Month: November 2005

Happy Thanksgiving, Kid, Now Give Me Your Blankie

Buck Banks

Airport insecurity: In a typically heavy-handed holiday message, the Transportation Security Administration has issued a “Holiday Checklist” (complete with holly sprig) that is billed as an attempt to help innocent citizens negotiate the long security lines between tham and Grandma’s house. As if the guys in rubber gloves and the metal detector weren’t scary enough, TSA provides the following ominous warning to family types:

When traveling with children, a discussion in advance of airport security may be helpful. At the checkpoint, children will need to temporarily part with such things as blankets and stuffed animals, and older children need to know that any comment suggesting a threat to an aircraft or its passengers is taken seriously by TSA security officers.

Sounds like they’re profiling short people with Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animals. On the other hand, it sounds like an good way to shuck that obnoxious adolescent who just can’t resist the smart-ass terrorist joke ….

The Anti-Anti-War Rhetoric Is Spinning Out of Control

Buck Banks

Earth to Dick: In an address today to the American Enterprise Institute, Vice President of Torture Dick Cheney continued the administration’s aggressive response to critics of the Iraq War. In what may mark a change in tactics, Cheney is using irrational ideas to purposefully perplex the administration’s critics.

At the same time, Cheney pressed the administration’s high-voltage attack on war critics, particularly Senate Democrats who voted in October 2002 to give Bush authority to go to war in Iraq and who now oppose his policy, calling them “dishonest and reprehensible.”

“The flaws in the intelligence are plain enough in hindsight. But any suggestion that prewar information was distorted, hyped or fabricated by the leader of the nation is utterly false.”

So, if you’re a Democrat senator who voted to give the president authority to go to war — not voted to go to war, mind you — and now you’re pissed because the intel was false and trumped up, you’re “dishonest and reprehensible”? That does not compute.

And Cheney is careful to note that it’s not Bush who distorted, hyped or fabricated — we all know he ain’t equipped — but it just could be … Cheney himself, right?

As to proposals for a rapid pullout of U.S. troops, Cheney said, “It is a dangerous illusion to suppose that another retreat by the civilized world would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get them to leave us alone.”

Cheney ticked off a long list of terrorist attacks on American interests going back more than the two decades that preceded the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and earlier ones in Beirut, Saudi Arabia and Africa.

“Now they’re making a stand in Iraq, testing our resolve, trying to intimidate the United States into abandoning our friends and permitting the overthrow of this new Middle Eastern democracy,” Cheney said.

What terrorists? Where’s the connection between the insurgency in Iraq (Iraqis fighting a military invasion) and terrorism? Since when are they terrorists “making a stand” in Iraq? Does anybody besides the chickenhawks and neocons believe this drivel?

It’s the old ploy of acting irrational, crazed, to get folks to leave you alone. I just wonder how much of this is an act. If you act crazy and say crazy things for years, aren’t you liable to go crazy? Yeah, crazy like a fox ….

Repugs Misunderestimate People of Faith

Trish

Froma Harrop makes some bigger points worth noting after the Dover, Penn. elections.

Few disinformation campaigns have been as dishonest as the one over intelligent design…

We hear many stereotypes about religious conservatives, but Republican strategists are among the chief stereotypers

It’s a fraud, but the political wizards in the Republican Party seem to think that ruining the education of some kids in the sticks is a small price to pay for votes – which they’re obviously not getting…

We hear many stereotypes about religious conservatives, but Republican strategists are among the chief stereotypers. They assume that people of faith don’t think – that devout people are unable to see complexity in social issues and can’t reconcile science with religion.

The Republicans’ poor soundings on the mindset of religious people are adding up. Republicans made fools of themselves over the Terry Schiavo case. It turns out that the vast majority of even religious Americans did not see the matter as a simplistic right-to-life issue.

The Bush administration assumed that its conservative base was brain-dead on global warming. But now the National Association of Evangelicals – 45,000 churches, representing 30 million Americans – is working on a draft to demand that Congress put mandatory controls on carbon-dioxide emissions.

Bad science does not make good morals.

Bush: Playing the Michael Moore Card

Trish

Write this date down. I am in full agreement with columnist Clarence Page.

You know the Bush administration is desperate when it starts playing the Michael Moore card.

…it is not the Michael Moores out there, but Bush’s own base that has been losing faith in his administration’s war policy

The Double-M words came up in response to a call by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a decorated Vietnam War veteran and senior House Democrat, for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq…

White House spokesman Scott McClellan fired back. He acknowledged that Murtha is “a respected veteran,” but called it “baffling” that Murtha is “endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party.”

I know liberal filmmaker Michael Moore. Believe me, Mr. Press Secretary, Murtha is no Michael Moore…

Murtha is the un-Michael. He voted for the war. He has advised presidents of both parties…

Judging by the polls, it is not the Michael Moores out there, but Bush’s own base that has been losing faith in his administration’s war policy.

