Himillsy for RAC

Sometimes I'm not sure why I still live here.

And then I remember: my mother-in-law is here. Right.

Anyway, I left NoVA on the Blue line at 8:20 this morning. The train kept stalling in the tunnel. The conductor said this was due to "mechanical problems" in the train in front of us. Sometime around Rosslyn, there was a blue spark outside the car and we lost power. By 9:20, we'd pulled into Foggy Bottom, where we were unceremoniously dumped. I walked the rest of the way to my office, arriving sometime before 10:00.

Of course, there were no mechanical problems. There was a "suspicious package" somewhere else on the line. And the blue spark? Stopping at Foggy Bottom? Well, who knows the deal there.

What I do know is that if I am going to continue to take this stupid train every day for the rest of my life or until we finally move to a humble homestead with attached recording studio somewhere in Oregon, I can't keep up the lemming-like reliance on the system to sort itself out.

Thankfully, WMATA is searching for members to fill up its Rider Advisory Council. Who would like to bet with me whether those selected are regular riders of rail and bus, or even patrons of systems in New York, San Francisco, London and Paris? Will they have even ridden Metro in the last year? How many own and drive cars on days when Metro is unreliable (like, say, the month of January)?

Insert laughter. Acerbic laughter. And the requisite Metro board joke.

Apply here.

Where the Leaders Are - Daschle Edition

So the line out now is that Tom Daschle is interested in getting back into politics, possibly for a 2008 run. Here's what he has been up to since his term expired in January:

Joined CB Richard Ellis Board of Directors. Will be keynote speaker at Iowa Jefferson-Jackson dinner on Nov. 5.

....And that's about it.

Porn Squad, Female Chauvinist Pigs, and Other Names for Nonexistent Rock Bands

There's an old slam-poem by a married couple from Brooklyn that says something like "we'll keep our money in between the pages of a homosexual erotica coffee table book/and call it a savings account/and that's as patriotic as this family gets."

So it is in a lot of houses, the Dodd-Sorbeck house not excluded. But erotica, porn, hardcore -whatever you call it- is having a bad week. The Washington FBI field office is now recruiting for a Porn Squad, a ridiculous new initiative aimed at eliminating "obscenity", a nebulous idea that has historically failed definition. We're not talking about protecting kids here: the WP reported that the FBI "must devote 10 agents to adult pornography" (emphasis mine). Obscenity, as it turns out, is an offshoot of public corruption, and as such falls fourth on the FBI's list of priorities (just behind terrorism, cyber attacks, and international espionage, but before civil rights and violent crime. I am not kidding). Rest well tonight, children of America, in the knowledge that you could inherit a porn-free United States. It may be violent, discriminatory, and grossly unprepared for natural disaster, but it will be porn-free.

Additionally, two new books have landed blaming porn for a variety of ills: Pornified and Female Chauvinist Pigs. The former is a sad account of a dismal society in which women want men, men want sex, and the porn industry wants to make a buck off them all. Ultimately, warns author Pamela Paul, men will become so engaged with the airbrushed, instant-gratification world of porn, that men won't want real, live women at all. She shares alarmist vignettes from men who find live women frustrating for their smells, shapes, or individual needs, and stops short of claiming that this is the beginning of the end of live male-female relationships. Female Chauvinist Pigs focuses on what Pornified ignores completely: the sharp rise in female consumption of porn. Porn has always had fans, but FCP argues that it's modern women who have pushed it into the mainstream. Echoing Pamela Paul, author Ariel Levy provides anecdotes outlining women's actual, secret dislike of porn, while they outwardly embrace and promote it. Women don't watch porn because they like it, Levy writes, but because they want to be the porn stars that men appreciate.

So what? If a handful of women are silly enough to pretend to love something they hate so that they'll attract a certain man, then this is the stuff of individual therapy visits, not national policy. And if two people have a disagreement about whether porn is appropriate within the context of their relationship, then that's something for them to work out, not call in the FBI. Whether Paul or Levy had any sense of the possibility of a Porn Squad when they wrote their books isn't important; their books and the Porn Squad come from a fundamentally similar position: that people can't be trusted to make their own decisions and must be protected from themselves.

Yay.

I'm not prone to the overly sentimental. But you know that feeling you got when you were small and you were dropped off at preschool? That horrifying sense of dread that you would be there forever, with the group leader that mixed up the names of all the Thundercats, and the smelly kid who slurped his own mucus as it ran down his face? And you know that feeling you got when your dad finally showed up to take you home? This is sort of like that.

