Are you better off today, than you were 4.5 years ago? That's the question the Democrats should be asking.
What scares me is the fact that we have 3.5 years more of this Administration and this pResident. I feel like I am living on the edge of insanity. Good God, what else could happen?
Posted by Judith at September 6, 2005 02:56 AMWell, at least some of the Republicans are pissed-off. Lott just said "if he (Brown) doesn't do something soon, what I am going to do to him, well, it won't be pretty."
Posted by Judith at September 6, 2005 03:38 AMBarbara Bush, who accompanied the former presidents on a tour of the Astrodome complex Monday, said the relocation to Houston is "working very well" for some of the poor people forced out of New Orleans.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality," she said during a radio interview with the American Public Media program "Marketplace." "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."
Tell me she didn't just say that.
Posted by ann at September 6, 2005 05:49 AMToon of the Day: Seperate, but...
Posted by jjoats at September 6, 2005 06:01 AMA long autumn? Try a long three years. Try a long lifetime.
I'm not in the best of moods, these days. Sorry.
Posted by euzoius at September 6, 2005 06:01 AMNow is the time for the Bush families to step up, set the example for the rest of us. How many "refugees" could be housed in Barbara Bush's mansion? And nice little Laura could cook up some cookies for them, instead of only for the news reporters. Some refugees could be moved the few hundred miles to Crawford and be put up in George's extra bedrooms and back porch. He could also create a few jobs for them cutting brush so they could have some spending $. And old Jeb: he has been the recipient of lots of help---why can't he take some of them into his huge house.
I mean, that's what they want the rest of us to do so they should step up here and show us where their hearts really are.
Posted by Hank at September 6, 2005 06:15 AMann, and she kind of chuckled when she said it.
Barbara Bush audio, a beautiful mind and all that..
and if disease breaks out in Katrina's wake, Bush will say it never occured to him that germs could be in that water....nobody wrote him a letter to warn him, so there was nothing he could do.
Posted by T2 at September 6, 2005 06:41 AMHow will the influx of refugees to Texas affect their electoral politics? Will they vote as Texans after many months of residency? They'll be there over a year by the 2006 congressional mid-terms. I look for Texas to try to block their participation. And what of the decimated districts all along the Gulf coast? I'd wager many citizens intending to return will want a say in their next Representative or Senator. Yet they'll be out of district, many with new jobs and new residences acquired or rented. I haven't heard of these considerations mulled over publicly. Anyone have thoughts or info on the legalities involved?
Posted by steve duncan at September 6, 2005 06:46 AMSteve, could they vote absentee?
Posted by Judith at September 6, 2005 07:09 AMLast I knew, you just had to declare your desire to live in Texas to become a resident . . (Doonesbury, 1991)
I'd think all those refugees could easily argue Texas residency if the same rules were in effect. That is until the Lege freaked and passed something applicibly restrictive . .
Posted by idiosynchronic at September 6, 2005 07:20 AMJudith, my main curiosity is how long can you live full time somewhere and still lay claim to being a resident elsewhere. I live in Indiana. If a tornado destroyed my home could I move to Houston, live there over a year, get a job and rent an apartment there, and then mail in an absentee ballot in a Senate race here in Indiana claiming sooner or later, circumstances permitting, I intended to move back to Indiana? I'm sure there's a byzantine patchwork quilt of laws governing these issues and it'll be interesting to see it play out.
Posted by steve duncan at September 6, 2005 07:20 AMAnd we know how well absentee votes are counted (if counted at all).
Posted by the professor at September 6, 2005 07:22 AMTo be qualified to vote, perhaps all they will need to do is put in a change of address. Obviously, I don't know the answer, but the question is an interesting one. You can be sure that if this Administration can find a way, their votes will never be counted or they will be denied the right to vote. By-the-way, who decided to send most of them to Texas?
Posted by Judith at September 6, 2005 07:47 AMWe are not yet at the peak of hurricane season (Sept. 10) and since Katrina we have had Lee, Maria, and Nate in the Atlantic. Fortunately nothing in the Gulf - so far. But this is looking to be a record-breaking year for numbers of named storms.
Posted by Greg in FL at September 6, 2005 07:58 AMWe need to watch what could become Ophelia...right now just a disturbance off the east coast of FLA in the Bahamas...where Katrina started...will not be good for LA/MS/AL if it follows Katrina's path.
Posted by the professor at September 6, 2005 08:02 AMKatrina and Ophelia?
Someone check Bill's grave in Stratford - because I think the spinning will lay waste to that little chapel.
Posted by idiosynchronic at September 6, 2005 08:12 AMLOL, Centrist!
I think many are better off now than in 2000. Home prices have doubled for many. Interest rates have been low, extending people's purchasing power. Average wealth is at the highest levels ever. Folks who dollar cost averaged into the stock market since 2000 have actually seen gains.
Folks here complain about wage growth, but inflation has been low, so they haven't seen a large loss in purchasing power. In addition, most of the wage growth in the late 90's was artificial due to the stock market mania in technology, that we were bound to see some regression to the mean.
Posted by muckdog at September 6, 2005 08:34 AMOh, look, the sociopaths are back to crow that they've got theirs. All class, huh?
