seen none of that from this administration

I see your point on consent and consensus. I offer only two thoughts: 1) Many of those opposed to Bolton seemed to be looking for any excuse. The notion that he had yelled at some employees is a rather weak straw on which to hang opposition, and suggests to me and to others that this was simple obstructionism. I could be wrong, though. 2) The President usually has discretion to run foreign policy for his administration. Such policy cannot be run by committee. I think if Kerry were in, he should be granted leeway to run foreign policy his way, not be forced to surround himself with "advisers" who don't support his position. Of course politicans won't behave this way too often but you asked what I thought.

Ed--good point on abortion/discourse/reaching out. agreed.

Bush has been a bully
His people a cavalcade of doublespeakers
His media a ravenous horde
I mean honestly, can you really compare the content of Media Matters and Ann Coulter?

believe me I know when my party is getting out of hand...I threw Jackson, Sharpton and Hillary under the bus yesterday
and I'm hard Lib...but fair
this Bush administration has been the worst
his father was better by far
and I liked Clinton best of the three

Ann Coulter contributes nothing to debate. Media Matters has approximately zero interest in anything that goes against their belief system--but they are, yes, marginally more reasonable than Ann Coulter. Michael Moore--he's the same crowd, worst of all of them I say, not because of his opinion of Bush et al but because he spends so much time disparaging the US overall--witness his overseas remarks about Americans being idiots.

It is too bad that transferring levee maintenence funds for Homeland Bush Bullshittery is not considered a capital crime when the decision was a known risk and caused death.

Wow, Ed, has my opinion of you changed. It takes guys like you and like me, wiling to toss the extremists "under the bus" on both sides, as you say. Good for us!

but he had flaws too
just not to the extent of the long term effects we will all suffer from the W fiasco
I think opposing Bolton was the right move
his nomination was a snub to the UN
that's not the way to set a dialougue for change within the UN
and change is needed

I am still giving the low blow to Kevin on points for brevity.

Dick is a troll and his reasonable crap is a vacuum to suck you into posting to him.

Play if you want but do not kid yourself, he is a troll and should be ignored. Do not fall for the new handle or the reasonable BS, troll tricks and old ones at that.

That is my opinion and I checked with myself and confirmed my perspective. HA!

All humor is half true or it would not be funny.

capt

And with the return of Timantoinedickrichardlinacmurad the troll I bid you all a fine day and will cherish every word posted by my like minded friends.

Here to wishing you will all quit letting the troll yank your chains and push your buttons.

Good day all!

capt

Bolton: that's a reasonable bolton position--I just wish more of his opponents had simply said that instead of dragging out this "he yells at subordinates" garbage. I disagree with the position, but at least it's got legs. I can respect that.

I think war on idealogy is unwise
determinism reinforces the idea of looking for a cause so you have to fight a solution as opposed to an event
teach a man to fish and all
war on drugs=war on poverty
war on terror=war on poverty
most of our social ills breed within the poor
I'll fight that war

I disagree that poverty is the source of terror, the drug problem and other similar things. Witness the Great Depression--not much theft going on then. No offense meant, I'll try to find a way to say this reasonably, but I find it somewhat condescending to say that poor people will get violent if they don't get what they want. I don't think that's what you meant at all, but that's how it comes out to someone like me. I'd love to chat more but I have to take my son to a ball game--I'm sure you'll agree this is a valuable, non-partisan event, lol. I'll try to ccheck in later--thanks for the chat, ed. Best, RM

yeah I agree being a tough boss is lame material
alas he is in the UN now and I will hold my opinion to his first actions there
as for France though they really have stepped up on the war against terror in their country and were quick to offer aid for Katrina victims
wonder when Fox News will talk about the global coalition that is forming to help the US
and why did we snub Cuba's offer

Richard, Ed eats little children.
Now, let’≥ get back to the subject. What was the subject? Oh yeah, Rehnquist is a ....sorry.
The Hurricane Katrina's connection to Rehnquist. Connection? That would be the fact that he was prejudice - part of the record - and that he helped create a climate of acceptance of prejudice.

catch ya later
enjoy the game and the time with your son

Jeanne you are a leftist, nein?
you eat kids too
I like to throw crap like that out because it reinforces the silliness behind the Right media monster machine...I think that is an enemy we need to face
I agree with John Benson from a few posts back
Renquist is dead, I'm letting him go
history will tell his story as we know it
I was more engaged in the O'Connor bit...that was a loss
Renquist is still a like for like trade

too true about prejudice though

still waiting to debate the elusive Antoine

fed rate hikes unlikely in wake of Katrina
can we get a collective Amen

Went to a blog yesterday where the blog-author has a fast, merciless hand on the "delete comment" button. Anything OT, racist, or stupid. It was wonderful.

For those who suggest that David and some of us are out-of-line with our comments about Rehnquist:

If George W. Bush fell off his bike, hit his head, and died today, should we silence ourselves regarding our opinions of his ineptitude? It might be prudent to tone down some of the vitriolic criticism of bush, but FACTS are warranted...before AND after the death of a person with the power of a president or a Chief Justice.

I undertsand the delete function the more I hear the words of Doc Savage of the Savage Nation
he makes a strong case for censorship
I think his views need NEVER be broadcast
but I must fight for the first amendment
even for that lot

Historians will determine Rehnquist's fate. Our fate as Americans is already decided by the Nazis who control every facet of our lives. We should always practice on a daily basis the greeting that will be expected of us. "Heil Mine Fuehrer!"

public figures invite scrutiny
even in death

we are headed in the Nazi generation if the Right wins the border debate

Why is it that when someone dies, we should say nice things about a scoundrel? I had a supervisor who said that there was this rat of a person and when he died people just said well he tried to do this or that in conciliatory terms. People need to know the truth about a person. A rat is a rat. I do not know if I would go as far to say that Rehnquist was a rat but he did set the tone in court decisions and the tone of America today that we all wallow under.

Modern Slavery

If Delay was to die let us say tomorrow, what should we say about him?

One of my favorite programs is NOW with David Branccacio. Since America suffers from a truth deficit, NOW offers viewers truth and information. On Fridays NOW has interesting programs. On one particular Friday NOW discussed the Mariana (spell) Islands. Tom Delay, the born again kkkristian, called the Mariana Islands a model for America. The islands are in the Pacific Ocean and they are a Commonwealth of America but they are not subject to the same labor laws as in the U.S. The islands import women to work 15-16 hours per day and 7 days per week. The women do not punch a clock and the yearly salary is $350. Delay calls the Mariana Islands the model for America. He should know because he is having America headed toward 15-16 hours per day and 7 days a week for a yearly salary of $350.

We all know Delay as a born again kkkristian. He and Bush are poster children for the born again kkkristians. Born again kkkristians carry the Bible in one hand and an oozie in the other hand. Most born again kkkristians read the Bible but the words are meaningless to them.

I love America because America is a nation filled with hypocrites and her politicians are scum and slime. NY Times' Joel Brinkley had an article "US faults 4 allies over forced labor." These four allies are in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The US says that they practice modern slavery. Hypocrites are calling other hypocrites names and saying that they practice modern slavery. Yet, Delay calls the Mariana Islands a model for America.

When I see born again kkkristians like Delay and Bush, I am beyond puking and into dry heaves. The dry heaves never end. Yes, Delay and Bush are perfect examples of born again kkkristians. I love America because we are so predictable. We've gone from the home of the brave and land of the free to fear, greed, hatred, killing, and torture and born again kkkristians.

As a side note to our killing mentality the war drums are becoming louder and louder. Rummie, the dummie, issues a sharp rebuke of China on arms. America, a nation, with a nuclear holocaust as a game plan chastises China. Don't you just love America's hypocrisy?

In case you are interested our intelligence sources are saying that terrorists are inside Iran. The war drums never stop and are getting louder. Soccer moms should be prepared for the renewal of the military draft and their sons and daughters singing out hut fours as they march off to war, Bush's endless wars.

IT MUST FEEL GOOD FOR THE NEOCONS AND THE BORN AGAIN KKKRISTIANS TO SLEEP SECURE IN THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

What if Bush, a murderer and a war criminal, was to die tomorrow, should we say nice things about him? Americans suffer from a truth deficit now, should we continue to have Americans suffer from the same truth deficit?

"...At a press conference on Thursday, the fourth day of the disaster, with newspapers and TV reporting tens of thousands stranded at hospitals, homes and a highway overpass, Homeland Security chief Michael Cherotff was asked by a reporter if he thought only hundreds or maybe many more needed rescued. He replied:

“I'd be guessing. I mean, a thousand seems like a very large number, but we have already rescued several thousand. Hopefully, most people have gotten themselves onto roofs and have been picked up. But, as I said, rather than give you a guesstimate, I can tell you that as long as there is someone on a roof waving a flag, we're going to be sending a helicopter out there to get them.”

At the same press briefing, Cherotff was asked if he thought there were enough soldiers on the ground to control the situation. His answer: “I'm satisfied that we have not only more than enough forces there and on the way. And frankly, what we're doing is we are putting probably more than we need in order to send an unambiguous message that we will not tolerate lawlessness or violence or interference with the evacuation.”

While the 9/11 “My Pet Goat” episode was certainly illuminating, it’s not certain what might have worked out better that day had the president dropped the book and taken action. But his failure to grab the reins in the hurricane catastrophe for three days this week probably doomed hundreds, or more, to death.

This is not mere incompetence, but dereliction of duty. The press should call it by its proper name."

Greg Mitchell E&P
"My Pet Goat - The Sequel"

Conservatives need to be more vocal in some scrutiny of this administartions failure to act with speed...four days is too long, imagine if this had been the massive terror attack we've all been holding our breath for now over four years
the response would have amounted to so much duct tape

DISGUSTING! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179790/

Chertoff making lame-brained excuses. Russert wasn't buying...

Chertoff needs to practice some of that ownership society blather

The nicest and sincerest thing I can say about someone who dies is that I wish they would not go to hell. I do not like Bush and I would be a hypocrite if I was to say nice things about him when he dies. Yet, I do not wish hell for Bush's destination.

If someone can get a link to the speech/discussion that the President of Jefferson Parish had on MTP, today, let me know. The transcript is powerful, as it is. The video must be horrifying.

-T

It is more than understandable that the late Chief's (and I'll not say Justice in his description) family would mourn and love the old curmudgeon. I've never heard of their political thoughts, and I'll not paint the sins of the father upon them. But, that does not in any way excuse his life's work, which stands in full view now in the wake of the flood.

From the President of Jefferson Parish..
_______

MR. AARON BROUSSARD: We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. I am personally asking our bipartisan congressional delegation here in Louisiana to immediately begin congressional hearings to find out just what happened here. Why did it happen? Who needs to be fired? And believe me, they need to be fired right away, because we still have weeks to go in this tragedy. We have months to go. We have years to go. And whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chain-sawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership.

It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now. It's so obvious. FEMA needs more congressional funding. It needs more presidential support. It needs to be a Cabinet-level director. It needs to be an independent agency that will be able to fulfill its mission to work in partnership with state and local governments around America. FEMA needs to be empowered to do the things it was created to do. It needs to come somewhere, like New Orleans, with all of its force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives. Forget about the property. We can rebuild the property. It's got to be able to come in and save lives.

We need strong leadership at the top of America right now in order to accomplish this and to-- reconstructing FEMA.

MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. 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, "Yeah, Mama, 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 on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night.

_________

The man broke down in tears...as did I.

MotherFuckers...
-T

More...
______
MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody!

More....
___________

MR. RUSSERT: Hold on. Hold on, sir. Shouldn't the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of New Orleans bear some responsibility? Couldn't they have been much more forceful, much more effective and much more organized in evacuating the area?

MR. BROUSSARD: Sir, they were told like me, every single day, "The cavalry's coming," on a federal level, "The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming." I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry. The cavalry's still not here yet, but I've begun to hear the hoofs, and we're almost a week out.

Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines." Sheriff Harry Lee said that if America--American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis.
_________

Maybe I shouldn't have taped it.

Micki;
You are missing my point. David expressed my thoughts on the subject, and I'm not going to say nice things about the man when I don't believe them. The people who are offended that you state your opinion simply because the person is dead miss the point. The only ones hurt by such an expression are the people who are grieving. I wouldn't go up to Rehnquist's family and state my opinion because it would cause them pain. However the people who are taking offense here are doing so because "we aren't respecting the dead," and how hurt can the dead be by this? They are dead. So if you take the "You're not respecting the dead approach" to defend a politician (just being honest here folks) you are being just as offensive to the family.

Jeanne I speak for myself alone.

Ed. It should be a wash, but I suppose they could nominate David Duke.

Imagine you have a family member, an uncle or aunt, cousin or sibling that was in a position of political power or public prominence. A family member you had major problems with as their position and politics were not at all in line with yours.

Forget right versus left, this is an exercise in a general objectivity.

How much would you welcome comments from others that choose to speak ill of your family member? Even if you agreed with their sentiment how welcome would those comments be when they are just causing more pain for other family members?

There is a time and a place for everything. If anyone had issues with the dearly departed using the event of their death to express your opinion is just opportunistic clap-trap. You should have addressed them BEFORE they died as now there is nothing you can say about them that cannot be said in good time and nothing that is said can change a damn thing about what the dead has done. It is truly past tense.

Nobody has to say good things about the dead. There are some that will choose to see only good things not any of the bad. That is how some thought of the dearly departed, most of your despots, dictators, murderers and scoundrels have family that loved them unconditionally and thank God for the love never the hate.

Life is a great gift made more precious by death. Life is an opportunity to learn so many things. We live to love and experience our world by our determinations and choices and death just the other bookend.

Death is a gift too as it always ends the physical suffering and we all hope an end to the mental, emotional and spiritual suffering. Death is a great opportunity for those that survive. An opportunity to revisit the priorities and the determinations that shape the balance of our lives, an opportunity to revisit our mortality, an opportunity to better understand ourselves, others and the value of life.

To speak freely of the error and mistakes, the terrible things people do, all of the things with which you vehemently disagreed when the dearly departed was alive can be set aside for the moment. It is a discussion of the past because the person has died.

Death is impossible to face but impossible to deny. In the end death is life affirming. Our ceremonies and memorials are necessary rituals to show our respect for those that died but also a respect for the finality of death. The only power we have over the finality of death is the memory of those that have died and the perpetual love, respect, recognition or memories of the dead we keep.

You who would speak ill of the dead have the memories without the love or respect. You do have the recognition of what you find bad about the dearly departed and can wait just a short while to offer your forensic review.

Imagine what you would not like to hear if it was a member of your family, one with which you might have disagreed or one of your heroes, because the decedent, every person that has died had a mother, a wife, maybe siblings, cousins and such.

In the end death is the great equalizer for all of us and after all is said and done we are all part of the human family.

Nobody has to sing the praises of the departed but a quiet recognition that we all pay that dividend, that ultimate price the loss of OUR life IS called for in the immediate days after a death.

It is respect for the deceased that builds bridges and the disrespect for anybody or anything, living or dead that breaks down those bridges.

Show compassion and respect death, it is the only power we really have over the loss whether we loved ‘em or hated what they did or stood for in life.

Nobody is spitting on any graves or coffins but the discussion of what a bad man someone was can wait. Maybe their family did not agree with them any more than you did. I can only hope their family loved them, that is what life is about.

If you cannot show respect for the dead consider showing respect for death as we will all be in that boat in time. As a corpse, a lifeless shell of what was once a vessel of life, no body is better than anybody and no body is worse.

capt

Yeah, and then the governor of Mississippi got on Meet the Press and said everything was fine in my state. Everything went smooth in my state. Unbelievable. Show an ounce of compassion.

Let me just to a quickie here, then I'll put it down to the e-mail list...

Jill DMAT Update:

She called in the middle of my ER shift today to tell me that they're near LSU campus in Baton Rouge at a school for the deaf and blind. There are 16 DMAT medical teams, 25-30 members each, think somewhere between a community ER and M*A*S*H
who HAVE NOT YET BEEN GIVEN LOCATIONS OR ORDERS TO DEPLOY.

That's right, Over 300 Medical professionals attached to FEMA, and under the orders of Homeland Security, sitting around the LSU campus with twiddling theirs, while Michael Chertoff and Michael Brown spend hours on TV claiming they're "Moving Heaven and Earth" to take care of the people of the Hurricane Ravaged Coast.

One of Jill's Team members, Cliff, actually rode out Katrina in a hotel in NOLA, at a national EMS convention. They evacuated hundreds, maybe thousands of people themselves before they were told to report to DMAT teams and wait for orders.

I'm going to drink some, then I'm going to write...

Thanks for reading my pre-vent offensive.
Y'all are too kind to the appologists.

I'm not here for that. Take it as a warning.

-T

Hajji,

It was one of the most gripping moments in a week of television as I've never seen before. And the interview with Chertoff was telling as well.

The cronyism is evident to all. How does the fired head of an Arabian Horse Association become head of FEMA?

Let the hearings begin, and let them begin in front of the dispossed.

One more thing, in Afghanistan, great care was taken not to call the internally dispossed, refugees. Not here.

My only thought on the comments about the dead is that while I don't care to aggravate the loss to the grieving family, I also do not wish to witness the historical revisionism we saw with the Reagan funeral. It was as if the man committed no wrong. Please!

Rehnquist's life stretches the limits of the old Xian saw, "love the sinner -- hate the sin." Protocol may be strained to fit the occasion; but it seems a little soon to be painting this picture. It is probably only a matter of timing, laying out the case for his bigotry later rather than sooner. I think it's one of those "too close to call" situations.

I must say up front that I don't agree with hardly anything that Jesse Duplantis has to say regarding God and His Word. I do like his attitude. He is one funny MoFo. Louisiana Lip came to our church this morning and fell apart. It is truly weird watching someone so irrepressibly joyful in faith break down for a full 20 minutes. He also let slip a few criticisms of the Cheney Administration.

E&P is dropping bombs on the Cheney Administration (See observer's post at 71). They evidently know it's a target-rich environment:
"While the media has done a good job in portraying the overall deadly failure of leadership, it has not focused enough on this deadly dereliction of duty . . . .

"(Cheney's) absence, and the president’s performance during it, can only add to the rumors that Bush is clueless without the Big Guy at his side." (emphasis mine)

The constant drizzle of bad news from the MSM is getting to be a downer.
* Krugman'sCan't-do Government
* Mo Dowd's United States of Shame
* Rich's Falluja Floods the Superdome

Even BoBo's column rained on W(uss)'s photo op.

If you don't care to register at NYtimes.com, go to BugmeNot.com to get a userid and pw.

While any distracted teenager can tear apart the silliness at rightwing blogs like Powerline. Meringoff plays it close to the vest; so he's the hardest to bust. Hinderaker is easy money. Could any of the friendly neighborhood reactionaries please provide documentary evidence to dispute The New Pravda's op-ed columnists? I really don't want to believe that I live under the most backassward administrations since the days of Hoover and Gamaliel; but it's hard to deny the record.

Hajji,

I read that #78 earlier. I am glad I am not the only emotional man here that can be brought to tears by such a tragic story.

We all must empathize with the vicitms. I feel for the loss even for the rich. Katrina never asked about who to savage. We should have all of the victims in our prayers.

