E-mail, memos detail Katrina�s political storm

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What do you call?......link: http://www.americablog.com/2009/03/what-do-you-call-budget-with-no-numbers.html

Thursday, March 26, 2009

I've watched Democratic strategists long enough to know that they are masters in the art of misdirection and misinformation, and I find the timing of the release of these so-called "torture" memos to be cast directly in the same mold as some of the tricks that Carville and Rahm Emanual engineered to try to take attention off of President Clinton's problems until they could no longer hold back the tide of public indignation.

Consider that in the days prior to the release of these memos, which served absolutely no other useful purpose, the White House had been staggered by two things:

1. Obama's massive budget was getting massive push-back, even from members in his own party. The conversation on Capitol Hill was turning extremely ugly, and Obama was having to do head-fakes like ordering his cabinet to make "$100 million in budget cuts" - which looks like a big number, but actually amounts to less than 3/100ths of the Obama budget. In other words, this was like asking a family that spends $40,000 a year to find some way to save about $1.18.

Then, the administration was rocked by the tea parties. Oh yes, I know that Obama's brilliant response was that he "hadn't noticed them" (and this man is in charge of our national intelligence agencies, mind you)...but who's buying that bull? Umm, no one did.

Then, we had the little fiasco at the "American summit", with Obama doing everything but slipping one of the world's most brutal dictators, Chavez, a little tongue (and we can't be sure about that).

And, there was some other ugly stuff happening with the Obama administration like his Rasmussen Approval Index falling from a high of +30 when he took office to +2. The index is calculated by subtracting the percentage of Americans who "strongly approve" of Obama from the percentage of those who "strongly disapprove". Although the AP continues to trumpet ridiculously high numbers for Obama, I can assure you that Rahm Emanuel knows the truth. And he ain't a happy camper these days.

...and some nasty shove-back within his own party on cap-and-trade as well. It hasn't been a great couple of weeks for the administration, let's put it that way.

And suddenly we have these memos and if you'll notice, hardly anyone's been talking very much about the budget, the fake budget cuts, the Chavez debacle, the slipping poll numbers or anything else except George Bush and the former administration.

Please note that this has been the modus operandi of this administration ever since they took office. Blame everything bad on the previous administration (never mind that Obama himself voted for budget bailouts, etc. as a Senator). Take credit for everything positive that happens - if we can find any.

Now, some will believe that Obama released these memos at this particular time merely as a coincidence, and for the sole purpose of ...umm, well I can't think of what that would be, but you can probably find out on Huffington or one of the other left-loon rags.

Unfortunately, the whole thing backfired. He didn't get support from the moderates on the left for this idea for a nation-distracting witch hunt and he found himself with only the liberal crazies signing up for his dance card.

Whaddya want to bet? I'd bet a pretty good chunk of the farm that there was a lot more behind the release of these memos than meets the wool-covered eyes of the voters. Oh - and one other thing. Obama's a long way from running out of wool.

First, please note that I never said that pics would be released in the OP, only redacted portions of the memos. (Presumably testimonies of the prisoners) The previous thread about this turned into a debate about releasing pics, and I erroneously didn't catch and correct that. My bad.

MSNBC ran a ticker headline Friday identifying dead bodies, debris, human waste and chemicals as prominent contents of the toxic flood waters. It�s no surprise, and curiously fitting, that the national media all week has been awash with the cultural equivalent: noxious, vile proclamations by the America�s foremost moral pretenders, atrocity addicts, all-purpose grifters and incendiary race hustlers: Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Cynthia McKinney, and Maxine Waters � with auditions from aspiring race-mongering demagogues Kanye West and Michael Eric Dyson.

Each of these self-congratulatory progressive activists has labored to exploit the New Orleans catastrophe as an onslaught against black America. Collectively they possess moral authority equivalent to the two scammers who used an amputated finger in an attempted shakedown of Wendys. Let�s be clear about the lineage these bottom feeders are part of. The opportunistic race-based ghouls who have made New Orleans their haunt are not different from David Duke, in either kind or degree. The activists now working overtime to incite race hatred � doing so in the name of �justice� and �civil rights� � deserve the same accolades and mantles as the klansmen who terrorized blacks, Jews, Catholics, and white civil rights workers in another decade.

Like the vulgar, hate-driven white racists who read aloud from Bibles in church the morning after lynching, burning and raping, these morally bankrupt representatives of today�s civil rights elite represent the last gasp of a morally unregenerate worldview. And like the Klan of yore, they (and their enablers Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Richard Cohen, and Hillary Clinton) grow more desperate and deranged as the moderate American mainstream rejects their quest to rip open the nation�s past racial wounds for temporary partisan advantage.

