From Holden: His approval rating in the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll has only fallen to 41%. Continue reading Chimpy Gets Some Good News

From Holden: Iraqi Justice Minister Abdul Hussein Shandal decries the lawlessness of the occupation. Iraq’s justice minister has condemned the U.S. military for detaining thousands of Iraqis for long periods without charge and wants to change a U.N. resolution that gives foreign troops immunity from Iraqi law. Speaking to Reuters, Justice Minister Abdul Hussein Shandal also criticised U.S. detentions of Iraqi journalists and said the media, contrary to U.S. policy in Iraq, must have special legal protection to report on all sides in the conflict. “No citizen should be arrested without a court order,” he said this week, complaining that … Continue reading Ain’t No Puppet

From Holden: The blame game is going to pin this on Katrina, too bad we don’t have these numbers broken down by state. In the week ending Sept. 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 398,000, an increase of 71,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 327,000. The 4-week moving average was 340,750, an increase of 19,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 321,000. Continue reading New Jobless Claims Surge

From Holden: Mike Brown tries to dump all blame for the failure to respond to Hurrican Katrina at the feet of Louisiana Governor Blanco in this NYTimes interview but winds up making the president look bad. He focused much of his criticism on Governor Blanco, contrasting what he described as her confused response with far more agile mobilizations in Mississippi and Alabama, as well as in Florida during last year’s hurricanes. But Mr. Brown’s account, in which he described making “a blur of calls” all week to Mr. Chertoff, Mr. Card and Mr. Hagin, suggested that Mr. Bush, or at … Continue reading Brownie Tries the Blame Game

From Holden: Holden would ride. The trend continues in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Approve: 40% Dissapprove: 58% Continue reading If Wishes Were Ponies….

Readers to Strib: Hit ’em with the chair already! I have never seen our readers so angry. For two weeks they’ve raged, though generally not about news coverage. They simply needed a messenger and I was handy. Here are some of their messages: They are livid about the slow reaction of the federal government to the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina. They are sickened by the sight of fellow citizens dying — not from a force of nature but from neglect by leaders. They have questions and they want answers, not political spin that labels those tough questions “Bush-bashing.” Any … Continue reading Minnesotans Are Pissed Off

From Holden: Hey, I know many of us may have donor fatigue about now, but please consider throwing a few bucks out to AMERICAblog. John and company produce everything you could ask for in a blog — they are prolific, knowledgable advocates for Progressive America. Give if you can. Continue reading Support AMERICAblog

From Holden: Oh Shit! Check this out. U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005. World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations at a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s vision of freedom from want, persecution and war. REUTERS/Rick Wilking Email Photo Print Photo I think he may be about to find My Bush Boom. Continue reading Your President is a Whiz!

From Holden: House Republicans derailed Democratic attempts on Wednesday to force the Bush administration to surrender documents on prewar intelligence and the disclosure of the identity of a CIA operative. Democrats have introduced several “resolutions of inquiry” to compel President Bush and members of his Cabinet to release all information relating to communications with British officials before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the Valerie Plame case. [snip] Largely along party lines, the House International Relations Committee unfavorably reported two of the resolutions on Iraq and one resolution on the Plame matter. Earlier, the House Judiciary Committee “unfavorably” reported a … Continue reading Why We Need to Re-Take the House in 2006

From Holden: McLennan County, Texas, responds to Camp Casey. Citing public safety concerns, not a desire to limit anti-war demonstrators, McLennan County commissioners on Tuesday approved an order to prohibit parking along 23 miles of county roads surrounding President Bush’s Crawford-area ranch. In a 4-1 vote, commissioners and County Judge Jim Lewis ordered no parking or stopping of vehicles along portions of Prairie Chapel, Hester, Old Beulah, Morgan, Mattlage, Homestead, Quiet Valley, Canaan Church, Coryell City, Bohne, Spross, Castle Creek and West Middle Bosque roads. The lone standout, Precinct 3 Commissioner Joe Mashek, read aloud the First Amendment, which guarantees … Continue reading No Parking, No Protests, No Problem

