Greetings from Justinland

Cartoons

Being the curious sort and a student of human behavior, when I heard that there were Danish political cartoons out there that were SO offensive to the Islamic world that our Muslim brothers were rioting in the streets, I wanted to see the damn things.

If there is going to be a fuss, I want to know what all the fuss is about. It is kind of like when Abe Lincoln told Harriet Beecher Stowe "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!"  It made people want to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, right?

But all my new sources, NPR, MSNBC and the KC Star took the high road and proudly announced that out of respect (or fear of truck bombs, you decide) they would not be publishing the offending cartoons.

OK fine, no need to piss people off.  But then they reported that I (ME!) would not be able to view the cartoons anywhere online because they were so inflammatory. 'A challenge?' I think, because I don’t want to be like those ignorant folks who wrote terrible reviews of Brokeback Mountain but hadn’t actually seen the film.  The 'impossible' to find cartoons were located in one click.  Wikipedia.

My bullet point reaction, because I have a client coming at 9:30
1) Meh…. Not worth a riot, not even amusing, but white pagan hippie boys from Kansas don’t get to decide what offends who.

2) Cartoons should be funny.  When Pepe' Le Pew mistakes the cat with the white paint stripe for a female skunk ….that’s funny.    

3) If you decide to boycott Danish products, what exactly are you missing out on?  Breakfast pastries? Modern furniture?  Faux Feta Cheese?

4) Other faiths are much more relaxed about graphic depictions of their deities.  Every Indian (Hindu) restaurant in town has wall hanging of a pale blue Lord Krishna having sex with maidens than that rarely puts anyone off their tandoori.  Personally, I am offended by those plastic light up navitity figures they sell at Wal-Mart at Christmas…but you don’t see me setting Bentonville, Arkansas on fire.

5) If there is a god or goddess, surely humor is one of their greatest blessings.

6) It is important to choose your battles.  Newspaper cartoons are just ink and paper.  Western occupation of the Arab world is another thing. 

7) Wisdom for the ages from another cartoon: Thumper’s mother said “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”

8) First song I heard on the radio this AM was the Blackeyed Peas asking Where is the Love? That is the most important question you will hear all day.

Peace

I saw this on another blog and was amused and yet discouraged. Was Ben Franklin the wisest American who ever lived?  And then there is George. Discuss?

George Bush: I'm not going to change my mind.

Ben Franklin: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise. ... When you're finished changing, you're finished.

90-9

So, if the McCain Amendment passed through the Senate 90-9, does this mean that 9 US Senators (including one of my idiot Sentators from Kansas...and he is SO getting a terse e-mail)  have actually gone on record for being PRO-torture?   That has got to bring on some bad karma.

But I look happily on those 90 that voted with the good Senator from Arizona. Maybe the wheels are finally coming off the BushCheneyRumyRiceRove war machine. A boy can dream anyway.

BTW:  Cardinals-White Sox....Cardinals winning in 6.  You heard it hear first and I am almost always wrong.

Priorities?

Boy, just when you think that Congress would have enough on their plates, what with Hurricane KatRita  and everything, yesterday the republican congress lead by some guy from  freakin’ Western Iowa rejected an effort to name the main Berkeley California postoffice after longtime Berkeley Councilwoman Maudelle Shirek.

Apparently Maude, 94, a civil rights and  peace activist was considered too liberal and did not represent ‘American values.’  Or at least the values of republicans in Western Iowa. Sista Maudelle once dined with Castro.

Michael, a proud grad of the U of California at Berkeley reminds us that Berkeley is the lefty capital of the known universe and does not care what name anyone in Iowa picks for their post offices. .

You can read about it here  but it will probably just piss you off.

from 2003  Women in History Bio of Sista Maudelle:

Maudelle Shirek was born 91 years ago in Jefferson, Arkansas, and she settled in the Bay Area about 60 years ago. Now serving her eighth term on the Berkeley City Council, she has been voted the Vice-Mayor for the last eight years by her colleagues on the City Council.

