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 Thanks Scooter
9/29/05 22:13:43
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So let’s review. Judy Miller has been holed up in the hoosgow to protect Cheney Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, uh, the first amendment. And stuff. Now he’s "waived confidentiality", allowing Judy to be sprung. Unbelievable:
Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter who has been jailed since July 6 for refusing to testify in the C.I.A. leak case, was released from a Virginia detention center this afternoon after she and her lawyers reached an agreement with a federal prosecutor to testify before a grand jury investigating the matter, the paper’s publisher and executive editor said.
Ms. Miller was freed after spending more than 12 weeks in jail, during which she refused to cooperate with the criminal inquiry. Her decision to testify came after she obtained what she described as a waiver offered "voluntarily and personally" by a source who said she was no longer bound by any pledge of confidentiality she had made to him. She said the source had made clear that he genuinely wanted her to testify.
That source was I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, according to people who have been officially briefed on the case. Ms. Miller met with Mr. Libby on July 8, 2003, and talked with him by telephone later that week. Discussions between government officials and journalists that week have been a central focus of the investigation.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Sorry to break this to you
9/28/05 22:18:40
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But Ashley Smith? Who tamed the violent, un-Godly impulses of a criminal with the healing words of the Lord? Turns out she was packin’ more than Jesus in her arsenal. "A Purpose Driven Life" indeed.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out
9/28/05 21:37:47
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The I Claudius fans among you will recognize the headline above. Remember how the brilliant British veteran stage and film actor Derek Jacobi, in the role of the emperor Claudius, drunkenly murmured these lines as he was reminiscing about the Roman imperial household and its utter corruption. Ultimately, of course, Claudius proved to be prescient. The poisons did hatch out, and we all know the ending.
Think of Rome as you’re contemplating the fate of Tom DeLay and his recklessness and hubris, and how his lack of self-control has led him to today’s fall from grace.
I was out tonight among right wing true believers, and not surprisingly the spin is going at full speed: The prosecutor is partisan, this indictment is the result of jury shopping, the prosecutor is partisan, the Kay Bailey Huthison case was thrown out of court, and oh by the way, the prosecutor is partisan.
One of my GOP buddies countered with "Tom DeLay gives our party a bad name."
More on this later, when I have the strength.
UPDATE: ThinkProgress lays out the cold, hard facts about Ronnie Earle’s "partisans indictment". Sorry Repubs, Earle has prosecuted FOUR TIMES AS MANY DEMS AS REPUBLICANS.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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You are getting overwhelmed by cuteness...
9/26/05 08:07:12
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Here’s another image for all you panda fans.
Bloggers Delite Permalink
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Aaron Broussard makes return appearance on Press the Meat, tells critics to bring it on
9/25/05 11:09:46
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Jefferson Parish president Aaron Broussard made a return appearance on Press the Meat a few minutes ago, where he called those who questioned allegations he made in his first appearance "sick" and accused them of pushing a "black hearted agenda". Oh, and Russert played the clip of Broussard crying, which made him burst into tears again.
More on this later. Will wait for Crooks and Liars to post the excellent clip.
UPDATE: Video now available at C&L.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Almost forgot
9/24/05 22:26:47
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Check it:
An Idaho weatherman says Japan’s Yakuza mafia used a Russian-made electromagnetic generator to cause Hurricane Katrina in a bid to avenge itself for the Hiroshima atom bomb attack and that this technology will soon be wielded again to hit another U.S. city.
I want to make sure you read that, so I’m posting it again:
An Idaho weatherman says Japan’s Yakuza mafia used a Russian-made electromagnetic generator to cause Hurricane Katrina in a bid to avenge itself for the Hiroshima atom bomb attack and that this technology will soon be wielded again to hit another U.S. city.
Good Lord.
Stevens became convinced of the existence of the Russian device when he observed an unusual Montana cold front in 2004.
"I just got sick to my stomach because these clouds were unnatural and that meant they had (the machine) on all the time," Stevens said. "I was left trying to forecast the intent of some organization rather than the weather of this planet."
So does he still have a job? Of course he does.
Stevens’ bosses at KPVI-TV say their employee can think and say what he wants as long as he keeps the station out of the debate and acknowledges that his views are his own opinion. Bill Fouch, KPVI’s general manager, compared Stevens’ musings to political or religious beliefs that journalists suppress on the job.
"He doesn’t talk about it on his weathercast," Fouch said. "He’s very knowledgeable about weather, and he’s very popular."
I guess Stevens didn’t get the memo. Didn’t he know that the homos are to blame for these hurricanes, not the Japanese or the Russkies? He needs to tighten and adjust his tin foil hat to pick up some CBN if he wants to keep up-to-date on the latest hurricane news.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Senate awakens after long slumber, scratches itself
9/24/05 18:54:37
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It looks as though young Julie Myers, Bush’s pick for a high-level post with Immigration and Customs, has a long, hard road to confirmation ahead of her. But not to worry - don’t think the good folks at the White House are putting unqualified candidates in sensitive positions just because of cronyism:
Clay Johnson III, who was head of the White House personnel office for the first three years of the current Bush administration and is now deputy budget director, said Mr. Bush’s appointees had been "superbly qualified," in large part because the president emphasized selecting candidates who were committed to carrying out his policy objectives.
Please note the ironies. The guy quote above went from working in HR to helping craft the nation’s budget. Logical career path? Why not? Qualified? As qualified as any of his colleagues, I guess.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Duvaliers on the Potomac
9/24/05 18:41:54
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You probably haven’t been following the perils of American University president Benjamin Ladner, which is a pity, because this is a pretty riveting story.
To catch everyone up: Ladner has been suspended with pay (sweet!) while his profligate spending is investigated by AU’s board, due to certain, shall we say, excesses and irregularities:
An independent report on the personal and travel expenses of suspended American University President Benjamin A. Ladner and his wife questions more than a half-million dollars spent over the past three years, including a family engagement party that cost hundreds of dollars per person, "professional development" trips for the couple’s personal chef to Paris, London and Rome, and a lunch of more than $5,000 hosted by Nancy Ladner for a garden club....
Ladner’s total compensation in 2004 was more than $800,000, well above that of presidents at comparable schools, according to outside analysts. He and his wife, according to the report, were charging antiques and cashmere to the university as well.
Until the new report, no detailed accounting had been done of the Ladners’ spending, even as bills came in for first-class tickets for overseas trips, a waterfall for the back yard of the president’s house and chauffeurs spending much of their time running errands for his wife to jewelers, salons and dry cleaners.
"It galls me to learn that Ben incurred a travel expense for himself alone to Nigeria of $22,345," trustee Paul M. Wolff, a senior partner in the Williams & Connolly law firm in Washington, wrote in a letter sent to board members Tuesday. "Had he bought a business elite ticket, the savings would have covered a student’s tuition for one semester." Tuition this year is close to $28,000...
"We do not have enough financial aid to help every student," Wolff wrote. ". . . We have held our faculty to small, single digit salary increases."
But Ladner gave his personal chef raises that averaged 11 percent over the past five years, Wolff wrote...
Fascinating. What’s particularly interesting about this story is that American University’s chief selling point is its Washington location; otherwise, the school isn’t exactly admired for its academic offerings or the distinction of its faculty - those honors go to Georgetown and Johns Hopkins’s SAIS (still respected despite the fact that Paul Wolfowitz used to run the joint). In other words, that a school like AU would charge $28,000 for tuition is not only laughable, it’s borderline criminal and extortionate. It’s even more shocking that the president of a second tier university would be earning this outrageous salary plus juicy perks.
