Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

One architect of sleaze gives way for another.

Here's a little about the new Majority Leader, courtesy of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington:

In 2003, Rep. Blunt divorced his wife of 31 years to marry Philip Morris (now Altria) lobbyist Abigail Perlman. Before it was known publicly that Rep. Blunt and Ms. Perlman were dating – and only hours after Rep. Blunt assumed the role of Majority Whip – he tried to secretly insert a provision into Homeland Security legislation that would have benefitted Philip Morris, at the expense of competitors.

In addition, Rep. Blunt’s son Andrew lobbies on behalf of Philip Morris, a major client he picked up only four years out of law school. Notably, Altria is Rep. Blunt’s largest campaign contributor, having donated more than $270,000 to political committees tied to him.

More ideological bankruptcy from the Republicans

Following up on Brookland Clipmonkey's fine post from yesterday, an article from last week's LA Times about the post-Katrina relief effort reveals how success has undermined the principles of the Republican Party. Check out the excerpt below with a money quote from Newt:

At least in the case of housing, critics say that the president's unwillingness to rely on existing programs could raise costs. Instead of offering $10,000 vouchers, FEMA is paying an average of $16,000 for each trailer in the new parks it is contemplating. Even many Republicans wonder why the government would want to build trailer parks when many evacuees are now living in communities with plenty of vacant, privately owned apartments.

"The idea that — in a community where we could place people in the private housing market to reintegrate them into society — we would put them in [trailer] ghettos with no jobs, no community, no future, strikes me as extraordinarily bad public policy, and violates every conservative principle that I'm aware of," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican.

"If they do it," Gingrich said of administration officials, "they will look back on it six months from now as the greatest disaster of this administration."

What has happened to the Grand Ole Party?

This is what patriotism looks like

Today's WP publishes a letter from an Army Captain who tried for 17 months to determine what the U.S. policy on treating detainees was. As you can imagine, he failed. For commentary, go here. For the letter, go here. But first, read this money quote:

Some argue that since our actions are not as horrifying as Al Qaeda's, we should not be concerned. When did Al Qaeda become any type of standard by which we measure the morality of the United States? We are America, and our actions should be held to a higher standard, the ideals expressed in documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Don't blame Lynndie England. This is the fault of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Flanigan, and many, many others. They have shamed our nation.

Tom DeLay indicted

From the Washington Post- DeLay Indicted in Campaign Finance Probe.

Karl Rove, you're next.

Op-ed: The Conservative Movement: Principally a bankrupt ideology

The headline of Tuesday’s Washington Post reads: “FEMA Plans to Repay Faith Groups for Aid”. The article, which reports on efforts by Congress and the administration to reimburse faith-based organizations for the aid they have provided in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, primarily emphasizes the problems such reimbursements would create under the doctrine of separation of church and state. From a more fundamental perspective, however, the push for reimbursements by Republican leaders and conservative groups illuminates just how ideologically bankrupt the conservative movement has become.

Reagan Republicans, Republican Revolutionists, and the Bushies used to argue for limited government based on the principle that private charity was the more effective and virtuous avenue for directing aid to the needy. This argument was a corollary of the proposition that private markets always produce more efficient outcomes than markets marked by government intervention. The theory went that instead of devising big government programs concerned with the general welfare we should shrink government, cut taxes, and let charitable organizations funded by private donations provide solace and support to those in need. This principle was no small part of the conservative ideology. And, as we find out, it’s no part at all of the conservative practice.

Bush, Cheney, Rove, Frist, DeLay, Norquist, Abramoff, George Will, the Heritage Foundation and the rest of the Conservative Movementarians remembered the tax cutting part of the formula, at least for the jet set crowd. Unfortunately, in their haste to raid the piggybank they seem to have forgotten the part about private charities being the better resource for allocating altruism. Under the proposed scheme private charities will become public charities financed by the U.S. taxpayer. To make matters worse, the religious right has evidently begun taking its cues from Halliburton. Why compete in the private sector when the Republicans have opened Uncle Sam’s wallet like Bill Bennett at Bally’s to anyone on the Right side of things?

