Dems plan to go positive... but not until nearly 2007...

Someone should tell them that it might be too little too late by then :). Well here's an article by Mort Kondracke, a Fox News contributor...
September 30, 2005
Democrats Do Plan To 'Go Positive' - But Not Until 2006
By Mort Kondracke

Democrats have an answer to the question, "OK, what's your alternative to the Bush policies you constantly criticize?" It is: "We're working on it." When it emerges, in a form yet to be determined, it's likely to include proposals for tax reform, health insurance, energy independence, national security and retirement reform.

Both House and Senate Democrats, plus outside consultants and think tank operatives, say that the party should have a full-blown alternative agenda to take into the 2006 elections - but that it doesn't need one yet. Democrats think that 2006 could be - in the words of Democracy Corps, the liberal polling group - "a major change election," like 1994, when Republicans gained 52 House seats and nine Senate seats and took control of Congress for the first time in 40 years.

They think that 1994 happened to them because of negative campaigning by Republicans against then-President Bill Clinton, defeat of his signature health care initiative and perceived corruption in the Democratic Congress. Duplicating the 1994 pattern, Democrats have been relentlessly pummeling President Bush on Iraq, gas prices and hurricane lapses and just-indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) for alleged "corruption."

They point out that the Republicans' positive agenda, the famous "Contract with America," wasn't unveiled until Sept. 27, 1994. According to Fox News correspondent Major Garrett, who wrote a book on the subject, it had its origins in a February 1993 House GOP decision to assemble a budget to counter Clinton's. House Democrats already produce counter-budgets - this year's is silent on tax increases - and one key House leader said that while Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hasn't said so, "I can't imagine us not" producing a contract-style agenda sometime in 2006.

"There's no doubt that we are going to lay out an agenda that meets the challenges that America faces," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and author of proposals on tax reform, lobbying reform and importation of pharmaceuticals.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who's already issued a "Democratic National Security Strategy for the 21st Century" with 15 moderate colleagues, told me that "what we needed to do in the first year of this Congress is to point out how the administration has failed.

"And, of course, the administration has helped us on that. And then next year we have to continue to talk about how they've failed. ... If we don't have some positive things to say, Americans may still vote for us because they're angry, but I don't think we should rely on that."

House and Senate Democrats are delighted with the apparent defeat of Bush's Social Security "privatization" plan - the political equivalent, they think, of the Clinton 1994 health debacle - and Senate Democrats are planning to replicate the tactics and structure of that campaign on other issues for 2006.

As Roll Call reported last week, Senate Democratic leaders have assigned Sen. Maria Cantwell (Wash.) and her chief of staff to work on "energy independence by 2020," Sen. Edward Kennedy (Mass.) to work up a health agenda and Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.) to draft national security messages, while Sen. Max Baucus (Mont.) continues to serve as the point man on retirement issues. Another Senator, identity unknown, will lead on "government reform and correcting this Republican culture of corruption," a leadership aide said.

On Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of the GOP Contract with America - and the day before DeLay's indictment - House Democratic leaders held a press conference to denounce GOP "corruption and cronyism." Emanuel charged that GOP leaders who promised reform "should be sued for breach of contract."

One key outside consultant told me he once thought Democrats needed to come forward with positive messages immediately, but that he's changed his mind. "The Republican numbers are bad now, bad across the board," he said. "So, we have time. Let them stew in their juices a bit longer. They perfected this in '94 and it worked for them. What's the one thing we've done? We've held the line on Social Security. Did we do anything else? Not that I can tell."

This consultant acknowledged, though, that while "we're not hurt," the Democratic Party's "numbers are not any better than theirs."

According to the latest Democracy Corps poll, Democrats now enjoy a 9-point advantage in a generic Congressional preference poll and are running stronger in unidentified seat-by-seat matchups.

Yet the poll found that the public's general opinion of Democrats is no better than it is of Republicans, that "feelings about Democrats are at a 2.5-year low" and that Democrats receive only 48 percent of the 2006 preference ballot - the same as their 2004 showing.

This should tell Democrats that they ought to start talking about what they stand for - and make it good.

In an interview Monday with Roll Call editors and reporters, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) claimed to "feel pretty good about the majority."

"If I had to guess today I'd say we're in a plus- or minus-two environment," he said, when Democrats need to pick up 16 seats to take over the House.

"I think the problem our friends on the other side have is that they can't win without ideas and they can't win with the ideas they have. If they don't come forward with the kind of proposals that Republicans brought to the public arena in 1994, they're not going to win the majority. And the kind of ideas that Leader Pelosi will come up with are not likely to be the kind of ideas that will appeal to the country."

Maybe. Or maybe not. Various Democrats and allied think tanks such as the Center for American Progress are crafting policy proposals that could have appeal, such as Hoyer's "Manhattan Project" for energy independence and Emanuel's plans to simplify various tax benefit provisions for the middle class and make mortgage-interest deductions available to taxpayers who don't itemize.

The CAP think tank agenda, which I'll discuss at greater length in another column, is imaginative but also expensive and involves significant tax increases for those making more than $120,000 a year. The GOP is just waiting for Democrats to raise taxes.

