I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Fristle?
Finally!
Guess I should check out the link now...
Check out the link? Don't be so hasty!
On the other hand, I wonder how many posts in a row I can wrack up on the Top Secret Hidden Invisible Thread...
Right, then. To Digby... and beyond!
"The desire to bring conservative, free-market ideas to the Gulf Coast is white hot," says Rep. Mike Pence, the Indiana Republican who leads the Republican Study Group, an influential caucus of conservative House members. "We want to turn the Gulf Coast into a magnet for free enterprise. The last thing we want is a federal city where New Orleans once was."
Anybody else get a shiver when they read this? It's like some fat white guy was dancing on thousands of graves...
Worst. President. Ever.
Rove : $200b.
The mind revolts.
a modest experiment
but if they don't privatize how can they patonize?
Exactly! Yesterday I sent the following to the NYTimes. I almost added a sentence about battered wives.
Re "Mr. Bush in New Orleans" (editorial, Sept. 16):
Once again we are subjected to the sorry sight of the editors whistling bravely and foolishly in the night while passing the metaphorical and literal graveyard that is become Bush's America.
It is long since past time that you should be giving him any benefit of the doubt. The standard should be "we'll believe it when we see it and we've never seen it before." This flat, laundry list of a speech was motivated by political necessity, not out of any genuine concern or belief. Already we have evidence that this administration will use the disaster as an excuse for back door attacks on labor and environmental standards. There are reports that Karl Rove has been put in charge of reconstruction efforts. The only reconstruction he is interested in is Bush's political fortunes.
The Times needs to stop enabling this president.
d
Anybody else get a shiver when they read this? It's like some fat white guy was dancing on thousands of graves...
Yeah, I saw that. Froomkin had some of this stuff in his White House Briefing yesterday or Thurdsday. Utterly despicable.
We are now ruled by scum the caliber of Mobuto Sese Seko, kleptocrats all.
The appropriate way to deal with such vermin is the way the Italians disposed of Mussolini
Anybody else get a shiver when they read this? It's like some fat white guy was dancing on thousands of graves...
Flashback to Fahrenheit 9/11 and the little free-marketeers' conference on opportunities in New Iraq.
It's like a test bubble for radical tort reform.
Wish my old senator Edwards was still around...
Anybody else get a shiver when they read this? It's like some fat white guy was dancing on thousands of graves...
They want to turn NO into another North Mariana Islands "free enterprise" zone.
Well, gee, come on, did anyone here really think NOLA or anything else was going to give these empty-souled haters of all things human a road to Damascus experience?
"The desire to bring conservative, free-market ideas to the Gulf Coast is white hot," says Rep. Mike Pence, the Indiana Republican who leads the Republican Study Group, an influential caucus of conservative House members. "We want to turn the Gulf Coast into a magnet for free enterprise. The last thing we want is a federal city where New Orleans once was."
Anybody else get a shiver when they read this? It's like some fat white guy was dancing on thousands of graves...
Jay C.
I actually just thought of the failed Iraq reconstruction effort led by Simone Ledeen.
Three years after "Mission Accomplished", there is still no 24/7 electricity in Baghdad and sewage flows through the streets.
And it only cost what, $200 billion? (Paul O'Neill was fired for projecting that, too)
The Dems need to grow a pair of balls and point out that we don't need another Republican-run boondoggle of incompetance.
The Republicans sure do have an uncanny knack for exploiting tragedy to further their political goals, eh?
First they used 9/11 to advance their misguided foreign policy and Big Brother domestic policy, now they use this to advance their economic & legal policy.
Makes you wonder if they really have any motivation to actually *prevent* tragedies, don't it?
"Who's in charge?", indeed.
The EPA says a little "hair of the dog" is a sure cure.
But Maureend Dowd notes that even Elisabeth Bumiller is seeing through the stage set that is the Bush Administration.
"This is the end, my beautiful friend, the end."
What Eli said.
Flashback to Fahrenheit 9/11 and the little free-marketeers' conference on opportunities in New Iraq.
SteveNS
"Brownie" was already down in NOLA before the hurricane hit to start doling out reconstruction money to Bushco cronies.
Patrick Fitzgerald is coming soon.
"Brownie" was already down in NOLA before the hurricane hit to start doling out reconstruction money to Bushco cronies.
Is this true? Link, cites?
Makes you wonder if they really have any motivation to actually *prevent* tragedies, don't it?
Without empathy, and free from personal consequence to their policies, no. None.
The bill's chief sponsor, Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, said in a statement that the legislation removes the "threat of legal fear that stands between many willing and able Good Samaritans and the victims of Hurricane Katrina." The bill does permit lawsuits for injuries that were caused "by willful, wanton, reckless, or criminal conduct."
Sorry, we couldn't send our crew to rebuild New Orleans at a ridiculous profit because we were scared of the trial lawyers under our beds...
Of course they will grab as much as they can aided by their pet corporate media enablers who will thrill to every kleig light and false hyped intention. But, are significant numbers of the American people being fooled and if they are not will the Rethuglican pet media announce the fact?
