Lets Stop the Hurricane = Terrorist meme

If you take a look at this summary clip (PBS) of Michael Brown over at Crooks and Liars you can see Brownie giving testimony at the House Investigation of FEMA hearings. Of course he tried to shift blame to Blanco - nice try. After Rep. Gene Taylor (D) Mississippi asks Brown to "admit his mistakes and learn from them." Brown goes into a rant of how he lost his Sunday school teacher in a ...terrorist attack? WTF? :

Mr. Taylor let me assure you, that I have been to plenty of disasters. I have had friends die by terrorist incidents. I lost my Sunday school teacher in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building. I know what death and destruction is. So I don't expect you to lecture me about not knowing how people suffer.

OK, you are out of your mind.

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This is Awesome...

I frequently go to The Wisky Bar for my best reads of the day. If you haven't read Billmon's parody on Scott McClellan press conference, please do. Here is the start:

Q Scott, does the President plan to be present on the scene when Hurricane Rita makes landfall, to comfort the victims and give them hope and leadership in their time of peril?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm glad you asked that question, Jeff. Good to have you back, by the way. Yes, the President will be involved and visibly active on TV at all times during this disaster. We also expect him to personally save at least three elderly black persons from drowning by carrying them piggyback from their flooded homes and delivering them safely into the arms of waiting paramedics. And yes, there will be time for questions afterwards. Steve?

It would be funny if it wasn't so close to being true.

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This Guy is Batshit Insane

I feel like these are the words of a desperate man:

"We look at the destruction caused by Katrina, and our hearts break," he said. Turning the subject to terrorists, he said: "They're the kind of people who look at Katrina and wish they had caused it. We're in a war against these people."

Any person of with a shred of decency would say, "this shit is too fucked up to say to the nation." Not our president, because he is insane. Really, I think he has come to realize that he does not know a lick about running a country and it is driving him insane.

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ID and the Conservative Noise Machine

I woke up this morning and read a great op-ed piece by Daniel Dennett a professor of Philosophy at Tufts University in the NY Times. His piece, Show Me the Science, discusses Intelligent Design and the preposterous idea that this is a theory is an alternative to evolution. We are humans and for some the idea that we were put on this earth for no good reason is difficult to take. So when facts that support this are presented, we have to search our soul and look for meaning on a much smaller scale. Conversely, if we talked about, say, the reasons why your credit card can be scaned and information "magically" lifted off of it, we can be comfortable that our core beliefs will stay undisturbed.

With evolution, however, it is different. The fundamental scientific idea of evolution by natural selection is not just mind-boggling; natural selection, by executing God's traditional task of designing and creating all creatures great and small, also seems to deny one of the best reasons we have for believing in God.

For most of us, we either reconcile the real world with our spiritual world using some "fudge factors" or we think, wow, isn't wholesale religion a waste of time. If you can't let go of some antiquated notions and you are a person who believes that everyone should believe similarly, you start the noise machine.

Instead, the proponents of intelligent design use a ploy that works something like this. First you misuse or misdescribe some scientist's work. Then you get an angry rebuttal. Then, instead of dealing forthrightly with the charges leveled, you cite the rebuttal as evidence that there is a "controversy" to teach.

Once you have completely confused the general populis and have people thinking that your lame ideas are on an equal footing as real science you have done your job. You don't have to convince everyone, just make it so the waters are sufficiently muddied.

If this all sounds familiar it should as it is the Bush administrations guide to everything. Have a core belief (middle east peace can be easily achieved, social security is a problem and not a solution, taxes are an ill of society) and get it your information out there. Even if the so called experts have views of the contrary, this is no problem. First of all, don't listen to them. However, other people will listen to them and question your ideas. Not a problem. Confuse the issue with lies and half-truths and play a continual game of up-is-down. When they catch lying, go back to the original point and start the whole process again. For how long was the Bush adminstration telling us about WMD? Even when it became evident there were none, they still sighted this reason for invading a country until the facts became to overwhelming to dismiss. Then they switched to terrorist connections as an excuse. Then Iraqi freedome and democracy.

