Even National Prayer Day didn't help Bush's ratings, despite the high hopes of the White House for some serious Power Praying by some of the nation's most god connected religious figures.

Seems like none of the different strategies Karl Rove is throwing out there are working very well now, are they.

Your Angry Buddhist cannot help but ponder the mysteries and mechanics of prayer as practiced by your Christians and your Muslims.

I'm thinking that any god worth his or her salt - be he Jesus or Allah - just isn't going to fall for any of those "If you just let me survive this plane crash dear lord I will turn my life around and give up the drinking and the gambling, the cheating and the criminal activity..." or "Please god, just let me find my keys and I'll donate $100 to the Salvation Army..." or "God, just help me make this putt and I'll donate half the money I'm gonna win from this skin to the church orphans fund..."

Now I will be the first to tell you that I do not believe in a particular god or even any god at all necessarily.

I've thought about it enough so I'm not going to be shocked into wordlessness if there is some sort of supreme being I get to meet after I shuffle off this mortal coil, but likewise if all that remains is the endless big dirt nap, well let's just say I'm not going to be real let down about all the rewards I thought I'd be enjoying in the afterlife.

I'm not worried a single whit about what's going to happen to me when I die. I'm not even curious about it in any way either. I am in the here and now, baby, not the there and then.

Whatever's going to happen has already happened to every fucking person who ever lived on this planet, so I don't think there's any special frightful shit waiting just for me. In fact, I'm certain of it.

Because I live in fear of no punishment, and because I do not need the threat of a hell to keep me honest or fair or loving or generous, I have no need to believe in a supernatural force who will protect me if I follow the rules, punish me if I dont, and who I can pray to when I want or need something.

And for the record, the Angry Buddhist says that if there were a being who always was, always is and always will be - including the time they spent in human form on earth for a short time - I'm having a hard time thinking he or she would have any interest in using their infinite universal superpowers to fufill the role of SantaGod

SantaGod, who sees you when you're sleeping, when you're awake, when you're good and when you're bad and is keeping meticulous score to tally up your chances of getting your heavenly reward.

In fact, if you're going to pray to anyone, you'd be much better off praying to just plain Santa himself since he delivers his rewards annually and you don't have to wait until you're dead-dead-dead to get your payoff gifts.
When your Angry Buddhist ponders it, I'm really quite surprised that our consumer driven captialistic society hasn't already adopted Santa as the true messiah for a most profitable state religion.

He already co-owns Christmas, so he's got that going for him.

And he's a white guy too, which is always a big plus if you're trying to sell something to Americans.

But you know... I can't help but think that somewhere down the line someone is going to blow the lid off the whole "Jesus is a sexy looking young white guy" scam.

And I know that most Christians would leave their religion in droves if they were forced to worship a geographically ethnic correct image of their one and only true god and lord, Jesus Christ.

In actuality, the Angry Buddhist says he looked a lot more like this:


















Than this:
Now I know that our Praying President would rather you prayed for the poor then actually paid for the poor, but the poor don't need your prayers. They've been getting prayers and praying themselves non stop since the days of slavery and before.

The Angry Buddhist says you should think about adding up all those endless hours of prayer upon prayer, upon prayer and think about the tangible good that could have happened if the people praying got up off their knees and did something.

If they bought someone some groceries, helped somebody fix up their house, gave somebody a ride somewhere, or shared some of their wealth.

I propose to you that prayers were invented by rich people as something for the poor and sick and unfortunate to do while their miserable suffering lives exist mostly to serve the ruling class. Prayers were pushed hard by guys in ornately decorated robes who stood behind expensive marble altars holding up pure gold cups full of wine. They were pushed to people who wore rags and lived lives worse than the dogs we keep as pets today.

Prayers are no skin off the nose of the rich. Prayers exist in place of responsibility the way I see it. Praying is easy. Praying requires you to do absolutely nothing except ask somebody else to do it. Praying costs you nothing and delivers nothing.

What a brilliant scam foisted by those that gots theres on them thats got nothing but a wishing and a praying.

And how perfect that they got you down on your knees to do it. Yeah, I'm sure that would be real important to a supreme being, wouldn't it?

Bread when you're hungry, water when you're thirsty, a bed when you're tired, a place to live and raise your family. Those are real things that people need. They don't need your prayers. They don't need you passing the buck to your imaginary friend to do something, because that doesn't do jack shit about their real life problems and needs.

Your Angry Buddhist says unclasp those praying hands and extend them out to help somebody. Get those hands dirty, calloused and beat up from doing the HANDS ON work the people you've been praying for really need.

Get up off your knees, stop whispering and talking to yourself. Open your damn eyes and take a deep breath. Splash some cold water on your face if that's what it takes you wake you out of this stupor and into some kind of action mode.

And if you feel the need to join with others raising your voices in unison to the heavens, then for god's sake, open a fucking window, stick your head outside and yell,

"I'm Mad As Hell and I'm Not Going To Take It Any More!"

Then shut the damn window, get outside into the streets and start making a difference.

Don't worry, I'll be praying for you...

A wise corporate executive the Angry Buddhist knows has often told the story of his strict Catholic, Italian Amerian mother who used to say to him when he was a kid in Newark, New Jersey, “If you want your prayers answered, sometimes you have to get up off your knees and do something about it.”

And your Angry Buddhist is here today to tell you that it's time to see George Bush's National Prayer Day of last Thursday as just what it was - a tired, cynical, pathetic attempt to call a time out in the blame game in order to call Jesus H. Christ himself off the bench and right into the middle of crunch time.

But any prayers about Katrina and her victims at this point are a total waste of time. Save your breath, your knees and your genuflection. If you want to help the people who need it most, send some money to Habitat for Humanity, or Second Harvest, or the Red Cross.