A few years ago, I thought of joining AU’s faculty as an adjunct professor in the journalism department. After being told what the compensation would be by a red-faced faculty member, I said thanks but no thanks. People, we’re talking roughly $1500 for a semester. Meanwhile, Ladner’s chef is making $88,000 a year.
Back to the president’s woes:
Pete Smith was chairman of the board’s audit committee until late last year. "In my 30 years as a compensation consultant with Watson Wyatt, I have never had a more difficult client," he wrote in his resignation letter, which was obtained by The Post from someone other than Smith, who would not comment. Its authenticity was verified by three people. "More important, Ben wanted to control all information pertaining to his compensation very closely. At first I thought this was just a quirk. But as things evolved, I began to wonder if the intent was to hide the full scope of his compensation. . . . Important elements of his pay were not understood or explained to the board. His own CFO was in the dark concerning some elements of his pay; and the reporting of Ben’s compensation on [the IRS] Form 990 was incomplete . . .
Tensions with the board began last year, two trustees said, when Ladner asked for a $1 million bonus and several millions more in other compensation. The audit began last spring after an anonymous letter was sent to the board alleging expense violations.
Ladner denied yesterday that he had asked the board to raise his compensation.
But George Collins, the board chairman whose rotation ended last spring and a member of the compensation committee, said yesterday, "He most certainly did. I can say as chairman of the compensation [committee] and as a chairman of the board, he asked for an annual increase and review because it was [in] his contract. It was in the ’94 contract as well as the new ’97 contract, which I didn’t see until a year ago."
Now, while I am sickened by Ladner and his wife, who appear to be as greedy as two barracudas, I have to ask: Where the hell was the board all this time? What were these trustees doing? Who negotiates a contract like this? And then there’s this precious quote from Ladner himself, who seems to inhabit an irony-free bizarro world:
"Did I use some bad judgment? Sure. I’m the first one to say I’ve made mistakes," he said. But there’s a new climate of oversight in the post-Enron, post-WorldCom America, he said, and board members got worried about their responsibilities. He wasn’t getting questioned about contracts and spending years ago, he said. "Ten or 15 years ago, a lot of presidents did this by handshake," Ladner said. "Over four or five years, the context of financial arrangements changed so dramatically."
Bitch, it’s called accountability. And shame. Look it up. Oooh, if I were a parent of an AU student, I’d be HOT right about now.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Here’s more baby panda
9/24/05 18:18:18
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If the Poor Man can use his blog to propogate blatant kitten porn, I can do the same for the baby panda. It’s only fair.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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From People’s MailBag, 9/24/05
9/24/05 18:13:25
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Kind of a blah offering this week. But here’s a letter that should garner a raise for the publicist who wrote it, er, prove to be quite a thrill when the "reader" who penned it sees it in print!
I commend you for including the story on Robert Downey Jr.’s marriage to producer Susan Levin. I’m happy to see he has successfully turned his life around. Downey’s dedication to his wife, his son and the future is evident when you look at that beaming smile on his face.
-- Jill Nelson, Burlington, Ont.
People’s cover story promised to reveal the "real story" behind the "Renee and Kenny split", but all I learned from the piece was that they got married too quickly (duh) and he was freaked out by all the paparazzi attention. Her side continues to insist that listing "fraud" as a reason for the split was not because of any dark, ugly aspect of his character that she was previously unaware of.
I’m over these two already. Next.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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More panda cub
9/20/05 20:53:04
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Again, nothing to add to the image, which speaks for itself. This as-yet-unnamed little guy does so much to offset the hideousness emanating from D.C.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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And so it begins
9/20/05 08:09:55
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It looks as though the Senate is finally stirring to life, realizing that their role in approving the President’s appointees means more than breaking out the rubber stamp. Consider the case of young Julie Myers, Bush’s pick to run the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency:
Concerns over Myers, 36, were acute enough at a Senate hearing last week that lawmakers asked the nominee to detail during her testimony her postings and to account for her management experience. Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) went so far as to tell Myers that her resume indicates she is not qualified for the job.
Voinovich has pulled this sort of thing before, but not to worrry - we’re not witnessing a sudden burst of conscience or integrity. Once he gets what he wants, whatever that is, he’ll probably be back on the reservation.
But Voinovich has since met with Myers and is now likely to support her, his spokeswoman said yesterday.
That was quick.
So what ARE her qualifications?
After working as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y., for two years, Myers held a variety of jobs over the past four years at the White House and at the departments of Commerce, Justice and Treasury, though none involved managing a large bureaucracy. Myers worked briefly as chief of staff to Michael Chertoff when he led the Justice Department’s criminal division before he became Homeland Security secretary.
OK. And?
Myers also was an associate under independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr for about 16 months and has most recently served as a special assistant to President Bush handling personnel issues.
Is that all?
Her uncle is Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the departing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She married Chertoff’s current chief of staff, John F. Wood, on Saturday.
Ah, of course. Now it’s all clear.
To put it bluntly, whoever put her name forward for this position is insane. The immigration service is not only a critical one, it’s also the area of Homeland Security that affects real people on a day-to-day basis. A 36-year old who has no background in immigration law, which is complicated and arcane, need not apply, not even one with a big shot uncle and a direct connection to the DHS chief.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Whither the "Voice of the New Media"?
9/18/05 18:49:54
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Why is "Jeff Gannon’s" blog’s homepage blank? Where has he gone? Am I the last person on this earth to notice this?
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Here we go again
9/17/05 21:20:04
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In today’s WaPo, Donna Brazile takes a page from the Susan Estrich playbook and sucks up to the administration. Maybe Donna’s looking for a new gig now that her unwatchable point-counterpoint back and forth with Bay Buchanan is no longer seen on Inside Politics (R.I.P.), and having noticed that her equally politically incompetent sister Susan Estrich is making a fine living over at the Murdoch Death Star, maybe she’s written this little mash note in lieu of sending her resume to Roger Ailes:
On Thursday night President Bush spoke to the nation from my city. I am not a Republican. I did not vote for George W. Bush -- in fact, I worked pretty hard against him in 2000 and 2004. But on Thursday night, after watching him speak from the heart, I could not have been prouder of the president and the plan he outlined to empower those who lost everything and to rebuild the Gulf Coast.
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sick and tired of watching "Democrats" who couldn’t manage a dogcatcher race appear on television to a) criticize fellow Democrats, and b) grovel with gratitude when Bush does...something. ANYTHING. How fitting that Brazile, whose political instincts have never exactly wowed me, waited until the majority of the country and the media turned turned against the president to express her support. I see her timing is as sharp as it was when she was "running" the Gore campaign.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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The difference between real and faux royalty
9/16/05 18:47:51
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I ask you, what are the chances we’ll see any of the Bush offspring, or most of the children of well-known neocon and rightwing blabbermouths and gasbags, not only join the armed forces, but request combat duty? Young Prince Harry’s eagerness to serve his country and refusal to rely on his important family to get him off the hook should leave the assclowns targeted by Operation Yellow Elephant hanging their heads in shame:
Harry, using more colloquial language than is usually heard from the royal family, said he had no intention of being an army officer if he couldn’t be deployed to active service. "I hope I would not drag my sorry arse through Sandhurst . . . I would not have joined if they had said I could not be in the front line. The last thing I would want to do is for my soldiers to be sent away to Iraq and have me held back at home twiddling my thumbs, thinking what about David, what about Derek or whatever."
