The public comment period is ending on draft voting system guidelines which will govern how voting systems are configured and evaluated in the US. It expires TODAY, FRIDAY September 30.
Take this opportunity to tell the Election Assistance Commission: Voter-verified paper records should be mandatory for all voting systems.
All elections must be audited for accuracy; but unless that audit uses a voter-verified paper record to check the machines are functioning correctly, it's not a legitimate audit. No electronic record can meet that standard, nor any reprint unseen by the voter. The EAC has the authority to define the manual audit trail: it must be a voter-verified paper record.
Other important recommendations:
1. No wireless networking (or wireless capability of any kind) in any voting system
2. Clarify terms: voter-verified paper audit trails are not the same as voter-verified paper ballots, and standards written for one may not apply to the other.
3. Certification must be tougher for security. Adopt Resolution #17-05 for more stringent testing of voting systems.
4. Allow interoperability - voting systems from different vendors should be able to work together more freely, saving costs.
Click on the link (in the title) above to send a letter to the EAC Commissioners.
[For more info on these recommendations, see http://www.verifiedvoting.org/downloads/EAC%20Guidelines%20Notes.pdf ]
Friday, September 30, 2005
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Some Notes from "Orwell Rolls in His Grave"
"I can see that your head has been twisted and fed
with worthless foam from the mouth."
-- Bob Dylan, "Ramona"
Saw this movie this past weekend. "Orwell Rolls in His Grave" is a documentary that explains how "...America is under an Orwellian watch with the rise to prominence of the radical, right-wing Republican party, an ascent aided...by the mainstream media." A full, better description is here: http://www.orwellrollsinhisgrave.com/synopsis.htm
This movie has further helped me to see the bigger picture -- the real agenda of the right-wing (further enriching the super-rich at the expense of the middle class) and how they use 'hot-button issues' to get the little guy riled up and voting for them, etc. All the things we argue about with the other side of our families and friends are mostly just diversions, while the rich are busy screwing all of us equally.
Took some notes from the extra interviews on the DVD; here they are (some of these are straight quotes, some paraphrased, depending on how fast I could write -- so my thanks to those who contributed to this movie, and my apologies if I didn't get all the words transcribed correctly. I think I mostly got the gist of the meaning, though I certainly didn't cover all that was said, by any means...):
from Tony Benn (former Labour MP and Cabinet Minister):
He mentioned how astonished he was to learn that Clinton was elected by only 20% of the populace (and of course, George W. by far fewer percent than that), because so many were not registered, or did not vote or voted for one of the other guys. "If people don't vote, it destroys the legitimacy of the government that IS elected, and THAT is the moment at which the hard right picks up."
He talked about how the German people were unemployed and depressed in the 30's, and how Hitler was able to use that to gain prominence: "They went for the man who had a scapegoat."
"Democracy," he says, "requires a well-informed and understanding people with clear ideas which they wish to see represented." But now we're being 'managed' and not represented.
Charles Lewis (Founder and former Director of the Center for Public Integrity):
"A lot of guys in politics get paid a lot of money to manipulate media."
...it's a conundrum for we who are frustrated with the news media. News execs say 'Look at the numbers!' It's prurient, sensational crap that sells the most. The media is NOT into disseminating information. There's no sense of media responsibility. It's "legal corruption."
Robert McChesney (writer, professor and media-access advocate who is critical of corporate concentration and control of media):
Head of the FCC under Clinton was told by former FCC heads," You're referring fights between the super-rich and the super-super rich." You have to let each side win a little bit from time to time. [btw, the FCC is supposed to be in the business of regulating the public airwaves, which we all pay for as taxpayers. Though the public part of their mission seems to have disappeared from their mission statement. Read their current strategic goals: http://www.fcc.gov/omd/strategicplan/ ].
Vertical integration - where a company owns all the different layers of an industry: i.e., with movies -- both production and distribution (and if they also own the TV and radio stations, promotion). This makes it very hard for there to be a competitor, as they have to invest in and compete on all the same levels.
The huge myth of our society is that it's based on competition. That's just the pablum they serve the bottom fishes (i.e., you and me). The top of the system is crushing competition.
Horizontal integration - bad for the public; good for big conglomerates. They hyper-commercialize content. Grotesque commercialization.
1996 Telecommunications Act-- media wanted to keep the public from hearing about it. And mostly did. Congress doled out $70 billion for free airwaves for the mega corporations, while cutting out foodstamps for the poor.
Government creates the giants, built around monopolies.
Murdoch -- Fox news doesn't DO journalism, just pontification. CNN was trying to do journalism (and they were doing well); but FOX showed you could make much huger profits without actual journalists doing actual news. So, in 2000, CNN got rid of their head guy.
Read "The Media Monopoly."
Media manipulation is a science. The agenda of the free market -- to enrich the few and screw over the many. Their agenda -- to lower taxes for the rich and slash social services for the middle class. They do it by finding other 'hot-button' issues to run on (because people would never vote for this agenda if they were aware of it, of course!) -- issues like patriotism, racism, abortion, gay rights. Don't ever talk about the whole underlying purpose of their agenda. [it's been interesting to watch how they are now using the tragedy of Katrina as a further excuse to push their agenda -- see if you can't find this agenda in every new proposal the right-wing makes.]
They have re-defined the left and the right, and dropped all the core issues from the discussion.
They've defined Liberal as:
- ivy-league intellectual
- for gay rights
- for abortion rights
- hoighty-toighty
- does not attend church
And conservative as:
- hard-working
- beer-drinking
- often Catholic
- white
- church-going
- believe in America and kicking ass
However, both political parties are in bed with the military.
