tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72304612024-03-08T14:02:30.742-06:00Searching For A Better WayA Journal of Recovery Based on a Progressive Wiccan SpiritualityAndy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comBlogger687125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1127320594875418002005-09-21T11:31:00.000-05:002005-09-21T11:36:44.270-05:00Still searching for a better way...but I have a new home to do it from: <a href="http://www.kiltedliberal.com">The Kilted Liberal</a>. It is still new and has bugs and you can expect many changes over the next few weeks as I figure out what the hell I am doing. I welcome any and all feedback, anything from <i>this sucks</i> to <i>you are the Savior incarnate</i>.<br /><br />Right now nothing is up there but starting tomorrow there will be.<br /><br />Remember: <br /><font size=+2><a href="http://www.kiltedliberal.com">The Kilted Liberal</a></font>.<br /><br />See you there!Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1127276408036450092005-09-21T06:38:00.000-05:002005-09-21T06:51:22.910-05:00Calling All Weather Witches Out There...and anyone else who wants to add energy into this effort. <br /><br />This coming weekend I was really looking forward to going to Witchstock, a three day Pagan celebration of the Autumn Equinox. Not only is this one of the eight major Sabbats that Wiccan celebrate each year, it would also be a first time camping for my wife and my daughter. I really wanted some time off from the rat race, a chance to connect to Her in nature, that warm sense of community that I got the last year at Witchstock. <br /><br />That may not be happening though... it looks like the Goddess may have other plans in the form of an itty bitty weather disturbance called Hurricane Rita. Witchstock is held in Central Texas and that is the projected path for Hurricane Rita.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/mq-mapgend.websys.aol.com.jpg"><li><font size=-2>This is where I am supposed to be going.</font></li><br /><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/sm.jpg"><li><font size=-2>Taken from the <a href ="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/024155.shtml?5day">National Hurricane Center's website</a> at 11pm CST 8/20/05 showing the projected path of Hurricane Rita.</font></li><br /><br />Now, let me be very clear about this; my concerns - missing a weekend of camping - are insignificant compared to the concerns for Corpus Christie, Galveston and Houston who will be nailed hard by this storm. I pray that the storm loses organization before it hits shore although the experts say that is about as likely as pigs flying. The refugees from Katrina are being bused from Houston to Arkansas so you really have to feel for them, fleeing hurricane number 2. Our focus, our efforts and our prayers should be for those in the path of the hurricane.<br /><br />But if after all is said and done, I would selfishly like a weekend of community in nature with my wife and daughter.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1127217632542229512005-09-20T06:29:00.000-05:002005-09-20T07:00:32.586-05:00Premonitions<img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/STD_3262.JPG"><br />On Thursday, Mabon, the autumn equinox for those of you who are Pagan, I will be launching a new venture. I would be lying to you if I didn't bluntly admit what I feel about this which is truly a sense of fear and depression. Simply put, I am afraid of failing, that nobody will like what I have done. I hate the feeling but for about the past week I have had a deep sense of nausea whenever I think about it, a feeling so deep that I have not been doing work that is essential to the success of my idea. I am wishing that I had never started at this point.<br /><br />Some of this is my normal stage fright. I have always had that. I suspect a lot is exhaustion; baby has not been resting well this past couple of nights, nor have I. Work is not going well, in fact, work is going so poorly that for the first time in a long time I am literally afraid that I will lose my job. Right now my wife is having some difficulties with breastfeeding and that is new; until now that had been going very, very smoothly. The upshot of that is that I see my wife struggle and I cannot help her so I find myself simply feeling stupid and useless.<br /><br />Well, that is at least something I am good at; I have years of experience and practice feeling stupid and useless, or worse, smart and useless. My parents always told me that if I was going to do something I should be the best at it that I can be and I excel at tearing myself apart so perhaps it is good to have returned to my roots. <br /><br />I really wish I had not become a father. I don't think I am fit to be one.<br /><br />In a ballet of perfectly awful timing my managed healthcare provider has managed to screw up my perscription drugs so I have suddenly been forced off of one of my medications without warning. I will just as abruptly be returning to taking it whenever they fix the perscription. Every time I deal with them I get angry; it does not matter the lead time or the planning, they always seem to get it wrong.<br /><br />I should shut up and focus on all the things I should be grateful for; all the bounty in my life today. But right now it all seems like ash and dust to me. So I will leave this post the way it is.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1127132195945266082005-09-19T06:35:00.000-05:002005-09-19T07:16:36.020-05:00Conservatism Is A DiseaseFour days left until the big change; It will amaze and please you.<br /><br />Well, I hope anyway.<br /><br />One of the big problems with liberals and progressives is that at the drop of a hat they are usually willing to see the failures of market forces everywhere and tend to see government as a solution to a vast spectrum of problems. This is not always true; in fact often government is perfectly wrong as the solution to specific problems. Look at the question of energy generation for the Western United States for instance; the government solution was to dam up every trickle of water. This has created a series of environmental nighmares and the endagerment of several species that were supposed to be helped by the damming.<br /><br />The converse is true of conservatives. Government, in their eyes, is always the enemy, stifling individual market freedom and liberty. Which leads to the creation of organization such as the Club for Growth who hold that by reducing taxes and government, automatically there will be market growth. Grover Norquist, president of Americans for tax reform, famously stated: <blockquote>My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010514/dreyfuss">The Nation: Grover Norquist: 'Field Marshal' of the Bush Plan by Robert Dreyfuss, April 26, 2001</a></blockquote>Well, now, eleven years after the Republicans have taken control of the House and the Senate, and four and half years after they have taken control of the White House, we can guage with some accuracy the result of this policy:<br><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/bathtub.jpg"><li><font size=-2>Picture by <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/14/181635/830">High Acidity</a></font></li><br /><br />What we have seen is that among the Republicans there has been a kind of wierd, hybrid dual effect going on with government. Because they do not respect government at all, they have regarding it as being available to be looted; hence the rash of no bid contracts in Iraq and for the rebuilding of New Orleans and the constant stream of criminal behavior on the part of Republicans (for recent examples do a google search on coingate and Kentucky Governor Fletcher). But the second and actually worse part is that since they regard government in all of its forms as a bad thing, they have been willing to fill it, top to bottom with incompetent political hacks. Which is why almost a month after Hurricane Katrina hit, FEMA cannot get ice delivered to towns near New Orleans, fail to approve contracts for essential work on wastewater treatment facilities and leave skilled volunteers cooling their heels whilst people die.<br /><br />The last effect power has had on Republicans is that they have failed utterly in their mission to shrink government. In their haste to loot and provide corporate welfare to their sponsors they have realized that government is the goose that lays golden eggs. It is hard to stem that addictive flow of federal money and they have proven unequal to the task. Government spending has ballooned under Republican rule in a ridiculous way.<br /><br /> The result is a nation that is rapidly going the way of third world nations. A small, extremely weathy upper classs, a vanishing middle class and burgeoning lower class. Guess who we tied with in infant mortality this year? Malaysia. Yep. Just a little bit above Nambia and well below any of the European countries. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/dead2.jpg"><br /><br />America, the formerly beautiful.