Calling Him Out

I second, third, fourth, fith, and sixth the sentiments expressed below from The Bulldog Manifesto.

The time has come. It's time to stay on point. The blogs need to unite around a rallying cry of "IMPEACH BUSH." As of this post, the term "impeach bush" is the third most popular search term at Technorati.

President Bush has totally and utterly failed the American people. Almost every day we are presented with further proof why he should not be our president. From 9/11, to WMDs, to Iraq, to Katrina-- the reasons are many and obvious. We need to impeach him NOW.

The only point that should be discussed is-- "IMPEACH BUSH NOW!" We need to pound this point over and over again. It should be mentioned wherever possible, and it should not stop until the mainstream media and all politicans realize that we, the people, will not stand for gross incompetence, nor the utter lies, any longer.

The Bulldog Manifesto hereby calls upon every blog, from large to small, from Eschaton to Spontaneous Arising, from The Daily Kos to Martian Anthropologist, from Crooks and Liars to Bring it On, from The Rude Pundit to The Talking Dog and EVERY BLOG IN BETWEEN!

The Bulldog Manifesto hereby calls upon every activist, from the national activists to the pissed off mothers, from the local politicians to the military families, from the school teachers to the student, spread the word, it is time to IMPEACH BUSH NOW. Cut and paste this post and email it to friends and family, write letters to your senators and congressperson, start your own impeachment blog, sign the Impeach Bush Petition, just do something! It begins with ALL OF US!

It doesn't matter whether the House of Representatives consists of a Republican majority, we cannot wait around until 2006 for that to change. We can no longer afford to wait. Impeachment begins NOW, with all of us!

Amen, brother. A stain on a blue dress doesn't mean jack compared to any of Bushco's antics.

The MSM Strikes Back?

Gail Shister is an excellent TV and radio columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer. She gets a little too chatty and a little too cute for me at times, but she definitely knows her way around her subject matter. What follows is her most recent column that appeared today.

To show or not show bodies
Networks won't be dictated to by FEMA.

Should networks show images of dead bodies from New Orleans?

The Federal Emergency Management Agency prefers they don't. Media experts and network executives say a government agency shouldn't shape post-Hurricane Katrina coverage.

Particularly when that agency is FEMA.

"This is about message management, not sensitivity," says Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. "FEMA's message management is as messed up as its disaster management."

Under blistering attack for its slow response to flood-ravaged New Orleans and surrounding areas, FEMA discourages journalists from accompanying their boats as they recover bodies.

As many as 10,000 people have died, according to estimates. Thousands of bodies have been floating in floodwater since the levees were breached Aug. 30.

FEMA has no official policy on photographing bodies, says agency rep Mark Pfeifle. It does, however, advise against the practice out of respect for the families of dead and missing loved ones, he says.

Also, FEMA needs space in its boats for rescuers and recovered bodies, he says. Still, several news organizations, including CNN yesterday, have ridden in agency craft, he adds.

Alex Jones, director of Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, labels FEMA's stance a public-relations move.

"I think they want to minimize the perception that the government didn't do its job," says Jones, a former New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winner. "I'm very suspicious of their motives."

CBS's Marcy McGinnis, senior vice president, news coverage, draws a parallel between FEMA's request in New Orleans and the Bush administration's ban on media photographing of flag-draped coffins of troops arriving at Dover Air Force Base from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In both cases, the government said it was disrespectful to show images of dead Americans.

"I find nothing more respectful than a casket, draped in an American flag, being carried by a military honor guard," McGinnis says.

CBS would never show a close-up of a dead person's face, she says. Before running any video, "we take into consideration what time it would air, and on what broadcast. We are totally respectful of the dead and how we portray them."

While the government can control media access to Dover, it cannot prevent journalists in New Orleans from following FEMA's boats in their own vessels during recovery missions, says Rosenstiel, whose organization is associated with Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

"One of the reasons the press is particularly impassioned about this story is precisely because the government wasn't equipped to corral reporters the way they typically do on most major stories," he says. "We've probably seen more dead bodies from New Orleans than from Iraq."

The experts agree that images of the dead are an important element in telling the catastrophic New Orleans story, and that those images should be in good taste and shot from a distance.

"These are difficult and delicate operations for the authorities," says Bob Steele, who teaches ethics at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Fla.

"It's our obligation as journalists to be there, to seek and report the truth as meaningfully as possible. ... Skillful videographers can capture the images in ways that are both truthful and respectful."

Jon Petrovich, chairman of the broadcast department at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and a 15-year CNN veteran, says networks must "cautiously mask the effects of what a dead person looks like."

"It's a matter of taste. It's up to each network to make that decision. You don't want to appeal to a prurient interest by showing something gruesome. We don't need to see maggots crawling over a dead person's skin."

According to Rosenstiel, the single most indelible image of the failure of FEMA and chaos in New Orleans last week was that of a dead elderly woman, alone and slumped in a wheelchair at the Convention Center.

"People were informed by that image. I don't think anybody was offended."

The only people who were offended were Bushco and their zombified loyalists because they couldn't control the pictures for a change (Hunter over at The Daily Kos called Bushco "unrepentant, syphilitic dog whores" yesterday. Whoa!).

A Message From Jim Dean

(By the way, if you get a minute, go to Atrios along with most everyone else and read about the outrageous exchange between CNN "anchor" Kyra Phillips - a pure Buscho partisan as I live and breathe - and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi).

Last week, devastation struck the City of New Orleans. The first disaster was natural. The second was a failure of leadership. Our federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina was slow and mismanaged. And now, hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans are dead.

So what went wrong? This question must be answered -- for the sake of the victims of Hurricane Katrina -- and for future generations. Please join me in calling for an Independent Commission to investigate what went wrong and make sure that this never happens again. Sign the petition:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/accountability

Republican Senator Bill Frist was right when he said, "America deserves answers."

But Senator Frist and the Republican leadership believe that they should lead the investigation. This is the same Republican leadership that has consistently voted to cut funding for flood control and prevention in the Gulf Coast. And the same Republican leadership that has suggested it is not worth rebuilding one of the most historic cities in America.

Americans want the truth. We cannot allow for the Republican leadership to investigate itself. And we cannot allow Congress to be distracted from the main task at hand -- aiding the victims of this disaster and providing extensive recovery relief.

We need to find out what went wrong -- and we need to find out the truth. But the only way to successfully achieve this is through an Independent Commission. Join me today:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/accountability

Thanks for all you do.

Sincerely,

Jim Dean
Democracy for America

Defending Daylin

I thought Lower Merion, PA attorney Robert M. Lipshutz made some excellent points regarding the saga of PA House representative Daylin Leach that has been raging in the Philadelphia Inquirer over the last few days (this is more PA political stuff, starting with "The Half-Full Glass" post a few days ago...I don't agree with Lipshutz's assessment of John Roberts, however - this appeared in today's Editorial section of the paper).

Over three days last week, there were several news stories on my state representative, Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery). Did the coverage deal with his final success in bringing hybrid cars into the commonwealth's auto fleet? Did it address his efforts to resolve the medical malpractice issue, or his constituent services, his work on the budget, or his giving up his law practice when he entered the General Assembly?

No.

Instead, focus fell on his off-hours entertainment - a non-governmental Web site, now removed, that he composed for the amusement of his friends and himself. Even though I am a news junkie, I didn't know about the Web site until newspaper articles told of its existence. Did the Web site reveal a sense of humor that is sophomoric and sex-obsessed? Probably, but isn't the sense of humor of 99.3 percent of all men (including me) the same? Isn't he joking about things most men joke about with their friends?

Leach is a man who has been described by 23-year veteran Rep. Frank LaGrotta (D., Lawrence) as: "a real person who doesn't take himself or his title too seriously." He further said of Leach: "... of every person who walks in - or ever has walked into the Capitol, Daylin is the least prejudiced, most open-minded, most inclusive person I have ever met." Larry Ceisler, a political consultant with decades of experience in Pennsylvania politics, said: "If more legislators in Harrisburg were like Daylin, there would be more civility and bipartisanship."

The past of every American is an open book, thanks to Google, Lexis Nexis, litigation databases, our credit-card bills, and, as Law and Order fans know, the logs of our phone calls and ATM transactions. Our present is often captured by the security cameras of banks, convenience stores and toll booths, the camera cell phones of passing pedestrians, by E-Z Pass or by Global Positioning Systems such as On-Star. For most of us, our privacy is best protected by our anonymity.

The end of privacy is having a devastating effect on public service. Call it the "John-Roberts-ization" of American politics. Quite aside from the nominee's qualifications, President Bush clearly put forth Judge Roberts because he has never been quoted as saying, doing or even thinking anything that could be found to be offensive to anyone, ever.

Our increasing ability to observe and permanently record everyone all of the time will soon cause anyone wishing a career in public life to be forced, clearly before reaching puberty, to adopt the "Spouse-Wallace" test: "Would you say, do, or even think what you are about to say, do or think if your spouse (or future spouse) and/or Mike Wallace and a 60 Minutes camera crew were confronting you about it?"

