Melder's Musings

Tom DeLay is Majority Leader no more. (Houston Chronicle photo)

As my sources predicted earlier this week, a Travis County, Texas, Grand Jury, on the last day of its session, has indicted Congressman Tom DeLay. He and two associates were indicted on a felony conspiracy charge related to contributions during the 2002 campaign cycle.

As the Associated Press reports:

DeLay attorney Steve Brittain said DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee.

The indictment against the second-ranking, and most assertive Republican leader came on the final day of the grand jury's term. It followed earlier indictments of a state political action committee founded by DeLay and three of his political associates.

As this is written, DeLay has just announced his resignation as House Majority Leader. Republicans had tried to keep his resignation from happening, but had to reinstate the ethics rules that require it in January.

Again, the Associated Press reports:

As a sign of loyalty to DeLay after the grand jury returned indictments against three of his associates, House Republicans last November repealed a rule requiring any of their leaders to step aside if indicted. The rule was reinstituted in January after lawmakers returned to Washington from the holidays fearing the repeal might create a backlash from voters.

DeLay's spinmeisters are already accusing Travis County, Texas, District Attorney Ronnie Earle of leading a partisan witchhunt. It's a charge they've made before, but haven't been able to make stick. Earle is constitutionally required to investigate and prosecute unethical behavior by Texas public officials. A Democrat himself, Earle has prosecuted about three times as many Democrats as he has Republicans.

Stay tuned.

Texas Governor Rick Perry (R)

Many Republicans have placed the blame for the lackluster response to Hurricane Katrina at the feet of Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat.

Her Republican counterpart, Texas Governor Rick Perry, didn't do much better; and Hurricane Rita was a much weaker storm.

There are an increasing number of stories detailing local frustrations with the state and federal response, or lack thereof. One appears in the San Antonio Express-News. Another appears in the Houston Chronicle. Surprisingly, even some Fox-owned TV stations are reporting the miserable situation in southeast Texas. A reporter for KDFW-TV, the Fox-owned station in Dallas, called the hard hit town of Jasper a "little New Orleans."

In another surprise, even Governor Perry will admit some problems. He's calling for a study of the near failure of the state's evacuation plan, a plan that expanded what would normally be a 4 hour drive into 24 hours.

It has been unusually hot here in Texas for this time of year. Now we know why. All that heat is wafting out of Austin.

Sources around the capital city are buzzing that we will see major developments into the case surrounding Tom DeLay, possibly even indictments.

As one source puts it:

The Travis County District Attorney’s investigation into 2002’s Republican campaign winds down on Wednesday, and there has been a recent burst of activity. Bill Hammond, a top Republican donor, and head of the criminally-indicted special interest group TAB has recently been questioned.

Bill Ceverha, a former Republican lawmaker and treasurer of the criminally indicted Texans for a Republican Majority PAC, has also been questioned recently. Most significantly, both Tom DeLay and Tom Craddick were called before the committee in recent weeks. There is a chance that some or all of them could face indictment this week.

Stay tuned.

With "Brownie" and the good doctor fresh on the brain, it's time to honor this week's Top Ten Conservative Idiots.

This week's edition is especially entertaining and features a story about a man who prides himself on his machismo pampering his poodle.

Enjoy!

Sen. Bill Frist practices his finger pointing. (Boston Globe photo)

Doctor/Senator Bill Frist is under investigation. As the Washington Post reports, both the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice are investigating the Senator's "sale of stock in his family's hospital company one month before its price fell sharply."

Naturally, Frist denies the charges. Frist said that "he had no inside information" about his own family's company.

Remember, folks, Martha Stewart went to federal prison for the same crime.

"Brownie" is still doing a good job...even after quitting. (AFP photo via Yahoo! News)

CBS News is reporting that recently-resigned FEMA Director Michael Brown, known more affectionately to President Bush as "Brownie," is still on FEMA's payroll. According to a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, "Brownie" will advise FEMA on Hurricane Katrina. This comes one week after "Brownie" resigned following criticism for his mismanagement of the Katrina response.

To all those conservatives who are still trying to pin the blame on Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, please remind yourself of the following FEMA failures, courtesy of the Katrina Timeline at The Washington Monthly:

"The agency [FEMA] dispatched only 7 of its 28 urban search and rescue teams to the area before the storm hit and sent no workers at all into New Orleans until after the hurricane passed on Monday, Aug. 29." - New York Times

"FEMA had already stockpiled for immediate distribution 2.7 million liters of water, 1.3 million meals ready to eat and 17 million pounds of ice, a Department of Homeland Security official said. But Louisiana received a relatively small portion of the supplies; for example, Alabama got more than five times as much water for distribution. - Washington Post

"Hundreds of firefighters, who responded to a nationwide call for help in the disaster, were held by the federal agency in Atlanta for days of training on community relations and sexual harassment before being sent on to the devastated area." - New York Times

"On the day the levees failed, the FEMA chief issued a news release urging fire and emergency services departments outside the area 'not to respond' to calls for help from counties and states affected by the hurricane 'without being requested and lawfully dispatched by state and local authorities under mutual aid agreements.'" - Los Angeles Times

"Around midnight, at the last of the day's many conference calls, local officials ticked off their final requests for FEMA and the state. Maestri specifically asked for medical units, mortuary units, ice, water, power and National Guard troops. 'We laid it all out,' he recalled. 'And then we sat here for five days waiting. Nothing!'" - Washington Post

The list of FEMA failures goes on. I thought Republicans were supposed to be better stewards of our tax dollars than that. What was I thinking?

