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September 29, 2005
Quick update
I know, I know... there's been a lot going on out there to write about. But unfortunately for this blog, there's also a lot going on in my real life this week as well ... apologize for the lack of new posts, but it's just a crazy time right now. I might get something new up here tonight, or if not then perhaps Saturday morning. Bear with me?
Thanks, everyone.
Posted by Christopher at 06:30 AM | Comments (6)September 25, 2005
Hooray For Boobies
It's rare that I get a chance to combine my inner 13 year old's endless search for a cheap thrill with a good cause. So when the opportunity presents itself, far be it from me to not capitalize on the moment.
Next Saturday, the fourth annual bloggers' BoobieThon will begin, benefitting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (along with the American Red Cross this year). It's a simple concept, really; bloggers submit photos of their upper torso regions to the site to raise (ahem) awareness of and money for breast cancer research. Clothed or semi-covered shots go on BoobieThon's main page; those viewers willing to make a $50 contribution are given access to a private page where they can find photos from those brave enough to bare their assets for the cause.
Since 2002, BoobieThon has raised more than $17,000 for breast cancer research. Their tagline, "We Share To Make You Care," cracks me up - but their issue is quite serious. I hope you care enough to make some sort of donation during the campaign. Do it for your wives, girlfriends, mothers, daughters, and the men who love them.
(My inner 13 year old would like to mention that any of my female readers who've "shared to make us care" can feel free to make me aware of their efforts. The pics are anonymized and don't show faces anyway, so it's not like I would know which ones were yours... but it would make for a fun parlor game for me while I spend my $50. Leave a comment below or e-mail me at thechroniccurmudgeon@hotmail.com; photos encouraged.
My cheap thrill banter aside, it's a great cause and a chance to do some good. Here's to a successful 2005 campaign.
Posted by Christopher at 11:27 PM | Comments (12)Justice Roberts
If I were a United States Senator, I would vote to confirm John Roberts as Chief Justice.
I know, I just lost many of your votes, if not your respect. And I can see your arguments; as the youngest Chief Justice in two centuries, Roberts is going to extend the conservative tentacles into the Supreme Court for potentially decades. He's a direct threat to Roe vs. Wade, to Americans' right to privacy, and he'll protect big polluters at the expense of the environment. I get it. If you were to think about political beliefs as a football field, Roberts is six yards deep in the right end zone, and I'm sitting on the 20 yard line of the left's side of the field. I understand.
The problem I have with those who are going to oppose Roberts' nomination is this: these many real, tangible and critical issues we care about -- and over which John Roberts is our polar opposite -- are primarily issues of political belief. And no matter how virulently I disagree with Mr. Roberts upon them, I just don't think political opinion litmus tests are a good idea. Keeping an avowed and unapologetic extremist -- a Robert Bork, for example -- off the court is one responsibility a Senator has. But absent clear evidence of that extremism, much of the opposition to Roberts appears to me to be based not on his qualifications, but simply that the left doesn't like his politics.
I don't either. And I think Roberts showed more than a little of the typical conservative hubris and arrogance in dodging so many questions from the Senate. I don't like him -- neither his politics, nor his personality. But I need a better reason to oppose him than disdain for the president who nominated him. (Eleanor Clift of Newsweek suspects that many Senate Democrats would also need a better reason, save for trying to save face with liberal interest groups.) Let's face it: if we wanted to avoid right wing extremists on the court, the time to fight it was during the 2004 election cycle -- and the Democrats blew that opportunity (with a little help from Diebold and questionable election practices in Florida and Ohio).
The Court was no less important 11 months ago than it is now; it was then that we had the chance to stop this joke, and we failed. I believe in opposing the criminal in the White House at almost every turn, simply because his administration has shown itself to be so unprincipled and deceptive that I don't think it should be trusted enough to write a parking ticket. But there are issues of principle against this president, and there are larger issues of principle about philosophies of American democracy.
It's not a question, for me, of Roberts being "the best we could expect from this president." It's a simple question of precedent. Someday, the regime currently in power will be gone, either through a scandal-and-disgust-induced action of the people, or via an election. Someday, there will indeed be another Democratic president, one who may well have an opportunity to name a Supreme Court Justice. And it would infuriate me if/when Republicans would stand on the Senate floor and vote against a potential justice simply because they don't think the justice will be right wing enough for them. The Court is not immune to political issues and concerns, but -- Anotonin Scalia aside -- it ought to be immune to politics. And the Democrats are flirting with a dangerous precedent here.
The Senate is entitled ask questions of a judicial nominee; the Senate is not obligated to coronate a nominee simply because a president wishes it. It's called adviseand consent for a reason. However, the Senate's job is not to enforce issue litmus tests on nominees. It would be wrong if Republicans did it to a Democratic president's nominee; it's just as wrong for Democrats to do it now to a Republican nominee. And the left would do well to be wary of setting that kind of precedent.
Reluctantly, but resignedly, I thus cast my vote "aye."
Posted by Christopher at 10:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBackOrder Up One Ankle Bracelet, Men's
Since Martha Stewart was prosecuted and went to jail for doing basically the same thing, it would follow that Senator Bill Frist's perp walk should be coming any day now. Seems that among Doc Frist's powers, beyond being able to diagnose brain-dead people as scentient from 1000 miles away, is the ability to magically dump stock just before it tanks.
Precisely a month later, after the stock was sold, its price tumbled 9 percent when executives in the company -- HCA Inc., which was founded by Frist's father and on whose board Frist's brother serves -- disclosed that hospital admissions of insured patients were lower than expected, depressing profits in the second quarter.
The timing thus raised questions about whether Frist had somehow traded on information he obtained in advance from the company. "Frist has been in the Senate for many years now, and the conflict is not new," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "Why did he decide to sell it then? Why not years ago? What's changed? Did he know that the stock was about to take a fall?"
Gee, a Republican involved in a financial scandal? Say it ain't so! (The old DC maxim, for anyone who hasn't heard it, is that Republican scandals usually involve money, while Democratic scandals usually involve sex.)
The SEC has taken a pretty staunch interest in Doc Frist's miraculous powers of precognition. And where there's smoke, it turns out there's some fire.
Blind trusts are designed to keep an arm’s-length distance between federal officials and their investments, to avoid conflicts of interest. But documents show that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist knew quite a bit about his accounts from nearly two dozen letters from the trust administrators.