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Donald Woolley: 1932 - 2005

Donald Woolley died this week. I have never met him, I may have talked to him once, but he was a life-long friend of my Mom. Why do I write about him here? I am not sure, but in some way I was just moved by the e-mails that my Mom sent and felt it was a nice thing to reflect on. According to my Mom, they met in kindergarten and managed to stay friends ever since. In case you were wondering, that's a long time(approximately 67 years).

In her words,
"He sent me the craziest things..from subscriptions to books to silly gifts...... I always knew if I was having a rough day that I had a chance of a piece of mail or a phone call from him to lift my spirits."

Very nice. I picture a long movie that starts on the play grounds of Newton, Massachusetts and proceeds on with the trials and tribulations of life. Going to each others weddings; a visit to see a new born child; support during a tough divorce; support during the loss of a loved one. Intermingled with the tough stuff was a phone call or a present here and there. It turns out, that is what my Mom remembered about him. The small stuff does count!

With my baby daughter, I have started to ponder what her life may be like. What will be her first words? Will she be left handed? What will she study in college? A then I wondered, will she meet someone nice at kindergarten to help her through her life?

Rest in peace Donald.

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Hayes is Wacked

I saw this interview happen real time on CNN. I didn't get enough blogging and I figured it definitely deserves a look.
Carol Costello, who does the "news" on the-fuck-up-your-day American Morning show on CNN, and is an anchor on DayBreak actually does a pretty good interview - compared to Bill Hemmer she very good, but who isn't? After Bush's speach at Fort Bragg NC in which he explained to all American why we should stay in this war no matter what. Costello interviews Rep. Robin Hayes (R) North Carolina to get some feedback.

COSTELLO: Time to talk to lawmakers who, after all, voted for the war and
have voted and, again to pay for it. Joining us live from Washington, Representative Robin Hayes, a Republican from North Carolina. Welcome.

REP. ROBIN HAYES (R), NORTH CAROLINA: Thank you, Carol. Good morning.

COSTELLO: Representative Hayes, your district includes Fort Bragg, where the president made his speech. I want to read you an e-mail from one of our viewers. Dan in California writes: "Bush really should be making this speech at Arlington National Cemetery, not at Fort Bragg." Was it appropriate for President Bush to speak there?

HAYES: Absolutely, it was. It shows our love and appreciation for the troops and what they're doing. The president spent three hours with family members who've lost loved ones as a result of this war against terror and terrorists. (Read: Of course it was. Everything that Bush does is fucking wonderful. )

COSTELLO: But isn't he, in part, using Fort Bragg as an appropriate backdrop to cheerlead the war in Iraq? (Read: Isn't Bush just a shameless huckster?)

HAYES: It's not about cheerleading the war in Iraq, it's about informing the American people of the progress that's been made. The e-mail I got from Iraq yesterday, "a time line is a terrible mistake," "we are winning," "we will win." And the stakes, the future is Western civilization and freedom around the world.

COSTELLO: President Bush said in his speech we're there to fight terrorists. But he failed to explain how a war to remove a dictator bent on using nuclear weapons has turned into a fight against Muslim militants. Doesn't he owe us an explanation?

HAYES: He gave us a very good explanation of what the war is about. It's winning the war against terror and people that would kill us, innocent women and children. This is about a military action against ruthless, brutal killers who have no conscience whatsoever.

COSTELLO: Well, we understand that. (Read: You're fucked. )

HAYES: It's about destroying us.
Er, that doesn't make sense...

COSTELLO: But that's not what it started out, when the United States invaded Iraq. It's changed, hasn't it?

HAYES: I don't think it's changed at all. It's very clear that terrorists are connected to what Saddam Hussein was all about. And that again faces up to the most severe threat going forward...

COSTELLO: But there is no..

HAYES: We have to do a good job explaining..

COSTELLO: ... evidence that Saddam Hussein was connected in any way to al Qaeda.
HAYES: Ma'am, I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. There's evidence everywhere. We get access to it, unfortunately others don't. But the evidence is very clear.

