I see I got off easy from my last post, most of you democrats would of hung me.  If you saw it, it would of gotten your blood boiled! Anyway another subject, ok today is the four year anniversary of 9/11, its funny when I woke up today I didn't feel any emotions or anything towards today, yes I care about what happened four years ago.  I guess it lost a little meaning. I know people say never forget today 3,000 people died. I guess to me year after year I forget, I feel for the victims tremendosly.  But here's a question and be honest, 39 years from know on September 11th will you remember what September 11 really meant. I mean on December 7th it will be the 64th anniversary of Pearl Harbor are we going to remember the victims who died that day heck will you even remember when you wake up on December 7th that before 9/11 it was our biggest attack on the United States, probably not.  I go through the day today and on occasion I say to myself what a tragic day, but it doesn't consume me.  I'm sure it doesn't you either, I'm not heartless I guess as the years go by it tends to lose a little emotion (I don't forget) this will always be a tragic day and we should never forget it but honestly ask yourself do you honestly feel anything on the day of December 7th.  I'm not attacking anyone or anything I'm just asking a question that I think we should think about sometimes in celebrating or honoring special days. 

 I had a ordinary Labor Day weekend.  I got tickets to see Bill Maher in Miami on November 12th at 8pm so should be interesting.  The tickets are up in the balcony so who knows, but I'm a Bill Maher fan, he goes off in dumb topics like food and stuff, but for the most part he's pretty good.  I loved his original show Politically Incorrect it was one of the first places I watched after the disaster of 9/11 and he put it best.  The government f***** up was what he said in the response to 9/11 like the New Orleanes debacle the government wasn't there looking out for the people of those disasters they were covering there asses just like right know. On a sidenote please take a look at my last post it was my angrest yet!  No one had the guts to say it but he did, good for him.  I still think that show was better than this but he is still entertaining.

Ok, next question maybe this might piss off alot of democrats, do the democrats hate George Bush and the Bush administration, I'm starting to think so.  I know there Democrats who really care about the issues and vigurously oppose him and I respect those.  But I think there just finding a way to blame him and his adminstration for anything. What I'm talking about today is the democrats of the judiciary committee grilling Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff.  Yes he deserves blame did he hear his incompetent answers when he got grilled by Tim Russert and Chris Wallace, he sounded clueless.  But he isn't the only one and the Democrats need to realize that.  Why don't they blame the state and local officials of Louisana, like the governor Kathleen Blanco and mayor Ray Nagin?  They deserve the most blame I think!.  There blaming FEMA to. Fine I agree Mike Brown obviously doesn't know what he's doing, but where is the blame for the mayor and governor.  If the Democrats want a total assessment on who let the people of Louisana down its the officials of Louisana themselves, why don't they bring that up. 

I say this because everything here is blame Bush and his administration. Not look at your own(Democrats of Louisana) at how they knew something like this could happen.  They are the most guilty and I don't see any, any blame from Democrats to them.  Do the democrats know the difference between opposing and hating or are they both the same?  Independents and moderates don't take to kindly to this.  I heard a democrat on the radio angry at his own party for grandstanding for ignoring blame on the other side at the officials of Louisana.  As a independent, I don't hate, I oppose Bush when I think he's wrong and give his due if he's right.  Though I do think he has done more wrong than right I do give him credit after a slow delay to the disaster to going down and comforting the people of Mississippi.  I'm not saying all Democrats do this, but Bush isn't running for a third term he can't. You need to put that hate into why you oppose him and give the people some fresh ideas because if you want to hate him all the way through the 2008 election, you'll probably see another Republican in the White House.  Sometimes I don't know if the Democrats know the difference between the two when it comes to Bush and his administration.  I'll repeat this there's plenty of blame to put on the Bush administration officials in this, but there's alot you have to put on the Democratic officials of Louisana.  Maybe the democrats can wake up and realize that.  By the way I wonder how many of my Democratic Xangites will ring my necks after this post?

  This is probably my angrest post yet.  I am so mad and frustrated at the situation going on in Louisana and Mississippi.  Not at the people(except for the looters) but at our government it has failed us.  But what else is new.  When you ask for the government for help they are guaranteed to let you down.  These people for four days, Monday no food and water, Tuesday no food and water, Wednesday no food and water, Thursday no food and water; but finally these people get what they want yesterday at least some of them do.  The people and officials of Louisana have no idea what there doing.  The governor of the state Kathleen Blanco, is "clueless". She has no control of what's going on in the state.  People are dying and suffering each and every day.  She needs to apologize to the people of her state for her complete ineptness.  But now that seems to late.  She has failed the people of her state and she will definitely get the boot when her term is up and she deserves it. Put it to you this way she had 6,000 national guard and 1,000 state police on standby, inexcusable for a state that they knew with this type of hit would cause catastrophic damage.