Frist, R-Tenn., received regular updates of transfers of assets to his blind trusts and sales of assets. He also was able to initiate a stock sale of a hospital chain founded by his family with perfect timing. Shortly after the sale this summer, the stock price dived... Documents on file with the Senate show the trustees for Frist and his immediate family wrote the senator nearly two dozen times between 2001 and July 2005.
This is a man who wants to be your president, folks. The $64,000 question is, will Frist get the same treatment that Martha Stewart got? Given that Martha routinely gave money to Democrats, while Frist (like those in charge of deciding who gets prosecuted for securities violations) is a Republican, I somehow doubt it. Ken Lay's not in prison, why should Frist go? Right?
A full and complete investigation is called for; and if the facts end up as they appear -- that Frist's family violated rules of blind trusts and tipped him off to news that would drive the stock down -- Frist ought to end up wearing the electronic ankle bracelet underneath his prison jumper that Martha had to. Bill Frist sentenced to jail time? It's a good thing.
Posted by Christopher at 09:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackSeptember 24, 2005
Rafael Palmier-GO
So long, Rafael Palmiero. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
When Palmiero was suspended for steroid use earlier this year, for some reason there was a part of me that wanted to believe in him still. Even when it leaked out that he'd tested positive for Winstrol, which doesn't occur in nature on supplement shelves, I still wanted to believe -- I told myself he was just a ballplayer trying to hang on to his career, and that he might be a decent guy who made a mistake. Then Palmiero kept saying he couldn't tell his side of the story because the agreement between the players' union and Major League Baseball prohibited him from doing so. This was a direct lie; the agreement prevented MLB from revealing details, but Palmiero was free to talk at will. Even with this evidence that Palmiero was a patholigical liar (he hadn't just lied to Congress, but was now lying directly to the fans), I still somehow was holding out the possibility that he might still be something more than a weasel.
But Rafael Palmiero has officially run out of chances in my mind, with this week's news that in an arrogant and dishonorable attempt to get off the hook for his own actions, he tried to throw a teammate under the but. He reported to MLB that Miguel Tejada, the Orioles' shortstop, had given him B-12 shots and implying that those shots might have caused him to test positive for steroids. In other words, "it wasn't my fault, I'm gonna sell out someone I share a clubhouse with, I'm going to try and implicate him in my mess, and I'm going to try and take anyone else down so long as it's not me."
The Orioles have told Palmiero that he is no longer welcome on the team, and so his season is over. More than likely, his career has ended now as well -- few GMs are going to want to take a chance on him, and fewer players will want a teammate like Palmiero. And thus, a career full of Hall of Fame numbers and hall of shame aura has probably come to an end.
Rafael Palmiero: 3,020 hits. 569 home runs. 0 guts.
Posted by Christopher at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)September 21, 2005
Un-Lovely Rita
As of about 10:00 tonight, Rita had intensified to a Category 5 hurricane, with sustained winds of 165 mph, and ranking already as the third strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. On top of the Katrina disaster just three weeks ago, Rita could have a similar impact on Galveston or Houston -- and it appears that Rita will further devastate the oil industry's production and storage capabilities, which could drive gas prices closer to $4.00 a gallon.
Friend of Mudge and damn good blogger Pete over at A Perfectly Cromulent Blog lives in Houston, and is right in RIta's path. The last update from some of his local commenters would seem to indicate that Pete, "The Wife," and their daughter (She Who Shall Not Be Named) headed for higher ground earlier this afternoon. For those of you who've ever taken my recommendation and read Pete's blog, just thought you'd want to know.
As for the hurricane itself, it would appear that many scientists (you know, those pesky people who keep bothering the Bush adminstration with annoying little things like scientific fact) are giving credence to the theory that the frequency and intensity of storms may well be being caused by global warming. Think maybe Kyoto deserves a second look, perhaps?
I've seen and heard a few Democrats talking about how suspicious they find it that Texas -- which just happens to be Bush's home -- seems to be getting better treatment than New Orleans did ahead of Katrina, something they want to blame on Bush. Don't get me wrong -- you know how much I like to blame Bush for things -- but I think that's unfair. While I want to see FEMA's anemic response to Katrina, and Bush's appointment of an unqualified crony to direct it -- fully investigated, I think it's good that the government appears to be learning from the egregious mistakes made three weeks ago. We on the left have spent weeks (justifiably) hammering Bush and his administration for their Katrina mistakes... now when RIta is coming, are we really suggesting that we want those mistakes repeated just because it's Bush's home state that's impacted now? I didn't think so.
To anyone in Rita's path... be careful, get out of its way, and good luck -- I'll keep you all in my thoughts.
Posted by Christopher at 09:32 PM | Comments (1)September 17, 2005
Brick Walls and Headaches
You'd think that after seeing this month just how dire the costs of a tax-slashing, cut-spending-on-everything-except-Halliburton-contracts economic plan can be, George W. Bush might be chastened into reassessing his post-Katrina plans for rebuilding not only the Gulf Coast, but America. You'd think the man would be smart enough and practical enough to deviate from his Little Red Book-styled adherence to the Grover Norquist school of running a country. You'd think that seeing devastation with his own eyes might rouse Bush from inaction and keep him from making the problems worse.
You'd be wrong.
Unbelievably, despite the direct connection between cuts in FEMA spending for levee upkeep and Katrina's devastating impact on New Orleans, Bush still hasn't learned a thing. His recovery plan for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast involves no tax increases, but plenty more ... wait for it... spending cuts.
"It'’s going to cost whatever it’s going to cost, and we're going to be wise about the money we spend," Bush said a day after laying out an expensive plan for rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast without spelling out how he would pay for it. "The key question is to make sure the costs are wisely spent and that we work with Congress to make sure that we are able to manage our budget in a wise way, and that is going to mean cutting other programs," he added.
Looking beyond the fact that Repubicans have spent decades complaining that Democrats' big proposals never included specifics on how to pay for the grandiose programs they envisioned (which makes this high hypocrisy in a rhetorical sense), we now have the president of the United States demonstrating himself to be such a programmed tool of the Norquist school that not even the reality of death and devastation can jar him from the mantra. Spending cuts in favor of other priorities, forced by sharp decreases in tax revenue due to cuts that overwhelmingly favored the wealthy, contributed to the failure of New Orleans' levees. What's he going to cut to pay for New Orleans -- surveillance and protection of New York's economic targets or Washington's political ones?
