Bill Maher on Hurricane Katrina

I just watched the latest "Real Time with Bill Maher" and I agree with many of his points on the Bush Administration.


*Bush said that operation will begin, but did it not already fail? Thousands are dead, and hundreds are dying each day from sickness, malnutrition, and violence. You can't start something that is already finished.

*Homeland security said that it was the civilians choice to stay behind and that they would not take responsiblity, but did they realize that more than 40% of New Orleans is poverty stricken, and couldn't afford to get out. Who is really to blame? Not the civilians, I believe.

*Bush's plan took 5 days to commence. An operation to send food and supplies to dying people took 5 days to plan and he doesn't blame himself.

*The reporters seems to be putting more personal opinion and passion into their reporting. This is good. It shows that the media core is returning back to the way it should be.

*As Anderson Cooper said in the interview, the people of New Orleans are not frusterated, they are dying. They lost hope in their rescuers days ago, and although they are being saved, the civilians still deserve to spit in their rescuer's face for the grief that was caused.

*Bush doesn't believe in Global Warming. He has seen the destruction of Katrina and he still refuses to believe in global warming. What a trooper.

*Why did he hug the civilians? He must have some balls to hug the people he let down, get back into his helicopter, and then leave the person he hugged behind.

*Bush blames his lack of early resources on FEMA, but didn't he start a war that is still raging in Iraq?

Interesting Katrina related quotes

"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."
-George W. Bush, September 1, 2005.


Times Picayune, June 8 2004:

-For the first time in 37 years, federal budget cuts have all but stopped major work on the New Orleans area's east bank hurricane levees, a complex network of concrete walls, metal gates and giant earthen berms that won't be finished for at least another decade.

"I guess people look around and think there's a complete system in place, that we're just out here trying to put icing on the cake," said Mervin Morehiser, who manages the "Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity" levee project for the Army Corps of Engineers. "And we aren't saying that the sky is falling, but people should know that this is a work in progress, and there's more important work yet to do before there is a complete system in place."

...

"I can't tell you exactly what that could mean this hurricane season if we get a major storm," Naomi said. "It would depend on the path and speed of the storm, the angle that it hits us.

"But I can tell you that we would be better off if the levees were raised, . . . and I think it's important and only fair that those people who live behind the levee know the status of these projects."

...

The Bush administration's proposed fiscal 2005 budget includes only $3.9 million for the east bank hurricane project. Congress likely will increase that amount, although last year it bumped up the administration's $3 million proposal only to $5.5 million.

"I needed $11 million this year, and I got $5.5 million," Naomi said. "I need $22.5 million next year to do everything that needs doing, and the first $4.5 million of that will go to pay four contractors who couldn't get paid this year."


Drowning New Orleans
Scientific American, October 2001:

-A major hurricane could swamp New Orleans under 20 feet of water, killing thousands. Human activities along the Mississippi River have dramatically increased the risk, and now only massive reengineering of southeastern Louisiana can save the city.


Thinking Big About Hurricanes
From May 2005: What would happen if a Category 5 hurricane were to hit New Orleans?
The American Prospect:

-In the event of a slow-moving Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane (with winds up to or exceeding 155 miles per hour), it's possible that only those crow's nests would remain above the water level. Such a storm, plowing over the lake, could generate a 20-foot surge that would easily overwhelm the levees of New Orleans.

Shocking images of the New Orleans disaster

Its funny how people say Bush should do something about this...as if he should physically go down there and start bailing water.

Time for some fruit: Why do we conform?

I always wonder to myself why One would sometimes follow another in search for their peace. Buying expensive clothing to fit in, brown-nosing, and doing foolish things against their standards are what some people do to fit in with others.

Enter the Geek.

The Geek is one who is passionate about something. The old definition which contrasts with nerd needs to be changed. Geeks come in many flavors: Band Geeks, Computer Geeks, Performance Geeks, Sports Geeks, and School/Grade Geeks. Are many conformists afraid to become their inner geek due to the judging of others? I consider myself a computer geek and a weight lifting geek. I will often choose some time on my PC over time with my sister, friends, or sports. Hey, there is nothing wrong with it. I want to major in IT so why not start now? I blog, buy 400 dollar PC components, and even spend time to do 3 hour long software checks. While this means nothing to you readers, my hobbies are vital parts of my chosen career path. I also spend roughly 20 hours a week keeping fit, so the traditional "geek build" doesn't fit me.