I do not like or respect Trent Lott, I cannot stand the way the guy talks, but I can feel badly for his loss too.

capt

John,
I am really worked up about the lack of response on the Katrina aftermath. I went out for a walk and felt better but you know when you see things like what Hajji posted, you just can't believe that the administration has allowed it to happen. They are the leadership.
I can't believe that we would treat our citizens like this.
The media is showering Rehnquist with praise and that's wonderful for the family but there was another side to his legacy. He was very conservative and he chipped away at the rights of citizens through his whole career. As a woman, the fact that he overturned the laws protecting women from domestic violence is telling. The fact that he was against school integration is telling. It seems to me that he was very comfortable in his life and he looked at decisions very reasonably and logically. But what was lost in the process? For one thing, my voting rights were in lost in the process. I live in Minnesota but my vote didn't count in the 2000 election. I resent that and I always will.

Now, we had about 10 inches of rain here so I'm going to go see how much the Mississippi River came up.

PS. May he rest in peace.

One of Renquist's first political acts was the challenging of minority voters at the polls in AZ.

He wrote against the voting rights, and civil rights laws.

He voted against a women's right to chose.

May his voice be silenced forever!

The Supreme Court can function perfectly well with seven Justices. Until it holds extensive hearings and sorts through the true nature and abilities of those now running the government, Congress must make no new appointments to the nation's highest judiciary body.

***********

Except for the fact that Sandra Day O'Conner is still on the court until her successor is confirmed, I agree with Harvey Wasserman in this article, 'All Supreme Court appointments must be postponed.'

Closer to how I feel about Reinquist...

From WHR

READER: note to News directors in all major outlets. WE don't care. Rhenquist is dead so ship him to New Orleans and float him up and down the street for a week and see if he can be picked out from the rest of the bodies.

'Nuff Said?
-T

Actually, that was silly...

Of COURSE you could pick him out, his skin will be white/blue, instead of black/blue. And his Rolex will be real.

-T

Pandemoniac, Maureen Dowd's article of 9-3-05, United States of Shame, was a very good article.

On not listening

The enemy is inside the wire

The enemy is inside the wire

The Two Americas
By Marjorie Cohn

What good came out of President George Bush's labored response to the hurricane (I won't identify the woman's name in connection as I know of good government gal in Treasury named the same who must be horrified) is the rallying from the other 47 states to rescue these persons. Otherwise maybe the rest of us would have been complacent. So it feels great to be damn mad at the federal government, that institution of anonymity where all of us always seem tethered to in disgust. To be mad at the US federal government is a must and possibly a good thing. President George spoke correctly. I offer applause to him to drown out the noise of confusion in his head and to assist in planting the next thought of support to these US citizens

John Benson, thank you for clarifying your point (maybe I was the only one who didn't quite get it with your first posting...sorry), but I stand by my comments. Actually, I think you and I are on the same page with this, except perhaps you think it is inappropriate to point out disturbing FACTS to save the feelings of the grieving?

The actions and decisions of Rehnquist and GWB have caused much grieving, here in the United States, and throughout the world in bush's case.

(I would also point out that oft times - not saying in this case - family members don't grieve at all because the departed are simply bastards and as the lyrics in that long ago Broadway musical, "A Chorus Line" mournfully stated, "I feel nothing.")

Dangerous Incompetence
By Cindy Sheehan
t r u t h o u t | Perspective Saturday 03 September 2005

The Bring Them Home Now Tour bus that went into Covington is the Veterans For Peace Impeachment Tour bus that I rode in and out of Crawford on. They took about 10,000 pounds of leftover Camp Casey supplies and we had 2 trucks filled to the brim with leftover water from the camp to Covington [LA]. The tour bus also has satellite, so it is the only communications that Covington has with the outside world now.

Sibel Edmunds Update:

9/11 testimony of 'Inconvenient Patriot' implicates Dennis Hastert, other top officials in al Qaeda-related bribery scandal

By Mike Mejia

so far the Righties have been teflon
any wagers on who the first to fall might be?

The Saying

There is a saying that it is not nice to speak ill of the dead. I agree with that saying to a point. There are people who are placed in situations that effect millions upon millions of lives. Many of these people have abdicated their responsibility. Their life must be scrutinized by people who can assess the person's life work and the impact that their life had upon the people.

This scrutiny is necessary in order that we can alleviate present and future mistakes. The stakes are too high to let irresponsible and immoral decisions to go unnoticed, such as the fact that Bush is a murderer and a war criminal. Do we not have the responsibility to call them the way we see them?

Spot on, Gerald!

The MSM abdicated their responsibilities to give us the truth and look where we are now!

Here's David Corn's quote from August 30th: "As I've watched cable news today I've seen no mention of this [Iraqi deaths] , but loads of coverage of Hurricane Katrina, which may have caused the death of 50 to 80 people." Your right, Matt, he and Bush think alike.

I will not be politically correct if some idiot is affecting my country, my family, and me!!! That is the spew we heard from the American Nazis while all the time they were lying to us. We should be nice but the American Nazis do not have to play by the same rules!!!

From a press release LA Senator Mary Landrieu sent out today:
But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast - black and white, rich and poor, young annd old - deserve far better from their national governmeent.

I went to the article of August 30th. It was posted on Tuesday night. If David Corn though the hurricane only killed about 40 people, then how can he talk about Bush being a disaster. Hell, I see a post from Matt that day telling Corn that thousands died. Maybe Matt should be president and editor of Nation.

#103 The first to go should be GWB - but that ain't gonna happen. Michael Brown and Michael Chertoff should both be summarily fired -- but bush will probably give them the Presidential Medal of Preparedness or some such nonsense.

General Rove is undoubtedly preparing the spin to make Gov. Blanco, Senator Landrieu, and Mayor Nagin the heavies. (They probably do have some culpability...but what is FEMA and HLS friggin' for????)

Now that Landrieu has discovered she was played for a fool on the bushit photo-op, she's pretty damned mad.

and regardless of all of this I bet the states affected still vote RED...something about forest for the trees

One hateful, bigoted, right-wing creep down; many more to go.

wonder if talk radio will now rail up about FEMA reform as much as the UN reform bit

coming soon on the 700 Club...
Pat Robertson explains why Mardi Gras caused God to flood New Orleans

Hajji,
Go to Crooks and Liars and you'll find the video you want.

With any luck maybe the next big hurricane will hit Bush's ranch when he and his band of croonies are there on vacation.(Since that's half the time chances are pretty good).Hopefully the water will be about 6 feet deep. They will call in the national guard but they must wait since most of them are in Iraq, they will call the head of FEMA but he has no idea what he is suppose to do. Bush just gave him that job because they are friends. They will beg for help from the rest of the world but nobody will help since he has no friends left in the world. Oh if only dreams could really come true.

I have heard the economic impact will be huge from this calamity. Maybe when it hits the Rights pocketbook they will see the light.

meanwhile the gouging at the gas pump is gonna be sweet

RJ,
I agree with your post, except a water level of 8 feet would be much better.

Good riddance to bad rubbish. By Tuesday, he will have been totally forgotten. People want to talk about something else-the bureacratic murders of the Bush administration in New Orleans.

Corn you are an idiot. You make it sound like Renquist and Renquist alone decided Bush V. Gore.
If you would do you r homework, you would find there were two decisions within Bush V. Gore. The first was a 7-2 decision, after their earlier 9-0 decision, admonishing the Florida Supreme Court for their obvious violations of making law. Not only are they not allowed to make law, the sought to impose their new law after the fact. The 5-4 decision came as a result of the court being split as to what they could do to remedy the problem created by the Florida Supreme Court. For you to place this decision on Renquist and Renquist aone is absurd in the least.

Nightline is going to be a Bush incineration fest tonight. Of course, I will be watching.

I finally figured out why I am so enraged by what happened in NO. I have training to work with first responders. I have EMT training. I am going to be there for my city if a catastrophe happens. Well, when Katrina hit land, I figured out the federal government may or may not be there for me when I line up the injured to be evacuated out and I’≠ looking for food and water. Can you imagine how terrified those cops and first responders were? It was a horror show and it went on and on. By Friday I figured out as I watched the people chanting help, help, help, that they may not be there for five days if a calamity hits my city.
And every time I see people like the President of Jefferson Parrish I can only imagine what it felt like to give to the community and the country and do as much as a person can figure out to do in those circumstances and watch the skies for help to arrive and to think, oh here it comes, here it comes, for five days. And then to find out the FEMA kept turning back help. They turned back a flotilla of 500 boats. They turned back food and water. They said no to Canada on their search and rescue team. They said no to Chicago. And the President of Jefferson Parrish waited.

Micki;
Here's the problem I have. I think you and Robert Schwartz are correct, and if we don't say something Rehnquist will be come the best thing that has happened to minorities and other people who can't buy the system ever had. That is wrong, but (and here is where you realize that its only wrong for liberals to be disrespectful of the dead) as soon as we say the deceased was a bigot we're not being respectful. The first act of some super patriot will be to track down the widow or child of the deceased and say look at what the evil liberals are saying. I guarantee you they will give Faux a good quote.

At that point you get "Our deepest sympathy" cards from people who loathed the departed and you think, "Perhaps I should track this piece of used toilet tissue down and give them a something to sympathize about." Trust me on this if nothing else, if you haven't been there, you don't have a clue.

So we can't win, but the real users will be the folks who go looking to make life just that much more miserable by pointing out that not everyone liked the deceased. It is actually easier to accept that not everyone liked the person you loved than watch him or her be used as fodder.

The first thing wrong with this country is its religiousity. I wouldn't mind or deny a human spirituality. Or even a traditional regular time to celebrate/remember it. But come fucking on - do you think god has a beard? Is heaven in the sky? There's nothing there. And the sooner we accept that, the sooner we accept responsibility.

Tim H,

Is WR's being a cog in the machine that destroys a democracy make him any less a villain than if he was the machine, in its entirety?

I don't believe Corn was placing ALL the blame on the schmuck, he was simply reiterating a decision that Reinquist made that he strongly disagrees with. And he did it without calling him a racist, chauvenistic male supremicist, a bigot, an asshole or any other lables that I'd be happy to place on him myself.

-T

You're right John.

ANOTHER DICK CHENEY SIGHTING -- SECRET. SHHHHHHH.

Vice-presidential visit confirmed

By RENATO GANDIA
Today staff
Wednesday August 31, 2005
Fort McMurray Today — The White House confirmed Tuesday afternoon that American Vice-President Dick Cheney is coming to visit Fort McMurray’s (Alberta, Canada) oilsands on Sept. 9.

“The vice-president’s visit to Fort McMurray’s oilsands facilities will be a component of the trip, which will provide the opportunity to discuss energy security and available resources,” White House spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride, told Today Tuesday.

A day before coming to the Fort McMurray region, Cheney will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan in Calgary...

The spokeswoman declined to comment on what specific issues will be discussed by Cheney and McLellan....

“...energy is going to be the focus of the discussion of the whole visit. Naturally, because of (McLellan’s) role as the minister of national security, she will update him on what Canada is doing to help secure North America..." Swann said.

Michael Walker, executive director of Fraser Institute, told Today Cheney’s visit all started as a private trip to visit friends.

“It’s a private trip and then I suggested that he visit the tarsands,” Walker said.

The government got hold of the information and made a public event out of the visit, he said.
Walker will hold a private banquet for the Cheney on Sept. 8 but he declined to comment about its details.

“It’s a very private function. The media had made a bunch of speculations about it but I haven’t talked about it with them. So I’m not confirming or denying anything,” said Walker...
Walker also said he and Cheney fished together, before Cheney became the vice-president, and that they share a lot of interests.

GRRRRRRRRRR

OK I'm back and apologizing to all the faithful who are going to retch over my comments:

Everyone of us is going back to the earth. It doesn't matter how you've lived your life. You're not going to heaven or hell, you're going away. If you think there is a god, good for you, I need proof which will never come. Does the fact that I need proof damn me?

It is hard to pout for any Supreme Court Justice as intellectually dishonest as the late chief justice. I believe his most profound contribution to the field American Jurisprudence will be sartorial; the three pompous yellow stripes he sewed on his robe (a la Gilbert and Sullivan's "Iolanthe"), to set himself apart from the other day-players in the 1996 production of "The Impeachment of President Clinton."

Let us hope that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Bush will be forced to select a Chief Justice with a tad more integrity and style than the late, yellow-striped Rehnquist.

Brent,
If there is a God, he doesn't care. Just be good boy and you'll do fine. Bush believes he's on the stairway to heaven and I got news for him.
By the way, I'm a mom so when I say be a good boy it isn't an insult. It's just me being a mom.

I fully concur with Mr. Corn's comments on the passing of Senor Reinquist. Good article

God is the make believe friend of grown ups.

Here's the head of the totem pole the President of Jefferson Parrish was talking about. Get the chain saw.

Knight Ridder Exposes Horsey Background of FEMA Chief

By E&P Staff

Published: September 04, 2005 10:00 AM ET

NEW YORK So who is Michael Brown, now catching all kinds of criticism for his handling of the catastrophe in New Orleans? It seems his primary career experience before nabbing a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) post was running a Arabian horse association. An article by Matt Stearns and Seth Borenstein for Knght Ridder Newspapers observes, "there was little in Michael D. Brown's background to prepare him for the fury of Hurricane Katrina."

The reporters quote Kate Hale, former Miami-Dade
emergency management chief: "He's done a hell of a job, because I'm not aware of any Arabian horses being killed in this storm. The world that this man operated in and
the focus of this work does not in any way translate to this. He does not have the experience."

During the 1990s, Brown served as judges and stewards commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association. His job was to ensure that horse-show judges followed the rules and to investigate allegations against those suspected of cheating. "I wouldn't have regarded his position in the horse industry as a platform to where he is now," said Tom Connelly, a former association president. The reporter refer to Brown's stormy years with the horses as a "rocky tenure." Some have claimed that he was fired from his post.

But Brown knew Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's 2000
campaign manager. Allbaugh took over FEMA in 2001, and hired Brown as general counsel.

Brown blames victims
clearly a suitable team member for this administration

I posted this to the webpage Capt. Helped me set up. Anybody wanna try the comments out for me?

Jill's Katrina DMAT Updates

Thanx,
-T

Ffolks,


Jill called today while I was at work, so I didn't get to talk to her very long.
She told me that they're on hold at a school for the deaf and blind not far from the LSU campus.

They were served a great breakfast (considering) by the LSU Mother's volunteer brigade. In Northeastern SC, we shouted "Go Tigers" for ourselves last night. Let me shout "Go Tigers!" for them today.

Much to the team's frustration, they are one of sixteen DMAT teams who are simply idle, waiting on orders to deploy. Whether from security concerns or confusion about where they might be most effective there are over 300 DMAT medical professionals in Baton Rouge alone who want nothing more than to help the sick, injured and otherwise broken champing on the bit and nobody's seen fit to ring the bell and open the gates. I can certainly understand their frustration.

While there's evidence of downed trees and minor structural damage in Baton Rouge, Jill says that the worst is seeing many people empty, shuffling along seemingly shocked and displaced but the field hospital set up in the LSU gym wasn't really that busy.

A couple of developing stories....

Cliff, one of Jill's Teammates rode out the hurricane at a downtown NOLA hotel, apparently at an EMS convention. They evacuated hundreds, themselves, before they started being called to their DMAT teams. People like Cliff are indicative of DMAT folks, they'll suffer along with the people, get them out, go back for more...God bless them!

The second was a quick story about a California DMAT team being pulled from the Superdome area after some shooting in the area. I'm still looking for some confirmation.

Anywhoo...Jill and her team are dry and safe and raring to go. Please take the opportunity to drop her a note in the comments section.

I am new to this, so bear with me on updates and such. I'll try to not let my personal political perspectives color this blog. (well, not TOO much anyway!)

-T

It looks like the emergency management for No was privatized.
The Politics of Weather.

So why the tardiness, and the failure to learn lessons? Well, you know that thing about capitalism and the free market being the most efficient system available? Want to hear something hilarious? New Orleans' seemingly unintentionally accurately named 'catastrophic hurricane disaster plan' was privatised last year.

IEM, Inc., the Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Thanks to that, as Dewberry, a partner in this noble venture put it a while back, '[h]ad one of the devastating hurricanes targeted New Orleans and southeast Louisiana, state and local officials would have been ready'. So how's that working out?

IEM stands for Innovative Emergency Management. I guess 'Climb for your life!' and 'Run to the football stadium!' are pretty innovative. To be fair it must be hard to focus when you're so freaked by the impact on insurance, let alone oil prices.

I should confess that no amount of online poking on my part has clarified to me precisely who in this corporate/mayoral thicket gets to decide when to order evacuation, vertical, horizontal or other. It's possible that the buck stops as much or more with Nagin as IEM and Dewberry. I dunno. So maybe we should just share the love.

The plot thickens. The politics of weather, the shyness of experts. This continues from my earlier post. It's an update and too long to put on a post. Here's the beginning.
-------
Remember my earlier point that disaster management in New Orleans had been privatised, the 'catastrophic hurricane disaster plan' having been handed over to Baton Rouge-based Innovative Emergency Management last year? Watching this nightmare unfold, I've been wondering why no fucking one is asking what exactly IEM got paid for.

It's turning out to be very hard to find out, for rather startling reasons.

In my first post on this, I quoted their original press release:

IEM, Inc., the Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Don't bother trying the link to that release on the original post. It doesn't work any more. Let me explain. If you go here now, you'll see IEM's page of press releases. Below is what it looked like at 3am on Friday 2nd September, a few minutes ago.

Jeanne;
If you understand what I'm saying, I'm sorry. If you don't, enjoy the days.

It's getting downright nasty in the Big Easy.
White House Shifts Blame to State and Local Officials.

Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday.

The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they'd been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals," said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

John,
I understand what your saying. I was being honest.

more ownership society--blame the states

Mitt Romney says the people are to blame for not having six gallons of water per household...wonder if he thought they should have the duct tape too?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1094262&page=1

WE ARE DOOMED. The United States is a nation of idiots. Bush can do no wrong. Check your brains at the door (if you ever had one!). We fuckin' get what we deserve.

blame bush is still 44 to 55
hovering in the same space since 2004
could be worse

should be worse but they do follow the party line well, don't they

ed, you sound so blaise (sp!) like it is no big fuckin' deal that our country has been hijacked by a bunch of selfrighteous, religious gun nuts and god nuts. I am safe and sound and dry and I have a roof over my head and food on the table and a job and my kids are in a good school, but what good does that do when so many of our country does without and the ones with everything under the sun just don't give a flying fuck? these assholes in DC are going to cause home grown terrorists to come out of the woodwork, mark my words.

LOL the sky is falling
look I agree 100% that this is the worst administration we have ever seen and that the policies of the Right can and will lead to utter disaster
I'm just not that F'n freaked by an abc poll
sheesh

besides until we have an honest nationwide debate on class and social mobility the god and gun nuts will be the least of our problems

and again it's a poll
if you have the resources and understand the math you can get a poll to say about anything you want

Hate the Sin

We have also heard that we are to love the sinner but hate the sin. This is very true. God loves the sinner but hates the sin. Dietrich Bohoeffer in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, says that we must be careful and not distance ourselves from God. When we sin, we distance ourselves from God. Sin separates us from God. At some point, if we are to die and we have distance ourselves from God, we will have put ourselves in eternal peril. Our souls are damned.