<br /><br />Time to look for a cure for the disease of conservatism.<br /><br />Four days.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126970743493253122005-09-17T10:12:00.000-05:002005-09-17T10:26:10.513-05:00ChangesTo my dear friend JJ, relax. Yes, it is going to be a big change in five days, but it will be a fun change for the better with lots of laughter, optimism, hope and baby pictures.<br /><br />See? Not so bad...life is a journey and you have very kindly invited me to be a part of your adventure in a small way as a blog reader. I'm returning the favor. <br /><br />Blogs just blow me away, what they can do. Conservative bloggers handed Dan Rather his own head on a plate; liberal bloggers found out that Jeff Gannon, White House Correspondent for Talon News, was also 8" uncut and $200/hr as a top. On Daily Kos a father asked for help with a runaway girl; she was found - rumor has it that even some conservative blogs helped on that one. Blogs tracked the horrors and the hopes of the aftermath of Katrina.<br /><br />And blogs are only in their infancy. Kind of scary... Kinda cool. Open source democracy, how does it get better than that?<br /><br />So bear with me here; changes are a good thing. It's like how Anwen gets all tense when her old diaper is off and blossoms into a huge smile when she realizes she is getting a fresh, clean one.<br /><br />Five days. A fresh clean one.<br /><br />Joke courtesy of <a href="http://godandcon.blogspot.com/">Lilith Saintcrow</a>: <br /><br />Q: What does Bush think of Roe vs. Wade? <br /><br />A: He doesn't care which way people get out of New Orleans!<br /><br />Okay, sick yes, true, yes.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126871337788302422005-09-16T06:37:00.000-05:002005-09-16T06:48:57.793-05:00Bad News, Good News, And Missed ChancesJust four short things today. First, six more days and things will start to be a little different around here...<br /><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/r3480068948.jpg"><li>He isn't, umm, actually <i>drinking again</i> is he? That might actually explain a lot of things...<br /><br />Anwen went in for her four month appointment; she is wonderful and healthy at 15.5lbs and 25 inches. Things could not be better.<br /><br />Finally, how come all you women had to wait till I was married and in my thirties before deciding to give <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050915/ap_on_go_ot/bisexual_women;_ylt=Al_Xtr1_QtGKAddk188jQzOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-">this a try</a>? I mean, come on, you gals could have just briefly - when I was about eighteen to twenty - given it a shot. But no.<br /><br />Hey, no hard feelings though (no pun intended). I just want all of you to know that I am available anytime as a witness for that sort of thing. Just let me know.<br /><br />Okay, I'll stop being a pig now.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126787810576205402005-09-15T06:57:00.000-05:002005-09-15T07:36:50.643-05:00Half NAAked ThursdaysAgain for those of you who have not seen this before, on Thursdays those of us who are members of a certain 12 step program participate in Half NAAked Thursdays where we post an image of ourselves and some sort of explanation of that image. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/1351/IMG_0516.jpg"><br />A little over four and one half years ago, celebrating my first birthday sober, I got this tattoo... well, the pentacle in the center on my first sober birthday and the surrounding knotwork with the wolf heads on the second anniversary. At the time I really felt that I wanted something large and permanant engraved in my skin to remind me that I had been sober one year. That way, I reasoned, if I ever drank again I would always know that I had been sober and happy once. I chose a pentacle because I had found a Pagan Higher Power: the Celtic Goddess Brigit. My thoughts were that if I ever became a Christian, even then the pentacle would have a great deal of meaning to me. But I have remained a Pagan, growing and exploring within that faith.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/1351/Tapestry.jpg"><br />This is the pentacle that inspired me. I really like it because while it is clearly a pentacle it is also very stylized and Celtic.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/1351/basseyutzdetail.jpg"><br />The animals tattooed around the edge on the anniversary of my sobriety. The pentacle looked and felt lonesome on its own. It is based on the animals on the <a href="http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~cmw/1995/Basse-Yutz.html">Basse-Yutz Celtic flagon</a> found near Basse-Yutz in France. That flagon dates back to the Hallstatt era of Celtic history, probably about 800 BCE. Check out the link above and get a good look at the flagons. They are really beautiful.<br /><br />Like everything in my sobriety and journey of faith, the meaning of the tattoo changes gradually over time. Nowadays when I think of my tattoo, I think of the old Native American story (well, most websites attribute it to the Cherokees, but who really knows? I've seen a version where it is the old Scottish story and another where the same story became a Russian folk tale):<blockquote>One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves."<br /><br />One is Evil. It is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. <br /><br />The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. And the two wolves fight each other fiercely for control of the spirit of each person." <br /><br />The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" <br /><br />The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."</blockquote>To me that is the perfect essence of Step Ten of the 12 Step program I work: Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.<br /><br />Right now I am not too happy because I have chosen to feed the evil wolf and it is starting to eat me up...<br /><br />We'll see; fights like this don't end overnight. Oh, and T-7 and counting...Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126698135254764232005-09-14T06:33:00.000-05:002005-09-14T06:42:15.260-05:00Mom's Visit Went WellIt was pretty much completely uneventful. Both she and Laura were not only civil, but actually quite pleasant to each other. It was a little eerie to observe, especially after a decade and a half of my mother expressing her dislike of Laura quite bluntly. All I can deduce is that both my mother and Laura have come to the conclusion that it serves nobody's interests to have a Anwen raised with out a grandmother (or Nana as my mother prefers). <br /><br />To me that is a great relief. <br /><br />So we had a calm, boring visit. The best possible kind of visit. My mother appeared to truly adore Anwen and that was a good feeling as well. Me? I am okay. Simply grateful that it went well.<br /><br />Two weeks is Witchstock, the Mabon gathering at the Circle Star Ranch in central Texas. Three days camping in nature. I can't wait; I really need some time away from the city.<br /><br />My apologies for not visiting your blogs in the past few days. You'll see why soon.<br /><br />Eight days and counting.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126611702959614882005-09-13T06:36:00.000-05:002005-09-13T06:41:59.976-05:00Joke Of The Day; Beginning CountdownPresident Bush was visiting a primary school and he visited one of the classes. They were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asked the President if he would like to lead the discussion on the word "tragedy". So the illustrious leader asked the class for an example of a "tragedy".<br /><br />One little boy stood up and offered: "If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him, that would be a tragedy."<br /><br />"No," said Bush, "that would be an accident."<br /><br />A little girl raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy."<br /><br />"I'm afraid not," explained the president. "That's what we would call a great loss."<br /><br />The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Bush searched the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?"<br /><br />Finally at the back of the room a small boy (lil Johnny) raised his hand. In a quiet voice he said: "If Air Force One carrying you and Mrs. Bush was struck by a "friendly fire" missile and blown to smithereens, that would be a tragedy."<br /><br />"Fantastic!" exclaimed Bush. "That's right. And can you tell me why that would be tragedy?"<br /><br />"Well," says Lil Johnny, "It has to be a tragedy, because it sure as hell wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be an accident either."<br /><br />Announcement: In nine days things will be changing around here.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126527530094400822005-09-12T06:30:00.000-05:002005-09-13T06:43:34.110-05:00The Myth of the Local First RespondersThe latest lie being pushed by the right, is that when it comes to hurricanes and such, local authorities are first responders, state authorities are second responders and the federal government is a distant third, welcome in only by the invitation of the state and local authorities.