Compostcompote

First of all, I love John Stewart, the host of Comedy Central's Today Show. Here are a few reasons why:

1) He's smart, but not arrogant. Fabulous combination.

2) He's funny, but not mean-spirited. Again, a mighty fine combination.

3) He knows when to poke fun and when to be serious. For example, consider last night's show, in which Stewart did a wrap-up of Hurricane Katrina news. He never once mocked or blamed any of the victims of the hurricane (as Bob Barr did in today's Marietta Daily Journal. Apparently, New Orleans brought all this on itself due to poor management and sinful living.). Stewart was respectful about the nightmare that is New Orleans' predicament; however, he was unsparing of the Bush Administration, FEMA, and even local government in The Big Easy. I especially loved the portion of the show in which Stewart, addressing certain members of the Bush Administration, etc., who were trying to shift blame on anybody but themselves. Stewart's response? "Okay, you? Shut up!"

I'm thinking that people such as Dubya, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, and others of their ilk probably haven't heard the words, "Shut up!" nearly enough. Would that they might hear these words and actually heed them.

But enough about John Stewart (actually, it isn't enough, but I don't want him to think that I'm a stalker. Really, John, I respect your marriage, etc. But if you were to clone yourself someday, I would be very interested...)

Now let's talk about a man who is working my last nerve...

Lance Armstrong!

Dear God, if I have to hear about how courageous, honest, and impervious to drug use Lance Armstrong is much longer I might set fire to my own mountain bike. Lance Armstrong is a fine athlete, yes, but he is also arrogant and hyper-competitive (according to a recent interview, he said he can't even stand for Cheryl Crow to beat him in a race to the mailbox. What is _she_ thinking?).

Also according to a recent article, Armstrong is now making noise about returning to competition in order to "anger the French." Now, I get that Armstrong is angry about being accused of doping. I would be angry, too, and I'd do everything I could to prove the allegations wrong. But Armstrong seems to be engaging in an old-fashioned pissing contest, and nobody wants to watch that! Besides, I thought he was retiring to spend time with his three children. I guess being around for your kids just isn't as important as sticking it to the cycling world.

A big thumbs down to you, Lancie. I'm sick of hearing about you, and I hope Cheryl Crow dumps you for some hot French cyclist.

Regarding the Hurricane Katrina debacle, I'm of the opinion that there is plenty of blame to go around.

For example, if our President hadn't been so gung-ho to invade Iraq _and_ reduce the tax loads of the wealthy, we would have had enough money to mend the levees that failed in New Orleans. Apparently, New Orleans' officials knew the levees needed repair and asked for the money; they only received a pittance, however, since we are currently sending a whole lot of money to Iraq...and, hey, weren't we supposed to get more oil out of the whole Iraq deal? I distinctly remember Mr. Rumquist bellowing about how the war would pay for itself via increased oil delivery/resources. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The only people getting anything out of Iraq are the people who work for Halliburton (uh, Mr. Cheney?). Oh, and the terrorists who have raced into Iraq from surrounding countries since we invaded.

So, yes, the Bush Administration _does_ bear some of the blame. Also, the Feds were pretty damn slow about getting aid to New Orleans...and I'm pretty sure it would only take a military plane a couple of hours to fly there from, say, Virginia or Washington, D.C.

Of course, the people who actually _run_ New Orleans didn't exactly have a disaster plan in place, either. Piling thousands of people into a football stadium isn't a bad bet to ride out a brief storm, but keeping them there sure was. The same school busses that take kids to public school could have been used to truck people out of the city before the storm. I know, I know, hindsight is 20/20. Still, everybody knows that a good portion of New Orleans sits below sea level -- that's why they bury people in those fancy above-ground tombs (the so-called cities of the dead). Back a few hundred years ago when the city flooded periodically, it was common for coffins to work their way out of the ground and float around the city. So nobody should have been surprised.

But, hey, who am I to yack about it? Here I sit in my warm, dry house mouthing off. I sent my donation to the Red Cross, but there's probably a lot more I could do to help. I'm going to sign off now and think about that.

If you can, please give to the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Habitat, or America's Second Harvest to help the hurricane victims.