Seventy three years ago, FDR opened his first inaugural address by solemnly acknowledging the grim realities of the Great Depression,"… first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

FDR guaranteed a "leadership of frankness and vigor" and asked for the "understanding and support of the people themselves" which he called "essential for victory".

Contrast FDR's concept of governance with what we have today. After 5 years of morally bankrupt administration, the President's Men have elbowed him aside in a massive public relations effort to cover it all up.

Instead of selling hope through a "leadership of frankness", they arrogantly market fear and revisionism.
FDR went on to describe the money lenders, who'd fueled the financial collapse, as operating only by "the rules of a generation of self-seekers with no vision" and, he observed, "when there is no vision the people perish".

Too many have already perished because of the Bush Administration's substitution of situation ethics for vision, because Bush places greater priority on political dominance than on the welfare of the people -- hundreds of thousands dead in Iraq, over 3,000 still missing in New Orleans…

Having chosen the path of deceit, there can be no deviation.

Negroponte is dispatched to the Senate Intelligence Committee to describe how Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda are the enemy and to berate the elected representatives of the people who want to know something - anything - about the Bush Administration's secret domestic spying program.

Rumsfeld is sent into a bastion of the free press to warn us that we should avoid backalleys and sewers after dark. 

And Donald Powell scurries off to the Washington Post with an Op-Ed piece to spin the President's reneging on his pledge to New Orleans -- it's good for the nation, Louisiana, the people of New Orleans and the free market.

Powell, minces no words in his opening remark, "President Bush made a commitment that the federal government would be a full partner in the recovery and rebuilding of the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and he is keeping that commitment".

That says it all, black is white!

The balance of Powell's piece is a smoke and mirrors rationale for torpedoing the legislation, introduced by Representative Baker (R-LA), which established an agency to spearhead the rebuilding of New Orleans consistent with the City and State's formally adopted recovery plan.

If you believe Powell, don't go near a sewer after dark…

And don't expect any more compassion, frankness or vigor than this from an Administration of visionless self-seekers. It's CYA time and there's a lotta Ass to be Covered.

New Orleanians and Americans deserve so much better - perhaps a government of, by and for the people instead of one promoting nameless, unreasoned, unjustified terror that impedes progress.