In the 2000 presidential campaign, then-Vice President Al Gore hired a feminist writer, Naomi Wolf, at $15,000 a month to tell him how to appeal to people. Her advice, in summary, was: "Get out of the blue suit and act like a human being."

Daylin Leach does not have to hire someone to tell him how to act like a human being. He is one. He is not the robot that the media's system of relentless exposure would require as a public servant. And if, for the sake of a few column inches of "gotcha" journalism, the papers make him a victim of "Republicans ... targeting his 149th District as a winnable seat next year," then they will not only have harmed a good man and a good public servant, but also the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Is This A Surprise?

The intial results are in...

And Bernard Weiner asks an excellent question here.

(Light blogging lately - I may return to my normal mode soon.)

The Whitewash Kicks Into Overdrive

Harry Reid is absolutely right about this face-saving PR gesture from Bushco and the Repugs in Congress (you may have to view a Dell PC ad before you can read this).

Oh, and Tom DeLay is suddenly such a statesman for suggesting the consolidated House-Senate Repug panel, isn’t he (the fact that HE suggested it should be the first clue that “the fix is in”).

And the Talking Points Memo Cafe has this illuminating moment with Larry Johnson and MSNBC.

Meanwhile, the ugly reality continues to deflect Bushco’s PR spin (and Greg Mitchell nails it also).

Update: "Mr. Rove says to tell those freeloader cancer patients to get with the program. The President needs a photo-op and he needs it now!"

(Thanks to The Raw Story...I can hardly wait to read any one of the books that are going to be written about this depressing fiasco.)

And I'll Be At Tipitina's

Thank you, Jerry Shriver of USA Today, for providing this fond memory. May everything you describe return one day.

Didn't Hafta Vote For CAFTA

(Sorry – I know, it was too easy)…

So our U.S. Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick spent yesterday telling us in the Bucks County Courier Times how much he opposed the fraud energy bill that the Repugs ramroded through the supine Congress a little while ago. How nice of him to be so selective in opposing the royal Bushco scam that is being foisted on all of us on a day-to-day basis.

(By the way, I would link to the story except for one problem. The Bucks County Courier Times has absolutely, without a doubt, the worst web site for a newspaper that I have ever seen. It is IMPOSSIBLE to find the story or column I want, though I usually can link to anything written by their Harrisburg correspondent, Alison Hawkes. I have a feeling that they’re trying to manage their content “on the cheap.” That is usually the reason and not the fault of a particular person.)

I’m not forgiving of Fitzpatrick because, among the other criminal acts brought to us by the individuals supposedly working on our behalf, he supported the Central American Free Trade Agreement, otherwise known as CAFTA. This fact was not ignored by David Sirota and Public Citizen (link one for information on the questionable votes and link two for more FTAA context), who to their credit are holding Fitzpatrick and others (including, sadly, some Dems in name only) accountable.

This analysis by Krystal Kyer also provides more information regarding the evils of this dreaded agreement, which will inevitably entail the loss of more jobs in this country as Central America becomes the new headquarters of offshoring in the ongoing effort of the investor class to forever pillage everyone but themselves.

Why I Hate The Repugs

This is a case study.

So Scumbag Santorum gives an interview and says that people who cannot leave pending disaster sites in advance of warnings should be penalized. Of course he’s referring to people in New Orleans and elsewhere on the gulf coast who surely would have left if they could (or, as Bill Maher said in tongue-in-cheek fashion last Friday, making fun of Bushco’s attitude towards the poor along the Gulf Coast: “I don’t understand it. Why didn’t these people just load up the Range Rover with extra cases of spring water and drive off to their summer homes?”).

So the Casey, Jr. campaign FINALLY shows a sign of life and calls Santorum on his remarks. Santorum backpedals and says, no, of course I wasn’t referring to the people I was really referring to. But local officials should be blamed for not making transportation available to people who needed it.

I hate to agree even slightly with anything from the Repugs, but I have to give them that. Gov. Kathleen Blanco should have seen to it days in advance that people were transported out of there if possible. However, that will be one of the subjects of the investigation into this disaster that will follow, and it may turn out that she took the correct action but was ignored. Also, to criticize her for this is utterly incidental when looking at FEMA’s managerial and administrative incompetence and Bushco’s failure to coordinate the relief effort in time despite NUMEROUS warnings that a Category 5 hurricane would hit the area one day.

So Casey Jr.’s people said Santorum should have clarified his remarks. They’re right, and that should have been the end of it.

But no. Dan Ronayne, Santorum’s spokesman, said this about Casey Jr.

"This is exactly the kind of lowbrow politics that Casey Jr.'s campaign employed against Ed Rendell because they have a candidate with a thin resume who doesn't take positions on issues," he said.

Mr. Ronayne, your guy screwed up. Again. Be a man, take the hit, and shut up.

Reconsidering Forrestine '05

This editorial in today's Philadelphia Inquirer got me to thinking a bit.

The race for governor of New Jersey has gotten nastier than usual, earlier than usual. So far, Democrat Jon Corzine and Republican Doug Forrester have not given New Jersey residents the campaign they deserve.

Their camps spent most of August trading "gotcha" accusations over the legality of Forrester's large campaign donations to fellow Republicans and Corzine's gift mortgage loan to a former girlfriend.

Neither of these tempests provides valuable insight into how either man would govern. Now that Labor Day has arrived, it's time for the candidates to get their messages across on issues that will make a difference in the lives of New Jerseyans.

Property taxes, which are the highest in the nation, should receive much of the attention. Corzine and Forrester have yet to make a convincing case that they can provide sustainable relief.

Forrester's plan is to amend the state constitution to guarantee a 30-percent reduction in property taxes over three years.

He proposes to pay for these automatic rebates partly by cutting waste in state government. Hmmm, where have we heard that before? Only from every candidate who wanted to sound like he had a tax reform plan when he really didn't.

A tip-off that Forrester's not serious: He pledges not to raise other taxes. Forrester says his plan would involve about $6 billion over three years; Democrats say the figure is more like $10 billion.

Railing against wasteful spending always sounds nice. But many politicians have charged the ramparts of waste, fraud and abuse only to find that the savings don't add up to their promises. Forrester claims he'll find the savings in a state budget that rose $14 billion in four years.

Corzine says he will increase state property tax rebates by 10 percent per year for homeowners and renters earning less than $200,000. This, after a budget season in which a Democratic governor and Democratic lawmakers fought over trimming those rebates.

He projects that his plan would cost $7.67 billion over four years. He, too, needs to specify how he'd make the books balance. Republicans say Corzine's plan offers too little relief to the average homeowner.

Acting Gov. Codey did take steps this year toward controlling the state budget; both candidates need to spell out in far more detail their plans for restraining spending - being honest that sometimes what will be cut is a program that is useful, not wasteful, but simply is a lower priority.

With gas prices rising, Forrester says he is opposed to raising the state's gasoline tax. But the state's transportation trust fund is running on empty. Corzine has said he would raise the tax only as a last resort. Fine, gentlemen, explain how this bankrupt fund will somehow manage to keep New Jersey's roads, bridges and mass transit in decent repair.

The list of New Jersey's pressing needs goes on. Combating corruption, making higher education more affordable, curbing sprawl - all must be prominent in this discussion.

Right now, these candidates are flunking the job interview by squabbling between themselves rather than addressing the questions their prospective employers - the voters - really want answered.

To learn more, I visited the web sites of the Forrester and Corzine campaigns so I could read up and feel a little less jaded about this whole race.

I actually have to admit that Forrester seems to be better ideas related to homeland security, including training modules for first responders and security cameras in smaller airports, but somehow I don’t think that money for these ideas is going to be forthcoming when New Jersey or Pennsylvania can’t even get the matching federal funds for security measures that are already in place.

However, Corzine does a much better job of articulating the problems facing the state concerning the environment and the day-to-day issues of kids, families, and jobs. His site articulates ivory-tower goals for a wider range of issues than Forrester does (with Forrester mimicking much of the same type of rhetoric, which every politician does, I realize).

Also, Corzine’s site is pleasantly free of the “Doug did this, Doug did that” stuff that pollutes Forrester’s home page against Corzine, as well as the typical Repug snarly attitude that reverberates all over the place. I realize that that’s the way it goes when you’re trailing and all you can do is follow the playbook given to you by your handlers in Washington, D.C., but that’s still no excuse (and if Forrester cared a whit about appearances – and he obviously doesn’t – he would do what Frank Lautenberg said and give back the campaign money he raised when Karl Rove appeared with him, though I’m sure Forrester needs all the dough he can get with the question of the campaign donations he was not allowed to make still up in the air).

Oh, and regarding allegations of impropriety, am I the only one who greeted the news of Corzine’s half-million dollar loan to his girlfriend with a great big yawn? Wow, a Democratic politician in New Jersey in bed with organized labor (literally and figuratively). Stop the presses!

Does that make it right? Of course not. Is there a lot of institutional rot in New Jersey from years of primarily Democratic patronage? Apparently so (I can’t say for certain because I don’t live there, but that’s what I hear).