St. Jerome has said that for each time we sin, we are hanging on like a thread toward hell. The sin cuts the thread and we are falling into hell. As we fall and say to God, please help us, He catches us and lifts us to tie the thread closer to Him. As we tie the thread, we are drawn closer to God. As long as we can ask God to forgive us, He will forgive. Yet, with each sin we place our souls on the way to hell. There may come a time when we will be unable to ask God to forgive us. If that is the case, we are damned and our souls are forever a resident in hell.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says that we should be close or near to God. We should never distance ourselves from God. We are near to God when we pray. Prayer keeps us close to God. We must remember that God's favorite word is Abba. Abba means father. We need to talk to God as we would talk to our father.

We have a choice to sin or not to sin, to pray or not to pray, to be close to God or to distance ourselves from God. We have that choice.

maybe some of that zombie attitude is the lulling effect the Right has placed on society since post 9-11...you see enough nonsense you get desensistized to some of it
I can't even get excited over the Rehnquist thing, I see it as one hard right trading in for another hard right
when a liberal justice dies I'll get excited
that's when the scary stuff comes into play
losing O'Connor was the first step in that reinforcement of conservative judicial agenda
if they get another RED in the court over a BLUE we may see some real choas is the US
not that we are lacking any now

er, Amen?

LOL the sky is falling????????????????

You are laughing? WTF. I think maybe you are out of touch with your remark about the gun nuts and the god nuts. they are NOT the least of our problems. I think maybe you are a plant on this blog. the god nuts and the gun nuts are the major part of our problems in this county. where have you been?

a plant ?
sounds like how the Republicans question ones patriotism whenever they oppose a post 9-11 initiative
who's the plant ?

How's your US history?
We've been a god and gun nut country since day one...still the only world superpower
The difference lately is the change in tone of political debate since the Clinton impeachment side show...the extremists on both sides pushing agendas so over the top that moderates don't know what to do
I'm a hard Lib on most issues...I just think the tone is useless...you can't beat an argument into someone the same way you can't war a country into democracy
especailly when they are on your own side

ed, you are a pussy or a phony, or a pussyphony, or a phonypussy, but which ever way it is just keep on with your "waiting until things get worse" syndrome. it's that kind of let's wait and see attitude that got us into this shit. sheesh yourself!

besides I'm the dictator of the FRI
-respek!

lol you're about as useful to this debate as Ann Coulter is for the Reds
am I a puss for not being as hard Left as you?
focus on the enemy

My US history is pretty good, thanks.

Okay, define the "enemy?"

good then you know we were god and gun nuts when we got here
ask the Native Americans and later the Africans

the enemy is the hard RIGHT
the religious RIGHT
and the MSM

After defining the enemy, give us a plan (brief, of course) as to what you'd suggest are the first steps to take for a winning strategy.

The MSM is the enemy? That is totally ridiculous. How?

ever hear Doc Savage?
imagine if the best the Left can produce is our version of that psycho
I'm not saying don't be angry
there are far too many dead for that
I'm saying focus on the solution
part of the solution is engaging those in the middle that the MSM has convinced to go RED through constant repetition of GOP talking points
we need some of them to overcome the 44/55 divide

I am not hard left, BTW. I am slightly left of center.

MSM
talk radio
Fox and other cable news
tabloid newspapers ie. Post

the views expressed within are not news but commentary disguised as news
the Tim H's of the world repeat these like mantra because when you hear something enough you can believe it to be true
lots of red staters really believe in the Liberal nightmare machine of godless heathens, sexual deviants and social sponges
we need to counter that with something better than you guys are ignorant

That is (almost) total bullshit that MSM is to blame. Most information that Americans need to make rational decisions is readily available, even to those who do not have internet access, but they are too friggin' preoccupied to access the information or pay attention. Sure, lots of people in the media suck up to the Bush Administration, but not all do. I wish people could differentiate between "news" and bullshit. But most Americans no longer have the ability to discern what news is. They think reality shows are news. Or runaway brides are news.

Brief steps

first bring the MSM back to the middle
who what when why and where
pundits be damned, propaghanda outed

next the Democrats need to reconnect to commonly held ideals such as security for our family, upward mobility and social justice

elitists and leftnuts need to beat it, hasn't helped us in over five years and ain't going to any time soon

then we need to re-evaluate our capitalist economy and it's relation to international policy

then a war on poverty

Fox doesn't even have a real newscast for chrissakes. Talk shows are not news.

if that theory is BS you tell me how they got the flip flop handle on Kerry so easy and wide spread

then tell me how Limbaugh doesn't influence the tone

then tell me Fox isn't converting Blue workers into Red idealists...fox republicans are a lot like what's wrong with kansas

they own ratings right now...own them
that's viwers, that's advertisers and if the winners of the war write the history books...
they also cover the local news on cable...I have personal Fox here in Boston...between them, the Boston Post and RKO radio you'd think Ted Kennedy was Ed Gein

there is a whole new breed of republicans out there now...and those are the dangerous ones
they are the cogs, they are the Eichmann's

Elitists? Dont' get me started with that!!!!!

"next the Democrats need to reconnect to commonly held ideals such as security for our family, upward mobility and social justice."

Excuse me!!! But, Democrats have NEVER abandoned ideals such as security for families and social justice. As far as upward mobility -- most Dems that I know feel that upward mobility doesn't have to go into the stratosphere -- it just has to be FAIR AND JUST. Yo don't sound like a firmly rooted Dem to me.

Bush would be toast if not for the constant support he receives from an uncritical MSM

Kerry is an elitist, sorry, he is
out of touch, a bit
name me a few shining Democratic stars that are leading our cause right now...Reid? Hillary? Rangel? Who's our big gun?
The Dems VOTED for this war
They VOTED for the Patriot Act
They allowed a lot of this to happen...abandoned?
The Dems thus far have lost the ball
And yes I'm not firmly rooted
I wish we had a REAL third party...a little further Left to be sure

Uncritical? I have watched and read much critical media coverage, though I admit there should be more. Part of the problem is that MSA (main stream Americans) choose to get their "news" from Faux, Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, and that bunch of non-news nonsense group. Why do the Bush people hate Dan Rather and Peter Jennings? Because they reported facts that were not favorable to their agenda.

upward mobility are you for real
Americans have been slipping into the poverty levels for the last four years
stratosphere?
As Kennedy put it "it's a damn shame that in the greatest country in the world a family scrapes by when all members are our working a forty hour week"
I think it's crazy that the only system in our nation without checks and balances is our economy
then again with both major parties in bed with big business what's the surprise

lazy Americans are to blame
but we need to look at that in a larger view
these guys are wrapping evil stuff in the flag nailing it to a cross and selling it on the cheap
when we have the Democrats hamstringing Dean the only anti war candidate

I liked Clinton, I dislike the prospect of us running his wife
Other than Obama and a few others I see no major breakouts in this Left class

There aren't enough Dems who are carrying the torch right now. True. But, ya know what? Conyers, Feingold, Kucinich, the Black Caucus, Wesley Clark, John Edwards, Barbara Lee, et al. are continuing to speak up. If more people would show their support for these people who don't have the limelight, we'd make some progress. There are many, many Dems who are putting up the good fight.

You totally don't get what I was saying about upward mobility. gotta go.

not working hard enough
not even close
there is NO EXCUSE for us losing the 2005 election...NONE
they had us set up to sweep that nonsense
but we lost...if this were a corporation we would have had a Monday morning meeting to fire all of those losers
back in 2000 gore roasted clinton--moronic and the LEFT stood silent
in 2004 the antiwar on the LEFT were sidestepped to say the least and the LEFT stood silent
we all need to accept some fault in this too

Ed, they are not republicans.

Headlines:

Five dead 'were army workers'
At least five people shot dead by police as they walked across a New Orleans bridge yesterday were contractors working for the US Defence department, according to a report by The Associated Press.

Homeland Security won't let Red Cross deliver food

Despite Warnings, Washington Failed to Fund Levee Projects

New Orleans Death Toll May Soar; Survivors Desperate; Looters Brazen
Mayor says thousands of bodies could be found in the city, where 90% of homes are submerged. Troops and ships are ordered into the region.

New Orleans Cops Shoot Eight Gunmen
Posted Sep 4, 2005 03:50 PM PST

Latest update: The men were not gunmen; they were CONTRACTORS on their way to try to repair one of the levees.
There is no communication down there. The various groups are just running around in circles and there is no coordination. And coordination was what FEMA was supposed to have set up in advance!

Cargill Says Grain Exports Halted on Mississippi After Katrina

For a week's worth of elite looting a city dies

Despite everything, next week the Republicans intend to finish the legislative process of permanently ending the estate tax, thus "shifting some $1.5 billion a week - about the same as the Iraq war - from the public treasury to the bank accounts of the heirs to the nation's twenty thousand biggest fortunes" Strangely enough, that week's worth of $1.5 billion is also just about what it would have cost to fix the levees enough to have prevented the New Orleans disaster, money that Bush claimed he absolutely couldn't spare...

What the @#$% is FEMA thinking?
Let me give you just three quick examples. We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn't need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don't give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, "No one is getting near these lines."

New Orleans: Destroyed by Presidential Negligence

Bush's Staged New Orleans Photo Ops

Louisiana Senator Threatens President Bush

New Orleans Funds Pre-Spent
While $71 million was denied to protect our own country and our own people, Washington continues to send two to three BILLION dollars annually to Israel, the only country in that region with nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

Bodies Are Strewn 'Like Roadkill'

U.S. Aid Effort Criticized in New Orleans
Posted Sep 4, 2005 10:17 AM PST

About halfway through the audio file, Chertoff states that the thousands at the Convention Center are a "rumor".

German correspondent shocked about staged Biloxi events

Insurers face $40bn claims after Katrina

Warnings went ignored as Bush slashed flood defence budget to pay for wars
Vital measures to protect New Orleans from "catastrophic" hurricane damage were scrapped by the Bush administration to pay for its wars on terror and in Iraq, despite official warnings of impending disaster.

FEMA Outsourced N.O. Disaster Plans To Politcal Cronies/Donors

Bush Suspends Posse Comitatus, Active Military Pour into New Orleans

Australia expresses frustration at lack of access to New Orleans
------------
These are all from just one website. bushco is SO FINISHED!!

Hajji, my thoughts are with you and Jill, and all my friends here. I think the badass shit is hitting the fan.

Due to Jeanne's heads-up, I was watching tonight's special Nightline on ABC (Channel 6 Philadelphia) for the first half hour... then about 12:08 am it switches with no warning to some old B-movie! This was immediately after the intro to the next segment which was the President of Jefferson Parish in tears. Grrrrrrrr. This is freaking me out thinking the station intentionally pulled the plug. Did this happen elsewhere?

I've been trying to punch out a few words about everything but find it extremely difficult.

Death of Rehnquist: I guess it's up to the maker to judge him now. I wish him the best.

Hurricane Katrina: Katrina will not be forgotten. Tragedy has a was of sorting out the heros and brave people from the cowards and losers, don't it.

-Big Al

MSM is a bed partner with the bushgod.

A truth deficit is enslaving America.

God has said that we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven unless we are like little children.

I DO NOT KNOW IF THERE IS A HEAVEN BUT I PRAY THAT THERE IS NO HELL.

Hell could be worse than living in America where there is a perpetual mentality of hatred and killing.

If you have any doubt that America is similar to hell, you need to ask the people in New Orleans. Yes, America is synonymous to hell.

Hajji, re Post 126

You are being real but Corn isn't. You are willing to call a Justice of the Supreme Court a bigot etc. Corn's masking of the real issue he
has with Renquist isn't Bush V. Gore but that he was the lone dissenter in Roe V. Wade. Your hatred of a man you have never met or known personally perplexes me. Even Lanny Davis, advisor to Bill Clinton, spoke of his fond friendship with the Chief Justice on FOX News today that dates back to 1973. He even admitted that he respected the Chief Justice presiding over the impeachment of his client. He admitted that, had he not known him personally, he would have had different thoughts about the proceedings. Yet, even Lanny Davis, called Chief Justice Renquist, a man of great intellect, integrty, and above all, a man of honor. What high horse are you riding on that you can put such words that you portend into anybody else's mouth? Especiallly that of your Gaia, David Corn!

The reign of Beelzebub

A great article!

Another one takes the stand

We need more people willing to take the stand.

US the next Saddam Hussein

Most of us knew that fact already!

What next Mr. War President?

Bush has been a total disaster as an emperor!!!!!

A Death Threat

Justin Raimondo is one of my favorite writers. Words are out; killing is in!!! It starts with words, followed by mental persecution, and followed by physical persecution and death by the neocons and the kkkevangelicals. The crazies are losing it!!!

The Peace Movement

Thank God for parents who truly love their children and do not want for them to kill and be killed.

Gross miss management has abounded in this administration, from pushing out knowledgable aftermath planners for a war in Iraq due to a political spat with Powell and his state department, to irresponsible leadership and accountability for the Iraq prison scandals... and here is a line on the "director of FEMA" from a link I received... FEMA director Brown experience with being a rules enforcer for an Arabian race horse association was no where near the level of experience that would translate into disaster preparedness and while it is normal to a political appointee, this seems to have been a political favor... c'mon you got at least come somewhat close with a match of skills with the responsibilities their appointment will entail

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/nation/12559622.htm

Taming terror the Southeast Asian way

Sep 2, 2005

By Jonathan Ross Harrington

In the wake of recent attacks in London, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and now once again the Philippines, it is difficult to find current evidence of strategic success in the "war on terrorism". Countries, particularly those in the West, have yet to develop (or at least articulate) a plausible strategy for undermining the capabilities and ideological appeal of Salafist jihadi organizations (brands of extreme Islam such as al-Qaeda). Hopefully, recent developments in Southeast Asia will reemphasize a globally parsimonious strategy that, considering its theoretical simplicity, has received insufficient attention.

When developing a more robust counter-terrorism strategy against radical Islam it must incorporate political strategies - driven by nation-states - to address local grievances rooted in issues such as nationalist-separatist, socio-economic, minority representation, etc. Unfortunately, the more "democratically challenged" states may naturally be reluctant to engage decades-old separatists in an effort to make headway against a blurred, yet interconnected Salafist jihadi threat straddling their borders.

A conceptually simple strategy emerges from this situation: resolving the political grievances of "traditional" insurgents will aid states in attacking the irreconcilable agents of the global Salafist jihad.

We have not yet found a coherent strategy to fight the ideology of hate that epitomizes the global jihad, yet over the decades Western/secular countries have refined the political peace process. The campaigns of organizations such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Free Aceh Movement have in the past provided the requisite operating environment for a Salafist jihadi network dedicated to attacking Western targets.

The current peace processes are positive signs that such an environment is waning. What the West can do is to exert political pressure on other states - in this case the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - to strategically and cooperatively engage all of the nations' aggrieved Muslim groups that seek political, rather than existential ends. This is the region's best chance to counter JI and the West's best chance to achieve tangible, strategic results in the "war on terrorism".

*****end of clip*****

This is an important article about how to win against the causes of terrorism or extremism.

capt

"c'mon you got at least come somewhat close with a match of skills with the responsibilities their appointment will entail"

Not when the misadministration is fueled by money, favors and cronyism. There is no "good" sense in the motivations and rewards for pals and donors.

The new paradigm is money first, pals second, other friends and donors third, then back to money. A circular logic of corruption.

"Best democracy money can buy" eh?

capt

Do not miss:

http://billmon.org/

Brown is a horse of a different color. Billmon is making glue out of the old nag.

capt

Police, firefighters driven to suicide: mayor

September 5, 2005

Some New Orleans police and firefighters were driven to suicide by the trauma of trying to hold the city together in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin said.

"Some firefighters and police officers have been pretty much traumatised. And we've already had a couple of suicides," he told CNN.

Local emergency services were overwhelmed by the level of destruction unleashed by Katrina, and found themselves helpless as the city swiftly descended into anarchy with widespread looting and violence.

Outnumbered and unable to deter the looters, a number of police officers simply turned in their badges in disgust.

"They've been holding the city together for three or four days, almost by themselves, doing everything imaginable," the mayor said, "and the toll is just too much for them."

The mayor said his main priority was to cycle the most fatigued emergency personnel out of the city as soon as possible.

"They need physical and psychological evaluations," he added.

Once the evacuation of hurricane survivors from the city had been completed, he said the next priority would be the grisly task of harvesting the rotting corpses from the flooded streets and houses.

"We have to drain this city. We have to get these dead bodies out of the water," he said, estimating that the death toll would be in the thousands.

Mr Nagin has been among the most vocal critics of the Government response to the disaster that left 80 per cent of New Orleans submerged.

He was especially angered by delays in bringing in sufficient numbers of armed National Guardsmen to help secure the city as the law and order situation broke down.

With the arrival of reinforcements in the last two days, including thousands of active service troops, he said the security situation had improved but the overall picture remained dire.

"I see the same thing I've been seeing for six or seven days now. I see destruction. I see despair. I see suffering. I see death," he said.

*****end of clip*****

This is just so sad. How much did Bush cut from the first responders? Forget the 100,000 more police that Bush cut. We have paid billions in our tax dollars to prepare for a "terror" attack? ON WHAT? I believe we have lined enough pockets of the wealthy and "well connected".

Let’≥ impeach the loser for his mismanagement of EVERYTHING he has messed up.

What has Bush done that was good or right? NOTHING!

Bush cannot take responsibility for his past or his present, it will be no different in the future. How can anybody support such a miserable failure?

All this WH is good at is sliming/smearing mothers of dead heroes, screwing the many idiots that supported his campaign of pain, and bad mouthing anybody that does not fawn all over his stupid crap.

capt

U.S. the New Saddam

by Eric Margolis

The most important news from Iraq last week was not the much ballyhooed constitutional pact by Shias and Kurds, nor the tragic stampede deaths of nearly 1,000 pilgrims in Baghdad.

The U.S. Air Force's senior officer, Gen. John Jumper, stated U.S. warplanes would remain in Iraq to fight resistance forces and protect the American-installed regime "more or less indefinitely." Jumper's bombshell went largely unnoticed due to Hurricane Katrina.

Gen. Jumper let the cat out of the bag. While President George Bush hints at eventual troop withdrawals, the Pentagon is busy building four major, permanent air bases in Iraq that will require heavy infantry protection.

Jumper's revelation confirms what this column has long said: The Pentagon plans to copy Imperial Britain's method of ruling oil-rich Iraq. In the 1920s, the British cobbled together Iraq from three disparate Ottoman provinces to control newly-found oil fields in Kurdistan and along the Iranian border.

London installed a puppet king and built an army of sepoy (native) troops to keep order and put down minor uprisings. Government minister Winston Churchill authorized use of poisonous mustard gas against Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq and Pushtuns in Afghanistan (today's Taliban). The RAF crushed all revolts.

It seems this is what Jumper has in mind. Mobile U.S. ground intervention forces will remain at the four major "Fort Apache" bases guarding Iraq's major oil fields. These bases will be "ceded" to the U.S. by a compliant Iraqi regime. The U.S. Air Force will police the Pax Americana with its precision-guided munitions and armed drones.

*****end of clip*****

We will be there as long as necessary and not one day longer?

