"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees"

So when are the worshippers of the neocon death cult going to finally admit that their president, the one they've chosen to follow blindly off a cliff, is a common sociopathic liar?

In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29, but he assured soon-to-be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."

The footage - along with seven days of transcripts of briefings obtained by The Associated Press - show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.

Crooks and Liars has the video, and it's devastating. Just devastating. Bush was clearly informed by yes, Michael Brown, the guy who's suffered the slings and arrows lo these last six months, that this was going to be "the big one." And Bush tells him they'll have everything they need -- then goes back to his vacation while the largely black population of New Orleans is left homeless or dead.

We all owe Michael Brown an apology. In fact, as much as I adore Jim Earl, and as hard as I laughed at Rapture Watch on the last day Morning Sedition was on radio, his blurb at the top of the page has to be taken down. Brown may be guilty of not jumping up and down and shrieking for this president to take the threat of this storm seriously, but then, he was working for a man who forbids anyone around him to tell him anything that conflicts with his delusions.

Harriet Miers hands George W. Bush a Presidential Daily Briefing that says "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US" -- and he ignores it, then sends Condi Rice out to say "I don't think anyone anticipated that people would fly airplanes into buildings" -- when many people anticipated just that. Almost 3000 Americans died as a result of George W. Bush's willful ignorance. Michael Brown tells him that Katrina is going to be the monster storm that had been predicted for years -- and Bush goes back on vacation, then goes on ABC News and says, "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees". Over a thousand Americans are dead from that storm, and tens of thousands more are homeless.

Anyone see a pattern here?

Why on earth does anyone think this president can or will keep Americans one iota safer, with this kind of track record?

I don't want to hear anything more from this president about Saddam Hussein being a butcher. I don't want to hear anything more from this president about how Saddam gassed his own people. I don't want to hear George W. Bush talk about other leaders being evil ever again.

Because it takes one to know one.

What's On in Sydney

Every Fri til 30 June 2006: Chinatown Night MarketThis weekendSat 04 March: Good Living Growers Market, PyrmontSat 04 March: Ashfield Gourmet MarketSat 04 March: Farmers Market, Entertainment QuarterSat 04 March: Orange Grove MarketsNext weekendSat 11 March: Kings Cross Organic MarketSat 11 March: Ashfield Gourmet MarketSat 11 March: Farmers Market, Entertainment QuarterSat 11 March: Orange Grove

What's On in Sydney

Every Fri til 30 June 2006: Chinatown Night MarketThis weekendSat 04 March: Good Living Growers Market, PyrmontSat 04 March: Ashfield Gourmet MarketSat 04 March: Farmers Market, Entertainment QuarterSat 04 March: Orange Grove MarketsNext weekendSat 11 March: Kings Cross Organic MarketSat 11 March: Ashfield Gourmet MarketSat 11 March: Farmers Market, Entertainment QuarterSat 11 March: Orange Grove

A New Day Begins

Well, it's not Morning Sedition -- yet.

After taking the advice that setting up ReplayAV to convert the downloaded MP3 to AAC format wouldn't cause a problem for non-iPOD users, I ended up recording the podcast of The Marc Maron Show this morning.

The Morning Sedition vibe is still there, but there's a certain creeping L.A-ism to the proceedings. The bumper music leans heavily towards Swing Revival, which is fine for me, but jeez, when was the last time YOU heard the Cherry Poppin' Daddies? It's as if The Tonight Show, whose show the Clear Channel studios in Burbank overlook, were seeping into Maron's studio.

Jim Earl is now a sort of co-host, essentially Ed McMahon to Maron's Johnny Carson. Mort Mortenson is back, and presumably the rest of the Milfingtons will be back too. I'm hearing that Sammy the Stem Cell will be revived as well, which means hosannas will ring throughout the land, especially at chez Wolcott.

