The New Road

Karen Hughes, emissary of God

Karen Hughes is our ambassador of understanding, or some such thing, with the middle east. She is doing a heck of a job, if you see things the way Bush does.

"Many people around the world do not understand the important role that faith plays in Americans' lives," she said. When an Egyptian opposition leader inquired why Mr Bush mentions God in his speeches, Hughes asked him whether he was aware that "previous American presidents have also cited God, and that our constitution cites 'one nation under God'."

Yeah, no. No. Our constitution does not, in fact, say anything about God. At all. Nor has it ever. Or hopefully will it ever.

Speaking of the Consitution. For all of you folks who believe that the U.S. government shouldn't have an outfit like FEMA, check the preamble; "...provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare..." This is the purpose of our government. This is not a country where you should have to "go it alone". Obviously we need to take care of ourselves, but when the situation is catastrophic and goes beyond our individual capacity to provide for ourselves, that's where the government comes in.

Really bad week for the administration

Not only are they getting pounded on their performance with staggeringly low poll numbers. But now a judge has ordered that the second set of Abu Ghraib photos be released. And these ones make the others look like a trip to Sunday school.

Making money in government

I used to wonder exactly how politicians went into government being wealthy and come out being super wealthy. Obviously it's illegal to loot the government. But it seemed that Republicans were getting away with it. But how?

So here is my thought, and it's really pretty simple. Companys give the candidate a lot of money. The candidate uses the money to mercilously attack his opponent, as well as rig the election, and wins. Then when he is in government he uses his control to give no bid contracts to the same companies that put him into office. And those companies then give kickbacks on a personal level to the government official through things like fraudulent house sales.

To really make money at this the company has to do is little as possible with these contracts to ensure that they have insane profit margins.

This is what happened to FEMA. The Republicans gutted the agency and turned it into a contract outlet house. And they gave contracts back to the incompetent cronies that got them into office. Then, when it came to actually deliver, the "emaciated" agency (as Mike Brown said yesterday) just defaults.

Which, unfortunately, leads Republican supports to say, "look I told you so, you can't depend on the government". Which shouldn't be true. There is a structural need for this type of agency. Either that, or the agency should be disbanded so that everybody knows that in the case of a disaster they are completely on their own.

It's a great scam and these Republican politicians are making serious bank doing it. It's also a virtuous cycle, so it will keep repeating until the government comes back into control. And of course, it's the American citizen that gets screwed in the end, but, really, nobody in the Republican party cares about that.

What's even better is that when these agencies act incompetently the only ones that really get hurt are the poor and middle class, which the Republicans don't care about anyway. The poor don't vote Republican. And voting doesn't really matter anyway since the cronies in the electronic voting industry rig the elections anyway.

Iraq is another example of this. The President starts an "optional war" on a "tactical mistake" (Bill O'Reilly's words) which creates a vaccumn of contract work that has enriched the companies that control the Presidency to no end.

Beedee, beedee, beedee

Eric hates the 70's show "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century". I always found myself defending it. Relying on my perception as a kid that it was cheesy but not that bad. Turns out, Eric is right. I was watching it this morning before coming into work and boy does it suck. The acting is B rated at best, just a step above porn. The set design looks like something out of a 3rd grade play. And the plot, at least of the episode I saw, wow, not so good.

So I TiVo'd three more episodes from the morning so that I could watch them when Lori is out at the movies tonight. "Why?", you ask. Why? Oh, good lord what a silly question. Because it's so bad that it's fucking fantastic. I'm glued.

I mean, come on, her helmet is twice as big as her head:

I love the rainbow armband. So futuristic and yet so... Mork and Mindy.

And, seriously, this guy, penis head all the way:

Beedee, beedee, beedee. That's right baby, "Beedee, beedee, beedee."

And, this, it just speaks for itself:

With chest hair like that, you know it's the 70s.

Science for Christians

This is great.

Start your children off with math and science education to help prepare them for the real world.

Turns out, we were attacked

Yeah, Katrina apparently was an attack by the Russians and the Yakuza. It's obvious, now that I think about. How could I have been so blind!

Here is how the Iraq war will end

Here is my prediction on how the Iraq war will end. The Republican spin machine will start up about two weeks in advance of the announcment with the party line; "We gave the Iraqi's a shot at freedom and they pissed it away. Obviously spreading freedom is priceless, but while you can lead a horse to water you can't make it drink. So we need to get out of there."

