When Harry Truman first introduced the term, "The Buck Stops Here", it was a perfect illustration of the simplicity and common sense of the President from Missouri, who was incredibly unpopular at the end of his presidency when viewed against the general respect and admiration he engenders now in most quarters. The term was sincere in it's scope and intent, and quickly became a part of the American politcal lexicon. In fact, almost every politician has used this as a sort of mantra, at one time or another, almost to the point that it has almost become pointless and meaningless.
Tonight, you will almost certainly hear George W. Bush mouth this refrain for the first time in his presidency, which is really the only thing special about it. Other than that, it means nothing. When Harry Truman said it, it meant, "okay, come on ahead and give me my lumps, I got it coming, I deserve it."
When Bush (and to be fair everyone else) uses it it means simply, "see what a good guy I am? So now let's just forget the whole thing, okay?"
And a lot of people may well forget the whole thing. They might forget how badly and sorrowfuly things are going now in Iraq. They might forget the horrible border situation, that he bears some if not most of the responsibility for the burgeoning price of gasoline, and soon heating fuel and electricity, and all the after-effects of this. And they might even forget in time the horrible way he personally mishandled, and continued to allow to be mishandled, the worse natural disaster in American history, The New Orleans and Gulf Coast destruction by Hurricane Katrina.
On the other hand, maybe they won't so easily forget it. Bush's poll numbers are at their lowest point, more so than at any other time of his presidency, and most Americans now even believe we are not ready for another major terrorist attack. Most Americans have lost all confidence in him as Commander-In-Chief, in his ability to lead the war on terror and protect the nation, and even in his general honesty. Frankly, I believe that he is one of America's all time worse presidents, along with Buchanan, Hoover, and Harding. That's saying something. If any president truly deserved to be impeached, it is this one.
So when he talks tonight before the American people, when he attempts the part of sincerity in his assignment of his part of the blame squarely where it belongs, in a speech I am sure he will spend all this day practising before a select group of advisors, a crew of speech writers at the ready in case a rewrite or additional catch phrase is suggested and agreed upon-I for one will take it with a grain of salt. If I were there in person, I might well wait for the wedgie from ol' George, that Yale Skull and Bones prankster. Everybody should be leery of this guy by now, regadless of their political leanings.
Because, in the long run, the buck doesn't stop with Bush, or any president or politican, it stops with us, the voters who put them in the positions of power all too many of them will say and do anything to attain, and to keep.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Big Easy Lawsuits
It's good to know Mayor Negin is bound and determined to rebuild New Orleans better than ever, while keeping the city true to it's unique cultural heritage. It's good that he seems to have plenty of support from the business and the poltical community as regards to this. But a lot of work remains to be done. There is still an appreciable amount of dead to be identified and buried, for example. There are still numerous children to be reunited with their parents, and pets with their owners. And yes, there is blame yet to be assigned, and dealt with. Not just the political leaders such as Negin and the Governor, but the entire local and state bureaucracy has a lot of accounting to do. Take for example the New Orleans Levi Board, who wasted appreciable amounts of funds meant for levee protections, on such matters as a fountain, and a walkway leading to casinos, and other wasteful expenditures. 45,000 dollars, it has been said, went toward digging up dirt meant to discredit a radio station disc jockey who had been vocaly critical of the Board. An equal amount of money went toward settling a lawsuit with the same disc jockey once he threatend legal action once he learned about this. And of course everybody knows by now about the St. Rita's Nursing Home scandal, where 35 patients were left to fend for themselves as the husband and wife owners, who had turned down various offers of aid beforehand, scurried to safety. Probably all ready been paid in full for their patients care, I would suspect, but that would be mean. Then again, so is leaving elderly people on the bottom floor of a facility, not even taking the time to take them to an upper floor.
Yes, there is a lot to be accounted for. And I'm sure it will. Unfortunately, the drawback to all this is that this is likely to become, in the long run, the big story behind the New Orleans disaster. Oh sure, peple will sing the praises of the heroes from all across the coutnry, the firefighters and police who voluntarily went to New Orleans, the generous churches, organizations, and individuals across the nation who donated money and time. And of course, the next Mardi Gras, whenever that turns out to be, will become a national media event unlike any Mardi Gras before it. But these are all stories that, important though they might be, are stories which will be of relatively temporary duration in the public conscousness.
The lawsuits, which are certainly coming, will be a long drawn out story for months, nay years to come. Most rightly so, in all probability. They will be numerous I am sure, diected at all the state, local, federal agencies and companies and individuals all of whom share some part of the burden of blame. Unfortunately, the real burden will be on the city of New Orleans itself, which is to say the people. Criminal neglect of this magnitude has to be dealt with, and severely. I just hope it doesn't in the meantime interfere in the progress of the city and it's people toward recovery and revitalization. This of course will be one of the mantras you will hear expoused in order to keep these legal actions to a bare minimum, in fact, a whole lot of the passing of the blame is more geared towards just this, in my opinion.
But it doesn't make sense to pass the blame when everybody shares in it to such a considerable extent.
Yes, there is a lot to be accounted for. And I'm sure it will. Unfortunately, the drawback to all this is that this is likely to become, in the long run, the big story behind the New Orleans disaster. Oh sure, peple will sing the praises of the heroes from all across the coutnry, the firefighters and police who voluntarily went to New Orleans, the generous churches, organizations, and individuals across the nation who donated money and time. And of course, the next Mardi Gras, whenever that turns out to be, will become a national media event unlike any Mardi Gras before it. But these are all stories that, important though they might be, are stories which will be of relatively temporary duration in the public conscousness.
The lawsuits, which are certainly coming, will be a long drawn out story for months, nay years to come. Most rightly so, in all probability. They will be numerous I am sure, diected at all the state, local, federal agencies and companies and individuals all of whom share some part of the burden of blame. Unfortunately, the real burden will be on the city of New Orleans itself, which is to say the people. Criminal neglect of this magnitude has to be dealt with, and severely. I just hope it doesn't in the meantime interfere in the progress of the city and it's people toward recovery and revitalization. This of course will be one of the mantras you will hear expoused in order to keep these legal actions to a bare minimum, in fact, a whole lot of the passing of the blame is more geared towards just this, in my opinion.
But it doesn't make sense to pass the blame when everybody shares in it to such a considerable extent.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
The Fly On The Wall
Another update completed in just one days time, I'm kinda proud of myself, but I'm fucking wore out, lemme tell ya. Last week was hell. I don't know how many of you my regular readers have caught on to this, but I like to seque from one post into another. There will more often than not be a slight if tenous connection with one post to the one that came before it, and the one that came after it, and so on and so forth. It doesnt' always work out so good, and last week was a real mess. Everything that happenned in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast was just so serious and tragic I couldn't let it go by with just one or two casual comments, and ended up devoting most of last weeks updates to it, and most of this one as well. I've included here an idea for a National Mardi Gras Week to aid in relief efforts, in addition to some helpful links that those who are concerned about New Orleans and Gulf Coast area pets and pet owners might hopefully find will be of help. Look for this under Remember These Links
Of course, I've included more than a few rants such as You Know It's Coming about religous fanatics views on the disaster, and Political Correctness Always Rears It's Ugly Head, which should be self-explanatory. The Work Cut Out and Trent, Mary, Carlos, and Silver Dollar Sam ae kind of rants too (what the hell here ain't) but deals more withthe technical aspets of the problems New orleans might face on an environmental level on the one hand, and for an historical analysis as to the reasons this may have been allowed to happen on the other.
Then, we gravitate away from the disaster for awhile, after all, there are other things going on and it's good to clear your mind from tragedy ever once in a while in order to avoid total burn out, a sad but real predicament of human nature. And so I deal a little in Two Supremes with the prospect of John Roberts being named as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I then manage to find it in my heart to let Saddam off the hook in Saddams True Confessions (Okay, I just found out this site ain't worth a fuck so no more Italics-ever! ).
Then, I go into a Missing Persons mode with link to an e-mail Yahoo Profile of a person who has mysteriously vanished in "Hey I Am So Crazy"(Yeah, quotation marks work fine-fuck Italics). Then I go into the case of the murdered and formerly missing "Julie Popovich And The Lido Shuffle". And of course no missing persons portfolio is complete without yet another installment of "Vacation Aruba", this one called "Paradise Lost".
Then, finally, I have a special treat for my beloved little Meowcat, a little something I call "Balls". Enjoy, Meow. And don't be mad about my removing your comment from an earlier post. I can't be having you telling all my secrets, can I now?
By the way, in closing, you all may notice a change in the links section, well, that is because I didn't really know what the fuck i was doing the first time out, but I got it all straightened out now. I may add some more links later on, but by almeans avail yourelves of them, I try to add ones that I think are unusual and of interest, yet ones that you might not think about, or know about, otherwise.
Well, later, as they say.
Of course, I've included more than a few rants such as You Know It's Coming about religous fanatics views on the disaster, and Political Correctness Always Rears It's Ugly Head, which should be self-explanatory. The Work Cut Out and Trent, Mary, Carlos, and Silver Dollar Sam ae kind of rants too (what the hell here ain't) but deals more withthe technical aspets of the problems New orleans might face on an environmental level on the one hand, and for an historical analysis as to the reasons this may have been allowed to happen on the other.
Then, we gravitate away from the disaster for awhile, after all, there are other things going on and it's good to clear your mind from tragedy ever once in a while in order to avoid total burn out, a sad but real predicament of human nature. And so I deal a little in Two Supremes with the prospect of John Roberts being named as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I then manage to find it in my heart to let Saddam off the hook in Saddams True Confessions (Okay, I just found out this site ain't worth a fuck so no more Italics-ever! ).
Then, I go into a Missing Persons mode with link to an e-mail Yahoo Profile of a person who has mysteriously vanished in "Hey I Am So Crazy"(Yeah, quotation marks work fine-fuck Italics). Then I go into the case of the murdered and formerly missing "Julie Popovich And The Lido Shuffle". And of course no missing persons portfolio is complete without yet another installment of "Vacation Aruba", this one called "Paradise Lost".
Then, finally, I have a special treat for my beloved little Meowcat, a little something I call "Balls". Enjoy, Meow. And don't be mad about my removing your comment from an earlier post. I can't be having you telling all my secrets, can I now?
By the way, in closing, you all may notice a change in the links section, well, that is because I didn't really know what the fuck i was doing the first time out, but I got it all straightened out now. I may add some more links later on, but by almeans avail yourelves of them, I try to add ones that I think are unusual and of interest, yet ones that you might not think about, or know about, otherwise.
Well, later, as they say.
National Mardi Gras Week
I have had one hell of an idea, and I'm sure as hell certain that somebody will get the credit for it besides myself if it is ever implemented. On the other hand, these posts are dated, so there.
So here is the plan. Why do we not as a nation have one week in February for National Mardi Gras week. Think about it, what would be a better way of showing solidarity with the beleaguered city of New Orleans? And more importantly, what would be a better way of raising much needed money for the resotration of the area in all it's glory.
Of course, I know it's cold in a lot of places during February, but so what? A Mardi Gras in every major American city, and others besides. We could set a goal of fifty Mardi Gras in fifty major cities. And we get the vendors and business people to donate one half of their profits for New Orleans recovery, with the assurrance that they don't have to pay any taxes on their profits from the event. We talk the local, state, and federal governments to agree as well to the no tax on profits for Mardi Gras scheme.
Then, we have at least fifty Mardi Gras that ain't no way in hell could be as good as the original, but some might come close, and after the cities rake in the dough, the profits can be forwarded to an organization that can be trusted, with oversight, to distribute the monies that are made in the way that would be the most effetive, however that might be.
I have an idea that it is unlikely there will be a Mardi Gras this year. It might be ready by then, but there is a good chance it will not be. What better way of making up for this, and showing solidarity with city in the midst of it's travails, than in this manner? Even if there is a Mardi Gras in new orleans thios year, it would still be an appropriate expression of unity in the face of tragedy.
Hell, I think this is an idea even the french could love.
So here is the plan. Why do we not as a nation have one week in February for National Mardi Gras week. Think about it, what would be a better way of showing solidarity with the beleaguered city of New Orleans? And more importantly, what would be a better way of raising much needed money for the resotration of the area in all it's glory.
Of course, I know it's cold in a lot of places during February, but so what? A Mardi Gras in every major American city, and others besides. We could set a goal of fifty Mardi Gras in fifty major cities. And we get the vendors and business people to donate one half of their profits for New Orleans recovery, with the assurrance that they don't have to pay any taxes on their profits from the event. We talk the local, state, and federal governments to agree as well to the no tax on profits for Mardi Gras scheme.
Then, we have at least fifty Mardi Gras that ain't no way in hell could be as good as the original, but some might come close, and after the cities rake in the dough, the profits can be forwarded to an organization that can be trusted, with oversight, to distribute the monies that are made in the way that would be the most effetive, however that might be.
I have an idea that it is unlikely there will be a Mardi Gras this year. It might be ready by then, but there is a good chance it will not be. What better way of making up for this, and showing solidarity with city in the midst of it's travails, than in this manner? Even if there is a Mardi Gras in new orleans thios year, it would still be an appropriate expression of unity in the face of tragedy.
Hell, I think this is an idea even the french could love.
You Know It's Coming
Now the Islamic terrorists are calling Hurricane Katrina "Private katrina", implying that somehow this monstrosity was sent by God to punsih the Americans because, of course, he ison their side. It's all about them, the motherfuckers. Give it time, and you'll hear how Bin Laden planned for this hurricane, and it came along as an answer to the carefully and respectfully worded prayers of him and his cohorts.
But it's not just them. Christians here in our own country have jumped into the fray, claiming that Hurricane Katrina is indeed God's judgement on the city of New Orleans because of their hedonistic ways, not just because of Mardi Gras, but because evidently there were plans in the works for a gay parade and celebration of the gay lifestyle.
I started to e-mail one of these despicable ass wipes to ask them if God didn't think the area might be worthy of reconsideration since they voted for that motherfucker Bush in the last election. But then, I forgot, oh no, Mississippi now has, guess what, legalized riverboat casino gambling. Well, I guess that more than trumps voting Republican all right. Of course, I guess God's little plan of vengeance may have backfired on him after all. Seems that plans are in the works now in Mississippi to change the laws that have previously required casinos to be on riverboats in the Gulf of Mexico or similarly somewhere off shore. Seems now they will be allowed on shore, maybe even farther up land. So God will just have to try a little harder next time to get his point across.
And people wonder why I hate these motherfuckers so much.
But it's not just them. Christians here in our own country have jumped into the fray, claiming that Hurricane Katrina is indeed God's judgement on the city of New Orleans because of their hedonistic ways, not just because of Mardi Gras, but because evidently there were plans in the works for a gay parade and celebration of the gay lifestyle.
I started to e-mail one of these despicable ass wipes to ask them if God didn't think the area might be worthy of reconsideration since they voted for that motherfucker Bush in the last election. But then, I forgot, oh no, Mississippi now has, guess what, legalized riverboat casino gambling. Well, I guess that more than trumps voting Republican all right. Of course, I guess God's little plan of vengeance may have backfired on him after all. Seems that plans are in the works now in Mississippi to change the laws that have previously required casinos to be on riverboats in the Gulf of Mexico or similarly somewhere off shore. Seems now they will be allowed on shore, maybe even farther up land. So God will just have to try a little harder next time to get his point across.
And people wonder why I hate these motherfuckers so much.
Remember These Links-For New Orleans Pets
http://www.pagan.com/blackwater
http://www.pagan.com/REST
E-Mail at OutoftheDark.com
The first link especially is for New Orleans and Gulf Coast REFUGEES OR EVACUEES who do not have a palce to take their pets becaise the stupid motherfuckers that run the federal and state government rescue operations stubbornly refuse to allow people to take their pets with them. Hopefully, there can be a way made to enablethese folks to go to these shelters, which allow pets, as long as they are socialized to the pint they won't be a danger to any of the other animals or humans. These are pagans, but they allow anybody witht he need to go there, they have facilities including busses and tent facilities. So check them out and forward them to anybody that mght be interested in lending a helping hand.
A lot of victims in the New Orleans area especially are refusing to leave withouttheir beloved pets, and if I was there frankly I would be one of them. I would sit and die with her before I would go off and leave my cat to die in misery while I lived and she sat and meowed in terror and pain wondering where I had gone and faithfully waiting for me to come back to save her. I would never be able to sleep another night if I did that, and I just wouldn't do that. A perfect example ofyour government in action. A bunch of unfeeling, uncaring motherfuckers who like to hold press conferences after they allowed this shit to happen and still just don't get it, that people have things in their lives that they actually care about and love and don't want to just leave behind to die a miserable death. Fuck the sons-of-bitches.
And where the fuck are those useless no good cocksuckers PETA when you need them?
http://www.pagan.com/REST
E-Mail at OutoftheDark.com
The first link especially is for New Orleans and Gulf Coast REFUGEES OR EVACUEES who do not have a palce to take their pets becaise the stupid motherfuckers that run the federal and state government rescue operations stubbornly refuse to allow people to take their pets with them. Hopefully, there can be a way made to enablethese folks to go to these shelters, which allow pets, as long as they are socialized to the pint they won't be a danger to any of the other animals or humans. These are pagans, but they allow anybody witht he need to go there, they have facilities including busses and tent facilities. So check them out and forward them to anybody that mght be interested in lending a helping hand.
