Nat'l Voter ID Card Could Disenfranchise Millions

National Voter ID Card Could Disenfranchise Millions

At 10:35 am ET, President Bush will receive former President Carter and James Baker's election reform report. There's something contained within that report that is dismaying for any libertarian-leaning citizen to learn. Millions of Americans will likely be made ineligible to vote in elections should legislation be enacted to require national voter ID cards. It is believed that it would also inevitably disenfranchise minority voters, along with those who live in poverty and the elderly. In a shocking turn of events, Raw Story reports that a voting reform commission which has already taken heat for playing host to sham voting rights groups run by members of the Bush-Cheney campaign has now recommended the institution of a national voter ID card. What is particularly disturbing is that civil rights groups had essentially been barred from testifying about their concerns. You can the Commission on Federal Election Reform here (pdf).

UPDATE: Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL), Chris Dodd (D-CT), and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) will hold a 2:15 pm ET press conference to voice their opposition to a recommendation made by the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform which would require all Americans to show photo identification before voting. [Source:TheNote/ABC]

Hypocritical Times

Hypocritical Times

We're living in hypocritical times. We are aware that the US went into heavy deficits four years ago. The Bush administration has taken us to two wars - one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq, but never saw a need to call for any personal sacrifice to carry the debtload of hundreds of millions of dollars each day. Instead of calling for sacrifice, tax breaks have been legislated for the benefit of the richest. Through our need to borrow, our own economy has come to depend on the kindness of communist nations like China to pay for our elective wars which we claim will "make the world safe for democracy." Meanwhile, the gap between rich and poor has widened. Poverty in America is on the rise while the Bush economy grows, taking on third-world characteristics. We see a staggering amount of concentrated wealth that recalls to us the memory of the pre-Depression days. Hurricane Katrina literally blew the lid off the issue of poverty and washed away the illusion that we didn't know that the problem of poverty existed. The truth is, we didn't act because we didn't want to look, as Sen John Edwards eloquently said today in his Center for American Progress speech on "Restoring the American Dream." The $3.oo per gallon we pay at the pump for our gas is a personal sacrifice - but only for the oil companies.

I want to know what happened to the America where caring citizens shared common traditional values and worked for the common good? Just about any issue you examine today leaves you with a sense that you're living as an island - in a vacuum where everything your leadership is telling you they're doing raises a distinct sense of hypocrisy when you look at the actual outcome of their actions.

Americans thirst for community - and they're becoming increasingly tired of the kind of political hypocrisy where one thing comes out of the President's lips, and another thing happens altogether.

Peter Daou: The Triangle

Peter Daou: The Triangle
Limits of Blog Power
Peter Daou of the Daou Report[Salon.com]has written a piece on blogging and its political power and the limits of that power. As a Kerry advisor, he says he'd made his case as forcefully as he could on behalf of netroots organizing as a communications tour de force, but to a good extent, "the old guard" made it clear that it was too early in American political history for convincing them.

By defining "political influence" as the capacity to alter or create conventional wisdom, (conventional wisdom meaning a widely held belief on which most people act), Daou uses Hurricane Katrina and Ohio candidate-for-Congress Paul Hackett as prime examples of how a triangle of blogs, media, and the political establishment has been (and can be) an essential influence in creating a major shift of "conventional wisdom."

Daou offers his view of the confluence of the triangle construct (netroots + media + party establishment = Conventional Wisdom), and forwards the notion that, although media would get along just fine without bloggers - having a megaphone large enough to keep their corner as the gatekeepers of Conventional Wisdom - the bloggers' presence has thrown an undeniable monkey wrench in the spokes of their wheels.

From whence doth netroots power cometh? I'll use Peter Daou's words:

Reporters, pundits, and politicians read blogs, and, more importantly, they care what bloggers say about them because they know other reporters, pundits, and politicians are reading the same blogs. It’s a virtuous circle for the netroots and a source of political power.

I found agreement with Daou's view of the right blogosphere in that their primary strategic aim seems to be preventing the left from forming its own triangle, as they have done with Drudge-Fox News and the RNC (top-down strategy). Desperation shows when an unvarnished truth (such as that exposed by Katrina) appears, rendering their "conventional wisdom" as little more than a smoke screen - a "triangle-emperor with no clothing."