<br /><br />First of all, this is simply bullshit. The practical demonstration of that is the response by the federal government to the hurricanes in Florida over the course of 2004 <i>a presidential election year</i>, which I am sure had nothing to do with it. Federal officials were on the ground immediately after the hurricanes handing out money to <strike>swing voters</strike>, I mean hurricane victims, like cash was candy. In case you doubt my word, please visit and read:<br /><li><a href="http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/17/Weather/Unlike_Andrew__aid_s_.shtml">St. Petersburg Times: Unlike Andrew, aid's right on Charley's heels</a><br /><li><a href="http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease_print.fema?id=13745">FEMA Press Release On Charley</a><br /><li><a href="">FEMA Press Release September 4th, 2004: Massive Federal Response Underway For Hurricane Frances</a><br /><li><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040906-1.html">White House Press Release from September 6th, 2004: Responding to Hurricanes Charley and Frances</a><br />If one were not careful, one might get the impression that the only time Bush and his administration gives a shit is when their political ass is in the crack.<br /><br />The real evidence to disprove this claim by conservatives that the federal government's hands were tied comes from <a href="http://gov.louisiana.gov/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=973">the August 27th letter to President Bush</a> by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. The meat of the document is the first sentance: <i>Under the provisions of Section 501 (a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5206 (Stafford Act), and implemented by 44 CFR § 206.35, I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005, and continuing.</i> With that one sentance, Governor Blanco has invoked the act that gives the Federal Government authority to operate in Louisiana. Bush responded to this request by declaring Louisiana to be in a Federal State of Emergency on August 27th. Look at the text of <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html">Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana</a> and remember this was written before the President had decided to blame the Democrats: <blockquote>The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.<br /><br />The President's action authorizes the <b>Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts</b> which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of (list of parishes edited out)...<br /><br />Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.</blockquote> There you go. President Bush himself has ordered DHS and FEMA to get their asses in gear and save lives. <br /><br />Once the Stafford Act was invoked by Governor Blanco then the authority for recovery and relief efforts reverts to the federal government, specifically the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency. You can read this for yourself in the <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRPbaseplan.pdf">National Response Plan</a> that was created just for such emergencies. Figure 11 on page 93 really lays it out in graphical form and one thing is clear: once the President declares a state of emergency, the ball is in the feds court.<br /><br />Don't believe the lies being told by the administration's spinmiesters. Whatever Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco screwed up, this wasn't it. They did everything they were supposed to in order to get federal aid. The failure to get federal aid stems from the fact that President Bush was on vacation, the FEMA and DHS heads were incompetent and the men and women trained to respond in our military were never given orders to act.<br /><br />That is failure of leadership by our President and nobody else. <br /><br />Worst. President. Ever.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126497058242983292005-09-11T22:49:00.000-05:002005-09-11T22:50:58.246-05:00Sorry to have been absent...My mother was in town and came to visit and saw the baby for the first time. I have not seen my mother in two and a half years, this was the first time Laura, my wife, has seen my mother in almost seven years. Lots of emotions and feelings going on...<br /><br />Will be back.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126268143102678552005-09-09T06:33:00.000-05:002005-09-09T07:18:53.873-05:00Porn Is Not Necessarily A Good ThingThose who have followed this blog are aware that I have a fondness for naked women; in fact I rather feel the more, the better. I would even go further and say the more sexually explicit the better as well. Put more simply, I like porn.<br /><br />Kind of.<br /><br />I like porn because it is sexually arousing to me. I don't like the increased violence and degredation of the participants of porn that I percieve to be accelerating and getting worse. There are a host of issues wrapped up together in this and I'd like to simply lay them out and look at them:<br /><li>Porn is very sex negative; the marketing is based on the premise that sex is bad, naughty and forbidden. <br /><li>If the above is true, then women who participate in porn are "bad women."<br /><li>In my perception violence in porn in increasing in many ways. Themes of rape, rape of drugged/intoxicated women, women blackmailed into sexual acts are more common and are evidently popular and profitable. These things are starting to appear in mainstream pornography in the form of choking and slapping the women.<br /><li>Porn is very corporate and as with all commercial enterprise there is a race to see how cheaply the product can be made for the largest return. Cheap labor for porn can easily be found in poorer nations; if an American actress won't do it, maybe a Russian one will and for less money.<br /><br />Interestingly enough, I heard an ad for a porn store ("New Fine Arts" is the name of it) on <a href="http://www.airamericaradio.com/node">Air America Radio</a> here in Dallas. That did not bother me, I hear that all the time on rock stations. What was interesting though was that the spin of the ad was that liberals and progressives are allied with the adult industry in support of free speech and what they called "creative sexual expression."<br /><br />The same day I came across <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9157757/#050908">this book review</a> by Eric Alterman (it is towards the bottom of his post). The book is called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0805077456/qid=1119280001/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-0338366-1705567?v=glance&s=books">Pornified</a> and is by <a href="http://www.pamelapaul.com/">Pamela Paul</a> and it attacks the assumption that to be liberal, you must be pro-porn. Here is a excerpt of that review:<blockquote>Were pornography actually so sexually liberating, there would be little outré or taboo about it all. Hypocrisy and guilt still dominate sexuality in many ways, and pornography isn’t the cure for Puritanism or the sign of its defeat – it’s an emblem of its ongoing power to isolate and stigmatize sexuality. A truly liberated society would be one in which there were no need to “rebel” via commercialized images of sex. Moreover, pornography is hardly revolutionary. Indeed, pornography may be the ultimate capitalist enterprise: low costs, large profit margins; a cheap labor force, readily available abroad if the home supply ever fails to satisfy; a broad-based market with easily identifiable target niches; multiple channels of distribution. Pornography is big business... Pornographers distort pornography into an issue of progressivism and civil liberties precisely because they have millions of dollars of profit on the line...<br /><br />But there’s more to the pro-porn “rebellion.” The latest wave of pornography crusaders is not only railing against moralizing on the part of the government and organized religion, the argument that dominated the family values-obsessed Eighties. Today, pornography advocates are also and perhaps equally rebelling against what it views as the excesses of liberalism and feminism of the early 1990s...<br /><br />...it’s hard to find anything more retrograde, repressive, or closed-minded than the sexual clichés peddled by pornographers. Rather than a mark of escape from the past, the dominant morality of pornography reeks of Puritan and Victorian prudery; it creates a world populated by virgins and whores, by women who are used and then shamed for being sexually voracious. Their degradation is deserved, according to the prim sexual vision of the pornographer. </blockquote><br /><br />This looks like a book I might need to squeeze onto my reading list. It is a debate worth having because while I am not exactly and advocate for a return to the puritian mold, I think there has to be a better, healthier, more positive way for us as a society to express our sexuality... a way that does not depend on the humiliation or punishment of women.