We already have a $300 billion budget deficit (n.b.: Bush inherited a surplus from Clinton), and the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast could equal that amount. And yet apparently, George W. Bush is incapable of even considering a tax increase to cover these unforseen costs.
I remember the Contract On -- I mean, Contract "With" -- America that the Repubicans rode to power in 1994. Their very first tenet was that a balanced budget was critical to our long term economic stability, and was in fact every American's right to expect of our elected officials. After ten years of Republican control, that philosophy has obviously faded from existence, replaced with unyielding adherence to tax-cuts dogma no matter the price the country has to pay. It's a sad decline, really. Not just for the so-called "party of Lincoln," but for the rest of us who live under their regime and have to live with the consequences.
What am I suggesting? Despite Republicans' 20 year campaign to paint Democrats as undisciplined, irresponsible big spenders who never met a tax increase they didn't like, I'm not a fan of giant programs funded by en masse tax increases. That said, I don't see how the Gulf Coast gets rebuilt without tax increases to cover the cost -- especially when we're also paying for an irresponsible, ill-conceived war that we were lied to and tricked into entering. It's not like we can pretend Katrina's aftermath is business-as-usual or situation normal. This was an emergency, an unforseen (though not unavoidable, Mr. FEMA spending cuts) disaster with which we must now deal. And just like extenuating circumstances force you and I to make adjustments we'd prefer not to have made (like taking out a consumer loan, for example, or putting a large sum on a credit card), extenuating circumstances are forcing our government into having to take care of its people by doing something it may prefer not to do.
Or at least, they ought to be forcing the government to do so. Unfortunately, the Bush administration appears to prefer continued pandering to its base over actually taking care of the people Bush swore an oath to protect.
Posted by Christopher at 12:33 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBackSeptember 15, 2005
Because I'm Busy and You're Here
Sorry folks - last few days have been really busy. I have a collection of thoughts to share when time permits, but since for now I have little time, here's a meme that I am blatantly and ovetly lifting from Eden at "so anyway..." to keep you occupied.
1. Have you ever finished off the popcorn and ate the junk from the bottom of the bag?
Um, yeah.
2. Have you ever had sex in a tent?
I have had it in a tent; I have had it during Lent.
I have had it in a car; I have had it in a bar.
I have not had it with a goat. I could not, would not with a goat.
But I would do it on a boat.
I have had it with a girl named Pam. I have had it! I have, Sam I am!
3. Have you ever had a secret crush on a teacher?
No. But I have been the teacher who’s been crushed on. (God, Boston U was awesome!)
4. Do you own more than 100 cd’s?
I have about 400 of them, but haven’t bought one in about 18 months now - I get mp3s.
5. Have you ever been so drunk that you have passed out?
From 1994-1996. But seriously folks, not since grad school.
6. Have you ever dated a goth?
I don’t think so.
7. Have you ever regretted a date?
Oh yeah. All the ones with Ex. Of course, I didn’t know at the time that I should regret them, but I sure do now..
8. Have you ever seen a ghost/ufo?
Never seen a ghost, but I have heard one and felt something in the room.
9. Have you ever done anything you could be arrested for?
Er… yes.
10. Have you ever done anything you could go to jail for?
I have no recollection of that, Senator.
11. Have you ever broken a bone?
The more appropriate question might be, “Which bones haven’t you broken yet, you clumsy buffoon?” I think my total count is about six so far. Add in torn muscles and ligaments, and the count passes the dozen mark.
12. Have you ever crashed a car?
Yes.
13. Have you ever fallen off a bike?
Yes.
14. Have you ever refused a date because of what your friends might think?
No. My friends are all married, which means that if I am dating they’re just happy that someone’s getting some.
15. Have you ever listened to a song and cried?
Yes. Wedding songs are tough at first, until you have enough alcohol in your system to remember that the tramp wasn't worth it anyway.
16. Have you ever seen your favorite band/singer perform live?
Well, I have seen many that were my favorite at the time… but no one band/singer stays my “favorite” for very long.
17. Have you ever been found sleep walking?
Yes. Used to freak the hell out of my parents.
18. Have you ever been close to drowning?
In paperwork, but not in water
19. Have you ever watched a Tomb Raider movie without being aroused at some point?
Have never watched one ever. Not a fan of the video game, and Angelina Jolie couldn’t arouse me even if she did a lap dance for -- and starting making out with -- my girlfriend. She is by far my “Most Overrated Famous Chick."
20. Have you ever dated someone a decade older than you?
You said "older," right? No. Younger, yeah.
21. Would you date someone a decade older than you?
Chris Jansing or Katie Couric
22. Have you ever sent a crank call or email?
Not e-mails -- but calls were a mainstay of my pre-driving teenage years. It was either make crank calls or drink… wait, we drank too. Never mind.
23. Have you ever been pregnant or got someone pregnant?
I have never been pregnant.
24. If not, would you like children?
Doc & Tim would tell you that I not only like them, I date them. I say they’re just jealous.
25. Have you ever tried to write a book?
I am in that process now.
26. Would you like to write a book?
Yeah, finishing mine would be kinda cool. But if an agent didn’t agree to represent it and no publisher published it, it would crush my ego.
27. Have you ever had major surgery?
Yes, twice.
28. Are you afraid of the dentist?
No. The only things that scare me are heights, bridges, and the evangelical conservatives’ agenda for my country.
29. Do you have a tattoo?
No. I wanted to get one when I was in the Navy, almost did -- but my #@!*!#! then-girlfriend “forbid” it, so I got out of the line. Ever since, I’ve wanted to get one sort of as a delayed “f you,” but since we’re talking more than a decade ago now it would seem kind of foolish. But never discount what I might do while on vacation at the beach after a couple of drinks.
30. Have you had any piercings done (not including the ears)?
Just my ears. Something about piercing on a guy seems, I dunno, like the 00s version of wide ties or polyester shirts, man. In ten years, those guys are going to look at photos of themselves now and be as embarrassed as baby boomers are of sideburns and powder blue tuxes.
Belly button rings on women, however, are among the coolest things known to man.
31. Have you ever been shit on from the sky?
Well, I have been shit on by people above me in the report-to chain. Does that count?
32. Do you like scary movies?
When they’re genuinely scary movies (say “The Exorcist” or “The Shining,” I love them. Stupid teenage fornication & gore flicks, like Friday the 13th or the Elm Street series, just make me laugh at their inanity. If you need blood in your story to scare people, it just means your story is freaking weak, that you need that kind of crutch.
