Saturday night and blogging...am I a loser, or what? Wandered by Skippy and found this link to a dKos diary on a town meeting that Rep Lamar Smith of Texas held the other day. Interesting reading.

Then go take a look at the Ignatius piece over in the Post. He talks about Newties latest theories on governance and where his party needs to go next. Reading that diary and then rereading Ignatius, I get a sense of something that seems pretty true on its face. Perhaps the politics of "values" has past, at least for this moment. People are always going to have some attachment trying to impose their values on others either because they can or they think they have some divine right to be busybodies...it's just human nature.

But all of a sudden we've hit this sort of weird peak. People have been getting bombarded for so long with the concept of performance; corporate performace (work harder!), personal performance (home/life/relationships), familial performance (soccer mom/dad), school (right one/SAT/Med/Law) and it goes on and on. We all go to work and have meet performance expectations, sometimes monthly or half-yearly or certainly yearly. But strangely no one does seem to apply these standards to politicians. Elections occur, and they don't get judged on anything but their ability to perform like trained seals at fundraisers: perform well, get enough cash-stuffed fish to run a campaign until you have so much electoral momentum cycle-to-cycle that it's not even a chore anymore, no one runs against you. Performance is only due for the corporate masters who toss the fish, and sometimes their orders are "do nothing".

They are then assigned to some amorphous mass of "officialdom/elected" and given money and perks and time and left to do what they will. Perhaps they're measured by pork per square mile of their district or state, or some other strange relativistic metric that exists in a hand-out they're given when they get their official induction into elected officialdom, I don't know.

Perhaps it's time to start to see if we can begin to push our Democratic Elected Bozos to play in the Performance Politics elimination tournament, because the Flying Spaghetti Monster knows, they're sure as hell not doing anything right now.

I think Performance Politics means being willing to be responsible for things that go wrong, and not being afraid to speak the truth to power. Lieberman now says that perhaps he "should have looked at Michael Brown more closely". Really Holy Joe, ya think? That 42 minute hearing between recess and lunch was quite strenuous. Maybe Performance Politics means that's the Holy Joe's swan song. He didn't perform in a critical role because it was too much work. Sorry Joe, You're Gone.

If Democrats buy into this and build it into a message, a coherent believable one, one that every Democratic elected official pledges to live by and live up to, and we share our visions for repairing the damage that the 1600 Crew hath wrought, perhaps there's hope. But you know, it's going to require courage, moral and political . It's going to take some time, many of the old guard aren't going to give up their fat salaries and perks and the power they've got just on the off-chance that this will work. And it will only work if the people who stand up to represent us believe that accountability is more important than re-election, that Performance means that every day is another day to move the country ahead, that government is not an ATM for the richest and least needy, but rather a source of insipiration for the world and a resource for the neediest among us.

Good Performance means that when the least among us can contribute to everyone else, then we are all stronger for it. I think that there are a room full of folks in Texas who might support that message no matter who's selling it. But it should be a Democrat, because I have a feeling that "performance" as Gingrich defines it, means that those who are able to perform the most with the least effort should be able to reap the biggest rewards, which sounds suspiciously like Bush-o-Nomics and Cronyism repackaged and rebranded with a big sign that says that most marketable word of all "FREE!" until you read the fine print and realize that you just sold your family into servitude, donated your real estate to CheneyBurton and are scheduled to have a kidney removed next week for donation to some Cornerite who's in incipient renal failure. Newt's Performance-based Ownership society: no matter how well you perform, they still own you.

This was one of the better moments for beloved leader last week:

In an effort to raise the spirits of the hundreds of thousands who have lost their homes, Bush promised to rebuild devastated areas better than they were before, but at one point focused on the home of a powerful lawmaker.

"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," he said on a tour of the region Friday, drawing nervous laughter.

Some Republicans winced, including one disbelieving congressional aide who said: "Lott? He's focusing on Lott? Surrounded by poor people, he talks about a sitting senator?"

They were all better off 'cause they're all underprivileged, and the Astrodome was like summer camp...all that stuff those two morons can sit on that rebuilt front porch and reminisce about...

Q: If George Bush were Trent Lott's bitch, would that make him Lott's Wife? Just askin'

Whole story about how long it took the unrequited rascist fucks of the 1600 Crew to finally get around to at least getting Micheal "Invented the Fire Truck, I did" Brown out of the areas impacted by the storm. Seems that the 1600 Crew was a-scared to let Beloved Leader actually go have a photo-op with the folks in NOLA, because he might find out he's neither Beloved nor a Leader. So they sent Brownie packing, back to his office by the window, a six-figure salary and a bucket of cold margaritas.

His boss, Michael "Ming the Merciless" Chertoff made this comment:

In Baton Rouge, Mr. Brown appeared briefly at Mr. Chertoff's side before heading back to the capital, where, the secretary said, the director was needed for potential disasters.

"We've got tropical storms and hurricanes brewing in the ocean," Mr. Chertoff said.

Young Texas attorney tells the truth about Karl Rove and loses her job for it. Seems that Karl has to pony up some back taxes he tried to avoid paying after 2001 for a house he owns and lives in in the DC area. He apparently maintains that he actually lives in one or two small rental units he owns in Texas, to be allowed to vote there (where else, right?). So a reporter doing a story on it called the Texas Secretary of State's office to get more info and spoke to an attorney there who answered the reporters questions, apparently with just a trace too much candor.

A staff attorney with the Texas secretary of state said yesterday that she was fired this week for violating press protocols when she spoke to a Washington Post reporter who was working on a story about presidential adviser Karl Rove.

