Merry Gangemi is a writer, poet, editor, copy editor, and activist.
Her short fiction and poetry can be found in Wisconsin Review, Paterson Literary Review, Journal of New Jersey Poets, Sinister Wisdom, Harrington Lesbian Fiction Quarterly, Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly, Off Our Backs, and Street Spirit. Her poem, "Beltane: Advancing to Zero" is forthcoming in the River Oak Review, and her Introduction, for the 2008 Queer Collection, is also forthcoming.
July 17, 2008
Poetry Peace 2008
April 02, 2008
AFSC Annual Gathering
Doris "Granny D" Haddock, at the age of 89, walked across the U.S. for campaign finance reform. She will speak to us about many other needed changes.
All are Welcome Sat. April 26 9:00AM – 3:00PM Bethany United Church of Christ 115 Main St. Montpelier Music by Dawna Hammers Lunch available Workshops
Iraq Veterans Panel (Plenary) Abolishing Nuclear weapons (David Culp, FCNL) Colombia/Andean Region (Natalia Cardona, AFSC National Office) Migration/Immigration (Susannah McCandliss, Rocio Magana)
Peak Oil: Impact on Vermont (Carl Etnier) No sustainability, No Peace (Carl Etnier & Joseph Gainza) White Privilege (Rose Lazu) Organizing with Youth against Militarism (Matt Howard)
Information: 802-229-2340; jgainza@afsc.org
July 05, 2007
| TrackBack (0)The Bush Takes the Cake
scooter libby's flown the coop
not one slick foxnews super sleuth
could figure out what was the scoop
'bout spooks and nukes and shock and awe
of shattered bodies, of grasping straws.
June 21, 2007
A Tribute to Democracy in Vermont
If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts
of the Union and support of our institutions should
languish it could all be replenished from the
generous store held by the people of this brave
little state of Vermont. ~ President Calvin Coolidge
November 21, 2006
Dumbing Down Democrats
Even though the Elephants of Jesus have been jettisoned from their war mounts, the danger Bush, Cheny, & Company pose to a free America still glares at us from the octopus of Homeland Security, extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo, torture, and the loss of Habeas Corpus for so-called enemy combatants.
And I wonder why Nancy Pelosi has already begun to saddle up for a season of "Let's Make a Deal" and "The Price is Right." No wonder John Murtha wasn't smiling in the background of that "Happy Days" picture of a beaming Pelosi and Hoyer.
If the Dems can't figure out how to be good to each other in the first few weeks of their victory laps, how are they going to solve the intricate problems of Baby Bush's foreign policy playpen?
But far be it from me to think "Mighty Mouse" democrats would even consider holding the White Frathouse accountable for a pre-emptive, illegal war based on contrived intelligence, and prosecuted with outstanding irresponsibility and incompetence.
Perhaps the dems appreciated Long-face Kerry's post-election strategy of laying down and playing dead. Perhaps they really don't care about reversing the atrocious domestic policies of Baby Bush; perhaps they will continue to wage war against the Iraqi people. Perhaps they really LIKE lobbyists.
Perhaps it's just time for a third party. The last thing Americans need is a dumb democratic version of the same old circus of emperors pretending they have clothes.
Post and Read Comments (3)May 03, 2006
Minnie Bruce Pratt on Woman-Stirred Radio
Please join Woman-Stirred Radio, this Thursday, May 4th at 4:30pm for an interview with Minnie Bruce Pratt
Minnie Bruce was born September 12, 1946, in Selma, Alabama. She graduated from segregated Bibb County High School and attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, a year after George Wallace 'stood in the schoolhouse door.'
She completed a Ph.D. in English Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In addition to her academic training, Minnie Bruce was educated by the great liberation struggles of the 20th century ----through grass-roots organizing with women in the army-base town of Fayetteville, NC, and through teaching at historically Black universities.
Her books of poetry include: The Dirt She Ate: Selected and New Poems, winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Poetry; Walking Back Up Depot Street, which was named book of the year by ForeWord magazine in the Gay/Lesbian category and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry; Crime Against Nature, which was chosen as the Academy's Lamont Poetry Selection, received the American Library Association Gay and Lesbian Book Award for Literature; We Say We Love Each Other; and a chapbook, The Sound of One Fork.
