Saturday, September 03, 2005

Why Not Fire These F*ckers Now Instead of Waiting?

CNN with some excellent examples of the extreme distance from reality that Chertoff and Brown are existing in. (Nod to Andrew Sullivan of all people)

On hospital evacuations:
Brown: I've just learned today that we ... are in the process of completing the evacuations of the hospitals, that those are going very well.

On the overall federal response:
Brown: Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well.
And what the hell has happened to the Preznit's handlers? They used to do a better job than to let him say shit like this:
The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)
Yeah, well, as long as the rich white guy's going to be okay.

But some folks that I wouldn't expect to are getting it. Even Newt Gingrich:
"I think it puts into question all of the Homeland Security and Northern Command planning for the last four years, because if we can't respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why do we think we're prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?" said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
There's been a lot of talk about Chimpy and members of the cabinet being reluctant to cut their vacations short to deal with this but what no one has asked is, why the hell were the president, vice president, sec. of state and chief of staff all on vacation at the same time? I've heard for years from Repuglicans about how they understand business and how they'll run government like a business - well, in business you don't all leave town at the same time. You ALWAYS make sure someone's minding the store. They could also take a cue from business (especially my business - Information Technology) when it come to handling disaster - the bigger the problem, the higher the heads that are on the response calls, soaking up details, asking questions and making sure that everybody (especially the customer - which in this case is US) knows that the big guy is the chief motherfucker in charge! You don't make any damn assumptions, you publicly ask questions of the guys below you (and hope like hell the answer is that they've already done it) and you constantly talk to your customer and TELL HIM THE THINGS YOU'RE DOING TO HELP HIM - long before he thinks to ask. Chertoff, Brown, Bush... fucking useless.

We know that Condi's been catching "Spamalot" and buying shoes in New York, but it hasn't been as clear which undisclosed location Cheney's been hiding in. But then I picked up a copy of Weekly World News at the drug store last night and found him - he's apparently hiding out in Fort Knox, wearing a crown and making everyone call him King Dick. The article hasn't made it to the web edition yet, but it's in the newspaper so it must be true!

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Some Gets It, Some Don't

I've never been the biggest fan of Gov. Mike Easley, but I'm damn proud to have him for a governor today:
This is not only a state problem, this is also a regional and a national problem. We are hoping that the Department of Energy will take some action as soon as possible. I have tried to get direction from DOE, but they have not yet responded. In the meantime, I am asking all North Carolinians to conserve gas. Some stations are already out. Wait for more information before making Labor Day travel plans. We are taking steps to ensure that emergency vehicles have the supplies that they need, police, fire and rescue. I am immediately suspending all non-essential state government travel. I am asking state employees to carpool wherever possible. I am also asking all our citizens to be smart about their fuel consumption. I am asking them to carpool if they can and to limit non-essential road trips.
Mike gets it. I have been one of Mel Watts' biggest fans:
Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Rep. Mel Watt, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee announced today that when Congress returns next Tuesday, they will introduce legislation to protect the thousands of families and small businesses financially devastated by Hurricane Katrina from being penalized by anti-debtor provisions contained in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, scheduled to take effect on October 17, 2005. Reps. Conyers, Nadler, and Jackson Lee released the following joint statement:

"We are concerned that just as survivors of Hurricane Katrina are beginning to rebuild their lives, the new bankruptcy law will result in a further and unintended financial whammy. Unfortunately, the new law is likely to have the consequence of preventing devestated families from being able to obtain relief from massive and unexpected new financial obligations they are incurring and by forcing them to repay their debt with income they no longer have, but which is counted by the law.

When the Judiciary Committee considered the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act earlier this year, Ms. Jackson Lee offered an amendment to protect the victims of natural disaster like those now devastated by Hurricane Katrina. While the amendment was defeated on a party line vote without any debate, we hope that in light of recent events our colleagues will recognize the importance of protecting our most financially vulnerable Americans.

The legislation we plan to introduce will prevent new bankruptcy provisions from having adverse and unintended consequences for the hundreds of thousands now facing financial catastrophe by providing needed flexibility for victims of natural disasters in bankruptcy proceedings.

Our common sense bill will insure that we do not compound a natural disaster with a man made financial disaster. We hope to obtain bipartisan support for expedited consideration of this critical legislation."

##109-JUD-9/1/05##
Mel gets it. On the other hand:

FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of suggested charities to help the storm’s hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red Cross is first on the list.

The Rev. Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blessing” is next on the list.

FEMA don't get it (but apparently radical Christian cleric Robertson does, but not in a good way). Then there's my vote for Dickweed of the Day:
"It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed," the Illinois Republican said in an interview about New Orleans Wednesday with the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Ill.

/* snip */
"We ought to take a second look at it. But you know we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake fissures and they rebuild too. Stubbornness."

There are "some real tough questions to ask," Hastert said in the interview. "How do you go about rebuilding this city? What precautions do you take?"

I don't think Dennis gets it. On the third hand:
I have never, ever, seen anything as bungled and as poorly handled as this situation in New Orleans. Where the hell is the water for these people? Why can't sandwiches be dropped to those people in the Superdome. What is going on? This is Thursday! This storm happened 5 days ago. This is a disgrace. And don't think the world isn't watching. This is the government that the taxpayers are paying for, and it's fallen right flat on its face as far as I can see, in the way it's handled this thing.
Jack Cafferty gets it.

I got the Sundance running tonight since it gets twice the gas mileage that the XTerra does and made sure that I did all my errands while I was out to make the trip worthwhile. We've talked about what we can manage to do walking or taking the bus or me bicycling for the next few weeks - quite a lot if we try. I've got to get over to Carrboro tomorrow to proof the studio tour maps and I'm planning on taking the bike at lunch, despite the muscle pull. I noticed that the gas stations nearest us on Airport Road have gone from $2.59 to $3.29 over the last 36 hours - 70 cents in less than two days feels like price gouging to me. But hell, I'm not worried about that - I'm worried about the homeless and dying and a federal government that has now shown the world that we are unwilling or incapable of taking care of our own. JennySlash keeps asking what it's going to take to run those sonsabitches out of the office (okay, the 'sonsabitches' was probably my term) and it's a damn shame if it takes this kind of a disaster to do it, but if even their lack of response to this crisis doesn't do it then there's just no hope for us.