With Bush In Charge, We Won't Learn ANYTHING From Katrina

No wonder Bush and the Republicans oppose a bipartisan, independent commission -- it's a waste of time. They have to pay lip-service and testify and then read the damn report (that thing is long; it's like a book or something!) and then hope no one notices that they ignore most of the recommendations. So why not just kill the thing before it starts?

The members of the 9-11 commission all spoke out to condemn the response to Hurricane Katrina and point out the obvious: that most of their common sense, reasonable, why-the-hell-haven't-we-done-this-before suggestions have been completely ignored. You'd think this was pretty noteworthy given the utter incompetence of Bush and his cronies after having four years and billions of dollars to prepare for a threat that was widely predicted and trackable days in advance. So where did the NYT run the comments of the 9-11 commission? On page A-23 in a tiny little box.

9-11 figure Thomas Kean was on ABC highlighting just one recommendation that was ignored that could have made a big difference: devoting "spectrum" on the airwaves to first responders so they could communicate with each other. (On 9-11, the firefighters couldn't speak to the cops who couldn't speak to the people in helicopters or the EMTs, etc.) You'd think this would be done ASAP -- who the heck would object -- but right now Congress is looking at getting it done by 2009. Brilliant.

Any reason why we shouldn't kick out every bum who refuses to enact these proposals and -- after a later tragedy -- refuses to even study what went wrong? Nope. Read the rest of this post...

So, there was no mandate after all?

When Bush proclaimed he had a mandate after the 2004 election, the MSM basically accepted it. Funny thing, though, it wasn't true then, and it sure isn't now. But, at least now,they tell us:

"Political capital is limited and the president has overestimated that badly this year," said George C. Edwards III, professor of political science at Texas A&M; University. "He thought he had a mandate and he didn't."

Read the rest of this post...

This is funny

Just check it out, it's funny.

In other matters, I'm going to weigh in tomorrow on Donna Brazile's ridiculous suck-up op ed to Bush in today's Washington Post. Rob wrote about it this morning. I've long since become fed up with her and her ongoing efforts to suck up to the Republicans, just like all the other weak old-school Dems who think the only way they're going to succeed is by pretending their Republicans in Dem clothing. Donna should just join the Log Cabin Republicans and get it over with. We have no further use for her in our party, and Democratic candidates better be careful about associating with her in the future. You hire Brazile and that we'll be a clear indicator of just what kind of Democrat you are (or aren't). The time for wimps is over. Read the rest of this post...

Hey religious right, New Orleans is nicknamed "The Crescent City" - get it? Crescent, Muslims, terrorists, America haters, evil doers...

Oh please please please let some far-right nut start protesting rebuilding New Orleans because of its connection to the crescent. Think that's far-fetched, read on.

Read the rest of this post...

Sat. Early Eve. Open Thread

You've heard enough from me today - what do you have to say? Read the rest of this post...

Catholic Church begins new Inquisition

NOTE: From earlier in the week, and talked about a bit already, but here's my take.

Welcome to the new Inquisition! From a New York Times article referenced in this Reuters piece:

Catholic Church investigators tasked by the Vatican to review U.S. seminaries will be looking for "evidence of homosexuality" and for professors who dissent from Church teaching, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said a Vatican document prepared to guide the process and given to The New York Times by a priest, surfaces as Catholics await a Vatican ruling on whether homosexuals should be barred from the priesthood.
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A document with instructions for the review is being distributed to seminarians and faculty members. It asks whether the doctrine on the priesthood presented by the seminary is "solidly based on the church's Magisterium," or teaching, and whether teachers and seminarians "accept this teaching."

The Times said among the other questions in the lengthy questionnaire are:

"Is there a clear process for removing from the seminary faculty members who dissent from the authoritative teaching of the church or whose conduct does not provide good example to future priests?"

"Is the seminary free from the influences of New Age and eclectic spirituality?"

"Do the seminarians or faculty members have concerns about the moral life of those living in the institution? (This question must be answered)."

"Is there evidence of homosexuality in the seminary? (This question must be answered)."

The questionnaire also asks whether faculty members "watch out for signs of particular friendships," the newspaper said.

Here's a message from me to any Gay Catholics out there: There is no need for you to continue to allow these "Men of God" to hold your own religious beliefs and practices hostage to their self-denying bigotry.

I was raised Catholic, but I've come to learn that my family's Jesuit background meant that my version of Catholicism was quite different from the brand that is currently ensconced in Rome. It held a deep abiding faith in free will. It looked at God's gift to man - free will - as an enormous responsibility.

