A simple question. When there are dead bodies, it always seems first and foremost, the most respectable thing to do. When 9/11 happened, they didn't leave dead bodies lying around as they searched for survivors. After Oklahoma City they did the same. Even when there are gunfights going on, it always seems they try to get the dead. The military does it.
Why is it that it takes days to pick up the bodies after Katrina? Racism is not the only answer, or classism. Do they have no place to put them? Do people not know how to pick up a dead body? Is leaving them where they are helping them find other survivors? What is the upside to not collecting them? Where's our humanity?
We pick up roadkill faster.
And as we try to bring our version of democracy to places like Iraq, these are the images that the world sees. Doesn't this undermind our troops? How can refute that our indifference and lack of planning pre- and post-disaster makes it harder for our troops to do their jobs?
Our calling card is slashing plans presented by experts, not having enough troops to do the job and letting civilians suffer, all the while protecting oil and big business.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Bush's #1 Fear Realized
No it's not Osama, it's not Al Qaeda, it's not gays getting married, it's not his massive tax cuts getting turned down, it's not his image turned to sh*t as a leader in time of crisis. Bush now has to take care of poor people. And for a sustained amount of time. Showing compassion for his fellow man, black and poor ones, too, will make his head explode. He can't walk away from this one like he did his military service. His search for WMD. He can't fade like he did for his Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage. Or his plan to put man on Mars. No, this long term commitment to helping the lower class of the South will do him in.
Look for the "President's Head Explodes" headline soon.
Look for the "President's Head Explodes" headline soon.
Government Rewards Business Buddies
Wired article on Bush cronies making money off Katrina.
"Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast. "
This is not to say that companies who are in that business should not be involved, it's to highlight the fact that people in power are there because of their ties to big business. They serve their connections to corporations before they think of the people in need of help. How fast did they figure out how to get oil from our reserves in Alaska and from European reserves? Much faster than they got food and water to the people in New Orleans.
When you point out to Bush fans how much you hate Cheney and his former company Halliburton, they never see it objectively. They see his Vice Presidency and his being former CEO of Halliburton as two independent coincidences. Why would one have anything to do with the other? And once they can not see that connection, all other subsequent connections between governental decisions and the corporations that fund them go uncontested. Thus, no anger.
Just like the way they view "handouts". Welfare to a Republican is the ultimate waste in goevernment. Why just give away money? But a no-bid contract to a company the VP used to run, that is a necessity. Or a tax break for the rich or trying to get rid of estate taxes, these are needed to spark our economy. But keeping the economy going by looking after everyone, especially the less fortunate, that is waste. You can only sustain long term improvements in our socity by taking care of everyone, not just the top 10%, who by the way, are pretty good at taking care of themselves.
"Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast. "
This is not to say that companies who are in that business should not be involved, it's to highlight the fact that people in power are there because of their ties to big business. They serve their connections to corporations before they think of the people in need of help. How fast did they figure out how to get oil from our reserves in Alaska and from European reserves? Much faster than they got food and water to the people in New Orleans.
When you point out to Bush fans how much you hate Cheney and his former company Halliburton, they never see it objectively. They see his Vice Presidency and his being former CEO of Halliburton as two independent coincidences. Why would one have anything to do with the other? And once they can not see that connection, all other subsequent connections between governental decisions and the corporations that fund them go uncontested. Thus, no anger.
Just like the way they view "handouts". Welfare to a Republican is the ultimate waste in goevernment. Why just give away money? But a no-bid contract to a company the VP used to run, that is a necessity. Or a tax break for the rich or trying to get rid of estate taxes, these are needed to spark our economy. But keeping the economy going by looking after everyone, especially the less fortunate, that is waste. You can only sustain long term improvements in our socity by taking care of everyone, not just the top 10%, who by the way, are pretty good at taking care of themselves.
Impeach Bush or Recall The Bush Election
Bill Maher makes a point for a California-style recall of Bush. With a Republican Congress you know this will never happen but it's worth keeping this idea in the minds of Americans. We must keep the pressure on our elected officials to have accountability. When Bush's idea of a smaller government means smaller only for poor people with fewer funds for the less fortunate and money for key projects like levee upkeep, it becomes clearer more than ever that he takes care of the rich with a fervor, yet screws the poor every chance he can. The government is the biggest it's ever been, more intrusive into our personal lives, more pro big corporations, more debt ridden than ever: so much for smaller government.
