The Broad View

"Redneck" Palin, per an Alaskan who knows

From a friend of a friend:

Dear classmates -

As an Alaskan, I am writing to give all of you some information on
Sarah Palin, Senator McCain's choice for VP. As an Alaska voter, I
know more than most of you about her and, frankly, I am horrified that
he picked her.

The most accurate description of her is red neck. Her husband works in
the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and races snow mobiles. She is a life
time member of the NRA and has worked tirelessly to allow
indiscriminate hunting of wildlife in Alaska, particularly wolves and
bears. She has spent millions of Alaska state dollars on aerial
hunting of these predators from helicopters and airplanes, dollars
that should have been spent, for example, on Alaska's failing school
system.We have the lowest rate of high school graduation in the
country. Not all of you may think aerial predator hunting is so bad,
but how anyone (other than Alaska wolf-haters, of which there are
many, most without teeth), could think this use of funds is
appropriate is beyond me. If you want to know more about the aerial
hunting travesty, let me know and I will send some links to
informative web sites.

She has been a strong supporter of increased use of fossil fuels, yet
the McCain campaign has the nerve to say she has "green" policies. The
only thing green about Sarah Palin is her lack of experience. She has
consistently supported drilling in ANWR, use of coal-burning power
plants (as I write this, a new coal plant is being built in her home
town of Wasilla), strip mining, and almost anything else that will
unnecessarily exploit the diminishing resources of Alaska and destroy
its environment.

Prior to her one year as governor of Alaska, she was mayor of Wasilla,
a small red neck town outside Anchorage.The average maximum education
level of parents of junior high school kids in Wasilla is 10th grade.
Unfortunately, I have to go to Wasilla every week to get groceries and
other supplies, so I have continual contact with the people who put
Palin in office in the first place. I know what I'm talking about.
These people don't have a concept of the world around them or of the
serious issues facing the US. Furthermore, they don't care. So long as
they can go out and hunt their moose every fall, kill wolves and bears
and drive their snow mobiles and ATVs through every corner of the
wilderness, they're happy. I wish I were exaggerating.

Sarah Palin is currently involved in a political corruption scandal.
She fired an individual in law enforcement here because she didn't
like how he treated one of her relatives during a divorce. The man's
performance and ability weren't considered; it was a totally personal
firing and is currently under investigation. While the issue isn't
close to the scandal of Ted Steven's corruption, it shows that Palin
isn't "squeaky clean" and causes me to think there ay be more issues
that could come to light. Clearly McCain doesn't care.

When you line Palin up with Biden, the comparison would be laughable
if it weren't so serious. Sarah Palin knows nothing of economics
(admittedly a weak area for McCain), or of international affairs,
knows nothing of national government, Social Security, unemployment,
health care systems - you name it. The idea of her meeting with heads
of foreign governments around the world truly frightens me.

In an increasingly dangerous world, with the economy in shambles in
the US, Sarah Palin is uniquely UNqualified to be vice president. John
McCain is not a young man. Should something happen to him such that
the vice president had to step in, it would destroy our country and
possibly the world to have someone as inexperienced and inappropriate
as Sarah Palin. The choice of Palin is a cheap shot by McCain to try
to get Hillary supporters to vote for him. when McCain introduced her
today, Palin had the nerve to compare herself with Hillary and
Geraldine Ferraro. Sarah Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton.

To those of you who, like me, supported Hilary and were upset that she
did not get the nomination, please don't think that Sarah Palin is a
worthy substitute. If you supported Hillary, regardless of what you
think the media and the democratic party may have done to undermine
her campaign, the person to support now is Obama, not Sarah Palin. To
those of you who are independent or undecided, don't let the choice of
Palin sway you in favor of McCain. Choosing her shows how unqualified
McCain is to be president. To those of you who are conservative, I
guess you have no choice for president. But please try to see how the
poor choice of Palin tells us a great deal about McCain's judgment.
While the political posturing inherent in the choice of Palin is
obvious, the more serious issue is the fact that the VP is, literally,
a heartbeat away from the presidency. Sarah Palin is totally and
unequivocally unqualified to be vice president, let alone president.

I know this is a lengthy and emotional email, but the stakes are high.
I thought it might help for all of you, regardless of political
affiliation, to know something about Palin from someone who has to
live with her administration in Alaska on a daily basis.