33. Do you like your job?
Actually, yes. I can’t stand the physical location of my job, but I do genuinely like what I do.
34. Do you get along with your parents?
This is a trick question, isn’t it? Like in The Breakfast Club when Emilio Estevez asks Judd Nelson, “I suppose if I say I get along with my parents, I’m an asshole, right?” Thing is, I do get along well with them; we talk several times a week and my mom even occasionally appears on this blog.
35. Do you still have all your grand parents?
Nope. There was only one of ‘em even alive by the time I got old enough to have conscious memory… and she died eight years ago.
36. Have you ever had a date with someone you met online?
Yes, a few. One of them in particular was a horror story. Not surprisingly, it was my last Internet date as well.
37. Do you wish you could relive your childhood?
It depends. Do I get to still know what I know now? In other words, could I relive it with the knowledge and perspective of my 37 year old self, but have my teenage body and circumstances back? If so, then hell yeah. If I’d have to go back and do it all again and learn the same lessons all over again… what would be the point?
38. Have you ever beat up your computer?
My computer calls me “daddy.”
39. Have you ever watched The Goonies more than twice in a day?
God, did you just give me flashbacks to a basement couch in the Minneapolis suburbs. My old girlfriend was waaaaaaaaay too into that movie for human safety. I’m pretty sure that twice a day happened at least a couple of times.
Then again, curling up on basement couches often led to ignoring the movie. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.
40. Have you ever wondered why you fill this shit in time after time?
Because I am really lame, have nothing better to do, and am yet just arrogant enough to think that you actually give a damn about my answers.
September 11, 2005
Weekend Upstate
Hope everybody had a good weekend... I did. I went a couple of hours up the Hudson River to visit my old grad school buddy, Damian (he of the infamous lost week in California last year for our other buddy Dave's wedding). As usual whenever I have the chance to get together with any of my Boston U crowd, hilarity ensued. Maybe it's because we don't get the chance to get together often, but I swear to you every time Damian and I manage to hang out, some adventure follows. Some of the details of this particular adventure will never see the light of this blog... but here's the parts I'm willing to share.
The most exciting event of the weekend was scoring a "roadie" gig at a live band's show in Albany. Turns out, Damian's neighbor Pete is the lead guitarist in a band called "Ten Year Vamp," which is based in Albany but plays throughout the northeast. Pete's a great guy - you get a read off of people pretty fast sometimes, even as a first impression -- and I have to say is one whale of a guitar player. As it turns out, they had a gig Saturday night at the club that is sort of their home base -- the Bayou Cafe in downtown Albany. They'd asked Damian if he'd show up and shoot some video footage for them at the show (keep your eyes on their site, in another week or so the stuff Damian shot might well be up there), and knowing that I will never turn down a chance to see live music, he said that he'd be there if he could bring me. And since I had my still camera with me anyway (just in case), we decided to double cover the gig -- Damian shooting video and me on the other side of the stage taking still shots.
We got in before the show to get set up, and I had the chance to meet the band. They were all really nice, and gracious "hosts" for us. And I have to tell you, after watching them rip through three roaring cover sets last night, I think I'm going to be working some girl someday by bragging that I knew 10YV back in the day. I've been digging on live music since I was in college, and I have rarely seen a local band just own a crowd the way Ten Year Vamp owned the crowd at Bayou Cafe on Saturday night. They had a couple hundred people just eating out of their hands all night long. Seriously - I dug the music, but it was their showmanship and how much the crowd obviously was having a great time that really made the experience for me.
Like I said, Pete is a really talented guitar player -- he's a graduate of the Berkelee School of Music -- and can lay down blistering solos. (They way he handles the guitar on the fiddle parts on "The Devil Went Down To Georgia," you'd think it was his work to begin with, written for gutiar, not fiddle.) The whole band are really talented musicians -- it gives them a flexibility to do a number of different styles and genres. And Debbie, the singer, has an energy and bounce that to me recall Gwen Stefani. As a former singer myself, I find myself really awestruck whenever I see a performer who has mastered the art of working a crowd -- and Debbie can transfer her own energy to 200 people and then amp them all up to 11. So much of rock is about more than the music -- it's all in the presentation... and I'm telling you, these guys have "it". This was as impressive an "undiscovered"/local band as I've seen in a very long time.
When they're out at the clubs, they play cover sets - give the people what they're familiar with and are going to dance to, keep everybody happy (check out their promo video). And as great as their show was last night, what I am really looking forward to hearing is their original material; their first CD is going to come out in November... and if I enjoyed them that much when they're playing other people's songs, I can't wait to hear them playing their own stuff.
So the evening ended up being a total blast. Since we were shooting them, we stayed for all three sets. And I have to admit, I learned a lesson in between the first set break and the second set break. When women come up to you in a club because they've seen you shooting the band and talking to them between sets, and ask, "Are you with the band?".... your answer should never be, "Not really, I'm just shooting them tonight." The only correct answer to this question is, "Yes. Yes, I am." Such an answer will get you much more attention than you would receive without it. While I messed this basic answer up during the first set break, I recovered from said mistake by the second break. Let that be a lesson to any of you who are planning on showing up at a new band's gig to take pictures of them. Anyway, the energy was fantastic, the music was oustanding, and I have a new favorite local band to go see. Best of all, they're genuinely nice people who it's easy to want success for. (Special thanks to Pete for not only giving me a ride back home, but providing me with an emergency impromptu post-show place to hang out and crash. Really appreciate it, brother.)
Some photos of the evening below:
Ten Year Vamp @ The Bayou Cafe, 9/10/05
Pete and Debbie rocking the Bayou crowd
Mark (rhythm gtr) and Chad (bass)
Debbie of Ten Year Vamp @ Bayou Cafe 9/10/05
A newly svelter Mudge (26 pounds lost so far, 34 more to go!) says, "Why yes, I am with the band."
September 10, 2005
The Weakness of Neo-Conservsatism Revealed
Yesterday, one of the folks in this community sent me an outstanding opinion piece that I just had to share with you. It was written by William Rivers Pitt, and appears on the TruthOut website. The op-ed says aloud what the conservatives have never wanted you to know, but that now the world cannot help but see: that the governing philosophy of neoconservativism is too arrogant and elitist to be effective -- and has in fact gravely harmed the United States. Excerpts:
What we are seeing in New Orleans is the end result of what can be best described as extended Reaganomics. Small government, budget cuts across the board, tax cuts meant to financially strangle the ability of federal agencies to function, the diversion of billions of what is left in the budget into military spending: This has been the aim and desire of the conservative movement for decades now, and they have been largely successful in their efforts.Combine this with a wildly expensive and unnecessary war, rampant cronyism that replaces professionals with unqualified hacks at nearly every level of government, and the basic neoconservative/Straussian premise that the truth is not important and that the so-called elite know best, and you have this catastrophe laid out on a platter...
