The Immoral Presidency of George W. Bush

[Anwaar]

The Immoral Presidency of George W. Bush

By W. Christopher Epler

Many Americans are put off by the aggressive righteousness of Evangelicals, but fair is fair, since many of them seem to be putting their pocketbooks and time on the line when it comes to issues like starving children. They're a little like those neighbors who annoy you about some things, but you respect for other things.

In any case, for most of us "morality" is not a dirty word. So isn't it about time for an American John the Baptist to start excoriating the White House for crimes against humanity?

George Bush can't "photo-op" away what he did to New Orleans. This man must answer, if not to God, at least to the conscience of all Americans, since his role in the anguish of New Orleans was flagrantly immoral.

The facts are simple: First he destroyed the protective wet lands, then he stopped the life and death funding for the levees, and then he couldn't be bothered by the inevitable horror which followed these criminally short sighted decisions (folks in New Orleans knew he had doomed their fabulous city long before Katrina).

Plus, why was Katrina so lethal in the first place? That's easy. Itís because she picked up energy as she moved across the warmer than usual waters. And why were the waters warmer than usual? It's spelled: G-L-O-B-A-L W-A-R-M-I-N-G, Mr. President.

Some of us have faulted the Christian Right for a doomsdaying view of environmental planning. After all, if Armageddon is just around the corner, who cares about the Alaskan wilderness? However, it's probably flattering to George Bush to assume his indifference to our God given environment has anything to do with some expectation that "Last Dayísî starts next week.

Is that why he condemned New Orleans to death? No. He made those decisions for the same reason the Republican energy bill is literally PAYING the corporate cronies of the Bush Family (don't forget Daddy Bush!) to rape Mother Nature. Remember the ultra secret Energy Task Force of Dick Cheney? It's sure not a secret anymore, is it? The corporate greed vampires have been loosened and the blood of our anemic economy is being drained.

So simple. So heart breakingly simple. This man's administration is all about making pig rich people pig richer. That's it! That's the whole story. Where have our retirements disappeared to? Why has educational funding and medical/scientific research dried up? Why have millions of Americans (and children!) lost their health care during this man's administration? And why has Mother Nature been turned into a whore for Texas energy companies?

Answer: $$$$$. But not $$$$$ for us! $$$$$ for the top 2 or 3 percent of the country.

That's what happened to New Orleans. No money for the levees. Why not? Well, keeping the levees in repair would have dipped into tax breaks for multi millionaires -- and the much lied about war in Iraq.

And what about Iraq? Remember Iraq, the country that was supposed to the bristling with WMD's? But, April Fool! No WMD's. Just an ocean of oil and closed shop contracts with Halliburton (or is it Cheneyburton?).

So what's the common denominator of all these policies? DUH -- making pig rich people pig richer. At the expense of our retirements, of course, and education, health care, and Americaís irreplaceable wilderness. At the expense of science and medicine. And at the expense of our children's lives . . . and now New Orleans.

So, Evangelicals, please help us out here. You say you take the compassionate and loving teachings of Jesus seriously. Time to prove it! Help us get this immoral "thing" out of the White House.

Lastly, please believe that this is a sincere cry for help. Bush's greed vampires are everywhere and they're murdering the American conscience.

Courtesy : The Smirking Chimp

[michelle]

BUSH HAS REVERSED MORE ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS IN THE PAST EIGHT MONTHS THAN REGAN DID IN A FULL EIGHT YEARS!!!! Read more @:
www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7605389?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single7&rnd=1126883073820&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

Also, Action Call to Fountainhead readers:
From: The Wilderness Society:

By overturning the Roadless Rule, the Bush Administration is ignoring the will of the American People, who overwhelmingly support protection for the remaining roadless areas.

Our National Forests belong to all Americans, and their fate not should be decided by state officials and political appointees in Wsahington!!!!

Let the Administration that we won't be ignored. Sign this petition, today!
ga1.org/campain/roadlesspetition?source=200509_adv_roadvir

[michelle]

Correction on Wilderness Society petition:

ga1.org/campaign/roadlesspetition?source=200509_adv_roadvir

[michelle]

From the Clarion-Ledger 9/16/05

Here's another attempt at the blame game:

Federal officials appear to be seeking proof to blame the flood of New Orleans on environmental groups.

An internal e-mail from the U.S. Dept of Justice sent out this week to various U.S. attorneys' 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 outcome of the litigation."

