Posts with the tag Katrina

Aboriginal Protest in Peru resulted in the deaths of 53 people

Unknown user — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:49:54 EDT

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Unknown user — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:06:30 EDT

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Spot Light on America

Robin from Grass Valley, CA — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:07:47 EDT

For a moving view of what is happening in the US today, visit the site of young photojournalist Mathieu Young at http://www.mathieuyoung.com/. His tent city series http://www.mathieuyoung.com/TC/ is featured in the latest Time Magazine.

Mathieu's photos across the country and around the world express a moving empathy for the conditions of people today.

Every American should see these images!

Thank you Mathieu!

Ebahtau

Gabshay from Saratoga, IN — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:52:35 EDT

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Youtube clips in support of Obama

TJ — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:15:19 EDT

Battle of the Senators: McCain vs Obama Part 1

Battle of the Senators: McCain vs Obama Part 2

These videos compare Obama's and McCain's US Senate voting records on different issues. I only used 30 votes so far but I have more I would like to add. Any ideas or suggestions to make these videos more interesting and informative would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to spread these videos around.

Comments on Obama's Senate speech on the Bailout Bill

Patty in Colorado — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:36:18 EDT

If you're an Obama supporter, as I have been for the last two years, this post may bother you. On the other hand, you may have perceived many of the same ideas while listening to Obama address the Senate yesterday, concerning the bailout bill.

Frankly, I was very disappointed with Obama's support of the bill. I was even more disappointed with his speech! To my ears, Obama used a rusty formulaic structure for his speech, with an unusual amount of fear and guilt lathered on the American people.

From the beginning of the speech, he was talking about blame for the state of the economy - but he didn't mention the Iraq War, outsourcing of jobs, or the plummeting employment rate. He used an analogy of putting out a fire now (by passing this bill in a hurry), but he failed to mention the other truthful part of that analogy - that some fires actually need to happen in order to destroy things so that new things can take place. Example: some of the moldy houses that Katrina visited had to be allowed to burn down, so new ones could be rebuilt. Many people have commented on the similarity between the devastation caused by Katrina, and the destruction to our economy.

Obama went on to accuse the House of failing to act. This is a blatant mischaracterization. The House DID act, just not the way Obama and others wanted it to. This is partisanship, pure and simple. I was surprised to hear Obama go there. He also connected the stock market drop to the House decision to vote down the original bailout bill. I was watching the stock market going down before the voting even started. Plus, it is simply inaccurate to attribute the activity in the stock market to anything other than investors' willingness to invest. Period. There are a multitude of reasons why investors choose to buy and sell stocks. Most of those reasons have nothing to do with what is happening at the same time in Congress.

Bottom line, Obama used fear and guilt in large doses in an attempt to persuade the American people to approve of this bailout bill created in the Senate. The bulk of his speech is chock full of talk about dire consequences, dangerous situations, threats of what will happen if we don't act now to rescue Wall Street. It was horrifying to hear him use causes near and dear, such as mortgages, car loans and college tuitions, payrolls, and bills, to convnce fellow Senators of the viability of this bailout bill. To plead the case for the bill based on a fear of a recession - that most of us already know we're in - well, that was an insult to our intelligence.

Obama also erroneously appropriated credit to the bailout bill for things that the bill simply doesn't guarantee, such as real protections for taxpayers, oversight, accountability, help for homeowners, elimination of golden parachutes, and profits or returns on our taxpayer contributions to this bill. Yes, those things are mentioned in the bill (I've read all 106 pages) - but every condition has a giant loophole for the Treasury Secretary to slide through, without any obligation to Congress, taxpayers, or anyone at all.

There are absolutely NO guarantees that the provisions of the bill will be managed correctly, that any money will be gotten back by the taxpayers, or that there will be any profits whatsoever. Obama clearly stated this in his speech. But didn't he also say previously that he would NOT support a bill that didn't have those guarantees built in?

One key item in the bill, which Obama mentioned in his speech, concerns the possibility Obama described by saying, "If we fall short, we will levy a fee on financial institutions so that they can repay us for the losses they caused." There's a clause in the bill about this, true. However, there are many more clauses in the bill, which indicate the very real possibility, even intention, that the Treasury Secretary will buy up assets and then dismantle the financial institutions. There would be no entity to "bill" a fee to, no financial institution from which to obtain reimbursement for our losses.

Another Senator has called this bailout bill "legislative blackmail."

The conclusion of Obama's speech exhorted the American people to do more to help our economy, to take more action to prevent the economic downfall we face. From this soapbox, Obama launched his familiar stump speech - blaming the runaway spending of the Bush Administration, and saying that many important programs will be delayed or abandoned, in spite of our great sacrifices.

The best line of his speech came at the very end, where he said, "...our destiny is not written for us, but by us." That rang true. Unfortunately, that truth was cloaked in thick political rhetoric, the likes of which has a real potential to derail Obama's voting base.

Eight Miserable Years (video)

Curtis ByThePeopleForThePeopleOfThePeople — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:10:17 EDT

It's always common to hear people say.. time flies. Well, in the last eight years, time has had a broken wing, or two, or three, I'm not really sure the about the anatomy of time. Let's move on..

I can't describe the sickness I feel, when I think of what has taken place. I really don't even recognize this country from where we were eight years ago. Rep's want to blame 9/11, but if we had just tightened our security, sent the CIA after Bin Laden.. Well, that's tuesday morning quarterbacking. I've made a film. Yes a film.. not a video. This film documents in 7 minutes the 4 largest mistakes of Republican leadership; Iraq, Torture, Katrina response, and Scandals (not named Iraq, Torture, FEMA) Please follow me after the fold for a riveting diary and film. And if you're lucky a poll.

I have put up diaries about this -video- film before. So I promise you, right here and now. This is the last one EVER, about this video. Thanks so much for your patience and your patronage. I won't presume to lecture you about what's happened the last eight years. But I will show you that lecture in video form, and will also encourage you to share this video film to any and all who would like to use/link it. God Bless and Thank you...

I'm working on a new video about the CRA and to try and combat this viral meme that Republicans are trying to push about how Clinton and the democrats created this financial crisis. Any and all links would be helpful for that, I have quite a few of the dkos top journals on that subject, and am trying to condense them into video form. Poll is about this new topic..

Prepare for third paragraph nonsequitar- I'll be in St. Louis Thursday night for the debate, if anyone knows of anything cool going on afterward, send me a message.
Peace in the Middle East - Yes We Can
Curtis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2p2hvQzIPY

Low Quality version here---http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z9euD2_Zz4
Low Quality part2 here---http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDQKnXerW2E&feature=related

McChicken

Matt Clark — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:11:05 EDT

Someone get John McCain a new shirt, cause his belly is YELLOW.

Mr. McCain wants to postpone the debate so he can return to Washington? REALLY?! Wow, it's amazing how McSame always feels the pull of "non-partisan patriotism" towards a crisis when it's politically convenient.

Let's take the Republican National Convention, for instance. Mr. McCain goes to aid in the destruction of Hurricane Gustav and has to postpone the convention. Oh, what a shame...that's exactly when the Republican kryptonite was supposed to speak! WHAT...A...SHAME. But, hey, COUNTRY FIRST.

Now, in the midst of the Wall Street debacle, Super-John must rush to save the day! He's so brave! He's gonna get right in there, forget the partisan politics, to Hell with the campaign, and somehow single-handedly correct the mess which he helped create! WOW. It is, of course, pure coincidence that the debate would be postponed. PURE COINCIDENCE. This isn't just some political stunt and photo-op. This is in no way, in any relation to the fact that the debate would be moved in the place of the Vice-Presidential debate. It is especially in no relation to the fact that the McCain camp is terrified to let Sarah Palin even say her own name in public. Nope. No way. COUNTRY FIRST.

Hey remember that time that Katrina wiped out the Gulf area and all those people were dying/drowning/starving? Remember that? Remember how on the day Katrina hit John McCain reacted with such bravado and non-partisan leadership? Yeah, I do...I think I have a picture of it...

WOOPS!

What a joke. I have a new name for John McCain: McChicken. Luckily, the CPD has seen through this load of spin and stated that there will be a debate. See ya there, McChicken. You bring the cake.

What About Us - We Already Lost Our Homes

Mario F Lopez — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:44:34 EDT

Ever since the Mortgage Meltdown started somewhere around the 04's, there has been talk about bailing out the Homeowner. But just that "a lot of talk".

But NOTHING, not even talk about those of us who already lost our homes.

Now that WE MUST BAIL OUT WALL STREET, administration officials have agreed to include mortgage help for beleguered homeowners but, nothing, not even TALK for those of us who already lost our homes.

I have nothing against help for homeowners, I just worry that is not going to be enough and I think that Congress should examine this measures and pressure the administration if they are not going to help homeowners or the funds are at risk to get lost in a beaurocratic mess; as we experienced after Katrina, believe it or not there are still victims from Katrina who have not been helped or funds still unaccounted for.

It bothers me a lot 'how quick we forget"

Just as the Katrina's victims who will never see help, the homeowners who already lost our homes to the great American mortgage meltdown, will be left out in the cold.

Like the millions of taxpayers who were left out of the stimulus package, because they did not qualify due to the existing tax laws. It amazes me to think that the administration actually made the ordinary folk believe that help was on the way. When most disabled veterans and social security recipients found out that they would not receive any money that would help them at least for that month, pay the rent or buy some extra food or clothing; they were devastated and extremely dissappointed.

The idea was good, not that it would fix the economy, but a band aid (a wet one, that is). It was the idea that it would make ordinary people believe that after its failure they would believe that the goverment did try to help ordinary people with the stimulus package but, the situation has gotten worse and now it is required to bail out Wall Street or things will get a lot worse.

The truth is this: the administration told us that this were extraordinary times that require extraordinary measures, but did not apply extraordinary ecxeptions to the existing tax laws which led to excluding social security recipients, disabled veterans and other taxpayesr who earned the amount required to qualify for the stimulus package but were claimed as dependents on someone elses return. In addition to that, the package was designed to reward with more money those who earned more money, with the max of $1200 for married couples who earned $150,000 plus $300 per child under the age of 17.

I am tired of the injustice, I am tired of watching the least fortunate always getting the dirty end of the stick.

I am not a firm believer of "conspiracy theories" although in retrospect, I have a very good one about the Iraq war.

Today, is becoming obvious that the present administration knew way in advance about the economic crisis we would face. I believe that months ago they (Bush, Paulson, Cheney and other very close players) after realizing that the Republicans did not have a chance to win the White House and, since the economy was about to take a plunge; try to prepare the American people mentally (with the stimulus package) and even more with the initial bail out of Fanney Mae and Freddy Mac and subsequently AIG.

Now that we are all brain washed, we can believe that they really need all that money, just like we believed that Dick Chaney did not have personal interest in United States invading Iraq, when now his company Halliburton is making Billions of dollars in the rebuilding of Iraq. And, I would not be surprised for a second if Halliburton would profit from the Bail Out as well as some foreign institutions.

Only in America you can imagine that the President and his Wall Street cronies are about to rob the bank and distribute the money among themselves. They figure that, with Barak Obama as president, Wall Street is not going to have a free ride, they will be regulated. So might as well take the money now and let Obama deal with the ONE TRILLION debt we will inherit and of course, there will be no money to pay for Universal Health Care or any other social programs that Senator Obama is promissing now.

Since we seem to forget so quickly, during the Obama's administration, when no money is available for those programs mentioned above, republicans will hammer on the fact that the Obama administration did not deliver; then, they will have enough inmunition to take the White House back in 2012.

They tell us that they are borrowing the money and that Wall Street is going to pay us back with interest. If they were no were around when we were loosing our homes, why should we bail them out, oh, is because if we don't there will be no money to keep business open therefore no jobs for no one.

That is call: SCARE TACTICS, republicans are very good at it, they have had plenty of practice, their motto is: keep them uneducated, sick and running scared, I have seen that all my life. I am afraid that we will eventually bail some business out, but hope that will be companies that got caught in the middle and no companies that actually caused and contributed to the crisis, we should find those accountable. If companies responsible for the crisis are rewarded with OUR MONEY, it sends the wrong message to future generations.

I would have no problem bailing out the Banks and Mortgage Companies, as long as I can have my home back.

Well, we gave you (out of your own money) alsmost 1/2 Billion with the stimulus package, why can't you bail us out with 1 Trillion plus dollars. "Folks, we can always count on the generosity of the American people" . Are we generous or stupid? Am I asking for too much when I want my house back?

It does not have to be that way, I believe that some monetary measures should be taken to correct the destructive course the Bush administration has taken our economy thru, but no ONE TRILLION OF OUR HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS.

Let's not get fulled by the fact that our economy is about 14 Trillion dollars and, 1 Trillion is just a drop in the bucket because, we are 9 Trillion Dollars in debt; thanks to the Bush administration.

When President Clinton left office, left us with a surplus, DO WE WANT 4 MORE YEARS OF REPUBLICAN DESASTROUS POLICIES?

I got totally of the track, WHAT ABOUT US WHO ALREADY LOST OUR HOMES? if you know of anything period, related to this forgotten group of Americans, please post a coment or contact me.

God bless you and get registered to vote,

Mario Lopez

The mess we're in.

Kevin ":: g+s+ ::" Winterfield — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:52:10 EDT

We are in the middle of the Katrina of economic hurricanes. Bush/McCain and gang saw it coming, but they just let it happen. God, do we need a change. They have led our nation like it was the Titanic - straight into this financial iceberg.

Make no mistake about it: This crisis is very serious. We are on the verge of a depression - yes, I said it, a depression. Many of us already can check out our home values on Zillow (http://www.zillow.com/) to see just how far our home values have fallen in just the last month. Others of us can look at our 401(k) accounts and see the massive losses there. Others are being foreclosed upon. Others are unable to afford gas. And sadly, others can't afford food. Yes, this is the real America we are living in now. Not the land of prosperity. Instead, we see our country as the land of greed and division.

From the start we said that Obama was about uniting our country and that our opponents were about dividing us up - into the haves and the have nots. And, now we see this coming to bare. Unfortunately, many Americans, myself included, are at serious risk to their well-being. Our livelihoods may just be going down the drain.

Right now, as Obama said today, this is not about politics. This is not about partisanship (as McCain is trying to make it). This is not even just about Wall Street - and saving the asses of those wealthy bastards that ran this country into the toilet. This is about Main Street - and what we mean by Main Street is you, me. Us.

Obama was right from the very beginning. He is right today. He has not wavered from his stance. In the slog of a politics of distraction, Obama has stood tall - stood calm, fought back as needed - and today, we, all of us, see that he was right.

It's time for us to work together now, throw down politics, and make damn sure that the people who got us into this are punished and the little people, called the middle class and the working class, are not taken, once again, for granted. Because we are about to, all of us, take on possibly 1 trillion dollars in debt in order to save our country. And when we do this, we, not McCain, will be the true American heroes this time around.

-k g+s+ :: come together now :: !!

Keep reminding voters of...

Kevin ":: g+s+ ::" Winterfield — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:18:48 EDT

Keep reminding voters of McCain's statement on Black Monday when our financial system was collapsing all around us... where he said the economy was fine.

This event and his completely out of touch response to it must be played over and over and over again so that it becomes branded in the minds of voters.

He'll try to distract from it, but if we can keep that one sequence of events in the minds of the voters, we've won this thing.

All the finance people I've spoken to today say that things are MUCH WORSE than they appear. That's the inside word on what's happening.

Tomorrow (today), the government will try to bail out the financial sector because they know that we are on the edge of a full blown disaster in this country that will hit all of us very hard.

We must keep hitting on the fact that for 8 years the clouds have been darkening, the winds have been picking up, the signs of disaster ahead were clear - yet BUSH DID NOTHING!

We are getting hit by the Katrina of economic hurricanes. It has smashed against the shores of this great country and now, if we don't bail out those greedy bastards, the levees are going to fail.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY McCain and that joke of a VP, Palin, could ever lead us out of the mess that their party got us into in the first place.

-k
g+s+ :: take action now :: !!

Newspaper submittals, Part 1

Christine — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:49:54 EDT

A friend of mine told me I should post the letters I've written to editors on a blog, so that it can fire up other people on their own to write letters. Also it would put ideas & words out there even if my letters never get printed.

Here's what I submitted to the New Orleans regional paper, The Times-Picayune

"Three hurricane seasons after Katrina, Senator McCain claims to be a candidate for change. He expects us to forget that in 2005 and again in 2006, he rejected Senate proposals to investigate FEMA’s Katrina failures. He then lied about it during his New Orleans town hall meeting this June. Don’t hold your breath for his running mate after she belittled the work of community organizers. Evidently, Alaska’s governor was not aware that they were the first people to help when FEMA wasn’t there. The convention’s delay for Gustav was no courtesy-- just a phony, last-minute political ploy.

John Legend on Barak Obama

memanni — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:36:14 EDT

John Legend On Barak Obama

Presented on the UpTake.org.

Interviewed by Max Blumenthal

Follow this link: http://the-uptake.groups.theuptake.org/en/videogalleryView/id/602/

McCain: No Support for Katrina

TJ — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:41:48 EDT

Link: Watch the video

Before you read the following US Senate votes, in which McCain voted "NO" and Obama voted "YES", you should understand a few facts. Bills get signed into law by the President. Amendments are used to make changes to bills. They can be used to strike (remove things from), add, or modify a bill.

I only mention this because when McCain is questioned about his US Senate votes he often responds by saying, "The bill contained 'pork/earmarks' or tells the person asking the question that he doesn't know where he got that information from. Simply put if you vote against an amendment, you don't want to see it on the bill.

These amendments never made it on to the bills that all passed.

US SENATE VOTES

Hurricane Katrina

McCain voted "NO" Obama voted "YES"

Vote Number: 330 Vote Date: November 17, 2005, 11:47 AM
Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Motion Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 2602 to S. 2020
Statement of Purpose: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax benefits for areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma and to extend certain expiring provisions, and for other purposes.
Source: US Senate 330

Vote Number: 285 Vote Date: November 3, 2005, 10:43 AM
Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Motion Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 2356 to S. 1932
Statement of Purpose: To provide emergency health care and other relief for survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
Source: US Senate Vote 285

Vote Number: 234 Vote Date: September 15, 2005, 03:24
Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Motion Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 1678 to H.R. 2862
Statement of Purpose: To provide financial relief for individuals and entities affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Source: US Senate Vote 234

Vote Number: 229 Vote Date: September 14, 2005, 01:06 PM
Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Motion Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 1660 to H.R. 2862
Statement of Purpose: To establish a congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region of the United States especially in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas impacted in the aftermath and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future.
Source: US Senate Vote 229

Vote Number: 226 Vote Date: September 13, 2005, 04:41 PM Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Amendment Rejected Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 1661 to H.R. 2862 Statement of Purpose: To provide emergency funding for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Source: US Senate Vote 2005/226

Vote Number: 199 Vote Date: July 13, 2006, 03:23 PM Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Motion Rejected Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 4600 to H.R. 5441 Statement of Purpose: To increase appropriations for disaster relief, and for other purposes.
Source: US Senate 2006/199

Vote Number: 6 Vote Date: February 2, 2006, 07:51 PM Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Motion Rejected Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 2716 to S.Amdt. 2707 to H.R. 4297 Statement of Purpose: To establish a congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region of the United States especially in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas impacted in the aftermath and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future.
Source: US Senate Vote 2006/6

Grassroots Campaign Ads...pass it on!

Crystal — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:16:42 EDT

I got more than a little frustrated with the mainstream media giving the McCain campaign free air time for its commercials, meaning McThug would air the commercial on the web and the media would give free ad time by discussing it. So, I decided to create a few of my own commercials to counter the McCain campaign, but I need your help.

Visit my channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/crtconsu. Review the commercials and suggest ideas for new ones.
Pass it on to your friends. I will try to add a Digg link to get more coverage.
Try it yourself.

Here are links to the individual commercials. There will be more to come.

Hurricane Katrina...Never Again (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4bWHtx3W0w)
A Real Leader (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw5PTJIWfSw)
Honorable Campaign...Not! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcKHkBwp-0o)

Your help to spread the word is vital and its truly appreciated.

