Overhaul FEMA before 1st Hurricane, Israel Deploys 3 Nuclear Subs Off Coast Of Iran

Frank Rich
David Ignatius
Jessica Valenti

"Obama is stuck between a rock and a Tea Party. His credibility as a champion of reformed, competent government is held hostage by video from the gulf. And this in an election year..." - Frank Rich

"Palin's sisterly speechifying is part of a larger conservative move to woo women by appropriating feminist language. Just as consumer culture tries to sell "Girls Gone Wild"-style sexism as "empowerment," conservatives are trying to sell anti-women policies shrouded in pro-women rhetoric." - Jessica Valenti

BP's effort to plug the oil leak by using a top kill method has officially failed, and they are announcing that it won't be until August that their drilling of a relief well that can burrow into the pipeline will be finished. In the meantime, good luck in cleaning all that muck up, Bobby Jindal... This Summer has been predicted to be very bad, with as many as 23 storms a'brewing, 12 - 14 which may turn into hurricanes that will make landfall somewhere along our coast. Since we blew it big time and had to wait until after meltdowns within the financial system and big oil regulation, let's not wait until after a few hurricanes hit to see how FEMA hasn't changed since Katrina. Overhaul it now, so that it might be effective this Summer. Obama needs to suck it up and start having weekly press conferences, he needs to engage more  on the domestic level.

It now looks like the best temporary strategy is to park a submarine on top of the collapsed pipeline, let the crew play cards for a month or two, anything to stop the further pollution of the Gulf...

rejecting a nuclear weapons free middle east...
189 0f the 200 nations that signed on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty want to meet in New York for a conference on creating a Middle East free of nuclear weapons. Everyone but Israel: "... which has not signed the NPT, dismissed the document as "deeply flawed" and "hypocritical".


"It ignores the realities of the Middle East and the real threats facing the region and the entire world. We strongly oppose efforts to single out Israel, and will oppose actions that jeopardise Israel's national security. Given the distorted nature of this resolution, Israel will not be able to take part in its implementation." One of the reasons that Israel refuses to join is that it may have to use nukes against Iran, and it seems more likely that worst-case scenario may happen this Summer...

I say this because some small ships hope to sail past the armada blockading the sea in front of the Gaza strip, and in a symbolic gesture, deliver a few tons of medical and food supplies. This has failed in the past two years, and probably will again, even though there are some foreign dignitaries from other countries on the small ships. It is all smoke and mirrors used to divert the public's attention to what Israel is really doing that is controversial - deploying three nuclear submarines into the Persian Gulf, to
be deployed off the coast of Iran: "... this new deployment is meant to ensure a permanent naval presence near the Iranian coastline.


A flotilla officer told the Times that the deployed submarines were meant to act as a deterrent, gather intelligence and potentially to land Mossad agents."We're a solid base for collecting sensitive information, as we can stay for a long time in one place," the officer said.

The flotilla's commander, identified only as "Colonel O," was quoted by the Times as saying that the submarine force was "an underwater assault force. We’re operating deep and far, very far from our borders." I loved the sound of rattling sabers in the Springtime, and with Israel's nuclear missiles having the range to reach anywhere in Iran from the Gulf, we may see the beginning of WW111... It used to be, that something of this magnitude could only happen with the blessings from the Pentagon, but this could now be a "screw you" from Netanyahu to Obama. Negotiations? I got your negotiations right here, oowww!

freeing gilad...

While I'm on the subject of Israel, the father of Gilad Shalit, the IDF soldier who was captured by Hamas in 2006 and has been held by them ever since, has gotten fed up at the stoppage of any negotiations to get his son back: "A country that rescued thousands [of earthquake victims] in Haiti should know how to save one of its soldiers," Noam Shalit told a lawyers' conference in the southern city of Eilat. Israel was capable of sending rescue teams thousands of miles to the Caribbean, but had failed to retrieve a soldier in imprisoned just a few miles from its borders, Shalit said."

The government has asked Noam to keep a low profile and not to make public statements about his son, but it's not working too well: "We will not accept the cliché that our actions are upsetting negotiations to free Gilad and we will not accept this wheeler-dealing over the life of our son. Gilad is crying loudly for us to return him to freedom," Shalit said on Sunday. "He has paid in full the price that the state demanded of him." Why yes, both the Israeli government and Hamas are using Gilad as a pawn, neither see him as human, which is why his father is taking it to the streets trying to get someone to give a damn...


new gay advocate...

Remember the California Assemblyman who was a loud, conservative, "family values" kind of Republican, and was arrested for drunken driving after coming out of a gay bar in Sacramento? He had even spoken out in favor of repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell law.

 Well, during the past three months he has acknowledged that he is gay and supports gay rights: "Roy Ashburn, the California legislator who came out in March after years of operating as a "family values" Republican, is now speaking out in favor of gay rights. Ashburn spoke on the state senate floor yesterday about a bill that could affect gay marriage, should it become legal in the state again.


"On a personal note, before I speak to the bill, I would not have been speaking on a measure dealing with sexual orientation ever, prior to the events that have transpired in my life over the last three months. However, I am no longer willing or able to remain silent on issues that affect sexual orientation, the rights of individuals and so I'm doing something that is quite different and foreign to me."

"I'm finding my way,"