Do I really need to say how happy I am about the cunt-bag-motherfucker DeLay indictment?
Do I?
29 September 2005 at 8:46 pm | No Comments » 
the daily things
Archive for September, 2005
And updated. I think this is likely the final draft. I was asked to "throw the word count out" and expand my arguement a little bit for the article.
Huzzah.
———–
Hurricane Katrina ultimately was a set-back to the United States' standing as a world superpower– we've made clear that we lack the skill and resources to police and control our own land, much less hold sway over another country. However, I truly believe the only way to effectively combat the bullying tactics of our current administration is a unified effort from the rest of the world to show us we aren't the boss any longer. If nothing else, Katrina has displayed our weakness; we're far too disorganized to be left on our own and the only way our country will progress and ascend out of this rut is with outside intervention.
What does this mean for us internationally? Well, as always, the loss of human life to any cause is unjustifiable and cause for concern and support. But in what was our first real chance to demonstrate all that had been learned since September 11th, 2001, the consensus is resoundingly clear: America, we failed.
It was an opportunity to test in a real-time setting all the lessons we'd learned from disaster preparedness, all the scenarios we'd developed for evacuation and relief, all the billions upon billions we'd invested as taxpayers into homeland security and infrastructure. Yet, when several thousand people were essentially trapped in the Superdome– one of only two specifically designated shelters for those who were unable to evacuate the city– the federal government continued to claim all was stellar with relief efforts. This was stated despite reports that conditions were unbearable as the storm had torn the roof of the stadium off and rain was literally inside the building. When CNN and local news teams were reporting that survivors were stranded at the Convention Center– the city's second shelter– without food, water or supplies as they waited to be rescued, FEMA and the federal government offered the outrageous explanation that they didn't know about the people gathered until they saw it on the news. What can it possibly mean if the government can't even capably run and equip the structures they call shelters?
Hurricane Katrina showed us that they really aren't prepared for anything.
As an American, I am disgusted knowing that our government can marshal up a thousand troops on a moment's notice to fight a war over half of the country disapproves of, but can provide no support to rescue the doctors and patients trapped inside a hospital while floodwaters rise and looters wait outside. President Bush's focus on terrorism and Iraq has meant that other projects are delegated to the side. Money that should have been used to strengthen the levee system that protects the below-sea-level city from flooding– a viable target for terrorism in and of itself– was spent on programs that left the city ill equipped for a storm of this magnitude. And the result of this lax attitude is laid out on display.
As someone who grew up in New Orleans, I am devastated knowing that my parents are now refugees as they struggle to figure out what to do about their home and jobs. I am worried for my siblings who will have to go to school indefinitely in another state because the one they used to attend was demolished.
I am still psychologically ill-equipped to comprehend the immediate destruction of my birthplace overnight; despite the photographs I've seen on news feeds, despite the satellite images, despite first-hand reports from friends and family, it hasn't sunk in yet, weeks after the hurricane made landfall.
Out of this tragedy, details are emerging that paint all levels of our federal government in a negative light. Beginning with the resignation of the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States (FEMA), Michael Brown, and President Bush's extremely belated admission of responsibility, our current administration is acting more fearful than I've ever seen.
What Katrina showed was the Bush administration's plans for American welfare have amounted to nothing. FEMA was crippled as an effective disaster-management agency when it was absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 and, as such, its focus ironically became less on domestic disasters and more on foreign terrorism. Former President Clinton drastically restructured and organized FEMA during his term. While he was in office the department responded to more disaster areas and provided more financial relief than for any other president, and when he left office in 2000 our country still managed to enjoy the first budget surplus in years. He appointed a qualified, capable person to head the organization who had decades of disaster management. Bush, following the pattern of nearly all of his other appointees, hired a friend of his whose only experience was training Arabian horses.
Harsh criticism has been raised whether too much emphasis was placed on FEMA's responsiveness to terrorist attacks and consequently not enough placed on responsiveness to natural disasters. It's plain that America and the rest of the world has witnessed bureaucratic failure at all levels of our government and that from this, if only in a scramble for Bush to save face, heads will roll as the administration struggles against the backlash from those who are outraged and tired of the excuses.