Open Letters - September 19, 2005

Dear Today,

You and I are so over. I don't mean that in a cute, "Himillsy's trying to write a clever letter to a manmade occurrence" way. I really do hate you, for the following reasons:

1. The debt collection agency that called me today and convinced me for a heart-stopping hour that I owed $4,000, payable this afternoon.
2. The university that neglected to process my consolidation paperwork, thus inducing a phone call from above debt collection agency.
3. Caffeine, and lack thereof.
4. Husband does not charge phone. This is a gripe we will likely revisit on other days.
5. The nonexistence of a birth control that is effective, safe, and has few side effects. This weekend, I gave up the crying jags and nightly vomiting to give charting a try. My colleague and good buddy just ran sobbing out of the office looking for a chart of her own. Science has had 50 years to perfect the Pill and all we get are variations on the same hormones?
6. Tori Spelling's divorce. No one ever thinks about the fans.
7. The implementation of TimesSelect, the most pompous, elitist move by a pompous, elitist institution this side of the Patriot Act. The New York Times is charging its readers for access to certain columnists. Which means that Nicholas Kristof's one-man-crying-in-the-wilderness op-eds on global poverty and social injustice, subjects no one ever cared about until TV told them to, will be ignored by the very people that were finally about to read them.

Actually, TimesSelect offers some tantalizing experiments with copyright infringement. It would be illegal and unethical for a blogger to purchase a subscription and post the columns on a blog for The People (trust me, I checked). But it wouldn't be illegal to post excerpts with full citation. So if anyone would like to make a lil Stick It To the Times blogring with me, I'd be delighted.

Anyway, Monday, I'm off to your visit your corporate underwriter for some much needed coffee.

Love,
Himillsy

Providing Fodder for Homophobes Nationwide

If a same-sex animal couple were to, say, break up and start seeing opposite-sex partners, it probably wouldn't be scientific, logical, or ethical to make any assumptions about what this means for the rest of the animal kingdom, especially humans. There are over 200 identified species that engage in homosexual, polysexual, and bisexual behavior. The breakup of one couple shouldn't mean jack.

Of course, if you're Fox News, it's one of your headlining stories today. Yay journalism!

You All Owe Me Ten Dollars.

I predicted this when Extreme Makeover first came out. And I'm not surprised at all.

Check out the self-proclaimed "ugly" woman's photograph. She's really very lovely.

Aren't you all glad that we're not in high school anymore?

Where the Leaders Are - Part 2

Thanks to kind words from the Senator and just because I'm curious, CI will regularly present updates on the activities of the 2008 presidential contenders.

In a week largely dedicated to Katrina action and Katrina finger-pointing, our usual suspects were much more on-target than they were last week.

Joe Biden: Attended a Democratic fundraiser. Will take part in the confirmation hearings of John Roberts beginning today in Washington.
Hillary Clinton: Appeared on all three morning shows Wednesday. Rejected Bush plan for administrative probe into Katrina response over independent inquiry. A WP article referred to Clinton as "the national spokesperson for the Democratic party" and suggested imminent backlash for her role in Katrina criticism. Remodeled her home, nicknamed "the White-House-in-waiting".
John McCain: Delayed hearings on mandatory drug testing in major league sports in the midst of Katrina relief. Introduced relief fund aimed at assisting LSU with over 3,000 students absorbed after the disaster.
Barack Obama: Appeared on ABC's "This Week" addressing race and ignorance about inner cities. Appeared on BET Saving OurSelves telethon for Katrina relief. Accused John Roberts of ignorance on matters of race and the law.
Condoleezza Rice: Released statement on Japanese elections. Welcomed new Human Rights Envoy to North Korea. Called for international support on Iran sanctions. Appeared on BET Saving OurSelves telethon for Katrina relief.

Who's off the Biden bandwagon? Times are a-changing, folks.

"Passive indifference is just as bad as active malice."

So says Barack Obama, who has emerged from the hurricane disaster as a hands-on, reasoned counterpart to all the administration's nonsense. I have nothing to add to this. Just wanted to make sure that no one missed it amidst the junk that passes for sagacity.

Work is very busy today, so look for another update on your 2008 leaders later on this afternoon.

This isn't news, it's a timeout

It's official: Brown was relieved of duty this afternoon. On the same day that I bring Super-Nutty Brownies to the office. I like to think I'm responsbile.

Really, though: relieved of duty just means "sent back to the office". The administration looked at Brown's gross mismanagement of a long-anticipated natural disaster, his failure to own up to his mistakes, the apparent falsification of his own credentials and responded by...giving him a timeout.

What does it take to get incompetent people fired from this administration? Dead Iraqis, dead American soldiers, and now dead American citizens clearly haven't made any impact.

Oh, Those Interns . . .

Time Magazine is reporting that Michael Brown padded his resume.

Brown has a biographical section on the FEMA Web site (which I'm sure has been taken down by now, but I haven't chekced) said he served "as an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight." in Edmond, Okla. A spokeswoman for the city, however, tells Time that Brown's position was "more like an intern."

Know what the only truth on his resume that makes him qualified for the FEMA job?

Fundraiser for George W. Bush.

And I'm not even kidding.

Like I said: Business as usual.

Update: Time also reported that, while Brown's profile on FindLaw.com lists him as an "outstanding Political Science Professor" at Central State University, the school contends that he was merely a student. He also claimed to be director of the Oklahoma Christian Home, but no one at the home has ever heard of Brown. You can't make this stuff up!

Update: Michael Brown has been relieved of any and all duties relating to the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts. Hurl all future insults toward Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen.

