Those careless UNICEF kid's deaths.

So yesterday I got a solicitation from the United Nation's UNICEF in the mail. I'm wondering how many others got one too? On the outside of the envelope it said, "With this nickel, you can save a child's life."

As I inspected it closer, I saw--inside the envelope's window--an actual nickel! "Oh my god!" I exclaimed to myself, "Which child did they sacrifice to send me this?" And, "How many hundreds, thousands, or millions of others were sacrificed by sending nickels to everybody?"

Would Americans like to 'buy a vowel'? Maybe 'get a clue'? Nah, probably not.

A federal judge ruled today that pictures of detainee abuse in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison must be released.

I believe these are the photos that make those originals of a mound of naked Iraqis look like souvenirs of their visit to 'Magic Mountain'. These latest pictures are the ones the government has been desperately trying to "protect us" from.

Our military head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard B. Myers--the guy who always appears to the left of our Defense Secretary in those press conferences as a kind of peg leg propping up Don Rumsfeld to keep him from falling on his face, ass, or laughable credibility--fought release of the photographs on the grounds that they would would aid al-Qaida recruitment, weaken the Afghan and Iraqi governments and incite riots against US troops.

Does the fact that our government claims such photos could damage America's image tell you anything fellow citizens? Probably not. That's because we're too busy humpin' to keep our heads above water while our representatives keep fillin' the pool.

One of our greatest attributes is our tolerance for abuse by our leadership. I'm at a loss to explain it. We're numb. How much bullshit are we willing to swallow before it kills us? Let me give you example.

In the middle of September, while the horrendous images of Katrina victims continually played across our TV screens with no help by local, state, or federal governments in sight, a few people decided to try to walk out of New Orleans. So a group of between 200-800 people (the numbers vary greatly depending on which account you read) were advised by New Orleans police to head for a bridge on the city's west bank, toward Gretna.

When the people arrived at the bridge, they were greeted by police from Gretna who had fired their weapons into the air and advised them to turn around.

"What we were told by the deputies is that they were not going to allow another New Orleans, and they weren't going to allow a Superdome to go into their side of the bridge, Gretna," said one of the pilgrims seeking refuge.

The people turned around. So a few armed "authorities" turned back several hundred folks. It's obvious from that event, as a people, we're not yet angry enough. There's no way a few armed officers can stop hundreds of determined citizens.

When people get angry enough, some will shed blood. Some will die. But the majority will persevere to reclaim something we seem to have lost. Obviously, we've not yet reached that point of sufficient outrage. Outrage at attrocities being committed in our names. Outrage to make us take back control of this country, to regain our dignity, and to stop the bullshit. Outrage enough to cross the bridge.

And now we have our leadership fighting desperately to prevent us from seeing the international crimes "we do" in spreading freedom and democracy, American style. Will enough of us be angry by what we see in these latest photos. Probably not.

"I'd like to buy a vowel. To get a clue." Please, give me a fuckin' break!

A nation of dopers

We all know America's a nation at war with drugs. Well, that is, unless they serve a purpose like enhancing our performances--be they ahtletic, mental or sexual.

Another great purpose of drugs, of course, is to enhance the profits of pharmaceutical companies. The more kids diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the more retalin sold. Lowering the definition of hypertension from 140/90 to 120/80 sells more channel and beta blockers. If a few thousand casualties die from heart attacks or strokes using Vioxx and similar nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, that's okay, so long as profits from their sale continue to exceed the liability from their use.

Some drugs provide us with enhanced enjoyment in social settings by reducing inhibitions or increasing our tolerance of intolerable realities. These are our legal recreational drugs like alcohol, tobacco, and Starbucks.

Then there's the illegal drugs. These are the ones we're at war with. Our prisons are overwhelmed by folks who disregarded the prohibition on these drugs. Some of these can be extremely dangerous, but most are really quite innocuous.

Despite being outlawed by the government, our own government has been known to traffic in these drugs when it suits their purpose. Like financing constitutionally illegal interventions in the affairs of foreign states to overthrow leaders or slaughter thousands of innocent civilians.

Well, I was excited to read of the newest drug on the market. It's called "Spark". It's for kids, ages 4 - 11 (KickStart Spark). It's laced with caffeine. Once past 11, kids can step up their intake with double strength AdvoCare Spark.

Spark, on its website, is advertised as helping a child "develop fully as a high-performance athlete" and fill nutritional gaps "in a sport that is physically and mentally demanding." Although executives with AdvoCare International of Texas, said Spark was not devised or marketed for children's athletic performance but rather for their overall good health.

"It's not just a caffeine delivery system; it has many more nutritional properties," claim company executives.

Elisa Odabashian, a senior policy analyst with Consumers Union, asks, "What are we coming to? What kind of society are we spawning here where everybody has to be artificially stimulated?" Dada has some amusing ideas on this but I'll let you ponder your own.

Ironic, isn't it? (part II)

Interesting that faith based initiatives and institutions are spreading their tentacles of influence across America. The president has been a tremendous boon to the growth of the spirituality industry.

Increasingly, prayer becomes more pervasive across the land. From school boards, Friday night high school stadia, graduations, corporate board rooms and public ceremonies, prayers go wafting up toward the heavens. And they ask for all kinds of things. Success, safety, victory, the death penalty, revenge, forgiveness, more money, impeachment, etc. The list is endless.

Interestingly in a nation becoming openly more spiritual, we saw anti-war Cindy Sheehan and a group of her supporters being arrested at a White House gate yesterday while praying. So, despite our progress in spreading the faith, there apparently still exists pockets of "No Prayer" zones in the country. One of these is outside the White House.

That's ironic. Even the president, a deeply religious man, has admitted God visits with him in the White House, so I would think Bush would welcome folks of faith outside his gate. Or, maybe not. Maybe Sheehan and her friends pray to a different god. Maybe theirs is more omnipotent than Bush's. I honestly don't know. When it comes to religion, it's really over my head.

Ironic, isn't it?

More than one thousand prisoners were released from Abu Graib prison this past weekend. Sunnis had complained Shiite-controlled police have been arresting Sunnis in the region to prevent them from registering for the upcoming constitutional referendum on October 15th.

Dada finds it interesting that prisoners in Iraq will be released before the election. Compare that to Florida where former Afro-American prisoners, along with other voters with the same or similar name in predominately minority precincts, are expunged, deleted, or *poof-gone-vanished* from voting rolls before an election.

War and Natural Disaster Warning!

Just a reminder to victims of those being forced into the imposition of "freedom and democracy" through unnatural disasters such as war and those being forced into sports arenas by natural disasters such as hurricanes like Katrina:

One of the major causes of death and destruction is the result of looters!

Often posing as your saviors or as your "real" president and vice president, they will suck the blood from your remaining livelihoods through such corporate fronts as Halliburtion, KBR, The Carlisle Group, Blackwater (security), etc. While distracting you at your front door selling you their pitch, they've entered your house through the back door, stealing you blind.

Don't forget to recycle!

Well, god forbid the U.S. should ever get involved in a "real" war. Seems we don't have enough manufacturing capacity to keep up with the demand for bullets being expended in Iraq and Afghanistan. No, to make up for the shortage, we're importing ammunition from Israel.

So not only is our military over-extended, so are our bullet makers. Oh, the number of bullets required for every "insurgent" killed? Estimates are 1/4 million bullets for each (yes, as in 250,000 per!). That's either a lot of wasted ammo, bad marksmanship, or some very, very dead insurgents.

Which brings up a point: Dada wonders if anyone's recycling dead Iraqis to recover the lead?

It's spelled F-A-S-C-I-S-M

Almost. Just be patient. We really are "Almost there!"

Have to chuckle. Remember those large billboards one would encounter along the freeway from a few years ago--I think it was during the Clinton era--warning there were U.N. troops in America? The implication being we were going to somehow be overtaken by outside forces.

All of that appears like so much right-wing extremist overreaction. What's currently unfolding in Louisiana is far more likely to compromise the freedoms and security of the former America than any U.N. takeover.

You see, there are Israeli mercenaries deployed in the streets of post Katrina New Orleans. An Israeli company called Instinctive Shooting International (ISI)is providing security against post storm "lawlessness". But they're just part of a number of private security companies like Blackwater, DynCorp, Intercon, American Security Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut, etc. operating with impunity within that city. And some of these have been hired by our own Department of Homeland Security.