A lot of victims in the New Orleans area especially are refusing to leave withouttheir beloved pets, and if I was there frankly I would be one of them. I would sit and die with her before I would go off and leave my cat to die in misery while I lived and she sat and meowed in terror and pain wondering where I had gone and faithfully waiting for me to come back to save her. I would never be able to sleep another night if I did that, and I just wouldn't do that. A perfect example ofyour government in action. A bunch of unfeeling, uncaring motherfuckers who like to hold press conferences after they allowed this shit to happen and still just don't get it, that people have things in their lives that they actually care about and love and don't want to just leave behind to die a miserable death. Fuck the sons-of-bitches.
And where the fuck are those useless no good cocksuckers PETA when you need them?
The Work Cut Out
Now Vice-President Cheney has been called to assess the Gulf Coast area, well, I'm feling better all ready. And I'm not being sarcastc. This motherfucker don't give a shit about anybody but his fat cat partners and maybe on a good day his family, and that is exactly what is needed to get control of this situation. So think about it, yeah, he'll make sure Haliburton cleans up on this contract while their cleaning up the area, and frankly, I don't give a shit, as long as they do the job and do it right, and I'm sure they can. I admit, I'm a little worried over the prospect that this might set the kind of precedent where future disasters will be allowed to occur so they can take advantage of it again, but right now, first things first. I watched Elaine Chiao the other night on something, I think it was Hardball, and she said that they were going to make sure that those who wanted to and were able could contribute to the clean-up of their areas. Now that's a good idea, as is the 2000 dollars that FEMA is giving each family in the form of a debit card for ready cash for whatever they need. Of course, all this came way too late, but at least it's something. First things first.
But the thing that really worries me more than anything, as far as future consequences go, is the environmental impact of this motherfucking mess. All that raw sewage and garbage and medical waste and oil and gas and industrial waste and chemicals and human corpses, maybe 10,000 of them, and animal corpses, and the disease and bacteria and insects and snakes and rats and alligators. Yeah, let's just pump it out of the city into good old Lake Ponchartrain, hell, it won't be there for long, it will eventually just flow into the Gulf of Mexico, so what, first things first.
See why I feel good about Cheney being there? If anybody knows pollution, it's Dick Cheney.
But the thing that really worries me more than anything, as far as future consequences go, is the environmental impact of this motherfucking mess. All that raw sewage and garbage and medical waste and oil and gas and industrial waste and chemicals and human corpses, maybe 10,000 of them, and animal corpses, and the disease and bacteria and insects and snakes and rats and alligators. Yeah, let's just pump it out of the city into good old Lake Ponchartrain, hell, it won't be there for long, it will eventually just flow into the Gulf of Mexico, so what, first things first.
See why I feel good about Cheney being there? If anybody knows pollution, it's Dick Cheney.
Political Correctness ALways Rears It's Ugly Fucking Head
I hate political correctness, in fact, if I had my way it would be fucking outlawed, only I'm just not sure how to go about doing it in a way that would be constitutional. But you would think that in a situation like the New Orleans disaster these stupid motherfuckers would give it a rest. Would that be asking too much, in a situation like this, in such a heart wrenching tragedy that could end up costing more than ten thousand lives? Yes, I guess it is. But this has got to be te ultimate in insanity, so maybe it might in effect be a good thing. After all, if no one can see from this stupidity how ignorant and wrong politcal correctness is then they'll just never see it.
But I can always hope, and the more I think about it, it would be like the clock turning around full circle. Think about it, one of the first times political correctness won the day was, believe it or not, over the process of naming hurricanes. Feminists were incensed over the process by which all hurricanes were named after women. They were enraged and inisted that it was onlyright that some of them also be name after men. And so it came to pass that it was decided that hurricanes would be named alternately after a man, then a woman, etc. Okay, fine, no problem.A few wags had some fun with the hurricane thing, suggesting that instead of calling all such storms hurricanes, every oter one should be called a "himmicane". Of course, some people heard this and took it as a serious suggestion, so yet more controversy, and fun, ensued.
Frankly, I wold have just as soon that hurricanes had never been named, in a way. After all, why trivialize something as potentially detructive as such an awesome force of nature as this by giving it a little cutesy moniker to remember it by. But I'm rambling. back to the point. Yeah, political correctness, and how it has once again reared it's ugly fucking head. Okay.
WHO GIVES A FRIED FUCK WHETHER THEY ARE CALLED REFUGEES OR EVACUEES? WHY IN THE HELL WOULD ANYBODY GIVE A SHIT ABOUT SOME KIND OF CRAP LIKE THAT? THESE MOTHERFUCKERS ACTUALLY SPEND MAN HOURS AND TAX PAYER MONEY SITTING AROUND AND AGONIZING-AGONIZING-OVER WHETHER TO CALL DISASTER VICTIMS REFUGEES OR EVACUEES!
Okay, I'll stop shouting now. But it's obvious to me that this is the sign of politicans and journalists and analysts who don't know what the fuck to do, so they come up with some kind of crap to make people think that they care. Well, here's what I and I'm sure the majority of people actually care about. And I damned sure know this is what the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast care about.
Rebuild the area, and after ensuring the health of the survivors bring them back if they want to return to an area that is safe and clean and repaired and ready to thrive, secure in the knowledge that steps have been taken to ensure their future safety and, if necessary, their swift and sure evacuation to places of relative safety and comfort
Finally, get rid of the incompetent motherfuckers who allowed this to happen,whoever they are, and let the chips fall where they may, whether federal or state, republican or democrat. Get rid of the people that allowed this to happen, and implement policies and procedures that can be enacted swiftly and concisely and in such ways that if this ever happens again-this will never happen again.
But I can always hope, and the more I think about it, it would be like the clock turning around full circle. Think about it, one of the first times political correctness won the day was, believe it or not, over the process of naming hurricanes. Feminists were incensed over the process by which all hurricanes were named after women. They were enraged and inisted that it was onlyright that some of them also be name after men. And so it came to pass that it was decided that hurricanes would be named alternately after a man, then a woman, etc. Okay, fine, no problem.A few wags had some fun with the hurricane thing, suggesting that instead of calling all such storms hurricanes, every oter one should be called a "himmicane". Of course, some people heard this and took it as a serious suggestion, so yet more controversy, and fun, ensued.
Frankly, I wold have just as soon that hurricanes had never been named, in a way. After all, why trivialize something as potentially detructive as such an awesome force of nature as this by giving it a little cutesy moniker to remember it by. But I'm rambling. back to the point. Yeah, political correctness, and how it has once again reared it's ugly fucking head. Okay.
WHO GIVES A FRIED FUCK WHETHER THEY ARE CALLED REFUGEES OR EVACUEES? WHY IN THE HELL WOULD ANYBODY GIVE A SHIT ABOUT SOME KIND OF CRAP LIKE THAT? THESE MOTHERFUCKERS ACTUALLY SPEND MAN HOURS AND TAX PAYER MONEY SITTING AROUND AND AGONIZING-AGONIZING-OVER WHETHER TO CALL DISASTER VICTIMS REFUGEES OR EVACUEES!
Okay, I'll stop shouting now. But it's obvious to me that this is the sign of politicans and journalists and analysts who don't know what the fuck to do, so they come up with some kind of crap to make people think that they care. Well, here's what I and I'm sure the majority of people actually care about. And I damned sure know this is what the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast care about.
Rebuild the area, and after ensuring the health of the survivors bring them back if they want to return to an area that is safe and clean and repaired and ready to thrive, secure in the knowledge that steps have been taken to ensure their future safety and, if necessary, their swift and sure evacuation to places of relative safety and comfort
Finally, get rid of the incompetent motherfuckers who allowed this to happen,whoever they are, and let the chips fall where they may, whether federal or state, republican or democrat. Get rid of the people that allowed this to happen, and implement policies and procedures that can be enacted swiftly and concisely and in such ways that if this ever happens again-this will never happen again.
Trent, Mary, Carlos, And SIlver Dollar Sam
Trent Lott is hopping mad, but as usual he doesn't show anger that well, if he did, I would imagine a lot of people would have gotten an earful by now. For a bigoted racist, he certainly knows how to put the Bush boys through their paces though. After all, look at Mississippi. To hear most people, you would think it was paradise on earth compared to New Orleans, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, Mississippi was initialy hit much harder than most places in Louisiana, with the possible exception of Slidell, Louisiana, which is where the eye of the hurricane actually went through. But Biloxi and Gulfsport Mississippi are practically no-man's lands. Hardly a building is still standing and most of the ante-bellum homes have been destroyed along with the modern convenience stations and greasy spoons. The death toll was initially higher as well, and contagions due to contaminated flood waters have run rampant, causing a number of illnesses and a few deaths. Hand it to Trent, he got the Feds off their lazy sorry asses and demanded action. And remember, a large percentage of his constituents are black, and I for one don't think he gave that the least bit of consideration.
Contrast this and the actions of Mississippi governor Haley Barbour with the relatively incompetent responses of the Louisiana Governor and New Orleans mayor. These people were lost from the beginning and are still in conflict, the mayor teling everyone they have to evacuate, the governor telling them they can not be forced to leave, and nobody else really knowing what to make of the situation. And the shame of their incompetence is remarkably demonstrated by the scores of yellow school busses and other public transportation vehicles which now stand in yet two or three feet at least of flood water, left to sit idle when they could have been used to evacuate citizens who otherwise may have not had a way to get out of the city. Disgusting.
Then there's our poor little lost lamb Mary, Senator Landrieu, who at one time I had fond hopes for in terms of a potential Vice-Presidential nomination in 2008, provided of course Hillary somehow were to fail to get the nomination (two female running mates would just not be practical, even in this supposedly enlightened age), in addition to certain other secret fantasies I have entertaied at various times concerning Mary. Alas, now one fantasy is no more or less likely than the other.
Poor Mary, she just seemed lost, and finally, after all was said and done, she decided she wanted to hit somebody. Well, so do I Mary, but let's not get carried away. Let's face it, the Louisiana folks are just in over their heads. It's just as much their fault as it is the Feds. In fact, initially, it can be legitimately said to be more their fault, but of course the Feds and Bush just seem to have decided they would show they could be just every bit as incompetent as the Louisiana State officials could be, and they proved their point handsomely.
And the reason is historical in nature. The plain facts are, the elected leaders and public officials of Louisiana have just been corrupt and incompetent from the days of Huey Long, who was the last truly effective elected official, both Govrnor and Senator, the state has produced. And Huey of course was assassinated. Since then, the people elected to run the state have seldom done so. The state has in fact been the domain of the Mafia. The elected officials have historically just done what they are told, and therefore have no real experience or tradition of actual leadership.
The true leaders and power brokers of Louisiana have been the "Silver Dollar Sam" Corollas, the Carlos Marcellos. In other words, the oldest continually existing mafia family in the United States, up until Marcello was finally brought down by a Federal sting operation in the 1980's. The Mafia pretty much fell apart after him, though I'm certain they still exist in factions that are relatively powerless in comparison to the glory days of the Louisiana Mafia. Which is the irony in that if a Carlos Marcello or a Silver Dollar Sam were still in active control of Louisiana today the state would have probably reacted faster and more effectively to the coming disaster than what has turned out to be the case.
On the other hand, they are the ones respnsible for Louisiana having such a heritage of corruption and inefficiency and incompetence. That is just the political culture of the state. As such, you can't expect it to be an enclave of statemanship. That is just the sad, hard facts.
Contrast this and the actions of Mississippi governor Haley Barbour with the relatively incompetent responses of the Louisiana Governor and New Orleans mayor. These people were lost from the beginning and are still in conflict, the mayor teling everyone they have to evacuate, the governor telling them they can not be forced to leave, and nobody else really knowing what to make of the situation. And the shame of their incompetence is remarkably demonstrated by the scores of yellow school busses and other public transportation vehicles which now stand in yet two or three feet at least of flood water, left to sit idle when they could have been used to evacuate citizens who otherwise may have not had a way to get out of the city. Disgusting.
Then there's our poor little lost lamb Mary, Senator Landrieu, who at one time I had fond hopes for in terms of a potential Vice-Presidential nomination in 2008, provided of course Hillary somehow were to fail to get the nomination (two female running mates would just not be practical, even in this supposedly enlightened age), in addition to certain other secret fantasies I have entertaied at various times concerning Mary. Alas, now one fantasy is no more or less likely than the other.
Poor Mary, she just seemed lost, and finally, after all was said and done, she decided she wanted to hit somebody. Well, so do I Mary, but let's not get carried away. Let's face it, the Louisiana folks are just in over their heads. It's just as much their fault as it is the Feds. In fact, initially, it can be legitimately said to be more their fault, but of course the Feds and Bush just seem to have decided they would show they could be just every bit as incompetent as the Louisiana State officials could be, and they proved their point handsomely.
And the reason is historical in nature. The plain facts are, the elected leaders and public officials of Louisiana have just been corrupt and incompetent from the days of Huey Long, who was the last truly effective elected official, both Govrnor and Senator, the state has produced. And Huey of course was assassinated. Since then, the people elected to run the state have seldom done so. The state has in fact been the domain of the Mafia. The elected officials have historically just done what they are told, and therefore have no real experience or tradition of actual leadership.
The true leaders and power brokers of Louisiana have been the "Silver Dollar Sam" Corollas, the Carlos Marcellos. In other words, the oldest continually existing mafia family in the United States, up until Marcello was finally brought down by a Federal sting operation in the 1980's. The Mafia pretty much fell apart after him, though I'm certain they still exist in factions that are relatively powerless in comparison to the glory days of the Louisiana Mafia. Which is the irony in that if a Carlos Marcello or a Silver Dollar Sam were still in active control of Louisiana today the state would have probably reacted faster and more effectively to the coming disaster than what has turned out to be the case.
On the other hand, they are the ones respnsible for Louisiana having such a heritage of corruption and inefficiency and incompetence. That is just the political culture of the state. As such, you can't expect it to be an enclave of statemanship. That is just the sad, hard facts.
Two Supremes
George W. Bush has been put in the position where he can now assurredly make a lasting impact on the make-up of the Supreme Court, and thus on the direction the country takes over the next possibly two decades or more. Chief Justice William Rehnquist has died, so now Bush has two appointments to make, not just one, in fact, he has three appointments to make. He has hoped that he can hit a double with the nomination of John Roberts to replace Rehnquist as Chief Justice. But Bush is so obvious in his timing of the announcement, he may well have hit into a double play. In an effort to misdirect attention away from the New Orleans and Gulf Coast tragedy, he may have revealed himself to be the insensitive lout that many of us have long suspected him to be.
As for his second appointment, I have a feeling he may have decided by now to reach out to the New Orleans area, and to women, by appointing a female circuit federal judge from the New Orleans Fifth District, who will be likely to appeal to neither citizens of New Orleans or to women in general.
As for Roberts, Bush knows a lot more about him, I suspect, than he is letting on. He seems to be telling his conservative base, hey, look, I'm appointing him to replace Rehnquist as Chief Justice, would I do that if he werent' a conservative? And to his opponents he seems to be saying, hey, if you prefer I could appoint Scalia. Or Thomas.
Roberts is a strange man in a lot of ways. Everytime you look at him, he looks like he is about to break down and just start bawling and crying. On the other hand, I remember a character on an old tv show called Twin Peaks. In it, a bereaved father and lawyer turned out to be the mysterious murderer possessed by the demonic spirit named "Bob". He always looked like he was on the edge and at any time might be about to just break down and cry over the murder of his beloved daughter Laura Palmer.
But then, the truth was revealed, and he broke down into uncontrollable laughter.
As for his second appointment, I have a feeling he may have decided by now to reach out to the New Orleans area, and to women, by appointing a female circuit federal judge from the New Orleans Fifth District, who will be likely to appeal to neither citizens of New Orleans or to women in general.
As for Roberts, Bush knows a lot more about him, I suspect, than he is letting on. He seems to be telling his conservative base, hey, look, I'm appointing him to replace Rehnquist as Chief Justice, would I do that if he werent' a conservative? And to his opponents he seems to be saying, hey, if you prefer I could appoint Scalia. Or Thomas.
Roberts is a strange man in a lot of ways. Everytime you look at him, he looks like he is about to break down and just start bawling and crying. On the other hand, I remember a character on an old tv show called Twin Peaks. In it, a bereaved father and lawyer turned out to be the mysterious murderer possessed by the demonic spirit named "Bob". He always looked like he was on the edge and at any time might be about to just break down and cry over the murder of his beloved daughter Laura Palmer.
But then, the truth was revealed, and he broke down into uncontrollable laughter.
Saddam's True Confessions
According to reports out of Iraq by way of the Iraqi Courts, Saddam Hussein has confessed to crimes agaisnt humanity. No one is more surprised than Saddams lawyers, but evidently the big man just couldn't keep his mouth shut. Or maybe somebody opened it wide for him and, just like a magician reaching into a hat for a rabbit, pulled those words right out of there. Still, Saddam doesn't seem to be the worse for wear, so those words had to have been coaxed out with more honey than vinegar. Of course there's also the possibility that this is a big lie, you know.
