(In case people need a reminder on what exactly John McCain and Our President were doing on this day three years ago (while people were DYING in New Orleans) the picture tells the story.
Republican officials said yesterday that they are considering delaying the start of the GOP convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which is on track to hit the Gulf Coast, and possibly New Orleans, as a full-force hurricane early next week.
...
For Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Gustav threatens to provide an untimely reminder of Hurricane Katrina. A new major storm along the Gulf Coast would renew memories of one of the low points of the Bush administration, while pulling public attention away from McCain's formal coronation as the GOP presidential nominee.
Here is a quote from a McCain campaign spokesman included in the article:
"Senator McCain has always been sensitive to national crisis," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds
That the McCain spokesman had the gall to make that statement on the third anniversary, to the day, of McCain's and Bush's photo op with a birthday cake while people drowned in New Orleans is simply staggering.
UPDATE CTBlogger: Every year at this time, I do a post on the Katrina disaster and show the following video. This year, in honor of McCain's role in the national disgrace, I felt the video would be best added to this post.
The Chairman's responsibilities and Jurisdictions will include real oversight concerning failures of the Bush administration in providing security to our nation during times of war, illegal invasions, ongoing occupations, and natural disasters, as well as overseeing the bloated budget and operations of the largest branch of government ever to be created in the US governments' history through legislation authored under the Republican controlled Senate and House, and signed by the Republican pResident of the time.
Your main and immidiate responsibilities will include holding the needed hearings, directing sub-commitees and legislation needed to avoid repeating the previous disasters, corrupt practices, and failures that will be found with the propper direction and oversight of a NON-PARTISAN and ethical Senate leader.
(1)Minorities such as moderate Republicans having no ties to far-right-wing radical organizations like the Neoconservative movement, the American Enterprise Instute, The Heritage Foundation, Energy Corporations, or the Bush administrations most recent policy proposals that are doomed to failure, are encouraged to apply to Senator Harry Reid for any consideration concerning this soon to be available position.
(2)Note to applicants: Please mark the subject of the Email as "Homeland Security" and refer to this x-posted Blog diary in the opening paragragh of the application. You will be contacted shortly before I post an "I told you so!" diary covering the flawed positons, election statement lies, and propaganda of the far-right-wing radical Neoconservative Joe Lieberman.
But while one of Connecticut's Senators is doing his best to get NOLA and the Gulf Coast back on track, the other is all too predictably still blocking any meaningful investigation of what happened in the White House during those horrific days two years ago this week, from his perch as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
Jan. 11, 2007 - Sen. Joe Lieberman, the only Democrat to endorse President Bush's new plan for Iraq, has quietly backed away from his pre-election demands that the White House turn over potentially embarrassing documents relating to its handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans....
But now that he chairs the homeland panel-and is in a position to subpoena the records-Lieberman has decided not to pursue the material, according to Leslie Phillips, the senator's chief committee spokeswoman. "The senator now intends to focus his attention on the future security of the American people and other matters and does not expect to revisit the White House's role in Katrina," she told NEWSWEEK.
Spokeswoman Leslie Philips said Friday that Lieberman, the new chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, wouldn't issue subpoenas to the White House as he called for less than a year ago.
"The senator believes a more productive use of his time and that of his staff is to make sure legislative fixes are implemented and ensure that a response to a future catastrophe is better," Philips said. "The senator feels the American public has already concluded that the White House response was sorely lacking. Rather than take on the White House and open an old fight, he believes he can be more productive by moving forward."
Lieberman said he was not interested in "looking back, and assigning blame would be a waste of Congress' time." Responding to yesterday's protestor, Lieberman said, "We don't want to play 'gotcha' anymore."
Of course, Joe Lieberman - along with his fellow traveler in obsequiousness Susan Collins - were calling for us to "move forward" from the "blame game" just days after the storm hit, promising that the time for an investigation would come... later:
"Obviously, what Michael Chertoff and Michael Brown did in this circumstance would be of great interest in our inquiry... the last thing we want to do now is reach judgments about who should stay and who should go."
"Look, Mr. Brown works for President Bush, and Sec. Chertoff... I wish we could focus now on [the recovery], and not get too much into the "blame game" right now.... We've committed to a no-holds-barred investigation... particularly for our committee... we want to know why it didn't work."
So, two years later... is it time to reach those "judgments," yet?
And what exactly happened to that "no-holds-barred investigation" you promised the people of New Orleans - and the people of the nation - Senator?
Two years ago when Branfordboy had just launched MyLeftNutmeg into the blogosphere, perhaps, in hopes of satiating the progressive thirst for a progressive voice in his Constitution state, a monster of a storm oscillated into the Gulf of Mexico to forever change the geography of New Orleans. The ensuing catastrophe subsequently helped open the eyes of the entire nation to the inadequacies of it's government and it's current president.