All conservative money goes into organizations to conduct ideological warfare and to move the debate to the right.
The right has trained more conservatives to become 'journalists.' They've built up an armada of journalists, a farm-system.
Plus, they help sound convincing by giving 'sources.' Starting in the 70's, they created such institutions as the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute and the American Enterprise Institute -- all very well-funded with $$ from the super-rich right-wingers (like Richard Mellon-Scaife, etc.). So, those from these institutes become "experts on the issues" and are now employed as media sources. They can really influence the news.
There's so much more in the movie. I can't recommend it highly enough!!! Really, you owe it to yourself to rent this ASAP! http://www.orwellrollsinhisgrave.com/index.htm
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Arctic ice 'disappearing fast'
By Richard Black Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
The area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk for a fourth consecutive year, according to new data released by US scientists.
They say that this month sees the lowest extent of ice cover for more than a century. The Arctic climate varies naturally, but the researchers conclude that human-induced global warming is at least partially responsible.
They warn the shrinkage could lead to even faster melting in coming years.
...
The current rate of shrinkage they calculate at 8% per decade; at this rate there may be no ice at all during the summer of 2060.
...
Though there are significant variations across the region, on average the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, according to a major report released last year.
"What we're seeing is a process in which we start to lose ice cover during the summer," he said, "so areas which formerly had ice are now open water, which is dark. "These dark areas absorb a lot of the Sun's energy, much more than the ice; and what happens then is that the oceans start to warm up, and it becomes very difficult for ice to form during the following autumn and winter.
"It looks like this is exactly what we're seeing - a positive feedback effect, a 'tipping-point'." The idea behind tipping-points is that at some stage the rate of global warming would accelerate, as rising temperatures break down natural restraints or trigger environmental changes which release further amounts of greenhouse gases.
Read the rest at the above link.
The area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk for a fourth consecutive year, according to new data released by US scientists.
They say that this month sees the lowest extent of ice cover for more than a century. The Arctic climate varies naturally, but the researchers conclude that human-induced global warming is at least partially responsible.
They warn the shrinkage could lead to even faster melting in coming years.
...
The current rate of shrinkage they calculate at 8% per decade; at this rate there may be no ice at all during the summer of 2060.
...
Though there are significant variations across the region, on average the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, according to a major report released last year.
"What we're seeing is a process in which we start to lose ice cover during the summer," he said, "so areas which formerly had ice are now open water, which is dark. "These dark areas absorb a lot of the Sun's energy, much more than the ice; and what happens then is that the oceans start to warm up, and it becomes very difficult for ice to form during the following autumn and winter.
"It looks like this is exactly what we're seeing - a positive feedback effect, a 'tipping-point'." The idea behind tipping-points is that at some stage the rate of global warming would accelerate, as rising temperatures break down natural restraints or trigger environmental changes which release further amounts of greenhouse gases.
Read the rest at the above link.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
America Has Fallen to a Jacobin Coup
By Paul Craig Roberts09/16/05 "ICH" -- --
The most important casualties of September 11 are respect for truth and American liberty. Propaganda has replaced deliberation based on objective assessment of fact. The resurrection of the Star Chamber has made moot the legal protections of liberty.
The US invasion of Iraq was based on the deliberate suppression of fact. The invasion was not the result of mistaken intelligence. It was based on deliberately concocted "intelligence" designed to deceive the US Congress, the American public, and the United Nations.
In an interview with Barbara Walters on ABC News, General Colin Powell, who was Secretary of State at the time of the invasion, expressed dismay that he was the one who took the false information to the UN and presented it to the world. The weapons of mass destruction speech, he said, is a "blot" on his record. The full extent of the deception was made clear by the leaked top secret "Downing Street Memos."
Two and one-half years after the March 2003 invasion, the US Congress and the American people still do not know the reason Iraq was invaded. The US is bogged down in an expensive and deadly combat, and no one outside the small circle of neoconservatives who orchestrated the war knows the reason why. Many guesses are rendered – oil, removal of Israel’s enemy – but the Bush administration has never disclosed its real agenda, which it cloaked with the WMD deception.
This itself is powerful indication that American democracy is dead. With the exception of rightwing talk radio, everyone in America now knows that the invasion of Iraq was based on false information. Yet, 40 percent of the public and both political parties in Congress still support the ongoing war.
The CIA has issued a report that the war is working only for Osama bin Laden. The unprovoked American aggression against Iraq, the horrors perpetrated against Muslims in Abu Ghraib prison, and the slaughter and mistreatment of Iraqi noncombatants, have radicalized the Muslim world and elevated bin Laden from a fringe figure to a leader opposed to American hegemony in the Middle East. The chaos created in Iraq by the US military has provided al Qaeda with superb training grounds for insurgency and terrorism. Despite overwhelming evidence that the "war on terror" is in fact a war for terror, Republicans still cheer when Bush says we have to "fight them over there" so they don’t come "over here."
If fact played any role in the decision to continue with this war, the US would not be spending hundreds of billions of borrowed dollars to provide recruits and training for al Qaeda, to radicalize Muslims, and to destroy trust in the United States both abroad and among its own citizens.
The article gets better (if you can call it that)...read the rest at the above link.
The most important casualties of September 11 are respect for truth and American liberty. Propaganda has replaced deliberation based on objective assessment of fact. The resurrection of the Star Chamber has made moot the legal protections of liberty.
The US invasion of Iraq was based on the deliberate suppression of fact. The invasion was not the result of mistaken intelligence. It was based on deliberately concocted "intelligence" designed to deceive the US Congress, the American public, and the United Nations.