Take Ah-nold, for example, he's like totally ready:
http://planetsean.blogspot.com/u...rows-
774746.jpg
"The desire to bring conservative, free-market ideas to the Gulf Coast is white hot," says Rep. Mike Pence.
Yes, among soulless, brain-dead ReTHUGlicans!
Yes, but, but.....
"Lawyers plan deluge of suits
Sights set on real estate firms, insurers, feds
Joseph Menn
Los Angeles Times
Sept. 17, 2005 12:00 AM
After the flood comes the flood of litigation.
Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast, lawyers from the region are deciding whom to sue over the catastrophe - or rather, whom to sue first.
At least one suit was filed in the past week, and plans were being sketched out for many more. The targets include real estate agents, insurance companies and federal agencies. The potential damages being sought range from a few thousand dollars to billions of dollars.
"You're going to have substantial litigation," said Daniel Becnel Jr., a Louisiana lawyer who spent last weekend interviewing hydrologists and geologists and is working on multiple suits.
Many suits will be fought by lawyers who have been displaced from their offices by hurricane damage. They and other Louisiana lawyers will be in big demand because theirs is the only U.S. state in which the legal system is based on the Napoleonic Code rather than British common law. Unlike British common law, the Napoleonic Code does not rely on judicial precedent, giving judges and lawyers more leeway in arguing and ruling on cases....
Some of the United States' most successful plaintiffs' lawyers are based in the Gulf Coast region.
Becnel, well known for suing tobacco and pharmaceutical companies, is counting on million-dollar damage awards or settlements. Citing statements by the Army Corps of Engineers, he claimed that a barge tore loose from its moorings and caused the devastating levee breach on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans. He plans to sue the barge's owner and its insurance carriers. The potential beneficiaries of any award, he said, include "everyone that got flooded in that area."
Suits are also expected against the owners of facilities where the sick or elderly were reportedly abandoned. Dozens of bodies were found in Memorial Medical Center and at St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish.
The government generally enjoys immunity against suits over actions taken as part of its regular functioning. That bars damages when officials exercised normal discretion in their decision-making, even if they blundered, said Joseph Page, a Georgetown University law professor.
But New Orleans residents can take legal action if the Army Corps of Engineers or other agencies failed to follow their own guidelines, he said.
Becnel and others say they plan to claim that some government agencies didn't meet their own standards.
Property owners are expected to file a spate of suits against insurance companies that deny claims by arguing, for example, that damage was caused not by high winds but by flooding, which is not covered by many policies....
They haven't suspended personal property rights, as far as I know," Sterbcow said. "This is where lawyers pay for their law school."
Well, gee, come on, did anyone here really think NOLA or anything else was going to give these empty-souled haters of all things human a road to Damascus experience?
bj
Well, Daniel Schorr seemed to think so this morning.
Why, O why, am I such a slave to habit as to listen to NPR on Saturday morning?
after waiting in vain nearly five years for real leadership to emerge in the democratic party and hoping, again in vain, that katrina would be the kick in the pants needed to finally shake the dems out of their torpor, i had the sudden realization that, at this most critical time in the united states, there isn't a viable political party that represents my liberal, progressive, reality-based interests... howard dean's run at the democratic presidential nomination was the most encouraging sign i'd seen in years but now that he's toiling in the trenches (and hopefully accomplishing something although it's far from clear that's the case), i see nothing out there that even faintly resembles national democratic leadership... if it wasn't for the great, wonderful, sanity-preserving presence of my fellow bloggers, i would be feeling desperately alone... with outrage after outrage flowing from the white house like a river of shit, i'm suffering from "outrage fatigue," exacerbated by the fact that there's seemingly no one with the power and influence to change things that's actually doing anything... i want to move past being outraged... it's time for something to be done... but what might that be...? i don't know... but i do know this - don't look to the dems...
these pesky "blinding glimpses of the obvious" are hard on the psyche... this is two in one week...
http://takeitpersonally.blogspot...party-
less.html
Handing out billions of taxpayer welfare money to corporations will only make them more dependent on the government and will lead to crime.
I don't think these corporations really want to work.
"The desire to bring conservative, free-market ideas to the Gulf Coast is white hot," says Rep. Mike Pence.
Yes, among soulless, brain-dead ReTHUGlicans!
plantsman
The Southerner in me says the politicos in Louisiana will eat these carpetbaggers for lunch.
Served up in the gumbo. All the gators in south Louisiana aren't in the swamps alone.
after waiting in vain nearly five years for real leadership to emerge in the democratic party and hoping, again in vain, that katrina would be the kick in the pants needed to finally shake the dems out of their torpor, i had the sudden realization that, at this most critical time in the united states, there isn't a viable political party that represents my liberal, progressive, reality-based interests...
It may not be possible to fix the country until we fix or replace the Democratic party. Which, I fear, will not be easy, since the money chase gives any major party a seriously corporate bent.
Every bad idea perpetrated in Iraq will be perpetrated again in the Gulf Coast.
Oh and btw, Michael Bloomberg, go fuck yourself.
