baldilocks

New Habits

This old/new habit of blogging will have to fit into a new/old habit of morning exercise. Now that I'm back, "let's see what's out there..."

Pet Peeve Monday, October 8, 2007

...When the Big Media reports something as new which the New Media reported weeks ago:

Sandy Berger, who stole highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, destroyed them and lied to investigators, is now an adviser to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Berger, who was fired from John Kerry’s presidential campaign when the scandal broke in 2004, has assumed a similar role in Clinton’s campaign, even though his security clearance has been suspended until September 2008. This is raising eyebrows even among Clinton’s admirers. “It shows poor judgment and a lack of regard for Berger’s serious misdeeds,” said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University[.] [SNIP]

He added: “If Senator Clinton becomes the Democratic nominee, at some point she will begin to receive national security briefings that will include sensitive information. At such a point, continuing to keep Berger on board as a key advisor, where he might have access to sensitive material, would be beyond incomprehensible.”

Actually, I'm not too annoyed at these repeat of "breaking" news. The Berglar's role in the Clinton campaign cannot receive too much publicity.

Under the Weather

Back in a few days.

Pet Peeve Monday, October 1, 2007

Racists of any stripe are anywhere from annoying to disgusting in my playbook. And, of course, I run into them from time to time--as we all have, unfortunately. Here's a (head-)case which stands out in my mind.

I had four career fields in the USAF--three while on Active Duty and one while in Reserve status. Two of my AD careers involved foreign languages, specifically German and Russian.

Sometimes, when I mention that last fact, I will get skeptical looks. During my Reserve stint, one co-worker even expressed outright disbelief. He questioned me as to my Technical Training and my pertinent duty stations. He even went to our boss and complained that I was lying about my past military record. Boss suggested that he ask for my DD Form 214--as she told me later. After I found out that he complained to her, I began to carry a copy of the document in my wallet, but he never did ask for it. I would have presented it had he (politely) done so. Instead, he kept trying to trip me up in a lie.

I didn't have to wonder too hard as to why he refused to believe that I might have the mental tools to learn and manipulate two rather difficult foreign languages.

Oh yeah, did I mention that he wasn't white?

Pet Peeve Monday, September 24, 2007

Are you a fat chick? Yeah, well, I am too (a little bit; thirty pounds gone and I'll be the shizam).

But just because you're fat doesn't mean that you can't pick up your feet when you walk.

:swish: :swish: :swish:

If you're fat and you drag your feet, I might peg you as lazy. But, if I'm feeling generous, I may be inclined to give you--fat person--the benefit of the doubt; perhaps you have a hard time lifting your legs up far enough to prevent scraping the surface on which you're walking. But, check this out: picking up your feet when you walk might cause you to lose a couple of pounds.

However, if you're skinny and you drag your feet, you will, unfailingly, cause me to target you as lazy on sight; or, rather, upon hearing.

Either way, whenever I hear the sound of dragging feet, my mind says "lazy woman; not working."

Pet Peeve Monday, September 17, 2007

"Hello?"

"Hello. Who's this?"

BZZTTT!!! Wrong question. This sort of telephone initial inquisition irritates me to no end.

I come by this pet peeve honestly. Any guy who called to speak to me or to one of my sisters and who didn't something like "Hello, Mrs.___/Ma'am. This is ___. May I speak to Juliette/T./S.?" when my mom picked up the phone was guaranteed to be on her feces list until later redeemed--if at all.

The telephone rule specifies that one should put forth the old skool niceties and, after that, get down to the business at hand. Then--and only then--is a caller deserving of the reciprocal niceties and, subsequently, deserving to speak to the individual desired. There are no exceptions--business or personal.

Some years ago, my stance on telephone etiquette served to give up a bit of amusement. An errant SO of a man friend of mine decided to ring me up.

"Hello, who are you?"

Me: "Um, who would you like to speak to?"

"I want to speak to you. What's your name." Arrogantly asked.

She never got my name and the upshot is that she wanted to know whether I was doing the deed with her boyfriend. The answer was truthfully 'no,' but I had fun before I gave up the answer--simply because of her violation of my telephone rule.

Even those who dial the wrong number must follow the rule.

As an aside from this personal pet peeve, I found out a number of years ago that there are some people who get a kick out of harassing senior citizens on the phone. A person who had originally dialed the wrong number to my great-aunt's exchange decided to harass her for a few weeks after the first call. Fortunately, this creature decided to call on an occasion when I was present and my aunt put me on the phone. After the caller and I came to a "mutual understanding," she decided that it was best to not call my aunt anymore.

Pet Peeve Monday, September 10, 2007

Dogs.

(No, this isn't a commentary on Michael Vick. However, while I have the opportunity, I'd like to say that Vick makes flesh the quote "a fool and his money are soon parted.")

Dogs get on my nerves. Oh, not all of them, or even most of them. As a matter of fact I love dogs…just not the ones who have idiot humans in charge of their existence.

Since the first week of August, I have made it my business to take a power walk 5-6 days a week for a certain distance. I've lost ten pounds since then.

The first time that I walked this particular distance, it took me 62 minutes, however, just this Saturday, it took 55 minutes. I would guess that the distance is roughly 3.5 miles.

I live in a lower- to middle- middle-class neighborhood. Nice, if old, houses. Manicured yards. Mostly black and Hispanic American residents, along with at least one white American and at least one Korean-American. Some blocks have fences in the front yards, some don't (only one resident on my street has the front yard fenced off and that fence has been in existence for some thirty-five years.)

When I walk, dogs bark at me, of course. But, for the most part, these dogs bark at me from behind gates that keep them from chasing me as I exercise.

What ticks me off is not only the dogs that get loose but the attitude of the owners when I threaten to pepper-spray or bust a cap in said dog.

Last week I was chased by a Chihuahua. Don't laugh. Would you like get bitten by one of those little buggers?

The owner, obviously roused from his bed by the dog's barking, came out to "reign the dog in." The owner--who could have benefited from some sort of exercise himself-- had obviously merely slipped on a pair of shorts in order to come outside without being arrested. The man called the dog and it broke off its attack.

But when I resumed walking, the dog began to chase me again.

Me: "Dude, could you get your dog?"
Dude: "Could you wait until I come outside?"
Me: thinking "hey, you fat bast*rd, you're already outside, but your dog is still chasing me," but saying, "I'm trying to exercise here, but your dog is still chasing me!!"

Short version of the story: he flipped me off--even after I tried to make nice. So I called the cops on him. I don't walk by his house anymore.

Can a person walk down a sidewalk without being chased by a dog or without having to put up with a dog's irresponsible and obnoxious owner?

UPDATE: 53 minutes this morning. No dogs.

Feed Me

...links, that is. I have to go have my head examined eyes checked this morning and have another obligation right after that, so if you have any questions to ask or interesting items to submit, be my guest.

Legislative Branch News

Laughably Bad (subscription required):

Sen. Larry Craig (R) opened the possibility of reversing his stated intention to resign from the Senate on Sept. 30 in a voice mail message obtained by Roll Call that the Idaho conservative inadvertently left at a wrong number.

Listen here.

Sad:

Representative Paul Gillmor, an Ohio Republican who represented much of the northwestern and north-central part of the state, was found dead in his apartment today.

Mr. Gillmor, 68, was discovered by staff members who went to the apartment in Arlington, Va., after the congressman did not show up at his office, a Republican leadership aide told The Associated Press. An announcement from Mr. Gillmor’s office was expected shortly.

Bloomberg News said the death appeared to be of natural causes, according to Brad Mascho, a spokesman for the lawmaker.

Good:

Democrat Tim Johnson of South Dakota was welcomed back to the Senate Wednesday by colleagues of both parties who hailed his recovery from a life-threatening brain hemorrhage Dec. 13.

The official embrace came at mid-afternoon, when senators adopted a resolution (S Res 306) extending “their warmest welcome” and expressing “their personal happiness at his return” and “their very best wishes for his continued health.”

Pet Peeve Monday, September 3, 2007

This is a pet peeve combined with a personal fear (my forty-sixth birthday was last week).

We're in the grocery store again and it's Sunday. Being the day before Labor Day, lines were long and the line I was in was nearly stagnant due to a particular phenomenon most noticeable in older women: asking the cashier the price of every single item upon arriving at the front. One woman only had three cases of bottled water, but had the cashier bring a cheaper brand to the counter. Twice.

It was obvious that the second woman had issues and would be a problem--she had every item in a plastic bag, even the canned and packaged items, even the loaf of bread. She, too, asked the cashier the price of every item; a situation which was worse than the first--the second woman had more items. The woman immediately in front of me and I were dying laughing at the expression on the cashier's face. Meanwhile the line is becoming longer and longer.

Neither of these women were that old nor did they look crazy. It seems to me, however, that the women were displaying a common eccentricity for their age group (over 55). Now, I couldn't give you the clinical name of this eccentricity but I see it too many times: performing an unnecessary action/demanding an unnecessary service while being oblivious to the inconvenience that it causes.

