President Bush, spoke in New Orleans today at a charter school on the second anniversary of Katrina’s landfall in the Gulf Coast region of the United States of America. The President of the United States just used an appearance in New Orleans on the Katrina anniversary to push a school choice agenda for his many privitization school-for-profit crony donors. I kid you not.
The front page of The Times-Picayune advertised a scathing editorial above the masthead: “Treat us fairly, Mr. President.” It chided the Bush administration for giving Republican-dominated Mississippi a share of federal money that it said was disproportionate to the lesser impact the storm had there than in largely Democratic Louisiana. “We ought to get no less help from our government than any other victims of this disaster,” it said.
“There’s always a more blessed day in the future and that’s what we’re here to celebrate,” said Bush.
Like his last three visits to New Orleans, including last year’s anniversary trip, the president chose a charter school as his main backdrop. This time, it is the Dr. Martin Luther King Charter School for Math and Science, where Bush could combine hurricane comfort with a favorite and controversial subject: the need for competition and choice in public schooling.
“This town’s coming back,” he said after visiting with educators and students at the school in the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward. “This town is better today than it was yesterday and it’s going to be better tomorrow than it is today.”
No big money GOP money crony left behind, eh, George? SSLS.* There’s a silver money lining in every failure, I suppose.
To be fair to the folks at the MLK School for Science and Technology, this looks like an independent group that has pulled this school together because their community desperately needed it in the aftermath of Katrina and the many governmental problems they were trying to navigate to get anything going. That George Bush would use these people as a photo-op backdrop to push his charter school crony agenda is as unseemly as it is idiotic, given that these folks at the MLK school had to pull this school together by their bootstraps and sheer will in the face of massive Bush Administration failures across the board to follow through on their many unfulfilled promises. The gall of the people in the Bush Administration never ceases to amaze me.
(*Still Smells Like Shit.)
[Photo of "no poop" sign via Auntie P.]
Related posts:
- Flashback: Stockton, California Elementary Students Forced to Hero-Worship George W. Bush in 2002
- NOLA – Four, Three, Two, One, Now
- George W. Bush, Apparently Unironically, to Unveil Public Policy Institute Today at SMU
- Ross Douthat: George W. Bush was a “Good” President
- Disgraceful: In 8 Years, George W. Bush Never Greeted Fallen Troops
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
Christy!
BADA BING!
Blessed my dying fucking atheist ass.
Love the “no poop” sign – thanks Christy & Auntie P.
I’m just glad I wasn’t there.
Have you no shame, Mr. President? Basically just repeating his shameful initial reaction to Katrina when he “surveyed” the scene below from the cozy and “distant” Air Force One.
Biodun @ 6
Republics lack the capacity to feel shame. It’s been replaced by an enhanced capacity to seek plunder.
Queen George needs a dose of Judge Judy:
Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
When he leaves office, we’ll celebrate. Until then, not so much.
Damn! Craig is toast and we’re gonna have to work really hard to get the Idaho Senate seat for LaRocco.
Why?
Because regardless of whether you believe the following transcript or not, it’s been published on the Idaho Statesman website and presumably may show up in the printed edition in some form.
With this, Craig can’t run for reelection. Damn!
The following are not my words. They are the headline on the Idaho Stateman’s website:
Read the transcript from the 40-year-old man who says he had sex with Craig (with audio)
Isn’t scumbag brother Neil Bush running an education scam? Education software marketed to charter schools? I seem to recall scumbag Babs Bush made a “donation” to Katrina relief that was in effect a tax free gift to Neil.
Bush: “Apres moi, le deluge.”
and a bit more from USA Today on Craig’s level of honesty here:
Since GWB has never passed up an opportunity to shove his foot so far down his own throat as to risk turning himself inside out, I am not surprised by his remarks. I purposely turned off radio and TV so that I would not be forced to listen to local coverage of his photo-op glad-handing. The Times-Picayune had some great articles today, and that editorial was spot on. Too bad it had too many multi-syllable words for the shrub to grasp.
jim oconnor @ 11
Ay-yup.
And if you were to dig into the subprime mess, I’ll bet you’d see some of the same names as Bush Rangers and Pioneers…and alumni of the S&L scandal of a few years ago….
Isn’t Bush a few days early? I mean, Katrina didn’t really happen for him until the 31st, right?
jim oconnor @ 11
Exactly-the money from Babs had to go to purchasing educational software that just happened to be sold by Neil. A coincidence, I’m sure!
Private education surely did fail in the case of this president. Mr. Bush is the perfect illustration of the short comings inherent in social-promotion. And the world is the beneficiary of this man’s idiocy. People need to realize that high on the GOP agenda is strangulation of the public school system.
CSPAN 2 is on to a FISA panel sponsored by the Center for American Progress.
I think of Bush as a man who lacks character and never grew up.
Among other flaws.
still smells like shit indeed. not only that, he’s got the opposite of the midas touch…everything he touches turns into shit…
jim oconnor @ 11
Your facts are correct, but not your spin. Much as I hate to defend Bushies, the facts are that Barbara bought a bunch of software and donated it to Katrina victims. She is allowed to deduct this donation. The fact that she purchased it from her son does not diminish the fact that it was a charitable act. She can afford it, no doubt. And she is a cold hearted bitch, too, as evidenced by her “all-in-all, things worked out pretty well” remark and other evidence. But this donation is not a good example.