In Case You Missed It

Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee and the Texas Association of Business have been indicted by a federal grand jury. District Attorney Ronnie Earle said that the two organizations worked to sidestep the election code and funnel corporate wealth into republican congressional campaigns. His laundry list of alleged offenses and ethics violations notwithstanding, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has not been indicted himself, though he was a founding member of TRMPAC. I will not charge that Tom DeLay is guilty of anything, but it seems a little odd that everyone with whom he's shared a handshake is being indicted . . .

One could argue that it's not just the presidency that has been held fraudulently over the past five years, but several seats in the House as well. Florida, Ohio, and now Texas. Political corruption and scandal on a nationwide scale!

Looks like it's business as usual for the Grand Ol' Party . . .

Playing the Blame Game - On the Victims

In an essay titled, "Katrina's Silver Lining", David Brooks writes in today's NYT that the storm has provided an opportunity for extremely poor people to do a lot better.

David, have you met Barbara? I think you two would hit it off.

Brooks outlines the typical conservative explanations for poverty: teenagers having babies, men that can't commit to a woman or a workplace, and poor social skills. Gee, no wonder his buddies were so slow to respond to the disaster. Who'd want to save this lot of lazy, sex-crazed, illiterates? They probably wear their pants low, too.

The solution that he proposes: rebuild New Orleans as a middle class city, and then integrate the poor into it. The poor will learn what Brooks calls "middle-class skills" and standards of behavior. They will then take these skills and build a better life. Brooks cites the Clinton program, "Moving to Opportunity" as an example of a successful cultural integration. What he doesn't mention is that although the progam worked well for many of the children, the parents saw no increase (either immediately or over time) in earnings or job opportunities. That makes cultural integration difficult to maintain, if not impossible. Unless, of course, Brooks is proposing government subsidies. But he's not; he proposes tax cuts for the working poor, many of whom don't actually pay taxes.

People like Brooks can't wrap their minds around the notion that widespread poverty is created by institutions and ignorance just like his. They like their poor noble and tragic, or unquestionably deserving. What a person's poverty has to do with their infidelity is beyond me, but to conservatives of Brooks' ilk, it's just karmic retribution for not obeying a moral code, and lacking access to the social training that bred the middle class. What is this middle-class skill set and why is it so valuable? Cut through the bullshit: Brooks is suggesting that if poor people changed their names from Diamonte and Tiffany, wore different clothes, and changed their tastes, they'd be more employable. Katrina's silver lining is the opportunity to colonize the culture of the poor.

But what do you expect from a crowd that bombed a city to give its children a better place to live?

Washington is Hollywood for Ugly People

My apologies for my absence on the blog as of late. We've got a new boss down at the ol' nonprofit mills and the work is pouring in. I'm working on a lengthy post about race in America from a different perspective and will post that shortly.

In the meantime, the Rehnquist funeral is about to take place on my block. The streets are closing in half an hour and no cars will be allowed to park within four blocks of my office. Kinda makes one proud to be transported publicly. Excuse me, I have to go stare through the picture window for five hours.

Scratch That. It's "The King of Vacations"

Just days after Pat Robertson called for the assasination of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan leader offered troops and aid to help with relief efforts resulting from the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. Critics and pundits believe he's simply playing a political game, taunting Bush and the American political right. Chavez's words have been, well, less than kind; he has criticized the administration, saying in a speech on August 31st, "As more information comes out now, a terrible truth is becoming evident: That government doesn't have evacuation plans." He called Bush "The King of Vacations," and decried his lack of leadership before, during, and after the storm: "There were many innocent people who left in the direction of the hurricane. No one told them where they should go."

Probably Chavez is taunting Bush.

But that doesn't mean he isn't absolutely 100% right.

Bush's New Nickname: "The Flash"

Isn't it phenomenal how quickly George W. Bush acted upon the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist? Less than 36 hours after reports of Rehnquist's passing, Bush's nomination of John Roberts for Associate Justice was withdrawn, and his nomination for of Roberts for Chief Justice was announced. During the address, Bush said, "It is in the interest of the court and the country to have a chief justice on the bench on the first full day of the fall term."

I'm glad to know that, when this nation is thrown into a crisis. such as when the Chief Justice of the Supreme dies and the vacancy threatens to disrput the activity of the high court, George W. Bush is there to save the American people.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Worst Case Scenario Doesn't Even Begin to Describe It

For the sixth day in a row, we have woken to an America that was different from the one we left the night before. That sound that woke you this morning wasn’t that of thousands of people trapped in New Orleans, but the final death knell of the fair and independent judiciary.

