Bush Detailed on Possible Katrina Destruction -- Does Nothing

MoveOn.org is currently making a campaign to get this word out and I wanted to help get this to the 6 people who read my blog. According to the Associated Press, the President was fully aware of the possible destruction and chose to relax and do nothing about it to prevent disaster. Please read the article and inform your friends. I could write a more compelling story, but I'm at work...

OK, after having actually read this (and several other articles) I have a few things to say. MoveOn is probably over doing it a little -- or at least my initial reaction may have been an over reaction. The spin back seems to be that "the President was attentive and asked questions", and "there wasn't a lot anyone could do", etc. Even if all this is true (and by the way, we should expect our president to be attentive when an imminent and deadly threat is on the verge of attacking), the fact remains that a) the president still said "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees" after having been "attentive" and "inquisitive" and b) the administration is still being secretive and opaque about documentation etc. It's not like this is a terrorist attack and we don't want the enemy to know our secret plans. If anything, we want people to know so that we can teach them our state-of-the-art response technology and lead by example.

The problem is either we are not so state-of-the-art or we (read: the administration) don't care enough when it's not in our back yard. I wonder what would have happened if Rita had been first. Clearly, they couldn't do it 2 in a row, but if Rita had been first would this have happened? Would there have been preparations? It's hard to say, but considering who was left behind, it's hard not to speculate that the folks in Texas would have had an easier time getting out and preparing.

I work in an industry that is pushing corporations toward more transparency. It's a big word these days. This administration is exactly the opposite and it's not surprising considering their leadership background is from companies like Halliburton whose corporate policy it is to hide things and keep secrets.

Granted, I don't know what they're actually doing and I don't know the demographics of the areas affected by Rita, and I don't even know good hard data on exactly who was left behind in New Orleans, but I'm not trying to prove a statistical hypothesis. What I do know is that this administration is not to be trusted. Preemptive war with less than stellar evidence and a laundry list of excuses, wars against people who try to stand up against them (Plame), no attention to the people whose children are fighting this mission-accomplished bloody war, wiretapping without informing the court and then making excuses and covering up, keeping the Straight Shooter under wraps for days, and now this... another blatant lie about what they did and didn't know.

I generally think of our President as a buffoon who is prone to inaction and confusion (think: reading the kindergarten book while the 2 towers go down). However, I think that he and his team have much much more charisma than we who dislike him give him credit for. That he made it through the debates against Kerry is as miracle. Ok, so people don't want another Slick Willy president who's smarter than they are. They'd rather have a conniving right hand man and team of cronies to lead this country. Fine. WHO ARE YOU?

President Bush is not stupid. He's cunning. The fact that he's gotten away with so much is absolutely proof.