C’mon, I know everybody gave already. But Heather’s got pictures of rabbits typing, rabbits drinking coffee, and rabbits looking really, really pissed off over at her site, and that alone is worth a donation to Hurricane Katrina relief via the Honky Challenge. A. Continue reading Calling All Honkies

From Holden: A stunning, non-Katrina-related drop in retail sales is reported for August. U.S. retail sales dropped by a larger-than-expected 2.1 percent in August, the sharpest drop in almost four years, after car purchases collapsed from July’s near-record level, government data showed on Wednesday. [snip] The Commerce Department said it could not quantify the impact of Hurricane Katrina but said it would have been small because the storm-affected region accounted for little more than 1 percent of total national sales. “Moreover, the effect of the hurricane on the national retail sales estimates in August would be much less, since the … Continue reading Retail Sales Impale My Bush Boom

From Holden: It appears that the repeated criminal indictments handed out to his buddies and his own frantic efforts to evade prosecution have finally pushed poor Tom DeLay over the edge. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an “ongoing victory,” and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget. Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans’ choice to borrow money and add to this year’s expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some Republicans have said Congress should make cuts in … Continue reading DeLay Off The Deep End

From Holden: If you on the right ever happen to be vacationing in Great Britian you may want to leave the city of Bath off of your itenerary. Continue reading Memo to Wingers

From Holden: Michael Chertoff was a bigger impediment to a competent federal response to Hurricane Katrina than was Michael Brown. The federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not the former FEMA chief who was relieved of his duties and resigned earlier this week, federal documents reviewed by Knight Ridder show. Even before the storm struck the Gulf Coast, Chertoff could have ordered federal agencies into action without any request from state or local officials. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown had only limited authority to … Continue reading Chertie, You’re Doin’ A Heckuva Job

From Holden: The Pentagon’s August recruiting numbers aren’t all bad. The Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force exceeded their monthly goals. Unfortunately, the Army National Guard and Army Reserve came up short again. But with the end of the federal fiscal year rapidly approaching the Army is still short 7,000 soldiers and unlikely to make them up in one month. The Army Reserve is 5,000-soldiers in the hole. And the Army National Guard? A deficit of 12,000. Not a good recruiting year no matter how you slice it. Continue reading Recruiting Failure

Hit ’em again! Harder, harder! Oh, and one question to these eleven weasels, many of whom are now saying they voted against the bill because there wasn’t enough “accountability” in it: How precisely did you vote on the $87 billion your party was only too happy to use as an election-year cudgel to wield exclusively against Democrats? Lots of accountability in that bill, I imagine. Lots of safeguards built in to make sure Halliburton and Brown and Loot (tm Patrick Murphy) weren’t pillaging and playing Fischer Price’s My First Reconstruction with it, right? Thanks for the tip, CrispyShot. A. Continue reading As We Say At The Hockey Game

In BareKnuckled Fighting Dem World, here’s eleven congressional seats we’d pick up in the next several election cycles. These eleven congressmen, Republican conservatives all, just voted against the $51 billion package ( H. R. 3673) for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Horrible human beings, all. Rep. Joe Barton – TX Jeff Flake – AZ Virginia Foxx – NC Scott Garrett – NJ John Hostettler – IN Steve King – IA Butch Otter – ID Ron Paul – TX James Sensenbrenner – WI Tom Tancredo – CO Lynn Westmoreland – GA I need to be able to show him I can … Continue reading Sick, Digusting, Ghoulish Bastards

From Holden: Via Froomkin, the Bush Assministration pulled Mississippi electrical workers away from their efforts to restore power to two hospitals and several water systems and had them restore power to a fuel pipeline first. Katrina roared through South Mississippi knocking out electricity and communication systems, the White House ordered power restored to a pipeline that sends fuel to the Northeast. That order – to restart two power substations in Collins that serve Colonial Pipeline Co. – delayed efforts by at least 24 hours to restore power to two rural hospitals and a number of water systems in the Pine … Continue reading Priorities

From Holden: I’M BOUNCING BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN HERE AND BENCH MEMOS [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Joe Biden just threw quite the foul ball. Joe Biden is doing his regular-guy shtick quite impatiently now. Posted at 12:39 PM Link. Moments later Biden hit a touchdown. Continue reading Why Does K-Lo Hate America’s Pastime?