Maybe it's early dementia.

Pet Peeve Monday, August 27, 2007

Have you ever tried to make your way down a grocery store/drug store/department store aisle only to find the way blocked by:

--a mother, one or more children and a cart?
--two fat women standing abreast and not moving?

Have you ever been driving down a parking lot aisle only to find your way blocked by one or more persons taking a leisurely stroll right down the middle of it?

Have you been walking down a sidewalk and had to walk on someone's grass or in the street because folks are just standing in the middle of the walk?

If you have experienced any of these phenomena, then you have come upon yet another thing that annoys me to no end. Why do people feel it necessary to block public passages? Get moving or move to the side!

UPDATE: Don Surber has a solution.

Two words: cattle prod.

Pet Peeve Monday, August 20, 2007

I'm not a neat-freak--far from it. Yet there's something about shoes strewn across the floor that almost enrages me. Even when I forget to put my own shoes away and happen to step on one, I can feel a sort of irrational anger that is quickly pushed down, once the errant shoes are put in their proper place. Am I a monster^tm?

Pet Peeve Monday, August 13, 2007

Over my nearly forty-six years, many people have informed me that I have a great many anal-retentive traits. Said people are correct; I do not apologize for those traits and I surmise that I have come by them honestly. In personality--if not in looks--I am very much my mother's daughter, so much so that I think that my mom's dog thinks that I'm her and my brother-in-law occasionally refers to me as the chocolate-version of his wife's mother (as opposed to the original butter-scotch version). However, when I became an adult, I thought over most of the anal-retentive traits which my mom introduced into my psyche early on and they made perfect sense--which is why I think that my anal-retentiveness is inherent rather than environmental-introduced. (Love ya, Mom!) :-)

Therefore, I felt that it would be (interesting? fun?) to start a new series called "Pet Peeve Monday."

Here's the first one. When washing dishes, always wash the outside/backside too. Additionally, when washing utensils, wash them individually. And please, please wash the handle.

Saving Private Beauchamp

Reverend Paul McNellis of Democracy Project reminds us that, in the wake of the exposure of Scott Beauchamp's admitted falsehoods, he can still choose a different path for his life:

He stands at a crossroads with his whole his life before him. Frankly, I hope the demands of military justice are satisfied by merely letting him finish his service. He must live with himself among his betters, and for now that is both a fitting punishment and an opportunity. The opportunity is one to which Beauchamp himself alludes on a blog he kept while in Germany. (I’ve taken the liberty of turning his blogese into standard English.) Beauchamp writes:

I know that NOT participating in a war (and such a misguided one at that) should be considered better than wanting to be in one just to write a book...but you know, maybe I’d rather be a good man than a good artist...be both? Some can and some can’t...I guess it all depends on how great an artist, or how great a man they want to be. Sometimes it feels like I have to choose between being totally loyal to thoughts of my future family OR totally loyal to chasing down the muse. Must find a middle ground.

The challenge of being a good man. Of course it’s the right question, but it’s a shame that Beauchamp thought of it as a middle ground held at the expense of moral compromise. [SNIP]

Pvt. Beauchamp has two choices.

He can await his discharge and then return to testify before Congress as the victim veteran in the “proud of being ashamed” mode. He might even run for Congress himself. He wouldn’t be the first.

Or, he can use his remaining time in the military to earn an honorable discharge. He could try to leave the military as a better man than when he entered.

If the Army allows him to do so, I see no problem with that and I, for one, would like to discover later on that he has made amends to the Army, to his fellows, and, more importantly, to that potential man who he may choose to become.

(Thanks to Blackfive, who also thinks that Beauchamp deserves a chance to fix things.)

Morning Business

I'm out of the "office" this morning, but if you have anything to say or want feed me a link, you can do it here.

Doing Battle

I'll be posting later due to an invasion in my back yard which is in need of repelling.

UPDATE: Counter-offensive successful; it was just a tiny nest. They dropped like--dead hornets.

I had been outside hanging up clothes (a new dryer is in the offing), when three huge hornets--buzzing like B-52s--nearly took my head off as they headed for their new home--an old bulb-less lantern hanging underneath the patio enclosure. From the top of the lantern hung a small, whitish structure that appeared to be made of small pebbles. Over it, about ten hornets were having a house-warming party.

I've been stung by a wasp/hornet before and did not have a noticeable anaphylactic reaction. However, I'm afraid that the next time I might not be so lucky and, since then, I've been doing everything I can to keep that second sting from happening. Hope hornets don't believe in blood-feuds.

Death and (A Better) Life

Kenya and Tanzania have been experiencing unusual seismic activity of late, striking fear and panic into many citizens of those countries. At least seven strong quakes have stuck the region in the past week, but unlike the usual quake-aftershock(s) pattern, this series has been ratcheting up in strength rather than the other way around.

The first earth tremor was felt on July 12. Its magnitude was 4.4 on the Richter Scale, but subsequent earthquakes have risen to a magnitude of six.

Tremors were felt in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Nairobi in Kenya as well as other major towns. The main effect has been to shake buildings, but there has been no loss of life or major structural damage reported.

The epicenter is close to the Kenya-Tanzania border, around the active volcano, Ol Doinyo Lengai.

Ah, a volcano preparing to erupt.

My father seems unmoved (if you’ll pardon the pun) by all of the uncharacteristic shaking in his neck of woods, however. A few days ago, when I found out about the quakes, I sent him a short note inquiring as to whether he and the rest of the family (only one of whom I’ve met face-to-face) were uninjured. I didn’t receive a personal reply, but judging from the nature of the following op-ed, I’d say that the answer to my question is ‘yes.’

In a rather uncharacteristic rant, Philip Ochieng uses the turbulent nature of his country’s post-colonial history to remind his readers that man’s most lethal and fickle enemy has been man.

Being human, I also fear dying. That is why, like everybody else, I feel let down [that the Kenyan government lacks a contingency policy for dealing with the aftermath of earthquakes]. Yet something is not quite right about that association. It is that this feeling of mine puts me in the same brackets with individuals and groups who consign other human beings to the grave day in and day out.

Consider the kind of company which my feeling forces me to keep. Some execute others for grievances about which those others are hardly responsible. Some rob us at gunpoint and then - to thwart "eyewitness evidence" - pump bullets into us to keep our eyes and mouths shut for ever.

Some drive pieces of scrap iron called matatus at speeds that would make Mister Toad - Kenneth Grahame's Terror of the Highway - go aghast with shame. They pulverise our bones by the wayside and often reduce us to heaps of flesh quite unable even to take part in the "paralympics".

Some - including those who call themselves "human rights lawyers" - daily reduce their wives and daughters to pulp for all sorts of male crotchets. Some derive "fun" from sexually assaulting new-born babies, leaving them in conditions worse than death.

How can people who call themselves human beings do such things? Yet commission is perhaps more humane than omission. For a commission usually means instant death. [SNIP]

Indeed, our sins of omission are much more frequent, much more systematic and - because they lead to slow death - much more agonising. Many Kenyans take years dying in the most horrible conditions. Inability to feed our loved ones, to afford medicine for them and to send them to school is its most spectacular expression.

The omission is that our leaders once forced us to pour profuse blood with the promise that if we chased away the foreign rulers, we would live in loving abundance and security for ever. And, every year since then, we have paid increasingly crushing taxes ostensibly to ensure it.

We expend untold quantities of resources on elections in which the candidates promise us nothing less than the Moon. And yet between every two elections we sink deeper and deeper into penury, disease, shelterlessness, ignorance, shirtlessness - all this while members of the elite, especially those whom we elect, get fatter and fatter.

Executive profligacy

The very Parliament which we elect with the express purpose of protecting us from executive profligacy has become the most ruthless sucker of our blood. Yet, as Shakespeare reminds us, the fault is not in our stars, but only in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Our leaders can take us into the valley of death only because we allow them. Because elections are around the corner the Government is busy promising all kinds of "goodies" to teachers, civil servants, police officers and other voters. And the cinch is that these are taking the bait and will vote this Government back to power.

The voters never learn.

Even the clergy - those on whom we depend for "spiritual guidance" - seem completely unmoved by our suffering. Otherwise, they would be leading any national effort to solve, for instance, the Mungiki issue. But they are totally silent on it. On the contrary, many even urge us to kneel in prayer to God to bless the leeches that we call leaders! [SNIP]

The question to Kenyans - including to the fellow who e-mailed to say he is ready to throw a "Kericho Tea Party" - is this: Why do they allow the politicians to cheat them year after year after year?

And where robbers, thieves, rapists, wife beaters, real estate grabbers, dealers in simony, legislative conmen, tax collectors, political gunmen and other killers have become the law of the land, why bother about events which can only serve as coups de grace? Why worry about earthquakes?

