Month: July 2008

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood2 Comments

Holmes in NOLA

I’m a big fan of the Canadian TV show “Holmes on Homes.” Now Mike Holmes, the “home-remediation superhero,” is in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Wardfor the summer: “Make It Right, ” in fact, is both Holmes’ personal (and personally trademarked) motto as well as the reason for his summer-long job-site residency in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward. When Brad Pitt announced his Make It Right Foundation’s efforts to restore housing in the Lower 9th, Holmes’ people called to inquire about the organization’s use of the slogan, which is, after all, tattooed on Holmes’ brawny right gun. “We heard of the … Continue reading Holmes in NOLA

Political Crack7 Comments

My Priorities Make Me Better Than You

Oh for fuck’s sake, Harold Ford: I only caught a bit of the Great Orange Satan/Harold Ford lunchtime discussion at Netroots Nation, but at one point he was chastizing all of us dirty fucking hippies for wasting time worrying about inconsequential things like FISA when people in the country were worried about their jobs, gas prices, health care, etc. A corollary to the anti-intellectual argument of the past half-century has been the idea that only pussies care about our civil liberties, because they can afford to: Chardonnay futures are never going to crash, and the French will just keep sending … Continue reading My Priorities Make Me Better Than You

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood6 Comments

They Left Us All To Drown

Our fate is your fate: Before the flood and after the flood: That is the demarcation that defines life in Cedar Rapids today. Much of what existed before the river swelled 20 feet above flood stage is gone for good. Cedar Rapids’ citizens are gradually abandoning the idea that their city will ever be the same. More than 2,000 homes in the flood plain likely will never be rebuilt. The Summit View mobile home park on the west side of town is one of several swelling with flood refugees who are moving in, probably for good. A district of warehouses, … Continue reading They Left Us All To Drown

War in Afghanistan4 Comments

Poll: Fading support for War in Afghanistan

From ABCNews: The latestABC News/Washington Post poll found that a startling 45 percent of Americans said they do not think the war in Afghanistan is worth fighting, despite the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which provoked the war in the first place. SNIP Fifty-one percent of Americans now say that the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan has been unsuccessful, up from 24 percent in fall 2002. Only 44 percent of Americans consider the war in Afghanistan a success, down from 70 percent in 2002. Continue reading Poll: Fading support for War in Afghanistan

Political Crack15 Comments

Facts are real…How do you know that? Part II

I find it amazing that it took over a month for someoneto figure this out. Though given the campaign coverage we have, I guess not… Update: From the above linked post… Fine, “Huckabee doesn’t have a theology degree.” Why, then, did he tell TV preacher Pat Robertson’s CBN, “I’m the only guy on that stage with a theology degree”? When I first read the post I thought it was referencing what Huckabee said at theCNN/YouTube debate… And as the only person here on the stage with a theology degree, there are parts of it I don’t fully comprehend and understand, … Continue reading Facts are real…How do you know that? Part II

Stupid Republican Tricks5 Comments

Today on Athenae’s Obsession with the Freepi

Obama speaks to the troops. Racist Freepi are racist: What’s MOST noticeable in the picture… You mean the larger than normal number of black troops or the pissed off expressions everone’s wearing? I don’t mean this derogatory but the composition looks like the kitchen staff. Mr. Obama…Watch out for tomatoes!!! Well, as long as you don’t MEAN it that way … I’d have to agree with you. I’m sure these fine soldiers would much rather be preparing food for their fellow troops. A. Continue reading Today on Athenae’s Obsession with the Freepi

Stupid Republican Tricks13 Comments

That McCain — What A Cut-Up!

Or as Chris Matthews would say, HA! Ben Smith is nostalgic for the days when male politicians could crack rape jokes without being subject to “political correctness: Ever hear that joke about waterboarding? How about the one about killing Iranians? And why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? If you aren’t familiar with those witty japes, then you’ve missed out on John McCain’s lighter side. Rooted in a time before there was political correctness, and before there was the “South Park” backlash against political correctness, McCain’s wisecracking persona is cutting at times, self-deprecating at others, and always amused by the political … Continue reading That McCain — What A Cut-Up!

Uncategorized4 Comments

Juxtapose

…This—WaPo reports that “the Air Force’s top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on “comfort capsules” to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world” Air Force documents spell out how each of the capsules is to be “aesthetically pleasing and furnished to reflect the rank of the senior leaders using the capsule,” with beds, a couch, a table, a 37-inch flat-screen monitor with stereo speakers, and a full-length mirror. …With THIS–From NYT: Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, … Continue reading Juxtapose

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood5 Comments

And just how exactly is that suppose to work?

Far too often I’ve read arguments that New Orleans should be relocated rather than rebuilt. Of course there are many reasons to reject that argument butthis goes to the point of the practicality of such… ST. LOUIS —Weeks after massive flooding in the Midwest, at least five states are considering federally funded buyouts so residents can move to higher ground. SNIP But FEMA expects more requests for buyouts than it can accommodate. (my emphasis) Continue reading And just how exactly is that suppose to work?