Sept. 17, 2005 | WASHINGTON -- There must be such a thing as divine mercy because the God who sends plagues of locusts and zaps people into pillars of salt would have surely struck down George W. Bush at the pulpit Friday morning. The administration's multipronged strategy to repair the damage wrought to cherished areas of the president's reputation was on full display at the National Prayer Service, which Bush called to remember victims of the hurricane. Bused-in evacuees from New Orleans? Check. Promotion of faith-based organizations? Check. Shifting blame to others? Check. This time, however, after weeks of laying blame at the doorsteps of Louisiana state officials and the mayor of New Orleans and even some of the victims themselves, Bush chose a bigger target: He blamed God.

Don't expect the goverment as run by George Bush to be able to effectively manage or execute a single fucking element of the recovery coming up. All that money he talked about lit up like a 9-11 memorial there in New Orleans' Jackson Square was just bullshit. If you have any poker instincts worth a shit about people you could read all his facial tics and bizzare body language mannerisms as exactly what they were - his "tells" Just like a hack card player, Bush's dimwitted facial expresions betrays any scrap of thought that passes through his brain.

That's been more than enough to fool just enough people... up till now...

Rove is in now in charge of the recovery... but it isn't working - look at these numbers from today's Rausmussen poll. They made the Angry Buddhist's heart sing and zing today on his birthday:

Bush Katrina Ratings Fall After Speech

September 18, 2005--Thirty-five percent (35%) of Americans now say that President Bush has done a good or excellent job responding to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. That's down from 39% before his speech from New Orleans.
The latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows that 41% give the President poor marks for handling the crisis, that's up 37% before the speech.

Hey - Maybe it's the Angry Buddhist's prayers that are actually getting answered.

Nah, too many people currently in power would have sponatenously combusted by now if that were true.

Today's Washington Post details the Opportunivore way of thinking as they dig their claws into the corpse to feed:

Against calls to trim spending elsewhere to accommodate the emergency, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) did little to close those floodgates when he suggested this week that the Republican-controlled Congress had already trimmed all the fat from federal spending. "My answer to those that want to offset the spending is 'Sure, bring me the offsets,' " he said. "I will be glad to do it, but no one is able to come up with any yet."

Against this tide, conservative think tanks are taking up DeLay's challenge. But their suggested spending cuts may only underscore Congress's flagging resolve.

To reach $62 billion in savings, Cato Institute analysts Chris Edwards and Stephen Slivinski have proposed cutting NASA in half, slashing energy research and subsidies just as Congress is gearing up to increase them in the face of soaring gasoline prices, cutting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' budget by $4.6 billion after its levees failed to protect New Orleans, and eliminating $4.2 billion in homeland security grants while lawmakers are debating the nation's lack of preparedness.

Remember these plans when you hear the President try to boost his numbers by throwing money at this problem.

When your Angry Buddhist was on his annual trek for deeper wisdom far in the backcountry of Yosemite's High Sierras not that many years ago, the noble and learned National Park Ranger taught our humble group about the Opportunivores of the wild.

They were the animals who based their existence and survival by feasting on the carcasses of others. They took every advantage of illness, weakness or injury as their means of doing business.

In the big "Lion King" circle of life one comes to understand that these Opportunivores are necessary in an evolutionary recycling kind of way. Not exactly a "Hakuna Matada" kind of moment, but it's called wild life for a reason now, ain't it?

The thing about the Opportunivores of the wild is that they don't just dine on the dead. They will happily eat out of garbage cans. They'll break into your car if they smell food. They'll steal your backpack, they'll swoop down and swipe your sandwich or bag of chips off the picnic table if you turn your back.

The trained outdoorsmen knows to be on their guard with their food, not to leave any in the car, or untended or to turn one's back on one's Doritos.

But human beings, no matter how poor and unfortunate their circumstances, no matter how alien they may seem to you in your lofty, lucky sperm club fantasy life, are not animals. And if we are going to pretend that we live in some semblance of an advanced civilization then the shocking reality of what we've all seen on TV for the last two weeks must serve as a defining moment for change.

But we by no means live in a civilized society. In fact, we live in a very primitive society ruled by fear, superstition and above all greed.

That's why instead of this being a defining moment of change, this is instead feeding time for the Opportunivores. And let me tell you baby, they are licking their chops.

As I've previously mentioned, Halliburton has already scored a no bid contract. So too now has Bechtel and Fluor Group. The Angry Buddhist can easily visualized their razor sharp talons tainted with first blood and hungry for much more.

Former FEMA head Joe Allbaugh is already generating cash flow off Katrina before the body count is even close to complete. Animal instinct will have "Heck Of A Job Brownie" at that feeding hole soon enough as well. He can smell dinner from where he's sitting.

Billions of bucks are now available to try and repair... the President's image and ratings, and all the usual suspects are salivating over the prospect of the body in the backcounty.

$62 billion rush approved for the Opportunavores to feast on with no oversight in sight.

But they wouldn't be living up to their full Opportunavore potential if while getting fat and happy off this death and destruction they weren't at the same time getting to screw the workers they hire to do the actual work they'll be profiting off of.

That's where Bush's executive order allowing companies to pay their workers below the legal prevailing wage rears its Opportunivore head. This way they get to screw both working folks and unions in one slick move.

Bush suspended the 74 year old Davis-Bacon Act that requires that companies or agencies employing workers with federal monies pay at least the prevailing wage in any given area. The wage is to be based on the amount "determined by the Secretary of Labor to be prevailing for the corresponding classes of laborers and mechanics employed on projects of a character similar to the contract work in the city, town, village or other civil subdivision…"

But as Brendan Coyne writes in his excellent, "Bush Suspends Prevailing Wage Laws for Katrina Clean Up":

The order, which drew outrage from labor leaders, follows letters urging the action from Republican representatives and an anti-tax group.

