who's to blame?

Everyone from pundit to politician has been playing to blame game after the Gulf coast was ravaged by Katrina. Just in case you we're searching for answers for slow-moving response time, this bulletin board posting from my space might provide some clarity:

Just a comparative study about the kinds of men we have elected to office:

In September 1999, Hurricane Floyd -- a category 3 -- was bearing down on the Carolinas and Virginia. President Clinton was in Christchurch, New Zealand - meeting with President Jiang of China (you know, actually working). He made the proclamation that only Presidents can make and declared the areas affected by Floyd "Federal Disaster Areas" so the National Guard and Military can begin to mobilize. Then he cut short his meetings overseas and flew home to coordinate the rescue efforts. This all one day BEFORE a Cat-3 hit the coast. That is how you do it.

How about this President's own father during Hurricane Andrew? Once again, President Bush (41) -- August, 1992 --was in the midst of a brutal campaign for re-election. Yet, he cut off his campaigning the day before and went to Washington where he martialed the largest military operation on US soil in history. He sent in 7,000 National Guard and 22,000 regular military personnel, and all the gear to begin the clean up within hours after Andrew passed through Florida.In August of 1969 when Cat-5 Hurricane Camille hit roughly the same area as Katrina, President Nixon had already readied the National Guard and ordered all Gulf rescue vessels and equipment from Tampa and Houston to follow the Hurricane in. There were over 1,000 regular military with two dozen helicopters to assist the Coast Guard and National Guard within hours after the skies cleared.

Bush 43 - August 2005 - Cat-5 Hurricane Katrina bears down on New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf. Both states are down nearly 8,000 National Guard troops because they are in Iraq -- with most of the rescue gear needed. Bush is on vacation. The day before Katrina makes landfall, Bush rides his bike for two hours. The day she hits, he goes to John McCain's birthday party;and lies to old people about the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical company welfare boondoggle. People are dying, the largest port of entry in the United States (and fifth largest in the World) is under attack. Troops and supplies are desperately needed. The levees are cracking and the emergency 1-1/2 ton sandbags are ready, but there aren't enough helicopters or pilots to set them before the levees fail. The mayor of New Orleans begs for Federal coordination, but there is none, and the sandbagging never gets done. So Bush -- naturally -- goes to San Diego, to play guitar with a country singer and lie to the military about how Iraq is just exactly like WWII. The levees give way, filling New Orleans with water, sewage, oil and chemicals. Ten percent of all US exports, and 50% of all agricultural exports ordinarly go through this port. It is totally destroyed.Bush decides he'll end his vacation a couple of days early -- TOMORROW--BECAUSE HE HAS TICKETS TO A PADRES GAME! He goes back to the farm in Crawford, with every intention of doing something on WEDNESDAY about this disaster that happened starting last SUNDAY night. He had time for a couple of rounds of golf, too.

scammer gets duped by a 'duke'

When my friend show me this link I couldn't stop laughing.

The creator of this best of craig's list post did us all a favor and got back at those "Nigerian scam" spammer that have been flooding every one's e-mails.

Click the link if you want to read this hilarious correspondence between the African scammer and Bo Duke (don't ask , just read.)

enjoy...

"RAVE: How I got the best of this Nigerian scammer" -[best of craig's list]

broad prices for narrow broadband

I recieved this email from freepress.net, and i have to say that I never realized how we're losing out when it comes to broadband service. Not only do we pay nearly $600 bucks a year for high speed internet, it turns out that it isn't really that fast...our service is only a tenth of the speed that broadband users have in Tokyo...

Dear xxxxx:
Internet access is becoming a basic public
necessity — just like water, gas or electricity. But far too many New
Yorkers
are finding themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide,
priced out by
high monthly fees or stranded by corporations that have deemed
their
neighborhoods unprofitable.

It's time to bring New York City into the 21st century and
connect every New Yorker to the Internet. Philadelphia, San Francisco and Boston
are doing it — so should New York City.
Urge city leaders to provide low-cost, high-speed Internet access for
every New Yorker by 2007.

Verizon, Cablevision and Time Warner charge working families
around $600 a year for a connection that
is 10 times slower than broadband
in Tokyo. Children across the world have
better and faster Internet access
than kids in Brooklyn. New York City schools
are ranked 41st in the country
in the use of computers in education.