As far as the left is concerned, Daou says :

...left-leaning bloggers face the challenge of a mass media consumed by the shop-worn narrative of Bush the popular, plain-spoken leader, and a Democratic Party incapacitated (for the most part) by the focus-grouped fear of turning off "swing voters" by attacking Bush. For the progressive netroots, the past half-decade has been a Sisyphean loop of scandal after scandal melting away as the media and party establishment remain disengaged.

and he offers some advice:

It would seem reasonable to conclude, then, that the best strategy for the progressive netroots is to go after the media and Democratic Party leaders and spend less time and energy attacking the Bush administration. If the netroots alone can’t change the political landscape without the participation of the media and Democratic establishment, then there’s no point wasting precious online space blasting away at Republicans while the other sides of the triangle stand idly by.

If I were to throw in any additional advice, it would be for left-bloggers to continue to contribute and forward constructive ideas about respective issues, because someone is definitely listening and may be interested or influenced by those ideas.

When Karl Rove Speaks

When Karl Rove Speaks...

...people listen to (and tell about) what the influential gasbag is saying.

Middle Class Taxpayers Will Lose American Dream

Paying for Katrina:
Middle Class Taxpayers Will Lose American Dream

On Katrina rebuilding:

"It's going to cost whatever it costs," [President] Bush said [last Friday.] Allan Hubbard, Bush's economic adviser, was equally blunt when asked who will pay: "The money ... is going to come from the federal taxpayer." [USA Today]

Do the math, whiz kids. Unless Bush tax cuts are rolled back now, you middle-class taxpayers are going to bear the brunt of this thing - and so will your children. Bush says he's confident that "we" can handle it - meaning you, the taxpayer. Are you so sure? Tom Delay admits there's no more federal spending to cut. "No appreciable fat", he says, as if he's talking about Kate Moss instead of your government.

This is where the rubber meets the road - and Karl Rove is drunk with power at the wheel. I can see us going off the road, Middle Class taxpayers, and what will be derailed, by the undue burden put upon you, is your American dream.

Call for Bush tax rollbacks now - before it's too late. Demand a realistic and transparent plan to rebuild New Orleans and end the poverty that pervaded the city before the Hurrican ever came close.

John Edwards to Give Speech on Poverty

John Edwards to Give Speech on Poverty

Today at 1:15 pm ET at the Center for American Progress, Sen. John Edwards will discuss the structural poverty that was exposed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how the country needs to seize this opportunity to take the steps necessary to fight poverty and expand opportunities for everyone in our country. For more information, click here. [from-OneAmerica]

Watch the One America website for my summary of and thoughts on John Edwards' speech.

CYA on WMD Tied Military's Hands in Iraq

CYA on WMD Tied Military's
Hands in Iraq

"I was in meetings where (General John) Abizaid was pounding on the table trying to get some help," says a senior military officer.

This is just one of the sad and shocking facts revealed in the most recent Time magazine [The Secret History of How the U.S. Misjudged the Enemy in Iraq], showing that the Bush administration was trying so hard to cover their asses on WMD that our military was barred from obtaining important intelligence to help them fight the insurgency because it wasn't "the priority."

I'm furious - and if you're not, then you are not paying attention.

Iraq's missing $1billion

Iraq's missing $1billion
One of the largest thefts in history

One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons. [Independent]

Quote of the Day: Frank Rich

Quote of the Day: Frank Rich

"What comes next? Having turned the page on Mr. Bush, the country hungers for a vision that is something other than either liberal boilerplate or Rovian stagecraft. At this point, merely plain old competence, integrity and heart might do."

- Frank Rich [NYT]

Harry Hopkins' Name Making a Resurgence

Harry Hopkins' Name Making a Resurgence

Ralph E. Shaffer and Walter P. Coombs, professors emeriti at Cal Poly Pomona, talk a bit more about good old Harry Hopkins (as I did on September 16th).

See: Why It's Time for Dr. New Deal (Again)

The anti-visionaries are once again coming out of the woodwork, too - once again calling old Harry Hopkins - the man who brought America up from its knees to newfound success - a "commie".

Quote of the Day - John Dryden

Quote of the Day - John Dryden

"Let grace and goodness be the principal loadstone of thy affections. For love which hath ends, will have an end; whereas that which is founded on true virtue, will always continue."

- - John Dryden

Neocons Will Burn Jurassic Park DVDs

Neocons Will Burn Jurassic Park DVDs
..when they hear this one:

From today's Miami Herald:

Actor Sam Neill has blamed President Bush's economic policies for contributing to the disaster that engulfed Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina hit, reports The Associated Press.

