Blah Blah Blog

Did someone at Metroland hear my whining about not having a pic (again!) on the Hidden City web site? Now I feel stupid. From this week's Metroland.

Photo Credit: Chris Shields.

FASHION ROCKS. Saturday night (Sept. 24) at the Lark Tavern saw the blending of two worlds: the rockers and the fashionistas (we’re guessing it made for one hell of an after-party). Local designers presented their clothing lines while Bryan Thomas soul-rocked-out wearing a Liability T-shirt (by local designer Tommy Watkins) in between models strutting their stuff on the catwalk. For more pictures of this event (and the before-and-after craziness), check out www.thehiddencity.com.

Labels: music

O beautiful, for spacious skies...

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted by a Texas grand jury Wednesday on a charge of conspiring to violate political fundraising laws, forcing him to temporarily step aside from his GOP post. He is the highest-ranking member of Congress to face criminal prosecution.

[snip]

DeLay's temporary departure and the prospect of a criminal trial for one of the Republicans' most visible leaders reverberated throughout the GOP-run Congress, which was already struggling with ethics questions surrounding its Senate leader.

That Senate leader, of course, would be the good Dr. Frist.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist faces a near-term ordeal unwelcome to anyone, particularly an ambitious politician: an official probe into his personal financial dealings by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC authorized a formal order of investigation of Frist's sale in June of HCA Inc. shares, people with direct knowledge of the inquiry said yesterday. The order allows the agency's enforcement unit to subpoena documents and compel witnesses to testify, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the order hasn't been made public.

House Majority Leader? Check.

Senate Majority Leader? Check.

Next up?

Mr. October.

(PS: Angry women's rights activists in Turkey spoke truth to White House Mideast envoy Karen Hughes today. Icing on a day of cake.)

Labels: in the news

TheHiddenCity has photos up from this weekend's Fashion Rock show at Tess' Lark Tavern in Albany and the Hanslick Rebellion reunion show at CBGB's in New York City.

You should see them.

At Tess' insistance, we showed the Babylon music video as a warm up for the Fashion Rock show - but better yet, later that night I got to do some loud, solo electric guitar wanking as a rowdy rock n' roll intro to designer Tommy Watkins rowdy rock n' roll set for his Liability line. Totally fun because I so rarely get to play guitar like that, but also an honor to be part of such an amazing and creative show.

(And yet, once again, you wouldn't even know I was there based on the photos at Hidden City. What's up with that?)

Also: Mr. Smith documents the adventures and misadventures of going down to NYC for the Hanslick show Thursday evening. (Follow the link and scroll down to the entry for Friday, September 23.)

You should also check out the Hanslick's musical mastermind Jed Davis' account of the full history of the band - which he started posting to his blog back in January. Dig the marketing genius behind the promo for their first show, and work your way from there.

All in all, it was a great weekend that even allowed time for packing for the move (yes, we're moving, long story). But my one big regret was having to miss John Powhida and his merry band of Rudds at their Albany CD release party Friday night with the Day Jobs.

Go buy his record. You won't regret it.

Labels: music

Another conservative voice senses the tide may be turning against the White House.

This time it's John Podheretz of the National Review:

TIME AND NEWSWEEK AND WHITE HOUSE "SOURCES"

[John Podhoretz]

Both magazines [Time | Newsweek] have huge finger-pointing packages -- packages that rely heavily on self-exculpatory detail from people like Gov. Kathleen Blanco and officials in Louisiana and New Orleans. What's interesting about the stories is that they suggest there's been a change at the Bush White House because they feature unnamed sources saying nasty things about the president. One of the remarkable aspects of this White House has been the fanatical loyalty its people have displayed toward Bush -- even talking to friendly journalists like me, it's been nearly impossible to get past the feel-good spin. If that's really changing, if staffers are beginning to separate themselves from their boss emotionally and indulge in on-background carping and cavilling, then two things are true. 1) Bush is about to suffer the agony that has afflicted all previous recent administrations -- the "who said that!" rages that distract our leaders and make them feel isolated in their jobs. 2) News stories are about to get a whole lot more interesting, and White House reporters are going to stop complaining about how hard it is to cover Bush.

