Is this guy for real? Rick Santorum wants to impose penalties on hurricane victims... As if living in human waste and drinking piss wasn't bad enough. Let's fine them too. What a fucking jackass!Video here.
…or does five days before the fourth anniversary of a major terrorist attack on US soil seem like a decidedly inappropriate time to say:
What I intend to do is lead a -- to lead an investigation to find out what went right and what went wrong. And I'll tell you why. It's very important for us to understand the relationship between the federal government, the state government and the local government when it comes to a major catastrophe. And the reason it's important is, is that we still live in an unsettled world. We want to make sure that we can respond properly if there's a WMD attack or another major storm. And so I'm going to find out over time what went right and what went wrong.Over time? Over time?! Dude, time is the very thing we don’t know how much we got. The next hurricane, the next flood, the next terrorist attack, the next infectious outbreak, the next disaster of any kind could be tomorrow. You’d better get your shit in gear and figure out right fucking now what went wrong and how to fix it and get feeding us rubbish about how the rescue effort has to be completed first. It’s called multitasking, Mr. CEO President, and you’d better sort out a way to accomplish it immediately. “Over time” just isn’t good enough.
Bush's other disaster gets a little bit worse.
Insurgents Assert Control over Town Near Syrian Border
Baghdad - Fighters loyal to militant leader Abu Musab Zarqawi asserted control over the key Iraqi border town of Qaim on Monday, killing U.S. collaborators and enforcing strict Islamic law, according to tribal members, officials, residents and others in the town and nearby villages.
Residents said the foreign-led fighters controlled by Zarqawi, a Jordanian, apparently had been exerting authority in the town, within two miles of the Syrian border, since at least the start of the weekend. A sign posted at an entrance to the town declared, "Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Qaim."
--snip--
Capt. Jeffrey Pool, a Marine spokesman in Ramadi, capital of the western province that includes Qaim, said he had no word of unusual activity in Qaim. Marines are stationed just outside the town, and no Iraqi government forces are posted inside, Pool said.
Witnesses in Qaim said Zarqawi's fighters were killing officials and civilians whom they consider to be allied with the Iraqi and U.S. governments or anti-Islamic. On Sunday, the bullet-riddled body of a young woman dressed in her nightclothes lay in a street of Qaim. A sign left on her corpse declared, "A prostitute who was punished."
Zarqawi's fighters have shot and killed nine men in public executions in the city center since the start of the weekend, accusing the men of being collaborators with U.S. forces, said Sheik Nawaf Mahallawi, a leader of the Albu Mahal, a Sunni Arab tribe that had clashed earlier with the foreign fighters.
Dozens of families were fleeing Qaim every day, Mahallawi said.
For local fighters now, "it would be insane to attack Zarqawi's people, even to shoot one bullet at them," the tribal leader said. "We hope the U.S. forces end this in the coming days. We want the city to go back to its normal situation."
--snip--
Residents said insurgents in recent weeks had begun enforcing strict Islamic law, burning shops that sold CDs and a beauty parlor, and lashing men accused of drinking alcohol. They said Zarqawi's fighters were killing government workers but had spared doctors and teachers.
Karim Hammad Karbouli, 46, said he had stood among small crowds of nervous residents watching the insurgents, waiting Sunday for his brother to come with a pickup truck so they could load up his household and leave. Karbouli said he feared both Zarqawi's fighters and U.S. bombs.
Via AMERICAblog, I found this story about three Duke University students who drove down to New Orleans last week to help and managed to evacuate seven people who weren’t receiving help from authorities.
The group, led by South Carolina native Sonny Byrd, say they also managed to drive all the way to the New Orleans Convention Center, where they encountered scenes early Saturday evening that they say were disgraceful.Guess it wasn’t really as hard to get down there and help out as some spinmeisters would have us believe, huh?
"We found it absolutely incredible that the authorities had no way to get there for four or five days, that they didn't go in and help these people, and we made it in a two-wheel-drive Hyundai," said Hans Buder, who made the trip with his roommate Byrd and another student, David Hankla.
Via Xoverboard.
Rehnquist is dead. I only found this out Sunday afternoon, but it explained why on Saturday night a vast purple cone of plasmatic energy evacuated itself from the Washington Mall and dissapated across the sky, which burned with the fires of all Hell for fifteen seconds and then begat silence. His body will lie in state at the Supreme Court until Wednesday if you're interested in prodding it with a stick. Meanwhile, at the National Gallery of Art a painting of Vigo the Carpathian has suddenly appeared, softly beckoning for a new host body.
