You're Doing A Heckuva Job Hughesie

Looks like the verdict is in on another Bush crony. Karen Hughes gets hammered today in Slate and The Guardian. Both are complete smack downs based on her failed trip to the Middle East. Fred Kaplan writes in Slate:

Could someone please explain to me what Karen Hughes is doing. Her maiden voyage to the Middle East has turned into a fiasco. She assures a room of Saudi women that they, too, will someday drive cars; they tell her they're actually happy right now, thank you. She meets with a group of Turkish women—hand-picked by an outfit that supports women running for political office—who brusquely tell her she has no credibility as long as U.S. troops occupy Iraq.

As bad as that is, it doesn't compare to what Sydney Blumenthal writes in today's Guardian. Blumenthal doesn't just pan her PR trip, he gets downright mean. From the Guardian:

This week, Hughes embarked on her first trip as undersecretary. Her initial statement resembled an elementary school presentation: "You might want to know why the countries. Egypt is, of course, the most populous Arab country... Saudi Arabia is our second stop; it's obviously an important place in Islam and the keeper of its two holiest sites ... Turkey is also a country that encompasses people of many different backgrounds and beliefs, and yet is proud of the saying that 'All are Turks'."

Earlier in the column Blumenthal took this shot at her memoir.

From her exile, Hughes produced Ten Minutes from Normal, a deeply uninteresting and unrevealing memoir. Long stretches of uninformative banality are broken by unselfconscious expressions of religiosity

Damn, that's harsh. For what it's worth, Hughes is the third person to hold this job in the Bush Administration. All three have been media types as if what America's image abroad needs is a little more zazz. This is a prime example of the difficulties the modern republican party runs into all of the time. They understand TV very well, that's how they get elected. Once elected, you find out they don't understand governance. Maybe they should all go run NBC and let the grown-ups govern the country.

Drier Goes Butch

David Drier's image has taken a beating since Dennis Hastert tapped him as temporary Majority Leader of the House. Drier, who allegedly is gay, was stopped in his ascension to leader by unknown forces within the republican party. Last night he appeared on The Charley Rose Show. I can only describe his appearance as a comical attempt to "butch it up". The perennial best dressed member of the House wore an awful suit, the knot on his tie was squared way left of center, and his hair was ruffled.

I only caught the end of the show so I'm not sure what the discussion was about.

Let Freedom Reign

Our long national nightmare is finally over. Judy Miller is free. She will testify today before the grand jury with possible indictments being handed out on Monday. The whole backstory behind her deciding to testify is ridiculous. I can't begin to believe that Scooter Libby didn't know he was the source she was protecting, then again, he is pretty clueless.

Anyway, the investigation wraps up today and we will know next week whether or not the frogs will come marching in.

Awards

A couple of awards were handed out last night at the Columbus Public Library. Annie Glenn was given the 2005 Julian Sinclair Smith Celebration of Learning Award. She gave a speech about how she overcame her speech impediment. She was followed by Pulitzer prize winning author Richard Russo who gave a thirty minute spiel about how funny it is when people stutter. Really

I hereby award Russo the 2005 Phlip's Rants Jackass of the Year Award which will further be known as the Russy.

Disclaimer: I was not at the actual event. The story was revealed to me last night by an attendee.

Pardon Me

The Department of Justice has released a rather quixotic list of fourteen individuals pardoned by George W. Bush. None of the people are currently serving time or for that matter are even still on probation for the crimes committed. Hell, I'm not even sure a few of them are still alive.

This looks more like a list that Bush's father would have pardoned. None of the crimes were committed post 1992. I ran a few of the names through the FEC campaign donors database and came up with nothing. Google didn't turn up a lot either save this Riverfront Times article about Morris Cramner. Weird.

The list contains four convicted drug dealers, a hooch brewer, and a bomber. A bomber? What the fuck. I'd like to find out some more on these individuals. If you have any knowledge of these people e-mail me or put it in the comments.

Dumb Plums

Ever heard of the Plum Book? Probably not unless you are a career political hack, large donor, or say, a guy who so sorely lacks in charisma that you lose your Senate bid to a dead guy. The Plum Book is an actual purple book that list over 3,000 positions appointed by the president of the United States and another 5,000 jobs appointed by these appointees.

Most of these positions are do nothing jobs used to pay off campaign workers for their help in winning the presidency; however, some of these jobs are quite crucial for our government to work. That is the problem that George Bush doesn't get. There are a shitload of Mike Brown's still out there and we need a purge. Bush even continues to nominate know nothing hacks for these critical positions. Pathetic.

Don't Call It A Comeback

Uh, wow. A couple of posts ago I wrote that David Drier was a weak choice for House majority leader. I have to admit I though, I thought he would last at least a little longer than Alexander Haig who famously proclaimed after Reagan was shot, "I'm in charge." Roy Blunt made his move and will now be the new majority leader. It probably didn't help Drier out that he is heterosexually challenged in a party of homophobes.

The bottom line is that Delay is done. He may get off on the conspiracy charge, but he will never regain a leadership position. Blunt's ascension to majority leader signals this. You don't make a move like this without the proper backing both from within and outside the House. Delay might schlep around for a another term or two, but when the power doesn't match the ego he will move his sorry ass to K Street for some thank you checks.

I do find it very funny that while Tom Delay was giving his indignant presser about partisan politics being behind his indictment his fellow republicans who had reassured him all week were in a closed door meeting cutting his throat.

They Write Letters

A captain in the 82nd Airborne has written an open letter to John McCain that is published in today's Washington Post. Captain Ian Fishback writes to McCain hoping that he can push the Pentagon to clarify standards for treating detainees in Iraq. I've seen letters like this before, but they are usually anonymous. It's a good thing that Fishback is standing up for the virtues of America.

The problem is that with the Iraq war, we had one chance to get it right. We didn't. People are beginning to understand that. A lot of bloggers are hammering Tom Friedman today for this paragraph in the New York Times:

That will become clear in the next few months as we see just what kind of minority the Sunnis in Iraq intend to be. If they come around, a decent outcome in Iraq is still possible, and we should stay to help build it. If they won't, then we are wasting our time. We should arm the Shiites and Kurds and leave the Sunnis of Iraq to reap the wind.

We have been wasting our time Tom, it just took you two years to realize it. Friedman is simply pointing out the fact that we have run out of options. We filled the CPA with Heritage Foundation hacks and from that point the situation has simply spiraled downward from there. Will there be a civil war? Yes. Will there be ethnic cleansing? Yes, and with the troop levels we have currently in Iraq we are powerless to stop it. So, we will cut and run, and this running won't dishonor our soldiers as much as leaving them in theatre with orders such as Capt. Fishback has.

As for his letter to McCain, good luck. When it comes to lip service, John McCain is the Angelina Jolie of the Senate. When there is a line to tow, he will always hitch his nose to the administration's ass.

Time To Change The House GOP Rules Again

Tom Delay has been indicted on one count of criminal conspiracy. The former GOP house rules called for any member of the leadership under investigation to step down. When Delay came under investigation, those rules changed to indicted. Time for another change? Convicted? Out on Appeal? Not in the chair yet?

This grand jury ran out first so that's how Delay beat the others to the indictment finish line. The 109th Congress may have as many as four congressmen charged with crimes (Ney, Cunningham, and Jefferson are the other three). I thought the Delay indictment was the least likely.

I was joking about the House leadership rules. It has been announced that Delay will step down and will be replaced by David Drier in the House leadership. Delay must be thinking comeback because Drier isn't really a strong choice for the leadership.

No wonder these guys want to pack the courts.

Yahoo!

Tom Delay might be indicted today. Or he might not. The grand jury investigating TRMPAC wraps up today so any indictments left from it will come today. The Plame grand jury wraps up on Friday so it might be an indictmenty kinda week.

Uh Oh, SpaghettiO

Three of Jack Abramoff and Adam Kidan's "friends" have been charged in the murder of Gus Boulis. Arrest warrants have been issued for Anthony "Big Tony" Moscatiello, Anthony "Little Tony" Ferrari, and Jimmy "Pudge" Fiorillo. Gee, they sound like such upstanding individuals. Actually, I don't know anything about the last two, but Moscatiello is a known associate of the Gambino crime family. He was indicted once with John Gotti's brother Gene.

