Funny Stuff over Iowa Hawk

Saw this at Iowa Hawk. He wrote a truly funny and sarcastic response to the Internet-driven campaign to cut government pork spending.

Recommend you read at least half of it.

http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2005/09/rainforest_iowa.html

Media Exaggerations During Katrina Coverage

I have read several articles that recount the false stories and exaggerated bad news in the week after Katrina. Now, some are asking how the media got it so wrong especially about the alleged murders and deaths at the Superdome.

Which makes me ask.."what was Brian Williams of NBC reporting?" casue I saw him on Comedy Central the other night and I swear Williams claimed he was inside the Superdome for 3-4 days. If I heard him correctly, what did he witness and did it conflict with what his colleagues were reporting?

Good Column On Where Bush Is Going Wrong

I am a conservative but was once a liberal Dem. That said, I have never cared for folks like Tom Delay. Regardless of his politics, he comes off as an arrogant and unlikeable creep.

When I look at Delay I see that little schmuck who plays the tough guy role in the all the Mafia movies... what's his name Joe Pesci (had to look it up) from Goodfellas. You gotta admit, in the right light, Delay and Pesci could be one of those "separated at birth" or "never seen in the same room" items as they look alike. And I would bet you neither of them are real life tough guys at all.

To get back to my post title, I believe Bush and the republicans have done nothing to rein in government spending which is a pet peeve of mine. So suggest you read the column below. It reflects where Bush et al is wrong. I got wind of this column on Instapundit, I think. For your reading pleasure, I have provided the link below.

http://www.metropulse.com/articles/2005/15_39/frank_talk.shtml

Illustrious Gathering Of (MOSTLY WHITE) Media Elites

Below is how Andy Rooney described the celebrity crowd at Peter Jennings' funeral. ..."It was the most illustrious gathering of news people that has ever taken place. A terrorist attack on Carnegie Hall that day would have wiped out broadcast news. " A more accurate statement would have been the title to this post.

Rooney showed film footage of the media stars who attended and when you read the transcript and count the 35 names he drops, you have to notice the absence of diversity among the almost pure-white list. Of the 35 MEDIA members Rooney mentions, there was BUT ONE BLACK NAME (Ed Bradley) and ONE ASIAN (Connie Chung).

That's pretty amazing even for the MSM. And please note Rooney did mention Al Sharpton's as having attending but I did not count him as a media elite.

A Leader In The Hate America Crowd

Wacthed some of Bill Maher's HBO show on Friday night...don't know why I did that. Maher had three Brit guests on and tried his damnest to get them to take the bait to slam America. To their credit, only one even nibbled ever so slightly on the edge of his bait.

Here is the telling quote from Maher that realy got me steamed. Maher said "we [Americans] are terrorists......purposefully kill civilians ....like we did in Hiroshima". Can Maher be more wrong than that??? The use of atomic weapons ended the war and saved many, many American soldiers' lives by getting the Japanese to surrender. That is the conventional wisdom.

And the bonus for watching the program was hearing Andrea Mitchell (remote guest) assign blame to the Clinton gang for ignoring Bin Laden and the 1993 WTC bombing!! Maher was shocked that this MSM star would deviate so far fromm the company line of worshipping Clinton. Maher responded that Mitchell was wrong because the Clinton admin was holding meetings almost every day on Bin Laden. Blogger's note- and , of course, any of us who have worked in large organizations knows how useful and productive those long meetings can be!

One Of Every Six Employee Loses Job

That is what the Philadelphia Inquirer is doing to its newsroom staff. The story actually said 16% will be offered buyouts or layoffs. But my title is more impactful and informative.... 1 of every 6 newsroom employees is losing or will give up their job!

That's almost unbelievable. And certainly indicative of the damage being wreaked on the MSM by the internet and bloggers and other forms of information sharing. Can it be long before the national and local TV news departments announce the same types of job cuts?

This is also a result of MSM's stubborness. By refusing to broaden their editorial and OPED pages so the average message was less strident and liberal, they have cost themselves readers, advertisers and revenue. Now, they and their employees are paying a steep price.

For your reading pleasure, I have provided the link below to the Inquirer announcement.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/12698323.htm

Hitting Em Again

Hurrican Rita is aiming for Houston where many of the New Orleans victims have fled. It seems almost surreal if those poor people get hit again.

Reminds me of the story they told about the old Phillie, Richie Ashburn. He was well known for his ability to continually foul off pitches so he could wait for a pitch he liked. Once, he fouled one into the stands and it injured a lady who was quickly carried off on a stretcher. And you guessed it, Ashburn promptly fouled another pitch which hit the same lady as she lay in the stretcher.