Is First Brother Neil’s software a scam? I don’t know. Little Einstein (whose creator was lionized by W at a state of the union speech) is definitely a scam. The “program” the included “The Pet Goat” is a scam, in my opinion. (”Program” in quotes, because it is a curriculum, not a computer program.) But I have never heard a criticism of Neil’s software.
Mutant Poodle @ 16
that was a stinger, MP!
Knowledge is power. And the Republican Party, for purely selfish reasons, know full the implications of this. And the GOP is also very aware of the inverse.
Any news of significant protest in N.O., which might possibly have evaded “rally squads” and “free speech zones”?
“free Speech zone” – mutter,curse,mutter.
From the AP piece:
Chimpy’s shallow idea of progress.
Quoth Beloved Leader:
That would be what, Jan 22, 2009?
jayt @ 25
there’s something oxymoronic about “Free Speech Zone”
jayt @ 25
A march in the 9th ward to protest the slow pace of recovery. Wether or not it will be within shouting distance of Himself is unlikely.
jim oconnor @ 11
Yes Babs did. It worked out quite well for them. Neil’s Excite! software is used in Florida’s education system in particular the FCAT or Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
Probably all fifty states use Neil’s dandy software. The Bush Family is nothing if not enterprising.
Jeb invested teachers’ pension money in Enron. Those Bush’s!
Google Neil Bush for some fun. He’s a chip off the old block.
jayt @ 25
Lots in NOLA are struggling to eat not protest.
Jo Fish @ 27
That would be what, Jan 22, 2009?
that sure would be one such blessed day to celebrate!
Before going back to work, I must ask; where was Bab’s, the First Mother?
Jo Fish @ 27
That would be what, Jan 22, 2009?
Hahahahahaha!
Elliott @ 28
Indeed, when the “free speech zone” is supposed to comprise THE WHOLE DAMN COUNTRY, for starters…
Big Mitch @ 22: “But I have never heard a criticism of Neil’s software.”
I can’t imagine anything these whores would sell to the public is of any value.
Jo Fish @ 27
That would be what, Jan 22, 2009?
You’re assuming that the Nov 2008 election was fair.
Badwater @ 37
we’ll be doing all what we can to assure that.
Jo Fish @ 27
Quoth Beloved Leader:
“There’s always a more blessed day in the future and that’s what we’re here to celebrate,” said Bush.
That would be what, Jan 22, 2009?
I noticed yesterday that MSNBC was running a crawl saying “511 days until Inauguration Day, 2009″.
Not quite sure what to make of that one, given the source.
Steve Clemons of the Washington Note is all for impeachment . . . of MS Gov (and former RNC Head) Haley Barbour. Among Steve’s concerns:
* Barbour continues to recieve payments from his former lobbying firm, which is heavily involved in Katrina recovery business;
* He has made numerous nepotism appointments, again tied to Katrina-related recovery;
* Barbour has “a Bill Frist like problem of not being blind about what was inside his blind trust”
Much of the work on the story comes from Bloomberg reporter Timothy Burger, to whom Clemons gives full credit and a link for even more juicy details.
jayt @ 39
I noticed yesterday that MSNBC was running a crawl saying “511 days until Inauguration Day, 2009″.
Not quite sure what to make of that one, given the source.
Intern prank?
Gotta love the sentiment. I was just thinkin’ we need to start a countdown forward.
jayt @ 25:
Protests are indeed planned:
Prairie Sunshine @ 41
Marion from Savannah keeps a running tab for us on facebook.
That day would be January 20, 2009…
Mutant Poodle @ 16
But he knew about it way before it happened…this is an implicit acknowledgement of that fact.
Yesterday, I watched the Nova program about the NOLA flood. Very eye-opening.
As usual the media are blaming the Jews. Said it was the fault of the Levys along the Mississippi.
But seriously folks, what I learned is that years of putting levies up along the mighty Mississip have reduced the amount of silt and run-off with the result that the wetlands surrounding New Orleans have disappeared at an alarming rate — one football field per hour! Wetlands have cool water that sucks up energy from approaching hurricanes, and they support cedar trees that serve as a natural wind blocker. This is offered as an explanation, along with global warming, for the severity of the hurricane.
To remedy the problem there is talk of essentially building another river to deposit silt to the dried-up wetlands, which is a 50-year project. They are repairing the levies to withstand hurricane category 3, but unless this problem with the wetlands is solved, there will be more hurricanes with more intensity. (Katrina and Dean were category 5.)
The other thing that struck me from the Nova show was that they had a plan to deal with keeping the water out of New Orleans, namely, levies and pumps, etc. The problem is that they had no plan to deal with the water if their Plan A failed.
When Chimpy goes for photo op, people ought to know by now that they should run and duck for cover. An American flag, a children’s book, a kid on the lap, all the accoutrements,, while cutting funding and urging people to go against their best interests.
Back atcha Elliott–maybe we all need to put numbers up in our front yards. Our cyber front yards and our world front yards.
Any day Post-Bunnypants will be a Day2Celebrate!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 18
This is no joke. There is plenty of Republican Party literature that can be read on the topic re: destruction of public education. They are not shy about their disdain for (paying for) education (for other people’s kids) in some circles.
Conservative Radio Host Neil Boortz (libertarian shill for republicans) attacks public education almost daily. He sneers and refers to public schools as government schools.
did y’all wish Jacqrat a happy birthday?
Happy Birthday Jacqrat !!
BigMitch @ 22
Mitch,
How in the hell does the purchase of educational software provide a “benefit” to people displaced and made homeless by a hurricane? Explain this to me in simple words so that I can understand the benefits gained for the people of NO, LA who lost their homes and livelihoods and lives.