The good news is that Democrats know they have to be positive eventually. I think it would be to their advantage to speed up the process.

So, um let me get this straight, they plan on releasing a plan after they get their asses handed to them in 2006? Or maybe before, better question, does it really matter. We have won 3 consecutive elections because we have a plan, I'd be willing to bet that our plan points out whatever holes there are in their stupid plan. Seriously someone tell me what the Democractic party stands for now, except for being anti-Bush. Peace is great (the first answer I've had from a liberal) but how do you expect to have peace without war? My friends, the democratic party may be dead before the end of this decade.

NBA Live 2006...

A videogame review, simply put the best basketball game I have seen to date. I can't even explain it, it is so worth the $50 (more like $53 when you throw in taxes, stupid minnesota government...) you will have to put down to purchase the game. In the next few days I might do a review of the slipknot album or the new computer game I'm playing. I will do some hard news also today. The game gets a 10/10

Tom Delay indicted

Big deal right? Actually not as big of a deal as you would think, let's look at the dictionary.com

in·dict( P ) Pronunciation Key(n-dt)
tr.v. in·dict·ed, in·dict·ing, in·dicts
To accuse of wrongdoing; charge: a book that indicts modern values.
Law. To make a formal accusation or indictment against (a party) by the findings of a jury, especially a grand jury.

The way the media is using the word you would think he has been convicted, there hasn't even been a TRIAL yet people. Once again, Liberalism is a mental disorder.

New Product plug...

Mountain Dew came out with a new flavor, Pitch Black II (apparently the first one was a bust ;)} anyway its acutally pretty good. Let it sit out awhile and I think it will turn into wine. Life has been busy, I will be back posting multiple times daily very soon.

watching TV...

I am seeing shows that I haven't seen in 5-7 years. Do I have this much power?

folks...

It's over for the liberal media, I was just watching tv and viewing the ads I thought it was Fox News, it was MTV. When MTV has drifted right it is so over for the dems. You can watch CNN now but it will be just to laugh at them.

Vikings experts picks...

Vikings are 7:1 to win the Superbowl according to Vegas, I have been right about the Pats all 3 times and Detroit over LA in 2004, just ask my friends. It's time I start making some $$$ of my knowledge (and you can too).

NBC getting killed...

found this on Newsmax.com

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005 10:44 a.m. EDT
NBC's Viewership Plummets 39 Percent

It’s been a summer of discontent at NBC. The network’s viewership has plummeted a whopping 39 percent compared to last summer.

Final numbers for the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day show that the six broadcast networks suffered a 13 percent decline in viewership.

Even when last summer’s high-rated Olympics and other sports were excluded, the networks saw a five percent dip.
At CBS, the drop was eight percent, while WB had a 14 percent decline and UPN was down one percent compared to last summer.

Only ABC, with a rise of eight percent, and Fox (seven percent) saw increases in viewership.

Overall viewership usually drops about 15 percent in the summer rerun season, but this year the big networks lost about 40 percent of their regular season audiences, USA Today reports.

Many of the viewers abandoning the big broadcast networks are evidently turning to cable stations, which are stepping up their production of original programming.

TNT, with original shows "The Closer,” "Wanted” and "Into the West,” saw a 17 percent rise over last summer; and MTV ("Laguna Beach” and "The Real World”) was up ten percent.

A chief culprit in the broadcast networks’ decline was a disappointing slate of new reality shows, according to USA Today.

Said Starcom Media analyst Laura Caraccioli-Davis: "They just kind of missed the mark when it came to viewers’ appetites” for reality shows.

2008 presidential ticket

President- Rudy Gulianni
VP- Ray Nagen

Spread the word!

idea...

Ok next monday or tuesday I will be heading up to Camp Ripley with supplies, anyone reading this and knows where Edina is we can organize at Benilde-St.Margarets at a time TBD. Any BSM students reading this ask your parents if there is stuff just lying around the house that you don't really need. If there is I will not force but only suggest that you donate it. The kindness of the American people knows no limits.

add is bullshit...

more in an upcoming post.

How can you be like me...

your probably reading this saying how the hell does a 19 year old know this much, it's quite simple actually, I use technology. Here are my favorites of each medium...

TV Stations
Fox News
MSNBC
CNBC
Fox
Comedy Central
Cartoon Network
History Channel
Fox Sports Net
ESPN
ESPN2

Shows
Too Late with Adam Carolla (10:30 pm CST Comedy Central)
24 (coming back to fox in winter 2005)
House (starts up in 2 weeks)
South Park (just watch Comedy central)
anything on Fox News and CNBC
Tucker Carlson (on MSNBC 9 pm CST weeknights)
Simpsons (#1 for 15 years, now #3-4)
Futurama (they should have been more)
Family Guy (Best show on TV)
American Dad (second best show on tv)

more but I can't think anything else for now

Newspaper
Pioneer Press (pioneerpress.com, I think)
One paper is enough

websites
illwillpress.com (guy is exactly like me)
cnn.com (my homepage)
foxnews.com (enough said)
realclearpolitics.com
newsmax.com
espn.com
sports.yahoo

Radio shows
93X half-assed morning show
Any show on KFAN (KFAN.com or 1130am in the MSP area)
Michael Savage
Hugh Hewitt
Dennis Prager
Loveline with Adam Carolla and Dr.Drew (check local radio stations)
Coast to Coast AM (1500am for MSP area, coasttocoastam.com)

If there's anything out there that I missed and you think I would like please let me know. New media rocks. I know that sounds like a lot of stuff that I do, but I have a life and friends. Follow this and you will become conservative, period.

