The headlines that caught my attention today

CINDY ARRESTED AT WHITE HOUSE
Cool!! She looked like she was having fun..

MOVIE: 'Devastating behind-the-scenes look' at Kerry's failed presidential campaign...
So what's new. That's why he lost.

Rumors of deaths in New Orleans greatly exaggerated...
Incompetence, incompetence

STREISAND DECLARES 'GLOBAL WARMING EMERGENCY'...
Oh my god! Is anybody paying attention to this?

CHINA TIGHTENS ITS RESTRICTIONS FOR NEWS MEDIA ON THE INTERNET...
Who are they kidding..Once a communist always a communist.

FLASHBACK: HILLARY CLINTON SAYS INTERNET NEWS NEEDS 'RETHINK'...
Of course she agrees with China..

Quote

The poor man is not he who is without a cent, but he who is without a dream.
Harry Kemp

Headlines that caught my eye today

FED TAKES ANOTHER QUARTER...
Comment by Pete: A real surprise here. I really thought they would hold back due to the energy problems.
NY Times Cutting 500 Jobs, 4% Of Work Force...
Comment by Pete: Not surprising. Probably all deadwood
Senate Democratic Leader to Oppose Roberts' Nomination...
Comment by Pete: So what's new? If God was nominated by the President they would oppose him.
Sheehan Speech In New York City Cut Short By Police...
Comment by Pete: If she doesn't have one already, she's gonna need a bodyguard. She's making friends faster than Hitler. Being the sock puppet that she's become, I'm sure their handlers will think about that next. She's so annoying with her idiotic comments. I can't stand not even the way she looks. Arrgghh!!!

Kerry Raises Campaign Cash Off Of Katrina

Kerry Raises Campaign Cash Off Of Katrina [LINK TO FULL STORY]

NEW ORLEANS MAYOR HALTS RETURN

[LINK TO FULL ARTICLE]

Pull Our Troops from Occupied New Orleans

From The Drudge Report

CINDY SHEEHAN CALLS FOR U.S TO 'PULL OUR TROOPS OUT OF OCCUPIED NEW ORLEANS'
Mon Sep 12 2005 12:42:11 ET

Celebrity anti-war protester, fresh off inking a lucrative deal with Speaker's Bureau, has demanded at the HUFFINGTON POST and MICHAEL MOORE'S website that the United States military must immediately leave 'occupied' New Orleans.

"I don't care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I donÕt care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don't care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they donÕt fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest."

Sheehan is in the middle of a bus trip across America in support of her cause.

Developing...

Mob Brutally Repudiates Blind Cuban Activist

Jim Meyers, NewsMax.com
Monday, Sept. 12, 2005

A blind human rights activist in Cuba says he was the victim of an "act of repudiation" by a mob organized by the communist government. Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva was holding a meeting of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights on September 1 at his home in the city of Ciego de Avila when the attack came, he disclosed in a telephone call after the confrontation.

"Forces of State Security and the Cuban Police used the provincial coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, Jose Manuel Benedico, to lead a mob of between 200 and 400 people that shouted obscenities and governmental slogans," he said. "These people banged on our doors and windows, and they made it apparent to us that they were not going to permit activities in the defense of human rights.

"They threatened us with death, saying they were going to yank us out of the house by our necks and they were going to pull out our teeth. "They tried to fumigate my house with smoke, and threatened to turn off our water and electricity. They prevented any food from coming into my house. They even cut off public phone connections so that the act of repudiation would not be reported abroad. "Activists who left my house at 4:30 in the afternoon received insults.

Others were beaten up, like Lazaro Iglesias Estrada, National Secretary of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights, and independent journalist Osmel Sanchez Lopez. "From August 6 to the present I have suffered more than 15 acts of repression, like arrests, detainments, fines, citations, common court cases and acts of repudiation. I am constantly monitored. "The situation is very tense because their objective is to pressure me into leaving the country."

Sent by: Sr.Cohiba

Don't waste time grieving over past mistakes. Learn from them and move on.