Immoral Values, Jude, So Called Liberal Media14 Comments

Further Dispatches from the Realm of Epic Fail

Thanks, Newsweek! Please go read this article. Are you done crying/puking/screaming/burning all the copies of Newsweek you can find? Good. Does this douche really believe what he’s writing? “The only way we’ll have accountability is if we hold no one accountable.” I think he just re-killed Socrates. The Sadlys have a good breakdown of this steaming turd of an article, so I’m not gonna go line-by-line. I just wanted to point out a couple of things.  Pardons would further a truth commission’s most important goals: to uncover all important facts, identify innocent victims to be compensated, foster a serious conversation … Continue reading Further Dispatches from the Realm of Epic Fail

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood

Less than half of fed rebuilding money has made it’s way to where needed in Louisiana

After three years… Of the nearly $7 billion that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved, or obligated for Louisiana rebuilding projects, $3.5 billion has been paid to local governments. SNIP According to the Louisiana Recovery Authority, FEMA has approved $482 million worth of rebuilding projects in Plaquemines Parish. But because of bureaucratic delays, funding shortages and disagreements about the real cost of rebuilding, so far, Plaquemines has only gotten reimbursed $127 million. That’s just 26 percent of available funds. SNIP Orleans Parish has only been reimbursed 41 percent of available FEMA funds; St. Bernard, 52 percent; Jefferson Parish, 58 … Continue reading Less than half of fed rebuilding money has made it’s way to where needed in Louisiana

Immoral Values, Jude14 Comments

Republicans Are Shitbags

Yep. Shitbags. I mean, really. What else can you say? Some Republican shitbag paid to put this billboard up in Orlando. Really. That’s not Photoshop, that’s not a joke. So, let’s review: The 9/11 attacks happened during George W. Bush’s presidency. George W. Bush is a Republican Ergo, having a Democrat as president means that something similar will happen again. What. The. Fuck. How does anyone come to that conclusion? The logic of the fuckingunderpants gnomes makes more fucking sense than that. As for all the people who shrug and say “It’s a free country,” well, they’re right. The government … Continue reading Republicans Are Shitbags

So Called Liberal Media3 Comments

Do Your Own Job

And quit your bitching, you damn kids: The conventional wisdom regarding print journalism is that it is a dying breed, and that online media is the way of the future. Hence, newspapers across the country are axing employees like Paul Bunyan in a tree-chopping competition. The excuses for such downsizing are legion: competition with blogs, cable news, and online classified-ad sites, readers’ short attention spans, rising production costs, overstaffing, understaffing, liberal bias, corporate ownership, the decline of the American educational system, and personal digital assistants. You might as well blame it on the rain while you’re at it, because one … Continue reading Do Your Own Job

So Called Liberal Media8 Comments

Wrong Track

Shorter America: WE’RE FUCKED: The survey, released Tuesday, also set a new AP-Ipsos floor for the number of people saying the country is heading in the right direction. Just 16 percent said the country is moving the right way, a virtual tie with the 17 percent who said so last month. But Chris Matthews still thinks he’d like to have a beer with George Bush’s manly characteristic! In my life I’ve never seen a political narrative so completely divorced from reality. If this was Bill Clinton … hell, this WAS Jimmy Carter only not as bad, and they were screaming … Continue reading Wrong Track

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood5 Comments

Video Response to Conservative Mythmaking of Not a Drop of Oil was Spilled

Conservativescontinue to justify off shore drilling by arguing there were no oil spills due to Katrina. Yet there were. I direct you toOyster at Your Right Hand Thief who wrote… Actually, there were at least146 reported spills in Federal waters after Katrina and Rita, totaling over700,000 gallons, the equivalent of seven “MAJOR” spills. Hereare 43 satellite pictures of giant oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico after Katrina, stretching for scores of miles. Worse, EIGHT MILLION gallons spilled out of Louisiana oil facilities after the storms. (The famous ExxonValdez spill totaled 11 million.) How is this not causing “a single … Continue reading Video Response to Conservative Mythmaking of Not a Drop of Oil was Spilled

Political Crack5 Comments

Shorter NYT: Why Does Obama Walk On Water?

Is it to distract us from the fact that he can’t turn it into wine? The survey suggests that even as the nation crosses a racial threshold when it comes to politics — Mr. Obama, a Democrat, is the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas — many of the racial patterns in society remain unchanged in recent years. Indeed, the poll showed markedly little change in the racial components of people’s daily lives since 2000, when The Times examined race relations in an extensive series of articles called “How Race Is Lived in … Continue reading Shorter NYT: Why Does Obama Walk On Water?

Stupid Republican Tricks14 Comments

What Business Is It Of Yours?

I’d jump into this a little more, but my head would explode and I’d have to clean up the mess: “You know, I don’t understand when people are going around worrying about, ‘We need to have English- only.’ They want to pass a law, ‘We want English-only,’” Obama said. “Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English — they’ll learn English — you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We … Continue reading What Business Is It Of Yours?