In an interview with Barbara Walters on ABC News, General Colin Powell, who was Secretary of State at the time of the invasion, expressed dismay that he was the one who took the false information to the UN and presented it to the world. The weapons of mass destruction speech, he said, is a "blot" on his record. The full extent of the deception was made clear by the leaked top secret "Downing Street Memos."
Two and one-half years after the March 2003 invasion, the US Congress and the American people still do not know the reason Iraq was invaded. The US is bogged down in an expensive and deadly combat, and no one outside the small circle of neoconservatives who orchestrated the war knows the reason why. Many guesses are rendered – oil, removal of Israel’s enemy – but the Bush administration has never disclosed its real agenda, which it cloaked with the WMD deception.
This itself is powerful indication that American democracy is dead. With the exception of rightwing talk radio, everyone in America now knows that the invasion of Iraq was based on false information. Yet, 40 percent of the public and both political parties in Congress still support the ongoing war.
The CIA has issued a report that the war is working only for Osama bin Laden. The unprovoked American aggression against Iraq, the horrors perpetrated against Muslims in Abu Ghraib prison, and the slaughter and mistreatment of Iraqi noncombatants, have radicalized the Muslim world and elevated bin Laden from a fringe figure to a leader opposed to American hegemony in the Middle East. The chaos created in Iraq by the US military has provided al Qaeda with superb training grounds for insurgency and terrorism. Despite overwhelming evidence that the "war on terror" is in fact a war for terror, Republicans still cheer when Bush says we have to "fight them over there" so they don’t come "over here."
If fact played any role in the decision to continue with this war, the US would not be spending hundreds of billions of borrowed dollars to provide recruits and training for al Qaeda, to radicalize Muslims, and to destroy trust in the United States both abroad and among its own citizens.
The article gets better (if you can call it that)...read the rest at the above link.
Friday, September 16, 2005
After Blocking the Bridge, Gretna Circles the Wagons
Long wary of next-door New Orleans, the town stands by its decision to bar the city's evacuees.
by Nicholas Riccardi
GRETNA, Louisiana - Little over a week after this mostly white suburb became a symbol of callousness for using armed officers to seal one of the last escape routes from New Orleans — trapping thousands of mostly black evacuees in the flooded city — the Gretna City Council passed a resolution supporting the police chief's move.
Also See: GretnaSucks.com
GRETNA POLICE BLOCKED FLEEING VICTIMSThe Crescent City Connection bridges that cross the Mississippi River into downtown New Orleans, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)"This wasn't just one man's decision," Mayor Ronnie C. Harris said Thursday. "The whole community backs it."
Three days after Hurricane Katrina hit, Gretna officers blocked the Mississippi River bridge that connects their city to New Orleans, exacerbating the sometimes troubled relationship with their neighbor. The blockade remained in place into the Labor Day weekend.
Gretna (pop. 17,500) is a feisty blue-collar city, two-thirds white, that prides itself on how quickly its police respond to 911 calls; it warily eyes its neighbor, a two-thirds black city (pop. about 500,000) that is also a perennial contender for the murder capital of the U.S.
Itself deprived of power, water and food for days after Katrina struck Aug. 29, Gretna suddenly became the destination for thousands of people fleeing New Orleans. The smaller town bused more than 5,000 of the newcomers to an impromptu food distribution center miles away. As New Orleans residents continued to spill into Gretna, tensions rose.
After someone set the local mall on fire Aug. 31, Gretna Police Chief Arthur S. Lawson Jr. proposed the blockade.
Read the res at the above link.
by Nicholas Riccardi
GRETNA, Louisiana - Little over a week after this mostly white suburb became a symbol of callousness for using armed officers to seal one of the last escape routes from New Orleans — trapping thousands of mostly black evacuees in the flooded city — the Gretna City Council passed a resolution supporting the police chief's move.
Also See: GretnaSucks.com
GRETNA POLICE BLOCKED FLEEING VICTIMSThe Crescent City Connection bridges that cross the Mississippi River into downtown New Orleans, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)"This wasn't just one man's decision," Mayor Ronnie C. Harris said Thursday. "The whole community backs it."
Three days after Hurricane Katrina hit, Gretna officers blocked the Mississippi River bridge that connects their city to New Orleans, exacerbating the sometimes troubled relationship with their neighbor. The blockade remained in place into the Labor Day weekend.
Gretna (pop. 17,500) is a feisty blue-collar city, two-thirds white, that prides itself on how quickly its police respond to 911 calls; it warily eyes its neighbor, a two-thirds black city (pop. about 500,000) that is also a perennial contender for the murder capital of the U.S.
Itself deprived of power, water and food for days after Katrina struck Aug. 29, Gretna suddenly became the destination for thousands of people fleeing New Orleans. The smaller town bused more than 5,000 of the newcomers to an impromptu food distribution center miles away. As New Orleans residents continued to spill into Gretna, tensions rose.
After someone set the local mall on fire Aug. 31, Gretna Police Chief Arthur S. Lawson Jr. proposed the blockade.
Read the res at the above link.
Bush Library would be too darned close to Deep Eddy Cabaret, by John Kelso
by John Kelso
I'm having a little trouble with the concept of putting George W. Bush's presidential library in hippie dippie Austin.
For one thing, will this library have actual books in it? And if so, why? Why in God's name would a George W. Bush library contain reading material? This is too much irony even for me. Who's going to read to him? He doesn't like reading, so you know he's not going to read this stuff himself.
...