Big Mitch @46:
A good book you may have read on the history of man’s engineering of the Mississippi River and the 1927 flood:
http://www.amazon.com/Rising-T…..0684840022
God that article. Are there any folks in New Orleans who can stand up and say they don’t want to be a neocon experiment?
the governor of La has been quiet….what is she doing to impress upon bushco the need to rebuild cat-5 levees? in his silly speech i see nothing of substance offered to NOLA…on the other hand ole boy barbour is raking in the dough….co-inky-dink? ohh thats right – he’s the former RNC chairman…and gov of mississippi
Prairie Sunshine @ 48
I kinda like the idea of the front yard. Just the number, dropping down every day.
Geez, over five hundred days left! That seems like such a long time and so much
can gowill go wrong in the meantime.Good ole Neal Bush–always right where he needs to be, by golly. His timing is precise.
juslin @ 56
Kathleen is the lamest of ducks at this point. She is not running for re-election, and I get the feeling that she is just playing out the string.
Small quibble on the Bargoyle donation. My understanding is she donated money but instructed it was to be used to buy her boo-boy’s software.
Bet they had to pay retail.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACQRAT!!!
DaKine, you son-of-a-gun, you are forcing me to defend Bush. Okay, just this once.
People who lost their lives, or their homes and livelihoods were not helped by this particular charitable contribution. However, there are some people who attend schools in NOLA, and have computers there. This software benefits them.
Bushs — every last one of them, and Babs in particular — deserve a special place in hell, right next to the furnace. But not for donating software to schools, and writing it off their taxes.
Jo Fish @ 27
That would be what, Jan 22, 2009?
… we hope.
BigMitch@22:
Not hearing anything bad about Neil Bush’s software is kind of a given seeing that he’s a Bush, isn’t it?
How many Americans know he was involved in the S&L fiasco? For that matter, how many people know JEB was involved in it?
Publicity and Bush complicity in criminal acts do not go hand in hand in this media impaired country.
Happy Birthday, Jacqurat!
Here’s your present: some previous New Orleans free speech.
Any chance Bush will appoint Paul Bremer to oversee the New Orleans rebuilding efforts?
He did such a bang up job in Iraq.
-GSD
P.S If anyone sees Punaise, pass this news story along. Bush’s new French Poodle.
Oh, and Happy Happy Happy to Jacqrat!
Elliott @ 57
Bush has a decent record of 1 outrage per day.
My countdown keychain says that, beginning tomorrow (he’s done his outrage for today), there are 508 outrages to go.
merci, GSD
madmommy@59
thats my feeling as well…but how can you just forget about citizens of your state lameduck status notwithstanding …i bet she’s still on the state payroll…..
New Orleans levies were never built to stand more than a Cat. 3 hurricane. Levies to withstand Cat. 5 would have to have been budgeted congressional appropriations. At what point during the last 27 years would a majority in congress been willing to place separate state interests aside to improve the New Orleans levee’s. Again, are we all set with the San Andreas or New Madrid faults?
juslin @ 70
I agree, but she also knows that she might as well go out in her back yard and talk to a tree, she’s about as likely to get a response from the tree as from the president. Frankly, I think the tree would have more credibility.
Happy birthday, Jacqrat!
BigMitch @ 22
It’s a clever tax scam. Money flows from one hand to another within the Bush family and gets absolved of its tax obligation in the process. Pretty cool. Perhaps my brother and I should write some educational software and donate copies of each others software to some schools. Hell, I could drop my deaconship in the Church of the SaveYer Profit.
Oh by the way. NYT article details scandals since Nov 06 elections here:A Scandal-Scarred G.O.P. Asks, ‘What Next?’. There’s a little popup “Summer of Disruptions” along the left sidebar. It’s non partisan, but you notice the worst they could come up with FOR THE DEMS was a minor party official who kited a couple of checks… The rethug’s list…much more interesting.
Article’s behind a firewall, feel free to FB me to get an email copy of it.
james @ 64
Point taken, the presumption of innocense notwithstanding.
pma @ 71
We were told that the levees would withstand a Cat 3 storm. Turns out though, not so much. The COE built substandard levees and then lied to the residents about it.
I don’t think anybody pays attention to the New Madrid fault, though if it should ever go it would make the Northridge quake look like a walk in the park.
Big Mitch
Babs could have simply made a cash donation to the NOLA school system.
Which would have been the best gift from the school system’s standpoint.
What she did was not improper from a tax standpoint.
But she did make sure in carrying out her philanthropy that charity began at home.
BigMitch @ 62
It’s so slimy. The donation from one Bush goes directly to another Bush. In the process, the first Bush gets a tax write off. That’s suprisingly corrupt, even for the Bush family.
Additionally, there was an immediate need in NO, but not for educational software. There’s no way to spin this other than the Bush family saw a chance to benefit themselves from the tragedy of others. Sadly, that’s no suprise.
dakine01 @ 53
I think this is the EXCITE! or IGNITE! program,and if this is the one I’m thinking of,it’s a big time scam. The”program”consists of a purple projector and a bunch of other crap that’s not only insanely expensive,but also fairly useless to teachers.
pma @ 71
If ships paid a user fee or a toll like the Panama Canal, money could be raised. That would hurt the struggling oil companies, chemical companies and mine operators though.