Moscatiello is widely known as Adam Kidan's "mentor" as well as being a well known mob caterer. Perhaps that is why Kidan funneled a quarter of a million dollars to him right before Boulis got whacked. That's a lot o spicy meatballs!

You might remember that Bob Ney once urged on the floor of the US House that the Abramoff / Kidan buyout of Boulis should go through. Oh Bob, the company you keep.

The noose is tightening.

Jesus Jonesing

Apparently, Ashley Smith gave alleged courthouse killer Brian Nichols a little more than a dose of the good book while he held her hostage in suburban Atlanta in March. Nichols asked for some weed, but all Smith had was crystal meth. You know, because Jesus loves him some meth. Being ever the good christian, Smith admits in her new book that she didn't use meth with Nichols saying, "I was not going to die tonight and stand before God, having done a bunch of ice up my nose."

Packing ice up the nose is what I believe good christians only do on nights they don't expect to die.

Mike Brown: I'm Doing A Helleva Job

Mike Brown didn't exactly say that, but it was close as he testified before the republican led "investigation" of FEMA's failures. Brown did go on to say, "I know what I'm doing, and I think I do a pretty darn good job of it." Brown went on to play the blame game, pointing fingers at local and state officials.

Brown, who is still catching a check from FEMA as a consultant, is really spinning his wheels here. Rightly so or not, the court of public opinion has already judged him guilty and demanded he be sent to the gallows. Republicans using Brown to blame the locals simply look foolish. The die is cast, deal with it. If I was a republican, I'd throw the guy under the bus.

I know that the Democrats are boycotting this investigation, but I'm not sure that is the best way to go. It would certainly look better if somebody was up there grilling Brown other than the soon to be indicted William Jefferson.

New Recession?

A couple of troubling economic numbers came out today. The consumer confidence dropped 18.9 points in September to 86.6 and new home sales were off 9.9% in August. The drop in consumer confidence is probably somewhat related to the hurricanes, although not totally. The more troubling number is the drop in new home sales. It was roughly double what economists had expected.

Housing sales are one of the few things fueling our economy right now so a major slowdown would undoubtably spin the economy into at least a short recession. Sales are expected to continue to slow though the final quarter of 2005. We're going to have to see what interest rates are going to do, and I can't help but seeing them go up.

Streaming Radio

My God, is it that fucking hard to stream radio on the internet? There are 12 year olds out there with podcasts. Maybe WTEM can hire a few of them if they can get around child labor laws. Looks like no TK today. Fuck!

Committed To Fucking Up

You're not going to believe this. FEMA just hired a consultant to figure out what went wrong with their response to the hurricanes. That consultant is none other than Mike Brown. That truly is making a commitment to keep on fucking up. Bush is going to get skewered on this even though I doubt he knew about it in advance.

Reform Ohio Now

Reform Ohio Now is a group that is supporting a series of election reform amendments on the Ohio ballot this year. They are issues 2, 3, 4, and 5. For more info on what you can do to help these issues pass go read Pounder's diary at Kos here. To find out why these are the most important elections anywhere in the country this year, go read Tim Tagaris' diary here.

It was a pretty good move politically to put these issues on the ballot this year. With mayoral and city council races dominating most large cities in Ohio this year, we should have an advantage at the polls with a lower turnout for rural counties with nothing to vote on.

I support Reform Ohio Now and its efforts to reform Ohio's election laws.

The Real Gang Of Fourteen

The LA Times yesterday published a report by CREW on the thirteen most corrupt members of Congress. The title implies that Tom Delay is the most corrupt thus bringing the number to fourteen. One Ohio congressman finds himself on the list. Hmm, who could that be? Oh yea, it's Bob Ney. No big surprise there.

Keeping A Brother Down

For reasons unclear to me, the above pictured republican Stacey Campfield was denied membership in the Tennessee House Black Caucus. Chairman of the Black Caucus Rep. Johnny Straw quipped,"Stacey Campfield is a strange guy. That's the best I can say."

Found lots of places like Tennessee Guerilla Women

Pat Tillman

The San Francisco Chronicle has a really good read on the life and death of Pat Tillman.

Out Damned Truth! Out, I Say!

Scotland can be a cruel place for Kings and Thanes and Congressmen on lobbyist paid junkets. Bob Ney has stated in the past that one of his functions on the Abramoff golf junket to St. Andrews ($100,000 total tab) was to address the Scottish parliament. Oops, they weren't in session that week as revealed in this week's Newsweek. From Newsweek:

And other records reviewed by NEWSWEEK raise further questions about Ney's account. An "external liaison" registry of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh shows that other members of the U.S. Congress visited that month. But there is no record of Ney's doing so. In fact, the Parliament was in recess when Ney was in Scotland, so "there is no way" he could have addressed the body, said Sally Coyne, a Parliament spokeswoman. A press officer for the House of Commons in London said the British Parliament was also in recess.

Ney's spokesman, Brian Walsh, said that the congressman "wasn't giving a formal speech." Ney "met with a number of folks over there. I don't have any names."

A word for Ney. Details. When you're telling a lie, it's the details that make the story believable. Bob Ney seems to be very short on details and truth for that matter. Ney should produce some actual people he met with. Good luck. Maybe Ney was making plans for Nigel.

The real story here in my opinion is how the fuck did Ney get a three year pass on this. I hear in next week's Newsweek they're going to get to the bottom of that pesky McKinley assassination.

I might have to go seek Ney out on the campaign trail and throw some Scotch Eggs at him.

Gouge Away

Hmm, it looks like the $4.00 a gallon gas prices were localized gouging. They buy their gas from a different terminal than we do so I'm not sure yet who did the gouging. Could have been the wholesalers, could have been the retailers. I did hear talk of $3.80 wholesale gas, but it never materialized in Columbus. Sounds like a job for the AG. He happens to be running for governor so I think he would jump on this quick time.

Side Note: Apparently, a lot of other bloggers didn't spend yesterday marinating their brain in Jagermeister (I did) and have found lots of fun facts that I will comment later today.

Sister, Can You Spare A Dime

Shakespeare's Sister informs us that the effort to raise private US dollars for the fool's folly in Iraq has netted a grand total of $600. That is roughly .0002 cents per US citizen. Apparently that thirty some percent of the nation that still give Bush a favorable rating are a little light in the wallet.

Give it up. It's over.

Found via Atrios

Reality

OK, let me be the first to point out the fact that I was wrong. In my last post I said that I would point out how you could evacuate people from a large city. It's hard, it's really, really hard. I won't bore you with all of the background I used but I will give you some of the generals and these are the facts. This is based on a generic city of one million people with no damage to infrastructure. This is based on a surprise disaster, such as a terrorist attack.

Best case scenario: People evacuating themselves: 120,000 the first day, half that every subsequent day after the second day. Government sponsored air lift /train lift /boat lift: 150,000 the first day with serious degradation every day afterward, but this probably wouldn't start until the third day. Getting people to the lift is a bitch.

So, by my calculations, a city with one million people would take a week to nine days to empty a city, not including people that simply wouldn't leave who are included in the 1 million figure, roughly 5%.

I'll try to come up with solutions to speed this up.

Drills

Tony Harrison just asked Rep. Gene Green whether or not the US should have evacuation drills. Ain't gonna happen. Do you really think Americans are going to give up a Saturday to sit on the highway? Please. Hell, I believe in these kind of things and I wouldn't participate.

The only way to effectively evacuate a US city is for the federal government to pay airlines for a massive airlift plus pre-position AMTRAK for a trainlift as well. In the aftermath of Rita, every mayor in the US has to be thinking, "How the fuck would I evacuate my city."

Later today, I'll go into how this can be accomplished.

Miles O'Brien

I just watched miles O'Brien standing in driving rain and wind almost getting blown away when Tony Harrison suggested he seek safety. At that point O'Brien said he was okay, then took three steps forward where he was completely shielded from the weather and said that this was his fallback position. No wind, no rain.

Way to get out in the weather Miles.

I'm Safe

Why do TV reporters always assure their veiwers that they are safe in their location.