CDC says...

watch out for a national outbreak, let's prevent this people!

Gas...

it's at $2.79 now and shouldn't be. By November gas will be $1.50 a gallon

Economy is doing great!

Ok for thosse of you who don't know the Dow is up around 140 today and oil is below $66 a barrel. Where is the mainstream media? Calling CNN, CBS, NBC, hello stop trying to impeach Bush and report THE NEWS!

One last thing...

How many of the refugees are going to blue states and how many are going to red states? Just something to think about people!

I was right...

Pulled off Fox News earlier today...

New Orleans Mayor: Could be 10,000 dead in city
Some hurricane victims allowed to go home to salvage property; Bush tours Gulf Coast again

just scroll down a little...

Sunday, August 28, 2005
I know this is very grim...

but here are my projected Katrina death tolls for New Orleans. I am doing this to only compare where my guesses are to what actually happens.

Best-Case Scenario (misses NO)- 1,500-2,000
Medium Case Scenario (grazes NO)- 5,000-15,000
Worst-Case Scenario (direct hit)- 50,000-75,000

100,000 people are trapped there, please pray for them and for a miracle.

I don't want to celebrate 10,000 people dead but um, I predicted this and am comparing them to what is happening, boy I wish this was another one of my wrong predictions.

We must defend ourselves!

A New Low for the MSM?

The mainstream media's handling of Hurricane Katrina and the disasters in New Orleans is a disgrace, possibly the worst instance yet of media bias. Insane claims by left-wing nuts that President Bush botched the recovery effort on purpose so as to kill black people are repeated by the MSM in a chin-stroking mode, as if to say, "It's an interesting question--they might be on to something." Meanwhile, no one points out that it was President Bush who implored Governor Blanco to issue a first-ever mandatory evacuation order for the city, an action by the President that probably saved tens of thousands of lives.

Similarly, the media yammmer on and on about the allegedly slow federal response to the hurricane, without noting that the Governor of Louisiana has the power to call out the National Guard. Accusations that lawlessness and looting in New Orleans are somehow the federal government's fault are repeated endlessly; hardly anyone bothers to criticize the looters and other criminals themselves. And where is the outrage that should be directed toward the New Orleans Police Department? They were the authorities on the scene, and they, under the direction of the city's Mayor--who had an emergency plan in place, but apparently made no attempt to implement it--had the responsibility to maintain law and order. Yet some policemen reportedly joined in the looting, while a great many others turned tail and abandoned their responsibilities.

But it's hard to defend the administration when the administration won't defend itself. Yesterday Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff declared that the feds are now in control of New Orleans, but refused to defend the government's performance so far:

Chertoff defended the job of FEMA Director Michael Brown and declined to get into a discussion about whether the government moved quickly and forcefully enough to deal with the catastrophe. He shrugged off suggestions that the demand for National Guard troops in Iraq had depleted the numbers available to respond to the crisis.
"I think when we go back and look at it lot of things worked well and some things didn't work well," he said.


That simply isn't good enough. I understand the administration's problem: it's hard to mount a defense without pointing out the scandalous performance of the state and local authorities who were responsible for emergency preparation and for the initial response to the hurricane. But if the administration thinks it can ride out the current news cycle as it has passively ridden out so many news cycles in the past, it's crazy. As Chertoff himself said yesterday:

We need to prepare the country for what's coming ... we are going to uncover people who died hiding in the houses, maybe got caught in floods, it is going to be as ugly a scene as you can imagine.
Yes, that's right. And each new horror, and each painful step in the reconstruction of New Orleans over the years to come, will be the occasion for more Bush-bashing. This story is never going to die a natural death, and it is probably too late already for the administration to combat the media-driven impression that the disaster is somehow its fault.

I've often criticized the administration for not responding forcefully enough to unfair attacks by the far left and the media--often, for not responding at all. But this time the administration's habit of quietly riding out the storm could have incalculable costs.

I'm parting company here with two people whose judgment I respect. Michelle Malkin has recommended that President Bush fire FEMA head Michael Brown. Brown is, apparently, a political appointee with few qualifications for the job beyond general competence and management skill. This is hardly unusual in Washington; the conventional assumption is that staff who report to the head of an agency furnish the necessary expertise. As seems to have happened; FEMA's response to hurricanes last year was widely praised. In any event, whatever the wisdom of Brown's appointment in hindsight, firing him now would be an admission that FEMA performed poorly in the current crisis--an assertion that is constantly repeated, but for which I have seen, at this point, little hard evidence. There will be time enough for sorting out, in a rational environment, the pros and cons of FEMA's efforts; firing Brown now would accomplish nothing but to uselessly fan the flames of hysteria.