It's clear that there are some bits that AAR has decided it owns, such as the Cliff Notes (which are now Marc Maron's Short Order News), and the guys are still fumbling a bit with how to re-create the best of the Morning Sedition aura while still giving the new show its own unique identity. It's also apparent that Maron was nervous as hell the first day out, since Jim Earl is a far less experienced foil than Mark Riley. Earl is in the position of being the straight man, which is tough for a guy as innately zany as he is. But if you compare this inaugural outing of Marc Maron's new empire to his early days on Morning Sedition, you see just how he's matured as a radio personality. The show's late-night timeslot should also give the guys the freedom to push the envelope a bit without too much hassle from the FCC.

For me, just hearing the opening greeting again is a ray of light in the permanent midnight of the Era of George W. Bush's Dismantling of Everything He Touches.

It's a deep blue sea

Much of the U.S. is suffering a serious case of buyers' remorse. Go check out Radical Russ' Bush Approval Map at Pam's House Blend.

Clusterfuck Nation

Georgie, you're doing a heck of a job. If by a heck of a job you mean unleashing utter chaos in the Middle East:

A civil war in Iraq could lead to a broader conflict in the Middle East, pitting the region's rival Islamic sects against each other, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said in an unusually frank assessment Tuesday.
"If chaos were to descend upon Iraq or the forces of democracy were to be defeated in that country ... this would have implications for the rest of the Middle East region and, indeed, the world," Negroponte said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on global threats.

Negroponte served as U.S. ambassador to Baghdad before taking over as the nation's top intelligence official last April.

Iraqis have faced a chain of attacks and reprisals since bombs destroyed the gold dome of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra last week. Hundreds, if not thousands, have died, including more than 65 who were killed Tuesday by suicide attackers, car bombers and insurgents firing mortars.

President Bush condemned the surge in violence and said Iraqis must make a choice between "a free society or a society dictated ... by evil people who will kill innocents." Later, in an interview with ABC News' "World News Tonight," he said he did not believe the escalation of civil unrest would lead to a general civil war.

Negroponte tried to focus on progress in Iraq, but he acknowledged a civil war would be a "serious setback" to the global war on terror.

"The consequences for the people of Iraq would be catastrophic," he said. "Clearly, it would seriously jeopardize the democratic political process on which they are presently embarked. And one can only begin to imagine what the political outcomes would be."

Saudi Arabia and Jordan could support Iraq's Sunnis, Negroponte said. And Iran, run by a Shiite Islamic theocracy, "has already got quite close ties with some of the extremist elements" inside Iraq, he added.

[snip]

James Jeffrey, the State Department coordinator for Iraq, told reporters Tuesday that Iraqi security forces have managed to establish a normal and calm situation — "by Iraq standards." The level of violence, he said, was about the same as before the shrine bombing.

At the Senate hearing, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, painted a similarly stark picture of Afghanistan.

While the government has made progress in disarming private militias, Maples said, his agency estimates that violence from the Taliban and other anti-coalition groups in Afghanistan increased 20 percent last year.

"Insurgents now represent a greater threat to the expansion of Afghan government authority than at any point since late 2001, and will be active this spring," Maples said in his written statement.

Afghan insurgents increased their suicide attacks almost fourfold and more than doubled their use of improvised explosive devices, he said.

No matter how much lipstick they try to put on this particular pig, the fact remains that George W. Bush has unleashed hell across the Middle East, and I'm not sure that there's anyone anywhere on earth who can fix what he's screwed up this time.

Meanwhile, Bush continues to live in his little delusional bubble, and plans to continue to feed American young people into that particular meat grinder in perpetuity:

VARGAS: Let's move to Iraq. This has been a rough few days in Iraq since the bombing of the mosque in Samarra. There's been a lot of sectarian violence. We heard fresh reports of violence again today and reports from Baghdad that the violence in these past three days has been the worst since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. There was a lot of criticism from both the Shiites and the Sunnis of the U.S. military for standing back and not doing enough to stop the violence.

What is the policy if, in fact, a civil war should break out or the sectarian violence continues? Are you willing to sacrifice American lives to get the Sunnis and the Shiites to stop killing each other?

BUSH: I don't buy your premise that there's going to be a civil war. There's no question that the bomber of the mosque is trying to create sectarian violence, and there's no question there was reaction to it. On the other hand, I had the duty, which I did, to call these leaders, Shi'a and Sunni leaders, as well as Kurdish leaders.

