DeLay is the first House leader to be indicted while in office in at least a century, according to congressional historians.
and a really fab roundtable on rebuilding New Orleans from Salon (as usual). Expert opions from all spectrums. Fascinating...
Hurricane Rita's steady rains sent water pouring through breaches in a patched levee Friday, cascading into one of the city's lowest-lying neighborhoods in a devastating repeat of New Orleans' flooding nightmare.
"Our worst fears came true," said Maj. Barry Guidry of the Georgia National Guard.
"We have three significant breeches in the levee and the water is rising rapidly," he said. "At daybreak I found substantial breaks and they've grown larger."
Dozens of blocks in the Ninth Ward were under water as a waterfall at least 30 feet wide poured over and through a dike that had been used to patch breaks in the Industrial Canal levee. On the street that runs parallel to the canal, the water ran waist-deep and was rising fast. Guidry said water was rising about three inches a minute.
Once more lighting candles for Lizzie, as Rita bears down on the Texas coast. And just a few inches of rain in NOLA could cause more flooding. How can we have TWO "once in a hundred years" size storms in three weeks? *shakes fists at heavens*
Just got off the phone with Bat, and we both seem to be suffering from what she called Once Removed Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
I WANT MY CITY BACK!!! I'm just in agony over the devastation. Also, politicians need to shut the fuck up and just do their jobs. All of them.
I'm real relieved about the President's plan of throwing 200 bil at the gulf coast when he puts Karl Rove and Haliburton in charge. For cryin' out loud. WTF!?!?
I realized yesterday that there are a few weeks of sporadically answered emails in my inbox. I've been very selectively/randomly responsive so apologies to all my loves! My brain is aflutter.
You never realize how in love with all your friends you are until you are a-feared for their lives and happiness.
And that of their cats.
I've been holding my breath since Todd and Ben headed back to Nola to sneak into town to rescue their kitties and check the house... here is their story.
Also: peeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Just talked to Michele. So happy I could SCREAM. She's in Philly and she's fine, staying with Rob. I asked if she needed anything and she said just a picture of me and Mr. Kallisti and the cats. Cry!
She'd had a text msg from Todd that said "Can't get a hold of you."
*stare*
Hope to hear good news from him soon too.
Today Todd and Ben are (hopefully) heading into New Orleans via sneaky routes to try and rescue their kitties. The various pet rescue teams just aren't making it to their house, which is apparently in a dry area in the Bywater, with the roof still on (according to satellite).
You can read Todd's diary here.
When they announced that hundreds of animals were coming to the Bay Area I had half written an email volunteering to adopt (anything!) when I realized I live in a thumbnail size cottage with three mean cats. Sigh. So I deleted the email and sent the Humane Society more money. IT IS SO HARD.
Liz is settling into Houston ("Godspeed through Texas, faggot!") where she will be well looked after by her place of work who has relocated, and many other Nola refugees holing up there for the winter.
You can read Liz's diary here.
And Micha (MIIIIIICHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!) finally made it to the tarmac with Rory and was flown, unbenownst to them, to Milwaukee of all places. Apparently they didn't know til they were in flight were they were being taken. That's ok, they found the bar. Me and the Mr. had bugles filled with spray cheese and bloody mary's the other night in Michele's honor. Honest.
And the Right Reverend Rob will be taking all these souls in... both Todd & Ben and Michele & Rory will be heading to Philly to settle with Rob. What a nice man!
I wonder if the Pharmacy Museum has survived armegeddon? Sigh.
My Dad always has the hookup. Read below...
9:28 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP): The government's disaster chief 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, according to internal documents.Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roughly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about the government's response for victims.
Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged Tuesday the first department-wide appeal for help came only as the storm raged.
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."
Brown will probably get a medal for such a bang up job.
My new hero, Keith Olbermann. Or when the media found their balls.
Video: http://media.putfile.com/OlbermannSwings
The transcript below. I am in awe.
