Stay What Course?

Not Prepared (again)
As the nation approaches the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors finds that 44 percent of cities "have not created or updated their evacuation plans, and nearly three-quarters say they're not prepared to handle a flu pandemic outbreak." The cities gave the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) a 5.2 rating out of 10 on its ability to respond quickly during an emergency. In addition, eight in 10 cities say their emergency responders still can't communicate with each other or area towns, even though the 9/11 Commission stressed the necessity of radio equipment for first responders. Another report released last week by members of the House Homeland Security Committee gave the Bush administration an F grade for its inability to provide radio equipment to first responders. Yesterday, the House passed a bill that "would require state and local governments to develop guidelines among first responders." But this bill sidesteps providing direct funding for equipment these emergency workers need. "We're not where we need to be nationally" to effectively respond to a disaster, said DHS preparedness chief George Foresman.

How Much Would You Pay For a Useless Weapon?
Following the advice of the taxpayer-funded Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), the Air Force recently approved an $11 billion contract for the controversial F-22 fighter jet, arguably the Pentagon’s most useless weapon system. One of the most expensive fighter programs ever undertaken, the F-22 has been plagued by cost overruns and technical difficulties, including a cockpit door that got stuck and defective landing gear that led to crashing a plane on its nose. More importantly, the jet is unnecessary, conceived in 1985 to fight a Soviet fighter jet that was never built. Ignoring bipartisan opposition and criticism from the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Research Service, which both concluded that the plane was "unqualified" for an extended contract, the Pentagon based its support for the F-22 system on an endorsement from the "independent" IDA. But as the Washington Post reported yesterday, IDA President Dennis Blair is a member of the board of a subcontractor for the F-22 Raptor fighter program, EDO Corp Although Blair admits he was at the top of the process of drafting the report urging the Pentagon to approve the contract, he refused to recuse himself. Senate Armed Services Charmain John Warner (R-VA) called the news "extremely, extremely disturbing," and asked the Pentagon to "clean up" this "sad" situation.

Baghdad Chaos Pushes Bush to Shift U.S. Troops
I’ll just let the NYT tell you about it, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/washington/26prexy.html
As our troops sit in the middle of a Civil war http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/opinion/23sambanis.html

Of course, since this is WWIII, its a clear sign of Armageddon. So what does all this mean for big oil? Just ask BP about their $55,000/minute profits. Sick!

And among the clutter that IS the news, Israeli tanks return to Gaza http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,205655,00.html, but Israel has a right to exist!

Quickies:
Some 4,000 U.S. troops will soon move into Baghdad where "violence...is still terrible," as Bush said yesterday. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley called the deployment “Phase II,” but another White House official said there was no Phase II in the original plan. “This is more like Plan B,” he said.

Four U.N. observers were killed yesterday when an Israeli airstrike hit their observation post near the Israeli border. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "shocked" at Israel's "apparently deliberate targeting" of a UN post; an Israeli official called Annan's suggestion "outrageous."

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to vote today "to adopt the biggest changes in rules governing disclosure of executive compensation since 1992." For the first time, companies will have to disclose total yearly compensation for their CEOs, CFOs, and the next three highest-paid executives.

Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) said the House leadership will soon hold the first vote in a decade on increasing the minimum wage. Predicting the bill will pass, Blunt said, “I'm not sure that it's a ‘must-pass,’ but it will probably be a ‘will-pass.’"

How many documents has the Department of Justice received from the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego in connection with the corruption case of former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), since requesting thousands of pages five months ago? None, Zero, Zilch!

(sources: USAToday, YahooNews, House of Representatives, Center For American progress, Washington Post, National Journal, NY Times, FOXNews)