Al Gore personally saved 270 people in New Orleans

All it took was one guy saying God damn it, I'm getting the planes and saving these people.

Where the bloody hell was George Bush when everyone else was trying, and succeeding, in saving these people? College students were able to get there quicker than Bush (true story). The man is a pitiful excuse for a human being, let alone a president.

George Bush: A failed presidency. The worst president ever. Read the rest of this post...

It is SO time for more t-shirts

After suffering the past two weeks of Bush's catastrophic ineptitude, it is most definitely time for some t-shirt blogging. Here are our four new ones.

And as I've noted before, this isn't just about supporting the blog, it's about changing the culture with biting messages the same way the Republicans always target us. These kind of actions do help change the way people think about issues.

Anyway, here are the latest 4 t-shirts from the AMERICAblog shop:

Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

So has Bush killed anyone else in the past couple of hours? Read the rest of this post...

Could Bush Defend And Protect America During a Terrorist Strike?

Brian Williams of NBC has a good online diary. John below highlighted Williams writing about the crackdown on the media: Bush couldn't control the looters or save lives, but he can sure as hell try and keep the media from showing the human death toll. Scroll down to Sept. 7 at 11:22 am and you find White House Correspondent David Gregory writing this:

Even more frightening is the question on every American's mind: Could the government handle a massive terror strike — the kind that Vice President Cheney and others warn us about?

We already have the answer. The next disaster has already struck and Bush has failed spectacularly. Could Bush handle a massive terror strike? Of course not. Just look at New Orleans. Read the rest of this post...

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: Drownie Still Heads FEMA

Tonight, NBC Nightly News reported that Michael "Drownie" Brown, while relieved of his duties in the Gulf Coast, was still in charge of FEMA. In fact, he was going to plan for the next disaster.

Washington Post reports the same thing:

In Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that he has recalled Brown, the embattled director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, from his post as head of federal relief efforts on the ground in the Gulf Coast area and has replaced him with a senior Coast Guard officer.

He said Brown, who has come under heavy criticism for what is widely perceived as a slow and inadequate initial federal response to the disaster, will return to Washington and will remain as head of FEMA....

Chertoff explained the recall of Brown and his replacement by Allen as dictated by a move to "the next phase of operations" in the hurricane relief effort. He said the FEMA director needs to be in Washington to carry out broader responsibilities, including potentially managing "other kinds of disasters" and dealing with additional hurricanes.

Holy Shit. So what do you have to do to get fired by Bush? And, here's the scary thought: can we expect Drownie to do the same heck of a job with the next disaster?

Be afraid. And plan ahead. Read the rest of this post...

Bush mixing 9/11 and Katrina

UPDATE FROM JOHN: Actually, Joe is wrong - Katrina and 9/11 ARE linked. Both are disasters that Bush ran from like a scared little boy. On September 11, Bush ran and hid all day in air force bases across the country rather than return to Washington like a man and a leader. And with Hurricane Katrina, Bush ran west to Arizona and California and continued his vacation until the 3d day AFTER Katrina had destroyed an entire American city and killed thousands.

Yes, Katrina and September 11 are very much related events to me.

--------------------

The White House strategy on most things, like the Katrina debacle, is to smear and lie. However, when that's not working, they just have Bush say "September the 11th" over and over and over:

The president's two speeches Friday marked the first of several steps in which the White House is seeking to intertwine the challenge of the anti-terror battle with the effort to recover from the hurricane.

Bush was to travel to Mississippi and Louisiana over the weekend, leaving Sunday - the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - to spend two days in the region visiting with storm victims and examining response efforts, press secretary Scott McClellan said. That trip was to follow Bush's attendance Sunday morning at a church service and White House moment of silence marking the attack anniversary.

The president's Saturday radio address also was to focus on both events and the government's response to them.

But, not sure how this helps. Since 9/11, Bush told us over and over and over he would make us safe. That was his campaign theme. Now, we all know that's been a lie.

But, at this point, they've got nothing else. Read the rest of this post...

Joe in DC is gonna be PISSED

Guess who Kyle met in the hurricane zone?



Yes, AMERICAblog has an official crush on Anderson Cooper (Joe claims to be the official keeper of the crush, but he lies.)