I know we've all heard of "deputized" private security cos. taking control of the streets of New Orleans, but let me just repeat it for those of us who aren't fucking getting it, or don't fucking care! Business leaders and government officials are openly discussing the total alteration of one of the US's most culturally vibrant cities. See, it will mean bulldozing poor neighborhoods and denying the return of poor folks (who won't have any homes to return to anyway, but that's okay because if they were allowed back they wouldn't be able to afford the new ones that are going to be built to replace theirs).

Private security companies will maintain order while New Orleans gets a new paint job (guess what color!). It may be testy at times, but mercenaries driving around in SUV's with blackened windows, no license plates and impunity from the law as hired by our Homeland Security (remember, those post 9/11 folks created by us, paid for by us, to "protect us" from whom--ourselves?) will see it gets done.

Now we learn the definition of fascism. Folks in New Orleans are living it.

Those of you who tried to warn America back in the 90's of the invasion of U.N. troops on American soil? Go choke on that bullshit. The invasion is here, but it's not from outside. It's from within. With the blessings and oversight by our own Department of Homeland Security.

If you think "fascism" is just a slam disgruntled folks on the left use to describe America today, one need only see what's happening as monied opportunists try to capitalize on Katrina's destruction by reconstructing New Orleans into the new All-American city (read "without blacks and impoverished folks").

For the full story, check out Jeremy Scahill's "Blackwater Down"
in The Nation.

It's hard to get a taxi in Samawa

"I don't know how many innocents I killed with my mortar rounds. I have my imagination to pick at for that one. But I clearly remember the call-out over the radio saying 'Green light on all taxi-cabs. The enemy is using them for transportation'.

"One of our snipers called back on the radio saying 'Excuse me but did I hear that order correctly? Green light on all taxi cabs?' 'Roger that soldier. You'd better start buckling up.' All of a sudden the city just blew up."

This is an excerpt of an article detailing Hart Viges' tour in Iraq as a member of the 82nd Airborne. I don't know if it appeared in any newspaper here, in this country, because I extracted it from the Independent, a British newspaper, but it's excellent insight into experiences of our soldiers in Iraq. I highly recommend it.

If we're going to totally dominate a nation, bomb it back to the Stone Age, and vaporize innocent civilians indiscrimminately, then I think it's the responsibility of every American citizen to be a little more involved in what we're doing as a nation to people in other countries. Just forking over our income taxes to buy weapons and munitions to slaughter folks and then go about our unaffected and otherwise uninvolved lives by wondering who's going to kick the Vikings ass this Sunday or if we can get our precocious daughter into ballet lessons 6 months before her 5th birthday isn't good enough.

I think we owe it to the innocent victims we are massacring to at least read about it. A few seconds homage to these dead and maimed victims of U.S. policy isn't that much to sacrifice before we scan the sports page standings to see if Dale Earnhardt's moved up on Jeff Gordon.

(NOTE: Dada realizes the difficulty of his suggestion. Reading about war attrocities a nation commits when it doesn't publish that sort of thing is next to impossible. It takes great effort to uncover such stories. "Oh well, wonder who's going to kick the Vikings' asses this Sunday?")

More publicity stunts

Okay, I confess to being a little paranoid with the news of Friday. If you recall, president Bush--after a brief visit to Texas before Rita struck--flew up to Colorado to some global nuclear headquarters inside a mountain.

I even mentioned this to Nona over at Fish Wars. Flashbacks to 9/11 and the president reading "My Pet Goat" as people were leaping, willingly, to their deaths from the 93rd floor of the World Trade Center still lingered in the old memory banks. And where was vice-president Cheney that day? Not sure. Somewhere in DC underground conducting a similation of U.S. responses to a hypothetical commercial airliner attack on the country.

Well, news that Cheney was "going into the hospital" this weekend to have surgery on an aneurysm behind his knee had me envisioning him returning to his ultra-secret 9/11 command post somewhere deep beneath the bowels of the capitol. I confess, having aneurysms behind both of his knees is something many po' American folks have, only they're called varicose veins.

My main concern was some kind of dramatic, globally significant event similar to 9/11. (Many of us had heard of those secret plans of Cheney's to nuke Iran in September, hence my schizophrenia.) But imagine my relief, when listening to public radio this morning that Bush had apparently gone to Colorado, to some kind of supreme military headquarters, to be photographed in front of the best technology available as regards Rita the hurricane. You know, all the bells and whistles, blinking lights, projections and readouts money can buy.

"Duh!" I felt so sucked into some kind of conspiracy crap cover up for our nuking Iran when, in reality, it was just another god-damned Bush photo-op stunt to make him look "in control". Nothing Bush does is done without considering camera angles and the evening news. I keep forgetting this.

Patriot Games

My apologies for the dearth of blog entries here the past few days. Getting some major work done in the house, everything's in upheaval. As a result, I've been kinda outta touch with the latest news, so I'm left wondering about things that were on the backburner before I entered this information black hole. Like, have we invaded Syria yet, or nuked Iran?

Tomorrow marks the day for another anti-war march and protest in Washington DC. A member of a local peace group mused this week the following:

Right now, the number of American (regular and natinal guard) soldiers "bringing security" to Iraq is about 140,000. The number of American (regular and nat. guard) soldiers "bringing security" to the Hurricane Katrina zone is about 40,000 (at least that was what was requested by the Louisiana governor).

Do the math. Nothing's changed. If it takes 40,000 soldiers to "bring security" to the hurricane zone in our own country, what kind of sense does it make to continue jeopardizing American lives with an ill-equipped, ill-numbered force surrounded by angry, hostile, resentful people and trying to pacify an area much larger than the hurricane zone?

It would seem with those Iraq-Katrina numbers juxtaposed, we really haven't given the military the manpower necessary to maintain order and cultivate the budding Iraqi "democracy". I have to chuckle at right wing extremists who rued the sorry state of the military under the previous administration. Today, the U.S. armed forces are woefully undermanned, over-extended, under equipped and just downright weary. Such is the cost of empire. Of global domination, I suppose.

The writer makes a good point. And perhaps, as she suggests, if we can't commit to the effort the men and equipment needed, we ought to get the hell out of Iraq. But I don't think we need justify our anti-war sentiment by the lack of commitment of the Right to the war effort. The fact that this whole neocon misadventurism was sold to Americans with bullshit lies is sufficient.

I got an anonymous e-mail on Wednesday. I say anonymous because the writer didn't have the juevos to sign his name, but I strongly suspect it was from a retired military sergeant, a "John Wayne style patriot." In it, he chided, "Free speech and other rights are guaranteed by rough men who go forth in the night to risk their lives while those who choose not to serve sleep soundly in their beds." I guess by those who "sleep soundly in their beds" he was referring to are our chickenhawk leadership in DC that send our kids off to die for their lies.

But I prefer to cite another example of a military careerist with a slightly more lucid view of what tomorrow's anti-war marches and the people who man them are all about. Retired US Air Force Col. Robert Bowman sees our current leadership as a treasonous "pack of liars". Regarding those who dare protest their policies, he adds:

You are the foot soldiers protecting our civil rights.

You are the Minutemen sounding the alarm against tyranny.

You are upholding the spirit of the American Revolution.

You are preserving the freedoms that the troops in the desert have a right to come back to.

The troops getting shot at in Iraq are not protecting us, we are protecting them and their honor and their freedom. We, my sisters and brothers, are protecting this nation by speaking truth to power.

We’re speaking truth to a pack of liars.

We must do it loudly and fearlessly and courageously and joyfully, for we are the Patriots.

So to those who will still be out there tomorrow, screaming at the machine against their bogus wars and our shriveling liberties given up in the name of swollen "security" (which Katrina revealed is total illusion), I say, "Amen!" You're no "John Wayne style patriots". But remember, John Wayne, or Marion Michael Morrison as he was born, was never in the military. He just played a "hero" much as the nation's "greatest 20th century leader" was never a president. He was just an actor who played one.

What those of you who go forth against the war do tomorrow is not glamorous. You may not come home unscathed. You certainly won't be heroes, and you sure as hell won't win oscars. But the one thing you will be--no baloney--is genuine patriots! And for that, I thank you.

Where have all the chickenhawks gone?

The latest MSNBC poll shows Bush's ratings still sinking. Down to 40%, it's conceivable the president's approval could sink lower than Momma Bush's high horse, crass and insensitive remarks on minorities and the poor in the Houston Astrodome. (Nah, probably not--it can't get any lower than that.)

