TUESDAY POLITICS

RIP somebody’s mother, sister, daughter, wife, father, son, brother, husband (thousands to come)

Deep Thought: “I think a good product would be “Baby Duck Hat”. It’s a fake baby duck, which you strap on top of your head. Then you go swimming underwater until you find a mommy duck and her babies, and you join them. Then, all of a sudden, you stand up out of the water and roar like Godzilla. Man, those ducks really take off! Also, Baby Duck Hat is good for parties.”
Today I am grateful for: Twilight
Guess the Movie: “You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.” Answer: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, 1966. Winner: twoberry.
Receding Floodwaters Expose the Dark Side of America – But Will Anything Change?
A Country Waking up to Injustice and High-Level Incompetence
by Jonathan Freedland
The waters flow in and the waters flow out, washing away all that once lay on the surface -and revealing what lies beneath. So it is with all floods in all places, but now it is America which stands exposed. And neither America nor the world much likes what it sees. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:55 pm
+ = Too many folks are furious now to let GWB off the hook and it’s only going to get worse.
- = Finally reached my breakdown point when they were showing on Oprah how dying victims are being trundled into the morgue at the New Orleans airport to die with no one even knowing who they are.

MONDAY BOOK

In lieu of a book this morning I wanted to share a wonderful poem that RainyDar wrote back on Friday of last week. It says it all:

Katrina and the House that Jack Built

 ~ Doris E. Gruber

Deep Thought:”If you ever crawl inside an old hollow log and go to sleep, and while you’re in there some guys come and seal up both ends and then put it on a truck and take it to another city, boy, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Today I am grateful for: Everyone who got in their vehicle and went to New Orleans while the government was saying it couldn’t be reached.
Guess the Movie: “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.” Pulp Fiction, 1994. Winner: tearsign.
Bush Team Tries to Pin Blame on Local Officials
by Julian Borger in Washington
Bush administration officials yesterday blamed state and local officials for the delays in bringing relief to New Orleans, as the president struggled to fend off the most serious political crisis of his presidency.
His top officials continued to be pilloried on television talk shows by liberals and conservatives alike, but the White House began to show signs of an evolving strategy to prevent the relief fiasco from eclipsing the president’s second term. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 7:59 pm
+ = Kitty home from vet for second time and hopefully won’t have to go back.
- = Total cost – $750**!!&&&!!

SATURDAY PHOTO

I must say I’m no rap afficionado or fan, but I do know who Kanye West is due to a 14-year-old grandson, and apparently I have KW to thank for a little outburst during what was supposed to be a scripted telethon raising money for Katrina’s victims. Specifically, he said: “I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, “They’re looting.” You see a white family, it says, “They’re looking for food.” And, you know, it’s been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I’ve tried to turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help — with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way — and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us! George Bush doesn’t care about black people!” before they cut him off. Well, somebody had to say it and I guess Condaleeza Rice wasn’t going to. The photo is from the Taipei Times and I guess it’s looking that way to them, too. But to be more educational, three years ago the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a series of articles about the expected disaster called “Washing Away,” and it’s really worth reading to understand better the gravity of what ignoring the obvious has cost. Heck, three New Orleans schoolboys wrote this article about the coastal erosion themselves. It wasn’t rocket science. They say you go through various stages of grieving when you experience loss. One of the first is stunned and in denial, and right after that comes anger. I think most of us are getting there who weren’t even on the Gulf Coast. Imagine what may be coming from the victims themselves and then be more forgiving of Kanye West.

Deep Thought: “It’s probably not a good idea to be chewing on a toothpick if you’re talking to the president, because what if he tells a funny joke and you laugh so hard you spit the toothpick out and it hits him in the face or something.”
Today I am grateful for: Toilet paper
Guess the Movie: “Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder.” Answer: Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, 1980. Winner: tearsign.
Amid Images of Black Victims, Many Ask: Was Race a Factor?
by Martha Mendoza
New Orleans neighborhoods, once lined with old live oaks, charming cottages and imposing mansions, had been proof of the ease with which black and white could live side by side. With the exception, perhaps, of the toniest areas of St. Charles Avenue, and the poorest blocks of housing projects, black and white homeowners chatted to each other from their front porches and greeted each other as they walked their dogs down the streets. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 9:17 pm
+ = Perfect weather day.
- = Two trips to the vet in one day.