Juxtaposed against all of this, I can't help but think of resigned phonecalls from my parents in intermittent cell phone reception telling me that they were running out of food and water and later, after conditions deteriorated so much and the ever-present threat of armed looters weakened their resolve, they were giving up and leaving the house they'd fought desperately to remain in even while the most powerful of storms ever to hit the United States was days away. I am seared with images of how my younger brother and sister must've felt seeing bodies floating in the water. How they must have felt hearing gunshots. And through all of this I am constantly aware that they are the lucky ones.
26 September 2005 at 10:16 pm | No Comments » the daily things
- The New Pornographers
("Twin Cinema")
You need to download Flash if you see this message.
in coral and gray
in submarine chambers
one day
it swam for the light
the jewels that lit
the cities that float there
cities in circles drawn perfect, complete
holding the secrets on my street
my street, my street
so come in and play
the song of the siren
it's commonplace
you hear the voice rise
in one wave
and crash on your doorstep
making the circle here perfect, complete
these are the fables on my street
ten thousand dancing girls
kicking cans 'cross the sky
no reason why
why ask to pay yourself
for the call of the wild
you found this child
so raise him
and wind your back
come back to the river
the currents speed by
and hope the men fear
the hammer comes down
so hard on the evening
cracking the dawn of your
days are repeat
these are fables on my street
my street, my street
Heaven shook Hell
and down from its pockets
the ring in your bell
it fell through your hands
hang at your feet
the doors that won't open
marking the journey of our friends complete
these are the fables of my street
my street
my street, my street
lay down in glory, you're not alone
22 September 2005 at 9:55 am | No Comments » soundtrack
I finally finished it. Assuming they decide to use it and all, this is what I submitted:
———–
In what was our first real chance to demonstrate all that had been learned since September 11th, 2001, the consensus is resoundingly clear: America, we failed.
It was an opportunity to test in a real-time setting all the lessons we'd learned from disaster preparedness, all the scenarios we'd developed for evacuation and relief, all the billions upon billions we'd invested as taxpayers into homeland security and infrastructure.
Hurricane Katrina showed us that we really aren't prepared for anything.
As an American, I am disgusted knowing that our government can marshal up a thousand troops on a moment's notice to fight a war over half of the country disapproves of, but can provide no support to rescue the doctors and patients trapped inside a hospital while floodwaters rise and looters wait outside. As someone who grew up in New Orleans, I am devastated knowing that my parents are now refugees as they struggle to figure out what to do about their home and jobs. I am worried for my siblings who will have to go to school indefinitely in another state because the one they used to attend was demolished.
I am still psychologically ill-equipped to comprehend the immediate destruction of my birthplace overnight; despite the photographs I've seen on news feeds, despite the satellite images, despite first-hand reports from friends and family, it hasn't sunk in yet, weeks after the hurricane made landfall.
Out of this tragedy, details are emerging that paint all levels of our federal government in a negative light. Beginning with the resignation of the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States (FEMA), Michael Brown, and President Bush's extremely belated admission of responsibility, our current administration is acting more fearful than I've ever seen. And if no other benefit arises from this tragedy, for this I am thankful.
What Katrina showed was the Bush administration's plans for American welfare have amounted to nothing. FEMA was crippled as an effective disaster-management agency when it was absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 and, as such, its focus ironically became less on domestic disasters and more on foreign terrorism. Harsh criticism has been raised whether too much emphasis was placed on FEMA's responsiveness to terrorist attacks and consequently not enough placed on responsiveness to natural disasters. It's plain that America and the rest of the world has witnessed bureaucratic failure at all levels of our government and that from this, if only in a scramble for Bush to save face, heads will roll as the administration struggles against the backlash.
Juxtaposed against all of this, I can't help but think of resigned phonecalls from my parents in intermittent cell phone reception telling me that they were running out of food and water and later, after conditions deteriorated so much and the ever-present threat of armed looters weakened their resolve, they were giving up and leaving the house they'd fought desperately to remain in even while the most powerful of storms ever to hit the United States was days away. I am seared with images of how my younger brother and sister must've felt seeing bodies floating in the water. How they must have felt hearing gunshots. And through all of this I am constantly aware that they are the lucky ones.
