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September 16, 2005

So George has to ask Condi permission to poop?

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

More here and here.

12:46 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca

September 15, 2005

Also from ThinkProgress, more vomit-inducing news from the Washington Post:

The Washington Post reports, “the White House was working yesterday to suspend wage supports for service workers in the hurricane zone as it did for construction workers on federal contracts last week.” The article notes that anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist “is among those lobbying the White House to suspend wage supports for service workers in the hurricane zone.”

08:53 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

ThinkProgress has the goods on the newest plan from Bush Sec. of Education Margaret Spellings to reintroduce segregation to schools. This time it's not based on race (well, not REALLY) but on socio-economic standing. Another shining example of BushCo capitalizing on a national tragedy to push their classist agenda, and doing it at the earliest age. Disgusting. Check it out:

The Wall Street Journal reports that Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will ask Congress to waive a federal law that bans educational segregation for homeless children. The Bush administration is arguing, along with states like Utah and Texas, that providing schooling for evacuees – who, in this case, are likened to homeless children — will be disruptive to public school systems, so they want to have sound legal backing for creating separate educational facilities for the 372,000 schoolchildren displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The State of Mississippi is opposed to waiving the Act because they argue the law helps evacuees enroll in schools without red tape.

See, it's not that we're racist or classist! It's just that we don't like disruption! We know that the kids in Utah might actually benefit from having someone who's not a lily-white Mormon in their classes, we know they might actually learn about a different point of view, but, well, really, it's just so DISRUPTIVE.

And really, these poor homeless kids -- I mean evacuees, sorry (but, I mean, really, they ARE homeless) -- they don't want to have to go to a school where the other kids drive fancy cars and wear clothes from the Limited! See, it's better for them, too! We're really helping not disrupt their lives any further, too! We care! See, we even hug black people -- I mean poor people -- I mean homeless people -- I mean evacuees. Sorry, but see how confusing it is?

08:43 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

September 14, 2005

Hurricane Corrina...hugging poor people...Iraq...mess...Cindy Sheehan...Rove in trouble...Brownie gone...poll numbers...Chertoff screwed up...mom sounding bad with poor people...Condi shopping for shoes...poll numbers...poor people all over America...Anderson Cooper mad...poll numbers...gotta clear brush...gotta hug poor...don't wanna fire Karl...fire Chertoff...poll numbers...Iraq...gas prices...poll numbers...go biking...hug...don't like hugging...poor people...bad...must...escape...White House...

Imagine what must be going through George W. Bush's febrile brain when he reads the latest NBC News/Washington Post poll, which has always been one of the more positive ones:

Bush’s job approval has plummeted to 40 percent, an all-time low for the president. That’s a drop of 6 points from the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll taken in July, and it’s consistent with results from other recent national surveys. The poll also finds that just 37 percent of respondents approve of Bush’s job handling Iraq, compared with 58 percent who disapprove — another all-time low. In addition, 55 percent want to reduce the number of troops in Iraq, while just 36 percent want to maintain the current level there.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Bush is done.

The poll also revealed a particularly damning bit of information about our preparedness in the face of Bush's favorite election-year topic: the terrorist attack. To wit:

After Katrina, 75 percent now believe the United States is not adequately prepared for a nuclear, biological or chemical attack. That’s an increase since June 2002, nine months after Sept. 11, when 66 percent believed this.

I find that last bit of information startling. Not the 75 number from this week, but the 66 number from 2002. In 2002, 66 percent of people polled said the "security president" hadn't done his job. And yet, the guy was "re-elected." Probably criminally, and Mark Crispin Miller's new book will have more dope on that. But now a full 3/4 of people polled believe that we do not have competent national security.

And they're clearly right.

Bush cares about us having the appearance of security, not real security.

Time to move on, George. We need a real president, and sooner than in 2008.

10:29 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

Paul Krugman's column on Monday posited that FEMA was not the only government agency to be headed by political cronies of Bush and therefore dangerous in the extreme to American citizens. Krugman pointed out that the EPA, the FDA, Treasury and Homeland Security departments all suffer from what he calls "the FEMA syndrome." And since the piece saw print on Monday, we have already learned, via the recent leaked memo, that Chertoff, not Brownie, was in the driver's seat of the car driving anywhere but the Gulf Coast as Katrina hit. Let's reiterate Krugman's concern:

And finally, what about the department of Homeland Security itself? FEMA was neglected, some people say, because it was folded into a large agency that was focused on terrorist threats, not natural disasters. But what, exactly, is the department doing to protect us from terrorists?

Terrorists don't provide week-long warnings like Katrina did. Bush is not simply incompetent. He is, quite literally, dangerous. His actions have already gotten a lot of Americans killed, and, unless he starts making serious changes in all of his top level positions (do we really believe that Condi or Rummy or John Snow gives a damn about ordinary Americans?), we are going to see more homeless, more toxically poisoned, more dead Americans.

10:13 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By John Christian Plummer

September 12, 2005

Don't worry everyone, President Bush is making his THIRD trip to the gulf region since the disaster. This guy is on top of things! Man, I was starting to think that he was really inept but since I saw on CNN that this is his THIRD trip to the disaster zone since the hurricane I now know that things really will be OKAY!

Now if he can just get the Saints to win the Super Bowl we'll know that everything is really going to be all right again!

11:07 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By

President Bush was back in the Gulf region today to "continue to assess the situation on the ground".

Clearly, they want us to see this as further evidence that the President is taking a hands on approach to the recovery effort.

I think it's yet another sign that this administration is in a tailspin and has yet to plug the bleeding wound left by it's mishandling of Hurricane Katrina...and it's the most telling symbol yet.

Let's recap the weeks events;

1. After Rehnquist's death, Bush nominates John Roberts for Chief Justice. This seems an incredibly odd choice, given the fact that the President has two justices (Thomas and Scalia) who are more conservative and have signicantly more experience on the court (as in, they HAVE experience on the Supreme Court). The reason behind this is simple; the administration lacks the power to successfully fight three concurrent Supreme Court nomination battles right now. They need to focus their resources, not dilute them.

2. Bush, after an overwhelming amount of public outcry, essentially fires FEMA head Michael Brown. Technically, he just took him off the recovery effort, but that's as close to fired as anyone gets in this administration. Brown's utter lack of qualification and string of failures in handling this emergency are well-documented. From any other President, firing him would seem a logical and intelligent step. But for this President, it is unprecedented. No one ever gets fired in the Bush administration because that would be like admitting a mistake in hiring them... and the Bush administration doesn't make mistakes. Removing Brown from the procedings shows that the crisis has gotten so bad that they have been forced to admit culpability.

3. And finally, Bush visits New Orleans for the third time in just over a week. This is telling for two reasons. One, Presidents rarely, if ever, visit a disaster area more than once. These trips are largely symbolic to show a damaged part of the nation that the federal government stands with them. The President does not receive any information he couldn't get in the White House and he doesn't really do much to help with the actual recovery effort. For a President to visit more than once does no good for anyone and his efforts would be much better spent back in Washington trying to unify the government on a recovery plan. These continued visits are a desperate attempt to look "in charge". They're hoping for another "bullhorn-on-the-mound" moment and they're not going to get one.

But the main reason this visit is so telling is the date; September 11th. Normally today, the Bush administration would have spent all day reminding everyone how "well" the President did on September 11th. Last summer, they couldn't say "9/11" enough. But today Bush took time away from self-aggrandizement to do damage control in New Orleans. Bush's greatest "victory" has been superseded in importance by his greatest failure. And just as 9/11 marked a turning point in the first Bush administration, Katrina may mark a turning point in his second. Heaven help us all.

12:32 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By