The irony. It takes Dick Cheney to make me come out of Hiding...

I also know how to use the term liar. Apparently Cheney has lost his knack for the English language.

At least I know how to spell "liar"

We know Liberals are lyres, their sole purpose is to discredit conservatives what ever it takes.
~Conservative Voice

I'll be back later to rip on his article. I like how he throws thoughts around carelessly. God Bless You Ken Hughes.

Notice How She Always Has to Keep an Eye On Republicans

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers meets with Sen. Jeff Sessions,
R-Ala., in his office Tuesday in Washington. Confirmation hearings for Miers,
Bush's White House counsel, could begin as early as Nov. 7. (Kevin Wolf / AP)

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, right, meets with Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, in the Hart Senate Office Building on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2005 in Washington. President Bush nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) (Kevin Wolf - AP)

Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers meets with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah.) on Tuesday.

Next with a Liberal

Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., ranking Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, meets with White House Counsel Harriet Miers on Capitol Hill
Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2005, to discuss her nomination to the Suprme Court. (AP
Photo/Dennis Cook) (Dennis Cook - AP)

I think she's more comfortable around Democrats to tell you the truth. Who wouldn't be!

"I picked her, didn't I?

President Bush announces his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers,
left, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, in
the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Monday, Oct. 3, 2005. (AP
Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Other possible captions:
1. "I just know the b------d wants me to croak so he can put another man on office"
2. President Bush announces his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers, left, to replace deceased William Rehnquist on the Supreme Court. When you think about it the real caption is a little more morbid isn't it? I mean was Bush planning on putting another woman on the bench or not? Does it take a second judge being removed by death before you'll put a woman on the bench or were you planning on this happening? (AP Photo/Somebody who gives a d---)
3. President Bush realized he was going the opposite way of Compassionate Conservatism.
4. President Bush thinks to himself "I did it- I put a woman on- are you happy now Jesus?" (AP Photo/Somebody who gives a d---)

From Eschaton -

Bush II on Brownie Miers:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, of all the people in the United States you had to choose from, is Harriet Miers the most qualified to serve on the Supreme Court?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have put her on

Or would you have....

Polls Rise Despite Incompetence

What is with the last poll done on this guy? Why is he allowed to resurface? Is the American attention span so short that one trip down to the gulf makes him a better person. He was just doing his job if anything.

It's like congratulating someone for dodging the second kick of a mule. If five hurricanes came up in the next 3 months and he showed up to every one of them does he get a 70 percent approval rating? What has to happen in Iraq for people to get mad? Do we have to lose another couple thousand soldiers? I just don't get it.

Bush's Domestic Story Shadows His Broad International War

Harriet Miers's Supporters Cite Her Evangelical Christian Faith...

While a couple dozen worshippers at at Shiite Mosque are blown up in Iraq (you know, that country Bush wanted to have a quick little war in)

Look at the nonsense he spews after the attack.

"We fully understand they intend to disrupt the constitutional process, or will
try to do so, as well as stop the process of democracy," Bush said from the Rose
Garden, standing with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Joint Chiefs Chairman
Gen. Peter Pace and Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the former commander of the effort
to train and equip Iraqi soldiers.
"We're seeing progress on the ground," Bush said. "And we're also seeing political progress on the ground."

The attack happened at a mosque in the Shiite region. Could religion have anything to do with it? You have allowed them to adopt some religious principles in the constitution have you not? Are you forgetting that factor or what? The political process you see is the constitution you're trying to force down the throats of a very complicated eople. There are going to be years of struggle ahead. We shouldn't use phrases that marginalize the situation or make it seem "all better" for the American public.

Bill O'Reilly - Lies from the Right

O'Reilly "complains he couldn't get any guests for the segment." after turning a guest away. How can a man lie like that and garner so much support, even if it is coming from liars on the same side as him.

Sorry I haven't been updating much. Education and Work have been piling on (two things George Bush should try to do more often)

I got it from Escatchon

edit ~10:24AM Oct 5, 2005: I can't believe I didn't notice this picture.

Cutting the Fat to Pay for Katrina

I accidently posted this to another blog of mine so here it is a little late.

When we went to "war" with Iraq no one ever said we would have to cut any budgets to pay for it. To say we would have to take away from the people of the United States to pay for the war would have put even more controversy into it. So emergency acts were put into place and money was hurled over the Atlantic ocean.

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any care of controversy over aiding Katrina. Already there are people reading through the constitution saying federal help is not obligatory. It doesn't help that everyone is talking about cutting programs nation wide to pay for Katrina. That only fuels the flames of all the "Article 1. Section 8ers". There are suggetions that Lousiana should pay for the damage from the natural disaster by themselves despite their being unable to generate income with most of the city shut down.