Seizing a chance to distance himself from the Republican leadership, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday came out against the nomination of John Roberts for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bloomberg said earlier this summer that he would support President Bush's choice for chief justice only if Roberts gave "a clear indication" that he supported the Roe vs. Wade decision that protects a woman's right to abortion.
"Unfortunately, Judge Roberts' response did not indicate a commitment to protect a woman's right to choose," Bloomberg said in a statement, referring to the nominee's testimony before the Senate this week.
"There can be no turning back," he added, "and for that reason, I oppose the nomination of Judge Roberts as chief justice of the Supreme Court."
The Southerner in me says the politicos in Louisiana will eat these carpetbaggers for lunch.
I sure hope so. And I hope they drop their mangled carcasses on the Republicans' doorstep.
Why, O why, am I such a slave to habit as to listen to NPR on Saturday morning?
For the same reason we in the older demographic might watch CBS Sunday Morning:
a glimpse of the sun. Our pretty minds and all.
Benefit of the doubt? Only from those who've forgotten (or never knew) what Molly Ivins has been saying since about 1999: With George W. Bush, what you see is not what you get, and what you hear is not what you get; what you get is what you get.
Here I am OT again, I'm sure. There are 2000 missing children. Somewhere between 2000 and 4000 people do not know where their children slept last night and haven't known it for two freakin' weeks. With a number like 2000 you have to know that some of them are not going to be found. Some are dead. Some will have been scooped up by strangers. Some will be lost in a stupid bureaucracy that will make it harder for parents to find them. When is the horror of this disaster going to stop? It is endless. Where do you think Bush is riding bikes today? Because you know he is.
The Southerner in me says the politicos in Louisiana will eat these carpetbaggers for lunch.
Can't wait for one of my relations down on the Gulf to tell some Heritage Foundation puke to "kiss my ass!"
Just looking at the blurb, I see Tierney is hammering away at the "government is ineffectual, it's private go-getters who make the world go 'round" theme again...
Lawyers plan deluge of suits
Ah, good. Another chance for tort "reform," as per script, to alleviate the problems the working poor will have paying higher premiums.
Or some such lie.
"The desire to bring conservative, free-market ideas to the Gulf Coast is white hot,"
heh.
free-market ideas?
heh.
White hot is correct, representative. Continue on this path and this white-hot bullshit will vaporize your stranglehold on the government.
It's all because of "Conservative ideas" that we are in the mess we are in now.
"The desire to bring conservative, free-market ideas to the Gulf Coast is white hot,"
I might as well forward this guy's name and address to the Rude Pundit right now. You wanna be a star? He'll make you a star, butternuts...
Benefit of the doubt? Only from those who've forgotten (or never knew) what Molly Ivins has been saying since about 1999: With George W. Bush, what you see is not what you get, and what you hear is not what you get; what you get is what you get.
Assume. The Worst.
Always.
I don't think he has ever spoken a single honest word or done a single kind or compassionate deed.
Time to watch or to read The Grapes of Wrath again...
RMJ,
Yeah, Dan Schorr hears about government money flowing, and right away he's on board. But I cut him slack because of his advanced age.
I am so afraid that the real disaster is to come, when Rove has 300billion plums to hand out.
Club for Growth, my ass.
I was just wondering: Is there anyone in the Bush family who HASN'T been arrested?
Barb, Sr. maybe?
Neponset I was wondering the same thing on the thread below.
How is this even possible?
Oh and didn't the Red Cross have like 94,000 people on it's missing list?
How can the death toll be so low and there so many missing people?
I don't want to sound ghoulish but I just don't understand.
Which stocks should I buy?
How can the death toll be so low and there so many missing people?
I don't want to sound ghoulish but I just don't understand.
I think someone said a few days ago that they're just counting the dead who have been identified and, well, "processed".
I think there's going to be a whole lot more when they get caught up on all the bodies.
Pope Ratzo--oh, it's gonna be a catastrophe, that's a given with W. in charge.
The only silver lining is that, this time, he'll pay the political price for it. No way he can't. This isn't happening across the ocean among "foreigners." This is our own backyard. Rove can't spin away the mismanagement of funds that he will surely bring about.
He'll be Chertoff and Brownie writ large. And if Fitzgerald indicts?
Let's just say this is far, far from a "done deal" for the GOP.
Which stocks should I buy?
Halliburton.
But if the Democrats regain power, sell immediately, just in case.
I think someone said a few days ago that they're just counting the dead who have been identified and, well, "processed".
I think there's going to be a whole lot more when they get caught up on all the bodies.
Eli
Don't doubt for a minute they are soft-pedalling the body count as much as possible.
The vultures of the right flap in even before all the bodies have surfaced. Another chance to grow fat on tragedy.
Here's the horrible upside in this:
The more out-of-control spending the Republicans do, the quicker we have the dollar collapse and the destruction of the standard of living in America. Better it should happen before 2008.
Presumably, then the MORONS of America will then vote Democratic. At least some of them.
And then the long process of repair can begin.
The only silver lining is that, this time, he'll pay the political price for it. No way he can't. This isn't happening across the ocean among "foreigners." This is our own backyard. Rove can't spin away the mismanagement of funds that he will surely bring about.
