Thursday, March 02, 2006

NY Times Bungles Coverage of AP Video Which Proves Bush Lied About Breached Levees


In its coverage Thursday of the latest White House Katrina scandal, the New York Times has unbelievably missed the entire main story that President Bush lied to Americans when, four days after the Hurricane hit, he declared on ABC's Good Morning America that"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." But a new videotape released Wednesday by the Associated Press clearly shows the president, along with Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, being warned the day before the storm struck that the levees in fact were in serious jeopardy. Yet the Times' story makes absolutely no mention of this contradiction. In fact, its opening paragraph is so way off the mark as to almost exonerate the Bushies over their inept response to the storm:

"A newly released transcript of a government videoconference shows that hours after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, federal and state officials did not know that the levees in New Orleans were failing and were cautiously congratulating one another on the government response."

What exactly is the Times saying here? What exactly is the point of this story? How on earth can they completely ignore what is the central point of this new scandal: another Bush lie.

Now some things in life are quite black and white, and the AP video is a pretty damning piece of evidence against the president. And quite ironically, it does a pretty good job of also making former FEMA head and heretofore scapegoat Michael "Brownie" Brown appear surprisingly efficient and quite prescient. Brown can be seen on the tape warning that Katrina would be "a bad one and a big one" and that he worried about the government's "ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe." He noted that the Superdome was about 12 feet below sea level, and he doubted its adequacy as an emergency shelter. That same day he even urged federal officials to cut through red tape to give timely help. "Go ahead and do it," he said. "I'll figure out some way to justify it. Just let them yell at me." My goodness, maybe ole Brownie did a heck of a job after all.

As for the tape itself, participating in a videoconference from his Crawford, Tex ranch, Bush appeared disengaged, sporting his all-too-familiar My Pet Goat look, as Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center warned that the hurricane would be among the worst ever. About the levees specifically, Mayfield said "I don't think any (computer) models can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, but that's obviously a very, very grave concern."

Now let's focus on those very significant final eight words: "but that's obviously a very, very grave concern," and pair them with Bush's statement five days later: "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." If that isn't an outright lie, what is? And this is the Bush pattern of deception. Who can forget Condi Rice's May 16, 2002 declaration that "I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon, that they would try to use an airplane as a missile--a hijacked airplane as a missile." She apparently had forgotten about that pesky little August 8, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing titled: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike inside U.S." The very same PDB that discussed the use of hijacked airplanes as potential weapons.

"We didn't know" seems to be the popular refrain of this duplicitous administration. But they did know, and they do know. They always know. They just lie about it, that's all.

So now that we know that Bush clearly was aware of the levee situation in the days following the Hurricane, the question to be begged is, why did he remain at his ranch, then make a political swing through California and Arizona, as New Orleans was dealing with catastrophe? How could he remain on vacation and then make an irrelevant trip West while people were dying in the streets down South?

Lending new meaning to apathy and indifference, Bush did not ask a single question during the videoconference. Instead, all he could muster was an unconvincing assurance that "we are fully prepared."

Lies. Lies. Lies. When will it ever stop.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

TV news coverage in New Mexico clearly shows the contradiction between the warnings and Bush's blithe lie. Can you imagine what those in Louisiana must think? If I were from New Orleans, I would be homicidal at this point.

Anonymous said...

I have the Bush katrina video on my site, feel free to download it.
I Also have this opinion on the site.
Opinion
August 2005 George Bush was in Texas and he was there for a reason. The 09.11.01 anniversary was going to fall on a Sunday. That was like a gift from heaven and Bush was going to take full advantage of it. While Katrina was forming, in the Gulf of Mexico, the Bush team was planning every second of 09.11.05. They were making plans for cabinet members to be on the Sunday talk shows, like Meet the Press, with the same message to support the Bush agenda. I believe Michael Brown was out of this loop and wouldn’t have been able to interrupt the planning, even if he had tried and he may have tried. A hurricane or hurricane threat was not going to interfere with the Bush agenda or the 09.11.01 anniversary planning. When the dikes broke, in New Orleans, the Bush team refused to believe their 09.11.01 anniversary plans would have to trashed and refused to refocus on real event, hurricane Katrina, until it was too late.


