Month: July 2006

FEMA Likely to Become USEMA, Possibly More Useless

Buck Banks

Name games: Congress Daily is reporting that Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rules Chairman Trent Lott, R-Miss., have reached an agreement to keep the Federal Emergency Management Agency within the Homeland Security Department but give it enhanced powers and protected status.

If Collins and Lott have their way, our beloved FEMA would be transformed into the U.S. Emergency Management Authority, or USEMA, which, I suppose would inevitably be pronounced use-mah.

If we’re serious about reforming FEMA we should do it in a way that we know can be passed into law

The House has been watching this deal-making closely, as it is considering a bill that would separate FEMA from DHS, making it an independent agency again as it was before DHS was created in 2002 — a position Lott had supported. Under the agreement, the FEMA director would report directly to the White House on emergency matters.

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., immediately seized on the announcement to express hope that it will influence House lawmakers. The House leadership plans to put a bill on the floor the week of July 10 with language backed by House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, and House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., that would remove FEMA and make it an independent, Cabinet-level agency.

King was going to introduce an amendment to the bill with language almost identical to the agreement worked out by Collins and Lott.

“This has to show the House that legislation taking FEMA out of DHS is an exercise in futility,” King said. “And if we’re serious about reforming FEMA we should do it in a way that we know can be passed into law, rather than just making a statement.”

The White House has opposed FEMA’s removal from the Homeland Security Department.

This whole debate seems to me to be designed to direct our attention away from the fact that FEMA is staffed at only 75 percent and has made few substantive changes in its operations since its disastrous response to the Katrina disaster last year. Whether it’s under DHS or independent, or whether its director reports to George Bush or Bugs Bunny will likely have little effect on whether FEMA can manage a large-scale emergency.

I reckon we’ll find out in the next hurricane or flood or earthquake, eh?

Ken Lay Dies

Jon Ponder

CNN:

Enron founder Kenneth Lay died early Wednesday in Aspen, a family spokeswoman said. He was 64.

In a statement, spokeswoman Kelly Kimberly said, “The Lays have a very large family with whom they need to communicate, and out of respect for the family we will release further details at a later time.”

In May, Lay was found guilty of nine counts of fraud and conspiracy related to the collapse of Enron, the company he founded that grew into the seventh largest company before it imploded after an accounting scandal.

Bush-Style Mexican Presidential Election: Millions of Uncounted Votes Turn up After Official Tally

Jon Ponder
The race is “officially” too close to call. But they will call it – after they steal it.

Paging Katherine Harris: On Monday, investigative reporter Greg Palast filed a story about the voting in the presidential election in Mexico this week:

As in Florida in 2000, and as in Ohio in 2004, the exit polls show the voters voted for the progressive candidate. The race is “officially” too close to call. But they will call it – after they steal it.

Reuters reports that, as of 8pm eastern time [on Monday, July 3, 2006], as voting concluded in Mexico, exit polls showed Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the “leftwing” party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) leading in exit polls over Felipe Calderon of the ruling conservative National Action party (PAN).

We’ve said again and again: exit polls tell us how voters say they voted, but the voters can’t tell pollsters whether their vote will be counted. In Mexico, counting the vote is an art, not a science – and Calderon’s ruling crew is very artful indeed. The PAN-controlled official electoral commission, not surprisingly, has announced that the presidential tally is too close to call.

Calderon’s election is openly supported by the Bush administration.

Today the Los Angeles Times is reporting that the vote count has gone from disarray into near chaos:

The margin between the two leading candidates for president narrowed suddenly Tuesday after election authorities revealed that about 2.5 million votes had been missing from earlier counts. The announcement meant the race between leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon was still too close to call.

The news of uncounted votes heightened the sense of disarray since Mexico’s polls closed Sunday night.

An initial count of the ballots gave a slim but apparently insurmountable lead to Calderon. On Monday evening, Calderon was leading Lopez Obrador by 402,708 votes, with 98.45 percent of polling stations “processed,” according to official reports.

