grr. and stuff.

When I've not been running hither and yon, I've been an insatiable news junkie since the weekend right before Katrina hit, and the more I learn the more I wonder just how this administration manages to function at all. That's honestly not an overstatement. I'm at the point where I have no idea how anything is getting done these days.

And I'm not just talking about Katrina and her aftereffects, although the federal response and the FEMA efforts and Brown and the FEMA leadership and the local/state/federal coordination and the GOP's unanimous vote in the Senate against an independent committee to investigate matters and the rampant financial cronyism evident in Iraq being destined to repeat itself as Bush and the Republicans throw money at this hand over fist in an effort to "take responsibility" and make up for what happened (as if anything ever could) ought to be enough to make any sane person furious.

(OK, so that was a long and semi-convoluted sentence. Sorry.)

I'm talking about the way that Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (who sits on a federal Homeland Security advisory council and is considering a run for the presidency in 2008) apparently wants us to randomly wiretap mosques and conduct surveilance on/track foreign students. I'm talking about the way that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is apparently completely delusional, considering the ridiculous things he's saying about the budget. I'm talking about the way that John Roberts slid through his hearings without really saying anything at all (and I actually kinda like the guy, but that doesn't change the fact that nobody learned anything about him this week). I'm talking about the evolution/intelligent design silliness going on in Kansas. I'm talking about Dubya having the gall to go before the UN and scold them for a) squandering the world's respect and b) making a mockery of human rights, even though that's exactly what he did with a) Iraq and b) Katrina. I'm talking about the way that almost everything in Iraq seems to just keep on getting messier even though we supposedly "won" many moons ago. And on and on and on, round and round it goes and where it stops nobody knows.

I know I'm a cynic, but damn. You look around and you see mess after mess after mess and you have to wonder just how things went so horribly wrong and why there aren't more people asking more questions. *sigh*

ION, the Cubs still suck. And the Bears still suck. And the Hawks really let me down last weekend. Aren't I just the world's cheeriest person? Well, neener neener, because there is good news - and no, I'm not saving a bunch of money on my car insurance. Season one of Lost should be here tomorrow or Saturday. I'm kicking some Kingdom Hearts butt and reading one of the craziest trilogies ever (and I'm sure I'll say more about it here when I've finished it all, so I'll just leave it until then to talk about). The volunteer stuff I've been doing has been really cool and I've met some interesting people. Work is good. The apartment is cool. I love my new computer. The weather got rainy and coolish. Aside from the big picture, things are pretty alright. Thanks for asking.

Wait, you're giving it to who?

So today the Senate approved almost $52 billion in additional funding for the relief efforts. Excellent. How mighty white of them. What I just don't understand is how after the catastrophic failures of the last 10 days, $50 billion of that can be earmarked for FEMA. What the hell? Who wrote this measure? Even if we were to completely ignore FEMA's abyssmal efforts in caring for the people affected by Katrina and the complete lack of disaster relief experience at the highest levels of FEMA, there's still the fact that they're an *emergency management* agency. It's right there in the name, right? They're not a recovery and reconstruction agency. They're not organized for it and it's not their job. And considering how poorly they did their job, I certainly don't see any reason to hand them another one - let alone fifty billion freakin' dollars. Washington is just a whole 'nother planet to me.

The last nail in Michael Brown's coffin...

...thank goodness.

FEMA Chief Waited Until After Storm Hit

"...waited until hours after Hurricane Katrina had already struck the Gulf Coast before asking his boss to dispatch 1,000 Homeland Security employees to the region - and gave them two days to arrive..."
OK, look, discounting the flooding in New Orleans, which we all know didn't become the issue it ultimately became until later on: Hundreds of square miles in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were (and still are) tore the fuck up. But hey, no hurry, guys.

"Brown said that among duties of these employees was to 'convey a positive image' about the government's response for victims."
Looks like that training didn't take.

"Brown's memo to Chertoff described Katrina as 'this near catastrophic event' but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, 'Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities."
"Near" catastrophic? I repeat: tore the fuck up.

It's been obvious for days now that he was going to become the fall guy on this - I think what probably sealed his fate was his admission live on CNN last Thursday night that FEMA didn't even know about the convention center and the situation there until that day. (And then the next morning he was claiming that FEMA had been providing the people at said convention center with "one, if not two, meals a day." Whatever.) My worry here is that he becomes the only fall guy when it's clear to everyone with a functioning brain cell that this was a titanic screwup on a number of levels. And I don't have too much faith in the so-called "inquiry" that Bush plans to lead - it's like letting Barry Bonds run MLB's steroids investigation.

And the White House can talk all it wants about focusing on the disaster now and playing the "blame game" later, but you know what? That doesn't wash with me. In case you haven't noticed, it's still hurricane season. Do you want these people in charge of things when the next storm hits? Me neither.