Hayley Barbour, governor of Mississippi, hasn't exactly set the world on fire.  He gets a D.  He at least along with President Bush toured the damage of the state yesterday.  But besides that what the state is wiped out the response was late and he is saving face.  Our President gets a C, I thought he did a great job yesterday.  Those moments with the victims of Mississippi were very heartfelt.  But the deployment of the national guard and the supplies to the victims of Louisana and Missisippi well maybe now there there.  But they should of been there several days ago, people were suffering and dying.  But the biggest let down, the biggest disgrace is the government. They failed everybody in this.  When people are dying on streets they are ignored.  The people are being ignored and they are mad that government and you should to. They have no right to suffer from the government's complete idiotic ineptness.  This proves why government doesn't work when asked.  Hell we the people are doing a better job than this idiotic government by volunterring and giving back.  Sean Hannity says we need to put perspective on this by the heroic rescues and stuff.  He obviously doesn't seem to see the anger in people's faces like Shepard Smith and Geraldo Riveria.  Shepard Smith deserves kudos for all the hardwork and sincerity in this tragedy, he has done the best coverage of this hurricane. He has earned my respect.  No script, just pure honesty in a situation in "we the people" need it.

Where's Sean's outrage, put perspective, my ass.  Trent Lott, senator of Mississippi, has said the government has done a great job, in a interview with Anderson Cooper.  Really senator ask those people dying in Louisana and Mississippi.  How about those 3,000 or so people at the convention center in Louisana who have been there for days because of the ineptness of the government.  There were people literally dying there, why because nobody was looking out for them. Any elected official who tells you the government has done a good job has no perspective on this situatuion at all.  They are simply making excuses for them.  It's like the blind leading the blind with the government and the officials in Louisana.  This situation is why I hate the government they almost always let you down and they got exposed in one of the greatest national disasters ever.  The people are coming now so what!  They should of been there days ago.  More people could've been alive, more lives could've been saved.  I'm happy there coming, but to little to late and if you think that's harsh.  Talk to the people outside and police officials and they'll be happy to show there anger.  Day six things are happening should've happened way earlier than this. No fires are breaking out in Louisana. They should've been there way god damn earlier! These people deserve better and we (the government) let them down big time and so has Kathleen Blanco.

  Well what can you say two states throughly devasted by one storm, Hurricane Katrina hit with winds of 145 mph. The city of New Orleanes is 80% underwater and things may not be the same for at least a month and that's a safe estimate, according to FEMA director Mike Brown.  It's funny the storm didn't get a direct hit but it hit 15-20 miles east of the city and it still all those houses are underwater thousands of people have no lives to go back to and I don't even want to think the amount of people that are underneath that water it's scary.  I don't know about you but looking at those pictures of houses basically covered with water sent chills down my spine.  Yet water levels in the city of 500,000 may still be rising and some of the city lies 20 feet below sea level.  People also have to worry about their health temperatures are in the 90s and with the relative humidity its supposed to feel like temperatures are in the 100s all week, that's scary.    I don't even want to know what the death toll in Louisana  is at the end but its scary.  The mayor says hundreds of people may be dead.  People are being told to evacuate, life I hope gets better for these people, but for now its very bleak.

  Mississippi got devasted as well with major wind damage and storm surge.  Homes, businesses, casinos are throughly devasted.  Cities like Gulfport and Biloxi are in dire need. As of this morning 100 people are feared dead, and in all likelihood that number is going to rise.  A personal opinion looking at Mississippi it looks like what south Dade county looked like after Andrew and that's a storm none of us South Floridians will ever forget.  To me that's the best way to describe it.  It's not so much the flooding but the city looks like it got hit by a train wreck. The worst part of the storm is the looters, what subhumans, some of them may be desperate for food but going in Walmart(in New Orleanes) and taking everything in site don't they have any consideration for others or is it really survival of the fittest.  Anyway both people in southwestern Louisana and places in Mississippi will never be the same and I think it puts perspective on worrying about getting hit with category one winds or tropical storm winds, people in Louisana and Mississippi have much more to worry about. Andrew to me was the worst of the worst, Katrina is like a double Andrew yet the long term effects in Louisana are scary, lets hope they come out of it ok.  Just an observation hearing some of the people's responses to the storm and losing everything, to me it puts everything in perspective.  About gas prices, I really don't care right now, I care if people are ok and about there recovery of their lives.  Gas prices we'll deal with some other time.

If you want to help the people of Hurricane Katrina go to these websites:

www.fema.com

www.americanredcross.com

www.salvationarmy.com

   Like I say doesn't this put everything in perspective for all of us!

