Monday, September 19, 2005

Wow, at least I managed to get something right




Your Career Type: Investigative



You are precise, scientific, and intellectual.

Your talents lie in understanding and solving math and science problems.

You would make an excellent:

Architect - Biologist - Chemist

Dentist - Electrical Technician - Mathematician

Medical Technician - Meteorologist - Pharmacist

Physician - Surveyor - Veterinarian

The worst career options for your are enterprising careers, like lawyer or real estate agent.



add anything involving housework under worst career options and this is pretty darned accurate.

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While the wing-nuts fret over the dangers of homosexuality

The christo-theocrats may be on to something putting emphasis on heterosexual family values since it's obvious that gay people that are a danger to our children.

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Next on Prisoner Cell Block J: will Miller get out in time for Halloween?

Floyd Abrams is cautiously optimistic that client Judy Miller will be released when the federal grand jury is due to close it's investigation into the WH plumbing problem on October 28th. Unfortunately for Miller, the sentence was 18 months or until the grand jury investigation is complete and Patrick Fitzgerald could request an extension or for a new grand jury to be convened. Fitzgerald knows exactly what information he needs from Miller and that, except for the very specific information requested in Miller's subpoena, the investigation is essentially complete. My bet is that a new grand jury will be convened to look into the fixin' of the intel and Dame Judith will continue a life as BushCo's bitch in the big house.


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He who dies with the most toys wins?

The administration has been using "enemy" bodycount to determine the US is winning the war in Iraq. Considering evidence of the boy king's willful disregard of both international and US law, unwillingness to consider any opinion that differs from his own, it's highly likely that an administration known for lying in the face of facts that state otherwise would also count loss of innocent civilians lives as enemy dead to boost their numbers and detract from the moral cost of a decidedly unethical & unnecesary invasion. If we use body count, we're in deep trouble as we have the higher tally and it's been growing steadily. To make matters worse, soldiers to fight die in this war are extremely limited resources in the US whereas the insurgency, thanks in part to the Busheviks and other assorted repubevangelicals, has an easily replenishable supply and excellent on-the-job training.

So how & when will we know who is winning the war?


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Sunday, September 18, 2005

Germany take the DeLorean to US circa 2000

Perhaps somebody has a brother and some cronies in a province to handle a re-count?


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FEMA: fearing lawsuits, they chose to let people die instead

While Red Cross and other urgently needed medical assistance were kept outside of New Orleans, FEMA was preventing credentialed physicians not registered with the organization from assisting with treatment of patients. First came the story that, while patients awaited much needed medical attention, FEMA handed unregistered physicians mops because they feared the legal liability of a malpractice suit (exacerbating illness and withholding treatment is malpractice; treatment by a credentialed physician in disaster type circumstances such as these would be covered under good Samaritan laws). Now there's another, even more disturbing, story. Orthopedic surgeon Mark Perlmutter was ordered to stop attempts to resuscitate an unresponsive patient. Perlmutter had tried to obtain FEMA credentials prior to his arrival in Louisiana but gave up when, after 12 hours of trying, he was unable to get through to the agency.


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Saturday, September 17, 2005

why is it that the post-9/11 normal disaster relief system wasn't up to the challenge of Katrina

It seems as though, despite being fully apprised by state officials that Homeland Security had a "total lack of focus" on the common natural disaster Preznit Bush King George Emperor Nero sought to cut a key program to help local governments increase their preparedness.

Organizations representing emergency-response and security officials at state and local agencies had complained of funding shortages and what they saw as an excessive shift by the Homeland Security Department away from preparing for natural disasters, as it focused increasingly on terrorism.

In July, the National Emergency Management Association wrote lawmakers expressing "grave" concern that still-pending changes proposed by Chertoff would undercut the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

"Our primary concern relates to the total lack of focus on natural-hazards preparedness," David Liebersbach, the association's president, said in the July 27 letter to Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat, the leaders of a key Senate committee overseeing the agency.

He said Chertoff's emphasis on terrorism "indicates that FEMA's long-standing mission of preparedness for all types of disasters has been forgotten at DHS." [Reuters]

Local emergency management officials also warned the administration and, last April, the International Association of Emergency Managers indicated local programs were in desperate need of funding. Shortly thereafter the Preznit sought to cut program funding by 6% (the administration spin is that this wasn't a cut, but asserting his right to "just say no" to an increase in funding by Congress). The direct impact of Hurricane George on the state of Louisiana was a 26% decrease in funding this year.

