The Dean on Katrina
From an email sent by Howard Dean:
The callous and inept federal response to Hurricane Katrina revealed that, when faced with a crisis that experts had actually predicted, the Republican administration was utterly unprepared and unresponsive. Meanwhile, the shameful foot-dragging since the storm on reconstruction and help to families shows the same lack of interest in solving real problems and saving lives. So far, the administration has gotten around to spending barely half of what Congress authorized.
The Republican administration's failures before and after the storms are linked by a common approach to the solemn responsibilities of government. Simply put: they aren't interested.
This Republican leadership's philosophy means that our government simply will not meet the needs of our people.
Not because it's impossible -- but because they don't believe it should.
Democrats offer a new direction.
We believe in a government that takes its obligations to the American people seriously, one that is always improving the services and protections it provides -- a government that becomes more efficient as it meets challenges and takes on new challenges with serious commitment.
And we believe passionately in the responsibility of public service -- doing the hard, unglamorous work that comes with solving real problems that impact people's lives.
With that sense of responsibility missing in our leaders today, we find ourselves in deep trouble.
A fifth grader interviewed by the New York Times recently -- one of the few who have made it back -- told the reporter that his father, who is in the National Guard, has been sent to the Middle East. Meanwhile, back on the home front, their house has been burglarized.
The boy summed up what people on the Gulf Coast -- and people all across the country -- are feeling right now:
"We deserve better."
This is the Truly Scary Stuff
Yesterday,
Rumsfeld "accused critics of the Bush administration’s Iraq and counterterrorism policies of trying to appease "a new type of fascism'." Cheney has been saying these types of things lately, too, and
Bush said yesterday that public anger over Iraq won't change his policy.
Now, this is the truly scary stuff that is going on in our country today. Scarier than any terrorism. Because its the antithesis of what our country is supposed to be about. When I hear these out of touch wackos say stuff like this, it makes me so scared I think about leaving the country.
What's even scarier is that it took me looking at 3 news websites and digging 3 levels down in the third before I could even find the Rumsfeld story. The news media is too obsessed with JonBenet and polygamists and other crap to report on how these guys are corrupting the America we thought we knew.
Its interesting how people you wouldn't have thought would ever criticize Bush are now doing so -- Joe Scarborough called him dumb, even
Chris Matthews says Bush's moral compass is out of whack. Therein lies my only hope that they won't get away with what they are trying to do.
Do You Get It?
My young daughter gets this. Why don't you?
The U.S. invaded Iraq because it was the weakest country in the region -- weakened by years of U.N. sanctions and weapons inspections, Iraq was a pushover. The U.S. needed another country in the region to put in permanent bases because the Saudis needed the U.S. out of Saudi Arabia because of Arab world objections to a U.S. presence in their holy land. The U.S. needs permanent bases in the Middle East to protect both our oil interests and Israel.
The democracy talk is a smokescreen, just like the Saddam-Osama connection was a lie. We can't leave -- ever. What a fucking nightmare.
My Music These Days
I started out my career as a rock radio DJ and I've always been interested in popular music. Still am, and now that I have a teenager, I'm getting introduced to all sorts of interesting music. I'll get into that in a minute but I do have to say that rock is for the young so those musicians of my generation who are still trying to play like they were 22 -- hey, you ain't. I thought the Stones looked so fucking pathetic at the Super Bowl. I'm also not into nostalgia, so you can't pay me enough to go see freakin' old fucks like the Stones or Paul McCartney or even worse, The Who -- hey get a clue two of the four of you are DEAD and the remaining two look half-dead -- so please don't tour.
Anyway, my current favs are:
Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah -- saw them at a club, they were only OK -- but I still like this CD
The Killers -- haven't had a chance to see them yet, but a good CD
Franz Ferdinand -- who put on a great show, BTW, and I like both their CDs
and my current #1 faves
Hard-Fi -- saw them at a small club and loved them -- great show, great CD
Check 'em out!
Howard Dean Unleashed
God, I love this guy. Howard Dean
speaks truth to power.
"I served with George Felix Allen when he was Governor. I don't think he belongs in public service. There are Republicans who are capable and smart - thoughtful people - and he's not one of them. "
"Ned Lamont is a Democrat. Joe is the past and I think we need a new direction in this country and it's not just the Lieberman Lamont race. It's all over the country. People are looking for a new direction for the country. "
(on Bush's declaration that the U.S. won't leave Iraq as long as he's president) "You don't make a permanent commitment to a failed policy. "
Hilarious Commercials
I love the new Geico ads -- the ones where a celebrity "translates" for a customer. I know people hate these ads -- they were recently voted among the
least liked ads in a survey. But I find them hilarious. My favorite is the Little Richard one, but I also like the "movie trailer voice" guy. The Charo and the Burt Bacharach ones are less appealing.
On the other hand, I am not a fan of the stupid California cheese cows, and that ad is rated as very popular. I just don't get the appeal of that inane campaign.
Life Changing
My son, who is 20, asked me to take him to see the movie World Trade Center. I don't think he's asked me to take him to a movie since he was 5. It made me realize what a life changing event September 11 was for him. Certainly, it was significant for me, too, but perhaps for his generation even more.
How Low Can You Go
One -- well, I was going to say unintended but who knows -- effect of the Bush presidency is the general lowering of expectations from our leaders, particularly the Republican ones. They already get away with far more than any Democrat could because so much of the media is in the bag for them. But its become increasingly difficult for the public to get exorcised about the stupidity of politicians since Bush has set the bar so low.