In a speech Wednesday night attacking New Zealand opposition leader Don Brash ahead of the country's general elections on Saturday, Neill, a supporter of the ruling Labour Party, compared tax cuts proposed by Brash to Bush's election pledges in 2000.

'Perhaps we should look at somewhere else where they recently used the time-old bribe of tax cuts, and see how it worked. In 2000 George Bush, under the reasonable sounding `compassionate conservatism,' offered huge tax cuts. And he delivered,'' Neill told an audience in Oamaru, 200 miles east of his home and vineyard on New Zealand's South Island.

''Take a look at America now. The rich are certainly richer, but the economy is in the tank, a healthy surplus has been converted into a massive deficit, and the U.S. is a place that cannot even afford the basics. Like maintaining levees in low-lying Louisiana. Might I suggest that tax cuts led indirectly to the flooding of New Orleans?'' Neill added.

He also heavily criticized the war in Iraq, saying that Brash, a former central bank governor, would have sent New Zealand troops to Iraq in 2003 while Prime Minister Helen Clark refused.

''The greatest achievement of this government is that they kept us out of the war in Iraq. Let's make no mistake about this -- this war is a bloody mess, and a terrible blunder, with disastrous consequences for the future,'' he said.

Tar Heel Tavern #30

Tar Heel Tavern 30

Don't miss Erin's beautifully displayed Tar Heel Tavern XXX.

The Next Inaugural

The Next Inaugural

Stirling Newberry takes you on a hopeful journey forward to January, 2009.

May it be.

Bring Them Home Tour - Part One

Bring Them Home Now Tour - Part One
Notes from the "Bring Them Home Now" bus tour, which stopped in Syracuse NY on September 14.

Mike Ferner was the first to speak.He is a freelance writer from Toledo, Ohio, and a member of Veterans for Peace. Encouraging all to attend the March on Washington on September 24th, he commented it should have come as no surprise when a powerful insurgency emerged in Iraq. He asked all to consider that if a foreign power had invaded our country, that we would have fought back, and we see the same level of violence in Iraq today. He said, "We need to get the hell out of Iraq – and the sooner the better. I have a two-word exit strategy – SHIPS and PLANES. Get our troops on them and bring them home now."

Tammara Rosenleaf of Helena, Montana spoke on behalf of Military Families Speak Out - tearfully, she described how her husband is soon to be deployed to Iraq and how he is willingly going to Iraq for “his buddies.” She knows that when she wakes in the middle of the night, scared to death that her husband is dead or injured in Iraq - or if he really is injured or killed, that the military is not going to be there for her as they claim they will be. She hears many people say that it's demoralizing to troops when Americans speak out against the Iraq war. Ms. Rosenleaf's husband tells her that he does not believe it’s demoralizing to troops at all. She assured the group of about 150 people that her husband and most troops would agree that our constitutional right to free speech was living in each person that was in attendance at the rally. In her words: "Who needs a free speech zone? We ARE a free speech zone." While in Crawford, she had seen a photo display of wounded soldiers that deeply disturbed her - their pain cannot be understood unless you really look at their eyes. She says that our leaders need to take a close look at those men and women before committing another soldier to die.

Quote of the Day - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Quote of the Day - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

About America:

"Those of us who know that it’s worth fighting for have to take it back now from those who don’t."

- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Photos - Syracuse MoveOn.org Vigil

Photos - Syracuse MoveOn.org Vigil


l-r: Mike, Alexis, Gina, Austin, me. My story about the vigil is here. Someday I'll learn to open my eyes for the camera. You can see the signs better in this shot.


Here we go - that's better.

The Helping Hand

The Helping Hand

Bishop T.D. Jakes of the Potter's House in Dallas, Texas delivered an inspiring and healing sermon today at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. on this National Day of Prayer for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He stressed that faith-in-action is the truest example of sincere compassion toward one's fellow man or woman, and that pretty rhetoric without action is little more than poetry. Speaking about the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, he drew out five points and lessons, skillfully applying them to our modern public lives and our treatment of the poorest among us. He called upon Americans to "dare to discuss the unmentionable issues that confront us" and to not rest until the poor are raised to an acceptable living standard.

