Progressive Minds

It's time to educate the former Education Secretary of the United States.  (And thereby, time to educate all of his supporters).

Bill Bennett wants us to believe that if we aborted every Black baby in the United States, the crime rate would go down.  So obviously, Black Americans are the only ones breaking the law.

Well, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tells us otherwise. According to the FBI, in the year 2002, "70.7 percent of all arrestees in 2002 were white."  (http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel03/ucr2002.htm)

Hmmm..In 2002, 70.7 percent of all arrestees were White Americans.  Is Bill Bennett now going to call for aborting all White babies to help reduce the crime rate?

After Kanye West said on national television that "George Bush doesn't care about Black people," Laura Bush said she found those type of comments "digusting."  And Condi Rice got in on the act too, saying that no one, especially George Bush, would have withheld relief and aid from the people of New Orleans on the basis of race.

So where are they now?  Where is the outrage of the so-called "culture of life" Republicans, at Bill Bennett's comments that if Black babies were aborted, the crime rate would go down?

And where are other African-Americans in the Bush Administration, such as Alphonso Jackson?

Their silence is deafening.  But their silence also shows you who they really are.  The culture of death party.

The so-called culture of life folks continue to show us who they really are.

In an exchange with a caller on his radio show, conservative Bill Bennett said that while aborting a black baby would be a "morally reprehensible" thing to do, the crime rate would go down!

"...I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509280006

Mark this date on your calendar.  September 28, 2005.  The day the chickens finally came home to roost for Representative Tom Delay (R-TX). 

After being admonished several times by the House Ethics Committee, "The Hammer" was indicted today by a grand jury on conspiracy charges relating to campaign finance.

The Hammer's indictment comes one day after the Republican Party celebrated the 11th anniversary of their Contract on America.  A Contract which The Hammer helped orchastrate, promising to usher in a new era of ethics and integrity in Washington.

Today he got the message: Contract Breached.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/28/delay.indict/index.html

One day after it came to light that he was still on FEMA's payroll as a consultant, former FEMA Chief Michael Brown testified before a Congressional panel investigating the government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

He gave himself a good old boy "Brownie you're doing a heck of a job" pat on the back.  He said "I've overseen over 150 presidentially declared disasters. I know what I'm doing, and I think I do a pretty darn good job of it."

Memo to Brownie: If you had really known what you were doing, you would not be partly responsible for the deaths of over a thousand Americans.  You would have know the reality of what was happening on the grown in New Orleans as people were literally drowning and dying.  Call me part of the reality-based community.

Even some Republicans found it hard to ignore Brownie's incompetence.  Representative Christopher Shays (R-Conn) told him "I'm happy you left.  That kind of look in the lights like a deer tells me you weren't capable of doing that job."

In an utter display of arrogance, Brownie pontificated: "So I guess you want me to be the superhero, to step in there and take everyone out of New Orleans."   Rep. Shays responded "What I wanted you to do is do your job and coordinate." 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050927/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/katrina_brown_hk4_10;_ylt=AsF9yP8o8Rj.QQ0POZ48QXsbLisB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Today's required reading comes courtesy of Time magazine.

They examine the culture of cronyism that has permeated the Bush administration, noting that Bush has placed friends in some of the most vital government agencies, at many times putting friendship before experience; (in other words: loyalty to himself above loyalty to country).

Time magazine notes that during the Florida recount debacle, Dick Cheney was examing the federal government from top to bottom, looking to pile it with those sympathetic to the Bush Crime Team.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1109345,00.html

CBS News reports that Michael Brown has been re-hired by FEMA as a consultant, "to evaluate its response following Hurricane Katrina."

So let me see if I have this straight.  A man who couldn't even make it in the horse show business, and was fired for supervisory failures in the horse business, gets a plum job as the head of FEMA. This said man screws up ("big time," as Dick Cheney would say) during the worst natural disaster on U.S. soil.

He's forced out of his plum job, and is hired as a consultant to tell them how bad he screwed up when he was Chief.

As the old saying goes, only in America!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/22/national/main878583.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStories

So today, Bushie decided to drop some hints about his next Supreme Court nominee, and in doing so, suggested he might appoint a woman or a minority.

He said "I will pick a person who can do the job. But I am mindful that diversity is one of the strengths of the country."

