Fuck Prosecute the Corpse of Engineers

  A ruined home beside the 17th St. canal breach near in NW New Orleans. A sign in front reads "Hold the Corps [of Engineers] Accountable." Photo taken 3/11/06.

The Army Corpse of Engineers is guilty of negligent homicide. But you wouldn't know that from their recent self-exonerating white wash report. Their purported "investigation" is reminiscent of the White House's Katrina report, entitled, It Wasn't Our Fault. As the Times-Picayune notes:

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers commits to a major flood-protection project in greater New Orleans, actual physical improvements can take forever and a day to materialize. Because of legal problems, money shortfalls and bureaucratic delays, the agency took decades to build some of the levee projects that were promised after Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Even now some parts of that plan have yet to become reality.

Because of the glacial pace of progress, the agency had plenty of time to adjust its designs to the latest facts.

Doing so ought to be standard practice. But that's not what the corps did. Agency officials didn't just authorize the construction of floodwalls in unstable soil along the 17th Street Canal. The corps also used old, inaccurate information to determine specifications for post-Betsy projects in this area, work by researchers at the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center suggests.

After the 1965 storm, Congress instructed the corps to protect greater New Orleans from "the most severe meteorological conditions that are considered reasonably characteristic of the region." To design those improvements, the corps relied on a 1959 study of storms that affected this area between 1900 and 1957. The Weather Bureau, the forerunner of today's National Weather Service, used the data to come up with parameters for a hypothetical severe hurricane. The corps used those paramaters to draw up plans for a variety of improvements. Officials there presumed that they needed to protect the area against a storm that would produce sustained 100 mph winds.

But construction of some parts of the project didn't begin until after 1982. And by that point it had been clear for a decade that the 1959 statistics were flawed.

According to the LSU researchers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1972 updated its description of the hypothetical storm. Based on a better data set, the so-called "standard project hurricane" was now expected to produce sustained winds of up to 114 mph. A 1979 report was even grimmer; the standard hurricane it described had winds of up to 140 mph.

But even as design work on post-Betsy flood-control projects continued into the 1980s and 1990s, the corps did not require that the new structures be built to stand up to the stronger standard project hurricane. If such a requirement had existed, greater New Orleans would have a had a far stronger flood-protection system on Aug. 29 than it did.

Granted, the corps might still have bungled the job. During Katrina, some structures, including the 17th Street Canal floodwalls, failed under conditions they were designed to withstand.

But if the LSU researchers are right, the corps went ahead and built floodwalls and levees designed to standards that it knew to be inadequate and out-of-date.

Perhaps corps officials now can't speak to what their predecessors did or didn't do back then. But one corps engineer suggested recently that the agency can't do more than lawmakers authorize them to do. The suggestion is that, in sticking with the 1959 data, the corps was only abiding by the wishes of Congress.

This contention is ludicrous. The 1965 legislation didn't direct the corps to protect this region against the phantom hurricane described in 1959; instead, the corps was supposed to consider the "most severe meteorological conditions."

Unless Congress starts approving detailed technical specifications in addition to whatever laws it passes, the corps will always have some room for interpretation. And as scientists came to understand more about what those conditions might look like, the corps should have incorporated that new information into its work.

(Emphases mine.)

According to Louisiana state law:

§32. Negligent homicide

A. Negligent homicide is the killing of a human being by criminal negligence.

B. The violation of a statute or ordinance shall be considered only as presumptive evidence of such negligence.

C. Whoever commits the crime of negligent homicide shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than five years, fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both. However, if the victim was killed as a result of receiving a battery and was under the age of ten years, the offender shall be imprisoned at hard labor, without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence, for not less than two nor more than five years.

Too bad punishment doesn't include sticking offenders heads on pikes.

When will prosecution commence? Come on, you city attorneys, you state attorney general. Those responsible for not incorporating the most recent available meteorological data into levee designs belong in jail. The blood of 1,080 people is on their hands.

DISCLAIMER: "Those responsible" means, literally, "those responsible," i.e. the decision-makers, whoever they are.

BONUS: For more information or to find out what you can do, visit levees.org

Slobie's Dead

Slobodan Milosevic has been found dead in his jail cell. Boy, do I feel sorry for the prosecution.

Laugh While You Can, Monkey Boy

Schroeder reviews Bush's recent visit to our fair city.

Side Note: It appears from Schroeder's post that Laura Bush may actually be as vacant as she looks (sad--I'd held out hope).

Repeating History?

A reader sent us this tidbit.

...I'm reading The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman's history of the first month of WWI, and I run across this description of Tsar Nicholas:

The regime was ruled from the top by a sovereign who had but one idea of government -- to preserve intact the absolute monarchy bequeathed to him by his father -- and who, lacking the intellect, energy or training for his job, fell back on personal favorites, whim, simple mulishness, and other devices of the empty-headed autocrat.

She also writes that when a telegram was brought to him about the destruction of the Russian fleet at Tsushima in 1905, he stuffed the paper in his pocket and went on playing tennis.

Hmmmmm.

Tuchman adds this lovely description:

"... the impression of imperturbability he conveyed was in reality apathy -- the indifference of a mind so shallow as to be all surface."

CENTCOM Cez Hi

In response to this recent post, CENTCOM was kind enough to let me know they have a "cense" of humor (get it? nudge, nudge):

Hi, Rob:

Sorry if we've injudiciously scattered exclamation points across the US Central Command website. If it's any consolation, I think you'll find our use of the semicolon to be moderate, and our use of the schwa to be restrained, indeed, prudent.

Seriously, though, I'm glad you've found our site to be informative. We're working out the details of the "Ask CENTCOM" section, but it's going to be a Q & A section. As for Podcasting, at present we're adding audio and video from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. For the most part, these have been interviews with high-ranking officers and leadership, as well as produced news segments. You're welcome to use anything on our site that you want. If you'd like to be signed up for the weekly electronic newsletter and monthly Coalition Bulletin, just ask.

We've also been trying to spread the word about our site, and if you could add a permanent link on your blogroll, that would be great. Thanks!

SPC C. Flowers

CENTCOM Public Affairs

I'm be sure SPC Flowers is being sincere (cough, cough), and the offer of using "anything" on the site "I want" flows from the same font of public service that, you know, all that regular, useful, apolitical gov't stuff flows from. Plus, the mention of the lowly schwa was witty and welcome. And have I mentioned how much I love not just CENTCOM but also SOCOM and the NSA, NRO, CIA, indeed, the entire structure of the US national security apparatus?

UPDATE: SPC C. Flowers adds:

To clarify, although I have personally used schwas as a civilian, my military work has not yet called for it.

I saw your post and, yes, you REALLY ARE -- Yes, sincerely -- free to use materials from the CENTCOM site. Anything we create for the webpage is copyright-free. Obviously, attribution to CENTCOM would be appreciated, but if there's something you find of interest, go for it.

Noted. Thanks.

Think Progress on the Kansas Kocksucker

Not that I'm against fellatio, just against Pat "Memory Pill" Roberts giving it repeatedly to the entire population of the White House. (Don't forget the little fellas, Pat.) The good folks at Think Progress have a "comprehensive report" on the many and varied ways in which the Kansas Kocksucker's kovered up for his favorite fellatee (is that a word?). I'll tire of insulting Mr. Roberts when his knees give out--and that's not gonna happen soon (hey, Pat, remember "Phase II"?).

Michael Ledeen Interview, Part II

Raw Story's posted the second part of Larisa Alexandrovna's interview with Iran-Contra, Nigergate heavy Michael Ledeen. Part one is here.

How Low Can Bush's Dick Go?

With his approval rating at a mere 18%, Dick Cheney's popularity is, well, nonexistent. If only he could get those numbers up and keep them up. Even O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson are more popular than Dick Cheney. The only celebrity less popular? Paris Hilton. (Via Raw Story. I'd link to the WaPo piece about Dick's loss of, shall we say, heft, but their site's inaccessible right now. In any case, Dick should know that firm approval ratings, while easily attained in the flower of youth, inevitable decline, or sag, with age. As Dick ages, his blood flow decreases, and it becomes harder to sustain the big, firm numbers he needs to please the American people.)

