Wandering around the internet I'm reading more and more about this avian flu, H5N1 I think it's called. It has a 55% mortality rate apparently, and it's on its way here epidemiologists think.

And apparently, the 1600 Crew have done nothing to prepare for it. We know its coming, have known for a while it seems, but Flying Spaghetti Monster forbid that the Department of Health and Human Services start working with drug companies to get vaccines out, or preventatives like Tamiflu, which is made by Roche Laboratories in mass quantities. Roche, quite likely wants to be compensated for their research and manufacture of Tamiflu. But with a Pandemic of this nature coming they need help manufacturing it if they don't have the capacity. So here's the deal, how about on a one-time basis, they release the drug from patent protection i.e. make it generic, and in return, because of the emergency they get a one-time five-year exemption from paying any Federal Corporate Taxes on everything and every subsidiary they own on the day they sign the deal. No taxes in return for a drug that might save tens of millions of people. They get paid, we stay healthy. Sounds fair to me, because on the day that you get sick with this bug, you'd probably be willing to pay anyone anything to get better.

Thoughts?

I have had a few requests to list all the names I've come up with for Our Beloved Preznit. Well, I did. Man, that was Hard Work!

So here in the Spirit of Immaturity and Joyful, Child-like abandon, I give them to you (as many as I could find)...Enjoy, I know I did! :)

Preznit Their Blood His Gutz
Preznit Kissin' Condi
Preznit Rexall Wrangler
Preznit Economic Disaster
Preznit Dangerous Pretzel
Preznit Illiterate
Preznit Yellow Stripe
Preznit Turd Smoker
Preznit Buggered and Beholden
Preznit Corporate Cum Licker
Preznit Purely Psychotic
Preznit "C" I Graduated
Preznit Texecution
Preznit Incredibly Irrational
Preznit Sucha Fuckin' Liar
Preznit Rubber Rectum
Preznit Defective Lucky Sperm
Preznit Constantly Failing Upwards

-continued after the jump -

Preznit Snot Licker
Preznit Gooey "Santorum"
Preznit Corporate Whore
Preznit Failed Intellect
Preznit Intellectually Inferior
Preznit Fascist Friendly
Preznit Man-Date
Preznit Wasted Semen
Preznit Perpetual Failure
Preznit Coprolith Brains
Preznit Corrupt DNA
Preznit Snot Gobbler
Preznit Reznit Doper
Preznit Rhetorical Retard
Preznit Wasted Days
Preznit Incredibly Insane
Preznit Bad Ideas
Preznit Coke Addled
Preznit Fry'em
Preznit Inherently Evil
Preznit Nitwit
Preznit Corporate $2 Whore
Prezint Prostrated4Dollars
Preznit Absurd
Preznit Unoriginality
Preznit Hides Everything
Preznit Cognitively Challenged
Preznit Lucky Sperm
Preznit Scripted Questions
Preznit Mission Accomplished
Preznit Openly Deserted
Preznit Slime Licker
Preznit Bunnypants
Preznit Turd Slurper
Preznit Gassed'n'Ready
Preznit KravenKristian
Preznit Culture of Life Vulture
Preznit Down Low
Preznit Runnin' Away
Preznit Loves Sum JimmyJeff
Preznit Assclown
Preznit $2 Crack Whore
Preznit Abysmally Amoral
Preznit Pathological Prevaricator
Preznit Wasted Blow
Preznit Morally Bankrupt
Preznit Waste o' Time
Preznit Horse Cranker
Preznit Horse Cock
Preznit Mission-still-not-Accomplished
Preznit Brush Hacker
Preznit Drippy Dick
Preznit Crapfest Commando
Preznit Equine Stroker
Preznit Equine Ejaculation
Preznit Fortunate Embryo
Preznit Unclean Urine
Preznit Completely Cowardly
Preznit Press Avoider
Preznit Intellectually Impaired
Preznit Horse Fluffer
Preznit Whale Shit
Preznit John Bircher
Preznit American AWOL
Preznit Ding-Dong
Preznit Spineless Invertebrate
Preznit Bought N. Paidfor
Preznit No Balance
Preznit Oedipal
Preznit Habitual Offender
Preznit Criminally Culpable
Preznit Deserting Fratboy
Preznit Never Responsible
Preznit Lies Forever
Preznit Minimal Intellect
Preznit Prevaricating Pendejo
Preznit Utterly Incapable
Preznit Stolen Election
Preznit Peter Principle
Preznit Slip'n'Fall
Preznit Business Failure
Preznit Oedipal Obsession
Preznit Mile-Wide Yellow Stripe
Preznit Eternal Ball-licker
Preznit Yeller-Bellied Coward
Preznit Bad Officer
Preznit Elephant Sucker
Preznit Pencil Dick
Preznit Equine Fluffer
Preznit Ball Licker
Preznit Cant B. Bothered
Preznit Cognitively Impaired
Preznit Cant Function
Preznit Swallow Not Spit
Preznit Strategery
Preznit Pickle Licker
Preznit All Hat No Cattle
Preznit Bonesman's Boner
Preznit Jawbone ... of an ASS
Preznit Record Vacations
Preznit Blow
Preznit Distracted by Shiny Things
Preznit C. Noe Evil
Preznit No Lie 2Big
Preznit Eternal Vacation
Preznit Long Vacations
Preznit Piltdown
Preznit Dickless Vacationer
Preznit DryDrunk
Preznit Pickle Humper
Preznit Fear Everything
Preznit Cant B. Blamed
Preznit Never Responsible
Preznit Fluffing Arabians
Preznit Dry Hole
Preznit Wholly Incompetant
Preznit Fumble Fuck
Preznit Always AWOL
Preznit Apron Strings
Preznit Nap Time
Preznit Avoids Accountability
Preznit Lifelong Failure
Preznit Legally Insane
Preznit Hates The Poor
Preznit Disenfranchise Blacks
Preznit Pond Scum
Preznit Election Fraud
Preznit Bubble Boy
Preznit Never Accountable
Preznit Insular Idiot
Preznit Potty Break
Preznit Deserting Coward
Preznit Endless Deficit
Preznit Compassionate Clownshoes
Preznit Platitudes
Preznit Abnormal Psych
Preznit Helpin' Rich Folks
Preznit Rubber Bloomers

