It occurs to me that one might not be all that very surprised that Alito was confirmed. While lots of folks are a-froth about it (and I am, too, because it just plain sucks for women and for those who give half a damn about our country and our constitution), I’m not at all surprised that Democrats capitulated on this one. The problem isn’t so much a partisan one, as a lack of partisanship. Yes, we can point our fingers (remember, it’s the middle one that counts!) at Democrats, complaining that they don’t have backbones. That’s likely true. What is also true is that they are capital P Politicians first and foremost, and in that sense, they live cheek-by-jowl with their Republican brothers and sisters–cut from the same cloth, as it were.
Category: News & Politics
A Gallimaufry
- The good news is that drilling in ANWR is on hold, at least for the time being. The bad news is that senators who supported Arctic drilling are pissed off about it, and decided to vent their spleens at the folks who can literally least afford it. What kind of mental disconnect are they suffering from, that allows them to cut US$2 billion in home heating relief for low-income families, all onna counta they didn’t get what they wanted? Waaah!
- From the Things That Make You Go Wha…? File: If you have early stage Parkinson’s, are having trouble walking, and you live alone, you probably shouldn’t consider getting a high octane dog, like a Husky x German Shepherd Dog. I’m just sayin’. Also, just because a dog sits quietly in its pen at the animal shelter does not, not, not mean that it’ll be mellow at home. Worse, just because it’s mellow at home for the first few days, or even weeks, does not mean that it’ll continue that way. There’s a honeymoon period, in which dogs settle into their new homes. After that period of acclimation, the dog’s behavior can change pretty significantly. Your perfectly behaved dog may suddenly decide that she really needs to investigate what’s on top of the fridge. (No, I am not making this up.)
- Also, why anyone would find it remarkable that the new King Kong is found battling dinosaurs is beyond me. I mean, does King Kong vs. Godzilla not ring any bells?
- I’ve developed an odd sleep pattern lately, wherein I go to sleep fairly early, have lots of peculiar dreams, wake up for a couple of hours, then fall back asleep. It’s useful, though, because some of the mind-wandering that occurs after waking up from those weird dreams is artistically productive. Last night, for example, I woke up and realized that I had the image of a new painting in my head. I guess that late-night programming can be good?
A Cavalcade of Wacky News Stories
Nachos of Turin
Holy nachos, Batman! Workers at a Florida restaurant found the image of the Son of God at the bottom of a nacho pan.
Mother Theresa Cinnamon Bun
Mr. Christ isn’t the only one whose personage was in the news. A cinnamon bun bearing the likeness of Mother Theresa was stolen on Christmas day from a Nashville, Tennessee coffee house.
A man, um, crossed the US-Mexican border via cannon.
It’s official, Canadians can legally have group sex in clubs.
A hilarious music video, starring Flickr Creative Commons images. If you have broadband, download and watch it. It’s really, really funny in a kinda sad, kinda sweet sorta way.
This is not your grandma’s needlepoint. (Is it just me, or does the one of Axl Rose look like Jeffrey Dahmer?)
In other arty news, here are some really cool sculptures made out of old tires.
And, speaking of tires, which brings me to cars, I think I’ve mentioned that I don’t like driving when it’s windy. Well, folks, there might be a reason for that. I live in fear of going ass over tea kettle. It could happen!
Non Sequiturs-a-Go-Go!
- Why do pedestrians insist on J-walking at the slowest possible rate of speed? If you’re going to barge out into the street, in the path of on-coming traffic, the least you could do is pick up the pace a bit. That’s all I’m asking.
- I did some minor clean-up and rearranging on the website. I had somehow missed fixing the navigation links on one page, as well as specifying a background color. I also rounded up the bad poetry I’d posted here, and placed it in the Writing section, along with a new piece, Three Things.
- Shake-n-Bake tofu is damnfinegood. No, really! I hate the texture of tofu, so I’m normally not a fan. However, if you use extra firm tofu, slice it really thinly, coat it with Shake-n-Bake, then bake it until it’s crispy and slightly jerky-like, it’s delicious. Of course, it also isn’t exactly good for you when prepared that way, but whatever. It’s still better for you than potato chips, yes?
- State-by-state GOP Scandal Scorecard. Indiana is fairly well represented, with “Our Man Mitch” leading the pack.