I feel that it is unhealthy to not let out your inner geek. How will you know what you want to do with your life if you follow someone else's judgments? Sure it is our teen years. Hey, we are going to live forever, right? Not hardly. In 10 years from now, it won't matter what shoes you wore, what labels you had, or what clique you associated with, but what you learned. This is the time to get priorities straight and learn life lessons before we must learn them the hard way. Why conform and in 10 years regret it when we can be ourselves now and forever be content with our inner beings? Who the hell cares who is judging? Have you ever laughed out loud during a movie, screamed in a mall, or ran around at a park, embracing life? Have you ever thought "Oh, if I do that, they will think I am in idiot" when you are at the Plaza and when you know you will never see the people shopping around you again?

The bottom line is to be yourself and if you must conform, think about your future. Conforming is so yesterday. You no longer have to be hot to be a leadership figure. I see people all over who follow their own paths and have significent leadership in school activities. It is time to take the road wanting wear and find your future away from your peers. It is no longer a bad thing to be independent.

The Values of this country's media are sickening

I need a breather. I am seriously in need of a punching back with the face of every news-anchor wannabe on CNN -who should probably be better off in Playboy than reporting, is spoon feeding America shit we don't need to know. Let me start. Yesterday, over 1000 Iraqi's die in a stampede and no one knows because the chick in Aruba is still dead. That shows that if you are white, female, pretty, and American and you disappear in a foreign country, your mug will be shown on TV for over 100 days. Don't you try to kid me, you liberal and conservative viewers. You love the stories. The Iraqi president was almost assassinated last week. 8 of his bodyguards were slain. Perhaps you didn't hear about that. Well, that is because once again, we were told that the BTK killer was insane. As if we didn't know that! Media is so biased in America. Do Europeans have a biased media? I doubt it. They have a Prime Minister who is straight to the point and doesn't leave his civilians in suspense, while we have a president, who is absent-minded and leaves the public in a trance, trying to piece together what he had just said. There is no suspense in Government! Today, the story with the most viewers is the story that gets the most replay, while the stories that should be reported get a 1X20 news-stamp, going 3 miles per hour at the bottom of the screen. The reporters...ohhhh the reporters. Here is your ass-ripping. The CNN reporters are prime American ass. They are pretty, biased, and they are trying to gain one thing. Not ethical approval, not the self-gratitude of reporting the right thing, but perhaps spotlight and an award in reporting. This morning, I saw a male reporter on CNN verbally attacking a senator of Louisiana, claiming that it was his state government's fault that so many people were killed in the hurricane. Repeating questions like, "Did you or did you not have enough buses to take out the staying civilians", and "Why didn't the state build up the levees before the hurricane hit? They had so much time to prepare, and yet, our reports show that you were at a Banquet on sunday?" over, and over. Even weathermen were accused of "Not increasing the strikezones." in their reports on Sunday. Remember Peter Jennings? He never did things the conformative way. He always was his own boss and that is why he was so great. Now, every news-whore on the street is a puppet for a fat man in a bean-colored jacket who is the chief of ratings. It is true- we are turning into a circus. A circus of 18 year-old clowns who believe anything they hear on TV, and since it is on TV, they support it 110%. I don't want to say it, but my generation is really being sucked into this moshpit of filthy scandle, pop culture, and half-true statements. Oh, and I swear that if I hear someone say that they "pimped their ride", "Skeet-skeeted" their teddy bear of a partner, or "Hung out at a friend's crib", I am going to bust the first lip I see. I hope these ghetto-wannabes don't reproduce, but that is inevitable. MTV is awful. Do you realize that rap music is really about killing people, fucking hookers, and taking drugs? Do you also realize that millions of youth listen to it? The media is the real terrorists! If anyone is putting ideas into people's heads, it is them. Propaganda, unintellectual behavior, and half-trues are all being fed-into minds everywhere. Where have this country's once-proud principles gone?

Thought of the day

"We write about ourselves because we know about ourselves."~Layne Staley