After reading this, I wonder whether my father is still the socialist he used to claim to be.

Kericho Tea Party, eh? That obvious reference to an earlier Boston version recalled an interview of Kenyan economist James Shikwati conducted by Germany’s Der Spiegel some weeks ago. In it, Shiwati spells out how continuous developmental aid to Africa from the West--under the specific umbrella of the United Nations World Food Program--has kept most of the continent in its famed "darkness." It's a great interview, but the most telling thing about it is the mindset of the interviewer, demonstrated by the plaintive replies to Shikwati's objective demonstration that the cycle of aid—starting in the pockets of the well-meaning philanthropy sources and ending up in the pockets of Africa's notoriously corrupt politicians—does nothing but prolong the continent’s suffering.

Shikwati: ... for God's sake, please just stop [the developmental aid to Africa].

SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialized nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty.

Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape. Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor.

SPIEGEL: Do you have an explanation for this paradox?

Shikwati: Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.

SPIEGEL: Even in a country like Kenya, people are starving to death each year. Someone has got to help them.

Shikwati: But it has to be the Kenyans themselves who help these people. When there's a drought in a region of Kenya, our corrupt politicians reflexively cry out for more help. This call then reaches the United Nations World Food Program -- which is a massive agency of apparatchiks who are in the absurd situation of, on the one hand, being dedicated to the fight against hunger while, on the other hand, being faced with unemployment were hunger actually eliminated. It's only natural that they willingly accept the plea for more help. And it's not uncommon that they demand a little more money than the respective African government originally requested. They then forward that request to their headquarters, and before long, several thousands tons of corn are shipped to Africa ...

Here's an interesting observation about AIDS from Shikwati:

If one were to believe all the horrifying reports, then all Kenyans should actually be dead by now. But now, tests are being carried out everywhere, and it turns out that the figures were vastly exaggerated. It's not three million Kenyans that are infected. All of the sudden, it's only about one million. Malaria is just as much of a problem, but people rarely talk about that.

(Emphasis mine) No they don't, because that would lead to uncomfortable conversations about one of the most effective-to-date eradicator of mosquitoes—DDT. (DDT was banned by the US Environmental Protection Agency, but is still in use in tropical regions of the world. There is some controversy about whether the insecticide’s overuse caused the problems which are associated with it. However, what I wonder is whether UN aid agencies tie their monies to compliance with a list of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts.’ If so, I’m betting that the UN tells malaria-prone countries such as Kenya that if they use DDT, they can’t have the money.)

Ochieng and Shikwati—old and young, but learned and perceptive men both—recognize the persistent problems with their country and their continent and, in addition, they understand that only radical re-ordering of thought patterns can bring about radical change. However, what can a people do to affect change if they don't have the knowledge--the education--to understand what kind of society will give them the best life possible? For this--education, or rather, near-universal literacy--is the feature that was present in that other Revolution which seems to come up in conversation so often lately. And education is the element that is lacking in the Dark Continent--dark, not because of the skin color of the majority of its inhabitants, but dark becuse of the lack of means for the average African to gain knowledge. (Remember the fact of our compulsory education the next time some do-gooder is railing about the inveterate poor in America.)

As another blogger reminds us, knowledge is power; the power to affect change and to gain real independence.

(Thanks to Booker Rising and to Instapundit)

Going on Without Them

Christiana Hendrix, wife of Cold Fury's Mike Hendrix, died Friday as a result traffic accident; and Jeff Goldstein's grandmother died today after living a very long life.

Existential Question

What do you do when you and another person--a person you love--have a difference of opinion (to put it mildly) and he/she won't admit his/her faults that cause the difference even when you're willing to admit yours? Constraints: you can't break off the relationship because you've made a commitment either to yourself, a Higher Power or both.

How do you combat pride in a constructive manner?

Hell Week

This past Sunday, I witnessed the heretofore mythical "blue screen of death" along with the words "fatal system error." After letting out a scream of frustration, I reflected that my week was starting out very badly. So I called my Dad (the American one) to complain. "Cheer up, Baby," he said. "Things could be a lot worse." Prophetic words indeed.

See you when my system is back up--or I'm in possession of a new one. (I'm at the library right now.) In the meantime, I'll be praying for the victims of Virginia Tech and counting my blessings.

Powerless

Wouldn't you know it? Just as I had resolved to dip my toe back into the rough and tumble waters of blogging and get my already-nappy head nappier, the power goes out. As it turns out, power was out all over LA due to palmtree-bending winds of up to 50 miles per hour; it was restored here at about 1730 PDT. Since the outage also meant that I was unable to finish much of my school work, my blogging resolution will have to take a back seat--at least until tomorrow. See you then.

Note to self: Do not try to blog while not wearing glasses.

The Art of Communication

(Almost Den Bestian/Whittle-esque in length, if not in quality. It's just something that's been on my mind for a long time.) The reason I think that the majority of bloggers begin their endeavors is a very simple one: most of us want to transmit ideas without interruption. That certainly was one of my reasons for creating this site. Conversely, those of us bloggers who allow comments realize that feedback allows uninterrupted transmission of ideas for our readers as well. This simple exchange of ideas which, hopefully, puts forth ideas is called communication. And, unfortunately, the art of face-to-face communication is nearly a lost one--listening and responding to what one has heard, rather than listening one's own inner conversation with self about the person speaking and/or ideas being expressed. People don't want to do the most important part of communication--active listening--nor do they want to make it easier for the other person to do so.

Change of Employment Status

As of last week, I am no longer employed by Pajamas Media, though I am still one of its contracted bloggers. What will I do? For now, I'll be finishing my batchelors degree since I only have thirty-six credits left and I am starting this week.

I am greatly indebted to Roger Simon, Charles Johnson and Gerard Van der Leun for helping me further a dream that I have long held--to make a living as a writer--and I wish them and all of my other co-workers the best.

My posting here may still be spotty, so the door is open for my guest bloggers to continue to help out at their convenience and I applaud the fine job that they've done already.

And so it goes.

Yet Another New Year

Yes I know that I'm weeks late, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all and Happy Thirtieth Birthday (January 3rd) to my youngest sister, the one with the Arabic given name! As I recall, thirty was the toughest birthday of all of mine--I suspect that it's because one is finally deemed to be an actual adult at that age--but the rest have been progressively easier. After all, there is the alternative.

I spent Christmas in New Mexico, spending time with said sister, other sister, parents, strapping and hilarious nephews, beautiful and sweet nieces, aunts, uncles and cousins and, fortunately, missing out on the two snowstorms that have uncharacteristically deluged the state. While I was away, I only accessed the Internet once—to remind myself of what date and time my return flight to LA took off—so I missed out on many things talked about in the last several weeks or so, such as the deaths of notables: the 38th President of the USA, the Godfather of Soul and the Butcher of Baghdad. Only two, of course, are lamented.

I had a great time; spending most of it having religious, philosophical and political conversations with my dad. I know that such conversations would be tough for most people, but, happily, my dad and I agree on most topics under these headings. And even when we disagree, Dad is one of those treasured humans who doesn’t view disagreement with his opinion as a personal affront.

Talking to Dad, I found out some interesting things that I hadn't known before. The most startling fact was that Grandpa (Dad's dad) loved the French for one very good reason: Grandpa had been a POW in France and the French Resistance had busted him out of captivity. I had never seen Grandpa with his shirt off, but Dad said that Grandpa had three entry wounds near one of his shoulders. Dad himself didn't find out this information until last year, shortly before my grandfather's death. Typical of men of War and of Heroes.

My mom and dad now own and live in my grandfather's house. What I love about that is that it brings continuity to Grandpa's and Grandma's lives. Dad spends most of his time cooking--guess who was forced to learn to cook while his father was away on Air Force business and guess who learned to love it--and he sells the greatest burritos this side of Mexico and does a great deal of catering large gatherings to boot. In between food preparations, Dad watches ESPN, cable news and catches cat-naps. You can be talking to him one second and he'll give you a very sensible response. The next minute his head will be back on the couch and he'll be snoring. My mom works part-time for a Big Media entity. Both are collecting their Social Security in addition.

My greatest dream is to be able to make enough money so that my still relatively young parents (mid-sixties) can work when they feel like it rather than because they have to.

However, I am still grateful to the Lord at how much my family and I have been blessed. And we have been, greatly.

Goodbye, 2006! (Tully)

Likely my last post of the year, and I wish to nominate a late entry for Best Headline of 2006. In this category, the actual article content is irrelevant to the competition, though perfectly fair game for discussion purposes.

Science Told: Hands Off Gay Sheep

So many ways to read that...but as a headline, it's a gem! In any case, the article itself is about gay activists being worried that scientists might develop a method of "curing" homosexuality, even reducing or eliminating the possibility through pre-natal treatment.

The research, at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has caused an outcry. Martina Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won Wimbledon nine times, and scientists and gay rights campaigners in Britain have called for the project to be abandoned.

