by Last Night in Little Rock

"I rarely read the [news] stories, and get briefed by people who... probably read the news themselves." --George W. Bush to Brent Hume on FoxNews (September 21, 2003)

[Via Presidential (Mis)Speak: The Very Curious Language of George W. Bush]

Apparently nobody in the White House paid attention to the news until they were hammered for the monumental FUBAR they call "Katrina disaster relief." If FEMA and anybody in the government watched CNN, FoxNews, or MSNBC, they would have learned all they needed to know to at least do something in time. Remember, Saddam Hussein knew more about the 1991 Gulf War from CNN than his own intelligence services. The Bush White House isn't that smart.

by TChris

The NY Times faithfully reprints 55 pages of speeches given by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee today, proving only that this was their day, not John Roberts.’ Pages 55 to 57 (beginning here) reprint Judge Roberts’ opening statement. It is, as one would expect, unremarkable. He spoke of the virtues of precedent and of the limited role judges play in a political process. Judges, it seems, are little more than scriveners who consult the law and apply strict logic to resolve legal disputes in the most reasonable way. All true in theory, but choosing the most reasonable application or interpretation of a law often depends upon which of two or more competing policies the judge favors. If that weren’t true, smart and logical judges would all agree on the correct outcome in every case. The central role played by judicial philosophy (the collective policy preferences favored by an individual judge) went unacknowledged in today’s statement.

Crooks and Liars reports that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's reappointment as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois may be hitting some snags. He's up for re-appointment next month, and his sponsor for the job initially, former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, says he's receiving opposition due to Fitzgerald's playing hardball in Chicago corruption probes.

Let's hope he's playing hardball in RoveGate as well.

Another sad statistic. 45 bodies of patients have been recovered from Memorial Hospital in New Orleans.

by Last Night in Little Rock

CNN just reported Michael Brown resigned as head of the Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency.

Al Franken said today that if Brown were smarter, he would be on suicide watch.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The Department of Justice's Inspector General has issued a report, just posted on NY Times.com, that FBI agents "frequently violate" informant handling rules designed in the 1990s to curb abuses by informants.

Steve Clemons of Washington Note is looking into allegations of fraud and FEMA contracting. This was a big story back in early 2005, which resulted in hearings presided over by Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, chairs of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Michael Brown testified at the hearings and defended FEMA. The Senate Panel found widespread FEMA fraud. More here. Lieberman and Collins' findings are here. The Sun Sentinel investigative series on the fraud is here.

Dissident Voice alleges Brown paid the claims to help Bush win the election. On contracting fraud and FEMA, check out this 2004 DOJ press release announcing Indictments.

by TChris

John Nichols points to a simple truth that drives the Bush administration: “When trouble hits, Halliburton hits it big.” Halliburton is assisted (as if it needs help) by Joe Allbaugh, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who is now a lobbyist and good friend of Michael Brown. Writes Nichols:

Conveniently, Allbaugh showed up in Louisiana on the day before [Vice President] Cheney's visit with the purpose, in the words of a Washington Post report, of "helping his clients get business."

He’s been effective, as this article makes clear:

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W Bush’s former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc and the other is Halliburton Co subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice president Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.

FEMA hired another business with close ties to the administration, Bechtel Corp, to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Do these companies deserve our trust? Or our money?

by Last Night in Little Rock

Paramedics from San Francisco in NOLA wrote on RawStory this weekend that National Guardsmen were playing "cat and mouse" with looters and ignoring efforts to get food from nearby stores that was going to go bad anyway without refrigeration and should have been salvaged.

by Last Night in Little Rock

For no apparent reason, the Federal Emergency Mismanagement Agency refused to permit Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in Jefferson Parish, LA to reopen. Getting no explanation and taking matters into his own hands, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff ordered them to reopen for the people as noted here.

by TChris

Some Democrats remember that they’re supposed to stand up for the poor and powerless, not for the wealthy and their lobbyists. Here’s John Kerry:

The reality of what millions of Americans face every day was brought home this week. Americans saw on television the grave economic disparity that exists in this country. They were forced to confront the struggles that many African American families have faced for years due to lack of jobs and critical services to help open the doors of opportunity. They saw the people left behind literally and figuratively by the politicians who control Washington these days.

Some displaced children who have never been vaccinated will receive that basic service now that they’ve made it to a shelter. Kerry reminds us that 11 million other children aren’t receiving adequate health care. Must their homes be destroyed before they receive help?

by TChris

A proposed amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution, banning gay marriage while permitting civil unions, appears unlikely to survive a second legislative session. A majority of the state’s 200 legislators must approve the proposed amendment in each of two consecutive years before it goes to voters. Last year, the proposal squeaked by on a vote of 105-92. This year, according to an AP survey, the steam has gone out of the state's anti-gay marriage movement.

The survey, conducted between Sept. 6-9, found at least 104 lawmakers who plan to vote against the proposed constitutional amendment, which would ban gay marriage but create civil unions.