Rita is now a category four hurricane and is heading for Texas. Galveston and its surrounds are being evacuated as federal and State emergency systems swing into action with, hopefully, perfect hindsight of the Katrina debacle. So far, it looks like they have their act together:
FEMA Director Promises Better Response
The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency promises a "big difference" in its response to Hurricane Rita from the previous response to Hurricane Katrina.
FEMA Acting Director R. David Paulison said all communications are being taken "very seriously."
He also said the agency is depending much more heavily on the Defense Department and the National Guard.
He stressed that communication between agencies is imperative to an efficient response to another hurricane crisis. He said his top priority would be ensuring that Texas has adequate safeguards in place to cope with any level of damage.
State, Federal Government Brace For Texas Strike By Rita
The governor of Texas said "a few hardheaded folks" will probably stay in harm's way but a vast majority of "thinking people" will heed evacuation orders as Hurricane Rita threatens.
Rick Perry said Galveston will not flood the same way New Orleans did after Hurricane Katrina. But he said a direct hit from a Category 4 hurricane would cause "huge problems."
Perry said nursing homes and assisted living centers in the Galveston area are already being evacuated.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the federal government is pre-positioning as much equipment as it can close to the areas that might be affected by Rita.
Chertoff said local officials have lined up buses to evacuate people who don't have their own vehicles. And he said the federal government is ready to assist state officials in arranging planes to fly people out of danger before the storm hits.
Galveston and Houston are preparing for flooding, as is New Orleans which is pretty much certain to get some heavy rains at the very least. So far, though, no evacuation has been ordered for Houston even though some parts of the Harris County area are very low-lying indeed.. Oil prices are also set to take another hit - oil refineries in the Houston are and offshore rigs in the Gulf are bound to take damage and will already have been shut down in anticipation. Texas accounts for some 25% of all US crude production.
Here in San Antonio we are well inland and the storm is expected to pass to the East of us which would mean we are on the less violent side as far as winds go. Still, San Antonio floods if a drunk takes a leak in the wrong place and the power system here totters like that drunk in even a normal Texan thunderstorm so my family and I will be laying in a few extras like candles, easy-eat foods and medicines.
Rita should be here by the weekend so don't be at all surprised if there is light to no blogging from me over Saturday and Sunday - the dodgy San Antonio power system and its surges means I always keep the computer off and unplugged during storms.
I'm keeping an eye on Rita's track though. If it stays on a slightly more Southerly track and comes ashore near Corpus Christi then it will track right over San Antonio as it heads inland and that would be...interesting. The area isn't called "Flash Flood Alley" for nothing.
PS: A little side note for locals. My impression is that Mayor Hardberger is on top of this stuff in a reassuring way. He may be a corporate flunky but he seems to be at least an efficient corporate flunky. I am somehow doubtful that Castro and Twin would have been anything like as together as Hardberger has been in dealing with first, the Katrina evacuees and now this coming storm.
Update I am going to try to keep up on developments and blogpost them as I go. The first update is here, and some of the news is worrysome, but keep checking back in.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Monday, September 19, 2005
Another GOP Crook Arrested
Earlier today I read a comment by a Bush cheerleader on the missing $1.8 billion of Iraqi funds - "Baksheesh, graft, and outright theft have been par for the course in Iraq for decades" - he should have been speaking about the GOP.
David Safavian, who was chief of procurement policy in the Bush administration's Office of Management and Budget until late last week, was arrested Monday on charges of making false statements and obstructing a federal investigation.
Safavian is charged with making false statements to a General Services Administration ethics officer and the GSA inspector general's office. Safavian served as chief of staff at GSA before moving to OMB.
...
The Justice Department announced that Safavian "allegedly aided a Washington, D.C., lobbyist in the lobbyist's attempts to acquire GSA-controlled property in and around Washington, D.C.," and that Safavian joined the lobbyist on a Scotland golf trip.
Safavian allegedly misled GSA officials when he said the lobbyist "had no business" with GSA prior to the golf trip, when in fact Safavian had helped the lobbyist "in his attempts to do business with GSA," Justice said.
The lobbyist, though not named in the Justice announcement, is likely Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist who has been the subject of a long-running federal investigation. In August 2002, Safavian joined Abramoff, Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and others on a trip to St. Andrews, Scotland.
...
During his confirmation hearings for his position as OFPP chief, Safavian said he worked as a lobbyist and consultant for a variety of organizations, including the Embassy of Pakistan, Microsoft and several Native American groups.
Safavian also has strong ties to Capitol Hill. Before joining GSA, he served as chief of staff to Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, and also has worked for former Michigan House members William Schuette and Robert Davis, both Republicans.
From Bush on down, the name of the game is rob the nation blind.
David Safavian, who was chief of procurement policy in the Bush administration's Office of Management and Budget until late last week, was arrested Monday on charges of making false statements and obstructing a federal investigation.
Safavian is charged with making false statements to a General Services Administration ethics officer and the GSA inspector general's office. Safavian served as chief of staff at GSA before moving to OMB.
...
The Justice Department announced that Safavian "allegedly aided a Washington, D.C., lobbyist in the lobbyist's attempts to acquire GSA-controlled property in and around Washington, D.C.," and that Safavian joined the lobbyist on a Scotland golf trip.
Safavian allegedly misled GSA officials when he said the lobbyist "had no business" with GSA prior to the golf trip, when in fact Safavian had helped the lobbyist "in his attempts to do business with GSA," Justice said.
The lobbyist, though not named in the Justice announcement, is likely Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist who has been the subject of a long-running federal investigation. In August 2002, Safavian joined Abramoff, Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and others on a trip to St. Andrews, Scotland.
...
During his confirmation hearings for his position as OFPP chief, Safavian said he worked as a lobbyist and consultant for a variety of organizations, including the Embassy of Pakistan, Microsoft and several Native American groups.
Safavian also has strong ties to Capitol Hill. Before joining GSA, he served as chief of staff to Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, and also has worked for former Michigan House members William Schuette and Robert Davis, both Republicans.
From Bush on down, the name of the game is rob the nation blind.
Who's Last Throe Is It Anyway?
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised anymore when the Right, cheerleaders for a man and an administration which are totally detached from reality, continue to insist on vewing affairs through an "I wish I would, I wish I might" filter.
The Wall Street Journal opined on Sunday:
the recent Iraqi victory in the battle of Tal Afar could be a turning point in the war against the terrorists...There are good reasons to believe the current operation in Tal Afar--a largely Turkoman city near the Syrian border--will be a model of things to come. Previous attempts to clean the terrorists out of Tal Afar and other cities in northern and western Iraq have too often seen the insurgents melt away only to return when the U.S. spearhead withdrew. This time Iraqis are leading the fight and, most important, many will stay so the people of Tal Afar can begin to believe they can live free of terrorist intimidation.
Only to be shot down Monday by the man on the spot:
Is there enough force here right now to secure this area permanently? No. Are there opportunities for the enemy in other areas within our region? Yes," said Col. H.R. McMaster, commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Tall Afar.
So many "turning points" and "tipping points" - no wonder the ass-kiss crowd of Bush sycophants are getting dizzy and falling down all over the place.
Col. McMaster's 3rd ACR had probably the best bet at introducing the new tactics that so many experts outwith the Pentagon's politico high-ups have been pushing for but it would appear that his innovations have been squished by the "stay the course" team.
That goes some way to explaining why the airport road is still hostile territory, why insurgents can lob mortar bombs into the Green Zone with relative impunity, why so many Iraqi cities are still stronholds for Al Qaida no matter how many sweeps are conducted and why August was the thrid most deadly month yet for US servicemen.
I firmly believe advocating the withdrawal of Coalition troops now and abandoning Iraqis to their fates is callous inhumanity and shows a chauvinist attitude of "American blood is more valuable than Iraqi blood" that is a form of closet racism. After all, much of the current chaos is due to Coalition mistakes and ommisions.
But for the Good Lady's sake, can we not change the course at least as far as giving the maverick military experts ideas a try? The people who gave us so many "last throes" are themselves past the tipping point but refuse to see it. Time for a change of tactics - and personnel too.
The Wall Street Journal opined on Sunday:
the recent Iraqi victory in the battle of Tal Afar could be a turning point in the war against the terrorists...There are good reasons to believe the current operation in Tal Afar--a largely Turkoman city near the Syrian border--will be a model of things to come. Previous attempts to clean the terrorists out of Tal Afar and other cities in northern and western Iraq have too often seen the insurgents melt away only to return when the U.S. spearhead withdrew. This time Iraqis are leading the fight and, most important, many will stay so the people of Tal Afar can begin to believe they can live free of terrorist intimidation.
Only to be shot down Monday by the man on the spot:
Is there enough force here right now to secure this area permanently? No. Are there opportunities for the enemy in other areas within our region? Yes," said Col. H.R. McMaster, commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Tall Afar.
So many "turning points" and "tipping points" - no wonder the ass-kiss crowd of Bush sycophants are getting dizzy and falling down all over the place.