Cheers
Crystal

New Orleans: The City That Won't Be Ignored

Chinni — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:42:11 EDT

New Orleans: The City That Won't Be Ignored
By Naomi Klein - September 3, 2008

..Gustav should have been political rat poison for the Republicans, no matter how well it was managed. Yet, as Peter Baker noted in the New York Times, "rather than run away from the hurricane and its political risks, Mr. McCain ran toward it." If this strategy worked, it was at least partly because Barack Obama has been running away from New Orleans for his entire campaign..
..There are plenty of political reasons for this, of course. Obama's campaign is pitching itself to the middle class, not the class of discarded people New Orleans represents. The problem is that by remaining virtually silent about the most dramatic domestic outrage in modern US history, Obama created a political vacuum. When Gustav hit, all McCain needed to do to fill it was show up..
..It was also the time to recall that during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the official Minerals Management Service report found more than 100 accidents leading to a total of 743,400 gallons of oil spilled throughout the region. To put that figure in perspective, 100,000 gallons is classified as a "major spill.".. ..Obama was not able to make these kinds of arguments when Gustav hit. That's because his campaign had made another "strategic" decision: to compromise on offshore oil drilling. Again a vacuum that had been opened up was rapidly filled by the Republicans, who instantly (and absurdly) linked the hurricane to the need for "energy security."..
..In moments of crisis, it is possible to speak hard truths with great force and clarity. But when the truth has gone silent, lies, boldly told, work almost as well.

20 Questions for McCain & The Republicans

Glenn — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:10:20 EDT

Have you been watching the Republican National Convention? You should. The Republicans seek to run on a platform of reform, of breaking sexual boundaries in the highest offices, and of fighting the oil companies stranglehold on the economy, all wrapped in a frosty coating of wartime patriotic fervor.

Never mind that it is the Republican-ran government of the last eight years they wish to reform, that there were many more qualified people in the Republican Party to be VP but they made their choice based on gender, that it is they who gave the oil companies billions in corporate welfare, and that Democrats and Independents also serve in the military and have died gallantly for our country. The Republicans have made their strategy and they think people will buy it out of fear of the unknown and love of country. We Democrats should fear it, because it is a formula that has worked for them before.

So, how do you get people to see through the FUD and the gimmickry? Print these out, and give them these 20 Questions for John McCain & the Republicans. These will help remind people of the failures and shame Republican government have given us these past eight years.

___________________________

1. Where is Osama bin Laden?

2. Where are the weapons of mass destruction?

3. Who really made the decisions that lead to Abu Graib?

4. Why did America become a country that condoned torture?

5. What happened to "Mission Accomplished?"

6. What happened to habeas corpus?

7. Why didn't we concentrate our efforts in Afganistan?

8. Where did all the money from Jack Abramoff, the K-Street Project, and Tom DeLay go?

9. Why has the the average family lost $2,000 in wages over the last eight years?

10. Why has our economy lost jobs over the last eight years?

11. Why did we go from a surplus to a huge debt?

12. Why did the wealthy enjoy large tax breaks, while wage decreases negated the small break most people got?

13. Why is gasoline so high, when we had two oil professionals in office who should have done something about it?

14. Why are so many Americans losing their homes, losing their jobs, losing their hopes for their children's future, and hope for their own retirement?

15. Why did it take three days for our government to respond to people in New Orleans when it took less time for us to respond to the Indian Ocean Tsunami the year before?

16. Who hired the FEMA director who was in office during Katrina?

17. What was that FEMA director’s previous work history?

18. Given what happened on 9/11/2001, why were we not better prepared for a large disaster?

19. Who made all these bad decisions?

20. Why should Americans, after reading these questions, reward you and your party with another four years in the White House?

_______________________

I hope that everyone reading this can find these questions helpful in explaining to others why it is so important that we elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden as our new President and Vice-President.

RNC Opens—Notes on Sacrifice, Soldiers & Pride

Sonya Rose — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:44:57 EDT

Country First

John McCain, George Bush and related Republicans get their propers for truncating their National Convention rituals as Hurricane Gustav threatened the gulf coast, particularly New Orleans, so hard hit during Katrina.

Their support of the coalesced efforts of LA governor Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and FEMA may have saved thousands of lives. Together with MS, Al and TX officials, nearly 2 million folks were safely evacuated over the weekend. (To date, seven hurricane-related deaths have been reported in LA, in comparison to the bloodbath of ‘05.)

And with official RNC business beginning just yesterday at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, the vibe of the Convention...

http://blogs.uptownlife.net/sonyarose/

Republican Party Convention: "Natural" Disaster?

AC Parker Northern California--East Bay — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:00:24 EDT

Almost 3 years ago to the day another hurricane hits the same area, (2) The party of the president who failed to appropriately respond to Katrina victims is holding their convention now, (3) the party and its candidate is trying to put distance between himself and a president with the lowest approval ratings in history, (4) the party is focusing as much attention as possible on having taken their "Republican hats off" to lead the effort to address the needs of the victims of this horrible disaster. Helping is good, I'm just saying. And finally, the name of the current hurricane is "Gustav" which means Staff of God.
Staff of God? Who names these things anyway? Hmm. Might this particular name have been chosen just in case someone might think this disaster is anything other than the act of someone’s god? Many, many years ago, I read or heard that scientists would one day be able to harness and eventually create weather patterns. Hmm. Just wondering if there might be some other reason why this most hapless party could end up being so, well, lucky (sic).

John McHurricane and the New and Improved Republican Maverick Brand

Wordman — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:07:28 EDT

Thinkin' there is fertile ground (manure-rich) for a hot, new action toy or maybe a new weed and feed product or would a weed stimulant be more apropos. Gotta love the political theater. McCain and his new VP pick jet down to the Gulf Coast in advance of the storm. The Republicans call for a political cease-fire (which didn't last long) and the nation's prayers and compassion. There was talk of McCain delivering his acceptance speech via satellite from the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. But wait a second ...what does McCain's post-Katrina words and actions tell us about where he really stands and who he and President Bush and his Republican peers really care about. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina John McCain pledged to "do all that is necessary to fund essential relief and recovery efforts and help those in need". And did he "walk the talk"? Well, no, actually he sided with President Bush and the Republicans to quash the following legislative initiatives: S Amdt 1679 aimed at providing financial relief for victims: S Amdt 2356 aimed at the provision of emergency health care for survivors and S Amdt 2602 which would have provided tax benefits for affected areas. Alas, I dont't think there's going to be much of a market for this action toy after all. We can tolerate flawed superheroes, but who needs one as out-of-touch and cynical as this one.

Senator McCain stands side by side with Volunteers but Voted Down Every Funding Bill that was needed to help Katrina Survivors.

Claudette Milner — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:51:46 EDT

You can’t hide your voting record and it speaks to how McCain really feels about victims of Hurricane Katrina. After spending billions a month on the war Senator McCain rejected every bill that would aid the hurricane victims. Once again Senator McCain talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.

As the Democratic minority tried throughout the fall of 2005 to get help for people in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Republicans wanted no part of it and despite his post-Katrina pledge to "do all that is necessary to fund essential relief and recovery efforts and help those in need," John McCain was right there to shoot down every initiative that would have helped, including the following Democratic-sponsored bills:

Senator Obama and legislation to help Katrina victims.

Kim, part of the Greatest lobbying force Washington has ever seen — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:05:46 EDT

Senator Obama directly sponsored 2 bills and co-sponsored 4 others directly related to helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina (and in some instances Hurricane Rita, as well). Here those bills are:

1) Hurricane Katrina recovery (2319), sponsor OBAMA, introduced Feb 16, 2006.

Link

Brief Summary: Created an officer to make certain that funds for Hurricane Katrina recovery activities were spent efficiently and effectively.

Establishes a National Family Locator System and ensures that each state's homeland security plan provides information regarding evacuating individuals with special needs.

Directs: (1) the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a volunteer corps to provide an adequate supply of health professionals in an emergency; and

(2) the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish a database of health professionals to increase preparedness for federal emergencies.

Requires the HHS Secretary to make grants: (1) for constructing, modernizing, or repairing health facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina; and (2) to assist individuals and specified entities in communities in affected areas that disproportionately experience health disparities.

Authorizes appropriations for disaster relief in Katrina-affected areas through community development assistance programs.

Authorizes the appropriate federal banking agency and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) to forbear from taking any action otherwise required with respect to certain undercapitalized insured depository institutions or credit unions that are not significantly or critically undercapitalized and whose capital or net worth were reduced as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina.

Establishes a goal that procurement recovery at least 30% of contracts be awarded to local businesses in Katrina-affected areas for 2006-2007, and at least 40% of the workers performing the recovery work be local residents.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the income threshold, and increase the percentage of earned income, used to calculate the refundable portion of the child tax credit. Allows certain taxpayers who maintained a primary residence in Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi an increase in the refundable portion of the child tax credit.

Link

Full text of the bill:

Link

Unfortunately, for those suffering in the aftermath of Katrina, this ball was not passed into law.

McCain, New Orleans, and Indifference

Theresa Boulart — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:36:10 EDT

Forty Senators and 100 members of Congress visited New Orleans before
McCain did; he finally got there in March 2006.

He voted against establishing a Congressional commission to examine the Federal, State,
and local responses to Katrina in mid-September 2005.

He repeated that vote in 2006. He voted against allowing up to 52 weeks of unemployment
benefits to people affected by the hurricane, and in 2006 voted
against appropriating $109 billion in supplemental emergency funding,
including $28 billion for hurricane relief.'

In the Senate, he consistently voted against more funds for FEMA
[the Federal Emergency Management Agency], against making it an
independent agency as it had been in the 1990s, and even against the
creation of a commission to investigate how the government failed
after Katrina.

Galvestonians for Obama

Gustav: McCain tries to co-opt Obama's moral stand

Rebecca from Redding, CA — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:48:35 EDT

Dear Senator Obama,

I am a Democrat living in the northern reaches of California's conservative backbone - the Central Valley. I have supported you ardently since your keynote address in 2004. My partner is registered as a Republican, voted for Ron Paul (who is still in the race) in the primary, and supports Dennis Kucinich enough to search all over the internet to watch his DNC speech. He used to like McCain. He sees weakness in the Democratic party and Congress and is as yet undecided on which way he'll vote this year. So it is from such a perspective that I write this message to you and your campaign about Senator McCain, the RNC and Hurricane Gustav.

Do not allow Mr. McCain to steal the moral high ground from you on Hurricane Gustav. If this happens, the American people will lose their chance for a great leader even as we emerge from these eight harrowing years under President Bush.

Go to the Gulf Coast. Do it during the GOP convention. Take the spotlight off McCain even as he tried to do it to you throughout the DNC and especially on your night, by tantalizing the press with a potential announcement of his VP choice.

McCain made inroads against you with Georgia and the attack ads all month. His choice of Palin is both heartfelt and the riskiest of political calculations. As a woman voter, I am frankly insulted, but his choice will only work against him in the next eight weeks if the Democratic campaign plays their hand correctly and with no gaffes like "God is on our side" as regarding the timing of the RNC.

But IF McCain succeeds in redeeming his candidacy by means of Gustav with the klieg lights on St. Paul this week, the chips he has made into your candidacy will turn your moment of history into another lost hope for ordinary and extraordinary people on November 4th.

We cannot once more allow the Republicans to co-opt a national disaster as they did with September 11th and with every anniversary of that terrible, woeful day. How many times did I hear during September 2006 my co-workers, family and friends asking "Why is the White House focusing exclusively on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 and once more ignoring Katrina during the first anniversary and ongoing aftermath? How can they politicize 9/11 during the darkest days of the Iraq War and continue to ignore their own citizens struggling in the Gulf region?"

In September 2004 at the RNC, McCain plainly and ardently committed to the Bush Administration and the Iraq War. In September 2005, he as the arguable vocal and moral leader of his party in Congress, sat silent as the Bush White House left Americans and the city of New Orleans to drown after the levees broke, while our National Guard was and continues to be occupied in Iraq. And in September 2006, where was McCain as the reform voice for the GOP during the one year anniversaries of Katrina and Rita and our national shame?

Only now in September 2008 at the RNC with Gustav overflowing the levees and with our National Guard still in Iraq does McCain make a national case to the American people on behalf of the American victims in the entire Gulf region. He will offer himself as the lone heroic reformer of a failed party and the lone soldier that will save America. He will try to throw the Bush Administration under a bus, but still keep Bush funders, and he will re-energize Bush's base with Governer Palin's down home social conservatism.

Please, Senator Obama, do not underestimate this strategy nor how many people want to hear this from McCain. Senator Obama, you must passionately and visibly take the high ground for New Orleans and Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, Texas and Florida during this crisis.

You HAVE the sensitivity, capacity and morality to make a stand for change against McCain and the RNC in the Gulf without seeming purely political to the people you have stood by since 2005. The GOP may scream foul, but you will be supported by footage of your speeches and work in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. You will be standing on your own record. Never let the American citizens ever forget that.

Thank you for your candidacy and your fight for us,

Rebecca M. Andrews,

Redding, California

McCain's Katrina Record

Bill from BC, Obamican, Veteran, Husband, Father, Educator — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:43:45 EDT

John McCain's Miserable Record on Hurricane Katrina

John McCain's Time for Action tour arrived in New Orleans Thursday, where McCain toured the hurricane-damaged 9th Ward and criticized both the Bush Administration and Congress for its handling of the disaster. Lamenting the pace of recovery, McCain said, "I want to assure you it will never happen again in this country. You have my commitment and my promise."

But McCain's record on Hurricane Katrina suggests that he was part of the problem, not the solution. McCain was on Face the Nation on August 28, 2005, as Katrina gathered in the Gulf Coast. He said nothing about it. One day later, when Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, McCain was on a tarmac at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, greeting President Bush with a cake in celebration of McCain's 69th birthday. Three days later, with the levees already breached and New Orleans filling with water, McCain's office released a three-sentence statement urging Americans to support the victims of the hurricane.

The Hurricane and John McCain -Take Two *

Andr�a- (You've called him everything else- now call him Mr. President!) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:07:58 EDT

As hurricane Gustav makes landfall in Louisiana today, Sen. John McCain has decided to tinker with his party’s convention. Today, activities in Minneapolis have been cut from seven hours to two hours. Gone are the speeches from party leaders. Instead the focus will be on, among other things, adopting convention rules and the Republican Party platform.

John McCain also toyed with the idea of not giving his acceptance speech at the Xcel Center. Although not yet finalized, he said he might give his acceptance speech via satellite from the Gulf region.

John McCain really wants to put that birthday cake incident behind him. If you don’t know to what incident I am referring, let’s do a walk down memory lane, shall we?

August 29, 2005, hurricane Katrina makes landfall in New Orleans, Louisiana. Although the city did not take a direct hit, the storm surge caused the levees to break and the entire city was under massive amounts of water. As people and property washed away, President George Bush and Senator John McCain were… sharing a birthday cake at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, AZ

Yes, sharing a birthday cake! While people were literally drowning in their homes, these two were eating cake.

We all know what happened after the first day of Katrina. The city of New Orleans was left on its own for days. Thousands of people took shelter in the Superdome, where they experienced the unimaginable: dehydration, starvation, rape, murder — things you would expect to see in a warring Third World country, not in the United States of America.

I guess John McCain really wants us to forget how he and his mentor President George Bush behaved on that first day of Katrina.

I don’t think I can forget, which is why I find his actions yesterday a little suspect. They smell of opportunism and desperation. John McCain was briefed on preparations and evacuations. Then he showed up in Pearl, Mississippi yesterday with his running mate Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin to state that he was "happy to report to you that the coordination and the work that’s being done at all levels appears to be excellent." John McCain could not make any executive decisions with respect to evacuation plans, shelters, or the like. The only thing he could do was go to Mississippi and tell us plans were going well. What? That really doesn’t make sense. He could have released a statement saying the same thing. Why waste time and money to go there? Why divert precious first responder time and resources?

My friends, I believe John McCain is trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

* article circulated by the Ghost Writer Guild for Barack Obama

Bad Karma - Be Careful what You Pray for James Dobson and cronies

Victoria Mac — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:42:01 EDT

I am truly sorry to hear that Hurricane Gustav is headed for the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, a grim reminder of the tragedy that was Hurricane Katrina. Nearly 1000 lives were lost in Katrina and the Bush administration's performance was shameful. It was one of the darkest hours of the Bush administration. The Keystone Cops come to mind when I think of how the administration bungled even the simplest of tasks.

My heart, prayers and best wishes go out to those whose lives are once again being disrupted by Hurricane Gustav. There is unmistakable irony with the advent of Gustav.

McCain’s Choice and Our Response

Doug Robinson — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:25:49 EDT

To revert to oversimplification, slander, misrepresentation and, finally, tokenism to sway public opinion is reprehensible in itself. Such tactics, however, are effective only to the extent the public remains ready and willing to accept them.

Hurricane Katrina: Where were Bush and McCain?

Hope4Unity — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:04:47 EDT

On the Morning Katrina Struck New Orleans, and Hours After the Levee Breach, McCain Was Enjoying Birthday Cake With President Bush. From the White House Website: "President George W. Bush joins Arizona Senator John McCain in a small celebration of McCain's 69th birthday Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, after the President's arrival at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix. The President later spoke about Medicare to 400 guests at the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort and Country Club in nearby El Mirage. White House photo by Paul Morse" [The White House, Accessed 4/20/08]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRar6yKZE8g

Obama’s “Yes We Can” Illusion ...and the Killing Reality for Black People

Jay Garrano — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 12:30:33 EDT

(from Revolution newspaper #141, August 24, 2008)

Obama’s “Yes We Can” Illusion
...and the Killing Reality for Black People

by Carl Dix

This presidential election season something different is happening. Three years ago, tens of thousands of Black people were left to die as Katrina’s flood waters surged in New Orleans. Last year, lynching nooses were being hung all across the country, from Jena, Louisiana, to New York City. But now, one of the two major parties is about to nominate an African-American, Barack Obama, to be the president of the U.S. This is major.

Gustav 1 - RNC 0

Cindy — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 10:22:18 EDT

This morning GW has decided not to attend the convention because of Gustav. During Katrina he and McSame were eating cake while New Orleans drowned. Not attending the convention, Bushed? Then you should be standing square on the levee when Gustav passes by, let's see how your power holds out! When stiff white men hug, we should be very afraid. When old white men hire hotties, we should call it what it is: a slap in the face for women of substance.

I vote for change. I vote for logic. I vote for Obama/Biden.

Dangerous Decision. Dangerous Choice. Dangerous Candidate.

Kitchen Table Chats With America — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:40:39 EDT

Mornin' Friends. Can we talk? Have a seat and let's chat.

*pours glasses of orange juice and cups of coffee*

This past Friday, John McCain chose Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be his running mate. As I listened to Sen. McCain speak, I couldn't help but recognize the irony of this particular choice being made on the day of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. And a chill went up my spine.

You see, it has been reported that McCain has only personally met with Palin twice. TWICE folks! Once in Feb. '08 and a second time --- wait for it -- ON THE PHONE! Maybe it's just me, but a Presidential candidate choosing someone to be their V.P. running mate is like someone deciding who will be the godparents to their children. You want someone that you know will be able to step in just in case anything happens to you, someone you trust and um sorry but ya can't determine that a person can be trusted with something so precious based on TWO meetings with them, one of which was a lousy phone call.

Hiding Behind Palin - McCain and Katrina.

Liberal Nationalist — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:13:21 EDT

The Palin choice is not just obscuring McCain's 72nd birthday. Another lady should be taking the stage today - Katrina is 3 today - McCain's birthday was what Bush was celebrating when he was 'late.'

Who was doing what 3 years ago: Link to photo's of -Bush-McCain all happy with the birthday cake, Al Gore evacuating hundreds, Carter rebuilding homes, and a link for what Obama was doing (http://tinyurl.com/5983j2). He did more in the first week than some old pols in the other party have done yet. [Here's a video http://www.barackobama.com/tv/] Our response, besides being an largely abandonement of our people, is in violation gudelines we subscribe to at the UN: "The US Human Rights Network condemns the delay in sufficient improvements for those Gulf Coast residents most hurt by the disaster. "After three years, it seems evident that the failure to restore the rights of displaced residents is as much intentional as accidental," says USHRN Executive Director Ajamu Baraka. In its review of U.S. compliance with the International Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), a United Nations committee recently cited ongoing problems in the Gulf Coast as a major concern, noting "the disparate impact that this natural disaster continues to have on low-income African American residents, many of whom continue to be displaced more than two years after the hurricane." The U.S. government is...similarly in clear violation of the U.N. Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which require governments at every level to provide adequate services to families affected by natural disasters and facilitate the right of return of the displaced." [http://tinyurl.com/6xpqg5] As New Orleans prepares for another hurricane, a new report "presents the clearest picture yet of deaths from Katrina in Louisiana." "Of the nearly 1,000 who died, almost half were 75 or older" and 51 percent were black, according to the study in the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. The researchers hope the findings "will aid public health and emergency preparedness efforts" in the future.

