The Real Looters

[Plaid Adder]

Liza and I were talking about why it is that Katrina didn't seem to be affecting us emotionally as much as 9/11 had. I said, I think it's because we've stopped watching television. Which is true; since the 2004 election, we haven't had the thing on. We have stopped listening to NPR in the morning, too. Reading about the news on the internet actually keeps you better informed, but in terms of grasping the scale and the human cost, etc., I figured it would help to see it. So last night we turned on the TV.

Holy shit.

It's one thing not to be able to get to all the people who are stranded on their rooftops. It's another thing entirely not to be able to get to the people who are at the designated evacuation points, and it's yet a whole different order of fuckupitude not to be able to evacuate the hospitals. After all, everyone knows where they are. And if the *media* can get in there to film this stuff, where the hell is the federal government?

This morning I heard some flunky talking about how the federal relief effort is "gearing up." A week after the hurricane you knew was coming. That's nice. Bush is now saying that OK, well, perhaps the response was inadequate, but THAT'S ALL GOING TO CHANGE! STARTING RIGHT NOW! WE'RE TURNING THE CORNER!

Yeah. In Baghdad, if anyone has power and can get CNN, they must be laughing fit to rupture organs.

"Freedom is untidy," said Rumsfeld, when the looting started in Baghdad. Well, we're now finding out just how untidy it is when a major city is liberated from electric power, food, water, plumbing, shelter, infrastructure, and the rule of law.

A hurricane is a hurricane. Nothing anyone could do about how big Katrina was or how hard it hit--nothing the time, anyway, no matter what you may believe about this as a function of climate change. But what happens afterwards, that's the government's job. And so far...well, Jesus Christ, turn on the TV.

Way back in the day before we knew we were facing another 4 years of this regime, I wrote a column called "Can't Buy Me Love" in which I talked about why government corruption really matters. It isn't JUST because it's wrong and unjust. It's because corrupt governments don't function. If you have people at the top who are more worried about lining their own pockets than about doing their jobs, then they cannot get *anything* done, even something as basic as taking out the trash. And that's exactly what we're seeing here.

Why is the rescue effort this slow, late, chaotic, and insufficient? Because nobody at the top cared about getting ready for something like this. It wasn't going to help them any. What political hay could W. have made out of strengthening FEMA? Who cared? If it didn't have something to do with the war on terror, abortion, same-sex marriage, or tax cuts, his base wasn't interested, and neither was he. Their whole approach to the domestic machinery of government has been to loot what they can get out of it and leave it to rot. You see it at every level from Bush's patronage-system appointments, made without a thought in the world about who's actually qualified to do the actual job, to the policies they ram through Congress, in which 'reform' is a code word for 'destroy.' For five years they have been ransacking the domestic government to feed their war in Iraq and their jihad on federal taxation, without giving a shit about what it would do to the country.

Well, George, now you've lost New Orleans. You happy now? Or are you going to destroy a couple more cities before you step down?

I've been reading stuff from my international friends about how outrageous it was that there was no organized effort to evacuate the poor, the sick, the elderly, and so on, before the hurricane hit, that it was all left up to the individual people to pile into their cars (those that had them) and get out. Well, that's Bush's America, folks; if you can't pay for your own rescue, then fuck you. Why should my tax money pay for someone else's grandmother to be airlifted to where she can get her dialysis treatments? That money is MINE, dammit! It should only pay for MY STUFF!

It's insane. This is an insane way to live, and now it's becoming an insane way to die.

Last night I watched Bush talk about how there should be zero tolerance for lawlessness in a situation such as this. You know, what, asshole, if there had been zero tolerance for lawlessness in Washington for the past 5 years, you would be in prison, and we'd have a real fucking government. You guys are the real looters. And I hope that sooner or later, the rest of this country figures that out.

Jesus wept,

The Plaid Adder

[ComerPerro]

1. Zing. Great line, and very well written

Last night I watched Bush talk about how there should be zero tolerance for lawlessness in a situation such as this. You know, what, asshole, if there had been zero tolerance for lawlessness in Washington for the past 5 years, you would be in prison, and we'd have a real fucking government. You guys are the real looters. And I hope that sooner or later, the rest of this country figures that out.