Of course, he's right that our country's diversity is its biggest strength. (Whether he actually believes that or not, is another story altogether.)

What Bush doesn't understand though, is that just because someone looks like me, and has my same skin color, doesn't mean they represent my interests or my values.

He seems to think that simply presenting a woman's face, or a Black or Hispanic face, will appease certain groups.  He couldn't be more wrong.

In the African-American community, we learned a valuable lesson during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings.  And as George Bush once eloquently said:  Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

A  new study, to be published by the Santa Clara Law Review, has found racial imbalances on California's death row.

More California inmates are sent to death row for killing whites than for any other race, dispite the fact that more African-Americans and Hispanics are killed.  According to the Associated Press, the study "concluded suspects who murdered whites were almost four times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed Hispanics, and three times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed blacks."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050922/ap_on_re_us/california_death_penalty

This study leads to one conclusion: more value is placed on the lives of White Californians, than their African-American or Hispanic counterparts.

The Governor of California would do well to place a moratorium on the death penalty, in order to take time to study the issue to ensure that it's by justice, and justice alone, that someone is given the ultimate penalty.

The House of Representatives has esentially voted to give the OK to potential discrimination in the hiring practices of Head Start centers.

The House says Head Start programs can consider someone's religion when considering potential new hires.  Churches and other faith-based school centers can hire only those they feel share their religion, even though they receive federal money.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050922/ap_on_go_co/head_start

What's next? Allowing someone to not hire me because I'm African-American?

Wonkette reports that the mysterious Bianca is Bianca Davie of Bloomberg News.

Apparently, she was indeed at Bushie's press conference.  Because she's in radio and had her headphones on, she did not hear Bushie call on her).

http://www.wonkette.com/

The real question, though, is WHY did Bush call on her?  Had he been assured by Scottie Boy that Bianca was a White House plant, sure to ask the easy questions?

Seems like our esteemed Prez is looking for a woman named Bianca. 

Check out this portion of the transcript from Bush's press conference today:

Bianca. Nobody named Bianca? Well, sorry Bianca's not here. I'll be glad to answer her question.

Q I'll follow up.

THE PRESIDENT: No, that's fine. (Laughter.) Thank you though, appreciate it. Just trying to spread around the joy of asking a question.

Q How is the strategy outlined today by General Casey different from what the United States was doing in the past? What lessons would you say have been incorporated in it? And based on that, how much closer do you think we are to being able to turn over full control of the security situation?

THE PRESIDENT: It's going to be a while to turn over full control. Full control says that the Iraqis are capable of moving around the country and sharing intelligence and they got a command control system that works like ours, and that's going to be a while. Turning over some control to Iraqis is now taking place. As I told you, there are more Iraqis in the lead -- Iraqis are in the lead in this mission for the first time on a major operation.

What General Casey briefed us on was how our strategy of cleaning out the terrorists out of a city and being able to fill in behind, or leave behind Iraqi forces, is beginning to pay off. And what hadn't happened in the past was the capacity to fill that void with a capable force that would prevent the terrorists from coming back in.

Q Mr. President, could we talk more about --

THE PRESIDENT: Are you Bianca?

Q No, I'm not. Anita -- Fox News.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay.

Q Just a quick question --

THE PRESIDENT: Okay. I was looking for Bianca. I'm sorry.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050922.html

Now I'm just guessing here, but maybe "Bianca" is the White House's new version of male escort services provider Jeff Gannon, who came under fire earlier this year for his unfettered access to the White House, and questionable press credentials. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Gannon

When the going gets tough, call on Bianca!

On the September 18 episode of NBC's The Chris Matthews Show, MSNBC's Lisa Daniels said:

"All right. Being down in New Orleans for two weeks, I think it's actually worse than the TV pictures actually show. But that said, expectations are so bad right now -- that it's going to take so long for the water to be pumped out, that there are 10,000 dead bodies there -- that this is actually, Howard [Fineman, fellow panelist], going to be a win for President Bush."

Just one question for Lisa Daniels: are you trusting the American people to have selective memory, and forget that George Bush, by his inaction, is partly responsible for those dead bodies?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509190002

It's a beautiful thing to see compassionate conversatism at work.