"On your watch we've lost almost all our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two Tade Centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the city of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky"
A much watch snippet, you can see some streaming video of Bill Maher's HBO show here.
You can see more about Bill's show on HBO here.
"On your watch we've lost almost all our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two Tade Centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the city of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky"
A much watch snippet, you can see some streaming video of Bill Maher's HBO show here.
You can see more about Bill's show on HBO here.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Cheney Told To "Go F*ck Yourself" On Air
via Crooks and Liars.Vice President Dick Cheney, in Gulfport, Mississippi on a tour of the Katrina hurricane zone was cursed out as he answered questions from reporters. Raw Story has the transcript:
Off camera, a protester shouts, "Go f--k yourself, Mr. Cheney. Go f--k yourself." The camera remains on Cheney while we hear scuffling in the background.
CNN's reporter asks Cheney, "Are you getting a lot of that Mr. Vice President?"
Cheney replies, "First time I've heard it., Must be a friend of John..., er, ah - never mind."
It may have been the first time he's heard, but it's not the first time it's been said. Believe me.
Watch it here here.
Blame Game
Why is the Bush administartion so adamant about not pointing fingers regarding the New Orleans Clusterf*ck? No "blame game" is in the right-wing echo chamber already. Now is not the time bullshit.
These are same people after the 9/11 attacks, who within hours, started to blame Iraq and wanted to go to war from September 12, 2001 on. They had no problem putting blame back then. Why the complete 180? Now all of a sudden they want to take time to assess the situation. Had they taken time to assess New Orleans, and Iraq too, beforehand, just think how different everything would be. The levees would have been taken care of in the Big Easy and thousands of lives would have been saved in the Middle East.
Anytime you're supposed to take your time, they rush in. When you have to rush in, they take their time. Complete disconnect.
Why is it that Joe Torre gets more blame for leaving in pitcher Tanyon Sturtz too long during a Yankee game then George Bush does for appointing a hack as the head of FEMA, systematically screwing over poor people, underfunding New Orleans year after year, and then not even showing up until three days after the storm?
These are same people after the 9/11 attacks, who within hours, started to blame Iraq and wanted to go to war from September 12, 2001 on. They had no problem putting blame back then. Why the complete 180? Now all of a sudden they want to take time to assess the situation. Had they taken time to assess New Orleans, and Iraq too, beforehand, just think how different everything would be. The levees would have been taken care of in the Big Easy and thousands of lives would have been saved in the Middle East.
Anytime you're supposed to take your time, they rush in. When you have to rush in, they take their time. Complete disconnect.
Why is it that Joe Torre gets more blame for leaving in pitcher Tanyon Sturtz too long during a Yankee game then George Bush does for appointing a hack as the head of FEMA, systematically screwing over poor people, underfunding New Orleans year after year, and then not even showing up until three days after the storm?
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Better On Inflicting Pain Then Feeling It
NY Times' Thomas Friedman has a great op-ed today about Osama and Katrina and how the Bush administration's radically uncompassionate conservative agenda - on taxes, stem cells, the environment and foreign treaties - has exposed them.
"Well, if 9/11 is one bookend of the Bush administration, Katrina may be the other. If 9/11 put the wind at President Bush's back, Katrina's put the wind in his face. If the Bush-Cheney team seemed to be the right guys to deal with Osama, they seem exactly the wrong guys to deal with Katrina - and all the rot and misplaced priorities it's exposed here at home.
These are people so much better at inflicting pain than feeling it, so much better at taking things apart than putting them together, so much better at defending "intelligent design" as a theology than practicing it as a policy."
We are living is a distorted America. A bloated Republican Fear Factory. Keep us in power, we will protect you. The other guy will let you die because he's a wimp. It was all guff. They had nothing to back it up. Friedman adds:
"Besides ripping away the roofs of New Orleans, Katrina ripped away the argument that we can cut taxes, properly educate our kids, compete with India and China, succeed in Iraq, keep improving the U.S. infrastructure, and take care of a catastrophic emergency - without putting ourselves totally into the debt of Beijing."
This hurricane is already at $51 Billion. We keep collecting less and less taxes from businesses and more and more from average Americans. We keep spending money in Iraq. Bush talks about sacrifice but he wants to get rid of the Estate Tax which only really effects the top1% of the richest people. Where is their sacrifice?
