"Give me a better idiot"

Great quote from the president of the Jefferson Parish (reprinted from Guardian Unlimited):

The Jefferson Parish president, Aaron Broussard, told CBS news that government would have to be held accountable for what had happened.

"Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy needs to stand trial before congress today," he said.

"Take whatever idiot they have at the top, give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot."

Barbara Bush

Isabella of the Hungry Blogger brought this our attention:

Barbara Bush: Things Working Out 'Very Well' for Poor Evacuees from New Orleans

I am utterly flabbergasted by her audacity, stupidity, lack of compassion ... you name it. It's no wonder the president we have considering what comes out of that pie hole on his mother's face. To pretend he represents the common man, yet has that Yale and Harvard education and that silver spoon so far up his ass, is laughable. Or it would be laughable if it were not for the ignorance of this cursed family causing thousands of deaths in Iraq and in our own country.

This has gone beyond a difference in philosphy. The incompetence exhibited this last week, the outing of a CIA agent, war profiteering, etc. are impeachable offenses. A great president was impeached for getting a BJ. It's time to send this one home for offenses that history will remember forever.

Thank you for growing a spine!

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) has apparently redeemed herself somewhat after her hilariously sad interview with Anderson Cooper a few days ago. She has actually called Bush to task for using a tragedy as a photo op.


Right now I'm watching Silver City, a very good political mystery, comedy about a fictitious candidate, Dickie Pilager. But don't be fooled, it's about George Bush. From the political handler modeled after Karl Rove to the speaking affectations that are a spitting image of W, this is a Bush indictment. In a case of life imitating art imitating life, the movie begins with a hastily staged photo op on a lake front that begins the slow unraveling of a candidate.

I'm also watching The Fog of War, a documentary about Robert S. McNamara. I'll give a review of it and a more in-depth review of Silver City at a later time. But suffice to say, both are very relevant about today's political climate.

Outsourcing the Nigerian Email Scam

Jamison at BiteSoundBite posted this hilarious exchange:

Nigerian Email Scam

Cheers

I've been about as cheery as the Grim Reaper on my blog in the last week ... deservedly so. But I thought I'd break the monotony a little bit and query my regulars for their list of favorite ways to imbibe. GWB brought up the subject of beer in a post and Laura, wine. Some of you hoity-toity, cheese-tasting, upper-crust types can list your wines. But mine will be 5 fave beers:

Guinness Stout
Stone India Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Dos Equis Amber
Mississippi Mud Black and Tan



I'm interested to hear yours, especially if they're regional favorites that I haven't had before.

Be Charitable Locally

"Defer not charities till death; for certainly, if a man weigh it rightly, he that doth so is rather liberal of another man's than of his own." -- Francis Bacon

It's sad that it takes an event like this to remind us of it, but all that can should help out in their local communities as much as possible ... even if it doesn't directly affect those from Hurrican Katrina.

Today, with our friends the Burleys, we volunteered at the Westside Food Bank, sorting food. My wife's and the Burley's church regularly volunteer there. There are many other great organizations here and in other communities that are helping the needy.

Supposely, over 1000 refugees from the hurricane will be coming to the Valley. We've already offered our home through Moveon.org and would encourage anyone else in communities expecting refugees to do the same. But even if you don't, give of your time and your money to help those in need locally.

Salvation Army

This is sad and funny at the same time. We are in hell:

The Clueless-In-Chief

Low-Interest Loans?

Bush, you fucking moron! I'm tired of being politically correct and even-keeled about this. People are broke, dying, without a home, without food and the best that our Mayberry Machiavellian can do is say that there will be "low interest loans" for people to re-build. You don't understand! These people have nothing. Cut them a fucking check! The cost of rebuilding ($50 to 60 billion) is a drop in the bucket compared to what we've spent in Iraq. Are you giving the people of Iraq "low interest loans? You heartless demagogue. Low-interest -- you know what that means? Somebody will be making money off of these people's suffering. On top of that, check this out:

Halliburton gets Katrina contract, hires former FEMA director

Are we even surprised? Bush and Cheney's cronies are profiting off of people's pain, just like in Iraq.