Elizabeth Reyes, 30, of Austin said she was fired Tuesday after she was quoted in a Post story that ran Sept. 3 about tax deductions on Rove's homes in the District and in Texas.
...
The Post's story reported that Rove inadvertently received a District homestead tax deduction on his Palisades home, even though he had not been eligible for the benefit for more than three years. Rove was eligible for the deduction when he bought the home in 2001, the story said, but a change in the tax law in 2002 made the deduction available only to District property owners who do not vote elsewhere. Rove is registered to vote in Texas.
...
Rove is registered to vote in Kerr County, Tex., the story reported, and he and his wife own two small rental cottages there that Rove claims as his residence. But two local residents said they had never seen Rove there.

When Post reporter Lori Montgomery telephoned the press office of the Texas secretary of state, the press officer was on vacation, and Montgomery was transferred to Reyes. The attorney, who spoke in two separate telephone calls, told Montgomery that it was potential voter fraud in Texas to register in a place where you don't actually live, and she was quoted as saying Rove's cottages don't "sound like a residence to me, because it's not a fixed place of habitation."
...
While she didn't know she was talking to a reporter, Reyes said, the press policy doesn't bar her from speaking with the media.

"The policy allows us to talk to members of the media," she said. "The policy says if it's a controversial issue or a special issue, it needs to be forwarded on to someone else. Just talking to the media doesn't violate it, as I read it. . . . Karl Rove didn't come up. It wasn't something you could classify as controversial."

Just another example of the 1600 Crew intimidation of those who tell the truth.

Gilliard.

It's been bugging me all day, I knew that this reference existed, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what they were called: lettres de cachet. Here's a little history lesson, and why we need to be afraid of the Boy King.

In 14th century France the king's order for imprisonment was simply verbal, but by the 18th century a standard was initiated that these orders were to be written, and from this came the lettres de cachet. The tradition for this was established from principles surrounding royal privileges recognized by old French law where the king could directly intercede directly in the administration of justice, by a special act or will.

These were simply letters sealed by the king, countersigned by the king's ministers, and closed with the royal seal or cachet, they usually contained an order originating directly from the king. At times these letters were regardless and even contrary to the laws. The most commonly issued lettres de cachet were penal where the king could sentence "a subject without trial and without an opportunity of defence to imprisonment in a state prison or an ordinary gaol, confinement in a convent or a hospital, transportation to the colonies, or relegation to a given place within the realm."

Useful as silent weapons against political foes or critical writers lettres de cachet were handy for punishing perpetrators of high birth without the scandal of a lawsuit. Other uses for them included issuing them to the police in "dealing with prostitutes, and on their authority lunatics were shut up in hospitals and sometimes in prisons." Many times heads of families employed them in attempts to protect the family honor as a means to control "disorderly or criminal conduct of sons; wives, too, took advantage of them to curb the profligacy of husbands and vice versa". In the 18th century it was common practice for the Secretary of State to issue them arbitrarily with no record of the action being sent to the king. One had to simply fill in the name in order to make the letter effective.

Eventually someone struck upon the idea to issue blank lettres de cachet for a bribe or some other consideration. These became know as carte blanche warrants. With its space for the name left blank this precursor to carte blanch inspired great fear. Sometimes the warrant was to set a prisoner at large, but it was more commonly used for detention in the Bastille.

Eighty thousand carte blanche warrants were issued during Cardinal André Hercule de Fleury's (1653-1743) administration with the majority being against the Jansenists, followers of Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638), in an effort to suppress the religious movement. During the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI fifty-nine cachets were obtained against family members of French revolutionary Honoré Gabriel Riquetti Mirabeau (1749-1791). These acts precipitated a ground swell against these and a number of other abuses. Secretary of State Chrétien Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes (1721-1794) tried to enact some measure of justice into the system during his short ministry. The occasional invocation of them against leaders of opinion, including Voltaire, became symbolic of arbitrary royal authority and oppression. Malesherbes resigned in 1776 after the failure of the reform program.

Was it the power of the press? Or just hoist on his own petard of marginal competance? Brown? Gone.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being relieved of his command of the Bush administration's Hurricane Katrina onsite relief efforts, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced Friday.
...
Brown has been under fire because of the administration's slow response to the magnitude of the hurricane. On Thursday, questions were raised about whether he padded his resume to exaggerate his previous emergency management background.

Looks like Damage Control to me. A desk by the window and a title for a salary. Bye, Bye, Brownie. You're doing a heck of a job warming that chair.

via Alternate Brain, thanks, guys! Best news I've had all week...

Apparently that's what the 1600 Crew thinks that document is good for. The Supreme Court is going to be hearing this case, and now more than ever it's time to block Roberts and any other nutcase nominees that Preznit Legally Insane is going to make.

A federal appeals court ruled today that the president can indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen captured on U.S. soil in the absence of criminal charges, holding that such authority is vital to protect the nation from terrorist attacks.
...
Attorneys for Padilla and a host of civil liberties organizations blasted the detention as illegal and said it could lead to the military being allowed to hold anyone, from protesters to people who check out what the government considers the wrong books from the library.

The reputation, as I understand it, of that Circuit Court in Richmond is that it's just slightly to the left of the SS Tribunals in Nuremberg during WWII, so this does not surprise me. But the fact that they could so blithely just wrap the Constitution around a toilet-paper roll and overnight it to the 1600 Crew sort of defies belief. Any judge from that court nominated by Fearful Leader to the O'Connor spot better get filibustered right out of the gate; they obviously have never read the Constitution, much less believe in it. So how could they interpret it?

We have already seen the direct result of an OJT-appointee in high public office, we don't need another one right now, thanks.

He's had a few. Apparently, Colin Powell now feels really, really bad about his performance at the UN before the invasion of Iraq. Remember, that during/after Gulf War I, Powell was one of those who put the brakes on going to Baghdad and "completing" that "mission".