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Loudmouth Jay Severin gets nailed
9/16/05 18:34:53
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This is kind of fun...turns out that contrary to his claim, Jay Severin has never won the Pulitzer Prize (a claim as believable as O’Reilly’s that he won a Peabody for his work on Inside Edition). When caught in an obvious, absurd lie, Severin responded with ’’What I said was, there is a prize that my editor told me is the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize for Web journalism." Now it turns out that not even that’s actually true. And then there’s this:
Interesting, a Google search turns up two mentions of Severin winning a Pulitzer for online journalism. They come in student newspaper articles covering a November 2003 appearance at Boston College. ’’Currently, Severin is a featured columnist on MSNBC.com, for which he has won the Pulitzer Prize for online journalism," The Heights reported. Severin ’’was the first recipient of Columbia University’s Pulitzer Prize for online journalism," the Observer wrote. Both accounts also call him a graduate of Harvard Law School. He is not, Harvard says.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Clarification
9/16/05 17:54:30
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Despite rampant and irresponsible speculation, I have not stopped blogging. My brain has merely had a kind of system crash following a gigantic rush of data, and I’ve been giving my blog a bit of a rest. And no, I’m NOT saying that I’ve lost my mind or gone into therapy, just that I’ve been really, really tired and really, really sickened by the Katrina situation and our gummint’s response to it. After days and days of non-stop television watching, blog reading and frantic posting, I’ve just had to take a step back and unwind.
Not to worry, I’m still around.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Another reason to hate O’Reilly
9/16/05 17:41:27
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On his radio show today, Bill O’Reilly let loose with yet another scary scenario bound to unfold were gay marriage to be permitted:
The secular progressive movement would like to have marriage abolished, in my opinion. They don’t want it, because it is not diverse enough. You know, that’s what this gay marriage thing is all about. But now, you know, the poly-amorphous marriage, whatever they call it, you can marry 18 people, you can marry a duck, I mean --
Thank God Bill is a happily married man, who sets an example for us all. I mean, can anyone imagine this paragon of virtue calling subordinates from the work place at all hours and regaling them with his lurid sexual fantasies, his bottomless sexual appetites, his international conquests, his fondness for showertime rumpy pumpy, and his unusual use of falafel....uh, never mind.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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From People’s Mailbag, 9/16/2005
9/16/05 17:33:06
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I just realized I forgot to post last week, so here are the letters I missed:
It amazes me how much that 17-year old girl from MTV has grown up. Britney’s baby shower looked gorgeous. I know this baby has done wonders for her, even before its birth. Her face just glows in every picture.
-- James Dinh, West Springfield, Mass.
I thought about all the letters you are bound to get from people who will complain about Britney’s baby shower or her money or her beauty or her marriage or something. There is nothing wrong with being young, pretty, wealthy (having earned her money), happy, married and having a baby (and having it in that order, no less).
-- Grace Harker, Arcadia, Calif.
Now for this week:
The photo of Angelina Jolie and her daughter Zahara on your cover is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Baby Zahara is the picture of beauty and health because of Angelina’s love. I can’t think of a better thing to do than save a baby who would otherwise not have a chance. Angelina has inspired me to adopt an Ethiopian baby of my own.
-- Karen Troiano, Hamburg, N.Y.
It never ceases to amaze me how carting around ethnic babies has, as if by magic, changed this woman’s image from batshit insane homewrecker (remember the his-and-hers blood vials she and former husband Billy Bob Thornton used to wear around their necks?) to a sexy Mother Theresa. Either the person who wrote the letter was a little nuts, or a well-paid member of Jolie’s business camp clever enough to plant a fake letter in a magazine. As to the letter that follows, there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s a fake. It just has to be:
What a big heart Nicole Kidman has to visit Dylan Hartung, a 6-year old boy battling cancer. She did this on her own, and it wasn’t just a onetime deal. Nicole also brought her son Connor to spend time with Dylan. Reading about this brought tears to my eyes with Nicole being so wonderful to this little boy and for all children battling cancer. They’re real heroes and so is she.
-- Carol Chain, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Friday celebrity news
9/16/05 08:18:13
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Renee Zellwegger and Kenny Chesney are having their marriage annulled. Jeez, they met in January, married in May, pulling the plug in September. Drew Barrymore is probably nodding her head knowingly right about now. Oh, and the reason for the split? "Fraud". Fascinating.
Meanwhile, confusion reigns in Britneyland. Is her baby’s name Sean Preston, as reported by MSNBC, or Preston Michael, as per US Weekly? SO confusing, y’all! Well, I guess the good news is that they bucked the unfortunate celebrity trend of giving their unfortunate spawn truly awful names like Rumer, Tallulah Belle, Scout, Pixie Frou-Frou, FiFi Trixibelle or Peaches Honeyblossom (the last three are Bob Geldof’s unfortunately named daughters).
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Required reading
9/11/05 19:27:41
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Newsweek’s piece, "How Bush Blew It", is simply amazing. As is today’s WaPo cover story, "The Steady Buildup to a City’s Chaos". And while you’re at it, be sure to check out Armando’s takedown of Assrocket’s latest Iraq apologia.
Meanwhile, a friend called today to let me know that Brit Hume was in full GOP "blame the locals, blame the locals, blame the locals" spin mode today on Fox "News" Sunday. She and I both used to work with him, back when his superiors used to force him to stifle his demons and actually report the damn news as opposed to pontficating and editorializing. My pal needed clarification his role these days, asking me whether he’s on the White House payroll. Good question. They report, you decide, right?
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Speak of the devil
9/10/05 20:43:24
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As John Kasich’s only viewer, I have to say I’m startled by Fox’s whoredom this evening. Kasich is doing a phoner with Bernie Kerik (what a coincidence!), and Kasich just finished commiserating with Kerik, saying something along the lines of "they really put you through the ringer...I’m sure lots of people are wishing Bernie Kerik were in charge".
Uh, no they’re not.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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At last, a distraction
9/10/05 19:13:52
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Vanity Fair is breathlessly plugging their new issues cover story on the VF Web site: EXCLUSIVE: Paris Hilton.
No offense to Vanity Fair, a magazine I happen to love, whose editor is smart enough to keep James Wolcott on the payroll, but how is an interview with Paris Hilton and Man Paris an exclusive? Hell, every time I flip the pages of a mag or tab at the grocery store I see her featured, shopping, clubbing, showing off her engagement ring, whoring, and then going on vacation to recover from her exhausting schedule.
Here’s what the article will reveal:
Hilton swears she will never make another sex tape and admits to having a very traditional home life with Kasidokostas. "I think I’m sexual in pictures and the way I dress and my whole image, but at home I’m really not like that," Hilton says. "I’d rather sit in bed and watch TV. All of my ex-boyfriends—of course, not Paris—would be like, ’What’s the problem? You’re so not sexual.’" (The alluring images that accompany Smith’s story were taken by photographer Mario Testino.)...