<br /><br />Just one more thing to think about.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126224819849727462005-09-08T19:11:00.000-05:002005-09-08T19:13:39.856-05:00I Am Delighted To Be Wrong.Apparently <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_04.php#006461">freedom of speech and press</a> does still exist in America!<br /><br />Yah! I love being wrong about things like this!Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126181964496156002005-09-08T06:26:00.000-05:002005-09-08T07:32:30.903-05:00America Dying<img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/ConstitutionBurning.jpg"><br /><br /><i>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.</i><br /><a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/">The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America</a><br /><br />We are now hearing from a variety of sources that the press is being prevented from entering New Orleans. There are stories of photojournalists being ordered at gunpoint to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/7/12316/97242">surrender their cameras and memory cards</a>. FEMA has quite clearly <a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06101601.htm">forbidden</a> any photos being taken of recovered bodies. National guardsman are <a href="http://www.operationflashlight.com/?p=25">turning away the press</a> at the outskirts of New Orleans. Brian Williams of MSNBC blogs what is going on:<blockquote>While we were attempting to take pictures of the National Guard (a unit from Oklahoma) taking up positions outside a Brooks Brothers on the edge of the Quarter, the sergeant ordered us to the other side of the boulevard. The short version is: there won't be any pictures of this particular group of guard soldiers on our newscast tonight. Rules (or I suspect in this case an order on a whim) like those do not HELP the palpable feeling that this area is somehow separate from the United States.<br /><br />At that same fire scene, a police officer from out of town raised the muzzle of her weapon and aimed it at members of the media... obvious members of the media... armed only with notepads... the fact that the National Guard now bars entry (by journalists) to the very places where people last week were barred from LEAVING (The Convention Center and Superdome) is a kind of perverse and perfectly backward postscript to this awful chapter in American history.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8045532/#050907c">Brian Williams: Making the Quarter rounds</a></blockquote>America has a long history of surpressing press freedoms during times of war and quite frequently the courts have upheld these restrictions. And we are at war. But this was a natural disaster, not a terrorist attack. There are no national security concerns here. A possible argument could be made for health concerns, but that has never before prevented journalists covering a disaster area. <br /><br />Josh Marshall spells out what is going on in his usual polite and fairly mild manner:<blockquote>Take a moment to note what's happening here: these are the marks of repressive government, which mixes inefficiency with authoritarianism. The crew that couldn't get key aid on the scene in time last week is coming in force now. And one of the key missions appears to be cutting off public information about what's happening in the city.<br /><br />This is a domestic, natural disaster. Absent specific cases where members of the press would interfere or get in the way of some particular clean up operation, or perhaps demolition work, there is simply no reason why credentialed members of the press should not be able to cover everything that is happening in that city.<br /><br />Think about it.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_04.php#006449">Talking Points Memo, 9/7/05</a></blockquote>I have thought about this. I was going to blog on this last night, but rather I slept on it, or rather I tried to. I simply could not sleep well. <br /><br />Political speech is supposed to be the <b>most protected</b> form of speech in this country. The only reason to ban media coverage of the New Orleans debacle is to provide political cover for an embattled administration. These orders are prima facia illegal and unconstitutional. But they stand today and I have yet to hear of any journalist challenging them.<br /><br />For the first time ever I am seriously thinking about moving out of the United States of America. Europe would be the logical choice. How shameful that we used to be the beacon of liberty and individual freedom for them.<br /> <br />Last night I started to think about purchasing a gun, but honestly, what good would that do? Who would I be shooting at? What would it accomplish? There is no organized resistance to join - yet. I won't say I am a pacifist, but I would definitely prefer the route of peace. Besides which any resistance to this tinpot dictator would be so outgunned it would be laughable. I think Cindy Sheehan is lighting the path we must take. But I no longer think we will win. The enemies of individual freedom no longer recognize legal barriers to their activities and each time they succeed, it emboldens them to go further.<br /><br />We must realize the United States of America is no longer a constitutional republic. Everything that underpins the freedom and liberties hard fought and won by our ancestors is being undone. There is no longer a guarantee of freedom of speech. We are now a fascist state similar to Italy in the hands of Mussolini or Spain under Franco. All those dire warnings about what made the Soviet Union so evil when I was growing up; that it was a one party state where that one party controlled the press and the government and dissent was not tolerated, all of that is coming true right here, right now.<br /><br />I will grant the Republicans this: we are nothing like Nazi Germany. The Republicans don't have the brains to implement their fascism in such an organized, methodical manner. Karl Rove has, however, taken a page directly from the Nazi propaganda minister: <i>It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion.</i> -Joseph Goebbels<br /><br />As Josh says, think on it.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126065140273002212005-09-06T22:23:00.000-05:002005-09-06T22:52:20.300-05:00This Is Bad...I'm just going to be blunt about it; if I post it tonight, it came from one of these three sources:<br /><a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/">Talking Points Memo</a><br /><a href="http://www.atrios.blogspot.com/">Atrios' Eschaton</a><br /><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/">Daily Kos</a><br /><br /><a href="http://oep-ndms.dhhs.gov/dmort.html">DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team)</a> is saying they have been told to <a href="http://www.t-g.com/story/1116806.html">prepare for up to 40,000 dead</a>. Hat tip goes to <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/">Talking Points Memo</a>.<br /><br />FEMA Director Michael Brown waited until f<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_disaster_response;_ylt=Ak_rIryMDAzLga9hk7jGKdms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ">ive hours <b>AFTER</B> Katrina hit to order FEMA employees to the scene. He also gave them two days to get there</a>. Their job? <a href="http://wid.ap.org/documents/dhskatrina.pdf">Convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public. </a> So their primary purpose was PR.<br /><br />What would you do with 1,000 trained volunteer firefighters in a national disaster? Well, if you're FEMA, you give them <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3004197">sexual harrassment training</a>! But wait! Fifty of the firefighters were rushed to Louisiana! Did they get to help anyone? Why yes they did! They helped President Bush: <blockquote>But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: <b>to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas</b>. <br /><a href="">Salt Lake Tribune: Frustrated: Fire crews to hand out fliers for FEMA</a></blockquote><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/natguard.jpg"><li><font size=-2>See those guys in the background?</font></li><br /><br />Speaking of FEMA, remember the Director of FEMA's primary qualification for the job was that he worked on the Bush campaign. Well, guess how his two deputies got their jobs? <blockquote>The Chief of Staff is a guy named Patrick Rhode. He planned events for President Bush’s campaign. Rhode has no emergency management experience whatsoever. From Rhode’s official bio:<br /><br />His first position with the Bush Administration was as special assistant to the President and deputy director of National Advance Operations, a position he assumed in January 2001. Previously, Mr. Rhode served as deputy director of National Advance Operations for the George W. Bush Presidential Campaign, in Austin, Texas.