[BlueJac]

2. Time has come today

That everyone knows the truth you are speaking about the Shrub Clan. Bookem' Dano, the jailem'

[raccoon]

3. You ought to submit this as an op-ed. It's that good.

This unmitigated NO disaster should be a warning to other cities that if some disaster, man-made or natural, hits, YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN.

[Plaid Adder]

8. Too much profanity for the paper, alas

That's ALWAYS the problem when I talk about that asshole...

You could try comforting yourself with the thought that this is probably going to be Bush's political epitaph, but as a way to bring them down it's just way too expensive and the wrong people are paying.

@#$!,

The Plaid Adder

[itzamirakul]

19. Submit it to Buzzflash.com and DailyKos.com and

OpEd.com. It will make the rounds from there. I think they all accept independent op eds. It's worth a try because it is very good.

[TOhioLiberal]

4. Great Rant...

...Kicked and nominated!

:kick::kick:

[dweller]

5. Looters

dp

[lapislzi]

6. kicked and nominated

I call that neocon mindset the "FUJIOK" philosophy. F-you, Jack, I'm OK. Sounds better when you just say the letters, though.

Your analysis is dead on as usual.

Peace.

[Witchy_Dem]

7. Worthy read.

[satya]

9. May I fwd this to RWers who still have their heads up their asses?

If so, credited to "Plaid Adder"?

You've taken all the words I've been screaming and rearranged them into the perfect rant. Thank you!

[Plaid Adder]

11. You can send them to it on my LJ:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/plaidder

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[satya]

20. Thanks a bunch! n/t

[petron]

10. Well said PA

"Why should my tax money pay for someone else's grandmother to be airlifted to where she can get her dialysis treatments? That money is MINE, dammit! It should only pay for MY STUFF!"

This seems to be the general disgusting, sentiment oozing from the freepers and I find it sickening.

Kickin' and nominatin'!

[Peace Patriot]

12. You are right on, Plaid Adder. The looting began 5 years ago with the

first stolen election, and has escalated out of control with the second stolen election, this one brought to us by Diebold and ES&S and their SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code for "tabulating" all our votes. It appears as if our civilization--which has been built on good government--is self-destructing. Not so! It is BEING DESTROYED by people who have benefited from all the infrastructure that we poor and middle class taxpayers have paid for, who have then launched themselves as global corporate predators, to loot the entire planet, and who now couldn't care less about us, except to steal our last dollar and to PREVENT us from exercising any power over them with our votes.

"Their whole approach to the domestic machinery of government has been to loot what they can get out of it and leave it to rot. You see it at every level from Bush's patronage-system appointments, made without a thought in the world about who's actually qualified to do the actual job, to the policies they ram through Congress, in which 'reform' is a code word for 'destroy.' For five years they have been ransacking the domestic government to feed their war in Iraq and their jihad on federal taxation, without giving a shit about what it would do to the country." --Plaid Adder

So true!

"'Reform' is a code word for 'destroy.'" That's what happened with HAVA ("Help America Vote Act"), a boondoggle for Bushite election theft companies, inspiring bipartisan corruption in state/local election officials, who--incredibly!--permitted "trade secret" vote tabulation in contracts with these private Bushite companies, in many cases with not even a paper trail to verify the election "results" derived from SECRET FORMULAE. HAVA was supposed to "reform" our election system after the Florida debacle in '00. Har, har, har! "Reform," at the hands of Bush's "pod people" in Congress = corrupt and destroy.

Plaid Adder, you say that "why government corruption really matters" is not "JUST because it's wrong and unjust. It's because corrupt governments don't function." The same needs to be said about transparent, verifiable elections. It's not JUST because non-transparent, unverifiable elections are unfair, and violate every principle of democracy; it's because they RESULT in governments like this one, which cares NOTHING for the interests of the majority of the people.

There is a lot wrong with our election system. It was highly corrupted by corporate campaign money long ago. But now it's far worse. The bad guys now have direct control of the vote tabulation. They don't even need to use bribery any more. They can "select" whomever they wish, for whatever office they wish to control. And our FIRST PRIORITY, now, MUST BE throwing Diebold and ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' (so to speak--perhaps a Louisiana levee might serve!).