The setup is already in the works. There is a constitional process in the works that sputters, stalls and dies on a daily basis. All they have to do is scuttle it a little further and spin it as a combination of gross incompetence with a touch of racist indignance and they are good to go. The underlying message being; we thought they could handle freedom, but they can't.

A couple of weeks later we will get an oval office address saying basically the same thing, and a time table for a withdrawl. As a result the President will get a huge polls bounce and be back in the 50 range (up from 32 now).

If I had to put a date on this it would be right around the start of the campaign season next year. That way the neo-con fringe candidates can still ride the coat tails.

What's sad about this is that this will create a literal day upon which the Republicans will stake someone's traitor/patriot status. If you supported the troops and their mission all the way up to the date, and you can recite the canned bullshit line, then you are a patriot. Otherwise you are a stinking liberal traitor. Just like 66% of the people in this country according to a recent poll.

How much are we spending on the war?

So, how much are we spending on the war? Do you know? Turns out, you don't. In fact, nobody knows according to the GAO.

"Neither DOD nor Congress can reliably know how much the war is costing and details of how appropriated funds are being spent," the report to Congress stated.

Could be lots, could not be lots. Who knows. As Rummy would say, "Who knows?"

Nice. This is fiscal conservatism for you. It's anything but conservative.

The term "tax and spend liberal" was created by the right to name some sort of mythical beast. Clinton balanced the budget, reduced the deficit and created a government surplus. Even if was "tax and spend liberal" (which he wasn't) isn't that better than the "tax cut and spend, spend, spend idiot" we have now?

Science? Yes, please.

I have no problem with people praying to stop or slow down Rita. I think it's a good idea. I don't think it will make a lick of difference, but it's a good idea.

What bothers me is the religious right trying to suffocate real science education in this country. Because science is the only thing that has an actual chance of saving us from these types of storms. Seriously, how much will our growing scientists need to unlearn in order to be effective in their jobs? Will they have to unlearn some folk story about a 6,000 year old earth? It's crazy.

People who want to believe in creation can do that. But let scientists teach science. Real, provable science. So that we can find out how we have messed up the environment so badly that we have created two super storms (or more) in the same season. And figure out how we can fix it.

If it weren't for science we wouldn't have projections on the path of these storms. The type of projections which saves millions of lives. We wouldn't have satellite imagery. The very same imagery that abortion rights opponents cite when they see fetuses in the images and tell us that the storm is God's wrath. Seems a little odd that God would make a sign that's only visible with a satellite or an over flight. Both of which would not be possible without science.

Page 10 news

Only in an administration this corrupt, this rife with graft and cronyism could a story like the looting of $1B from the Iraqi defense fund show up below the fold. Of course, this only adds $1B to the $8B that is already unaccounted for.

But hey, the $25M that is the worst case scenario in the "oil for food" fake scandal is so much more significant. Of course, that's the opinion of the right. The same people who think a blow job is an impeachable offense, while an illegal Vietnam style war, countless acts of graft and corruption, and ineptitude at a level that results in the loss of a major city is worthy of the medal of freedom.

Super storms

Rita is now a category four storm. It's the heat of the gulf that is supercharging even the smallest storm into a monster. And that heat in the gulf could be the result of global climate change. How many cities do we have to lose before people start to admit this global climate change is happening? How many cities do we have to lose before they even consider the option.

Missy, if you are reading this please know that our house is open here for you, Micheal, the kids and the dogs. I know it would be a trek but it's safe.

Best thing ever, today.

This is clearly making a stab at being the best thing ever. Today.

Speaking of digital pics

New pictures of Megan:

Comparison of digital and film

It's interesting to look at the price of digital cameras versus film cameras. While the initial investment in a digital camera is higher than in a film camera the overall cost of digital quickly falls away as the film expenses mount.

If your look at the raw print cost the two are roughly the same. A digital print costs $0.35 and a film print costs around $0.40 ($7 for the film, $7 for the processing and prints, divided by 35 prints).

But that doesn't account for the fact that we don't actually save all of the prints from either print or film. In general we save about one in ten. And since you can simply discard the nine digital images you don't want (as opposed to discarding the prints) the cost savings quickly become substantial.

The graph below shows the inflection points is around 50 saved prints.