Apparently the point is not – as free market capitalists would have us believe – that government prima facie should not undertake certain activities, rather the point is that government should give money to Republican constituencies to undertake those same activities. (It’s considered a bonus if there’s a chance to proselytize along the way.) Then instead of bloated government, we’ll have bloated fat cats. Of course we’ll have bloated budget deficits too but that doesn’t matter to the folks who are lining their pockets and stocking the coffers of the RNC. If you’ve got an invite, it really is a Grand Old Party!

The conservative movement has gone from the principled (but wrong) argument that government should not intervene to provide for the general welfare because it crowds out donations to private charities, which otherwise would achieve more optimal outcomes, to the unprincipled (and still wrong) practice that churches that open their doors to those in need should suckle off the teat of Lady Liberty. Market intervention is market intervention. But apparently conservative ideology is more malleable. In any case, the doctrinal wellspring of conservatism has run dry. Say an ode; hold your nose.

-This post was written by Brookland Clipmonkey.

Outrage of the week: What they always wanted

An excuse to ravage our nation's natural resources.

Finally, a call for sacrifice

President Bush loves to say that we are a nation at war. At every opportunity he mentions this to remind people that he's tough and to justify his misguided policies. But he's never asked any of us to sacrifice for the war in Iraq or anything else. After five years of running up the national credit card bill, giving us tax cuts, prescription drug benefits, and a war we cannot afford, Bush has finally asked us to do something for the good of our country.

Too bad President Bush is not following his own advice.

Corruption and fiscal mismanagement

The recent news that a Bush administration official is ensnared in a corruption probe and the rampant waste, fraud and abuse by companies working in Iraq and on the Katrina cleanup with ties to the Bushies and Republicans in Congress will be the party's downfall in 2006.

Must-read: Richard Cohen on Bush and race

Cohen gets it right in today's Washington Post (where the opinion pieces are still FREE- screw you, NYT), it's incompetence, not racism. Money quote:

We owe the poor our special consideration. We especially owe the black poor an appreciation of their plight and their dolorous history. But in general it was incompetence, not racism, that slowed the relief effort -- incompetence on the local and state levels, too, and incompetence on the part of black as well as white public officials. The search for racist scapegoats does the poor no good. This relief effort ought to start, above all, with some clear thinking.

Live to fight another day

The Washington Post said it first Sunday, but this clipmonkey's been saying it for some time. John Roberts should be confirmed by a solid, nearly unanimous vote.

Roberts has proven himself fully qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. Admittedly, he was not the most forthright nominee in confirmation hearing history, but his credentials are impressive and nothing came up during his hearings that disqualified him. Of course, many left-wing clipmonkeys would prefer Laurence Tribe or Mario Cuomo or some such liberal, but we lost the election last November and we can't change that.

Left-wing interest groups are creating hysteria over Roberts, as they did with Justice Souter's nomination a while back ("Stop Souter or women will die"). They may even be right that Roberts will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. Unfortunately, little can be done a) to predict that, and b) to make President Bush pick someone acceptable to the left. That's why Democrats should conserve their ammunition in case Bush nominates some genuine nut such as Janice Rogers Brown for the high court.

For now, though, Senate Democrats should show this president the same courtesy extended to Bill Clinton and his nominees Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, nearly unanimous support. The best we can do is hope that Roberts recognizes that many Americans do not grow up with all of the opportunities that he had, and start working to help win the majority in the Senate in '06 and the presidency in '08.

Outrage of the week: Lights on for Bush, off for everyone else

From Brian Williams' blog:

I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the live update edition of Nightly News that we fed to the West Coast. The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans. It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it... jump to certain conclusions.

We are all liberals now

Standing in front of the Magic Kingdom, President Bush proposes a lavish effort to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina and confront poverty with "bold action." Tom DeLay says there is no fat left to cut in the federal budget. MSNBC host, former Republican Congressman, and Bush lackey Joe Scarborough is reexamining his views on the role of the federal government. Newt Gingrich is working with Hillary Clinton on improving our health care system.

