Katrina handouts not flowing fast enough

At least, not according to the folks in New Orleans.

From Humid City:

JOIN THE KATRINA SURVIVORS’ REBUKE OF PRESIDENT BUSH
2:00 PM THURSDAY MARCH 1
SAMUEL GREEN SCHOOL
2319 VALENCE ST.
(Near Freret and Napoleon)
NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans Needs Federal Aid, Not Presidential Photo-Ops.
Mr. President: Katrina Survivors Do Not Welcome You, We Rebuke You!

We live in a devastated city and you are a big part of the reason why it sill sits in ruins. Your administration has abandoned our children by savaging their public schools. Your administration has tortured our working class people by refusing to reopen the city’s public housing developments. And your administration is fully complicit in placing our uninsured in harms way by ruthlessly pursuing the privatization of local public healthcare in the aftermath of Katrina. And, finally your administration is guilty of sending our sons and daughters of to war for oil and empire just when we need them most to help us rebuild our community.

Mr. President, we, Katrina Survivors all, do not welcome you to our city, we rebuke you!

Sponsored by Survivors Village, United Front For Affordable Housing.
(504) 587-0080

For some reason I don't hear the same complaints from Biloxi and the other cities that were hard hit by Katrina. You see, they're actually doing something themselves to rebuild their city and their lives.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People^TM and why haven't we mobilized the military to build some housing & schools?

I love New Orleans - believe me, it's one of my favorite cities as I'm a huge fan of jazz. But, unless and until the people of New Orleans decide that they want their city back - and that the responsibility to rebuild is theirs and not the responsibility of some bureaucrat in Washington DC - I fear that it will be lost forever.

Meanwhile, the Dems are cutting the military budget (of military items by $20 billion) and throwing in $10 billion in non-military Katrina pork into the Iraq war funding.

It's almost like the Dems want to strip the body armor off the backs of our soldiers and send it to the shooting gallery that New Orleans has turned into.

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

Yet Another Inconvenient Truth - Part 1,764

Previous Inconvenient Truths are here




HOW DARE THEY PLAY ON OUR HYPOCRISY!!!!

Or something like that.

It seems that Algore is just as big a hypocrite when it comes to global warming and conservation as John Edwards is when it comes to the Two America's spiel.

From the Drudge Report (so, only like 200 million people have seen this so far):

POWER: GORE MANSION USES 20X AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD; CONSUMPTION INCREASE AFTER 'TRUTH'
Mon Feb 26 2007 17:16:14 ET

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization committed to achieving a freer, more prosperous Tennessee through free market policy solutions, issued a press release late Monday:



Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.

Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.

Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.

“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.

In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.

For Further Information, Contact:
Nicole Williams, (615) 383-6431
editor@tennesseepolicy.org

I'm sure that the Tennessee Center for Policy Research is funded by the oil companies, so we should really question whether their "facts" are correct.

I mean, 2 + 2 does not equal 4 - if you've got the wrong intentions, right?

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

Fitz done in by the moonbats?

In discussions today over at JustOneMinute about the juror dismissal, the following was posted from roanoke in a comment:

This comment from Walton at Bloomberg-

``She did have contact with information related to this case,'' Walton said in court in Washington today. ``It wasn't intentional on her part, it was a misunderstanding of what I had been telling her throughout the trial.'' The juror had worked for decades as a print curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Bloomberg

I immediately started wondering what she could be misunderstanding throughout the trial? The initial guess at JOM was that it was related to Plame being covert or not and how thats not at issue at the trial. But how does that jibe with coming into contact with information based on a misunderstanding of what the Judge's instructions?

My thoughts revolved around how the judge did not use staying away from the internet in his admonition about avoiding media coverage. This, despite the fact that in his own courtroom were "non-journalists" liveblogging the case.

I still think its unlikely that the dismissed juror was actively perusing FireDogLake, or other left y sites, but it remains a possiblity based on the wording of the judges description.

How deliciously ironic if a lefty moonbat was kicked off the jury because she visited a snark filled commentary at FireDogLake.

Whatever, the reason, I'm sure we will know soon what the specific reason for the dismissal was.

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: Brian

Nothing to See Here!!! We Are Failing in Iraq!!!