On September 17, Jim Pinkerton (columnist for Newsday, and Fox News political analyst) said the victims of Hurricane Katrina were a bunch of whiners.

During an episode of Fox News Watch, he said:

"And absolved in that are state and local governments to a substantial measure. And, of course, the local populace, which continues to get it -- to find itself whining all the time on TV to get more federal money."

Call me crazy here, but the victims of Hurricane Katrina have every right to demand certain actions from their government in the wake of one of the worst natural disasters on American soil.  When you pay federal taxes, there is a debt the government owes you. You expect your tax dollars to go to the greater good, such as helping people rebuild their lives after a natural or manmade disaster.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509190006

Imagine you're a career employee at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and your agency's new Chief has no experience in emergency management.  They couldn't make it in the horse business, and their only qualification as head of FEMA being the previous Chief's college roomate.

One such employee is now speaking out about the cost of cronyism at his agency.

Leo Bosner, a 26-year career veteran at FEMA, and a union leader, told CNN "We told these fellows that there was a killer hurricane heading right toward New Orleans.  We had done our job, but they didn't do theirs."

Bosner says he warned the political appointees running FEMA about the Hurricane Katrina, 3 days before the storm made landfall.  In his daily alert to Michael Brown, Michael Chertoff, and other officials in the Bush administration, he wrote: "New Orleans is of particular concern because much of that city lies below sea level. If the hurricane winds blow from a certain direction, there are dire predictions of what may happen in the city."

He also says that he raised concerns a year ago about Michael Brown's qualifications to lead FEMA: "I feel badly about the guy. But he took a job he was never trained for. The man was a lawyer."

Call me crazy here, but perhaps the best thing Congress can do immediately is to enact legislation that says the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency MUST have experience in emergency management (imagine that!)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/17/katrina.response/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

NBC News' Brian Williams reports that as George Bush prepared to give his speech in Louisiana last night, the lights in the Warehouse District briefly came on.

Not even an hour after Bush departed, the lights went back out, causing suspicion among some people.

Hmm....reminds me of how the federal relief supplies just happened to start pouring into Louisiana, as Bush made his first ground appearance there days after the hurricane.

Karl Rove is nothing short of brilliant, isn't he?

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8045532

For four straight years, the poverty rate in the United States has increased, as too many Americans become caught in the grip of George Bush's failed economic policies.

The latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the number of Americans living in poverty rose to 37 million last year; up 1.1 million from 2003.

Not surprisingly, the rise in poverty has not even registered as a blip on the Bush agenda.  Nor has the disparity between the national unemployment rate, and the unemploymen rate for that of African-Americans.

Now, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush has been forced to at least acknowledge the issue. 

During his speech last night from Louisiana, Bush said "As all of us saw on television, there's also some deep, persistent poverty in this region, as well. That poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality."

Those sound like nice words.  And if you didn't know Bush, they would sound as if they came from a 'President' (sic) who actually gave a darn.  Yet Bush has failed to lay out a specific plan for eradicating the poverty which he now speaks against.

He says that the roots of poverty can be found in this country's history of racism.  He's right.  But I have one question for George W. Bush. 

When he was a student at Harvard Business School in the 1970's, one day his professor led the class in a discussion about the ongoing energy crisis, and asked his students if they felt the government had an obligation to help poor people and those on fixed incomes with their home heating bills.

Bush responded no, because "poor people are lazy."  If I could ask Bush one question, I would ask if he still subscribes to the notion that "poor people are lazy."  If he does, then by Bush's own standard, he has helped contribute to poverty in this country. 

"Leadership isn't a speech or a toll-free number. Leadership is getting the job done. No American doubts that New Orleans will rise again, they doubt the competence and commitment of this Administration.

- Senator John F. Kerry (D-MA), in response to Mr. DVD Man's speech tonight.

U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005. World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations at a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's vision of freedom from want, persecution and war. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Dear Laura:

It's about 9:15 PM, and I suppose that you and Bushie have since long gone to bed.  (I hope you had time to read My Pet Goat to him before your heads hit the pillow).

You don't know me.  But I wanted to write you anyway.  Last week, you seemed distressed.  You said you found it "disgusting" that anyone would criticize your husband's response to the worse natural disaster on U.S. soil.  Particularly, you seemed outraged that anyone would say that race played a factor in the government's slow response.

