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Archive: September 2nd, 2005
it’s not just recovery, mr. president
randomduck | 
02/09/2005 | 
2 Comments
Sayeth the so-called President of the United States:
“This recovery will take years.”
It’s not just a recovery, Mr. President, that will take years. We must also adjust to a post-oil economy.
We’re past peak oil production, according to multiple estimates, and the U.S. (from the government down to the people) hasn’t yet altered its behaviors to take this into account. Lip service is given to true energy alternatives, while tax breaks, relaxed emissions standards and trivial adjustments in CAFE standards are put forth as so-called “progressive change” in energy policy.
Whatever.
Mr. Bush, while I’m happy that you are finally on-site and consoling the people of the Gulf Coast, you should’ve been there earlier (and you shouldn’t have diverted needed National Guard resources for a photo op, either). The rest of your administration should’ve also been in action rather than on vacation – we don’t elect people to take huge amounts of vacation, we elect them to run the country.
This flippant reaction to a disaster that is already larger in scope and effect than 9/11 is criminal. Yes, you’re one the ground now, and some supplies are making their way into town. But it’s many days late (many years late in terms of the FEMA warnings) and many dollars short – and at the expense of lives that could’ve been saved had you acted appropriately in the first place.
nola: time to get political
randomduck | 02/09/2005 | Comments Off
In the midst of tragedy, getting political is a raw, touchy subject. But ignoring the white elephant in the corner of the room isn’t going to help, so here goes…
Courtesy of Ned Sublette (as seen at Boing Boing – bolding is mine):
as new orleans, now exclusively populated by a starving, parched skeleton crew of the abandoned descendants of slaves, comes apart at the seams:
the right has gotten their wish. they successfully made government ineffective. this is what happens when you take away the power of government. the point of effective government is to keep this from happening to society. and there is no better poster boy for the ineffectivity of government than the sitting president.
the literal meaning of homeland security is that you secure the land you live on, no? by now the absolute vacuum of leadership is becoming apparent even to TV viewers.
in his eerie disconnectedness to what’s going on around him, isn’t it starting to seem like bush is heavily medicated? he’s *zonked*, right?
do they have him take these long vacations so they can change his meds? what’s going on here?
he’s got to go. he’s got to go *now*.
The Democratic Party needs to mobilize now: get their troops out in the trenches, not only helping in person and in legislative action, but also by pointing out what four-plus years of gutting the federal government to give tax breaks to the rich, as well as over-stretching our armed forces, has done to weaken our country.
If anything, NOLA shows how precariously close this country is to complete anarchy at any given time. And weakening the largest oversight organization – the federal goverment – only tips the scales further towards potential disorder and disaster.
So, President Bush: are you happy now?
presidents and hurricanes
randomduck | 02/09/2005 | Comments Off
I found this over on the LiveJournal LJDemocrats community and felt compelled to share (copied as-is from the LJ site – excuse grammatical mistakes, etc.). The bit on Dubya is a little stale, but still relevant, in context.
How SHOULD a President Respond to Impending Disaster
In September 1999, Hurricane Floyd – a category 3 – was bearing down the Carolinas and Virginia.
President Clinton was in Christchurch, New Zealand – meeting with President Jiang of China (you know, actually working). He made the proclamation that only Presidents can make and declared the areas affected by Floyd “Federal Disaster Areas” so the National Guard and Military can begin to mobilize. Then he cut short his meetings overseas and flew home to coordinate the rescue efforts. This all one day BEFORE a Cat-3 hit the coast. That is how you do it.
How about this dope’s own father during Hurricane Andrew? Once again, President Bush (41) – August, 1992 – was in the midst of a brutal campaign for re-election. Yet, he cut off his campaigning the day before and went to Washington where he martialed the largest military operation on US soil in history. He sent in 7,000 National Guard and 22,000 regular military personnel, and all the gear to begin the clean up within hours after Andrew passed through Florida. ‘Cause, you know, those people and their stuff was actually where it belonged, rather than being used for insurgent target-practice halfway around the world in a vain effort to make Iraq safe for Iranian takeover.
In August of 1969 when Cat-5 Hurricane Camille hit roughly the same area as Katrina, President Nixon had already readied the National Guard and ordered all Gulf rescue vessels and equipment from Tampa and Houston to follow the Hurricane in. There were over 1,000 regular military with two dozen helicopters to assist the Coast Guard and National Guard within hours after the skies cleared.
Bush 43 – August 2005 – Cat-5 Hurricane Katrina bears down on New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf. Both states are down nearly 8,000 National Guard troops because they are in Iraq – with most of the rescue gear needed. Bush is on vacation. The day before Katrina makes landfall, Bush rides his bike for two hours. The day she hits, he goes to Johnnie McCain’s birthday party; and lies to old people about the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company welfare boondoggle. People are dying, the largest port of entry in the United States (and fifth largest in the World) is under attack. Troops and supplies are desperately needed. The levees are cracking and the emergency 1-1/2 ton sandbags are ready, but there aren’t enough helicopters or pilots to set them before the levees fail. The mayor of New Orleans begs for Federal coordination, but there is none, and the sandbagging never gets done. So Bush – naturally – goes to San Diego to play guitar with country singer and lie to the military about how Iraq is just exactly like WWII. The levees give way, filling New Orleans with water, sewage, oil and chemicals. Ten percent of all US exports, and 50% of all agricultural exports ordinarly go through this port. It is totally destroyed. Bush decides he’ll end his vacation a couple of days early – TOMORROW – BECAUSE HE HAS TICKETS TO A PADRES GAME! He goes back to the Fake Farm in Crawford, with every intention of doing something on WEDNESDAY about this disaster that happened starting last Sunday night.
This morning, the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, blasted President Bush and the feds for neglecting their duties:
“”I keep hearing that [aid and supplies are] coming. This is coming. That is coming. My answer to that is B.S. Where is the beef?… They’re feeding the people a line of bull, and they are spinning and people are dying.”
Mayor Nagin has called for a moratorium on press conferences until the feds “get off their asses” and get needed resources into his city.
And where are the needed National Guard troops and rescue equipment? They’re over in the Persian Gulf as part of a stop-loss measure, back-door draft to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Given the way that both the war and the NOLA disaster are being handled, it’s a wonder that people still support BushCo.
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