Heads

A brief exchange between the sheriff of the Parish Lake Charles is in (Tony Mancuso) and a CNN anchor Tony Harrison

TM: Well, we had about a 95% evacuation rate.

TH: So, what percentage of your population evacuated?

TM: Uh, we had approximately 90 - 95% evacuation.

TH: How many people are left in your parish?

TM: Uh, about five percent.

Rita

Rita blogging should start around 3:30 to 4:00 tomorrow morning if you're interested, and I doubt there are many of you. The storm is expected to make landfall at around 7:30 which will be at high tide. Tide varies little along this part of the coast.

Gasoline

Gas is going to $4.00 per gallon right now! If you see cheaper gas, buy it right now.

Setback

The industrial canal in New Orleans has been breached in three places and water is rising in the ninth ward at a rate of three inches per minute. New Orleans is going back to where it was three weeks ago.

I believe this is the best case senerio for the city. I have been watching the attempt to rapidly repopulate an unsafe city with a large degree of bafflement. Hopefully this will convince people that New Orleans is unsafe for the near term. The levees have to be upgraded before repopulation can even be thought of.

Poll Tax

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy. How could you fall for this shit. Jimmy Carter and James Baker III defend their proposal for mandating picture ID's for voting in an editorial in today's New York Times (Not part of Times Select). Both of them say that, yes, they are concerned about the twelve percent of the voting population is currently without picture ID. I believe one of them, Carter.

Baker and the rest of the republicans must be thrilled they got Carter to sign on to, as Rep. John Conyers says, the new poll tax. I would guess 95% of the 12% without fail vote Democratic in elections. Not to mention that it makes it easy to disenfranchise poor voters though rumors about what will happen when they show their ID's at polling locations.

It is pretty sad that Iraq with the purple finger thing has a better electoral process than we do. Why are we trying to promote democracy abroad while destroying it at home? We know the answer, it is so republicans can actively loot the federal treasury.

Go back to building houses old man.

Frist Goes Martha

Looks like Bill Frist may be guilty of some inside trading. Frist ordered the trustee of his blind trust to sell off his shares of his family's business, Hospital Corporation of America, Inc. This move was preceded by the rest of his family selling off their shares prior to a weak earnings report.

I don't understand why people would so brazenly do this. It's too easy to get caught. What a dumbass.

Perhaps Frist can write a follow up to his book Good People Beget Good People: A Genealogy Of The Frist Family (Actual book, I know, the fact that anyone would write a book with such a self aggrandizing title is just hilarious.) with Inside Traders Beget Inside Traders: A Genealogy Of The Ethically Challenged Frist Family. Seriously, go to the Amazon site and read the reviews. There is a couple of hours of enjoyment there.

This won't affect Frist's chances for the Presidency. They're still at zero. He has the charisma of a robot with a low battery.

UPDATE: Subpeonas are flying at HCA related to the good doctor's sell off of stocks.

Poor Critical Thinking

The Texas National Guard actually sent gas trucks to relieve evacuees that had run out of gas. They sent two tankers with 5000 gallons of gas each. One problem, they don't have the proper nozzles to actually distribute the gas. Gonda Mocada, Chief Master Sgt. of the Texas National Guard said they are flying in the proper nozzles. She also acknowledged the fact that 10,000 gallons of gas isn't going to do the trick.

We've got 29-1/2 hours to landfall and if this continues a lot of people are going to have to weather this storm along the highway.

Another storm, another failure.

The Wall Of Water

Watching the Weather Channel here ate 4:30 EST it looks like Rita will make landfall around Port Arthur, Texas around noon tomorrow. The storm should hit at mid tide with a later arrival pushing toward low tide. They are forecasting a 20' storm surge with twenty to thirty foot waves on top of that, in other words, a 50' wall of water similar to the tsunami in the Indian Ocean last year. The water could reach inland as much as 20-30 miles with local flooding on top of that.

They are having great trouble evacuating the Texas Gulf Coast. Rick Perry really screwed the pooch by waiting so long to begin contraflow traffic. It has been roughly 19 hours to Austin and around 12 -14 hours to Dallas. They are advising people just leaving Houston not to bother.

Three Card Monte Carlo

Never let it be said that casino owners are dumb. Katrina was the best thing that ever happened to them and they played it perfectly. I mused here that I wondered how long it would take after the hurricane for the casinos to line up for tax breaks. The answer: 22 days. Well, sort of, they didn't even have to ask.

So, lets break down exactly how this con game played out. Mississippi is getting ready to change the law to allow casinos to be built on land in effort to build some sort of Hillbilly Riviera on the Gulf Coast. Along comes Katrina. The floating casinos have a choice, barge them away from the storm to safety, or let them get destroyed.

The casinos chose to allow themselves to be destroyed knowing that shortly thereafter they would be obsolete once the new land based ones were built. Hell, they stayed open until Sunday night before the storm hit. They got exactly what they hoped for.

Now, they turn the total loss over to their insurance companies who will in turn fork out a large portion of the construction costs for the new land based casinos they were going to build anyway. Bush and Barbour throw in tax incentives for icing on the cake. By the way, the casinos have always been excluded from tax incentives in Mississippi.

I have a feeling the insurance companies know they got played, but casinos pay a lot of insurance money and they will try to recover their losses in the future. Probably off of you and me.

Chang, Last Time, I Promise

All of these years we have been calling Bush a chimp. But now we know courtesy of his brother Jab that he is not. He is an oranguChang. Who knew?

By the way, if this goddamn computer crashes one more time today, I am going to unleash Phlang. Phlang of course being the ancient Chinese entrepreneurial spirit known for abacus kicking.

Category 5

Rita has now become a Category 5 hurricane. She will probably make landfall as a strong category 4 hurricane as far as winds go. One of the important aspects to remember is that hurricane categories only measure wind speed, and as Katrina showed storm surge can very greatly within categories. The key here is the barometric pressure within the eye of the storm.

The current barometric pressure in Rita's eye is 920 millibars. Katrina's low barometric pressure was 902 millibars. Rita should come close to matching that before weakening slightly as it enters the cooler waters near the Texas coast. Expect a huge storm surge.

The enormous problem with this storm is three fold. Number one, quite a few oil rigs in the gulf that were missed by Katrina will be damaged by Rita. Two, the combination of Katrina and Rita have the potential of taking 25% of our refining capacity off line near term. Look for $3.50 gas prices minimum after Rita makes landfall. Three, the port of Houston is the second largest port in the world in tonnage. It will also be down near term.

Fill your gas tank before this hurricane makes landfall. I'll keep a watch on wholesale gasoline prices here and let you know any coming trends.

Not From The Onion

Oh, what is it with Christian conservatives and their mythical little buddies? From the Gainesville Sun:

After more than an hour of solemn ceremony naming Rep. Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, as the 2007-08 House speaker, Gov. Jeb Bush stepped to the podium in the House chamber last week and told a short story about "unleashing Chang," his "mystical warrior" friend.

Here are Bush's words, spoken before hundreds of lawmakers and politicians: ''Chang is a mystical warrior. Chang is somebody who believes in conservative principles, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism, believes in moral values that underpin a free society."

''I rely on Chang with great regularity in my public life. He has been by my side and sometimes I let him down. But Chang, this mystical warrior, has never let me down.''

Bush then unsheathed a golden sword and gave it to Rubio as a gift.

''I'm going to bestow to you the sword of a great conservative warrior,'' he said, as the crowd roared.

Okay, first things first. Any ceremony to swear in any speaker of any house by any party that lasts longer than an hour is simply a self fellating circle jerk put on by overly pompous egotistical idiots.

Now, on to Chang. This is some crap he gets from his father George H.W. Bush. It's silly and stupid and I couldn't care less about it. It is pretty funny though, a Christian conservative calling on some form of Eastern Mysticism for strength.

Oh, and I was unaware that the ancient monarchies of China were free societies that were chalk full of entrepreneurial capitalist goodness.

There is a question I would like answered. Who paid for the sword? Tax payers? Lobbyists? Jeb doesn't seem like a dip into my own pocket kinda guy. You might remember how proudly he announced at the Florida State - Miami game that he had dropped twenty whole US dollars into a collection taken at the game.