They'll just blame it on the corrupt local (Dem) government.
The Southerner in me says the politicos in Louisiana will eat these carpetbaggers for lunch.
Served up in the gumbo. All the gators in south Louisiana aren't in the swamps alone.
They'll barbecue dat yankee ass on a spit, dat's what they'll do.
All 'Murrikans are screwed.
Looks good on ya.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha...
Ntodd: Halliburton.
Don't doubt for a minute they are soft-pedalling the body count as much as possible.
I wonder if anyone will bother to ask HBKelly's question if the final body count comes up well short of the missing count.
I was just wondering: Is there anyone in the Bush family who HASN'T been arrested?
Barb, Sr. maybe?
Which is kinda curious, given that she exudes an overpowering aura of "done hard time in a maximum-security women's prison".
A report late last night on CNN estimated the final death toll at 2000.
the same people who lost 8 billion in Iraq
the public wouldn't forgive them if the media didn't lie about lie or repeat the lies and excuses they represent
not that it is news to anyone here but the quality of the political analysis is at an all time low when they think Punkinhed is the best they've got
he still has his nose firmly in the president's butt
and Chris Matthews --the president is the real man -- neither one is a real man --both are fake macho men whose idea of masculinity is smoking
cigars in a tent with Governor Groper
and after all what can you expect from a party that thinks a Barbour Guiliani ticket in any order would be a good idea
They'll just blame it on the corrupt local (Dem) government.
Eli
Tried that. It didn't stick. Now Bush has "taken charge."
He's stuck with it.
The vultures of the right flap in even before all the bodies have surfaced. Another chance to grow fat on tragedy.
They should at least wait until all the bodies have been counted before they start exploiting this for political gain!
Don't doubt for a minute they are soft-pedalling the body count as much as possible.
I suspect any person of "no fixed address" will go uncounted.
Tried that. It didn't stick. Now Bush has "taken charge."
He's stuck with it.
I hope so. I'd feel a lot more confident if we didn't have a complicit media that's only too happy to parrot the Republican spin. I think the "Anderson Cooper" effect is going to wear off.
fuckin doomed.
JayC,
Yeah, Rude-y can give this guy all the publicity he'll ever want.
Halliburton.
But if the Democrats regain power, sell immediately, just in case.
They gotta pay Cheney's deferred salary and bonuses then--major red ink!
Though I'd love to see that good ol' fiduciary savagery turn on Dick, as Halliburton tries to reduce his payoff to protect the bottom line and stock price.
Dreee-eee-eee-uh-eeam
Dream
Dream
Dreeeam
All I have to do is dream
HoneyBearKelly
So I take it you won't be voting that pile of shit in November.
And I wonder why I've got blisters on my liver.
Honeybear, I read somewhere, maybe nola.com, that officials down there think the number of dead is going up again quickly. They're getting into some of the most badly hit areas and it's not good. I read that some of the rescuers are saying they may never know how many people died. It seems impossible in this day and age. So help me God this better not get swept under the rug. 2000 missing children! I'm afraid for my country today in a way I never was after 9/11. I never thought the wheels could come off like they have.
they were called carpetbaggers in an earlier reconstruction.
They gotta pay Cheney's deferred salary and bonuses then--major red ink!
Though I'd love to see that good ol' fiduciary savagery turn on Dick, as Halliburton tries to reduce his payoff to protect the bottom line and stock price.
I hope he's one of the ones indicted when Halliburton goes down.
Of course we'll all be proven right about this. And of course, we'll still all be screwed.
they were called carpetbaggers in an earlier reconstruction.
"Scumbags" is much more succinct.
Damn, there goes our dream of rebuilding New Orleans as a socialist utopia 
Makes you wonder if they really have any motivation to actually *prevent* tragedies, don't it?
Not only that, but they're running out the clock on responding to Katrina, to bolster their case that 'government doesn't work.'
The Times had a long article on the ineffectual work of FEMA in the Gulf region. I took three pages and boiled it down to a few grafs.
They're doing nothing. On purpose. All the better for privateers to 'save the day.'
The worst death imaginable is far too good for these thieves.
Presumably, then the MORONS of America will then vote Democratic. At least some of them.
And then the long process of repair can begin.
Raoul Paste
Won't matter a whit with Diebold doing the counting.
And I wonder why I've got blisters on my liver.
The stock to buy may be any company that makes cheap, high-potency booze. For the coming times.
They're doing nothing. On purpose. All the better for privateers to 'save the day.'
Hey, the fewer survivors, the fewer people they have to take care of, and the more available vacancies for whatever development schemes they have in mind.
Eli--
My take on this mess, in full, is here.
If anything, it's bleaker than anyone else's, I think. I'm not concerned with politics anymore.
I'm thinking of the people. Which is what we tell ourselves our politics is about. But it's really about power.
So I'm either more hopeful, or less hopeful, more cynical, or less cynical, than I appear.
Depends on how you look at it.
