Blog Box

September 30, 2005
Compiled by Delilah Boyd, A Scrivener's Lament

Undo The Coup!

Brownie bites it, George W. Bush hunkers in the bunker, Tom DeLay (R-Mobbed Up & Felony Indicted) gets Terminixed, and "Communists For Kerry" meet up in DC. An interesting week on the blogs, to say the least!

Milling-Around Morons For Bush

I exited the DC Navy Yard Metro station last Saturday and ran smack dab into FreeperFest 2005. I searched in vain for a single smile among the, er, thronglet. Ignorance, as demonstrated by the bitterness and anger among all fifty BushBots present, obviously isn't bliss. By the way, the Freepers (I refuse to link to their site, but you know which one it is) need donations to pay for their weekend in DC:

Posted by Syncro On 09/28/2005 2:42:19 PM PDT • 1 reply • 14+ views Great Success With Our ''Support The Troops Weekend!'' We had GREAT success with our "Support The Troops AND Their Mission" Weekend in D.C. - Click Below to Help Us Pay For Our Great Pro-Troops Rally: Donate Now! This is a SPECIAL MESSAGE from Alan Keyes' "Keyes Media Central" and RightMarch.com.

Speaking of last weekend... Jed at Daysbreak catches Jim/Jeff Guckert/Gannon trolling for a few good men at Sunday's 200-strong Pro-War "milling around." Daysbreak also has two other excellent posts this week, one on Michael "Brownie" Brown's testimony and another on the unifying theme of our march on Saturday (Replace These Idiots).

If you read my blog A Scrivener's Lament (check out the post "My Favorite Freepers" if you do), you'll notice I don't link to many blogs. I'm adding Daysbreak, though. It's a keeper!

Frist, Do No Harm!

Finally - it looks like the Frist has hit the fan. Senator/Doctor Frist, famous for his erroneous diagnosis of Terri Schiavo (after watching her on an edited VHS tape), pulled a George "Harken" Bush and lied about 24 documented instances which prove he knew every detail of his "Blind Trust" transactions. Think Progress has the Frist Timeline.

Martha Stewart was convicted, sentenced and incarcerated for giving two different versions of answers to the same FBI question while not under oath (about insider trading, for which she wasn't even charged). By that standard, Frist at least deserves the Revenge of the Cat People equivalent of justice.

ASSume The Position

The era of BushCo cronyism may be screeching to a halt. On Planet Oh-Right-Sure, you say. The good news here on Earth? The corporate-owned media seems somewhat interested in investigating and connecting at least a few Republican cronyism dots. Bloggers have been doing this for years, of course, but we all know that if it isn't on CNN, it didn't happen.

Now that DeLay has been indicted and the pigs have been cleared for takeoff, maybe (cough) journalists (cough) will investigate some of the more egregious BushCo offenses. To wit, Scrutiny Hooligans writes, "Believe Your Eyes."

The most obviously lethal crony is, of course, Michael "Heck Of A Job, Brownie" Brown, but first...

Is Tom DeLay (R- Recently Indicted) "Mobbed Up?"

Sure, he is. He "knows a guy" named Abramoff, who "knows a guy" named John Ashcroft, who demoted a Guam Justice Dept. prosecutor named Black, who was investigating Abramhoff... And then, there's this "guy" named Gus Boulis, who ended up six feet under the other day. War and Piece has the whole "mobbed up" story, here and here.

Back To Brownie

Michael Brown, still on the FEMA payroll by the way, testified during a special Congressional panel investigating the response to Hurricane Katrina that his only mistake was waiting four days to take over Louisiana's emergency management. Ahem. What does FEMA stand for again? The Tattered Coat writes:

With Michael Brown spouting revisionist history on Capitol Hill, now seems like a good time to remind ourselves of FEMA's criminal incompetence during the Katrina aftermath. Under Michael Brown, Michael Chertoff, and George W. Bush, this agency actively and explicitly prevented help from reaching victims in need. From an earlier post: FEMA won't accept Amtrak’s help in evacuations FEMA turns away experienced firefighters FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel FEMA won’t let Red Cross deliver food FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck FEMA turns away generators FEMA: "First Responders Urged Not To Respond" FEMA Cuts Parish Emergency Communication Lines Without Notice

FEMA's reputation is tattered: from James Lee Witt to Half-Wit Brown. And we all know who hired the half-wit...

