The republicans are having a bad week. Looks like the crookery and racism are coming out kinda at the same time, doesn't it? DeLay indicted and Bennett makes an instinctively idiotic remark on his radio show. This from the author of "The book of Virtues". Yes, same guy that had a gambling problem. I guess both racism and hypocrisy are virtues in this case. What's more, these are the guys in charge of the country. Missing Clinton yet? Missing economic well being? Missing government surpluses? Missing peace? Missing international respect for our country? I bet the republicans are missing Clinton as well. Mostly because their true face and complete ineptitude can remain hidden behind bitching about Whitewater or Travelgate! Think about it. The cronyism in the Clinton administration is represented by hiring an associate in the Whitehouse travel office. The fallout of a bad decision there is over charge on some airline tickets. The cronyism of the Bush White House is represented by Michael Brown at the head of FEMA. The fallout of a bad decision here... Well, we all saw the impact of Brownie's inept leadership. And we all have to tolerate a few more years of Bush's.

All this is way too depressing to even draw anything about it...

Looks like things are kinda catching up to Mr DeLay. You know how it goes, you put your president in power, you take the House and the Senate, and what's left to do but get cocky. Really really cocky. And when you do something stupid do stuff that not only gets you in trouble but also makes your party look stupid as a bonus.

You all are going to love this: DeLay was named as the Center for Christian Statesmanship's Distinguished Christian Statesman for 2002. And as a dedicated Christian Statesman, seems like getting indicted for campaign finance violations, in other words fraud, is just what Jesus would do, right Tom? Here are some priceless quotes that give you a pretty good idea about the Christ like behavior of the Majority Leader. You know, the same "Leader" who's taking lobbyist paid golfing trips. I'll bold out for you the relevant items that highlight DeLay's qualifications as a christian and make him just the kind og holier than though, smug public figure you want to look up to!

Tom DeLay: Bold for Christ,
Rep. DeLay began to follow Christ seriously in 1985, during his freshman term in Congress. After viewing a Christian videotape about fatherhood, given to him by Rep. Frank Wolf, he realized that his life did not reflect the principles of Christianity. Rep. DeLay wept over his sins and rededicated his life to Christ. Shortly after his recommitment, he began attending a regular Bible study for members of Congress.

Working to Transform Culture
Now, Majority Whip DeLay is focusing his political and personal efforts on seeing our culture transformed. On Capitol Hill, DeLay is determined to use his position as the third-ranking Republican member to restore the "Judeo-Christian ethic" that he says has been undermined in recent years. (-- looks like by his own behavior --)

It is apparent that Rep. DeLay's deep commitment to Christian values does not stop when he approaches the halls of Congress. He does not consider it an option to separate his personal faith from his role as a congressman. A true Christian statesman, Rep. DeLay is well-known for his excellence in public service, and he never loses sight of the people he serves, including his own staff.

You can read the rest of this drivel here.

Hey everyone, guess who else is in New orleans again? It's Bush! For the 7th time this month! We all get the picture! You care. Now...

Indeed there was talk again of rebuilding NO and "making it better than ever"! Which in the president's (and I am using the term loosely) mind probably means paving it over, drilling and installing oil rigs every mile down the coast. Here's a suggestion, when rebuilding the city, don't forget it's greenbelt. Because if you all do, this WILL happen again. So give generously to the rebuilding effort. And make sure the rebuilding is done in all the important places.

Given our curren deficit, and with the current devastation in the Gulf, (no, not that Gulf, our Gulf. OK, that Gulf too.) what's plainly obvious is that we are borrowing from China to rebuild this country, Thomas Friedman was hinting at this on Sunday on the political shows: The bill (hurricane relief, Iraq appropriations, whatever) "should be called the 'How Much Are We Going to Borrow from China Bill'"

What's interesting about this administration is that they, for all their ferocious sense of independence, are not at all concerned that they are taking out a second mortgage on the country. Could it be the red states that should have taken the card away when they had chance to in the 04 elections? Maybe. The point I'm making is that it's not going to be pretty when they'll want to call the debt and our children will have to pay up. Thanks a lot.