And the Winner Isn't

Crash didn't deserve anything. Anything. Pretentious, heavy-handed swill. If you haven't seen it, spare yourself.

Fun with Search Engines

Well, not exactly. I thought it amusing that somebody had chanced upon my recent post "Frist Threatens to Remove the Intelligence Committee's Remaining Testicle" via a search engine. Then I looked at what they were searching for: "willing to sell testicle."

Fun with Levees

Looks like this hurricane season should be even more fun than the last one, since the levees will protect us even less than last time. NPR reported that a while back; this just confirms it. I'm crossing my fingers that those flood gates will be up in a few months, but for some reason I'm skeptical....

While We're on the Subject of Dubai Ports World

Why not revisit a curious report from a French intelligence official, that a CIA agent met with Bin Laden in an American hospital in Dubai during the summer before 9/11?

Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology department. While there he was visited by several members of his family and Saudi personalities, and the CIA.

The CIA [station, I think -Ed.] chief was seen in the lift, on his way to see Bin Laden, and later, it is alleged, boasted to friends about his contact. He was recalled to Washington soon afterwards.

Intelligence sources say that another CIA agent was also present; and that Bin Laden was also visited by Prince Turki al Faisal, then head of Saudi intelligence, who had long had links with the Taliban, and Bin Laden. Soon afterwards Turki resigned, and more recently he has publicly attacked him in an open letter: "You are a rotten seed, like the son of Noah".

The American hospital in Dubai emphatically denied that Bin Laden was a patient there.

Washington last night also denied the story.

Private planes owned by rich princes in the Gulf fly frequently between Quetta and the Emirates, often on luxurious "hunting trips" in territories sympathetic to Bin Laden. Other sources confirm that these hunting trips have provided opportunities for Saudi contacts with the Taliban and terrorists, since they first began in 1994.

Read the full article here.

And let's not forget the biggest whopper of all: that it was through a Dubai bank that Omar Saeed Sheik paid alleged hijacker Mohammed Atta ~$100,000 on behalf of General Mahmud Ahmad, the head of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence. The same General Ahmad who was meeting with high-level US government officials, including Bob Graham, Porter Goss, George Tenet and Colin Powell in Washington the week of 9/11. On the morning of September 11 2001, Ahmad (or Ahmed) was having breakfast with Representative (and former CIA official) Goss and Senator Graham--then heads of their respective Congressional intelligence committees--who would later chair the joint inquiry into 9/11.

Stare into the Hellmouth

Because it just keeps getting worse.

Frist Threatens to Remove the Intelligence Committee's Remaining Testicle

As America tumbles further into the Bush™ abyss, with each day bringing a fresh outrage, now there's this:

The Senate Intelligence Committee was created in 1976 and, from the beginning, it has been unique in its structure and operation. Due to the urgency of ensuring that our country has nonpartisan and non-politicized oversight over the Government's intelligence activities, the Intelligence Committee is structured so that -- unlike every other Senate Committee -- the majority is unable to dominate the Committee's operation and agenda, and the minority has much greater powers than it does on any other Senate Committee.

With the March 7 vote looming on Sen. Rockefeller's motion for the Committee to finally hold hearings to investigate the scope and nature of the Administration's NSA warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens -- and with several Committee Republicans indicating their intent to vote for hearings -- Majority Leader Bill Frist threatened the Committee yesterday and warned it not to hold any hearings.

Frist specifically threatened that if the Committee holds NSA hearings, he will fundamentally change the 30-year-old structure and operation of the Senate Intelligence Committee so as to make it like every other Committee, i.e., controlled and dominated by Republicans to advance and rubber-stamp the White House's agenda rather than exercise meaningful and nonpartisan oversight.

(Via Sully.)

I'd be apoplectic if my jaw wasn't permanently resting on the floor. These people seem bent on destoying the country, and they don't have far to go now. Frist: Taking the "republic" out of "Republican." Read the rest of Greenwald's post here.

Katrina: the Video

As if New Orleanians weren't pissed off enough, the new AP video of Bush is raising our blood pressure yet again. Question for Bush: WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING AFTER THE STORM, JERKING OFF? As if a fake "War on Terror" isn't enough, this unmitigated disaster of a man insists on NOT GOVERNING, unless by "governing" you mean "giving speeches," "lying," or "arrogating as much uncalled-for power as humanly possible." Is there no bottom at all for him to reach? Is there only an abyss?

UPDATE: C&L has the video (thanks, Scott).

Bush Lied, Thousands Died

Just in case there was any doubt that Preznit Chucklenuts lied America into Iraq, Murray Waas furnishes proof. The biggest question is why anybody believes anything he says anymore. (Via C&L.)

Whores

The New York Times. (Yet another example of dominant "storylines" in the national news media.)

Interview with Michael Ledeen

Raw Story's Larissa Alexandrovna interviews Iran Contra and neocon heavy Michael Ledeen (part one in a series).

Another Reporter Takes the Daou Challenge (Sort of)

Another reporter responds to the Daou Challenge as well as to the previous post about it:

I think [Daou is] absolutely right about storylines. (I hadn't seen that post until just now.) I think a number of things are at play here: The dominance of TV, especially the 24-hour networks; the reliance on punditry rather than objective analysis by such networks (and other sources); the nature of neoconservatism, which favors the sort of hypersimplistic, slogan-based worldview that's so easily digestible by reporters and anchors, not to mention the public, compared to liberals' more nuanced worldviews; the fact that Americans, by and large, ain't real smart; the fact that many reporters, especially on TV, are lazy or incompetent or both; and the fact that the administration and their propaganda ministers at Fox and on radio tend to set the approved script for a given incident early, so that everything that follows runs smack into the "received wisdom." The Cheney shooting story's a good example. And right-wing media can do it with zest because they don't have to worry about balance, fairness or nuance. The Cheney shooting story isn't the story; the story is the press daring to question his character during what must have been a terrible day for him, bless his heart. The proposed port deal with the UAE -- A NATION WITH ESTABLISHED TIES TO AL-QAIDA RUNNING A PRIME GATEWAY FOR WEAPONS -- isn't the story; the story is those duplicitous, hysterical Democrats, yet again playing politics by opposing the deal to make themselves look strong on defense in order to conceal their weakness on defense in the past. The key is staying on message and delivering a simple, consistent, easily digestible meme you can return to again and again. Democrats have trouble doing that; I'm still not sure why.

I also think you're right: The administration intimidates the shit out of the Times and Post and others.
...
Of course, for all our chatter about bias and storylines and narratives and journalistic negligence, what's even more frustrating is what comes out but doesn't stick. CNN has run an hour-long special report that lays out thoroughly how the Administration cherry-picked intelligence to lead us into war with Iraq. It's impeccably sourced, well-done, incontrovertible. And yet no one seems to care enough.

[The reporter from the previous WPC post] alluded to something that's true. If media are biased toward anything, it's toward making money, like any other business. Fewer owners and larger conglomerates mean less independence, more pressure on newsrooms and the increasing ability of government to intimidate media outlets into complicity and silence. The people who run these corporations don't have Che posters on their office walls, I can assure you.

Bush Does Something Good

I know, you didn't expect to see it here, but Bush is seeking $1.46B for flood protection here--specifically, gates to keep storm surges from rolling up the Industrial Canal. If we'd had them before, many people would still be alive and thousands of homes would be intact. Oh, well. Let's hope that 1) it's enough money and will be properly spent, and 2) Congress approves it. From the Times Picayune (our local news god):

The construction of sector gates to keep storm surges out of the Industrial Canal, and permanent backflow protection to stop inland flooding through pump stations in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, are among $1.46 billion in hurricane protection improvements the Bush administration is asking Congress to authorize and finance.

This is the first time since Katrina slammed the area that President Bush and the Army Corps of Engineers have formally proposed building gates to beef up protection for the New Orleans area from the ravages of another hurricane.

The proposal calls for building one set of gates where the Industrial Canal flows into Lake Pontchartrain and a second set somewhere west of the juncture of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and the Intracoastal Waterway.

Other enhancements to the region's battered hurricane protection system include construction of permanent pump stations at the lake for three New Orleans outfall canals, armoring to protect especially vulnerable sections of levee from scouring, construction of 23 miles of new levee in Plaquemines Parish, restoration of coastal wetlands and ecosystems especially hard-hit by Katrina, and "storm-proofing" individual pump stations.