Whatever the case, it puts me in mind of what I used to read about the old Soviet era show trials, where former communist officials were accussed of disloyalty or espionage or other forms of treason and were tried in public. A great many of times these defendants were coaxed into signing documents that purported to be a confession of their alleged crimes. Of course there are a great many stories as to how these confessions were coerced. Some people were suppossedly beaten, some brutally. At other times their families were threatened with imprisonment and confiscation of all properties, and even death.
Whatever the case, you can be sure you would be spending a lot of fruitless time if you devoted it to combing through those old Soviet era archives in search of someone who was found not guilty at one of these trials. They were show trials for a reason, not only to justify Soviet justice in the face of alleged crimes against the people, but perhaps more importantly they were meant to illustrate the power of the state and the futility and even the stupidity of daring to oppose it's power in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
Of course, I am sure that Saddam wasn't brutalized or threatened in any way. However, the fact that this so-called confession has been produced without the advice and consent of Saddam's lawyer, does not bode well in my view as to the prospects for the fairness and legitimacy of the fledgling Iraqi justice system. Close to 2000 American soldiers have given their lives ostensibly for the establishemnt of an Iraqi nation that is democratic and is run by the rule of law.
I don't think the establishment of a kangaroo court is exactly what anybody had in mind.
Whatever the case, it puts me in mind of what I used to read about the old Soviet era show trials, where former communist officials were accussed of disloyalty or espionage or other forms of treason and were tried in public. A great many of times these defendants were coaxed into signing documents that purported to be a confession of their alleged crimes. Of course there are a great many stories as to how these confessions were coerced. Some people were suppossedly beaten, some brutally. At other times their families were threatened with imprisonment and confiscation of all properties, and even death.
Whatever the case, you can be sure you would be spending a lot of fruitless time if you devoted it to combing through those old Soviet era archives in search of someone who was found not guilty at one of these trials. They were show trials for a reason, not only to justify Soviet justice in the face of alleged crimes against the people, but perhaps more importantly they were meant to illustrate the power of the state and the futility and even the stupidity of daring to oppose it's power in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
Of course, I am sure that Saddam wasn't brutalized or threatened in any way. However, the fact that this so-called confession has been produced without the advice and consent of Saddam's lawyer, does not bode well in my view as to the prospects for the fairness and legitimacy of the fledgling Iraqi justice system. Close to 2000 American soldiers have given their lives ostensibly for the establishemnt of an Iraqi nation that is democratic and is run by the rule of law.
I don't think the establishment of a kangaroo court is exactly what anybody had in mind.
Hey I Am So Crazy
On my Yahoo Group Paganbitchslap, to which I have a link on the links section, there has been for some time a group member who goes by the Yahoo ID and e-mail address of Hey I Am So Crazy. In fact, I will put the proper address on later so you can see her Yahoo Profile Page. Then you will probably see immediately just exactly what I am worried about.
The girl is from Iran, or that is what it says on her Profile page. Assumming that is actually the truth, I had to wonder immediately at her sanity, or at least her common sense, in putting a picture of two lesbian lovers laying side-by-side, one of whom I have always assumed to be her. She is a very pretty girl, in fact they both are. Beautiful, in fact. She lists as her interests on her Profile Page as being Pharsi (the lanuage of Iran), Paganism, and a few other things.
She has had her e-mails, from the start of her joining the group, set for e-mails, which means that every e-mail that is sent out over to the group as a whole she will receive in her in-box. Again, I had to wonder at least at the sheer audacity of this.
But that is because I know more than a little bit about Iran. I have followed developments there more or less closely ever since just before the fall of the late Shah, whom most in Iran felt to be a puppet of the U.S. It has since been taken over by a group of Islamic Shi'ite fundamentalist mullahs, clerics who rule totally by the koran as they interpret it, which seems to be in the harshest terms imaginable-strictly.
Their laws repressing the rights of women are not actualy as bad as they are in a number of other third world countries, especialy in some Islamic ones. But it's not exactly something to be proud of to suggest you aren't quite as bad as the Taliban, in my opinion.
Hey I Am So Crazy has been bouncing on the group for quite some time lately. This means simply that her in-box has been filled up to the point that she can no longer receive e-mails, because she has not been answering her e-mails for quite some time. Thus, any subsequent e-mails sent to her will be "bounced". She can no longer receive. I have sent her a couple of private e-mails, all to no avail.
Yes, you may have figured out by now that I am attaching some sinister connotations to this. I feel repsonsible for this girl, especially since I wonder whether she might have gotten into trouble with the Iranian authorities due to the discovery of what she was doing on the Internet, and thus the subsequent discovery of certain aspects of her lifestyle that may not have set too well with those same repressive authorities. Paganbitchsap was at one time a wild, wild, wild, group, and I am certain that if they read some of those e-mails they wouldn't have got much of a laugh out of them. And there's a good chance that this in part may have inadverdantly led to this poor girls being incarcerated, or possibly even being executed. I hope I am wrong, and I hope that eventually I can establish contact with her. Or with someone that can possibly enlighten me on her situation.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/hey_iam_so_crazy is her e-mail. I might have to edit that link later, as I'm sure it's not exactly correct. But in the meantime I am hopeful that if this turns up on a Yahoo or Google Search engine it will attract her attention and she will enlighten me on her current situation. After all, who can't resist googling themselves from time to time.
The girl is from Iran, or that is what it says on her Profile page. Assumming that is actually the truth, I had to wonder immediately at her sanity, or at least her common sense, in putting a picture of two lesbian lovers laying side-by-side, one of whom I have always assumed to be her. She is a very pretty girl, in fact they both are. Beautiful, in fact. She lists as her interests on her Profile Page as being Pharsi (the lanuage of Iran), Paganism, and a few other things.
She has had her e-mails, from the start of her joining the group, set for e-mails, which means that every e-mail that is sent out over to the group as a whole she will receive in her in-box. Again, I had to wonder at least at the sheer audacity of this.
But that is because I know more than a little bit about Iran. I have followed developments there more or less closely ever since just before the fall of the late Shah, whom most in Iran felt to be a puppet of the U.S. It has since been taken over by a group of Islamic Shi'ite fundamentalist mullahs, clerics who rule totally by the koran as they interpret it, which seems to be in the harshest terms imaginable-strictly.
Their laws repressing the rights of women are not actualy as bad as they are in a number of other third world countries, especialy in some Islamic ones. But it's not exactly something to be proud of to suggest you aren't quite as bad as the Taliban, in my opinion.
Hey I Am So Crazy has been bouncing on the group for quite some time lately. This means simply that her in-box has been filled up to the point that she can no longer receive e-mails, because she has not been answering her e-mails for quite some time. Thus, any subsequent e-mails sent to her will be "bounced". She can no longer receive. I have sent her a couple of private e-mails, all to no avail.
Yes, you may have figured out by now that I am attaching some sinister connotations to this. I feel repsonsible for this girl, especially since I wonder whether she might have gotten into trouble with the Iranian authorities due to the discovery of what she was doing on the Internet, and thus the subsequent discovery of certain aspects of her lifestyle that may not have set too well with those same repressive authorities. Paganbitchsap was at one time a wild, wild, wild, group, and I am certain that if they read some of those e-mails they wouldn't have got much of a laugh out of them. And there's a good chance that this in part may have inadverdantly led to this poor girls being incarcerated, or possibly even being executed. I hope I am wrong, and I hope that eventually I can establish contact with her. Or with someone that can possibly enlighten me on her situation.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/hey_iam_so_crazy is her e-mail. I might have to edit that link later, as I'm sure it's not exactly correct. But in the meantime I am hopeful that if this turns up on a Yahoo or Google Search engine it will attract her attention and she will enlighten me on her current situation. After all, who can't resist googling themselves from time to time.
Julie Popovich And The Lido Shuffle
Another dissappearing act that occurred happenned not too long ago in Columbus Ohio when a young Ohio University student and aspiring model named Julie Popovich dissappeearred after having last been seen with a group of friends from Lido's Lounge.
Accordding to these friends, all females, Ms. Popovich had been seen in a semi-intoxicated astate dancing and carousing with a man they did not know, though they gave a vaque description of him as beig a tall, slim, dark-skinned white man. She danced with the man, and at one point she fell and hit her head on the edge ofthe bar. Accordding to one reported version, she was actually dancing on top of the bar.
What I find questionable about this report is that, again avcorrdign toone report, there was no one else at the bar thatcould verify the authenticity of this. Nor did anyone seem to know who the man was. The young Ms. Popovich was just recently discovered, after having been missing for close to a month, at the edge of a levee. Interesting.
The friends who were with her that night were interviewed on camera, and they seemed calm enough, and didn'tseemto be hiding anything, but there is something very strange about this. Forone thing, there is no record actually that she was ever at Lido's, to my knowledge. Finally, as was the case of the Natalie Holloway dissappearrance, the story of the head injury incurred while dancing could easily be interpreted as a cover story in the event the dscovery of the body revealed an injury to the head.
Whoever reported the mishap at the bar, the head injury, should be questioned thoroughly. Something about this story just don't smell right. Ms. Popovich was reported to have been dismayed over the recent end of a relationship, and was suppossedly yet very chummy witht he mysterious man she allegedly spent the majority of her time at Lido's with. Who is he?
Perhaps a better question to ask might be, is he at all?
Accordding to these friends, all females, Ms. Popovich had been seen in a semi-intoxicated astate dancing and carousing with a man they did not know, though they gave a vaque description of him as beig a tall, slim, dark-skinned white man. She danced with the man, and at one point she fell and hit her head on the edge ofthe bar. Accordding to one reported version, she was actually dancing on top of the bar.
What I find questionable about this report is that, again avcorrdign toone report, there was no one else at the bar thatcould verify the authenticity of this. Nor did anyone seem to know who the man was. The young Ms. Popovich was just recently discovered, after having been missing for close to a month, at the edge of a levee. Interesting.
The friends who were with her that night were interviewed on camera, and they seemed calm enough, and didn'tseemto be hiding anything, but there is something very strange about this. Forone thing, there is no record actually that she was ever at Lido's, to my knowledge. Finally, as was the case of the Natalie Holloway dissappearrance, the story of the head injury incurred while dancing could easily be interpreted as a cover story in the event the dscovery of the body revealed an injury to the head.
Whoever reported the mishap at the bar, the head injury, should be questioned thoroughly. Something about this story just don't smell right. Ms. Popovich was reported to have been dismayed over the recent end of a relationship, and was suppossedly yet very chummy witht he mysterious man she allegedly spent the majority of her time at Lido's with. Who is he?
Perhaps a better question to ask might be, is he at all?
Vacation Aruba: Paradise Lost
Well, not only have the Kalpoe Brothers not been reincarcerated for the dissappearrance of missing Alabama high school vacationer Natalie Holloway, but main suspect Joran Van Der Sloot has finally been released from prison where he has been held for the last three months. As if this were not enough, both Joran and his father, Paulus, have reportedly fled theisland. They have taken what they no doubt feel is a much needed trip to he Netherlands, which is Paulus's home country of origin. I do not expect them to return shortly.
I have this strange idea that it will turn out there is no legal grounds for bringing them back, the way things stand now. Nothing would, I would suspect, short of a confession from another suspect, or the inadverdant discovery of Ms. Holloway's remains. By now, of course, the unfortunate Ms. Holloways remains have probably been deposited in a wide spread area in the form of animal feces, so she is unlikely to turn up in any kind of a recognizable or traceable format. A skull however is always a slight, repeat slight, possibility.
This brings up the question as to why the Van Der Sloots would arouse such suspicion by this flight to the Netherlands. I would submit that even were Ms. Holloways remains to turn up whole with Joran's blood evident from defensive wounds in addition to his semen deposited in every natural opening and a few invented ones, it is unlikely that this then juvenile at the time the crime was committed would ever serve time, or certainly not more than five years or so. And of course all this is highly unlikely.
But, of course, there was a bit of back-stabbing between Joran and the Kalpoe Brothers, so it could well be that Joran's life is slightly endangered. He was running with a bad crowd, after all. Turns out him and the Kalpoe's were involved in gang activities, members of a gang called "The Pimps". I have an idea Joran might have been blackballed by this time, however high up in te hierarchy he mayhave at one time been. There is even some speculation that Natalie was the victim of a gang rape due to the machinations of this crew of no good punks.
Whatever. It is obvious to me that nothing will likely ever be done about it, nor are Ms. Holloways remains ever likely to be discovered. It's a sad situation, and outrageous, and sometimes, the bad guys really do win. But then they have to live with it.
I have this strange idea that it will turn out there is no legal grounds for bringing them back, the way things stand now. Nothing would, I would suspect, short of a confession from another suspect, or the inadverdant discovery of Ms. Holloway's remains. By now, of course, the unfortunate Ms. Holloways remains have probably been deposited in a wide spread area in the form of animal feces, so she is unlikely to turn up in any kind of a recognizable or traceable format. A skull however is always a slight, repeat slight, possibility.
This brings up the question as to why the Van Der Sloots would arouse such suspicion by this flight to the Netherlands. I would submit that even were Ms. Holloways remains to turn up whole with Joran's blood evident from defensive wounds in addition to his semen deposited in every natural opening and a few invented ones, it is unlikely that this then juvenile at the time the crime was committed would ever serve time, or certainly not more than five years or so. And of course all this is highly unlikely.
But, of course, there was a bit of back-stabbing between Joran and the Kalpoe Brothers, so it could well be that Joran's life is slightly endangered. He was running with a bad crowd, after all. Turns out him and the Kalpoe's were involved in gang activities, members of a gang called "The Pimps". I have an idea Joran might have been blackballed by this time, however high up in te hierarchy he mayhave at one time been. There is even some speculation that Natalie was the victim of a gang rape due to the machinations of this crew of no good punks.
Whatever. It is obvious to me that nothing will likely ever be done about it, nor are Ms. Holloways remains ever likely to be discovered. It's a sad situation, and outrageous, and sometimes, the bad guys really do win. But then they have to live with it.
Balls
Well, looks like Andre Agassi has advanced in the U.S. Open, not the American Open as I erroneously referred to it earlier (I'm new to tennis, cut me some slack)so I'm hoping to see a great match between him and Fedderer(not sure of spelling and don't want to take the time to look it up-what do you think I am, a journalist or something?)for the men's finals. In other related good news Venus Williams has been eliminated from the Women's Finals of the U.S. Open. Yeah, by I think sister Serena again. Well, at least we don't have to concern ourselves now with having to suffer through anotehr boring and predictable finals championship match between the two sisters. I don't know why I'm that interested, I really haven't been that engrossd in the championhips this year, but I am. I guess I just love the game. When I do settle down to watch, I find myself transfixed.
I'm also transfixed by the latest new about Lance Armstrong. One, he is going to marry soon to Sheryl Crow (I'm almost sure I spelled that right), and more importantly, he may decide to come back for an eight race. Groovy. Only if I was him I wouldn't do it, why bother? But it would serve the French right. He could probably win with all the cots the French volunteered for the New Orleans disaster relief effort tied to his back.
On a final note, I think I've figured out why the French dislike him so much. It's not so much that he's an American, and he always wins at their beloved national sport. It's that he has been through so much sufferring and trials, and still manages to win so seemingly effortlessly. This plus, yes, he's an American who always wins at their beloved national sport. Lance Armstrong, the American bicvycle racing Tour De France champion and cancer survivor who needs no help or sympathy from anybody.
Historically, the French need all the help and sympathy they can get.
I'm also transfixed by the latest new about Lance Armstrong. One, he is going to marry soon to Sheryl Crow (I'm almost sure I spelled that right), and more importantly, he may decide to come back for an eight race. Groovy. Only if I was him I wouldn't do it, why bother? But it would serve the French right. He could probably win with all the cots the French volunteered for the New Orleans disaster relief effort tied to his back.
On a final note, I think I've figured out why the French dislike him so much. It's not so much that he's an American, and he always wins at their beloved national sport. It's that he has been through so much sufferring and trials, and still manages to win so seemingly effortlessly. This plus, yes, he's an American who always wins at their beloved national sport. Lance Armstrong, the American bicvycle racing Tour De France champion and cancer survivor who needs no help or sympathy from anybody.
Historically, the French need all the help and sympathy they can get.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Learning Links
I didn't think I could do it, but I surprised even myself. I actually added some links to the Blog, though some I might take out. They seem kind of messed up, and I just couldn't get them all lined out consistently, the way I wanted. But there they are. A word about a few of them might be in order.
Aladdinslad. What can I say? He's an Arab, and I don't really know him. Buthis girlfriend os a friend of a friend of mine, and I met her through my friend, and made the mistake once of sending her an invitation to my Yahoo Group, Paganbitchslap. Muhammed, who though a Muslim is also a practitioner of magic (his late mother was a Syrian witch) decided he would join. He then proceeded to track my movements to other groups, where he succeeded in embarrassing the hell out of me, like he did on my own group. But Amanda talked me into helping him out when he decided he, too, wanted a Blog of his own, and I agreed. I should have known better. Despite Amanda's assurrances, he still consistently butchers the English language, and I have no intention of editing this shit, there's just not enough time.
You can see what I mean if you click on the link to his blog, which is also on Blogger. Fair warning though, he is, shall we say, an acquired taste. He doesn't know it, he thinks he is normal, or let's just say he thinks he's what normal should be, put it that way. You've been warned.