Col. McMaster's 3rd ACR had probably the best bet at introducing the new tactics that so many experts outwith the Pentagon's politico high-ups have been pushing for but it would appear that his innovations have been squished by the "stay the course" team.
That goes some way to explaining why the airport road is still hostile territory, why insurgents can lob mortar bombs into the Green Zone with relative impunity, why so many Iraqi cities are still stronholds for Al Qaida no matter how many sweeps are conducted and why August was the thrid most deadly month yet for US servicemen.
I firmly believe advocating the withdrawal of Coalition troops now and abandoning Iraqis to their fates is callous inhumanity and shows a chauvinist attitude of "American blood is more valuable than Iraqi blood" that is a form of closet racism. After all, much of the current chaos is due to Coalition mistakes and ommisions.
But for the Good Lady's sake, can we not change the course at least as far as giving the maverick military experts ideas a try? The people who gave us so many "last throes" are themselves past the tipping point but refuse to see it. Time for a change of tactics - and personnel too.
Common Heroes and FEMA Villains
Shamanic over at simianbrain has some stories of heroes of the Katrina relief effort.
From Marsha Barbour, wife of Gov. Haley Barbour, going out on looter patrol in Gulfport after riding in with the initial aid convoy, to mayors 'procuring' industrial stoves from shuttered businesses to feed homeless citizens, to Senator Trent Lott crafting non-legislative workarounds to bypass FEMA and get aid into hard-hit areas, Katrina's aftermath proves that we in the south have not forgotten that we are always America's forgotten.
And then, there are the people. Here's a local-guy-done-good, who drove through the night from Boston where he's a professor back to his boyhood neighborhood of Turkey Creek, in Gulf Port. He got a county supervisor on cell phone to find out how he could help:
In every town, Evans stopped for supplies. By the time he reached Tuscaloosa, Ala., he had rented three trucks and nearly maxed out his credit cards to the tune of $20,000. He was towing six generators, a 28-inch chain saw, pallets of food and water, and tarps to cover roofs. In Tuscaloosa, he and a friend stayed up all night outfitting a trailer to carry gas. When they arrived in Gulfport, they had 600 gallons.
Along the way, he says, "We were passing FEMA trucks along the side of the road."
Heroes, every one of them. The ordinary and the powerful, for a moment aligned to save their communities.
And, via No Capital, here's another hero - and a villain or two:
In the midst of administering chest compressions to a dying woman several days after Hurricane Katrina struck, Dr. Mark N. Perlmutter was ordered to stop by a federal official because he wasn't registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"I begged him to let me continue," said Perlmutter, who left his home and practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Pennsylvania to come to Louisiana and volunteer to care for hurricane victims. "People were dying, and I was the only doctor on the tarmac (at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport) where scores of nonresponsive patients lay on stretchers. Two patients died in front of me.
"I showed him (the U.S. Coast Guard official in charge) my medical credentials. I had tried to get through to FEMA for 12 hours the day before and finally gave up. I asked him to let me stay until I was replaced by another doctor, but he refused. He said he was afraid of being sued. I informed him about the Good Samaritan laws and asked him if he was willing to let people die so the government wouldn't be sued, but he would not back down. I had to leave."
Dr. Perlmutter and two colleagues didn't admit defeat, finding State officials who were able to get them credentialled "in seconds" and then going on to do some wonderful work setting up emergency facillities and treating victims. Read the rest of the report, its worth it.
But the Doc says:
He also returned with a sense of outrage. "I have been trying to call Sen. Arlen Specter (of Pennsylvania) to let him know of our experience.
"I have been going to Ecuador and Mexico (on medical missions) for 14 years. I was at ground zero. I've seen hundreds of people die. This was different because we knew the hurricane was coming. FEMA showed up late and then rejected help for the sake of organization. They put form before function, and people died."
From Marsha Barbour, wife of Gov. Haley Barbour, going out on looter patrol in Gulfport after riding in with the initial aid convoy, to mayors 'procuring' industrial stoves from shuttered businesses to feed homeless citizens, to Senator Trent Lott crafting non-legislative workarounds to bypass FEMA and get aid into hard-hit areas, Katrina's aftermath proves that we in the south have not forgotten that we are always America's forgotten.
And then, there are the people. Here's a local-guy-done-good, who drove through the night from Boston where he's a professor back to his boyhood neighborhood of Turkey Creek, in Gulf Port. He got a county supervisor on cell phone to find out how he could help:
In every town, Evans stopped for supplies. By the time he reached Tuscaloosa, Ala., he had rented three trucks and nearly maxed out his credit cards to the tune of $20,000. He was towing six generators, a 28-inch chain saw, pallets of food and water, and tarps to cover roofs. In Tuscaloosa, he and a friend stayed up all night outfitting a trailer to carry gas. When they arrived in Gulfport, they had 600 gallons.
Along the way, he says, "We were passing FEMA trucks along the side of the road."
Heroes, every one of them. The ordinary and the powerful, for a moment aligned to save their communities.
And, via No Capital, here's another hero - and a villain or two:
In the midst of administering chest compressions to a dying woman several days after Hurricane Katrina struck, Dr. Mark N. Perlmutter was ordered to stop by a federal official because he wasn't registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"I begged him to let me continue," said Perlmutter, who left his home and practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Pennsylvania to come to Louisiana and volunteer to care for hurricane victims. "People were dying, and I was the only doctor on the tarmac (at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport) where scores of nonresponsive patients lay on stretchers. Two patients died in front of me.
"I showed him (the U.S. Coast Guard official in charge) my medical credentials. I had tried to get through to FEMA for 12 hours the day before and finally gave up. I asked him to let me stay until I was replaced by another doctor, but he refused. He said he was afraid of being sued. I informed him about the Good Samaritan laws and asked him if he was willing to let people die so the government wouldn't be sued, but he would not back down. I had to leave."
Dr. Perlmutter and two colleagues didn't admit defeat, finding State officials who were able to get them credentialled "in seconds" and then going on to do some wonderful work setting up emergency facillities and treating victims. Read the rest of the report, its worth it.
But the Doc says:
He also returned with a sense of outrage. "I have been trying to call Sen. Arlen Specter (of Pennsylvania) to let him know of our experience.
"I have been going to Ecuador and Mexico (on medical missions) for 14 years. I was at ground zero. I've seen hundreds of people die. This was different because we knew the hurricane was coming. FEMA showed up late and then rejected help for the sake of organization. They put form before function, and people died."
Iraq's $1.8 Billion Heist
Wooooaaaaaah!
Via Blah3 comes the most incredible story of corruption, graft and outright theft ever told. The Independent newspaper today claims:
One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.
The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.
"It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history," Ali Allawi, Iraq's Finance Minister, told The Independent.
"Huge amounts of money have disappeared. In return we got nothing but scraps of metal."
The carefully planned theft has so weakened the army that it cannot hold Baghdad against insurgent attack without American military support, Iraqi officials say, making it difficult for the US to withdraw its 135,000- strong army from Iraq, as Washington says it wishes to do.
Read the whole thing before this disappears behind a pay-to-view firewall. Incredible! The Defense ministry was paying $1,600 for $200 guns, paid for helicopters and armoured vehicles that were utter scrap metal...graft and theft at every step. A lot of the money seems to have gone in the direction of Pakistan and crooked Polish arms dealers. The billion from Defense is only the single largest case. Others include up to $800 million from other ministries which could well go a long way to explaining things like the electricity and water shortfalls experienced by Iraqis.
The Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit says in a report to the Iraqi government that US-appointed Iraqi officials in the defence ministry allegedly presided over these dubious transactions.
Senior Iraqi officials now say they cannot understand how, if this is so, the disappearance of almost all the military procurement budget could have passed unnoticed by the US military in Baghdad and civilian advisers working in the defence ministry.
Government officials in Baghdad even suggest that the skill with which the robbery was organised suggests that the Iraqis involved were only front men, and "rogue elements" within the US military or intelligence services may have played a decisive role behind the scenes.
Given that building up an Iraqi army to replace American and British troops is a priority for Washington and London, the failure to notice that so much money was being siphoned off at the very least argues a high degree of negligence on the part of US officials and officers in Baghdad.
Boy, those Iraqis learned the George Bush definition of freedom as "freedom to rob the country blind" really fast!
Anyone out there want to hold their breath until the Bush administration self-investigates the allegations of their own people being involved and exonerates itself totally?
Update Juan Cole has more on the background including the news that this isn't the first time reports have been made on the scale of theft in Iraq. Senator Rick Santorum even wrote to Rumsfeld back in January following the suspicious deaths of two American arms contractors. Although true to Republican form the good Senator was only concerned about missing payments to his constituent's company.
Prof. Cole says:
Americans should be outraged at this news, which has now been reported twice by fine journalists in Iraq, but which has not become an issue in American politics. The embezzlement at the ministry of defense left the Iraqi military poorly equipped, and greatly delayed the moment at which it could take over from the US in providing security to the country. The embezzlement is directly tied to the Iraqi government losing control over its own capital, as reported here yesterday. The scale of it matches Saddam's kickbacks in the oil for food scandal, but the US journalists who were so outraged at the former don't seem to have the time of day for the embezzlement story.