via TBogg, the insane Michelle Malkin claims that the picture of Preznit Rubber Bloomers was photoshopped. Now "photoshopped" in our culture has come to mean "changed" and usually not for the better, especially out here in blogtopia. But as with all thing reality based, Malkin gets it wrong.

Update: A defensive Reuters photo editor explains who's responsible and also admits how the image was Photoshopped.

The white parts of the picture were overexposed, so a Reuters processor used Photoshop to burn down the note. This is a standard practice for news photos, Hershorn says, and the picture was not manipulated in any other way.

The Duchess on the budget...

That's what the annual federal deficit will be by 2015 on the current Bush course. Merely to balance the budget by then, we'd need a 37 percent tax hike. Or we can cut spending. We should cut spending. The test of today's GOP will be over which path they take in the future. God knows, this president won't make the hard calls. It's up to the Congress.

Nothing new to see here folks, it's the THC hard at work, coupled with the testoserone and the Kool-Aid. Move on.

In his continuing effort to look like more of a moron than he already is, Falafel O'Loofah has decided that all us "sek-u-lar" progressives want to have sex with ducks. Hmmmph, goes to show what he knows, Canadian Geese are much better, because a little rough goes a long way...and nothing says rough like a pissed-off Goose!

From the September 14 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: The secular progressive movement would like to have marriage abolished, in my opinion. They don't want it, because it is not diverse enough. You know, that's what this gay marriage thing is all about. But now, you know, the poly-amorphous marriage, whatever they call it, you can marry 18 people, you can marry a duck, I mean --

LIS WIEHL (co-host): A duck? Quack, quack.

O'REILLY: Well, why, you know, if you're in love with the duck, who is the society to tell you you can't do that?

This is not the first time that O'Reilly has expressed concern about the threat of marriage with farm animals. He has repeatedly warned that in the future, "[y]ou'll be able to marry a goat."

Hedley Lamarr: There might be legal precedent! Of course, Landsnatching . . . land, land, Land, see Snatch. Ah, Hailie vs. United Sates. Hailie: 7, United States: nothing. You see, it can be done!

The vultures are eyeing New Orleans because of the "belief that hundreds of billions of dollars in government aid is going to create a boomtown." And tonight the vulture-in-chief will promise them just that -- "the largest reconstruction effort ever on U.S. soil,"

So I added a few folks to the Fish Pond this week...let's see if I got them all here:

Julie with a B. you have to go read her Friday Joke...appropriate for the Great Rovian Reconstruction about to get underway. And I never knew that I had such a cute linkee...[blush]

Blog on the Run - long time commenter extraordinare here at DV

The Otter Side - Doc Otter, a fellow Navy Vet (of the Blackshoe variety) now practicing Medicine and he's just returned from NOLA where he was fixing up the practically psycopathic (no not Preznit Abnormal Psych) with meds and Dixie beer PRN (if indicated).

Drop by, enjoy their offerings and make them regular stops on your daily run through the wilds of Blogtopia! (y!sctp!)

Been out hunting quotes from folks who watched the speech:

"A day late and a dollar short," said 18-year-old Wayne State University student Rachel Aviles in Detroit. "I think he's more responding to the negative media than responding to fix the problem."

Jason Sawyer, 30, added his sarcasm as he watched at the Eastlake Zoo tavern in Seattle. When the president offered toll-free help numbers, Sawyer responded: "Oh yeah, pick up that cell phone that doesn't work and call FEMA."

What's sort of ironic, the operators who would answer the calls all have to get lengthy background checks for the DHS jobs; however similar BI's don't seem to apply to political appointees who can fuck up the situation, but do nothing to mitigate it -Michael Brown-. Really, who did the investigation on him? If it takes more credentialling to anwser the phone than to run the store, then there's a bigger problem than just the 1600 Crew. No, on second thought, there isn't.

For what it's worth, the Democratic Senators who are getting ready to allow John Roberts to become a Supreme Court Justice, er...Chief Justice should answer one question: If you are not going to filibuster this guy, then why should you be returned to office? This goes back to the aw-shit/attaboy maxim... one aw-shit (a vote for Roberts) wipes out 10,000 attaboys (their Senate careers).

Pass it on.

It's gonna just be fun to sit back and watch this go on. With The Mayberry Machiavelli running the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast, you have to wonder how well he'll be able to do it from a prison cell, unless of course he gets a Preznitial Pardon (!). The republicans are continuing apace with their usual destruction of America...

