One more for the night

Second Harvester Food Banks: 1-800-344-8070

Baton Rouge Red Cross: 225-291-4533

American Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW or 1-866-HELP-NOW

www.feedthechildren.org/

http://www.feedthechildren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=usw_hurricane_katrina

FEED THE CHILDREN: 1-800-525-7575

(Thus far, people have had better luck getting in on the 800#s, since the websites are SLAMMED --- ALWAYS A GOOD THING!!! --- but if you're in Louisiana or Mississippi and want to help, well, keep trying the websites, because Bellsouth & Eatel are chock-full o'jammed phone lines. STILL can't get through to Baton Rouge or New Orleans from here.)

1-866-HELP-NOW

CORRECTION!

Just heard the phone number on the radio again, and it's not "Get Help," like I thought --- it's 1-866-HELP NOW.

Also:

If anybody in the NOLA/Slidell/Pearl River areas knows where these people are, please get them to holler at me and let me know that they're still alive. I was telling the truth when I said that nobody in New Orleans misses MY ass, but I would still like to know if these people are still breathing, and if they need help.

ANDREA GARLAND

PAUL HECKLER

DORSE' BOUDREAUX

NICK E. BUSCH

JON POWELL

KERRY & ANTHONY KOLESA, AND ANTHONY'S ENTIRE HUGE FAMILY

PATTY "PAGAN"

HARRY LENZ

REVEREND GOAT

EDDIE "I'M NOT AN INDIAN"

ALL THE GIRLS FROM THE DRAGON'S DEN

ANYBODY WHO'S EVER WORKED AT THE DUNGEON(well, ALMOST anybody)

ANWER & JENNY BASHI

DAVE WHITE

and the list goes on...

Anybody who knows how to find these folks (Bellsouth is NOT being very helpful in finding anybody on the phone, I can't dial out of this PARISH, to Baton Rouge, New Orleans, or anywhere else, and most of Slidell is GONE), please tell them to holler at me. joannaagain@hotmail.com

I've been e-mailing everybody that I can think of, but if they're still in Orleans or Slidell, it's likely that there ARE no phone lines, or cell phone towers operating (or operating at double capacity, and hard as hell to get through). So if anybody out there in the ether can locate these folks, it would be a huge favor to me if you could get them to holler at me.

Thanks!

another half-assed blog post from the comments

I'm not worth much these days, too much shit going on and too little that I can actually DO.

All I can say is to keep trying those Red Cross numbers/sites. My plan of action is going to be this: When my check comes on the 3rd, I'm going to find SOME help agency, whether state, municipal, federal or private, to get my ass INTO Orleans Parish (with ye olde trusty GMC & the now-no-longer-ex-boyfriend).

I can't just sit here. It's fucking killing me. The neighborhood where my house was, is COMPLETELY UNDER WATER. I was always so proud, to have found the one house in my area of Broadmoor that never took water in the bad-assed flood of '98. I seriously doubt that much of my former home is still there now.

They've got inmates from Orleans Parish Prison, camped out behind hastily-strung razor wire, RIGHT ON THE BROAD STREET OVERPASS OF THE INTERSTATE. I am not kidding.

People still stranded on roofs, bodies starting to surface all over town --- it's really a fucking vivisection for a four-parish area, not just my mouthy self.

Thanks, Duhnonymous. I really appreciate your donation and anyone else's. I'll let y'all know when I can get down there to help. This is a little different from going to Crawford --- there is no other option.

And that hairsprayed bitch Rick Perry is on TV every fucking breath, offering the damned-near-collapsing-from-old-age Astrodome as an alternate shelter from the SuperDome (they'll go to the CajunDome in Lafayette first, I'd wager), and saying how much Texas is going to help. Yeah, I wanna see fucking BANDAR BUSH chipping to in to help, gawddamnit! Those Texas billionaire motherfuckers love to come party in New Orleans --- LET 'EM HELP REBUILD IT, instead of just offering platitudes or smarmy bullshit on TV.

I highly recommend Feed The Children to donate food/money, the Red Cross, and there are a few dozen other sites/organizations that are pitching in. I think that the # they told on the radio a minute ago was 1-866-GET-HELP. I can't promise that that's the right one, but it's worth a shot.

Also: Habitat For Humanity!!! I haven't heard anything official from them yet, but I'd wager both tits that they'll be among the first to chip in to help rebuild as soon as the water recedes.

All Baton Rouge shelters are full, as they're saying on the radio right now, and the nearest place open for shelter is indeed the CajunDome in Lafayette.

And another thing --- LOOTERS!!!!!! Those greedy motherfucking scumbag looters in Orleans Parish --- they've already got giant floating balls of fire ants, wandering around in the flood water --- all they need is a target, and we could easily provide that with some duct tape and rope to hold 'em down! A little honey at the water line, and they would never steal from LOCAL BUSINESSES AND FAMILY STORES AGAIN. They're not breaking into WALLY WORLD. They're breaking into SMALL, FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES. INDEPENDENTS WHO DIDN'T FUCKING *GOUGE*!!!!!! Small wonder that people respect New Orleanians so little... Show a moment of weakness, and they're on you like fucking VULTURES. First time that I've ever empathized with N.O.P.D. --- they're wading through crotch-deep, probably encephalitic flood water & raw sewerage & oil/gas spills, with shotguns, trying to fight-off the looters.

And no, the cops aren't just "protecting the money people" like they usually do --- they're actually trying to protect EVERYBODY. Yes, you could say that I'm shocked. And amazed.

So, soon as I can get past the martial law in Jefferson Parish to get down there, I'm going. I am NOT seeking donations for myself, AT ALL. I'll let y'all know when & if & where I'm headed, but send your money to the Red Cross (and keep an eye on those weasels, too) and Feed The Children and Second Harvester Food Banks and Habitat For Humanity. SERIOUSLY.

They're saying on the news (amongst all of the hype & endless loop-tapes of the same aerial footage from yesterday) that this could be the worst natural disaster in American history. And yes, a lot of this damage & death could have been prevented. Go fucking figure. And for once, it's not all New Orleans' fault.

If THIS clusterfuck doesn't wake the ignorant-ass Bush bitches up to the REALITY of the cold-hearted, soulless EVIL that is the Bush Regime, nothing will. I wish that the fucking rapture would come NOW, so that we could take their shit and bring it to New Orleans, for people who actually NEED IT.

Levee Breaks, Bush Evil

Good article from Infoshop News:

....When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain...

Read the article for the whole story. Let us remind ourselves that bush gave tax cuts to the wealthy and all our money to his folly in Iraq at the expense of the safety of American citizens. And people say liberals are anti-American? What could be more anti-American than cutting funds for disaster management?

According to news I heard on the radio, in 2001 FEMA conducted a study to determine worst case scenarios that could happen. One was the levees breaking in LA, one was a terror attack in NY and the other was an earthquake in San Francisco. Bush cut funding for the FEMA research as well. Why do they even bother to have FEMA when our leader is more interested in his oil cronie's concerns?

vivisection by television

I just wrote this in one of the comments threads below, and thought maybe that it would encapsulate what it's like, to sit here, two hours away from my home, (even though I moved out at Xmas 2002), and not be able to do a fucking thing about it.

"But to see that great city (for all of its backwardness, inbred behavior and corruption) fall into absolute chaos... I can't look. I'm not watching any more of it on the news. It hurts too much.

I know, I'm a fucking wuss, I should be in such hell myself --- but I don't have any money to send (any money, period, at the moment), and they won't let anybody go down there to help.It's so fucking frustrating... it's like watching people starve, and all you need is to get across the water to feed them.

Maybe after this shit, "Survivor" will finally die out, when people realize that this shit still HAPPENS to REAL PEOPLE, and it's NOT fucking ENTERTAINING!!!"

Want to protect your child from the military?

Go here Leave My Child Alone and find out how.

Oil will be loaned to refiner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration will loan oil from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to at least one U.S. refiner suffering shortages from Hurricane Katrina, the Energy Department said Wednesday.

It's crude oil. It needs to be refined. Problems are looming as some refineries are under water. The shit is hitting the fan for bush.

Before the boy king decided to cut his pro-war PR tour short to pretend to give a shit about those ravaged by Katrina, he gave an address at the naval base in San Diego.

Boston Globe: CORONADO, Calif. -- President Bush answered growing antiwar protests yesterday with a fresh reason for US troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the country's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorist extremists.

Oh goodie, we needed another reason for his folly. NOT.

The president, standing against a backdrop of the USS Ronald Reagan, the newest aircraft carrier in the Navy's fleet, said terrorists would be denied their goal of making Iraq a base from which to recruit followers, train them, and finance attacks.

Um, er, excuse me, but wasn't their goal to get all the terrorists to flock to Iraq so we could fight them there instead of here?

''We will defeat the terrorists," Bush said. ''We will build a free Iraq that will fight terrorists instead of giving them aid and sanctuary."

Hey bushie, there is a crisis in the south and they need the money you're pissing away on a hopeless war and they need the National Guard. Oh Lord, please don't let my brains explode.

Earth to bush. Are you there?

From bush’s speech yesterday:

"If Zarqawi and bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a new training ground for future terrorist attacks," Bush said. "They'd seize oil fields to fund their ambitions. They could recruit more terrorists by claiming a historic victory over the United States and our coalition."

Yahoo news (LINK)

Seems to me we have heard someone in the ranks say the first part of this already occurred. Didn’t someone say that we had created a training field in Iraq for future terrorist? Egad, the man some call president has completely lost connections to planet earth. Now he’s just freewheeling in space.