I also added a permanent link to my Yahoo Group, the aforementioned paganbitchslap, so if anyone wants to join it, feel free at any time. It's anything goes there, a site for the free flow and expression of ideas.
Another interesting site is the khaldea Ephemeris, an astrological site by which you can look up planetary aspects for any year, even going back thousands of years if you want. It's a very good research tool for astrologers, or anybody that might be interested in learning astrology. I strongly recommend you check it out.
I even have a vampire site, it's called sanguinarius. For people interested in the Gothic or the vampire lifestyle.
For people who might be interested in first rate publications, I have the on-line version of The New Yorker, one of the finest magazines ever published. The entire magazine isn't availiable on- line yet, but a good lot of their articles and other features are, including their world class fiction. And it's free. Not only that, but what is availiable, you can e-mail to a friend if you want. And they even have a forums section. So broaden your horizons and check them out.
If you like Native American music, a very good site is gathering of nations, which is actually an internet radio station. Enjoy.
Of course, there's Witchvox, where I've had some articles published (under the pseudonym DancingCrow3), in addition to some other sites by authors Isaac Bonewitz and Gavin and Yvonne Frost.
Finally, for the activist minded among you, I've included links to Ameircans United For The Seperation of Church and State, and The Sierra Club. There's more links, but I can't seem to remember them all right now, or maybe I have included them all. It's been a long, hard day.
Anyway, there will probably be more added from time to time, and some might be replaced. Hell, the best thing about this shit is just the fact that I fucking learned to do it to begin with. Now if I can jsut learn to walk and chew gum. Well, later.
Aladdinslad. What can I say? He's an Arab, and I don't really know him. Buthis girlfriend os a friend of a friend of mine, and I met her through my friend, and made the mistake once of sending her an invitation to my Yahoo Group, Paganbitchslap. Muhammed, who though a Muslim is also a practitioner of magic (his late mother was a Syrian witch) decided he would join. He then proceeded to track my movements to other groups, where he succeeded in embarrassing the hell out of me, like he did on my own group. But Amanda talked me into helping him out when he decided he, too, wanted a Blog of his own, and I agreed. I should have known better. Despite Amanda's assurrances, he still consistently butchers the English language, and I have no intention of editing this shit, there's just not enough time.
You can see what I mean if you click on the link to his blog, which is also on Blogger. Fair warning though, he is, shall we say, an acquired taste. He doesn't know it, he thinks he is normal, or let's just say he thinks he's what normal should be, put it that way. You've been warned.
I also added a permanent link to my Yahoo Group, the aforementioned paganbitchslap, so if anyone wants to join it, feel free at any time. It's anything goes there, a site for the free flow and expression of ideas.
Another interesting site is the khaldea Ephemeris, an astrological site by which you can look up planetary aspects for any year, even going back thousands of years if you want. It's a very good research tool for astrologers, or anybody that might be interested in learning astrology. I strongly recommend you check it out.
I even have a vampire site, it's called sanguinarius. For people interested in the Gothic or the vampire lifestyle.
For people who might be interested in first rate publications, I have the on-line version of The New Yorker, one of the finest magazines ever published. The entire magazine isn't availiable on- line yet, but a good lot of their articles and other features are, including their world class fiction. And it's free. Not only that, but what is availiable, you can e-mail to a friend if you want. And they even have a forums section. So broaden your horizons and check them out.
If you like Native American music, a very good site is gathering of nations, which is actually an internet radio station. Enjoy.
Of course, there's Witchvox, where I've had some articles published (under the pseudonym DancingCrow3), in addition to some other sites by authors Isaac Bonewitz and Gavin and Yvonne Frost.
Finally, for the activist minded among you, I've included links to Ameircans United For The Seperation of Church and State, and The Sierra Club. There's more links, but I can't seem to remember them all right now, or maybe I have included them all. It's been a long, hard day.
Anyway, there will probably be more added from time to time, and some might be replaced. Hell, the best thing about this shit is just the fact that I fucking learned to do it to begin with. Now if I can jsut learn to walk and chew gum. Well, later.
The American Open
Reddick is out. And I couldn't be happier. I mean, the guy never wins against his worse nightmare on the cour,t Fedderer, so now maybe there will be a chance for some suspense this time around. Now, if only the same could be said for the womens title. I haven' t followed it that much the last few days, but hopefully, when I get around to checking up on it, it will turn out that Venus Williams has sufferred the similar fate as Reddick. Of course, I'm probably wrong, in which case you can set your watch by it. Venus will play sister Serena for the championship and, again, Serena will win handily.
I've come to the conclusion that Serena has for some reason a strange psychological edge over her sister, and it is almost impossible for Venus to overcome this. She has beat Serena a couple of times, actually, but this has been so long ago, and Serena has won so often since in matches between the two, you have to wonder if Serena wasnt' really under the weather those two games.
Of course, things could change. Shit, the Boston Red Sox did win the world's series, remember.
I've come to the conclusion that Serena has for some reason a strange psychological edge over her sister, and it is almost impossible for Venus to overcome this. She has beat Serena a couple of times, actually, but this has been so long ago, and Serena has won so often since in matches between the two, you have to wonder if Serena wasnt' really under the weather those two games.
Of course, things could change. Shit, the Boston Red Sox did win the world's series, remember.
Wildcat Football
This Sunday, the UK Wildcats will play their old rivals The Louisville Cardinals, and I will be watching with baited breath to see, probably, the Wildcats get their asses kicked soundly. The reason I'm expecting this is because the Cardinals have rightly placed a lot of emphasis on their offensive line, which any competitive team will do. I have always been of the opinion that in order to have a consistently winning football team, be it in college, high school, or professional football, you have to have a good enough offensive line to protect the quarterback, otherwise, it doesn't matter how good your quarterback is, or how good your running backs and/or wide receivers are, or your tight ends. Joe Montana and Rice themselves wouldn't be worth a damn without a good offensive line to back them up.
And, of course, the Wildcats never placed that much of an emphasis on their offensive lines, like the Bengals and, of course, neither of those teams have a consistently winning record. So what can you say? The Wildcats never had a good football team in any kind of consistent way, since the great Paul "Bear" Bryant was let go after the champuionship team of 1951, in which he sufferred only one loss the entire season.
The UK alumni association just don't want a winning football team, as they seem to have the opinion that this would detract somehow from their reputation as a world class basketball school. Go figure. It seems to me that if the school is that much of a first rate institution, which it obviously is, they could easily field a winning team in both sports, and do so consistently. But this does not seem to be the case. Kentucky is a basketball state, and they just aren't going to risk that standing by diverting any resources away from the favored sport. After all, what the hell else does Kentucky have? Bourbon? Horses? Tobacco? Coal mines?
Whatever the case, Kentucky's Rich Brooks, the new beleagered head coach of the football Wildcats, migth as well count on another loosing season, but he should take heart. Maybe he will have a 50-50 season, which would almost be a winning one for Kentucky. Their biggest gripe so far is that it seems that the powers that be have decided that there should no longer be a tradition of opening game for kentucky being with the University of Louisville Cardinals. Well, that's just so sad, isn't it? Actually, maybe it is just the shot in the arm the Wildcats need. After all, it has to be hard to be beaten by your number one rivals on opening day. Of course, the Wildcats have a better record with the Cardinals than they do with most other teams in the SEC. Which all but further points out the dilemna.
To the UK Alumni Association- BUILD UP A WINNING FOOTBALL TEAM, YOU JERKS!!!!
And, of course, the Wildcats never placed that much of an emphasis on their offensive lines, like the Bengals and, of course, neither of those teams have a consistently winning record. So what can you say? The Wildcats never had a good football team in any kind of consistent way, since the great Paul "Bear" Bryant was let go after the champuionship team of 1951, in which he sufferred only one loss the entire season.
The UK alumni association just don't want a winning football team, as they seem to have the opinion that this would detract somehow from their reputation as a world class basketball school. Go figure. It seems to me that if the school is that much of a first rate institution, which it obviously is, they could easily field a winning team in both sports, and do so consistently. But this does not seem to be the case. Kentucky is a basketball state, and they just aren't going to risk that standing by diverting any resources away from the favored sport. After all, what the hell else does Kentucky have? Bourbon? Horses? Tobacco? Coal mines?
Whatever the case, Kentucky's Rich Brooks, the new beleagered head coach of the football Wildcats, migth as well count on another loosing season, but he should take heart. Maybe he will have a 50-50 season, which would almost be a winning one for Kentucky. Their biggest gripe so far is that it seems that the powers that be have decided that there should no longer be a tradition of opening game for kentucky being with the University of Louisville Cardinals. Well, that's just so sad, isn't it? Actually, maybe it is just the shot in the arm the Wildcats need. After all, it has to be hard to be beaten by your number one rivals on opening day. Of course, the Wildcats have a better record with the Cardinals than they do with most other teams in the SEC. Which all but further points out the dilemna.
To the UK Alumni Association- BUILD UP A WINNING FOOTBALL TEAM, YOU JERKS!!!!
O'Reilly's Plan Destined For The Trash Can
Bill O'Reilly of Fox News's "The O'Reilly Factor" sometimes has some good ideas. Sometimes. I have to say, I disagree with this guy more often than not. It seems that on those issues where he is a liberal, which are few, I am conservative, and on those majority of issues where he seems to be conservative, I am liberal. However, there are a few issues where we are in agreement, and his idea concerning the energy companies is one good example.
The idea? That American oil companies should voluntarily take a 20% reduction in profits, for the good of the country, by keeping gas prices low, or as low as possible. Of course, this will never happen. And when the idea was broached to President Bush recently by Dianne Sawyer, he actually cut her off, saying that he had faith in the generosity of the American people to contribute and see the country through this crisis.
Yeah, the motherfucker wants the average citizen to fork over a few dollars here and there and thinks that this is going to make up for the lack of planning and accountability of his administration, and Congress. He thinks getting his dad and Bill Clinton to encourage people to donate is going to pull us throgh this? Outrageous. The oil companies make billions of dollars in profits, and this bastard can't even begin to think to consider the possibility of just asking his oil company cronies to voluntarily, mind you, take a reduction in their sacred proifits-for the good of the country, presumably as much their country as everyone elses. Actually, I guess it is their country, sold, brought, and paid for, that's just the fucking problem.
One of O'Reillys guests last night said this would be wrong, it would be price controls, which wouldn't work, at which point O'Reilly reminded him that he was talking about a voluntary reduction, but no-the guest insisted that this wouldn't work, the proper thing to do would be to let the market work. O'Reilly held his temper with difficulty. But he should have known better. Of course the oil company bosses aren't going to take a reduction in profits, for the good of the country or of anyone else. They also aren't going to agree to pay higher taxes, for the good of the country. Why should O'Reilly be surprised at this. One would hope that he would see now that those tax cuts he himself supported are good for one thing only-the ever deepening pockets of the recipients of the tax cuts, who seldom trickle anything down to the rest of us, unless they happen to be pissing out a window at the time we're passing by.
The idea? That American oil companies should voluntarily take a 20% reduction in profits, for the good of the country, by keeping gas prices low, or as low as possible. Of course, this will never happen. And when the idea was broached to President Bush recently by Dianne Sawyer, he actually cut her off, saying that he had faith in the generosity of the American people to contribute and see the country through this crisis.
Yeah, the motherfucker wants the average citizen to fork over a few dollars here and there and thinks that this is going to make up for the lack of planning and accountability of his administration, and Congress. He thinks getting his dad and Bill Clinton to encourage people to donate is going to pull us throgh this? Outrageous. The oil companies make billions of dollars in profits, and this bastard can't even begin to think to consider the possibility of just asking his oil company cronies to voluntarily, mind you, take a reduction in their sacred proifits-for the good of the country, presumably as much their country as everyone elses. Actually, I guess it is their country, sold, brought, and paid for, that's just the fucking problem.
One of O'Reillys guests last night said this would be wrong, it would be price controls, which wouldn't work, at which point O'Reilly reminded him that he was talking about a voluntary reduction, but no-the guest insisted that this wouldn't work, the proper thing to do would be to let the market work. O'Reilly held his temper with difficulty. But he should have known better. Of course the oil company bosses aren't going to take a reduction in profits, for the good of the country or of anyone else. They also aren't going to agree to pay higher taxes, for the good of the country. Why should O'Reilly be surprised at this. One would hope that he would see now that those tax cuts he himself supported are good for one thing only-the ever deepening pockets of the recipients of the tax cuts, who seldom trickle anything down to the rest of us, unless they happen to be pissing out a window at the time we're passing by.
The Truth Will Out
So now we know the real story. Funding for strengthening the levees was cut, despite the fact that a plan was made and strongly recommended, after an assessment of the potential for flooding and widespread destruction of New Orleans in the event of a major hurricane event was ascertained. In fact, a model of the potential results was illustrated, and was eerily similar to what actually occurred. Yeah, the funding was cut.
It was considered to be "pork". Can you believe this shit? All kinds of worthless pork, as they call it, was included in the recent highway bill that Bush pushed for with every bit of political capital at his sorry disposal, but something like this was considered too wasteful. Too expensive. Too extravagant. Thus, the levees were never strengthened. And now we see the results. I, for one, am outraged. Honestly outraged.
Here is the result of government on the cheap. The kind of government you typically get from the GOP. When will the voters learn their lesson? If past history is a guide, if they learn anything at all, it will be of temporary duration. In the meantime, there is the very real possibility that thousands will die in New Orleans, in fact there might well all ready be that number dead. It's just insanity.
And all because George W. Bush, and his fellow Republicans, can't stand the thought of taxing the motherfucking rich. Which brings me to my next point. Would this crap have occurred if New Orleans had been inhabited by families of the power and influence of the Bushes, the Cheneys, the Rumsfelds, or, for that matter, the Clintons, the Kennedys, the Gores, the Kerrys? Hell no, to begin with the city would have been well bulwarked against such an event, and just to be on the safe side the residents would have been quickly evacuated. And they wouldn't be holed up in a leaky Superdome with no power, water, or food.
Wait and see what happens. Oh, they'll rebuild New Orleans all right. And it will probably be repopulated, not with welfare blacks and poor white trash though, oh no. It will probably be filled with middle class types, and presto chango, the property values will probably double, and triple, what they previously were. A good quarter of the residents, the poorer ones-what ones that survive-will be spread to other areas. It's a fucking shame. In fact, it's downright criminal.
It was considered to be "pork". Can you believe this shit? All kinds of worthless pork, as they call it, was included in the recent highway bill that Bush pushed for with every bit of political capital at his sorry disposal, but something like this was considered too wasteful. Too expensive. Too extravagant. Thus, the levees were never strengthened. And now we see the results. I, for one, am outraged. Honestly outraged.
Here is the result of government on the cheap. The kind of government you typically get from the GOP. When will the voters learn their lesson? If past history is a guide, if they learn anything at all, it will be of temporary duration. In the meantime, there is the very real possibility that thousands will die in New Orleans, in fact there might well all ready be that number dead. It's just insanity.
And all because George W. Bush, and his fellow Republicans, can't stand the thought of taxing the motherfucking rich. Which brings me to my next point. Would this crap have occurred if New Orleans had been inhabited by families of the power and influence of the Bushes, the Cheneys, the Rumsfelds, or, for that matter, the Clintons, the Kennedys, the Gores, the Kerrys? Hell no, to begin with the city would have been well bulwarked against such an event, and just to be on the safe side the residents would have been quickly evacuated. And they wouldn't be holed up in a leaky Superdome with no power, water, or food.
Wait and see what happens. Oh, they'll rebuild New Orleans all right. And it will probably be repopulated, not with welfare blacks and poor white trash though, oh no. It will probably be filled with middle class types, and presto chango, the property values will probably double, and triple, what they previously were. A good quarter of the residents, the poorer ones-what ones that survive-will be spread to other areas. It's a fucking shame. In fact, it's downright criminal.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Lance Armstrong
I could care less if it were to turn out that Lance Armstrong did indeed have some illicit substance in his blood that increased his energy level by increasing the amount of red blood cells in his system during the 1999 Tour De France. Becuase, the way it stands now, it actually probably wouldn't mean a damned thing.
Here's how I see it. The 1999 race was coming just off the heels of Armstrongs recovery from testicular cancer, for which he was obviously obliged to be in treatment, and probably chemotherapy. Now the question becomes, what exactly does chemotherapy do, in part? Well, it kills cancer cells, duh, but in the meantime it has got to be accompanied by some form of regimen that would aid in replacing the red blood cells that have been decimated by the cancer.
In other word, it seems obvious to me that the illicit substance in Armstrongs urine might have been, and probably was, a remnant of whatever medications Armstrong had previously been obliged to take in order to assure and to hasten his complete recovery.
Thus, in other words, the drugs Armstrong had been taking might indeed have contained the illicit substnce as a minor component, but in too minor of an amount to show up in the original test. Another possibilty is that prior testing in 1999 might have been accomplished in such a way as to cause the present test results to show up as a false positive.
And of course, another possibility is that the French are simply lying like dogs. Not the "French" per se, just the one newspaper-of couuurrrsssse. Naturally, this wouldn't be an attempt to increase readership among the French citizens whom the cultural elite of France assumes to the person hates all Americans. Nor would it possibly be a way to distract attention from the growing unpopularity of Jacques Chirac.