Last week, Americans for Tax Reform, an organization founded by long-time Republican activists Grover Norquist, sent Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao a letter asking that she suspend the Davis-Bacon Act in order to free taxpayers from paying too much for the disaster clean up and management. Wednesday, Representatives Tom Feeney (R-Florida), Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colorado), sent Bush a similar letter, stating that the Act drives costs up and "effectively discriminates against non-union contractors."

You've got to love Grover Norquist, one of the world's most dedicated Opportunivores, while others are pointing fingers, Grover is chewing the fingers off those who work with their hands.

Just as you have to love Bush's leadership...of the oil industry as he moved swiftly and decisively early in the disaster to immediately suspend air pollution regulations.

The price of gasoline has increased 50% in just the last year and amazingly, the oil Opportunivores have had their greatest profits in history.

Yet when the recent energy bill passed it gave all these same companies incredible tax breaks. And while an advanced civilized society in the 21st century would be giving out tax breaks only for clean burning, renewable forms of energy, the primitive Opportunivores scarf down fresh pork when no corpse meat is around. Just look at the recent transportation bill and how many obscene payoffs were part of it.

And back in the disaster zone....
The rich white people who have always owned and run New Orleans are classic Southern Opportunivores who see Katrina as divine intervention - having cleaned out the black ghettos better than any wet dream they ever had, either killing the poor black folks they despised or scattering them to every state in the country... probably never to return, never to vote against Republicans again.

The rich white folk live in a different world that even hurricanes, storm surges and epic flooding do not fuck with. Their families have been Opportunivores going back to the slave trade days.

For them disasters are mostly inconveniences that can be remedied by throwing money at them.

Thus the rich who run New Orleans drink their cocktails on the balconies of their unscathed mansions protected by their private army of Israeli security guards. They helicopter in and out at will and suffer no communications breakdowns as they plan the future of the new New Orleans, the one whose carcasses have been all been picked clean and eliminated by the Opportunivores.

No, gentle followers, your Angry Buddhist does not engage in hyperbole with these tales for far too man know they are true and none other than the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, September 8 ran the inside scoop in their front page story, "Old-Line Families Escape Worst of Flood And Plot the Future" (click on this blog's headline to read the story)

The green expanse of Audubon Park, in the city's Uptown area, has doubled in recent days as a heliport for the city's rich -- and a terminus for the small armies of private security guards who have been dispatched to keep the homes there safe and habitable. Mr. O'Dwyer has cellphone service and ice cubes to cool off his highballs in the evening.

By yesterday, the city water service even sprang to life, making the daily trips to his neighbor's pool unnecessary. A pair of oil-company engineers, dispatched by his son-in-law, delivered four cases of water, a box of delicacies including herring with mustard sauce and 15 gallons of generator gasoline.

Despite the disaster that has overwhelmed New Orleans, the city's monied, mostly white elite is hanging on and maneuvering to play a role in the recovery when the floodwaters of Katrina are gone. "New Orleans is ready to be rebuilt. Let's start right here," says Mr. O'Dwyer, standing in his expansive kitchen, next to a counter covered with a jumble of weaponry and electric wires.

Of course that is just New Orleans and the few, relatively small time Opportunivores preying on that beleagured city. Sure, they managed to get all the poor, black Democrats out of town to never vote in local elections again, but that's petty stuff compared to what the really big beasts lay in wait to do.

The far larger, far more dangerous Opportunivores who rip at the very flesh of America's body whenever it is down and weakened.

Like, on 9-11 when America was injured and hurt and confused. That's pretty much an Opportunivore's fantasy come true and they came out of the woodwork to give the government the kind of abusive powers and unlimited access they only previously fantasized about.

Opportunivores begat Homeland Security and the many laws passed that came straight out Orwell's 1984.

Meanwhile Opportunivores scammed money intended for victims and profiteered with other money meant to make us safer and prevent future disasters. Just as they are doing with the Katrina money.

But what are we to do with the Opportunivores who try to steal our personal rights and freedoms? Who try to drill or mine or otherwise extract the natural resources that to enrich themselves from our National Parks and the protected lands we set aside for future generations?

How are we to stop these Opportunivores whose animal instincts drive them to injure, maim, kill and destroy? To provide less and less care and support for the poorest and least able among us?

Or what of the Opportunivores who while our backs are turned and most aren't watching have put forth a plan where the President would have the option of using nuclear weapons to PREEMPT a terror attack.

One thing is for certain, in Washington DC and in every state of America, the Opportunivores are not exclusively Republicans. Most, if not all, Democrats are Opportunivores too. How could they possibly raise all those millions and millions of dollars to get elected without being the most evolved Opportunivores of all?

Your Angry Buddhist says you should now watch for Bush in his speech this Thursday to use his "I take responsibility" ploy to actually try and take even more of an Opportunivore's advantage in all the areas that mean most to him.

Your Angry Buddhist advises... Patience, peace and understanding on your part only emboldens and encourages Opportunivores to do more of what they do best.

There is only one way to defeat Opportunivores.

They must be overwhelmed by a relentless offense attack launched by seemingly endless numbers of fearless enemies who will not rest until they drive the oppressors from their environment.

at himself!

Yes, that's right, gentle followers, thanks to the pressure your Angry Buddhist has brought and the power of all of us chanting our mantra,
"Go Fuck Yourself, Dick Cheney, ummmmmm"
President Bush today - after declaring yesterday that he can do more than two things at once - is both doing the hard work of hurricane recovery photo op posing AND assessing the situation and deciding that:

"To the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility."

The question the Angry Buddhist wants the answer to is - Does this apply across the board?
How's about Iraq?

How's about bringing Osama to justice?

How's about the budget deficit?

How's about the environment?