<br /><br />The Deputy Chief of Staff is Scott Morris. He was a press flak for Bush’s presidential campaign. Previously, he worked for the company that produced Bush’s campaign commercials. He also has no emergency management experience. From Morris’s official bio:<br /><br />Mr. Morris was also the marketing director for the world’s leading provider of e-business applications software in California, and worked for Maverick Media in Austin, Texas as a media strategist for the George W. Bush for President primary campaign and the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign.<br /><br />Via <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/06/fema-deputies/">ThinkProgress</a>.</blockquote>UnFUCKINGbelievable.<br /><br />Worst. Administration. Ever.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1126008214398611272005-09-06T06:29:00.000-05:002005-09-06T07:03:35.666-05:00Good News, Bad News<img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/conspiracy.jpg"><li><font size=-2>I don't know what they are planning, but there is no question that they have mischief on their minds!</font></li><br />We've all had our share of bad news this past week; that is not surprising given current events. Overlooked in all of this is some remarkably good news - for the most part we do still see ourselves as members of a larger community. This weekend culminated in an orgy of donations from Americans who have things to give to those who are needy. Mountians of clothing, food, water and much, much more have been donated. Hundreds, possibly thousands of gallons of blood have been donated, one pint at a time. Some folks have opened up their homes to strangers; others have paid for hotel stays on their credit cards.<br /><br />All of this hearkens to the America that I know and love. The America that does not worry what color skin the needy have, just worries that they needy get what they need. This is the America that send young men to Europe to die so that others would be free; so that the horrors of fascism would be ended. An America based upon the best in all of us. This America does not need to be told to sacrifice; it knows when it is time to give and does so with an open heart. It is a creedless, colorblind America.<br /><br />I call it America the Beautiful.<br /><br />For those of us Pagans out there, the Wildhunt Blog has the second <a href="http://www.wildhunt.org/2005/09/pagan-carnival-welcome-to-second.html">Pagan Carnival</a> up! This is a collection of some of the best Pagan blogging on the web for the past month. I was both surprised and humbled when Jason Pitzl-Waters emailed me a week or two ago to tell me he wanted to include me as a part of the Carnival, so yes, I am up there as well. <a href="http://godandcon.blogspot.com/">Lilith Saintcrow</a> is also there. I have to be very honest and tell you that I have not had a chance to read all the contributions but I have found that that the ones I have read are excellent. Clearly, my blogroll is going to be growing.<br /><br />It's a whole new week out there and I for one am very optimistic that we are going to be seeing more and more of the best parts of America in the coming weeks and less of the negative, hateful side of America. I will still blog the bullshit from this administration, but I am slowing down and taking it easy unless something extreme merits a rant.<br /><br />So go out and have a great week!<br /><br />Oh, yeah, he's still: Worst President Ever.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1125974626396418712005-09-05T21:01:00.000-05:002005-09-05T21:43:46.466-05:00Not Too Many Daily Outrages (And A Little Good News Tucked In There Too)In watching this disaster unfold, you must have wondered, as many have, what it would have looked like, had the President of the United States given a shit. We are fortunate to be able to show you exactly what it looked like to have a President who cared; it's too bad that he's not in office. It's good news, so read on: <blockquote>They saw nature's unmatched fury up close. <br /><br />Now they would see unbridled human compassion. <br /><br />About 140 people - mostly elderly and infirm - arrived Saturday at McGhee Tyson Airport on a chartered mercy flight from hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, welcomed to East Tennessee by a bright sun and a host of medical professionals straining at the reins to help their fellow human beings without regard to whether they were on the clock. <br /><br />The displaced hurricane victims came to Tennessee on a hastily arranged flight, accompanied by doctors and carrying whatever they had in boxes, bags or, in one case, an old suitcase tied up with rope. <br /><br />Former Vice President Al Gore arranged the flight and was on board, but he declined to take credit for the airlift, fearing it would be "politicized." <br /><br />...Gore chose not to speak to the assembled media, but he was seen in a black T-shirt and jeans moving rapidly from one side of the plane to the other assisting with the off-loading operation. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.algore-08.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=273&Itemid=78">Knoxville News Sentinel: Gore accompanies about 140 arrivals from New Orleans but declines to take credit </a><br /><br />Hat Tip goes to jj32 at <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/5/183618/3893">Daily Kos</a></blockquote><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/gore.jpg"><li><font size=-2>A man who knows the meaning of the words "hard work." I was proud to have voted for him in 2000, I am even more proud now. Thank you Mr. President.</font></li><br /><br />The Senate Democrats have supposedly released a plan to deal with Katrina, however, it is not on the Senate Democrats website, so I'll hold off on it for now. <br /><br />A pretty complete list of FEMA's fuckups is <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/5/16455/30830">right here</a>.<br /><br />Wonkette catches the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, in yet <a href="http://www.wonkette.com/politics//chertoffs-reading-habits-123841.php">another lie</a> (Yes, I read Wonkette, please don't laugh at me. My excuse is that she is a hot redhead with a fetish for, um, how to say this, backdoor action so I, like many other men, find her irresistable).<br /><br />Barbera Bush is still a <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/5/20932/75590">fetid, nasty old cunt</a>. The good news is, soon she'll be dead; I have my dancing shoes polished, waiting to visit her grave. Sorry, I hated her as First Lady, I detested her even more after realizing what she gave birth to and now with her racism and hatred on display, I see no need to be kind to her.<br /><br />I am hearing that some of the fish in the Aquarium of the Americas survived and that the Zoo has done remarkably well. I am glad to hear that; now I want to hear more about what I can do to help the humans.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1125895604686637502005-09-04T23:03:00.000-05:002005-09-05T00:26:30.080-05:00Daily OutragesWhew! I finally got smart and decided to do it all in one post late at night.<br /><br />First, good news, the Superdome is finally empty. People have been removed from that living hell.<br /><br />It's getting old to me to catalog the horrors of this tragedy; especially with my personal failing to do my utmost to help. Unless things change dramatically, we will not be taking anyone in. We are afraid because of the baby and we are using our fears as a justification for our selfishness. I am ashamed to type this, but it is the bottom line.<br /><br />Nonetheless I feel compelled to blog the deliberate incompetence and malfeaseance of the administration because I truly believe that those in the administration are dangerous criminals who will destroy this nation unless they are stopped. They now have the ability to appoint two Supreme Court Justices. This will impact the nation for twenty, thirty or even fifty years. This is serious. The will handle the appointments the way they have handled Iraq and Katrina: with self-serving incompetence, disrespect for the nation's minorities and a complete disregard for reality. So let's get started with the horrors.<br /><br /><li>Revisiting Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff's claim that "there was no way to forsee the two part disaster of the hurricane and the levees failing." We now have on record Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center saying that both Chertoff and FEMA head Brown were briefed by him on the possible effects of the hurricane including the failure of the levees. The money quote: <blockquote>"Mayfield said the strength of the storm and the potential disaster it could bring were made clear during both the briefings and in formal advisories, which warned of a storm surge capable of overtopping levees in New Orleans and winds strong enough to blow out windows of high-rise buildings,"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054595">Editor and Publisher: Hurricane Center Director Tells Paper He Briefed Brown and Chertoff on Danger of Severe Flooding</a></blockquote> So another lie bites the dust.