Hilton seems happy away from the scene that made her famous, reports Smith. "The nightclub scene is a very dark, bad scene, and I think dating someone who is involved in that you’re going to have problems," Hilton says. "People do drugs. They stay out all night. They can’t miss a night. I would always be scared and insecure."
Paris and Nicky (whom Paris considers her best friend) are tired of being accused of being famous for nothing, according to Smith. Nicky Hilton tells Smith: "I just want to say to these writers, ’I’m 21 years old, I run two multi-million-dollar companies, I work my ass off. Like, what were you doing that was so fucking important at that age?’ I feel very accomplished for my age. And Paris I mean, the movies, the fragrance, the book, the album, and people just love to take everything away from us. I don’t know why. Maybe they feel it was just handed to us. Yeah, we were born with a famous last name. I get that. But just look at how we took it to another level."
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Another unfortunate byproduct
9/10/05 18:47:51
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Why Katrina, why? Not only have you left hideous devastation in your wake, you’re now the reason that aging white baby boomer Southern wordsmiths are rushing to their computers to share their first drunken experiences with the world, forced on unfortunate readers as "tributes" to New Orleans. Damn you Katrina. We thought we’d heard the last from these blabbermouths and Tennessee Williams/Walker Percy wannabes, with their irritating white man’s guilt and musings about voodoo, juju and virginity lost, looking back fondly at the first dozen or so times they threw up on their shoes during Mardi Gras. Frankly, the only person whose New Orleans remembrances I would care to read is Hunter Thompson, and that ain’t happening.
First, the exceptionally irritating Howell Raines, whose prose runs a deep shade of purple:
Like other young people in the preacher-haunted South, I bought my first legal drink in the French Quarter. We went for the booze, and in that world of cobbled streets and hidden gardens, some of us glimpsed the glory and costs of pursuing art or individualism....
Oh, wondrous city of music that floats from the horn and poems drowned in drink! Oh, cheesy clip-clop metropolis of phony coach-and-fours hauling drunken Dodge salesmen, of gaunt-eyed transvestite hookers, of Baptist girls suddenly inspired to show their breasts on Chartres Street in return for a string of beads flung from the balcony of the Soniat House will we lose even these dubious glories of the only American city that’s never been psychoanalyzed?
And where would we be without Howell’s boy Rick Bragg chiming in?
Ever since I was barely in my twenties, I have loved the way some men love women, if that means unreasonably. I fell in love with the city and a Louisiana State University sophomore on the same night, eating shrimp cooked seven ways in the Quarter, riding the ferry across the black, black river where fireworks burned the air at Algiers Point. I drank so much rum I could sleep standing up against a wall. The sophomore left me, smiling, but the city never did....
Just a few weeks ago, I spent a week there, walking along Magazine, walking the Quarter, not minding the heat because that is what the devil sends, heat and water, to make you appreciate the smell of crushed cherries and whiskey on the balcony at the Columns Hotel, to make you savor the barbecued shrimp, to make you hear, really hear, the sound of a 12-year-old boy blowing his own heart out into a battered trumpet by a ragged cardboard box full of pocket change.
How long, before that city reforms. Some people say it never will.
But I have seen these people dance, laughing, to the edge of a grave.
I believe that, now, they will dance back from it.
Dc Media Girl Permalink
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Not sure why I bother
9/10/05 16:40:56
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What to do when a revered leader is in a bit of a pickle? Change the subject, of course. Bill O’Reilly, who’s been half-heartedly pushing the "don’t buy gas on Sundays" solution for what ails us, gas-wise, had Tony Snow on last week to bitch about how miserly the rest of the world is:
Factor Follow Up Segment
What are other countries sending?
Guest: Fox News analyst Tony Snow
The State Department released a list of contributions sent or pledged by other nations. Leading the list are Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which are offering oil, cash, and aid valued at $500 million and $255 million, respectively. At the other end of the spectrum, Japan is sending just $1 million, while France, Germany, and Italy are contributing meager amounts of equipment. Fox News analyst Tony Snow explained the disparity. "You’re going to see middle eastern oil states that feel they owe their security to us giving a lot of money. As for Europe, it’s a reflection of the governments there. They’re not as generous as we are, so I didn’t expect to get a lot. The Factor ridiculed the paltry Japanese contribution. "Bangladesh sent a million dollars, and Japan did the same. The Prime Minister spends more on his hair. That’s just insulting."
Believe it or not, I actually watched this segment (maybe I’ve been suffering from malaise brought on by excessive exposure to Bill O’Reilly). I have to admit that it was pretty funny, if by "funny" you mean head-scratchingly confusing and sickening, to watch O’Reilly and Tony going over the list of countries and their contributions like two old yenta mothers-in-law perusing the checks the relatives gave at the wedding of their son and daughter. Never mind that the U.S. is in fact a rich-ass country that shouldn’t have to take contributions from anyone, and the fact that these countries were kind enough to pledge a penny is indicative of their kindness - even poor, tsunami-prone Sri Lanka pledged $25,000, after all - but whoops! What’s this?
Germany and France, the two leading European opponents of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, have offered aid to the U.S. to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, which probably killed thousands of people in four Gulf coast states.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Germany is ready to provide help including airlift capacities, vaccination, water purification, medical supplies and pumping services. The aid is available in the short term and can be brought to the U.S. on German air force and chartered planes, Schroeder said. The U.S. government has agreed to receive the help in principle, he said.
``The pictures that we see on television are hard to bear,’’ Schroeder told reporters today at the Chancellery in Berlin. ``It is not only our historical duty because we’ve received unlimited help from the American people after the war, but it also goes without saying’’ that Germany will try to help as much as it can.
France has 35 disaster relief workers in the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe ready to leave for the U.S. the minute they are asked, Denis Simonneau, deputy spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, said at a press briefing today. A 60-strong disaster relief team in mainland France could be sent ``very quickly,’’ he said.
Simonneau said France has offered 600 tents, 1000 camp beds, 60 generators, and three portable water treatment plants that are stockpiled in Martinique. In addition two planes, two naval ships and a hospital ship are standing ready in the Caribbean, he said.
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Martin Luther King must be having quite a conversation with George Orwell right about now
9/10/05 15:54:12
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Only the irony-free zone that is the Bush administration, or maybe Kim Jong Il’s regime, could have come up with something like this:
Organizers of the Pentagon’s 9/11 memorial Freedom Walk on Sunday are taking extraordinary measures to control participation in the march and concert, with the route fenced off and lined with police and the event closed to anyone who does not register online by 4:30 p.m. today.
The march, sponsored by the Department of Defense, will wend its way from the Pentagon to the Mall along a route that has not been specified but will be lined with four-foot-high snow fencing to keep it closed and "sterile," said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense.
The U.S. Park Police will have its entire Washington force of several hundred on duty and along the route, on foot, horseback and motorcycles and monitoring from above by helicopter. Officers are prepared to arrest anyone who joins the march or concert without a credential and refuses to leave, said Park Police Chief Dwight E. Pettiford.
The event, the America Supports You Freedom Walk, is billed as a memorial to victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks and a show of support for those serving in the military, topped off with a concert by country singer Clint Black, known for his pro-troops anthem, "Iraq and Roll." Organizers said they expect 3,000 to 10,000 participants.
Of course, the event is being held to show the terrorists that they haven’t won, that we support the democracy the troops are fighting and dying for, and that we heart the freedoms enumerated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, particularly that of assembly. What better way to celebrate the aforementioned than to hold a walk for which one has to register beforehand, and where rogue walkers and Clint Black "fans" may face arrest?