Mark Your Calendars

Naomi Klein is coming to our little "adobe Disneyland"

Saturday, September 29, 2007 @ 8:00 PM
Victoria Hall Theater, 33 W. Victoria St.

"The Shock Doctrine - The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"

In The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America's "free market" policies have come to dominate the world- — through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.

At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq's civil war, a new law is unveiled that would allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves.... Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly out-sources the running of the "War on Terror" to Halliburton and Blackwater.... After a tsunami wipes out the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts.... New Orleans's residents, scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be reopened.... These events are examples of "the shock doctrine": using the public's disorientation following massive collective shocks — wars, terrorist attacks, or natural disasters — to achieve control by imposing economic shock therapy. Sometimes, when the first two shocks don't succeed in wiping out resistance, a third shock is employed: the electrode in the prison cell or the Taser gun on the streets.

Books will be available for purchase and signing.

This is a FREE event.

For more info: 805.893.3535

Presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the UCSB Women's Center as part of the 9th Annual Santa Barbara Book & Author Festival, September 28-29.

All I Gotta Say Is....

November 22, 1963

"...This link between leadership and learning is not only essential at the community level. It is even more indispensable in world affairs. Ignorance and misinformation can handicap the progress of a city or a company, but they can, if allowed to prevail in foreign policy, handicap this country's security. In a world of complex and continuing problems, in a world full of frustrations and irritations, America's leadership must be guided by the lights of learning and reason or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality and the plausible with the possible will gain the popular ascendancy with their seemingly swift and simple solutions to every world problem."

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, remarks prepared for delivery at the Trade Mart in Dallas, November 22, 1963 (never delivered) - Library of Congress

Great eMails you were sending, Brownie

While you were supposed to be, well, saving lives.

Even as subordinates warned him that the flooding of New Orleans was a matter of life or death, Michael Brown, the now-dismissed head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, remained strangely detached from the crisis, e-mails made public Wednesday show.

He mused about his future, joked about a new shirt and wondered how he looked on TV.

...The e-mails indicate, however, that Brown had many other things on his mind. On the morning that the storm hit, Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs, told Brown he looked "fabulous" during a TV appearance and complimented him on his shirt.

Brown joked that he was a "fashion god" and responded: "I got it at Nordstrom's. ... Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I come home now?"  - Knight Ridder

This, in my mind, is criminal behaviour. Call your CongressCritters. Get angry. Remember...Brownie's still on the taxpayer payroll.

The Road to Bushville

This is the Seattle Hooverville, one of a series of shantytowns for the homeless that mushroomed across America during the Great Depression. The Bush Administration is in danger of reinventing the form and creating 21st-century Bushvilles to house the diaspora from the Katrina-stricken Gulf Coast.

Today the Washington Post reports that more than 100,000 people are still in shelters and 400,000 are living in hotel rooms at up to $100/night. Bush had set a goal of moving all displaced Katrina victims out of shelters by mid-October, less than two weeks away.

Housing options promised by the federal government a month ago have largely failed to materialize. Cruise ships and trailer parks have so far proved in large part to be unworkable, while an American Red Cross program -- paid for by the federal government -- that allows storm victims to stay in motels or hotels is scheduled to expire Oct. 15. It is projected to cost the Federal Emergency Management Agency as much as $168 million.

Federal officials are struggling to launch an alternative interim housing program that would give families whose homes are destroyed or uninhabitable a lump sum of $2,358 in rental assistance, or $786 a month for three months, with the possibility of a 15-month extension. So far, 330,000 families have signed up for the housing assistance. But if evacuees have to use those stipends to pay for hotel rooms when FEMA stops covering such lodging, the funds will not last long.

Last week, the number of evacuees in hotels increased from 220,000 to more than 400,000 people, in 140,000 rooms. Many have no idea what they will do when the program ends in two weeks.

This is a real, logistical problem that is being approached in a wildly ad hoc manner by FEMA and the federal government. Despite the wargaming of "Hurricane Pat" last year, the gazillions thrown at Homeland Security, the experience of Hurricane Andrew more than a decade ago, it seems no one in charge has thought of what to do in the event of a calamity that displaces a mass number of civilians. It's not entirely the administration's fault--there is, as everyone has said, blame enough to go around. But here we are, and it's on Bush's watch.