Trickle down economics has moved all the money to the top. Seems they’re keeping all the money again and not trickling any out on us!
anangryoldbroad @ 80
but all the better to ply you with propaganda
madmommy @ 77
History or Discovery or Weather Channel or someone has done a mockumentary on what the results would be if another 7 or 8 earthquake hit the New Madrid fault. The results would not be pretty by any stretch.
Bush economics: Since the residents or New Orleans were among those who benefited from the $200 dollar tax cuts that occurred in 2002, they should have used the money to improve their defenses against cat 5 hurricanes. Since they did not, the forces of nature destroyed their homes and took their lives. Hey, it’s a free market.
No amount of Bush charity will bring back one American soldier KIA in Iraq. Seems the Bush bums have left a lot of children behind. They’re called orphans.
madmommy @ 77
I know that portions of the Levies failed, but people in New Orleans were long afraid that what they called a “back door” hurricane would likely shove Lake Ponchartrain over the Levees, so New Orleans was always a risk. Given our system, avoidance of the risk was never considered cost effecitive. We have, of course, other continuing risks which, as you say, we don’t talk about.
Musharraf stepping down as Army chief:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t…..350194.ece
OT–
The NY Observer speculates on Craig and ‘08:
dakine01 @ 83
I saw that show. Because that fault hasn’t popped since the early 1800’s, when there was a negligible population, it is off the radar to most people. At least in California they are aware, and have standards in place as far as building codes, etc. There is nothing even remotely like that around the New Madrid. It would be a major disaster to be sure.
OK, OT (but On-Topic for lots of yesterday):
TPM links to this hysterical video apropos of Senator “I’m Not GAY” Craig.
pma @ 71
Is it possible to build them to withstand a Cat. 5 storm?
Re: NOLA:
I keep remembering the words of one “expert” in the aftermath of Katrina:
“New Orleans quite naturally just wants to be a lake.”
madmommy @ 89
I grew up in KY and that earthquake was always taught in the schools I think because of the story of the Mississippi river running backwards.
LS @ 87
boy, I don’t know the back story on this, what kind of person is Sharif? Does anyone know?
There is something to be said for privatizing education. Look how good it has worked in healthcare.
This is another aspect of Bush’s ownership (i.e. You’re on your own, Jack) society: Privatize Social Security, sell bad loans to folks so they can “own” their “own” homes for a few months before the foreclosure. This is an Administration that will try to steal and dump on others until its very last minute in office. These are crooks. It is what they do, and they will keep doing it until January 2009 or until they are impeached. It’s that simple.
Fern @ 91
It would be prohibitively expensive, and perhaps the money would be better spent by restoring the barrier islands and marshland that is all but gone now. Levees are but one way to protect from major flooding. The Dutch managed to figure it out, though it took decades and quite a bit of money. I guess it all comes down to priorities. Everyone wants the oil and natural gas that flows through Louisiana, as well as all the goods that enter the port, but protecting those routes that benefit all of us is quite another matter.
Fern @ 91
The problem with that question is that it’s far more than just making the levees bigger and bigger. The degradation of the ecology all around NOLA sharpens and increases the effects of incoming hurricanes. Until that’s addressed — and it’s a 50-75 year project, so good luck on the funding and perseverance there — simply building things up high enough and strong enough isn’t good enough.
Gosh! Katrina is and was so important and so revealing of what’s wrong in our Federal Government and how wrong things are going, still. And I honestly still feel so much compassion for all that are still suffering and some still dying due to the neglect. But I must say, the discussion that is going on on Cspan2 right now about FISA is sooo important and so absorbing, I wish all of this country was hearing it.
We now have international organizations monitoring our economy for corruption……..What we need is “international oversight” of the administration. Our congress sure isn’t doing any…….
http://www.democraticundergrou…..15;2970370
Calls grow louder for international overview of U.S. markets
Source: Int. Herald Tribune
By Heather Timmons and Katrin Bennhold
Published: August 28, 2007
Loan crisis blamed on lax regulators
Politicians, regulators and financial specialists outside the United States are seeking a role in oversight of American markets, banks and rating agencies in the wake of recent problems related to subprime mortgages.
Their argument is simple: The United States is exporting financial products, but losses to investors in other countries suggest that American regulators are not properly monitoring the products or alerting investors to the risks. “We need an international approach, and the United States needs to be part of it,” said Peter Bofinger, a member of the German government’s economics advisory board and a professor at the University of Würzburg.
While regulators in the United States have not been receptive to the idea in the past, analysts said that Europe and Asia have more leverage this time around. Washington might have to yield if it wants to succeed in imposing bilateral regulations on state-owned investment funds from emerging economies.
“America depends on the rest of the world to finance its debt,” Bofinger said. “If our institutions stopped buying their financial products, it would hurt.”
Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/20…..ss/reg.php ___
Banks and investment funds from China to France were recently hit with heavy losses after buying mortgage-related securities and complex financial products originating from the United States. In many cases, investors were caught by surprise because American rating agencies gave the products top ratings, leading buyers to believe there was little risk. International investors are also asking why American banks were allowed to give mortgages to home buyers who could not repay them.
“In a globalized economy with hedge funds, leveraged buyouts and all these investment funds, we have to ask the question about more transparency,” said Claude Bébéar, the chairman of the supervisory board of AXA, one of the world’s largest insurers.
Half a dozen U.S. banking and financial regulators – including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve Board – would not comment. Several mentioned, however, that they were not the sole regulators of the subprime market.
In Europe, the credit crisis appears to have emboldened those who have pushed for stricter international rules for some time.