Whether or not you agreed with the opinions William Rehnquist penned while sitting on the Supreme Court as its Chief Justice, you have to respect him. Rehnquist came from the old school of conservative politics. He made no excuses for how he believed America should operate, didn’t get tossed around in the ebb and flow of the tide of public opinion, didn’t listen to the either the new breeds of progressive or conservative politicians. The last months of his life are a testament to his independence; while George W. Bush was anticipating Rehnquist’s retirement, salivating for yet another chance to cement his legacy, the Chief Justice continued to go to work despite his failing health. He pushed through, it seems, because he wasn’t about to let some kid from the new school, someone who kowtows to the religious right while pandering to the moderates and giving the finger to the left, tell him when his time was up. Rehnquist believed what he believed without the baggage of the bible, without the sometimes-unfortunate ire of the public. Because of that the Chief Justice, whether you liked his politics or hated them, was able to hang onto something that most people lose when they come to Washington; his honesty, his integrity, his sense of who he was.

That, of course, is all going to change with the next crop of justices. John Roberts and whoever comes along to replace Rehnquist will be Bush’s boys. The funny thing about Roberts is that he’s already being influenced by public opinion; all of his legal writings that have been scrutinized over the past six weeks have been defended vehemently by Republicans as simply Roberts’ hand recording the words of the Reagan administration. So his legal musings against abortion, equal pay for women, and affirmative action are admittedly reprehensible, personal opinions that have no place on a court that will guide us through the uncharted territory of the 21st century. Yet the administration for which he was writing is held up as the greatest republican administration in history. Bush will nominate someone just as radical (if not more so) than Roberts to fill the vacancy left by Rehnquist’s death, and a similar scene will play itself out. They’ll marginalize his or her legal atrocities, those racist, sexist, classist, elitist rulings that allowed those with power and money to oppress those without while focusing on his or her (few) good qualities. When the court convenes in October, two of the justices will be in Bush’s pocket because that’s how the administration operates; nepotism and favoritism (oh, yeah, and racism, sexism, classism, and elitism, in case that doesn’t go without saying). Good old fashioned republican back scratching.

Look around. See the America you know? The one that has degenerated into an underhanded quasi-theocracy/kakistocracy over the past five years? The one that has allowed people to suffer and die in New Orleans and Iraq? The one that traded civil liberties for “homeland security,” only to be exposed as helpless and impotent in the face of crisis? It’s about to get worse a whole lot worse. The shadow of the formerly great nation will fade further, and before you know it you’ll wake up and you won’t even recognize it as America.

But there is hope.

Write your senators. Now. No matter their party affiliation, they will listen to the overwhelming cry of the public because while Supreme Court Justices are supposed to ignore public opinion, legislators are BOUND to it. Your role as a citizen in this democracy is to tell them what to do. If you feel it is too early after the disaster in New Orleans to worry about filling Rehnquist’s seat on the bench, tell them. If you feel that Bush’s nominees are too radical, that the fate of this country rests on a progressive judiciary that interprets the constitution as a living document, tell them.

Tell them something. Anything. Raise your voices, America. Be heard.

'My Pet Goat' Is Much Better On The Second Read . . .

James Jay Carafano, senior fellow for National Security and Homeland Security at the Cuckoo’s Nest—excuse me, the Heritage Foundation—has coughed up a ridiculous “web memo” evaluating the response to Hurricane Katrina. We would like to share it with you.

Anyone watching cable news knows what needs to be done. But watching a disaster on television is one thing, and dealing with the realities on the ground is another. Getting into an area that has experienced the equivalent of a nuclear strike, absent the explosion, fire, and radiation is another. It is a monumental challenge.

I don’t believe that anyone will disagree with Carafano on this point. There is no frame of reference in which to work for a disaster of this magnitude (although we did send rescue workers to areas affected by the tsunami; someone somewhere in America has experience with a similar situation). The line about the situation in New Orleans being like a nuclear strike without the explosion, fire, and radiation is way off base, most notably because the people of New Orleans would have been better served after a nuclear attack. If only to show up the enemy, push out our chest as if to say, “your puny weapons are no match for American will power,” or some such patriochismo, Bush would have not only launched counter strikes, but would have made every attempt to get survivors out alive. For the endless photo ops! Also, a flood is not the equivalent of a nuclear strike, no matter how many attributes or effects one exempts from the comparison.

The notion that under these impossible conditions the dire needs of the city could be efficiently addressed in a few days is simply ludicrous . . . This is the kind of crisis the federal government must be prepared to tackle—a disaster that exceeds the capacity of state and local governments. As such, it is a fair test for the newly established Department of Homeland Security and the national response systems put in place since 9/11. We should learn from this tragedy whether we have the right kinds of resources and programs in place to provide an adequate national response to catastrophic disaster—either natural or manmade. We should, however, temper our expectations with realism.

No one is asking that every need be addressed in a matter of days because, yes, that would be ludicrous. Americans are asking for common sense. This is the second time that we’ve seen President Bush paralyzed by the pressure of a disaster. He did absolutely nothing to brace the region for Katrina’s impact, and has done very little to help in the aftermath. Need I remind you, dear internet, that the major levy in New Orleans was breached before dawn on Tuesday? That the Canadian deputy prime minister called on Monday to offer services and support? We didn’t want the problem solved; that’s not reasonable. What we wanted was comfort, assurance, and leadership, to know that someone was in control, that someone was calling the shots.