Eli,
you're right. In fact, I think in the mid-term, the media we have will do more damage than a Republican White House. At one time, we could at least count on somebody watching the store. Now, we've got Judy Miller carrying TVs out the back door. I'm willing to trade a Republican white house for getting our media back.
Let's just say this is far, far from a "done deal" for the GOP.
Rmj, Wandering Aengus
The outrageous arrogance of these bastards is amazing. What we have here is a weird mixture of hubris and the type of insanity defined as repeating the same fucked up mistakes over and over and expecting different results.
We may all be screwed, but it will be entertaining to watch this crap unfold.
http://www.nola.com has the articles about a higher death toll as well as the missing children highlighted on its main page today. Grim reading, folx.
To whom it may concern: we've trapped gordo in the open thread. Please send reinforcements before he gets bored and wanders up here.
"Patrick Fitzgerald is coming soon."
Please let it be so.
In fact, I think in the mid-term, the media we have will do more damage than a Republican White House.
Just try to imagine what kind of condition the Republican party would be in if we had an honest press.
Word. Nothing will ever change under Dumbya. The very notion of having Rove head up the Gulf Coast recovery effort tells you all you need to know: It's political CYA, not a genuine effort to help.
This will be a giant fuck-up like everything else Shrub touches.
repeating the same fucked up mistakes over and over and expecting different results.
Who says they want different results? They made billions in Iraq.
I think they want exactly the same result.
In my Fantasy Government League, I'll draft Edward R. Murrow over Karl Rove every day of the week.
I'll even take Walter Winschell, Carl Bernstein and a newsman to be named later over the whole Bush Administration. Even taking into consideration Winschell's late-life wackiness.
ql in ny not if my life depended on it.
That fucker allowed the RNC to happen in my beloved city and I'll never forgive him for that.
Besides his best friends are real estate developers and I want all those scumbags to rot in hell.
Speaking of Patrick Fitzgerald: Does nobody weep for Judy Miller?
.
Jay C. may be right about the stock buy into booze. Personally, I'm getting deep into black tar heroin in my portfolio.
It's boomtown profit time in Afghanland and it's harvest season.
It won't be long before everyone earning less than $20K is a full blown junkie, 'cept of course for those wiley meta/crank trailer folk. They're tougher to rein in that the Negroes.
I heard Gov. Blanco's radio response to Bu$h's retarded weekly address. She can eat shit and die. She thanked Dear Leader for all he's done to help her state. WTF??? Talk about battered spouse syndrome.
I've pimped this here before, and I swear I don't get a cut, but,
Every atriot ought to read the great Philip Roth's "Plot Against America".
It's fiction more real than real life, and a spot-on criticism of Conservative's run amok. And a wonderful novel to boot.
Tell you what, if you read this book and don't like it, I'll come and kiss your ass. (not you, Toby).
My take on this mess, in full, is here.
If anything, it's bleaker than anyone else's, I think. I'm not concerned with politics anymore.
Well, you're certainly right about the downside. I hope you're right about the upside.
The media are like heavy perfume on a rotting corpse, or on someone who hasn't bathed in years - they cover up a whole lot of stench, but if that cover starts weakening, a whole lot of people are going to be repelled, leaving just the die-hards who *like* the smell.
Patrick Fitzgerald is coming soon.
Hope is an option? please please please....
a modest experiment
They will try to count only the "found dead" as dead and not count the missing children. The media should not let them. This is a not a war zone. If people are missing in a flood, they are
presumed dead and should be counted as dead. There is precedent. In criminal caswes, persons are prosecuted for murder even if the body is missing.
Speaking of Patrick Fitzgerald: Does nobody weep for Judy Miller?
My heart bleeds for that poor, persecuted martyr for the Republican cause.
Why does Patrick Fitzgerald hate America?
Pardon the repost, but I think I pretty much spelled everything correctly and my verbs and nouns seem in agreement. (Pretty good for early on a Saturday morning)
Revolution: Now
This morning the sun has yet to grace the sky in Michigan and here, in the pre dawn, the world is slowing waking. Birds are not flying, but you can hear them in the distance. The people continue taking advantage of the Saturday morning by sleeping. But my mind is not nearly so settled. The truth is that I am petrified for the future of what we always believed was the good and just country: America.
How much more proof do the people need before they wrest their government back again. I am not speaking of the Republicans exclusively here either. There is an immense disconnect between what is happening around us and what our so-called leaders are perceiving. Certainly the Republicans bear the major responsibility for the schism that threatens to envelope our society, but without the utter capitulation of the Democrats; this would not be happening.
This disconnect between the reality we are living and the fantasy world of the inside-the-beltway crowd is a dangerous thing for my country. It is so dangerous that I believe the only way to have the government represent the people anymore is some sort of civil war.
Not necessarily a violent war: but a war against those who would exploit using the perversion of the law against the people. How many examples can you name? With a little bit of effort I am sure I could make a list of 100 actions that have attacked the very fabric of my country. I would include such things as the terrible war of attrition in Iraq: a war began on false pretenses for the purpose of establishing some sort of control over the resources of another sovereign nation. The continued altering of our laws for the benefit of a tiny minority at the expense of the majority of people. The denigration of the environment to the extent that we are threatening the further existence of humans. The absolute and utter destruction of the government of the United States for the purpose of ending the people’s ability to protect ourselves from damn near any cataclysmic event.