Keeping that in mind, how do you feel about this?:

"The president, upon his return to Washington, planned to chair a meeting of a White House task force set up to coordinate the federal efforts to assist hurricane victims across more than a dozen agencies".

This situation on the Gulf Coast is critical. Shouldn’t we be looking for someone more in touch with reality to coordinate the plans? When was the last time this president made a good decision?

The crisis grows

I watched CNN last night and they were showing footage of looters in a Walmart. Ya know what? Big deal. I would imagine that most looters are looking for survival supplies like food, drink, clothes, radios, camping equipment... then of course you have your criminal types who are looking for big ticket items, but I doubt that the majority of looters are criminals. They are hungry and thirsty and wet. The overtaxed police and rescuers should be concentrating on rescuing those still on rooftops and forget about empty shelves in local stores.

Here in the northeast, when we get notice of an impending nor'easter, people are falling all over each other in the markets, convenience stores and gas stations stocking up on supplies. Once rational people will wrestle you for a gallon of milk or the last pack of batteries when a storm is brewing. Imagine the situation in the Katrina ravaged areas- heat index is over 100º, there's no communication so they can't call for help, no running water, no food, no shelter- people are bartering hundreds of dollars of their possessions just to get liquids. A health crisis is brewing big time.

The CNN bimbo was trying to get Sen. Mary Landrieu's reaction to the looters and she pretty much said the same thing that I was thinking- Concentrate on rescuing people and figure out what to do with the tens of thousands who need to be relocated as it's hot as hell and water is in short supply. All hell is going to break loose among the survivors if they don't get adequate food and shelter -looting stores will be the least of their problems.

Hell from above and Hell from below

The situation grows more dire on the Gulf Coast with every tick of the clock. First the winds blew in from above and now the water is rising like a monster from below. The reality of the situation is beyond comprehension. It’s something that none of us can understand. I certainly can’t.

The question I keep hearing on TV this morning is how long will it take to rebuild. I look at those aerial shots and ask how long will it be before they can even think about rebuilding. First you have to evaluate the problem before you can even begin correcting it.

Almost one year ago to the day, our own house was hit headon by hurricane Frances. We lost our roof protection and as a result our house leaked like a sieve as inches and inches of rain poured down. Our power wasn’t out for a long period of time but our gas connection to the house broke so we had turn off our gas outside resulting in no hot water or cooking ability. There were trees down everywhere but fortunately none on our house. When we were able to get out in our car all traffic lights were down and nothing was open. Cell phone systems were overwhelmed and useless. Most land lines were out. It was desolate. It was an unfamiliar world.

We covered what parts of our roof that we could with those awful but wonderful blue tarps. In about a week (guessing here because everything was so disastrous my mind refused to record it in days and weeks, it was just one big blur.) Ivan circled back around and was beginning to form again. As it passed over us it sat and rained inches and inches and inches. As I recall we got 12 to 14 inches of rain in a day or so. More leaks occurred. I went into the utility room one morning and stepped into two or three inches of water. The vent for the hot water heater had come loose and water was flowing down. I rigged up a deal with towels and plastic storage containers so that the towels caught the water at the ceiling where it was leaking and the towels dripped down into the plastic containers. About every half hour I would slip out one container and insert the other one, then empty the water from the first one. We were afraid to flush our toilets because we didn’t want to overload our septic system. I won’t go into details on that.

Within three weeks of Frances’ visit, I awoke one morning to discover that, like Frances, hurricane Jeanne would make a direct hit here. We put everything that we could in big black plastic trash bags and sealed them up. All our linens, shoes, clothes that weren’t on hangers, just everything that would fit in a bag. We put all out hanging clothes on our bed and covered them with another big blue tarp. Our minivan was in the garage so we put things like the computer and antiques that would fit, in the van. Our house looked like a giant group of black plastic bag monsters had invaded. Then we packed up some clothes, our pets and our insurance records etc. and we headed out for a family member's home in Tampa. Our house was just too dangerous to stay in during another hurricane.

When we came home everything that had been wet during the first storm was wet again. Most of the blue tarps on the roof were gone. But we were really in no worse shape than we had been after Frances, just as bad again.

Now, almost one year later we aren’t yet where we were before the hurricanes, but we will be very soon. Because of the overwhelming demand for roof replacement in this area and all kinds of other repairs, we all were placed on waiting lists and all we could do was wait our turn for everything. As of this morning the flooring company will begin replacing what remained of our carpeting. (After the hurricanes we had to cut out big chunks of wet carpet and toss it before it began to mildew, so we have parts of our floor that are bare concrete. We have covered much of it with plastic runners for all this time.) This morning at 10:00am we will finally begin the end.

One year of living differently is finally coming to an end. Tonight when I go to bed, I won’t be stepping on concrete and plastic. Tonight I’ll be stepping on beautiful, plush, new, wonderful carpeting. This was supposed to be a big day of celebration for Mr. Pop and me. After a year of all the repairs, replacements, painting, fixing, this was to be our big day. The day that marked the end of a year of frustration and difficulties and yeah, a lot of crying and cursing. But, we just don’t feel it would be right to celebrate today, we can’t, it wouldn’t be right. Not now when so terribly many people aren’t even to the point of thinking about rebuilding, they are still trying to survive. Last night Mr. Pop and I donated to the Red Cross. We are finally to a point now where we can use what we have to help people who need it so much. Maybe it’s okay to celebrate that.

Bush Cancels Vacation to Focus on Relief

That's what this news report says. Well he sat in the proverbial classroom long enough. 'S'bout time he got to work.

I saw on CNN that the rest of the Louisiana National Guard will return from Iraq in eight days. According to this news report, Gulf state National Guardsmen stationed in Iraq are devastated by the news of Katrina, however this is disturbing and the man who said it must have had a gun to his head as we all know that you don't sign up for the National Guard if you want to fight wars overseas:

Asked how his troops felt being in Iraq while their state was in such difficulty, Jones replied: "Well, we all know our primary mission is the federal one."

"The secondary mission is to serve at the pleasure of the governor in disaster-relief and other missions," said Jones, 44, who works for a company managing the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

More on Guard Units at the NY Times.

I read that US Agencies are slow to respond to major US health threats such as botulism, anthrax, smallpox and bubonic plague. This is bad news as the areas ravaged by Katrina, particularly New Orleans will soon be a petri dish of disease as bodies from cemeteries may emerge, the sewage system has overflowed, there are chemical spills and I see kids swimming in the flood waters. Oh baby, we're talking about cholera, tuberculosis, malaria, West Nile virus, and dengue fever. US agencies had better get their acts together. This is a tremendous catastrophe.

If you'd like to help agencies who work in the field of emergency response to this disaster, check out networkforgood.org.
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U.S.: Cuban Militant Shouldn't Be Deported

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; 5:48 AMELPASO, Texas -- "A Cuban militant and accused terrorist is not eligible for asylum in the United States but shouldn't be sent back to Cuba, a lawyer for the government told a judge in the opening day of the man's deportation hearing. Luis Posada Carriles requested asylum after being arrested in May on charges that he sneaked into the country illegally through Mexico. He was arrested in Miami.

"Lead government attorney Gina Garrett-Jackson told the judge Monday that federal officials hadn't yet decided if they would oppose Posada's deportation to Venezuela, where he has been accused of orchestrating the deadly 1976 bombing of a Cuba jetliner.
She cited concerns about torture in opposing his potential deportation to Cuba".

(Emph. PoLT) Considering this government's track record on torture, my question is, "Are we afraid they will torture him? Or are we afraid they won't?"

Read the entire article at The Washington Post.

US to Uganda: If You Have Sexual Relations, You Deserve to Get AIDS

The Ugandan government had made great strides in reducing the AIDS epidemic with their condom program but the US has attached "moral" strings to funding the program. (oh yes, the US, that bastion of morality in the world)

Sure, condoms won't completely stop the spread of AIDS, nor will condoms eliminate unwanted pregancies, but proper use reduces the numbers of the suffering: AIDS infected human beings and those born who are unwanted and destined to live a life in poverty. Sex education would ideally explain to those who use condoms that they are not fool proof, yet their chances of contracting AIDS or conceiving a child, or both are greatly reduced. They could add abstinence education as part of the program and explain that abstinence is the only fool proof way to avoid these consequences. In the meantime distribution of condoms to those who insist on participating in that dreaded activity- sexual relations, should be encouraged.

I mean, how cruel is it when an innocent person, perhaps a faithful wife contracts AIDS or a sexually transmitted disease because her mate didn't have a condom in his pocket or information about sexually transmitted diseases when he was thinking with his dick rather than his brain and fucks some other woman who is infected? What does the government think- that punishing innocent people will make sex stop? How stupid.

The secret agenda of Big Brother US government is to insist that people not engage in a practice that goes back to the beginning of time or be punished with an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease. This disgusts me:

The Guardian Reports: "There is no doubt in my mind that the condom crisis in Uganda is being driven by [US policies]," Mr Lewis said yesterday. "To impose a dogma-driven policy that is fundamentally flawed is doing damage to Africa."

The condom shortage has developed because both the Ugandan government and the US, which is the main donor for HIV/Aids prevention, have allowed supplies to dwindle, according to an American pressure group, the Centre for Health and Gender Equity (Change).

In 2003, President Bush declared he would spend $15bn on his emergency plan for Aids relief, but receiving aid under the programme has moral strings attached.

Recipient countries have to emphasise abstinence over condoms, and - under a congressional amendment - they must condemn prostitution.