Waaaayyyyyyyyyy Off

France called it an "American Tsunami". Germany called it "Apocalypse now". First the media said 1000 dead in New Orleans, then it was 10,000, then they ordered body bags for 25,000. Official death toll so far 197. Gives you an idea that they don't know what the hell they are talking about.

Helping the Poor

The Governor of the state of Louisiana always had the power to deploy the LA guard in the fashion that other state troops are being deployed today. It is her failure to do so that has prompted the President to get the help from other states.

The Mayor of New Orleans, who ordered all those people into the Superdome (yep, that was his big plan), had the power to bus them out of the city at the same time. The City of New Orleans moves many more children each day on school buses than were in the dome. Those buses were available and slated to be used for school the next day. He could easily have evacuated those people...but did not.

When ordering a mandatory evacuation you use what resources you have to move the people...he did not. If it was important and dangerous enough to order all citizens to leave, it was dangerous enough to help those people to leave. Yet, they did not. After they failed to do so...the busses ended up under water and useless.

Their evacuation plan was non-existent.Their evacuation plan was get out on your own.They know where every school in the state is. Most of them have gyms.They could have bussed out 100-200 people to each of those gyms 100 miles inland and left the city empty.The Mayor failed. The Governor does not appear to have put the National Guard on alert prior to the storm.Both of them sat on their butts and waited for the feds to do it all.

In the end, it was FEMA, after the local and state government's failure, that had to get the job done...but now under much, much worse and dangerous circumstances.

No, it is not Bush's fault or the fed's fault. We must place blame squarely where it lies at the feet of the local and state executives who had neither the desire nor the will to make those calls, irrespective of their political stripe.

Sent by Dr. P.Alvarez

Hollywood to the Rescue

Megan Basham

September 7, 2005

The downpour of Hurricane Katrina brought with it a scourge of sickness, homelessness, injury and death. But the aftermath of Katrina has wrought its own special plague—a celebrity hurricane of opportunism and bad taste.

While most of America is embracing New Orleans’ tragedy as a chance to pull together and demonstrate a still-strong Christian character of caring for the least of these, Hollywood is embracing it as an opportunity to display their foolishness, egotism and utter lack of sensitivity.

Hip-hop half-wit Kanye West currently leads the pack with his outburst during the “Concert for Hurricane Relief.” On live television the rap superstar said, “George Bush doesn't care about black people.” He further suggested that Bush granted national guardsmen permission to randomly shoot African-Americans. Not to be overlooked in the ensuing controversy, Matt Damon gave props to West for his groundless tirade, telling Access Hollywood, "I'm not a fan of [President Bush], so I let out a big cheer."

The ladies are getting in on the act as well. Singer Celine Dion expressed anger at authorities for arresting gun-toting looters, and then criticized the Bush administration for taking so long to get federal rescuers into the area. Acknowledging that there may have been legitimate reasons for the 72-hour delay, Dion then declined to inform herself further, stating, “I don’t want to hear those reasons.”

Similarly, Angelina Jolie told the press she has written letters to The White House and Congress informing them that they must improve their response time in providing Katrina aid. "It is wonderful to hear of the relief efforts that are finally coming into New Orleans…but as we all know, it is simply not enough," she said. As expected, none of the press members present asked Jolie how she could be so sure that the federal government hadn’t done everything it could as quickly as it could. No one queried her as to how she knew it was FEMA – and not local government officials – that dropped the ball in New Orleans.

This isn’t surprising considering that celebrity outbursts are so frequently reported as hard news that some newspapers must have A-listers’ publicists on speed-dial. I like Jolie as an actress and I understand that many men hold her in high regard as a, um, public figure. But who is Angelina Jolie (or any actor for that matter) to “urge” the Bush administration to adopt a policy regarding Katrina relief or anything else? Is she a historian with some special insight into how past generations responded to natural disasters? Is she a journalist who has research or sources that provide credible evidence the government withheld aid? No. She is an actress. Once, Jane Fonda’s involvement in Vietnam stood out to Americans as a shameful anomaly.