But Forrester is nothing but a Repug water boy for the cabal of crooks and supposed Jesus freaks that are running our country right into the ground. Better the imperfect status quo with potential for improvement with Corzine than the ruin, budget deficits and pseudo-neocon blather of Forrester as he tries to turn New Jersey into a satellite of Bushworld.

See Ya' Little Buddy

May you ride a nice, pleasant little cloud of hemp up to the great beyond, while all here remains as primitive as can be.

And with that in mind…

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale
Of our old prosperity
No war, job growth, and the stock market
Were making history

The mate was a prince but a mannequin
The “skip” had much allure
They butted heads but ruled as one
And a “third term” seemed so sure, a “third term” seemed so sure

(feel free to supply your own sound effects…)

The weather started getting rough, the ship of state was tossed
The millennium saw the Florida crash and everything was lost

Now we’ve set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert aisle
With Gilligan (the preznit)
The Skipper too (Cheney)
The millionaire and his wife (“Poppy” and the “beautiful mind”)
The movie star (Ahh-nold)
The Professor (Rove)
And Mary Ann (Condi)

Here on Dubya’s Isle.

Yeah, I know, I can do better. I wish I could've found a way to fit Rummy in also.

That's More Like It

I lambasted Clinton on Saturday for his initial response to Bushco's feeble effort, if you can call it that, as a result of Katrina's devastation, but this is a much more realistic analysis. Say what you want about him, but he's way too smart to actually believe what he said standing next to Dubya a couple of days ago.

Also, it's nice to see the Bush clan continuing to win popularity by blaming others for their mistakes. Memo to H.W. - The New York Times isn't responsible for the deaths of what could turn out to be 10,000 people, if New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin's grim estimate is correct. Your boneheaded progeny (who, of course, is now blaming Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco - also see "Bush and Blanco" at The Daily Kos yesterday) took care of that on his own (and kudos to Blanco for bringing on former FEMA director James Lee Witt to oversee the recovery efforts, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune).

The MSM Returns To Work

What follows is “analysis” from Ron Fournier of the AP regarding John Roberts’ nomination as Supreme Court chief justice (courtesy of the Bucks County Courier Times):

In fairness to Bush, he had weeks to consider Roberts’ qualifications, and a summer spent in the spotlight turned up no warts on the nominee.

Obviously, Fournier has not taken the trouble to review either this blog or those of some of the big-hit lefties out there such as Atrios or The Daily Kos. I guess this is another feeble attempt at justifying Roberts as a “safe” pick for Supreme Court justice instead of confronting the bald-faced absurdity of naming a guy who hasn’t even been confirmed for the high court yet.

(Someone else theorized that this is another Bushco game to get the Dems to lay off Roberts and let him walk in while the Dems gear up to attack the next nominee who will be the likely swing vote on the court. I sincerely hope the Dems don’t fall for that, though their recent track record isn’t encouraging. With Roberts’ conservative baggage and Bush’s plummeting approval rating in the wake of Katrina, I see ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why the Dems shouldn’t fire at will on Bush and his cronies on a 24/7/365 basis.)

"Real Time" Update

Finally…

I already referred to Anderson Cooper earlier in another post and his excellent interview on “Real Time,” though it seemed as if he wanted to make another point before Maher cut him off. Also, climatologist Stephen Schneider stated that most of his peers in the field have accepted global warming as a reality and have taken it as a given that it played a part in Hurricane Katrina. Schneider said that even a temperature fluctuation of one to two degrees in the water can turn a bad hurricane into something like Katrina, and we can't keep dumping garbage into the atmosphere from our industrial processes and not expect that to happen.

The panel discussion guests last Friday night were writers Michael Eric Dyson and Mary Frances Berry, both of whom are African American, and actor Bradley Whitford from “The West Wing,” who is not.

(Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Repug from Tennessee, was scheduled to appear but didn’t, though Berry filled in well I thought. I’m sure Blackburn was supposed to be the token Bush apologist, though I don’t see how anyone could have performed that task in the aftermath of Katrina. Maher started the discussion by acknowledging that there were three liberals on the panel, or words to that affect, and he knew someone would complain that there was no conservative, but for tonight, given the fallout from Katrina, he didn’t care. As it was, everyone blasted Bushco and FEMA for their incompetence.)

Michael Eric Dyson also took on Bill Cosby, saying you don't hear a thing from Cosby for years and years about race, though he's donated and helped behind the scenes, but suddenly he comes out and makes critical remarks towards blacks. Chris Rock is popular on race, for example, because he says critical things about both blacks and whites.

Maher said later, again, that he couldn’t find anyone to absolve Bush, and Berry defended Bush a bit because the state disaster plan, which wasn't followed or maybe even created properly, wasn't his responsibility. Maher also made a remark to the effect of Bush congratulating himself at the end of the day after he arrived on the scene “for hugging so many Negroes today” which brought forth a few chortles.

Maher also spoke with commentator Fareed Zakaria via satellite, and Zakaria said, about Iraq, that even though the scenario isn't as rosy as Bush says, it's still interesting and encouraging to see the religious factions in Iraq trying to work together on a constitution (and Maher also mentioned how first we wanted the Sunnis out when we disbanded the military, then decided at the last minute that we'd better get them back into the picture, and what a goof that was).

In a comedy bit about how the drug makers are opposing the “Plan B” morning after pill, Maher came up with some suggested products that the drug makers might want to market themselves ("Pepto Jizz No" or something was amusing).

Bradley Whitford came up with some good lines, I thought, saying that, because of the general absence of Democratic leadership vs. the Republicans, it’s like “a jazz fusion band vs. The Rolling Stones,” which was a bit clever I thought. Also, since the answer to everything for the Republicans seems to be tax cuts, Whitford stated that, to all these co-called Christians, “tax cuts are their Jesus.” Maher responded that (and I’m paraphrasing), speaking of Him, if he came back now, speaking out about helping the poor, against war and against corporate greed, they would think he's a lazy hippie, a skinny Michael Moore.

It was a good show, but as I said earlier, without much fireworks.

Apple Doesn't Rot Far From The Tree

A great big nod of gratitude to DavidNYC and The Daily Kos for this one (makes my skin crawl)...

Barbara Bush - the woman whom no less an authority than Dick Nixon said "knows how to hate," the woman who didn't want to trouble her "beautiful mind" with thoughts of "body bags and deaths" - has now offered us yet another gem. After visting refugees staying at the Houston Astrodome, she had this to say:

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this (she chuckled slightly)--this is working very well for them."

What a cold, callous, wretched ghoul of a person. I just don't even know what else to say.

Neither do I. Previously, I had a modicum of respect for her. That is gone.

Daylin Leach Equals Dumb Laughs

That having been said, though, I should point out that I think John Grogan did a hatchet job on Leach today in the Inquirer (I would link to it, but you have to register...more PA politics, re: "The Half-Full Glass" below).

Look, I know what Leach posted in his blog was moronic and offensive on all kinds of levels including ethnicity, sexual orientation, and glorification of drinking to excess (and those are only the once I can remember off the top of my head).

But I'm sorry - I just find it hard to get worked up by stupid frat boy antics when the pay raise issue is still out there, and I, for one, am paying closer attention to how these clowns in Harrisburg spend our money (actually, I find John Perzel's sanctimonious disdain for even addressing the pay raise issue to be a lot more galling than any of Leach's nonsense).

I'm sure Grogan is particularly peeved because I have a feeling Leach represents the district where he lives. He has a perfect right to feel that way. So, he can choose to pour his time and energies into working for Leach's opponent in the next election (and Grogan is absolutely right that Leach's next opponent is going to bludgeon him over this).

Still, though, I was annoyed when Grogan took Leach's statement about "progressive values" out of context. Grogan also failed to mention the anecdote about Leach and his wife naming their daughter "Brennan" after former Supreme Court justice William Brennan, which I found to be touching.

Finally, Grogan referred to Leach's "not-quite-an-apology." Leach did apologize, and this leads me to this question.

Is forgiveness a possibility for a contrite individual, which I believe Leach is? As with Bill Clinton, how many times is someone supposed to apologize after they've done wrong (and yes, I know Clinton lied and shaded the truth all over the place before he finally caved and said, yes, I received a carnal favor from Monica Lewinsky). What did Leach do to imperil someone's health or livelihood or that of their family? What is his voting record regarding legislation that affects our lives? That is the stuff that I care about.

And consider this; outside of Richard Clarke's tearful admission to the families of the 9/11 victims, when was the last time you heard a Republican apologize for anything? Take your pick...failure to heed warnings from the intelligence community before the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as the PA plane crash, the rush into Iraq War II, the disaster of Katrina, etc.

Yes, I'm probably "mixing apples and oranges," but it's all politics in the end, whether local or national. And Daylin Leach's stupid remarks about "ta tas" and getting stoned with Henry Kissinger don't mean much to me with everything else going on.

The Gloves Come Off

Keith Olbermann on MSNBC absolutely nailed it today.

