August 2008 Archives

Greetings to the great lumpen unwashed! It has been quite some time since I have been motivated to write. The incessant bang of the drums of corruption have sent me underground to engage in the work of preparation for a brighter day...

But this week, the people of St. Paul are playing host to the Republican Convention, and lastnight, I was out on the town. My mission was to try to get a sense of how these strange creatures are dealing with the convergergence of such negative energy on their little gathering, and I have to tell you, it was not pretty.

The only positive note was the utter relief expressed by those who were spared a direct visit by the Twin Towers of Incompetence, George Bush and Darth Cheney. That did seem to bring forth a collective sigh of relief from our poor visitors. They seemed to view the visit with the same joy that one might encounter during exposure to a life threatening virus.

On one level, it strikes me as extremely fortunate that the Republican corporate festival will be spared the comparison to the american Democratic party's gathering - a multi-racial extravaganza of big ideas, big music, big themes and larger-than-life stories. The highly unfortunate appearance of Hurricane Gustav has ensured that many in the Republican party will be busy trying to improve on their Katrina management performance, and therefore will not be in attendance at the convention. It is shaping up to be a subdued affair. We can only hope that they drink copiously in all the local establishments to lessen the pain.

I will be on the scene again today, hoping to have a few words with visitors, protestors and conventioneers alike. It is all a mish-mosh of humanity. Confused humanity, but humanity nonetheless. Yesterday, I even had my photograph taken with some nice Republicans from Arizona. My poodle, Bethesda, was not impressed with these individuals until they forked over some kibble. Turns out Republicans won't be caught dead without a handful of kibble. I am not sure what to make of this.

Anyhow, I will write when I can, and hope to bring more stories from the scene of the Republican (almost) Convention. Until then, remember to keep your chin high, your eyes clear, and your heart open.

Your friend,

Polly

Hurricane Gustave, as you're aware, picked up speed after going over Cuba. It will likely come very close to New Orleans and will be either a category 4-5 storm.

At Daily Kos, there are two diaries I want to draw your attention to...the first is from milwx who has written diaries from a meteorology standpoint. Right now, milwx is tracking the storm, building trajectories, and making projections about where it will hit landfall. Apparently, according to milwx, if the storm moves westward just 30 miles then NOLA will be spared the direct onslaught from the eye of the Hurricane. Milwx describes why:

I have repeatedly argued that even a central Louisiana landfall would spare New Orleans the brunt. There is a new theme at the NHC about not focusing on the precise landfall point. There is some relevance to that, but it is as much due to potential forecast errors as the storm itself. That is, for the storm impacts, precise landfall location is critical. The eye diameter is typically (with significant storm to storm variations) only about 20 miles wide. And the eyewall, where the massive destruction tends to occur, is only about a 10 mile wide ring around the eye (again, with some variation depending on the storm). That's only about a 40 mile wide swath of destruction... maybe a bit larger, since the winds don't just drop off instantaneously beyond the eyewall. So, let's just roughly estimate it at 60miles. That's 30 miles either side of the eye. So, all Gustav needs to do is come into Louisiana more than 30 miles west of New Orleans and they'll be spared the destructive winds AND, more importantly, the destructivly high storm surge. For eample, here's the GFDL's wind field near landfall:

When you go and read more of milwx's diary, you'll be able to see more in-depth studies of the trajectories and projections.

The other diary that I want to point out is from liveblog (mothership) where they're trying to organize central online locations for people to check in, to find resources, and to post more information to more resources! If you're a Kossack as well as a DCP'er then you might want to go recommend that diary so that it stays up there and add any relevant resources.

We hope everyone is prepared and we're hoping for the best this time. Carol posted in the previous thread's comments that George Bush is not going to the RNC convention due to Hurricane Gustav. And Gator-bait posted that they have preparations for rescues already set up. And according to the media, they have mandatory evacuations. And according to my brother, who happened to have been in the area, the Federal Protection Service was speeding down towards that area, so they might already be making plans in outlying areas. (FPS is part of Homeland Security.)

So, other than worrying about the Hurricane and our friends in the South, what can we do to help out?

Let's talk...

(Ed note: Christy submitted this letter as a foundation to discuss war crimes and why we as a society can't seem to discuss this without being called unpatriotic. We had an interesting chain of emails as a result, and she or I will post those when we can.)

Hey Senator McCain, About Vietnam...

Hello Senator! Just for context, I would like you to know I was not born until 1973, decidedly one of the last years of the Vietnam War, and no, I do not have any living memory of it occurring. I feel grateful to have missed it actually.

However, I am writing to you today in the hopes you could finally settle a few questions I have been asking about Vietnam since my childhood, and for over 30 years now, I have yet to receive any answers. They are not rhetorical questions, nor are they meant to be redundant, yet simply no one will or can provide an actual answer for them. I was hoping you could.