Two hilarious (or sad, depending on your perspective) pictures involving the President are making their rounds on the internet these days. In case you haven't seem them elsewhere, I post them here for your enjoyment (or bereavement, again, depending on your perspective).



I don't know who took this picture. I don't know who released it. I saw it at PinkDome. It raises some good questions. Why is the President's hair so messed up? How long did it take him to realize his misuse of the phone? Who's that man in the picture behind him? Is the National Enquirer story about him falling off the wagon true? Will anyone get rich by betting on it? It could all cause one's head to spin...or maybe that's the booze.



This picture is most definitely credible. It's available at Yahoo! News, and is captioned.

"U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005."

The photo was distributed by the Reuters News Service and is credited to Rick Wilking.

On a related note: I sometimes need a bathroom break, too, especially when I've been hitting the bottle.

I have no illusions about the readership or popularity of this blog. Those people who see it fall into one of two categories. The first category is comprised of those readers who are friends and/or enemies of mine and read it to see what my latest inflammatory comments are. The second group is comprised of those who find it through random searches or links elsewhere. It is not widely read or discussed.

Usually, the first category is much larger than the first. This week, however, the opposite is true. Melder's Musings was featured in a roundup of blog items for the on-line magazine Slate. The Slate article also featured another blog many of my readers are familiar with.

I will take one issue with the Slate item. My comments about Karl Rove and his response to Lamar Smith's fax fiasco were not intended to advance a conspiracy theory. They were intended as sarcasm...or maybe a mix of both. I seem to get called a conspiracy theorist a lot these days...perhaps I should work on my sarcasm delivery. The fax situation does remind me of a saying I hear from one of my coworkers on occasion...and something we all know to be true of Karl Rove.

"Boy, you could land in shit and come up smellin' like roses."

Congressman Lamar Smith (left) is advising the White House on how to politicize immigration.

Just when I thought Texas Republicans wouldn't embarrass themselves any more today, along comes another story.

Using a fax machine correctly should be a requirement to advance out of Politics 101. That's a lesson Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas apparently skipped. As is reported by the Raw Story, Mr. Smith (or someone in his office) accidentally faxed a memo intended for Karl Rove to a Democratic member of the House.

That memo, which the Raw Story page has images of, gives Rove tips on how to make the most political hay for Republicans on the issue of immigration. It was apparently advance material for a meeting the two were to have the same day the memo was faxed.

I suspect Rove will figure out how to blame the Democrats for Smith's mistake, as soon as he gets out of treason charges for outing a government agent and finishes his version of the blame game (which requires Republicans to blame others while claiming to despise blaming anyone) for the Katrina failures.

With the idiocy of Congressman Mike Conaway (see below) still fresh on my mind, it's time to post the link for this week's Top Ten Conservative Idiots.

Thanks again to the folks at Democratic Underground for another great list.

While you're clicking around the web, check out Crooks and Liars for video that catches Conservative idiots in their tracks.

Does Mike Conaway believe big government is bad for pedophiles?

I certainly won't be sending my little sister to trick-or-treat at my Congressman's house this year.

Republican Mike Conaway, from the 11th district of Texas, voted against the Children's Safety Act of 2005. I haven't bothered to ask his office why, but I suspect he'll trod out the usual Republican mantra of something about big government.

It's worth noting that everybody's favorite Texas Congressman, Tom DeLay, voted for the act. Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert (whom I still consider a rat bastard) praised its passage.

In a press release from his office, Hastert said:

"In recent months, we have seen far too many cases of children victimized in their own neighborhoods. And in the last week, we have been alarmed to learn that the whereabouts of many sex offenders living in the Gulf States are unknown as a result of Hurricane Katrina. It's a crisis within an already tragic situation. This bill closes the loopholes that sexual offenders have used to repeatedly prey on innocent children. It strengthens sex offender registration and notification programs so that states and communities can know who the sex offenders are and where they live. Sex offenders who fail to register and comply face stiffened penalties.

"The Children's Safety Act gives local law enforcement and parents the information they need to protect their children. Our children are the most vulnerable in our society, and we must do everything we can to shield them from danger."