So Powell joined up with Beloved Leader and went off to the UN where he assured them that he had unimpeachable sources, he just couldn't tell everyone that it was Ahmed Chalabi...or he'd have been laughed out of there. Chalabi was well known by most players in the middle-east to be a shit bag of the first order.

So Colin sat there and said: "What, My Lai?".

It was Powell who told the United Nations and the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and posed an imminent threat. He told Walters that he feels "terrible" about the claims he made in that now-infamous address — assertions that later proved to be false.

When asked if he feels it has tarnished his reputation, he said, "Of course it will. It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now."

Oh, and by the way for the figuring-it-out challenged, Powell just admitted that the war in Iraq is based on a flat-out LIE.

The Rovian Spin Machine is really, really good at coming up with cute little phrases that the well-coiffed, empty-headed anchors on Cable Stations (and Snott McCllelan) can toss off. Case in Point: Blame Game. Nice, short and to the point for the helmet-head anchor-doo types.

We need that too. So how about Accountable Action? As in, "Scotty, we won't play the Blame Game if you'll detail all administrations Accountable Actions". Would that work? How does it (or something like it) get out there for use?

Giving the Helmet-head anchor-doo corps easy-to-say phrases seems to be key to even placing in the PR races. D'Oh! Must get better at it...must get better at it...

-note: this post got really long as I found more stuff and added it. If you read it before, check the bottom of the post, there may be new stuff...sorry for the interruption -

In most places 'padding' your resume and getting caught at it will get you fired...everywhere but here.

according to his bio posted on FEMA's website, was "serving as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight." The White House press release from 2001 stated that Brown worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 "overseeing the emergency services division."
...
...Brown was an "assistant to the city manager" from 1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees. "The assistant is more like an intern," she told TIME. "Department heads did not report to him."
...
Under the "honors and awards" section of his profile at FindLaw.com — which is information on the legal website provided by lawyers or their offices—he lists "Outstanding Political Science Professor, Central State University". However, Brown "wasn't a professor here, he was only a student here," says Charles Johnson, News Bureau Director in the University Relations office at the University of Central Oklahoma (formerly named Central State University).
...
Under the heading of "Professional Associations and Memberships" on FindLaw, Brown states that from 1983 to the present he has been director of the Oklahoma Christian Home, a nursing home in Edmond. But an administrator with the Home, told TIME that Brown is "not a person that anyone here is familiar with." She says there was a board of directors until a couple of years ago, but she couldn't find anyone who recalled him being on it. According to FEMA's Andrews, Brown said "he's never claimed to be the director of the home. He was on the board of directors, or governors of the nursing home." However, a veteran employee at the center since 1981 says Brown "was never director here, was never on the board of directors, was never executive director. He was never here in any capacity. I never heard his name mentioned here.
...
The FindLaw profile for Brown was amended on Thursday to remove a reference to his tenure at the International Arabian Horse Association, which has become a contested point.

Brown's FindLaw profile lists a wide range of areas of legal practice, from estate planning to family law to sports. However, one former colleague does not remember Brown's work as sterling. Stephen Jones, a prominent Oklahoma lawyer who was lead defense attorney on the Timothy McVeigh case, was Brown's boss for two-and-a-half years in the early '80s. "He did mainly transactional work, not litigation," says Jones. "There was a feeling that he was not serious and somewhat shallow." Jones says when his law firm split, Brown was one of two staffers who was let go.

Up next: an revelation that the Harvard that John Roberts went to was actually the now-defunct Harvard A&T in West Pimple, Connecticut.

So, does the actual lying ever end with these people, or is it just sport now to see how much they can get away with day to day?

(b) What do you believe in your background or employment experience affirmatively qualifies you for this particular appointment?

During my early career in municipal government, I was actively involved in emergency service at the state and local government level, including police, fire, public works and public safety. I believe that my administrative and management experience in state government and large, international nonprofit organization has provided me with the requisite management skills to lead and direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In addition, my legal background includes the representation of emergency service personnel. Through this experience, I was responsible for handling labor, legislative and personnel issues relative to emergency services.

Finally, my tenure as FEMA's General Counsel has provided me with an understanding of the wide-ranging issues FEMA must handle.

Employment record

February 2001 to present
Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Washington, DC

(a bunch of non-governmentally related jobs)

Staff Director
Senate Finance Committee
Oklahoma Legislature
Oklahoman City, Oklahoma

1978-1980
Executive Secretary
Edmond Economic Development Authority
Economic Development Director
Edmond Chamber of Commerce
Edmond, Oklahoma

1975-1978
Assistant City Manager, Police, Fire and Emergency Services
Edmond, Oklahoma

10. Government experience: List any advisory, consultative, honorary or other part-time service or positions with the federal, State, or local governments other than those listed above.

1980-1982
City Councilman
Edmond, OK

1980-1988
Chairman, Treasurer, Board Member
Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority
Edmond, Oklahoma

This guy is the Fart in Church, no doubt about it...he's out there and no one is going to own up to this smell once people start to figure out he's a resume-padder extraordinaire. Didn't the FBI do any sort of checking-up on him, or was Lieberman so taken by Ben Nighthore Campbell and Wayne Allards glowing and totally bullshit introduction that he just let it go by as a chance to suck more Beloved Leader cock gratis?

What will we tell the children?

Note, I transcribed that directly from the PDF since that part of the Q&A is actually an image file in the document. Sorry in advance for any typos...

Update update: I can't find any reference through Google to this item listed in his sworn testimony

Michael D. Brown Hydroelectric Generation and Dam Project

Honors and awards: List all scholarships, fellowships, honorary degrees, honorary society memberships, military medals, and any other special recognitions for outstanding service or achievements.

