kate rothwell

Every now and then I think maybe people like Monica are just a tad sensitive about racism. C'mon. It's JUST not that bad. And then I read stuff like this and I think maybe it's worse than that. If you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, you know, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky. --Bill Bennett Yes, that's the Bill Bennett. The former Secretary of Education. One of the Guys Who Held a Buncha Power in this country... now he says he was trying on a bit of Jonathan Swift. Hmmm. I don't think he got the point of a Modest Proposal. Update : NO, I don't think he was actually proposing the abortions, silly person. The part that misses the boat, that makes the remarks pure, dag nasty evil ...

1. My pal A, a single mom and visiting nurse, has a kid who needs medical help. He's got psychiatric problems that the average doctor can't handle. A's got the full-time job and insurance for her little family, but she may have to quit the job. Why? Because her work insurance coverage can't cover her kid's needs and if she gets supplemental, the cost will eat up the rest of her income. Naturally the care he needs costs more than she makes. If she quits her job, she'll be able to put him on Medicaid--which will cover the costs--and maybe take care of him at home. Of course she won't be able to get insurance for herself and she'll have to live on food stamps, but at least she won't have to worry as much about her kid. UPDATE: Amy outted herself in my comments section. IF ANYONE has ANY ANSWERS....SPILL. Secret formulae? Special hotline numbers? Tell Amy. 2. After years of making a long commute to a group practice, my friend L the psychologist recently...

She found it in an article . The word of the week. Heads up, Doug--this one's for both of us: Torschlusspanik , a word [not phrase, Independent online.] meaning "the fear of diminishing opportunities as one gets older". other good ones from the book: GRILAGEM Brazilian Portuguese The practice of putting a live cricket into a box of newly faked documents, until the insect's excrement makes the paper look convincingly old. SEIGNEUR-TERRASSE French Someone who spends time, but not money, at a café. (Would a woman be a Chatelaine-terrasse?) LATAH Indonesian Uncontrollable habit of saying embarrassing things. DESUS Indonesia The quiet, smooth sound of somebody farting but not very loudly. KUSUKUSU Japanese The suppressed giggling and tittering of a group of women.

I'm listening to Huckleberry Finn (#5) to celebrate--the kids got the tape from the library for lights out listening pleasure. Here's a list of 100 most frequently challenged books so you can celebrate too. So ... anyone want to guess why Where's Waldo made that list? Thanks for the link, Guanna.

I hear the bookfair was an interesting contrast to the peace march in DC. I need more details from the niece who works for a publisher. But check this out--I'm being fashionable and none other than Tom Wolfe has declared this to be true. In that patronizing manner that makes any right thinking person ache to pour jello or worse over his head, he talked about EL Doctorow's decision to decline the honor of brekkies at the White House with Laura Bush, the big sponsor. from the NYT: Mr. Wolfe, the author of a presidential favorite, "I Am Charlotte Simmons," and a supporter of Mr. Bush, said that Mr. Doctorow, his Hamptons compatriot, was wrong. "Ed Doctorow is a great guy, a wonderful writer, great company - he's just being fashionable, that's all," Mr. Wolfe said in a brief conversation at the Library of Congress dinner on Friday night. "In this country, there's nothing daring about going against the government."

here're reasons I feel gratitude: 1 . we didn't do our sick act the night before last 2. we didn't do our sick act in New Orleans on Sept 1. I thought about how nice it was to have clean running water and paper towels (and a place to dump them) several times last night. ** 3 . My boys made me great cards. A combo effort from boys 1 and 2: Three Hundred Things We Love You More Than--with attached list that I wish I could copy and I might some day. and from boy three a heart and the words: Even if you die your kindns lives on in our body mind and soal. I do wish they'd let me sleep past 7. I didn't get to sleep til 3:30 (and I wish that boy three hadn't inherited my spelling skills--it's clearer every day he has) and later? I'm adding: 4. My long lost twin Doug's great list and his birthday images. Especially Ann. thank you, Doug. It fits perfectly. Too bad about the hobbity babies but I'm not doing Electra or whoever--even for you. _______ ** Bo...

happy birthday to me it's a quarter to three my kid has been barfing and I will I see ha ha ha ...really bad doggerel but too true. We're sick. Might be the food--don't know, don't care. Just don't want to do any more sheets. and don' t wanna feel this grosssss

and now I'm going get out the whip and chair and start the clean up of the astounding mess left by my party animal sons.