  Well Tropical Storm Katrina is now a major category 3 storm projected to be a category 4 when it hits land somewhere between Louisana and Alabama in all likelihood.  The storm did hit Florida with winds of 80 mph, but luckily instead of hitting the Broward/Palm Beach county line, it took a last minute dip to the southwest and hit the Dade/Broward county line.  For such a minimal storm it did have some impact with heavy flooding in areas like Kendall and Homestead and Key West got swamped as well.  But being born in Miami I just had to see all that flooding in Kendall, that's where I first lived, granted it could of been worse if the winds were higher but still I hated seeing it.  It'll get better, they're lucky they won't encounter what the Gulf states will, there going to be in for one major one.

  First week of school went ok. Both of my politics classes went good, alot of work but good.  I especially liked my Media in Politics class, I really got into it I was raising my hand the entire time during the class, though I hoped I made sense.  I know I should get over myself alot of you participate alot in your classes.  But with me its either hit or miss I either really get into it or I don't there seems to be no middle ground(well maybe a few times).  Anyway I'm into this one, as for Issues in American Politics, the teacher is boring, but the topics seem interesting.  As for Spanish I'll survive I guess.

Here's a list of the top 20 conservative and liberal cities(with a population over 100,000) in the United States [compilied by the Bay Area Center Voting Research]

CONSERVATIVE CITIES                                             LIBERAL CITIES

1)Provo, Utah                                                               1)Detroit, Michigan

2)Lubbock, Texas                                                         2)Gary, Indiana

3)Abilene, Texas                                                            3)Berkeley, CA

4)Hialeah, Florida                                                           4)Washington, D.C.

5)Plano, Texas                                                                5)Oakland, CA

6)Colorado Springs, CO                                                  6)Inglewood, CA

7)Gilbert, Arizona                                                             7)Newark, New Jersey

8)Bakersfield, CA                                                             8)Cambridge, MA

9)Lafayette, Louisana                                                         9)San Fransisco, CA 

10)Orange, CA                                                                  10)Flint, Michigan

11)Escondido, CA                                                              11)Clevland, OH

12)Allentown, PA                                                               12)Hartford, Connecticut

13)Mesa, Arizona                                                               13)Paterson, New Jersey

14)Arlington, TX                                                                 14)Baltimore, MD

15)Peoria, Arizona                                                              15)New Haven, Connecticut

16)Cape Coral, FL                                                              16)Seattle, WA

17)Garden Grove, CA                                                          17)Chicago, Illinois

18)Simi Valley, CA                                                                18)Philadelphia, PN

19)Corona, CA                                                                      19)Birmingham, AL

20)Clearwater, FL                                                                  20)St Louis, Missouri

So Provo is the most conservative city and Detroit is the most liberal city. You can take them for what you want.  Cities like New York, Minneapolis, Providence, Boston, and New Orleanes, round out the top 25 of the most liberal cities.  West Valley City in Utah, Oklahoma City, Overland Park in Kansas, Anchorage, and Huntington Beach in California round out the top 25 among conservative cites. Hope to hear from you Xangites.

  Well Tropical Storm Katrina is heading our way, it's supposed to reach Category 1 Hurricane status hopefully it will go a little more north or south.  I at least hope the storm speeds up if the storm stalls that means rain, rain, rain; and localized flooding comes as a result.  I don't mind rain even for a somewhat persistant time, but no heavy flooding please.  The wind I'll deal with. At least it will get rid of the heat we've had since Monday, god it's been hot out.  I dealt with heavy tropical storm winds twice from last year storms, believe me I was a panicky mess. But I knew we were lucky both times because they got it worse up north in Martin and St Lucie counties.   But at least I know what I'm in for at least I'm prepared this time.  Who knows what happens with storms, at least to hope for no more Hurricane Andrew(s), I got out there just in time(my house got hit pretty good), but the city of Miami didn't and it will never forget it.

  Out of all the trips you've been on which ones do you rememeber both good and bad?  One of the best trips I've taken was to Orlando.  Of course I've been there over five times, but I first went on a school trip in the 6th grade it was great, I didn't even mind the four hour car trip from Miami to Orlando.  We went to Epcot Center, it totally rocked.  We went into groups and I had a fun time overall.  I did the same thing in the 8th grade it was just as good.  I also enjoyed going on a family trip a couple years ago to Vancouver, British Columbia up in Canada.  It had some of the best scenery ever.  Another trip I enjoyed was a trip to Philadelphia I stayed in the best hotel ever.  But I also saw the Liberty Bell, went to a museum, and went other places.  Overall good trip.  I've been to other places like Boston, Los Angeles, Virginia, and others.  A recent trip I took I hated it was to Minnesota.  The only thing of interest was the Mall of America.  I could only go there so many times, plus another thing was I had a cold the entire time. I hate cold weather!  I also have been to Colorado and Utah on skiing vacations, which means I didn't have a good time.  I wasn't sick or anything it's just I can't ski worth a lick and there's nothing else to do there.  So it's been a mixed bag for me, but it was worth it.  I went on a cruise to the Bahamas once, but I hardly remember the trip.  Anyway the only place I can think of that I haven't been to is New York, so hopefully that will be a good trip if I ever end up going there.