Full Debate Scholarship
Southeaster Oklahoma University, 1973-1975

Michael D. Brown Hydroelectric Generation and Dam Project
Named in my honor by the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority
Kay County, Oklahoma, 1988

Update 3: On the Findlaw web page, which was updated 9/8/2005 he curiously has this listing:

Oklahoma City University School of Law, 1987 - Present
Adjunct Professor in State and Local Gov't. Law, Legislation

Chairman, Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, Edmond, OK, 1980 - Present

Director, Foundation for Enid Education & Economic Develop., 1988 - Present

Director, Oklahoma Christian Home, Edmond, OK, 1983 - Present

B. Future Employment Relationships
1. Will you sever all connections with your present employers, business firms business associations or business organizations if you are confirmed by the senate?

As the current General Counsel of FEMA, I have already severed such connections effective February, 2001.

The lovely and talented Cookie Jill over at skippy just sent me a great Flash file that's worth a look. It's called "Mission Accomplished".

Warning: Non-FEMA approved photojournalism involving recently deceased American Citizens left there by...FEMA.

From a sort of one-off linkage, I've been getting visitors from a right-wing web site about an old post I wrote about Tom Ridge and his cashing in on his previous employment with the 1600 Crew as Chertoff's predecessor. I can only say one thing: I wish Ridge was back in charge, I think he was at least a leader who took some accountability for his actions. I'll bet he learned that when he was in the actual military, in actual Vietnam.

One person, in comments in another post asked me for my position on keeping an emergency supply of food and water in light of the Gulf Coast devastation. I have no problem with that, or with the basic tenets of the suggestion that Ridge made, "Be Prepared". All you need to do is live in the midwest before a snow storm to know that it's not a bad idea to stock up on a couple of days worth of essentials (why it's always toilet paper and milk, I have no clue) before a bad storm.

Stocking up on duct tape and plastic wrap? Aww c'mon, that's just a joke waiting to be written. And so I did, in my own skewed way...I don't know where the idea that I was riffing on keeping supplies of food and water on hand came from...

So in answer to my commenter who asked (and I'm answering here because he did me a favor in a round about way): I think being ready is never a bad idea. Would it have saved some lives on the Gulf Coast? Absolutely, if the house/pantry/garage is still standing and accessible.

But if it was flattened by 170 mph winds or is 10 feet under water, then all the advance logistics and preparation are just a fond memory.

Now that Preznit Avoids Accountability has sent Justice French Fry on to replace the still-dead Guillermo Rehnco, the passive-for-too-long Senate Democrats are finally showing a small, almost nano-vetebral growth.

In 1990, the Federal Communications Commission asked the first Bush administration to defend a policy aimed at encouraging more minority ownership of broadcast stations. As the number two man in the solicitor general's office, John G. Roberts Jr. played a critical role in the government's decision to reject the request, according to documents that came to light yesterday.
...
The White House, however, has refused to turn over memos and other documents Roberts wrote during that time frame, contending it would have a chilling effect on the advice the government receives from its lawyers. Meanwhile, Roberts has argued that the positions he took on behalf of the government were not necessarily his own.
...
But with Republicans in firm control of the Senate and Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) opposed to the request, all Democrats can do is urge the White House to reconsider.

There are serious racial issues coming out of the remnants of the Crescent City and indeed all up and down the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Now is not the time to get steamrollered once again by a politician whose political life support includes orchestrated attacks on the storm victims, some of the poorest Americans who were and are the least able to defend themselves.

Roberts is that genial, whitebread under-the-radar rascist, some of whose 'best friends are colored', whose tickets have been punched by loyal service to his master, Beloved Leader. His concern for people of color is displayed in his adherence to his party's doctrince of benign neglect for anyone not White, Wealthy and Worldly, that is to say his concern is only that his social order not be upset by those who might need assistance from the Federal Government at any point in their lives if they are not involved in Federal Corporate Welfare.

Hold him or filibuster him. It doesn't matter a whit to me. If the 1600 Crew refuses to produce every single document asked for in a timely manner, then allowing Roberts on the court because of some allegiance a mythical "collegiality" is akin to handing the country over to the forces of darkness for the next three or more decades. And short of impeaching him later, crying about shoulda-coulda-woulda years from now won't do a damn thing other than waste valuable oxygen my kids might need to breath.

From John over at AmericaBlog:

And note that Bush's rating on Katrina is 36% positive, 61% negative. Those are the REAL polls, folks. The only people supporting him are the FOX News/Pat Robertson borg. Screw them, we don't need more than 61% to win, and we need to stop focusing on the fact that 36% of Americans like Bush - they'd like him even if he ate their children.

Introducing...well, go read it.

Y'all can put lipstick on a pig, but at the end of the day, it's still a p-i-g pig.

Barbara Bush was making "a personal observation" when she said poor people at a relocation center in Houston were faring better than before Hurricane Katrina struck, President Bush's spokesman said Wednesday.

Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, did not answer directly when asked if the president agreed with his mother's remarks.
...
McClellan, at the White House briefing, said: "I think she was making a personal observation on some of the comments that people were making that she was running into. ... But what we're focused on is helping these people who are in need."

Interesting blip from a story in the Post. Specter talks to French Fry:

"I talked to him about consensus-building," the senator said. "He said that was something that he thought was important" and will be a priority if he is confirmed.

Consensus-building. The only consensus built in this government is whether or not to borrow sixty trillion or seventy trillion from Beijing to give more tax breaks to millionaire buddies of Beloved Leaders'.

Money, Money, where to spend the dough?