[http://tinyurl.com/67h9ep] For Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Gustav threatens to provide an untimely reminder of Hurricane Katrina. The President might not even come. We'll see

KATRINA Three Years Later

[Progress Report for Aug 29th[progress@mx3.americanprogressaction.org]Today marks the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast. On August 29, 2005, Katrina cut "a 125-mile swath of destruction stretching from coastal Alabama across Mississippi to the French Quarter and the Superdome." Katrina was the costliest hurricane in American history and the third deadliest, killing 1,800 people. New Orleans was particularly hard-hit, which submerged 80 percent of the city. Sadly, as the anniversary of Katrina nears, New Orleans is bracing for another storm, Gustav, which is projected to hit the Gulf Coast early next week as a Category 3 hurricane. The development of Gustav prompted Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) to proclaim a state of emergency and prepare "hundreds of buses and emergency shelters to help residents flee should Gustav strike as expected." Gustav's approach also caused the cancellation of events commemorating the Katrina anniversary. The threat of another hurricane serves to highlight the progress that New Orleans has made in the last three years, and the work that still remains cleaning up and repairing the city.

BUSH VISIT A 'REMINDER OF BROKEN PROMISES': Last week, President Bush appeared in New Orleans to say that "hope is coming back" to the city, due to $126 billion in disaster aid sent to the region in the last three years. "The good future is here," Bush said. "I predicted New Orleans would come back as a stronger and better city. We helped deliver $126 billion in taxpayer money." Three years ago, however, Bush was preoccupied as Katrina hit. While 75 percent of New Orleans residents do "feel hopeful about the future of the greater New Orleans area," Bush's visit was more a "reminder of broken promises" than the sign of hopeful future. In 2005, Bush did not organize a federal response to Katrina for two days after the storm hit, despite repeated requests for assistance from former Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco (D) and reports that levees in New Orleans had been breached. He then spent the following days claiming -- falsely -- that no one anticipated the breach of the levees and that he was "satisfied with the [federal] response" to the storm. In 2006, the New York Times reported that to federal aid to the region hit by Katrina was plagued by "breathtaking waste and fraud." The New York Times called the waste of federal dollars "one of the the most extraordinary displays of scams, schemes and stupefying bureaucratic bungles in modern history, costing taxpayers up to $2 billion." Last week, the Bush administration announced that the funds sent to the Gulf Coast region for hurricane recovery were "sufficient" and that there are "enough funds in the pipeline, to get the mission done."

PERSISTENT PROBLEMS: Even if "hope is back" in New Orleans, massive problems resulting from the hurricane remain, including "significant debris management issues," and "a cleanup fraught with environmental issues." While "97% of the population has returned to Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties, the three areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina," New Orleans still has a far greater proportion of vacant homes than any other city in the country," with "more than one in three residential addresses vacant or unoccupied." According to the research and advocacy institute PolicyLink, "thousands of residents who want to return home are facing a critical rental housing shortage, inadequate rebuilding grants and a recovery plagued by red tape and ever-changing rules." Part of the problem is the federal Road Home program, which is "the main conduit by which federal funds were to compensate homeowners for the damage wrought" by Katrina. "In New Orleans, 4 of every 5 Road Home recipients rebuilding their homes did not get enough money to cover their repairs," with an average shortfall of $54,586. As of March, "only 13% of the $1.6 billion in the state's emergency community development block grant funds had benefited lower-income victims." Further compounding New Orleans' troubles with Gustav approaching, the Associated Press conducted a yearlong review of levee work which revealed "a pattern of public misperception, political jockeying and legal fighting, along with economic and engineering miscalculations, that threaten to make New Orleans the scene of another devastating flood."

HAVE THE MEDIA FORGOTTEN NEW ORLEANS?: Earlier this week, the Independent's Richard Holledge published an article proclaiming that in the last three years the media "forgot the city of jazz and jambalaya." "Three years after Hurricane Katrina, the world's media has lost sight of the ongoing misery in New Orleans," he wrote. "Coverage by the international and national news media in the run-up to the anniversary is negligible...One of the world's most cataclysmic natural disasters, one made worse by official incompetence and corruption, is almost forgotten." Conservative talker Glenn Beck, however, has made sure to deride the rebuilding of New Orleans as the anniversary nears, saying, "We shouldn't spend a single dime of taxpayers' money in a place where - I don't care where it is - where it is in a flood zone." Jon Amoss, editor of New Orleans' Times-Picayune, echoed Holledge's sentiment, saying, "I don't think we are on people's minds. We have to contend with those voices, particularly on pop radio, which say 'New Orleanians with their eternal whining – why don't they pull themselves up by their boot straps?'" But highlighting the continuing role Katrina plays in the life of New Orleanians, Amoss added "I wondered a year-and-a-half ago whether there would ever come a time when the word hurricane or Katrina would not appear on, or near, page one [of the Times-Picayune]. There have been some days when there hasn't been a single story on page one, but that is still a rarity because it is the fabric of our life."

"The One": Why right wing "celebrity attack ads" won't work on Barack Obama

Alamantra — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:03:25 EDT

Please read and digg this article I just posted on why right-wing attacks painting Barack Obama as a superficial celebrity fail. Thank you for all that you do.

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7797

Excerpt:

The recent line of right-wing attacks on Barack Obama have been to emphasize his popularity and turn it against him by painting him as nothing more than a celebrity -- "an empty suit" was the phrase I heard one pundit use. Right-wing trolls and bloggers have commonly taken to referring to Senator Obama online as "The One." This attempt at sarcasm is a reference to the character 'Neo' from the movie, The Matrix. As they do this, I have to wonder if they realize who this makes them in their self-created Matrix scenario: Agents? Sentinels? If, in a world of ones and zeros, Barack Obama is "The One," what is John McCain?

Convention Midpoint

MamaVic — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:00:31 EDT

Holding McCain accountable for his policies, voting record and statements is not going negative, it's fighting fair. And there's plenty to be said and played repeatedly on video with a booming soundtrack. I want a laundry list of clear reasons to tick off when I'm talking with friends and associates who aren't sure they'll be voting for Obama. Michelle Obama in a PBS interview last night said that rather than breakdown his opponent Barack wants to win by building us up. Great Barack. Do that Thursday night in front of a huge adoring crowd. But let everyone else remind us why we're voting for a guy who I think is great, but a lot of America still thinks is some inexperienced, arugula-eater whose not like them. And yes, it will be really hard for millions of voters to support a black guy. Some people need more than someone wonderful to vote for--they need someone dangerous to vote against.

I like the theme of everyone telling their life story and saying, "That's America's story" or something to that effect. I like the frequent use of the term, "green collar jobs." But they're laying a lot of pressure on Biden to do all the significant McCain/Bush bashing in one speech. I thought Hillary's speech was great. There was really no way she'd get off without some criticism. The fact that people think she didn't talk enough about Obama may be true. But she doesn't really have much of a personal relationship with him. How much time have they ever spent talking privately other than the two hours at Diane Finestein's house months ago? If she'd tried to be too gushing about Barack I think it would not have sounded authentic. I think Obama made a mistake by not reaching out more to the Clintons off camera. Hillary, and to a much lesser degree Bill of late, have been good party soldiers, but if more of an Obama/Clinton bond had been forged they would be more powerful and effective champions for Obama. Right now they're great party leaders and obviously are just acting in the best interest of the party.

I think Obama taking the high road attitude is admirable, and clearly he has set the tone of this convention. However, the DNC could have hit hard against McCain on the issues. Just saying over and over again that McCain will be a continuation of Bush is not enough. The biggest concern people have at the moment is gas prices and many people, wrongly, have the idea that McCain may actually have a useful plan for this. Voters need to be reminded of every way in which the American dream is being decimated by the control of corporate interest; the destruction of our constitution; the denial of, then inaction toward, global warming; every 5-4 supreme court decision that struck down the rights of workers, women, and minorities; every damning quote by McCain should be played in a loop, "in Iraq for 100 years," the "Dick Cheney as my VP" statement; and what was John McCain doing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina?

Dammit, TELL ME THE TRUTH!!!

Tanya — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:51:17 EDT

Ummmm..Mr McCain?…are ya sitting down? Here’s a few of your own words that lead all of us to distrust you overwhelmingly, every day! You’re an embarrassment to yourself, McSame! This is the age of the “Internet(s)” and “the” Youtube using Bushian malaprops. We’ve got you on record, McFlip/Flop! Facts are just silly things that get in your way…ehhh, McSame?

Many, many, many thanks to one of my true media heroes and ever-present mentor..Keith Olbermann!

Rectifying Bush's Failures: Global Warming & Katrina

David in Toronto by way of New Orleans — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:15:44 EDT

Yesterday, Obama gave a speech describing his energy plan; here's how we can work toward those goals now. A project called, Geothermal Power for Low-Income Home Owners, is up for consideration at American Express' Members Project. You can see it here: http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/CJSUUF.

The Politics of Loud

jkeally — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:21:51 EDT

Here is the problem: people like Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh use the "politics of loud" to convert free thinkers into "sheep" to be herded in their flock. Their tried and true technique: yelling. The louder the better. Their vociferousness gets ordinary people to listen; thinking that if they are yelling about something - they must be upset about something, and if they are upset enough to yell, then it must be the truth. Hannity, O'Reilly, and Limbaugh would label themselves purveyors of truth, when in reality they are merely promoting the conservative agenda. Case in point: belief about the (lack of) damage done during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita with regards to Off Shore Drilling.

The statics given on my last post were taken from the US Department of the Interior. There they have three classifications of Spills: Minor (1-1,000 barrels) Medium (1,000 - 2,000 barrels) and Major (anything over 2,000 barrels). This is conducted on a per rig basis - not a complete tally. So what happens is a conservative will take this data, note that there was no Major spills and then translate that into: not a drop spilled. This is called Spin (when over 16,000 barrels were spilled I would call it lying). When ordinary people start bleating the mantra "DRILL, DRILL, DRILL" they have been hoodwinked and have fallen for the conservative agenda hardcore.

Another factor one must take into consideration (when assessing the reason for high gasoline prices) is the effect of deficit spending on the economy. Right now, the dollar is weaker than it has ever been in its history. Case in point: My girlfriend and I just got back from Canada a few weeks ago. There, we exchanged 100 US dollars and received 93 Canadian dollars in return. Just a few years ago we would've gotten back 120+ Canadian dollars in exchange. The reason for this disparity is the unprecedented / unparalleled amount of deficit spending the government has undertaken. When the government spends money that it does not have this is called deficit spending. In order to spend money it does not have the government must borrow money. The more money we borrow the more the value of the dollar depreciates. Why are we borrowing so much money right now? To allay the 2 billion dollar per week cost (over a trillion dollars total thus far) for the war in Iraq - which we should never have been involved with in the first place. If you lived in a house and neighbor "A" who lived on your left came over and sucker-punched you in the face, would you sucker punch neighbor "B" (who lives on your right) to get back at neighbor "A"? Of course not! It doesn't make any sense. It is a non sequitur. So was our invasion / occupation of Iraq. We should have concentrated all elements on Afghanistan. That was a major blunder on the Bush administration's part - although I'm guessing those involved profited handsomely. You want to lower gas prices? Then lets get out of Iraq and put an end to this deficit spending - give the dollar a chance to heal. The stronger the dollar is the fewer dollars it takes to purchase a barrel of oil. Perhaps all of this talk about drilling is merely smoke and mirrors after all . . .

No Compromise ! No Such Thing as Clean Offshore Drilling!

Tom Pearce Palm Beach Community Organizer — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:11:56 EDT

Senator Obama please remember there is no clean compromise on offshore oil drilling!

After Katrina: Oil Spill First Responders
Megan Sever
When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August, no one was immune from its rage. The hurricane hit oil and gas infrastructure particularly hard. More than 100 platforms were destroyed or lost, major pipelines were shut down, and refineries and oil storage sites lost power and were flooded and heavily damaged. While thousands of people rushed out of the area, struggling to avoid rising flood waters, some folks were rushing in. They were hoping to prevent — or at least quickly clean up — what would become America’s largest oil spill since the 11-million-gallon Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989

Katrina

jkeally — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:15:18 EDT

Not to quibble with John McCain and his position to support off shore drilling, but here are the stats taken from the US department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service.

The facts are:

As of January 25, 2007, MMS identified 125 spills of petroleum products totaling 16,302 barrels that were lost from platforms,
rigs, and pipelines on the Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) as a result of damages from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

The five largest spills were estimated to be between 1,000 barrels and 2,000 barrels. Two of the five spills may have only been a couple of hundred barrels. These five spills represent only 4 percent of all the spills but total 8,428 barrels and 52 percent
of the total spillage. The table below provides more details (not sure why the table wont post correctly):

Petroleum Spills from Federal OCS Facilities of 1,000 bbl (barrels) or Greater Resulting from Damages

Caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005

Location
Structure
Operator
Spill Size
Product
Storm

EI 51 Segment #1844

14" x 4"/ Subsea Tie-in/ Gulf South Pipeline/ greater than 100 bbl to 1,812 bbl /Condensate /Rita /

EI 95 /Segment #4754/
10" x 10" /Subsea Tie-in /Gulf South Pipeline /greater than 100 bbl to 1,551 bbl/ Condensate/ Rita

EI 314 /Platform J /Forrest Oil /2,000 bbl /Condensate/ Rita

SM 146/ Rowan Fort Worth Rig/ Hunt Petroleum /1,494 bbl/ Diesel /Rita

SS 250/ Rowan Odessa Rig/ Remington O & G/ 1,572 bbl /Diesel & Other /Rita

Now to be fair, the government has three classifications for spills: Minor, Medium, and Major. And while, by government standards, these spills don't qualify as Major . . . that is still a lot of damage. I guess it is all a matter of perspective. . .
(visit www.mms.gov for more info)

Jonathan

Stay Informed

Nia "Hussein" J. — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:47:03 EDT

Since the begining of Obama's campaign It has really been bothering me - the charges that Obama is all talk and no action. Those of us who support him and have reviewed his record know there is no basis to this charge, but just to make sure, I went to the Congressional Record (www.thomas.gov) and did a search for bills sponsored or co-sponsored by Senator Obama in his three short years in the US Senate. I searched the 109th and 110th Congresses which cover the years 2005-2007. The republicans are going to spend Millions trying to prove a thin resume'. So what a better way to defeat lies and misinformation when empowered with information. I suggest also reading through Obama's "Blue Print for America" to put everything into context.

In a nut shell I found:

Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 570 bills in the 109th and 110th Congress.Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 15 bills that have become LAW since he joined the Senate in 2005.Senator Obama has also introduced amendments to 50 bills, of which 16 were adopted by the Senate.His record is in fact quite impressive for a junior Senator from Illinois. Details below...

I summarize Senator Obama's legislative record in the US Senate. First I list the bills he sponsored that have become law. Next I summarize the bills that he has sponsored or cosponsored since he became a US Senator in 2005.I have only included major pieces of legislation and have not summarized continuing resolutions or naming post offices, for example.His record suggests several priorities and the bills he supports address many of our most pressing problems.Most of his legislative effort has been in the area of Energy Efficiency and Climate Change (25 bills), health care (21 bills) and public health (20 bills), consumer protection/labor (14 bills), the needs of Veterans and the Armed Forces (13 bills), Congressional Ethics and Accountability (12 bills), Foreign Policy (10 bills) Voting and Elections (9 bills), Education (7 bills), Hurricane Katrina Relief (6), the Environment (5 bills), Homeland Security (4 bills), and discrimination (4 bills).

Of the 15 bills Senator Obama sponsored or co-sponsored in 2005-7 that became law:

Two addressed foreign policy:
-Promote relief, security and democracy in the Congo (2125)
-Develop democratic institutions in areas under Palestinian control (2370).

Three addressed public health:
-Improve mine safety (2803)
-Increased breast cancer funding (597)
-Reduce preterm delivery and complications, reduce infant mortality (707).

Two addressed openness and accountability in government:
-Strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (2488)
-Full disclosure of all entities receiving federal funds (2590)

Two addressed national security:
-Extend Terrorist Risk Insurance (467)
-Amend the Patriot Act (2167)

One addressed the needs of the Armed Forces:
-Wave passport fees to visit graves, attend memorials/funerals of veterans abroad (1184).

Of the 570 bills Senator Obama introduced into the Senate during the 109th and 110th Congress (Senate Bill numbers are in parentheses), they can be summarized as follows:

25 addressed Energy Efficiency and Climate Change
-Suspend royalty relief for oil and gas (115)
-Reduce dependence on oil; use of alternative energy sources (133)
-Increase fuel economy standards for cars (767, 768)
-Auto industry incentives for fuel efficient vehicles (1151)
-Reduce green house gas emissions (1324)
-Establish at NSF a climate change education program (1389)
-Increase renewable content of gasoline (2202)
-Energy emergency relief for small businesses and farms (269)
-Strategic gasoline and fuel reserves (1794)
-Alternative diesel standards (3554)
-Coal to liquid fuel promotion (3623)
-Renewable diesel standards (1920)
-Reducing global warming pollution from vehicles (2555)
-Fuel security and consumer choice (1994, 2025)
-Alternative energy refueling system (2614)
-Climate change education (1389)
-Low income energy assistance (2405)
-Oil savings targets (339)
-Fuel economy reform (3694)
-Plug-in electric drive vehicles (1617)
-Nuclear release notice (2348)
-Passenger rail investment (294)
-Energy relief for low income families (2405)21 addressed Health Care
-Drug re-importation (334)
-Health information technology (1262, 1418)
-Discount drug prices (2347)
-Health care associated infections (2278)
-Hospital quality report cards (692, 1824)
-Medical error disclosure and compensation (1784)
-Emergency medical care and response (1873)
-Stem cell research (5)
-Medical Malpractice insurance (1525)
-Health centers renewal (901, 3771)
-Children’s health insurance (401)
-Home health care (2061)
-Medicare independent living (2103)
-Microbicides for HIV/AIDS (823)
-Ovarian cancer biomarker research (2569)
-Gynological cancers (1172)
-Access to personalized medicine through use of human genome (976)
-Paralysis research and care (1183)

20 addressed Public Health:
-Violence against women (1197)
-Biodefense and pandemic preparedness and response (1821, 1880)
-Viral influenza control (969)
-End homelessness (1518)
-Reduce STDs/unintended pregnancy (1790)
-Smoking prevention and tobacco control (625)
-Minority health improvement and disparity elimination (4024)
-Nutrition and physical education in schools (2066)
-Health impact assessments (1067, 2506)
-Healthy communities (1068)
-Combat methamphetamines (2071)
-Paid sick leave (910)
-Prohibit mercury sales (833, 1818)
-Prohibit sale of lead products (1306, 2132)
-Lead exposure in children (1811, 2132)

14 address Consumer Protection/Labor
-Stop unfair labor practices (842)
-Fair minimum wage (2, 1062, 2725, 3829)
-Internet freedom (2917)
-Credit card safety (2411)
-Media ownership (2332)
-Protecting taxpayer privacy (2484)
-Working family child assistance (218)
-Habeus Corpus Restoration (185)
-Bankruptcy protection for employees and retirees (2092)
-FAA fair labor management dispute resolution (2201)
-Working families flexibility (2419).

13 addressed the Needs of Veterans and the Armed Forces:
-Improve Benefits (117)
-Suicide prevention (479)
-Needs of homeless veterans (1180)
-Homes for veterans (1084)
-GI Bill enhancement (43)
-Military job protection
-Dignity in care for wounded vets (713)
-Housing assistance for low income veterans (1084)
-Military children in public schools (2151)
-Military eye injury research and care (1999)
-Research physical/mental health needs from Iraq War (1271)
-Proper administration of discharge for personality disorder (1817, 1885)
-Security of personal data of veterans (3592)

12 addressed Congressional Ethics and Accountability:
-Lobbying and ethics reform (230)
-Stop fraud (2280)
-Legislative transparency and accountability (525)
-Open government (2180, 2488)
-Restoring fiscal discipline (10)
-Transparency and integrity in earmarks (2261)
-Accountability of conference committee deliberations and reports (2179)
-Federal funding accountability and transparency (2590)
-Accountability and oversight for private security functions under Federal
contract (674)
-Accountability for contractors and personnel under federal contracts
(2147) -Resctrictions awarding government contracts (2519)

10 addressed Foreign Policy:
-Iraq war de-escalation (313)
-US policy for Iraq (433),
-Divestiture from Iran (1430)
-Sudan divestment authorization (831)
-Millennium Development Goals (2433)
-Multilateral debt relief (1320)
-Development bank reform (1129)
-Nuclear nonproliferation (3131,977,2224).

9 address Voting/Elections:
-Prohibit deceptive practices in Federal elections (453)
-Voter access to polls and services in Federal elections (737)
-Voter intimidation and deceptive practices (1975)
-Senate campaign disclosure parity (185)
-Require reporting for bundled campaign contributions (2030)
-Election jamming prevention (4102)
-Campaign disclosure parity (223)
-Presidential funding (2412)
-Integrity of electronic voting systems (1487)

11 addressed Education:
-Increase access of low income African Americans to higher education (1513)
-Establish teaching residency programs (1574)
-Increase early intervention services (2111)
-Middle school curriculum improvements (2227)
-Public database of scholarships, fellowships and financial aid (2428)
-Summer learning programs (116)
-TANF financial education promotion (924)
-Higher education (1642)
-Build capacity at community colleges (379)
-Campus law enforcement in emergencies (1228)
-Support for teachers (2060).

