The Conservative Zone

There is an organization that needs your help. It is in desperate dire straits and without our help, it will go under. And if it goes under, many, many other people will be affected.

I'm talking about Air America. With ratings that require an electron microscope to read, with content that makes all but the most Liberal among us nauseous, they are going down. And it is up to us to prevent it.

Why, you ask? Have you ever heard about the Fairness Doctrine? It was a law passed in the 50's that meant if you had one view of something, you had to give at least some time to the opposite view. This was shot down by President Reagan in the 80's and again by President Bush. But if it comes up again with Hillary in the White House, it will surely be signed into law. Which will kill Talk Radio.

Unless the opposing view has their own network. Which, for the moment, it does.

I personally would like to donate $250 to the cause, simply because I want Al Frankin to say "Thank you for your donation The Conservative Zone." That should hurt his mouth enough to make some teeth fall out. At least I can hope.

Now, living on $734 a month, I don't have that kind of money laying around. So if you want to donate to me, I will save it up and pass the donation along to Air America.

What do you think? Please donate so they won't have to skim off another childrens agency.

Posted by Mark at 7:44 PM | Permalink

Well, it seems that the Democrats will stop at nothing to get what they want. Ronnie Earle Cleared DeLay Two Weeks Ago.

You find out that you've been all but cleared of any wrongdoing, then you get hit with a nebulous conspiracy charge and everything changes.

Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle's announcement yesterday that he was indicting House Majority Leader Tom DeLay came a little more than two weeks after Earle gave clear indications that the top Republican was off the hook.

"I have never said that DeLay is a target of the investigation," Earle told the Dallas Morning News on Sept. 10.

So why the indictment?

DeLay says reports that he was off the hook prompted a firestorm of outrage from national Democrats, who pressured Earle to reverse course.

"Do you really believe that the national Democrat leaders that announced that they were going to take this strategy ... never picked up the phone and talked to Ronnie Earle?" he asked the Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" Wednesday night.

An interesting point, one unfortunately that will never be proven, at least without a court order for phone records.

In this case, a glancing hit is just as good as a bullseye. Even if DeLay beats the rap, the damage will have been done. He will always be known as the "formerly indicted" Senator.

Posted by Mark at 7:33 PM | Permalink

Sorry, but I have been getting up late lately, and I've run out of time. I have to report to you on the Valerie Plame matter, Tom DeLay, and I need your help in helping Air America.

I'll see you tonight.

Posted by Mark at 10:15 AM | Permalink

Well, I found the OKCupid! on Say Uncle and took it. Here are my results:

You are a Social Liberal (68% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (66% permissive) You are best described as a: Libertarian Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

I don't put a lot of faith in this, as I didn't like the way a lot of the questions were asked. However, I'm stuck with the answer, until I can figure out how to shave the test that is. ;-)

Posted by Mark at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In case you didn't know it, Mike and I get together every Wednesday and play Epic:Armageddon, a 6mm scale wargame. You can do a search on the Zone for Epic and see all of the posts that I have done on the subject.

Anyway, Mike has picked up the book The Art of Maneuver and it has improved his game markedly. His strategies are more thought out and "crisper" in execution. Then he loaned me his Library copy. So now I am picking up all of the same tips and hints he has been using on me recently.

I bring this book up because he has gotten a lot more confident of his game since reading it and has been trying "Mind Fu" or trying to psych me out before the game ever begins. Little does he know I have no mind to psych out ;-). Anyway, armed with only the first 67 pages of the book, I went into our battle today. I did Mind Fu right back at him, not by psyching him out, but be concentrating on his weakness and applying it against him.

Our first game lasted a grand total of 15 minutes. My changing tactics on him caught him and his forces flat-footed. His Space Marines had no anti-air weapons, and I had 6 Fighter-Bombers and a Lander roaming the air with impunity. I used my air units first, before he could do almost anything, and I destroyed one unit and put serious hurt on another. Seeing that I had outclassed him, Mike realized that he was beaten before the battle had been truly joined. He capitulated and asked to tweak his list. I agreed.

In the second game, things fell into place according to my plans. I had a total of 4 Ork Warbands, two mounted in Battlewagons and two on foot, garrisoned in the middle of the board. I left the foot Warbands right where he could not ignore them and let him throw his forces at the foot Warbands. While he was busy advancing his forces into my retreating foot Warbands, my mechanized Warbands were pulling off a classic double envelopment maneuver. I also ignored his Warhound Titan roaming the board, realizing that with no Terminators he would be sprinting that Titan towards my Blitzkrieg objective. I let him have it, because by the time the Titan had got there, I had killed one of his Devastator squads, giving me a balancing point for Break Their Spirit.

So by the end of the third turn, He held my Blitzkrieg, but I had BTS and was one stand away from getting his Blitzkrieg. His Titan was rendered ineffective, because it could not leave the Blitzkrieg (he would lose his battle point) and all of my units were out of his range. He capitulated again, knowing that there was nothing he could do to protect his Blitzkrieg. I would have won in the next turn 2-1.

So my Orks received not one, but two victories tonight! I am most pleased that I have finally won with them. I am also pleased in the fact that Mike is getting better as well. I stuck around and let him play a third game, which he handily won against another friend.