"Some new measures are already taking shape. In the past week, the Bush administration has suspended some union-friendly rules that require federal contractors pay prevailing wages, moved to ease tariffs on Canadian lumber, and allowed more foreign sugar imports to calm rising sugar prices. Just yesterday, it waived some affirmative-action rules for employers with federal contracts in the Gulf region.

"Now, Republicans are working on legislation that would limit victims' right to sue, offer vouchers for displaced school children, lift some environment restrictions on new refineries and create tax-advantaged enterprise zones to maximize private-sector participation in recovery and reconstruction."

Well, it was morbid curiosity that made me want to watch Preznit Endless Deficit get on the teevee. Should have listened to Donna, she had the right idea. Ignore the fucker. Oh well. 23 minutes of my life I'll never get back again...but anywayz...

Was it just me or was that opening scene, walking across that lawn in the mis-buttoned shirt just a little too Leni Riefenstahl? I kept expecting to hear some Wagner softly in the background from some of those speakers that look like rocks. And the smirk. Tonight was absolutely a smirk-a-thon extraordinaire. The Mrs walked in to the room and said "he looks like he's three and has one of those three year-old jokes he's just can't wait to finish." She's so perceptive sometimes.

For part of that speech I was pretty sure that Preznit Leave No Dollar Unspent was channeling FDR ... did we just witness the New Deal for New Orleans? Or was this just an egregious effort to buy votes for the upcoming election cycles that are sure to carry some bad news for the republicans. Then he got to channeling something, not sure what, maybe his inner zen-monkey or something. I'm pretty sure that when he either leaves or gets kicked out of being Preznit, he's got a gig waiting at the 700 Club invoking the Flying Spaghetti Monster for cash money on the installment plan.

Again, he's managed to bring more issues to the table with vague and stupid statements than he's got answers for. That whole thing about the military becoming first responders for an event like this, what's that all about? For logistics, sure. For medical support, sure. For law enforcement and fire-fighting and a score of other tasks. No. Unless of course he's planning to do away with Posse Comitatus, and move law enforcement to the military. No, Fuck no. If the DHS and FEMA worked as they were supposed to, there would be no need to ask the military for assistance much beyond the functions of the National Guard. But no, DHS and FEMA are as fucked up as can be, and the National Guard, why aren't they somewhere, ummmm... dry right now?

And money. Oh yeah. Everyone is convinced that they are not going to raise taxes to pay for any of this, it's all going on the big huge Government Platinum Card. Ah, where is the fiscal backbone to finally call bullshit on that? If they wanna pay, they gotta have the money first, and not get it by de-funding other programs that will leave the most needy in this country vulnerable, while the top 1% pay no taxes at all.

Was anyone else thinking while he was spouting off about how the good jobs rebuilding the Gulf Coast were going to put money back into the region, ah, hey buttfucker you just slashed the wages of every construction worker in the Gulf Coast for the forseeable future. Service sector jobs are next on that chopping block. Nice move, Preznit Compassionate Clownshoes.

And ah, excuse me, but which labor union folks outside of the Gulf Coast was he talking to? I seem to recall that unions in the Gulf Coast region don't exactly flourish, and they aren't going to be too happy with that whole wage thing... just a guess on my part.

I'm sure that Pegaloon has super moist knickers tonight...she's probably right now writing a paean to a Preznit.

Well, fine, but I'm down with a soliliquy to a shithead. Seems fair and balanced, right?

Oh, crap I almost forgot to mention it, but we got at least one Nine-Eleven and one WMD in there. How could he have a complete speech without mentioning either of those?

This kids, is talent. I am not worthy.

... and George Bush will address the nation tonight from New Orleans, cradling a black baby in each arm.

If you believe the crap that Beloved Leader is about to go off and spout, then hey I got a bridge across Lake Ponchartrain I'd like to sell you. A really long, low bridge.

Bush stopped in Pascagoula, Miss., where he toured a nearby Chevron refinery. Accompanying him were Sen. Trent Lott and Rep. Chip Pickering, both Mississippi Republicans, and several senior White House officials.

In his text, Bush, who was to speak from a New Orleans park, said the federal government would work with state and local authorities "so they can rebuild in a sensible, well-planned way."

"Federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone, from roads and bridges to schools and water systems. Our goal is to get the work done quickly. And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely — so we will have a team of inspector generals reviewing all expenditures."

Three major polls released today showed large segments of the public opposing key items on the president's agenda.

In a New York Times/CBS News poll, more than 60% of those surveyed said they did not share Bush's priorities, roughly 10 percentage points higher than when he was reelected in November. About 50% approved of the war on terrorism. More than 6 in 10 expressed unease about the president's ability to make right decisions on Iraq, and just 1 in 3 approved his handling of the economy. Overall, 41% approved of Bush's job performance.

Dan Bartlett, the 1600 Crew chief mouthpiece, was making the rounds of the morning shows to prep them for beloved leaders monologue in mea culpa (as if). Bartlett, if you remember was the tool who claimed back in the days of yore that Preznit Deserting Coward's personal physician was in Houston, which is why he missed his mandatory Flight Physical...Bartlett's lips moving...Bartlett lying.