Well Laura, you seem to be the kind of person who likes to listen.  So I'll tell you: I've been disgusted too! (Imagine that)!

I've been disgusted to see the downright racist, insensitive comments that have come from your mother-in-law, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Brown, Richard Baker, and the list goes on!

And I was really disgusted yesterday, after learning that Dan Bartlett had to make your beloved Bushie a DVD to show him the reality of what was going on in New Orleans.  And I was really disgusted when I learned that your husband went right to bed after receiving a call from Governor Blanco during which she told him "We need your help.  We need everything you've got."

So I thought that since we were both really disgusted, we could commiserate together.  One suggestion though Laura.  Instead of reading My Pet Goat to Bushie at night, try reading something of substinence.  Like maybe the newspaper (gasp!!).  Or try watching the news!  Most of the time, if they really get it right, they're just full of information!

P.S.- One other note Laura: maybe next time you ought to learn the name of the hurricane before you actually speak.  And just FYI: the name of the Hurricane that struck the Gulf Coast region was not "Corrina."  It was "Katrina."  Just thought you should know in time for your next Bush apologist speech.

If there is one thing we've learned from Hurricane Katrina, we've learned the consequences of having a 'President' (sic) who doesn't like to read, and who doesn't live in the reality-based community.

Newsweek magazine reports that even Bush's most loyal White House aides realized how out of touch he was with the devistation caused by Katrina. 

So how did they educate The Emperor?  They made him a DVD of various Katrina-related newscasts!

From Newsweek:

The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9287434/

The first day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee John G. Roberts provided a huge mirror into the mindset of Republicans. 

As if we needed any more confirmation, it's clear that that today's Republicans don't think they are accountable to anyone, least of all the American people. 

Many Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee encouraged John Roberts to play coy with the Democrats, telling him he wasn't under any obligation to answer certain questions.

From an Associated Press article:

Partisan sparring begins
Republicans advised Roberts against responding to probing questions on controversial topics.

“No reasonable person expects you to make promises to politicians about how you'll rule” on hot-button issues, said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

The senator advised Roberts: “Don't take the bait. Do exactly the same thing every nominee, Republican and Democrat alike, has done. Decline to answer any question you feel would compromise your ability to do your job. The vast majority of the Senate, I am convinced, will not punish you for doing so.”

“Some compare a nominee’s refusal to violate his judicial oath or abandon judicial ethics to taking the Fifth Amendment," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "These might be catchy sound bites, but they are patently false.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9175162/

So I wonder just what do today's Repugs think confirmation hearings are for?  Do they just want John Roberts to sit silently through his confirmation hearings, looking at the Dems like they are some huge intrusion on his time?

"Al Gore saved my family; they evacuated us off the roof, including two 90-year-olds," Mark Bazile said. "When we arrived in Tennessee, the whole University of Tennessee medical staff metthe plane. (Vice) President Al Gore is a saint."

(Notice that Vice is in parenthesis.  Mark Brazile knows a true leader and a true President when he sees one.  He referred to Al Gore as "President Al Gore" and apparently they felt the need to correct him.)

http://insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_3019986

Looks like Rush Limbaugh is having fun with New Orleans' Mayor Nagin's name.  It's not hard to pronounce.  But apparently Rush's English isn't very good, so he's taken to calling Mayor Nagin "Mayor Nayger."

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/09.html#a4871

1.  Quoting Bible, Cutting Worker Pay

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-haar0911.artsep11,0,3429673.column?coll=hc-utility-business

2.  Black Refugees Ask if Utah Will Really Accept Them

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050909/ts_nm/utah_dc

From Time magazine:

"For the first time ever, a major U.S. city was simply taken offline, closed down. Food and water and power and phones were gone; authority was all but absent. Most of the people left to cope were least equipped: the ones whose Social Security checks were just about due, or those who made for the Greyhound station only to find it already closed, or those confined to bed or who used a wheelchair. "We're seeing people that we didn't know exist," declared Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael Brown in a moment of hideous accidental honesty."

Memo to Brownie: Just because you don't want to see people who live in poverty, to see people that work 2 jobs and can't make it above the poverty line, doesn't mean they don't exist. 

The Republicans are really on a roll here!

