Democrats Abroad New Zealand
9.30.2005
Feingold Stakes Claim to Democrats' Anti-war Wing (Reuters.com)
Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:04 PM ET164
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Potential 2008 Democratic presidential contender Sen. Russ Feingold has made an early appeal to anti-war activists and set himself apart from possible rivals by calling for a pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of next year.
No other Democrat pondering a run for the White House, nor any of the party's congressional leaders or prominent foreign policy voices, has broken with Republican President George W. Bush and endorsed a timetable for Iraq withdrawal.
The lack of strong opposition on Iraq from a deeply divided Democratic Party, even as polls show growing public unhappiness with the war, has frustrated anti-war activists and created an opening for a dark-horse candidate like Feingold.
"There is a huge political vacuum waiting to be filled," said Tom Andrews, national director of the anti-war group Win Without War and a former Democratic House of Representatives member from Maine.
"People are very disappointed in the Democrats," he said. "Where is the leadership?"
(More ... Politics News Article | Reuters.com) ¶ 17:48 0 comments
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Potential 2008 Democratic presidential contender Sen. Russ Feingold has made an early appeal to anti-war activists and set himself apart from possible rivals by calling for a pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of next year.
No other Democrat pondering a run for the White House, nor any of the party's congressional leaders or prominent foreign policy voices, has broken with Republican President George W. Bush and endorsed a timetable for Iraq withdrawal.
The lack of strong opposition on Iraq from a deeply divided Democratic Party, even as polls show growing public unhappiness with the war, has frustrated anti-war activists and created an opening for a dark-horse candidate like Feingold.
"There is a huge political vacuum waiting to be filled," said Tom Andrews, national director of the anti-war group Win Without War and a former Democratic House of Representatives member from Maine.
"People are very disappointed in the Democrats," he said. "Where is the leadership?"
(More ... Politics News Article | Reuters.com) ¶ 17:48 0 comments
Is Bush Losing Congress? (WashingtonPost.com)
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, September 29, 2005; 12:09 PM
His second-term agenda is in shambles. His spending plan for Hurricane Katrina has torn his party apart. Support for his increasingly unpopular war is eroding. His political capital is spent.
And now he's lost his Hammer.
For President Bush, who was already seeing his influence wane in Congress, yesterday's indictment of Rep. Tom DeLay -- forcing the iron-fisted House majority leader to step down from his leadership post -- was an enormous blow.
Furthermore, DeLay's troubles add to the sense that the Republican Party and the White House are under siege, plagued by missteps and ethics scandals.
(More ... Is Bush Losing Congress?) ¶ 08:20 0 comments
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, September 29, 2005; 12:09 PM
His second-term agenda is in shambles. His spending plan for Hurricane Katrina has torn his party apart. Support for his increasingly unpopular war is eroding. His political capital is spent.
And now he's lost his Hammer.
For President Bush, who was already seeing his influence wane in Congress, yesterday's indictment of Rep. Tom DeLay -- forcing the iron-fisted House majority leader to step down from his leadership post -- was an enormous blow.
Furthermore, DeLay's troubles add to the sense that the Republican Party and the White House are under siege, plagued by missteps and ethics scandals.
(More ... Is Bush Losing Congress?) ¶ 08:20 0 comments
Civil Rights Champion Constance Baker Motley Dies at 84 (CNN.com)
Thursday, September 29, 2005; Posted: 11:51 a.m. EDT (15:51 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- When she was 15, Constance Baker Motley was turned away from a public beach because she was black. It was only then -- even though her mother was active in the NAACP -- that the teenager really became interested in civil rights.
She went to law school and found herself fighting racism in landmark segregation cases including Brown v. Board of Education, the Central High School case in Arkansas and the case that let James Meredith enroll at the University of Mississippi.
Motley also broke barriers herself: She was the first black woman appointed to the federal bench, as well the first one elected to the New York state Senate.
Motley, who would have celebrated her 40th anniversary on the bench next year, died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at NYU Downtown Hospital, said her son, Joel Motley III. She was 84.
"She is a person of a kind and stature the likes of which they're not making anymore," said Chief Judge Michael Mukasey in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Motley served.
(More ... CNN.com - Civil rights champion Constance Baker Motley dies at 84 - Sep 29, 2005) ¶ 08:15 0 comments
NEW YORK (AP) -- When she was 15, Constance Baker Motley was turned away from a public beach because she was black. It was only then -- even though her mother was active in the NAACP -- that the teenager really became interested in civil rights.
She went to law school and found herself fighting racism in landmark segregation cases including Brown v. Board of Education, the Central High School case in Arkansas and the case that let James Meredith enroll at the University of Mississippi.
Motley also broke barriers herself: She was the first black woman appointed to the federal bench, as well the first one elected to the New York state Senate.
Motley, who would have celebrated her 40th anniversary on the bench next year, died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at NYU Downtown Hospital, said her son, Joel Motley III. She was 84.
"She is a person of a kind and stature the likes of which they're not making anymore," said Chief Judge Michael Mukasey in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Motley served.
(More ... CNN.com - Civil rights champion Constance Baker Motley dies at 84 - Sep 29, 2005) ¶ 08:15 0 comments
GOP Ignores Lessons of Democrats' Past Mistakes (WashingtonPost.com)
By Terry M. Neal
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 28, 2005; 6:27 PM
In response to the criminal charges he now faces, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has offered up the time-honored defense of Washington politicians: My enemies are out to get me.
In a Capitol Hill news conference, DeLay lashed out, calling the Texas prosecutor who brought the felony charge against him an "unabashed partisan zealot" and a "fanatic." DeLay's supporters echoed the theme. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) -- the man who will fill in for DeLay -- said: "Unfortunately, Tom DeLay's effectiveness as Majority Leader is the best explanation for what happened in Texas today."
It didn't take long for DeLay's supporters to get the talking points. In a statement e-mailed to reporters hours after news of the indictment broke, the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, leader of the Traditional Values Coalition, said DeLay was "a Christian man" and accused prosecutor Ronnie Earle of exacting "political retribution."
Yet, The Washington Post's Jeffrey Smith reported last year that "Earle, an elected Democrat who oversees the state's Public Integrity Unit, previously prosecuted four elected Republicans and 12 Democrats for corruption or election law violations."
(More ... GOP Ignores Lessons of Democrats' Past Mistakes) ¶ 08:12 0 comments
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 28, 2005; 6:27 PM
In response to the criminal charges he now faces, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has offered up the time-honored defense of Washington politicians: My enemies are out to get me.
In a Capitol Hill news conference, DeLay lashed out, calling the Texas prosecutor who brought the felony charge against him an "unabashed partisan zealot" and a "fanatic." DeLay's supporters echoed the theme. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) -- the man who will fill in for DeLay -- said: "Unfortunately, Tom DeLay's effectiveness as Majority Leader is the best explanation for what happened in Texas today."
It didn't take long for DeLay's supporters to get the talking points. In a statement e-mailed to reporters hours after news of the indictment broke, the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, leader of the Traditional Values Coalition, said DeLay was "a Christian man" and accused prosecutor Ronnie Earle of exacting "political retribution."
Yet, The Washington Post's Jeffrey Smith reported last year that "Earle, an elected Democrat who oversees the state's Public Integrity Unit, previously prosecuted four elected Republicans and 12 Democrats for corruption or election law violations."
(More ... GOP Ignores Lessons of Democrats' Past Mistakes) ¶ 08:12 0 comments
Public Rejects Using Military Force to Promote Democracy (PIPA.org)
A new poll finds that a majority of Americans reject the idea of using military force to promote democracy. Only 35% favored using military force to overthrow dictators. Less than one in five favored the US threatening to use military force if countries do not institute democratic reforms.
The effort to promote democracy in Iraq is generating little enthusiasm. Seventy-four percent (including 60% of Republicans) said that the goal of overthrowing Iraq's authoritarian government and establishing a democracy was not a good enough reason to go to war. Seventy-two percent said that the experience there has made them feel worse about the possibility of using military force to bring about democracy in the future. Sixty-four percent (65% of Republicans) are ready to accept an Iraqi constitution that does not fully meet democratic standards and once the constitution is ratified 57% want to start withdrawing troops.
Steven Kull, director of PIPA comments, "More broadly most Americans do not appear to have been persuaded by President Bush's State of the Union argument that promoting democracy is a critical means for fighting terrorism and making the world safer." Only 26% agreed that when there are more democracies the world is safer and only 45% agreed that people in democracies are less likely to support terrorist groups. Even the view, popular among political scientists that democracies are less likely to go to war with each other was only endorsed by 46%. Republicans showed a bit more support for the benefits of democracy, but only by a few percentage points.
Americans are also not confident that democratic governments will be friendlier to the US. Only 42% assumed that when countries become more democratic they will be more likely to agree with US policies and only 26% assumed that if Saudi Arabia were to hold free elections the elected government would be friendlier to the US.
(More ... ) ¶ 08:10 0 comments
The effort to promote democracy in Iraq is generating little enthusiasm. Seventy-four percent (including 60% of Republicans) said that the goal of overthrowing Iraq's authoritarian government and establishing a democracy was not a good enough reason to go to war. Seventy-two percent said that the experience there has made them feel worse about the possibility of using military force to bring about democracy in the future. Sixty-four percent (65% of Republicans) are ready to accept an Iraqi constitution that does not fully meet democratic standards and once the constitution is ratified 57% want to start withdrawing troops.
Steven Kull, director of PIPA comments, "More broadly most Americans do not appear to have been persuaded by President Bush's State of the Union argument that promoting democracy is a critical means for fighting terrorism and making the world safer." Only 26% agreed that when there are more democracies the world is safer and only 45% agreed that people in democracies are less likely to support terrorist groups. Even the view, popular among political scientists that democracies are less likely to go to war with each other was only endorsed by 46%. Republicans showed a bit more support for the benefits of democracy, but only by a few percentage points.
Americans are also not confident that democratic governments will be friendlier to the US. Only 42% assumed that when countries become more democratic they will be more likely to agree with US policies and only 26% assumed that if Saudi Arabia were to hold free elections the elected government would be friendlier to the US.
(More ... ) ¶ 08:10 0 comments
9.29.2005
FEMA Hurricane Response Puts Spotlight on Political Patronage Jobs (CNN.com)
Wednesday, September 28, 2005; Posted: 4:35 p.m. EDT (20:35 GMT)
From Candy Crowley and Sasha Johnson
CNN Political Unit
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The political finger-pointing that evolved in Hurricane Katrina's wake not only exposed deficiencies in the government's disaster preparedness, but put a spotlight on how and why some Bush administration officials got their jobs.
"The idea of 'cronies' has been around for a long time," said Larry Noble, president of the Center for Responsive Politics, a government watchdog group. "Every president that comes in has a lot of political appointees that they can bring in with them."
Michael Brown's rise to the top position at FEMA, critics say, came about because of his close relationship with Joe Allbaugh, who happened to be President George W. Bush's campaign director in 2000, and who subsequently was installed as the head of FEMA in 2001.
"I picked him because he is a good man who knows how to run a very important organization and I am proud of my friend," said President Bush when he chose Allbaugh for the job.
Cronyism, or showing favor to old friends or family, is nothing new in Washington. President John F. Kennedy made his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, attorney general in 1961 and President Bill Clinton put his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of his health care plan, arguably one of the largest policy initiatives of his first term.
Taking care of political friends or people who worked on the winning presidential campaign is so common that the government publishes a must-read book every four years titled the "United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions" or the "Plum Book."
The book is essentially a catalogue of want ads. It lists the roughly 3,000 political appointee jobs that the president or his White House personnel office are responsible for filling. They range from the secretary of education to the commissioner of the Marine Mammal Commission.
(More ... CNN.com - FEMA hurricane response puts spotlight on political patronage jobs - Sep 28, 2005) ¶ 20:30 0 comments
From Candy Crowley and Sasha Johnson
CNN Political Unit
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The political finger-pointing that evolved in Hurricane Katrina's wake not only exposed deficiencies in the government's disaster preparedness, but put a spotlight on how and why some Bush administration officials got their jobs.
"The idea of 'cronies' has been around for a long time," said Larry Noble, president of the Center for Responsive Politics, a government watchdog group. "Every president that comes in has a lot of political appointees that they can bring in with them."
Michael Brown's rise to the top position at FEMA, critics say, came about because of his close relationship with Joe Allbaugh, who happened to be President George W. Bush's campaign director in 2000, and who subsequently was installed as the head of FEMA in 2001.
"I picked him because he is a good man who knows how to run a very important organization and I am proud of my friend," said President Bush when he chose Allbaugh for the job.
Cronyism, or showing favor to old friends or family, is nothing new in Washington. President John F. Kennedy made his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, attorney general in 1961 and President Bill Clinton put his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of his health care plan, arguably one of the largest policy initiatives of his first term.
Taking care of political friends or people who worked on the winning presidential campaign is so common that the government publishes a must-read book every four years titled the "United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions" or the "Plum Book."
The book is essentially a catalogue of want ads. It lists the roughly 3,000 political appointee jobs that the president or his White House personnel office are responsible for filling. They range from the secretary of education to the commissioner of the Marine Mammal Commission.
(More ... CNN.com - FEMA hurricane response puts spotlight on political patronage jobs - Sep 28, 2005) ¶ 20:30 0 comments
9.27.2005
New Analyses Bolster Central Tenets of Evolution Theory (WashingtonPost.com)
'Intelligent Design' Teaching Challenged
By Michael Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 27, 2005; Page A03
HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 26 -- New barrages sounded in the evolution war Monday as lawyers for a group of parents challenged the teaching of "intelligent design" as nothing more than an old argument for God's hand wrapped in fancy new cloth.
"This clever tactical repackaging of creationism does not merit consideration," Witold Walczak, legal director of the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union and a lawyer for the parents, told U.S. District Judge John E. Jones in opening arguments. "Intelligent design admits that it is not science unless science is redefined to include the supernatural."
This is, he added, "a 21st-century version of creationism."
Eleven parents from Dover, in central Pennsylvania, are seeking to block their school board from requiring that high school biology teachers read a four-paragraph statement to students that casts doubt on Darwin's theory of evolution. This mandatory statement notes that intelligent design offers an alternative theory for the origin and evolution of life -- namely, that life in all of its complexity could not have arisen without the help of an intelligent hand.
The foremost advocates of intelligent design are silent on whether that intelligent hand belongs to God or some other intelligent force, even including a space alien. The school board, represented by the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative, religiously grounded nonprofit firm, took the position that the case was about freedom of speech.
(More ... New Analyses Bolster Central Tenets of Evolution Theory) ¶ 19:45 0 comments
By Michael Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 27, 2005; Page A03
HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 26 -- New barrages sounded in the evolution war Monday as lawyers for a group of parents challenged the teaching of "intelligent design" as nothing more than an old argument for God's hand wrapped in fancy new cloth.
"This clever tactical repackaging of creationism does not merit consideration," Witold Walczak, legal director of the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union and a lawyer for the parents, told U.S. District Judge John E. Jones in opening arguments. "Intelligent design admits that it is not science unless science is redefined to include the supernatural."
This is, he added, "a 21st-century version of creationism."
Eleven parents from Dover, in central Pennsylvania, are seeking to block their school board from requiring that high school biology teachers read a four-paragraph statement to students that casts doubt on Darwin's theory of evolution. This mandatory statement notes that intelligent design offers an alternative theory for the origin and evolution of life -- namely, that life in all of its complexity could not have arisen without the help of an intelligent hand.
The foremost advocates of intelligent design are silent on whether that intelligent hand belongs to God or some other intelligent force, even including a space alien. The school board, represented by the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative, religiously grounded nonprofit firm, took the position that the case was about freedom of speech.
(More ... New Analyses Bolster Central Tenets of Evolution Theory) ¶ 19:45 0 comments
Pa. Case Is Newest Round in Evolution Debate (WashingtonPost.com)
'Intelligent Design' Teaching Challenged
By Michael Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 27, 2005; Page A03
HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 26 -- New barrages sounded in the evolution war Monday as lawyers for a group of parents challenged the teaching of "intelligent design" as nothing more than an old argument for God's hand wrapped in fancy new cloth.
"This clever tactical repackaging of creationism does not merit consideration," Witold Walczak, legal director of the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union and a lawyer for the parents, told U.S. District Judge John E. Jones in opening arguments. "Intelligent design admits that it is not science unless science is redefined to include the supernatural."
This is, he added, "a 21st-century version of creationism."
Eleven parents from Dover, in central Pennsylvania, are seeking to block their school board from requiring that high school biology teachers read a four-paragraph statement to students that casts doubt on Darwin's theory of evolution. This mandatory statement notes that intelligent design offers an alternative theory for the origin and evolution of life -- namely, that life in all of its complexity could not have arisen without the help of an intelligent hand.
The foremost advocates of intelligent design are silent on whether that intelligent hand belongs to God or some other intelligent force, even including a space alien. The school board, represented by the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative, religiously grounded nonprofit firm, took the position that the case was about freedom of speech.
(More ... Pa. Case Is Newest Round in Evolution Debate) ¶ 19:43 0 comments
By Michael Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 27, 2005; Page A03
HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 26 -- New barrages sounded in the evolution war Monday as lawyers for a group of parents challenged the teaching of "intelligent design" as nothing more than an old argument for God's hand wrapped in fancy new cloth.
"This clever tactical repackaging of creationism does not merit consideration," Witold Walczak, legal director of the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union and a lawyer for the parents, told U.S. District Judge John E. Jones in opening arguments. "Intelligent design admits that it is not science unless science is redefined to include the supernatural."
This is, he added, "a 21st-century version of creationism."