- Walgreens has placed four of its Missouri pharmacists on leave for refusing to fill prescriptions for Plan B. (It is illegal in Missouri for pharmacies that carry birth control pills to refuse sale of Plan B.) That’s all well and good, but the drugstore chain has offered to relocate the employees to states where it’s legal to refuse to dispense certain drugs on moral grounds. So, it’s not like Walgreens is taking a stand. They’re just adhering to state law, and will likely foist their employees off on the less fortunate residents of another state.
- A heaping dose of Christmas kitsch from Going Jesus, in the form of Angels We Have Heard Are High.
- I’m suddenly getting a metric butt-load of hits from searches for “winter sky.” It’s interesting how things like that happen in waves.
Saturday, Chapters 1-6
Chapter 1, In Which People are Nicer in the Mornings
As I was leaving Bigfoot this morning, after having bought my morning cup o’ drugs, I held the door open for a young guy on crutches. He thanked me, and commented that people were much nicer in the mornings than later in the day. I replied that it was probably because, in the morning, people aren’t awake yet. I thought about it some more as I was driving to work, and it may be true. It also may be that, early in the morning, there have been fewer chances for someone else to ruin our day. As the day progresses, there are more and more things for us to get cranky about.
And, then, as I was driving down 17th street, pondering the life cycle of crankiness, some jerk ran across the road in front of me. I had to slam on my breaks, to keep from hitting him. Hello?! It’s pitch dark outside, Mr. Pedestrian, and you’re wearing black from head to toe. Whyever on earth did you think it would be a good idea to dash out in front of me, when the likelihood of me seeing you was disturbingly close to zero? Asstrumpet!
And that, my dear reader, is how people become cranky.
Chapter 2, In Which I Address Praising Beauty
Awhile back, I was in a discussion with someone who could not understand why I thought praising people for being beautiful was a Very Bad Thing. Sure, everyone likes to be told that they look good, and I think it’s perfectly fine to tell someone, “That’s a great outfit,” or, “I love your hair.” It’s even okay to acknowledge that someone is attractive. However, I think there’s a fine line between that and praising someone for being pretty. Praise should be reserved for things one accomplishes, and attractiveness is not–or, at least, should not be–something to be achieved. Being pretty does not make one morally superior, nor should it be a goal to strive toward. Rewarding it with praise only reinforces the harmful message that people who are attractive are somehow better than others, and that those who feel they are not attractive should go out and do something about it. And we wonder why people abuse food and plastic surgery?
Chapter 3, In Which I Win at Gas Tank Bingo
I stopped for gas on Friday morning. I almost always go to Bigfoot, which usually charges a couple of cents more than the other places in town. However, it’s on the correct side of the road and they carry my favorite fountain drink, so I think it’s worth paying a little bit more. Every once in awhile, though, their fuel prices are actually lower than Casey’s or Speedway. This was one of those occasions. And, it wasn’t just a penny or two, either–it was 12¢ cheaper! This morning, when I drove by, Speedway had gone up to $2.19 and Bigfoot was $2.09. Still cheaper, but not as cheap as yesterday’s $1.96. I win!
Chapter 4, In which Wingnuts Advocate Physical Violence Against Liberals
Bill O’Reilly had Ann Coulter as a guest on his ridiculous talk show. They discussed the eeevilness of Lefty-Pinkos, and why they’re big-mouthed Nazis who should be beaten with baseball bats. WTF?!
O’REILLY: All right. Be careful, Ann. They’re bad people.
COULTER: Thank you.
O’REILLY: They are bad people.
COULTER: They are bad people
O’REILLY: And that’s not an ideological statement. They are bad human beings, doing what they’re doing.
Apparently, liberals are bad, bad, very bad, people who do bad, bad, very bad things. Who knew?! I had no idea that there was something inherently wrong with liberals.
COULTER: I think a baseball bat is the most effective way these days.
As everyone knows, bad, bad, very bad people who do bad, bad, very bad things need to be stopped. At any cost, apparently. Beating the crap out of those who dare to disagree seems to be an acceptable solution. Why wast time talking, when you can resort to physical violence?
COULTER: No, of course not. They’re Nazi block watchers. This is what they’re good at.
O’REILLY: They’re Nazi what?