Navratilova defended the “right” of sheep to be gay. She said: “How can it be that in the year 2006 a major university would host such homophobic and cruel experiments?” She said gay men and lesbians would be “deeply offended” by the social implications of the tests.

The whole thing just begs the question--feet, or pods?

[Cross-posted to Stubborn Facts.]

Just Getting It Done

Thanks to PajamasMedia for a link to a great video by some of our best on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

What, you're still here? Go watch it and then come back.

Nice pictures and summaries of some of the work done by our military, including the Sun Kings who appear in the video, can be seen here. 

According to the San Francisco Moonbat Party,  these guys and gals resent their jobs and believe our best days are behind us.  Someone alert John Kerry that these poorly used, misled, uneducated, repressed and reflectively vicious troops urgently need him to save them.

Or not.  Consider this:

Could the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln operate the New York Times and staff John Kerry's offices?  In their SLEEP. 

Could the buffoons at the Times and John Kerry's staffers operate the Lincoln?  In their DREAMS.

A Great Send Off

The family matter I had to attend to was flying to Albuquerque to see off my grandfather, William Woodrow D. Sr. (my step-dad’s dad) to the next phase. Grandpa was born on April 3, 1923 and died on June 3, 2006. Grandpa was a World War II veteran and a retired USAF NCO and I’m very happy and honored to have followed in his footsteps.

His funeral was presided over by my Uncle Bill, Jr.—a Methodist pastor and Dad’s younger and only brother—and the burial was in the military tradition. At first my uncle kept with the solemnity of the occasion, then he broke out in the tradition of black preachers everywhere—loud, happy and in praise of the Lord--and celebrated the life of his father in the tradition in which the gentleman had lived: “Don’t be lookin’ all sad, because Daddy was a guy who lived large and well.” (A paraphrase.) At that, Uncle tinkled his glass of ice water in manner in which Grandpa would tinkle his glass of gin and Seven-Up when making a point.

Grandpa was a husband (my grandma preceded him in death), the father of seven (two preceding him in death), the grandfather of nine and the great-grandfather of nine.

In the spirit of the good life which Grandpa lead, here are some photos of his family.

Notice

I've been out of town (and computer vicinity) due to a family issue, so I didn't have time to celebrate note the F-16-fueled martyrdom of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but I'm sure much ammunition was shot in the air to mark Zarqawi's owie.

I'm not paying attention to the news until tomorrow, so feel free to submit me any interesting/fun links.

Birds in Your Hands

A news report about the suicides of several Indian chicken farmers reminded me of an email which one of my old friends sent me a little over a week ago. Said friend was in audience as a bird ecologist from the US Geological Survey expounded on the etiology of the avian flu. The following is a slightly edited version of the email which contains some of the presentation’s key items. Be advised: the words below are that of my friend, rather than that of the bird ecologist, and the facts are recited from his memory. However, the facts are easily checked and links are provided, when found and/or available.

• H5N1 [avian influenza or 'bird flu'] is a poultry disease. It’s very deadly to chickens. Most that catch it die, within 48 hours. Wild birds carry it around and are more resistant.

• H5N1 is unusual because it started with domestic birds and spread laterally to wild birds and to humans. The normal progression for a bird virus is:

wild birds --> domestic birds --> domestic mammals --> people --> more people

• H5N1 went like this:

wild birds <=== domestic birds --> some people

• H5N1 first appeared in 1997 [in humans], in China. It percolated over there in Asia for many years, moving to Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, etc.

• Chinese officials responded to the disease by taking farmers’ chickens away from them (thereby destroying the farmers...they don’t have farm subsidy and insurance over there). Farmers responded by hiding their chickens, sending them to relatives, or not reporting the disease, so it spread even more.

• There is now a Vietnamese clade and a Chinese clade. Most of the vaccines being produced against it are only good against the Vietnamese clade. But the Chinese clade is the one that's spreading everywhere.

• In early 2005, H5N1 killed a ton of wild birds at a lake in China. Experts from all over the world went to study it identified the disease.

• The current mass spread began in May 2005. It moved from China across Asia to Turkey and Eastern Europe, east to west.

• The cause of the sudden breakout is a mystery. The move from east to west does not correspond to wild bird migration, which runs north to south. There’s been some spread north to south (it’s in Africa now too), but the biggest rush was east to west.

• The cause probably had to do with trade and shipping of chickens and other poultry. Also with smuggling of exotic birds. And migration too; [likely] a combination of all these things.

• Poultry imports and smuggling will probably bring H5N1 to North America [much more quickly] than wild bird migration.

• H5N1 will probably appear in North America eventually, but it is NOT certain it will appear this year.

• There is an Asian strain and a North American strain. North American H5N1 was already here. So when the newsmongers said “They’ve found H5N1 in Canada!” it means nothing. That strain was already here. It’s always been here [can’t find links to confirm the 'always' part –ed.], it’s not the same disease.

• Not a single human being has caught H5N1 from a wild bird; only from chickens.

• People catch H5N1 by direct physical contact through unsanitary practices (which I won’t describe, unless you ask me to).

The great thing about being a woman with men friends who respect you is that they treat you like a delicate flower even when they know that you’re not. :-)

• Heat kills it. You can’t get it from a cooked bird.

• H5N1 thrives in cool, moist places. It can survive in deep cold. There are geese that migrate from China OVER the Himalayas that can carry it into India. India is upset.

As indicated.

• Dogs and cats have caught it, from eating dead (i.e. uncooked) infected birds. There is currently no data on mortality rates among dogs and cats.

• Since 1997 to date, 191 people have caught H5N1. Of these, over 100 have died of it. So far it’s been a 57% mortality rate (that's fifty-seven).

• The mortality rate of the 1918-1919 Spanish flu pandemic, which killed millions, was only 2% (that's two).

• Nobody knew what a virus was in 1918.

------

No one has caught H5N1 from another human. It's still just a chicken disease. Some day it might be human to human, or it may not ever be. But a 57% mortality rate is nothing to sniff at.

If you find a dead bird, remember that birds die all the time, from many, many different diseases. If you must dispose of it, wash well with hot water If you must eat it, cook it. If you must handle it, try to, you know.... restrain yourself. And wash.

H5N1 is a respectable disease. Chicken farmers should be concerned. The rest of us can ease up, but be respectful.

I doubt that access to pertinent information on the bird flu would have prevented those Indian farmers from taking their lives, since, as this article indicates, the Indian government has been trying to tell its constituents that it okay to consume cooked chickens, but, overall, Indians aren’t buying it. However, in societies which are more likely to believe information from acknowledged experts--along with individually-researched information--a little push in the right direction can help prevent panic from spreading.

So keep chowing down on that *well-cooked* drumstick. For now.

WORST CASE SCENARIO: Reports says that President Bush is likely to approve a national response plan which has been prepared in case of mutation of the virus (90 million infected, 2 million dead as target figures).

(Thanks to D.)

Hand To Mouth

Philip Ochieng comments on the famine that grips Kenya--this year.

What can the President mean when he declares anything a "national disaster"? Why did he need to announce that a famine was swallowing Kenyans? With all the headline news, who did not already know? How do you rescue a nation from the jaws of death merely by giving that tragedy an official recognition? Did we elect you – and are paying you through the nose – simply to make sanctimonious statements about "generosity"? [SNIP]

Can a nation survive on the "charitability" of the "private sector" and the "donor community"? Why have we allowed this embarrassing beggarliness to become an annual ritual?

For there is no such thing as a naturally occurring "vagary" that we cannot tackle effectively with the fund of techniques to which all societies and all generations have contributed.

There is only the flaming greed which drives the very same "donor community" to destroy humanity's natural and mental habitat so completely that certain societies cannot think and work sustainably for themselves – and must beg.

Two posts ago the abundance which is available to all Americans—and to those not American, but who live in this country—was demonstrated. Contrasting that to what is going on in the country of my father’s birth, I didn’t feel so much guilty as blessed by the “accident” of birthplace and citizenship. I could very well have been raised—if not born—in Kenya.

But whose problem is the Kenyan famine and can it be solved? Philip Ochieng rails against the ‘donor community’ as an entity which ‘destroy[s] humanity's natural and mental habitat:’ an international interference in African countries which destroys incentive to do for self.

We are always being forced to do things – whether "democracy" or "development" – in accordance with a set of Western corporate self-interests marketed as "international standards" or "paradigms".

‘Forced to do things?’ Since Kenya's independence, how true is that? Or has the living by-product of dead colonialism produced a mindset within many Africans; an idea that the Europeans (and the Americans) owe Africans there lives so completely, that the former must shoulder every burden that the Africans bear, including putting food in their mouths? Did colonialism co-opt ingenuity?