A pinstriped Dan Bartlett made the morning show rounds today, appearing on ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN, and MSNBC, to preview the President's prime time speech.

On GMA, Bartlett responded in the negative to Charlie Gibson's suggestion that the "astronomical" cost of Katrina plus Iraq plus health care might require the nation to raise taxes.

"It unfortunately requires us to deficit spend," Bartlett said. "The worst thing that we could do is raise taxes. It would only hurt the economy."

For not going over to The Otter Side and reading Otter's Journey to NOLA. Added Otter to the blogroll, and also the Veterans blogroll (newly established).

Go read. A doc without peer.

From Jonathan Alter's Time article (really good) on Katrina, the aftermath and race.

Obama, the only African-American in the U.S. Senate, says "the ineptitude was colorblind." But he argues that while—contrary to rapper Kanye West's attack on Bush—there was no "active malice," the federal response to Katrina represented "a continuation of passive indifference" on the part of the government.

The 1600 Crew and the GOoPers have been actively about turning that $300 tax rebate into a blank check for crippling this country. Given that every family in America basically owns somewhere in the neighborhood of $110,000 of the National Debt right now, what happens to this country when it can't be paid? We can only sell each other our homes and max out our credit cards with 2nd, 3rd and 4th mortgages before we become objects of the "passive indifference" of the republicans who have tilted the tables in their favor for the foreseeable future.

The funniest (not ha-ha, but ironical) part of this is the wingnuts who believe that one day, if they are in trouble, their republicans will come riding to their rescue...somehow. All they need to do is take a close look at James Sensenbrenner to see the indifference of their party to the neediest in America. Tinkerbell is fucking DOA and no amount of clapping will work now, as long as they are building bridges to nowhere.

Those silly Moon Bats.

Just found this little tidbit. I'm guessing that since Castro has survived every president since Eisenhower, someone, somewhere ought to break that code that he's not going anywhere and Communism isn't leaving Cuba anytime soon.

"I hope people don't play politics," said President Bush in the hurricane's aftermath. But that message didn't get through at the State Department, which is playing politics by continuing to ignore Cuba's offer to send 34 tons of aid and the services of 1,586 doctors.

On the face of it, the State Department’s inaction is puzzling. Cuban doctors have much experience in helping the victims of tropical storms. In 1998, Cuba sent 2,000 doctors to Central America to help the victims of Hurricane Mitch, a storm far more devastating than Katrina. Cuba’s assistance was just part of a massive international outpouring, led by the United States, which sent more than $1 billion in aid. There is also a need for Spanish-speaking doctors in the Gulf Coast region. Americans obsessed by Katrina's racial angle have largely overlooked the fact that up to 40,000 Honduran immigrants, most of them poor, lived in Katrina’s path.

1600 Crew philosophy: If my house is burning down, and my neighbor offers me a hose, but he's a Democrat, I'll wait for the ideologically-correct volunteer fire department from two towns over to put out the blaze.

So as Preznit Insular Idiot roves around the Gulf Coast looking for, as MoDo puts it, another "bullhorn moment" that Other Gulf isn't looking too swift either. The difference there is that we've all been aware of the incompetance and shitty leadership from the 1600 Crew et.al., for what, going on Three and a Half Years now?

Insurgents killed more than 141 people Wednesday in at least 10 separate bombings and rocket attacks that made for one of Baghdad's deadliest days.

Targets included crowds of Iraqi civilians and at least three U.S. military convoys. The deadliest attack, in a northwest Baghdad neighborhood, exploded among crowds of Shiite Muslim day laborers gathered to look for work. Iraq's Interior Ministry spokesman, Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, said 90 people were killed.

Just as there were looters in the wake of Katrina, there were those memorable days of lawlessness in Iraq after the fall of Saddam. But lawlessness was OK back then (stuff happens!), as long as the Oil Ministry was secure. Massive stores of conventional weapons disappeared from armories controlled by the newly unemployed Sunni military, many of whom, dollars to donuts are some of the same "insurgents" or "terrorists" or whatever the label du jour is today.

These guys have learned the lessons that all opposition folks who use violence to promote an agenda learned long ago: the best way to use force is do it visibly and often (reverse shock and awe!). In the days leading up to the October 15th referendum, these attacks will become even more violent and more visible. The folks carrying out these attacks, or at least planning them worry little about losses of their soldiers, the 1600 Crew has supplied them with a ready-made group of recruits; everytime that Preznit Whitebread opens his mouth about "terrorists" he's talking about a demographically diverse group of men of Muslim faith. He's declared war on them personally and unlike his cowardly, deserting punk ass, they're willing to die for their convictions...I'm guessing there's a real low AWOL rate amongst Mujahadeen.

And they've declared war on US over there. The question is how long before they bring that war here, despite all the money we've given to all of the friends, contributors, lackeys and toadies of the 1600 Crew to "keep us safe"? Katrina has shown that the emperor has no clothes. Another catastrophic event will show that the only thing in the threadbare Imperial Closet was Ken Mehlman writing checks to the Swift Boaters, and other than that it's has been pretty empty since January 2001, and finding it out that way will be worse than just 'pretty bad'.

The still-uncaught Osama Bin Laden smiles everyday as he gets hooked up to his dialysis machine and thanks Allah that he gets to see Beloved Leader for what he is: Osama's Greatest Success Story.

Jeff Huber of Pen and Sword has an interesting post today over at ePluribus Media. Worth a read.

