The Shaming of America

This is embarassing:

U.S. Seeks Larger NATO Role in Katrina Aid

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The United States asked
NATO on Thursday to take on a bigger role transporting European aid to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina and the alliance immediately ordered military experts to draw up plans to offer more assistance.

To many, this is worse:

Mexican army convoy with doctors, mobile kitchens heads for U.S.

MEXICO CITY - A Mexican army convoy and a navy amphibian warship are on their way to New Orleans to assist in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, the first time the Mexican military has operated north of the Rio Grande River since Texas won its independence in 1846.
ADVERTISEMENT

The Mexican forces are bringing helicopters, 14 trucks, a mobile surgical unit, emergency personnel, three tons of purified water, food and giant kitchens.

"We will do anything within our reach to help this unfortunate situation. Mexico is a friendly neighbor, and in difficult times, good friends are there for each other," President Vicente Fox said last weekend in offering aid. U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said that "the American people are grateful" for the assistance.

The disrespectful piece of shit that lives in the White House has endangered our national security to the point where the Mexican Army wants to help. Say what you want about Bill Clinton, his beliefs, his opposition to Vietnam, his foreign policy, and his blowjob. The one thing you can't say is that he ever put our country at risk to the extent that this idiot son has.

Republicans: You elected this man. You elected the Congress that empowers him. Keep that in mind when you vote. Next disaster or terrorist attack might find you relying on this administration's expertise.

Long Update...

I just entered the following into my LiveJournal, crossposting here. YatPundit and YatCuisine are down for the moment.

I had a bad feeling about this one earlier last week. When they said it was going to go into the Atlantic side of FL, I was hopeful, but when it cut through southern FL and into the Gulf, my first thought was that the track was not that different from Betsy in 1965, and that was the last storm to hit New Orleans head-on.

I resisted the idea of bailing all through Friday and Saturday, but when I looked at the sat photos of the eye of the storm, even I got worried. So, I agreed with wife that we'd head up to see Her Majesty in Shreveport on Sunday. We left Sunday morning around 8am. We went north on the Causeway, west on I-12 to I-55, north on I-55 to I-20, and ended up in Shreveport eight hours later. Sunday night was a bit festive, since the kids were wired. Her Majesty has one of her three still at home, the youngest, who is 13. He's getting along well with my two. They have two extra bedrooms that belonged to the other two boys (one is on his own, the other is at university). We're in one room, my boys in the other.

Wife's company is more-or-less still operating. They don't have many new orleans customers, and everyone got out, so they're functioning as a virtual office. That keeps wife busy during the day, which is a good thing. We haven't heard from her mom since Sunday. Her mom and her brother, along with brother's wife and her mom's husband decided to ride it out at her mom's house in Gentilly. They lost the roof of the house in the initial storm, and we're not sure what happened after that. Obviously wife is worried.

The boys are just being boys. Justin brought his gamecube and has a portable monitor for it, so the three boys are geeking. Kev finally finished HBP on Monday. Justin's also working on his college applications.

Since we've established that wife can work wherever, we're going to head down to Planet Houston. My friend Steve lives there. We've made arrangements to get Justin in the catlick high school where his son goes. They have calculus and AP physics, so hopefully they can kick his ass for a couple of months. I haven't quite figured out what to do with Kevin just yet, but it's easier to catch up a sixth grader who reads like he does. Justin is coming up on real deadlines and such. He's got to take SAT2 tests for admission to MIT in October, and we've got to keep his NROTC scholarship application on track. We've booked a room at a residence inn on Planet Houston for a few weeks. Once we're down there, I can sit with Steve and sort things out better.

We've got no real reports on our house. We've seen aerial footage of Clearview Mall, and it didn't look so bad. I spoke to a friend who lives near us but closer to the lake and he's figuring we only got a foot of water or so. That's not all that bad, both in relation to the city and in terms of actual damage. We took wife's car up here, left my Cherokee up in the driveway. No clue what shape it's in, though. When they tell us the roads are passable and such, we'll go back and see what we can salvage.

Speaking of cars, on top of everything else, wife's car developed serious trouble. Justin mentioned last week that he had problems accelerating from a dead stop, but I never noticed it, so we took wife's car rather than my cherokee when we bailed. The problem turned out to be with the transmission--estimate $1400. We both agreed that money would be better spent on a new car. We did some shopping yesterday and tuesday, so now wife is the proud owner of a Dodge Stratus.

That leave me. I'm just bloody numb. The lakeview neighborhood that's been flooded is full of so many memories and experiences for me. I'm just numb. But still, when i see the relatively dry parts of downtown and the Quarter, my spirits are lifted. I've accounted for most of my friends, so if we can just get word about my m-i-l, that will lessen a lot of anxiety.