Currently, Shirek is working towards building more affordable housing. Through her efforts, scattered site low-income housing has been built in Berkeley, as well as housing to serve seniors, working-class families, and people with disabilities and AIDS.

Shirek has also worked for the Credit Union, helping many people get loans with which they bought their first homes, paid for education or started small businesses. There, she was a union organizer and officer in Local 29. Later, when she worked for the City of Berkeley as Director of the West Berkeley Senior Center, she was on the State Executive Board of Service Employees International Union, Local 535. She initiated the first municipal Labor Commission in California, and founded and directed the New Light Senior Center. Shirek was one of the first elected officials in California to take action against the AIDS crisis by sponsoring educational materials, needle-exchange programs and housing for AIDS patients.

She has traveled the world speaking out for peace, social justice and people's causes.

All Apologies

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility."

Yeah, no kidding.  We sure have revealed our hand to all those violent extremists that want to hurt us. Water as a weapon of mass destruction?  Who knew? All that  time and manpower wasted checking shoes for bombs and we should have been filling sandbags.

And Whoa Dude, what I would have given to be a fly on the wall yesterday when Karl Rove sat George W down and told him he had to go on teevee and take ‘ responsibility’ for the debacle, genocide, cluster fuck of New Orleans. '…and roll up your sleeves and hug some of the displaced while you are at it.'

I’ll bet that conversation wasn’t pretty.

I have said it before, that Karl Rove is an evil genius, but he and George are no Harry Truman. I live near Missouri (like less than a mile).  I have been to the Truman Presidential Library.  I have seen the original ‘the Buck Stops Here’ desk decoration. Mister Bush, you are no Harry Truman.

Off topic: the Truman library just has a great display of WW2 propaganda posters, including our favorite homoerotic 'Get Hot and Keep Moving' 

I am reminded of the times when Hawk and I get into a little tiff (which doesn’t happen all that often) and he instantly apologizes and says “Yeah, you are right, I’m wrong.” When what he really means is ‘all I have to do is say that I am sorry and then you will shut up’.  Then if I have the balls to bring it up again, he gives me that superior Leo look and reminds me to drop it and move on. He has already said he was sorry. 

And me, being a behavioral humanist, I am more about action than words. I get to spend a huge part of everyday listening to people yammer on about bad behaviors they have no intentions of changing.  The good news is that they pay me, but that is not the point.

The point is ‘what are YOU going to do next?’

Here’s one thing: The mayor of San Francisco, that best man of gay marriage, Gavin Newsom was on NPR this am talking about how each one of us needs to realize and ACT on the simple fact that in a crisis, the cavalry will not be arriving for 72hrs and you need to be prepared….just like you learned in Boy Scouts.  You can go to this website and find out exactly what you need to do...useful stuff like  how many gallons of water you need per person to survive for 3 days.

Action, boys and girls! No more meaningless words.

Trail of Tears: 2005

Hmmm,  After the great Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse surrendered and was sent to a reservation in Nebraska, some smart-assed white government guy asked him "Yo, Crazy Horse, where are your lands now?" 

The great Chief pointed back to South Dakota and replied "My lands are where my dead lie buried"

I'm just saying.....ALASKA? WTF?

Doc Hawk: Live From Houston

I spoke to kindly old Doc Hawk late last night. He had a lot to say.

Imagine that

I took notes. Here are the bullet points:

1. Not refugees, not victims, not evacuees; they are REBUILDERS.

2.  The Texans are going crazy trying to out-do each other with that big-hearted Texas generosity.   Hawk says that if he asked for a Cadillac Escalade to drive from shelter to shelter  3 Cadillac dealers would jump up to volunteer and ask ‘what color?’   Hawk says an unscrupulous person could make out like a bandit.

3. But the Texans are not putting up with any crap, figuratively and literally inside of the shelters.  Texas Rangers with weapons and dogs are everywhere.  And it is really, REALLY noisy inside the A’Dome.

