By Beauty Damned

Tell Us How the Right Really Feels

If I'd eaten any breakfast this morning, I would have lost it over this:

Addressing a caller's suggestion that the "lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years" would be enough to preserve Social Security's solvency, radio host and former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett dismissed such "far-reaching, extensive extrapolations" by declaring that if "you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett conceded that aborting all African-American babies "would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do," then added again, "but the crime rate would go down."

As a man who is known to be very intelligent and highly respected in the political world, it's frightening to think that this is his view. Sadly, I'm sure he's not alone in this kind of thinking.

If you aborted every baby that grows up to be one of the white motherfuckers who are running things in this country, we wouldn't have so much war, we wouldn't have had slavery, our planet wouldn't be trying to kill us, and we wouldn't have to hear bile such as the above quote. And I say that with great confidence and wistfulness. We could eliminate a lot of shitty NY cab drivers if we aborted every Pakistani baby. We could eliminate a lot of mob activity if we aborted every Italian baby. We could eliminate a lot of stinky fish markets if we aborted every Chinese baby. We could also eliminate a lot of geniuses and heroes and people who just live decent, non-intrusive lives. What is the POINT of his statement, other than to make an ugly generalization about the majority of an entire race? It makes me sick to think that people like Bennett attribute all the crime in this country to black people or assume that most black people are criminals. What about all the white methheads, rapists, serial killers, wife-beaters, child molesters...? I read about serial killers with earnest for several months and found out that less than one out of every one hundred serial killers is a black man.

In a country where prisons are a huge industry and a frightening percentage of our population is incarcerated, perhaps it is time to strive for an evolution in our thinking that exceeds the ignorance and unproductivity of racism and start examining the real reasons that we have so much crime. Black people do not equal crime. A country with an ugly past, present - and at this rate, future - and a society that refuses to examine itself and the real reason that we have such an unbelievably high crime rate in the first place - equals crime.

Silence, Mr. Bennett. Silence, until you have something useful or productive to add, or a solution that does not involve the proposition that (were it not politically incorrect) ethnic or racial cleansing would do the trick. And if that day never comes, then silence forever, por favor.

Outed By The Village Voice

We went to this show at the Bowery Ballroom a few weeks ago while Kathleen's mom and sis and brother were all visiting. It was an indie band called Xiu Xiu which was not altogether terrible, yet not that great either, considering what we were required to endure in order to see them. What was terrible was the pretentious hipster audience who was there to pay homage and to put their pretentious little fingers to their lips to shush anyone who thought about making a peep (see article below). FYI: I am the "nutso" who yelled out "Fascists! All of you!"

It all started when the band launched into their first song which consisted of long drawn out sounds on some harp-thingy and the dude whispering "shut up..." while the entire crowd collectively shushed eachother like the biggest dorks ever. (This is a music venue with two bars, where loud bands play, and for some reason we are expected to quiet down like school children on a trip to the library? What?) In contrast, Kathleen and I were giggling irrepressably as a result of heavy alcohol intake and a sudden onset of hipsterphobia, (a syndrome I often suffer when stepping out in New York), when some lady - who decided to assist the crowd further in their obsessive need to shush every last person in the audience - actually came over and said to us in as authoritative a manner as possible: "Could you guys, LIKE, shut the fuck up?" Of course, I laughed and said, "No. But you can." This is the first time I have ever been at a live music venue and actually been told to be quiet, much less to "shut the fuck up." I was not about to start taking the whole thing seriously. After I responded with as little concern as possible, the girl went back to her friends and my friends and I resumed having a good time.

The first song ended and we all clapped and hollered...UNTIL...the shushing started again! How freaking annoying is that??? Everyone was doing it. Shushing. I could have died. I was embarassed to even be there and to be subjected to this level of asininity. So yes, I am the nutso who yelled out "Fascists! All of you!" And guess what? I don't take it back. Not for a second. That was the most retarded thing I've ever seen happen at a live show and I hope never to witness anything like it again. If I want to go to the opera, I will buy tickets and go there and I will be very, very quiet. If I want to go to the library, I am a member and I won't hesitate to drop in for a visit at my liesure. But when I am going out on a Friday night and paying $15 to see some band that I've never even heard of, alcoholic beverages are going to be available for purchase, and there is going to be live music, I'm not looking to be shushed by a whole room full of tragically hip little fascists.

Furthermore, as the only person actually quoted in that entire review aside from the band itself, I have to admit that I'm a tiny bit proud to wear the "nutso" and "riff raff" labels. Better to be nutso riff raff than poser assho'.

I think you'd be hard pressed to come up with a better headline than: "San Francisco Fuckjobs Shoot Arrows Up Indie Kids' Butts."

TV Gets A Bad Rap

Darcie wrote in her Friday confessional about how she's finally surrendered and acquired a television. I could count on one hand the number of times Darcie and I have watched tv together in the 11 or 12 years that we've been friends. It's hard for me to even picture her flipping channels.

I was raised pretty much without television. It wasn't really a plan on my parents' part when they had children, but once we got to be kids old enough to sit in front of the tv, they started to worry about what was happening to our brains. One night when I was about seven years old and my brother was about nine, we were watching L.A. Law or Moonlighting (one of those shows), and my dad told us it was time to turn off the tv. I remember hearing my dad and getting up to get ready for bed. My brother just sat there, slackjawed, eyes wide, head cocked backward looking up at the television. My dad asked him again to turn it off, but Josh was entranced. He didn't budge. That was when my dad went around to the back of the little television that had once been my grandmother's - and one of the only things we had of hers after she died - and he unplugged it from the wall, and he picked it up and carried it out to the back of our apartment complex on Sepulveda Blvd, and he hoisted it into the dumpster. And that was that. No more tv for the Carreons. My dad says that the Christmas following that incident was one of the most peaceful ever, because none of us whined about not getting what we'd seen on tv.

But if you think that's the only story I have involving televisions in my family, you're about to hear another one.

A few years later, while living on Bay Street off of Pico, my parents drove us one night to the Westward Ho supermarket for a couple groceries. While my dad was inside the supermarket, and taking forever, as he always did when he stepped foot inside a store, my sister started to wiggle and whine about needing to go pee. She was about five at the time. My mother tried to tell her to wait, but there was no way. She was pitching a tantrum. So my mom took her behind - guess what? - a dumpster and some bushes in the parking lot, and let my sister go pee. And guess what they found there? A television. A brand spanking new Mitsubishi television with one little scratch on it where it had apparently been dumped on the pavement. When my dad finally came out of the store, my mom showed him the tv. He lifted it into the back of our car, and we drove it home. In Tibetan Buddhism, female goddesses are called Dakinis. My parents always dubbed that "Ana's Dakini pee." We purchased a VHS player and my parents would rent movies and sometimes even video games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. We still never watched television with commercials and my parents listened to NPR, so they never watched the news on tv, but at least we were not totally out of touch, because we got to watch movies.

To this day, if you go to my parents house, they have a big television in the living room, but it is never on unless someone is watching a movie, and they have one of those cool big screens that pulls down from the ceiling in their bedroom with the mounted dvd/vhs projector. It's awesome. You know they totally watch lifesize porn on that thing.

The result of this lack of television in our house is that everyone talks to eachother. There's a lot of conversation and communication. I think part of the fact that my parents have stayed together for 30+ years is because they have never lost the connection with eachother where they share ideas and talk about what's going on in the world and in their lives. Television has never been allowed to be an interference or an influence. Not to say that tv causes divorce, but you never know...it could.