The first Parable-related point that Bishop Jakes made was that "Restoration is more than observation." We can no longer be a nation of people who can pass the ghetto on our way to Mardi Gras, to pass Harlem on our way to Manhattan, or to pass Compton on our way to Rodeo Drive while ignoring the poverty of our fellow Americans. Second, he raised the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Your neighbors are more than the people who look just like you; who live where you live; or who vote the way you vote. Third, he reminded us of the vision of our wounded neighbors lying by the side of the road (in the parable as well as in New Orleans), and how some people choose to pass them by - a powerful and humbling reminder that you can't help others if you exalt yourself above them. In the parable, the Samaritan came off his beast to help the bleeding man. "Come down where the pain and poverty is," recommended the Bishop. Fourth, Bishop Jakes pressed the fact that "Resources, not rhetoric, are what bring about meaningful changes in our lives." It's not what we say that is important. It's what we do that is important. Real leadership is defined by what we do. The Bishop suggests that we need to love our neighbors enough to "pay the bill." Fifth, he asked the question: "Are our relationships productive?" He said that we must know each other if we are to help one another, despite our distinctive perspectives.



Bishop Jakes spoke about the Twin Span Bridge that connects Slidell, Louisiana to New Orleans which was partially submerged by Katrina and will need rebuilding. He called it a symbol of our need to rebuild bridges between our ideas, our perspectives, and our differences - we must build unity. "We can't multiply by dividing and we can't add by subtracting," said Bishop Jakes. If we rebuild that bridge with unity, it could make a real difference, letting go of the divisive illusion that we're black or white; Democrat or Republican; "right" or left." The true vision, he said is "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." He took his Five Points and compared each of them to a finger of one Helping Hand stretched out our nation's poor and underprivileged, and stretched out to those all over the world who've been ravaged by Poverty. He concluded that our nation - and the world - will be the place we've thought it could be when we've closely examined the lessons of the story of the Good Samaritan and applied them, with faith and action, to our society.

Where is Bush's Harry Hopkins?

Where is Bush's Harry Hopkins?


I thought that President Bush gave a pretty-sounding speech last night. With the "beauty shot" of Jackson Square lit up like an angel's daylight behind him, he exuded hope to those who searched for it. The hopeful overtones seemed closer to what you'd expect from the articulate and inspiring Sen. John Edwards. The usual G.W. Bush "sloganese" was absent, for the most part. When he reassured America that the great city of New Orleans would rise again, I think that many believed that he'd meant what he'd said. He admitted his mistakes. He spoke of the rebuilding as a "common effort," which was one of the most uniting and sincere-sounding phrases I've heard from Bush since 9/11. It was good talk, yet we realize the cagey devil remains to be found slithering among the bare details. What Bush had to say was not easy to accept, but it was realistic. For many conservatives, it was a slap to the face. After all, piling $200 billion (plus) to the monster of a deficit that the Bush administration has already created is staggering in its economic implications.

Rather than offering an Inspector General to ensure that our tax dollars will be spent honestly and wisely by reviewing upcoming expenditures, I believe Bush should have given us the name of a new program with an administrator who has real and material experience in social management and economic oversight. A glorified auditor is not sufficient, and Bush can't handle the job himself. Karl Rove is the worst person for the job because of who he is and what he stands for. After what we saw with FEMA, I don't trust that we can leave this awesome task to the various bureaucracies (DHS, Labor, SS, FEMA,et al) with no one "czar" to report to. The military may be of invaluable assistance, but they should not be required to have as broad of a role as recommended by the President. New Orleans is going to be more than just a bunch of new buildings. It's going to be a city to which a lot of underprivileged people will return with the hope of opportunity.

Harry Hopkins, one of the great American policy makers and innovators of the 20th century who lived in New Orleans for a time, was FDR's trusted channel of communication and administration. He was chosen to head up the short-lived FERA (Federal Emergency Relief administration), which vastly improved the fortunes of the unemployed in the 1930s. Back then, America was fighting to recover from a depression and Congress was generous, spending a whopping $4 billion in total on FERA programs. It was the economic pump that broke the depression. It provided a substantial stimulus to the revival of business by creating purchasing power in a once-destitute class. It raised the standard of living of the poorest and lowest-paid people. In his day, many right wingers called Harry Hopkins a "communist" because of his focus on social justice. Louisiana's own Huey Long had disagreed, averring that FDR had not been generous enough with federal funds and admitting that the redistribution of wealth to the American people was socialistic but necessary. Harry Hopkins had said:

"We can only say that after every dollar entrusted to us for lessening of distress, the maximum amount humanly possible was put into the people's hands. The money, spent honestly and with constant remembrance of its purpose, bought more of courage than it ever bought of goods."