This just in from Rob:
I have never been SO FUKIN HAPPY IN MY WHOLE FUKIN LIFE!!!!!!!!! Peggy (Micha's Mom) just called to say that Lew in Phoenix (Micha's friend) spoke to Micha a few hours ago. She said she's sitting around getting fat on all the junk food and she spoke to some members of the National Guard and she will be OUTTA THERE tomorrow at the latest. Evidently, they can't give you transportation to anywhere you want. She may go to Phoenix, where Lew is. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PASS THIS INFO ALONG. Thanks agin Becky and let's all have a cocktail for Michele and Rory!!!!!
and a calmer addendum (hugs!)
Spoke to Carlos (Micha's Dad) a second ago. he said Micha and Rory are safe and all but were told to stay put. They are uptown in the driest and safest place. Louis Armstrong Airport is supossed to open Tuesday and the kids are free to leave. Sorry about that last email, Peggy was a little excited, but who the fuck wouldn't be excited? -- Enjoy, as it were.
Ok, I'm crying hysterically again. And I'll do it again when she's outa there. So glad they were able to stay put in their house uptown.
Rob also attached this picture of Michele & Rory, taken earlier. Oh GAWD, Michele, I love you so much!
Bat took some screen captures of Liz on the telly-vision.
Please see her whole post for all the pix!
He tracked down Michele's (Michele Cabrera) parents finally and called them.
Micha called them on Wednesday. Micha said they have food and water and are OK. This is way better news then that old Monday news. Could you post this info on LJ? I'll keep looking. Thanks for your help.
Let's keep each other posted
Thanks again
rR
rob
So at least we know she made it back to uptown on Monday and was fine!
I've been a wreck all weekend. Loves to all my loves!
Hard to miss, the group of pale and ravaged punk rock bartenders fleeing the French Quarter on the highway on Dateline last night. Such a relief to see you Liz! OMG. I watched it like ten times. Liz was the one in the orange or red shirt who could be heard saying something about "they lied!"... which made me giggle. Rawr.
The longer I go without hearing from Michele (that is Michele Cabrera) the more bleak I get. Micha, please call us!
And on that note, since she's a FQ bartender, as are many of my other friends, this just in from the AP newswire:
11:55 A.M. - NEW YORK (AP): The Big Apple will raise its glasses to the Big Easy -- not for toasts, but to collect money for more than 80,000 hospitality workers from the hurricane-ravaged city.
In addition to New York, bars around the country also have promised to mix cocktails to help the Louisiana bartenders and hotel, casino and restaurant workers facing unemployment.
Four New York-based cocktail experts are spurring the "Save New Orleans Cocktail Hour" -- a two-hour nationwide drinking session scheduled for next Saturday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Each $10 drink -- Big Easy classics like the sazerac, the ramos gin fizz and the Pimm's cup -- will be served with a set of free Mardi Gras beads.
New York bartenders stepped forward first, with dozens of establishments from Soho's tony new Pegu Club to the Central Park's Tavern on the Green and the lively Havana Central, agreeing to participate in the fundraiser.
Organizers said the effort is spreading quickly and now includes the Sierra Gold tavern in Las Vegas, a half dozen businesses in Washington, D.C., and more in Arlington, Va., and Silver Springs, Md.
I'm still crying with relief. Bat just called, she only had like a minute on the phone with Liz.
She's in Baton Rouge. She walked out of the city, presumably with friends, with her cats and luggage in a grocery cart.
She walked all the way to Baton Rouge, which is about 80 miles. All she said was that it was awful.
She's going to Houston, her job is going to take care of her until she figures out what to do. I'm sure we'll hear from her very soon with more details once she can communicate.
She said she was interviewed for Dateline for tonight, so I'll watch and tape if she is.
I'm so devastated and happy. Still no word on Michele...
edit: OMG, the trauma of just thinking about is breaking my heart and yet I'm so proud of her, so in awe. I can't stop crying.
Heard the interview w/ Mayor Nagin this morning on the radio. What a rock star, bless 'im. It is times like these when politicians can actually speak their minds. Unfortunate for times like these.
And yes, both the mayor and the interviewer are in tears at the end.
My friends are still MIA since wednesday. I hope, HOPE and pray, that they are on their way out and we'll hear from them soon.
