Day: September 22, 2005

Abramoff/Safavian Investigation Could Snare Rove & Norquist

Jon Ponder

Frog-march parade: Could the criminal investigation into GOP uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff also lead to indictments of Karl Rove and Grover Norquist? The arrest of David Safavian, an Abramoff associate who was a Bush-appointee to the Office of Management and Budget, brings the investigation to the center of power for the Republican Party in Washington.

Josh Marshall lays it out in The Hill:

A quick look at the criminal complaint strongly suggests that Safavian is a low-level player in the Abramoff scandals and that he’s been indicted in an effort to compel his cooperation against bigger fish — certainly Abramoff, though the feds probably have more than enough on him, possibly [GOP Rep. Bob] Ney and quite probably Norquist, his former business partner in the lobbying firm of Janus-Merritt Strategies.

Norquist, as we all know, is a close adviser to the president and Rove. And his own publicly known role in the Abramoff scandals has him laundering money through his nonprofit organizations in exchange for setting up meetings and photo ops with the president.

The Bush White House has more than a few reasons to be concerned, in other words, about the Safavian indictment.

Or maybe not:

[…]

FEMA to Floridians — Screw You!

Buck Banks

Inflexible FEMA: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has rejected an appeal from Florida officials, determining for the second time that damage to the state from Hurricane Katrina was not bad enough to warrant individual disaster payments.

State officials said about 11,000 Floridians have applied for direct FEMA assistance as a result of Katrina — more than half of them with incomes below $20,000 a year. In addition to losses to agricultural damage, officials estimate Katrina will cost the industry 2,000 farm-related jobs in Miami-Dade County.

Daniel Craig, director of FEMA’s recovery division, said in a letter Wednesday to state officials that additional disaster surveys in Miami-Dade and Broward counties support FEMA’s previous conclusion that damage “is not of the severity and magnitude” necessary for individual assistance.

“The damage identified in the requested counties is not beyond the combined capabilities of the state and affected local governments,” Craig wrote to state emergency management chief Craig Fugate.

Florida, however, has no individual disaster assistance program, Fugate told FEMA officials in a Sept. 6 letter.

Granted, Katrina didn’t create anything like the devastation of the Gulf Coast when it swept across South Florida as a Category 1 storm on Aug. 25. Nonetheless, more than 350 homes were damaged or destroyed, and agriculture-related businesses suffered an estimated nearly $500 million in damage.
[…]

You Go, Hugo!

Buck Banks

Sociable Socialist: Amy Goodman interviewed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for Democracy Now. Below are some excerpts from Chavez’ responses. To read the transcript and watch a video, go here.

On Katrina:

We have offered assistance, up to five million dollars, a very modest sum, but I guess it would be useful. We have offered medicine, water, and electric power plants, the same way Cuba offered doctors. So far we have not being authorize to reach the area. However, we hope the best for the poor, the poorest of these countries.

On Pat Robertson’s call for his assassination:

Robertson is not acting alone. He’s just conveying, in a perhaps desperate manner, the thinking of those people closer to Mr. Bush. This is the voice of the most radical – of the extreme right wing in the U.S., I am totally convinced that is the situation with Mr. Robertson. And as you can see, so far there has been no reaction by the U.S. government in this regard. There’s nothing being said about these terrorist remarks that is in full breach of international law and breaches the laws of the United States.

[…]

National Enquirer: Bush Is Boozing Again

Jon Ponder

Over his head: It’s odd to think of President Bush as being “emotionally drained,” but the idea that he’s drinking again makes sense:

Faced with the biggest crisis of his political life, President Bush has hit the bottle again, The National Enquirer can reveal…

“When the levees broke in New Orleans, it apparently made him reach for a shot,” said one insider. “He poured himself a Texas-sized shot of straight whiskey and tossed it back. The First Lady was shocked and shouted: “Stop George!”

…A Washington source said: “The sad fact is that he has been sneaking drinks for weeks now. Laura may have only just caught him — but the word is his drinking has been going on for a while in the capital. He’s been in a pressure cooker for months.

“The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier’s life personally. It has left him emotionally drained.”

The result is he’s taking drinks here and there, likely in private, to cope. “And now with the worst domestic crisis in his administration over Katrina, you pray his drinking doesn’t go out of control.”

Another source said: “I’m only surprised to hear that he hadn’t taken a shot sooner. Before Katrina, he was at his wit’s end. I’ve known him for years. He’s been a good ol’ Texas boy forever. George had a drinking problem for years that most professionals would say needed therapy. He doesn’t believe in it [therapy], he never got it. He drank his way through his youth, through college and well into his thirties. Everyone’s drinking around him.”

