CNN.com - Bennett under fire for remarks on blacks, crime - Sep 30, 2005

Seriously, what the hell was he thinking? That is just retarded, he deserves all the slack that comes his way.

Fwd: Explains a fews things, or does it?

Below you will find an email forwarded to me by dear old dad explaining why the Bush administration is not at fault for the hurricane response. Besides the fact that is clearly a piece of right wing propaganda and engages in the exact same tit for tat attacks they accuse democrats of making, it is flawed on several levels.

I don't have time to go into WHY the administration has just plain dropped the ball, but I can point out rather quickly one main reason. Bush is responsible for appointing officials to serve in all the departments, such as FEMA and Homeland Security. Perhaps if he appointed competent officials, instead of unqualified stooges, the response of national agencies would have been much better (click the title).

Look, I don't want it to come off sounding like im exhonorating one side over the other. The way I honestly see it, is everyone has dropped the ball in this situation, local, state and national administrations. Instead of playing the blame game (which BOTH sides are doing with equal tenacity), we need to acknowledge that our response to this disaster has failed miserably. We need to go back, look at what went wrong, and make the necessary changes to prevent these problems in the future. Chances are, these changes will also have their own problems, but we should be critical instead of congratulating everyone, patting eachother on the back, while New Orleans remains under 10 feet of water.

Finally, I do want to point out that ironically, the first argument the letter technically makes is technically, as Jon Stewart so correctly pointed out, that NO is to blame simply by existing. . .



Subject: Fw: THIS EXPLAINS A FEW THINGS, ANYWAY



Joan Benkoil

Salvation Army
Music Department
USA Western Territory


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



by Lee Ellis
Sep 3, 2005

Watching both Fox and NBC after President Bush had
been inspecting the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, I was
shocked at how the nets, and even some newspapers,
were trying to blame the Bush Administration for the
slowness in which help was reaching the damaged
cities.
Obviously, Brian Williams and his news team do not
know the law, nor do they know the past history of New
Orleans--a city built in a bathtub of a swamp. This
is a city where the dead, for centuries, have had to
be buried in above-ground structures because the water
is so close to the surface of this sinking city. If
coffins are put in the ground, they will rise to the
surface as the underground water pushes them up. I
have been to these cemeteries personally to witness
this.

For decades, New Orleans has been told that the city
is sinking, and that the old levees have to be rebuilt
and modernized in order to keep the city from being
flooded. Local officials never finished the work, nor
have pleas to Congress for additional federal help
been heeded. Congress has simply never seen fit to
fully complete this effort, whether controlled by
Democrats or Republicans.

"Why did it take five days for Bush to help?" is the
mantra constantly voiced by all the "Talking Heads" on
TV. Here are the reasons:

(1) It is against the law for any President to order
troops into a city or across state lines without a
request and permission from the Governor of that
state.

John Armor, a First Amendment lawyer and one of my
favorite writers, told me, "Federal law prevents the
President from sending in the National Guard until the
Governor gives the order. It is little known, but the
Commanding General of the National Guard in every
state reports to the Governor, not the President,
until the Governor says otherwise. U.S. military
units (regular Army, not the Guard) cannot be used
because of the Posse Comitatus law, until the Guard
has been authorized."

Continue reading this article below


According to some news sources, the Governor of
Louisiana, who knew the levees were weak, who knew
that the city had been slowly sinking, and who knew
that a major # 5 hurricane was approaching her city,
did not call Washington for help.

(2) The Mayor of New Orleans did call for evacuation
over a loud-speaker, but did nothing to be sure that
the police went door-to-door, followed by
transportation, to pick up all those who did not have
cars or any ability to leave.

There was no other leadership practiced by the mayor
there, as had been in New York City during 9/11 by
Mayor Giuliani.

(3) The hurricane veered east and saved New Orleans,
Brian Williams announced a week ago, and all breathed
a sigh of relief...until the levees broke a day or two
later allowing the surrounding waters to pour into the
city.

(4) It was this predicted levee failure which had
been ignored for so long that doomed the local people
to be held hostage in their attics or on rooftops, not
the storm. It was also the failure of the local
bureaucrats and local elected leaders to maintain law
and order, and to have pre-arranged for complete
evacuations of the city.

It was only after a request went out to the President
that troops could be sent in. Can you imagine the
anti-Bush media screaming that Bush had invaded
Louisiana as he had done in Iraq if he had gone in
before being asked? I can just imagine The New York
Times headlining, "A Repeat of Shock and Awe by Bush!"

Bill O'Reilly, on Fox News, was the only commentator I
heard who explained this. All the other network
commentators seemed too willing to allow the
implication inferred by the viewers, that this was all
the fault of the Bush Administration.

I guess the Far Left also works in mysterious ways!

Now you know why my channel is glued to Fox News, and
why I no longer listen to NBC or its aide-de-camp,
MSNBC!