Keep your fingers crossed that this actually happens and we don't get screwed.

Horses

Are in front of my apartment right now, waiting to join the Krewe d'Etat parade in half an hour.

  

The Washington Press Corpse? a Journalist Responds

One of those pesky mystery reporters who sometimes appears here was conscripted responded to my post on the Daou Challenge:

I think Daou has a good general point, and you as well have some good points. I must say, though, I get tired of some of the nitpicking criticism out there, when there could be good, harmless explanations.

For instance, the alleged CBS story [one of Daou's examples] about the Secret Service interference after the Cheney shooting that never aired. Perhaps it never aired because it had weak sourcing or was contradicted by other evidence. Anybody think of that? That's the most common reason why news organizations pull breaking stories.Whatever happened to benefit of the doubt? He seems too sensitive. For instance, pointing out headlines from Bush's State of the Union that he think gave Bush too much credit. Headlines by their nature leave out nuances like the ones he's mentioning. The news was that an ex-oil man says the country is addicted to oil and needs to change. Several media outlets pointed out either right away or within a day or two that this was a fairly hollow challenge. Why isn't he highlighting those stories as examples of the media doing their job right?

I worry there's a new conventional wisdom forming that liberals are the real victims of media bias now. I don't think this is true any more than I think there was any pervasive liberal bias in the past. The result, unfortunately, is routine and often irrational distrust of large news organizations from all sides. I think that's dangerous.

Let me introduce a few caveats. Serious journalism is a shrinking business. There are only a few major newspapers and small number of magazines that engage in it day in day out. The big TV networks still do some decent work, but the quality of coverage has been declining for years. The 24-hour cable competition has edged out news coverage in favor of punditry, which overall has a conservative bent. The serious news coverage that the 24-hour channels still do is subordinated to the latest shark attack and missing white girls in Aruba. Entertainment coverage also routinely trumps serious reporting.

We also have now a conservative media -- talk radio, Fox News, right-wing bloggers, political magazines, Christian news organizations -- that has matured into a powerful force in today's information competition, unmatched, unless you count Air America and a few blogs and political magazines, by a literal counterweight. That is changing. I predict in 10 years, the media is going to be a three-headed beast. Conservative media, liberal media, and more traditional non-partisan media increasingly henpecked and squeezed. Consumers will feel they're getting the real news from their chosen echo chamber and will distrust news that tries to address both sides of issues. It could go further with the US turning into Italy with the state controlling certain media organizations. Not a healthy development.

And as I've said before, what liberal bias may have infected some news coverage in the 70s and 80s has largely disappeared. You don't for instance see stories that off-handedly dismiss supply side economics as you might have seen once. You don't see apologist stories about the great economic progress in Cuba and the Soviet Union. You don't see stories that make it seem like any Republican presidential candidate is one step from starting a nuclear war.

I can tell you reporters don't spend their days trying to figure out ways to slant stories ideologically. I do think that the liberal bias drumbeat has led some journalists to make sure that if they have a story critical of Republican that they also need to throw in some Democrats, and sometimes this leads to lazy, knee-jerk "pox on both houses" reporting. I think this may explain some of what Daou is highlightling.

There has always been lazy reporting -- read some old newspaper sometime and you'll see -- but now the Internet makes it easier to point out those instances and amplify them 1000-fold. I think overall that's good. It leads to more careful work. But it also erodes trust in the news media. I worry that we may end up doing irreparable damage in the end.

Also, I think Daou's critique gives short shrift to some truly exceptional reporting in the past year: NSA spy story, various terrorism stories, coverage of the cracking up of the military, paying for stories in Iraq, clandestine prisons in Eastern Europe, great Katrina exposes, wonderful explanations of the Abramoff scandal, and the list goes one. And a time when prosecutors are increasingly going after journalists who bring this stuff to light! These stories have, rightly put the Bush administration in a bad light. Daou astutely notes that critical coverage alone is no proof of bias. But I think the overwhelmingly negative weight of all this news, however, casts doubt on his central premise that the bias pendulum is swinging the other way.

And liberal bias has not disappeared, it's just morphed into more of a cultural bias. Nicholas Kristof has written about this insightfully. I see it in the coverage of evangelicals. It's there in the NY Times running hundreds of relatively sympathetic stories about gay marriage and very little highlighting the many Americans who are uncomfortable with the idea. It's in ignoring stories about the great trouble many parents face in finding TV their children can watch. I think this is starting to change. Major organizations are doing much better work than they have in the past on religion in America and all its permutations. But there's more to be done.

Rob, I think your point about media missing big stories is more on point that Daou's. But I would put it a little differently.

All the stuff you mentioned, perhaps with a couple of exceptions, has been reported by at least a couple of major organizations in this country. What hasn't happened is these stories haven't caught fire and received the kind of red ball treatment that say the Valerie Plame case or the NSA spying case has. So the stories are not really missing, but they have not reached critical mass.

Frankly, I don't know why some stories become covered by everybody and others don't. News unfortunately has a pack mentality. So if the NY Times, the Washington Post or NPR lead with something many other organizations follow. What needs to happen is more organizations blazing their own paths and not playing follow the leader. That would require more money and commitment than many of these profit-oriented organizations are willing to put forward.

Another problem with the stories you mentioned is that the media reflexively recoils from things that look they might be conspiracy-mongering. That leads to some self censorship. So stories that Republicans may have pulled some fast ones to win Ohio in 2004 get downplayed lest reporters seem like Kennedy assassination nuts. I think every story should be looked at on its own merits. While some of what you talk about may not ultimately prove a huge deal, some of it may. Who would have thought a few years ago that the United States would advocate torture and no-limits spying on its own citizens?

This is kind of rambling, but those are my thoughts.

Next, I'll post my reply and then his. No, really, I will.

If You Want to Destroy My Sweater

If you want to destroy my sweater
Hold this thread as I walk away
Watch me unravel, I'll soon be naked
Lying on the floor (lying on the floor)
I've come undone
–Weezer

Now I'm not suggesting that this post at The Next Hurrah will unravel that for which "sweater" is a metaphor here, but it leads in some tantalizing directions regarding war, lobbying and defense contracting. Highly recommended.

The Daou Challenge, or the Washington Press Corpse, Part MMVI

Last week, Salon's Peter Daou issued a challenge to right-wing bloggers: If you hold the news media responsible for the "Cheney mess...prove it." He listed numerous examples of what he calls pro-Bush "storylines" (or narratives), then asked right-wing bloggers to list counter examples. So far, none has. Daou did, however, receive one interesting reply from Jon Henke of QandO, who argued that anecdotal evidence proved nothing:

I'm positive that the kind of challenge issued by Peter Daou will be useless, as are his own answers. Anecdotal data is interesting, certainly, but it's usually confirmation of the whatever you want to learn. Fact is, there's a plethora of anecdotal data for media bias in either direction — left or right (etc, etc). The idea that there is a monolithic media bias is tempting — it appeals to our idealogical desire for a bogeyman — but I think it is ultimately an obscurant.

My take is this. I think Daou's right about the national news media channeling pro-Bush narratives, but I also think that: 1) His litany of examples was convincing and yet 2) John Henke was right in saying that the list did not prove his assertion. It did, however, make Daou's assertion difficult to argue against.

Underlying Henke's point is the typical scientific bias against anecdotal evidence, which, while understandable, is often used to dismiss many observations out of hand. Anecdotal evidence may not be hard evidence, but it's still evidence. If we didn't use it, we wouldn't have a news media, a judicial system, sociology, history books or He's Just Not That into You.

One of the biggest problems is that, when it comes to allegations of media bias, the GOP has so purposefully muddied the waters that the word "liberal" means nothing anymore, as Glen Greenwald recently observed. (Daou's posts on the resulting fracas are must-reads, as are Greenwald's.)

For a successful study we need 1) definitions of "liberal," "conservative," and everything in between, fleshed out with policy examples (you could use a neutral, multi-category taxonomy even, that eschewed all political terms), and 2) the systematic application of that taxonomy to a series of major "storylines." A list of apolitical media biases would help, too. That would include biases favoring drama, bad news, etc.