So at the point that you have 50 prints you are at the cost of a digital camera. And after that the price for film just goes up and up, while with digital cameras the cost roughly flat lines. This graph assumes a $400 digital camera is roughly comparable to a $200 film camera.

NASA's Timing Sucks

NASA released today their plans for a new moon mission. The cost? $104B. Actually, cheap by all accounts, but still... they have absolutely horrible timing.

John Stewart on Katrina

John Stewart ripped everyone involved with Katrina new ones on the Emmy's last night. Best thing the Emmy's have seen in, well, forever.

My life and golf

I've gotten back into golf in a big way. Lori would probably say that it's the way that I get into all things; as an obsession. But, sure, while there is the obsession part of it, I think this is actually physically cathartic.

I have had a twisty relationship with golf. I can remember the courses that I took at Rolling Green Golf Club (and here) when I was six with a group of other kids all lined up around the green doing practice pitches. Getting the little gold stars with my junior clubs and playing with them until I was 12 or so. I think I had a reasonably good swing then.

Then I went to Miami and I played with friends and co-workers with rented clubs. And those clubs were a lot shorter than what I needed so I had no end of troubles with missing the ball, hooks, slices, the whole bit. So I stopped trying to use the driver and chopped my swing in half, so that I could even make contact with the ball properly.

Which lead me to my relationship with golf over the past ten years or so. Which is to go out to the range about twice a year, and play with mom once a year, and get angry and frustrated about my swing and the ability to hit the ball strait. And over these years I have layered on this crust of crap onto both the mental and physical parts of the game.

And recently over my past visits to the range I've been just popping off these crusty bits and it feels great. I might actually have my game back. I might actually be good at this. Obviously not Tiger good, but good enough to gave a fun time with the game again and to really enjoy it.

This may sound silly, but it feels to me like I'm reconnecting with that six year old kid standing on the side of the green every time I step up to swing. And it seems like I cracking all of the crap off of that connection and that I'll be a stronger person for it.

Looting/Finding

I ran into this little gem from the guy who took the picture that was given the term 'finding' instead of looting:

I wrote the caption about the two people who 'found' the items. I believed in my opinion, that they did simply find them, and not 'looted' them in the definition of the word. The people were swimming in chest deep water, and there were other people in the water, both white and black. I looked for the best picture. there were a million items floating in the water — we were right near a grocery store that had 5+ feet of water in it. it had no doors. the water was moving, and the stuff was floating away. These people were not ducking into a store and busting down windows to get electronics. They picked up bread and cokes that were floating in the water. They would have floated away anyhow.

Seems to me like the "They would have floated away anyhow." clause applies to the perishable food stuffs found in stores that are already opened which are bound to go bad before power is restored and the flood waters subside.

This whole looting thing is ridiculous. Yes, stealing TVs and that sort of thing is just stupid. But taking food, water, clothes and something like a bike or a basket makes perfect sense to me. The food in particular since it's going to waste.

What I think does merit a lot more reporting is the situation on the bridge between the convention center and Gretna. This is the bridge where according to many reports the Gretna police ordered those on foot not to cross, shot over the heads of people, verbally and physically abused people. All in the name of protecting property across the river. And having done so, people died. People are more important than property. Period.

More Sci-Fi greatness

I'm in awe of the movies group at the Sci-Fi channel. Not only did they see the glaring need to complete the epic saga that was "Dungeons and Dragons" with a "Dungeons and Dragons II". But they have invested in forward looking films like "Dracula 3000". Which is bracketed in it's premiere by "Jason X", a movie that was sadly overlooked for the Oscars, and the fine "Thirteen Ghosts". Makes me proud to be a sci-fi fan.

New Blog

I have a new blog. This one is for O'Reilly. You can also check out my author's home page. I feel so powerful now. I can blog on the O'Reilly site. That fracking rocks.

New Harry Potter

The new Harry Potter looks really good. It's definitely getting a darker edge to it.

Bush's note to the teacher

This has gotten a lot of play recently. It's Bush's note to condi during his recent visit to the UN:

Teacher? Can I got to the bathroom please?

No shit. Really. This is an AP photo.

Letter to the Editor

I sent this along to our local paper, The Argus:

Welcome to the new America. You are now a survivalist. Thought it was tough enough doing the 80 hour work week and raising your kids? Now Katrina has shown us that you have another responsibility, your own survival in a time of crisis over an indefinite period. Not just the 48 or 72 hours that we thought we had to deal with before.

