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September 28, 2005
In Yo Face, Bug Boy!
DeLay Indicted in Campaign Finance Probe
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader. DeLay attorney Steve Brittain said DeLay was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee.
Posted by emily at 2:18 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2005
Oliver Babish Is My Bitch or "A la Maison Blanche"
Now, when they brought back Bruno on last year's "A la Maison Blanche" I thought it was less than yummy. Canned peas. Melted ice-cream bar. Day old coffee that gets the trick done but lacks the essential body and fruit. And it was a shame because I love me some Bruno.
But the return of Oliver Babish tonight was pure mocha with a pinch of whipped cream. Divine. It may still be "A la Maison Blanche" but every scene he was in brought back a little West Wing into the coffee cup. They didn't make him a parady like Lord John; he was season two glory. Mmmm... asparagas and tuna.
Hell hath no fury like a man scorned, Donna. I'll let you in on a little secret; Josh doesn't want to hire you 'cause he wants to fuck you. And he can't have both in this mixed up world. Nice bangs, though.
All and all, good. Not enough Toby. Too much Santos (I'm still not buying the dude all the way.) Joey Lucas... always nice to see you and shake your hand. No Will Bailey. Christmas is here, kiddies.
Posted by emily at 10:30 PM | Comments (1)
September 22, 2005
Finally... Good News Out Of The Gulf
Strippers have returned to New Orleans.
Posted by emily at 12:07 AM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2005
In Memoriam
Rest In Peace, Simon Wiesenthal.
Posted by emily at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2005
Quiz #19: Modern America
1) How will the President be paying for the rebuilding of the gulf coast?
a) withdrawing troops and American monies from Iraq
b) raising taxes
c) cutting into other government programs, such as the Army Corps of Engineers, FDA, EPA, NEA, welfare, social security, medicare, medicaid, dept. of education, HUD (nice irony), Fisheries and Wildlife, the military (never going to happen) and, you guessed it, FEMA.
d) Borrowing from the Chinese and Saudis and inflating the debt.
2) What would most help reduce poverty in America?
a) more and better education
b) more and better social services, such as welfare and HUD
c) cutting taxes
d) giving small business grants so that entrepreneurs (whom, we assume, already know how to read and write) can open small businesses and employ people, whom they don't have to offer health insurance to and can pay mininum wage.
3) Federal government should be:
a) part of a larger social contract with its citizens so that, in exchange for tax dollars, they receive free education, standard health care, a safety net in dire economic circumstances, protection and relief from catastrophic events, funding for sciences to cure diseases and invent technology, safety from the criminal element at home and abroad and everything that is too large for states to handle on their own (protecting enviroment, inspecting food)
b) helping businesses and defending us from our enemies
c) subservant to the states
d) shrunk until it can be drowned a bathtub
4) Whose to blame for Hurricane Katrina?
a) Mother Nature
b) Mother Nature, Ray Nagin and Gov. Blanco
c) Mother Nature, Gov. Blanco and Michael Brown
d) Mother Nature and a governmental philosophy that believes federal government should not be involved in state matters, except when there's a feeding tube, an embryo or school prayer involved and therefore left emergency planning to states and cities incapable by nature of dealing with such massive failures and then focused on paperwork and sexual harrasment seminars instead of immediate relief.
e) All of the above
5) Iraq is:
a) a plan that has been sitting on the shelf of some neocon's office for years, waiting to see the light of day and a complete and total distraction from true matters of terrorism.
b) about oil
c) about removing Saddam from power and away from his WMDs
d) well on it's way to democracy and freedom
e) well on it's way to civil war
6) Osama Bin Ladin is:
a) planning to attack America again
b) in a cave in Afghanistan
c) in an Arby's in Des Moines
d) who's Osama Bin Ladin?
7) George W. Bush is:
a) the worst President since Nixon
b) the worst President since Washington
c) an ignoramus but with a heart in the right place
d) a visionary, whose belief in the Holy Trinity (Christ, Flag and Dollar) will lead America into the 21st century of horrible terrorist attacks, economic blight, oil crisis, rising poverty, decline in education, the trashing of Mother Nature (to which she responds back...), needless and endless war, inability to provide for citizens in crisis, global instability, the rise of China (and we won against the communists?) but Halliburton has got dibs on New Orleans clean-up, so we can all sleep well tonight.