Instead, why not put the money into the George W. Bush Presidential Game Room and Big Screen TV? I think he'd be much happier there. And you could probably do the whole remodel for under $30,000.
Or, since it's Bush, instead of a library, how about the George W. Bush Frat House Museum? An interactive establishment, every time you go in the door, somebody throws a beer mug against the wall. I'd visit a presidential museum like that. Heck, I might even make a donation to help build the thing.
The UT System is offering three locations for the Bush library -- two in Dallas, and the third one in Austin on Lake Austin Boulevard next to Deep Eddy Cabaret.
This is really bad feng shui. You just don't put a presidential library next to a beer joint. It ends up giving the beer joint a bad name. ...
read the rest at the above link.
I'm having a little trouble with the concept of putting George W. Bush's presidential library in hippie dippie Austin.
For one thing, will this library have actual books in it? And if so, why? Why in God's name would a George W. Bush library contain reading material? This is too much irony even for me. Who's going to read to him? He doesn't like reading, so you know he's not going to read this stuff himself.
...
Instead, why not put the money into the George W. Bush Presidential Game Room and Big Screen TV? I think he'd be much happier there. And you could probably do the whole remodel for under $30,000.
Or, since it's Bush, instead of a library, how about the George W. Bush Frat House Museum? An interactive establishment, every time you go in the door, somebody throws a beer mug against the wall. I'd visit a presidential museum like that. Heck, I might even make a donation to help build the thing.
The UT System is offering three locations for the Bush library -- two in Dallas, and the third one in Austin on Lake Austin Boulevard next to Deep Eddy Cabaret.
This is really bad feng shui. You just don't put a presidential library next to a beer joint. It ends up giving the beer joint a bad name. ...
read the rest at the above link.
Timeline of Katrina: What Happened When
Katrina: What Happened When
It will take months to get the full story, but meanwhile here are some of the key facts about what happened and when officials acted.
Summary
Multiple investigations are likely into the response by federal, state, and local officials to the disastrous flooding of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. New facts are still emerging, and we expect it will be months or years before a full picture can be properly assessed.
In response to numerous requests, we present here a brief timeline of events, as best as we can document them from public records and the best news reporting from the scene. We do not blame or excuse anyone, and leave it to others to judge what, if anything, could or should have been done differently. All times are converted to Central Daylight Time.
Check the link above for the full timeline.
It will take months to get the full story, but meanwhile here are some of the key facts about what happened and when officials acted.
Summary
Multiple investigations are likely into the response by federal, state, and local officials to the disastrous flooding of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. New facts are still emerging, and we expect it will be months or years before a full picture can be properly assessed.
In response to numerous requests, we present here a brief timeline of events, as best as we can document them from public records and the best news reporting from the scene. We do not blame or excuse anyone, and leave it to others to judge what, if anything, could or should have been done differently. All times are converted to Central Daylight Time.
Check the link above for the full timeline.
"If New Orleans were dry" by Michael Ventura
Excellent column by Michael Ventura in this week's Austin Chronicle (excerpt):
"If our leaders are criminals that should come as no surprise, for we live on theft. We've invented polite words for our theft ("capitalism," "the global economy," "the free market"), but in fact it takes a lot of muscle and legalized theft for 5% of Earth's population to gobble 50% of its resources. Our way of life is a criminal enterprise, and it takes criminals to run it. For more than a century we've depended upon thinly veiled criminality for our good fortune, and we damn well are implicated.
Which is the underlying reason most Americans want to know nothing about their governance. To know would be to admit responsibility. To admit responsibility would put one in the moral dilemma of either taking action toward a more just world and thereby ultimately undermining one's own prosperity, or ignoring it all in the desperate attempt to live happily ever after. Many will believe anything that allows their fearful desperation to pose as righteous happiness. Any lie is welcome, and those who point out the lies are mightily resented. Democrats are as loath as Republicans to face the real problem. George W. Bush and the right-wing cabals cause tremendous and needless suffering, but they are not the fundamental problem. The problem is the way we sustain ourselves. The way we sustain ourselves causes much more suffering than Bush does. The way we sustain ourselves has brought disorder to every corner of the world and undermined the viability of the planet itself. Collectively, we are the maddened coven."
From the Tao te Ching: "Prosperity rests on disaster; disaster is hidden in prosperity."
Read the whole thing at the link above.
"If our leaders are criminals that should come as no surprise, for we live on theft. We've invented polite words for our theft ("capitalism," "the global economy," "the free market"), but in fact it takes a lot of muscle and legalized theft for 5% of Earth's population to gobble 50% of its resources. Our way of life is a criminal enterprise, and it takes criminals to run it. For more than a century we've depended upon thinly veiled criminality for our good fortune, and we damn well are implicated.
Which is the underlying reason most Americans want to know nothing about their governance. To know would be to admit responsibility. To admit responsibility would put one in the moral dilemma of either taking action toward a more just world and thereby ultimately undermining one's own prosperity, or ignoring it all in the desperate attempt to live happily ever after. Many will believe anything that allows their fearful desperation to pose as righteous happiness. Any lie is welcome, and those who point out the lies are mightily resented. Democrats are as loath as Republicans to face the real problem. George W. Bush and the right-wing cabals cause tremendous and needless suffering, but they are not the fundamental problem. The problem is the way we sustain ourselves. The way we sustain ourselves causes much more suffering than Bush does. The way we sustain ourselves has brought disorder to every corner of the world and undermined the viability of the planet itself. Collectively, we are the maddened coven."
From the Tao te Ching: "Prosperity rests on disaster; disaster is hidden in prosperity."
Read the whole thing at the link above.