Oh come on. The US is punishing innocent people by imposing restrictions on foreign governments. That's not fair. That's terrorism- Do it our way or die.

To be fair and share the blame with our government, the first lady of Uganda, Janet Museveni, also promotes abstinence only education. She is also being criticized because it doesn't work.

When I was raised a Catholic, abstinence education was the sole part of sex education. Sure, we tried to remain abstinent and we were abstinent until that moment that it went out the window. And that is the moment that people should be prepared for. Your first time probably wasn't planned. It's kind of ironic that at one time Catholics were having the most abortions. We had to try to figure out what was the worse sin- having sex or using birth control! Since those who make the Catholic rules are mainly homosexual and taken care of financially by the tithes of the faithful, they don't have to worry about birth control and the economic burden of an unwanted pregnancy. But they don't mind telling the faithful that they are going to hell if they disobey. Funny that the clergy aren't afraid of hell- maybe they know something we don't know? Hmmm.

Swaziland the country with the world's highest AIDS epidemic, tried a ban on teenage sex thinking it would slow the spread of AIDS. It didn't work and it placed the burden on girls. What else is new? "Swaziland has one of the highest rates of Aids in the world. In a population of 1.1 million people, nearly one in three girls aged 15-19 are HIV positive and many became pregnant despite wearing the tassels." Girls wore tassels to signify their virginity. Men would lose a cow if they violated the tassel. That practice has been stopped. no way! By the way, 66% of the population live on less than $1/day. See article

Swaziland's king, a polygamist, enjoys a ritual of bare breasted young virgins who dance erotically for him- then he picks another wife from the girls. Oy vay, does this country need some help or what? What really galls me is that women are stuck paying the price for all the horny men in the world. We should pass out dildos to young women of the world so they can just say no to men who don't believe in birth control.

There is a Hell and they need to go there

Already there are reports of looters in the area where Katrina had her way with the Gulf Coast. Stealing food from a torn up market is one thing, if those doing the stealing are hungry. I guess I can sort of understand that, although it still isn’t right, but stealing guns from a pawn shop is so freakin’ wrong and even more freakin’ dangerous in an already dangerous situation.

One man and his family came home to their, ripped to shit, house today only to find his son’s computer and the family television had been taken by looters. Some bottom feeders had seen the house with the tree laying on top of it and in their cave dwelling wisdom decided what little the family had left would now be their own. Humans continually prove themselves to be the best and worst of any animals on earth.

What kind of person takes advantage of another person’s loss? What kind of mind, in the middle of a tragic disaster says, "What can I get out of this"? Is it the same kind of mind that jacks up the price of gasoline, ice and water after a disaster like this? I’d say yes. Anyone who sees this awful destruction and their first thought is, "What’s in it for me"? or, "How can I use this loss for my own gain"?, should be handcuffed and mainlined straight to hell! Oh, you say, there isn’t a hell? Well, yes there is and it’s called Iraq. Catch these disgraceful human beings (?) and send them straight over to the war in Iraq. Last I heard we were a bit short of soldiers to fight in this war, and since these scum suckers have already shown how brave they are by stealing helpless people’s property, I’m sure they would be just as brave on the blood soaked sands of Iraq. Don’t bother sending them to jail; just slap their asses on the next military plane that’s headed for hell.

Dr. Frankenstein and a Laboratory Called Iraq

A crazed scientist, known as Dr. Frankenstein, entered into the laboratory known as Iraq. Dr. Frankenstein wanted to try to create a certain life form using the body parts of both Americans and Iraqis. The doctor proclaimed that his life form would be the salvation of all in the laboratory. During his experiments he used many different body parts of many different dead bodies. He flailed around with his experiment for years but to no avail. Finally in his frustration to create his own form of life he settled for his most recent, however flawed, product and he flipped the switch. The form on the table twitched as the current of life entered its body. The form came to life and arose from the table, but it wasn’t what the people had been led to expect. This was a life form that had taken on the characteristics of all that had been previously feared. This was no salvation. This was a monster!

Dr. Frankenstein, rather than admit he had created a monster, praised his creation with great glee. The monster moved about the laboratory and seemed determined to ignore any of Dr. Frankenstein’s weak commands or demands. It proceeded to move unhampered about the laboratory and its evil was apparent to most. Many, in this laboratory known as Iraq, feared the monster and demanded that Dr. Frankenstein stop the monster before it began its destruction. Dr. Frankenstein ignored their pleas. He countered their pleas by saying that no matter what kind of life form he had created, he had succeeded in creating something. Dr. Frankenstein refused to see his creation for what it was, a dreaded monster. He refused to see that his creation was dangerous to all in its path. Dr. Frankenstein refused to admit he had wasted precious treasure on his experimental folly. So, as the monster began its life and traveled about the laboratory on its evil mission, Dr. Frankenstein walked away from the laboratory completely blind and deaf to the devastation his creation was about to inflict.

What was Dr. Frankenstein’s intention when he began his experiment? Was he like a child dabbling in the unknown? Why hadn’t he learned from others who had tried to create life forms in that same laboratory? Why did he think he could conduct the same experiments that had been tried so many times before and get a different result? Did Dr. Frankenstein truly believe in his ability to do what had not been done? Why would he allow the resulting monster its freedom?

Maybe Dr. Frankenstein had a different reason for his experiment. Maybe Dr. Frankenstein didn’t care what he created. Maybe he just wanted to enjoy the experimenting, regardless of the outcome. Or, perhaps that was his plan from the beginning. Maybe that’s why he took such pride in what he had done. Maybe the creation of a monster was his goal from the start. Perhaps he thought that he could create a monster that he could control like some evil robot.

Now the monster is there in the laboratory and the doctor is far away. What are the people in the laboratory supposed to do? Must they become the servants of the monster? How long will they be able to control their anger toward the doctor who created their hell? Why must these people become the victims of this monster and the creature he has created?

Da bitch done been and gone!

Okay, my last official statement, reiterated from the comments here & at Jesus' General (haven't made it to World O'Crap yet, I'm way behind over there anyway), about this gawddamned hurricane.

Y'all sound like a bunch of old yentas, talking about me like I'm stranded on a desert island... heh heh heh... much as I love y'all for it, I told y'all not to worry, and I was right.

New Orleans, on the other hand, is pretty much fucked.

Been seeing the aerial footage of New Orleans at the Beastmaster's (she's got satellite, I can't even pick up a signal from a B.R. station)... So many great old houses (from the 1920s on)in my old neighborhoods, completely submerged. So much destroyed.

I'd been going by the online & radio estimates of HUMAN DAMAGE, I had no idea how bad the MATERIAL DAMAGE would be... and yes, they're just "things" but they're things and places with so much history for so many people...

The BM said that I should feel guilty, because the 12 years I lived in New Orleans, no major hurricane damage, even from Andrew or Hugo.

Soon as I leave, WHAMMO!

Yeah, I needed THAT shit.

So, folks are still stranded on roofs in certain (poor) neighborhoods in Orleans & St. Bernard parishes. Most of the neighborhoods down by U.N.O. and the lake, the middle-to-lower-middle-class working-class neighborhoods built from the 1920s to WWII, are completely submerged, and nobody knows how many of the old people & young families who live there actually made it out.

The Irish Channel, my favorite neighborhood, is probably largely under water, but since it's so close to the river, the water will soon recede, those 1800s houses will survive (except for the ones owned by slumlords who don't do maintenance), and the alligators will cross Magazine street again, to get back to the river. Entire facades of French Quarter buildings (the buildings date back to the 1600s in some cases, the facades usually date to the early 20th) have dropped into the street, atop cars & one stray Lucky Dog cart.

Bodies have been seen floating along the old (retired) Desire streetcar line, near the Intracoastal Canal. The question is, since these bodies are popping-up in the 9th Ward, and they're not dressed in funereal finery (yes, even the above-ground graves can get airborne in the right flood) --- were they in the IC already, or were they on their way to anonymous, watery graves when Katrina hit? You'd play hell finding a 9th Ward native who couldn't wade through flood water without drowning. They might not all SWIM, but they sure as hell can TREAD WATER.

Far as I've seen, most old people/cripples/seriously ill folks have been successfully evacuated to higher ground, and no reports of lost children yet. Mississippi has death tolls in the double-digits (60 to 70 thus far). True death tolls won't be in for a couple of days, after everybody's had a chance to find all of their people or not.

But, as always, Louisiana (and yes, even po' ol' Mississippi) will survive. Not like we have a choice. And don't hold your breath for Dumbya to come visiting and offering condolences, either. And sure as HELL don't hold your breath for FEMA or any other federal agency to pay what it will actually COST to rebuild New Orleans. They never have before. And with Dumbya's cuts, they sure as hell won't now. But maybe some of the yuppie-scum republicunts in Orleans Parish will finally realize that the clusterfuck of republicuntism is helping to destroy that city damned nearly as bad as Reconstruction & carpetbaggers. As far as St. Bernard Parish goes, they never learn SHIT. Same for the North Shore. These are, after all, the people who almost got David Duke elected governor.

And hell yes, I'm homesick as hell.

Here's some blogwhoring to settle y'all's nerves:

http://www.blondesense.net/2005/08/little-soft-feet-big-wondering-eyes.html

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/ (Jesus' General)

http://rogueplanet.blogspot.com/

http://www.allspinzone.com/blog/

http://blogs.salon.com/0002874/ (World O'Crap)

http://righthandthief.blogspot.com/
(A New Orleans blog that probably has some great shit about Katrina up by now, if they can.)

http://mortaljive.blogspot.com/

http://notcivil.blogspot.com/

Enjoy.

