Month: October 2005

Jeb Forced to Eat Words, Which is More Than Most of South Florida Has for Chow

Trish

Jeb Bush wrote an entire guest editorial in the Washington Post last month, just to drive home the point that Hurricane Katrina mistakes were 100% the fault of state and local governments, not his brother’s. After all, he said, we know how to handle this stuff in Florida.

Just as all politics are local, so are all disasters. The most effective response is one that starts at the local level and grows with the support of surrounding communities, the state and then the federal government…

“It’s been chaos,” said store manager Luis Gonzalez… “Where is FEMA?” said Yamara Higgins of Deerfield Beach

Florida’s emergency response system…is second to none…Once a storm is forecast for landfall in Florida, all these groups put their disaster response-and-recovery plans into high gear…

But with proper preparation and planning, it is possible — as we in Florida have proved — to restore order, quickly alleviate the suffering of those affected and get on the road to recovery.

Wow. Sounds great. But how’s all that “leave the Feds out of it and let us handle it” stuff working for you now, Jeb? Here’s the scene in South Florida, where Pensito Review’s man in Miami, Buck, is still unaccounted for. South Florida Sun Sentinel:

Although state officials had bragged about their readiness for Wilma, trucks with water and ice didn’t start arriving in Broward County until late Tuesday. Palm Beach County and Miami-Dade County centers also reported problems. As a result, tensions ran high and some fights broke out as residents complained help was not coming quickly enough…

Florida Power & Light Co. said it had restored service to almost a half-million people statewide, but more than 2.8 million remained without electricity Tuesday, including 98 percent of Broward. Officials are still estimating it could take weeks to get the area up and running.

So 98% of Broward County (i.e, Fort Lauderdale) is without power? That’s like all of it. Still, Jeb was prepared so I know things aren’t too bad.

Across the region, people went into scavenger mode, descending on those few sources of water, food and gas they could find. Most ignored pleas from government officials to stay off roads, still full of debris and without working traffic lights. As a result, traffic added to clogged conditions…

Sheriff Ken Jenne said he expects to ask for the National Guard in the next two or three days because of the workload on deputies…

Curfews remained in effect, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Broward and from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. in Miami-Dade.

Customers also mobbed a Publix [grocery store] in Sunrise that opened at 8 a.m., snatching up 250 cases of water in one hour.

“It’s been chaos,” said store manager Luis Gonzalez.

[…]

Luntz: Bush Will ‘Have No Choice’ But to Demonize CIA Leak Prosecutor

Jon Ponder

“If [Fitzgerald] indicts, they [the White House] will have no choice but to attempt to demonize him. I think that is going to be really, really tough.”

– GOP operative Frank Luntz, expressing, perhaps inadvertently, the true depth of Republican corruption: defending criminals by smearing an honest officer of the law is just politics as usual.

House GOP Goes After Bush’s Real Base: Big Oil

Jon Ponder

Astronomical profits: President Bush’s true base is not the religious Right or knuckle-dragging Unsmart-American voters whom he shamelessly used to get elected. His one and only political base is Big Oil.

“These are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary measures. We expect oil companies to do their part to help ease the pain American families are feeling from high energy prices.”
– Speaker Hastert

After five years of the Bush presidency, these Big Oil conglomerate/constiuents (read: “donors”) are now reporting profits that are up in the range of 50 percent – literally billions of dollars – over last year.

Whle this is hunky-dory for Mr. Bush, it spells trouble for the president’s allies in Congress, especially in the House, where every member is up for re-election next year. If outrage is allowed to build over the record oil profits while gas prices remain high, the reality of the Republicans’ ties and support for Big Oil at the expense of their nominal base – the above-mentioned Christianists and Stoopid People – could be exposed.

Such a direct link between the GOP and Big Oil might sink in among even the Republicans’ most dimwitted supporters. These people only learn via repetition, and if they begin to blame the GOP every time they fill up their minivans or monster trucks with over-priced gasoline, they could start to feel betrayed by their own leaders. The sense of betrayal might supplant their idolatrous fetish for Ten Commandments statues, their terror of gay marriage – or even their fear of terror. If this were to happen, these poor brainless fools might get so mad at the GOP that they would opt to stay home on election day next year.

It’s almost funny to see House Speaker Dennis Hastert and his corrupt colleagues trying to distance themselves from Big Oil – and it’s always interesting when they choose to propagandize via their house organ, the ultra-rightwing Unification Church-owned Washington Times:

[…]

Sign the Petition Demanding No Pardons for CIA Leak Criminals

Jon Ponder

Sign the letter: Rep. John Conyers has a letter-writing campaign going to let President Bush that pardoning staffers who are indicted for crimes related to the CIA Leak will be unacceptable.