Hugh Hewitt Makes A Good Point

From Hugh Hewitt's Blog: " Trailer Park Nightmares
FEMA has ordered 300,000 RVs and trailers for the Katrina victims. Really. At a cost of $5 billion. That's about $17,000 per unit, which baffles me given not only the acquisition costs involved, but also the staging and construction that has to accompany the effort."

"Rick from StonesCryOut was actually one of the drafters of this part of FEMA's catastrophic response plan during the "Hurrican Pam" exercise last year. I asked Rick on air today what the costs of this plan were, and he told me that planners in the exercise had been told to disregard cost. Not a surprise, but what a nightmare this is."

"Look: Give every family a check. A good sized check. Tell them that's their relief payment and to use it wisely. Match them with churches/not-for-profits around the country and ship them out. Creating trailer parks for this many people is just a terrible idea."

Blogger's comment: Let's agree it's difficult to figure out how to handle this but I tend to agree with the idea of direct benefits ("give every family a check"). What the hell do you do with the 300,000 RV's in a year or so. Jeez, they will end up being abandoned on roads in probably every state of the country.

Tough To Do

Roger Clemens, the great baseball pitcher, pitched and won a game last night after his mother died earlier in the day. That's gotta be tough to do. My brother did something similar once- he coached his Pop Warner football team on a Sunday afternoon just hours after our mother had passed away. That too was tough to do. And you have to respect them both for their strength.

Below is the link to the Clemens article for your reading pleasure.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/
chi-0509150258sep15,1,1079332.story?coll=chi-sportsnew-hed

Another View Of Katrina

Here is an interesting take on the Katrina disaster from Pat Buchanan. And I agree with him.

Money Quote from a Pat Buchanan column:

"No sooner had Katrina passed by and the 17th Street levee broke than hundreds of young men who should have taken charge in helping the aged, the sick and the women with babies to safety took to the streets to shoot, loot and rape. The New Orleans police, their numbers cut by deserters who left their posts to look after their families, engaged in running gun battles all day long to stay alive and protect people.

It was the character and conduct of its people that makes the New Orleans disaster unique. After a hurricane, people's needs are simple: food, water, shelter, medical attention. But they can be hard to meet. People buried in rubble or hiding in attics of flooded homes are tough to get to. But, even with the incompetence of the mayor and governor, and the torpor of federal officials, this was possible.

Coast Guard helicopters were operating Tuesday. There were roads open into the city for SUVs, buses and trucks. While New Orleans was flooded, the water was stagnant. People walked through to the convention center and Superdome. The flimsiest boat could navigate.

Even if government dithered for days -- what else is new -- this does not explain the failure of the people themselves. "

You Don't Say?

Here is a tidbit from a Nawlins businessman who installs and repairs glass windows. He thinks it's about the most work hhe ever had. Guess Category Four hurricanes will do that for you buddy!

Among the businessmen allowed back was Terry Cockerham, owner of Service Glass, which installs windows at businesses downtown. He has been working out of his house because his business was destroyed by looters and flooding.

"This is about the most work I've ever had," he said. "We'll work seven days a week until we get this job finished. I don't want to get rich. I just want to get everything back right."

Jack Kelly Tells It Like It Is

Money Quote From Jack Kelly's column today in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

Journalists complain that it took a whole week to do this. A former Air Force logistics officer had some words of advice for us in the Fourth Estate on his blog, Moltenthought:
"We do not yet have teleporter or replicator technology like you saw on 'Star Trek' in college between hookah hits and waiting to pick up your worthless communications degree while the grown-ups actually engaged in the recovery effort were studying engineering.
"The United States military can wipe out the Taliban and the Iraqi Republican Guard far more swiftly than they can bring 3 million Swanson dinners to an underwater city through an area the size of Great Britain which has no power, no working ports or airports, and a devastated and impassable road network.
"You cannot speed recovery and relief efforts up by prepositioning assets (in the affected areas) since the assets are endangered by the very storm which destroyed the region.
"No amount of yelling, crying and mustering of moral indignation will change any of the facts above."
"You cannot just snap your fingers and make the military appear somewhere," van Steenwyk said.

Read the whole column. Link provided below:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05254/568876.stm

Tax Cuts Did Not Cause The Floods

No matter what your brainwashed little liberal head tells you, the Bush tax cuts did not cause the flood. Cause you have to then assume this EXTRA TAX REVENUE would have been miraculously spent on actually fixing the levees and having a doable emergency plan for Nawlins. So don't believe it even when the idiots at the Inquirer Editorial Board tell you this:

Inquirer idiotorial...."But a focus on individual screwups risks obscuring a bigger issue. The key flaw was not people bungling a good plan. The problem was the feeble plan itself, based on a notion of federal obligations so emaciated that it borders on the suicidal."