OK, enough for now...my e-mail is back operational. I spent the better part of today setting up a FreeBSD server in Her Majesty's hubby's office. He's got fixed-IP DSL, so I transferred the domains to that I'll try to bring YatPundit up this weekend. Keeps my mind off things until i can get some new gigs.

Love to you all, I really appreciate that you guys worry about us...*HUGS*

the most damning analysis of a politician...

...is no analysis at all. Off the radar. Irrelavent. Pointless. From David Corn:

Bush's speech will not alter the landscape--here or in Iraq. It was the rhetorical equivalent of treading water. Before the speech, NPR had asked me to talk about the address afterward with a conservative pundit. Minutes before we were to go on, an NPR worker called. We've decided, she said, that there was not enough in the speech to warrant an analysis segment. I could hardly protest.

(via Atrios)

The Sound of Silence...

was it just me, or did anyone else find the silence with which Bushie was greeted at Ft. Bragg last night to be just a bit odd? It's a total departure from his other encounters with the military since the beginning of the war. The disrespectful piece of crap has been greeted by cheering soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen all over the country and in Iraq. Remember "Mission Accomplished" with all its cheering and chest-thumping? None of that last night.

The reason is clear: the man has lost the respect of the military. They're tired, they have no clear mission, and they know full well the people who got them into this mess are clueless. They're not allowed to be openly critical of him (nor would they be likely to be), but they're sure not enthusiastic.

You know you're from New Orleans when you...

I saw this list on another blog (and I closed it, so unfortunately I can't give proper credit), and it's so long that I think I might actually start posting about these various things.

You Know Your're From New Orleans When:

1)Your sunglasses fog up when you step outside.
2)You reinforce your attic to store Mardi Gras beads.
3)Your baby's first words are "gumbo" and "whereyat".
4)You save newspapers, not for recycling but for tablecloths at crawfish boils.
5)When you give directions you use "lakeside" and "riverside" not north & south
6)Your ancestors are buried above the ground.
7)You get on a green trolley car to go to the park and a red one to the French Quarter.
8)You listen to holiday songs such as "the 12 yats of Christmas" and "Santa and his reindeer used to live next door".
9)You walk on the "banquette" (sidewalk) and stand in the "neutral ground" (median) "by ya mommas" (by your mother's house).
10)Someone asks for directions and you stop and help them with a smile.
11)You start an angel food cake with a roux.
12)Watching "Wild Kingdom" inspires you to write a cookbook.
13)You think a lobster is a crawfish on steroids.
14)You think boudin, hogshead cheese, and a Bud is a bland diet.
15)You think Ground Hog Day and the Boucherie Festival are the same holiday.
16)You take a bite of five-alarm chili and reach for the Tabasco.
17)Fred's Lounge in Mamou means more to you than the Grand Ole Opry.
18)You have an *envie* for something instead of a craving.
19)You use a "#3" washtub to cover your lawn mower or your outboard motor.
20)You use two or more pirogues to cover your tomatoes to protect them from the late frost.
21)You use a gill net to play tennis, badminton, or volleyball.
22)The horsepower of your outboard motor is greater than that of your car motor.
23)You pass up a trip abroad to go to the Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge.
24)The four basic food groups are boiled seafood, broiled seafood, fried seafood and beer.
25)You are asked to name the holy trinity and your reply is "onions, celery, bell pepper."
26)You let your black coffee cool, and find that it has gelled.
27)You describe a link of boudin and cracklins as "breakfast."
28)Every once in a while, you have waterfront property.
29)Your mama announces each morning, "Well, I've got the rice cooking ... what will we have for dinner?"
30)None of your potential vacation destinations are north of the old Mississippi River Bridge (US 190).
31)You refer to Louisiana winters as "Gumbo Weather."
32)You get a disappointing look from your wife and describe it as, "She passed me a pair of eyes."
33)You think of gravy as a beverage.
34)You greet your long lost friend at the Lafayette Regional Airport with "AAAAAAAYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE."
35)You sit down to eat boiled crawfish and your host says, "Don't eat the dead ones," and you know what he means.
36)You learned Bourre the hard way: Holding yourself upright in your crib.
37)You don't know the real names of your friends, only their nicknames.
38)You give up Tabasco for Lent.
39)You worry about a deceased family member returning in spring floods.
40)You don't learn until high school that Mardi Gras is not a national holiday.
41)You push little old ladies out of the way to catch Mardi Gras throws.
42)You leave a parade with footprints on your hands.
43)You believe that purple, green, and gold look good together.
44)Your last name isn't pronounced the way it's spelled.
45)You know what a nutria is but you still pick it to represent your baseball team.
46)You like your rice and your politics dirty.
47)No matter where else you go in the world, you are always disappointed in the food.
48)Your loved one dies and you book a jazz band before you call the coroner.
49)Your accent sounds nothing like Harry Connick, Jr's.
50)You can sing these jingles by heart: "Rosenberg's, Rosenberg's, 1825 Tulane;" "At the beach, at the beach, the Pontchartrain Beach..."
51)You ask, "How they running?" and "Are they fat?" but, you're inquiring about seafood quality and not the Cresent City Classic.
52)When a hurricane is imminent, you have a lot more faith in Nash Roberts than some Super Doppler 6000.
53)Your town is low on the education chart, high on the obesity chart and you don't care because you're No. 1 on the party chart.
54)Nothing shocks you. Period. Ever.
55)Being in a jam at Tulane and Broad isn't the same as being stuck in traffic.
56)Your idea of health food is a baked potato instead of fries with your seafood platter.
57)You have to take your coffee and favorite coffeemaker with you on a three-day trip.
58)You have sno-ball stains on your shoes.
59)You call tomato sauce "red gravy."
60)Your middle name is your mother's maiden name, or your father's mother's maiden name, or your mother's mother's maiden name, or your grandmother's mother's maiden name, or your grandfather's mother's maiden name.
61)On certain spring days, Crawfish Monica is your breakfast.
62)Your house payment is less than your utility bill.
63)You've done your laundry in a bar.
64)You don't show your "pretties" during Mardi Gras.
65)You know that Tchoupitoulas is a street and not a disease.
66)You "boo" the mayor on national television.
67)You wear sweaters in because it ought to be cold.
68)Your grandparents are called "Maw-Maw" and "Paw-Paw."
69)Your Santa Claus rides an alligator and your favorite Saint is a football player.
70)You suck heads, eat tail, sing the blues and you actually know where you got them shoes.
71)You shake out your shoes before putting them on.
72)You don't think it inappropriate to refer to a large adult male as "Li'l Bubba."
73)You know why you should never, ever swim by the Lake Pontchartrain steps (for more than one reason).
74)You cringe every time you hear an actor with a Southern or Cajun accent in a "New Orleans-based" movie or TV show.
75)You have to reset your clocks after every thunderstorm.
76)You waste more time navigating back streets than you would if you just sat in traffic.
77)You still call the Fairmont Hotel, the Roosevelt.
78)You consider garbage cans a legal step to protecting your parking space on a public street.
79)You fall asleep to the soothing sounds of four box fans.
80)Your one-martini lunch becomes a five-bloody mary afternoon... and you keep your job.
81)You're walking in the French Quarter with a plastic cup of beer. When it starts to rain, you cover your beer instead of your head.
82)You eat dinner out and spend the entire meal talking about all the other good places you've eaten.