From Rep. Conyers:

Did you know that Elliot Abrahms, pardoned by the first President Bush for the Iran-Contra crimes he committed under the Reagan Administration, now works for the Bush White House? And has been implicated in the leak of Valerie Plame’s covert identity? Fitzgerald may well successfully prosecute senior White House officials. Insist that anyone convicted in this case be ineligible for a presidential pardon. Demand that the President not pardon any criminals in his administration who compromise our national security!

Sign the letter here.

Even Plame’s Neighbors Didn’t Know She was CIA

Trish

Reuters:

Marc Lefkowitz, who lives across the street from Plame, told Reuters two FBI agents asked him on Monday if he knew about Plame’s CIA work before her identity was leaked to the press in 2003. Lefkowitz said he told them: “I didn’t know.”

Two lawyers involved in the case said such questioning could indicate that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald intended to charge administration officials for the leak itself, in addition to possible charges for easier-to-prove crimes like perjury and obstruction of justice…

Lefkowitz said Monday was the first time he had been questioned by the FBI in connection with his neighbor. The agents told him they were talking to other neighbors as well…

White House officials were anxiously awaiting the outcome [of the investigation] since any indicted officials are expected to resign immediately. If there are indictments, Bush is likely to make a public statement to try to reassure Americans he is committed to honesty and integrity in government.

Indicting ‘Mr. X’

Jon Ponder

Think Progress:

CBS’ JOHN ROBERTS: Lawyers familiar with the case think Wednesday is when special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will make known his decision, and that there will be indictments. Supporters say Rove and the vice president’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, are in legal jeopardy. But they insisted today the two are secondary players, that it was an unidentified Mr. X who actually gave the name of CIA agent V alerie Plame to reporters. Fitzgerald knows who Mr. X is, they say, and if he isn’t indicted, there’s no way Rove or Libby should be. But charges may not focus on the leak at all. Obstruction of justice or perjury are real possibilities. Did Rove or Libby change statements made under oath? Did they deliberately leave critical facts out of their testimony or did they honestly forget? Some Republicans urged Rove to step down if indicted. Not a happy prospect for president Bush.

BREAKING: Indictments Tomorrow

Jon Ponder

If there is only one indictment, Bush will have dodged a bullet:

An uber-insider source has just reported the following to TWN:

  • One to five indictments are being issued. The source feels that it will be towards the higher end.
  • The targets of indictment have already received their letters.
  • The indictments will be sealed indictments and “filed” tomorrow.
  • A press conference is being scheduled for Thursday.

The shoe is dropping.

Raw Story has a slightly different version:

Fitzgerald will seek at least two indictments, the sources say. They note that it remains to be seen whether the grand jury will approve the charges.

Those familiar with the case state that Fitzgerald may not seek indictments that assert officials leaked Plame’s name illegally. Rather, they say that he will focus charges in the arena of lying to investigators. The sources said, however, they wouldn’t rule out charges of conspiracy.

Excerpts from Al Franken’s New Book, The Truth (with Jokes)

Jon Ponder

Here’s a preview of Al Franken’s new book, The Truth (with Jokes):

Iraq: They told us that when we invaded, we’d be greeted with sweets and flowers. They left out the crucial modifier: “exploding.”

Gay marriage: George W. Bush wants to amend our Constitution to make it illegal for gays to marry. But evidently, he has no problem with terrorists getting married. America can’t afford a president who is soft on terrorist marriage. Because unlike gays, terrorists can breed.

Bill Frist diagnosing Terri Schiavo from 800 miles away: The FristCam Act of 2005 would place a video camera in every one of America’s Intensive Care Units. The FristCams would pan the ICUs, and the Senate Majority Leader would give each patient a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down.

Bush’s 9/11 bait and switch: Bin Laden must have been furious. Here he had gone to all this trouble to murder thousands of Americans, and Saddam—Saddam, the infidel!—was getting all the credit! Who was the head of al Qaeda?! Who was funding al Qaeda?! Somewhere along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border there was a very angry terrorist mastermind.

Moral values: From what I understand, if you cut out all the passages in the Bible where Jesus talks about the poor, about helping out the least among us, you’d have the perfect container to smuggle Rush Limbaugh’s drugs in.

The Social Security “crisis”: The number Bush kept using, $11 trillion, represented the total shortfall from now until the year Infinity. If you think about it, $11 trillion over Infinity years is nothing. Over the first 11 trillion years, that’s just one dollar a year. Easy. After that, it’s over. You’re done. WAl Franken’s book, The Truth (with jokes) comes out today.hat, exactly, is the problem?