I guess that is not what Bush really meant to say, I think the truth is we plan to be there "more or less indefinitely."

Maybe it has more to do with what the meaning of "necessary" is?

capt

U.S. troops to be in Iraq 'not one day longer' than necessary, Myers says

Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

4/15/2003 - WASHINGTON -- American troops will be in Iraq "as long as required and not one day longer," the U.S. military's senior officer said here today.

And Iraq's global coin of the realm - oil - has been secured for the future of all Iraqis, Myers pointed out.

The general asserted that that oil revenue will be harnessed by newly freed Iraqis "to develop their country after decades of neglect" by Saddam's despotic regime.

"There is more to do," Myers agreed, including finding and eliminating any weapons of mass destruction, expanding humanitarian relief and assisting Iraqi's to get their infrastructure -- to include the country's police and fire departments -- back on its feet.

And "we must help the Iraqi people create the conditions for a rapid transition to a representative self-government that is not a threat to its neighbors," Myers continued, "and is committed to ensuring the territorial integrity of that country."

U.S. military forces in the Persian Gulf region are drawing down, Myers pointed out, noting that two of the five aircraft carriers deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom - the USS Kitty Hawk and Constellation -- are slated to soon head home.

"We have begun transitioning from combat operations to working with local Iraqis to stabilize and secure Iraq's cities and towns," the general pointed out.

Myers emphasized that the U.S. military and its coalition partners are in Iraq to "support the Iraqi people as they rebuild their nation."

*****end of clip*****

Here we are two years later and everything in Iraq is worse not better, we have more troops and the number is going up not "drawing down."

It is too bad the top leadership in the military are willing to lie through their teeth to support the CIC (Coward in Crawford).

I believe him when he said it, I will not believe him now if his forked-tongue came notorized.

I believed Powell when he lies through his teeth to the world from the UN presentation: "My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence. I will cite some examples, and these are from human sources. (HERE) and I believed the words from the liar and thief himself: "I want justice," Bush said. "And there's an old poster out West…†I recall, that said, 'Wanted, Dead or Alive.'" (HERE).

Of course the lies are old and stale, expired from current discussion about liars in high places.

I was taken for a sucker and I am pissed. I had a feeling they were lying then but I did give them the benefit of my doubt. Never again.

capt

National Hurricane Awareness Week

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

One of the most dramatic, damaging, and potentially deadly weather events is a hurricane. Each year on average, six hurricanes develop over the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, or Gulf of Mexico. Many of these remain over the ocean with little or no impact on the continental United States. Unfortunately, though, on average five hurricanes strike the United States coastline every 3 years. These storms can cause significant damage that can cost individuals, businesses, and government billions of dollars. Worst of all, however, is the loss that can never be recovered: human life.

Currently more than 48 million people live along hurricane-prone coastlines in the United States. The growing number of residents living in these areas, as well as the millions of tourists who visit our Nation's beaches annually, has increased the difficulties in evacuating people from areas that are threatened by an impending hurricane. This problem is further compounded by the fact that a large majority of people living in these areas have never experienced the force of a major hurricane and its devastating impact.

Increasingly, many Americans have begun working to ensure that commonsense measures are implemented to protect themselves and their property from natural disasters including floods, tornadoes, and earthquakes. Their foresight, hard work, and respect for the awesome power of nature often yields great benefits for their communities. They are to be commended for this preventive work, and we should learn from their example as we plan for future disasters.

All Americans must be more vigilant about preparing for disasters in advance, rather than just responding to them after they occur. Specific actions can be taken in advance of a storm that will further protect property, help to ensure that businesses are able to resume work quickly after a storm, and ultimately save lives. In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates that for every dollar spent in damage prevention, two are saved in repairs.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) researchers and forecasters continue to improve the accuracy of hurricane warnings that enable residents to evacuate and emergency personnel to effectively respond well in advance of the storm's arrival. In addition, FEMA and NOAA have focused their resources toward encouraging community leaders to work with Federal, State, and local agencies, as well as volunteer agencies, schools, the private sector, and the news media to collectively undertake activities that diminish the destruction of natural disasters. For hurricane-prone areas, these measures can include residents stockpiling emergency provisions, learning evacuation routes, installing hurricane shutters, building residential safe rooms and community shelters, adopting stronger building codes, and retrofitting existing buildings. These measures have proved effective, and I encourage citizens living in these areas to look for ways that they can better prepare themselves and their communities to reduce the potential devastating impact of these storms.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 20 through May 26, 2001, as National Hurricane Awareness Week. I call upon government agencies, private organizations, schools, news media, and residents in hurricane-prone areas to work towards the prevention of needless storm damage and to join me in raising awareness of the hazards posed by hurricanes.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.

GEORGE W. BUSH

*****end of clip*****

Sure, Dubya and his merry band of morons were taken by surprise?

It was all the Army Corps of Engineers fault?

Those darn mayors and governors?

In his own words, in a presidential[sic] proclamation "on average five hurricanes strike the United States coastline every 3 years." but he CUTS the funding (and every other social service) to fund his illegal and unwise war? By HIS formula he KNEW a storm was brewing.

capt

National Hurricane Preparedness Week

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

Each year from June through November, Americans living on the Eastern seaboard and along the Gulf of Mexico face an increased threat of hurricanes. These powerful storms can create severe flooding, cause power outages, and damage homes and businesses with their high winds, tornadoes, storm surges, and heavy rainfall. The effects of these storms can be devastating to families and cause lasting economic distress. During National Hurricane Preparedness Week, we call attention to the importance of planning ahead and securing our homes and property in advance of storms.

Last year, six hurricanes and three tropical storms hit the United States, causing the loss of dozens of lives and billions of dollars in damage. Across the United States, Americans responded to these natural disasters with extraordinary strength, compassion, and generosity. Many volunteers donated their time and talents to help with the cleanup, recovery, and rebuilding of communities devastated by the hurricanes and tropical storms.

To prepare for the 2005 hurricane season, I urge all our citizens to become aware of the dangers of hurricanes and tropical storms and to learn how to minimize their destructive effects. Our Nation's weather researchers and forecasters continue to improve the accuracy of hurricane warnings, enabling residents and visitors to prepare for storms. By working together, Federal, State, and local agencies, first responders, the news media, and private citizens can help save lives and diminish the damage caused by these natural disasters.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 15 through May 21, 2005, as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. I call upon government agencies, private organizations, schools, and the news media to share information about hurricane preparedness and response to help save lives and prevent property damage. I also call upon Americans living in hurricane-prone areas of our Nation to use this opportunity to learn more about protecting themselves against the effects of hurricanes and tropical storms.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-ninth.

GEORGE W. BUSH

*****end of clip*****

All talk and no action?

All hat and no cattle?

To be caught flat-footed and unprepared is criminal, to go golfing while victims are dying when he claims to care? Priceless eh?

capt

Troops begin combat operations in New Orleans

By Joseph R. Chenelly
Times staff writer

NEW ORLEANS —†Combat operations are underway on the streets "to take this city back" in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"This place is going to look like Little Somalia," Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’≥ Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. "We’≤e going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control."

"We’≤e here to do whatever they need us to do," Sgt. 1st Class Ron Dixon, of the Oklahoma National Guard’≥ 1345th Transportation Company. "We packed to stay as long as it takes."

While some fight the insurgency in the city, other carry on with rescue and evacuation operations. Helicopters are still pulling hundreds of stranded people from rooftops of flooded homes.

*****end of clip*****

The INSURGENCY?

Now we have an insurgency in America?

The army is called into COMBAT in New Orleans?

capt

PRESIDENT FLIES OVER WASHINGTON
Observes political disaster below.

Bolton Asks for 750 Changes To Draft of New UN Agenda
Otherwise he's fine with it.

Iraqi Regime Inches Toward American-Style Democracy
Carries out first death sentences.

Bush Reveals Latest Reason For Iraq War
It's to deny oil to terrorists who went there when we deposed Saddam.

Bush Compares Iraq War To World War II
Like Japan, we invaded a sovereign country that hadn't threatened or attacked us.

Good News: Poverty Rate Climbs to 12.7%
Bad news: still not high enough to help ease military recruitment crisis.

Army Finally Cracking Down on Iraq War Criminals
Top procurement official who criticized Halliburton no-bid contracts demoted.

Americans Urged to Curtail Driving
Fish urged to curtail swimming, birds urged to curtail flying.

More Journalists Killed in Iraq Than in 20 Years of Vietnam Conflict
According to our stateside correspondent.

If irony could kill.

Thanks Ironic Times

capt

Confidence in our president? Lost that years ago, but you go to disaster with the president you have I guess. We are screwed for another three years, unless the whole crowd gets impeached or crucified and personally I am all for crosses on the white house lawn, I'll bring the nails.

Tim H,
...."What high horse are you riding on that you can put such words that you portend into anybody else's mouth?"

If someone else speaks my words, that is their own choice.

..."Corn's masking of the real issue he
has with Renquist isn't Bush V. Gore but that he was the lone dissenter in Roe V. Wade."

I didn't get that from this article at all. Your crystal balls must have been shined, recently, mine are still murky from the storm.

..."Especially that of your Gaia, David Corn!"

uhm...if that's not the most ridiculous statement I've ever read, it is only because I've got 2 calendars of "Bushisms" that I get to enjoy, daily. Well done!

Too bad the archives aren't availible here. You could trouble yourself to see how often I and most of the regular posters have taken issue with statements of their "Corngod".

If only the "Arbustites" and the "Cheneyists" of the world would take issue with the statements and lack of performance of THEIR gods we might get somewhere.

YOU created the Bush Monster,
YOU need to kill it!

-T

WTF,

If you were to set the crosses on fire, you'd probably attract half the reprehensitives to the little party!

-T

Katrina

Katrina was more than a hurricane. It was the beginning of the physical persecution and killing of Americans who disagree with the neocons and kkkevangelicals. At first the slow reaction to respond to people in need could be blamed on lack of planning or people being overwhelmed as examples but it was more than those reasons.

We have to look at Bush's cuts to fund projects to help New Orleans. From there we have the shoot to kill order. The tipping point was a neocon's written article to kill Justin Raimondo. Yes, that is what I said. As shocking as it is, Americans who disagree with the neocons and the kkkevangelicals will be physically persecuted and killed.

Americans do not have to go to Iraq to be killed. Americans will be killed and slaughtered in the good old USA. Death to the free thinkers of America! Even our thoughts will be monitored. We already know that our reading material is monitored through the Permanent Patriot Act. The blood will freely flow on American streets. The only thing that will be free will be the blood of dissenters who will not accept the Nazi American propaganda.

WTF,

Come on, we are not in the olden days.

We would bring some four inch drywall screws and a power driver, cordless just to make sure! HA!

Nails, how passe'!

capt

Hajji,

It is easier for some to assume all groups can only exist in a lock-step blind loyalty thing.

It is that part of themselves that they so despise, we are a label, an object for them to address the their issues. That is a good thing even if born from confusion and their self-doubt.

Our credentials are not at stake our credibility is intact, theirs are still in development of their comments would have a bit more integrity and truth, in time some understanding and tolerance.

IMHO

capt

Cost of hurricane, war to strain budget

No big deal just increase taxes on the poor and the middle class!!!

Tim H,

I find myself in a strange and unusual position...I owe you an APPOLOGY!!!

This, from today's Greenville Snooze
________

Alaskan oil needed in lieu of other fuels

In reference to Mr. Frank Crowder's column in the Sept. 1 edition of The Greenville News about drilling in Alaska, it's pretty obvious Mr. Crowder does not understand what God said in Genesis 1:27-30.

People have been working for years to discover alternative energy sources but we have not reached that goal yet. And yes, I'm all for discovering alternatives, but in the meantime while many people are dying in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and many other states, do we tell them "wait, we're working on alternative fuel sources and that's the reason you have no electricity, water and food?" The land was given to man, God's creation, to use for man's life and benefit, not vice versa.

If we continue to preserve the land, pretty soon there won't be anyone around to enjoy it. Now what's more important, people's lives or the land?
Susan Harmon
Greenville
______________

I'm sorry to call what you said "the most ridiculous statement..."

You're nowhere near this.

-T

WARS ARE NOT PAID FOR IN WARTIME, THE BILL COMES LATER. Benjamin Franklin

Bush taps Roberts to succeed Rehnquist

Move would promote a man still being considered as an associate justice

Updated: 9:03 a.m. ET Sept. 5, 2005

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday nominated John Roberts to succeed William H. Rehnquist as chief justice, and called on the Senate to confirm him before the Supreme Court opens its fall term on Oct. 3.

The swift move would promote to the Supreme Court’s top job a newcomer who currently is being considered as one of eight associate justices.

*****end of clip*****

And there you go!

Roberts for chief? I am WAY more concerned about the new guy, the old guy is dead.

capt

Watch, the dems roll over, let Roberts be confirmed screaming and kicking (right).

Then Bunnypants will name a "real" neochronic nutcase because Roberts is such a moderate?

The GOPhers will be whining "Obstructionists" and the nutcase will also be confirmed.

This will be done quickly because the GOPhers want us to forget about it before the '06 (s)election.

I predict it will happen. I hope I am completely wrong.

capt

Hajji 220, That sounds perfectly reasonable, especially coming from a bushbot! What's wrong with taking 8-10 years to ramp up the drilling in ANWR to bring 2 years worth of oil to market?? Then we can sell it to Japan and China to pay down a few billion in interest on the bottomless pit of debt. What good is debt if there are no people around to suffer from it?!

Reports continue that communications in and around New Orleans are being purposely jammed (and severed) by the US government. The jamming is having an adverse impact on emergency, disaster recovery, and news media communications. The jamming is even affecting police radio frequencies in Jefferson Parish, according to an Australian news report. The President of Jefferson Parish Aaron Broussard told Meet the Press today that FEMA cut his parish's emergency communications lines and he had to have his sheriff restore the severed lines and post armed deputies to ensure that FEMA did not try to cut the communications lines again. Broussard's statement: "Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards on our line and says, 'No one is getting near these lines.'"
-----------------
There is something very wrong going on down there, and I don't mean Katrina. It will be interesting to see who swoops in to buy up huge chunks of property for pennies on the dollar, and how many people from N.O. will be displaced because of this.

#211?

it is war against the victims in NO.

David Corn and the other bitter and hatefull librals make me sick. Claiming to be so tolerant and high minded, they show all of us how Hypocritical and mean spirited they really are.

Roberts nomination because he is unqualified is right up there with the shrub for president. One incompetent knows nothing more than to nominate another for a high position, why doesn't this surprise me?

OK, can we repeal those tax cuts NOW?
Hoow about putting in some Windfall Profit Taxes? I know, NOT GONNA HAPPEN with BushCo in charge.

NEVER, in a time of war and if a financial crisis like this have we provided tax cuts for the rich, not to mention three of them!

I think the oil companies could probably rebuild the Gulf states with the profits they made over the last six months alone. Not to mention the defense contractors, i.e. Haliburton and KBR. We need Windfall Profit Taxes NOW!!!.

ok I'll bite Keith
what's bitter, hateful and hypocritical about stating someones record in office post humously
If they were proud of their actions in life then no shade can be disparaged now in death

There are people who will share with you what they see as the future for America. Here is part of my perception of what is in store for Americans. Katrina is the beginning of communal graves.

Communal Graves

My perception of America is that America is synonymous with Nazi concentration camps. When I think of Nazi concentration camps, I visualize communal graves. Since the 10% of wealthy Americans desire more land, communal graves are the answer.

Communal graves will be the size of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The 90% of Americans who are poor will be laid in communal graves. Human bodies will fill these graves. As the bodies decompose, the land will be fertile and rich for the pleasure of the 10% wealthy.

Mini gardens can be planted so the wealthy can grow more food for their way of life. They will have more food to eat and as the food passes through bodies, they will have mother loads of all mother loads so their servants can scoop up the human dung so the dung can be baked into cake dung for fuel. The wealthy will donate the cake dung to the 90% of Americans who are poor for fuel during the winter months.

The wealthy can feel that these charitable donations will offset their miserable, pathetic, and worthless lives of corruption and decadence. These miniscule donations for 90% of Americans will help make the wealthy feel important.

The choice for America is very clear. Do we want Shalom for America and the world or do we want to continue our path toward communal graves?

John Benson,

Humankind created "god" in her/his own image roughly during the Paleolithic era. We have been reinventing her/him for tens of thousands of years. Over the past four thousand years or so, "god" went from being peaceful, loving, nurturing to become a warring, vengeful and destructive "god". I have no use for this "god".

Funny.
I never said that Mr. Corn should write a good obit for Judge Rehnquist. But haranguing him (i.e. calling him a racist) after he is dead, and unable to defend himself is the work of a coward.

I think what disturbs me most about Rehnquist and now Roberts is the lack of encompassing leadership. Their leadership represents the world they live in, the white upper middle class suburban male world. I would accept this in a Supreme Court judge if, IF, there was other representation there. All of the country's representation is missing. The poor are underrepresented. The middle class now is. Females are. The pendulum has swung far far out of reach and must swing back. And as pendulums do, it will swing back. Come on baby, come on.

I hear you Jeanne!

Let me write this and people respond because I'm not sure on this.
If the recovery of Mississippi and LA and Alabama continues to go poorly what will happen? The sea port needs to be open. Are they doing their best to open it? I don't know if they are because I'm not from around there. What happens to surrounding states if this continues to go slow?
Anyone?

Jeanne,

I know it will affect us here in Wisconsin, at least the grain farmers as the Mississippi river is the thoroughfare by which the grain is transported - down through and out of New Orleans. How this will ultimately affect the farmers, I don't know - it could raise prices which will be good for them, not good for the consumers. I bet there are some economists, or pseudo-econoists out there that will have some input.

"But haranguing him (i.e. calling him a racist) after he is dead, and unable to defend himself is the work of a coward."

Only if it were untrue. If a person has a record that is a addressable and easy enought to confirm it is a fact not cowarice, look it up.

SCHWING and a miss, and it is neochronic jerks that come to a progressive blog and complain that posts here are not favorable to racists and jerks that make me puke.

Go spew in an echo chamber.

Nobody is buying your whihing here pal.

Waa, Corn references the bigots record? WAAAA

Cry baby neocon-men.

IMHO

capt

August

I propose that August should be a national holiday for Americans. If the emperor can take off from work for the month of August, why can't Americans be off as well?

Port cargo business may suffer

Port cargo business may suffer

3:10 p.m., Saturday

By Jaquetta White
Business writer

The Port of New Orleans, already loosing several million dollars a day because it remains unable to operate after Hurricane Katrina, will probably permanently loose some of the cargo business it once handled.

Vessels bound for New Orleans are being diverted to competing ports in Houston, Tampa and Mobile. And the longer ships use those alternative routes, the less likely they are to return to New Orleans.

"Some of them will remain over there," said Anatoly Hochstein, director of the Ports and Waterways Institute in Arlington, Va. When the port is fully operational again, "at best it would be the same as before, more probably it will be worse."

A rule of thumb when dealing with cargo movement is that business tends to stay put unless there’s a reason it has to move. That could be troubling for local ports as they try to regain their footing. Traffic that they loose now to other Gulf coast competitors might not come back.
The Coast Guard has opened some stretches of the Mississippi River to vessels with a draft, or depth, of no more than 35 feet, with priority given to military ships and those carrying oil. But deeper draft vessels will have to wait until the Coast Guard can conduct soundings to check for sunken barges or other impediments.