If this is a test, then the government, the administration, and the Department of Homeland Security have all failed. They have failed the American people, and it will end up costing thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars. This marks the second time Bush has failed to act on information that could have prevented thousands of deaths. The first instance was in August 2001. While vacationing in Crawford—surprise!!—a memo came across his desk saying something . . . I don't really remember, but something like, blah blah, bin Laden, blah, terrorist attacks, blah, blah, American soil. Or something. He ignored it. Fast forward four years. While vacationing in Craford he, like the rest of us, surely, saw the weather reports on TV, watched as the massive storm gained strength while raging toward the Gulf Coast. Each time, he did nothing. Each time, he let people die. God knows he couldn’t stop a hurricane, but he could have evacuated more people, could have started sending supplies to the outlying areas, to the Superdome, to Baton Rouge, could have formulated a series of contingency plans. Instead we got nothing. Inaction.

It should be noted that in 2003, however, he pushed his way past the U.N. and right into Iraq, violated the sovereignty of another nation based solely on bad intelligence and fabricated nonsense. While I agree that meteorologists are not the most dependable people around, at least they base their reports on scientific evidence, on cold, hard (albeit ever-changing) data rather than conjecture and speculation. Oh. That’s right. Bush doesn’t believe in science.

Supposing the President will do everything he can to keep Americans out of harm's way is an expectation "tempered with realism," don't you think?

Attention Animal Lovers!

Hurricane Katrina has left hundreds of animals homeless. The Metairie Small Animal Clinic alone is currently caring for 175 cats and dogs that were separated from their owners during the evacuation and the subsequent flooding.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) will be teaming up with Code 3 and the United Animal Nations and heading to Baton Rouge today with a 78-foot self-sufficient, mobile disaster response unit, to begin the emergency relief effort.

IFAW is askig for your help. The organization needs $130,000 to for immediate operations. 100% of all funds raised will go to help care for the now-homeless animals in the decimated Gulf Coast region, and to help rebuild the clinics and shelters that did not survive the storm.

For more information, or to make a donation, visit their website or call 1-800-932-IFAW (4329).

Canada No Longer the Object of Fun and/or Scorn

From a statement by Frank McKenna Canadian ambassador to the United States:

On Monday afternoon, our two governments made first contact after the terrible storm, when our Deputy Prime Minister spoke to Secretary Chertoff. Yesterday, our Prime Minister, Paul Martin, spoke to President Bush with the message, “at any time, in any way.” And we are ready to help, and, in the words of our Prime Minister "any and all possible assistance - and we will continue to work closely with our neighbours as they deal with this terrible event." We have troops and military assets standing by; we have disaster response personnel ready to go and we have medical supplies at your disposal.

You are our friends and together we are family — you do not suffer alone. We were there after 9/11 with volunteers, teams of rebuilding experts and in fundraisers and rallies across Canada. After our terrible ice storms in 1998, you were there to help us. In forest fires, floods and natural disasters, Canadians and Americans help each other.*

Say another bad thing about Canada and I will come to your house and punch you in the face.

At any rate, on Tuesday, September 7, The Canadaian Embassy will be hosting three benefits for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, with 100% of the proceeds going to the American Red Cross.

7:30 a.m. - Breakfast Benefit at the Canadian Embassy, 501 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
11:30 a.m. - Luncheon Benefit at the Canadian Embassy, 501 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
4:30 p.m. - Evening Benefit at Elephant and Castle Restaurant, 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Go. Have a Molson.

*Note that the Canadian government was offering to help the people of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi before the President had even thought to cut his vacation short.

File This Away Until 2008

Much has been made about the whereabouts of the president this week. It's interesting to note what other would-be leaders are up to:

Joe Biden: barbecue honoring...Joe Biden.
John McCain: birthday party honoring...John McCain (guess who's cutting the cake?).
Hillary Clinton: Called for FTC investigation into oil gouging, called for report on Plan B controversy (see my earlier post).
Condoleezza Rice: Vacation in NYC, featuring the musical "Spamalot" and shoe shopping.
VA Gov. Mark Warner: declared limited state of emergency in Virginia in order to activate hurricane relief.
VA Sen. George Allen: visited Lexington, VA to "help anyone having trouble with federal agencies".

Just something to think about once the rhetoric and self-aggrandizing begins...

Much Love for P. Kruggy

I will direct you to Paul Krugman's Op-Ed from today's New York Times. It gives you all the facts you need to know about the situation in New Orleans, how it could have been prevented, and why it wasn't. Besides, you know, the fact that the city's full of black people.

Also, from a different Times article on the president's trip to the region:

Before he departed for the region, he told reporters in Washington that "I'm
looking forward to my trip," but later, in Mobile, he said, "I'm not looking
forward to this trip."

I'm guessing that, between the two comments, one of Shrub's aides informed him that Mardi Gras is in February and that he would not be getting any beads.