So, here's a question for you all. If an entire region of a country is devastated by a categ. 4 hurricane and presidential make-up visits, how can you tell that the situation is coming back to normal? As in thankfully ignored by reporters and presidents in need of making or keeping a name? I'll tell you how, strippers! That's how! Evidently the strippers are coming back to NOLA. How free market capitalist is that? Nowadays there are plenty of National Guard, and construction workers walking around with cash and no women to spend it on. Enter the strippers, the canary in the coal mine of capitalism.

There was a 60 Minutes segment on Sunday about Osama BinLaden and how capturing him is not all that important. This from the general in charge of fighting terrorism in Pakistan. If we bother to think about this statement for even a moment, we realize that if Pakistan captures OBL, Pakistan loses all the American attention and cash assistance. Read all about it here.

More importantly Musharraf loses the American support and prop-up assistance, a coup insues, the region is distabilized and Pakistan becomes a rogue muslim state with nukes. Great. But how about our fearless leader and his flip flopping on the OBL issue? Here's some statement samples:

--"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." President Bush, 9/13/01

--"I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'" President Bush, 9/17/01, UPI

--"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." President Bush, 3/13/02

--"I am truly not that concerned about him." President Bush, responding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts, 3/13/02

--"Because he's hiding..." Bush, explaining why Osama bin Laden has yet to be captured. (Washington Post interview, Jan. 16, 2005)

Out of the water and straight into a cage. Went out today with a few of my friends. We were downtown to a relatively interesting place called the Lava Lounge. Like any hang-out place anywhere it went through waves of hip - unhip. It's somewhere moving towards unhip again. Anyway, the point is that after 36 it seems like there should be some diferent alternatives. Something perhaps with less smoke. Because, for God's sakes, it absolutely, positively reeks. Not to say anything about the whole cancer thing. The big news, to all the smokers, is that it can kill you. But, hey, don't mind the warning. Any damn thing to look cool to the prospective mate, right? Aside from that it's a great-old time. People watching and shooting the shit.

Lava Lounge in Seattle. Recommended. To smokers.

Yes folks, there is a nasty little new war brewing. And it promises to be a good one. Perhaps a bit of shock and awe to get things started? Who's this war against?Well, it's against Cindy Sheehan and her people coming to Washington to say a few things to the president about all this war business.

I mean, come on, a housewife taking on the Rove and Bush? Give me a break. If they managed to make mincemeat of Kerry's, McClellan's and McCaine's military records, what do you think's going to happen to a 48 year old woman named Cindy Sheehan, from Vacaville, California? She has a record, you know! I mean what kind of a mother raises a honor student, eagle scout marine? Disgusting. So Rove and team should have absolutely no trouble taking down some unknown, right? Well, we'll see.
Stay tuned. Carpet bombing sure to come.

New TV Season started. Am I yawning or screaming in the throes of delight? Either way, it's good news to all who love visual story telling. Good visual storytelling that is. This season there seem to be quite a few new shows that deserve some of your TV watching time. Some of the ones that are making a good first impression are NBC and ABC's X-Files style Surface, and Threshold, FOX's Prison Break and NBCs My name is Earl. Good solid returns, are Lost, and The Office.

In the Whaaa the...? category of show is the Apprentice, Martha Stewart style. What in the name of all that is holy are we doing? This woman needs to be stopped not encouraged. Someone please do something!
And another thing, please stop it with the CSI franchise. We're done here.

Simon Wiesenthal died today. I have the deepest repect for the man and consider him the embodyment of all that is right when fighting evil.

Here's what dictated his life focus: at 33 Wiesenthal was taken from his home in Galicia, in what is now Ukraine, and put in a concentration camp. Later, he and his wife were thrown in a forced-labor camp. The Nazis killed 89 members of their families. Wiesenthal could name every one of the dead. Wiesenthal escaped from a camp, only to be caught and sent back. Twice in that dark time, Wiesenthal tried to end his own life. After almost four years in Nazi captivity, he was liberated by American soldiers in May 1945. He weighed 97 pounds. died in Vienna, Austria on Sept. 20, 2005. He was 96.

