A Message from the Fat Man with the Red Cap

Truly, Michael Moore's words say more than I could. They say all that I wish I could. As follows, from his website:

Sunday, September 11th, 2005
A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore

To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:

On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?

How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?

That's right. Horse shows.

I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.

I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.

Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?

When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?

When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?

Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?

Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?

With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?

Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.

That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.

It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the window at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"

My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?

And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?

Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.

Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?

I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?

I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.

Yours,

Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com

Hot Coffee and GTA

Excerpts from a BBC article:

"Rockstar, maker of a video game which caused controversy after secret sex scenes were found in it, has issued a fix to disable access to the scenes.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the best-selling game of 2004, were unlocked by a fan who created software called Hot Coffee. Installing Hot Coffee allowed people to play an explicit "mini game".

As a result, the US Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) changed the rating to Adults Only. The change meant, however, that many shops were forced to stop stocking it as they have a policy of not selling adult-rated content.

Before the ESRB's investigation, the game had an M for mature rating that meant it could be sold to those aged 17 and above.

The storm of protest over the game even attracted the attention of US senator Hillary Clinton. She called for an investigation into who was responsible for including the scenes in the game.

In the UK, the game was originally granted an 18 age rating and that rating remains the same."

My comment?
Holy cow - how dare they make those sex scenes! I mean, I'd be upset if my 17yr old unlocked these sex scenes. But its OK for my 18yr old. Thanks alot Hilary, you GO girl! Use our taxpaying money to make sure those 17yr olds NEVER again get ahold of such explicit material! Uhm hey wait - why's there only a one year age difference between Mature ratings and Adults Only? Isn't R 17+, and NC17 is 17+?

What if SHE was our Mom?

Porter dude had the day off. I figured, since he had asked me if I was off this weekend. That just means I shall unfortunately see him tommorrow. I hear his name is Brackenwood or something weird like that. And someone said she thought he was a retired Sheriff from Oahu. Why do old men think they can hit it off with young girls? :P To add to that another one of the porters started being uber friendly with me today. He waved at me when he first arrived to work, something he hadn't done before. Then he started getting friendly and striking up a convo with me when he brought over some bags. "How are you doing today?" etc, etc. Next time he actually bothered to ask my name and stuff. David laughed when I told him and said that the porters must have a bet going to see who can date me first. I had to stay an extra hour today and I called him to tell him and he was like, "Hey, you're not gonna be late cuz you are eating lunch with the porter?" *silence* "Hunh? Whaddya say?" (me teasing) "GRR!" *click* He was teasing me of course too. :) Hehe and like a few weeks ago one of the ladies I work with claimed that one of the TSA guys (Homeland Security) was checking me out. He hasn't actually said much more than "Hi. Good Morning!" so I dunno if she was making it up or not. Oh if only I was so hot. Its a matter of horny older men, really. :P

So I had this bad experience with my car. Again. I seem to be the one who gets all the freak car accidents. I was on my way to David's house and then I noticed that I couldn't turn the wheel very much at all. So all of a sudden, *FREAK MODE ON* (I've been stranded plenty of times, lemme tell ya). This was bizzare. It was like the car was overheating and I was loosing power to the engine at the same time. So instead of pulling over I finished the 1.5/2 miles to get to David's place. I noticed smoke trailing me. It was super hard to turn the wheel. The whole time I was chanting, "Please make it, please make it, please make it..." I made it. I quickly parked in front of his house and turned the engine off. What happened next was smoke, screeching, and me running out of the car freaking out. Then the radiator fluid exploded all over the place. It was like some Xfiles episode, all this green stuff gushing all over. I frantically called my Davy to come out and immediately called my Daddy. Of course everything was too hot to touch so we waited while I explained the situation to my Dad, and then we popped the hood and took a look. The drive belt was off of the track. It was all twisted around in all the wrong places. So that means the fan stopped working and I was in major danger of overheating. The cap for the radiator fuild was popped off, it must have gotten so hot that it boiled over and that was the explosion. My Dad will be coming over tommorrow to look at it. It wasn't as if I hadn't put fluid in and it overheated, just the darn belt coming off the track and how on earth can I prevent that? Man do I ever get the weird ones. I hate cars! Hmm. Howabout I hate SUVS? Thats all I have ever driven...

So then we were hungry and Kerry didn't reply to my phonecall. So 'Eh', we went in his Dad's car to go get Costco hot dogs. I love those damm things. Its a whole meal for me. $1.50 for a meal and all I can drink soda. And then I can look at the best electronic selection on the island. :P (so sad I know) Anyways, David was off getting soda while I was saving a seat in the busy sitting area. A boy and his older sister (prolly 8) were sitting in the next table. There I was, with my Sailor Moon backpack, (the tiny blue vinyl one) and freshly blonde bangs. The little girl pointed at me and said to her brother, "What if *SHE* was our Mom?" Haha. I can take that a number of ways. I must be really cool or something. On the other hand, I must look old enough to be a mother. Flattering and yet unflattering. :P