The administration of President George W Bush cut the $27.1 million budget requested by the Corps of Engineers for improving the levees in 2005 by more than 80% to $3.9 million, although Congress finally raised the grant to $5.7 million, compared to $10 million in 2001.

The $100 million 2005 budget requested by the Southeast Louisiana Flood control project was slashed to $16.5 million by Bush and Congress finally awarded $34 million to the scheme, compared to $69 million in 2001.

In 2004, the U.S. Senate proposed its own $318 billion version of George W. Bush's $256 billion six-year transportation bill. Though it was stalled by the threat of a Bush veto, the so-called Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA) had many supporters, among them House Transportation and Infrastructure chairman, Don Young (R-Alaska), whose state would receive $200 million for a mile-long bridge linking Ketchikan, Alaska with its airport, a five-minute ferry ride from town. Ketchikan's population at the time? 7,845.

Bugman speaks. This is not the Blame Game.

DeLay added that Alabama and Mississippi did a much better job of responding quickly than Louisiana. Alabama and Mississippi have Republican governors. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco is a Democrat.

When I took my orders to go off and become a fling-wing phlyer after I won my Golden Leg-spreaders, one of the reasons I wanted to fly rotary-wing aircraft was because of the SAR mission and capabilities of helicopters. It's a great mission, which helicopters were built for. So when a couple of my brethern at NAS Pensacola went off and did a little people-savin' on their own, after a logistics run to drop off supplies, well the folks at Base Ops at NASP weren't too happy happy.

Two Navy helicopter pilots and their crews returned from New Orleans on Aug. 30 expecting to be greeted as lifesavers after ferrying more than 100 hurricane victims to safety.

Instead, their superiors chided the pilots, Lt. David Shand and Lt. Matt Udkow, at a meeting the next morning for rescuing civilians when their assignment that day had been to deliver food and water to military installations along the Gulf Coast.

"I felt it was a great day because we resupplied the people we needed to and we rescued people, too," Lieutenant Udkow said. But the air operations commander at Pensacola Naval Air Station "reminded us that the logistical mission needed to be our area of focus."

The episode illustrates how the rescue effort in the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina had to compete with the military's other, more mundane logistical needs.
...
The two lieutenants were each piloting a Navy H-3 helicopter - a type often used in rescue operations as well as transport and other missions - on that Tuesday afternoon, delivering emergency food, water and other supplies to Stennis Space Center, a federal facility near the Mississippi coast. The storm had cut off electricity and water to the center, and the two helicopters were supposed to drop their loads and return to Pensacola, their home base, said Cmdr. Michael Holdener, Pensacola's air operations chief.

"Their orders were to go and deliver water and parts and to come back," Commander Holdener said.

But as the two helicopters were heading back home, the crews picked up a radio transmission from the Coast Guard saying helicopters were needed near the University of New Orleans to help with rescue efforts, the two pilots said.

Out of range for direct radio communication with Pensacola, more than 100 miles to the east, the pilots said, they decided to respond and turned their helicopters around, diverting from their mission without getting permission from their home base. Within minutes, they were over New Orleans.

"We're not technically a search-and-rescue unit, but we're trained to do search and rescue," said Lieutenant Shand, a 17-year Navy veteran.
...
Seeing people on the roofs of houses waving to him, Lieutenant Udkow headed in their direction. Hovering over power lines, his crew dropped a basket to pick up two residents at a time. He took them to Lakefront Airport, where local emergency medical teams had established a makeshift medical center.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Shand landed his helicopter on the roof of an apartment building, where more than a dozen people were marooned. Women and children were loaded first aboard the helicopter and ferried to the airport, he said.

Returning to pick up the rest, the crew learned that two blind residents had not been able to climb up through the attic to the roof and were still in the building. Two crew members entered the darkened building to find the men, and led them to the roof and into the helicopter, Lieutenant Shand said.
...
While refueling at a Coast Guard landing pad in early evening, Lieutenant Udkow said, he called Pensacola and received permission to continue rescues that evening. According to the pilots and other military officials, they rescued 110 people.

The next morning, though, the two crews were called to a meeting with Commander Holdener, who said he told them that while helping civilians was laudable, the lengthy rescue effort was an unacceptable diversion from their main mission of delivering supplies. With only two helicopters available at Pensacola to deliver supplies, the base did not have enough to allow pilots to go on prolonged search and rescue operations.
...
Dozens of military aircraft are now conducting search and rescue missions over the affected areas. But privately some members of the Pensacola unit say the base's two available transport helicopters should have been allowed to do more to help civilian victims in the days after the storm hit, when large numbers of military helicopters had not reached the affected areas.

In protest, some members of the unit have stopped wearing a search and rescue patch on their sleeves that reads, "So Others May Live."

These two guys did a good thing GREAT THING, they went in and helped out when some Coasties asked for assistance, and since they likely did not have HF radios on board, they couldn't call back to NASP while airborne to ask for permission to continue their SAR ops. But they did when they stopped for gas, and were granted permission to carry on; exactly what they should have done.

Now they're in hack for not being "team players" on someone's team (gee, wonder whose) FEMA. Someone who's still in the Naval Helicopter Association ought to nominate these guys and their crews for a SAR award next year...they went and did it.

Preznit Safety Net went off to eulogize the moldering corpse of William Rehnquist today. Rehnquist, who never met a quasi-fascist argument he couldn't support will be buried in Arlington, a place for Heroes, not Zeroes like him. Here's Preznit Fumble Fuck:

"We remember the integrity and the sense of duty that he brought to every task before him,"

Lito Pena is sure of his memory. Thirty-six years ago he, then a Democratic Party poll watcher, got into a shoving match with a Republican who had spent the opening hours of the 1964 election doing his damnedest to keep people from voting in south Phoenix.