Ferfe made an interesting point in the comments section below: The rest of the country's having a worse time adjusting to these hurricanes than her hurricane-prone neck of the woods. Pace yourself. I think that those of us getting slammed every week are handling the storms better than the rest of the nation. So now I have a theory--Disasters are like visits to Sick Relative Land. If you're a grown up, you've likely been to that place, when something happens to someone you love. It's often far worse to be waiting for a phone call a thousand miles away, than to be right there, sitting in the hospital or nursing home room. Far away from the scene, you imagine the worst and can't do a damn thing about it. There's the same "jump in the car and go" instinct at work too. You get the call when someone has had a stroke, a heart attack, an accident. Rather than waiting to find out if you're needed, you just get in the damn car and drive. See? The whole count...

I hope*** this is true but I remember the pre-Katrina word was that preparation was slick as could be. Glad they figured out the pet thing. _______________ **weird expression, huh? Makes it sound like we watch armchairs. Boring hobby. ***I admit I got some schadenfreude from Bush's team's incompetence. (It was a silver lining in a hideously dark cloud, okay?) But if they've managed to get their act together for Rita, it'll be a relief, not a disappointment.

I did the Studio 16 thing the summer before last. For some reason I thought it would Enhance My Professional Image. Heh. Little did I know I'd be trashing that great image by getting all outraged and political in my Public Communications. It did give me something to upload in place of myself this weekend--because I'm not going to D.C. for the big Sept 24 peace rally . Even if you don't have a glam picture of any kind, you can sign the photo petition. Here's what it says: "Dear Representative, It's clear that this war in Iraq is a mistake. A majority of America now agrees that we need to bring our troops home. While people of good faith can disagree on exactly how to do it, our leaders must begin to develop a real plan. I urge you to publicly support a concrete timeline for bringing our troops home." I put in a bit about how I don't want my grandchildren paying for war and other disasters in our time. blahblahblah. Always sound more American to rant as...

I have one of those stupid syndromes that makes my stomach go wonky every now and then. That's when I get into writing scenes of pain, arguments, fighting or--on the really bad days--death. If I have to suffer, so do the characters. For about three months I took medications that made me tired. During that time I wrote a book that consisted of characters looking for comfortable places to sleep. No one seems to want to publish it. . . Hmmmm. Bleargh. I feel icky. Maybe it's time for that heroine to be humiliated. _______ update: At least Mistress Matisse has posted something worth feeling icky about. Yes, once again, our leaders have proved that they are on the ball, conquering the troubles plaguing our nation. Here it is: "a top priority" for the FBI! Wait, you have to guess. No, wrong . It's not rooting out corrupt federal officials who screw up emergency response and then push through no-bid contracts with corporations (run by their pals) that make obscene and il...

Amazing how many emails I'm getting about the promo 101 post . People say either: 1. thank you for that fabu list--I needed it. -or- 2. it's all bullshit. [I wish these people would give some numbers or somehow back up the AB position] Not a single "yawn" in the crowd. Why do you suppose it's such an emotional topic? If nothing else good comes from it, the promo thing seems to have inspired PBW. ** ____________________ **You know that old wheeze about spewing coffee? None came out of my nose, but I did have to allow the used coffee to fall from my mouth back into the cup for fear of choking. Eeewww.

" avast, matey, Starbucks off ter port bow. Fetch me a mocha latte or I'll lash ye to the capstan and drub ye wi' broken bottles. 'N mark ye, plunder the CVS fer some wax. I be feelin' some stubble near me navel." How in the name of Davy Jones's locker could I have missed it? My kids are getting older and have lost interest? Nah. They weren't the reason we dug Pirate Day around here. Our fourth annual Talk Like a Pirate day and we didn't noticed. Haven't scared the dog once today with a roaring "aaaaaarrrr". I've always loved pirates, but not lurved them, if you get what I mean. I wanted to be the pirate, not fall for one. Stinky, mannerless, yelling "arrhh" at random times, aye, the pirate's life for me, matey! When I was ten, I did a report on pirates. Back then, school warn't the life for me, nahhhrrg. That report marked the first time I put my heart and soul into a paper. Damn, I still recall reading how pi...

Git yerself a title. YIPPEE!