While visiting a shelter in Texas that is housing evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, Representative Tom Delay (R-TX) asked three boys resting on cots: "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?''

According to the Houston Chronicle, the boys "nodded yes, but looked perplexed."

Memo to Tom Delay: The boys you talked to are NOT at camp.  They are not in a shelter to have fun.  They are there because they have been displaced.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/page1/3346041

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we learned that the United States is woefully unprepared to meet the challenges that arise after a natural disaster of catastrophic proportions.  (Despite the fact that the current administration spent all of last year telling us that they were the only ones who could keep us safe.  But I digress!)

The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina also revealed to some (and simply reaffirmed for others) the deep divisions that remain in this country, over issues of race, class and poverty.

Many people (particularly those in the mainstream media) seemed genuinely surprised to learn the extent of poverty in the United States, despite the fact that the poverty rate has increased for 4 straight years.  Just as Katrina was wreaking havoc, the Census Bureau released new figures which showed that the number of Americans living in poverty rose to 37 million in 2004 — up 1.1 million from 2003.  Perhaps if the news media would actually report the news (imagine that!) then they would not have been caught off-guard by this fact.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer described the victims of Hurricane Katrina as "so poor and so black."  In all fairness to him, I doubt Blitzer was intentionally trying to be so insensitive.  Rather, I think the human devastation caused by the hurricane forced Blitzer to step outside of his comfort zone, and made his eyes wide open to the cycle of poverty that has gripped this nation.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Chief Michael Brown (who prior to joining the Bush Administration, was forced from his job at the International Arabian Horse Association for alleged supervisory failures) played the 'blame the victim' game, saying they bore some of the responsibility for failing to heed the New Orleans mayor's mandatory evacuation order.  Never mind that many of them didn't have the financial resources to leave.

Former First Lady Barbara Bush went so far as to say that the victims of Hurricane Katrina had lucked out.  After meeting with some of the evacuees at the Houston Astrodome, she commented: "What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."

Perhaps the comment that has received some of the widest attention over the past few days, however, came from rapper Kanye West, who went off-script during a televised concert special in honor of hurricane victims.  He said "George Bush doesn't care about Black people."

As do many other Americans, I certainly agree with Kanye West.  But perhaps we need to dig further, and ask ourselves, what is the root cause of Bush's dismissiveness of the African-American community?  It is racism, or something else at work here?

I don't believe that George Bush is a racist.  Rather, I believe the issue of class is the root cause of George Bush's attitude towards African-Americans.  He was born into a life of privilege, and at just about every stage of his life, has used his father's name to advance his cause, including avoiding the Vietnam War, and getting into Yale and Harvard Business School when he was a less than a stellar student.

Unlike the overwhelming majority of the African-American community, George Bush doesn't know what it is like to have to work hard and prove yourself in the work force.  He doesn't understand what it is like to work two jobs and still live below the poverty line, because it hasn't been a part of his experience.

And most importantly: he hasn't made an effort to understand these struggles.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton established a blue-ribbon commission to study race relations in America, headed by Dr. John Hope Franklin.  As he left office, President Clinton provided the Congress and the incoming administration with a 26-page report that outlined where he thought we were as a country in terms of "building one America," and where he thought we needed to go.

Sadly but not unexpectedly, the Republican-controlled Congress and Bush White House never acted upon President Clinton's recommendations.

Perhaps the tragedy born out of Hurricane Katrina will afford us the opportunity to have a long-overdue conversation on race relations in this country.

What is it with these Republicans feeling sorry for themselves lately?

Laura Bush called criticism of her hubby's non-response to Hurricane Katrina "disgusting."  In an interview with American Urban Radio Networks, she said "I think all of those remarks are disgusting, to be perfectly frank, because of course President Bush cares about everyone in our country.  And I know that. I mean, I'm the person who lives with him.  I know what he's like and I know what he thinks and I know how he cares about people."

Memo to Laura: I'll tell you what's disgusting.  It's disgusting that your husband/poor excuse for a President hired someone to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who couldn't even make it in the horse  business.  It's disgusting that while people were literally drowning and dying in a major American city, your husband was talking up the quagmire that is Iraq, and comparing himself to Franklin Roosevelt.  It's disgusting that your husband would look right into the camera and lie to the American people, saying no one anticipated the levees breaking in New Orleans.