Sadly, however, it is worthy of note there still exists more than 1 in 3 Americans who can be labelled 'slow learners'. This is pretty frightening when you realize you may be out in public, engaged in small talk with a stranger, and that person could be one of those 38% of the learning disabled who still approve of Bush's handling of the war! Boy, I wish we could get our hands on those fine folks. Our service members would sure appreciate those asses supporting their "Mission Accomplished - Bring 'em On" war effort in the middle east right now.

My, my, it's difficult to imagine a U.S. without all the rightwing media shills. They'd be in Iraq. Think of it. "Out to Lunch!" signs on the offices of the Limbaughs, O'Reilly's, Hannity's. Can you imagine Ann Coulter in a helmet?

Or how 'bout our pro-war warriors Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Scott McClellan in a tank? Bush going door to door in Ramadi weeding out insurgents and innocent civilians in the middle of the night?

String theory physicists say their may be as many as 11 parallel universes. Who knows? Maybe Pat Robertson's manning a .50 caliber machine gun atop an unarmored Humvee driven by Jerry Falwell in one of them. We can only hope.

Letter to the editor I wish I'd written

From today's El Paso Times letters to the editor:

GOP cuts

First lady Laura Bush's revelation that her husband is aware of the vulnerability of the poor is especially poignant on the day the GOP proposes further cuts to food stamps and Medicaid programs.

I never gave him credit for knowing the plight of the poor and just assumed his disregard to their needs was a result of ignorance. Now we know the disregard is deliberate.

Marcos Velarde
East El Paso

A few notes in reaction to Monday's news.

Remember just a week or two ago when the talking point seemed to be, "It's too early to be playing the 'blame game'," as to why tens of thousands of stranded folks in New Orleans couldn't even get a freakin' bottle of water from the government that was no where in sight? Well, it appears from today's news, it's now time to play the 'blame game'. The following is from Democracy Now's headlines of today:

White House Tries To Blame Flooding on Environmentalists

The Mississippi Clarion Ledger is reporting that it has obtained internal emails from the Justice Department that indicates the Bush administration may be seeking to blame the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina on environmentalists. The Justice Department is seeking information from various U.S. attorneys' offices on whether they have defended any cases involving environmental groups seeking to block the Army Corps of Engineers from working on the levees around New Orleans.

Remember, president Bush promised to conduct his own investigation into who's responsible for the tragedy in which so many died. Why do I suspect it'll all be the fault of environmentalists or, as one radio talk show host with a history of drug abuse claimed, "Clinton!"

And don't forget, it was Bush who diverted $1/4 billion from levee reinforcement around New Orleans to help finance his wars for global supremacy.

But, okay, let's suppose it's all Clinton's and the environmentalist's fault for Katrina. That STILL doesn't explain why our government can't get a fuckin' bottle of water to a thirsty survivor on the ground in New Orleans. Or why Bush continued vacationing two days after the storm hit. Why Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming even longer, or Condoleezza "oil tanker" Rice was buying shoes in NYC and attending Monty Python on Broadway while many people of her race were gasping their last breaths of air in their flooding attics.

But back to talk show hosts, how many of you caught Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's Sept. 13th explanation for so many suffering and dying in the streets of New Orleans? According to Bill, it's because those that stayed are hapless dopers, hence, they didn't leave when told to evacuate because they refused to abandon their source for drugs. Oh, and also, "They were thugs," O'Reilly added.

But back to the blame game which was banned by president Bush and the head of FEMA, as well as presidential press secretary Scott McClellan, and everyone else who bothered to read the neocon talking points bulletin. So now that Katrina looks to be the responsibility of those damned environmentalists and Slick Willy, what's the new game in DC? I think Scott McClellan unveiled it today in his press conference.

Refusing to answer reporter's questions several times by responding, "That's a 'What if?' question and I refuse to answer that." He employed this on several occasions with different reporters until he had the press corps laughing, while Dada watched in disbelief, gagging. It's obvious from today's press conference, the press is returning to its pre-Katrina slumbers--in the White House's bedroom.

Interesting that Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, had the first of an extensive two part interview with Amy Goodman (and Juan Gonzalez) on Democracy Now! today. Chavez is the subject of a Fatwa by Christian leader Pat Robertson and our Defense Secretary calling him a threat to the area on a recent tour of South American countries. You can bet that if Rumsfeld has an enemies list, Amy Goodman moved up a few notches as a result of today's and tomorrow's DN!

Finally, I'm getting a little tired of foreign media's shock at the total ineptitude of the U.S.'s handling of Katrina; of the poverty that exists here, of the racism they saw. To them I say: "Duh!" Get a clue. This is the 21st Century. The American Century--the 20th Century--ended December 10, 2000. So, to Le Monde, The Guardian, etc., I say, "Wake up!" This is America. We've always had bigotry (for examples, see remarks of the president's mama, Barbara Bush), racism, poverty. It's only appropriate with a new century (a new millenium) we should be delivered a leader to expedite America's absolute decline and fall.

Welcome to the 21st Century and the new budding global super power--China! It's now the Chinese Century. (NOTE: To those Americans who doubt me, just look at the bottom of any item purchased in Wal-Mart to see where it's made. Just look at who buys the bonds that finance our humungous national debt that allows us to bomb Iraq, Afghanistan into oblivion as the U.S. sinks into international bankruptcy and insignificance.)

To all those shocked foreign press story writers on the state of our nation, "Get over it!" Let America slip quietly into its new place among the ranks of third world nations, next to our former cold war adversary, Russia.

Who's "playing" today?

Well, Sunday headlines had the immediate effect of raising my blood pressure, but that's nothing new. So does Monday's, or Tuesday's, or any other day's of the week. Thank heaven for the power of sleep to restore the psyche or I'd have been dead almost five years already.

The big attention grabber this morning was our "oil tanker" Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, in the headlines. (She's such a bad assed dude, I swear she thinks she has a penis!) Yes, remember the last time, then National "Mushroom Cloud" Security Advisor, Rice rattled her sabers? We're now two thousand dead Americans and a couple hundred billion dollars into the future. And Iraq is now a 100,000 dead and bombed into the Stone Age past.

But that's okay. Remember, the Bush administration dictated we don't show flag draped coffins or maimed returning Iraqi war veterans. We don't need to focus on the human cost of war by showing how some loved ones come home. Forget that. As for the tremendous costs for destroying Iraq? Forget that shit too. It's all paid for by supplemental appropriations. No coffins. No cost of war in the budget. It's all so neat. As for those dead Iraqis, remember as General Tommy Franks said, “We don’t do body counts.” And as far as the destruction of Iraq? That's all being taken care of by Cheney's Halliburton and the other administration's crony corps who are "rebuilding" that nation with the billions of dollars we've awarded them. (Reminder: This is how we Americans choose to spend our fucking money!)

So today we're told Condoleezza has been to the United Nations. And her lips, dripping with testosterone, are warning Iran that the time for diplomacy is running out. Doesn't this all seem a little too familiar? And remember, the attention-deficit-disabled's concept of time is not the same as normal people's. It's hyper-dimensional. The time normal folk consider appropriate for diplomacy may be months, a year, or more. With Bush folk, diplomacy time is measured in days and weeks. They're always in a hurry to destroy shit. Time speeds up when heading toward war. The one exception to those Bush time distortion speed-ups is when a huge natural disaster strikes. Like Katrina. In those cases, time slows down. But I digress, of course.

So, are we all going to kick back, watch today's Patriot game while the Grim Reaper prepares to nuke Teheran? Probably. After all, it really doesn't affect us much. And we're all big "Cowboy" fans too, right?

Quote of the Day

"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." -- James Bovard - 1994 Source: Lost Rights. The Destruction of American Liberty

Dada says: I liked this quote, despite its misinterpretation of the data, that is, it should read "two wolves and 292, 999, 998 sheep. " The sheep don't realize the advantage they have in numbers, while the two wolves are laughing their asses off as they slop at the trough.

As we stand behind these two pigs, as we watch them feast with envy, enjoy the aroma wafting from their bloated innerds. It's not as appetizing from their back ends, but hey, that's the "trickle down" part left for us to all enjoy.

Woman arrested for stealing her own food police told her to stock up on!

From Amy Goodman's Democracy Now this morning there comes the following story:

More information is emerging from New Orleans over how the police are treating people accused of looting. A 73-year-old woman remains in jail on a $50,000 bond after police arrested her for looting sixty dollars worth of sausage. At the time of her arrest, the woman -- Merlene Maten -- was staying in a hotel with her 80-year-old husband. She said they had followed orders to stock up on food and had stored some sausage in her car. After she took the sausage from the car, she says police handcuffed her and threw her in jail. A judge then set the bail at $50,000 -- 100 times the maximum $500 fine under state law for minor thefts.