Join Merry Gangemi and Minnie Bruce Pratt, this Thursday May 4th @ 4:30 pm on Woman-Stirred Radio. Only on WGDR 91.1 fm Community radio for Central Vermont and the rest of the world!
Music from 4 to 4:30. Interview begins at 4:30 pm.
Post and Read Comments (0) | TrackBack (45)April 16, 2006
Lesbian Artist Needs Help
Call from Victoria Brownworth to support Tee Corinne
Dear Woman-Stirred and Quiddities Readers,
We wanted to share this update from Victoria Brownworth. All of the quintet is sending good energy to Tee at this time.
Lesbian Artist Needs Help
Tee Corinne is one of my oldest and dearest friends. She is also a lesbian legend. The word "iconic" has become almost a cliche, but Tee truly is an icon. Her gloriously sensual photographs of lesbians and her books on lesbian erotica helped to shape and expand lesbian images and lesbian sexuality over the past 30 years.
An artist, photographer, art historian, writer and eroticist, she designed the first ten years of Naiad Press's covers, she created the global sensation, The Cunt Coloring Book, she got into a fight with NEA back when it was banning sexual imagery from American art, has worked tirelessly with the Women's Caucus uncovering a host of lesbian artists and photographers about whom she has written extensively and her photographic portraits of lesbian writers and artists are everywhere.
When my book about the lesbian cancer epidemic, Coming Out of Cancer, was published in 2000, I included Tee's story "Vibrator Party," about a woman reintegrating herself into the sexual world after a mastectomy. It was a groundbreaking story in a groundbreaking book about the struggles of lesbians and cancer.
In the years since Coming Out of Cancer was published, the epidemic has not receded. Last year it claimed Tee's partner of 17 years, Beverly Brown. And now Tee herself has been diagnosed with cancer of the bile ducts which has produced a 5.5 cm tumor in her liver.
Like many lesbians, Tee has limited health insurance and no savings. Artist Jean Sirius is currently caring for Tee at her home in the Oregon woods, but Tee needs more than the help of close and caring friends.
She needs money. Please send whatever you can--no amount is too small or insignificant.
Even if you aren't familiar with her work, you have benefited from Tee's artistry and iconoclasm over the years. Now the woman who fought so hard to put lesbian images on the map for us to find is in a fight for her life.
Please send checks made out to: Tee A. Corinne, PO Box 278, Wolf Creek, OR 97497.
A website and blog have been set up to share information about her condition at http://jeansirius.com/TeeACorinne/tee_update.html.
Post and Read Comments (0)April 04, 2006
Thugs in Power
So Tom "The Hammer" Delay has resigned. Reluctantly and, for some, amazingly unexpected. Unexpected' Only in America, land of opportunity can a miserable first son of a miserable mother go broke several times (and generate mucho tax write-offs for his backers) have a DUI under his belt, get religion in a big way and ravage our country with the collusiin and smarts of thugs like Delay, Hasert, Bill O'Reilly, and that "nice man" Jeb Bush in Florida. And for those of you who don't know... Tricky dick cheney has TWO DUIs!! Yes, men of passion, greed, bigotry, and hypocricy rule America. They don't lead. They rule.
But back to Delay. "The Hammer" boasts of protecting the unborn child from an attack from its pregnant mother, eliminating partial birth abortions, defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman (has anyone informed those rabid right Mormons in northern Utah yet'), and well, playing a wicked game of golf in Scotland on the dimes and dollars of fool Americans.
Didn't Delay just complete a primary campaign that he won with 62% of the vote (according to NPR)' 62%' What does that say' Or was it simply a matter of The Hammer taking the remains of his war chest with him so he could pay some legal fees'
Or did The Hammer need to pound some more nails to make sure he gets a break when it comes to sentencing' What did Abramoff get' Six years' Only 6'
But I am all over the place with this... so let me focus: This administration, with the help of bastards like Delay, has brought this country, my country, your country, to the brink of disaster. And when the real Hammer falls, it's not losers like bush w who will suffer. It's the people of New Orleans, ripped from their homes and thrown away so developers can build the Gulf coast for thenselves; it's the mothers of babies they didn't plan on and can't support with basic necessities that will inhabit the rundown, abandoned neighborhoods; it will be the children drummed into charter schools and forced to pray to a god who doesn't protect and love them, but showers the rich with favors and health; it's the Pat Robertsons and Bob Jones who have re-institutionalized bigotry and calls to violence; it's the trains that will never again bring workers to their jobs; the rusting cars chocking the roads; the oceans that vomit the pollutants onto the beaches; the fish that will never swim again; the intensifying global warming; the mad cows that are ground for food; the water that costs too much to drink.