Do you have extra food and water caches stored in secure locations other than your house? Do you have guns and ammunition in those places? Do you extra stores of gasoline, multiple vehicles, accounts in overseas banks, private security, razor wire, and thousands of dollars in ready cash? No? Then you, my friend, are unprepared for the Bush administration’s grand utopian vision.

Sure, you thought it was about Christian conservatism. You thought they were going to fight against abortion or gay marriage, or defend your right to own guns. But that’s just the social agenda. What’s really going on domestically is the grand vision of someone you may have never heard of named Grover Norquist. Grover’s most famous quote is about government, where he said he would like “to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” And drown our government has in the flood waters of Katrina.

But what does that really mean anyway? Isn’t small government a good thing? Certainly anyone who has been in line at the DMV knows that government is a pain in the butt. But can we live without it entirely? Libertarians would like to think so, and their agenda, through people like Grover Norquist, is running this country.

The idea stems from authors like Ayn Rand. Ayn wrote a book titled “Atlas Shrugged” which is the bible of the Libertarianism. It depicts the failure of the American government and the rise of an Objectivist state where each man or woman runs a hyper efficient corporation and blazes their own path to glory unhindered by any form of government.

Having been through Hurricane Andrew and having help in the recovery effort I find talking with Libertarians a frustrating experience. They wax poetic about a world where there are only corporations, but no sense of how that would impact individuals. In particular their philosophy does not account for those who are infirmed either temporarily or permanently. Those people, who would not survive in the natural order, would simply die. And good riddance. They have no ability to make a positive contribution to society. It’s an ideology that is as cold and brutal as Ayn Rand herself. And it’s now core to the domestic policy of our government.

If you want proof of this you need look no further than Katrina. When asked about the response after the event Bush at first could find no fault in it. The people that could fend for themselves did. Those who could not were left to die in the streets. A fate foretold in books like “Atlas Shrugged” and seen as the natural order by the likes of Grover Norquist. We are governed by a group of people who don’t believe in government.

Ironically I doubt that Ayn would approve of the methods of those, like Grover, who pay allegiance to her ideals. Instead the complete destruction of government they simply starve essential government service and let them die on the vine. Leaving an entity that looks and sounds like government but which is in fact as impotent and inept. And woe betide those who are unaware of this and are unprepared. They will be the next to die in the streets.

Thankfully the American people rose to the occasion as we always do. We donated, we volunteered, we rescued, and we let the Bush administration know that the least fortunate among us were still Americans and should never be left for dead. The unholy union of the fiscal conservative or Libertarian ideology and Christian conservative movement has fallen victim to Katrina. It’s was an untenable marriage from the beginning as anyone who asked the question “If there is no government who would enforce a ban on abortions?” would know. But now this disaster has brought this ideological fissure into stark relief. Jesus helped the poor. He didn’t write off those who couldn’t fend for themselves as the worthless products of the Clinton welfare state that right wing pundits would have you believe.

But it’s not enough, was it? Even with the non-governmental charity people still starved and died when they could have been saved by the resources of the federal government. Now I realize that government is not a panacea. Nor should it be. But the government has a role in these disasters given the current setup of our local, state and federal government. And if the federal government wants to shirk that responsibility then there needs to be a viable alternative in place before it can do that. Otherwise you end up with the result we had with Katrina. And that, in the words of Mr. Bush, is unacceptable.

It’s time to turn our backs on these grand ideological notions of zero government. They are completely unrealistic and passive aggressive explorations in their implementation lead only to the unnecessary shameful carnage we have seen in the last few weeks. We are not a nation of self-serving individual survivalists. At our best we are a society that works together for the betterment of all. We all deserve a government that typifies us at our very best. A government that is an extension of the rich American community that works together to protect and better itself.

Heel boy!

I love how men are portrayed as lazy oafs on television. The BBC has to win an award for Bring Your Husband to Heel, which has women treat their husbands like dogs:

The corporation said the show "plays on the long-standing stereotype of wives nagging husbands about their failings".

Then there is this:

sees Clayton tackle stereotypical "husband problems" such as computer addiction and failing to do chores.

A new low.

He is not a loser!

Whoops! My bad. Bush isn't a loser. He is a failure. In fact, he defines failure (according to Google).