Often I find my father’s tirades against the West confusing. He’s an ardent socialist who sees free market economies as detrimental; however, he occasionally will implicitly acknowledge that it is those very type of economies that will successfully feed and water (cleanly) the peoples of his continent.

Back on track, he continues to slam the lack of foresight of the Kenyan government, which has had only three presidents since its independence:

[E]very year, our people perish as much from lack of water as from an oversupply of it.

Drought is followed in April by veritable Noachian floods in which scores perish, especially in Kano, Budalang'i and Yatta. Our only choice is whether to die by drowning or from a parched throat.

Yet, year after year, after this fatalism is crowned with an impassioned appeal for "international" alms, the earth is allowed to continue with its usual "diurnal course" around the seething sun.

No thought at all is ever given to finding a perennial solution. Nobody seems interested in destroying, once and for all, the vicious circle in which this "vagary" of international fraud entraps us.

Yet the answer is as glaring. We must urgently invest in technologies with which to tame the April waters so that they do not touch human life and livelihood and to channel them into reservoirs with which to take care of future droughts.

And then my father asks the question which had formed in my mind upon reading the first paragraph.

Why won't we channel Kano waters to North-Eastern – as modern Israel has done for its wildernesses – and turn that semi-arid region into lush agricultural land?

Why not, indeed. Could it be because the Israelis well know the detriment of being dependent upon another people?

Young Kenyans—such as Akinyi June Arunga, who sometimes blogs at Martin Kimani’s fantastic African Bullets & Honey—ask themselves and their elders the same types of questions.

I watched my younger siblings being moved from one school to another as their former school got too expensive, we quit eating breakfast as bread, butter and milk became too expensive and we quit doing monthly household shopping since we could not afford it anymore.

My friends and I theorized about the creation of wealth and the formula behind it… if there was any. I wondered (often aloud to my mother) if the creation of wealth was by chance, both for countries and for individuals since I also watched many of my well educated relatives move to wealthier countries to work unskilled jobs for better pay and higher standards of living. I watched my younger siblings being moved from one school to another as their former school got too expensive, we quit eating breakfast as bread, butter and milk became too expensive and we quit doing monthly household shopping since we could not afford it anymore. [SNIP]

All I heard from the “grown ups” was that the government needed to step up and do something about one or another of the different social and economic ills that affected our lives. And the truth is that I really felt sorry for whoever’s task it was to plan everything for 30million people, and alleviate all these problems. I wondered if I would be able to do handle it if it were up to me.

I marveled at the wisdom of the people who had to run all the different government ministries and marketing boards, planning everything and even determining prices of goods and services for the whole economy. It always baffled me why all surplus grain had to be collected and put in the huge silos I saw growing up in the agricultural town on Nakuru.

Wouldn’t it be faster to let the farmers get the food to the market themselves? But on enquiry I was told that some people would not get the food if the government did not procure and redistribute it at affordable prices, and yet in the North of the country, there was always famine. [SNIP]

I was introduced formally to freedom and free market by reading books on freedom. The insights it offered were crystal clear. Presenting to me questions I had never contemplated before, such as what the proper role of government is, and the idea that protection of life, liberty and property were the only functions that could be justified in the existence of governments.

I felt relieved and elated. Relieved because I expected creation of wealth to be very complex, and now I realized that in comparison to the task of central planning, deregulation and liberalization are simple. [SNIP]

It is hard to sit back passively with the knowledge that tried and proven solutions exist for the questions and fears that many of my peers still have in Kenya -- to sit back knowing that it is within each individual’s reach if only he was “deregulated”.

It is harder to watch the law break the people, demoralize and impoverish them when one clearly understands what it would take to improve their lot.

Back when I didn't understand much about free markets and I didn't know that my father was a socialist, I asked him why the poorest of people in his country had no access to even the most rudimentary plumbing as poor people do here in the US. Tellingly, he didn't answer. I suspect that he considered my question stupid; and, after reading this latest commentary, I suspect that he had no answer which would have made sense to my very American mind.

Will young Kenyans like June stay the course? More importantly, will Africans--Kenyan and otherwise--get tired of allowing the same useless "leaders" to guide their fate? I hope--and fear--that many a revolution may have to take place in relatively open countries like Kenya in order for real republican democracy--with respect for the individual citizen, private property and free markets--to take any real hold; in order for Africa to continuously and sustainably feed itself.

Here's hoping that those revolutions are mostly peaceful.

(Thanks to Pajamas Media; Ms. Arunga’s documentary, The Devil’s Footpath, was screened at the American Renaissance Film Festival this past weekend.)

Bah Humbug!

In my adult years, I had begun to hate Christmas; that is, the idea of what Christmas had become: the commercial part of it and the way that people sometimes act during this holiday. For example, it has been very dangerous to drive this weekend, more so than usual in LA and more so than on most holidays, even the long Thanksgiving weekend.

When I went out yesterday morning, there were two abandoned, smashed-up cars on the street three blocks over. This morning, as I made my way to church, I noticed at least three intersections that still were littered with the evidence of serious car accidents: large pieces of metal, fiberglass and tiny bits of glass. For all too many, the celebration of the birth of Christ has reverted to the pagan bacchanalia which it was intended to replace all those centuries ago. This day isn’t supposed to be about endangering the lives of others via wanton drunkenness while operating large and deadly pieces of machinery, but that’s what it has become.

But the funny thing about the recent controversies involving the use of the phrase “Merry Christmas” and the singing/playing of religious Christmas carols in government, educational and corporate life is that they have served to remind those of us who accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah of what this day should mean to us. Yes, most bible scholars agree that the historical Jesus of Nazareth probably was not born on December 25th, but that’s a trivial matter. (Personally, I find Easter far more meaningful than Christmas, because it is the day celebrating the most crucial point of why Christ was born, but that’s my preference.) What shouldn’t be a trivial matter for Christians is the ‘Christ’ part of Christmas, should they choose to honor this day.

Oh, I’m not bashing the giving of gifts or even the partying. I simply think that one’s priorities should be taken into account.

If your priority is to celebrate the birth of the Savior of Mankind, then put that first. However, if it is to merely take advantage of the holiday for your own selfish purposes, then don’t act as if you really believe in the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ.

For this attitude, I am considered a type of Ebenezer Scrooge. It’s probably an accurate assessment: I’m most relieved on each January 2nd to have the season over with and have myself and all of my loved ones still intact. Let it be so for me and for you at the end of this “Christmas/Holiday Season” and all of those that come after.

It's Always Fun To Drive In LA

Notice: I *can* be petty. But unfortunately fortunately blessedly, I’m always under the conviction of you-know-Who.

Driving in LA is always an adventure and I had one of those just moments ago. One of the banes of driving here is that there is always someone who is in such a hurry that he/she feels the need to endanger others and I was subject to one of those types of drivers tonight. As often happens in these cases, I ended up passing him. But I couldn’t let it go at that. Here are my words as I passed him: “I still made it past you, Dipsh*t!”

The driver heard me and started to follow me. He pulled up beside me and began detailing a list of my perceived faults.

“You’re bald.” Geez, you think? “You’re ugly, but most of all, you’re stupid. There’s nothing that’s a worse problem than stupid black people.” (He was black, too.) Granted, calling him a “dipsh*t” within earshot was stupid, but I’m quite secure in my intellect, thanks, and I let him know that. He then wanted an inventory: where I went to school, etc. (I have veteran plates and a USAF banner in the back window.) He noted that he was driving a Lexus and that I was driving a Kia, took that to show that he was more successful than I and pulled off. I then followed him and took a photo of his plate to share with you, my good readers. Then he felt the need to start the conversation again, wanting to know why I took the photo.

“To post on my blog, of course.”

“Well, I’m going to take a photo, too,” he said, “And I will post it on my blog and entitle it as such: a stupid, ugly, bald black woman.” I smiled for the camera. (I tried to give him my name—spelled, of course—and my URL, but he had his ear buds in by then.)

It’s amazing the insults that people will throw at you when they perceive that those insults are your insecurities. Bald? Well, duh! And I had a haircut yesterday. (I’ll refrain from inferring any stupidity from that observant declaration.) And any short-haired, nappy-haired, dark-skinned black woman who hasn’t been called ugly at least a gazillion times in her life needs to get out of the house more often. And, while I have been in some straits in recent history, I’m also quite secure in my achievements in life. I’ve never been tried not to be the type to lord my blessings over others and I like my (new) job. (And my car is paid for.)

However, I know that I shouldn't have called the man a ‘dipsh*t.'

Man driving a light-cream colored Lexus with California license plates 5MXV639, I’m sorry that I called you a dipsh*t. Can we be friends? No, I don’t want a date; you’re not my type (and I’m obviously not yours), but one can never have too many friends nor too few enemies. You should drive more carefully and considerately, however. <--couldn't help it

By the way, in spite of his CIA aspersions cast upon Pajamas Media (my employer), I certainly hope that Tony Pierce wasn’t Mr. Lexus.