We were also wondering if anyone else thought about at least temporarily (cough) relocating some of the victims of the NOLA disaster to a certain ranch that has just been vacated? It certainly seems to be rather large - maybe you could build a few shotgun shacks on approximately two and a half square miles?
Forgive my relative silence during the past weekend. Normally, I don't really blog on the weekends, but things were happening so quickly that I figured it was easier and faster to get information out in the comments on Shakespeare's Sister than it was to blog about them and hope traffic trickled into my blog.
I was also a little tied up with cleaning off my fan. It was simply smeared with something warm and brown.
And it looks like Dear Leader is having the same problem. And you know the White House has a lot of fans.
After angry complaints last week about delays in mobilizing federal help for hurricane victims, criticism of Bush's light-hearted recollection Friday of his youthful partying in New Orleans and failed efforts to blame local and state officials for problems, the president and his aides tried Monday to regain a sense of equilibrium.
Thirty-three hours after learning of Rehnquist's death, Bush announced the nomination of John Roberts to succeed him. Then he left for his second tour in four days to the disaster zone. During a visit to a shelter for storm evacuees in Baton Rouge, an unsmiling Bush said, "I fully understand there's a lot of work to be done."
Bush counselor Dan Bartlett said Monday that after the situation is under control, the president will order an inquiry into delays in federal aid. "We want to know what happened and how," Bartlett said.
Bush's patience with federal hurricane relief efforts evaporated last week when he learned that thousands had been stuck for days in the New Orleans Convention Center without food or water. By Saturday morning, when he and other officials met in the White House situation room for an update, the president was still steaming. He had seen the disaster in person and watched horrific scenes on TV. There was talk around the table that if this disaster was a dress rehearsal for response to a terrorist attack or other national security crisis, the federal government failed the test.
He has often been dismissive of criticism in the past, but Bush skipped his usual weekend biking outings (Gee...what a guy!- P)and went to a Red Cross operations center in Washington on Sunday. His trip Monday was meant to underscore his concern. He'll visit again. "There will be a sustained hands-on presence from the president on down, across the board of his administration for the foreseeable future," Bartlett said.
NEW ORLEANS - With a major levee break finally plugged, engineers struggled to pump out the flooded city Tuesday as authorities braced for the horrors the receding water would reveal. "It's going to be awful and it's going to wake the nation up again," the mayor warned.
"Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area. And bureaucracy needs to stand trial before Congress today," Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, said on CBS' "The Early Show."
"So I'm asking Congress, please investigate this now. Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot.
Another hero—only six years old. Incredible story.
Barbara Bush thinks this disaster is “working very well” for the displaced poor. Incredible bitch. (Crooks and Liars has the audio here.)
And from FEMA’s website, the FEMA Rap for Kidz (no, I swear I’m not making this up):
Disaster . . . it can happen anywhere,
But we've got a few tips, so you can be prepared
For floods, tornadoes, or even a 'quake,
You've got to be ready - so your heart don't break.
Disaster prep is your responsibility
And mitigation is important to our agency.
People helping people is what we do
And FEMA is there to help see you through
When disaster strikes, we are at our best
But we're ready all the time, 'cause disasters don't rest.
You can hear the rap performed here (if you have RealPlayer).
And finally, care of Cookie Jill, here’s a (possibly incomplete) list of the stories being reported about what can only be described as FEMA’s obstructionism during Katrina’s aftermath:
FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations
FEMA turns away experienced firefighters
FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks
FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel
FEMA won't let Red Cross deliver food
FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans
FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid
FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board
FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck
FEMA turns away generators
FEMA: "First Responders Urged Not To Respond"
WTF?
UPDATE: Check out Driftglass, too.
President Bush has just given a stirring address on the Katrina disaster*:
“I appreciate your questions, and I understand the devastationalism. The response was unacceptable, but Brownie did a heckuva job. It’s hard work, and we’re making progress. Heh heh. Now is not the time to point fingers. We’ve got to stay the course and project strength. Let me finish. We won’t negotiate with Mother Nature, and I hear she might be sending more hurricanes our way—bring ’em on. We must not forget 9/11. We're in for a long struggle, and I think Louisianianesians understand that…and so do Americans. Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream. American families are a hardworking people, and they’re working hard to rebuild the rubbles. They understand that the benefits of helping somebody is beneficial. And one of the things we've got to make sure that we do is anything. We’re making progress. Heh heh. We're making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end. There were big decisions to be made, and I did the right decisions, so that soon, the victims of hurricane Kertroona will be able to buy stuff again, which is good, because I believe part of a hopeful society is one in which somebody owns something. That’s liberty. That’s freedom. Let me finish. You’ve got to understand that even though some people say the brown-skinned people of New Orleans don’t want food and water and liberty and freedom, they do, and you’ve got to understand that I am going to do the right decisions to make sure the hard work gets done to give them a tax cut. And if not them, then other people who aren’t so brown and wet. God bless America. Now watch this drive.”