When I moved into the apartment I live in now, I purchased a television of my own for the first time in my life. I like watching it, but I've never made a habit out of coming home, plopping down and watching tv. I plop down and do other things and watch tv when I really have the conscious urge. But that is not to say that I'm not a junkie. I love cooking shows. I could watch the Food Network around the clock. I actually have watched it incessantly in the past. Rob convincing me to get DVR was the best thing ever though. There's nothing quite as satisfying as fastforwarding through commercials and being able to pause the tv. I feel like I'm able to enjoy television more without all the stuff I don't want to see like the bullshit advertising. I also think there's a lot of quality programming on tv if you just look for it or stumble upon it.

Darcie's confession was that she cried while watching "Save the Last Dance." I cry all the time while I'm watching tv, as embarassing as that is. Cried watching Beaches recently. Cried while watching Dirty Dancing. But the worst was how hard I cried when I was watching Oz on HBO the other night and the state was getting ready to execute a mentally challenged inmate named Cyril O'Reilly. His brother Ryan had Cyril convinced that he was just going in for a special shock treatment. Cyril's eyes were so innocent and trusting - no idea what was about to happen to him. And everyone was crying. And the music was heartwrenching. And it was so real. I cried like a baby AND it made me angry as shit about the death penalty. So there you go. TV is good for something. Though I'm grateful that I grew up pretty much without it, as an adult I've learned to appreciate it. But it's likely I will raise my children similarly to the way my parents raised me when it comes to television. They're going to have to find other things to do with their time and tv will be on a serious ration, because no matter how good it is sometimes, it's not very productive.

Not Another Please

And then comes Hurricane Rita.

All the evacuating reminds me of that movie, the Day After Tomorrow. You wonder, where does everyone go? I would hate to be stuck in traffic in the south right now with everyone fleeing this next hurricane. It's a nightmare. I assume people drive north and shack up in hotels or with friends and family. What if you can't afford a hotel and don't have friends or family? Then I guess you just have to find another way, or face the storm.

Of course, this time, help will be standing by to save Texas.

I guess all they can do down there is keep their fingers crossed and hope for the best. No one wants this to turn into the next bodycount. I don't really know how much more we can take.

Meanwhile, much as everyone likes to bitch up a storm about Hollywood, I have been so impressed by how many in Hollywood have given the Hurricane Katrina tragedy so much energy and support. On Oprah's season premiere she publicly announced a donation of ten million dollars and the foundation of a program that allows people to buy home furnishings and necessities for victims of the tragedy, John Grisham donated five million dollars, and many, many others have donated their time and money in admirable numbers and with just as much heart.

My dad recently started a newspaper in Ashland, Oregon and is giving the proceeds of all advertising to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. My firm packed up 500 boxes of basic necessities to send to those in need, as well as collecting donations from employees. So many people I know are doing whatever they can to be part of a solution.

With the generosity that so many regular folks are showing, I am beginning to have real hope for a situation that seemed all but lost as soon as it began. I don't pray often, but I really am praying for the victims of Katrina, and however sad I am sometimes when I think about how stupid I think a lot of Americans are, I am also amazed at how just as many are decent people, desperate to do the right thing and to help others when the shit really hits the fan. This is a crazy country, but there's a lot of good to be said of our resiliance and (albeit selective) concern.

Birthday Wrapup

Five best things about coming home after work:

1. Beer
2. ...Um, okay, I couldn't even think of a second thing. That is so sad.

Please standby while I shamelessly complain for a moment. I'm tired and my neck hurts and the only thing that's making me feel better is the fact that I have a Corona in a yellow Penzoil cozey. It's kind of like that Sublime song 40 oz. to freedom, where he sings the line "a forty ounce to freedom is the only chance I have to feel good even though I feel bad..." Except that I think if it was actually a 40 oz. that I was drinking, I might be a little concerned about myself. I wrote a long dissertation today to my lawyer who is handling my car accident, and for some reason, it made the injury in my neck act up. Hilarious, right? I also had to fill out a questionnaire for my lawyer who is handling my divorce from the man I impetuously married seven years ago. I used to just work for lawyers, now I'm putting them to work for me. But it's making my ass (and neck!) tired, filling out all the paperwork. But that is undoubtedly, "what I get" for procrastinating.

I've had a highly stimulating, activity packed week since my birthday. On the big day I received 18 long-stemmed, multi-colored roses from Darcie, delivered right to my desk. She is THE BEST. She knows that every girl wants to get flowers at work on her birthday and she came through like a true friend. Totally awesome. They were beautiful and I've cherished them since then. I think it's ironic, since I bought her lingerie for her birthday. Apparently, we give eachother the things that our boyfriends should be getting us, but don't. Haha. Not that they're all bad. Rob did very well for me on my birthday. He bought me a mini-Ipod before my birthday and on the 15th, after picking me up in the city after work, he presented me with a little box, adorned with a cute little red bow. I opened it excitedly...STOPPIT! It was not an engagement ring. God you people are so obsessed with marriage. ;o) No, it was an absolutely stunning pair of silver heart shaped hoop earrings that could not have been more perfectly suited to me. He claims to have seen them months ago and thought of me, and he finally went back and picked them up. I don't ever want to take them off. So after the earrings he took me on a lovely walk down to the water at 80th Street on the westside, where there was a restaurant/bar that had waterfront seating. It was too perfect. I'm obsessed with marinas, or anyplace where there are boats, so this was an ideal place to enjoy the twilight. We had a beer and a smoke there and chatted awhile before heading up 80th St to Columbus Ave., where he took me to a Cuban restaurant called Calle Ocho. The food and the restaurant and the service were all beautiful and we enjoyed every bite, every sip and every gaze at eachother and our surroundings. All in all it was a perfect evening for which I am so grateful. Rob has taken me on some amazing dates in the four years that we've dated, and this was another great night. Of course, I've left out the part where we had a knock-down-drag-out argument on the phone earlier that afternoon about where he was going to pick me up. But who really wants to hear about that? It was all in the past while we basked in eachother's attentions, wrapped in the warm glow of Calle Ocho.

The next night, Friday the 16th, I met up with Kathleen and Kimberly and Rob at the Sugar Lounge here in Brooklyn. Kimberly presented me with a gift that I've been wanting for a long time: doorway beads. Yes, those hippy dippy strands of beads that hang from the doorways of kitchens and bathrooms in the homes of bohemians. I've been wanting them forever. And Kimberly gave them to me. They are bamboo and I love them, but they smell funny. Kathleen gave me three cds that I've been wanting forever since I lost the last copies I had: Bootsy Collins, "Back in the Day"; Ween, "Chocolate and Cheese"; and - get ready - The Phantom of the Opera box set. Can you say, "Fuck YES!"??? I listened to them in succession twice in a row the following day.

So after Sugar Lounge, we went to Melody Lanes to bowl. And bowl we did. Bowling is always a blast. We don't do it often enough, but Rob is damn near pro, Kimberly has the most enviable stance ever, my friend Anya can rack up some serious strikes...the list goes on. It was a good group of about 12 people bowling, so we had a complete blast. A couple of other friends showed up later to cheer us on with drinks in hand. It was a great birthday celebration. Kathleen even made cupcakes. What a girl.