Update Many reading this will immediately think "it must have been Iraqis, there can't possibly be that level of corruption in the US military." Oh yeah?
A civilian Army employee and two business owners were arrested in a kickback scheme to supply furnishings at a new Pentagon-run hotel in the Bavarian Alps that is used by troops on leave from Afghanistan and Iraq, the Justice Department said Monday.
Steven G. Potoski, 45, former contracting director at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch, Germany, accepted more than $350,000 in bribes in cash, home renovations, trips, computers and tickets to such events as Oktoberfest and the Indianapolis 500, assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher said.
All told, Potoski is accused of accepting bribes from the two Americans, a British company and 12 German contractors to inflate costs and then split the profits for furnishings and other goods at the military-owned hotel. Think about it. The bribes totalled $350,000 so what must the splits of the inflated cost have been worth? Obviously enough for those bribes to show a profit commensurate with the risk.
Via Blah3 comes the most incredible story of corruption, graft and outright theft ever told. The Independent newspaper today claims:
One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.
The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.
"It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history," Ali Allawi, Iraq's Finance Minister, told The Independent.
"Huge amounts of money have disappeared. In return we got nothing but scraps of metal."
The carefully planned theft has so weakened the army that it cannot hold Baghdad against insurgent attack without American military support, Iraqi officials say, making it difficult for the US to withdraw its 135,000- strong army from Iraq, as Washington says it wishes to do.
Read the whole thing before this disappears behind a pay-to-view firewall. Incredible! The Defense ministry was paying $1,600 for $200 guns, paid for helicopters and armoured vehicles that were utter scrap metal...graft and theft at every step. A lot of the money seems to have gone in the direction of Pakistan and crooked Polish arms dealers. The billion from Defense is only the single largest case. Others include up to $800 million from other ministries which could well go a long way to explaining things like the electricity and water shortfalls experienced by Iraqis.
The Iraqi Board of Supreme Audit says in a report to the Iraqi government that US-appointed Iraqi officials in the defence ministry allegedly presided over these dubious transactions.
Senior Iraqi officials now say they cannot understand how, if this is so, the disappearance of almost all the military procurement budget could have passed unnoticed by the US military in Baghdad and civilian advisers working in the defence ministry.
Government officials in Baghdad even suggest that the skill with which the robbery was organised suggests that the Iraqis involved were only front men, and "rogue elements" within the US military or intelligence services may have played a decisive role behind the scenes.
Given that building up an Iraqi army to replace American and British troops is a priority for Washington and London, the failure to notice that so much money was being siphoned off at the very least argues a high degree of negligence on the part of US officials and officers in Baghdad.
Boy, those Iraqis learned the George Bush definition of freedom as "freedom to rob the country blind" really fast!
Anyone out there want to hold their breath until the Bush administration self-investigates the allegations of their own people being involved and exonerates itself totally?
Update Juan Cole has more on the background including the news that this isn't the first time reports have been made on the scale of theft in Iraq. Senator Rick Santorum even wrote to Rumsfeld back in January following the suspicious deaths of two American arms contractors. Although true to Republican form the good Senator was only concerned about missing payments to his constituent's company.
Prof. Cole says:
Americans should be outraged at this news, which has now been reported twice by fine journalists in Iraq, but which has not become an issue in American politics. The embezzlement at the ministry of defense left the Iraqi military poorly equipped, and greatly delayed the moment at which it could take over from the US in providing security to the country. The embezzlement is directly tied to the Iraqi government losing control over its own capital, as reported here yesterday. The scale of it matches Saddam's kickbacks in the oil for food scandal, but the US journalists who were so outraged at the former don't seem to have the time of day for the embezzlement story.
Update Many reading this will immediately think "it must have been Iraqis, there can't possibly be that level of corruption in the US military." Oh yeah?
A civilian Army employee and two business owners were arrested in a kickback scheme to supply furnishings at a new Pentagon-run hotel in the Bavarian Alps that is used by troops on leave from Afghanistan and Iraq, the Justice Department said Monday.
Steven G. Potoski, 45, former contracting director at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch, Germany, accepted more than $350,000 in bribes in cash, home renovations, trips, computers and tickets to such events as Oktoberfest and the Indianapolis 500, assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher said.
All told, Potoski is accused of accepting bribes from the two Americans, a British company and 12 German contractors to inflate costs and then split the profits for furnishings and other goods at the military-owned hotel. Think about it. The bribes totalled $350,000 so what must the splits of the inflated cost have been worth? Obviously enough for those bribes to show a profit commensurate with the risk.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Spending On The Road To Nowhere
The BBC, that bastion of left-wing anti-American thinking (according to "fair and balanced" Rupert Murdoch and various other wingnuts), has this to say about Bush's spending plans:
The US government could finance the increased spending on Katrina by either raising taxes or cutting spending on other items.
Public opinion polls suggest that the public supports higher taxes to help Katrina victims, by a margin of 56% to 37%.
Neither is likely to happen.
Or we could get more detailled, as according to Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria writing on MSNBC (hat tip simianbrain):
People wonder whether we can afford Iraq and Katrina. The answer is, easily. What we can't afford simultaneously is $1.4 trillion in tax cuts and more than $1 trillion in new entitlement spending over the next 10 years. To take one example, if Congress did not make permanent just one of its tax cuts, the repeal of estate taxes, it would generate $290 billion over the next decade. That itself pays for most of Katrina and Iraq.
Or for those of you who like pictures, this is from the Congressional Budget Office, via the BBC.
And that was BEFORE Katrina!
Does anyone not get it yet? As Zakaria says, Bush is the "most fiscally irresponsible chief executive in American history" - but if the BBC said that they would be biased.
The US government could finance the increased spending on Katrina by either raising taxes or cutting spending on other items.
Public opinion polls suggest that the public supports higher taxes to help Katrina victims, by a margin of 56% to 37%.
Neither is likely to happen.
Or we could get more detailled, as according to Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria writing on MSNBC (hat tip simianbrain):
People wonder whether we can afford Iraq and Katrina. The answer is, easily. What we can't afford simultaneously is $1.4 trillion in tax cuts and more than $1 trillion in new entitlement spending over the next 10 years. To take one example, if Congress did not make permanent just one of its tax cuts, the repeal of estate taxes, it would generate $290 billion over the next decade. That itself pays for most of Katrina and Iraq.
Or for those of you who like pictures, this is from the Congressional Budget Office, via the BBC.
And that was BEFORE Katrina!
Does anyone not get it yet? As Zakaria says, Bush is the "most fiscally irresponsible chief executive in American history" - but if the BBC said that they would be biased.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Instahoglets 17th September
Some stuff I saw and meant to write more about.
This one has had exactly zero publicity in the US.
"You must understand the environment in Pakistan. This has become a money-making concern...A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped." President Musharraf of Pakistan.
Someone remind me why this guy is supposed to be an ally in the great Crusade for Liberty and Freedom again?
"Their operation in Afghanistan failed, their war in Iraq has been won (as the saying goes) by Iran, Katrina was allowed to produce the worst natural disaster in US history, and terrorist activities are increasing." In a person such a massive and systematic disconnect from reality would indicate madness. Is the Bush administration clinically insane?
US president George Bush's promise to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf coast "higher and better" has triggered a wave of anxiety among conservatives in his own party, who are shocked at the expansion of the federal role in disaster relief.
Talk about small government but actually DO big government, that's the Bush way. Oh, and shall we mention making it easier to declare martial law? Oh, I think we shall.
Pssst..sometimes getting drunk and getting in trouble becomes a family habit.
Kudos to the folks who make the "Girls Gone Wild" series. No, honest! They quietly upped and donated the revenue (not profit - revenue!) from every Mardi-Gras related title, which is about a third of all the videos, to the Red Cross.
What should we do with a conservative commentator who makes up his own Pullitzer Prize award? I expect him to be hired by Rove's office any day now to help spin the Katrina reconstruction. Maybe he can make up a bunch of qualifications to be the next director of FEMA.
Is it worthwhile to pay the "equivalent of a few martinis" to read the New York Times online? Well, maybe it is if after swilling lattes all day you can afford a few martinis. This poor leftie boy is going to be reading elsewhere in future. Any supposedly liberal newspaper that can barefacedly use that kind of phrase about its payment structure doesn't deserve my patronage.
"You must understand the environment in Pakistan. This has become a money-making concern...A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped." President Musharraf of Pakistan.
Someone remind me why this guy is supposed to be an ally in the great Crusade for Liberty and Freedom again?
FEMA Trailer Trash
Pause for a moment and consider - with rental vacancy rates in the South at a historic high and over 1.1 million available rental units empty the Bush regime assumed that the 300,000 families evacuated from Katrina's devastation deserved to live in massive trailer parks.