What does this mean for us internationally? Well, as always, the loss of human life to any cause is unjustifiable and cause for concern and support. But hurricane Katrina is just another setback to our standing as a world superpower– we've made clear that we lack the skill and resources to police and control our own land, much less hold sway over another country. However, I truly believe the only way to effectively combat the bullying tactics of our current administration is a unified effort from the rest of the world to show us we aren't the boss any longer. If nothing else, Katrina has displayed our weakness; we're far too disorganized to be left on our own and the only way our country will progress and ascend out of this rut is with outside intervention.
16 September 2005 at 12:07 am | No Comments » the daily things
I was asked to write an editorial on hurricane Katrina for the e-magazine MAP Madrid. How a magazine, e or not, based in Spain managed to hear of me I couldn't tell you.
But basically I'm completely stuck. 700 words and I can't really think of one. It's irksome.
This is how I felt when I used to write for XY. I'm not good with homework.
14 September 2005 at 7:52 pm | No Comments » the daily things
I am at work. For the anecdote I'm about to share I should point out that at the moment I am playing Coldplay on my iPod over the store's soundsystem.
I hate Coldplay. I think they are the world's most overrated band and that is including the Beatles on this list. I know that statement makes me unpopular amongst music aficionados as much as my rabid dislike of Rent makes me unpopular amongst all of homosexuality.
But I digress.
So I'm at work, playing the band I hate because on my iPod filled with nearly 5,000 songs I'm quickly coming to the end of albums that're appropriate for work and I think a customer might complain if I play L'arc~en~Ciel again.
A customer comes in, asks for an iced tea to go. As I'm making it he remarks, "Do you even like Coldplay?"
Hesitation. Then, "Um no, not really."
"Glad I'm not the only one." Takes the iced tea. Leaves me a 2.00 tip.
Hooray for standing up for your right to dislike music that sucks.
12 September 2005 at 8:11 am | 1 Comment » the daily things
I am bothered.
I have to stop reading/watching CNN at points along the day because I swear if I read another senator or chairperson of so and so agency or someone who lives across the street complain about Bush's failure in regards to Katrina, I might pop.
Seriously. People.
Look at the past. When has Bush ever capably handled a situation? I don't get this, you're all running around acting as if he's always done a superlative job and this time he said, "ah fuck it, I did everything else I was supposed to."
What people NEED to be paying attention to is the death of Rehnquist and Bush's balls to appoint his first douche to replace him, a man who has little actual judicial experience and pretty much no paper trail to document his career. Hey dude, I have more qualifications than this guy, can I run the Supreme Court?
I really wonder who he's blown to get his tongue so far up Bush's asshole.
Really. Please. Everyone. Shut the fuck up and stop complaining about FEMA and Bush and everything else until relatives and friends of mine aren't dying and have a fucking house to live in again. I'm sick of hearing about it and I have more of a reason to be pointing fingers than you do.
Trust me. When it's appropriate I will be waving the "Fuck Bush" signs with the rest of you. And that's not a vaginal reference.
And in parting, watch this.
6 September 2005 at 8:54 pm | 1 Comment » bitching, the daily things
It just occurred to me to look this up.
I checked google maps just now to see if their satellite feed was updated for Katrina. I know usually they use images that're six months old but I thought perhaps they would pull some strings because of what this was.
I was right.
I googled my parents' old apartment. Luckily for them they had decided near the beginning of the summer to move out of New Orleans itself and out to one of the suburbs. This, incidentally, was probably something that saved their lives and possessions.
This is a google satellite map of their apartment before the hurricane. Their apartment was in the complex (the building about an inch or so long) immediately to the left of the marker. Click the thumbnail for a larger photo:
And this is the same place shown August 31st 2005:
That's some shocking perspective.
4 September 2005 at 10:16 pm | No Comments » shutterbugs, the daily things
Bad week. Long week. Everyone I think I'd like proves me wrong and thus I am alone.
A customer came in yesterday. Well not a customer, an immensely effeminate man who claimed to be friends with the owner of the restaurant I work at. He wanted to put up a poster. He very much felt he was well within his rights to put up said poster, despite barely asking if he could, because just as soon as he'd brandished the poster he was reaching around and over the counter to my workstation to grab the roll of tape I had near my cash register.
"Oh, I'm sorry sir," I said as I moved it out of his reach, "we don't typically allow that."
