Let Them Eat

There are some families who should be encouraged never to speak in public. I think you know who I'm talkin' about.

Faced with another horrific disaster, George W. Bush decided once again to bring someone Presidential to bear; namely, his Dad and Bill Clinton. And with them on Monday came their former first wives, and -- true to form -- Barbara Bush made another gross faux pas right out of the gate. Down to the Astrodome, to comfort the refugees, she just couldn't help herself. Of course it was a slip of the tongue; of course she's just mortified now. But it's not funny anymore and it's too goddamned late. This isn't a case of adding a syllable or 'misunderestimating' her grasp on the english language, and she's not addled. These are the kind of errors which betray deep running currents of century old insensitivities. This woman is not of our world. In case you missed it:

"Almost everyone I’ve talked to wants to move to Houston. What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this (chuckle), this is working very well for them,"-- Mrs. Bush

This from a woman who knows a bit about privilege. And what exactly is the US-RDA for privilege, Ma'am? Spelled a little bit like Private /Ivy League; rolls off the tongue, past the silver spoon. Well, fear not, Babs. Hours later the Governor of Texas declared a health emergency, demanded massive federal funds and requested that his invited 'guests' of some 20 hours leave the state. All 75,000 of them. I'd like to see a chart of all the money that will flow into Texas on account of this disaster in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Nixon admired Barbara Bush, because in his words, "She knows how to hate." And Dick knew a thing or two about hate. Dick knew he had it. The thing with Barbara is that she doesn't know. She doesn't know she's racist; she doesn't know she's classist; she doesn't know that her values, imbued in her son, have caused tens of thousands of deaths and the unraveling of nations. Clearly, she imagines herself the kindly old woman on the hill, and clearly, these unfortunates are exactly as she has always pictured them from above. Mainly, black.

What do you see, Barbara? Single mothers? Welfare cheats? Crack Babies? Men with no jobs and untucked shirts? Prostitutes? Criminals? The uninsured? Everything your menfolk warned you about on the other side of the tracks. Lack of family values.

Fuck you, Mrs. Bush. Just, please -- shut up.

Justice Comes Home

"You bury your dead," the man muttered, stunned, as he dug with a small shovel in his front yard in southern Mississippi over the weekend. "One thing the nuns used to say to me,'you bury your dead'. I don't know what else to do. Couldn't get 'em to high ground. I didn't know em. Now you have to leave."

It was on the news. What struck me was that the man looked quite a bit like John Roberts, only scared.

Nice Touch, Karl

They say once you've stage managed, you're ruined for life. You'll never enjoy another performance. It's difficult not to see the wires, notice the direction, and recognize when someone is calling the shots. And that's all fine; you wouldn't want anything to go wrong on a one-time, live for TV event you didn't get to rehearse. In this case, however, you just know that somewhere nearby, in some truck or behind a tree, Karl Rove is the shot caller. All the while the rest of us are being admonished not to politicize this maelstrom of 'unfortunate events', but not Karl. Karl Rove is, after all, the King Daddy of politics.

Tell me how this is not political. The Rehnquist family is not carrying the box. The remaining justices are not carrying the box. No Marine Guards. No colleagues. The President and Vice President, who owe this man their jobs, are not carrying the box. But a selection of former clerks? Poetry. With one of them bucking for the dead mans job. Amazing.

The guy driving on the left is speaking into his cuff. The odd man out, bringing up the back for no apparent reason, is wearing a transceiver. And of course, Supreme Court hopeful John Roberts is carrying the box. It strikes me as reminiscent of the funeral of Pope John Paul, with an uncomfortable Bush seated among world leaders he had brutally offended as recently as the week before. Karl went along for the ride, for no apparent reason, and in the end somehow all the world leaders were seated in alphabetical order, by country -- in French. Again, for no apparent reason, but Bush sat on the aisle and next to friendlies.

Again, none of this is important and that's all good, but do not tell me not get political.

The Fuck Starts Here

George Bush, observing 'first hand' and four days late the devastation over New Orleans, LA, in what the white house called an 'unprecidented' low level fly over aboard Air Force One. Strangely echoing nearly identical shots of him looking out over the smoldering World Trade Center in September of '01, in a previously unprecedented swoop.

"Heh -- get me making a fist. I look tough, don't I? Angry. Did you get that?"

Asked today by the house minority leader to fire Michael Brown, head of FEMA, Bush responded, "Why would I do that?" To the response, "Because of all the things that went wrong last week; all that didn't go right," Mr. Bush countered, "What went wrong?"

Oh, yeah. The buck stops here. With a dull thud.