Of course, part of the problem is that conservatives have been banging the drum about the nanny state and dependency culture for so long and so every part of the government's social development infrastructure and funding has been gutted. At present, a bare 7,500 properties have been identified by HUD, Fannie Mae and others as available for evacuee resettlement out of that massive 1.1 million units. And of course now, belatedly, some conservatives are wakening up to the idea that big FEMA-built parks for evacuees may not just a bad idea socially but a waste of money.
The tab for those mobile homes is, according to industry insiders, $3.6 billion. The main group that FEMA turned to was the Manufactured Housing Institute who referred them on to individual retaillers. Clayton Homes, the largest retailler, received an initial order for 1,800 homes alone - an order it has said it intends to make a profit from. Yet the nation's largest trailer manufacturer, Thor Industries, says it has been unable to talk to anyone at FEMA about selling them trailers direct at manufacturer's prices. Where FEMA is talking to manufacturers at all it is talking to those who sold units to the government following last year's Florida hurricanes.
It would perhaps be cynical to suggest that using trailers instead of real homes, and then buying the trailers retail, is tantamount to a giveaway to an industry where 80% of political contributions end up in the pockets of Republicans and which has been declining in the last few years. And yet here I am, suggesting it.
Or maybe its just that the folks at FEMA think all poor people live in trailers.
Of course, part of the problem is that conservatives have been banging the drum about the nanny state and dependency culture for so long and so every part of the government's social development infrastructure and funding has been gutted. At present, a bare 7,500 properties have been identified by HUD, Fannie Mae and others as available for evacuee resettlement out of that massive 1.1 million units. And of course now, belatedly, some conservatives are wakening up to the idea that big FEMA-built parks for evacuees may not just a bad idea socially but a waste of money.
The tab for those mobile homes is, according to industry insiders, $3.6 billion. The main group that FEMA turned to was the Manufactured Housing Institute who referred them on to individual retaillers. Clayton Homes, the largest retailler, received an initial order for 1,800 homes alone - an order it has said it intends to make a profit from. Yet the nation's largest trailer manufacturer, Thor Industries, says it has been unable to talk to anyone at FEMA about selling them trailers direct at manufacturer's prices. Where FEMA is talking to manufacturers at all it is talking to those who sold units to the government following last year's Florida hurricanes.
It would perhaps be cynical to suggest that using trailers instead of real homes, and then buying the trailers retail, is tantamount to a giveaway to an industry where 80% of political contributions end up in the pockets of Republicans and which has been declining in the last few years. And yet here I am, suggesting it.
Or maybe its just that the folks at FEMA think all poor people live in trailers.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
It's About The Poverty, Stupid!
Regular Newshog commenter Kirkrrt sent me an email with a link to an article today and the message This is appalling to me and yet not surprising. Nothing I didn't know before. I just hope this study stirs politicians into action. I hope, but I doubt it.
As the article reports, a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week finds that it's all about the money when it comes to getting effective healthcare in the U.S.A.
eight research assistants called 499 ambulatory clinics and identified themselves as in need of follow-up care for pneumonia, high blood pressure or possible ectopic pregnancy -- early pregnancy implanted outside the uterus, such as in the Fallopian tube.
The same research assistant called each clinic twice using the same scenario but reporting different insurance status - no insurance, private insurance, or Medicaid -- the federal/state program for the poor.
"In our study, the callers who were trying to get appointments had potentially very serious conditions," Asplin emphasized. "These were not people trying to get an appointment for a sore throat or a cold. But despite the severity of there conditions, callers still had problems getting appointments when they didn't have the right insurance card."
"This study, I think, speaks to a really important myth that is out there," Asplin said. "That is that a lot of Americans think that, sure we have 45.8 million uninsured people, but when they really need care they get it -- and in our study the uninsured callers really needed care and they weren't able to get it."
63% of callers claiming to have private insurance secured timely follow-up appointments compared with just 34% of those who said they had Medicaid.
There was no difference in rates of secured appointments between callers claiming private insurance and those who were uninsured but willing to pay the entire $100 fee for the visit.
98% of clinics screened callers for a source of payment but only 28% attempted to determine the severity of the callers medical condition.
The bottom line is that if you're not a card carrying member of our healthcare system you're going to have a very difficult time getting access to care, " Dr. Brent R. Asplin from Regions Hospital and HealthPartners Research Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota, told Reuters Health.
In other words, the unofficial and cold-hearted triage of the US healthcare system is that the ability to pay trumps the severity of illness every time.
Yet the truth is, universal healthcare would be more efficient than the current system. The only people who would lose out are those who currently traffic in profits for illness. I've written about this before. Refer to Public vs. Private Healthcare. Part One - Getting to the Facts. and to Public vs. Private Healthcare.Part Two - Counting the Costs (and Savings) for more details. Progressives are being told that, although they are making a huge outcry about the level of poverty in this country, which has been massively ignored, they have no policies to change things. This should be one of those policies. Universal healthcare regardless of income should be a right of every person in a modern, rich, technological democracy.
"This study, I think, speaks to a really important myth that is out there," Asplin said. "That is that a lot of Americans think that, sure we have 45.8 million uninsured people, but when they really need care they get it -- and in our study the uninsured callers really needed care and they weren't able to get it."
Needing care and unable to get it without money. Sounds just like the "left behind" of New Orleans. Disgusting. America should be ashamed of itself.
As the article reports, a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week finds that it's all about the money when it comes to getting effective healthcare in the U.S.A.
eight research assistants called 499 ambulatory clinics and identified themselves as in need of follow-up care for pneumonia, high blood pressure or possible ectopic pregnancy -- early pregnancy implanted outside the uterus, such as in the Fallopian tube.
The same research assistant called each clinic twice using the same scenario but reporting different insurance status - no insurance, private insurance, or Medicaid -- the federal/state program for the poor.
"In our study, the callers who were trying to get appointments had potentially very serious conditions," Asplin emphasized. "These were not people trying to get an appointment for a sore throat or a cold. But despite the severity of there conditions, callers still had problems getting appointments when they didn't have the right insurance card."
"This study, I think, speaks to a really important myth that is out there," Asplin said. "That is that a lot of Americans think that, sure we have 45.8 million uninsured people, but when they really need care they get it -- and in our study the uninsured callers really needed care and they weren't able to get it."
The bottom line is that if you're not a card carrying member of our healthcare system you're going to have a very difficult time getting access to care, " Dr. Brent R. Asplin from Regions Hospital and HealthPartners Research Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota, told Reuters Health.
In other words, the unofficial and cold-hearted triage of the US healthcare system is that the ability to pay trumps the severity of illness every time.
Yet the truth is, universal healthcare would be more efficient than the current system. The only people who would lose out are those who currently traffic in profits for illness. I've written about this before. Refer to Public vs. Private Healthcare. Part One - Getting to the Facts. and to Public vs. Private Healthcare.Part Two - Counting the Costs (and Savings) for more details. Progressives are being told that, although they are making a huge outcry about the level of poverty in this country, which has been massively ignored, they have no policies to change things. This should be one of those policies. Universal healthcare regardless of income should be a right of every person in a modern, rich, technological democracy.
"This study, I think, speaks to a really important myth that is out there," Asplin said. "That is that a lot of Americans think that, sure we have 45.8 million uninsured people, but when they really need care they get it -- and in our study the uninsured callers really needed care and they weren't able to get it."
Needing care and unable to get it without money. Sounds just like the "left behind" of New Orleans. Disgusting. America should be ashamed of itself.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Instahoglets 14th Sept.
There's been a lot going on this last few days that I haven't managed to write about but wanted to. Thankfully, there are some great writers out there who have done so better than I ever could. Here's a sampler.
Via Blah3 what may become one of the most famous photos of the Bush era - the "I wanna potty" memo!
In the UK, the government has declared that loyalist terror group the UVF has broken its ceasefire. Pleasde remember, kind reader, that Irish far-right terrorist groups like the UVF and their political mouthpieces get a lot of support from the American Right.
Raw Story has the goods on internal documents that show FEMA bungled its Katrina response.
And The Left Coaster has the details on a memo showing that The Gremlin - Mike Chertoff - "abdicated his existing responsibility to activate federal forces without waiting for any request from Governor Blanco, and wasted at least 36 hours of critical time before empowering FEMA to act. And the system wasn’t the problem, it was the White House."
I've been wondering for a while if the Bushites slipped one under the radar against State's Rights back in March when they gave DHS the power to act without state authority. Maybe someone more up on current constitutional politics (this year's, not last year's) could enlighten me. The relevant passage from the DHS website reads:
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.
Now, is this an end-run or isn't it? Does it really mean what it seems to - that Bush and the GOP gave the DHS feds total authority anywhere in the US to provide any and all response to a "large-scale crisis" (which its solely within the administrations to decide if some event is or isn't)? And if it is then did Chertoff choke and was too scared of the fallout or plain incompetent to use the muscle he had been given? And if it is why didn't the Republicans let everyone know they were trashing the Constitution?
Maybe that's one reason why the GOP are so keen on there being no independent investigation, to the point of showing a united face in the Senate.