The administration's response has been to throw buckets of money at the problem (oh, shades of Republican accusations of yore!), without coming anywhere near to solving it:

In search of temporary housing immediately after the hurricane, FEMA officials went on a $1.5 billion spending spree, buying out entire dealerships of recreational vehicles and signing contracts for more than $500 million with one manufacturer of mobile homes. But the plan to create "cities" of 500 to 600 RVs across the South has run into major logistical and political problems.

In FEMA lots in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, several thousand trailers stand empty, waiting for the agency to navigate land leases, zoning laws, local opposition and policy questions.

"We have 12,000 mobile homes with no place to put them," said Rosemarie Hunter, a FEMA spokeswoman in Baton Rouge.

It is becoming clear that many, if not most, of the evacuees might do best to resettle elsewhere and try to rebuild their lives now rather than wait in limbo for a Gulf Coast renewal that may take years. If they do move on, it will remain to be seen what emerges socially and politically from the sodden ruins. Resettlement will certainly upset any number of politicians and community leaders who have lost their constituencies. The idea of vultures swooping in to make quick fortunes in real estate speculation must be galling to the evacuees as well.

"The big picture is . . . everyone who has some scheme for how people should live is now living vicariously through the opportunity New Orleans offers" of a blank slate, said Ronald D. Utt, senior researcher at the Heritage Foundation. "All this push and pull is happening, and all of which can be lumped in with some notion of social engineering."

Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) is urging transfer of housing assistance responsibilities to HUD:

"The scope of this disaster calls for changes in how we think about disaster assistance," Sarbanes wrote the White House. "Hundreds of thousands of people may need housing assistance for 18 months or even longer. We cannot rely on FEMA, an emergency response agency, to provide on-going housing assistance to this large number of families," he said, citing HUD's "experience, staff and infrastructure."

That sounds, at least, like the start of a strategy and a plan.

More news on FEMA's failure to think things through comes from the New York Times:

When the definitive story of the confrontation between Hurricane Katrina and the United States government is finally told, one long and tragicomic chapter will have to be reserved for the odyssey of the ice.

Ninety-one thousand tons of ice cubes, that is, intended to cool food, medicine and sweltering victims of the storm. It would cost taxpayers more than $100 million, and most of it would never be delivered.

The story goes on to follow one shipment that traveled around almost as much as the infamous Islip Garbage Barge, a veritable frozen Flying Dutchman doomed to wander America's highways, never to rest. Maybe we should just ship the ice up north for the benefit of the shrinking polar ice cap.

Housing the Katrina Homeless: Brewing Scandal?

On the subject of housing for the New Orleans citizens rendered homeless by Katrina, conflicting reports abound. One I heard today is that private property owners will get subsidies to rebuild, while those who lived in public housing will get stuffed back into public housing warehouses. (New Orleans public housing was a disgrace to start with.)

Keep an eye on these developments, folks. The way the Federal government (HUD and FEMA) handles the reconstruction and resettlement is likely to end up being cheap, cheesy, lacking in all imagination, and racist in effect if not in specific intent.

Keep eyes and ears open, and mouth at the ready to shout, lest the invisible be made invisible again.

[Update: Crusading California congresswoman Maxine Waters is co-sponsoring an anti-"Kelo", anti-eminent domain bill to ward off potential "taking" of property in New Orleans — and across the board — for purposes of upscaling. Read about it here.]

"Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again"

Bush Administration Touts Rita Readiness

By LARA JAKES JORDAN Association Press Writer

September 21,2005 | WASHINGTON -- Eager to avoid the public pounding he got for his response to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush pledged to be "ready for the worst" as another big hurricane headed for the Gulf Coast.

Across the federal government, officials were advertising the Bush administration's stepped-up response plans for Hurricane Rita as it swept across the Gulf of Mexico toward the Texas coastline. [...]

Hundreds of truckloads of water, ice and ready-made meals arrived Tuesday at locations in Rita's path and rescue and medical teams were standing by. "I think we're going to be ready when it does hit land," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff promised.

I know it's cruel and ghoulish but...wanna bet?

Late Night Update (ET): As of less than an hour ago, Rita was Category 5 with winds of 175 mph. Best computer models predict landfall in the Galveston area. Pity Galveston--two storms of the century in 105 years. The only comfort to be had is that most people seem to be taking this seriously and evacuating early.