Bad News, Bob

It now looks like Bob Ney's is in some serious trouble. The feds have indicted David Safavian on three counts and it appears they are trying to flip him. Raw Story puts together the Ney - Safavian connection here. Safavian has the goods on Ney's golfing trip to Scotland with Jack Abramoff. Ney knowingly lied on his disclosure forms, then claimed he was duped by Abramoff. An Abramoff e-mail to his client (Tiqua Indian Tribe) reads, "[Ney] had a great time and is very grateful but is not going to mention the trip to Scotland for obvious reasons. He said he'll show his thanks in other ways, which is what we want."

Ney claims that Abramoff is lying, but when he met with Abramoff's client he reportedly told them, "I want to thank you — I had a great time. You all were so generous." It sounds to me like Ney is the one that is lying.

George Voinovich

This isn't exactly timely, but I've been busy for the last several days. I do want to give George Voinovich a thumbs up for his questioning of Julie Myers in her confirmation hearing to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Voinovich had this to say:

“I’m really concerned about your management experience,” Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, told her, pointing out that ICE, with 20,000 employees, was the second-largest investigative agency in the federal government.

“I think that we ought to have a meeting with (Homeland Security Secretary) Mike Chertoff … to ask him… why he thinks you’re qualified for the job.

“Because based on your resume, I don’t think you are,” Voinovich concluded.

Now we'll have to see if Katrina has given Voinovich the balls to reject Myers that he didn't have to reject Bolton.

Disaster Preparedness

AlphaGeek has a very thorough five part series on personal disaster preparedness over at Kos. Here is a link to Part 5. If you want to fully prepare your family for the event of a natural or man made disaster go check it out. It's worth a read even if you don't plan on preparing.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

His Noodly Appendage touches the pages of Gelf here. Boing Boing is now offering $1 million to anyone that can produce empirical evidence which proves that Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. There is a catch though, as noted by this disclaimer.

Prize to be awarded with Intelligently Designed currency; void where prohibited by logic.

I think the fundies are starting to get pissed off by the amount of FSM related stuff being sent to the Kansas State School Board.

Some Info

Here is some stuff you really need to know. You have to know it. You need to know it. It is the most important information you will ever read, really. Yes, of course, I'm talking about geeky meta shit. Seriously, how will you make it through tomorrow without knowing the site metrics of this website? The short answer is you won't.

First I'd like to thank Jules for being the 3,000th hit on this site. I see you're getting a lot of work done at the new job. Anyway, hooray, free T in the mail. Postage COD of course. Miss you guys, when are you and the Ji-man coming for a visit? I'd visit you but I'm a lazy, lazy man. But I digress. Back to the geeky meta shit that will drive you to masturbation.

This site has been viewed in 205 American cities in 42 states plus the District of Columbia. I understand no Alabama, but what about the other seven? Apparently they don't appreciate piss poorly put together musings in Idaho. I now realize that there are a lot of towns in the United States that I have never heard of. Places like Walnut Grove, MO, or Coudersport, PA. Hell, I live in Ohio and I have never heard of Croton or Brice. I need a map.

The site has also been viewed in 72 world cities in forty countries including my favorite city to say out loud, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It's fun, say it with me Tegucigalpa. The oddest hit is Trk, Turkey. Huh? Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel.

Phlip's Rants has also polluted the bandwidth of 22 universities. Some people are using their time at college to read this site and get a little dumber.

If you are wondering what FEMA was doing when they should have been preparing for the nation's potential disasters? Yep, reading the crap I write here.

Well, that's your geeky meta shit for the first three thousand hits, I'll get back to you after four thousand. Onward and upward.

Back To Normal

Blogging should return to normal tomorrow. I've been swamped over the weekend, including working twelve hours yesterday. That sucks, I'd have much preferred to have been sotted than swamped. Anyway, I've got a bunch of half written posts, and most would say half baked that I'll sort out tonight along with some floating around the noggin that I'll write for consumption tomorrow.

Katrina: The Fiscal Hurricane

Have you ever been using Microsoft's Excel and gotten this response: Error, circular reference?
Go flush your toilet. Watch how the water spins around, that's where the economy is going. See, here is the thing. The rebuilding effort in the gulf states is going to cost at least $300 Billion dollars of federal treasury. We don't have it, how do we get it?

The US government is going to have to sell treasury bonds to foreign nations (China we need a quarter of a trillion!) to fund the relief. We're not exactly in a what in the business world would call a sellers market. Our interest rates are too low for a lot of foreign buyers tastes so we have three choices. None of them are very palatable.

Option one: We sell the equivalent to War Bonds sold during WWII. You aren't going to really make any money off of them but you're helping out. Reality: Pie in the sky.

Option two: Raising taxes. Really raising taxes. Reality: Not very fucking likely; however if someone finds Grover Norquist's body floating in the Potomac river, this might be on the table.

Option three: Significantly raise interest rates to interest the kind of foreign investment we need. This is the one we're stuck with. It comes with a lot of problems though. It sends us down the spiral staircase the Bush administration has done its damness to to do since being inaugurated in January 2001. It breaks out like this. We don't raise interest rates, we probably don't get the money. Remember, China, South Korea, and Japan are helpful but shrewd. They buy most of our bonds. So, we raise interest rates to spur them on. What happens, the economy slows down and suddenly you can't make your mortgage payment because you over bought or re financed with an adjustable rate mortgage. In other words, Katrina didn't burst the housing bubble, she blew it away.

Option three basically leads to financial ruin for a lot of Americans especially since the new bankruptcy laws require you to have your balls screwed to the floor while the banks kick you in the face.

Our one out, the Pacific rim might loan us out of this mess, because as goes the American economy, so goes the world economy. If I was George Bush, you would need a jackhammer to get my lips off of Hu Jintao's cock right now.

The economy set up by George Bush is the economy that will sink at least the republican party, maybe America for the near to middle term. It's circular, what push eventually comes back to shove you in the ass.

I'm Back

The last couple of days have been really hectic. I've got a lot to write but it will take a few hours to sort out. Go read this article by the General if you are looking for something really funny.

Polls

The Coleman campaign has sent me some poll results. First of all, the poll comes from a very reputable pollster so I believe that it is fairly accurate. The poll contains a lot of bad news for republicans, but lets start with the primary race.

Ted Strickland leads Michael Coleman 25% to 18% with 57% undecided, largely in part due to Strickland's lead in name id. Strickland's lead is nearly identical to his name id. lead (33% to 25%). These percentages are likely primary voters. Both have a lot room to grow. The poll predicts a tight race for the primary.

Now for the really bad news for republicans. Despite having more than double the name id among general election voters, the three republicans running for governor are running flat footed mired in the thirties with Coleman and Strickland. At best, Montgomery, Blackwell, and Petro pull in 39, 36, and 34 percent respectively with Coleman and Strickland in the 30 - 34 percent range. The name id for general voters is as follows: Betty Montgomery 65%, Ken Blackwell 61%, Jim Petro 51%, Ted Strickland 27%, and Michael Coleman 25%.

With leads like that in name id all three republicans should have at least 15 point leads at this time. That bodes very well for the Democratic contenders.

The Coleman campaign must of paid a fortune for this poll, which is unfortunate, because it is now largely useless. The sampling dates are July 18 - 20 which are pre-Katrina and Katrina has had a enormous effect on politics which has not yet been felt. Coleman will benefit the most from the Katrina blow back as he is a mayor running for governor. The poll summary states that "Coleman’s profile as a mayor and chief executive is far more appealing than Strickland’s positioning as a Member of Congress." When the post-Katrina polling comes out, that fact will be brought to bear and greatly help Coleman. It will easily erase his primary deficit providing that no other variables enter the equation.

Dolphins! Bitches! Dolphins!

CNN did a segment on missing dolphins this morning. Here is the transcript of Carol Costello interviewing Moby Solangi, the owner of the aquarium the dolphins were washed out of:

SOLANGI: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, when you see these dolphins, I mean it just does, it touches your heart. I mean these eight dolphins suddenly appear in the Gulf of Mexico, all huddled together. How surprised were you?