Fundamentally, the stance the Catholic Church (and most other Christian churches) seeks to place gays and lesbians in the position of living a life without the most fundamental human experience - the experience of loving and being loved in return. It's really quite that simple. What kind of "Men of God" would ask that of their followers? What kind of human being would ask another human being to deny the very thing that Jesus himself talked to when he spoke of "where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." The love exhibited in a pair-bonded relationship has the potential for some of the most incredible spiritual experiences.

It is impossible for these men, who have denied themselves this fundamental experience, to be able to ever grasp what it means to be gay or lesbian. They don't even have the experience of that in the straight world, let alone ever be able to wrap their heads and hearts around what it means to be gay or lesbian.

I can't imagine a God that would ask his progeny to live a life without the experience of love. At some point in time, the Catholic Church ceased to be filled with Men of God. If you are gay and Catholic, you are worth and deserve more. Read the rest of this post...

Donna Brazile - Stockholm Syndrome Victim

My friend Nick called me this morning incredulous at this OP/ED in today's Washington Post:

On Thursday night President Bush spoke to the nation from my city. I am not a Republican. I did not vote for George W. Bush -- in fact, I worked pretty hard against him in 2000 and 2004. But on Thursday night, after watching him speak from the heart, I could not have been prouder of the president and the plan he outlined to empower those who lost everything and to rebuild the Gulf Coast.
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I know, maybe better than anyone, that there are times when it seems that our nation is too divided ever to heal. There are times when we feel so different from each other that we can hardly believe that we are all part of the same family. But we are one nation. We are a family. And this is what we do. When the president asked us to pitch in Thursday night, he wasn't really asking us to do anything spectacular. He was asking us to be Americans, and to do what Americans always do.

Read the whole thing, I'm not just pulling quotes out of context.

If ever did the psychology of Stockholm Syndrome come alive in American politics, it did for me reading this OP/ED.

Let me be plain. There isn't a SINGLE shred of evidence that George Bush and his corrupt crony government has the capability of rebuilding New Orleans. None. To argue that we should join with him now, and that somehow together this will cause the madness to stop is a sign of severe psychological disorder.

You know what Donna, I can't imagine what you're going through right now, your hometown utterly destroyed and your friends, family, and community scattered to the winds. I won't pretend to know how that feels. I can't. I've seen the overlay maps showing the amount of flooding in New Orleans relative to other large cities, like the entire city of Boston and surrounding communities completely submerged. I can't conceive of what that might mean.

But as devastated as you feel right now, as heartbroken as I can imagine you are, I have no idea what you are talking about. Did George Bush speak from the heart on Monday August 29th at the country club he was visiting as the levees broke? Did he speak from the heart on Tuesday August 30th from California talking about VJ day? Did his government speak from the heart on Thursday September 1st when they told the nation that they didn't know about the people in the convention center?

Did they speak from the heart when they granted no-bid contracts to Halliburton? Did they speak from the heart when they suspended the prevailing wage? Did they speak from the heart when they told us, once again, that even an epic disaster such as this doesn't warrant raising taxes even for a moment?

I would like to believe that this country is one big family. It isn't. Does a family bash their gay members like George Bush did to win an election? Does a family not even sit and listen to a grieving mother whose son was killed as a result of the President's actions? When choosing who will protect them, does a family pick the most incompetent member to lead the charge?

Until we stop letting Republicans abuse us and stand up for ourselves, the madness will never end. After reading what Ms. Brazile wrote today, it is clear to me that this won't happen in Washington anytime soon - it will have to be forced onto Washington in a vast intervention. Read the rest of this post...

Sat. AM Open Thread

Courtney Love court ordered back into rehab. Can we develop a rehab program for Republicans?

Lesson # 1: A blow job does not cost the lives of thousands of Americans.
Lesson # 2: ?

Add on as you like. Read the rest of this post...

Medicare Premiums Up 13.2% next year - you voted for him Seniors - good luck!

From Knight Ridder:

Medicare monthly premiums for doctor visits and outpatient care will jump next year from $78.20 to $88.50, federal officials announced Friday.

The 13.2 percent increase is lower than last year's record-high 17.4 percent spike, but nevertheless drains more cash from the Social Security checks of Americans 65 and older, from which Medicare premiums typically are drawn.
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The Part B deductible will rise to $124 in 2006 from $110 this year.

