October 2005 Archives
caught this on Fark. I can't believe people still think this way:
Tainted treats still spook some
When hundreds of candy-gobbling ghosts, witches and SpongeBobs pour into the Inland Valley's streets Monday night -- plastic pumpkin pails in hand -- Brandi Joseph's daughter won't be among them.
The 5-year-old Rancho Cucamonga girl has never been trick-or-treating, and according to her mother, she won't be starting any time soon.
"It's too dangerous," said Joseph, who said she made the decision "four years ago, when people started putting razor blades in apples."
Actually, stories about the sadistic neighbor who hides razors in caramel apples -- or needles in candy bars, or poison in packaged sweets -- go back decades.
OK, now here's the thing. If this five-year old is her first child, it's likely that this mom is under thirty, certainly under forty. I've been hearing these stories all my life, and they're by and large bullshit, as this article points out. Didn't this woman ever go trick-or-treating herself? Jeez...
It's clear that Libby most likely never thought this would get this far, or that the White House would insulate/protect him. Fitzgerald is running a textbook federal investigation. Ol' Scooter is looking at close to ten years imprisonment based on minimum sentencing now. Fitzgerald figures that ought to be enough to get him to roll on "Official A." From the indictment:
The Onion has launched a new website, www.weeklyradioaddress.com, that is a parody of the President's weekly radio address. The announcement of the new site on the main Onion site included a graphic of the presidential seal. The White House went ballistic on this, and demanded that The Onion cease and desist.
Here's The Onion's response.
Never mess with satirists. :-)
(via Atrios)
from www.saveroe.com:
Target Pharmacist Refuses to Fill Emergency Contraception Prescription -- Fight Back
Wed, 10/19/2005 - 3:21pm
Submitted by Christy
In the States | Pharmacist Refusal | Missouri
The national headquarters of Target has not responded to three PPFA attempts to clarify its policy on pharmacist refusals. Tell Target to clarify its policy!
From Kos, this is encouraging. Unlike 04, quality Dem candidates are stepping forward, and the money is coming in to support them:
We already know that Schumer and the DSCC is kicking Liddy Dole's ass in candidate recruitment. Now, for the second straight quarter, Schumer has kicked her ass in fundraising.
From the DSCC press release:
Continuing its cash-on-hand advantage over its Republican counterpart, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has $19 million in its coffers at the end of the third quarter of 2005, while the National Republican Senatorial Committee carries only $9.4 million. The DSCC brought in about $8.8 million this quarter while the NRSC pulled in $7.3 million. The DSCC has enjoyed a nearly 2-to-1 cash on hand advantage over its Republican counterpart for the better part of this election cycle.
Meanwhile, the NRSC is spending precious dollars attacking fellow Republican Lafee in the Rhode Island Republican primary.
and what better bitch to do it than MoDo?
I don't pay for NYT's "select" service, because I refuse to support Tierney and BoBo, but I'm with Gilliard, this column is amazing. Steve breaks it down:
Ok, after calling her a drama queen and a whore, tropism being a fancy word for women who likes powerful men and fucks them, she then goes after her bosses for not supervising her and letting her hurt the paper.
Then she suggests that Miller's jail stint had other motives.
Then, finally, calls for her to be fired. And Gail Collins might as well have cosigned it. Why? It ran on the op-ed page, she's her nominal boss.
This is call putting your business in the street. This is the consensus opinion of the Times staff, except for the open hatred some folks had for Miller.Dowd didn't write one fucking word, not one, in defense of her. And her first column on this basically calls her a drama queen whore who needs to be fired. There is no question this has worked Dowd's last nerve and she, cleverly, put all this shit in the street.
We've all heard rumors of the unhappiness of the NYT rank-and-file with the way the bosses have defended Miller, but I don't think anyone anticipated this brutal a response getting through the filters.
Billmon points back to John Dean, who is no fan of the current administration, but also believes that it's premature to celebrate mass indictments in the Plame case:
Will the Grinch Steal Fitzmas?
John Dean -- who knows something about these things -- has some cautionary words for all the little lefties eagerly counting presents (indictments) under the tree: Don't be entirely surprised if "Santa" leaves a lump of coal in your stocking.