SOLANGI: Well, it's just been a miracle. I mean they just came right back to our front door. They were gone for about 10 days and, you know, they had been out there with no food and no protection. These are domesticated animals. Some of them were captive born. And they have no hunting skills and they were, I think, delighted to see the trainers. We spotted them with a helicopter on Saturday and we've been feeding them right outside the harbor. And hopefully today or tomorrow we'll be able to recover some of them. C

OSTELLO: Before we get into the rescue effort, how do you think they managed to survive after they were washed from their aquarium?

SOLANGI: Let me tell you, if they could speak, we would really find out the truth. But it has probably been a very incredible journey for them. There was a lot of debris, a lot of problems in the environment. And our initial efforts really didn't show that they were there. And so where they went and how they managed to come back in such a vast environment, it's just an enigma. I mean I have no words to explain how they could come right back to the aquarium after they lost.

COSTELLO: They're hungry. I can see your trainers out there trying -- getting the dolphins on a raft, it looks like. And that's where they feed them fish and things. But why can't you tempt the dolphins to come closer to shore so you can get them out of the water?

SOLANGI: Well, we are trying to do that. They're really nervous. What we did was we put some mats and platforms in the sea so that they have some sort of homing area where they know they're going to be fed in this area. We're going to move the mats slowly. Some of them can beach on the mat and we may be able to recover them that way. We will move the mat toward shallow water and then hopefully be able to rescue them that way.

COSTELLO: How long can they survive out there?

SOLANGI: I think, you know, we are very concerned. You know, there are concerns about the environment and some of the pollutants. You know, we would like to do it as soon as possible, but we would, you know, I think they would probably do OK for another week or two.

COSTELLO: You know, some of the most touching pictures that I saw is some of the dolphins were jumping and doing their tricks out there for your trainers.

SOLANGI: Yes, that was amazing. I mean, I know the first time the trainers got in touch with them, I mean they were just all over them. I mean they were feeding, they were hungry, they were really -- I mean they were just jumping and flipping. And I mean it was just an incredible sight. And I think that teaches us that these animals that are dependent on us, you know, really need us. And I think the trainers have spent an enormous amount of time making sure that these animals have company.

COSTELLO: Well, we're going to check back with you to see how the rescue effort is going. We appreciate you joining us this morning.

SOLANGI: Thank you very much.

COSTELLO: Good luck, Moby.

SOLANGI: Thank you, ma'am. Bye-bye.

COSTELLO: Bye.

Yes, Carol, where o where would a dolphin find something to eat in the ocean? While it is true that these dolphins have probably been hand fed most, if not all of their lives, a dolphin is still a predatory mammal and if it gets hungry it will "catch" its own fish. These particular dolphins were from Gulfport, Mississippi, so maybe they are so keen on Jesus that they won't eat fishes without loaves. Perhaps, after seeing the news coverage of Katrina, they were afraid that they would be labeled looters and would face shoot to kill orders if they "poached" fishes out of the Gulf. I don't buy it. You know what they say, "You can take a dolphin out the sea, but you can't take the sea out the dolphin, bitches!"

I'm now waiting for a right winger to use this as an example of the "modern welfare state." You know the whole "give a dolphin a fish vs. teach a dolphin to fish" kinda thing.

I realize that these dolphins were underweight when found and did have a tougher time catching fish than "street" dolphins, but the humor just writes itself here. Besides, the aquarian owners first name is Moby. I don't know if he is a dick or not.

Funny

I've written something that I think is pretty funny, but I'm waiting on a transcript to become available. Should be online in the next hour or so.

UPDATE: come on CNN, make with the transcript.

Under God If We Must

Another run is being taken at removing "under God" from the Pledge Of Allegiance. This is sure to get the religious right worked up into a frenzy. Under God was added to the pledge in the 1950's as part of some Cold War propaganda. To be quite honest, I really don't give a fuck about this or the fact that the same thing is on our money.

I'm an atheist, but I'm not even a practicing atheist. I object to right-wing Christians intruding into my life through attempting to influence policy, not some crappy wording on money or in the Pledge. Hell, I think the idea of even having a pledge of allegiance is fascist in a silly cartoony sort of way.

Oh well, if it pisses off Rob Parsley of World Harvest Church, so much the better.

September 11th, 2005

That's the last day victims of hurricane Katrina were allowed to be saved. Since then the rules of engagement for searches have been to knock on the door, look in the window, note any visible bodies, and move on.

Luckily for Edgar Hollingsworth, 74, yesterday Lt. Frederick Fell of California Task Force 5 decided to break the rules. Fell ordered his men to break down a door after seeing a body. Hollingsworth was unconscious on the couch, near death. Medics got an IV in him and he is expected to survive. No wonder the death toll is so low.

How many people only ran out of food and water a few days ago? Is there anything FEMA can't fuck up?

Found via RobertInWisconsin's kos diary

The New York Times

I'm thinking of subscribing to the New York Times. I already buy the Sunday Times at the news stand for five dollars, so it would not be that much more to subscribe to the print edition daily. I have a question though. Does anyone know what time the weekday Times is delivered in Columbus? If it is after 6:30AM it is pretty much useless to me. I'll just subscribe to the Sunday Times. This will allow me to get access to the new Times Select crap which will be putting its columnists behind a subscription wall. Most of the columnists that I read in the Times are syndicated so I'm not going to pay fifty dollars a year for the service itself.

I am very interested in the archives that are going to be made available though. They plan to eventually offer every Times article from the paper's inception.

Conversation

A recent conversation with my computer.

Me: Blogger! Why did you eat my post?

Blogger: Damn! That was a tasty post.

Me: Why didn't the recovery feature work?

Blogger: Blogger spits nothing back out, bitch!

Me: Fuck you.

Blogger: No, fuck you.

Odd Note: Either Blogger sounds a lot like Samuel L. Jackson or the voices in my head are starting to take on the personalities of Tarantino characters.

Katrina And The Wave Of Backlash, Part II

Martin Frost must be reading the same tea leaves as I am. Frost, who sits more than a few seats closer to the aisle than I do, sent a memo to Howard Dean (DNC), Rahm Emanual (DCCC), and Chuck Schumer (DSCC) advocating filing a full field of candidates for the 2006 elections. His memo follows:

MEMO TO: Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Howard Dean
I am writing you in your capacities as chairman of the Democratic Party’s top three national political committees: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

It’s time to throw out the traditional playbook and be bold as you plan for the 2006 elections. There is a real possibility that next year’s contest will be a landslide for Democrats and you need to be prepared to win.

Specifically, Emanuel and Schumer should file candidates for every single Congressional seat and ever single Senatorial seat in the country, even those that have traditionally been Republican. And the DNC should be encouraging state legislative leaders throughout the country to take similar action on the state house and senate levels.

In 1964, Democrats picked up 37 House seats. Republicans picked up 54 House seats, in 1994. At the depths of the Great Depression in 1932, Democrats picked up 90 House seats. History could repeat itself in 2006, but only if Democrats expand the playing field.

Why do I think big Democratic gains loom? The public is rapidly coming around to the view that Republicans lack the ability to handle the big issues facing our country. It’s one thing to be right-wing ideologues, but it's quite another to not be able to put one foot in front of another.

First, you have the Iraq War, which was undertaken on the false premise of weapons of mass destruction and then conducted in a shabby way after the initial successful phase of fighting. Troops were not sent in adequate numbers and were not given adequate body armor or sufficiently armored vehicles. In short, there was no coherent plan for how to occupy the country and rebuild the nation.

Then, the Bush administration undertook an ill-conceived plan to privatize Social Security — something the public didn’t support and something that would have done nothing to help the long-term solvency of system.

And now, the administration has demonstrated significant incompetence in the handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It was slow off the mark and placed FEMA in the hands of political cronies rather than experienced veterans of disaster relief.

Now back to the strategy of the 2006 election. Ever since losing the House and Senate in 1994, Democrats have narrowed rather than expanded the playing field. The theory was to concentrate resources in those races where we had the best chance to win. That strategy was successful for House Democrats in 1996 and 1998 when we picked up a total of 14 seats despite being badly outspent by Republicans. But it didn’t get us back into the majority and it led to a stalemate in the next three elections. Senate Democrats picked up a few seats last time around, but ultimately were dealt a significant loss in 2004.