Medicare premiums are updated annually under a formula set by statute. The law requires that Part B premiums cover 25 percent of the program's costs. The federal government pays the other 75 percent.

Officials aren't sure what's behind the increased spending for services.

Do you think that maybe it is your job to figure that one out? Or, do you think that perhaps the increased spending for services is because Bush basically wrote the healthcare corporations a big cash-grab bill? He would never do anything like that, would he? And healthcare corporations would never give people tests they don't need because Medicare will pick up the tab, would they? Not possible.

Now Seniors, aren't you glad you voted to make sure the homos didn't get a chance to marry? Read the rest of this post...

Bush's FEMA still screwing up Katrina

It wasn't just Brownie, it's Bush:

Nearly three weeks after Hurricane Katrina cut its devastating path, FEMA - the same federal agency that botched the rescue mission - is faltering in its effort to aid hundreds of thousands of storm victims, local officials, evacuees and top federal relief officials say. The federal aid hot line mentioned by President Bush in his address to the nation on Thursday cannot handle the flood of calls, leaving thousands of people unable to get through for help, day after day.

Federal officials are often unable to give local governments permission to proceed with fundamental tasks to get their towns running again. Most areas in the region still lack federal help centers, the one-stop shopping sites for residents in need of aid for their homes or families. Officials say that they are uncertain whether they can meet the president's goal of providing housing for 100,000 people who are now in shelters by the middle of next month.

And he's supposed to keep us safe? The President is a disgrace.

Bush and Rove are just going to talk like everything is fine....and nothing is. They are treating the recovery like a political campaign, so they will say anything. So, if he gives a speech, and it's not true, he is lying. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

A little early here....anything going on yet? Read the rest of this post...

German elections tomorrow - Merkel in a close one

At the moment is looks as though the center-right CDU candidate Angela Merkel is going to win by a slim margin over center-left Schroeder. Schroeder has somehow managed to stay in power despite high unemployment and failure to deliver substantial changes to the struggling system. If this election is as close as expected and Merkel does squeeze in a narrow victory tomorrow, it will probably mean a few more years of stagnation and nothingness just as they have under Schroeder. Europeans really hate change and it looks as though Germany is in for more of the same. For those Bush people who think a new era of US-German relations are near ought to think again because while Germans may reject Schroeder, they still hate US foreign policy and have no love for the Bush administration. Expect better relations, but not any significant support for the wingnut policies out of Washington. Read the rest of this post...

Back to the future in FEMA City, Florida

So let's assume for a minute that FEMA had problems with Katrina based in the sheer size of the storm, which was exceptional and extraordinary. Normally, FEMA would be running like a well oiled machine that was run by professionals who knew what they were doing, right? OK, so I guess we can look back and see how well FEMA implemented its long term plan in Florida and how well the feds looked over the poor in the devastated areas. We know that plenty of wealthy folks made out like bandits last year, courtesy of taxpayer money and GOP cronyism but the president and his sheeple tell us that he cares about all Americans, not just the wealthy and ultra-wealthy. So how does one explain this mess?

"FEMA City is now a socioeconomic time bomb just waiting to blow up," said Bob Hebert, director of recovery for Charlotte County, where most FEMA City residents used to live. "You throw together all these very different people under already tremendous stress, and bad things will happen. And this is the really difficult part: In our county, there's no other place for many of them to go."

Most troubling, they said, is that while the badly damaged town of Punta Gorda is beginning to rebuild and even substantially upgrade one year after the storm, many of the area's most vulnerable people are being left badly behind.

Then as the apartments were slowly restored -- a process made more costly and time-consuming because of a shortage of contractors and workers -- landlords found that they could substantially increase their rents in the very tight market.

As a result, the low-income working people most likely to have been displaced by the hurricane are now most likely to be displaced by the recovery, too.

Many residents are excited by the changes, but others -- especially the poor and some in Punta's Gorda's long-standing African American neighborhood -- worry they will be permanently priced out of their old home town.

"That land was just too valuable to have poor people on it," said community leader Isaac Thomas. He said that the local government is trying to help him and other black leaders save some of the modest but historic homes in the African-American East End, but that "it's a really uphill fight."

Between this and the extensive problems of cronyism, suspension of minimum wages, no-bid contract and political pork by this team, can we really trust them to rebuild the Gulf Region? When are the Democrats going to start putting up a serious fight to protect Americans? What about an independent commission to investigate Katrina? Spine please, Democrats. Read the rest of this post...