When asked why he spent his life hunting nazis, Wiesenthal said: "I am not a practising Jew. But I do believe."
Rest in peace.

Yes, this captain of industry, this fearless corporate lion, this scrappy decission maker is now off to jail. You know how it goes, you steal a little, you fudge the books, you throw a $2 million birthday party in Sardinia and the next thing you know, your company's tanking and the investors want your head on a stick!

This to you, as a head of a fortune whatever company is so unseemly and impolite that you make a point in emphatically denying all charges and vowing to fight theese scurrilous accusations. Then, a year later, in comes the verdict and what do you know? You are "found guilty on 22 of 23 counts of grand larceny and conspiracy, falsifying business records and violating business law." Oh bummer. Looks like the ride's over for Kozzie and it's now off to the big house.

And here's the beautiful part of it all: "they likely will be sent to one of New York's maximum security prisons, which include Attica and Sing Sing." From imperial corporate chieftain, who rides Harley-Davidsons, flies helicopters and sails a $17-million (U.S.) classic racing yacht, to Attica tennant, among New York's drug dealers and murderers. Excellent. A well deserved return to reality for K.

Having been in a meeting for waaay too long and talking about stuff that made very little sense, here's what I do. Start imagining a storyline and draw it out. Here goes last week's:

Sunny day in the Negev desert. While walking on this barren looking moonscape I came across a motorized head moving on two small wheels and talking through a veil covering the lower half of it's face. We walked for a distance talking of the current events and how little sense it makes to put Rove in charge of the hurricane relief and we came upon the Ark of the Covenant perched on a footstool. I remember thinking that it looked rather small, but then again, who am I to question the Builders?

What was the meeting about, you ask? Who cares, the drawing makes for a far more interesting story...

Let's all agree on this. The great majority of people you see wearing visors are not sailing a yacht or playing tennis. More than likely, the people you see wearing these visors are shopping for toilet paper at Costco, or getting their oil changed at Jiffy Lube.

You get my point, right? The visor screams at us innocent bystanders the following unambiguous message: Hey! You! The guy / gal wearing me has an IQ score that is within 2 points of his / her shoe size, and on top of it all, guess what? He does not sail a yacht either! Bottom line, get rid of that annoying thing. People know you don't sail and your tennis game is crap.

Next week: flannel track suits!
Good luck to us all. We'll need it.

I received my new Macromedia Studio 8 today. And I got one thing to say. Is it too much to ask for a damn manual? If not a full manual, at least a printout of the shortcuts? The box literally contained 2 CDs in a box. That's it. Come on people, I am paying good money for this thing and I am getting pissed. I can understand cost cutting, but this is ridiculous.

Then again, what am I going to do? Go to the competition? Please.

Been sick for the last couple of days. Some kind of stomach flu. Complete with nausea, lightheadedness complemented by a very subdued headache bouquet! What a wonderful ensemble this was.

Here's an interesting fact. Any bloody time you're ill with some kind of a virus, I guarantee it that within 2 minutes of a conversation about your symptoms, the person you're talking to will say the following: "It's going around!" and promptly proceed to give you a list of people that are now or have been ill with approximately the same illness, in the very recent past.

Could it be the need to make one feel like their plight is shared? Must be that. The thing is that it's becoming a reflex. Also, why is it that we don't get good stuff "going around"? Like say... winning the lottery. Hey you won the lotto? It's going around you know. My cousin, his wife and their kids they all won the lotto in a week of my cousin coming home from work yelling: "Honey! I won the Lotto!". It's going around, I tell you!

From LA Times: "The nation's airline crisis took a stunning turn for the worse today when Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. both filed for bankruptcy in the face of massive losses, meaning that four of the seven largest U.S. carriers are now flying in Chapter 11 bankruptcy."

