Miasma in the House of Bite Me
Grassroots journalism & current events, cyberculture, technology, privacy, with a little new criticism, feminism, postmodernism, radical pedagogy, & new media theory thrown in.
A Miasma is a bad smell


Well-Worn Paths

Net Politics & Cyberculture

News & Politics

Web Design & Interactivity

Apocalyptic Visions

Poets in Blogland

Blogrolling

Stats



Subscribe to "Miasma in the House of Bite Me" in Radio UserLand.

Click to see the XML version of this web page.

Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.

Is my Blog Hot or Not?



Comments by: YACCS

 

 

Sunday, June 29, 2003
 

Makes you wonder why the government can spend billions to bail out the airline industry, but can't even gasp any kind of a commitment to Amtrak. A common carrier is a common carrier, if you ask me.

But no, we pay to bail out these monopolistic fuckwads, we bend over for those searches to fly, we are soon to get X-ray scanned so all the screeners will soon be able to see us naked, we leave our bags unlocked so the unscreened and no-criminal-history-check brand new federal screeners can find some new stuff to fence, and on top of that, TIA and John Poindexter will keep a database of our every movement on this planet.

Hey, I ain't getting on an airplane for nobody. I can be fucked over just fine in the safety of my own home.

Miasma

Airport feds rip off travellers. The Transport Security Agency requires all fliers to travel with their luggage unlocked, so that highly trustworthy federal employees can rummage through them and ensure that they are WMD-free. And steal things. TSA employees are ripping off choice items ($1,000 binox and such) from the mandatorily-unlocked bags of America's travellers. I feel safer already.

Link

Discuss [Boing Boing Blog]

2:41:30 PM       Google it!


"The Memory Hole > 5-Minute Video of George W. Bush on the Morning of 9/11" [Daypop Top 40]

At 9:03 AM on 11 September 2001, the second airplane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center. President Bush was in Florida, at the Emma T. Booker Elementary School, listening to children read. Chief of Staff Andrew Card came over and whispered in Bush's ear, "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack."

What did the Commander in Chief do? Nothing. He sat there. He sat for well over 5 minutes, doing nothing while 3,000 people were dying and the attacks were still in progress.

Not only did the leader of the free world sit as his country was attacked, the Secret Service also did nothing. Bush was appearing in public at a previously announced photo-op. He was a sitting duck. The attacks were ongoing at that point (planes had yet to hit the Pentagon or the field in Pennsylvania), and nobody knew how much more destruction was going to happen. Were there two, three, four, eight more planes hijacked and on their way to crash into prominent buildings? Was one headed for the school, where anyone who checked the President's public itinerary would know he was located? Were other terrorists planning to detonate dirty nukes? Were they going to release anthrax or smallpox or sarin? Was an assassination squad going to burst into the school and get Bush? Was a suicide bomber going to ram a truck full of explosives into that classroom?

During the midst of the attacks, any of these things could've happened. Yet there sits Bush, seemingly unconcerned. His Chief of Staff likewise doesn't think that America in flames warrants the President's immediate attention. And the Secret Service utterly fails to do its job by grabbing the President of the United States and getting him to safety. It's truly inexplicable.

And it's something the administration isn't too eager to trumpet. They haven't released footage of the President's (non)actions during this historic moment of American history. Until now, the only available footage had been a little film put together by Booker Elementary. [See it here.] The problem is, there's a jump edit in the footage: From the time Card whispers to Bush until the end of the scene in the classroom, only 2 minutes and 10 seconds elapse.

But this new, fuller footage shows Bush sitting for a full five minutes after he'd been told that "America is under attack."

He declined to take action even longer than this, but unfortunately this footage ends before he leaves the classroom. Thanks to an amazing article by Allan Wood and Paul Thompson, we know what happened after the footage suddenly cuts off:

The only source to describe what happened next is Fighting Back by Bill Sammon. Publishers Weekly described Sammon's book as an "inside account of the Bush administration's reaction to 9-11 [and] a breathless, highly complimentary portrait of the president [showing] the great merit and unwavering moral vision of his inner circle." [Publisher's Weekly, 10/15/02] Sammon's conservative perspective makes his account of Bush's behavior at the end of the photo-op all the more surprising. Bush is described as smiling and chatting with the children "as if he didn't have a care in the world" and "in the most relaxed manner imaginable." White House aide Gordon Johndroe, then came in as he usually does at the end of press conferences, and said, "Thank you, press. If you could step out the door we came in, please." A reporter then asked, "Mr. President, are you aware of the reports of the plane crash in New York? Is there anything...", But Bush interrupted, and no doubt recalling his order, "DON'T SAY ANYTHING YET," Bush responded, "I'll talk about it later." But still the president did not leave. "He stepped forward and shook hands with [classroom teacher] Daniels, slipping his left hand behind her in another photo-op pose. He was taking his good old time. ... Bush lingered until the press was gone." [Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism - From Inside the Bush White House, by Bill Sammon, 10/02, p. 90]

For a detailed portrait of what Bush did and didn't do on 9/11, you can do no better than to read this article here. It is based completely on reports from mainstream media and statements from government officials.

