NY Times: Clinton Criticizes Bush Admin on Katrina

"'This is a matter of public policy,' [Bill Clinton] said. 'And whether it's race-based or not, if you give your tax cuts to the rich and hope everything works out all right, and poverty goes up and it disproportionately affects black and brown people, that's a consequence of the action made. That's what they did in the 80's; that's what they've done in this decade. In the middle, we had a different policy.' "

Clinton presents, in a pseudo-factual manner, that the Katrina disaster is simply a result of Bubba Bush administration policy. I don't suppose that he'll be getting invited back to fundraising by this administration.

Good to see this administration getting some heat.

Blair critical of BBC's "hatred of America" in Katrina coverage

"Tony Blair was shocked by the BBC's coverage of Hurricane Katrina, describing it as 'full of hatred of America', Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, said on Friday night."

Dunno if Tony Bliar was shocked or not, since it's Rupert "I defecate on the whole world" Murdoch who says so.

Nonetheless, we can well imagine that Rupie was shocked, as was everyone who watched the Katrina drama and debacle unfold. Shocked and saddened.

Rupie reminds me of what Bill Moyers said recently:


"The more compelling our journalism, the angrier became the radical right [...]
That's because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as liberal is to tell the truth."

Clearly what may have shocked Tony Bliar, who probably shocked Rupie, was the simple truth. They are mostly shocked, not to discover it themselves, but by the fact that it is getting out!

Reuters Says Bush Photo Not 'Malicious,' Reports Wide Interest at Home and Abroad

It's already saturated the blogosphere, but I still can't help including it here for the record.



That's right: Bubba Bush, with bracing, hardy style, reservedly asks Bubba Condi if he can have a bathroom break.

To top off the story, The DailyKos has the gut-wrenching cliché of Bubbas Rice, Bush and Bolten yucking it up at the UN.

Editor And Publisher: Origins of the New Orleans Catastrophe in Bush Administration Budget Cuts

Here's an article from Editor and Publisher that cites pre-Katrina articles about funding cuts in levee projects.

"When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside."

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle.

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

The funds necessary for finishing the levee projects are quite meager compared to the estimated at US$200 billion for New Orleans reconstruction. That's BubbaLogic for you!

NY Times: Equality and Preference

Choice remarks on the new CDC report:

"'One thing that surprised me is that we expected, based on anecdotal evidence, that girls might be more likely to give oral sex and boys more likely to receive it, but we didn't find that at all,' said Dr. Jennifer Manlove, of Child Trends, which, like Ms. Brown's group, released an analysis of the data, 'There's more gender equality than we expected.'"

Tell me, why would one tend to think this? Are we simply propagating the idea that females don't have any sex drive themselves?

"A very significant proportion of teens has had experience with oral sex, even if they haven't had sexual intercourse and may think of themselves as virgins," Dr. Manlove said. "We're not sure whether these teens who have not had sexual intercourse are engaging in oral sex because they view it as a way to maintain their technical virginity or even because they regard it as an easy method of birth control."

Or, just maybe, because they enjoy it!

The Victoria Advocate: Pledge Policy "Compliant" with State Law, but What About Democracy?

In Victoria, Texas, where I grew up, here's a good example of the "coercive requirement to affirm God".

"The Victoria schools' policy is in compliance with state law concerning the Pledge of Allegiance, communication specialist Diane Boyett said.

The Texas Education Code states: 'The board of trustees of each school district shall require students, once during each school day at each school in the district, to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag.'

The law also requires a minute of silence following the Pledge of Allegiance.

In Victoria schools the pledge is recited daily.

However, Boyett said, a student is not required to participate if a parent or guardian turns in a written request for exemption."

I think that this is quite an interesting case in point. Texas law requires students to "pledge" every day. Yet, doesn't this requirement essentially deprive them of free-will in the matter? Isn't the "written exemption request" a form of "blacklisting"? Why require the "exemption request" from a parent when students should have their own say in the matter?

Clearly, this is a stringent requirement. Is this democracy?

BBC NEWS | Politics | Blair throws down gauntlet to UN

Blair has the gall to say this to the UN:

"It was now widely recognised the UN could intervene when nations failed their own people, he argued. "

Hmm, is he thinking of the Katrina disaster? Or of the British Healthcare System?