The port itself escaped major structural damage. Port President and CEO Gary LaGrange said in an assessment report that the roofs, outside walls and doors of several buildings and sheds were damaged. Included in those, he said, are the Julia Street Cruise Terminal, which has sections of its roof missing. The port’s heavily used sheds at Governor Nichols Street and Esplanade Avenue also were damaged.

"Our wharves appear to be, for the most part, intact and able to conduct cargo operations," LaGrange wrote in the report.

The gantry cranes at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal also were not damaged, said David Wagner, the port’s chief operating officer, but they can’t be operated without electricity.

However, with the situation in the city still uncertain, it’s possible port facilities could be damaged in the wake of the storm. For example, on Saturday fires were still raging along a stretch of old secondary wharves in the Bywater.

Another major issue for the port is trying to locate its employees, Wagner said.

"Physically, we’re ready to operate. But getting electricity and people are the biggest issues," Wagner said. "It doesn’t make sense to have a bunch of cargo in the wharf if you can’t do anything with it."

*****end of clip*****

From Saturday, but there you go!

capt

Kevin,

It is more the work of people who are damn tired of revisionist history.

The man worked actively to reduce the rights of minorities, women, and the generally unenfranchised. The Reagan lovefest was a clear indication, that without an active examination of the man's record, it will be glossed and glorified. I, for one, will have no part in it.

But, in the larger sense, it is the Roberts' nomination which draws our attention. This is the time to point to the mess in New Orleans, and ask about simple competence to make appointments. The Bush administration has shown a willingness to reward contributors, and engage in old school patronage.

No new Bush appointments should be approved until a full competency hearing is held, with everything from 9/11 intellegence failures or complicity, Iraq and the Downing St. minutes, and the Katrina Fubar Incident all on the table.

Listening to Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, head of the Army's Corps of Engineers say that spending the monies that were deleted from the budget had nothing to do with the disaster, was laughable. This man was Bremers #2 in Iraq, after all.

Furthermore:

The man Bush is using to counter the news that he cut funding for hurricane safe
by Rob Kall

The head of the Army Corps of Engineers Commandant Lt. Gen. Carl Strock,is spending his time protecting George Bush, making excuses for incompetence and failure in New Orleans, explaining why the Iraq war has not impacted upon the readiness to be prepared for disaster.

the Kansas City Star reports

“åt. Gen. Carl Strock, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told reporters Thursday: I do not see lack of funding as a contributing factor in this case. Asked whether more could have been done to prepare for the disaster, White House spokesman McClellan said: This is a time when the whole country needs to come together to help those in the region. And thats where our focus is.

This ңountry needs to come togetherӠmessage is code for a message we who are shining light on the Bush failures are getting from people who want us to shut up and stop pointing out WHY this unnecessary disaster and the horrible aftermath occurred.

This same shill fired Bunny Greenhouse, the army corps of engineers top contracting official who became a whistle blower, raising concerns about Halliburton contracts.

These days I feel more like a peasent than an American citizen. As a low income diabetic, this new Supreme court is bad news for me and others like me. I have a hard time feeling sorry for myself, in light of this weeks events. If I had been stuck in New Orleans with no insulin and no escape, I would most likely be dead.

I have given some money to the Red Cross, but I feel guilty somehow that I sit here safe and comfortable.

Gerald,

The wealthy have no trouble taking anytime off, it is the work-a-day serfs and peons that save for years to have a week in a resort. Then their savings and time off is stolen by friends of Bunnypants like Kenny-boy Lay.

Still no jail time for Kenny-boy.

And the neo-fascists have the nerve to rub our collective noses in it.

capt

MORE SHIT AND LIES FROM BUSH AND HIS BOYFRIENDS, REPORTED BY INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTER:

ZDF News reported that George W. Bush's visit (to New Orleans) was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of 'news people' had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time. The people in the area were once again left to fend for themselves, said ZDF.

ZDF, one of Europe's largest broadcasters, was set up as a public service television station in 1961 and started broadcasting on April 1st 1963. It operates under the mandate to provide information, education and entertainment for all citizens.

Especially strong in news and current affairs, in day-to-day programming emphasis is on top quality information as in the 'heute' news bulletins and weekly indepth magazines thus providing its audience with the highest share of information in Continental Europe, 48% in overall programming.

"No new Bush appointments should be approved until a full competency hearing is held, with everything from 9/11 intellegence failures or complicity, Iraq and the Downing St. minutes, and the Katrina Fubar Incident all on the table."

In the real world that would happen, we are sadly on the other side of the looking glass.

I second the motion anyway.

Can I get a voice vote?

Yays?

capt

Remember that fake turkey bush "served" to the troops?

Hi capt.!

How are you guys holding up? I feel torn up.

On revisionist history:
I always think of Winston, the main character in George Orwells 1984, busily rewriting all of the news stories to fit the propaganda.

Met by Despair, Not Violence

As they begin to patrol the chaotic city, troops are surprised by what they don't find.

By Scott Gold
Times Staff Writer

September 3, 2005

NEW ORLEANS — Forty-four troops pressed together in their truck, swaying as one at every bump and turn like reeds in a river.

As they plunged into the dark water engulfing the business district of New Orleans, their wake pushed the body of a woman onto the steps of the Superdome. The floodwater had ripped her pants down to her knees. She was facedown in the muck, a red ribbon still tied neatly around her graying hair.

The troops, members of an elite Special Response Team from the Louisiana Army National Guard, were the first convoy out of what was rapidly becoming a massive military staging ground.

Their mission, simply, is to turn New Orleans into a police state — to "regain the city," 1st Sgt. John Jewell said.

The truck lurched through the streets, past buildings burning unabated and MPs in gun turrets. When they stopped to gear up for their arrival at the New Orleans Convention Center, where more than 15,000 people had been living in squalor since Katrina, these words echoed — for the first time, one would imagine — through the intersection of Poydras Avenue and Carondelet Street: "Lock and load!"

"Sixteen in the clip!" one Guardsman shouted, a common refrain used to indicate that rifles are fully loaded.

But when they arrived, they did not find marauding mobs. They did not come under fire. They found people who had lost everything in the storm and, since then, their dignity.

The troops braced for the worst.

"Is this the calm before the storm?" one asked as they rolled through the streets.

"There are a lot of gangs out here in the water," said Sgt. 1st Class Maris Pichon, a 26-year veteran of the National Guard who served in Afghanistan last year. "This is not going to be a cakewalk."

Two trucks pulled beside them, one carrying water and one a massive pile of ready-to-eat military meals in boxes.

"Tell me they're not letting the food go in before the troops," one Guardsman said.

"That's called bait," another said.

A troop carrier rolled over an empty water bottle, popping it like a balloon. The troops yanked their weapons to a firing position before realizing what it was.

"No civilians in this parking lot!" a sergeant shouted. "Hold your perimeter!"

No one came at them but a nurse. She was wearing a T-shirt that read "I love New Orleans." She ran down a broken escalator, then held her hands in the air when she saw the guns.

"We have sick kids up here!" she shouted. "We have dehydrated kids! One kid with sickle cell!"

The thieves began ferrying people out of the devastated neighborhoods to the east. The police had deputized looters.

"They had to," Williams said. "There was no other way to get people out."

The thieves dropped him off at the convention center, where he stayed until the troops arrived.

Children slept on laps and on the ground. There was an elderly emphysema patient. A diabetic. The boy suffering from sickle cell anemia, his eyes puffy and his skin yellowish-brown.

The troops arrived Friday, ready for anything.

"You've got to do something," said the nurse in the New Orleans T-shirt.

"We'll get you some help as soon as some people get here," Lt. James Magee said as the troops arrived. "OK?"

Inside, human waste covered the floor. An elderly woman tumbled out of her wheelchair and landed on the ground. Her housedress was soiled. A man had poured fruit punch into an industrial-size bottle of floor cleaner and was drinking it with a straw.

"If you kept a dog in an environment like this, they would arrest you for animal cruelty," said Cindy Davis, 39, the nurse, who had been separated from her group while caring for a patient and stranded at the convention center three days ago. "It's like a cesspool."

"I haven't had food or water for three days," she said. "I didn't know if I was going to make it."

By Friday night, dinner had been served to a seemingly endless line of refugees. Helicopters had begun descending on the convention center, airlifting the most critically ill. The troops had found their mission. It just wasn't what they thought it was going to be.

*****end of clip*****

I hope you all have read this.

capt

I read it. Good post capt. I was certain the place would become a chaotic warzone. It seemed like most of the victims were very patient, considering.

I just started reading the book "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" By William Shirer. The similarities between the current crowd and those guys is truly amazing more than coincidental. Of course the times are different, but it is there for all to see. I am not sure if this is the Forth reich, but they are sure trying to make it one. THe good news is this, the Third Reich lasted twelve years, did massive damage. But this one will last only 5-8 and also do massive damage. The difference? Hitler was better at it, marshalled more resources and enjoyed more success in his endeavours. So we can thank the ineptness, the incompetence, and actual stupidity of our guy, thank god for inbreeding and the loser of the bush dynasty. We got what was paid for, but they got a broken product. We have hope, finally.

What the F**k, I'm not sure I can be so positive. Even if they don't do away with elections, they'll just steal them and keep the same type people in office.

Hey Corky,

Waxin' and taxin' brother,

It is not revisionist history. The liars believe their BS and although the old guy was a racist and a slug (many worse things too I bet) he also did make other rulings.

I HATE the fact that the Supreme idiots got involved in Bush v. Gore, I do not believe for a second it was anything but partisan but look at it this way, he did very little single-handedly (well not much anyway).

His influence was a drain on the small advances made with regard to civil rights but his record will indict him forever, let his ilk praise him at his funeral. We ask as much from the opposition even though they are very low-brow and smear people like Wellstone (and others).

I would feel like I was a hypocrite if I did anything but let them have their day without throwing rock and insults. But that is me, one guy with a keyboard and an attitude.

I am personally reminded of some rulings that come from on high that surprised the hell out of me. Some specifically from the corpse himself. Many times I expected far worse. Again that is just me.

I am not lionizing the creep, there will plenty to do that for him but to condemn him and label him one thing (bigot) seems kind of small minded.

That is just my opinion and others are entitled to theirs. I respect that, no matter what.

capt

What the f**ck,

I have been reading that book during my lunch break at work. It is chilling how many parallels there are. My lame public school education pretty much skipped the Third Riech altogether.

What do you think the "ownership society" court will kill first? The Americans with Disabilities Act, the forty hour work week, minimum wage, workers compensation, or Roe vs. Wade?

BACK ON JANURAY 24, 2005, CONGRESSMAN ROBERT WEXLER (D-FL) CALLED FOR BUSH TO FIRE MICHAEL BROWN, BUSH'S ARABIAN HORSE STUD..ERRRRR DUD, WHO HEADS FEMA:

http://www.wexler.house.gov/news.php?ID=26

Wexler Calls for FEMA Director's Resignation
Letter to President Requests Brown's Dismissal for Fraudulent Payments Made by FEMA After Hurricane

(Washington, DC) - Today, Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) sent the following letter to President George Bush requesting that he immediately remove Michael Brown from his position as head of the Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Under Secretary Brown's agency disbursed over $30 million in disaster relief money, which was allocated to over 10,000 Miami-Dade claimants after Hurricane Frances, which made landfall more than 100 miles away and there was no more than a heavy rainstorm. According to several news accounts by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, "FEMA has written checks to cover new wardrobes, cars, lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, furniture and thousands of televisions, microwave ovens, stoves, air conditioners and other appliances." In addition, the Sun-Sentinel sites that FEMA paid $4,500 for one resident's funeral, even though the county medical examiner recorded no storm-related deaths. Another Sun-Sentinel article stated that two residents received aid for "dental treatments due to dental injuries received during the disaster." In six other cases, FEMA reimbursed residents for damage caused by "ice/snow."

Corky,

Everything, the order does not matter. They will take away more than we have gained in the last 20-30 years.

Sad, and I hope something good happens, we are due for something good, been so long I can hardly remember the feeling.

I am keeping the faith in the broken clock parable, never ticks but is still right twice a day but that clock is an old one, non-digital so I might just be behind the times (again) *sigh*

capt

He won't resign, he will be given a Freedom medal!

For me to try to build a life in this new America seems a bit pointless. I have considered running scared to Canada, but that would be cowardly. It seems I have nothing left but the desire to fight these guys, and of course I always have hope. I still believe in my country. I still believe most Americans do not want this. I still feel lucky to live here. I still believe that we will find a way out of this mess.

Last September, a Category 5 hurricane battered the small island of Cuba with 160-mile-per-hour winds. More than 1.5 million Cubans were evacuated to higher ground ahead of the storm. Although the hurricane destroyed 20,000 houses, no one died.

I posted a link to this article above - The Two Americas, and got no one commenting on it. Interesting.

The slow roll goes on, we get screwed every day by the media, the corps, the politicians, and every time we buy anything made out of this country. We are just subsidizing our own enslavement and demise. Depend on the government? You have to or else you don't have anything to gain. I would relish a chance to be truly independent but the minute you buy anything from any store you are subsidizing this atrocious administration. What do we do? Hope for the best? I guess that when that is the only choice that is what you do/

Capt.

I've got an old broken clock as well. The hour hand is missing and the minute hand is stuck at 20 minutes past.

Have you heard this Aaron Broussard guy? It seems Rove has'nt gotten to him yet.

Robert, I read the "Two America's" piece too, but sometime I reserve my comments as so much singing to the preacher? HA! I would change my stopped clock to match the nuclear doomsday clocks time, well wishing or wishing well that it never gets any closer to midnight. capt

Corky, Einstein got the heck out of Germany before the Nazi's were able to kill him. Not cowardly or dumb. I would not leave myself but that is just me. capt

Odd:

Firefox needs html tags for paragraph and such to keep the format as seen in the comment window.

Back to MSN!

capt

Robert,

My old clock I hope your looks better because if your looks worse you have better blotter brother. HA! (kidding)

capt

Robert,
I read the article. It's frustrating to know that Cuba not only has respect for it's people but also a respect for the weather.

#243 capt, our judicial system is broken and not just the NO levees. #248 capt, great informative article!

Bush's legacy is already etched in stone. It is truly amazing how much damage a second Hitler can do to our country and planet. He is a CRAZY PSYCHO.

Corky,
I have a book, I haven't started reading it yet, called 'they thought they were free' by Milton Mayer. I don't know where I read about it but it's interviews with the average people of Germany in 1933-45. The life stories of ten law abiding citizens. It has good reviews.

Homeland Security won't let Red Cross deliver food

Saturday, September 03, 2005

By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As the National Guard delivered food to the New Orleans convention center yesterday, American Red Cross officials said that federal emergency management authorities would not allow them to do the same.

Other relief agencies say the area is so damaged and dangerous that they doubted they could conduct mass feeding there now.

"The Homeland Security Department has requested and continues to request that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans," said Renita Hosler, spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

"Right now access is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities. We have been at the table every single day [asking for access]. We cannot get into New Orleans against their orders."

*****end of clip*****

Granted it is the biggest mess in recent history. Well the mess in Iraq is worse if only because it was made by piss poor choices.

The mess could have been mitigated by some advanced planning. Terror has never been the only threat to civil order or citizens lives. No a large portion of this mess is all where the buck stops this week, local government, National Guard or a handful of criminal underlings. Anybody but Dofus Maximus, he said so. That’≥ why.

Okay I retreat to a position of no good things but how about that old concept of honorable and truthful. That would be a welcome return of a real value that has been lost in the din of non-stop lies.

capt

While you folks are having your own little pity party, others are out trying to make a difference. Some of the things happening in Houston and other areas right now for the victims of Katrina are just amazing.

What have you bleeding hearts donated in time and money? Or do you just want to "feel" compassionate? That's what liberalism is really all about, isn't it? Feelings?

Please note that John Roberts has now been nominated for Chief Justice. Corky, you had mentioned several different laws and wondered which he was going to be reversed first.

It is my sincere hope that would all be reversed simultaneously.

I was born to two unemployed parents into a small one bedroom apartment in a ghetto. When I was five I was diagnosed with acute aseptic necrosis of the femur, a severe degenerative bone disease. I walked on crutches in a leg brace for three years, being told I would never walk naturally again. I rode four city buses a day to and from school starting when I was eight so that I could go to a good school. When I was seventeen I was diagnosed with colon cancer, having a grapefruit-sized tumor removed from my then 6'4", 106 lb. frame. Ever had last rites said over you? I did - three times!! I went on to play high school and - for awhile - college basketball.

If I had a bunch of pathetic crybabies like you people around, I never would have achieved anything. You folks are so wallowing in your own misery, so full of hate, that you forget that there is a wonderful world outside, if you will just see the good things.

Is there stupidity and evil in the world? You bet. Is it like Churchill said - the worst situation except for all the rest? You bet.

As Tim Robbins' character in "The Shawshank Redemption" said, "You can get busy living or get busy dying." Looks like you folks have chosen the latter. Would that it were the former.

yet with all your acheievements you sound so bitter...I've been waiting for you
my name is Ed

humor me with something better than the bleeding heart routine though, I'd hate to think that was the best you had

This is the e-mail I just sent to Senator Fiengold. I will send a similar one to Kohl. I have given up on Sensenbrenner...

"Dear Senator Feingold,

I am asking you, because I think you are someone who has stood up to the Bush Administration before, to ask for a "No-Confidence" vote and put a moratorium on any Bush appointees. The Bush administration is totally inept at running this country. They couldn't organize themselves out of a paper bag. Why should the citizens of this country have to suffer with lifetime appointments by an incompetent admninistration who care more about helping their corporate cronies line their pocket book than the do the middle class and poor citizens of this country - who are adversely affected by their actions?

Case in point is the the appointment of Mike Brown as the head of FEMA. He is a man who had spent the previous 11 years as a horse breeder for goodness sakes. He has no business heading an organization like FEMA. This was worse than a mistake. This is total incompetence and borderline criminal if not negligent. It does not rise to the level of impeachable offense under our Constitution. But it should. Another case in point are the current computer model estimates of TENS of thousands dead in New Orleans.

I am not even going to begin to tell you what I think about John Bolton, the multiple tax cuts for the rich and the war in Iraq.

I am urging you to ask for a postponement of any hearings on the Supreme Court appointments. I am urging you to push for hearings on the competency of this administration to do ANYTHING, much less make lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court, but if you have to limit it to something, limit it to that.

Your actions will act as your reply,"...

maybe we could start with which of the ALL laws reversed you'd care to see first

Robert,

From the Two Americas:

"They also evacuate animals, veterinarians, tv sets, and refrigerators. 'So that people aren't reluctant to leave because people might steal their stuff'."

This struck me as insightful psychology as to why some might be unwilling to leave their homes. All of the above are precious items to people of limited income.

At the risk of sounding like a pinko commie, the US could certainly take some lessons from Cuba.

And with the sound of the troll-tool vacuum sucking another victim into the web of deceit, deception, lies, insults and complete bulls**t.

I (as always) will return to the emotionless lurk and enjoy all of my like minded friends posts.