What's next, Rush Limbaugh calling for an end to the war on drugs?

The Onion gets it right once again

Halliburton Gets Contract To Pry Gold Fillings From New Orleans Corpses' Teeth

September 14, 2005 HOUSTON—On Tuesday, Halliburton received a $110 million no-bid government contract to pry the gold fillings from the mouths of deceased disaster victims in the New Orleans-Gulf Coast area. "We are proud to serve the government in this time of crisis by recovering valuable resources from the wreckage of this deadly storm," said David J. Lesar, Halliburton's president. "The gold we recover from the human rubble of Katrina can be used to make fighter-jet electronics, supercomputer chips, inflation-proof A-grade investments, and luxury yachting watches."

Bush's accountability moment

Yesterday's acknowledgment by President Bush that he accepts responsibility for the federal government's failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina is a breakthrough for the president and for this nation. For a guy who refused to acknowledge any mistakes during the 2004 campaign, this was an act of maturity that has never before been seen in this man. Maybe W. has finally grown up.

Now if he'd only accept responsibility and work to correct another miserable government failure, the war in Iraq.

Outrage of the week: Another out of touch member of the Bush Aristocracy

From MSNBC:

At a school in Mississippi, it was first lady Laura Bush defending the government’s response to Katrina. “I think we’ve seen a lot of the same footage over and over that isn’t necessarily representative of what really happened in both — in a lot of ways,” she said. “Overall, it was a very good response.”

Laura Bush faults media coverage, but was she even there? How would SHE know? What is she basing this on? How would she explain the still yet unrecovered bodies in the streets? How about the scathing assessments from impartial entities like the Red Cross, who have described conditions as "horrendous"??? (I went to a volunteer training this past weekend, the local director read a national memo assessing the very dire conditions.)

Also, on the "same footage," she's right to a degree. But so what? That's because news teams under pressure like that can't keep constantly collecting new footage every 10 seconds. It's impossible. It's the constraints of the situation, not an indication things are overblown.

By the way, did you hear what Barbara Bush said earlier this week?

-This post was written by the original clipmonkey.

Tax cuts + a war of choice + a natural disaster = fiscal doom

As the situation in Iraq continued to worsen this summer it was starting to become clear that the war was no longer an endeavor our government could afford. Still, Republicans in Congress continued their relentless pursuit of tax cuts for the wealthy, at least until this week. Now that Hurricane Katrina has invaded our political landscape and Congress has responded with over $60 billion to get us through the next few weeks, it is becoming clear that something's got to give.

Will it be their beloved tax cuts or the misguided effort in Iraq?

What goes around comes around, Dick Cheney

Remember Dick Cheney's salty words for Sen. Patrick Leahy on the Senate floor last year? Well, watch this.

One casualty that was worth it

One of the items at the top of the Republicans' post-recess agenda was a permanent repeal of the estate tax. But the disaster along the Gulf Coast and the tremendous harm it wrought on the region's poor people have taken this issue off the table, at least temporarily.

In recent years, the Republicans have tried to recast the estate tax as the death tax, fabricating sob stories of family farmers and small business owners who have been devastated by the tax. In reality, though, the tax impacts a minuscule number of people, encourages charitable giving, and rarely, if ever, has cost a family its business. Nonetheless, the Bush Administration continues its march toward returning America to a Dickensian England-like state.

Stopping this repeal is one bit of good Hurricane Katrina did.

Op-ed: America fails its poor (again)

The images of impoverished, desperate and largely African-American people roaming the streets of ghost-towns, collected on rooftops, gathered inside and outside of stadiums, ravaging stores for food and water, and looting unnecessary items is a tragic sight. It is but another instance of our government's failure to address the needs of poor Americans.

Whereas nearly all those of means escaped to friends, family, and hotels via their own automobiles or rental cars, those left behind had little with which to help them escape. They were stuck depending on a government that is supposed to be the envy of the world. A government with nearly limitless resources. A government that spends over $2 trillion each year.