And FEMA is clueless: The big disconnect on New Orleans

Maybe it's finally time that other Republicans are seeing this administration for what it is:

Senator Vitter gives the "federal government a grade 'F' for its response to the disaster so far"

"... puts into question all of the Homeland Security and Northern Command planning for the last four years, because if we cannot respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why do we think we are prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?" -- Newt Gingrich

And the world is paying attention on this one too. No free pass like Sept. 11 for Bush:

"Casual to the point of careless -- UK

Storm brews around Bush leadership -- New Zealand

And to you koolaid drinking Righties who think you can somehow defend what has happened, bring it on.

Hastert/Shame

People are dying and all the Speaker of the House of the most powerful country in the world questions rebuilding New Orleans and says retarded things like:

"It looks like a lot of that place could be bulldozed..."

The day of the hurricane, when leadership and preparation would have made a difference, Bush is at a golf resort.

This government is an embarrassment: Politicians Failed Storm Victims

There have been many uplifting stories of rescues and good deeds by those local agencies in the area. The people of America have been amazingly supportive, generously donating, even offering their homes: Adopt a Family of Hurricane Katrina Program and Moveon.org. But history will not look back kindly on how this was handled from the top.

Hurricane

I'll preface this post by saying that our thoughts are obviously with all the families that have been displaced and that have lost loved ones as a result of the hurricane. Nothing we say or do can truly replace their losses.

However, by being prepared and by not misusing the resources we do have, these type of tragedies can be better handled. This is where I feel our government has woefully failed.

First of all, if our National Guard forces were not so depleted because of being deployed overseas, perhaps, looting could have been prevented. Food and water could have been delivered quicker to those in need. And this is not some wacked-out liberal opionion. From the Army Times: Overseas deployments hinder Guard hurricane presence

Secondly, this administration drastically cut funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding. To quote the article from January of this year:

"The cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now."

Sounds kinda prophetic. Bush will pinch a few pennies when it comes to saving lives but has no problem spending us into debt for a pointless war.

Laura (as usual) has a pretty good take on all this on her blog: Where Did Summer Go?

Kaibab Lake - Williams, AZ

The camping trip was a blast. Weather, scenery, food and fishing were all great. Here are some nice pics of us (Lance, Michelle, and Alex) and my folks:


Kaibab Lake

We were only there a little over a day but did try Isabella's grilled portobello mushrooms. My folks had never had portobello mushrooms and loved them.

Pardon me, your slip is showing

Is it just me, or is the Right getting just a tad bit nervous? They seem to not be doing as good of job of hiding their true nature. Just a few examples:

• American Legion Declares War on Protestors -- Media Next?
  
  Laughably, they argue that we are endangering freedom by exercising it. I've said it many times before, but blind nationalism is not patriotism. I know that the American Legion doesn't necessarily represent all veterans but it's certainly one of the major faces. What I do think is that broad proclamations like theirs will ultimately hurt their cause. There are enough veterans with an actual brain that will see through it.
  
  And it's so political in nature. They argued the exact opposite of their current position when Clinton was in office and we had troops in Yugoslavia.

• Pat Robertson: making friends in Latin America. His apology is almost as bad as his original statement. Why can no one on the right admit a mistake?

• John Bolton: making friends at the U.N.. And if anyone was surprised by this, they are clueless.

• Colin Powell: Former Powell Aide Expresses Regret Over WMD Speech. One would have to assume that Powell regrets it also. He has already admitted that the information he presented was false and from dubious sources.

Got Milk?

There has been yet another suspension in baseball for the ingestion of an apparently banned substance ... milk:

Suspended batboy mulling two offers

Who says crime doesn't pay?

Lucky Sevens

Per Laura's challenge at Sarchasm:

7 Things you plan to do before you die

1. Go to Europe
2. Write a book
3. Get my pilot's license
4. Run for public office
5. Raft the Grand Canyon
6. Jump out of an airplane ... again. Have done once before.
7. Get a philosophy degree. I have a BS in Aerospace Engineering ... how boring.

