Earthside Comments: The incompetence and criminal negligence of the Bush regime's response -- or lack thereof -- to Hurricane Katrina continues to be revealed and reported. Political commentators also point out that the retarded reaction to the hurricane's aftermath are the tragic consequences of Bush policies and decisions. Yet already, the elite ruling class in Washington, D.C. and New York are glossing over the accountabilty for this relief disaster ... and, as Dr. Whitehurst observes, the corporate media looks ready, willing and able to bite 'hook, line and sinker' all of the propaganda tricks that Karl Rove is pushing their way.
Link: Day 1 FEMA Concern: Convey Positive Image | Associated Press
The government's disaster chief waited until hours after Hurricane Katrina had struck the Gulf Coast before asking his boss to send 1,000 Homeland Security employees to the region — and gave them two days to arrive, according to internal documents. Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims. Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged yesterday that the first departmentwide appeal for help came only as the storm raged. Brown's memo to Chertoff described Katrina as "this near catastrophic event" but otherwise lacked urgent language. The memo politely ended, "Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities."
Link: The 'Stuff Happens' Presidency | Harold Meyerson
Caring for our countrymen? You jest. A first-class physical infrastructure? Tell that to New Orleans. Throwing so much money at the rich that we've got nothing left over to promote the general welfare? Now you're talking. The problem goes beyond the fact that we can't count on our government to be there for us in catastrophes. It's that a can't-do spirit, a shouldn't-do spirit, guides the men who run the nation. Consider the congressional testimony of Joe Allbaugh, George W. Bush's 2000 campaign manager, who assumed the top position at FEMA in 2001. He characterized the organization as "an oversized entitlement program," and counseled states and cities to rely instead on "faith-based organizations . . . like the Salvation Army and the Mennonite Disaster Service." Is it any surprise, then, that the administration's response to the devastation in New Orleans is of a piece with its response to the sacking of Baghdad once our troops arrived? "Stuff happens" was the way Don Rumsfeld described the destruction of Baghdad's hospitals, universities and museums while American soldiers stood around. Now stuff has happened in New Orleans, too, even as FEMA was turning away offers of assistance. This is the stuff-happens administration. And it's willing, apparently, to sacrifice any claim America may have to national greatness rather than inconvenience the rich by taxing them to build a more secure nation. ... Even now, with bedraggled rescuers pulling decomposed bodies from the muck of New Orleans, Bill Frist, the moral cretin who runs the U.S. Senate, wanted its first order of business this week to be the permanent repeal of the estate tax, until the public outcry persuaded him to change course. The Republicans profess belief in trickle-down, but what they've given us is the Flood. The world looks on in stunned amazement, unable to understand how a once great nation has grown so indifferent not just to its poor and its blacks but even to the most rudimentary self-preservation. Some of it is institutional racism, but the primary culprit is the economic libertarianism that the president still espouses whenever he sells his Social Security snake oil. It's that libertarianism, more than anything else, that has transformed a great city into an immense morgue. But, hey -- stuff happens.
Link: Firing Michael Brown Is Not Enough. How About Bush and Cheney?| Norman Solomon
Calls for firing Michael Brown are understandable. Aptly described as "the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA" by columnist Maureen Dowd a few days ago, he's an easy and appropriate target. President Bush met with Brown last Friday and publicly told him: "You're doing a heck of a job."In the grisly wake of the hurricane, Brown's job performance cannot be separated from Bush's job performance. To similar deadly effect, the president has brought to bear on people in New Orleans the same qualities that he has inflicted on people in Iraq -- refusal to acknowledge basic realities, lethally misplaced priorities, lack of compassion (cue the guitar), and overarching arrogance. The Bush administration is guilty of criminal negligence that killed thousands of people last week. ... Now, key issues involve accountability and decency. We should force a genuine national debate on whether George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are fit to be president and vice president of the United States. They should be held accountable. And we should insist that the country deserves to be governed with decency. ... Most pundits and politicians are saying that the Bush administration's behavior in connection with Hurricane Katrina was unacceptable. But failure to demand full accountability sends a message of tacit acceptance. A grassroots upsurge, encouraged by coalitions working together without reference to political party or ideology, is desperately needed. People should insist that what has happened is literally unacceptable. If a president abdicates his basic responsibility to such a terrible extent, then he should be forced to abdicate his throne in the Oval Office.
I'm always suspicious when I hear people like Newt Gingrich and other conservatives criticize the Bush administration, because it's nearly always a ploy, a tactic used when overwhelming public discontent threatens to rain on the Bush parade. When the whole nation gets up in arms about something, there's no point trying to justify or excuse one's actions; in fact, that would be a stupid thing to do because it would escalate public anger that's already at the boiling point. A brief mea culpa is in order, quickly followed by a brilliant defensive campaign that the mainstream media will be obliged to support. To rescue Bush from nation-wide disapproval, one has to be careful. To turn that disapproval onto an expendable scapegoat, or two, one has to be smart. To turn collective fury into positive PR, however, one has to be a genius. That's where Karl Rove comes in. Here is my prediction: Bush, greatly relieved by Katrina's obliteration of the daily images of Cindy Sheehan and the re-invigorated antiwar movement, will find that the Katrina disaster provides great PR opportunities. He'll start making his "resolute" face a lot and start preaching. He'll stand tall and deliver to the poor and the needy (and voting audiences everywhere) a sermonette at every opportunity filled with flowery, flattering, and inspiring words. In the interests of modesty, I should confess that I can't take full credit for my foresight, because he's already started and, as you'll see, the media is cooperating with the program. Phrases you'll be seeing again and again on the MSM in the coming weeks ...
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