Now you see why my head came close to exploding this week.
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I’m back
9/10/05 15:33:08
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I’ve returned to blogging after a brief break. I needed some time to refuel and shake off the feelings of disbelief and rage that had been building since Katrina blew out of the Gulf region.
So let’s discuss Michael Brown for a minute.
As you’ve probably heard, Bush’s beloved "Brownie" (file under, "Heckuva job, you’re doing a") has been relieved of his Katrina emergency management aftermath duties, but oddly enough, not from his post as head of FEMA, where he continues to supervise a demoralized, much-maligned staff.
The recent revelations in The New Republic and Time about Brown’s background got me thinking about last year’s crash-and-burn White House generated debacle, the naming of Bernard Kerik to run the Department of Homeland Security.
What followed the announcement, as you may recall, were a series of deeply embarrassing and entertaining stories about Kerik’s personal and professional failings as well as numerous questionable deals. Love nest overlooking Ground Zero? Check. An affair with terrifying publishing harpy Judith Regan? Check. Undocumented nanny? Check. Alleged mafia ties? Check. Outstanding arrest warrant? Check. Ethics violations? Check. Questionable use of police personnel and property? Check. And on and on and on.
My then-colleagues and I were flummoxed. How was it possible that the White House’s vetting process had gone so horribly awry? Did anyone bother to do even the most cursory check on this man (and by "cursory" I mean just that - a Google search would have done it)? How could it have happened that this White House, which prides itself on running a tight-as-a-drum ship, could have been caught with its pants down?
Beyond that, however, I was fascinated by Kerik himself. After all, he had been named to run Homeland Security, which would require undergoing a rigorous FBI background check - and by "rigorous" I mean having the agents crawl into every nook and cranny of his life - every investment, every outlay of cash, every contract, every stock trade, every job, every damn thing but having an agent snap on a rubber glove and asking Bernie to bend over. How did Kerik think he’d be able to withstand such scrutiny, when it was plain that he had a plethora of skeletons in his closet?
While Kerik’s arrogance and faulty grasp of reality were impressive, I didn’t find it that suprising. Remember, Kerik’s entire career was based on benefitting from cronyism and patronage. When you have a powerful ally like Rudy Giuliani, who was canonized after September 11, there’s pretty much nothing you can’t accomplish. That is, until your aspirations lead you to Washington, where the backslapping doesn’t carry you as far as it does in the local arena.
Clearly my conclusions about Kerik applied only to Kerik, since now we’ve learned about the hacks and zeroes chosen to run FEMA, who evidently DID pass some sort of background check (I suppose) and managed to rise to impressive heights despite questionable work histories and/or lack of qualifications. Remember, FEMA falls under the control of Homeland Security, so one would imagine that some sort of check must have been done - or was it?
Hell, at least Kerik didn’t even get to the confirmation process. So how did these guys manage?
And what, exactly, do you have to do to get fired from this administration?
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Another definition of "compassionate conservatism"
9/6/05 12:35:15
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From American RealPolitik, linked from Eject! Eject! Eject!:
Only a few minutes ago, I had the delightful opportunity to read the comment of a fellow who said he wished that white, middle-class, racist, conservative cocksuckers like myself could have been herded into the Superdome Concentration Camp to see how much we like it. Absent, of course, was the fundamental truth of what he plainly does not have the eyes or the imagination to see, namely, that if the Superdome had been filled with white, middle-class, racist, conservative cocksuckers like myself, it would not have been a refinery of horror, but rather a citadel of hope and order and restraint and compassion.
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Then and now
9/6/05 11:55:05
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So now what will they do?
After September 11, the president and his minions took a two-pronged approach: Blame the previous administration for the intelligence failure that led to the attacks and unleash a damn the torpedoes attack on (fill in the blank).
So now what?
They’re obviously at a loss now. Bush can’t encourage the baddies to "bring it on" (which I always thought was a curious thing to say, September 11 having been an obvious example of what happens when they DO bring it on; I would have thought he’d have been better off encouraging them to "keep it where it is"). He can’t parade around a carrier in a flight suit. Chris Matthews and G. Gordon Liddy, along with their Tiger Beat right wing high-kicking chorus line, can’t ooh and ahh over his "manly characteristic", his Wild West six gun demeanor, and his "screw you, we’re AMERICA" attitude. Al Qaeda can’t be blamed. A country can’t be invaded. Maybe he’ll do another turkey drop, but by then it’ll have been too little, too late.
More importantly, they can’t blame Clinton or Richard Clarke for the administration’s reponse to this crisis (although some have tried to blame the previous administration, despite the fact that talking point has long passed its sell by date). The talking point blaming the locals is now believed only by the hardcore holdouts at Fox, on talk radio and by some hardy souls at The Corner and other outerlying areas of the right wing blogosphere. This is definitely the work of BUSH’s administration, of HIS appointees. He’s been in office more than long enough to have to answer for this horror.
And in his way, he has. His words: "You’re doing a heckuva job, Brownie".
I direct this next question to the press corps: While I appreciate how you’re all taking umbrage now, where the hell were you when Michael Brown was appointed to run FEMA? Why didn’t you tell us that he was a man with zero qualifications for such an important post?
So all that remains is to blame the victims, who if I understand correctly were either too stupid or too stubborn to evacuate, or local authorities (and by "local authorities" I refer to the Democratic ones, Haley Barbour obviously being above reproach). I’m no expert on Christianity, but based on my readings of the New Testament I think it’s safe to say that what’s happening now is not what Jesus had in mind.
Speaking of Jesus, I don’t think this is how he would have responded to the hurricane and its dreadful aftermath:
Rev. Bill Shanks, pastor of New Covenant Fellowship of New Orleans, also sees God’s mercy in the aftermath of Katrina -- but in a different way. Shanks says the hurricane has wiped out much of the rampant sin common to the city.
The pastor explains that for years he has warned people that unless Christians in New Orleans took a strong stand against such things as local abortion clinics, the yearly Mardi Gras celebrations, and the annual event known as "Southern Decadence" -- an annual six-day "gay pride" event scheduled to be hosted by the city this week -- God’s judgment would be felt.
“New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion -- it’s free of all of those things now," Shanks says. "God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there -- and now we’re going to start over again."
The New Orleans pastor is adamant. Christians, he says, need to confront sin. "It’s time for us to stand up against wickedness so that God won’t have to deal with that wickedness," he says.
The Bush administration needs to realize it’s too late. The American people are seeing this for what it is: A colossal cockup and massive failure, which has victimized the poor, the very old and the very young.
I wouldn’t be surprised to read some very vicious anonymous quotes from people inside Homeland Security and FEMA very soon. There are exceptionally good, professional, competent people employed there who are not happy with how things went in this instance, and are aghast that they’re represented by the fools and knaves we’ve seen hogging the microphones of late. They know damn well that "Brownie" isn’t doing "a heckuva job". They WANT to help. They’ve just had their hands tied.
And THAT is unacceptable.
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Barbara Bush enters the fray
9/5/05 22:54:26
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The mother, not the daughter. Is she a hateful old bag or a big fat idiot? We report, you decide:
NEW YORK Former First Lady Barbara Bush said Monday that living in the Astrodome in Houston was working out well for many of the 15,000 hurricane victims there because they were underprivileged anyway.