SECAUCUS — Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said it all, starting his news briefing Saturday afternoon: "Louisiana is a city that is largely underwater..."

Well there's your problem right there.

If ever a slip-of-the-tongue defined a government's response to a crisis, this was it.

The seeming definition of our time and our leaders had been their insistence on slashing federal budgets for projects that might’ve saved New Orleans. The seeming characterization of our government that it was on vacation when the city was lost, and could barely tear itself away from commemorating V.J. Day and watching Monty Python's Flying Circus, to at least pretend to get back to work. The seeming identification of these hapless bureaucrats: their pathetic use of the future tense in terms of relief they could’ve brought last Monday and Tuesday — like the President, whose statements have looked like they’re being transmitted to us by some kind of four-day tape-delay.

But no. The incompetence and the ludicrous prioritization will forever be symbolized by one gaffe by of the head of what is ironically called “The Department of Homeland Security”: “Louisiana is a city…”

Politician after politician — Republican and Democrat alike — has paraded before us, unwilling or unable to shut off the "I-Me" switch in their heads, condescendingly telling us about how moved they were or how devastated they were — congenitally incapable of telling the difference between the destruction of a city and the opening of a supermarket.

And as that sorry recital of self-absorption dragged on, I have resisted editorial comment. The focus needed to be on the efforts to save the stranded — even the internet's meager powers were correctly devoted to telling the stories of the twin disasters, natural... and government-made.

But now, at least, it is has stopped getting exponentially worse in Mississippi and Alabama and New Orleans and Louisiana (the state, not the city). And, having given our leaders what we know now is the week or so they need to get their act together, that period of editorial silence I mentioned, should come to an end.

No one is suggesting that mayors or governors in the afflicted areas, nor the federal government, should be able to stop hurricanes. Lord knows, no one is suggesting that we should ever prioritize levee improvement for a below-sea-level city, ahead of $454 million worth of trophy bridges for the politicians of Alaska.

But, nationally, these are leaders who won re-election last year largely by portraying their opponents as incapable of keeping the country safe. These are leaders who regularly pressure the news media in this country to report the reopening of a school or a power station in Iraq, and defies its citizens not to stand up and cheer. Yet they couldn't even keep one school or power station from being devastated by infrastructure collapse in New Orleans — even though the government had heard all the "chatter" from the scientists and city planners and hurricane centers and some group whose purposes the government couldn't quite discern... a group called The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

And most chillingly of all, this is the Law and Order and Terror government. It promised protection — or at least amelioration — against all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological.

It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water.

Mr. Bush has now twice insisted that, "we are not satisfied," with the response to the manifold tragedies along the Gulf Coast. I wonder which "we" he thinks he's speaking for on this point. Perhaps it's the administration, although we still don't know where some of them are. Anybody seen the Vice President lately? The man whose message this time last year was, 'I'll Protect You, The Other Guy Will Let You Die'?

I don't know which 'we' Mr. Bush meant.

For many of this country's citizens, the mantra has been — as we were taught in Social Studies it should always be — whether or not I voted for this President — he is still my President. I suspect anybody who had to give him that benefit of the doubt stopped doing so last week. I suspect a lot of his supporters, looking ahead to '08, are wondering how they can distance themselves from the two words which will define his government — our government — "New Orleans."

For him, it is a shame — in all senses of the word. A few changes of pronouns in there, and he might not have looked so much like a 21st Century Marie Antoinette. All that was needed was just a quick "I'm not satisfied with my government's response." Instead of hiding behind phrases like "no one could have foreseen," had he only remembered Winston Churchill's quote from the 1930's. "The responsibility," of government, Churchill told the British Parliament "for the public safety is absolute and requires no mandate. It is in fact, the prime object for which governments come into existence."

In forgetting that, the current administration did not merely damage itself — it damaged our confidence in our ability to rely on whoever is in the White House.

As we emphasized to you here all last week, the realities of the region are such that New Orleans is going to be largely uninhabitable for a lot longer than anybody is yet willing to recognize. Lord knows when the last body will be found, or the last artifact of the levee break, dug up. Could be next March. Could be 2100. By then, in the muck and toxic mire of New Orleans, they may even find our government's credibility.

Somewhere, in the City of Louisiana.

Hard Labor Day

Here are links to three articles to read and contemplate (hope the sun in shining as it is here, even in the blighted Gulf Coast - Arianna referred her readers to Instapundit for a bunch of other links where they can go to give help...fortunately, no shortages in that area, and I'll put aside my differences with Glenn Reynolds and his crew if it means lending a helping hand):

1) Lee Drutman reviews a new book on Wal-Mart that is surprisingly even handed and looks the problem square in the face as far as I'm concerned.

2) Stanley Aronowitz takes a look at the AFL-CIO split (I'll dig deeper into that later).

3) (added 9/6) Molly Ivins provides some excellent, though sadly accurate, analysis.

One more thing...I haven't forgotten about the wrapup for this week's "Real Time With Bill Maher" episode. It's on the way.

Unconfirmed, But Presiding Over All?

Uh, I'm no scholar in the process of confirming a Supreme Court judge, but doesn't this person have to be already sitting on the bench before he/she is named to be in charge?

Well, I hope this makes Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor happy (I guess O'Connor doesn't care at this point, though), because their perverse ruling (along with the late but not lamented - by me, anyway - Rehnquist) in Bush vs. Gore 2000 enabled the empty-suit-in-chief to take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I guess they were expecting Dubya to "scratch their back"...

(For the information of this "gang of four," I just did a Google search on "George W. Bush" and "Bait and Switch" and came back with 96,500 hits. There's a message there.)

George W. Bush isn't just egotistical beyond belief and totally ignorant of the workings of our government. He's certifiably nuts.

The Eye Of Another Storm

As far as Trudy Rubin's excellent column is concerned, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich can both take a long walk off a short pier (never thought I'd say that about Giuliani after 9/11, but he's shown himself to be a shameless opportunist unfortunately), but otherwise, this is definitely food for thought.

There's something ghoulishly fitting about talking by phone to Baghdad while watching the chaos in New Orleans.

In my ear I'm hearing about the absence of electricity or water in 120-degree heat and daily shooting in Baghdad's streets. On CNN, a doctor from New Orleans' Charity Hospital is relating how nurses are giving each other IVs so they can keep working because there's no more water or food. Meanwhile, there's gunfire in the hospital's garage.

How is it possible that Americans have been watching victims of Hurricane Katrina clinging to rooftops for days? How is it possible that we watched, like helpless voyeurs, as mothers and babies roasted in the Superdome without food or water - while women were reportedly raped in the restrooms?

Do we not live in the richest country on earth? How dare anyone claim that it is "playing politics" to ask why officials weren't prepared to cope with this hurricane.

The Baghdad and New Orleans debacles lay bare the dangerous American aversion to long-term planning. Lack of planning for the postwar gave us the current mess in Iraq. Lack of preparedness for a New Orleans flood produced a disaster that makes America look like a Third World country. Offers of help are pouring in from around the world as if we were Bangladeshis; even Cuba offered more than 1,000 doctors.

Who can believe, after the New Orleans fiasco, that the Bush administration is prepared to handle another terrorist outrage? As former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich asked bluntly on Friday: "If we can't respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf [of Mexico] for days, then why do we think we're prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?"

There were plenty of predictions about a catastrophe in New Orleans (just as there were plenty of warnings about violence in postwar Iraq). In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked a hurricane strike in New Orleans among the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America. In July 2004, federal, state and local officials carried out a drill, called Hurricane Pam, that predicted 10 to 15 feet of water covering much of the city and evacuation of one million people.

Many studies predicted that the levees might be breached by a hurricane; the New Orleans Times-Picayune did an award-winning series three years ago called "Washing Away." But federal officials were never willing to spend the money to fix the problem.

The Bush White House axed funding requests from the Army Corps of Engineers to improve the levees. It lobbied against plans to rebuild coastlines and wetlands that serve as buffers against hurricanes.

A former Republican congressman and assistant secretary of the Army named Michael Parker told the Washington Post that the governnment resisted long-term investment in projects like flood control. Parker was fired by the Bush White House after accusing it of shortchanging the Corps of Engineers.

Parker nailed the problem. Federal flood-control projects offer protection against future dangers but provide no political gains in the short term. Especially if the money would be spent on New Orleans, where the population is largely poor and black.

Such projects aren't attractive to an administration that wants to "starve the beast," i.e., shrink federal government. Flood control costs big bucks at a time when the administration prefers to cut taxes for the rich.

In a sane world, the New Orleans tragedy would sound a wake-up call. The failure of national planning has shocked the world as well as American citizens. It has raised questions about America's internal strength. Osama bin Laden must be chuckling; one Kuwaiti newspaper published an article by a religious official praising Hurricane Katrina as a "wind of torment" sent to punish the American empire.

In a sane world, the White House would rethink its aversion to rebuilding America's infrastructure. It would finally provide adequate funds to secure America's ports, railroads and chemical plants.

