All Over It Like A Cheap Suit

How To Get A Job In The Bush Administration

Good morning, sir - what can I do for you today?

Well, I'm here to apply for the FEMA management post - I heard there's an opening.

Very good, Mr. - uh, I didn't catch your name...

-- Doe, sir - John Doe.

Yes, well, uh, Mr. Doe, how did you hear about this position?

Word gets around, you know...(wink, wink)

Oh yes; that it does! Well, I see here on your resume that you and our president are old friends -

-- Oh yes, we are! --

and the two of you have had some good times together...

You've got that right! Wooh! Some of those late nights down in the French Quarter...you know how young men are...

Yes, sir, indeed I do. And it seems you've helped him out of a jam or two...

Boy, have I! And he told me, "I owe you big time, fella! Anything I can ever do for you, John..."

Yes, I'm very sure he did. And I see here that you've contributed quite a bit to his various campaigns over the years...quite a bit!

Well, my daddy always told me if I support my friends now, they'll support me later...

Very good advice, I'm sure. Well, I have to say that your qualifications so far look excellent.

Thank you, sir.

You seem like exactly the sort of guy the President wants on his team.

I'd like to think so, sir.

So let me just breeze through the rest of your resume - merely a formality, you understand...

Of course, sir.

Oh, wait a minute..what's this about you working for an Emergency Management Agency?

Well, yes, sir...I have quite a bit of experience in Emergency Management; I spent ten years in the field and received great job reviews. That's why I applied for the position, and naturally, I thought...

I'm sorry, son, but I'm afraid we can't use you here.

But, I...

Do you have any experience in international banking?

No sir, I'm afraid I don't - actually, I've been bankrupt several times, and I'm up to my eyeballs in debt again. I don't have the least clue how to handle money, but...

Excellent! Why don't you go and see Bob in International Banking - I'm sure the top position there would be just right for you!

Thank you, sir...

BuzzFlash Editorial

...saved me the trouble of writing it all down.

Mission - Incompetence!

G over at Library Bitch has a fabulous post that I just have to share with you. Sometimes, somebody just nails it.

The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost

Well, we see now the tangible results of what we've been hollering about for the last 5 years.

This is what happens when you undertax, underfund, undermine and under-support the American public. What has been theoretical is now, all too tragically, real. When the rubber meets the road, we don't have the resources or organization or anything to care for our own people.

I hold George W. Bush and his Administration personally responsible for the deaths of the victims of Katrina, and the destruction of a priceless American city, an irreplaceable heritage. When he's strumming his guitar, I hope he realizes that he has demolished the culture from which his guitar-playing sprung.

If this makes me sound like a nut-job liberal wacko, I really don't give a good goddamn.

Update: I bring joy to others.

TheStonerPundit:

You are laughable. You hold GW personally responsible for the deaths of the Katrina victims? Even the ones that died during the storm? Come on you've got to be smarter than that.

Me:

Yes I do. Laugh if you like. I hold him responsible because as president, he is responsible for the direction of the policy of this nation. And the direction of the policy has been one of tax cuts that have gutted this nation's needs and diverted our resources to his war of choice, and while cutting taxes during wartime slashed budgets for infrastructure.

If the money had been there for the shoring up of the levees like the state of Louisiana and the Corps of Engineers begged for, if FEMA was not managed by incompetents who were owed political favors, (like so many appointments in this Administration - not that he shouldn't appoint people who have done things for him, but that the people he chooses are as unbelievably incompetent as he is - failures at every other job they had, and completely unqualified for the job they're appointed to) if there were any kind of importance attached to planning for disaster at home instead of creating disaster in Iraq, I believe that this kind of catastrophe could have been mitigated.

Of course there would have been a terrible storm, but not the entire loss of a city; the loss of life would have numbered in the dozens, not the hundreds or thousands.