In reality, does the average French citizen hate Americans really that much? I've always wondered about that. It is possible of course, that the current situation as regarding Franco-American relations are worse even than is normally the case, and I certainly believe the French are jealous and resentful of our dominance on the world stage, despite the supposed superiority of their own culture over ours. But are they really so upset over an American cancer survivor winning their national sport seven times in a row?
And not just any kind of cancer, but testicular cancer, at that? Think about it.
Hell yes, they're pissed.
Here's how I see it. The 1999 race was coming just off the heels of Armstrongs recovery from testicular cancer, for which he was obviously obliged to be in treatment, and probably chemotherapy. Now the question becomes, what exactly does chemotherapy do, in part? Well, it kills cancer cells, duh, but in the meantime it has got to be accompanied by some form of regimen that would aid in replacing the red blood cells that have been decimated by the cancer.
In other word, it seems obvious to me that the illicit substance in Armstrongs urine might have been, and probably was, a remnant of whatever medications Armstrong had previously been obliged to take in order to assure and to hasten his complete recovery.
Thus, in other words, the drugs Armstrong had been taking might indeed have contained the illicit substnce as a minor component, but in too minor of an amount to show up in the original test. Another possibilty is that prior testing in 1999 might have been accomplished in such a way as to cause the present test results to show up as a false positive.
And of course, another possibility is that the French are simply lying like dogs. Not the "French" per se, just the one newspaper-of couuurrrsssse. Naturally, this wouldn't be an attempt to increase readership among the French citizens whom the cultural elite of France assumes to the person hates all Americans. Nor would it possibly be a way to distract attention from the growing unpopularity of Jacques Chirac.
In reality, does the average French citizen hate Americans really that much? I've always wondered about that. It is possible of course, that the current situation as regarding Franco-American relations are worse even than is normally the case, and I certainly believe the French are jealous and resentful of our dominance on the world stage, despite the supposed superiority of their own culture over ours. But are they really so upset over an American cancer survivor winning their national sport seven times in a row?
And not just any kind of cancer, but testicular cancer, at that? Think about it.
Hell yes, they're pissed.
Governor Fletcher-Beggin' Your Pardon
Governor Ernie Fletcher sure does have his hands full for a Governor who got elected partly n promises to change the way the state of kentucky does business, and to change the atmosphere of corruption that prevails there and, well, still does.
A long time mainstay of Kentucky law is it's hiring practices, something called the merit system, which basically states that a state employee is to be hired according to his qusalifications, and that politics is not to play a hand in an hiring/firing decisions. Governor Fletcher assurred his constituents that he would abide by this law, that he had no intwntion of changig or of in anyway undermining Kentucky's tried and true merit system. Some months into his term, he was singing a different tune all together, saying that the merit system was outmoded and contained loopholes that made it easily abused.
True enough, there have been ways of getting arund the law, and former Governor John Y. Brown siad that, while he himself did not abuse the merit system, practically everybody else that had ever been governor did. It was actually standard procedure. But the Democratic party has pretty much monopolized Kentucky state politcs for the last half-century, up until the last decade or so, there was nevcer any serious challenges to the way the State Party, which to all intents and purposes was the state itself, did business.
The Bop-Tropt investigation by the Federal Government in the late eighties pretty mcuh changed all that, and set the stage for the resurgence of the State Republican Party, who now controls the State House, as of 2003, for the first time since the administration of Louie B. Nunn, the last Republican Governor, who was there from 1967 through 1971. In fact, one of the major criticisms of Nunn's governorship was that he himself abused the law as pertaining to the hiring and firing of state employees, and showed a good deal of political favoritism, which, again it is alleged, everyone does. But of course the Republicans seem to be the only one blamed for his. Not that I'm saying, by any means, that they should be allowed to get away with it on the basis of the democrats having done it for years (if that is true). Beleive me, if Democratic State Attorney General Stumbo has hiw way about it, Fletcher would be definitely hung out to dry on just this very issue.
In fact, he has conducted an investigation into the Fletcher Administrations hiring practices, which seem to be chiefly centered around the Transportation Cabinet. Just yesteday, this investigation culminated in Fletcher's being called before the Grand Jury, in front of whom he answered not one question, other than his name, his occupation, and his address.
Afterwards, he called a press conference at which he announced that he would issue a blanket pardon to anyone that may be indicted by Stumbo. He also said, however, that he would decline to issue a pardon for his own self, even though according to state law he could do just that. This didn't sit too well with Stumbo, who advised Fletcher that any information that might lead to an indictment should be alowed to come out int he Grand Jury before any decisions regarding pardons was rendered. But Fletcher, it seems, has all ready made up his mind that Stumbo is engaged in nothing more or less than a partisan witch hunt.
And so the stage is set for what indeed promises to be one rowdy contest fo rthe Governor's seat in the 2007 elections, obviousy to be fought out between the incumbent Fletcher and Attorney General Stumbo.
But it may turn out to be not all rancor and steam. In a rare but welcome moment of bi-partisan agreement, Fletcher and Stumbo agreed to cooperate in prosecuting to the fullest extent that the law allows, all those proven to be engaging in gasoline price gouging in the wake of the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster in the Gulf States.
A long time mainstay of Kentucky law is it's hiring practices, something called the merit system, which basically states that a state employee is to be hired according to his qusalifications, and that politics is not to play a hand in an hiring/firing decisions. Governor Fletcher assurred his constituents that he would abide by this law, that he had no intwntion of changig or of in anyway undermining Kentucky's tried and true merit system. Some months into his term, he was singing a different tune all together, saying that the merit system was outmoded and contained loopholes that made it easily abused.
True enough, there have been ways of getting arund the law, and former Governor John Y. Brown siad that, while he himself did not abuse the merit system, practically everybody else that had ever been governor did. It was actually standard procedure. But the Democratic party has pretty much monopolized Kentucky state politcs for the last half-century, up until the last decade or so, there was nevcer any serious challenges to the way the State Party, which to all intents and purposes was the state itself, did business.
The Bop-Tropt investigation by the Federal Government in the late eighties pretty mcuh changed all that, and set the stage for the resurgence of the State Republican Party, who now controls the State House, as of 2003, for the first time since the administration of Louie B. Nunn, the last Republican Governor, who was there from 1967 through 1971. In fact, one of the major criticisms of Nunn's governorship was that he himself abused the law as pertaining to the hiring and firing of state employees, and showed a good deal of political favoritism, which, again it is alleged, everyone does. But of course the Republicans seem to be the only one blamed for his. Not that I'm saying, by any means, that they should be allowed to get away with it on the basis of the democrats having done it for years (if that is true). Beleive me, if Democratic State Attorney General Stumbo has hiw way about it, Fletcher would be definitely hung out to dry on just this very issue.
In fact, he has conducted an investigation into the Fletcher Administrations hiring practices, which seem to be chiefly centered around the Transportation Cabinet. Just yesteday, this investigation culminated in Fletcher's being called before the Grand Jury, in front of whom he answered not one question, other than his name, his occupation, and his address.
Afterwards, he called a press conference at which he announced that he would issue a blanket pardon to anyone that may be indicted by Stumbo. He also said, however, that he would decline to issue a pardon for his own self, even though according to state law he could do just that. This didn't sit too well with Stumbo, who advised Fletcher that any information that might lead to an indictment should be alowed to come out int he Grand Jury before any decisions regarding pardons was rendered. But Fletcher, it seems, has all ready made up his mind that Stumbo is engaged in nothing more or less than a partisan witch hunt.
And so the stage is set for what indeed promises to be one rowdy contest fo rthe Governor's seat in the 2007 elections, obviousy to be fought out between the incumbent Fletcher and Attorney General Stumbo.
But it may turn out to be not all rancor and steam. In a rare but welcome moment of bi-partisan agreement, Fletcher and Stumbo agreed to cooperate in prosecuting to the fullest extent that the law allows, all those proven to be engaging in gasoline price gouging in the wake of the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster in the Gulf States.
Kentucky's Slight Share Of Katrina-Hmmmmmmm
It wasn't that big a deal, what we had to contend with, and it certainly wouldn't even be a blip on the radar screen in comparison to what happenned in Biloxi and Gulfport, Missisippi, or in New Orleans. On the other hand, if you were one of the victims, few though they were, you would not feel so lucky to be that one little minor statistic or two.
One family had a large tree fall on their roof in Scott County. Yeah, there's all kinds of bad things that happenned in Kentucky worse than that that had nothing to do with Katrina. Of course, the one death, well, that kind of was a big deal, to the family involved. The death was that of a ten year old girl. Out playing with her friend, she was swept away by the flood waters in Christian County, just outside of Hopkinsville. When she was found, a day later, it was in a culbert, a mere hundred yards or so away from where she had last been seen. Her little friend had said she tried her best to hold onto her friend, but she just couldn't hold on.
Hmmmmmmm. You know, the child seemed more excited about being on tv than she seemed upset about her friends death. Ten. Hmmmm. About the age in these days when little kids start developing rivalries and jealousies. Hmmmmmm. But Nawwwwwwww. Wonder why the other little girl wasn't swept away, or why it seemed like she herself was never in any danger, despite being in evidently the same exact place? Hmmmmmmmm.
What also happenned up the river, near my old stomping grounds of Covington, Kentucky, was quite striking too, in it's characteristics. A private boat smashed into a barge, killing everyone on board, except for one person, who happenned to be the owner of the boat. The rest of the guys, they were homeless. Dead homeless people, on the boat belonging to the one survivor of the crash, who told police he "did not see it coming."
The owner of the boat was a man named Caudill. I knew some Caudill's up that way. I wonder.
Hhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
One family had a large tree fall on their roof in Scott County. Yeah, there's all kinds of bad things that happenned in Kentucky worse than that that had nothing to do with Katrina. Of course, the one death, well, that kind of was a big deal, to the family involved. The death was that of a ten year old girl. Out playing with her friend, she was swept away by the flood waters in Christian County, just outside of Hopkinsville. When she was found, a day later, it was in a culbert, a mere hundred yards or so away from where she had last been seen. Her little friend had said she tried her best to hold onto her friend, but she just couldn't hold on.
Hmmmmmmm. You know, the child seemed more excited about being on tv than she seemed upset about her friends death. Ten. Hmmmm. About the age in these days when little kids start developing rivalries and jealousies. Hmmmmmm. But Nawwwwwwww. Wonder why the other little girl wasn't swept away, or why it seemed like she herself was never in any danger, despite being in evidently the same exact place? Hmmmmmmmm.
What also happenned up the river, near my old stomping grounds of Covington, Kentucky, was quite striking too, in it's characteristics. A private boat smashed into a barge, killing everyone on board, except for one person, who happenned to be the owner of the boat. The rest of the guys, they were homeless. Dead homeless people, on the boat belonging to the one survivor of the crash, who told police he "did not see it coming."
The owner of the boat was a man named Caudill. I knew some Caudill's up that way. I wonder.
Hhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Who Will Help Us Now?
Just curious. I would say the Brits and the Aussies might help, possibly the Japanese. Anybody else? Maybe a few private citizens might donate to help out the flood and hurricane ravaged citizens of the Gulf Coast of the U.S.A. But I wouldn't count on any records being broken in that regard.
Saudi Arabia? HaHa. Yeah, on the condition that we all partake in a mass conversion to Islam, maybe. Ditto, all the other Arab nations that might have the funds to help. Why the hell should they? After all, we're more at their mercy now than ever as far as our energy dependance on them goes. And of course it would just be so rude to insist they help in return for all the aid we've given them in the past, and will doubtless continue to do, that just shouldn't even be whispered, at least not in polite circles.
The Germans? The French? well, probably, but just as probably only on the condition that we allow their companies to conduct the rebuilding of New Orleans and other Gulf State communities at their price. Kickbacks can be fun, you know, as well as lucrative.
All the other leaders of the EU? The U.N.? Can't you see them in your mind's eye right now, just smiling like the fox that raided the hen house?
China? Strangely silent on the issue, but then, when you stop to think about it, so is everyone else. Not so much as a sympathy card, that I'm aware of.
Oh, I almost forgot. Russia. Yeah, they'll help us, like, when hell freezes over.
Saudi Arabia? HaHa. Yeah, on the condition that we all partake in a mass conversion to Islam, maybe. Ditto, all the other Arab nations that might have the funds to help. Why the hell should they? After all, we're more at their mercy now than ever as far as our energy dependance on them goes. And of course it would just be so rude to insist they help in return for all the aid we've given them in the past, and will doubtless continue to do, that just shouldn't even be whispered, at least not in polite circles.
The Germans? The French? well, probably, but just as probably only on the condition that we allow their companies to conduct the rebuilding of New Orleans and other Gulf State communities at their price. Kickbacks can be fun, you know, as well as lucrative.
All the other leaders of the EU? The U.N.? Can't you see them in your mind's eye right now, just smiling like the fox that raided the hen house?
China? Strangely silent on the issue, but then, when you stop to think about it, so is everyone else. Not so much as a sympathy card, that I'm aware of.
Oh, I almost forgot. Russia. Yeah, they'll help us, like, when hell freezes over.
One Great Big Bowl Of Gumbo
Add an unevenly distributed mix of ocean water, lake water, river water, and rain water.
Add a healthy assortment of both treated and untreated sewage, along with assorted garbage and dashes here and there of medical waste.
Add to taste, anywhere from one thousand to several thousands of dead and dying (and in some cases decaying and decayed)humans and animals.
Add a lively variety of alligators, river rats, mosquitos and assorted other insects.
Allow to stew in a giant bowl until suitably aromatic.
And you have old New Orleans Gumbo. Just one taste, in fact just one whiff, and you will doubtless ask, "how the fucking shit can we keep this from ever happenning again?"
But I have an even better question than that. Why the fuck did it ever have to happen to begin with. The answer, of course, is it didn't. The levees should have been continually upgraded and strengthened on a regular basis. Of course, this would not in itself be enoguh to prevent the current disaster, nor would it be enough in and of itself to keep it from occurring yet again. So what to do?
It seems like a simple enough solution to me. You simply have pumps at the ready to drain lake Ponchartraine at a moments notice. After all, the lake, and the Mississippi River, is probably where the majority of the flooding has originated. So why didn't the numbnuts in New orleans and the State of Louisiana and for that mattr the Federal Government have just such a plan ready to be implemented, seeing as how this has been well known to be a very likely, not merely a possible, eventuality.
No place to divert the lake water to? Find a way. Do I have to think of everything? After all, they had plenty of warning ahead of time that this was likely to be a category Five storm, and all they did was order people to evacuate, at about 24 hours notice. They should have started draining that damned lake a week ahead of time. But no, that would be too much trouble and way too expensive. Naturally, the city might have been partly flooded anyway. But not like it is now. Again, the solution:
Have pumps at the ready to drain the Lake Ponchartraine at a moments notice.
Upgrade and strengthen the levee system.
Have a plan at the ready to evacuate those citizens who might not have a way out or a place to go-including the prisoners in the New Orleans jail. Implement this plan at the earliest possible time- not at the last minute.
In the meantime, people all over the country should ask just exactly why this was allowed to happen. And they should demand answers and, yes, accountability.
Add a healthy assortment of both treated and untreated sewage, along with assorted garbage and dashes here and there of medical waste.
Add to taste, anywhere from one thousand to several thousands of dead and dying (and in some cases decaying and decayed)humans and animals.
Add a lively variety of alligators, river rats, mosquitos and assorted other insects.
Allow to stew in a giant bowl until suitably aromatic.
And you have old New Orleans Gumbo. Just one taste, in fact just one whiff, and you will doubtless ask, "how the fucking shit can we keep this from ever happenning again?"
But I have an even better question than that. Why the fuck did it ever have to happen to begin with. The answer, of course, is it didn't. The levees should have been continually upgraded and strengthened on a regular basis. Of course, this would not in itself be enoguh to prevent the current disaster, nor would it be enough in and of itself to keep it from occurring yet again. So what to do?
It seems like a simple enough solution to me. You simply have pumps at the ready to drain lake Ponchartraine at a moments notice. After all, the lake, and the Mississippi River, is probably where the majority of the flooding has originated. So why didn't the numbnuts in New orleans and the State of Louisiana and for that mattr the Federal Government have just such a plan ready to be implemented, seeing as how this has been well known to be a very likely, not merely a possible, eventuality.
No place to divert the lake water to? Find a way. Do I have to think of everything? After all, they had plenty of warning ahead of time that this was likely to be a category Five storm, and all they did was order people to evacuate, at about 24 hours notice. They should have started draining that damned lake a week ahead of time. But no, that would be too much trouble and way too expensive. Naturally, the city might have been partly flooded anyway. But not like it is now. Again, the solution:
Have pumps at the ready to drain the Lake Ponchartraine at a moments notice.
Upgrade and strengthen the levee system.
Have a plan at the ready to evacuate those citizens who might not have a way out or a place to go-including the prisoners in the New Orleans jail. Implement this plan at the earliest possible time- not at the last minute.
In the meantime, people all over the country should ask just exactly why this was allowed to happen. And they should demand answers and, yes, accountability.