Good Day all!

capt

respect as always capt
I do however relish a heated debate with someone who disagrees
still waiting Antoine
no rhetoric, no talking points, you pick the topic

hell i had it out with a fellow blue last night that claimed I was a plant because I wasn't fired up over a flippin' abc poll
I wear my blue with pride

come on now
you can't be gone already

Antoine, did you have a colostomy? If so, was it ever reversed? You sure are full of shit.

Brock was tall and skinny, too -- that is, when he wasn't.

eh whatever, I'm patient
you'll be back Antoine...I'll be here

Antoine,

While I admire your personal story, I still cannot believe that you could continue to support the Bush Administration knowing all that we know now. How could you? And I believe that it was the Morgan Freeman character that said that through a narrative after he was released. I could be wrong though.

Haliburton has already received no0bid contracts to rebuild New Orleans. They haven't even begun to clear out the bodies and the carpet baggers are already rubbing their hands together. Tell me how the poor and middle class will fair in the rebuilding of New Orleans under this administration?

Andy Dufresne: Get busy living, or get busy dying.

"He not busy being born is busy dying. " ~Bob Dylan (1941 - )

Josey Wales: Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy.

And there you go!

PS - Ed, you have my full support for whatever you post or to whomever you post. I just share my POV and my opinion. I will always respect others, that is what is cool about the Corn blog. Our differences are the color of our world and are to be celebrated always.

capt

Antoine,

Your insults mean nothing to me. If your story is true, then you would not have made it very far without the safety net Americas' great Democrats built for you. You are a vile, nasty, cult follower. The fact that you STILL shill for this failed government demonstrates your lack of intellect and/or sanity.

As for me: After my southern redneck "moral values" deadbeat father walked out on my mother and her two children, he did not feel the need to pay child support. We were not exactly rich, but we had things like worker protection, labor laws, economic assistance and the ever present help of our fellow Americans to help us out. After being diagnosed with Diabetes at the age of 13 I did not feel sorry for myself. Not once.
I felt lucky I lived in the greatest nation on earth and not some third world hellhole. At least back then things were different. We were not in the "ownership" society. I worked hard, got a job at 14, and then became Maryland state bicycle road racing champion. I appeared on the front page of the local newspaper and was interviewed twice on Baltimore local news. I gave speeches at hospitals and attended forums to help people cope with Diabetes. I have worked hard every day to since. I outperform the the people I work with. I have never been fired. I never asked for anything. I loved my life.

Then things began to change. Not long after George Bush stole the 2000 election I noticed a shift in our reality. Health insurance began to suck and was a lot less available. The business I worked for went under and I was forced to begin a four month long quest for a job, any job. I went to five or six interviews a day. No one would hire me. I was always up front about my diabetes, I did not think that it would affect my chances of getting a job. One guy in particular at a place that made gun parts said: " I dont want you working here cuz you would have to stop every ten minutes to eat candy, you would not get any work done". So I stopped telling my potential employers about my health affliction. Low and behold, I was soon employed. Did I feel sorry for myself,EVER? Nope.
I never give up. With every ignorant neocon I meet I get more and more determined. I can see that my country is being gutted from the inside out, and I won't stand for it.

If you think your rich guy heroes are going to take care of you Mr. Antoine, you are sadly mistaken. Try and pay for your prescriptions with your Ken Mehlman talking points. You don't know shit about me, pal, or anything else for that matter.

Thanks Capt, I stand corrected.

believe me I agree that troll conversion is about as effective as lobotomy proved
but for whatever reason I still enjoy the fight
I do however think Antoine is afraid
really, he didn't even say hi back LOL

capt.,

I see we have another scrappy neocon fighter here! Good, cuz I am sick of confronting them. I agree with you that is a wate of time. Like running around the Jim Jones compound, trying to tell people not to drink the kool aid. Give em hell, ed!

I gave money to the Red Cross already. Should I do more? Should I drive down south? What should I do?

If someone defends the lies of a liar, does that make them a liar too? Should thier words be believed?

I was born to two unemployed parents into a small one bedroom apartment in a ghetto. When I was five I was diagnosed with acute aseptic necrosis of the femur, a severe degenerative bone disease. How did you pay the doctor? I walked on crutches in a leg brace for three years, How did you pay for the crutches braces, therapy etc. being told I would never walk naturally again. I rode four city buses city buses a day to and from school a public school? Which was prepared to handle your disability? starting when I was eight so that I could go to a good school. When I was seventeen I was diagnosed with colon cancer, Who paid? having a grapefruit-sized tumor removed from my then 6'4", 106 lb. frame. Ever had last rites said over you? I did - three times!! I went on to play high school and - for awhile - college basketball. In a private college I assume!

Sure, Antione.

Indeed! Antoine boasts about love for Bush and then we hear from corky who tells the more common story of workers in America. We are working harder than ever with less benefits and for less money. Inflation eats up our wages which have been stagnant.

Getting back to Katrina. Halliburton is already knee deep in the clean up business in New Orleans and other parts of the gulf coast. There is definitely something rotten about all of this.

Here's an portion of Democracy Now with Amy Goodman. It was an interesting look on how the relief effort is being handled and the mentality of our country. We need to make some major changes in our values.

http://www.democracynow.org

AMY GOODMAN: John, we're going to be playing the trip that you took in the boat as you were rescuing people tomorrow on Democracynow!. I wanted to ask Sharif, you have spent time both in Iraq covering both the invasion and occupation and now you're in Louisiana and New Orleans. Can you make any comparisons, what you have seen?

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well Amy, Saturday and Sunday, there was a large number of troops here: Marines, U.S. Coast Guard, National Guard, there's hummers everywhere, everyone is armed with assault rifles. And I think that what many people don't realize is that New Orleans has really become a militarized zone. I think this is the fault and the major error that has occurred with many of the relief operations here is that they weren't relief operations. They were militarized -- you know, there's a curfew set at 6:00 p.m. in New Orleans and especially in the poorer neighborhoods. If you walked out after 6:00 p.m., you would get shot. The governor gave orders-- shoot to kill. If you became sick after 6:00 p.m., and you had to leave, or if for any reason there was an emergency and you couldn't leave the area. While, there were thousands of troops who were willing to help, I'm sure, they were deployed, I believe, in the wrong way. They should have been deployed as relief operations. John and I, in the course of our work moving from one place to another, were picking people up. We had a flatbed truck that we rented and transporting them all over New Orleans and back and forth because people needed a lift. This is while there are National Guard troops in hummers just cruising by us, and not doing these things. We delivered ice with Malik Raheem while National Guard troops and so forth were milling around.

Yeah Joe,
They did the same thing in Iraq. Bomb it into the stone age and then get contracts to rebuild. Isn't that compassionate? Compassionate like an ...Antoine.

the whole shoot to kill comment from the governor really ought to have cost her the job

Here's something from Think Progress, unlike Antoine who thinks for himself.

At a press conference this afternoon, President George H. W. Bush singled out the Walton Family for their generosity to Katrina relief efforts:

I don’¥ think anyone would mind if I singled out the chairman and CEO of Wal-Mart, Lee Scott, who is right here. He told us that they gave the Bush-Clinton fund a total of $23 million…§15 million from the company and then $8 million more from the Walton family, the marvelous philanthropists that they are.

Let’≥ put that in perspective. The Walton family’≥ net worth is $90 billion. So $8 million dollars represents .009 percent of their total.

The average family’≥ net worth is $86,100. If an average family contributed at the same rate as the Waltons, they’§ donate $7.74.

There are thousands of families all around country that are being far more generous to Katrina victims than the Waltons. Few of them will be personally thanked by a former President.

freedom od speech is one thing
being justifiably upset another
but declaring war on tax paying citizens is unacceptable, even during crisis times

Flan,

?

I did not mean to correct you? I do not believe I have ever found what you post needing any correction.

capt

Rove returns from the rock he lives under just in time. The White House needs to rev up the smear machine.

Scott McClellan, 9/1/05:

As I have indicated, this is not a time for politics. This is a time for the nation to come together for those in the Gulf Coast region and that’≥ where our focus is. This is not a time for finger-pointing or politics. And I think the last thing that the people who have been displaced or the people who have been affected need is people seeking partisan gain in Washington.

This morning’≥ New York Times:

Under the command of President Bush’≥ two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration’≥ response to Hurricane Katrina.

It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, …†and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.

The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush’≥ chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. …†In many ways, the unfolding public relations campaign reflects the style Mr. Rove has brought to the political campaigns he has run for Mr. Bush

call that more free advertising for wal mart
Fox news provided the same as for months we listened to revisionist history on wal mart at foxnews.com
another cog in the turning blue workers red machine--straight talk?

Hmmm... At 4$ a gallon it would cost me more money than is in my bank account to drive to Louisianna and back... Can somebody give me a ride?

I do not get the impression anyone here feels sorry for themselves.

It is full on spin mode now. There are military press releases snuck into the news everywhere.

How can a guy who has never been a Supreme court justice become a chief justice? Has that ever happened before?

There was testimony at Justice Rehnquist's hearings to be Chief Justice in the 1980s that he challenged black voters who were trying to vote in Phoenix in the 1960s, also. Of course, Senator Hatch defended Rehnquist during the hearing.

ed,

The Governor of Louisianna will be given a Freedom medal, too.

Capt, I had told Antoine that I thought his quote about the living and the dying was not by the Tim Robbins character - Andy Dufresne - I told Antoine that I thought it was by the Morgan Freeman character - Red. So, you did correct me even though you didn't realize it.

Keep up the good posts.

Capt,
One of your favorite sites is allowing an obsenity to be shown. Where is the FCC when you need them?
UNEXCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR ALERT.

I urge all of you to write your senators and ask them to have the hearings delayed until the truth comes out as to why it took so long to get help to New Orleans. The truth will prove how imcompetent - if not criminal - the Bush Administration is and we can't have this administration make lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. This could be the chance to turn some people around.

AHHHHHH More?
Compassionate-conservativism, my fucking ass.

I only report what I see.
This is a soldiers open letter to George W Bush. It's a long one so I linked it.
Antoine, I thought you find this one especially timely and informative.

Beyond Icompetence

Reading the news after the Katrina Hurricane
and the lack-of-response disaster,
a pattern began to emerge.

Fran, mission accomplished over the weekend. I even wrote to John Conyors.

Flan,

I am glad I did it on accident. I have always found your posts fun to read and would never look to correct a thing!

I have said it before, I wish you would post more and more often.

capt

flan,

You are absolutely right. Those Senators actually read thier emails too. Clearly the path this government is bounding down is not the same path most Americans want to walk. I believe they will try to use the disaster to force thier agenda, just like they did after 9/11. They will call for unity, and an end to partisanship, then they will attack.

Corky,

11 of the 16 CJ's were elevated from within. I guess 5 came from without? I'm willing to bet every single one of the five had more bench experience than Roberts, but I'm not positive.

-T

I would suggest that if people are emailing their senators as Fran suggested they email Fran's site above. It is a list of the incompetence and it's long. And it's criminal.

Jeanne,

That letter does a good job of summing up my feelings, although I am not sure how much blame you can really put on the shoulders of the mayor.

I miss the good old days already. Do you remember the good old days?

hajji,

Thanks man. You guys are pretty well informed, for a bunch of "liberal kool aid drinkers". I could'nt get through the week without capt.s' great qoutes! Thanks to all of you!

I see a lot of outrage here, but no self pity.

They are right this isn't time for politics at all. We should just get rid of everyone of the theiving crooks and start over again , we do not need a professional class of politicians. we need some really talented amateurs, and they might be able to do the job instead of making this clusterfuck. FUBAR describes these guys the best, no dems no repugs neither party can do a damn thing correctly. I blame the whole political structure that is foisted upon us, it is pathetic. OH yeh, tony, WTF are you sniveling about you can walk can't you? There are a lot of people in NO that can't so they died. Get over yourself.

Corky,
I kind of feel for the mayor too but you should go to the Democracy Now.org website and listen to the guy who ran for councilman from the green party in NO. Holy Smokers. He's not a fan.

What the...,
When you write this isn't about politics. I think maybe you're wrong. I would agree it isn't about race. Kanye West was wrong when he said Bush doesn't like black people. He doesn't like Democrates.

The conservatives I know don't just not care about the poor, THEY HATE POOR PEOPLE. It has become a wierd cult of hate. I know a lot of conservatives, and I listen to what they say, especially nowadays.

I just stopped into a major GOP chat forum. They are talking about the need to cut more spending programs and how to cripple the infrastructure even more. They have links to give money to evangelical prayer groups going to pray with the Katrina victims. They are clueless. Oliver North has a piece up he just wrote blaming the Democratic party for the problems we are facing today.

tough to reconcile both being IN CHARGE and NOT AT FAULT
then again the Right is apt at double standards
blame the Dems, blame the poor
but the people in power...not so much

though it is sickening and mind numbing it is important to listen to conservatives...if we want to defeat them we need to understand more about the way they think
not the Coulters but the Voinivich's
we need to grab a few of the flapping in the breeze Olivia Snow varieties

and how is Ollie "the shredder" North
and Mark "klansman" furman gainfully employed at a mjor network

ed,

It is amazing that they continue to fall in, rank and file, behind Emperor Bush, time and time again. Ollie is a loyal neocon. I am suprised he was not given a cabinet post in this administration.

Corky Re: # 310

I am betting that the fool me once, fool me twice moment in regards to the call for unity will happen - I may be a bit naive here but I really think that we could at least get the hearihgs delayed if enough moise is made. I think people's eyes are opening to just how incompetent - if not criminal - this administration is and we need the right people - like our Senators and other people in high places - to say the right thing to help open more eyes to the truth that is our embarassment of what we call an administration. Fool me once shame on you. Bush Got Elected. Fool me twice, shame on me. Bush Got Re-elected. Well we've been fooled more than twice - and thousands of our own and perhaps hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died. So maybe when TENS OF THOUSANDS of people die on OUR OWN SOIL. Maybe people will WAKE UP. This is what I am betting on. Call me naive.

Before we let this administration make one more decision that will affect you and me, the taxpayers, the people that pay their salaries, we need a hearing on the their competency. I am going to suggest this on any blog I can find and through as many letters to the editor I can write. Maybe someone will make a call for this - or at least call for a delay in the Roberts hearings so that our senators and represenatives can turn their full attention to the current crisis and - for some senators and representatives - to the current crisis that is affecting their own constituents.

How can people still cling to the belief that George W. Bush cares for anyone but himself and his political and corporate cronies? I am betting that the aftermath of Katrina will cause their grip on that belief to loosen. We need someone who can hammer home the message that this administration is incompetent to help finish the job. Feingold is one of my first choices. I am lucky that he is one of my senators. I have no hope for Sensenbrenner.

Maybe David will write a fine aritcle calling for a delay to the Roberts hearings and for Bush Administration competency hearings. Yeah, that's the ticket.

too true
and how in hell do we have W having the time on his hands to consider Roberts for Cheif Justice...the American people should demand that all business in the White House freeze until NO is handled fully

christ someone get W a pair of wading boots

Oliver "I lied to congress" North?

Never believe a proven liar.

It is just too risky. I would be very careful what you believe from anybody named "Curveball" too.

I bet Oli thinks the mess in Iraq is because the Democrats did not support a push all the way to Baghdad but they forget that was all poppy's not congress.

This is America the president never goes to congress for a declaration of war, they just go in and call anybody not supporting them as weak on defense (when the real word is OFFENSE).

HA

capt

Corky, et al,

You are right about conservatives. They hate the poor and anyone who needs any kind of help. Yet, when something goes wrong, they whine and whine about how the liberals are taking over. One of the greatest examples of this was when the Contract for (on) America didn't pan out. The Sunday morning pundits were absolutely pitiful. In the meantime life goes on for the rest of us while they plot and plan. People need to understand that hatred of Bush comes from his actions, not from ideology.

http://www.fema.gov/about/bios/brown.shtm

Jeez! Michael Brown's 11 -- ELEVEN! -- years at the International Arabian Horse Association are not even mentioned on FEMA's OFFICIAL BIO SITE.

What's with that?

If it were not for the internet, I fear this evil bunch of idiots would be getting away with a lot more. The interet has forced the news to start acting like the news. Rove had total control of the news, but I think he overlooked the internet. Keep doing what you are doing, my friends. It may not seem like it, but you are doing much to get the truth out.

capt.,

I dont have a link, because I gave up trying to figure out how to do it. Ollie has a piece on GOP USA website that is positively sickening.

I laugh at the fools who think Rehnquist's death should be respected and should rise above politics and ideology, when this is exactly what his life stood for.

Live by the sword and die by the sword.

Death does not erase one GODAMNED THING.

Corky sez "I am suprised he was not given a cabinet post in this administration."

Corky, the Cheney/Rove Administration didn't offer Ollie North a cabinet level post because they didn't want to unnecessarily air THAT dirty linen. There would have been confirmation hearings and they were afraid that TOO much bad shit would be revealed that would have hurt their agenda. Plus, it doesn't help that North is a criminal.

And another thing...How can the senators be expected to start hearings TOMORROW when they were expecting to consider him for the Associate position not Chief position? They have to rethink their qusetions and everything. I think that is why the administration made this switch. To take them off guard. It makes me sick.

Ha! I just heard that Reid has called for a delay so they can at least get Reinquist in the ground. Good point. They don't even have the courtesy for that!

Off topic, but back to Cuba's evacuation plan. CNN just showed a man floating on a tire outside his home. He refused to be rescued because he didn't want to leave his two dogs behind. I wouldn't leave my old cow dog and two cats behind either. Cuba seems to have captured the priorities of its population in a crisis. Why can't we do the same?!

If anyone is interested this site pretty much sums up Roberts Stance on Issues of Importance

Corky...

HTML Tags:
Bold = Bold
Italics = Italics
linked text = Linked text

damn!

I can't the HTML tag to show up!

Corky,

How to Make a Link

I can offer some real world examples if you want, email me?

capt

The only tags I that work on this board are:

a - anchor (for link)
b - bold
i - italicize

I think that is all this board recognizes.

capt

excerpted from eluniverso.com chile

"...The destruction of New Orleans will affect us all far more than we might have imagined, because what has begun to come to light is that the U.S. is no longer the United States of World War II, when it could muster provisions for two or three international battle fronts; nor is it the United States of the Cold War, when it organized an impressive airlift to maintain West Berlin for an entire year without flinching...

Today's best electronic devices are not made in the United States, but in Japan. The most impressive economic growth is no longer that of the great power of the North, but China. Paris, Berlin and Madrid no longer make their case to Washington, but to Brussels. Hugo Chavez mocks the White House, but the O.A.S. cannot expel it, as it did with Cuba. The truth is that today, being a "great friend" of the United States is no guarantee of anything.

... indeed, is the bad news: that the greatest world power has aged, it is in decline, and at the moment we do not know who will replace it.

The same thing happened after World War I, when England abdicated its position as queen of the world and no one was in a position to take her place. For almost three decades (between 1918 and 1945) the world remained without direction: in the interim the New York Stock Exchange collapsed, the fascism seized Europe, Stalinism was installed in Russia and Latin America remained adrift...."

United States of Shame

"Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.

Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports.

Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl."...

End of Clip as Capt. says...maybe you posted this already Capt but this Maureen Dowd piece is worth a read...ammo for our call for a competency hearing.