How's about education?

How's about Homeland Security?

What about the people living in poverty in America?

What about making the richest 1% of America the focus of most of your time, energy and decisions?

What about using Jesus Christ as a phony mask you use to cover up your actions which generally oppose every single one of his teachings?

What about turning our energy policy over to your cronies and benefactors in the oil industry?

The answer is - No Fucking Way.

There's only one reason why for the first time in his entire adult life, George WMD Bush accepted responsibility for anything - because his numbers are in the shitter and Karl Rove told him to do it.

He'd say anything at this point to stop the bleeding, but it won't matter because the President isn't just bleeding, he's got himself a flesh eating virus and you can expect him to get more and more desperate as his time and popularity run out.

But don't watch his organ grinders monkey act for the cameras, watch what's going on behind the scenes. Follow the money. Follow the fuck ups. Follow the actions of cronies in all the departments of our government where they have been embedded.

This blatant and completely disingenuous political play won't fool anyone above the simpleton level, which means about 1/2 of America.

Meanwhile, enjoy the latest rich, privileged white guy currently being questioned in advance of his lifetime achievement reward of Supreme Court judgeship.

Imagine how much hope for the future that gives any of our fellow Americans who aren't rich, aren't privileged and aren't white. Does anything about this whitey-white lawyer married to another lawyer give you a good feeling about what's coming down the road in the Supreme Court.

You want to talk about judgment? What the fuck is this 50 year old dude doing with two little kids? Most people his age with children are watching them graduate from high school or enter their next year of college.

A guy like this with a 4 year old and a 6 year old, who has an all encompassing career that envelopes his entire life, married to another very high profile lawyer CANNOT spend the amount of time with his kids to make sure they grow up right.

Someone else is raising this rich, privileged white guy's kids. Some nanny.

So I publicly question his family values. I can't help but think those lilly white kids who are dressed like some kind of ads for blue blood boarding school fashions are merely career accessories. I think it's all about the photo op where you get to see the kids. People that really care about being parents have their kids when they have the time and energy for them, and have at least one parent with enough available time to actually be part of their children's lives.

But not ruling class creeps like John Roberts or George Bush. And I believe we've already seen the lethal damage bad genes and bad parenting can bring with the current President as the case study.

We're getting close to Karl Rove goes to jail time, aren't we? Who will take responsibility for that? You know, by pardoning him. The Angry Buddhist says those papers are already on file and ready to be signed by Mr. Hard Work himself.

If only Bush could have embedded the reporters this time.

See? Those are the kind of details that slip through the cracks when you and all the other members of The Culture of Death are on vacation and you leave Andy Card in charge of everything at the White House.

What you get is finger pointing.

And damn if it ain't all the fingers of those killed needlessly by Katrina doing the pointing. It's the bony finger of corpses that bugs Bush and his buddies so much.

They are pointing at the fuck up who has been a failure in every single initiative since he's taken office. Every single one that is... except the ones that looted the treasury and stole from the old, sick, poor and disaffected to give more benefits to the the richest, most well off, best taken care of Americans.

That's exactly what the Communists used to do. But at least the commies gave their people health care.

It's exactly what Saddam was doing before he became an underwear model. But at least he was willing to execute members of his staff who didn't get their jobs done, and he never took really long vacations.

Those guys knew how to keep the press in line and telling the stories as prewritten. But President Fuck Up was at the ranch.

Even that wouldn't have mattered if Bush's Ministry of Allowed Information had been able to keep the press surrounded by guys on the payroll packing military weapons.

You know, like in Iraq, the war with the invisible dead guys.

No photos allowed if you've died for our country, or got your foot blown off, or are bleeding and in pain. No photos allowed of all the dead "collateral" people.

But even with all the command and control the military still complains we're not getting enough of the good news about Iraq.

When you control the cameras, you control the story in the Republic of American Idol.

That's the real reason the public turned against the Vietnam war. The photos, the video, the film just didn't match the bullshit LBJ and Nixon were grinding out.

And now 58% of Americans know that President Fuck Up deserves the blame.

Or maybe it's 60%

Because what Fuck Up's followers call "finger pointing" is what every major corporation and successful organization calls "accountability" "responsibility" and "taking ownership."


Only failures, fuck ups and grifters worry about getting blamed. Only the least skilled and worst performers accept no criticism. Only the egomanical and the unaccomplished cannot name their own mistakes.

The greater the success a person or business is, the more you hear them say things like, "I learned more from my mistakes than from anything else."

So maybe he can learn from this mistake of having the media and the press get on the scene days before he could get soldiers with guns in their hands on location to stop them. Because it's the reporters on the ground in the last week who have pulled "The Cloak of Likeability" off President Fuck Up merely by aiming their cameras at the results of his efforts.

It was so obvious and easy to report that even noted right wingers like Shepard Smith on Fox and Joe Scarbourough on MSNBC found it impossible to stick to the Republican talking points script.

President Fuck Up is living up to his name now by desperately flailing away at the oh-so-yesterday act that may have fooled half the country into voting for him before John Kerry personally committed an act of terrorism that would destroy our county, but will not work now because we have seen too much and we have seen it on television.

Blaming the local and state people will not work.

Telling lies to newspapers and cable news will not work. The truth is already documented and the Internet now makes it too easy to share it.

Like this local flood victim who gave the Vice President a message from The Angry Buddhist just today when Dick Grim Reaper Cheney emerged from his underground bunker long enough to longingly breathe deep his favorite fragrance - dead Democrats and black people.

"Go Fuck Yourself, Dick Cheney!"
The Angry Buddhist expects to see this instantly popular spirit of America catch phrase on t-shirts within 24 hours.
Right now you can click on the CNN Dick photo right above to see the video of "Go Fuck Yourself, Dick Cheney!" Pass it on to your friends and family.