8) A President should be impeached for:
a) high crimes and misdemeanors
b) breaking into rival party's headquarters, laundering money, spying on enemies, breaking into a psychiatrist's office, racism, anti-semitism, bombing Cambodia and then covering most of it up
c) lying to the American public about the reasons for invading another soverign nation
d) lying to the American public about a blow job in the Oval
9) Speaking of which, how much do you wish Bill Clinton were still president?
a) I had problems with him, but he's Gandhi compared to Bush
b) It's the system that's the problem. All we're doing is shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.
c) I would pray for his return during that mandatory school prayer Bush wants and I'm an athiest.
d) Not at all. They still haven't figured out what happened with Whitewater.
10) America is:
a) a vast mix of people of different races, cultures and religions, unique to the world, governed by a republic.
b) the greatest nation in the world, ever.
c) a capitalist monolith, where big business has the real power and where buying power denotes a person's worth
d) stolen from the Native Americans
Posted by emily at 10:20 PM | Comments (1)
September 12, 2005
John Roberts... Mike Brown... what is with the bland names, Bucko?
I wanted to see Mike Brown go down. Didn't we all? Aren't we glad his little margarita-filled head is rolling? And I see, in the distance, Karl Rove with an axe, tip bloody and rimmed with salt.
But as Mario Cuomo once said of a corrupt Reaganite. "He's a walnut in the batter of eternity." The systematic failures of the Bush admin. on so many levels will never be illuminated, not in the least because now there's a fall guy whose, well, fallen. But remember... Christine Whitman left the EPA (a puff of smog of its old self)... Colin Powell left the State dept. (after lying to the UN and letting the Iraq war happen without so much a peep of his normal rationality)... People leave Bush once they've let him gut their institutions.
Rove won't let you see it all.
Saw Johnny Roberts Appleseed ruminate on silos. He'll be confirmed and we can only hope he is the pretty boy version of Earl Warren, confirmed as a conservative, reigning as a liberal. Very doubtful. He needs to answer the questions, though. No hedging. The right of privacy, whether he's an organic intrepreter (not at all) or a Originalist or a strict interpreter...
I foresee dark times. Not just in Los Angeles (currently without power.)
Posted by emily at 5:48 PM | Comments (0)
September 7, 2005
Say It With Me, Kids, POSSE COMITATUS
SEC. 15. From and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful to employ any part of the Army of the United States, as a posse comitatus, or otherwise, for the purpose of executing the laws, except in such cases and under such circumstances as such employment of said force may be expressly authorized by the Constitution or by act of Congress; and no money appropriated by this act shall be used to pay any of the expenses incurred in the employment of any troops in violation of this section And any person willfully violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding two years or by both such fine and imprisonment.
To answer the question why the troops in New Orleans are not forcing the citizens to evacuate. This is an action ordered by the mayor. It is a police action. The military is forbidden from doing those. Yet the media wants to turn into a sign of federal/local friction. IT IS NOT. IT IS AGAINST THE LAW. IT IS WHY GOV. BLANCO DIDN'T FEDERALIZE THE NATIONAL GUARD. IF SHE DID, THEY COULD NOT POLICE THE STREETS!!!
It is a fine line, yes, yes, yes... but an important one. Do you want Killgore pulling you over for a speeding ticket?
Ah, the law...
By the way, Jon Stewart had an excellent point tonight on the big White House finger that's pointing at Blanco and Nagin. Every red republican meat head has pointed out that, well, they didn't do so great a job. They bring up state's rights, to point out that it is a state/local issue first, than a federal.
Paraphrasing Stewart, maybe if New Orleans had a feeding tube down its throat, the federal gov't would have intervened.
Mmmm... state's rights... only spouted when convenient.....
Posted by emily at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
Da' Law
Just remember kids: chasing a fox with your puppies in tow does NOT mean you own the fox. To own the fox, you have to kill it, capture it or put a little collar on it.
Posted by emily at 5:42 PM | Comments (0)
September 6, 2005
"I See Your True Colors Shining Through..." or Really, What You Can Expect From This Old, I Can't Say It, Rhymes With Witch...
"Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them."
- Barbara Bush on the New Orleans residents in the Astrodome.
Gerraldine Farraro, kick her ass please!
Everyone else... stop looking at this mean old lady like your grandma. Yes, your grandma may be a mean old lady, too and she may be a bigot, too. But call a rich, privilaged bitch what she is. She's not Marie Antoinette; Marie Antoinette dressed better.
Her son spent a lot more time with her than pappy and the shining ignorance shows through-out. Losing all your belongings, some of your family, your job and your city works well for you because you can sit on a cot with four-thousand other people just waiting for the PTSD to come on? What planet are you from, Barbara?
For a long time, Fancy Nancy was my least favorite first lady. How she has been redeemed! Bring me your Plastic Pat. Betty Ford, your 'da bomb.
Barbara Bush, you're going to hell.