If you don't play, you should try some kind of wargame. It helps you think dynamically. It teaches critical thinking skills, prioritizing of targets and with dice, unlike chess, you can sometimes lose when you are on top. Mike and I still talk about the situation several games ago where he worked very hard to set his units up in the proper position, set up my units for a Close Combat attack by putting several blast markers on them, then attacking. The bad news is, even with an advantage on the roll, he lost the roll-off, which meant his unit withdrew, broken. That precipitated the crumbling of the entire flank. He did manage to still win the game, but that lost flank made it a lot harder for him to do so.

I like dice based wargames over Chess because in Chess, the Pawn will always take the Queen if she ends up in one of his attack squares. In dice based wargames, it is highly unlikely that the Pawn takes the Queen. But if you get lucky enough, you can pull it off, to the squeals of delight and howls of frustration that a dice roll like that can cause.

Thanks for a great game Mike. I promise to read the rest of the book by next week. Let's see how well my Mind Fu works on you. ;-)

Posted by Mark at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, here I am, tired but satisfied. I went out with Alpha Patriot and Mike to a premiere showing of Serenity.

The short answer is, it was an excellent movie.

A sightly longer answer is, this is Joss Whedon's first attempt at a big screen production. He did it right. While somewhat formulaic, it skips a lot of the formulas that you see in movies today. This fact alone makes me happy.

It exceeded my expectations in every way. There were places for you to laugh, a couple for you to get mad in, and very few places for you to feel sad. It explains a lot that the series didn't, and you do find out a lot.

I am not going into any kind of spoilers, you'll have to look elsewhere for that.

The good news is we picked up some swag, a card stock flyer and a neat keychain.

All in all, it was a great movie and if you have ever watched Firefly and liked it, you will throughly enjoy this movie.

Go see it. You won't regret it.

Posted by Mark at 11:32 PM | Permalink

This is a bad idea. Bush seeks to federalize emergencies.

The story is about immediately federalizing National Guard troops and sending in the military into disaster areas.

This is a natural reflexive action, considering the grilling that the President got when he wasn't "fast enough" in the wake of Katrina. Never mind the response was faster than any other emergency by Clinton, and most of the efforts were hindered by local officials rather than federal.

I'll say it again, this is a bad idea. If a governor wants to be indecisive and screw up the recovery efforts in their state, that should be their purview. If a mayor does not want to follow his own emergency plans, no blame should be laid at the feet of the Federal government, no matter how much the press wants to.

To bridge Posse Comitatus is a major error in my book. We are built on the pyramid of local, state and federal for a reason, and abridging those prior levels will mean a lot of trouble for civil liberties down the road.

For once, I have to agree with the ACLU, no matter how much it pains me to do so.

Posted by Mark at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Louis Farrakhan has now claimed that explosives were found at the bottom of the levee that broke and flooded the 9th Ward. Louis Farrakhan: Divers Found Levee Explosives.

How outrageous this man can get I have no idea, but it seems there is no upper limit. He will claim anything that the "White Man" did to the "Black Man" to keep him down. Excuse my language, but Bullshit.

There is no grand conspiracy to "keep the Black Man down." I think word of it would have leaked out by now. Besides, the Black population, by shunning education and work, and embracing Welfare, keeps themselves down without any help from the "White Man."

A pox upon you, Mr. Farrakhan. For all your lies.

Posted by Mark at 10:06 AM | Permalink

Louisiana is sucking hard on that Federal money teat: Louisiana Goes After Federal Billions.

Louisiana's congressional delegation has requested $40 billion for Army Corps of Engineers projects in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, about 10 times the annual Corps budget for the entire nation, or 16 times the amount the Corps has said it would need to protect New Orleans from a Category 5 hurricane. [emphasis mine]

With the infamous corruption known in the Big Easy, most of this money will not make it into the projects, but the pockets of politicians.

Corps funding is only part of what Louisiana wants. The 440-page bill also includes $50 billion in open-ended grants for storm-ravaged communities and $13 billion for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, along with mortgage assistance, health care, substance abuse treatment and other services for hurricane victims. It also includes hefty payments to hospitals, ports, banks, shipbuilders, fishermen and schools, as well as $8 million for alligator farms, $35 million for seafood industry marketing, and $25 million for a sugar-cane research laboratory that had not been completed before Katrina.

In other words, anything lobbyists can dream up and politicians can get into law.

It is sickening, and a classic example for how a dependent mindset works. I don't hear about Mississippi and Alabama, hit just as hard, asking for outrageous amounts of Federal dollars. They plan on doing it themselves, as self-reliant Americans do.

It is disappointing to see such "gimmie gimmie" politicians, and citizens who are trained not to help themselves.

They will get their money, there is little that can be done to stop it. No one will oppose it because they don't want to be labeled as "insensitive." And the money will, like so many other Federal programs, squandered and frittered away uselessly.

Not to mention the citizens and environmentalists will resist the reconstruction of the levees to Cat 5 standards. The environmentalists will oppose the construction to "protect" the Square-Tailed Mud Darter (whatever that is) and the citizens don't want all of the construction noise. How do I know this? This kind of stuff has already been done. The levee that broke due to a barge ramming it, had money and construction all lined up, but was resisted by the environmentalists and citizens.

No reason for them to change now.

Posted by Mark at 12:08 PM | Permalink

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

I look forward to seeing this movie on Tuesday. Full review to be posted on Wednesday, if not Tuesday night after the movie. You can check out more, including a great flash application at Serenity.

If the movie is as good as I think it will be, you just might see me at the premiere Friday as well.

Posted by Mark at 8:04 PM | Permalink

"Take me where I cannot stand. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me."