On Saturday I listened to music and read articles in New York magazine and...I don't know, but it was nothing important. I made a kickass pasta with shrimp and some crazy homemade garlic, lemon, tomato sauce. Then Rob and I got in the car and drove to Newark, New Jersey where we checked into a hotel. Ooh-la-la. Well, actually, he had a trade show to attend and I was just along for the room service and king sized bed. So we spent Saturday and Sunday night in Newark. Sunday night we ate at the hotel's steakhouse, which actually turned out to be great, and then we walked down the street to another hotel where we drank martinis and shot four games of pool before going back to our own hotel for some rest. I worked at the trade show with him on Monday. I'm telling you...a shoe tradeshow is the place for me! I love shoes. But none were as awesome as the ones that we were showing.

So that was my three-day weekend, plus my two days of birthday celebrating, boiling down to about five days of unadulterated self-love. I went back to work today feeling satisfied that my birthday had been sufficiently dragged out over several days. At about 4:15 p.m. an email came from my friend Michele down the hall that there was yummy leftover food in the conference room for a meeting. It's sad that I'm so predictable, but I got out of my seat and said to Anya, "there's food in the conference room. Let's go." (Yes, being an administrative assistant is a vibrant and fulfilling career, and it also comes with cookies! And sometimes even a decent sandwich. Thank god for a highspeed metabolism or else I'd be a real fatass at this job. There are ten conference rooms on my floor, so there's always food. It's ridiculous.) ANYWAY, back to the point. So we got to the conference room, and when Anya opened the door...surprise! Those fuckers. Half the litigation department was sitting in there pretending that they cared it was my birthday so that they could all have cake. It's okay. I'd do the same. We're all shameless pigs. My bosses had purchased a couple dozen cupcakes from Buttercup Bakery. YUMMMY. How could I have fallen for that damn trick? I've done the same thing to Anya on her birthday and I fell for it! Oh well. The cupcakes were worth it and all the nice hugs and kisses and the card signed by my co-workers were pretty nice too. Thus, the birthday celebration continued for fifteen more minutes while we all stuffed heavily frosted cupcakes in our mouths. I've always been against the office birthday party. I've felt that the occurrence of office birthday celebrations is unfair, because not everyone has one thrown for them and maybe it could cause others to feel scorned. I've felt that if I throw a birthday party for one boss, I should throw one for another. After all, I work for three lawyers. Should I throw a party for each of them? Apparently, the answer is yes. This year I threw one of my bosses a birthday party. Bought him a big strawberry shortcake. I didn't surprise him, because I didn't think he'd really appreciate it. He was too busy, so I had him pencil in his birthday party to take place during a ten minute break between conference calls. He seemed to appreciate that as much as the cake itself.

So I guess what went around came around. They threw a party for me. With cupcakes. And other administrative assistants and lawyers who either really like me, or really like cupcakes. Either way, it's cool. I guess office birthday parties aren't so bad when they're happening to you.

Now I promise I won't talk about my birthday again for a whole year. But it sure was fun being princess for a few days.

I'll Be the First to Wish Myself...

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Today I turn 27 years old. I have well surpassed the halfway-to-fifty mark and I've never felt better or more ready to evolve further in my life's endeavors. I am really excited about this next year of my life. I plan to get a lot done and make giant leaps towards the future that I dream of having. That's not to discount the present. The present is excellent. And growing and taking on challenges is even better.

Speaking of evolution, I've been watching Jon Stewart's "Evolution Schmevolution Special Report" all week and I have to say that THAT is some quality television. I've been a fan of Jon Stewart since he hosted Talk Soup, but today he is one of the few people on television who is unafraid to point out the lies, contradictions, fumbling, bumbling, hypocritical, painfully ironic... crrrrap that goes on in today's world affairs, in the media, and always, from politicians. I think I can honestly say that show has been one of the greatest comforts to me over the past couple of years. When I'm feeling serious and bent out of shape about everything that's happened since Bush took office, and I'm brooding, taking a break to watch Jon Stewart can make all the difference. He puts the sass back in my step and makes me laugh about things that otherwise make me angry. You can watch clips from the latest shows here. Trust me, it's worth your time, and if nothing else, you will most likely laugh your ass off. Unless you have no sense of humor, and then, well, you're shit out of luck.

So...Evolution Schmevolution...

I don't have any problem with "intelligent design" being taught and explored in classrooms and I think it's very important that children learn enough about an array of different religions as they're growing up that they don't discriminate against others for their spiritual leanings. You have to be educated about religion if you ever plan to have a conversation about it or choose to be a part of one. (Though I guess if you get educated about religion, it's likely you'll end up not wanting to be a part of one...) I grew up in a very religious Buddhist home, but my parents weren't the least bit concerned if I went to a Kingdom Hall meeting with the Jehovah's Witnesses across the street (I can't say they were as open about our religion). I've attended religious Jewish celebrations. My mom even encouraged me to read the bible when I was home schooling because she thought it would interest and educate me. I've gone to mass with my catholic relatives in Arizona and Mexico. (I loved mass in Mexico, but I do have to admit that it was all about the tacos and the churros afterwards.) I have definitely been exposed to enough Christianity to have a grasp on the concepts behind it. I even went to a couple Amway meetings when I was younger. That's a religion, right? Or a cult...?

The thing I have a problem with is introducing intelligent design into a scientific setting, and the teaching of only one theory: Christianity. Which - and let's not fool ourselves here with politically correct phrases like "intelligent design" - is the goal that is being sought. The fact is, I'm sure many schools in really rural areas are already teaching the God-as-Creator theory, because it's not even questioned. These people laugh at the theory of evolution and call it lies. Nothing is ever going to change their minds. Obviously, no one is going to be able to force those communities to stop teaching creationism as a substitute for science. They simply won't have it. All we can do is try to stop it from spreading to other schools where it's not currently being taught "alongside" or, as some would prefer it, instead of science.

I'm all for introducing religious courses in schools, but not at the level where it is replacing science. Unfortunately, religious theories and sensibilities are almost totally incompatible with science in the first place, which is why they should be kept two COMPLETELY different subjects, explored in different contexts. Trying to put the two together is like puttin socks on roosters feet.

I for one, am seriously considering a conversion to this religion, since none of the others out there make a whole lot more sense when it comes to the theory of creation. Maybe my 27th year will be the one where I am finally touched by his noodly appendage. I sure hope so.

AM Entertainment

I am reposting some brilliant comments that appeared in my recent posts this morning. I deleted them from the posts due to their irrelevance and lack of intelligable meaning, but I had to share them for their entertainment value. Nothing makes me laugh harder than someone who has an IQ of 12 trying to fling insults:

IP Address: 216.147.149.68
Name: Charles
Email Address: rebeachbum@yahoo.com
URL:

posted on entry "Afternoon in the Garden of Good & Evil" Comments:

Bleeding Heart Lezbo, Stop being mad that Bush refuses to Allow Gay Marriages.

Posted on "Let the Good Times Roll" Comments:

I think you talking about being some Administration Law Firm female, Which really means You are a Paper Feture for some male and you feel oppressed by the Man. Also are you fending this place in your article because you worked there or you met your lezbian Girlfriend there and you know you will never have anything like it.

Honestly, I have no idea what any of that means because the spelling is so atrocious and the attempts at insult so out there. I have a tip for you Charles, if you're going to insult someone, you should try to poke fun at things about themselves that they might have trouble denying. In this insult you go from me working as an "Administration Law Firm female" to a stripper with a lesbian girlfriend. According to you, I have a really interesting and diverse lifestyle!