What Henke doesn't appreciate is that Daou's post was a blog post and not an article, let alone a thorough scientific study. It was a challenge which should have resulted in counter examples. Unfortunately, it did not.

What I'm more concerned with than storylines, though, is that the Washington Press Corpse (a term I coined here), while played by Rove and Company, routinely neglects major stories. They have been doing this for years, but in the last five it's been appalling. Coverage of 9/11 and Iraq was sorry, at best, so much so that you had to read the foreign press (or Knight-Ridder) to find out what was going on. A few (familiar) examples: The complete, devastating Phoenix/Rowley memo, fraud in the 2000 and 2004 elections, the Downing Street set of memos, the latest UK memo (reported on by the UK news media but not the US), the use of a PR firm to sell a war to the public, the revelation that outed CIA agent Plame was working on Iran, and a recent allegation by one of the sources of the NSA story that there is a much larger and widespread domestic surveillance program than the one in the papers now. And that's the short list. If it weren't for sites like Salon and Raw Story, I'd probably lose my mind—assuming I haven't already.

The big question isn't why all this is so, it's Why haven't the Democrats learned how to use the media?

RELATED: Daou's recent post "Blog Wars: Bush Cultism versus Bush Derangement Syndrome" (linked to above) is a heartbreakingly true lament on the internicene blue-versus-red battle in America and why progressive bloggers are so upset.

US Nat'l Security Strategy Quote of the Day

This is old news but considering its relevance and the Washington Press Corpse's refusal to report it, it bears repeating. According to US Central Command:

U.S. Policy

The broad national security interests and objectives expressed in the President's National Security Strategy (NSS) and the Chairman's National Military Strategy (NMS) form the foundation of the United States Central Command's theater strategy. The NSS directs implementation of a strategy of dual containment of the rogue states of Iraq and Iran as long as those states pose a threat to U.S. interests, to other states in the region, and to their own citizens. Dual containment is designed to maintain the balance of power in the region without depending on either Iraq or Iran. USCENTCOM's theater strategy is interest-based and threat-focused. The purpose of U.S. engagement, as espoused in the NSS, is to protect the United States' vital interest in the region - uninterrupted, secure U.S./Allied access to Gulf oil.

Interests

The national interests outlined in the National Security Strategy and the objectives articulated in our National Military Strategy form the bases for the Central Command's objectives and supporting strategy. Primary among U.S. interests in the USCENTCOM AOR is uninterrupted secure access to Arabian Gulf oil. That in turn ensures freedom of navigation and access to commercial markets, security of friends and allies, and regional peace and stability through containment of Iran and Iraq and prevention of hostilities between India and Pakistan. Other interests include a comprehensive breakthrough in the Middle East Peace Process, and security of U.S. citizens and property throughout the region.

(Emphasis mine.)

As a friend of mine recently wrote about a related document, "Mein Kampf, but without the subtlely"(that's hyperbole).

NOTE: Even now, oil companies are pushing the new Iraqi gov't to sign Production Sharing Agreements, which almost always work out well for the oil company and ill for the country. Think "blood-sharing agreement" with a cloud of mosquitos.

BONUS: The CENTCOM website promises two new features are "coming soon": "Ask CENTCOM" and podcasting—though what, exactly, would be podcast it doesn't say. Current features include "Heroes in Action!" and "What Extremists Are Saying" (see above). Disclaimer: I'm not against military heroism, just the feature and exclamation point. It's a shame the site doesn't also include "Recent Collateral Damage!"

UPDATE/MUSINGS: When, exactly, did we move from the 1995 "dual containment" strategy to the current "overthrow" strategy? Was it with the 1998 "Iraq Liberation Act" or was that merely Congressional cover for a strategy already on the books? I have no idea how these sorts of strategies develop; I'm just curious. Joshua Kurlantzick's GQ article "The Next War Is Closer Than You Think" shows an Iran regime-change policy moving from think tanks to the government, but while tantalizing and informative, it's only a piece of the puzzle.

Why the Towers Fell - Video Edition

Here's a video of physicist Dr. Steven Jones' presentation on why the World Trade Center towers collapsed into their own footprints at near freefall speed. (PowerPoint presentation and White Paper links included.)

UPDATE: Two excellent related articles are here and here.

Looking for a straight, tuff, local Naggin [sic] supporter for fist fight - m4m - 34

Only on Craig's List:

I would like to fight a Naggin supporter to vent my anger. If you are one, have a fiery streak, please contact me so we can meet and physically fight. I would like to beat the shit out of you.

Name the place and time... NOLA Courthouse Steps, Saturday at noon would be perfect for me!

Note: If you don't know who our "Chocolate City" mayor is...well, never mind.

Woohoo! (About Effing Time Edition)

We were way overdue some good news:

Lawmakers voted Friday to merge the levee boards of southeast Louisiana, hoping to ease concerns in Congress that the state lacks competent oversight of its flood-control system.
...
Under Blanco's plan, flood-control experts with the state's Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority will negotiate directly for federal funding with Congress and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Under the current system, the local levee board members—some with little expertise in engineering or hydrology—lobby Congress for funding for their projects.

I keep reviewing the details of Vice President Cheney's version of how he shot Harry Whittington in the face and I think I've constructed how the events unfolded:

Whittington's car flushed from the west, at a 40-degree angle. Standing on the grassy knoll, behind the low brick wall, the Vice President wheeled left, the sun in his eyes, following the quail, and fired. The first shot hit Governor Connally in the chest, the second hit Whittington in the face, throwing his head back and to the left. Katherine Armstrong, sitting 100 yards away in the Vice Presidential motorcade, definitely heard two shots, at least one from the grassy knoll. She claims that she may have heard another shot from the book depository. Her testimony that the Secret Service seemed to "take their time" reaching Whittington is questionable, however, given her close relationship with the vice president and the GOP. The salient question here is, why did the Secret Service allow anyone to stand behind the low brick wall on the grassy knoll? Why were the windows of the cars in the motorcade left open when procedures for presidential protection clearly stipulate that all windows should be closed? Clearly, everything here is not as it appears to be.

The Abu Ghraib File

Australian SBS and the Sydney Morning Herald published never before seen Abu Ghraib photos two days ago. Now, Salon may have the mother load. Highlight:

The DVD containing the material includes a June 6, 2004, CID investigation report written by Special Agent James E. Seigmund. That report includes the following summary of the material included: "A review of all the computer media submitted to this office revealed a total of 1,325 images of suspected detainee abuse, 93 video files of suspected detainee abuse, 660 images of adult pornography, 546 images of suspected dead Iraqi detainees, 29 images of soldiers in simulated sexual acts, 20 images of a soldier with a Swastika drawn between his eyes, 37 images of Military Working dogs being used in abuse of detainees and 125 images of questionable acts."

The collection may well be the information long-sought by the ACLU and others.

Bush's Misleading Katrina Math

The Times-Picayune reports that Bush's claim that the Gulf Coast is getting $85B in relief is misleading, or worse. (Via Schroeder, who links to New Orleans bloggers who noted this a while ago.)

Hunting Story Full of Holes

More holes than Harry Whittington has in him, thanks to Bush's Dick. Here's a list.

Australian TV to Show Previously Unseen Abu Ghraib Photos

The Sydney Morning Herald has an article with pictures here. Warning: Some of them are even worse than the ones released in 2004. (Via Raw Story. Again...)

UPDATE: Sully links to video with (mostly) different pictures here.

And let's remember: The president attached a "signing statement" to the McCain anti-torture bill he was forced to sign. While it's not clear what, exactly, the statement means, it appears to be an open door for the Administration to approve torture whenever they feel like it deem it necessary.

Possible Massive Domestic Surveillance Program

Raw Story's linked to a UPI story that, if true, is staggering in its implications. The first few paragraphs:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- A former NSA employee said Tuesday there is another ongoing top-secret surveillance program that might have violated millions of Americans' Constitutional rights.

Russell D. Tice told the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations he has concerns about a "special access" electronic surveillance program that he characterized as far more wide-ranging than the warrentless wiretapping recently exposed by the New York Times but he is forbidden from discussing the program with Congress.