Dada ponders: Is it theft if you steal your own sausage? And, if caught stealing your own fuckin' sausage, is a $50,000 jail bond warranted? Dada wonders what the bond would have been if the sausage the woman "stole" was not her own, but someone elses? Could something else be at work here? (Mrs. Maten is elderly and Afro-American.)

Cost of Living renamed Cost of Surviving

Things have been kinda hectic lately. Major project going on in the house, hence, major disruptions. I've been missing some of the news.

I did manage to catch Bush choking on his words as he took responsibility for mistakes made with Katrina. Yes, he choked when he said that but I wouldn't take it too seriously. Bush has never taken responsibility for anything he's done and, as most of us know, he's a history of screwing up everything his dad involved him in. His accountability isn't sincere. It was just something Rove made him say. Another 'stratagem' from the Turd Blossom.

Locally, there was a notice in yesterday's paper our electric rates are going up 10%. That's hefty, but no match for healthcare costs. Is everyone's wages/salaries going up enough to cover these increases? And, of course, there's those soaring gas prices and record oil company profits. I suspect the impact of the price of energy hasn't fully hit us yet, but rest assured the oil companies are already reaping their results, i.e., they're swimming in cash. No, that's not exactly right, they're fucking drowning in it. (Be patient, our "reaping" the impact of higher energy costs is just down the road.)

Why, even our own Secretary of the Treasury, John Snow, admitted, "The fruits of strong economic growth are not spreading equally." Seems the capitalists, those who have the money and control the means of manufacture and the "free"-- something for nothing--markets, are faring far, far better than those of us they employ.

So some among us may not have yet felt how their "quality" of life habits will be impacted. To those who think they won't be, I caution, don't be too nonchalant about the pool of dire economics you're now immersed in. You and I may still, one day, be neighbors under the same freeway bridge.

Allan Lichtman, professor of history at American University, wrote last month in Newsday: "Like a master pickpocket, George W. Bush distracts the American people with one hand, while reaching into their pockets with the other. The distraction comes through the flash and bombast of explosive social issues like abortion, gay rights, public displays of religion, end-of-life decisions and creationism. ... The pilfering comes through initiatives that take from working- and middle-class Americans and give to Bush's corporate backers, to whom he has delivered the goods big-time."

Lichtman cites the media's preoccupation over whether Bush's pick for the Supreme Court will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, while Congress passed an energy bill with $14.5 billion in tax breaks, most of which go to companies like Exxon, which last year alone made $25 billion and is swimming in cash on hand. He added:

-- Just before Congress left for the summer recess, the administration won passage of a free-trade agreement with Central America that makes it easier for companies to outsource jobs and investments, and that bypasses protections for workers and the environment.

-- Last spring, while the public focused on the Terri Schiavo case, Republican leaders passed a new bankruptcy bill written by lobbyists for the credit-card industry. The credit-card companies stand to profit from the new law by several billion dollars.

-- Ditto the new prescription drug benefit "for seniors," actually written by and for big drug companies.

"What all of this really amounts to is a political revolution in the United States, creating a form of conservative big government that promotes not the general interests of ordinary Americans, but the special interests of big corporations," Lichtman wrote. "This creates a sharply upward redistribution of wealth and power that threatens long-term prosperity. ... The revolution also is making government costlier and less fair, stifling individual freedom and democratic decision-making, and opening fissures between the wealthy and other Americans."*

*Molly Ivins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the way, can anyone tell me if there's still a green zone in Baghdad? I'm just curious. Maybe the rush to freedom and democracy in Iraq has seen the dissolution of this "safe zone," that is, maybe it's no longer needed? Just curious. I've been kind of out of touch with the news lately.

Update on the Texas capital punishment

The Texas death penalty is alive and well. Yesterday there were ten women on Texas' death row. Today there are only nine. Frances Newton, charged with the slayings of her huband and two children 18 years ago, was executed Wednesday evening.

On Monday the Austin American Statesman newspaper called for a new trial for Newton saying, "The public cannot be certain of her guilt, but she's going to die for the crime anyway. Newton was denied a basic requirement for a fair trial - a competent lawyer."

"I know I did not murder my kids and my family," she had told The Associated Press in an earlier interview.

Whether Frances Newton was guilty or innocent doesn't matter. Justice in Texas has once more been served. Newton was the 13th person executed here this year. Ten more are scheduled to join her in the next two months.

Lip Dripping Hypocrisy at U.N.

Bush spoke at the U.N. today. I loved his admonitions to member states. The president expressed:

- Concern for children globally, although Bush has killed 40,000 kids in Iraq.

- Concern for poverty globally, except in those areas where it encompasses poor people, like New Orleans.

- Concern about AIDS, except in those nations that practice family planning, contraception and/or abortions, of course.

Justice, Texas style?

My name is Frances Newton. I'm scheduled to be executed today in the state of Texas, despite evidence that has been uncovered since my conviction and questionable procedures used by the Houston crime lab. My defense attorney's incompetence in defending accused murderers has been so negligent in a number of cases that have seen the his clients convicted and sentenced to die that he has been banned from defending persons in such cases since 2001.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

"The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refuses to hear any new evidence or facts in Newton's case — and many others like it — because those facts were raised after court deadlines expired."

NOTE: That's worth repeating....if you're convicted and new evidence turns up after the "court deadlines expire", forget it. You're dead meat.

"As long as Texas has a death penalty, capital defendants should have access to competent legal counsel. Newton didn't get that. For that reason, she should be spared."

Dada says, if you're gonna kill people in America, you better make damn sure they're guilty before you fry 'em. Let us just hope Governor Perry will permit common sense to prevail over his compassionate conservatism by granting Frances Newton a stay. "Stay" tuned.

But seriously, folks.....

Comes a photo from Lyons, France, that shows the incredible thing that can be accomplished when mankind sets its collective mindset to it.

Over the weekend, nearly 1,500 men and women gathered for a photo shoot on the shipping docks of this city.

New York artist Spencer Tunick, who's shot crowds of naked people all over the world, directed the shoot. When the gates to the dock were opened, the crowd shed their clothes and took their places.

Addressing them from a crane suspended high above, Tunick told the crowd he saw the port as representing the mystery of commerce.

The point where the rivers Saone and Rhone joined was a meeting point that he liked to think of "as like the legs of a woman", he said.


He then shot the following photo, resulting in nearly 6,000 arms and legs pointing skyward in a kind of mass "mooning" of heaven.

It's difficult to imagine a comparable crowd in, say, Kansas or anywhere in America being capable of successfully accomplishing such a large cooperative effort without getting their collective asses thrown in jail. (Not that they'd probably mind their detention all that much.)


Oh, I suppose America's uptightness with certain body part exposures may eventually change, if not voluntarily, out of necessity. In fact, it's not difficult to imagine a day in the very near future when the following scene may become commonplace in airports all across America!

Thanks to BBC News for the top two photos

Best of the Worst Katrina Quotes

Text, Lies, and Videotape

Here's a few of the best (worst?) Katrina quotes:

"FEMA is not going to hesitate at all in this storm. We are not going to sit back and make this a bureaucratic process. We are going to move fast, we are going to move quick, and we are going to do whatever it takes to help disaster victims." -FEMA Director Michael Brown, Aug. 28, 2005

"You know I talked to Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi yesterday because some people were saying, 'Well, if you hadn't sent your National Guard to Iraq, we here in Mississippi would be better off.' He told me 'I've been out in the field every single day, hour, for four days and no one, not one single mention of the word Iraq.' Now where does that come from? Where does that story come from if the governor is not picking up one word about it? I don't know. I can use my imagination." –Former President George Bush, with CNN’s Larry King, Sept. 5, 2005

"I believe the town where I used to come – from Houston, Texas, to enjoy myself, occasionally too much – will be that very same town, that it will be a better place to come to." –President Bush, on the tarmac at the New Orleans airport, Sept. 2, 2005

"I also want to encourage anybody who was affected by Hurricane Corina to make sure their children are in school." –First Lady Laura Bush, twice referring to a "Hurricane Corina" while speaking to children and parents in South Haven, Mississippi, Sept. 8, 2005

"Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" –House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX), to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston

"Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, 'New Orleans Dodged the Bullet.' Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse." –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, blaming media coverage for his failings, "Meet the Press," Sept. 4, 2005

"I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep." –FEMA Director Michael Brown, on his plans after being relieved from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, Sept. 9, 2005

From 25 Mind-Numbingly Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina And Its Aftermath

You get what you wish for!