Here is my favorite little gem from "Charles":

(Posted to "Blatant Racism") Comments:

Racism and be a Lezbo do not go together, just because you work in an intelligent enviroment and you chase papers all day doesnt give you a degree to know it all. So relize that racism did play a factor, the Black Mayor who refused to sign papers and or fix those leveys because he wanted to worry about Welfare reform and stuff for the Black families, Its called 10 percent and Louisianna has that 10 percent of stupid black idiots who rely on it. So our Favorite Lezbo who is too stupid and probably only dated black guys since they like big bonned woman or just plain Chubby or fat like yourself. Wipe your chin and stop bitching about this article.

CLASSIC! That this guy has the nerve to call anyone stupid or an idiot is great for him. It means he has no idea that he has the same level of intelligence as a small box of rocks. It means he still has good self esteem. Good for you Charles! Also, the fact that he has the nerve to call a woman who weighs 125 lbs., fat, when god only knows he couldn't get a woman who looked like me even if he paid good money, is the funniest thing of all. There's nothing like being called a lesbian and big-boned by someone who doesn't even know how to spell any of the "insults" he throws out there. At least if you're going to tell someone off, try not to sound like a blazing ignoramus while you're doing it. Any one of those insults might have stung, if they hadn't been so random and badly articulated.

"just because you work in an intelligent enviroment and you chase papers all day doesnt give you a degree to know it all!" Nothing like having someone who is badly uneducated to insult you for working in an "intelligent environment" and having a good paying job, as if there is something about this scenario that I should be ashamed of.

So relize that racism did play a factor, the Black Mayor who refused to sign papers and or fix those leveys because he wanted to worry about Welfare reform and stuff for the Black families. Charles. I have a question for you, when you read that sentence back, does it make any sense to you? First of all, what papers? George Bush cut funding to fix the levees. It had nothing to do with Mayor Nagin not signing papers. I can see that you have a lot of trouble understanding politics and social issues, which is too bad because you could benefit from some social programs. Your head is obviously so far up your ass that your brain is not getting any oxygen and is incapable of forming a normal, intelligent thought. I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do.

And Charles, it's true what they say, once you go black (or in my case, black Brazilian) you really never do go back. Ciao!

No Words to Convey

I refrained from making a 9/11 post yesterday, as the worldwide web was facing no shortage of tributes and kind words on the fourth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. But it doesn't feel right not to mention it at all, especially as someone who witnessed the event firsthand.

Sandy put up a beautiful post that totally made me cry.

It is hard to describe the sadness that comes over this city on this day. I will never, ever forget the first anniversary after those attacks. I had to take the train across the Manhattan bridge where the skyline is visible and those buildings are gone, gone, gone. It was too much to bear. People were openly crying on the train. Breaking down in front of fellow passengers who would cry too, at the sight of someone else's tears. I was glad this year it fell on a Sunday.

Regardless of politics or beliefs regarding the cause of that catastrophe and the actions that have followed, it will forever stand as one of the most traumatic events I personally have ever experienced and I will never be able to look back on it without feeling an overwhelming sense of distress. As always, my heart goes out to those who were lost, and those who have been left behind to grieve.

Whether you're looking at the New York skyline itself in living color, or at photographs of this terrible event as it happened, it's okay to cry. In fact, I think it's healthy to shed tears in honor of those who died and everything that was lost.

Let the Good Times Roll

This article made me smile. After a morning of scouring the news and becoming more and more pissed off about things such as Halliburton, and other Friends of Bush, being awarded rebuilding contracts in New Orleans, it cheered me up considerably to come across this, mostly because there's nothing like a corpulant, tastelessly dressed, strip club entrepeneur to brush himself off and keep his eye on the ball.

New Orleans strip joint wants to get back to work

By Jason Webb

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - There's no water for the "wash the girl of your choice" service and there aren't any girls either, but Big Daddy's strip club on New Orleans' Bourbon Street is getting ready to bring back erotic spectacle to the devastated city.

Friday night on Bourbon Street, usually a throbbing artery of the party-going French Quarter, was pretty grim this time around in what has become a foul-smelling ghost town partly covered with a swamp of filthy water.

Police patrol cars and military Humvees made up most of the traffic on the street.

But Big Daddy's general manager, Saint Jones, and a band of helpers defied an evacuation order by arriving to clean up their premises in the historic French Quarter, which escaped largely unscathed from the floods.

Jones told Reuters he would open for business as soon as he could get electricity, water and dancers.

He was already had electricity from a generator, which was moving a pair of robotic woman's legs, in stockings and pink high heels, waving invitingly on the street by the sign for Big Daddy's.

He also had plenty of bottled water.

But his former employees had been evacuated, so his main problem was convincing girls to come to a town without services and supposedly off limits to most civilians.

But Jones, a corpulent man with a strawberry blond beard wearing a black t-shirt reading "I'm smiling because they haven't found the bodies yet," foresaw few problems getting strippers.

"It shouldn't be too hard. Everyone's going to come back in town and want to work. You know, if you've got 50 dancers in Houston and they're not making money, they're going to spread out," he said.

Judging from the number of military and police vehicles which stopped or slowed passing Big Daddy's, they'll have plenty of customers. It didn't seem to occur to the men in uniform to enforce the evacuation order in effect on the city -- they preferred to ask when the strippers would be back.

One army Humvee, carrying a team of Puerto Rican troops, stopped so that a soldier could pose with his M16 rifle by a life-size picture of a naked blonde while his buddy took a photo.

Jones gave them vodka on the rocks in plastic cups, which they enjoyed before hopping back in the Humvee.

Big Daddy's sign advertises several attractions, including "Bottomless. Topless. Table top dancing," and "Wash the girl of your choice."

This last item seemed to provide a business challenge in a city where the scant running water available in some districts is infected with feces and toxic loads of bacteria.

But Jones was undaunted.

"We'll make sure they get showers," he said.

Of course, Jones will fail in his ambition if he is compelled to evacuate.

One of his helpers, Vietnam veteran Terry Fredricks, who has temporarily moved into the strip joint because his home is flooded, said they would only leave if they were forced to go but they would go peacefully if it came to that.

Jones maintained his optimism. Asked about the identity of his potential customers, he replied, inaccurately as it happens, "probably you."

Don't need to do a Google Search to find that out

This is pretty damn funny. Stolen from Professor Leotus Clouse and the Duke of Sweet Cheeks.

How can it be? Oh, it just be.

Afternoon in the Garden of Good & Evil

Kathleen and I squeezed through the locked gates of this cemetery in New Orleans in early 2001. I have another photograph that I have to remember to scan. I keep it at my desk at work. It's of a broken angel atop one of these big tombs. Every time I look at it, it gives me a feeling of peace. Strangely, these photographs remind me of everything I loved about New Orleans. The beauty, the mystery and the adventure. Ironically, these tombs were built to withstand flood so that the bodies would never float to the surface. I wonder what condition they're in now.

Can you see why she is the [platonic] love of my life?

What's Done is Done

The story may have been told before, but that's not going to keep me from telling it again. About five years ago Darcie was living in New Orleans. I was living in Medford, Oregon and had a good job working for a criminal defense lawyer. I was 21 though, and I was a little tired of what was shaping up to be my life. I wanted something different, more exciting I guess. I contemplated moving to New Orleans. Judging from Darcie's emails, it sounded like a blast. We corresponded heavily and I yearned to move there. I had this fantasy of New Orleans - of this amazingly mysterious place that I'd only read about in Anne Rice and Zora Neal Hurston novels.