Perhaps he's really thinking of the murderous invasion of Iraq.

NPR : Federal Judge Rules Pledge Unconstitutional

"U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation 'under God' violates school children's right to be 'free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.'"

I'm glad to see this item back in the courts -- and once again scared of the outcome.

I would like to see the "under god" pledge ruled illegal. In fact, most folks in Europe wonder what kinda Nazi state is being put into place in the US when they see that the "pledge of allegiance" is a daily requirement in schools. I even can admit that I admire those Jehovah's Witnesses who refuse to do it -- for religious reasons, of course, but not without backlash.

One nation, indivisible, undivided by "coercive requirements to affirm God', that's the country that I know and love.

BBC NEWS | Powell's Revealing Expression

"But Mr Powell said so many African-Americans were left unprotected because they were poor, rather than because they were black.

It 'should have been a blinding flash of the obvious... that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can't expect everybody to evacuate on their own', he said. "

Now here I agree with Colin, that it's not a racist thing, it's a wealth thing. And while it isn't illegal to be poor, it might as well be.

The phrase "blinding flash of the obvious" is quite interesting. A "flash of the obvious" should be convincing, but if it is "blinding", aren't we saying that we will not be convinced, but will turn a "blind eye"? That would seem to be explain why the Bush administration didn't foresee the Katrina damage to New Orleans.

It would also explain why Bubba Colin didn't see that there was no proof of weapons in Iraq.

New York Times : Powell Calls His U.N. Speech a Lasting Blot on His Record

"'I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world,' [ former secretary of state Colin ] Powell told Barbara Walters of ABC News, adding that the presentation 'will always be a part of my record.'

Asked by Ms. Walters how painful this was for him, Mr. Powell replied: 'It was painful. It's painful now.' Asked further how he felt upon learning that he had been misled about the accuracy of intelligence on which he relied, Mr. Powell said, 'Terrible.' He added that it was 'devastating' to learn later that some intelligence agents knew the information he had was unreliable but did not speak up."

Good points for admitting that your speech was wrong, Colin, and for feeling bad about it.

However, you don't feel bad enough about your own failures in the deal. You put the blame on folks in the CIA, but aren't you forgetting something? Aren't you forgetting that Hans Blix also testified that there was no evidence of weapons? Aren't you forgetting all of the international scrutiny that said that you were wrong? Aren't you forgetting that you didn't obtain a UN resolution to go to war? Aren't you forgetting how you isolated the US in world opinion and generated historically massive protest marches in the US, in the UK and around the world?

Your flimsy excuse of "folks at the CIA didn't give me the info" doesn't cut the mustard, not for you or for Bubba Bush. The info was there, but you chose to ignore it, a willful choice that you should also admit.

What is the difference between willfully ignoring readily available contrary evidence and lying?

When did you apologize to Hans Blix?

The legacy that you leave is not only one of lying to the UN, of failing to generate a real coalition, and of lessening the image of America in the world. No, you've also left the legacy of "blind loyalty" to an idiot and a criminal. You have broken with the American tradition of "self reliance" and "personal integrity" and chosen the path of "cronyism".

These accusations are all the more harsh because I at one time respected you and thought that you might be able to bring some courage and determination to the Bush administration. My naive hopes have been well laid to the wayside now, thanks to you, bubba Colin. In fact, I don't see much difference between you and Bubba Rice.

New York Times: Harlem Pupils Meet Swiss Chard

"Eating at the Promise Academy is about more than just the food. Children learn to respect where it comes from and who serves it, as well as whom they eat with. They must use tongs to pick up their morning bagels. They may not bang their trays down on the cloth-covered cafeteria tables. No one is allowed to toss out whole peaches or to cut in line.

To make it all work, Mr. Canada relies on Andrew Benson, a young chef with a culinary degree from Johnson and Wales University. Mr. Benson, a veteran of three public school cafeterias in Harlem, said he was defeated by the city's school food bureaucracy. (Actual cooking from scratch is done in less than half of the city's 1,356 schools.) "

This is what I've been wanting for America for a long time now, ever since coming to france almost 15 years ago. I said to everyone "If back in the US they could imagine this kind of life, where the school and work cafeterias are good and you go to the "market" and not to the "supermarket" to buy food, then I think that they would prefer it. And I think that Americans deserve it!"