The Chairman's responsibilities and Jurisdictions will include real oversight concerning failures of the Bush administration in providing security to our nation during times of war, illegal invasions, ongoing occupations, and natural disasters, as well as overseeing the bloated budget and operations of the largest branch of government ever to be created in the US governments' history through legislation authored under the Republican controlled Senate and House, and signed by the Republican pResident of the time.
Your main and immidiate responsibilities will include holding the needed hearings, directing sub-commitees and legislation needed to avoid repeating the previous disasters, corrupt practices, and failures that will be found with the propper direction and oversight of a NON-PARTISAN and ethical Senate leader.
(1)Minorities such as moderate Republicans having no ties to far-right-wing radical organizations like the Neoconservative movement, the American Enterprise Instute, The Heritage Foundation, Energy Corporations, or the Bush administrations most recent policy proposals that are doomed to failure, are encouraged to apply to Senator Harry Reid for any consideration concerning this soon to be available position.
(2)Note to applicants: Please mark the subject of the Email as "Homeland Security" and refer to this x-posted Blog diary in the opening paragragh of the application. You will be contacted shortly before I post an "I told you so!" diary covering the flawed positons, election statement lies, and propaganda of the far-right-wing radical Neoconservative Joe Lieberman.
There are still key questions left unanswered about the administration's disaster response. Former FEMA chief Michael Brown said that in a still-secret videoconference shortly after Katrina hit New Orleans, he warned presidential aides that 90 percent of the city was being "displaced," but was greeted with "deafening silence." Brown also suggested "party politics played a role" in White House reactions to the aftermath of Katrina.
When he was running for re-election, Lieberman pledged to investigate the White House's conduct in the aftermath of Katrina....
The Senate Homeland Security Committee is holding hearings on Katrina in New Orleans this morning. Apparently, New Orleans residents aren't too thrilled with Chairman Lieberman's plans to let the Bush administration off the hook for their sickening negligence during the storm and it's aftermath:
A heckler couldn't get the best of Senator Joe Lieberman at a hearing this morning in New Orleans on the government's response to Hurricane Katrina.
Lieberman and other members of a Senate panel are in New Orleans for the hearing. Right at the start, a man began yelling "Stand up for justice!" He was finally led out of the building.
Lieberman, who'd been opening the hearing, took it in stride. He says it's hard to come back to the Crescent City more than a year after the storm "without feeling that emotion."
Justice? Accountability? Despite his protestations this morning, it's clear His Sanctimoniousness doesn't actually second that "emotion":
But now that he chairs the homeland panel-and is in a position to subpoena the records-Lieberman has decided not to pursue the material [the White House withheld on Katrina], according to Leslie Phillips, the senator's chief committee spokeswoman. "The senator now intends to focus his attention on the future security of the American people and other matters and does not expect to revisit the White House's role in Katrina," she told NEWSWEEK.
(Here was Lieberman's office's response to the Newsweek article, claiming he was "unfairly" singled out for going back on his word.)
Former FEMA director Michael Brown makes some serious allegations here, backed up by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. Do you think the CT papers will finally start talking about Lieberman's refusal to investigate?
snip
''Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking, 'We had to federalize Louisiana because she's a white, female Democratic governor, and we have a chance to rub her nose in it,''' (Brown) said, without naming names. '''We can't do it to Haley (Barbour) because Haley's a white male Republican governor. And we can't do a thing to him. So we're just gonna federalize Louisiana.'''
snip
''This is exactly what we were living but could not bring ourselves to believe. Karl Rove was playing politics while our people were dying,'' Blanco said through a spokeswoman, referring to Bush's top political strategist. ''The federal effort was delayed, and now the public knows why. It's disgusting.''
In a post titled "Lieberman stabs ally Landrieu in the back," Kos does an excellent job of analyzing Joe Lieberman's latest act of betrayal in his refusal to hold the Bush Administration accountable for its criminal non-response to Katrina.
Make no mistake -- Lieberman has just made a fool of Landrieu. He has just told her he doesn't give a shit about her, her reelection efforts, her African-American constituents, nor all New Orleans and Louisiana residents. He obviously knows who brought him to the dance (Republicans), and he'll carry their water before he repays the efforts of one of his staunchest allies.
Landrieu is now left to meekly argue that Lieberman hasn't really jilted her.
Landrieu deserves to go down in '08. She may have an African-American Dem challenger.
Landrieu in 2008 will be running under a new federal election process that scraps the state's unusual November open primary in favor of a more conventional primary and general election structure. Landrieu could face a direct primary challenge, possibly from former Rep. Cleo Fields (D), now a state senator who sponsored the bill changing the primary process.
Okay, so we don't have recalls in Connecticut (for which I am thankful, save this one time). We can, however, petition for ballot questions for the 2007 elections. I propose we get a (non-binding, unenforceable) "Dump Joe?" question on the ballot.