The one thing you can count on is Bush will not stop catering to his base so don't expect any changes in his policies. He'll protect the oil industry, he'll never hold his people accountable, and look for FEMA to get a few medals in the near future.
You can read Friedman's article here.
"Well, if 9/11 is one bookend of the Bush administration, Katrina may be the other. If 9/11 put the wind at President Bush's back, Katrina's put the wind in his face. If the Bush-Cheney team seemed to be the right guys to deal with Osama, they seem exactly the wrong guys to deal with Katrina - and all the rot and misplaced priorities it's exposed here at home.
These are people so much better at inflicting pain than feeling it, so much better at taking things apart than putting them together, so much better at defending "intelligent design" as a theology than practicing it as a policy."
We are living is a distorted America. A bloated Republican Fear Factory. Keep us in power, we will protect you. The other guy will let you die because he's a wimp. It was all guff. They had nothing to back it up. Friedman adds:
"Besides ripping away the roofs of New Orleans, Katrina ripped away the argument that we can cut taxes, properly educate our kids, compete with India and China, succeed in Iraq, keep improving the U.S. infrastructure, and take care of a catastrophic emergency - without putting ourselves totally into the debt of Beijing."
This hurricane is already at $51 Billion. We keep collecting less and less taxes from businesses and more and more from average Americans. We keep spending money in Iraq. Bush talks about sacrifice but he wants to get rid of the Estate Tax which only really effects the top1% of the richest people. Where is their sacrifice?
The one thing you can count on is Bush will not stop catering to his base so don't expect any changes in his policies. He'll protect the oil industry, he'll never hold his people accountable, and look for FEMA to get a few medals in the near future.
You can read Friedman's article here.
Think Progress Timeline For Katrina
Think Progress has a great timeline for the events surrounding Katrina. You can decide for yourself. This is not a blame game, that would imply that someone is being mis-cast of the devil. This is a you-f*cked-it-now-fix-it game. Just like in Iraq, where planning and policy were flawed, Bush is trying to blame the locals. You put people in an extended hellish do-or-die situation and then blame them for not being country clubbers.
Look for yourself.
Look for yourself.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Death Toll
At what number are Americans going to get pissed?
5,000? 10,000?, 20,000? 40,000?
I also like how the White House creates Homeland Security to enhance communication between departments, and then blames lack of communication for problems with responding to Katrina. You can't have it both ways. You can't create the largest, the most expensive, most beaurocratic department in the Government to deal with this problem and then pass the buck back on locals. You f*cked up. Deal with it.
5,000? 10,000?, 20,000? 40,000?
I also like how the White House creates Homeland Security to enhance communication between departments, and then blames lack of communication for problems with responding to Katrina. You can't have it both ways. You can't create the largest, the most expensive, most beaurocratic department in the Government to deal with this problem and then pass the buck back on locals. You f*cked up. Deal with it.
The GOP Are So Wrong
Gen. Myers, the ball-less commander who let's the civilians in the Pentagon tell him what to do, said New Orleans "dodged a bullet". I gues that's why Bush stayed on holiday and Cheney is still no where to be seen. Your GOP leaders are so lame and you know it.
See what the world thinks...
See what the world thinks...
I Notice No One In New Orleans Says To Shoot
It's always these wimps in the safety of another state, and some another state of mind, that they say to shoot people for looting. They would never say it in New Orleans because they would get their punk-ass mouth slapped. I notice no one on the scene who is living in the horror calls for people to be shot. But some douche bag from the Wall Street Journal calls for shooting people. Why don't you get your fat ass from New Jersey and say it down in Louisianna.
For a place that has no electricity, no water and no food, I think the locals are doing a great job. They are just like the Iraqis. They are the brave ones. They are the ones that define courage.
And if you want to keep the Iraq analogy for a second, we should send in a fraction of the help and troops necesssary and see if they are greeted like liberators. That's what Rumsfeld and Co did in Iraq.
Americans can see firsthand how Bush policy of cutting needed programs and services f*cked up the world. We fucked the Iraqis, now we f*cked oursleves.
The buck stops with your President.
See The Trend?
Yet again, the man underwhelms me. And what's f*cked up is his people thinks he's f*cking John Wayne, American bad-ass. If ever there was a dumb-ass rich white guy that rode some serious coattails, it's W.
