to Washington to make room for 'Katie' Couric who has spent more than the last decade interviewing starlets, authors and chefs on the Today Show. She will also have editorial control of the newscast. That's what scares me.
I get my news elsewhere, but millions will tune in and see her spin & fluff cycle.

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Bob Sheiffer is right on the money. To elaborate, Bush has no intention of helping anyone at any time. Didn't he ignore a three year warning about Katrina? Was it malicious and deliberate? YOU CAN BET YOUR BOOTY IT WAS. HIZBULLAH HELPS LEBANON WAR VICTIMS WHILE LEADERS IN ISRAEL ARE AS SADISTIC AS BUSH. KILL, KILL, KILL, FOR PROFIT . DON'T TELL ME WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER ELECTION TO INDICT BUSH! IT'S JUST TOO, TOO INSANE!!!

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The american and isreal lobby/media want people to think that Hezballa are "terrorists" yet they are a polictical party. A party that actually helps their people.

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I've said it before: this government is more interested in control than it is in helping anyone.

And when I say "this government," I refer to no individual party, no individual department, branch or division. The whole God-damned thing is corrupt. Do not ask them for anything, do not count on them for anything. They are thieves and liars and you should have nothing to do with them.

The biggest problem in New Orleans is the fallacious notion that it's the government's duty to help them. So some sit idle, moaning on TV about inaction by the government, when the whole time they would be better off getting up off their own duffs and rebuilding. If it makes sense to rebuild, it will be done.

Our government explicitly states over and over again that it has no obligation to us. Not even the police are obliged to protect you. Quit counting on them.

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I watched the interview yesterday with Senator Landrieu as she walked through a still gutted neighborhood in St. Bernard Parish. It looked as though nothing had been done in the past year. Yet she said that the federal government had spent $75,000 per family.

Then I thought of the stories of rebuilding contracts that were subcontracted four and five levels deep, with each layer siphoning out 30 or 40 percent profit.

This administration's rebuilding efforts, like this administration's wars, resemble nothing so much as a feeding trough for the well connected. They don't need Hezbollah to embarass them, they do quite well on their own.

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"Talk about threats to national security – how about government so big, so complicated and so unmanageable, it can't get out of its own way?"

What bothers me is Scheiffer taking that Repulican line about "Big Government". When run by people who are truly civic minded, government can and does serve "the people", who the government is "by and for". Enough with Big Media blowhards spouting the "corporatist think", and Republican talking points! Who watches these blowhards? Not me! My news comes by the internet, and progressive radio. If you watch the corporate news, you desrve the headaches, confusion and lack of knowledge it brings you. Yes, the "terrorist" Hezbollah can and does support "the people" with massive aid from their leaders in Iran and Syria, just as the Israelis support their "people" with support from the U.S.A.. Where Scheiffer is right is his observations on the Republican's deliberate refusal to take care of poor Americans, with education, family wage job oppurtunities, health care, and even shelter during and after emergencies.

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The Adminstration is so 'gung ho' on privatizing government functions, why don't they outsource the recovery of New Orleans to Hezbollah? They have a good track record at this and they would probably be a low bidder too.

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Bob Schieffer is only saying what has been on our minds for ages. But it begs serious consideration.

First, there are many who feel it would not be beneath this administration to contrive terrorist plots simply to further their agenda.

It is 5 years after 9/11, and still we have no security. Our borders remain open on all sides, our ports and infrastructure have been sold and turned over to our enemies (China owns most of our trillions in debt), illegal aliens remain undisturbed and visas are being handed out like peanuts at a cocktail party.

Our "shock and awe" has cost us over $300 billion and still growing, not to mention the thousands upon thousands of our troops, allied troops and innocent citizens in Iraq and Afghanistan. In waging a war against "terrorists", Bush handed this country to them on an oil-soaked platter! The noblest death for a terrorist is at the hands of America. "Bring 'em On" was an open invitation! As the war wages, Bush golfs with daddy.

Now we look at the area ravaged by Katrina one year ago. It is no better. Over 1,400 people drowned while Bush played in Crawford. One video which disturbs me and should disturb all of us, was Barbara Bush (George's mommy) at the Dome after the hurricane. As people lay dying, sweltering in heat, deplorable conditions, she had the kahones to refer to it as a change in social strata for these people, saying that most of the people had been living in such horrible conditions that living in the dome was a step up! Well, we know where George got his people skills, don't we?

One year later, bodies are still being identified. One woman is featured in video who found her father's body weeks after the storm. She knew who it was, but they had to identify it. She buried her father last week! One video showed an African-American man lying in the street more than a week after the storm. He had a tarp put over his head and traffic cones around his head so he wouldn't be mistaken for a speed bump! He lay there until the federal government could decide who should clean up the bodies!

This government cannot function! Positions are filled according to personal relationships, not qualifications. FEMA has been reordered and put under Homeland Security, which has been shown not to work. The federal government has deserted the people, as have the insurance companies.

Why are we leaving this regime in? How much more will it take to see that every week this administration is in power, they become more powerful and the people become weaker. The rich are getting richer, and to Hell with the poor, whose numbers are growing every day.

How much more will it take before someone sees that we need to get this administration out before this drowning country goes down for the third time?

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Although I admire Scheiffer's stand it is interesting to notice how tangentially he just misses the point and how profoundly "on-target" the comments from the Alter-Net community are. It points up how media representatives, even the well-meaning, so-called liberals miss the point after affluence sets in. This is the problem I have with Air America; who the hell do these limousine liberals presume to represent? It's rather unique that the intellectuals don't seem to fall prey to this affluence virus, e.g., Zinn, Chomsky, etc., in the same way as the corporate strivers from big media.

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Well said, Bob. With Schieffer's departure goes the last credible newsperson in the main stream media. From now on the news'll consist of all the glitz and hype of corporate/political ad campaigns. Get used to lots of tit and titilation with very little substance. Get used to a steady diet of ignorance is bliss reportage. Democracy is far too important to leave in the hands of the citizenry.

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IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Schieffer has not always been so smart! In fact, it was not too long ago, that FAIR had us writing to him, complaining about his lack of "balance" on his "Face the Nation." Maybe he finally got some "smarts" in his old age, but I wouldn't trust it! He is a real "Company Man," whose brother, I believe is a Republican official.

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