Jim Pence

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

That's it FINALLY..we got the goods on this Idiot for all to see that Bush is an INCOMPETENT LIAR ( like we knew all along) and Brown was a Scapegoat.

So what kind of Right Wing Slop/SPIN do you have for this one SPINACHBOY??

Let me geuss it was more LIBERAL MEDIA FABRICATION? PLEASE... make it something fact based instead of the same tired FOX NEWS/ROVE emotional/factless excuses.

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

hey Jim Pence, give us a link to your site.

Anonymous said...

Impeach. Now.

Write Reps to support HR 635, HR 636, and HR 637. Do it repeatedly and ask everyone you know to write.

This abomination has got to stop.

Anonymous said...

I was one initially pissed off at Brown's inept work with Katrina, but after he has hit the talk show circuit to defend himself - and he seemed rather believable - and then this. He has to be patting himself on the back right now knowing that he at least, to some degree tried and that he won't be vilified nearly as much as this lame ass President.

Next time George is in Crawford he might have a lot of Louisiana visitors.

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

Hey man, I plan to make a public apology on my site to Brownie. He was scapegoated by the Half wit and Chertoff.

I still can't figure why Bush didn't pay him off to shut up and toe the Line and how did the AP get that video footage???

Either way, Brown is gonna come out of this one smelling like a Rose after taking some serious abuse...good for him....bad for Bush.

All_I_Can_Stands said...

oops, looks like AP and Andy and Smoe do not know the difference between the terms "topping the levee" and "breaching the levee". Huge difference.

Nice try folks. Maybe next time.

Melinda Pillsbury-Foster said...

When people stop believing them.

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

OH MY GOD...Now he’s gonna use semantics to save his Fuhrer's clueless Keester...sounds kinda like Clinton and what the definition of "IS" is.

Seems like you GOP clowns have now come full circle.

Spinachboy you and the rest of Bush's GOP faithful BOOTLICKs kill me.

All I gotta do is see what the GOP response to any hard questions is on HARDBALL and then I know what you’ll say before you say it…just like a mindless Parrot. Speaking of which have you traded in Spinach for Crackers??

Anonymous said...

How much longer can we afford these people?

Anonymous said...

I think the central story is that Brown was saying "just do it" whatever it takes, asking for red tape to be cut and for national resources to be brought to bear on an emergency basis, and Bush sat there saying "we're ready" and did absolutely nothing. The main story is not that Bush lied about the levee breaks, but that he did so to excuse his personal incompetence.

Anonymous said...

I pulled up the on-line version of the NYT and thought I would get the most detailed reporting. What a disappointment. Makes you wonder.

Anonymous said...

Watched the AP video and don't see the smoking gun you claim to see. Has bias colored your perspective? It sure looks like it.

Bush is no intellect. After all, he went to the same school Kerry did.

But lets key on where he goes off the mark and not look for egregious where it doesn't exist. There is so much wrong with this guy, when are you going to key on it and not this tripe?

Anonymous said...

And I keep waiting for Popeye to list the 5 wonderful things his idiot idol Bush has done for the average American in the last 6 years.

Have you had enough yet?

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

Johnny, You can keep waiting as Spinach boy and the rest of the GOP Storm Troopers/Brainwashed have nothing but feel good glittering generalities to quote these days. Given that all their fearless leader promised is either a lie or has turned out to be false.

I.e. Iraq is a mess, the economy is stagnant at best, the housing market is slowing,Bush is selling us out to the Arabs with the port deal, lying about knowing the extent of how bad Katrina would be, the elusive MILLIONS of Jobs those tax cuts were supposed to produce but never did, no WMDs in Iraq..etc.

The toughest thing for them to do is back their claims with COLD HARD FACTS!!! When you ask them to and they can no longer use their BS patriotic BULL DOZE Rap they claim your negative and a Defeatist…typical Rovian Ploy

joe

All_I_Can_Stands said...

What is so funny about the Dems harping on Katrina is that in the end Katrina will do nothing to harm the GOP. However, Katrina will very likely transform the only Democrat bastion in a southern state into a GOP stronghold.