Taxpayers for Common Sense Vice President Keith Ashdown (requires Real Media Player) points out that it would be great for the people in Louisiana to help shoulder the burden of paying for the disaster if not for the fact that only 4 of the 34 who've been given contracts for reconstruction were out of state. Two of the largest are those who are getting contracts in Iraq without public bids. It's unfair to think the citizens of New Orleans should have to shoulder a burden that they are unable to bear.

Since the country is rolling the way of the offset, I guess we have to find places to "cut the fat".
Instapundit in conjunction with www.truthlaidbear.com has been finding some places where the budget has gotten a little porky.

Along the way I've seen these articles.

The Gavina Access Project: A Bridge to Nowhere

"The Porn Police"

Also TCS has made their own fiscal offsetting budget.

Let's see if Congress wants to follow the lead of the people finding ways to cut costs so everyone can stop trying to make tragically jobless, homeless and impovershed people pay for a natural accident.

Only Now Am I Starting To Grasp The Meaning Of Institutional Racism

President Bush may not be racist. Dick Cheney may not be racist. Former FEMA head Brown, "Condi" and those photographers Chris Graythen and Dave Martin may not be racist at all.

There is no need for anyone to be actively or extrovertly racist today. Institutions from schools to government to corporations were originally designed over the course of centuries to hold back people of color. Since Jamestown, Africans and then African-Americans were not allowed to read, write, speak their native tongue and were debased of their cultural background. After the Civil War slavery turned into share-cropping and share-cropping has turned into bad credit and inadequate jobs. It took a hundred years after "slavery ended" before the Black person was allowed into the boiling stew that is America and it is only this last couple of generations that has started easing up on racial divisions. Still, the slack recent peoples have given to the color line has not been enough to lift the racial cloak that has covered this country. Only an active change can abolish the racist institutions left standing since the beginning of America.

It is not enough for the recent generations to be tolerant, color-blind or neutral in opinion. Neutrality will only allow racism's continued existence. Active destruction of racial barriers is the only way to create a level playign field.

http://pkarchive.org/column/091905.html
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1139640
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091900543.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-091905katrina_lat,0,7596816.story?coll=la-home-headlines
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/articles/050912/12simon.htm
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1136969
http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/19/134911/458

Peter Daou and His Blog Analysis

Everyone else was doing it so I figured I'd do it to. It looks like a good report anyway.
Peter Daou talks about the blog-politician-media triangle needed to create victory.

It makes sense. The way the Daou triangle works you can get rid of those pesky judges who decide who runs the country.

Stealing from the Poor to Feed the Rich

As New Orleans is reopened to its population, residents trickle back into the city. Mayor Nagin invited New Orleans back into the city and

(Drafted and unfinished in 2005, posted on 1/31/08)

Bush: 59 years old and going on 35

President Bush still fails to do well in the polls. Even after a recent speech of his he fails to rally even his base. A 35% rating of of good or excellent for his response to Katrina doesn't say much for him.

I do like the fact that for the first time in Bush's Administration African-Americans are in support of his proposals for rebuilding New Orleans. It really shows where this country's heart is at. You have a city that is one of the cultural bases of the nation and white people are opposed to rebuilding it. That's rich.

Maybe we need a hurricane in Beverly Hills, no? That wouldn't help. They would have some reason for Beverly Hills being more important than New Orleans. Somehow they would put a spin on it as if it had nothing to do with money. Sort of like how Cheney pretends he doesn't care about where the money is going down in the Katrina aftermath.

G.O.P. officials say Cheney opposed a czar largely out of his affection for standard operating procedure. [yeah right] But a presidential adviser tells TIME that Cheney was also concerned that the new office would invite more meddling by Congress and create another power center. "If you appoint a czar and he doesn't get what he wants, like if you start to tamp down the spending, all he has to do is go to the press and create sympathy for his viewpoint and make it difficult for the President," the adviser says. Bush and his inner circle agreed, with little debate, top aides said.

So you go Bush administration. Keep pretending like you aren't running a money game under the public.

America is starting to wise up to you. It's taken everyone long enough. I just hope another "9/11" doesn't occur so ratings can be bolstered before '06 and '08.

p.s. Please excuse my absense. School and work find time to take time from me.
Might I recommend looking at the other blogs on the sidebar when I get a little slow.

May I acknowledge DailyDissent

The Buck stops where?

For the first time in his presidency Bush decided to personally shoulder the blame.

