FEMA for Kids Rap.

No, really.

No, I'm not kidding.

Disaster . . . it can happen anywhere,
But we've got a few tips, so you can be prepared
For floods, tornadoes, or even a 'quake,
You've got to be ready - so your heart don't break.

Disaster prep is your responsibility
And mitigation is important to our agency.

People helping people is what we do
And FEMA is there to help see you through
When disaster strikes, we are at our best
But we're ready all the time, 'cause disasters don't rest.

[link]

I'm too afraid to listen to the RealAudio file....

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I call do-overs!

Fine. I want do-overs for the Giambi years as well.

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

This is very fixable. Why, 13 years after Rodney King, have they still not fixed this?

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Happy Birthday, Lyra!

Also, the 1st and 3rd of the RX7 models (hated the 2nd one - again, too boxy in the wrong way)

So the math is me = Cindy, and Cindy = Frank, so Frank = me... Which given the RX7 rightness of the above statement, holds true.

I had an 80 RX7 and the 93+ (It was '93, right? I'm too lazy to Google and I recall seeing it at the racetrack before an Indy race in '92 which would make the debut a year later the '93... ((Googling might have been easier.))) is still possibly my favorite car. It just makes me sigh and feel all wistful.

Cars being stolen are bad. The RX7 was stolen as was my Del Sol VTEC (indeed a sporty as all hell Civic).

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Let the censorship begin:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When U.S. officials asked the media not to take pictures of those killed by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, they were censoring a key part of the disaster story, free speech watchdogs said on Wednesday.

The move by the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in line with the Bush administration's ban on images of flag-draped U.S. military coffins returning from the Iraq war, media monitors said in separate telephone interviews.

"It's impossible for me to imagine how you report a story whose subject is death without allowing the public to see images of the subject of the story," said Larry Siems of the PEN American Center, an authors' group that defends free expression.

[link]

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Then there's this:

While watching the MSNBC program, CONNECTED, COAST TO COAST with Ron Reagan, a man from the Evergreen Foundation was on air spinning the myth that the President had to "beg" the Governor of Louisiana to take action.

Having been on this show several times I called one of the bookers, Susan Durrwatcher, to alert her to the fact that this man was misrepresenting what happened. I offered Susan the following objective, documented facts (see timeline below).

Susan thanked me for my "opinion" and said "we just have a different perspective."

Stunned, I asked her by what standard of journalism that an objective fact was mere opinion? I asked her to simply look at the documents and correct the record. She declined.

Timeline: [link]

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Did they ask or did they tell? Only one is censorship.

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Wolfram, well here's from more of the article:

But on Tuesday, FEMA refused to take reporters and photographers along on boats seeking victims in flooded areas, saying they would take up valuable space need in the recovery effort and asked them not to take pictures of the dead.

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Nobody was in charge.

Of course, the whole point of FEMA is to be in charge in an emergency. Or, maybe it is just to stand around looking cute in coordinated casual-wear?

In other news, what is with stupid ballplayers unable to understand what does and what does not show up in pee? I mean, come on! You have had 80% of a season to figure it out by now.

(I'm halfway convinced that Jason Giambi is using something that is blood-borne, but not metabolized, which is why that mid-season return to steroidal form. Cause, all the sorry in the world can't make you turn back into a homerun hitter, and I think he would go to great lengths to be idolized again.)

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libkitty, I'm gonna go ahead and take the clothes to this place, which needs clothes for Katrina survivors right now. I've already got 3 bags of Grabien clothes, a nurse here has 2 more bags in her car, and various folks have promised a total of another half dozen or so bags of clothes in the next couple of days. My apartment building has two tiny storage rooms that are already nearly full; I can't hang onto the clothes for too long or my neighbors will keel me ded.

But my dad's business is also collecting clothing and they can ship anywhere, so if you can get the San Antonio address for me I can pass it on to my dad and he can get his stuff on its way ASAP. Thanks!

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I've been looking for ways to donate to the evacuees who started arriving in Chicago last night. I've only found info on cash donations, so I'm about to trek out to Trinity Lutheran in Rosell. They're packing a semi full of stuff to take to Mississippi.

Re: 'roids

an old Weekend Update routine from "Saturday Night Live"

CHEVY: And now with an editorial comments on a recent story is Weekend Update viewer, Miss Emily Litella.

GILDA: What's all this fuss about baseball players on 'roids? Since when is that news? Ballplayers have been on 'roids for years. Why, I remember that adorable George Brett when he was on 'roids. And it enhanced his performance. He almost hit .400 that year. And then the way he attacked the umpires over that pine tar incident? That had to be a case of 'roid rage. And I wouldn't be ...

CHEVY: Miss Litella?

GILDA: Yes?

CHEVY: That was hemorrhoids George Brett suffered from. The controversy is over anabolic steroids. Not hemorrhoids. Steroids.

GILDA: Oh. Well that's very different.

CHEVY: Yes, it is.

GILDA: Never mind.

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