Monica inspired me to write this. I was over at her blog bugging her with the hey, did you do this? that? Most of this is for Romance print book publicity, but a lot can be adapted for ebook and other genres. A lot of people say you MUST do this. I dunno. Publicity is a pain in the neck. I'll save the debate about whether or not it's fair to expect this from writers (or worth doing) for another blog entry. ** IMPORTANT: I'm only writing about what fits my experience. Your publisher may do all of this work for you. . .(but it's worth checking) Several people have pointed out: You want to concentrate on marketing your name--it's more important than the individual book you're currently flogging. The book'll go away. You won't. . . you hope. BEFORE THE BOOK GOES INTO EDITS (because the cover tends to be done fast): 1. See if your publisher will get a quote for your cover . If they won't, maybe you know someone famous? I mean REALLY famous? Okay, good...

One day in our care, and the Stupids plus Einstein are not looking so hot. We've added more water--there's a face cloth saturated with water, next to them, plus a dish of it in their aquarium. I think Mike got the water from the fish tank so it isn't tap water. Despite the moisture, the guys are sluggish and not paying any attention to their worms (red wigglers, not earth worms). And when we come in the room, they don't go crazy the way they did when we got them. Hey, why is one green and the others brown? Anyone have any frog care advice?** _______________________ **My instinct is to let them loose near the creek or trade them in for a baby bunneeee, but no one around here has asked me.

Australian man's synthetic jacket scorches the carpet. Must have been pretty damn ugly.

That's what Linda's brother said when he saw this. Linda, who took the picture, gave it the title of "kittens checking out pre-processed cat food." Tomorrow I'll give you frogs. There are four of them. So far their names are Stupid, Stupider, Stupidest and Einstein.

and another Katrina blog story. Evander Holyfield is in my Cool Person book now . This is where I found the DeLay story from last week. . I keep trying to get people to say HOLY COW! WHAT KIND OF A MORON COULD SAY THIS TO SUVIVORS? *** But so far, I'm the only one who's wondered what DeLay was drinking or smoking that day. He had to be on something. You try it. Go up to some kids you've never met but you know have very recently lived through a disaster, are displaced, have lost their homes and possessions and perhaps even family members. Now insist they admit they're having fun and 'it's like summer camp'. See? Can't do that sober, can you. U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's visit to Reliant Park this morning offered him a glimpse of what it's like to be living in shelter. While on the tour with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopp...

a Continue search for boy's missing shoes. They're less than a month old, and the only ones that fit him properly. They've been missing for nearly four days. a Plan on going shoe shopping. Again. a Write ten pages. Fall asleep at about page three. Blame medication and not rotten plot. a Sleep too long and have to run (literally. . . good exercise!) to school to meet boy. a Set up the tank for the frogs. The husband is bringing home 1-5 of them. We're not sure how many or what kind. "They're big ones. About the size of cupcakes" is our only description. Apparently live frogs only come in six packs, and the professor who ordered them only wanted one. No, I tell the husband. They are not going to live in our bedroom. Ha ha ha, I add because I want to assume he was joking. a Raid the worm bin for food for the frogs. Yummy, yummy red wigglers. Decide that maybe buying crickets isn't such a bad idea. a Do laundry so that the boy who had a growth spurt ...

I spent more than a minute looking at these pages and I get it. Sort of. I think. I'm talking about Else's friends' blogs. You with the computer! YO! Pay attention. YOU GET TO HELP people separated by Katrina reconnect. At least I think so. You do the legwork for the people who are out in the field. Check out Grace's blog. Seriously.

Mr. Tobias pointed it out, actually. All the newpaper front pages in a fun interactive sort of a page . Hundreds Of Them. 47 Countries, 490 front pages. Wow. LATER: found via Elsewhere . Yes, it is Katrina . But it's someone who's there and not just an armchair ranter like me. Elsewhere has other links but I have to run a kid off to something so I can't explore Dr Laura's Worst Nightmare again. She's the business, but there are too many good blogs, too little time. Here's a bit from one entry from badgerbag (of course I pick one that's slightly about the government. Figures. At least I didn't pick the one about leadership.). that fema office upstairs in the dome You know, all last week i was sending people up to the FEMA office in 457. I never managed to get up there myself. But I was told they were registering people to get their FEMA numbers (which you need to do anything else significant...). You know what that office is? Mark tells me they are 20 ...

thanks to Beth . Tied to the Tracks, or Storytelling. LOOK. It's not all Katrina all the time. Enter her contest so it'll run and then I can win it. Thank you.

