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BUSH PRAISES SWIFTNESS OF HURRICANE RITA PHOTO-OPS

But Says Government Must Create Impression of Concern Even Faster in Future

In a televised speech to the nation last night, President George W. Bush praised the Federal government for responding swiftly to Hurricane Rita with well-crafted, high-quality photo opportunities showing him looking concerned, but said that the government needs to create the impression of concern even faster in the future.

Mr. Bush said the fact that the government provided the first images of him looking grave and engaged in the crisis even before Hurricane Rita slammed into the Texas and Louisiana coastline showed that it had learned the lessons of Hurricane Katrina.

“After Hurricane Katrina, it was hours before the American people saw the first photos of me furrowing my brow and looking serious,” Mr. Bush said. “But with Rita, we had high-quality images of me looking worried right from the get-go.”

While praising the swiftness of the government’s photo-op response to Rita, the president said that “much work still needs to be done” to ensure that the government will produce high-quality post-disaster photo-ops even faster in the future.

To that end, he said he was creating a new government bureaucracy, the Federal Emergency Image Management Agency, which would provide the president with lighting, cameras, and dramatic backdrops within minutes of any national emergency.

“In times of crisis, the president needs to send the American people the following message,” the president concluded. “Message: I look like I care.”

Elsewhere, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher wed in a private ceremony over the weekend, vowing to love, honor and obey each other longer than Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney.

Borowitzreport.com

A military jury has sentenced Army Pfc. Lynndie England to three years for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

ORLANDO TIZON, otizon@tassc.org, http://www.tassc.org

Tizon is the assistant director of Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International and a survivor of torture under the Marcos regime in the Philippines. He said today: “Lynndie England was convicted and sentenced but that is not satisfactory for us. It’s obvious that the rank and file people are the small fry. What we would like to know is the whole story: what really happened, from the memos down. Available information clearly indicates that this isn’t a case of just a few bad apples. What we want is a credible independent investigation, and just ‘bipartisan’ is not good enough because my experience has been that bipartisan can also be biased. I think the U.S. should create an
independent investigation commission and invite international participation. That would help with the credibility of the investigation, and it would be a very concrete way for the United States to reach out to the international community, to show that we are serious about investigating what really happened and continues to happen, and we would like to redeem ourselves and regain a sense of morality.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

George W is the kind of guy who’ll gladly sacrifice your life for his country.

http://updates.jimhightower.com/ctt.asp?u=1659651&l=106466

PETER IRONS, [via Kate Pruss, kate.pruss@hholt.com],

http://www.AmericanEmpireProject.com

Author of the just-released book “War Powers: How the Imperial Presidency Hijacked the Constitution,” Irons said today: “There’s no question that John Roberts is an advocate of virtually unlimited executive power. He has already voted on the circuit court to allow the president to hold alleged enemy combatants indefinitely, for example in Guantanamo.

It’s ironic that the supposed advocates of ‘original intent’ don’t apply that doctrine when it comes to war powers — the framers made it clear that the Congress and not the president should make decisions about going to war.” Irons has written several books about the Supreme Court including “A People’s History of the Supreme Court.”

From: Institute for Public Accuracy

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/article313730.ece

“For decades, corporations have known that, if they lobby for their own interests, public opinion won’t take them seriously,” begins the Independent’s article on the “most influential” third party groups
that have aligned with businesses to oppose action on climate change. They include the Congress of Racial Equality, once “the ‘shock troops’ of the civil rights movement” but, after accepting
funding from ExxonMobil “to assist with ‘global climate outreach’,” now notorious for shouting down “environmentalists picketing an Exxon Mobil shareholders meeting.” Other U.S. groups are the
conservative think tanks the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation, the American Petroleum Institute, and Dick Cheney’s National Energy Policy Development Group, which, “despite
the energy sector’s record profits,” successfully pushed “a $20bn handout to oil, coal and nuclear industries.” British groups on the list include the Scientific Alliance, Supporters of Nuclear Energy,
Society of Motor Manufacturers and Confederation of British Industry.

SOURCE: The Independent (UK), September 20, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/4006