The German government was rebuffed by Washington and London earlier when it pushed for an international code of conduct for hedge funds. Now some economic advisers to the German government are going further, suggesting that rating agencies should be nationalized, that large-scale loans be registered publicly and that minimum standards be developed for complex debt securities.
http://www.democraticundergrou…..215;303605
[CHS notes: As has been noted a number of times previously, we do not allow the use of nicknames of actual people who are public figures on this blog — unless, of course, you are actually that person in real life. Please select another nickname to post under — or we’ll be forced to simply start deleting your comments, which I would prefer we not have to do. This information is useful for discussion, but we don’t allow impersonations under names of public figures — period. Other people have had to change nicknames in the past for the same reason — this is a firm policy for some very good reasons, and we are sticking to it. Thanks.]
Hugh @ 95
Quite right. Rather formulaic. Did Shrub take any questions from plants today?
dakine01 @ 93
Yes, that’s where I first heard of it. But do a little digging. There’s no earthquake code building in the area. Also, the new madrid fault lies on relatively stable rock, which will transmit the effects far further than happens in CA. We get an earthquake, it’s got a pretty small radius, because the broken crumbly ground absorbs it. But when NM goes, it will shake that bedrock and the effects will cover FAR more area than ours. It’s a disaster waiting to happen, but no one knows when.
Ann in AZ @ 98
Summary? No audio here.
other than bushco asking for an additional $50 BILLION for the “surge” where’s the funds for NOLA?? empty rhetoric just wont cut it…
LS @ 87
Obviously, a War Czar is needed. We could loan them ours – he seems to have *lots* of time on his hands.
Hugh @ 95
Hustlers, one might say?
BigMitch @ 84
No, they did not misuse their money.
Bush specifically encouraged Americans to SPEND that money, not to invest it in strengthening the infrastructure of their cities.
juslin @ 102
What if he buttons his shirt correctly? Would that help?
Christy, I am so glad you addressed this. I listened to much of the President’s speech. If I tried to write my response to it, my words would not have been as clear, succint, or profanity-free.
The entire for-profit school model is a sham. “Let business manage education – big business can do it better than the government” is one of the most ridiculous lies out there. Just like “global warming doesn’t exist”, there is more than enough evidence to show that this is blatantly false – and it is a meme pushed by those who will profit from getting others to believe their lies.
I did overhear a quick quip on CNN today: apparently, one of the teachers of the school Bush was visiting told her students that they should not express any complaints to the President, but instead they can talk freely about their concerns to Oprah (who I’m guessing must be visiting). The reporter said the kids were sitting with their lips zipped, apparently taking to heart the old saying, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
madmommy @ 96
Thanks for the response – that was kinda where I was going. It does not require a city on the scale of New Orleans, though, to manage the oil and gas and shipping. And I wonder if it would not be more cost effective and humane in the long run to relocate people to higher ground in the area – maintaining community and kinship ties – as opposed to dumping and abandoning people all over the country as has been done.
Fern @ 91
I don’t know, but it is possible to build them to come much closer to withstanding cat. 5.
At the time, I wasn’t shocked when the levies were overcome, whether by topping or undermining. What I was shocked by was the four or five days people on rooftops and in the Superdome with no rescue helicopters and the country’s highest officials saying, “problem?”
At the time, I kept thinking about my own experience in 1968. I was stationed in Okinawa when the Pueblo was taken. Within 48 hours, I found myself in Korea, just south of the DMZ, with one C141 after another bringing in troops and equipment from all over the world. This was coincidental with the Tet offensive in Viet Nam. So, in Katrina, I kept thinking, “Is this what we’ve come too – so weak we can’t even help these people stranded in New Orleans?”
Elliott @ 94
One of these three people will be dead within a year….my money’s on Bhutto.
Elliott @ 94
He’s a flake and like all Pakistani politicians corrupt. He presided over the Kargil conflict with India and Pakistan’s first nuclear tests.
I can’t think of a single thing he did as Prime Minister which actually improved the life of ordinary Pakistanis.
Biodun @ 88
In hindsight, the optimum would have been for Craig to run for re-election and have this story break late in the campaign. And perhaps that’s why it broke now.
juslin @ 102
other than bushco asking for an additional $50 BILLION for the “surge” where’s the funds for NOLA?? empty rhetoric just wont cut it…
lord, this is *such* a good opportunity for Congress to regain some of its dignity. That being said, you’ll pardon me if I’m don’t hold my breath…
juslin @ 102: oh, Congress has earmarked money for NOLA. It’s just that the feds have tied it up so that the wealthier people and corporations get the money first, and then the “faith-based” groups get a lot of the money (with no oversight as to how they’re spending it – not to mention how they are free to spread whatever religious message they want courtesy of our taxpayer dollars). The poor people – oh, they get very little of the money. I forget the actual numbers they cited on CNN today, but it was rather staggering how many billions have been earmarked but not distributed 2 years after the storm. And CNN said that the middle-income and poor people are the ones who are the last to get help. The government doesn’t care about them – they want them to just go away. Disperse to various places and turn Louisiana red again.
Makes my stomach turn.
Are we done talking about REPUBICAN
the next catasrophic levee disaster is tee’d up for the Sacramento area. Many new housing developments could be under 20 ft. of water, or something like that.
Hugh @ 111
So, what you’re saying is – he’s Pakistan’s Bush?
89, 93
A friend of mine was commuting through St Louis one summer on a contract software job. His description of the city – and he’s aware of the New Madrid fault – was “The world market for used brick is not that big.”