Eleven parents from Dover, in central Pennsylvania, are seeking to block their school board from requiring that high school biology teachers read a four-paragraph statement to students that casts doubt on Darwin's theory of evolution. This mandatory statement notes that intelligent design offers an alternative theory for the origin and evolution of life -- namely, that life in all of its complexity could not have arisen without the help of an intelligent hand.
The foremost advocates of intelligent design are silent on whether that intelligent hand belongs to God or some other intelligent force, even including a space alien. The school board, represented by the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative, religiously grounded nonprofit firm, took the position that the case was about freedom of speech.
(More ... Pa. Case Is Newest Round in Evolution Debate) ¶ 19:43 0 comments
Dalai Lama Tells U.S. Crowd War Outdated (WashingtonPost.com)
By ROSA CIRIANNI
The Associated Press
Monday, September 26, 2005; 11:05 AM
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The Dalai Lama told 36,000 people at Rutgers Stadium that the concept of war was outdated and young people have a responsibility to make this century one of peace.
"This whole planet is just us," the 70-year-old exiled monk said Sunday. "Therefore, destruction of another area essentially is destruction of yourself."
Tibet's spiritual leader also urged the audience to develop a wider world perspective, not just focus on "America, America, America."
"His quiet mind is the kind of serenity New Jersey, home of strip malls, could use," Arielle Gomberg said.
The speech was the largest nonathletic event in Rutgers history, topping visits by former President Clinton and former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.
(More ... Dalai Lama Tells U.S. Crowd War Outdated) ¶ 08:27 0 comments
The Associated Press
Monday, September 26, 2005; 11:05 AM
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The Dalai Lama told 36,000 people at Rutgers Stadium that the concept of war was outdated and young people have a responsibility to make this century one of peace.
"This whole planet is just us," the 70-year-old exiled monk said Sunday. "Therefore, destruction of another area essentially is destruction of yourself."
Tibet's spiritual leader also urged the audience to develop a wider world perspective, not just focus on "America, America, America."
"His quiet mind is the kind of serenity New Jersey, home of strip malls, could use," Arielle Gomberg said.
The speech was the largest nonathletic event in Rutgers history, topping visits by former President Clinton and former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.
(More ... Dalai Lama Tells U.S. Crowd War Outdated) ¶ 08:27 0 comments
Sheehan Arrested During Anti-War Protest (ABCnews.go.com)
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, center, is escorted by members of the U.S. Park Police as she is arrested while protesting in front of the White House, Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 in Washington. Sheehan and several dozen other protesters sat down on the sidewalk after marching along the pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) ¶ 08:23 1 comments
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, center, is escorted by members of the U.S. Park Police as she is arrested while protesting in front of the White House, Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 in Washington. Sheehan and several dozen other protesters sat down on the sidewalk after marching along the pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) ¶ 08:23 1 comments
Sheehan Arrested During Anti-War Protest (ABCnews.go.com)
By JENNIFER C. KERR Associated Press Writer
The Associated PressThe Associated Press
WASHINGTON Sep 26, 2005 — Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who became a leader of the anti-war movement following her son's death in Iraq, was arrested Monday along with dozens of others protesting outside the White House.
Sheehan, carrying a photo of her son in his Army uniform, was among hundreds of protesters who marched around the White House and then down the two-block pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. When they reached the front of the White House, dozens sat down knowing they would be arrested and began singing and chanting "Stop the war now!"
Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along, then began making arrests. One man climbed over the White House fence and was quickly subdued by Secret Service agents.
Sheehan, 48, was the first taken into custody. She smiled as she was carried to the curb, then stood up and walked to a police vehicle while protesters chanted, "The whole world is watching."
(More ... ABC News: Sheehan Arrested During Anti-War Protest) ¶ 08:21 0 comments
The Associated PressThe Associated Press
WASHINGTON Sep 26, 2005 — Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who became a leader of the anti-war movement following her son's death in Iraq, was arrested Monday along with dozens of others protesting outside the White House.
Sheehan, carrying a photo of her son in his Army uniform, was among hundreds of protesters who marched around the White House and then down the two-block pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. When they reached the front of the White House, dozens sat down knowing they would be arrested and began singing and chanting "Stop the war now!"
Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along, then began making arrests. One man climbed over the White House fence and was quickly subdued by Secret Service agents.
Sheehan, 48, was the first taken into custody. She smiled as she was carried to the curb, then stood up and walked to a police vehicle while protesters chanted, "The whole world is watching."
(More ... ABC News: Sheehan Arrested During Anti-War Protest) ¶ 08:21 0 comments
9.26.2005
Find the Brownie (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 26, 2005
For the politically curious seeking entertainment, I'd like to propose two new trivia games: "Find the Brownie" and "Two Degrees of Jack Abramoff."
The objective in Find the Brownie is to find an obscure but important government job held by someone whose only apparent qualifications for that job are political loyalty and personal connections. It's inspired by President Bush's praise, four days after Katrina hit, for the hapless Michael Brown, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." I guess it depends on the meaning of the word heck.
There are a lot of Brownies. As Time magazine puts it in its latest issue, "Bush has gone further than most presidents to put political stalwarts in some of the most important government jobs you've never heard of." Time offers a couple of fresh examples, such as the former editor of a Wall Street medical-industry newsletter who now holds a crucial position at the Food and Drug Administration.
A tipster urged me to look for Brownies among regional administrators for the General Services Administration, which oversees federal property and leases. There are several potential ways a position at G.S.A. could be abused. For example, an official might give a particular businessman an inside track in the purchase of government property - the charge against David Safavian, who was recently arrested - or give a particular landlord an inside track in renting space to federal agencies.
Some of the regional administrators at G.S.A. are longtime professionals. But the regional administrator for the Northeast and Caribbean region, which includes New York, has no obvious qualifications other than being the daughter of the chairman of the Conservative Party of New York State. The regional administrator for the Southwest, appointed in 2002 after a failed bid for his father's Congressional seat, is Scott Armey, the son of Dick Armey, the former House majority leader.
You get the idea. Go ahead, see what - or rather who - you can come up with.
(More ... Find the Brownie - New York Times) ¶ 20:18 0 comments
Published: September 26, 2005
For the politically curious seeking entertainment, I'd like to propose two new trivia games: "Find the Brownie" and "Two Degrees of Jack Abramoff."
The objective in Find the Brownie is to find an obscure but important government job held by someone whose only apparent qualifications for that job are political loyalty and personal connections. It's inspired by President Bush's praise, four days after Katrina hit, for the hapless Michael Brown, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." I guess it depends on the meaning of the word heck.
There are a lot of Brownies. As Time magazine puts it in its latest issue, "Bush has gone further than most presidents to put political stalwarts in some of the most important government jobs you've never heard of." Time offers a couple of fresh examples, such as the former editor of a Wall Street medical-industry newsletter who now holds a crucial position at the Food and Drug Administration.
A tipster urged me to look for Brownies among regional administrators for the General Services Administration, which oversees federal property and leases. There are several potential ways a position at G.S.A. could be abused. For example, an official might give a particular businessman an inside track in the purchase of government property - the charge against David Safavian, who was recently arrested - or give a particular landlord an inside track in renting space to federal agencies.
Some of the regional administrators at G.S.A. are longtime professionals. But the regional administrator for the Northeast and Caribbean region, which includes New York, has no obvious qualifications other than being the daughter of the chairman of the Conservative Party of New York State. The regional administrator for the Southwest, appointed in 2002 after a failed bid for his father's Congressional seat, is Scott Armey, the son of Dick Armey, the former House majority leader.
You get the idea. Go ahead, see what - or rather who - you can come up with.
(More ... Find the Brownie - New York Times) ¶ 20:18 0 comments
Wilde and W: W's Renaissance (RawStory.com)
By D.A. Blyler | RAW STORY COLUMNIST
This weekend I took to reading a few pages of Oscar Wilde. It’s a habit to which more people should aspire, for Oscar helps keep a man focused. There’s nothing like a dose of “Dorian Gray” to put you in the mood for cocktail. Or a whiff of “The Importance of Being Earnest” to remind you that cigarette smoking is a serious vocation you’ve ignored for too long.
Broadening the reader’s perspective is Wilde’s great gift, and thanks to it I’ve come to realize just how shallowly I’ve judged George W. Bush over the past few months. On finishing the Irish rogue’s short treatise “The Decay of Lying” I quickly discerned that our President was hardly the sniggering and inept buffoon I had thought him to be, but was actually an artist of staggering proportions, who thankfully was granted another four years to complete his masterwork.
Before picking up Wilde, I had long forgotten Plato’s musings on the proximity of poetry and duplicity, about how the artist and the liar are inseparable lovers. It’s something that we’re all aware of when growing up and full of piss and vinegar, i.e. daring imagination, but then we get suckered in by the fact mongers, and before you know it, the world’s got posers like Damien Hirst passing off dismembered calves in formaldehyde as high art. Wilde presaged the crass inevitability this way:
“Many a young man starts in life with a natural gift for exaggeration which, if nurtured in congenial and sympathetic surroundings, or by the imitation of the best models, might grow into something great and wonderful. But as a rule, he comes to nothing. He either falls into careless habits of accuracy, or takes to frequenting the society of the aged and the well informed…if something cannot be done to check, or at least modify, our monstrous worship of facts, Art will become sterile, and Beauty will pass away from the land.”
(More ... The Raw Story | W's renaissance ¶ 19:51 0 comments
This weekend I took to reading a few pages of Oscar Wilde. It’s a habit to which more people should aspire, for Oscar helps keep a man focused. There’s nothing like a dose of “Dorian Gray” to put you in the mood for cocktail. Or a whiff of “The Importance of Being Earnest” to remind you that cigarette smoking is a serious vocation you’ve ignored for too long.
Broadening the reader’s perspective is Wilde’s great gift, and thanks to it I’ve come to realize just how shallowly I’ve judged George W. Bush over the past few months. On finishing the Irish rogue’s short treatise “The Decay of Lying” I quickly discerned that our President was hardly the sniggering and inept buffoon I had thought him to be, but was actually an artist of staggering proportions, who thankfully was granted another four years to complete his masterwork.
Before picking up Wilde, I had long forgotten Plato’s musings on the proximity of poetry and duplicity, about how the artist and the liar are inseparable lovers. It’s something that we’re all aware of when growing up and full of piss and vinegar, i.e. daring imagination, but then we get suckered in by the fact mongers, and before you know it, the world’s got posers like Damien Hirst passing off dismembered calves in formaldehyde as high art. Wilde presaged the crass inevitability this way:
“Many a young man starts in life with a natural gift for exaggeration which, if nurtured in congenial and sympathetic surroundings, or by the imitation of the best models, might grow into something great and wonderful. But as a rule, he comes to nothing. He either falls into careless habits of accuracy, or takes to frequenting the society of the aged and the well informed…if something cannot be done to check, or at least modify, our monstrous worship of facts, Art will become sterile, and Beauty will pass away from the land.”
(More ... The Raw Story | W's renaissance ¶ 19:51 0 comments
9.25.2005
This Is Global Warming, Says Environmental Chief (Independent.co.uk)
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Published: 23 September 2005
Super-powerful hurricanes now hitting the United States are the "smoking gun" of global warming, one of Britain's leading scientists believes.
The growing violence of storms such as Katrina, which wrecked New Orleans, and Rita, now threatening Texas, is very probably caused by climate change, said Sir John Lawton, chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. Hurricanes were getting more intense, just as computer models predicted they would, because of the rising temperature of the sea, he said. "The increased intensity of these kinds of extreme storms is very likely to be due to global warming."
In a series of outspoken comments - a thinly veiled attack on the Bush administration, Sir John hit out at neoconservatives in the US who still deny the reality of climate change.
Referring to the arrival of Hurricane Rita he said: "If this makes the climate loonies in the States realise we've got a problem, some good will come out of a truly awful situation." As he spoke, more than a million people were fleeing north away from the coast of Texas as Rita, one of the most intense storms on record, roared through the Gulf of Mexico. It will probably make landfall tonight or early tomorrow near Houston, America's fourth largest city and the centre of its oil industry. Highways leading inland from Houston were clogged with traffic for up to 100 miles north.
There are real fears that Houston could suffer as badly from Rita just as New Orleans suffered from Hurricane Katrina less than a month ago.
Asked what conclusion the Bush administration should draw from two hurricanes of such high intensity hitting the US in quick succession, Sir John said: "If what looks like is going to be a horrible mess causes the extreme sceptics about climate change in the US to reconsider their opinion, that would be an extremely valuable outcome."
Asked about characterising them as "loonies", he said: "There are a group of people in various parts of the world ... who simply don't want to accept human activities can change climate and are changing the climate."
"I'd liken them to the people who denied that smoking causes lung cancer."
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Americas : app1) ¶ 22:05 0 comments
Published: 23 September 2005
Super-powerful hurricanes now hitting the United States are the "smoking gun" of global warming, one of Britain's leading scientists believes.
The growing violence of storms such as Katrina, which wrecked New Orleans, and Rita, now threatening Texas, is very probably caused by climate change, said Sir John Lawton, chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. Hurricanes were getting more intense, just as computer models predicted they would, because of the rising temperature of the sea, he said. "The increased intensity of these kinds of extreme storms is very likely to be due to global warming."
In a series of outspoken comments - a thinly veiled attack on the Bush administration, Sir John hit out at neoconservatives in the US who still deny the reality of climate change.
Referring to the arrival of Hurricane Rita he said: "If this makes the climate loonies in the States realise we've got a problem, some good will come out of a truly awful situation." As he spoke, more than a million people were fleeing north away from the coast of Texas as Rita, one of the most intense storms on record, roared through the Gulf of Mexico. It will probably make landfall tonight or early tomorrow near Houston, America's fourth largest city and the centre of its oil industry. Highways leading inland from Houston were clogged with traffic for up to 100 miles north.
There are real fears that Houston could suffer as badly from Rita just as New Orleans suffered from Hurricane Katrina less than a month ago.
Asked what conclusion the Bush administration should draw from two hurricanes of such high intensity hitting the US in quick succession, Sir John said: "If what looks like is going to be a horrible mess causes the extreme sceptics about climate change in the US to reconsider their opinion, that would be an extremely valuable outcome."
Asked about characterising them as "loonies", he said: "There are a group of people in various parts of the world ... who simply don't want to accept human activities can change climate and are changing the climate."
"I'd liken them to the people who denied that smoking causes lung cancer."
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Americas : app1) ¶ 22:05 0 comments
9.23.2005
Today in DC: Commandos in the Streets? (WashingtonPost.com)
Early Warning
By William M. Arkin
September 22, 2005
Today, somewhere in the DC metropolitan area, the military is conducting a highly classified Granite Shadow "demonstration."
Granite Shadow is yet another new Top Secret and compartmented operation related to the military’s extra-legal powers regarding weapons of mass destruction. It allows for emergency military operations in the United States without civilian supervision or control.
A spokesman at the Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region (JFHQ-NCR) confirmed the existence of Granite Shadow to me yesterday, but all he would say is that Granite Shadow is the unclassified name for a classified plan.
That classified plan, I believe, after extensive research and after making a couple of assumptions, is CONPLAN 0400, formally titled Counter-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Concept Plan (CONPLAN) 0400 is a long-standing contingency plan of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) that serves as the umbrella for military efforts to counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction. It has extensively been updated and revised since 9/11.
The CJCS plan lays out national policy and priorities for dealing with WMD threats in peacetime and crisis -- from far away offensive strikes and special operations against foreign WMD infrastructure and capabilities, to missile defenses and "consequence management" at home if offensive efforts fail.
All of the military planning incorporates the technical capabilities of the intelligence agencies and non-military organizations such as the national laboratories of the Department of Energy. And finally, CONPLAN 0400 directs regional combatant commanders to customize counter-proliferation plans for each of their own areas of operations.
When that "area of operations" is the United States, things become particularly sensitive.
(More ... Early Warning by William M. Arkin - washingtonpost.com) ¶ 20:28 0 comments
By William M. Arkin
September 22, 2005
Today, somewhere in the DC metropolitan area, the military is conducting a highly classified Granite Shadow "demonstration."
Granite Shadow is yet another new Top Secret and compartmented operation related to the military’s extra-legal powers regarding weapons of mass destruction. It allows for emergency military operations in the United States without civilian supervision or control.
A spokesman at the Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region (JFHQ-NCR) confirmed the existence of Granite Shadow to me yesterday, but all he would say is that Granite Shadow is the unclassified name for a classified plan.
That classified plan, I believe, after extensive research and after making a couple of assumptions, is CONPLAN 0400, formally titled Counter-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Concept Plan (CONPLAN) 0400 is a long-standing contingency plan of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) that serves as the umbrella for military efforts to counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction. It has extensively been updated and revised since 9/11.
The CJCS plan lays out national policy and priorities for dealing with WMD threats in peacetime and crisis -- from far away offensive strikes and special operations against foreign WMD infrastructure and capabilities, to missile defenses and "consequence management" at home if offensive efforts fail.
All of the military planning incorporates the technical capabilities of the intelligence agencies and non-military organizations such as the national laboratories of the Department of Energy. And finally, CONPLAN 0400 directs regional combatant commanders to customize counter-proliferation plans for each of their own areas of operations.
When that "area of operations" is the United States, things become particularly sensitive.
(More ... Early Warning by William M. Arkin - washingtonpost.com) ¶ 20:28 0 comments
Hurricane Aid Used 'To Test Out Rightwing Social Policies' (Guardian.co.uk)
Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday September 22, 2005
The Guardian
President Bush's multi-billion dollar reconstruction plans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are being used as "a vast laboratory" for conservative social polices, administration critics claim.
