President Bush was not going to get caught off guard by Hurricane Rita this
weekend.
The president who refused to cut short a working vacation three weeks ago to prepare for the fury of Hurricane Katrina
was sitting at the U.S. Northern Command post in Colorado on Saturday morning monitoring what had become a more timid storm.
“I’ve come here,” Bush explained, “to watch NORTHCOM in action, to see firsthand the capacity of our
military to plan, organize and move equipment to help the people in the affected areas.”
Bush’s government was
on war footing for Rita’s arrival….
At an afternoon news conference here, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-
Tex.) praised Bush. “The president is hands-on and knows what’s going on,” he said. “The president is a take-charge type of guy.”
Barf. mjh
Newsday.com: Bush urges larger
role for military BY CRAIG GORDON
President George W. Bush yesterday called on Congress to consider giving the U.S.
military a leading role in recovery efforts in a catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist attack, a break with precedent sure to spark
controversy. …
Still, any move to put more U.S. military control over disaster response is sure to prove controversial, both to
state officials who now run the National Guard troops usually involved in those operations, but also to conservatives in Bush’s party
suspicious of federal trampling on state’s rights. …
[S]uch a move might require an amendment to a Civil-War-era law known as
Posse Comitatus that bars armed forces from engaging in law-enforcement activities inside the United States except in extreme
circumstances.
At least one leading conservative in Congress, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), signaled yesterday he would be
uncomfortable with any significant expansion of the federal role that didn’t allow local fire and rescue crews to be in charge.
“I don’t want the federal government to take over disaster response, believe me,” DeLay told The Associated Press.
Bill Would Give Bush $50B More for WarsBy
LIZ SIDOTI, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Senate would give President Bush $50 billion more for wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan as part of a $440 billion defense spending measure a panel approved Monday.
Country By Jennifer Moses
[I]n the prosperous white neighborhoods [of Baton Rouge] where solid brick houses sit well back on
lush lawns, the president’s reputation remains largely intact, so much so that if the Bush-Kerry election of last November were replayed
here tomorrow, Bush would probably win again, though perhaps with a smaller margin.
The question is: Why now? Why, after five
years of extraordinary ineptitude, culminating in the shameful spectacle of Americans dying from lack of emergency resources, does Bush
continue to inspire any loyalty at all…?
[The answer]… lies in cultural and social identification, overlaid with a patina of
Christianity and fueled by raw, largely social, fear. …
Of course, not all the support for Bush in Baton Rouge comes from as
benign a position as that of my neighbors — we have plenty of plain old-fashioned greed here, as well as the usual assortment of racism,
xenophobia, anti-intellectualism, homophobia and religious self-righteousness, which the Bush team has played so brilliantly.
Refiners Captured The Biggest Part Of the Price Increase
By Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 25,
2005; Page F01
When the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline peaked at $3.07 recently, it was partly because the
nation’s refineries were getting an estimated 99 cents on each gallon sold. That was more than three times the amount
they earned a year ago when regular unleaded was selling for $1.87. [In all, the companies that distribute, market and sell gasoline to
the public took about 18 cents on each gallon of gas when the average price hit a peak of $3.07 a gallon on Sept. 5 in
an Energy Department survey, analysts estimated. A year ago, they took 17 cents of each gallon, according to Energy Department data.]
The companies that pump oil from the ground swept in an additional 47 cents on each gallon, a 46 percent jump over
the same period. …
Exxon Mobil Corp., the Irving, Tex., behemoth that produces and refines oil, reported in July that its
second-quarter profit was up 32 percent, to $7.64 billion. Analysts expect Exxon’s profit to soar again this quarter.
…
For a company like Exxon, producing a barrel of oil from an existing well costs about $20, according to
analysts. When the selling price rises above that, the increase is almost all profit, they said. After Katrina bore down on the Gulf
Coast, the price of oil set a new high, approaching $70. …
Refiners, particularly those with most of their
facilities outside the path of Katrina, cashed in. Analysts predicted a windfall for companies such as Philadelphia-based Sunoco Inc.,
which continued operating normally during the hurricane.
After gasoline leaves refineries, the profit margin becomes narrower,
even when prices are high. Many motorists direct their anger at gas station owners when the higher market prices for oil and gasoline
show up at the pump. But the bulk of the increases at the pump typically is not making station owners rich, analysts said.
Martha Stewart went to prison for lying to a Fed while not under oath. mjh
Frist Issue Adds to GOP’s Ethics Troubles
Sale of Stock
Before Its Price Fell Gives Critics Opening to Target Senate Leadership
By Charles Babington and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington
Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 25, 2005; Page A06
Two federal inquiries into Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s stock
sales have handed Democrats a chance to broaden their long-stated claim that Republicans push ethical boundaries and focus on
laws that help the rich, political analysts said yesterday.
Until now, such accusations have centered on the House and
White House. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) has been chastised three times by the chamber’s ethics committee, and a Texas grand
jury recently indicted a political action committee he had organized. The Bush administration’s top federal procurement official, David
H. Safavian, was arrested last week on charges of obstructing a criminal investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has close ties to
DeLay and other prominent GOP lawmakers. …
Activists in both parties agree it is much too early to say whether Frist (R-Tenn.)
engaged in insider trading, a charge that could cripple his 2008 presidential hopes. But the mere launch of inquiries by the SEC and the
Justice Department allows Democrats to claim that both House and Senate majority leaders operate under ethical clouds. …
Average
Americans, [Democratic consultant Jenny Backus] said, understand the notion of powerful and privileged people getting sweetheart
deals. Many are already suspicious of a Republican Party that pushes tax cuts, bankruptcy policies and other measures
that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, she said. …
People will more readily grasp the implications of a “less-
than-blind trust” and GOP leaders who seem more intent on “the interests of their friends than the interests of the American people.”
…
“The biggest toll,” Cook said, “is for Frist’s presidential aspirations. They were already on the ropes. He’s not gotten
good reviews as the Republican leader in the Senate. . . . The guy is pretty damaged merchandise in terms of presidential aspirations.”