Flop Sweat...and making it stick

From Rasmussen Reports:

Bush Katrina Ratings Fall After Speech

September 18, 2005--Thirty-five percent(35%) of Americans now say that President Bush has done a good or excellent job responding to Hurrican Katrina and its aftermatch. That's down from 39% before his speech from New Orleans.

The latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows that 41% give the President poor marks for handling the crisis, that's up [from] 37% before the speech.

On Bush's overall job approval, Rasmussen's Sept. 19 totals are:

Strongly Approve -- 24%
Somewhat Approve -- 22%
Somewhat Disapprove -- 14%
Strongly Disapprove -- 39%

I've read speculation that Bush's rock-bottom base is in the 35-40% range. From these figures I'd put it at 25%--mostly religious wingnuts who are glimpsing the SCOTUS Promised Land.

It's also clear from these figures that Democrats who aspire to Bushism-Lite are clueless. The momentum is with those who are strongly anti-Bush. The mushy middle--while still 36%--is fading on the left. Democratic representatives should understand that their base is not the mush but the growing number of voters who despise Bushist governance.

Bush's plan to throw hundreds of billions of dollars at Katrina recovery has pissed off the fiscal conservatives. Iraq is an open running sore. Gas prices are hurting ordinary people and winter heating fuel shocks are just around the corner.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If Democrats can't use this to attack and destroy Bush and Bushism, they don't deserve their jobs, their perks, their comfy berths in wards and Congress alike.

Peter Daou has an excellent analysis of the strengths and limits of blogging power in today's Daou Report:

[...] It might be easier to approach the question by setting a more specific, and admittedly somewhat arbitrary, definition of political influence: the capacity to alter or create conventional wisdom. And a working definition of “conventional wisdom” is a widely held belief on which most people act. Finally, by “people” I mean all Americans, regardless of ideology or political participation.

The Triangle

Looking at the political landscape, one proposition seems unambiguous: blog power on both the right and left is a function of the relationship of the netroots to the media and the political establishment. Forming a triangle of blogs, media, and the political establishment is an essential step in creating the kind of sea change we’ve seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Simply put, without the participation of the media and the political establishment, the netroots alone cannot generate the critical mass necessary to alter or create conventional wisdom. This is partly a factor of audience size, but it’s also a matter, frankly, of trust and legitimacy. Despite the astronomical growth of the netroots [...] and the slow and steady encroachment of bloggers on the hallowed turf of Washington’s opinion-makers, it is still the Russerts and Broders and Gergens and Finemans, the WSJ, WaPo and NYT editorial pages, the cable nets, Stewart and Letterman and Leno, and senior elected officials, who play a pivotal role in shaping people’s political views. [...]

The power of the triangle has been demonstrated again and again: Josh Marshall and social security, Steve Clemons and the Bolton nomination (the recess appointment was emblematic of Bolton’s defeat, not his victory), rightwing bloggers and Eason Jordan, rightwing bloggers and Dick Durbin, progressive bloggers and Jeff Gannon, and so on. In each of these cases, and to varying degrees, bloggers, the media, and senior elected officials played a role in pushing a story and influencing public perceptions. To understand what happens when the online community is on its own, look no further than electronic voting. The progressive netroots has been hammering away at this for years, but the media and the political establishment is largely mute. Traction = Zero. [...]

Blog Strategies, Left and Right

Working within the triangle construct (netroots + media + party establishment = CW), bloggers and netroots activists on the left and right have very different strategic imperatives.

With a well-developed echo chamber and superior top-down discipline, the right has a much easier time forming the triangle. Fox News, talk radio, Drudge, a well-trained and highly visible punditocracy, and a lily-livered press corps takes care of the media side of the triangle. Iron-clad party loyalty – with rare exceptions – and a willingness of Republican officials to jump on the Limbaugh-Hannity bandwagon du jour takes care of the party establishment side of the triangle. The rightwing netroots, therefore, is already working within the triangle on most issues. Their primary strategic aim is to prevent the left from forming its own triangle, as occurred with Katrina. It’s a defensive posture, with the goal being the preservation of the status quo. [...]

[L]eft-leaning bloggers face the challenge of a mass media consumed by the shop-worn narrative of Bush the popular, plain-spoken leader, and a Democratic Party incapacitated (for the most part) by the focus-grouped fear of turning off "swing voters" by attacking Bush. For the progressive netroots, the past half-decade has been a Sisyphean loop of scandal after scandal melting away as the media and party establishment remain disengaged.