Why isn’t Bush on the border?

"Some courageous Republican, to get the attention of this White House, should drop into the hopper a bill of impeachment, charging Bush with a conscious refusal to uphold his oath and defend the states of the Union against "invasion".

"It may be the only way left to get his attention, before the border vanishes and our beloved country dissolves into MexAmerica, what T.R. called a “polyglot boarding house for the world".

Who would utter such horrendous words--that Bush should be impeached? I'll give you a hint: he was a nominee himself for president not too long ago. Click on Tracy Press for the suprising answer.

Time Out For a Little Musical Fun

Go here: Musicoutfitters.com

See on the left where it says “search” ? Okay type in the year you graduated from high school and hit “go”

A new page will come up with three choices. Click on the first one, the one that says, Top 100 songs…(of whatever year you typed)

Then you’ll see a list of the top one hundred songs of that year.


A Sweet Southern Curtsy to Rox Populi at Roxanne.typepad.com.

Democracy in Iraq

From the Rude Pundit's Democracy in Iraq :

Article 17, Part 1 reads: "Each person has the right to personal privacy as long as it does not violate the rights of others or general morality." Article 36 says that freedoms of "expressing opinion by all means," "of press, publishing, media, and distribution," and "assembly and peaceful protest" are guaranteed "as long as it does not violate public order and morality." And in that one word, "morality," the hopes of a free and open and democratic Iraq are as dead as the soldiers falling there as this is written.

Let's re-state this: If you engage in personal, private activity that violates "general morality," you do not have the right to engage in it. Sweet Foucaultian nightmare scenarios. Homosexuality, judicious use of pleasure devices, adultery, pre-marital sex, even sexual positions in a married relationship can be banned because it violates what might be considered "general morality." And, since the Constitution says that Islam rules, forget about anal sex, with oral sex and masturbation up for debate. So if you like your husband to fuck you in the ass and you happen to mention it to some of the women at the market and they tell the local authorities, you can pretty much expect a home visit from club-wielding governmental holy thugs.

You can bet that wrong wing christians in murka would love to enact this sort of thang. oy.

If it keeps on raining Levee's gonna break.
If it keeps on raining, Levee's going to break.
When the levee breaks I'll have no place to stay.
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan.
Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan.
Its got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home.
Oh well, oh well, oh well,

Don't it make you feel bad when you're trying to find your way home,
You don't know which way to go.
If your going down South, they got no work to do
If you don't know about Chicago.

Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good.
Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good.
When the levee breaks, mama you got to move.
All last night, sat on the levee and moaned.
Thinking about my baby and my happy home.
Oh well, oh well, oh well... (Led Zeppelin)

"We have lost all the gains we made over the past 30 years

Last week bush embarrassed himself by asserting the following regarding women's rights in Iraq. It left me dumbfounded as I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Apparently he didn't know either because he wasn't exactly sure what Condi told him, so the boy king of malapropisms said this:

THE PRESIDENT: I talked to Condi, and there is not -- as I understand it, the way the constitution is written is that women have got rights, inherent rights recognized in the constitution, and that the constitution talks about not "the religion," but "a religion." Twenty-five percent of the assembly is going to be women, which is a -- is embedded in the constitution.

The Independent reports that the famed woman, Safia Taleb al-Souhail, with the blue finger, in Iraq during the elections has recanted her view on bush. Remember, she was the one who sat next to Laura Bush at bush's SOTU address. Oh how the evil ones love to jump on the propaganda wagon when they find some uninformed person to use as a pawn in their game.

Having seen the negotiations for the country's constitution fall into disarray and the prospect of a secular constitution severely undermined, she [Safia Taleb al-Souhail] expressed her concerns last week.

"When we came back from exile, we thought we were going to improve rights and the position of women. But look what has happened: we have lost all the gains we made over the past 30 years. It's a big disappointment. Human rights should not be linked to Islamic sharia law at all. They should be listed separately in the constitution."

I'm sorry, Safia Taleb al-Souhail. You have my deepest sympathy. If it's any consolation, the bushistas are desperately trying to do the same to women in our country. They have redefined "democracy" here. I salute you for your bravery in coming out against the evil bushista regime. Too bad that the British news picked it up first. I'll do my best to pass along the information to my fellow Americans of good character. - Liz Smith
.

"Venezuela seeks action in US row"

"Venezuela's president says his government will take legal action against a US TV evangelist who called for US agents to kill him. Hugo Chavez said Venezuela might even seek to extradite Pat Robertson. He also warned he would complain to the UN if the US failed to take action".

Read the rest at BBC News.

Far as I know, Mr. Chavez' offer to help poor communities in the U.S. with free heating oil this winter is still good (see below). Whattaguy!

On the importance of dissent

Got the following email from reader, Jake, and I agree that this is a topic which needs discussing:

I just spent a day in Crawford. Certainly the Bush Crowd was there in strength, shouting slogans and waving nationalist paraphernalia.

The interesting part was on the Cindy side of the street, specifically at Camp Casey 1, the less than elite crowd was told to behave or protest somewhere else.

In other words, protest our way or leave.

The rhetoric on BOTH sides of the debate is all about silencing dissent from within. Bushco wants to silence dissent from within America, and the Cindy's immediate supporters want to silence dissent from within the supporters at large. Each believes it has a vision that overrides the NEED for dissent.

Yet dissent is the true strength of a free community - civil (non-violent) protest is a requirement, not a luxury. How else to stop the "crowd" from becoming the controlling voice? If not for 9/11, Iraq would never have happened. It was the silencing of informed dissent by the Bush apparatus that brought us the Iraq war, and will bring Bush's presidency to an ignominious end.

Dissent is not to be just tolerated, it must be encouraged.

The Republican War On Science

http://www.allspinzone.com/blog/index.php?itemid=1230

Nice how people are noticing NOW that the biggest chunk of The Strategic Oil Reserve is located in empty salt mine domes in S.E. Louisiana... Too bad nobody thunk of using that oil by now, before it gets swept out to Jamaica...

And yes, I'm still here, and no, no tornadoes have dropped houses onto me.

Don't believe the hype.

Y'all hear me?

I Don't Think She's Planning On Visiting There Any Time Soon

Caught this bit over at the Huffington Post:

"Ann Coulter: New Yorkers "Would Immediately Surrender" If Attacked..."

"From "Hannity and Colmes," August 25, 2005:

COLMES:...And I want to ask you about something, Ann, that you wrote in your most recent column. You had a very funny line, actually, that it is hard to find a parking spot in New York City. There's no question about it. You've had a pretty good day if you can do that.
But then you said, "It's far preferable to fight them on the streets of Baghdad than in the streets of New York, where the residents would immediately surrender." Now, some New Yorkers...

HENICAN: Ooh...

COLMES: ... felt that you were calling them cowards by making that statement.

COULTER: No, I think I was calling them supporters of Cindy Sheehan.

COLMES: Is that what that is? You certainly don't feel that New Yorkers are cowards?

COULTER: I think they would immediately surrender.

COLMES: So you do?

COULTER: I don't -- I don't think -- I think I'd rather have them trying to invade Mississippi or Georgia, Alabama, you know, the states where I want Cindy Sheehan's bus tour to go."

I agree with one thing she said: "I don't think".

Hurricane Katrina

There’s a category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. 100,000 people cannot escape now from New Orleans. Let’s talk about that. Check out Daily Kos, they are asking people to volunteer their homes to those who are evacuating the NO area. Best thing the internet has ever been used for. God, let’s hope it helps!

Let’s also hope that in the future our government tries to fix situations like this before fixing other countries.

Also, you might want to check out the conversations at CrawfordsList.

There are two conversations going on there right now. The top post is about whether global warming is causing these awful hurricanes and the second is just about the hurricane.

Christian Man of God Pat Robertson says U.S. Should Assassinate President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela

HOW DOES CHAVEZ RESPOND?:

"VENEZUELA OFFERS HEATING OIL TO U.S. POOR AS WINTER APPROACHES"

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offered heating oil to poor communities in the U.S. to bypass the middlemen he claims inflate prices.
Chavez, 51, made the offer during his weekly television broadcast, "Alo Presidente.'' Chavez said 140 communities or groups have requested energy aid from the South American country since Chavez said earlier this week that Venezuela could help poor families in the U.S."

The rest of the article is at Bloomberg.com.

Proof That Our Schools Failed Miserably

I'm watching The McLaughlin Group. He says that 64% of Americans reject the theory that humans evolved from earlier primates and 54% believe that a god created us as full blown human beings. I've met many people who say, "We aren't monkeys!" Obviously these people had terrible teachers. The panel that is arguing on TMG are very ill informed. All in all, no one knows what they are talking about. Sad.

I went to Catholic schools and I have no problem with evolution. I enjoy following the latest theories and breakthroughs concerning the dawn of man and especially cosmology. Even when I used to be a believer, I had no problem with evolution. We went on school trips to the Museum of Natural History all the time. The nuns didn't tell us that it was all lies. Not at all. In the seminary, we weren't taught to reject science. Our theology professors were also experts in middle eastern history, science, Judaism and archeology and were able to explain why the bible had some very unscientific claims and back it up well. If you understand what things were like in those days, it's fairly easy to understand some strange biblical references. Tar pits exploding near Sodom and Gommorha make more sense to us than thinking god himself pointed a finger down from heaven above and smote the people. The tidal situation at the Red Sea explains how Moses, if he even existed, got to the other side.

