It's 3:00 am & The Phone's Ringing

On a dark and stormy night, the red phone rings at the White House. After three rings it's transferred to the Western White House. The President picks it up to hear:

"There's a national crisis, one brewing your whole term in office. The consequences of your decision will literally impact life and death. George, we've known each other a long time. You know I wouldn't ask if it weren't critical, but what can you do to boost WellPoint's profits? Our stock tanked after hours yesterday. The Board's all in a row over fewer people being able to afford our product. They came to the house an hour ago with pitchforks, torches, oil and feathers. They said if I didn't call you on the red phone, they'd take matters into their own hands. I looked up my health insurance and it said it didn't cover injuries sustained in mob activities. Help me, Georgie!" screamed the voice at the other end of the phone.

"Get a hold of yourself man! Calm down Uncle Bucky. Write down this number, 555-1234. John McCain will know what to do to get your profits back on track. I'm only responsible for the good years WellPoint's had."

The frightened voice on the other end replied, "You're sure McCain can get WellPoint back in Wall Street's good graces?"

"Yes Uncle Bucky, John believes in private health care, much like I do. We're already paying you guys through the nose for Medicare HMO coverage. More retirees coming, more profits. Think about it."

"Thanks George. What do I do if the Board mob comes back?"

"Have them call Al Hubbard. He put together my signature health care strategies. The WellPoint Board mob should remember him. He used to be one of them."

"I'll call John and Al right away. You saved my life, George."

"That's what I'm here for Uncle Bucky," beamed President Bush. After hanging up, George W. failed to note the irony of over 47 million uninsured Americans after his 7 years in office. They rely on an ever decaying safety net for their life support. It's harder and harder to "just go to an emergency room" for care. Ring, ring ring. "Mr. President, it's Humana on the line."

Sharpen that Subpoena Pencil

Members of Congress cranked up the heat on the White House to come clean in a number of investigations. The Bush team's history of stonewalling might soon have a breach. The Judiciary Committee filed suit against two White House officials regarding the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. In another case, a House Committee Chair accused the Environmental Protection Agency of "withholding hundreds of communications about its refusal to let California regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks."

But one egregious case of non-cooperation has never been addressed, the White House's refusal to hand over communications involving the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. I've had numerous questions, ones my elected leaders refused to acknowledge, much less answer. I suspect some answers lie in those e-mails and other documents.

President Bush promised a robust investigation into his team's response in Katrina's aftermath. Unfortunately it was neither robust nor impartial. During the days hospital patients suffered in steamy toxic soup, White House Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend was on a plane to Saudi Arabia. Yes, that would be the same Fran tapped to lead the investigation and the same Fran whose e-mails to Andy Card remained strictly confidential and unavailable to Congressional investigators.

As the White House staff managed the early response to Katrina, it is difficult to assess their performance without some information. Here's what the Congressional investigation had to say about George W.'s hands on management (on page 8):

"The President did not leave his Texas ranch to return to Washington until two days after landfall, and only then convened his cabinet as well as a White House task force to oversee federal response efforts."

I'd like to know when the White House identified hospital patients as high priority for rescue? What steps did they take to get patients and staff out of dead facilities? We know some lingered until September 3rd.

Fran's report failed to mention the hospital with the largest number of patient deaths in her robust investigative report. LifeCare, a long term acute care facility, lost 24 patients during the storm and its aftermath. Weeks prior to landfall, The Carlyle Group closed on its purchase of LifeCare. Did the politically connected private equity firm ask the White House to leave its facility out of the report? It helps Carlyle enter those wrongful death civil lawsuits with the feds silent on the matter.

As the nation watched hospital staffs post window signs indicating their patients horror, who knew what in the White House, and when? And why was Fran's investigative tome so sorry? She noted her fear of being subpoenaed when she left office earlier this year. The American people deserve to know some answers and it might take more subpoenas and court actions, a familiar pattern with the secretive Bush administration.

More Leadership Pathology

The New York Times reported Governor Eliot Spitzer has been involved in a prostitution ring. The Democratic politician promised to clean up New York's state government. In doing so, he apparently failed to clean up his private life. The Governor is married with three children. The Times promises more after Spitzer's upcoming news conference. Will someone without major pathology please run for office? Our country needs leadership in the worst way. I'm tired of hypercompetitive, partisan jerks like Bush and Spitzer.

Bush Qualifies as Problem CEO

An article on problem Chief Executives in the New York Times applies to our current President, George W. Bush. Consider some traits cited by the business author:

“Observers are often amazed when executives with impressive track records are mysteriously transformed into corrupt and tyrannical monsters once they become C.E.O.s,” Terry Leap, a management professor at Clemson University, writes in Sloan Management Review.

Does wanting to waterboard suspects fit into the tyrannical part? How about invading a country pre-emptively?

But they (observers) should not be (amazed), he says, pointing out that these executives “had serious character flaws that were either hidden or ignored for years.”

The Democratically controlled Texas legislature, specifically House Appropriations Chair Rep. Rob Junell, made Bush "the uniter." Once he rode that mantra in Washington, Bush shed that role like a used condom.

Mr. Leap lists a dozen warning signs that boards should be looking for, and they include:
An obsession with acquiring prestige, power and wealth.” This, coupled with an inability to delay gratification, suggests that a chief executive may put his interests ahead of the company’s.

Bush regularly puts his political party's interests above the country. Other characteristics of flawed CEO's include:

A reputation for shameless self-promotion and other self-aggrandizing behaviors.”

