Guest blogged by David Edwards

Here are a few video highlights from the latest edition of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.

While the right-wing apologist nonsense of James Glassman greatly detracted from the overall show, Maher treated us to several worthy moments. In particular, Maher's weekly rant made the case for the removal of George W. Bush from the Office of President. Instead of calling for impeachment directly, Maher suggests a "California-style" recall election.

Given the Republican congress, we aren't certain if a recall election is any more realistic than impeachment or if a recall would be allowed under the Constitution. Our friends at Democratic Underground debated this point earlier in the week.

Maher points out the "unintentional racism" of George Bush's mother, Barbara Bush, during an interview at the Astrodome. FEMA, Mike Brown, Halliburton and other favorites of the Bush regime also do not escape Maher's wit unscathed.

Streaming Video in Real media format

Video in Windows media format

Unrelated but notable: Check out this musical remix (MP3) of Kayne West's comment "George Bush doesn't care about black people" by The Legenday K.O.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

'Impeach Bush' is the #1 searched term on Technocrati today

Click on the banner for more information.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

I've heard it said more than once that the blogger who uses the name Xymphora may have the most advanced bullshit-detector on the internet, and I am not about to argue. Had I not been so overwhelmed lately I would have been reading him more regularly, and I would have been in a much better position to write yesterday's post, Secrecy, Incompetence and Disaster --- What Is The Truth Behind Katrina?.

Better late than never; no? Here's a quick look at Xymphora's recent Katrina-related posts. They are all full of sound reasoning and reliable references. I encourage you to click on these links, read these posts, and check out the references...

...but only if you want to know the truth!

The truth eventually makes its way out...

Glad that Powell is beginning to come clean. Though somehow, we have a feeling that speech ended up being much more painful for hundreds of thousands of Americans and Iraqis who will never be able to shake the "pain" caused by Powell's inability to stand up for his country instead of his blind "loyalty" to his boss.

By the way, Powell additionally acknowledges that he's never seen any connection between Saddam and 9/11. We mention that just for you Bush Dead-Enders out there. As well, the article goes on to discuss Powell's "loyalty" to the "President" instead of the country...

Uh...Here we go again...Your old boss knew, Mr. Powell!

...Not to mention your more recent boss, Dick Cheney, who said at the time that invading Iraq would get the United States "bogged down in the quagmire inside Iraq."

Then again, who could have imagined anyone flying planes into building in New York or forseen the levees breeching in New Orleans?

Sigh...And so it goes in the New American Century...

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Sometimes what looks like incompetence really is incompetence.

UPDATE BY BRAD: An additional thought on the above...

(Blogged by Brad, from somewhere in Arizona)

1) When Days Inn says they offer High-Speed Wireless Internet in their rooms, they don't mean that it actually works. Three different Days Inns over the last three weeks in three different states have been maddeningly disappointing in that regard. None of those Days Inns has offered a refund or even a discount for their inability to deliver what they'd promised.

2) BRAD BLOG Guest Blogger, Joseph Cannon is a genius. Evil genius perhaps, but genius nonetheless. Proof.

3) George W. Bush performed flawlessly in every respect in his response to Hurricane Katrina. Every American can be justifiably bursting with pride in his great leadershipt. His ability to keep our country safe and secure --- precisely as he'd promised so many times in the past --- has never been more perfectly exemplified than in the last two weeks.

4) Out "in the wilds" there is no Internet (information), only Fake Conservative Talk Radio (lies).

5) Talk Radio is 98% Fake Conservative. 1% Actual Conservative. 1% neither of the above.

6) Fake Conservatives on Talk Radio have a remarkable ability to lie in lockstep and with alarming effectiveness across a 24 hour broadcast day (several layers deep in most markets).

7) Americans who listen to Fake Conservatives on the radio are remarkably gullible and ever-surprisingly effective at parrotting what they've heard on the radio even when they are parrotting demonstrable lies and insipid spin. Such Americans are also masters of self-delusion.

8) Trolls and Bush Apologists of all stripes are welcome to post comments on The BRAD BLOG. Unlike most wingnut blogs, we welcome all points of view. Such trolls are not, however, allowed to post under different names or (more importantly) deliver personal attacks towards other commenters. That would include the repeated sad use of calling other commenters "socialists". Not that there's anything particular wrong with being a socialist, but when such language is meant as an attempt at some kind of perjorative with not a shred of supporting evidence to support said name-calling, its nothing more than a sad attempt at a personal attack.

9) The continued inability to follow the rules outlined in #8 will be grounds for having such comments deleted and/or the authors of said comments banned permanently at the discretion of myself or Official BRAD BLOG Concierge, Winter Patriot.