Like Page, I had a big ol’ “Huh??” reaction when I read McClellan’s quote. My first thought was that Michael Moore had weighed in on the Murtha thing and I missed it. My second thought was that they are getting truly desperate when they need to throw Michael Moore at us (no offense, MM).

Although hardcore Bush faithful were unswayed by Moore’s expose on Bush during the election, much of the Academy Award winner’s Farenheit 9/11 dealt with Bush’s lying us into war. Does Rove & Co. really want to go there now?

Study: Katrina Didn’t Make Us More Prepared

Buck Banks

Unprepared for the worst: Remember how, in the wake of Hurricane Wilma, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush castigated South Floridians for being unprepared for the storm, despite having three full days’ warning? Well, a new study by New York University’s Center for Catastrophic Preparedness and Response found that witnessing such disasters as Hurricane Katrina does not tend to make us better prepared to handle them when they hit us.

The report was based on two surveys — one before and the other following Katrina’s landfall on the Gulf Coast. Here is a summary of the report’s findings:

According to the October survey, which repeated many, but not all of the questions asked in July, the “Katrina Effect” was mostly negative:

  • Americans did not receive a wake-up call from Katrina — more than half said they were no better prepared after watching the event than before.
  • Many Americans have lost confidence in their local government, police departments and local businesses to help those who need assistance following an emergency. Only fire departments and charitable organizations like the Red Cross and Salvation Army held on to their pre-Katrina levels of confidence.
  • Americans were generally split on who was to blame for the federal government’s lack of preparedness post-Katrina — 60 percent said it was impossible to be very prepared for hurricanes, terrorist attacks or a flu epidemic, while 40 percent blamed the government.
  • Among those who blamed government, the vast majority said that the problem was mismanagement, a lack of leadership, and an unwillingness to make preparedness a priority.

Key Recommendations:
CONGRESS SHOULD

  • give the president authority to create a new Citizen Preparedness Directorate.
  • give the president greater authority to strengthen the federal government’s human capital in the preparedness effort.
  • reform the presidential appointments process to assure that key positions are filled rapidly with qualified personnel.

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS MUST

  • be clear about who “owns” the emergency preparedness task.
  • make their emergency management functions as visible as possible.
  • establish local command centers.

Hello Unchecked Development, Goodbye Everglades

Buck Banks

Like mold in a Petri dish: Today, the Miami-Dade County Commission will hear a proposal posed by local developers to move the Urban Development Boundary westward to allow for the building of more McMansions on South Florida’s fragile wetlands. More alarming, they will also hear a second proposal that would make future extensions of the UDB easier to pass.

The significance of this vote is attested to by the number of lobbyists the developers have registered — more than 40. Under such concentrated political pressure it’s unlikely that the Miami-Dade Commission — never much revered for its spinefulness — will not cave in.

The rationale for filling in more wetlands with crappy houses is that the county is running out of space for affordable housing, and that soon the streets will be filled with nomadic families who have no place to live. This, despite the fact that a recent study found that there is plenty of room within the county to build until 2018 without extending the UDB.

If the commission does cave, the proposal goes to Tallahassee, to the Department of Community Affairs for review. That, effectively, allows the commissioners to face their constituencies by passing the buck.

But the bad thing is that the biggest guy on the DCA is, you guessed it, the President’s little bro. It could come down to Jebby saying whether or not we pave more of the Everglades. While he has positioned himself as a champion of the environment, Jeb’s actual record is rather spotty. Frankly, given his recent flip-flop on offshore oil drilling, his longtime alliance with developers and his generally weaseliness, I don’t trust our governor to make the morally right call.

So, we down here in Hurricane Central can probably look forward to higher taxes, fewer services, less water, more crowded schools and more traffic gridlock just so a few developers and their lobbyist lapdogs can make googobs more money. It’s the price of living in paradise, I guess, but like mold in a Petri dish, we are reaching a point where we’re on the verge of killing ourselves with our own toxic sludge.

Kerry Beats the Rush for South Florida Campaign Money

Trish

John Kerry showed up in South Florida – THE destination for anyone sniffing for campaign capital – over the weekend, hobnobbing and socializing and even attending the Nextel 400 NASCAR race. That sound is me gagging, but it will pass.

…Kerry was thinking of running for president in 2008. “Now that’s something to live for,” Al Franken said

Along with recent signs he has learned how to talk tough about Bush/Cheney only one year too late, is Kerry planning his 2008 presidential run? Miami Herald:

Before setting off for Homestead on Sunday, he attended a brunch at Miami attorney Stuart Ratzan’s home.

“A lot of people in the room were asking him to run,” said [Kirk] Wagar, Kerry’s deputy finance chairman and later Florida finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee. “Like I do, a lot of people think he’s the best standard bearer for the party.”

Wagar said the talk that the Massachusetts senator can’t run because he failed in his first bid to oust President Bush is mistaken. But it got a round of laughter Saturday night when comedian Al Franken dryly noted to the Miami-Dade Executive Committee at a fundraiser that Kerry was thinking of running for president in 2008.