Himillsy's Job Interview

At the risk of sounding over-confident and even arrogant, I think I rocked it out of the park. It went something like this:

Interviewer: So if money and location didn't matter, what would be your dream job?
Himillsy: Well, this morning I was watching a piece on the Today show this morning by a reporter who spent the night in the triage airport--
Interviewer: I don't watch Katrina coverage.
Himillsy: Oh. Um, you work in a newsroom.
Interviewer: Yeah. It kinda depresses me.
Himillsy: Oh. Then I guess my dream job is "rock star"
Interviewer: You really want me to put that down?
Himillsy: No. Please.

So I had more than a few foot-in-mouth moments. This was my first interview while employed elsewhere, and I think I came off as a know-it-all, flippant, and a little bit of a jerk. Oh well. We'll see next week.

Dear Mr. President,

There comes a time during the course of history when citizens must claim and exercise their right to redress grievances. For me, that time is long overdue. Given the situation in New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast region, I no longer feel right standing by while you ruin my country.

Like a baseball player who’s getting on in years, who’s lost some of his range in the field, who doesn’t have the pop in his bat that he used to, you need to hang up your cleats before you become and even greater detriment to your team. Mr. President, I am calling for your resignation.

You disgust me. No matter your motivation for the lackadaisical way in which you have responded to the crisis in New Orleans, your behavior over the past week has made me lose what little faith I had left in American representative democracy. That faith, which you have shredded, punctured, deflated and all but destroyed over the past five years, is gone. All that remains is hope. Call me unpatriotic—you and your ilk have manufactured a false notion that dissent is un-American, that disagreement (with a war, a policy, or a Supreme Court nominee) has no place in American democracy—but I can no longer revere even the office you occupy.

In the last five years, every undertaking your administration has attempted has fallen apart, crumbled to dust. Each time you deign to craft a legacy—No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the Global War on Terror (GWOT), the democratization of Iraq, the privatization of Social Security—you fail miserably, either through underwhelming public support, or, more likely, your own incredible incompetence. The constitutionality of NCLB is being challenged, in some way or other, in 47 of the 50 states. The GWOT is a joke: must I inquire as to the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden? Iraq is still without a stable, viable government, one that would allow the majority of our men and women in uniform a glorious and overdue homecoming. The privatization of Social Security has been scorned by the American people. You have the Reverse Midas Touch; everything you touch turns to shit.

Further, you have given enormous tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans while allowing more and more citizens to slip below the poverty line. You have signed your name to pork-laden legislation giving billions of dollars of tax breaks to hulking corporations while refusing to raise the minimum wage to a level commensurate with the cost of living. You have refused to put a cap on ever-rising fuel prices while your oil baron friends turn record profits. You have wrecked America’s credibility around the world with your brazen foreign policy tactics and your unjust war. You have stood by while members of your party have amassed illegal and unethical wealth at the expense of the American people. And you have driven a wedge between two halves of America, between red and blue, between democrat and republican. What used to be a civil (although still wildly inefficient) political process has transformed itself into a schoolyard in which the big kids beat up on the little kids. After 9/11, you created the Department of Homeland Security, ostensibly to help in situations such as the crisis currently facing New Orleans. The department has been exposed, much like your other creations, as yet another failure, another bungle. You have taken more vacation than any other president in America’s history, spending roughly 20% of your time in office in Crawford, Texas. If you keep this up, you will, by the end of your second term, have taken two years of vacation out of eight years in office. And this from a wartime president.

All of this, and now, the situation in New Orleans. You let those people suffer in the devastation, allowed them to die. You did nothing to brace the region before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, and did nothing to support the region during the two days following the storm. Aid was not sent. Boots were not put on the ground. This morning during your statement, you called the reaction to the storm “unacceptable.” The blood spilled in New Orleans, just like the blood spilled in Iraq, is on your hands, their deaths on your soul. How dare you call it anything less than criminal.

I sincerely hope the American people take this, finally, as their wakeup call. I, like, many Americans, have watched the television for days, waiting for the government to step in and do something, anything. Nothing. This ought to reveal more about your administration’s priorities than a thousand unjust wars; those you can cover up with bad intelligence and good intentions, buzzwords like “freedom” and “tyranny.” By all accounts, Katrina was poised to destroy New Orleans days before it actually happened, and you allowed it.

You are incompetent, impotent, dishonest, untrustworthy, brazen, stubborn, cocksure, wrongheaded, and incapable of owning up to your mistakes. You are interested only in helping a small percentage of Americans become as rich as they can as quickly as they can at the expense of the middle class and the poor. What has been apparent to me for years should be painfully obvious to everyone at present: human life means nothing to you. In the political arena, you’ve spoken at length about cultivating a “culture of life” in America. You no more want a “culture of life” than you want to raise taxes to help fund social programs. How many Iraqi civilians and soldiers have died on your watch? How many American soldiers and civilians? How many more have to die before you realize that you, and only you, are responsible for the blood flow? Your political agenda transcends human life.

You are a polarizing figure in American politics because of your profession of a deep, vast faith. You are a devout protestant, a born again. You claim your favorite philosopher to be Jesus Christ. Go back and read your Gospel, Mr. President. If there is an afterlife divided into a heaven and a hell, the latter would not be suitable punishment for your atrocities. Instead of being a God-revering man, you ought to be a God-fearing man.