"He was holding up minority voters because he knew they were going to vote Democratic," said Pena.

The guy called himself Bill. He knew the law and applied it with the precision of a swordsman. He sat at the table at the Bethune School, a polling place brimming with black citizens, and quizzed voters ad nauseam about where they were from, how long they'd lived there -- every question in the book. A passage of the Constitution was read and people who spoke broken English were ordered to interpret it to prove they had the language skills to vote.

By the time Pena arrived at Bethune, he said, the line to vote was four abreast and a block long. People were giving up and going home.

Pena told the guy to leave. They got into an argument. Shoving followed. Arizona politics can be raw.
...
The guy Pena remembers tossing out of Bethune School prospered, too. Bill Rehnquist, now better known as William H. Rehnquist, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, presided yesterday over a case that centers on whether every vote for president was properly recorded in the state of Florida.

In his confirmation hearings for the court in 1971, Rehnquist denied personally intimidating voters and gave the explanation that he might have been called to polling places on Election Day to arbitrate disputes over voter qualifications. Fifteen years later, three more witnesses, including a deputy U.S. attorney, told of being called to polling places and having angry voters point to Rehnquist as their tormentor. His defenders suggested it was a case of mistaken identity.

Thanks to TBogg for the lead to that story.

Make it this.

The Government did not tell the media what to report, or not report, sometimes they really, really wanted to but there was this little thing called the First Amendment, in a quaint document called the 'Bill of Rights'. In modern times, the Media is all about Access, and the government is all about Granting Access. Access has all kind of perks, like big salaries for those who have it, and lots of face-time on camera to make you a "star" and best of all, a Nickname from America's Worst President Ever, because Nicknames make you feel like you have "Insider Access".

So now when stories need to be told, the government says "tell this, but don't tell that" and those with Insider Access dutifully and gravely nod their heads and say "OK, we won't because we want to keep our multi-million dollar salaries, and our fame and most of all, our Nicknames at events where we get to see the Naked Emporer in person."

The U.S. agency leading Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts said Tuesday that it does not want the news media to photograph the dead as they are recovered.
...
"We have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the media," the spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

This just in (my emphasis).

One week after the hurricane inflicted devastation of biblical proportions on the Gulf Coast, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the total tab for the federal government may top $150 billion. At the same time, senators in both parties said they suspect price gouging by oil companies in the storm's aftermath.

Perhaps it's time to help fund the long-term hurricane recovery recovery efforts with a Windfall Profits Tax that by law can't be passed on to consumers in future energy prices. That might make them think twice before gouging and raise a little cash for the massive efforts that will be undertaken in the future...

Jon Stewart on The Daily Show was absolutely devastating tonight. If you can catch it in reruns, or watch the feed from Comedy Central, make some time in your day to do it. His use of humor to bitchslap the republicans, especially Michael Brown and Preznit Knows Nothing were classic.

Ed Helms doing the best imitiation of Beloved Leader: "We're Zucchini eaters; we eat Zucchini". (Beloved Leaders statement: "We're problem solvers, we solve problems".) Thinking back on that riff from Helms, I can just hear Preznit Always AWOL when he made one of his few, actual flights in the TANG: "My airspeed is slow, I've got slow airspeed"...no wonder they sent him for remedial training then grounded his sorry ass.

Hey Kids! It's the new 1600 Crew BLAME GAME. Todays press gaggle with Scotty-scotty-bo-botty-bonana-fana-fo-fotty-mi-my-mo-motty Scotty:

Q I'm asking a direct question. Is he confident --

MR. McCLELLAN: We're going to remain focused on the people.

Q -- that he can secure the American people in the event of a major terrorist attack?

MR. McCLELLAN: We are securing the American people by staying on the offensive abroad and working to spread freedom and democracy in the Middle East.

Q That's a talking point. That's a talking point.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, that's a fact.

Go ahead.

Q No, it's not. And you think people who are watching this think that's -- from what does he derive that confidence, based on the response --

Read the gaggle, between Valerie Plame and Hurricane Katrina, some of the press corpse might have awakened from their kewl-kidz stupor.

Q But why didn't he -- but why weren't teams deployed to the Convention Center? Why weren't teams deployed to the Superdome? Why were people without water, without food? Why was there looting in New Orleans for survival? And you're talking about zero tolerance. Why did these things happen over a period of days, and you start seeing Mr. Brown on the air talking about he didn't know about the Convention Center and other things. Why?

MR. McCLELLAN: Look, you're getting into all the after-action analysis, and I can't tell you all the --

Q And you're saying there is not a blame game, but you open the door to the response --

MR. McCLELLAN: I can't tell you that everything you said is factually correct, and they've got -- we've got to look at all the facts. We've got to determine what worked, what didn't work, and apply -- (my em)

So, put on your ancient history hats...everybody remember Kelo, and how the Supreme Court says it's OK to bulldoze your house to put up a shopping mall, or hotel or some other tax-producing entity, because, well, developers gotta eat...

Some states and cities are reacting to the outrage of local citizenry by well, reacting. By passing legislation that forbid the kind of 'takings' that Kelo specifically allows...except (and you knew there was an exception, right?)...

The Institute for Justice, a Washington-based libertarian think tank, said that hundreds of local governments around the country are also debating new ordinances to restrict the use of eminent domain. Many have passed laws this summer barring any seizure of private property for commercial development. Other cities are tightening the conditions that could authorize such seizure.

Several members of Congress have introduced legislation that would bar federal financing for any local government project that condemns property for a commercial development. But Congress did authorize governments to condemn property for the benefit of energy companies in the new energy bill that President Bush signed last month.