The Katrina disaster in a nutshell: A storm that had been listed for years as #3 on America's list of "Worst Possible Things That Could Happen" arrives in New Orleans to find levees unprepared because massive budget cuts stripped away any ability to repair and augment them. The storm finds FEMA, the national agency tasked to deal with the aftermath of natural disasters, run by Bush friend Michael Brown, a guy who got fired from his last job representing the rights of Arabian horse owners. The storm finds a goodly chunk of the Louisiana National Guard sitting in a desert 7,000 miles away with their high-water Humvees parked beside them. The storm finds that our institutional decades-old unwillingness to address poverty issues left tens of thousands of people unable to get out of the way of the ram...
The house of cards has fallen in. A generation of conservative thinking, combined with five years of neoconservative thrashing, has finally come to an unavoidable head. The agencies tasked to protect us -- FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to name two -- have been proven to be utterly useless. The heads of these agencies -- Chertoff and Brown -- are the perfect avatars of Bush's way of doing business, insofar as they have no business being in the positions they are in. The conservative movement has failed spherically, from all sides and in all directions.
The piece goes through a pretty damning deconstruction of all the failures of arrogant neoconservative thought. It's infuriating, but inspiring at the same time. Because for the first time in years, there's hope that not even conservative manipulation of the media or their attempts to eliminate dissenting thought -- either subtly, through their disgusting rhetoric of painting anyone who disagrees with them as "un-American," or their more overt and sinister intimidation of anyone who has the audacity to express anti-Bush sentiments (be it arrests for wearing a t-shirt in an Albany mall or marching people out of a West Virginia public gathering in handcuffs for wearing anti-Bush shirts, reporting anti-Bush citizens to the Secret Service, or using their puppets in the conservative media to use their clout to silence artists who oppose this administration) -- will be enough to keep the American people for seeing this movement for what it truly is: an arrogant oligarchy of elite who have mismanaged and bungled virtually every facet of power they have touched. Even their final red herring, that only a neocon can protect us from terrorism, has been exposed as a lie: we saw this month that neoconservatives can't even protect America from water, much less something that consciously wants to do us harm.
Even other conservatives are starting to notice (finally). From small town conservative newspapers (thanks, PSoTD!) to prominent conservative columnists, even Bush's base has begun to abandon him, his administration's utter incompetence and disingenuousness now so evident that even those who don't wish to see it have no other choice.
All I can say is, it's about damn time. Welcome to reality, my conservative friends. Kick off your shoes and stay awhile.
Posted by Christopher at 10:07 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBackSeptember 06, 2005
Just Sit Right Back, And You'll Hear A Tale....
I never fell victim to the inexplicable (to me) spell of Gilligan's Island. Oh sure, Dawn Wells' "Mary Ann" played a very significant role in my puberty, but the less said about that the better. For the most part, I never was captivated by the show; I found it a bit silly and too full of slapstick humor for my taste.
That said, I am enough of a student of popular culture to recognize an icon when I see one... or in this case his passing. Bob Denver, immortalized as that bumbling Little Buddy, Gilligan, has died at the age of 70.
"Gilligan's Island" was one of the leftover shows from the 1960s that raised kids like me, who were in our pre-teen years during the 1970s when the rerun was, if not invented, then certainly perfected. Along with "Batman," "The Brady Bunch," and "The Monkees," the castaways helped my entire generation sit around after school watching television instead of getting up and doing something. And what's even more remarkable is that the show has now done the same thing for two generations that follow mine.
Bob Denver created one of television's most enduring and beloved characters. It's an achievement few in his profession have ever reached: playing a character still as known and loved 40 years after his creation as his first year on the air. Denver's Gilligan was and remains an indeliable icon of Americana, a goofy Everyman whose good heart saw him through countless screw-ups and mistakes... and in fact made him loved even more deeply.
Thank you, Bob Denver. Your three hour tour has now ended. Thank you for traveling with us.
Posted by Christopher at 10:46 PM | Comments (4)Katrina Latrina
A few more thoughts on our government's bungling of the worst natural disaster ever to hit our nation:
1) FEMA isn't just useless, they're criminal. It's inconceivable that when New Orleans' mayor is begging for firefighters from other cities because his need a break... and a thousand trained firefighters from elsewhere in the country have volunteered to come help and have in fact left their homes and headed to the disaster zone to do just that... that FEMA would have these firefighters holed up in a hotel in Atlanta, sitting around and being instructed on how to pass out leaflets. But that's what's happening.
Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers. Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.
And if that weren't bad enough, FEMA is actually arrogant enough to defend itself for this latest debacle. "I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak.
Ms. Hudak, anyone who's watched the sorry-ass performance of your embarassment of an organization over the last few days would like FEMA to revisit its commitment to the citizens of this country. Your organization forfeited its right to defend itself about a week ago now... so you'd best shut the hell up and get the firefighters who want to help deployed for emergency rescue. And as soon as the citizens of New Orleans are out, you and Michael Brown should be forced to clean the streets of the Big Easy with your tongues.
But worse still is the cynical and disgusting use FEMA did find in Louisiana for some of those firefighters. But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.
2) New Orleans asks Bush some tough questions. It's hard to believe that anyone could still believe George W. Bush to be immune from criticism, but ridiculously there are still some of the conservative true believers out there still arguing that Bush is above blame for any of what's happened. (Vote Bush... it's easier than thinking.) Those few remaining might want to take a look at this op-ed by the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Not that it will change their dogmatic minds... so I guess I'll just leave it for you to read too.
3) A fair assessment of blame. I've mentioned before that I really hate to have to admit it, but some of the most astute and fair punditry out there right now comes from former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough on MSNBC. Scarborough's not always unbiased -- he's still a hyper-conservative and that often shows through -- but more often than not I have been grudgingly impressed with his analyses of situations and willingness to say what he thinks, not just what the conservative party line tells him he should think. Scarborough can be bad for your blood pressure at times, but overall he's earned my respect as a pundit, and I'll give him credit for what he does.