When will the crimes of this administration be stopped'
Here is a quote to consider:
"Great events can be understood only when they have been experienced or suffered, at least in spirit: and to know something deeply is to experience it.... its story is the reader's own."
Der Fuehrer: Hitler's rise to power Konrad Heiden. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1944.
Post and Read Comments (0)March 25, 2006
Some thoughts from David Budbill
Something is happening and you do know what it is, don't you Mr. Jones' The you-know-what is hitting the fan. First there was Nixon, then Clinton, now many of us hope for the trifecta. This issue of the JME devotes itself to the progress we are making toward impeaching George Bush and his Gang of Thugs in Suits.
First, Lewis Lapham's crucial and detailed essay published in the March 2006 Harper's called "The Case for Impeachment." We provide an on-line link to an extended excerpt from the essay.
Second, a most interesting proposal, called "The Rutland Resolution," from an attorney in Clarendon, Vermont, who has discovered the legal basis for a state legislature to begin impeachment proceedings against a president.
The legal means is there in The Rutland Resolution. The evidence has already been gathered compliments of Rep. John Conyers, D. Mich. See Lapham's essay.
Now the only missing element--and it's a big one--is that for any of this to proceed, we need a Democratically controlled House and Senate. We also need a Democratic Party with the backbone--something it still lacks--to proceed toward impeachment and removal of what Peter Freyne of Seven Days, a Vermont weekly, referred to recently as "the most dangerous, dishonest and incompetent president the United States of America has ever known."
It is time for Americans to get serious about impeachment and about electing a House and Senate capable of proceeding with impeachment. The level of corruption, bungling and utter disdain for law and human rights this administration has reached is truly amazing. Paul Krugman recently (New York Times, 2/3/06) referred to the cabal in Washington as "The Mayberry Machiavellians." Well said, and it would be funny too, if all this weren't so serious.
Finally, we offer an outline, and links, to previous JMEs concerned with The President and His Outlaws. The JME has been on this case since October of 2001.
Post and Read Comments (0) | TrackBack (12)March 23, 2006
Jamie Raskin & Senator Jacobs
From: Sally Lonegren SLonegren@vtlink.net Subject: The Bible and the Constitution
On Wednesday, March 1st, 2006, in Annapolis at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at American University's Washington College of Law who lives in Montgomery County with his wife and three children, was requested to testify.
At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that'"
Raskin replied: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution.
You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."
The room erupted into applause.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/raskin.asp for the quote from the Baltimore Sun story
Post and Read Comments (0)February 24, 2006
Statement on the War in Iraq
The following statement was written by Joseph Gainza, AFSC VT
To: Members of the Faith Community in Vermont February 22, 2006
The United States government has pursued a war in Iraq justified by falsehood and rationalized as liberation. In our name and with our money these actions, which violate international law, have been responsible for the deaths of many thousands of innocent people.
Mindful of our spiritual and pastoral responsibility, we are compelled to speak out against the immoral actions of our government, leading up to and prosecuting, the war in Iraq.
In our shared Abrahamic faith, Jews, Christians, and Muslims trust in a God of justice, love, and compassion. We clearly see that the present policies of the Bush administration in Iraq are antithetical to that faith. We deplore these policies and we will not be silent.
Therefore, we call on all communities of faith and people of goodwill to join us in speaking out publicly, from the pulpit and in the streets, against the war and related abuses of human rights perpetrated by the US government. We call particular attention to the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib, and the inhumane and illegal treatment of captives in Guantánamo, where over 400 people have been held for more than three years, without being charged with any crime. We call for the continuous and vigorous public denouncement of the Bush administration’s policy of transporting prisoners to countries that engage in torture.