This will make you ill. If you have a friend, relative or even an acquaintance who is thinking about this, send them this article.

Don't read this if you just ate.

Eeeew.

Well, the 1600 Crew will always seek some way to let their cronies make a buck off you, or your corpse. Apparently the company that has extensiv e ties to the 1600 Crew, Service Corporation International, (SCI), is handling the bodies in Louisiana. SCI has an agreement through FEMA and the state of Louisiana, so you have to wonder what Kathleen Blanco is thinking, signing up with a company that has a track record of some not-so-savory practices.

In other words, FEMA and then Blanco outsourced the body count from Hurricane Katrina -- which many believe the worst natural disaster in U.S. history -- to a firm whose parent company is known for its "experience" at hiding and dumping bodies.

The Menorah Gardens cemetery chain, owned by SCI, desecrated vaults, removed hundreds of bodies from two cemeteries in Florida and dumped the gruesome remains in woods frequented by wild hogs, investigators discovered in 2001. In one case, a backhoe was used to crack open a vault, remove corpses and make room for more dead bodies.

SCI paid $100 million to settle a lawsuit filed by outraged family members of the deceased.

A secretary at the lawfirm that sued SCI over the Florida cemetery scandals gasped when informed that FEMA had outsourced handling of Katrina victims' bodies to an SCI subsidiary.

"Oh, good lord!" she said.

SCI was also involved in an earlier scandal in Texas. Eliza May, former Texas Funeral Service Commission Director, filed a lawsuit accusing George W. Bush, then Governor, of obstructing an investigation into SCI license violations. May was fired following a dispute with Waltrip.

Waltrip and an SCI lobbyist met with Governor Bush's chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh (Allbaugh was later appointed head of FEMA after Bush became President, but left to become a lobbyist representing Halliburton, among other corporate clients).

According to Newsweek, Bush stopped by and said to Waltrip, "Hey, Bobby, are those people still messing with you?"

May, a Democrat, sought to force Bush to testify in the case, but in August 1999, a Texas judge tossed out a subpoena issued by May's lawyers for Bush to give a deposition. Bush, who was not a defendant, called May's claims "frivolous" and denied knowing the circumstances of her ouster.

In 1999, when Bush was gearing up to run for the presidency, Texas Governor Rick Perry approved a settlement for May. SCI paid $55,000; the state of Texas shelled out the balance without admitting wrongdoing in May's termination.

I do wonder if Governor Blanco is even aware of the problems that SCI has had, and its reputation from some of the things that have happened.

Here's a handy-dandy chart for refuting all those pesky wingnut claims and talking points that some New Orleans residents just like to drown and such. I got it in an email from Think Progress. Enjoy.

CLAIM - STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS WERE MOSTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR FAILURES: "White House Shifts Blame to State and Local Officials" [Washington Post, 9/4/05]

FACT - BUSH PUT FEMA IN CHARGE OF EFFORT BEFORE KATRINA STRUCK: "Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency." [White House, 8/27/05]

FACT - FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ABLE TO ACT WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM STATES: The Wall Street Journal: "Mr. Chertoff activated the National Response Plan last Tuesday by declaring the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina an ‘Incident of National Significance.' The plan, which was rolled out to much fanfare in January, essentially enables Washington to move federal assets to the disaster without waiting for requests from state officials." [Wall Street Journal, 9/13/05]

CLAIM - NO ONE COULD HAVE PREDICTED BREACHED LEVEES: On ABC's Good Morning America, Bush said, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." [Good Morning America, 9/1/05]

FACT - LEVEE BREACH PREDICTED REPEATEDLY: Responding to Bush's comments on Meet the Press, Dr. Ivor Van Heerden of the LSU Hurricane Center "I didn't buy that because, you know, we had discussed on numerous occasions that a worst-case scenario would be if we had one of these major hurricanes and then we lost the levee systems." A White House advisor sat in on the "Hurricane Pam Exercise," a computer simulation of the possible effects of a Category 3 hurricane on New Orleans. The exercise found that "…a storm like Hurricane Pam would: cause flooding that would leave 300,000 people trapped in New Orleans, many of whom would not have private transportation for evacuation." [Meet the Press, 9/11/05]

CLAIM - GOV. BLANCO DELAYED STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARATION: In a Sept. 4 Washington Post article, which was corrected hours later, an anonymous Bush administration source claimed Governor Blanco had not yet declared a state of emergency in Louisiana. The Post reported, "As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said." [Washington Post, 9/4/05]

FACT - GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA ON AUGUST 26: Three days prior to when Katrina made landfall. [Office of the Governor, 8/26/05]

CLAIM - GOVERNORS WANTED FEMA TO BE WEAK: Brit Hume: "FEMA, first of all, is not a first responder. FEMA is basically a tiny little agency that has been kept weak. And you know why it's been kept weak? The governors want it that way." [Fox News Sunday, 9/11/05]

FACT - STATE OFFICIAL COMPLAINED ABOUT WEAKENING OF FEMA UNDER BUSH: "State and local disaster-relief officials have been complaining about the lack of federal involvement in emergency response for some time. Trina Sheets, the executive director of the National Emergency Management Association, which represents local emergency personnel, told Salon that "since the Department of Homeland Security was established there has been a steady degradation of the capabilities." [Salon, 9/7/05]

