The Stupid, Filthy and Ignorant Struggle in Galveston

Galveston Area Remains Dangerous in Ike's Wake

22 Sep 08, from an AP article by Angla Brown and Gain Burdeau

ANAHUAC, Texas: Businesses were beginning to reopen, cell phone service was improving and power was coming back, but leaders warned that Galveston remains dangerous more than a week after Hurricane Ike's devastating assault.

Fuel and other essentials remained scarce and police will indefinitely enforce a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew once the island reopens Wednesday.

And it could be weeks or more before basic services are restored in all areas. Still, the island is far from deserted—at least 15,000 people ignored mandatory evacuation orders before and after the storm, and many of them were still there Sunday.

If you ignored the government evacuation order, then officially you have no claim whatsoever to any services. If you have to be rescued, you must pay for the service. If the government has to take any actions at all on your behalf--which it should, to protect your from yourself and others, given the clear indication that you don't have the intelligence to make competent decisions regarding your safety and unfortunately that of those who may be in your care--you must pay for that service. This is only fair to those of us who were paying attention and acted on the government's orders.

Wearing jeans and rubber boots, clutching Bibles and weeping between hymns, residents of the storm-shattered Texas coast comforted each other at makeshift church services. About 50 people came together on a basketball court outside the Oak Island Baptist Church, just south of Interstate 10 about a mile from the tip of Trinity Bay. They sat on folding chairs or simply stood, forced outdoors by the 1-inch layer of mud left inside the single-story red brick building by floodwaters that tossed pews like matchsticks.

What's god going to do for you now? Like he's going to help you now, give you some sort of strength and personal fortitude to withstand the strain of it all after he sent the storm to destroy your home and your church? Doesn't that make him out to be some sort of sick, twisted som'bitch, that he wreaks all of this havoc, and then sits there and watches you deal with it? Kind of like pulling legs off a bug, or cooking them with a magnifying glass, isn't it?

So read your Bible, the collected myths and legends of pre-antiquity codified by men in the centuries after Christ's death, and think your silly little thoughts about a supreme being who really does love you and think about you and care for you, and sends tornadoes and hurricanes and pedophile priests and genocide down to earth to show you just how much he thinks of you and the rest of us.

A demolished mobile home was still lodged among trees, many of them snapped by the storm's 110-mph winds that somehow left the church's trio of 20-foot white crosses still standing. Across the street, piles of debris had sprouted, proof of the labor undertaken since the storm blew through last weekend, and of the work yet to come.

Uh, I don't follow how sprouting debris--which I take to mean that grass/weeds are growing amid the junk--is any kind of proof of labor that's taken place. If anything, it's testament to the non-labor that's taken place, that the grass is growing in a spot where there should be none. If this was the author's intended meaning, they did not communicate it well.

"I know it's hard. Looking around, it's tough," the Rev. Eddie Shauberger told the congregants. "But there is a God, and he has a plan for our lives."

And this hurricane and what he has done to your lives is proof of what kind of plan? How exactly is a hurricane washing your home absolutely and compltely, totally away, so that there is nothing left of it but a busted-up concrete slab a sign that there is a god and that he has a plan? Is it just because you refuse to acknowledge the power of natural forces to create destruction on such a scale, that you just can't conceive of it? Is it that you need to attribute such randomness to some sort of intent, to anthropomorphize the storm so you can better understand your situation?

Rev, all you're doing is selling false hope. And you probably know it, too. So is god's plan something like, "I'm going to destroy all of your homes and kill a few dozen people, wreak billions of dollars in damage in a region still dealing with the last storms I threw at you, and I'll have all of it take place in the midst of the biggest financial crisis in the history of the world that I created, just because I have a plan for YOU." Uh, yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what it is. It's god toughening us up, because we're just not good enough. We're never really ever good enough, of course.

Similar services were being held on Galveston Island and throughout the Houston area, where power had been restored to enough residents that schools planned to hold classes Monday for the first time since the storm.

In Galveston, Bobby and Pamela Quiroga sought succor at a Mass set up in the historic Hotel Galvez. They went to their Roman Catholic church a week ago, the day after storm arrived, but it was closed.