So starts the theme song from the canceled TV show Firefly. The best way to describe this show is a Sci-Fi Western. Canceled before all of the filmed episodes could be shown, all because the show appealed to too many demographics. In other words, Fox suits wanted this to appeal to one group of people, and everybody liked it. The suits didn't know what ads (to target that wonderful single demographic, such as women 25-40) to run on the show, so they reflexively canceled it.

Well, one week from today the movie Serenity opens. Based on the TV show, this is a big budget extension of the series.

I have been invited to a pre-screening of the movie, and on Wednesday I will give you a review of it. I bought the DVD set of the series and got it just yesterday. I am working my way through the series, working myself up for the movie.

There is one small difference between the show and the movie, but I'm keeping an open mind as to how it will work out.

The good news is all of the players have been signed to do at least two more sequels. If this one takes off then the producers could have a shot at bringing this back to TV.

Posted by Mark at 9:20 AM | Permalink

My apologies. I am so wiped out today and I don't know why. I'm getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night, but I wake up and want to go right back to sleep again.

I had no motivation yesterday, and I still have none today. I don't know what's wrong. It's not the pills, any drowsiness I should be used to by now.

I guess I'll have to go to bed extra early tonight and see if that doesn't work.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Posted by Mark at 9:39 AM | Permalink

Well, the Fulton County School System has gotten a lot of bad press it seems and have backed off their plans to eminent domain the land meant for a Jewish high school. Private school won't be forced to sell land.

This is the part that gets me:

When Weber officials said they had no desire to sell the site, Fulton indicated in a strongly worded letter that unless Weber agreed by Monday to sell the property, the school board would use eminent domain to obtain it.

[...]

Fulton school board president Gail Dean said the board had been under the impression that the district was in negotiations with a willing seller.

Yeah. A willing seller that you have to threaten with eminent domain? Come on. Somebody realized that taking the land would be a big public relations disaster, so they are trying to cover it up as a miscommunication? I don't think so. That dog won't hunt.

Posted by Mark at 10:01 AM | Permalink

I don't believe this. Wash Postie: 'Reasonable' Blacks Believe Levee Plot.

"Reasonable" African Americans in New Orleans believe that the Bush administration engineered the levee breaks during Hurricane Katrina in a bid to save the city's white sections by flooding black neighborhoods, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson said Sunday.

"I was stunned in New Orleans at how many black New Orleanians would tell me with real conviction that somehow the levee breaks had been engineered in order to save the French Quarter and the Garden District at the expense of the Lower Ninth Ward, which is almost all black," Robinson told NBC's "Meet the Press."

This disturbs me. Not in the "fact" that it might be true (there's no possible way it can be), but that so many people believe it, if this guy is right.

"These are not wild-eyed people," Robinson insisted. "These are reasonable, sober people who really believe that."

How one can ignore the laws of physics to this degree staggers the mind. First of all, the kind of bomb that would be required to do this kind of damage would be kin to a Daisy Cutter, a 15,000 pound bomb dropped from a B-52. I think someone would have seen a B-52 flying over the city. Second, the sound from such an explosion would have been heard throughout most of the city. Third, water doesn't flow uphill, no matter how hard Minister Farrakhan wants it to. Those primarily White neighborhoods that didn't flood, didn't flood because they were built on higher ground. The land that was built on lower ground was cheaper so the poor gravitated toward that.

Now we see just how deep the attitude of "the government must help me" goes. Those who are too used to suckling on the government teat will do nothing to improve their lives, depending on the government to rescue them (even if they didn't want to go in the first place) and rebuild their lives. Let's see how many don't jump on the learning curve and continue to live in those neighborhoods that were flooded.

Wow. I mean, just Wow.

Posted by Mark at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here you go: Battle for school site taints day.

Fulton County, Georgia, is going to take private land meant for a Jewish high school and make a Public elementary school out of it.

The Fulton County school system wants to buy the Weber School site and use the land to build a new elementary school. In a strongly worded letter sent earlier this month, the school district indicated that unless Weber sold the property by today, the school board would use eminent domain to obtain the land.

This is not Kelo, but still it is a travesty of justice to see something like this happen. There must be a way to have both schools co-exist, or to have the elementary school somewhere else in the neighborhood.

Why is it a travesty? Because a high school that will be morally committed to turning out high quality adults will be preempted by a holding cell for young kids. With everything wrong with public schools today, more of them is not the answer.

This is a case of the Dog in the Manger. Read up on it if you have forgotten your moral lessons from childhood.

Posted by Mark at 11:07 AM | Permalink

You can tell when a politician is lying because their lips are moving. And so it is with North Korea. N. Korea Agrees to Stop Building Nukes.

While the negotiators might be acting in good faith, Kim Jong Il will not give up his paranoia so easily. I fully expect them to continue with whatever nuclear program they currently have, despite any promises to the contrary. Hence the title to this post.

We are still technically at war with the North Koreans, we just agreed to a cease fire in 1953. No negotiated end to the conflict has been reached.

The DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) as how North Korea is officially known, is neither Democratic nor a Republic. It is a multi-generational dictatorship with no economy, reports of starvation and cannibalism and so on. Not too long ago I saw a night time picture from space of the Korean Peninsula, and South Korea was awash in light and activity. The North was the exact opposite. It was 99% dark, only a few spots here and there. The DPRK has no economy to speak of and the citizens must be constantly taught how wonderful their lives are.

Such a wonderful place, don't you agree?