I'll be watching to see the outcome of "Promise Academy" and their experiment.

US Squandering Foreign Aid Offers

From a New Zealand newspaper:

"Other assistance unlikely to be accepted is from longtime foe Cuba, which has more than 1500 doctors on standby waiting to come to the United States. The State Department said there appeared to be enough US medical volunteers.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called coordinating the aid offers a 'complicated process.'
'I think that what we have seen is a very effective response from the Department of State, as well as the other US government agencies, to really in a concrete way realize these offers of assistance on the ground,' he said. "

Amazing, amazing. The auto-congratulatory State Department is "very effective"? Is a doctor "very effective" when all of his patients are dying? Is a teacher effective when his students are failing? Is a department effective when there are still bodies decomposing in the streets after days and days?



Are US medical volunteers "enough" when people are dying of dysentery, starving to death and dying of thirst? When old folks with medical conditions are just left to die?

How dare this somber cretin say that his Department is effective? What a cynical attitude, tantamount to "leaving the poor to die is OK by us, we're just doing our jobs!" What a bloodthirsty scoundrel! With the still-countless dead turning the entire southern coast into a plague area, we have a petty, ideological, "let the poor die and rot" spokesman complaining about how difficult it is for him to "realize in an effective way" the many, many offers of real assistance from much poorer countries than the US. If you can't get it together, McCormack, find someone who can!

Once again, squandered good will.
Once again, Americans put in jeopardy by the Bush Administration.

CELINE DION - DION SLAMS US AUTHORITIES OVER KATRINA RESPONSE

"'How come it's so easy to send planes in another country to kill everyone in a second, to destroy lives? We need to be there right now to rescue the rest of the people.' "

So maybe I'll end up liking the Quebecoise crooner!

I totally agree with her comments. And I noticed that they almost didn't make the US press at all! How telling!

CNN.com - Castro: U.S. hasn't responded to Katrina offer -

"Castro, a longtime adversary of the United States, initially offered to send 1,100 doctors and at least 26 tons of supplies and equipment, but the Communist leader announced Sunday during a televised speech that he had increased the number of physicians to 1,586. Each doctor would carry about 27 pounds of medicine.

'You could all be there right now lending your services, but 48 hours have passed since we made this offer, and we have received absolutely no response,' Castro said at Havana's Palace of the Revolution"

Dunno if Castro is an adversary. After all, Cuba hasn't tried to invade the US, even if it has been the brunt of a brutal economic embargo.

But here you go: the offer from Cuba to sends lots of doctors. Let's face it: doctors in the states would not make this offer to Cuba. They don't even make house calls! But the Cuban doctors were ready to go and to save lives in the name of "humanity". And Dubya and Condi turned them down, didn't even pick up the phone. How shameful!

Krugman: Killed by Contempt

"[T]he federal government's lethal ineptitude wasn't just a consequence of Mr. Bush's personal inadequacy; it was a consequence of ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good. For 25 years the right has been denigrating the public sector, telling us that government is always the problem, not the solution. Why should we be surprised that when we needed a government solution, it wasn't forthcoming?"

I'm still surprised, perhaps because I never imagined to what extent that the Bush administration carried out its cynical mathematics.

During lunch, my friend Andrew Boucher told me about some discussions equating the Paris August 2003 heatwave deaths (estimated at 22,000) and the Katrina deaths (in the thousands for the moment) because both situations involved marginalized segments of the population, unimportant for political purposes, with the implications that "natural disasters" of this sort are almost "programmed in", at last factually if not intentionally.

Sadly Surprised

Even this long-standing Bush denigrator is surprised by the extent of the heartlessness and ruthlessness of the Bush administration's response to Katrina. As much as Bush likes to stick it to the poor, as idiotic as he is to think that killing overseas is going to do anything but exacerbate terrorism, as ruthless as he is in his tax cuts to the rich and his granting of pork-belly contracts to friends, I still never imagined for a second that Dubya was so bloodthirsty and so negligent as to let thousands of Americans in Southern States die in squalor in the aftermath of a totally forseeable disaster, a disaster created by the war in Iraq, by the gutting of funding for basic services and by federal ineptitude. I start to wonder, even, about the sanity of this man and about the groupthink that engulfs his entourage.