The White House strategy involves the suspension of a series of regulations guaranteeing the going local wage and affirmative action for minorities, while offering tax incentives for businesses in the affected region.
Education aid for displaced children will include $500m (£276m) in vouchers for private schools, while a senior Republican has also proposed a new law permitting a wide-ranging waiver of environmental regulations.
The White House has argued that the deregulation measures are designed to disentangle the relief effort from federal red tape. But Democrats are furious at the proposals. They view them as an attempt to slip through unpopular policies under cover of the wave of sympathy for Katrina's victims. "The plan they're designing for the Gulf coast turns the region into a vast laboratory for rightwing ideological experiments," said John Kerry, the party's defeated 2004 presidential candidate.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Hurricane aid used 'to test out rightwing social policies') ¶ 20:18 0 comments
Thursday September 22, 2005
The Guardian
President Bush's multi-billion dollar reconstruction plans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are being used as "a vast laboratory" for conservative social polices, administration critics claim.
The White House strategy involves the suspension of a series of regulations guaranteeing the going local wage and affirmative action for minorities, while offering tax incentives for businesses in the affected region.
Education aid for displaced children will include $500m (£276m) in vouchers for private schools, while a senior Republican has also proposed a new law permitting a wide-ranging waiver of environmental regulations.
The White House has argued that the deregulation measures are designed to disentangle the relief effort from federal red tape. But Democrats are furious at the proposals. They view them as an attempt to slip through unpopular policies under cover of the wave of sympathy for Katrina's victims. "The plan they're designing for the Gulf coast turns the region into a vast laboratory for rightwing ideological experiments," said John Kerry, the party's defeated 2004 presidential candidate.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Hurricane aid used 'to test out rightwing social policies') ¶ 20:18 0 comments
Voting Reform Is in the Cards (NYTimes.com)
By JIMMY CARTER and JAMES A. BAKER III
Published: September 23, 2005
WE agreed to lead the Commission on Federal Election Reform because of our shared concern that too many Americans lack confidence in the electoral process, and because members of Congress are divided on the issue and busy with other matters.
This week, we issued a report that bridges the gap between the two parties' perspectives and offers a comprehensive approach that can help end the sterile debate between ballot access and ballot integrity. Unfortunately, some have misrepresented one of our 87 recommendations. As a result, they have deflected attention from the need for comprehensive reform.
Our recommendations are intended to increase voter participation, enhance ballot security and provide for paper auditing of electronic voting machines. We also offer plans to reduce election fraud, and to make the administration of elections impartial and more effective.
Most important, we propose building on the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to develop an accurate and up-to-date registration system by requiring states, not counties, to organize voter registration lists and share them with other states to avoid duplications when people move. The lists should be easily accessible so that voters can learn if they're registered, and where they're registered to vote.
(More ... Voting Reform Is in the Cards - New York Times) ¶ 20:07 0 comments
Published: September 23, 2005
WE agreed to lead the Commission on Federal Election Reform because of our shared concern that too many Americans lack confidence in the electoral process, and because members of Congress are divided on the issue and busy with other matters.
This week, we issued a report that bridges the gap between the two parties' perspectives and offers a comprehensive approach that can help end the sterile debate between ballot access and ballot integrity. Unfortunately, some have misrepresented one of our 87 recommendations. As a result, they have deflected attention from the need for comprehensive reform.
Our recommendations are intended to increase voter participation, enhance ballot security and provide for paper auditing of electronic voting machines. We also offer plans to reduce election fraud, and to make the administration of elections impartial and more effective.
Most important, we propose building on the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to develop an accurate and up-to-date registration system by requiring states, not counties, to organize voter registration lists and share them with other states to avoid duplications when people move. The lists should be easily accessible so that voters can learn if they're registered, and where they're registered to vote.
(More ... Voting Reform Is in the Cards - New York Times) ¶ 20:07 0 comments
The Big Uneasy [TS] (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 23, 2005
Although Hurricane Katrina drowned much of New Orleans, the damage to America's economic infrastructure actually fell short of early predictions. Of course, Rita may make up for that.
But Katrina did more than physical damage; it was a blow to our self-image as a nation. Maybe people will quickly forget the horrible scenes from the Superdome, and the frustration of wondering why no help had arrived, once cable TV returns to nonstop coverage of missing white women. But my guess is that Katrina's shock to our sense of ourselves will persist for years.
America's current state of mind reminds me of the demoralized mood of late 1979, when a confluence of events - double-digit inflation, gas lines and the Iranian hostage crisis - led to a national crisis of confidence.
(More ... The Big Uneasy - New York Times) ¶ 20:00 0 comments
Published: September 23, 2005
Although Hurricane Katrina drowned much of New Orleans, the damage to America's economic infrastructure actually fell short of early predictions. Of course, Rita may make up for that.
But Katrina did more than physical damage; it was a blow to our self-image as a nation. Maybe people will quickly forget the horrible scenes from the Superdome, and the frustration of wondering why no help had arrived, once cable TV returns to nonstop coverage of missing white women. But my guess is that Katrina's shock to our sense of ourselves will persist for years.
America's current state of mind reminds me of the demoralized mood of late 1979, when a confluence of events - double-digit inflation, gas lines and the Iranian hostage crisis - led to a national crisis of confidence.
(More ... The Big Uneasy - New York Times) ¶ 20:00 0 comments
9.22.2005
Reforming the Vote (WashingtonPost.com)
EDITORIAL
Tuesday, September 20, 2005; Page A22
The report released yesterday by a commission on federal election reform, headed by former president Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state James A. Baker III, contains a number of valuable proposals. But adopting one of the commission's recommendations -- that voters be required to present a government-issued voter ID at the polls -- would, on balance, do more harm than good.
The commission's most useful proposals would address both lingering and new flaws in the current voting system. Five years after the problems exposed by the 2000 presidential election, voter registration rolls remain riddled with inaccurate and outdated information. The commission sensibly called on states to take charge of assembling accurate lists that would help eliminate duplicate registrations while making it easier for citizens to vote in new jurisdictions.
(More ... Reforming the Vote) ¶ 21:33 0 comments
Tuesday, September 20, 2005; Page A22
The report released yesterday by a commission on federal election reform, headed by former president Jimmy Carter and former secretary of state James A. Baker III, contains a number of valuable proposals. But adopting one of the commission's recommendations -- that voters be required to present a government-issued voter ID at the polls -- would, on balance, do more harm than good.
The commission's most useful proposals would address both lingering and new flaws in the current voting system. Five years after the problems exposed by the 2000 presidential election, voter registration rolls remain riddled with inaccurate and outdated information. The commission sensibly called on states to take charge of assembling accurate lists that would help eliminate duplicate registrations while making it easier for citizens to vote in new jurisdictions.
(More ... Reforming the Vote) ¶ 21:33 0 comments
Democrats On Offense (WashingtonPost.com)
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 21, 2005; 8:57 AM
John Kerry and John Edwards rip Bush over Katrina. Bill Clinton blasts the tax cuts. Harry Reid says he'll vote against Roberts.
Do you detect something of a pattern here?
A more aggressive Democratic opposition, washed in by the hurricane, appears to be finding its voice.
Whether it's a winning message or not remains to be seen. But liberals who feel the Beltway Dems have been way too timid for the last four years must be pouring the champagne.
In the case of Kerry and Edwards, the '08 positioning by the '04 boys couldn't be more obvious.
With Bush's poll ratings at record lows, the thought crossed my mind: What if Katrina had struck a year ago? Could it have changed the outcome of the election?
(More ... Democrats On Offense) ¶ 21:28 0 comments
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 21, 2005; 8:57 AM
John Kerry and John Edwards rip Bush over Katrina. Bill Clinton blasts the tax cuts. Harry Reid says he'll vote against Roberts.
Do you detect something of a pattern here?
A more aggressive Democratic opposition, washed in by the hurricane, appears to be finding its voice.
Whether it's a winning message or not remains to be seen. But liberals who feel the Beltway Dems have been way too timid for the last four years must be pouring the champagne.
In the case of Kerry and Edwards, the '08 positioning by the '04 boys couldn't be more obvious.
With Bush's poll ratings at record lows, the thought crossed my mind: What if Katrina had struck a year ago? Could it have changed the outcome of the election?
(More ... Democrats On Offense) ¶ 21:28 0 comments
China Warns Gap Between Rich, Poor Is Feeding Unrest (NYTimes.com)
By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, September 22, 2005; Page A16
BEIJING, Sept. 21 -- China's official media warned Wednesday that the gap between rich and poor has become alarmingly wide during two decades of economic liberalization, contributing to spreading unrest in towns and villages across the country.
While the income disparity, particularly between farmers and city dwellers, has been widely discussed and reported, simultaneous and extensive reports by the New China News Agency and the Communist Party's main organ, the People's Daily, suggested that officials wanted to call particular attention to the problem.
Riots and other violent protests, which the government acknowledges are increasing dramatically, have become a major issue for President Hu Jintao's government. Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao have made calls for "harmonious society" and "social stability" watchwords of their speeches over the last year.
(More ... China Warns Gap Between Rich, Poor Is Feeding Unrest) ¶ 21:23 0 comments
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, September 22, 2005; Page A16
BEIJING, Sept. 21 -- China's official media warned Wednesday that the gap between rich and poor has become alarmingly wide during two decades of economic liberalization, contributing to spreading unrest in towns and villages across the country.
While the income disparity, particularly between farmers and city dwellers, has been widely discussed and reported, simultaneous and extensive reports by the New China News Agency and the Communist Party's main organ, the People's Daily, suggested that officials wanted to call particular attention to the problem.
Riots and other violent protests, which the government acknowledges are increasing dramatically, have become a major issue for President Hu Jintao's government. Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao have made calls for "harmonious society" and "social stability" watchwords of their speeches over the last year.
(More ... China Warns Gap Between Rich, Poor Is Feeding Unrest) ¶ 21:23 0 comments
9.19.2005
Latham Backs NZ's Approach to US Relations (NZHerald.co.nz)
19.09.05 1.00pm
CANBERRA - Australia should follow the example of New Zealand, which had made itself the safest country on earth through distancing itself from the United States, former opposition leader Mark Latham said today.
Speaking ahead of the long-awaited launch of his diary today, Mr Latham said he reached the conclusion that Australia needed to renegotiate the alliance with the US after dining with then US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer, who he referred to in his diary as Brains ("Schieffer brains").
"We should have a look at how New Zealand has made itself the safest country in the world," he told ABC radio.
"There is no terrorist threat to New Zealand that has been identified but (there is) one here. If you go supporting bad American policy you make yourself a bigger target and you stir dissent in your own country," he said.
"If the Americans continues with Bush's policies they will never win the war against terror. They are bogged down in this for the rest of our lifetime.
(More ... New Zealand Herald - Latham backs NZ's approach to US relations - Monday 19, September 2005 11:23.00 AM - National News) ¶ 18:10 0 comments
CANBERRA - Australia should follow the example of New Zealand, which had made itself the safest country on earth through distancing itself from the United States, former opposition leader Mark Latham said today.
Speaking ahead of the long-awaited launch of his diary today, Mr Latham said he reached the conclusion that Australia needed to renegotiate the alliance with the US after dining with then US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer, who he referred to in his diary as Brains ("Schieffer brains").
"We should have a look at how New Zealand has made itself the safest country in the world," he told ABC radio.
"There is no terrorist threat to New Zealand that has been identified but (there is) one here. If you go supporting bad American policy you make yourself a bigger target and you stir dissent in your own country," he said.
"If the Americans continues with Bush's policies they will never win the war against terror. They are bogged down in this for the rest of our lifetime.
(More ... New Zealand Herald - Latham backs NZ's approach to US relations - Monday 19, September 2005 11:23.00 AM - National News) ¶ 18:10 0 comments
Black Leaders Say Storm Forced Bush to Confront Issues of Race and Poverty (NYTimes.com)
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: September 18, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 - Hurricane Katrina has forced President Bush to confront the issues of race and poverty in a way that has shaken his presidency and altered his priorities, African-American leaders of both parties said this week.
One of the most striking developments, they said, was that while Mr. Bush still calls himself a "compassionate conservative" who sees the problems of blacks as largely economic, in the last three days he embraced civil rights language from the 1960's about "the legacy of inequality" and pledged billions of dollars to rebuild one of the poorest urban areas in America.
Many black leaders, who have newfound political leverage at the White House in the wake of the storm, cautiously applauded. But they said Mr. Bush's promises of help on housing, education, taxes and job training in two speeches - a prime-time address in New Orleans on Thursday night and remarks at a day of remembrance for storm victims at Washington's National Cathedral on Friday - were only the beginning.
(More ... Black Leaders Say Storm Forced Bush to Confront Issues of Race and Poverty - New York Times) ¶ 17:57 0 comments
Published: September 18, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 - Hurricane Katrina has forced President Bush to confront the issues of race and poverty in a way that has shaken his presidency and altered his priorities, African-American leaders of both parties said this week.
One of the most striking developments, they said, was that while Mr. Bush still calls himself a "compassionate conservative" who sees the problems of blacks as largely economic, in the last three days he embraced civil rights language from the 1960's about "the legacy of inequality" and pledged billions of dollars to rebuild one of the poorest urban areas in America.
Many black leaders, who have newfound political leverage at the White House in the wake of the storm, cautiously applauded. But they said Mr. Bush's promises of help on housing, education, taxes and job training in two speeches - a prime-time address in New Orleans on Thursday night and remarks at a day of remembrance for storm victims at Washington's National Cathedral on Friday - were only the beginning.
(More ... Black Leaders Say Storm Forced Bush to Confront Issues of Race and Poverty - New York Times) ¶ 17:57 0 comments
Political Clout Could Steer Relief (USATODAY.com)
Posted 9/18/2005 9:12 PM Updated 9/18/2005 11:07 PM
By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Hurricane Katrina knew neither state boundaries nor political precinct lines as it washed across the Gulf Coast.
Yet as the emotional wallop of the storm's human cost recedes and Congress gets down to doling out rebuilding funds, some observers expect sharp divides to surface as the two hardest-hit states vie for relief. Because when it comes to clout on Capitol Hill, Mississippi and Louisiana are not in the same boat.
"I can't imagine the stars being better aligned for the purpose of access and everything Washington has to offer" than it is for Mississippi, said Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University.
New Orleans' broken levees and mass evacuation have focused most attention on Louisiana. But Mississippi may be in a better position to collect federal dollars from the Republican-controlled White House and Congress once the media spotlight dims.
Consider:
• Mississippi's senior senator, Republican Thad Cochran, chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, which gives out federal funding. Louisiana's senior senator, Democrat Mary Landrieu, attacked the administration's response.
• Mississippi's junior senator is former majority leader Trent Lott, a Republican who chairs the rules committee that decides which bills get voted on. Louisiana Republican David Vitter, a freshman elected last year, gave the federal government a grade of "F" for its handling of the disaster. When federal officials wanted to send the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort to Louisiana, Lott intervened to reroute the ship to his hometown of Pascagoula.
• Haley Barbour was a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and one of the most well-connected lobbyists in Washington when he was elected governor of Mississippi in 2004. He has defended the federal response. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, initially criticized Washington's handling of relief efforts and refused to hand over control of the Louisiana National Guard to the federal government.
(More ... USATODAY.com - Political clout could steer relief) ¶ 17:55 0 comments
By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Hurricane Katrina knew neither state boundaries nor political precinct lines as it washed across the Gulf Coast.
Yet as the emotional wallop of the storm's human cost recedes and Congress gets down to doling out rebuilding funds, some observers expect sharp divides to surface as the two hardest-hit states vie for relief. Because when it comes to clout on Capitol Hill, Mississippi and Louisiana are not in the same boat.
"I can't imagine the stars being better aligned for the purpose of access and everything Washington has to offer" than it is for Mississippi, said Marty Wiseman, director of the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University.
New Orleans' broken levees and mass evacuation have focused most attention on Louisiana. But Mississippi may be in a better position to collect federal dollars from the Republican-controlled White House and Congress once the media spotlight dims.
Consider:
• Mississippi's senior senator, Republican Thad Cochran, chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, which gives out federal funding. Louisiana's senior senator, Democrat Mary Landrieu, attacked the administration's response.
• Mississippi's junior senator is former majority leader Trent Lott, a Republican who chairs the rules committee that decides which bills get voted on. Louisiana Republican David Vitter, a freshman elected last year, gave the federal government a grade of "F" for its handling of the disaster. When federal officials wanted to send the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort to Louisiana, Lott intervened to reroute the ship to his hometown of Pascagoula.
• Haley Barbour was a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and one of the most well-connected lobbyists in Washington when he was elected governor of Mississippi in 2004. He has defended the federal response. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, initially criticized Washington's handling of relief efforts and refused to hand over control of the Louisiana National Guard to the federal government.
(More ... USATODAY.com - Political clout could steer relief) ¶ 17:55 0 comments
DeLay Declares 'Victory' in War on U.S. Budget Fat - (Wikinews.org)
September 19, 2005
Republican House Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay has declared an "ongoing victory" in spending cuts. He stated that the federal government was running at peak efficiency and that there was nothing left to cut from the U.S. federal budget. DeLay supports additional deficit spending for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, on top of the this year's existing $331 billion federal budget deficit.
DeLay's position has drawn criticism from some fiscal conservatives, including a few fellow republican representative. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) commented "I wonder if we've been serving in the same Congress." The majority of congressional republicans still support DeLay's view, and feel that their fiscal policies have been more sound than the democrats were in the past.