Cynthia Magnuson, a spokesperson for the Justice Dept. couldn't comment "because it's an internal e-mail." Shown a copy of the e-mail, David Bookbinder, senior attorney for the Sierra
Club, remarked, "Why are they [Bush administration officials] trying to smear us?"

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups had nothing to do with the flooding from Hurricane Katrina. Bookbinder said, "It's unfortunate that the Bush administration is trying to shift the blame to environmental groups. It doesn't surprise me at all." Federal officials say the e-mail was prompted by a congressional inquiry but wouldn't comment further.

The levees that broke causing New Orleans to flood weren't Mississippi River levees. They were levees that protected the city from Lake Pontchartrain levees that protected the city on the other side of the city. When Katrina struck, the hurricane pushed tons of water from the Gulf of Mexico into Lake Pontchartrain, which borders the city to the north. Corps officials say the water from the lake cleared the levees by 3 feet. It was those floodwaters, they say, that caused the levees to degrade until they ruptured, causing 80% of New Orleans to flood.

Bookbinder said the purpose of the litigation by the Sierra Club and others in 1996 was where the Corps got the dirt for the project. "We had no objections to the levees, " he said. "We said, 'Just don't dig film materials out of the wetlands. Get the dirt from somewhere else.' "

If you listen to what some conservatives say about environmentalists, he said, "We're responsible for most of the world's ills."

Read the complete article @
www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050916/NEWS0110/509160369/1260

I guess it's the environmental groups fault Bush stayed on vacation until the 3rd day after the hurricane struck, and their fault for the lack of response from FEMA [still slow, ineffective]

[phantom]

Thanks Michelle. That is a lot of information.

[d]

Michelle;
I joined the Wilderness Society the first time you mentioned them,and I want to thank you for
bringing them to my attention.I get great stuff in the mail from them.They're wonderful people,and are very attentive.I'm glad to sign and mail the petitions and hope the White House is getting buried in them.They are starting to get noticed,and I'm glad to help.
I encourage everyone reading this to go to wilderness.org and check it out.
Thanks again
Chris ;D

[michelle]

Oh my gosh, you have to read Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s WE MUST TAKE AMERICA BACK speech, delivered at the Sierra Summit. Being very involved in local and national environmental issues myself, Mr. Kennedy is one of my favorite champions for Mother Earth and we her children.

His speech is a scathing attack on the Bush Administration and the corporations who run this country. He speaks of the emerging illnesses which are rampant in our society, due to pollution. He tells how corporate polluters have been put in top positions of agencies that are to protect Americans from pollution: Dept of Energy, Dept of Agriculture, EPA, Dept of the Interior, Dept of Commerce, and divisions of the Justice Dept. And finally, he speaks of our interconnection with the natural world.

How we need leaders such as he. I have supported the Rachel Carson Homestead in their missions, most recently against pesticide use. I have backed the local Clean Water Association and the Group against Smog and Pollution I have stood with the Sierra Club as we fought against developers building on our wetlands and flood plains. Most of these developers have been from Texas [suprise!]. Time after time, for years we held them back with environmental impact studies. We gave them alternative locations to bulid, such as abandoned coal slurry spots. We asked our local reps to bring in high technology industries or light manufacturing businesses rather than low paying retail store outlets; which many of us can't afford to shop at. [Do you realize there are more than 6000 abandoned malls across the United States?]

Their answer to all our efforts and requests is to keep coming back month after month, year after to year with the same agenda; they relentlessly wear us down, pay full time lawyers to pick away at litigation. I have spoken with these corporate representatives and they are arrogant and condesending. Replies from my Congressional Representatives patronize me with political doublespeak. All they work for is the quick buck with no concern for the future or jobs for their constituents.

I pains me beyond belief to see my rivers destroyed, our mountains leveled, woodlands cleared, etc. I spend much time outdoors, I NEED to do this, we all do. I walk over land where our ancestors, indigenous and European lived and worked. In many spots all I need to do is put a shovel in the ground and I am given artifacts from our past. If we don't take this country back NOW, everything wholesome and precious to us will be gone, FOREVER. Our government lackeys and their insatiable rulers represent all that is wrong and EVIL in the world today.

Please read Mr. Kennedy's speech at
www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091705Z.shtml
And thanks again, Anwaar for providing this outlet and to all the rest of you who lend an ear.
Yours In The Light,
Michelle

[Anwaar]

I read the speech. Yes its amazingly candid and bold. And refreshing that we are gathering company as we struggle along.

