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Archive for September, 2005
Wet hay, on the other hand, is something that I would prefer not to revel in.
Day old wet hay, even worse.
Two nights ago (when Rita was pulling away from here, and still dumping rain on us), either me or my wife,
This just happens to be the same car in which we haul the hay for
Yesterday, the smell was there, and I figured “okay, I'll need to clean this out.”
Today, I got in the car and could not breathe. Seriously. Until I opened the windows, and even then…
So now I'm wondering: “Is the smell permeated through my clothes?” and “Should I go to the locker room to change?” (I keep two sets of clothes here for when I ride my bike).
When I arrived at work, I tore out the whole “carpet” covering the trunk… it was still wet. I also threw away the vinyl table cloth we would normally keep back there to hold the hay when we travel.
Let's see if that gets rid of the smell.
UGH!
Okay… Those of you who know me (and those of you who only read my LJ) know that I have no love lost for the current President of the United State, George W. Bush. Quite frankly, I think he's a fudging idiot… (Hey, I have kids and am trying to modify my language accordingly).
But to lay at his feet the total fault for the response (or lack thereof) of the Federal Emergency Management Agency is rather… like trying to blame a team's failings on their coach. I was as disappointed as everyone else in Miami when Doug McClean of the Florida Panthers was fired. And then we went to see the Panthers trounce Boston 10-5 in the first game afterward… ANYHOW… The point is that the team - in this case the mayors of the areas impacted, the parish presidents, the local federal representatives and senators, the governors, AND the President of the US all have enough blame to share.
Bush did do the right thing in (finally) recalling Mike Brown to DC; however, I do think it was too little, too late. Instead of sitting in a chair in an elementary school, reading a book to kids, and not reacting at the incidences that comprised 9/11, this time el Shrub-o was sitting on his farm in Crawford, Texas, on a vacation (funny… just about every time the news reports on him, he is “on vacation at his Crawford, Texas ranch”). At least we know that our “fearless” leader, who has tons of military experience, is consistently lying down on the job.
He may not be totally at fault, but as the nation's leader, he is duty-bound to do just that - LEAD. Let's make the connection here: Help really didn't start trickling in until three days after the storm. Isn't it ironic that Bush didn't return from his vacation until two days after the storm hit? Combine this with the fact that FEMA is a federal bureaucracy that is under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security, and you have the explanation of some of the chaos…
Anyhow… my disjointed thoughts are getting the best of me on this Sunday morning, so let me sum it up with this:
Bush isn't totally at fault for the poor response, but neither did he cut off his vacation to get back to DC to face, arguably, the largest disaster to face this nation since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. And as the Chief Executive of this company called the United States, he, once again, showed that he was napping on the job.
I just want to thank those of you who voted for him… and hope that you are happy with his leadership style.
Kanye West, a rapper, stunned an entire nation, but probably no one more than Mike Meyers, his sidekick for the evening, when he uttered these seven words: “George Bush doesn't care about black people.” Perhaps the FCC will now change the seven words you can't say on TV or Radio… Hmmm… Censorship at its best.
Here's another funny article about this Westian faux pas: http://www.deadbrain.com/news/article_2005_09_04_0533.php.
I don't particularly agree with Mr. West's assessment of George Bush. I do think that Mr. Bush is slightly less adept at integrating African Americans into his circle of friends than Bill Clinton was, but then again, Mr. Clinton grew up with more people of color, and really didn't seem to look at them based on color of skin. I don't make the same assumptions or assessment about George Bush.
My friend
Kanye West had a point to make, pulling the proverbial race card, and got a bit too emotional, in my opinion. Yes, I agree that there are problems in New Orleans that are race-based. Especially now. 32% of the city lives at or below the poverty line. The city is a predominantly African-American city. Since African-Americans are overrepresented in all facets of population that are considered negative (poverty, jail populations, etc.), one must make conjecture that they are also overrepresented in that 32% of the population of New Orleans that is the living poor.
Regardless of the economic or racial status of the individuals, our response was deplorable. There is no excuse for how long it took us to start getting aid to these people. Coming from an area that was decimated by Andrew, I can attest that the response to Katrina was not as good as Andrew, and the response for Andrew took a day too long.
Anyhow, enough grandstanding…
I'll stop.
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