American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene claimed that federal spending was "spiraling out of control" before Katrina, and suggested fiscal conservatives were "losing faith" in the Republican congressional leadership. Mr. Keenes stated that "Excluding military and homeland security, American taxpayers have witnessed the largest spending increase under any preceding president and Congress since the Great Depression." Specifically, aside from millitary and security spending, federal spending increased by $303 billion per year from 2001 and 2005, and the acknowledged federal debt increased more than $2 trillion since fiscal year 2000. The estimates used by the American Conservative Union predict that the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill will increase the government's unfunded obligations by $16 trillion.
(More ... DeLay declares 'victory' in war on U.S. budget fat - Wikinews) ¶ 17:48 0 comments
Republican House Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay has declared an "ongoing victory" in spending cuts. He stated that the federal government was running at peak efficiency and that there was nothing left to cut from the U.S. federal budget. DeLay supports additional deficit spending for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, on top of the this year's existing $331 billion federal budget deficit.
DeLay's position has drawn criticism from some fiscal conservatives, including a few fellow republican representative. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) commented "I wonder if we've been serving in the same Congress." The majority of congressional republicans still support DeLay's view, and feel that their fiscal policies have been more sound than the democrats were in the past.
American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene claimed that federal spending was "spiraling out of control" before Katrina, and suggested fiscal conservatives were "losing faith" in the Republican congressional leadership. Mr. Keenes stated that "Excluding military and homeland security, American taxpayers have witnessed the largest spending increase under any preceding president and Congress since the Great Depression." Specifically, aside from millitary and security spending, federal spending increased by $303 billion per year from 2001 and 2005, and the acknowledged federal debt increased more than $2 trillion since fiscal year 2000. The estimates used by the American Conservative Union predict that the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill will increase the government's unfunded obligations by $16 trillion.
(More ... DeLay declares 'victory' in war on U.S. budget fat - Wikinews) ¶ 17:48 0 comments
9.18.2005
Military May Play Bigger Relief Role (Breitbart.com)
Sep 17 2:59 PM US/Eastern
By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON
President Bush's push to give the military a bigger role in responding to major disasters like Hurricane Katrina could lead to a loosening of legal limits on the use of federal troops on U.S. soil.
Pentagon officials are reviewing that possibility, and some in Congress agree it needs to be considered.
Bush did not define the wider role he envisions for the military. But in his speech to the nation from New Orleans on Thursday, he alluded to the unmatched ability of federal troops to provide supplies, equipment, communications, transportation and other assets the military lumps under the label of "logistics."
The president called the military "the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice."
At question, however, is how far to push the military role, which by law may not include actions that can be defined as law enforcement -- stopping traffic, searching people, seizing property or making arrests. That prohibition is spelled out in the Posse Comitatus Act of enacted after the Civil War mainly to prevent federal troops from supervising elections in former Confederate states.
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said, "I believe the time has come that we reflect on the Posse Comitatus Act." He advocated giving the president and the secretary of defense "correct standby authorities" to manage disasters.
Presidents have long been reluctant to deploy U.S. troops domestically, leery of the image of federal troops patrolling in their own country or of embarrassing state and local officials.
(More ... BREITBART.COM - Just The News) ¶ 16:43 0 comments
By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON
President Bush's push to give the military a bigger role in responding to major disasters like Hurricane Katrina could lead to a loosening of legal limits on the use of federal troops on U.S. soil.
Pentagon officials are reviewing that possibility, and some in Congress agree it needs to be considered.
Bush did not define the wider role he envisions for the military. But in his speech to the nation from New Orleans on Thursday, he alluded to the unmatched ability of federal troops to provide supplies, equipment, communications, transportation and other assets the military lumps under the label of "logistics."
The president called the military "the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice."
At question, however, is how far to push the military role, which by law may not include actions that can be defined as law enforcement -- stopping traffic, searching people, seizing property or making arrests. That prohibition is spelled out in the Posse Comitatus Act of enacted after the Civil War mainly to prevent federal troops from supervising elections in former Confederate states.
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said, "I believe the time has come that we reflect on the Posse Comitatus Act." He advocated giving the president and the secretary of defense "correct standby authorities" to manage disasters.
Presidents have long been reluctant to deploy U.S. troops domestically, leery of the image of federal troops patrolling in their own country or of embarrassing state and local officials.
(More ... BREITBART.COM - Just The News) ¶ 16:43 0 comments
Clinton: FEMA Chief Should Be Experienced (CNN.com)
Friday, September 16, 2005; Posted: 11:25 p.m. EDT (03:25 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Former President Bill Clinton on Friday said it should be required that any future head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency have "prior experience in emergency management."
"When a disaster strikes, that person becomes the most important person in the federal government," Clinton said on CNN's "Larry King Live."
Clinton did not directly refer to former FEMA director Michael Brown, who resigned this week amid intense criticism of his handling of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Brown had spent the past decade as the judges and stewards commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association.
"I think the most important thing is you probably should have some sort of requirement that anybody who has the job has prior experience in emergency management," Clinton told King. "It's a very serious, important job."
He noted that his FEMA chief, James Lee Witt, had headed up emergency management in Arkansas.
"I made it a Cabinet-level agency, and when a disaster struck, everybody in the government worked for that person."
Clinton also said FEMA functioned better when it was an independent agency. FEMA now is within the Department of Homeland Security, which was formed after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"I'm biased; I liked it the way it was," he said.
(More ... CNN.com - Clinton: FEMA chief should be experienced - Sep 16, 2005) ¶ 12:10 0 comments
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Former President Bill Clinton on Friday said it should be required that any future head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency have "prior experience in emergency management."
"When a disaster strikes, that person becomes the most important person in the federal government," Clinton said on CNN's "Larry King Live."
Clinton did not directly refer to former FEMA director Michael Brown, who resigned this week amid intense criticism of his handling of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Before joining the Bush administration in 2001, Brown had spent the past decade as the judges and stewards commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association.
"I think the most important thing is you probably should have some sort of requirement that anybody who has the job has prior experience in emergency management," Clinton told King. "It's a very serious, important job."
He noted that his FEMA chief, James Lee Witt, had headed up emergency management in Arkansas.
"I made it a Cabinet-level agency, and when a disaster struck, everybody in the government worked for that person."
Clinton also said FEMA functioned better when it was an independent agency. FEMA now is within the Department of Homeland Security, which was formed after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"I'm biased; I liked it the way it was," he said.
(More ... CNN.com - Clinton: FEMA chief should be experienced - Sep 16, 2005) ¶ 12:10 0 comments
A Disturbing View From Inside FEMA (CNN.com)
Saturday, September 17, 2005; Posted: 5:06 p.m. EDT (21:06 GMT)
As Hurricane Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast three weeks ago, veteran workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency braced for an epic disaster.
But their bosses, political appointees with almost no emergency management experience, didn't seem to share the sense of urgency, a FEMA veteran said.
"We told these fellows that there was a killer hurricane heading right toward New Orleans," Leo Bosner, a 26-year FEMA employee and union leader told CNN. "We had done our job, but they didn't do theirs."
Bosner's storm warning came early Saturday, three days before Hurricane Katrina came ashore in eastern Louisiana.
"New Orleans is of particular concern because much of that city lies below sea level," he warned in his daily alert to Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff, then-FEMA chief Michael Brown and other Bush administration officials.
"If the hurricane winds blow from a certain direction, there are dire predictions of what may happen in the city," it said. FEMA's tepid response while Katrina's victims grew desperate, suffered and died has been acknowledged and widely criticized.
The agency's failure is a tragic element of the Hurricane Katrina story. But, according to Bosner, FEMA's troubles came as no surprise after its role and stature shifted when federal agencies were reshuffled in response to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
(More ... CNN.com - A disturbing view from inside FEMA - Sep 17, 2005) ¶ 12:08 0 comments
As Hurricane Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast three weeks ago, veteran workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency braced for an epic disaster.
But their bosses, political appointees with almost no emergency management experience, didn't seem to share the sense of urgency, a FEMA veteran said.
"We told these fellows that there was a killer hurricane heading right toward New Orleans," Leo Bosner, a 26-year FEMA employee and union leader told CNN. "We had done our job, but they didn't do theirs."
Bosner's storm warning came early Saturday, three days before Hurricane Katrina came ashore in eastern Louisiana.
"New Orleans is of particular concern because much of that city lies below sea level," he warned in his daily alert to Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff, then-FEMA chief Michael Brown and other Bush administration officials.
"If the hurricane winds blow from a certain direction, there are dire predictions of what may happen in the city," it said. FEMA's tepid response while Katrina's victims grew desperate, suffered and died has been acknowledged and widely criticized.
The agency's failure is a tragic element of the Hurricane Katrina story. But, according to Bosner, FEMA's troubles came as no surprise after its role and stature shifted when federal agencies were reshuffled in response to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
(More ... CNN.com - A disturbing view from inside FEMA - Sep 17, 2005) ¶ 12:08 0 comments
Criticism of Aust-US Alliance Warranted: Expert (ABC.net.au)
Last Update: Sunday, September 18, 2005. 7:18am (AEST)
An international relations expert says although former Labor leader Mark Latham's view of Australia's alliance with the US is over-simplified, it should not be entirely dismissed.
In his book, The Latham Diaries, the former Opposition leader calls the alliance "the last manifestation of the White Australia mentality" and "another form of neo-colonialism".
Dr Michael McKinley, from the Australian National University (ANU), says while Mr Latham is right to criticise the alliance for dominating Australia's security policy, he has oversimplified the relationship.
"I think there is a problem there because successive governments, whether they be Coalition or Labor, have always understood the alliance to be something worthwhile on a daily basis," he said.
"There's about seven or eight benefits which are thought to accrue to Australia almost every day of the week by being in the alliance."
Dr McKinley says Mr Latham's comments are extreme.
"The alliance is something that needs to be very strongly criticised for the way in which it over-determines Australian security policy and over-determines the Australian national interest," he said.
(More ... Criticism of Aust-US alliance warranted: expert. 18/09/2005. ABC News Online) ¶ 12:04 0 comments
An international relations expert says although former Labor leader Mark Latham's view of Australia's alliance with the US is over-simplified, it should not be entirely dismissed.
In his book, The Latham Diaries, the former Opposition leader calls the alliance "the last manifestation of the White Australia mentality" and "another form of neo-colonialism".
Dr Michael McKinley, from the Australian National University (ANU), says while Mr Latham is right to criticise the alliance for dominating Australia's security policy, he has oversimplified the relationship.
"I think there is a problem there because successive governments, whether they be Coalition or Labor, have always understood the alliance to be something worthwhile on a daily basis," he said.
"There's about seven or eight benefits which are thought to accrue to Australia almost every day of the week by being in the alliance."
Dr McKinley says Mr Latham's comments are extreme.
"The alliance is something that needs to be very strongly criticised for the way in which it over-determines Australian security policy and over-determines the Australian national interest," he said.
(More ... Criticism of Aust-US alliance warranted: expert. 18/09/2005. ABC News Online) ¶ 12:04 0 comments
Blair Saw Anti-America Bias in BBC News, Murdoch Says (USATODAY.com)
Posted 9/17/2005 7:33 PM
NEW YORK — British Prime Minister Tony Blair has complained privately to media tycoon Rupert Murdoch that the BBC's coverage of Hurricane Katrina carried an anti-American bias, Murdoch said at a conference here.
Murdoch, chairman of the media conglomerate News Corp., recounted a conversation with the British leader at a panel discussion late Friday hosted by former president Bill Clinton.
"Tony Blair -- perhaps I shouldn't repeat this conversation -- told me yesterday that he was in Delhi last week. And he turned on the BBC world service to see what was happening in New Orleans," Murdoch was quoted as saying in a transcript posted on the Clinton Global Initiative website."And he said it was just full of hate of America and gloating about our troubles. And that was his government. Well, his government-owned thing," he said of the publicly owned broadcaster.
Murdoch went on to say that anti-American bias was prevalent throughout Europe.
"I think we've got to do a better job at answering it. And there's a big job to do. But you're not going to ever turn it around totally," said Murdoch, one of three media magnates who spoke at Clinton's Global Initiative forum on peace and development.
(More ... USATODAY.com - Blair saw anti-America bias in BBC news, Murdoch says) ¶ 12:01 0 comments
NEW YORK — British Prime Minister Tony Blair has complained privately to media tycoon Rupert Murdoch that the BBC's coverage of Hurricane Katrina carried an anti-American bias, Murdoch said at a conference here.
Murdoch, chairman of the media conglomerate News Corp., recounted a conversation with the British leader at a panel discussion late Friday hosted by former president Bill Clinton.
"Tony Blair -- perhaps I shouldn't repeat this conversation -- told me yesterday that he was in Delhi last week. And he turned on the BBC world service to see what was happening in New Orleans," Murdoch was quoted as saying in a transcript posted on the Clinton Global Initiative website."And he said it was just full of hate of America and gloating about our troubles. And that was his government. Well, his government-owned thing," he said of the publicly owned broadcaster.
Murdoch went on to say that anti-American bias was prevalent throughout Europe.
"I think we've got to do a better job at answering it. And there's a big job to do. But you're not going to ever turn it around totally," said Murdoch, one of three media magnates who spoke at Clinton's Global Initiative forum on peace and development.
(More ... USATODAY.com - Blair saw anti-America bias in BBC news, Murdoch says) ¶ 12:01 0 comments
9.17.2005
Mr. Bush in New Orleans (NYTimes.com)
EDITORIAL
Published: September 16, 2005
President Bush said three things last night that desperately needed to be said. He forthrightly acknowledged his responsibility for the egregious mishandling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He spoke clearly and candidly about race and poverty. And finally, he was clear about what would be needed to bring back the Gulf Coast and said the federal government would have to lead and pay for that effort.
Once again, as he did after 9/11, Mr. Bush has responded to disaster with disconcerting uncertainty, then risen to the occasion later. Once again, he has delivered a speech that will reassure many Americans that he understands the enormity of the event and the demands of leadership to come.
But there are plenty of reasons for concern. After 9/11, Mr. Bush responded not only with a stirring speech at the ruins of the World Trade Center and a principled response to the Taliban in Afghanistan. He also decided to invade Iraq, and he tried to do it on the cheap - with disastrous results, for which the country continues to pay every day.
This time, Mr. Bush must come up with a more coherent and well-organized follow-through.
(More ... Mr. Bush in New Orleans - New York Times) ¶ 13:41 0 comments
Published: September 16, 2005
President Bush said three things last night that desperately needed to be said. He forthrightly acknowledged his responsibility for the egregious mishandling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He spoke clearly and candidly about race and poverty. And finally, he was clear about what would be needed to bring back the Gulf Coast and said the federal government would have to lead and pay for that effort.
Once again, as he did after 9/11, Mr. Bush has responded to disaster with disconcerting uncertainty, then risen to the occasion later. Once again, he has delivered a speech that will reassure many Americans that he understands the enormity of the event and the demands of leadership to come.
But there are plenty of reasons for concern. After 9/11, Mr. Bush responded not only with a stirring speech at the ruins of the World Trade Center and a principled response to the Taliban in Afghanistan. He also decided to invade Iraq, and he tried to do it on the cheap - with disastrous results, for which the country continues to pay every day.
This time, Mr. Bush must come up with a more coherent and well-organized follow-through.
(More ... Mr. Bush in New Orleans - New York Times) ¶ 13:41 0 comments
Global Warming 'Past the Point of No Return' (Independent.co.uk)
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 16 September 2005
A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.
They believe global warming is melting Arctic ice so rapidly that the region is beginning to absorb more heat from the sun, causing the ice to melt still further and so reinforcing a vicious cycle of melting and heating.
The greatest fear is that the Arctic has reached a "tipping point" beyond which nothing can reverse the continual loss of sea ice and with it the massive land glaciers of Greenland, which will raise sea levels dramatically.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Science & Technology : app1) ¶ 13:37 0 comments
Published: 16 September 2005
A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.
They believe global warming is melting Arctic ice so rapidly that the region is beginning to absorb more heat from the sun, causing the ice to melt still further and so reinforcing a vicious cycle of melting and heating.
The greatest fear is that the Arctic has reached a "tipping point" beyond which nothing can reverse the continual loss of sea ice and with it the massive land glaciers of Greenland, which will raise sea levels dramatically.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Science & Technology : app1) ¶ 13:37 0 comments
US Alliance Outdated: Latham (ABC.net.au)
Saturday, September 17, 2005. 7:38am (AEST)
The former leader of the federal Labor Party, Mark Latham, has described Australia's alliance with the United States as another form of neo-colonialism.
Further extracts from Mr Latham book, The Latham Diaries, have been published by News Limited newspapers today.
Mr Latham says the United States alliance is the last manifestation of the 'White Australia' mentality.
He says the alliance only survives because a significant number of Australians still think an insurance policy against invasion by Indonesia is needed.
But he says Indonesia can barely govern itself let alone invade Australia, and Americans need the alliance more than Australians do.
Mr Latham says other than World War II, every war Australia has fought in has been disconnected from the national interest.
(More ... US alliance outdated: Latham. 17/09/2005. ABC News Online) ¶ 13:28 0 comments
The former leader of the federal Labor Party, Mark Latham, has described Australia's alliance with the United States as another form of neo-colonialism.
Further extracts from Mr Latham book, The Latham Diaries, have been published by News Limited newspapers today.
Mr Latham says the United States alliance is the last manifestation of the 'White Australia' mentality.
He says the alliance only survives because a significant number of Australians still think an insurance policy against invasion by Indonesia is needed.
But he says Indonesia can barely govern itself let alone invade Australia, and Americans need the alliance more than Australians do.
