Where's the Outrage?

According to today’s WashingtonPost.com – “A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post.”

The twists and turns of Delay’s TRAMPAC are well documented by the Texas Observer (author Lou Debose almost single-handedly kept this story alive).

We have a long way to go to rid politics of folks like Delay who rule the House like a mobster rules the streets. Delay is one of the reasons that there is no debate and no compromise in the House. America will benefit from his leaving the political scene, in my humble opinion.

Tags: House of Representatives, Legal by ecthompson md
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So we thought that the local, state and federal agencies would have learned a few things from Katrina. Well, they did but not enough. A bus carrying elderly out of the Houston caught fire and exploded on the highway killing 20. Gas stations have run out of gas. I-45 has been a parking lot for the last 2 days. From Dallas to Houston to Shreveport – there is no gas, no bottled water, no food staples – This is a HUGE area. Unless you have a chartered flight out of the region by now, you are stuck! Bush is going to Austin today to personally look over the shoulder of Governor Rick Perry (someone known for great hair and not great policy) who was hand picked to be Governor by Bush in 2000.

Tags: FEMA, Katrina by ecthompson md
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“Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government and to the extent the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility,” Bush said. What? Is this a new political move? Or a new game To Tell the Truth?

Watch the video:

Watch CBS Videos Online

Tags: FEMA, Katrina by ecthompson md
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Did we learn anything from 3 days of political dancing? Why can’t nominees really answer questions?

From CNN.com:

Chief justice nominee John Roberts on Monday promised to approach the law with “a certain humility” and told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he has “no agenda” on the bench.

His comments came on the first day of confirmation hearings for the vacant Supreme Court seat — the first such hearing for a chief justice in 19 years.

Democrats on the committee pledged tough questioning of the federal judge, while Republicans countered he had the right to refuse to provide specifics on hot-button issues. (more…)

Tags: Supreme court by ecthompson md
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So, 4 years after September 11th what have we done? To remember the innocent lives what have we done to make this nation safer?

1. We are clearly less safe than we were on 9/11/01. We have started a breeding ground for terrorists in Iraq. This is the prefect training ground in which crazy’s can kill Americans and sharpen their skills at making roadside bombs and using other weapons.
2. Our response to a disaster in which we knew it was coming was/is laughable. suppose that was Al Qaeda attacking the refinaries in the New Orleans area. How would our response had been?
3. Well at least we have secured Afghanistan and made it a stable democracy. NOT!! More American’s have died this year in Afghanistan than died during the Afghan War.
4. Taliban leaders and our friend Bin Laden are still free and clear.

What have we done in the last 4 years?

From NYT:

Call it closure of a sort – at least for some. On the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed thousands and felled this city’s most prominent buildings, what turned out to be the final minutes of life for many of the firefighters at the front lines of emergency rescue efforts are clearer than they were.

The firefighters had 29 minutes to get out of the World Trade Center or die. Inside the north tower, though, almost none of them realized how urgent it had become to leave.

They had no idea that less than 200 feet, or 60 meters, away, the south tower had already collapsed in a life-crushing, earth-shaking heap. Nor did the firefighters know that their commanders on the street, and police helicopter pilots in the sky, were warning that the north tower was on the edge of the same fate.

Until last month, the extent of their isolation from critical information in the final 29 minutes had officially been a secret. For three and a half years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg refused to release the Fire Department’s oral histories of Sept. 11, 2001. Under court order, however, 12,000 pages were made public in August.

On close review, those accounts give a bleaker version of events than either Bloomberg or former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani presented to the 9/11 Commission. Both had said that many of the firefighters who perished in the north tower realized the terrible danger of the moment but chose to stay in the building to rescue civilians. (more…)

Tags: Terrorism, War on Terror by ecthompson md
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Just as it looks that the news from New Orleans is getting better, Justice William Rehnquist dies. This opens a second spot on the high court. He was clearly a man who served his country well. He was dedicated. He worked up until a couple of days ago. He was originally appointed by Reagan then elevated to Chief Justice by Bush (41). I’m deeply saddened by his passing. I’m afraid that Roberts will look like a bleeding heart liberal compared to whomever Bush picks to replace Rehnquist.

From CNN.com:

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who quietly advanced the conservative ideology of the Supreme Court under his leadership, died Saturday evening. He was 80.

The justice, diagnosed with thyroid cancer, had a tracheotomy and received chemotherapy and radiation as part of his treatment.

Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Rehnquist had “continued to perform his duties on the Court until a precipitous decline in his health the last couple of days.”

Then with his three children beside him, the justice died at his suburban Virginia home, a court spokeswoman said. (more…)

Tags: Domestic Issues, Economy, Supreme court by ecthompson md
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