Despite all the problems and requirement to turn in his honorary boy-scout membership, and his elevation to Grand Poobah of the Myopia Club for Men, Michael Chertoff has decided to continue with his plans for changes at FEMA instead of wating for an analysis of the Katrina response asserting that pesky facts and other useful information would just cause delays when moving forward without direction is best at this point in time.


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heterosexual libido incapacitated during military service

Considering that the military is not segregated by gender which allows direct interaction between men and women, loss of sexual interest/desire among heterosexuals is the only logical conclusion one can draw from the following statement by Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness [emphasis added]
"Servicemen and women should not have to expose themselves to persons who might be sexually attracted to them. It would be unfair to force the homosexual agenda on young people whose lives are difficult enough."
So now we know the real reason military recruiters are having such a difficult time getting people to enlist.

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Friday, September 16, 2005

Friday night funny

Inspired by Shakes' post about how different the US is from Scandinavian countries, especially a new Swedish political party's attitude about marriage. . .

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Isn't this how people end up filing for bankruptcy?

The Republicans decry the tax & spend liberal, then they go on to cut taxes (for the rich, that is) while complaining how the liberals just use the money for unnecessary welfare type programs. We're at war (costing us a bundle), the Repugs are still pushing to make earlier tax cuts permanent and now have plans for a vast reconstruction project in the Gulf Coast and how does our boy George want to pay for it? He wants to borrow the money.

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It wouldn't be the first time the folks at LIA/R . . .well, you know

The state of Tennessee went to the LIA/R facilities in Memphis to determine if they had to shut down their facilities or bring themselves into compliance to apply for state licensing of what they'd started calling a "faith-based ministry" ever since the state starting investing them for operating mental health facilities without a license. The state sent a second certified letter (the state never received a receipt for the first letter) informing them they had 7 days to shut down the facilities or come into compliance. The letter was sent 9/8/05 and yesterday marked the deadline.

Upon arrival by the State Dept. of Health yesterday, the folks at LIA/R claimed they had
just received the notification that day and would need the 7 days granted in the letter to determine how they will proceed. After reading the information that EJ posted last night, I'm surprised they were granted the seven day extension. It seems as though, in addition to the possible insurance fraud issue, LIA/R may have been prescribing medications without a license as well.

UPDATE: LIA has 2 house manager positions listed under "new employment opportunity posted"


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Thursday, September 15, 2005

Dubya took the mike and didn't say all that much

So, he kindasorta admitted being responsible
“Four years after the frightening experience of Sept. 11, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency,” the president said. He said when the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, “I as president am responsible for the problem, and for the solution.”

[snip]

“was not a normal hurricane — and the normal disaster relief system was not equal to it.”
Four years after a less than normal disaster, a boatload of rhetoric, invasion of another country and the building of a whole new government department to address unthinkable disasters and the shrub's saying the the "normal" system wasn't up to the challenge? What the Hell happened to the jacked-up system that was meant to handle the response to Bush's call to "bring it on"?! Has all the tax-payer money that's gone into the Department of Homeland Security gone into the laughable color-coded and poll induced security level warning system, racial profiling efforts to uncover al qaeda operatives or investigating the personal lives of citizens without accountability?

Rebuilding sounds a little more like a threat than a promise, federal funds to rebuild infrastructure but getting a home under the Urban Homesteading Act gives the poor some free plots of land (who must get their own funding to build), while prime real estate will go to the rich (who will probably get some tax-break reward for rebuilding)
"And the federal government will undertake a close partnership with the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, the city of New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities so they can rebuild in a sensible, well planned way. Federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone, from roads and bridges to schools and water systems. Our goal is to get the work done quickly. And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely, so we will have a team of inspectors general reviewing all expenditures."