Imagine how much sooner we would be hearing "Go Fuck Yourself, Dick Cheney!" from men, women, and children all over the U.S.A. if the media had the same access to the invasion and occupancy of Iraq and they had to New Orleans.

Imagine what Laura Bush's public image would be if the media had footage of the time she ran a stop sign and killed her former college boyfriend. Why you might even have heard of that story.

Imagine if the media had footage of George Bush serving his country during the Vietnam war... Yeah, you will have to imagine that, because President Fuck up has never put his life on the line for his country.

But you don't have to imagine what President Fuck Up and his pals, "Brownie" "Stretch" "Speedo" and "Earl" knew on the Sunday before the Hurricane hit New Orleans about what the consequences would be. You don't have to imagine because my pal Brian Williams from NBC posted the blackberry message he got that day on his blog.

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA

1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...

HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER.

AT LEAST HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED...ALL WINDOWS WILL BE BLOWN OUT.

THE VAST MAJORITY...OF TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

See? When you have shit like that, even Karl Rove on double super secret probation can't call Bob Novak to leak an attack on somebody else to shift the focus.

The ratings are just too damn good, and even though President Fuck Up has made plenty of money for Fox, MSNBC and even CNN (which has acted like his bitch since 2000) will throw his ass on the scrapheap of history if the enticing and nonstop drama of Katrina proves to be the biggest reality hit of them all. Who the hell cares about the new fall season when you got the show nobody wants to turn away from. You want to talk about buying power? The public has already ponied up hundreds of millions right out of their own pockets for this hit.

What's been most entertaining for The Angry Buddhist is watching the difference between the people on the scenes and the oh-so-attractive news "readers" who are the anchors on CNN and MSNBC. They're still stuck in a time warp and playing to the audience who voted for Bush.

But that demographic has lost a huge chunk of its base and as soon as the producers and account executives have the chance they're going to overhaul those shows and write a new script with a whole new cast that plays to today's audience.

So President Fuck Up has fallen out of favor. But that doesn't mean the impact of his failures will not live on long after his show is cancelled and he moves into the house on The Surreal World.

Feel free to comment on what you think President Fuck Up's Top Five failures have been.

Your Angry Buddhist delighted in John Stewart's return this evening and his classic line that Katrina is George Bush's Monica Lewinsky. "Stewart is brilliant," the Buddhist thought, momentarily forgetting his anger.

In preparing this blog entry I Goggled the words: "monica/katrina/bush" and lo and behold found this headline from two days ago:


from The Australian News of yesterday when John Stewart was still, you should pardon the expression, on vacation.

Click on this blog entry title to read the piece in the Aussy paper.

Oy, Oy, Oy! Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

The party responsible for over 1,800 dead American soldiers who they sent to die in their war for profit. The war to turn Iraq into a home for terrorists and an Islamic Republic, wants you to know that a bunch of dead and homeless black people will not stop their plans to make the rich richer and to reshape America in their image.

The Democrats have already proven to be too weak and ineffectual to be the oppostion party this country needs.

"House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says he does not think a special commission is needed to examine what went wrong with rescue and relief operations, modeled on the panel that investigated failures before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid disagrees. "We are going to have an independent commission to study what went wrong. People may not do it today or think it's a good idea today, but mark my word. It is going to happen," he said.

Senator Reid and Congressman DeLay were among congressional leaders meeting with President Bush Tuesday.

But Mr. DeLay was adamant Republicans will not allow their key policy priorities to fall victim to what they see as attempts by opposition Democrats to use the hurricane response controversy to weaken President Bush.

That means no price controls to deal with rising gasoline prices, no reduction in gas taxes, no taxes aimed at oil companies that might be benefiting from high prices, and no rollback of income tax cuts approved by the Republican-controlled Congress."

Our nation's head Dick showing how dry his boots are despite the flood.










The two "men" most responsible for all the death and destruction in the Gulf Coast will now be rating themselves on their success.

George WMD Bush, The Destroyer, has announced that he and his puppet master Dick Cheney will be heading up the investigation of the response.

Karl Rove himself will write the report.

According to the BBC:

"How the different levels of government had reacted to Katrina would be examined, Mr Bush said, but he refused to "play the blame game".
"We got to solve problems - there will be ample time to figure out what went right and what went wrong," he said in Washington.

The Angry Buddhist will tell you today, that they already wrote the report of how great they were. And they're not to blame for nothin'.

Gee, I wonder how many Americans and Iraqi people were killed and maimed in the last week while nobody was watching or paying attention?

I wonder what "family values" mean to people who party on when babies are drowning?

I wonder what kind of party Osama Bin Laden has been holding?

I wonder how much richer the people in the oil industry got in the last week?

I wonder how many women Arnold groped while no one was looking last week? Was it equal to the amounts of kickbacks and bribes he took in the form of "contributions?"

I wonder how much of the above you yourself will be brave enough to bring up and say out loud to everyone you interact with today?

The Democrats need to have a talk with Lakers coach Phil Jackson about how to treat an opponent you've got reeling.

Phil will tell them what he taught Michael Jordan back in the Chicago Bull championship days.

"Step on their throats."

When you've got the bad guy down, don't back off and let him catch his breath, pull himself to his feet and get back in the game. When you've got him down, step on his throat. Keep him down and choke off his breath and biggest artery. Literally go for the jugular.

And that's exactly what Democrats and all those who oppose the stain on our national character that is George W Bush, must do. The beast is finally down and wounded. This is no time to let up, now is time to pour it on. With no mercy. Using nothing but one truth after another fired like a lethal fusillade of reality bullets.

The president and every single person under his command has been guilty of nothing short of malfeasance. "Inept" is far too benign a word to use to describe what is really criminal behavior and standards. Go ahead and look up "malfeasance" in the dictionary. You know The Angry Buddhist did. You'll find out it's defined as: "Misconduct or wrongdoing, especially by a public official."

