I'll drink to that.

From 2politicaljunkies.blogspot.com by way of culturekitchen

Nora Knows, or Why I used to miss Bill Clinton too.

Nora Ephron reminisces about dreams long gone.

I broke up with Bill a long time ago. It's always hard to remember love - years pass and you say to yourself, was I really in love or was I just kidding myself? Was I really in love or was I just pretending he was the man of my dreams? Was I really in love or was I just desperate? But when it came to Bill, I'm pretty sure it was the real deal. I loved the guy.

So did I. Then there was the gays in the military thing. The NAFTA thing. The Monica thing.... yeah... bummer. And now, he seems more interested in not saying anything that could prevent Hilary from getting elected, when he could be taking a stand against the war. Or really against any of BushCo's policies. But I guess he likes hanging out with Bush 41 in Kennebunkport.

10k Rock Out in Fitchburg - One Arrest Made.

Large rock festivals freak people out. As reported 8/31/05 by Lynne at the kickass blog Left in Lowell, a promoter who wanted to put on an event called the New England Goth & Metal Festival was given a no-go from the Lowell City Manager John Cox who gave the lame excuse that the proper permits were not filed. Maybe the promoter of the Lowell event should get in touch with the Fitchburg city hall.

Fitchburg hosted this year's Locobazooka event without a hitch.

Support for the large rock event held in Fitchburg comes from a very unlikely source, the Sentinel & Enterprise Editorial/Opinion page:

This year's Locobazooka concert went off without a hitch, save for a few minor injuries, two noise complaints and a single arrest for alcohol intoxication.

Not bad, given that an estimated 10,000 people showed up for the day-long concert at the Fitchburg Muncipal Airport.

The city's deal with concert promoter Dan Hartwell to rent the airport was pretty good, too -- or at least an improvement.

But the show provides other benefits to Fitchburg besides money.

It's a signature event that hard rock and metal fans from throughout New England immediately recognize, and it's right here in town.

Hard rock and metal might not be to everyone's liking, but there's nothing wrong with Fitchburg having a signature annual event that people come from far and wide to attend.

Nothing wrong, indeed. And go figure, if the stuffed shirts at the Sentinel & Enerprise get this, there is no excuse for the City Manager of Lowell to be such an elitist jackass.

Nothing At All Occurring in Our Nation's Capitol Today!

Now with photos from Brad Blog

Solidarity demonstration in Boston 9/24

From AFSC:
Saturday, September 24, Boston MA
Can't Get Down To Washington...
For those who can't got to Washington where the big Peace Demonstration will be on 9/24, the regular 6 year old Saturday Vigil for the Iraqi People will be a place for those who want to show their support for the Washington demonstration and their opposition to the war in Iraq. We will make a strong statement of our own, that Boston wants peace in Iraq, even those who didn't make it to Washington.
Park St. T stop, The Boston Common, Downtown
For more information email nosanctions@yahoo.com or call 617/794-0546, 776-6524, 956-8461.


I will not be able to get to Washington for the big-ass anti-war demonstration. I am glad to hear that there is an alternative. I'll post more info when I get the details.

Update: I got an e-mail from the coordinator. The basic information is the same, about the location. The time is 1:00 PM at the Park Street T Stop, Boston Common, Downtown. I am going to try to attend. It's harder to make these things now that youth hockey season has started.

Cindy Sheehan (not) Arrested in NYC

From DailyKos

"As Cindy was speaking, a large platoon of police massed behind from the interior of the park, then formed a circle behind her, the speakers' area and a few dozen people who were deployed in an arc behind her. Overall, about 200 people were in attendance, with the crowd steadily increasing in size as the rally progressed. As the police formed their arc just behind, the men and women immediately behind Cindy linked arms. A captain made a cutting motion at his throat, signalling he wanted no more free speech. He waited about 30 seconds, then the police moved in. They didn't dare arrest Cindy, but they immediately moved in and grabbed zool, the event's organizer and one of the main organizers of Camp Casey-NYC, pulling him away and arresting him. I do not believe anyone else was arrested; at least I didn't see any other arrests. I was nearby, and there was no hesitation on the part of the police in specifically targetting zool."

Thanks, Mayor Bloomberg. I guess Cindy wasn't willing to use one of those so-called "free speech" veal pens NYC used during the GOP convention.

Unbelievable!

Gee, you don't think that this will keep happening as Camp Casey makes it way to DC, do you? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Update: Cindy was not arrested, but her microphone was taken away. The organizer of the rally was arrested. There's more at AMERICAblog.

Shenanigans

Today sco at .08 is talking about New Developments in 2nd Middlesex Race with Rep. Pat Jehlen being the favorite. This part was especially troubling:

Personally, I had thought this was a low-stakes race with Jehlen being the heavy favorite, but apparently people are taking it very seriously. Not only did the members of the Board of Aldermen stick their necks out, but there are several incidents of vandals targeting houses with Jehlen lawn signs.

Out here in Townsend we've had problems like that before. During the 04 elections, we had many instances of Kerry/Edwards signs being removed or damaged. Houses out here are not very close together, and many are at least 10 - 20 feet from the road. Someone would have to be pretty motivated to do that kind of vandalism.

At my last Democratic Town Committee meeting, my chairperson told us that someone has been leaving sharp nails and screws in her driveway. One or two screws is one thing. They could have easily blown off the back of some contractor's truck, but our chairperson says it's handfuls of the stuff a few times a week.

It's too bad that some people feel so threatened by differing opinions.

A Tale of Two Cities

From MetaFilter

A facinating photo essay from an eyewitness to Hurricane Katrina. This photo essay covers New Orleans before, during, and after Katrina hit NOLA and the transformation of the city and it's people. Alvaro, the essayist, has taken some amazing pictures. His observations are moving and very thought provoking.