When Stupid People Do Stupid Things
Stupid shit happens. Here you have, in New Orleans, a situation that was ripe for disaster from the get-go. The "leaders" of new Orleans decided, instead of moving it's prisoners, transferring them to other counties, even to other states if necessary, just let them out, telling them more or less, in effect, to fend for themselves. So what do these solid citizens do? What you would expect, of course, nor can you really blame them when you stop to think about it. They break into pawn shops and gun stores, and casually browse through the ammunition and gun departments of Wal-Mart, etc., until they find the weapons they feel they might need to protect themselves in this every person for themselves situation.
Then, the government and media bemoan the fact that military helicopters are being shot at as they attempt to rescue people from the New Orleans Superdome. Let's see now, you have criminals let out of jail, no matter who they are and no matter what they've done, instead of being transferred to places of safety. You have military helicopters being shot at as they try to rescue other people from the Superdome. Gee, I wonder who's doing the shooting? And why?
Gumbo, anyone?
Then, the government and media bemoan the fact that military helicopters are being shot at as they attempt to rescue people from the New Orleans Superdome. Let's see now, you have criminals let out of jail, no matter who they are and no matter what they've done, instead of being transferred to places of safety. You have military helicopters being shot at as they try to rescue other people from the Superdome. Gee, I wonder who's doing the shooting? And why?
Gumbo, anyone?
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Like Nobody's Business
The day before the hurricane struck, Shephard Smith of Fox News Channel was down on The French Quarter of downtown New Orleans, and was amazed that as many as 100 or more people were there, casualy walking down the street, listening to music, drinking. It seemed to be a party atmosphere. He walked up to a man walking his dogs, and asked him what he was doing.
The minute the guy said "I'm walking my dogs" I knew from his tone of voice he wasn't taking kindly to the intrusion. Smith is a seasoned enough journalist he should have known better than to continue, but he did anyway, asking the guy what he was still doing there.
"None of your fucking business", the guy said.
I could have answered the question for him, that he wasn't about to go off and leave his home and possessions to be looted and raided over a huricane like, as was the case of so many false alarms, probably wasn't going to amount to much more than a typical tropical storm from New Orleans perspective. And sure enough, for a while it looked like this was ging to be the case here as well. But something happenned on Katrina's trip up the Tennessee and Ohio River Valeys. The category one (by then) hurricane, and then the tropical storm, and then the tropical depression, continually filed the Mississippi River and others with excessive rainwater, which eventully emptied into lake Ponchartraine-which was all ready overflowing with water dumped into it by the storm directly-which of course caused it to spill over the New Orleans levees-which had all ready been breached and broken in places-and as a result new Orleans is now flooded.
How this is worse in it's own way than even the disaster in Gulfport and Biloxi, is that this water isn't going anywhere for some time to go, maybe not for weeks or months. New Orleans is buildt on top of the Gulf, in fact, and is surrounded by levees which hold back boththe waters of lake Ponchartraine and the Gulf. New Orleans in fact sits below sea level, right at the sea. It is in effect like a big bowl, and there is nor can be no draiage system to speak of. It relies on pumps to keep it dry in ordinary circumstances, but these pumps, like the levees, have also failed for the time being.
So New Orleans is gradually filing up with more and more water. You have to wonder what the hell the french were thinking when they buildt this port, and why. It was doubtless never meant to be a permanent home for anybody. In fact, this would be in keeping with their traditional colonial poicy as regards America. They never intended to establish widespread colonies or permanent settlements, all they wanted to do was engage in fur and other trade with the Indians, maybe establish a few mines here and there. That and harass the British and make sure they didn't dominate the continent. It may be one of the great ironies in that New Orleans was actually cosidered a safer locale for a trading post than anyplace else along the Gulf Coast, if only not for the annoying inconvenience of being nothing there but water to have to build it over.
Whatever they were thinking, they obviously were more than happy to sell the place to Thomas Jefferson as part of the Louisiana Purchase, and little did the unsuspecting Americans know just how tenous their position was. Thus, it became one of the better loved spots in America over the years. And one of the premiere cities, with it's own unique culture, it's arts, cuisine, music, and an award winning newspaper in the Times Picayunne. Will there be a Mardi Gras this next year? Watch and see if that won't be the stated goal for rebuilding, which of course it couldn't possibly be rebuilt in it's entirety by then. But the inner city, and the French quarter especially, might be. The overall rebuilding of the entire place will take some time.
Hopefully, as it is done, it wil be accomplished with this event in mind, and contingencies will be put into place to ensure that a repeat episode will be far less likely to have this widespread and tragic consequence.
After all, the insurance bill for this entire event will top 25 billion dollars, probably appreciably more than this when you total in the entire area of the disaster. Like it or not, the insurance companies will figure out a way to pass this cost on to the genral public. They shouldn't be allowed to do that, but it is unlikely that anything will be done to prevent it. So everybody can count on paying a higher insurance bill, maybe not only on their hoimes and businesses, but on their automobiles, and life and health as well. It is tantamount, therefore, that when thee areas are rebuilt, they are rebuilt to withstand as much as is possible any ther encroaching disaster.
In other words, it is everybody's "fucking business".
The minute the guy said "I'm walking my dogs" I knew from his tone of voice he wasn't taking kindly to the intrusion. Smith is a seasoned enough journalist he should have known better than to continue, but he did anyway, asking the guy what he was still doing there.
"None of your fucking business", the guy said.
I could have answered the question for him, that he wasn't about to go off and leave his home and possessions to be looted and raided over a huricane like, as was the case of so many false alarms, probably wasn't going to amount to much more than a typical tropical storm from New Orleans perspective. And sure enough, for a while it looked like this was ging to be the case here as well. But something happenned on Katrina's trip up the Tennessee and Ohio River Valeys. The category one (by then) hurricane, and then the tropical storm, and then the tropical depression, continually filed the Mississippi River and others with excessive rainwater, which eventully emptied into lake Ponchartraine-which was all ready overflowing with water dumped into it by the storm directly-which of course caused it to spill over the New Orleans levees-which had all ready been breached and broken in places-and as a result new Orleans is now flooded.
How this is worse in it's own way than even the disaster in Gulfport and Biloxi, is that this water isn't going anywhere for some time to go, maybe not for weeks or months. New Orleans is buildt on top of the Gulf, in fact, and is surrounded by levees which hold back boththe waters of lake Ponchartraine and the Gulf. New Orleans in fact sits below sea level, right at the sea. It is in effect like a big bowl, and there is nor can be no draiage system to speak of. It relies on pumps to keep it dry in ordinary circumstances, but these pumps, like the levees, have also failed for the time being.
So New Orleans is gradually filing up with more and more water. You have to wonder what the hell the french were thinking when they buildt this port, and why. It was doubtless never meant to be a permanent home for anybody. In fact, this would be in keeping with their traditional colonial poicy as regards America. They never intended to establish widespread colonies or permanent settlements, all they wanted to do was engage in fur and other trade with the Indians, maybe establish a few mines here and there. That and harass the British and make sure they didn't dominate the continent. It may be one of the great ironies in that New Orleans was actually cosidered a safer locale for a trading post than anyplace else along the Gulf Coast, if only not for the annoying inconvenience of being nothing there but water to have to build it over.
Whatever they were thinking, they obviously were more than happy to sell the place to Thomas Jefferson as part of the Louisiana Purchase, and little did the unsuspecting Americans know just how tenous their position was. Thus, it became one of the better loved spots in America over the years. And one of the premiere cities, with it's own unique culture, it's arts, cuisine, music, and an award winning newspaper in the Times Picayunne. Will there be a Mardi Gras this next year? Watch and see if that won't be the stated goal for rebuilding, which of course it couldn't possibly be rebuilt in it's entirety by then. But the inner city, and the French quarter especially, might be. The overall rebuilding of the entire place will take some time.
Hopefully, as it is done, it wil be accomplished with this event in mind, and contingencies will be put into place to ensure that a repeat episode will be far less likely to have this widespread and tragic consequence.
After all, the insurance bill for this entire event will top 25 billion dollars, probably appreciably more than this when you total in the entire area of the disaster. Like it or not, the insurance companies will figure out a way to pass this cost on to the genral public. They shouldn't be allowed to do that, but it is unlikely that anything will be done to prevent it. So everybody can count on paying a higher insurance bill, maybe not only on their hoimes and businesses, but on their automobiles, and life and health as well. It is tantamount, therefore, that when thee areas are rebuilt, they are rebuilt to withstand as much as is possible any ther encroaching disaster.
In other words, it is everybody's "fucking business".
Hurricane Chavez
So it looks like Bush is going to release some much needed oil from the Strategic Oil Reserves, which should take some of the bite out of the anticipated gasoline prices which are expected to in some places to soar to over three dollars a gallon. In fact, they have probably gone over that mark in some areas. Now there's something else he could do, but he won't. He recently received an indirect offer from Venezualan President Hugo Chavez, to the effect that he would sell the U.S. cheap oil, if only the U.S. would give him some aid in fighting drug smugglers.
So, is he trying to be a smart-ass or what? I mean, isn't this the guy that has been accussed of funding FARQ, the narco-terrorists who have been wreaking havoc in Columbia, and other places? Or is he perhaps being serious? There could be another possible answer that is somewhat a combination of the two. Everyone knows-well, let's just say it is widely assummed-that the Drug Enforcement Agency is arguably the most corrupt of all U.S. government agencies. In fact, it has been alleged that a good many DEA agents are involved with illegal drug smuggling and trafficking, and that in fact without their aid a good many of the drugs that make it over here would never make it to the border, let alone across it.
This could be a way for Chavez to actualy increase the amount of drugs that he is involved with smuggling into our country, perhaps a way he could as much as double the amount. Get in good with the DEA. Sure, good DEA agents don't come cheap, but they can provide an invaluable insurance policy, they save you money in the long run, and you are ultimately assurred of increasing your profits two or three-fold, with a much lessenned chance of ever being caught, and thus charged with a crime.
Chavez earlier mused that he might be willing to open gas stations here in this country and sell gasoline cheap to the American public. Hugo wants to be your friend. Hey, fine with me. Gasoline in Venezuala is currently 12 cents a gallon, due to the fact that gasoline is subsidized by the Venezualan government. Naturally, it could never be that cheap here, but shit, I'd be thrilled if it was back to the good old days of two dollars a gallon.
The problem is, Bush is never going to accede to this, and Chavez knows it. Bush would never allow him to compete with the American and other oil companies such as BP, who contribute I am sure handily to all his campaign goals and agendas, and who look upon Mr. Bush as their ultimate protector. Chavez's offer for cheap gas in return for aid in combating drug smugglers, I am very much afraid, was not so much a serius offer as it was a shot across the bow. One might even go so far as to call it a cheap shot.
So, is he trying to be a smart-ass or what? I mean, isn't this the guy that has been accussed of funding FARQ, the narco-terrorists who have been wreaking havoc in Columbia, and other places? Or is he perhaps being serious? There could be another possible answer that is somewhat a combination of the two. Everyone knows-well, let's just say it is widely assummed-that the Drug Enforcement Agency is arguably the most corrupt of all U.S. government agencies. In fact, it has been alleged that a good many DEA agents are involved with illegal drug smuggling and trafficking, and that in fact without their aid a good many of the drugs that make it over here would never make it to the border, let alone across it.
This could be a way for Chavez to actualy increase the amount of drugs that he is involved with smuggling into our country, perhaps a way he could as much as double the amount. Get in good with the DEA. Sure, good DEA agents don't come cheap, but they can provide an invaluable insurance policy, they save you money in the long run, and you are ultimately assurred of increasing your profits two or three-fold, with a much lessenned chance of ever being caught, and thus charged with a crime.
Chavez earlier mused that he might be willing to open gas stations here in this country and sell gasoline cheap to the American public. Hugo wants to be your friend. Hey, fine with me. Gasoline in Venezuala is currently 12 cents a gallon, due to the fact that gasoline is subsidized by the Venezualan government. Naturally, it could never be that cheap here, but shit, I'd be thrilled if it was back to the good old days of two dollars a gallon.
The problem is, Bush is never going to accede to this, and Chavez knows it. Bush would never allow him to compete with the American and other oil companies such as BP, who contribute I am sure handily to all his campaign goals and agendas, and who look upon Mr. Bush as their ultimate protector. Chavez's offer for cheap gas in return for aid in combating drug smugglers, I am very much afraid, was not so much a serius offer as it was a shot across the bow. One might even go so far as to call it a cheap shot.
Price Gouging
Pity the poor people who may have the means to escape the surrounding disaster, and are now hopefully on their way out. Hopefully, they have a full tank of gas, and a provision of food necessary to get them to where they are going. Especially gas. If they don't there are certain people who will ensure they don't get too far, and that is the people who are by and large in a position to help them get out. Imagine if you will that you have thirty dollars to your name and your gas tank is half empty. You decide you had better stop and fill it up. You do so, and discover that you will owe the gas station forty dollars. Your only alternative is to fill up your tank, probably, otherwise, what with having to crawl along in bumper to bumper traffic, your gas will be gone by the time you get halfway to where you want to go if it isn't filled up. You will just have to do without food until you get to that place, and hope somehow you will get some kind of handout from some charitable organization.
Of course, you could beat the living shit out of the gas station attendant, or store owner, you could then fill your tank up and just help yourself to however many groceries you can get away with. Frankly, if I saw you do that I wouldn't open my fucking mouth, even if it turned out you inadverdantly-or purposely- killed the motherfucker. But for now, you swallow your anger, pay for the gas, secure in the knowledge that some day, some way, the bastard is going to get what's coming to him. If the law don't get him, maybe some day, some way, somebody will. You can always hope.
Of course, you could beat the living shit out of the gas station attendant, or store owner, you could then fill your tank up and just help yourself to however many groceries you can get away with. Frankly, if I saw you do that I wouldn't open my fucking mouth, even if it turned out you inadverdantly-or purposely- killed the motherfucker. But for now, you swallow your anger, pay for the gas, secure in the knowledge that some day, some way, the bastard is going to get what's coming to him. If the law don't get him, maybe some day, some way, somebody will. You can always hope.
Looters And Survivors
You could have just about set your clock by it. Within just a few hours of the disaster, those who for whatever reason remained in the affected areas of the flooding began looting. Yet, there may be more to this than meets the eye. It's easy to jump to the conclusion that these are all a group of thugs waiting to take advantage of any tragedy. Yet, emember, there is no food, no drinkable water, and whatever possessions these folks may have at one time had, are probably for the most part history.
In fact, I heard one rumor to the effect that one Wal-mart actually opened it's doors to the desperate throngs of survivors. And I saw with my own two eyes a couple o f uniformed police officers that themselves were helping themselves to merchandise at one store in one of the areas.
Another person alleged that the police themselves actually gave them permission to loot the premises of one store. Of course, what could they say. It would be expecting too much to demand that a person obey the laws of human decency when that would result in an even more untenable situation than is currently the case. On the otehr hand, food and clothing are one hting. Televisions and stereos are something else again, and I can almost assure you that there are some people who will just not be able to hekp themselves from taking what all they can take.
The worse thing about it is the potential for violence that might exist, if two or more people engage in a brawl, that could easily turn into a gang war for turf. Hopefully, the police will keep things from deteriorating to that level. At the same time, however, in a situation where communications are severely limited, almost as much as the capacity for food, water, and sanitation, the police themselves, while being the last remaining bulwark in what may turn out to be a futile effort to restore some semblance of order, may be themselves on the edge of having to see first and foremost to their own survival.
In fact, I heard one rumor to the effect that one Wal-mart actually opened it's doors to the desperate throngs of survivors. And I saw with my own two eyes a couple o f uniformed police officers that themselves were helping themselves to merchandise at one store in one of the areas.
Another person alleged that the police themselves actually gave them permission to loot the premises of one store. Of course, what could they say. It would be expecting too much to demand that a person obey the laws of human decency when that would result in an even more untenable situation than is currently the case. On the otehr hand, food and clothing are one hting. Televisions and stereos are something else again, and I can almost assure you that there are some people who will just not be able to hekp themselves from taking what all they can take.
The worse thing about it is the potential for violence that might exist, if two or more people engage in a brawl, that could easily turn into a gang war for turf. Hopefully, the police will keep things from deteriorating to that level. At the same time, however, in a situation where communications are severely limited, almost as much as the capacity for food, water, and sanitation, the police themselves, while being the last remaining bulwark in what may turn out to be a futile effort to restore some semblance of order, may be themselves on the edge of having to see first and foremost to their own survival.
Haley Barbour
Haley Barbour is the present day governor of the state of Mississippi. Formerly, he had been the head of the republican National Committee. Prior to that, I think he might have been a Congressman, but I'm not too sure about that. What I am sure of is that he has increased his profile the last couple of days in the midst of the disaster that has engulfed Mississippi, and thus his overall political profile has jumped quite a few notches. He was obviously dismayed, distraught, and seemingly near to tears when he told a group of reporters when questioned as to what he expected, that he expected to see a bunch of "dead people".
Yet, he seemed to harden at the prospect of the looting which seems to be quite widespread along the Gulf Coast states, including the hardest hit areas of his own. This would include Gulfsport and Biloxi. In fact, the heaviest of all death tolls seems to so far center around this region, as at least 100 people are now believed dead in this area alone. As many more are as yet unnaccounted for it seems obvious that the toll will go even higher. At least 30 people are believed dead from just one apartment complex.