…During his 2000 presidential campaign, there were also persistent questions about past cocaine use. Eventually Bush denied using cocaine after 1992, then quickly extended the cocaine-free period back to 1974, when he was 28.

Hat Tip to Buzzflash and EW

Must-See Video: Phil Donahue Vs. Bill O’Reilly

Jon Ponder

We do not watch Fox News but happened to be flipping past the channel last night and noticed Phil Donahue going head-to-head with Bill O’Reilly. It was a pleasure to see someone sparring with O’Reilly and not backing down:

Donohue: Cindy Sheehan is one tough mother and nothing you say or anyone else is going to slow her down.

Bill: That’s fine, she’s has a right-

Phil:….You can’t hurt her, she’s already taken the biggest punch in the nose that a woman can take.

Bill, in his infinite wisdom asks: How? Phil: She’s lost a son- Bill: Oh, OK…

Phil asks O’Reilly if his children would fight in the war and the meltdown ensues. Bill tells him that his nephew just joined (that’s not his kids) and blows his top. O’Reilly threatens to boot Donohue off the set for saying absolutely nothing. The bloviator really lost it, playing the ” you’re denigrating him” card. If C&L was like certain right wing sites, I’m sure we would fact check Billy’s nephew.

Bill, what did Phil say to denigrate him? Nothing. Donohue brought up Jeremy Glick.

Phil: I’m not Jeremy Glick, Billy…You can’t intimidate me…

Crooks & Liars has the video.

Dawn of the Debate Over Quick Federalization

Buck Banks

Freeing up the feds: The dialogue over how the federal government can respond more quickly and effectively in the event of a natural disaster on the scale of Katrina appears to be beginning. It’s a sensitive topic, involving that pesky Constitution and states’ rights. But the dialogue has begun over whether the feds should act to deploy assets even if state and local governments have not requested help or declared a state of emergency.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, the federal official in charge of recovery efforts in New Orleans, said the federal government might need to establish new criteria for when and how agencies respond to disasters.

“I’m talking about something you could do whether the state requests anything or not. In other words, in the national interest you could say that if we think these conditions are going to be met, maybe we need to deploy assets in advance of the event,” he said. “That’s independent of any request by a governor or a disaster declaration. What you’re doing is prudently positioning units so you might be able to respond in the future.”

He added: “If you know in advance and you have a set of criteria by which you can pre-deploy to reduce the response time and the potential consequences, you probably should do that. If you can’t because of a series of events … then maybe you need to have a mechanism by which you can force a decision quicker on whether or not you need a federal response more than you would normally.”

[…]

House GOP Moves Forward with Whitewash of Disaster ‘Investigation’

Jon Ponder

The Republican leadership in Congress revealed another level of the depth of its corruption yesterday by announcing plans to conduct a fake investigation into President Bush’s failure to react properly to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Despite the fact that 81 percent of Americans surveyed this week in the CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll said they wanted an independent investigation, the Republican leadership is going forward with its whitewash of the administration’s failure to act quickly, which resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives:

House Republicans plan to proceed with a special investigation into the government response to Hurricane Katrina despite resistance by Democrats who say they will not take part and are demanding an independent inquiry…

The House minority leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said Wednesday that she was not backing down.

“I will not appoint any Democrats to participate in this sham,” said Ms. Pelosi, who has the authority to recommend 9 of the 20 panel members.

Hurricane Rita Becomes Third-Most Intense Storm Recorded, Headed for Texas

Jon Ponder

We hope someone at the White House is making a DVD of this for the Preznint:

Hurricane Rita, the third-most intense storm ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, bore down on the Texas coast as residents moved inland. The Category 5 storm is more powerful than Katrina, which left more than 1,000 dead last month in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

Rita, with winds of 175 mph (280 kph), is “potentially catastrophic,” the National Hurricane Center said today in an advisory on its Web site at about 3:45 a.m. Houston time. The storm is forecast to hit land near Galveston, Texas, late tomorrow or early Sept. 24. Rita’s center was 515 miles southeast of Galveston, and moving west-northwest near 9 mph.

“You’re talking about a catastrophic disaster, with extensive damage,” Dave Roberts, a meteorologist at the center in Miami, said today in a telephone interview. “Look at the impacts of Katrina: You’re going to get that all over again.”

And don’t forget the pretzels!!