the road to political success really IS paved with gold!

The following information can be obtained by typing the name "Joe Allbaugh" into the search engine and information database Wikipedia.com.

Many people don't know who Joe Allbaugh is, so here is some background (without having to read five pages in Wikipedia):

Allbaugh served as George Bush's campaign manager when GW was running for Governor in Texas in 1994, and was again Campaign Manager for Bush's first Presidential run in 2000. After the George Bush became President, he got rid of James-Lee Witt and appointed Allbaugh as Director of FEMA. Allbaugh was director of FEMA for about 2 years, then he resigned on March 1st 2003. He was replaced by his college roomate Michael D. Brown, of "heck-of-a-job-Brownie" fame. It's a gigantic revolving door over there.

This is the incredible part. After his resignation, Allbaugh went to work for two companies: New Bridge Strategies, and Diligence Iraq. New Bridge Strategies is a consulting firm that helps clients "evaluate and take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the US-led war in Iraq" (Edsall, Thomas B. and Juliet Eilperin. "Lobbyists Set Sights On Money-Making Opportunities in Iraq". Washington Post, October 2, 2003, p. A21). Diligence Iraq is a security company that protects civilians working in Iraq. Big money on both parts.

He also opened his own firm, called the Allbaugh Company. They are essentially a lobbyist group that specializes in winning government contracts for their powerful clientelle.

After hurricane Katrina, Allbaugh was one of the first on the scene. It was his influence that enabled the Shaw Group to win a $100 millon contract to help rebuild and provide emergency housing. Though Allbaugh claims his company does no direct political lobbying, it's hard to imagine that he didn't make a call to his college buddy Michael Brown to secure the $100 million contract for Shaw. He also won Iraq contracts for Halliburton worth over $9 billion (that number is from 2005).

Allbaugh's story can be seen over and over again within not only this administration, but many others before it as well, and it is exactly what is wrong with this country. Even as an appointed political employee, in charge of a huge organization whose job it is to help people after a disaster, he obviously cares nothing for serving the public. With no disaster relief or preparedness experience he was appointed head of FEMA by George Bush where he raked in a little less than $200,000 a year as FEMA director (that's comfortable), then made enough political connections to open up his own firm to do the same thing he had been doing as a government employee, only making more money. We see this scenario time and time again and it is rotting our system. Croneyism is a way of life for every administration, but this administration has taken it to a new level. It is more than hiring people you know and trust, it is hiring people because they can give you something in return. It's a gigantic circle of wealthy men scratching each other's backs. Proof of this can be seen in the fact that there have been more political turnovers between 2001 and 2007 than we have ever seen before as a Nation.

The government is chock full of rich people trying to get richer off the infinite amount of money available through government contracts. Allbaugh's connection to the Shaw group, Halliburton and others is more than disturbing. War and disaster are huge money makers, and these people have neither the consciences nor the restraint to keep from taking advantage of other people's suffering.

INTRODUCTION: a red ringing victory (hidden by stupidity)

BEFORE I BEGIN THE NEXT POST: I mean no disrespect by alluding to Sept. 11th or hurricane Katrina and using the words "mildly catastrophic" to decribe those events. To the many who lost relatives on 9/11, I literally ache for you, and I ache for my City of New York as a whole. I also feel very strongly for the people of New Orleans. My wife is from Baton Rouge, and I have many beautiful memories of the time we spent in New Orleans together, including the night we were engaged. Both New York and New Orleans are very close to my heart. It is unfortunate that our Federal Government gives little concern for every day people - the group overwhelmingly affected by these events. The reason I will use the words "mildly catastrophic" to describe the events is because, although these disasters were horrible for the many people affected by them, they pale in comparison with many other events around the world. September 11th is nothing compared to the thousands of people who die daily around the world, and particularly in the Middle East because of War and Terrorism and Terrorism by War. Hurricane Katrina, while completely devastating for so many people and families, could definitely be called "mild" in comparison to the widespread destruction from the Tsunamis that hit India, Thailand, and Indonesia, among others, in 2004. So please know I would never downgrade anybody's suffering, but an event as a whole can be guaged on how many people are affected, and when thought of in that sense, the events in the US these past five years have been miniscule. Anyhow, this has nothing to do with what this is about, but I thought it was important to get out of the way.

a red-ringing victory (hidden by stupidity)

Now the beginning:


One year ago this week the Bush administration again proved completely unprepared for any kind of disaster, natural or otherwise, within the United States. They again proved themselves incapable or preventing or responding to even mildly catastrophic events. And once again, it has worked in their favor.

Let's recap: George Bush is appointed President by the Supreme Court in 2001 following a very uncertain election. The Nation is divided. Bush makes a few ripples with his "pro-life" jargon, but other than that, the waters are fairly quiet. By the looks of things during the first few months, he will float through four years and disappear into the sunset.