Comedy of Errors

But still, we should praise "Brownie." He's doing a helluva job. Yet another example of the "brilliant" response of the Federal government to the hurricane. Bravo!

Lord Apollo strikes

Click the title to see what my supposedly "liberal" leanings have led to. . . :)

CNN.com - Editorial�blasts federal response - Sep 4, 2005

CNN.com - Editorial�blasts federal response - Sep 4, 2005

Yet more evidence why the Fed's response to the hurricane has been totally blunderous.

CNN.com - Katrina medical help�held up by red tape - Sep 4, 2005

CNN.com - Katrina medical help�held up by red tape - Sep 4, 2005

The Great Minnesota Get Together

Last weekend I went to the state fair. Here are the pictures documenting my day.

Me, on the bus, excitedly anticipating the fair.

Possibly the lamest picture ever. We had to wait 15 min. for the bus to more the final 20 feet, so I took this picture of Chris then.

Camera showdown on the bus!

Me, with my milkshake, under a very ironic sign. Actually, if you look through the archives of my blog, you can find the same banner last year.

Chris and Valerie eat unhealthy milkshakes.

Throwing health-consciousness completely to the wind, Chris enjoys an italian sausage.

Princess Kay of the Milky Way. Don't ask, they select a fair princess here, and then carve her in butter.

This is the international beer stand. I thought it was funny because of the Zimbabwean flag prominently displayed on the corner. Honestly, who associates Zimbabwe with beer?

I went to the fair with one thing on my agenda. That was to get fried dough. I succeeded, and if I may say, it was damn good.

Minnesotans sure do love their hot dagos.

Chris flexes his muscles in an attempt to demonstrate for everyone the strength of the Republican party. I know no better republican than him. :)

View of the fair from the grandstand.

On the way back, Chris tried to bombard me with spitballs. He failed miserably. 

Twins v. Indians

Last night I went to the Twins game in the Metrodome with some friends. Although I took a couple pictures of the game, pretty much all my pictures were of my friend Chris (making this pretty much a photo essay documenting his quick decline into drunken absurdity). The way I look at it though is if the man becomes the center of attention for an entire section of people, how could I not blog about him? Enjoy!

This is Chris's first of several beers at the game last night. It didn't take long for him to go off the deep end in that shortly after I took this picture he started talking to me about the 80's sitcom Mama's Family, and the role of Vicki Lawrence in the series.

This is a group shot before the game began.

Here Chris is railing against the city of Cleveland. Ironically, shortly thereafter he was pontificating about how similar his life is to Drew Carey's.

Obligatory game shot.

Chris dancing in the stands after the Twins won the game. I honestly think he doesn't have a clue what is going on right now, in that he served as the entertainment for our entire section during the last 2 innings.

When not explaining his thoughts on Mama's family or women (we need not get into that here), Chris pretty much went on and on (and on and on) about Ancient Greece. I think the highlight came when he explained to everyone that his goal this semester is to revive the Cult of Dionysus in Minneapolis.  

I'll post some more pics from the Twins game later, but for now enjoy this little vigniette.

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The Quotable Alexander Pt. 1 + 2

1) I really see a lot of similarities between my life and Drew Carey's. We both like to drink, and both our lives involve a lot of large dance numbers.

2) Dude, if anyone could have sex with cobras, its me.

This just sucks

CNN.com - FEMA chief:�Victims bear some responsibility - Sep 1, 2005

So what now? The victims of the hurricane in NO are now at fault for their situation? This is apparently what the director of FEMA would have you think.

I personally think this is beyond absurd. Last year, FEMA decided to create an action plan for what they imagined the worst possible natural disaster in the US. That disaster? You guessed it, a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans dead on.

This was only category 4. Therefore, FEMA should have been prepared to handle this disaster. Yet all you hear from the national government is that the restulting damage was completely unexpected. Didn't Bush initially say he didn't forsee the levee breaking?

The way the national government has responded to this disaster is completely disgraceful. No matter what propaganda and jargon the administration throws out about their relief efforts, as of now I think you would have to classify their response as disastrous.

Yes, some people in the city are acting like criminals and doing more harm than good. However, we would not be in this situation had FEMA created a plan that actually could be implemented. Most of the looters are only looting stuff for survival. Those that take TVs and sneakers do deserve to be prosecuted, but if you look at the images on TV, most are people taking bread, water and diapers. Furthermore, the looting is getting progressively worse as the situation gets worse. The longer people are stuck in a flooded, disease ridden city without any form of transportation or communication, they will naturally become more desparate.

Had the federal government been more quick to respond, in all liklihood, the violence would not be as bad as it is now. FEMA's accusations are just an attempt to cover up for their own short comings.

Greg's House Rule #1

No Bossa Nova after 10 pm.