Posted by Mark at 10:51 AM | Permalink

Here you go. My latest painting pieces, all fresh from their opening day double header.

Click on all pictures for a larger view

This picture is my Thrower (who is currently dead; I'm 10K short of hiring a new one) and her two Catchers, the long arm of my throwing game.

These are my two Blitzers. Their job is to throw blocks to knock over my opponents so the Catchers have clear shots to the end zone.

These two pictures are my Linewomen, the backbone of my team. Their job is to gang up on the linemen of the other team and beat them down.

As you can see, some of them have partially flocked bases, I'm having trouble filling the gaps in the slotabases that they are on. I'm working on it, but I thought you'd like to see them as soon as possible.

What do you think of my Babes?

Posted by Mark at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, my son and I went down to the San Francisco Bread Company in Cordova today and played a pair of games of Blood Bowl, the football game that makes the XFL look like a garden party.

This will be a league, about 20 games or so scattered over the next three months.

I got whomped 3-0 the first game, as well I should, with it being my first game ever of BB. I faced Elves, which were faster than my Amazons. Once they get into open territory, they just turn on the afterburners and leave me in their dust. My quarterback got killed (literally. she's dead), but I managed to kill one of my opponents players and severely wounded another. I did get enough money from the game to buy myself a new quarterback.

Anyway, the second game I did much better. This time my puny Amazons faced Ogres. Despite the Ogres being almost twice as strong as my team, it was a rare thing when he could knock one of my players over blocking them. You see, there is a special die that you roll to determine if either player gets knocked down, or the defender gets pushed back. While my quarterback got killed (again), this time I managed to seriously injure a Goblin and even kill one of his Ogres, which was a 1:207 shot. I rolled boxcars to seriously wound him, then another six to actually kill him. This game came out tied at 2-2 at the end of regulation, and I managed to score a touchdown in overtime to win the game!

Being in a multi-game league over the course of a "season," you have to generate money to buy more or replacement players. While it takes a lot to kill a player, I've already managed to inflict a couple of kills (and suffered two of my own) and managed to severely hurt a couple more players. Luckily I haven't managed to get a serious injury other than death, serious injuries can result in nagging minor injuries, that may cause a player to miss a game.

I'm sorry I haven't posted pictures of my Memphis Babes yet like I have promised, but I wanted to paint their bases first and that will take another week or two while I get in the mood to fill the cracks in twelve bases, flock them with sand and then paint the bases. Don't worry, it will be soon, they're the only project on my painting bench at the moment.

I think I've done a fantastic job with them, I even painted the eyes and teeth of the players, something that I never would have even thought of before now. While some work does remain to be done, they are 99% ready, and now they are battle tested.

It's late and I'm tired, 6 straight hours of gaming has me ready to sleep a sound sleep.

Posted by Mark at 9:04 PM | Permalink

Well, it was two years ago today that I made my first post. I didn't publish it until the next day, because I didn't know about the Publish button, so I guess I can say today and tomorrow is my Blogaversary! 1,494 posts in two years, not too bad. And I'm still going strong, no sign of burning out on all of this. In fact, it's the opposite. It helps keep me grounded. Lets me know there are things bigger than me in this world.

Have a piece of cake to help me celebrate!

Posted by Mark at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I told you anybody who believes this garbage has serious problems. Air America Hosts: Farrakhan Not Wrong on Levees.

First of all, I want to proclaim the commercial success Air America has become. They are on a whopping *70* stations nationwide! Every other nationwide Talk Radio host that I know of has at least 260 stations, so maybe they aren't all that. Plus the fact that it takes an electron microscope to measure their ratings, but I digress...

Anyway Chuck D, once a Co-Host on Unfiltered, now I don't know what he does, as that show has been canceled, backed up Farrakhan's assertion that the levees in NO were blown up.

Here is the whole story:

Two hosts at the liberal radio network Air America are defending Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan - saying he's not wrong to suspect that white people deliberately blew up the levees in New Orleans.

"You cannot blame people for coming up with conspiracy theories," Air America host Chuck D. said, after he was asked Thursday about the paranoid pronouncement by MSNBC's Tucker Carlson.

"They look on television and see that the government is four days late in saving people [who are] supposed to be their citizens," Chuck D. explained.

Carlson gave him a second chance to denounce Farrakhan's lunatic declaration, saying, "You're a smart guy. You know that white people didn't blow up the levees to kill black people. You've gotta know that didn't happen."

But the Air America host refused to budge, insisting instead that there was a chance Farrakhan could be right.

Like I said. Serious problems.

Posted by Mark at 10:08 AM | Permalink

I was going to put up a post about Michael Newdow and his friends getting the 9th Circus overturning (again) the Pledge, but I have a time critical project.

I am getting into a new miniature game called Blood Bowl, an extremely violent version of American Football set in the future. I am "coaching" a team of Amazons, and I have to have them ready to go for a demonstration game this evening.

I'll post pictures either tonight or tomorrow so you can see my team.

Later.

Posted by Mark at 11:02 AM | Permalink

I always knew this guy was a nutcase. Here's the proof: Louis Farrakhan: Levees Were 'Blown Up'.

"I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach," Farrakhan explained. "It may have been blown up to destroy the black part of town and keep the white part dry."

Suuuure. Of course, Mr. Farrakhan. And I'm sure the number 27 figures into this as well somewhere.

This needs no explanation. If you buy into this, then you have some serious problems.

Posted by Mark at 10:43 AM | Permalink

Read this. It's the real reason why the levee's failed in NO. Why New Orleans Flooded.