My crit for the Larissa fund is now up. That's only 99 cents, thank goodness--in case I have to bid on it for dignity's sake. I'd beg you guys to bid, but I've already done that once this week. Thanks, by the way. I bid on a Teresa Bodwell book, but skipped the lunch with Julia Quinn. I wonder if Julia feels any kind of pressure when she sees someone's paying more than five hundred to eat with her. I mean for that kind of price she better scintillate like crazy, right? I'd be studying joke books just to make sure I had material to break awkward silences. What's a cow's favorite place to go? the moooooseum. What kind of mouse doesn't eat cheese? a computer mouse (actual popsicle stick jokes)

Man, I hope my kids grow up to be as funny and sharp as this guy. Adam Felber. Some people know him as the guy from the radio show Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. I know of him because he's the son of Ms. Layton, who's one of my favorite writers despite the fact that she's a Yankees fan. From Felber's blog: The Big Set-up From MediacorpsNews In June 2004, southern Louisiana’s emergency management chief Walter Maestri told the local Time Picayune newspaper that federal funds appeared to have been diverted instead of paying for repairs the state’s dykes, designed to protect the low-lying region from flooding. “Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us,” he wrote at the time. “It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay.” Wow - I’ve been coming across dozens o...

I don't know. I read this and if I knew how, I'd pray for the caregivers who had to make this choice. Dang, it sounds just like war. I wonder why this made it into a British paper and not my local rag.

A couple of people have recently asked me about my agent, Emily Sylvan Kim, who left Writer's House to start her own agency. Ta da! Here you go, Prospect Agency.

Okay, I did what the pros suggested. I borrowed a pretty good camera. I spread out a sheet. (Not white. We don't have any white ones) And the colors still aren't right. GRRRRRR. The inside photo with Alex holding the rug is closer to the true values of rug B, BR. The rugs all look somber in the photos. They're not. That blue is SKY blue. The dark rose is pretty dang rosey. Hell. I give up. You can go see the rugs and purses at flickr . I hope. I'm doing the socks another day because I'm sick of this. Prices for the purses are about $12 or $15. The rugs start at $15 for the little square guys. and go up to $85 for the more intricate ones.

my brother sent me this: Bush declaring "Obviously! A town built by the French!" [" New Orleans under water"] from: Nouvel Observateur I'm unloading the photos from the camera. Again. First day of school pix! (They wanted to express despair, happiness etc.) School started September 1. Boy 3 wearing favorite tee-shirt. Oops. Unintentional tacky time. Can we s ee what it is? And what's written there? (The back is covered with the same stylized skulls) Oops. Okay, we come to the stripey socks, Beth. CLICK on the photo to see it better. The pink in the real striped sox is more like peach (flesh tone). Those are the very vivid ones. Very. Vivid. The green and red stripe ones are slightly larger than the other pairs. See anything you want? The yellow and white toothy striped ones have the same pattern all around. The black and tan ones (soft!) have two pattern. Most socks have one pattern on the bottom and another on the top. There is also the big pair of tall soc...

or a billionaire. What can I do? Hey, I have skills. I can give people SHIT ABOUT THEIR WRITING! And I've figured out how I can help Katrina victims with this amazing, life-saving skill. I think I'm going to adopt the Monica Jackson method , pick your favorite style of critiquing. Her critique is going for big bucks . Can you say overexposure? Because sometime this week another auction is going to show up with a critique from me. Here's the first. It's being run by Amy. You can find my print books at this auction too. It's for a good cause, benefitting author Inga Mahn , who lost almost everything in the flood (she saved kids, pets and computer). I'm not too proud to use pathos and, after months of running contests , I know how. Think Jerry Lewis at the end of one of those telethons, back when he had what it took. Tears, trembling hands, big white handkerchief. It's painful for all of us. Please, don't make me look bad. Bid on this . Or this . Or this.

Over at NOLA.COM, the locals are getting support from a nation that mourns thousands of lost lives with them and helps figure out what went wrong with the total response scolding letters from out-of-towners. My personal favorite--Posted Friday, Sept. 9, 2005, at 2:28 p.m. Media arrogance of the grandest scale was displayed The Times-Picayune's editorial, "An open letter to the president." New Orleans -- a city of political corruption, debauchery, drunkenness, fornication, crime and welfare recipients -- was a nightmare before, during and immediately after Hurricane Katrina because city, parish and state emergency plans were woefully inadequate to begin with, then poorly implemented. So, when things go badly, as it clearly did in New Orleans, local government officials immediately look to Washington -- first to blame and then for a bailout. When your foul-mouth bully of a mayor points his finger of blame at President Bush, he should remember that he has three fingers poin...