COSTELLO: What evidence is there?

HAYES: The connection between individuals who were connected to Saddam Hussein, folks who worked for him, we've seen it time and time again. But the issue is where are we now. Nobody disputes 9/11. They would do that again if not prevented. Preventing 9/11 wherever it might happen in America, winning the war overseas, not bringing it here to our shores, is the issue in that regard.

COSTELLO: Well, are you saying that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11?

HAYES: I'm saying that Saddam Hussein -- and I think you're losing track of what we're trying to talk about here -- Saddam Hussein and people like him were very much involved in 9/11. Did he make the phone call and say...

COSTELLO: There's no evidence of that.

HAYES: Well, I'm sorry, you haven't looked in the right places.

COSTELLO: I must not have, because I know of no evidence connecting Saddam Hussein to Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda. And, also, there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. And many people writing to us this morning wanted
the president to explain those things.

HAYES: Well, we would be glad to explain it. I'd love to talk to those people face-to-face because hundreds of thousands of Kurds were gassed and killed, biological weapons were used. Fortunately, nuclear weapons weren't there. That's one smoking gun we didn't find. But it's very clear he would have used it if he could. The terrorists that remain would clearly use nuclear, biological, chemical, any other kind of weapon to destroy you, me and our families.

COSTELLO: All right, well, let me ask you this, because taxpayers are doling out in excess of $400 billion to pay for this war. You have the power when it comes to this. Is there a time when you will say enough?

HAYES: I will say enough when we have victory against terror and terrorists. We are winning the war in Iraq. A time line is a terrible idea. That came directly from the people who are fighting the war. Progress is being made. The men and women are doing a fabulous job. There's a time line clearly with a constitution and elections being held. We stand down as they stand up. Progress is being made every day in the strength and confidence of the Iraqi security forces. That's what brings our men and women home. And the stake is our future and our children's future.

COSTELLO: A final question. Do you feel safer here because of the war in Iraq? Is that preventing terrorist attacks in the United States?

HAYES: Absolutely. Well, we haven't had an attack since 9/11, and that's what we're here to prevent. And I absolutely do feel safer. If not now, when? If not here, where? And better in Iraq than in America.

COSTELLO: Representative Hayes, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning. We appreciate it.

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Pure Irony

I picked this up in the WSJ, but you can probably find the comments in a few sources. It seems like Rummy is pissed at the Chinese for spending too much on defense, "[China] was pouring huge resources into its military and buying large amounts of sophisticated weapons despite facing no threat from any other country." quotes the WSJ.

Of course the Journal answers the next logical question which would be, How much and doesn't the US spend a lot more than China?

"A report last month by a U.S. think tank put China's military spending between $69 billion and $78 billion a year, estimated in 2001 U.S. dollars. That ranges between 2.3% and 2.8% of China's gross domestic product, according to the Rand Corp. That compares with the $430 billion spent by the U.S. on defense in 2004 -- 3.9% of the country's GDP."

OK, can you really be mad at a country that is spending LESS than your country on their military? It would be like the dude on the block who lifts weights all day and practices martial arts in the evenings, getting on about someone doing push-ups in their basement. And please don't give me the line that the US is fighting a war on terror - which, by the way, makes no sense.

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This is Awesome

I hadn't been following this, but picked it via the Rude Pundit. George Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, delivered this statement to US Senators today who have accused him of corruption. Aparantly, he is pretty pissed off and told the Senate so. If you have time, read the whole thing in the Times on-line; its short and sweet. This is my favorite part:

Now, Senator, I gave my heart and soul to oppose the policy that you promoted. I gave my political life's blood to try to stop the mass killing of Iraqis by the sanctions on Iraq which killed one million Iraqis, most of themchildren, most of them died before they even knew that they were Iraqis, but they died for no other reason other than that they were Iraqis with the misfortune to born at that time. I gave my heart and soul to stop you committing the disaster that you did commit in invading Iraq. And I told the world that your case for the war was a pack of lies.

I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

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