This is my biggest concern about the Surge - we're relying on the MSM and the Dems to determine whether it is successful.

As I've pointed out before, when the surge was announced, there were some very significant political moves by the Maliki government - supported by all factions of the government - and it did not get much coverage. And there are other signs of success(such as here, and here ) that didn't get much coverage.

Now, from Patrick Ruffini at Townhall.com comes this story:

Shhhh... The Surge is Working
By Patrick Ruffini
Saturday, February 24, 2007

A gloomy haze has settled over the nation's prosecution of the War on Terror as of late. It seems like we can only watch helplessly as Nancy Pelosi and Jack Murtha size up new angles of attack for undermining the war effort. The media is chomping at the bit the tell the story of an America, bruised and humbled and exhausted, heading for the exits in Iraq.

But something interesting is happening on the way to the "new direction." Early indications are that the troop surge into Baghdad is working. It hasn't been reported on widely, but murders in Baghdad are down 70%, attacks are down 80%, Mahdi Army chief Moqtada al-Sadr has reportedly made off for Iran, and many Baghdadis who had fled the violence now feel it's safe enough to return. The strategy that Congress is busy denouncing is proving to be our best hope for victory.

In Iraq, there's a sense that change is in the air -- literally. Omar of Iraq the Model spots a B-1 Bomber in the skies of Baghdad for the first time since the end of the major combat. On the ground, Omar writes that the signs that Iraqis are getting serious about security are more palbable. With the help of Compstat-like technology, security forces are cracking down at checkpoints (even ambulances are getting stopped) and getting nimbler about locating them strategically so the terrorists don't know what to expect.

This turnaround in Baghdad is confirmed at home by the media's near-deafening silence. If it seems like you've heard less about how Iraq is spiraling into civil war in the weeks since the surge was announced, this is why. Even some discordant voices in the media are starting to wonder what's happening. Time magazine worries that it's "Quiet in Baghdad. Too quiet." That's right -- a dramatic reduction in violence is actually bad news.

It's too early to claim victory just yet; the operation is just two weeks old. But U.S. troops have been able to accomplish all of this with just one more brigade in-country, with four more on the way by May. These encouraging early returns show the potential for success when we apply concentrated military force to the security problem. When the Army and Marine Corps are on offense, carrying out combat operations and clearing out insurgent strongholds, we win. When we lay back, carrying out routine patrols and playing Baghdad beat cop, we lose.
[...]

Meanwhile, Levin used the world failure 762 times on this morning's Meet The Press and was not challenged. Regardless of the realities on the ground, the Dems are now politically invested in defeat in Iraq and cannot allow the Surge to be recognized as a success.

It's disgusting, but it's the realities of the political situation in D.C. - which is all that matters if you're a Democrat.

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

Kossacks - Time to Support the Iraqi Insurgency

H/T to My Pet Jawa:

Dailykos Nutroot blogger heathlander has this lengthy post, the goal of which is legitimize the Iraqi insurgency and pull a Michael Moore:

On Supporting The Iraqi Resistance
by heathlander
Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 10:31:47 AM PST

Iraqi insurgents’ claim to be "fighting for the liberation of their country" is, according to Prime Minister Tony Blair, "a palpable lie." Let’s leave aside for a moment the question of whether it is appropriate for Blair, a man who deceived his country into an illegal war, to accuse others of lying. More important is that in one respect, he is right: it does indeed seem "palpable" (i.e. clear or obvious) to most people that the Iraqi resistance has no legitimacy. Rather, the insurgents are just a bunch of crazy-psycho-terrorists who hate democracy and freedom so much that they are willing to kill other Iraqis to fight it. It is not difficult to see how people could have got that impression.

Heathlander goes on to document all of the news stories which support this impression of the Iraqi insurgency. After many stories, heathlander provides this insight:

To summarise, then: the resistance to the occupation of Iraq is legitimate. It has the support of the majority of the Iraqi people, and by and large it does not target civilians.

Heathlander goes on to warn against an illegal attack on Iran and calling for the withdrawal of US troops from fighting this legitimate insurgency.

Hmmmm.... can I question Heathlander's patriotism now? Or is that outside the bounds?

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler