Okay, this is a brownnose post, so just bear with me.
I just wanted to thank the wonderful Melissa, for a few things.
First, I'm very honored to have some of my posts included in the "greatest hits" section here on Shakes. I have a little bit of wit, and sometimes my posts can approach something that could be considered good writing, but having them included with the amazing essays that Shakes seems to produce out of thin air, is quite humbling. I should have thanked you for that a long time ago, Shakes.
Second, I'd just like to thank you for running this blog, period. After I discovered you, this quickly became my favorite blog, and my first read of the day. That hasn't changed. This blog is consistently the most informed, well-written, compassionate, and entertaining "online magazine" that I read... and I know it would still be that way even if you didn't have any contributors. The wonderful D. and Tart make it just that much better. So thanks to you two as well.
Third, thank you for taking so much of your personal time to put together the BBA and all the other organizing you've done.
Fourth, thanks for being a foul-mouthed, hysterically funny woman.
Your "Accountability" post is an excellent example of why you run the best damn blog on the internet. You do it all out of sheer passion for what you feel is good and just, and the rest of us are so much better for it. And all of this without fundraising drives and slathering your blog with ads!
So, again, thank you.
Now watch this drive.
Thank you, Shakespeare's Sister
New Katrina Thread
Links, blogwhoring, news, etc. Here’s a couple of quick recommendations…
Pam: No security, no way out, explosions, and a mayor at the end of his rope
The Green Knight: Voices from Katrina’s Wake
And Michael at AMERICAblog reports that the entire administration was (is?) AWOL:
For days AFTER the worst natural disaster in our nation's history:Even Rove was down in Crawford for a photo-op with the pro-war protestors. So, who was running the country? Oh, right—I forgot. They’re never really on vacation. Yes they are. No they aren’t. Yes they are—gotta be crisp. No they aren’t—working vacations, yeah yeah.
Bush stayed on vacation. On Monday he went to Arizona to cut a birthday cake with John McCain and play politics on Medicare. On Tuesday -- as the flood waters were rising and the death toll mounted -- Bush played politics again, heading out to California to make a speech offering another excuse for staying the course in Iraq (oil!) and jamming on a guitar. He knew he had to end his vacation early (sigh) but couldn't bring himself to head straight to Washington DC. So Bush went BACK to Crawford for one more cozy night of rest before finally heading back to Washington DC on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Condi Rice is in the midst of a THREE DAY vacation that began AFTER the hurricane struck New Orleans. She's gone to a Broadway show, played tennis with Monica Seles and reportedly bought really expensive Ferragamo shoes.
And DICK CHENEY HAS BEEN HANGING OUT IN JACKSON, WYOMING ALL THIS TIME!!!!
[…]
Bush is relaxing in Crawford, Condi is going to a Broadway show and Dick Cheney is probably fly fishing -- all AFTER the hurricane struck.
I have to stop listening to Scott McClellan.
Anyway, Cheney is probably ill, not on vacation.
Katrina News Thread
I'm going to leave this post at the top for awhile, because we're all finding interesting and important things to share about what's going on, and I haven't provided a good place for all of them. So here it is. Leave links to blog entries, news stories, comments, charities, anything and everything. And/or comments.
New posts below.
Update: And please click on the ad to the right to donate.
"Hurricane Katrina has devastated thousands of lives. Today, we're announcing a coordinated effort by the liberal/progressive blogosphere to help the victims of the devastation. Together, we're going to raise $1 million for the American Red Cross - and prove that the liberal blogosphere can help our fellow citizens in need. Make a donation for hurricane relief.
All of the proceeds will be sent to the Red Cross. Donations are being tracked by Drop Cash. Transactions are secured through Paypal. You can be certain that your contribution will be secure, for a good cause, and people will know it came from the liberal blogosphere."
More Horror
In a post aptly titled Beyond Thunderdome, Le Mew point to a WaPo article that contains the following passage in reference to conditions at the Superdome:
"With no hand-washing, and all the excrement," said Sgt. Debra Williams, who was staffing the infirmary in the adjacent sports arena, "you have about four days until dysentery sets in. And it's been four days today."
Go read the whole post. It's no wonder people are going out of their minds.
Good News (c/o the Usual Suspects)
This bit of good news is making me so happy, I'm on the verge of tears. (Not blockquoted due to length.)
Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Rep. Mel Watt, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee announced today that when Congress returns next Tuesday, they will introduce legislation to protect the thousands of families and small businesses financially devastated by Hurricane Katrina from being penalized by anti-debtor provisions contained in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, scheduled to take effect on October 17, 2005. Reps. Conyers, Nadler, and Jackson Lee released the following joint statement:
"We are concerned that just as survivors of Hurricane Katrina are beginning to rebuild their lives, the new bankruptcy law will result in a further and unintended financial whammy. Unfortunately, the new law is likely to have the consequence of preventing devestated families from being able to obtain relief from massive and unexpected new financial obligations they are incurring and by forcing them to repay their debt with income they no longer have, but which is counted by the law.
When the Judiciary Committee considered the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act earlier this year, Ms. Jackson Lee offered an amendment to protect the victims of natural disaster like those now devastated by Hurricane Katrina. While the amendment was defeated on a party line vote without any debate, we hope that in light of recent events our colleagues will recognize the importance of protecting our most financially vulnerable Americans.
The legislation we plan to introduce will prevent new bankruptcy provisions from having adverse and unintended consequences for the hundreds of thousands now facing financial catastrophe by providing needed flexibility for victims of natural disasters in bankruptcy proceedings.
Our common sense bill will insure that we do not compound a natural disaster with a man made financial disaster. We hope to obtain bipartisan support for expedited consideration of this critical legislation."
(Via Atrios.)
Somebody Please Make It Stop
I suppose that somebody would be a president, if we had one with a functioning brain and a basic ability to do his job, but since we don't, I guess this kind of mind-numbing rubbish will just go on and on until another white woman has the decency to go missing:
Wolf Blitzer on CNN, just now: "You see that picture [of people stranded on roofs or wading through water] over and over and over again but no matter how many times you see that picture, you simply get chills every time you see these poor individuals ... almost all of them are so poor, and so black..."
Almost all of them are so poor, and so black. Not just kinda black, acceptably black, like Condi, but really just so black.
And by the way, in what world do these people exist that they have what can only be described as the luxury of shock that poor black people are getting the shit end of the motherfucking stick in this country?
(Thanks again to Ms. J.)
Damn Them All To Hell
So during all the horror with Katrina, Ken Mehlman still has time to work at keeping the money of the rich inside their own goddamn pockets.
I believe they're wallpapering your room in Hell as we speak, Ken.
Edit: Link fixed... sorry about that.
(Chutzpah doesn't begin to cover it cross-post)
Hastert’s a Fat Pot of Crap
What an incredible asshole:
Asked in an interview with the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago paper, whether it makes sense to spend billions rebuilding a city that lies below sea level, a reference to New Orleans, Hastert replied, "I don't know. That doesn't make sense to me."Some total prick has to say some shit like this after every natural disaster, but how many places are there in the United States where there isn’t the risk of one natural disaster or another? Floods or droughts, earthquakes or hurricanes, blizzards or heat waves. In 1990, a tornado a mile and a half wide tore through the Illinois town of Plainfield, leaving 29 people dead and leveling most of the town. Now, I’m not suggesting that what happened in Plainfield is equivalent to the unbelievable nightmare going on in New Orleans right now, but should Plainfield not have been rebuilt?
He added it was a question "that certainly we should ask. And, you know, it looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed."
Hastert expressed sympathy for victims of the hurricane and said "we are going to rebuild this city. We can help replace, we can relieve disaster."
At the same time, he said "we ought to take a second look at it."
"But you know, we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake fissures and they rebuild, too. Stubbornness," he said.
I don’t know—from everything I’m reading, it sounds to me like much of this could have been prevented with the proper (and fully funded) preparations, which isn’t at all about whether New Orleans lies below sea level and has everything to do with whether the issues brought on by lying below sea level are successfully addressed.
Hopefully Rana can shed some more light on this, since she’s (quite literally) the expert.
I Kid You Not
Condi is still on vacation:
September 1, 2005 -- SECRETARY of State Condoleeza Rice, here on three days' vacation to shop and see the U.S. Open, hitting some balls with retired champ Monica Seles at the Indoor Tennis Club at Grand Central . . .
I can think of no other word to describe what I'm feeling than aghast.
(Hat tip AMERICAblog.)
The Venty McVentersons
All I can say is thank the sweet baby jeebus for Paul the Spud, who just called me so we could have a little rant together. I believe my blood pressure is down by 0.00001% now, and considering I'm about two seconds away from exploding into a trillion pieces, every little bit helps. Thanks, Spudsy.
No, you open YOUR wallet.
Goddamn fucking Hell. The more I read, the more agitated I get.
I'm with Wolcott. FUCK giving Bush a pass on this, FUCK not making it into a political issue, and FUCK not placing blame where blame is due. Bush and his cronies are scumfuck, moneygrubbing, self-centered thugs, and the sooner we're rid of their evil in this country, the better.