;-)

Actually, he is a loser too.

Fake apologies

I hate these fake apologies nowadays. I got this alert from CNN this morning; "President Bush says he takes responsibility for the federal government's failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina." And I did the happy dance. Finally the accountability administration actually taking some responsibility for something. But... No... Bush said "To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility..." And that's just a fake apology. It's one of those stupid, "If you felt offended then I apologize" type bullshit.

Bush is a loser.

Battlestar jumping the shark?

Has my beloved Battlestar Galactica jumped the shark? The new introduction? Bringing back the original theme music? And the non-arc plotline of the most recent show. These things all have me worried.

That being said, I listened to the podcast and it looks like they will go with an arced plotline in a few episodes.

Podcasting Hacks should be "required reading"

A new review up on Amazon says that Podcasting Hacks "should be required reading."

Cool!

Still hurtin'

I'm stiill hurting from some range work I did yesterday. It's stretching muscles that I haven't worked out for years, and that's a good thing. I did get a series of about four drives in a row that were in the 220-260 range. That felt good. I'm still hacking at it though. I need to smooth out my swing into one continuos motion.

Jacqueline's site

Here is a sneak peak at Jacqueline's site. There isn't a lot of content yet. It's mainly just formatting.

Golf zen

I have a love/hate relationship with golf. Which has pretty much left me in a state of contempt of golf. Not a hateful contempt. Just enough contempt to where I can feel good about sucking so bad at it.

I had golf lessons when I was 10 along with my brother and sister. We all sucked. I played for a while in Miami. I'm actually not sure how or why I did that. I didn't get any better and I'm now kind of surprised by the engineering types I got to go on the range with me.

Anyway, where I'm at now with golf is that I have this choppy 3/4 swing. I'm only good with the high irons, which is just blast the hell out of to get distance. Subtle, thou art not the name of my game.

But my mom, now she is into it. So we have been playing Tiger Woods online. And she tells me all the time about her new clubs and how she is doing on the course. Which is pretty amazing since she just survived her second bout with cancer. That leads me to my invitation to her to take her to any golf course in the states and I will golf with her and pick up the tab.

But I still suck, and I don't have any clubs. Luckily though there is a driving range with a Golf Mart right next to my office in Fremont. So I went there today, and I ordered some irons (they need to be specially fit to my size, which they will do for no extra money) and I got a wood.

Now I hate woods. I hate, hate, hate woods. Because they are tough to hit. But I got this Cleveland because everyone was saying the are easy to hit. I get out to the range, and I'm hacking at it, trying to slow down, trying to keep my head down, all that. And I tee up this new wood, do a full swing and bam, a sweet like butter shot that went about 220-230 with about 75% power. Oh, yeah. I think I can do this. It was unreal. Totally different from any other time I've played. The coordination, the smoothness, that sweet sound as the ball is just smacked so fine. It was zen. I know zen. It was zen.

I talked with the pros. Turns out that when I slow down my swing, loosen up and think about my position and the setup that my swing is actually ok.

It's not that I was worried about golfing with my mom before. I just figured that she would have more fun with a better golfing partner who took the game more seriously. Now I figure if I hit the range 3 days a week for 30 minutes or so, maybe take a lesson or two, I could be a passable player by early next year.

Megan pizza with Megan

Pictures from Megan making pizza tonight.

She really loves this stuff.

One wonders

If Turd Blossom is Bush's nickname for Karl Rove (seriously). One has to wonder what his nickname for that mindless moronic human megaphone Scotty McLellan.

The outrage at the outrage is just ridiculous. Now that people aren't dying in the streets it's time to figure out what happened and what needs to change so that tens of thousands aren't stranded in the streets dying the next time we have a catastrophe like this. But apparently that is un-patriotic, or playing the blame game or some such crap. It's playing the blame game to ask why there were American's starving by the tens of thousands on the streets while buses drove by, helicopters flew overhead and the government was clueless to the fact that it was even happening? That's just stupid. These people in the Bush administration are idiots.

Blowing up the levees?

I'm obviously a fan of conspiracy theories. I strongly believe the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen, amongst other things. So I'm always on the lookout for new stuff. One new theory coming out of the Astrodome is that the levees in New Orleans were specifically blown to avoid flooding the downtown, French Quarter and Garden District regions. It sounds interesting, but I find it hard to believe.