[snip]

Under this approach, we will identify property in the region owned by the federal government, and provide building sites to low-income citizens free of charge, through a lottery. In return, they would pledge to build on the lot, with either a mortgage or help from a charitable organization like Habitat for Humanity. Homeownership is one of the great strengths of any community, and it must be a central part of our vision for the revival of this region. [full text]
The most interesting thing I heard all evening was Tucker Carlson admitting what we "tax & spend" liberals have been pointing out about the Bush administration all along: they blow billions like an irresponsible teen with their first credit card. What I'd like to know is, if all that cash didn't improve disaster relief or provide much needed services for citizens, what the Hell did they do with it?


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Arnie find a queer way to go a'courting

The governator has all but come out and said he plans to run for re-election next year and, in doing, so he's gone a'courtin some of that queer and liberal vote that's none too pleased of his announced intention to veto a bill permitting gay marriage in California. In order to discuss this (and other) potential barriers to the gay vote, Arnie's requested a meeting with leaders in the gay community. Despite requesting the meeting, the governor's not quite dedicated to attending the meeting himself. This seems very odd for Gov. "Follow-through is the most important thing. If you start something you've got to finish it." Schwarzenegger who seems to place such value on commitment.

Since Arnie's not really willing to discuss the issue like a man, you may want to inform him of your opinon in a way that permits him to be on the receiving end.


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Lileks joins the ranks of those in mourning

Jesse is concerned it may be impossible to erect a memorial that would meet James Lileks' standards for monuments now that Lileks has joined the ranks of those decrying the peaceful Crescent of Embrace (the memorial park selected to honor those who died when fundamentalist Islamic terrorists hijacked Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001). Despite the fact that those directly affected by the crash (family members of victims) found the memorial powerful, breathtaking and life-affirming, conservative pundits find the idea of a peaceful tribute to honor the memories of those who died overtly offensive.

Some just take issue with the crescent design, as a red crescent is the symbol of the religion of Islam (perhaps they'd be satisfied if the title were changed to horse-shoe of embrace instead), which is wrong & evil because the terrorists were radical fundamental Islamacists. Some, like Lileks, are in mourning for the loss of literal-minded monuments. While many prefer to honor and celebrate those who died in war/famine/terrorist attack/natural disaster by providing a place of meditation which encourages *shudder* thinking, reflection leading to a sense of awe & a life-affirming message, some think we need to erect a more graphic monument because they feel the only way to honor an event is to provide something so people can immediately tell the story of what, exactly, happenned to those being honored. Had the literalists been in charge of memorials after WWII, perhaps we would now have statues depicting a bright & shiny US serviceman stopping a ne'er do well Nazi in an apron from gingerly placing a Jew in an oven instead of
this offensive bit of modernism.

Lileks waxes nostaligic for memorials that, instead of promoting a "remember, respect and make sure it doesn't happen again" message, is something hard, ugly and in concert with the event(s) they describe. He speculates on the type of monument that would be appropriate to ensure we remember the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Using his preference for literalism and story-telling, I suggest a life-sized diorama that includes him floating in a tank of raw sewage with statues depicting the Red Cross and FEMA sitting at a conference table nearby.

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Angela Merkel gets more like Bush every day

After a resounding humiliation when the CDU had to admit their candidate for Chancellor, Angela Merkel, essentially plagiarized a Ronald Reagan speech to best opponent Gerhard Schröder in a recent debate, Merkel and the CDU have come back swinging to fight the resultant drop in polls. The latest salvo from the CDU camp is reminiscent of the campaigns of American President George W. Bush King George: they've played the Commie card with less than a week to go before elections.

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Wednesday, September 14, 2005

oh the non-evolved fur will be flying now


The pledge of allegiance, as re-written in1954, was ruled unconstitional as a required affirmation of G-d by US District Judge Lawrence Karlton today. No doubt the Repubevangelicals will lead the charge to disregard the ruling as the agenda of a "San Francisco liberal" trying to desensitize us to that holy, patriotic and American right to use the First Amendment to practice our religion by imposing it on non-adherents.





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Penguin parables

I missed this the other day - an odd, albeit interesting, article describing how the Repubevangelical movement believes that the movie March of the Penguins exemplies all that is holy. According to many conservatives who've seen the film, the lives lead by penguins affirms core conservative "Judeo-Christian" (and I gag on the "Judeo" part because it's in name only) as traditional values that we as humans should strive to emulate. In addition to a ludicrous belief the movie - the penguins and their lives themselves - undermines the theory of evolution, conservative Christians has also glommed on to the idea that the penguins natural behavior affirm following natural instincts, especially regarding familial relationships, as ordained by G-d.
Richard A. Blake, co-director of the film studies program at Boston College and the author of "The Lutheran Milieu of the Films of Ingmar Bergman" said that like many films, "March of the Penguins" was open to a religious interpretation.