Mrs. Bush made her remarks on the National Public Radio program "Marketplace" after visiting hurricane relief centers in Houston with a delegation that included her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Bill Clinton.
In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we’re going to move to Houston."
Then she added: "What I’m hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this -- this [she chuckles slightly] is working very well for them."
The two former presidents have been chosen by George W. Bush to head fundraising efforts for the recovery. Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama were also present during the Houston tour.
Update: According to the tape, she actually says "What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is that they want to stay in Texas"
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More from Powerline
9/5/05 16:18:47
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Assrocket:
The mainstream media’s handling of Hurricane Katrina and the disasters in New Orleans is a disgrace, possibly the worst instance yet of media bias. Insane claims by left-wing nuts that President Bush botched the recovery effort on purpose so as to kill black people are repeated by the MSM in a chin-stroking mode, as if to say, "It’s an interesting question--they might be on to something." Meanwhile, no one points out that it was President Bush who implored Governor Blanco to issue a first-ever mandatory evacuation order for the city, an action by the President that probably saved tens of thousands of lives.
Larry Johnson:
Don’t let Bush off the hook. The White House effort to blame the Governor of Louisiana ignores some critical facts:
The Governor of Louisiana declared a State of Emergency on 26 August 2005, which is a pre-requisite for invoking the Stafford Act:
Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco today issued Proclamation No. 48 KBB 2005, declaring a state of emergency for the state Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina poses an imminent threat, carrying severe storms, high winds, and torrential rain that may cause flooding and damage to private property and public facilities, and threaten the safety and security of the citizens of the state of Louisiana The state of emergency extends from Friday, August 26, 2005, through Sunday, September 25, 2005, unless terminated sooner.
The Governor, per the National Response Plan, followed this request with a letter on Saturday, 27 August 2005, invoking the Stafford Act.
Ball’s in your court, Assrocket. Bush "implored Governor Blanco"? When? Proof?
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Wonder of wonders
9/5/05 14:57:51
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Michelle Malkin calls for Bush to fire Michael Brown.
Before you start thinking that some primal order in the universe has been tampered with, rest assured that there are still holdouts in the wingutosphere. Not suprisingly, Assrocket the shameless apologist begs to differ with Malkin:
I’m parting company here with two people whose judgment I respect. Michelle Malkin has recommended that President Bush fire FEMA head Michael Brown. Brown is, apparently, a political appointee with few qualifications for the job beyond general competence and management skill. This is hardly unusual in Washington; the conventional assumption is that staff who report to the head of an agency furnish the necessary expertise. As seems to have happened; FEMA’s response to hurricanes last year was widely praised. In any event, whatever the wisdom of Brown’s appointment in hindsight, firing him now would be an admission that FEMA performed poorly in the current crisis--an assertion that is constantly repeated, but for which I have seen, at this point, little hard evidence. There will be time enough for sorting out, in a rational environment, the pros and cons of FEMA’s efforts; firing Brown now would accomplish nothing but to uselessly fan the flames of hysteria.
I’m sure Assrocket would have made the same argument had this massive cockup happened under Clinton’s watch.
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And you can add Driftglass to the list below
9/5/05 14:29:10
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My man would definitely be part of that kitchen cabinet. I can’t believe I overlooked his brilliance.
To wit: His Pink Floyd-inspired photo essay. Grab the Kleenex before clicking.
Drifty, you are quite simply amazing.
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If I were in charge
9/5/05 09:55:41
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Over the past few days I’ve let my mind wander a bit. What if I were elected president? What would I do?
Here’s what would be number one on the agenda: I’d get the best people I could around me. I’d start with Larry Johnson and Pat Lang. I’d hand them the government’s organizational chart (if such a thing even exists) and I’d tell them to point to the job they wanted. And I’d make sure they got what they wanted with no questions asked.
Then I’d round up Steve Gilliard, the Rude Pundit, John Aravosis, Jim Wolcott, John Amato and Robert Greenwald to be a kitchen cabinet of sorts. Their main duties would involve keeping me from losing my mind - as well as my perspective.
Then I’d gather my oldest friends, including Lauren and Lynne, around to look out for my best interests. I’d get some of my newer friends, the ones who have worked inside the Washington system, into the game as well.
What I WOULDN’T do is hire a horse association boss and estate planning lawyer who happened to be an old college buddy of my campaign manager’s to run FEMA, not unless the guy happened to have one helluva background in disaster management in addition to his horse duties. You see, I actually care about FEMA and think it serves an important purpose, unlike these small government idiots like Grover Norquist, who has famously said he’d like to shrink government to a size small enough to then be able to drown it in the bathtub (I wonder if he’s rethought those heartless words? Nah, probably not). I WANT people to get help after a disaster, not sit around as the government agencies created to help them form circular firing squads.
But that’s just me.
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Dr. Phil is at the Astrodome
9/4/05 21:04:29
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Don’t get me wrong. I love Dr. Phil. But honestly, what these people need is food, water, medicine, and a way to find their missing relatives.
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Larry Johnson weighs in on the Katrina aftermath
9/4/05 20:53:31
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Read the whole thing here. Excerpt:
The provocative title is intentional. Why did the Bush Administration fail to act according to the National Response Plan they created in December of 2004 to deal with an incident like Katrina?
What do you do when the words on the paper don’t match the action in the field? People are dying today in New Orleans because of the failure to provide immediate aid are dead in part because of the negligence of Michael Chertoff. That is a harsh judgment, but if you will take time to read the National Response Plan that was signed into effect in December of 2004 there is no other reasonable conclusion.
The current effort by the Bush Administration to blame the victims in Louisiana and Mississippi is bad enough, but they are in big trouble once Americans take the time to understand that they the Administration ignored it’s own plan for dealing with a threat like Katrina. Why did they fail to implement the plan until it was too late to save lives along the Gulf Coast?
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Aaron Broussard
9/4/05 13:54:32
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ThinkProgress has the transcript of Jefferson Parish president Aaron Broussard’s appearance on Meet the Press this morning. C&L has the video. The poor man broke down on camera, and who can blame him? Alligators feast on bloated corpses in the streets where so many revelers have enjoyed cocktails during Mardi Gras. A beautiful, romantic, mysterious, utterly unique American city has been drowned and is now ruled by armed junkies. And the federal government continues to lie and obfuscate and try to apportion blame while the world watches OUR AMERICAN CITIZENS die on camera.
We have been abandoned by our own country. Hurricane Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst storms ever to hit an American coast. But the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history. … Whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chainsawed off and we’ve got to start with some new leadership. It’s not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now.
We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn’t need them. This was a week ago. FEMA, we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. When we got there with our trucks, FEMA says don’t give you the fuel. Yesterday — yesterday — FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in, he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards and said no one is getting near these lines…
I want to give you one last story and I’ll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I’m in, Emergency Management, he’s responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, “Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?” and he said, “Yeah, Mama, somebody’s coming to get you.” Somebody’s coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody’s coming to get you on Friday… and she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night! [Sobbing] Nobody’s coming to get us. Nobody’s coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody’s promised. They’ve had press conferences. I’m sick of the press conferences.
For God’s sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.
