What We Need

What We've Got


Now, maybe you can add the name "C. Ray" to the bottom picture too, but I can't think of better examples of GOP incompence then the twin disasters overseas and at home. Oh sure, the New York Times can huff, snort, and haughtily admonish--with some justification--Ray Nagin and other local officials for their "whims and foot-dragging," but...it took 10 months to get a committment from the feds, who are LIABLE for the vast majority of the damage in the first place. The Louisiana Recovery Administration was rejected, as was an initial "wish list"--roundly criticized for being "greedy," as if, one, our elected representatives shouldn't strongly advocate for their constituents, and two, the dredge buckets of money dumped in the coffers of Halliburton and others since 2001 somehow constitutes "fiscal responsibility." Oh, and three: as so many others point out, things like equitable, timely settlement of insurance claims have become both Labyrinthian and Sisyphean in scope.

Meanwhile, over there, some quick math tells me that the average cost of Operation- GOP-Executive/Legislative-Blather-and-Bluster is roughly two dead, sixteen wounded (US soldiers)...and around $240 million dollars...a day (btw: that doesn't include the other war we're losing in Asia). Which I guess shows more than anything else the lengths to which these twits will go to get re-elected.

Yeah, they'll do just about anything...except formulate a plan. And I'll toss that out as one suggestion for putting the GOP on the defensive this fall. Keep asking them, over and over, with as much or little respect as you want, but demand an answer: WHAT...IS...THE...PLAN?

If they think the costs overseas--and the cutting and running at home--are acceptable, then they should be forced on the record with their position--and hammered over the head ad nauseum for it. If not, then they need to be forced on the record with whatever position they DO have. And, to beat the dead horse one more time, and maybe kick it a bit, too, we should emphasize that we will not accept cheerleading in place of leading. Pompous declarations of "ultimate victory in the war on terror" are just more greenhouse gases. Empty promises of Gulf Coast restoration--or, worse, pious rantings about "corrupt local officials" excusing both a general national committment AND a specific national liability--are at the very least grounds for throwing the bums out, if not criminal prosecution. THEY control the national government. It's time they acted like it, instead of like irresponsible teenagers with the keys to daddy's sports car...and his platinum AmEx in their pockets.

The public deserves more than blather, bluster, and bloviating.