Random Musings: News and politics

He should have listened to himself

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:21:21 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9YuD9kYK9I 'nuff said

Global Warming (yawn)

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:07:57 GMT

This is a great read. It's something I think we all need to think about as everyone around panics in a massive reactive mode to science influenced by politics.

New Orleans and Politics

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 03:41:56 GMT

A few of my friends have decided that GWB is the Devil in all of this Hurricane madness and are mad as hell. Understandable, as he's the President and shouldn't he be Superman? Well, in this case, not really.

I did a lot of reading tonight and learned a few things that I hope my friends also go and investigate because it's quite interesting.

The Washington Post (no friend to the Right Wing), reported that the federal government did not, in fact, skimp on money to fix the levees. In fact, Lousiana got about $1.9 billion in the 5 years GWB has been President for public civil works projects, while California, a state more than 7 times its size, got $1.4 billion. And much of this money was spent just keeping New Orleans dry. So that's one myth we can all let go of.

It also turns out the Red Cross was ready with support from day 1. Why weren't they sent in by FEMA? Well, as it turns out, FEMA is not allowed to send anyone in. They have no jurisdiction. The Red Cross had a ton of trucks ready with food, water, etc to go to the Superdome and the Convention Center. So where were they? Are you ready?

The Lousiana Department of Homeland Security told them they couldn't go. What??? And that's not a branch of the federal government, btw -- that's the state's own agency. They felt that if they sent the Red Cross there, it would attract more people to come there and they wanted people to leave. So essentially, while they were screaming that nobody was helping them, they were at the same time holding off help. Madness.

Then we get to why the National Guard wasn't deployed. FEMA also doesn't have control over them, the state does. Kathleen Blanco, the govenor of the state, made a calculated play to not use the guard for specific purposes and she was VERY against not letting the Federal government take control of the situation, so she turned down the offers for that as well.

The Red Cross has a FAQ about the Hurricane in which they say:

Access to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

Lesly Simmons, spokesperson for the Red Cross has said that the shipments were NOT turned away by the US Dept of Homeland Security, but by the Lousisana Office of Homeland Security.

So, my dear friends, while your wrath may turn right now to the President you just don't like to begin with, you really need to do some digging around to find that this disaster was manageable and spiraled quickly out of control because the govenor of the state decided that politics mattered more than people did and she held control until it was too late. She made the wrong bets and at the end of the day, once the smoke clears, her career will be over.

This is not to say the federal government is blameless -- I am sure we will find a great number of stupid things about what happened, but I would just like people to be fair and lay the proper blame for where this madness started and it's at the local level. This scenario has been known for quite some time, they have had drills, they have practiced, and they knew what they needed to do, and they pooched it all around. It's criminal.

New Orleans

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 23:33:06 GMT

So I'll say this: I can't believe in this day and age that New Orleans, let alone the state in which it exists, had no plan for a flood of their city. By the reaction of all involved, you would think that this never occurred to them. "Holy Shit! We live in a city under water! Holy Shit!" I mean, come on guys! And now everyone is blaming the feds for not responding fast enough. I'll say this: Rudy stood up and took control of his city after 9/11. The mayor of New Orleans is obviously no Rudy. But they need one, bigtime. It's a horrid thing to watch on TV and I can't believe it's happening in this country.

I agree with Peter Ford: blame the French for building a city under water.

Why prison sentences don't matter

Wed, 11 May 2005 19:36:52 GMT

This is why I do not believe violent criminals, rapists, child molestors and assorted others should ever be let out of jail. They are not "fixable" and are a danger. At some point as a society, we are going to have to deal with this problem and rid ourselves of these nutballs as they reveal themselves. If I were the parent of the other slaughtered girl, I would be out of my mind with rage at whomever let him out of jail.

Quote

Dad allegedly admits killing daughter, friend - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com

Graphing your Politics

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 18:20:06 GMT

Here is mine, where is yours?

The Wardrobe Malfunction

Sun, 30 Jan 2005 01:46:26 GMT

Okay, so we are near the one year anniv. of the apparent trauma of American's seeing a naked boob on national TV. I have been amazed at how completely moronic some people can be, but this one incident really baffles me. It reminds me of a discussion I had with a parent I knew after Titanic came out. He had taken his 9 year old son to the movie and was appalled that nobody had warned him that Kate Winslet was (gasp!) NEKKID in it. I asked him why he wasn't bothered by a giant ship slamming down on people in the water, people falling and dying, and mommies tucking their babies into bed, but somehow a naked woman was a problem.

He of course had no answer.

This article from The Onion is priceless.

So, remember: violence okay, nudity bad. Violence okay, nudity bad. Say it with me now...