It’s now time to shoot the moon. Recruit and file everywhere and then late in the cycle decide which races present the best opportunities. Be prepared to win some seats that you don’t deserve because the “force is with you.”

If necessary, the Party should pay the filing fees to encourage some candidates to enter the fray. Remember that the Republicans elected some “accidental Congressmen” in 1994 that only lasted one term — like those who defeated Dan Rostenkowski and Jack Brooks — but were there when they took control.

It is important to step up recruiting now because some states like Illinois, Texas and California have early filing deadlines in December and January

It would be great poetic justice to make the Republicans defend everywhere rather than just concentrating their resources in certain races. Even if Republicans have more money, they won’t have enough to fund candidates everywhere and may leave some races short.

Let the games begin.

Like I said, Frost is a lot more conservative than I am, but we come to the same conclusion. Jesus, conservative and progressive Democrats on the same page. How on earth will we keep DC consultants from fucking this up? Quick, somebody take Bob Shrum on an Admiral Stockdale type "road trip".

Found via KOS

Bush Accepts Blame

President Bush accepted blame for the slow response of the federal government in the Katrina catastrophe. Pretty smart move politically. Americans have always liked people that step up and take responsibility for their failings.

It is an unusual move for the Bush administration that has yet to go down this road before in Bush's previous failures. With the blame game becoming ever more inoperable and the fatalities believed to be lower than previously estimated, it's the right time to make the move. He was basically painted into a corner anyway.

I don't know if he will take questions tonight, but there is one I would like to see asked.

Mr. President, will you sweep out the political hacks you trusted America's critical infrastructure with?

Tom Coburn

Tom Colburn needs to shut the fuck up. Coburn, who thinks abortion providers should get the death penalty, broke down and cried at the John Roberts hearing over the partisan divide in this country. I hope he didn't get any tears on his crossword puzzle.

Katrina And The Wave Of Backlash

I'm going to take some time here to read tea leaves. The winds of change seem to be blowing hard. I don't put much faith in generic party id polls, but I do put a good deal of faith in polls between actual candidates, especially if the poll is ran enough times to make tracking available.

The latest poll in the New Jersey gubernatorial race is surely casting a pall over the party that K Street has been over the past five years. Jon Corzine's lead over Doug Forrester has doubled to twenty points in the wake of Katrina. The real movement from before and after Katrina was among independents. Before Katrina, Forrester led among independents 35% to 29%. Now he trails 43% to 26% .

I've often said that there is a soft seven percent of the people in the middle that decide elections. They are mainly apolitical and vote on feel. Charisma is usually the deciding factor in how they vote. Right now I think they are feeling that the federal government, a republican led federal government, failed in its response to Katrina and they don't want a republican running their local, state, or federal government.

I can't say with any certainty whether or not this will remain the sentiment all the way to November of 2006. The soft seven are a fickle bunch with short memories. If it does we are going to see a massive reshaping of the House and Senate. Kathleen Blanco and Mary Landrieu will probably get taken out as well at some point because a quarter of a million Democratic leaning voter have been permanently displaced from Louisiana. Outside of that, things are looking up for the Democratic party.

Buy Blue

BuyBlue has a new website. It is an organization that was formed in 2004 after the election to steer purchases away from companies that donate large sums of money to The republican party and to ones that support the Democratic party. It has come to be more than that. At the new web site they offer ratings based on environmental and labor concerns. Here is their mission statement:

BuyBlue.org supports businesses that share our progressive values and ideals. We believe in a triple bottom line: people, planet and profit. BuyBlue.org uses our power as consumers to vote with our wallets, supporting businesses that abide by sustainability, workers' rights, environmental standards, and corporate transparency. At the same time, BuyBlue.org focuses sharply on businesses that violate the essential values of a sustainable, fair and profitable society through their policies and the politicians they support.

Check out their site here.

Blogger!

Blogger has been, to say the least, uncooperative today.

Sing To Spring

Judy no likey jail. Look for negotiations for her testimony to be finalized this week. It's not the four months she fears, it's the eighteen months for criminal contempt Fitzgerald is likely to drop on her.

Boiling Point

Newsweek boils Bush in acid here.

Walking

It's only 45 minutes until The First Annual National Donald H. Rumsfeld Celebratory Commemorative Fluff The Fuck-Up Memorial Remembrance Parade And Dedicatory Jamboree Observance. I've got a jingorection. Think I'll go kill a hobo.

And Counting

I write this at the fourth anniversary to the minute of the first of George Bush's great failures. George Bush will be defined by one thing, failure. Bush is the failure president. Lets take a look at the numbers in just blood from his three biggest failures.
.

9/11: 2985

The Iraq War: 1895 and counting

Katrina response: Probably more than the first two combined and counting

.

Now go read this article in the Washington Post that notes that FDR and Harry Truman defeated two industrial war powers in less time than Bush has to find one motherfucker hiding in a fucking cave.

.

Number of days the US participated in WWII: 1347

Number of days to find one motherfucker hiding in a fucking cave: 1461...And counting

The Game

Where are you watching the Texas - Ohio State game tonight?

Finally, A Local You Can Blame

I had read this earlier, but have now confirmed it. Police Chief Arthur Lawson of Gretna, MS had his police department block the only escape route from New Orleans. They fired warning shots over the heads of anyone who tried to escape. Lawson had this to say in a recent UPI interview:

"If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged."

Lawson should be named in every wrongful death lawsuits filed in the aftermath of Katrina.

It's Official

It is now official. Mike Brown has been sent back to DC. I have now found the name of the Coast Guard official that I reported on Wednesday that was already running the show. He is Vice Admiral Thad Allen. Allen is known as the master of disasters and is supposedly a genius when it comes to logistics. He is third in command of the Coast Guard.

Brown is still catching a check though.

I Love A Parade

The First Annual National Donald H. Rumsfeld Celebratory Commemorative Fluff The Fuck-Up Memorial Remembrance Parade And Dedicatory Jamboree Observance takes place on Sunday. Participation is limited to those who register with the Pentagon by 4:30 today. Every single US National Parks employee will be used to, as is long standing Rumsfeld tradition, keep it "sterile." They will erect a four foot snow fence along the parade route to keep lesser citizens off the parade grounds.

I'm guessing all the National Monuments normally staffed by the US Parks department will be closed. So, If you want to visit the Washington Monument you'd better pick a day besides The First Annual National Donald H. Rumsfeld Celebratory Commemorative Fluff The Fuck-Up Memorial Remembrance Parade And Dedicatory Jamboree Observance Day.

After the Jamboree, participants will be allowed to hunt displaced hurricane Katrina victims for sport.

Back In The USSR

You may have seen the following E-mail floating around.

There was a striking discrepancy between CNN International coverage of the Bush visit to the New Orleans disaster zone, yesterday, and reports of the same event by German TV. ZDF News reported that the president's visit 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.

It is factually incorrect. A correct translation from ZDF News is as follows:

"Along his [Bush] travel route aid units removed debris and recovered corpses. Then Bush left and along with him, all aid troops left too. The situation in Biloxi remains unchanged, nothing has arrived, everything is still needed."

This comes from a GSL viewer remembering the story and mixing up some of the story. The story did mention New Orleans earlier but contained nothing about food distribution points.

It brings up an interesting question though. Is Karl Rove using FEMA assets to protect us from the news, or to protect George Bush from the news? This is reminiscent of a late '70s KGB operation. By 1978 Leonid Brezhnev had pretty much lost his mental faculties and the KGB pretty much ran the Soviet Union. Brezhnev died in 1982. Is Karl Rove the American KGB? This may explain the prominence given the neocons in the administration. Are the neocons so learned in Soviet history to destroy them, or to emulate them.

FEMA: Hacktacular

Time and The New Republic pretty much destroy any credibility Mike Brown had left. Go read the articles, they're pretty funny, or sad to be more exact. We now also know that five of the top eight FEMA managers were political hacks. People with no disaster management were put in charge of one of the most important government organizations in the country.