CLAIM - RESIDENTS WHO REMAINED IN NEW ORLEANS ARE TO BLAME FOR NOT EVACUATING: Sen. Rick Santorum said, "I mean, you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving." [Associated Press, 9/6/05]

FACT - MOST RESIDENTS WHO REMAINED COULDN'T AFFORD TO LEAVE: New York Times: "The victims, they note, were largely black and poor, those who toiled in the background of the tourist havens, living in tumbledown neighborhoods that were long known to be vulnerable to disaster if the levees failed. Without so much as a car or bus fare to escape ahead of time, they found themselves left behind by a failure to plan for their rescue should the dreaded day ever arrive." [New York Times, 9/2/05]

CLAIM - BUSH "STRUCK THE RIGHT BALANCE" BETWEEN HIRING POLITICAL CRONIES AND EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS: Vice President Cheney said Bush had "struck the right balance between political appointees and career professionals to oversee the relief efforts." [AP, 9/8/05]

FACT - MOST TOP FEMA OFFICIALS WERE POLITICAL HACKS: "Five of eight top Federal Emergency Management Agency officials came to their posts with virtually no experience in handling disasters." [Washington Post, 9/9/05]

CLAIM - MAYOR NAGIN LEFT 2,000 SCHOOL BUSES BEHIND IN THE FLOOD: Sean Hannity said, "You would have thought that the 2,000 buses, school buses, that sat in the yards would have been used to help those people that were incapable of getting out on their own, but none of that had happened locally." [Hannity and Colmes, 9/6/05]

FACT - NEW ORLEANS HAD LESS THAN 300 WORKING SCHOOL BUSES: "The [Orleans Parish school] district owns 324 buses but 70 are broken down." [New Orleans Times-Picayune, 9/5/05]

CLAIM - LOCAL OFFICIALS DESERVE BLAME FOR LACK OF EVACUATION BUSES : Rick Santorum claimed, "Many didn't have cars … And that really was a failure on the part of local officials in not making transportation available to get people out." [Times Leader,9/6/05]

FACT - LOUISIANA NATIONAL GUARD REQUESTED 700 BUSES FROM FEMA FOR EVACUATIONS, FEMA ONLY SENT 100: The Boston Globe reported, "On Sunday, the day before the storm, the Louisiana National Guard asked FEMA for 700 buses to evacuate people. It received only 100." [Boston Globe, 9/11/05]

CLAIM - MILITARY NOT STRETCHED THIN BY IRAQ: President Bush said, "We've got plenty of troops to do both. Let me just — let me just talk about that again. I've answered this question before, and you can speak to General Honore if you care to. He's the military man on the ground. It is preposterous to claim that the engagement in Iraq meant there wasn't enough troops here, just pure and simple." [White House, 9/12/05]

FACT - MILITARY LEADERS SAY IRAQ HAMPERED THEIR EFFORTS AFTER KATRINA: National Guard Chief Lt. Gen. Steven Blum said, "Had that (Mississippi and Louisiana) brigade been at home and not in Iraq, their expertise and capabilities could have been brought to bear." The Washington Post reported "In Louisiana and Mississippi, civilian and military leaders said the response to the hurricane was delayed by the absence of the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Infantry Brigade and Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade, each with thousands of troops in Iraq." [AP, 9/10/05, Washington Post, 9/10/05]

CLAIM - NEWSPAPERS REPORTED NEW ORLEANS HAD BEEN SPARED SIGNIFICANT HURRICANE DAMAGE: Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said, "I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, ‘New Orleans Dodged The Bullet.'" [Meet the Press, 9/4/05]

FACT - HEADLINES ACROSS THE COUNTRY ANNOUNCED "CATASTROPHIC" DAMAGE TO NEW ORLEANS: The Tuesday, August 30th edition of the Times-Picayune led with a banner headline reading, "CATASTROPHIC: Storm Surge Swamps 9th Ward, St. Bernard; Lakeview Levee Breach Threatens to Inundate City." Dozens of other major newspapers led with headlines describing Katrina's horrifying aftermath. [Times-Picayune, 8/30/05; Newseum via Wonkette]

Thanks to Judd Legum over at Think Progress. The original can be found here.

Dont. Be. Fooled.

Preznit Never Accountable "took" responsibility for the disaster that was Katrina. Gee, guess the man who never looks at poll numbers must've seen his dropping below his daddy's and approaching Richard Nixon's like a Space Shuttle on short final to the Cape. But wait, let's listen in on Beloved Leader:

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government and to the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," ...

He repeated his desire to find out exactly what went wrong on every level of government.

"It's in our national interest that we find out exactly what went on ... so we can better respond," Bush said.

See how easy that was?

to the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility,"

Hey, I'm going to be updating the Fish Pond this week. Some of the blogs over there have rolled over and are belly up, they need to get moved on out. If you blogroll me, and I have not added you in the past, and want a link back, let me know. I am going to do my best to make changes all week to get it up to date.

Thanks. Leave your link in comments; it'll make it easier to add them.

Also, I'm dumping Volokookhieh conspiracy...any nominees for a readable, reasonable non-homophobic (yeah, that may be a stretch) wingnut blog that's not the Duchess of Dupont?

From the Time article about the cock-up at in the 1600 Crew on their handling of Katrina. Can you smell the flopsweat?

