Priorities

I'm genuinely surprised how poorly the republican party seems to be handling the threat of a fuel shortage.  Bush's misguided and slightly weird exhortation that citizens should voluntarily hold off on unnecessary travel, even while he wants the federal government to relax environmental standards has been criticized by many corners in ways better than I can do. 

But this news out of my home state is particularly stupid:

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Hundreds of thousands of Georgia children got a break from classes Monday after Gov. Sonny Perdue asked schools to close for two days as a hedge against possible fuel shortages, leaving many parents struggling to arrange child care.

The shortages that Perdue feared never materialized, largely because Hurricane Rita proved less damaging to Gulf Coast refineries than initially expected.

Wow, the response to that writes itself:

Democrats, including state party Chairman Bobby Kahn, criticized the move.

"The first thing he decided to do was close schools," Kahn said. "That shows something about his views on education and his priorities."

Quite right, Mr. Chairman.  Sounds like a good republican campaign slogan for the '06 elections: "Vote republican -- ensure that your kids' education is less important than keeping gas prices only moderately high."

-- Michael

Comments

[Carol]

Do you think maybe the Governor might have been wary that if gas supplies stopped and they didn't have the gasoline to get kids home or parents didn't have enough gas to pick up their own kids, that keeping them home was ONLY A 2 DAY EVENT, that might have saved some gas for the recovery efforts in Texas and Louisiana after hurricane Rita struck?

This does not have to be a Republican versus Democrat thing. I don't do my life based on whether it a Republican or Democrat thing to do today. I think enough ahead to be conscientious to the fact that after Katrina hit there WERE gas shortages for a short while. Being presumptive is not a bad thing, Michael, nor is it evil, nor is it something only Republicans do.

If you only see things in categories of black and white, Republican and Democrat, that shows how narrow minded you are.

My family opted not to travel to the NC shores for vacation a couple weeks ago because we heard the prices of gas going up in the $5.00 /gal range AND they were saying there was shortages of gas in sporadic places. We didn't think, "well it would be the Republican thing to do to not go", no, we just thought what if we get to the coast of a southern state and the fuel lines are long and the cost is $5.00 a gallon? That would cost us over $500 just to drive there and back from Missouri. (Yes we have a truck and an SUV and that's all we own, bad gas guzzlers we are, but we were going to take the SUV cause it gets "better" gas milage than the truck and because it is more comfortable "Hyundai Santa Fe", not the really big full size SUVS, mind you).

Anyways, I don't understand why everything has to be only described in political terms, taking sides and all that. Most people wouldn't want to spend $5/gal on a vacation road trip. And Most people wouldn't want their kids stuck at school with a possible gas shortage in their area. Wouldn't it be worse to have your kid in school and no way to pick them up or no gas for the school bus to drive them home? MY god missing 2 days of school isn't going to leave them a year behind in their school work.

[Cheryl]

Dearest Carol,

This is a leftist blog, and the Republicans who you so strongly disavow your connection to are implementing fascism within the country that considers itself to be the beacon of democracy in the world. There is bound to be partisanship here, because one party is so obviously in the wrong that there is no way any longer to credibly dissociate the party in general from the actions of its corrupt leaders.

If the governor of Georgia honestly wanted to save gas it is plain to see that what he should have done is declared a state holiday and asked everyone to stay home. One day of no driving at all would have been far more effective than two days of parents scurrying around looking for childcare.

This is why Michael pointed out so bluntly in his post that what is under debate here is the priority of the Republicans in power, not the party allegiances of any particular lowly partisan voter such as the one you are portraying yourself to be. This is no football game we are discussing. People are dying.

If you truly want to defend the Republicans with cries of partisanship, explain this to me in terms a 12 year old can understand:

The constitution of the United States specifically forbids the president from deploying troops within US borders. Yet we now find that Blackwater Security is running around sticking automatic weapons in the faces of US citizens in Louisiana.

Blackwater is a private mercenary army that has been ripping off the US taxpayer while providing military police action in Iraq for 10 times the cost of the US army. What charter are these people operating under? What are the terms of their contracts? Who do they owe their allegiance to?

The President of the United States has deployed his own personal, privately owned armed forces within the borders of our own country. The historical analog of this situation is the Brown Shirts in Nazi Germany. That was HItler's private army, paid for with government money and accountable only to Hitler.

I am sorry, Carol, but if you honestly believe that partisanship is not important in the case of a budding Republican military coup detat within our own country, then all I can say is that you are deluded.

[Cheryl]

Overkill in New Orleans

By Jeremy Scahill and Daniela Crespo, AlterNet. Posted September 12, 2005.

Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional killers in the world. What are they doing prowling the streets of NOLA?

Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for its work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans...

What is most disturbing is the claim of several Blackwater mercenaries we spoke with that they are here under contract from the federal government and the state of Louisiana...

As the threat of forced evictions now looms in New Orleans and the city confiscates even legally registered weapons from civilians, the private mercenaries of Blackwater patrol the streets openly wielding M-16s and other assault weapons...

That raises a key question: under what authority are Blackwater's men operating? A spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department, Russ Knocke, told the Washington Post he knows of no federal plans to hire Blackwater or other private security. "We believe we've got the right mix of personnel in law enforcement for the federal government to meet the demands of public safety," he said.

But in an hour-long conversation with several Blackwater mercenaries, we heard a different story. The men we spoke with said they are indeed on contract with the Department of Homeland Security... They told us they not only had authority to make arrests but also to use lethal force.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Carol. They are not admitting that they have engineered a military coup. They are doing this nice and smoothly, just like Hitler did, pushing the boundaries slowly and relentlessly to the right in the hope we will just sit back and take it.

It is past time for impeachment. Next we will be discussing revolution.

"Treason is a word invented by the winners in order to justify hanging the losers." - Benjamin Franklin

"Repression is what the ruling class does to prune troublesome bloodlines from among the masses. Revolution is what the masses do to return the favor." - Cheryl

[Thadeus]

Carol,
Step back from the edge of the soapbox! It's a long way down!

The thrust of the post was not about 2 days off of school. It wasn't about a gas shortage (which never existed). It was about the hypocrisy of cutting school for 2 days with the alarmist cry of gas shortage.

And giving students 2 days off isn't about whether the kids have to make up the material... It is wholly about parents having to scramble for arrangements for those kids who are now at home.

Responsible adults with jobs cannot just tell their employers that due to the governor's brilliant decision they cannot come to work today as they are babysitting their 1st graders. Oh and by the way, while we can't come in, we expect you to still pay us because the mortgage company really doesn't care why you missed your payment.

Get a clue.

~Thadeus

[Western Infidels]

How completely bizarre. Surely more fuel would be saved by declaring a two-day general holiday, preventing people from having to commute to work in their individual cars. Busses are far more efficient, on a passenger-arrivals-per-gallon basis, than individual cars are. If one wishes to mitigate a fuel shortage, one needs more busses and fewer cars, not the other way around.

[stop premature ejaculation]

Democrats, including state party Chairman Bobby Kahn, criticized the move.