Also worried about the fires that are breaking out. That is what did the majority of the destruction in the 1906 San Francisco earthquakes... the fires that were so difficult to control w/ limited resources. Ugh.
posted by Kimako (thank you!): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9160710/
Watch the video launch. Now THIS is disaster mismanagment. Egads. Please, someone at least drop food and water to these people and get them the hell out.
I'm glued to the media. Mainly online, but CNN will do when I'm sick of the computer at night.
I feel so helpless, I've sent my dollars in to charities but am holding onto as much as possible for friends who might need it.
I apologize for derailing the normally cheerful focus of Blastmilk. But Blastmilk is my life, and New Orleans is a very deep part of that.
So. Here are some links... found my buddy Chuck at the GumboPages is keeping a very informative blog going. Glad to know he's safe and mad as hell. Many blessings to him and his family!
Also, Todd posted this this morning... a very detailed satellite of the flood areas before and after, in which he was able to spot his house in the Bywater (just right of the French Quarter along the Miss.) and not only was it dry-ish but the roof was still on! No word on the kitties, but a dry house is a good sign. Hopefully one of those disaster kitty rescue organizations can help... I'm giving them some dollars too.
Evacuation is going to be a trial. The gubmint has commandeered all buses and is vaccing them out near the convention center, but it is really ugly down there. I'm so worried for my friends still there. Is this what they are having to deal with?
Outside the Convention Center, the sidewalks were packed with people without food, water or medical care, and with no sign of law enforcement. Thousands of storm refugees had been assembling outside for days, waiting for buses that did not come.At least seven bodies were scattered outside, and hungry people broke through the steel doors to a food service entrance and began pushing out pallets of water and juice and whatever else they could find.
An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered with a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.
"I don't treat my dog like that," 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. "I buried my dog." He added: "You can do everything for other countries but you can't do nothing for your own people. You can go overseas with the military but you can't get them down here."
From WWLTV. And here's their really great moment by moment update.
P.S. And yes, I'm finally buying one of those wind up radios I've wanted for emergencies for ABOUT TEN YEARS. Such a dummy.
P.P.S. I still love dollies. They give me much comfort.
Just talked to Liz, who is holed up in the French Quarter. She sounded weary when she answered the phone. She is fine, the other 5 or 6 camping out in the apartment next door are fine. She said they are living Mad Max, Lord of the Flies & Dawn of the Dead all at once. It is crazy down there. The Quarter is still bone dry, she says. The very bastion of vice was spared, the Soiled Gold City on the Hill. There's a reason the Quarter has lasted so long. Vive le Vieux Carré!
She expects to be evacuated today. She's been told they will be bused out to Fort Polk, LA and from there she has plans to stay with friends and family. Timing is good because the tap water finally stopped working. Though she says they have enough supplies to hole up for months.
She hasn't heard from Michele & Rory since they walked back Uptown on Monday. But Uptown is rumored to be (relatively) dry.
She said the thugs emptied a gun shop. Oh joy!
She sounds exhausted, exhasperated and resigned. And that she needs to pack thirty years into a suit case.
From bad to worse... the remaining residents have been ordered to evacuate indefinately.
ALL RESIDENTS ON THE EAST BANK OF ORLEANS AND JEFFERSON REMAINING IN THE METRO AREA ARE BEING TOLD TO EVACUATE AS EFFORTS TO SANDBAG THE LEVEE BREAK HAVE ENDED. THE PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 12-15 FEET OF WATER ARE EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK.
The only reason I left New Orleans seven years ago was for the lucrative job market back home in the Bay Area. Egads, I love that city. The worries for my friends start all over again.
Still no word on Todd's house full o' kitties. But the Marigny wasn't flooded so we can only hope that the Bywater does as well.
Please donate what you can. Blood & money are desperately needed.
Another levee broke on Lake Ponchartrain yesterday, inundating yet another part of New Orleans with deep waters. The city is 80 percent under water.
My precious ones have checked in, they rode it out, but my poor sister city. Oh gawd. She's devastated. So many friends, so worried. So much destruction.
Burgundy & Touro, New Orleans
...This, to me, is the America worth fighting for. These are the laws I support. Don't believe in abortion? Don't understand gay people? Sexuality make you rashy? Think Harry Potter teaches kids evil and witchcraft? Don't marry a sexy gay witch abortionist.