Who says they want different results? They made billions in Iraq.
Good point. But there's a thing as going to the well too many times.
The overwhelming support they went into Iraq with is gone. People are pissed. If the repukes do not see that, then they'll pay the political price.
My heart bleeds for that poor, persecuted martyr for the Republican cause.
Wasn't she supposed to have been folding soon?
a modest experiment
Cleveland Bob, you're absolutely right. Middle-Eastern Poppy Paste is a better bet than Google stock right about now. How long before mid-level Bush operatives are trading dope for weapons to send to Taiwan or Israel? It's a template they know works.
battered spouse syndrome
Absolutely perfect.
The overwhelming support they went into Iraq with is gone. People are pissed. If the repukes do not see that, then they'll pay the political price.
Billy B
They don't care.
They are sociopaths.
They don't care what the people think.
DWD,
I think it all has to start with an event of recognition for all Americans who still care about the country. Something along the lines of a general strike. It has to be something that the press cannot trivialize the way they did Cindy Sheehan, and it's got to hit them in the pocketbook to get their attention.
If it wasn't for the massive public protests of the late 60's and early 70's, the war in Viet Nam would still be putting money in politicians' pockets.
What else do you think could work?
I am not worried about Karl Rove that much. In 2 to 3 weeks, he will be out of the job and will start preparing for his defense. Prosecutor Fitz is counting days and he fired his first volley this wk telling House not to conduct hearings on Plame since it will jeopardize his case.
DC Grand Jury (mostly made up of black professionals and women) must have watched all that NOLA horror on TV and they will let the Bushies know who is really in charge.
Wapo did a front page content-free article on Judy Miller today. Why?
They probably got hints that something big is going to happen this coming wk.
They don't care.
They are sociopaths.
They don't care what the people think.
Oh, they care, all right. They just think they can either control it or neutralize it.
Up through 2004, they've been right.
I agree with Robert Jeffers and Billy B - people don't trust the Repugs anymore and the more FUBAR they make of NOLA, the madder people are going to get.
And if they just turn it over to Rove and bunch of venture capitalists, it's going to be FUBAR.
I wouldn't want the Repugs rebuilding NOLA even if their intentions weren't evil. They aren't going to be able to bring the real NOLA back to life. The people of NOLA can do that but not a bunch of Repug speculators.
Pope Ratzo sez:
Every atriot ought to read the great Philip Roth's "Plot Against America".
I read it some months back. I thought it was fantastic but had a weak ending.
Still, I'd recommend it (and have).
.
Pope, a general strike that would last for a week or two would do it. I like the idea of everyone who makes less than 60K a year staying away from their jobs for a week: then see how well things run, Politicians of BOTH stripes.
she exudes an overpowering aura of "done hard time in a maximum-security women's prison
Not our Bar!!! Horrors! Why she exudes the warm and friendly compassion of Mom from Futurerama's Mom's Friendly Robot Company who once said:
Mom: Jerkwad robots make me sick to my ass...Walt?! How are we disposing of these crap gifts they brought me?
Walt: They're being crushed into powder and sold as a hocus-pocus cure for cancer.
Mom: False hope: I love it!
It's boomtown profit time in Afghanland and it's harvest season.
It won't be long before everyone earning less than $20K is a full blown junkie,
All under the mis-direction of a drunk retard. Thanks, Bu$h, another *boom.*
nytimes today says they're gonna try a little experiment in education vouchers for displaced nola students..just to see how it goes
heh
nytimes today says they're gonna try a little experiment in education vouchers for displaced nola students..just to see how it goes
Oh, heck, if I had just watched my whole life be washed away by a predicted act of nature that no one did a fucking thing about, that's what I'd want:
Hatefilled traitors fucking around with my kid's education.
I just peeked downstairs at NTodd leading gordo around by the nose and you know what?
gordo's got to be the lamest least-interesting troll that infests these boards. he's got one or two stock phrases and that's it.
I'm almost ready to believe he really is a trollbot.
more non-sequiturs:
Am I too old to admit I really like the Gorillaz?
It's not what Bush says, it's what he does.
But apparently many liberal commentators will never learn. I guess when you're a commentator words are all you have - so they're all you pay attention to.
While there certainly is a wealth of competition, I think Gordo is easily the front-runner for the Dumbest Troll award.
BushCo are liars -- they are incompetent -- they can spin & steal elections, but even that wouldn't work if they didn't own the MSM & Diebold
They are the anti-Robin Hood party -- stealing from the poor to give to the rich
Eventually things wil simply collapse
Rebuilding the Gulf by putting Karl Rove in charge of handing money to Halliburton is like a Saturday Night Live routine (except that it is hilarious) -- sadly, that is the reality
One of the hallmarks of the FDR years was open government & accountability, from supervision of every cent spent in goverment projects to the Truman Commission to prevent war profiteering
This gang of criminals always operates in the shadows -- everything is secret -- because they have everything to hide
after waiting in vain nearly five years for real leadership to emerge in the democratic party and hoping, again in vain, that katrina would be the kick in the pants needed to finally shake the dems out of their torpor, i had the sudden realization that, at this most critical time in the united states, there isn't a viable political party that represents my liberal, progressive, reality-based interests...
