Caution: Obscure musical reference ahead




Did somebody say career comeback?
1.9.05 03:01


Reaping the whirlwind




Our friend Rev. Marion "Pat" Robertson is back in the news. His friends at FEMA are directing potential Katrina-relief donors to Robertson's shell organization "Operation Blessing":
FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of suggested charities to help the storm’s hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red Cross is first on the list.

The Rev. Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blessing” is next on the list.

Robertson’s shell organizations have already collected more than $25 million from the federal government under various “faith based” federal-handout programs. And with millions of distraught citizens looking to FEMA for help in finding reputable organizations to help Katrina survivors, Robertson stands to profit magnificently from the horror that has fallen on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
Robertson and hurricanes go back a long ways. About 20 years ago, he prayed on the 700 Club for God to divert a hurricane from America's east coast. Naturally, when the hurricane turned away at the last moment, he took credit for sparing South Carolina.


Had this been an actual emergency

Madison econo-blogger Marginal Utility makes a point so blaringly obvious I can't believe no one on the left, right, or in between is talking about it:
...had (Katrina) been an actual post-9/11 emergency, the administration would have had a hard time even managing to look resolute amidst the rubble, let alone passing muster in a strict counterfactualist evaluation. Which is reason #MCCXVIII why people who don't particularly care for Bush policies but go along on account of national security concerns should wake up and smell the frickin' coffee!
Katrina was identified as a category five hurricane headed for the Gulf Coast at least 36 hours before it made landfall in Louisiana. Terrorists don't give that kind of warning.

How did we end up with a Bozo like George W. Bush as President?


Soundtrack for the apocalypse

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break
And the water gonna come in, have no place to stay

Well all last night I sat on the levee and moan
Thinkin' 'bout my baby and my happy home

If it keeps on rainin', levee's goin' to break
And all these people have no place to stay

Now look here mama what am I to do
I ain't got nobody to tell my troubles to

I works on the levee mama both night and day
I ain't got nobody, keep the water away

Oh cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do no good
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to lose

I works on the levee, mama both night and day
I works so hard, to keep the water away

I had a woman, she wouldn't do for me
I'm goin' back to my used to be

I's a mean old levee, cause me to weep and moan
Gonna leave my baby, and my happy home

* by Kansas Joe McCoy and famously covered by Led Zeppelin.

- Via Digby


Verbs in action

White people find. Black people loot.

Yahoo explains it all.

h/t Francesca
2.9.05 03:52


"A huge drain of resources"




Posted on ThinkProgress:
This Administration never ceases to amaze me.

I worked in the Clinton White House for 8 years. We saw many disasters — Oklahoma City, earthquakes in Los Angeles, floods in North Dakota, tornadoes in Arksanas, hurricanes in Florida, hurricanes and floods in North Carolina and on and on.

President Clinton excelled in his role as “consoler in chief.” But more importantly, he excelled at running a government that consistently provided expeditious relief to victims of disasters. James Lee Witt brought a level of excellence and professionalism to FEMA that should be a model for all government agencies.

President Bush, by contrast, seems to think his responsibility in this disaster begins and ends with a photo op.

With all due respect to the office of the President, the people of Louisiana don’t need to see President Bush — they need to see some food and shelter.

The White House’s use of a helicopter and Coast Guard personnel for a photo op shows a stunning lack of judgement. Bush cannot “photo-op” his way out of this problem. He needs to govern.

When disaster hit a part of America, President Clinton was always eager to visit the victims. But he would never, ever attempt a trip until James Lee Witt gave the White House the okay that a Presidential trip would not affect recovery efforts.

Presidential trips are a huge resource drain on local and federal law enforcement. It is inconceivable to me that President Bush’s trip today is not impeding recovery and relief efforts. It is inconceivable. And unconscienable.

President Bush and his officials should get themselves off the television and on the job.
Comment by Jennifer Palmieri
3.9.05 13:41


Meet Jabbar Gibson




We're going to be hearing his name a whole lot more. Jabbar is a 20-year-old New Orleans man who comandeered an abandoned bus and drove 100 complete strangers to the Houston Astrodome. He's a hero. But Jabbor is also black, and since white people "find" what black people "loot", Jabbor appears to be in a heap of trouble. For now.

I have a feeling Jabbor will be all smiles when he appears on Leno later this week, before his pro-bono defense team gives a super atomic wedgie to the New Orleans prosecutor. Heraldblog predicts Jabbor will be freakin' Lil' Kim by Christmas.

The right, meanwhile, is rushing to embrace Jabbar for, well, being a good negroe, I guess. Here's what one Freeper wrote:
This young man could just as easily have wandered around in waterlogged Wal-Mart's grabbing X-Boxes or DVD's. But he did not and acted on his own initiative for the betterment of others. I suspect it has something to do with how he was raised by his mother.
They just can't help themselves, those wacky Freepers.
6.9.05 02:43


It's better to have the hurricane over there so we don't have to have one over here


Shakespeare's Sister reports a stirring speech by the Commander in Chief:
"I appreciate your questions, and I understand the devastationalism. The response was unacceptable, but Brownie did a heckuva job. It’s hard work, and we’re making progress. Heh heh. Now is not the time to point fingers. We’ve got to stay the course and project strength. Let me finish. We won’t negotiate with Mother Nature, and I hear she might be sending more hurricanes our way—bring ’em on. We must not forget 9/11. We're in for a long struggle, and I think Louisianianesians understand that…and so do Americans. Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream. American families are a hardworking people, and they’re working hard to rebuild the rubbles.
I love good satire.
7.9.05 02:09


Katrinavultures.com


Robert E. Moneyhan is in a heap of trouble. Even before Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast, he registered domain names that he could then sell to hurricane relief groups later: KatrinaHelp.com, KatrinaDonations.com, KatrinaRelief.com and KatrinaReliefFund.com. Always thinking, this guy.

By Aug. 31, Moneyhan's sites were asking people to donate via PayPal. Fortunately, the Florida attorney general, Charles J. Crist Jr. has stepped in. panicked, and donated the domains to legitimate relief groups. But there are a thousand other jackals feasting on misery. Numerous phishing scams and bogus URLs lure the unwary. One Missouri-based charity even promises that donations will go only to white victims of the hurricane.

Be careful out there.
8.9.05 13:09


Red state blues


Just received this email from a correspondent. He's an engineer in a very red, very southern state. We're talking NASCAR, Billy Graham, and lots of cousin lovin':
I just left a meeting where a supervisor said that Washington turned its back on the City of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Everybody agreed, and not just because he was a supervisor. I think that is the consensus view.
Uh oh.


Urban renewal for the soul

"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."

-- Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA), quoted by the Wall Street Journal, "overheard" in a conversation with lobbyists.

h/t TG
9.9.05 03:59


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