The city government has failed to embrace the possibilities
of new information
technology. Yet advances in wireless technology could
give every New Yorker
access to broadband for less than $10 a
month.

Call on Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Public Advocate Betsy
Gotbaum, and members of the City Council to
deliver universal, affordable
broadband Internet access for every New Yorker by
Jan. 1, 2007.
Sign the petition now.

[FREEPRESS.NET]

super happy funtime sexbot

Leave it to horny men from Japan to come up with new ideas to get some...

A scientist from Osaka University has developed the world's first life-like "female" android.

Professor Hiroshi Ishiguru made the "Repliee Q1" with "flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner."

the bot can also bat her eyelashes, appear as if she's breathing, and even has opposable thumbs, which means the only tricks she can turn at present are handjobs.

Another innovation from the same minds that brought you the the lap pillow...






While the android was not really invented for sweet robot love, history has shown us that as technology advances, humans find new ways to get off.

So perhaps the Repliee Q2 will be anatomically correct.

BBC NEWS Science/Nature Japanese develop 'female' android-[via Drudge]

been caught speeding

rumors are floating around the Garden State that the State Police is going on a ticket blitz for the next 30 days.
Officers are being ordered to pull over anyone going at least 5 mph over the speed limit.

The following e-mail has been floating around, warning people of the initiative:

-----Original Message-----

Got this
email from the NJ Limo Association
last night. Wanted to make sure you knew
about this too, just in case.
:)

New Jersey
will launch a 30 day speeding
ticket frenzy.The state estimates that 9
million dollars will be generated in
speedingtickets. 1 million will go to
pay state troopers over time. There will
be 50 state troopers on duty at all
times patrolling the 9 main intersections and
highways.

They are
the following:
I-295 north and south
1-95 (Jersey Turnpike) north and
south
1-80 east and west
I-287 north and south
I-78 east and west
I-195 east and west
1-280 east and west
Rt. 130 north and south
Garden State Parkway north and
south

Warning for
everyone: Now 5 mph above the
limit can justify a ticket and every state
trooper is supposed to pull a car
over and write a ticket every 10 minutes.
They have issued 30 brand new unmarked
Crown Victoria cruisers and they are
bringing in all their part timers on
full time.If you work in New
Jersey, New York, or CT, you must take one of these
interstates, routes, or
parkways. It's up to you how fast you are doing when
they do. I was told
101.5 FM confirmed all of this.So be safe and don't forget
speeding tickets
are on you.You've been warned.Good Luck.

Our neighbors in New York are worrying about Suicide bombings and what are we worried
about? Ticket quotas...yep...our priorities are straight.

.

trenton blows smoke up state's ass with ban proposal

Hey state house! Are you kidding me?
Legislature in trenton has proposed a statewide ban in smoking in all cars for any reason. The proposal is much more stringent that previous proposals in other states--including New York-- which called for a ban on smoking when children are passengers.

Assemblyman John McKeon, who is sponsoring the bill, has cited a AAA study on driver distractions study that says, "of 32,000 accidents linked to distraction, 1 percent were related to smoking."

1 percent of 32,000 accidents? Nationwide no less. It seems like we have a real epidemic on our hands folks, or maybe just another shining example of a few bad apples ruining it for the rest of bunch.

One Hackensack resident responded to the news with a Bronx-cum-Jersey cheer:
"The day a politician wants to tell me I can't smoke in my car, that's the day he takes over my lease payments."



N.J. May Ban Drivers' Smoking;Offenders Would Face $250 Fine- [nbc10 Philly]
NJ Bill Bans Smoking In Your Car, $250 Fine-[WFIE-TV, IN]
Smoking Ban Proposed For NJ Drivers-[CBS2 Chicago, IL]

OUT-STANDING FINES

The reasons why Jason Eng and his friend Dennis Spafford received each received a $50 summons for "no stopping or standing" in a fire zone in Hudson river park on Sunday even though they weren't in a car are endless.

...Perhaps the parks department police officer singled them out because they were gay.

...Or maybe the sign applied to both vehicles and pedestrians if you believe the parks department flack.

...Or maybe it's as simple as the officer being a fucking moron and took the language of the sign literally.

After feeling the heat from media coverage, the Parks Department had a change of heart and dropped the charges.

Fire zone tix for 2 on foot -[NY Daily News]
A Change Of Heart After 'No Standing' Tickets -[channel 7,NYC]