{"id":31,"date":"2005-09-27T01:16:36","date_gmt":"2005-09-27T07:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/?p=31"},"modified":"2005-09-27T13:48:21","modified_gmt":"2005-09-27T19:48:21","slug":"the-disaster-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/nada\/dump-duhbya\/the-disaster-president\/","title":{"rendered":"The Disaster President"},"content":{"rendered":"

Storm and Bush On the Move<\/a><\/p>\n

President Bush was not going to get caught off guard by Hurricane Rita this <\/p>\n

weekend.<\/p>\n

The president who refused to cut short a working vacation three weeks ago to prepare for the fury of Hurricane Katrina <\/p>\n

was sitting at the U.S. Northern Command post in Colorado on Saturday morning monitoring what had become a more timid storm.<\/p>\n

“I’ve come here,” Bush explained, “to watch NORTHCOM in action, to see firsthand the capacity of our <\/p>\n

military<\/em><\/strong> to plan, organize and move equipment to help the people in the affected areas.”<\/p>\n

Bush’s government was <\/p>\n

on war footing<\/strong> for Rita’s arrival….<\/p>\n

At an afternoon news conference here, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

Barf. mjh<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Newsday.com: Bush urges larger <\/p>\n

role for military<\/a> BY CRAIG GORDON<\/p>\n

President George W. Bush yesterday called on Congress to consider giving the U.S. <\/p>\n

military a leading role in recovery efforts in a catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist attack, a break with precedent sure to spark <\/p>\n

controversy. …<\/p>\n

Still, any move to put more U.S. military control over disaster response is sure to prove controversial, both to <\/p>\n

state officials who now run the National Guard troops usually involved in those operations, but also to conservatives in Bush’s party <\/p>\n

suspicious of federal trampling on state’s rights. …<\/p>\n

[S]uch a move might require an amendment to a Civil-War-era law known as <\/p>\n

Posse Comitatus that bars armed forces from engaging in law-enforcement activities inside the United States except in extreme <\/p>\n

circumstances.<\/p>\n

At least one leading conservative in Congress, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), signaled yesterday he would be <\/p>\n

uncomfortable with any significant expansion of the federal role that didn’t allow local fire and rescue crews to be in charge.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want the federal government to take over disaster response, believe me,” DeLay told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Bill Would Give Bush $50B More for Wars<\/a>By <\/p>\n

LIZ SIDOTI, The Associated Press<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON — The Senate would give President Bush $50 billion more for wars in Iraq and <\/p>\n

Afghanistan as part of a $440 billion defense spending measure a panel approved Monday.<\/p>\n

Why Baton Rouge Is Still Bush <\/p>\n

Country<\/a> By Jennifer Moses<\/p>\n

[I]n the prosperous white neighborhoods [of Baton Rouge] where solid brick houses sit well back on <\/p>\n

lush lawns, the president’s reputation remains largely intact, so much so that if the Bush-Kerry election of last November were replayed <\/p>\n

here tomorrow, Bush would probably win again, though perhaps with a smaller margin.<\/p>\n

The question is: Why now? Why, after five <\/p>\n

years of extraordinary ineptitude, culminating in the shameful spectacle of Americans dying from lack of emergency resources, does Bush <\/p>\n

continue to inspire any loyalty at all…?<\/p>\n

[The answer]… lies in cultural and social identification, overlaid with a patina of <\/p>\n

Christianity and fueled by raw, largely social, fear. …<\/p>\n

Of course, not all the support for Bush in Baton Rouge comes from as <\/p>\n

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, <\/p>\n

xenophobia, anti-intellectualism, homophobia and religious self-righteousness, which the Bush team has played so brilliantly.<\/p>\n

Gas Profit Guzzlers<\/a><\/p>\n

Refiners Captured The Biggest Part Of the Price Increase
\nBy Justin Blum
\nWashington Post Staff Writer
\nSunday, September 25, <\/p>\n