COULTER: Block watchers, you know. They tattle on their parents, turn them in to the Nazis. They’re little Nazi block watchers.
O’REILLY: See, this is why they don’t want you on CNN there. You’re calling them Nazis. They don’t —
In this staggering bit of irony, Coulter claims that liberals who voice dissent are Nazis (and, don’t forget, that they should be beaten with baseball bats). Funny that, as I seem to recall that it’s fascists, like the Nazis, who commonly resort to physical violence against dissenters.
O’REILLY: Yeah, but on a policy basis, what they’re trying to do on these far-left smear sites is intimidate people with whom they disagree, and then choke off their ability to get their message out. I mean, freedom of speech means nothing to these people. They really want to just bludgeon anybody with whom they disagree, or am I wrong?
Liberals are on a mission to curtail–sorry, bludgeon–free speech? I’m sorry, but how, exactly, has O’Reilly–or any other wingnut mouthpiece, for that matter–been stifled by Lefty-Pinkos? Where does he get this crap?
O’REILLY: OK, but to answer your question, CNN is perceived to be a left-wing outlet, and they don’t like your voice on the left-wing outlet. But, you know, aren’t liberals or far-left people supposed to be champions of freedom of speech? Isn’t that what the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] is all about?
My ass! Or O’Reilly’s complete and utter misunderstanding of the concept of censorship. What O’Reilly fails to understand is that a corporation, like CNN, is incapable of censorship. CNN cannot stop O’Reilly or Coulter or anyone else from spewing their bullshit. All CNN can do is refuse to let them do it on their network. If the government or some other institution tried to silence O’Reilly or Coulter, that’d be another matter. That would be censorship. No one is trying to stifle them, though. They’re just being told to peddle their hatemongering elsewhere, which is perfectly reasonable.
I mean, seriously, the fact that O’Reilly and Coulter are on TV, saying what they’re saying, is proof positive that there is no liberal plot to silence wingnut dissent.
Chapter 5, In Which I Complain About Daylight Savings Time
For the last umpty years, Indiana–which is split between two time zones–has eschewed Daylight Saving Time. Most of the state is in the eastern time zone. Included are the counties near Cincinnati OH and Louisville KY, which in the past illegally and unofficially observe DST, in order to keep in synch with the large cities nearby. The extreme northwest and southwest portions of the state are in the central time zone, and legally and officially follow DST. This is all very confusing, but it could be worse. In 1961, the state was split down the middle. In 1967, that bit of legislative stupidity was rectified, moving most of the state to the eastern standard time zone.
Last spring, our governor, Mitch Daniels, pushed for a vote on DST, and it passed. April 2006 will see the reinstatement of DST in Indiana. That’s all well and good (no, not really), but it now appears that up to 17 counties could end up in the central time zone, with the rest of the state observing eastern time. The line has to be drawn somewhere, and, with the possible exception of the counties neighboring the Chicago area, it seems to me that it makes sense to draw it at the state border.
Chapter 6, In Which I Consider Face Transplants
I’m sure that by now, y’all have heard about the French woman who had a face transplant. She’s now awake, and able to talk and eat. I don’t really have any strong opinions on the relative okay-ness of the surgery itself, aside from feeling deep sympathy for the patient. What I do wonder about, though, is the contingency plan, should her body reject the donor tissue. Because, you know, it does happen. The woman is scheduled to have a bone marrow transplant, using the face donor’s marrow, in the hopes that it will reduce the risk of rejection. But, that’s no guarantee, and as far as I can tell, she’ll still have to be on anti-rejection drugs–which are carcinogenic–for the rest of her life.
Friday Round-up
Harriet has long contended that squirrels are eeevil, that they should be exterminated, and that she’d ought to be the one doing the exterminating. Now, we have proof that her concerns were well founded.
Squirrels have bitten to death a stray dog which was barking at them in a Russian park, local media report.
Passers-by were too late to stop the attack by the black squirrels in a village in the far east, which reportedly lasted about a minute.
They are said to have scampered off at the sight of humans, some carrying pieces of flesh.
A pine cone shortage may have led the squirrels to seek other food sources, although scientists are sceptical.