It would rethink its method of organizing for natural disasters. It would rethink the doctrine of "regime change" - which has strained the military and National Guard. It would reconsider tax cuts that will strap the country in its rebuilding effort.

And the White House would appoint former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to head up disaster relief for New Orleans and the South. This was Newt Gingrich's excellent suggestion. He knows Giuliani could rally the country for a massive reconstruction effort in a way the President has failed to do during these crucial days.

That would be the first sign of a long-term plan by an administration whose planning failures have disgraced our country.

Who'd have imagined a situation where Castro would be offering charity to the suffering people of New Orleans?

Ashes To Ashes

Rehnquist is dead (and I think Armando over at The Daily Kos summed up my feelings well today).

I wonder if Sandra Day O'Connor would now consider coming back as Chief Justice for real, which was what those senators proposed to her a few weeks ago (reportedly)? I made fun of it, but that would be a tremendous outcome. However, I'm sure Scalia would find a way to scuttle it.

Update 9/6: Alan Dershowitz gives Rehnquist the appropriate treatment here and meets with the predictable right-wing harassment, which apparently Rehnquist himself practiced in his younger days (surprise, surprise). I'm not the biggest fan of Dershowitz, but I admire him for setting the record straight.

The Party Of No Guts

Sssh…do you hear it?

Silence.

Hurricane Katrina destroys the Gulf Coast. Our troops continue to die in Iraq for Bush’s illegal war. A thousand Iraqis die as well when a bridge collapses during a Shia religious observance. Ever-growing numbers of men and women (and especially children) now live in poverty in this country.

Silence.

The media coverage shows conclusively to the entire world that the Bush Administration has no idea of how to coordinate state and federal forces to provide for Katrina’s victims, even when they know days in advance that a potential Category 5 hurricane (which had been dreaded in that area for years) is about to hit.

Also, when National Guard forces are FINALLY coordinated and brought to the scene, they must come from other states because Louisiana (in the case of New Orleans) does not have enough forces and equipment since the people and materiel are all over in Iraq, including high water vehicles (prompting Molly Ivins to ask a key question: why do they need high-water vehicles in Iraq?).

How do the Democrats respond?


…


…

No idea. Still trying to formulate a position, I guess (I know Harry Reid is sick, but c’mon people!).

Oh wait, actually, that’s not correct. Mary Landrieu arrived on the scene a day or so ago and praised Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for some reason before CNN’s Anderson Cooper quite rightly blaster her.

(I’ll get to last night’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” more later – no fireworks – but Maher spoke with Cooper and complimented him on his coverage, and Cooper thanked him and replied…and I’m paraphrasing…that politicians come down here and tell people that “we know you’re disgusted, and we know you’re angry.” People aren’t disgusted. People aren’t angry. People are dead.)

This likely would not have happened under Clinton because he would have found a way to ensure preparedness and demonstrate more than basic competence as the leader of the free world. However, if something like this HAD happened, what do you think the Repugs would be doing?

Screaming.

Spreading more big lies and innuendo.

Appointing commissions and subcommittees to supposedly look into what went wrong but ultimately serve for nothing more than political grandstanding.

Maybe even trying to introduce articles of impeachment (oh wait…they did that already for a stain on a blue dress that only 30% of the people in this country cared about.)

But how to the Democrats respond instead?

…

…

Silence.

The party of FDR (right, Itsez?). The party (supposedly) of working men and women in this country that, by the way, just signed off on the most draconian bankruptcy “reform” this country has ever seen set to go into effect on October 17th (and as Atrios quite rightly pointed out a day or so ago, they had DAMN WELL BETTER support the Conyers bill that exempts Katrina’s victims).

The party that supported tort “deform” legislation that makes it practically mandatory to file a suit in federal as opposed to state courts, just about ensuring that the plaintiffs will lose.

The party that supported the highway bill that is truly a festival of pork, including the bridge to nowhere in Alaska.

The party that supported the fraud energy bill, which is an even bigger giveaway to Dubya’s buddies in the energy racket.

The party that supported CAFTA, meaning that still more jobs will be lost in this country to Central America.

Your Democratic Party.

Silence.

I want to puke.

Update 1: If this is the best "the opposition party" can do, then I might as well shut down this whole site and give up. And a "freshman lawmaker," huh? What's the matter; we're the party "leaders" primping for "Faze The Nation" and the other Sunday morning gab fests?

Update 2: And to think, I wished this guy a happy birthday a couple of weeks ago.

Saying something vague and imprecise but somewhat supportive is one thing. Saying something that is an utter, unconscionable lie and being a total suckup (and thus setting the tone for the entire party to go cower in a corner somewhere) is something else altogether.

Maybe Bill could have said something like this, though luckily, the Times-Picayune did it for him.

A Message From John Edwards

Some would view this as rank political opportunism. I don't. I view it as a plea from someone with courage, imagination, and the desire to fix basic, fundamental problems affecting many people in this country, qualities sorely lacking in the individuals who so dramatically "dropped the ball" this week.

Dear Friend,

During the campaign of 2004, I spoke often of the two Americas: the America of the privileged and the wealthy, and the America of those who lived from paycheck to paycheck. I spoke of the difference in the schools, the difference in the loan rates, the difference in opportunity. All of that pales today. Today - and for many days and weeks and months to follow - we see a harsher example of two Americas. We see the poor and working class of New Orleans who don't own a car and couldn't evacuate to hotels or families far from the target of Katrina. We see the suffering of families who lived from paycheck to paycheck and who followed the advice of officials and went to shelters at the Civic Center or the Superdome or stayed home to protect their possessions.

Now every single resident of New Orleans, regardless of their wealth or status, will have terrible losses and life-altering experiences. Every single resident will know and care about someone who was lost to this hurricane. But some, ranging from the very poorest to the working class unable to accumulate a cushion of assets to rely upon on a very, very rainy day, will suffer the most because they simply didn't have the means to evacuate. They suffered the most from Katrina because they always suffer the most.

These are Americans some of whom who left everything they possessed behind in order to save those they loved. These are Americans huddled with their children or pushing a wheelchair between rows of those too beaten or weak to stand. In this moment, we have to remember they are part of us, Americans who love their country and are part of our national community. In this moment, it is hard because our hair is clean and our clothes are washed and our eyes are not glazed with hopelessness. But these are our brothers and sisters, and we have to remember this not just for them, but for us. We must finally recognize that when any of us suffer, we are all weaker; it affects us all.

Commentators on television have expressed surprise, saying they think that most people didn't know there was such poverty in America. Thirty-seven million Americans live in poverty, most of them are the working poor, but it is clear that they have been invisible. But if these commentators are right, this tragedy can have a great influence, if we listen to its message.

The people most devastated have always lived on a razor blade, afraid of any setback, any illness, any job loss that could disrupt the fragile balance they achieved paycheck to paycheck. They didn't leave New Orleans because they couldn't leave. Some didn't leave their homes because they wanted to protect the hard-won possessions that made their lives a little easier.

The government released new poverty statistics this week. The number of Americans living in poverty rose again last year. Thirteen million children -- nearly one in every five -- lives in poverty. Close to 25 percent of all African Americans live in poverty. Twenty-three percent of the population in New Orleans lives in poverty. Those are chilling numbers. Because of Katrina, we have now seen many of the faces behind those numbers.

Poverty exists everywhere in America. It is in Detroit and El Paso. It is in Omaha, Nebraska and Stockton, California. It is in rural towns like Chillicothe, Ohio and Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Nearly half of the children in Detroit, Atlanta and Long Beach, California live in poverty. It doesn't have to be this way. We can begin embracing policies that offer opportunity, reward responsibility, and assume the dignity of each American.

There are immediate needs in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and the first priority is meeting those, but after that, we need to think about the American community, about the one America we think we are, the one we talk about. We need people to feel more than sympathy with the victims, we need them to feel empathy with our national community that includes the poor. We have missed opportunities to make certain that all Americans would be more than huddled masses. We have been too slow to act in the face in the misery of our brothers and sisters. This is an ugly and horrifying wake-up call to America. Let us pray we answer this call. Now is the time to act.

- John

Wingnuttia Chimes In

I accidentally heard this morning that Glenn Beck, the right-wing yapping head who once threatened to kill Michael Moore, was carrying on because, according to him, 60 percent of the New Orleans police force didn’t show up for work today, and Bush should come down and federalize the national guard (those that are still there and not in Iraq, of course) and fire the police.

To start, I should say that I question anything I hear from the conservative echo chamber. I don’t know if this 60 percent number is legit, or if it came from Frank Luntz, the Media Research Center, or, to quote Al Franken, “Rush Limbaugh’s butt.”

Assuming it is, here’s something to consider: the police are outgunned by the roving mobs that filled the void when it took DAYS for relief and federal agencies to intervene. The police are supposed to report for work, sure, and they should be disciplined if they don’t, but doesn’t this cataclysm at least provide some mitigating factors? I guess, if Beck had the choice, he’d be too busy loading slugs into Mrs. O’Leary’s cow to drive carriages that would carry people to safety from the Chicago fire.