Bush has governed largely from the right after winning the election decisively with his people on his issues, with few concessions to the center. Bush said at his re-election victory celebration that the new term would be "a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation"--a pledge that now carries fresh urgency.

By late last week, Administration aides were describing a three-part comeback plan. The first: Spend freely, and worry about the tab and the consequences later. "Nothing can salve the wounds like money," said an official who helped develop the strategy.

The second tactic could be summed up as, Don't look back. The White House has sent delegates to meetings in Washington of outside Republican groups who have plans to blame the Democrats and state and local officials.

The third move: Develop a new set of goals to announce after Katrina fades. Advisers are proceeding with plans to gin up base-conservative voters for next year's congressional midterm elections with a platform that probably will be focused around tax reform.

Preznit Bubble Boy has never been in a weaker state than he his right now, politically. Performance means taking every opportunity to point out where he's wrong (tax cuts, too much deficit spending) and propose viable sensible alternatives and find republicans who agree. We don't abandon our principles to engage allies from across the aisle, but we do abandon them when we do nothing at all to oppose this idiot ruining our country.

Michael Brown, You've Resigned From FEMA, What Are You Going To Do Now?

Well, given that his former roomie got him the FEMA job in the first place, I guess he could hire Brownie, after all he's got a heckuva tag line for his cover letters: Preznit Bunnypanties sez "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job".

On the other hand, there hasn't been resume that's been that thoroughly dissected since Jayson Blair trickfucked the New York Times into believing he was an honest journalist. So if you're Brownie, how do you get a job given that your resume is better known than the Bill of Rights by Abu Gonzales? I mean, c'mon, is anyone going to believe that stuff about actually working at FEMA, much less running it?

Well, I guess there's always [sigh] a right-wing think-tank. In a couple of months when he's no longer hot property, he can start 'rehabilitating' himself, by writing for the Corner and attacking various minor Democrats, while working his way up the talk show circuit. It's already been established he doesn't know a disaster when he sees one, I guess that includes his career. Besides, Preznit Election Fraud still owes him for Florida last year, so he's got that going for him...

No. Really. It almost gets no better than this. In the race to see where the intel could be falsified faster, CIA with the close personal supervision of Darth Cheney, or in Doug Feith's Oujia Board Parlor in the aptly-named Bowels of Pentagon for the smelly shit that came forth, it seems that the Intel Cooking Brigade missed something. Our dearest friend and dictator du jour, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan-land seemingly managed to let some of those pesky neutron-filled secrets out of his borders. Gee, imagine that...those highly secure borders between the countries of Pakistan and Al-Qaeda let something go through. Hmmm, imagine the bad luck.

President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan said yesterday that he believed that a Pakistani nuclear expert who ran the world's largest proliferation ring exported "probably a dozen" centrifuges to North Korea to produce nuclear weapons fuel. He added, however, that after two years of interrogations there was still no evidence about whether the expert also gave North Korea a Chinese-origin design to build a nuclear weapon.
...
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also speaking to reporters yesterday at The New York Times, praised General Musharraf for working in three areas, and said the United States would be supportive: helping to pursue members of Al Qaeda, creating "diplomatic space" for operating by reaching out to India and Israel, and working to improve education and the economy to discourage militancy. "There are parts of Pakistan that are extremely poor where you get breeding grounds for this kind of extremism," she said, and the United States would help him deal with those.

Seriously, the whole WMD claim was such bullshit four years ago, when the verifiable programs existed in both Iran and North Korea. But the neocon warlovers had no desire to push for an invasion there; an Irani scenario was a no-win for the US, and besides no Bush family member had their portrait on the floor of a hotel, and the North Koreans would have Nuked Seoul, Tokyo, China and something else, just because they could. There was no neocon doctrine for an invasion of North Korea, there would have been no oil riches only thousands of starving refugees, and we know how well the 1600 Crew deals with poor people who need assistance: here's the lifeboat, sorry about the holes. See Ya!

I read this and right after I got done dunking my head in the sink to cool off my brain, I sat down and reread it. It makes me no happier on second reading.

In laying out areas of potential inquiry, the Democrats were generally polite and, with few exceptions, largely devoid of passion.

Letting Robert get by with the 1600 Crew stonewalling document requests, and him not answering questions makes for some really, really bad precedent. The Senate Democrats have already managed to do a better-than-passing impersonation of a hooker who has lost her looks and is now down to performing nothing but blow-jobs to make enough to score a meal, with their bowing, scraping, fawning and kneeling on demand from the Rovewellian Ministry of Beating the shit out of compliant Democrats.

It's way past time for them to get up off their knees and start acting like the grown-ups they are supposed to be. It's all about Performance and now the spotlight is upon them: Perform or Be Gone. Is that really hard to Understand?

And I, myself, thought we had dodged a bullet. ... the bullet has been dodged.

Apparently as the flood waters start to slowly recede in N'Awlins and along the Guff Coast, the one thing that they are finding under the newly dried-out land, is lower poll numbers for Bunnypants!.

Even some members of Bush's own party appear to have lost faith in their leader: The president's overall approval rating among Republicans has declined from 91 percent in January to 78 percent in the latest poll. Overall, barely half the country now characterize Bush as a "strong leader" -- down 12 points since May of last year. And the percent who say he can be "trusted in a crisis" likewise has fallen from 60 percent to 49 percent now.