There's been a lot of discussion around blogtopia (y! sctp! now give him a buck or two for royalties for Hurricane charities) about the past 25 years of conservative repudiation of governments role in everything. Except your bedroom. The prevailing wind has been from both ends of Pennsylvania Ave to sail along with the Grovel Nosetwist philosophy of "drowning government in the bathtub", which by itself brings up some frightening allusions to child-abuse right there.

The two and a half decades of tax-cutting institutional madness have led us to one thing: a government that can pour money into the pockets of its friends and campaign contributors, a government which prizes form over substance and the leadership of that government is so corrupt that it has to hide its own misdeeds from an even purportedly "friendly" congress, eschewing oversight at every turn.

So when a natural disaster the size of Katrina hits, what's been the value proposition for the residents of a state which has roundly supported the politics an policies of 'drowning the government in a bathtub'?

Tent cities aren't a happy option, but neither is haphazard improvisation. Is the problem the Bush administration's ideological fervor for small government? Does the White House really believe that primary responsibility should fall on volunteers, church groups and individuals? Or is it just stunning incompetence and lack of foresight?

And now our President, whose moral and physical cowardice sets him apart from virtually any leader in modern times, save perhaps the dictators of North Korea is attempting to politicize and deflect blame from himself, so he can continue to loot and pillage the government to allow the continued submersion of Federal Government in that metaphorical bathtub.

That submersion has become all too real to the displaced residents of New Orleans, and will be for the foreseeable future. I wonder how that will affect their view of metaphorical bathtubs and drownings in the 2006 elections and beyond?

quote from the Eugene Robinson

Commenter Jing Liang makes a most astute observation in comments:

Well, if one thing is different from 9/11, Bush can't use "national security" to keep things classified.

Well, this answers a few questions about how US Foreign Policy is shaped. Condi is a Dominionist.

...asked to say a few words from the pulpit, rice, a preacher's daughter, said: "the lord jesus christ is going to come on time." she added: "if we just wait."

via Skippy.

Now that Preznit Fluffing Arabians poll numbers are dropping, he's "cleared" his September schedule to "work" on the political damage inflicted by Katrina.

Blanco was not informed of the timing of Bush's visit, nor was she immediately invited to meet him or travel with him. Blanco's office didn't know Bush was coming until told by reporters. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House reached out to Blanco's office Sunday, but didn't hear back, and White House staff in Louisiana spoke with Blanco early Monday.

During his stop at Bethany, several people ran up to meet Bush as he and first lady Laura Bush wandered around the room. But just as many hung back and just looked on.

"I'm not star-struck. I need answers," said Mildred Brown, who has been there since Tuesday with her husband, mother-in-law and cousin. "I'm not interested in handshaking. I'm not interested in photo ops. This is going to take a lot of money."

Bush hasn't gone a day without a public event devoted to the storm and its aftermath. But none of those trips so far — nor appearances by several Cabinet members in the region — has quieted complaints that Washington's response to the disaster has been sluggish.

As far as the aftermath of the disaster, he could give a Flying Fuck, unless there's a way to manipulate the outcome/media/public perception for the benefit of the 1600 Crew.

From Attaturk over at Rising Hegemon.

Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led Al Qaeda in Iraq took open control of a key western town at the Syrian border, deploying its guerrilla fighters in the streets and flying Zarqawi's black banner from rooftops, tribal leaders and other residents in the city and surrounding villages said.

A sign newly posted at the entrance of Qaim declared, "Welcome to the Islamic Kingdom of Qaim." A statement posted in mosques described Qaim as an "Islamic kingdom liberated from the occupation."

Rove's next task: tying Zarqawi to Blanco. Then he'll pass on some "off the record" information purporting to have audio of them talking about the brilliant weather manipulation of Katrina by Al-Qaeda to embarrass Beloved Leader, followed by a Swift-boating of all the displaced persons as "Welfare Queens" who are just out to get something for nothing. Did I miss anything?

Called this one...time for a lottery ticket. Email me for the numbers, and I'll paypal you the cash.

President Bush announced this morning that he will nominate John G. Roberts as the 17th chief justice of the United States.

I guess maybe Thomas and Scalia will just have to realize the most important thing of all, being a loyal retainer for the Bush Family Evil Empire just isn't enough. Being "their kind" of people is the last part of the equation. Kanye West wasn't blowing smoke out his ass at that benefit show. If you can't afford to shop at shi-shi designer boutiques, the price of admission is way too high for just casual entry into the circle of loyalists. If you aren't an Ivy-League eastern elite from old robber baron-industrialist WASP money, or your last name ends in a vowel, admission to the inner circle will never be forthcoming.

Victor Davis Hanson, who calls himself a "military historian" has this wholly unbelievable piece of trash in the NYT this weekend.

We forget that once war breaks out, things usually get far worse before they get better. We should remember that 1943, after we had entered World War II, was a far bloodier year than 1938, when the world left Hitler alone. Similarly, 2005 may have brought more open violence in Iraq than was visible during Saddam's less publicized killings of 2002. So it is when extremists are confronted rather than appeased. But unlike the time before the invasion, when we patrolled Iraq's skies while Saddam butchered his own with impunity below, there is now a hopeful future for Iraq.

Hanson writes the entire column from a Bay Area opium den, I think. There is little of substance or reality, his entire column is nothing but cheerleading and urging "stay the course" apologia for a failed strategy for a preemptive war of the wrong choice(s).

I guess as a historian, it would be too much to ask that VDH remember one simple, historical fact: Saddam was Our Guy, before He Wasn't.