Via Feministe: A play in one act, in which a professor entered his office, to find that two students had broken in and were having sex. Now, the story is plenty damned funny on its own, especially this bit, wherein the trespassing male tells the prof to go away and threatens to report him for sexual harassment.
HALF-NAKED MALE: GO THE FUCK AWAY! THIS IS PRIVATE! WE’RE BUSY!
ME: (holding the door half-open) I’m coming in.
HALF-NAKED MALE: STOP HARASSING US YOU PERVERT OR I’LL REPORT YOU!
ME: (still holding door) You’ll report me for your having sex in my office?
HALF-NAKED MALE: GO THE FUCK AWAY!
ME: (still holding door) That’s it. Put your clothes back on. You can’t have sex in my office.
The comments, too, are worth reading. However, I found myself thinking the entire event would have been even more amusing if the prof had quietly entered the office, sat down, and gone about his regular work, ignoring the burgling shaggers.
Via The Smirking Chimp, a rant about Bill O’Reilly and the “war on [White] Christmas”. Because, after all, it is the season. It includes the following gem, on Christmas balls Holiday ornaments:
Speaking of buying, I have a problem with your online shop there, Bill. Yeah, yeah — I hate to interrupt a good misguided rant, but I’m disappointed in you guys at Fox News and the O’Reilly Factor. Being as I’m holding out hope that Christmas won’t be stolen by the liberal Whos of Evil-doer-Whoville (you can use that one, too), I went to the online Fox News Shop to buy some of your balls. But what’s this? I couldn’t find a single Christmas ball in the store! They’d been replaced by these bizarre spheres called “Holiday Ornaments.” The description under the The O’Reilly Factor ornaments claim they’re designed to adorn something called a “holiday tree.” What is this so-called holiday tree? I know what is a Christmas tree, but this holiday tree thing has me stymied. Do I need to buy a second tree? What’s the deal?
Ah, I do so love the smell of hot, buttered irony in the morning.
I’ve mentioned that I watch Survivor, haven’t I? Last night’s episode was lovely, because Judd was finally voted off (hallelujah!). Even lovelier was his reaction. After a speech, in which he claimed that no one was safe, that anyone could be voted off at any time, and that there should be no whineypantsing about it, because it’s a game, stupid, Judd turned around and cursed his tribemates for having the nerve to give him a boot to the head. What an ass!
Speaking of people who need a boot to the head, Oprah gets on my very last nerve. When she’s not busy leading her cult members in I Love Oprah fests, she’s telling women that they should submit themselves to the patriarchy. Most recently, this patriarchifilia has taken the form of touting a new and apparently mediocre form of plastic surgery, called a “thread lift.” Small barbed, plastic threads are inserted under the skin. The barbs catch and hold the tissue, so that it can be pulled tight. Apparently, one can have this relatively inexpensive and speedy procedure done during one’s lunch hour. Because, you know, women ought to have bits of plastic stitched into their faces, so that they can look more babe-uh-licious. Or something. No matter that the procedure can potentially do more harm than good. I dunno about y’all, but I don’t think pain and deformation sound very sexy.
And, don’t even get me started on her magazine. Talk about a heaping helping of harmful messages.
And now for the obligatory Friday dogblogging, starring everyone’s favorite Boxer, Miss Harriet Brown. This was taken last Saturday, in my mom’s kitchen. Harriet is such a delicate flower that she insists she can’t lie on the bare, hard floor. She’d rather have a nice, fluffy dog bed, but a rag rug will suffice in a pinch. It’s not like there wasn’t a comfy couch for her to sleep on, either. There was, and it was even heaped with pillows and blankets and all manner of soft, cushy things amongst which dainty Boxer dogs might wish to lie. But, no. We were sitting around the kitchen table, drinking coffee and talking, so Harriet had to be in the kitchen with us. To supervise, dontchaknow. That’s onna count of the fact that humans cannot be trusted on their own. This is apparently a sacrament that every Boxer dog holds dear.
And now, a rumpus of random ramblings:
- Whispering–I can’t stand it. All that pst pst psting drives me batshit crazy.
- Obsessive throat clearing–I can’t stand that, either. It’s one thing to periodically clear your throat, or to do so more frequently when you’re sick, but when you make disgusting horky noises every two minutes, that’s socially unacceptable.