2005; Page F01<\/p>\n

When the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline peaked at $3.07 recently, it was partly because the <\/p>\n

nation’s refineries were getting an estimated 99 cents on each gallon sold<\/strong>. That was more than three times the amount <\/p>\n

they earned a year ago when regular unleaded was selling for $1.87. [In all, the companies that distribute, market and sell gasoline to <\/p>\n

the public took about 18 cents on each gallon of gas<\/strong> when the average price hit a peak of $3.07 a gallon on Sept. 5 in <\/p>\n

an Energy Department survey, analysts estimated. A year ago, they took 17 cents of each gallon, according to Energy Department data.]<\/p>\n

The companies that pump oil from the ground swept in an additional 47 cents on each gallon, a 46 percent jump<\/strong> over <\/p>\n

the same period. …<\/p>\n

Exxon Mobil Corp., the Irving, Tex., behemoth that produces and refines oil, reported in July that its <\/p>\n

second-quarter profit was up 32 percent<\/strong>, to $7.64 billion. Analysts expect Exxon’s profit to soar again this quarter. <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

For a company like Exxon, producing a barrel of oil from an existing well costs about $20<\/strong>, according to <\/p>\n

analysts. When the selling price rises above that, the increase is almost all profit, they said. After Katrina bore down on the Gulf <\/p>\n

Coast, the price of oil set a new high, approaching $70<\/strong>. …<\/p>\n

Refiners, particularly those with most of their <\/p>\n

facilities outside the path of Katrina, cashed in. Analysts predicted a windfall for companies such as Philadelphia-based Sunoco Inc., <\/p>\n

which continued operating normally during the hurricane.<\/p>\n

After gasoline leaves refineries, the profit margin becomes narrower, <\/p>\n

even when prices are high. Many motorists direct their anger at gas station owners when the higher market prices for oil and gasoline <\/p>\n

show up at the pump. But the bulk of the increases at the pump typically is not making station owners rich, analysts said.<\/p>\n

Martha Stewart went to prison for lying to a Fed while not under oath. mjh<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Frist Issue Adds to GOP’s Ethics Troubles<\/a>
\nSale of Stock <\/p>\n

Before Its Price Fell Gives Critics Opening to Target Senate Leadership
\nBy Charles Babington and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
\nWashington <\/p>\n

Post Staff Writers
\nSunday, September 25, 2005; Page A06<\/p>\n

Two federal inquiries into Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s stock <\/p>\n

sales have handed Democrats a chance to broaden their long-stated claim that Republicans push ethical boundaries and focus on <\/p>\n

laws that help the rich<\/strong>, political analysts said yesterday.<\/p>\n

Until now, such accusations have centered on the House and <\/p>\n

White House. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) has been chastised three times by the chamber’s ethics committee, and a Texas grand <\/p>\n

jury recently indicted a political action committee he had organized. The Bush administration’s top federal procurement official, David <\/p>\n

H. Safavian, was arrested last week on charges of obstructing a criminal investigation into lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has close ties to <\/p>\n

DeLay and other prominent GOP lawmakers. …<\/p>\n

Activists in both parties agree it is much too early to say whether Frist (R-Tenn.) <\/p>\n

engaged in insider trading, a charge that could cripple his 2008 presidential hopes. But the mere launch of inquiries by the SEC and the <\/p>\n

Justice Department allows Democrats to claim that both House and Senate majority leaders operate under ethical clouds. …<\/p>\n

Average <\/p>\n

Americans, [Democratic consultant Jenny Backus] said, understand the notion of powerful and privileged people getting sweetheart <\/p>\n

deals<\/strong>. Many are already suspicious of a Republican Party that pushes tax cuts, bankruptcy policies and other measures <\/p>\n

that disproportionately benefit the wealthy<\/strong>, she said. …<\/p>\n

People will more readily grasp the implications of a “less-<\/p>\n

than-blind trust” and GOP leaders who seem more intent on “the interests of their friends than the interests of the American people.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The biggest toll,” Cook said, “is for Frist’s presidential aspirations. They were already on the ropes. He’s not gotten <\/p>\n

good reviews as the Republican leader in the Senate. . . . The guy is pretty damaged merchandise in terms of presidential aspirations.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Storm and Bush On the Move 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 … Continue reading The Disaster President<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dump-duhbya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}