since we're on a hijacking binge anyway, I'd like to report a minor step foward (or backward, depending on one's outlook) for gender equity...FBI has run a sting called "Operation: TN Waltz" that caught several state lawmakers taking outright bribes...& there was at least one female legislator snared in the trap...

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Plug me into somethin'

If the theory does not conform to the facts, then the facts must be discarded.

No good deed ever goes unpunished

Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level, & beat you with experience.

Bravo! I hadn't heard that, but !

(The bravo is for the sting operation in general!!)

Just felt it was timely to bring it up in the since that TN has been very much the home of the "good ole boys" network from the early days...

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Plug me into somethin'

If the theory does not conform to the facts, then the facts must be discarded.

No good deed ever goes unpunished

Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level, & beat you with experience.

PantyFanatic,

What do you propose as an alternative?

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Eudaimonia

The sad aspect of this is graft and corruption are so much a part of political structures, we don’t bat an eye when the few blatant and total bunglers are caught, but give a chastising nod without any sense of shock or surprise ……… because there is no sense of shock or surprise. It’s par for the course.

The problem with outrage at corruption is that it is itself a political tool. My is not regarding the character of the politician as if it were unknown. It’s concerned with the squandered use of the power we’ve vested them with, that now is plainly not being used to even bring people capable of responsible action to position. We now have more like themselves in those critical posts. Katrina blew the roof off of the chicken coop and we are seeing the chickens come home to roost.

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Let me begin by saying that I am a Hurricane Andrew survivor. I know what it is like to have your world turned upside down in a major way.

Katrina has taught me to look HARD for things to be thankful for. Yeah, we were thankful to be alive and for our house to still be standing...even if a good part of the roof was trashed. But we also had dry land under our feet. I cannot imagine how much worse things could have gotten had we the flooding that the folks in Gulf got.

It took FEMA and the other state/local agencies time to get assistance to those in need after Andrew hit. They were maybe a day faster than they were in New Orleans...no water to deal with may be reason they were faster...but they also had a smaller geographical area to deal with.

I'm NOT a FEMA apologist. People died in the aftermath of Katrina, people that would have been saved if there had been help sooner.

BUT THE TIME TO HAVE SAVED THEM WAS BEFORE THE STORM HIT. Once all hell breaks loose, it is just too damned hard to get to everyone who needs help all at once.

In the case of Katrina, just take out a detailed map and look hard at it. You'll get the shivers just trying to comprehend how to help that many towns and ALL OF THE PEOPLE IN THEM in a reasonable period of time.

A nuclear bomb wouldn't have impacted that much land.

IMO, a more comprehensive EVACUATION PLAN is what's needed...especially for those without the means to flee. Also, a BETTER flood prevention system...local officials are to blame for that colossal failure, not FEMA.

As for those taking shots at the President for the slow relief, some of it is fair, some not. Unless there's more to the story, Mike Brown is seriously underqualified. But the President is not a racist, as idiots like Kanye West and Al Sharpton have claimed. Outrageous comments like that are simply the stuff of radicalism and are not helpful.

Americans (and maybe the world) need to come to grips with the fact that this is one of the great human disasters in history. Was anyone truly prepared for it? No. Could anyone be truly prepared for it? I don't know.

After what Andrew taught me, I just don't know....


rabbit

Peeps...PEEPS! Love is like oxygen. Ya get too much, ya get too high. Not enough and you're gonna die!

/me passes out the love in small doses and makes everyone consume it and then go get back in line!

Damn PF! So YOU got my soapbox, eh?

Let me start by quoting a most famous cliche'..."Hindsight is 20/20"...and everyone on this planet should make a conscious effort to have the necessary hindsight BEFORE the disaster (pick one...any one) happens!

ANYONE can be an armchair referee or a Monday morning coach! What "we" have to realize is that we HAVE to learn from our mistakes/tradgedies or we are doomed to repeat them!

Blah! Enough with the cliches'...I'm sure you get my drift.

*sucks up some oxygen...ie: PF* (<---you all know he's gonna have a field day with that statement)

I think this thread is mostly about trust and indifference. If I'm wrong...I'll eat my bra!