There, that's enough for now. Maybe some more later tonight if I get time.
I've been wondering for a while if the Bushites slipped one under the radar against State's Rights back in March when they gave DHS the power to act without state authority. Maybe someone more up on current constitutional politics (this year's, not last year's) could enlighten me. The relevant passage from the DHS website reads:
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.
Now, is this an end-run or isn't it? Does it really mean what it seems to - that Bush and the GOP gave the DHS feds total authority anywhere in the US to provide any and all response to a "large-scale crisis" (which its solely within the administrations to decide if some event is or isn't)? And if it is then did Chertoff choke and was too scared of the fallout or plain incompetent to use the muscle he had been given? And if it is why didn't the Republicans let everyone know they were trashing the Constitution?
There, that's enough for now. Maybe some more later tonight if I get time.
First Katrina Criminal Charges
From AP:
The husband-and-wife owners of a nursing home were charged with homicide because they did not evacuate 34 elderly patients who died after Hurricane Katrina struck, the first major criminal case related to the storm's still rising death toll.
...
Including deaths in four other states, Katrina's overall toll stood at 659.
Authorities said the toll would be lower if Salvador and Mable Mangano, owners of the St. Rita's nursing home in town of Chalmette, had heeded warnings to evacuate their patients as Katrina came ashore Aug. 29.
"The pathetic thing in this case was that they were asked if they wanted to move them and they did not," said Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti. "They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming. In effect, their inaction resulted in the deaths of these people."
The Manganos were released on $50,000 bond each; each of the 34 counts against them carries up to five years in prison. Their attorney, Jim Cobb, said his clients were innocent and had waited for a mandatory evacuation order from the officials of St. Bernard Parish that never came.
Cobb said the Manganos were forced to make a difficult decision as Katrina approached: risk the health of the patients — many of them frail and on feeding tubes — in an evacuation, or keep them comfortable at the home through the storm.
Tom Rodrigue, whose mother died in the home, was not satisfied. "She deserved the chance, you know, to be rescued instead of having to drown like a rat," he said.
The attorney general is also investigating the deaths of 45 terminally ill and immobile patients at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans itself, presumably from heat and their illnesses. There one doctor, a cancer specialist named Scott Sonnier, has already admitted leaving patients under his care to die in favour of aiding his physically capable fiancee who is a doctor at another New Orleans hospital. Dr. Sonnier, it seems, goes by the nickname "Scoot".
But it occurs to me that if the Louisiana attorney general is seeking 5 years in prison for each of 34 counts of homicide for the Manganos, should he be thinking about charges for those in authority if they are shown to be likewise negligent in failing to evacuate those under their care? Nagin, Blanco, Brown, Chertoff and Bush would do well to consider the possibility.
The husband-and-wife owners of a nursing home were charged with homicide because they did not evacuate 34 elderly patients who died after Hurricane Katrina struck, the first major criminal case related to the storm's still rising death toll.
...
Including deaths in four other states, Katrina's overall toll stood at 659.
Authorities said the toll would be lower if Salvador and Mable Mangano, owners of the St. Rita's nursing home in town of Chalmette, had heeded warnings to evacuate their patients as Katrina came ashore Aug. 29.
"The pathetic thing in this case was that they were asked if they wanted to move them and they did not," said Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti. "They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming. In effect, their inaction resulted in the deaths of these people."
The Manganos were released on $50,000 bond each; each of the 34 counts against them carries up to five years in prison. Their attorney, Jim Cobb, said his clients were innocent and had waited for a mandatory evacuation order from the officials of St. Bernard Parish that never came.
Cobb said the Manganos were forced to make a difficult decision as Katrina approached: risk the health of the patients — many of them frail and on feeding tubes — in an evacuation, or keep them comfortable at the home through the storm.
Tom Rodrigue, whose mother died in the home, was not satisfied. "She deserved the chance, you know, to be rescued instead of having to drown like a rat," he said.
The attorney general is also investigating the deaths of 45 terminally ill and immobile patients at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans itself, presumably from heat and their illnesses. There one doctor, a cancer specialist named Scott Sonnier, has already admitted leaving patients under his care to die in favour of aiding his physically capable fiancee who is a doctor at another New Orleans hospital. Dr. Sonnier, it seems, goes by the nickname "Scoot".
But it occurs to me that if the Louisiana attorney general is seeking 5 years in prison for each of 34 counts of homicide for the Manganos, should he be thinking about charges for those in authority if they are shown to be likewise negligent in failing to evacuate those under their care? Nagin, Blanco, Brown, Chertoff and Bush would do well to consider the possibility.
Bill Clinton, Saviour Of The World!
Ok, I admit I used that headline in a childish attempt to give some wingnuts apoplexy. My opinions on a lot of what Clinton did are no higher than my opinions of the Junior Bush's regime.
Still, the UK's Independent has an interesting profile of Clinton's ongoing attempt to make of himself the "best ex-president of the United States" ever. The only time he ever really sounds like an evasive politico - the famed "Slick Willie" - is in answering a question about how it would feel to be "first husband".
Worth a read.
Still, the UK's Independent has an interesting profile of Clinton's ongoing attempt to make of himself the "best ex-president of the United States" ever. The only time he ever really sounds like an evasive politico - the famed "Slick Willie" - is in answering a question about how it would feel to be "first husband".
Worth a read.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Bush "Insincere", says David Brooks
At last, an admission from someone in the know.
From Brooks's September 11 appearance on NBC's The Chris Matthews Show:
MATTHEWS: Do you think there's a problem with this? I remember when the president wrote in his diary -- his father, President Bush senior -- "you know, I picked [former Vice President Dan] Quayle the first time around, and I wish I hadn't. But I'm stuck with him, and I can't admit it." Is there a problem with this president simply admitting, "I put the wrong people at certain jobs, I didn't get back fast enough to the White House, I wasn't calling the orders fast enough?"
BROOKS: From Day One, they had decided that our public relations is not going to be honest. Privately, they admit mistakes all the time. Publicly -- and I've had this debate with them since Day One; I always say admit a mistake, people will give you credit --
MATTHEWS: Who do you debate this with?
BROOKS: With people who work in the White House.
MATTHEWS: I thought you were talking about with the president in the back room.
[laughter]
BROOKS: Not with him, but they represent what he believes, which is, if you admit a mistake, you get no credit from your enemies, and then you open up another week's story, because the admission of a little mistake leads to the admission of big mistakes and another week's story. It's totally tactical and totally insincere.
More at Media Matters For America. The cracks started showing in Brooks cheerleading for the Bush camp a couple of weeks ago when the Iraqi constitution went tits up and he ran a long op-ed extolling alternative strategies for the military in their fight with insurgents. He really broke out when Katrina became the "natural disaster that interrupted a social disaster" and showed how the Right has left all the poor of the US behind. Now it looks like one of the US's best writers has finally decided enough is enough and he will be an honest writer too, no longer complicit in the Bush plan to never admit error. I certainly hope so.
Yesterday Bush took time out from a press conference with the Iraqi President to tell reporters:
Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government...To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility.
But given Brooks' admission and the way in which Bush intends to take charge of the investigation into federal fault - investigating whether he should take responsibility - himself, we should all take those words with a huge pinch of salt and view tham as just more White House spin.
Given Brooks' words, though, it's interesting to note that Rupert Murdoch's flagship newspapers in foreign climes have been less than supportive of Bush this last two weeks too. The Australian, the newspaper that Murdoch takes most editorial control over, ran Andrew Sullivan's column entitled "Buck Stops At Bush" on the 12th and the London Times, the prize jewel of Murdoch's empire has likewise been critical of the Bush administration in the Katrina aftermath. A long article in the Sunday Times on the 11th said:
In Washington the blame game is intensifying. With polls showing that up to 60% of voters disapprove of President George W Bush’s performance, he can count himself lucky he is not standing for re-election. He failed as comforter in chief and as chief executive of the world’s most powerful nation.
As the levees protecting New Orleans broke, filling the "bowl" of the city with water, Bush gave a speech about the "need to stay the course" in Iraq. A day later he flew over the devastated area, peering down at the little people left to fend for themselves, before asserting on television the next morning, "I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." In fact several official reports had long been predicting just that.
Fellow Republicans have been appalled by his lack of grip on the crisis, from his initial lackadaisical response to the scandalously inept execution of the relief operation.
The whole government was caught napping. Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, was shopping for shoes in New York and laughing at the Monty Python play Spamalot while New Orleans sank, and Dick Cheney, vice-president, was fly-fishing in Wyoming.
Bush’s praise for "Brownie" — Michael Brown, the discredited head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) — for doing a "a heck of job", will be particularly difficult to live down.
Brits remember that when Murdoch's newspapers dumped the Conservatives after almost two decades of wholehearted support it made the very first landslide election of Tony Blair an utter certainty. It seems to me that there is no single candidate, either from the Republicans or the Democrats, who has yet garnered Murdoch's favour but it is no longer a sure bet that his eventual preference will be on the Right. In particular, Murdoch is a secularist who has no patience for moralising preacher-politicos who would harm his profits by restricting salacious TV or pressuring against showing pretty nearly-nude women on page three.