This is "the tank," as Kyle calls it - the four-wheeled monster that Kyle, Bob and the rest of the gang are using to cross the 3 foot high floodwaters in New Orleans - without that monster of a car, they'd be in serious trouble.



Note the small Virgin Mary in the left side of the photo... Good eye, Kyle. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

We need to talk.

A few more photo updates from Kyle, our correspondent detailed to the disaster area.



The old cemetery in New Orleans.



The lines at the refugee center in, I believe, Baton Rouge.



Using hydrofoils to get around. Read the rest of this post...

The Governor of Louisiana declared a state of emergency on FRIDAY, so why are Bush surrogates now saying the governor didn't act immediately? She did.

Nice of the Bush surrogates to now claim that the governor of Louisiana didn't act early to prepare for the hurricane. In fact, the governor declared a state of emergency on the Friday BEFORE the hurricane hit (it hit Monday morning). Wonder which vacation hotspot The Singing President was at on Friday, since we know he didn't cancel his vacation until 3 days AFTER the hurricane had already destroyed New Orleans. Read the rest of this post...

Scotty Lies Again About News Coverage Of Hurricane Katrina: New Orleans Dodged A Bullet

Scott McClellan is lying in his daily press conference. He lies again in claiming that everyone believed "New Orleans Dodged A Bullet." In fact, the only media outlet we could find with that headline was the far right religious website WorldNet Daily. Here's a link to the headlines Tuesday morning -- all of them say "Devastation!" and the like. Even Stars & Stripes -- the military paper -- spoke of the tremendous disaster. The levees broke Monday morning. It was announced Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. And as one reporter asked Scotty, "Does the President rely on news headlines?"

Someone -- it seems right up Tim Russert's alley -- do a mock-up of all the headlines and shove it in their faces and get them to respond to this lie. Also, just caught the tail-end of Scotty's dismissal of the Time magazine story about Brown's lie-packed resume. I can't understand why there weren't 50 questions about this (maybe I missed most of them) and demands for documentation to back up Brown's claims if he's simply going to insist everyone else is lying at Edmond local government, Central State University and the Independent Electrical Contractors.

Read the rest of this post...

Who is that idiot woman on CNN?

UPDATE: Big surprise. She is in fact Kyra Phillips, the same biased woman who attacked Nancy Pelosi yesterday, sounding like a mouthpiece of the White House. CNN needs to take a long second look at this woman and what her problem is.
----------

That woman who I think took on Nancy Pelosi yesterday, the CNN anchor, just had this to say about the federal government's response to the hurricane:

And in all fairness to the Dept of Homeland Security right now, I mean this is a brand new Department that was formed after 9/11. In many ways this is a "learn by our mistakes and figure out what to do better" type of scenario.

Are you insane, an idiot, or on the payroll of the White House? This is a learn from our mistakes type of scenario? You mean, wipe out an entire American city and kill tens of thousands this time in the hopes we only kill 5,000 and wipe out half a city in the next? Is that what this is all about - we accept NOT being ready for the next time Osama strikes because this is just practice?

Seriously, who is this woman and why is she pimping so hard for the Bush administration? Read the rest of this post...

FEMA's Michael "Drownie" Brown relieved of Katrina duties

Well, that only took almost two weeks and a couple of thousand bodies. Not to mention, what do you mean he's still on the job but moving back to Washington? Either the guy is competent or not. If he's not competent to run the hurricane relief then he's not competent to run FEMA nor work there.

So what is going on? Why is the Bush administration trying to cut the baby in half? Is Brown still on the federal payroll? Is he still the head of FEMA? Is he still having a roll in FEMA at all?

And next let's talk about the liar who heads up Homeland Security, Chertoff, and the liar who heads up DOD's joint chief of staff, Gen. Myers. When are they getting for fired for killing thousands of Americans and losing an entire American city?

Hey, maybe he's coming back to Washington for a medal? Read the rest of this post...