I think his post on his "blog" at MSNBC.com yesterday is one of the more honest and fair assessments of where blame lies and who deserves criticism for what. He points out that there's plenty to go around, then proceeds to explain exactly where each level of government failed the people -- including some harsh criticism of not just Louisiana's Democratic governor, but Mississippi's Republican governor & the former head of the Republican Party, Haley Barbour. As a former Congressman who helped handle emergency relief in the past, and as a resident of a Gulf Coast area, Scarborough has uniquely been on both sides of hurricane issues... and I think his assessment is worthy of your perusal.
Posted by Christopher at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)Friendship... the Curmudgeon Way
Among the things quickest to metaphorically turn my stomach into a churlish, wretching mess are those cheesy, Hallmark-moment styled "friendship" e-mails. You know them; someone's victimized you with one before. They start out with some over-sentimentalized maxim about friends being the most important thing on earth, and then proceed through a pablum-laced top ten list of wonderful things about your friends. They usually end with some reference to God, and an exhortation that you should send the note along to ten of your friends as well to remind them that you (and God) love them. In my head, these things are the digital equivalent of a Precious Moments doll - and exposure to all that sap makes my skin break out in hives. And in general, if the best way for you to express friendship with me is some drippy, faux sentimental, pre-written (by somebody else, no less) set of e-mail talking points... well, let's just say I'm not expecting I'll see you at my next wedding or holiday party.
So when I got an e-mail recently from a friend of mine in DC who is (thankfully) not usually prone to such displays of precalculated sugary sweetness, I was momentarily shocked. There it was in the subject line: "Friendship." And before I opened it, all I could think of was, "He's gotta be dying. There's no other explanation. Because if he's not dying -- if he has turned into a 13 year old girl right before my eyes -- I am never going to let him forget this."
When I opened it, he'd written one sentence in front of the chain mail: "[Mudge], I read this and immediately thought of you." I started sharpening my mental knives for the IM onslaught I was going to unleash on him ("What, do you have a Leonardo DiCaprio poster on your wall too? Keeping a diary now about that dreamy boy in 5th period algebra?"). But when I read it, I knew exactly why he thought of me and why he sent it. And so my friends, here it is: A friendship chain mail... Curmudgeon style.
A TRUE FRIEND
Are you sick of all those sissy "friendship" poems that always sound like Hallmark cards, and never come close to reality? Well, here is a more realistic series of promises that speak to true friendship:
1. When you are sad - I will help you get drunk and plot revenge against the sorry bastard who made you sad.
2. When you are blue - I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.
3. When you smile - I will know you've finally had sex.
4. When you are scared - I will rag on you about it every chance I get.
5. When you are worried, I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be and tell you to quit whining.
6. When you are confused - I will use little words.
7. When you are sick - stay the hell away from me until you are well again, I don't want whatever you have.
8. When you fall - I will point and laugh at your clumsy ass.
This is my oath...I pledge it till the end. Why, you ask? Because you are my friend. Remember: A good friend will help you move. A really good friend will help you move a body. Let me know if I ever need to bring a shovel!
Send this to 10 of your closest friends, then get depressed because you can only think of two.
Posted by Christopher at 07:53 AM | Comments (2)September 05, 2005
Judgement Call
Ever watched the wheels fall off of someone's career before, all based on recurring displays of poor judgement? I'm getting that sense this week watching Speaker Dennis Hastert. First, he suggests bulldozing New Orleans, setting off a firstorm of criticism. Then, he skips out on the vote to provide $10.5 billion in emergency funding for New Orleans. Then, he defends the reasons why he wasn't there, with a make-it-worse kind of response. And all of it is piling up to make the man look as incompetent as a FEMA director.
First of all, regarding his statement about New Orleans, my criticism there isn't as much with what he said as the lack of judgement he used in saying it when he did. Let's face it: after the tragedy of New Orleans subsides (and let's not forget that Mississippi was actually hit worse), we're all going to have to take a long look at how/if to rebuild the city. This disaster was one everyone saw coming, due to New Orleans being built in a bathub, basically... and not even a perfect response from FEMA could have changed the fundamental and inherent problem of building a city below sea level and next to the sea.
Walter Maestri led the emergency reponse team in Jefferson Parish back in 2002, and he told PBS something during a special that year that rings true today: "And if I'm the Senator from South Dakota or North Dakota or wherever, you know, am I going to want to vote the kind of massive funding that it's going to take to rebuild it, given the fact that nobody can promise me that it's not gonna happen again two weeks later."
It's a fair question to ask. Because as a citizen, while I want my tax money to be used to do everything possible to alleviate the suffering of the people there now, I'm not sure I want it used to rebuild everything is the exact same place so we can wait for this to happen again. The fact that Hastert was so impolitic in his word choice doesn't negate the basic validity of his point. BUT - this is not the kind of thing that the third most powerful person in the US government ought to be saying while people are dying and suffering in New Orleans. You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger, and you don't kick people when they're down if you're a politician with pretensions of national leadership. Hastert is supposed to have a better sense of timing; it's unfortunate that he did not.
But where Hastert went from unfortunate to indefensible was in his actions while the rest of Congress was acting to try and relieve the city by passing $10.5 billion in relief aid.
But there was one problem: Hastert was not in Washington, D.C. He was in Indiana attending a colleague's fund-raiser, staff members said, and he later attended an antique-car auction. By 4 p.m., Hastert had reached the Capitol, eager to explain his tardiness and to try again to show his solidarity with Katrina's victims.
The Indiana fundraiser, he told reporters, had been on his schedule "for a long, long time."
Mudge sez: You know, Denny, I'm pretty sure that there were a lot of things that had been on the schedules of people in New Orleans for a long, long time. Guess what? They had to change their plans because a disaster happened. It's galling to think that anyone who calls himself a leader could actually make a choice that raising money to get another like-minded individual elected to Congress is more important than saving lives and taking urgent action to alleviate catastrophic suffering after a disaster in America.
"Yes, I went to a charity auction," Hastert said. "I took one of my cars and sold it for tens of thousands of dollars. And that money will go to hurricane-relief efforts."
And some of my best friends were hurricane victims, Hastert might as well have said. I wasn't there to direct the body I in theory lead, as it directed billions of your taxpayer dollars toward emergency assistance. I was selling one of my cars or tens of thousands of dollars. And I personally am in that way donating to hurricane relief efforts. Never mind that I wasn't there to do my job by voting for billions in relief; I gave tens of thousands of dollars myself.
Even in an era where the leadership of this country gives daily demonstrations of hubris, Hastert stands out this week.