Together, the poll portrays an increasingly unpopular president who is under siege at home and abroad. It also suggests that the public is growing impatient with an administration that once seemed so sure-footed but now seems unable to deal effectively with crises at home and abroad.

The only sad part of this is that the media, which has been blinded by their own ambition to maintain that precious "access" to the 1600 Crew, would make a statement like that; about an administration that seemed so "sure footed" making missteps. The only people in America who believed that the 1600 Crew were "sure footed" were the Kool-aid Drinking Kewl Kidz of the Media and the Christo-Fascisti. The rest of the 51% of the morons who voted for Preznit Disenfranchise Blacks just more convinced that John Kerry could not protect them because the Smirk-Crashcart campaign told them so. Had Katrina happened last year, I suspect November might have told a different story...by far.

Well, woulda-should-coulda, wish in one hand, shit in the other and see which one fills up first. It's on to 2006 and some elections to take over at least one chamber of Congress. Then let the games begin.

Especially appropriate after September 11th, I suppose. A little humor for your Monday:

A man died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him. He asked, "What are all those clocks?"

St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie, the hands on your clock will move." "Oh," said the man, "whose clock is that?"

"That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie." "Incredible," said the man.

"And whose clock is that one?" St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire life."

"Where's President Bush's clock?" asked the man. "Bush's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan."

From his column in today's Post.

"Rewriting history is a detestable practice, the War in Iraq is all Bill Clinton's fault anyhow."

Hey, Bob, can I call you Bob? I'll be happy to buy you an M-16, a box of ammo and a plane ticket to Baghdad, like many of our soldiers over there you're on your own for Body Armor. Once you land, you're on your own though. I hear the cab ride from the airport is an unqualified bitch. While enroute to the Green Zone, please reflect on how the improved Islamic Republic of Iraq will be a better ally to the US, as well as being less repressive than Saddam and more open to Western Influence.

A one-thousand word essay on the inclusion of the new governments acceptance of Womens Rights, the rights of its minority citizens who practice a different form of Islam and the benefits of Sharia Law for poorly educated citizens would be nice.

I guess that it would be really, really nice to hear from you, one of the "leading thinkers" in US Foreign Policy why after decades of the US supporting dictators globally, including Saddam Hussein, it became necessary to go to war in Iraq and overthrow him. Are we targeting Islam Karmiov next, he's a putative "ally", but also a "really bad man" in the mold of Saddam, boils opponents alive, I hear. Or why, in our own hemisphere did we not invade Chile, Pinochet was a "really bad man" too...

On September 11, 1973, the military, led by Pinochet, stormed the presidential palace and seized power from president Allende, who was found dead soon after. A junta headed by Pinochet was established, which immediately suspended the constitution, dissolved Congress, imposed strict censorship, proscribed the leftist parties that had constituted Allende's Popular Unity coalition, and halted all political activity. In addition, it embarked on a campaign of terror against leftist elements in the country. As a result, approximately 3,000 Chileans were executed or disappeared, more than 27,000[2] were imprisoned or tortured, and many were exiled and received abroad as political refugees.

But bottom line, and your buddy the Once-and-Future Alcoholic spilled it the other day was Oil. It was always about the oil. In your fevered Neo-Con dreams, you envisioned a walk-through because you figured the brown folk wouldn't fight, they laid down for the first invasion, there was no reason to think differently this time. A closer reading of their history Bob would have shown that occupations there have not been successful, and never would be, certainly by a non-Arabic speaking mass of "infidels" no matter how noble their intent.

It's one thing to show up with a gun, and another to show up with a gun, a reason and a plan. The 1600 Crew did the former, eschewing the latter because all the Chickenhawks were convinced that in a land they didn't understand, a gun could rule and a plan could follow and no reason had to be given.

Nice job. Enjoy the ride from the airport.

Preznit Hates The Poor is absolutely convinced in his own alcoholic brain that his administration didn't do the cut'n'run down in the Big Easy. Naw, they just figured that all those folks would enjoy free water sports in their area, followed by dehydration, starvation and no medical supplies. Shit, it was just like a free summer camp, just ask Tom Delay.

President Bush denied Monday there was any racial component to people being left behind after Hurricane Katrina, despite suggestions from some critics that the response would have been quicker if so many of the victims hadn't been poor and black.

"The storm didn't discriminate and neither will the recovery effort," Bush said. "The rescue efforts were comprehensive. The recovery will be comprehensive."

It's amazing, isn't it, that Rove can make Preznit Wooden Dummy speak and his lips never move?

David Brooks, chief of right-wing twittery at the New Whore Times goes through an entire laundry list of arguments about what went wrong in New Orleans and closes with this.

...But liberals who think this disaster is going to set off a progressive revival need to explain how a comprehensive governmental failure is going to restore America's faith in big government.

James Lee Witt, Bill Clinton.

Government does not have to be a disabling bureaucracy when supplied with Actual Leadership, and not treated as a patronage machine for incompetant clods.

1. Bird Flu
   
2. What's in a Name?
   
3. The Dumb-ass club
   
4. As If
   
5. Bath Toys
   
6. Under "L" for Land-Snatching
   
7. New to the Pond
   
8. Smart'r than Preznit Platitudes
   
9. Senate Challenge
   
10. Tone Deaf