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The Vidiot's weekly blog: What pissed me off this week? 9/5/2005 (updated every Monday at some point during the day) ...'cause I'm angry and my friends are sick of listening to me... Track your congresscritters here!
Free stuff can be found here Mirror (in case geocities is wacky or, in case of trouble in New York, check it for messages): http://129.79.148.33/vidiotcontact/ Holy Shit. Watching the NOLA thing unravel (as opposed to unfold) has been a lesson in the effects of ribald incompetence and maybe even criminal negligence. (Just look at the numbers.) When I posted last week, most thought New Orleans had dodged a bullet. Then the shit hit the fan. Meanwhile, his royal chimpiness barely budged from his vacation. (And when he finally did cancel the rest of his vacation, our media made it sound like the sacrifice of the century.) People were dying and drowning and he's photographed playing a guitar and laughing it up! Go look at that link in case the words weren't enough to piss you off. I'll wait. How could the administration have been so friggin' clueless? Or maybe the people who were dying and drowning were just too dark and poor for him to care. I don't even know where to start. From the hoarding of the poor people into the Mad Max Surperdome, to the amount of time it took for any help to even show up after the hurricane had passed, to the hysterical incompetence of FEMA, the desperation and anger, to the staged photo-ops with his royal chimpster, to the vacationing/shoe-shopping Condi, to estate-buying Cheney, to the price gouging at the pump, I mean, it makes my head explode. I mean, if Bush had done just one little thing. If he had only ordered the troops from LA and MI home from Iraq, even though it would've been mostly symbolic, it would've meant something to the people in the devastated areas. But noooooo. He'd rather spend his time and money elsewhere. (You know, not for nothing, and I know the governments of Cuba and China are reprehensible and all, but at least they can get their shit together when they have to.) Even watching the whole "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." thing. I mean, my God! Hullo?! Not only does it sound like that crap Condi was spewing post-9/11 ("Who knew they would ram airplanes into the trade towers?"), it's a bold-faced lie! They knew the levees could, and would break. And when they did break, they begged for help (Contrary to what the media has reported.) But his royal chimpster wanted his war in Iraq. (Anyone who can't even acknowledge the possibility of how bad this administration's reaction to this disaster has been might have to be considered too far gone.) Not to mention the unmitigated disaster this will be for our economy. I mean, it cost me over $10 to fill my gas tank last week... ON MY MOTORCYCLE! Over the course of last week, I watched a friend of mine go through a major emotional roller coaster. He's from New Orleans. Grew up there. He knows every inch of that town. Every image, every news report, everything was like a nail in his heart for the city he loves. It was like watching Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome unfold in real-time. And the federal response to this disaster only made it worse. Ugh. The blunders and the frustration and the toxic waste. I felt so bad for him. Even though his family came out of it OK, there is still such tremendous loss for so many, loss that could've been avoided had we had even marginally competent leadership. I mean, even Mr. Bill knew this was coming! I know New Orleans will be rebuilt. It has too much history and is too geopolitically important. It is New Orleans after all. But what will it end up being? Will it be a Disney-like restructuring? Some caricature of what it was? Will organic, individual development be thwarted by big tax breaks for the rich developers? Will only the big developers be able to afford to rebuild? Will only Halliburton get the contracts? Time will tell, but it seems like the New Orleans my friend knew and loved is over and I know he considers himself blessed for knowing the town the way that he did. There were too many articles from last week to mention in my rant. Here are some I think are interesting. CNN's Cafferty raises more questions... ACT OF GOD DESTROYS NEW ORLEANS DAYS BEFORE "SOUTHERN DECADENCE" Britney Spears Prays for Hurricane Victims Some scathing Editorials: Times/Picayune: An open letter to the President E&P: 'My Pet Goat' -- The Sequel David Brooks: The Bursting Point Excellent Blog Posts Billmon: When the Levee Breaks Kos Diary: If We Had a Real President Conspiracy theories that should be nipped in the bud: "Hyperdimensional" Katrina ...? WAS KATRINA THE PERFECT STORM? Notable Video Clips: N.O. Survivor says "President Bush shouldn't be the president no more." Test of the Week: Media Gullibility Test Toilet of the Week: Aquariass Ugly Dog of the Week: Sam Site of the Week: Cool Kites Dictionary of the Week: Sexual Terms Unbelievably Stupid Site of the Week: Cats in Sinks Laugh of the Week: Operation Yellow Elephant Programming Note: Rumsfeld will be on Letterman on Tuesday night. Hopefully, Dave will ask the $10,000 question: Why the hell weren't the ships on their way and in position before the storm we all knew was coming hit? Hero of the Week Finally, someone gets it. Susan Wood quit her job at the FDA because she wasn't allowed to do her job.