Can you imagine the upset to everyone's thinking if Fox News did for a Democratic candidate what the Sun and the News of The World did for Tony Blair - endorsed that candidate over its traditional biases, signalling an utter seachange from the vehicle many who would have voted for the Right rely on for their news and opinion? There must be at least a few Democrat hopefuls wondering how they can be that Annointed One and quite a few GOP "media managers", including Karl Rove, having sleepless nights at the possibility.
From Brooks's September 11 appearance on NBC's The Chris Matthews Show:
MATTHEWS: Do you think there's a problem with this? I remember when the president wrote in his diary -- his father, President Bush senior -- "you know, I picked [former Vice President Dan] Quayle the first time around, and I wish I hadn't. But I'm stuck with him, and I can't admit it." Is there a problem with this president simply admitting, "I put the wrong people at certain jobs, I didn't get back fast enough to the White House, I wasn't calling the orders fast enough?"
BROOKS: From Day One, they had decided that our public relations is not going to be honest. Privately, they admit mistakes all the time. Publicly -- and I've had this debate with them since Day One; I always say admit a mistake, people will give you credit --
MATTHEWS: Who do you debate this with?
BROOKS: With people who work in the White House.
MATTHEWS: I thought you were talking about with the president in the back room.
[laughter]
BROOKS: Not with him, but they represent what he believes, which is, if you admit a mistake, you get no credit from your enemies, and then you open up another week's story, because the admission of a little mistake leads to the admission of big mistakes and another week's story. It's totally tactical and totally insincere.
More at Media Matters For America. The cracks started showing in Brooks cheerleading for the Bush camp a couple of weeks ago when the Iraqi constitution went tits up and he ran a long op-ed extolling alternative strategies for the military in their fight with insurgents. He really broke out when Katrina became the "natural disaster that interrupted a social disaster" and showed how the Right has left all the poor of the US behind. Now it looks like one of the US's best writers has finally decided enough is enough and he will be an honest writer too, no longer complicit in the Bush plan to never admit error. I certainly hope so.
Yesterday Bush took time out from a press conference with the Iraqi President to tell reporters:
Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government...To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility.
But given Brooks' admission and the way in which Bush intends to take charge of the investigation into federal fault - investigating whether he should take responsibility - himself, we should all take those words with a huge pinch of salt and view tham as just more White House spin.
Given Brooks' words, though, it's interesting to note that Rupert Murdoch's flagship newspapers in foreign climes have been less than supportive of Bush this last two weeks too. The Australian, the newspaper that Murdoch takes most editorial control over, ran Andrew Sullivan's column entitled "Buck Stops At Bush" on the 12th and the London Times, the prize jewel of Murdoch's empire has likewise been critical of the Bush administration in the Katrina aftermath. A long article in the Sunday Times on the 11th said:
In Washington the blame game is intensifying. With polls showing that up to 60% of voters disapprove of President George W Bush’s performance, he can count himself lucky he is not standing for re-election. He failed as comforter in chief and as chief executive of the world’s most powerful nation.
As the levees protecting New Orleans broke, filling the "bowl" of the city with water, Bush gave a speech about the "need to stay the course" in Iraq. A day later he flew over the devastated area, peering down at the little people left to fend for themselves, before asserting on television the next morning, "I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." In fact several official reports had long been predicting just that.
Fellow Republicans have been appalled by his lack of grip on the crisis, from his initial lackadaisical response to the scandalously inept execution of the relief operation.
The whole government was caught napping. Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, was shopping for shoes in New York and laughing at the Monty Python play Spamalot while New Orleans sank, and Dick Cheney, vice-president, was fly-fishing in Wyoming.
Bush’s praise for "Brownie" — Michael Brown, the discredited head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) — for doing a "a heck of job", will be particularly difficult to live down.
Brits remember that when Murdoch's newspapers dumped the Conservatives after almost two decades of wholehearted support it made the very first landslide election of Tony Blair an utter certainty. It seems to me that there is no single candidate, either from the Republicans or the Democrats, who has yet garnered Murdoch's favour but it is no longer a sure bet that his eventual preference will be on the Right. In particular, Murdoch is a secularist who has no patience for moralising preacher-politicos who would harm his profits by restricting salacious TV or pressuring against showing pretty nearly-nude women on page three.
Can you imagine the upset to everyone's thinking if Fox News did for a Democratic candidate what the Sun and the News of The World did for Tony Blair - endorsed that candidate over its traditional biases, signalling an utter seachange from the vehicle many who would have voted for the Right rely on for their news and opinion? There must be at least a few Democrat hopefuls wondering how they can be that Annointed One and quite a few GOP "media managers", including Karl Rove, having sleepless nights at the possibility.
Monday, September 12, 2005
EPA Expert - Bush Covering Up Toxic Problem In New Orleans
According to an exclusive interview in today's Independent newspaper, the Bush administration have staffed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with "inept political hacks" who are covering up the danger of toxic waste in New Orleans floodwaters which could make the city uninhabitable for a decade.
Its rare to get such a charge from a serving official in any government department - usually fear of recriminations ensures that whistleblowers wait until they have left their posts which makes it far easier to soin their stories as "sour grapes". However, the EPA official, Hugh Kaufman, has impeccable credentials:
Mr Kaufman, who has been with the EPA since it was founded 35 years ago, helped to set up its hazardous waste programme. After serving as chief investigator to the EPA's ombudsman, he is now senior policy analyst in its Office of Solid Wastes and Emergency Response. He said the clean-up needed to be "the most massive public works exercise ever done", adding: "It will take 10 years to get everything up and running and safe."
The EPA has not been included in the core White House group tackling the crisis despite the huge number of chemical plants, storage tanks, refineries and petroleum storage depots which together churn out 600m lb of toxic waste each year and have made the area one of America's pollution hotspots, known as "Cancer Alley".
The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make public the results of those it had analysed. "Inept political hacks" running the clean-up will imperil the health of low-income migrant workers by getting them to do the work.
...
Mr Kaufman claimed the Bush administration was playing down the need for a clean-up: the EPA has not been included in the core White House group tackling the crisis. "Its budget has been cut and inept political hacks have been put in key positions," Mr Kaufman said. "All the money for emergency response has gone to buy guns and cowboys - which don't do anything when a hurricane hits. We were less prepared for this than we would have been on 10 September 2001."
I wonder how they will spin this one, and which Bush favourites will make money from the clean-up?
Update Here is a reprint of the Indie's article because they hide their stuff behind a pay-to-read firewall after a few days. And here is a list of potential toxic chemical sites, along with which kinds of chemicals and quantities, in New Orleans iself - culled from EPA data.
Its rare to get such a charge from a serving official in any government department - usually fear of recriminations ensures that whistleblowers wait until they have left their posts which makes it far easier to soin their stories as "sour grapes". However, the EPA official, Hugh Kaufman, has impeccable credentials:
Mr Kaufman, who has been with the EPA since it was founded 35 years ago, helped to set up its hazardous waste programme. After serving as chief investigator to the EPA's ombudsman, he is now senior policy analyst in its Office of Solid Wastes and Emergency Response. He said the clean-up needed to be "the most massive public works exercise ever done", adding: "It will take 10 years to get everything up and running and safe."
The EPA has not been included in the core White House group tackling the crisis despite the huge number of chemical plants, storage tanks, refineries and petroleum storage depots which together churn out 600m lb of toxic waste each year and have made the area one of America's pollution hotspots, known as "Cancer Alley".
The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make public the results of those it had analysed. "Inept political hacks" running the clean-up will imperil the health of low-income migrant workers by getting them to do the work.
...
Mr Kaufman claimed the Bush administration was playing down the need for a clean-up: the EPA has not been included in the core White House group tackling the crisis. "Its budget has been cut and inept political hacks have been put in key positions," Mr Kaufman said. "All the money for emergency response has gone to buy guns and cowboys - which don't do anything when a hurricane hits. We were less prepared for this than we would have been on 10 September 2001."
I wonder how they will spin this one, and which Bush favourites will make money from the clean-up?
Update Here is a reprint of the Indie's article because they hide their stuff behind a pay-to-read firewall after a few days. And here is a list of potential toxic chemical sites, along with which kinds of chemicals and quantities, in New Orleans iself - culled from EPA data.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Mercenaries Guard Rich Homes In NOLA
From the Guardian:
Hundreds of mercenaries have descended on New Orleans to guard the property of the city's millionaires from looters. The heavily armed men, employed by private military companies including Blackwater and ISI, are part of the militarisation of a city which had a reputation for being one of the most relaxed and easy-going in America.
Those names sound familiar? Fallujah...Baghdad...New Orleans. The final trappings of a third world nation presided over by a tinpot dictatorial President who likes to pretend he is a military man are now in place. Somehow, we should have known that this administration's favourite guns-for-hire wouldn't be left out of the money-making.