Observer...that is another example of what has become the United States of Shame. Thanks for the excerpt.

Federalization

Bush wants to federalize the Louisiana National Guard. A National Guard General says that there is no need to federalize the National Guard. Bush's interest to federalize the National Guard may not be big news but you need to understand Bush's brain. This federalization of the National Guard is another step toward dictatorial powers and in 2008 he will be able to declare martial law and the 2008 election will be called off. We are in the process of a total Nazi Party takeover.

Fortunately, at my age, I will live under martial law and the Nazi Party for a short time. I came into this world at the right time and I am leaving at the right time.

My prediction is that there will be no 2008 election. America will be under martial law. Bush will never leave the WH. He will be the emperor until he dies or his brain is fried through psychotropic drugs and he goes completely mad. We know that Bush is a psycho but not all Americans know this fact. His fried brain will be obvious to everyone that he has gone crazy from the overuse of drugs.

Corky,
Capt taught me how to link. I use the page very carefully every time I do. Half the time I have to do it twice so I preview it first. It's a pain to do but the links are nice.

After reading #340 I wonder what the rest of the world thinks of us right now. I'm sure they think our leadership stinks. We look like chickens with our heads cut off. Bush really looks like he doesn't care. It is so obvious.

And Cheney? Oh my God. They guy never left his vacation. I shake my head. Everybody complains about Clinton. Put that administration in place of a disater like this. Clinton and Gore would be so on top of a crisis. I am so sick an tired of Bush's leadership. Our country is a mess.

You can make a template in a text file, insert the address and text for the link and paste it into comments.

When you are done close the file without saving it and your blank template is ready for the next time, like filling in a form.

That is what I do so I do not have to be careful typing in it over and over.

capt

Another nation is made out to be utterly depraved and fiendish, while one's own nation stands for everything that is good and noble. Every action of the enemy is judged by one standard - every action of oneself by another. Even good deeds by the enemy are considered a sign of particular devilishness, meant to deceive us and the world, while our bad deeds are necessary and justified by our noble goals, which they serve.: Eric Fromm

=
In the struggle of Good against Evil, it's always the people who get killed.: Eduardo Galeano

=
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.": Bishop Desmond Tutu -(1931- ) Nobel Prize for Peace 1984

=
"It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.": Leo Buscaglia, author and university professor (1924-1998)

===

All above thanks to ICH newsletter

capt

flan;
I'm sorry if my personal beliefs intruded into the posts (was not my intent). I care more about the grieving families than what God, Dog, or bent twig says we should do in that case.

To the rest of you preparing to lend Antione "a hand." Check for cuts and scratches and be sure to wear protective gear. All I can say is, EWWWW.

Ahhh to be in college again. Here are 3 college students who went into NO, posed as journalists and evacuated people. 3 Duke students tell of 'disgraceful' scene.

"Anyone who knows that area, if you had a bus, it would take you no more than 20 minutes to drive in with a bus and get these people out," Buder said. "They sat there for four or five days with no food, no water, babies getting raped in the bathrooms, there were murders, nobody was doing anything for these people. And we just drove right in, really disgraceful. I don't want to get too fired up with the rhetoric, but some blame needs to be placed somewhere."

Flan,

I do not think I linked it but the real good links are worth it, Saladin and I get some of the same ones. It is always good, maybe opeople miss one but get the other? A ggod link and info is always good.

Not to mention I repeat myself often.

capt

Thank you Capt. Will do.

John Benson, I have no idea why I directed my remarks toward you on the subject of God. I think I should have addressed my comments to a Judy who said something about God being the make believe friend of grown ups. Anyway, I was not upset about anything though. I was just sharing my belief on "who" or what "god" is.

I must have early alzheimers because I have no idea now why I directed my comments to you. Sorry about that.

John Benson, I have no idea why I directed my remarks toward you on the subject of God. I think I should have addressed my comments to a Judy who said something about God being the make believe friend of grown ups. Anyway, I was not upset about anything though. I was just sharing my belief on "who" or what "god" is.

I must have early alzheimers because I have no idea now why I directed my comments to you. Sorry about that.

oops

Oh! Disaster . . .
What can one do?
It can happen anywhere
To me, but mostly you!

Oh! But FEMA's got some
Itty bitty tricks,
So you are unprepared
And we can get our kicks!

Funny floods and tornadoes!
Or a shit your undies 'quake!
Don't even try to be ready!
For it's complete heartbreak!

Disaster unpreparadness
Is our responsibility!
And blaming you's important
To our agency!

Children helping people
Is what we say!
FEMA's like your blanky-
Soiled- each and every way!

Hey! When disaster strikes?
We're just like you!
Prepared all the time
To shit our underoos!

Again, I am reminded of the kind of disrespect I have resented from the Reich when people I respect have passed away. (Wellstone comes to mind)

I refuse to become that which I despise. That would make me a hypocrite.

That is just me.

If the people that insist on a forensic attack on a dead man were never bugged by the same thing when the Reich-wing does it, they would not be hypocritical at all.

To each their own, it seems as though those of us that believe in respecting the dead are accused of giving him a break. That is not the case, I will be proud to pursue the faults and insanity but I will wait until after the funeral.

That is my choice. I respect all others and am not saying anybody should do as I do but I do expect you to understand and respect the fact that I have a different point of view without being attacked as some kind of apologist for a bigot.

Thanks

capt

The Police Looting Walmart. This is a video so it might be a bit much for a dial up connection.

A little poetic justice?

capt

Louis Tice of the Pacific Institute in Seattle, Washington offers a paradox, "You give up control in order to be in control." Confident leaders do not have to rule by controlling and punitive threats. He also discusses Erickson's book, "Eight Stages of Human Development" regarding leadership. Leadership starts at the top with basic trust. A dishonest leader cannot be an effective leader. Controlling and punitive threats will have consequences and there will be a backlash against such a leader. People will subtly undermine the leader and in the end the leader is not in control and he or she remains in a constant state of fear. A fearful leader is an unstable leader. Good examples of fearful and unstable leaders are Napoleon and Hitler. We must be vigilant of such leaders, be it in the United States or in the world.

There is little doubt that Bush is a fearful and unstable emperor.

Failure of Leadership

"And it is this incompetence and indifference to suffering (yes, the carnage continues to mount in Iraq) that makes it so hard to be optimistic about the prospects for the United States over the next few years. At a time when effective, innovative leadership is desperately needed to cope with matters of war and peace, terrorism and domestic security, the economic imperatives of globalization and the rising competition for oil, the United States is being led by a man who seems oblivious to the reality of his awesome responsibilities."

more ammo to call for a competency hearing...by Bob Herbert of the New York Times.

THE TOTALLY AMORAL, INCOMPETENT GWB:

I apologize if this topic has already been mentioned...but it is worth repeating, IMO.

Remember back in March when the ever-vacant, ever-vacationing bush was in Crawford (again!) and the Terri Schiavo case was at fever pitch?

Both the House and Senate met in "EMERGENCY" session to consider a bill entitled “For the Benefit of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo.” Voting 203 to 58 at 12:42 AM (well past bush's normal bedtime), when the House joined the Senate in approving the measure.

Remember bush racing back to Washington to be on standby to sign this bill?

Bush signed the bill at 1:11AM, saying, ""I will continue to stand on the side of those defending life for all Americans, including those with disabilities."

So that friggin' motherfucker of a so-called leader leaves his so-called "ranch" ahead of schedule to be available to sign a bill that benefits one white, fundamentalist Christian family in Florida so that he can suck up to the Christian right.

Little Scottie McLellan issued a statement at the time saying that in matters of life and death, "the president believed in careful reflection and deliberation." (I lived in Texas when the MFker was guv, he rubber stamped the execution of 152 prisoners -- giving an average of 15 minutes "deliberation" per each death row appeal. But, I digress...)

Bush can get his sorry ass back to Washington to sign the Schiavo bill in the middle of the night, but he fiddles in Crawford while thousands and thousands of black and poor people -- many with disabilities -- in New Orleans and other cities in Katrina's path suffer and are ignored.

It is a national tragedy that bush still has access to the Oval Office. He is destroying this country.

Tell it Micki!

"So that friggin' motherfucker of a so-called leader leaves his so-called "ranch" ahead of schedule to be available to sign a bill that benefits one white, fundamentalist Christian family in Florida so that he can suck up to the Christian right."

Well said, and too true. I believe it is racism that makes our government indifferent to HIV/AIDS in the African continent. Among other things. Rwanda, South African apartheid, etc. the list is very long and very shameful.

The idiocy and demagoguery that the slugs pulled with Terri in Florida was hideous and an embarrassment to all of the families that are faced with the hard choices and would have been just as bad if Terri was a woman of color.

IMHO

capt

Of course IF Terri was a woman of color Bunnypants and Jeb et al, would not have ever thought to play to the cameras and if they did it would have been just for the photo op.

Either way Buck Fush.

capt

I want to nominated this kid to head FEMA.
Meet Deamonte Love, Age 6 and the Children He Saved. This kid has more courage in his ity bity little finger than Goeorge Bush has in his whole body. He's got more brains than the whole Bush Administration and Mike Brown.

Capt - remember that little baby in Texas who was taken off a feeding tube at the same time they were all fighting to keep in Ms Shaivo's tube? In Texas, they can remove life support if the patient can't pay a bill that our president signed while Govenor. The man only cares if it will get him something. He is a sociopath.

Jeanne, How about that 18 year old boy who commandeered a school bus and packed in 90 or so people and took them to Houston? I nominate him too.

Ending the Impunity of the Bush White Houset

"The man in the Oval Office is fond of condemning "killers." But his administration continues to kill with impunity."...

What he said!

Here's a quote from a private contractor in Iraq. She says "Iraq is failing."
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8061

She adds, "And then on top of all this is Al-Qaeda. In other words, we cannot figure out who is against whom anymore. The lines are blurred and the country is in chaos."
The Bush team, she says, "Is grasping for good news as its house of cards falls down. Another good one from the other day was a propagandist general declaring that the release of 1000 prisoners from Abu Ghraib was yet another step towards democracy. What?"
She concludes: "I am still in the thick of the most interesting and unfortunately the saddest story since Vietnam."

A memember of Northern Command talking about the delay to take action...

"The only caveat is: we have to wait until the president authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion; we have to wait for the president to give us permission."

Here's the link

Rescue 'ticket'
Posted: 6:24 p.m. ET
CNN's Drew Griffin in New Orleans, Louisiana

I am stunned by an interview I conducted with New Orleans Detective Lawrence Dupree. He told me they were trying to rescue people with a helicopter and the people were so poor they were afraid it would cost too much to get a ride and they had no money for a "ticket." Dupree was shaken telling us the story. He just couldn't believe these people were afraid they'd be charged for a rescue.

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_09_04_atrios_archive.html#112596381619694000

Her Beautiful Mind

Barbara Bush:

NEW YORK Accompanying her husband, former President George H.W.Bush, on a tour of hurricane relief centers in Houston, Barbara Bush said today, referring to the poor who had lost everything back home and evacuated, "This is working very well for them."

...

In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost everyone I’∂e talked to wants to move to Houston."

Then she added: "What I’≠ hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed with the hospitality.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (she chuckled)--this is working very well for them."

Daaaaang, Pagliacci, your story was sooooooo sad, I had to read the funny papers to cheer me up.

Labor Day Funnies (sort of)
=======+=======

Chimpy has nice legs.

Congress is on vacation too.

I hear there's a war on.

The best defense is a good offense.

The war effort cannot be undermined.

Chimpy looks a little like Paddington the bear, no?

Folks ain't ready to blame Chimpy for the chaos in NOLA cause they know he's an idiot.

As Field Marshal von Rumsfeld would say, shit happens.

I feel more secure, don't you?

Did you see the abc poll that shows bush's handling of the disaster in NOLA is the same as his approval rating? Why? Because Bushbots don't hold him responsible for ANYTHING. That same poll shows that this is the only thing that is bugging them about Katrina. Assholes.

And last (but not least?) the loyal opposition. LOL

You crazy people are getting me down with all your Reality-Based news and shit. I'll have you know that things will only improve when your attitude changes, fake it till ya' make it, baybeeeee.

Ever wonder why I'm alla' the time chipper? Cause every day above ground is a good day. And my children love me and I got a bitchin' wife (the good kind of bitchin').

Things weren't always that way for me cause you see I was born in the ghetto to a bipolar mexican lesbian. Yeah, I had two mommas. My biological momma (the one that squeezed me out) died when I was four years old. She was eaten by giraffes at a wildlife reserve in New Braunfels, Texas. All I have to remember her by is a scratchy black sweater that she knit out of her wiry leghairs. I was taken in by my adopted lesbo momma (Cuca) and her brother, a mexican used car salesman named Cuco. Cuco used to beat me up every day just for the fun of it with a bicycle tire innertube. I tried to run away a few times, but the police kept taking me back to Cuco and Cuca. My 4th-grade science teacher (Ms. Frizzle, the real life inspiration for the one on Scholastic's Magic Schoolbus series) eventually turned Cuco in to the police after she saw the swat marks on my back. She adopted me and bought me a chihuahua that I named Pagliacci, after a song on my favorite record (Stan Kenton and his Orchestra with Maynard Ferguson lighting up the show). It was a 45 with The Peanut Vendor on the B side. Daaaaang, I used to get my swurve on with that ditty. I was a dancing fool back then; but those joyful days ended when I was attacked by a shark in the shallow water near South Padre Island. Have you ever had last rites performed on you? I did. SEVEN times. No YOU get out. I did. I refused to let that stop me, however. I was fitted with a prosthesis that allowed me to walk, and eventually run. Gradually, with the help of my high school track coach, I was able to run fast enough to qualify for the Olympics. The REAL Olympics cause there wasn't no "Special" Olympics back in those days. Alas and Alack, because we boycotted the Olympics in the USSR, I was not allowed to represent my country. Did I allow that to get me down? Hell no!! Why? Because by dint of hard work, I earned a scholarship to run track at the University of Pennsylvania. Yeah, I'm sure most of you have already figured out that I'm an Ivy Leaguer. My grasp of the intricacies of Hypertext Markup Language is known far and wide. Yup, I'm the original LinkDaddy. For Real. Anywho . . . I eventually was hired by Al Gore to invent the internet. It was a bitch. We had to trick the Armed Forces into thinking that it had military applications, hence the ArpaNet. And now, thanks to me we have cool stuff like downloadable music, AOL instant messenger, electronic mail (I believe the young folks refer to it as "email"), online nudie webcasts and the Cornblog.

So the next time you pathetic whiners need to turn your frown upside down, think of Pandemoniac. He's a true Tex-I-CAN!

Pagliacci, you are a freekin HOOT, my Reactionary mogizzle. I got your bizzack, homes.

Further Modifications of the American Dream

(Dreaming About Living in Squalor)

We've got a million poor folks down south here in America
Dreaming about living in squalor. (At least they had squalor then.)
I'm sure they'd all pitch in for gas to send our leaders to hell
But they ain't got a dollar. (So I'll pitch in ten.)

The world's in disbelief that our Bunnypants-in-Chief
And his cronies seem to not care less.
They're only capable of destruction, corruption, and more tax cuts for the rich
Now we know why Iraq is such a mess.

Racism in America finally made the news
New Orleans pictures tell a thousand words.
Our government's reaction in dealing with the non-white and poor
Kinda resembles Saddam when he gassed the Kurds.

We gotta believe this nightmare in the bayou is the Republicans' Chernobyl
That they'll be thrown out of office and into a "for-profit" jail.
The overthrow of the Bunnypants Gang has just started
The shit rainstorm has just turned to hail.

Pandemoniac,
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA I CAN'T STAND IT! HA HA HA HA. STOP! HA HA HA HA HA. I needed that.

Pandemoniac, are you sure the good doctor, the presumably dead, Hunter Thompson was shot from a cannon and you is not him in disguise only more jazzed? Funny stuff, Pande!!!!!

Jeanne -- I know you mentioned this, but this from E&P and it's good readin' because it shows that Babs is just as lacking in empathy as her asshole son -- well, they all assholes -- the president.

Barbara Bush: Things Working Out 'Very Well' for Poor Evacuees from New Orleans

By E&P Staff

Published: September 05, 2005 7:25 PM ET updated 8:00 PM

NEW YORK Accompanying her husband, former President George
H.W.Bush, on a tour of hurricane relief centers in
Houston, Barbara Bush said today, referring to the
poor who had lost everything back home and evacuated,
"This is working very well for them."

The former First Lady's remarks were aired this
evening on National Public Radio's "Marketplace"
program.

She was part of a group in Houston today at the
Astrodome that included her husband and former
President Bill Clinton, who were chosen by her son,
the current president, to head fundraising efforts for
the recovery. Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack
Obama were also present.

In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of
evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost
everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to
Houston."

Then she added: "What I’m hearing which is sort of
scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is
so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Federalization, Part 2

I would like to share some reasons why Bush will not give up the WH. Even with American rigged elections and the fact that the repugnants will never give up Congress and the WH, Bush has the power to declare martial law and call off elections in order for him to stay in power. The Wars Power Acts that were passed after WW II gives Bush the power to keep his office.

Bush cannot leave the WH because the international community knows that Bush is a murderer and a war criminal. Once he leaves office the International Criminal Court will try Bush with or without his presence. The USA in not a member of the International Criminal Court but that does not stop the court from trying Bush as a murderer and a war criminal in absentia. The evidence that Bush is a murderer and a war criminal is overwhelming. There is little doubt that a guilty verdict would be reached.

Bush is a bully and a coward and he does not have the manliness to stand trial and he will do what needs to be done to hold onto power. The repugnants will back him up because even though Bush is a coward, the repugnants are low life scum who are prostitutes in the American government.

The Supreme Court will uphold his power to remain in office. He is placing justices on the Supreme Court who are loyal to him and his desire to not relinquish the WH.

Pande,

I think I'm falling in love with you...hold me!

-T

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

If the American people had ever known the truth about what we Bushes have done to this nation, we would be chased down the streets and lynched. Bush I

Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? Barbara Bush

MY FELLOW AMERICANS, I ASK YOU, ARE BODY BAGS AND DEATHS IRRELEVANT? Gerald

So this is long. Tomorrow David may put up a new post...so I'm posting the whole enchilada, since if it's right there in front of us, it'll probably get read.

Published on Monday, September 5, 2005 by the BBC
Has Katrina Saved US Media?
by Matt Wells - BBC News, Los Angeles

As President Bush scurries back to the Gulf Coast, it is clear that this is the greatest challenge to politics-as-usual in America since the fall of Richard Nixon in the 1970s.

Then as now, good reporting lies at the heart of what is changing.

But unlike Watergate, "Katrinagate" was public service journalism ruthlessly exposing the truth on a live and continuous basis.

Instead of secretive "Deep Throat" meetings in car-parks, cameras captured the immediate reality of what was happening at the New Orleans Convention Center, making a mockery of the stalling and excuses being put forward by those in power.

Amidst the horror, American broadcast journalism just might have grown its spine back, thanks to Katrina.

National politics reporters and anchors here come largely from the same race and class as the people they are supposed to be holding to account.

They live in the same suburbs, go to the same parties, and they are in debt to the same huge business interests.

Giant corporations own the networks, and Washington politicians rely on them and their executives to fund their re-election campaigns across the 50 states.