The past month and a half have been a bit shoddy for George Bush, what with Cindy, Katrina, and the resultant saggy poll numbers. Despite all of that, the administration is marching ahead "un-de-Turd" with the agenda we elected them to carry out--establishment of a fascist state with plans to use nuclear weapons against terrorists. What? We didn't elect them to do that?

The nuking terrorist plans was the news I awoke to this morning on my Excite.com homepage. The news I had closed out Saturday with was bad enough--Blackwater privatized martial-law officers brought in from Iraq that have been deputized by the governor of Louisiana and are working under contract for Home Security in New Orleans.

What do plans to use WMDs against terrorists and privatized thugs against Americans (who are not accountable to the police and military) in New Orleans have in common? They're both above the law. But that shouldn't surprise any of us. They're options conceived and birthed by the Bush administration, itself above the law. But that's okay. I mean, we re-"elected" these goons knowing of they're unaccountability to anyone, be it the American electorate or the international community. It didn't upset us last November, it shouldn't upset us now. We have the government we want. Right?

But I do appreciate the sacrifice of the supra-law enforcement contractors overseeing our police and military in Louisiana. Pulled from Iraq, they're only making $350/day plus per diem while here in New Orleans. (Just for the mathematically lazy among us, that's about $91,000/yr. NOT counting reimbursement for expenses. They make more than that "where the real action is" back in Iraq.) I'm just thankful I live in a nation rich enough to afford these men who keep our other martial law enforcement agencies in check. Plus...PLUS, they can kill people with impunity. Just like our Executive Branch.

As for the plans that have been drawn up to nuke terrorists: The "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations," as now revised in Rumsfeld's Pentagon, makes clear the use of nuclear weapons at any level is an option of the president's. No big deal, I suppose. I mean, the president had his finger on the button his first four years and didn't blow up anything. (I mean with nuclear weapons, silly! ~ And depleted uranium in Iraq doesn't count, okay?) This latest revelation is simply a refinement of Bush's power.

Knowing that the number of terrorist cells are great in number, growing under Bush, and scattered globally, this option to nuke 'em may involve more than just blowing up Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Afghanistan. (Oh wait, did I forget Pakistan and the other "Stans"? Sorry.) We know terrorist cells also exist in Europe, Canada, Russia, etc. Maybe we'll have to just salt all of these regions with nuclear bombs. It seems a shame to sacrifice, oh say, the Louvre, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower to take out a cell of 20-30 Al Qaeda, but I supoose no price is too high when it comes to eliminating terrorism, right? At least that's what we Americans seem to think by the people we "elect".

I'm just a bit nervous about what the rest of the world's reaction might be to our use of nukes with impunity. Oh well, thank god, last November we renewed the right man for the job for another four years--"Marshal Dillon", who vowed with no uncertainty during his first term to bring in Osama, dead or alive.

I guess those are the two main items than have me so amused this morning. Never mind the small stuff like the hugely obscene quarterly profits now being reported by the oil companies on Wall Street. Or the barring of journalists from New Orleans' dead zones where bodies are being recovered. Or the usual hackneyed stories of companies tied to the Bush administration picking up lucrative post-Katrina contracts.

Forget the German plane headed to the gulf with 15 tons of relief rations that was turned back. Why accept donated aid from generous allies when we can provide them ourselves to ourselves and we can charge ourselves for 'em? (And--just curious--how is it we can turn back aircraft too aid victims of Katrina, but not aircraft being flown into the World Trade Center and Pentagon on 9/11 to kill them? It's probably just a question of priorities I don't understand.)

And another small story that's going on while we're all distracted by the Katrina disaster: the bombing of Tal Afar ala Fallujah, in the further Stone Ageifcation of Iraq, despite desperate pleas by residents there to the international community to intercede on their behalf.

Then there's the compassion of our congress which plans to press ahead with further cuts in Medicaid, food stamps, and other benefits just when the desperate need of those are at their all-time high under Bush. I guess we just can't afford that. "Wars" on two fronts, in the Middle East and Gulf Coast is prohibitively expensive.

I guess we get the government we deserve. Mercenaries making $350/day here, more in Iraq, don't come cheap. Oh, and per diem. Don't forget to add their per diem. It's what Americans want. It IS what we want, isn't it?

They shoot journalists, don't they?

Iraq comes to Louisiana: In Iraq, somewhere between 50-70 journalists have been killed by U.S. forces. Now, journalists in New Orleans are finding themselves being threatened by edgy troops with weapons.

As a result of the imagery coming from the gulf coast, especially New Orleans, Bush's poll numbers are dropping dramatically. In response, it appears the government now wishes to control those images coming out of the Big Easy.

I heard Scott McClellan this morning saying how government officials welcome journalists during this difficult period in New Orleans so long as they are in the accompaniment of authorities. In other words, "embedded" as they are in Iraq.

Unfortunately, as we learned in Iraq, unembedded journalists--those who strike out independently and send back images and stories unauthorized by the government--have a far higher incidence of "accidental" shooting by our military.

That's what some journalists in New Orleans are beginning to experience, that is, threats by edgy authorities toting guns.

I find it ironic that the media had free reign in New Orleans for nearly a week while the government was trying to muster a rescue effort. The images we saw, no doubt, cost Bush some of his approval. I know there was little interest in rescuing or saving the lives of poor black Americans in that city, but one has to wonder if FEMA or Homeland Security had gotten some troops in there with rifles in the faces of reporters--while not saving lives--they might have saved Bush a few percentage points.

I'm shocked, because Bush and his Turd Blossom are usually so very aware of photo ops and good faux public relations which--as it turns out--are usually just that, spin based on bullshit. So, they'd better get in there, clamp down on the testy media, even if it means having to resort to shooting a few independent minded journalists.

(NOTE: News comes of CNN filing a lawsuit against the government for banning photos of dead bodies floating in the streets of New Orleans. The government claims it's out of respect for the dead. Oooh, another irony. The government didn't respect the dead when they were living. Now they're worried about respecting them in death? I think they're more concerned with saving Bush's ass.)

St. Bernanrd Parish, LA: First to secede from the U.S.?

A Canadian response team, arriving in a New Orleans suburb 5 days before FEMA or the U.S. military, is flying Canadian flags all over town.

"Fabulous, fabulous guys,"Sen. Walter Boasso said. "They started rolling with us and got in boats to save people."

"We've got Canadian flags flying everywhere."

Could this be the beginning of a trend?

Evil clowns

When people do not want to play the "blame game" they're to blame! Jon Stewart explaining the Bush administration's term for responsibility, accountability.

I didn't blog Tuesday. I couldn't. I was too goddamned disgusted with federal agencies set up to alleviate damages and death resulting from acts of terrorism or nature. Instead, reactions by our government did nothing to alleviate suffering. Instead they only exacerbated it. In fact, people died because of it!

Cronyism is common. Sometimes it's so blatant as to become the subject of jokes. But when cronies occupy positions as political payback and not because they possess the requisite qualifications for such jobs, things can get real serious, real fast. Katrina has gravely illustrated how thousands of people can be killed from incompetence, making cronyism deadly serious.

Take for example Bush's original FEMA director, Joe Albaugh. His credentials? He was Bush's 2000 campaign manager. I don't know what role he played in the theft of the 2000 election, but I'd bet that's his only background in crisis management.

And what of the current FEMA director--Michael Brown--and his experience to head up such an important agency? Well, he was hired by former director, Joe Albaugh. Brown's qualifications? He was Albaugh's old college roommate. Looking over his resumé, it's safe to conclude Brown's position as leader of an Arabian horse association had nothing to do towards qualifying him to lead FEMA, although he did spend a year investigating a breeder to determine if he'd liposuctioned an Arabian horse's hind quarters. And, as I heard someone comment this past week, not a single Arabian horse was lost in the ravages of Katrina.

And what became of Albaugh whom Brown replaced? Well, while it was mentioned this past week, I think it's worth reiterating: Albaugh departed for a job in private industry forming his own company, New Bridge Strategies, a lobbying group to take advantage of profit strategies after the outbreak of the Iraq war. More recently he is credited with helping Halliburton land contracts to clean up U.S. naval bases hit by Katrina.

I know most of we Americans have been distracted by images of Katrina's aftermath. Corpses lying around for days rotting in the streets; the stories of survivors left to manage with no food, water, or hope of rescue in sight; images of pets left to fend for themselves. Maybe that's why the administration, sensing our distraction, could be so audacious with Bush's inept cronies working their *magic* or, maybe its more. Maybe their blatant audacity can happen because, quite frankly, they don't give a shit what you think. Prime examples were plentiful before the storm, Katrina has made them more obvious. But does it take a disaster like New Orleans to get peoople pissed?