A steel barge that came crashing into one of the levee walls, and not the failure of that levee to hold back an immense tidal wave, was to blame for much of the flooding that drowned parts of New Orleans.

And so starts a wonderful article based on facts as to the whys.

Most telling is this:

• Another huge wave came across Lake Pontchartrain in the north. It sent a steel barge ramming through the Industrial Canal, a major shipping artery that cuts north to south through the city, possibly creating a breach that grew to 500 feet, letting water pour into nearby neighborhoods of the city's Ninth Ward.

  The barge's remains were found lying on the bottom of the gap. An early eyewitness reported seeing the barge smash through the levee. His report was never followed up by the media.

  Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, said that break was particularly surprising because one of the levee breaks was "along a section that was just upgraded."

  "It did not have an earthen levee," Dr. Penland told the New York Times. "It had a vertical concrete wall several feel thick."

• Vital repairs for which a whopping $600 million had been appropriated by the federal government were stopped after residents of the Ninth Ward complained about the noise created by the repair project and sued to halt it.
  

$600 Million. Authorized by the Bush Administration to fix the levees. Doesn't sound like they don't care, does it? And the residents are the ones that halted the work. Sounds like it was the residents who didn't want the levees upgraded.

The article goes on to talk about the shortcomings of the local government and how they failed in their jobs.

Go and read. It's very enlightening.

Posted by Mark at 9:49 AM | Permalink

Found on NewsMax:

Enticed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plunging approval ratings, California Democrats are courting some heavy hitters to run against him next year - including Bill Clinton.

"We hear that major donors are reaching out to former President Clinton, once governor of Arkansas, to run," Paul Bedard writes in his U.S. News & World Report column, Washington Whispers.

A Democratic strategist quoted by Bedard says: "On first blush, it might sound nuts. But he’d be governor of the fourth-largest economy in the world and have the ability to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for Hillary" if she ran for president.

Other potential candidates being considered include ex-Lakers star Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and activist actor Rob Reiner, aka "Meathead" of "All in the Family" fame.

Says Bedard: "Imagine a 'Meathead vs. Terminator' race in 2006."

Posted by Mark at 9:46 AM | Permalink

...According to Senator Mary Landrieu.

Normally I get the jump on Rush and comment on stores that he covers on his show later in the day. But I missed this story and so now I get to play catchup.

Asked on "Fox News Sunday" why New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin failed to follow the city's evacuation plan and press the buses into service, Landrieu blamed Bush administration cuts in mass transit funding.

"Mayor Nagin and most mayors in this country have a hard time getting their people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out of the city in front of a hurricane," she said. "And it's because this administration and administrations before them do not understand the difficulties that mayors . . . face."

Landrieu then added: "In other words, this administration did not believe in mass transit. They won't even get people to work on a sunny day, let alone getting them out."

If you can't get people to work on a sunny day, then you are hiring people with the wrong work ethic, if they have one at all. I would have thought that if the first people you put on those buses were the immediate families of the drivers, that they would be all too glad to drive them out of town ahead of the hurricane. But I could be wrong.

After all, 1/3rd of the NOPD quit, in fact some were caught on tape participating in the looting. It appears that almost every one involved in this whole debacle, from the Governor of Louisiana to the citizens of New Orleans, expected someone else to do their jobs for them. This is the Liberal attitude that produces a citizenry that wants everything done for them, and they don't have to do a thing.

And Senator Landrieu is making excuses for those who are responsible and blaming those who are not. Of course, she must. She is a Liberal. She, in Rush's words, exhibits, "The bigotry of low expectations." She doesn't think those responsible could have done any better. Their lackluster effort really was their best, so don't blame them and hurt their fragile egos.

Bullshit. The only way people grow is to constantly try. The failure is not in not accomplishing the task, but rather to give up in the trying. If your best isn't good enough, then you need to let someone else do the job and you step aside.

You want to do the honorable thing? Accept blame when you are at fault. Then head back in and do your best to correct the problem, or let someone more qualified do the job.

Posted by Mark at 9:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, John Kerry finally got in on the Katrina thing. John Kerry's Katrina Aid Arrives Late.

John Kerry sure didn't want to get left out of the photo op for this one. He coordinated the donation of 5,000 bottles of baby formula, 5,000 pairs of sneakers and an array of cleaning supplies. He got people to donate everything, including the Boston's Children's Hospital, the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans and the New Balance sneaker company. UPS donated the use of the 757, the fuel and the crew.

This would have been a great donation, if it had come about a week earlier. Now, the evacuees have been dispersed throughout the southern states, and it is very unlikely that this stuff will see its' intended use for some time, if at all.

But the point of all of this, is a Billion dollar man like John Kerry could have actually used some of his (wife's) own money. He could have easily bought everything with this weeks allowance, including the transportation.

So, Lieutenant "Reporting for Duty" Kerry (who served in Vietnam, dontchaknow) screws the pooch, again. What could have been a wonderful and kind gesture becomes another Liberal boondoggle. Between Kerry and Sean Penn, you get the feeling that Liberals are worthless.

I am hopeful that there are many Liberal organizations out there who are donating time, money and materials to ease the suffering and help in the rebuilding effort. The important difference is they are not tripping over themselves to get in front of a camera to show how wonderful they are. There is a difference between raising awareness and actually getting your hands dirty in the work that needs to be done.

If you have the time or money, please donate it.