Then something really unexpected happened. I fell for this guy from New Jersey. He was a Chippendale Dancer passing through Oregon and the ironically driven hands of fate brought us together. I won't say how. I'll save it for my autobiography, but it was one of the more bizarre relationships in my dating career. He was nothing close to anything I'd ever even thought about, but before I knew it, he was asking me to move to New Jersey. Why did it sound appealing? No freaking idea. Looking back on it now, I think I must have been mildly insane. All my friends referred to him as "the Chipper." In Oregon I had my own apartment with a veranda and a swimming pool and a gym and nice laudry facilities. I had a good job and friends and my family nearby, and everything was beautiful. Why would I leave it all for some oiled up guido from New Jersey?

Then another unexpected thing happened. A friend of mine named Sue, a lawyer, and also my ex-roommate, told me she had a friend who was a partner at a firm in New York. She said that she could get me a job. And she did. Well, she got me on the phone and email with this lawyer, and before I knew it I was practically hired. He'd never even seen my face but he was sure enough that he said I should come to New York.

I packed up everything except the big furniture. Loaded it all up into my little white Toyota Echo and drove off with my mother who was brave enough to escort me, across the country, to New Jersey - a completely foreign place where I'd never set foot in my life - and went to live with a man that I had only spent a total of a few weeks with, in his apartment, which was fucking depressing. He turned out to have severe emotional issues and problems with pills and steroids. Not the best times. I can't say I didn't have a feeling that things weren't going to turn out peachy. Needless to say, I tired of his shit pretty quickly. My job was my only salvation. My days in midtown Manhattan, working with normal people, was my only escape from him. Every night when I got home it was another drama. Sometimes he was functional. Sometimes not. One night, when he was behaving particularly dysfunctionally (no details are really necessary, it was just never pretty when he flipped out), I packed all of my stuff back into my little white Echo, and I drove away in the dead of winter, in the wee hours of the morning to a hotel, where I stayed that night. The next day I bought a map and started driving towards New Orleans. I got there about three days later. I didn't rush. I enjoyed driving in the car by myself, through the snow of the NE and down into the temperate southern states that I'd never before seen, listening to the Ramones and Emenim and Dido and an incredible mix cd that Darcie had made me for Christmas. I was so thankful that I had enough money and lots of cds to listen to.

I called my boss in New York from Mississippi on Monday morning and told him I wasn't going to be in. Maybe not ever. I cried when I heard his voice because I felt so bad. I'd never left a job like that. Such an irresponsible act. But I didn't know what else to do at the time. The Chipper was out of his mind and I didn't feel safe. I had no friends, no family in New York. Only that fucking job. There was nothing else for me to do. By some incredible grace, my boss understood that. And he told me to come back any time and he would welcome me. That was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. One of. There have been so many others.

So I went and spent two months in New Orleans with Darcie. Living at the Cotton Mill apartments on Poeyfarre St (spelling? WTF?) and doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I took full advantage of the opportunity to have the time of my life. I worked a temp job at an insurance defense law firm and made enough money to live my partying lifestyle. We ate at great restaurants, got into VIP lounges, saw shows from the balcony at the House of Blues and threw beads off a balcony on Bourbon Street, went to fancy parties, strip clubs, jazz clubs, and enjoyed every minute during the day, staying at luxury hotels, wandering the french quarter, tipping the breakdancers and musicians, playing nickel slots at Harrahs, staying up until ten in the morning and sleeping until seven in the evening. Kathleen came to visit. My sister came to visit. I know you're dying to ask if I showed my tits. Everyone asks. No. I didn't. And neither did Darcie or Kathleen or my sister. We were all very composed ladies. Except for that one time when I mooned somebody...

We felt like veterans of New Orleans by the time Mardi Gras rolled around, we were already getting burned out on the party life we were living before Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras was almost an obligation at that point. I feel like we were able to see it from a different perspective than most visitors, just because we had so many friends there and little tiny roots already planted in the ground. I love New Orleans. I knew distinctly when it was time to leave there, but I've always dreamed of going back to visit. I ultimately ended up coming back to New York and have been here ever since. But New Orleans was still one of the most fun, educational, amazingly unique places I've ever been. It's sad to me that it had to change in this tragic manner. It was once the playground of so many dreams and whims and demented fantasies. Now it is broken. I pray that one day it resembles what it was. Certain parts of the history of New Orleans are irreplaceable, but at the same time those things are memorialized in the minds of all who had the chance to be a part of its former self.

This city will rise again.

From the Balcony on Bourbon Street

A view of downtown New Orleans

Me in the Yellow, Darcie in the Blue (Sorry! I know it's not the best angle!)

Kathleen's Funky Butt

Me on the right, Kathleen on the left

Kathleen looking radiant with her crown of beads

One of the things that affected me the most about New Orleans, besides what an endlessly captivating place it is, was how underprivileged it was. Darcie and I took a drive to the West Bank one day to rent a U-Haul and we saw things that, even in the ghettos of New York and Los Angeles, I had never seen - in terms of destitute conditions. Project buildings in New York are depressing. Project buildings in New Orleans were depressing and unbelievably desolate. I guess the difference is that in this city there's so much going on that no matter how bad things get, there is a socialization that takes place and an environment outside of the ghetto that encourages people to think about better options. On the West Bank it felt like there was no hope. It felt so far away from the ecstatic energy of downtown New Orleans. This was the land of the lost. It was obvious that the schools had no money at all. They were boarded up and the signs out front were misspelled and the projects looked like prisons.

Even during the Mardi Gras parades you could see the division in race and class as high school bands marched and performed, completely segregated. There is a huge divide. I've seen assholes on the internet all over the place, hating on the victims of Hurricane Katrina, using racial epithets and feeling justified to make blanket statements about the way that people have reacted to the disaster and about the social condition of many survivors. It angers me, how in denial people still are about racism and how unwilling to admit that we have a responsibility to these Americans who have received no restitution for the crimes their race has endured, especially in the south. It amazes me how ready some people are to judge and generalize based on certain negative incidents that should not in any way reflect on all of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, nor even the majority of them. The same ignorant Americans were ready to slander muslims for the actions of a few after 9/11, and today they slander the victims of Hurricane Katrina based on the shitty actions of a few. It's really dispicable. All of it. And being racist doesn't help. I never stop feeling shocked that there are people out there who are so openly racist and don't feel the least bit of contention about spreading it around.

Regardless of these haters, I will always think of New Orleans as a place that taught me so much, hosted me as if I belonged, and inhabiting a people and a spirit unlike any other. Yes, there has always been an air of sadness in the social conditions of blacks in the south, but there is also a rich culture that deserves love and respect.

Flog Them In The Streets

I have to give my thanks to those on the net who make it their duty to compile lists like these. Here are a few of my personal favorites:

"We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch." (Laughter) --George W. Bush, touring hurricane damage, Mobile, Ala., Sept. 2, 2005

Yeah, Trent Lott, the aspiring slave owner, he'll have a new house and Bush will be right there on the porch of that grand new house celebrating the resurrection of the rich and powerful! Who knows where the normal folks of the south will live, and who cares! Trent Lott will have a brand new house. Even better than the one before it. It must be nice to have that kind of financial confidence and security.