Amazing NASA Images of Hurricane Katrina and Damage Wrought
Click on the link above -- very informative!
Bill Maher's letter to the prez
Bill Maher's letter to the prez
Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking to you. Mission accomplished.
Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or space man? Now I know what you're saying: there's so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in. Please don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela. Eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.
But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised that you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes.
On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.
So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: 'Take a hint.'
Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking to you. Mission accomplished.
Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or space man? Now I know what you're saying: there's so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in. Please don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela. Eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.
But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised that you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes.
On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.
So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: 'Take a hint.'
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Information on John Roberts Confirmation Hearings
I watched the hearings (introductions) on Monday. Almost all of the Republicans said basically the same thing to John Roberts, which boiled down to: "don't say anything." They said that Ruth Bader Ginsburg hadn't answered questions, so neither should he. Forget the fact that this isn't exactly true (she answered a lot of questions, and there were many others (probably inappropriate, but don't quote me on that) that she didn't answer.
The Democrats primarily implored Roberts to remember that he is the last line of defense for many Americans, and that his rulings will affect over 200 million people for generations to come. They said that this hearing is the last opportunity to discover if he will be a fair judge, though conservative, and if his rulings will protect the rights of Americans or not.
Here's a good link to daily updates on the hearings and lots of information about John Roberts and the whole process:
"Senator Hatch's opening statement cited Ruth Bader Ginsburg's testimony before the same committee as a model for Roberts to emulate. Claiming she was reluctant to answer the committee's questions, Hatch echoed many Republicans by urging John Roberts to remain tight lipped. But in fact, Ginsburg was an open nominee that we wish Roberts would emulate.
As for Sen. Hatch, he's changed his tune since 1997, when he said that senators must "be extensive in its questioning of nominees' jurisprudential views." Said Hatch, "[T]he Senate can and should do what it can to ascertain the jurisprudential views a nominee will bring to the bench in order to prevent the confirmation of those who are likely to judicial activists."
We agree. Read more about secrecy, the Bush administration and John Roberts."
Read more at the above link.
The Democrats primarily implored Roberts to remember that he is the last line of defense for many Americans, and that his rulings will affect over 200 million people for generations to come. They said that this hearing is the last opportunity to discover if he will be a fair judge, though conservative, and if his rulings will protect the rights of Americans or not.
Here's a good link to daily updates on the hearings and lots of information about John Roberts and the whole process:
"Senator Hatch's opening statement cited Ruth Bader Ginsburg's testimony before the same committee as a model for Roberts to emulate. Claiming she was reluctant to answer the committee's questions, Hatch echoed many Republicans by urging John Roberts to remain tight lipped. But in fact, Ginsburg was an open nominee that we wish Roberts would emulate.
As for Sen. Hatch, he's changed his tune since 1997, when he said that senators must "be extensive in its questioning of nominees' jurisprudential views." Said Hatch, "[T]he Senate can and should do what it can to ascertain the jurisprudential views a nominee will bring to the bench in order to prevent the confirmation of those who are likely to judicial activists."
We agree. Read more about secrecy, the Bush administration and John Roberts."
Read more at the above link.
TERROR IN TINY TOWN
Sunday Sep 11, 2005
Greg Palast reporting from Southold, New York
In the War on Terror, we are all on the front lines. Now Southold has apparently been targeted by Al Qaeda. I'm not surprised.
Southold, if you look at a map, is situated at the ass end of nowhere. We are known for our Strawberry Festival and fire truck parade. According to the Census, this tiny place is made up almost entirely of inbred farmers, real estate speculators and volunteer firemen. At one end of town is the "Brand Names Outlet Mall" and the water-slide park. At the other end, there's a ferry boat that takes those who feel lucky to the Indian casino in Connecticut. And in between, there's Main Street where we hold the Strawberry Festival. (The festival is a quaint and annoying white-folks' ritual, an opportunity for backstabbing, petty infighting and all-American small-mindedness. But that's another story altogether.)
Last month, Town Supervisor Josh, with powers granted him by the Department of Homeland Security, declared a "national security emergency." (Supervisor Josh Horton is called by his first name because he was elected at the precocious age of 26 -- based, it seems, on his stellar qualifications: he wears shoes.) In light of the clear and present threat of attack, Supervisor Josh ordered every one taking the ferry boat to the Indian casino to park in the dirt lot across from the Country Store and not along Route 25.
It was just after the London bombings and Supervisor Josh insisted this was truly a matter of preparing for terrorist attack, though some locals suspected it was less about Al Qaeda and more about zoning. Supervisor Josh had been trying all year, unsuccessfully, to change the zoning on the dirt lot next to the ferryboat launch from "farming" to "parking" to boost the town's take from the inebriated gambling tourists. To scare off both Al Qaeda and parking violators, Josh has posted, care of the federal treasury, an SUV at the ferry dock armed with two .50-caliber machine guns. I kid you not.
read the rest at the above link.
Greg Palast reporting from Southold, New York
In the War on Terror, we are all on the front lines. Now Southold has apparently been targeted by Al Qaeda. I'm not surprised.
Southold, if you look at a map, is situated at the ass end of nowhere. We are known for our Strawberry Festival and fire truck parade. According to the Census, this tiny place is made up almost entirely of inbred farmers, real estate speculators and volunteer firemen. At one end of town is the "Brand Names Outlet Mall" and the water-slide park. At the other end, there's a ferry boat that takes those who feel lucky to the Indian casino in Connecticut. And in between, there's Main Street where we hold the Strawberry Festival. (The festival is a quaint and annoying white-folks' ritual, an opportunity for backstabbing, petty infighting and all-American small-mindedness. But that's another story altogether.)