6 addressed Hurrican Katrina:
-Hurricane Katrina recovery (2319)
-Emergency relief (1637)
-Bankruptcy relief and community protection (1647)
-Working family tax relief (2257)
-Fair wages for recovery workers (1749)
-Gulf coast infrastructure redevelopment (1836)

5 addressed the Environment:
-Drinking water security (218, 1426)
-Water resources development (728)
-Waste water treatment (1995)
-Combat illegal logging (1930)
-Spent nuclear fuel tracking ;and Acountability (1194)
-Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act (Introduced in Senate)[S.726.IS ]

4 addressed Discrimination
-Claims for civil class action based on discrimination (1989)
-Domestic partnership benefits (2521)
-Unresolved civil rights crimes (535)
-Equality or two parent families (2286)

4 addressed Homeland Security:
-Judicial review of FISA orders (2369)
-National emergency family locator (1630)
-Amend US Patriot Act (2167)
-Chemical security and safety (2486)

Bellow is more detailed information on his Senate record:

-Obama passed legislation with Republican Senator Jim Talent to give gas stations a tax credit for installing E85 ethanol refueling pumps. The tax credit covers 30 percent of the costs of switching one or more traditional petroleum pumps to E85, which is an 85 percent ethanol/15 percent gasoline blend.

-After a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases. -His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. -Obama created the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income working families in 2000 and successfully sponsored a measure to make the credit permanent in 2003. The law offered about $105 million in tax relief over three years. -Obama joined forces with former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL) to pass the toughest campaign finance law in Illinois history. The legislation banned the personal use of campaign money by Illinois legislators and banned gifts from lobbyists. Before the law was passed, one organization ranked Illinois worst among 50 states for its campaign finance regulations. -As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan.

-He traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world.

-Obama has been a leading advocate for protecting the right to vote, helping to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and leading the opposition against discriminatory barriers to voting. - In the U.S. Senate, Obama introduced the STOP FRAUD Act to increase penalties for mortgage fraud and provide more protections for low-income homebuyers, well before the current subprime crisis began.

-Obama sponsored legislation to combat predatory payday loans, and he also was credited with lobbied the state to more closely regulate some of the most egregious predatory lending practices.

-Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 to provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military.

-Obama worked to pass a number of laws in Illinois and Washington to improve the health of women. His accomplishments include creating a task force on cervical cancer, providing greater access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, and helping improve prenatal and premature birth services.

-Obama has introduced and helped pass bipartisan legislation to limit the abuse of no-bid federal contracts.

-Obama and Senator Feingold (D-WI) took on both parties and proposed ethics legislation that was described as the "gold standard" for reform. It was because of their leadership that ending subsidized corporate jet travel, mandating disclosure of lobbyists' bundling of contributions, and enacting strong new restrictions of lobbyist-sponsored trips became part of the final ethics bill that was signed into law.

I really could list many, many more but I fear it would be too much to take in at one time. I hope this helps some of you know him a little better. Everyone seems to be jumping on his "Change" bandwagon. However, he does have the record to back it up

Red White and Blues (Lyrics)

Uncle Shoehorn — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:02:30 EDT

Keep on hitting snooze,

pretty soon there won't be nothin' left to lose.

The world around you keeps on droppin' clues,

but you're too high to notice the abuse.

Who's the fool in control of this cruise?

The mate's a criminal, the captain his stooge.

But you won't hear about it in the evening news-

My heart is so black, I got those red, white and blues.

Killing for gasoline, this ain't no good.

So we'll burn corn at the expense of food.

And either way the working man gets screwed,

Corporate greed gives me the Red, White and Blues.

Keep on lookin' down,

while big box bullies bleed another town.

They're running family businesses into the ground,

they're eating your lunch, but you don't make a sound.

They let an entire city drown.

What if its your home next time around?

Just folks like you and me who paid their dues-

was left on the rooves, with the Red, White and Blues.

This land is your land, this land is mine,

and we are running nearly outta time.

We can save this place but we gotta fight,

to do what's right for the Red White and Blue.

--Uncle Shoehorn

Time for Obama to try a leadership role?

mkinla — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:19:31 EDT

New Orleans Outrage Perfect Opportunity to Slam GOP: Obama should take lead

In its recent investgiation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) alleged mismanagement of supplies for victims of Hurricane Katrina, CNN found that at least $95 million in of cleaning supplies, batteries, linens and other essentials were held in storage for two years. The brain trust at FEMA then declared the supplies "surplus" and gave almost all of them away to other Federal agencies. They kept some buckets for themselves.

The federal government's mistreatment of its own citizens is outrageous and insane. That a culturally significant, major American city like New Orleans is left to fend for itself is disgusting.

I think Obama should immediately condemn this atrocious mismanagement. And call it what it is: incompetence.

Obama should tell the media that he intends to give a major speech from New Orleans about how Americans will take care of our own. We don't torture. We don't instigate wars of aggression. We don't trample on citizen's rights to privacy and a fair trial.

The Senator needs to take the lead on something important soon. Rather than spending time on reacting to ridiculous attacks from the right, he can set the tone for the conversation and challenge Senator McCain to debate about the issues that matter.

Also, he should lose the lapel pin.

See CNN's investigation

FDA v.s. FEMA which is worse?

The H.M. Press — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:52:55 EDT

you decide.

Who's Rebuilding New Orleans?

Zeekarone — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:11:26 EDT

Here's a video I made while working at Campus Progress - part of the Center for American Progress - in Washington, DC. I went down to my hometown of New Orleans with my buddy Zach and shot this video on who exactly is helping to rebuilding New Orleans - the answer might surprise you.

Click Here to watch the video.

McCain: Lock-step and (oil) barrel

Janet Ritz — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:09:30 EDT

From THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

In a campaign year where John McCain is seemingly doing everything he can to publicly distance himself from George W. Bush, he's also been emulating the historically unpopular president by walking in lock-step with him along the path to Texas oil.

While Barack Obama was in Illinois shoveling sand in bags to hold back the Bush-neglected infrastructure crumbling around him -- resulting in a multi-state version of Katrina with both an oblivious Republican president and Republican presidential candidate -- John McCain just happened to be on his way to Texas to accept the whoops and cheers (and money) from oil industry insiders for his proclaimed flip-flop on offshore drilling as the answer to America's oil-supply woes.

Want something worse? Aside from the fact that he did it while Senator Obama was showing empathy to those impacted by an unstable climate and deteriorating infrastructure, it turns out that John McCain gave his oil pandering speech CONCURRENT to the release of his new ad-buy proclaiming his independence from the Bush Administration on global warming.

Please Sir! I only want a job...

Coco — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:35:52 EDT

It's days like today.. that lead me over to http://www.officialbushcountdown.com/

I have officially filled out 134 job apps. and still no job. in fact, I've only had two call backs.. and one of the jobs I had to turn down simply because I can't lift 180lbs.. (I'm a 24 year old woman that can't lift that kind of weight.. sheesh!) but I'm sinking here. I need a job. it's as simple as that. no other way around it.. but yet, I can't seem to find one. and Bush still won't utter the word "Recession". No, that's right.. he doesn't realize we are in a Recession, he's sitting at his cushy job. and when he leaves Office in 2009? he returns to my home state, to his cushy family.. what a life huh? someone who can truly go through life with their head so far up their butt that their crack is resting on their shoulders...

I just don't get it. how can one man screw up the country so badly in 8 years. I believe it would take a normal person at least twice the amount of time to do the crap he's done. I don't know what saddens me more, the fact that he cheated to get into office in 2000 (and got away with it mind you) or the fact that for some reason unknown to me (perhaps more cheating?) people actually voted him BACK into office, for ANOTHER 4 years. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? My Real guess? they couldn't have been thinking. at least for the good of the country. I cried when I heard he had been re elected. I knew what was in store for this country.

and then Katrina hit, and living in Texas. I saw this first hand, people from New Orleans, walking.. down the highway, with whatever they could carry on their backs, lost, homeless, frightened, scared, dirty, tired, hungry, alone, afraid, unsure, in shock, and most of all... forgotten.

Why bring up Katrina 3 years later? because nothing has changed. these people are still picking up their lives, IN AMERICA.. this shouldn't have to happen in America.. and Katrina crosses my mind even more lately, with all the recent job apps, Texas is still being thrust with the Katrina Aftermath. (I'm not bitching, don't get me wrong..) But I'm still being asked on my job apps, if I am a "Katrina Refugee" (Btw, who said it was okay to call the Katrina victims "Refugees"?) It just makes me wonder, how long are we really going to misplace these people, and how long are they going to have to wait to get THEIR lives back? when are we finally going to do all that was promised for these people? When? Hello? It's been 3 years, is anyone listening?

We've got to get this country back on track. before we all end up broke and homeless.. we haven't even seen the worst of what this could become.. if we don't put a stop to this. this is isnanity to call this America.. we aren't America anymore.. we are the United States of Bush/Cheney.. and it's got to stop. I really hope McCain doesn't get elected. I'm afraid of what will happen to us if he does.. have mercy on us..

But I do have faith that this great country I proudly call my home, will see what I have seen in Barack Obama since I saw him speak at the 2004 DNC. I believe he can pull us out of this hole Bush has forced is into. and I believe that the country sees what will happen if we stay with these outdated and straight up outrageous policies of the Republican Party..

OBAMA 2008!!

How would have Obama handled the Mynnamar(Burma) crisis?

William from Earlton, NY — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:57:33 EDT

I feel that if Obama is elected he will pull troops home, aid mexico in fighting the drug wars, create new jobs, and promote further education. But I don't know how he would have handled the Mynnamar incident. Would he used US influence to force the UN to act? Would he have sent US forces directly there? Would He have used diplomacy with Neighboring countries to handle the problems, wether it resulted in overthrowing the Junta or not? Whatever his choice would be I believe it would have been a good thought out choice, better than Bush's handling of Katrina that is for sure.

In Louisiana, McCain Claims He Voted For Every Katrina Investigation -- Except He Didn't

Inspired in Florida - a Recovering Republican — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:29:49 EDT

I don't know about you...but I'm having a hard time understanding why the Republicans keep calling McCain a straight shooter/talker...Everytime a reporter catches him in a lie...his response always seems to be, 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

In Louisiana, McCain Claims He Voted For Every Katrina Investigation -- Except He Didn't
From TPM
By Eric Kleefeld - June 4, 2008, 3:44PM
During his press conference today in Baton Rouge, John McCain declared in strong terms that he's voted for every investigation of Hurricane Katrina.
The only problem, as the DNC has been pointing out to reporters, is he voted twice against Democratic proposals to investigate the levee failures.
After a local reporter at his Baton Rouge press conference asked why he voted against forming a commission to investigate the levee failures in New Orleans, McCain insisted that he supported every investigation -- and added that he was "not familiar" with what the reporter was talking about:

McCain voted against establishing a commission to investigate the levee failures, in a September 2005 party-line vote in which all Republicans voted against the Democratic proposal. He then repeated that party-line GOP vote against a similar Dem proposal in February 2006.

Remembering Katrina & Give Back Cincinnati

Kirsten — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:35:19 EDT

Anytime political banter is big in the news, I think about all of the things that get lost in the jumble. Today there are two biggies weighing heavily on me, but I'll only address one of them in this entry.

Katrina.

It has been years since that storm blew through the Gulf region and ruined the lives of an unfathomable number of Americans. Many of us not affected stepped up and did what we could when the pain was new and the devastation was all over the news, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. How could we not? The media forced us all into feeling guilty unless we did something. Truthfully, I'm glad that they did! I think Katrina kick-started an altruism spark in people who might never have considered how big of an impact even the smallest offer of help can have on people in need.

Fast forward to 2008… Katrina victims are rarely in the news anymore and they've become all but forgotten. There is so much work that still needs to be done down south and it is almost overwhelming to think about it all.

Before I talk about what I am doing to help, I want to point you toward an incredible eBay auction currently open. A group of New Orleans artists were asked to create pieces to auction off in support of the rebuild effort. These are seriously beautiful works of art and the prices are not for the faint of heart ($1,000 starting bid). If you are an art collector, then please check out this auction: Synovate for New Orleans Fine Art Auction

If any of you end up with Wayne Amedee's Painting Glass Collage on Clay, know that I am very envious!

So, what am I doing to help? First, some back-story...

New McCain video! Spread it around!!!

Abigail — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:24:57 EDT

I am very happy that this video was made, but there is still a lot of work to do. And while I am compiling a packet for my republican family, I will include this video but I will wait to send it to them right away... I feel that I have to tread lightly with them. Its like how Obama is with Hillary, not too much because he doesn't want to piss them off and not have their support in the fall... So I don't want to OD them on all of my Obama knowledge until I have it al together and I can hit them with it all at once instead of a daily email... that's just me.

Here is my response to the video and an update from my family:

Yes the problem is that the MSM is not covering these issues, but the problem also lies in that many Americans simply pick their candidate and then go about their business..... and don't pay attention and only hear sound bites. For example my father thinks the remarks W made in Israel were not about Obama- and that it was a stretch to conclude that.... sigh....(barfgh)

And then its only us the die-hard folk who pay attention to this world everyday, we are up on all the latest breaking news. So when another political conversation took place between myself and my parents this weekend and I mentioned more of these flip flopping moments, they were surprised and didn't really believe me.

And yah know what really got my mom's attention!? When I told her about the time McCain called his wife a trollop and a "c u next tuesday" in front of the press.

She was appalled, still a little in doubt that my source was some how making it up, but she remained appalled and I feel that the seed has been planted.

here is the link to the video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c&eurl=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/19/brave-new-films-the-real_n_102403.html

Requiem for the Gulf States

Not-a-Sheep : ENOUGH is ENOUGH! — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:17:37 EDT

Given Mayor Ray Nagin's endorsement of Obama, I thought I might revisit that awesome storm in pictures for those who did not live through it or help in its aftermath. Here she is in all her awful, yet awesome glory: Katrina as she rolled across the States. The last picture is of the storm surge as it made its way ashore. (wait for slideshow to play)

John McCain's Katrina Problem

Bill Marjenhoff — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:20:57 EDT

“We need to go back to have a conversation about what to do [about Ward 9 in New Orleans]: rebuild it, tear it down, you know, whatever it is.” That was John McCain’s statement when he toured hurricane-damaged New Orleans recently. Three days later, the Senator said he didn’t remember saying that. Sen. McCain’s high-profile endorser, Rev. John Hagee, contends that Katrina was the "result of God’s permissible will” because New Orleans was planning "a massive homosexual rally." Perhaps Sen. McCain is waiting to have a conversation with Rev. Hagee to figure out whether he would be doing the Lord's work to just tear down what remains of Ward 9. I wonder if Sen. McCain has also forgotten his voting record on Hurricane Katrina, a record that suggests that he was part of the problem, not part of the solution. I trust Gulf Coast voters won’t forget. During his recent tour, Sen. McCain criticized both the Bush Administration and Congress for its handling of the disaster. Lamenting the pace of recovery, Sen. McCain said, "I want to assure you it will never happen again in this country. You have my commitment and my promise." But Sen. McCain voted against establishing a Congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local responses to Katrina in September 2005. He repeated that vote in 2006. He voted against allowing up to 52 weeks of unemployment benefits to people affected by the hurricane, and in 2006 voted against appropriating $109 billion in supplemental emergency funding, including $28 billion for hurricane relief. More of the story here: http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/04/8059_john_mccains_mi.html#comments

McCain say Gov't fails New Orleans, but fails to mention his own record

j f n — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:46:13 EDT

CNN Story

McCain is trying very hard to reassume his 'maverick' image by saying that Katrina was a failure of the government. What he fails to tell people is that he voted against investigating waste fraud and abuse in the whole mess. He also voted against the Katrina Commission (twice) and was against providing health care to the victims.

Check out these youtube videos:

McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and the Gulf Coast

Soldierette!! (CENSORED) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:02:25 EDT

McCain Myth Buster: John McCain and the Gulf Coast

April 24, 2008

Just this week John McCain said that "[t]here must be no forgotten places in America" and is traveling to New Orleans today to make the case. But don't believe the rhetoric. The fact is, McCain has a history of denying the Gulf Coast aid when it needs it most and a record of outrageous votes to show for it. Instead of helping the area rebuild after Hurricane Katrina and the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast get back on their feet, McCain actually voted to deny emergency funding to the area, and he voted against giving victims of Katrina access to Medicaid and unemployment benefits. [McCain Campaign Email, 4/22/08; 2006 Senate Vote #112, 5/4/2006; 2005 Senate Vote #285, 11/3/2005; 2006 Senate Vote #6, 2/2/2006; 2005 Senate Vote #229, 9/14/2005; 2005 Senate Vote #234, 9/15/2005]

Sure sounds like McCain would be more of the same Bush-Brownie inaction for the Gulf Coast. And that's the last thing Louisiana--or the rest of America--needs.

MCCAIN VOTED AGAINST RELIEF MEASURES FOR VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA

McCain Voted Against Emergency Funding Bill, Including $28 Billion for Hurricane Relief. McCain voted against passage of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations of 2006. It would provide more than $28 billion for hurricane relief, approximately $2.3 billion for pandemic flu preparations and $1.9 billion for border security efforts. [2006 Senate Vote #112, 5/4/2006]

McCain Voted Against Five Months of Medicaid For Hurricane Katrina Victims For Up To Five Months. McCain voted against an amendment to provide emergency health care and other relief for survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The amendment would grant access to Medicaid to Hurricane Katrina victims for up to five months; it also provided full federal funding for Medicaid in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for up to one year; provided $800 million to compensate providers caring for Katrina evacuees; it temporarily suspended the Medicare Part B late enrollment penalty; and permitted states hit by Katrina or serving evacuees to access the TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) Contingency Fund. It would be offset with funds unspent by FEMA. [2005 Senate Vote #285, 11/3/2005]

McCain Voted Twice Against Establishing A Commission To Study The Response To Hurricane Katrina. McCain voted twice against establishing a Congressional commission to examine Federal, State, and local response to devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. Gulf Region; and making immediate corrective measures to improve future responses. [2006 Senate Vote #6, 2/2/2006; 2005 Senate Vote #229, 9/14/2005]

McCain Opposed Granting Financial Relief To Those Affected By Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, McCain voted against allowing up to 52 weeks of unemployment benefits to individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina. [2005 Senate Vote #234, 9/15/2005]

After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.

Join together to beat McSame and take back our country.

Homeless in America: "Inner City Blues" 2008

Hope4Unity — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:45:32 EDT

Reports of the number of homeless people in America are all estimates, but we do know that the numbers are increasing every year. A conservative estimate is that more than 3 million people are homeless in America. Over 1 million are homeless children.

The National Coalition for the Homeless estimates these numbers for a sampling of cities across the U.S.:

New York = 70,000

Los Angeles = 50,000

Chicago = 25,000

Dallas = 4,000-14,000

Miami = 10,000

Phoenix - 6,500

In the estimates of the number of homeless people in America:

30% are families with children

50% are single men

14% are single women

20-30% are employed

40% are veterans

30% are children without families

http://www.homeless-people.info/Homeless_Statistics.html

NEW ORLEANS

Hope4Unity — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:21:53 EDT

Remember New Orleans?

A Cry For New Orleans Donation Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNuLLvgP79Q

http://www.unitygno.org/index.html

Senator Barack Obama has promised to remember New Orleans.

Let The UNITED States of America never forget! The suffering has not ended.

Finding Obama position papers

Andrew from Santa Rosa, CA — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:50:57 EDT

Contrary to the image of Obama as lacking specifics, there are numerous detailed position papers at BarackObama.com. Many are available at:

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

Another good way to find Obama's positions on various specific topics is through a site-specific Google search ("site:barackobama.com") for PDF files ("filetype:pdf).

For example, I was interested (in part because of my step-daughter Marisol Dykstra's year-long work for City Year in Boston) in what Obama had to say about Americorps. So I did the following Google search:

americorps site:barackobama.com filetype:pdf

That took me to:

www.barackobama.com/pdf/NationalServicePlanFactSheet.pdf (HELPING ALL AMERICANS SERVE THEIR COUNTRY)

and of course to the "Blueprint for Change":

www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf (THE BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE)

with the following small detail as part of a much larger plan:

"Expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots and double the size of the Peace Corps."

Similarly, I was looking for detailed statements on Katrina. John Edwards is right about that: it's not been emphasized anywhere enough in this campaign given its importance which is right up there with 9/11. Like, the one thing we most feared from the terrorists, the destruction of a major American city, and we did it to ourselves (or rather, the current status quo did it to poor & working America). There's this good one-page position paper on Katrina from Obama's site, including the theme of "Never Again":

http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/katrina.pdf

Katrina Issue Paper - missing component

Working professional — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:27:16 EDT

In a an ongoing series of blog posts I have just started to write, I am exploring each of Obama's issue papers to ask critical questions which affect my final voting decision for November.

