The Idiot Wind

Now everything's a little upside down,
As a matter of fact the wheels have stopped.
What's good is bad, what's bad is good; you'll find out when you reach the top, you're on the bottom.
I noticed at the ceremony, your corrupt ways had finally made you blind.

The idiot wind blowing like a circle around my skull
From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol
The idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

---Bob Dylan

Lawrence Wilkerson Takes Aim

AnneGearan, AP Diplomatic Writer, reports:

A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.

In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush's detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. He said Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because "otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."

No matter how many times I read reports of this type, as officials continue to come forward and confirm the rumors, it's still extremely disturbing. The noted Israeli military historian, Martin Van Creveld, has written in the US Jewish newspaper Forward that,

For misleading the American people, and launching the most foolish war since Emperor Augustus in 9 B.C sent his legions into Germany and lost them, Bush deserves to be impeached and, once he has been removed from office, put on trial along with the rest of the president's men. If convicted, they'll have plenty of time to mull over their sins.

The Blind Leading The Blind

Michael Brown, the disgraced former director of FEMA, has started a disaster-preparedness consulting firm! This kind of jaw-dropping insanity is a reflection of the mixture of incompetance and arrogance that characterizes the Bush administration.

"If I can help people focus on preparedness, how to be better prepared in their homes and better prepared in their businesses — because that goes straight to the bottom line — then I hope I can help the country in some way," Brown told the Rocky Mountain News for its Thursday editions.

Brown said officials need to "take inventory" of what's going on in a disaster to be able to answer questions to avoid appearing unaware of how serious a situation is.

If a company needs to hire Brown to do that, they don't have a prayer of succeeding.

What Is Laura Bush On??

Seriously. Uppers? Mood stabilizers? General zombie pills? Can she look more demented?



Well, maybe. :)

These photos were taken during Charles and Camilla's recent visit to the US. Calm and pleasant Camilla looks as though she's suppressing a laugh. She probably can't believe her eyes.



The most disturbing one is hilariously captioned on Dependable Renegade. Oh, my God. How funny! Click for the caption.

More Bush Administration Hypocrisy

Luis Posada Carriles is an anti-Castro Cuban émigré who is alleged to have been involved in numerous violent terrorist plots. The Wikipedia entry elaborates on a lifetime of terrorist activity, including blowing up a Cuban airliner, killing 73 people, and bombing a string of hotels in Cuba.

He immigrated to the United States in 1961, served one year in the US Army, then continued separate military training with anti-Castro exiles in Florida. He was also on the CIA payroll from the 1960s until 1974.

A naturalized citizen of Venezuela, he escaped from jail there in 1985 and became an international fugitive. During those 20 years, he supplied arms to the Nicaraguan Contras, organized the bombings of luxury hotels in Cuba in 1997, in order to discourage tourism there, and was convicted in Panama of plotting the assassination of Fidel Castro. He sneaked across the Mexican border this year and sought asylum in the U.S. He was arrested by the Department of Homeland Security.

The Venezuelan Government requested extradition, since they want to retry Carriles for his role in the 1976 airline bombing. On Monday a Texas judge ruled that Carriles will not be deported to Venezuela because of fear of torture.

Elena Freyre, executive director of the Cuban American Defense League, said there was no proof Posada would be tortured in Venezuela and that he should have gone there to stand trial. She said the decision undermines the Bush administration's war on terror.

"It seems to me that this would have been exactly what this administration would not have wanted in this particular case," she said. "What we have here is a very elegant, if you want to call it that, or sneaky, if you want to call it that, maneuver to allow him to remain in this country."

Once again the Bush administration proves that its "War on Terror" is, in reality, a war for self-interest, greed and personal gain. The miserable failure of the federal government in responding to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina proved that this country is ill-equiped to respond to a terrorist attack. Now the Bush administration and the Department of Homeland Security prove that special interests take precedence over bringing international terrorists to justice. You don't want to alienate those Cuban-American voters, and you certainly don't want to cooperate with Hugo Chavez.

I Don't Even Know What To Say

Bulletin: The Bush administration has decided to prove it's own insanity. Either that, or this is a big ol' lie.

CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that Michael Brown, who recently resigned as the head of the FEMA, has been rehired by the agency as a consultant to evaluate it's response following Hurricane Katrina.

UPDATE: It appears that the wording on that report was deceptive. Brown is admitting his errors in the handling of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, while simultaneously continuing to blame state and local officials. Meanwhile, he is getting full pay from FEMA until his resignation takes effect in two weeks. In reality, he is being paid to tell FEMA what a miserable job he did.

WASHINGTON — Former FEMA director Michael Brown said Monday he should have sought faster help from the Pentagon after Hurricane Katrina hit, and blamed state and local officials for failing to order an immediate evacuation of New Orleans, congressional aides of both parties said.

Brown is continuing to work at the Federal Emergency Management Agency at full pay, with his Sept. 12 resignation not taking effect for two more weeks, said Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke.

During that time, Brown will advise the department on "some of his views on his experience with Katrina," as he transitions out of his job, Knocke said.

Brown spoke to congressional aides from both parties a day before he is expected to testify in front of a special House committee investigating the government's response to the Aug. 29 disaster.

Brown came to symbolize the halting federal efforts to rescue victims of the storm and flooding that followed in which more than 1,000 people died in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff removed Brown from his on-site role overseeing the disaster response on Sept. 9. Brown announced his resignation from FEMA three days later.

Rovegate

Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan, has written an excellent explanation of the Rovegate scandal. It's worse than Watergate.

Much Ado About Novak

Jay Rosen suggests a boycott of Robert Novak. Don't print his columns, don't go on CNN with him....until he sings. Many links in this piece and some interesting tidbits of information, such as the fact that Karl Rove was fired from the elder Bush's '92 reelection campaign for leaking information to Novak. Hmmmm.