Blackwater, one of the fastest-growing private security firms in the world, which achieved global prominence last year when four of its men were killed and their bodies mutilated in the Iraqi city of Falluja, has set up camp in the back garden of a vast mansion in the wealthy Uptown district of the city.
David Reagan, 52, a semi-retired US army colonel from Huntsville, Alabama, who fought in the first Gulf war and is commander of Blackwater's operations in the city, refused to say how many men he had in New Orleans but indicated it was in the hundreds.
Asked if they had encountered many looters so far, Mr Reagan said that the sight of his heavily armed men - a pump action shotgun was propped against the wall near to where he was standing - was enough to put most people off.
Well, my kids have this powder to sprinkle on the streets of San Antonio to keep the heffelumps and woozles off the sidewalks, and it must work because you never see any heffelumps or woozles around here...in the same way, those rich gated communities must have been in danger from looters - it couldn't have been that all bar a small majority of the "looters" were simply trying to survive, find food and diapers, that kind of thing and never looked up towards the rich folks' homes...could it?
Digby says that racism often manifests as fear and oh boy is he right. There is at least one report of armed white-supremacist vigilantes randomly shooting black people in the chaos of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
Hundreds of mercenaries have descended on New Orleans to guard the property of the city's millionaires from looters. The heavily armed men, employed by private military companies including Blackwater and ISI, are part of the militarisation of a city which had a reputation for being one of the most relaxed and easy-going in America.
Those names sound familiar? Fallujah...Baghdad...New Orleans. The final trappings of a third world nation presided over by a tinpot dictatorial President who likes to pretend he is a military man are now in place. Somehow, we should have known that this administration's favourite guns-for-hire wouldn't be left out of the money-making.
Blackwater, one of the fastest-growing private security firms in the world, which achieved global prominence last year when four of its men were killed and their bodies mutilated in the Iraqi city of Falluja, has set up camp in the back garden of a vast mansion in the wealthy Uptown district of the city.
David Reagan, 52, a semi-retired US army colonel from Huntsville, Alabama, who fought in the first Gulf war and is commander of Blackwater's operations in the city, refused to say how many men he had in New Orleans but indicated it was in the hundreds.
Asked if they had encountered many looters so far, Mr Reagan said that the sight of his heavily armed men - a pump action shotgun was propped against the wall near to where he was standing - was enough to put most people off.
Well, my kids have this powder to sprinkle on the streets of San Antonio to keep the heffelumps and woozles off the sidewalks, and it must work because you never see any heffelumps or woozles around here...in the same way, those rich gated communities must have been in danger from looters - it couldn't have been that all bar a small majority of the "looters" were simply trying to survive, find food and diapers, that kind of thing and never looked up towards the rich folks' homes...could it?
Digby says that racism often manifests as fear and oh boy is he right. There is at least one report of armed white-supremacist vigilantes randomly shooting black people in the chaos of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
What Digby Said...
...because Digby nails it (and you really, really need to see his maps).
There are strong forces at work that rival economics in people's minds --- tribalism, religion, culture, and tradition all have strong pulls on the human psyche. We are complicated creatures. And the complicated creatures who call ourselves Americans have an issue with race. It's been there from the beginning of this republic and it affects our political system in profound ways.
In the modern era, the Republicans party has developed a patented technique for exploiting it. It's been in disuse for the last few years --- war superseded their need for it. But, they only have to pull it out of the package, wipe off the filth from the last time they used it and put it back in action.
The good news is that each time they use it; it is less effective than before. Things are improving. Racism is not as immediate for younger people as it once was and the virulent strain is much less potent than it was when I was a kid. On race, this country takes two steps forward one and a half steps back. I'm hopeful that we can eradicate the systemic nature of this illness from our culture over time.
But we aren't there yet. It was only forty years ago that this country was still living under apartheid. Since then, overt public racism became socially unacceptable. That's huge and is the reason why, in my opinion,you see so much less of it among the young. But we've also seen the Republican Party very deftly develop an alternate language to appeal to those for whom this issue is still very salient --- and who talk about it among themselves. That language has helped to remake the map we see above. It's not a coincidence that the lines that divided the slave, free and "open to slavery" states are the lines that form the political divide today.
In the right wing litany of family values, small government, low taxes, god and guns the missing word is racism. They don't have to say it. It's part of all those things.
These last two weeks I've heard the old school racists dragging out the "n" word, but they are dying out. We aren't going to see a lot of that anymore, thank god. But the code words were being slung around more freely than I've seen in ages. The first thing I heard out of people's mouths was that these people had been "irresponsible" for not following the directions they were given. The next thing I heard was that "looters" were taking over the city and they should be shot. Then there was the "why do they have so many kids" and "why can't they clean up after themselves" and "defecating where they stood."
As Colin Powell said, the failure to evacuate the poorest part of the community from New Orleans wasn't motivated by racism, it was purely economic:
When you look at those who weren't able to get out, it should have been a blinding flash of the obvious to everybody that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can't expect everybody to evacuate on their own.
"These are people who don't have credit cards; only one in 10 families at that economic level in New Orleans have a car. So it wasn't a racial thing but poverty disproportionately affects African-Americans in this country. And it happened because they were poor,"
BUT...there are more than a few on the Right (and even a few ostensibly on the Left) who would like it all to be about racism and will use the tried and tested codes as they attempt to make it so. I am one of those who will make it my job to point the finger and shout "racist" when they do.
There are strong forces at work that rival economics in people's minds --- tribalism, religion, culture, and tradition all have strong pulls on the human psyche. We are complicated creatures. And the complicated creatures who call ourselves Americans have an issue with race. It's been there from the beginning of this republic and it affects our political system in profound ways.
In the modern era, the Republicans party has developed a patented technique for exploiting it. It's been in disuse for the last few years --- war superseded their need for it. But, they only have to pull it out of the package, wipe off the filth from the last time they used it and put it back in action.
The good news is that each time they use it; it is less effective than before. Things are improving. Racism is not as immediate for younger people as it once was and the virulent strain is much less potent than it was when I was a kid. On race, this country takes two steps forward one and a half steps back. I'm hopeful that we can eradicate the systemic nature of this illness from our culture over time.
But we aren't there yet. It was only forty years ago that this country was still living under apartheid. Since then, overt public racism became socially unacceptable. That's huge and is the reason why, in my opinion,you see so much less of it among the young. But we've also seen the Republican Party very deftly develop an alternate language to appeal to those for whom this issue is still very salient --- and who talk about it among themselves. That language has helped to remake the map we see above. It's not a coincidence that the lines that divided the slave, free and "open to slavery" states are the lines that form the political divide today.
In the right wing litany of family values, small government, low taxes, god and guns the missing word is racism. They don't have to say it. It's part of all those things.
These last two weeks I've heard the old school racists dragging out the "n" word, but they are dying out. We aren't going to see a lot of that anymore, thank god. But the code words were being slung around more freely than I've seen in ages. The first thing I heard out of people's mouths was that these people had been "irresponsible" for not following the directions they were given. The next thing I heard was that "looters" were taking over the city and they should be shot. Then there was the "why do they have so many kids" and "why can't they clean up after themselves" and "defecating where they stood."
As Colin Powell said, the failure to evacuate the poorest part of the community from New Orleans wasn't motivated by racism, it was purely economic:
When you look at those who weren't able to get out, it should have been a blinding flash of the obvious to everybody that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can't expect everybody to evacuate on their own.
"These are people who don't have credit cards; only one in 10 families at that economic level in New Orleans have a car. So it wasn't a racial thing but poverty disproportionately affects African-Americans in this country. And it happened because they were poor,"
BUT...there are more than a few on the Right (and even a few ostensibly on the Left) who would like it all to be about racism and will use the tried and tested codes as they attempt to make it so. I am one of those who will make it my job to point the finger and shout "racist" when they do.
In Memoriam
Today America and indeed the World remembers the victims of the 9/11 attacks - as indeed we should. No matter where we stand on the policies implemented thereafter, we should all respect the dead and the bereaved without caveat.
I am particularly taken by the simple remembrance symbolised by reading a roll of the dead, something that has happened in New York every year as a memorial of that fateful day.
I would like to call for a similiar ceremony each year to mark the passing of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Remembering the dead is reason enough but just in case you may need more, here's Howard Dean with exactly that:
The truth is that we have ignored the poor for far too long. And until it washed right up on our front doorsteps, we might have continued to ignore the reality that poverty has too many of our fellow Americans in its grip, and we have a shared moral responsibility not to ignore it anymore.
How about it Democrats, Republicans? Lest we forget.
I am particularly taken by the simple remembrance symbolised by reading a roll of the dead, something that has happened in New York every year as a memorial of that fateful day.
I would like to call for a similiar ceremony each year to mark the passing of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Remembering the dead is reason enough but just in case you may need more, here's Howard Dean with exactly that:
The truth is that we have ignored the poor for far too long. And until it washed right up on our front doorsteps, we might have continued to ignore the reality that poverty has too many of our fellow Americans in its grip, and we have a shared moral responsibility not to ignore it anymore.