Then, following countless warnings from the CIA, FBI, and International Intelligence agencies (to which Bush literally replied that he was "sick of hearing it"), the attacks of September 11th 2001 take place. Any other President would have been chased to the city walls by a mob of pissed off New Yorkers. But not George Bush and Co. Somehow they took the focus off their mistakes and ignorance before 9/11 by employing the powerful methods of scape-goating, finger pointing, and above all, distraction. Their campaign was so successful, they managed to rally American support for a "War on Terror" that took us into a nation that was not presently, and was not planning on engaging in any terrorist activity. 500 billion dollars, 2,000+ American and 60,000+ civilian lives later and many Americans are still strongly supportive. Their finagling was a success.

We all know how things went from then. So we pick up in 2004, when George Bush rallies unbelievable support using fear tactics as a campaign strategy: "A vote for Kerry is a vote for the terrorists", anthrax attacks, soldiers on the streets of New York City, talk of mushroom clouds over Manhattan Island, reports of possible attacks on small US cities, water contamination, smallpox, and the list goes on. He is elected President in what will most likely become the second most hotly contested Presidential race in American history (the other being his former 2001 appointment to office).

Then, in 2005, it happened again.

Under the Clinton Administration, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) flourished. For the first time, a man who had actual emergency management experience, James-Lee Witt, was appointed Director of FEMA. Witt realized not only the need to be able to respond quickly to an event, but the immense importance of preparedness. He realized that one of the best things America could do to respond to a catastrophe is to forsee disasters before they strike, and prepare for them. Very clearly he saw that for every dollar the American government spent on preparation, they would save five dollars in the long run. Witt set about gauging the likelyhood of a range of occurrences from an earth quake in San Francisco, to floods in New Orleans, and a terrorist attack in New York City, and he began setting the wheels in motion to prepare for disaster before it struck.

Unfortunately, Witt's days were numbered. George Bush, who seems to give little value to thinking about the future, replaced him with a less qualified Michael D. Brown, whose official title was "Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response", and the administration immediately began breaking up Clinton's FEMA and bringing it back to its former glory: a parking lot for political apointees. Obviously, Witt's preparedness program was brought to an immediate halt as FEMA turned into an unorganized, underfunded, bureaucratic mess.

What Bush wasn't counting on, just as in August 2001, was that something might actually happen. Katrina hit New Orleans, and the city and the Federal Government were completely unprepared. No emergency transportation plan existed, no money was available, and there wasn't even a system of communication or a simple process in place for getting things done. Nobody knew who was in charge, what was going on, who to call, and whose job it was to do what and when. A good example: a request Michael Brown made for 500 busses to evactuate people from New Orleans following the storm "fell into a black hole" (Brown's own words).

For almost a week the citizens of New Orleans fried, starved, died of disease, or died of thirst, while the President continued about his way. His big "heroic" moment was flying over New Orleans in Air Force One. Thanks for the visit, George.

Now here is the catch. This time Bush had really screwed it up, and the flaws within his system were very apparent to everyone. Fox News could run all the degrading reports of looting and riots they could muster, but the bottom line was that Americans saw other Americans abandoned by their government. The result of it all was that the people of New Orleans would NEVER vote for any Republican ever again. In fact, even before the fumbled response to hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was one of the deep blue spots within in the red state of Louisiana. Furthermore, the political aftermath of Katrina has most likely spread throughout the state, with many Louisiana residents who were on the fence during the '04 elections now thinking heavily towards a Democratic vote in '08. So if the former residents of New Orleans are to move back into their city, Louisiana may very well become the next Ohio. Here is the solution for the Republicans: continue to make the response seem strong on television so the rest of the nation thinks the government is doing a great job down there, do lots of photo-ops (real or fake), and make lots of emotional speaches... but continue to do little to nothing in actuality.

What will this do? It will force the citizens of New Orleans, who cannot wait years for the paperwork to trickle down through the administration's incompetent system, to set up a new life somewhere else... Sell their property for a fraction of its original value and run. I am confident that once a large number of poor New Orleans residents have been forced to sell their property for a fraction of its original cost to real-estate giants, the levees will be promptly repaired, and construction on new up-scale housing, casinos, and hotels will commence. The former residents will most likely become residents in States already strongly held by either the Republican or Democratic party (Texas is a big one), essentially eliminating their votes all together (see the article I wrote called "Hopelessness Begins at Home" for a description of why their votes will no longer count). This, at least, is a fact: the Republican Party's main opposition in Louisiana will no longer exist. It may sound like a far-fetched conspiracy theory that they would allow thousands of people to suffer for the advancement of their political party, but when I consider that they have killed over 70,000 civilians and 2,000 soldiers in a war without a cause, it no longer seems far-fetched to me.

The conclusion is that following another debacle the Bush administration has pulled through. This time, much like the last time, it was accomplished by media manipulation (the citizens in New Orleans are violent criminals shooting at their rescuers!), emotionally moving speeches, and by dispersing those affected to avoid having to face their votes in the next election.