Mat's Back Out.

I have spent the past few days working with another town mom coordinating efforts for my tiny town to help gather supplies for evacuees from the gulf states that were supposed to be lodged here in Massachusetts

But those plans were put on hold because many evacuees were reluctant to go so far away from home.

I'm pleased to hear today that the welcome mat is back out and some of the evacuees should be arriving today.

One plane carrying about 105 people left New Orleans before noon and was scheduled to arrive at Otis Air National Guard Base around 2:30 p.m., according to an announcement made over loudspeakers to volunteers assembled in a hangar there.

A hearty welcome to our friends from the gulf states!

Okay, maybe not so cynical afterall.

Billmon expands with a lot more detail, what I alluded to last week. What would the Bush Administration's response have been to Hurricane Katrina, if it happened before the election?

FEMA has completely bungled this particular event, but look at how organized they were in advance of Hurricane Frances

The advance preparations included:

• FEMA’s National Emergency Operations Center, Emergency Support Team in Washington, D.C. and Region Four Regional Operations Center in Atlanta, Ga. are operating around the clock, coordinating the pre-positioning of assets and responding to state requests for assistance.
• FEMA has deployed an Advanced Emergency Response Team to the Florida State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee to facilitate state requests for assistance. In addition, three rapid needs assessment teams have been pre-deployed to Florida.
• FEMA Emergency Response Teams are positioned in Orlando to coordinate response efforts with the FEMA headquarters and the state Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee.
• An Advanced Emergency Response Team and a Rapid Needs Assessment team have also been deployed to the Georgia State Emergency Operations Center to provide support as necessary.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, at FEMA's request, is coordinating the staging of 100 truckloads of water and 100 truckloads of ice at operational centers in Florida.
• A first shipment of 30,000 tarps is en route to Atlanta, Ga., to be pre-staged for delivery to areas affected by Frances once the storm has cleared.
• FEMA is working to provider 10 trailers of generators at the request of Florida that will be used to provide power to critical facilities affected by the hurricane. Generators will be staged at Warner Robbins Air Force Base.
• Four Urban Search and Rescue Teams are deployed to Florida — two in Miami and two in Jacksonville. Four teams are on alert.
• Two Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) have been deployed to Florida to support medical facilities and hospitals that are not fully operational following the storm. Two additional DMATs are staged in Atlanta, three are enroute to Atlanta, and one Veterinary Medical Assistance Team is on standby. An additional four DMATs have been placed on alert, The DMATs are comprised of doctors, nurses and medical technicians trained to handle trauma, pediatrics, surgery and mental health problems. DMATs bring truckloads of medical equipment and supplies with them.
• Five pharmaceutical caches, containing emergency medical supplies, are being pre-positioned, and are currently en route to Atlanta and Tampa.
• FEMA's Mobile Emergency Response Services (MERS) communications staff and equipment are available to provide telephone, radio and video links in support of response and recovery efforts. About 100 MERS personnel and about 75 vehicles – including Mobile Emergency Operations Center (MEOCs) equipped vehicles and Mobile Radio Vans (MRVs) to provide radio capability have been assigned to support Hurricane Frances response and recovery operations.
• FEMA teleregistration centers are fully staffed, ready and able to register as many as 20,000 disaster assistance applications per day for affected residents in declared counties. The Internal Revenue Service is providing additional operators to support FEMA’s teleregistration operations, which are currently operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• FEMA contract inspectors are ready for activation, with surge capability providing for up to 15,000 inspections per day within 14 days of activation. FEMA is working with the General Services Administration to analyze vacancy rates of various safe housing options (including apartments, homes, RVs, time shares, mobile homes, hotels and motels) as part of pre-planning temporary housing strategies for those whose homes are severely damaged or destroyed.
• The American Red Cross has opened more than 250 shelters in Florida that housed approximately 15,500 evacuees last night. Additional shelters have been opened in Georgia and Alabama in case need arises. In North Carolina, the Red Cross is manning state welcome centers to help evacuees with rest stop ministrations.

Unbelievable! You'd think with more experience that FEMA's response would improve, but as we all know now, there was essentially no response

Evacuee Raymond Cooper: Sir, you've got about 3,000 people here in this -- in the Convention Center right now. They're hungry. Don't have any food. We were told two-and-a-half days ago to make our way to the Superdome or the Convention Center by our mayor. And which when we got here, was no one to tell us what to do, no one to direct us, no authority figure.

There are politicians right now who say that this is not the time to place blame, and I agree with that to a point. Right now the priority should be rescuing those in the Gulf States that are still 7 DAYS LATER waiting for help. But, we, as American citizens, regardless of party, should be prepared to hold this administration accountable as soon as possible.

Our national security depends on it. If we cannot rely on our government to help us in a situation where we have advance notice, who knows what will happen to us should we be attacked by terrorists again. The world is watching and I'm sure some folks are taking notes.

All About the Benjamins

For Deval Patrick, campaign financing rears its ugly head

It is still early in the campaign, and I hope that once people hear more about Deval, they will be moved to support him, and to contribute. The campaign is realistic about the situation, but hopeful as well:

''They have years on us in terms of raising money and we will never catch them," Byrd said. ''But they will never catch us in terms of reaching out to people and running a real campaign." Patrick has enlisted support from 1,700 volunteers, he said.

As a student and stay-at-home mom, I have more time to give campaigns than money. I am a volunteer for Deval Patrick, but I would also urge folks who believe in Deval Patrick's campaign to give what they can.

I'm going to do what I can.

Cynical, much?

I don't mean to be cynical, but I wonder if Bush's response to this hurricane would have been different, if this happened to occur, say...before the election?

Like Hurricane Frances in Florida, September 2004.

The bungling continues.