How about it Democrats, Republicans? Lest we forget.
Us and Them - Photopost of the year
Via The Sideshow,
Driftglass blog has a photo-montage set to the lyrics of the Pink Floyd classic "Us and Them".
Driftglass says:
This is a graphic-intensive post, and be advised the last few images are rather strong.
They are tragically nothing you won't see on your local news, but some people may find them disturbing, and my intention is not to be gratuitous.
I'm simply furious.
Go. Look. Now.
Driftglass blog has a photo-montage set to the lyrics of the Pink Floyd classic "Us and Them".
Driftglass says:
This is a graphic-intensive post, and be advised the last few images are rather strong.
They are tragically nothing you won't see on your local news, but some people may find them disturbing, and my intention is not to be gratuitous.
I'm simply furious.
Go. Look. Now.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Shovelling Money Out The Door
And so it begins again. Like the reconstruction of Iraq, the reconstruction of the American South is shaping up to be a pork-barrel of herculean proportions where the locals will be giving short shrift and table crumbs and corporate friends of the politically powerful will vaccuum up the bulk of the profits.
"They are throwing money out, they are shoveling it out the door," said James Albertine, a Washington lobbyist and past president of the American League of Lobbyists. "I'm sure every lobbyist's phone in Washington is ringing off the hook from his clients."
Following on yesterday's announcement that Bush has suspended, by executive order, the law that requires employers to pay the locally prevailing wage to construction workers on federally financed projects in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida comes the news that the first contracts for reconstruction work have been awarded. There are no surprises for me in the awards.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh,President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton. Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
Kellogg Brown & Root received $29.8 million in Pentagon contracts to begin rebuilding Navy bases in Louisiana and Mississippi. Shaw said on Thursday it has received a $100 million emergency FEMA contract for housing management and construction. Shaw also clinched a $100 million order on Friday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Please not also that the justification for suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act is supposedly that it will save taxpayers' money. The contracts awarded so far are all "Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity" contracts. awarded on a no-bid basis. The bill can rise above the amount awarded without oversight and further work can be given without a new contract - all without ensuring the firms picked for the contracts are the most competitive. It's an open license to profit gouge, as Halliburton and Betchel know from their experiences in Iraq. Pentagon audits released in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton's work in Iraq, and it's a pretty sure bet that none of the money saved by lowering wages will be passed on to the government and thence to you, the tax-payer.
Its no wonder the New York Times today called the suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act a "shameful proclamation":
By any standard of human decency, condemning many already poor and now bereft people to subpar wages - thus perpetuating their poverty - is unacceptable. It is also bad for the economy. Without the law, called the Davis-Bacon Act, contractors will be able to pay less, but they'll also get less, as lower wages invariably mean lower productivity.
The ostensible rationale for suspending the law is to reduce taxpayers' costs. Does Mr. Bush really believe it is the will of the American people to deny the prevailing wage to construction workers in New Orleans, Biloxi and other hard-hit areas? Besides, the proclamation doesn't require contractors to pass on the savings they will get by cutting wages from current low levels. Around New Orleans, the prevailing hourly wage for a truck driver working on a levee is $9.04; for an electrician, it's $14.30.
Oh, and just so we can be clear on why these firms get special favors, here are links that show not only campaign donations and top political recipients but also lobbying expenditures by Halliburton, by the Bechtel Group and Shaw Group. In the cases of Shaw and Betchel at least, this is certainly bi-partisan pork.
"They are throwing money out, they are shoveling it out the door," said James Albertine, a Washington lobbyist and past president of the American League of Lobbyists. "I'm sure every lobbyist's phone in Washington is ringing off the hook from his clients."
Following on yesterday's announcement that Bush has suspended, by executive order, the law that requires employers to pay the locally prevailing wage to construction workers on federally financed projects in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida comes the news that the first contracts for reconstruction work have been awarded. There are no surprises for me in the awards.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh,President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton. Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
Kellogg Brown & Root received $29.8 million in Pentagon contracts to begin rebuilding Navy bases in Louisiana and Mississippi. Shaw said on Thursday it has received a $100 million emergency FEMA contract for housing management and construction. Shaw also clinched a $100 million order on Friday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Please not also that the justification for suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act is supposedly that it will save taxpayers' money. The contracts awarded so far are all "Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity" contracts. awarded on a no-bid basis. The bill can rise above the amount awarded without oversight and further work can be given without a new contract - all without ensuring the firms picked for the contracts are the most competitive. It's an open license to profit gouge, as Halliburton and Betchel know from their experiences in Iraq. Pentagon audits released in June showed $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs and $422 million in "unsupported" costs for Halliburton's work in Iraq, and it's a pretty sure bet that none of the money saved by lowering wages will be passed on to the government and thence to you, the tax-payer.
Its no wonder the New York Times today called the suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act a "shameful proclamation":
By any standard of human decency, condemning many already poor and now bereft people to subpar wages - thus perpetuating their poverty - is unacceptable. It is also bad for the economy. Without the law, called the Davis-Bacon Act, contractors will be able to pay less, but they'll also get less, as lower wages invariably mean lower productivity.
The ostensible rationale for suspending the law is to reduce taxpayers' costs. Does Mr. Bush really believe it is the will of the American people to deny the prevailing wage to construction workers in New Orleans, Biloxi and other hard-hit areas? Besides, the proclamation doesn't require contractors to pass on the savings they will get by cutting wages from current low levels. Around New Orleans, the prevailing hourly wage for a truck driver working on a levee is $9.04; for an electrician, it's $14.30.
Oh, and just so we can be clear on why these firms get special favors, here are links that show not only campaign donations and top political recipients but also lobbying expenditures by Halliburton, by the Bechtel Group and Shaw Group. In the cases of Shaw and Betchel at least, this is certainly bi-partisan pork.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Bush Orders - Oppress the Hireling In His Wages
How to add insult to injury:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush issued an executive order Thursday allowing federal contractors rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to pay below the prevailing wage.
In a notice to Congress, Bush said the hurricane had caused "a national emergency" that permits him to take such action under the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act in ravaged areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Bush's action came as the federal government moved to provide billions of dollars in aid, and drew rebukes from two of organized labor's biggest friends in Congress, Rep. George Miller of California and Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, both Democrats.
"The administration is using the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to cut the wages of people desperately trying to rebuild their lives and their communities," Miller said.
"President Bush should immediately realize the colossal mistake he has made in signing this order and rescind it and ensure that America puts its people back to work in the wake of Katrina at wages that will get them and their families back on their feet," Miller said.
The prevailing wage for basic construction workers in the area is $9 an hour. Paying less than that, by force of an executive order, is beyond the pale.
One can only wonder what other surprises the nation's rulers have in store for the poor people of the South. Republicans wouldn't even let House Democrats read the $52 billion Katrina relief bill proposed by President Bush and voted along party lines to block a Democrat move to allow a measly 2 hour discussion period. Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY) told Raw Story:
"Life in the Gulf Coast is no vacation. The Federal Government failed the American people in its initial response to this horrible disaster and by their actions; the Republican Leadership is once again showing that their priorities are out of sync with the needs of so many hard working families."
"It is this very lack of accountability in government which ensured that our disaster response would be a bigger disaster than the hurricane itself. Yet here they go again, completely unfazed in their determination to eliminate debate, consideration and accountability from the Congress and the Federal government. No one has even seen a copy of the bill."
Authoritarianism run rampant.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, the headline title comes from here.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush issued an executive order Thursday allowing federal contractors rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to pay below the prevailing wage.
In a notice to Congress, Bush said the hurricane had caused "a national emergency" that permits him to take such action under the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act in ravaged areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Bush's action came as the federal government moved to provide billions of dollars in aid, and drew rebukes from two of organized labor's biggest friends in Congress, Rep. George Miller of California and Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, both Democrats.
"The administration is using the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to cut the wages of people desperately trying to rebuild their lives and their communities," Miller said.
"President Bush should immediately realize the colossal mistake he has made in signing this order and rescind it and ensure that America puts its people back to work in the wake of Katrina at wages that will get them and their families back on their feet," Miller said.
The prevailing wage for basic construction workers in the area is $9 an hour. Paying less than that, by force of an executive order, is beyond the pale.
One can only wonder what other surprises the nation's rulers have in store for the poor people of the South. Republicans wouldn't even let House Democrats read the $52 billion Katrina relief bill proposed by President Bush and voted along party lines to block a Democrat move to allow a measly 2 hour discussion period. Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY) told Raw Story:
"Life in the Gulf Coast is no vacation. The Federal Government failed the American people in its initial response to this horrible disaster and by their actions; the Republican Leadership is once again showing that their priorities are out of sync with the needs of so many hard working families."
"It is this very lack of accountability in government which ensured that our disaster response would be a bigger disaster than the hurricane itself. Yet here they go again, completely unfazed in their determination to eliminate debate, consideration and accountability from the Congress and the Federal government. No one has even seen a copy of the bill."
Authoritarianism run rampant.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, the headline title comes from here.
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