I'm stealing Jeff Lieber's diary from Daily Kos because after reading the headlines about Ms. Palin, it's clear to see that she's simply a distraction to take people off the real message.

So send Jeff a comment if you're so inclined...

So John McCain has made the first most important decision of his campaign. The decision that we've all been waiting on pins and needles to hear. He has announced his running mate, the Vice Presidential candidate, who will join him crisscrossing the country. He's chosen Sarah Palin, Republican Governor of Alaska.

Who is Sarah Palin?

Even Republicans, shaking their heads in bafflement, are asking, "Who the heck Sarah Palin?"

Exciting news!

I just heard from our intrepid live-blogger DiAnne and she's now officially in the stadium after a rip-roaring bus ride to the stadium.

Ok...so perhaps rip-roaring is the right word. Frankly, she got lost and looped around a few extra stops before getting there. She's now ensconced in the nose-bleed section.

Can't wait for more updates and pictures.

Enjoy this evening on this thread, folks!

Jesselyn Radack in her new job at a homeland security think tank has posted a warning at Daily Kos that the New Orleans hydraulic pumps do not work. She has spoken to the whistleblower from the Army Corps of Engineers and seen the evidence of these defective pumps; furthermore, she has seen the evidence that the whistleblower has tried to get the problem fixed but instead our government created a bogus report and protected the manufacturer!

This is what Jesselyn Radack wrote (bolding is mine):

A brave and brilliant woman from the Army Corps of Engineers complained to the Office of Special Counsel about the failure of the hydraulic pumps manufactured by Moving Waters Industry (MWI) and installed in New Orleans.

She should know. She was the team leader of pumping system installations. The OSC required the Department of Defense Secretary to conduct an investigation into her disclosures. The Department of Defense Inspector General substantiated more than half of her allegations, but ultimately concluded that

. . . the deficiencies [were] performance related short-comings that did not rise to the level of a serious violation of law or regulation, abuse of authority or gross mismanagement.

But the OSC agreed with the whistleblower, Maria Garzino, that the report was a whitewash:

The documentation and comprehensive explanation provided by [Ms. Garzizino] in contrast with the agency's superficial and dismissive findings also suggest that, although you regularly and persistently made the USACE aware of serious flaws in the design, testing, installation, capabilities and contract issues that arose with the New Orleans pumps . . . USACE employees appeared to have taken a band-aid approach at the expense of good government and public health and safety . . . It appears that the pumps remain inadequately untested, and vulnerable to failure in the event of a hurricane....

Whoever said lightening doesn't strike twice never knew the Bush family or the way they protect their friends.

This is the Bush family and their government pre-Katrina:

• cronyism


• incompetent government


• corruption


• cover-ups


• corporate profit

Take a look at this map showing Hurricane Katrina's whereabouts August 28, 2005.

This is the Bush family and their government post-Katrina:

• cronyism


• incompetent government


• corruption


• cover-ups


• corporate profit

Now take a look at this map that Monkey posted showing Hurricane Gustav's whereabouts August 28, 2008.

Holy smokes, batman! It looks identical!

A terrible natural disaster ended lives in 2005 due to criminal negligence and Bush family cronyism. Will that happen again in the next few days?

Not convinced about the cronyism part? Read what Jess wrote about the manufacturer of those pumps.

"I can tell you first-hand that the hydraulic pumps don't work. Who manufactured the defective pumps? Moving Waters (MWI), which is owned by J. David Eller, who was once a business partner of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. (From 1989 to 1993 the two operated the company Bush-El, which marketed MWI pumps.)

It surely seems as if the same path of negligence and destruction has continued, and of course the administration has continued the same path of using our government resources to cover-up for the corporation and instead attack the messenger.

Instead of fixing the problem, this administration is content to let the Free Market reign. Corporations see the whistleblowers as "trouble-makers," but is that how our government should treat them?

Rachel Maddow, the newest liberal talk show host on MSNBC, is already lifting up the rug to reveal the creepy crawlies underneath the corporate media system.

The creepy crawlies are the lies, the false partisan premises that having two heads shouting at each other, and then call it a debate and impartial. The creepy crawlies are the techniques that the media has used for years to allow lies to continue without correction, and to allow spin to replace truth altogether. The creepy crawlies are the perpetuation of false science over scientific or historical facts. And the creepy crawlies are the systematic story-lines and myths that replace the honest to goodness truth. The creepy crawlies are the paid propaganda artists from the military or the administration who go on the tv circuit and lie through their teeth! And the creepy crawlies are the myths that having a paid consultant from a conservative institute vs a paid consultant from a liberal think-tank (both sitting next to each other and smiling or smacking each other verbally) is real media, when the original topic is based upon a lie.

