kt moxie

Alright, Mr. President.  Here's you're big chance to get something right. 

Your own government agencies have planned and reported on the dangers of the bird flu, and the potentials of a pandemic.  Governments in Asia are already dealing with the flu now, and they are struggling.  Please act NOW.  Not after 200,000 Americans have died (no, I didn't make that number up.  It's the conservative number from the government's estimate). 

And, we already experienced a scare over flu vaccine shortage - and we all already went through the "save the children and old people." So, please don't have a Bushism like "We didn't think people really died of the flu..."  BTW... the current death rate for people with the bird flu is 55%.  Ouch.

There's currently no vaccine for the bird flu, and only one medicine for treatment.  I think we should be working on that, huh?  And oh - the US only has 2 million treatments of the medicine on hand.  Australia has 3.5 million (and their population:  less then 1/10 of ours).

Please, Mr. Bush, I don't want to bury any of my relatives because they died of the flu.  Oh, and by the way - talk to with the Center for Disease Control - it's your government's agency.  It's called disaster preparedness.  Guess what?  The next disaster won't be planes crashing into a building or hurricanes destroying a coastline and flooding a city. 

Several bloggers have been counting how many of the most often challenged books they have already read. My reads are in bold.

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier 
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak 
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras 
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende 
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney 
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene 
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene 
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Twenty-six. Not too shabby. How many “bad books” have you read?

This is week the official banned book week.  Please, read one.  This is good stuff.  Maya Angelou.  Steinbeck.   Yum.  Amazing how those book banners never want to ban the badly written stuff, huh? 

3 of the top 10 books that have been officially requested to be banned in 2004 are for homosexual content - a new record.  Harry Potter is off the top ten for the first time in 5 years. 

Phew.  I guess the book burners are not so worried about our children becoming witches and wizards.  Just worried about kids reading about somebody gay - cause it's contagious, you know. 

Here's the top ten:

• "The Chocolate War" for sexual content, offensive language, religious viewpoint, being unsuited to age group and violence
• "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers, for racism, offensive language and violence
• "Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture" by Michael A. Bellesiles, for inaccuracy and political viewpoint
• Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey, for offensive language and modeling bad behavior
• "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, for homosexuality, sexual content and offensive language
• "What My Mother Doesn't Know" by Sonya Sones, for sexual content and offensive language
• "In the Night Kitchen" by Maurice Sendak, for nudity and offensive language
• "King & King" by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland, for homosexuality
• "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, for racism, homosexuality, sexual content, offensive language and unsuited to age group
• "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, for racism, offensive language and violence

Banning lots of gay books...So what does this tell us?  Hmm... well, I think that since gay marriage is fired up in the political sphere, now we better not be able to read about anybody in a gay relationship!  That might make young people form their own opinions!

And Maya Angelou's stuff seems to always get on someone's list - because we don't really want to think too deeply about race and poverty and sexism.  The same goes for Steinbeck.

Captain Underpants?  Teehee.  Modeling bad behavior?  If kids are going to get that from a book... well, good for them!  With Jackass, and wrestling, and Grand Theft Auto, I doubt there's much in Captain Underpants that is really all that much to worry about!

Ok.  I need to find some time to read now.  Captain Underpants is calling my name.  :P

On the topic of "odd news" associated to the hurricane disasters, the navy is officially silent about some dolphins that may or may not have escaped from an a navy aquarium. These stealth armed dolphins were trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater are alledgedly missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

The real world imitating art - but who knew it would be Austin Powers?

Like all "good" bloggers, I've decided to move away from my old blog name based on my actual name... and go towards something more anonymous.  I'm now "kt moxie." 

Moxie means:

mox·ie    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (mks)
n. Slang

1. The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.
2. Aggressive energy; initiative: “His prose has moxie, though it rushes and stumbles from a pent-up surge” (Patricia Hampl).
3. Skill; know-how.
4. Fortitude and determination;

I think the it fits me pretty well.  And kt moxie sounds cool.  That's a bonus.

The web site Black Lantern has a music video on their page by a group called the Legendary K.O. that is a spin-off of Kayne West's rap song Gold Digger and his quote "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People."  Watch it and see what you think:

Click to watch >> (QuickTime) (Windows Media)

 

While we all might not agree with everything this song has to say, I think it's point resonates with most African-Americans - and others - in this country.  I think we should all listen.  And really - how fast would Bush have reacted if the people in distress were white, rich and in Connecticut?

Also, Public Enemy's Chuck D has also put out a response in rap:  "Hell No We Ain't All Right."  Here's how another blogger, Sean Coon, describes it:

"Chuck D's rhymes flow so natural and powerful, they take form within your psyche while you latch onto his beat. That happens because Chuck doesn't twist to the beat of a loop; Chuck's direct, unflinching  words twist a beat of their own.

Do you feel him in this latest drop? I follow his words, like "the new world is upside down and out of order," as a flip from the past, as back then he was taken aghast, as the polar opposites were set-up, the Axis of Evil corrupt..."

Time to get off my soap box, and onto the plank!  Today is the Official Talk Like a Pirate Day!  Argh!

Some noteworthy things our leaders have said about Katrina...

In chronological order...

"FEMA is not going to hesitate at all in this storm. We are not going to sit back and make this a bureaucratic process. We are going to move fast, we are going to move quick, and we are going to do whatever it takes to help disaster victims." --FEMA Director Michael Brown, Aug. 28, 2005

"I don't want to alarm everybody that, you know, New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That's just not happening." -Bill Lokey, FEMA's New Orleans coordinator, in a press briefing from Baton Rouge, Aug. 30, 2005 (Source)

"I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." –President Bush, on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina (Source)

"I don't make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans." –FEMA Director Michael Brown, arguing that the victims bear some responsibility, CNN interview, Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)

"I have not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who don't have food and water." –Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, on NPR's "All Things Considered," Sept. 1, 2005 (Source)

"We just learned of the convention center – we being the federal government – today." –FEMA Director Michael Brown, to ABC's Ted Koppel, Sept. 1, 2005, to which Koppel responded " Don't you guys watch television? Don't you guys listen to the radio? Our reporters have been reporting on it for more than just today." (Source)

"I believe the town where I used to come – from Houston, Texas, to enjoy myself, occasionally too much – will be that very same town, that it will be a better place to come to." –President Bush, on the tarmac at the New Orleans airport, Sept. 2, 2005 (Source)

"What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them." –Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the Hurricane flood evacuees in the Houston Astrodome, Sept. 5, 2005 (Source)

"Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" –House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX), to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston (Source)

"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." –Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA) to lobbyists, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal (Source)

More accounts:

Conference attendees in the French Quarter - Bradshaw and Slonsky are paramedics frorm California that were attending the EMS conference in New Orleans.  They talk of survivalist looting - "fondly", absence of any assistance, lies from the authorities, food and water being taken away by the police, and being prevented from self-evacuating.

Doctors from Georgia there to help - Dr. Jeffrey Orledge and his medical team provided care in New York City after the 2001 terrorist attacks and in Florida last year after Hurricane Ivan. None of that prepared them for the bedlam of the past week, he said on Sunday.

Ok.  It is making me sick to find out how poorly we have treated our own.  As if they are not worth saving.  And, yes, race is an issue.  Yes, poverty is an issue.  If you were poor and black in New Orleans, then you were much more likely to be one of the refugees left behind in the flood.   Anyone trying to ignore that is pretending that we are in a color blind egalitarian society.  And we are not. 

I thought this comic makes an interesting - and humorous point.