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." –President Bush, on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina

"It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level....It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed." –House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), August 31, 2005

"Considering the dire circumstances that we have in New Orleans, virtually a city that has been destroyed, things are going relatively well." —FEMA Director Michael Brown, Sept. 1, 2005

"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality...And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them." - Barbara Bush during a radio interview with the American Public Media program "Marketplace," September 6, 2005

Sort of scary, huh Babs? All those poor black people coming into Texas wanting help? This wasn't at all what you bargained for, huh? They had nothing to begin with and now they're in your state, wanting what you have to give? Does she think this was a golden opportunity for the people of New Orleans to improve their lives by moving to Texas? WTF? Maybe they planned the hurricane because they were looking for a better life at the freaking Astrodome? What the hell is this woman trying to say?

"I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water." –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, on NPR's "All Things Considered," Sept. 1, 2005

"We just learned of the convention center – we being the federal government – today." –FEMA Director Michael Brown, to ABC's Ted Koppel, Sept. 1, 2005, to which Koppel responded "Don't you guys watch television? Don't you guys listen to the radio? Our reporters have been reporting on it for more than just today."

"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." –President Bush, to FEMA director Michael Brown, while touring Hurricane-ravaged Mississippi, Sept. 2, 2005

"Well, I think if you look at what actually happened, I remember on Tuesday morning picking up newspapers and I saw headlines, 'New Orleans Dodged the Bullet.' Because if you recall, the storm moved to the east and then continued on and appeared to pass with considerable damage but nothing worse." –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, blaming media coverage for his failings, "Meet the Press," Sept. 4, 2005

"...those who are stranded, who chose not to evacuate, who chose not to leave the city..." –FEMA Director Michael Brown, on New Orleans residents who could not evacuate because they were too poor and lacked the means to leave, CNN interview, Sept. 1, 2005

"I mean, you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving.” –Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Sept. 6, 2005

Right you are, Rick Santorum and "Brownie." Those poor people should have just donned their fucking wings and flown out of New Orleans. In fact, we should punish people who were incapable of escaping one of the most catastrophic events imagineable for being stupid and wanting to die. Apparently, head-in-ass-syndrome is an epidemic.

"It's totally wiped out. ... It's devastating, it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground." –President George W. Bush, turning to his aides while surveying Hurricane Katrina flood damage from Air Force One, Aug. 31, 2005

How 'bout you go down and check it out, you damn coward? Oprah has done more than George Bush has. Did Bush venture inside the Superdome to see the remnants of the catastrophe that took place there during the days that thousands were left for dead? No. He didn't. But Oprah did. Oprah for President.

"I believe the town where I used to come – from Houston, Texas, to enjoy myself, occasionally too much – will be that very same town, that it will be a better place to come to." –President George W. Bush, on the tarmac at the New Orleans airport, Sept. 2, 2005

Oh yes. It will be the very same town, Bush. No historical relics or landmarks destroyed. In his world, everything is replaceable. He's not really interested in history anyway, otherwise he might consult with it now and again when trying to prevent making idiotic mistakes. As for the "good times" Bush had in New Orleans and mentioned in the above quote, could he possibly have had less decorum in making this statement? I saw the clip last night on Jon Stewart and I was astounded at how crude and tacky the comment came off. Jon Stewart did his hysterical Bush mockery. The evil head bobbing, shoulder scrunching, "heh, heh, heh" that he does after he shows a clip of Bush being a smug asshole. Yep, had a reeeeeal good time in Nawlins. Too good of a time! Heh, heh, heh. Remember them days when I was a drug abusing, alcoholic? Those were good times.

If you've ever been to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, it's easy to picture Bush there as a young man acting a fool out on the town. Not a care in the world. Checkin out the tits and reveling in the madness. If someone would have told him then that he would one day be invading other countries, murdering innocent people, and ignoring the pleas of Americans for help in a time of unfathomable tragedy, he probably would have just laughed that smug laugh, thrown back another shot of Jim Beam, sniffed a little blow and said "maybe so, maybe so. Sounds like a good time. Do I get to take vacation?"

Excuses From the Government: Priceless

This transcript of a "Defense Department Operational Update," with regard to Hurricane Katrina, is a blast.

Between Secretary Rumsfeld and General Meyers, I don't know who sounds like more of a liar/asshole. Some highlights? But of course.

One thing Rumsfeld had to say that was useful was this:

In this disaster and a disaster of this magnitude, the would-be first responders at the state and local level were themselves victims in very large numbers. They were, their families were, their homes were victims of this storm. Since the federal system -- the way it's arranged under our constitution provides that the state and local officials are the first responders, and you have a disaster of this magnitude that creates a situation where the first responders are in large measure incapable of functioning given the seriousness of it, we had a situation that was distinctly different than in past events of this type.

This is why it was the President's responsibility to step in immediately and make things happen. And why didn't he? Why did it take so long to get a response?

According to an article in the Washington Post today ("National Guard Delay Likely to Be Examined"):

Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard on Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.

I know, I know, now is not the time to criticize, it is the time to help. Indeed, it is time to help. But it is also high time that Bush is held responsible for his actions and that of his administration. And not in the way that Bush decides, as in, Bush heads up an investigation which amounts to nothing solved and no one is held accountable for the lapse in responding to Hurricane Katrina. Much like his investigation into 9/11. How convenient. In the land of Bush, no one ever has to be responsible for anything, nor honestly answer questions with regard to their actions, or as in this case, inactions. If I didn't know better, I would think Bush and his people wanted the residents of New Orleans to die. (Seems almost as if Babs Bush thought that would have been a better fate than their former lives anyway: "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.". Yes, I'm sure homelessness, the loss of loved ones and being crammed in with thousands of other storm victims really agrees with them, Babs.)

Anyway, back to Rummy:

Americans have endured other times of great tragedy, and San Francisco and Chicago and other great cities have faced destruction from fire, from earthquakes and natural disasters. Those cities survived and thrived in eras when this country was not nearly as wealthy and capable as we are today.

And after those events, how long did it take to collect the dead? Were the bodies left in the streets for days to rot? Were people left without assistance? Were the states that housed those cities incapable of providing help to people who were desperate, sick, living a nightmare, teetering on the brink of death? I don't know of a time when people in America have been left so stranded or in such dire straits. Perhaps there have been times, but I don't know of them. How capable are we really, Rummy, if people are left to fight and die on their own in a time of great need? What is the point of being an American, if your country will not be there to aid you when the world is falling down because your leaders are too busy attending to their own devious affairs?

General Meyers pipes in to tell us:

It's important to understand that state, local and federal assets, including those of the Department of Defense, from across the country were preparing and mobilizing to respond even before the full gravity of the effects of the storm became known.

So where were they when the storm hit and the levees broke? The transcript only gets better:

Q: And Mr. Chairman, you say that planning was already going on when the storm was on its way. I guess I want to ask, even without an investigation now, why was the federal military response relatively slow in terms of days, when thousands of lives might have been saved in New Orleans, people who we suspect have been drowned? Why did it take days to begin moving thousands of Guard troops into the area?

SEC. RUMSFELD: It didn't. The -- as the storm was approaching, the Department of Defense met and discussed the importance of anticipating things that the department could be asked and being prepared to assist the people who do have the responsibility, federal and state and local, and arranging things, actually pre-positioning things before they ever hit.

Did you hear that folks? IT DIDN'T. Has Rumsfeld no shame about making bald faced lies? I can't even tell you how tired I am of all his lies. I've lost count of all of them now. If we put together all the lies and evasions that this administration has told over the past five years, from Bush to Condoleeza, to Dick Cheney to Karl Rove, to our most outrageous whitehouse mouthpiece, McLellan, we would drown like the people of the south, in a sea of counter-truths and excuses.