Posted by emily at 4:39 PM | Comments (0)
September 5, 2005
Karl Rove To The Rescue!
Headline in NY Times:
"White House Enacts Plan To Ease Political Damage"
Thank God, because political damage is the damage we're all worried about right now...
Posted by emily at 1:10 AM | Comments (0)
September 4, 2005
Charles Dickens Is Alive and Well
Number of people living in poverty in 2004: 37.0 million (up 1.1 from 2003)
Poverty rate: 12.7%
Number of blacks and latinos remained unchanged (24.7% and 21.9% respectively) but the number of whites went up (8.6%, up from 8.2%).
For a family with two parents and two children the poverty line is drawn at $19,157 a year. (Which means if you make 21g's and have two parents and two kids, you're officially not poor, even though you probably have the same economic problems as those who are. You can just buy Coke instead of Faygo.)
The above numbers are from the US Census.
Also, in 1973 the wealthiest 20 percent of households accounted for 44 percent of the total US income. In 2002, they accounted for half. Everyone else's percentage has been falling, including the bottom fifth, down from 4.2 percent to 2.5 percent. (US Census)
In New Orleans:
Percentage of the city black: 67.9%
Median household income (regardless of color): $31,369
Per capita household income (regardless of color): $19,711
Percent of families below the poverty level: 14.5
Percent of individuals below the poverty level: 23.2
(From Population Reference Bureau)
According to a Free Press article in May '05, Detroit has a 35% poverty rate. It is one of the poorest cities in the US, also the most segregated.
20% of Detroit homes do not own cars. (Motor City?)
Think about what it would have been like if Katrina had hit Detroit. (Geographically impossible, I know.) Would it have been the same as New Orleans or worse?
Posted by emily at 11:29 PM | Comments (1)
September 3, 2005
United States of Shame by Maureen Dowd
Published by the New York Times, September 3, 2005.
"Stuff happens.
And when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens.
America is once more plunged into a snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs, suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force, insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning. But this time it's happening in America.
W. drove his budget-cutting Chevy to the levee, and it wasn't dry. Bye, bye, American lives. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," he told Diane Sawyer.
Shirt-sleeves rolled up, W. finally landed in Hell yesterday and chuckled about his wild boozing days in "the great city" of N'Awlins. He was clearly moved. "You know, I'm going to fly out of here in a minute," he said on the runway at the New Orleans International Airport, "but I want you to know that I'm not going to forget what I've seen." Out of the cameras' range, and avoided by W., was a convoy of thousands of sick and dying people, some sprawled on the floor or dumped on baggage carousels at a makeshift M*A*S*H unit inside the terminal.
Why does this self-styled "can do" president always lapse into such lame "who could have known?" excuses.
Who on earth could have known that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack us by flying planes into buildings? Any official who bothered to read the trellis of pre-9/11 intelligence briefs.
Who on earth could have known that an American invasion of Iraq would spawn a brutal insurgency, terrorist recruiting boom and possible civil war? Any official who bothered to read the C.I.A.'s prewar reports.
Who on earth could have known that New Orleans's sinking levees were at risk from a strong hurricane? Anybody who bothered to read the endless warnings over the years about the Big Easy's uneasy fishbowl.
In June 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, fretted to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."
Not only was the money depleted by the Bush folly in Iraq; 30 percent of the National Guard and about half its equipment are in Iraq.
Ron Fournier of The Associated Press reported that the Army Corps of Engineers asked for $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New Orleans last year. The White House carved it to about $40 million. But President Bush and Congress agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-filled highway bill with 6,000 pet projects, including a $231 million bridge for a small, uninhabited Alaskan island.
Just last year, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials practiced how they would respond to a fake hurricane that caused floods and stranded New Orleans residents. Imagine the feeble FEMA's response to Katrina if they had not prepared.
Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.
Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue and attended "Spamalot" before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode.
When the president and vice president rashly shook off our allies and our respect for international law to pursue a war built on lies, when they sanctioned torture, they shook the faith of the world in American ideals.
When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed.
Who are we if we can't take care of our own?
Posted by emily at 1:53 AM | Comments (0)
September 2, 2005
Goddamn right it's a race thing
If those were rich white people on the roof, there would be boats picking them up.
If those were rich white people starving, they would have food.
If those were rich white people thirsty, they would have water.
If those were rich white people stranded, they would have transportation.
If those were rich white people at the Superdome, they would have been evacuated.
If those were rich white people, Bush would have been there Monday.
If those were rich white people looting, their actions would be excused.
If those were rich white people.
They wouldn't be suffering at all.
Posted by emily at 6:07 PM | Comments (2)