Last month, Town Supervisor Josh, with powers granted him by the Department of Homeland Security, declared a "national security emergency." (Supervisor Josh Horton is called by his first name because he was elected at the precocious age of 26 -- based, it seems, on his stellar qualifications: he wears shoes.) In light of the clear and present threat of attack, Supervisor Josh ordered every one taking the ferry boat to the Indian casino to park in the dirt lot across from the Country Store and not along Route 25.
It was just after the London bombings and Supervisor Josh insisted this was truly a matter of preparing for terrorist attack, though some locals suspected it was less about Al Qaeda and more about zoning. Supervisor Josh had been trying all year, unsuccessfully, to change the zoning on the dirt lot next to the ferryboat launch from "farming" to "parking" to boost the town's take from the inebriated gambling tourists. To scare off both Al Qaeda and parking violators, Josh has posted, care of the federal treasury, an SUV at the ferry dock armed with two .50-caliber machine guns. I kid you not.
read the rest at the above link.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Monday, September 05, 2005
Blog from New Orleans
From a guy holed up in New Orleans - in his words: "This journal has become the Survival of New Orleans blog. In less perilous times it was simply a blog for me to talk smack and chat with friends. Now this journal exists to share firsthand experience of the disaster and its aftermath with anyone interested."
Where There's a Will
from Billmon:
"Paul Krugman's column in yesterday's New York Times argues that the Cheney administration's lackadaisical response to Hurricane Katrina is a symptom of a much larger problem -- the GOP contempt for government:
But after thinking about it, I realized Krugman got it wrong -- or at least partially wrong. This catastrophe isn't a product of the anti-government biases of the conservative true believers; it's a product of the uses to which government has been put by the Mayberry Machiavellis and their GOP ward heelers in Congress.
Even the legally blind can see the Rovians are serious about the essential functions of government. It's just that in their value system, funneling federal money to sympathetic interest groups while simulatenously redistributing the tax burden away from those same groups are the two essential functions of government.
Likewise, the Bush family is prepared to spend almost unlimited amounts of federal money on preventative measures -- that is, on efforts to prevent them from losing an election."
The rest at the above link.
"Paul Krugman's column in yesterday's New York Times argues that the Cheney administration's lackadaisical response to Hurricane Katrina is a symptom of a much larger problem -- the GOP contempt for government:
At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious aboutI was thinking about posting something along those same lines -- along with a modest proposal to chaingang all the conservative pundits and politicians who've spent the past twenty five years trashing the federal government, and put them to work stacking sandbags down in Louisiana. And while we're at it, we could take all the think-tank libertarians and corporate bunko artists who promised us their blessed free market could and would solve all human problems, and use them as filler for the sandbags.
some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they
don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive
measures.
But after thinking about it, I realized Krugman got it wrong -- or at least partially wrong. This catastrophe isn't a product of the anti-government biases of the conservative true believers; it's a product of the uses to which government has been put by the Mayberry Machiavellis and their GOP ward heelers in Congress.
Even the legally blind can see the Rovians are serious about the essential functions of government. It's just that in their value system, funneling federal money to sympathetic interest groups while simulatenously redistributing the tax burden away from those same groups are the two essential functions of government.
Likewise, the Bush family is prepared to spend almost unlimited amounts of federal money on preventative measures -- that is, on efforts to prevent them from losing an election."
The rest at the above link.
A Beast Called a Yeast
There once was a beast called a yeast
Whose neighbors in numbers increased
He said "My, Oh Me,
I'm drowning in pee."
Now all of his tribe is deceased.
--Just a little ditty penned by husband and me this morning on the walk home from breakfast -- the tail-end of a conversation that began with the horrible catastrophe of Katrina on New Orleans, ran through this admin's extreme incompetance, indifference and selfishness, to the end of cheap oil and how we all need to be reliant on our closest neighbors, in the long run.
Whose neighbors in numbers increased
He said "My, Oh Me,
I'm drowning in pee."
Now all of his tribe is deceased.
--Just a little ditty penned by husband and me this morning on the walk home from breakfast -- the tail-end of a conversation that began with the horrible catastrophe of Katrina on New Orleans, ran through this admin's extreme incompetance, indifference and selfishness, to the end of cheap oil and how we all need to be reliant on our closest neighbors, in the long run.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Great Blog with lots of Bush Culpability links...
...timeline, etc., over at DKOS:
Lake New Orleans is Bush's Fault & I Can Prove It (Research Material)
Lake New Orleans is Bush's Fault & I Can Prove It (Research Material)
Bush's Role in the Drowning of New Orleans by Van Jones
by Van Jones
Fri Sep 2, 1:30 AM ET
Don't say that a hurricane destroyed New Orleans. Hurricanes don't drown cities.
It was a "perfect storm" of a different kind that put that great city underwater: Bush-era neglect of our national infrastructure, combined with runaway global warming and a deep contempt for poor African-Americans.
The result: catastrophe. The flooding was not a result of heavy rains. It is a result of a weak levee -- one that was in mid-repair when the storm hit. And that levee, which has held back floodwaters for time beyond memory, collapsed for one simple reason: Bush refused to fix it last summer, when local officials were begging him to do so. Instead, he diverted those funds to the war effort.
In other words, the dollars that could have saved New Orleans were used to wage war in Iraq, instead. What's worse: funds that might have spared the poor in New Orleans (had the dollars been properly invested in levees and modern pumping stations), were instead passed out to the rich, willy-nilly -- as tax breaks.