Hot nookie follows. Then they run. Then they nook some more. Nook, nook, nook. Run some more. Nook. Revelations happen. Nook. Oh, hey, HEA ! --Smart Bitches Trashy Books review. Candy reviewed my ebook and I don't have to do any kind of visualization. Damn! I was geared up and ready to be Mature and Forgiving (I have great role models from SBTB), and the bitch goes and gives me a good review. Phew. I can breathe again. This amiable schtick isn't all my fault, Kate whines. For instance . . . my second book Somebody to Love. I tried to make the hero a rat-bastard, but my editor said he was too cold and even borderline psycho. I had to rewrite him from scratch. If anyone thinks Griffin is too nice, it's not entirely my doing. Buck Passing...Not just for politicians anymore.

Mr. Sun.. Mr. Sun is a mysterious figure, a blinding light. Do not look directly at Mr. Sun. Bask in him. Although 93 million miles away, Mr. Sun uses this Blog to share his warmth with others. He has a way with graphics that gets to the heart of a matter. A couple of posts: 1. Louisianans who are not looting. 2. Not political. Just too right and too funny. I thought of ferfelabat when I read it.

I want you to go read this . Now. Amy is someone I know, as in I've actually met her and even forced her to have dinner with me. Yup. And I'm so proud to know her, I could bust a gut. Forget movie actors and other famous types--ha! I know AMY.

from various news sources: Rep. Richard Baker of Baton Rouge (a Democrat) is overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." Baker explains later he didn't intend flippancy but has long wanted to improve low-income housing. I can imagine a guy making this sort of doofus remark in, say, ten years, when the pain has subsided. One week later? While they're still collecting the dead?

Did I ever mention my family has a history of political activism? (I didn't really forget...I just don't know the details. They didn't talk about it). Hey, my mother knew I. F. Stone . **(She dragged me to his funeral, anyway.) Turns out that there's also a family tradition of avoiding the Red Cross. I was talking to my older sister this morning and she told me that she'd once planned to go volunteer for the Red Cross. Our aunt had said, "Go work for someone else. Not them." Could be urban legend, and the people who were involved are dead now. . .but back in the fifties, the Red Cross fingered our mother as a commie. Red Cross workers were encouraged to turn in lists of the other kind of Reds. I suppose upper management pushed it in a big way or the family wouldn't have boycotted the whole organization. My mother, a liberal who didn't mince words, had also worked in the US Embassy in Moscow during World War Two. Add that to her tendency to say som...

Erika wrote: Hello Kate Rothwell, I was going to buy your books-you were a new to me author but I won't because your Howard(I hate Republicans-Republicans are Evil)Dean-DailyKos like comments have alienated me. Erika. Okay, so there's one reader I lost. . . But of course now I'm going to explain myself. I don't hate Republicans. In general, I don't despise anyone. This enormous wrath is unusual for me. I certainly don't hate anyone because of their political beliefs. And I only feel rage about inaction or indifference or blindness (I don't think an opposing opinion is blindness. Only an opposing opinion that's not based on fact). Know Brenda Coulter? I admire the heck out of that woman and I think we barely EVER agree on politics. She's smart and interesting. I love J ennsylvania , a Bushie--come to think of it, I ought to check in with her and see what she's saying--later: nothing much as it turns out. She's on a trip. And come on, SandyO ,...

Yup, this is a great blog. I just had to turn the radio off when I started screaming again. What do you MEAN there's no central communication system to find missing family members? And not even one for just the stupid astrodome? What the HELL? While I cook, I'm going to listen to Georgette Heyer's Cotillion instead. Phyllida Nash is a fantastic reader.