You go girl. Outrage of the Week Taking eminent domain abuse to new heights.
Irony of the Week Iran offers aide to New Orleans.
Granted, it's a political maneuver, but not without it's irony. SCOTUS Notice Rehnquist died. So what's the Administration's response? Roberts for chief justice, 'natch.
Oy. Think about it. He's only 50. FIFTY! That's a long time to wreak judicial havoc, people. Petition of the Week I usually don't link to electronic petitions because I think arm-chair activism is a waste of time. That being said, however, this petition is delightful.
And why the hell hasn't the press asked Mr. Bush why his kids aren't in the military for a war he so whole-heartedly believes in? Oh, wait. I forgot. The media is useless.
CYA I have I said recently how much I hate our media? (see above) Sure, they're frothing at the mouth about Ms. Sheehan. All eager to discuss what SHE thinks about Bush's reasons for war, then marginalizing whatever it is she says. Meanwhile, the same exact questions should've been asked when Bush was making his case for the war. Do they care? No.
Honestly, watching the NOLA crap on TV, once they start saying things like "we rehearsed for a Category 3, not a category 4 or 5" which is a bold-faced lie, and when the news person who is interviewing that liar doesn't even interject a simple "Hey wait a minute there buddy. That's just wrong...." Aieyayaaaa. Meanwhile, in Bush's OTHER disaster area... With everything that's been going on with New Orleans, it was hardly noticed that nearly 1000 people died in a stampede in Iraq.
Free Speech is a Myth I mean, don't they have bigger fish to fry than South Park or Jon Stewart?
Leave my cable alone! Shouldn't they be thinking about fixing our media ownership issues? And if that's not bad enough, they're threatening to go after bloggers who host comments. If they comments are out of line, the blog owner could get into trouble.
Ohmygawd Ohmygawd Ohmygawd Ohmygawd Well, duh!
This Pollack guy was one of the biggies when it came to making a case for war with Iraq. It's no wonder his nose was all "up in there". History Lesson of the Week I've been going on and on about the mostly un-reported real estate bubble.
Well, there is an historical precedent.
News of the Weird It's probably just a critter, but I bet it's sounds scary.
Well, it is
in Cincinnati. Could be some hapless liberal being beaten by a conservative
sadist.
What do we do about all of this crap? I have no idea. Part of me wants to start teach-ins at my local pub. Just go to the bar, rant and rave and inform the idiots who still think Brian Williams is telling them the truth. I sincerely believe that if we protected the voting rights of the underprivileged that any Democrat could SWEEP any election. I don't think Democrats are the answer. But they are at least a start. At the very least, point your CNN-loving friends to my links page. Just getting started in reading alternate news sites gets people thinking. I have one friend who was very happy-go-lucky, thinking ol' Greta was telling the whole truth until I opened up his eyes a bit. Now, he's all depressed. He'll get over it. You gotta' get depressed before you get angry and you gotta' get angry before you can accomplish anything. We're all in mourning. We have to move through the steps. But we gotta' hurry it up. Read. Inform. Spread the word. Even if it means your friends avoid you for awhile. If they really love you, they'll start to listen.
"POSSE COMITATUS ACT" (18 USC 1385): A Reconstruction Era criminal law proscribing use of Army (later, Air Force) to "execute the laws" except where expressly authorized by Constitution or Congress. Limit on use of military for civilian law enforcement also applies to Navy by regulation. Dec '81 additional laws were enacted (codified 10 USC 371-78) clarifying permissible military assistance to civilian law enforcement agencies--including the Coast Guard--especially in combating drug smuggling into the United States. Posse Comitatus clarifications emphasize supportive and technical assistance (e.g., use of facilities, vessels, aircraft, intelligence, tech aid, surveillance, etc.) while generally prohibiting direct participation of DoD personnel in law enforcement (e.g., search, seizure, and arrests). For example, Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETS) serve aboard Navy vessels and perform the actual boardings of interdicted suspect drug smuggling vessels and, if needed, arrest their crews). Positive results have been realized especially from Navy ship/aircraft involvement.
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Who am I?: I am a biker chick who lives in NYC. This blog is about current events and my left-leaning, acerbic spin on those events. Nobody pays me anything to do this. Nobody tells me what to write. I will NEVER tout anything for anybody's money! EVER! Use this instead of Google: These sites are good at culling stories from a multitude of media sites: buzzflash.com
Bartcop
Ilia
Dreams Blog media-bias exposed:
onlinejournal.com
whatreallyhappened.com
more different :
and
for godsakes, stay away if you must succumb to reading a newspaper:
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