Bamboozled

I've been lazy posting because I feel that there are so many on the web right now doing an excellent job of laying out the many many problems with the Bush administration and its raping and pillaging of the American political system. I'm exceedingly skeptical that average Americans will become incensed enough to demand accountability.

Generally speaking I'm at least as skeptical of the Democratic party as I ever will be of the folks who are in office today. The lack of wider spread support (including and especially by Hillary Clinton, et al) in demanding investigations into any and all illegal doings out of the President's office is downright criminal.

But today, I'd like to focus more on Katrina. I participate in a number of "action" groups focused on seeking Federal monies and other resources for the victims of this catastrophe. There are some good things happening in NOLA these days: People are rebuilding, Mardi Gras is going on, Nagin is running for re-election. But, now the House is failing to move on a bill to extend unemployment insurance to people screwed by the Hurricane. Typical.

NPR's Farai Chideya, (a beautiful, insightful friend of mine) has some follow up from her reporting there last fall. You can listen here. The scope of this is mindboggling, which is partially the reason folks find it so easy to dismiss and keep on trucking. I saw a play last night at The Evidence Room called INSIDE THE CREOLE MAFIA: POST KATRINA VERSION. It's an incomplete piece, highly entertaining and evocative. In the same way that it has taken years for us to process the 9/11 tragedy (and we are still very much weaving it into the national narrative), Katrina's impact on our hearts, minds, and political landscape has yet to be calculated. We've got to start the accounting now.

Below is a posting of the text of an AP article regarding how much Bush knew and when. It's clear from video tapes, emails and other documentation that BushCo knew how bad things could get, and chose to go about their day-to-day, enjoying their vacations while people crouched for their lives in inadequate shelters with no assurances that anyone even gave a damn. Wiretapping, for me, is a bit abstract, the ports deal is more a question of economics than a true national security issue. On the other hand, my dad's side of the family is from New Orleans and the now partially submerged Plaquemines Parish. All emphasis below is my own:

In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to- be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

Six days of footage and transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

Linked by secure video, Bush's bravado on Aug. 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.

A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.

"I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.

Some of the footage conflicts with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response:

_Homeland Security officials have said the "fog of war" blinded them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions. "I'm sure it will be the top 10 or 15 when all is said and done," National Hurricane Center's Max Mayfield warned the day Katrina lashed the Gulf Coast.

"I don't buy the `fog of war' defense," Brown told the AP in an interview Wednesday. "It was a fog of bureaucracy."

_Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into New Orleans. But the transcripts and video show there was plenty of talk about that possibility _ and Bush was worried too.

OK, so, what the hell went wrong? And why hasn't it been fixed yet? These questions weigh heavily on my mind. Incompetence and hubris have been the trademarks of this administration. I feel bamboozled. Again.

NSA: Not Safe, Americans

I'm not really trying to join in this wire-tapping business because I feel this is merely the tip of the iceberg. I'm going to link to a great web site that has done all the work already so I feel like a good little blogizen.... Glenn's great NSA compendium.

Make the Law, Break the Law...

The Bush administration wants to reinforce their supremacy by making sure that redistricting can take place completely against any voting laws in existence.

A New Day is Dawning

I have a very high fever today, so I'm going to just put a few things on the table. There needs to be a recap of all the malfeasance going on with Bush and Co. Then we need to go ahead and impeach everyone, not just Bush. It's clear that his entire Administration is full of cheating nerds who need to be out out out. Now, I say this with no clear idea of who the hell should be replacing them. There are a bunch of sites out there which I will pull together later, but I found this to read which I thought was interesting and funny (in a sad, bloody clown kind of way). CNS news

When Cheney Preys...

...folks end up getting shot. From the New York Times today:

While there were reports, some from the sheriff himself, that a deputy had been dispatched to the ranch on Saturday night and been turned away, Mr. Zahren said that some local police officers had heard about the shooting on a scanner when an ambulance was sent to pick up Mr. Whittington. They showed up at the ranch unsolicited. Private guards, not Secret Service agents, Mr. Zahren said, turned the police away because they did not know anything had occurred.

I need to meet the police who are turned away by private security when they think there has been a shooting. Also, are hospitals in Texas not required to report shootings to the police? This is a cover-up. Cheney shot somebody, he wasn't subjected to the rule of law, and the Secret Service is in serious gray territory by not having followed up on it.

What He Said...

I started reading a great *newish* blog. Glenn Greenwald is putting it down for progressive, White liberals (not clear to if he is entirely a "progressive liberal). I'm cheered to hear someone express things from a factual, legal point of view with passion and conviction. I don't have a lot of time after I do my other money-making dances to post on this blog, so once again, I'm going to cannibalize one of my posts in response to his excellent NSA post today. Again, I think corruption in Washington is off the chain and the only real way to effectuate change is by mobilizing people in their home states and local communities. Unless and until Dems figure that out, we're all fucked. For that matter, where is that crazy-assed Green Party? I was counting on them to keep it real and not get intimidated by the Vichy Democrats (my favorite new phrase, thanks anonymous poster for this excellent descriptive, I'm using it from here on out!). My posts are, and will continue to be emotional, (hopefully) rational responses to what I see going on out there. I've got a lot of shit to swim through as a woman of color in the entertainment industry and I've seen more than my cloistered ivory tower background prepared me for, and I love it.