AMERICAblog's Kyle In Baton Rouge -- Talking To Angry Evacuees And Pitching In To Help

I am blogging now from Baton Rouge after a hell of a day yesterday. We were fortunate enough to get a few good hours of sleep NOT in the Excursion. The previous night was spent inside the truck outside of a Sonic fast food joint in god knows where Louisiana. The Tank is covered in toxic waste from the floodwaters and still wreaks of that stench I tried to describe earlier. Entering and exiting the vehicle has been interesting because we can only touch the clean doorhandles. Disinfectant wipes, anti-bacterial soap and napkins have become our life lines.

This morning we went to the Riverside Convention center shelter. I talked to several evacuees as they waited in the long line to get through shelter security. A topic that came up again and again was housing. These people want their privacy; they want their own lives. There needs to be a coordinated effort on the part of the federal or state government to get something going on that front. Another issue was red tape and the people I spoke with were frustrated with all the paperwork FEMA was throwing at them. None of the survivors I talked to had received anything from any federal agency at all.

We also visited with Red Cross officials at the convention center about consolidating the hundreds of people-finder databases into a single interface. I will be helping this process along by getting the shelter off a single Excel spreadsheet and onto a connected web database. Right now, Bob and Macon are having to hook people up manually with their families and coordinate free flights for the victims.

Correction - I made a mistake in the interview with John yesterday. The soldier we were bartering with was from the 82nd airborne; not the National Guard. Read the rest of this post...

BREAKING: Today and GMA Are Fools -- Blow Story On FEMA Head Brown Lying Repeatedly On Resume

It seemed like a slam-dunk. Time magazine did all the investigating: FEMA head Michael Brown lied REPEATEDLY on his resume. He did NOT have experience overseeing emergency services for the city of Edmond -- Brown was basically an INTERN and had no oversight of ANYONE. He also lied about being a college professor and garnering a top award for his work as a professor at the lowly Central State University -- Brown was only a STUDENT. Rather bizarrely, Brown also claims that for the past 22 years he has been a director of the nursing home in Edmond called Oklahoma Christian Home. No one there HAS EVER HEARD OF HIM. My God, how much more damning does it get? So I jsut watched the stories on the morning talk shows about what I assumed would be the final nail in the coffin for Brown.

So what do "Good Morning America" and "Today" do? They blow it. Diane Sawyer lets the Time reporter who broke the story give out the details. But instead of wrapping up with some natural comment, like "Gee, this raises serious questions about Brown's credibility," Sawyer says, as if the story is nitpicking, well what does all of this really mean anyway? She also quotes FEMA people who say Brown is "disappointed" in Time magazine. I'll bet he is.

The Today Show is FAR worse. Andrea Mitchell (who botches her live intro while stumbling over her own words) files a story that begins with Brown's lies on his resume -- facts that overwhelmingly contradict virtually every portion of his resume and most fundamentally undercut Brown's LONE CLAIM to any disaster relief experience. But Mitchell quickly makes this part of a larger story about who is to blame for the disaster and the response. Why? Why does a story about Brown's NUMEROUS LIES on his resume morph into a story about who is to blame for the incompetent response to Katrina? The White House couldn't have asked for a better clouding of the issue. Brown lies on his resume and "Today" cuts right to Mayor Nagin of New Orleans and criticizes him for not doing a better job. I'm sure he could have done a better job and frankly I could care less if the people of Louisiana throw out both Nagin and Gov. Blanco. But what the hell does that larger, complex story have to do with Brown lying repeatedly on his resume? Nothing. Talk about the blame game.

The capper? The Today Show repeats the lie that the White House is pushing about Gov. Blanco. Gov. Blanco declared a state of emergency on the Saturday before Hurricane Katrina struck. She sent an official request for government help that very day to President Bush (dated Sunday) and stated that the disaster was likely to be beyond the scope of city and state officials. Bush declared a state of emergency on Sunday and -- according to FEMA's own website -- they should take charge at that point. Period. The White House lied to the Washington Post and Newsweek, who repeated Bush's lie that the Governor didn't ask for help until after the storm -- even though any child with an internet connection can confirm it's not true. Both ran corrections. And what does "Today" say after shifting the story from Brown's lies to "the blame game?" NBC's Andrea Mitchell said this:

"Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco did ask for federal help the day the storm struck."