Katrina will do to Louisiana what happened in Georgia in the last decade, it just won't take so long.

Anonymous said...

Whether the word play is topped or breached, the true endgame to all this nonsense is the repeated pattern of Bush Co.'s disregard for how their decisions affect others.

Here's another word for GOPers to wrap their head around - sociopath.

Anyone who isn't seeing through the pathological lying and the manipulation of America by this administation is being a victim of a sociopathic con game.

Based on the profile of a typical Republican voter ie lack of education beyond high school, living in the bible belt - I doubt many GOPers can truly delve the depths of the meaning of sociopath - it's most likely harder to admit that maybe they've been taken for fools.

Here's a challenge for GOPer's...
Check out www.geoffmetcalf.com or www.sociopath.net for a start on getting a true picture of sociopathic behavior. If anything rings a bell, perhaps it will help you begin to see how you're being taken for a ride.

It's time for the insightful to take the keys away from the deceived!

Anonymous said...

As a add on to the comment above-

I have worked, in a professional, theraputic capacity, with bonafied, DSM IV diagnosed sociopathic, personality disordered folks. Also, have one in the family.

So, All I Can Stands, I'm not just blowing liberal smoke...

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

SpinachBoy Said:What is so funny about the Dems harping on Katrina is that in the end Katrina will do nothing to harm the GOP. However, Katrina will very likely transform the only Democrat bastion in a southern state into a GOP stronghold.

Katrina will do to Louisiana what happened in Georgia in the last decade, it just won't take so long.



Have you looked at your Furhrer's poll numbers lately? Here some info from your favorite GOP source..Fox News ..hey if it comes from FOX it's Gospel:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186634,00.html

Yeah, Bush is and the GOP are gonna wait for all the Porperty in NO and the Gulf Coast to be foreclosed on and then the land grab will begin. Haliburton is down there now making more cash for Cheney. Just business as usual for Bushco. Help the Rich..F75k the Poor.

Or AS they say in Red State Bible Banging Circles "WHO WOULD JESUS SCREW"?

joe

Anonymous said...

Hey Popeye,

Just saw this on the AP:
Military to continue to pay Iraqi media: Casey

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060303/ts_nm/iraq_usa_newspapers_dc;_ylt=Ah7s3cDlROlktkSV1l.utfhZ.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

Seems if there is no FEEL GOOD news coming out of Bush's BS war in Iraq THESE DAYS, so then you just print your own, AT TAXPAYERS EXPENSE OF COURSE. I wonder if Haliburton will be getting this hand out also???

So then Popeye..Welfare is a bad thing if it goes to the poor,but good if it goes to the corporate whores that run this Administration...Right???

THE RIGHT WING AGENDA

PS THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT...THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING

All_I_Can_Stands said...

"Have you looked at your Furhrer's poll numbers lately?"

Oh no, he might not get re-elected next time.

Speaking of the next presidential election, it must have been a real disappointment for the Al Gore worshippers here when he sold out to the Saudis in his speech a few weeks ago. Boy after all the flack about Bush and Saudi Arabia, there was sure a lot of silence about Gore's hand holding with them.

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

SpinachBoy said:Boy after all the flack about Bush and Saudi Arabia, there was sure a lot of silence about Gore's hand holding with them.


No, all attention has been turned to Bush's new pal's the UAE. Good to know that our Commander-in-Ept is willing to turn American ports over to any FOREIGN GOVERNMENT runned company that has the cash?? Oh that's right he wasn't aware of what was going on...AGAIN!!!

Spinachboy, I'm sure your one of the few GOP faithful that support that port deal...maybe cause your land locked.

I'm sure you would back the deal to have these same Islamic pals of Bush's to run the Nuclear Power Plant near your house.

Or as they say down in the BIBLE BELT : WHO JESUS SELL OUT TO???

All_I_Can_Stands said...

"Spinachboy, I'm sure your one of the few GOP faithful that support that port deal...maybe cause your land locked."

Actually, if you look on my blog you will find I was heavily critical of that deal. I take it several steps further: no foreign company should have any ownership of our ports including UK, who UAE is buying from.