When a group of people has no other explanation for natural phenomena, they blame everything on the gods.

warning: traveling back in time can cause motion sickness

"Doctors who perform illegal abortions in Texas could be prosecuted for capital murder and face a death sentence under recent changes in Texas law that have resulted in apparent unintended consequences.

While officials familiar with the new legislation say such prosecutions are unlikely, the possibility of a doctor on death row, whether intentional or not, puts a sharp focus on the importance of analyzing legislative activity every two years, officials say.

That's what Lindsey Roberts, director of training for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, was doing last week when he gave a legislative update to local prosecutors and defense attorneys at Baylor University.

Roberts spoke about a bill signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry in June at a Fort Worth church school that requires parental consent before minors can have abortions and places additional restrictions on late-term abortions.

In relation to those changes, Roberts noted that the Legislature two years ago altered the definition of an individual in homicide statutes from 'a human being who has been born and is alive' to 'a human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation, from fertilization until birth.'

There was debate when the definition of individual was changed about whether the effect would make abortion the equivalent of murder. So lawmakers took particular care to write into the homicide statute that a lawful medical procedure performed with consent by a physician or other licensed health-care provider, if the death of the unborn child was the intended result, is an abortion. That provided a lawful defense or exception to homicide laws.

Continuing to connect the statutory dots, however, Roberts told local prosecutors that there is no such defense provided for a doctor who performs an unlawful medical procedure, such as an abortion on a minor without parental consent."

This is where we are going. Currently, a minor pregnant woman cannot get an abortion without parental notification. She can go to a judge and get what is called a "judicial bypass" where the judge does not have to inform her parents if their may be violence as a result of parental notification. She has to prove to the judge she is making an informed, mature decision.

If a woman goes to a judge, seems to me, she knows the score.

One can readily see where this is going. Next year, Roe v. Wade will be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court and that probably means that states can determine their own abortion laws. Unless the Court says that abortion is unconstitutional, period. While technically a state can recognize more rights than the U.S. Constitution protects, I seriously doubt that Texas will take that bold step and recognize that women in Texas have the right to control their own bodies.

So this means that doctors who perform abortions on minors and later on emancipated women--those not living with their fathers, who are 18, can vote, hold a job, decide if they are going to have chocolate or vanilla--can be prosecuted for capital murder. Because that unborn fetus under the age of six years is more important than a woman. Never mind that she may have no health insurance, or has been raped, or is mentally unstable or retarded. She will carry that fetus to term. Never mind that we have very few orphanages in Texas, or that we don't allow gay couples to foster or adopt children. Never mind that she does not get alimony in Texas and child support enforcement is extremely difficult.

Do you feel trapped yet? Good. Because to be a woman in the state without U.S. Constitutional protection is to be trapped. If a woman cannot control her own body, she is dumped to second class citizen status because the government does not require men to father children, but will require women to bear them.

Don't forget, birth control pills are on their way out. Abortion and birth control came from privacy rights found in the 4th and 9th Amendments by a Supreme Court in a good mood with a strong sense of justice. The new Court majority will not see that. If there are no privacy rights, there are no birth control rights. No constitutional right to birth control because that right originates in privacy, not the marketplace where pharmaceutical companies simply make the birth control pills and therefore have a right to sell them. No one will have a right to buy them if the Court says there is no privacy right to control reproduction.

news and screws

LA U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon plans gasoline (price) investigation:

http://2theadvocate.com/stories/082005/sub_gas001.shtml

(Same guy who's one of the few on Capitol Hill still pushing for a hemorrhoidectomy to remove Tom Delay from our collective asshole. I'm not crazy about Charlie, but at least he does something besides push for the cane sugar lobby, not that there's anything wrong with that...)

Cloned cats procreate, help species:

http://www.local6.com/news/4891123/detail.html

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cloned+cats

While I'm right proud that the Audubon Zoo is helping to keep endangered species viable (African wildcat in this case), I'm pretty disgusted by the idiots who want to clone their PETS. Yeah, 'cause we don't have ENOUGH domestic animals in this country who've been abandoned, abused, overbred, inbred, and generally left in the wind. Go to the fucking ANIMAL SHELTER, you narcissistic twits!!!

(Another reason why humans shouldn't be cloned --- what??? We don't have enough assholes on this planet already?!?!)

Electronic instrument innovator dies at 71

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/08/22/moog.obit.ap/

http://www.moogmusic.com/

http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/moog/

Love him or hate him for his contributions to music, sound, and engineering; blame him for Eurotrash trance music and Yanni; wonder where music would've gone without the synthesizer... But know that this guy had a huge influence, either way.

Okay, that's it. Unpack your lunch boxes and discuss amongst yourselves.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Picked this up over at Americablog:
When Maher asked (Cindy Sheehan) jokingly that if she didn't get satisfaction from George Bush, would she go over his head to Cheney or Rumsfeld, she replied:



"You know what Bill, I have gone over his head, I've gone to the American people.
And we employ him, he's our employee."



.

Francis Newton is just another dead person walking

Jake wants to know about the upcoming execution of a woman on Texas' Death Row. WaPo has a piece about her today and the Chronicle had one yesterday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082500012.html
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3324251

A little legal knowledge first: In Texas, a claim of innocence itself is not the basis for an appeal. There has to be an error in the procedural way the trial was conducted. All death row cases are automatically appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals which is the highest court in Texas for criminal matters. Texas, and Oklahoma, have what are called bifurcated courts of appeal. Civil matters and juvenile matters are appealed to the Texas Supreme Court while criminal appeals go to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Her appeal was denied at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Francis Newton evidently had poorly equipped counsel at her trial. Harris County--capital of capital punishment, sending more people to death row than any other state alone, does not have a public defender's office for state offenders. The Southern District of Texas, in which Harris County is located, does have a public defender's office for federal matters, but the State of Texas does not provide funding for such an equivalent on the state level.

There is a real possibility that a capital defendant like Ms. Newton may not be assigned an experienced defense attorney.It is up to the judge to assign the indigent defendant an attorney to represent them, from a list of available attorneys who may or may not have contributed to their campaign, as all judges including appellate judges, are elected in Texas. These defense attorneys don't have the money or resources to represent the client on the same level that the state has to prosecute the client. That attorney usually makes their living representing indigent clients and is paid a flat fee for each case by the court. Their job is to move people and paper through the system and not make waves so they can get another appointment.

I have no personal knowledge of Ms. Newton's counsel. So I can't really shed any light on that aspect of her appeal, other than to say it would not be surprising if her case was any different than what I have described above.

Secondly, the Harris County Crime lab is a nightmare. Evidence is lost in a huge warehouse, forensic evidence is subjected to mismanagement. It ain't CSI. I will put it to you this way, the budget for that CBS hit series is higher than the budget for reality in Harris County. But the stakes are higher in Harris County. Our "guests" get to die on death row and don't show up in future episodes. But this is America and entertainment is far more important than reality. There is no William Peterson-like character at the Harris County Crime Lab. And remember, even on CSI, they work for the state, not the defense. The defense usually does not have the resources to fight the crime labs' findings in any state.

Her appellate attorneys--a different class of attorney than regular defense attorneys--have plead that evidence was mishandled. There may have been two guns in the state's evidence warehouse in this matter, but her defense attorneys only knew of one. If the state didn't give exculpatory evidence to the defense, which they are required to do, it may be what is known as revers able error and she should get a new trial--if the appellate courts want to hear it. They don't have to if they don't want to. Her appellate attorneys are going to take this case federal now because they have gotten no where with the state appellate court. The basis of her federal appeal will come from the Fourteenth Amendment due process and equal protection clauses. She may have been denied due process and equal protection of the system if she didn't get effective counsel or was entitled to evidence which may have been withheld by the state.

Her story is unremarkable. This time the defendant is a woman. Next time it will be a man, the time before it was a man. I am not so troubled by the state executing a woman. Equal rights. She has every right to be screwed by the system as the next man. The death penalty is wrong because we are human, it is a human system, and it is flawed. So many people believe that if the government says someone is guilty and the defense bar isn't independent and financed to fight that system--they are a problem in that system--then justice is often the product of human error. Even if she is guilty, what is the point of executing her? The appellate process is more expensive than a simple life sentence without parole.

DNA wouldn't have made any difference in this matter. Ballistics and procedure would have. Did the state hide evidence from her defense team? Did they have the guts to ask? In Texas, as opposed to television law, defendants don't even have a right to the state's witness list and a copy of the indictment. District Attoneys who prosecute crime in Texas are supposed to do justice, not convictions. But justice doesn't get you re-elected in a state where executions are a kind of blood sport. It is like the state's hunting dogs chasing the fox. It has a long history. Jesus didn't have a defense attorney and if he had, with what would the poor son of God had paid his attorney that could compete with 30 pieces of silver the state paid to their snitch, Judas. The advantages belong to the state and they don't go to the death chamber when they lose. When they win, they get re-elected on their conviction record.

Radioactive Wounds of War

The following quotes and links only begin to describe what is to me the most horrifying result of the Iraq War as well as Gulf War I.