"It's just good to be around people," Bobby Quiroga said. He added, letting his voice trail off, "When you feel a wave shake your house ...."

Yeah, Cooter, that's what Nature will do to you. It doesn't think, feel, or care, and it will go anywhere it wants to.

The newly married 42-year-olds were still trying to gather their senses eight days after watching their homes and businesses flooded by Ike's 12-foot surge.

"Fourteen steps, and we watched the water come up all the way up—even to the floor. Surreal," Quiroga said, his wife leaning on his shoulder.

Ah, so these two were among the selfish and/or idiotic crew who decided to ignore the government warnings and stay on the island. The weather services told you what was going to happen, and it did happen, just like they said it would.

She dabbed her swollen eyes with a hand towel and vowed never to live on the island again.
"When I fall asleep," she said, "I see the water rising."

Only now that it's happened do you look back and think of what might have been. Maybe a few years ago, after Katrina, or maybe Andrew or even going back to the 70s to Agnes, maybe then you could have taken the time to think about your situation, think about your vulnerability, think about your chances and then formulate a plan to mitigate your personal risk. You could have dealt with it then, on your schedule, taking the time to do it deliberately and correctly, but you didn't, and now all you've got is a grubby hand towel to dry your tiny, sick tears. Maybe you've got some respect for Nature now, eh?

Observances in the hardest-hit spots weren't overflowing with residents. Most of Galveston won't reopen until Wednesday.

But island leaders emphasized that Galveston would remain dangerous and parents were warned their children could be exposed to infections from storm debris and other hazards. Planes continued spraying the island to control mosquitoes. Officials urged those returning to wear masks to protect from mold and to properly dispose of spoiled food to stave off vermin.
Teams of cadaver dogs were still working their way through rubble and debris on Bolivar Peninsula, which suffered even heavier damage than Galveston. Evacuees from the peninsula will board dump trucks and other heavy vehicles this week to examine their homes, since the main road is impassible in many spots.

Authorities had blamed the storm for 26 deaths in Texas and 61 total in the U.S., including a utility contractor from Florida who was electrocuted Friday while trying to restore power in Louisville, Ky.

Power had been restored to most of the customers in Texas whose electricity was cut by Ike, though the state said about 875,000 remained in the dark Sunday.

Whether the power was coming through the wall or from a generator, people throughout the region watched the Houston Texans try to win one for the wretched back home.

Yeah, I'm sure those pretty-boy millionaires were thinking of all of the "wretched" back on home as they played in their overhyped and overcommercialized pageant on Sunday. Yeah, sure.

Maine Williams, a 49-year-old cotton warehouse worker, tuned in the football game with friends in Galveston on a portable TV they set up in an alley. The humidity, mosquitoes and flood muck that covered the neighborhood was made bearable thanks to the grilled hamburger meat, pig tails, cabbage and potatoes, along with the camaraderie and cold beer.

"It's like normal," Williams said, adding that he really wanted was to see his girlfriend and family who evacuated before the storm on buses.

Uh, eating barbecue among filth is like normal? Then that speaks to your existence before the storm, I guess. Or it speaks to your tolerance of adversity, which is good. Or it speaks to your tolerance for a shitty environment, which is not good.

"We're worried about our people," he said. "We want them to come home."

Come home to what, barbecue in a filth-slathered alley? I would have to think they're being better served wherever they are. Sure, you're missing each other, but wives and kids don't belong in this environment, clearly.

As for the game, which the Texans lost on the road to the Tennessee Titans, Williams wasn't too concerned with the outcome: "I'm a Dallas Cowboys man!"

What a trite and idiotic way to wind up this article about the stupid and ignorant. In the end, football is all that matters, right? It's Texas, after all.

My Plans for Evil Overlord

If I ever become an evil overlord:

My legions of terror, will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not dark ones. I want their victims to see them and know who they are.

The ventilation ducts in my evil lair will be far too small to crawl through. I know there is an issue with airflow, but I'll upgrade my air exchangers to compensate.

My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be executed immediately, in my presence, not kept anonymously imprisoned in my dungeon.

Shooting will not be too good for my enemies. I won't charge their families for the bullets, though; we'll take that expense on.

