America appears to be suffering an Alzheimer’s moment.

Our collective memory in this country seems to be failing us… on multiple issues.

Remember Katrina?? Remember how thousands of people died and tens of thousands of people were displaced? Remember the federal government’s pathetic response? So, it’s 8 months later… where are we at now? Well, if today’s news is any indication, it looks like the administration is still falling on its face with regard to their response.

Yesterday, 8 months after the storm, the federal government is just releasing its guidelines on rebuilding homes destroyed by Katrina. Just the guidelines. I’d love to find out how much actual progress has been made in the rebuilding efforts. That information doesn’t seem to be reported by the mainstream media these days. It appears they have forgotten about this tragedy as well. (BTW, anyone who has first-hand info on the progress made post Katrina, please comment here, or send me an e-mail.)

Remember the run-up to the war in Iraq?? Remember the ratcheting up of the rhetoric? Remember Colin Powell’s presentation before the UN, presenting the U.S.’s “slam dunk” case that Iraq had WMDs? Remember the fear tactics that the administration used to enlist the coalition of the coerced? Well, events from recent days and weeks are looking eerily similar to the run-up to the debacle known as “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

The ratcheting up of the rhetoric has started. It’s been discovered that war planning for Iran is well underway (including the option to use nuclear weapons). And yesterday, Assistant Sec. of State Stephen Rademaker, said that Iran would be 16 days away from producing a nuclear weapon if they install the 50,000 centrifuges the facility at Natanz can accommodate: "Natanz was constructed to house 50,000 centrifuges…. Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days." Mr. Rademaker obviously went to the “Be afraid, be very afraid” school of diplomacy.

Remember the questionable elections of 2000 & 2004?? Remember the questionable ethics of Katherine Harris in Florida and Kenneth Blackwell in Ohio? Remember the questionable voting machines provided by major Bush campaign contributor Walden O’Dell of Diebold? Remember the disenfranchisement of thousands of Blacks, Hispanics, and the poor?

Do you think anything has changed since then? The network that the Republicans put in place to guarantee their victory is still in place, stronger than ever. Diebold has been given the blessing by Ken Blackwell (who, incidentally is running for Governor in Ohio) to be the ONLY voting machine vendor approved for use in the state. Republican state and federal legislators, as well as representatives from Diebold and other voting machine manufacturers, are vehemently fighting efforts to mandate paper records for electronic voting. There have been recent reports about Diebold technicians making unscheduled visits to election offices to “service” voting machines. Many of these “visits” have occurred when elections supervisors are out of town. “Black Box Voting” is a great website to get more information on electronic voting issues.

We need to remember these things. We need to do everything in our power to make sure that events like these never happen again. We owe it to ourselves, to each other, and to our nation to say “never again”. After all you’ve heard the old adage, “those who forget the past…” Oh, damn, I forget how that one ends.