Here's the whole article. You have to wonder just how much of the problems of these airlines are caused by all the CFOs and MBAs hired to paint a rosy picture of earnings along with converting losses into profits through creative accounting.

You know the type. The suited guy with absolutely no life experience, fresh off the MBA assembly line of Harvard, hired to replace the old-gen economist in the vain hope of increased efficiency. Sure, it is all good, as long as the economy is coasting along. As soon as it hits a rough patch, it becomes necessary to lie, so that you may cover that ass. And one lie leads to another, and another, and then the company is bankrupt.

Luckily for you, you got the oil prices to blame your failure. Unfortunately there is the old-gen economist that is still thinking that the company should have foreseen this crisis and changed the business model to be able to withstand a blow in fuel cost. Especially knowing that we are dealing with a limited supply commodity that is unfortunately abundant in the world's most unstable and insane areas.

It's derived off the sword maker marks of the 15/16 century. It's proving to be quite a bit of work. Which takes quite a bit of time. Time that I do not have a bit to spare. Hence the short declarative sentences. Here's a sample.

I'm taking name suggestions.

As it turns out, not much. So he gets fired. Kicked to the curb and sent home. After an unremarkable career, Mr. Brown you have a thoroughly disgraceful dismount. What better time than this time of disaster to "spend more time with your family"? Surely, no-one knew, and Bush least of all, that when appointing Brownie to this post we'll be hit with a catastrophic disaster that will wipe out an entire American city. It was probably thought that, much like the ambassadorship to Monaco, this will be a good post to reward an incompetent nobody's loyalty to the president in the time of need. Well, what do you know, here comes fate kicking you in the ass and suddenly there are a lot of (poor/black) people needing you. And for a while it looked like Brownie will be able to skate. But alas, the media getting it's balls back pretty much pinned the federal fault on the head of FEMA. Where it rightfully belongs. Remains to be seen if there will be any fallout for the one that gave him his job.

Here's a timeline of Brownie's sad and unremarkable FEMA tenure.

Yes, Apple and Motorola have teamed up to release the iTunes phone. May the lord be praised. The four horsemen of apocalypse can chill and all the world's wrongs are now going to be history. For the iTunes phone is now out. Yes, just what the world needed. An mp3 enabled phone. Because, as we all know, combining 2 devices to yield a 3rd is so wonderfully innovative!

We hear a lot about the Katrina response. The Whitehouse does not want to play the blame game, (while pointing their thumb over their shoulders back at the local officials, Gov. Blanco, Mayor Nagin et all.) This is something that fortunately for us all is very easy to de-bunk and actually assign the blame where it actually belongs. To FEMA and this incompetent administration, followed by the state and local government. In this order. How can one be so sure, you ask? Well, let's go through the timeline of the hurricane and document some of the key steps at which point some key decisions were made.

Friday, August 26. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco declares a state of emergency for Louisiana. 3 days before hurricane landfall.

Saturday, August 27. President Bush officially declares that a "state of emergency" exists in Louisiana and orders Federal aid to the affected areas to complement state and local relief efforts. This would indicate that the Federal Authorities (FEMA) has authority to preposition supplies, personnel and authorize relief efforts.

Sunday, August 28. Louisiana Governor Blanco sends letter to President Bush requesting various federal aid. One day before hurricane landfall. This is in effect, when grouped with the previous point, a pretty clear request for federal aid from the Gov. and a release of federal aid from the President. One day before landfall.

Monday, August 29. 6:10 AM: Katrina, a Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph winds, makes initial landfall near Buras, La. FEMA Head Michael Brown urges emergency service personnel "not to respond to hurricane impact areas unless dispatched by state, local authorities."

This is the official argument ender on this subject. All the republican talking heads and Bush appologists can just relax and enjoy being just plain wrong about all this.

Love folk festivals. I can never get enough of fat people beating their kids in public with too few clothes on. Makes for great people watching. But that's about it. I mean please, how many times can you tell yourself, I am in it for the music, and the overpriced ethnic food, of course, while ignoring the massive patchouli smelling, birkenstock wearing crowd? Not often enough evidently. I, for one, am happy the summer "festival" season is finally over. Wait, what's that? Oktoberfest??? Dammit! And in Fremont of all places...