I think the upshot of all that has happened recently is going to be Diebold's and ES&S's installation of a War Democrat in '08 (we can forget having a real antiwar populist any time soon), because they NEED a War Democrat to run a better war in the Middle East, to get a Draft (Bush can't do it), to put down the protests here, to run the breadlines, to complete the looting of Iraq and the U.S., and move on to Iran and Syria. This will likely result in ripping the Democratic Party to shreds, once and for all--and then we'll get Jeb in '12, and that will be the end of our democracy.

Not much we can do about the War Democrat who is being "selected" for us--but we CAN do this: We can use a Democratic regime to get real election reform. A Democrat will have to at least pay lip service to progressive principles--and honest, transparent elections couldn't be more basic as to progressive (good government) principles. We don't want the Feds meddling again (ye gods!). The reform has to be at the state/local level, with the removal of corrupt election officials of both parties, canceling of all private voting machine company contracts, and probably temporary return to the simpler system of the past--paper ballots, hand-counted at the precinct level. (--Canada does it in one day, but speed should not even be a consideration, only accuracy and verifiability). At the very least, we need a paper ballot (not "paper trail") backup of all electronic voting, a 10% automatic recount, strict security measures, and NO SECRET, PROPRIETARY PROGRAMMING CODE (...jeez!).

With transparent elections, we will begin electing officials who are responsive to the majority on important issues such as peace and justice, as well as on all other good government issues, and we will eventually be able to free ourselves from control by the war profiteers and the global corporate predators and their lapdog politicians and news monopolies, who are now running "our" country.

(Note: The main reason I think we're going to get a War Democrat is the more truthful reporting we're seeing recently, on Bush, from the war profiteering corporate news monopolies. The Bush wrecking crew has accomplished its purposes--and then some--and is so filthy and treasonous that it can't be covered up any longer. The war profiteers need someone to mop it all up, to consolidate their gains, to keep the top Bush Cartel members out of jail, and to prevent any real reform. They also need someone to BLAME. And around '10 or thereabouts, we will start hearing that the destroyed economy and the endless war are the faults of whatever War Democrat they install in '08--not the fault of any Bushites. I still hold out hope, though, that we can turn things completely around in a couple of election cycles, if we can get real vote counts.)

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. Wow, that is well said!

Nicely done!

:applause:

[Plaid Adder]

14. kick for the Friday night crowd

if such exists...

:kick:

The Plaid Adder

[Rhiannon12866]

15. And another kick from me, my friend. Well-stated and right on.

Wow. And I know. I've seen the TV coverage. And I wait for my video newsletters. You can find the truth on the internet, but you have to actually see it to understand it. This totally boggles the mind. As Anderson Cooper said, you forget where you are. Is this really our country?! It seems like at least the third-world, or even another planet!:shrug:

There is so much that's been addressed on TV, telling it like it is, that I couldn't even begin to cover it. From Jack Cafferty (totally unexpected) to Anderson Cooper (not so unexpected) to Bill Maher (who we know is on our team, more or less.) But Maher's comments I thought were the most insightful. He said that this is the first time that the press has been stepping up to the plate. He wondered if it was guilt over past failures, 9/11 and Iraq. But whatever the reason, this is a good thing and what we need in this country. Not everyone has internet access and can read the foreign press.:-(

But the fact that there are still those waiting for help, after so many days, boggles the mind. It's a national disgrace and one that we won't easily live down. The world is watching this time, as well. They knew that this was coming, declared it an emergency before the storm even hit. Yet people still wait and suffer. Those who are watching have caught us out one too many times. They know what's going on here and now so do we...;(

[Plaid Adder]

17. I think this officially makes us a banana republic.

Let's see...

1. Corrupt government installed via extremely dubious election...check.

2. Graft and cronyism at the highest levels...check.

3. Government obsessed with militarism...check.

4. President would absolutely love to be referred to as "El Generalissimo" if he thought he could get away with it...check.

5. Looting from the poor to line the coffers of the rich...check.

6. Natural disaster leads to the horrifying and preventable deaths of thousands...check.

Yep. I think we're there.

C ya,

THe Plaid Adder

[clu]

16. nice

n/t you said it all.

[chiburb]

18. Thank you, PA...

Perfectly expressed, as usual...

[Plaid Adder]

22. chiburb! Long time no see

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[chiburb]

21. Kick n/t