10) Falsely representing oneself as "a troop fighting in Iraq" will bring the same punishment as those violate the rules described in #8. After spending so many weeks and months speaking with actual such troops, and the families of those who've lost their lives fighting that ridiculous War for real, I'm especially sensitive to those jerks who would impersonate same.

11) I am remarkably generous. Please don't push me.

12) There are mountains in Northwest Texas. Beautiful ones. I previously had no idea.

13) Despite Winter Patriot's Open "Impeachment" Thread here and a commenter named Bob's words about my having called for the Impeachment of George W. Bush, I'm not sure I actually ever have. Not publicly anyway. Not that I recall. Not that I'm against it.

14) BRAD BLOG Guest Bloggers David Edwards and Winter Patriot are not only great bloggers, they are tireless patriots and world-class human beings. Top-notch. As good as anyone could find. Anywhere.

15) For those wondering when I might reply to their email or return to full-time BRAD BLOGGING here, please see #1 once more and then count days with me until I'm finally off the road (only to leave again in a few weeks, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it...if it's not under water). Shouldn't be long now...Hopefully those who don't receive a reply will understand, I now receive nearly 1000 messages a day, and it's difficult --- if not impossible --- to read them all, let alone reply to all of them. But I'll do my best. Thanks for understanding.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

In the past few days I have seen an amazing number of reports indicating that, in the wake of Katrina, things are not as they seem. On the surface, they seem awful. But behind the curtain they may well be much worse.

What else is new?

In this post I will share a few of those articles with you; if you have seen similar reports and wish to share them, please do so.

The reports that caught my eye seem to fall into three more-or-less related categories. For want of better terminology, let's call the categories "Secrecy", "Incompetence", and "Vague Suspicions".

Secrecy

The constant demand for secrecy is hardly surprising, given the track record of the current administration. No other administration in American history has spent so much money classifying so many documents, and even taking previously unclassified information out of the public domain.

Federal Government Secrecy at All Time High

And of course, this makes us wonder what's being hidden.

Guest blogged by Joseph Cannon

I am the very model of a modern FEMA handle-er
Corrupt as any character you'll find in Raymond Chandle-er
Accomplished very little since I shot past Mummy's labia
Just bummed around until I found some horsies from Arabia

I lost the horsie gig when all the lawsuits started loading up
And then the Bushies asked if I would like to be their toading pup
I got this job because I know the asses that are kissable
I also know the color of the people who are missable.

Who cares about the puling putrid pesky proletariat?
The blacks are just a burden and no longer will we carry it.
The mother of our Fearless One is so aristocratical
And Rove will blame our own misdeeds on forces Democratical.

Denying food and water may have been a little frightening
But there's a city in the south that badly needed whitening.
Our ultimate intention is replacement of democracy --
Here comes a fundamentalist Dominionist theocracy!

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Zogby Internation published its latest poll of Bush job approval today. The poll found that at 41% approval, an all time low, Bush "would lose to every modern president."

The poll also found that the public had a negative view of the president's handling of the Katrina disaster. Only 36% of people gave Bush passing marks. Only 32% of people gave passing marks to government in general.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

As the right-wing talking heads began their lockstep effort to deflect blame and obscure truth about hurricane relief efforts, Media Matters has been monitoring the lies, distractions and talking points. Media Matters has alerted the media about their continuing efforts of helping to enable the spread of these malicious falsehoods:

Read the Media Matters article and learn how each of the corporate media organizations quickly went from being the brave first-responders we saw reporting the Katrina story to a mere tool for spreading Bush Administration propagana.

Crooks and Liars also has nice video from MSNBC showing the timeline of lies.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

CNN's Betty Nguyen reports that Houston's Reliant Center including the Astrodome has been 'locked down'. Without notice, all gates have been locked. No one (including press?) is allowed in or out of the center.

Video of CNN's lockdown report (Windows Media).

UPDATE: At 11:20am ET, CNN reports that the Astrodome lockdown has been lifted and they were given no further details about the situation.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

We got an interesting question from a BRAD BLOG reader named Bob, who asked why Brad all of a sudden stopped calling for impeachment.

I don't know, Bob. I'm pretty sure it's not indicative of a change of policy around here. So let's speculate for a moment, shall we?

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Brad is on the road and hasn't been blogging very much... Maybe the guest bloggers are more concerned with bringing you news and analysis than simply repeating the often-repeated call for impeachment... Maybe it's because we think you already know where we stand... But on the other hand, maybe it's just because we forgot...

So maybe it's time for an IMPEACHMENT thread.

I pose the following questions: Is impeachment a viable option? If so, where are the votes going to come from? And if not, what other option(s) do you see as viable?

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Democrats criticized the Bush Administration's response to Hurricane Katrina earlier today.

Nancy Pelosi's comments were directly critical of the president:

Crooks and Liars has the video of Pelosi's comments.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Think Progress has a good Katrina Timeline complete with links to source articles.