Quote of the day
posted by Rick at 11:29 AM

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
June 8, 2004

source: Editor & Publisher

Managing up
posted by Rick at 11:48 AM

As global warming feeds cyclones, states are going where Bush won't

TIME.com asked an interesting question Monday: Is global warming contributing to an increase in the ferocity and frequency of hurricanes?

The people of New Orleans are surely not thinking about wind vortices, the coriolis effect or the dampness of the troposphere as they hunker down during hurricane Katrina this morning. They're mostly thinking about the savage rains and 140 mph winds that have driven them from their homes. But it's that meteorological arcana that's made such a mess of the bayou, and to hear a lot of people tell it, we have only ourselves--and our global-warming ways--to blame.

The article says the jury is still out on whether gobal warming increases the frequency of tropical cyclones, but an MIT study shows that the intensity (as measured by the wind speed) of hurricanes is up 50% in the past 50 years.

Actually, the study - recently published in Nature - found that both the top wind speeds and duration of tropical cyclones were up 50% over the past 50 years, and that "these increases in storm intensity are mirrored by increases in the average temperature at the surface of the tropical oceans, suggesting that this warming...is responsible for the greater power of the cyclones."

And still the Bush administration refuses to sign onto the Kyoto agreement. But nine Eastern states are going over Dubya's head to adopt their own version of the Kyoto Protocol, three Western states are poised to follow suit - and there are signs of progress in other places as well. For example, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality recently shut down an Alexandria power plant that feeds the Washington, DC grid for violating federal pollution standards - standards the Bush administration has failed to enforce.

Patriotic Dissent: Missing In Action
posted by Rick at 11:52 PM

Ken Sanders, in his "Politics Of Dissent" blog, issued a stirring appeal to Republican members of Congress to do the right thing. Here's an excerpt:

Love Your Country? Demand Impeachment

Those who, in the name of nationalism disguised as patriotism, would remain silent when faced with the Bush administration's common plan to wage war and torture captives in violation of customary and treaty-based international law; those who would waive their rights while they wave their flags; those who would turn a blind eye to evidence that the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify its preconceived war; they would do well to consider the oath of office taken by all members of the civil service or uniformed services. The oath is not to the President or any other person. Rather, those who take the oath swear to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

I have taken this oath. All members of Congress have taken the same oath, as has every member of the armed services. Every naturalized citizen is likewise sworn to support and defend the Constitution. All of us, regardless of any particular political affiliation, are sworn to support and defend the Constitution. None are sworn to support and defend this or any other President. While the military concerns itself with challenging foreign enemies of the Constitution, it is up to the rest of us to defend the Constitution and the principles it embodies against its domestic enemies. Right now, there is no greater domestic enemy of the Constitution than President George W. Bush.

There is an untruth here. George W. Bush is, to be sure, an awful man who deserves every bit of contempt that can be mustered against him. Unfortunately, though, the threat is much bigger, much more serious, than one demagogue. The legislators from the right wing of the Republican Party don't merely fail to defend the Constitution: they actively participate in the attack on it. Witness the gerrymandering of Texas; witness the closed-door GOP caucuses where major legislation is drafted without the knowledge, let alone the input, of the loyal opposition; witness the across-the-board pandering to religious fundamentalists who would turn our nation into a theocracy; witness, of course, the enthusiastic pursuit of an illegal war of aggression; witness, finally, the extension of the so-called Patriot Act.

And the representatives of the aforementioned loyal opposition, for their part, are either too cowed by the right or too beholden to the same corporate interests to raise their voices. Not one of them has yet, for example, shown up in Crawford to support Cindy Sheehan's call to stop the madness. Instead, the supposed leaders of the opposition party step all over each other as they race to call for still more troops to bolster the occupation of Iraq. The woman who warned the nation of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" now appears to kowtow to the right wing, even as the right continues to vilify her and her husband. It's a tragedy akin to Winston Smith shouting "Long live Big Brother" at the moment of his execution.

'Listen up, you Christo-Fascist bullies'
posted by Rick at 6:55 PM

I love a good rant.

Looking back on the rise of you Christo-fascist bastards, I'm mortified as to how it came to be socially and politically acceptable for you to bandy such vicious and demented assertions in the public arena, without them meeting with the derision they deserve ... And don't bother going into one of your pat victim-swoons over being called on it, because when you go so far as to claim that you alone have been bestowed with the secrets of boundless creation -- and that anyone who chooses not to buy into your version of events will be condemned to the torments of eternal damnation -- then you can bet your fatuous asses that your asinine assertions will be ridiculed. What in the blue blazes did you expect, for us simply to fall to our collective knees before you?

Gravestone sloganeering
posted by Rick at 7:34 PM

The Bush League has reached a new low in exploitation of the dead. The Associated Press reports that families of fallen soldiers are being offered, at no cost (save the lives of their loved ones, of course), the opportunity to embellish the headstone of the departed with one of the catchy PR names the Pentagon uses for their adventures nowadays - names like "Operation Enduring Freedom" and "Operation Iraqi Freedom."

This is, needless to say, a new thing.

The vast majority of military gravestones from other eras are inscribed with just the basic, required information: name, rank, military branch, date of death and, if applicable, the war and foreign country in which the person served.

. . .

Since 1997, the government has been paying for virtually everything inscribed on the gravestones. Before that, families had to pay the gravestone makers separately for any inscription beyond the basics.

It wasn't until the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that the department instructed national cemetery directors and funeral homes across the country to advise families of fallen soldiers and Marines that they could have operation names like "Enduring Freedom" or "Iraqi Freedom" included on the headstones.