It would seem reasonable to conclude, then, that the best strategy for the progressive netroots is to go after the media and Democratic Party leaders and spend less time and energy attacking the Bush administration. If the netroots alone can’t change the political landscape without the participation of the media and Democratic establishment, then there’s no point wasting precious online space blasting away at Republicans while the other sides of the triangle stand idly by. Indeed, blog powerhouses like Kos and Josh Marshall have taken an aggressive stance toward Democratic politicians they see as selling out core Democratic Party principles. Kos’s willingness to attack the DLC is mocked on the right, but it is precisely the right’s fear that Kos will "close the triangle" that causes them to protest so loudly. Similarly, when Atrios, Digby, Oliver Willis, and so many other progressive bloggers attack the media, they are leveraging whatever power they have to compel the media to assume a role as the third side of their triangle. [Emphasis added.]

[...] For progressive bloggers who see a president presiding over the collapse of America's credibility, the urgent work ahead is to cement the post-Katrina impression of Bush as a failed president. Whether or not they succeed depends to a large extent on their ability to compel the media and Democratic establishment to stand with them and speak the truth.

"The best strategy for the progressive netroots is to go after the Democratic Party leaders...." Yup, and I have a few nominees for that attention. I'd like to see credible, well-funded primary challenges to Lieberman, Biden, Clinton in '08 and to any Dem leader who thinks it's fine to vote for more war, troglodytic judges, Medicare drug boondoggles, PATRIOT Acts, bankruptcy "reform", and the rest of the wholesale gutting of America by the Bushists.

A few examples need to be made.

Starship of Fools

For the past several weeks it has seemed that events are rushing toward us at an accelerated pace, a kaleidoscopic blur more akin to sci-fi FX than to nightly news reports. We're in the wormhole, drawn helplessly toward an unknown destination that could be home or the other side of the political galaxy.

The stakes are as high as they've ever been and no one seems to be in control of Starship America. The captain is floundering, more fearful of losing face than losing the ship. He has dispatched his chief engineer to oversee repairs to the Gulf Coast warp engine by forging no-bid contracts with the Ferengi.

We feel like helpless passengers on a doomed ship, beseiged by alien forces, buffeted by storms, running out of fuel and manned by a crew of thieves, cutthroats, tyros and lickspittles. The ship's daily news service, after a brief mutiny, has settled back into business as usual, reporting granular instances of defeat and ignominy as if nothing is connected and causality is as debatable a notion as the number of angels on the head of a pin.

Herewith, glimpses of the wreckage as we hurtle into uncharted territory:

This week alone saw three huge stories dominate press and blog coverage.

I. Katrina Aftermath and Machinations:

Captain Clusterfuck takes --kinda, sorta-- responsibility! Well, not so much really, only "to the extent" that the government didn't do its job right. Was there ever a performance more forced, more insincere and grudging? Bush nearly choked on the words. Pity the underling who had to deliver the message that presidential contrition must be shown or there'd be no stopping the plummeting polls.

And who will determine "the extent" of responsibility? Why, a "bipartisan" committee of Congress consisting of Republicans, more Republicans and a few scattered Democratic capons roasted to a turn. Hillary Clinton's bid to get an independent commission to investigate was voted down on a straight party-line vote. Remember that next time you're tempted to give the so-called "moderate" Republicans like Snowe and Chafee a pass. Remember that any time you're suffering under the delusion that "bipartisanship" isn't as dead and gone as the dodo.

We've also yet to hear from Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security. The latest is that he dithered until the Tuesday evening after the storm to declare Katrina "an incident of national significance." He apparently failed to realize that such a declaration was the trigger for massive federal response. Countdown is continuing for Chertoff's ejection from the photon torpedo tubes into deep space.

Reporters and anchors who were dismayed two weeks ago are happy to report on Bush's supposed contrition today, and speculate about how he can still "pull it off." The exceptions are Anderson Cooper on CNN and Brian Williams on his blog. It's clear that Cooper has been shaken to the core and he's found a mission and calling. Every night he burns with indignation.

Williams gets his digs in slyly:

I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. [...] The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans. It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it... jump to certain conclusions.