Efforts to turn New Orleans into the cultural equivalent of Rwanda are repugnant to everything about America than makes moral sense. Lincoln spoke of the better angels of human nature, implying the existence of something very much worse. Every schoolboy knows the proper counterpart is demon. The moral scammers now inciting race hatred in the wake of the Louisiana nightmare will fail. And the movement they represent will ultimately fail, because it is more than wrong or simply false, it is cancerously self-canceling. The body politic will cast off this disease and will do so to preserve its well being, vitality, and wholeness.

But the end of this fight is not near. The mainstream media is highlighting the preposterous claims of America�s hate apostles because the MSM sees an opportunity not simply to negate the past two presidential elections, but to reverse the general trend away from the cultural corrections (anti-welfare state, pro-national defense) that Reagan�s 1980 victory represented. The American left has been licking its chops for years, hoping for the political equivalent of a perfect storm: the ideal convergence of forces that would yield a return to normalcy for expanding the gutter of identity politics and apologizing to the world at large for everything American. The left longs for a return of Carter�s malaise because that will reinforce the left�s longstanding antagonism toward the resurgence of personal responsibility and national pride since 9-11.

The unconscionable quest to exploit the human misery of New Orleans sickens me more than I can say. I was with my family at a Florida hospice, attending to my mother as she lay dying from cancer, when Katrina came ashore, wreaking human and physical loss only miles away. We were all aware that our personal loss would be shared by many hurricane victims, and that the American people would do what we always do: rally to help the wounded, the sick, and the bereaved. It never occurred to us � not even remotely � on August 25, the day mom passed away, that leaders of this nation�s so-called progressive community would even consider using a natural tragedy as an occasion to further their now familiar By Any Means Necessary campaign against this country and its traditions.

Then again, neither did I expect that there would be 250 demonstrations on American campuses against the United States responding militarily to the September 11 attacks, as David Horowitz has so aptly described. Na�vete dies hard, but there�s a positive side. It�s extremely hard to resuscitate.

with flame throwers to torch my garden? Will I be able to harvest anything this year? Next spring, maybe if I plant a screen of marijuana plants around the vegetables, that will disguise them as something no longer regulated. Probably home-preserved food will be verboten; I imagine if I want Mason jars or a dehydrator, I'd better get them now?

BTW, anyone wanting a good doomsday book (how to survive when it all goes to hades in a handbasket) should read Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven. Usually it's in the sci-fi section but it really is more speculative fiction about what happens when an unbelievable natural disaster (about which nobody heeds the warnings) hits the planet. I think O might qualify in the natural disaster category.

Below is a copy of an e-mail that was sent to me by a friend. The friend who sent this to me is an independent and very impartial. She is a lawyer and almost always researches things before she sends them. I checked it out on snopes.com and it lists it as true. It is information and opinion on Palin written by a woman who knows her from Wasilla.

Dear friends,
>
> So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .
>
> Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks. :)
>
> You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .
>
> Thanks,
> Anne
>
> ABOUT SARAH PALIN
>
> I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
> father was my child's favorite subst itute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
> residents of the city.
>
> She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a 'babe'.
>
> It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.
>
> She is 'pro-life'. She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.
>
> She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
>
> She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just 'puts things out there' and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.
>
> Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
>
> She's smart.
>
> Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.
>
> During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
> gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had give n rise to a recall campaign.
>
> Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a 'fiscal conservative'. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
>
> The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
>
> While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.
>
> These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
>
> As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this t ime of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.
>
> She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.
>
> While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
>
> Sarah complained about the 'old boy 's club' when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of 'old boys'. Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
>
> As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he 'intimidated' her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired,pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.
>
> She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
>
> Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.
>
> When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jo bs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the 'old boys' club' when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).
>
> As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the 'bridge to nowhere' after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
>
> As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as 'anti-pork'.
>
> She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal
> conservative.
>
> Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her 'Sarah Barracuda' because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team.
>
> When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
>
> As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as 'AGIA' that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.
>
> Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned 'as a private citizen' against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.
>
> McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.
>
> However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.
>
> CLAIM VS FACT
> - 'Hockey mom': true for a few years
> - 'PTA mom': true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since
> - 'NRA supporter': absolutely true
> - social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
> - pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
> - 'Pro-life': mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
> - 'Experienced': Some high schools have more st udents than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
> - political maverick: not at all
> - gutsy: absolutely!
> - open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
> - has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
> -'a Greenie': no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
> - fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
> - pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
> - pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
> - pro-small government: No. O versaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history.
> - pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
>
> WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
> First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you Google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
>
> Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that 'Bad things happen when good people stay silent'. Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
>
> Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that's life.
>
> Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.
>
> Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
>
> CAVEATS
> I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
> Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.
>
> You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the populat ion of Wasilla, ranging from my 'about 5,000', up to 9,000. The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.
>
> Anne Kilkenny
> annekilkenny@hotmail.com
> August 31, 2008

I wonder what he will do. Or will he say one thing while doing another or completely ignore the situation.