Here's a bit of good news. A bit of good news that requires some inquiry. Every (almost) family will receive a $2000 debit card. Which is good. The tricky part is getting the cash. The Bush admin. is asking for $50 billion in relief funds for the NOLA victims. Question is where exactly are we going to get this cash from? Considering that there is a war that costs about 1 billion / month going on in Iraq and Bush is hell bent on repealing all the taxes that support such things as infrastructure and dams to hold back things like floods in the New Orleans area.

Let's do the political math here: Bush wants to repeal the estate tax, all the president's men are calling it the "death tax", because you see, death happens to all of us and it is scary. Estate happens to considerably less people than death and it has a Dallas, Southfork ranch feel to it. And if you want to get regular people to vote for it, appeal to their fear. Preferably fear of something that is guaranteed to have happen to them. Yes! Death is it! So, how is a president to repeal a tax that helps a lot of poor and middle class non voting people but helps a few rich and voting pals? Easy. By having them think that they are the beneficiary of this tax cut. But will he be able to sell it to the American people? Sure he will. Leave ot to Turd Blossom Karl Rove. He'll figure it out. And you can bet ot will leave the Democrats in the dirt holding their balls and weeping.

As in: if I ignore it hopefully it will go away. This president has managed to make himself more irrelevant than Monica Lewinski. Bush's faith based disaster management has proven nothing short of disastrous. And no amount of black people hugged on national TV will make this better. But one thing you can be sure of. Judging by this administation's response to catastrophic failure, someone will be getting a medal here shortly.

So, America, are you ready for a terrorist attack? Well we'd better be, because our leaders have their heads pretty far up their collective asses and it doesn't seem you can count on them for anything. Which is interesting seeing that this administration has pretty much made their mission to say 9/11 and National Security as many times as it takes to get elected. Make no mistake, this hurricane response has been a complete failure of leadership from the highest level on down. Anyone who claims otherwise, is a complete and total moron. Which brings me to this point. It is becomeing harder and harder to even listen to Bush supporters. What is going on here? Can these people that support this enormous failure of a president see that, say rolling FEMA in the dept of Homeland Security, making it a non cabinet agency and putting a failed horse competition judge at it's helm has been a bad move? A move that will ultimately hurt this country for a very long time? To mention only the most recent failure.

Let me get this straight. Clinton getting his winky whacked by a fat chick is worse than thousands of people dying because this president (and I am using the word president loosely here) cannot just say: Brownie, override all the local authority, airdrop supplies to the Dome and Convention Center and bring in the guards in the next day. Do it now Brownie or you're fired. Actually, I'd be very happy to see Brownie fired, tried and jailed right now. Overall, this blaming of the local authorities for not being able to respond to a national size catastrophy is ridiculous. Considering that the affected area is the size of England, it makes perfect sense for the Bush supporters to blame the mayor of NOLA. We should start mentioning the word impeachment here and there.

I had both the fortune and the misfortune to be part of a dotcom a few years back. And today, when a friend was talking to me about staff cuts at her workplace, I had a chance to look back at the time spent in the dot com world. It struck me that I have learned a few things here and there.

For example, when you have a meeting in which the "CFO" draws a graph and explains the earnings to expense ratio vs. the market trend, drawing the conclusion that "we're doing well" while all around companies are laying off people, it is time to start looking around and wonder who'll make the lay-off list. That and, of course, start backing up the work and contacts because it's only logical to assume you're on the list yourself. Word of advice, have your work backed up at all times, do not use company email for job search and company trash talking and, of course, have a plan. You'll be better off if you do.

It sure was interesting... Being lied to and somehow wanting to believe the rosey tale, while knnowing better and trying to ignore your gut which is yelling at you to come to your senses. Those times are long (3 yrs) gone and the on-line design industry has reached a new maturity.