The ancient artifact which will be my source f power will not be kept on the Mountain of Destiny across the River of Fire and guarded by the Legions of Eternity; it will be in my vault, to which only I know the combination.

I will not gloat over my enemies' predicament before killing them--except for my ex-wife.

When the rebel leader challenges me to fight one-on-one in the ultimate battle and asks, "Or are you afraid to fight without your armies to back you up?" I'll reply, "No, I'm just being sensible."

When I've captured my nemesis and he says, "Before you kill me, won't you tell me what all of this is about?" I'll say, "No," and shoot him.

After I kidnap the beautiful princess, we will be married immediately in a private civil ceremony, and not in three days' time in an overly lavish spectacle which will allow my enemies time to plan.

I probably won't have a self-destruct mechanism, but if I do the activation button will be labeled "Danger: Do Not Push," and I'll have a special, lockable cover over the top of it.

I will not order my trusted lieutenant to kill the infant who is destined to overthrow me; I'll slay the little pecker myself.

I will not interrogate my enemies in my inner sanctum, or anywhere in redoubt at all; an abandoned water treatment plant on the edge of town will do the trick just fine.

I'll be confident in my superiority, obviating the need to leave oh so clever clues or riddles about my plans, or allowing weaker enemies to survive.

I will not make the effort of leaving my enemies' deaths to appear accidental; I want everyone to know what happens if you oppose me.

I'll make it clear that I do in fact know the meaning of the word "mercy;" I just choose not to demonstrate it on a regular basis.

One of my advisors will be a smart-assed seventh grader; any flaws in any plan that he is able to spot will be corrected immediately.

All slain enemies, will be cremated, and NEVER left for dead. We will tidy and thorough.

My undercover agents will not have distinctive tattoos or other creepy body modifications identifying them as my employees. They will blend in, just like they're supposed to.

The supposed hero will not get a last kiss, cigarette, last words, etc.

I will never employ any device that has a digital or spoken countdown. If I absolutely have to have one, it will activate at 27 seconds, just as the hero gets into his final actions.

Any mad scientist who works for me will be truly mad, and he'll monitored so that he never seeks to undo the damage he's done.

If I choose to employ advisors, I will listen to their counsel. I won't always follow it, but it'll be nice t have some additional points of view.

