slow response

Bush Still Wants His Cronies

Is the President an idiot? That was the question that caused a bunch of heat when Joe Scarborough asked it a couple of months ago. Well consider Bush's latest signing statement and then do the math:

President Bush this week asserted that he has the executive authority to disobey a new law in which Congress has set minimum qualifications for future heads of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Congress passed the law last week as a response to FEMA's poor handling of Hurricane Katrina. The agency's slow response to flood victims exposed the fact that Michael Brown, Bush's choice to lead the agency, had been a politically connected hire with no prior experience in emergency management.

To shield FEMA from cronyism, Congress established new job qualifications for the agency's director in last week's homeland security bill. The law says the president must nominate a candidate who has ``a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management" and ``not less than five years of executive leadership."

Bush signed the homeland-security bill on Wednesday morning. Then, hours later, he issued a signing statement saying he could ignore the new restrictions. Bush maintains that under his interpretation of the Constitution, the FEMA provision interfered with his power to make personnel decisions.

So Bush wants to be able to hire another Michael Brown to head FEMA. A smart man would take Congress' advice and make sure that the person they hire is qualified for the job. Not in Bush's mind. I guess since he is not a smart man, then he must be an idiot.

Miers' Tax Problems.

Back in August, when Camp Casey was in full swing outside of Bush's Crawford
Ranch, the right wingers found some information they loved. That information was
about Cindy Sheehan having past tax troubles. She had acquired some liens
against her property over the years for a problem that many Americans face. It
was a great talking point for the right. I even remember O'Reilly and Limbaugh
trying to discredit her because she did not do her patriotic duty of paying her
taxes.

Now lets see what the right will say about Supreme Court Nominee Harriett
Miers.

Washington -- The year Harriet Miers began work as a senior presidential
aide in the White House, the city of Dallas slapped three liens in three
months on a property she controls in a low-income minority Dallas
neighborhood, records show.

The city placed the liens in 2001 to force her to reimburse it for
clearing the vacant lot of tall grass, weeds and debris after Miers failed
to have the work done herself, as required by city law, and after she did
not respond to city notices to maintain the property.

It was not the first time the city had to take action. Records show that
since Miers assumed power of attorney for her ailing mother in 1995, the
city has issued seven other liens on vacant lots that Miers controls in the
same neighborhood around Tipton Park.

All 10 liens, totaling less than $2,000, have been paid, a city spokesman
said.

But the failure of Miers, a former Dallas City Council member, to comply
with city law, and her slow response in reimbursing the city, run counter to
her image as a meticulous, detail-oriented attorney who is always well
prepared.

Full article

here.

Bush Still Wants His Cronies

Miers' Tax Problems.

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