Day: May 8, 2007

Griffith Park Is On Fire – No Word on Status of Los Angeles Zoo

Jon Ponder

The fire in Griffith Park in Los Angeles has spread to 150 acres. Local news is preempting other shows but no word so far on the status of the Los Angeles Zoo, which is in the park.

UPDATE: (7:15 PM) Finally saw a report on the zoo. The fire was close but not a direct threat. One official said most of the animals were “too fragile” to move in any case. Local TV has gone back to regular programming, which is invariably a sign that the situation is under control and not newsworthy. (On the other hand, it is sweeps month.)

UPDATE: (5/9/07 – 5:15 AM) 600 acres have burned but so far the flames have not endangered the zoo, the Griffith Park Observatory, the Greek Theatre or other structures. However, the city has called for mandatory evacuations of homes in a Los Feliz neighborhood adjacent to the park.

Bush Whines to Texas Friends: Nobody Understands Me

Jon Ponder

In the 2000 campaign, we were told that George Bush doesn’t read polls. Unlike Bill “Finger-in-the-Wind” Clinton, Bush knew his own mind and besides he had his finger on the pulse of regular Americans. In reality, of course, he doesn’t need to read the polls since Karl gives him a full briefing every morning.

“His inability to harvest experience, and so to think and form successful judgments, is just so inexplicable.”

A story at HuffPost appears to confirm that Bush is not only aware he’s tanking in the polls, he’s whining about it:

[We’re] hearing that some big money players up from Texas recently paid a visit to their friend in the White House. The story goes that they got out exactly one question, and the rest of the meeting consisted of The President in an extended whine, a rant, actually, about no one understands him, the critics are all messed up, if only people would see what he’s doing things would be okay…etc., etc.

This is called a “bunker mentality” and it’s not attractive when a friend does it. When the friend is the President of the United States, it can be downright dangerous. Apparently the Texas friends were suitably appalled, hence the story now in circulation.

There’s no hope George Bush will learn anything from his failed presidency. What his party might learn from it is an open question.

Update: Trish saw this article at ABC News — 18 Big GOP Donors Dine With the Queen — which may offer a clue to the identities of the “Texas friends” who were subjected to Bush’s whining.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

Television is the literature of the illiterate, the culture of the lowbrow, the wealth of the poor, the privilege of the underprivileged, the exclusive club of the excluded masses.

— Lee Loevinger, Federal Communications Commission, 1966.

Writing the Book on Iraq Reconstruction

Buck Banks

Wasteful reading: The plot is thick, the characters familiar. The inspector general tasked with overseeing the Iraq reconstruction has been criticized by disgruntled former employees for using agency resources and personnel to produce a book along the lines of the 9/11 Commission Report about the reconstruction. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen is currently the subject of an ongoing investigation that some believe might have been instigated from the White House due to the agency’s occasional (gasp!) criticisms of the Bush adminsitration’s handling of the decon … er … I mean reconstruction of Iraq.

Waste represents a transgression that is less than fraud and abuse, and most waste does not involve a violation of law.

SIGIR spokeswoman Denise Burgess said the project, called the “Story of Iraq Reconstruction,” or SIR, is a “capping report” that will present SIGIR’s unique perspective on the reconstruction, including the period before oversight was established.

“What it’s not going to be is a publication with a whole bunch of reports in it,” Burgess said, explaining that it would use a narrative style to appeal to a wide audience. Citing the Iraq Study Group report and the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission as models, she said the SIR project would “drill up” to capture the full picture of reconstruction.

Burgess said plans for publishing the report still are being fleshed out, but it is expected to be complete by the end of 2007. She said she did not know the size of the team working on it, but said it consisted of in-house employees, though she said contractors have done much of the writing for the IG’s quarterly reports to Congress and three lessons learned reports.

But, in a plot twist eerily similar to the firing of federal prosecutors, some have seen the heavy hand of the White House behind the yearlong investigation:

Some news reports have suggested that the investigation could be a form of retaliation by administration officials against Bowen, whose office often has been critical of the reconstruction effort.

White House spokesman Tony Snow also has said there is no link between the White House and the investigation, noting that “when people raise allegations, somebody is going to look into it.”

So who can blame Bowen for wanting to protect his reputation in these days of legacy-building? Meanwhile, he continues the difficult task of overseeing the rebuilding of a ruined country:

In February, Bowen worked with the head of the Government Accountability Office and IGs at the State and Defense departments to come up with a common definition for “waste.” The overseers agreed that “waste represents a transgression that is less than fraud and abuse, and most waste does not involve a violation of law. Rather, waste relates primarily to mismanagement, inappropriate actions or inadequate oversight.”

Whew! I’m glad we finally got that “waste” definition out of the way four years into the thing. Now we can carry on with the real job of rebuilding. Once we definitively define it, that is.