"Tests on returning troops suggest serious health consequences of depleted uranium use in Iraq"

"Gerard Matthew thought he was lucky. He returned from his Iraq tour a year and a half ago alive and in one piece. But after the New York State National Guardsman got home, he learned that a bunkmate, Sgt. Ray Ramos, and a group of N.Y. Guard members from another unit had accepted an offer by the New York Daily News and reporter Juan Gonzalez to be tested for depleted uranium (DU) contamination, and had tested positive. Matthew, 31, decided that since he’d spent much of his time in Iraq lugging around DU-damaged equipment, he’d better get tested too. It turned out he was the most contaminated of them all. Matthew immediately urged his wife to get an ultrasound check of their unborn baby. They discovered the fetus had a condition common to those with radioactive exposure: atypical syndactyly. The right hand had only two digits".

The rest of the article can be read at In These Times.com.

In a related article:
"A Scots ex-soldier has become the first veteran to win a pension appeal after being diagnosed with depleted uranium (DU) poisoning during the 1991 Gulf war. A Pension Appeal Tribunal Service hearing in Edinburgh accepted medical evidence provided by Kenny Duncan, of Clackmannan, previously dismissed by the MoD, which revealed he had become ill after service in the Middle East.
"Mr Duncan, 35, a driver with 7 Tank Transporter Regiment, helped move tanks destroyed by shells containing the poisonous dust".

The rest of this article can be read at Dennis Kyne.com.

Readers interested in researching "depleted uranium poisoning" (19,900 hits): http://tinyurl.com/8d6cj

Readers interested in researching "depleted uranium" (712,000 hits): http://tinyurl.com/cuo4k

All the body armor in the world won't protect you from radiation poisoning.

Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life.

It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your Honor. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse. - Mark Twain

Want to do something kinda naughty but not illegal?

Sure, you know you do.

Click on Ministry of Reshelving.

Here’s something we all can do and it might be a bit-o-fun.

Bullshit Protector

Gawd I have to wear these when Bush is on the news. The photo at the link is priceless... and the caption. Oh lordy, lordy.

Hat tip to Auntie Roo, astute reader.

Sexy News

Seems men are getting into the "too much information" fashion trend following what I had deemed the "pussy cleavage" craze in women's fashion. While I felt that young men who wore too baggy jeans, too low, revealing their drawers labels was decidedly unsexy for future potbellied couch potatoes who ought to flaunt it while they got it, Dolce & Gabbana have come out with a line of "pubic pants" for men: very low rise. Back in the day when our rockstars such as Roger Daltry and Robert Plant wore similar jeans, we didn't have to look at their male bush. Don't we have enough male bush to contend with already? The WND crowd is shocked... so that's enough to make me support the trend anyway.


-------
So how noisy are you in bed? What does it mean? Fuck, if I know. Read this.

And then read this encounter of a Victorian man (My Secret Life) with an Irish woman who sounds like pirate in bed. Excerpt: "Taken off your clothes and come on to the bed and lie down wid me, and we'll fuck agin ye spalpeen in foive minutes — we will, be Jasus. Look at me chunt — look at your spunk — it's wet — it is — ain't your spunk thick,"...
-------

Yeah, but he rode his bike with Lance

Presidential gas bill gets steeper
"The White House declines to discuss travel costs related to the presidential entourage, and did not respond to a request for the overall effect of higher fuel prices on its budget."
and
"But Bush is one of the nation's most-traveled presidents. He has visited 46 countries, some of them several times, during his presidency. He has been to all states except Vermont and Rhode Island. So far this year, he has made 73 domestic and foreign trips, including crisscrossing the country on a 60-day, 60-city tour to promote his Social Security plan. He was on the road Wednesday, speaking to a military audience in Idaho, before returning to his Texas ranch to resume his summer vacation."

There’s a whole lot more at CNN.com.

Bimbos

Latin American hip hop star, Bimbo staged a protest in Manhattan yesterday because the price of gasoline is $3.10

The Bimbo in Chief takes his "I told you the war was going to be long and hard after 9/11" show to a Naval Base in San Diego next week. He is not capable of preaching to anyone but the choir. Big fucking deal.

Bimbo mom who was on the cover of Newsday yesterday pisses me off. I wonder, just wonder... if she would be singing the same pro-war tune if one of her 4 sons or husband happened to be killed in Iraq?

Bimbo in chief praises this woman, ""Tammy [Pruett] says this - and I want you to hear this - `I know if something happens to one of the boys, they would leave this world doing what they believe, what they think is right for our country,'" Bush said. "`And I guess you couldn't ask for a better way of life than giving it for something that you believe in.' America lives in freedom because of families like the Pruetts.""

Oh. My. Gawd.
Oh. My. Gawd.

Someone spray-painted "Terrist" on their house

Is it irony when Faux News spews a picture of a terrorist's home in California on television, even though the terrorist moved out of the house 3 years ago and the innocent family who lives there now is being derided by the community, not to mention that an idiot who spells the way our leader speaks vandalized terrorized the family by spray painting their house, or what?

Quick, Choose Now!

I was reading an article over at Daily Kos by General Wesley Clark. General Clark gives his opinion of the bloody hell in Iraq, compliments of the bush administration. Also I read the comments left by the Kos readers. Being female and all, it got me to thinking. If we could replace bush and cheney today, who would we choose? I would like to see, in either order, Feingold and Clark. We would have a Democrat who voted not to light the match that started the bloody hell that is now Iraq (so he’s no fool) and a Democratic General who knows more about war than just playing it in the sand with plastic soldiers on a pretend ranch in Texas.


I know you’re probably not going to agree with me, and that’s not fine. No, no, I’m just teasing you.

So if you could replace the president and vice president today, right this minute, who would you choose?

Feingold: Cheerleading Is No Substitute for Leadership

Ladies, Here’s an Anniversary to Celebrate!

On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing American women the right to vote, was declared in effect.

on the road

Minimum wage is $5.15 an hour.

What happens when gasoline, which is in Houston now $2.59 to $3.00, hits the same price as the minimum wage? Some people drive 20 to 40 miles round trip to work an eight hour day. If they burn 2 gallons--which in Houston traffic is rather easy to do--then they have lost at least $10.00 to get to work an home from a job were they earn $40.00 before taxes a day.

There are reports suggesting that we will hit $5.00 a gallon next year. Once Big Oil can get that price will they back down? Are the prices at the pump going to justify continuing American administration of the Middle East in general and Iraq in particular? And drilling in the Arctic?

Starting September 1st, anyone in Texas may carry a gun in their car. Most people have understood this to mean, in the past, that if a person was traveling across county lines alone they could carry a gun for protection in their cars. Well there was some confusion about what this means.

Texas lawmakers cleared up the confusion in their last session by defining "traveling" as "driving a private motor vehicle." That is going to be so helpful.

Since 1871, carrying a handgun has been illegal in Texas unless the owner had a permit or could prove they were traveling across county lines. Remember that Harris County is bigger than the entire state of Vermont. We have an airport--DFW--that is bigger than the island of Manhattan.

This means starting September 1, anyone can drive around with a handgun in their car without a permit. That is as long as they are at least 21 and meet other criteria like not being a gang member. What the hell does that mean? Like if they are affiliated with a gang that engages in criminal activities? Isn't that guilt by association? What if a gang member doesn't have a criminal record? If a gun goes off in a gang member's hand at a four way stop sign and the victim is dead, did anyone really hear it? The gun must also be out of sight. No you may not wave it in your rear view if the jackass behinds you honks because the light changed. But that means that if the cops stop you and ask you if you have a weapon and you don't say yes, they are going to be really mad when they find it. And if you say yes, they are going to draw their weapons.

"Some law enforcement officials say they fear the law may lead to more gun violence." Really? I can't imagine why? Could it mean that cops will assume that everyone has a gun at a stop? Now if you have a permit, it comes up on the cop's computer that you have a license to carry. It would be foolish and deadly for police to think now that you are not armed. Will he or she approach cars with their weapons drawn. I will cry and vomit from fear if that is the case.

Bush's Obscene Tirades Rattle White House Aides

By DOUG THOMPSON

"While President George W. Bush travels around the country in a last-ditch effort to sell his Iraq war, White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him. "I’m not meeting again with that goddamned bitch," Bush screamed at aides who suggested he meet again with Cindy Sheehan, the war-protesting mother whose son died in Iraq. "She can go to hell as far as I’m concerned!"

"Bush, administration aides confide, frequently explodes into tirades over those who protest the war, calling them "motherfucking traitors." He reportedly was so upset over Veterans of Foreign Wars members who wore "bullshit protectors" over their ears during his speech to their annual convention that he told aides to "tell those VFW assholes that I’ll never speak to them again is they can’t keep their members under control."

"Who gives a flying fuck what the polls say," he screamed at a recent strategy meeting. "I’m the President and I’ll do whatever I goddamned please. They don’t know shit."

There's more at Capitol Hill Blue.

And for those who might be interested, "Bush Insane" at GoogleSearch http://tinyurl.com/dbm4o has 5,000 hits.

Pissed Off Patricia: Will you mend your ways so you can live here?

"Mr. Monaghan builds his dream town"

"If it's left up to Tom Monaghan, the co-founder of Dominos Pizza, only orthodox Catholics will take up residency in Ave Maria, a new Florida town that will be free of condoms, porn and televised smut.

"They may not become as ubiquitous as the Domino's Pizza outlets that dot the US landscape, but Tom Monaghan, the man behind that pizza empire, is hoping that the town he is building for orthodox Catholics in Florida will some day replicate itself across the country.

(...)

"'We've already had about 3500 people inquire on our Web site about buying a home there -- you know, they're all Catholic,' Monaghan says excitedly. 'We're going to control all the commercial real estate, so there's not going to be any pornography sold in this town. We're controlling the cable system. The pharmacies are not going to be able to sell condoms or dispense contraceptives.' A private chapel will be located within walking distance of each home. At the stunning church in the center of town, Mass will be said hourly, seven days a week, from 6 a.m. on. 'So,' Monaghan concludes, with just a hint of understatement, 'it'll be a unique town.'"