Sen. George Allen (Cracker, Virginia) ths week called an American of Indian (as in India) descent a "Macaca" which turns out to be a Spanish slur, used throughout Europe, for dark skinned people. He is now dancing fairly frantically to move media attention off of this without apologizing (because to do that would upset his base of crackers).
Prior to Bush, a comment like that would seal Allen's fate. He would never be president. But now when a complete moron like Bush can be president (albeit not necessarily elected) then you can't even ask the question "Is George Allen too stupid to be president?"
Ooooh, Scary
A person I work with said in a staff meeting on Tuesday that the "terrorists" in England were caught using "those wiretaps that people are opposed to." Oy. Where do I begin?
First, that is wrong -- those guys were caught by British law enforcement and they have different wiretapping laws there (not to mention Pakistani intelligence, which is really what tripped them up).
Second, the objection is not the wiretaps, its the refusal by the Bush administration to obey law and go through the FISA courts.
And third, there really wasn't much going on in this so-called plot -- most of those guys didn't even have passports and no tickets had been bought. It was, yet again, a big deal made out of what will likely turn out to be not much.
Sheesh, when are we going to stop letting the government scare us to death?
In Vino Veritas
I realized that I never posted anything about Mel Gibson (yeah, I know, old news). So the headline says it all.
I did laugh during the height of the post arrest coverage when someone on some show somewhere quoted an old Zero Mostel joke -- that pastrami killed more Jews than Hitler.
Message from the Dean
I love how Howard Dean stays on message. From Meet the Press:
MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you about the big political news of the week, that of course related to Senator Joe Lieberman. Six years ago he was the vice presidential choice for your party. What happened?
MR. DEAN: I think he embraced George Bush’s policies, and the American people are tired of George Bush’s policies. They want a new direction in this country, and, and the voters have spoken.
MR. GREGORY: Should he get out of the race now?
MR. DEAN: I think so. Look, I know how hard this is for Joe, and he’s a good, good person. But the truth is I, I lost one of these races, and I got right behind my party’s nominee, and I think that’s what you have to do if you want to help the country. The way to help this country is to limit Republican power. They have failed in, in the budget, they’ve failed in Iraq, they’ve failed at—with Katrina. I just got back from North Dakota; there’s not—more than a war on terror going on in this country, there’s a war on the middle class going on. There—you know, those folks need help, and we need help domestically. We need a change in this country. We need a new direction, and I think Ned Lamont will give us that new direction.
MR. GREGORY: Senator Lieberman led the charge against the new face of the party after his defeat, saying, in effect, it had been taken over by the liberal wing. This is what he had to say the day after his defeat on NBC’s “Today” show.
(Videotape, Wednesday):
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN: I am committed to this campaign, to a different kind of politics, to bringing the Democratic Party back from Ned Lamont, Maxine Waters, to the mainstream.
(End videotape)
MR. GREGORY: “Back from the extreme.” Has the Democratic Party that, that you represent been taken over by the extreme?
MR. DEAN: You know, I think that was an unfortunate statement that Joe made.
That’s exactly the same line that Ken Mehlman and, and Dick Cheney are using. The truth is, Ned Lamont is a moderate. Ned Lamont earned his own living. He made a lot of money—and good for him—in, in this American system. He wants a balanced budget, he wants a sane defense policy, he wants health care for all Americans. That is what the Democratic Party believes in. The truth is, most Democrat—most people in this country, let alone Democrats, most Americans, by a large majority, agree with Led—Ned Lamont and not George Bush and, and Joe Lieberman.
...
MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you about something Senator Lieberman also said in the wake of the UK bombing plot. This is how it was reported in The Washington Post on Friday: “Campaigning in Connecticut, Senator Joseph Lieberman ... said the antiwar views of primary winner Ned Lamont would be ‘taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England.’” Your, your reaction?
MR. DEAN: I think that’s—I think that’s outrageous. I mean, that’s the same—again, the same thing Dick Cheney, who’s been widely discredited by most Americans as essentially a propaganda machine, has said. It’s ridiculous. That is saying to the Connecticut voters that you don’t care about American security and saying to the Connecticut voters that they like al-Qaeda. That is a ridiculous thing. The Republicans hope, once again, to win an election based on fear. They—you know, fear-mongering, whining and complaining and name-calling is not going to lead America.
Minimum Wage
Gawd, the Republicans are despicable:
From an email awhile back from Howard Dean:
Here's the question that the right-wing extremists who control the Republican Congress will put before the Senate:
"Over seven million Americans can have a raise of $2.15 an hour by raising the minimum wage, but only if we give a tax cut to 7,500 ultra-rich people at a cost of $753 billion dollars."
Unbelievable. How can anyone who actually works for a living support these a**holes?
You Know Its Hot When...
Its 80 degrees at 6:30 in the morning.
Its 87 degrees at 10 at night.
The "cold" water coming out of your tap is lukewarm.
Waaaaay too hot for me.
The Bush Legacy
Fallujah
Abu Gharib
Haditha
Guantanamo Bay
Insane corruption in Iraq – turning it over to Halliburton and incompetent party loyalists
Signing statements
Katrina
The Ninth Ward
“Doughnuts” in Medicaid prescription coverage
The Paris Hilton Tax Relief Bill
Give to the rich, take from everyone else
No viable immigration policy
Snowflake babies and an insane stem cell policy
Ignoring Kyoto while the world burns
Inappropriate backrubs of prominent female world leaders
The continued destruction of the middle class
The economic “recovery” that benefits almost no one
The intrusion of a fanatical minority (the religious right) into everyone’s life