See, there are real specific words to describe what we've been seeing and we should use them over and over again.

WHAT IF IT WERE CLINTON?

If John Kerry had been elected instead of having been smeared and character assassinated by still not out of the closet Karl Rove... Or Al Gore had not had his votes stolen from him and the winner of the 2000 election was the one who got to take office. What kind of vicious and ugly things would the Republicans be saying now? Would they be beating the Democrats bloody and battered if they had simply done exactly the same thing Bush and his gang of destruction have done?

Would they not only be politicizing the hell out of this but using it to raise money and whip up religious fanatics as well?

You know damn well they would. Karl Rove would be masterminding whisper campaigns, direct mail hit pieces, and using every other Lee Atwater scorched earth tactic to make sure EVERYONE know who was to blame here and remembered it on election day.

Here's a very creative take on what Rush himself would be saying:
CLICK HERE AND READ ME.

And if you think that the Democrats should rise above that kind of behavior, that they should operate at a higher standard and set a better example then I'm sure you also enjoy rug burns, reality shows and retrieving the soap at the SuperDome refuge center.

Time to get real people, time to learn the lesson that getting punched in the face repeatedly by a bully is supposed to teach you. It's time to set these mother fuckers on fire and then hose them down with gasoline.

Are you feeling me yet?

GASOLINE FREE OF CHARGE - BUSH BUDDIES BIGGEST LOOTERS OF ALL

It's not like you have to look hard for the necessary flammables. Just pick up a newspaper. This was on the very last page of today's L.A. Times this morning. Not everyone has the patience your Angry Buddhist does to get that far:

IN BRIEF/WASHINGTON, D.C.

Halliburton Subsidiary to Do Gulf Coast Work

From Times Wire Reports

A Halliburton Co. subsidiary that has come under fire for its reconstruction work in Iraq has begun tapping a $500 million Navy contract to do emergency repairs at naval facilities on the Gulf Coast that were battered by Hurricane Katrina. The subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root of Arlington, Va., was awarded the competitive bid contract last July to provide debris removal and other emergency work associated with natural disasters. KBR will do work at Naval Air Station Pascagoula, Naval Station Gulfport and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and elsewhere.

Do you love it? The bodies are still floating and bloating but Cheney's pals already got their half billion worth of work. These are the very same jarheads ripping us off in Iraq who profit most when people suffer most.

9-11, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11!

9-11 is next Sunday. 9-11, the best thing that ever happened to George Bush in his entire life. The seminal opportunity he seized like a rat grabs his cheese. He rode the deaths of all those people in New York like a camel jockey, whipping up a frenzy to ram an unrelated, greed based agenda down the throats of people before they could stop crying or catch their breath.

Where the fuck is Osama Bin Laden? Didn't President Bush get on a bullhorn and promise people at ground zero that he would bring the people who destroyed the twin towers to justice?

What kind of Rainman would you have to be next Sunday, 4 years later, if you felt one iota safer, more protected or better cared for by those you elect and entrust with our life and death responsibilities.

MRS. BUTTERWORTH FUCKS UP TOO

I admit it. I always thought Barbara Bush, the President's mommy, was either a nasty drag queen or the role model for the Angela Lansberry character in the Manchurian Candidate. It always seemed clear that she was one of those rich people who believe they are some kind of royalty and better than other people. I think the media gave her a free pass for years and so you haven't had the chance to see her true Cruella De Ville self.

But yesterday she showed us a glimpse of the kind of bloodlines that yield a George W from one's loins. She toured the Astrodome in Houston and let some refugees kiss her pearls.

Barbara Bush said: "Almost everyone I've talked to says we're going to move to Houston." Then she added: "What I'm hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Read it here.

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I THINK JOHN ROBERTS IS A DANGEROUS DICK...

The Angry Buddhist would first like to help remind you of just what a no class cretin William Rehnquist was. He was an evil, hateful bastard and he did far more harm than any good in his miserable excuse for a life. We should all be dancing a jig now that he's taking the big dirt nap. America will be better off with this pompous putz dead... so long as one of his brothers in evil doesn't take his place.

Bush has nominated John Roberts, because he's counting on this new creep following in the footsteps of his judicial idol, Rehnquist, who he clerked for and worshipped. If he wasn't sure he had the right henchman, he wouldn't have nominated him as his #1 choice.

He doesn't believe in equal rights. He's a racist and he wants government to screw people not help people. There's no way he should get to serve on the Supremes, let alone be the head don.

Need more convincing that he was truly a harmful scumbag? Read these:


ANYONE SEEN THE DEMOCRATS BALLS?

If ever there was a time for a Democrat to step up, make a name for themselves, and run with the flag, it was about five days ago. I haven't even heard anything out of Barbara Boxer or Diane Fienstein yet. What the hell have they been waiting for? Where the fuck is the leadership? Even Howard Dean is playing way too nice.

They are so timid, and so beat, and so spooked they don't even know when there is blood in the water or what to do about it. We need more than just an intellectual argument. The Democrats could take all the charisma of everyone they have in national office, stuff that into the navel of a nanoflea and still have room for George Bush's integrity.

It's time for somebody to raise their voice and keep it at a loud level. Sure, Senator Mary Landrieu said she'd like to punch Bush in the face on Sunday doing helicopteror tour with George Stephinaphulus on ABC, but she also cried like a baby. Who could blame her?

The Mayor of New Orleans talked some talk a couple of times, but he doesn't seem to have the legs to go the distance. Besides, he's black which means half the white people in America won't listen to anything he has to say.

If John Edwards were really the voice of the Southern Common Man he would have seized this moment and been down there with a big boat evacuating people.