* No he hasn't. I'm just a bitch.
…in every situation. It’s difficult to get family aid when you’re not recognized as a family. Go read Pam.
Bush recently canceled an out-of-state presidential campaign appearance and spoke with family members and victims in the shooting at Fort Worth's Wedgwood Baptist Church.That's from Sunday, September 26, 1999. Hat tip to PSoTD, who notes, “I'm a little surprised that this story about Governor George W. Bush and hurricane "management" in 1999 hasn't been posted anywhere to my knowledge... yet...” I haven’t seen it yet, either, which is why I’m calling attention to it, too.
But when Hurricane Bret threatened the Coastal Bend last month and thousands of vehicles were stuck on Interstate 37 trying to evacuate, there was no word from the governor.
Some Corpus Christi area officials have criticized Bush for his lack of action and comments about the evacuation issue during and after Hurricane Bret. Thousands of Coastal Bend residents trying to evacuate were forced to poke along Interstate 37 for six to eight hours to reach San Antonio.
[…]
Local and state officials are now trying to come up with an evacuation plan to prevent a repeat of the situation during Hurricane Bret. But Bush has not weighed in on the issue, despite several attempts by the Caller-Times to get comments from him.
Bush's staff did not consult him about the issue and he hasn't given his opinion about using all lanes of I-37 for northbound traffic during hurricane evacuations.
"It appears that the people of Texas and the Gulf Coast are not his priorities," said Molly Beth Malcolm, Texas Democratic Party chairwoman. But a spokeswoman for Bush said he relies on local officials to take care of such situations.
Some political observers say the evacuation isn't an issue for the governor. Others say any event that endangers lives is a viable situation for the governor to intervene.
"(Bush) has authority over the DPS and nothing happens with the plan? He's either distracted or it's poor staff work,'' said Austin political analyst Bill Miller, who works with both Republicans and Democrats. "His staff has to be attentive. He may be running for president, but his staff has to keep its eye on state business.''
Atrios on Roberts:
Well, I suppose it will be nice having an openly gay man for chief justice.You know, I think that’s a dig at Brownie, and I’m shocked that Atrios doesn’t feel being forced to resign from one’s job overseeing horse shows after a rash of lawsuits over alleged supervision failures isn’t an appropriate qualification for running FEMA. Geez. Pretty demanding.
Still, seems like a pretty important job for someone who'd only been a judge for a couple of years.
Then again, look at the qualifications of everyone else Bush appoints.
As Neil, another Ezra weekender, noted, Ezra asked us:
I'm interested in the idea that, if Bush asked for sacrifice, a one time tax increase, a something -- if he said he and his VP and his cabinet would lead it by foregoing salaries for the year -- his numbers would skyrocket. Why, then, doesn't he do that? Why is this admin so allergic to sacrifice, to tax increases, to all of it? I don't think it's ideology -- they're more craven, and have proved themselves to willing to contradict conviction for that. So what is it? Just an ethical failure?Like Neil, I’m not sure that Bush’s poll numbers would skyrocket if he asked for or offered a sacrifice, not at this point, because it would just be seen as a political maneuver rather than a genuinely altruistic proposal. As Mr. Shakes said earlier today, “The problem is that this administration is incompetent at absolutely everything except politics, at which they are extraordinarily good,” and not only is he right, but I think most people are starting to agree—even those who resolutely support him know that they’re better at politics than anything else; they just don’t care. So with the thought that it would likely be regarded as a wholly empty gesture, I doubt it would garner much enthusiasm.
"The problem is that this administration is incompetent at absolutely everything except politics, at which they are extraordinarily good."
Okay, as I’m sure everyone’s heard, Bush wants to nominate Roberts as Chief Justice to replace Rehnquist.
In practical terms, it actually makes sense, because O’Connor is staying around until they find her replacement, so it leaves us with a full court.
In realistic terms, I think they were in la-la land for nominating a guy with two years of experience as a judge to the court, no less to Chief Justice. Ezra notes:
Senators, now, have to evaluate his acceptability as a) a Justice on the Supreme Court and b) the new head and leader of the Court, probably for then next 4 decades. This is a very, very savvy move by Bush. If the Senate had confirmed Roberts but not made him chief, Stevens, a liberal, would've become acting chief by virtue of seniority, and when the session opened, unless a Chief could be hustled onto the Court, liberals would have held as many seats as conservatives and they'd be setting the agenda. Roberts, too, is young, he'll have the power to reshape and direct the Court for four or five decades -- that's some fucking appointment for a guy who's only been a judge for two years!Indeed. Democrats need to get it together on this one and stop fucking worrying about being seen as obstructionist. The guy is shaping up more and more to be a really fucking unappealing choice to begin with, and if he’s going to be the Chief Justice for the next nine hundred years or so, then his appointment warrants additional scrutiny. Do Americans really want a hardline conservative leading the court for a long, long time?