Dean's been extremely prescient about the legal issues raised by the Plame scandal so far -- he was, for example, the first to point out the possible applications of the 1917 Espionage Statute. So when he raises the spectre that national security (the last refuge of executive branch scoundrels) might trump whatever evidence of criminality the special prosecutor has gathered, I give him a respectful hearing, even though I don't agree with this analysis. Here's what he says:
I'll leave you to read Dean on your own, but he's definitely a wet blanket at the left-wing beach party. Something Billmon said gave me pause, though:
Dean adds the caveat that if Libby, Rove or other as-yet unindicted co-idiots perjured themselves or conspired to obstruct justice (and in Libby's case, that looks like the smart way to bet) Fitzgerald may decide to stick around and nail their asses to a jailhouse wall.
...
Certainly, everything Fitzgerald has done up until this point suggests he not only believes crimes were committed, and that those crimes are within his authority to prosecute, but that he is also convinced they are well within his discretion to prosecute.
Prosectors are competitive people. They want to win, and they're not easily disposed towards folding up and going home if they think someone's committed a crime. US Attorneys aren't mere prosecutors; they're well-connected and highly ambitious politicians as well. Many a district US Attorney has gone on to higher office because of a high-profile court victory. I'm having a hard time believing that Fitzgerald has spent two years investigating this case, only to go quietly into the night.
Truly the ultimate insult:
National Review: Withdraw Miers or damage the movement
The editors deliver the ultimate insult: When it comes to Supreme Court nominees, Bill Clinton did it better...
"But now we have a Republican president and a Republican Senate. That president owes the same duty to his principles and his supporters that Bill Clinton owed to his. But while Bill Clinton chose highly competent liberals, George W. Bush has now chosen someone whose conservatism and whose qualifications are in doubt."
At first glance, lawsuits like the one discussed below sound like the work of one crackpot. Now, I'm not one for regularly wearing the tin foil hat, but what if it's more than that? It's late October, a time when consumer spending on fripperies like iPods skyrockets. There are a number of alternatives out there to the Apple brand. The mom of a 16-year old is at Best Buy, and all she knows about these things is that Apple's being sued because their player is easily scratched. That doesn't benefit the lawsuit plaintiff or his attorney. The winner there is Sony, Creative Labs, or one of half a dozen other MP3 player makers.
Class action lawsuit launched over iPod Nano scratch marks
OK, let me get this straight. Some moron is suing Apple because of the belief that the iPod Nano is too easily scratched? That is officially the dumbest thing that I have ever heard of! Could this be the same dork that sued Mcdonalds over hot coffee?…
Apple lawsuit Nano U S District Court San Jose California Mcdonalds
Direct and Related Links for 'Class action lawsuit launched over iPod Nano scratch marks'
I've received at least one e-mail a day for the last few days that are eBay "spoofs." You've seen these before, where a thief will set up what appears to be a legitimate email from eBay that entices you to log into the service. You do that, but the thief captures your password.
The latest twist on this is an e-mail that says an item you're selling is involved in a dispute. Thing is, of course, most of us don't have eBay items up for sale, so our first impulse is to follow the links and clear up our good names. When you do this, though, you give your identity to the thieves, so BEWARE!
more from the his morning's FEMA article in Da Paper:
But Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said that although Brown makes a perfect scapegoat, it's important that Congress focus on doing a better job deciding whether nominees for positions such as FEMA director are qualified, and that the agency has the resources and authority it needs to respond appropriately to disasters.
Never forget that the chairman of the Senate committee that originally confirmed Michael Brown was Joe Lieberman. (Nutball-CT)
And why hasn't a grand jury been impaneled to investigate FEMA overall and Michael Brown in particular?
FEMA was warned, official says
WASHINGTON -- Immediately before and after Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's lone official in the city e-mailed agency leaders warning of a desperate need for medical help, oxygen canisters, even food and water.
Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA public affairs official with 12 years of experience in disaster areas, on Thursday told a Senate panel investigating the disaster that for reasons he still can't quite comprehend, most of his pleas for help got little or no response.
His testimony, and the printouts of his e-mails to FEMA colleagues, give the clearest indication to date of the chaotic federal response to the disaster. They also directly contradict statements by former FEMA Director Michael Brown that he wasn't aware of the grave conditions in the city for days after the hurricane, as well as his claim in recent House testimony that he had assembled a team of FEMA officials, including doctors, before Katrina made landfall.