Today, there is no national event, whether tragic or triumphant, into which a horde of entertainers do not see fit to insert themselves. Colin Farrell, the foul-mouthed Irish party boy who, by the way, has only resided in the U.S. since 1999, saw fit to offer this evaluation, “"If this had been a bunch of white people on the roofs of their houses I don't have any f***ing doubt there would have been every single helicopter, plane and means that the government has trying to help." His countryman Pierce Brosnan submitted yet another unsubstantiated judgment. “This man called President Bush has a lot to answer for,” he fumed, blaming the president’s environmental policies for the natural disaster.

Just what we need in our moment of crisis – foreign actors telling us what’s wrong with our government. It would be one thing if actors and musicians would show up with a bit of humility and pass out water, food, and clothing – not to mention some funds from their ample bank accounts – to needy citizens. If they did this (and a few do) Americans would welcome them in the spirit of brotherly love and patriotic pride. Instead, most of them show up with camera crews (as Sean Penn did in his failed “rescue” trip to New Orleans) and attitudes of privilege.

Their hubris is revolting. In the past, Americans haven’t had the energy to be outraged by such celebrity exploits. So instead we laughed, knowing that the only people taking the spoiled stars seriously as they ranted and raved were themselves. But in the midst of a tragedy like Katrina, most of us will stop finding these scavenging celebrity cabals funny. And we will no longer excuse their faux outrage and indignant self-promotion. Maybe then their box office numbers will fall so far they will have no choice but to give up politics and press conferences and dedicate themselves to making quality entertainment. Now that sweet silence would be worthy of a Hollywood ending.

Megan Basham, a Townhall.com movie critic and Phillips Fellow, is a freelance writer and a reporter for NBC 9 in El Paso. She is currently at work on the book, "Behind Every Successful Man.

©2005 Megan Basham townhall.com

Bush Caused Katrina "The Truth"

From a 'usually relaible' source (SCG):

Bush Gets Bashed - But Is It Justified?

"This man called President Bush has a lot to answer for," the former James Bond actor told reporters Saturday. "I don't know if this man is really taking care of America. This government has been shameful." (PIERCE BROSNAN)

Oscar-winning Hollywood actor Sean Penn, who has been assisting rescue efforts in New Orleans, said the US government did not "seem to be inclined to help". (SEAN PENN)
I think that's criminal negligence. I don't think anybody ever anticipated the criminal negligence of the Bush administration in this situation." (SEAN PENN)

On Friday night before the storm hit Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center took the unprecedented action of calling Nagin and Blanco personally to plead with them to begin MANDATORY evacuation of NO and they said they'd take it under consideration. This was after the NOAA buoy 240 miles south had recorded 68 foot waves before it was destroyed.
President Bush spent that Friday afternoon and evening in meetings with his advisors and administrators drafting all of the paperwork required for a state to request federal assistance (and not be in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act or having to enact the Insurgency Act).

Just before midnight Friday evening the President called Governor Blanco and pleaded with her to sign the request papers so the federal government and the military could legally begin mobilization and call up. He was told that they didn't think it necessary for the federal government to be involved yet. After the President's final call to the governor she held meetings with her staff to discuss the political ramifications of bringing federal forces. It was decided that if they allowed federal assistance it would make it look as if they had failed so it was agreed upon that the feds would not be invited in.

Saturday before the storm hit the President again called Blanco and Nagin requesting they please sign the papers requesting federal assistance, that they declare the state an emergency area, and begin mandatory evacuation.

After a personal plea from the President the Mayor of New orleans (Nagin) agreed to order an evacuation, but it would not be a full mandatory evacuation, and the governor still refused to sign the papers requesting and authorizing federal action. In frustration the President declared the area a national disaster area before the state of Louisiana did so he could legally begin some advanced preparations.