Mr. President, you and your entire administration are unfit to serve as the leaders of America. Resign, Mr. President, before you dig us a hole out of which we cannot climb. Resign, Mr. President, before you put America in its grave.

Yours,
-WS

It's Morning in America and Boy Is She Pissed

Here's a sample of some of the editorials hitting breakfast tables this morning. This piece, from one of the nation's most conservative newspapers, sums up Americans' frustration and anger especially nicely.

If television is your scene, check out Anderson Cooper handing Sen. Landrieu her ass on CNN. (Scroll down for some video of police leisurely looting WalMart)

Matt Lauer had a minor freak-out while interviewing Tim Russert on the Today show this morning. As Tim Russert ticked off the names of newspapers, congresspeople, and officials that had expressed criticism of the administration's inaction, Lauer blurted (I'm paraphrasing), "Let's ask the blunt question. Let's get it out there. These people are poor and black. Most Americans haven't known until now -and shame on us for this- just how many people lived below the poverty line. And now they're out there with no help. What kind of a wake-up call do we need? These people have long slipped through the cracks and now the cracks just get wider." Here's hoping someone slips him a copy of Eugene Robinson's excellent editorial in today's WP.

And while we're all pointing fingers, the people still languish. It will be Sunday before the National Guard arrives. The Astrodome is full. Any action taken now will be just catch-up from all the time lost. The storm has been over for days.

An upside-down flag hangs over New Orleans as American refugees stream from one state to another. This isn't a movie, a video game, or a fun little exercise. This is the most disgraceful disregard for human life that I have ever seen in this country in my lifetime. What the hell does it take to get the president to care about the real people that he is supposed to lead?

The president is now making a statement live. More after my job interview.

Dear Internet

Internet, oh young and vibrant progeny of Al Gore, I have mislead you with my promises of a triumphant return. I am, once again, pretending to be the almighty editor, preparing for my eventual burial in a sarcophagus of bright white all-purpose office paper, and slowly being driven insane with stress. My boss decided to tack on another day of vacation by calling in sick.

Do not think me unfaithful, dear Internet! You are the only global network of computers for me! I will return to your loving, virtual arms soon, and, hopefully, for good.

More soon. For real this time.

Yours,
-WS

Who's in Charge Here?

Elderly people fall over dead suddenly, on sidewalks and standing against walls.

Children are airlifted to another state without their parents.

People live among dead and dying bodies, with no water, no toilets, and in stifling heat. Public health experts warn that a perfectly healthy 25-year-old could die from disease within three or four days.

Those with guns shoot at relief workers, doctors, and police. Only 14,000 people can be evacuated from the drowning city each day. The snipers hope to make someone notice them in the crowds.

Angry crowds scream at journalists who try to photograph the feces- and garbage-ridden streets. They hold their breath with every new visitor, in the hopes that this one will take them out of the city.

On rooftops, among rubble, and in overcrowded evacuation centers, people wait.

Here in DC, where we are comfortable and well-fed, we also wait.

Who is in charge here? Who has a plan for saving these people? Who is thinking about life after evacuation, and long-term rebuilding plans? Local agencies are bearing much of the burden. Agencies devoted to hunger and homelessness have kicked into high gear, as have hospitals and local rescue agencies, but they are running low on supplies, and some are completely tapped out.

This morning, the president gave an interview with Good Morning America, where he said, "I understand the anxiety of the people on the ground, but I want people to know there's a lot of help coming." Anxiety? Try desperation.

Here in my cubicle, in my normal-looking world, it can be difficult not to lose hope. The president gave an interview to a morning show, but he should have pre-empted every station. The president told Americans to cut back on their gas consumption and to hope for the best, but he should have laid out the specific plan in place, even if it wasn't his. The situation is very serious, and all anyone can seem to do is watch in horror, or just shrug and hope it all works out.

But I am watching several relief efforts come together here in town and across the nation, thanks to people proactive enough to lead. In Washington, people are lining up for a jazz show, and a happy hour, with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross. The restaurant industry has mobilized: On Sept. 12, DC chefs Jeff Tunks, Michel Richard, Roberto Donna, and Robert Wiedmaier are donating Louisiana po'boy sandwiches to residents that make donations to the Red Cross. On October 18, DC chefs will host another benefit at the Kennedy Center. And countless residents have already donated to their organization of choice.

Leadership is lacking right now, but the spirit of community is ever strong.

Blog for Relief Day

CI is a member of Hurricane Katrina: Blog for Relief Day. Please give what you can to the relief organization of your choice. I'm personally involved with supporting hunger relief agencies in the affected regions. Winter is donating to Habitat for Humanity, to support long-term rebuilding efforts. The need is great, but we can all pitch in. Just a reminder, you can visit Network for Good to view agencies involved with the relief and rebuilding.