- Did you realize that you can rearrange the order of tabs in Firefox, by grabbing and moving them? “The more you know…”
- Overheard at work: “How long have we had MS Office?” Um, how long have you worked here?
- I hate it when people ask for information, then don’t pay attention to the answer! Surely there’s a special place in Hell for such time wasters?
- I spilled something on my shirt this morning, and didn’t notice it until I got to work, so I turned it around so the stain wouldn’t bother me.
- While watching teevee last night, and petting the dog, I noticed that she’s getting white patches of hair inside her ears. Her muzzle started to go grey years ago, which is common in Boxers, but damn, 6.5 is too young to be going grey.
- I have to work on Saturday. Waaah!
Git Along Little Doggie
Day-um, but Teh Internets are slow today. Anyway, today’s roundup includes:
- A heaping dose of patriarchal craptacularity
- Satanists for Jeebus
- Dildo cozies
- Beam me up, Scottie
- Those wacky Texans
- Coo-coo for Jeebus
First, via Feministing, an article about a family in Pakistan, whose daughters were married off as young children, in compensation for one of their relatives murdering a member of the rival family.
A village council in Pakistan has decreed that five young women should be abducted, raped or killed for refusing to honour childhood “marriages.”
The women refused to honor the agreement, so the village council have decreed that they be abducted and raped or murdered. That’s seriously fucked up. Leaving aside the awfulness of forced marriage and using rape as a form of punishment, why on earth should those women have to pay the price for someone else’s transgressions? They did nothing wrong. Well, aside from being women, that is.
Pat Robertson, that wacky Jesus Fetishisht, flashes the debbil’s gang sign. And, he’s not the only one. It looks like Lucifer has a Posse!
Craftgrrl crochets herself an adorable Flying Spaghetti Monster dildo cozy. You should go look at it–unlike Pat Robertson, it’s actually really cute.
(above) Our, um, petulant leader, trying to beat a hasty retreat from a news conference, after a reporter asked him a question he didn’t feel like answering. But, alas, the doors were locked, so he was unable to escape until an aide came to his rescue.
And, to prove that the wacky presidential nut didn’t fall far from the wacky tree, Texans appear to have banned marriage, full stop. Not that I think that’s necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but it seems like a drastic move just to rid themselves of Teh Gay Menace
Last but not least, did anyone watch the recent episodes of Trading Spouses? The one with the ignorant woman who was coo-coo for Christ? She got completely bent out of shape because the family she stayed with had mandalas, a star, Buddha statues, and gargoyles in their home. She accused the family of being “of the dark side.” Very peculiar, I thought. First, she’s Catholic. Apparently, she doesn’t realize that many Catholic cathedral and churches are adorned with gargoyles. She refused to listen when the father tried to explain to her that the things she was worried about were not, as she claimed, satanic. I can’t imagine what sort of a hole she’s been living in if she really thinks that Buddhists are some sort of Satanists. And stars? Has she actually read the Bible?
Later, she pulled the kids aside and tried to witness at them. I was shocked. I can’t imagine trying to convert someone else’s children. How presumptuous and rude! The kids weren’t interested, and the woman got upset that they were not open to exploring her religious beliefs. The kicker was that, when the two mothers met, at the end of the show, the christian woman accused the non-christian mother of trying to convert her kids! Ah, the irony.
It gets better, though. Each family gets US$50,000 as compensation. The visiting mother gets to decide how the family will spend the money. The christian mother tore up the letter from the other woman, and refused to accept the money because it was supposedly “dark sided.” She changed her tune when she found out that a large chunk of the money had been earmarked for her own use. Nice principles, eh?
The Mind Wobbles
People, Part the First: If you make an appointment for a job interview, then fail to show up for it, and do not call or e-mail me, or in some way let me know that you need to reschedule, then please, do not call me three weeks later to find out if you are still in the running. Because, the answer is not only no, but hell, no. And please, if you do call me, for the love of all that is good in this world, do not spend ten minutes telling me how upset you are because this would have been the perfect job for you. And, yes, for those who keep track of these sorts of things, this is the very same person who could not follow directions.