"You get a sense of these animals - following their natural instincts - are really exercising virtue that for humans would be quite admirable," he said. I could see it as a statement on monogamy or condemnation of gay marriage or whatever the current agenda is."[NYT]

As noted by Blake, the lives of these amazing animals can be used to make a statement on any agenda, hence its use among conservatives to make a case for what is a natural acceptable traditional familial relationship.

I can get behind this simplistic notion of using penguin relationships to illustrate what humans should aspire to in their own relationships. After all there are some pretty happy penguins and, since their monogamous mating is instinctual, natural and ordained by G-d I think their relationships are great example of an ideal we should all uphold.

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Santorum church sex-abuse redux

Rick Santorum on the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal in 2002 [emphasis mine]
"It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning "private" moral matters such as alternative lifestyles. Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm." [Catholic Online]
Rick Santorum defending his statements & clarifying the above in 2003 [emphasis mine]
"In this case, what we're talking about, basically, is priests who were having sexual relations with post-pubescent men. We're not talking about priests with 3-year-olds, or 5-year-olds. We're talking about a basic homosexual relationship. Which, again, according to the world view sense is a perfectly fine relationship as long as it's consensual between people. If you view the world that way, and you say that's fine, you would assume that you would see more of it." [AP]
The facts about sexual molestation by Catholic Priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, at least some of what the church admitted to a grand-jury according to this morning's Inky [emphasis mine]:
  • There were more than 50 abusers, stretching back to the 1940s. About half abused more than one child; one priest allegedly victimized at least 12. In all, there were more than 100 victims.
  • Children were assaulted in summer camps, Shore houses, schools, parish rectories, the seminary - even in churches themselves.
  • Abusers were in positions of power and trust. Six were principals of Catholic high schools.
  • The archdiocese for years enforced a rigid code of silence, keeping parishioners in the dark about predatory priests. "You're to keep your mouth shut," one priest was instructed by superiors.
  • After offenders left the church, the secrecy allowed some to resurface as teachers or in other jobs that put them in contact with children.
  • Even in the rare instances when priests were arrested, they went unpunished by their religious orders or church officials. In three cases, priests kept their collars after being charged with sex crimes.
Rev. Nicholas V. Cudemo allegedly assaulted 8 girls, including one who says she was raped by him when she was ten years old. Another priest has been accused of preying on multiple families: groups of brothers, sisters and cousins of both sexes. A Monsignor assaulted at least 1 set of sisters (molesting one while the other, who shared the same bed, overheard). When molested children sought the help of other priests, they were often "comforted" by a priest who proceeded to molest them and, in at least 4 cases, priests were reassigned and permitted to continue to molesting children in different parishes.

This, of course, has nothing to do with the church's tacit condonation of this behavior by enforcing a code of silence, it has to do with liberal atmosphere surrounding the church infecting it. As well all know, the culture in Philadelphia dating all the way back to the 1940s, like that in Boston, was a sick (read: liberal) one that supported alternative lifestyles that permitted these homosexual deviants to infiltrate the church. The girls? Well, we're not talking about 3-year olds or 5-year olds, so I guess lil Ricky considers them fair game as precociously pubescent jezebels who engaged in basic heterosexual relationships with these priests as well.

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Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Indignity Immemorial: Bush patronage sinks to a new low

FEMA has awarded SCI subsidiary Kenyon International a contract to handle the corpses of victims of Hurricane Katrina in Baton-Rouge, LA. SCI, whose chairman Robert Waltrip is a Bush family friend and campaign donor, has been embroiled in lawsuits resulting from cadaver dumping and corpse desecration.

King George and Drownie's buddy Joe Allbaugh are linked to SCI (also known, quite inappropriately, as Dignity Memorial) in a scandal in which the then prince
halted an investigation into SCI's practices. To make matters worse, it may have been a no-bid contract in a case where outsourcing wasn't necessary.