Himillsy on Death Cab for Cutie's Plans

In 2003, I attended my third Death Cab for Cutie show at the Bowery in lower Manhattan. Transatlanticism had just been released, and so had Give Up. Soma.fm, the indie mainstay for my emo-loving heart, played Gibbard’s other, other band, All-Time Quarterbacks, on an almost constant loop. My country-devotee roommate had a similar affinity for Andrew Kenny’s folksy EP, which featured Gibbard as lead singer. Chris Walla was producing some of the coolest, catchiest albums in the country, in addition to his own. Gibbard and Walla ruled the music world, as far as I was concerned. I stood by the stage mouthing the words to every song. When Gibbard sat at the keyboard to play the achingly slow title track to the latest release, there was a palpable tension in the air, the feeling of something happening.

Something was happening, but I didn’t realize it until I came home early the next morning. As I rolled off the Greyhound bus, I saw a gaggle of preteen girls wearing identical DCFC tshirts and ragged sneakers hovering outside Union Station. “They’re, like, so deep and awesome,” the tallest one was explaining to no one in particular. “I listen to the CD, like, all the time.”

Emo died that morning. From that moment on, it became a parody of itself. It wore dirty Chuck Taylors and big glasses, too-small tshirts and thrift-store skirts. It couldn’t tell the difference between the organic emo bands and the inorganic ones designed to make a dollar off of the success of bands like DCFC. It embraced irony to the point that the joke was on the ironists –you can’t visit a karaoke bar, bowling alley, or Dollar Tree “ironically”; at some point, you’re a real participant. Emo, and anyone who admitted to liking it, was as sad as those fools who relished disco culture.

Which brings me to DCFC’s new album, Plans. The album, like previous albums, seems wholly conscious of its place in time. Gone is the gentle acoustic guitar. The jarring twang of a Casio keyboard is now replaced by the polished sound of full accompaniment, including a trumpet and electronic mixing. It’s not the Death Cab we knew before; it’s the Death Cab that guests on “The O.C.” and writes M&M commercials in their spare time.

The album, a concept record based around the theme of loss, follows another timely trend: it’s impossible to listen straight through. This defeats the purpose of a concept record. The songs are too similarly crafted to handle all at once. There is no progression, no resolution. The album begins with a pipe organ reminiscent of a funeral, and ends with death in a hospital room. The songs in between are frustrated expressions of loneliness coupled with promises of love and loyalty beyond this life. Some are as delicately lovely as “Transatlanticism” (“I Will Follow You Into the Dark”, most notably), but as a collection, they go nowhere.

Inexplicably, the songs don’t even sound like Gibbard wrote them. They all lack the sweetly literal phrasing and the wrenching storytelling of classic DCFC. Remember Tranatlanticism’s “Sound of Settling”? When Gibbard sang that as an old man, he would “sit in wonder/of every love that could have been/if I’d only thought of something charming to say”, he summed up a lot of lives in a couple of lines. “Information Travels Faster”, “Photobooth”, and the marginally absurd “Scientist Studies” spun straightforward but engaging tales out of common situations, while songs like “405” and “Why You’d Want to Live Here” expressed simple sentiments with such passion that the listener regarded the feelings with a fresh perspective. Yes, in fact, living in a polluted city is the Dumbest Thing Ever and driving with a hangover Sucks It Even Worse Than I Ever Considered! But the songs on Plans don’t strive for that depth. Any emotional connection I felt through “Marching Bands in Manhattan” was ruined by the mind-numbing repetition of the chorus. Some songs are so generic that they’re pointless. “Different Names for the Same Thing” attempts to convey loneliness in the city, but the song is only eight lines long. Ditto “Brothers on a Hotel Bed”, which tells the broadly written story of two lovers that no longer connect. The song is a single verse long, with another chorus repeated ad nauseam.

I love them for trying. But I wonder why this record feels so half-assed. Gibbard and Walla have long been two of the hardest-working people in music, able to produce two or more fantastic and richly varied records simultaneously. Here’s hoping for a stronger next album and covers of all my favorites at the show in October.

Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?

Yesterday, Wonkette ran the resignation letter of Dr. Susan F. Wood, Director of the Office of Women's Health at the Federal Drug Administration. Wood wrote:

I have spent the last 15 years working to ensure that science informs good health policy decisions. I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overruled.

Today, Concerned Women for America have fired back that Wood's motivation was political and had nothing to do with science. Their justification:

While claiming to be a champion for women at the FDA, where has Susan Wood been as numerous women have died after taking the dangerous abortion drug, RU-486? What has she done to ensure unsuspecting women are not taken advantage of by abortionists who ignore the FDA's guidelines on RU-486, putting their health and lives at risk?

At no point no point does the press release disagree with Wood's claims about the safety of Plan B or that politics stood in the way of its approval (in fact, the press release reminds us that if Plan B were approved, it would no doubt be peddled to schoolchildren). Instead, CWA takes the typical neocon approach: 1) offering a red herring and 2) claiming that their opponent is of low character. Who cares whether the pill is safe, women need it, or the director of the Women's Health Office at the FDA has the experience and training the make those calls --we can't even get that far in a discussion. We're still stuck at, "Yeah, but she's a liberal radical feministhead."

Thanks for elevating the discourse, gals. You make me proud to have a vagina.