If John Kerry had an ounce of imagination he'd get himself a vintage Swift Boat, gather his fellow boatmates and motor down the New Orleans waterways to rescue people like he did in Vietnam when he was a hero and George Bush was on the down low in Alabama. And by the low down I mean the down Oprah style.

Just who the hell is the Democrat's version of Lee Atwater or Karl Rove? Does it take an Angry Buddhist to tell them how to fight a street fight? I will if I have to.

PRAISING NIGGERS AND HO'S OKAY - BAD MOUTHING BUSH CENSORED

Current rap flavor of the month, Kayne West, appeared as one of the segment hosts of the big hurricane relief telethon the NBC owned networks did a couple of days ago. West had this to say:

"I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, "They're looting." You see a white family, it says, "They're looking for food." And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!

George Bush doesn't care about black people!"

But you'd have to have watched the live feed on the West Cost to hear the rant the way it was laid down. Because here on the West Coast NBC edited out the lines they found objectionable - most pointedly the line about Bush. That goddamn liberal media gets us every time, don't it? No criticism of the President is allowed.

Ain't freedom a wonderful thing? Won't it be great to actually have some freedom?

THE PERFECT STORM?

See? It's HARD WORK telling it like it is. It's not easy. You've got to miss sleep and work really, really hard. But it's worth it and we've got to keep doing it because the timing has never been better.

First we've got the Confederacy of Dunces response to the hurricane aftermath. (For the illuminati among you enjoy the geographically correct literay reference.)

Right alongside that we've got the George Bush Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation of "Iraq - Because I Said So" That's what helped his approval numbers to finally go south before the hurricane ever hit the Gulf Coast.

You've just got to love the numbers today...

Just 28% of Americans give say that the federal government has done a good or an excellent job responding to Hurricane Katrina. Another 25% say the government has done a fair job while 45% say poor.

Interest in the story is extraordinarily high. Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Americans say they are closely following news stories about the tragedy, including 59% who are following it "very closely."

Your Angry Buddhist says now is the time to take advantage of both those low rating numbers and those high interest levels in the story.

Because next week when the 9-11 anniversary rolls around and America cynically wonders how much better off we are now, those Bush numbers can sink even further.

GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS?

And then get what's coming the week after that? It will be the report from the Special Proscecutor, Fitzgerald on just how many traitorous rats are running round the Bush White House maze?

Who will be indicted? Do we get to see Karl Rove on a perp walk? Scooter Libby? Anyone else? The President is the man responsible. When do we get to see HIM in handcuffs?

September is going to be a very bad month for Bush, conservatives and the Republican party.

But you've got to do YOUR part. You've got to kick them when they're down and get your friends to do likewise. You've got to step on their throat and choke off their airflow. Don't feel bad about it, they've already been brain dead for years.

The Zen Master would approve.

September 4. 2005 - Hades, (Associated Press) Legendary Evil Doer, William Rehnquist, arrived in Hell today to a heroes welcome, fresh off his life on earth where he did Satan's work for over 70 years. The Devil welcomed him with open arms and a brand new Gilbert and Sullivan inspired costume to wear...







Added Sept 6:
Don't just take The Angry Buddhist's word on it, here's what Prof. Alan Dershowitz had to say about this former festering boil of judge:

"So here’s the truth about Chief Justice Rehnquist you won’t hear on Fox News or from politicians. Chief Justice William Rehnquist set back liberty, equality, and human rights perhaps more than any American judge of this generation. His rise to power speaks volumes about the current state of American values."

Click on the top headline to read the whole beautiful obit.

*Followers! Did you know that every headline is a link? Wonder of wonders...


Credit to The Daily Kos for this one, via their community member highacidity

Allow The Angry Buddhist to put things in perspective for you as only I really can.

The situation in New Orleans and the Gulf states has occurred because the Republicans of this country have been successful over the last several years in harnessing the unstoppable power of greed. They have fucked America right up the ass like she was a prison bee-atch from the day they stole the 2000 election using the very same tactics that got Hitler into power in pre-world war II Germany. And yes I mean to say Adolph Hitler, another evil bastard who strong armed his way into power with lies and ruthless tactics.

Is that unambiguous enough for you? Yeah I thought it might be. Guess I didn't succumb to all that "get over it" bullshit the liars and thieves were spouting as their cover over the last six years.

The worst of the worst have been running the show for those same six years now and they have succeeded in slashing and cutting the best parts of our government, the parts that actually represent the very family values of their own main man, Mr. Jesus Christ his holy self. You know, the parts that help the less fortunate and focus on being loving and generous. It makes sense to me, since they have always seemed more like agents of Satan doing the devil's work on earth.

These anti-Robin Hoods who have taken from the poor to give to the rich have left a trail of destruction across America that makes Katrina's storm path look like a rainbow with an Irish midget pointing to a pot of gold at the end.

Massive budget cuts to every significant public works project, to homeless shelters and low cost housing, to food banks, to education, to alternative energy, to the poor, the sick, the lonely and the desperate. That's the legacy of these greedy Bush leaguers. He came to plunder and destroy and that's what he has been doing.

And every second of the time that was happening, the rich were getting just filthy richer and richer and richer. Unthinkable amounts of money and benefits are showered on the rich for working no harder or better than you or I. No amount of conspicuous consumption has been considered in bad taste by these so called conservatives who spend so liberally. And no amount of additional tax breaks, pork barrel payouts and just plain graft, kickbacks and shakedown money is considered too much or too obscene. They still don't feel like they got theirs yet. They still want more.

And today, while they still spend more time holding hollow press conferences in which they thank all the people who have been the most guilty for the hell that the Gulf States have become, their party's most important priority is to give more tax breaks to the very stinking wealthiest of our country.

