Katrina's POLITICAL aftermath (keep the political discussions HERE)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1103581,00.html
President Bush was seated in the White House Situation Room, watching military and disaster officials beaming in from the Gulf Coast on the giant screen of his secure video- teleconferencing system. It had been nearly a week since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, ripping gashes in the Superdome and swamping homes up to their eaves. Bush, more fidgety than usual, was hearing a jumble of conflicting reports about the number of refugees in the Convention Center and the whereabouts of two trucks and trailers loaded with water and food. Furious, he interrupted and glared at the camera transmitting his image back to Mississippi. "I know y'all are trying as hard as you can, but it ain't cuttin' it," the Commander in Chief barked. "I wanna know why. We gotta do better."

This was not so much a moment of executive command as one that betrayed Bush's growing sense that his presidency was taking a beating too. A TIME poll conducted last week shows how badly it has been wounded: his overall approval rating has dropped to 42%, his lowest mark since taking office. And while 36% of respondents said they were satisfied with his explanation of why the government was not able to provide relief to hurricane victims sooner, 57% said they were dissatisfied--an ominous result for a politician who banks on his image as a straight shooter.

Longtime Bush watchers say they are not shocked that he missed his moment--one of his most trusted confidants calls him "a better third- and fourth-quarter player," who focuses and delivers when he sees the stakes. What surprised them was that he still appeared to be stutter-stepping in the second week of the crisis, struggling to make up for past lapses instead of taking control with a grand gesture. Just as Katrina exposed the lurking problems of race and poverty, it also revealed the limitations of Bush's rigid, top-down approach to the presidency. "The extremely highly centralized control of the government--the engine of Bush's success--failed him this time," a key adviser said.

The third move: Develop a new set of goals to announce after Katrina fades. Advisers are proceeding with plans to gin up base-conservative voters for next year's congressional midterm elections with a platform that probably will be focused around tax reform. Because Bush will need a dynamic salesman to make sure that initiative goes better than his Social Security proposal, advisers tell TIME there is once again talk of replacing Treasury Secretary John Snow. There are no plans to delay tax cuts to pay for the New Orleans reconstruction or the Iraq war, and Bush is likely to follow through on his vow to veto anticipated congressional approval of increased federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research.

(one worry I have though is that many of the seats up in 2006 are with safe candidates or in safe places, like Montana, or with Richard Luger. R. Michael DeWine and Rick Santorum will be especially picked on. plus Frist is retiring, which might help)

he didn't invent that. some of the rescue guys have been using it too. it's funny to think of "dewatering" as some kind of actual scientific term.

Santorum is toast, but it'll take more than that pickup for the Democrats to take the Senate next year.

frankly, i am pretty fucking despondent about the general state of things. sorry.

Dewatergate!

Oh man, the "tax reform" fight is going to be a riot. If you can watch it from a spaceship or something. The thing is, they probably won't make any more headway on it than they have with "Social Security reform," but the whole shebang might be enough to keep the Dems on the defensive and negate any hopes for congressional gains in '06, which is all Karl's really aiming for. I think that's what Democrats maybe haven't fully grasped about these guys, is that it's all about survival from one election to the next, staying in charge. It doesn't matter if they actually get any laws passed or anything, it's enough for them to just control the levers of money and influence, because as long as they can do that, their friends can get paid. Krugman and a few others have written about this, but what we're really dealing with here is just straight machine politics, and the machine mostly exists to keep the machine running. Assorted ideologies are welcome to come along, for as long as they juice the engine, but they're really just means to an end, and the end is to just keep going.

CNN breaking news email

Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters may have damaged 160,000 homes in New Orleans beyond repair, an official with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said today. Also today, President Bush said he takes responsibility for the federal government's failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina. "To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said.

the attached article says El Doofus will address the nation on Thursday from Louisiana. Who wants to take bets whether he'll say shit like, "Ya see, this great response just shows how well private industry can respond to disaster," or make at least 3 separate 9/11 references...

It's important not to overstate the impact of FoxNews though. It's oft-cited ratings are more a result of a devoutly loyal following than a large mass of viewers. All that stuff mainly serves to rally the believers rather than convince the non-believers.

I also don't buy at all that the Democrats have somehow "lost the news cycle" on this one. Bush is still really vulnerable on this and will be for a long time. His approval rating is looking pretty bad, and people are very upset. No one wants to hear that, in the event of an emergency, only their local government is responsible for their safety.

who's claiming that? i don't think that's the case considering even the older, conservative types in my family (most of whom live in the south) are forwarding around the same jokes and negative bush stuff that's on this thread!

Disaster prep is your responsibility
And mitigation is important to our agency.

People helping people is what we do
And FEMA is there to help see you through
When disaster strikes, we are at our best
But we're ready all the time, 'cause disasters don't rest.

word -- there be some REAL right-wing crazies in pennsyltuckey (esp. out towards allentown and york/hanover/gettysburg). on the other hand, if my relatives are right man-on-dog has worn out his welcome in the philly metro area and he should capture precisely ZERO counties down there (including places like bucks, delaware, and montgomery counties).