Re-activating my Blogger account...

I've been commenting on a number of blogger-based blogs lately, and it's easier to just log into blogger when doing that, so I'm going to cross-post stuff to three locations now, yatpundit.blogspot.com, www.yatpundit.com, and www.livejournal.com/users/mysticknyght.

Crawfish Bread is a Hot Dog Bun

When I was a kid, there was a huge scandal when the Metairie Road overpass of the Pontchartrain Expressway collapsed. The overpass had been re-built, but the contractor used extremely sub-standard concrete. One day, it started to literally fall apart, on to cars passing under it on Metairie Road. The fallout was severe, resulting in indictments, jail time, and civil lawsuits.

The problem the contractor had, of course, is that he couldn't afford to do the work for the price he bid. This was because he had to not only pay for materials and labor to do the job, but he had to "grease the skids" with the political types who got him the work.

Now, I don't know if the people who make the Crawfish Bread at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival are having to pay anyone under the table, but when you sink as low as using hot dog buns for your product, you're either making an obscene profit, or you're having to pay off someone big-time. Consider these numbers:

8-pack of Bunny Bread hot dog buns: $2


half a pound of crawfish tails $3


12-oz package of cheese $2


8 foil wrappers $1

Cost of goods is around $1 for an item they're selling for $4. That's three-hundred percent markup. Let's be outrageously conservative and say that labor doubles the price of the item to a total cost of $2, and they're making two bucks for each hot dog bun they hand out of that booth.

And it's not limited to the Crawfish Bread guys. Look at Crawfish Monica:

1-pound package of pasta $1


1 pound of crawfish tails $3


1 cup of heavy cream $2


8 plastic bowls and forks $1

Same profit margins.

Then there's drinks. Beer at $3 per can for Miller is high, but not usurious… $3 apiece for a 20-oz soft drink or a water bottle is, however. You can go to Sam's and get water for $2 a six-pack, and if Coca-Cola is content with the profit on a dollar a bottle from vending machines, $3 retail price is obscene.

All this on top of a $25 admission price, and you've got the makings of high-class ghetto gouging at the Fair Grounds. No wonder locals stayed away in droves this year.