"Senate Finance Committee members were informed this morning that Sen. Bill Frist will move forward with a vote to permanently repeal the estate tax next week, likely on Tuesday, ThinkProgress has learned.

One stands in awe of Sen. Frist's timing. Permanently repealing the estate tax would be a major blow to the nation's charities. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has "found that the estate tax encourages wealthy individuals to donate considerably more to charity , since estate tax liability is reduced through donations made both during life and at death." If there were no estate tax in 2000, for example, "charitable donations would have been between $13 billion to $25 billion lower than they actually were."

Read about it in Think Progress, a great blog. Click on this line.

Let me paint with more colors for you... The economy flat out sucks. Only those at the very top are doing better and better. The other 85% of America is making less money at their new downsized crappy Mcjobs with no benefits while they pay twice as much for gasoline. They're in debt to their ass and as soon as interest rates go up and their adjustable mortgages adjust they'll be up shit's creek.

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been poured down the rathole of Iraq, our troops have been used as Bush's human shields, and all to pump even more of our nation's wealth into the Swiss bank accounts of meat puppets like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and the corporate interests that are their primary interests.

Meanwhile our nations roads deteriorate and are choked with traffic, with no public transportation projects in sight.

The border with Mexico is in a near state of anarchy with nutcases looking to keep out the wetbacks without whom our country does not operate. But no benefits of any kind for them right? Because that might raise taxes!

Car companies have been allowed to make believe that mileage per gallon isn't worth anything and that the crap their products pump into the streets and the air we breathe is supposed to be some kind of antioxident for us.

The financial services industry in this nation have been turned into the data Mafia where they invented the circumstances that allowed identity theft to run rampant and then set up their own protection racket where you can pay them monthly not to send all your most personal info to a criminal. They pour hundreds of millions into campaign contributions and then equal amounts into lobbying against any toughening of the rules that protect your privacy. After all their business is selling and renting all your private information.

And every fucking one of these issues are the way they are because of the Republicans in power and all their simple-minded, greedy, cold hearted, hypoChrists who support them and helped them screw all the rest of us.

And yes, it really is just that black and white.

All these bastards have cared about and repeated every chance they've had has been "No New Taxes."

While the schools crumble, while sick people can't afford doctors, while our nation gets ripped apart and ripped off, while no thought is given to the future generations and their needs or the future greatness of our country. No New Taxes.

They have literally destroyed the American ideal that we are all in this together. That we all pay taxes for new roads, new schools, clean water, public services and all the rest. And that those of us who are members of he lucky sperm club, who are blessed enough to be doing well, have an obligation to give something back, to reach out a helping hand to those less fortunate, less lucky than us.

They killed that idea because they never believed it in the first place. The are the Deservatives, and they never ever feel like they're getting enough. The only people they ever want to help are people who can do something for THEM.

Your Angry Buddhist has been a millionaire for many years now and the philosophy I have always held about paying a millionaire's tax rate was the one my accountant gave me the first year I made the BIG MONEY and had to pony up at the bend over rate. He said, "You wouldn't have to pay that much if you didn't make so much."

That's the way it's supposed to be. The more you make, the more you should expect to pay in taxes and proudly so. But Republicans believe that once you reach a certain level of income you shouldn't have to pay your fair share. That just like with the rich guy's deal on Social Security that anything over $90,000 should be tax free.

That's because they really do not give a shit about anyone but themselves. They do not want to pay their fair share. The only "injustice" they get passionately angry about is when they think they're giving our United States Government too much money which will only go to those low lifes on welfare - like all those goddamn orphans that put such a drain on the federal budget - or god forbid foodstamps - since legendary greedy phony bastard himself, Ronald Reagan, taught us all about those Negroes who drive their big Cadillacs down to the welfare office to get their check and then use their food stamps to buy booze and cigarettes. Remember? I sure do. And you can bet your ass that most Republicans you know still feel that is the truth. That's the way those people think.

The Angry Buddhist says people that feel that way and have the "No New Taxes" mantra are anything BUT Christians and they should be given zero respect for their ethics, morals and standards.

Let me take it a step further - not only are they NOT Christians, they are not really Americans. I don't care what their passports say.

This isn't the "I've Got Mine So Too Damn Bad For You If You Ain't States of America" this is the UNITED States of America. That means individuals making some self sacrifices for the united effort and common good.

But today's rich and greedy reject anything that is common. They have no problem stepping right over the homeless people who sleep on the streets of the cities they work in.

And don't forget - those homeless people are all there, and it became acceptable, because when Ronald Reagan was President he cut the budgets of shelters and mental institutions where those people used to be. I was there in 1980 when streets that never had people living on them suddenly were housing poor men, women and children. Decent people screamed, but the rich just partied the nights away.

The Democrats are hapless fools who have not protected us from these flesh ripping Republican wolverine and they don't have a single leader worth looking up to. The only single way they ever look good is by comparison to the GOP.

But compared to the Republicans of my lifetimes they are clearly less evil, more caring, less blood thirsty and quite frankly better Americans than anyone who would back and vote for Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush I, George Bush II and any Republican in the House, Senate or state level.

Republicans have turned this country into the worst possible America, but they haven't gotten to the point of no return. Sometimes people do wake out of their comas, and some time enough is enough to the point where people snap out of it and find their voice and their balls again.

If the Angry Buddhist has his way, the heat will stay on and get more and more turned up each day.

Because I believe in karma, I know that the day is coming, when those who put themselves first shall be last. When it is the likes of George Bush and Bill Frist, Tom DeLay, Trent Lott, and Pat Robertson and the entire team of Fox News and all the rest of America's true terrorists, the bulk of the Republican party, who are the people up to their necks in disease ridden water, with no food, no money, no transportation and no hope.

Payback may be a bitch, but The Angry Buddhist has always liked watching a bitch in action.