This pathetic, disorganized response represents the culture in place from the White House on down - the really callous disregard for those who can't do anything for him. If he cared one single fig, he would have had his ass down there in the shit-water as soon as he heard about it. He could have been offering moral support, which would have been better than nothing. That's one of his jobs as President. It's called a bully pulpit. I think people would have forgiven him a lot if he was down there in the wreckage for real, not some stupid-ass staged photo op that a blind person could tell was phony. If he showed one speck of real emotion or real empathy, people would not be feeling abandoned by this government. But he has abandoned the people of Louisiana not only by his policies, but emotionally as well. If nothing else, his caretakers should have made him go down there instead of partying and fund-raising. What a slap in the face to those suffering people.

But apart from that, the sad truth is that his lack of caring is evidenced in his priorities, in where he chose to spend money, in what he chose to cut. And his apathetic, lackadaisical response just reflects the reality of his attitude.

This did not have to happen the way it did. And for that, I hold him responsible.

He wanted this job - badly enough to steal it, in my opinion (but what do I know; I'm a liberal crackpot). However, he doesn't want the responsibility that goes along with it. For someone who's always lecturing other people about 'personal responsibility', he doesn't have a clue in hell about what that means.

So, if he won't hold himself responsible, I will.

I Heart Kanye West

Kanye, you have a new fan. The look on Mike Myers' face when Kanye West departed from the official script and spoke the truth straight from his heart was classic. Check out the video on Crooks and Liars.

What's Really Important Right Now

Yes, you guessed it - the 'Paris Hilton Tax' must be repealed immediately! At least according to Bill Frist.

Leadership (or the lack thereof)

Will somebody tell me why George Bush is not down there in New Orleans up to his tits in shit-water? That's where he belongs, him and his whole gaggle of royalist boot-lickers.

Hey - I've got an idea! Let's tell him there are some stem-cells in danger down there!

P.S. Condi - I hear the shoes are dirt-cheap down there - practically free for the taking!

Neo-Math

Let Them Eat Yellowcake - Part 2

FEMA now, FEMA then

Just a side note -

When the 1994 Northridge earthquake struck, we were in one of the worst-hit areas. We got so much help from FEMA and the SBA. The response was immediate and helpful.

Last winter, Los Angeles had record rainstorms that destroyed my little 8X16'studio building in my back yard where I do my work. We were declared a disaster area and eligible for assistance. What a difference. It took me a month to get all the different documents and tax returns, etc. together; I made four 40-mile round trips to the FEMA office. They send a guy over who gives it a cursory once-over, and sniffs, "I don't think it was the rain that did that", and I was turned down. Now, I can guarantee you that it was the rain - that structure even made it through the earthquake - but the effort it would take to challenge the decision is too much for me at this point. It wasn't so much the turning down that is the issue, but the whole FEMA thing was completely different than it was in 1994 - the 'guilty until proven innocent' vibe that was not there in '94.

Just my experience, that's all I'm saying.

Help For Katrina Victims

Marie from Right Left Story asked me to post this, and I'll do anything Marie asks...

The VeteransForPeace Tour Bus is Heading in to Louisiana to render aid, provide medics, cook food, provide shelter. They will have 3 camps set up. And they need 3 of everything below. We need to get these items to a rest stop on the South Side of I-10 anywhere from the Louisiana border east to New Orleans. THIS IS A CODE BLUE FOR BLOGGERS WE NEED THIS INFO AND OR IMAGE POSTED FAR AND WIDE.

If you can drive supplies to this area, please contact Brendan at human_generic@yahoo.com or 518 279-3912 I'll relay your location and time of arrival to the Bus/Caravan. Donations can be made at http://DennisKyne.com on the PayPal button.

As soon as we hear from a supporter willing to meet them with supplies on 1-10 Brendan will connect everyone.

For now they are on their way to the Bridge Casino in Lake Charles.

Then onto Lafeyette where folks can meet them on the Evangeline Freeway.

Then Baton Rouge.