Mr Latham says other than World War II, every war Australia has fought in has been disconnected from the national interest.
(More ... US alliance outdated: Latham. 17/09/2005. ABC News Online) ¶ 13:28 0 comments
Bush Rules Out Tax Increase to Pay for Katrina Relief (WashingtonPost.com)
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 16, 2005; 5:51 PM
President Bush today ruled out raising taxes to pay for a vast relief and reconstruction effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but he said other programs would have to be cut and that economic growth must be maintained.
In a joint press briefing with the visiting Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Bush declined to put a price tag on what he called the "enormous task" of rebuilding a zone of destruction the size of Britain.
"It's going to cost whatever it costs," he said.
"But I'm confident we can handle it, and I'm confident we can handle our other priorities," Bush said. "It's going to mean that we're going to have to make sure we cut unnecessary spending. It's going to mean we've got to maintain economic growth, and therefore we should not raise taxes."
(More ... Bush Rules Out Tax Increase to Pay for Katrina Relief) ¶ 11:29 0 comments
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 16, 2005; 5:51 PM
President Bush today ruled out raising taxes to pay for a vast relief and reconstruction effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but he said other programs would have to be cut and that economic growth must be maintained.
In a joint press briefing with the visiting Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Bush declined to put a price tag on what he called the "enormous task" of rebuilding a zone of destruction the size of Britain.
"It's going to cost whatever it costs," he said.
"But I'm confident we can handle it, and I'm confident we can handle our other priorities," Bush said. "It's going to mean that we're going to have to make sure we cut unnecessary spending. It's going to mean we've got to maintain economic growth, and therefore we should not raise taxes."
(More ... Bush Rules Out Tax Increase to Pay for Katrina Relief) ¶ 11:29 0 comments
Not the New Deal (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 16, 2005
Now it begins: America's biggest relief and recovery program since the New Deal. And the omens aren't good.
It's a given that the Bush administration, which tried to turn Iraq into a laboratory for conservative economic policies, will try the same thing on the Gulf Coast. The Heritage Foundation, which has surely been helping Karl Rove develop the administration's recovery plan, has already published a manifesto on post-Katrina policy. It calls for waivers on environmental rules, the elimination of capital gains taxes and the private ownership of public school buildings in the disaster areas. And if any of the people killed by Katrina, most of them poor, had a net worth of more than $1.5 million, Heritage wants to exempt their heirs from the estate tax.
Still, even conservatives admit that deregulation, tax cuts and privatization won't be enough. Recovery will require a lot of federal spending. And aside from the effect on the deficit - we're about to see the spectacle of tax cuts in the face of both a war and a huge reconstruction effort - this raises another question: how can discretionary government spending take place on that scale without creating equally large-scale corruption?
It's possible to spend large sums honestly, as Franklin D. Roosevelt demonstrated in the 1930's. F.D.R. presided over a huge expansion of federal spending, including a lot of discretionary spending by the Works Progress Administration. Yet the image of public relief, widely regarded as corrupt before the New Deal, actually improved markedly.
(More ... Not the New Deal - New York Times) ¶ 11:22 0 comments
Published: September 16, 2005
Now it begins: America's biggest relief and recovery program since the New Deal. And the omens aren't good.
It's a given that the Bush administration, which tried to turn Iraq into a laboratory for conservative economic policies, will try the same thing on the Gulf Coast. The Heritage Foundation, which has surely been helping Karl Rove develop the administration's recovery plan, has already published a manifesto on post-Katrina policy. It calls for waivers on environmental rules, the elimination of capital gains taxes and the private ownership of public school buildings in the disaster areas. And if any of the people killed by Katrina, most of them poor, had a net worth of more than $1.5 million, Heritage wants to exempt their heirs from the estate tax.
Still, even conservatives admit that deregulation, tax cuts and privatization won't be enough. Recovery will require a lot of federal spending. And aside from the effect on the deficit - we're about to see the spectacle of tax cuts in the face of both a war and a huge reconstruction effort - this raises another question: how can discretionary government spending take place on that scale without creating equally large-scale corruption?
It's possible to spend large sums honestly, as Franklin D. Roosevelt demonstrated in the 1930's. F.D.R. presided over a huge expansion of federal spending, including a lot of discretionary spending by the Works Progress Administration. Yet the image of public relief, widely regarded as corrupt before the New Deal, actually improved markedly.
(More ... Not the New Deal - New York Times) ¶ 11:22 0 comments
9.14.2005
The Lost U.N. Summit Meeting (NYTimes.com)
EDITORIAL
Published: September 14, 2005
A once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform and revive the United Nations has been squandered even before the opening gavel comes down this morning for the largest assemblage of world leaders ever brought together in a single location. The responsibility for this failure is widely shared. But the United States, as the host nation and the U.N.'s most indispensable and influential member, bears a disproportionate share.
There are several casualties of this failure of leadership, including the need to reform the United Nations and to strengthen its role as a monitor of human rights. But the most tragic loss is a genuine opportunity to help the one billion people around the world who each live on less than $1 a day.
Last month, President Bush used a recess appointment to send his notoriously undiplomatic, and Congressionally unacceptable, choice for ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, to New York. He contended that contrary to all appearances and to common sense, Mr. Bolton was just the man to achieve the reforms the United Nations needed. Almost immediately, Mr. Bolton began proving Mr. Bush wrong by insisting on a very long list of unilateral demands. The predictable effect was to transform what had been a painful and difficult search for workable diplomatic compromises into a competitive exercise in political posturing.
(More ... The Lost U.N. Summit Meeting - New York Times) ¶ 20:32 0 comments
Published: September 14, 2005
A once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform and revive the United Nations has been squandered even before the opening gavel comes down this morning for the largest assemblage of world leaders ever brought together in a single location. The responsibility for this failure is widely shared. But the United States, as the host nation and the U.N.'s most indispensable and influential member, bears a disproportionate share.
There are several casualties of this failure of leadership, including the need to reform the United Nations and to strengthen its role as a monitor of human rights. But the most tragic loss is a genuine opportunity to help the one billion people around the world who each live on less than $1 a day.
Last month, President Bush used a recess appointment to send his notoriously undiplomatic, and Congressionally unacceptable, choice for ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, to New York. He contended that contrary to all appearances and to common sense, Mr. Bolton was just the man to achieve the reforms the United Nations needed. Almost immediately, Mr. Bolton began proving Mr. Bush wrong by insisting on a very long list of unilateral demands. The predictable effect was to transform what had been a painful and difficult search for workable diplomatic compromises into a competitive exercise in political posturing.
(More ... The Lost U.N. Summit Meeting - New York Times) ¶ 20:32 0 comments
9.12.2005
Cover-up: Toxic Waters 'Will Make New Orleans Unsafe for a Decade' (Independent.co.uk)
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Correspondent
Published: 11 September 2005
Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade, a US government official has told The Independent on Sunday. And, he added, the Bush administration is covering up the danger.
In an exclusive interview, Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the way the polluted water was being pumped out was increasing the danger to health.
The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make public the results of those it had analysed. "Inept political hacks" running the clean-up will imperil the health of low-income migrant workers by getting them to do the work.
...>snip<...
Few people are better qualified to judge the extent of the problem. Mr Kaufman, who has been with the EPA since it was founded 35 years ago, helped to set up its hazardous waste programme. After serving as chief investigator to the EPA's ombudsman, he is now senior policy analyst in its Office of Solid Wastes and Emergency Response. He said the clean-up needed to be "the most massive public works exercise ever done", adding: "It will take 10 years to get everything up and running and safe."
Mr Kaufman claimed the Bush administration was playing down the need for a clean-up: the EPA has not been included in the core White House group tackling the crisis. "Its budget has been cut and inept political hacks have been put in key positions," Mr Kaufman said. "All the money for emergency response has gone to buy guns and cowboys - which don't do anything when a hurricane hits. We were less prepared for this than we would have been on 10 September 2001."
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Americas : app2) ¶ 21:36 0 comments
Published: 11 September 2005
Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade, a US government official has told The Independent on Sunday. And, he added, the Bush administration is covering up the danger.
In an exclusive interview, Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the way the polluted water was being pumped out was increasing the danger to health.
The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make public the results of those it had analysed. "Inept political hacks" running the clean-up will imperil the health of low-income migrant workers by getting them to do the work.
...>snip<...
Few people are better qualified to judge the extent of the problem. Mr Kaufman, who has been with the EPA since it was founded 35 years ago, helped to set up its hazardous waste programme. After serving as chief investigator to the EPA's ombudsman, he is now senior policy analyst in its Office of Solid Wastes and Emergency Response. He said the clean-up needed to be "the most massive public works exercise ever done", adding: "It will take 10 years to get everything up and running and safe."
Mr Kaufman claimed the Bush administration was playing down the need for a clean-up: the EPA has not been included in the core White House group tackling the crisis. "Its budget has been cut and inept political hacks have been put in key positions," Mr Kaufman said. "All the money for emergency response has gone to buy guns and cowboys - which don't do anything when a hurricane hits. We were less prepared for this than we would have been on 10 September 2001."
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Americas : app2) ¶ 21:36 0 comments
All the President's Friends (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 12, 2005
The lethally inept response to Hurricane Katrina revealed to everyone that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which earned universal praise during the Clinton years, is a shell of its former self. The hapless Michael Brown - who is no longer overseeing relief efforts but still heads the agency - has become a symbol of cronyism.
But what we really should be asking is whether FEMA's decline and fall is unique, or part of a larger pattern. What other government functions have been crippled by politicization, cronyism and/or the departure of experienced professionals? How many FEMA's are there?
Unfortunately, it's easy to find other agencies suffering from some version of the FEMA syndrome.
The first example won't surprise you: the Environmental Protection Agency, which has a key role to play in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, but which has seen a major exodus of experienced officials over the past few years. In particular, senior officials have left in protest over what they say is the Bush administration's unwillingness to enforce environmental law.
(More ... All the President's Friends - New York Times) ¶ 21:25 0 comments
Published: September 12, 2005
The lethally inept response to Hurricane Katrina revealed to everyone that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which earned universal praise during the Clinton years, is a shell of its former self. The hapless Michael Brown - who is no longer overseeing relief efforts but still heads the agency - has become a symbol of cronyism.
But what we really should be asking is whether FEMA's decline and fall is unique, or part of a larger pattern. What other government functions have been crippled by politicization, cronyism and/or the departure of experienced professionals? How many FEMA's are there?
Unfortunately, it's easy to find other agencies suffering from some version of the FEMA syndrome.
The first example won't surprise you: the Environmental Protection Agency, which has a key role to play in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, but which has seen a major exodus of experienced officials over the past few years. In particular, senior officials have left in protest over what they say is the Bush administration's unwillingness to enforce environmental law.
(More ... All the President's Friends - New York Times) ¶ 21:25 0 comments
U.S. Military Force-feeding 13 Guantanamo Hunger Strikers (USATODAY.com)
Posted 9/10/2005 5:57 AM
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. military is tube-feeding more than a dozen of the 89 terror suspects on hunger strike at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, a spokesman said Friday.
Some of the 89 striking detainees at Guantanamo have not eaten for a month, said Guantanamo detention mission spokesman Sgt. Justin Behrens. The others have refused at least nine consecutive meals, he said.
Fifteen have been hospitalized and 13 of those were being fed through tubes, Behrens said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press. Medics are monitoring all 89 and checking their vital signs daily, he added.
Previously, the military has said that 76 inmates were participating in the hunger strike.
British lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, who represents one of the hunger strikers — Briton Omar Deghayes, 36 — warned Friday that some of the inmates were willing to starve themselves to death.
"People are desperate. They have been there three years. They were promised that the Geneva Conventions would be respected and various changes would happen and, unfortunately, the (U.S.) government reneged on that," Stafford-Smith said.
(More ... USATODAY.com - U.S. military force-feeding 13 Guantanamo hunger strikers) ¶ 21:14 0 comments
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. military is tube-feeding more than a dozen of the 89 terror suspects on hunger strike at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, a spokesman said Friday.
Some of the 89 striking detainees at Guantanamo have not eaten for a month, said Guantanamo detention mission spokesman Sgt. Justin Behrens. The others have refused at least nine consecutive meals, he said.
Fifteen have been hospitalized and 13 of those were being fed through tubes, Behrens said in a written response to questions from The Associated Press. Medics are monitoring all 89 and checking their vital signs daily, he added.
Previously, the military has said that 76 inmates were participating in the hunger strike.
British lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, who represents one of the hunger strikers — Briton Omar Deghayes, 36 — warned Friday that some of the inmates were willing to starve themselves to death.
"People are desperate. They have been there three years. They were promised that the Geneva Conventions would be respected and various changes would happen and, unfortunately, the (U.S.) government reneged on that," Stafford-Smith said.
(More ... USATODAY.com - U.S. military force-feeding 13 Guantanamo hunger strikers) ¶ 21:14 0 comments
In From the Cold and Able to Take the Heat (WashingtonPost.com)
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 12, 2005; Page A17
Last month, Henry "Hank" Crumpton, a revered master of CIA covert operations, formally came in from the cold.
Crumpton gained almost mythical fame after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- always anonymously. He is the mysterious "Henry" in the Sept. 11 commission report, which notes he persistently pressed the CIA to do more in Afghanistan before Osama bin Laden's terrorist spectaculars. Two key proposals to track al Qaeda were turned down.
Tapped to head the CIA's Afghan campaign after the attacks, Crumpton is "Hank" in Gary C. Schroen's "First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan" and Bob Woodward's "Bush at War." Both books recount how Crumpton crafted a strategy partnering elite intelligence and military officers in teams that worked with the Afghan opposition to oust the Taliban. The novel and initially controversial approach worked at limited cost in human life and materiel -- and avoided the kind of protracted U.S. ground war that the Soviet Union lost.
It also changed the way the United States fights terrorism.
(More ... In From the Cold and Able to Take the Heat) ¶ 21:00 0 comments
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 12, 2005; Page A17
Last month, Henry "Hank" Crumpton, a revered master of CIA covert operations, formally came in from the cold.
Crumpton gained almost mythical fame after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- always anonymously. He is the mysterious "Henry" in the Sept. 11 commission report, which notes he persistently pressed the CIA to do more in Afghanistan before Osama bin Laden's terrorist spectaculars. Two key proposals to track al Qaeda were turned down.
Tapped to head the CIA's Afghan campaign after the attacks, Crumpton is "Hank" in Gary C. Schroen's "First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan" and Bob Woodward's "Bush at War." Both books recount how Crumpton crafted a strategy partnering elite intelligence and military officers in teams that worked with the Afghan opposition to oust the Taliban. The novel and initially controversial approach worked at limited cost in human life and materiel -- and avoided the kind of protracted U.S. ground war that the Soviet Union lost.
It also changed the way the United States fights terrorism.
(More ... In From the Cold and Able to Take the Heat) ¶ 21:00 0 comments
Katrina Leads a Lobbyist to Reevaluate His Priorities (WashingtonPost.com)
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 12, 2005; Page A04
Frederick L. Webber, a longtime denizen of Washington's lobbying corridor, showed up at work one day last week and found on his desk a dozen fundraising requests from members of Congress.
He threw them all in the trash.
In a self-described epiphany, Webber, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, drafted a large check to help families displaced by Hurricane Katrina and decided that an imperative of his vocation -- political giving -- had finally gone too far.
How could lawmakers be asking for money for their reelections, he asked himself, when thousands of Americans were desperate for aid along the Gulf Coast?
"It really hit home when I was writing out that check," Webber said. "Political fundraising in this town has gotten out of control."
(More ... Katrina Leads a Lobbyist to Reevaluate His Priorities) ¶ 20:54 0 comments
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 12, 2005; Page A04
Frederick L. Webber, a longtime denizen of Washington's lobbying corridor, showed up at work one day last week and found on his desk a dozen fundraising requests from members of Congress.
He threw them all in the trash.
In a self-described epiphany, Webber, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, drafted a large check to help families displaced by Hurricane Katrina and decided that an imperative of his vocation -- political giving -- had finally gone too far.
How could lawmakers be asking for money for their reelections, he asked himself, when thousands of Americans were desperate for aid along the Gulf Coast?
"It really hit home when I was writing out that check," Webber said. "Political fundraising in this town has gotten out of control."
(More ... Katrina Leads a Lobbyist to Reevaluate His Priorities) ¶ 20:54 0 comments
Congress, Heal Thyself (WashingtonPost.com)
EDITORIAL
Monday, September 12, 2005; Page A18
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS have been quick to point fingers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Some of the blame ought to be directed at themselves.
Where, for instance, was the oversight before Katrina? In particular, given the critical role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the minimal qualifications of Michael D. Brown to be its director, you might think the Senate would have wanted to conduct a thorough hearing before confirming him to the post. No such luck. Mr. Brown had a cursory hearing in 2002 -- it lasted all of 42 minutes and was attended by four senators -- when he was named deputy director of FEMA; no one at that hearing questioned his lack of background in emergency response.
And when Mr. Brown was promoted to the top job, he had no confirmation hearing at all -- thanks to a ridiculously loose provision in the law creating the Department of Homeland Security that waived the reconfirmation requirement for "any officer whose agency is transferred to the Department . . . whose duties following such transfer are germane to those performed before such transfer." If Mr. Brown wasn't qualified to head FEMA, Congress shares some of the responsibility for putting him there.
(More ... Congress, Heal Thyself) ¶ 20:48 0 comments
Monday, September 12, 2005; Page A18
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS have been quick to point fingers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Some of the blame ought to be directed at themselves.