We also denounce the escalating infringement on the rights of US citizens and all activities by the US government that violate the life to which we, as people of faith, are called.
We call on the government of the United States of America to: • abandon these policies; • stop all construction of permanent military bases in Iraq; • provide the financial resources to repair the damage done to Iraqi society; • immediately bring home all US troops and provide them with all necessary support through full funding of the Veterans Administration’s hospitals and other related national and state programs.
Post and Read Comments (0)February 13, 2006
Statement on the War in Iraq
Hanover NH Religious Society of Friends February 12, 2006
In our names, our government has pursued a war in Iraq, initially justified by falsehoods, and subsequently rationalized as liberation. We have been responsible for the deaths of many thousands of innocent people.
Hanover Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), mindful of its spiritual responsibility, finds itself compelled to speak out against the immoral actions of our government in the war in Iraq.
We abhor the policies of the current administration and can not be silent in the face of the injustice being perpetrated in our names.
We call on fellow faith communities and individuals to join us in speaking publicly, in the pulpit and the streets, against the well-documented atrocities of our government, which violate our experience of the truth and the life to which we are called.
Post and Read Comments (0)Tom DeLay Denies All Charges
Tom DeLay Denies All Charges (As Told by Dr. Suess) By witlist
That Abramoff! That Abramoff! I do not like that Abramoff!
"Would you like to play some golf'" I do not want to play some golf. I do not want to, Abramoff.
"We could fly you there for free. Off to Scotland, by the sea."
I do not want to fly for free. I don't like Scotland by the sea. I do not want to play some golf. I do not want to, Abramoff.
"Would you, could you, take this bribe' Could you, would you, for the tribe'"
I would not, could not, take this bribe. I could not, would not, for the tribe.
"If we strong armed corporations Into giving you donations' They'd be funnelled to your PAC. Would you then cut us some slack'"
I would not, could not, cut you slack. I do not care about my PAC. I do not want to play some golf. I do not want to, Abramoff.
"A plane! A plane! A plane! A plane! Would you, could you, for a plane'"
I could not, would not, for a plane. Not for a bribe, not for the tribe. Not for donations from corporations. Not for my PAC, not for some slack. Not from any schmoe named Jack.
"Would you help us buy some ships Perfect for quick gambling trips' Talk to people in the know For a little quid pro quo' Oh come now, don't be a snob. Let us give your wife a job."
I will not help you buy some ships. I do not wish for gambling trips. My wife does not need a job Even if she is a snob. We do not like bribes, can't you see' Why won't you just let me be'
"You do not like bribes, so you say. Try them, try them, and you may. Try them and you may, I say."
Jack. If you will let me be I will try them, then you'll see.
Say.... I do like playing golf! I like it, I do, Abramoff! I do like Scotland by the sea. It's such a thrilling place to be! And I will take this bribe. And I will help the tribe.
And I will take donations From big corporations.
And I will help you buy some ships. And I will take quick gambling trips. Say, I'll give anyone the shaft As long as it involves some graft!
I do so like playing golf! Thank you! Thank you, Abramoff!
Post and Read Comments (0)Social Security & Legislators
2008 Election Issue!!
Get a bill started to place all politicians on Social Security.
SOCIAL SECURITY: Our Senators and Congresswomen do not pay into Social Security and, of course, they do not collect from it. Social Security benefits were not suitable for Senators and Congressmen. They felt they should have a special plan for themselves. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan. No US legislator has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great plan.
For all practical purposes their plan works like this: When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die. Except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments. For example, Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives.
This is calculated on an average life span for each legislator. Younger legislators, who retire at an early age, will receive much more during the rest of their lives.
What is the cost to legislators for this excellent plan' The cost is $0.00, nothing, nada, zilch. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Funds.
From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into, -every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer)-we can expect to get an average of $1,000 per month after retirement.
Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator! Bill Bradley's benefits!
Social Security could be very good if only one small change is made: Put our senators and congressmen into the Social Security plan with the rest of us, then sit back and see how fast they would fix it.