<br /><br />Do you guys recall the battle Hercules had with the hydra? It was a nine headed monster and each time he chopped off a head with his sword, two more heads took the fallen heads place to bite and menace him. That's what it is like, fighting this administration, the lies just keep on coming. <br /><br /><li>Next up is the lie that Governor Blanco never signed a state Declaration of Emergency which prevented the Federal Government from coming to the aid of Louisiana. There are a couple of points here. First of all, we have the <a href="http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf">letter from August 28th, 2005</a> in which Governor Blanco asks the President of the United States to declare a National State of Emergency which would override a State declaration anyway. We also have another letter posted to the State of Louisiana website from August 26th, 2005 <a href="http://gov.louisiana.gov/2005%20%20proclamations/48pro2005-Emergency-HurricaneKatrina.pdf">which declares Louisiana to be in a State of Emergency from August 26th to September 25, 2005</a>.<br /><br />Now this lie above about the state of emergency is truly a remarkable lie. First of all, because the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301680.html">Washington Post</a> and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9179587/page/5/ ">Newsweek</a> report this claim from an <b>anonymous administration source</b> as though it were gospel truth. Now, the post has gone back and edited that story to correct the deliberate lie told to them by that anonymous source; as of this blog entry, Newsweek had not.<br /><br />What makes this a remarkable lie is this: the source who lied to these reporters was absolutely confident that they would not even bother to research the claim. The source must have known that a simple visit to the State of Louisiana's website would disprove his lie, but felt certain these "journalists" would not bother to do so - and he was right. Neither of them did, and only the Post has retroactively corrected the lie. Secondly, the only defense the administration has is a beauracratic the-State-did-not-fill-out-the-right-paperwork-defense. That is insane and stupid on its face. First, it appears the state did actually do the right paperwork and second the excuse itself is simply disgusting. If Bush was the strong leader he pretends to be, he would have gone and authorized any expense and effort necessary.<br /><br />All of the above comes from my reactions to posts by Joshua Micah Marshall on his truly amazing blog <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/">Talking Points Memo</a>. He deserves full credit for the work he has done on this.<br /><br />Next outrage in line is what is happening in the small towns outside New Orleans. Today on Meet The Press, Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard was interviewed by Tim Russert. Before we go into what was said, let me note: Tim Russert is also carrying water for this administration, trying to shift the blame to the state and local authorities as this poor man is crying and repeating that FEMA has been the problem from day one. Excerpt: <blockquote>Sir, they were told like me. Every single day. The cavalry is coming. On the federal level. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. The cavalry is coming. I have just begun to hear the hooves of the cavalry. The cavalry is still not here yet, but I have begun to hear the hooves and were almost a week out. <br /><br />Three quick examples. We had Wal-mart deliver three trucks of water. Trailer trucks of water. Fema turned them back, said we didn't need them. This was a week go. We had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a coast guard vessel docked in my parish. The coast guard said come get the fuel right way. When we got there with our trucks, they got a word, FEMA says don't give you the fuel. Yesterday, yesterday, fema comes in and cuts all our emergency communications lines. They cut them without notice. Our sheriff, Harry Lee, goes back in. he reconnects the line. He posts armed guards said no one is getting near these lines.<br />...<br /><br />The guy who runs this building I'm in. Emergency management. He's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said. Are you coming. Son? Is somebody coming? And he said yeah. Mama. Somebody's coming to get you.. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday. And she drowned Friday night. And she drowned Friday night. Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The Secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For god's sakes, just shut up and send us somebody.<br /><br /><a href="http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_09_04_atrios_archive.html#112584666746336109">via Atrios at Eschaton</a><br /></blockquote>Now, I have gotten an email reacting to my posts accusing me of making this stuff up. Well, then I guess that in addition to faking the state of Louisiana's website, I also faked the <a href="http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/04.html#a4783">video of this interview</a>. Warning: it is very hard to watch. This poor man is so upset, all he wants his help for the residents of his parish. It is sickening.<br /><br />On Daily Kos, Georgia 10 (who must be one of the best and brightest minds of the progressive movement today IMO) patiently went through the Congressional Record and found literally <b>years</b> worth of pleas from Louisiana's Representatives and Senators for funding to improve the levees. Literally years. You can read Georgia 10's hard work right <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/4/233718/2082">here</a>. <br /><br />There is so much more, but I am at my outrage max for the night. Please, tell your friends and neighbors about this, please.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1125806438636096772005-09-03T22:56:00.000-05:002005-09-03T23:24:46.870-05:00May The President Burn In Hell And May He Go There SoonFrom the AP wire:<blockquote>In St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, just south of New Orleans, victims of the hurricane are still waiting for food and water and for buses to escape the floodwaters, (US Representative Charlie) Melancon said. <b>And for the entire time Bush was in the state, the congressman said, a ban on helicopter flights further stalled the delivery of food and supplies.</b><a href="http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/12548040.htm">Congressman can't get Bush on the line</a></blockquote><br />From Laura Rozen:<blockquote>There was a striking dicrepancy between the CNN International report on the Bush visit to the New Orleans disaster zone, yesterday, and reports of the same event by German TV.<br /><br />ZDF News reported that the president's visit was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of 'news people' had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time.<br /><br />The people in the area were once again left to fend for themselves, said ZDF.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/002485.html">War and Piece: If he could go to Baghdad, why didn't Bush go to the New Orleans Superdome or the Convention Center?</a></blockquote>Video is <a href="http://www.tagesschau.de/video/0,1315,OID4700936_RESreal256_PLYinternal_NAV_BAB,00.html">here</a>. It helps if you speak German. Translation from <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/3/201754/2484">Daily Kos</a>: <i>Bottom line: When the convoy of the President arrived, hectic activity broke out for the first time, bulldozers appeared and cleared areas that didn't need clearing because nobody was still living there, and when the President disappeared, so did the bulldozers and workers.<br />Christine Adelhardt, the reporter, said, that the fake scenario shocked her as much as the destruction she had seen.</i><br /><br />I am just sick to my stomach.<br /><br />Oh, Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist has died. Didn't like the sonofabitch, but may he rest in peace with the God of his understanding.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1125805875750601842005-09-03T21:40:00.000-05:002005-09-03T22:54:04.940-05:00Late Updates...I'm sorry my blog has been hard to read... I have been so angry it is eating into my attitude at work and at home. That's not acceptable and it means that I am not spiritually fit. <br /><br />Maybe I should call my sponsor... you know, the one I haven't called in over a week because I am so embarrassed that I missed her getting her ten year sober birthday chip... Yeah, you can color me ashamed. I did call her on her birthday and sing happy birthday to her, but considering how poorly I sing, that's probably more of a negative than a positive.<br /><br />Laura and I have not decided whether or not to take someone in. The fear of something happening to the baby is the issue. There is really no question that if it were the two of us, we'd already have done it. Rational or not, I understand Laura's fear because I share it. At the same time this would be the way to contribute. So I am feeling more shame right there.