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The levees still ain’t dry
9/4/05 13:40:41
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The indignities keep piling up. From Senator Mary Landrieu’s 9/2 release:
I understand that the U.S. Forest Service had water-tanker aircraft available to help douse the fires raging on our riverfront, but FEMA has yet to accept the aid. When Amtrak offered trains to evacuate significant numbers of victims – far more efficiently than buses – FEMA again dragged its feet. Offers of medicine, communications equipment and other desperately needed items continue to flow in, only to be ignored by the agency.
But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast – black and white, rich and poor, young and old – deserve far better from their national government.
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Roundup
9/4/05 13:27:41
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Will Haygood offers the following explanation of why the poor stayed behind in New Orleans. Answer: They don’t have money.
Next.
Then there’s this bit of ugliness:
Thousands Await Help While Feds Shift Blame 
Bush administration officials blame state and local authorities for emergency management failure.
Then there’s the world reaction.
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Rehnquist dies
9/4/05 09:01:54
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Lord almighty. He gets to pick TWO replacements?
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Piling on
9/3/05 16:40:20
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From the Department of Homeland Security’s Web site (thanks to Steve):
Preparing America
In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort. The new Department will also prioritize the important issue of citizen preparedness. Educating America’s families on how best to prepare their homes for a disaster and tips for citizens on how to respond in a crisis will be given special attention at DHS.
And how about this?
National Response Plan
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| "One team, one goal...a safer, more secure America" |
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| The National Response Plan establishes a comprehensive all-hazards approach to enhance the ability of the United States to manage domestic incidents. The plan incorporates best practices and procedures from incident management disciplines—homeland security, emergency management, law enforcement, firefighting, public works, public health, responder and recovery worker health and safety, emergency medical services, and the private sector—and integrates them into a unified structure. It forms the basis of how the federal government coordinates with state, local, and tribal governments and the private sector during incidents. It establishes protocols to help
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More bitchslapping
9/3/05 12:25:30
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Fox continues to implode.
Last night, I thought it might be prudent to watch some of of the "News" Channel’s primetime coverage to see which way the wind was blowing to our right. And amazingly, Shep Smith, with Gerlado as backup, continued with the criticism of the criminally negligent response of the feds to this crisis.
It’s interesting. O’Reilly continues to try to change the subject by encouraging conservation and blaming the Governor and Mayor of New Orleans for the clusterfuck in the Big Easy and elsewhere in the state, but that bit of rancid spin and misdirection has lost momentum. When you’ve got your own people, who are mired in the stink and horror that is the flood zone, literally screaming and sobbing on camera, I think you need to give up your fantasy that this tragedy and suffering can be blamed on anyone but the big boys in D.C.
Remember, though, this is the president and the Congress that saw fit to call for a special session to sign a bill just for Terri Schiavo. The president didn’t seem to have too much trouble getting his ass on a plane and getting down to business back then; then again, he had a powerful constituency to cater to, not a bunch of poor black folk, who if they pull their votes won’t exactly bring the party to its knees.
This is what the GOP means by defending the "culture of life", if by "life" you mean women in vegetative states and clusters of cells. If you’re a viable, fully formed human being, however, you’re on your own.
UPDATE: Digby has a more detailed take on this.
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Mayday! Mayday! Revert to fallback positions!
9/2/05 09:11:41
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It was only a matter of time. When faced with the mind-boggling ineptitude of this administration’s handling of the Katrina aftermath, the right wing Keyboard Kommandoes have fallen back to default positions: Blame 1) the media, 2) Democrats, and 3) Clinton for the catastrophe. Michelle Malkin covers the bases in her latest post:
It’s worth noting, too, that Democrats not from Louisiana have not always been enthusiastic supporters of New Orleans’ anti-flood efforts. The Clinton Administration held up a major New Orleans levee construction project in 1995, according to a June 23, 1995, article in the Times-Picayune (via EU Rota)
EU Rota has more examples of Clinton-era obstructionism here. (Maybe this explains why Clinton took the high road yesterday and refused to trash Bush on CNN.)
It wasn’t only in Louisiana that the Clinton Administration opposed flood control measures. During the 2000 presidential campaign, Clinton vetoed legislation designed to prevent flooding on the Missouri River. According to Michael Catanzaro, the veto stemmed from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision ordering the Army Corps of Engineers to manipulate the Missouri’s water levels to save three endangered species. The veto, a significant campaign issue, was a factor in Bush’s narrow win over Al Gore in Missouri.
If the Missouri river floods, will that be Bush’s fault too?
Cafferty is fuming because Bush did not drop sandwiches into the waterlogged, chaos-racked Superdome. I kid you not.
Powerline picks up on the theme:
Dr. David Caskey writes from Louisiana. We can’t vouch for what he says; all I know is, he’s there and we’re not:
A lot is going on down here that is not in the news. First, our esteemed governor and the mayor of NO are both idiots. This is the real reason for problems. Second, the NO police force is second only to the mafia in corruption and much of the looting and theft are coming from them as well as their lassitude in doing their job. Third, all Louisiana communities need clothes of any kind. See if your local Salvation Army will send to the shelters throughout the state and blog to give any clothes to the [Salvation] Army. You notice I did not say the Red Cross, they do not have a sizable presence here and are only fishing for money like after 9/11.
Consider it done.
Expect much more of this type of talk in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the dry, comfortable screaming heads at Fox are getting reamed by Shep Smith, of all people, who’s been down there for the duration, and whose reports are becoming increasingly desperate as desperation increases. He handed both O’Reilly and Hannity their heads last night, poo-pooing the idea that the Governor of Louisiana and Mayor of New Orleans are chiefly to blame for this mess (funny how Haley Barbour is left out of the criticism). I hope Crooks & Liars posts the video at some point. You won’t believe your eyes. When Fox personalities turn on each other, you know that a threshold has been reached - and crossed.
Back in the reality-based world, it looks like the press has finally gotten the memo that the administration has been a bit, er, shall we say tardy in responding to this mess, and that the official response is, shall we say, not believable. Check out John Aravosis’s place for a complete roundup of bitchslapping.
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Yes, it’s time for order to be established - mercilessly
9/1/05 18:37:02
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What sort of a sick twist shoots at doctors and nurses? And excuse me, not only shoots at them, but sets up a sniper position to facilitate his work? Aid workers, beware when entering Baghdad on the Mississippi:
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- The evacuation of patients from Charity Hospital was halted Thursday after the facility came under sniper fire twice.
A physician at the hospital said that despite the incidents staff members and patients were eager to get out after three days with no water and electricity and sparse food rations.
"A single sniper or two snipers shouldn’t have to shut down a hospital evacuation for two hours now," Dr. Ruth Berggren told CNN. "I look outside, I’m not seeing any military." (See a video report on the sniper’s attack -- 1:06 )
Berggren’s husband, Dr. Tyler Curiel, witnessed both incidents.
"We were coming in from a parking deck at Tulane Medical Center, and a guy in a white shirt started firing at us," Curiel said. "The National Guard [troops], wearing flak jackets, tried to get a bead on this guy. "
The first incident happened around 11:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. ET) as Curiel and his National Guard escorts headed back to the hospital after dropping off several patients at nearby Tulane Medical Center to be evacuated by helicopter.
Charity shares a helipad with Tulane Medical Center, which is across the street.
They were traveling in a convoy of amphibious vehicles, and Curiel said the vehicle behind him was targeted.