Conaway joined a number of other Texas Republicans in shirking their responsibility to children. The others voting against the act are Rep. Henry Bonilla (District 23), Rep. Louis Gohmert (District 1), Rep. Sam Johnson (District 3), Rep. Ron Paul (District 14), and Rep. William Thornberry (District 13).

Rep. Joe Barton (District 6) didn't show up to vote. I wonder what he considered more important.

All of the Democrats in the Texas House delegation voted for the measure. Even Chet Edwards, who Conaway supporters in my hometown decry as anti-family, voted for the act.

It's Monday, which means it's time to post this week's Top Ten Conservative Idiots.

There was no list last week because the folks at Democratic Underground took the Labor Day holiday.

Enjoy!

A number of liberal organizations are working to aid the victims of Katrina.

Moveon.org has set up a website connecting refugees to housing opportunities. People all over the country have used the site to open up their homes.

Air America Radio's Public Voicemail is a way for disconnected people to communicate in the wake of Katrina. Hurricane victims can call the toll-free number, enter their every day phone number, and record a message. Displaced friends and family who know a victim's everyday phone number (even if it doesn't work anymore) can call Public Voicemail, enter the phone number they associate with a lost loved one, and hear their message. Victims can also search for messages left by people whose phone numbers they know. Air America Radio will leave Public Voicemail in service for as long as this crisis continues. It can be called whenever victims are trying to locate someone, or if they are trying to be found.

Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell is asking his contributors to give to the Houston Food Bank instead of his campaign. Houston is currently home to thousands of hurricane refugees.

The Dallas County Democratic Party will be collecting monetary donations and consumer goods for the Hurricane Relief Effort at their annual Labor Day Picnic. Dallas is also home to thousands of hurricane refugees.

The Texas Democratic Party announced Wednesday that all donations it receives will go to Hurricane victims, rather than the party's coffers.

I will continue to post other examples as time allows.

Speaker Hastert has some explaining to do.

Tom DeLay is corrupt. Dennis Hastert is heartless.

When asked about rebuilding New Orleans, the Republican Speaker of the House said "“It doesn'’t make sense to me." After that, Louisiana's Governor got pissed.

As if that wasn't bad enough:

According to my sources on Capital Hill, Nancy Pelosi called on Speaker Hastert Wednesday to bring Congress back this week in order to secure resources needed for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Initially, FEMA told Congress that they had the money on hand to last several weeks and that no special session was needed. The Republican leadership in Congress concurred.

Thursday, FEMA re-evaluated and announced that an immediate infusion of resources was indeed needed. A Special Session was then called, with the Senate passing a $10.5 billion package Thursday night. The House passed it Friday.

As the Chaicago Tribune reports, Hastert did not show up for floor debate during the special session. He went to a fundraiser and a car show instead. Had it not been for criticism from Louisiana's congressional delegation, he wouldn't have returned to Washington at all.

I'd hate to think what he'd do if something happened in Chicago. Meanwhile, that city's mayor is "shocked" that the federal government won't accept his offers of disaster assistance.

With martial law in effect, the National Guard is running New Orleans. They're not allowing the Red Cross to enter the city.

As government officials continue to defend their failure to get supplies to the city and evacuate the refugees, they've had time to award a reconstruction contract to Halliburton. As reported by the Houston Chronicle, "the Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina."

Former FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh has been a "consultant" for Halliburton subsidiary KBR since March. Allbaugh was named FEMA Director after running Bush's campaigns for Governor and President.

I will post additional items as factors warrant.

As an obviously nervous and confused Mike Myers looked on, Kanye West infuriated NBC executives, got himself taken off the air, and vented the anger of a growing number of Americans.

As this is written, I've just stepped away from my television after watching most of the first hour of NBC's "Concert for Hurricant Relief." The live event, being simulcast on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC, features artists and celebrities speaking and performing to raise money for the American Red Cross. Most of the artists featured call the Gulf Coast region home.

Myers and West appeared on-screen together after the conclusion of one of many moving performances by Harry Connick, Jr. and Winton Marsalis. Myers spoke first, obviously reading his part of the script from a teleprompter in front of him. When West spoke, he completely abandoned the script and proceed to unleash a diatribe against himself and the federal government. He criticized himself for shopping and dining out before making a donation and promised to have his business manager make the largest donation his fortune can handle. He criticized the federal government, and President Bush especially, for a very slow response to the catastrophe.

Myers took over at the designated point in the script, resuming his reading. At West's second turn, he spoke words that are sure to be discussed for some time: "George Bush doens't care about Black people."

Immediately after West's statement, and as he began another, NBC staff suddenly switched to a shot of Chris Tucker. Tucker was obviously caught off guard by the sudden cue, but picked up at his place in the script.

It was then that I decided to break my relative silence on the matter. I will be posting a number of items tonight on the situation in Louisiana and Mississippi. Some will be positivie. Others will not.

I am also revising the Labor Day Picnic speech that I'm scheduled to give for a gathering of Texas Democrats on Monday. It just doesn't seem that we have anything to celebrate now.