Blogger's note....oh that poor federal budget so broke it's sad!!! How can one not weep at the sign of bureacrats without bundles of our cash to waste!!

And I give you more evidence from that evil conservative, Charles Krauthammer. He wrote in a column in th eWashington Post on 9/09/05:

"As for the Bush tax cuts, administration budget requests for New Orleans flood control during the five Bush years exceed those of the five preceding Clinton years. The notion that the allegedly missing revenue would have been spent wisely by Congress, targeted precisely to the levees of New Orleans, and that the reconstruction would have been completed in time, is a threefold fallacy." "The argument ends when you realize that, as The Post noted, "the levees that failed were already completed projects.""

The Irish Can Write

Read the article below from an Irish writer in an Irish paper.

It reminded me that the Irish are great at writing (as well as drinking of course). Or maybe I should say the Irish are great at regularly trying to be good at drinking.

NB- I found this post via Instapundit, one of my favorite blogs.

http://www.sluggerotoole.com/archives/2005/09/ill_wind_may_no.php

The Question Is Where The Hell Did They Get Tiger Urine??

A restaurant in some crazy country was accused of serving donkey meat cooked in tiger urine when its menu advertised the entree as tiger meat. That's disgusting of course but where the hell did they get that tiger urine? Can't just call the local restaurant supply house and ask them to send over a case of Tiger Sauce, can you?

For your reading pleasure, I have provied the link below:

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/12591043.htm

A Psychiatrist Armed With A Glock 9 & Hollow Point Bullets

Watching Anderson Cooper last night on CNN and I think he has been out in the elements a bit too long. Here is what he reported as the typical chaos in Nawlins. And I am paraphrasing what Cooper said below:

Cooper ...."I ran into a psychiatrist who came to Nawlins just to help. He brought a bag of his own medicine and his own Glock 9 (an automatic handgun) loaded with hollow point bullets. The psychiatrist was frustrated because there was no one here to help gather patients, etc. That's the problem - the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing".

Jeez I agree with Cooper don't you? Just utter chaos and no one there to treat the truly needy like the cuckoo and armed psychiatrist Cooper thinks is perfectly normal.

UPDATE- HERE IS THE ACTUAL TRANSCRIPT FROM CNN'S COOPER....."And we're hearing that every day from all the first-responders that I talked to privately. They don't want to say it on camera because they don't want to get in trouble. These are small-town guys who don't want to make waves. But they are incredibly frustrated. I talked to a young doctor, a psychiatrist, who came here on his own with a backpack full of some medicine and a Glock with hollow-point bullets strapped to his waist. He wasn't ordered here. He just came here because there was a need. And he looked around. He was like, where is everybody else? Where are the medical professionals that are desperately needed? And this guy was working, helping New Orleans police officers, who didn't really have any medical care for themselves. " END QUOTE

Jokes Re Katrina

Joke #1
Hugo Chavez claims responsibility for Katrina….."...That will teach that Pat Robertson guy and his Bible Belt whackos who they're fucking with," says Venezuelan strongman.

Joke# 2
The warranty on Louisiana purchase expired in 2003. France breathes sigh of relief while U.S. kicks self for not buying "premium extended warranty plan".

Tales From Katrina

Tale # 1- A "civil rights activist" on Arianna Huffington's celebrity blog even floated the rumor that the starving folks abandoned in New Orleans had been forced to eat their dead -- after only four days. New Orleans has a reputation for its unusual cuisine, but this tale was so tall that nobody paid it much attention. Neither did anyone tell the tale-bearer to put a dirty sock in it.

Tale #2 - Oh and remember the reported rapes at the Superdome. Can't find anyone including a victim or a policeman who will substantiate this tale. So, as Rosanna Rosannadana might have said ..."never mind".

The Guvmint We Deserve

CHOICES OUR GUVMINT MAKES FOR US EVERY DAY

In some quarters, the hurricane Katrina disaster has evolved into a debate over whether the Bush tax cuts crippled the country’s ability to fund FEMA and shore up the levees in New Orleans. One side believes the guvmint (in honor of our fellow Americans suffering on the Gulf Coast, I am using the pronunciation “guvmint”) was shortchanged by the tax cuts and had to cut essential programs and the other side believes it has plenty but wastes too much of what it has.