Remember: Now’s not the time to “get political” or “point fingers,” but that doesn’t stop politics as usual in the Bush White House, nor prevent them from formulating the defense they will inevitably need.
Under the command of President Bush's two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.When we were watching that, Mr. Shakes commented regarding Cheroff’s performance, “Fuck, he’s well rehearsed.” Indeed.
[…]
The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. It began late last week after Congressional Republicans called White House officials to register alarm about what they saw as a feeble response by Mr. Bush to the hurricane, according to Republican Congressional aides.
[…]
In many ways, the unfolding public relations campaign reflects the style Mr. Rove has brought to the political campaigns he has run for Mr. Bush. For example, administration officials who went on television on Sunday were instructed to avoid getting drawn into exchanges about the problems of the past week, and to turn the discussion to what the government is doing now.
"We will have time to go back and do an after-action report, but the time right now is to look at what the enormous tasks ahead are," Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security, said on "Meet the Press" on NBC.
One senior White House official said that Mr. Bush appeared at a senior staff meeting in the Situation Room on Friday and called the results on the ground "unacceptable." At the encouragement of Mr. Bartlett, officials said, he repeated the comment later in the Rose Garden, the start of this campaign.Gross.
Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race.
— Condi Rice, denying charges that the NOLA rescue efforts were so incomprehensibly appalling because of the race of the vast majority of victims
So, here’s the thing: I think she’s right. In that very carefully worded statement about leaving people unattended, I’m sure Condi is right. There is simply no doubt that the primary reason so many people are dead and so many people’s suffering was made infinitely worse as they languished for days in unsanitary and frightening conditions is because of incompetence. And there’s no doubt that even if New Orleans was populated exclusively with rich old white wheelchair-bound conservative fucks who collectively gave millions to Bush’s campaign, a whole hell of a lot of them would be dead now, too, specifically because of that incompetence.
But I believe both the extremity of and, most importantly, the official response to the incompetence have everything to do with the skin color of the victims.
There’s simply no way that if the strewn corpses (so many dead bodies, of Americans on American soil—oh my god) I see in news photos were white, that if the babies clasped in their mothers arms had heads of blonde curls and big blue eyes, that the concerted effort to get them out would not have been coordinated sooner. Imagine Lambeau Field turned into a lawless hellhole, filled with white Wisconsinites living in their own excrement and dying for want of a drink of water, with women and children being raped and murdered, and tell me that heaven and earth wouldn’t have been moved to get them the fuck out of there ASAP. And above all, tell me the president would have congratulated the man whose incompetence left them there for a job well done.
I think not.
If a white teenager had grabbed a school bus and delivered nearly 100 people to safety, would he be facing possible criminal charges, or would President Bush already have flown out to pin a medal on him for another tasty photo op?
If it had been mainly desperate white people rummaging through grocery stores for sustenance and diapers for their kids, would the president have taken the time to declare a zero tolerance policy for looting? What about issuing a shoot to kill order?
If this had happened in a place where most of the faces looked more like his own, might Bush have come back from his vacation perhaps a bit sooner? Might there be a little less congratulatory back-slapping about how well everything’s been handled, if it were white bodies starting to pile up?
Isn’t is likely that the administration probably wouldn’t be blaming the victims for not evacuating (conveniently ignoring the fact that most of them couldn’t) if the victims weren’t black? What makes me angriest about that detestable talking point is that it reeks of a cleaned-up version of what’s being said in the back offices, away from the cameras—Why didn’t those fucking niggers get out when they were told to? They’re making us look bad. It’s not a tactic designed not of concern, but of consternation.
Sure, thanks to Bush’s vile ideology and insistence on appointing political hacks to jobs for which they are demonstrably unqualified was the main reason the victims of Katrina were “left unattended,” as Condi so delicately phrased it, and people of any color would have suffered a dire fate at the resulting incompetence, although others would probably not have been left to languish for so long while the administration pissed around. And everything that came after, everything that made it so very, very much worse, was because of race.
President of Jefferson Parish, Aaron Broussard
This is truly one of the saddest things I have ever seen.
Rehnquist is dead.
I don’t mean to be disrespectful; I really don’t.
But fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.
FUCK!