The people that got in the design game because they had an iMac in the basement and somehow belived the pie-in-the sky stories about the money to be made in this field, have since came to the realization that this business is damn hard, and dropped off the map. Which is great, because the prices will even out while the quality of work will go up (hopefully).

Yes, with a city in ruins, what is there to do but have a telethon where entertainers, who inexplicably are given a voice in times of distress, are coming on and reading teleprompters. It is good, of course, if it makes people react in a positive way and donate to important causes. The question is, do you really need Celine Dion telling you what to do, or can you do it yourself without the benefit of a Vegas performer sometimes enjoyed by the elderly?

Personally, I would rather see my taxes at work providing shelter and sustenance to the disaster stricken poor rather than seeing my taxpayer cash fighting a questionable war.

Yes folks, it's the same startled and annoyed Bush that visited New... sorry, Biloxi today. After all, the events did cut his 5 week vacation short by a whole 2 days. Yes, he visited Biloxi and he flew over New Orleans. Didn't land, of course.

Which is neither here nor there because he is irrelevant at this point. Both as a leader and as a president. What did you expect from him? Relief? An admission of fault? Sure, the admission of fault came. Bush characterized the efforts to date as: "unneceptable". Of course, after he told the FEMA personnel that they are doing a "great job" I feel a congrssional medal of honor coming people! Perhaps the FEMA head, Brown? Kinda makes you miss the days of Bush being catatonic for 7 minuutes, doesn't it?

Oh, and in related news, guess who's getting the contract for clean-up? You know it, HALLIBURTON. I kid you not.

Looks like The Job Cut Fairy has been dealt a kick in the crotch by the Boeing Machinists. Tonight, the Machinists Union backed a strike by an 86 percent vote. Which makes it a pretty good majority.

I have always wondered where is the backbone of the labor movement in this country? And why has it developed such a bad name? Seems that the unions have done a certain amount of damage to themselves, by associating with all kinds of unsavory characters and focusing on lobbying rather than on the priorities of the constituents. But what are you gonna do? You get some power, you get elected, you represent a whole bunch of people and you discover you like the power and want to get more of it. So you figure out different ways to maintain the chokehold. And if that comes at the expense of the people that put you where you are at, so be it. Because you know what's best, right?

Wrong.
Dead wrong.

This is what caused the labor movement to fall into the deep, deep toilet that it is in today. This toilet needs a periodical lively flushing, which is exactly what's happening now. By the way, you can apply the same pattern to the world of politics and you'll get the system we got, where you get less attrition than what you had in the old Soviet Communist Party. Pretty pathetic all around. Ultimately what it comes down to, is completely ignoring the needs of the people once they put you in charge.

Good for the machinists. And good for International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Service Employees International Union for splitting from the AFL-CIO. Keep at it!

As I am watching TV tonight, seeing the total devastation of the gulf coast states and cities, there is something that is just painfully obvious.

When it comes to looting some people are just plain dumb. Some basic things to consider. When looting, do not go for the TV you dumbass. THE ELECTRICITY'S OUT! It's big, unwieldy and does not free up the hands to fight the other fool trying to wrestle it away from you. You are an idiot! In times like these you need portable wealth rather than a TV. Also, carjackings. Where will you drive it? The flooded area to the left? Right? Front? Or back perhaps? You sir, are an idiot. This is of course, saying nothing about the fact that your city's falling apart around you, there are people dying all around and you are concerned about watching American Idol on a slightly banged up Toshiba, sporting some mildewy Nikes. You can tune in on just about any channel to see these specimens. Not talking about the people taking water, food, of course.

Also, when looting, consider your choice in apparel. Wearing a teeshirt that says "Vote or Die" makes you look like a complete jackass. A jackass concerned about voting and democracy none the less. If there is such a thing as Karma, these people will get theirs. We should all be so lucky if there is a special circle of hell that these people can spend eternity in. Some kind of arrangement where they could spend 24h/day assembling this crap in a dirty underground sweatshop in Indonesia, while beaten by a morose foreman/pimp.