Hugh Hewitt, meanwhile, has advised conservatives to "turn the other cheek" in reaction to unfair criticism from the left. Among other reasons, he believes that the American people will react negatively to the left's maniacal, over-the-top attacks. Hugh thinks the current vile assault on the administration could be another Wellstone funeral moment. I think he's wrong; the MSM, in full support-the-Democrats mode, is daily making respectable even the wackiest attacks on the administration. Of course, I'm not by nature a cheek-turning sort, but I think that has too often been the administration's approach. This time, it could be fatal.

Meanwhile, the insanity continues. The Democrats know that in order to defend itself against their onslaught, the administration will have to criticize the people who really bungled the job--the Governor of Louisiana, the Mayor of New Orleans, and other local officials. So, earlier this morning Senator Mary Landrieu threatened President Bush with violence if he does any such thing:

Louisiana Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu threatened President Bush with physical violence this morning on ABC's Sunday morning news program "This Week". "If one person criticizes our sheriffs, or says one more thing, including the President of the United States, he will hear from me - one more word about it after this show airs and I - I might likely have to punch him - literally," says Landrieu.
For the first time, the Democrats and their allies in the MSM (to the extent one draws the distinction) believe that they have the administration on the run, in a way that could destroy President Bush. Destroying the President is the goal they have pursued passionately since January 2001. In that regard, nothing has changed in 4 1/2 years. The administration, it seems to me, has two choices: defend itself, or suffer crippling damage from which it likely will never recover.

Thanks John, great article, http://www.powerline.com if your interested. What he says is true, we cannot lay down! We must defend Bush from the insane attacks that the MSM is putting on him. Either we do that or risk his possible impeachment. Remember Clinton? This could be so much worse because 10,000 people could be dead. People listen to the critcisms of the MSM, but don't take them as FACT.

found on CNN.com...

Well, this really gives me hope

President also scheduled to stop in Mississippi

Monday, September 5, 2005; Posted: 1:24 p.m. EDT (17:24 GMT)

President Bush sits Monday with Ailisa Eugene and Frank Jack, of Metairie, at a shelter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

On his arrival here, Bush went to the Bethany World Prayer Center, a huge hall half covered with pallets and half filled with dining tables. Several people ran up to meet him as he and first lady Laura Bush wandered around the room. But just as many hung back and just looked on.

"I'm not star-struck. I need answers," said Mildred Brown, who has been there since Tuesday with her husband, mother-in-law and cousin. "I'm not interested in hand-shaking. I'm not interested in photo ops. This is going to take a lot of money."

Bush praised the volunteers and churches who have been working to take care of storm refugees. "The response of the country has been amazing," he said.

Bush spent about an hour at the shelter, which was visited at the same time by Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Like estranged in-laws at a holiday gathering, the Republican president and Democratic governor -- each facing criticism for a slow response to the disaster -- kept their distance as they walked around talking to people.

"All levels of the government are doing the best they can," Bush told reporters. "So long as any life is in danger, we've got work to do," he said.

"Where it's not going right," he promised, "we're going to make it right."

Bush hasn't gone a day without a public event devoted to the storm and its aftermath. But none of those trips so far -- nor appearances by several Cabinet members in the region -- has quieted complaints that Washington's response to the disaster has been sluggish.

Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, just south of New Orleans, broke down on NBC's "Meet the Press" when he talked about people who waited for help.

"They were told like me, every single day, the cavalry's coming, on a federal level. The cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming, the cavalry's coming. I have just begun to hear the hoofs of the cavalry ..." Broussard said.

"They've had press conferences -- I'm sick of the press conferences. For God's sakes, shut up and send us somebody."

It was Bush's third inspection tour, the second by ground. Last week, he had his pilot lower Air Force One, the presidential jet, to an altitude of about 2,500 feet as he flew over the area. Last Friday, he walked a neighborhood in Biloxi on Mississippi's coast and stopped at the airport and a breached levee in New Orleans.

Baton Rouge, about 80 miles northwest of New Orleans, largely escaped damage. Its population, however, has swelled dramatically with displaced people and is experiencing clogged roads and supply shortages.

Poplarville, where Bush was to meet with state and local officials at the Pearl River Community College, is about 45 miles inland. But the area was in the path of Katrina's eye and devastation in the town and surrounding rural areas was enormous.

"The world saw this tidal wave of disaster descend upon the Gulf Coast," Bush said Sunday during a visit to the Red Cross disaster operations center in Washington, where he urged Americans to donate money, time and blood to the relief effort. "Now they're going to see a tidal wave of compassion."

In Houston earlier Monday, former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton announced a nationwide fundraising campaign to help the hurricane victims. Teaming up again after working for tsunami relief earlier this year, they said that the new Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund will send proceeds to governors in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to help with disaster relief. (Full story) (Watch former President George H.W. Bush announce creation of the fund -- 6:53)

Federal officials, meanwhile, confirmed the local officials' worst fears and agreed the death toll will skyrocket. "I think it's evident it's in the thousands," said Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.

The Red Cross said that by Monday morning, 75,000 names were on its "family links registry" for disaster victims and their relatives. Victims go on the list when they are registered at shelters.

Red Cross spokeswoman Tracy Gary said the relief agency was caring for 135,000 survivors across 14 states. At least 470 shelters were operating by Monday and Red Cross chapters across the country were alerted to find additional locations as victims are sent out of the Gulf Coast.