List:
Work Gloves
t-shirts
underwear
bottled water
cooking units with propane cartridges
tarps
shovels
rakes
saws
canned goods
dried goods
baby formula
first aid kits
gatorade
cups
plates
papertowels
handwipes
toilet paper
lights
generators
battery cables
batteries
flashlights
phone cards
and pretty much anything else you can think of.
They have a huge Uhaul Truck Begging to be filled by Liberal Donations. Hey we're not picky we'll take some conservative and moderate donations too!

Thank you, Marie. I just want to jump in my car right now and drive to Louisiana with some supplies, but I've sent money to the Red Cross and I'm going to get some clothes and toilet supplies together to donate. Right now it feels like words are just stupid. Action is all that counts, in whatever way available.

The time for talking has come and gone. We need to take our country back now.

"Shoot To Kill", Says Louisiana Gov.

Words fail.
The Worst. President. Ever. has zero tolerance for looters.

He's way more concerned with oil than the sick, hungry, thirsty, dying people in New Orleans. At least from the way his speeches have been so far.

A Song For Our Time, By My Husband

My husband, David Morgan, is an incredible singer/songwriter/piano player, and last year he wrote a song with a unique and touching perspective on the 'War On Terror'. I'd really like to share it with you all.

This is the link to the song itself - on the website we are selling it as a 99¢ download, but we don't want to ask you to pay; we'd like to invite you to listen. You can go to the website for information about the song, lyrics, etc.

I hope it speaks to you like it speaks to me.

Wednesday Night Vigil

Just got back from the vigil - today we had some fine guitar players/singers, and a lot of supportive people for peace.

Here's a photo page...

Dare To Discipline! (apologies to James Dobson)

The last post got me thinking about the parallels between being a parent and being a patriot.

As I've mentioned, I'm a mom, raising four kids. I know a lot of you out there are parents or pet owners (yes, it applies there too!). Now, which is the better parent - the one who says, "My little darling is just perfect! He can do whatever he wants!" as Little Darling pulls the wings off flies, bullies other kids on the playground, steals their toys, lies, and disrespects others, or the one who corrects Little Darling's behavior?

Most people would not dream of allowing their children to grow up cruel and selfish. Children are born selfish by nature as a survival instinct, but it's a parent's job to teach the child to get along with others, to share, to wait their turn, to put themselves in other people's shoes, to respect others. That makes for a happy, well-adjusted child who has friends, who does well in school, and later on does well in life. To not give a child limits is to neglect and abuse them. We even treat our animals with more kindness by training them.

If a kid eats too much candy he gets sick. If he isn't given nutritious food, he becomes weak and sickly. If he isn't given chores and responsibilities, he doesn't understand how to take care of himself. If he's given every toy or thing he demands, he will not understand the meaning of money. He'll be spoiled, greedy and what's more, unhappy and dissatisfied without knowing why.

I see our relationship with our country that way. To say "America's perfect and if you criticize it you're unpatriotic" does our great country a huge disservice. Nobody wants America to be a spoiled bully, but if we do not discipline her, that's what happens. I love my country too much to do that.

Word Verification on...

I'm implementing word verification on this blog because I've seen comment spam starting to rear its ugly head on other blogs. I left WordPress because of it. Hope you don't mind...

Thanks, Dubya. Thanks. A Lot. Love, N.O.

Well, my goodness gracious. What have we here? It seems as if the Worst. President. Ever. couldn't be bothered to fund the Army Corps of Engineers in the New Orleans district. According to this article,

In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding.

It would be the largest single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district, Corps officials said.

I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen this level of reduction, said Al Naomi, project manager for the New Orleans district. I think part of the problem is it's not so much the reduction, it's the drastic reduction in one fiscal year. It's the immediacy of the reduction that I think is the hardest thing to adapt to.

There is an economic ripple effect, too. The cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.

Read it and weep. I mean, for reals. Read it. And weep.

