I stopped counting all the surreal moments of Mr. Bush's “presidency,” but they just keep coming no matter what. I'll spare any commentary, because Rick Wilking's photo just sums it all up. But in case you don't know the context of this image, let me set it: Wednesday, 14 September 2005, the United Nations as the leader of the free world sits with his secretary of state and ambassador to the U.N.:



'Nuff said.

Perhaps the "insurgents" in Iraq were just waiting for the media coverage of Hurricane Katrina to subside before embarking on another rampage that's claimed the lives of scores of Iraqis. Ah, the tragedy of it all: hundreds killed, a city destroyed, and the U.S. government looking increasingly inept.

While I am not one of those who will blame an act of nature against people in Washington, I am aware that if it were a Democrat in the Oval Office, impeachment charges would already have been filed. Let's face it: the federal response to Katrina is a stunningly bad one, and if any terrorists wanted encouragement, they got it with the lack of planning and glacial moves on part of the government to offer assistance. But we've treaded down this path before, and other more urbane minds have commented on the woeful state of the world's superpower to protect its own people.

I suppose that I am writing more out of a sense of "what do we do now?" I don't know about you, but I feel lost and a little confused. I do know that rebuilding the Gulf Coast that will require billions of dollars, and we see the true face of these misnamed "compassionate conservatives" howling that such reconstruction means federal spending. This is the point that I don't get: how can you complain about federal spending in light of a natural catastrophe, when so many peoples' livelihoods and homes have been destroyed? There is something deeply ugly about conservative philosophy if it has a problem with public works (which it has for a long, long time) but claims that religion is their guiding principle? I don't think "hypocrisy" covers it well: perhaps the phrase "indifference to human suffering" is the best way to describe it.

While I know that she never actually said these words, the conversatives who bitch about federal spending in times of disaster are sounding more and more like Marie Antoinette. There isn't a lot of spoon-clanging when it comes to funding our Iraqi Expedition, but helping out the darkies here at home suddenly gets everyone riled up, with plenty of bib-dribbling over the phantom that is "big government." Perhaps if we pass through more tax breaks will conservatives on Capitol Hill will agree to resurrecting New Orleans.

"Compassionate conservatism" is just another way of saying "let the dead bury the dead." What a way to get future voters.

One thousand four hundred sixty one is not just a number: it's the days uber-terrorist mastermind Usama bin Laden has been running around free since the attacks on America four years ago.

If you don't remember much about bin Laden, I'm not too suprised because he's long dropped off the radar. Before Hurricane Katrina gobbled up most of the attention, we kept hearing about the never-ending debacle that is our Iraqi Expedition and the wave of violence that swept the broken country during the summer. No one talked about Usama or the need to find him. We heard a lot of noise about Saddam Hussein and his impending trial, and since the Administration is still hell-bent on linking him with 9/11, he'll be our Usama by proxy. If we can't get the real mastermind, we'll settle for an alleged one.

But I digress. Four years after those initial attacks, where are we? We're fighting a global war on terror, and for folks in the Midwest, the fact that there hasn't been a terrorist attack in America since then is good enough to slap the back of Bush and say he's doing a heck of job. Of course, these people don't understand the broader picture, but that phrase sounds like "facts" and we know facts get in the way of feeling better about ourselves. We have an army bogged down in a hostile country that continues to pull apart, then together, then apart again depending on what day of the week it is. The North Koreans don't fear us and the Iranians have been getting bolder and bolder.

So I ask again, America: where are we four years later?

This is why I can't stand Republicans:

...some Republicans suggested that the impact could prove fleeting in this age of fast-moving events, and that Mr. Bush's visit to the region on Friday had helped some in addressing concerns about his response.

"Next Tuesday the Roberts hearings start, and that's going to occupy a significant part of the daily coverage," said Richard N. Bond, a former Republican chairman, referring to the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. (New York Times, Sept. 4, 2005)

Now, bear in mind that this statement comes from a party that has consistently milked 9/11 for every bit of political capital that couldn't be spent fast enough. I don't recall anyone in this country saying that within a few days of the collapse of the Twin Towers, the attack on the Pentagon, and a downed airliner in the fields of Pennsylvania that our collective attention would be diverted because of "fast-moving events."

What this asshole remark indicates is that scores of dead darkies is just a too-bad, so sad event that can easily take a back seat to a more important event like nominating another white guy to the Supreme Court. And now that Rehnquist is dead, oh well, I guess all those crying niggers in New Orleans should shut the fuck up and stop talking to the media.

Do we need any more proof that the Republican Party does not give a flying fuck about New Orleans? That self-serving elected piggies are patting themselves on the back for passing an emergency spending bill? Great, wow, just in time to see another flotilla of corpses going on by. This disaster is worse than 9/11, if for no other reason than the scope of the destruction and the number of people dead.

But of course, you can't declare a war against Mother Nature, and she's not sitting on one big oil depot, so let's just chock it up to an "act of God" and change the channel.