(Thanks to Marc Danziger, one of the classiest guys in the blogosphere)

AFTERTHOUGHT: If there are any LAPD/CHP/LA County Sheriff types reading this, don't hassle the guy; I started it (sort of). If you must stop him, give him my URL and point him to my apology (using his plate number).

UPDATE: Tony say that it "wasn't me." Another blessing. Additionally he notes that he never actually said that Pajamas Media was funded by the CIA. Noted and logged.

Mortality

I could talk to this man forever, but it appears that we don't have that long.  Only one Being knows why things happen the way they do and I wasn't there when He separated the Night from the Day.

A New Disaster

By now everyone knows about the 7.6 earthquake that rocked Pakistan and the Kashmiri part of India on Saturday morning. As is often the case, a disaster which would yield a lot of casualties in a developed region, yields a mind-bogglingly high number in a region of ancient-vintage architecture and non-existent building codes.

From throughout Pakistan, a variety of estimates on the death toll poured in. By evening, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said 19,369 people had died and at least 43,000 had been injured, based on estimates from local officials. But with much of the country still unseen by the authorities, it was impossible to settle on a definitive figure. "There are clearly several areas which are inaccessible," Mr. Aziz said. "Gradually, in a day or two, we will reach them."

At least 600 people were reported killed by the quake in neighboring India, and the United Nations said 2.5 million people in the entire stricken region needed shelter.

The toll will rise.

I heard someone on the news ask whether Pakistan and India had come to this country’s aid in its recent time of need. The answer is and should be: who cares? You know the drill by now.

PAKISTAN QUAKE RELIEF: Americares

More on Media Racism (UPDATED)

If this next passage is true--and, yes, we now have to say that about things we didn't personally witness--then why wouldn't the big media believe such things coming out of the mouth of the Chief Superintendent of Police of the city?

Contributing to the impression of lawlessness, Police Chief [sic] Eddie Compass said officers found themselves in multiple shoot-outs inside both shelters, and were forced to race toward muzzle flashes through the dark to disarm the criminals; snipers fired at doctors and soldiers from downtown high-rises, he said.

In interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Compass reported rapes of babies, and Mayor Ray Nagin spoke of "hundreds of armed gang members" killing and raping people inside the Superdome. [SNIP]

The mayor told Winfrey the crowd has descended to an "almost animalistic state."

As I said to one of my commenters in the first post, I think that Chief Superintendent Compass' (and Mayor Ray Nagin's) word on alleged black misbehavior would have been questioned and/or invesigated had they been white; that is certainly racism, but a weird version of it.

Face it. Most of the big media are being castigated for racism because they took a bunch of black folks at their word.

It's a strange world we live in.

Aside: NO Chief Superintendent of Police Compass, by definition, should have been the authoritive voice on what was going on in his city or, if information was hard for him to obtain (understandably), he should have said so instead of passing rumors around, as if he were in high school. One would guess that his resignation from his post was designed to gain back whatever shred of dignity might be available to him.

UPDATE: At last, someone gets my point. Thanks, Tyrone.

UPDATE: The commenters in this post point to the fact that I need to clear up some confusion that may exist from my words.

I'm not saying that Nagin and Compass got a pass from the Big Media for their words regarding the Superdome and the Convention Center. I am saying that those who have chastised the Big Media for alleged racism on the same subject--that means some observers in both types of media--are giving Nagin and Compass a pass.

Bringing a part of one of my comments to the front might help:

To me, not assigning just as much--or more--blame to Compass and Nagin for feeding the Big Press bogus info is racist itself. These are men who had great responsibilities and who, IMO, shirked them. Were they white, they'd be hung out to dry. But since they're black, they get a pass [from those accusing the Big Media of racism]. They're treated as if they are children--as if not that much is expected of them anyway.

I am prepared for some not be happy about my take on this. It's not as though it's the first time.

Previous Post:

Katrina: Maybe Not Racism

Storm Passed Over

Go read the serial composed by Jim of Smoke on the Water. It records his escape for the wrath of Hurricane Rita, his flight from his home--which, hopefully, still is afloat on Galveston Bay--and his enjoyment of the East Texas parking lot. It has everything, including the kindness of strangers during a crisis and how to properly soak cats. Jim plans to take a trip back to Galveston Bay to see how his home, Sloop New Dawn, fared through the storm.

I know that his home is a boat; still it seems so Texan to have a name for your house. Must be all those years of watching Dallas.

Rita: Insult and Injury

New Orleans, while lying far to the east of the eye of Hurricane Rita, is in for it again. Rain from Rita has caused the levees near the city’s Ninth Ward to be breached and is causing the district to be flooded once again. The district had been destroyed by the floods resulting from Katrina, but the Army Corps of Engineers had already started repairing the levees. This new deluge makes all of their work for naught. This has to be very painful for that district’s former residents to watch. One wonders, however, whether the rebuilding plans for New Orleans will be reconsidered. Perhaps they should be scaled down a bit.

And Rita hasn’t even made landfall yet.

Meanwhile, East Texas is one big parking lot. For Katrina, too few people evacuated in time; for Rita, too many it seems, leaving millions stranded on the major interstates. (A little bird--not the one in my comments section--told me that the back roads are the way to go; just don't run out of gas.) I heard on the news this morning that some families were taking all of their cars, which are loaded with all of their possessions. ::::sigh:::: It gives new meaning to the phrase, “you can’t take it with you.” Since the local government opened the opposite side of the highways, however, it’s said that traffic is moving faster. And not too soon.

Horribly, 24 nursing home evacuees died in an accidental bus fire on I-45 just outside of Dallas. The accident poses a kind of gruesome symmetry to the Katrina incident in which 40 nursing home residents and staff drowned after being abandoned by the home’s owners…and their relatives.

And, finally, where’s the safest place to be during a Cat 5 hurricane (besides land-locked country)? Inside a nuclear power plant facility, with the reactor shut down of course. All bets are off, however, if Rita gets tougher than the Saffir-Simpson scale can measure.

Houston, TX (AHN) - As Hurricane Rita churns into a Catagory 5 storm, Texas officials are preparing to shut down two reactors at a nuclear power plant in Rita's path.

The South Texas Project plant is designed to withstand Category 5 hurricanes, but Rita may develop stonger winds. The plant serves 1-million customers and is built on elevated ground in Bay City, 12-miles inland from the Texas coast.

But let me hush up before the Big One ripples along the San Andreas Fault. We had a few baby ones yesterday.

One more thing: for all of you who are saying that God is punishing these people for something, maybe, maybe not. Simply put, however, you don’t know and neither do I, so stop fronting as if you have an inside line to God’s intentions. Much obliged.

Oh N.O.

I don't know about you, but to my untrained eye, Hurricane Rita looks like its going to smack New Orleans also give New Orleans a supplemental smack.

That's today's track from 5:19PM EDT. God help them.

Blowing in the Wind, Take Two

And people are scared of earthquakes.

The Gulf Coast has barely dried out, yet has to make room for Rita. Rita blew threw Key West as a tropical storm and a Category 1 hurricane. But like Katrina, Rita has gathered strength during its trek westward over the Gulf of Mexico and has become a Category 5 whopper. Rita is set to hit what Katrina missed; most tracks predict that it will hit the Texas coast on Saturday morning.

This time, however, most local government officials have sense enough to order a mandatory evacuation of the area—and make provisions for it--well in advance of the new hurricane’s landfall. I’m also willing to bet that most of the affected citizenry has sense enough to take heed to those officials in this instance. (Bet those New Orleans evacuees who fled to Houston are feeling rather picked-on right now. On the other hand, perhaps some will note how different types of local governments can react differently to a crisis.)

The Captain of the Sloop New Dawn: Speaking of affected citizenry, here’s a post written by a gentleman who lives on a boat anchored in Galveston Bay. May God protect you and your furry friends, Jim.

Katrina Odds and Ends

• FEMA head Michael Brown resigns. It’s for the best, though no one has been able to point out any specific FEMA blunder.

Michael Brown's resignation came after he was recalled to Washington from New Orleans on Friday amid allegations that his agency had responded slowly and ineptly to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Although the White House had allowed him retain his title, Brown said he decided to leave now "to avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission of FEMA."

• President Bush takes responsibility for any blunders in federal disaster relief because that’s what real leaders do, whether they are personally responsible or not.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at a joint White House news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

"And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility. I want to know what went right and what went wrong," said Bush.

• Unreasonable critics of the federal government's Hurricane Katrina relief efforts will kick New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to the curb now. (No link yet.)

“My experiences with the president was [sic] any time I spoke to him personally and he promised to do something, he did it.”

President Bush must have done some of that white-man mind control on him.

• Thirty-four bodies were found in a New Orleans nursing home. The owners are charged with negligent homicide.

The owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home in Chalmette "were asked if they wanted to move (the patients). They did not. They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming," Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti said. [SNIP]

The owners had an evacuation plan as required under state law and a contract with an ambulance service to evacuate the patients, but they did not call the company, Foti said.

They also turned down an offer from St. Bernard Parish officials who asked if the nursing home wanted help evacuating, he said. The home is about 10 miles southeast of New Orleans in an area of heavy devastation.

Watch out for grandma and grandpa. Don’t let them have to entrust their lives to those who care nothing about them.

KATRINA RELIEF: Walmart

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — More than 1,300 Hurricane Katrina victims have signed up for items they need through a new hurricane gift registry at Wal-Mart stores and online at Walmart.com.

"So many friends and family members want to help hurricane victims in a tangible, personal way, and this registry is helping," said Pam Kohn, senior vice president for Wal-Mart. "Storm victims list items that they really need, and friends or family members can buy items for them at our stores or online." According to a news release, the registry opened last Thursday.

The Evacuees

I saw this clown on FoxNews emoting live—unfortunately—exemplifying everything I said here and here about able-bodied men expecting others to be the man in their place.

[Bob] Sellers: Could you ask him what he wants? What is he looking for?

[Alicia] Acuna: Sure, hold on one second.

The anchor in New York would like to know--his name is Bob--he would like to know what it is that you would like to happen. What do you want?

Man: What I would like to happen? I would like for them to give us at least $20,000 apiece so we can, you know, get our life together. You know, we didn't ask to come on that bus, slave. It's like a slave ship. It's just like, you know, back in history, you know, they put us on a slave ship. They separated us from our family. They did it--you know, just modern-day slavery, you know? Just give us what the f--- we deserve.

Read the entire transcript and/or watch the video.

You've heard of people expressing the desire to do damage to their TV when remarkable stupidity/cravenness/venality is displayed. Well, I finally had that impulse. (No, I didn't act upon it.)

There’s so much dreck in the whole last statement, it’s pointless to fisk it—it’s self-fisking. Many stories are emerging from other sources, however; stories of good men and women in bad situations and of bad men—in other words, stories of real people. I concede that they aren’t all stories of irresponsible men. (Those losers aren’t off the hook, however. Apparently I’m not the only one who noticed all those man-less women with children among the evacuees.)

From an email I received:

Two of our small [state omitted] towns have accepted 175 refugees from the hurricane. They are to stay at a local {organization omitted]. Rumor, not substantiated by official comment but by someone who was there, is that three were arrested before they got off the busses. Apparently some of the others reported to nurses on the bus that they were criminals or troublemakers and the nurses called ahead for the Sheriff to meet them. Once those three were arrested the other refugees were visibly relieved. This is being kept quiet but I know someone who was there.

It was heart breaking to hear their stories on the local TV. One man needed only one more years work to retire, one was a chemical factory worker (hired instantly by a local factory), one worked for the city, I believe one was a merchant, you get the idea. This is the opposite of what the MSM is telling. These are not poor, black, poverty stricken, non working, welfare expecting people. These are black Americans who consider themselves working middle class and who by natural disaster have lost all they have spent their lives working for. They arrived at 1am Sunday morning and some went to work this week. One man cried on camera in shame of not being able to take care of his family and having to accept charity. He also cried when he showed three handwritten pages of phone numbers and job offers he had received in a couple of days.

Why don’t the MSM—even FoxNews—stick microphones under such people? Because gratitude is boring and pontification about being a slave engenders outrage--and ratings.

(Thanks to James Taranto, who will catch a lot of unwarranted flak for that white woman remark.)

Looking Even Further Ahead

I love posting late on Fridays or on weekends because, whatever is going on, there’s no pressure to get it out there because few people are reading. There’s no fire under my butt, either real or perceived.

Just about the biggest thing going right now is the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, of course...still. Katrina did her spinning and the rest of the country seems intent on outdoing her--except for the victims and the heroes, that is.

It's not as if any disaster will produce pristine and perfect reactions from those affected--that's why we call them disasters. However, the facts coming out of the (mis)management of this disaster are too fascinating, appalling, laughable, disgusting and frightening to ignore.

• How New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin failed to follow his city’s own Emergency Preparedness Plan when it came to evacuating members of his constituency who were poorer and less able-bodied.
• How the Louisiana government blocked the Red Cross from bringing food and water to the Superdome and to the New Orleans Convention Center while a local law enforcement agency blocked the lone passable egress from New Orleans. (Who was it again that was trying to commit black “genocide?” And, yes, this does give the looting of food and water some perspective, though there was never anything wrong with lifting that stuff.)
• How Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco did not know what her responsibilities were as chief executive of her state (see above also).
• How FEMA director Michael Brown botched his job, leading to his removal from the frontlines of hurricane relief—but not (yet) to his resignation. (He was replaced by Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen.)
• How Mr. Brown may be a political appointee and may have padded his resume.
• How President Bush was slow to act in coming off of vacation, even though he declared a state of emergency in all three affected states disaster areas Louisiana on Friday August 26th, three days before Katrina made landfall.

But the big questions remain:

• How can all levels of government do better when the next disaster—natural or manmade—comes along? Specifically, how can FEMA do better? (And not many people—those with a clue or otherwise--are offering improvement suggestions.)
• How can each one of us learn to take better care of ourselves and of vulnerable family members during disasters and rely less on government?
• Are Mississippi and Alabama getting the short end of the stick when it comes to disaster relief? Or do the two states have better crisis leadership than does Louisiana?
• What types of diseases may stem from the flooding of New Orleans?
• What will be the consequences of pumping a city's worth of contaminated water back into Lake Pontchartrain?
• Can New Orleans be rebuilt?
• Should it be rebuilt?

When accusations are no longer being slung back and forth and the big and little folk get around to answering these and other more serious question, you’ll know that everyone has…um…moved on to the next big thing and that the real thinking has begun.

BTW, leftists will scream a lot, but relax: they don’t really want to impeach President Bush. Why not? Two words: President Cheney.

(Thanks to Jeff Goldstein; you need to read everything he’s written since the 29th of August.)

KATRINA RELIEF: Help Identify People Missing as a Result of Hurricane Katrina; adults and children.

Notice

I’ve had a headache on and off for the past two days; too much computer time. So I’m going to stick to reading dead trees and to not-yelling at the TV news for another day.

One thing: it’s a piece of advice, actually. Check out the Community Emergency Response Team in your area. Don’t depend on any aspect of the government to save your bacon.

(Thanks to one of Froggy’s commenters; read the post also.)

KATRINA RELIEF: Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge

Point A to Point B

When it comes to the military, everyone thinks he’s an expert. Every civilian who’s ever seen Full Metal Jacket or Top Gun thinks he knows all about basic training/boot camp/officer training school and thinks that a person goes straight from basic to the “war zone” which, nine times out of ten, is right here in the good old USA where you thought you were safe.

The Hollywood movie producers never make movies about the training a military member gets for his/her career field. Classrooms and field settings in which one learns how to be a proper infantryman, supply officer, aeromedical technician or aircraft mechanic just don’t make for compelling drama.

So the average civilian thinks that newly-minted GIs pop out of basic training and get on-the-job training by fire—literally in the case of those going to someplace like Iraq or Afghanistan. Well allow me to school ya, as it were.

I had four career fields in the Air Force; the longest technical training lasted nearly a year and a half, the shortest, eight weeks. And we’re not talking college hours. We’re talking Monday through Friday classes, eight hours per day. You know, like a job?

We learn every aspect and every conceivable contingency involved in that career field and we are objectively tested for our knowledge using both written tests and task evaluation, when appropriate.

We aren’t just dropped into, say, Baghdad, and told to do our job.

So when every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks he knows better than the professionals in the military how to move personnel and equipment under adverse conditions—like in the aftermath of a hurricane--I can point to an actual logistics officer named Jason Van Steenwyk as a trained and experienced expert, rather than listening to someone who is “talking out the side of his neck.” I’ve highlighted one post; however, read from September first on. Jason also points to others who know what they are talking about.

KATRINA RELIEF: Arab Nations

KUWAIT CITY Sep 4, 2005 — The oil-rich Persian Gulf state of Kuwait said Sunday it will donate $500 million in aid to U.S. relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

The offer is the largest known put forward since the hurricane ravaged Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and follows a $100 million aid donation from the emir of a Mideast neighbor, Qatar.

Kuwait's energy minister said his country would provide "oil products that the disaster-stricken states need in addition to other humanitarian aid."

"It's our duty as Kuwaitis to stand by our friends to lighten the humanitarian misery and as a payback for the many situations during which Washington helped us through the significant relations between the two friendly countries," Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah said in a statement carried by Kuwait's official news agency, KUNA.

Wow! God love them, too.

Looking Ahead

I hope everyone is prepared for the carnage that is slowly being revealed by the receding waters. It will dwarf 9/11’s toll, both in numbers and in physical horror, if not in ideological terror. God can always outdo man. Brace yourselves.