First, there is the physics of it. The French Quarter is just higher up than other parts of the city. So even if water went in there first it would roll downhill until it went to where it is now. One might argue that having transited through the quarter would be bad enough, but there was water in the Quarter. And I spent a lot of time in the Quarter and most of it is well raised off of the street level.

Then there is the pragmatic angle of it. Let's say the levees were blown. Is that such a bad thing? The water is going to go to where it is now anyway. So the only choices were flood the existing area, or flood the existing area and ruin the only tourist draw the city has.

Wrong about the bridge

I read a story earlier today about how some people did try to get across the bridge but were shot over and ordered to get off the bridge. So it looks like people were trying but for a variety of very bad reasons were turned away.

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander’s assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn’t cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans.

This is crazy.

Oprah and Katrina

I'm not a big Oprah fan but this segment on a man being seperated from his dog just about killed me. I would have done anything in the world for Ripley or Culum, and there is absolutely no way I would be seperated from one of them by some government order. If they are forcing people out then they should at the very least allow them to take their pets.

Transporter 2

After the Hurricanes loss and some time paying my due to the Ruby community writing a gratis article on modular APIs I figured it was time to see the Transporter 2. I really liked the first movie which was low budget and quirky. So this was a must see for me.

This movie uses the well worn "Commanndo" plot which is simply summarized as; Take my kid... you all die. Amazingly there was actually less from the kid in this movie than in the original Commando. Setup stuff in the beginning with the hero playing games with the kid, which traditionally would have been used as a secret communication mechanism, was basically ignored. What little plot there is was just a setup for action and fight scenes almost too numerous to count.

The movie was set in Miami which was both fun and nerve racking for me. As always you should never follow the characters as they are driving if you know the city since they will never take an anywhere near sane route around the city. In this case the drive between brickel and star island included key biscayne, south beach and several other scenic spots. I came away thinking that the city looks really, really nice.

The only annoying part was the addition of the french policeman. He was shown too rarely to be important and his presence was the only slight connection back to the original movie and could have easily been dropped. Of course, they would have had to establish another inside character, but that's ok. Basically the buddy link here is so slight that this hardly ranks as a buddy film. More like a "guy I once met" film, or a "distant cousin four times removed" film.

I definitely enjoyed the movie. I turned my brain off, sat back and enjoyed the goofy late-summer entertainment. It was a great meaningless distraction. There was a setup for the next movie that was as gratuitous as it was ham-handed at the end. I certainly hope they make another. I can always use a dose of greased up kung fu fun.

Wow, that sucked

Wow, that sucked. The new QB shows some potential. Far better than the FSU quarterbacks. Our O-line needs some serious work.

Absolutely Livid

I hear Condi, the shrub or Rummy, or one of their apologists talking about the storm and I get angry. I watch the tube and see the bodies, or watch Fox acting like it's over and I get angry. I'm livid about this whole thing.

Bush to Black America : "I will let you die"

When white woman Terri Schiavo was dying in Florida the Bush administration flew back from his ranch and the House and Senate were called into emergency session. Bush remained up late into the night to sign this legislation in a dramatic ceremony. The message; if you are white we will do whatever we can to save you.

Flash forward to 45,000 people starving to death and dying on the street of New Orleans while putrified dead bodies and sewer water surround them. Bush, goes golfing. Bush, goes to the baseball game. Condi goes to the theatre. Bush flies around, then comes back to tell a few bad one liners. Bush finally takes a photo op and spends the time saying that they will rebuild Trent Lott's house. A man best known for defending ex-Klansmen Strom Thurman. And the Republican pundits, line up to criticize the people and the media who dare to challenge Bush's letting the poor people die on the streets. The message; The south won the civil war after all if you are poor and black we will let you die in the streets like animals.

This what passes for Christian Conservatism. What would Jesus do? Jesus would let the poor die on the streets wallowing in the own filth. Jesus would bravely wait days to sign the executive orders to release aid. Jesus would prioritize the rescue so white people were save first. Jesus would take photo ops in front of helicopters that were grounded for safety reasons while he was in town, stalling the rescue effort. Is that what Jesus would do? No way.

The people make me sick. It's disgusting. It's wrong. It's un-Christian. God is in the white house. Hardly. More like the Devil.