I have listed below some state, local and national funding questions our guvmint has faced over the years. Would you have answered the funding questions the same way as our guvmint officials did?

Do we spend $500 Million or more to upgrade the levees protecting the 500,000 residents of New Orleans so the levees will withstand a Category Four hurricane? Most experts say there is only one chance in two hundred (or less than 1%) that a Category Four hurricane will occur.

Do we spend $88 Million for nostalgia/ambience reasons to refurbish 18 trolleys and put them back in service to replace the perfectly good buses on the Route 15 mass transit line that serves Girard Avenue in Philadelphia? You know, I rode the Route 15 trolley almost every school day from 1966-1970 and darned if I saw any ambience back then- the trolleys were just real slow. Is slow another word for ambience?

Do we spend $625 Million for a state economic development fund called Growing Greener whose objective is to promote so-called smart growth and subsidize environmentally-correct remediation and re-development of the core areas of Pennsylvania’s decaying small towns? Arithmetic whizzes say this program costs $50 to every man, woman and child in the state. That does not include interest expenses nor law firm fees on the bond issue.

Do we spend approximately $30 Million a year to pay the salaries and perks for 253 Pennsylvania state legislators? That figure includes the recent 17% pay raise this fine group recently approved for itself at the end of a very long workday. And FYI, the state of Pennsylvania has just 20 members (two senators and 18 representatives) in the US Congress.

Do we spend $1.2 Billion per year to subsidize Amtrak’s operations? Amtrak carries approximately 25 million passengers so the annual subsidy works out to $48 per passenger. Or should we just shut down Amtrak and leave a bunch of hideously-painted hybrid cars at each station so train buffs can carpool between stations. To curb misuse, we could ask the Pentagon to rig the hybrids to automatically self-destruct if anyone deviates too far from the designated train route. FYI- $1.2 Billion would pay for 48,000 well-appointed hybrid cars. The bad news is I am not sure what the Pentagon would charge to arm each car to self-destruct. The good news is the cost of GPS systems is falling fast.

Do we spend $250 Million to help pay for a football stadium where only 10-11 games are played a year? Recent estimates place the value of the Philadelphia NFL franchise at about $1 Billion not including the stadium. That is second only to the value of the Washington Redskins. I am confident many of you are thrilled to have helped the Eagles reach this lofty and valuable perch!

Do we spend $250 Million to help pay for a baseball stadium which will hold 81 games a year? Most urban planners agree investments in baseball stadiums provide the taxpayer with a good payback since it generally revives a city’s downtown area. Philadelphia has shown to be the exception to that rule. Several unnamed experts have gone out on a limb to suggest it may be due to the fact the Phillies stadium was built several miles from the downtown area.

Do we give away millions in stadium parking lot revenues to the owner of the area’s NBA/ NHL franchise because he never fails to remind us he paid for his own stadium (but neglects to mention we gave him the land for almost nothing)?

Do we establish a Levee Committee or Board, whose reason de’etre is to manage the New Orleans levees, and expand its authority and purview to include the establishment and oversight of riverboat gambling and casinos?

Do we establish a Delaware River Port Authority, whose reason de’etre is to manage the bridges connecting the city of Philadelphia to New Jersey, and allow it to expand its authority and purview to include many types of large economic development grants and multi-million dollar donations using the funds provided from bridge toll receipts?

The above are real examples of the choices our guvmint made on our behalf. A fair person may conclude our guvmint has plenty of money to devote to essential programs. But as some are so fond of saying …”we only get the guvmint we deserve”.

Prescient Flood Story Posted On A Delaware Blog

The website link below has an excellent story written a year ago in National Geographic magazine. The story sounds like it could have been written AFTER the levee broke.

http://colossus.mu.nu/archives/116047.php

Baldilocks (the blog) Offers Her Insights

Below is a post from a blogger named Baldilocks. She always makes a lot of sense.

Baldilocks quote..."I have no pertinent commentary about the unsurprising racial angle that some are bringing into the mix of toxic water, dead bodies and thousands of homeless people, except to say this: there were two things that disturbed me nearly as much as the death, destruction and lawlessness. As a matter of fact, one could say that those two things were by-products of the lawlessness. "...."I’m sure that I’m not the only one who noticed how many husband-less women and girls there were who had babies and children along with them. And I’m betting that I’m not the only one who cringed as more than one man near my dad’s age wailed plaintively about why no one was doing anything for him them."......"Back when I was growing up, real men took charge and made decisions. They protected women and children--especially their own children--and got them out of harm’s way; out of the way of things like hurricanes, especially when they had days of advance warning. And if they made the wrong decision, they tried to make things right and/or took the consequences. Like young Jabbar Gibson. "....."They didn’t expect someone else to be the protector—be the man—and then whine about how the substitute man wasn’t being the substitute man fast enough."...."No one should wonder that gangs of thieves, terrorists, rapists and murderers plagued the refugees. Such are the rotten fruit of fatherless societies--societies with a dearth of real men."