Sounds like perjury to me. Remember, lying is bad? The Republicans taught me that back in the Clinton years.
Now, I'll admit that Susan Collins isn't on the White House A-list, but she obviously didn't get the RNC memo on backing the administration:
Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Bahamonde's compelling first-person account Thursday illustrated "a complete disconnect between senior officials and the reality of the situation."
"His urgent reports did not appear to prompt an urgent response," Collins said.
Bahamonde said he is still flabbergasted that his e-mails didn't elicit a major mobilization of federal resources.
"I believe at the time, and still do today, that I was confirming the worst-case scenario that everyone had always talked about regarding New Orleans," he said.
And this is just the beginning. Senators and Congresscritters are going to be running as far away from these people as they can, in an effort to save their skins.
I wonder how those Lakeview Republicans will respond to this sort of thing? (from the Yahoo FEMA article):
Meanwhile, at a separate hearing, lawmakers considering Louisiana's request for $32 billion for Gulf Coast rebuilding were told that Mississippi would need tens of billions of dollars of its own to restore its coastline.
Gulf Coast lawmakers and state officials have been pushing for vast infusions of federal aid since Katrina hit Aug. 29, killing more than 1,200 people and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate.
"It will be in the billions, with a 'b,' level, it may be in the tens of billions; it won't be in the hundreds of billions," William W. Walker, head of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, told a House transportation panel.
But Rep. John J. Duncan (news, bio, voting record) Jr., chairman of that panel, earlier had said flatly that Congress cannot afford Louisiana's request. "This is just not going to happen," he said.
This is why Jindal has to go--he's going to take this on his knees, like a good little boy.
Via Salon's War Room blog...
FEMA Official Says Boss Ignored Warnings
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials did not respond to repeated warnings about deteriorating conditions in New Orleans and the dire need for help as Hurricane Katrina struck, the first FEMA official to arrive conceded Thursday.
Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA regional director, told a Senate panel investigating the government's response to the disaster that he gave regular updates to people in contact with then-FEMA Director Michael Brown as early as Aug. 28, one day before Katrina made landfall.
In most cases, he was met with silence. In an Aug. 29 phone call to Brown informing him that the first levee had broke, Bahamonde said he received a polite thank you from Brown, who said he would check with the White House.
They've already thrown Brown under the bus, now it's time for them to cut Chertoff loose as well. Then we need a DA to charge them with negligent homicide.
Well, they were big before the storm here, and all these military guys around, I suppose this makes sense...maybe daysinger needs to open up a new location... :-)
In Katrina's wake, a tattoo boom in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Natalie, 20, knows what she needs to capture her complicated feelings about Hurricane Katrina and its devastation of New Orleans: a tattoo.
On a recent night at Crescent City Tattoo in New Orleans, she is lined up with about a dozen others to have messages and images inked on their bodies, many prompted by the killer storm that ripped through New Orleans seven weeks earlier.
Tattoo artists report a surge in demand for designs that celebrate New Orleans: fleur-de-lis patterns, "NOLA," after the city's widely known abbreviation, and even a symbol modeled after the weather-map depiction of hurricanes.
OK, I'm having a bit of trouble seeing OPSB President Sanders' logic here:
Board at war over school plans
A bitter split on the Orleans Parish School Board widened into a chasm Tuesday, as warring factions battled over how to reopen the first schools on the West Bank and who will do it.
Despite the board's Oct. 7 approval of a plan to charter 13 West Bank schools and open several of them to students from across the city in November, School Board President Torin Sanders said a recent court order -- stemming from allegations that the board violated the state's open-meetings law -- voids that decision.
OK, so they think the board decision on re-opening the West Bank schools as charters violated open-meetings laws. So, while he is bemoaning the lack of public comment, Sanders and the interim superintendent decide to unilaterally re-open schools?
Sanders stood beside interim Superintendent Ora Watson as she announced a plan for the administration to open four schools -- O. Perry Walker High School, Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary, Martin Behrman Elementary and Alice M. Harte Elementary -- on Nov. 14.