"Right, I'm sure, but I'm friends with the owner. She won't mind."
"Um, okay, well I'm happy to hold onto the poster until she comes in and I'll ask her when I see her."
He huffed at me and rolled his eyes. "No, you don't get it, this is going up today. Call her now and let me speak to her."
So I called. No one picked up but, serendipitously for her, the manager decided at that moment to ring in and check up. As I was explaining to her what he was asking about he tried, twice, to grab the phone from my hand. I looked at him once and my eyes said clearly, "don't fucking try it." Later the manager remarked, "Well I knew something was obviously up because your voice was calm and controlled in a way I've never heard it before and it kindof scared me."
In the end she said, as I'd already told him, that she would have to clear it with the owner. I told him to leave a copy of the poster and we'd take care of it. With a pissed off fluff of flaming-ness he left, bitching about how "this had better go up today. In a clearly visible place!"
When the manager got in she looked at the poster. It was something advocating Katrina-relief efforts, nice in and of itself, but the poster was laced with things like "Do you have a heart?" and "Don't be a horrible person– donate money." A bit offensive. She said, "This guilt-trippy sortof stuff really bothers me," and crumpled the poster up.
I knew, however, that the guy would be back. I just hoped he 1) returned while the manager was there so she could deal with it or 2) returned while someone else was there so they could deal with it. I didn't get either.
He stormed in this morning. I tried to feign ignorance.
"Why isn't the sign up?" he demanded without even saying hi.
"Pardon me? Sign?"
"The one I gave you yesterday. Why isn't it up?"
"Ooh, yes. Well, the owner was immensely busy yesterday, I don't think the manager got a chance to speak with her about it yet."
"Tell her I'm very disappointed. It's clear that you don't care about the people affected by Katrina at all."
Twitch.
"Well sir, not that it's any of your business or anything, but I am from and grew up in New Orleans and my family's still down there. And when you have to bully people for charity's sake not only does it cheapen your cause but it makes you look like an asshole as well."
His eyes went wide and he looked at me outraged. "Oh, so I'm an asshole?"
"No sir, you just look like one. Have a nice day." The waitress who'd been within hearing range and was eavesdropping burst into laughter. As did several of the customers sitting down. He stormed away. When the manager came in I told her what I'd said. "Good riddance then" was her reply.
4 September 2005 at 8:47 pm | No Comments » the daily things
Oh, and. Just for a second.
I would like to address all of the Kayne Wests of the world, spouting off bullshit that irks me to my core. And I'm so irked, SO irked, that I'm going to defend Bush, an act I never would've anticipated.
George Bush has absolutely nothing, nothing, to do with what's happening in New Orleans, Gulf Port, etc. He did not bring the hurricane. Even his ineffectual flying-around of helicopters and so forth accomplishes nothing.
So for someone to go on television, live television, a live television benefit concert, and politicize this horrible event disgusts me. Whatever he said, whatever he felt, whether I agreed with him or not, was inappropriate.
Even moreso that what he decided to say was completely unfounded and bad english.
Can anybody be so blind to ignore the fact that the military police were authorized to shoot "them" because "they" are the ones burning down buildings, sniping doctors trying to evacuate dying patients because looters have them locked inside a hospital, and kidnapping/raping women? You don't need a television if my parents without power know the news.
And know what else? Know why all the people left in New Orleans right now are poor black people? Because that's who lives in New Orleans.
New Orleans is a city full of poor people, the significant number of which happen to be black. But guess what else? So are the white people. Nobody there has any money. It's not a rich city. My parents left today with thirteen dollars and the clothes they could take with them. They have no money because there are no national banks in New Orleans, or so few that there are basically none, and their ATM cards won't work anywhere else. And guess what? Their bank's under water. So before you run around screaming about class issues and class inequality at a point of time that is still so far from appropriate, please, please research your complaints a little bit.
Or furthermore, why don't you actually go and live down there for a little fucking while? It's all fine for New Yorkers and wannabe New Yorkers to wax about the poor South in their posh Williamsburg loft whilst sipping chai lattes, but really. You don't know shit. And you look like an idiot to those who do.
I'm so fucking over pseudo intellectuals who effect airs of enlightened humanitarianism.
3 September 2005 at 9:34 pm | No Comments » bitching