In 1935, the work of FERA was taken over by the Social Security Board, and Hopkins moved on to become director of the Works Projects Administration, one of the most famous of all New Deal programs. The WPA employed more than three million people and was responsible for the building of highways, bridges, public buildings and parks. Even though Congress eventually found the programs unpopular and unnecessary, Harry Hopkins had handled the programs with extraordinary skill and they had served their purpose well. Hopkins' political honesty (what's that, you ask?) and competence was a boon to FDR's popularity.

Where is President Bush's Harry Hopkins? We need him. Bush may speak pretty rhetoric, yet he is virtually silent about the social needs of New Orleans and of the worsening poverty across the United States. Waiving Davis-Bacon while silenty offering rebuilding contracts to profiteering political cronies is nothing but worrisome. Bush pushed his "ownership society" ideology during his speech, the Urban Homesteading Act for example, which is short-term Republican micromanagement of an insidious poverty that will still exist when the funds have run out. Does the President believe that he can accomplish a war on poverty without informing the American people that either their taxes will need to be raised or else they will suffer an ever-widening gap between rich and poor while government manipulates more tax breaks as a way to redistribute wealth to the richest? Somewhere along the way, we know that sacrifices must be made for what we've deliberately done in Iraq and for what nature did to us in New Orleans. The bill has been placed in front of us. Who's going to wind up paying the bill? If the richest are not called on by the Bush administration to pay their fair share, the middle class and the poor will be the ones who will suffer most, even though their taxes are not "raised". They will pay higher prices. Their schools will suffer. Their social programs will dissipate as spending becomes restricted to fighting in Iraq and rebuilding New Orleans. The gap between the "two Americas" will deepen.

The economic realities that Republican leadership have avoided, with an all-too-supportive FOX News giving cheerleader's megaphone, have hit us in the face. The Grover Norquist-"drown it in the bathtub" form of federal government was drowned by the floodwaters of August. This is a brand new day.

Where's Harry Hopkins?




Related story: FDR had had his own Hurricane to deal with in 1935.

Headlines

Headlines

Quote of the Day:

"The reconstruction of New Orleans starts now. We need to reconstruct the truth."

-Jordan Flaherty, New Orleans resident, union organizer, and an editor of Left Turn Magazine (www.leftturn.org). [SFBayView.com]

__________ ___________


DNC Chairman Howard Dean's op ed titled "The Verdict on John Roberts" will appear in tomorrow's newspapers. For a preview, see Democrats.org. He believes that John Roberts is the wrong man for the job.

__________ ___________

In typical House Republican fashion, Democratic attempts on Wednesday to force the Bush administration to surrender documents on prewar intelligence and the disclosure of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame were derailed. Liz Sidoti reports that Republican leaders want to avoid the spectacle of either issue being debated on the House floor amid some fear that the measures could succeed if enough Republicans side with minority Democrats. [WaPo]

__________ ___________

In a new e-mail distributed by the One America Committee, Elizabeth Edwards asks all supporters to rally others to sign a petition for her husband Sen John Edwards' "New America Initiative." The plan is intended to assist the victims of Hurrican Katrina, asking the president to “provide the victims of this disaster with the skills, materials and planning they need to revitalize their region.” Mrs. Edwards says it is sad, but not surprising to see how the Bush administration's weak response to the disaster and the Republican leadership's irresponsible policies are a reminder of the immeasurable suffering that results from the disregard. She says that it has to stop, and it can. In her words:

We cannot expect that the Republican Congress or White House will come up with a plan that has the interests of all Americans in mind. In both their long-standing policies and their response to this disaster, their disregard and callousness have been painfully evident. Grover Norquist, a seminal thinker among the Republican leadership, has said that he wants government to be so weak that he could "drown it in a bathtub." That image is searing today. And he is wrong - we need a government strong enough to protect our people and ensure hope and opportunity for all Americans, not just the wealthy.

__________ ___________


On the eve of the President's address to the nation about Hurricane Katrina, AFSCME challenged the Bush Administration to abandon plans to give more tax cuts to the wealthy and immediately implement a comprehensive plan that would both prepare for another Katrina-like disaster and bolster relief efforts.