I demand to know how much money Bush, Condi, Cheney, Rove and Rummy are donating out of their own pockets to aid the suffering of these people that they put in this situation. Don't you dare fucking ask me to dig into my pockets, Mister Bush, before I know you're digging in pretty fucking deep, rich boy. And Condi, stop buying fucking thousand dollar shoes and give your money to the people that need it, you heartless ass.
I've had it. I've fucking had it. I want these people GONE. I want them punished for their crimes and their arrogance.
And we all know a hit in the pocketbook is one of the worst punishments you can dish out to these bastards.
Pay up, assholes. Your fucking country needs you.
(And for the record, I donated. I don't want a pat on the back; I want the "President" to do the same.)
(Can't remember the last time I was this furious cross-post)
Shoe-Shopping and Spamalot
Condi's on vacation in New York.
According to Drudge, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has recently enjoyed a little Broadway entertainment. And Page Six reports that she’s also working on her backhand with Monica Seles. So the Gulf Coast has gone all Mad Max, women are being raped in the Superdome, and Rice is enjoying a brief vacation in New York. We wish we were surprised.
What does surprise us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman.
Angry Lady, whoever you are, we love you. You are a true American.
Wow. Just...wow.
(Hat tip to the lovely Ms. J at Big Brass Blog.)
Shakes Gets Bitchy
— President Bush, during his flyover of the areas ravaged by Katrina
After reading TBogg’s collection of winger responses to the president’s speech (thanks for the pointer, Spudsy), over the course of which you could see some of them talking themselves into how good it actually was after all, since none of the victims were watching it, anyhow, I’m totally fucking annoyed, because I’m sick of President Stupid’s every mistake being justified by everyone around him. He was a totally compassionless douche during that speech, which even his supporters are admitting, and I don’t think it’s for any other reason than because he’s basically a heartless bastard.
Check out Scottie McClellan’s efforts to make him seem like he gives a drip of shit about what’s going on:
MR. McCLELLAN: Okay, just to update you on the flyover. He was -- you'll have the still photos that will go out from the stills that were up there, you'll have pictures of him. But he was sitting up in the -- on the left side of the plane, the front part there, where the Secret Service detail usually sits, and looking out at all the hurricane damage along the Gulf coast region. He spent about 35 minutes there, in that seat.Compassion Point #1: Bush spends thirty-five whole minutes with his precious ass in a seat that’s usually occupied by riffraff. And to show how extra compassionate he is, he doesn’t even require Karl Rove to give him his circle-circle-dot-dot cooties shot first.
MR. McCLELLAN: … It started with, as you all saw, with New Orleans. And we can see -- and the President was pointing out some of the different structures within the town, like the Superdome. … The President, when we were passing over that part of New Orleans, said, "It's devastating, it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground." And he pointed out some of the neighborhoods that I just mentioned, and pointed out -- there's a shopping mall, I think it was, we were trying to figure out what it was, and we thought it was a shopping mall that was under a lot of water.Compassion Point #2: Bush acknowledges that people who may well be turning into radioactive prunes as they wait to be rescued from toxic, rancid, critter-infested water that consumed their entire lives in one big gulp are experiencing as least double the devastation that he is from the cushy comfort of Air Force One.
Compassion Point #3: Bush proves a liar anyone who suggests he hasn’t lifted a finger, by lifting a finger to point at stuff.
MR. McCLELLAN: … The President made a comment saying, it's totally wiped out, when he looked down at this one community, where you can see the homes that were just in pieces. … There was a bridge that had been wiped out. The President pointed out this one church that was still standing, but all the homes around it there were completely wiped out.Compassion Point #4: Bush looks, comments, and points all at one community. That’s totally, like, triple super-duper compassionism.
Q Scott, can you say if the President requested this fly-over?Compassion Point #5: Bush doesn’t tell his staff to “get stuffed” when the suggestion is made that he maybe ought survey the damage from America’s worst national disaster and take a break from playing “Hail to the Chief” on his fancy new presidential guitar.
MR. McCLELLAN: The President certainly wanted to do it. I think that it had been discussed among the staff with the President, but the President certainly wanted to do it, as long as we weren't going to be disruptive of what was going on in the region.
Pretty splendid, but even Scottie the Spinmeister couldn’t remotely make President Icyheart Blacksoul look like he actually game a damn about what was going on.
Someone had better give him a bullhorn and a costume hat, quick.
How to Help
Commenter E. Thompson at Mannion's place left a superb list of contact information for Houston, where many Katrina refugees are headed. Check it out.
Gorgeous George
Even if you’ve dreamt about money, you’ve probably never dreamt about any of the guys on money, especially not the amazing but decidedly unstudly George Washington, a man who, if the renderings of him available to us are any indication, would only truly appeal to those with a fetish for wigged grumpsters in fancy shortpants. But the original George W.’s is getting a bit of a makeover, thanks to Jeffrey Schwartz, a physical anthropologist at the University of Pittsburgh, who has figured out what Washington would have looked like at 19 and developed a rendering upon which a life-size figure with auburn hair and gray-blue eyes will be based for display at Mount Vernon.
“I may be a founding father, but you can call me Daddy.”
The folks at Mount Vernon are hoping the new George will help Americans see him as he was before he was famous, before Gilbert Stuart painted him, back when he was an "adventurous, athletic, risk-taking, courageous kind of action hero," says Jim Rees, the estate's executive director. Washington was extremely tall for his time (just over 6 feet 2), had a regal bearing and "larger than average hands and feet."Yowza—you know what that means! Sounds to me like he had more than just a mouth full of wood.
(Actually, in all seriousness, I found the process Schwartz used to backwards age Washington really fascinating, because I’m a nerd about that stuff, which was my intent in recommending the article, but I kind of need some silliness today.)
Brotherly Love
Check out the amazing rendering of Shakespeare's Sister done by my long-lost brother, Neil Shakespeare, as part of his homage to blogs he loves series. Truly, wickedly cool--and I loves ya right back, doll.
(When you're done, go back to his main page and just scroll down and fall madly in lust, if you haven't already.)
NY Times Eviscerates Bush
George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end.I heard just an excerpt of this speech on the radio this morning, and I was appalled—even by Bush’s standards, it was just unbelievably bad. Among a string of empty platitudes, he was stumbling to describe what he’d seen in his flyover, and while that’s totally understandable, he was chuckling, perhaps at his own inability to verbalize what he’d seen, but it was still dreadfully inappropriate. And what he could manage to get out was presented as though he was ticking off a list of what he’d seen, with very little emotion. If the rest of his speech was even half as bad as what I heard, the Times isn’t wrong in deeming it one of his worst speeches ever.
…[N]othing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.
[…]
It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America "will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal.
On Stewardship
It takes its name from the Scottish House of Stewart, the members of which served as caretakers on behalf of the English king, before their house itself became the Royal House of Scotland, but the concept of stewardship did by no means originate with the Stewarts; it was sometimes offered as the spoils to be won in ancient Greek and Roman contests, and I daresay they probably didn’t invent it, either. I imagine as soon as human consciousness developed sufficiently to appreciate that, provided a pointy rock, a stick, a way to bind them together, and half-decent aim, we were pretty much the top of the food chain, there were those who went mad with the power such status confers, and those who felt obliged by that position to be careful and responsible.
And thus began war. But that’s a whole other post.
The latter of the two were stewards, by nature or deliberative choice, assuming the responsibility for taking good care of the property and resources with which one is entrusted, a tradition which has carried on forward, seeing various incarnations of the concept, from feudal stewardship to the environmental movement to modern secular philosophies advocating social safety nets. The concept also plays a role in every major religion*, with God serving as the benefactor from whence earthly resources came to be under humans’ watchful care, imbuing each of us with the responsibility of stewardship. What nearly every manifestation of stewardship bears in common, however, is the sense of such protection over one’s ward having been granted, the steward trusted to protect and care for his charge.
In this way, the American presidency is a stewardship; the very fact that the president is chosen by the people he’s meant to lead signifies the simultaneous ceding and bestowing of power to one who is recognized by a majority as best suited to be entrusted with the vast resource of people, materials, wealth, and power that is this nation. When we vote, we are choosing our steward, which is a distinctly different notion than our leader. The president is that, too, to be sure, but while good leadership often requires quick decisiveness, good stewardship is marked by steady vigilance. A steward is tasked with taking care of the resources he inherits—not exploiting them, nor oppressing them, nor pillaging them, nor in any manner leaving them in a worse state than they were when he assumed the role of their guardian—and such caretaking requires intimate attentiveness, a dedication to both knowing and understanding the resources in one’s care.
George Bush has failed miserably as our steward.
He has been world-famously and unconscionably bad at protecting the environment, whether it’s supporting Orwellian-named initiatives that will result in ever greater pollution of our skies and streams or failing to enthusiastically endorse an alternative energy development plan or endorsing drilling for oil in an Arctic refuge. So thorough is his contempt for a clean and healthy environment, I would be amazed if he doesn’t shit in his own bed and drink toxic waste before pissing in the fishin’ lake on his own ranch. But although we most closely associate stewardship with the environment, he has failed with equal aplomb in his duty to protect America’s greatest resource—her people. Never has this been more evident than in the aftermath of Katrina.