[michelle]

You have to read this one from the Washington Post 9/16/05: [OpEd]
I WILL REBUILD WITH YOU, MR. PRESIDENT
By Donna Brazile

"On Thur. night President Bush spoke to the nation from my city. I am not a Republican. I did not vote for G.W.B. ...... But on Thur. night, after watching him speak from the heart, I could not have been prouder of the president and the plan he outlined to empower those who lost everything and to rebuild the Gulf Coast."

All I can say is: Donna, the president doesn't have a heart. Every word that comes out of his mouth is a lie! Rebuild the city?! He put Carl Rove in charge of it! As Rep. Rahm Emanuel [Dem. Ill] said, "Mr Rove may be an expert on leaks, but that doesn't qualify him to oversee flood relief."

Bush gave us notice that rebuilding the Gulf Coast will require spending cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. How about taking money from military spending; oh sorry, that's just a dream of mine. Increase taxes on the rich? No, that's not in his plan. Bush said, the federal government can foot the bill without resorting to a tax increase. Bush also said, "You bet it's going to cost money. But I'm confident we can handle it. It's going to mean that we're going to have to cut unnecessary spending." These words should worry us all; I mean us regular folk. You can bet that any social programs left will be sucked dry.

The poor that left will never return. New Orleans will be turned into a playground for the rich under Bush's plan. Major corporations will battle over privately-owned property under the guise of "eminent domain". The area will be littered with shopping malls, corporate polluting farms, and a myraid of other interests of the wealthy. Tax incentives will be given to corporations while the rest of the peons scramble for survival.

This is the real plan of the Bush Administration. Until they are out on their butts, never take your eye off of these unbelievably corrupt thugs. Word has it that the media is currently being reined in again by the powers that be. I thought that we could take a breather for a bit; I guess that will have to wait.

Read Donna's sad OpEd at:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/16/AR2005091602167.html

[michelle]

OPEN LETTER FROM AMERICA TO BUSH:

If you are a lawyer, or know of a lawyer that would be interested in pursing seizure of Bush's ranch per the recent Supreme Court decision on eminent domain, please send e-mail with 'Eminent Domain' in the subject line. Let's put all that land to good use!

This is a good one at: selltheranch.com/

[michelle]

9/20/05 DENNIS KUCINICH SPEAKING FROM THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE:

"Madame Speaker, I want to agree with my good friend from Texas [Mr. Delay] that we need to do everything we can to avoid any kind of tax hikes."

"However, I think that all Americans would expect that the top 1% of income earners in this country, who receive most of the benefit from the administrations tax cuts, should have to give up some of their tax cuts in order to relieve the burden on the people in the Gulf Coast. It is only fair."

"America can meet its responsibilities, but we are going to have to roll back those tax breaks that were given to the wealthiest Americans, in order to help the least of our breathren."

"We can also save money by planning an exit strategy out of Iraq. Wherever I go in my district, people say, get us out of Iraq. Well, it is time for us to have an exit strategy. That is what House Joint Resolution 55 is about, a bipartisan exit strategy."

"We can do things to have the resources to take care of the people in the Gulf. But we first have to get out of the Persian Gulf. And we also have to get out of this thinking that says that tax cuts are somehow the way to recovery."

[michelle]

ONCE A CRONY ALWAYS A CRONY OR BUMBLING FRIENDS STICK TOGETHER.
There seems to be conflicting stories whether Brown has been rehired or is waiting for his resignation to take effect. Michelle

CBS News says Michael Brown rehired as FEMA consultant

RAW STORY
Monday September 26, 2005.

CBS News' Bob Schieffer just announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has rehired ex-FEMA chief Michael Brown-- as a consultant to evaluate the agency's response to the disaster!

From CBS's Katrina blog: "Sept. 26, 2005 /6:44 p.m. (CBS) — 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 [sic] response following Hurricane Katrina.

CBS says they've confirmed Brown had been rehired. Brown resigned after taking heat when a Time Magazine article revealed that he had padded his resume with bogus jobs.

The Associated Press, however, tells the story differently: "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."

Late Monday evening, CBS contacted Knocke, and then published a story on their Website, which is co-credited to the Associated Press, that clarified Brown's current employment status with FEMA:

CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that Knocke told her that technically Brown remains at FEMA as a "contractor" and he is "transitioning out of his job." The reason he will remain at FEMA about a month after his resignation, said the spokesman, is that the agency wants to get the "proper download of his experience."
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 told the Associated Press.

