Yeah, well, it can't be all Petraeus all the time, kids. Too bad for Bush and his war that Lindsey Lohan didn't get arrested again yesterday. Betcha Bush was thanking God for Larry Flynt this morning, though.

h/t Agitprop, Congressman Vitter's alleged prostitute/mistress and his wife, both named Wendy. When asked what Wendy Two would do that Wendy One would not, the blogosphere responded, "everything, pretty much, and unlike the Senator, the prostitute has a talent for telling the truth."

Talking Points Memo:

A former New Orleans prostitute who says she had an affair with Sen. David Vitter has passed a lie-detector test and will provide details of the four-month relationship at a press conference Tuesday, according to Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt.

Vitter, a first-term senator [Republican? Ya think? -eds] elected in 2004, has denied having relationships with New Orleans prostitutes. In a call-in radio show during the Senate campaign, he dismissed as "absolutely and completely untrue" that he had a relationship with [the prostitute,] Wendy Cortez.

In an e-mail, [Vitter spokesman Joel] Digrado said, "Sen. Vitter and his wife have addressed all of this very directly. The senator is focused on important Louisiana priorities like the water resources bill and the Iraq debate."

A Republican Senate aide says the Iraq "debate" is an important Louisiana priority? Don't get me started.

There's more juicy over at the NOLA blog Your Right Hand Thief.

Bill Scher's Liberal Oasis radio program this Labor Day weekend with guest Rick Perlstein focused on the failures that Conservatism played on the Gulf Coast after Katrina

Part 2:

Mentioned on the broadcast...

Huffington Post's Eric Deggans post on the shallow media coverage of Katrina is
here.

Read the Heritage Foundation white paper, "Taking Charge of Federal Personnel."

Hear Newt Gingrich blame the victims of Katrina for "failure of citizenship" here.

Today’s Paul Krugman column is a must read. Shorter version: We are all New Orleans now.

Today, much of the Gulf Coast remains in ruins. Less than half the federal money set aside for rebuilding, as opposed to emergency relief, has actually been spent, in part because the Bush administration refused to waive the requirement that local governments put up matching funds for recovery projects — an impossible burden for communities whose tax bases have literally been washed away.

On the other hand, generous investment tax breaks, supposedly designed to spur recovery in the disaster area, have been used to build luxury condominiums near the University of Alabama’s football stadium in Tuscaloosa, 200 miles inland.

Keep reading ...

Contrast this video from Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films with the vague and awkward optimism of Bush's speech.

WhenTheSaints.org:

On the eve of the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Director Robert Greenwald and Brave New Foundation join together with a coalition of social justice groups from across the country to launch When The Saints Go Marching In. The three minute YouTube video reveals the devastating reality of hurricane survivors still struggling to rebuild their lives and the amazing hope they maintain about the future.

When The Saints Go Marching In launched today and can be seen at WhenTheSaints.org. The video is spreading rapidly across the internet with the help of partner groups like Plenty, ColorOfChange.org, and Think New Orleans. When The Saints Go Marching In includes footage of NOLA residents working to make the city home again, and ends with a call to action for viewers to urge the Senate to pass Senator Chris Dodd's (D-CT) Gulf Coast Recovery Bill (S. 1668).

Please sign the petition here.

(thanks to Logan for vids)

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Keith Olbermann and Newsweek's Jonathan Alter look at the major thudding with which Bush's quick jaunt to the Gulf Coast on the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was received and the slow recovery process for Katrina victims.

And it's only Wednesday.

Today on Hardball, David Shuster gave a scathing rundown of what has been a horrific week for President Bush and the Republican Party. Starting with the president's awkward visit to New Orleans to mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the "Brownie" moment, Shuster then moves to the resignation of Bush's disgraced Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales and of course, yesterday's revelation that Idaho Republican, Larry Craig, had been arrested for seeking sex with an undercover officer in a bathroom stall at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

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Shuster: "The White House did offer a statement today on the Larry Craig sex scandal. A presidential spokesman expressed disappointment, but refused to say whether Craig should keep his job. That means the White House is trying to stay detached from Senator Craig in much the same way the White House has tried to stay removed from the lingering Gulf Coast problems since Hurricane Katrina."

(click image for larger) image from Suspect Device

From an editorial in today's San Francisco Chronicle:

The mismanagement, missed opportunities and suffering that is the legacy of Katrina still matter because the victims of the storm were - and are - facing the same problems that the people of America are facing. We're talking about poorly maintained public infrastructure. (The Minneapolis bridge collapse, though responsible for only 13 deaths, created a national sense of deja vu.) We're talking about communities with poor access to health care, decent schools, jobs that pay a living wage. We're talking about insurance companies that seem all too happy to take your premium - whether it's for homeowners' insurance or health care - and then run away when the bills come due. Most important, we're talking about the lack of public leaders who have the ability to lead, or at the very least to take responsibility for their failures instead of looking for someone else, or something else, to blame.

Also the absolute "don't-miss" interview of the day with Dr. Anna Pou, who was accused of murdering nine patients in a New Orleans hospital wracked by Katrina. A grand jury declined to indict her. (h/t Make Them Accountable)

 Michael Chertoff's name is being thrown around as a possible replacement for Alberto Gonzales. I'm re-posting this to highlight why he's not eligible for such a post. Tim Russert did a good job of grilling Chertoff over the absolute failure of his department in combating the Hurricane Katrina disaster. (Originally posted 9-4-05)

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Chertoff: Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, “New Orleans Dodged the Bullet.” Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse.”                              

Russert exposed the lies that have been coming from the administration for their lack of response to Katrina. Here's the full transcript from MTP. He admitted that he got his intel about NOLA from the media! The Democratic Party should oppose him if the nomination comes through.