Maybe that's why Scott McClellan, the president's press secretary, is paid the most for telling us the least.

Maybe that's why one of Brown's FEMA directives was to spin Katrina positively while his agency sat with their collective thumbs up their collective asses as people died.

Maybe that's why our oil tanker Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, can spend time touring the damages she visited upon an expensive shoe store, Ferragamo's, in NYC after attending Monty Python's musical play "Spamalot!" the night before (where some in the audience booed her) as people in New Orleans were struggling to just keep their heads above the rising waters in their attics.

Were you reassured when Bush sent Rice to her home state of Alabama where she said, "Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race. I don't believe for a minute anybody allowed people to suffer because they are African-Americans. I just don't believe it for a minute." I do. Uncle Tom's say shit like that. What's even sadder is, they believe it! I'd seen how the Bush administration responded to those rich Florida white folks in a hurricane's path a year ago to win votes, passing out FEMA relief like candy to children.

Are you satisfied with Bush promising he'll investigate himself and his administration for all the inappropriate responses to Katrina. Do you think the results of his "investigation" will roll heads? I don't, especially when one of those heads would be his own.

How many of us are deeply offended that FEMA's website suggesting organizations which the public can donate to aid Katrina victims lists Pat Robertson's "Operation Blessing" second on its list right after the Red Cross? I sure as hell am!

Did you take seriously the champion of scandal, house majority Tom DeLay and his explanation of no federal response to Katrina because in such disasters it's a bottoms-up model. That is, if FEMA and Homeland Security were seemingly slow to respond, it's because the democratic leadership of Louisiana and New Orleans broke down.

Keep in mind, in many other countries here on earth, DeLay's corruption would have seen him deposed--or worse--ages ago. But not here, not with this administration. Instead we get DeLay pouring salt in Louisiana's tragedy by heaping praise on Alabama and Mississippi (ahm, what color are these states?) for doing a much better job of responding quickly. That takes a lot of ass coming from the King of Scam.

And did you enjoy the president's mom's remarks while looking down on evacuees in Houston's Astrodome and saying with a callous chuckle, "so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them."

Or, how many of us were upset that 50 firefighters were "requisitioned" to stand next to the president during his photo-op tour of afflicted areas in Louisiana? Firefirghters who could have been deployed to aid people and save lives. Instead their efforts were diverted and deployed as stage props for our plastic turkey photo-op president.

I apologize if I'm a bit angry at these government officials. Their lack of response juxtaposed against images of people suffering horrifically illustrates the different universe these bastards inhabit.

If you love the circus, you probably love theses clowns. But if you are not amused by the buffoonery responsible for the deaths of thousands, you are probably among the growing majority of this country that prefer some real leadership. Evil clowns aren't funny, especially when they're killing people.

Perhaps an angry person best expressed the frustration of many of us when the Vice President, during a live TV interview today, was commanded to "Go fuck yourself, Cheney!"

Do-it-yourself metaphor

I apologize for my recent reticence. Undergoing some minor home reconstruction with major inconvenience, I have been unable to devote my usual time to the blog.

As a result, I offer the above photo from Reuters today. It's my "gift" to those who enjoy metaphors. This one comes with the following elements:

- a house doomed to destruction.

- a fireman, unable to prevent it.

- a resident of the house.

Using the above elements construct a metaphor. Note: To members of the administration such as Scott McClellan, George Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Tom DeLay, Michael Brown, Pat Robertson and Barbara Bush, you may skip this question in that there are no metaphors on your planet.

Presidential flings: Cindy, Katrina. Why can't he get it right?

The president, down at the "ranch" in August for a little vacation, found himself confronted daily by Cindy Sheehan who, along with her growing number of angry supporters, were handing Bush his ass on a silver platter (to go with his "silver spoon"). With public approval of Bush and his Iraq fiasco sinking, Bush was forced to 'hit the road' to shore up his reasons for war which, up to then, had all turned out to be lies.

Almost all of August, Bush was justifying our continued presence in Iraq as a way of preserving the honor of those soldiers who had died. To keep the memories of the fallen from dishonor, more must die Bush reasoned. The fact that Bush chose to resell his war with his same tired rhetoric in very, very red states like Utah and Idaho was amusing. Utah and Idaho already love his freakin' war. They're not the ones who need convincing. Oh well, maybe it's easier to get up and lie to the majority of the nation before a backdrop of 'rah-rah' war lovers than risk the dissent he might face in a California or Oregon.

Sadly, by August's end even Bush was remolding his rhetoric at the expense of Iraqi freedom, democracy and the honor of our fallen soldiers.The president had come up with a new reason to stay the course in Iraq. Standing in front of the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, Bush admitted in a speech commemorating the end of World War II that our justification for staying in Iraq now was oil! Suddenly, Iraq's freedom and our fallen soldier's honor were on the back burner. "Protection of Iraq's vast oil fields" became the new Bush mantra. To leave would permit Iraq's oil treasure to "fall under the control of terrorist extremists."

Was Bush gaining sudden lucidity? No. Bush's narrowing gap between fact and fiction was borne out of desperation. And much of that was the result of the huge split between he and Cindy. Ah, but enter "Katrina".

By month's end, Bush gladly dumped Cindy Sheehan. Having failed miserably in his attempts to court her, the president abandoned his "ranch" vacation early--a couple days late, as it turned out--and eagerly raced off to embrace his new paramour, Katrina. Suddenly public opinion was rapt better than any grocery store check-out line Star, Globe or National Enquirer gossip rag could have ever done.

Katrina provided Bush with a perfect new love interest. Distracting folks from Iraq, his war, and Cindy, Katrina gave the president just what he was seeking, that is, much needed headlines and photo-opportunities. And were photo ops ever plentiful! Suddenly Bush was appearing presidential, touring the rubble of communities and lives ruined.

But no sooner than Bush and Katrina had become a tabloid item, there were signs of a split. Rumors of the president trying to capitalize on his relationship with Katrina didn't set well with many people. It made for interesting reading, Bush as bumbling lover with horrific results--the unnecessary deaths of thousands of innocent victims.

Perhaps that's why, in an attempt to salvage himself in the eyes of the people, the president has made a second visit to the gulf area today. To save his sullied reputation. To exploit Katrina for all she's worth.

As Bush once more reassured us, "This is one of these disasters that will test our soul and test our spirit, but we're going to show the world once again that not only can we survive but we will be stronger and better for it," Bush said.

"We can survive"? Despite thousands who may have needlessly suffered or died because of your bumbling, Mr. President? And "we're going to show the world....and be stronger and better for it." I think we've already shown, not only the world, but U.S. citizens as well, the weaknesses of the nation under your strong leadership, Mr. Bush.

Plastic Turkeys

The president now admits problems with the handling of the Katrina disaster.
He blames local and state agencies, making the plastic turkey that much more
indigestible.

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths...? It's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?" Barbara Bush

Perhaps "Mom" Bush's quote when asked about our troops dying in the Iraq war should have warned us George Bush's cavalier attitude wasn't just the result of being born with a silver spoon embedded in some bodily orifice. No, perhaps some of his callousness was gleaned from his parents during his formative years.

It's difficult to imagine Papa Bush is co-directing, along with Bill Clinton, flood aid efforts. It was Papa Bush who said after a 1989 U.S. shoot down of an Iranian airliner that killed all 290 of its passengers, "I will never apologize for the United States of America - I don't care what the facts are." How much easier the New Orleans' and gulf coast disaster must be to deal with for someone who feels no remorse for victims.

If we can appreciate his upbringing, perhaps we can better understand Bush's insouciance for the ravages of war and the wrath of Nature. It's all "plastic turkey" to him. His contrived concern manifests in front of staged backdrops. To appear tough he turns an aircraft carrier around and lands on its deck in a flight suit to announce his "Mission Accomplished". To show appreciation, he flies to Iraq to present the troops a plastic Thanksgiving turkey.

So it should not surprise us in the wake of the misery and death heaped upon Katrina's victims, our enhanced post-9/11 government agencies sit on their thumbs and, two days after the disaster struck, the president seizes the moment, cuts his vacation short and turns his attention to the decimated gulf.

Seated comfortably in Air Force One 1,700 feet above those dying below, Bush posed for the cameras and bemoaned, "It’s devastating. It’s got to be doubly devastating on the ground." A day or two later Bush toured the destruction.