<br /><br />Before I go, more news...<br /><br />At today's press conference, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asserted a two pronged defense of the handling of rescue and relief efforts:<br /><br /><li>He said government officials did not expect both a powerful hurricane and a breach of levees that would flood the city of New Orleans.<br /><br /><li>He blamed Governor Kathleen Blanco, stating that she either failed to ask for military, FEMA or National Guard aid or, at the very least, failed to use the proper legal channels to request this assistance. <br /><br />Nice try on both. Let's demolish contention number one and for once, I don't have to scour the net for proof; I can cite the exact same CNN story that reported on the Chertoff press conference. That's right: CNN IS PRACTICING ACTUAL JOURNALISM. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll recover and go back to being the all missing white women all the time network. But anyway from CNN:<blockquote>Defending the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff argued Saturday that government planners did not predict such a disaster ever could occur.<br /><br />But in fact, government officials, scientists and journalists have warned of such a scenario for years.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/">CNN: Chertoff: Katrina scenario did not exist</a></blockquote>The whole story reads like that. A paragraph of Chertoff's lying followed by a paragraph, usually bolstered with quotes, links or other evidence, disproving his assertions.<br /><br />As for his attempts to blame Governer Blanco, well, first of all she is not clean in this either. I have no doubt, none at all that everyone from the city engineers to the mayor, to the president, will owe an accounting. But Chertoff's claim is an outright lie. We have <a href="http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf">the letter</a> Governor Blanco wrote the day before the hurricane hit requesting, through FEMA, all kinds of specific aid, citing the federal and state laws involved. I don't see anywhere in the letter that says specifically military or National Guard involvement but I think you would have to be clinically brain dead to not interpret the letter as a request for any and all aid available. <br /><br />In any case, Chertoff is simply trying to avoid responsibility that is clearly his. Hell, go visit the <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/theme_home2.jsp">homesite for the Department of Homeland Security</a> and read:<blockquote>In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort.</blockquote>In other words, Chertoff is the where the buck stops. So don't buy into this bullshit about it being the Governor's fault. She may have plenty to answer for on her own, but this was all Chertoff's baby.<br /><br />One final outrage for the day; apparently President Bush faked repairs to a damaged levee for a photo opportunity. The person accusing him of this lie is United States Senator from Louisiana, Mary Landrieu. Her evidence? She flew over the same levee a day later and none of the equipment and repairs she saw while she was there with the president remained except for one single piece of equipment. You can read her <a href="http://landrieu.senate.gov/releases/05/2005903E12.html">press release</a> here.<br /><br />One final question: Where are the Democrats in all of this?Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1125771202307261212005-09-03T11:38:00.000-05:002005-09-03T14:08:54.760-05:00Impeachment Is Too Good For The Bastard<img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/dead2.jpg"><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/mccaincake2.jpg"><li><font size=-2>3rd World America/Let Them Eat Cake</font></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html#4524">Red Cross Banned From New Orleans</a><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/bushguitar.jpg"><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/fire.jpg"><li><font size=-2>Fiddling While New Orleans Burns</font></li><br /><li><a href="http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=100857">Head of FEMA's Previous Job: Running Arabian Horse Shows. He Was Pushed From Job, Accused Of Incompetence Amid Lawsuits. Got FEMA Job Because He Was A Republican Activist; His College Roommate Was Former Head Of FEMA.</a><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/waiting.jpg"><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/bushdog.jpg"><li><font size=-2>Good to know his dog can get a helicopter flight.</font></li><br /><li><a href="">National Guard And Military Prepared To Airlift Food To New Orleans Days Ago; Could Not Do So Because FEMA Never Asked.</a><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/dead.jpg"><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/excuses.jpg"><li><font size=-2>The excuses begin.</font></li><br /><li><a href="">National Guard From Several States Ready To Go To New Orleans On Sunday 8/28; Paperwork To Do So Did Not Come From Washington Until Thursday 9/1</a><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/handshake.jpg"><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/dying.jpg"><li><font size=-2>Enjoy your photo op, Mr. President!</font></li><br /><li><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050903/ap_on_re_us/katrina_superdome_hk1">Evacuations From Superdome Halted So That Well Fed, Well Dressed Hyatt Guests Could Be Evacuated First</a><br /><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/roof.jpg"><img src="http://www.goddessofmanynames.com/photos/200509/natguard.jpg"><li><font size=-2>Look behind Bush. How nice to have helicopters and National Guardsmen standing at attention for a photo op when people are waiting to be rescued.</font></li><br /><li><a href="">Slow Response Is Directly Bush's Fault; NORTHCOM Ready To Go When Katrina Hit Florida; NORTHCOM Forced To Wait For Presidential Order They Never Got</a><br><br /><li><a href="http://www.acadiananow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050902/NEWS05/50902009/1075">Hungry Evacuees At Cajundome Forced To Wait For First Lady Photo Op Before Being Fed</a><br><br /><li><a href="http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf">Governor Of Louisiana Asked For Help On 8/28 Proves Bush Lied About Not Getting Request For Federal Aid</a><br><br /><li><a href="http://www.newschannel5.tv/2005/9/1/4255/Taking-refuge-in-the-Astrodome">Hero Faces Arrest For "Looting"; Saved Lives Of Over 100 People Including Newborn Baby</a><br><br /><li><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/03/katrina.unusedgear/index.html">Emergency Rescue And Firefighting Gear Sits Unused</a><br /><br /><b>Worst. President. Ever.</b>Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1125718759088676922005-09-02T22:15:00.000-05:002005-09-02T22:39:19.096-05:00American Family Association Is A Hate Organization & There Is A Better WayAgape Press is an arm of the American Family Association and this is what they say are the <a href="http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/9/22005b.asp">benefits of Hurricane Katrina</a>:<blockquote>The pastor explains that for years he has warned people that unless Christians in New Orleans took a strong stand against such things as local abortion clinics, the yearly Mardi Gras celebrations, and the annual event known as "Southern Decadence" -- an annual six-day "gay pride" event scheduled to be hosted by the city this week -- God's judgment would be felt.<br /><br />“New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion -- it's free of all of those things now," Shanks says. "God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there -- and now we're going to start over again."</blockquote>Well, I used to like the drinking that took place in New Orleans, I love the bare breasts on display in New Orleans (actually I am partial to them in any location), the sodomites are my friends and I'm a Witch so he pretty much attacked everything and everybody I like.<br /><br />How can you believe in a god that vicious and destructive? Why would you want to believe in a god of hate? Isn't this really the devil he worships? These people are evil; celebrating the misery of others. And do they think that all those people at the convention center and superdome are wicked? What about the babies-are they wicked and deserve punishment as well?<br /><br />Consider this angry god and contrast this concept with the God that Rabbi Harold Kushner believes in: <blockquote>All the responses to tragedy which we have considered have at least one thing in common. They all assume that God is the cause of our suffering, and they try to understand why God would want us to suffer. Is it for our own good, or is it a punishment we deserve, or could it be that God does not care what happens to us? Many of the answers were sensitive and imaginative, but none was totally satisfying. Some led us to blame ourselves in order to spare God’s reputation. Others asked us to deny reality or to repress our true feelings. We were left either hating ourselves for deserving such a fate, or hating God for sending it to us when we did not deserve it.