Detroit Mayor Finally Gets His Due

DETROIT (AP) - Only hours after agreeing to resign and serve time in jail as part of plea deal, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick expressed regret for the scandal that has engulfed the city—and left the door open for a return to public life. Sure, he's a young man, with lots of energy, so why not come on back to the life that has rewarded him so well, all of that power, that privilege, that environment of total freedom from honesty, integrity, the need to uphold the law? Any why is it only now that he's sorry? How is it that the regret comes now that it's been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury? Why didn't he regret it earlier? Kilpatrick walked into a City Hall conference room Thursday to thunderous applause and thanked his family, backers and staff members for sticking by him during his rocky 6 1/2-year tenure. Thunderous applause? From how many people? Family, I can understand--although I can't understand why his wife would be standing by his side--but how many ignorant others are still under the impression that this is a good, upstanding, honest guy? How could anyone be that foolish, that gullible? "I truly know who I am. I truly know where I come from. In Detroit I know who I am. And I know because of that, there's another day for me," he said in a 20-minute speech on live television. "I want to tell you, Detroit, that you done set me up for a comeback." What does "who I am" have to do with this? He only knows now who he is when he's been forced through the preponderance of hard evidence to admit what everyone else has known for year--that he's a crook? Does he "know" that he's a criminal, that he's a liar and a cheat, a dishonest and manipulative cheat? Let's see if he admits to that... Where is the apology? Where is the contrition for doing something--no, not just something, but an entire, cascading, conspiratorial, years-long range of somethings--wrong? And what has happened to his diction? Nothing like a politician to pander to the lowest common denominator, especially when your back is against the wall. Nothing like a politician to change his stripes to resonate with his target audience. In exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice, the Democrat will get four months behind bars, pay the city $1 million in restitution, lose his license to practice law, and cannot run for any elected office for five years. Where is the lifetime ban on running for office? He's getting off lightly. I'll bet he makes another run for office, and the sheep will vote for him again. His resignation will take effect in two weeks and his sentence will be officially imposed on Oct. 28. Under the city charter, any mayor guilty of a felony is automatically expelled from office. "I always said I would stand strong for the city of Detroit," the 38-year-old mayor said in his address. "But sometimes standing strong means stepping down." Uh, if you were going to stand strong for the City of Detroit, how is it you chose to ignore the integrity of your wedding vows for so long? How did you stand strong when it came to firing those two police officers? How did you stand strong when you conspired with your mistress and then lied under oath--committed perjury--to keep your extramarital affair a secret? How did you stand strong by not admitting your weakness and your mistakes up front--like a man--and instead fighting them and refusing them, citing so many bogus, pathetic excuses and blaming non-existent conspiracies for the trouble and pain you've brougth on yourself and others? How does any of this reflect this politician standing strong? He's standing strong only now that he's officially to blame, as he sets himself up as a victim, sets himself up for another run at public integrity in five years or so. Coming after nearly eight months of turmoil and demands that Kilpatrick resign, the plea bargain was met with relief from politicians and ordinary Detroit residents alike. I'm sure they're glad to be rid of yet another lying, self-serving politician who feels that the ethics and morals and laws that apply to everyone else do not apply to him. His departure could also remove a major embarrassment for Barack Obama and the Democrats in Michigan, a crucial battleground state in the presidential election. This is a reach, really. I don't see it. Sure, Obama praised him in the past, foolishlly, but I don't see this as a national or regional presidential election issue. "This gives us hope. He's not a king," said Monica Smith, 24, of Detroit, a college student. "This is a huge victory for the city of Detroit. He was not a role model. He was a thug. I'm definitely optimistic." Good stuff, Ms. Smith. I applaud you for speaking the truth, directly and without subterfuge. Thank goodness he wasn't a king, or he would have had your head chopped off. Ken Cockrel Jr., the 42-year-old president of the Detroit City Council, will take over as mayor. He said people need to put aside the anger and bitterness of Kilpatrick's sex scandal. No, this was not a sex scandal; that's the tawdry secondary issue, one of the things that led to his real trouble. This was about perjury and obstruction of justice, resulting from a sex scandal. This is not as trivial as a politician stepping out when he was supposed to serving the public; this is about a politician who, when caught red-handed, conspired with others to obstruct justice and lied under oath to cover his own selfish actions. "What we're going to have to focus on really is restoring the credibility not only of the mayor's office, but also of the city of Detroit," Cockrel said. "There is going to be a need for a healing period in the city of Detroit." The plea bargain came just one day after Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm convened an extraordinary hearing on whether to oust Kilpatrick as mayor. Why did it take this long for the governor to act? If she had the power in the state constitution, why did it take so long for her to make a move? She's just another politician covering her political behind, not wanting to take a stand until she knows exactly which way the winds are blowing. Nothing like being a leader, eh Governor? "I would hope that Michigan citizens will demonstrate our compassion as a people and pray for the mayor's family," Granholm said