Rest assured when I say this: the president or his Turd Blosom, Karl Rove, orchestrated the availability of two young Afro-American girls, survivors of the ravaging storm, for Bush to walk through the rubble with, arms around each. As he kissed one on the head with all the compassion of a plastic turkey, the memory of his post-9/11 embrace of the retired fireman atop the World Trade Center rubble reared its head.

Later, in a hangar before carefully arranged Coast Guard rescue helicopters, Bush reassured us once more. He was on top of it.

Then it was on to New Orleans where Bush this time spoke to us in front of a "repaired" levee that wasn't. Rescue helicopters were placed in stand down while the president overflew the dying in his. Meanwhile, hungry evacuees at a Red Cross shelter waited in line for a hot lunch gone cold. A lunch that wouldn't be served until Laura Bush finished and left. More plastic turkeys!

We should all be more than angered by thousands who have needlessly died for lack of government response while our president, FEMA and Homeland Agencies assured us everything that could be done, was. We should all be extremely pissed!

People suffering and dying in New Orleans are not victims so much as they are props on the stage of Bush's plastic offerings. For Bush, it's all photo op. Should those images of him reassuring us, "Help is on the way!" make us feel better? Hell no. They should scare the shit out of all of us.

The real American government has been gutted and its incompetence laid open for all to see. And not to just its citizens, but to people around the world. It's all plastic turkey, despite the president's best efforts to paint it differently with his staged photo ops.

Contemplate your fate should you become a victim of a national disaster or terrorist attack. Your chances for rescue may be enhanced if you are white and middle class, but know you could end up dying in the background of a Bush photo-op stage set. Thousands know the experience. They have "lived" it.

America's national symbol is not an eagle. It's a turkey. A huge plastic one.

Life under "The Great Uniter"

What started as a comment or two here to "Moment of Silence" by Nona at Fish Wars on Cars and rkryder over at Tin Fish Alley (yeh, I know, there's something really fishy about by friends) has the makings of a conversation. Hence, I've decided to bring it all forward to the front page for the reading pleasure of those angry as we are in the wake of Katrina.

Feel free to add to the conversation in a comment. I'll bring it "up front" for all to enjoy. Here's what's been said so far:
*************************************
Nona said...
The effects of hurricane Katrina are sure to hurt the economy, so get ready for another round of tax cuts for the rich.

We're going to cut taxes and attack other countries under Bush's leadership, until we can identify ourselves as another third-world country.

In fact, we'll well on our way with our dead stacked in the stairwells and on the streets being eaten by rats.

I've forgotten, please remind me what happened to Rome. It wasn't power-mongering through war and the hubris of leaders that lead to the decline of their civilization, was it?

That couldn't happen here, could it?

Oh wait.....
*************************************
rkrider said...Impeach Now!
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dada said: rk--No, no, not yet. Wouldn't impeachment stand a better chance of succeeding if we wait til Bush lies, commits a crime or something?
*************************************
rkrider said...What are we going to do? We've got to find a way to get this criminal out of office! He's killing us...the democrats won't do it, we are truly on our own. I've got to start doing some research, class action suit, criminal negligence, articles of impeachment, citizen's tribunal. There's got to be a way.
*************************************
dada said: rk, I hear you brother. The situation's gone from worse to totally unacceptable.

How about, in your research, we throw in secession votes in all 50 states? That way, those states that choose to remain with Bush and company can continue their wars for global domination while still getting their huge tax cuts to enrich their asses as they bankrupt the nation.

Then, during the next Red State emergency like Katrina, Bush can play guitar, Secretary of Red State, Condoleezza-oil-tanker-Rice can play tennis and shop for $1000 shoes as Pat Robertson calls for the assassination of foreign heads of states while poor folks are starving and drowning. But instead of those dying folks being angry at the lack of aid and slow response, they'll understand, knowing their leaders just don't give a shit. But in Red State America that'll be okay! That's how it'll be.

During the secession votes, those of us unfortunate enough to live in a state that votes to stay in the union and go red, will have to relocate to the new Blue States America. But at least there will be some place to go and, despite the cost, that'll be a small price to pay to live among sane people!
*************************************
MLK said: "True compassion, is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." - Martin Luther King Jr. (okay, I confess, MLK didn't really write that here, to us. I just threw it in. It seemed apropos to the conversation. ~ Dada)

*************************************
Nona said...If we're going to impeach anyone, let's start with Cheney. I think he's actually running the country anyhow. We need to get rid of both Bush and Cheney.

"How does this work?"

"At one point Friday, the evacuation (of the Super Dome) was interrupted briefly when school buses pulled up so some 700 guests and employees from the Hyatt Hotel could move to the head of the evacuation line - much to the amazement of those who had been crammed in the Superdome since last Sunday.

" 'How does this work? They (are) clean, they are dry, they get out ahead of us?' exclaimed Howard Blue, 22, who tried to get in their line. The National Guard blocked him as other guardsmen helped the well-dressed guests with their luggage." excerpt from story by ROBERT TANNER

A moment of silence for.........

It may be a bit early to write the obituary for a nation that has not yet fallen. But a few moments of silent contemplation of its decline are certainly in order.

For over three years now, the United States has revealed the soft underbelly of its foreign policy and military might to the entire world. Almost two and one half years after declaring, "Mission Accomplished!" in the Iraq "cakewalk", the president's nation is hopelessly bogged down, losing another war to a people far less equipped, financed, or technologically advanced as we, the world's only super power. They're kicking our ass. Why is that? Maybe it's because they have something we don't. The passion and determination to rid their land of invaders. To prevail. To be free of their "liberators".

And just why is it we're occupying a country like Iraq--besides oil, of course? Well, part of it's the megalomaniacal leadership of the nation we permit to wield its will globally, unchecked. Part of it's the megalomaniac's ignorance of history. The history of Britain in Iraq, of Russian in Afghanistan, of France and the United States in Vietnam.

Now, just six days after hurricane Katrina demolished the coasts of three states and laid waste to New Orleans, visuals of the incompetence of America's domestic policy have gone out over the airwaves to all nations around the world. The graphic images of stranded, starving and dying people have obviously made strong impressions on others as evidenced by offers from countries like Bangaladesh, one of the world's poorer nations, to provide financial aid. Or the generous offer of Cuba to send us 1,100 doctors and 26 tons of medicine. Shouldn't we be just a little embarrassed by this?

Why in the world would the United States accept aid from Cuba? Maybe a good answer would be because our own freakin' government can't seem to do anything but squabble between themselves and hold photo ops to tell us how bad it is, how help is on the way, how folks should just hold on.

"It's worse then we expected."

"This took us by surprise."

I'm pretty sure we won't accept Cuba's offer of aid. After all they're communists. Yet, they seem more prepared to help us than our own governnment.

I heard someone say earlier today that the unfolding tragedy in New Orleans is the result of putting special interests ahead of the people's. This struck a chord with me. It's obvious even the "richest nation on Earth" has a credit line it's exceeded long ago under this administration. You cannot conduct unending war, empire building and global domination while cutting taxes for the rich without also cutting services to the poor and endangering communities throughout this country.

So one quarter of a billion dollars allocated for those levees to protect New Orleans in 2003 just evaporated--*Poof!*--money that was used instead to blow Iraq back to the Stone Age. That's just one example of many domestic programs slashed/eliminated to finance the Bush tax cuts and our hegemonic ambitions in the Middle East.

And who are the special interests riding on the backs of those thirsting, starving and being raped in New Orleans and across the nation? Well, just check the resumés of our government representatives. Check who they worked for in the private sector. Check who contributes most to have them elected and reelected. Those would be the ones who reap the biggest rewards while the victims of New Orleans are waiting for a bus ride outta town.

I apologize. I'd intended to start this as an calm reflection on the decline, if not total fall, of the late, great state of America. But with the television on CNN in the next room, with continued reports of the incompetence of relief and control efforts flowing in, with Bush photo ops of the president hugging an Afro-American girl in Alabama, speaking in front of Coast Guard helicopters in Mississippi, after he and Laura made a 'contribution' to the relief effort yesterday, I'm hopelessly ranting. It's obvious I'm still too adsorbed in this tragedy to assess it objectively. Unlike our president who tries to remain more aloof.

I wondering if the one photo op of Bush I didn't see today was of him thirsting, starving, and wading in waist high shit out to meet with the stranded victims of New Orleans.

Well, one good thing to come from the Iraq war: some of the Louisiana National Guard recently returned from there. They're now serving in New Orleans. And they know how to "shoot to kill". Now that's real karma for an empire in decline.