I just read Obama's issue paper on Katrina and rebuilding the gulf coast protections against storms. Many of his points I agree with, such that the Federal government has a role in the recovery and protection of the region and its residents. But I see this role as restricted to management and execution of the macro level of the wetlands restoration and the flood control systems, and proper funds and resources for disaster relief that are still owed. I see the disaster as as opportunity for the US and the local government to shine in solving the problems that have historically plagued the area. I do see that the oil companies need to contribute in equal form to the efforts to match any degradation their operations have contributed to the region, but no more.

What is lacking in the paper is addressing one of the most critical components, local government. The City of New Orleans is historically notoriously known for mis-management by the Mayor and his organization, not only before Katrina, but afterwards as well. I highly recommend an article I found, which I think is spot on, especially the last sentence.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_4_new_orleans.html

"But only New Orleans, and Louisiana, can build a city that holds up day after day."

This last sentence points directly at what is missing from Obama's position and I would like to see integrated, local responsibility. Drugs plague the country, especially crack and meth use, and in New Orleans have had devastating effect on both pre and post Katrina. The violence and murder rate in the city is closely tied to drug events on the street, which in turn have a domino effect on the community and recovery progress.

I want the next President to meet directly as with the Mayor to intimately discuss what the local government needs to do to solve its problems, because the local government is still failing in its responsibility. To me, it means many things, including a ramp up on police activity, clamping down with zero tolerance on drug distribution and use, violent crime, patrols and most importantly community involvement in the activity.

The ultimate solution for New Orleans is learning about and becoming self sufficienct in all aspects of its local government and community operations. The ultimate and sustainable answers must come from within the New Orleans community. It is not the responsibility of the Federal Government to cleanup the area at a local infrastructure and social level.

Bill Clinton's favors of 1. the Katrina victims and 2. Hilary

Social Activist/Writer — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:30:57 EST

Friends,

you might find the following AP piece interesting:

"Bill Clinton ran down Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's resume and legislative record, and reminded the audience at a high school here that he and former president George H.W. Bush raised millions of dollars for Mississippi after the storm on Aug. 29, 2005." Source: AP *

My comments: What's the big deal here? Is Mr B. Clinton implying that he favors "blacks" (they are the major victims of the hurricane Katrina in MO) more than some of his contemporaries do, Or what he has said is a part of the "damage-repair" campaign?...

Fone Calling Complete Today

Adam L. Clark — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:05:01 EST

I have completed my 80 calls today and intend to make more tomorrow. Mississippi is only a few days away and every call counts.

I urge everyone to make a call or 20 :-) People are friendly and they love it when you can use google earth to actually give them street-by-street directions to the polling site.

Too many people were devastated by Katrina and appreciate our help. People in Mississippi are going to need rides to the polls so it is important to give the 601 area-code number to the people when leaving a message.

Yes We Can!

-Adam

It's never to late - Latinos for Barack Obama

Patti — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:41:03 EST

I wrote this on February 8th:

This is a comment I wrote in response to someone who believes that it is too late for Barack to get the Hispanic vote. And, I totally disagree in many, many ways - here are just a few:

I am sorry I do not understand how anyone can say Barack does not understand the Hispanics and that it's too late for him.

I believe he understands Latinos so much more than H.Clinton and McCain does. He is standing up for us, Barack was the only one who was courageous enough to finally say that the "illegal immigrants" are not taking jobs away from others. Which is so true, the jobs immigrants are doing are not jobs that other's want to do! If they want those jobs then go do them and I guarantee they will quit those jobs because they are the lowest jobs yet such extremely necessary jobs in this Country.

Also, why do we put down the "hispanic illegal immigrants"? We have a whole slew of illegal immigrants here, but they are okay to be here? Folks it is THIS government that has put the illegal hispanics as the bad ones. While we continue to do business with them, which we should try to do proper business with the Mexican government.

I believe WE ALL HAVE to remember where we came from, from blacks to latinos to ALL AMERICANS (we are ALL immigrants except for the American Indians and look at what the government did to them.

What we need is a way to allow immigrants to become citizens. Remember Ellis Island? We do not have a simple way for people to become legal. That should be the issue not trying to get rid of the Mexicans crossing the border. We do NOT need a wall (like Berlin - thankfully down, N. Korea, etc., etc.,) we have PLENTY of technology to watch for the drug runners (that is what we have to stop), we don't have to stop these POOR people trying to make a living (if one can call what they make a living). Does anyone out there have a clue as to how many people we have here for over 20 years with green cards and NOTHING has been done about that - MAKE them citizens already! I am annoyed that certain people are saying that terrorists came in thru Mexico - which is a lie!

What if we start to realize that Mexicans as did others helped during Katrina, now here's a good one; we say we care for our soldiers so much, then PROVE it by supporting ALL of our troops including THE IMMIGRANTS that fight for U.S.A.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? The last debate!

Barack is THE one - SI SE PUEDE con BARACK OBAMA - YES WE CAN!

Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility

David — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:29:38 EST

This is a blog post from the group Architects for Obama. We're ready to build the future with Obama. This blog focusses on way that architects can get involved and make a difference.

A great example is Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (see: http://www.adpsr.org/). This group is fighting for change in many amazing ways.

For instance there's the New Village Press, "a national publishing project of ADPSR...that addresses topics such as youth justice, community gardens, and community-based arts, spanning the fields of social justice, architecture and planning, economic development, ecology, and urban culture. The Press crosses boundaries between academic and informal education with books that engage both professionals and community activists working together to rebuild neighborhoods. Most significantly, its publications go beyond abstract policy and present the human story, the motivations that stir the soul to make a certain part of the world a better place to live." Check it out at http://www.newvillagepress.net/index.php.

Or there's their Katrina Task Force based on the premise that "the idea that poor people could be permanently displaced from their communities and not given a voice in its rebuilding, especially in New Orleans, in the name of 'reconstruction' is unacceptable to responsible architects, designers, and planners." You can learn more and get engaged at http://www.adpsr.org/

It's a little known fact that when Obama was asked what his choice of careers would be if he had not been a lawyer was to be an architect. It's easy to see why with so much alignment between his goals and ours. Tell your architects friends to join us on www.barackobama.com and sign up for the group Architects for Obama.

Power by The People for The People

Oscar Lippe — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:15:22 EST

Power by the People, for the People

By Oscar Lippe

Power by the people and for the people. Such a basic concept of empowerment. A root of the American political system. Is it obsolete? Has it been outdated by contemporary needs? Does our society actually work like this? If not, why not?. Are not our tax dollars and our votes that keep the system running? Then shouldn’t we as Americans exercise the right to and claim alliegences made to us by our instituted lawful representatives in Congress Senate and White House be kept?

These questions raised, I place this debate on the table. What is the real reason behind the war in Iraq? As a fairly educated citizen, I now know that Saddam Hussein was never a real threat to anyone but to himself and his own people, and that whatever megalomaniac dreams of world domination he had could have been kept at bay for decades without taking the steps now in place. Why did my Administration tell me that he was an inminent nuclear threat?, Why did the Bush Administration use the politics of fear to seek my consent and invade Iraq, interfering directly in that country’s political, social and economic scenario?. These are questions that I may never get answers to, although I am entitled to them. I have the right to the Truth. Whatever the reasons, and the finally petty objectives (short and long term) of the powers that be for gaining control of this part of the world, be it oil or otherwise, I can live with that, I am used to it. I have seen it happen time and time again. I saw it happen in South America, Central America and Africa. The mighty USA walking in and telling people like it is, regardless of right and wrong. True, many times for a reason, but just as many without one, without a good one at least. Or without one that would benefit you or me directly, make our lifes better, or make us prouder or better as a Nation. So we have gotten world reputation now not as palladins of justice, but as warmongers of fear. It’s all right I can live with that too, with a vision that tells me that ultimately, we shall prevail as what we really are. Not what they make us be.

I believe we should be ashamed for letting our government spend obscene amounts of money, our money, in cleaning up somebody else’s back yard in the name of national security and world freedom, and looking the other way, when it comes to cleaning up our own.

What am I talking about?, well nothing other than the pathetic relief measures taken to aid the Katrina hurricane victims. It is a shame. Something I as an American cannot fully grasp, and nevertheless, have to stand in impotence. Aghast. Years after the fact, good honest God fearing, law abiding, tax paying americans are still facing hardship. Why were measures. Swift, effective and assertive, not taken to aid, clean up the mess, restore social and economic order, and make-it-as-it-was-before, immediately? Why were not hundreds of thousands of our military not immediately deployed to the affected areas? Why were not billions of, excuse me, my mistake, trillions of dollars not put to work at rebuilding New Orleans?, why, with all that manpower and money, it would have probably taken a couple of months. At the most. Why do we have to clean the streets of Bagdad and neglect our own? Was it really all we could do, or is there something else we can do? Does it take a presidential election to make our wrongs right?, are we going to withdraw our troops now, after destroying half the country, leaving it in ruins? Who gave us that right? God? Money? Why do we have to always think we are the beholders of Truth?. I believe that ultimately we will make it right, by auditing the proceeds of whatever money was released to aid in the reconstruction of the affected areas, and perhaps make the French Quarter shine again. And perhaps I am a dreamer, and a dreamer I am, after all I am an American, and my land was built on dreams.

It's never to late - Latinos for Barack Obama

Patti — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:48:02 EST

This is a comment I wrote in response to someone who believes that it is too late for Barack to get the Hispanic vote. And, I totally disagree in many, many ways - here are just a few:

I am sorry I do not understand how anyone can say Barack does not understand the Hispanics and that it's too late for him.

I believe WE ALL HAVE to remember where we came from from blacks to latinos to ALL AMERICANS (we are ALL immigrants except for the American Indians and look at what the government did to them.

What we need is a way to allow immigrants to become citizens. Remember Ellis Island? We do not have a simple way for people to become legal. That should be the issue not trying to get rid of the Mexicans crossing the border. We do NOT need a wall (like Berlin - thankfully down, Korea, etc., etc.,) we have PLENTY of technology to watch for the drug runners (that is what we have to stop), we don't have to stop these POOR people trying to make a living (if one can call what they make a living). Does anyone out there have a clue as to how many people we have here for over 20 years with green cards and NOTHING has been done about that - MAKE them citizens already! I am annoyed that certain people are saying that terrorists came in thru Mexico - which is a lie!

What if we start to realize that Mexicans as did others helped during Katrina, now here's a good one; we say we care for our soldiers so much, then PROVE it by supporting ALL of our troops including THE IMMIGRANTS that fight for U.S.A.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? The last debate!

Barack is THE one - SI SE PUEDE con BARACK OBAMA - YES WE CAN!

No American Left Behind

CarolJ — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:38:49 EST

Obama gave a wonderful speech today in New Orleans. He said so many of the things that I wanted to hear. Click here to read the entire speech that Barack Obama delivered at Tulane University today. There is also a video clip of the beginning of the speech in the post at this link.

Here are some excerpts:

The Times-Picayune
Thursday February 07, 2008, 10:03 AM
Sen. Barack Obama's prepared remarks to be delivered to a rally at Fogleman Arena:

...To many Americans, the words "New Orleans" call up images of broken levees; water rushing through the streets; mothers holding babies up to avoid the flood. And worse - the memory of a moment when America's government failed its citizens. Because when the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast extended their hand for help, help wasn't there. When people looked up from the rooftops, for too long they saw empty sky. When the winds blew and the floodwaters came, we learned that for all of our wealth and power, something wasn't right with America.

We can talk about what happened for a few days in 2005. And we should. We can talk about levees that couldn't hold; about a FEMA that seemed not just incompetent, but paralyzed and powerless; about a President who only saw the people from the window of an airplane. We can talk about a trust that was broken - the promise that our government will be prepared, will protect us, and will respond in a catastrophe.

But we also know the broken promises did not start when a storm hit, and they did not end there.

When President Bush came down to Jackson Square two weeks after the storm, the setting was spectacular and his promises soaring: "We will do what it takes," he said. "We will stay as long as it takes, to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives." But over two years later, those words have been caught in a tangle of half-measures, half-hearted leadership, and red tape.

Yes, parts of New Orleans are coming back to life. But we also know that over 25,000 families are still living in small trailers; that thousands of homes sit empty and condemned; and that schools and hospitals and firehouses are shuttered. We know that even though the street cars run, there are fewer passengers; that even though the parades sound their joyful noise, there is too much violence in the shadows.

To confront these challenges we have to understand that Katrina may have battered these shores - but it also exposed silent storms that have ravaged parts of this city and our country for far too long. The storms of poverty and joblessness; inequality and injustice.

...When I am President, I will start by restoring that most basic trust - that your government will do what it takes to keep you safe.

The words "never again" - spoken so often in those weeks after Katrina - must not fade to a whisper. The Army Corps of Engineers has rebuilt levees that were most damaged by the storm, but funding has sometimes stalled, and New Orleans remains unprotected.

We can't gamble every hurricane season. When I am President, we will finish building a system of levees that can withstand a 100-year storm by 2011, with the goal of expanding that protection to defend against a Category 5 storm. We also have to restore nature's barriers - the wetlands, marshes and barrier islands that can take the first blows and protect the people of the Gulf Coast.

If catastrophe comes, the American people must be able to call on a competent government. When I am President, the days of dysfunction and cronyism in Washington will be over. The director of FEMA will report to me. He or she will have the highest qualifications in emergency management. And I won't just tell you that I'll insulate that office from politics - I'll guarantee it, by giving my FEMA director a fixed term like the director of the Federal Reserve. I don't want FEMA to be thinking for one minute about the politics of a crisis. I want FEMA to do its job, which is protecting the American people - not protecting a President's politics.

...That is why the second thing we need to do is to make sure that reconstruction is making a real difference in peoples' lives.

Across this city, we see the evidence that George Bush's promises were empty. It's not acceptable that federal money is not reaching communities that need it, or that Louisiana officials have filled out millions of forms to get reconstruction funds. When I am President, the federal rebuilding coordinator will report directly to me, and we will ensure that resources show results. It's time to cut the red tape, so that the federal government is a partner - not an opponent - in getting things done.

Instead of giving no-bid contracts to companies headed by the President's former campaign manager, we will make sure that rebuilding benefits the local economy. I have worked across the aisle in the Senate to crack down on no-bid contracts, and to make sure that emergency contracting is only done immediately after an emergency. When I am President, if there is a job that can be done by a New Orleans resident, the contract will go to a resident of New Orleans. And we'll provide tax incentives to businesses that choose to set up shop in the hardest hit areas.

...The children of New Orleans are America's children. We cannot stand by while they see a future filled with violence, or poverty, or hopelessness. Our true measure of success must be ensuring that the children of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast can dream the same dreams as every child in America.

That is why the third part of our effort to rebuild trust must be providing a world-class education.

Over two years after Katrina, too many schools are still closed. Kids are still going to class in makeshift buildings and trailers. Class sizes run as large as forty children for each teacher. This is not acceptable. It's time for FEMA to speed up payment of the $58 million that Congress recently allocated for school repairs. And it's time to invest in education, so that New Orleans has the first-class school system that it has needed for so long.

...Because the trust we seek is not a one-way street. It's going to take folks working together and doing their part. The government cannot rebuild the Gulf Coast for the people of the Gulf Coast; the government can only rebuild the Gulf Coast with the people of this region.

All of this will cost money. The federal government has already promised the resources, but they need to be spent more efficiently and more wisely. When I am President, we will target funds to programs that make a difference, and make sure that resources meet the needs of the people - and that means working closely with state and local officials, and asking that they keep up their end of the bargain.

I promise you that when I'm in the White House I will commit myself every day to keeping up Washington's end of this trust. This will be a priority of my presidency. And I will make it clear to members of my Administration that their responsibilities don't end in places like the 9th ward - they begin there.

...What better place to begin this work than New Orleans?

Here, in the city that gave us jazz, we know that even the most painful note can be followed by joy. Here, in this city, if we look hard enough, we can imagine the unseen - homes filled with families; businesses putting folks to work; schools extending opportunity; the next verse in the American song. That is what is possible if we can trust each other; and if we have the imagination to see the unseen, and the determination to work for it.

Winning the south

John Messerly — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 11:40:43 EST

Katrina. Hurricanes in Florida, crop failures across the south due to this rash of 100 year storms/ cold snaps/ heat waves we have been having.

Folks- the weather is changing. And the scientists tell us it's going to get a lot worse. Now, the same radio talk show folks who told us what a good idea it would be to invade Iraq and vote for Bush is telling us that Climate change is some chicken little fairy tale. They are entitled to their dream world, but both Obama and McCain agree there is a significant threat. This threat will mean the loss of more southern cities, and repeated crop failures that will destroy farming as we know it.

If we do nothing, it's going to cost us trillions of dollars over the next 30 years. That money is gone already. We can be irresponsible and wait for nature to come take it from us. Now, if we do something, we can instead spend that money on putting people to work so that we will not continue to suffer devastation due to weather disasters that will go on and on and on until we take action.

Folks don't care if they don't have health care if their house is under 3 feet of water, and they don't care about a tax rebate if they have no job giving them any income to tax.

Let's get to work building up America's energy production. America's number one export industry is shipping US dollars and jobs overseas. Let's start by not exporting our money to Arab oil producers. Let's start by keeping that oil money in the US by building US energy production. Let's start by not waiting for the weather to take trillions from us. Instead, let's put people to work in our struggle for national energy survival.

We can build the power plants. We have the technology. We can't expect private industry to do this for us. The challenge is worse that the threats posed in World War II. Believe it. We will lose more american cities, and millions more will die world wide until we have the courage to face this looming threat.

Neither McCain nor Clinton can be counted on to lead the country towards bold action against this common threat to our survival. Their proposals cannot be distinguished in kind from the failed energy policies of the past 30 years.

We need bold action now. Obama is the only man who has the courage and the intelligence to see that there is no other way other than to face the threat now.

It's the Energy economy, stupid

John Messerly — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:11:02 EST

It's the energy stupid. You wouldn't know if you used the national polls as a rudder. But maybe this will change with the "We can solve it" Energy awareness adverising campaign.

Energy fiasco pummels Economy Carville in 2000 kept the Clinton campaign on message by coining the phrase "It's the Economy , stupid". The threat of recession may suggest a replay of the Carville strategy. There is danger that America could surrender to the nostalgic appeal that another Clinton will return us somehow to the booming economy of the 90's when energy was cheap, but the Clinton mirage is empty.

It is a false solution to a false target because the imbalances in the economy mask the underlying crisis with global energy. China, India and other developing nations are now industrializing, and their demand for fossil fuels means that $100 per barrel oil is only the beginning of the price spike for energy. This spike means lost jobs and a recession that Bush hopes to spend $150 billion to avoid. It's money that could have been pumped into the US economy via alternative energy programs, but instead it will likely be spent largely on Chinese commodities. The economy issue is fundamentally the energy issue. It's the Energy stupid.

Energy fiasco pummels Public Safety We can count on more Katrina proportion disasters due to global warming. Katrina cost us $200 billion. Weather experts promise we will see more disasters of this scale due to the burning of fossil fuels. It's the Energy stupid.

Energy fiasco pummels Defense/ foreign affairs We can count on more wars over water and food resources due to climate change's disruption of agriculture. Were it not for the vast reserves of energy in the Middle East, we would not have spent a half trillion dollars in Iraq. Increased competition for oil means more money in the pockets of those that fund Islamic fundamentalists, and fund the development of nuclear weapons in Iran. It's not the fundamentalists. It's the Energy stupid.

So let's add it up. $475 billion for Iraq, $200 billion for Katrina, $150 billion for stimulating economy...

In contrast, Bush and a republican congress allocated 1/4000th of that ($209 million in 2006) for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to develop a way out of this quagmire. To put this in context, Congress approved more than that for a bridge in Alaska to an island with 50 people (Gravina island bridge: $233 million allocated).

Some may object to the use of the term "Stupid", that is the only way to describe what we have been doing. But let's face it- it wasn't just Bush and the republican congress. What we have been doing brings to mind Churchill's remark about Britain and France making the false choice between dishonor and war. If we continue with business as usual, our leaders will continue to make the same false choice. Both democrat and republican presidents for the past 30 years have been choosing between astronomically expensive government energy programs versus continued dependence on fossil fuels.

They chose continued dependence. They have gotten astronomically expensive government spending.

Energy is the primary issue, and Obama is the leader that can break the cycle of inaction. Unlike the half hearted proposals of other candidates or the leaders of the last 30 years, he is committed to freeing America from the yoke of foreign oil, and to dramatically reduce our production of greenhouse gases. America needs to change the rules of the game and proactively attack this problem rather let it continue to attack us in the form of an economic recession, the Iraq war, and global warming fueled disasters. There is no way around it. We either pay now or we attempt to pay later while simultaneously paying for the carnage caused by our inaction.