Posted by Christopher at 11:09 AM | Comments (2)September 03, 2005
Death Bell Blues
As I have discovered the blues later in my life, one of the regrets I've had is that so many of the artists I now appreciate died before I really got into them. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins, Son House, John Lee Hooker, Albert King... all of 'em gone before I figured out that I should be listening to them more often. One bluesman I had discovered -- though I hadn't had a chance to see him play live anywhere -- was R.L. Burnside. A highly entertaining and talented practitioner of the Delta Blues, Burnside died Thursday in Memphis. He was 78.
Burnside wasn't really "discovered" until late in life, even though he'd been playing since he was young. Thankfully, I was paying attention before he was gone. If you're a fan of Delta Blues, do yourself a favor and pick up some R.L. Burnside (my favorites include "Boogie Chillen," "Death Bell Blues," and "Mellow Peaches," if you're looking for recommendations).
Farewell, R.L.. See you on the other side.
Posted by Christopher at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)One Last Katrina Post
As horrific as the scenes are from the Gulf Coast, life must and does go on for all of us, even as we try to help in any way we can, and even as we're still flabbergasted that something like this could happen in the United States of America. So I'm going to go back to blogging about whatever strikes my little fancy from now on. But a few final thoughts about Katrina:
1) Our Katrina Relief Fund: Guys, between pledges on this site and those I was informed of via e-mail, our community has directly given at least $800 for hurricane relief. That may not sound like much in the face of the gargantuan need right now, but think of how much more it is than what any of us donated individually. Thank you all for your generosity.
2) Conspicuous Absence. Nearly every facet of American society has rolled up its sleeves and opened its hearts to the disaster happening down south. Donations to the Red Cross have topped $200 million, and it hasn't even been one week. In the story I linked to about the Red Cross, you can see that insurance companies, financial companies, technology companies, and retail companies are stepping up to help with donations. The airlines are shuttling people out of New Orleans now. I've read of electric utilities around the country sending technicians to the Gulf Coast to help restore power. The NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball have all donated $1 million -- and Deion Sanders of all people just called every professional athlete out and challenged them to step up to the table. The entertainment industry had its first telethon last night, and there are a dozen more benefits and concerts scheduled in teh next week. Everybody's jumped in.
But wouldn't it be nice if the oil companies -- who now get to gouge us for upwards of $4.00 a gallon for gas, and for whose profit we went to war in Iraq -- would make a more significant contribution? Here's an idea: between now and the end of 2005, 1 cent of every gallon of gas sold in the United States should go to hurriane relief. They're jacking us $3.41 a gallon here in New York, and it's only going get worse; why not make it $3.42, and donate that penny to relief efforts?
The average American uses 500 gallons of gasoline per year. That's an aggregate average, so it includes those who don't drive and those too young. There's about 280 million Americans. We have 1/3 of the year to go... about 167 gallons for each of us. One cent per gallon comes out to $1.67 for every man, woman and child in our country. I'm no mathemetician, but when I whip out the calculator to check this, $1.67 times 280 million comes out to more than $467 million. All from one penny per gallon more, on prices that are already artificially inflated anyway. Even if my math's off by a bit, there's no question that one cent per gallon would raise hundreds of millions of dollars to help -- and I doubt very much that for this cause, Americans would mind paying an extra 20 cents every time they fill up.
What's the holdup? ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips... what say you?
3) Regarding the government's response and Bush trying to deflect blame by criticizing the relief efforts as inadequate, I have only two thoughts.
First, as PSoTD points out... in all of modern history, can you name any other leader of any nation who, when faced with a national crisis and disaster of a massive magnitude, took two full days to come off of vacation and either go to the site of the disaster or return to the seat of power? Anyone? Bueller?
Second... FEMA's in charge of doing homeland security evacuations as well as handling natural emergencies. Anyone out there feel as confident this week that you'd be safe and the government would have its (stuff) together if, say, a dirty bomb went off in your area? Makes you wonder what the Bush administration's been doing with all that Homeland Security funding since 2001; they clearly weren't using it for training.
Posted by Christopher at 10:29 AM | Comments (4)Fashion Trends We Like
I like trends. Trends are neat. Trends are good things, because that means lots of people are doing them.
I like stories about trends. They are neat. Especially when they appear in the New York Times. NYT stories about trends are good things, because they reinforce the trends -- both by confirming that they are in fact currently fashionable, and by letting those who have not yet caught on that there's something new that everybody is doing, and that maybe if they're not doing them, they're behind the times. This usually results in more people adopting the trend. We often appreciate that.
Of course, most trends we like do not require lasers. However, if that's what it takes, we're okay with that. Lasers are cool. Just ask Princess Leia.
That is all.
Posted by Christopher at 10:15 AM | Comments (1)September 02, 2005
Mayor Nagin
Not the mayor from hell; the mayor of hell. This might be the first time I've ever heard a politician drop his guard so publicly and just be a real human being in an interview. You've never heard passion until you listen to this interview. And when, at the end, the mayor and the two radio hosts break down in tears... it'd be understandable if you did too.
Posted by Christopher at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)UPDATE: Katrina relief
Just wanted to give you all an update... the other day I posted that we should all give $50 to Katrina relief, in the sense that all of us could help more than one of us. I'm proud to report that between those who've commented and those who've contacted me privately, our community here on this blog has now contributed at least $550 to aid our fellow Americans when they need us. And because of you, my little $50 has turned into our $550. And I think we ought to be proud of that.
Thank you.
Posted by Christopher at 02:36 PM | Comments (5)September 01, 2005
The Big Queasy
The first half of this week, we saw the worst of Mother Nature. The latter half, we've seen the worst of human nature.
In 48 hours, New Orleans has become a living, oozing animation of The Lord Of The Flies. With conditions there appalling and frustration turning to desperation, the trappings of civilization have quickly fallen away, leaving man to his most primitive and savage nature. And the disintegration has called up some of my most primitive and savage emotions.
I've watched first in sadness, but then with increasing anger, the looting and disgusting conduct of those remaining in New Orleans. The argument that people were desperate and trying to survive held up so long as people were looting foor, water, blankets and shoes. But when people started stealing cameras and televisions, the people taking them became nothing more in my eyes than thugs and criminals, people with far less of my sympathy than they'd had just hours earlier.