No she didn't. She asked for federal help two days before the storm struck and Bush took responsibility by declaring it a federal state of emergency on Sunday. This is not a minor issue. How could "Today" possibly get the most basic facts on this story wrong? Do they know the storm hit on Monday? Do they know the levees broke on Monday and it was annonced to the world Monday at 2 p.m.?

"Today" needs to run a correction for swallowing the White House smear and getting it wrong. And "GMA" needs to realize that when the head of FEMA lies on his resume about the only minor, pathetic experience he claimed to have in emergency disaster relief, that serious questions need to be raised about Brown's qualifications and character. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread -- Sci Fi Friday

Serious beefcake alert for tonight's episode of Battlestar: Galactica. Terrific episode with Xena herself Lucy Lawless guesting and a wayward towel wrapped around Apollo. Don't say you weren't warned. Read the rest of this post...

BUSH SUSPENDS MINIMUM "PREVAILING" WAGE IN RECOVERY AREA - SLAVE LABOR WAGES HERE WE COME!

Just when I think that he can't get any worse, I read this on the White House Web site - an Executive Order eliminating the minimum "prevailing" wage in the affected areas:

(b) The wage rates imposed by section 3142 of title 40, United States Code, increase the cost to the Federal Government of providing Federal assistance to these areas.

(c) Suspension of the subchapter IV of chapter 31 of title 40, United States Code, 40 U.S.C. 3141-3148, and the operation of related acts to the extent they depend upon the Secretary of Labor's determinations under section 3142 of title 40, United States Code, will result in greater assistance to these devastated communities and will permit the employment of thousands of additional individuals.
...
And, as to such contracts to be performed in such jurisdictions, I do hereby suspend, until otherwise provided, the provisions of any Executive Order, proclamation, rule, regulation, or other directive providing for the payment of wages, which provisions are dependent upon determinations by the Secretary of Labor under section 3142 of title 40, United States Code

Let me break that down for you. At a time of national crisis, and the President already having signed $61 BILLION in disaster relief, we as a nation can't afford to pay $9 an hour to laborers?

Of course we can.

This isn't about employing more people, this is a disgusting cash grab the likes of which has never been visited upon our nation. Didn't take long for this to happen, did it? They are the most inhuman corrupt bunch of assholes.

Like mother like son. Hey, those laborers have it pretty good down there! (HOMELESS and trying to rebuild their communities.) They don't need $9 an hour.

Just when I think that George Bush can't disgust me any more...

UPDATE: As noted in the comments, officially the "prevailing" wage has been suspended. As I read the statement from the White House, there is a little catch-all phrase in there that with this crowd I think people should take a second look at:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do by this proclamation suspend, as to all contracts entered into on or after the date of this proclamation and until otherwise provided, the provisions of subchapter IV of chapter 31 of title 40, United States Code, 40 U.S.C. 3141-3148, and the provisions of all other acts providing for the payment of wages, which provisions are dependent upon determinations by the Secretary of Labor under section 3142 of title 40, United States Code, as they apply to contracts to be performed in the following jurisdictions

"all other acts" is awfully broad, don't you think? The Bush people would never hide something in plain sight, would they? Worth a second look... Read the rest of this post...

Brown's Resume Chock Full Of Lies

For those who missed Rob in Baltimore's posting late last night, Time magazine has a devastating article on FEMA hack Michael Brown -- his resume is literally a pack of lies. This morning's "Today" show trumpeted the news and you can be certain now Brown is toast. The lead NYT editorial blasts the cronyism at FEMA, its emphasis on pr instead of rescuing the endangered and points out how Clinton had turned it into an effective and widely praised agency. It's no accident Bush put incompetent liars like Brown in charge. He hates FEMA and any government agency -- Dept of Education, Social Security -- that helps the little guy.

But President Bush chose to make FEMA a dumping ground for unqualified cronies - a sure sign that he wanted to hasten the degradation of an agency that conservative Republicans have long considered an evil of big government.

And as a side note, the NYT editorial includes a link to a Chicago Tribune article on FEMA's top hacks. One more sign of blogging's growing influence. Read the rest of this post...