Where, for instance, was the oversight before Katrina? In particular, given the critical role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the minimal qualifications of Michael D. Brown to be its director, you might think the Senate would have wanted to conduct a thorough hearing before confirming him to the post. No such luck. Mr. Brown had a cursory hearing in 2002 -- it lasted all of 42 minutes and was attended by four senators -- when he was named deputy director of FEMA; no one at that hearing questioned his lack of background in emergency response.
And when Mr. Brown was promoted to the top job, he had no confirmation hearing at all -- thanks to a ridiculously loose provision in the law creating the Department of Homeland Security that waived the reconfirmation requirement for "any officer whose agency is transferred to the Department . . . whose duties following such transfer are germane to those performed before such transfer." If Mr. Brown wasn't qualified to head FEMA, Congress shares some of the responsibility for putting him there.
(More ... Congress, Heal Thyself) ¶ 20:48 0 comments
9.11.2005
Revising 9/11 (NYTimes.com)
EDITORIAL
Published: September 11, 2005
On the first three anniversaries of Sept. 11, 2001, the nation had the grim luxury of uncluttered memory. We looked back on that day's events as the most terrible thing that could happen on American soil. Today, we are cursed with an unwanted expansion of that vision.
It took a day or two after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast to understand that it could affect our feelings about what happened at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania. After all, the people who died on Sept. 11 were murdered by other human beings. Katrina's malevolence was only a metaphor, no matter how damaging its winds. But by the time the hurricane died down and the floodwaters stopped rising, it became clear that this hurricane would force us to revise 9/11, which, until now, had defined the limits of tragedy in America.
Without realizing it, we had internalized what happened four years ago in a rather tidy story arc: Terrorists struck with brutal violence and the country responded. Everyone rose to the occasion - rallying around New York City, comforting the survivors and doing "whatever it takes" to make the country, if not totally safe, at least totally ready for whatever came next. Mistakes were made, but we would learn from them, and wind up stronger and better prepared.
Given the area it affected and its potential death toll, Katrina perfectly simulated a much larger terrorist attack than the one that hit New York. It was nearly nuclear in scale. Everyone did not behave well. Local first responders went missing, or failed to rise to the occasion, or were simply overwhelmed. Leaders did not lead, and on many counts the federal government was less prepared to respond than it had been when the World Trade Center towers still stood.
We felt that 9/11 had changed our lives in an instant, that we had been jerked out of a pleasant dream. The difference in the blow that Katrina struck was not merely that we could see it coming. It was that, as a nation, we thought we were already fully awake.
(More ... Revising 9/11 - New York Times) ¶ 20:52 0 comments
Published: September 11, 2005
On the first three anniversaries of Sept. 11, 2001, the nation had the grim luxury of uncluttered memory. We looked back on that day's events as the most terrible thing that could happen on American soil. Today, we are cursed with an unwanted expansion of that vision.
It took a day or two after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast to understand that it could affect our feelings about what happened at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania. After all, the people who died on Sept. 11 were murdered by other human beings. Katrina's malevolence was only a metaphor, no matter how damaging its winds. But by the time the hurricane died down and the floodwaters stopped rising, it became clear that this hurricane would force us to revise 9/11, which, until now, had defined the limits of tragedy in America.
Without realizing it, we had internalized what happened four years ago in a rather tidy story arc: Terrorists struck with brutal violence and the country responded. Everyone rose to the occasion - rallying around New York City, comforting the survivors and doing "whatever it takes" to make the country, if not totally safe, at least totally ready for whatever came next. Mistakes were made, but we would learn from them, and wind up stronger and better prepared.
Given the area it affected and its potential death toll, Katrina perfectly simulated a much larger terrorist attack than the one that hit New York. It was nearly nuclear in scale. Everyone did not behave well. Local first responders went missing, or failed to rise to the occasion, or were simply overwhelmed. Leaders did not lead, and on many counts the federal government was less prepared to respond than it had been when the World Trade Center towers still stood.
We felt that 9/11 had changed our lives in an instant, that we had been jerked out of a pleasant dream. The difference in the blow that Katrina struck was not merely that we could see it coming. It was that, as a nation, we thought we were already fully awake.
(More ... Revising 9/11 - New York Times) ¶ 20:52 0 comments
Court Gives Bush Right to Detain U.S. Combatant (NYTimes.com)
By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: September 10, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 - A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously on Friday that President Bush had the authority to detain as an enemy combatant an American citizen who fought United States forces on foreign soil.
The panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, based in Richmond, Va., threw out a ruling by a trial judge in South Carolina that Mr. Bush had overstepped his bounds by detaining Jose Padilla, a Chicago native, for three years.
The military has asserted that Mr. Padilla (pronounced pa-DILL-uh) was an operative of Al Qaeda who fought in Afghanistan, was trained by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, and was considering various terrorist plots in the United States. Law enforcement authorities have also identified Mr. Padilla as a former gang member in Chicago who converted to Islam.
In an opinion written by Judge J. Michael Luttig, who has been considered by President Bush for a nomination to the Supreme Court, the panel said Mr. Bush had the right to detain Mr. Padilla as an enemy combatant under the powers granted the president by Congress after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and at the Pentagon.
"The exceedingly important question before us is whether the president of the United States possesses the authority to detain militarily a citizen of this country who is closely associated with Al Qaeda, an entity with which the United States is at war," Judge Luttig wrote. "We conclude that the president does possess such authority," citing the Congressional authorization.
(More ... Court Gives Bush Right to Detain U.S. Combatant - New York Times) ¶ 20:26 0 comments
Published: September 10, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 - A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously on Friday that President Bush had the authority to detain as an enemy combatant an American citizen who fought United States forces on foreign soil.
The panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, based in Richmond, Va., threw out a ruling by a trial judge in South Carolina that Mr. Bush had overstepped his bounds by detaining Jose Padilla, a Chicago native, for three years.
The military has asserted that Mr. Padilla (pronounced pa-DILL-uh) was an operative of Al Qaeda who fought in Afghanistan, was trained by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, and was considering various terrorist plots in the United States. Law enforcement authorities have also identified Mr. Padilla as a former gang member in Chicago who converted to Islam.
In an opinion written by Judge J. Michael Luttig, who has been considered by President Bush for a nomination to the Supreme Court, the panel said Mr. Bush had the right to detain Mr. Padilla as an enemy combatant under the powers granted the president by Congress after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and at the Pentagon.
"The exceedingly important question before us is whether the president of the United States possesses the authority to detain militarily a citizen of this country who is closely associated with Al Qaeda, an entity with which the United States is at war," Judge Luttig wrote. "We conclude that the president does possess such authority," citing the Congressional authorization.
(More ... Court Gives Bush Right to Detain U.S. Combatant - New York Times) ¶ 20:26 0 comments
Judge Loosens Library Gag (Courant.com)
BRIDGEPORT -- In what could become a landmark First Amendment case, a federal judge in Connecticut ruled Friday that the FBI cannot "gag" several librarians from revealing that they were ordered to produce library patron records in the course of a national security investigation.
The decision could have a profound impact on the national debate over the sweeping powers the USA Patriot Act has conferred on law enforcement officials in the name of counterterrorism and national security.
U.S. District Court Judge Janet C. Hall ruled - after privately reviewing classified documents about the investigation in question - that there was no compelling reason in this particular case for the government to suppress the identity of those who recently received FBI "National Security Letters" demanding information about Internet use by a certain patron or patrons.
Hall ordered that the gag be lifted, but postponed the effective date of her order until Sept. 20, to permit the government time to appeal the case, John Doe et al vs. [U.S. Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales.
"Once revealed, Doe cannot be made anonymous again," she wrote of the harm to the government if the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals were to reverse her order after the identities of the librarians were made public.
(More ... courant.com | Judge Loosens Library Gag) ¶ 20:24 0 comments
The decision could have a profound impact on the national debate over the sweeping powers the USA Patriot Act has conferred on law enforcement officials in the name of counterterrorism and national security.
U.S. District Court Judge Janet C. Hall ruled - after privately reviewing classified documents about the investigation in question - that there was no compelling reason in this particular case for the government to suppress the identity of those who recently received FBI "National Security Letters" demanding information about Internet use by a certain patron or patrons.
Hall ordered that the gag be lifted, but postponed the effective date of her order until Sept. 20, to permit the government time to appeal the case, John Doe et al vs. [U.S. Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales.
"Once revealed, Doe cannot be made anonymous again," she wrote of the harm to the government if the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals were to reverse her order after the identities of the librarians were made public.
(More ... courant.com | Judge Loosens Library Gag) ¶ 20:24 0 comments
UN Hits Back at US in Report Saying Parts of America Are As Poor as Third World (Independent.co.uk)
By Paul Vallely
Published: 08 September 2005
Parts of the United States are as poor as the Third World, according to a shocking United Nations report on global inequality.
Claims that the New Orleans floods have laid bare a growing racial and economic divide in the US have, until now, been rejected by the American political establishment as emotional rhetoric. But yesterday's UN report provides statistical proof that for many - well beyond those affected by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - the great American Dream is an ongoing nightmare.
The document constitutes a stinging attack on US policies at home and abroad in a fightback against moves by Washington to undermine next week's UN 60th anniversary conference which will be the biggest gathering of world leaders in history.
The annual Human Development Report normally concerns itself with the Third World, but the 2005 edition scrutinizes inequalities in health provision inside the US as part of a survey of how inequality worldwide is retarding the eradication of poverty.
It reveals that the infant mortality rate has been rising in the US for the past five years - and is now the same as Malaysia. America's black children are twice as likely as whites to die before their first birthday.
The report is bound to incense the Bush administration as it provides ammunition for critics who have claimed that the fiasco following Hurricane Katrina shows that Washington does not care about poor black Americans. But the 370-page document is critical of American policies towards poverty abroad as well as at home. And, in unusually outspoken language, it accuses the US of having "an overdeveloped military strategy and an under-developed strategy for human security".
"There is an urgent need to develop a collective security framework that goes beyond military responses to terrorism," it continues. " Poverty and social breakdown are core components of the global security threat."
(More ... Independent Online Edition > World Politics : app5) ¶ 19:51 0 comments
Published: 08 September 2005
Parts of the United States are as poor as the Third World, according to a shocking United Nations report on global inequality.
Claims that the New Orleans floods have laid bare a growing racial and economic divide in the US have, until now, been rejected by the American political establishment as emotional rhetoric. But yesterday's UN report provides statistical proof that for many - well beyond those affected by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - the great American Dream is an ongoing nightmare.
The document constitutes a stinging attack on US policies at home and abroad in a fightback against moves by Washington to undermine next week's UN 60th anniversary conference which will be the biggest gathering of world leaders in history.
The annual Human Development Report normally concerns itself with the Third World, but the 2005 edition scrutinizes inequalities in health provision inside the US as part of a survey of how inequality worldwide is retarding the eradication of poverty.
It reveals that the infant mortality rate has been rising in the US for the past five years - and is now the same as Malaysia. America's black children are twice as likely as whites to die before their first birthday.
The report is bound to incense the Bush administration as it provides ammunition for critics who have claimed that the fiasco following Hurricane Katrina shows that Washington does not care about poor black Americans. But the 370-page document is critical of American policies towards poverty abroad as well as at home. And, in unusually outspoken language, it accuses the US of having "an overdeveloped military strategy and an under-developed strategy for human security".
"There is an urgent need to develop a collective security framework that goes beyond military responses to terrorism," it continues. " Poverty and social breakdown are core components of the global security threat."
(More ... Independent Online Edition > World Politics : app5) ¶ 19:51 0 comments
9.10.2005
Point Those Fingers (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 9, 2005
To understand the history of the Bush administration's response to disaster, just follow the catchphrases.
First, look at 2001 Congressional testimony by Joseph Allbaugh, President Bush's first pick to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, he said, would emphasize "Responsibility and Accountability" (capital letters and boldface in the original statement). He repeated the phrase several times.
Skip to next paragraph
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Related More Columns by Paul Krugman
What Mr. Allbaugh seems to have meant was that state and local government officials shouldn't count on FEMA to bail them out if they didn't prepare adequately for disasters. They should accept responsibility for protecting their constituents, and be held accountable if they don't.
But those were rules for the little people. Now that the Bush administration has botched its own response to disaster, we're not supposed to play the "blame game." Scott McClellan used that phrase 15 times over the course of just two White House press briefings.
It might make sense to hold off on the criticism if this were the first big disaster on Mr. Bush's watch, or if the chain of mistakes in handling Hurricane Katrina were out of character. But even with the most generous possible assessment, this is the administration's second big policy disaster, after Iraq. And the chain of mistakes was perfectly in character - there are striking parallels between the errors the administration made in Iraq and the errors it made last week.
(More ... Point Those Fingers - New York Times) ¶ 09:57 0 comments
Published: September 9, 2005
To understand the history of the Bush administration's response to disaster, just follow the catchphrases.
First, look at 2001 Congressional testimony by Joseph Allbaugh, President Bush's first pick to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, he said, would emphasize "Responsibility and Accountability" (capital letters and boldface in the original statement). He repeated the phrase several times.
Skip to next paragraph
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Related More Columns by Paul Krugman
What Mr. Allbaugh seems to have meant was that state and local government officials shouldn't count on FEMA to bail them out if they didn't prepare adequately for disasters. They should accept responsibility for protecting their constituents, and be held accountable if they don't.
But those were rules for the little people. Now that the Bush administration has botched its own response to disaster, we're not supposed to play the "blame game." Scott McClellan used that phrase 15 times over the course of just two White House press briefings.
It might make sense to hold off on the criticism if this were the first big disaster on Mr. Bush's watch, or if the chain of mistakes in handling Hurricane Katrina were out of character. But even with the most generous possible assessment, this is the administration's second big policy disaster, after Iraq. And the chain of mistakes was perfectly in character - there are striking parallels between the errors the administration made in Iraq and the errors it made last week.
(More ... Point Those Fingers - New York Times) ¶ 09:57 0 comments
Barbara Bush Calls Evacuees Better Off (NYTimes.com)
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: September 7, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 - As President Bush battled criticism over the response to Hurricane Katrina, his mother declared it a success for evacuees who "were underprivileged anyway," saying on Monday that many of the poor people she had seen while touring a Houston relocation site were faring better than before the storm hit.
Skip to next paragraph
Related Audio: Barbara Bush's Comments (mp3)
Hurricane Katrina
Go to Complete Coverage
Interactive Feature
Storm and Crisis
Photos from a devastated region.
• Last Week's Photos
Graphic
New Orleans Update
The latest on cleanup efforts.
• Evacuees
• Storm Timeline | Article
HOW TO HELP A partial list of relief organizations and other information on the Web.
YOUR STORY Share your experiences via e-mail or in this forum.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas," Barbara Bush said in an interview on Monday with the radio program "Marketplace." "Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality."
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway," she said, "so this is working very well for them."
Mrs. Bush toured the Astrodome complex with her husband, former President George Bush, as part of an administration campaign throughout the Gulf Coast region to counter criticism of the response to the storm. Former President Bush and former President Bill Clinton are helping raise money for the rebuilding effort.
(More ... Barbara Bush Calls Evacuees Better Off - New York Times) ¶ 09:57 0 comments
Published: September 7, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 - As President Bush battled criticism over the response to Hurricane Katrina, his mother declared it a success for evacuees who "were underprivileged anyway," saying on Monday that many of the poor people she had seen while touring a Houston relocation site were faring better than before the storm hit.
Skip to next paragraph
Related Audio: Barbara Bush's Comments (mp3)
Hurricane Katrina
Go to Complete Coverage
Interactive Feature
Storm and Crisis
Photos from a devastated region.
• Last Week's Photos
Graphic
New Orleans Update
The latest on cleanup efforts.
• Evacuees
• Storm Timeline | Article
HOW TO HELP A partial list of relief organizations and other information on the Web.
YOUR STORY Share your experiences via e-mail or in this forum.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas," Barbara Bush said in an interview on Monday with the radio program "Marketplace." "Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality."
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway," she said, "so this is working very well for them."
Mrs. Bush toured the Astrodome complex with her husband, former President George Bush, as part of an administration campaign throughout the Gulf Coast region to counter criticism of the response to the storm. Former President Bush and former President Bill Clinton are helping raise money for the rebuilding effort.
(More ... Barbara Bush Calls Evacuees Better Off - New York Times) ¶ 09:57 0 comments
9.07.2005
It's Not a 'Blame Game' (NYTimes.com)
Published: September 7, 2005
With the size and difficulty of the task of rescuing and rebuilding New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas still unfolding, it seemed early to talk about investigating how this predicted cataclysm had been allowed to occur and why the government's response was so slow and inept. Until yesterday, that is, when President Bush blithely announced at a photo-op cabinet meeting that he, personally, was going to "find out what went right and what went wrong." We can't imagine a worse idea.
No administration could credibly investigate such an immense failure on its own watch. And we have learned through bitter experience - the Abu Ghraib nightmare is just one example - that when this administration begins an internal investigation, it means a whitewash in which no one important is held accountable and no real change occurs.
Mr. Bush signaled yesterday that we are in for more of the same when he sneered and said, "One of the things that people want us to do here is to play a blame game." This is not a game. It is critical to know what "things went wrong," as Mr. Bush put it. But we also need to know which officials failed - not to humiliate them, but to replace them with competent people.
It's obvious, for instance, that Michael Brown has met the expectations of those who warned that he would be a terrible director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This is no time to be engaging in a wholesale change of leadership, but in Mr. Brown's case there seems to be precious little leadership to lose. He should be replaced with someone who can do the huge job that remains to be done.