Maybe someone in the White House is as disgusted with the recent actions and inactions of this administration as the rest of America.

Labels: in the news

More and more conservatives each day are speaking truth to power.

This time, it's Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute:

The real question is, why did Washington take so long to mobilize [the National Guard]? The administration underestimated the problem, failed to plan for the predictable aftermath, and refused to accept responsibility for its actions - just like when the president took America into war based on false and distorted intelligence. Then the administration failed to prepare for violent resistance in Iraq. The Pentagon did not provide America's soldiers with adequate quantities of body armor, armored vehicles and other equipment. New terrorist affiliates sprang up, new terrorist recruits flooded Iraq, and new terrorist attacks were launched around the world, all contrary to administration expectations. In none of these cases has anyone taken responsibility for anything.

Now Hurricane Katrina has surprised a woefully ill-prepared administration. Bush and his officials failed in their most basic responsibility, to maintain the peaceful social framework within which Americans normally live and work together.

George W. Bush initially responded to Sept. 11 with personal empathy, political sensitivity and policy nuance. But his failures now overwhelm his successes. The administration's continuing lack of accountability leaves it ill-equipped to meet equally serious future challenges.

Labels: in the news

From Rod Dreher, at the National Review blog:

THE COST OF CRONYISM [Rod Dreher]
It would be very wrong, I believe, to let the ignominious Michael Brown be the scapegoat for FEMA's sins. Check out this front-pager from the [Washington Post]. Turns out that a raft of FEMA's top leaders have little or no emergency management experience, but are instead politically well connected to the GOP and the White House. This is a scandal, a real scandal. How is it possible that four years after 9/11, the president treats a federal agency vital to homeland security as a patronage prize? The main reason I've been a Bush supporter all along is I trusted him (note past tense) on national security -- which, in the age of mass terrorism, means homeland security too. Call me naive, but it's a real blow to learn that political hacks have been running FEMA, of all agencies of the federal government! What if al-Qaeda had blown the New Orleans levees? How much worse would the crony-led FEMA's response have been? Would conservatives stand for any of this for one second if a Democrat were president? If this is what Republican government means, God help the poor GOP Congressmen up for re-election in 2006.

It's encouraging that so many conservatives are acknowledging what I've been saying all along: It's not the policies of the Bush administration, per se, it's the way they are implemented. It's that the sales pitch has become so much more important than what they're actually selling.

I'm going to continue collecting these "honest answers" from conservatives and eventually archive them on a page on the site. If you see any, lemme know.

Labels: in the news

From Joe Scarborough:

With so many trying to figure out why so few acted professionally in the first days of this epic crisis, I offer an insider's view of who is to blame for this national disgrace. We begin with Harry Truman who famously declared that the buck always stops at the president's desk. For those who now define the term conservative as unwavering support for George W. Bush, even this suggestion is maddening. But the bottom line is that despite the fact the president was strapped with two governors who bungled this crisis badly, in the end it is the president who sends in the National Guard and FEMA relief. The president's suggestion that the size of this storm caught all by surprise just doesn't get it. His administration was 48 hours late sending in the National Guard and poor Americans got raped and killed because of those mistakes. A painful assessment from a supporter of the president, but also true.

Note that Scarborough also finds much fault in the action - or lack of action - on the part of Democratic Louisiana Governor Blanco and Republican Mississippi Governor Barbour.

And I say good. Local, state, federal, whatever.

You earn my respect when you can find fault regardless of party lines.

Labels: in the news

NBC 5 Chicago reports:

In a document that went out from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency asked for firefighters with very specific skills and who were capable of working in austere conditions. When they got to a center in Atlanta, they found out their jobs would be public relations.

"Our job was to advertise a phone number for FEMA," said Portage Assistant Fire Chief Bill Lundy. "We were going to be given shirts and hats with a phone number on it and flyers, and sent to shelters, and we were going to pass out flyers."

Lundy and Calhoun said they don't want to bash FEMA or its mission, Rogers reported. They said they only want to help, and that there were plenty of other firefighters in the room who felt the same way.