From Holden: Two weeks later and they’re just now getting around to collecting the dead. They collected Alcede Jackson on Monday, relieving him at long last of a duty in death he never requested in life: to be a poor man’s Piet for his broken city. They collected Alcede Jackson, finally. They took nearly two weeks to do it, making their way through streets in Uptown that were never underwater, to the worn white house at 4734 Laurel St. Mr. Jackson’s body had been laid out on the front-porch bench – as though for an interminable outdoor wake – waiting … Continue reading Sceens from New Orleans

Jesus. Sheriff’s deputies removed 11 disabled children from a home where they were made to sleep in cages less than 3 1/2 feet high, authorities said. The children’s adoptive and foster parents, Mike and Sharen Gravelle, denied that they’d abused or neglected the children during a custody hearing Monday in Huron County. No charges had been filed as of Monday night. “The impression that we got was that they felt it was OK,” said Lt. Randy Sommers of the Huron County Sheriff’s Office. A. Continue reading Bobo’s Word: Ohio Edition

From Holden: AFP/File/Jim Watson Continue reading Mmmmmmm… Disasters Make My Nipples Hard

From Holden: You know, people choose their own destiny to a certain extent. No one is forced to work for Karl Rove or the Bush Assministration. When they do choose to associate themselves with this kind of political scum and wind up with their titties caught in the wringer I can’t bring myself to find any pity for them. Not so, the Washington Post. The latest White House staffer to face the grand jury is Susan B. Ralston, assistant to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who gave testimony to the committee investigating the leak of the identity … Continue reading Crybabies

I also like the way kid oakland is thinking. A. Continue reading Katrina Konservatism

Digby wonders if any of the problems Republicans are having, over which we’ve been so excited, will actually make a difference when it’s time to vote: Still, it seems as if the conventional wisdom of “Republicans may be unpopular but the Democrats are just as unpopular” continues to have the same shelf life as that stale a moldy trope that Bush is a popular president. He had to dip below 45 percent for many successive weeks before the media could bring themselves to refer to him as anything but popular and well-liked In the wake of Digby’s musings, I would … Continue reading Make A Difference

From Holden: Why are the mercs from Blackwater patrolling New Orleans? Continue reading WTF?

From Holden: Why have the authorities been so slow to remove the dead of Katrina? Why is it that all of bodies you see bundled up in front of the convention center or face-down in shallow water are black? Shake your head and wonder as Amy Goodman tries in vain to get someone — State Troopers, soldiers, New Orleans Policemen — ANYONE — to take re4sponsibility for a citizen of New Orleans left to rot for two weeks. AMY GOODMAN:This is Malik Rahim. MALIK RAHIM: You could basically smell it from right here. You know, and the police, they pass … Continue reading I Think They Would Have Alerady Removed The Dead If They Were White

From Holden: Your President speaks: And I, myself, thought we had dodged a bullet. You know why? Because I was listening to people, probably over the airways, say, the bullet has been dodged. [snip] But as the man’s question said, basically implied, wasn’t there a moment where everybody said, well, gosh, we dodged the bullet, and yet the bullet hadn’t been dodged. Continue reading Get The Heck Out Of Dodge!

From Holden: With no fanfare, FEMA A-hem… revises Michael Brown’s resume. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has quietly revised the official biography of its embattled director, Michael Brown, to correct an error about his background in local government following allegations he exaggerated his disaster relief experience. [snip] Brown’s biography on FEMA’s Web site, http://www.fema.gov, was updated at just after 5 p.m. on Sunday to revise his title while working in local government in Edmond, Oklahoma, in the 1970s. One correction was made to make clear that Brown had not served as “an assistant city manager,” as had been stated in … Continue reading Brownie, Revised