If the cities and towns in the area from Kansas City to Cincinnati to Vicksburg don’t have some kind of seismic-safety standards for construction, they need to put some in place, before they end up as part of the used-brick market.
landofthefree @ 114
I agree wholeheartedly, however, the use of the term “feds” feeds into right-wing drown the government rhetoric.
A better way of phrasing it would be to replace “feds” with “Bush appointed officials.”
i cant listen to chimpy…i rely on reports of what he lies about…after 2 years displaced NOLA residents are no closer to getting home – i can only imagine how it feels to lose a home and in some sad cases family members….
punaise @ 116
I grew up below Folsom Dam. And if the levees go in the delta and elsewhere, it will make NO look like a party. Why do people live and build on the flood plain? Of course I suppose one could ask why I live in Tornado Alley. ;0)
PB (peanut butter) @ 101
Program from the Center for American Progress. They have some panelists I’m not terribly familiar with, but one is Mickey Edwards, R-OK Rep from 1977-1993. The subject is what to do about FISA and Mickey pointed out that this recent FISA expansion was basically gamemanship and that Dems actually gave the Pres even more than he asked for. More importantly, the point was brought up that if the Executive Branch withholds information that the Congress needs in order to make more reasonable laws, what should be done. Mickey so marvelously explained that it’s so simple. If the Pres won’t budge, then Congress should withhold what he wants, funding. He doesn’t understand (as I don’t) why this concept is so hard for this congress to understand. Mary Derosa, Mort Halperin, and Kate (I can’t remember her name, but I’ve seen her before–she reminds me of Marcie)are the other panelists. I have it on my TV, but it’s also available on the C-Span website. I wonder if it’s available to watch from archives? Update: that would be Kate Martin.
punaise @ 116
Yup. Ironic for a desert state with massive water issues, but there you go.
james @ 119
I disagree with your take on the term “feds”. “Feds” is just an abbreviation for federal government. I don’t think it’s a gooper-specific term, nor does it promote the popular right-wing meme that government is a major bureaucratic mess that impedes progress.
I do agree with your point that it makes more sense to be more specific about the Bush administration’s role in steering the government to help the businesses and wealthy (i.e. those who will give them the circle jerk to keep the Republicans in power) and ignoring the poor and needy (those who have little power and lean to the Democratic party ideals).
after the neglect shown by bush-appointed officials – thanks james – what NOLA voter – if they’re still able to vote – would even THINK of voting red….
punaise @ 116
And the legislature isn’t going to do anything to prepare for it either, because it might require raising taxes on (oh the horror of it all!) Wealthy Republicans. — Like making people pay the full registration fee (aka ‘car tax’) on that Hummer they’re tooling around in, or making them pay sales tax for buying a car out of state.
Ann in AZ @ 122
I don’t have any proof of this but I do believe that part of the situation with this Preznit is if he doesn’t get his way and get the funding as he requests, he is quite willing to let the money run totally dry and deny funds transfers so that he can blame others for not letting himhave his way.
Petulant? Yes
Arrogant? Yes
Beyond belief? Yes
There is a story up on Rawstory about Conyers saying impeachment not off his table…I can’t get to the page..
All current Pakistani politicians, Benazir Bhutto, Nawal Sharif, Musharraf, are thoroughly corrupt. Benazir’s husband was known as “Mr. 10 percent” when she was in power because he skimmed 10 percent off of every fee and everything. Her father, Ali Bhutto, who was executed, was also corrupt. Ali Bhutto was executed by his successor, General Zia, another corrupt leader. Pakistan is way up there in the list of the world’s most corrupt countries.
I wonder if Bush brought his own lighting team to stage a photo op in the 9th Ward today. Could he find some cute little black girls in poor areas to hug, to pretend like he cares about them, to pretend like he’s going to make their horror disappear, just like he did almost two years ago?
Huh – something tells me that those kids wouldn’t trust that The President of the United States really wants to help them. So little has changed for the poor people of the Gulf Region in two long, painful years.
I’ll just never forget the staged photo ops he did in New Orleans and other gulf coast cities in the weeks after the storm. And still, he has steered his goverment to let the little people suffer, while fattening the wallets of his cronies. Shame.
Bush will not push for help for the displaced victims of Katrina. He believes that people should sink or swim on their own. It really is that simple. He is truly no mystery.
Are we done talking about REPUBLICAN Senator Craig of Idaho? I hope not.
On the Ed Schultz radio show we just heard from a local practitioner in the county where REPUBLICAN Senator Craig’s conviction occurred. He had an interesting insight.
Change of pleas, as they are called here in Alaska, are accomplished by petitioning the court in Minnasota. The petition has been all over the web, so you can view it for yourself. What this local practioneer added was the fact that as you would expect there are forms for this proceedure, and normally, all that occurs is that someone writes in the defendant’s name and some other information. This petition was re-typed and changed in one material respect: it did not contain a waiver or the right to counsel.
The significance is that someone was taking great care in this matter. It is unlikely that the prosecutor re-typed the agreement, and ommitted this important waiver of rights. This suggests that the REPUBLICAN Senator was represented, and trying to downplay this fact or consciously mis-represent it.
I personally hope that it gives him grounds to withdraw his plea.
JF @ 117
I don’t know about that. Pakistan has a history of military governments interspersed with weak, corrupt civilian administrations. A lot of people, including Pakistanis, have pointed to India’s emergence as a major player in the world economy and compared it to Pakistan’s stagnation.