I say all of this because if there are new readers to this blog, please leave your knee-jerk comments in your mouth. I'm not interested. I do like comments that address my posts factually or cogently, or that may help me expose something I'm blind to in my own paradigm. Anyway, I've got a book to write, so I'll be seeing you folks in the funny papers. Enjoy.

I only recently started reading your excellent blog, Glenn. I grew up deep in conservative religious republican country (Oregon), and I have to say, these people are not protecting core Republican values. As a woman of color, I register independent because I have seen a complete breakdown in Republican and Democratic values. The two parties are chasing one another to the right, largely because the Church (under various denominations) has been an effective organizer and moral lightening rod in these relativistic inclusive times. From my perspective, the most effective way to galvanize people to action is to reiterate the principles in the Constitution itself. The Republican party has been able to rally people around the concept of Patriotism, and most of Bush's core don't analyze the manner in which this patriotism is being practiced. It's the bible cloaked in the flag, and Democrats haven't been successful in mobilizing their own religious leaders nor in calling Republicans to the carpet for this intermingling of church and state.

As non-Republican progressives, liberals or conservative democrats (and moderate Republicans for that matter) it's urgent that we call cultural icons out in support of these values which we all share as Americans. This isn't really a party issue, and to frame it as such reduces it to the same dynamics which thus far have led to Bush's victories-by-default. I say call out everyone -- Intelligence committee members, educators, prominent artists, athletes (remember Ali during the draft?), religious leaders, mothers, fathers, teenagers, young adults (MTV, anyone?), advertisers. The advantage of the blogosphere is it's reach into every facet of life. If every blogger sat down and thought about the leaders in his or her industry, the tastemakers, and forwarded a cogently stated argument about why constitutional principles are good for our American Democracy, and this were followed up with a few willing religious leaders who opened the floor to discussions of accountability, integrity, and personal responsibility and then the press continued to problematize everything (good, bad and ugly because that is precisely what makes for a strong democracy), then I think we can capitalize on and focus public opinion.

I disagree with posters who counter your statistics on Bush/wiretapping legality -- it's not relevant to the discussion of whether or not we, as Americans, believe in the idea of "liberty" at all costs -- even our liberty and freedom to pursue our interests free of government scrutiny.

Focusing on people in Washington doesn't really work. That's been the issue for Democrats from the beginning. When Senators and their campaign managers on the ground begin to the feel the heat with their home base, then like cannons on a battleship, they swivel and take aim at the problem. Opinion articles published in local papers in the so-called "Red States" that de-polarize the issue and make it about basic American values and focus our attention on corruption in politics, corporate influence on the executive structure (because, let's face it, Cheney's makeover of the executive branch brings it in line with corporate management practices minus the board of directors), and the fact that most Americans are not doing appreciably better, and in fact, can look forward to doing appreciably worse (look at interest rates on savings and bonds)would be the most effective way to open a foothold for local candidates to challenge the GOP status quo. Local races are won locally (duh). Having participated in local political races for federal office, candidates are always forced to deal with issues that are raised by local opinion makers, civic leaders and community members. If Senators or their staffers hold town hall meetings, these issues need to be raised -- what are you, Senator, doing to protect my 1st and 4th amendment rights? I'm scared of Al Qaeda but I don't want to wake up and find out the FBI is at my door because my internet connection was hijacked, or my kid had to do a paper on the middle east.

I think the GOP did an excellent job last time of making federal elections locally relevant and until and unless the democrats find a way to do that, to involve average voters in discussions about what they want their country to be about, how they interpret their rights and freedoms, then it's status quo. Their is no real justice as long as people believe they can preserve social peace. That's a lesson that has been pounded home for people of color in this country. So, on-the-spot townhalls and church-led discussions about these principles may stir up that social peace enough for folks to reach for Justice, Liberty and the American Way....

Land of LA LA

I'm not a big fan of Los Angeles. I say that in that way that hateful stepchildren talk about indifferent new siblings with behaviour problems. Case in point, every time I leave the house I see something outrageous. Once, on Fountain and Crescent Heights I saw a car fully engulfed in flames for 15 minutes, no fire department, no pedestrians, not even anyone in a window in any of the nearby apartments. It was early in the morning maybe 6-7a, and I was on my way to the gym. I pulled over and tried to dial 911 but was put on hold. Another time, my car was surrounded by stray dogs when I stopped at a stop sign. I mean literally surrounded. They paced a circle around my car, one dog always in front, one always behind, and at one point the leader sat by my front fender glaring at me. Last night I went to the Pan African Film Festival (which I cannot even get into right now until my head is clear) and on the way home saw a crate being burnt on the sidewalk in front of a 7-11 on 6th Street and a major car accident on the street I needed to take home. The friend who was with me had been giving me a hard time for being overly paranoid and by the end of the ride, she said, "Damn, this is the LA you see every day, huh?" All I could do was nod my head.

A Single Tear for Democracy

I need to get this book! There's a brief excerpt here that got me thinking and praying for some reform, I don't know if folks will be able to simplify it enough to sell it to the average American, but I've got my fingers crossed.

Pop Culture Hurts

I've been staying out of the debate over these racist cartoons in Europe. I think White people the world over fail to recognize their own prejudices, and it's led to this. It's not Freedom when it costs someone else their dignity. Pretty basic rule. Anyway, Slate had an interesting discussion-starter on it, you can find it here.