Q: You want to --

The headline, of course, in most of the country's papers on Tuesday were "New Orleans dodged a bullet," or words to that effect. At that time, when those words were in our minds, we started working issues before we were asked. And on Tuesday, at the direction of the secretary and the deputy secretary, we went to each of the services. I called each of the chiefs of the services, one by one, and said we don't know what we're going to be asked for yet. The levees and the flood walls had just broken. And we know some of what's going to be asked, because we'd already had some requests for assistance, but there's probably going to be more. And so as you, a service, think of capability that might be needed, you work with Northern Command, Admiral Tim Keating, and you push it forward. And we used what we call “VOCO” or vocal approval of orders. And then we'll sort it out later. If NORTHCOM says that's a good capability to push forward, then we'll push that forward. And we started that before the magnitude of this tragedy was even understood by anybody at any level. And so that movement was moving -- working.

HUH? That movement was moving -- working. WHEN? He keeps saying that, but the events speak for themselves. New Orleans was pleading for help and they weren't getting any.

Q: So you're saying there was no delay --

GEN. MYERS: I think we responded as -- not only was there no delay, I think we anticipated, in most cases, not in all cases, but in most cases, the support that was required, and we were pushing support before we were formally asked for it. And some -- some -- most was needed; some perhaps was not. We're sorting that out right now. We may have more assets, for instance, afloat than we actually require right now, although we require a lot of that afloat capability.

Is this guy's cranium lodged in his rectum? If they don't feel that anything went wrong with the response this time, what are our chances when it happens again or something else equally destructive? How can we trust that the response would be adequate if something twice or three times the scale of Hurricane Katrina occurred? As Jon Stewart said on his program last night, "we're *bleeped*."

Q: Mr. Secretary, one of the strains of thought and complaints we've been hearing in the last few days is that people are wondering, if this was a WMD attack, would the response be both perceived as slow as a lot of the public thinks it was, and in some cases actually as slow? Is that a valid concern right now that you need to allay the public's concern on or review on your own?

But I think your question's a fair one. The Department of Defense -- just as the Department of Defense does not have lead responsibility with respect to natural disasters, so too, we do not have lead responsibility with respect to attacks within the United States from within the United States, and that would characterize what you posed as a question. And I'm sure that the government will be addressing that question in a serious way, as we all should.

At this point, the man has just lost his mind. Did him and Bush both get bitten by some kind of rambling idiot bug? ANSWER THE QUESTION ya fuck!

Q: Mr. Secretary, I -- and General Myers, I want to ask about one narrow aspect of the response. Late last week we began to see helicopters dropping food and supplies to people on the ground that were in areas that were hard to get to. A lot of people are wondering, including some of the victims who are on the ground and in very desperate situations on -- particularly on Tuesday and Wednesday, why we didn't see those sort of helicopter air drops, for instance, to the Louisiana Superdome, where thousands of people were without food and people were dying in front of other people's eyes, and in remote areas of the Mississippi coast, where people were expecting to see the military deliver aid and didn't see it for a couple of days. And my question is, is that -- is that expectation, was that expectation unrealistic? Why couldn't helicopters have delivered some essential aid to those kinds of places on Tuesday and Wednesday instead of Thursday and Friday?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Right. But -- but what we're seeing in large measure is New Orleans. And there, as General Myers said, today something like 355 military helicopters are operating there -- many, many multiples of anything anyone could have imagined. And they're all -- it came up from having evacuated and then bringing them up.

Right. But. Shuddup. You're not making any sense and you're not answering the questions and you're so out of touch with reality that I could just claw my own hair out. Reporters have been out there in the remote areas since long before the president "interrupted his vacation" to fly over the disaster from a safe distance in Airforce One on his way to Washington, and the reporters have been there ever since, while Bush could only be bothered to swoop in to a convenient location a couple days later for his obligatory (and shamelessly contrived) photo-op.

Q: So when people were at the Louisiana Superdome on Wednesday at the most desperate point before the -- substantial aid got there and they were crying out for aid, was that a -- was it unrealistic? There was no way to get helicopters to drop food in? Maybe General Myers could address this. The reason I'm asking is because the public is asking, because the people who were affected are asking this question.

Q: There were no helicopter drops --

If saving lives had been a little more of a priority, perhaps there would have been saving for those thousands stuck in the Superdome for days on end while violence and death, sickness, hunger and thirst all ruled.

GEN. MYERS: The first -- the first priority was to save lives. So the helicopters they had were out trying to save lives from people that were in the flood waters, to save lives.

SEC. RUMSFELD: I don't do housekeeping.

Well that's just a cryin shame ain't it? And how is that story supposed to be heartwarming General Meyers? It just makes me want to cry that that man has to go off to war while his wife stays and struggles with the loss they've faced. That story is fucking sick!

Q: Well, I understand that, but -- (laughter) -- everybody keeps talking about how the U.S. military -- how the Pentagon had anticipated the disaster. Is it possible to get a detailed timeline of when assets were moved, when decisions were made, because we keep hearing that the military was ready, but quite frankly, the pictures, the images and the stories out of New Orleans fight that. It's hard for us to get – to wrap our minds around that concept when it took so long to see the results of the U.S. military efforts. Is it possible to get a detailed timeline of when things were moved, when they were available, and when decisions were made to deploy them?

SEC. RUMSFELD: -- the lessons learned -- just a minute. Just a minute. The lessons learned project, which will take some time, clearly will recapture everything that can be recaptured of that type. And we'll know an awful lot more then. And we've got a good group of people working on it -- folks, as a matter of fact, who have done it several times, so they'll be good.

Haven't we learned yet that it's no good to assign the job of finding out what went wrong and how never to do it again, and to hold people accountable for their errors, to those who committed those errors in the first place?

Take Heed

I linked this article, from the International Herald Tribune, below, but I felt the need to quote it at length, as it is extremely relevant, and you never know when you're going to lose a link.

"Bush takes heat on global warming," by Elisabeth Rosenthal:

As politicians and commentators around the world took in pictures of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, many seized the opportunity to blame the fierce storm, at least in part, on the Bush administration's environmental policy.

The United States is one of the few nations that have not signed the Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to limit global warming by reducing the levels of industrial emissions that most scientists now believe promote climate change.

"Katrina Should Be a Lesson to the U.S. on Global Warming," read a headline on the Web site of the German magazine Der Spiegel.

"The Bush government rejects international climate protection goals by insisting that imposing them would negatively impact the American economy," wrote Jürgen Tritten, Germany's environment minister and a Green Party member.

"The American president is closing his eyes to the economic and human costs his land and the world economy are suffering under natural catastrophes like Katrina," Tritten charged.

In fact, while it is impossible to link Katrina specifically to warming, scientists said, most now concur that global warming does tend to increase the intensity of hurricanes, if not their frequency.

"There is new research that shows there may well be an increase in the destructive power of hurricanes because of global warming," said Wayne Elliott, a meteorologist with the British weather service

But the experts add that it is scientifically unfair to blame any one hurricane on the warming trend.

"We would expect hurricanes on average should be getting more intense because of global warming, but it's hard to make the connection in any one event, like Katrina," said Jay Gulledge, senior research fellow at the Pew Institute for Climate Change.

The United States has experienced Category 5 hurricanes like Katrina before the warming of the last decades, he pointed out. Also, hurricanes tend to wax and wane in 30-year cycles and that trend is now on the upswing.