We're well aware that the Bush Administration has been dismantling FEMA since 9/11. We know by now that our environmental policies have been endangering parts of the Gulf Coast for decades.

But few people know that those most devastated by the hurricane and its aftermath are victims of another quiet tragedy that attacks more Americans every day. These are the victims of a poverty rate that continues to rise, a health care system that falls short, and an "economic recovery" that leaves them, and most other Americans, behind. And for those just above the poverty line, many states are cutting the few supports that prop them up in our society.

Now, in their greatest hour of need, our government has failed them once again. Some will blame President Bush for not investing enough in emergency preparedness and sending National Guard troops on a mission few of them signed up for. But this is a larger failure that goes beyond the particular ideology of one president or one party. It is a failure of a nation that has largely turned its backs on poor people and scapegoated them for the struggles they are often born into.

Maybe this catastrophe will get Americans and our government to recognize that while we have pacified the poor, we have still failed them. Warehousing poor people in abysmal schools and tightly-packed jails and prisons are not anti-poverty policies.

Mr. Bush, we've seen the conservatism. It's time for the compassion. But we also need to show some compassion of our own.

Op-ed: John Bolton: Straight from Rough-and-Ready Creek

My girlfriend and I recently made our annual sojourn to Northern California’s Lost Coast to attend a 3-day reggae festival. The drive requires a short jaunt through the sweltering Illinois River Valley in southwestern Oregon. As we passed the dried-up remnants of Rough-and-Ready Creek, I noted that a few earnest homeowners had taken it upon themselves to let all passers-by know their true feelings about the UN. Their comments can be summarized in two statements: 1) The US should get out of the UN because it undermines US sovereignty, and 2) UN payments are a global tax and taxes should be avoided at all costs. All messages were painted in red and blue on large white backdrops.

I don’t know if John Bolton has ever visited the area around Rough-and-Ready Creek, but his latest end-run at the U.N. proposal on humanitarian relief, genocide, and terrorism indicates that he more than sympathizes with the residents. The White House and Bolton are conducting an all-out blitz on the empowerment initiatives in the U.N. These proposals are meant to strengthen international resolve on fundamental issues such as genocide and terrorism. Instead of picking and choosing where to act based on geopolitical significance, these new measures would require wealthier nations to stand and act together against the maladies of our time.

Yet let’s be honest. John Bolton wasn’t chosen by the Bush family to cooperate with Kofi Annan’s plans or provide insightful leadership in revising the U.N. charter. Instead, Bolton denounces plans for increased aid to poorer countries as a global tax and insists that any definition of terrorism cannot apply to state-sanctioned forces.. Bolton is essentially a walking monkey wrench, meant to undermine the current negotiations and disrupt any policy that the administration deems a threat to US unilateralism.

So take heart citizens of the Rough-and-Ready. Your voice has been heard in the highest offices of the country, and your views are being carried forth with rabid ferocity.

Under the radar: Bush takes on our national parks

While much of America is focused on the war in Iraq and more recently on the natural disaster along the Gulf Coast, the Bush administration is quietly destroying our national park system.

In typical Bush administration fashion, a person without any park service experience was tasked with revising the park system's basic management policy document. The draft revision that is circulating within the Interior Department will allow off-road vehicles, snowmobiles, and Jet Skis to roam about in nearly every national park under the guise of providing "opportunities to use and enjoy" the parks. Now that's what I'm looking for when I go to a national park to quietly commune with nature – the roar of such vehicles in the background. Since when did it become necessary for people to use a motorized vehicle to enjoy the national parks? Maybe it was when the obesity rate of our population began skyrocketing…

One of the reasons that Hurricane Katrina had such a powerful impact on the city of New Orleans is because the wetlands that protected that area for years have been destroyed over the past couple of decades. While Mississippi and Louisiana struggle to recover from this terrible natural disaster, the Bush administration will likely miss one lesson that could be learned from this tragic event – we must learn to protect and conserve the environment in which we live.

-This post was written by Cleveland Park Clipmonkey.