RumInt (Rumor Intelligence) has it that the President's legal advisers were looking into the ramifications of using the insurgency act to bypass the Constitutional requirement that a state request federal aid before the federal government can move into state with troops - but that had not been done since 1906 and the Constitutionality of it was called into question to use before the disaster.

Throw in that over half the federal aid of the past decade to New Orleans for levee construction, maintenance, and repair was diverted to fund a marina and support the gambling ships and toss in the investigation that will look into why the emergency preparedness plan submitted to the federal government for funding and published on the city's website was never implemented and in fact may have been bogus for the purpose of gaining additional federal funding, as we now learn that the organizations identified in the plan were never contacted or coordinating into any planning - though the document implies that they were.

The suffering people of New Orleans need to be asking some hard questions, as do we all, but they better start with why Blanco refused to even sign the multi-state mutual aid pack activation documents until Wednesday which further delayed the legal deployment of National Guard from adjoining states. Or maybe ask why Nagin keeps harping that the President should have commandeered 500 Greyhound busses to help him when according to his own emergency plan and documents he claimed to have over 500 buses at his disposal to use between the local school buses and the city transportation busses - but he apparently never raised a finger to prepare them or activate them.

Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Unnnnbelievable!!

While thousands of Americans pull together to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Democrats and the Bush haters as usual with no ideas of their own, are trying to make political hay of the tragedy. They are calling for investigations, and commissions, and commitees, impeachments, and resignations from their cozy ivory towers. I hope Senator Reid and Congresswoman Pelosi paid attention to what happened to master critic and obstructionist Tom Daschle because nowadays Americans can see straight through their BS. These two demagogs are always right in the forefront dividing and criticizing and making everything into a political issue to gain partisan advantage. They make me sick.

Read Article [Link Me]Dems Blast Bush Over Hurricane Response

A Match Made in Hell

Hugo Chavez: A New Castro With Big Money

Arnaud de BorchgraveThursday, Sept. 1, 2005

At 79, Fidel Castro has outlasted 10 U.S. presidents, outfoxed 15 directors of Central Intelligence, defeated a U.S.-organized invasion by Cuban exiles, survived multiple botched CIA assassination attempts, the Cuban missile crisis, a 45-year-long U.S. embargo, and the collapse of the Soviet Union, which abruptly ended an annual subsidy of $4 billion, and found a worthy successor. He is Fidel with money. Big money. Where Mr. Castro may be flagging, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is a Latin American firebrand who is now in total control of the world's 5th largest oil-producing country. The U.S. gets 15 percent of its oil from Venezuela and Mr. Chavez is now threatening to bypass major oil companies and sell it directly to U.S. consumers. With oil at $60 a barrel, Venezuela's daily output of 2.6 million barrels brings in $156 million every 24 hours. Mr. Chavez's opponents all seemed to have sustained charisma bypasses. He has charisma to spare and millions to give away to the poor.

His first state visit as president was to China where he embarrassed his hosts by praising Mao. His best new friends included Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, Saddam Hussein, Iran's theocrats, North Korea's hermit Communist monarch. He has also given privileged sanctuaries to Colombia's Marxist FARC drug-dealing guerrillas. More importantly, he has a huge following among countless millions of poor Latinos. He is Robin Hood in Che Guevara clothing, robbing from the rich to give to the poor, including free hospitals staffed by 17,000 Cuban doctors and dentists. The mentoring was entirely done by Mr. Castro. They see each other frequently. This week Mr. Chavez returned from four days in Cuba with Mr. Castro who is also a frequent traveler to Caracas. This time the odd couple did a joint six-hour broadcast in which they said the real global troublemakers were, of course, U.S. imperialists.