4. Muffy from the Houston Junior League just doesn’t get why Takeisha from Nawlins doesn’t appreciate that she raided her closet for all of last years clothing.   I mean Takeisha may be storm shocked, homeless and maybe never had Junior League Level social skills to begin with, but she could at least say ‘thank you’   There are a lot of smiles that are hiding closeted racism

5. Houseboi and Dan are having the time of their lives.  When asked if anyone had experience driving folklift trucks, they both raised their hands.  Of course, neither had ever driving a folklift before, but soon they were moving monstrous palates of Frito-Lay products around.   Yum! Cheetoes!   They have also been on pancake duty. "This is going to look great on our resume" says Daniel

6. “The senior Bushes, Bill, Hil and the parade of journalists need to get the fuck outta my way and let me do my job.”   Gee, I always thought he like Hillary

7. Kids bounce back

8. “You wouldn’t see a bunch of Indians waiting around for the government to save them.  We learned over 100 years ago not to trust the government.”

9. “Don’t ever say anything bad about pharmaceutical companies or Wal-Mart again.”  That Wal-Mart thing may be hard to honor.

10.  “Yes, I am taking care of myself. Don’t worry.  This is a day at the beach compared to Honduras or Sri Lanka”

If I Ran the Zoo

Hey, here is a bit of good new.  Except for a traumatized flamingo and a few dead otters, all the animals at the New Orleans Zoo are safe

From Yahoo:

For years, the zoo has been preparing for just such a storm, reinforcing concrete structures that house most animals during the hurricane, organizing emergency supplies and preparing for the potential evacuation of staff.

Preparation and a plan! What a concept! 

Doom over Bourbon Street

Last night, when I hit my bed with its clean dry sheets, in air conditioned comfort, I offered up a little prayer to the Goddess for my creature comforts that I do take for granted.  My home and family was safe and there was no doubt that a hot shower, hot food and electricity would be waiting in the morning….and even though the other side of that bed was empty last night, I had blessings to count.

I hope you do too

Meanwhile, it turns out that my sleep partner, ( a term I have learned from listening to mattress ads) spent the night in Memphis, but is now backtracking to Houston. Apparently the old Astrodome is going to be converted to a refugee center. The Astrodome has great air conditioning.  71 degrees with a 1 mph/hr breeze, even filled with thousands of people.

This is good news for those of us who love and respect Doc Hawk, who frankly didn’t do well emotionally after his post-Tsunami experience.   I haven’t mentioned it much in this journal, but if you have ever wondered why I don’t post as much as I once did…there it is.

Not whining, of course; Remember, I am blessed. 

Jokingly, because I sometimes use humor to cope, I was saying yesterday that I ‘blame the whole damn mess on Bush’.  Not the man himself, because I don’t believe for a minute that he is running the country, but his administration. Turns out, I may not be far from wrong.

If you don’t have the energy to surf on over to the article. Basically it says that in early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for maintaining the Lake Pontchartrain levees.

Oooops! 

Correct me if I am wrong, but it wasn’t violent extremists that turned NOLA into Atlantis.

But it is too freakin' late to point fingers

The few people I know that live in New Orleans are all accounted for and safe and for that I am grateful. 
I have fond memories of a mispent youth of Mardi Gras and Southern Decadence. I have exposed myself for beads. I have enjoyed an oyster po'boy and I think I have seen Louis and Lestat roaming the streets late at night.

But I have this one memory that is troubling me...and it is silly.  At the zoo in New Orleans, they used to have Elephant bath time.  Basically it was just the elephant attendants turning the hose on the gentle giants and scrubbing them down, but elephants are some of my favorite animals and I enjoyed the show.  They say that right below the Tsunami, the elephants knew something was coming and headed for higher ground.  What happened to the New Orleans elephants?   

I warned you it was silly

Q: How many Bush administration officials does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb; its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?