But the questions go way beyond Mr. Brown - starting with why federal officials ignored predictions of a disastrous flood in New Orleans - and the answers can come only from an independent commission. We agree with the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, Senator Hillary Clinton and others who say that such a panel should follow the successful formula of the 9/11 commission: bipartisan leadership and members chosen by the White House and both parties in Congress on the basis of real expertise. It should have subpoena power and a staff expert enough to find answers and offer remedies.
(More ... It's Not a 'Blame Game' - New York Times) ¶ 16:08 0 comments
With the size and difficulty of the task of rescuing and rebuilding New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas still unfolding, it seemed early to talk about investigating how this predicted cataclysm had been allowed to occur and why the government's response was so slow and inept. Until yesterday, that is, when President Bush blithely announced at a photo-op cabinet meeting that he, personally, was going to "find out what went right and what went wrong." We can't imagine a worse idea.
No administration could credibly investigate such an immense failure on its own watch. And we have learned through bitter experience - the Abu Ghraib nightmare is just one example - that when this administration begins an internal investigation, it means a whitewash in which no one important is held accountable and no real change occurs.
Mr. Bush signaled yesterday that we are in for more of the same when he sneered and said, "One of the things that people want us to do here is to play a blame game." This is not a game. It is critical to know what "things went wrong," as Mr. Bush put it. But we also need to know which officials failed - not to humiliate them, but to replace them with competent people.
It's obvious, for instance, that Michael Brown has met the expectations of those who warned that he would be a terrible director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This is no time to be engaging in a wholesale change of leadership, but in Mr. Brown's case there seems to be precious little leadership to lose. He should be replaced with someone who can do the huge job that remains to be done.
But the questions go way beyond Mr. Brown - starting with why federal officials ignored predictions of a disastrous flood in New Orleans - and the answers can come only from an independent commission. We agree with the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, Senator Hillary Clinton and others who say that such a panel should follow the successful formula of the 9/11 commission: bipartisan leadership and members chosen by the White House and both parties in Congress on the basis of real expertise. It should have subpoena power and a staff expert enough to find answers and offer remedies.
(More ... It's Not a 'Blame Game' - New York Times) ¶ 16:08 0 comments
9.06.2005
FEMA Director Singled Out by Response Critics (WashingtonPost.com)
By Spencer S. Hsu and Susan B. Glasser
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 6, 2005; Page A01
Michael D. Brown has been called the accidental director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, caricatured as the failed head of an Arabian horse sporting group who was plucked from obscurity to become President Bush's point man for the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
Amid the swirl of human misery along the Gulf Coast, Brown admitted initially underestimating the impact of Hurricane Katrina, whose winds and water swamped the agency's preparations. As the nation reeled at images of the calamity, he appeared to blame storm victims by noting that the crisis was worsened by New Orleans residents who did not comply with a mandatory evacuation order.
By last weekend, facing mounting calls for his resignation, he told reporters: "People want to lash out at me, lash out at FEMA. I think that's fine. Just lash out, because my job is to continue to save lives." More broadly, the 50-year-old Oklahoma lawyer and the agency he leads have become the focus of a broad reappraisal of U.S. homeland security efforts four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
In recent days, politicians and officials in both parties have derided Brown's qualifications to head the nation's chief disaster-response agency -- as well as the performance of the agency and its federal, state and local partners.
At a time when homeland security experts called for greater domestic focus on preparing for calamity, Brown faced years of funding cuts, personnel departures and FEMA's downgrading from an independent, Cabinet-level agency.
As recently as three weeks ago, state emergency managers urged Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and his deputy, Michael P. Jackson, to ease the department's focus on terrorism, warning that the shift away from traditional disaster management left FEMA a bureaucratic backwater less able to respond to natural events such as hurricanes and earthquakes.
(More ... FEMA Director Singled Out by Response Critics) ¶ 19:33 0 comments
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 6, 2005; Page A01
Michael D. Brown has been called the accidental director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, caricatured as the failed head of an Arabian horse sporting group who was plucked from obscurity to become President Bush's point man for the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
Amid the swirl of human misery along the Gulf Coast, Brown admitted initially underestimating the impact of Hurricane Katrina, whose winds and water swamped the agency's preparations. As the nation reeled at images of the calamity, he appeared to blame storm victims by noting that the crisis was worsened by New Orleans residents who did not comply with a mandatory evacuation order.
By last weekend, facing mounting calls for his resignation, he told reporters: "People want to lash out at me, lash out at FEMA. I think that's fine. Just lash out, because my job is to continue to save lives." More broadly, the 50-year-old Oklahoma lawyer and the agency he leads have become the focus of a broad reappraisal of U.S. homeland security efforts four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
In recent days, politicians and officials in both parties have derided Brown's qualifications to head the nation's chief disaster-response agency -- as well as the performance of the agency and its federal, state and local partners.
At a time when homeland security experts called for greater domestic focus on preparing for calamity, Brown faced years of funding cuts, personnel departures and FEMA's downgrading from an independent, Cabinet-level agency.
As recently as three weeks ago, state emergency managers urged Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and his deputy, Michael P. Jackson, to ease the department's focus on terrorism, warning that the shift away from traditional disaster management left FEMA a bureaucratic backwater less able to respond to natural events such as hurricanes and earthquakes.
(More ... FEMA Director Singled Out by Response Critics) ¶ 19:33 0 comments
A Failure of Leadership (NYTimes.com)
By BOB HERBERT
Published: September 5, 2005
"Bush to New Orleans: Drop Dead"
Neither the death of the chief justice nor the frantic efforts of panicked White House political advisers can conceal the magnitude of the president's failure of leadership last week. The catastrophe in New Orleans billowed up like the howling winds of hell and was carried live and in color on television screens across the U.S. and around the world.
The Big Easy had turned into the Big Hurt, and the colossal failure of George W. Bush to intervene powerfully and immediately to rescue tens of thousands of American citizens who were suffering horribly and dying in agony was there for all the world to see.
Hospitals with deathly ill patients were left without power, with ventilators that didn't work, with floodwaters rising on the lower floors and with corpses rotting in the corridors and stairwells. People unable to breathe on their own, or with cancer or heart disease or kidney failure, slipped into comas and sank into their final sleep in front of helpless doctors and relatives. These were Americans in desperate trouble.
The president didn't seem to notice.
(More ... A Failure of Leadership - New York Times) ¶ 10:01 0 comments
Published: September 5, 2005
"Bush to New Orleans: Drop Dead"
Neither the death of the chief justice nor the frantic efforts of panicked White House political advisers can conceal the magnitude of the president's failure of leadership last week. The catastrophe in New Orleans billowed up like the howling winds of hell and was carried live and in color on television screens across the U.S. and around the world.
The Big Easy had turned into the Big Hurt, and the colossal failure of George W. Bush to intervene powerfully and immediately to rescue tens of thousands of American citizens who were suffering horribly and dying in agony was there for all the world to see.
Hospitals with deathly ill patients were left without power, with ventilators that didn't work, with floodwaters rising on the lower floors and with corpses rotting in the corridors and stairwells. People unable to breathe on their own, or with cancer or heart disease or kidney failure, slipped into comas and sank into their final sleep in front of helpless doctors and relatives. These were Americans in desperate trouble.
The president didn't seem to notice.
(More ... A Failure of Leadership - New York Times) ¶ 10:01 0 comments
After Failures, Government Officials Play Blame Game (NYTimes.com)
By SCOTT SHANE
Published: September 5, 2005
This article was reported by Scott Shane, Eric Lipton and Christopher Drew and written by Mr. Shane.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 - As the Bush administration tried to show a more forceful effort to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, government officials on Sunday escalated their criticism and sniping over who was to blame for the problems plaguing the initial response.
Some federal officials said uncertainty over who was in charge had contributed to delays in providing aid and imposing order, and officials in Louisiana complained that Washington disaster officials had blocked some aid efforts.
Local and state resources were so weakened, said Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, that in the future federal authorities need to take "more of an upfront role earlier on, when we have these truly ultracatastrophes."
But furious state and local officials insisted that the real problem was that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Mr. Chertoff's department oversees, failed to deliver urgently needed help and, through incomprehensible red tape, even thwarted others' efforts to help.
"We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water," said Denise Bottcher, press secretary for Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana. "They wanted to negotiate an organizational chart."
Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans expressed similar frustrations. "We're still fighting over authority," he told reporters on Saturday. "A bunch of people are the boss. The state and federal government are doing a two-step dance."
(More ... After Failures, Government Officials Play Blame Game - New York Times) ¶ 09:58 0 comments
Published: September 5, 2005
This article was reported by Scott Shane, Eric Lipton and Christopher Drew and written by Mr. Shane.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 - As the Bush administration tried to show a more forceful effort to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, government officials on Sunday escalated their criticism and sniping over who was to blame for the problems plaguing the initial response.
Some federal officials said uncertainty over who was in charge had contributed to delays in providing aid and imposing order, and officials in Louisiana complained that Washington disaster officials had blocked some aid efforts.
Local and state resources were so weakened, said Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, that in the future federal authorities need to take "more of an upfront role earlier on, when we have these truly ultracatastrophes."
But furious state and local officials insisted that the real problem was that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Mr. Chertoff's department oversees, failed to deliver urgently needed help and, through incomprehensible red tape, even thwarted others' efforts to help.
"We wanted soldiers, helicopters, food and water," said Denise Bottcher, press secretary for Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana. "They wanted to negotiate an organizational chart."
Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans expressed similar frustrations. "We're still fighting over authority," he told reporters on Saturday. "A bunch of people are the boss. The state and federal government are doing a two-step dance."
(More ... After Failures, Government Officials Play Blame Game - New York Times) ¶ 09:58 0 comments
Killed by Contempt (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 5, 2005
Each day since Katrina brings more evidence of the lethal ineptitude of federal officials. I'm not letting state and local officials off the hook, but federal officials had access to resources that could have made all the difference, but were never mobilized.
Here's one of many examples: The Chicago Tribune reports that the U.S.S. Bataan, equipped with six operating rooms, hundreds of hospital beds and the ability to produce 100,000 gallons of fresh water a day, has been sitting off the Gulf Coast since last Monday - without patients.
Experts say that the first 72 hours after a natural disaster are the crucial window during which prompt action can save many lives. Yet action after Katrina was anything but prompt. Newsweek reports that a "strange paralysis" set in among Bush administration officials, who debated lines of authority while thousands died.
What caused that paralysis? President Bush certainly failed his test. After 9/11, all the country really needed from him was a speech. This time it needed action - and he didn't deliver.
But the federal government's lethal ineptitude wasn't just a consequence of Mr. Bush's personal inadequacy; it was a consequence of ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good. For 25 years the right has been denigrating the public sector, telling us that government is always the problem, not the solution. Why should we be surprised that when we needed a government solution, it wasn't forthcoming?
(More ... Killed by Contempt - New York Times) ¶ 09:53 0 comments
Published: September 5, 2005
Each day since Katrina brings more evidence of the lethal ineptitude of federal officials. I'm not letting state and local officials off the hook, but federal officials had access to resources that could have made all the difference, but were never mobilized.
Here's one of many examples: The Chicago Tribune reports that the U.S.S. Bataan, equipped with six operating rooms, hundreds of hospital beds and the ability to produce 100,000 gallons of fresh water a day, has been sitting off the Gulf Coast since last Monday - without patients.
Experts say that the first 72 hours after a natural disaster are the crucial window during which prompt action can save many lives. Yet action after Katrina was anything but prompt. Newsweek reports that a "strange paralysis" set in among Bush administration officials, who debated lines of authority while thousands died.
What caused that paralysis? President Bush certainly failed his test. After 9/11, all the country really needed from him was a speech. This time it needed action - and he didn't deliver.
But the federal government's lethal ineptitude wasn't just a consequence of Mr. Bush's personal inadequacy; it was a consequence of ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good. For 25 years the right has been denigrating the public sector, telling us that government is always the problem, not the solution. Why should we be surprised that when we needed a government solution, it wasn't forthcoming?
(More ... Killed by Contempt - New York Times) ¶ 09:53 0 comments
Roberts Faces Hard Task As Chief Justice (Guardian.co.uk)
Monday September 5, 2005 8:46 PM
By GINA HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - John Roberts faces the unsettling task of reigning in strong-willed and experienced colleagues, including two men he beat out for the job of chief justice, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
As chief, Roberts would serve as administrative leader of the court. But he must earn the respect of his colleagues in order to corral conservative majorities.
President Bush picked the 50-year-old appeals court judge on Monday to succeed William H. Rehnquist, passing over conservative Supreme Court justices the president has praised in the past: Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
If confirmed, Roberts would become the junior member of the court, where the average age is 70. In a twist, he would be its administrative captain.
His background should help. He argued dozens of Supreme Court cases, as a government lawyer and in private practice. He also served as a law clerk to then-associate Justice Rehnquist.
But he has never attended a conference where the justices debate cases. The weekly meetings are open only to the nine justices. Roberts would run the sessions, and that requires keeping long-winded justices in line.
Rehnquist, 80, was known for silencing colleagues with a single stern stare. Scalia publicly complained about the time limits on discussions, but bowed to the senior Rehnquist out of respect.
As chief justice, Roberts would take the center seat on the bench, where justices sit in order of seniority. He would call up cases, maintain order and serve as the time keeper. Rehnquist was a stickler.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Roberts Faces Hard Task As Chief Justice) ¶ 09:44 0 comments
By GINA HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - John Roberts faces the unsettling task of reigning in strong-willed and experienced colleagues, including two men he beat out for the job of chief justice, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
As chief, Roberts would serve as administrative leader of the court. But he must earn the respect of his colleagues in order to corral conservative majorities.
President Bush picked the 50-year-old appeals court judge on Monday to succeed William H. Rehnquist, passing over conservative Supreme Court justices the president has praised in the past: Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
If confirmed, Roberts would become the junior member of the court, where the average age is 70. In a twist, he would be its administrative captain.
His background should help. He argued dozens of Supreme Court cases, as a government lawyer and in private practice. He also served as a law clerk to then-associate Justice Rehnquist.
But he has never attended a conference where the justices debate cases. The weekly meetings are open only to the nine justices. Roberts would run the sessions, and that requires keeping long-winded justices in line.
Rehnquist, 80, was known for silencing colleagues with a single stern stare. Scalia publicly complained about the time limits on discussions, but bowed to the senior Rehnquist out of respect.
As chief justice, Roberts would take the center seat on the bench, where justices sit in order of seniority. He would call up cases, maintain order and serve as the time keeper. Rehnquist was a stickler.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Roberts Faces Hard Task As Chief Justice) ¶ 09:44 0 comments
9.04.2005
Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies at His Home (ChicagoTribune.com)
By GINA HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
Published September 3, 2005, 10:49 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died Saturday evening at his home in suburban Virginia, said Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg.
A statement from the spokeswoman said he was surrounded by his three children when he died in Arlington.
"The Chief Justice battled thyroid cancer since being diagnosed last October and continued to perform his duties on the court until a precipitous decline in his health the last couple of days," she said.
Rehnquist was appointed to the Supreme Court as an associate justice in 1971 by President Nixon and took his seat on Jan. 7, 1982. He was elevated to chief justice by President Reagan in 1986.
His death ends a remarkable 33-year Supreme Court career during which Rehnquist oversaw the court's conservative shift, presided over an impeachment trial and helped decide a presidential election.
The death gives President Bush his second court opening within four months and sets up what's expected to be an even more bruising Senate confirmation battle than that of John Roberts.
It was not immediately clear what impact Rehnquist's death would have on confirmation hearings for Roberts, scheduled to begin Tuesday.
(More ... Chicago Tribune news :) ¶ 15:54 0 comments
Associated Press Writer
Published September 3, 2005, 10:49 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died Saturday evening at his home in suburban Virginia, said Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg.
A statement from the spokeswoman said he was surrounded by his three children when he died in Arlington.
"The Chief Justice battled thyroid cancer since being diagnosed last October and continued to perform his duties on the court until a precipitous decline in his health the last couple of days," she said.
Rehnquist was appointed to the Supreme Court as an associate justice in 1971 by President Nixon and took his seat on Jan. 7, 1982. He was elevated to chief justice by President Reagan in 1986.
His death ends a remarkable 33-year Supreme Court career during which Rehnquist oversaw the court's conservative shift, presided over an impeachment trial and helped decide a presidential election.
The death gives President Bush his second court opening within four months and sets up what's expected to be an even more bruising Senate confirmation battle than that of John Roberts.
It was not immediately clear what impact Rehnquist's death would have on confirmation hearings for Roberts, scheduled to begin Tuesday.
(More ... Chicago Tribune news :) ¶ 15:54 0 comments
France, Cuba, Venezuela Among Those Offering Aid (USATODAY.com)
Posted 9/2/2005 5:39 PM Updated 9/2/2005 9:28 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an accelerating drive, more than 50 countries have pledged money or other assistance to help Americans recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Cuba and Venezuela have offered to help despite differences with Washington. Oil giant Saudi Arabia and small countries like Sri Lanka and Dominica are among the nations making pledges.
"I hope that will remind Americans that we are all part of the same community," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday as offers kept pouring in.
None has been turned down, Rice said at a news conference, disputing a report from Moscow that a Russian offer had been rejected. However, she said some offers were being taken up immediately and others "somewhat later," depending on the needs on the ground.
But Cuban President Fidel Castro said he hoped an offer made Tuesday to send 1,100 Cuban doctors would be accepted "immediately so as not to lose another minute." Castro said in a live broadcast in Havana Friday night that he had just sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. mission in Havana to make the offer a second time.
In her news conference, Rice singled out Sri Lanka for praise for making a contribution even as it struggles to recover from the tsunami and earthquake disaster of last December.