People, Part the Second: Why do people feel the need to bring junk food buffets to work? One of my co-workers has a bottomless candy jar, which annoys the crap out of me. Not only is the candy sometimes difficult to resist (and resist it, I do!), but there is constant and annoying to-ing and fro-ing, as people hike back to her desk for treats. And then there are the umpty million parties each unit has throughout the year. Yesterday, it was just a random “Because it’s Thursday” carry-in. Someone decided to bring chips and pretzels, eclair-lets, cookies, and some other crap. The problem–for me–is that whenever anyone in this unit brings in food to share, it gets put on the table right behind my desk. I hate having people milling around behind me, talking and eating. I also hate having food I do not want to eat sitting right behind my desk, all the damned day long.
Weather: It finally cooled off last night, after several humid days in the 90sF. Clouds started to move in Wednesday night, at sunset.
In the meantime, for those who are needing a mental break from the heat, I recommend listening to some of these audio clips from the 2005 Beargrease sleddog race. Great Yiping Sleddogs, Batman!
Pens: I picked up some neat-o Sarasa retractable gel pens last weekend. Office Depot had sets of 10 for US$9.99, plus a $5.00 rebate. I haven’t tried writing over acrylic paint or any weird surfaces, yet, but I’ve been using them in my Dada Journal and they do very nicely on magazine paper. They write smoothly without skipping, and they dry very quickly, so they don’t smear as much as some other gel inks. They’re also archival and acid-free. Oh, and the colors are yummy (including denim-y blue and deep wine red).
The Asswagon Report: Remember the quote from Rick Santorum, that serious action should be taken against the folks who did not evacuate from Katrina? According to an LA Times article, evacuees were not allowed to cross over into neighboring towns.
Three days after Hurricane Katrina hit, Gretna officers blocked the Mississippi River bridge that connects their city to New Orleans, exacerbating the sometimes troubled relationship with their neighbor. The blockade remained in place into the Labor Day weekend.
[…]
Gretna is not the only community that views New Orleans with distrust. Authorities in St. Bernard Parish, to the east, stacked cars to seal roads from the Crescent City. But Gretna’s decision has become the symbol of the ultimate act of a bad neighbor, gaining notoriety partly from an account in the Socialist Worker newspaper by two San Francisco emergency workers and labor leaders who were in a crowd turned back by Gretna police.
Fil-ums: I watched The Magdalene Sisters yesterday. The film was inspired by the documentary Sex in a Cold Climate, about the Magdalene asylums in Ireland. It’s hard to believe that the last Magdalene asylum closed only 9 years ago. The horrors the inmates endured seem impossible and distant, like something from Dickens’ worst nightmare.
Ch-ch-ch-Changes: I’ve been thinking about various life changes lately. First, I think I’m going to move. I blame it on the fact that we moved frequently when I was growing up. I start to get restless when I’ve been in one place for too long. I’m not planning on moving far, though; I definitely want to stay in the general Bloomington area.
This decision to up stakes has been percolating for a while, but it was suddenly moved up in the priority queue a couple of days ago. My landlady is going through a divorce, and I don’t want to get caught in the middle of their chaos if and when the shit hits the fan. I really don’t want to be involved in someone else’s circus.
I’ll Take Katrina for $200, Alex
In no particular order, but numbered for your convenience:
1. Not surprisingly, the folks who mandated that caskets returning from Iraq not be photographed or filmed have requested that the media not photograph the corpses of those who have died in the hurricane. I guess it might make people feel all sad and disgusted and could possibly remind them that George Antoinette and his court jesters are incompetent asswagons.
2. Select press are getting limited access to evacuees at the Houston Astrodome. Some outfits (FOX and CNN, naturally) are being allowed in while others are not. FEMA is blocking FM transmissions out of the dome, even if the FCC has has granted a temporary license. There are reports that evacuees are being beaten, raped, and murdered inside the Astrodome. I bet you won’t see any of that on FOX or CNN, though. [Via Boing Boing]
3. And, that apple apparently didn’t fall far from the ancestral tree. Babs made it clear that she thinks the storm refugees are better off now.
“And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.” [Audio from public radio’s Marketplace, in Real Audio–Addendum.]
Because, obviously, the folks who have lost everything–family, homes, jobs–are making out like bandits at the expense of the good, kind, caring, patronizing Bushes of the world. Really. I mean, they were poor and disadvantaged and all, so this whole hurricane thing was doing them a favor, right?
