WanderingAmylessly 2.0

Oh say can you say... "I did not have illegal relations with those conspirators, Mr. Colyandro and Mr. Ellis." --Former House Majority Leader DeLay

"Hurricane" 1 oz vodka 1/4 oz grenadine syrup 1 oz gin 1 oz light rum 1/2 oz Bacardi® 151 rum 1 oz amaretto almond liqueur 1 oz triple sec grapefruit juice pineapple juice Pour all but the juices, in order listed, into a hurricane glass three-quarters filled with ice. Fill with equal parts of grapefruit and pineapple juice, and serve. That much alcohol might take the edge off.

I've written about her before. About how I think she's brilliant, this Utah mommy and ex-mormon who got fired from her job for blogging about her job and who is now perhaps the most notorious and oft-read blogger in Cyberspace. Check out Dooce.com; click this post's title to go there immediately. Or stay here and read one of her entries. I totally relate, Heather. I'm right there with you, girl. Six times the suck Tuesday, 13 September 2005 This past weekend I discovered a fail-safe method of making myself feel like an astounding idiot, more fail-safe than that time my mother-in-law told me that she saw someone in church with shoulders just like mine, you know, so wide that they blocked her view of the pulpit. I didn’t even have to leave my house or open my mouth which more than half of the time ends up in a spectacular display of stupidity anyway. Sometimes, more often than not, I don’t even have to leave the house. For instance, this morning I sat on my couch and told...

Thanks for all the kind thoughts. Mighty Joe seems to be doing better. He may have to have his feeding tube gadget replaced, but for now, they're working on getting his lungs healthy again. On a sad note,though, Joe's grandpa died this week of a brain aneurysm. He was only 55. Please think of them in this sad and stressful time. People always say things like "God will only give you what he knows you can handle." What a load of hooey, as far as I'm concerned. Try telling that to Joe's parents. Try telling that to Hurricane Katrina evacuees, who've lost family members and everything they own and their jobs and anything that was ever normal in their lives. Yeah, maybe they can "handle" it, but why should they be forced to?! Then those same people say, "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger." Yeah...and bitter...and bitchy...and cynical...and dealing with post-traumatic stress... Maybe that's just the way I would react. Could...

My cousin's baby Joe, the heart baby in Texas, has taken a wrong turn on his highway to a happier heart. He has pneumonia. They put him back on a ventilator. And his oxygen sat levels are in the 30s and 40s at times. Normally they're in the 70s and 80s. He's very sick. My aunt said yesterday that they "almost lost him" a couple of times. When we aren't in the middle of it every day, I think we become complacent or maybe a little too comfortable in our hopes - that he's doing well and growing strong - and we don't realize just how serious his situation is and how sick a little boy he is right now. So we've been smacked back into reality...the reality that Joe's mommy and daddy face every day, up close and personal. And we're once again on vigil. Be strong, Mighty Joe. We love you. Edited to add: If that weren't awful enough, I just found out Joe's paternal grandpa is in the ICU in a coma (in another hospital). Don't know anymore ...

The following is from MoveOn.Org. Yes, it's a liberal-leaning political action committee. Yes, it's biased. However, in this instance, it tells the cold, hard truth. It has been a week since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, leveled New Orleans and left hundreds of thousands of Americans homeless. We saw the best of America during that time—millions of people stepped forward to offer help. Meanwhile, the Bush administration failed at their most important job: keeping America safe. The federal effort was too little, too late and it is now becoming obvious that hundreds or even thousands of people died as a result. Then, starting Friday, in a Karl Rove-led campaign, the White House started to blame state and local officials and even the victims who were stranded without transportation when the Hurricane arrived. Sign our petition demanding that the Bush administration stop blaming victims, including state and local officials, and focus on helping them. http://political...

Bravo to Keith Olbermann and his recent blog, which he read on his Countdown show on MSNBC last night: Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said it all, starting his news briefing Saturday afternoon: "Louisiana is a city that is largely underwater..." Well there's your problem right there. If ever a slip-of-the-tongue defined a government's response to a crisis, this was it. The seeming definition of our time and our leaders had been their insistence on slashing federal budgets for projects that might’ve saved New Orleans. The seeming characterization of our government that it was on vacation when the city was lost, and could barely tear itself away from commemorating V.J. Day and watching Monty Python's Flying Circus, to at least pretend to get back to work. The seeming identification of these hapless bureaucrats: their pathetic use of the future tense in terms of relief they could’ve brought last Monday and Tuesday — like the President, whose statemen...

Mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses' Transcript of radio interview with New Orleans' Nagin Friday, September 2, 2005; Posted: 2:59 p.m. EDT (18:59 GMT) The following is a transcript of WWL correspondent Garland Robinette's interview with Nagin on Thursday night. Robinette asked the mayor about his conversation with President Bush: NAGIN: I told him we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice. And that I have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we're outmanned in just about every respect. (Listen to the mayor express his frustration in this video -- 12:09) You know the reason why the looters got out of control? Because we had most of our resources saving people, thousands of people that were stuck in attics, man, old ladies. ... You pull off the doggone ventilator vent and you look down there and they're standing in there in water up to their fre...

Click this post's headline to find out how you can help with the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts. I called the American Red Cross at 1-800-HELP-NOW tonight and we did our bit. I feel a little guilty because when I have had enough, I turn off the tv and try to stop thinking about it. I cannot fathom what it might be like to lose everything and be fighting for my life in sewage-filled streets, battling water-borne diseases and gun-wielding robbers, hunger and dehydration and desperation. I heard a story today of a beautiful 10-year-old boy who sat alone in a shelter, his entire family killed in the disaster. No home, no family, no belongings, no friends, no school, nothing to claim as his own. How does one recover from that? Is it possible? I'm not sure anyone knows. Hug your families. Tell people you love them. Say a little thank you when you... wake up in your own bed eat food from your fridge take a shower flush the toilet brush your teeth drink clean water ...and so...