So the American people don't need any lectures from you on what is disgusting.  We know what is disgusting when we turn on the t.v. and see the miserable failure that is your husband.

http://www.newsobserver.com/24hour/politics/story/2701677p-11250922c.html

Does Colin Powell expect the country to feel sorry for him?  In an interview with Barbara Walters today, he lamented about his presentation before the United Nations on Iraq's supposed weapons capabilities (which we now know was riddled with lies).

He said "I'm the one who presented it to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It is painful now."  Powell goes on to comment "There were some people in the intelligence community who knew at the time that some of those sources were not good, and shouldn't be relied upon, and they didn't speak up.  That devastated me."

If Colin Powell is looking for a little sympathy, here's one place he won't find it.  If he really wanted to do the right thing by this country, he would have resigned in protest of the Iraq war, during George Bush's first time.  Yet he choose to play the good soldier, and in doing so, choose political expediency over the best interests of the country he claims to love so dearly.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050909/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/powell_iraq_2

Today's required reading comes courtesy of Professor Alan Dershowitz and his stand-out piece The Truth About William Rehnquist.

As U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice was laid to rest this week, there was a desire on the part of Republicans to paint him as a lover of justice, decency and all that is right in America.

But as Professor Alan Dershowitz states, there's another story to be told.  If indeed "obituaries are a first draft of history," then we must tell the story of the true William Rehnquist.  The one who was infamous on the campus of Standford University for his racist jokes and anti-Semitic taunts.  The one who started his career by working with Operation Eagle Eye, obstructing African-American and Hispanic voters at the voting booths in Phoenix.  The one who wanted to uphold the separate-but-equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson. 

Rev. Fred Phelps and his cronies like to say that funerals are truth telling time, and so they go protesting at the funerals of AIDS victims, for example.

Well, just this once, I agree with the Reverend.  Funerals are truth telling time.  And so I'm sure he'd have no problem with Professor Dershhowitz telling the unvarnished truth of William Rehnquist.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/huffpost/20050905/cm_huffpost/006844_200509050016

Since the quagmire that is now Iraq, George W. Bush has been telling us that everything is coming up roses there.  Freedom is on the march, and the Iraqis are just thrilled to be installing an Islamic theocracy there.

Now Bush wants us to believe that everything is coming up roses in New Orleans too. 

During a meeting with Congressional leaders on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told Bush he should fire FEMA Chief Michael Brown.  His response? "Why would I do that?" (I'm just guessing here, George, but maybe you should fire your FEMA Chief because he couldn't even make it in the horse business.  Maybe you ought to fire him because he was fired for supervisory failures at the International Arabian Horse Association. And just maybe you should fire him because the blood of possibly thousands of Americans is on his hand).

Representative Pelosi said to POTUS: "Because of all that went wrong, of all that didn't go right last week."  POTUS asked: "What didn't go right?"

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050907/ap_on_go_pr_wh/katrina_washington_35

You might expect that George W. Bush, in his infinite wisdom (please don't choke on your apple here) would appoint someone with experience in emergency management, to be the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Well..maybe not!  Before joining the Bush administration, current FEMA Chief Michael Brown spent 11 years as Commissioner of Judges and Stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association.  He was forced from his job at the International Arabian Horse Association, and lawsuits filed against him, for alleged supervisory failures.

So how did he become the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, if he was such a miserable failure as a supervisor in the horse business?  Apparently his only qualification was his connection to the previous FEMA chief, Joe Allbaugh.  The two were college roomates.

George Bush, the first M.B.A. President, promised us in 2000 that if he was elected, he would run the United States government like a business, with him as the CEO.  Now we see why he was such a miserable failure as a business in Texas, and was probably the only person who couldn't find oil there, of all places.

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=100857

Out of the heartbreaking catastrophe that was Hurricane Katrina, we saw a true leader arise.  And his last name wasn't Bush.

I'm talking about Al Gore, former Vice President and winner of the 2000 Presidential election.

President Gore paid to have some of the displaced Americans in New Orleans flown to his home state of Tennessee; he and son Albert were on the flight accompanying them.

In Gore, we saw a leader who, unlike many other politicians, was not afraid to step up to the plate.  And unlike many politicians, he wasn't looking for the network cameras, either.  He granted no interviews and did a wonderul service in private.