Tice said he believes it violates the Constitution's protection against unlawful search and seizures but has no way of sharing the information without breaking classification laws. He is not even allowed to tell the congressional intelligence committees - members or their staff - because they lack high enough clearance.

Neither could he brief the inspector general of the NSA because that office is not cleared to hear the information, he said.

Toward the end of the article, we read this:

Tice was testifying because he was a National Security Agency intelligence officer who was stripped of his security clearance after he reported his suspicions that a former colleague at the Defense Intelligence Agency was a spy. The matter was dismissed by the DIA, but Tice pressed it later and was subsequently ordered to take a psychological examination, during which he was declared paranoid. He is now unemployed.

Tice was one of the New York Times sources for its wiretapping story, but he told the committee the information he provided was not secret and could have been provided by an private sector electronic communications professional.

Is he deluded or dead right and discredited by the DIA? His role in the NSA leak lends credence to his claims.

Just speculating here, but this may be part of what author Robert O'Harrow addresses in No Place to Hide--the use of private contractors to collect massive amounts of data and pass it on to the federal government. Hoover's wet dream.

The rest here.

UPDATE: Air raid sirens should be going off all over the country, this is so serious. The WaPo reports that "the National Counterterrorism Center maintains a central repository of 325,000 names of international terrorism suspects or people who allegedly aid them, a number that has more than quadrupled since the fall of 2003, according to counterterrorism officials." That's a lot of people. Who are "people who allegedly aid [terrorists]"? This at the same time we learn that the NSA has hired news agencies to provide information, the nature and purpose of which the NSA refuses to disclose. (Via POAC.)

Raw Story: Plame was Working on Iran

Larisa Alexandrovna reports:

The unmasking of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson by White House officials in 2003 caused significant damage to U.S. national security and its ability to counter nuclear proliferation abroad, RAW STORY has learned.

According to current and former intelligence officials, Plame Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran.

The rest here.

Bush™ Spends Hundreds of Millions on PR per Year

Raw Story reports that a new Government Accountability Office reveals that the Bush Administration has spent more than $1.6 billion in public relations and media contracts in a two and a half year span. Now pick up your jaw, reattach it to your skull and read that again.

Far from the Madding Crowd

The White House is calling for a hair-splitting retraction from the NYT because they reported that Bush was "on vacation" while New Orleans was flooding on August 30 when, in fact, he was giving a Yoo Ess Ay speech with the USS Ronald Reagan and accompanying naval personnel in the background. As TAPPED's Greg Sargent points out, this was many hours after the White House had learned that New Orleans was flooding and, in some cases, on fire. It's worse: This was days after the WH had received urgent warnings and even a PowerPoint presentation on how the levees might breach and tens of thousands of people die. So where was the president?

San Diego. Plugging a breach in support for the war.

Heckuva job.

UPDATE: As the WaPo noted, according to the recently released 600-page report on the post-Katrina fiasco, "'earlier presidential involvement could have speeded the response' because [the president] alone could have cut through all bureaucratic resistance." Too bad Bush was busy. (Article via PGR.) A CNN article is here.

The First Post-Katrina Mardi Gras Parade

Krewe du Vieux (translation: Crew of the Vieux Carre, a.k.a. the French Quarter) rolled last night. Pics here.

Quote of the Day

“One man's piss-soaked sadomasochistic orgy is another man's poetic ecstasy.”

Dan Savage

Context here.

Happy Mardi Gras.

Bush-Abramoff Photo

Time's got one. (Via Raw Story.)

Thought for the Day

It is widely known that there are no monsters under the bed. What is not widely known is that the bed frame itself is a monster in disguise.

Bush Wants to Sell National Forest Land

Good god.

Anderson Cooper at the 17th Street Canal Breach

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon shooting pictures of the neighborhood right next to the infamous 17th Street Canal breach--the one that inspired FEMA to tell DHS to tell the White House that Ferris passed out at 31 Flavors New Orleans was flooding the night of the storm. I was taking pictures of the breach area when I noticed a camera crew trotting up. Lo and behold, it was Anderson Cooper. I guess he didn't notice the sign (I disregarded it too). I wish I'd had a video camera with sound because he kept starting the story and then stopping and making minor changes to his performance, reading FEMA documents or something from what looked like a Treo. His "handler," a local guy, told me he's been driving them around since six days after the storm. Anderson Cooper's doing his show live tonight from Gentilly. The piece he was taping at the breach will probably be on tonight.

They Knew (Part Umpteen)

There's no excuse for this shit:

Congressional investigators have now learned that an eyewitness account of the flooding from a federal emergency official reached the Homeland Security Department's headquarters starting at 9:27 p.m. the day before, and the White House itself at midnight.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency official, Marty Bahamonde, first heard of a major levee breach Monday morning. By late Monday afternoon, Mr. Bahamonde had hitched a ride on a Coast Guard helicopter over the breach at the 17th Street Canal to confirm the extensive flooding. He then telephoned his report to FEMA headquarters in Washington, which notified the Homeland Security Department.

"FYI from FEMA," said an e-mail message from the agency's public affairs staff describing the helicopter flight, sent Monday night at 9:27 to the chief of staff of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and recently unearthed by investigators. Conditions, the message said, "are far more serious than media reports are currently reflecting. Finding extensive flooding and more stranded people than they had thought — also a number of fires."

Michael D. Brown, who was the director of FEMA until he resigned under pressure on Sept. 12, said in a telephone interview Thursday that he personally notified the White House of this news that night, though he declined to identify the official he spoke to.

You know, this series of revelations about the White House knowing things much earlier than they claimed to reminds me of a certain day to which Il Duce so often refers. Gee, how could we have known Muslims would use airplanes as bombs? How could we have known water was washing away New Orleans? I'm surprised Bush™ isn't using Katrina as an excuse to grab more power. Oh, wait....

UPDATE: I see Schroeder's also pushing for prison.

UPDATE: Pulling back a bit, Peter Daou sums up the present situation: bleak. Daou also reminds me of why I want to punch Alberto Gonzales.

COMING SOON: Recent pictures of the neighborhood right next to the 17th Street Canal breach, the one seen from the helicopter the evening of the storm--the one the White House was notified about.

Cheney ‘Authorized’ Libby to Leak Classified Information

As Homer Simpson would say, "Mmmmmmm...."

From the National Journal (Murray Waas):

Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been "authorized" by Cheney and other White House "superiors" in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records.

Atrios points to this Bush quote:

But I want to tell you something -- leaks of classified information are a bad thing. And we've had them -- there's too much leaking in Washington. That's just the way it is. And we've had leaks out of the administrative branch, had leaks out of the legislative branch, and out of the executive branch and the legislative branch, and I've spoken out consistently against them and I want to know who the leakers are.

We wait with bated breath for President Nixon Bush to ask for Agnew's Cheney's resignation.

BONUS: Was Bush briefed on Wilson's Niger trip?

Strangers on a Plane

Many years ago, I attended Presidential Classroom, a week-long educational event where lots of high-school seniors from all over the country learn about government, debate issues and meet their senators and representatives. It was a memorable week, but one of the most memorable parts was the trip to DC itself.

That's because I spent the entire plane ride arguing about abortion with the lady sitting next to me. Back then I was a Pat Robertson Christian (I even worked for his campaign) and was sure that abortion was murder. The woman in the aisle seat vehemently disagreed. She was older, maybe in her fifties, with striking features. And while she was pointed in her argument, she was remarkably patient with me, and our heated discussion made an impression on my stubborn young mind.

Years later, I saw a picture of her and my jaw dropped. There, on the cover of a book about aging*, was the woman I'd argued with on the plane.

It was Betty Friedan.

Ever since then, I've wondered about her. Now that she's dead, I'm sorry to see her go. But if anyone lived a full life and contributed to this society, it was she.

And if I sat next to her on a plane today, we wouldn't disagree.

*The current cover doesn't show her.

New Lower Ninth Ward Pics

Here's a set of pictures of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward that I took on January 5. I'd guesstimate that 12-16 blocks are just gone. Many more are 70% rubble, 30% collapsed houses. As you'd expect, the further away you get from the breaches and the higher the ground, the better off the houses. You see a similar, if more glaring effect on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. There, if you drive north from the beach, everything for three blocks is gone; then, on the next block, suddenly everything is standing but damaged by wind and trees. But New Orleans lost approximately eight times as many homes as the Gulf Coast.