More than 5,000 Red Cross volunteers made their way to the disaster areas any way they could get there, joining thousands of volunteers from the affected areas. The agency has raised more than $400 million so far.

Bush has come under fire for waiting until two days after Katrina hit -- and a day after levee breaks drowned New Orleans -- to return to Washington from his August break in Texas to oversee the federal response.

It ended up taking several days for food and water to reach the tens of thousands of desperate New Orleans residents who took shelter in the increasingly squalid and deadly Superdome and city convention center. Outlying areas, though receiving less nationwide attention, suffered some of the same problems.

Officials are now reporting some progress, and some new worries.

The leader of the air component of the military's task force said rescuers have plucked tens of thousands of terrified residents in readily visible locations, but is just starting on a door-to-door search that will take weeks, if not months.

Hundreds of federal health officers and nearly 100 tons of medical supplies were on their way to the Gulf Coast to try to head off disease outbreaks, feared because of the hot weather, mosquitos and standing water holding human waste, corpses and other contaminants.

Rehquist died...

I'll report more on this when this is the most important story in the news, for now I'm keeping track of how Katrina victims are being helped for the next 1-2 weeks.

Tracy, you were right...

Oh well, I really thought that most liberals would be able to put down their differences to help out victims. The "liberal blogosphere" is donating to the Red Cross and for that I thank them, but I strongly urge all of you to go and see the hatred that they still have. I will not criticize them, I just want them to be viewed by the american public so that everyone can see how much hatred they still have for Bush despite everything that has happened. I am so sad for the anti-bush democrats I could cry...

Something different...

Wow, look what I found...

Propaganda ‘now as vital as action' to al-Qaeda
By Roger Blitz, Roula Khalaf and Stephen Fidler in London
Published: September 2 2005 19:08 | Last updated: September 2 2005 19:08

Al-Qaeda's intensifying propaganda war with the US and Europe has become as important to the movement as terrorist attacks on western cities and interests, according to analysts studying a videotape featuring one of the London suicide bombers.


The tape of the last testimony of Mohammad Sidique Khan, broadcast by al-Jazeera television on Thursday, also featured Zayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda second in command, claiming its campaign had shifted to “the enemies' land”.

However, doubts remained about the extent of al-Qaeda's involvement in the July 7 attacks, which killed 52 people and the four suicide bombers. A US official said the Bush administration believed the tape was authentic, but that al-Qaeda was “happy to get the word out” that the network had inspired the bombings without necessarily being behind the attack.

Analysts and security officials focused on the signals being sent in the tape and its timing. Azzam Tamimi, director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought, in London, said the aim was to exploit the worsening crisis in Iraq and to revive debate in the UK about British foreign policy.

The quality of the tape, with simultaneous translations in Arabic and English of the words of Khan and Mr Zawahiri, suggested an increasingly sophisticated propaganda operation.

“What is consistent is the attempt to influence propaganda, and al-Qaeda is winning that campaign, I am sorry to say,” said Mr Tamimi.

Yassir al-Sirri, an Egyptian dissident based in London, said both the tape and its production marked a new stage in the al-Qaeda propaganda war. “Al-Qaeda believes the media war is now as important for them as the actions,” he said.

Al-Qaeda's media arm, called Clouds Organisation, appeared to be behind the video production, said Saad al-Faguih, a Saudi dissident and head of the exiled Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia. “Al-Qaeda is trying to say that their media arm is also intact,” he said.

Mr Zawahiri's comments suggested a marked increase in the rhetoric against Europe, Mr Faguih added, saying the London attacks were planned to be linked to the Madrid bombings in March 2004. “It is part of al-Qaeda's strategy in Europe to force Europe to separate itself from America.” Mr Tamimi also believed the underlying message of the tape, linking the London attacks to Iraq, would strike a chord with Muslim opinion. “If you look at the argument you can hardly find a Muslim who disagrees with this sentiment, although most Muslims would disagree with the tactic.”

Al-Qaeda's approach since the London bombings had been confusing, Mr Tamimi said. In particular, Osama bin Laden, who usually figures in al-Qaeda propaganda tapes, did not feature in either of the two tapes since July 7.

Seems somewhat credible to me, I am going to trust them on this.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4b4e2e82-1bdc-11da-9342-00000e2511c8.html

posted on Anti-Strib...

Sequel who is a friend of mine, and very smart, has this to say.

Who to blame?

The media have decided that this is a good way to make the President look bad,
although many have tried to lay the blame at the feet of Bush, that's just partisan mud slinging. Yesterday a Ms. Rhodes at Air-un-America said that Bush was happy to see all those dead bodies because they were (a) democrat voters, (b) black, (c) he just digs seeing people dead. What the hell is wrong with these people?
Whose fault is this disorganized mess? Let me lay out my view of the situation:

The Mayor and city government of N.O. and the governor and state agencies of LA really seem to have dropped the ball on this thing.
The federal government does not set up the local disaster contingency plans. State and local agencies are responsible for that.