Post and Read Comments (0)December 16, 2005
Hardwick Hopping Mad over Ad in High School Newpaper
A recent ad in the Hazen Union school paper had the classic antirecruitment ad: a tranquil picture of a cemetary with thousands of white crosses. The caption read: You can't be all that you can be if you're dead. Since then, the Hardwick Gazette has printed many letters to the editor condemming the ad as both disrespectful to the soldiers (and their families), and an appalling manipulation that returning soldiers wouldn't be "able to handle" the ad. The following is my letter.
The hullabaloo over the T-Bone ad is a nasty effort to control the right of students to exercise free speech. It is more insidious because the high school students, who are embroiled in the controversy, are easy targets of adults who don’t want to hear contrary points of view.
The truth of the ad speaks for itself. War is ugly and messy and people get killed. To defend one’s country is not some romanticized “outward bound” summer camp. It’s not a video game. It’s not a fancy uniform or a cool Humvee. And it is definitely not the best way to find a college education.
The military attracts and recruits patriotic and idealistic young men and women and trains them to kill. That’s what war is all about. To wrap it in anything other than the truth is an affront to the soldiers and an insult to their intelligence.
It is not credible to represent a soldier of the United States as too fragile to deal with a harsh visualization of the ultimate sacrifice. And if a reader of the T-Bone is too fragile to face the truth about war and destruction, they should definitely not join the military.
Post and Read Comments (0)December 14, 2005
Erkenntnis*
2005 is almost over and it is a good time to take notice of changes... and also what the future portends.
As usual, life is a mixed bag of light and dark and truth and fabrication. What I see, feel and intuit is more or less the sum of all my labors, hopes, and dreams.
It has been a year of tremendous internal work as I continue to become accustomed to life as a middle-aged poet and activist. I've done some good work and I've worked out some resolutions as regards mistakes, miscalculations, and general screw-ups.
The 90th Anniversary celebration of the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom was held in May and was a grand success. Pianist Michael Arnowitt joined David Budbill, Cora Brooks and Grace Paley in an evening of music and spoken word... and the event raised over $1,100. a thousand dollars for WILPF!
Tea & Poetry, the annual poetry series I produce at the end of the summer was a success. With the hospitality of Judith and Rachel Kane of Perennial Pleasures, we added a fourth reading and invited more poets: Cora Brooks, Charlie Barash, Robert Barasch, April Bernard, Judith Kane, Myra Shapiro, Jane Shore, and Susan Thomas joined David Budbill, Jody Gladding, Grace Paley,Peggy Sapphire, and Martha Zweig for a series that drew more than a hundred people and raised a little more than $300.00 for the Hardwick Food Pantry.
The benefit concert that I produced in concert with the American Friends Service Committee, WILPF (VT), and PeaceVermont raised more than $ 1,300 for the AFSC Katrina Relief Fund. Musicans & poets included: Bread & Puppet; Colin McCaffrey; Derrick Semlar; Coco Kallis & Paul Miller; Ben Koenig & Mark Greenberg; Michael Arnowitt & Marjorie Ryerson; Susan Thomas, Peggy Sapphire, and Cora Brooks. And in addition to the performers, the city of Montpelier provided a venue free of charge! Thanks to everyone who helped!
I completed the test and training to be a programmer at WGDR, 91.1 fm Goddard College and joined a remarkable community radio station. My shows air Wednesday morning from 5:30 until 8:00, and Thursday afternoons from 4:00 until 6:30. Tune in or stream online at http://www.wgdr.org.
I've edited some very interesting books this year, including:
Electoral Politics
Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty
Between Transcendence and Historicism
Globalizing Interests
Greek Concept of Nature
Interstate Disputes
Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Daoist Thought
Social Circulation of Poetry
Romantic Poetry and the
Fragmentary Imperative
Revolt, Affect, Collectivity
All of these books were/will be published by SUNY Press, Albany, NY
(to be continued)
* Realization; insight; intuition.
Post and Read Comments (0)November 22, 2005
Vermonter Arrested at SOA
November 22, 2005
School of the Americas Watch – Vermont
For more info: Palmer Legare, 802-426-3783
Burlington filmmaker and activist Robin Lloyd was one of 40 people arrested Sunday at a protest against the US Army’s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), more commonly known by its old name, the School of the Americas or SOA.