We have/had information as to what a cat4 hurricane could do to La. Did we trust the scientists who made a mock-up, via computer enhancement, of the destruction such a force would yield? NO! Why? Indifference of what "could be" as opposed to what we aready trusted "always was" in the past. Do we ever truely believe something bad is going to happen? NO! We trust that we have capable minds and hands at the ready for any given situation that arises.

That leads me to PF's reference of jobs going to the one who isn't necessarily qualified. We have to start at the highest level and understand the trickle-down effect. If you vote for Mr./Mrs./Ms. X (yes...I didn't mention him by name on purpose)...you vote for all the idiots (<--personal opinion) he/she knows and owes...and it's YOUR fault that they have the job cause you didn't do your homework and find out who his/her associates are and who might "get in" when he/she was elected! I feel NO GUILT for the current administration because I didn't cast my vote for any of um! I must admit...I have had guilt (in hindsight) in the past fore voting for some of the peeps who eventually trickled down a collage of idiots...but that's another era! Anyway...therein lies the indifference I spoke of earlier. Ya like a candidate but you're indifferent to who he/she might drag into his/her administration! You can't bitch if you didn't do your homework!

So what are we left with? Well...as usual, we pick up the pieces and we go on about our merry way of trust and indifference. Or, we earnestly learn from our current mistakes and vow to take charge and change the future!

I can't say as I know who will actually do that and I can't say as I know how to tell them to do it...EXCEPT to say...

Do your homework BEFORE the election...NOT AFTER THE DISASTER!

WHEW!

*jumps down off the box and passes it to the next in line*

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Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.

~Thomas Dewar~

Bill Clinton could have been President and the end result wouldn't have been much different. Blaming George Bush is too easy an answer, especially for those who are against him.

The complete truth is that a LOT of people in leadership roles, at ALL levels of gov't (regardless of party) didn't listen to the scientists and didn't proactively plan or act (or FUND).

A lot of people would still be dead today because trying to help that many of them spread out over such a large area after the fact is a logistical nightmare that no one was ready for.

Perhaps the people of North California should start thinking about what to do when the "big one" hits them, as scientists continue to predict. Now's the time to plan, not after everything has been shaken apart.

My understanding is that FEMA was usurped into Homeland Security and that it was made perfectly clear that a minimum of 75% of the funds allocated to Homeland Security were to be spent on actively fighting terrorism. And that this left little for the other types of risks our country faces. I have heard that FEMA as an agency had been stripped essentially to bare bones.

Not sure where the blame falls or frankly if I even give a shit. I just know that no one can help us recover from this better than us. The American people.

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The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

So true, and but the basic problem is that the whole system is shot in the first place. It's not that the system broke down; it's that the system was basically designed to fail. Remember, the basic function of government is to keep the rich and/or powerful in their positions of wealth & power. Fuck the common people.



Yes, but if you want to keep this analogy, then any idea that the whole rotten coop is anything but rotten is counting your chickens before they hatch.

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

gekkogecko,

Not everyone would agree with you.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,


When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…

…That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…

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Eudaimonia

I recently received a pdf handbook on what to do in case of earthquake....I think people here are preparing for that eventuality

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Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney

osuche,

Interesting. Is that effort a local, state, or federal initiative?

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Eudaimonia

But if Bill was President it would have still happened but it would be just the other party point the finger at him. Most likely they would have got ken star on him trying to prove the not only the lack of help was his fault they would want to blame Katrina on him too.
In reality that what our poltical system has become insted of pointing out your or your party good point point out the other perties bad. One has to wonder if this is because neither of the parties have any good point to point out.

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it's only kinky the first time

it's not the orgasm but getting there thats fun

a shot in the bush is worth two in the hand

whip me, beat me, tie me up, break my arm, but please don't break my heart

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid people are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt" -Bertrand Russell

That's all verynice, Jseal, but I was speaking from a "this is the reality" point of view, not from a "Here's the propaganda we'll espouse to the masses" point of view.

To whit, once the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America had fulfilled it purpose in justifying the rebellion against "duly constituted" authority, the document itself was basically run over with a steamroller, first when the US was incorporated under the Articles of Confederation (ever read that one? That's not something that *any* history course I've ever seen or experienced paid much attention to), and then later under the Constitution.

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.