Maddow says in the WAPO:

"It creates fake balance," she says. "I'm sorry -- we're going to have a debate about whether or not the Earth is flat? It doesn't make sense to have a debate about whether offshore drilling is going to bring down gas prices. You know what? It's not. The fact that it's false ought to be reported, or you're advancing a lie."

According to WAPO, Rachel Maddow will have both ends of the spectrum on her new show, which makes her different from Keith Olbermann, but she will call out a lie for a lie. This also makes her different from Abrams, who she replaced, as well as every single show out there.

Good for her!

This isn't a case of a liberal presenting liberal media. This is honest to goodness debate using real facts, not spin. It's about time the media got this right.

I will tune into Maddow's show if it builds incentive for the corporate media to replace their current fake balance with real news and real balance.

What else can we do to continue this trend?

I landed in Denver over the weekend and drove out to Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, at the base of Pike's Peak.

I decided to get a taste of Colorado politics and culture. I first visited the Focus on the Family Visitor Center and then the homes of two Obama activist supporters who will watch Barack speak on Thursday night.

Today, I checked out my digs (free lodging, but in suburban Denver) and the logistics of putting the rental car in the over-packed Park & Ride and riding light rail into downtown. Just as in Boston in 2004, the stations were closed around the Convention Center, so we had to get out far away and walk.

I too was mindful of the ultra-high security, which felt like something out of a futuristic movie. There were helicopters overhead, a few curiosity seekers or wandering delegates on foot, in pedicabs or on bicycles and then scores of police, some in riot gear. There was no signage, so delegates who originated on the wrong end of the Pepsi Center had to traverse a long distance to get around the security fence, which seems like an endless barricade.

There are so many levels of credentials and passes - for those getting into the PepsiCenter, for those destined to get into Invesco Field on Thursday night to hear Obama, for those going to the Starz party (Hollywood types), and the Big Tent (full week, day, volunteer, media passes).

Why do people care about how many houses McCain owns or rents out?

Republicans would like to say it's a lot of hoopla over nothing--much ado about nothing. However, McCain's houses are important for a number of reasons.

The first clear reason is that he tried to hide the fact that he's a multi-millionaire who has a lot of homes! If he's trying to hide something so easily researched, it's pretty easy to see and understand that a McCain Presidency will look like Bush's policy with more hidden agendas and hidden laws. For McCain a new house--a White House-- shrouded in secrecy.

Of course, that may be much more clear to people who aren't working 80 hour days then going online to get real news instead of fake corporate news.

But the clearest reason this matters to people hits much closer to home. People are losing their jobs, their home, and their health, and yes...even their pets because they have been abused by the corporations and the people in power for the last eight years.

Of course, Monkey stated it perfectly a year or two ago, being the prescient kind of monkey he is--and restated it again this morning.

DiAnne posted a lovely piece about Stephanie Tubbs-Jones on the main thread header. Yesterday was a sad day of losses on many levels, however.

McCain is looking stronger, and even though we do not endorse here at the DCP, so many of you are Obama supporters, I know the uneasiness and loss of optimism takes a toll. Most of us went through the roller coaster ride of Summer 2004 and it ended with grief; we do worry.

Yesterday brought other sad news as well: Rick Albertson (M. Loutre/otter)'s Dad passed away after years of illness. Rick was home in Pittsburgh with him and the end was not unexpected, but it is always a shock, isn't it? Feel free to leave messages for him here; I am sure he will stop by at some point and receive them.

As summer wanes and the Fall frenzy looms, let's take a glass of lemonade (home-made, from scratch, organic, of course) together and agree to keep each other buoyed up a little, and, if the worst happens, make sure there is plenty of chocolate and real estate in other countries to keep us going.

Originally, this article was posted at BMG, but my friend asked me to post it here.

In July, 2007, John Kerry chaired the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee's hearing on Pakistan's Future. The question was, "Are we building Democracy or fueling extremism?"

In light of almost eight years of escalating violence in Pakistan and the whole region, the murder/assassination of Benazir Bhutto during their elections, and now the resignation of Musharraf, the question Kerry asked seems almost prescient.

Just read!

Okay, even though most of you know this already, I just HAVE to post it!!!

The Obama for Change, or Obama for America campaign has come to rural America!!!!

I had sent in my name and telephone number to our state headquarters in 2004, and never got a call back. The girl I talked to then, when asked if they needed any help, said "I don't know, I'll have someone get back to you." (NO ONE EVERRRRR DID.)

This year I contributed what I could $ wise., but thought I wouldn't get a chance to contribute or campaign in any other way, especially since gas had gotten so high.

But through emails and letters and several phone calls from Obama's campaign, I got a VERY PLEASANT SURPRISE this past weekend.