About an hour later, another gunman opened fire at the back of Charity Hospital.
"We got back to Charity Hospital with with food from Tulane and we said, ’OK the snipers are behind us, let’s move on,’ " Curiel said. "We started loading patients [for transport] and 20 minutes later, shots rang out."
The National Guard soldiers told staff to get away from the windows, and evacuations were halted.
Berggren, an infectious disease specialist at Charity Hospital, said that since then she had heard nothing about resuming evacuations.
She said about 200 patients still need to be evacuated. All of the patients in intensive care have been evacuated.
Charity Hospital has no electricity and no water, and the only food available is a couple of cans of vegetables and graham crackers.
Evacuations by boat were halted after armed looters threatened medics and overturned one of their boats.
Widespread looting and random gunfire have been reported across New Orleans. Police told CNN that groups of armed men roamed the streets overnight. (Full story)
Officers told CNN they lacked manpower and steady communications to properly do their jobs -- and that they needed help to prevent the widespread looting and violence now prevalent in the city.
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Oh, and then there’s gas
9/1/05 18:12:00
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So last night, terrified after reading John Aravosis’s postings about gas shortages, I decided to fill up before things got dire. In suburban Maryland, I saw gas lines, stations closed, and prices as high as $3.56 a gallon. I paid a little over $30 for a full tank. FYI: When I bought my car in 2001, I could fill the tank for about $15.00. Now I’m hearing stories of $6 a gallon in Atlanta. Let me repeat that: $6 a gallon in Atlanta.
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Deteriorating rapidly
9/1/05 18:06:23
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More horrors from the AP:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Storm victims were raped and beaten, fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday. "This is a desperate SOS," the mayor said.
Anger mounted across the ruined city, with thousands of storm victims increasingly hungry, desperate and tired of waiting for buses to take them out.
"We are out here like pure animals. We don’t have help," the Rev. Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and other evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing - no food, no water, no medicine.
About 15,000 to 20,000 people who had taken shelter at the convention center to await buses grew increasingly hostile. Police Chief Eddie Compass said he sent in 88 officers to quell the situation at the building, but they were quickly beaten back by an angry mob.
"We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten," Compass said. "Tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon."
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More Jack Cafferty
9/1/05 18:01:12
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Transcript and clip thanks to Crooks&Liars:
The thing that’s most glaring in all this is that the conditions continue to deteriorate for the people who are victims in this, and the efforts to do something about it don’t seem to be anywhere in sight. I want to read you something, Wolf. This is a quote from an editorial:
‘A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource. The cool, confident intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months following 9/11, has vanished.’
Now that’s not from some liberal rag; that is an editorial from one of the most conservative newspapers in the country, New Hampshire’s Union Leader. The New York Times, not unexpectedly, kind of chimed in. They said the president showed up a day later than he was needed and they excoriate him for appearing ‘casual to the point of carelessness.’ Harsh words coming from FEMA’s former disaster response chief, Eric Tolber [sp?]: ‘The government was not ready and shifted its attention from natural disaster to fighting the war on terror.’
The questions we ask on The Situation Room every afternoon, Wolf, are posted on the website 2 to 3 hours before we go on the air, and people who read the website often begin to respond to the questions before the show actually starts. The question this hour is: How would you rate the response of the federal government to Hurricane Katrina?
I’ve got to tell you something, we got 500-600 letters before the show even went on the air. No one -- no one -- says the federal government is doing a good job in handling one of the most atrocious and embarrassing and far-reaching and calamitous things that has come along in this country in my lifetime. I’m 62, I remember the riots in Watts, I remember the earthquake in San Francisco. I remember a lot of things. I have never, ever, seen anything as badly bungled and poorly handled as this situation in New Orleans.
Where the hell is the water for these people? Why can’t sandwiches be dropped to those people who are in that Superdome down there? I mean, what is going -- this is Thursday. This storm happened five days ago. It’s a disgrace, and don’t think the world isn’t watching. This is the government the taxpayers are paying for, and it’s fallen right flat on its face, as far as I can see, in the way it’s handled this thing.”
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Fleeting moment of hope
9/1/05 14:54:30
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OK, I’ll say it - it was bittersweet seeing Bill Clinton in the Oval Office again. He’ll bring some much-needed compassion and humanity to this hideous nightmare.
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Completely out of control
9/1/05 10:09:47
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More terrible news out of the flood zone:
Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the National Guard said there were reports that several small trash fires were burning around the building and firefighters were having a hard time reaching the area.
"It’s a great concern. We’ve got to get them put out," he told CNN’s Miles O’Brien in Baton Rouge. "Although they’re small trash fires and may burn out, we don’t want to take the chance of anything spreading."
There were also reports that shots had been fired at an Army Chinook helicopter that was being used to get people away from the Superdome to buses for transport.
Now, it’s fine for reasonable people to disagree on what constitutes looting as opposed to desperate people grabbing whatever food, water, and medical supplies they can from stores that are unlikely to reopen in the near, or even distant, future. But what needs to be remembered is that people have been emptying gun stores as well, and have been turning these weapons on rescuers. It’s obvious that order must be established - IMMEDIATELY - to allow for the good people who’ve come to help to do their job. This Hobbesian State of Nature needs to be fixed - quickly.
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More victims of the chaos
9/1/05 08:17:19
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Hospital workers are trying to keep it together:
Jason Peterson, a registered nurse who coordinates critical care transport for the Children’s Hospital of Alabama, said when he and his team arrived they saw workers "working in T-shirts, shorts and flip flops due to the lack of ventilation.
"It was at least 110-120 degrees in the unit," Peterson said. "They had all of the babies in open cribs or warmers that were off and all were down to their diapers, some with elevated [temperatures] still."
Conditions at Ochsner mirrored those reported at medical facilities around the metropolitan area.
At Charity Hospital, the city’s major trauma center, two intensive care patients died Wednesday morning as a result of the lack of electricity and water, doctors said.
"We have salvageable patients we are going to lose because we can’t get these people out of here," said Dr. Jeffrey Williams, who is works in the intensive care unit. "They are human beings, after all."
Williams said the hospital is trying to care for 10 critically ill patients, four of whom need dialysis and need to be evacuated.
By Wednesday afternoon, four critically ill patients had been evacuated, including two from a ward that treats prisoners. Williams was not happy the prisoners were evacuated before other critically ill patients.
Because of plumbing problems, workers have had to use buckets for their personal sanitation, Williams said.
Dr. Ruth Berggren, an infectious disease specialist at Charity Hospital, said the facility had electricity until back-up generators ran out of fuel Tuesday.
"For people who were ventilator-dependent in many cases, the hospital staff have had to physically breathe for them using a bag," Berggren said.
The hospital can operate only "on a first-aid basis," as the staff works without air conditioning or lights to care for about 250 patients, she said.
"We are making rounds by flashlight," she said. "We have no ability to check laboratory values on patients. We can’t use electrical devices to deliver intravenous medications."
New Orleans Children’s Hospital is acting as a shelter for its employees, many of whom have nowhere to go, said Doug Mittelstaedt, vice president of human resources.
EDITOR’S NOTE: You may have noticed the ad in the right hand nav encouraging you to donate. Those of us on the left feel that there are better ways to help the victims of this terrible tragedy than sitting at a keyboard poo-pooing global warming and taking shots at Hollywood and Sir Bob Geldof. Please give generously.
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