after the deal. What a load of complete and total condescending crap. Another politician positioning herself as the Forgiver, the gallant and noble do-gooder, when inside she's giggling with glee. First, God is not going to help these people; he doesn't exist. If he was up there, and wanted to help the people of Michigan out, he would have stopped Kwame from straying in the first place, or would have made him stop after the first time, or after the first coupla-dozen times. Or God would have made him own up to it with his wife, or God would have had him admit his guilt in public. Why would God cause Kwame to lie under oath? What is the divine purpose in causing that to happen, or to allow it to take place? Why would God put Detroit and Michigan through all of this crap--if he really cared about any of this? That's because he's not there, so praying isn't going to do a bit of good, except maybe boost the personal self-satisfaction of those doing the praying. At least she did leave out Kilpatrick in her plea for people's prayers. She may be a good Christian woman 'n all, but she was sure to cut him out of the call for prayers. I'm with her on that. He's beyond that kind of mythical help. The scandal stems from a whistleblower lawsuit filed by two former police officers who accused Kilpatrick of retaliating against them for trying to investigate misconduct by the mayor and his security detail. Questioned under oath in 2004 and 2007, Kilpatrick repeatedly denied having an affair with his chief of staff, Christine Beatty. Observe: the perjury goes back to 2004, a full four years. This jackass has been knowingly breaking the law--the felony law, that is, the obstruction of justice and perjury stuff, not including all of that adultery stuff--for a good four years. And it's taken this long for the process to get to this spot--sad. But the Detroit Free Press later obtained text messages between the two—some of them sexually explicit—and published excerpts. Kilpatrick and Beatty were later charged. So did he really think he could keep this under wraps? Was he that naive? That confident of his own personal power and reach? He got the cops ousted, apparently, but he couldn't keep the press back. Good on ya, Detroit Free Press, for doing your job, and doing it so very well. In addition to perjury, Kilpatrick was accused of misleading the City Council when he secured its approval of an $8.4 million settlement with three former police officers. Prosecutors said he settled to keep the text messages from becoming public. "Misleading?" That's an understatement. On Thursday, Kilpatrick also pleaded no contest to assault, for allegedly shoving a detective who was trying to serve a subpoena in the text-message case. His sentence in that case will be served at the same time as the one for obstruction. This one actually seems to me to be The Establishment piling on, slamming this guy while he's down and/or sticking it to him when it seemed he wasn't being properly dealt with in all of the other legal proceedings. I definitely won't go so far as to say that Kilpatrick's treatment here has been unfair. That being said, if you're under this kind of scrutiny, facing these kinds of legal challenges, the last thing you want to do is get physical in any way whatsoever with a sworn law enforcement official carrying out a formal court action. If you're that stupid, then I guess you deserve the assault rap. Or, if you're Kilpatrick, if you're that cocky and self-assured that you forget the law applies to you, too, then welcome to the dock, you idiot... "I take full responsibility for my own actions and for the poor judgment that they reflected," Kilpatrick said. "I wish with all my heart that we could turn back the hands of time and tell that young man to make better choices, but I can't." Again, where is the apology? This statement here is NOT an apology. He says he's taking responsibility, and note he doesn't address why he hasn't done so earlier. He's taking responsibility now only because he has no other choices, and his denying and delaying are no longer options. And the crap about "that young man," well that was only 5-6 years ago, at 38 now that would still have him well over the age of 30. Sorry, but once you hit 25 or so, the pass that young people sometimes get for being impulsive or rash or inexperienced pretty much goes away. And to call your 32-year-old self a "young man" is yet another subtle way of ducking blame, of avoiding taking responsibility for the actions. You think that at age 32 or so that you didn't know about perjury and obstruction of justice, that adultery was wrong and illegal? You're a lawyer--no, wait, WERE, a lawyer, after all--so these kinds of issues are not in question, and a youth argument is cynical and trite, and shows us you still do think we, the public, are gullible and ignorant, and you still can pull the wool over our eyes. The son of a Detroit congresswoman, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Kilpatrick was 31 when he was elected in 2001, becoming the youngest mayor in Detroit history. His youth, energy and diamond stud earring endeared Kilpatrick to many fellow blacks, especially young ones. Cool. I'm all for youth and energy, and the desire to remake that with which we're fed up. But power corrupts, and this is where it's led us. But Kilpatrick's first term was tumultuous. He came under fire for racking up thousands of dollars in travel on his city-issued credit card and leasing a luxury Lincoln Navigator for his wife. Ah, the delicious allure of entitlement. I'm entitled to it because... Yeah, so many fall into it, assuming that because the wife works hard as the city's first lady, she gets her own vehicle, too. But a good honest scrub of your ethics will show that it doesn't wash. You're a public servant, and we are not here to serve or bankroll your public grandiosity. The only politicians who get rich in office are those who are corrupt. Under his leadership, though, Detroit landed baseball's 2005 All-Star Game and the 2006 Super Bowl. And Kilpatrick's ability to work with business leaders also has been credited with an overhaul of the city's riverfront and development downtown. Good riddance to yet another self-serving, corrupt politician. There are thousands more where he came from. And he'll be back, too, just wait and see.