Mr. Chavez is not a social democrat, but a Marxist believer, unencumbered by fealty to the klutzy Soviet leaders of yesteryear, and therefore more attractive to working classes that he constantly agitates against the "rancid oligarchy." He easily (58 percent to 42 percent) beat a recall vote in August 2004, certified by Jimmy Carter as fair. While the U.S. has been fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, two-thirds of Latin American governments have taken a left turn.
Mr. Chavez has staged a mock trial of President Bush and refers to him as an imperialist "Mr. Danger." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is Mr. Danger 2. Mr. Rumsfeld earned his ranking as he makes quick trips to various central and South American capitals in an attempt to stiffen the linguini spines that continue to give Mr. Chavez the benefit of the doubt.

The European Union has mandated the Spanish government to deal with Mr. Chavez because of Spain's historic ties with Latin America. And Madrid's socialist government reports back to the Eurocrats in Brussels that all is well and that the Bush administration is, like in Iraq, exaggerating the danger of a 21st century Mr. Castro.

Mr. Rumsfeld has urged Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and others to open their eyes and see Mr. Chavez and his brand of internationalism as a danger for all moderate governments. But Lula has got his own problems with the largest corruption scandal in the country's history and his own Workers' Party (PT) about to turn further left.
The new secretary general of the OAS, Chile's Jose Miguel Insulza, complains to his colleagues about "constant U.S. carping on Venezuela."

So far, the only serious thing the Bush administration has done vis-?-vis Mr. Chavez was to cancel the visas of ranking Venezuelan military officers involved in the cocaine smuggling business. Defending the officers and vowing retaliation against the U.S. is Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, the same statesman who, on visiting France, met with an authentic terrorist, Venezuelan-born Carlos the Jackal, aka Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, called him a "caballero," and pronounced him not guilty unless he was convicted in a "Venezuelan court of law."

In Venezuela, land is being expropriated from wealthy landlords, including foreign-owned farms, with no compensation, and turned over to machete-wielding peasants who perform victory jigs for foreign television crews. Mr. Chavez has the combustible materials to fire up a revolution. Five percent of the population owns 80 percent of the land and 75 percent of the people live below the poverty line, 40 percent in "critical poverty."

Caracas, surrounded by slums that cling like barnacles to the high ground, suffered 28,000 homicides in the past five years with only 7 percent that went to trial.

A U.S. diplomat who served in Havana and was later ambassador to Paraguay seems to reflect State Department thinking when he says, "everyone knows there are Cubans and Venezuelans and Venezuelan oil-generated cash in Bolivia, Paraguay and other places. And there is also Hezbollah and Hamas fund-raising and money-laundering in these same countries to support those same organizations in the Middle East." Trouble is, Mr. Ambassador, everyone does not know all this. The U.S., after all, traditionally cannot focus on more than one, maximum two, foreign policy crises at a time.

Conservative TV evangelist and former presidential candidate Pat Robertson caused an uproar on his daily television 700 Club when he suggested President Bush order the assassination of Mr. Chavez -- which he said would be more cost efficient than fighting another $200 billion war. Neither option comes to grips with reality.

Mr. Chavez dead or alive, the U.S. still has a huge image problem in Latin America. The freshly-minted undersecretary of state for public diplomacy has the most challenging assignment in the Bush administration. She should also urge her close friend Condoleezza Rice to replace Mr. Rumsfeld on point in Latin America.

Arnaud de Borchgrave is editor at large of The Washington Times and of United Press International.

Sent by Sr.Cohiba

Kanye West Rips Bush during Live NBC Hurricane Relief Fundraiser

washingtonpost.com
Kanye West's Torrent of Criticism, Live on NBC

By Lisa de Moraes
Saturday, September 3, 2005; C01

Why We Love Live Television, Reason No. 137:

NBC's levee broke and Kanye West flooded through with a tear about the federal response in New Orleans during the network's live concert fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina last night.

The rapper was among the celebs and singers participating in the one-hour special, produced by NBC News and run on the NBC broadcast network, as well as MSNBC and CNBC, because, hey, the numbers couldn't be any worse than usual on a Friday night and hopefully they'd raise a chunk of change for a good cause, the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Among the performers, Faith Hill sang "There Will Come a Time," which included the lyrics, "The darkness will be gone, the weak shall be strong. Hold on to your faith." Aaron Neville performed Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" with its chorus: "They're trying to wash us away, they're trying to wash us away."