President Bush took responsibility Tuesday for breakdowns in the
federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina, saying the massive storm
had "exposed serious problems in our response capability."

But President Bush still says flaws occurred "at all levels of government".

At the same time

(Drafted in 2005 but posted on 1/31/08)

Barbara Bush, George W Bush, Racist?

Something that strikes me as amazing is that racism exists but some people refuse to believe it does.

There must be an incredible number of people who are either racist, sexist, apethetic or at least prejudiced to a degree that it hurts others in some way. It is hard to get an accurate number because you can't just send out a questionnaire expecting everyone to be forthrite.

I imagine if I walked up to Barbara Bush and asked "Do you care about all people," she'd give a resounding "Yes!" Unfortunately for her it is statements like this that show where her heart is at. Then we are supposed to believe George W. Bush's apple hasn't fallen far from that tree?

I originally saw the link to the article at Beautiful Horizons

(Drafted in 2005 and posted on 1/31/2008)

Booooo!!!!

Court Rules U.S. Can Indefinitely Detain Citizens

By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 9, 2005; 12:27 PM

A federal appeals court ruled today that the president can indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen captured on U.S. soil in the absence of criminal charges, holding that such authority is vital to protect the nation from terrorist attacks.

Read on...

Hooray!!

FEMA Chief Relieved of Katrina Duties

By LARA JAKES JORDAN
The Associated PressFriday,
September 9, 2005; 1:35 PM

WASHINGTON -- Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being removed from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Brown is being sent back to Washington from Baton Rouge, where he was the primary official overseeing the federal government's response to the disaster, according to two federal officials who declined to be identified before the announcement.

Brown will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad w. Allen, who was overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts.

Read on

It's a start. Still, he's probably going to be used as the scapegoat. I doubt they'll throw too much fire at anyone else. You'd think Bush would have let him stay seeing as we're not supposed to play the "blame game" or use "politics" during a time of need.

Turns Out the Federal Government Cares Less About Louisiana than I thought

What Little I Thought the Government Cared About Louisiana I Found this morning is a facade.

An article in the Washington Post shows much of the $1.9 billion in funding to the Army Corp during Bush's 5 year administration has funded projects that may have been unnecessary.

"Before Hurricane Katrina breached a levee on the New Orleans Industrial Canal, the Army Corps of Engineers had already launched a $748 million construction project at that very location. But the project had nothing to do with flood control. The Corps was building a huge new lock for the canal, an effort to accommodate steadily increasing barge traffic.

Except that barge traffic on the canal has been steadily decreasing"

Often inaccurate reports were used to get projects approved despite a series of independent investigations "criticizing the Army Corps construction projects as wasteful pork-barrel spending".

For all those who think Bush has done all he possibly can, when money was actually requested for projects to reduce flooding and shoring up the levees around Lake Pontchartrain not even one fifth of the original request was given. "Louisiana's delegation requested $27.1 million for shoring up levees around Lake Pontchartrain, the full amount the Corps had declared as its "project capability." Bush suggested $3.9 million, and Congress agreed to spend $5.7 million". $14 billion dollar plans were scaled back to $2 billion by administration officials limiting the amount that could be done in restoring coastal marshes, Louisiana's natural barrier against hurricanes.

I think the best thing that can be said is even if these projects were completed Katrina still would have torn the levees down. Still, Bush and his administration did nothing to help relieve the flooding before Katrina, they took days to start aid in Louisiana and it will take time to see if their efforts are reflecting what they have actually been capable of.

Ammendment 4:24 AM Sep 8, 2005
"you give it directly to state officials, you can kiss a good amount of it goodbye." from Ripclawe
I just noticed this blogger talking about the same subject and figured I would link it.

FEMA "Detention Camps"

Valhall from abovetopsecret.com describes temporary housing under the watch of FEMA as a concentration camp.

One of the most ludacris statements made by a FEMA "host" was "The occupants of the camp cannot leave the camp for any reason. If they leave the camp they may never return. They will be issued FEMA identification cards and "a sum of money" and they will remain within the camp for the next 5 months. "

FEMA seems to like turning away help be it from Wal-Mart, Red Cross, Churches or family who has taken time and resources out of their busy life to help those in need. Maybe FEMA needs a concious overhaul.

kudos for the find on Escaton tavella

Uggabuga encapsulates the nonsense in one of his timelines.

Uggabuga has a nice timeline being made in reference to Katrina. There are also links to several other timelines across the net.

Uggabuga encapsulates the nonsense in one of his timelines.

Credit to dd because I saw his comment first.

Failure by FEMA

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#077574

This article mentions some of the failure in response the federal government, FEMA and even local LA leaders had to Katrina.