7 Things you can do

1. Begin a million projects (writing, graphics, video) and finish none
2. Disagree with my family on just about every meaningful political point ... and love them anyway
3. Be a good dad/husband
4. Read too many books at once
5. Get on my soapbox too often
6. Remember completely useless movie trivia and baseball stats
7. Fix computers

7 Things you can't do

1. Work for anyone besides myself
2. Dance
3. Tolerate racism
4. Tolerate hypocrisy
5. Suffer fools
6. Fix my car (except to change the oil)
7. Be consistent about exercising

7 Things that attract you to the opposite sex

1. Kindness
2. Honesty
3. Self Confidence
4. Wit
5. Patience
6. Intelligence
7. Huuuuge .... tracts of land (sorry, couldn't resist)

7 Things you say most

1. Alex!! (seems I have to say my son's name at least twice to get his attention)
2. God damn it (I know, go figure. From a humanist?)
3. Shit
4. Puto
5. Any Sid and Nancy or Monty Python quote
6. Moron
7. I love you

7 Celebrity crushes

1. Charlize Theron
2. Gwen Stefani
3. Kate Winslet
4. Helena Bonham Carter
5. Natalie Portman
6. Franka Potente
7. Halle Berry

7 Songs I like right now

1. B.Y.O.B -- System of a Down
2. Only -- Nine Inch Nails
3. Question -- System of a Down
4. Holiday -- Green Day
5. Vote With a Bullet -- COC
6. End of Hearthache -- Killswitch Engage
7. Evidence -- Faith No More

7 People you want to take this quiz - Like the woman said, anyone that wants to, feel free and post here or on your blog

Day After Tomorrow

Every day, it seems like there is new info out there suggesting global warming:


Melting Arctic a growing threat

One would almost not be surprised to see tornadoes in LA and a new ice age tomorrow. Just kidding. The point is ... the things they exaggerated in The Day After Tomorrow to make a point are not that far-fetched any more.

"House of Ill Repute"

"...Are you amazed at how little power the minority has, especially in the authoritarian House of Representatives? One shrewd contributor thundered against "the tyranny of the majority." He declared that "millions of Americans" were deprived of "their fair representation in the formulation of public policy" and that "the majority in the House has many ways to pass its pet legislation or stall other bills without due regard for proper debate and deliberation.""

Sounds like a quote from some disgruntled Democrat describing the current state of affairs in Washington. But if you thought that, you'd be wrong. It's Newt Gingrich in the book of essays, House of Ill Repute, that was published in 1987.

The great Washington Post writer, E.J. Dionne, has a nice article about it:

Corruption, arrogance run rampant in House of Representatives

So, don't get too comfortable. This too shall pass.

Sierra Club

While the wife and kid are visiting family in Iowa in October, this is how I'm going to spend my vacation:



Appleton-Whittell Audubon Research Ranch

I'm pretty excited about it. Have some fun and enjoy some great scenery while doing something that backs up the words that I spout all the time.

Vehicle Emissions

Thankfully not taking a cue from from the "see-no-evil" crowd in Washington D.C., the states of Oregon and Washington are adopting Cali's tough emissions standards:

Northwest states unite on car emissions

It's something I think you'll see more and more of. People here and abroad are not going to wait for the Bush administration to admit there is a global warming problem.

Garth Brooks

I know it's a little incongruous, but I've always liked Garth Brooks. I saw him in concert and I have several of his albums. I respected his bucking Nashville. He wasn't afraid to write controversial (for country music) songs. But today I am deeply embarrassed for him:

Garth Brooks a Wal-Mart Exclusive

What a fucking sell-out! In the first place, having an exclusivity deal like this with any retailer is bogus. But it just adds insult to injury for it to be Wal-mart. Parading around the shareholders meeting in a Wal-mart blue smock? I think I'm going to be sick.

Re-wilding

Interesting plan on the introduction of large mammals in parts of North America where there is more space and less population than in Africa:

Big game 'could roam US plains'

It sounds like a nutty idea but it would actually help to maintain ecosystems. Something to think about.