The earlier set of Ninth Ward pics is here. Gulf Coast pics are here. Correction to WaPo: Un ungodly number of restaurants are open, though many are short-staffed. And bands are playing. Have you checked Gambit?

Coming soon: Gentilly pics and N.O. at night.

NOT QUITE UPDATE: The WaPo covers the limbo people are in here.

Endless War = Endless Power

Since Abu Gonzales is on the hot seat today regarding the NSA domestic surveillance dillio and seems to think President Bush has dictatorial powers, it seemed a good time to share a (mystery) reporter's take on the whole affair and the Bush Administration's PR campaign about it.

In response to a TAPPED post about the new Ionesco work entitled, "White House Press Briefing," the reporter wrote the following in an email to me. If you substituted Gonzales for McClellan and senators for reporters, the reporter's remarks would apply to today's dog-and-pony show:

...I think generally the press fails at these things [press briefings] by making their questions too long, thereby giving McClellan et al a chance to answer an extraneous part of the question while ignoring the substance.... I'm sure McClellan would try to argue that Congress did in fact give the president the authority for warrantless wiretaps with the 2001 authorization of force resolution. But that's a canard that is completely unsupportable by the evidence.

The only argument they have is that in a time of "war"—whatever that is—a president has broad authority to do whatever it takes to fight the enemy, Congress bedamned. I'm more amenable to this argument in a situation where we have actually declared war, though only in emergencies and with the understanding that Congress will be consulted very soon.

But what kind of war are we in? An endless one to my mind. That's an extremely dangerous precedent: to give a president open-ended authority in an undeclared, unending war that's not really a war at all. There, I said it. There is no war on terror, no more than there is a war on cancer or a war on obesity. We've devalued the term war by applying it to non-wars for too long. [Pappy Bush's "War on Some Drugs" comes to mind. -Ed.] What we have really is an international legal, law enforcement struggle that occasionally employs warfare. Afghanistan was the best example of what I'm talking about. There an entire government had been distorted by an Islamist terrorist organization "with global reach," as Bush would say. The Taliban government itself became a legitimate target, though I think Taliban soldiers should have been given the benefit of the Geneva conventions. In almost every other case, though, Al Qaida is separate from the governments in question. In those cases, then the "war on terror" slips back into the traditional international law enforcement effort. The more we act like an imperial power and use war as our default response to problems (read: Iraq) then we lose the goodwill and cooperation of governments around the world who rightfully worry that they could be next.

Unfortunately, the phrase "war on terror" is more emotionally satisfying for a country that after all had its own war department headquarters attacked. I remember right after 9/11, in the first issue of The New Yorker after the attacks, Rick Herzberg made the very argument I'm making at the time. In the heat of 9/11, I thought Rick's formulation was kind of wishy-washy, but now I see the danger of elevating something to a "war" when it's really not. The only thing I think he missed was that if a government itself has become a terrorist organization it becomes a legitimate target. While it's one thing to threaten a country that is "harboring" terrorists, the harboring has to be pretty high up for us to justify a war. Look at Pakistan. In the Bush doctrine we could invade Pakistan because of the Al Qaida members in the tribal areas of the country. See they're harboring terrorists. But as we've come to see, Musharref has little control of this region of his country.

To me, the current Islamic terrorism movement is similar to the rise of the Anarchists 100 years ago. What makes it different is that we have mass communications and the Internet. Also, the Islamists can argue that today's fight is a clash of religions, in the mold of the Crusades.

If a politician could successfully undermine the "war on terror" terminology as false and destructive, then maybe we could get somewhere. It's too bad Clinton isn't still in office (or Gore for that matter) because I know he would not have elevated things into such a simple good vs. evil way. We would have attacked Afghanistan. Gore might have even been better because I think he would have used ground troops more readily (Clinton was very averse to use of ground troops). But Clinton and Gore would have better seen the limits of American power. Where there's broad international support, we can use power more effectively in a more sustained way. There would have been Americans clamoring for raw meat and Republicans would have postured that we weren't bellicose enough, but a successful overthrow of the Taliban by a Democratic president would have gone a long way in blunting such attacks.

(Ellipses mine.)

Note: As has been widely underreported, both the Clinton and Bush administrations supported, even bankrolled, the Taliban, a creation of Pakistani intelligence, which was in bed with the CIA.

Is the Danish Cartoon Controversy a Diversion?

A sensible explanation for the Danish cartoon controversy. (Via Raw Story.)

UPDATE: Juan Cole doesn't think so.

Just Testing

Blogger's gone nutty. One post up and vanished....

The Iraq War Was a War of Choice (Reprise)

Both the Guardian and Independent are reporting that Blair was "solidly behind" invading Iraq on January 31, 2003, weeks before the war began. From the Guardian:

Tony Blair told President George Bush that he was "solidly" behind US plans to invade Iraq before he sought advice about the invasion's legality and despite the absence of a second UN resolution, according to a new account of the build-up to the war published today.

A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - nearly two months before the invasion - reveals that Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second UN resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme.

"The diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning", the president told Mr Blair. The prime minister is said to have raised no objection. He is quoted as saying he was "solidly with the president and ready to do whatever it took to disarm Saddam".

The disclosures come in a new edition of Lawless World, by Phillipe Sands, a QC and professor of international law at University College, London. Professor Sands last year exposed the doubts shared by Foreign Office lawyers about the legality of the invasion in disclosures which eventually forced the prime minister to publish the full legal advice given to him by the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith.

The memo seen by Prof Sands reveals:

• Mr Bush told Mr Blair that the US was so worried about the failure to find hard evidence against Saddam that it thought of "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours". Mr Bush added: "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach [of UN resolutions]".


• Mr Bush even expressed the hope that a defector would be extracted from Iraq and give a "public presentation about Saddam's WMD". He is also said to have referred Mr Blair to a "small possibility" that Saddam would be "assassinated".


• Mr Blair told the US president that a second UN resolution would be an "insurance policy", providing "international cover, including with the Arabs" if anything went wrong with the military campaign, or if Saddam increased the stakes by burning oil wells, killing children, or fomenting internal divisions within Iraq.


• Mr Bush told the prime minister that he "thought it unlikely that there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups". Mr Blair did not demur, according to the book.

The revelation that Mr Blair had supported the US president's plans to go to war with Iraq even in the absence of a second UN resolution contrasts with the assurances the prime minister gave parliament shortly after. On February 25 2003 - three weeks after his trip to Washington - Mr Blair told the Commons that the government was giving "Saddam one further, final chance to disarm voluntarily".
...
The meeting between Mr Bush and Mr Blair, attended by six close aides, came at a time of growing concern about the failure of any hard intelligence to back up claims that Saddam was producing weapons of mass destruction in breach of UN disarmament obligations. It took place a few days before the then US secretary Colin Powell made claims - since discredited - in a dramatic presentation at the UN about Iraq's weapons programme.

The rest here. The Independent's story is here. Will the US Washington Press Corpse report the story? Start the counter, people.

UPDATE: Raw Story has the Channel 4 video.

UPDATE (sort of): Crooks and Liars points to a Guardian article from 2003 about the Ba'athist regime's desperate offers for peace, which we rejected. The lede:

In the few weeks before its fall, Iraq's Ba'athist regime made a series of increasingly desperate peace offers to Washington, promising to hold elections and even to allow US troops to search for banned weapons. But the advances were all rejected by the Bush administration, according to intermediaries involved in the talks.

C&L also has the piece Olbermann did on the memo cited above.

You Go, Girl

Governor Blanco pushes for oil royalties. If we get them, maybe we can secede. (Okay, I'm just fantasizing.)

The State of the Union

Is dire*. And in New Orleans, it's worse. Unless, like George Bush, you live in a bubble of pure fantasy:

A hopeful society comes to the aid of fellow citizens in times of suffering and emergency -- and stays at it until they're back on their feet.

Where is that? the Netherlands? Let's go!

So far the federal government has committed $85 billion to the people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.

Whoa. What? When did that happen? Last I heard, we were getting half of $13B. Because, you know, we lost 200,000 homes and Mississippi lost, oh, 35,000. Yeah, that makes sense.