AP-Ipsos: Bush approval at 39%

Lowest so far:

President Bush's job approval was at 39 percent, the lowest point since AP-Ipsos began measuring public approval of Bush in December 2003.

Read the rest of this post...

"Detached and Unaware"

Yep, that's our President...I'd say this is accurate:

But there's another side to Bush. He can seem detached and unaware of the messages conveyed by his words and conduct. Bush decided to see Katrina's destruction for the first time from his jumbo jet and joked on his first trip to the disaster zone about youthful partying in New Orleans. He didn't cancel his vacation until two days after Katrina struck and didn't visit the region until four days after the storm. It's not the first time that side of the president has been visible. He taped a video for a 2004 black-tie dinner showing him hunting under White House furniture for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction as the death toll there mounted. His visit to Ground Zero came three days after the 9/11 attacks.

Read the rest of this post...

Poll: focus on America & government can't handle safety of US

Of course, just how much do we really want this team to put their attentions on the US after their failed response to Katrina, not to mention the failed war in Iraq and the delicate economy. Americans are captivated by Katrina and want action. Highlights of the new Pew poll include:

• More than half of Americans now say it is more important for the president to focus on domestic policy Â? the first time since Sept. 11, 2001...
• Two-thirds said the president could have done more to get relief efforts going quickly...
• Four in 10 said the response to the hurricane has made them less confident about the government's ability to handle a major terrorist attack.
• 58 percent, say they have felt depressed because of what's happened along the Gulf Coast. Pew polling indicates that at no point during the Iraq war has that high a percentage of people said they were depressed because of the war.
• People were divided on those who took things from homes and businesses after the storm Â? equally likely to say they were trying to survive or criminals taking advantage of the situation.

Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Today Show just asked: Is your community safe if a disaster strikes? Could anyone in the country feel secure while Bush is in charge? Read the rest of this post...

Yet another reason why this team can't be trusted

How about their favorite subject, 9/11? After that disaster, the GOP controlled government offered relief via bank loans to those impacted by 9/11. Those silly folks in NYC probably thought that meant them, but loans to NY only made up 11% of the five billion dished out. Instead the money was handed out by banks who just happen to be large campaign donors and who have their tasty chunk of pork coming with the bankruptcy bill next month, to people across the country including the 9/11-needy country radio station KBFS in Belle Fourche, South Dakota and Little Dogs Resort & Salon in Utah.

And for those who had trouble connecting the tax payer backed loans to 9/11, administration hacks were there to help. The lost money from Iraq and the cronyism that is already striking in Louisiana and Mississippi is easy to understand because it's always about helping their political donors. To hell with average Americans, again and again and again.

SBA officials declined comment on documents showing one of their top officials promised banks back in 2002 that there would be a no-questions-asked approach to Sept. 11 relief loans.

SBA officials acknowledged they gave little oversight to the second program, called Supplementary Terrorism Activity Relief, leaving banks to determine who should get loans.

"They had personnel at our conference stand up and say if you cannot find a reason to move the loan over to the STAR program, contact us and we'll help you find a reason to move it over, because they had insufficient funding," recalled Tony Wilkinson, president of the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders.

Read the rest of this post...

The Not-So-Much Freedom walk

The story here is even more ironic than the SUV-driving people with the "Support our Troops" bumper stickers. What kind of a "freedom" march has a sovietesque style of lock down and insulation from the real world? It's typical of this administration that wants to block out the real world and heaven forbid, gasp, gulp...criticism.

The march, sponsored by the Department of Defense, will wend its way from the Pentagon to the Mall along a route that has not been specified but will be lined with four-foot-high snow fencing to keep it closed and "sterile," said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense.

The U.S. Park Police will have its entire Washington force of several hundred on duty and along the route, on foot, horseback and motorcycles and monitoring from above by helicopter. Officers are prepared to arrest anyone who joins the march or concert without a credential and refuses to leave, said Park Police Chief Dwight E. Pettiford.

What's unusual for an event on the Mall is the combination of fences, required preregistration and the threat of arrest.

Read the rest of this post...

Late Night Open Thread

Americablog got some face time on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer during a segment on blogs and how people can donate laptop computers to help with the hurricane relief effort. Cool. Now how about Americablog: The Series? Read the rest of this post...