President George W. Training Wheels

Scads of bloggers focused this week on George W.'s hurricane-free Colorado NORAD bunker trip "to observe the storm situation." Scads more zeroed in on his seven trips to my home state of Texas. Petty Larseny, however, shows us the really scary side of President Pitiful:

No Shit, President Sherlock Here's the impeachment-worthy headline from the Associated Press this morning: Bush Told U.S. Needs Post-Disaster Plan By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer Military officials told President Bush on Sunday that the U.S. needs a national plan to coordinate search and rescue efforts following natural disasters or terrorist attacks... Now, it would be one thing if, five years after vowing to defend this nation, and four years after the attacks of September 11th and one month after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, military officials told the president that he should be prepared to deal with disasters after they happen and the president replied, "No shit, it's taken care of." But that's not what happened.

How safe do Freepers feel now, knowing that their president (who was the freakin' governor of Texas for six years) has to learn how state and local governments work together? Are they the least bit confused today? That's OK, Freepers. Hoffmania will explain it all for you:

Class, Welcome Our New Special Student... There's that look. An all-too familiar look that his past corporate partners know well. The look that says, "I'm not crazy about this job anymore, and I'm losing interest," with a tinge of "Blowing stuff up is so much more fun."

That all-too familiar look also screams Night Of The Living Dead President. It's a good thing Tricky Dick Cheney is healthy. Oops!

Harnessed In Slums, one of the best captioners in the blog biz, nails the Cheney aneurism deal:

Captain Heart Attack is obviously more coordinated than his boss.

Too bad FDR didn't have access to one of those. He'd probably still be president!

The New Coke New York Times Formula Change

How about that New York Times Select crap? Liberal bloggers tell Editor & Publisher: the Wall Street Journal isn't stupid, but The New York Times is.

Psst! If you miss Krugman, Rich, or Dowd, just remember: Never Pay Retail if you want to Topple Bush!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Do you know how your Congress Critter feels about cutting pork? The Truth Laid Bare does, and you can add to the list. Here's an example:

Blackburn, Marsha (R -Tennessee; Positive) BLACKBURN TO BUSH: 'IN WAKE OF KATRINA, CUT NON-ESSENTIAL SPENDING.

Blogging News

Hey, vlog fans! CanOFun has joined Crooks And Liars as the keepers of our video political history. Have you seen "Laura The Lump Does Extreme Makeover" yet? Click on over for a good laugh!

Reporters Without Borders has produced the definitive blogging tool, the "Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents." Chapters include:

Bloggers, the new heralds of free expression
What's a blog?
The language of blogging
Choosing the best tool
How to set up and run a blog
What ethics should bloggers have?
Getting your blog picked up by search-engines
What really makes a blog shine?
How to blog anonymously
Technical ways to get around censorship
Ensuring your e-mail is truly private
Internet-censor world championship

The manual is a must-read for all bloggers and future bloggers. It's also a good refresher course for corporate media hairdos and (cough) journalists.

And Mozilla has a new extension for customizing your Google searches, which includes Technorati and Bloglines.

The Rapture Is Neither An Energy Policy Nor FEMA!

Rob, whose blog is now known as The Online Magazine Formerly Known As Rob's Blog, writes:

I'd think conservatives, for reasons of thumbing the nose at OPEC and being safe rather than sorry on the hurricane/climate change front, would be championing the global warming argument. (Then again, given the extreme religious bent of some, it's no surprise that some of them are saying it's divine retribution.) I suppose they have a token supporter of the idea. Maybe he'll be the 2008 nominee. Me, I'll take the opinions of experts. Guys with PhD's.

Speaking of Fascist Fundies...

The Furious Gourmet at Repiglican Roast sums up the "tax dollars to faith-based charities, US Constitution-shredding segment" of George W.'s FEMA fuckupathon in the conclusion of this post:

One Goose Step Closer to Christian Reconstructionism Katrina has demonstrated that the Bush administration is not only totally unprepared for a terrorist attack, it has done nothing at all to prepare for one. --SNIP-- Give more tax money to the religious right so they can give it back to you NeoCONS, so they can hand out elaborately printed voter guides in church and at Wal-Mart. Keep 'em stirred up and stoked so they can distract the public from noticing it is being robbed blind. Keep telling 'em it is all about gay marriage and Jesus and abortion when it is really about plunder, exploitation and enslavement. Violate the very idea the country was built upon. And wear a flag lapel pin while you do it.

Now, that's the way to roast Repiglicans! Of course, FEMA (keeper of the Ka$h) might as well hang an Out Of Order sign on the door... or a cross.

We Were Half a Million Strong!

To all of you who either marched last Saturday or were with us in spirit, I have this to say: do the math. I was with the Billionaires For Bush midway along the route, across the street from the US Treasury Building (where else?). The crowd marching past us was 30 people wide and baby-step depth, with a 4-6 person-wide sidewalk overflow behind us... for 3 ½ hours.

We made a definite difference! Thank goodness for patriots... and bloggers on the ground!

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