Here in OR we mail in our ballots. I filled mine out and signed the back of the envelope as it says its not valid unless signed. However, I signed my husbands envelope by mistake (din't realize they had our printed names off to the side). Do you think it will make any difference if I cross out my name and he signs or do you think the state would have a problem with this and just throw it out?

the classic Good Samaritan scenario in high def. The government failed but the true enlightened souls stepped up. Bless em all.

They should pull themselves up by their soaking wet boot straps and the federal government had no responsibility who do they think they are expecting help nobody ever gave me welfare I worked all my life but if anyone is to blame it is the local DEMOCRATS because what were they doing besides floating around on rafts the whole time anyway. Everybody knows this it is a plain as the dumb look on my face.

The Post-Katrina Era

It is impossible for me, as it is for most Americans, to watch the horror and suffering from Hurricane Katrina and not feel physically sore, pained, bereft, empty, heart-broken. And angry.

The Katrina Tragedy should become a watershed in American politics. This was when the usually invisible people suddenly appeared in all the anguish of their lives � the impoverished, the old, the infirm, the kids, and the low-wage workers with no cars, no tvs, no credit cards.

The right-wing conservatives now in power have the opposite values and principles. Their main value is Rely on individual discipline and initiative. The central principle: Government has no useful role. The only common good is the sum of individual goods.

It�s the difference between We�re-all-in-this-together and You�re-on-your-own-buddy.

It�s the difference between Every citizen is entitled to protection and You�re only entitled to what you can afford.

It�s the difference between connection and separation.

It is this difference in moral and political philosophy that lies behind the tragedy of Katrina.

This was not just incompetence (though there was plenty of it), not just a natural disaster (though nature played its part), not just Bush (though he is accountable). This is a failure of moral and political philosophy � a deadly failure. That is the deep truth behind this human tragedy humanly caused.

It is a truth that needs to be told starting now � over and over. There can be no delay. The Bush administration is busy framing it in it�s own way: bad things just happen, it�s no one�s fault; the federal government did the best it could � the problem was at the state and local level; we�ll rebuild and everything will be okay; the people being shipped out will have better lives elsewhere, and jobs in WalMart! Unless the real truth is told starting now, the American people will accept it for lack of an alternative.

Remember where Dubya was when New Orleans was drowning? Having his picture taken while eating cake with John McCain. Now we have Gustav. What interesting timing. Perhaps Palin was selected because she is a good baker .... ? ? ? ....

McCain Katrina

In New Orleans on 4/24/08, McCain said: �I would�ve landed my airplane at the nearest Air Force base and come over personally.� But as Newsweek notes, on Aug. 29, 2005, when Katrina had just hit New Orleans, McCain was posing with President Bush for his 69th birthday.

McCain aggressively sought the endorsement of conservative evaneglical leader John Hagee, who said repeatedly that Hurricane Katrina was punishment to New Orleans.

McCain told reporters he was not sure if he would rebuild the lower 9th ward as president. "That is why we need to go back is to have a conversation about what to do -rebuild it, tear it down, you know, whatever it is," he said.

Transplanted Texan writes,

I guess it's no surprise. McCain has opposed the creation of an independent 9/11-style commission to investigate the failure of the levees, voted against a 2006 bill that included $28 billion in hurricane relief, and opposed Medicaid and unemployment benefits for Katrina victims.

Homeland Security opening private mail
Retired professor confused, angered when letter from abroad is opened

E-mail, memos detail Katrina�s political storm

see link

What do you call?......link: http://www.americablog.com/2009/03/what-do-you-call-budget-with-no-numbers.html

Thursday, March 26, 2009

What do you call a budget with no numbers, no ideas, no detail and no plan? The House Republican budget

The Post-Katrina Era

McCain Katrina

Katrina Pushes Bush Down Further

Last Katrina child goes home

A mother and her missing daughter are reunited seven months after a hurricane devastated New Orleans