Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Been a while ...

But I am here. I started a new job back in August and, after a month, must say that I am absolutely loving it. I have been busy with the foreclosure stuff, but am looking forward to bringing in some of my own work, as time permits. The firm I joined has treated me well and is truly a wonderful place to be.

I had my first real sushi lunch today. There's a sushi place down the street from my office that the guys here say is 'good'. I had a variety of different types of sushi: raw eel, salmon, shrimp; cooked shrimp. Also had some hot saki, which was ok ... it smells like rubbing alcohol. Over all, not a bad meal, but I think I could only handle it once in a while.

Today is my wife's birthday. I got her some gift certificates to a couple of her favorite clothing stores, took her out to the Cheesecake Factory last Saturday, and we are heading to the Indians game on Thursday (sure has been an exciting baseball season). I am going to stop and get her a cake on my way home from work. Hope she is having a good day.

Liberals and liberalism sucks. I just wish they would be honest about who they are and what they want.

I am in two fantasy football leagues and, after 3 weeks, I am 3-0 in both. I'm not sure my team is that good, and I'm not that knowledgeable about the players, but we will see how the season ends. The Browns have been less than impressive so far this year ... just wait until next year, though.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Mayor of New Orleans

Is truly an ass. Now he is threatening a forced evacuation for those still in the city. Great. Where was this before the hurricane? Nice job, Mayor. Keep screaming about the loss of life being the Bush administration's fault, maybe someone will believe you ... oh, wait, the mainstream media does not need to believe you to keep shouting the same crap.

FEMA is not a quick response agency. Again, the immediate responsibilty for people remaining in New Orleans should fall squarely on the shoulders of the mayor and the governor.

I heard that within 5 days of Katrina, 20,000 national guardsmen have been dispersed to New Orleans. Within 4 days of Andrew, a category 5 hurricane, 15,000 national guardsmane were dispersed. Maybe the reaction of the feds wasn't that off. Most is likely to turn out to be hype and spin to discredit the current administration.

My new job is going well. I really enjoy it here and am learning/doing many more things than prior. I am glad to have been given an opportunity here.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

More thoughts on Katrina

It came to my attention today that: 1) the city of New Orleans actually had a specific and detailed evacuation plan that the mayor never put into action; and 2) that in emergency situations, the first line of relief/organization/preparedness falls on the local governments, then the state governments, then, when requested the federal governments.

The mayor of New Orleans is all up in arms about the feds not being prepared and not reacting quickly enough. Why didn't put the evacuation plan into effect? The plan, from what I have heard, provides for the evacuation of most of the poor who otherwise lacked transportation to evacuate. Along this line, I saw a picture over on the drudge report of a lot full of busses sitting in high water unused. The buses are about a mile from the superdome. Why weren't these buses used to get those people out prior to the hurrican hitting?

Also, I heard that W actually had to call and beg the governor of Louisianna to order an evacuation and declare an emergency on the Sunday prior to the hurricane. It still took the governor nearly 24 hours to do so. Giving the warning only 2 days prior to the hurricane hitting New Orleans.

I heard interesting commentary this morning on Quin and Rose about the looting and violence after the storm. This type of behavior is generally not expected en masse. However, the people who did not evacuate fall into 2 categories: poor, uneducated, welfare-minded people and criminals (apparantely, many criminals were let out of jails because authorities did not know how to keep them safe). These two groups tend to have a lack of respect for property and personal rights. The welfare/entitlement minded because they don't own anything and have always been given what they want/need. The criminals, because, well, they're criminals. It's sad to see the amount of violence/intentional destruction going on down there. If I hear one more person with an armfull of tennis shoes state that she was stealing them because she has six kids and needs to survive, I am going to puke. I can understand stealing food/water/medical supplies to survive (of course it's not like they had been without these things for weeks after the hurricane, there was looting the next day). However, I cannot understand how people can rationalize taking tvs and computers and tennis shoes and jewelry as necessary for survival.

Oh well, my prayers and best wishes go out to those in New Orleans who are not looting/killing/whining and to those who are headed there, or already there, to assist in the cleanup and assist with the people 'left behind'.

As an aside, I started playng D20 Traveller, via an email group. I am working on my character now. Traveller is a far-future, realistic science fiction role-playing game. Anyone who reads this, and I know that is a very 'exclusive' audience, is welcome to email me if they are interested in joining up. I have role-played by email with the same game-master in the past and it worked out very well ... until everyone got too busy. This particular group has been on going for nearly a year, I think. Anyway, it's good to be back in RPG mode. And I hope this last paragraph does not diminish how people interpret the first several.

Monday, September 05, 2005

Katrina

Katrina is a real tragedy, and it is nice to see people stepping up to help those who have suffered such loss. What really drives me batty, though, is the race card. OK, so most of those not “able” to get out are poor. And many of them are black. But that does not make it a racial issue. It may make it a social issue regarding poverty in this country, but it is not racial. The Klan did not set the hurricane in motion. Nature did, so she must be a racist.

Jessie Jackson has now compared the Superdome, where thousands have taken refuge, to slave ships. That’s a really good analogy. He must have spent some time really thinking about that one before he spouted it out. What complete disrespect for what actual slaves had to endure in crossing the Atlantic. What an ass.

Then there are people saying George W doesn’t like black people. Because federal money and aid did not pour in fast enough? That we were caught with our pants down on this one? That may be true, but again it does not equal racism. Quite frankly, while he may be the President, he doesn’t have complete control over everything that occurs. He's not a monarch or dictator, despite what many liberals would like you to believe. I am so tired of the bullshit rhetoric. It is this kind of crap talk that furthers division in this country.

Of course, maybe I’m just not sensitive enough because I am not black. But it seems to me always calling you or your people victims of someone else’s doings do not get to the root of your or your community’s problems.