While Dems have to flip flop all over themselves on profiling type issues, I commended Chuck Schumer for spearheading the reversal.

I know you think I am a kool-aid drinker, but believe me I am far from it. I just know political spin and opportunism when I see it. For Dems to get any traction out of Bush's shortcomings, they must have both good ideas and a proven track-record to show they would do better. Other than Clinton stumbling into a good economy due to the dot.com revolution, the Dems have neither good ideas or a track-record.

The coming elections are going to be about who stays home, rather than who is running. While conventional wisdom says that all the hoopla against Bush will keep GOP away, the reverse is true. The Dems have made quite the fools of themselves. There is a scism between the kooks and classic Dems. That and the hoopla will have an energizing affect on the GOP.

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

Spinichboy said:Other than Clinton stumbling into a good economy due to the dot.com revolution, the Dems have neither good ideas or a track-record.

Would that be the same economy that Clinton found with massive unemployment after Bush 1 and the same economy that under Reagan/Bush the deficit was tripled?

Would that be the same Clinton that left a surplus that Bush squandered?

How about this for a campaign slogan “Vote for us for the exact opposite of the last 6 years or Vote Republican for more of the same..Hot air, no results, Lies, Corruption and Tax Cuts for the Rich.

We are energized cause we want congress back...you know why???

Impeachment

All_I_Can_Stands said...

'How about this for a campaign slogan “Vote for us for the exact opposite of the last 6 years or Vote Republican for more of the same..Hot air, no results, Lies, Corruption and Tax Cuts for the Rich.'

My Trojan Horse reply is "Sure. Sounds great, go for it."

As for the defecit tripling under Reagan/Bush I, that is one thing I wish Reagan would have done differently. I wish he would have vetoed every budget the Dems threw at him and made them override the veto. That would have made things clear for the history books on where the deficits originated from. As it is though, most who are intellectually honest know it was not Reagan that caused the deficits because revenue skyrocketed under him.

All spending must originate in the house of representatives which was under the Dems all during Reagan's presidency.

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

What is the excuse for the BUSH DEFICIT???? All rammed through a GOP CONGRESS.

Let me geuss it was the EVIL LIBERAL CONSPIRACY???

Anonymous said...

Don't ya just love how Spinachboy still can't look in the mirror?

Anonymous said...

Wow All I Can Stands thinks his viewpoint is part of the solution when, indeed, it's part of the problem.

Oh crap, there's some of that high falutin' psychobable philosophy talk.

One of the traits of a sociopath is that they have an inability to look at their own behavior objectively. They cannot see another point of view objectively and they cannot take responsiblility for their own actions.

By somehow blaming the dems for Reagan's costly (to the American people) mistakes and Bush I's (again, costly to the American people) mistakes, All I Can Stands refuses to see GOP responsiblity in the negative impact on America.

Oh a tangled web of deceit is woven by refusing to look in the mirror.

Editor said...

BUSH KNEW
- about his AWOL whereabouts during the Vietnam War he publicly supported
- about the plane bombings on 9/11/01
- about how Iraq was not connected to them
- about the threat to New Orleans and the lack of preparedness and evacuations.
- about the NSA and DIA spying on US citizens, some of whom are peace activist
- about U.S. torture in Guantanomo and Abu Ghraib and elsewhere

BUSH KNOWS AND HE LIES. What else does he know? What else is he hiding? What other crimes?

Impeach Bush and save America and maybe the world.

All_I_Can_Stands said...

I love how you guys often avoid what I say only to jump on what I don't say. On my blog I have criticized Bush for 1) The ports deal 2) The massive defecit spending 3) His irresponsible immigration/borders policy.

On 1 the Dems have jumped on it but really don't have a lot of credibility in the national security or profiling arena. So while I am ticked off at Bush for going along with this, I don't see that the Dems would have done anything different if they had been in office. It is very easy once the president has made a decision to jump all over it and criticize it, but that is only half of the recipe. The other half must be an established reputation you can look to to claim you would have done it differently. The Dems don't have that, so they will not gain much mileage out of this. I can tell you one thing for sure, if Bush had rejected the deal right off and then there was a terrorist attack over it, the libs would have criticized him for that. It is the liberals right to have a prepared response to both sides of every decision to criticize no matter what. It is not their right to demand credibility when they do it. I think it is stupid for ANY foreign company/country to have control over any of our ports. There are 100's of ports currently foreign controlled. Yet the Dems have never said word one until now. While Bush was way wrong on this one, there is no way Dems can permanently make anything out of it.