I haven't been posting much. Apologies! Work has been super busy, and I'm on a tight budget so there's not a lot of shopping going on.
HOWEVER! I just got the ok from Mr. Kallisti to splurge on THIS:
"HOMEPRO" GROMMET/EYELET SETTING TOOL. A heavy duty free standing tool for setting eyelts and grommets. Has a 6" long reach and full adjustment for perfect compression control. Includes setting set for 7/32" (00) eyelet. Accessory die sets available for 3/32" and 1/8".eyelets (AT32)
OMG. I'm so excited! Tiny corset factory. No more hammering and bringing the house down, or squeezing with my tiny hand. Ow.
Also got a pair of S17 eye candies yesterday for Ondine. Made the surprising discovery that they're not actually glass! They're some kind of plastic. Poor Grace didn't even know... she's trying to figure out where the miscommunication was. They are still very lovely. And sparkly. And silvery. And they photograph reasonably well, not at all like mac creative or glastic acrylics (bleh).
Um, what else? Oh! This is the funniest thing ever. I love Mark Morford, our local firebrand columnist. He's awesome. TELL IT LIKE IT IS!!!
Not only are "freedom fries" still on the menu on Capitol Hill, but those responsible for the best funny of 2003 are actually having second thoughts.
In a fit of patriotic pique, Reps. Walter Jones and Bob Ney led an effort in March 2003 to rename Capitol french fries "freedom fries" to mark their displeasure with French opposition to the war in Iraq. But in an interview with North Carolina's News & Observer last month, Jones said: "I wish it had never happened."The North Carolina Republican has come full circle on the war. When he and Ney were pulling their freedom fries stunt, Jones was a vocal supporter of the war who claimed to be "discouraged more than I can say" by "France's self-serving politics of passive aggression in this effort." Today, Jones sounds -- well, he sounds a little French, doesn't he? He says that the United States went to war "with no justification," and he wonders if the president lied to the American people. "If we were given misinformation intentionally by people in this administration, to commit the authority to send boys, and in some instances girls, to go into Iraq, that is wrong," Jones told the News & Observer. "Congress must be told the truth."
It is more than refreshing when folks can admit that something went horribly wrong, even if they originally thought it was a damn fine idea.
Sorry this is my first entry since Friday. Even Mr. Kallisti is missing my posts! I've been very busy and alternately very tired.
In the meantime, check out this post from my brother! More soon from the archives...
I haven't seen the exhibition yet... but eek! They're oozing. Can't wait to find out what, polymer or body fat?
When you're a republican. :p
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California, told the Associated Press that the ethics allegations against DeLay might fade away "except you've got jerks like Chris Shays who get notoriety by being disloyal to their fellow Republicans." And no less of a moral authority than Rush Limbaugh piled on yesterday, saying: "It's going to take a lot more than you, Chris Shays, to get rid of someone who's decent and good and moral and upstanding and a fighter, and that's Tom DeLay."That's the same Tom DeLay who was admonished three times last year by the House ethics committee, the same Tom DeLay whose wife and daughter were apparently paid $500,000 by political organizations he controlled, the same Tom DeLay who, the Wall Street Journal said, "rode to power in 1994 on a wave of revulsion at the everyday ways of big government" but "has become the living exemplar of some of its worst habits."
(source)
He's as crooked as they come. I just don't understand the need to rally in the face of selling your soul to the devil.
Don't get it. Nope.
Ya know, there ARE good Republicans out there, why are "they" so against finding some and putting them forward? Oh er... because the agenda of the current administration would make the skin of a good Republican crawl. A bunch of sell-outs. And that goes for both sides. Rawr.
EDIT: And this just in...
April 13, 2005 | Washington -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, hoping to hold support among fellow Republicans, urged GOP senators Tuesday to blame Democrats if asked about his ethics controversy and accused the news media of twisting supportive comments so they sounded like criticism.Officials said DeLay recommended that senators respond to questions by saying Democrats have no agenda other than partisanship, and are attacking him to prevent Republicans from accomplishing their legislative program. One Republican said the Texan referred to a "mammoth operation" funded by Democratic supporters and designed to destroy him as a symbol of the Republican majority.