(note to anonymous commenters: don’t bother to inform me that the thing with Mrs. O’Leary’s cow is only a legend.)

Here’s another glorious electronic gem from Beck: “President Bush needs to go down there and have a ‘bullhorn moment.’”

Uh, Glenn, I have news for you: The time for a ‘bullhorn moment’ was about three days ago, or maybe even earlier.

Unfortunately, the rescue effort (which seems to be coalescing somewhat, thank God, at long last) requires a bit more than a ‘bullhorn moment.’ It requires massive coordination of state, federal, and private agencies the likes of which this country has never seen before. It takes private donations on an unprecedented scale also. It takes the recognition of the fact that thousands of people are dead and require ongoing medical assistance. It takes a continued, ongoing rescue effort and reclaiming/restoration of not just New Orleans but the entire region where Katrina hit that will take years and billions of dollars. And it will require much, much more than what I just mentioned for needs and circumstances that are unforeseen at this moment.

Leave it to you to trivialize this horror and turn it into some easily digestible “media moment” that you and many of your knuckle-dragging listeners can comprehend. I guess it’s easy to do that when it is impossible to show empathy and, instead, treat human suffering as merely an abstraction.

Why Isn't THIS On CNN?

Courtesy of a friend of mine...

Click this link and click the white boxes in the satellite photo. It will bring up before and after aerial shots of the locations hit by Katrina.

At least the BBC knows how to report this story in a way geared towards an adult of at least some intelligence.

Stupidity Reigns, Part Two

(More importantly, click here to help.)

Hunter over at The Daily Kos has an excellent wrapup today of the Repugs’ unutterably depressing performance from yesterday in the wake of Katrina’s devastation, including Dennis Hastert’s wish to abandon New Orleans and Condi’s Rice’s shopping adventures in New York City. For good measure, an account of the well-deserved verbal bludgeoning from CNN’s Anderson Cooper handed out to Dem Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu is included also.

And this wonderful summation from Mike “Deer In The Headlights” Brown is proof positive that Bushco continues to have no clue about how to manage this catastrophe.

Paul Krugman provides commentary, and a well-deserved kick in the pants also.

Stupidity Reigns, Part One

Apparently, the august high-and-mighty print media gods at The Philadelphia Inquirer were too busy to sit down and read everything that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina the other day. The Inquirer criticized Kennedy for stating that the hurricane was punishment to Republican Mississippi governor Haley Barbour for "writing some memos opposing global warming policy."

According to Kennedy's column, here is what Barbour wrote in his capacity as an oil industry lobbyist and (unofficial, anyway) architect of Bush administration energy policy in 2001.

“A moment of truth is arriving,” Barbour wrote, “in the form of a decision whether this Administration’s policy will be to regulate and/or tax CO2 as a pollutant. The question is whether environmental policy still prevails over energy policy with Bush-Cheney, as it did with Clinton-Gore.” He derided the idea of regulating CO2 as “eco-extremism,” and chided them for allowing environmental concerns to “trump good energy policy, which the country has lacked for eight years.”

That sounds more extreme than anything Kennedy said in his post. As Kennedy noted, that single memo from Barbour scuttled Bush's promise to regulate CO2 emissions at the forceful urging of then-EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman.

And the Inquirer added today that, "Some climatologists see a link between global warming and increased hurricane activity, but it's not proven." Again, if the Inquirer had bothered to read what Kennedy said, they would have read this sentence:

"...The science is clear. This month, a study published in the journal Nature by a renowned MIT climatologist linked the increasing prevalence of destructive hurricanes to human-induced global warming."

For The Inquirer to lump Kennedy in with Louis Farrakhan and Michael Mancavage as "gusts of hot air" is patently ridiculous and a juvenile tactic for the supposed Philadelphia "paper of record." Sure, Kennedy’s rhetoric was a bit strident, but given the urgency of the issue and the scientific basis of his claim, can you blame him?

Maybe the Inquirer should devote more time to understanding this issue and less time to criticizing the blog of Montgomery County Democratic State Representative Daylin Leach (see "The Half-Full Glass" below...and Kevin Ferris apparently showers Rick Santorum with more hosannas today - gag me).

No Break From Thievery

As we know, the empty-suit-in-chief recently railed against people illegally profiting from the fuel shortages that are going to spring up now as a result of Katrina’s devastation of the oil refineries along the Gulf Coast.

Well, I’d like to know this. If the price of gas is contracted 30 days in advance, how come it is fluctuating so much immediately? That shouldn’t happen for a few weeks yet. Was there another shortage we didn’t know about, or is this taking into account the lack of expected production in Iraq due to insurgent attacks (something else this administration is trying to cover up)?

Also, not every region in this country receives its gas from the Gulf area. For example, there are numerous refineries in New Jersey, many of which are operating at reduced capacity due to layoffs. I have it on good information that the Hess refinery in Port Reading, for example, is operating at about a third of its capacity for that reason. Of course, reduced supply means a higher price (I’m no economics whiz, but even I know that). Are the people who were laid off going to be brought back to work to increase the supply and make gas cheaper?

(Of course, this doesn’t even take into consideration increasing support and development of alternative sources of energy, such as wind and solar power – and yes, maybe even another look at nukes – as well as hybrid automobiles.)

Who’s gouging who in this deal, Mr. President?

Update: Here's more proof courtesy of The Smirking Chimp.

The Black Pat Robertson

I have been completely unable to find an online link to this, but it appeared in print in the Inquirer today:

Farrakhan: God Punishing U.S. For Iraq With Storm

Speaking to a large crowd in South Philadelphia last night, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan suggested that the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina was divine punishment for the violence America had inflicted on Iraq.

"New Orleans is the first of the cities going to tumble down...unless America changes its course," Farrakhan said.

"It is the wickedness of the people of America and the government of America that is bringing the wrath of God down," he told several hundred people at Tinsley Temple United Methodist Church.

His remarks were enthusiastically received.

He was in town as part of a multicity tour designed to drum up support for an Oct. 15 event in Washington designed to build on and commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March he organized in 1995. The new effort is called the Million More Movement.

Farrakhan made similar remarks at a luncheon hosted by District 33 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which represents blue-collar city workers.

"The justice of God is coming home now," he said in an hour-long speech. Among those attending were (Philadelphia) City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, Mayor Street's son Sharif Street, and Imam Shamsud-din Ali, the Muslim cleric convicted in the City Hall corruption probe.

First, "Reverend," if you think this country is evil, then as far as I'm concerned, you can revoke your citizenship and leave right now.

Second, I have to ask you something. Have you been watching the news? Do you have any idea of who it is who is suffering the most in the South's flood devastation? It is overwhelmingly poor African Americans. Are these people who barely had anything anyway even before this catastrophe somehow "wicked" for just trying to exist? I mean, I can understand that nut job with the bullhorn Michael Mancavage screaming about this since his audience is primarily rich white people with too much time on their hands (oooh - bet I get it for that), but that group has the means to flee from coming devastation, and I'm sure they did that in large numbers already.

Third, I want you and cretins of your ilk retire this whole "God's vengeance" rap once and for all. You know nothing of the mind of God - none of us do. Besides, after 9/11, I heard plenty of people who I would consider to be of high moral character saying that they thought it was God's vengeance upon them for some reason, and I told them to stop thinking like that.

Yes sir, Reverend, you sure have covered yourself in glory. Instead of marching on Washington, D.C. though, why don't you march through the worst hurricane disaster sites, try to lend a hand and do some good?

An Omission

Molly Ivins wrote an excellent column on the destruction in New Orleans from Katrina, but I’m not going to link to it because she mentions near the end, in a fashion that is uncomfortably cavalier as far as I’m concerned, that we should bring back the draft.

I’ve been thinking about this all day, particularly an hour ago when I tucked in the young one and said good night, with his stuffed animals Max the pug and Snappy the turtle by his side.

The thought of any politician deciding to conscript him and send him to some God-forsaken location in this world for reasons that he will never understand and have him kill people of a different skin color starts to induce a rage in me that makes me want to do just about the same thing myself to the person who would be responsible for such a heinous act. This is to say nothing of the very real possibility that he would either be killed or get so scrambled physically or mentally that he would never be the same.

Regarding this issue, I feel that I am about the only person who can look out for him. The Dems and Repugs are going to try and weasel (verb?) this issue into the spotlight once more, especially with our conventional forces and National Guard strength depleted from Bushco’s war and the Katrina fallout. Unfortunately, this all is likely to be inevitable.

I have not finished weighing my options in the event that this happens; I am still very much in that process. Also, if he ever tells me one day, after he has reviewed every single piece of reliable information that he can get and spoken with family members who have served, that he wants to do so also, of course I will support him (I want the recruiters to get out of his face). The military can be a fine way of life for the right person if it is a voluntary choice. If not, he should be allowed to do something else.