Let me make a few examples. To avoid being partisan myself I'm going to praise a Democrat.
In San Francisco when I lived there the Mayor was Diane Feinstein. When she was told that an earthquake would kill thousands at Candlestick Park because the concrete awning would collapse, she said fix it now, we'll make room in the budget. When they wanted to eliminate the fire boats and she was told that the marina district would probably burn to the ground in an earthquake without the pumps those boats provided, she said Keep them, safety is more important, we'll make room in the budget.
That earthquake happened in 1989, the awning at candlestick held during that World Series game, thousands did not die there because of advanced planning and the retrofitting for earthquakes.
The fires in the marina district could be put out because of those fireboats.

The San Francisco cops and emergency management folks drilled over and over thinking of various scenarios and how to deal with them. When that earthquake happened they were ready. Things were screwed up to be sure, but the plans were there and in place and they mostly worked. The hundreds of thousands of daytime suburban workers were directed out of the city on some very odd routes by police and radio broadcasts. Without the multi department, multi municipal coordination and planning it would have been chaos. No one had to drive over damaged and collapsed bridges because they had thought of this stuff in advance. It was a long surreal, blacked out night of fires and destruction, but everyone got out in an orderly fashion.

In N.O. they have been predicting since 1965 that if the city were hit by a category 3 or larger hurricane the levies would give. They did not fix them. Year after year the city government asked the feds to do something, the feds gave the army corps money here and there for some levy projects, but the city never took control of the situation like SF. They just said it's someone else's problem to take care of our city, and kept putting it off. There was no leader who stepped up and made the safety of that city their cause. It' been decade after decade of passing the buck.

Having known that a category 4 or 5 storm was coming which plan did the city of N.O. implement for the evacuation in the event of a levy breach? Well none, there were no contingency plans for a levy breech (!?). As the storm approached the Mayor called for the evacuation of the city. What about those without transportation? They never considered that. So only those with a car and a full tank of gas were able to leave. All they could do was say that those who couldn’t leave should go to the superdome. Once the storm hit, the air conditioning and plumbing at the dome predictably stopped functioning. There was no water, food or any other supplies for the tens of thousands of people the city asked to go there.
They never thought of that, never planned for that.

In one of the most vulnerable cities for a disaster in the country, it seems they were caught completely flat-footed. No one seemed to know what should be done. There seemed to be no contingency plans for a flood at all. The police cars were all flooded out. Police communication is out because there is no back up to the radios if they lose power. The pumps that keep the city dry have no back up power supply that won’t be affected by a flood! Small boats for rescue operations? There are no boats. Evacuation pick-up sites? None. Emergency flood evacuation routes? They don't have any. Food and water distribution sites planned in advance? Nothing. Why the hell not? This is the event N.O. should have been planning for and drilling on for decades.
Can you imagine San Francisco or Los Angeles not knowing what to do after a disastrous earthquake? Overwhelmed maybe, but confused and doing nothing? Unthinkable!
This seems to me like Denver or Buffalo being shocked and confused as to what to do by a big snowstorm. (Ever see those emergency snow routes?)

Now I see the emergency management guy from N.O. on TV holding press conferences blaming Bush for not being fast enough to bail his city out of the mess this guy helped create.

In every US natural disaster the city county and state have to hold things together for the 3 to 5 days it takes to get the feds and the national guard ramped up to take over with their larger resources etc.
In this case N.O. just floundered for those 3 to 5 days, nothing was done by the city or state, NOTHING. Citizens and the Coast Guard did the only rescues I saw. Now the feds are in there and I would expect the dying will promptly stop, the looting will be over in the next 24-48 hours, and the city should be empty of its citizens by early next week, and then the cleanup can begin.

I wish that the media would stop using this disaster as another opportunity to take all the usual cheap shots at Bush and focus on the events, relief work, and the actual incompetence of the local authorities in this mess.

Well Sequel, they have a right to free speech, and we have a right to call them complete morons, they just don't get it. I beyond being angry, I'm sad for them.

Ben Steins comments...

Boy, DailyKos has some nerve, I bet Stein is a lot more educated than any of the idiots on their staff...

Here is what Stein says (guy is freaking smart, I can't say the same for Kos)

A few truths, for those who have ears and eyes and care to know the truth:

1.) The hurricane that hit New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama was an astonishing tragedy. The suffering and loss of life and peace of mind of the residents of those areas is acutely horrifying.

2.) George Bush did not cause the hurricane. Hurricanes have been happening for eons. George Bush did not create them or unleash this one.

3.) George Bush did not make this one worse than others. There have been far worse hurricanes than this before George Bush was born.

4.) There is no overwhelming evidence that global warming exists as a man-made phenomenon. There is no clear-cut evidence that global warming even exists. There is no clear evidence that if it does exist it makes hurricanes more powerful or makes them aim at cities with large numbers of poor people. If global warming is a real phenomenon, which it may well be, it started long before George Bush was inaugurated, and would not have been affected at all by the Kyoto treaty, considering that Kyoto does not cover the world's worst polluters -- China, India, and Brazil. In a word, George Bush had zero to do with causing this hurricane. To speculate otherwise is belief in sorcery.