Saturday I was preparing to go spend the weekend with my girlfriend who lives out at the bay. I was planning to have her here for the weekend and do for her, to treat her, since her husband had gone north fishing on his annual father-son fishing trip, and wouldn't be back for three days. The air is so dense here right now with humidity and wheat pollen (they are cutting and chaffing the wheat and it's thick in the air, and I am allergic to wheat), that I started getting asthma the day before she was supposed to come over to spend the weekend with me. She called me and said since I wasn't feeling well, I should come to the bay and she could treat me. So I said "okay, thank you".

(I didn't know it was asthma, because since I stopped eating wheat and gluten products over two years ago I haven't had an asthma attack, so I thought O.M.G. it's my ticker!) I didn't have an inhaler of albuterol because I hadn't needed one for so long!)I went to the doc Monday and he said ticker is good, everything else is good (I lost a little weight - ta da!)
but that I indeed have the asthma.

I know, I don't have to make a novel out of this, but, it kind of all ties in. OK so Saturday morning I am packing and getting ready to go to the bay for the weekend, and I get a call from the gal who has been assigned our "area" from the Obama campaign. She apologized for the call on the spur of the moment, and said she was in town (MY TOWN!) and wanted to know if we could get together and meet.

When we began the DCP, three-and-a-half years ago, we began with the idea that small groups of people could teach each other a lot. We have all learned a great deal from each other, and perhaps more importantly, we have made connections that transcend geographical limitations. Just yesterday, I understand, ABQ John and oncall spent time together in Chicago.

Well, today is DiAnne's birthday, and I wanted to put up this open thread to say thank you to her. She has been so reliable, so sane, and so gifted. I for one have always learned something new from her, and that has always been her motto for changing hearts and minds: "tell them something they don't know".

In 2004, she went into gay bars in Seattle and registered new voters, whether they were Dems or Repubs. She has remained one of the mainstays of several blogs, including this one; check out her piece on the front page.

And to honor her further today, I offer you but a small sampling of her incredible photos over the years:

Former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Damien Woetzel gives Mo Rocca a ballet lesson, and together they make a new ballet about WMD….. or cookies.

MR: “Do you think if our world leaders studied dance, there’d be greater peace in the world?”

DW: “I do think the ability to waltz, is very conducive to being even-tempered.”

Also: It is Richard's 62nd birthday today: 08-08-08! He is sitting at a dock in Portland, Maine because his beloved sailboat, the Canace, is still, and again, in need of repair. The boat is 85 years old, and beautiful, but tired, and has sprung a couple of leaks. He is with his old friend Jon Clarke, and they are having a wonderful time, but I know he wishes they were under sail. I know he also wishes it would stop raining!

So feel free to leave him some good wishes for aging men and boats to find clear skies, a good wind, and solid repairs!

The RoadBlock Republicans have now become the RoadBlock Revival Revue.

This is the definition of irony--in action! The group who has filibustered the most bills ever are now refusing to leave the hallowed halls in Congress. And of course this irony follows the footsteps of this breaking news,

Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation.

(More irony in action...)

In a mock performance, pretending to show they care about oil prices, the Republicans have started their 'anti-road show.'

According to the Washington Wire, the Republicans have enacted their staged protest using a combination of blogs, radio hosts, and media outlets.

Take a look....

At 11:23a.m. today, the U.S. House adjourned for a month-long recess, but on Capitol Hill, political theater knows no fixed time or season. A few dozen House Republicans refused to leave the House chamber Friday afternoon, doing their best Jimmy Stewart impression in protest of Democratic leaders declining to bring up legislation that would allow expanded oil drilling in the United States.

Joined by a bevy of staff and summer interns, the Republican lawmakers donned mostly straight faces for an afternoon of speechifying without microphones, C-SPAN or their Democratic counterparts.

How many of you remember the Boston Tea Party?” Republican Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona asked the raucous crowd. “This is the Boston Tea Party!”

Texas Republican Rep. John Culberson and Michigan Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra sent play-by-play dispatches about the pep rally via Twitter, an online messaging service. Indiana Republican Rep. Mike Pence, a former radio talk show host, called in to one of his brethren, Rush Limbaugh, to apprise nationwide listeners of the details. Another Texas Republican Rep. Kevin Brady came to the House floor with suitcase in hand, saying that he’d walked out of his scheduled flight home to join the rally.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said the group of members – comprised largely of the conservative wing of the Republican caucus — had themselves come up with the idea, with Georgia Republican Rep. Tom Price and Pence, taking the lead to stage the protest.

That's quite impressive for a group of people who could have stopped actual White House crimes if they had only dedicated as much energy towards protecting the common good not just their lobbyists common wealth.

I posted a regular thread below this one earlier today. But I found out that Christy has been very ill.

It sounds like she's over the hump, but if you wish to please place your "Get Well Wishes" here on this thread then you can use the other thread (below this) for all the gloom and doom politics.