On 2 the Dems have quite a history before 1994 of massive deficit spending. While Bush is way wrong to have let this get out of hand, the Dems are the pot calling the kettle black on this one and everyone knows that. Anonymous is guilty of what he accuses me of by denying the Dem's responsibility for the spending in the 80's. Reagan did his part in massively increasing revenue with his tax cuts, but the Dems went to town like kids in a candy shop spending it all and much more. And don't hand me the bunk about military spending. Carter had left our military in shambles and that spending was necessary. To deny that would again put Dems in the position of weakness of national security and national defense (see #1). During Clinton we had the luck of the dot.com revolution bringing in tons of revenue and a GOP led congress holding the reins on spending. This resulted in the brief time period of a surplus. The Clinton Administration's attack on Microsoft triggered the dot.com bust which threw us into recession before Bush even took office. During recession revenue decreases (duh). Bush passed the tax cut and after an initial dip, revenues came back and keep going up. Libs have no credibility on this issue because they always criticize the revenue side (tax cuts) when tax cuts always produce more revenue after the initial dip. It happened under JFK, Reagan and Bush '43. Yet libs always fight it because it is not really about the economy or the deficit. It is about wealth redistribution from those who have earned wealth to those who have not.

On 3 the Dems have racial cards ready in their hands if Bush were to really crack down on the border. Because of this, both sides of the aisle need to come out on this in a non-partisan way in order for it to work. In the meantime, our borders are way open for Al Quaeda to come in with a Nuke or other WMD.

I can and have criticized Bush and other GOP where necessary. Yet at every level of criticism I would have for them, I see that we would have it much worse in those areas if an Al Gore, a John Kerry or Hillary Clinton were in office.

Anonymous said...

So All I Can Stands, talk about when Reagan cut school breakfast programs and kids came to school hungry. Teachers had to reach into their pockets to feed them. How do I know? I was one of those teachers. Now THERE was some wealth distribution. Meanwhile my husband made millions in home construction. Talk about the paranoia of the Nixon administration. Talk about the midnight calls my father received from Washington DC and how he was followed by FBI? agents while doing his job for the Dept. of Agriculture. Talk about Ford's backhanded way of pardoning Nixon that was so bad it caused his "Scotty McClellan" to quit after one month. Talk about how Herbert Hoover was so inept he helped the depression deepen. Talk about BushI failures and the budget mess Clinton was handed. While I will agree that neither Dems or Republicans are lilly white and that each party has contributed to bad government management, I do think a deep review of who Republicans actually work for in America deserves your attention.

Every problem has many causes and many solutions. Are the Republicans and Bush part of the problem? Or, are they part of the solution for everyone, rich or poor in America? Time to look in the mirror...

All_I_Can_Stands said...

"So All I Can Stands, talk about when Reagan cut school breakfast programs and kids came to school hungry."

Since when is it the taxpayers job to provide breakfast for kids? Since there were already programs in place to assist with housing and food, my guess is that many of the kids were coming to school hungry because the parents were misusing assistance provided. Then the solution to that is to add yet another program?

Once again I will point out that I am more often than not criticized for what I don't say instead of what I do say. I have not claimed the GOP is lilly white. I think almost all politicians have some level of corruption and making stupid decisions. I have two points regarding that: 1) When there is a decision to be made, we only get to see the results of the one decision; never the other. There are some decisions that can only result in bad or worst results. The libs are very insistent on criticizing some decisions Bush makes that no matter what he does there will be some downside. 2) I do not often support politicians. I support ideas and by far the conservative ideas stomp liberal ideas. If liberals had their way they would take more of what I worked very hard for in order to give it to someone who did not work hard at all and made poor choices like dropping out of high school, getting involved in drugs, etc.