Psst. Bison Party.
Fine! So it doesn't exist yet.
But you can get T-shirts and buttons! How do you expect to start a movement with T-shirts and buttons?
(Click the homepage link)
"...interesting troll..."
That would be an absolutely prize-winning contradiction in terms, if it weren't for little Ricky Vandal. I'd trade li'l Ricky for all the other 7r00!2 combined. In a heartbeat.
Ricky, wherefore art thou?
Can't believe I actually said that...
The Big A writes:
Are we so afflicted by battered spouse syndrome that 5 years later anyone is still ready to give this administration the benefit of the doubt over anything?
I think it's really very simple. "Benefit of the doubt" manifests itself in the reality of America, as reflected in the mainstream media. It all goes back to Howard Beale... why is the MSM the be-all and end-all of life in this country? "Because you're on television, dummy!"
The crisis is due to the fact that we are now at least as much of a polarized country as the US was just prior to the Civil War (thanks, neocons!). Only this time, the press is overwhelmingly on the side of the "Confederacy".
Additionally, you have to figure that if it really has come down to Civil War-level animosity, the Bushies obviously have that taken care of.
When the social contract breaks down (see also: Katrina), the right to innocence until proven guilty is taken away (see also: imprisonment without charges or trial), and the country goes bankrupt from the constant enrichment of Bush cronies from "crises" they themselves create, all bets are off. Because at that point, you revert from the US Constitution, as your guiding document, to the Declaration of Independence.
And you can take it to the bank that any such outbreak to restore democracy has already been anticipated. The Patriot Act was not a spur-of-the-moment idea. You gotta figure the Bushies knew exactly what manner of tyranny they were bringing down... and needed a safety net (it's a damn sure bet the Patriot Act wasn't about more swarthy Arabs flying more airplanes into more American buildings!)
There will be no George Washingtons, this time around. George will be in Gitmo, before you even know his name.
More perilous times, here, than you may even realize.
Don't doubt for a minute they are soft-pedalling the body count as much as possible.
I heard on NPR (Air America went to commericials!) yesterday that the body count was based only on the bodies they had "processed" at the morgue(s?).
Sean, I heartily second your comparison of "Bar" and "Mom", the robber baroness tycoon from "Futurama".
I'd thought about posting that comparison many times, but I am still aggravated at the way Fox crushed "Futurama" untimely, and assumed that there were not enough fans around who would get the comparison.
I feel validated. (And I wonder if the Futurama writers based the character on Bar.)
Is Pat Robertson tele-praying for Patrick Fitzgerald's death yet?
re: heritage foundation flunkies.
Can't figure how it is legal for the government to hire people from the job bank. Here is the application http://www.heritage.org/About/Jo.../
JobBankApp.cfm complete with questions that would be illegal to ask in a regular job application. Has any qualified applicant not in the job bank ever sued for discrimination when passed over for a job given to an unqualified Heritage Foundation referral?
Abolutely -- and a perfect analogy with "battered wife." I personally think Bush has a lot to answer for for 9/11 -- the botched intelligence, the failure to fully implement the efforts started by Clarke under Clinton, the continued reading of "My Pet Goat" for minutes on end, the initial disappearance into the mountains...That was all bad enough. But it was too hard, given the nature of the attack and the unprecendented feeling of vulnerability, to get the nation to look at all that. But since then, preparedness for precisely this type of disaster has supposedly been the administration's #1 priority, and they certainly had notice. I think the proper response now is: "yes, get the recovery started because you are the president. But 1) we don't trust you to do this right, since every single thing you've touched has turned to incompetence and corruption, so you will be under permanent scrutiny, and 2) there is no going back now: you and your party have simply betrayed the trust of the American people, and the fist changce we get, we need to send your team packing. YOU ARE FINISHED."
The Heritage Foundation?
The conservative's savior infiltrated that operation long ago...
quote from U.S News and World Report March 27, 1989 found here.
... the church has established a network of affiliated organizations and connections in almost every conservative organization in Washington, including the Heritage Foundation, the largest of the conservative think tanks and an important source of government personnel during the Reagan administration. Although Heritage officials deny it, the foundation has dramatically changed its policy toward the Unification Church. ...
The Unification Church's newfound influence has occasioned intense debate among conservatives. One group of worried young conservatives meets regularly in private to compare notes about the problem. But little of the debate has surfaced in public forums. "Most people are afraid to address the issue because they don't want to publicize the extent of the church's involvement," says Amy Moritz of the Conservative National Center for Public Policy Research.
Because almost all conservative organizations in Washington have some ties to the church, conservatives also fear repercussions if they expose the church's role. That happened when one organization, the Capital Research Center, published a newsletter last November warning of the church's attempt to create a "centralized world theocracy." One of its board members, who was also on the board of the International Security Council, resigned in protest, and conservatives charging that the paper was creating discord on the right, besieged the center with angry calls. "We got a very, very strong reaction -- almost as if we were the enemy -- because we raised the issue," says CRC Chairman Willa Johnson, a former president of the Heritage Foundation.