Well done, President Gore.  (Perhaps you can pick up the phone and call George W. to give him a few pointers in Presidential leadership).

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_72002.asp

George Bush says he's gonna do some 'vestigating.  Of himself. 

The Emperor says "What I intend to do is lead an investigation to find out what went right and what went wrong.  We still live in an unsettled world. We want to make sure we can respond properly if there is a WMD (weapons of mass destruction) attack or another major storm."

Ok, so I'm just taking a wild guess here.  But if I had to bet my money, I would say that Bush's investigation will conclude that the federal government (which, as POTUS, he represents) performed outstandingly in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.  And they did the best they could, since Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he woke up to a headline Tuesday morning saying New Orleans "dodged a bullet."

Memo to Bush: You conducting an investigation of your administration's catastrophic failures, would be like Richard Nixon trying to investigate Watergate, or Ronald Reagan trying to investigate Iran Contra.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/06/national/w083222D53.DTL

Gee, that Pat Robertson is really on a roll lately.  Just recently he called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Now, he says that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts should be thankful for Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters on U.S. that is expected to have killed thousands of Americans.

On his 700 Club Show, Robertson said "Out of this tragedy, the focus of America is going to be on these victims, and inflamed rhetoric in the United States Senate is just not going to play well now because this is a time of healing and compassion and reaching out to people, and if they start going on a vendetta against Roberts in the Senate, it's just going to hurt them. And I think they know that, so, I mean, Judge Roberts can, maybe, you know, be thankful that a tragedy has brought him some good."

Don't you just love to see the so-called culture of life folks at work?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509060005

Former First Lady Barbara Bush, speaking today while visiting displaced Americans sent to Houston, Texas:

"What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overhwlemed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle)--this is working very well for them."

And her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, on Larry King tonight, speaking on the lack of aid:

"I don't see those on the roofs complaining."

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_09_04_atrios_archive.html#112597122217543452

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4652759#4653771

CNN is carrying a heartbreaking article in which 85-year old Margaret Pertuit says she is hoping for a blood clot to take her life.

A survivor of Hurricane Katrina, Pertuit is currently in a "dark, waterlogged room" at a Ecomony Inns motel in Mississippi.  She's waiting to be rescued or die, and has stopped taking her blood-thinner medication.

"I just hope it will take me," she says of a potential blood clot.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/04/katrina.motel.ap/index.html

The Associated Press reports that those individuals who were in the path of Hurricane Katrina's wrath were "twice as likely as most Americans to be poor and without a car — factors that may help explain why so many failed to evacuate as the storm approached."

It also showed that the majority of them were minorities with incomes $10,000 below the national average.

Hurricane survivor Shatonia Thomas said "Let them know we're not bums. We have houses. Our houses were destroyed. We have jobs. It's not our fault that we didn't have cars to leave."

Perhaps Michael Brown needs to take that in mind the next time he plays the Blame The Victim Game.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050904/ap_on_re_us/katrina_demographics_of_destruction_hk4

Last Wednesday, while people where literally drowning and dying in New Orleans, our esteemed (cough!) Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice sure found some time to soak up the fun.

She was booed by some audience members as she was in New York to take in the play Spamalot.

Thursday, as more people continued to drown and die, she made her way to Ferragamo on Fifth Ave, where she reportedly purchased "several thousand dollars' worth of shoes."

But never fear!  Condi does have her priorities straight! And she knows her main priority is to be a Bush apologist.  So she managed to make her way to an African-American church in Alabama today, and defended her husband-oops make that boss, against allegations that race may have played a factor in the federal government's slow response.  "Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race," she said.  "How can that be the case? Americans don't want to see Americans suffer."

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/342712p-292600c.html

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thesunherald/12561604.htm

During last year's campaign, we heard from the Bushies, almost ad nauseum, that Senator John Kerry was a flip-flopper.

Well, I guess the Bushies know a flip-flopper when they see one.

Just days ago, Bush called the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina "unacceptable."  Yesterday, however, he told FEMA Chief Michael Brown: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

Gee, George.  Could this be the same Brownie who blamed the victims?  Who said the bore some responsibility for not evacuating New Orleans?  The same Brownie who lied and said that a hurricane of this magnitude was never anticipated?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2005/09/03/quote_of_the_day.html

You might remember that last year, during the heat of the Presidential campaign, George Bush ran as the War President. September 11 and the war on terror were talked about ad nauseu, with Dick Cheney telling us that if we let the evil John Kerry become President, we would likely get attacked again, and worse than 9/11.