Brown had been shopping his resume in Washington. Wrote U.S. News' Washington Whispers last week: "Ex-FEMA Administrator Michael Brown seems to be doing for his career what he did for the beleaguered agency. Less than a week after FEMA's dismal Hurricane Katrina response forced Brown out of the agency, he has been shopping his resume to headhunters and Washington PR firms. And it's not working. "He's radioactive," said one exec. An ally of Brownie in the PR world said he should have waited a month before starting his job hunt. "It's just a bad play."

CBS

DEVELOPING....

[Anwaar]

Ah! So you-are-doing-a-heck-of-a-job-Brownie is back. Wonder what took him so long.

[DT1]

Can you imagine getting fired for incompetence,and then getting re-hired to investigate why you are incompetent?
If brains were lard,our"president"would lack the means to grease a skillet...

[michelle]

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE BEFORE REACTING TO THE TITLE:

THE US GOVERNMENT DID NOT FAIL ITS MISSION
IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANE KATRINA
Analysis by G. Edward Griffin, updated 2005 September 30

There has been widespread criticism of the response of US officials to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. The tone of these complaints is that the authorities failed to do their job quickly enough. Some commentators have said this is a racial issue, claiming that the government would have acted more promptly if the majority of victims had been white instead of black. Others have said it was an issue of the rich against the poor, the oil companies against the consumers, the land developers and contractors seeking to force people out of the city so they can rebuild without interference at taxpayers' expense. Democrats have said the problem is that Republicans were in control, and Republicans are indifferent to the plight of the common man.

In news coverage of this tragedy, the most significant events often were buried beneath a blanket of heart-wrenching stories of personal survival, scenes of awesome destruction, reports of looting, and interviews with experts. However, the key to understanding can be found in the following list of news headlines, most of which did not make it into mainstream coverage. These reports make it clear that the government did not fail to respond in a timely fashion. The problem was that it did respond - but in such a way as to actually hinder rescue operations. There were too many instances for this to be merely a mistake or a bureaucratic snafu. There is a clear pattern here that cannot be denied. Why this should be so will be discussed in a moment, but first, here is the amazing record.

(If the original sources are no longer active, click on (Cached).

FEMA tells first responders not to respond until told to do so. FEMA News 2005 Aug 29 (Cached)

FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations.
FEMA News 2005 Aug 29 (Cached)

Offer of helicopters for rescue work is rejected.
Narcosphere 2005 Sept 1 (Cached)

FEMA blocks 500 Florida airboat pilots from rescue work.
Sun Sentinel 2005 Sept 2 (Cached)

FEMA to Chicago: Send just one truck.
Chicago Tribune 2005 Sept 2 (Cached)

FEMA turns back volunteer Sheriff's deputies and medical team. Unknown News 2005 Sept 2 (Cached)

FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans.
Tri Valley Central 2005 Sept 2 (Cached)

Pentagon says military mission in New Orleans is combat, not rescue. Army Times 2005 Sept 2 (Cached)

FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid.
Daily Kos 2005 Sept 3 (Cached)

Homeland Security won't let Red Cross deliver food.
Post Gazette 2005 Sept 3 (Cached)

Military turns back flood survivors trying to leave city. Thousands held at gunpoint and locked up in Superdome.
Reuters 2005 Sept 3 (Cached)

FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital onboard. Chicago Tribune 2005 Sept 4 (Cached)

FEMA cuts local emergency communications phone lines.
Meet the Press 2005 Sept 4 (Cached)

FEMA turns away experienced firefighters.
Daily Kos 2005 Sept 5 (Cached)

FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks.
NY Times 2005 Sept 5 (Cached)

FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel.
NY Times 2005 Sept 5 (Cached)

Navy pilots who rescued victims are reprimanded.
NY Times 2005 Sept 7 (Cached)

US government turns back German plane with 15 tons of aid.
Star Tribune 2005 Sept 10 (Cached)

FEMA officials forbid stores from re-opening. Sheriff defies their order and threatens to arrest them. (Article near the bottom of page.) Times-Picayune 2005 Sept 11 (Cached)

FEMA declines volunteer firemen for rescue operations. Uses them to distibute public relations pamphlets.
Salt Lake Tribune 2005 Sept 12 (Cached)

FEMA orders doctor to stop treating hurricane victims.
Advocate 2005 Sept 16 (Cached)

FEMA ignores offer of busses for evacuation of New Orleans.
Chicago Tribune 2005 Sept 23 (Cached)



So what is going on here? Were agents of the federal government trying to kill American citizens? Were they trying to obtain the maximum death toll and the highest level of human suffering? It would seem that way at first, but I would like to suggest that this incredible behavior stems from something else - something equally unsettling.

