Of boobs and survival...

Some of the money from FEMA & the Red Cross is finding a home in a G-string:

On the same day that the Houston Police Department announced the formation of a task force to find people abusing or scamming the FEMA and Red Cross debit cards, KPRC Local 2 discovered that some of the money has been spent at local strip clubs.

The cards were given to evacuees from Hurricane Katrina to help them relocate and start their lives anew after losing everything they own. There are no rules on how the money should be spent, but most spend it on the necessities -- food, clothing and shelter.

A manager at Caligula XXI Gentlemen's Club on Westheimer Road told KPRC Local 2 that he has seen at least one debit card used at his club.

First of all, I'm not surprised. Especially if these are NO residents, that is the region that gave us "Back dat ass up" after all...

As for what I seriously think about it: this isn't quite as bad as it seems, IMO. I mean, I understand the concern on the part of the folks who provided that money at a portion of it going to titty bars, and as far as FEMA is concerned I'd understand if they changed the rules since their money comes from taxes and not donations. But keep in mind, these folks have been through a lot in a short amount of time, and everyone has their own way of coping with the shock. Hell, if I'd went through something like that, I'd want such comforts too once I settled.

Don't get me wrong, any of them out there that are screwing off their primary responsibilities to blow it all at the club is a complete idiot. I'm not saying this is a liscense to be lazy, no. Just that the world will not end if an evacuee gets a lapdance.

Random shots

A few quite predictable things...

-NorthWest Airlines & Delta are headed for bankruptcy. Honestly, it's been like that for so long now that it shouldn't count as news. About the only airline doing any good is AirTran, and with the fuel costs shooting up, even that might come to an end.

-We are getting absolutely nowhere w/ North Korea:

Negotiators from six countries will try again on Thursday to break a deadlock in talks designed to end North Korea's nuclear arms program, but there is little sign of an end to a nearly three-year-old crisis.

The negotiations in Beijing between the United States, North and South Korea, Japan, Russia and host China enter a third day with an impasse over Pyongyang's insistence on a right to nuclear energy programs for civilian use.

Failure to reach an accord in Beijing could prompt the United States to take the issue to the U.N. Security Council and press for sanctions. China opposes such a move, and communist North Korea has said sanctions would be tantamount to war.

One thing I don't get about this: why does China even care anymore? Their relationship is parasitic, there is nothing that North Korea provides to China, at all. If I were in charge there, I'd cut 'em completely off, build a damn wall at the border and be done with it. The goal of disarmament is a lost cause, what we should be trying to do instead is encourage the Chinese to support an isolation strategy so as to speed up Kim's fall.

-"Problems? What problems?" says the UN...

-"Squawk! I'm open-minded! SquawkSquawk!" says John Roberts. Big whoop, everyone says they're open-minded. He's breezing through this and will be confirmed easily -- without so much as a peep towards actual constitutional matters rather than Democrat pressure group talking points. They aren't "liberals", people...

-Iraq is proving to be unstable:

A dozen explosions ripped through the Iraqi capital in rapid succession Wednesday, killing at least 152 people and wounding 542 in a series of attacks that began with a suicide car bombing that targeted laborers assembled to find work for the day. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility.

The one-day death toll was believed to be the worst in the capital since major combat ended in May 2003, and Al-Jazeera said Al-Qaida in Iraq linked the attacks to the recent rout of militants from the city of Tal Afar by U.S. and Iraqi forces.

and one huge surprise...Bush acknowledged that the awkward response to Hurricane Katrina revealed critical vulnerabilities that we previously thought were being addressed by that whole "homeland security" mess:

President George W. Bush said Hurricane Katrina ``exposed serious problems'' in the nation's capability to handle another severe storm or a terrorist attack and took responsibility for the federal government's failures.

The slow reaction to the disaster on the U.S. Gulf Coast uncovered flaws ``at all levels of government,'' Bush said in response to a question during a news conference today with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in Washington.

``To the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility,'' he said.

FINALLY it's acknowledged...

On a related note: the "progressives" out there claiming that the fallout from this vindicates bloating up government even more are showing themselves to be excruciatingly desperate. How freakin diseased do you have to be to look at an unadulterated failure of government at ALL levels and say to yourself "y'know, we need more of that"?

I've seen reports online that at the same time that the feds were saying "oh, it's too DANGEROUS to go there! The entire area is INSANE!!", private citizens were already doing their part. One example of the contradiction that really stuck with me though was of a musician from Mississippi buying up supplies and sending his own damn tour bus to go help.

That musician? David freakin Banner... Even a person that gets paid to act like a madman on BET can outpace Big Government.

Now put that one in your pipe an' smoke it.

Another example of human stupidity

Houston Texas high school student:

"Hey, y'know those New Orleans kids that're only here cuz their school is underwater? How's 'bout we pick a fight wit' 'em?"

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A fight between a group of displaced New Orleans students and their new classmates at a Houston high school ended with three teenagers hospitalized and five under arrest Tuesday.

The morning fight at Jones High School started after a student from Houston threw a soft drink can into a group of New Orleans students, a school district spokesman said. One student from New Orleans was treated for facial injuries, and two Houston teens were treated for face and rib injuries. In all, 20 to 25 students got involved.

Dumb. Not just for the obvious reason of being plain cruel, but also because 1) people tend to fight harder when they have basic survival stuff on their mind, and 2) these are kids from a place once known as the murder capital of the nation! What better way to court disaster?

Worst timing ever?

Requiring public school students to say the Pledge of Allegiance has been ruled unconstitutional. Again:

A federal judge declared the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools unconstitutional Wednesday in a case brought by the same atheist whose previous battle against the words ``under God'' was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court on procedural grounds.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation ``under God'' violates school children's right to be ``free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.'' Karlton said he was bound by precedent of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 2002 ruled in favor of Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools.

Clearly this is an attempt to get the question back to the Supreme Court, as even the article acknowledges. Problem is, by then it'll have two Bush picks on it, and thus it would more than likely decide the case not based on the Constitution (which suggests, since at the time that religious invocations were accepted in school they were all private schools, that such an oath couldn't be read as compatible), but based on the beliefs of the Republican Party (which amount to "whatever hardcore christian activists want, they shall recieve").

Of course, this whole thing wouldn't have been an issue if the State hadn't gotten involved with running schools in the first place, but that's just my loony-lump talking...