5.) George Bush had nothing to do with the hurricane contingency plans for New Orleans. Those are drawn up by New Orleans and Louisiana. In any event, the plans were perfectly good: mandatory evacuation. It is in no way at all George Bush's fault that about 20 percent of New Orleans neglected to follow the plan. It is not his fault that many persons in New Orleans were too confused to realize how dangerous the hurricane would be. They were certainly warned. It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.

6.) George Bush did not cause gangsters to shoot at rescue helicopters taking people from rooftops, did not make gang bangers rape young girls in the Superdome, did not make looters steal hundreds of weapons, in short make New Orleans into a living hell.

7.) George Bush is the least racist President in mind and soul there has ever been and this is shown in his appointments over and over. To say otherwise is scandalously untrue.

8.) George Bush is rushing every bit of help he can to New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama as soon as he can. He is not a magician. It takes time to organize huge convoys of food and now they are starting to arrive. That they get in at all considering the lawlessness of the city is a miracle of bravery and organization.

9.) There is not the slightest evidence at all that the war in Iraq has diminished the response of the government to the emergency. To say otherwise is pure slander.

10.) If the energy the news media puts into blaming Bush for an Act of God worsened by stupendous incompetence by the New Orleans city authorities and the malevolence of the criminals of the city were directed to helping the morale of the nation, we would all be a lot better off.

11.) New Orleans is a great city with many great people. It will recover and be greater than ever. Sticking pins into an effigy of George Bush that does not resemble him in the slightest will not speed the process by one day.

12.) The entire episode is a dramatic lesson in the breathtaking callousness of government officials at the ground level. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had gotten her way and they were in charge of your health care.

God bless all of those dear people who are suffering so much, and God bless those helping them, starting with George Bush.

They really don't get it...

I have gone beyond being angry at dailykos, I am just saddened, but if this is now the tune of the democratic party, oh well... more votes for us :)

Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck -- a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.


Paperwork? PAPERWORK?

We are hearing similar stories from all quarters, over and over. It seems the response to the hurricane on the national scale was beyond incompetent, beyond indifferent, and somewhere approaching the line of ... what, exactly? CrapMcFungled? Jackasstrophic? Neroesque?

The top political appointees and candidates, in interview after interview, have decided on their defense. In each specific instance, aid wasn't given because that particular fragment of aid wasn't asked for (or because four or five days after landfall they still didn't know about, oh say, 15,000 evacuees in a major evacuation center.) There are still, today, reports of small communities that haven't yet gotten more than a token amount of aid.

The entire argument is beyond insulting. The reason these communities haven't "requested" more aid? Because they have no working communications. They have no phones. Police and fire capabilities were all but destroyed, in some areas. Medical capabilities, even worse off. And yet it dawned on nobody, within FEMA or "Homeland Security" or anywhere else in this vaunted post-9/11 world, that maybe the flattened counties that nobody could contact and nobody could get information from NEEDED HELP?

Oh, the state and local authorities, make no mistake, they don't deserve anything resembling praise here either -- though when a New Orleans mayor is reduced to screaming obscenities on the radio [MP3] as the only remaining response to federal lethargy, I'm not exactly sure what more he can do. But it was clear that this was going to be a multistate disaster beyond state and local capabilities before the first squalls even hit the coastline, which is why Bush deigned to designate it as such in advance. We're watching people die, and the supposedly streamlined, remodeled infrastructure designed to protect us from catastrophic terrorist attack crumbled into chaos even when given days of warning, and years of prior planning.

There needs to be an investigation, oh you bet. And we need especially to hear why it's such a goddamn brilliant idea to have political appointees with zero disaster experience heading the efforts to respond to actual disasters. Because so far, all I've seen them do is conduct television interviews, and they can't even do those worth a damn.

This is a disaster in which thousands are now presumed dead, and unforgivably, deaths are still occurring. It's a big enough disaster that professional Bush humpers are going to look like the boorish crap factories they've always been, and hopefully tied to the levees as extra protection before the next disaster. God help you folks, you haven't even begun to see hatred yet.

I refuse to even respond to such idiocy, anyone else want to? comment below please.

Savage's plan...

Like him or not Michael Savage is a genius, a 6 point plan he outlined...

1.No African aid ($15 Billion).

2.No illegal aliens aid – medical & education ($15-30 Billion).

3.Mine low sulfur coal.

4.House displaced people in army bases scheduled for closure.

5.Price controls on gasoline for 90 days.


Anyone got any better ideas?

I take everything back...

60 countries are helping us. We helped them, their helping us now. Thank you one and all, your efforts will not be forgotten, the international community is now ok in my book. I was wrong I admit it, and frankly I'm very happy I was wrong. I was not expecting this. THANKS WORLD!!!

-A grateful American

Why did so many people stay?

There was a madatory evacuation, free transportation provided and shelters that opened around New Orleans. Very rarely mandatory evacution areas get hit, this time it did. Keep in mind that before you go blaming Bush and govt. he signed $10.5 bil in federal relief funds BEFORE HE LEFT CRAWFORD. Also, the NYT didn't have one article on Katrina on Sunday, look at my posts on the 29th, I could see this was coming and I'm 19, why didn't the NYT say anything?!? I had 4 posts about Katrina before the national media even picked it up!! Just look down there! If your going to blame anyone for this, don't blame Bush, blame the media. They refused to cover it until it was too late, I had to go to the Weather Channel and Newsmax to find things. All you liberals out there blaming Bush should be blaming the media, Bush did his job, the media didn't. By the time they got off their lazy asses it was too little too late. One final thing, and this is really sad. All those poor people didn't leave New Orleans because they had no money; and they would have gotten their welfare checks on September 1st!!! Now, can you see why I'm against welfare (all together now espically)?