Well, heavens. ARLENE had to go and make me think about another subject. Sheesh. She's pre-published and has a plan. You can read part of it in the comments section here . I hope she comes back and tells us what else she's considered for her published career. It seems worth thinking about. Probably too late for me. I've been a writer for-flipping-ever, an author for a bit more than a year. I didn't plan on making any changes when I published and I have never, ever felt like an Author. Okay, maybe when I went to a booksigning for the first time. But now when I sign those books, it's odd, because they don't even feel like mine anymore. I remember asking Edith Layton (God, I love that woman. Her writing's great too.) about a character in a book and she just gave me a puzzled look. She'd left those characters behind. I, a member of her reading public, still connected them to her, but she'd let them drift away from her. I and my books are not connected to...

I'm sure it's just a matter of trying to keep track of people. But this is The. Wrong. Way. To. Treat. Citizens. These are evacuees, not criminals. Sorry. With computers and fun devices like bar codes capable of shoving out fast little ID cards, there is NO WAY these people should be kept from walking the streets of their own country or going to church. Link one is a blogger (always suspect.) Link two is a newspaper article--the Denver Post (less suspect) Both links came from a comment board.

I've been doing it again, reading the news, blogs etc. AND I've seen a fair chunk of grumbling that's growing. Today's bushwa: Sounds like the Red Cross might not be doing a great job ... The link to a video** has the best way to describe it--FEMA, Red Cross etc are acting like rival gangs of bureaucrats. I wish I hadn't sent them money. Apparently the PR department is on the ball because they're doing a fabulous job on advertising. I see their ads EVERY-DAMN-WHERE. Everywhere. I'm not kidding. Lots of photos of flood victims. Hmmm....Another organization to scrutinize when this is over. Don't blast me because I sure am NOT talking about the volunteers-- no way, not them. I wonder what the answer is. Could it be [Kate, the daughter of bureaucrats, gulps] big organizations aren't the way to run relief operations? How in the world does it get done well? Locals and local governments can't handle it on their own. What does a country do? ________ ** ...

Hurija wanted to know if the people in the flood wanted slipper socks. She's making some especially for them. Which reminds me, Beth. I have a few more stripey pairs. The stripes are ....vivid, however. _______ Three years old again, or, It is TOO all about me. I was lying in bed last night and realized that I've been worried--if I stop fretting and raging, it's a sign that everyone else has, too. The people who need to be watched will get off the hook; another disaster might occur. I've spent a lot of my life believing that other people will do the fighting and I could remain happily....not indifferent... but not activist. It's startling to see how wrong that is. On the other hand, I'm teetering close to the crazy edge of magical thinking (that I can control the world with my thoughts). That's supposed to end at about age seven, right? If I'm going to operate like a child, I ought to track down my friend the child psychologist for some colorful blocks o...

Those blonde ones are out to get me. They want me to be outraged so I drive off potential readers. Fine, now it's your turn. Navy pilots reprimanded for rescuing people. You have to do the free registration, but it's the NYTimes, people. You want to be registered there.

Unlike Shannon's new used wheels **, our new-to-us car has the pick up and oomph of an elderly dyspeptic chiuahua. Back to work again to retake photos of rugs. . . I had to come home to get the camera. Again. Kate ___ ** Eventually her car will have what it takes to be great, except perhaps good gas mileage.

If I hear the phrase "blame game" one more time, I'm gonna barf. And, as someone somewhere pointed out, hurricane season isn't over yet. There has to be a thorough understanding of what happened ASAP before another one hits. Did you know that TWO DAYS after Pearl Harbor, a commission was set up to investigate the attack? I didn't. And I admit I'm a hypocrit: I wish Clinton was the one to conduct his own investigation into Monica-gate** but I don't trust Bush to conduct a fair and thorough investigation into Katrina. I haven't seen proof that: 1. His administration can find its butt with both hands. 2. The civilians at risk rate higher than his own reputation. ______ **Come to think of it, I don't. That guy, bless his heart, is a schmuck.

At the playground waiting for the first bell to ring: One first grader to another-- "Yeah well, Mrs. F's butt is bigger than Mrs H's." Proving that males' examination of females starts at an early age, Doug .

I'd rather read entries that tell us about the great news of how regular Americans (and the rest of the world, by gum. That Fidel dictator has his moments, eh?) are stepping up to the plate. I'm getting a high blood pressure headache from sites like mine.

