carapace – Not your father's america

BROWNIE ISSUES 2,000-PAGE BOOK OF PEOPLE HE BLAMES
Points Finger at President, Local Officials, Angelina Jolie

Following up his testimony to a panel of lawmakers on Tuesday, former FEMA chief Michael D. Brown today published a 2,000-page book of people he blames for the poor emergency response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

The book, entitled “People Other Than Me Who Should Be Blamed,” has received mix reviews from the press, with the New York Times calling it “The Da Vinci Code of finger-pointing.”

But Mr. Brown defended his decision to write the book, telling reporters, “My only regret is that I didn’t have another 2,000 pages to blame more people.”

The book contains the names of virtually every federal and local official, including President Bush and the Governor of Louisiana, but it also includes the New Orleans phone book in its entirety.

“Let’s face it, the people of New Orleans took their merry time in getting out of there,” Mr. Brown said.

The ex-FEMA chief also explained the surprising inclusion of actress Angelina Jolie on the list: “I’m sure she was on the minds of some of the male emergency workers and that made it harder for them to concentrate.”

As for his future, Mr. Brown said that he resigned from FEMA to spend more time with his family, but acknowledged that because of poor planning it might take days or even weeks for him to reach his family.

Elsewhere, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said that he only sold his HCA Inc. stock at a great personal profit because he saw a videotape of Terry Schiavo in which she appeared to be telling him to do so.

Borowitzreport.com

http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/

Indictment Likely to Keep Tom DeLay from Heaven

The political future of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is in doubt today after he was indicted on a conspiracy charge. But the current heat on Mr. DeLay is nothing in comparison to what he’ll experience if ethics charges result in him being ‘left behind’ to face a seven-year period of war, disease, famine and natural disaster known as the Tribulation.

Experts cite strict Biblical prohibition against taking bribes

Dear Working Families e-Activist,

Gulf Coast workers don’t deserve a pay cut.

Sign the petition now.

People everywhere are outraged that President Bush took pay protections away from the workers who will rebuild the Gulf Coast.

We need to turn our outrage to action and restore decent pay for Gulf Coast workers.

Please sign our petition now.

(Click here.) http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/OpqVob51nPbr/

Workers in the Gulf Coast have lost so much—many lost their homes, belongings and jobs. Some lost family members. Now they’ve lost decent pay, too.

When President Bush signed that executive order taking away community “prevailing wage” standards for construction workers who will rebuild the Gulf Coast, he took hope from working families trying to put their lives back together. We can’t allow this to happen.

Please turn your outrage to action and help restore decent pay for Gulf Coast workers. Click the following link to sign our petition now:

(Click here.)

http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/OpqVob51nPbr/

There is no way a just America can allow pay to be cut for Gulf Coast workers—especially while politically connected contractors are getting fat no-bid contracts and the wealthiest Americans are getting massive new tax breaks. And especially when the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina exposed how workers in the Gulf desperately need decent wages.

Let’s be clear: The community wage standards President Bush cut were very modest to begin with. Federal law simply required that federal contractors not lower community construction wages—wages that average about $9.50 an hour in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, less than $20,000 a year for skilled, full-time work. Why in the world should these workers get pay cuts?

At least nine times in the past decade, right-wing extremists in the Republican Party tried in Congress to repeal or undermine the law that requires federal contractors to pay the “prevailing wage” for the region in which they are working. None of the efforts succeeded. But the Bush administration has taken advantage of Katrina to do what it could not do otherwise.

Please take a moment to sign our Petition for Decent Pay in the Gulf Coast. President Bush and your members of Congress will get a message immediately letting them know you have signed it. Click here:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/protect_workers

Once you have signed the petition, please urge the people you know who care about working families and decent pay to sign it, too. Can you get five people to sign? 10? 25? The more signatures we get, the more we’ll be heard. Please click this link to send a message to your friends:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/protect_workers/forward

Thank you for helping restore decent pay in the Gulf Coast.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
Sept. 28, 2005

P.S. Please forward this e-mail to your co-workers, friends and family. Together we’ll fight to protect workers and their families in the Gulf Coast.

an attempt to purge industry’s lobbyists of any and all Democrats, and to make sure that “…even the secretaries…” are “conservative Republican activists.”

They’ve just about succeeded.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10407.htm

From: Poacnewsletter

MIKE GRAVEL, sengravel@ni4d.us, http://ni4d.us

While a senator from Alaska, Gravel was a noted critic of the Vietnam War. Gravel was quoted on an Institute for Public Accuracy news release on Aug. 2, 2002: “This is a déj