RUSSERT:  I want to stay on this because this is very important.  You said you were surprised by the levee being broken. In 2002, The Times-Picayune did story after story--and this is eerie; this is what they wrote and how they predicted what was going to happen. (full transcript below the fold) 

Continue reading »

In keeping with our commemoration of the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, here's another book to add to your reading list : 

Brinkley :  A day earlier, the name "Katrina" had conjured whimsical images of a Gaelic ballad or a Vegas cocktail waitress. A close friend of mine, in fact, was named Katrina. There was no menace in the echo. Perhaps if the storm had been named "Genghis Khan" or "Attila the Hun" or "Caligula," I would have fled. But now, as the raging Mississippi frothed with primal madness, gushing around Algiers Bend, ripping open the huge riverfront warehouses where Mardi Gras floats were stored, it was clear that Katrina was no mere hurricane or flood. It was destined to be known as "the Great Deluge" in the annals of American history. Read on...

NPR has an interview with Douglas Brinkley in their archives, speaking of gathering the oral histories that helped make up The Great Deluge. The Great Deluge Oral History Project is still collecting oral histories of Katrina survivors.

As someone with a background in the visual arts, I've always been fascinated with the implicit stories being conveyed behind photo choice in the print media.  It's a little bit of psychology, a little propaganda, and a little marketing rolled into one.  It can make or break whether you buy the story.  A year or so ago, I stumbled across what has now become one of the my favorite sites: BAGnewsNotes. At BAGnewsNotes, print photos are dissected and analyzed and often, the underlying thrust of stories are uncovered for what they are.

Last year, photographer Alan Chin went to the Gulf Coast and brought back images shared on BAGNewsNotes that were stunning in their unflinching yet compassionate look at the victims and the damage of Hurricane Katrina. 

You can see the entire photo essay here. Alan's work is simply amazing. Many more images to be found here. 

  (Originally posted on 12/28/05) Historian Doug Brinkley, appeared on Scarborough Country and hit the President hard over his apparent abandoning of the people and the region that has been decimated by Hurricane Katrina. The residents are fuming down there because the politicians that talked tough after being embarrassed by the initial response and have since not followed up to help the region. In order for confidence to return to the area-the levees must be repaired first and foremost.

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BRINKLEY:  It’s about leadership. 

When you look at presidents, a Theodore Roosevelt or a Harry Truman or a Ronald Reagan, the great American presidents would not let a region die and suffer.  They would have seen this as the bell ringing.  This would be the moment that would define their presidency, and it is not too late for President Bush to do that.  But he gave a very powerful speech in Jackson Square. The blue lights were behind him, and, if you read that speech, it was wonderful. 

But the reality is, the speech is—was phony. 

Continue reading »

 Cooper started the interview this way: (Originally posted on 9/1/05)

Cooper: “Does the federal government bear any responsibility for what is happening, should they apologize for what is happening now?”

Landrieu put on a happy face and thanked all the wonderful politicians for showing their support. I mean WTF? Everyone is worried about their own asses and doing little if anything for the people on the ground.

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Think Progress has the transcripts.

Jeralyn: “He laced into Sen. Mary Landrieu saying people who have witnessed the devastation don’t want to hear politicans congratulating other politicians for how they’ve responded. He was yelling, basically, “Don’t you get it yet?” He mentioned seeing a woman’s body on the ground being eaten by rats. Landrieu told Anderson she understood what he was saying and then thanked the President again .”

All Spin Zone: Cooper Rocks:  “Cooper has been down in the middle of the devastation on the Gulf Coast since the beginning of the week. Today, he apparently hit his breaking point…read on“

Wonkette: Cooper’s 360 Roundhouse: Do not get the pretty boys mad: Mary Landrieu goes on about how great Bill Frist is. Anderson Cooper responds that it’s hard to take politicians thanking each other when rats are gnawing dead bodies in the streets…read on 

Tags-katrina

   (Originally posted 9-2-05)

Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera were livid about the situation in NOLA as they appeared on H&C. When Hannity tried his usual spin job and said “let’s get this in perspective,” Smith chopped him off at the knees and started yelling at him saying, “This is perspective!” It was shocking.

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Geraldo who I’m no fan of was crying, holding a little child up to demonstrate the extremely inhumane conditions these people are forced to live under. Forced is the right word because they are locked in the dome by our government and can’t leave. Troops are guarding the bridge.

This goes beyond political lines and it’s as sad a situation as I’ve seen. Let’s see all the happy politicians slap themselves on their backs after viewing this segment.

Digby has more:  This was some amazing TV. Kudos to Shep Smith and Geraldo for not letting O’Reilly and Hannity spin their GOP “resolve” apologia bullshit. I’m fairly shocked….read on

Talk Left:  I’ve never seen anything as harrowing as Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera and Shepard Smith on Hannity and Colmes. While Aaron Brown on CNN said we have “turned the corner” on CNN, it’s clearly not the truth….read on

 Most Downloaded clip of 2005

Kanye West: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” 

(originally posted on 9/02/05) During the Concert for Hurricane Relief, Kanye West and Mike Myers were celebrity narrators during the segment, West said: (rush transcript)

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(fuller Transcript by Tracy& Eric)

“I hate the way they portray us in the media.  “If you see a black family it says they are looting if you see a white family it says they are looking for food. 

“We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war now fighting another way and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us.”

“George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

Mike Myers was floored…

Update:- Kanye West and Mike Myers: Part II:

The two appeared on SNL this Saturday and reminisced about their slot together during a telethon for Hurricane Katrina 

Tags-katrina

Here’s the interview today with Diane on GMA. (originally posted on 9/1/05)

Bush: “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”

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(hat tip Ian for the video)

Booman Tribune: Dean Asks for Leadership in response to President Bush’s GMA stop.