It is a perfect recipe for a timid and self-censoring journalistic culture that is no match for the masterfully aggressive spin-surgeons of the Bush administration.

'Lies or ignorance'

But last week the complacency stopped, and the moral indignation against inadequate government began to flow, from slick anchors who spend most of their time glued to desks in New York and Washington.

The most spectacular example came last Friday night on Fox News, the cable network that has become the darling of the Republican heartland.

This highly successful Murdoch-owned station sets itself up in opposition to the "mainstream liberal media elite".

But with the sick and the dying forced to sit in their own excrement behind him in New Orleans, its early-evening anchor Shepard Smith declared civil war against the studio-driven notion that the biggest problem was still stopping the looters.

On other networks like NBC, CNN and ABC it was the authority figures, who are so used to an easy ride at press conferences, that felt the full force of reporters finally determined to ditch the deference.

As the heads of the Homeland Security department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) appeared for network interviews, their defensive remarks about where aid was arriving to, and when, were exposed immediately as either downright lies or breath-taking ignorance.

And you did not need a degree in journalism to know it either. Just watching TV for the previous few hours would have sufficed.

Iraq concern

When the back-slapping president told the FEMA boss on Friday morning that he was doing "a heck of a job" and spent most of his first live news conference in the stricken area praising all the politicians and chiefs who had failed so clearly, it beggared belief.

The president looked affronted when a reporter covering his Mississippi walkabout had the temerity to suggest that having a third of the National Guard from the affected states on duty in Iraq might be a factor.

It is something I suspect he is going to have to get used to from now on: the list of follow-up questions is too long to ignore or bury.

And it is not only on TV and radio where the gloves have come off.

The most artful supporter of the administration on the staff of the New York Times, columnist David Brooks, has also had enough.

He and others are calling the debacle the "anti 9-11": "The first rule of the social fabric - that in times of crisis you protect the vulnerable - was trampled," he wrote on Sunday.

"Leaving the poor in New Orleans was the moral equivalent of leaving the injured on the battlefield."

Media emboldened

It is way too early to tell whether this really will become "Katrinagate" for President Bush, but how he and his huge retinue of politically-appointed bureaucrats react in the weeks ahead will be decisive.

Government has been thrown into disrepute, and many Americans have realized, for the first time, that the collapsed, rotten flood defenses of New Orleans are a symbol of failed infrastructure across the nation.

Blaming the state and city officials, as the president is already trying to do over Katrina, will not wash.

Beyond the immediate challenge of re-housing the evacuees and getting 200,000-plus children into new schools, there will have to be a Katrina Commission, that a newly-emboldened media will scrutinize obsessively.

The dithering and incompetence that will be exposed will not spare the commander-in-chief, or the sunny, faith-based propaganda that he was still spouting as he left New Orleans airport last Friday, saying it was all going to turn out fine.

People were still trapped, hungry and dying on his watch, less than a mile away.

Black America will not forget the government failures, nor will the Gulf Coast region.

Tens of thousands of voters whose lives have been so devastated will cast their mid-term ballots in Texas next year - the president's adopted home state.

The final word belongs to the historic newspaper at the center of the hurricane - The New Orleans Times-Picayune. At the weekend, this now-homeless institution published an open letter: "We're angry, Mr President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry.

"Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been, were not. That's to the government's shame."

© Copyright 2005 BBC

###

Clinton is weighing in. Not so good for Georgie.
Clinton:Government failed people.
Here's a senior Bush quote.
The elder Bush echoed Clinton's sentiment, telling CNN's Larry King that he is "not satisfied" with the handling of the hurricane's aftermath.

Nonetheless, he defended his son's performance.

"What can he do? He can just go out and do what he's doing today, showing that the federal government's involved, has been involved, will continue to be involved ... He cannot listen to every critic from the editorial page of The New York Times," the elder Bush said

Oh, maybe....hmmmm...well...hire competent people?

Kids...

So many of my better posts begin with...

"After another 16-hour day in the ER..."

But this is not likely to be one of 'em!

My brain is befuzzled and it'll take a while and a wine or two before I can collect the 2 cells left responsible for coherent communication.

I'll be asking for advise, because I'm at a loss so far as how to proceed. Y'see I got another call from Jill this evening, still firmly ensconced in Baton Rouge, thumbs firmly planted, waiting for orders to deploy.

They've been told that anyone found to be complaining about their situation will be sent home and dismissed from DMAT and FEMA. They can also cause their entire team to meet the same fate. Phrases like "team players" and "black eye to the Commander in Chief", etc. have been used.

These people are SO GODDAMED obsessed with the APPEARANCE and SPIN of what's going on that they're willing to toss away valuable assets like DMAT teams for speaking the truth!

I was told a story of one team that WAS deployed to one of the outlying parishes, only to me met by the sheriff and told, "You couldn't be here when we NEEDED you, so now we don't WANT you here, anymore.

The mayor of Hattiesburg, a fairly large town in Mississippi, tried starting Sunday to even communicate with the FEMA director for help, but didn't get ANY response until Saturday.

I don't know how to post such stories of their frustrations to the blog we built for her without endangering her situation. All she and her team want to do is take care of those who need them and there are THOUSANDS out there who do.

Every hour, to them, must feel like an eternity, like watching a fire burn out of control and no water in the hose.

I tried to tell her that when they DO get somewhere, they'll still have all the tough work they could ever imagine, but I don't think it helps.

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!!!

The Bush Family

Bush I was interviewed in December, 1992. "If the American people had ever known the truth about what we Bushes have done to this nation, we would be chased down the streets and lynched."
Barbara Bush was interviewed on Good Morning America on March 18, 2003. "Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that." MY FELLOW AMERICANS I ASK YOU ARE BODY BAGS AND DEATHS IRRELEVANT? Gerald

There should be little doubt in anyone's mind where Bush II receives his sensitivity training toward human life. Gerald

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." George W. Bush

Hajji,
Very strange. Like I have said, FEMA looks like a chicken with its head cut off.

Pande at #374: Well, my upbringing was not as hardscrabble as that, but no where near the silver spoon either. I also grew up with Stan Kenton from my folks, and Dave Brubeck, among others. I can still hear those dissonant trumpet chords from the Peanut Vendor, and three different versions of Artistry in Rhythm too. We had an unsually good set of trumpet players in our "Dance Band" (quaint leftover from the 50's) in high school, and a good rhythm section, so I was lucky to play Kenton's arrangement of The Peanut Vendor. I played Bari Sax in that band, which had an easy line in that tune. "Nice n Easy" by Maynard's own band later on, was much more of a challenge. Cheers.

Hajji,
You know, you asked for advice so I'll give you some. I would do whatever you need to do to keep Jill in the place she wants to be. She wants to be helping and that's her first priority so proceed from there.

I'll second Jeanne's post, Hajji. Try your best to rise above the politics for now. We can deal with that BS later. I live in the DFW area. Let me know if there's anyway I can help ... seriously. I got a very busy work week coming up, but I will look in here from time to time. Cheers.

Pande,
Tarzan raised me some of the time and other times Roy Rogers was there. It was exciting. Oh yeah, Sky King helped too. It was pretty intense at times but everything always worked out. To this day I keep a kerchief in case I get winged.

Another Sad Day

BUSH IS PRO-WAR AND ANTI-TROOPS. I can see rejoicing in the West Wing of the White House. Bush says that war is a NOBLE CAUSE than why are his daughters at home and not in Iraq?

Casualties in Iraq lists that 2,117 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for the Bush's evil lies and to keep the opium trade alive so the CIA and the Pentagon can have drugs flowing to pay for American terrorism in the USA and throughout the world. Police dogs, taser guns, and tear gas have been unleashed upon Americans for protesting against Bush's policies. Bush and Cheney plan to stay in power forever. America is under martial law and a complete police state. We are no longer a nation with freedoms and rights.

Hajji,

It's easy for me to say that if I was in Jill's place that I would publicize these vile threats (along with the names of the threateners) as loudly as possible. However, Jill and her team know that this would hurt the very people they are trying to help if they blew the whistle on these bastards. That's what makes these threats so despicable. Perhaps after Jill and her crew get the opportunity to help these folks, they can make the appropriate noise.

Damn, but these bastards are craven. "Complaints reflect poorly on Dear Leader!" The fucking truth hurts these cowards, that's the problem.

Thanks Folks...Now I gotta go hurl.

Please send a note of support to Jill and the team at Jill's DMAT message board

We'd appreciate it.

I'd better get some sleep. They're sending a few thousand refugees to Ft. Jackson tomorrow, and distributing the medical cases to hospitals around the state. We're not expecting too many, but our administrators said they'd take up to 100. (we've got 250 beds, mostly full) So I'm going in early to start moving the mahogany conference tables and desks from the administrative offices and boardrooms.....

Riiiiiiight, like THAT's gonna happen.

thank you all for your support, again.

-T

Brain freeze...too much ice in the Chablis...

Jill's Page

Bleerily,
-T

One last attempt...

JILLS PAGE

it is http://spaces.msn.com/members/HajjiandJill/ if this link doesn't work, this time!

(I seem to have forgotten to put my "members"
between the slashes! Oh....beHAVE!!!)

-T

-T

Pande-man,

Always great to read your posts!

I have no clue what the psycho posted as I do not read posts from psycho's no matter what handle they post under.

I would only offer a observation: I have never seen a post from anybody, like minded or not. that was seeking to either justify, rationalize or try to validate their commentary by their personal history. It seems to be a bit of a stretch and does nothing to make them sound or seem intelligent of accomplished.

Why is it always the loser trolls that include such things as "I am a Ph.D. if that helps" or "I got an A in my debate class" or "I am smart, see I know opera!" HA!

It only serves to prove how terribly pathetic the trolls are and always will be no matter what name/handle they post under.

Now on to my current situation.

I am actually forced to blog. I am currently being held hostage. The "better-half" I always speak of is actually a just one of the mean nurses in the asylum, she makes me do things, terrible things. She plies me with medication or the threat of no medication.

So just the opposite of justifying my crazy posts I admit the stuff I post is not even mine or my point of view.

Take nothing I ever post to heart or even with any seriousness. It is not me it is the evil nurse. Shhhh here she comes.

capt

So Democrats and Republicans are all the same? Oh, no. More proof that bush followers would follow the sociopathic madman over a cliff, taking our country with them:

"William Kristol, the conservative publisher of The Weekly Standard, said of Mr. Bush: "I do think people think he could have showed stronger leadership." But Mr. Kristol expressed doubt that the hurricane would have much lasting effect on the president's personal and political fortunes, because "people are capable of saying, 'The president kind of screwed this one up, but I still basically agree with him.'"

Mr. Kristol added, "I think the Clinton administration would have done a better job in handling Hurricane Katrina, but I'm also glad Bush is president and not a Democrat'"

Ah folks, just a couple thoughts.

1) I heard a commentator on NPR talking about how it's wrong to blame the President for the slow response, and we should keep in perspective that the speed is just not as good as the United States should expect. Fair enough, but I thought we were supposed to be better than Cuba. Oh well.

2) I have a better understanding of the administrations take on torture now. I still don't approve, but I understand why they don't consider it a big deal. Thanks Katrina.

3) The Gaurdian outlines the administration plans.

I'm not against the weather, does that make me pro-terrorist?

Mr. Kristol added, "I think the Clinton administration would have done a better job in handling Hurricane Katrina, but I'm also glad Bush is president and not a Democrat'"

Yep, a Democrat might not believe in the culture of life.

#398 John,
Good post. This administration's makeup is becoming a little clearer. By the way, with responses like the one NPR has come up with I wonder why I send them my pittance.

Ok the rest of you already know this, but it's nice to see the WaPo get caught pimpin' for the prez.

'Wash Post' Runs A Key Katrina Correction

#399 Yep.
I have long wondered how and why so many churches could justify encouraging voters to vote for an administration that has entered an illegal and unnecessary war and who continues to rob the middle class and the poor. How is that the culture of life? I hope Katrina blew the plaster off that facade.

Ahhh those corrections. On what page I wonder.

Why would you all make fun of something that is true? Is there some reason to believe that a person couldn't have suffered the type of physical and financial problems I have and persevered? Are your own lives so jaded that you resent the success of others? Do you read all of the miserable failures, the bitterness, the hate in your own lives into the lives of others? Do you understand that we all don't need, don't use "safety nets" in our lives?

You folks can make fun of it, but every word of my previous postings is true. The problem is, you folks don't understand the triumph of the human heart, the championing of the human spirit when you see it. Pande gives sophomoric responses to a legitimate situation, and all the rest of you budding geniuses echo the truly infantile rantings. There is nothing smart, nothing cute, nothing witty, nothing original in any of these responses, unless you happen to be in about the fourth grade. They are trite, boring, insipid, prosaic grunts of truly angry, bitter little people, with angry, bitter little minds.

Is it fair to say that none of you have accomplished anything in life?

Is it fair to say that none of you have asked the Lord Jesus Christ into your hearts?

Is it fair to say that you are all living lives of quiet desperation?

Is it fair to say that the failures in your personal and/or professional lives have caused this bitterness?

You are all probably closet crackers willing to keep black folks down on the welfare plantations. Darkies in New Orleans can't do nuthin' without the help of the white man - right? I have seen you people all my life. You want the government to do things that you yourself are afraid to do or are incapable of doing personally. Thank you, but no thank you.

You talk about a war in the Middle East from which you want to run? Well, with what option? Are you so weak minded so as to not understand that these people are trying to kill us? At least when we left Vietnam without victory, there was no thought that Ho Chi Minh was coming after us. Can you say the same here? Go read Christopher Hitchens and his complete debunking of the left's true cowardice in this matter. And he is one of you!!

Antoine,
Six Feet Four Inches and 106 pounds? Hard to imagine.

Here's an article about marshall law in NO. Scary, very scary. New Orleans has been taken over by the United States Government. This is not how to treat a city that has already suffered so much. I am positive, if those people were white upper middle class they would be handled with kid gloves. I'm tired of this.

#375 - Loved it. TBS is showing Forrest Gump again.

Next we'll see the clips of pande meeting with President Reagan and Al Gore.

official says Iran ready to send oil to the U.S.

According to a report by the US Dow Jones economic news agency, Iran's envoy to Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Ali Kazempour has by phone proposed to US concerned officials that Iran can send urgently ten to twenty million barrels of crude oil to the United States, should the US sanctions against Iran permit.

^^^^^^^^^^6

here's our evil enemies, they sure do "hate our freedoms"

Another Sad Day

BUSH IS PRO-WAR AND ANTI-TROOPS. I can see rejoicing in the West Wing of the White House. Bush says that war is a NOBLE CAUSE than why are his daughters at home and not in Iraq?

Casualties in Iraq lists that 2,120 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan for the Bush’≥ evil lies and to keep the opium trade alive so the CIA and the Pentagon can have drugs flowing to pay for American terrorism in the USA and throughout the world. Police dogs, taser guns, and tear gas have been unleashed upon Americans for protesting against Bush’≥ policies. Bush and Cheney plan to stay in power forever. America is under martial law and a complete police state. We are no longer a nation with freedoms and rights.

Now WE had it rough! We used to live in shoebox in the middle of the road ... (Lots of Monty Python fans in this forum. Who remembers this skit?)

Yes we are a divided nation. Fred Phelps on the death of William Rehnquist, Funeral picket planned">anti gay group planning to picket of Rehnquist funeral. This group considered Rehnquist a 'fag enabler'.

The Tragic Costs

This is one of many good articles on antiwar.com for September 6, 2005.

Presenter: First of all, let's see some sycophants on film.

Stock film of seals on a rocky shore.

Voice-Over: The sycophants are one of the largest of marine carnivores. Their soft, furry underbellies made them a favourite target for hunters. Now, on this island, the sycophants come to breed every summer, protected by law.

Can't recall the rest of the sketch, but we lived in a shoebox.

Well, I can't resist. The sketch is of course, completely different, but, after this week, we could use completely different.

Nobody expected terrorists to use planes as missles.

Nobody expected Iraq to go FUBAR.

Nobody expected Katrina to cause the City of New Orleans to be flooded by levee failure.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Let's demand answers! Bring out the Comfy Chair!

That'l get'em talkin'.

Musings from a relatively educated Black man - Capt - As always, you hit the nail on the head. Meaning no disrespect, but us negros been known that fo' long long time. It's no mistake Bush took so long to respond, the Black community is historically a DEMOCRATIC demographic. Not to mention that the Gov of LA is a Democrat. Dont take a genius to figure that one out. A note to the President - Mr Bush, you have a standing invitation to bring your happy ass to my home, shed your Secret Service protection and try to flip me off and see where that gets you. Muthafucker! Whew!..been holding that one back for awhile.. I feel better now... Hadji, Here's a idea. Go ahead and broadcast the stonewalling that is happening. Jill will get sent home and then use the INTERNATIONAL MEDIA to give a first hand account of what happened to her and her team. Just a thought. Gotta jet all, but know this - Though I post rarely, I am always here
Until next time

Is it fair to say that none of you have accomplished anything in life?

No.

Is it fair to say that none of you have asked the Lord Jesus Christ into your hearts?

I certainly haven't. Lord means owner of property. Jesus is just the anglicized version of Yeshua and Christ means "the annointed one." Oh, and by the way, that annointing oil contained "kaneh bosm.".

Is it fair to say that you are all living lives of quiet desperation?

No.

Is it fair to say that the failures in your personal and/or professional lives have caused this bitterness?

Is it fair to say that there are inherent winners and losers in a system based on competition? Is it fair to question whether we live in a true meritocracy? Compare the cv's of Michael Brown & James Lee Witt for example. Oh, they pulled Mr. Brown's cv from the FEMA website...

"hitchens is one of you?"

One what? American citizen?

One of what? A hater of Mother Theresa?

That was funny stuff.

How low can David Corn go? Exploit tragedies for political gain? Sure. Write viscious half-truths about recently deceased public figures? Why not.

The audience for this venom is cheering loudly.

This is the reason the Democratic Party cannot win elections, because it is a party that spews hatred.

I'm a law student. The stuff Corn wrote about Rehnquist has to be some of the dumbest commentary I've ever read in my life. Anyone who DOESN'T think the Warren Court was activist needs to read a Warren opinion -- preferably Bolling v. Sharpe. Just follow the "reasoning." The Warren Court would adopt conclusions they thought were right, then just tack on some reasoning that might fit. Corn makes the mistake of thinking that something bad for policy must be a bad judicial decision. If a judge decided that the Contracts Clause said the government should balance the budget, you might agree with the conclusion, but the reasoning would be absurd. That's a distinction that the left has yet to grasp. That's why Corn has a problem with overturning laws "that protected women against domestic violence, banned guns near school property, and prohibited discrimination against disabled workers." What he fails to tell you is that all these things were passed under the Commerce Clause, which was "interpreted" to effectively give Congress unlimited power to pass whatever it wanted for decades following Lochner -- anything that could, in any way, affect any business of any kind, could be passed by Congress. This "interpretation" was absurd and flagrantly unconstitutional (such an unlimited power does not fit within the structure of American government as outlined by the Constitution), and Rehnquist acknowledged that fact. Corn, if you're going to take cheap shots at a guy who just died of cancer, you should at least not do so deceptively. You are not a decent person.