Just talked out about Kartrina

I'm too frustrated, too angry, to sad about Katrina, And the bad news about ineptitude just keeps coming:

In St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, just south of New Orleans, victims of the hurricane are still waiting for food and water and for buses to escape the floodwaters, Melancon said. And for the entire time Bush was in the state, the congressman said, a ban on helicopter flights further stalled the delivery of food and supplies.

Yeah, not only was it a just a photo-op, it actually sustained peoples suffering or possibly killed them.

These Republicans are monsters.

Red Cross

I just got a call from the Red Cross. Turns out I could have signed up electronically. So I went ahead and did that.

Bush admits someone's failure

Bush said this morning that the response so far was "unacceptable". Good. But yet offered nothing more than vagaries. More about assets and moving them into the area. There were stories yesterday about national guard troops being on seen but playing basketball. These people need leadership. Hands on, concrete deliverables leadership, "You! Go here and clean up that street.", "You! Drive here, pick up these people and drive there."

Update: Have a listen to the Chertof interview I talked about last night. It's amazing. The dude who is in charge of all of this obviously had no clue there were people at the convention center, days into the disaster. The incompetence is appalling. Reporter: "I'm telling you I have a reporter on scene at the convention center witnessing thousands of people starving". Chertoff: "It's dangerous to extrapolate from anecdotal evidence...I have not heard a report about people at the convention center." I was literally screaming at the radio. You could look at CNN yesterday and they had live shots of the convention center hours before this interview. This is ridiculous.

This picture is worth 1,000 words

Look at the contempt on Clinton and Bush Sr.'s face.

First day after the storm hits. The dams are breaking and the city is flooding, Bush is... playing golf. The second day, people are drowning to death in the own attics, Bush is... going to the baseball game. The third day, Bush decides to take air force one on a site seeing tour over the site. Afterwards he pops out gives a horrible speech followed by a bad joke. A joke. A freaking joke. As bands of armed looters kill and rape their way through the city. And finally, finally, he decides to mobilize the government. Rescue ships now set to arrive next week, while twenty thousand starve at the convention center.

The incompetence and arrogance is stunning.

Clearly, the worst president ever.

And my anger isn't reserved for him. I heard Chertof on the All Things Considered today. Here was the guy who is coordinating the federal effort who was only talking in vague terms about services and rallying points. The host was more upset than I had ever heard him, telling him over and over that there was a correspondent at the convention center who was witness to the suffering of thousands. And Chertof? Clearly didn't even know that there was anyone at the convention center. Ridiculous.

Oh, believe me, it doesn't stop there. I'm on the RNC mailing list and what do I get in my email today? A request for more funds to fight the estate tax. What the hell country are these people living in?

Hurricane Updates

It appears that a number of poeple have crossed the bridge over to the north landing and are now arming themselves into roving looting gangs. In addition there is a sniper shooting at one of the hospitals.

What's going on with these people?

I were watching CNN last night and they had a woman on there who had lost her house in Biloxi. She had been sleeping on her brother-in-laws porch for the last couple of days. It looked bad, but workable. The reporter asked her what she would say to the director of FEMA, and her reply; "I need a house."

Now I have all the sympathy in the world for this woman. And I was angry and in a daze myself for the first day or two after Andrew. But after that you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get to work.

In Biloxi you have standard hurricane damage. First order of business, secure your house and assess the damage. Second, clean the street of debris so that services can get in and out. Third, clean your driveway to provide access to your vehicles. Then, go and get food and supplies and try to stabalize the situation. This can mainly be done without federal assistance. The people that will come to help this woman are just people too. With arms, legs, brains, etc. Sure they will have supplies, but that will mainly be food, medical supplies and shovels and such.

In New Orleans I was seeing images that were similarly perplexing. You have a ton of people in front of the convention center waiting... For what? Apparently the bridge that goes over to the other side of the Mississippi is open and it connects right there are the convention center. It's drier there and there is access to the rest of the country from there. So why are people just sitting there. It's a half a mile walk across the bridge.

I know this sounds cold but it's frustrating to see people, who could be inventive and resourceful just sitting there waiting to be helped. If this is a tragedy of biblical proportions then listen to the bible when it tells you that God helps those who help themselves.

I'm going to contact the Red Cross today to see if there is someway I can volunteer locally to help out. We should all do what we can. Including the people on the ground who were effected by this.