When people began shooting at rescue helicopters, unleashing sniper fire on hospitals, raping women in the streets, setting fires in the Superdome and shooting Guardsmen there, my disgust turned to rage. You can't argue "survival" anymore -- shooting at rescuers, trying to kill people, rape, and arson aren't survival necessities, they're just criminals and the absolute bottom of society showing just how animal-like they can be, my thought went. And I have to admit to you, as awful as it is to say, there's a part of me that feels like these people aren't deserving of rescue -- that I don't want to give my money to people who've given themselves over to the most savage of human instincts. By the time I heard of the snipers firing on hospitals trying to evacuate the sick, I even started IMing friends:
Shoot. To. Kill.
I even made a few comments that perhaps we should have the Red Cross and FEMA stop everything, pull out, let them drown (since they sure seem to want to, firing on those trying to help them), let the flood waters wipe everything clean a la Noah, and save their money and resources for a rebuilding effort. Drop a bunker buster on the Superdome and let them play caveman if they wanted to. And never mind the arguments about race and class - those are flimsy attempt to excuse uncivilized behavior. New York has poor, and we're the most diverse city on the planet. On 9/11, no on rioted, no one looted, and no one shot at rescuers. New Yorkers of all classes and of every race of humanity drew together, not came apart at the seams. So part of me just doesn't want to even hear any argument trying to explain or excuse the behavior we've seen in New Orleans since Tuesday -- because they don't, uh, hold water.
But that's only part of me. Because I started thinking about the whole thing. And for starters, it's dangerous to generalize the entire remaining population on the actions of perhaps a quarter of them. More importantly, though, I started really thinking to myself about the answer to one question:
What if it were me?
What if it were you, Christopher, who was facing dehyrdration and hunger, who had been forced to sleep near backed up sewers, who'd just lost your home and possibly family members or pets, who'd watched flood waters continue to rise, who was running out of dry land, who had sat for four days in 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity, and who was probably at least somewhat physically sick from exposure to all the toxic sludge in the water? What if it were you, Christopher, who had been watching people die (literally) in front of you for days, and who had been made to sleep near the corpse of your loved ones? Now it's you who is dehydrated, hungry, sick, and perhaps mentally impacted from the last few days -- either from sleeping next to corpses, or from post-traumatic stress disorder. How do you react, Chris?
I can pretty much assure you that if I were of sound mind, I wouldn't be firing a gun at anyone who wasn't threatening me or my family; I wouldn't be raping anyone, or stealing more than I needed to live. I have to think I'd pretty much draw the line at making sure I had food at water. But that's if I were of sound mind. If I'd been through everything that the people in New Orleans have been since Monday, I don't know what kind of mind I'd be in... both mental illness and physically illness might be ravaging my system and impacting my judgement. Would I behave as savagely as what we've seen in New Orleans? I sure hope not. But I don't know for sure. I suspect that if you are really honest with yourself, you don't know for sure how you'd react either.
In the meantime, whichever side of the argument you fall, please don't forget that there are all kinds of people who are not looting or firing on rescuers... and they need our help. Please do what you can.
Posted by Christopher at 11:47 PM | Comments (3)Zero Fiddles While The Big Easy Churns
It seemed just wrong to vent political rhetoric during a natural disaster when our fellow Americans were suffering. So despite a deteriorating situation in New Orleans, I've held my tongue. But after today, I can't stay silent about the "leadership" by the incompetent frat boy.
First of all, you can say what you want about Clinton and his eye for the cameras, but it's a dead lock cinch that by Tuesday afternoon, he'd have been in Louisiana feeling someone's pain or waiting to praise the rescuers from the incident below.
You want to know what Bush was doing during the hour this incident occured?
2000 years ago, Nero famously fiddled while Rome burned. In the modern day empire, a zero strummed while the city drowned. Rather than, oh, say do his job, Bush was gladhanding and playing for photo-ops at one of the few remaining places where people still like him. When the people needed him to be selfless, he was doing something self-serving. That's not leadership. It's cowardice.
Meanwhile, as New Orleans descends further into chaos every hour, Bush and FEMA haven't managed to control the situation well enough to even get constant rescue missions running. Granted, no one should expect rescue workers to risk gunshot or rape in order to save people. But why haven't we mobilized enough National Guardsmen to New Orleans to restore order? Of course, one reason is that 40% of Louisiana's National Guard is in Iraq fighting Bush's Halliburton war. I bet if there had been a profit motive for Bush's friends down there, we'd have 60,000 military there on Tuesday morning. Maybe New Orleans' mayor should have offered to give Halliburton a no-bid contract to control all the oil that comes out of the Gulf of Mexico. Then he could have gotten some help.
Moving further into his administration, it's truly incomprehensible that anyone who could watch this happening in New Orleans could possibly issue a statement like this:
"I am satisfied that we have not only enough," insisted Chertoff, "but more than enough forces there and on the way."
You know, if this guy had been in charge on 9/11, I do believe he might have sent a fire truck.
As you probably can guess, I'm on about a dozen Democratic mailing lists. In the last four days, I have received mass notes from Howard Dean, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, and Nancy Pelosi. Not one of them has mentioned the word "Democrat" or "Republican." All of them have simply said that Americans needed help, and could I please consider donating to the Red Cross or other charity (which they linked to). Nothing else. No propaganda, no villianizing, no anything other than asking me to help. Know what the Republican National Committee sent out today (September 1) (Courtesy of Daily Kos)?
Dear XXX,
For the last four years, President Bush and Republicans in Congress have championed a pro-growth agenda that has brought tax relief to millions of Americans. Historic legislation in 2001 and 2003 put America on the track to economic growth, and today our economic outlook is bright. There is more work to do, however, to ensure that tax-paying Americans can keep more of their own hard-earned income.
When they return from their August recess, Senators will consider a key issue: elimination of the death tax. The death tax is an unfair double taxation of income, which hurts America's small businesses and farms and threatens job growth. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats are working hard to oppose our efforts to eliminate this unfair tax.
Will you help bring tax relief to more hard-working Americans? Call Senator George V. Voinovich at 202-224-3353 today and ask them to eliminate the death tax.
Americans are struggling with the most extensive natural disaster in US history, and the Republican National Committee cares about giving the richest Americans another tax break, a chance to inherit daddy's wallet without paying taxes on it.
Yes, the Dems send propaganda e-mail too... just not during a national disaster and crisis. The Republicans appear to have other priorities. Maybe that explains why we don't have adequate Guard presence in New Orleans.
Posted by Christopher at 08:34 PM | Comments (4)