OK, so it's obvious by now that the rules of the game are that Joe Lieberman is allowed to say absolutely anything on the issue of Iraq, no matter how ridiculous or false, no matter if he said the opposite last week or last month, without being called out by any politician on either side of the aisle.
Eric Kleefeld at TPM Cafe is on the case, going after national and local Louisiana and gulf coast politicians alike for their responses:
We thought this punt by Lieberman was pretty eye-opening. So we decided to call all the Dem Presidential hopefuls, all the Dems on Homeland Security, and a few Gulf Coast pols to get their reaction to it.
Now we have our first response. Congressman Charlie Melancon, a relatively conservative Democrat from Louisiana, has just hammered Lieberman's decision in an interview with Election Central.
"I'm just disappointed that he's not going to pursue it, particularly pursue it in terms of - I can understand that there's a whole lot of things we haven't had oversight on in six years - but Katrina is a major national occurrence."
Asked whether Lieberman's new stand might feed complaints that he has become too close to the White House, Phillips responded: "The senator is an independent Democrat and answers only to the people who elected him to office and to his own conscience."
Well then. Since this sick, sick man obviously has no conscience, time to let him know what his constituents think:
(860) 549-8463 CT
(800) 225-5605 CT Toll-Free
(860) 549-8478 CT Fax
(202) 224-4041 DC
(202) 224-9750 DC Fax
I am again posting this link to call your attention to the incredible links someone sent to Tim Tagaris with his first diary from NOLA.
I am so moved by the images, the feelings, the events contained in these blogs. The link above is utterly graphic and no holds barred in its anger. Underneath it all, I bet there's exhaustion and pain and frustration and loss, not the least of which is loss of faith in what our country stands for, and what promises our government stands behind.
I took the time to step into another world and witnessed through these blogs what is going on in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America, today. I don't have any agenda about how you should or must feel, but these diaries are powerful and hard to just walk away from. I encourage people to take a few minutes to know them.
Hat tip to joejoejoe for these interesting links. Tim's latest report from NOLA has additional links. http://mydd.com/comm...
CT's Dem field for statewide office is so fluid now with Susan Bysiewicz jumping out of the race for Governor that anything is possible.
Blumenthal's office received quite a few phone calls on Friday encouraging him to run for Senate in '06 and the screws are tightening on Lieberman because of his incompetent oversight of Homeland Security and his insistence
A full transcript of Michael Brown's perfunctory confirmation hearing as head of FEMA shows Joe Lieberman at his go along to get along best.
I am glad the President has nominated someone already familiar with FEMA's mission ... Before joining the Bush
Administration, I note from his resume, he served as executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors in Denver. ... Mr. Brown, you have extensive management experience.
Good grief!
And now that John Orman has dropped out of the race, who will rid us of this meddlesome DINO?
Mayor DeStefano is the first (and apparently only!) Connecticut official to offer aid and succor to the victims of Katrina.
The New Haven Independent takes a swipe at Governor Rowland-Rell over her Bush-like inaction in the face of the humanitarian disaster in New Orleans while DeStefano swings into action.
The reporter noted that no other Connecticut city so far has invited in Gulf Coast families. The reporter noted further that Massachusetts’ governor has announced a goal of bringing in 2,500 families. Wouldn’t it help, the reporter asked, if Gov. Rell made a similar move?
In other words, wouldn’t it help if Rell—the popular Republican governor whom DeStefano wants to unseat in the 2006 election--took the initiative to organize government to help people the way John DeStefano is doing?
A headline in AP's Top Stories this morning reads "Bush Says He'll Fill Vacancies Promptly." I was still groggy from sleep, so my first thought was that the story would be about replacing the leadership of FEMA and Homeland Security. Of course not. The story was about choosing a new justice for the Supreme Court.
There are three ways to leave this administration:
1) Resign to accept an obscenely lucrative position in the private sector.
2) Get fired for telling the truth (sadly, there only a few in this category like former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill)
3) Die
Why are mistakes so richly rewarded in the Bush administration? Why are the people responsible for the security lapse of September 11 and "planning" the unnecessary war in Iraq given medals and promotions?
It's because from the very top -- President George W. Bush -- down, this administration is composed of complete fuck-ups. Bush, who ran his oil company (bankrolled by Daddy's friends) into the ground, has surrounded himself with a cast of fellow incompetents. If they were actually held accountable for doing their jobs, there would be no executive branch left.
If mistakes are made, Bush understands -- he's been fucking up his whole life: a twisted childhood; failure in school; alcohol sodden, superficial personal relationships; and a succession of dry holes in business. Bush was rewarded with each failure. That's the way this pampered moron's world works.
So when his minions screw up, Bush is ready with a pat on the back and a reward for their loyalty. The American people are left to pay the price and clean up the mess. God help us.
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