Also, a final note about Molly: she is absolutely a titan and continues to be so, but as far as I’m concerned, this is the second major slipup of hers in the past few months. The first one was over her statement that our forces killed more Iraqis in our invasion than those that were killed under Saddam Hussein, and when she realized the mistake, she corrected that immediately and apologized profusely like the true pro that she is. I know she’s battled cancer in the last few years, and I sincerely hope her health is OK and not affecting her work.

The Half-Full Glass

I'm sure you heard about this (from today's Philadelphia Inquirer):

Pa. lawmaker's blog: Funny - or offensive?
By Mario F. Cattabiani
Inquirer Staff Writer

His blog is laced with references to pornography and strip clubs, a lust for whiskey and women, and disdain for President Bush and Céline Dion.

Then there are some politically incorrect quips about Palestinians and "a third-world type" who cleans hotel rooms.

It's not the work of Howard Stern, or even a college kid with too much broadband.

The author of www.leachvent.com - a collection of humor columns - is State Rep. Daylin Leach, a Democrat from Upper Merion.

It's all meant in good humor from an elected official and self-described frustrated comedian.

Written over the last eight years, the columns - which he signs as Dutch Larooo - touch on everything from the birth of his daughter to his 21/2 years in the statehouse. The title of one: "Legislating while drunk."

It's observational humor, the Montgomery County representative said.

"I respect my constituents and all people enough to think that they are not going to think this is real," said Leach, 44. "It's just a joke. It's like Woody Allen marrying a sheep. I don't think he has an attraction to sheep. It was funny."

Some aren't laughing.

"How did he ever get elected in the first place? He needs help," said Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, an anti-obscenity group. "He's fixated on pornography and strip clubs. It should be a real eye-opener for his constituents."

The writings reveal a little-known side of Leach, who has earned a reputation in Harrisburg as a bright and independent-minded legislator. The blog also vividly illustrates what can happen when you put your thoughts on the Internet for everyone to see.

Many of Leach's writings have some reference to body parts, sex or pornography, or a combination of the three.

"We've all seen porno movies. In fact, we've all seen 5 or 6 porno movies a week since we were young boys growing up in Allentown," one reads.

Leach, a father of two, makes several references to young girls, including this passage about legislation he was backing: "The age of consent would officially be lowered to 'When Poppa ain't around.' "

He also quips about renewing his subscription to Hustler's Barely Legal and about knowing very little Italian.

"I've just learned the very basic things you would need to get by in Rome. I can say 'Hello,' 'Goodbye,' 'Where's the bathroom,' 'Is your sister really twelve?' "

Leach has tried his hand at stand-up and was a member of a comedic troupe years ago. "I don't have a sitcom, so it tells you how good I was," he said in an interview.

He said he started writing humor columns about eight years ago as "an outlet," and e-mails them to about 2,000 friends and acquaintances.

About a year ago, Leach started posting his "vents" online.

"I think we want, in society, to have elected officials who are not all the same all the time. And we should want them to occasionally let their hair down," he said.

"This is my private life. This is something I do. It's not obscene. It's not particularly offensive."

His columns, many written before he took office in January 2003, skewer a broad cross-section of America. He attacks the powerful and famous.

On Bush: "If he can become president of the United States, then there is no reason that the dumbest of you can't become Absolute Omnipotent Dictator of the Universe."

Dion, his most frequent foil, "has a voice like a thousand rabid monkeys trapped in a cement mixer."

He jokes about fictional exchanges with famous folks.

Pat Buchanan got a "little huffy," Leach wrote, "when I asked him if he'd ever been to a transvestite bar called the Bunny Hutch." A comment he made to Kitty Dukakis at the 1988 Democratic Convention - "Let's see the Ta-Tas" - spawned the low-cut sweater craze, he wrote.

He also pokes fun at those without any power. In one entry called "Travel Tips," Leach wrote:

"It may be easy to romanticize sleeping in a teepee, braving the elements and mixing with the dung beetles, but trust me, having a cozy bed and a third-world type who cleans your room and you can call 'Consuela' (regardless of her real name) goes a long way towards helping you forget any pending disbarment proceedings back home."

One column in particular has some Arab Americans fuming.

He wrote this about bachelor parties in different cultures: "The Palestinians like to welcome the bachelor to marital bliss by holding him up in the air and cheering, then strapping several pounds of dynamite to his chest and having him blow up a school bus (the groomsmen all chip in for the dynamite).

"Palestinian women are troubled by their future husband being splattered all over the ground, but grateful that he wasn't exposed to any naked women."

James J. Zogby, founder and president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, called Leach's comments inappropriate and insensitive.

"This is outrageous. We've lowered the standards for our elected officials, but he fits even below those lowered standards," Zogby said.

Leach, who is Jewish, said: "I guess someone could be offended by that. I wrote it well before becoming a legislator. At the time, I had a law partner who was Arabic. It was not meant to be offensive."

His last posting chided the media for sending reporters to Seattle to cover legislators, including himself, as they attended the nation's largest convention for lawmakers last month.

It mentions that a reporter, whom it calls "Mario," would attend, and that knowing that they would be watched, lawmakers were given rules to stay out of trouble. One called for "no using tax dollars to get a haircut, or a tattoo or to get your jimmy pierced."

Such a volume of writings - there are more than 200 "vents" - could smell like red meat for a political opponent in next year's elections.

"In today's world, these are not funny things. Maybe if you are a professional comic on cable TV, you can get away with it. But not when you are in public life," Ken Davis, the Montgomery County GOP chairman, said after reading several entries. "If a candidate, Republican or Democrat, were to run against him, then they certainly would take a good, hard look at these comments."

Soon after joining the House, Leach wondered in a column whether his writings might affect his political future.

"After I was elected to the legislature, I was encouraged to put the Vent on hold for a while, if death threats can be considered encouragement. Some worried I might say something that would speed up the inevitable impeachment process. Others worried I would say something that might slow it down."

Mike Manzo, chief of staff to House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese, said he had read some of the columns and found them "downright hilarious."

"Daylin is one of the most genuinely funny people I've ever met," he said. "A lot of people will criticize him for this. But they just don't get his sense of humor."

Roderick Millwood isn't sure Leach has a future in comedy.

"I didn't see anything comedic there, and I was looking for something funny," said Millwood, general manager of the Laff House, a Philadelphia comedy club, who reviewed the site. "But he's free to come down on the last Wednesday night of the month, when we have open mike night, and give it a try."

A Leach Sampler

These are excerpts from State Rep. Daylin Leach's blog:

On giving

"I have found it rewarding to take time to do things for others. If Britney Spears needs a back rub, I'll give it to her. If Britney needs a big ol' spanking, I'm there."

On himself

"Do you remember how every elementary school has some kid who is so slow and pathetic that all the other kids beat him up. Well, in my school, that kid beat me."

Why we shouldn't execute Osama

"The minute we kill him we are sending him to paradise where 72 virgins await him (or 71 virgins and one girl who went horseback riding a lot)."

The political risks of S&M

"To me, being sat on by a morbidly obese, leather-clad dominatrix is not fun. But it would probably still be a bad idea to be photographed doing it."

Prepping for a marathon

"My training consisted of running through the streets of certain rural neighborhoods near the capital wearing a "Leave the Sheep Alone!" T-shirt. I thought being chased would motivate me to keep running."

A fulfilled life goal

"Get totally stoned on fine Lebanese Hashish with Henry Kissinger. Check."

On strippers

"Whenever Jasmine, Cocoa, Lolita, Puka-Puka or Clitoris (it's amazing how all the women with exotic names wind up working for strip clubs) came near you, you had to tip them to sit, to dance, to stop dancing, to leave, and to never tell you about their plans for medical school again."

On alcohol

"Specifically, I dreamt:... of a world where every Starbucks also served Whiskey - cheap, 24 hours a day - to absolutely anybody."

From "The Lost Poems of Osama Bin Laden"

Once I glimpsed a woman's foot
as I walked by the forge
I had to halt an execution
my loins were so engorged

OK, now that we've had the "sky is falling" news report, I should let you know that I just went to the site to find out more on this, and this is the message that appears:

There is a good chance you stopped by this site because of an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday.

If that is why you are here, allow me to provide some context.

Other than my family, I've had two main passions in my life: one is politics and the other is comedy. Humor helped me get through a difficult childhood and has frequently enabled me to keep perspective whenever I get discouraged. I was a performing stand-up comic in my 20s and performed with a sketch comedy troupe in my 30s. As my legal career became more demanding, and as I got married and prepared to start a family, it became impossible for me to continue to find the time to perform.

To allow myself the opportunity to continue writing comedy, I started writing a column of mostly political satire called "The VENT," which I sent to friends and colleagues on my E-mail list every few weeks or so. As the years went by, more people asked to be added to the list, and some suggested I set up a website so they could read old ones from time to time. This is that site.

My comedy has always been first and foremost just that, comedy.

I was simply trying to make other people, and myself, laugh. The events portrayed in any VENT were fictitious and the people therein (except for the truly famous, like President Bush) may have been based in part on people I met, but they were all fictionalized.