With gas prices soaring above $3 a gallon and threatening the U.S. economy, Bush met with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his economic advisers about Katrina's economic impact.
Bush said they all agreed the storm's damage to the gas supply was a "temporary disruption" and urged Americans to use prudence in filling up over the next few weeks.
"Don't buy gas if you don't need it," he said in Oval Office remarks with his father and Clinton at his side.
Gasoline sellers have been fast to raise prices, to more than $3 a gallon and in some places far higher, because of a sudden drop in supplies, prompting accusations they are artificially setting high prices to profit from the disaster.
Asked in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" if U.S. oil companies should forfeit profits during the crisis, Bush said instead American corporations should contribute cash to hurricane relief funds.
Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, seized on that comment. He said that while Bush was "asking ordinary Americans to do more, he ought to show some real leadership, and call on his friends in Big Oil to join in the sacrifice and stop gouging American families at the gas pump."
In the ABC interview, Bush drew no line between those looting stores for survival supplies like food and water and those stealing television sets that are of no use with electricity out in New Orleans.
"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting, or price-gouging at the gasoline pump or taking advantage of charitable giving, or insurance fraud," Bush said.
Looting has run rampant in New Orleans as stranded victims of Hurricane Katrina await emergency assistance.
...Bush temporarily waived the Jones Act, which will allow foreign tankers to deliver oil to U.S. ports to ease disruptions in oil supplies. He said the government was working with energy companies to repair and reactivate major refineries and pipelines.
Bush acknowledged these steps would not solve the problem of getting enough gasoline to market.
Bush also said he expected Saudi Arabia to do "everything they can" to provide more oil, although he noted the Saudis had "limited capacity" to do so.
...
In the interview, Bush defended his own decision to wait until Wednesday to return to Washington and cut short by a couple of days a monthlong working vacation at his Texas ranch. Now is not a time to play politics, he said to Democratic critics.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html
Let’s be clear: Officials in New Orleans and elsewhere in Louisiana are hardly blameless in this tragedy. Official preparations for the storm centered on an evacuation plan designed to hasten the flow of private vehicles out of the city. This system worked well, and many more lives would have been lost without it. But as is now obvious, the plan did not take sufficient account of those who would not or could not evacuate on their own.
No federal presence was evident as the storm in the Gulf gathered strength and chugged toward us. If Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin thought in the days before landfall that the federal government wasn’t pulling its weight, they should have said so loudly and frankly.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#077560
Bush resisted demands for an inquiry into what went wrong in federal relief in first few days after Katrina hit. He said it was more important to focus on human rescue for now.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#077558
Nagin also remained defiant, rebuffing recent criticism from federal authorities and media representatives who have tried to shift the blame for the slow response for support to the local and state levels.
"I welcome that," he said. "I welcome the criticism. My question to them is, 'Where were you? Where the hell were you?' "
Nagin said he witnessed the storm's devastation firsthand and toured the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and Superdome, where people were living in what he called "subhuman" conditions.
"I saw babies dying and old people so bad off they screamed, 'Just let me lay down and die.'
"(The critics) can talk that. Bring it on. I'm ready for it."
"I think one of the things people want us to do is play the blame game," he said.
He said it is important to understand what went wrong to improve federal, state and local coordination in the event of a terrorist attack
Bush said Vice President Dick Cheney would visit the disaster area Thursday to assess relief efforts and cut any red tape keeping rescuers from survivors.[one such red tape would be having the national guard keep RedCross away. Or what about the red tape that said zero tolerance. Who were the looters you were referring to?]
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#077553
WASHINGTON - President Bush and congressional leaders promised Tuesday to investigate why the initial federal response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was, by wide agreement, slow and inadequate.
Bush, who is readying a $40 billion aid package to supplement the $10.5 billion approved by Congress last week, also met with Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to discuss ways to help school districts around the country that are taking in thousands of students displaced from their own schools by the hurricane.
"We must try to restore some sense of structure and normalcy to their lives as quickly as possible," Spellings said. "And that includes helping schools accommodate these new students, who will need books, clothes and other supplies."
Bush said now is not the time "for the blame game," but at some future date, he would personally oversee an investigation into how Katrina rescue efforts were handled by federal, state and local officials.
Bush said he is working with his Cabinet to develop a comprehensive plan for both immediate and long-term housing for the estimated 1 million people displaced by Katrina and to ensure that people can collect their Social Security checks and other benefits no matter where they are living.
He is sending Vice President Dick Cheney to the Gulf Coast region Thursday to evaluate recovery efforts.