FEMA denies funding to New Orleans aquarium for replacing fish the natural way

Kevin — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:51:50 EST

Once again, FEMA blows it. From the Associated Press:

NEW ORLEANS — In what some see as another bureaucratic absurdity after Hurricane Katrina, FEMA is refusing to pick up the cost of restocking New Orleans' aquarium because of how the new fish were obtained: straight from the sea.

FEMA would have been willing to pay more than $600,000 for the fish if they had been bought from commercial suppliers. But the agency is balking because the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas went out and replaced the dead fish the old fashioned way, with hooks and nets. That expedition saved the taxpayers a half-million dollars but did not comply with FEMA regulations.

"You get to the point where the red tape has so overwhelmed the process that there's not a lot you can do to actually be effective," Warren Eller, associate director of the Stephenson Disaster Management Institute at Louisiana State University, said of FEMA's actions.

Katrina knocked out power to the tourist attraction at the edge of the French Quarter in August 2005, and the staff returned days four days later to find sharks, tropical fish, jellyfish and thousands of other creatures dead in their tanks.

Aquarium officials wanted to reopen the place quickly. So even before the $616,000 commitment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency came through, they sent a team on an expedition to the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Keys and Bahamas, where they caught 1,681 fish for $99,766.

Despite the clear savings, the dispute has dragged on for 17 months.

Another Katrina-Rita cleanup finding traction at last

Kevin — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:38:23 EST

From the Houston Chronicle:

Four months ago, state recovery officials and local fishing groups made a startling discovery: No official government program was in place to clear upended cars, boats and houses scattered across the marshes of south Louisiana by the 2005 hurricanes.

At the time, Coast Guard crews, with federal money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had already removed tons of debris from shipping lanes and vital commercial corridors such as the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. But that mission would wrap up in August, leaving a question mark for the remaining state waterways clogged with hurricane leftovers.

Countless meetings and planning sessions later, FEMA has formally pledged to pay for crews to remove the remainder of the debris.

The scope is vast: prime fishing grounds throughout the state, from Calcasieu Lake in the west to Lake Borgne in the east, and stretching as far north as Interstates 10 and 12.

But state recovery officials say they are still awaiting crucial details about whether the program will match debris-removal efforts in neighboring Mississippi, set to finish by the end of the year.

The article continues here.

New Katrina/Rita Suit: Insurers colluded

Kevin — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:57:23 EST

From The Advocate:

Louisiana’s largest property insurance companies worked together to reduce payments for damages caused to homes and other buildings by the 2005 hurricanes, according to a lawsuit filed late Wednesday by state Attorney General Charles Foti.

Allstate Insurance Co., State Farm Fire and Casualty Co., and other companies selling insurance in Louisiana used computer programs and other tactics to manipulate claims and lowball the amount paid property owners who suffered hurricane losses, according to Foti’s lawsuit.

Foti alleged six insurance companies and four companies that provide services to insurers violated the Louisiana Monopolies Act.

The 29-page petition was filed with the Orleans Civil District Court. State District Judge Kern A. Reese of New Orleans was assigned to hear the lawsuit, according to court records.

One of the computer programs named estimates the value of damaged property based on the past sales of similar properties in the neighborhood. Another program cited in the lawsuit tracked the history of claims made by property owners.

Policyholders also were pressured to settle for less than actual value of their claim by a series of coordinated actions, such as doctored engineering reports and delayed payments, according to the lawsuit.

“The information we have is that these insurance companies were engaged in conduct that harmed policyholders,” said Baton Rouge lawyer Jerry McKernan, who is working on the case along with eight New Orleans lawyers.

Foti did not respond to a request for information.

State Farm spokesman Phil Supple and Allstate spokesman Michael Siemienas told The Associated Press they had not seen the lawsuit and would not comment on the allegations.

The full story is here.

FEMA Protecting Itself, But Not Evacuees?

Kevin — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:19:39 EST

From CBS News:

CBS News has learned that while telling the residents of its trailers that it is still working on the formaldehyde problem, it appears it prohibits its own staff from even briefly stepping inside trailers once residents have moved out.

We obtained these exclusive emails that show the reason why: It is just too dangerous.

The full story here.

Critics Cite Red Tape in Rebuilding of Louisiana

Kevin — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:52:13 EST

From the New York Times:

NEW ORLEANS — If rebuilding anything in this storm-scarred place could possibly qualify as simple, surely it would be the administration building in City Park.

The two-story structure, built in 1992, does not have any of the features that can complicate restoring public buildings. No special historic, environmental, cultural or political significance. No history of poor maintenance or other damage (aside from the five feet of water that filled it after the levees failed). No need to be merged, moved or reimagined in response to changes after Hurricane Katrina.

Yet after almost two years of federal inspections and studies and reviews filling more than 90 pages, the administration building has been neither repaired nor replaced. And there are dozens of similarly incomplete projects at the park, hundreds in the city, thousands across the state of Louisiana.

In fact, the federal government has agreed to pay $2.3 billion so far for rebuilding Louisiana public works like schools, sewers and police stations. But so far, only $650 million — 28 percent — of that money has been spent. In Mississippi, only 27 percent has been spent of the $1.1 billion of federal tax dollars set aside to replace government infrastructure there.

The full story can be seen here (free registration required).

FEMA quietly closing New Orleans trailer sites - But residents lack affordable options

Kevin — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:26:15 EST

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Shirley Hitchens took a few deep breaths.

Sitting inside her FEMA trailer, worry consumed her. The walls started to close in. So she walked outside to get some fresh air. Her feet crunched on the gravel driveway of her trailer park. She took a seat on a well-worn kitchen chair just past the entrance.

Hitchens, 59, fretted because she doesn't know where she and her son will be living next month. Now they're living in Central City, at A.L. Davis Park at Washington Avenue and LaSalle Street. But in mid-October, she found a notice on her trailer door from FEMA headlined, "A.L. Davis Playground Temporary Housing Site Is Closing November 18, 2007."

Basically an eviction notice, it offered the services of a caseworker and two apartment-search Web sites, both of them nonfunctional.

Shifting to another FEMA park was not an option.

"It is recommended that your next move is into permanent housing since all parks will be closing," the note said.

The rest of the story is here.

FEMA agrees to fund Katrina debris removal

Kevin — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:37:23 EST

A little late, but better than nothing.

From UPI:

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to fund the removal of debris throughout southern Louisiana caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Four months after it was learned that no federal program was in place to tackle the post-Katrina problem, FEMA officials have formally agreed to pay for the removal of the debris from various marshes across southern Louisiana, the New Orleans Times-Picayune said Saturday.

FEMA had previously funded such cleanup efforts through the U.S. Coast Guard, but both funding efforts have still left some Louisiana officials concerned that it will not be enough.

Those concerns are due in part to the fact that much of the debris strewn across Louisiana marshland is not readily visible from the surface and could easily go unnoticed, the report said.

Added to those concerns is the fact that FEMA officials in Louisiana have announced the cleanup effort will primarily be focused on problematic debris.

"We're not going to vacuum-clean the entire water system here," FEMA's director of external affairs in Louisiana, Bob Josephson, told the newspaper. "We're going to get the stuff that's affecting health and safety."

Oct 2 Rally in Los Angeles

Julia from Pasadena — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:50:34 EDT

The rally at the Federal building in Los Angeles was great! The weather was beautiful, the speeches were moving (and short) and the turn out was great for a Tuesday at noon.

My batteries in my camera were not so great, I could only take a few pictures and had to take them fast without composing.

a Republican Call to Action

Nathaniel from Kearsarge, NH — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:54:09 EDT

Once upon a time in America, reasonable people agreed on the facts and disagreed on the solutions.

Yet now, and especially over the last six years, our political discourse has grown ever more shrill, especially on the Republican side, with name-calling, demonizing and attacking the messenger, personal insults – anything to draw attention from the truth.

What are the Bush/Cheney administration and their Republican apologists afraid of? What is the dirty and terrible secret they are apparently frantic to protect?

What is the primary common thread behind this administration’s hideous legacy, which includes:

1) Their failure to detect and prevent 9/11

2) The squandered golden opportunity to bring America and the world together in the aftermath of 9/11

3) Their failed invasion of Afghanistan

4) Their failure to capture Osama Bin Laden

5) Lying America into war with an unthreatening sovereign country

6) Fabricating, falsifying and exaggerating intelligence information, then blaming the messenger

7) Failure to provide body armor for our sons & daughters who risk their lives and limbs to protect us

8) Failure to properly armor the vehicles driven by our sons & daughters who risk their lives and limbs to protect us

9) Their failed occupation and reconstruction of Iraq

10) Looting, chaos and civil war in Iraq with no end in sight

11) Repudiation of the international Geneva Conventions governing prisoners of war

12) Shamelessly blaming our fighting men and women for their arrogant MISSION ACCOMPLISHED publicity stunt

13) Billions of our tax dollars lost off the back of pickup trucks and crooked middlemen

14) Continuing year after year to squander American lives and money on their Iraq folly with no achievable goals other than avoiding admitting or taking responsibility for their tragic mistakes by passing the problem onto their successors in 2009

15) Creating a vast new generation of international terrorists who hate America

16) Craven war profiteering and cronyism

17) No-bid privatization of government functions and departments

18) Pervasive secrecy and dishonesty at the highest levels

19) Repeated, blatant violations of the Hatch Act barring partisan politicking on government property

20) Abu Ghraib

21) Katrina

22) Walter Reed

23) Alberto Gonzales

24) The Pat Tillman propaganda cover-up

25) The Valerie Plame treason affair

26) The destruction of America’s international reputation

27) Torture, rendition, unlimited detention (of both US citizens and foreigners) without charges or trial

28) Unconstitutional and illegal spying & surveillance

29) The biggest budget deficits in American history

30) Corruption, bribery and pork-barrel spending at an all-time high

31) Building of secret standing armies not subject to our laws or Constitution

32) Unconstitutional power-grabbing via illegal executive orders and assertion of executive privilege

33) Breaking down the Constitutional separation of powers

34) The firing of US Attorneys scandal

35) Their unconstitutional use of hundreds of signing statements to undermine the enforcement of laws passed by Congress and signed by the President

36) The decisive 2006 electoral defeat of the Republican Party

37) Their despicable hiding behind the apron strings of decent and honorable members of our armed forces, commandeering the reputations of men like General Colin Powell and General David Petraeus to sell their lies and Enron-style accounting to the American public

The Bush/Cheney administration has betrayed and done great damage to the Republican Party. Leading, thoughtful conservatives, such as Pat Buchanan, John McLaughlin, Alan Greenspan, Brent Scowcroft, William F. Buckley, Jr., Ron Paul, Bruce Fein, and John McCain have already hinted at the sickening truth: The Bush/Cheney administration is probably the most recklessly incompetent in American history. Its negligence in, and distain for governing is breathtaking.

Many of us are no strangers to public service, and have many friends and colleagues from both parties who likewise serve or have served. When appointing people to positions of public trust and responsibility, first and foremost, they must be qualified and experienced to competently discharge the responsibilities of that position. One compiles a list of suitably qualified candidates, and then and only then, elected officials may choose those from the list who share their politics and loyalties. But the Bush/Cheney administration appointed people to key positions throughout the government solely and strictly on ideology and/or loyalty without the slightest regard to competence, experience or fitness. Conversely, they specifically excluded anyone who didn’t pass their narrow litmus tests. If you spoke fluent Arabic but you were in favor of Roe v Wade, you were rejected. “Heck of a job, Brownie!” was the rule, not the exception. That, for example, is how we got a 22-year-old in charge of establishing a stock exchange in Baghdad – incidentally a pet project of rather dubious priority in the chaos of Iraq.

Their reckless incompetence is a direct result of this policy, and all the killings, chaos, mismanagement, theft, cover-ups, law-breaking, tyranny and failures of this Administration can be traced back to this primary cardinal sin of governing. (OK, perhaps let’s add a sprinkling of greed and hubris, too.)

Whether or not one was in favor of the invasion of Iraq, the incompetent execution of the occupation and reconstruction was and remains criminal. How can our leaders claim to not to have known better? Even thousands of years ago, when the Roman Empire invaded a country, the military phase was immediately followed by a corps of experienced and competent administrators (who in this instance would have spoken fluent Arabic and been well-versed in Iraqi culture) ready to take over the key reins of government and infrastructure, in cooperation with suitable locals. And why were our “lessons-learned” in Vietnam and the tragic mistakes we made there largely ignored and repeated? This whole mission could have been competently and successfully concluded within a few months or never should have been undertaken at all, and none of the terrible aftermath would have ensued. But now Iraq is as broken as Humpty Dumpty – and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men and all the false bluster and chickenhawk rhetoric in the world can’t put back together again our questionable imperial goals in the Middle East.

The truth is that our military performed brilliantly and courageously, as always. No-one disputes that, and we all support our troops. But they have been betrayed and strained to breaking by this Administration’s incompetence, and to attempt to cover up its failures by accusing its critics of “not supporting the troops” and “aiding the enemy” is the worst kind of craven and shameful propaganda.

CANDIDATES TAKE NOTE: The American public is eager to rally around leaders who are strong in character and integrity, not strong in chest-thumping, false promises, wedge politics, and empty platitudes.

Meanwhile, the cynical Democratic Congress is playing shell-games with their base expecting further electoral success in 2008 by doing nothing while America hemorrhages. The Democratic presidential candidates are all promising strong leadership if they take office in 2009. But if the Republican Party continues their “lemming-like” policy of calling critics bad names and rationalizing this Administration’s incompetence and corruption, their 2006 election debacle will look like a “cakewalk” in 2008.

But there’s good news!

Now that the underlying truth is revealed, reversing the damage begins with 3 simple, albeit painful steps:

True patriots of the Republican Party must put aside partisanship, and for the good of the country we all love, as well as for the salvation of the Party:

1) Disavow, repudiate and reject the gross and malignant incompetence of the Bush/Cheney administration as a matter of both Party policy and principle

2) Hold them legally and Constitutionally accountable

3) Ask the American public, and the rest of the world for forgiveness for having facilitated and promoted this mess in the name of misplaced party loyalty.

And then we can all come back together again to agree on the facts and disagree on the solutions.

FEMA Does It Again: The "Kafkaesque Bureaucratic Process"

Kevin — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:56:08 EDT

From today's Baton Rouge Advocate. What's the point of No Child Left Behind when you can't even get a school built?!

Mountains of paperwork block rebuilding in New Orleans

By JOHN MORENO GONZALES
Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Nearly 2,000 pages spell out in excruciating detail something that is plain to Virgil Tiller but not the Federal Emergency Management Agency: His school was destroyed and needs to be rebuilt.

The pages are a piece-by-piece inventory of everything wrecked by Hurricane Katrina - from the roof right down to the bathroom fixtures - at Alfred Lawless High School in New Orleans' devastated Lower Ninth Ward.

But FEMA has yet to find the school is 51 percent destroyed - the clerical benchmark that must be reached before the agency will pay to completely rebuild something. And so, two years after Katrina, while the state and federal government haggle over the extent of the damage, the school lies empty, a ruin of toppled bricks, sagging roofs and missing window panes.

"The kids here were used to disappointment. Leaving this school like this is another form of disappointment, not just for them, but for the entire community," said Tiller, a 30-year-old former music teacher at what was the only public high school in the Lower Ninth. "How can anyone look at this and say it is not 51 percent destroyed?"

The answer to Tiller's question lies in "project worksheets," forms that are used to inventory damage to a facility down to the smallest pieces, and often go through multiple versions as they wend their way through the bureaucracy.

The PWs - which measure the rebuilding needs of thousands of Gulf Coast schools, roads, hospitals, firehouses and other public projects - are the red tape that politicians and policy makers bemoan when they speak of the slow rebuilding from Katrina.

"People look at Louisiana and say, `Where is all the rebuilding? How come all the money hasn't been spent?' And the money's been spent building mountains of paper," said Andy Kopplin, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

About 20,000 project worksheet reports, commonly over 1,000 pages each, have been written since the storm. According to the LRA, 83 percent of the state's 13,200 general construction projects have been haggled over at least once, tying up $469 million in rebuilding funds.

Kopplin has looked at cases like Alfred Lawless and called for an overhaul, arguing that the system was ill-equipped to handle a disaster on Katrina's scale.

"There could be a catastrophic earthquake in California. There could be other unforeseen disasters, and terrorists attacks," he said. "And the focus should be on providing the money to get public services restored. But what we've got is a system where we have thousands of federal, state, local and contract employees exchanging paperwork before the first nail can be hammered."

Gil Jamieson, FEMA's No. 2 administrator for Gulf Coast recovery, does not agree. He maintains that while the project worksheet system was slowed by early problems, such as a high rate of turnover among the FEMA workers who fill them out, they ensure money is not overspent.

"The story could be written that the federal government is nitpicking," Jamieson said. "The other side is that we're trying to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollar."

The worksheets are designed to comply with the federal Stafford Act, which has governed disaster rebuilding since 1988. That law says that federal money can be used only to replace what was damaged, not improve a facility, or even alter it cosmetically in many cases.

So for Alfred Lawless, reams of project worksheet pages take stock of items as minute as "five 4-foot two-tube fluorescent ceiling light fixtures, three vitreous wall hung urinals, four plastic laminate partition stalls with four wall hung vitreous toilets."

All the damaged items accounted for at the school add up to $28 million in federal funding that the school district can count on toward rebuilding, Jamieson said. All but two of the buildings on campus have reached the 51 percent benchmark, he said.

A 51 percent determination would mean an extra $2 million in FEMA aid - money the cash-strapped district is not willing to surrender.

Paul Pastorek, state superintendent of education, said he will appeal FEMA's findings - a Kafkaesque bureaucratic process that will leave Alfred Lawless untouched for at least four more months.

While the agencies wage their paper battle, parents who desperately want a high school reopened in the Lower Ninth have been forced to wait more than two years, and could be waiting longer still before construction begins.

...

FEMA: Thanks for rescuing babies, now give us our money back

Kevin — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:02:40 EDT

FEMA wants back $1 million it paid nonprofit Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge for expenses incurred in rescuing babies from Hurricane Katrina. From today's Baton Rouge Advocate:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked Woman’s Hospital to return $1.1 million the facility received for rescuing babies from flooded hospitals in the New Orleans area following Hurricane Katrina.

The state was coordinating the evacuations and had chosen Woman’s to pick up the babies and move them to hospitals that had not been damaged by the storm, spokeswoman Jodi Conachen said.

“During the hurricane, what it really boiled down to was we went in (to the state) and said, ‘It’s not happening fast enough. It needs to happen faster,’ ” Conachen said. “So they said, ‘Well, y’all go do it.’ ”

Woman’s did just that, incurring costs of more than $1 million in the process.

Some time later, the state requested and received funding for those services from FEMA, and Woman’s then asked the state for that money, Conachen said. It took a year and a half to get both the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness’ and FEMA’s approval for the reimbursement.

“It actually went up to their (FEMA’s) executive director in D.C. for approval. So it had been washed and scrubbed and came back, and now they’re reconsidering it,” Conachen said.

At this point, FEMA is saying it wants the money back, Conachen said.

The agency has said there was not a contract between Woman’s Hospital and the state for the hospital to perform the rescue services, a technicality that could penalize Woman’s for helping out in the disaster.

Woman’s actual costs for the rescues were much higher than that, but $1.1 million was what FEMA considered allowable, Conachen said.

FEMA spokesman Bob Josephson said the agency plans to meet with Woman’s officials in a couple of weeks, a meeting made at the hospital’s request, so Woman’s can present its case for keeping the money.

...

Greenspan Memoir Democratic Gift, Republican Grenade

Lisa Beyer — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:18:04 EDT

Greenspan Memoir Democratic Gift, Republican Grenade, September 17, 2007

_________________________________________________________________________

Lisa Beyer

Precinct Deputy Captain in Las Vegas Precinct 6475

Why I Support Barack Obama for President
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Rebuilding New Orleans, Two Years Later

Tim Foley — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:57:00 EDT

Two years ago today, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. The images of the aftermath, particularly the devastation in New Orleans caused by the breach in the city’s system of levees, shocked many Americans. But what shocked them even more was how it showed the face of poverty in our country, and people who had been failed by their government long before the levees failed.

Out of the natural disaster and the further indignity of a botched and inadequate response from Washington, we resolved not to fail New Orleans again. That commitment speaks to the heart of who we are as Americans. As Barack said, “If we don’t get this right, then it tells me that we as a nation have forgotten to look out for one another.”