Additionally, liberals do not want any solutions to problems. They only want their solutions to problems. If the poverty of the world could be solved by making the lower 2/3 of the world 10 times as wealthy as they are now, yet the top 1/3 of the world would be 100 times as wealthy as they are now; liberals would reject it. Communism and Socialism takes the wealth of those who earn it and give it to those who don't earn it. Capitalism works very well most of the time rewarding those who work hard and not rewarding those who choose not to work hard. It is not flawless since sometimes some become wealthy without working hard (like an inheritance or blind luck); while some work very hard and through bad luck or a few poor business decisions or health problems they fall on hard times. Over all it cannot be beat. The liberals in the US and around the world want to make the US like Western Europe. They do not realize that the staggering wealth of the US based on capitalist success is crucial for their economic survival in a socialist environment. Make the US like Europe and the whole world economy will fall.

Time for liberals to look in the mirror.

All_I_Can_Stands said...

I have a question for liberals. Why do Democrats support lottery and gambling initiatives when they claim to support the poor. The Lottery and Casinos are nothing but a tax on the poor. While many wealthy patrons gamble for entertainment, the poor consistently gamble and play the lottery to try to by luck get out of their poverty. Statistics show how remote a possibility that is, so it boils down to a tax on the poor. Yet nobody complains. Dems always think another lottery or Casino is the answer to their revenue problems. Food for thought.

Time for liberals to look in the mirror.

Anonymous said...

Hey Popeye, want a taste of Republican paranoia - just don't make too big of a payment on your credit card...
Curious? Find out what the government can do to your checking account...

Sorry, you'll have to look on the other side of the media to find out.

Hint: Buzzflash Look carefully

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

I have a question for liberals. Why do Democrats support lottery and gambling initiatives when they claim to support the poor. The Lottery and Casinos are nothing but a tax on the poor. While many wealthy patrons gamble for entertainment, the poor consistently gamble and play the lottery to try to by luck get out of their poverty. Statistics show how remote a possibility that is, so it boils down to a tax on the poor. Yet nobody complains. Dems always think another lottery or Casino is the answer to their revenue problems. Food for thought.

Time for liberals to look in the mirror.

Well Spinachboy where exactly is the money gonna come from that is gonna Pay for Bush's Debacle in IRaq and those tax cuts for the rich...let alone the deficit??? A large portion of the national debt is owed to China that the GOP says were on a Collision course with...didn't know that did ya??? They neglect to tell you that on FOX NEWS

We can add more taxes to Tobacco and Alcohol as these RUIN the lives of and kill more people than Gambling..but then again your beloved GOP does everything in their power to shut down any new taxes on them and regulation of them peddling their PIOSON.

What’s worse to play upon the weaknesses of others to support the Govt. or drive the country in to debt and leave it for future generations to pay as Bush and the GOP has done???

So who are the real villains now??

All_I_Can_Stands said...

I love how creative these people get when they raise cigarette taxes. In Chicago, they just cross over to Indiana to get them.

Hearing about people avoiding paying some taxes (legally of course) makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

All_I_Can_Stands said...

We agree that Bush is really no conservative, but that he has held the line on taxes. I think Reagan is saying "Wow, I thought all along the spending problem was because I had a Democrat congress; what is your excuse."

Unfortunately, it is likely that raising taxes will in the future be viewed as the solution. I just can never for the life of me understand why since the reduction of taxes has (as always) resulted in increased revenue, people always criticize the tax cuts. The problem is spending, spending, spending.

Joe Smoe: American Citizen said...

the excuse is the cause a GOP controlled congress that loves PORK.

The reason why they criticize the tax cuts is that the Biggest share goes to the rich man.

Now you being a responsible adult knows that if you ain't got it you don't spend it...Right???

But Bush being a rich snot nose that has never had to work for a Buck doesn't know this and thus he spends ...spends...spends and racks up the bill that will have to be paid..by whom..that would be me and you Mr. Spinachboy.

Look at the numbers and you will see that Bush has done to the U.S.a. what he did to every business that he ever touched...that being RAN IT INTO THE GROUND. So much for our CEO Prez..