A tendency to create “grandiose strategies” without including a detailed plan for how they will be carried out.

Let's see, the Iraqi people will greet us with flowers, followed by no detailed occupation plan. And for rebuilding New Orleans, Bush actually said, "The work that has begun in the Gulf Coast region will be one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen. When that job is done, all Americans will have something to be very proud of."

Flawed leaders have the ability to compartmentalize and rationalize to an amazing degree. This trait, Mr. Leap writes, is shared by dysfunctional people, among them bad chief executives and criminals.

Does this qualify as dysfunctional? That same night in Jackson Square, New Orleans Bush stated, "I also want to know all the facts about the government response to Hurricane Katrina." Yet, Bush's report left out at least one key fact, the hospital with the largest number of patient deaths post landfall. LifeCare Hospitals had been purchased by The Carlyle Group just weeks before Katrina sideswiped New Orleans.

George W. also said that dark night, "The United States Congress also has an important oversight function to perform. Congress is preparing an investigation, and I will work with members of both parties to make sure this effort is thorough." Yet, his White House refused to hand over e-mails between White House Chief Andy Card and Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend. That clearly doesn't fall into the thorough category.

So Bush is pathological. Who really didn't know that already? We've seen him defend the list of criminals under his employ. They range from Scooter Libby to Tim Goeglein. My guess is a few more are yet to be discovered. Like draws like...

Texas Votes Today

The two party system in America has its big day in Texas, a state normally rendered irrelevant in many primary seasons. So far today, Barack Obama called, followed shortly thereafter by John McCain. I hung up on both of them. If Hillary calls, I'll hang up on her. That goes as well for her big supporter, Rush Limbaugh.

In the last few weeks I've seen President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea in person. And I didn't have to drive over three hours one way to Austin or San Antonio for that rare privilege. But I did have to leave the Angelo State University Writers' Conference to hear Bill's talk. That produced a poem, pretty much a rare event on this blog:

Who’s at the Word Wheel?

Poets freely offered their images of whimsical sublimity
Several weaved theology into their verbal tapestries
Ranging from the Godly to gargoyles, his churchly guardians
Others noted landscapes unusually flat or astoundingly inspirational,
People unusually harsh or profoundly loving
Eyes unbelted in Jeep front seats struggled to hold on as poets spun us around their minds.
I lingered on a particularly scenic metaphor, only to be severely bounced by an oddly shaped juxtaposition in the poet's path

After four wheeling around wide open verbalscapes with inspired poets
I left to hear another word magician, an ex-President
William Jefferson Clinton arrived in a smooth riding limousine, sleek, black, and secure
His vista began wide, with the call for needed change long away on the horizon.
Then Wild Bill galloped past the creek of costly health care, the eroding hill of higher education, and the dry wash of the economy.
Bill hooted and hollered, “If you want these restored, there’s only one choice. Vote for my wife and save my life. Vote for Hillary, please”

The crowd cheered as Wild Bill closed like a carnival barker
“If you love me, you’ll surely love Hillary,
I promise you’ll never be disappointed!”
Sales job done, I pondered the wisdom of holding a politician to his promises.
It didn’t seem like the smartest move.
As our potential elected leaders aren’t known for their truth or justice,
Does that make their failings the American way?

Next up, an interview with a Zoot Suiter
Luis Valdez spoke of pachucas, mythical figures with Superman like features.
But hadn’t I just seen a Superman, an ex-President action hero?
Valdez spoke of myths, Aztec, Mayan, Incan, and Yaqui
He chastised us not to confuse a ritual with myth.
I applied it to my day and decided,
Poets offer their words freely
Politicians may not charge for the seat, but clearly want you and the voting booth to meet,
A ritual that alone does not fulfill the myth of democracy.

Bush Appoints Fran to President's New Intelligence Advisory Board

President Bush appointed Fran Townsend of New York to his newly renamed intelligence advisory board. This is the same woman who omitted the hospital with the highest number of patient deaths from the White House Lessons Learned report on Hurricane Katrina. LifeCare's 24 patient deaths warranted not one mention in Fran's "investigative" analysis.

Why would the President issue a report with such a glaring deficiency? His good friends at The Carlyle Group likely appreciated the omission. The private equity underwriter closed on LifeCare just weeks before Katrina sideswiped New Orleans. What kind of intelligence is required to leave out the facility with the largest number of hospital patient deaths, especially when video footage showed George W. asking Michael Brown about those very patients? Whatever level Fran displayed, that will soon rest on Bush's advisory board. It turns out mute Fran joined a mute oversight group, at least according to the Washington Post. Besides renaming the group, President Bush denuded it as well. The U.S. is back to the lowest common denominator and I smell a PEU, possibly Fran's next employer.

Is Comment to Nancy Nall from the real Tim Goeglein?

While scrolling through the post highlighting plagiarism by a White House aide, I found a comment supposedly from the perpetrator himself. It is below:

Tim Goeglein Says: March 1st, 2008 at 4:42 am

You will pay Woman. One way or another. If it’s the last thing I ever do. You will pay and pay dearly. You cost me my job and now I have to find another one to feed my family.

You’re an jerk of the highest order.

What comes around, goes around, remember that.
Tim

If this came from the real Tim, this does not speak well of tactics used by Bush operatives. But then, we already knew that. With his faith, one might expect Mr. Goeglein to be grateful for the experience of working at the White House, pony up for his failings, and resolve to do better next time. But then again, Timmy worked for Karl Rove. There's no such thing as turning the other cheek...