Monica worried about her blog (Jordan addressed the issue of having a welcoming blog) Does rantage would drag a writer down? Actually we don't mean the writing part of the job, only the Author and The Public Image part. We're dependent on readers, and if we alienate them, we're not doing ourselves any favors. A friend pointed out that that my last post (that basically accuses the administration of neglect bordering on genocide) could be mite too inflammatory. She has a point, I think. Not only because it would put my readers off, but because when people are too shrill, they're impossible to hear. I still think that the potato famine thang isn't such a bad example. The English didn't consider the Irish entirely human**, and from the various threads I've read, today the "let them shoot each other" theme is common. Am I the only one who sees that people who write that are demonstrating the attitude that African Americans or perhaps the poor in gener...

So what do you suppose would have happened if the press had been as lacksidasical as FEMA? Because I honestly think that without pictures like this. and stories like this prodding the administration into action. . . .the response would have been even slower. Potato famine slow.

I may not get tax deductions but I get pictures when I sent money to the blonde ones . How can she survive in a red state with those bumperstickers? Did you all see this before the waters rose? I missed it. Rock, paper, Saddam!

Ahhhhhh....thank you, Doug, for the which-would-you-screw pairs. I can't comment yet because I have to think about my choices carefully. Abbott or Costello? Chip or Dale? I think he should have made it easier. Herman Munster or Gomez Addams? (I dunno though. They each have their own appeal.) OR which of the two Darrens? (Answer: neither. I'm not bi, but I'd much rather have had Endora.) I'm going to work any second now. Only three hours of hunting news stories. Heh, not bad. And my agent, bless her, has given me a homework assigment. Someone had to drop-kick me back into a life.

I liked this letter Dear America, I suppose we should introduce ourselves: We're South Louisiana. We have arrived on your doorstep on short notice and we apologize for that, but we never were much for waiting around for invitations. We're not much on formalities like that. And we might be staying around your town for a while, enrolling in your schools and looking for jobs, so we wanted to tell you a few things about us. We know you didn't ask for this and neither did we, so we're just going to have to make the best of it. First of all, we thank you. For your money, your water, your food, your prayers, your boats and buses and the men and women of your National Guards, fire departments, hospitals and everyone else who has come to our rescue. We're a fiercely proud and independent people, and we don't cotton much to outside interference, but we're not ashamed to accept help when we need it. And right now, we need it. Just don't get carried away. For instan...

I thought: 1. I was getting through this anger stage (part of mourning as Candy says) I was wrong. 2. I thought that those amusing blondes were having fun with their readers. This had to be a spoof. I was wrong. God, maybe someone made it up. Maybe it's a lie. I didn't hear it after all. Could anyone be this clueless? from http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054719 Accompanying her husband, former President George H.W.Bush, on a tour of hurricane relief centers in Houston, Barbara Bush said today, referring to the poor who had lost everything back home and evacuated, "This is working very well for them." The former First Lady's remarks were aired this evening on National Public Radio's "Marketplace" program. She was part of a group in Houston today at the Astrodome that included her husband and former President Bill Clinton, who were chosen by her son, the current president, to head fundraising efforts...

another update : Okay, another reason I can stop and eat cake: these women have it covered. AND I did a bit more digging about the Gore "event" (I'm now registered with about a thousand newspaper websites all over the country) You can see details about it in the entry below this one. Damn I wish that man was our president. Do you suppose this will show up in the big media? Alaskan Pete from a comment board: They claim on one hand. "This is the worst natural disaster to hit our country, on a scale we've never seen" and the conclusion? "The city and state should have been able to handle it". One or the other wingnuts, you can't have both. Later on: I can do it now, shut down the needless yammering. I read this blog and felt much better. I'm baking a cake for a party we're going to in a couple of hours. I've given permission to my family to slap me longside the head if I start to Go On About It Again. I'm counting on my friend L t...

From an LA Times article. about the emails on NOLA . . . Missing and disabled at 2113 Munster in Meraux From: Pam Gilchrist Necasie [When] I last spoke to my brother, they had water coming into their home from the roof vents. Next call, they had water rapidly rising from the ground up. My father is disabled and 65 years old. He has long black hair, usually in a ponytail, missing front teeth. He is diabetic, has high blood pressure and other health issues. Update: On Sunday, Necasie finally heard from her father, who said he had been airlifted from the roof of his home last Monday along with Necasie's brother and her brother's girlfriend. They spent five days in the New Orleans Superdome. When her father became sick, he was flown to a hospital in Tennessee. "He told me they flew in Al Gore's private plane, which was donated for the evacuation," Necasie said. "He told me they were dirty, like they just walked out of a Tarzan movie. I'm crying now. I just ...