But the connection between global warming and Katrina was made prominently in many media outlets in European countries, all of which have signed the Kyoto accord and in which Bush administration environmental policies are widely unpopular.

In Italy, the Lega Ambiente, a powerful national environment lobby, called Katrina "a dramatic event on par with Sept. 11," referring to the terrorist attacks of 2001, and demanded change from the U.S. government.

"It is time that President Bush undertakes a radical review of the proper position on climate change and the consequences of the energy policy of the United States," said Roberto Della Seta, the group's national president.

An editorial in the left-wing newspaper l'Unita, titled "Bush Between Kyoto and Katrina," mockingly labeled Katrina a "natural" disaster. "The Bush administration will continue to deny the existence of global warming or that it is caused in the first place by the reducible fuel consumption of the 'American Way of Life,"' the paper said.

The strength of a hurricane is connected to sea surface temperature, which is slowly rising with global temperatures. In the last century, global temperatures have risen more than .7 degrees centigrade and sea temperatures about .6 degrees and the pace of change is accelerating, according to the European Environment Agency.

In fact, scientists had predicted a rough hurricane season because sea surface temperatures were so hot at the beginning of the summer, Elliott said. Hurricanes need a sea surface temperature of at least 27 degree centigrade, or 80 degrees Fahrenheit, to start. The surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico, where Hurricane Katrina gained much of its force, was 31 degrees.

Global warming has also led to a sea level rise, which exacerbates flooding like that in New Orleans, he added.

In parts of the world where U.S. environmental policy is regarded as morally irresponsible, the possibility of a connection was the talk of the day.

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, a frequent critic of the Bush administration, wagged a finger: Noting that the United States had not signed the Kyoto treaty, he said that global warming was behind the ferocity of recent hurricanes, according to The Associated Press in Caracas, and blamed "capitalist consumerism" that he said was championed by Americans.

We Want to Live

This is a terrible way to die. I'm trying to picture if New York were submerged in water. It could happen. We're an island surrounded by water on all sides. I feel thankful that we don't see many hurricanes or earthquakes.

I lived in Los Angeles for ten years and through several earthquakes. I also witnessed the WTC burning on 9/11 from the shores of Hackensack.

We all speak of dying so casually, always forgetting what it means to be gone forever from the world of the living. Thinking of it as a way to expres how bored you are or irritated or elated. How you could just DIE. I say it at least once every day. I wonder if there is a way to find out if every person thinks of or mentions dying at least once every single day of their lives. It seems just to be an inherent part of our consciousness, to have a constant awareness of death on one level or another. I feel like I do. I wonder if it's just me or if everyone feels it. But for some reason when we say the words "I could just die," we don't connect that to our inherent awareness and fear of death. It's just something we say. Does anyone really want to get in touch with the reality of it? I don't know about you, but I'm still not comfortable with the whole idea and I've encountered death more times than I'd like to have in my short life. While I realize that fear is mostly unproductive, I carry a lot of it with me.

Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Asia, the World Trade Center disaster, the Iraqi war, genocide all over the globe - it all makes me feel so fucking unbelievably grateful that none of these events have met with my physical self. Is there an un-shitty way to say that you're glad to be alive while others are dying and suffering? I only sincerely thought I was going to die once in my life; when I was in a bad car accident. Thankfully, I've yet to be taken from this earth. Knock on wood.

I came home from work early today to start my holiday weekend. First thing I cracked open a beer, grabbed my smokes and my journal and went out on the front step to enjoy the open air while writing down my thoughts on everything that is happening right now. My block felt peaceful, as it usually does (unless the Greeks next door are going to battle). Maybe because it is still afternoon and everyone isn't home from work yet, it seemed even more tranquil than usual. The sun was shining mildly and a breeze was blowing and a woman walked by with her stroller looking content and I was there, jotting down the flow of consciousness, and I thought how blessed it was to sit there, on dry land, enjoying a beer and contemplating the suffering of others from this ridiculously comfortable vantage point. I felt guilt. Guilty for being able to sit on my dry step and relax, while people just down the road are grieving on a level that I cannot even begin to identify with.

All you can do is see it through the photographs and the television. You can't even start to imagine being there unless you are there, in which case... the sadness is overwhelming. It's a travesty how long it has taken to get aid to these people. Remorse and sympathy washes over everything as the world begins to understand what has actually taken place. It was the hurricane from hell. The hurricane that took out a beloved coastline and thousands upon thousands of homes and lives, and broke the damn levee that should have been fixed.

Natural disasters are going to be the end of us, if we don't start paying attention to the environment now and stop paying energy, oil and defense contractors to destroy the earth.

The Man

The Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, deserves a round of applause for his comments on WWL radio with regard to the lack of action on the part of the president and the federal government to aid in this hellish disaster. While the feds drag ass in mobilizing to provide relief and security, New Orleans drowns. New Orleans is lucky to have someone like Ray Nagin, who is willing to blast the government and hold them accountable for the lack of aid.

Travesty

This Hurricane Katrina situation is nothing short of a total nightmare.

Do all you Bush supporting republicans out there feel satisfied that we've spent so much money and spread our troops so thin supposedly avenging the deaths of 3,000 people who died here in New York? Is it all worth it? Was it worth it to view "terrorism" as the number one threat to civilization while totally ignoring the prospect of a devastating natural disaster?

War is so fucking pointless.

They say we're "fighting for freedom," "fighting for peace," "fighting for justice..." it's all such a load of crap. Less wars mean less people die. Natural disasters worry me more than terrorism. Global warming and loss of oxygen in the atmosphere worry me more than terrorism. The depletion of the ozone layer, the mercury in our water, the carbon monoxide in our air, the rape of precious natural habitats and resources, negligence towards the poor and disenfranchised, corporate and government corruption, religious fundamentalism in politics, AIDS, cancer, car accidents, violence towards women and children, and HURRICANES THAT WIPE OUT ENTIRE COASTLINES and thousands of human beings...all worry me more than terrorism.

While all our resources are tied up in Iraq, the people of Louisiana struggle to survive, or alternatively, fail to survive altogether.

Michael Moore brilliantly addresses the president:

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com

Darcie called me because she needed to talk about what's going on. We lived in New Orleans a couple years ago. My stay was brief, only a couple months, but she was there for about six months before that. We both developed a deep attachment to Louisiana. It's sad to think that the streets we so freely explored a couple years ago are now flooded, racked with chaos, hunger, loss, desperation, death. I am worried about the dead bodies, the disease, the hunger, about the lack of adequate aid, and finally, about the racism that is ensuing in the media. While white folks "find" food and water, black people "loot" food and water. What the hell would you do? Motherfucker, if I was out there, I would steal food, water and blankets too!!!! I wouldn't think twice about it. We are human beings and we are going to fight to survive. It makes me sick that people are so preoccupied with the crime of looting when the damage to lives and homes and civilization is so profound. Violence needs to be prevented and people need to be rescued, but if shit is getting stolen from retail establishments, I think that pretty much comes with the territory and the media could give it a rest and focus on what really matters, which is helping those who are injured and desperate, and burying those who are dead.

I have been through the projects and outskirts of New Orleans. It's not pretty on a regular day. I can only imagine the suffering that people are facing in Louisiana right now, let alone those who had nothing to begin with.

And may I say that our president, who has presided over and been responsible on one level or another for some of the worst news of my lifetime, has really failed this time around as far as responding quickly. Total fucking schmuck.