I'm an info junkie, who carries at least three newspapers around at a time, and sucks up factoids, hyperlinks and articles like an out of control Shop Vac...
One of the best news & writing websites I know of is Alternet, it's writers cover many issues ignored by the traditional corporate media, and the site has numerous thoughtful essays from a wide spectrum of viewpoints. Among the contributors include notables like Molly Ivins, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Scott Ritter and Van Jones.
The editors recently grouped their coverage of Katrina and it's after effects with an easy to find URL to keep updated on their latest relevant stories.
http://www.alternet.org/katrina/
another good overview resource on katrina and the many issues surrounding it is http://katrina.internet2.edu
So let us check out a suitable track to keep this post on track ( in that darn I-tunes .m4a format )
Dirty Dozen Brass Band - I Shall Not Be Moved
Speaking of Not Moving: Notice how our now lame duck administration initially takes the slow motion hands off approach to hurricane relief when it's not an election year. The hurricanes that came during the election season of 2004 had both George & Jeb out there lifting sandbags & delivering groceries to white retirees in the politically crucial state of Florida. Not so much when it's 2005, and the folks are poor & black in Louisiana.
Two-In-Three Americans are Critical Of Bush's Handling of Hurricane Relief Efforts
According to Newsweek Only 38 percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is doing his job overall, a record-low for this president in the NEWSWEEK poll. (Fifty-five percent of Americans disapprove of his overall job performance.) And only 28 percent of Americans say they are "satisfied with the way things are going" in the country, down from 36 percent in August and the 46 percent surveyed in December, shortly after the president's re-election.
In honor of W's new polling reality we'll offer another tune to support our clueless leader a.k.a troopmaster flash, ( but secretly we'll hope he can stay in the sh*thouse for awhile ), punkers from Chicago, with a track off their infamous "Sh*t Sandwich" EP
The Tyrades - He's So Popular
Unfortunately, it takes a huge disaster to wake up the fat, f*cked up & fact ignoring people of this vast distracted country. If only this poll reflected a hope for immediate change, but it's a year late , since our 2nd term prez can just phone in his agenda and ride out the remainder of his term for the most part. I hear people wish for impeachment, inquiries etc. But, do we really wanna waste the energy & expect the Democratic party to look up from their masturbatory excercises in oratorial artery clogging and force any actual change to the status quo?
The "two party" system has us choosing between soft-serve vanilla in a styrofoam bowl, and vanilla ice milk with sprinkles in the pale stale cake cone... either way, it's sugary sludge.
Of course we'll get some minor squabbling going on over relief funding & Supreme Court picks, before the inertia sets in and congress can get back to work making the world safe for Wal-Marts, and the good folks of Daimler-Chrysler, Exxon-Mobil and whatever new merger is going on today...
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This just in from the Organic Consumers Assoc. :
The U.S. Congress has been ordered to cut $3 billion from farm and nutritional programs by the Bush Administration. This week (9/12-9/16), the final decision will be made by Congress regarding what specific programs will be cut. At the moment, powerful members of Congress are leaning towards cutting farm conservation programs as well as food stamps for hundreds of thousands of poor people. Maybe the big thinkers in Congress could instead take away the $20 billion annual pork-barrel subsidies that are currently being given to the wealthiest factory farms, commodity exporters, and industrial agriculture corporations. Iowa Senator Grassley has proposed an amendment to USDA appropriations that would cap taxpayer subsidies to corporate farms at $250,000 a year. It's no surprise that even this modest attempt at reducing corporate welfare is being attacked by corporate agribusiness. The nation's food stamp recipients, as well as the environment, need your support now, as this decision will be made in the next few days. Take action and support the "Rural America Preservation Act" (S. 385, a Senate bill which would set a cap on subsidies). Send a letter to your U.S. Senator here: http://www.organicconsumers
I'll dedicate this one to James DeWitt, Clinton's former cabinet level head of FEMA before W put a buncha cronys & political hacks like everyone's fave idiot Michael Brown in charge. Too bad Bush didn't call DeWitt in sooner, although I hear he's lately been advising Louisiana's teary eyed governor Blanco.
It's an oldie but a goodie from the Irish pre-pop punk wunderkinds with original lilting lead singer Mr. Feargal Sharkey singing his heart out...
Undertones - You've Got My Number ( Why Don't You Use It )
Here's another track that doesn't begin to describe the insanity that transpired in the aftermath of the Hurricane and flooding that has swallowed one of America's most unique, famous and irreplaceable cities...
It comes to mind as I read more disturbing b.s out of Washington. Sadly amidst all the Katrina news flooding the pipelines, just gives more cover for sneaky lil' creeps like Herr Rumsfeld who is itching to get their hands back on the ol premptive nuclear trigger... : "The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons." - Source: The Washington Post 9/11/05
Taking ya back in a Psychedelic haze
The Doors - Strange Days
and now as the drugs take hold somewhere outside of Barstow, or Louisville or wherever we may roam, to wander off somewhat distracted, if not aimlessly for a spell:
That's a pic of Josephine Kirby Williamson Henry a late nineteenth century suffragette out of Versailles Kentucky whose greatest accomplishment was the Married Woman's Property Act, or the Husband and Wife Bill, passed in the Kentucky statehouse in 1894. Prior to this bill, married women had no rights to their own finances or independence. She lobbied and led a campaign that took years to end the policies were women were "treated as outlaws and all their property confiscated at marriage."
She led the way for other proud Kentucky women such as Mary Elliott Flanery, who was the first woman to ever be elected to the Kentucky Legislature in 1921. These ladies, and many more are profiled in the book
KKentucky Women, Two Centuries of
Indomitable Spirit and Vision
Here, in honor o' that, we'll let West Coast wannabee Mark Kozelek give his lysergic / lethargic sonic treatment to Neil Diamond's early 60's chestnut, one originally recorded for Bang Records...
Sun Kil Moon - Kentucky Woman
I'm just gonna throw out one more tune to tide ya over since ya made it through a testy little Tuesday rant.
This is a track I recorded with some comrades that highlights the effects of sex, drugs and alcohol on tender male minds wasting away while stealing electricity in a Pomona Ca boarding house.
Lil Mike & Inland Emporers - Cockblocker