As to the looters, Haley assurred reporters that he intended to be "ruthless" in how he dealth with them. Tough, decisive, yet compassionate. With his standing with the Republicans, and his current increased visibility, I believe I have discovered the potential running mate of Arizona Senator John McCain, should that maverick more or less independant Senator acquire the GOP nomination fo rPresident in 2008. McCain would need someone wiht his stalwart party credentials to keep the party faithful in line-somewhat.
At any rate, I have discerned the potential Republican teams to be as follows:
Vice-President Dick Cheney---------------Condoleeza Rice
Senator John McCain ------------------Haley Barbour
Rudy Giuliani-----------------------------Senator Rick Santorum
Of course, there are other potential match-ups, but these I would have to put at my list as being the top three. Time will tell.
Yet, he seemed to harden at the prospect of the looting which seems to be quite widespread along the Gulf Coast states, including the hardest hit areas of his own. This would include Gulfsport and Biloxi. In fact, the heaviest of all death tolls seems to so far center around this region, as at least 100 people are now believed dead in this area alone. As many more are as yet unnaccounted for it seems obvious that the toll will go even higher. At least 30 people are believed dead from just one apartment complex.
As to the looters, Haley assurred reporters that he intended to be "ruthless" in how he dealth with them. Tough, decisive, yet compassionate. With his standing with the Republicans, and his current increased visibility, I believe I have discovered the potential running mate of Arizona Senator John McCain, should that maverick more or less independant Senator acquire the GOP nomination fo rPresident in 2008. McCain would need someone wiht his stalwart party credentials to keep the party faithful in line-somewhat.
At any rate, I have discerned the potential Republican teams to be as follows:
Vice-President Dick Cheney---------------Condoleeza Rice
Senator John McCain ------------------Haley Barbour
Rudy Giuliani-----------------------------Senator Rick Santorum
Of course, there are other potential match-ups, but these I would have to put at my list as being the top three. Time will tell.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Paganbitchslap
If you are a pagan, you are invited to join Paganbitchslap, a free and unmoderated e-mail forum for the open discussions of all things of interest to pagans. The Link is as follows:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paganbitchslap
Paganbitchslap is my baby, my brainchild, so to speak, and today is it's first year anniversary. So what is Paganbitchslap? It is a Yahoo Group, an e-mail group in other words.
The concept behind it is a simple one, yet inspired. I started joining various e-mail groups a little over the year ago, right after I discovered the Internet. It quickly became a playground for discovery, and I discovered quite a bit. Yahoo Groups was one of those things that ended up taking quite a bit of my time. The first one I joined was a little group called the pagan Love Nest, but it became obvious after a year or so that I wa never going to meet anybody there, so I abandoned that one.
I joined some political groups, mostly left leaning, and in most instances discovered that I may have indeed ventured into the territory of the terminally insane. That was fine, I love to pick on crazy people, I'm a little crazy myself, so I still belong to actually four of these groups, some of which in additon to being political, are pagan oriented.
Which brings me to my major addiction, pagan based Yahoo Groups. I'm in well over ten of them, I've lost count, and quite frankly, I seldom visit these groupsany more, for that matter I seldom mess with any of them anymore. They quickly got old.
One reason for this is nothing ever seems to change, nothing ever gets acomplished, everybody just uses the groups as a sounding board, more or less, to either argue their points of view or to find solace in the group think that is so typical of the majority of them. Rarely, unfortunately, is there an original thought or point of view to be noticed. Also, you will, if you are not careful, find that you have been put on "moderated status" if you offend the right one or ones. And it is not so hard to do that as you might suppose, in a great many ofthese gorups, a good many ofthe members of which simply cannot brook disagreement.
Naturally, I could care less, if I am moderated, or even removed or banned, and so I think it quite funny on those occassions when I am warned that I am in danger of being removed or banned, as though this would be a fate worse than death. At any rate, I noticed over the months that this type of attitude seemed to cause a chilling effect on the naturally inclined discoure of the groups. You didn't have to be warned yourself, just viewing a moderators ire, it seemed, was enough to slow discourse to a trickle.
With this in mind I created Paganbitchslap, a place where anybody could say what they wanted, how they wanted to say it, on any and all subjects across the board, with no danger of ever being moderated. It has gotten quite heated from time to time, members have come and gone, and there is as of now 94, I think, members.Unfortunately, most of the members ever get around to posting, so I stopped sending out invitations. It has slowed to a trickle there, but is still going. After one year.
If you click on the link I provided at the top of the page, you will be lead t the page where you can join if you wish. It is basically for pagans, and like I said, discussions on al subjects is welcome, and totally unmoderated. The only thing I don't put up with is spam. Other than that, it is a free and open forum, and, as long as you are a pagan, you are cordialy invited to join, as of now.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paganbitchslap
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paganbitchslap
Paganbitchslap is my baby, my brainchild, so to speak, and today is it's first year anniversary. So what is Paganbitchslap? It is a Yahoo Group, an e-mail group in other words.
The concept behind it is a simple one, yet inspired. I started joining various e-mail groups a little over the year ago, right after I discovered the Internet. It quickly became a playground for discovery, and I discovered quite a bit. Yahoo Groups was one of those things that ended up taking quite a bit of my time. The first one I joined was a little group called the pagan Love Nest, but it became obvious after a year or so that I wa never going to meet anybody there, so I abandoned that one.
I joined some political groups, mostly left leaning, and in most instances discovered that I may have indeed ventured into the territory of the terminally insane. That was fine, I love to pick on crazy people, I'm a little crazy myself, so I still belong to actually four of these groups, some of which in additon to being political, are pagan oriented.
Which brings me to my major addiction, pagan based Yahoo Groups. I'm in well over ten of them, I've lost count, and quite frankly, I seldom visit these groupsany more, for that matter I seldom mess with any of them anymore. They quickly got old.
One reason for this is nothing ever seems to change, nothing ever gets acomplished, everybody just uses the groups as a sounding board, more or less, to either argue their points of view or to find solace in the group think that is so typical of the majority of them. Rarely, unfortunately, is there an original thought or point of view to be noticed. Also, you will, if you are not careful, find that you have been put on "moderated status" if you offend the right one or ones. And it is not so hard to do that as you might suppose, in a great many ofthese gorups, a good many ofthe members of which simply cannot brook disagreement.
Naturally, I could care less, if I am moderated, or even removed or banned, and so I think it quite funny on those occassions when I am warned that I am in danger of being removed or banned, as though this would be a fate worse than death. At any rate, I noticed over the months that this type of attitude seemed to cause a chilling effect on the naturally inclined discoure of the groups. You didn't have to be warned yourself, just viewing a moderators ire, it seemed, was enough to slow discourse to a trickle.
With this in mind I created Paganbitchslap, a place where anybody could say what they wanted, how they wanted to say it, on any and all subjects across the board, with no danger of ever being moderated. It has gotten quite heated from time to time, members have come and gone, and there is as of now 94, I think, members.Unfortunately, most of the members ever get around to posting, so I stopped sending out invitations. It has slowed to a trickle there, but is still going. After one year.
If you click on the link I provided at the top of the page, you will be lead t the page where you can join if you wish. It is basically for pagans, and like I said, discussions on al subjects is welcome, and totally unmoderated. The only thing I don't put up with is spam. Other than that, it is a free and open forum, and, as long as you are a pagan, you are cordialy invited to join, as of now.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paganbitchslap
Friday, August 26, 2005
ENNUI
One of the most intriquing paintings I have ever seen is "ENNUI" by Walter Sickert. It is filed with imagery,some of which could be,and possibly is, projections from the mind of the viewer. But that is a function of art, and this painting is no exception. At first glance,there is nothing particularly attractive about it. Until you look at it carefully.
The woman stands near a mantle, apparently bored, daydreaming as she looks past some bric-a-brac on the mantle by which she stands, gazing at something on the wall that is out of sight of the viewer. A decanter of wine and brandy sits at the edge of a mantle at another wall, and casts a shadow which is to me reminiscent of a bat hanging upside down.
An older gentleman, apparrently older than the woman though we can't be certain, sits at a table, drinking what has been described as a beer, though it looks more to me like water, while he smokes what has been described as a cigar, though to me it looks more like a cigarrette. Interestingly, he seems to be holding it not to his mouth, but to his nose.
You see a slight bulge in the crotch of his pants as he tries to assume a posture of relaxed casualness-yet he seems to be very tense as he seems to be looking out the corner of his eyes.
But it is the shadow that he casts that seems to reveal his inner turmoil. He sems almost compelled to spring into action. The shadow is full of the life of his secret thoughts. But thoughts about what?
The shadow seems to be a prominent artifice in Sickerts work, which to great extent delves into the dark, hidden side of ordinary everyday life. Sickert was quite taken by the macabre aspects of human nature, with all it's propensity for filth, degradation, and violence. Yet, he could produce art of breathtaking scenic beauty as well.
A good many have come to know him in this day and age through the work of Patricia Cornwell, who recently asserted in a book that Sickert was none other than Jack The Ripper. Though she makes a compelling case insofar as certain items of forensic evidence, in addition to his possible motivations, she herself seems to have become as obsessed at the prospect as the true Ripper may have been at the opportunity for his next victim.
In an efort to produce evidence to support her theory, she purchased a Sickert work and, in the process of searching for evidence, destroyed it. Hopefully, this travesty will never be repeated, nor will it be permitted the chance to occur. Even if Sickert was theRipper, there is no excuse for destroying great art. For another thing, the evidence against Sickert being the Ripper is considerable, and not easily discounted.
*Sickert was in places known to be far from the sight of a number of the Ripper murders, apparrently at the time they were committed.
*So far as I know, Sickert had no connection to the Masons. In point of fact, the Ripper was either a former mason who had been kicked out of the Order, for whatever reason, or he was otherwise in a position to know a great deal of Masonic lore.
*Jack the Ripper was an American, probably attached to the American embassy for at least some time during the last year of the first Grover Cleveland administration, after which, upon the advent of the succeeding Harrison administration, he was among those recaled. No, I can't prove this. But it is what I think.
In fact, I have thought of other potential suspects, among them Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker. And there is also the possibility that Sickert himself, who was reportedly obsessed with the case, may have been the culprit after all,or somehow otherwise involved with it. But again, this doesn't justify destroying great art.
I would suggest however that careful research into Sickert's personal relationships and business ones, particularly what art students he may have taught at the time, may go a long way toward finding the true identity of the Ripper, assumming Sickert had a relationship with him, and of further discovering just what Sickert's connection to the case may have been, if anything. But I wouldn't count on it one way or another.
The woman stands near a mantle, apparently bored, daydreaming as she looks past some bric-a-brac on the mantle by which she stands, gazing at something on the wall that is out of sight of the viewer. A decanter of wine and brandy sits at the edge of a mantle at another wall, and casts a shadow which is to me reminiscent of a bat hanging upside down.
An older gentleman, apparrently older than the woman though we can't be certain, sits at a table, drinking what has been described as a beer, though it looks more to me like water, while he smokes what has been described as a cigar, though to me it looks more like a cigarrette. Interestingly, he seems to be holding it not to his mouth, but to his nose.
You see a slight bulge in the crotch of his pants as he tries to assume a posture of relaxed casualness-yet he seems to be very tense as he seems to be looking out the corner of his eyes.
But it is the shadow that he casts that seems to reveal his inner turmoil. He sems almost compelled to spring into action. The shadow is full of the life of his secret thoughts. But thoughts about what?
The shadow seems to be a prominent artifice in Sickerts work, which to great extent delves into the dark, hidden side of ordinary everyday life. Sickert was quite taken by the macabre aspects of human nature, with all it's propensity for filth, degradation, and violence. Yet, he could produce art of breathtaking scenic beauty as well.
A good many have come to know him in this day and age through the work of Patricia Cornwell, who recently asserted in a book that Sickert was none other than Jack The Ripper. Though she makes a compelling case insofar as certain items of forensic evidence, in addition to his possible motivations, she herself seems to have become as obsessed at the prospect as the true Ripper may have been at the opportunity for his next victim.
In an efort to produce evidence to support her theory, she purchased a Sickert work and, in the process of searching for evidence, destroyed it. Hopefully, this travesty will never be repeated, nor will it be permitted the chance to occur. Even if Sickert was theRipper, there is no excuse for destroying great art. For another thing, the evidence against Sickert being the Ripper is considerable, and not easily discounted.
*Sickert was in places known to be far from the sight of a number of the Ripper murders, apparrently at the time they were committed.
*So far as I know, Sickert had no connection to the Masons. In point of fact, the Ripper was either a former mason who had been kicked out of the Order, for whatever reason, or he was otherwise in a position to know a great deal of Masonic lore.
*Jack the Ripper was an American, probably attached to the American embassy for at least some time during the last year of the first Grover Cleveland administration, after which, upon the advent of the succeeding Harrison administration, he was among those recaled. No, I can't prove this. But it is what I think.
In fact, I have thought of other potential suspects, among them Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Bram Stoker. And there is also the possibility that Sickert himself, who was reportedly obsessed with the case, may have been the culprit after all,or somehow otherwise involved with it. But again, this doesn't justify destroying great art.
I would suggest however that careful research into Sickert's personal relationships and business ones, particularly what art students he may have taught at the time, may go a long way toward finding the true identity of the Ripper, assumming Sickert had a relationship with him, and of further discovering just what Sickert's connection to the case may have been, if anything. But I wouldn't count on it one way or another.
The Artist Kurtz
I came across this artist on a Satanist web-site recently, and though to tell you the truth his art is not exactly my cup of tea, I recognize my rantings and other such artistic endeavors may be considered by some to be as macabre as the artist Kurtz-whose talent is indisputable. He puts me in mind of the artist Walter Sickert, inso far as the subject matter of his art goes. Yet, where Sickert was a Post Impressionist, Kurtz seems to be more of a surrealist. Also, Sickert looked for the grotesque in eveyday life. Kurtz deals with the openly bizarre.
His art will be on display, as I think it is on a regular basis, at JR's Bar & Grill, at 3923 Cedar Springs in Dallas Texas. The next public viewing is I think September 23rd. I'm not sure of the exact date, but it will be easily discovered by clicking on the link I have provided here
http://templeofvangogh.com
Hopefully, I will not have to edit that, as I am sure that is the correct URL, which I have unfortunately misplaced for now. As for why I am doing this, let's just say I am full of my own importance and like to imagine that by recommending this artist to the readers of my Blog, his career will be the better for it. You readers can prove me right by forwarding this Blog post, with attached URL to all and sundry, and tellinghtem to do likewise.
We should all do our parts to encourage and further the arts, and I intend to continue to do so, when the opportunity arises.
Oh, as for my personal favorite of his paintings, I would have to say the lady with the three big titties.
His art will be on display, as I think it is on a regular basis, at JR's Bar & Grill, at 3923 Cedar Springs in Dallas Texas. The next public viewing is I think September 23rd. I'm not sure of the exact date, but it will be easily discovered by clicking on the link I have provided here
http://templeofvangogh.com
Hopefully, I will not have to edit that, as I am sure that is the correct URL, which I have unfortunately misplaced for now. As for why I am doing this, let's just say I am full of my own importance and like to imagine that by recommending this artist to the readers of my Blog, his career will be the better for it. You readers can prove me right by forwarding this Blog post, with attached URL to all and sundry, and tellinghtem to do likewise.
We should all do our parts to encourage and further the arts, and I intend to continue to do so, when the opportunity arises.
Oh, as for my personal favorite of his paintings, I would have to say the lady with the three big titties.
Ira Wells, Sr.-Satanist
My great-great grandfather, Ira Wells, Sr.-born 1824, died 1907-was a Satanist. No, he didn't actually call himself that, he called hmself a "witch". Nor was he a Satanist after the LaVeyan mold, as of course that mold had not in his day been set.
He was an actual spiritualistic Satanist-a "devil worshipper". Or so it has been claimed. Or so he evidently claimed. Some might assert he was simply a local Clay County, later Leslie County Kentucky eccentric-a character-which indeed he was. A modern view of him might be that he was a bit of a showman. But of course the same things were said about Church of Satan founder Dr. Anton Szandor LaVey.
But for the times in which he lived-especially taking into consideration the place, Southeastern Kentucky, that he lived in is time-he was most definitely ahead of said time.
His formula for becomming a witch would sound simplistic, almst childish, to the trained magickal practitioner not only of our time, but to those of his own in more civilized, advanced parts of the world.
"You go up to the top of the highest hill under the full of the mood", he explained, "and with a rifle or a shotgun you shoot at the moon, curse God, and bless the devil".
He also had a formula for what he called "prophesying". You kneeled in front of the fireplace and "bake your head", the way he put it. Evidently, this process was conducive to entering into a trance state. Unfortunately, there is left, to my knowledge, no records of any "prophecies" he may have made while in this state, which is certainly unfortunate.
However, acording to one account, there was an occassion when, after entering into one of these trance states, he fell into the fire, and had to be pulled out of it. On another occassion, while sitting on his front porch, a woman went walking by, carrying an infant. He made the following remark-"lady, I bet I can turn that baby into a hooting owl and make him fly into the top of that tree yonder".