And the response was that we understand this is a moment that we've got to make a choice if we're going to have sectarian strife or whether or not we're going to unify. And I heard loud and clear that they understand that they're going to choose unification, and we're going to help them do so.

The presence of the U.S. troops is there to protect as many Iraqis as we possibly can from thugs and violence, but it's also to help the Iraqis protect themselves, and we're making progress in terms of standing up to these Iraqi troops so they can deal with, deal with these incidents of violence.

VARGAS: But what is the plan if the sectarian violence continues? I mean, do the U.S. troops take a larger role? Do they step in more actively to stop the violence?

BUSH: No. The troops are chasing down terrorists. They're protecting themselves and protecting the people, and -- but a major function is to train the Iraqis so they can do the work. I mean the ultimate success in Iraq -- and I believe we're going to be successful -- is for the Iraqi citizens to continue to demand unity.

And remember, one of the things that's lost during this troubled week -- and there's no question it's a troubled week -- was the fact that 11 million Iraqis, about two months ago, went to the polls and said, "We want to have a democratic government." So there's still a will of the people there that are interested in a unified government.

Secondly, we're working with the leaders to form this unity government, and we'll see how it goes. We're making pretty good progress though. And I think the bombers really caused the leaders to say, "Wait a minute. We now have got to project civil war or civil strife or sectarian violence."

And the other side of the equation has got to be to train the Iraqis to fight so that the people feel like there is a unified security force that's interested in protecting them from a few people who are trying to sow violence and discord.

The man is completely delusional. He doesn't buy the premise that there's going to be civil war because it doesn't fit into his "la la la la I Am Not Listening" worldview. That doesn't mean it won't happen. The Iraqi citizens are NOT demanding unity. This "unity" government is going to be a Shia-dominated one. But this is a guy who thinks that as long as HIS party is the majority, no one else need even be taken into account, so that's hardly surprising.

More:

BUSH: Well, Ayatollah Sistani, who is by far -- not by far -- is one of the most revered clerics, has made it very clear that this type of violence is not acceptable, and that he calls for a unified government. And matter of fact, many of the clerics have spoken out for a peaceful unified future for Iraq.

And there's no -- look, these are -- there are people that don't want to see democracy, and the reason why is because it defeats their vision of a totalitarian type government from which they can launch either attacks on America or future instability in the Middle East. You're witnessing this ideological struggle that's taking place, and Iraq happens to be the battle front for that struggle right now.

And I believe we're -- we will prevail, and the definition of prevailing is an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself, an Iraq that is not a safe haven for people like Zarqawi or al Qaeda and its affiliates, an Iraq which becomes an ally in the war on terror.

VARGAS: So let me make sure I understand you. No matter what happens with the level of sectarian violence, the U.S. troops will stay there?

BUSH: The U.S. troops will stay there so long as -- until the Iraqis can defend themselves. I mean, my policy has not changed. To summarize it, as the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.

And as you know, we've reduced troop levels this year, and that's because our commanders on the ground have said that the security situation in Iraq is improving because the Iraqis are more capable of taking the fight.

Maybe that's because everyone is under orders not to tell Bush anything he doesn't want to hear.

Lie down with dogs, you get fleas

The Christofascist Zombie Brigade wants its pound of flesh for all of its donations to Israel. First they gave money. Now they want to start the hostile takeover:

A conservative Israeli activist notes that, thanks to immigration, the Christian population of Israel has grown to a politically significant percentage. That is why he wants to form a new political party to place Christian representatives in Israel's Parliament, the Knesset.

Avi Lipkin is perhaps better known by his pen name, Victor Mordecai. The American-born Israeli author and lecturer has been back in the U.S. recently, telling American Christians about his desire to create the "Bible Bloc Party."

Christians have historically had no voice in Israel's primary legislative body, Lipkin points out. His "Bible Bloc" will be a party that "will have Christian activists and Christian candidates running for the Knesset ... because the Christian population in Israel has grown in the last 15 years from two percent to eight percent of Israel's voting population."