The Associated Press

The photo below is of the Hubbard Brothers. Jason is on the left - JS

FRESNO, Calif. - Hundreds of people lined the streets Wednesday for a procession carrying the flag-draped casket of an Army corporal, the second son in his family killed in Iraq.

Nathan Hubbard, 21, died Aug. 22 when his Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Multaka. A third brother, Jason Hubbard, was riding in another helicopter nearby and told his wife he had to search the wreckage, according to the family’s pastor.

Nathan Hubbard’s remains arrived in an Army-chartered jet Wednesday at Fresno-Yosemite International Airport, where an honor guard carried the casket from the plane to a hearse. The family had a few moments alone with the casket, then led the procession to a funeral home.

Hubbard enlisted at age 19 while still grieving for his older brother, Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Hubbard, who was killed at age 22 alongside his best friend by a roadside bomb in Ramadi in 2004.

Jason Hubbard, 33, joined the Army at the same time Nathan did. At their request, the two were assigned to the same unit, the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division based on Oahu.

Jason accompanied his brother’s body on a flight out of Iraq and returned home to be with his family.

Army reservists and hundreds of local residents waving flags watched the procession en route to the Boice Funeral Home in nearby Clovis, where Hubbard grew up.

From Welcome to Pottersville:

Light finally dawned on Marble Head.

After two long years, 1800 deaths and a billion dollars officially wasted, our Preznit who’s more synonymous with corpses (despite never going to the funeral of an Iraq war casualty), rubble and general, run-of-the-mill devastation than any other is at last getting the hang of this hurricane season thingie. Because days before Hurricane Dean even hit the Gulf Coast, George Bush declared a state of emergency for 32 Texas counties, proving to a worried America that, no Virginia, pre-emptive compassionate conservatism isn-t quite dead.

What a change from two years ago, when Bush was spanked by the three furies named Katrina, Rita and Wilma as he licked cake frosting off his hand and learned his first redneck guitar chord (the more bitter wags among us may venture “Walking on Sunshine.”).

And, to our enduring shame, no one wanted to risk a dirty look or a rude, premature exit courtesy of the Secret Service to whisper in the birthday’suited emperor’s ear, “Psst. People are drowning and FEMA’s scarcer than Osama bin Laden. What the fuck are you doing here?”

Continue reading here

I’ll never forget this, either. I know I’m probably overloading on Hurricane Katrina today, but I think for many people it was the first time they actually got a good look at the Bush family and how they operate. Everything they do is to benefit…..THEM. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten the Gulf coast, and the horrendous incompetence of the Bush administration in handling the crisis. I have to wonder, though…..is it incompetence, or is it that they really just don’t give a shit about these Americans? Maybe both……

From the Houston Chronicle, March 23, 2006

Former first lady Barbara Bush donated an undisclosed amount of money to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund with specific instructions that the money be spent with an educational software company owned by her son Neil.

Since then, the Ignite Learning program has been given to eight area schools that took in substantial numbers of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

“Mrs. Bush wanted to do something specifically for education and specifically for the thousands of students flooding into the Houston schools,” said Jean Becker, former President Bush’s chief of staff. “She knew that HISD was using this software program, and she’s very excited about this program, so she wanted to make it possible for them to expand the use of this program.”

The former first lady plans to visit a Houston Independent School District campus using the Ignite program today to call on local business leaders to support schools and education.

The United States has built a “fortress” in Baghdad in the new American embassy, a building which speaks volumes about the way the U.S. views the situation there, according to a critic of the new diplomatic headquarters writing in Foreign Policy magazine.

The largest, most expensive embassy ever built will be completely isolated from the nation in which is centered, writes historian Jane Loeffer in the September/October issue.

“Walled off and completely detached from Baghdad, it conveys a devastating message about America’s global outlook,” she reports.

“The United States has designed an embassy that conveys no confidence in Iraqis and little hope for their future,” Loeffler says in her article, “Fortress America.”

“The embassy in Baghdad is designed to be completely self’sufficient. American diplomats will have their own shopping market, movie theater, gym, and dry cleaners,” Loeffler reports. “The embassy will be encased by 15-foot-thick blast walls, house a special defense force, and operate its own electrical, sewage, and water treatment plants. There will be no need to interact with Iraqis for anything.

This is a strong departure from the way America’s embassies historically have been built, Loeffler says. Traditionally, U.S. embassies were designed to further interaction with the community. Diplomats visited with local officials at their offices, shopped at local businesses, and mixed with the general public.

More at the Swamp

Put up or shut up…….. that’s my thought.

Rep. John Conyers declared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could not stop him from beginning impeachment proceedings in the House Judiciary Committee against a ‘long list of people’in the Bush administration, although he did not make a firm commitment to begin proceedings.

“Nancy Pelosi has impeachment ‘off the table,’ but that’s off her table, it is not off John Conyers’ table,” the Michigan Democrat said during a town hall meeting in his district Tuesday. “Nancy Pelosi, who I actually supported, cannot prevent me from introducing an impeachment resolution against, well I’ve got a long list of people who are eligible.”

More at Raw Story

Who could forget Barbara Bush’s comments about the Katrina victims who were brought to Houston.

Stupid or uncaring…..or both?

Anderson Cooper bitchslapping Mary Landrieu. I thought I liked her, but since have decided she needs to go. I don’t like her voting record AT ALL.

From the Youtube user jasonmicron:

A video recorded before the Katrina victims were evacuated from New Orleans to the Astrodome. At this time the people that chose to stay were still at the Superdome and the convention center.

Before the flaming starts, let me say that I really lean right and I really don’t like Cooper that much but it was just awesome to see someone bitch out a leader for their lack of concern over those victims.

I will never forget Shepard Smith and Geraldo reporting from New Orleans. There was just no denying the fuck up of the federal government’s response. As much as Sean Hannity probably would have liked to, it just wasn’t possible.