I wonder whether DOD would foot the bill if the bereaved family wanted the headstone inscribed with something more honest, like "Bush's Folly" or "illegal war of aggression."

Look at all the middle fingers
posted by Rick at 8:24 AM

According to a story in the Salt Lake Tribune, George W. Bush was amused by the thousands of demonstrators who turned out to protest the Iraq war during his visit to Salt Lake.

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, who accompanied the president, said the president saw the protesters along the motorcade route.
"[Bush] got a chuckle. He said 'Look, look at all the middle fingers.' Frankly, we ought to show respect to the office and the person regardless of what party they come from."

Frankly, the President ought to lead by example. Oh, wait; he did that, didn't he?

Novak's delusions
posted by Rick at 10:28 PM

I just read that Bob Novak, before walking off the CNN set in the little tantrum that earned him an indefinite suspension early this month, accused The Left of "Photoshopping" his images, as he and Katherine Harris allege They do to hers - and as Bill O'Really accused Al Franken and his publisher of doing on the cover of Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look At the Right.

Why on earth would anybody want to do that? Why try to improve on perfection? As you can see from this un-Photoshopped picture of old Bob (honestly, I don't even have Photoshop, let alone know how to use it), nobody needs to do a thing with that mug to make it look bad. I mean, his face is almost as ugly as his so-called journalism! If you ask me, the man is suffering from delusions of mediocrity.

Christianist Mullah issues fatwah
posted by Rick at 7:18 PM

What part of "Thou shalt not kill" does this man not understand?

Pat Robertson's recent declaration that we should send someone into Venezuela to off their populist President Hugo Chavez is just another not-too-subtle reminder that 9/11 was a faith-based initiative.

Cindy's "commercial" ad offensive?
posted by Rick at 8:27 AM

The Clear Channel-owned ABC-TV affiliate in Salt Lake City, KTVX, is refusing to run Cindy Sheehan's message to President Bush, calling it an "inappropriate commercial advertisement for Salt Lake City."

By what definition Ms. Sheehan's message is commercial, I don't know - she's not advertising a product or doing anything related to commerce - but that's not what really has my curiosity aroused. What I wonder is whether KTVX airs those awful "This is Bob" ads, or the grossly offensive Pepto-Bismol ads that show people bending over and grabbing their asses at the mention of diarrhea in the ad's stupid jingle. If it's OK to advertise "male enhancement" and simulate defecation but it's offensive to ask the President for what noble cause he's sent thousands of mothers' sons to their deaths, what have we come to in this country?

If anyone reading this has information about what conmercials do air on KTVX, or how to get a complete list of commercial advertisers whose messages the station accepts, I'd appreciate a comment or an email.

The Abu Ghraib cover-up continues...
posted by Rick at 7:32 PM

So the administration doesn't want to release additonal photos and videos from Abu Ghraib because it would foment unrest. In other words, they think if this stuff were made public, somebody would be really pissed off.

Duh.

Secrecy is not the way to show that we do not use torture. Full disclosure of what has happened in the past, combined with free access to the prisoners by Red Cross and Amnesty International is the way to do that. Three guesses why that's not happening.

Time Out, George
posted by Rick at 11:58 PM

OK, that's it. Time for the grownups to step in and give Georgie a time-out. If only the grownups were in charge of the playground!

We are enmeshed in two wars already, neither of which we are winning. The Taliban are resurgent in Afghanistan, and the Iraqi insurgency is gaining strength every day. The American people are rapidly becoming fed up with the whole sorry mess.

So what's our President's response? He's rattling his saber in Iran's direction. .

"All options are on the table," he said.

I thought for a minute that I was watching old footage from the fall of 2002.

"In all these instances we want diplomacy to work and so we're working feverishly on the diplomatic route and we'll see if we're successful or not."

That's exactly the same thing he said about Iraq. But as we have learned from former administration insiders, he was already dead set on war. He neither had then, nor has now, any desire to see diplomacy succeed. The Cowboy In Chief is itchin' for another fight.

"As I say, all options are on the table. The use of force is the last option for any president and you know, we've used force in the recent past to secure our country."

George, three things.

First, we've heard the line about war being the last resort before - and we're not buying it anymore. You smugly call yourself a "war president," and Americans are finally beginning to understand what you mean. War, although you ran from it when you were of fighting age, is not a last resort for you now that you get to stay home and push the buttons. War is your modus operandi; war is what you do. So don't give us this "last resort" bullshit anymore. We know better.

Second, Americans have also caught onto the fact that you did not use force to secure our country - far from it. In fact, you have made us less secure with your bellicose rhetoric, your "bring it on" bravado, and your warmongering. So your claim of having used force to secure our country ring false. What you used force for was to lash out at someone you didn't like; securing our country was just a pretext - and, as it turns out, a pretense.

And third, your mouth is writing checks your ass can't cash. Well, not that your ass expects to cash them anyway. You and your Vice President and the rest of your chickenhawk administration, when your own asses were on the line, "had other priorities" than putting yourselves in harm's way. But I digress. The point is, you've already - despite warnings from your own advisors - stretched our military to the breaking point. What makes you think you can afford to start a third war? What makes you think the American people are going to stand for it?

Somebody has got to say "enough is enough." If the right-wing rubber-stamp Republicans in Congress don't find a way to rein in their boy, the grown-ups - which is to say, the voters - are likely to pull the plug on the whole bunch of them in about 15 months. And then the quagmire will really hit the fan.