That AP Story Is Even Worse Than John Implied

NOTE: This is in reference to an AP story written before Cheney visited the region and made what I believe were his first public statements of sympathy for the people affected by this disaster.

John posted approvingly below that the Dems were finally showing some cajones -- gee, all it took was an outrageously incompetent scandal unfolding in front of the entire country in a manner so shockingly inept that even Fox News was infuriated. At the end, he mentioned the AP AP story gave a technically accurate but unfairly positive spin to the facts by saying Bush had "cut short his vacation by two days." Reading the entire paragraph, it's much worse than misleading. Howard Dean is quoted saying "Americans deserve better from their leaders" and that's immediately followed by this blast of "facts":

Bush cut short his vacation by two days last week to return to Washington. He has presided over daily meetings, visited stricken Gulf Coast areas twice and was expected to return soon. He has sent Cabinet members to the region; Vice President Dick Cheney planned to be there on Thursday.

Why is AP carrying water for Bush? This sounds like a press release from the White House press office, not a sober retelling of the facts by the MSM. If you hadn't been watching TV for the last ten days while disaster unfolded in front of us, you'd read that paragraph and think, "Wow, Bush is really on the ball."

The truth of course is far removed from that. Bush "cut short his vacation by two days." Well, what the hell is the president SUPPOSED to do during a national emergency? And the more telling point is the shocking fact (which Scotty says is just rude to bring up) that BUSH STAYED ON VACATI0N DURING THE WORST NATURAL DISASTER IN OUR NATION'S HISTORY. (Are you tired of me writing that yet? I'm tired of typing it, but until Bush apologizes for abandoning this country during its need, I won't stop.) Instead of praising the President for actually getting back to work, a real journalist would ask why after the hurricane struck on Monday, or after the waters were rising on Tuesday and the situation grew ever dire, why would the President stay on vacation?

Then AP trumpets the fact that Bush has presided over daily meetings. That's right up there with Bush's own remarkable assertion that he thinks about Iraq every day. Every day. OF COURSE he presides over daily meetings -- thousands of Americans died, hundreds of thousands are homeless and an entire city has been virtually wiped off the face of the earth. Why is it noteworthy or commendable that Bush is paying attention to this disaster?

Further, AP points out that Bush has visited the region twice and plans to do so again. We point out the obvious -- that it would be utterly BIZARRE if the President didn't visit a region hit by so calamitious disaster. A real reporter would have talked about the photo-op nature of the visits, how Bush didn't schedule them to avoid disruptions in rescue and humanitarian work but in fact DELAYED a shipment of food so it would arrive when he did. A real reporter would have mentioned the comments by Sen. Landrieu who lamented the fact that Bush spoke at an area that seemd bustling with activity only to realize it had been "staged" to provide a good backdrop for the TV cameras and dismantled as soon as he left. They might have mentioned Bush's tone deaf jokes about getting drunk in New Orleans when so many people had seen their lives shattered, a scene that echoed criticism by Cindy Sheehan that Bush had behaved like he was at a party when Bush was supposed to be comforting the parents of dead soldiers. Indeed, it was widely reported that Bush's first trip was such a disaster pr-wise (which is all Bush cares about) that he scheduled another one right away.

Then AP notes that Cabinet members have visited the region -- again, an utterly unremarkable state of affairs and noteworthy only if they DIDN'T go. AP adds without comment that Vice President Dick Cheney plans to go Thursday. Again, the Cheney reference is technically accurate but stunningly misleading. How could they fail to mention that -- just like Bush -- during the worst natural disaster in our nation's history Cheney stayed on vacation on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and finally appeared for a photo op in DC on Saturday? How could they not wonder why the VP was AWOL during this crisis or why he hadn't apparently made even the simplest of public statements expressing sympathy for the Americans who'd been brutalized by the hurricane? Instead, they report him going to the region about a week later than he should have as if it refuted the charge that Bush and his people weren't taking the disaster seriously.