Dem Message Should Be ‘If You Think War Is Going Well, Vote GOP’

Jon Ponder

Jonathan Alter:

Unless things improve dramatically on the ground in Iraq, Democrats have a powerful argument: If you believe the Iraq war is a success, vote Republican. If you believe it is a failure, vote Democratic.

Isn’t that irresponsible? Not in the slightest. It’s only under Bush that criticizing the conduct of a war has been depicted as somehow unpatriotic. Lincoln was lambasted by opponents during the Civil War as was FDR during World War II. To take a lesser example, some of the same Sean Hannitys of the world who slam antiwar critics were blasting Bill Clinton’s Bosnia policy in 1999 when U.S. planes were in the air over Belgrade.

We’ll see this summer if Democrats begin to get up in the morning, look in the mirror and say, “This isn’t about us. It’s about them.” We’ll see if, when Karl Rove wants to talk about Iraq, the Democrats respond with three familiar words: “Bring it on.”

Fourth of July Fireworks — from North Korea

Jon Ponder

How nice of North Korean leader Kim Jung Il to celebrate the Fourth of July with a fireworks display:

North Korea launched six missiles on Wednesday, including a long-range Taepodong 2 that apparently failed 40 seconds into its flight, U.S. officials said.

The United States said it was urgently consulting other U.N. Security Council members after the launches, which occurred despite repeated warnings against such a move from the reclusive Stalinist country’s neighbors and Washington.

Fortunately, it was the one that built to fly nearly 3,000 miles that failed:

Experts say the Taepodong 2 is a multi-stage missile with a possible range of 3,500-4,300 km (2,190-2,690 miles).

A State Department official in Washington told Reuters a long-range missile, believed to be a Taepodong 2, failed 40 seconds after it was launched.

Even if President Bush had the smarts and the competence to deal with this threat, he doesn’t have the trust of most of his own citizens, much less the confidence of our allies. He’s a walking, talking, one-man security threat.

Bush Admits He Authorized Declassifying Intel to Discredit Joe Wilson

Jon Ponder

National Journal:

President Bush told the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case that he directed Vice President Dick Cheney to personally lead an effort to counter allegations made by former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV that his administration had misrepresented intelligence information to make the case to go to war with Iraq, according to people familiar with the president’s statement…

Bush also said during his interview with prosecutors that he had never directed anyone to disclose the identity of then-covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, Wilson’s wife. Bush said he had no information that Cheney had disclosed Plame’s identity or directed anyone else to do so.

Bushworld Roundup

Trish

Hunt for Bin Laden Officially Abandoned

The CIA has closed down a secret unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials said Monday…

The realignment reflects a view that al-Qaida is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, as well as growing concern about al-Qaida-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

CIA officials said that tracking bin Laden and his deputies remains a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit is not a sign that the effort has slackened.

What Global Warming?

Caribbean sea temperatures have reached their annual high two months ahead of schedule — a sign that coral reefs, including those in the Florida Keys, may suffer the same widespread damage as last year, scientists said Monday.

Sea temperatures around Puerto Rico and the Florida Keys reached 83.48 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday — a high not normally expected until September…

Bush Inflicts Himself on Ft. Bragg Soldiers Yet Again for Annual 4th of July Lie Fest

Bush [told an estimated 3,500 U.S. troops at an outdoor speech at Fort Bragg] that since the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida’s leader in Iraq, coalition and U.S. Iraqi forces have launched more than 190 raids on targets throughout the country, captured more than 700 enemy operatives and killed some 60 more…”

The outlook was less optimistic in Baghdad.

Gunmen in camouflaged uniforms kidnapped Iraq’s deputy electricity minister, Raed al-Hares, and 11 of his bodyguards in eastern Baghdad. The kidnapping occurred three days after gunmen seized a Sunni female legislator in east Baghdad; she and seven bodyguards are still missing.