Bush and his Republicans are no longer living in reality. They take credit for shit like Muammar al-Qaddafi
cracking under UK pressure and Syria giving up Lebanon in a post-Yasser Arafat Middle East, shit that is so on the periphery, but when something happens at home, like Katrina or 9/11, or shit overseas like prison abuse or Iraq intel sucking balls, they play dumb. Why is this the norm?
This country moves forward inspite of it's leadership. Just think if someone was at the top not wasting our time and money on wars, tax breaks for rich people, gay marriage amendments, and completely caving in to corporate donors and lobbyists. Name me one American who wanted a new bankruptcy bill?
Americans made the US great for over 200+ years, we can't just give up now. Vote in '06!
Banner Of The Day
So are we safer? There have been 500+ National Disasters since 1995. All but two were natural disasters, 9/11 and Oklahoma City. So if the overwhelming odds are that we are going to have a disaster with Mother Nature, are we really surprised when something like Katrina happens?
And when you look at terrorism, we have more homegrown terrorists than internationals. We had the Unabomber, we have the Anthrax Guy, we had the '96 Olympics Bomber, we had the Tylenol Guy from years ago, not to mention the countless serial killers, abducters and psychopaths who bring communities plenty of terror. We as Americans don't have to look to the Middle East, but the Bush Propaganda Machine wants you to think by being in Iraq with 130,000+ troops and 90,000 private contractors, you are somehow safer. The $300,000,000,000 Bush has spent in Iraq didn't save one life, one school, one church, one business or one person from suffering in New Orleans.
Failure is one thing, it happens. Complete denial is unaccpetable. Homeland Security is the new oxymoron, up there with Military Intelligence.
Keith Olbermann Tells It Like It Is
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann writes a great article on how New Orleans will haunt the GOP. You know if Kerry were President they would be placing the blame squarely on him. From killing civilians in Iraq to killing civilians in Katrina's wake, both through poor planning, this is Bush's legacy. Here's an exerpt via Hoffmania.com."But, nationally, these are leaders who won re-election last year largely by portraying their opponents as incapable of keeping the country safe. These are leaders who regularly pressure the news media in this country to report the reopening of a school or a power station in Iraq, and defies its citizens not to stand up and cheer. Yet they couldn't even keep one school or power station from being devastated by infrastructure collapse in New Orleans — even though the government had heard all the "chatter" from the scientists and city planners and hurricane centers and some group whose purposes the government couldn't quite discern... a group called The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
And most chillingly of all, this is the Law and Order and Terror government. It promised protection — or at least amelioration — against all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological.
It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water."
Remember in '06, we need to make a change.
Read Keith's article here.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Two Points To Think About
Two points to think about:
1. It's called the National Guard. It's not the International Guard. It's supposed to guard our Nation! I'm sure when most people sign up, they think they are doing the one weekend a month deal. They can still be the local policeman or fireman, have a family, enjoy life. If they knew they would be in Iraq for long peroids of time, who knows what they might have done. But it's quite apparent in New Orleans that those National Guard who double as policemen and firemen were surely missed and a lot of Americans suffered and continue to suffer.
2. If the Department of Homeland Security acted this bad when it knew a storm was coming and had time to prepare, what will they do if a surprise attack went down? They are the largest and most ill-run segment of our government, they consume a massive budget, they take away our individual rights, thery have a lame color-coded terror alert system [which should have "Code Brown" added because they are deep shit] and it all makes sense that this is Bush's legacy. Michael Chertoff will probably step down as Secretary of Homeland Security when all the bad news starts hitting the fan, George should take the hint and do the same.
1. It's called the National Guard. It's not the International Guard. It's supposed to guard our Nation! I'm sure when most people sign up, they think they are doing the one weekend a month deal. They can still be the local policeman or fireman, have a family, enjoy life. If they knew they would be in Iraq for long peroids of time, who knows what they might have done. But it's quite apparent in New Orleans that those National Guard who double as policemen and firemen were surely missed and a lot of Americans suffered and continue to suffer.
2. If the Department of Homeland Security acted this bad when it knew a storm was coming and had time to prepare, what will they do if a surprise attack went down? They are the largest and most ill-run segment of our government, they consume a massive budget, they take away our individual rights, thery have a lame color-coded terror alert system [which should have "Code Brown" added because they are deep shit] and it all makes sense that this is Bush's legacy. Michael Chertoff will probably step down as Secretary of Homeland Security when all the bad news starts hitting the fan, George should take the hint and do the same.
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