With those two simple steps, Bush squandered the hard-won Clinton-era surplus. He left the national piggy bank empty for fixing and maintaining basic U.S. infrastructure. (And what was Clinton doing next to the president, giving him cover at a time like this?)
read the rest, please, at the link above.
Fri Sep 2, 1:30 AM ET
Don't say that a hurricane destroyed New Orleans. Hurricanes don't drown cities.
It was a "perfect storm" of a different kind that put that great city underwater: Bush-era neglect of our national infrastructure, combined with runaway global warming and a deep contempt for poor African-Americans.
The result: catastrophe. The flooding was not a result of heavy rains. It is a result of a weak levee -- one that was in mid-repair when the storm hit. And that levee, which has held back floodwaters for time beyond memory, collapsed for one simple reason: Bush refused to fix it last summer, when local officials were begging him to do so. Instead, he diverted those funds to the war effort.
In other words, the dollars that could have saved New Orleans were used to wage war in Iraq, instead. What's worse: funds that might have spared the poor in New Orleans (had the dollars been properly invested in levees and modern pumping stations), were instead passed out to the rich, willy-nilly -- as tax breaks.
With those two simple steps, Bush squandered the hard-won Clinton-era surplus. He left the national piggy bank empty for fixing and maintaining basic U.S. infrastructure. (And what was Clinton doing next to the president, giving him cover at a time like this?)
read the rest, please, at the link above.
FEMA Timeline
Sorry, this was sent to me without a link, and Google turns up no results, so I'll just post the whole thing here. I'll gladly cut it down and post the link, if one shows up...
Friday, September 02, 2005 9:40 AM
FEMA castration
from Henry Breitrose, Professor of Communication
Department of Communication
Stanford University
CHRONOLOGY.... Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration.
Read it and weep:
January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.
April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program...." he said.
"Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."
2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."
December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown, who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management.
March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting acts of terrorism.
2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery.
Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it."
June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: "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."
June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.
August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.
A crony with no relevant experience was installed as head of FEMA.
Mitigation budgets for New Orleans were slashed even though it was known to be one of the top three risks in the country.
FEMA was deliberately downsized as part of the Bush administration's conservative agenda to reduce the role of government.
After DHS was created, FEMA's preparation and planning functions were taken away.
Actions have consequences. No one could predict that a hurricane the size of Katrina would hit this year, but the slow federal response when it did happen was no accident.
It was the result of four years of deliberate Republican policy and budget choices that favor ideology and partisan loyalty at the expense of operational competence.
It's the Bush administration in a nutshell.
Friday, September 02, 2005 9:40 AM
FEMA castration
from Henry Breitrose, Professor of Communication
Department of Communication
Stanford University
CHRONOLOGY.... Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration.
Read it and weep:
January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.
April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program...." he said.
"Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."
2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."
December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown, who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management.
March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting acts of terrorism.
2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery.
Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it."
June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: "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."
June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.
August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.
A crony with no relevant experience was installed as head of FEMA.
Mitigation budgets for New Orleans were slashed even though it was known to be one of the top three risks in the country.
FEMA was deliberately downsized as part of the Bush administration's conservative agenda to reduce the role of government.
After DHS was created, FEMA's preparation and planning functions were taken away.
Actions have consequences. No one could predict that a hurricane the size of Katrina would hit this year, but the slow federal response when it did happen was no accident.
It was the result of four years of deliberate Republican policy and budget choices that favor ideology and partisan loyalty at the expense of operational competence.
It's the Bush administration in a nutshell.
Halliburton gets contract to repair damage from Hurricane Katrina
(HalliburtonWatch.org) 01 Sep 2005
The US Navy asked Halliburton to repair naval facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the Houston Chronicle reported today. The work was assigned to Halliburton's KBR subsidiary under the Navy's $500 million CONCAP contract awarded to KBR in 2001 and renewed in 2004. The repairs will take place in Louisiana and Mississippi.KBR has not been asked to repair the levees destroyed in New Orleans which became the primary cause of most of the damage. Since 1989, governments worldwide have awarded $3 billion in contracts to KBR's Government and Infrastructure Division to clean up damage caused by natural and man-made disasters.
...
In March, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is tasked with responding to hurricane disasters, became a lobbyist for KBR. Joe Allbaugh was director of FEMA during the first two years of the Bush administration. Today, FEMA is widely criticized for its slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Rest at the link above.
The US Navy asked Halliburton to repair naval facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the Houston Chronicle reported today. The work was assigned to Halliburton's KBR subsidiary under the Navy's $500 million CONCAP contract awarded to KBR in 2001 and renewed in 2004. The repairs will take place in Louisiana and Mississippi.KBR has not been asked to repair the levees destroyed in New Orleans which became the primary cause of most of the damage. Since 1989, governments worldwide have awarded $3 billion in contracts to KBR's Government and Infrastructure Division to clean up damage caused by natural and man-made disasters.
...
In March, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is tasked with responding to hurricane disasters, became a lobbyist for KBR. Joe Allbaugh was director of FEMA during the first two years of the Bush administration. Today, FEMA is widely criticized for its slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Rest at the link above.
Interview with Mayor of New Orleans
Tellin' it like it is! Powerful, honest, emotional interview on AirAmerica Radio...pull out your hankies.
Hundreds flock to hear anti-war mother
Cindy Sheehan gets enthusiastic welcome in Austin
Cindy Sheehan got a rock star's welcome as she arrived in Austin on Wednesday to launch a 26-state "Bring Them Home Now" bus tour to protest the war in Iraq.