I also acknowledge that my comedy is sometimes irreverent. All good political satire is. It expresses positions of contention and controversy in order to encourage the audience to look at their own conclusions. I certainly never meant to offend anyone - I have people of every description on my e-mail list, and not one person ever indicated to me that they were offended by something I wrote. Mostly, I think, because they know me and understand who I am.

I'd like to say a word about that. I got into politics because of a commitment to civil rights. On issues such as affirmative action, anti-discrimination initiatives, ethnic profiling, women's rights and gay rights, I don't think there is a more progressive voice in the Pennsylvania legislature. My wife and I named our first daughter Brennan after Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, who is my personal hero in part for embodying our nation's commitment to civil rights.

Any joke I made with a political point was made in furtherance of progressive values, even as I sometimes made fun of those who do not, in my judgment share those values. If anyone has been offended by anything I have written, I am truly sorry. I was trying to make people laugh and think, not upset them.

I was advised that I should temporarily take the blog down, due to the possibility of someone hacking into the site and modifying the content to reflect something that I did not say. I hope to have it back up soon in a secure environment.

Thank You,

Daylin Leach

Call me crazy, but these don't sound like the words of a hateful bigot.

Judge Ye Not...

Two things:

One, this important post from Atrios regarding the Katrina fallout:

I don't think it was that long ago that most Americans had at least some small connection to poverty. Immigrant parents and grandparents, family members who experienced the worst effects of the Great Depression, or simply growing up fairly poor. It's sad that so many people can't understand that if you live paycheck to paycheck, and you don't have any credit, it might actually be impossible for you to fill your gas tank.

Two, this fine column from the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Lucia Herndon on media coverage of the disaster:

What pictures of the looters really may say

I knew it would happen - just didn't know when.

I'm talking about television news footage of looters played over and over in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Looting occurs whenever law and order breaks down as a result of disasters natural or manmade. But since the advent of television, looting seems to be a black thing. From the Watts riots in the 1960s to today, you can count on pictures of black folk hightailing it away from some store with electronic appliances, jewelry and furniture.

So while reporters from 24-hour TV news channels poured into the area almost as fast as the rising waters, I didn't have long to wait for the looting story to flash on my television screen. And even though it was expected, I found myself a little sad. But mostly mad.

We journalists have a collective knee-jerk reaction in certain situations, disasters especially. We look for people, things, quotes that will convey what we want or need to convey. But overuse of this practice leads to cliché and stereotype.

In Iowa, where tornadoes are a summertime surety, reporters are always looking for someone to say that the barn-flattening winds sounded like a freight train. At my old newspaper, the first reporter to get that quote was treated to a beer after work.

For television reporters, shots of blacks looting are quick, easy and downright expected.

New Orleans is more than a party-time tourist destination. It's a city where two-thirds of the population is black, so I'm not surprised to see black people looting. Many are poor: The median income for whites is a low $31,971; for blacks it's a subterranean $11,332. Truth is, life in the Big Easy has never been that way for many.

My question is, are blacks really the only looters? Or are they the only ones deemed worthy of camera time? Does 30 seconds of tape, rewound and replayed, tell the whole story? If pictures of looters never made it onto the air, would viewers be deprived of crucial information? Do these images advance the story of the plight of people?

Or do they play to stereotype, prejudice and fear?

Yes, stealing for profit and personal gain is wrong. And I hope those who decided to take advantage of a disaster to haul off flat-screen televisions and DVD players find no way to profit from their theft.

But during a devastating disaster like this, good, law-abiding citizens may do things they would never do normally. On TV I saw people carrying what appeared to be groceries, water, and bags of ice. With no water, power, or way out of town, it looked to me that the "looters" were trying to survive rather than upgrade their stereo system.

Before you say "I would never," just remember that's pretty easy to say and believe as we sit in our comfortable, dry, air-conditioned homes with ice, water and food a few steps away. Hunger to us means we haven't eaten in a couple of hours.

Think about it: Water's at your knees, kids are hungry and thirsty. You'd call 911 if you had a phone and if someone would answer. How could I say that if this were my situation, I wouldn't be one of those people heading out of the Wal-Mart with things that could help my family survive?

So don't draw conclusions about the ways of black people from the few moments of "de rigueur" pictures of looters. Black citizens are also among the weary, the rescuers and the rescued, the resilient, the righteous... and the dead.

They just don't get much airtime.

And finally, with all this in mind, I present the “Clueless Media Moment Of The Day” from CNN:

Wolf Blitzer was playing all-omniscient-TV-talking-head with a correspondent named Jack Cafferty, and looking over the news footage of looting in New Orleans, Blitzer condescendingly opined: “These people are so poor and so black…”

Ugh...I'm quite sure Leonard Pitts, Jr. will have something to say about this also.

By the way, Atrios and The Daily Kos have the text of what Cafferty said about Bushco's fumbling of the relief effort so far. More importantly, though, this is where to go to get or give help.

Play Nice At The U.N., Johnny

This article to me is proof positive (as if we needed it, I guess) that John Bolton’s job at the U.N. is to make sure that the United States commits to absolutely nothing regarding all of the issues affecting ourselves and other countries. No timetables, no commitments…nothing.

Oh, and by the way, China and other nations have pledged to help us recover from Katrina. Maybe it would be nice to show a little gratitude and not wreck the millennium goals document, OK?

Easy Freeper

In the midst of the horrific stories surrounding Katrina, the Iman bridge collapse in Iraq, and the controversy surrounding the John Roberts Supreme Court nomination, I found out something yesterday courtesy of Gail Shister and the Philadelphia Inquirer which truly “shook me to my foundations” so to speak.

Dennis Hopper is a Republican!

"People would be surprised to know that," says Hopper, maverick star and director of the '69 hippie-stoners-on-bikes classic, Easy Rider, in a recent interview.

"I've been a Republican since Reagan. I voted for Bush and his father. I don't tell a lot of people, because I live in a city where somebody who voted for Bush is really an outcast."

Man, how do you like that? I guess that explains some things, though. I can picture Frank Booth of “Blue Velvet” tutoring at the feet of the late (but hardly lamented) Lee Atwater, whose protégé at that time was this obscure hack and opportunist still working out the kinks in his despicable act named Karl Rove.

“Lee, dude, you are so bleeping suave! You’ve got to send a crate of rubbing alcohol to Dukakis’s wife and get photos of the slime in Boston Harbor and blame him for not cleaning it up! DON’T YOU LOOK AT ME!”

Or the stoned photojournalist in “Apocalypse Now” (actually, “stoned” something or other was a standard Hopper role for a long time), talking to Martin Sheen trapped in the tiger cage:

“Like, Kurtz, man, he’s…he’s the master. He is all knowing. And don’t ask how, he just is. You see these guys running around with the machetes and grass skirts? You think they’re Filipino, but noo maan! They’re all Contra refugees. Kurtz called Reagan and got a bunch of Hueys to transport them over….hey, look maan, I know this movie is about Vietnam and not the 80s, but do you think this is reality? Where do you think Brando is getting his dialogue from? He’s making it all up – he read half of it from the box of Cocoa Puffs he ate for breakfast this morning!”

I can also picture Hopper, as the patsy in “True Romance,” giving the speech he gives to Christopher Walken before Walken shoots him to Barack Obama instead (oooohhh – watch it!). Also, I’m sure Dubya rides a horse as successfully as Hopper did as Rock Hudson’s son in “Giant.”

Well, this is just one case where I’m going to respectfully disagree and leave it at that. I give Hopper credit for making a successful career for himself and managing to stay alive. Maybe one day he’ll see the light, but if he doesn’t, that’s OK too.

President Stupid Head Stikes Again

I have only this to say in response to this article:

How about “zero tolerance” for corporate crooks who artificially inflate the price of energy-related futures commodities in Texas and California and gouge people by millions of dollars? How about “zero tolerance” for your friends in the oil biz who use their clout to award themselves billions in pork dollars in the fraud energy bill the Repug Congress just passed (oh, sorry – that was legal thievery, wasn’t it?).

Thanks for giving a lot of people the idea of illegally profiting from our new energy crisis who may not have had that idea before, you putz! Why don’t you go back to playing the guitar with the Presidential seal on it while thousands upon thousands try to figure out how to live amidst their suffering and our people continue to die in Iraq thanks to your illegal war?

And Arianna Huffington calls you on your photo-op “leadership” yesterday, by the way, as well as that of your flunkies.

Roberts Redux

With everyone quite rightly focusing on the destruction of Katrina in the Gulf Coast states, it is important to remember that the hearings on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts are due to start next week. I thought this column from Jonathan Turley in USA Today was instructive (though he dumps on Sandra Day O'Connor a bit at the end...sure she was a political animal - and who isn't? - but though I think she screwed up from time to time, she distinguished herself at the end).

Also, Liberal Oasis (a site I should go to every day) has an excellent summation of the political landscape on this issue (and the sad fact that the Repugs are outspending us like crazy...they'll never run out of money; we can't beat them on that score, but we have to win on getting the word out on what a bad apple this guy is any way we can and making that case).