It is impossible to over-emphasize the extent to which this area is under government occupation, and portions of it under government-enforced lockdown. Police cars rule the streets. They (along with Humvees, ambulances, fire apparatus, FEMA trucks and all official-looking SUVs) are generally not stopped at checkpoints and roadblocks. All other vehicles are subject to long lines and snap judgments and must PROVE they have vital business inside the vast roped-off regions here.
[Via TPM.]

Meanwhile, forget all that touchy-feely stuff. There's work to be done and Bush needs men to do it. So he's dispatched Karl Rove to head up the Gulf Coast reconstruction effort. Oh, lordy! This is Rove's wettest of wet dreams. Can he even begin to count the ways he can line Republican pockets with gold, gerrymander districts and drive a stake into the heart of Democratic New Orleans?

Bush has certainly already put a bullet into the aspirations of working folks who might have hoped to recover some of their losses by working the cleanup. Yes, the man who never missed a meal or a soft bed at night thinks it's in the best interests of the nation--or at least that part of the nation that funds Republican candidates--to suspend the minimum-wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act.

Josh Marshall professes to be "worried": "This will be Iraq all over again, with the same fetid mix of graft, zeal and hubris. Cronyism like you wouldn't believe. Money blown on ideological fantasies and half-baked test-cases."

Already there are calls in the Senate for suspension of what puny environmental protections we have, all in the name of swift progress. The Mississippi Clarion-Ledger reports that the DOJ sent out an email to D.A.'s offices: "Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans? If so, please describe the case and the outcome of the litigation." Pardon me, but is someone playing the "shift-the-blame game?" [Via TPM.]

As far as the ongoing disaster recovery is concerned, nearly every day brings fresh horror stories of the helpless left to drown or die of dehydration. New Orleans is giving up its dead in singles and clusters, and each victim is a silent indictment of Bushist governance and embedded American indifference to the politics of race and poverty.

II. Chief Justice Confirmation Follies:

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Maybe The Shadow knows, but Congressional Dems sure don't. And if John Roberts has his way, nobody will ever know until he's safely ensconced in a lifetime berth from which to issue whatever American fatwahs lurk in his heart-of-hearts.

The kabuki dance drags on from day to never-ending day, with Dems grandstanding, Rethugs alternately blustering and preening, and Roberts smiling that catbird seat smile. He knows they don't have anything to hang him on and he's home free.

III. Iraq: Forgetting is Not an Option

This week al Qaida reminded us that the Iraq War and GWOT are as much miserable failures as the federal efforts to rescue poor New Orleanians in a timely fashion.

We seem to be caught in a Groundhog Day temporal loop, with fresh headlines each day of ever-more lethal suicide car-bombings. The numbers of the slaughtered and shattered run like a berserk ticker-tape documenting the downward spiral: 88, 227, 15, 23, 9. We can barely compute the numbers let alone comprehend the agony of another nation betrayed and torn by our blind incompetence.

Who are they? Where are they? They are us and they are here in our world. No gated sanctuary can keep this out forever. No happy talk can drown out these cries. No magical thinking can make this go away.

IV. String theory and the Reptilian Brain

What string ties all these bits of chaos and misery together? Oil. Energy and Empire. We are bound by those who serve oil so that it may serve them. Bush's first thoughts on the Katrina crisis were of oil infrastructure and the strategic petroleum reserve. Even the muted spectacle of the Roberts confirmation is a bit of this string that's strangling us. He is, after all, the darling of the business interests who hold all the strings.

Then there is the curious fact that the only indications of emergency response to Katrina by Dick Cheney were two phone messages from the Vice President's office ordering power to be restored to two power substations that serve the Colonial Pipeline Co. This was considered the highest priority, ahead of power to rural hospitals and water facilities. The pipelines carry military grade jet fuel, and what are we without our military?

What are we to do? We are as miserable as the forlorn oil-soaked waterbirds flopping on the beach after the Exxon Valdez ran aground. Is there any way out of this oil trap?

Jerome a Paris sets the challenge: What are the outlines of a sane energy policy?

Stirling Newberry answers: Change the world or die, scum.

Maggie Macary at Arrows-Myth & Culture, understands the question is academic. There is no sanity, only the archetypal Reptilian Brain.

Maggie found the perfect expression of this from the acid Flash pen of Mark Fiore: Petrotheism! Surely it is only a matter of time before some patch of oil-stained cement at a Jersey gas station is worshipped as the miraculous appearance of Our Lady of the Pump. Behold--She Weeps! And it's Super Premium!