On Sunday, Barack visited First Emmanuel Baptist Church in New Orleans, and toured the Gentilly neighborhood with local residents. He laid out a comprehensive plan to move the region’s recovery forward and ensure that the next time disaster strikes, the government is ready. You can review the full plan, and watch the video of Barack visiting New Orleans below.

Gore Transcript from Larry King Show 5/22/07

Dena "Robin" — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:17:17 EDT

Excellent interview with former Vice President Al Gore! Well worth the read!

Interview with Al Gore

Aired May 22, 2007 - 21:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, Al Gore. Some say he's helping save the planet. Now they want him to save the nation and run for president. What would it take for him to say yes? Al Gore's here for the hour to answer your calls and e-mails. It's next. On LARRY KING LIVE.
His new book is getting an enormous amount of attention. It's "The Assault on Reason." The former vice president wrote it, Al Gore. He is our special guest for the hour. Also the subject, the front cover piece in TIME magazine called "The Last Temptation" of Al Gore.

What prompted writing this?

AL GORE, AUTHOR, "THE ASSAULT ON REASON": This book bubbled up because of my growing concern that in order to solve the climate crisis, we are going to have to address the problems in the foundations of our democracy that have kept us from acting on the basis of clear evidence that this crisis is real.

And when I was out talking so much about the climate crisis, and trying to get what I thought was the appropriate response, the country had a discussion, not really a debate, about the invasion of Iraq, a country that did not attack us.

And what the climate crisis and the invasion of Iraq have in common, Larry, is in both cases the policies are badly mistaken, and in both cases the evidence is available, overwhelming evidence to convince any reasonable person ahead of time that we should have done the opposite of what we did.

And so this book addresses the question, what is it that so many millions of Americans feel has gone wrong with our country? How can we fix it? How can we bring the people back into our democracy and start making better decisions on the basis of the evidence at hand?

KING: And it casts a wide swath. It takes on the White House. It takes on us. It takes on the media. It takes on some of your fellow Democrats.

GORE: Yes.

KING: Here is an item in the news today, and what is your thought on it? Democratic congressional leaders now plan to send President Bush a war-spending bill without a timetable for withdrawal. Has your party caved in?

GORE: I have not seen the proposal that you're asking me about. So it is kind of a...

(CROSSTALK)

KING: But there's no...

(CROSSTALK)

GORE: You know, the tools that are available to the legislative branch of government are not always very precise. They are often blunt instruments. And they passed a measure that would have required a timetable. The president vetoed it. They were not able to override the veto. So their options have been sharply limited.

Again, I have not seen the details of what they have done but I have a lot of confidence in Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and rest of the leadership in the House and Senate now. And I'm sure that they have made some good decisions here.

KING: In that regard, are you disappointed in Joe Lieberman, your former running mate, who has run independent, and is staunchly pro the actions of President Bush in Iraq?

GORE: Well, I disagreed with Joe Lieberman on his policies toward the invasion of Iraq. But he's entitled to his own opinions. And let me tell you, he has been one of the leaders in trying to get an adequate response to the climate crisis for many years. And there are more issues that I agree with Joe on than those where we find ourselves in disagreement.

But, yes, I have disagreed with him on that.

KING: You would not call him a disappointment then?

GORE: Well, why would you use a word like that where a friend is concerned? We have had our disagreements and I have stated them. But I would not apply that to a friend.

KING: All right. As a strong critic to the administration, would you join with former President Carter in saying this -- he later retracted it somewhat, that this is the worst administration foreign policy-wise ever?

GORE: Well, as I was telling somebody the other day, I have recently begun to fear that I'm losing my objectivity where Bush and Cheney are concerned. So I'm not sure that I'm the best witness for whether or not his presidency is the worst or the -- nearly the worst. I didn't vote for him. I didn't think he should be president.

But that won't come as a surprise.

KING: Are you surprised that President Carter went that far?

GORE: Hmm, you know, he has earned the right to just say what he thinks and let it -- let the chips fall where they will. He always expresses his own candid opinions. And as to whether or not he later decided that was a breach of some kind of unwritten protocol between former presidents and presidents, unfortunately, I'm not intimately familiar with those rules of protocol.

KING: Former presidents have often criticized presidents. So it goes back in history, goes back a long way, as presidents do. I mean, there is no...

(CROSSTALK)

GORE: You know, I think in recent decades, there has probably been less of that. But you know, I'm for him saying whatever he wants to.

KING: Now what about those who say, Al -- I can call you Al because we know each other a long time.

GORE: Absolutely.

KING: If you're this critical and so on top of the scene and you know what's going on, why not throw the hat in? Why not put the money where the mouth is?

GORE: You're talking about becoming a candidate for president?

KING: Yes. Or saying, well, what if the candidates -- what if Obama wins California and Clinton wins New York and someone else wins Illinois and there's a whole split, I would go in to the breach. Why not?

GORE: Well, if you do, I would be for you.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: But the question is, why not?

GORE: Yes. Well, look, I'm not inviting such questions.

KING: I know.

GORE: I appreciate such questions. I saw the framing of your program here, will Gore run? That's not the reason I'm here. I appreciate you mentioning "The Assault on Reason" and...

(CROSSTALK)

KING: And I'm going to talk a lot about it. It's a fair question though.

GORE: Of course it is. And I'm -- but here is my -- and you know my answer, that's the problem. Because I don't want to sound repetitive. I am not thinking about being a candidate. I have no plans to be a candidate. But, yes, it's true, I have not made a so- called Sherman statement and ruled it out for all time. I see no reason or necessity to do that.

But that's not an effort to be coy or to prop the door open or to invite such speculation. Look, I don't know why it's ordained that one -- that as soon as one presidential campaign is over with, the next one begins right away. I'm one of those who doesn't like to see the Christmas goods put into storage right after Halloween.

And I think the American people are not well-served by having an endless campaign. We are 500 days away from the next election. So why just sort of close up the field and say, OK, this is it. Place your bets. I don't have to play that game.

KING: No, you don't. But -- and I don't mean to be coy, but why not take the Sherman approach? Why not say, I don't want to run, and if nominated, I won't serve?

GORE: Or whatever. Well, I see no reason to do that. Why would I do that?

KING: Because when you don't, you leave things open.

GORE: Well, look, I'm 59 years old, 59 is the new 58.

KING: And you're 40.

GORE: Well, I have not closed the door at some point in the future to consider being a candidate. But even saying that makes me want to immediately follow up with another disclaimer. Because I don't expect it to happen. And I'm not jockeying to create an opportunity for it.

Look, I'm enjoying my life. And I'm enjoying serving in other ways. I have been focused on a different kind of campaign to persuade people in this country and around the world that we have to respond to the climate crisis. It is by far the most dangerous crisis our civilization has ever faced.

And in order to solve, it, we have to address these fundamental problems in the way our democracy is operating today.

KING: I want to ask you why the media is failing. We will be right back with more of Al Gore. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW")

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": People are talking about you maybe running for president again.

GORE: I have no plans to be a candidate for president again.

I'm not planning to be a candidate again.

I have no intention for running for president again. I have been there, done that.

I'm not planning to be a candidate for office again.

I really don't expect to be a candidate again.

I don't have any plans to be a candidate again. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Before we talk about the media with Al Gore, the book is "The Assault on Reason." The publisher, by the way, is the Penguin Press. An e-mail question from David in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

"Do you feel any degree of loyalty to Bill Clinton with respect to his wife's bid for the presidency that may be precluding you from seeking the office yourself?"

GORE: I feel loyalty to Bill Clinton, but not in that sense at all. No, that has absolutely nothing to do with my thinking about not considering a candidacy.

KING: Are you going to endorse any candidate?

GORE: I don't know. Probably. But I...

KING: In the primary, I mean?

GORE: Yes. Probably, but I don't know. I don't know. I have not made that decision yet.

KING: What's your rap on the media in this "Assault on Reason"?

GORE: Well, I think that all of us are part of the problem and part of the solution. I think that democracy is a conversation and a lot of that conversation is carried by the media. And when television replaced newspapers as the dominant medium -- and television is still completely dominant, notwithstanding the rise and growing strength of the Internet, there were some fundamental changes.

And one of them, Larry, your show is a prominent exception because when you have entertainment-oriented programs, they are sort of clearly indicated as such. But in a lot of the news media, the line between entertainment and news is now very blurred, and a lot of news organizations feel the need to run polls and conduct focus groups the same as politicians now.

And so we get a lot more of Anna Nicole Smith's funeral arrangements and Paris Hilton's legal battles on her jail term than we get about how we can solve the climate crisis and how we can get our troops out of this civil war they are trapped in, in Iraq.

And we have this huge onslaught of trivialities and four-and-a- half hours a day is the average amount of time Americans watch television. And so much of it is just sort of mind-deadening. And you know what I'm talking about. And that line between entertainment and news is really gone now in many cases.

KING: Are you a critic of the FOX News Channel, which some people think is more towards the right?

GORE: Well, yes, but this is not so much about that particular phenomenon. You know, it used to be that newspapers in America had a point of view that was identifiable. KING: On the editorial page.

GORE: No.

KING: Sometimes on the front page.

GORE: Well, in earlier times, it was all oriented towards a point of view. And then it shifted. And television was that way, too. It tried to be objective. But with the advent of cable news, it opened up the opportunity for the kind of approach that you're talking about here.

And I think that there is a difference between serving the public interest standard of facilitating the conversation of democracy. And that's one of the obligations I think that broadcasters ought to recognize.

KING: What is the danger of the Paris Hilton/Anna Nicole Smith coverage kind of thing?

GORE: Well, the danger is that the volume of it excludes serious discussion of the choice that we have to make as a free people. Now a second aspect of this, though, is that television has mainly been in one direction.

And so where the people used to have a greater opportunity to take part in the conversation and talk back in ways where what they said would be heard and listened to, now the act of just sitting motionless in front of the TV set and absorbing all of this stuff, particularly when the majority of it is the Britney and the K-Fed and whether or not Russell Crowe threw a telephone at the hotel concierge, that the ability and the opportunity to participate actively in the processes of self-government are disappearing.

Now the Internet is bringing back new opportunities, and I think that offers new sources of hope.

KING: What about our politicians in all of this? Are they better than your father's day or worse?

GORE: I think that both politicians and journalists are now the best-educated, the best-prepared of any prior generation with the exception of the generation of our founders, which was just an extraordinary collection of individuals that were true geniuses.

But I think that there are among the politicians today a lot of good people trapped in a bad system. And what they find is the necessity to rely on these 30-second television commercials and the manipulative emotion-based messages instead of a reasoned argument.

And when you combine that with the media's emphasis on things like the horserace and how somebody combs his hair or whether some word was used in an awkward way, the net result is that the American people don't have a chance to join the conversation and what they get thrown at them is trivialities and banalities. KING: Coming up in our next segment with Al Gore, we will talk about the current crop of presidential hopefuls. The book is "The Assault on Reason." don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORE: I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time for a new leader in Washington, D.C.

GORE: I want to fight for the future of the United States of America! Thank you! And God bless you!

BERNARD SHAW, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: George Bush, governor of Texas, will become the 43rd president of the United States.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The vice president has recalled the governor and retracted his concession.

GORE: For the strength of our union as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We are back with Al Gore. The book is "The Assault on Reason." Your thoughts on some of the candidates. And not a 30-second pop, but...

GORE: Well, I'm not comfortable handicapping.

KING: No, I don't want to say who's going to win.

GORE: OK.

KING: No. Clinton, Hillary Clinton.

GORE: She is running a very forceful campaign. She has earned the strong support of her constituents in New York. And it's way early to assess how these candidates are shaping up.

KING: Is she a good candidate?

GORE: Yes, sure. I mean, in many ways, yes.

KING: What do you make of young Senator Obama?

GORE: He is also running a very strong campaign. I think that he is appealing to a lot of people who like the sense that he's talking about issues in a fresh way. And, you know, he has a lot of support.

KING: Isn't he doing what you are saying in the book you want done? Isn't he talking about things that are relevant?

GORE: Well, I think that all of them are addressing the issues, but I think that all of them are good people trapped in a bad system. I used that phrase before because I do think it describes the dilemma that we have. It's not ...

KING: The system forces them?

GORE: Yes. The system forces them to concentrate on these impressionistic approaches that come out of the daily news cycle and the tit-for-tat of what is a hot buzzword issue of the day. And they also have to deal with the media's obsession with the so-called horserace. And they are all trapped in the spin cycle. The idea that all of the coverage is about, what is their motivation for doing this or doing that? What are they thinking about this or that? I think we ought to have a much greater focus on what the actual problems of the country are and how we can solve them.

KING: Senator Edwards?

GORE: Likewise, running a strong campaign. Put out a lot of very thoughtful policy, statements and positions. I think you can see the strength that he's gained from having been around the track last time.

KING: Bad rap that he's rich?

GORE: Well, I think all of these -- well, I don't know that all of them are, and I don't see that's particularly relevant in his case.

KING: On the other side, Senator McCain, whom you have known a long time.

GORE: Yes. He -- look, I'm not really very objective about the Republican candidates because they all sort of pledged allegiance to the general approach that the Bush/Cheney White House has taken. I think that John had this image of being independent and taking a different view. I don't know. I don't think I'm very good at this political analysis. I really don't. But my impression is that he made a decision to really embrace the White House to get over that image of independence and in the process, he lost the image of independence. And that was part of his strength and I'm not saying he can't get it back.

KING: Just two more. Rudy Giuliani.

GORE: Yes, well ...

KING: Mayors don't get elected president or haven't.

GORE: Haven't, yes. I think that there are several candidates this time around on the Republican side that are going to have an interesting dialogue with the base of their party about what their real views are on the issues that are most important as core issues to the base. And he certainly is in that category.

KING: And, finally, Governor Romney.

GORE: I think he's also in that category. And it's not for me to speculate on how the Republican base is going to react to his explanations for how he's changed this and that and the other. And there's a lot of them.

KING: Is Mormonism a fair issue or not a fair issue?

GORE: I do not -- I don't think it's a fair issue. I really don't. I would like to think we are past that. People say, well, this is a special case. I don't think it's a special case. I think that he's entitled to his own beliefs. And incidentally, Larry, in "The Assault on Reason" there is a very long hard-hitting section on this that goes back to our founding fathers, goes back to the debates that we had more than 200 years ago about why religion should be kept out of the way in which our decisions are made.

Except to the extent that individuals, of course, who are motivated by their religious faith, as I am, as so many people are, are going to make that a part of their decisions. But here's the critical distinction. When America was founded, they -- our founders said, OK look, we are not going to pretend that whoever is elected to office has been ordained by the almighty to be the decision maker. The person who is elected is elected by us, the people of this country. And the divine right of kings was rejected by the founders of the United States.

And what replaced that, the divine right of individuals in this sense, we believe that we are all created equal. And that we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. So the relationship that our founders believed was appropriate for -- between America and God was their belief that every individual has certain rights and has dignity because that person is a child of God.

Now, for those who don't believe in God, I'm not proselytizing. I'm just telling you what I believe and what our founders believed. But what -- but this has been twisted around in recent times by some people who want to convey the impression that God belongs, if not to a particular political party, that God has a particular political ideology and that those who disagree with a right-wing approach to this or that are against God.

That is an anti-American view. That is completely contrary to the spirit of America. It is an American heresy and people in both parties ought to reject that and fight against it.

KING: Up next, Iraq and the former VP's opinion on how it could be fixed. Stick around.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORE: I'm running to win!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vote for Gore. Vote for Gore. He's wise and able and just 44. Prevent war.

GORE: Let me finish now.

However imperfect it was, we all have an obligation to try to make better.

I have never given up. I have never backed down, and I never will.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing? I was just wondering, are you going to run for president or what? Don't leave us in suspense here. Come on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Question for Al Gore would be, are you officially running in the 2008 election?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you running for president this year, Mr. Al Gore?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm wondering if you are going to run for president? We need a good candidate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Al, are you running or what? That's it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Those are our King cam cameras. They just went out on the streets today, just unsolicited, went up to people, just -- must be flattering.

GORE: That was a random sample? .

KING: Yeah, yeah, it was. No, what? We asked them, should you -- what do you want to say to Al Gore? That's what we asked them. So it should be flattering.

GORE: That is flattering. I appreciate that. And as I said earlier, I'm not inviting that...

KING: It would make me feel good.

GORE: Pardon me?

KING: It would make me feel good.

GORE: Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

KING: Email question from Jose in Simi Valley, California. "If you were to become president, how would you tackle the inherited problem of Iraq, which somebody is going to inherit?"

And in that line, a follow-up question from Washington, D.C. What's your question?

CALLER: Hi. I wanted to ask Mr. Gore where he sees Iraq in five years from today.

KING: OK, let's loop them together. Somebody is going to inherit this problem. It ain't going away.

GORE: Well, it -- it's like taking the wheel of a car in the middle of the skid. You have really got to feel where the give is, how to steer out of the skid, how to avoid the crash. And we are headed for a really -- well, we are already in serious trouble -- headed for worse.

There are no easy options. They've created this situation where there really are no good choices. We have to choose the less -- the least worst choice and...

KING: So?

GORE: ... here are the two objectives that we have to pursue simultaneously. Number one, get our troops out of there and home as quickly as possible.

Secondly, do it in a way that honors our nation's moral obligation, which all of us have, regardless of whether we opposed or supported the invasion. We have a moral obligation not to make an already terrible situation even worse in the manner of our leaving.

But there is evidence that in some areas, indeed, the violence could get worse if we precipitously pulled out in the wrong way. But there's evidence in much of the country that the continued presence of the troops is a magnet for violence aimed at them. And the overall continued deterioration of Iraq and the -- what appears to be the real failures of the government in place there create a set of options that are really awful. So...

KING: So what's the less -- what's the -- all right. You're president. How do you get...

GORE: We need to get our troops home as quickly as possible.

KING: In other words, if you were president January 31st, 2009, your first act would be starting withdrawal? You'd start bringing home...

GORE: No, no. As I said before, I would grab hold of the situation and make an immediate assessment of what the best options were to manage this catastrophe.

KING: You don't know what they are. You don't know...

GORE: No, I mean, I know what -- I know generally the families -- we need to get them out of there, as I've said. But we need to make a very clear analysis of how we can get out of there without making it much worse than it is now.

KING: Has the Iraq government disappointed you?

GORE: Oh, sure. KING: You expected more?

GORE: Well, I mean, I don't know that I would say that, because it was put together in the aftermath of a horrible mistake and a botched policy of -- that implemented it.

I use this as an example in the book. Let me make -- use this as an illustration. The general in charge of the United States Army, Eric Shinseki, native to Hawaii, brilliant general, highly respected, said before the invasion, "Mr. President, we need several hundred thousand troops in order for any kind of occupation to have a chance of succeeding."

That view conflicted with what the White House and the secretary of defense wanted to believe. And so, they not only rejected the view, they took actions that, in effect, punished General Shinseki, and had the further effect of chilling or silencing the ability of other military leaders to speak up if their views were contrary to what the political group in the White House and secretary of defense's office wanted.

Now, here's why this illustrates the premise of this book. Our strength as a nation, over more than 200 years, has been that we have tried -- not always successfully -- but we have tried to base decisions on the best evidence available after a full and open debate among people that might have different points of view but shared a common commitment to try to make good decisions on the basis of the facts.

Instead, we have got this "Alice in Wonderland" approach. First, the verdict and then the trial.

When people make up their minds on the basis of ideology and then go forward with the decision ignoring the best facts, ignoring what the advisers and experts, and in this case the generals, are saying is the better approach, then that gets us into trouble.

Same thing they did on the climate crisis. When the scientists say, we've got to cut down on CO2, they actually censored the scientific reports. You know this. And Congressman Henry Waxman had these hearings that showed that it was not only one or two times that have come out, but hundreds of times, they censored.

Now, if the facts are inconvenient, if the truth is unwelcome, and if only ideology and politics drives the outcome, then our country makes the kinds of mistakes that has led to our troops being trapped in a civil war.

KING: You were opposed to Iraq from the get-go?

GORE: Absolutely. Now, I supported the first Persian Gulf War.

KING: In '91?

GORE: Correct. Because it was a completely different situation. But this -- and the facts were available. And every blue ribbon commission and study group that has gone back to look at it, has said, yes, it's obvious. And there's hardly anyone left in the country who doesn't now believe that it was a terrible mistake.

But, Larry, here's the point -- all that evidence that they are looking back on with these study panels was available at the time. And at the time the Senate voted to go into Iraq, 70 percent of the American people actually believed that Saddam Hussein was primarily responsible for flying those planes into the towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

And, of course, he had absolutely nothing to do with it.

He was a bad guy, and there may be -- may have been other arguments to take him out -- I felt that the risks far outweighed the expected benefits -- but the fact we based a decision that has resulted in the worst strategic mistake in American history on totally mistaken impressions and information that was known at the time to be wrong. That is not the way the United States of America got to be the greatest country in the world.