Oh, and there was this little gem from the dowager countess Bush, too: “What I’m hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas…” Egad! Heaven forfend that those poor, black folks would want to sully Babs’ pristine state by trying to make homes for themselves there.
4. Meanwhile, Rick Santorum wants those who do not have the wherewithal to evacuate from impending disaster areas to be punished. It’s not enough that he wants to keep women barefoot and pregnant, he also wants to blame, then punish, the victims for not having the foresight to be wealthy enough to have the means to evacuate.
You have people who don’t heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.
5. Once again, The Onion balances on a knife edge between reality and satire. Read it and weep and/or laugh.
6. Irony alert! Bush says: “Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people.” M’kaythen.
7. From Think Progress, a timeline of events (this comes in handy for #8).
8. There is a well orchestrated plan in action for minimizing the federal government’s responsibility in bolloxing things up, and, instead, pointing the finger (you know which one) at local and state governments. Part of that plan has thus far involved telling outright lies, so referring to the aforementioned timeline is a good idea.
9. What the fuck?! Why on earth weren’t FEMA relief workers already trained for field work? I’m sorry, but it is absolutely, 100% unacceptable that the federal agency in charge of emergency management does not have trained field workers on staff and on call. Can you imagine what people would have done if it had taken two days for relief workers to show up after the World Trade Center attacks? Much less a week or more? “I’m sorry, but we had to train people” is not the correct answer.
FEMA director Michael Brown sent an Aug. 29 memo to Chertoff, his boss, about five hours after the storm struck. It said employees would arrive in the Gulf coast areas within two days as part of an effort to “convey a positive image” of the government’s effort to help, the AP reported, citing the memo. “These were administrative, clerical and support functions,” not emergency workers, Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said in an interview. They would have had to undergo at least a day of disaster training before being deployed.
And, I think it might be a little too late for “convey[ing] a positive image” of FEMA, as they’ve done too good a job of making themselves look like total fuckwits.
10. If there is a real and present danger of terrorist attack on US soil, now would be a perfect time to go for it. We’ve pretty much proved to anyone and everyone watching that we are totally and completely unprepared and unable to protect our homeland.
11. If a government cannot protect its own people, or, failing to do that, render timely and useful assistance to its citizens who are affected by disaster, then what is the purpose of that government? Instead of pointing fingers, BushCo should be bending over backwards to apologize, take responsibility, and do whatever it takes to quickly and effectively clean up the mess it has created. Instead, those affected have been taken advantage of by a government which has, whenever possible, abdicated responsibility. I expect “I didn’t do it” or “It wasn’t my fault” from a five-year old, not from adults in charge of a world superpower.
Bush’s Response is Unacceptable
First of all this, illustrating the spectacular disconnect between what witnesses and reporters are saying about Katrina’s aftermath and what federal officials are saying. It’s no wonder, as the director of FEMA is woefully unqualified to do his job. According to a commenter at Horsesass.org (sorry, no permalink), Brown couldn’t even manage the International Arabian Horse Association without running it into the ground and being sued. And this guy is in charge of orchestrating disaster relief for the nation?
Bush, for his part, has finally gotten around to noticing that a big chunk of the US gulf region has slid into the ocean, and he’s a little cranky about it. You can’t really blame him, though. After all, the last couple days of his vacation were interrupted. How rude! I bet you’ll never guess where he was, either. He was in California, speechifying to sailors about V-J Day. Yep. While people were dying in the US gulf region, the president was politicking about the war in the Persian Gulf–the same war that is responsible for funneling necessary funds away from levee building projects in New Orleans; the same war that is responsible for many of our National Guard troops being overseas.
Then, at a Mobile, Alabama press conference, Bush, in his characteristically inept way, made light of the situation (from Whitehouse.gov):
“We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we’re going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we’re going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is — and it’s hard for some to see it now — that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott’s house — he’s lost his entire house — there’s going to be a fantastic house. And I’m looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)”
I’m just guessing, but I expect the dead and dying, and the folks who haven’t had food or fresh water in days, and the people who live paycheck-to-paycheck and are without money or shelter or the prospect of such anytime soon, aren’t particularly comforted by his words. In fact, if I were one of them, I think I’d probably feel like projectile vomiting on him.
red paper boat 