The plot thickens.
Read this.
(um, ugly politics just don't go with my new fluffy candy carnival layout. hey! isn't that the name of the new bloo blythe coming out? I think she'll be Miss Blastmilk 2005.)
If the concept of a campaign on the "culture of life" weren't so frightening and hypocritical, it'd be funny.
Oh man.
Those wacky pseudo-republican neo-cons bowing to pressure from a freak minority. Wow.
I think, and this was shown with Roe v. Wade over and over, that Americans, no matter which side of the fence they fall on, find decisisions about life and death should be private, within the family, and that family unit should not be threatened by governement intervention regarding their most private decisions.
DeLay called on the Senate to pass a broader bill, championed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.,The proposed Protection of Incapacitated Persons Act, which the House passed before agreeing to a narrower Senate bill that dealt only with Schiavo, would give jurisdiction to federal courts in any case in which there are questions about withholding food or medical treatment from an incapacitated person.
I feel completely bulldozed by a small group of creepy fanatics and those who pander to them. Thank god the judges stuck to the letter of the law and evidence as presented ad infinitim.
It seems, if the "culture of life" fanatics have their way, you wouldn't be able to make end of life decisions at all, even if they were in writing! Either that or they're *cough* hypocrits. If it is murder for the husband to make the decision when one in writing is lacking, is it not murder to make the decision yourself beforehand? Can you never "pull the tube"? Funny, Tom DeLay has had to pull the plug on loved ones. But that was different. Right.
"I never thought I'd see the day when a U.S. judge stopped feeding a living American so that they took 14 days to die," De Lay said yesterday.
Um. Asshole, it happens EVERY DAY. There are tens of thousands of people in a persistant vegetative state in this country, and their families (and yes, sometimes judges) have to make this decision every single day. Not to mention the gazillions on other forms of life support.
Also,
On Wednesday, Judge Stanley Birch Jr., a conservative appointed by the former President George H. W. Bush, wrote a rebuke of Bush and Congress. He said the action by the White House and lawmakers was "demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people -- our Constitution."
The utter hypocrisy of campaigning for a culture of life while cutting medicaid, school lunch programs, food stamps et al makes my little head spin. You want Terri Schiavo to live in a vegetative state for the rest of her life, but do they want to pay the $80,000 a year it costs for the bed and care? Her parents TRIED to take care of her. They had her at home and it was too much. They couldn't do it.
Barring the lack of a living will, who has the right to make the decision for you, your husband or Tom DeLay? Your parents or Dubya?
Fuck that.
In any case, the past two weeks have been horrifying to watch. I don't think it matters what your personal feelings on the matter are, most people are sickened at the idea that the goverment can just step in, willy nilly, and make these decisions for you.
And for the record, if it had been me? I would have let her parents have her, disagree as I might. Terri isn't/wasn't suffering any more. The parents and family clearly were. However, I do believe Michael Schiavo was doing what he thought was right.
The usual SF Chronicle articles:
btw - I write these entries all the time, I just don't usually post them. Why now? I think I'd like to go on record as saying "you people are NUTS!"
Also, you should read Andrew Sullivan every day.
NOTE: If you actually read this post all the way through, please leave even the briefest comment.
If my comment fields are empty I'll keep it to myself (mostly) in the future. Heh. Or maybe not. Nyah!
EDIT: Oh, and my juiciest nugget didn't even make it in. Bush, as usual=HYPOCRITE
The Texas law, Mayo said, tends to keep such cases out of court, allowing life-support decisions to be made privately. However, within the last month two Houston cases went to court. One case resulted in a baby being removed from life support; he died soon afterward. The other led to the transfer of an elderly man to a nursing home.
March 14, 2005 | San Francisco -- A judge ruled Monday that California can no longer justify limiting marriage to a man and a woman, a legal milestone that if upheld on appeal would pave the way for the nation's most populous state to follow Massachusetts in allowing same-sex couples to wed..."The state's protracted denial of equal protection cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional," Kramer wrote.
Edit: A link you can read at the Chronicle if you don't have a Salon subscription.