KING: Got to get a break. We will be right back with Al Gore. The book is "The Assault on Reason." Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We are with Al Gore. We have another King cam question. Our men on the street with cameras. This one is about gas prices. Go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think it's a good thing that gas prices are high so that people don't use as much gas?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Uh-huh. Al?

GORE: Don't think it's a good thing that the increases are going to Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and the other suppliers of oil. Here is -- I have made what many regard as a radical and politically impractical proposal but I believe in it very deeply, Larry. Here it is what I think we ought to do.

I think we ought to eliminate the taxes on employment, the payroll taxes that discourage jobs and make it up dollar for dollar -- no tax increase, revenue neutral. Eliminate the payroll tax and make it up dollar for dollar with pollution taxes, principally C02 taxes and, yes, that would raise the price of gasoline but it would come back to the American people in the form of sharply reduced taxes on payrolls. And for those places where there was a difficult adjustment, make special provisions there because you would have the money to do it.

KING: Let's grab another call. Green Bay, Wisconsin...

GORE: See, that's considered so impractical, there's no followup.

KING: No, it's pretty practical. Green Bay, hello?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to ask Mr. Vice President what he would do differently. Three things he would do differently than Bush has done.

KING: What was Bush's three things he did you would not absolutely not have done. One, obviously, Iraq.

GORE: I think that he did the right thing in quickly going into Afghanistan to chase down Osama bin Laden after until 9/11. But I would not have withdrawn most of our troops and sent them somewhere else before we caught bin Laden. There are a lot of generals and intelligence officers who have been telling us that he was surrounded at a place called Tora Bora and that he escaped because we lost focus on that mission and withdrew most of the troops to send them to invade a country that never attacked us.

Instead we should have continued pursuing the person who did attack us.

KING: So I think Afghanistan, mistake? Going into Iraq a mistake? What's the third?

GORE: We should not censor the best scientific evidence available on the climate crisis. He should not have violated his pledge during the campaign to regulate and reduce C02 and instead should have an aggressive program to reduce all of this politician. Larry, we are today, putting 70 million tons of global warming pollution into the earth's atmosphere. And that's been building up over time. And the planet now has a fever. The ice is melting. The sea level is rising. The hurricanes are getting stronger. Tropical diseases are moving northward. We are seeing all kinds of catastrophic changes just beginning now, and the scientific community around the world has said to us, you have to act. And has said the political leaders have been ducking this, and many of them evading responsibility for it. We have to change this. That's by far the most important problem that has to be addressed.

KING: Our guest Al Gore. Anderson Cooper standing by. He will host AC 360 at the top of the hour. What's up Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, AC 360 HOST: Hey, Larry a related topic. Hurricane season is coming today. The forecast we got is not good. We'll have the latest numbers of storms expected and whether or not New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast is ready for this season. One billion dollars, that's what's been spent so far just to get New Orleans ready for the next big storm. The question now, is will the levees hold? You will not like the honest. Neither did we. But we are keeping them honest. That's at the top of the hour, Larry.

KING: That's Anderson Cooper 360, 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific. Speaking of that, the former vice president will talk about New Orleans right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Time goes so fast. Our guest, former Vice President Al Gore. The book, "The Assault on Reason."

We will take a call, we will get another email, a King cam. But we did want to talk -- your thoughts on New Orleans.

GORE: I was back in New Orleans recently, as I have been several times since the Katrina disaster. And the city -- many parts of the city still look the way they did a month after the disaster. And whether -- how you apportion the blame among the city government, the state government, the federal government and all of us -- Larry, it is unacceptable in the United States of America for a major city to be left stranded after a disaster for 21 months. It looks like -- parts of it look like a war zone 21 months later. It is completely unacceptable.

KING: Should Alberto Gonzales resign?

GORE: Not for me to -- look, Senator Specter said over the weekend that he thinks he will resign in order to avoid the unprecedented or unusual, at least, no-confidence vote, when Republican senators as well as Democratic senators are saying that he needs to get out of there.

But, you know, he's been doing what the president has wanted him to do. And, again, some of the examples in "The Assault on Reason" have to do with the fact that a major wiretapping campaign, eavesdropping campaign against American citizens, without warrants as required in the Constitution, was secretly instituted and continued, and there was hardly any outcry. The media did not...

KING: Does the attorney general have to do the bidding of the president? I thought that he's supposed to be...

GORE: Shouldn't, because in the Nixon administration, as you well recall, a principled attorney general resigned rather than make -- take illegal decisions.

But this, you know, the illegal eavesdropping on Americans is not something that should be taken lightly. The fact that it has happened and continues to occur, and the Congress felt intimidated to affirm it and endorse it -- not the current Congress, but the last time they took it up -- I think that's -- I think it's another example of how the rights of individuals have been trampled on.

KING: Let me get another call in from Lexington, Kentucky. Hello.

CALLER: Thank you, Mr. King.

Mr. Gore, given the foreign policy expertise that you have exhibited on Mr. King's show tonight and the expertise that you gave to the administration of President Bill Clinton, would you consider the secretary of state position in a Democratic presidential administration?

GORE: Thank you for your kind words, but, no.

KING: No cabinet position?

GORE: No.

KING: No federal position?

GORE: No. Not because I don't have the greatest respect for what an honor it would be to serve in such a position, but I have -- I have zero interest in doing something like that.

KING: We will be back with our remaining moments following this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The winner, former Vice President Al Gore!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Al Gore, well-known movie star and producer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vice President Al Gore, what issues caused by climate change globally are likely to affect the United States security in the next 10 years?

KING: Al?

GORE: You know, even a one-meter increase, even a three-foot increase in sea level would cause tens of millions of climate refugees.

If Greenland were to break up and slip into the sea or West Antarctica, or half of either and half of both, it would be a 20-feet increase, and that would lead to more than 450 million climate refugees.

The direct impacts on the U.S. have already begun. Today, 49 percent of America is in conditions of drought or near drought. And we have had droughts in the past, but the odds of serious droughts increase when the average temperatures go up, as they have been going up.

We have fires in California, in Florida, in other states, unprecedented fire season last year, directly correlated with higher temperatures, which dry out the soils, dry out the vegetation.

We have a very serious threat of losing enough soil moisture in a hotter world that agriculture here in the United States would be greatly affected. Now, the list is too long to give you here, but look, these issues are more important that Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton, and they are not being talked about.

KING: We have less than a minute. July 7th, your big event.

GORE: Yes, the Live Earth concerts. My friend Kevin Wall and I have been putting these together. It is going to be the biggest concert in the history of the world, the beginning of a multi-year campaign to get us past the tipping point and solve the climate crisis.

July 7th, 24 hours. The concert for a planet -- for a climate in crisis.

KING: Unbelievable, the way you put it together.

Where will you be?

GORE: Haven't decided yet. Don't know yet. They are going to be on all seven continents. The performers, by the way, if you don't have a ticket for this yet, it is going to be the most amazing concert ever.

KING: I'll tell you what we'll do -- the night before, we will have you on wherever you are in the world...

GORE: Great.

KING: ... and we'll get the whole detail of who's coming the next day.

GORE: Deal. Deal.

KING: Our text vote question last night, "should Al Gore run for president?" Get this -- 82 percent of you said yes.

So now based on what you have seen tonight, we're asking you, do you think Al Gore will end up running? Hey, you could have that thought. Don't laugh, Al!

Text vote to the cell phone to CNN TV, which is 26688, text KingA for yes; KingB for no. We will reveal the results on tomorrow night's show. You can also email the questions for our guests by going to cnn.com/larryking.

Are you interested in the results?

GORE: Sure.

KING: OK, because we'll let you know.

Thanks, Al.

GORE: Thank you, Larry.

KING: The book...

GORE: Happy birthday to your daughter.

KING: Son. Cannon.

GORE: Yes, happy birthday to your son, Cannon, today.

KING: Oh, to call him a daughter, that would be -- thank you.

GORE: I knew it was one of them.

KING: Yes, Cannon is 7.

And now we turn things over to someone considerably older than 7, Anderson Cooper -- AC.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com

Obama isn't black or Journalists Won't Play w/Myths

Dena "Robin" — Thu, 10 May 2007 12:14:06 EDT

Scoop's Link Yesterday!

This is an excerpt that a link from Scoop in New Zealand had yesterday:

"But politics isn't science; it isn't even traditional culture. It's its own world. Thus we have a man who hopes to be America's first black president whose only upbringing by a black parent ended when he was two years old.

Barack Obama's mother is white. His stepfather was Indonesian. The grandparents with whom he was sent to live when he was ten were white. But according to the media and his supporters, Obama is still black.

In Obama's case this is a myth that's a little hard to sustain, but by keeping his white relatives sternly away from the media and by playing up his culturally tangential connection to Kenya including a media-enhanced visit, he's done an impressive job.

But journalists aren't meant to play along with myths. Obama isn't black. Since the word race shouldn't even be used these days, it would be best to call him bi-ethnic or multicultural. There's nothing wrong with this; it just doesn't seem to attract as many votes and dollars."

To this I replied:

Folks,

To all of this I say two things: "And and So?. I can't identify myself as pink even though I am part American Indian and part German.

Is this what your going to try? The race card in reverse? Please spare us. If he clamed he was white, you would object to that.

As for this "one drop" issue, has anyone of you ever received any donated blood or transplants from deceased human beings. How far back can you trace your lineage? I doubt it would be far enough to substantiate what race(s) you belong to. People just claim one; just as he is.

As far as his use of the word audacity, to act audaciously as defined by Webster's Dictonary as: Au`daÂ´cious
a. 1. Daring; spirited; adventurous.

You chose to pick the 2nd & 3rd definitions to suit your purpose. How stupid do think the public is? Or maybe I should ask, how smart do you see the Americans voters are becoming?

I probably shouldn't have bothered to reply, but this angered me. I'm living in a red state in the South. A lot of people here don't even used the words “bi-ethnic” or “multicultural.” If you did, be prepared to pull up a seat and explain what you meant by what you just said. I'm not saying that we wouldn't understand the words, but you would have to explain what ethnicities or cultures you were talking about. Truthfully, this is not on the agenda here.

Here's what we are worried about – DISTASTERS. Hurricane and Tornado season is on. We are in the middle of a serious drought in Alabama. Crops were planted and because of the storms and late frosts they failed, so the farmers replanted. Now, we are in a drought situation. So now we have corn and cotton crops and people's individual gardens that are about 2” high in May!!! We can only water our yards once a week, and if we don't get rain soon, we won't have enough water to do that.

I watch the news and 53 counties in Florida have fires from a storm front that contained around 20,000 lightening strikes in that state. Greensburg, Kansas is just gone; massive flooding is going on in the northeast. California has fires, too. And everyone knows since we are still reeling from the Katrina disaster, even if they don't want to admit it, we are on our own!!!

Our National Guards men are stretched too thin. Our equipment and money is going to rebuild what we blew up in another country. How can we get help to rebuild when we are supposed to be rebuilding Iraq?

WE ARE the PEOPLE, we are FOR THE PEOPLE, but we aren't BY THE PEOPLE! Can we even say that our own democracy is working anymore under this administration? I don't think so.

So call him black, white, bi-ethnic, multicultural, or green (but remember Kermit said that wasn't easy either) for that matter. This is not the issue that matters here.

Sorry for the rant,

Robin

The Resurrection of Hope

Ryan Westart — Thu, 03 May 2007 21:55:33 EDT

Monday, January 02, 2006

'06, America... 'Bout Damn Time
Current mood: optimistic

Good to see ya again, America.

A couple of thoughts on the New Year:

Conceded 2005 sucked and if you didn't know it sucked, I probably posted a comment for ya reminding you why it sucked. But we're a bunch of Gloria Gaynors, America. Surving '05, the year of fear, the crucible of modern era, we have much to look forward to, kids. (Yeah, I know.... the Harvard folk say not end sentences with prepositions.... so... whatever)

That's right America the No Fear paradigm of the early 90's is up for an '06 remix and why not?

In '05, you had a 68 hance of being significantly affected (a vague way of saying killed, injured, or impovershed) by A) a tsunami B) a hurricane C) a tornado D) an earthquake E) George Bush.

The good news is that you're reading this.... so you did OK for yourself.

That being said, America... Let the love flow in '06.

Love Momma Earth. I don't care what you think about the existence of global warming.... despite empirical data and all... but when you're good to Momma.... Momma's good to you. That ain't no shit, either. That's straight up from the Queen, herself.

Love him/her. Seriously, YOU JUST SURVIVED '05! What the hell are you afraid of? Life is more than sequencial series of dramas and greener grasses. I'd hate to compare love to Brett Favre.. but yeah... it's high risk, high reward. If you want be afraid of something... be afraid that your love life will be someday be compared to John Schoop's offense.

Love your family. It's the right thing to do and you never know when you'll need bail money. I don't care how many step mom's you gotta go through.

Love what you don't understand. Na.... I still don't know why girls tend to gnaw on their bottom lip, but I dig that. I certainly don't understand registered Republicans in "blue" states, but yeah... I love them too... if for no other reason than their fun to argue with.

This above all, to thyne ownself be loved. That's right, America. It's OK. In fact, it's what's in. Go ahead, love yourself. How? I dunno.... How do you love a woman? You just do... Start by not being so hard on yourself.

Like I said, America.... Let the love flow...

Let the love flood Bourbon Street...

And burst out of Mt. St. Helens...

Let the love wage war on fear..

And burn through the Old West...

Let the love slide down the Sierra chapparel...

And it's surf sweep the shores of Southeast Asia...

Let the love fuel our days...

And reign from the Pacifac Northwest and throughout the East Coast.

Let the love warm our homes

And let the love cool our heads.

'06, America.... Be the miracle. (That's a quote Mike Short.... From Bruce Almighty.... which is a movie...)

Goodnight, America... Love ya.

Is it just me? Is anyone else revolted?

Bronwen — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:01:08 EDT

Here’s the thing. I turned on the T.V. to watch the early morning news Monday August 29, 2005 and never turned it off that day or the next.

The local news on an NBC affiliate reported hurricane Katrina was coming in at a strong category 3. Now, I don’t know squat about weather stuff (I’m a Seattle native who lived in Florida for two really long years, before landing in Pittsburgh, so I just know a bunch of different ways to talk about rain.) and I said out loud “#%&*, This is going to be bad, really, really bad.”

I literally watched Katrina as it was happening. I watched the roof sections of the superdome peel off as it was happening. I was terrified and I was sitting on my couch, here in Pittsburgh. By the afternoon I was yelling “help these people!” at the TV. Twenty-four hours later, TV still on, I was pacing around again, saying out loud “Where in the @#&* is Bush? Why are we not helping these people?” I was in tears.

Four days later Bush “toured” the area. Four days.

This last Monday morning was reminiscent of my Monday August 29, 2005 morning; I was watching a horrific tragedy as it was happening.

Granted there are many differences between the two devastating events, but I can not minimize the three biggest similarities. An unthinkable number of people were killed. They were killed here, in the United States of America. The events were felt across country, across the world.

Yesterday, one of the many differences showed up front and center. The amount of time it took President Bush to be present and offer federal assistance. Link

Katrina still undone

Russell Henderson — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 14:29:00 EST

In his excellent Selma speech, Senator Obama addressed the Post Katrina non rebuild. Virginia Boulet and I have been working to get rid of the onerous 10% match. Here is what Obama sez:

"You've got Katrina still undone. I went down to New Orleans three weeks ago. It still looks bombed out. Still not rebuilt. When 9/11 happened, the federal government had a special program of grants to help rebuild. They waived any requirement that Manhattan would have to pay 10% of the cost of rebuilding. When Hurricane Andrew happened in Florida, 10% requirement, they waived it because they understood that some disasters are so devastating that we can't expect a community to rebuild. New Orleans -- the largest national catastrophe in our history, the federal government says where's your 10%?

There is an empathy gap. There is a gap in terms of sympathizing for the folks in New Orleans. It's not a gap that the American people felt because we saw how they responded. But somehow our government didn't respond with that same sense of compassion, with that same sense of kindness. And here is the worst part, the tragedy in New Orleans happened well before the hurricane struck because many of those communities, there were so many young men in prison, so many kids dropping out, so little hope."

Story on the rising of New Orleans

Natasha — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:58:39 EST

MSN Travel put out a 3 page story this morning about the journey New Orleans is on to rise from the destruction of Katrina. I am assuming it's being put out in the travel area now because we are one week away from Mardi Gras (Feb 20).

It's an interesting read, and for anyone who's been following/participating in the recovery it won't tell you much you don't already know.

But I found myself wondering if those who are intimate with the situation would agree with everything it says. Take a look at the article, and see if you agree with the author's assessment:

Link

yet another ripple effect

Natasha — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:48:04 EST

State Farm has decided to suspend insuring any new homes, and will also limit commerical insurance coverage, to the people of Mississippi. This is a direct result of the litigation that is currently going on from policyholders to receive coverage for the damage from Katrina.

Link here to MSNBC: Link

Which begs the obvious question: why are people having to sue for coverage? The insurance companies' decision to not cover the losses in the first place is at best a cold and calculating financial decision, at worst an egregious affront in the face of national crisis.

There needs to be collaboration with the insurance companies to find a beneficial solution for everyone - the policyholders who are left with nothing but ruins, the insurance companies who are trying to stay profitable, and the federal government who feels the burden to provide relief to its citizens.

Sounds like a job for Barack Obama...anyone agree? If so, comment back. Perhaps we can make our voices heard....

Nina Simone, Hurricane Katrina, Sherlock Holmes and Barack Obama

Dana — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:00:24 EST

I feel as though I'm playing that Sesame Street game where you have to pick the one thing that doesn't belong in the group. Maybe it's fitting, because I suppose I'm not sure if I fit in this group, so I'm subconsioucly shoring up three of my favorite "people" with my least favorite (un)natural catastrophes, because after all, making lists is such a humanistic activity.

I say I wouldn't belong not to garner sympathy, or head off criticism, or punk out of socio-political responsibility. Why bother-- if that was my bag, I should do what my demographic does and work on mediocrity. Or continue to mourn the dot com bust. Or keep whining about how much my job demolishes my tender soul and how I'm entitled to Enlightenment.

Rather, I'm experiencing a moment of clarity and honesty, two virtues I see exemplified in Senator Obama. I've never joined a campaign, I haven't been a consistent and faithful voter, I avoid debate and I've been fantastically guilty of b-n-m'ing about my predestined train ticket to Nirvana based not on my good deeds and compassion, but on the very act of my breathing. I hope Obama has a majority of people unlike me, who know how to reach people and get them talking and voting. I hope to learn a great deal about the process from everyone on this website.

Or better still, I hope this campaign will wind up teaching all of us a great deal about the new political process, one of ethical practicality, passionate clarity, and compulsive fidelity to personal integrity.

So maybe we all get a Mulligan with Obama. Maybe I'm right where I'm supposed to be.

Unlike Hurricane Katrina.

But more about her later.

First, when I see the senator on TV, I've started imagining Nina Simone singing "Feeling Good" in the background. I'm not suggesting that I imagine a whole music video, because that would be odd, though catchy, and might do well on VH1, since that old sound is new again, but I wildly digress. See, I love the Lady Simone, because her voice is unmistakable. You could be blindfolded with your shoes on the wrong feet and the distinct smell of "New Car Scent" wafting through a room, and you'd know Nina Simone in your bones. She sounds like unfettered honesty, a kind of truth-telling that springs forth without conscious effort but not without thorough contemplation. Nina Simone and Barack Obama have the same sort of voice that way, and that's why I think of Obama as an artist. Great artists don't cover the truth in globs of paint or swaths of costumes: they use their natural tools (beit the voice, the body, the creative expression of words) to reveal the scintilating sinews of the "real" all around us. Walt Whitman said it best (and gross): "I wanted to live deep and suck out the marrow of life."

I think America is long over due for that life-saving transplant.

Hurricane Katrina's voice certainly ripped open the continental cancer.

Full disclosure, shall we? I was born and raised in the City that Care Forgot. My birth certificate says New Orleans, but I largely grew up in Metairie, a western suburb of the city proper. I haven't lived in New Orleans in about 10 years, but all of my family does. Or did.

No one listened to the voices murmurring and shaking in that city for the last 50 or so years. No one even listened when that demon in water-logged tatters turned screams into a silence so loud no one could think straight. And still, no one hears, even as the musicians try to keep up with the jazz funeral procession.

I'm waiting to see SomeOne tip their head in contemplation towards the enormous gramaphone that is the Crescent City.

In so far as Sherlock Holmes, well... I guess it's fitting that I tucked references to the Great Detective and the object of my free-time (and work-time) analysis in the most obvious locations on the blog, but I suspect they might largely go unnoticed. Even the most famously reproduced fictional icon can't get a break.

I'm adopting Obama's cautious optimism, a kind of optimism even Nellie Forbrush could agree upon.