This and that
Writing by treason on Tuesday, 27 of September , 2005 at 8:46 pm
I need to stop sleeping with the TV on. I woke up this morning to Phil Keating on FNC, standing near a drainage canal in New Orleans, pointing out a dog treading water - exhausted and scared - and trapped in the canal. The dog paused to rest, clinging to the filters.
It’s been a month since that hurricane and there are still pets out there wandering the streets of New Orleans. This is the stuff that makes people nuts. It’s one thing having human beings’ lives disrupted, but innocent pets - well, some of us just can’t bear it. FNC was swamped with inquiries about that dog. Phil Keating had to check in periodically with updates. He explained that it hadn’t been rescued, but he was pretty sure it had found its way out of the water. Not good enough for FNC viewers. He had to prove the dog was okay, but he couldn’t.
Time to surf. Oh, there’s Michael Brown getting reamed on national television. Frankly, I was happy to see that Mr. Brown had come to realize that he was out of a job, so he had nothing to lose. He stood up for himself and even got a little bristly at times. One line, after he was criticized for not getting ice to the people in a timely manner, was especially good. To paraphrase: “It’s not the federal government’s job to make sure your beer and diet Coke is cold.” Something like that. But as harsh and politically incorrect as that might sound, the statement makes sense. It’s sad that this man has become the scapegoat for the disaster and that the mayor of Nawlins and Louisiana’s governor go unscathed. It’s clear they’ll be re-elected, so what does that say about the electorate?
Well, it says they are stupid and can be easily manipulated. Case in point: Republican congressman Peter King was pretty straightforward with Chris Matthews this week. He excoriated Matthews and his ilk for spewing misinformation about Katrina and being so nauseatingly self-congratulatory about it. You know, there was a time that TV reporters were strangers. Viewers knew nothing about these people; their function was simply to speak clearly and report the news. Now they’re freaking celebrities. I know their opinions, where they were raised, where they went to school, what designers they wear, who they dated or married, and what their kids look like. Are these people journalists or actors? It’s becoming increasingly difficult to make that distinction.
Like King says: “You say Bush isn’t doing his job, but the truth is that Bush isn’t watching you. It doesn’t mean he’s not doing his job!”
Thank you! Unfortunately, too many people are watching Matthews and his chums, and they think they’re getting the facts. Wake up! It’s all a show and they’re manipulating you! You can smell it!
Another case in point. That new series with Geena Davis is just one example of how you - the average American - is getting set up again. Hollywood is going to convince you that a female president is not that farfetched. Hell, if Geena Davis can be leader of the free world, then Hillary Clinton should be able to pull it off, too. Once you get it in your head that a woman can be president, then it’ll be easier for you to go to the polls and vote for the candidate with ovaries.
It’s a script! It’s fiction! It’s fantasy! It’s burlesque! It’s theatre! Smoke and mirrors. When you have twenty-
four hours a day to fill, you’ll fill it with just about anything.
Beware.
Category: Uncategorized
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Digg -
Comment by eaglescry
Made Friday, 30 of September , 2005 at 10:37 pm
I respectfully suggest you pull your head out of your own echo chamber long enough to learn from what’s happening in current events right now rather than just looking for constant justifications for "Republican=good, Democrat-bad, everything in the media is part of the conspiracy against the poor Republicans." Ice is a life saving fundamental in an emergency that rips water and power from citizens of a modern society. Read the committee response to Brown’s incredibly ignorant statement, considering that his job was to "manage the emergency."
==================
(UNKNOWN): Because I think this is really interesting, Mr. Brown.
Have you ever been through a hurricane?
BROWN: No, but I’ve been through disasters where I haven’t had power for a long time and I know that the refrigerators go on the blink and food spoils, et cetera. But I don’t think that’s a federal government responsibility to provide ice to keep my hamburger meat in my freezer or refrigerator fresh.
(UNKNOWN): Well, if it goes bad and, as you said, people should — you first said just a little while ago, people should be prepared to feed themselves for two or three days…
BROWN: With nonperishable…
(UNKNOWN): … if I may.
So now you’re saying, OK, they’re trying to feed themselves for two or three days. We have a low-cost alternative to feeding them; we should just give them a couple bags of ice to keep that stuff from going rotten.
BROWN: No, because they can’t cook it.
(UNKNOWN): Now you’re saying you shouldn’t do that.
But let me follow up.
What else do they do with the ice, Mr. Brown?
BROWN: Pardon?
(UNKNOWN): What else do they do with the ice?
BROWN: I assume…
(UNKNOWN): Because I think we have a serious disconnect and I think I’m really beginning to realize why you were removed from this job.
What else was that ice used for?
BROWN: Ice should be used for life saving, to keep baby formula fresh and for medications. And I think that’s what it should be used for.
(UNKNOWN): How about keeping the dead corpses from rotting in the…
BROWN: Because you can’t use it to keep…
(UNKNOWN): … sun?
BROWN: … hamburger meat because you can’t cook the hamburger meat. That’s why we say, have provisions for two or three days of nonperishable items.
And I think it’s wrong for the federal government to be in the ice business, providing ice so I can keep my beer and Diet Coke cool.
(UNKNOWN): How about the need to keep bodies from rotting in the sun?
Had you visited Hancock County, which you didn’t, you would have met a gentleman named Edmund Faise (ph). He was given the grisly task of trying to preserve the bodies. They were stacked up at his local mortuary. He had no power. And he literally came to me, tears in his eyes and said, You have got to find me a freezer truck because these bodies are rotting in my driveway.
BROWN: And we had refridge (ph) trucks available throughout the region to store…
(UNKNOWN): Two days later.
BROWN: … bodies.
(UNKNOWN): Two days later, sir.
Again, Mr. Brown, the more I listen to you, I’m thinking you’re probably a great attorney, but you were way over your head in your capacity at FEMA.
JEFFERSON: I reclaim my time for a moment here.
The ice is also used not for the dead, but to keep people from dying. In nursing homes, one of the major reasons that old people just suffered and died is because there was no ice, there was no way for them to refresh themselves and the heat was suffocating.
It’s awfully hot down there, as you know, and it just wasn’t there. And for other people who are out of the sun all day, the Superdome was hot (inaudible) people came outside, and it was still hot there.
Absolute critical need for people to stay alive as much as it was for anything else. And so it wasn’t a luxury to preserve hamburger meat. It was really a necessity to preserve life.
Comment by T.H.E. Reason
Made Monday, 3 of October , 2005 at 11:34 am
Very cool. Please refer to my response, posted 10/2/05.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