The only legitimate function of government is to protect the lives, liberty, and property of its citizens. In New Orleans, however, it was clear that the primary job of the military, FEMA, and Homeland Security was, not to protect citizens, but to protect the government and keep it functioning. It can be argued that, if government does not protect itself first, it may not be able to protect its citizens, so that should be its first obligation. However, the government was not in danger in New Orleans. Aside from one or two snipers, its forces were never under attack, and its ability to function was never threatened; so the self-preservation argument is not valid in this case.

It was clear from the start that the goal of FEMA and Homeland Security was, not to resue people, but to control them. Their directive was to relocate families and businesses, confiscate property, commandeer goods, direct labor and services, and establish martial law. This is what they have been trained to do. The reason they failed to carry out an effective rescue operation is that this was not their primary mission, and the reason they blocked others from doing so is that any operations not controlled by the central authority are contrary to their directives. Their objective was to bring the entire area under the control of the federal government - and this they succeeded in doing very well.

William Anderson, in an article posted to the the web site of the von Mises Institute, came to the same conclusion but from a slightly different perspective. He calls attention to the need for politicians and government agencies to be in the spotlight during emergencies so they can look good to the voters and claim credit for all positive results. They are not interested in sharing the praise. Williams writes:

The huge outpouring of private aid, from donation of money, food, clothing, time, and housing (many people simply have taken in refugees — white and black — in their own homes) stands in contrast to [Anne] Rice's "America is hopelessly racist and hates the poor" [as Rice claimed in the New York Times] and demonstrates that the will to sacrifice for those truly in need certainly exists in this country. While it is not surprising that the elitist New York Times would take this as its standard view, it also is a shame when the country's "newspaper of record" can't even record the right things.

Yet, for all of the public angst over the federal government's — and especially FEMA's — post-disaster response, most observers have missed what is painfully obvious: the government's response was perfectly in character to how people in government act in such situations. To say this in an alternative way, government was being government the same way that a dog is a dog.

As anyone knows, dogs are territorial animals, and governments are territorial entities. The first rule that a government agent follows when confronted with an "emergency" is to "secure the area." For example, when two young men were merrily going on a murder and mayhem spree at Columbine High School in 1999, the vaunted police "SWAT" team stayed outside and encircled the complex because someone said that the area had to be "secured" before police actually could try to save anyone. (Of course, we found out later that not only did police fail to save people, but at least one person bled to death because police refused to get help until the man had died. This was not incompetence; it was the normal workings of the "I am in charge and don't you forget it" mentality that permeates government at all levels.)

Immediately after the hurricane had stopped in New Orleans, for example, a Wal-Mart had brought a truckload of bottled water; FEMA officials turned the truck away, declaring that it was "not needed." Before we dismiss this incident as yet another example of incompetent government, we should realize that the official's actions were completely within the character of government.

When governments act to provide services to individuals, they are done within a very different context than what occurs when private organizations provide services. The post-Katrina services performed by the Red Cross and other organizations such as civil groups and churches did not come with the threat of force attached to them. Church volunteers cannot arrest or even kill someone in those circumstances, but a representative of the government can perform such things without recrimination (and on more than one occasion did just that post-Katrina).

Moreover, government services are performed in as visible a manner as possible. Anyone who has watched some of the post-hurricane coverage has seen press conference after press conference after photo-opportunity of government officials from President George W. Bush to mayors, governors, FEMA and military personnel and the like, people whose job is to be seen doing "good" for political constituents. These things are done with the podium and the TV camera in mind.

The FEMA official who waved off the Wal-Mart truck was correct; FEMA did not "need" Wal-Mart to help. In fact, people from FEMA did not want Wal-Mart to help, as the company would have been able to steal some of the thunder that "rightfully" should belong to FEMA and other government agencies.

While the world is preoccupied with trying to fix the blame for the government's failure in New Orleans, the reality is that it did not fail at all. It was a huge success in promoting its own agenda. Unfortunately, that agenda was not to rescue American citizens. Once this simple fact is understood, everything that happened in the wake of Katrina becomes understandable and logical.

If there are new terrorist attacks against the United States or Great Britain or any other country, what we witnessed in New Orleans may have been but a fleeting glimpse into the future of global collectivism.
www.freedomforceinternational.org/freedomcontent.cfm?fuseaction=FEMA_Katrina&refpage=issues