Reprinted from a comment I made over at Feministe about a different issue:
There once was a little boy who liked to punch. He would walk around all day, just punching kids. Punch punch punch punch. At lunchtime he’d punch. In gym he’d punch. He’d look at a bruise he had made earlier in the day and punch it. When the principal would scold him, he’d nod his head in agreement, then punch him.
He especially liked to punch the weaker kids. The little ones, who couldn’t fight back. He’d punch them, and while he was punching them, he’d say things like “I know what it is to be punched -punch. I’m gonna help you stop being punched - punch.”
Then one day he was in a good mood, and decided to give people candy. He had a fistful of candy, and he would walk around giving candy to kids, then punching them. “Here’s some candy - punch. Enjoy your Sweetarts - punch.”
The next day after that, he was in a really, really good mood, and decided to give people candy and not punch them. He walked around school with his fistful of candy, and he held out his fist to give them candy. But for some reason they kept flinching away from his fist after they got the candy. “Here’s some candy - flinch. Enjoy your Big Hunk bar - flinch.”
So the little boy looked around, as hurt as can be, and shouted:
“Why the fuck is everyone so paranoid?”
For his whole life, George W. Bush has been a Midas-in-Reverse. Why would anyone think that would change? He has no native inclination to change. He's surrounded by ass-kissers to squelch any uncomfortable doubts. He's not, apparently, in any pain -- so that moots a conversion due to pending mortality. Whatever he has touched in the past has turned to poo while he himself has turned to gold.
More that 3 more years of this stuff. I don't think we'll recognize the joint once he leaves office.
I agree 100% with your post. The Bushies couldn't organize a two car funeral if you spotted them two cars, and they'd steal the dead guy's wedding ring into the bargain.
That said, reconstruction of NOLA and the Gulf Coast has to happen, and can't wait 3 1/2 years until someone that's not feebleminded is in the White House. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, you have to rebuild with the government you have, not the government that you would have if the President wasn't a functionally illiterate, craven, lazy, incompetent wastrel.
As always, happy to be proven wrong. It hasn't happened yet
Wanna bet?
Once again, here's the kartoon to go with the story...
Karl the Karpetbagger
Hey is dis Karl the CZAR a collitch greduate? Why not highlight his utter unqualifieds for dis pozit? It werked for Mike Brown(ie)(after de fact). I'm sure W will be shamed by putting a rank politico into where all dis money will be spent.
Hey! What about Jeb's son??? He might have to do some kommunity service soon. Can the CZARSHIP be soon in his hands? He and his sister can sniff out the crack houses. Law enforcement writ large. Heh. (the Heh is in tribute to a certain Perfessor at a leading law school in the SE USA)
New Orleans: BAGHDAD ON THE BAYOU.
Yep, the Bush nuts are setting up a new Coalition Provisional Authority to do in the Baghdad on the Bayou area what they did in Iraq. Cronyism, corruption, no accountability.
Th only thing that can be said about the Bush people is that they are consistent in the corruption.
The Heritage Foundation under Karl Rove will be responsible for turning the devastated Gulf States into a Garden of Eden. Nooooo, their responsiblity will be to assure that as much as possible of taxpayer money will go to their fat-cat friends in the private sector.
And the idea that any of the Bush people are even remotely Christian must have the Devil in hell busting a gut laughing. In fact, I can hear the Devil cackling with gusto right now, as he's sharpening his knives for when all the Bush people finally get there.
"Makes you wonder if they really have any motivation to actually *prevent* tragedies, don't it?
Eli"
And here in Cali, the CNN tape rolls Ahnuld's promises of "I'll protect you, I'll protect you," as he opens his bid to run again. Which is of course an insult to the intelligence and integrity of all Californians.
Yeah, sure, you worthless, deceitful idiot.
Bail out now, while you still got your fat ass! Are you really stupider than a rat who knows when to get off a sure sinker?
" i want to move past being outraged... it's time for something to be done... but what might that be...? i don't know... but i do know this - don't look to the dems..."
Then do something on your own. Connect creatively and compassionately with others in your local community and maybe do what I'm doing--collecting donated relief supplies and driving them to Louisiana or Mississippi, directly to the people.
When I get there, first kid I meet I'm gonna say, I brought you something all the way from California...And give that kid a big hug.
Ain' nobody better at doing my thinking for me than me. Both political parties are dinosaurs and clones of each other, corrupted by the illusion of power. Let's put 'em out to pasture, out of the equation.
The new rules of the road are ours...
"Benefit of the Doubt", excuse me?
When has Atrios given anyone in this administration the Benefit of the Doubt?
For 3 years he has been promoting every setback and mistake no matter how small, floating abhorent mischaracterizations and distortions with regularity, and smearing any Democrat or moderate that does not agree with his dreck.
Go f yourself you freakshow. Oh, and thanks for 2004.
President Shit Magnet!
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