A Nawaz Sharif or Benazir Bhutto if either becomes Prime Minister will reward those in their parties, perpetuating the culture of corruption. They will try to gather greater power to themselves both to protect themselves and reduce the power of others. What is missing in all this is any serious attempt or plan to develop the country.
jim oconnor @ 36
Anything the Bush Family gives away is suspect. What kind of content was in the teaching software?
What kind of facts? What kind of bias? They don’t even care enough to go outside of their powerful rich family to make a donation. Just think of the PR they would have garnered if they had done it differently. The muggy bubble they have been living in has molded their uber class minds. Long live New Orleans!!!!!!
LS @ 128
Is this what you’re looking for?
http://rawstory.com//news/2007….._0829.html
http://video.google.com/videop…..9028588216
LS @ 128—Here’s the video I believe….
dakine01 @ 127
Yes, but that presumes that the Congress has no further alternatives. They need spines and they need to consider starting impeachment proceedings to break his will. Another point that was brought up is that the VP simply does not believe in the Constitution; that he believes that if the President does it, it legal. This discussion has also brought up the fact that the fourth amendment is not just some law that the Congress recently wrote, like FISA, but it is part of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and therefore is not so readily dismissable. It is my premise that they need to repeal the fourth amendment before they go even to the lengths they’ve already gone to. This discussion has also gone into the fact that the President and officials are not the only ones that have the information that the Congress needs, that thousands of underlings also have it. Also, that it is not up to the President to decide who in Congress should get certain pieces of information, that is something for the Congress itself to decide. (a great quote just came up from Mickey-the Congress does not need the President’s permission for anything–period.) Truly a great discussion.
dakine01 @127:
And, dumb.
I don’t care what anyone says about Ivy League graduate degrees. During his petulant obit for Alberto Gonzales, he actually had to turn a page and read to see what the substance was through which his friend’s “good name” had been dragged.
I’m serious, “…and had his good name dragged through the (pause, page turn, squint, sign of recognition) mud.”
Right after Katrina hit I found a lawsuit filed against the Army Corp of Engineers in the mid 90’s by a engineering contractor. The company had found that the levees would not hold because the sheet piling was not deep enough. There was mostly soggy peat under the levees. The company wanted to stop the work and make a plan to do it properly. They lost the suit because the contract they signed created a legal situation where they had to finish the poorly planned work. I have lost the pdf file and cannot provide the facts. Clearly, the corp know what they were doing was not ever going to stand up to even a high Cat 2 storm.
The right-wing control freaks of the Republican party have been trying to take over schools for a long time. They’ve made a strong push in the past 10-20 years to push “charter schools” with public funds (which drains money from the public schools, many of which do not require certified teachers AND pay their teaching staff much lower than public schools).
They’ve also made a very successful concerted effort to take over PTAs and school boards across the country.
The goal is simple: to control what is being taught. To push their pro-business, pro-Christianist, anti-science, anti-feminist, revisionist history agenda.
There was a very interesting bit about this (featuring Ralph Reed) in Christiane Amanpour’s documentary on “God’s Warriors – Christian Warriors”. The report did a good job of showing how the takeover of the schools was an acknowledged agenda of the far right fundies. You couldn’t help but draw parallels between this and the closed-minded religious fundamental public schooling in other cultures that American society is supposed to reject.
Marymcmurrin: yes, I would be VERY skeptical of whatever the Bush admin is touting as “good” software to give away to schools. Especially since Neil is the one who is profiting from it.
p.s. just a disclaimer in case anyone thinks I’m giving an anti-Christian rant here – I’m a Christian who believes the public schools should not alter sound scientific and historical instruction to advance any religious agendas. I don’t like people forcing their religious beliefs (or non-beliefs) on others. While I’m not against anything with religious connotations at school (I actually think that understanding the tenets of other religious is very important, if taught honestly. I don’t like organized public prayer in school. However, the “don’t you dare sing a religious song at school” idea seems silly.) I think that public school instruction should be free of religious bias and influence, and free of teaching “morality”. That’s what the family is for.
marymccurnin @ 140
For some time now, the main mission of the Corps has been to perpetuate itself.
In California, people build on the flood plains because builders/land speculators have paid to disrupt Federal, State, and local land use reg enforcement.
Outside of the most urbanized counties, the county Board of Supervisors is usually the wholly-owned creature of the Chamber of Commerce/ local fat cats.
Land use regs? – hey, grease the Supes and you’re OK.
The flooding when the next huge seismic event hits the Delta will be wholly predicted and – coming when the State is in crisis – almost beyond help.
Don’t look for the Feds to help – they’re too busy handing over Federal Bureau of Reclamation assets to the private landowners who poisoned the South San Joaquin Valley with polluted ag runoff.
Want details of what’s happening with your tax dollars?
Sucker – DiFi wants it all secret.
Oh – those assets?
Water – obtained at taxpayer expense through Federal public works.
And the Ag lords of the Westlands Irrigation District are about to receive that water – because they poisoned their own lands.
They can sell it to cities – for a vast profit.
That’s what the Feds and DiFi are doing on CA water issues.
DiFi helps keep the whole thing secret – ex-Bushies from Interior hired on to Westlands so they could lobby their cronies for one more orgy of looting:
Sure – Bushies from Dept of Interior are just scrupulous about recusal from extractive industry deals. That’s why so many of them keep getting Federal prison time for it…
In the meantime, whole subdivisions of starter homes sit on the bottom of vast aquaria – just waiting for the “big one” to drown the kids where they sleep.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 121
There is a wiki page dedicated to alternative Katrina theories here.
more on the Bushies’ 24 billion dollar gift to about 600 families:
[h/t CA progress report - emphasis by kjm]
Been lurking for a long, long time.