There could be no better example of the idiocy, the avarice and callousness of the cumulative effects of all of the Worst. President. Ever.'s policies - insane tax cuts, coupled with the stinking black hole of Iraq that's taken away the National Guard (who would have been on hand to help with the disaster) and sucking out the money (six billion dollars a month) that hasn't been given away in tax breaks for zillionaires and corporations; the elimination of the estate tax, and not least, the Bankruptcy Bill, which (among other travesties) will take away the ability of a bankruptcy judge to use his or her own discretion to give a person declaring bankruptcy any kind of a break on repayment depending on individual circumstance, even though corporations get those breaks. And thanks to stubbornly ignoring the reality of global warming, we only have more of the same in store ahead.

I just look at the TV and cry. New Orleans may gone forever. But Dubya spent one minute and twenty five seconds of a forty-minute advertisement - uh, I mean speech - making an offhand reference to the disaster and telling people to call the Red Cross, and the rest of that time he was promoting the Iraq sinkhole and comparing himself to FDR.

The only way you can make a comparison between the Worst. President. Ever. and FDR is that they were both afflicted with paralysis - FDR had paralyzed legs and Bush has paralyzed decency, morals and intelligence.

And here's an article from 2001 in Popular Mechanics predicting this.

Food For Thought

J. James gave me some food for thought. I am always interested when someone gives me something to consider.

Here's J. James:

I know you're not a big fan of numbers, but on the topic of Germany, there unemployment is right about 10.5 percent.

Just food for thought.

Here's me:

J.J. - I don't dislike numbers per se, and I always appreciate food for thought. I am not saying that we should be like Germany - I am saying that we can do better with the system we have than showering the wealthy and the corporations with tax breaks in the hopes that jobs will result.

As we have seen, it hasn't happened that way. We've had outsourcings, giant mergers with resulting layoffs, and the job growth that we have seen is mostly in the area of service jobs - jobs that do not pay a living wage. Meanwhile, CEO wages continue to increase, prices increase, corporate profits rise, and regular wages stagnate or retreat.

A number like 10.5 just out of the blue does not take a lot of things into consideration. For instance, there is the difference between East Germany and West Germany numbers. There are also a lot of other factors that are not comparable between our business model and theirs. If you count people with service jobs that don't pay a living wage, how is that better? If people who work at Wal-Mart have to get food stamps, what kind of employment is that?

If I have a business, and hire 2 guys at $15 an hour, and you have a business and hire 10 guys at $3 an hour, are you creating more jobs than I am?

I am not advocating socialism and reviling capitalism. I think the socialist countries could do with some capitalism, and I think without some regulation and constraints, unbridled capitalism leads to where we are headed right now - a huge gulf between the haves and have-nots, which eventually leads to revolt and the swing of the pendulum the other way, which certainly doesn't work either. Communism is a fairy-tale and so is Ayn-Rand-every-man-for-himself-the free-market-is-king capitalism.

We need to rein in the excesses or we're going to be even sorrier than we are now.

And if you're interested in numbers, here are some...

I Love Taxes!

I love taxes!

You heard me right.

I'm sick and tired of people bitching about having to pay taxes.

I may not always be happy about how taxes are spent and managed, but taxes are what make it possible to live the 'American Dream'. I have conservative friends who say, "I have to pay the first 3 months' salary of the year to the government," as though that were some kind of definitive argument against taxes. And any politician who wants to be popular vows to 'cut taxes'.

So it's an outrage to have to pay taxes. So, we expect to have roads, firemen, policemen, infrastructure in general, a prosperous business environment, a military, education for all, protection and promotion of our way of life - for nothing!

Now, this is not the sort of rant that is filled with 'statistics', because as we all know, as Mark Twain said, there are "lies, damned lies, and statistics". Statistics are easy to manipulate and it's a convenient way to get away from a point by wrangling over them. I'm talking about a philosophical point of view.