Senator Speak

I guess it was to be expected. After walking all day among the ruins and ruined lives left by hurricane Katrina with little or no response from the government, an emotional Anderson Cooper took Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu to task. No, I mean, he really took her to task!

Here's part of the transcript from CNN:

COOPER: Joining me from Baton Rouge is Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu. Senator, appreciate you joining us tonight. Does the federal government bear responsibility for what is happening now? Should they apologize for what is happening now?

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: Anderson, there will be plenty of time to discuss all of those issues, about why, and how, and what, and if. But, Anderson, as you understand, and all of the producers and directors of CNN, and the news networks, this situation is very serious and it's going to demand all of our full attention through the hours, through the nights, through the days.

Let me just say a few things. Thank President Clinton and former President Bush for their strong statements of support and comfort today. I thank all the leaders that are coming to Louisiana, and Mississippi, and Alabama to our help and rescue.

We are grateful for the military assets that are being brought to bear. I want to thank Senator Frist and Senator Reid for their extraordinary efforts.

Anderson, tonight, I don't know if you've heard -- maybe you all have announced it -- but Congress is going to an unprecedented session to pass a $10 billion supplemental bill tonight to keep FEMA and the Red Cross up and operating.

COOPER: Excuse me, Senator, I'm sorry for interrupting. I haven't heard that, because, for the last four days, I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated.

And when they hear politicians slap -- you know, thanking one another, it just, you know, it kind of cuts them the wrong way right now, because literally there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman had been laying in the street for 48 hours. And there's not enough facilities to take her up.

Do you get the anger that is out here?

LANDRIEU: Anderson, I have the anger inside of me. Most of the homes in my family have been destroyed. Our homes have been destroyed. I understand what you're saying, and I know all of those details. And the president of the United States knows those details.

COOPER: Well, who are you angry at?

LANDRIEU: I'm not angry at anyone. I'm just expressing that it is so important for everyone in this nation to pull together, for all military assets and all assets to be brought to bare in this situation.

And I have every confidence that this country is as great and as strong as we can be do to that. And that effort is under way.

COOPER: Well, I mean, there are a lot of people here who are kind of ashamed of what is happening in this country right now, what is -- ashamed of what is happening in your state, certainly.

And that's not to blame the people who are there. It's a desperate situation. But I guess, you know, who can -- I mean, no one seems to be taking responsibility.

I mean, I know you say there's a time and a place for, kind of, you know, looking back, but this seems to be the time and the place. I mean, there are people who want answers, and there are people who want someone to stand up and say, "You know what? We should have done more. Are all the assets being brought to bare?"

LANDRIEU: Anderson, Anderson...

COOPER: I mean, today, for the first time, I'm seeing National Guard troops in this town.

LANDRIEU: Anderson, I know. And I know where you are. And I know what you're seeing. Believe me, we know it. And we understand, and there will be a time to talk about all of that. Trust me.

I know what the people are suffering. The governor knows. The president knows. The military officials know. And they're trying to do the very best they can to stabilize the situation.

Senator Vitter, our congressional delegation, all of us understand what is happening. We are doing our very, very best to get the situation under control.
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(Dada insert: Note Sen. Landrieu returns to "D.C. mode" by getting "thankful" once more. I guess it's the bootlicking necessary to get favors from your fellow politicians.)
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But I want to thank the president. He will be here tomorrow, we think. And the military is sending assets as we speak.

So, please, I understand. You might say I'm a politician, but I grew up in New Orleans. My father was the mayor of that city. I've represented that city my whole life, and it's just not New Orleans. It's St. Bernard, and St. Tammany, and Plaquemines Parish that have been completely underwater.

Our levee system has failed. We need a lot of help. And the Congress has been wonderful to help us, and we need more help.

Nobody's perfect, Anderson. Everybody has to stand up here. And I know you understand. So thank you so much for everything you're doing.

COOPER: Well, I appreciate you joining us on the program tonight. I can only imagine how busy you are. Thank you very much, Senator Landrieu.

LANDRIEU: Thank you, Anderson. Thank you so much. Thank you.

COOPER: And good luck to you and all the people working to solve this problem. Because, at this point, it is very hard to try to figure our how this problem is going to get solved.

**********************
(Dada note: At this point, the good Senator appeared pretty ruffled to me.)

U.S. fears Carriles could be "tortured" if deported!

Deciding who will witness the Luis Posada Carriles asylum case Monday, sisters

Roseanne Nenninger (in pink) and Sharon Persaud (in blue) learn they will not be

allowed into the hearing of the man accused of killing their brother in a 1976 Cuban

airliner bombing.

This past Monday the Immigration hearing of Luis Posada Carriles' request for asylum in the United States began. Carriles has a long history of subversive acts against Cuba, including a series of bombings of Cuban hotels in 1997, assassination attempts on Fidel Castro and his role in the blowing up of a Cuban airliner in 1976 that killed all 73 passengers on board.

As a terrorist, his application for asylum in the United States contradicts Bush's proclamation on a number of occasions, post 9/11, that anyone "harboring a terrorist, is a terrorist."

If Carriles' asylum request were to be denied, he faces possible deportation to his home country, Venezuela. But that nation's leader, President Hugo Chavez, has been the subject of a recent call for assassination by evangelical Pat Robertson, a long-time financial supporter of president Bush. Robertson's "fatwa", to date, has drawn no condemnation from president Bush who dismissed it as simply the personal comments of a private citizen.

Pooh poohing Robertson's remarks as Bush did, seems to support official US policy as promoted by Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld's recent trip to Latin America. At every stop, Rumsfeld called Venuezla a threat to the stability of the area, much as he labelled Iraq before the war there.

So there's that sticking point in Venezuela's call for Carriles' return to stand trial for his role in the 1976 Cuban airliner bombing, that is, their leader is on our s"hit" list.

It appears we have a real game of international stickball being played by the Bush administration. I haven't found a lot of information for what happened in Wednesday's hearing, but it went something like this:

Carriles has withdrawn his asylum request. He doesn't want to embarass the U.S. I'm surmising because of facts that might come out in the course of his testimony. Remember, Carriles has a long history of working with the CIA.

In another ironic move for the U.S., there is reluctance to deport him to his home country. That's because we fear this terrorist may be tortured. Oh really? Is there no limit to the hypocrisy of which this nation is capable? What in the hell are we doing to hundreds of so-called terrorists each and every day with impunity? The only difference I can discern is Carriles is guilty of terrorism, while most of those we torture in Gitmo, Abu Graib and elsewhere are innocents. But we have no remorse. This whole thing is beginning to reek of farce.

Anyway, the next chapter on Carriles will be released Sept. 26th when he will again appear in court. Stay tuned.

WHERE IN THE HELL IS FEMA?

BUSH UNPLUGGED

Thanks to Bob Cesca on "The Huffington Post"

So I'm watching CNN this morning as the announcement comes from FEMA of their suspension of New Orleans rescue operations. Reason: It's too dangerous for the rescuers. Huh? What?

Meanwhile, in the Super Dome, a woman in a wheelchair, wrapped in a blanket, waits motionless for help. It's too late. She's dead. Others have died there, many are in danger of dying if help doesn't come soon. Bodies are piling up at the convention center.

People without food and water are saying things like "In Baghdad they at least drop food and water into the stranded, injured and dying."

Where the fuck's the army? Where's the Guard? (A hundred are in the area...."waiting to be deployed"! Huh? What?) Why are dying people too risky for FEMA rescuers to attempt evacuating/saving? Isn't that FEMA's fucking job?

Are we witnessing total incompetence, or worse? Is this some form of subconcious genocide? Is that too outrageous to ask for Christ's sake? If you think so, then why the fuck aren't people at the very least getting water and food dropped in there until they can be rescued? Huh?

I'm sick and tired of hearing Scott McClellan tell me Bush is having lunch with Alan Greenspan to discuss the economic impact of nation's greatest natural disaster; of telling me Laura and Bush will be making a contribution to aid the disaster later this afternoon; or descriptions of what the president saw on his flyover of the area yesterday; of McClellan telling us they won't tolerate looting, while there is no evidence of attempts to control it. I'm sick of McClellan refusing to answer the tough questions by dismissing them as being "political".

How in the fuck is it we can see the reports of the press that can go INSIDE the death zone, but soldiers, the guard, FEMA, and police are mysteriously absent? Has all our manpower been committed to Bush's Iraq folly? Exactly what the fuck is the government doing? Or, when can starving people expect the government to start doing?