“Now that’s something to live for,” Franken said to scattered laughter.

But Wagar noted that Kerry garnered 10 million more votes than any other Democratic candidate.

“Name me one candidate that could have done better in 2004 than John Kerry,” Wagar said. “I don’t think Hillary Clinton would have gotten within 60,000 votes in Ohio.”

Hmmm…that’s a toughie. One Democrat that could have gotten more votes than Kerry. Wait, don’t tell me. Who’s that guy that won the national popular vote in 2000, even in a three-way race that included Ralph Nader? It’ll come to me. Oh yeah! Al Gore.

Sheesh. I only voted for Kerry once (in the general), and it was one of those Michael Dukasis moments: you know it’s bad but it’s marginally better than the alternative. Please don’t make me do that again.

The Bush Admin Burnout In Headlines

Buck Banks

It’s the news, stoopid: In Asia Times, Tom Engelhardt parses the disintegration of the Bush administration in recent weeks and finds the tide has turned — big time. While the entire article is worth a read for its insights, Engehardt’s assessment of the headlines of the day is really telling:

If you want to wet an index finger yourself and hoist it airwards to see which way the winds are blowing, then just check out how the media has been framing in headlines the recent spate of administration attacks. Headline writing is a curious in-house craft – and well worth following. Changing headline language is a good signal that something’s up. When the president attacks, it’s now commonly said that he’s “lashing out” – an image of emotional disarray distinctly at odds with the once-powerful sense of the Bush administration as the most disciplined White House on record and of the president and vice president as resolutely unflappable. Here’s just a small sampling:

The Miami Herald, “President lashes out at critics of Iraq war”; the Associated Press, Cheney latest to lash out at critics; the Buffalo News, Bush lashes out at war critics; even the Voice of America, Bush lashes out at political opponents over Iraq accusations.

In other headlines last week, the administration was presented in post-Oz style as beleaguered, under siege and powerless to control its own fate: The Associated Press, for example, headlined a recent Jennifer Loven piece, Iraq war criticism stalks Bush overseas; the New York Times, a David Sanger report, Iraq dogs president as he crosses Asia to promote trade; and CNN headlined the Murtha events, A hawk rattles GOP’s cage.

The language used in such recent media accounts was no less revealing. Sanger, for example, began his piece this way:

“President Bush may have come to Asia determined to show leaders here that his agenda is far broader than Iraq and terrorism, but at every stop, and every day, Mr Bush and his aides have been fighting a rearguard action to justify how the United States got into Iraq and how to get out.”

While Loven launched hers with, “His war policies under siege at home …”, attributing the siege atmosphere and the Bush “counterattack” to “the president’s newly aggressive war critics”.

Lashing out, stalked, dogged, under siege, counterattacking, fighting a rearguard action – let’s not just attribute this to “newly aggressive war critics”. It’s a long-coming shift in the zeitgeist, as evident in the media as in the halls of Congress.

President Succumbs to Jet Lag

Jon Ponder

Is President Bush too mentally unstable to serve?

The president had called the news session with US reporters at his hotel.

His earlier meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao did not permit media questions.

Mr Bush answered a range of questions before one reporter said:

“Respectfully, sir … in your statement this morning with President Hu, you seemed a little off your game, you seemed to hurry through your statement. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Was something bothering you?”

The president answered: “Have you ever heard of jet lag? Well, good. That answers your question.”

The reporter asked for a follow-up question but the president then thanked the attending journalists and said: “No you may not.”

He strode from the lectern to the door, trying both handles and then breaking into a laugh.

An aide escorted him to the correct exit and on to dinner at the Great Hall of the People.

Cheney’s Five Deferments Vs. Murtha’s Distinguished Service

Jon Ponder

Vice President Cheney’s five deferments from the Vietnam War draft:

  • 1st deferment: Cheney enrolled in Casper Community College in January 1963 — he turned 22 that month — and sought his first student deferment on March 20.
  • 2nd deferment: (student), after transferring to the University of Wyoming on July 23, 1963.
  • 3rd deferment:(student)on Oct. 14, 1964.
  • 4th deferment: attended graduate school at the University of Wyoming on Nov. 1, 1965.
  • 5th deferment: On Oct. 6, 1965, the Selective Service lifted its ban against drafting married men who had no children. Nine months and two days later, Cheney had his first daughter. Cheney applied for 3-A status, the ”hardship”exemption, which excluded men with children or dependent parents. It was granted.

And then there’s Rep. Jack Murtha:

A hawkish Democrat war hero with a highly decorated 37-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps. He volunteered for Vietnam in ’66-’67 and received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with Combat “V”. Retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a colonel in 1990. Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal by the Marine Corps Commandant when he retired. Well-respected by both parties for his first-hand knowledge of military and defense issues, of which he has dutifully served and advised both Republican and Democratic presidents. One of the most effective advocates for a strong national defense. A ranking member and former chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. This rare combination of experience enables him to understand defense and military operations from every perspective. So when Murtha opens his mouth to speak, everyone listens intently.