This brings us to an important question. How many other hacks have their thumbs in the levees of other critical government infrastructures? It's time to shine some light on the cockroaches.

Creepy

Things are starting to get creepy. I wrote earlier today about the impending media blackout. Now I read this ABC News story. A group of good Samaritans (KAMP) put together a project to broadcast a radio station at the Astrodome. Sony was set to kick in 10,000 radios so that the IDPs there could get information on their situation, and get information on relatives. They went through all the correct channels and obtained all the licences needed to be able to broadcast.

The Joint Operation Center at the Astrodome, which has to be run by FEMA, told the group that they could not broadcast. At first, FEMA told KAMP that they could not provide them with electricity. KAMP said they would run on battery power. Nope. Request denied. No reason given the second time. The Joint Operation Center refused multiple requests for comment on the story.

I'm not normally taken in by the tin hat crew, but what the fuck is going on here. This is surely what Moscow felt like in the early days of Stalin. I hope they give me a heads up before interning me at a camp.

And While The Other Administration Officials Feigned Empathy, Dick Did Not

Hey Dick Cheney is still alive. Although he is not receiving as good a reception in Mississippi as Dear Leader. A random just walked up to him live on CNN and uttered the following.

Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney. Go fuck yourself.

Good for him. Cheney looked pissed. I believe the purpose of Cheney's visit is to allow him to gorge himself on the dead.

I'll post a link to the video when it is up.

Crooks And Liars now has the video up here.

Side note: I wrote the title of this post three days ago.

Punches, Not Pies

The time is upon us. It is time the American Left stopped throwing pies and start throwing punches. It is the reason I am now imploring Paul Hackett to run for Mike Dewine's soon to be vacated Senate seat. We need someone in the Senate who will push, who will shove, who will kick, bite,elbow, punch the republicans every time they attempt the shit they are trying right now.

We need someone to stand up to the aristocracy that leaves the poor to die while they eat cake. We need someone that will not allow those in service of this country to bleed for corporate interests that shelter their filthy lucre at some thatched hut somewhere you never heard of. We are definitely going to need someone to stop the corporate cronyism that is already shaping up to be the Katrina reconstruction.

In short we need you, Paul Hackett, to be not a voice of reason, but a voice of rage to lead us from the darkest days this country has ever seen.

It is time for you to unshoulder your weapon and get back in the fight.

We will provide the money. We will provide the manpower.

Parades

Today, here in Columbus, Michael Coleman is holding an all day fundraiser at city hall. The money will go to help the estimated four hundred IDP's from the Gulf Coast that have been evacuated to Columbus. I know traffic will be a bitch, but if you are a local, please drop them some coin. They are not accepting food or clothing, just money.

Oh, and a word for local governments everywhere. DO NOT parade these people around as a trophy awarded for your sympathy.

Mules

John Tierney, do you have good sea legs? In drug smuggling, they call them mules. In politics, they call them hacks, or water carriers.

Let me make one thing very clear. Anyone, and I mean anyone, that mules the bullshit that Bush administration is pailing in operation bailout should be drug by the neck to the shores of this great nation, put on a barge, and shoved off.

Wow

On CNN Daybreak they asked a question. Who should be fired over the Katrina response? It is apparent that those who mule information for the Bush administration were lying in wait. 1100 responses in the first three minutes and this is bfore 5:30 in the morning EST. Nearly all of them blaming someone else for Bush's failures.

UPDATE: This is a full blown republican blow back operation.

Press Blackout

The federal government has made the decision to not allow the press to cover the recovery of what may be up to 40,000 dead Americans on American soil. FEMA is having the military turn back any member of the media at the entrance to New Orleans. Brian Williams of NBC News is reporting on his blog this:

While we were attempting to take pictures of the National Guard (a unit from Oklahoma) taking up positions outside a Brooks Brothers on the edge of the Quarter, the sergeant ordered us to the other side of the boulevard. The short version is: there won't be any pictures of this particular group of Guard soldiers on our newscast tonight. Rules (or I suspect in this case an order on a whim) like those do not HELP the palpable feeling that this area is somehow separate from the United States.

At that same fire scene, a police officer from out of town raised the muzzle of her weapon and aimed it at members of the media... obvious members of the media... armed only with notepads.

Welcome to 21st century America, the America of Joseph Stalin.

CNN

Frontpaged right now at CNN.com is this simple sentence:

New Orleans police force getting back to normal

I've been to New Orleans before. I doubt that walking around in a post-apocalyptic swamp that resembles the movie 28 Days Later is what I would refer to as normal.

FEMA Fuck-Ups Continue

Salon tells us today that FEMA finally deployed about fifty of the firefighters holed up in an Atlanta hotel waiting to help. They were used as props for a Bush photo-op. Some of the fire fighter removed their FEMA T-shirts in protest when they found out that was all they were there to do. FEMA's response:

"I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak told the Tribune.

Hudak should follow Mike Brown out the door. Howard Fineman just reported on a local DC talk radio show that Brown is no longer calling the shots at FEMA, someone from the Coast Guard is running the show now. I haven't been able to locate his name yet.

So, Brown is out, but in typical Bush crony fashion, he is still catching a check. I guess his status is unchanged really, catching a check is all he seemed to be doing before the Katrina disaster anyway. Cronies gotta get paid muthafucker!

Not Necessarily The News

I believe I've found the newspaper both Michael Chertoff and Richard Myers were referring to.

Sleepwalking

The doomsday scenario just happened with my sleepwalking. I woke up barefoot without my keys in the alley behind the security building I live in. I was outside for a couple of hours waiting for someone that lives here to come home.

Bullshit

In the past couple of days, both Michael Chertoff and Richard Myers have both said the same thing. Both said they were relieved when they woke up on Tuesday and the newspaper headline read "New Orleans Dodges A Bullet."

Produce the newspaper or shut the fuck up.

Getting A Handle On The Number Of Dead

I sat down overnight to try to come up with a rough estimate of the number of dead in the Gulf Coast. I came up with about 25,000. DMORT, the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, has been told to expect 40,000 bodies. I was using census numbers that are six years old and calculated guesses for variables, so I suppose 40,000 is possible, but I would still have to say unlikely.

By the way, our worst national tragedy ever didn't get the president to order our flag flown at half staff, Rhenquist's death did.

The Usual Suspects

Judging from stock prices last week, the usual suspects will be lining up at the trough to get their crony coin in the Katrina clean up. Check out this graphic from the NYT. Stock prices rose through the week before profit takers ruled the day on Friday.

Stupid Fucking Idiot

Just when I begin to think my outrage meter can't go any higher, someone knocks the top off the meter so the mercury or whatever fluid that fills it can rise higher.

At a time when the United States is facing what I believe to be the largest resettlement of African-Americans since the Civil War, former first lady and current first mother Barbara Bush had this stupid shit to say:

What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle)--this is working very well for them.

So, Babs, what exactly is scary about having a couple of hundred thousand more African-Americans in the state of Texas? Are you afraid one of them is going to fuck Jenna, or if she should be so lucky, Fat Jenna? Oh, and for the record, the only underprivilege all of them qualify for is that your son doesn't give fuck number one about them. Furthermore, the chuckle, I don't find much funny about the whole situation.

It's truly hard to find a better look into the white republican mind than this stupid idiot. The White House probably should muzzle her now.

Sorry about the obsenity filled rant, but I'm getting sick of this shit.

Found via Atrios

Katrina And The Supreme Court

I really think John Roberts was nominated for Supreme Court Chief Justice was due to the hurricane. The White House is desperate to push the spotlight off of its failures in the relief effort. Roberts was a handy pick, they didn't have time for a more thorough search. The fact that even the Supreme Court is used to take political pressure off of itself proves that this is the worst president in the history of this country.

This Is Dumb

Ray Nagin is sending his first responders on vacation. You have got to be kidding me. This is the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time. He even tried to get FEMA to foot the the bill. FEMA smartly refused. Instead, the city will pick up all costs for the five day vacations mostly to Las Vegas or Atlanta. He is sending them in two shifts. What happens if the first shift doesn't return?

I know their morale must be low, but come on, suck it up.