Posted by Mark at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Lifted from the Letters to the Editor from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution

Monied America lacks moral goodness

Congratulations, monied America: You wanted your gated communities to keep out the poor, to protect yourselves from crime, to separate yourselves from undesirables. You took the high roads and built your gated communities on them so you would stay dry and clean while the stormwaters of filth and despair flooded their neighborhoods.

You did it. You kept out the poor, you concentrated the crime in the poor neighborhoods, effectively ensuring those neighborhoods would remain poor and broken. You separated yourselves from the undesirables.

And then you left them, to die in attics and on rooftops and in the streets and in the disgusting halls of commerce and sports. The richest nation in the world is the most destitute when it comes to true moral goodness. God could not bless this America at all.

SAM MARIE ENGLE
Engle, of Atlanta, is director of the Kenneth Cole Fellowship in Community Building and Social Change and senior program associate in the Office of University-Community Partnerships at Emory University.

Such a wonderful display of class warfare. "The rich keep the poor down." Actually, the poor keep the poor down. From the Black social meme that says, "Learning is a White thing" to the active destruction of the Black nuclear family by Liberals, the only thing in the way of the Black man from success is himself.

And the rich left the poor on the rooftops? It was the armed gangs that did that, firing at the rescuers as they tried to rescue people. I just don't understand that. This is the first time I have heard of this happening.

The rich should let criminals into their gated communities so that they can spare the poor of crime? Hogwash. Like that will ever happen. Criminals will always prey on the weak, even if they have better pickings uptown.

Do you want to know how to cure poverty? You can't. That's the answer, you can't. There will always be a group of people to the left of the bell curve and they keep themselves there. They don't get an education, they have four children out of wedlock from four different fathers, you can't stop this no matter how hard you try. These people have to do it themselves, you can't do it for them.

And the rich do more than you'll ever know. Not only do they provide jobs, by and large the rich donate millions of dollars to various programs to help the poor. The just do it anonymously, because they don't need the ego boost of doing it in front of cameras doing it. Unlike Liberals. They have to constantly prove how much they are doing, and they put more effort into the showing and not enough into the doing.

The rich are, by and large, where they are because they worked their way there. They deserve to live in gated communities because they earned their wealth. They worked 80 hour work weeks, they studied and went to school. They took risks and hard work paid off for them. EIGHTY PERCENT of American millionaires are first generation. That means that they started with nothing and built it all themselves.

So your arguments, Ms. Engle, are bullshit.

Posted by Mark at 10:57 AM | Permalink

Mayor Nagin has entered the ranks of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Mayor Nagin Joins Race Baiters.

This article was read by Tim Russert on Meet the Press yesterday, and Mayor Nagin did not back away from it.

"The more I think about it, definitely race played into this," he told the paper.

"How do you treat people that just want to walk across the bridge and get out, and they’re turned away, because you can’t come to a certain parish?" the embattled mayor complained. "How do resources get stacked up outside the city of New Orleans and they don’t make their way in? How do you not bring one piece of ice?"

Well, when Louisiana officials don't allow them in, where is the only place you can point the finger? When City officials won't allow food and water into the SuperDome, how can you point fingers?

Those displaced by the storm need to be concentrated into an area where help can be delivered to them, not disbursed across the surrounding parishes where they have no support.

Those people should have been bused out of the area before the hurricane hit. It's in the NO Hurricane plan. President Bush can't help it if a third of the New Orleans police force quits and no one shows up to drive the school buses. But it is the responsibility of the Mayor of New Orleans, and he gets rewarded for it, good or bad.

To declare race was an issue is ludicrous. If you have a city that is 80% Black, then 80% of the people stuck will be Black. How does race play into that?

This just makes me want to throw up.

Posted by Mark at 10:38 AM | Permalink

Here's a good article, Jack Kelly: No shame. The federal response to Katrina was not as portrayed.

The MSM and Democrats (generally the same thing) have been relentlessly Bush-Bashing in the "fact" that aid didn't come fast enough. Hence the title to this post.

But, as noted below, Federal aid has been faster in the aftermath of Katrina than it has with other natural disasters.

Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He notes that:

"The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 2002. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.

And of course, the blowhards in the opinion pages waste no time in roasting Bush:

Journalists who are long on opinions and short on knowledge have no idea what is involved in moving hundreds of tons of relief supplies into an area the size of England in which power lines are down, telecommunications are out, no gasoline is available, bridges are damaged, roads and airports are covered with debris, and apparently have little interest in finding out.

So they libel as a "national disgrace" the most monumental and successful disaster relief operation in world history.

These "Gratificationists" (how's that for a new word!) expect everything to be put back the way is was, like they see in those 30 second insurance commercials. They expect rescuers to be rescuing people the second the rain stops, if not in the middle of the storm. They expect things to happen instantaneously, and it is just not possible under these rules of physics.

Yes, there were screwups and miscommunications on all levels of the disaster relief. Supplies were turned away, or sent to the wrong area, but on the whole, things have gone well. Just not fast enough for the Gratificationists.

The outpouring of generosity of the American people has been unprecedented, approaching $1 Billion dollars in private aid. Then you have the thousands of workers who have donated time and effort to feed and house the survivors. Thankfully, stories abound in the local news. One that I heard was about a couple invited 52 people into their home. The neighbors provide bags and bags of groceries every day to feed them, and the lady whos house this is breaks down and wonders if she's doing enough.

That, my dear readers, is the real America.