After all, what can you possibly think about an administration that is constantly on vacation. Our beloved leader has set the tone: after his 5-week vacation at the ranch where he chose to ignore Cindy Sheehan at his doorstep, Dubya waits 5 days before visiting the disaster area, and then under extremely controlled conditions, we can be sure, although CNN and other media have chosen not to bring to light the details. I saw an interview on CNN of two young black girls in Mississipi who were gushing over see Dubya, about he he reassured them: this well-picked audience said nothing about anger, fear, disappointment, just about how reassured that it was.

The CNN anchor did not ask them what they thought about the Secretary of State who was still on vacation in NY. Condi was not going to be put out by the problems in the South: she spent evenings on Broadway and her days in Fashionable Shopping, expelling dissenters manu militaris.

"Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman."

As much as we may admire Condi and her husband (er, boss) for their cool headedness in the face of such tragedy, it is perhaps their carelessness which comes to mind the most: not caring about the worst natural disaster in recent American history, not caring enough to do the job that they were given, which is to say protecting this country.

This is when I start questioning their sanity and I start wondering if the recent winner of the Faux Faulkner competition wasn't even closer to the truth than we could have imagined.

“You give him that gun back, right this minute,” Condi said. Rummy gave me Saddam s gun back and I held it my hands. It was hot like a horseshoe.

“You got the gun, now you stop that hollering,” Rummy said.

Condi patted me on the back. “It sure is hot in here,” she said. She fanned herself and took off her jacket. She smelled like perfume.

Now Condi is Dubya's trump card when it comes to getting out of the racism stigma that natural follow bloodthirsty faux southerners: in a way, Condi, as was Powell, is Dubya's Ace of Spades that he can pull out to trump critics like Rapper Kanye West who says "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People". However, I confess that I don't believe that Dubya is a racist, only an oligarchist for whom poor whites are just as bad as poor blacks. After all, the Bush clan is able to represent so-called minorities very well, as long as they are fabulously wealthy. Wealthy Jews and wealthy Arabs are all welcome at the Bush table. Bush even likes wealthy Europeans, having a weakness for Germans ever since Granddaddy did good business with the Nazis.

Carelessness and recklessness are more than the hallmarks of this administration: they have become a badge of honor, and this is the heart of bubbalogic. Yes, this is where guys like me who, unlike the faux-Texan commander-in-chief, grew up in the great state and even went to school there. I know that particular bubba mentality that goes along with the marvelous Waylon and Willie song "Mommas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys"

"He ain't wrong, he's just different, but his pride won't let him do things to let you think he's right."

But what's OK for a cowboy is not OK for the president of the USA. We like the cowboy when he's Slim Pickens riding the bomb as it falls from the plane, but we don't want to see that in an ideological psychopath that we happen to have voted as President. Pride is a sin, and Dubya's pride is his downfall: it's the blinders that keep him from seeing the reality of the US situation, perhaps even more than do his "handlers".

The reality that he doesn't see, but which has been made even more clear to the rest of the world, is that the US is already a kind of hell, a deeply depraved state with a violent streak running through to the core. We see that being "evacuated" really means "everyone for himself" with the poor left to die without a thought. We see that being "violent" is a term that is applied to "looters", who are people that have been left to die but have decided to live: survival is the name of the game. These people are "put down" by Police and the Army with a "Shoot on Sight" order that is worthy of the London Police. The situation is so bad that a lot of New Orleans police had "deserted". Watching a segment on CNN, one New Orleans police officer was taunting his "deserter" camarades for cowardice.

This is the legacy for which Dubya will be known: destroying the image of the US abroad and, now, at home as well. This is the beginning of the end of the Bush honeymoon in the media. This is where we realize, finally, that Dubya makes Dick Nixon look like a humanitarian, makes Reagan look like a genius, makes the US press look like the jerks that they are.

I think that this is it for Dubya. If he isn't impeached by this Republican congress, then they will be replaced by Democrats. Not that the Democrats deserve this windfall, being the lapdogs of power and neo-con wannabes in general.

September 11, 2005, will be Dubya roasting day in the press. Four years later, we will celebrate the triumph of BubbaLogic over freedom and dignity. "We won't be fooled again!"