Conservatives are already howling that all liberals can do is blame Bush, and even some liberals are annoyed with what they view as attempts to politicize this tragedy, but in truth, it is vital that we see the scope of this disaster, which will reach far beyond a ruined city, as the inevitable consequence of Bush’s poor stewardship on a plethora of issues. Indeed, the fatal error of leaving New Orleans’ levees in a state that made possible the physical devastation which takes our very breath away is a monolithic mistake that is not solely attributable to one party or another, and cannot be laid at one man’s feet. It was a collective failing, and so I will not lay the blame for it singly upon our current president. It is, instead, the aftermath that will affect all of us, as the water recedes and the fires diminish but their implications begin to reverberate far and wide, and how ill-equipped we all are to cope with those inescapable issues, for which I hold him accountable, as should we all.
A number of Louisiana’s National Guardsmen are in Iraq, fighting Bush’s war of choice. FEMA has been gutted to redirect funds to other areas of Homeland Security, the victim, like so many other federal programs, of budgetary limitations made necessary by a deficit made worse by tax cuts issued during a time of war. Poverty continues to rise and wages for the middle and lower classes continue to stagnate, meaning many of New Orleans’ residents, left without employment or housing perhaps indefinitely, will struggle to survive without help, and leaving many of us unable to help financially as much as we’d like. As energy costs soar as a result of both the devastation of this region, combined with Bush’s appalling energy policy and the war in Iraq, people across the country who suffer from poverty and wage stagnation will struggle, too. And come October, when the bankruptcy bill goes into effect, anyone who loses that struggle will face undue hardships that could have been avoided. Because the GOP-led Congress struck down the proposed amendment which would offer a homestead exemption to those bankrupted by medical bills, how many victims of Katrina (who may rack up healthcare fees either because of injuries or a lack of insurance to pay for existing conditions because of employment loss) will be revictimized by this cruel legislation? Indifference to global warming, resistance to a national healthcare plan, pissing away resources to line the pockets of Halliburton while the economy languishes—the list goes on and on. Bush shirked his responsibilities as our steward, ignoring what was needed to protect America’s natural, human, and financial resources, and now we will all pay the price for his dereliction of duty.
Bush fancies himself a great leader, as do his supporters, but being a great leader isn’t all that’s required of our president. Protecting American’s resources shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but he has made it so, choosing to protect his cronies and, worse, reward them with the resources he’s plundered from the public. When he chose to favor his own interests ahead of America’s, he not only turned every issue in which people suffer because of his decisions into a partisan fight, he also disregarded his obligations of stewardship, and in the end, a leader without stewardship is just a tyrant.
-----------------------------
* (Though not every denomination of every religion. Tthe opposing construct to Christian context for stewardship, for example, is Dominionism, adherents of which it its most radical incarnation encourage the rape and depletion of the earth’s resources to instigate the Rapture.)
You're F-ing with us, right?
I think I'm going to have to rely on Mark over at Recidivist Journals or Mister Shakes to tell me if this is real or not. It just has "prank" written all over it.
Brits driving Austrians bonkers over rude village name
LONDON, (AFP) - British tourists have left the residents of one charming Austrian village effing and blinding by constantly stealing the signs for their oddly-named village.
While British visitors are finding it hilarious, the residents of F---ing are failing to see the funny side, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
Only one kind of crimimal ever stalks the sleepy 32-house village near Salzburg on the German border -- cheeky British tourists armed with a sense of humour and a screwdriver.
But the local authorities are hitting back and with the signs now set in concrete, police chief Kommandant Schmidtberger is on the lookout.
Okay, it's all well and good, but then we start getting quotes like this:
"We will not stand for the F---ing signs being removed," the officer told the broadsheet.
"It may be very amusing for you British, but F---ing is simply F---ing to us. What is this big F---ing joke? It is puerile."
...and
"Every American seems to care only about 'The Sound of Music' (the 1965 film shot around Salzburg). The occasional Japanese wants to see Hitler's birthplace in Braunau.
"But for the British, it's all about F---ing."
...and
Guesthouse boss Augustina Lindlbauer described the village's breathtaking lakes, forests and vistas.
"Yet still there is this obsession with F---ing," she said.
"Just this morning I had to tell an English lady who stopped by that there were no F---ing postcards."
See what I mean? The language is just a little too... calculated. Mark? Mister Shakes? Heard anything about this? Or did some prankster write up a news story and somehow get it published?
I mean, come on... Kommandant Schmidtberger??? I'm German, and even I find that name ridiculous. Why not just call on Otto von Schnitzelpusskrankengescheitmeyer?
(Needed a break from bad news cross-post)
