"I'm afraid I would have assaulted him."

Fifty bucks on Clinton.

I swear to God, for all its massive spin-machineitude, for all its bought and paid for policy-yes-manning commentators, for all its head's homespun plainspeaking President-you'd-most-like-to-have-a-beer-withness, for all that and a million more things -- I swear this is the most ethically, p.r.'ly tone-deaf administration in US history.

In the last few weeks alone, we've had Bush shrugging off a griefstricken mother with blather about needing to get on with his life, then going to fundraisers and sharing birthday cake with McCain while New Orleans is turning into Gotham, the Secretary of State going shoe-shopping and taking in Spamalot during same, and now this.

Never mind what's right or wrong or justifiable or excusable about the underlying circumstances or the larger context of any of the above, how the fuck can they be so oblivious to how incredibly shitty it all looks? I've long since ceased to expect any spasms of actual serious reflection or conscience from any of them, but even from a stricly shiny surfacey World O' Spin politics as branding/horse race/tackytastic metaphor of choice perspective, how the fuck did they all get this far being this utterly clueless? I mean... shit... fuck, dude. On top of all the other misery and indifference and callousness and large-scale awfulness, this is such a wee little thing, but, fuck. I'm without words.

Someone please put these two in a room together? Please?

Only if it can be featured on cable. Because I really do want to be a witness to this.

Oh fuck. Halliburton? Damn.

the Secretary of State going shoe-shopping and taking in Spamalot

Well, it's not like there's much for her to do, other than to receive condolence calls from the 3 world leaders still speaking to us.

Halliburton

BWAH HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

This has become ludicrous. Well, I guess that means we're rebuilding, right?

Over in Press, I've put up the link and address for the St. Vincent De Paul store in Houston, if anyone else would like to mail items there. I'm going through my clothes, and unfortunately, it looks like the majority of the donatable ones are more appropriate for fall/winter in the upper Midwest, not late summer in the South. I do have lots of jeans in good shape that are going, as well as a few children's items and some pretty-smelling soap and lotion. I'll probably also send down my rather large collection of unused makeup samples that my sister and I have accumulated from various freebie gifts at the Clinique counter.

Kathy, thanks so much for the link. I'm going to print up the list of needed items and hit the bookstore, gift shop and ICU/ICN at work on Tuesday to see if they're willing to donate, and I've already talked to my mom, who'll meet me at church tomorrow with some children's books from her store.

A woman in my yoga practice this morning insisted that before the hurricane there were busses all around the city ready to take people to safer ground, but people wouldn't leave the city. They should have done what they were told to do, she insisted, and left when ordered to evacuate because they all could have.

My pacifist, liberal-Berkeley yoga instructor took her aside and verbally smacked her upside the head, telling her that those awful uncharitable thoughts of her has no place in a yoga practice.

namaste, dammit!

Raq, I've been meaning to ask you this because at one point in my life I was flirting with the idea of taking the foreign exam and now I'm flirting with the idea of possibly at some point maybe considering applying for a DODD school position.

Do you find pressure to not badmouth an administration you disagree with when your job or the job of your spouse is to be a representative of the US abroad? I guess what I'm trying to ask is if I were a DODD teacher or in USFS, would I be able to espouse my anti-administration views freely or would there be pressures to not do so openly or even repercussions for doing so?