Amazing news...

Kofi Annan last night came out and said that the UN is going to help. I believe him. And I just heard on 93X that there will be a relief concert at 8pm (I'm not sure if it's central or eastern time) on all NBC networks, this is freaking awsome. Were as united now as we were after 9/11, let's try and stay that way this time!!!!

price caps..

Savage is a genius people! Price caps on gas for 6 months, I'd say around $2.50-$2.75 is more than reasonable. The oil companies would do more damage to us and the economy by letting the "free-market" determine prices. I can live with 6 months of socialism, once things are normal, let the free market decide again, but $3.20 a gallon is bull, espically when the supply hasn't went down. Also, I'm curious, in the comments could you tell me where you live in the US and what is the highest and lowest price you have seen in a gas station?

France is helping out...

wow, my opinion of the french has seriously changed. I want people to hear this, positive news now is hard to find. Plus this is from a Chinese newspaper, they have no reason to lie. God I hope this is really true, if it is thank you France, I am greatful you are finally helping us, even though it took 60+ years, better late than never.

France to send aid to US hurricane victims

www.chinaview.cn 2005-09-02 06:45:17

PARIS, Sept. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- French Foreign Ministry announced Thursday that France is to send aid and troops to US Gulf coast area hit by Hurricane Katrina, one of the most devastating storms in the country's history.

"Our operational humanitarian aid group is going to meet to study the civilian and military means that France could make available from French regions and the French West Indies," said French Foreign Ministry's spokesman, Denis Simmoneau.

"From our crisis unit, which is going to Baton Rouge from Lafayette, we are following the situation of the French people we know about," said the spokesman.

French President Jacques Chirac sent a letter on Wednesday to his American counterpart George W. Bush, to express his "heart felt emotion" at the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, which is believed tohave killed at least hundreds of people and destroyed billions of dollars worth of property in the southwest United States. Enditem

THANK YOU FRANCE, I am honestly not being sarcastic. This is awsome, we need all the help we can get.

I'm laying down the partisanship...

I will not bash liberals, well more specifically I will not bash the sane ones. The Bush bashing ones I will not tolerate and rip. Even though I don't like everything the government is doing I want to support them even though it's very hard now. I will not bash them because I believe that they are doing everything that they can right now. It just so happens that it's not close to the effort that is actually needed. But as Savage just said, "Where are the airlifts, Sharon did this 2 weeks ago emptying Gaza with troops in cargo planes, why can't the government fill those with food, water and medical supplies and bring it down there." I agree, remind me again why the hell we pay taxes? This is the best argument I have seen for a flat tax EVER. Just watch TV for christ sakes!

One area I am not laying down is the government and oil companies raping us up the wazoo (holy shit I sounded like a liberal there!). I took an eco class last year and this is simple supply and demand. Oil is at like $68 a barrel now, when it was this high before the hurricane gas was at oh $2.20-$2.40. Now, gas here is $2.98-$3.20, I smell a massive fix and conspiracy here. Espically considering that the gas that we are getting now was refined BEFORE KATRINA!!!!! Hello, as Savage says, "Wake up sheeple, before you have no rights!" Truer words were never spoken.

Pray for everyone in the Southeast, because the government isn't doing a fucking thing and the private charities aren't there yet because they can't get there. This is so bad, but it could get so much worse.

why I'm doing this...

Believe me my intentions are good, and here's why, the answer may stun you. I do not trust state, federal, and local governments when it comes to this. I mean why should I? For Christ's sakes people look at what they have "accomplished". You don't see any donate to the government buttons on the net. I trust the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Feed the children, etc 1,000,000 fold more than I do our inept government. Heck I know this may sound crazy to some of you but I think that we should rise up and overthrow the government. In reality could they stop us? 1,000,000 troops vs. 300,000,000 pissed off americans? Also, a little fact no one is talking about, look on tv. How many white people have you seen over the past 72 hours compared to black people? Also, why are conservatives and liberals ripping the looters? Espically the ones that are stealing food to feed themselves that would rot eventually anyway. Over the next 3-4 weeks I will be doing this anytime I have some free time (as a side note I have 2 other blogs that I will link up here to my site soon). I have spent more time setting up blogs and linking them to charities than watching news. It's just too damn depressing, I'd rather be active in helping them than just watching the devestation. I hope a lot of people feel the same way I do, because these victims need all the help from private charities that they can get. DC isn't doing a whole damn lot, both sides, I will not excuse Republicans in this either. Screw them all.

ok for everyone who is wondering about my Katrina blog...

I just had a talk with my dad, he said that even though I had good intentions with this that I need to stop now. I would have to be declared as a charitable organization and go through a bunch of tax laws. Anyone willing to help me with this complicated sitation is more than welcome to.