The impetus for our nationhood was rebellion against unjust taxation. There is a deep-seated distrust of taxes built into the American psyche for this reason. And acquisitiveness is a primal survival mechanism. Babies are born selfish out of necessity. But we are not babies. We learn that sharing is not only kind, it's necessary to our way of life. We have to give if we want to get. If we want something, we have to pay for it.

Americans believe in hard work, and making your own way. But Warren Buffet acknowledges that "There's no way I would enjoy what I enjoy if I had been born in West Africa." Part of being successful in America is the resources that America has to offer, and these don't just come out of thin air. If we want the benefit of all these resources, we need to pay for it. No matter how hard a person works, no matter what sort of entrepreneurial spirit and determination you have, it doesn't matter if the infrastructure and resources are not there to work with. Babies expect to be given everything without having to pay for it. Adults should know better.

I'll say another dirty word - tax the rich!

That's right. When our present system of taxation came into being, the idea of the progressive income tax was based on the notion that all Americans should bear the same amount of financial burden in contributing to the well-being and prosperity of this country. We all have basic needs - food, shelter, medical care. But obviously that takes up a larger share of the income of the less-well-off. The people who are well-off are well-off because they (or their parents) were in a place with the resources to reap benefits from the work they do. If you have 2 farmers, one with a rich, fertile piece of land, and another with an infertile pile of dirt, and they both try to grow something on their piece of land, is the farmer with the fertile land harder-working or more industrious or deserving of wealth than the farmer with the dry dirt pile? But somehow, people have this notion that people are rich all on their own merit and that poor people are poor because they're lazy and deserve poverty. And the evangelical right echoes that, saying in effect that God rewards His faithful with earthly riches and if you're poor, you're obviously out of God's favor. Never mind that Jesus said the exact opposite! But I digress...

Call for taxing the rich, and the howls of 'class warfare' are heard from the right. But it is a privilege to be able to do business in the United States, and poor people pay a much larger proportion of their income in taxes that benefit the rich when you figure in the taxes that are paid on everything they consume. There is already class warfare, and it's the war of the rich against the poor, and of the corporation against the individual.

For all the reminiscing about how great life was in the 50's, and how family life was so fantastic because moms stayed home, one big reason was the high tax rate of the well-off, and of corporations. The overall economy was prosperous enough that a shoe salesman could own a home, a car, and support a wife and large family - on one job! And a not-especially high-paying or prestigious one at that! Never mind that much of the idealization of the 50s conveniently forgets about racism and sexism, and the fact that many dads missed out on their kids' entire childhoods and moms were often tied up in a pink ruffled straitjacket, but speaking in economic terms, the dollar went a whole lot farther than it does today. Plus, decent-paying blue-collar jobs have gone the way of the 45 record, college tuition is through the roof, and social mobility is more stratified and frozen than ever. The good-paying jobs for those without a college degree (and those with one!) have been replaced by service jobs - McJobs, if you will, without benefits, where you can work full-time and not be able to support yourself. Think about that - you work as hard as you can for 40 hours or more a week, and not make enough money to supply even the basic necessities of life. That's not work - that's indentured servitude.

Folks, the trickle-down theory does not work. It's just a race to the bottom for the poor, and the formerly-middle-class that is rapidly becoming poor. More money might be made for those at the top - Wall Street shows that - but it's staying there, siphoned to offshore accounts and tax shelters. We've seen the results, and we're living with it now. And with the elimination of the estate tax, money that would have gone to charitable giving as a tax shelter is now unnecessary.

The object of the progressive tax is to ask the rich to bear the same burden as the poor. Not the same amount; not even the same percentage - the same burden. That is obviously impossible, since no one would ask the rich to pay everything that they make except for the bare essentials - like a crowded apartment, food stamps, second-hand clothing, free-clinic medical care - in taxes. But that's what the poor are asked for. There is a price we all have to pay for life in America, and if everyone assumed the same burden, the overall quality of life for all Americans - including the rich - would improve immeasurably.

So shut up, rich people, and pay your goddamn fair share.

(Gee, I feel so O'Reilly-esque! Pass the falafel!)