Couldn’t resist a quick comment.
Katrina was ‘only’ a cat 3 when it made its second landfall at the Pearl River. It had weakened significantly prior to landfall.
It was also one of the best-forecast storms in NHC history.
( http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ )
Love the Lake. Thanks for the dose of sanity!
madmommy @ 89
Actually, building codes were updated in the very late 80’s and early 90’s to require all new construction to account for seismic activity. It’s the older buildings that will suck majorly as there’s no comprehensive plan (that I’m aware of) for retrofits. I recall in 1990 there was a big scare that New Madrid would go and lots of scams were going around, but many local officials decided it was time to ‘fix things’. However, I don’t think retros were included in the ‘fix’.
The biggest issue with New Madrid is the size of land mass that will be affected by a major (7. ) quake. The area of affect will include every state east of the Mississippi and every state that borders the River on the west. The further away from the epicenter, the less damage. But, the major cities that will have significant damage from a major quake will include, Des Moines, Chicago, Quad Cities, Rochester, St Louis, Nashville, Memphis, Kansas City, Jackson, Little Rock, and all points inbetween, and maybe Louisville and Indianapolis. It’s not going to be pretty and will make the tsunami of 2004, the Pakistan/Afghan quake in 2005, and most likely the Quake of 1906 look like a semitruck passing by in comparison.
There’s a local legend in Fort Madison, Iowa, that claims that the bluffs a few miles from the River were created by the 1811/12 quakes. The bluffs are a couple hundred feet in height.
Oh, the experts have odds of 9 in 10 for a 6. New Madrid quake by 2040 (or sometime in the next 30 years).
All this discussion of earthquakes – I’ve been looking at earthquake maps for the last little while and have noticed that central and coastal Peru has been seismically very – lively – the last two weeks. Is this typical? Any implications for seismic activity further north?
Fern @ 148
Peru is part of the ‘ring of fire’, so seismic activity is not unusual. However, the 7.whatever quake a week or so ago is unusual. Quakes 7. and above are unusual anywhere, but not uncommon. The ‘ring of fire’ is basically the land masses around the Pacific Ocean rim and have a higher rate of seismic activity than other parts of the world. The higher activity in Peru now is no indication of what will happen anywhere else in the world.
JIMBO @ 146
That is so true. It was a very large storm but the strength was a Cat3. And it was only a flood because Bush cut the money requested for repairs due to Iraq. I’ll bet the monies for all of those stolen Iraq weapons could have made a big difference in pre-Katrina planning & upkeep. And let’s face it, when those trucks finally got into the stadium, the water was only a couple of inches deep. I’ll never forget that–when the supply trucks came across the bridge and into the stadium, there wasn’t any water. Those people were meant to die and everybody knows it. We all had front row seats to that situation.
And Jimbo, congrats on the delurk!!
Fern @ 91
IIRC, the Dutch thought so. Their own North Sea dikes are built to withstand a “10,000-year” storm — one so strong it can be expected only once in ten thousand years. Though with global warming, perhaps that figure has been eroded….
ccmask @ 151
Happy to be here.
I have friends who do EMT work and were in NOLA after Katrina.
They were amazed at the lack of coordination, and the cascade of failure in planning and response to Katrina.
Particularly bizarre given that the NHC did its job particularly well.
I know i AM LATE but anyhow- msnbc asshole reporting from NO- holding up todays Times Pic and pointing to “thankyou” directed towards the folks that helped out.
However- didn’t point out anything regarding the Editorial you are posting. What else is new? Watch the pbs show re the storm. Not a doubt in those folks minds- the destruction in NO was MANMADE!
Regarding those charter schools:
________________________________________________
With a few exceptions, the state of Louisiana essentially now controls the public school system in New Orleans. There is little local control. The state has subcontracted much of the work of education to willing charter schools.
Of the public schools operating at the end of the 2006-2007 academic year, charter schools were educating 57 percent of public school students.
This makes New Orleans the urban district with by far the highest proportion of publicly funded charter schools in the nation. Dayton, Ohio has the second-highest concentration of charter schools, involving 30 percent of its 17,000 students.
This experiment has resulted in a clearly defined two-tier public school system.
The top tier is made up of the best public and charter public schools, which most children cannot get into, and a number of new and promising charter public schools that are available for the industrious and determined parents of children who do not have academic or emotional disabilities.
The second tier is for the rest of the children. Their education is assigned to the RSD (some are already calling it “The Rest of the School District”).
Read the rest here:
http://schoolsmatter.blogspot……leans.html
Prof @ 10
After what Craig did it’s amazing the Repubs would run someone named Sali.
punaise @ 117
Levee repairs there being blocked by Rep. John Doolittle….who kept insisting on building a dam at Auburn…on an active earthquake fault!
I suspect Doolittle is in with realtors who have bought up the land along the prospective waterline of the new reservoir!
BigMitch @ 133
There are police records indicating that Craig called the police a week after the incident angry that he hadn’t been told anything (he also lied to one officer about being handcuffed in the incident). Two separate officers reported that Craig wanted a contact number for the prosecuting attorney for “my law firm” or for “my lawyers”.
It will likely turn out that they Asst. District Attorney handling these cases will disclose that Craig’s lawyers DID contact him.