Hundreds of Austin peace activists and protesters sweated through the thick, 100-degree, rush-hour heat to hear Sheehan, who has become a national figure after setting up camp near President Bush's Crawford ranch in early August and demanding to meet with him about her son Casey, a soldier killed in the Iraq war.
Read the rest at the above link. See a video here: sheehan_video.html
Cindy Sheehan got a rock star's welcome as she arrived in Austin on Wednesday to launch a 26-state "Bring Them Home Now" bus tour to protest the war in Iraq.
Hundreds of Austin peace activists and protesters sweated through the thick, 100-degree, rush-hour heat to hear Sheehan, who has become a national figure after setting up camp near President Bush's Crawford ranch in early August and demanding to meet with him about her son Casey, a soldier killed in the Iraq war.
Read the rest at the above link. See a video here: sheehan_video.html
Thursday, September 01, 2005
"No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming"
By Sidney Blumenthal 09/01/05 "Der Spiegel"
In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war.
Biblical in its uncontrolled rage and scope, Hurricane Katrina has left millions of Americans to scavenge for food and shelter and hundreds to thousands reportedly dead. With its main levee broken, the evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of the Gulf of Mexico. But the damage wrought by the hurricane may not entirely be the result of an act of nature.
A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken. After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the hurricane published a series on the federal funding problem, and whose presses are now underwater, reported online: "No one can say they didn't see it coming ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."
The Bush administration's policy of turning over wetlands to developers almost certainly also contributed to the heightened level of the storm surge. In 1990, a federal task force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans. Every two miles of wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half a foot. Bush had promised "no net loss" of wetlands, a policy launched by his father's administration and bolstered by President Clinton. But he reversed his approach in 2003, unleashing the developers. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency then announced they could no longer protect wetlands unless they were somehow related to interstate commerce.
Read the rest at the above link.
In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war.
Biblical in its uncontrolled rage and scope, Hurricane Katrina has left millions of Americans to scavenge for food and shelter and hundreds to thousands reportedly dead. With its main levee broken, the evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of the Gulf of Mexico. But the damage wrought by the hurricane may not entirely be the result of an act of nature.
A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken. After a flood killed six people in 1995, Congress created the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, in which the Corps of Engineers strengthened and renovated levees and pumping stations. In early 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a report stating that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S., including a terrorist attack on New York City. But by 2003 the federal funding for the flood control project essentially dried up as it was drained into the Iraq war. In 2004, the Bush administration cut funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain by more than 80 percent. Additional cuts at the beginning of this year (for a total reduction in funding of 44.2 percent since 2001) forced the New Orleans district of the Corps to impose a hiring freeze. The Senate had debated adding funds for fixing New Orleans' levees, but it was too late.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune, which before the hurricane published a series on the federal funding problem, and whose presses are now underwater, reported online: "No one can say they didn't see it coming ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."
The Bush administration's policy of turning over wetlands to developers almost certainly also contributed to the heightened level of the storm surge. In 1990, a federal task force began restoring lost wetlands surrounding New Orleans. Every two miles of wetland between the Crescent City and the Gulf reduces a surge by half a foot. Bush had promised "no net loss" of wetlands, a policy launched by his father's administration and bolstered by President Clinton. But he reversed his approach in 2003, unleashing the developers. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency then announced they could no longer protect wetlands unless they were somehow related to interstate commerce.
Read the rest at the above link.
Bush, New Orleans Tragedy and The News
Bush's response when asked why it took him so long to respond to this disaster? "Now is not a time to play politics, he said to Democratic critics." http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/weather_bush_dc
He and his whole army of liars and incompetent nincompoops -- that's all they've got to say!
Sheesh, again!!!
I've been channel flipping the past several days; glued to this horrible tragic story. My Canadian news channel (NWI) has been bought and taken off the air (by whom, we don't know), so I've had to resort to American TV news, and found CNN the lesser of several evils. I was actually amazed today, that McCafferty (? -- sour old guy, who I used to think of as an apologist for the admin) has really been ragging on Bush, et al for massive incompetence in how they've handled (not) the hurricane tragedy, and the letters he's been reading are 4 or 5 to one slamming the Bushies!
Not only that, but squirrelly little Anderson Cooper read Landrieu, Mary (admittedly, a Dem) the riot act tonight when she was going on about thanking this politician and that politician for all they're doing for the poor people of New Orleans...
I feel like John Stewart..."wha?" Is it possible the media is actually waking up? Could this be what it takes to get enough people to realize how bad these guys are?
Marilyn
(hoping against hope (hopefully NOT) for the gazillionth time since 12-12-2000)
He and his whole army of liars and incompetent nincompoops -- that's all they've got to say!
Sheesh, again!!!
I've been channel flipping the past several days; glued to this horrible tragic story. My Canadian news channel (NWI) has been bought and taken off the air (by whom, we don't know), so I've had to resort to American TV news, and found CNN the lesser of several evils. I was actually amazed today, that McCafferty (? -- sour old guy, who I used to think of as an apologist for the admin) has really been ragging on Bush, et al for massive incompetence in how they've handled (not) the hurricane tragedy, and the letters he's been reading are 4 or 5 to one slamming the Bushies!
Not only that, but squirrelly little Anderson Cooper read Landrieu, Mary (admittedly, a Dem) the riot act tonight when she was going on about thanking this politician and that politician for all they're doing for the poor people of New Orleans...
I feel like John Stewart..."wha?" Is it possible the media is actually waking up? Could this be what it takes to get enough people to realize how bad these guys are?
Marilyn
(hoping against hope (hopefully NOT) for the gazillionth time since 12-12-2000)
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