Bottom line: George Bush and Dick Cheney told us they were the only ones who could keep us safe.

They've had a chance to make good on that promise, and they failed.

The absence of federal leadership in the wake of one of the worse natural disasters on American soil leads one to the conclusion that the Emperor really has no clothes.

Early last week, while people were literally drowning in New Orleans, Bush was talking up the draft Iraqi constitution.  Then the White House told us he was cutting his vacation short to deal with the crisis. Mind you, this was a few days after they had told us that he really wasn't on vacation; that he was only in Crawford because the West Wing of the White House was being renovated.  (I'm sure ever faithfull Turdblossom came up with that one)!

When Bush made his way to the devastated areas, he seemed to show more interest in rebuilding Trent Lott's house so he could sit on the porch.  Meanwhile, his own FEMA Director blamed the victims, saying they bore some of the responsibility for not evacuating; never mind that many of them didn't have the resources or finances to do so.

And then there's the other big elephant in the room: if Bush and Co. can't adequately respond to a devastating hurricane, how can we trust them to respond to a biological, chemical or nuclear attack?

What was that again, Bushie, about being the only one able to keep us safe?

CBC News online carries an AP article Katrina Puts Bush to the Test: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/03/katrina/main814655.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=Politics_814655

Today's Comforting Words from George W. Bush:

"We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)"

I'm sure that those in Mississippi and Louisiana who live below the poverty line, and don't even know where they will live now,  will be comforted in knowing that their President is so concerned with re-building Trent Lott's house so he can sit on the porch.

During election night in 2000, in the midst of the Florida debacle, NBC Anchor Tom Brokaw said "We don't just have egg on our face.  We have an omlette."

Well this time it's not the television networks that have some explaining to. It's our own federal government that needs to explain why it has been so slow to respond to the needs of those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

And the world is watching.  Specifically, they are taking note that the overwhelming majority of those affected by this disaster are poor African-Americans. Britain's Guardian daily stated: "In one of the poorest states in the country, where black people earn half as much as white people, this has taken on a racial dimension."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050902/ts_nm/weather_katrina_reaction_dc

Looks like the veil that has protected Bush for much of his farce of a presidency is finally coming off.

Many Americans who wanted to believe the best about their "President" (if you can call him that) are now confronted with the reality that the man who once said he would be "everybody's President" could care less about the least among us.

And finally, people are speaking truth to power.  During a concert to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina, rapper Kanye West told us how he really feels!  He said "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and that the United States is set up to "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

Well kudos to Kanye West for having the courage to say what needed to be said; what many people don't wan to say, but feel.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=1092713&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

It really warms my heart to see that Michael Brown, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is playing blame the victim.

He concurred with officials who said the deal toll in New Orleans could reach the thousands, and said it is the fault of those who did not evacuate:

"Unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings," Brown told CNN.

I know we've been down this road before while covering the crisis in the Gulf, but it's obvious that Michael Brown doesn't have a clue, so I'll be glad to school him.  Mr. Brown, many of people you refer to did not have the financial means to evacuate.  But I'm so glad to know that you blame the least among us, the poor and the homeless, for the heartbreaking situation they are in.  Perhaps if you visit the graves of some of those who died, you can share your views with them then, from the great beyond.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.fema.brown/index.html

Needless to say, right now the United States can use all the help it can get, to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina rebuild their lives and have their basic human needs met.

And many foreign governments have been offering their assistance.  One of them, Russia, said their offers have been rejected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  A Russian official said FEMA spurred its offer to provide rescue teams and other aid.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9161198/

Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and 2nd in the line of succession, says that rebuilding New Orleans doesn't make sense!

Hastert told the Daily Herald "It doesn't make sense to me. And it's a question that certainly we should ask."

Well, let's just talk about the big elephant in the room, shall way?  New Orleans has an overwhelming African-American population, many of whom live in poverty and could not afford to evacuate.  And Denny Hastert doesn't think they should have their city (or their lives as they knew it) back.

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#075833