Dumb Media Comments

Friday Sept 2nd about 730AM . I was watching either CNN or MSNBC and the talking head is trying to berate FEMA's chief and she says "it's been almost a week since the hurricane". Fortunately, I was not dressed yet so was able to use my toes to check her math... let's see the hurricane was Monday (that's less than four full days ago) and the levee broke on Tuesday (that's less than three full days ago) . So someone send those networks a calendar or provide a remedial course in how many days in a week, month, years etc.

Saturday Sept 3rd- watching CNN in the erly evening. A military physician is being interviewed and he reports they examined about 6-7,000 people in the last 48 hours. Thr CNN talking head (something Jones) asks " what was the general condition of those you examined?" Great question right but I made that up. Jones didn't really think to ask that.

Instead, the talking head had his focus on what or who screwed up so he asked the doctor what he wished he had (obviously hoping the doctor said more troops or supplies, etc.). The doctor disapointed him when he replied "more time to plan". Good for the doctor to ram it up the talking head's butt.

MSM- worthless agenda-driven dopes. Let's remind them we just want the facts. And you get the facts simply by asking who, what, when, where, why and how.. Got It??

Oh What A Conundrum For The MSM & The Libs

Just heard the news Chief Justice Rehnquist has died. RIP.

Now the MSM and the Libs have a dilemma....continue to give the flood top billing in the news or get onto a seond Supreme Court nominee battle. It will be so interesting to see the Sunday morning news shows- I am sure they were loaded for bear to beat the crap out of Bush over the Katrina response. Now what will they do??? I predict Katrina gets 2nd billing from this moment forward!

Big-Time Kudos to Mayor Street

Philly's mayor has offered to house and pay for 1,000 families left homeless by Katrina! I extend my congratulations to the mayor - he has stepped up to do the right thing! All big cities should follow his example!

Below for your reading pleasure is the link to the story.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/special_packages/
hurricane_katrina/12544837.htm

Eagles (Amateur) TV Network

Let me take another shot at the Eagles...I watched about 5 minutes of their exhibition game last night and caught Dave Spadora telling viewers about the stadium's new computer system that enables fans to order food without leaving their seat in the stadium.

Spadora and the whole production struck me as rank amateurs. I understand it represents another way for the team to make more money by televising exhibition (NFL hates it when anyone uses this term anymore) games on its own "network". But at least try to meet industry standards of competence and professionalism.

What Do The Eagles Do With The Money Under The Salary Cap

The Philadelphia Eagles recently cut Corey Simon and saved $5 Million in salary for their once designated franchise player. That means the team is now $15 Million UNDER THE LEAGUE MANDATED SALARY CAP OF $85 Million. Or 18% below salary cap!!!!

Over the last few years, the Eagles have consistently been way under the salary cap. And every year, a friend of mine always asks "what happens to that money when a team is under the cap?" And every year, I give him the same answer..."Damned if Iknow".

Well, I provided a link below which may provide the answer if you want to research. I prefer to remain in the dark (afterall it's just a sport and I refuse to do homework on sports) and am perfectly contented to continue to curse the Eagles management for, in my opinion, being far too tightfisted.

http://www.askthecommish.com/salarycap/faq.asp

Good Article Except For The Predictably Nasty Final Paragraph

Former NY Times editor and a disaster himself, Howell Raines, wrote an oped piece today in the LA Times. Raines is a Nawlins native and he skillfully writes about his anguish of worrying about the safety of his daughter in law and grandchild. (At the same time, Raines unashamedly gets in a commercial plug for his son's "funk band" and its current venue in Seattle).

But predictably and unfortunately, Howell's column degenerates in the last part into bashing Bush, Bush's father and evil corporations. Here is the last paragraph :

"The populism of Huey Long was financially corrupt, but when it came to the welfare of people, it was caring. The churchgoing cultural populism of George Bush has given the United States an administration that worries about the House of Saud and the welfare of oil companies while the poor drown in their attics and their sons and daughters die in foreign deserts."

For your reading displeasure, I have provided below the link to Raines' article.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-raines1sep01,0,7077142.story?coll=la-home-headlines