After “a rough night” in the country jail, Lloyd is ready to serve an expected three to six months in prison. “It’s the least I can do to be in solidarity with the people of Latin America” says Lloyd, who has traveled frequently throughout the Americas.
Over 15,000 people were at Sunday’s protest outside the gates of Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia. The SOA has been located there since 1984, when it was kicked out of Panama because of its strong connections to military coups and torture. More graduates of the SOA have gone on to become dictators than from any other school in history.
Lloyd was arrested after attempting to issue a warrant for citizen’s arrest to Colonel Gilberto R. Perez, director of WHINSEC. The warrant cited the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
In 1996, the Pentagon responded to strong pressure from SOA critics and released some of the training manuals used at the school. The manuals advocated use of torture, false imprisonment and assassination against people who claim that “the government is not meeting the basic needs of the people.”
Over 60,000 soldiers from throughout Latin America have graduated from the SOA. Many have been held responsible for some of the worst atrocities in Latin America since the school’s inception in 1946, such as the massacre of over 900 civilians in El Mozote, El Salvador, in 1981, and numerous massacres in Colombia this year.
Lloyd believes the SOA is part of a larger problem which has become more obvious under the Bush administration. “I call on all people to leave their comfort zones and protest this illegal government.”
October 04, 2005
little boy george & Harriet
Little boy george announced the perfect supreme court nominee this morning... Harriet Miers... his own personal lawyer, who, by the way, was on the search committee! Just like dickie dick cheney, who was on the search committee for a vice president to run with little boy, Harriet picked... herself to be the nominee!!!
And with any luck, billy boy frist will hound Arlen and Patrick to get it all settled in time for turkey day... and then they can all go home and have a happy thanksgiving.
Post and Read Comments (0)September 29, 2005
Factoid of the day
Bush's latest milestone in the war on terror has been ignored in the mainstream media. Bush has been president for 1730 days and with the death toll in Iraq currently at roughly 1873 American servicemen (and thousands & thousands of Iraqis), Bush can boast that at least one US soldier has died for every day he's been in office.
And of course this does not include 9/11, the first catastrophe of his watch. If we consider 9/11 and the destruction of New Orleans... well then, this is one of the bloodiest presidents ever.
Jim Hogue, one of the programmers on WGDR (WGDR.org) points out that the administration's response to Katrina was not "inept" it was deliberate... after all, dickie boy cheney & little boy george were hot to get Haliburton new no-bids and get the "reconstruction" of New Orleans under way.
Post and Read Comments (0)September 18, 2005
Bush Resigns
If only it were true!
September 08, 2005
America, Katrina, & Fascists
In America, the devolution into fascism continues as the appalling paralysis of the Bush administration in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrates. Fascism feeds on crisis, and people are simply a pool of bodies; cull the most useful and discard the rest. Fascist regimes need war, violence, militarism, and endless crisis.
Are we stupid, blind, or too busy to think about what the implications of the crisis in New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama' Is this a once in a lifetime fluke'
Ask Bush why he cut 71 million from funding needed to shore up and maintain levees on Lake Pontchartrain.
Ask Cheney why he finished his vacation and checked out a 2.9 million dollar Chesapeake waterfront home before heading to the stricken area to meet with Haliburton, who already has a reconstruction contract to repair damage wreaked by Katrina.
Ask Condoleeza “Imelda” Rice why she was in New York buying THOUSANDS of DOLLARS of new shoes while rescuers were finding elderly people in attics, up to their necks in filthy, toxic water. After all, she’s only the Secretary of State.
If Vermonters think we are so special that Bush and his hacks would come running to our rescue, think again; all those National Guard in Iraq and Afghanistan, all that machinery, all that equipment, unavailable for Americans, here, in America.
And now, Bush says the Mayor of New Orleans is responsible. The mayor of New Orleans'' Was he in charge of FEMA' Could he bypass the governor and request troops' Did he have control of federal funds for repairs and maintenance of the levees'
If the Mayor of New Orleans was a white man with lots of money and little Christian tow-heads in Sunday school every week, it would have been a very different scenario.