And she said contributions from poor countries were being accepted because "it is very valuable for people being able to give to each other and to be able to do so without a sense of means."
(More ... USATODAY.com - France, Cuba, Venezuela among those offering aid) ¶ 11:54 0 comments
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an accelerating drive, more than 50 countries have pledged money or other assistance to help Americans recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Cuba and Venezuela have offered to help despite differences with Washington. Oil giant Saudi Arabia and small countries like Sri Lanka and Dominica are among the nations making pledges.
"I hope that will remind Americans that we are all part of the same community," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday as offers kept pouring in.
None has been turned down, Rice said at a news conference, disputing a report from Moscow that a Russian offer had been rejected. However, she said some offers were being taken up immediately and others "somewhat later," depending on the needs on the ground.
But Cuban President Fidel Castro said he hoped an offer made Tuesday to send 1,100 Cuban doctors would be accepted "immediately so as not to lose another minute." Castro said in a live broadcast in Havana Friday night that he had just sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. mission in Havana to make the offer a second time.
In her news conference, Rice singled out Sri Lanka for praise for making a contribution even as it struggles to recover from the tsunami and earthquake disaster of last December.
And she said contributions from poor countries were being accepted because "it is very valuable for people being able to give to each other and to be able to do so without a sense of means."
(More ... USATODAY.com - France, Cuba, Venezuela among those offering aid) ¶ 11:54 0 comments
UNdiplomatic (WashingtonPost.com)
EDITORIAL
Friday, September 2, 2005; Page A28
JUST ABOUT EVERY head of state will be in New York for a U.N. summit two weeks from now, but the preparatory diplomacy has been anything but statesmanlike. John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has demanded a long list of changes to the summit document that, though sometimes defensible in substance, has been presented in such a way as to deepen mistrust and resentment of the United States.
Neither U.N. officials nor Mr. Bolton's office have handled this dispute gracefully. Speaking in his capacity as a special U.N. adviser, Jeffrey D. Sachs, a Columbia University professor, has excoriated the Bush administration for backing away from a commitment to devote 0.7 percent of gross domestic product to foreign aid, but that was never a firm pledge. Meanwhile, Richard Grenell, Mr. Bolton's spokesman, reacted to a request for an interview with the ambassador by enunciating the principle that journalists need to support Mr. Bolton in order to have access to him. As to the diplomacy on the summit document, Mr. Grenell pooh-poohed its significance and predicted that it would fail anyway.
(More ... UNdiplomatic) ¶ 11:47 0 comments
Friday, September 2, 2005; Page A28
JUST ABOUT EVERY head of state will be in New York for a U.N. summit two weeks from now, but the preparatory diplomacy has been anything but statesmanlike. John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has demanded a long list of changes to the summit document that, though sometimes defensible in substance, has been presented in such a way as to deepen mistrust and resentment of the United States.
Neither U.N. officials nor Mr. Bolton's office have handled this dispute gracefully. Speaking in his capacity as a special U.N. adviser, Jeffrey D. Sachs, a Columbia University professor, has excoriated the Bush administration for backing away from a commitment to devote 0.7 percent of gross domestic product to foreign aid, but that was never a firm pledge. Meanwhile, Richard Grenell, Mr. Bolton's spokesman, reacted to a request for an interview with the ambassador by enunciating the principle that journalists need to support Mr. Bolton in order to have access to him. As to the diplomacy on the summit document, Mr. Grenell pooh-poohed its significance and predicted that it would fail anyway.
(More ... UNdiplomatic) ¶ 11:47 0 comments
National Guard Delay Likely to Be Examined (WashingtonPost.com)
By SHARON THEIMER
The Associated Press
Saturday, September 3, 2005; 2:45 AM
WASHINGTON -- Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck _ a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard on Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.
California troops just began arriving in Louisiana on Friday, three days after flood waters devastated New Orleans and chaos broke out.
In fact, when New Orleans' levees gave way to deadly flooding on Tuesday, Louisiana's National Guard had received help from troops in only three other states: Ohio, which had nine people in Louisiana then; Oklahoma, 89; and Texas, 625, figures provided by the National Guard show.
(More ... National Guard Delay Likely to Be Examined) ¶ 11:42 0 comments
The Associated Press
Saturday, September 3, 2005; 2:45 AM
WASHINGTON -- Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck _ a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard on Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.
California troops just began arriving in Louisiana on Friday, three days after flood waters devastated New Orleans and chaos broke out.
In fact, when New Orleans' levees gave way to deadly flooding on Tuesday, Louisiana's National Guard had received help from troops in only three other states: Ohio, which had nine people in Louisiana then; Oklahoma, 89; and Texas, 625, figures provided by the National Guard show.
(More ... National Guard Delay Likely to Be Examined) ¶ 11:42 0 comments
9.03.2005
Amid Stench of Death, Poor Bear the Brunt (Guardian.co.uk)
Gary Younge in Pascalouga, Mississippi
Friday September 2, 2005
The Guardian
The journey from Pensacola to Pascalouga starts with a search for petrol and ends with a search for the dead.
Along the way, the smell of damp in Mobile, Alabama, turns to the stench of death from the Gulf Coast. The radio dial flits from call-in shows fielding requests from beleaguered mayors of small hamlets for generators and ice to Baptist preachers promising God's wrath. But for many here, it seems as though his will has already been done.
The entrance to Pascalouga reveals crushed homes and dilapidated stores alongside queues for petrol and food.
"I've got enough supplies for another two days but I don't know what I'm going to do after that," said Sarah Jackson as she entered her second hour in a queue outside Wal-Mart.
"I keep telling myself I'm lucky because it could have been worse, but with each day I feel less and less lucky."
Officials on the Gulf Coast say the emphasis has moved from search and rescue to bag and tag as emergency rescue workers cut their way through to Gulfport and Biloxi to find the death toll rising steadily.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Amid stench of death, poor bear the brunt) ¶ 20:41 0 comments
Friday September 2, 2005
The Guardian
The journey from Pensacola to Pascalouga starts with a search for petrol and ends with a search for the dead.
Along the way, the smell of damp in Mobile, Alabama, turns to the stench of death from the Gulf Coast. The radio dial flits from call-in shows fielding requests from beleaguered mayors of small hamlets for generators and ice to Baptist preachers promising God's wrath. But for many here, it seems as though his will has already been done.
The entrance to Pascalouga reveals crushed homes and dilapidated stores alongside queues for petrol and food.
"I've got enough supplies for another two days but I don't know what I'm going to do after that," said Sarah Jackson as she entered her second hour in a queue outside Wal-Mart.
"I keep telling myself I'm lucky because it could have been worse, but with each day I feel less and less lucky."
Officials on the Gulf Coast say the emphasis has moved from search and rescue to bag and tag as emergency rescue workers cut their way through to Gulfport and Biloxi to find the death toll rising steadily.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Amid stench of death, poor bear the brunt) ¶ 20:41 0 comments
'Casual to the Point of Careless'--Bush Under Fire for Slow Response (Independent.co.uk)
By Andrew Gumbel
Published: 02 September 2005
President Bush faced not only the fallout of Hurricane Katrina but also an intense political storm yesterday as relief experts, government officials and newspaper editorials criticised everything from his administration's disaster preparedness policies to the manner in which he made his public entry into the growing crisis on the Gulf coast.
The New York Times said of a speech he made on Tuesday: "Nothing about the President's demeanour yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis."
No less trenchant - and more heartfelt - was the Biloxi Sun Herald in Mississippi which surveyed the disaster around its editorial offices and asked: "Why hasn't every able-bodied member of the armed forces in south Mississippi been pressed into service?"
As when the Asian tsunami hit last year, Mr Bush found himself on holiday at his Texas ranch when disaster struck. As with the tsunami, he was soon in the firing line for reacting slowly - he spent Monday on a fundraising tour of the American West - and failing to provide adequate leadership. As survivors complained of a lack of water, food and medical supplies yesterday, fingers from across the political spectrum were pointed at the White House.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Americas : app1) ¶ 20:37 0 comments
Published: 02 September 2005
President Bush faced not only the fallout of Hurricane Katrina but also an intense political storm yesterday as relief experts, government officials and newspaper editorials criticised everything from his administration's disaster preparedness policies to the manner in which he made his public entry into the growing crisis on the Gulf coast.
The New York Times said of a speech he made on Tuesday: "Nothing about the President's demeanour yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis."
No less trenchant - and more heartfelt - was the Biloxi Sun Herald in Mississippi which surveyed the disaster around its editorial offices and asked: "Why hasn't every able-bodied member of the armed forces in south Mississippi been pressed into service?"
As when the Asian tsunami hit last year, Mr Bush found himself on holiday at his Texas ranch when disaster struck. As with the tsunami, he was soon in the firing line for reacting slowly - he spent Monday on a fundraising tour of the American West - and failing to provide adequate leadership. As survivors complained of a lack of water, food and medical supplies yesterday, fingers from across the political spectrum were pointed at the White House.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Americas : app1) ¶ 20:37 0 comments
The Questions a Shocked America is Asking its President (Independent.co.uk)
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Published: 03 September 2005
Why has it taken George Bush five days to get to New Orleans?
President Bush was on holiday in Texas when Katrina struck. He then spent Monday on a pre-arranged political fundraising tour of California and Arizona, which he did not cancel or curtail. On Tuesday he surveyed the hurricane damage - but only from the flight deck of Air Force One, prompting criticism that he was too detached from the suffering on the ground. He didn't give a speech until Tuesday afternoon - 36 hours after the storm first hit - and didn't embark on a proper tour of the region until yesterday. Key advisers have come under fire for similar levels of detachment. As the full magnitude of the disaster unfolded, the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was seen buying shoes in New York, and Dick Cheney remained on holiday.
How could the world's only superpower be so slow in rescuing its own people?
It will probably take months, even years, to answer that question. But here are a few factors to consider: 1) the federal government's disaster relief agency, Fema, has lost considerable clout because the priority at the Department of Homeland Security has been counter-terrorism; 2) the homeland security director, Michael Chertoff, has no experience in disaster relief; 3) because of Fema's low profile, almost no contingency measures were taken before Katrina struck; 4) the under-resourced local Army Corps of Engineers appeared completely unprepared to conduct emergency operations after the levees were breached; 5) nobody appears to have considered the communications problems inherent in loss of phone and cell-phone service.
Why did he cut funding for flood control and emergency management?
Another question likely to be the subject of official investigations. Local and former federal officials are in little doubt that the budgetary priorities of Iraq, tax cuts and the "war on terror" are to blame. Disaster prevention experts have been studying New Orleans for years and urging upgrades to its levees and other preventive measures. The Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to carry out some of this work last year, but its funding was cut. It seems the Bush administration considered the risk of malicious human attack and the risk of the ravages of nature, and found itself incapable of holding both ideas in its head.
Why did it take so long to send adequate National Guard forces to keep law and order?
The National Guard is under pressure in every US state because of the strains of deployment in Iraq. More than one-third of Louisiana's 10,000 guardsmen are either in Iraq or Afghanistan. No mass deployment of guardsmen from other states is being contemplated because they are all needed in Iraq too. At first, only 3,000 guardsmen were sent to New Orleans, but that was increased to about 10,000 as looting and gun violence became widespread.
How can the US take Iraq, a country of £25m people, in three weeks but fail to rescue 25,000 of its own citizens from a sports arena in a big American city?
America's obsession with maintaining its pre-eminent position as the world's largest superpower means it is incapable of responding swiftly and effectively to a humanitarian crisis. While it has the firepower for fighting wars, it does not have the leadership and skills to combat natural disaster.
Why has it taken George Bush five days to get to New Orleans?
President Bush was on holiday in Texas when Katrina struck. He then spent Monday on a pre-arranged political fundraising tour of California and Arizona, which he did not cancel or curtail. On Tuesday he surveyed the hurricane damage - but only from the flight deck of Air Force One, prompting criticism that he was too detached from the suffering on the ground. He didn't give a speech until Tuesday afternoon - 36 hours after the storm first hit - and didn't embark on a proper tour of the region until yesterday. Key advisers have come under fire for similar levels of detachment. As the full magnitude of the disaster unfolded, the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was seen buying shoes in New York, and Dick Cheney remained on holiday.
How could the world's only superpower be so slow in rescuing its own people?
It will probably take months, even years, to answer that question. But here are a few factors to consider: 1) the federal government's disaster relief agency, Fema, has lost considerable clout because the priority at the Department of Homeland Security has been counter-terrorism; 2) the homeland security director, Michael Chertoff, has no experience in disaster relief; 3) because of Fema's low profile, almost no contingency measures were taken before Katrina struck; 4) the under-resourced local Army Corps of Engineers appeared completely unprepared to conduct emergency operations after the levees were breached; 5) nobody appears to have considered the communications problems inherent in loss of phone and cell-phone service.
Why did he cut funding for flood control and emergency management?
Another question likely to be the subject of official investigations. Local and former federal officials are in little doubt that the budgetary priorities of Iraq, tax cuts and the "war on terror" are to blame. Disaster prevention experts have been studying New Orleans for years and urging upgrades to its levees and other preventive measures. The Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to carry out some of this work last year, but its funding was cut. It seems the Bush administration considered the risk of malicious human attack and the risk of the ravages of nature, and found itself incapable of holding both ideas in its head.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Americas : app1) ¶ 20:33 0 comments
Published: 03 September 2005
Why has it taken George Bush five days to get to New Orleans?
President Bush was on holiday in Texas when Katrina struck. He then spent Monday on a pre-arranged political fundraising tour of California and Arizona, which he did not cancel or curtail. On Tuesday he surveyed the hurricane damage - but only from the flight deck of Air Force One, prompting criticism that he was too detached from the suffering on the ground. He didn't give a speech until Tuesday afternoon - 36 hours after the storm first hit - and didn't embark on a proper tour of the region until yesterday. Key advisers have come under fire for similar levels of detachment. As the full magnitude of the disaster unfolded, the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was seen buying shoes in New York, and Dick Cheney remained on holiday.
How could the world's only superpower be so slow in rescuing its own people?
It will probably take months, even years, to answer that question. But here are a few factors to consider: 1) the federal government's disaster relief agency, Fema, has lost considerable clout because the priority at the Department of Homeland Security has been counter-terrorism; 2) the homeland security director, Michael Chertoff, has no experience in disaster relief; 3) because of Fema's low profile, almost no contingency measures were taken before Katrina struck; 4) the under-resourced local Army Corps of Engineers appeared completely unprepared to conduct emergency operations after the levees were breached; 5) nobody appears to have considered the communications problems inherent in loss of phone and cell-phone service.
Why did he cut funding for flood control and emergency management?
Another question likely to be the subject of official investigations. Local and former federal officials are in little doubt that the budgetary priorities of Iraq, tax cuts and the "war on terror" are to blame. Disaster prevention experts have been studying New Orleans for years and urging upgrades to its levees and other preventive measures. The Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to carry out some of this work last year, but its funding was cut. It seems the Bush administration considered the risk of malicious human attack and the risk of the ravages of nature, and found itself incapable of holding both ideas in its head.
Why did it take so long to send adequate National Guard forces to keep law and order?
The National Guard is under pressure in every US state because of the strains of deployment in Iraq. More than one-third of Louisiana's 10,000 guardsmen are either in Iraq or Afghanistan. No mass deployment of guardsmen from other states is being contemplated because they are all needed in Iraq too. At first, only 3,000 guardsmen were sent to New Orleans, but that was increased to about 10,000 as looting and gun violence became widespread.
How can the US take Iraq, a country of £25m people, in three weeks but fail to rescue 25,000 of its own citizens from a sports arena in a big American city?
America's obsession with maintaining its pre-eminent position as the world's largest superpower means it is incapable of responding swiftly and effectively to a humanitarian crisis. While it has the firepower for fighting wars, it does not have the leadership and skills to combat natural disaster.
Why has it taken George Bush five days to get to New Orleans?
President Bush was on holiday in Texas when Katrina struck. He then spent Monday on a pre-arranged political fundraising tour of California and Arizona, which he did not cancel or curtail. On Tuesday he surveyed the hurricane damage - but only from the flight deck of Air Force One, prompting criticism that he was too detached from the suffering on the ground. He didn't give a speech until Tuesday afternoon - 36 hours after the storm first hit - and didn't embark on a proper tour of the region until yesterday. Key advisers have come under fire for similar levels of detachment. As the full magnitude of the disaster unfolded, the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was seen buying shoes in New York, and Dick Cheney remained on holiday.
How could the world's only superpower be so slow in rescuing its own people?
It will probably take months, even years, to answer that question. But here are a few factors to consider: 1) the federal government's disaster relief agency, Fema, has lost considerable clout because the priority at the Department of Homeland Security has been counter-terrorism; 2) the homeland security director, Michael Chertoff, has no experience in disaster relief; 3) because of Fema's low profile, almost no contingency measures were taken before Katrina struck; 4) the under-resourced local Army Corps of Engineers appeared completely unprepared to conduct emergency operations after the levees were breached; 5) nobody appears to have considered the communications problems inherent in loss of phone and cell-phone service.
Why did he cut funding for flood control and emergency management?
Another question likely to be the subject of official investigations. Local and former federal officials are in little doubt that the budgetary priorities of Iraq, tax cuts and the "war on terror" are to blame. Disaster prevention experts have been studying New Orleans for years and urging upgrades to its levees and other preventive measures. The Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to carry out some of this work last year, but its funding was cut. It seems the Bush administration considered the risk of malicious human attack and the risk of the ravages of nature, and found itself incapable of holding both ideas in its head.
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