Am I taking a partisan, attack mode in describing Bush's behavior. No. I'm simply laying out the facts. What AP wrote was misleading, inaccurate or just downright goofy by praising standard operating procedures as if they were remarkable or noteworthy. Email AP at info@ap.org and let them know what you think of the article by Tom Raum. Encourage them to ask tough, reasonable questions and deal in facts rather than cheering on the President OR his critics. Read the rest of this post...

Oh, so now the Washington Post editorial board thinks Bush screwed up

Gee, a week ago the Washington Post editorial board was praising his wonderful response to Hurricane Katrina. Now they're finally admitting he stayed on vacation and botched the entire thing. It's kind of fun watching the Post editorial board go through puberty.

And of course it wouldn't be the "new" Post editorial board if it didn't take a gratuitous shot (read: lie) at Democrats:

Some of the administration's political opponents are reacting to the administration's fumbling with barely disguised glee, hoping it will hobble the administration's policy plans and hurt the GOP in the 2006 elections and beyond. But all Americans, Democrats and Republicans, ought to hope that the administration will right itself sufficiently to oversee an effective recovery. And that's not just for the sake of Katrina's survivors. For the president to be rendered a lame duck more than three years before he leaves office would not serve the country well, at home or abroad.

First, I wish the Democrats had jumped on this issue and hammered Bush from the beginning, like he deserved. Fewer Americans would have died had the Democrats done their job and forced Bush into accountability. So spare me the crap from the Washington Post editorial board claiming they did.

Second, nothing would serve this country, and the world, better than having George Bush neutered like a puppy, unable to cause any more trouble until his term is over, or he destroys the country - whichever comes first. We can no longer afford George Bush's "successes" either at home or abroad. Read the rest of this post...

Friday's Wash Post: 5 of top 8 FEMA heads unqualified

Ah yes, patronage during wartime. Read the rest of this post...

Just remember, the buck doesn't stop at Brown - it stops at Bush

As a follow-on to Rob's post below, FEMA's head deserves to be fired, and it's yet another sign of the arrogance and callousness of the Bush administration that the president prefers to be "loyal" to his incompetent and criminal staff rather than owing a loyalty to the American people and our safety.

BUT, there's a reason Michael Brown, with apparently no substantial experience whatsoever in handling emergencies, was put in charge of an agency that does just that, and in war-time no less. Brown got his job because his boss, President Bush, simply isn't that bright. Add to that Bush's penchant for going political, rather than substantive, and it's no wonder underqualified people like Brown are in charge of some of the most important jobs in this administration.

Bush simply doesn't know any better, or care. The reason we have incompetents like Brown in the administration, the reason thousands of people died last week in New Orleans, the reason we just lost an entire American city, and the reason for so many other lies and deaths piled at the door of this White House is that we have an imbecile as president. And after five years, you can only hide a powerful idiot's mistakes so long before they compound and reach critical mass.

Bush is the leader of this Titanic. Never forget that fact.

Read the rest of this post...

Liar Liar and THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE DIED

Time did the homework:

Now, an investigation by TIME has found discrepancies in his online legal profile and official bio, including a description of Brown released by the White House at the time of his nomination in 2001 to the job as deputy chief of FEMA. (Brown became Director of FEMA, succeeding Allbaugh, in 2003.)

Before joining FEMA, his only previous stint in emergency management, according to his bio posted on FEMA's website, was "serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight." The White House press release from 2001 stated that Brown worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 "overseeing the emergency services division." In fact, according to Claudia Deakins, head of public relations for the city of Edmond, Brown was an "assistant to the city manager" from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. "The assistant is more like an intern," she told TIME. "Department heads did not report to him." Brown did do a good job at his humble position, however, according to his boss. "Yes. Mike Brown worked for me. He was my administrative assistant. He was a student at Central State University," recalls former city manager Bill Dashner. "Mike used to handle a lot of details. Every now and again I'd ask him to write me a speech. He was very loyal. He was always on time. He always had on a suit and a starched white shirt."

MICHAEL BROWN YOU INCOMPETENT LIAR -- QUIT ALREADY. How can you live with yourself? And you don't want the media to take pictures of your monumental disaster? FUCK YOU. You don't get to tell us ANYTHING ever again.

There is more in the article, including the fact that his resume includes jobs he never had. Read the rest of this post...