Posted by iamcoyote at September 6, 2005 08:46 AMhow long can you live full time somewhere and still lay claim to being a resident elsewhere
Well, Steve, how long did Cheney live in Texas and yet still run for VP as a resident of Wyoming? I think Gonzales might be able to help with this one.
And speaking of that, where is Cheney?
Posted by ann at September 6, 2005 08:59 AMHey Muck,
Save that shit for the head bobbing, spoon fed, kool-aid drinkers who never question anything their talk radio gods tell them. Next thing you'll be pulling a Babs and telling us how lucky those NO folks are because now they all have waterfront property.
Go back under your bridge!
Posted by Dave at September 6, 2005 09:04 AMThe ecological disaster could be worse than we could have thought...
it seems that a toxic landfill site on which housing was built in central new orleans is now under floodwaters with the potential to pollute and contaminate portions of the gulf coast
http://xnerg.blogspot.com/2005/09/yes.html
Posted by jillian at September 6, 2005 09:08 AMThe ecological disaster could be worse than we could have thought...it seems that a toxic landfill site on which housing was built in central new orleans is now under floodwaters with the potential to pollute and contaminate portions of the gulf coast
jillian, this has been my biggest concern since I first heard about the flooding. LA is one of those dirt poor states who, like a third world country, has accepted polluting industries and has taken garbage and toxic waste from other states for revenue. LA is one of the most polluted states in the country. It's far, far worse than anyone really understands at this point. How do you remediate when all the mix of chemicals and toxins mix together and get spread all over, released into the Gulf and washed into the rivers and streams?
fuck off muckdog.....
Posted by headxray at September 6, 2005 09:31 AMI've been saying something like this for the last couple of days, since the refugee airlift began:
If many of these people couldn’t afford to get out of town to avoid a hurricane, who’s to say they will be able to leave their new “home” to return to New Orleans when the city is ready?
The Flashlight post talks about the changes to the voter rolls and the change in electoral balance.
Me, I can't help but think about the return of the Internment Camps. All it would take is spin stating that, "These people contributed to and abetted a state of lawlessness where women were brutally raped, babies killed, and the elderly were abused. Until the safety of New Orleans can be guaranteed while these refugees are reintroduced, the Federal government has chosen to hold the refugees in protective custody in secure portions of Utah, Nevada, and other locations."
Posted by idiosynchronic at September 6, 2005 09:34 AMThis is rich. Bush is going to lead an investigation into whether the federal govt. responded properly to Katrina. Can you imagine the howls if Clinton had announced he was leading an investigation into whether he was a philanderer? Bush needs to investigate whether he's a fuck-up? Results speak louder than words on that score.
Posted by steve duncan at September 6, 2005 09:48 AMAnyone following the story out of Utah about evacuees being taken to a National Guard base in Utah and all the secrecy that is surrounding it?
Posted by pessimist at September 6, 2005 10:03 AMSteve Duncan,
they have already decided who/what to blame it on - "bureaucracy". bush has killed this country - its time to escape.
pessimist, I wouldn't be surprised if the evacuees are visited by military recruiters next. "Hey, you've already lost everything, why not join the Armed Forces? You'll get to travel, have regular meals, clean water, new clothes."
Posted by ann at September 6, 2005 10:13 AMmuckdog...
Home prices have doubled for many. For those well off enough to own a home.
Average wealth is at the highest levels ever. Yeah, becuase the top end of hte spectrum has way outpaced the lower end.
Folks who dollar cost averaged into the stock market since 2000 have actually seen gains. Probably doesn't apply to many of those who don't own a home.
Folks here complain about wage growth, but inflation has been low, so they haven't seen a large loss in purchasing power. Until you look at gas costing over twice what it did when Bush took over.
In addition, most of the wage growth in the late 90's was artificial due to the stock market mania in technology, that we were bound to see some regression to the mean. Net worth growth in the '90's maybe..but not much wage growth for those on teh bottom of the spectrum. And what growth there was was due in large part to the increase in minimum wage in 1997.
Posted by the professor at September 6, 2005 10:38 AMHome prices have doubled for many.
And those high prices are pearched upon group psycology so flimsy that they make the late 90's tech bubble look solid as gold.
Posted by rlp at September 6, 2005 11:17 AMsee the Salt Lake Tribune for today's coverage of the evacuees
http://www.sltrib.com/
Posted by Katherine Hunter at September 6, 2005 11:50 AM“We started singing, bye, bye, dear American lives,”
“Bush drove his budget-cutting Chevy through the levee but the levee wasn’t dry,”
“He must have gone back to drinking whiskey and rye,”
“It’s so sad this will be another DUI,”
“For these are the days that they died, these are the days that they died.”
Extending the verse of Maureen Dowd
Posted by at September 6, 2005 12:10 PMAnn, Cheney will be in NO next week.
Posted by Judith at September 6, 2005 01:53 PMYes Steve, Bush and Congress will do the investigating on what went wrong. Any bets on whose fault it will be?
Posted by Judith at September 6, 2005 01:59 PMHey, where are the big pricks like Haggerty, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, etc. Are they donating money, clothes, time? I don't see them on TV leading the charge to help these people. What is Operation Blessings doing, other than collecting money for themselves?
Posted by Judith at September 6, 2005 02:46 PM