Why FEMA chose to outsource mortuary services to a paid contractor is also mystery to Dan Buckner, co-owner of the Gowen-Smith Chapel in the Gulf area. Buckner had planned to serve with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Responses Team, which reportedly told Buckner's partner, Gary Hicks of Paducah, KY, to expect up to 40,000 deaths from Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Upon learning of Kenyon’s contract, Buckner expressed puzzlement. He told the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, "Volunteers would have gone at no charge." [RAW STORY]


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This is why I donate to organizations other than the Red Cross

I've had some political issues with the Red Cross for some time and had, since my last donation to the OKC bombing fund, limited my Red Cross interaction to donating blood. Four years ago, after the organization announced that funds donated to its Liberty Fund would be limited to use in relief efforts in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I donated a couple of hundred dollars to them in a targeted donation specifically for that purpose. Not too long thereafter, it was revealed the funds were not used for that purpose at all and only a small minority of funds went to the victims/survivors of the terrorist attacks. I, again, limited my Red Cross donations to blood donation (at least while they would take it and use it; they have recently re-revised guidelines to again accept blood donations from those who have spent time abroad in Europe). When the Tsunami hit, my donations went to organizations like Médecine Sans Frontières (and, I think, Mazon) instead of the Red Cross. Even when I saw the liberal blogosphere join together to collect for the Red Cross relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I opted to donate to America's Second Harvest instead.

I am sorry to say that while the Red Cross volunteers bust their humps and people donate to the organization with the best of intentions, the American Red Cross does not function quite as one would anticipate based on their charter and code of conduct. [emphasis added]

1: The Humanitarian imperative comes first
The right to receive humanitarian assistance, and to offer it, is a fundamental humanitarian principle which should be enjoyed by all citizens of all countries. As members of the international community, we recognise our obligation to provide humanitarian assistance wherever it is needed. Hence the need for unimpeded access to affected populations, is of fundamental importance in exercising that responsibility. The prime motivation of our response to disaster is to alleviate human suffering amongst those least able to withstand the stress caused by disaster. When we give humanitarian aid it is not a partisan or political act and should not be viewed as such.
[IFRC]

While it's understandable that since the Red Cross is not a search and rescue organization and does not want to (and should not) put its own people in harm's way, when it came to the Katrina Crisis the organization sat at the table with government officials and blithely capitulated to Homeland Security that it not set up shop in New Orleans or distribute much needed provisions within the city limits.
Amid reports that thousands were trapped in the Superdome and the Convention Center, the Red Cross did not distribute or drop supplies to either location. The group's explanation that its presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city mirrors a National Guard decision not to drop food supplies, saying they did not want to spark riots [Raw Story]
They also did not distribute supplies to victims at designated shelters who waited for buses (some waiting for days) to evacuate them from the city. This, despite reports that the goods armed forces are bringing in were largely for their own use - not to be distributed to victims in need.

Raw Story reports that Congress not only incorporated the Red Cross to "work under government supervision", which essentially allows it to work as an instrument of the government (while exempting it from religious discrimination and FOIA claims) which also seems to run counter to the international organization's code of conduct [emphasis added]
4: We shall endeavour not to act as instruments of government foreign policy
NGHAs are agencies which act independently from governments. We therefore formulate our own policies and implementation strategies and do not seek to implement the policy of any government, except in so far as it coincides with our own independent policy. We will never knowingly - or through negligence - allow ourselves, or our employees, to be used to gather information of a political, military or economically sensitive nature for governments or other bodies that may serve purposes other than those which are strictly humanitarian, nor will we act as instruments of foreign policy of donor governments. We will use the assistance we receive to respond to needs and this assistance should not be driven by the need to dispose of donor commodity surpluses, nor by the political interest of any particular donor. We value and promote the voluntary giving of labour and finances by concerned individuals to support our work and recognise the independence of action promoted by such voluntary motivation. In order to protect our independence we will seek to avoid dependence upon a single funding source. [IFRC]
Much as it did during the drive for the OKC bombing and Liberty funds, the Red Cross claims designated donations to the Katrina relief fund will be used only for the victims of Hurricane Katrina - sadly, they've given me little reason to believe them.


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