No one could have predicted players on 'roids. No one.

In due time, Commissioner Selig will figure out what's gone right with steroid testing and what went wrong.

What Selig is most looking forward to, though, is sitting on Trent Lott's syringe.

The message on the SVDP store phone line says that they're not taking any clothes, either--apparently, they've been inundated with so many that it's going to take their sorters some time to go through them all. They're not ruling out that they might take clothes in the future, though.

Ahhh, shit shit shit. There's already a drive going here at UCSF based on the list they posted last week -- I'm collecting plenty of other, non-clothing stuff, but what the hell am I going to do with the five bags of clothing that have already been given? Red Cross, Salvation Army and Catholic Charities don't want clothes, either. Damn. These are all clean, little worn, and ready to use. Shit.

what the hell am I going to do with the five bags of clothing that have already been given?

Homeless shelters? Local refuges?

Yeah. I know they're needed elsewhere. I just feel all shitty and guilty that the people who donated them thought they were giving them to the hurricane survivors, not the Goodwill down the street. I somehow feel like I lied to people.

Aaaand, I just called Glide Memorial in S.F., and they're not accepting clothing either, but they know of a community center that's begging for clothing (they'd called just a few minutes earlier to confirm the need for clothing), so I'm'a call that place and everything should be good to go.

Ugh. I don't know if I'm coming down with something or just reacting poorly to the lack of sleep. I'm feeling fuzzy-headed and nauseated and my hands are shaking. (Though the latter could be from the 3 cans worth of soda and cup of tea I've ingested over the day to try to stay awake.) At least I get to go home in an hour.

Yeah. I know they're needed elsewhere. I just feel all shitty and guilty that the people who donated them thought they were giving them to the hurricane survivors, not the Goodwill down the street. I somehow feel like I lied to people.

It would be worth checking some other hurricane-affected locales, too. I'm hoping to do some of that tonight after work.

JZ, at this point, I would hang on to them for a week or so. They may get through the backlog and need more by then. Or, I had gotten an address for a charity that needed clothing for hurricane refugees in San Antonio. It's at home, but I can post it in Press late tonight or tomorrow.

G-D Bureaucratic process.

I'm trying to get together a donation drive for a shelter here in LA that's taking a bunch of evacuees.

www.dreamcenter.org

The people don't have UNDERWEAR. Why on earth do we need everyone and their uncle to approve the damn drive????????????

GRRRRRRRR.

The kid LF who drove home the winning run against the A's last night?

Positive for 'roids.

I call do-overs!

So I skimmed through Time and Newsweek coverage of the hurricane and aftermath. First of all, Time's coverage is much better. Newsweek can barely stand to critique the administration. ("It was bad luck! Mother natrure!" la la la)

BUT the important thing is now I understand why it took so long to get the federal relief moving.

Bush's legal advisors were having a fight about the implications of Federalizing the military to go in there and do aid work. (Something Bush Pere did during the LA Riots.) Basically there were lots of meetings with lots of mealy mouthed protect-your-ass masters. So nobody could figure out the chain of command or who was authorized to do what.

So nobody was in charge. Nobody was coordinating the resources. The military weren't authorized to go in.

It's that stupid.