I am stunned by an interview I conducted with New Orleans Detective Lawrence Dupree. He told me they were trying to rescue people with a helicopter and the people were so poor they were afraid it would cost too much to get a ride and they had no money for a “ticket.” Dupree was shaken telling us the story. He just couldn’t believe these people were afraid they’d be charged for a rescue. (source) And burst into tears. I’ve been crying an awful lot these last few days. The idea of people being afraid that it would cost too much to be rescued and they couldn’t afford it breaks my heart. Then I read this quote from Barbara Bush, who was touring hurricane relief centers in Houston: “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (she chuckled)–this is working very well for them.”.. (source) Really, you know, SOME PEOPLE get all the frickin’ luck. Hit by a hurricane that decimates your house, slogging through waist-high (or higher) contaminated water to get to a building jam-packed with thousands of other people, waiting for days without food and water, forced to leave all your pets behind, in many cases being separated from your family, and ending up on a cot in a city far from your home. I am green with the fucking envy. Because that, honestly, that sounds like the kind of life most people dream of. Give me some of that, Barbara Bush, you ignoramus. Funny thing, I used to kind of like ol’ Babs. But now when I think of her all I can think of is her standing there with a superior smirk on her face and truly believing that people who have lost everything they’ve ever worked for in their entire lives and are sitting on cots inside a building stuffed with thousands of other people, are better off.
What makes me laugh the hardest is the fact that you can only see one tooth sticking out. I sure do love that little guy.
(It’s Edward Norton, by the way.)
I hadn’t glanced through my house tour in ages, so I was completely surprised by just how much my desk area has changed in the four years since I did that house tour. This is what it looks like now:
If you want to see a bigger picture, complete with notes on what exactly everything is, you can check it out here. Or, if you want to see the big-ass version of the picture (without notes), check it out here.
Last night’s sunset, from our back yard.
Jodie, up close.
Rambo loves to pick fights with Mister Boogers and then act all “Oh, help! I am but a wee kitten and I am being beaten up by this cruel, cruel kitty who is three times my size!”
If you’d been licking Rambo’s butt, you’d look this disgusted too. Believe me.
Shnoozin’.
More shnoozin’.
Jodie, hanging out on the back of Fred’s desk chair.]]>
Sooo… Have you officially adopted Jodie and Rambo, or are you going to wait a year or so and say “Ooops, we forgot to take them back to the shelter! I guess we’ll have to keep them!!”??
Julie, hahahahaha! I thought the exact same thing. I love the photo of Mr. Boogers making the face as Rambo is pinned upsidedown. Hee.
Jesus. I guess we know where W. gets the cluelessness from. I guess if you’ve been rich all your life and never had to struggle for anything you might think that the basic aid these people are getting is “making out pretty good.” They’re getting ATM cards from FEMA with $2,000 loaded on them, but you try starting from scratch with nothing but the clothes on your back with only $2,000. Drop in the bucket. Barbara Bush couldn’t replace her toiletries for $2K. Stupid rich c*nt.
PS. Somebody was calling Alec Baldwin the Bloviator some time ago. Maybe the “A list” gossip site?
BLOVIATE
To speak pompously.
This word is almost entirely restricted to the United States; it doesn’t appear in any of my British English dictionaries, not even the big Oxford English Dictionary or the very recent New Oxford Dictionary of English. Yet it has a long history.
It’s most closely associated with U S President Warren Gamaliel Harding, who used it a lot and who was by all accounts the classic example of somebody who orates verbosely and windily. It’s a compound of blow, in its sense of “to boast” (also in another typical Americanism, blowhard), with a mock-Latin ending to give it the self-important stature that’s implicit in its meaning.
Add that to my ongoing list of why I loathe G.W.
Fuckerhead.
Yeah, I cry every day when I watch Katrina stuff, too. It’s horrifying.
Damn, those kittens are cute.
I’ve seen and heard news footage of hurricane victims saying the exact thing Barbara Bush said, but really, she should engage her aging brain before speaking.
I’m sad too. What’s getting to me right now is news crews complaining thay can’t show footage of corpses. Jeez, have some respect.
I never much cared for Babs, but never thought she could so oblivious of the impact to make such a nonchalant statement. Dumb bitch.
I love the cute little Rambo face, although I do not believe I will be licking his but anytime soon. =)
I went to a local GNC today to pick up some Fenugreek and got into a conversation with the store owner regarding the hurricane victims. In that same shopping center there is an old Wal-Mart store (that closed when the SUPER Wally World opened a few miles away.) ANYHOW, there were a bunch of work release prisioners cleaning out the “store” and they’d hauled in about 20 porta-potties. The GNC owner told me that they were setting that up as a temporary shelter to house up to 3,000 displaced people. I’d already brought a bunch of toiletries and newborn baby clothes to the Salvation Army and wondered, aloud, what these “new neighbors” might need.
This is where I started getting pissed off: the GNC owner started quoting Bible verses saying that the “sinners” in New Orleans, Gulfport and Biloxi brought this upon themselves. That “God was cleansing those cities of sinners and god-less folk.” This poor schmuck actually thought that those people that lost everything brought this upon themselves. I was shaking as I asked, if his god was behind all this, how he justified the horrible loss of innocent life, not to mention cataustrophic property loss – including churches and graveyards. He couldn’t reply. I walked out.
Oh yeah, and he was worried these new folks seeking shelter might break into his store, “I don’t want all that lawlessness in New Orleans coming my way.” Buddy, it was here LONG before these people arrived. Seems I need to find a new GNC.
Babs Bush really stepped in a big pile.
I’ve got to stop crying about all of this, too. Thanks for letting me vent.
I have the same calendar!! Moons!!!
“the GNC owner started quoting Bible verses saying that the “sinners” in New Orleans, Gulfport and Biloxi brought this upon themselves. That “God was cleansing those cities of sinners and god-less folk.” This poor schmuck actually thought that those people that lost everything brought this upon themselves.”
I think if I had been standing there and heard that man say that, my head would have popped off and satan would have flown out and ate him. I can NOT believe the ignorance of some people.
This situation is like a train wreck. I dont want to look but I cant help myself. I am sick to my stomach and I am having some trouble sleeping.
Robyn, I wish my desk was that clean! How do you do it??
I had not heard that completely obnoxious quote by Babs. My gawd. No wonder her son is such an idiot. Unreal and the most insensitive comment I could have imagined coming out of anyones mouth at a time like this.
Here’s to hoping Bab’s pearls strangle her ‘precious’ neck!!
Years ago, probably around 1978, I worked triage in an emergency room and we would get quite a few people worried about the bill for an ambulance ride. Back then it was about $700, so I can imagine how much it would cost now. Lots of people coming in by car that needed the ambulance, and lots of people refusing hospitalizations when brought in by ambulance.
I can relate to a small fraction of the fear of being charged for a rescue. I turned down a ride to the ER in an ambulance when I injured myself at work less than 3 months into my first “real job.” My insurance wasn’t activated yet, and I hadn’t had any since getting married 3 years prior. Turns out workman’s comp still covered me, but I didn’t think it would so early in the job. Thank gods, because it covered the therapy needed to get movement back into the finger I tried to de-glove.
Anyway, site’s looking good.
Regarding Barbara Bush’s comment, Bill Maher said “Marie Antoinette couldn’t have said it better herself!”
Babs—what an idiot!