OK, let's forget for a moment that this isn't what the majority of the board wants to do. Let's forget that the outside financial consultants say there's no way the board can re-open these schools for the $14.5 million estimated by Watson. What I love is the abject hypocrisy of these people. When the white folks on the board vote to do something, Sanders is hollering to the heavens about the lack of public input, but he and Watson can do whatever they want?
Fools.
...because it gets me too aroused:
Cheney May Be Entangled in CIA Leak Investigation, People Say
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- A special counsel is focusing on whether Vice President Dick Cheney played a role in leaking a covert CIA agent's name, according to people familiar with the probe that already threatens top White House aides Karl Rove and Lewis Libby.
This doesn't surprise me at all. Back in the Reagan days, North and Poindexter worked hard to provide St. Ronald of California a level of "deniability" that halted all investigations at their doorsteps. The current crop of criminals in the White House are not only not that smart, but they're so much more arrogant.
Arianna's analysis of the NYT articles, from Miller and about her, is spot-on. This caught my eye:
Her account of her meetings with Libby shows how off-target her journalistic radar was. Is it because of how off-target her loyalties were? Here is a quote: "My notes do not show that Mr. Libby identified Mr. Wilson's wife by name. Nor do they show that he described Valerie Wilson as a covert agent or "operative..." My notes show? Wasn’t she there?
Arianna uses this example to question Miller's ability as a journalist, but that misses the point. This isn't incompetence, it's deliberate obfuscation so Miller can avoid criminal culpability. Cleraly she is not simply a member of the Fourth Estate who is caught up in the events. She is a co-conspirator, and is using language that covers her treasonous ass.
I hope Judy made the best of her three months in jail, because she may well be going back for quite a while.
It's been a busy and rough couple of weeks for everyone in the area, to be sure. We got off to a slow start on re-building our house, because Mrs. YatPundit was in Chicago for her job. Her company's fallback position in the event of a hurricane was to go to their Chicago office. She's the company's controller, so she has to be where the paperwork is. The company realized just how much they are a virtual office these last six weeks, with the technical and sales personnel scattered about but still functioning. They're committed to returning to New Orleans bigger and better, though.
Not that I'm complaining, because it's been a very good thing that she's been busy with work. My income doing computer training has dropped to nothing. I'm starting to do consulting for folks who are ready to re-do their home and office systems, but training is way low on everyone's priority lists.
Our house in Metairie got six inches of water that left a foot of mold on the walls. The carpet and wood floors were totalled as well. We had a contractor come in and cut the walls out to 4' above the floor. In relative terms, our losses are much less than the folks who lost everything. We have a lot of work to do to get the house back to normal, but we have our stuff.
A few of post-storm photos:
The mold in the master bedroom, three weeks post-Katrina:
The master bath:
Clean-up crew. FEMA contractors are all over Metairie, removing garbage and debris. The neighborhood got progressively funky as people started putting out spoiled food and other trash. The task was clearly more than any regular sanitation company could handle, so there are trash-haulers from all over the South here.
Our front bathroom after the cut-out crew came in:
The kitchen:
My office, after I started cleaning it out. I hate throwing out books, it just breaks my heart.
My office was the worst, because I had so much paper and books in there. I lost about 200 copies of my streetcar book that were in boxes stacked on the floor.
Now that the walls are out and the mold is under control, the next step was to get the stuff out. We finally got a 20' storage container this week:
We've boxed up all the clothes, books, toys, and stuff worth saving and it's in that container, along with the furniture we're going to re-finish. The rest goes out for the clean-up crews. We weren't happy with the contractor who did the cut-out, so we're talking to the brother our neighbor across the street. He's a very young general contractor, but he's already crackin' on his sister's house, and the folks next to them as well as the couple that lives next to us are going to use him. The gal's husband from across the street works for a tile/flooring company, so Mrs. YatPundit is going to go over there this week and look at samples. The process continues!
YatPundit is back up and running! I've got tales to tell, and we'll get to all of them in due course. I've made some changes to the structure of the blog and the podcasts. YatPundit will now be cross-posted to the LiveJournal user yatpundit, because of several requests I received to separate my political commentary from the personal stuff I write. So this blog will go directly to yatpundit, and any New Orleans stuff that fits both LJ accounts will be cross-posted to mysticknyght, my primary LJ account.
Other than that, we're cleaning and working and generally surviving. I'm about to post a clean-up update, then we'll go forth from there.