Casinos

I saw this the other day, but didn't comment at that time. Haley Barbour said the other day that they were changing the law to allow casinos to be built on dry land. They currently float on barges.

Um, this is stupid. If they were on land, they would still be destroyed. If the owners of these casinos would have had a little more foresight they would have moved them out of the way. They are boats. The few dollars they made by staying open until Sunday night must now look like a pretty bad business decision.

Lets see how long it takes Barbour to throw them some state funds.

Gotta Bolt

A guy in our building's parking lot has been blasting the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack for the last five hours. Check out NBC's Brian Williams' blog.

Pushing Back

Karl Rove has started pushing back after a pretty bad PR week. The story he's pushing right now is that Kathleen Blanco was late in declaring a state of emergency. WAPO and Newsweek bit and printed it. (WAPO has printed a retraction.) This is obviously false. Blanco sent a request for aid to Bush on August 28th. She ordered the State of Emergency on the 26th. Even if she didn't send it, the blame lays solely on the Bush Administration, FEMA, and the Department of Homeland Security.

You are probably going to be hearing a lot in the weeks to come about the DHS's National Response Plan. Pages 43-44 of this plan deals with Proactive Federal Response to Catastrophic Events. From the Department of Homeland Securities plan:

Notification and full coordination with States will occur,
but the coordination process must not delay or impede
the rapid deployment and use of critical resources.
States are urged to notify and coordinate with local
governments regarding a proactive Federal response.

In other words, fuck the paperwork, get off you asses and get something done.

In this situation, the exact opposite happened. The only federal officials there were FEMA officials whose main job seemed to have been turning private relief organizations relief efforts away. I read about a team of firemen from Houston trained in hurricane recovery with boats sitting in a parking lot for five days before they said fuck it and went home. FEMA refused to let them into New Orleans due to security concerns. When they asked if could go to other areas of Louisiana where security was better, FEMA's answer was simply no.

The administration can push back all they want, the blame is theirs. The president thought it more important to play golf, eat cake and go to a fucking hillbilly jamboree.

National Response Plan found via Larry Johnson

No Fly Zone

On Friday, while our dickless leader was in Louisiana, where he didn't even bother to leave the airport, all helicopter rescue flights were grounded. Is there anything this guy can't fuck up?

Friendly Visit

So, Kathleen Blanco had to invite herself to Bush's fluffing event today in Louisiana. Do us all a favor Kathleen, take a fucking baseball bat with you.

Supplies

A friend of mine's brother owns a shooting range here in central Ohio. The past few days he has been visited by several members of the Ohio National Guard who showed up to buy supplies before being deployed to New Orleans. The same thing happens everytime a unit is mobilized to Iraq.

One thing is clear to me. If you don't write large checks to republican campaigns or even better, just flat out bribe them, republicans hold nothing but contempt for you even if you are in the service of this great nation.

Nothing

President cocksucker nominated John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the Supreme court today. If the Democrats want to stay relevant in this country, let me give you some advise. Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets done until we fix the monumental fuck-up that was last week.

In 2006, we take out every mother fucking republican we can and I don't give fuck number one how dirty we have to play to do it.

Naming Names

We all know what Dear Leader was doing this week (golfing and jamboree). So, what the fuck was the rest of our federal government doing. Over the next several weeks I am going to call the DC offices of every elected member of Congress to find out what the fuck they were doing. I will post the responses, or lack there of here.

Hours

Bush just said in his weekly radio address that "we don't abandon fellow Americans in their hour of need." Perhaps he meant their 126th hour of need.

A Word For The Democrats

As pathetic as George Bush's reaction to Katrina was, yours wasn't any better. I didn't see any prominent Dems immediately pressing the president for help, save the locals. Oh, I realize you're on vacation, but you better stop wondering why you lose elections.

Nobody in the federal government is exempt from criticism for this tragedy. Hundreds if not thousand of American citizens died in American streets from violence, exposure, and dehydration due to the inaction of our government. Every member of Congress, the Senate, and the executive branch should feel nothing but shame today.

Civil Unrest

God I hope I'm wrong about this. I believe that when the military enters New Orleans and starts shooting American citizens, specifically African-American citizens, the lid is going to blow off of this country. Civil unrest will spread to other cities. The mayor of every US city needs to be put on notice about this possibility. Anyone caught with their pants down is going to get skewered.

I believe some of the readers of this blog work for mayors, do you hear me? Prepare your bosses for this and have a plan ready. This could happen as early as Monday.

Commenters, don't name names.

Unqualified

You might be wondering what Michael Brown did before he headed up FEMA. He was the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horses Association (IAHA). Sounds like a pretty gravy gig, why would he leave? Because he was shitcanned. Yep, fired. Don't bother to google them, they don't exist anymore. Brown's incompetence forced them to reorganize under another name.

An E-mail from a member to Goldy at HorsesAss says it all:

Well, for 3 years Michael Brown was hired and then fired by our IAHA, the International Arabian Horse Assoc. He was an unmitigated, total fucking disaster. I was shocked as hell when captain clueless put him in charge of FEMA a couple of years ago. [Emphasis mine]

This brings us to a very important point. Winning elections is great, but you have to fucking govern once elected. As we are seeing all across this country, republicans are very good at winning elections, but fail miserably at governing. A disaster like this simply shine the light on that fact.

We are reaping what Bush sowed when he filled government positions with cronies that are completely incompetent.

Goldy has more in this Kos diary

Not Acceptable

I just saw Bush give a short speech prior to heading to Mississippi. He said the relief results were "not unacceptable." Well Mr. President, YOUR results were not acceptable. YOU played golf on Monday. YOU played guitar, or as some might say fiddled, on Tuesday. YOU put an incompetent in charge of FEMA.

YOU are a failure to our country in this dire time of need.

Patrick Rhode

What did the deputy director of FEMA have to say about the agency's anemic response to Katrina?

"Probably one of the most efficient and effective responses in the country's history."

I hope your pink slip is written on efficiently made paper with an effective pen.

The B Word

Three extra zeros. What is it with this administration that efforts that used to cost millions now cost billions? Cronies gotta get paid mutherfucker!!

Worst Return On Investment Ever

How the fuck exactly is FEMA spending over half a BILLION dollars a day right now. Did they hire Tom Noe to run the Katrina relief fund?

National Guard

12,000 National Guard members have now been mobilized to enter New Orleans. Too little, too late.

Pathetic

I'm watchhing New Orleans TV. They're broadcasting from Baton Rouge with loaner equipment. I'm currently listening to a nurse from a hospice who called the station to ask for help to move 26 patients to a helopad. They are close to running out of generator power which will kill their phone system. She said they afraid to stay after dark because they have no protection. By the way, the staff at this hospice has to stay behind if they manage to get these patients evacuated. They're on their own.

Yes, that's right. She had to call a TV station to find help.

Our government has failed us.

It Only Gets Worse

I just got a weather forecast from New Orleans. A slow moving thunderstorm is expected to hit there this afternoon with torrential rain, lightning ground strikes and gusts of wind up to forty miles per hour.

Fuck

Escape From New York

New Orleans has officially now turned into the movie Escape From New York. The police are on the run. 500 troops from the Wisconsin National Guard are mobilizing to enter the city with possible shoot to kill orders. One nursing home was told by gunmen to get out or die.

There are now estimates of two to three thousand dead in New Orleans.

Jesus, we're going to have a few hundred thousand IDPs for at least two years.

Sharks Patrol These Waters, Sharks Patrol These Waters

I hope our dickless leader had fun shooting golf and playing guitar the last few days. Shit changed when Bush got off the plane in DC carrying his fucking dog and giving a speech the NYT called appropriate for Arbor Day. The press is getting ready to bring the hammer to bear.

IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME.

CNN's O'Brien twins this morning destroyed Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security for ineptness in their response to Katrina, and Haley Barbour, the Governor of Alabama for defending the federal government. Can't wait to get the transcript.

Note To FEMA

The Hurricane Katrina catastrophe is far to important to swell your ranks with inept Heritage Foundation nitwits doing resume building ala Hurricane Andrew and the CPA in Iraq. Both clusterfucks, by the way. Don't let New Orleans become Baghdad by the Sea