Oh, that wild and wacky Bush family...

Barbara Bush on NPR's "Marketplace" about the refugees in Houston's Astrodome:

"What I'm hearing - which is sort of scary - is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this is... this is working (chuckle) very well for them."

Linkie to the "Marketplace" audio. It's roughly a minute into the clip, if'n you wanna know. And instead of ranting, I'll just allow you to come to your own conclusions about a) the chuckle, b) the "which is sort of scary" line that she threw in there, and c) how intelligent it is to say that what happened in New Orleans last week was "working very well" for people who have basically lost their entire lives.

Good news!

The Red Cross just got back in touch with me, and I have my first disaster relief "class" on Thursday night. Apparently it was decided today that 2,000 refugees from Katrina will be coming to Camp Gruber (which is near Muskogee, OK, roughly 45 minutes or so away), and that number may go as high as 5,000 as more accurate need assessments are made. The woman I spoke with asked if I would have any problems with going back and forth to Camp Gruber, and when I told her no she as much as guaranteed me that they'd be using me there as soon as they could get me into the system, both for single shifts working around my regular job(s) as well as weekends.

There's also a local church that is organizing a convoy of trucks full of food, water and clothing to leave town on Monday morning, but I'm still waiting for the man in charge of it to return my call. I'm not sure whether it's just a straight up in and out delivery mission, or something that is going to be more time-consuming because they plan on staying and pitching in. An hour ago, it wouldn't have mattered to me, but now I'll just have to see. I may still find myself a part of that as well, but if there's a conflict then the Red Cross takes immediate precedence due to the fact that they're an organization that I'd really like to become a permanent part of.

Hurray! It's so nice to know that I'll finally be able to do more soon.

Bush calls relief efforts "unacceptable"

Well, let's see here. When I go to a restaurant and have an "unacceptable" experience, do I take it all out on the server, who was only responsible for a part of my evening? The cook, who also only holds partial responsibility? The busboy? The hostess? The bartender? No. I call out the manager, who is ostensibly overseeing all of these various stations, and direct my questions/complaints to him. Or her. Whatever.

Anyway. The same holds true pretty much across the board - if you want to complain, you do it to the person(s) in charge. So if Shrub has any complaints about the federal government's response to Katrina, I would suggest that he direct those complaints to the person in charge of the federal government, because that's who ultimately has to answer for this mess.

Oh, wait.

Oh, one more thing

Why are we still trying to repair the levees in New Orleans?

I mean, didn't the flooding level out with the lake yesterday? So there's no more water coming in. And we've all heard the plans for draining the city - knock down some other levees, let some water drain, try to get it down to the level where they can repair the pumps, get them going, and pump the rest out. That's a time-consuming process. So the water already there is going to be there for a long time, whether those levees are repaired tomorrow or two weeks from now. Nothing these engineers can do to those levees right now is going to make a difference in the evacuation efforts.

And let's get this straight, people - the buildings that are flooded in the city are toast. Period. I know what floodwaters can do to structures in even a short amount of time. I know that even if the levees were plugged right this minute, pretty much every flooded building in New Orleans is going to be riddled with mold and weakness once the floodwaters are gone. And it's not exactly the world's cleanest water to begin with, so you're not just talking about regular flood damage here. There are also a ton of disease and chemical considerations. A lot of people are going to be very surprised by how few of those buildings are going to be salvageable. Nothing those engineers can do to those levees right now is going to change that, either.

So I say again, why are they taking the time right now to attempt levee repair? Wouldn't all the people involved in that effort (and their vehicles and copters) be of more use over the next few days, oh, I don't know, SAVING FUCKING LIVES?!?

Well, it took three days...

...but the Washington bozos are finally getting around to turning the mess down south into yet another political game. You know, I love my country. But my government disgusts me.

Speaking of disgust: some reporter or other on CNN said tonight that "tragedy brings out the best in a lot of us. Unfortunately, it brings out the worst in others." To wit, here are some random things I've heard in the last 12 hours that have just made me want to scream.

- a customer at the bookstore who said we should just leave everyone left in New Orleans there, because "they're all poor and black anyway, why do we want to save them?"
- two separate government officials on TV who were trying to downplay the health risks in New Orleans by claiming that "dead bodies really don't provide any sort of health hazards."
- a caller to a news talk radio program wishing that Louisiana had elected "a governor with cojones" and professing disgust with the fact that she's been rather emotional at times this week, "but what can you expect? She's a woman and they're all emotional wrecks."
- the host of said program agreeing with that caller, and then later in the show stating that his listeners should only send donations into Christian charity organizations because "that way you can be sure that your donation isn't just going to get embezzled and used to buy someone another Corvette." I'm not even going to get into how many different levels that pissed me off on.

Why was I listening to right wing talk radio? Well, you move to Tulsa and try to find a news radio station not run by extremist Republican religious nuts.