As he pointed to a specific tree, she screamed, almost threw the baby up into the air, but caught herself, and took off running in terror as he laughed. I am certain there is more to the story than this-if there is any truth at all to it- and probably there was some sort of history between him and this woman, but this has all that has come down. Nevertheless, it does demonstrate the level of authenticity to which he was regarded as a practitioner of the "black arts", which he openly claimed to be.
Which leads me to my point. It takes a special kind of person to lay claim to being a "Satanist", or in my great-great grandfather's case, and day, a "witch". Such a statement of beleif and faith is not, by any stretch of the imagination, "politically correct".
Unfortunately, most people who today proudly wear the pagan label-whether Wiccan or Recnstructionist Pagan or eclectic, whether solitaire or coven member or traditionalist-seem to be bound by the same strictures of public behavior as anyone else in our socially restricitve society. And that is a fucking shame.
Most Pagans and Wiccans bemoan the lack of respect they receive from the more traditional religions. Yet, a good may of them go out of their way to try to placate these people, to reassure them, and even, I suspect, to orient their own belief systems in ways they perceive might make them moe palatable-more acceptable-to Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and even to some extent to Bhuddhsts and Hindus.
A lot of this might be due to the fact that a lot of pagans have gravitated to their respective paths by way of the more traditional religions. They have brought a lot of baggage into the pagan movement with them, in other words. And I fear that, eventually, due to the natural, reflective need to attract more converts and build the movement while gaining greater acceptance and respectability, this is going to have a long term deletorious effect. The Pagan paths might well eventualy evolve into something quite different from what they started out as, and to some extent that is unacceptable to me and to a good many others.
I am not a Satanist. But I certainly respect them, or at least I respect the laVeyans. They believe in living life to the fullest, in enjoying the time you have here and now on earth, and making as good a life as you can for yourself, your family, your friends, and your community. They also believe in obeying the law and in good citizenship, though they are a little harsh, for my taste, when it comes to such matters as charity. But even this is out of the practical realization that a good many not only deserve no charity, but will if given the opportunity live off it to the fullest extent possible. Doctory laVey warned repeatedly about the dangers of such psychic vampires, and other types as well.
They practice magic in the same way, and for the same purposes, that they live their lives. For the good of their selves, their families, their friends. They make no apologies for their selfish pursuits of their own needs, their lusts, their hedonistic leanings.
In all these things I am more aligned with them than I am with most in the pagan and Wiccan communties. Of course, I prefer to attune with the deities of my Pre-Christian ancestors. Yet to the Satanist, Satan is not so much as a literal devil as he is an archetype of man's basic nature. He is the ultimate rebel, and, to them, represents the potential of all that is good in mankind. Good to them in that if you live free, at your full potential, while enjoying the best life has to offer, and to the fullest extent possible, you will be happy, fulfilled, and thus contribute to the overall health and well-being of society.
But it is for this life only, they insist, as there is no other. Promises of heaven, like threats of hell, are no more than a kind of "hoodwinking" meant to enslave people to the whims of the ruling elites.
And I believe they are right about the motives generally of religous leaders, though I don't so easily discard all concepts of the spiritual or the afterlife. Be that as it may, their concepts of life and religion are liberating. Anf they deserve to be treated with respect, and as far as I'm concerned, should be welcome into the pagan community.
But there are two reasons this is unlikely to happen. On the one side, most pagans are afraid to be identified with them. They still crave acceptance from those same Christians that most of them have supossedly left. Only they never really left them.
The other reason is the Satanists themselves, for the most part, could care less, and in fact seem to look with disdain on the concept of "white magic" only, and such watered down Chrisitan "turn the other cheek" and "do unto others" attitudes which they view as hypocritical.
The scary thing is, there are a good many in the Pagan/Wiccan community that seem to be wanting to build an overarching religous community that would amount to, in the long run, just another hierarchical power structure. same old story. Same basic package with slightly different wrapping.
I prefer the idea of a secret society, an evolving of the coven concept, which they seem to want to scrap. But in my ideal, this pagan community accepts not everybody, just as they are, but only those who aspire to be the best they can possibly be, and who believe in a balanced viw of the material and the spiritual-not in a world where the two are held to be in constant conflict. Where, in effect, the spiritual and the material walk hand in hand and aim toward a wholly integrated peson. And where the goal of the leaders ofthe community will be to aid in the growth and development of the initiate-as oppossed to enslaving the initiate for the benefit of yet another ruling elite.
I think that was what my great-great grandfather was all about-freedom. He eventually left Leslie County, Ky., afer the demise of Cassie, hs wife, and evidently lived the last years of his life with his son and daughter-in-law,my great grandmother and great grandfather. He was buried beside where they would eventually be buried. Yet, his gravestone,possibly a simple wooden marker, has either long since dissappearred, or sunken into the ground.
No one in Leslie County, however, seemed to know exactly what ever happenned to him. It was said he just loaded up his wagon one morning, took off, never said a word about where he was going, and was never seen or heard from again. And that probably suited him just fine.
He was an actual spiritualistic Satanist-a "devil worshipper". Or so it has been claimed. Or so he evidently claimed. Some might assert he was simply a local Clay County, later Leslie County Kentucky eccentric-a character-which indeed he was. A modern view of him might be that he was a bit of a showman. But of course the same things were said about Church of Satan founder Dr. Anton Szandor LaVey.
But for the times in which he lived-especially taking into consideration the place, Southeastern Kentucky, that he lived in is time-he was most definitely ahead of said time.
His formula for becomming a witch would sound simplistic, almst childish, to the trained magickal practitioner not only of our time, but to those of his own in more civilized, advanced parts of the world.
"You go up to the top of the highest hill under the full of the mood", he explained, "and with a rifle or a shotgun you shoot at the moon, curse God, and bless the devil".
He also had a formula for what he called "prophesying". You kneeled in front of the fireplace and "bake your head", the way he put it. Evidently, this process was conducive to entering into a trance state. Unfortunately, there is left, to my knowledge, no records of any "prophecies" he may have made while in this state, which is certainly unfortunate.
However, acording to one account, there was an occassion when, after entering into one of these trance states, he fell into the fire, and had to be pulled out of it. On another occassion, while sitting on his front porch, a woman went walking by, carrying an infant. He made the following remark-"lady, I bet I can turn that baby into a hooting owl and make him fly into the top of that tree yonder".
As he pointed to a specific tree, she screamed, almost threw the baby up into the air, but caught herself, and took off running in terror as he laughed. I am certain there is more to the story than this-if there is any truth at all to it- and probably there was some sort of history between him and this woman, but this has all that has come down. Nevertheless, it does demonstrate the level of authenticity to which he was regarded as a practitioner of the "black arts", which he openly claimed to be.
Which leads me to my point. It takes a special kind of person to lay claim to being a "Satanist", or in my great-great grandfather's case, and day, a "witch". Such a statement of beleif and faith is not, by any stretch of the imagination, "politically correct".
Unfortunately, most people who today proudly wear the pagan label-whether Wiccan or Recnstructionist Pagan or eclectic, whether solitaire or coven member or traditionalist-seem to be bound by the same strictures of public behavior as anyone else in our socially restricitve society. And that is a fucking shame.
Most Pagans and Wiccans bemoan the lack of respect they receive from the more traditional religions. Yet, a good may of them go out of their way to try to placate these people, to reassure them, and even, I suspect, to orient their own belief systems in ways they perceive might make them moe palatable-more acceptable-to Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and even to some extent to Bhuddhsts and Hindus.
A lot of this might be due to the fact that a lot of pagans have gravitated to their respective paths by way of the more traditional religions. They have brought a lot of baggage into the pagan movement with them, in other words. And I fear that, eventually, due to the natural, reflective need to attract more converts and build the movement while gaining greater acceptance and respectability, this is going to have a long term deletorious effect. The Pagan paths might well eventualy evolve into something quite different from what they started out as, and to some extent that is unacceptable to me and to a good many others.
I am not a Satanist. But I certainly respect them, or at least I respect the laVeyans. They believe in living life to the fullest, in enjoying the time you have here and now on earth, and making as good a life as you can for yourself, your family, your friends, and your community. They also believe in obeying the law and in good citizenship, though they are a little harsh, for my taste, when it comes to such matters as charity. But even this is out of the practical realization that a good many not only deserve no charity, but will if given the opportunity live off it to the fullest extent possible. Doctory laVey warned repeatedly about the dangers of such psychic vampires, and other types as well.
They practice magic in the same way, and for the same purposes, that they live their lives. For the good of their selves, their families, their friends. They make no apologies for their selfish pursuits of their own needs, their lusts, their hedonistic leanings.
In all these things I am more aligned with them than I am with most in the pagan and Wiccan communties. Of course, I prefer to attune with the deities of my Pre-Christian ancestors. Yet to the Satanist, Satan is not so much as a literal devil as he is an archetype of man's basic nature. He is the ultimate rebel, and, to them, represents the potential of all that is good in mankind. Good to them in that if you live free, at your full potential, while enjoying the best life has to offer, and to the fullest extent possible, you will be happy, fulfilled, and thus contribute to the overall health and well-being of society.
But it is for this life only, they insist, as there is no other. Promises of heaven, like threats of hell, are no more than a kind of "hoodwinking" meant to enslave people to the whims of the ruling elites.
And I believe they are right about the motives generally of religous leaders, though I don't so easily discard all concepts of the spiritual or the afterlife. Be that as it may, their concepts of life and religion are liberating. Anf they deserve to be treated with respect, and as far as I'm concerned, should be welcome into the pagan community.
But there are two reasons this is unlikely to happen. On the one side, most pagans are afraid to be identified with them. They still crave acceptance from those same Christians that most of them have supossedly left. Only they never really left them.
The other reason is the Satanists themselves, for the most part, could care less, and in fact seem to look with disdain on the concept of "white magic" only, and such watered down Chrisitan "turn the other cheek" and "do unto others" attitudes which they view as hypocritical.
The scary thing is, there are a good many in the Pagan/Wiccan community that seem to be wanting to build an overarching religous community that would amount to, in the long run, just another hierarchical power structure. same old story. Same basic package with slightly different wrapping.
I prefer the idea of a secret society, an evolving of the coven concept, which they seem to want to scrap. But in my ideal, this pagan community accepts not everybody, just as they are, but only those who aspire to be the best they can possibly be, and who believe in a balanced viw of the material and the spiritual-not in a world where the two are held to be in constant conflict. Where, in effect, the spiritual and the material walk hand in hand and aim toward a wholly integrated peson. And where the goal of the leaders ofthe community will be to aid in the growth and development of the initiate-as oppossed to enslaving the initiate for the benefit of yet another ruling elite.
I think that was what my great-great grandfather was all about-freedom. He eventually left Leslie County, Ky., afer the demise of Cassie, hs wife, and evidently lived the last years of his life with his son and daughter-in-law,my great grandmother and great grandfather. He was buried beside where they would eventually be buried. Yet, his gravestone,possibly a simple wooden marker, has either long since dissappearred, or sunken into the ground.
No one in Leslie County, however, seemed to know exactly what ever happenned to him. It was said he just loaded up his wagon one morning, took off, never said a word about where he was going, and was never seen or heard from again. And that probably suited him just fine.
Pat Robertson's Divine Rationalizations
Christian Coalition and 700 Club founder Pat Robertson, a reveend and former GOP presidential candidate, has a strategic plan to head off what he perceives to be a strategic threat of growing proportions. he plan-take out duly popularly elected Venezualan president Hugo Chavez. Heck, Chavez thinks we're out to get him anyway, Robertson reasons, so why not go ahead and do jsut that? It would be cheaper andmore expeditous than being faced witht heprospect of yet another 200 billion dollar war.
Some of Robertson's past comments canperhaps be overlooked, for example his over-the-top suggestion that the State Department be "nuked". Also, one wonders at his cnsistency, seign as how he has in the past supported dictatorial regimes, such as the People's Republic of China and the West African nation of Libreria. But in this case Robertson seems to be serius. In aditoon, his coments ae not really that inconsistent, eeing as how he has previously suggested taking out Saddam Hussein. Of course, we see now what that has lead to, and one wonders how such an action as now sugested would garner any differnt kind of result.
To "take out" Chavez would not ony be morally reprehensible, it would lead to similar chaos and a power vacuum that would no doubt eventually be filled. But by what? By whom?
Onehas to wonder where Robertson comes up witht hee hairbrained schemes? Did this one come tohim in the manner of a divie revelation? He did claim at one time to have turned a hurricane from the coast of Florida, you know. Though I therefore wouldn't be surprised to learn that the Christian deity is to be credited withthis inspiration, there are yet other possibilities. Is it posible, for example,that Robertson is being goaded on, manipulated into nakin suggestions such as these, by powerful and influential contributors?It would explain quite a lot.But who would do such a thing, and why? There are three possibilities, actually.
One is of course the prospect of right wing religous zealots who honestly think this would be an appropriate action to take in the face of continually rising oil prices and the on-going spectre of Chavez's reputed backing of drug cartels and support for international terrorist organizations. If so, one can legitimately argue they have a point, but it can be asserted that such a strategy would be counterproductive, to say the least.
The other possibility is some of Robertson's shady past business partners, who never saw a busines deal they didn't like, such as the African diamond trade, for example, no matter how many inncoent people were brutally enslaved to ensure it's continued profitability. The people that would back Robertson's investments in this morally quetionable if not downright repugnant enterprise would certianly have no qualms about instigating an assassination and a civil war if they thought they could eventually gain access to the Venezuelan oil fields.
The third prospect is also interesting. Seeign as how the 2006 mid-term elections are swiftly approaching, a mole in Robertson's camp might be trying to sabtage him. Trying, in effect, to insure that he will have no influence-or better yet, be a deletorious one-in the coming elections, and beyond. After all, if a traditionally conservative Republican desired to destroythe influence of the Religous Right, lessen if not decimate ther influence onthe party as a whole, what better way to do so than by marginalizing their most vociferous spokesman?
And, of course, you can't really discount the pssibility that this was indeed a divine revelation,i.e. Robertson has gone stark raving bonkers. Just remember the classical defintion of insanity-you keep on doing the same thing, over and over again, secure in the faith that, eventually, you will achieve the hoped for result, as oppossed to things just blowing up in your face, the way they usually do.
But what is it Robertson is really trying to achieve? One can assume he certainly wasn't attempting to create the firestorm he usualy creates when he makes such off the cuff, unwarranted remarks. In this case, he has issued an apology, though in yet another venue, he has denied it even transpired. It's really difficult to know what to make of it all.
Some of Robertson's past comments canperhaps be overlooked, for example his over-the-top suggestion that the State Department be "nuked". Also, one wonders at his cnsistency, seign as how he has in the past supported dictatorial regimes, such as the People's Republic of China and the West African nation of Libreria. But in this case Robertson seems to be serius. In aditoon, his coments ae not really that inconsistent, eeing as how he has previously suggested taking out Saddam Hussein. Of course, we see now what that has lead to, and one wonders how such an action as now sugested would garner any differnt kind of result.
To "take out" Chavez would not ony be morally reprehensible, it would lead to similar chaos and a power vacuum that would no doubt eventually be filled. But by what? By whom?
Onehas to wonder where Robertson comes up witht hee hairbrained schemes? Did this one come tohim in the manner of a divie revelation? He did claim at one time to have turned a hurricane from the coast of Florida, you know. Though I therefore wouldn't be surprised to learn that the Christian deity is to be credited withthis inspiration, there are yet other possibilities. Is it posible, for example,that Robertson is being goaded on, manipulated into nakin suggestions such as these, by powerful and influential contributors?It would explain quite a lot.But who would do such a thing, and why? There are three possibilities, actually.
One is of course the prospect of right wing religous zealots who honestly think this would be an appropriate action to take in the face of continually rising oil prices and the on-going spectre of Chavez's reputed backing of drug cartels and support for international terrorist organizations. If so, one can legitimately argue they have a point, but it can be asserted that such a strategy would be counterproductive, to say the least.
The other possibility is some of Robertson's shady past business partners, who never saw a busines deal they didn't like, such as the African diamond trade, for example, no matter how many inncoent people were brutally enslaved to ensure it's continued profitability. The people that would back Robertson's investments in this morally quetionable if not downright repugnant enterprise would certianly have no qualms about instigating an assassination and a civil war if they thought they could eventually gain access to the Venezuelan oil fields.
The third prospect is also interesting. Seeign as how the 2006 mid-term elections are swiftly approaching, a mole in Robertson's camp might be trying to sabtage him. Trying, in effect, to insure that he will have no influence-or better yet, be a deletorious one-in the coming elections, and beyond. After all, if a traditionally conservative Republican desired to destroythe influence of the Religous Right, lessen if not decimate ther influence onthe party as a whole, what better way to do so than by marginalizing their most vociferous spokesman?
And, of course, you can't really discount the pssibility that this was indeed a divine revelation,i.e. Robertson has gone stark raving bonkers. Just remember the classical defintion of insanity-you keep on doing the same thing, over and over again, secure in the faith that, eventually, you will achieve the hoped for result, as oppossed to things just blowing up in your face, the way they usually do.
But what is it Robertson is really trying to achieve? One can assume he certainly wasn't attempting to create the firestorm he usualy creates when he makes such off the cuff, unwarranted remarks. In this case, he has issued an apology, though in yet another venue, he has denied it even transpired. It's really difficult to know what to make of it all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)