AFSCME calls on Congress to promptly move ahead with a comprehensive preparedness and relief plan:

* Immediately suspend tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans
and use the money to provide relief to evacuees and rebuild the Gulf
Coast. No new tax cuts should be considered.
* Create a WPA-like jobs program for the nearly half a million workers
who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina, putting evacuees to work
rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Guarantee prevailing wages for the men and
women rebuilding hurricane-torn areas.
* Provide health coverage to every evacuee by enrolling every evacuee in
Medicaid, and don't cut this vital program.
* Give immediate relief to states housing evacuees. If we don't provide
some relief, these states will have to cut programs that serve the
people hit hardest by this tragedy.
* Make the investments in infrastructure necessary to protect against
future disasters, such as a major earthquake in California or a
devastating hurricane in Florida.
* Give emergency responders the tools they need and set up funds for
public employees and relief volunteers. After 9/11 these highly
valuable workers got a lot of lip service but not enough action.

__________ ___________

David Corn asks: What Went Wrong? [TomPaine.com]

People died because of this. And a harsh reality was exposed: In the event of a calamity—whether caused by nature or by terrorists—we cannot expect the government to respond competently. It is scary out there. And the people of New Orleans—and the rest of us—deserve a few answers. If we are on our own, it would be better to know that now rather than later.

__________ ___________

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, leaders of five mainline religious denominations have joined in a renewed call on U.S. Congress to oppose cuts to programs serving the poor. [U.S.Newswire]

Elizabeth Green, who is a public policy associate for Call to Renewal, believes that people of faith must use this moment, when poverty is in the national spotlight, to call for a change in our country's priorities for the common good. Will we accept a federal budget that provides tax benefits to the wealthiest while deeply cutting vital programs for the poor, and all of us? Or will we use this opportunity to call for morally grounded budget and tax policies that help families escape the growing vise of poverty in times of crisis and "normalcy"?__________ ___________

OAC guest-blogger Joe Clark discusses FEMA and the Revolving Door. He discusses a WaPo piece by staff writers Griff Witte and Charles R. Babcock. The article revolves arounf the new test for FEMA - how do they plan to distribute the $62 billion Congress has approved for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts? How will they monitor the private contractors who will do much of the work? It's like a gut punch when you read that..

"Last spring, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general's office audited the FEMA staff that manages its contracts and found it "impossible to determine whether the acquisition personnel met training, education, and experience requirements." As a result, the auditors concluded, "FEMA may be at risk that its acquisition workforce is not qualified."

A CBS article titled "Big Contracts Went To Big Donors" speaks for itself.

I think about Sen John Edwards' New America Initiative, where the rebuilding of New Orleans and surrounding devastated areas could be led by the citizens who live there rather than by cold proprietary interests whose primary goal is profit - and not the public interest. The head of FEMA was a political appointee who didn't know sh*t from Shinola about handling a tragic American emergency. It was an unecessary tragedy. People DIED because of it. Seeing friends of corporate lobbyists get contracts over skilled professional disaster teams and local urban planners who, in rebuilding, will best preserve the spirit of the city they know so well is bothersome to me - especially since it does nothing to better the economic position of the people living and resettling in the disaster areas (which were a disaster BEFORE the floods due to povertry and social injustice).

It screams "WRONG!" The situation demands the public's concern. Any government that would hire private contractors like KBR or Halliburton [indianexpress.com] to gentrify New Orleans and further enrich the rich while failing to serve the very poor, and that allows public interest to suffer at the preference of private interest cannot stand as a popular government or a government with high or historically respectful or abiding purposes. To put it in simpler terms. I smell corruption. And the smell is far worse than the receding floodwaters down in the 9th Ward.

__________ ___________

Stick a fork in him, he's done.
E.J. Dionne explains that any myths or pretensions still sheltered or promoted about Bush being a political success have been dispelled by Katrina. No longer "the Bush Era", Dionne says it's time for new leaders to emerge with better ideas. In his words:

Those who call for yet more tax cuts risk sounding like robots droning automated talking points programmed inside them long ago. Katrina has forced the issue of deep poverty back onto the national agenda after a long absence. Finding a way forward in -- and eventually out of -- Iraq will require creativity from those not implicated in the administration's mistakes. And if ever the phrase "reinventing government" had relevance, it is now that we have observed the performance of a government that allows political hacks to push aside the professionals.

And what of Bush, who has more than three years left in his term? Paradoxically, his best hope lies in recognizing that the Bush Era, as he and we have known it, really is gone. He can decide to help us in the transition to what comes next. Or he can cling stubbornly to his past and thereby doom himself to frustrating irrelevance.

to be cont'd

__________ ___________