<br /><br />There may be another approach. Maybe God does not cause our suffering. Maybe it happens for some reason other than the will of God. The psalmist writes, “I lift mine eyes to the hills; from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, maker of Heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1–2) He does not say, “My pain comes from the Lord,” or “my tragedy comes from the Lord.” He says “my help comes from the Lord.”<br /><br />Could it be that God does not cause the bad things that happen to us? Could it be that He doesn’t decide which families shall give birth to a handicapped child, that He did not single out Ron to be crippled by a bullet or Helen by a degenerative disease, but rather that He stands ready to help them and us cope with our tragedies if we could only get beyond the feelings of guilt and anger that separate us from Him? Could it be that “How could God do this to me?” is really the wrong question for us to ask?<br /><br />From <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400034727&view=excerpt">When Bad Things Happen To Good People</a></blockquote>Rabbi Kushner then takes the reader through an analysis of the Book of Job that is both insighful and useful. He ends by challenging us, all of us with this: <i>In the final analysis, the questions of why bad things happen to good people transmutes itself into some very different questions, no longer asking why something happened, but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it happened.</i><br /><br />Let the haters hate. There are people who need our help. Give what you can and take time to let your family know you love them. Have a good weekend.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1125663548288341142005-09-02T06:36:00.000-05:002005-09-02T07:19:08.330-05:00Sign Of The Times (A Quick and Important Question for Readers at the End of the post!)Of all of the unbelievable things our federal government did or, more accurately, failed to do yesterday, nothing was as symbolic of the problem as the following exchange on National Public Radio's All Things Considered between commentator Robert Siegel and the Secretary of Homeland Security Micheal Chertoff:<blockquote>Robert Siegel: We are hearing from our reporter, he’s on another line right now, thousands of people at the convention center in New Orleans with no food, zero.<br /><br />Chertoff: As I said, I’m telling you we are getting food and water to areas where people are staging. The one about an episode like this is if you talk to someone or <b>you get a rumor or an anecdotal version of something I think it’s dangerous to extrapolate it all over the place.</b>[Snip]<br /><br />Robert Siegel: But Mr. Secretary when you say we shouldn’t listen to rumors. These are things coming from reporters who have not only covered many many other hurricanes, they’ve covered wars and refugee camps. These aren’t rumors, they are saying there are thousands of people there.<br /><br />Chertoff: I would be…I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don’t have food and water.<br /></blockquote> <br />The above exchange comes to us from <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/01/chertoff-reality/">Think Progress</a> and you can hear the original interview <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4828771">here</a><br /><br />Now, anybody with access to a radio, television or the internet yesterday knew about the people at the convention center. We heard about <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.impact/">people at the convention center being raped and beaten</a>. A CNN reporter saw a baby die right in front of him yesterday.<br /><br />Yet here we have and ideological hack appointed to head the huge Department of Homeland Security; the guy whose job it was to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency, telling Robert Siegel that he knows nothing about fifteen thousand people at the New Orleans Convention Center. Actually, he goes further than that, he dismisses it as a rumor.<br /><br />So, not only is he, the man in charge of relief efforts completely unaware of 15,000 desparate refugees; when told about them he simply dismisses it out of hand. This is the Bush administration in a nutshell. <i>We know better than you, so just shut up while we do what we want</i>.<br /><br />And make no mistake about it; they want FEMA dead. This is what they will do to all of our government if allowed. There is a famous quote from Republican activist Grover Norquist that the GOP wants <i>a government small enough to drown in a bathtub</i>. Well, guess what? If government is that small, it will just a surely drown in New Orleans.<br /><br />There is nothing wrong with private enterprise. Private enterprise, competition capitalism are all tools that have served us well and excel at doing certain things. However, much like having a hammer when all you have are a fistful of screws, there are situations where tools like private enterprise, competition and capitalism are simply inappropriate. Mass rescue and recovery operations are an example of this. There is no money for private enterprise to make and the downtimes between crisis' would be fatal to any company dedicated to this purpose. On the other hand, the government is the ideal tool to solve this type of problem; it is one of the reasons to even have a government: to keep civil order, protect its citizens and aid in disaster. <br /><br />Katrina perfectly illustrated why the current incarnation of the GOP is toxic to America.<br /><br />Yesterday, when Bush spoke with his father and Bill Clinton (our last two legitimately elected presidents) standing behind him, I was suddenly yearning for either of those two former presidents to be returned to office. That's right, either. I did not agree with the first George Bush on almost anything. But he was a thoughtful, competent man who would handle this emergency much better than his son. Despite what some on my side say, I believe that man loves his country and really tried to do his best for America. I don't believe that of his son.<br /><br />Worst. President. Ever.<br /><br />Donate to the right please. <br /><br />Now, a quick question: Laura and I are discussing taking in a family, up to three people for 30 days or more. But both of us are worried about having strangers in the house with the baby. What do you think? Should we do it? I keep thinking (oddly enough for a Pagan) what would Jesus do? I believe he would open his home. So I kind of feel that we should. But I do not want to expose my child to any danger and that is why I hesitate.<br /><br />Have a great holiday weekend and lets all pray and kick in to help our fellow Americans!Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1125627831916521952005-09-01T21:23:00.000-05:002005-09-01T23:03:05.963-05:00Blame The Victim Part TwoFrom John at <a href="http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/new-bush-admin-talking-point-new.html">Americablog</a> we get the new Bush administration talking point: <blockquote>FEMA director Michael Brown just added this little line to his interview on CNN right now, refering to who FEMA is trying to hel in New Orleans:<br />"...to help those who are stranded, who chose not to evacuate, who chose not to leave the city..."<br />How is it relevant to talk about the fact that the people who are stranded "chose" not to evacuate? Not to mention, there are lots of folks who couldn't evacuate because they were too poor, too infirm, or simply had no transportation. But even if they chose to remain with their homes, why is the head of FEMA pointing this out? Sounds to me like we're hearing a new Bush admin talking point. It's subtle, but it's clear - the people dying in New Orleans are to blame for their own predicament.</blockquote><br /><br />UPDATE: Sorry, I forgot, it has been a long day.<br /><br />Worst. President. Ever.<br /><br />Please donate, I have a link up to the liberal blogosphere Red Cross donation page on the right sidebar.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230461.post-1125609500499370472005-09-01T16:14:00.000-05:002005-09-01T16:18:20.506-05:00FEMA Links To Pat Robertson On Donation PageNo, I'm not fucking kidding. <a href="http://www.fema.gov/press/2005/resources_katrina.shtm#canhelp">Look for yourself</a>. Right below the Red Cross is Operation Blessing. You can read all the scary details <a href="http://www.sploid.com/news/2005/09/01/fema-directing-donations-to-rev-pat-robertson-123509.php">right here</a>. <br /><br />Worst. President. Ever.<br /><br />Donate to the <a href="http://www.dropcash.com/campaign/hurricanerelief/liberal_blogs_for_hurricane_relief/">Red Cross</a> via Liberal Blogs for Hurricane Relief. Together we will raise $1,000,000 from liberals to help the victims of Katrina.Andy Ternayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03182298889983391784noreply@blogger.com