Posted by Mark at 10:10 AM | Permalink

Those two words, I think, sums up the attitude of the American People. Not just on that day, but today as well.

Today, on this 4th anniversary of our darkest day I still cry over the losses, still play the songs inspired by that day, still think we have done the right things that we have done since.

These, animals, who perpetrated this act upon us, have been paid back in blood for their back-stabbing. Their blood. Our blood.

The tree of freedom must be, from time to time, be watered with the blood of Tyrants and Patriots. We have three trees blossoming with the blood shed starting with This Day. The American, Afghanistan and Iraqi trees are growing, all from the blood of the finest and worst examples of humanity.

Let's Roll.

Posted by Mark at 9:22 AM | Permalink

I play this song all of the time, and tears still roll down my face when I listen to it, especially when it comes to the line, "Yeah, some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field."

If you haven't heard this song, it's done by Darryl Worley.

Have You Forgotten?
(Darryl Worley/Wynn Varble)

I hear people saying we don't need this war
I say there's some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground
We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down
They say we don't realize the mess we're getting in
Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbing for you and me
It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say
If it was up to me I'd show it everyday
Some say this country's just out looking for a fight
After 9/11 man I'd have to say that's right

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

I've been there with the soldiers
Who've gone away to war
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they're fighting for

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Yeah, some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
All the loved ones that we lost and those left to carry on
Don't you tell me not to worry about bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten?
Have you forgotten?

Posted by Mark at 9:13 AM | Permalink

Well, here you go. Ray Nagin: School Buses Not Good Enough.

It seems that school buses weren't good enough for the people of New Orleans. Mayor Nagin wanted to get these people out of there via Greyhound-type liners.

Here it is, straight form his own mouth:

"I need 500 buses, man," he told [radio station] WWL. "One of the briefings we had they were talking about getting, you know, public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out of here."

"I'm like - you've got to be kidding me. This is a natural disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

This really is two disasters rolled into one. First, you have the natural disaster that was Katrina, then you have the man-made disaster that was Blanco and Nagin. Their incompetence and arrogance cost how many hundreds, even thousands of lives we'll never know.

Posted by Mark at 9:52 AM | Permalink

I didn't get to mention this yesterday because I ran out of time. It seems that Hanoi Jane has canceled her bus trip (powered by biodiesel) so it wouldn't steal attention from Cindy Sheehans protests of the war. At least there is some coordination between these moonbats.

Posted by Mark at 10:59 AM | Permalink

I found this opinion piece on NewsMax and I wanted to share it with you. Impeach Bush Now.

This nut job needs to get his facts straight and his paradigm shifted out of first gear. He talks about how Army Corps of Engineers funds were shifted from NO to Iraq, but based on the incoherent rantings in the rest of the article, I have to take that with a grain of salt. A grain that is about a cubic foot.

Here's what got me:

What will it take for Americans to re-establish accountability in their government? Bush has gotten away with lies and an illegal war of aggression, with outing CIA agents, with war crimes against Iraqi civilians, with the horrors of the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo torture centers, and now with the destruction of New Orleans.

Just another Left wing moonbat who wants to blame President Bush for everything, including the pimples on his teenagers face. I don't see anything of truth in that quote, do you?

Posted by Mark at 6:34 AM | Permalink

In a special edition of Monday Night Epic, I tested out my Ork force in a one-on-one battle. I was out activated by a long shot. I only had 8 units to activate a turn, Mike had 16. So while I'm just sitting there waiting for the turn to end, Mike just kept whittling my forces down until there was nothing left.

He feels proud about his victory, as he should. But the Ork forces will rise again, and this time the Warlord will be smarter. And he'll have Ork Green dice to roll instead of Ultramarines Blue dice.

See ya next week, Mike. Hehe hehe hehe.

Posted by Mark at 6:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Online Essayist Bill Whittle has penned a new missive, TRIBES. I have yet to read it, as I just discovered it this morning. But read it you must, as will I.

Posted by Mark at 6:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I found this article, Mayor Nagin: Gov. Blanco Delayed Rescue and I wanted to pass it along.

It talks about how New Orleans Mayor Nagin met with President Bush and the President said, "Mr. Mayor, I offered two options to the governor. I said . . . I was ready to move today. The governor said she needed 24 hours to make a decision."

So it was Governor Blanco who needed time to make a decision to ask for help in the wake of the biggest disaster to hit Louisiana. Decisions that should have been made before Katrina made landfall.

The reason why FEMA and DHS were "so slow" in getting help in is that the state must ask for help first. If the state doesn't ask, then the Feds can't move in. So those quick to blame Bush for not getting in their quicker should look to Governor Blanco instead.

But then again, and this point is getting tiresome, Mayor Nagin has a lot to answer for as well, as his own hurricane evacuation plan was not followed.

Sheesh.

Posted by Mark at 6:34 AM | Permalink

It seems that while the Right is busy helping out the victims of Katrina, the Left is looking who to blame, and they just love their favorite target, President Bush.

Well, I guess I should start calling her Committee Clinton, because the junior Senator from New York wants to have a 9/11 commission for Katrina. Which is kind of silly, provided all of the facts are in the public domain and are clear to see to those who want to see them.

The facts are:

1. The Hurricane Plan devised by the City of New Orleans was not followed, leading to many poor residents being trapped in NO while they could have escaped in school buses and City transportation buses.

2. Governor Blanco needed 24 hours "to think it over" before asking for Federal help, thus preventing FEMA and DHS from getting help to those who needed it in time.