Apologists claim that Bush didn't leave simply because he didn't want to interrupt and upset the children, but this falls apart for several reasons:

1) America is being attacked, thousands are dying, and Bush doesn't know if we're facing nuclear, biological, or chemical attacks, as well. Couldn't he just say, "Excuse me, kids, I need to take care of something. It's part of being President, y'understand. I'll be back as soon as I can."

2) At the moment Card told Bush about the second plane, the children weren't reading to Bush. They had finished reading words from an easel and were reaching under their chairs for a book when Card whispered to Bush. Another 30 seconds would elapse before they started reading again. This pause was a perfect time for Bush to politely excuse himself.

3) By staying, he not only endangered his own life, but the lives of all of those children. Wouldn't it be better to risk upsetting them than to risk letting them die in a terror attack?

4) Even if Bush was afraid of hurting the kiddies' feelings, what about the Secret Service? Have they been trained not to attempt to save the President's life if it might bother some schoolchildren?

5) What about Chief of Staff Andrew Card, White House Spokesperson Ari Fleischer, and other officials who were in that classroom? Didn't they feel that a 21st-century Pearl Harbor and a potential attack on the President himself were worth some sort of action?

6) Finally, and most damningly, this excuse doesn't explain why Bush continued to mill around the classroom for several minutes after the children had finished reading.

Somewhere, someone has the complete, uncut footage of Bush in Booker Elementary, from the time he enters the classroom until he finally walks out. If you have this footage, please send it to me.

This video was obtained from The Education Channel in Sarasota, Florida. You can get a copy by sending $35 to:

Ms. Leanne McIntire The Education Channel 3301 Proctor Road Sarasota FL 34231

Ask for the raw footage of President Bush at Booker Elementary on the morning of 11 Sept 2001. Specify whether you want VHS or Super VHS. (The latter is broadcast quality but doesn't play on regular VCRs.)

2:11:46 PM       Google it!


The most amazing part if it, if this is true, is the clearly unvarnished interest in subverting any semblance of democracy in exchange for what some undoubtably presume is permanent political power. As in, the kind that corrupts absolutely. Lest anyone think the Republicans have even the slightest interest in maintaining the heritage of the US Constitution and the intentions of the founders. Welcome to the Age of US Empire. Say goodbye to the Roman Republic.

Miasma

K street antics. Welcome to the Machine This article in the Washington Monthly describes a long term project of the Republican party to change the largely bipartisan nature of K street lobbying firms and install Republican thought leaders. In return for political benefits to the lobbyists clients, the lobbyists and their clients are expected to play nice with the Republicans on other issues. K Street has been a moderating influence against drastic change, as some constituent always objects. Under this new right-wing symbiotic relationship, individual interests are somewhat subordinated to the right-wing agenda. One of the more fascinating aspects is how it dramatically improves Republican fundraising; for instance:

"For years, conservatives have been pushing to divert part of Social Security into private investment accounts. Such a move, GOP operatives argued, would provide millions of new customers and potentially trillions of dollars to the mutual fund industry that would manage the private accounts. The profits earned would, of course, be shared with the GOP in the form of campaign contributions. In other words, by sluicing the funds collected by the federal government's largest social insurance program through businesses loyal to the GOP, the party would instantly convert the crown jewels of Democratic governance into a pillar of the new Republican machine. "

Of course the whole premise of this system rests upon continued Republican control. If the Democrats can wrest back control of the House and Senate, or install another strong president some of these lobbyists and their constituents will likely find themselves closed out of the process. Oh what a lovely way to govern. (via The Filibuster) [MetaFilter]

1:36:30 PM       Google it!



Click here to visit the Radio UserLand website. © Copyright 2003 Miasma.
Last update: 4/7/03; 1:42:15 AM.
This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.


Read and Release at BookCrossing.com... The Karma of Literature... BookCrossing.com

< ? blogs by women # >

June 2003
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30          
May   Jul

Read House of Bite Me in:
German - Spanish - French
Italian - Portuguese



Archives
June   July   August  
September October November 
December  January

Categories
Favorite Links
News to Note
Privacy and Free Speech
Democracy
Photography
Writing
Cyberculture
Singing the Bite Me Song

Recent Posts

Stories
The Day the Constitution Died Parts I & II
Miasma Gets Philosophical
Salon's Take on Toby Young
XML Discussion with David Weinberger
The Face of Treason Pt 1
The Face of Treason Pt 2
Wacky Theory: What the Bush Adm says and What It Might Actually Mean
Response to Clay Shirky: 2 Systems for Creating Value
Iron Curtain vs. Velvet Curtain
Google's Moment of Truth
The Media Bias Myth