We must also be prepared for the collective howl of blame coming from certain observers. I almost typed ‘coming from both sides.’ However, the "both sides" phrase--spoken to create the illusion of fairness--is a crock. Only some will shriek loud and long about blame for a natural disaster. Others will act to bury the dead, heal the sick and the injured and house the homeless. Some will look at the facts, the timeline of events, and the actions of the principals and come to a conclusion. Others have already reached the only conclusion that fits with their philosphical underpinnings.

Keep praying, keep giving and keep working. I won’t exhort you to keep talking, because we all know that the talking has only begun.

KATRINA RELIEF: Chicago Jewish Community Online

Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mexico, Thailand, Singapore, Honduras and even Cuba and Venezuela! God love them all.

Tribes

The Great Whittle pontificates on tribal affiliation--pink and gray--and the sheep, wolves and sheepdogs of our society.

KATRINA RELIEF: Free Public Internet Access for Katrina Victims

Fuel to the Fire

People aren’t too happy about what I wrote here, (including some raging nutcase who hasn’t figured out that I’m changing its comments to something even nuttier). However, let me clarify a few things for *all* of those willing to understand. (I suspect that the rest of you will continue to caterwaul.)

I hold the “outmoded” view that men are supposed to be the protectors of a society, especially under conditions of adversity, like those that exist in New Orleans; specifically in the Superdome. Men should get women, children and the elderly out of harm’s way or they should protect them until help arrives. They should comfort, not make the situation worse. My point was that many men of that community seemed to have fallen down on the job. Women and girls and babies should not have to fend for themselves on such a large scale at any time, much less during a disaster; but there was the syndrome on display right before our very eyes.

To add insult to injury, "men" were terrorizing the weaker members of the evacuees--raping, robbing and murdering--rather than protecting them--and getting mad because no one would do their job: stop the goblins. *That's* what I was referring to (and I spelled it out also). (It's interesting that some of the commenters on the other post are, in effect, castigating me for rebuking monsters like these.)

Excuse me, for expecting men to preserve life, rather than take it; and, yes, I'm specifically talking about black men here. I know that many of you leftists think most (all?) black men are children and want to continue treating them as such, but I know differently; my dad and my uncles are MEN.

(About the hunger and thirst: “men” just don’t have the energy to rape, rob and murder unless their demon-possessed bodies have some food and water in them. So sustenance was coming from somewhere. The “men” simply weren’t giving any to the women, children and old people.)

Someone say that I have a different perspective because I'm a conservative. True, but I have a different perspective also because I live in a community which, similarly, contains a lot of man-less families, fatherless children and roving gangs of criminals who terrorize the residents. I'm simply pointing to the problem and how it makes things worse in *any* situation and, in really bad ones--like that down in the delta--deadly and self-defeating.

(And is it really unreasonable to expect "men" not to shoot at the rescue helicopters?)

For those of you who can’t handle the truth--not my problem. However, it is the problem of those of my race who don’t understand the role of men. That can become your problem, as well, if you keep making excuses for it.

(I posted a half-asleep version of this at this nice lady’s blog)

KATRINA RELIEF: Morgan Freeman

NEW YORK - Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman has helped organize an online auction to raise funds for disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The auction, which also includes corporate-donated items, will open Friday on the Charity Folks Web site, an online auction venue, and run until Sept. 16, it was announced Wednesday.

Items include the opportunity to attend a screening of Freeman’s upcoming film, “An Unfinished Life,” a resort getaway and memorabilia packages from various movies.

Proceeds will go to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. [SNIP]

Freeman, who lives in the Mississippi Delta, said his property missed the brunt of the hurricane, getting just rain and high winds.

UPDATE: Here's the IP address of the troll Dave, who spewed curses here and in the other post: 68.127.149.155. What a man!

Just To Get The Word Out

These are victims.

The children were found on the Causeway at Interstate 10 in New Orleans.

Child # 1
Her name is unknown, however she is believed to be about 2 years old.

Child # 2
His name may be Neiamaya or Jeremiah. His date of birth is unknown; however, he is believed to be about 2 years old.

Child # 3
Her name may be Gabby. Her date of birth is unknown; however, she is believed to be 2 years old.

Child # 4
His name is believed to be Tyreek and he is believed to e about 14 months old.

Child # 5
Her name is believed to be Zaria. She is believed to be 3 years old.

If you know any of these children, please contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or the Louisiana Missing Children’s Clearinghouse at 1-225-342-8631.

(Thanks to The Black Republican)

KATRINA RELIEF: Save the Children

UPDATE: Happy ending!

Odds and Ends

According to the Center for Disease Control infectious diseases such as cholera and typhoid are unlikely to become epidemic in this country. Mosquito-borne diseases and diseases related to unsanitary conditions—such as those which existed in the Superdome--are another matter, however.

*****

Somebody needs to keep an eye on New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

“Today was a turning point, I think,” he said. “My philosophy is never get too high, never get too low. ... I always try to keep my emotions in check and yesterday I kind of went off a little bit. I was worried about that, but it maybe worked out. I don’t know. If the CIA slips me something and next week you don’t see me, you’ll all know what happened.”

(Emphasis mine.)

Either Mr. Nagin was already this crazy or seeing his city destroyed—and/or knowledge of his own incompetence--has driven him 'round the bend. Not sure why the CIA—read: the president--would want to shut him up. Were I GWB, I’d want this guy to keep talking.

*****

And the goblins are still haunting New Orleans, attempting to hinder progress. But, fortunately, they are with their father now. And I’m not talking about God.

Police shot and killed at least five people Sunday after gunmen opened fire on contractors crossing a bridge to make levee repairs, The Associated Press reported. [SNIP]

The Army Corps of Engineers told AP that 14 contractors escorted by police were fired upon while crossing the Danziger Bridge, which spans a canal connecting Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.

If I left out the place names, you’d think this report came from Iraq. Is there anyplace else in America where the residents would attack other Americans who were trying to save their lives and stop the total destruction of their city?

“I never thought that at a National Guardsman I would be shot at by other Americans,” said Spc. Philip Baccus of the 527th Engineer Battalion. “And I never thought I’d have to carry a rifle when on a hurricane relief mission. This is a disgrace.” [SNIP]

“This is making a lot of us think about not reenlisting.” Ferguson said. “You have to think about whether it is worth risking your neck for someone who will turn around and shoot at you. We didn’t come here to fight a war. We came here to help.”

Victims, my big, black behind.

(Thanks to LGF and Mudville Gazette)

KATRINA RELIEF: The Humane Society of the United States. At least if they bite back, it's only instinct.

Yeah, I said it. Get over it.

Politics and Poor Excuses

Remind me: didn’t someone with a vivid imagination calling itself Evil Progressive castigate me in this post for some phantom, fantasy politicization of a natural disaster?

Yes. I thought so.

*****

I have no pertinent commentary about the unsurprising racial angle that some are bringing into the mix of toxic water, dead bodies and thousands of homeless people, except to say this: there were two things that disturbed me nearly as much as the death, destruction and lawlessness. As a matter of fact, one could say that those two things were by-products of the lawlessness.

• I’m sure that I’m not the only one who noticed how many husband-less women and girls there were who had babies and children along with them.
• And I’m betting that I’m not the only one who cringed as more than one man near my dad’s age wailed plaintively about why no one was doing anything for him them.

Back when I was growing up, real men took charge and made decisions. They protected women and children--especially their own children--and got them out of harm’s way; out of the way of things like hurricanes, especially when they had days of advance warning. And if they made the wrong decision, they tried to make things right and/or took the consequences. Like young Jabbar Gibson.

They didn’t expect someone else to be the protector—be the man—and then whine about how the substitute man wasn’t being the substitute man fast enough.

No one should wonder that gangs of thieves, terrorists, rapists and murderers plagued the refugees. Such are the rotten fruit of fatherless societies--societies with a dearth of real men.

KATRINA RELIEF: Here’s a fine idea!

Please consider donating, for long-term use, your idle RV or travel trailer. We are opening our park to our good neighbors from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama who have lost so much in Hurricane Katrina.

I can’t vouch for the gentleman, but his contact info is on the page.

(Thanks to A Wandering Confluence)

And Independent Sources is selling indulgences for Katrina Relief. :-P

For every link to this page of Independent Sources I will donate $5.
For every blog roll addition to Independent Sources I will donate $20.
For every comment to this posting I will donate $1.
For every comment that says something nice about Insider $2.

Very impressive.

UPDATE: Welcome Daou Report Readers! I hope most of you are far more intelligent and articulate than is your fellow Daou denizen, Fred.

UPDATE: Oops. Almost forgot; Fred's IP address is 68.109.27.164. That real man shortage is worse than I thought.

UPDATE: Apparently, several of you less discerning folk need to scroll down to see what I look like.

UPDATE: See follow-up here.