The rest of the article is at WorkingforChange.com.

Thanks to SB_Gypsy over at the Dark Wraith Discussion Forums.

From the conservative Capitol Hill Blue

The following was sent to me by Carolyn Kay at MakeThemAccountable.com.

"Vets and the Coward"
By DOUG THOMPSON
Aug 24, 2005, 02:10

"The man who dishonored American veterans by hiding out from the Vietnam War in the Texas Air National Guard added insult to injury this week by shamelessly invoking memories of those who died in war as a pathetic excuse to continue his illegal and failed war in Iraq.

"Bush’s lame attempt so disgusted veterans attending the VFW annual convention in Salt Lake City that many of them wore “B.S. Protector” ear muffs during his speech to the group on Monday…

"Truth is, veterans, especially those who served in Vietnam, have long distrusted Dubya. They know he hid out from war, using his daddy’s connections to get bumped to the head of the line to get in the Texas Air National Guard to avoid serving in Southeast Asia. They’ve seen the enlistment documents where he opted out of overseas service, an extra step to make sure he stayed stateside during the war.

"Real veterans can smell a coward and Bush stinks like a dead, rotting carcass – yellow through-and-through, a cardboard cowboy who can sign an executive order sending American men and women to their deaths in Iraq but one who didn’t have the courage to stand up and fight for his country when he had a chance…

"[M]ore and more vets see Bush for what he is – a lying, sniveling coward who does not deserve to be called Commander in Chief. They see a man who sent Americans to die in a war based on false pretenses and now has the gall to try and invoke the memories of real heroes to try and rationalize his illegality, immorality and cowardice.

"They don’t buy it. Why should they? They served their country in war. He didn’t. He hid out like a spoiled little rich kid, afraid to stand up and face the enemy…

"Veterans who served their country have no use for someone who did not.

"They have no use for George W. Bush".

Team Cindy vs. Team Not Cindy

I’m afraid that, due to the minimal involvement in this war by most Americans, many see it as more of the “big game” rather than a god-awful deadly war. The US vs. Iraq was the first game, and it looks like we aren’t scoring so well there so the American flags have been taken down because no one wants to be associated with a “loser”. Now the public needs a new team, a new game and some new team jerseys and logos. The fans are idle and waiting. Meanwhile, Cindy Sheehan goes to Texas to make a statement about how she feels regarding her son’s death. Others join her for support. Ah, the idle fans see a challenge. Quickly they form team “You Don’t Speak for Me, Cindy” Now the team is on a road trip to Texas for some sort of showdown or game to see who can out shout, out protest or out whatever. To these folks it’s not about the war, it’s not about Cindy’s feelings, it’s all about the game and it’s all about winning something at any cost. If your first team seems to be losing, hell, just pick another team. This is the difference between being dedicated to a cause and being just damned determined to be associated with a “winner”.

Where you have two teams, I guess you have a game. The sad thing is that what began as one mother’s desperate attempt to get true answers from the president of the United States about why there was a war, why her son was sent to fight in that war, and what the plans are for the future, has now been turned into a circus/big game/cheap looking/frivolous disaster. Only in America could sadness and mourning turn into verbal conflict.

Now we have to interview protesters on both sides to keep it “fair and balanced”. Why? Bush is shouting his side of the story almost daily, which is the same story of those who oppose what Cindy is doing and saying. Why can’t the “new team” just listen to their coach and allow Cindy to ask him to speak to her? She wants to be heard by the man who sent her son to war. She has heard that the reasons he gave for invading Iraq have now been proven to be untrue. She wants answers.

Yes, her son volunteered to go into the military but at the time she, and I’m guessing her son, hoped that the president wouldn’t outright lie to them. Now she feels that he did, and she wants to ask him if he did. She isn’t asking for a political game and a political football. She’s just asking for the truth. Bush, on the other hand, seems eager to catapult his parroted propaganda to his supporters but is deaf to someone begging for the truth.

It looks like the beginning of the big game of protesting in Crawford. Sadly, there is no way anyone can win because we’ve all lost too much. This isn’t a game. This is deadly and sadly serious war. Too bad many Americans don’t understand that war is not just a game you see and play on television. Cindy Sheehan and many of us think that perhaps that message should be made clear not only to bush’s supporters but also to bush himself.

Blips on My Radar Today

This morning the LA Times has a time line for the Plame Leak that might be worth reading if there are parts of this that you’ve missed or don’t understand. You might want to do what I intend to do, you might want to print it out and keep it for the day when we find out just what the hell happened. I’ll warn you it’s nine pages but once you start reading you’re hooked.

Okay, now I’m holding my nose with one hand and typing with the other because this all stinks, but I have to say it. Pat Robertson finally succeeded in apologizing for what he said about the assassination. You have to give him credit for his apology even if he did it a little late. There are some in the white house who have done a lot worse things than exhibit free speech and we haven’t heard doodly squat out of them. Don’t hold your breath until we do. And yes, I realize that Robertson may be insane or at least a total nut case.

I’m sitting here in cloudy breezy south Florida this morning. Tropical storm Katrina is knocking on several of our area’s doors. Seems at the moment she will knock hardest on the door of the Ft. Lauderdale area. Where I am is supposed to get tropical force winds of around forty mph or thereabouts. After cringing through two hurricanes last year, this one gives everyone anxiety attacks. Hopefully it will just quickly pass through the state and leave us all in no worse shape than when it arrived. The rain is supposed to be bad and flooding is a distinct possibility. I’m not in a flood prone area so I’m not stressing about that. I’m not all upset over this storm, really, I’m not. I will admit that being curled in a fetal position is uncomfortable though.

I’m watching these, singing to the choir, speeches that bush is making just about every other day and to me he appears to become more and more desperate as he flails away at the harsh reality that he and his war are going south at warp speed. He’s sounding more like a hellfire and brimstone southern preacher as he gets louder and more emphatic with his many times sung hymn. The words are just about the same each time but his delivery is different. There is blind determination in his voice and he seems frustrated that all of us don’t see things his way. You know what they say about blindly determined, frustrated, hardheaded people? I know what I say about people like that, I say that they could be real dangerous to those who disagree with them. I’m wondering how long it will be before someone finds him around midnight, talking to the portraits of the presidents that hang in the white house.

Iraq: The Unseen War:

The grim reality of Iraq rarely appears in the American press.

WARNING

The following photo gallery contains graphic and shocking images of death and devastation in Iraq.

From Salon.com


Thanks to Tom Feeley at International Clearing House.

A Jewel of a Comment

I found this magical piece in the comments section of AfterDowningStreet.org:

"100 cheap and easy ways to get out of Eye-Rack"
Submitted by james k. sayre (not verified) on Wed, 2005-08-24 15:02.

"The USA and the UK need to get out of Iraq now. Bush and Company seem to be snagged on just how to turn power over to the Iraqis. Here are some suggestions: 100 cheap and easy ways out of Iraq: Just do or say:

"Abandon ship, About-face, retreat, Aloha, Apologize for overstaying one's welcome, and just leave, Auf weiderzahn, Au voir, Back out, Bail out, Beg off, Be Gone with the Wind, Blow it off, Blow the scene, Bow out, Break it off, Bring the troops home, Bug out, Butt out, Call a halt, Call it quits, Cancel plans, Cave in, Chalk it up to experience, Change the course, Chao, baby, Check out, Chicken out, Choke up, Clear out, Close up shop, Cop out, Creep away, Cut and run, Declare victory and come home, Depart, Desert the desert, Disentangle, Draw back, Drop out, Eat crow, Eat humble pie, Eat one's words, End this fool's errand, End this tomfoolery, Evacuate, Exit, stage right, Fail, Fall back, Flake out, Flee, Fly away, Fly the coop, Forsake, Get back, Get cold feet, Get out by sundown, Give up, Go away, Go fly a kite, Go jump in the lake, Good widdance to bad wubbish - (Elmer Fudd cartoon), Got to get away, Hasta la vista, baby, Head for the hills, Hit the road, Homeward bound, Hurry home, It's all over but the shouting, It's all over now, baby blue, Just say no, Just walk away,

"Leave, Let's call the whole thing off, Pack it in, Pick up your marbles and go home, Quit, Rehire Saddam, Relinquish control, Renounce imperialism, Retreat, Return home, Reverse the course, Sail away, Say good bye, Shut it down, So long, its been fun, Split, Stop, Stop rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic: abandon ship!, Surrender, Take a powder, Terminate the visit, Throw in the towel, Turn tail, Turn the lights out, Wilt under pressure, Wimp out, Wind down, Withdraw with honor, Yankee, come home".

Yours truly,

James K. Sayre

another rant

(C)2000
2/10/2000
12:45A

Raised Like A Veal

So sorry if the topic of my life bores one, but one can always take a piss break or order another beer. My mother, The Beastmaster, says that I'm, and I quote, "The coldest bitch on earth"… and I don't even flinch. I smile and nod. Small fucking wonder.

She marvels at the speed and thoroughness with which I cut people out of my life—how easily I can pretend they're not even in the room. Simple mathematics: You attack me, you're out. You use me, sayonara. You hurt me, don't let the screen door hit ya where the good lawd split ya. You raise your motherfucking hand to me, you ain't even vapor trails. What's so hard to understand? My mom keeps people around to use them, to guilt-trip their brains out, to save them for future possibilities — but they don't keep her around. She just thinks she has access. Not to me, she don't.