Halliburton Gets Contract To Pry Gold Fillings From New Orleans Corpses' Teeth
September 14, 2005 | Issue 41•37

HOUSTON—On Tuesday, Halliburton received a $110 million no-bid government contract to pry the gold fillings from the mouths of deceased disaster victims in the New Orleans-Gulf Coast area. "We are proud to serve the government in this time of crisis by recovering valuable resources from the wreckage of this deadly storm," said David J. Lesar, Halliburton's president. "The gold we recover from the human rubble of Katrina can be used to make fighter-jet electronics, supercomputer chips, inflation-proof A-grade investments, and luxury yachting watches."

that would result in New Answers from the last 7 days, of which this is one:

It's September 2005 in Iraq

yeah, this'll help.

Be sure to check near the end, too, for the Republican complaints bit...

Looks like we'll need an organized group of survivors again...

joe loserman will bring the exact same zeal to this panel that he did wr2 the enron panel. which means, the fix is on.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/krwashbureau/20050914/ts_krwashbureau/_wea_katrina_response_exclusive

Meanwhile, New Orleans is apparently just another stage set for the ongoing action-packed adventures of George Bush, Bold LeaderMan.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050502/klein

...CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, announced the hiring of DeLay’s chief of staff as a top Washington lobbyist. This news, and its timing, prompted Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy to tell the L.A. Weekly: “Time Warner aligning itself with the right-wing DeLay machine should send shudders [down] CNN and HBO. Clearly, TW wants DeLay insurance so it won’t have to face cable-ownership safeguards, à la carte rules and broadband non-discrimination policies.”

-new orleans is being re-evacuated due to the oncoming tropical storm/hurricane thing.

-george lakoff's Huffington Post on the political aftermath, with a little bit of John Roberts coverage for fun.

Use the common wealth for the common good to better all our lives.

also, you all know about Turd Blossom going off to North Dakota instead of actually doing the whole "cooridate the hurricane relief effort" thing for which he got appointed, right?

sidebar | posted September 23, 2005 (web only)
GOP Opportunity Zone
Naomi Klein


This is a list of "Pro-Free-Market Ideas for Responding to Hurricane Katrina and High Gas Prices," circulated by the House Republican Study Committee. Attributions included where available.

Automatically suspend Davis-Bacon prevailing wage laws in disaster areas. (Reps. Marilyn Musgrave, Colorado, Tom Feeney, Florida, Jeff Flake, Arizona)
Make the entire affected area a flat-tax free-enterprise zone. (Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin)
Make the entire region an economic competitiveness zone (comprehensive tax incentives and waiving of regulations). (Rep. Todd Tiahrt, Kansas)
Immediate, first-year business expensing in lieu of depreciation for all assets, both personal property and structures (buildings) in the affected areas.
Allow net operating loss carry-backs for affected residents and businesses going back as many years as is needed to actualize the NOL.
For residents and businesses located or investing in the affected area, their 2005 and 2006 capital gains and dividends rate should be zero.
Individuals in the affected area should have a Section 911 (overseas earned income) exclusion that is uncapped.
Waive the death tax for any deaths in the affected area between August 20, 2005-December 31, 2005.
Provide limited liability protection for construction contractors who voluntarily provide services or equipment before a government contract is finalized. (Rep. Gary Miller, California, Rep. Tom Cole, Oklahoma)
Repeal or waive restrictive environmental regulations, such as NEPA, that hamper rebuilding. (Heritage Foundation)
Waive penalties for early withdrawals from tax-advantaged savings (like IRAs and 401k accounts). (Heritage Foundation)
Eliminate any regulatory barriers and other disincentives that block faith-based and other charitable organizations from engaging in the recovery and reconstruction process. (Orthodox Union, Heritage Foundation)
Increase the amount of rehabilitation tax credits by 30 percent in census tracts where the greatest poverty exists, and for smaller projects where raising capital for reconstruction is the most difficult, and where there is the most critical need for housing and neighborhood reinvestment. (Rep. Phil English, Pennsylvania)
Allow non-itemizers to deduct chartable contributions to disaster relief. (Rep. Ron Paul, Texas)
Give school-choice vouchers for displaced children. (Rep. Ted Poe, Texas)
Provide tax (and other such) incentives to lenders if they provide funding for school and other construction.
Reduce, suspend, or eliminate tariffs on Canadian lumber, Mexican cement, and other materials used for new construction.
Permit an additional advance refunding for all governmental bonds issued by or on the behalf of entities contained in the disaster area as declared by the president.
Eliminate the volume cap for private-activity bonds in the disaster area and permit the use of private-activity bonds for all transportation-related infrastructure in the disaster area.
Eliminate the income and home price limitation for mortgages funded by tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds for a five-year period.
Allow a non-profit corporation to issue tax-credit bonds--which provide a return in the form of a federal tax credit--and allocate the proceeds for school rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Streamline the environmental hurdles to building new oil refineries. (Rep. John Shadegg, Arizona)
Make it easier for small refineries to increase capacity. (Kansas's Tiahrt)
Allow more offshore oil drilling. (Texas's Poe)
Pay the royalties for new offshore oil drilling to the local governments nearest to shore. (Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California)
Allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Temporarily suspend the gas tax. (Arizona's John Shadegg)
Permanently reduce the gas tax.
Waive or repeal gas formulation (e.g. oxygenation) requirements under the Clean Air Act and related regulations. (Heritage Foundation)
Encourage the production of renewable fuels (biodiesel, ethanol.)
Encourage private-market projects to recover usable energy from oil shale.
Strengthen the existing investment tax credit for Enhanced Oil Recovery (using modern technology improvements to extract oil from previously unavailable sources) in section 43 of the IRS Code.

Source: House Republican Study Committee

and some of them won't really help at all, aside from just attacking environmental laws