FRIDAY FIVE

These Friday Fives are fun and the questions are usually light and entertaining, and I guess I’m just not feeling so light with the events of the week in our country. So here’s five questions about that just because I’m wondering what my fellow citizens think about it all.

1. How did you first become aware of Hurricane Katrina?
Every year there are hurricanes in that part of the country, some worse than others, and we’ve become used to seeing the photos of the wreckage and rebuilding to the point where here on the West Coast it really doesn’t seem to connect that much. For me, it dawned on me slowly that this one was somehow different and worse. It seemed to creep up and then spring, like a cat. Suddenly it was in all our living rooms full force and we hadn’t even noticed it coming.
2. What about it seems different than others have been?
I don’t recall a hurricane hitting a major city dead center before in the way this one struck New Orleans. And somehow coverage seemed to focus there, although the storm was flattening areas in several states just as badly. I’d always said New Orleans was one of the few places in the U.S. I’d kind of like to see if I ever traveled again. When I thought of it, I heard music and smelled magnolias and imagined wonderful food and ancient streets. I guess I never thought of it in terms of percentage of black vs. white citizens, but in the footage since the storm, it would seem that those who filled the Superdome and huddled in the streets were preponderantly black and apparently so poor they hadn’t been able to flee ahead of the storm in time.
3. When did the emotion of the situation begin to get to you?
For once, the media showed some photos of what was really happening in the Superdome and elsewhere – an elderly man in a wheelchair dead under a blanket, babies gasping for water and air, a furious black man leading a crowd in a chant to the cameras to send help, people wading waist deep in water carrying a few precious belongings, the aerial views of water water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Then the coverage began to get emotional as the levees broke and the water rose and the violence began and the fires. The Mayor of New Orleans pleading for help and in tears on a talk show.
4. Why do you think the rescue response was so slow in coming and what could have been done better?
The photos shown here demonstrate different captions for a black man carrying something out of a store (“looting”) and a white couple having done the same thing (“finding”). Much has been made of this around the blogging world this week. I have to admit I wondered if the Superdome had been filled with primarily rich white people (or just even middle-class white people) (or even poor white people), would FEMA and the Federal Government have moved faster? Where were the Christian Right leaders who seem to all live in the South? Where were any let’s say non-government rich people with jumbo jets? The money that had been budgeted to fix those levees was diverted to the war in Iraq by the administration I kept hearing. Now finally on day 5 we are treated to the sleeves-rolled-up photo-ops of Bush hugging some victims and making statements about what may or may not be done. I just heard Jesse Jackson say there are abandoned military air bases handy that were not used for the victims while fending off an attack from a white reporter against the Mayor of New Orleans for not being somehow more responsible. Maybe some of the least talked about and deepest rifts in our society will surface in this debacle.
5. What have you personally done about Katrina?
So far, nothing. I’ve seen the links being copied around for places to send money and heard on TV many times that money is the best thing to do. I have to say after what I’ve heard about past catastrophes and the millions raised by various groups (like the tsunami situation for example) that I’m deeply cynical about where my $25 would go. One of the precepts of Buddhism says: Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with those who are suffering, by all means, including personal contact and visits, images, and sound. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world. I totally get it that I have a luxury today that I can watch this tragedy unfold and feel compassion and I can also turn off the TV and lay in the sun in my back yard and eat food from my full refrigerator and go for a pleasant walk with my neighbor in the waning evening light. The people who have experienced nature’s rage along the Gulf Coast do not have that luxury. I hope to carry as much of their reality in my heart as I am able and to look for ways to give to my world as I move through the next days with them. Peace out.

Deep Thought: “I don’t think I’m alone when I say I’d like to see more and more planets fall under the ruthless domination of our solar system.” Today I am grateful for: Tires
Guess the Movie: “Watch your mouth kid, or you’re gonna find yourself floating home. We’ll be safe enough once we make the jump to hyperspace. Besides, I know a few maneuvers. We’ll lose em’!”  Answer: Star Wars, 1977. Winner: tearsign.

World Stunned as U.S. Struggles with Katrina
by Andrew Gray
LONDON – The world has watched amazed as the planet’s only superpower struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with some saying the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in American society. (Rest of article here.)