The Justice Log 2.0

I’ve thought a lot about the strain of Republicans that we oppose — the Cheney/Rove axis that threatens both the systems and ideals that make up America. They play the rules like the worst sort of lawyers, bending them into pretzels when convenient and breaking them whenever they can get away with it, but holding their opponents to the most minute definitions whenever it can provide them an advantage. (See Clinton, William J.) And the basic definition of this sort of Republican is simple. For them, there are no rules.

To be sure, there are guidelines. Win at all costs. Never let the marks see past your image.…

So much for the defibrillator.

To paraphrase a friend of mine (who apparently takes exception to my giving Dubya the least amount of credit — with good reason, it turns out), he’s still trying to weasel his way out of admitting he screwed up. To quote COBRA’s Baroness, “I take the responsibility, but not the blame! It’s [his] fault!”…

Bush admits to failure?!? I think my heart stopped:

“Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility.”

He even spins remorse — “all levels of government” and “didn’t fully do its job right” sound like he’s trying to dodge as much of the “responsibility” as he can — but this is still an unprecedented step for an administration that has remained unrepentant on even its most epic failures. Of course, even on 9/11 we didn’t lose an entire city, so I guess this proves that even Rove has his limits.…

We rip the media so often here on the lefty side of the blogosphere (not as bad as the right’s paranoid “MSM” fantasies, but still…), so I thought I should give kudos where they are richly deserved:

It takes a hurricane. It takes a catastrophe like Katrina to strip away the old evasions, hypocrisies and not-so-benign neglect. It takes the sight of the United States with a big black eye—visible around the world—to help the rest of us begin to see again. For the moment, at least, Americans are ready to fix their restless gaze on enduring problems of poverty, race and class that have escaped their attention.

I’ve been hoping someone would do one blog/web entry that covers all the major malfeasance of the Resident and his cronies.

http://www.bobharris.com/content/view/636/1/

Mr. Harris does it so the rest of us don’t have to. I wish I could smiley this, but the reality is just too…real. Still, kudos to Bob for wading through the virtual muck to give us the rundown on the real stuff along the Gulf Coast. As he puts it:…

Gakked from Daily Kos, a poll from AP/Ipsos:

Overall, do you approve, disapprove or have mixed feelings about the way George W. Bush is handling his job as President?

Strongly Approve — 20 (23)
Somewhat Approve — 11 (10)
Lean Toward Approval — 8 (9)
Lean Toward Disapproval — 14 (13)
Somewhat Disapprove — 5 (5)
Strongly Disapprove — 40 (38)

Total

Approve — 39 (42)
Disapprove — 59 (55)

Italics theirs. Bold emphasis mine (and other boldface removed). Numbers in parentheses are from the previous poll.…

So the adults are in charge, huh?

With everything from death to thuggery to sexual harrassment taking place at the hands of the government, give me one good reason not to play the “blame game.”…

Just not the way we thought:

The killer hurricane and flood that devastated the Gulf Coast last week exposed fatal weaknesses in a federal disaster response system retooled after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to handle just such a cataclysmic event.

Despite four years and tens of billions of dollars spent preparing for the worst, the federal government was not ready when it came at daybreak on Monday, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former senior officials and outside experts.

Right here:

By Friday, offers had been received from Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belgium, Britain, Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates.

My faith in America is shaken. Humanity in general, OTOH…after everything this country has done, especially considering these are red states…this is really heartening.…

…I’m still in shock over New Orleans.

I was born in New York. 9/11 is still the only day I have ever just not gone to work — called in sick, sure, but I just couldn’t move from my television, watching my beloved city scream in agony as a monster stabbed a poisoned blade through its heart.

This is worse.…