As Michael Moore asked: "Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for 5 days'"
Yes, Michael. With Bush in the White House, I can.
Post and Read Comments (0)September 05, 2005
Fearless bush in Air Force 1
Post and Read Comments (0)September 04, 2005
Condoleeza Rice Goes Shopping
The following was posted on Gawker
According to Drudge, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has recently enjoyed a little Broadway entertainment. And Page Six reports that she’s also working on her backhand with Monica Seles. So the Gulf Coast has gone all Mad Max, women are being raped in the Superdome, and Rice is enjoying a brief vacation in New York. We wish we were surprised.
What does surprise us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman.
Angry Lady, whoever you are, we love you. You are a true American, and we’ll go shoe shopping with you anytime.
Post and Read Comments (0)September 03, 2005
Out Reach to Lesbians Displaced by Katrina
Anyone interested in helping lesbians displaced or made homeless by Katrin contact me at mgangemi@sover.net or post to comments.
Post and Read Comments (0)September 01, 2005
Race, Class, & Katrina
The horror of Hurricane Katrina is not a once-in-a-lifetime catastrophe and the magnitude of this disaster is a screaming wake-up call that few in Washington want to accept, let alone learn from.
Since at least the 1980s, climatologists, scientists, environmentalists, and responsible individuals in the property-casualty insurance and reinsurance markets have warned about “Global Warming” to deaf ears. As an analyst with Standard & Poor’s Insurance Ratings, I was privy to information and discussions that modeled scenarios eerily close to what has been unfolding on the Gulf and East coasts: an increase in the frequency and severity of hurricanes, and the vulnerability of populations in coastal areas that have been developed far beyond what those areas can support. I remember all to well the sights and smells of the wreckage Hurricane Andrew left behind in South Florida, especially Homestead.
Areas vulnerable to hurricanes continue to be developed by corporations and real estate conglomerates. It is an asinine game of Russian roulette that reminds me of the paradox of traveling first class on a 747: they hit the mountain first.
As inevitably happens in crises such as Katrina, the tragedy soon devolves into dollars and cents. Wall Street will see a marked rise in the stocks of companies associated with construction. As in war, natural disasters are a boon to those who are in a position to take advantage of, or exploit the situation.
What is particularly outrageous is that the ones suffering the most are the most vulnerable: the poor, the homeless, the disabled, the sick, the working poor, elders on fixed Social Security, children. Pay attention and learn that many of the people left behind in New Orleans did not have the money or means to get out.
An appalling reality in the aftermath of this catastrophe is that the Bush administration has not fully funded essential infrastructure construction and maintenance. Funds have been cutback or withheld by Mr. Bush and his Pipedream Team in Washington. They are like the actuaries of Ford Motor Corporation, who gambled on being sued against the cost of fixing the flawed design of gas tanks in Ford Pintos. Remember the children who were burned to death or disfigured in those rear end collisions'
Bush continues to decry global warming; he promotes irresponsible tax cuts (the Estate Tax is the most recent example); and he manipulates public policy to serve his own race and class.
In her broadcast of Tuesday, August 30th, 2005, Amy Goodman reported that: “In June, 2005, the publication, New Orleans City Business, reported that President Bush was seeking to slash funds that would help New Orleans prepare for a major hurricane. The report said that in fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces a record $71 million reduction in federal funding. Those cuts would affect major hurricane and flood protection projects.”
The Bush administration and its congressional support base have methodically cut back federal funding of essential infrastructure projects and funneled mind-boggling amounts of money to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every dollar spent on war is a dollar taken away from Americans.
And then of course there are questions that beg for answers: If the government is so ill-equipped to handle the aftermath of a hurricane, what are they going to do in the event of (what Bush insists is inevitable) a major terrorist attack' Where WAS Homeland security in all this' Are they to respond only to terrorism' If so, call them what they are: Terrorist Security.
What will happen' My guess is that Bush will do everything he can to protect his race and class and let everyone else fend for themselves.
And God help the refugees from the Superdome in New Orleans who are being relocated to the Astrodome in Houston. Come football season, Texans are going to want their stadium back.
Yet, there is one good thing Bush has done this week. He ended his vacation two days ahead of schedule.
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