What's so hard to understand? I was raised like a fucking veal—kept locked-up in a two-point-two-acre box, never exposed to the outside world, never allowed to be my own person, never allowed to experience life — for seventeen fucking years — and then we divorced, my "parents" and I. And I had to start all the fuck over. Just like I did when I was thirteen-and-a-half, when I found out from Ann Landers that "good" brothers didn't "teach" their little sisters those things… so sorry, again, if I grow repetitive, but since it's a mitigating factor to this storyline, suck it the fuck up. I had to find the "outside world" for myself—from ground zero. Oh, yeah, she'd "protected" me from everything the world had to offer — but she couldn't protect me from twelve years of public-school torture — the word "Slut!" still rings in the hallways of my mind — and she sure as hell didn't lift a medicated finger to protect me from the dangers within.

So, yes, I've fucked-up — a lot. Entire museums could be filled with the casualties of my life—faith, hope, trust, love… anything to do with believing in human beings. Because I did it all from scratch. I nursed on an RCA cathode-ray tube instead of a breast. I learned everything I knew about human nature from those 22-minutes-between-commercials known as SITCOMS. I learned how to play the dozens from Florence on "The Jeffersons". Go fucking figure that I'm a smart-assed bitch today.

It never fails to draw the sweetest smirk on this mouth when darling little ones — whether jailbait pretty-boys or groupies with all the proper superlatives — gaze deeply into these big blue eyes and sagely intone, "But you're so defensive…why are you so dee-fenn-sivvve???"

(Dramatic pause here, looking to the audience to get the joke, sarcastic twist to the mouth, wait a beat--)

-- ALL TOGTHER NOW — NO SHIT, SHERLOCK. THANK YOU FOR THAT NEWSFLASH, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS. Look at my life — hell, I've played it all out for your voyeuristic amusement right here on stage — and say, all together again — BIG, FAT, HAIRY DUH.

In the inevitable, inimitable words of Miss Etta James, "Always keep one bullet – in the chamber." You can love, you can laugh — but drop your guard, and you're a post-script on a Dick Clark infomercial, "She met a tragic end…" If I didn't still have thighs like Herschel Walker, I might not be here to bitch today — kicked the motherfucker off — po' Etta, she hadda get stitches. But like all good bitches, women who use their power for good — she's still kickin' and still scattin' and still standing strong.

I really did grow up, fantasizing that I could have a family like "Eight Is Enough" or "Happy Days"—instead of "DELIVERANCE". Television was my whole world — it's how I learned to read before I was two, it's what gave me my first career goal — to be in advertising like Darren Stevens, because Samantha was too fucking subjugated and subservient — dumb blonde bitch gave up magic for a jug-eared gay boy like HIM?!?!?! Oh, wait — that sounds awfully familiar… (wait for it…) okay, yes, he did have those ears — if a good stiff — wind — had come up behind him, he could've taken flight and been fucking Ricky Martin in Puerto Rico — but, honestly, I had not a clue about the other — ironic, ain't it? You'd think—if he'd have come home with dick on his breath, I'd have noticed! YOU'D THINK. I don't know whether to blame the prednisone or the Vicodin, but I can't be THAT naïve, can I??? I thought I ougtgrew naïveté when I leaned that life's problems don't get solved before the last commercial break, when I got out of that brick ranch-style prison and learned that the rest of the world is as, or more, fucked-up than I am, and that, no, being "different" is not as adorable as they play it on After-School Specials.

I guess that's why I have to bite down on the inside of my cheek so hard — to keep from letting loose one of my typical witch-cackles — when wide-eyed innocents, aspiring to bitchdom — try to tear me down or bring me up short… "Why are you always so negative??? Why can't you say anything nice???" Because I'm not BI - LINGUAL ? ? ? -- Hell, I'm already bisexual and bipolar, I can't do anymore splits! Henry Miller(and several others) said, "Write what you know," — what, I'm gonna fake it so you can feel all warm and fuzzly? At moments like that, I am struck by dual ironies — again, with the bi-thing — on the one hand, there's the Sun Tzu strategist, saying, "Never give them an 'in'—don't reveal a weakness!", and on the other, there's the exhibitionist in me, always going for the laughs, because I'll never have the body to strip.

Drunk boys in bars love to gaze into my eyes and tell me how "vulnerable" I look to them—and I tell them they're drunk. What vulnerability there may be lies very, very deep, and, no, Junior, you cute little jailbait you, you don't have the right — and rarely have the tools — to dig that deep. If you think this "bitch" thing is just an act, just a cover, and that if you twist me just the right way, all sweet honey will come pouring out — hang around for longer than it takes to get your orgasm — and you'll see that under this "rough exterior" — is concrete and steel. I will never have "Buns Of Steel"—but I'd lay the toughness of my heart & soul against that Tae-Bo dude's abs any day. So, no, you don't have the right to cop an attitude when you wake up in my bed and expect me to kiss your ass and make you breakfast — I ain't got the time, nor the wont — to do either. I'm the same bitch I was last night, only my makeup's on the pillow case and your crotch now.

But I guess it all comes down to a moral thing, really… I was raised in a world where I was never allowed that most precious word—"NO". You don't say no to Mama, you don't say no to Daddy (when he's not passed-out in the recliner), you don't lock that bedroom door, don't do anything you can't hide in the split second between when you hear the knob turning and they pounce in on you because they know you must be doing something wrong in there. If you want PRIVACY, it must be to do something you shouldn't. It's what they MISSED that kills me — everything they THOUGHT I was doing, I wasn't — and everything I WAS doing (or was having done to me) — THEY NEVER HAD A FUCKING CLUE. That's "parenting" in my family—total control, mind, body, and spirit. You weren't born, you were owned. And not, as you all know, just by them. But then, I could never say, NO. And yet they still, in all their control-freak ignorance, missed it all. And now, perhaps too much, but I do so enjoy it—say it with me—NO!

So, yes, I do look at my freedom to speak and act as I believe to be right as a MORAL issue — freedom itself is something I've hungered for, lo these many years. And if I can ever pay my own way again, I just may get it. Oh, not freedom from fat, middle-aged, short-dick assholes — the law won't let me erase that blight — nor from the ignorance that reigns supreme, not only here in Catholic Central, but in my own family—"IT'S DIFFERENT, SO IT'S BAD—IT'S DIFFERENT—KILL IT!!!" (visions of the villagers in "Frankenstein", pitchforks, torches, you get the idea) — hell, my own sister calls me The ANTICHRIST — because she doesn't understand the concept that people who BELIEVE DIFFERENTLY FROM HER are not only allowed to exist in this country, but that WE'RE NOT EVIL. Okay, I may be about 11% evil, but that's the fun parts. But it's a scary thing to realize, when you're surrounded by knuckle-walking redneck throw-backs — that not only are they your blood kin — there's another version of them waiting for you back in the city. No matter where you go in Louisiana, there's a segregationist of one flavor or another just waiting for you around that next corner.

But again, I digress… I know so many of you think you've got me figured-out from my revealing rants, here on stage — but baby, you ain't even seen the half of it. I've only got a few minutes every week — and there's VOLUMES of shit I ain't touched-on yet… I kinda view {this poetry reading} as a weekly column, where I address the issues of the day, the issues of my life, as they happen. Stuff that would NEVER get printed, especially in this town. But you think you can capture my philosophy in a teaspoon, just wrap it all up by, "I bitch, therefore I am." That's not even the fucking point.

I bitch because I have to, I praise whenever I can — but y'all don't remember that, only the ball-busting. But one thing I learned from my life in Redneck Hell — if you don't bitch, if you just let shit slide until it's too late to fix, if you never lift a voice or a finger to change things, then you're just as responsible as the motherfuckers you would have bitched about. It's not a perfect world — (my "home town") and New Orleans both show that… and they are also perfect examples of what becomes of apathy and fear — nothing. Nothing gets better, nothing gets done. If it were not for those who were brave enough to bitch, slavery would still be fashionable. If it were not for those who were not afraid of being called bitches, women would still be possessions. If it were not for me raising this big ol' voice and getting off my big ol' ass, where would I be? Kissing ass down at the Pik'N Pak? Still being Mama's little buddy, since the bitch can't make friends of her own? Would I still be "not quite good enough", but nonetheless "accepted" by my family? Fuck that shit. I'd rather stay home with my cats any day than be a liar. If you know the truth and do not speak it, do not effect change, do not even TRY to make it better by sharing your experience, you are just as lazy, just as selfish, just as liable as "The Bad Guys".

So, hell yeah, I'm a "bitch" — I was raised to be a "housepet", the belonging of others, so that they could take credit for what few things I might do right, without ever accepting responsibility for what they'd done wrong — but no longer. If my "anger" makes you squirm in your seats, if my voice is too harsh, my humor too coarse, if my righteous rage pisses you off 'cause it's not "positive" enough, or "sweet" or "ladylike" — TOUGH FUCKING SHIT.

This is how I change the world, this is how I make a difference. And I'd wager my bitching and my fighting, my "inability" to conform against your soft-spoken subservience any day. You don't have to like my style, you don't even have to "get" what I'm trying to accomplish — most don't — but don't you once think that this milk-fed veal is gonna stay in her box in the dark ever again. It's not, I bitch, therefore I am—I bitch to make a change. And if your little "manners" can't hang with that, well, baby, suck it up and go find a tea party, 'cause the real world has no room for pussies.