We're removing debris and repairing highways and rebuilding stronger levees....

"Rebuilding stronger levees"? Really? There's no evidence that levees as bad as we had before (thanks, Corpse of Engineers!) will be ready by next summer, and Bush has refused to order the construction of Category 4 or 5 flood protection.

*The short list:

• A not-exactly-free Iraq that's in a low-grade civil war and seems headed for some theocracy
• Decimated cities, one of which is being left twisting in the wind
• Warrantless wiretaps of American citizens
• Possibly a federal police force with nebulous powers of arrest
• One or more stolen elections
• A thoroughly corrupt Republican government
• The sale of critical regulatory functions of government to representatives of the industries they are supposed to regulate
  
• A massive federal debt owed mainly to potential rivals, with only token reductions in spending taken out of aid for the poor
• Mediocre job growth
• An insane foreign policy used for the benefit of monied elites and the securing of access to oil and gas
• A neglect of the environment
• Federal indifference to the coming global difficulties posed by global warming
• No push for reduction in burning fossil fuels, despite Peak Oil and overwhelming evidence of the human contribution to global warming
• The suppression and alteration of government reports supporting positions contrary to those of the Administration (see global warming, cost of Medicare, etc.)
  
• The appointment of a fascist to the Supreme Court
  
• The suppression of dissent through influence of the news media, disinformation, misinformation, outright lying and faux news
• A corporate-owned, increasingly consolidated national news media that distorts most stories, worships power and has for the most part abdicated its function to critically examine anything that non-Democrats do; so the press is "free," just not the press most people get their news from (apologies to James Risen and other courageous reporters)
  
• They can get away with all this without abrogating freedom of speech, because character assassination is a professional Republican Washington sport and non-Bushian bloggers are inconsequential
• An Executive Branch that refuses to stop torturing suspected terrorists
• American citizens can be detained indefinitely without representation or judicial review
• The inability for the minority party to hold Congressional investigations of anything and the Majority able to stonewall and/or rig investigations inconvenient to the Administration (see 9/11 Commission and every other investigation in the last 5 years)
• The manipulation of the population through fear-mongering (see election-season threat levels)
• Reporting in Washington is so atrocious that conservatives will read this and think I'm "fevered" instead of just reciting facts
  
• It gets much, much worse, but I'm not saying anything about that

Hanging Us Out to Dry

“It's a heck of a place to bring your family. It's a great place to find some of the greatest food in the world and some wonderful fun.”
George W. Bush

“Many New Orleans neighborhoods are still abandoned wastelands, with uninhabitable homes, no working street lights and sidewalks piled with moldy garbage. The levee system is as vulnerable as ever. Barely a quarter of the 400,000 people who fled have come back, demographers estimate.”
CNN

I was going to write about how Bush has left us hanging in south Lousiana, but Schroeder already did it. (Thank god because I can't get into it without suffering a stroke.) The WaPo's take on it is here (courtesy Schroeder). A NYT editorial on our plight is here.

The photo, by the way, is from the Lower Ninth Ward. I took it in early January.

The Enemy Is Dissent

The Pentagon's keeping a watchful eye on peace activists who hand out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to Halliburton employees. Truly, Alberto "Organ Failure" Gonzalez's "just trust us" defense of illegal NSA wiretaps is warranted. Okay, maybe "warranted" isn't right word....

DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying the NSA spied on the activists; it was Rummy's Counter Intelligence Field Activity.

Happy Really Bad News Day (with a Giggle!)

Dear so-called conservatives, at what point do you begin to get worried, let alone angry?

Case One: According to the New Orleans Times Picayune, the Dept. of Homeland InSecurity accurately predicted the horror that befell New Orleans:

President Bush's top disaster agency warned of the likelihood of levee breaches that could leave New Orleans submerged "for weeks or months," a communications blackout that would hamper rescue efforts and "at least 100,000 poverty-stricken people" stranded in the city.

Those remarkably accurate predictions were in a 40-page "Fast Analysis Report" compiled by the Department of Homeland Security on Aug. 28. Documents show that the report was sent by e-mail to the White House Situation Room at 1:47 a.m. on Aug. 29, hours before the deadly storm made landfall.
...
Bush's front-line disaster agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was predicting the worst. In a Power Point slide show dated Aug. 27 and obtained by The Times-Picayune, the agency spelled out the death and destruction anticipated by Hurricane Pam and warned that Katrina was likely to be worse.

"Exercise projection is exceeded by Hurricane Katrina real-life impacts," the slide show said.

Wow. So they knew. And did nothing. Thanks, guys. Now can we throw the lot of you in jail for negligent homicide?

Case Two: The shiny new inaptly named Patriot Act contains a provision for (guess) a "uniformed division" of the Secret Service, authorized to arrest people without warrant "for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony." I know, I know, conservatives, a federal police force with nebulous powers of arrest isn't fascistic or totalitarian or even worrisome. It's just our Leader exercising the war powers of the unitary executive. Dear conservatives, please, get a dictionary, take a class, but do something.

(Via Suspect Device.)

THE GIGGLE: And while we're linking to everything Greg Peters, why not link to his latest cartoon?

Why the Towers Fell

While Bush is out pushing 9/11 as an excuse for doing whatever he wants, why not celebrate by reading a physicist's paper on why the World Trade Center towers fell? (The author, Steven E. Jones, gave a presentation in late September; this paper, I think, is pretty recent. Very highly recommended.)

East Coast Vs. West Coast

The battle has begun....

Jesus Christ, AFA, Get a Life

I mean, thank god the American Family Association is dedicated to protecting humans from art and desire. Hint: If you don't like NBC's Book of Daniel, don't watch it.

Friday Dog Blogging

 
 

Katrina Documentary

Do Your Part, a non-profit I'm working with, is screening a documentary at Sundance this week. It's about the devastation in St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans. You can watch it here.

To find out just how bad things are going with the reconstruction effort, read today's Times Picayune.

Peter Dauo Wastes More of His Time by Getting It Right

An invaluable post for the Democratic "leadership," who invariably won't read or heed it. For progressive bloggers (full disclosure: I am one), a depressing analysis of what should happen what some fascistic ass clown like ScAlito schlepps before The Incompetent Ones to not be grilled about anything. As John "I donated my brain to Terri Schiavo" Hinderocket of Power Line told me last week, "Man, you're one angry guy." With leadership like this, anger's a given. I feel as abandoned as a New Orleanian waiting for Chimpy McWarboy* to deliver some goddamned category-5 flood protection. Oh, wait....

*The entire staff of realitique would like to express their admiration and support of our closest primate cousins and regret the use of their species as an epithet. However, realitique® has stalled delayed for quite some time using standard progressive epithets for His Highness, George IV, partly out of respect for certain readers. As they seem to've disappeared, realitique sees no reason not to jump the proverbial shark. In the spirit of blog-wagoning, then: fuck Bush**.

**As this phrase and variations on chimps and war are overcooked, we doubt we'll use it much. But it's nice to have options, especially when, unlike the grinning, relaxed Power Line boyz, you're "angry."

Mr. Bush, Please, Stop “Protecting” Me

What she said.

Contextual note: This is the SusanG who started the snowballing investigation into Jeff "Administration Plant" Gannon.

Do not Look at the Curtain

Nigel: Don't touch it.
Marty: Well uh I wasn't, I wasn't gonna touch it. I was just pointing at it...I....
Nigel: Well don't point, even.
Marty: Don't even point?
Nigel: No. It can't be played...never...
Marty: Can I look at it?
Nigel: No....no.

–This Is Spinal Tap

It is vitally important not to look at the evidence. That's essentially what Our Beloved Leader told a seven-year-old in a staged meeting "conversation" in which he "participated":

Q How can people help on the war on terror?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's the hardest question I've had all day. (Laughter.)

First of all, I expect there to be an honest debate about Iraq, and welcome it. People can help, however, by making sure the tone of this debate is respectful and is mindful about what messages out of the country can do to the morale of our troops. (Applause.)