3. FEMA and DHS blocked civilian aid from getting into the area, for their own reasons that have not been explained to me.

There are other facts, but those are the ones that cascaded a disaster into a catastrophe.

Of course, Democrats need committees to explain why things didn't work right, when again, the facts are clearly evident.

Feh.

Posted by Mark at 6:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Mayor of New Orleans and Governor of Louisiana are doing their damnedest to lay the blame for all of the anarchy and everything at the feet of President Bush. Christopher Ruddy has some words on that subject: Don't Blame Bush for Katrina.

George Bush and the federal government are not to blame for the disaster we have witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In fact, the primary responsibility for the disaster response lies with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and other local officials.

Yet leading Democrats and their allies in the major media are clearly using this disaster for political purposes and ignoring one obvious fact.

This fact – which needs to be repeated and remembered – is that in our country, state and local governments have primary responsibility in dealing with local disasters.

New Orleans had a plan, a clear plan, a workable plan. You can see it here, and for some reason nobody in the government followed it.

I can't answer your questions as to why it wasn't followed. All I can say is the human toll in the devastation left in Katrina's wake is to be laid at the feet of the local officials who were responsible in getting their citizens out of the area. Granted, FEMA and DHS should get some of the blame for the lag in their response time. However, the lack of National Guard troops for security and quelling looters is the purview of the State government, not the Federal.

I hope the surviving citizens of New Orleans remember who failed them in their hour of need, and it wasn't George Bush.

Posted by Mark at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It is simply amazing. If a natural disaster strikes anywhere in the world, the American Aid will be there in hours, and will be more in dollars and supplies than the next 5 contributers combined. We have helped every national natural disaster with food, water, troops for security, mobile hospitals, and so on. And what is donated by private individuals and organized groups far outstrips what is given by the US government. Most of the time military helicopters and cargo planes are forwarding private donations.

But now when we get hit by a natural disaster of Biblical proportions, where is our help? Where are the Pakistani helicopters, loaded with supplies? How about Iranian mobile hospitals? Not to be seen, and likely to stay that way. This article, Shameful: Only 25 Nations Offer Help to the U.S. documents who our friends are.

There is one correction. Just before I wrote this post, Kuwait has pledged $500 Million dollars to our relief effort. Kuwait's offer includes $400 million in oil products and $100 million in humanitarian relief.

Here is the list of those who have pledged support so far:

Russia
Japan
Canada
France
Honduras
Germany
Venezuela
Jamaica
Australia
UK/Northern Ireland
Netherlands
Switzerland
Greece
Hungary
Colombia
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Mexico
China
South Korea
Israel
United Arab Emirates
Taiwan
Sri Lanka
Singapore
Kuwait

Hopefully that list will grow as more and more countries realize how much they depend on the good graces of the United States.

Posted by Mark at 9:13 AM | Permalink

With the news of Chief Justice Rehnquist passing, President Bush has decided to really put John Roberts on the hot seat and appoint him directly to Chief Justice. I thought he was going to be grilled like a cheese sandwich before, now Robers will have to be able to pass through the eye of a needle.

This is a savvy move, as Roberts can be expected to live another 40 years or so, ensuring that there will be a conservative slant to the Court, assuming he gets appointed of course. He was expected to pass with a 70-30 vote, but now everything has changed and a courtesy grilling from the Senate Judiciary Committee will now be on high and the Democrats and RINOs will want to get their licks in before Roberts goes to the floor for the confirmation vote.

Good Luck Judge Roberts. You'll need it.

Posted by Mark at 9:03 AM | Permalink

A disaster like this can strike anywhere. Don't think you are immune. While you may not be hit by a hurricane, there are lots of other disasters such as tornadoes, etc., not to mention a terrorist attack.

You must be ready at all times.

Have 3-5 days of water and food in a duffel bag ready to go. Rotate the food and water every three months or so. You can live off one MRE (Meal, Ready to Eat) a day if you're not doing much. You can buy these from your local Army surplus store for about $5 each.

Have $500-$1000 in cash, at home, along with the food.

Don't forget your medications.

Know what you are going to take now, so you don't have to fret over what you're going to take in the middle of it. Write down a checklist and put it with the survival supplies.

Get a gun. Two would be better. Know how to use them. Get that CCW license, and get it NOW.

Know how to contact your family, especially if the phones go out. Develop a plan on who is going where, and in what order. Communications can be as simple as chalk on a sidewalk in a particular place.

If you have warning of an impending disaster, fill up your tank, load in your supplies and essentials and GET OUT OF THE AREA. If a disaster strikes unexpectedly, do your best to get out of the area. If you can't, hunker down somewhere as safe as you can be and be prepared to defend yourself until help arrives.

If you can, don't forget about friends who don't have a car.

Just remember: It is better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Posted by Mark at 9:08 AM | Permalink

The images of me hurting myself have never been as bright and intense as they are right now. I won't go into the grisly details. This has me very scared and hiding, waiting out this storm.

My apologies for no posting, but this facet of my life is more important and I must do something about it. Going into a hospital won't do any good and will make me lose everything that I have worked for the past 3 years. I need to go and hide and ride this out.

Wish me luck.

UPDATE: It took 4 hours of hiding, then a forced march up and down the street doing necessary errands (I didn't want to burn the gas) to get over this. I am doing better, but I will still have to hide for another couple of hours to make sure I'm over it, or it will hit me and I'll start the cycle all over again.

Posted by Mark at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)