West was not scheduled to perform; he was one of the blah, blah, blahers, who would read from scripts prepared by the network about the impact of Katrina on southern Louisiana and Mississippi.

West and Mike Myers had been paired up to appear about halfway through the show. Their assignment: Take turns reading a script describing the breach in the levees around New Orleans.

Myers: The landscape of the city has changed dramatically, tragically and perhaps irreversibly. There is now over 25 feet of water where there was once city streets and thriving neighborhoods.

(Myers throws to West, who looked extremely nervous in his super-preppy designer rugby shirt and white pants, which is not like the arrogant West and which, in retrospect, should have been a tip-off.)

West: I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, "They're looting." You see a white family, it says, "They're looking for food." And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!

(West throws back to Myers, who is looking like a guy who stopped on the tarmac to tie his shoe and got hit in the back with the 8:30 to La Guardia.)

Myers: And subtle, but in many ways even more profoundly devastating, is the lasting damage to the survivors' will to rebuild and remain in the area. The destruction of the spirit of the people of southern Louisiana and Mississippi may end up being the most tragic loss of all.

(And, because Myers is apparently as dumb as his Alfalfa hair, he throws it back to West.)

West: George Bush doesn't care about black people!

(Back to Myers, now looking like the 8:30 to La Guardia turned around and caught him square between the eyes.)

Myers: Please call . . .

At which point someone at NBC News finally regained control of the joystick and cut over to Chris Tucker, who started right in with more scripted blah, blah, blah.

"Tonight's telecast was a live television event wrought with emotion," parent company NBC Universal said in a statement issued to the Reporters Who Cover Television after the broadcast.

"Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him, and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks. It would be most unfortunate if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person's opinion."

West's comments would be cut from the West Coast feed, an NBC spokeswoman told The TV Column. (The Associated Press later reported that only his comment about the president was edited out.) The show was live on the East Coast with a several-second delay; someone with his finger on a button was keeping an ear peeled in case someone uttered an obscenity but did not realize that West had gone off-script, the spokeswoman said.

Comment by Pete: As soon as the cameras showed a majority of the New Orleans victims were black, the race issue jumped to the forefront. It's appalling how race creeps into everything in this country. And that so called artist Kenye West is an idiot for trying to divide people with his idiotic comments instead of trying to send a positive message of hope in a time of need.

Blame, Blame, Blame --Too Many Chiefs and No Indians

Now that the blame game has started, and the Jesse Jackson's of the world with everybody and their mother are on TV pointing the finger at the Federal Government and Bush. (Some idiots have actually had the nerve to blame Hurricane Katrina on President Bush) I will also assign blame.

The Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana have to share a big part of the blame for the way the aftermath of the storm has played out. They were complacent. They did not take the warnings seriously and didn't evacuate the people. They just filled up the Superdome with people like herd, crossed their fingers and hoped for the best. The picture above shows hundreds of school buses that could have been used to get people to safer ground. They weren't used. Lack of leadership and lack of planning. This is the lesson for history as I see it. The next time a hurricane comes around, you bet your ass people will take it seriously and get out of Dodge, for we now have seen the awesome power of nature at work. Unfortunately for the victims of the current crisis is too late.

I also find incomprehensible the fact that people are complaining about the rescuers not arriving, and yet when they arrive they are shot at by thugs. From what I have seen in TV, the rescue effort is massive and is underway. Unfortunately the scale of the disaster is just too overwhelming, and any nation, including all the ones that are playing Monday morning quarterback, criticizing the U.S. from abroad wouldn't have fared much better.

This is a wake up call for everybody. Hopefully we will be better prepared for the next one.

Gone with the Water

A National Geographic Magazine article in October 2004 chillingly predicts exactly what is happening in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina right now, and how it would affect the whole country.

[Link Me]to the full National Geographic Article