"There was almost a fight," said Portage Assistant Fire Chief Joe Calhoun. "There was probably 700 firefighters sitting in the room getting this training, and it dawned on them what we were going to be doing. And then it got bad from there."

Lundy and Calhoun's first task was an eight-hour course on sexual harassment and equal opportunity employment procedures, Rogers reported. Neither firefighter would be involved in technical rescues of trapped people or any of their other specialties.

"We're trained in tactical medicine," Lundy said. "We weren't being used for that. We were being used to hand out flyers."

Their boss, Portage Fire Chief Tim Sosby, said he was only too happy to loan out his two men, but thinks they were right to come back home.

"It seemed like an incredible misuse of valuable resources," Sosby said.

Labels: in the news

He responds to disaster too damn slow,
Ignoring all the chaos in the Superdome.
Michael Brown. He's a clown.
That Michael Brown. He's a clown.
He's gonna get caught, just you wait and see:
"Why is everybody always picking on me?"

Here's a classic Karl Rove move.

Have the president say to the public: "Brownie, you're doin' a heckuva job!"

Then you leak the dirt on him.

And with it, the blame:

The government's disaster chief waited until hours after Hurricane Katrina had already struck the Gulf Coast before asking his boss to dispatch 1,000 Homeland Security employees to the region — and gave them two days to arrive, according to internal documents.

Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims.

Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged Tuesday the first department-wide appeal for help came only as the storm raged.

Classic Rove.

Labels: in the news

From the New York Times:

Under the command of President Bush's two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

It orchestrated visits by cabinet members to the region, leading up to an extraordinary return visit by Mr. Bush planned for Monday, directed administration officials not to respond to attacks from Democrats on the relief efforts, and sought to move the blame for the slow response to Louisiana state officials, according to Republicans familiar with the White House plan.

I sound like a broken record: this administration can not lead the country. It can only campaign the country.

Note how they aren't rolling out a plan to correct what went wrong. Note how they aren't rolling out a plan to make sure that America is truly prepared to minimize casulties in the event of a disaster, whether natural or man-made.

None of that. "Now is not the time to point fingers!" they say, as they point fingers. "Now is not the time to play politics!" they say, as they play politics.

Yet another campaign.

See, I don't want to see the president hugging people standing miles from the Superdome. I don't want to see the president meeting with officials at the levee. Even if it were real and not "orchestrated" - well, the CEO president should know that's just micromanagement shit.

So what do I want in a president right now?

I want him mad. MAD! I want him kicking ass and taking names. I want him in a command center, barking out orders, moving heaven and earth to help the people and the infrastructure of a decimated Gulf Coast.

Don't you?

But even then: too little, too late. What matters is not the support they're giving now, it's what they didn't do Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week and in the several days of fair warning before.

What matters is what the president chose to do instead.

Because while Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Rove "orchestrate" their campaign to "move the blame," I recall that the Governors of Louisiana and Alabama and Mississippi weren't on vacation until Wednesday - Day Three of the disaster. I recall that the mayors of New Orleans and Gulfport and Biloxi weren't spending the days after the initial disaster laughing over a birthday cake with Senator John McCain. Or laughing while playing guitar. Or laughing through "Spamalot," like our beloved Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

All I know is that if President Bush was even half the leader that his supporters claim him to be, he wouldn't be in damage mode at all.

Supporters would be able to crow at how the Dept. of Homeland Security and FEMA kicked ass and saved lives.

They'd be saying "Chertoff-Brown in 2008!"

But instead, this president has put his supporters on defense.

Forced yet again to make a meal of the tiniest crumbs of excuses, micro-rationalizing everything to let their guy off the hook.

So for those of you who still defend the president and his administration, I have two more questions for you:

Did last week meet your expectations for a government response to disaster in a post-9/11 America?

Would you be working so hard to lay the blame on state and local officials and the victims themselves if a President Kerry had been skiing in Aspen until Day Three of the disaster?

Just askin'.

Labels: in the news

From David Brooks, on the Newshour:

...So you had a surge of strength; people felt good about the country even though we'd been hit on 9/11. Now we've been hit again in a different way (and) people feel lousy. People feel ashamed. And in part that is because of the public presentation. In part that is because of the failure of Bush to understand immediately the shame people felt. Sitting up there on the airplane and looking out the window? That was terrible! And the three days of doing nothing, really, on Bush was terrible. Even today, I found myself -- and as you know, I support his policies quite often – (but I) look at him today, and earlier in the program...this is how Mark Shields must feel looking at him. I'm angry at the guy, and maybe it'll pass for me, but a lot of people, and a lot of Republicans, uh, are furious right now.

You can hear his voice cracking as he speaks.

Labels: in the news

You support the president? Here's an honest question.

Were you hoping that your guy in the White House say, last Friday, would have cleared his vacation schedule to coordinate from Washington instead of teleconferencing from Crawford? It would have given you a big opportunity to give the bird to Cindy Sheehan and her fellow protestors, right?

You clowns keep protesting, you could have said. Our man is busy doing the business of the American people. Keepin' them safe.

I actually predicted that he would have cut his vacation short the weekend before the storm for just this reason. After all, as of Saturday Katrina was still rated as a Category 5. It was still a worst-case sccenario. But beyond the fact that it was probably just the right action for a president to take - it was the perfect opportunity for the president and his handlers to diffuse the situation just outside the gates of his Crawford ranch without directly addressing it. Getting to the business of the people. Being presidential. Works every time.

But he didn't clear his schedule. He kept on biking. And speaking at fundraisers. And speaking at invitation-only events. Right through Wednesday - Day Three of the disaster.

But forget all that. Even if he didn't leave Crawford for Washington ahead of the storm, were you hoping that he would have had a sky full of helicopters descend on New Orleans on Tuesday or Wednesday? Not just New Orleans, but the entire Gulf coast. And not just helicopters, but boats, trucks, planes, buses, aid, a military show of force and compassion to show off everything the Department of Homeland Security had been preparing for in the past few years. Meals-ready-to-eat and bottled water raining down from the heavens. To show off how much your president had his act together. To prove that he was, in fact, the right American to have in the White House in the event of a wide-scale terrorist attack.

Were you waiting for it? Were you hoping?

This is it America, you could have said. This is the test-case scenario and our president is passing with flying colors. He's in charge. And the Homeland Security team created on his watch is passing with flying colors, too.

Ha, America! We told you so!

With the expectations raised by the spectre of weapons of mass destruction, by "mission accomplished," by the Iraqi insurgency's "last throes" to name just a few examples - do you ever get tired of defending President Bush and his administration? Do you ever get tired of placing the blame on everyone else? Do you ever get tired of not being able to say "I told you so!" to all of his critics?

Forget about how he's let me down.

Do you ever get tired of how he's let YOU down?

If this sounds shrill or snarky, it is not my intention.

It's an honest question.

Because I just read this litany of disturbing excuses for the president's inaction in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and I can't quite comprehend the inappropriateness, the tastelessness, the lack of compassion in words such as these:

It's not George Bush's fault that there were sick people and old people and people without cars in New Orleans. His job description does not include making sure every adult in America has a car, is in good health, has good sense, and is mobile.

That's not just a random extreme right-winger posting anonymously to the odd conservative blog.

That's Ben Stein, who, for all of his Ferris Bueller fame, is considered to be a serious scholar of conservative thought.

I don't know what's worse - if he's trying to be funny, or if he isn't.

Because either way, not only are the bodies of the "old" and "sick" and those "without cars" still warm - they are floating, they are rotting, they are being eaten by rats in the streets.

Is this the kind of defense that the president forces you to come up with?

Is this the kind of defense you want to be offering for anyone you really care about?

Is this how far one goes to avoid being able to admit that one man has not met their true expectations of righteousness and good?

Is this what it's come down to?

Again: this is an honest question.

Labels: in the news

Even on DAY SIX of the disaster - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is STILL spouting this complete bullshit.

"That 'perfect storm' of a combination of catastrophes exceeded the foresight of the planners, and maybe anybody's foresight," Chertoff said.

He called the disaster "breathtaking in its surprise."

But engineers say the levees preventing this below-sea-level city from being turned into a swamp were built to withstand only Category 3 hurricanes. And officials have warned for years that a Category 4 could cause the levees to fail.

And the most recent warning? Summer 2005. With the federal government's full participation.

From the simulation, officials estimate that a storm like Hurricane Pam would:

• cause flooding that would leave 300,000 people trapped in New Orleans, many of whom would not have private transportation for evacuation;


• send evacuees to 1,000 shelters, which would likely remain open for 100 days;


• require the transfer of patients from hospitals in harm’s way to hospitals in other parts of the state;


• trigger outbreaks of tetanus, influenza, and other diseases likely to be present after a storm;


• create 30 million cubic yards of debris and 237,000 cubic yards of household hazardous waste.

As a result of the Hurricane Pam Exercise, agencies are in the process of applying what they learned to their emergency response plans. Those changes include:

• assisting people without transportation – the American Red Cross is developing a program that would ask private citizens to collect people at area churches and transport them.


• identifying more than 700 shelters and planning the locations for the remaining sites.


• outlining patient movement details and determining how to set in motion existing immunization plans.


• establishing a command structure that would employ up to 800 searchers.


• identifying existing landfills capable of accepting hazardous waste and outlining debris removal plans.

One important result of the exercise was the understanding among agencies at all levels of the seriousness of such an event. "A White House staffer was briefed on the exercise," said van Heerden. "There is now a far greater awareness in the federal government about the consequences of storm surges."

And what does Dr. van Heerden say today?

VH: Well when I explained to them that they really needed to pre-position tents for these, to build tent cities for these refugees, I was told by one of the FEMA women, very sarcastically, that "Americans don't live in tents."

RC: What are you going to say to this FEMA woman if you see her now.

VH: I'll wring her neck.

RC: I told you so, huh ?

VH: I mean to me, you know, the most awful thing is the people who have died unnecessarily.

RC: You're angry.

VH: I'm damn angry. You know I hope Congress gets in there and nails those who are responsible. And don't look in Louisana, look outside. Because in Louisiana from the Governor on down, they've done an excellent job. But somewhere else that it all fell apart.

The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...

Labels: in the news

Yeah, right.

President Bush took responsibility for this mess on August 27, 2005.

On his own letterhead:

The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.

Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.

Representing FEMA, Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Department of Homeland Security, named William Lokey as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FEMA (202) 646-4600.

I don't see Ray Nagin's name and number anywhere on that statement.

Let alone the hundreds of other Gulf Coast mayors who feel their government failed them last week.

Food and water STARTED arriving to these towns on Friday: fully four days after Katrina's landfall and a full week after the release of this statement.

Labels: in the news

Paperwork?

Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck — a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard last Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.

Thursday was Day Four.

Day Four.

Paperwork?

Oh well. Just remember, citizens: September is National Preparedness Month. Here's the Tip of the Day!

Labels: in the news

From the great state of Lousiana, Sen. Mary Landrieu:

But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast – black and white, rich and poor, young and old – deserve far better from their national government.

Labels: in the news

You must listen.

You must.

Here:

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin:I don't want to see anybody do any more goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city, and they come down to this city, and stand with us, with their military trucks and troops that we can't even count. Don't tell me there are 40,000 people coming here, they're not here! It's too goddamn late!

Get off your asses and let's do something. Let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country!

Garland Robinette, WWL Radio: I'll tell you, right now, you're the only politician that's called, and called for arms like this. And whatever it takes, the governor, the president... whatever law precedent it takes, whatever it takes... I bet that the people listening to you are on your side.

Nagin: Well, I hope so, Garland. I am just... I'm at the point now, where it don't matter. People are dying. They don't have homes. They don't have jobs. The City of New Orleans will never be the same. And it's time.

(Then there's silence. Background studio noise comes up as the microphones self-adjust to pick something up. You hear sniffling... Nagin's in tears. Interviewer too.)

Robinette: We're both pretty speechless here.

Nagin: I don't know what to say. I've got to go. Okay. Keep in touch.

You must listen.

You must.

Here.

(And in the meantime? Another press conference.)

Labels: in the news