Frank Rich, as many have noted has hit another homer today, and he closes his column with this:

The answers to what went wrong in Washington and on the Gulf Coast will come later, and, if the history of 9/11 is any guide, all too slowly, after the administration and its apologists erect every possible barrier to keep us from learning the truth. But as Americans dig out from Katrina and slouch toward another anniversary of Al Qaeda's strike, we have to acknowledge the full extent and urgency of our crisis. The world is more perilous than ever, and for now, to paraphrase Mr. Rumsfeld, we have no choice but to fight the war with the president we have.

Clearly, the cronyism and incompetence of the DHS is not making anyone any safer. The color-coded joke scale was a cute attempt to show that they were "doing something", when in fact they were doing nothing at all. Except inspecting my shoes at airports.

This is an issue that affects every elected representative, regardless of party...the next Katrina or 9/11 may be coming to your state or district. If you only want to sniff the Preznit's butt crack for a few laurel and hearty handshakes and leave your constituents in the same shape as the residents of New Orleans, knowing that you could have taken postive action now, instead of dancing to the tune of Denny Hastert, Tom Delay and Bill Frist, re-election might be the least of your worrys one day...your family might be living in the next superdome, because when push comes to shove, starving, scared people aren't going to care who you're related to as they take what they need to survive.

I suspect that the moral cowardice of most congressional types on both sides of the aisle won't allow much questioning to be done. I hope I'm wrong. The 1600 Crew has already started the Swift-boats, not to save the destitute in New Orleans, but to make sure that their leaders never draw another breath in criticism of the Faultless, Blameless One.

Besides making that donation to a disaster relief organization, perhaps donating five minutes of time to call a congress person and demand real, honest-to-goodness oversight might make all the suffering have at least one positive outcome. Congress could do its job again.

From skippy:

to be fair, at least all of awol's buddies got your tax dollars for the homeland security contracts they were awarded. it's not like the last four years and billions of dollars have been completely wasted. we recommend you review your personal emergency kit. check battery supplies, etc. because, what awol has spent the last week demonstrating, is that when osama punks him again, we are all on our own. (my em)

From Jane over at Firedoglake, concerning FEMA director Michael Brown:

"He's done a hell of a job, because I'm not aware of any Arabian horses being killed in this storm,"

Does it get anymore blatant than this?

Beyond that, some Republicans said the perception among some blacks that the White House had been slow to respond because so many victims were poor and African-American undercut what had been one of the primary initiatives of the new Republican chairman, Ken Mehlman: making an explicit appeal for support among black voters, a constituency that has traditionally been overwhelmingly Democratic.
...
But Mr. Bush, reflecting concern within the White House about the president's standing among blacks, notably said in his radio address that "we have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters all along the Gulf Coast, and we will not rest until we get this right and the job is done." (my em)

Preznit Cant B. Blamed is once again seeking ways to blame everyone else but anyone in the 1600 Crew.

Bush, who has been criticized, even by supporters, for the delayed response to the disaster, used his weekly radio address to put responsibility for the failure on lower levels of government. The magnitude of the crisis "has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities," he said. "The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans. And that is unacceptable."

Simply amazing...

How's that for a simple phrase to sum up the 1600 Crew and its political appointees over at FEMA? This is some of the most interesting reading of the day...

Born out of the confused and uncertain response to 9/11, the massive new Department of Homeland Security was charged with being ready the next time, whether the disaster was wrought by nature or terrorists. The department commanded huge resources as it prepared for deadly scenarios from an airborne anthrax attack to a biological attack with plague to a chlorine-tank explosion.

But Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday that his department had failed to find an adequate model for addressing the "ultra-catastrophe" that resulted when Hurricane Katrina's floodwater breached New Orleans's levees and drowned the city, "as if an atomic bomb had been dropped."

Chertoff says that "there was no adequate model" for a fucking hurricane hitting the continental US? The terrorists who struck on 9/11 were the exception, hurricanes have been getting generated out in the equitorial ocean every spring and summer since there have been oceans on this planet. They are a predictable, understandable phenomenon studied by scientists for decades with great accuracy and detail. For Chertoff to make such a claim makes him quite simply, a lying fuck like his boss Beloved Leader, and the director of FEMA.

Unfortunately, as most others have pointed out, both of them will probably get the Medal of Freedom and Bunnypants will head to Crawford for another vacation sometime before the end of September.

You gotta wonder, is there anything that the 1600 Crew won't lie about?

The crew over at the Alternate Brain make a really really excellent point. Who the fuck cares if the Supreme Court is down two justices, (well one really, because O'Connor said she'll hang around until a replacement is sworn in). Preznit Pickle Humper has one consistent thing going for him in the five-plus years he's been in charge: Really, Really bad/shitty/awful/horrid appointments to everything. Chertoff, Brown, Rice, The entire NeoCon cabal, you name it. Roberts is just another hack lawyer who gave loyal service in the 2000 election debacle in Florida, suppressing the vote and constitutional process there.

Any Democrat who does not oppose both Roberts and whomever Preznit Foul Ball nominates for Recent Corpse Rehnquist (who, by the was also a hack lawyer appointed by Nixon) deserve neither our support, money, time or consideration. We need to start letting them know that NOW! Because sure as the sun comes up in the East, Preznit Eternal Vacation will start chatting up every Democrat who could filibuster a nomination with empty promises, cajolery, and ultimately threats as soon as the moldering corpse of Rehnquist is kicked into the ground at an over-priced funeral in the District.

1. Performance Politics
   
2. Fond Memories
   
3. Pure Genius
   
4. Long Arm of The Rove
   
5. Happy Saturday.
   
6. Forward into the past
   
7. BrownOut
   
8. New use for US Constitution: wiping Beloved Leaders Ass
   
9. Regrets...
   
10. Phrase Matching