I fully expect in a democracy -- I expect and, frankly, welcome the voices of people saying, you know, Mr. President, you shouldn't have made that decision, or, you know, you should have done it a better way. I understand that. What I don't like is when somebody said, he lied. Or, they're in there for oil. Or they're doing it because of Israel. That's the kind of debate that basically says the mission and the sacrifice were based on false premise. It's one thing to have a philosophical difference -- and I can understand people being abhorrent about war [sic]. War is terrible. But one way people can help as we're coming down the pike in the 2006 elections, is remember the effect that rhetoric can have on our troops in harm's way, and the effect that rhetoric can have in emboldening or weakening an enemy.

(Emphasis mine. Via Dohiyi Mir.)

This is a revealing quote. It says, in effect, that not only should we not look behind the curtain, we shouldn't even look at the curtain.

There are many reasons we're in Iraq. Two of them are oil and Israel. Would the president mind if we said that the US also wants to fill out its empire of military bases in Asia? that having bases in Iraq and Afghanistan puts Iran, the bigger country with bigger oil reserves, in a tight spot? Would we be saying that the war was based on a false premise? Because it was. And, in real terms, those who are sacrificing themselves are not doing so for America or its freedom, but for a panoply of other causes, some of which may be good. But what Iraq is certainly not about is the illusory "War on Terror"—unless you mean that we've created a terrorist factory in Iraq.

The president claims that Americans can help in the "War on Some Terror" by watching what they say and how they say it. He then mentions that "as we're coming down the pike in the 2006 elections," we should remember how important "rhetoric" is to both our troops and the enemy they fight. Never mind that "enemy" should be plural, what Bush is saying is that we should make sure to vote for representatives and senators who don't suggest that oil, Israel or lying was involved in our invasion of Iraq. Do not vote for most Democrats. Do not vote for anyone willing to even look at the curtain. Or acknowledge that there is a curtain. Because the power of this entire Administration is rooted in fear, in ignoring the curtain or denying it exists.

What we need to do is rip the curtain down and burn it. If we did that, Bush and his cronies would be in jail. Or worse.

Il Duce to Drop by New Orleans

You may've heard that Our Beloved Leader is stopping by New Orleans today for the first time in three months. "Ah!" you say, "Tis certain he'll assuage locals' fears of future flooding! He hath hastened to the site of disaster to reassure concerned New Orleanians that the federal government will help rebuild the city that they through negligence let flood!"

But you would be wrong. Even if you used contemporary English.

No, His Beneficent Presence (may his cattle yield unblemished milk) is stopping by to meet with small business leaders about the Gulf Opportunity Zone and then hastening to Bay St. Louis to give a speech. I'm sure that has nothing to do with the simmering anger here or with, say, the party affiliation of Mississippi's governor. Our governor, meanwhile, is doing something useful: she's in the Netherlands, learning about flood control from the masters.

Whither Nightline?

Nightline may've turned a corner—into the gutter. If this kind of coverage keeps up, chalk one more up for slavish obeisance to advertising demographics, or "standard industry practice." (Remember, kidz, the left-leaning liberal elite news media is biased!)

Mississippi Gulf Coast Photos

A couple of weeks ago, A. and I ventured to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to see the damage from Katrina. (We'd tried in November but weren't allowed in without local ID.) If you're not familiar with the MS Gulf Coast, the area is a string of several cities along about 40 miles of beach. Homes a few blocks from the beach were high enough to be spared; many of those closer to the water weren't so fortunate. And for mile after mile along the beachfront Highway 90 in Long Beach and Gulfport, there is nothing but denuded foliage, the land wiped clean.

Most of the photos I took were of Pass Christian, where my family moved decades ago from New Orleans. The devastation is hard to fathom, but as many homes as are gone there, more are left than in neighboring Long Beach and Gulfport. The only area I've seen with comparable damage is the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, near the levee breaches (photos coming soon).

My family in Pass Christian did well, considering. My grandmother, uncle and aunt all lived just far enough from the beach to have minor damage and no flooding. That said, another cousin lost his house and yet another had just sold hers only to lose her family's possessions when the storage facility was washed away. (Where was the debate about rebuilding the storm-surge-vulnerable Gulf Coast? Seems New Orleans is the only city some people debate rebuilding.)

You can view the Gulf Coast photos here. Please note: I continually try to coax the beauty out of the devastation around here. These photos are part of that attempt.

Previously posted 9th Ward photos are here.

Today in Malfeasance

WWNO, the local NPR affiliate, reports that Greece offered two cruise ships for free to house Katrina refugees, but the US government turned them down, instead paying Carnival hundreds of millions of dollars for the ship parked over by the bridge right now. I don't know the source(s) of the story.

The Battle of New Orleans

Today in 1815, the United States of America&—with the aid of Jean Lafitte's pirates, Choctaw and liberated Haitian slaves—defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans, the final battle of the War of 1812. I may be wrong, but I think the War of 1812 was the only US war to've started and ended unnecessarily (in formal terms). It started, in part, over a dispute whose settlement didn't reach the US in time to stop us from declaring war, and ended with a battle fought two weeks after the peace treaty, the Treaty of Ghent, was signed. (But according to Wikipedia, ratifications had yet to be exchanged, so maybe the war wasn't quite "over" when the Battle of New Orleans was fought.)

BONUS: And on another, unrelated note, it's Elvis' birthday.

He Puts the Big in Zbigniew

Foreign policy heavyweight Zbigniew Brzezinski weighs in on the false choice Our Leader® repeatedly lays before his subjects the American people vis à vis Iraq. (Via Atrios.)

Really Long Contextual Note: This is the former Carter Administration hawk who claims to've come up with the idea of suckering the Soviets to invade Afghanistan to save their puppet government there, only to get embroiled in their own Vietnam--a brilliantly effective move which led us to (more or less) create Al Qaeda. He's also the guy who thought up the sequel to The Great Game, or how the US could preserve its superpower status by dominating Eurasia. He suggested we do this by establishing access to the remaining oil and gas reserves in Central Asia. The gateway to Central Asia is Afghanistan (which is why we supported the Taliban), a land ripe for a pipeline to the energy riches of the Caspian region. But to dominate Eurasia via Central Asia, we'd need a more powerful, expansive military, and to get that, we'd need an external threat and a "new Pearl Harbor." This was such a handsome strategy that people like Rumsfeld, Cheney, Perlowitz et al. just couldn't resist, and they adapted it for their Project for a New American Century. Not long after, they managed to attain the most powerful positions in US goverment.

My Lai Hero Dies at 62

Hugh Thompson saved many Vietnamese from being massacred. Still waiting to hear it reported in the US.

And the other story US propaganda national news organs aren't touting today.

Let the House Cleaning Begin

With Jack Abramoff cooperating with prosecutors, a lot of representatives are soiling themselves today. They can get some stain-removal tips here. On Doityourself.com, poster twelvepeople notes that

Urine odor will be noticeable on warmer, more humid days. It may also be more noticeable after showering when humidity is high in bathroom. If urine has been absorbed into latex paint, it will require sealing odor into walls by applying a a couple coats of primer/sealer like Zinnser before repainting with oil-based paint which is more durable and easier to maintain.

A pity the humidity in DC is 92% today.

New Year's in Iraq

From my cousin in Anbar Province, Iraq:

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!

Well, at least I'm in the right calendar year now, and am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's hard to believe I've been here for six months now. Its felt more like six years.

I got promoted to Master Sergeant during a formation on New Year's Day. I've attached a photo from the formation for your viewing pleasure (lol). MSG Pentacost and I then fixed as traditional a NYD meal as possible, given our conditions. We had boiled cabbage and potatoes, fried potatoes and onions, soup beans, and fried cabbage. I tried to fix corned beef, but it was the stuff that comes in a can, and looked alot like Alpo when cooked (probably also tasted like it, too), so we threw it out.

I woke up this morning without power (again). I saw mechanics working on the generator as I left the barracks. I can't understand why they don't just replace the thing. It only worked for three days this time before breaking down again. We've got a small back-up generator on hand from the last time the main generator broke down for and extended period (right before Christmas we had no power for six days). If they don't fix the main by this afternoon, I will get the back-up running. It can't power the entire building, but will provide enough power to at least have lights and hot water.

Thanks again to everyone for your support, and the e-mails you've sent over the holidays. It is nice to hear from each of you. I look forward to seeing you when I get home.