    Some people put a lot of weight in polls others don't.  I know everyone uses them when it comes to a President's favorability rating.  Everyone looked at them during the Presidential Election last year they probably looked at them weekly seeing if Bush or Kerry was ahead. Of course we know who won.  I used to follow them all the time last fall during my Public Opinion and Media class seeing who was up in whatever poll. These days I'm a little skeptical of them.  In turns out the most accurate poll during the election was Rasmussen Reports.  Here's a breakdown of a recent survey done by them.  If you want more info about them go to www.rasmussenreports.com. 

    Opinion of anti-War protester Cindy Sheehan

       Favorable: 38%         Unfavorable: 35%

      (August 17-18): Survey of 1,000 Adults

     Amongst Men and Women

     MEN
     Favorable: 34%         Unfavorable: 42%

      WOMEN

       Favorable: 35%         Unfavorable: 34%

        THE WAY DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS SEE HER

         Republicans  

        Unfavorable:  64%           Favorable: 16%

         Democrats

          Favorable: 56%      Unfavorable:  18%

      Ok so I guess you can take what you want from polls.  On a sidenote I feel pain for Cindy Sheenan, you can't help but do.  People who attack her for her comments have to realize, this is a mom talking, I think she's very emotionally imbalanced and they should give her a break.  I don't take what she says with in worth, she knows about as much on foreign policy as Rosie O'Donnell.  Trust me though I feel for her immensely.  I don't think George Bush should meet with her.  She already met with him once and at the time said she looked at President Bush in response in a good way. Now she's changed her mine and said some pretty harsh things about him, to me that doesn't make sense.  While I normally would be for a grieving parent meeting with a president, she already has, and I think all that would happen is she would attack him personally.  I'm aganist the war in Iraq, but I think President Bush has made the right choice here. 

  Do we do anything right in relationships?  I mean is it that the guy is the one at fault more than the girl?  Not that in my few relationships I've had these problems.  A friend of mind was writing one hundred reasons she had for not wanting a guy. Keep in mind she's had very bad relationships with men.  I'll list several of them and tell me if you agree or disagree with them and if you want to go into detail on any go ahead.  God knows as a guy I disagree with some of them.

1)Men don't know how to discuss things that are bothering them.

2)They are always looking at other women.

3)Every word said out of a man's mouth is thought by their penis.

4)Men get pleasure out of hurting things, including women.

5)Men shouldn't tell us we don't spend enough time with them.

6)Men don't know how to respect women.

7)Men feel good about themselves if they make a girl cry.

8)Men think they're too macho to cry.

9)Sex means more to a girl than a guy.

10)All men do is lie.

11)The only time men give women flowers is after they have done something terribile.

12)Men don't have morals these days.

  There is 88 more.  First off not all men are lie, I would like to think I'm pretty honest.  Men take joy if they get a girl to cry come on, ya that's the first thing I like to see is a girl cry, please if anything I'm sympathetic, because it doesn't take much for me to cry.  Maybe the first one is true, for me anyway.  It's hard for me share my feelings.  The last one if anything pisses me off; men don't have morals. With all due respect I am a very moral person and if my relationships have gone wrong it hasn't been because of that.  I was taught to treat everyone with respect, including the opposite sex.  I do think of there feelings and I do care if they're hurting, I would think that's pretty moral.  I'm sorry the last one just really got to me and I think no sex in a relationship has a lockhold on morals.  Men and women to me both have certain things that bother each of the other sex, like for me sometimes I don't think girls have a sense of humor, but that's just me.  I could be wrong. What do you think?

  Well despite doing badly on my final exam, I still got a B in my Comparative Politics class.  I'm not the greatest test taker, but I did so well with my homework assignments, it helped alot in the final grade.  But a B is good, especially considering the difficulty of the class.  Anyway I have to pass Spanish II(get a C or better) to graduate.  I'm taking it this fall semester and I survivied Spanish I, but I'm not good in Spanish so I hope I pass it somehow.  My other classes in politics though are fun and interesting.

  Anyway George Bush passed a transportation bill this week, it's filled with pork barrel spending in it.  Why did he sign it we already have a deficit granted it has been reduced but it's still pretty high.  In 1987 Ronald Reagan vetoed a transportation bill because it was filled with pork barrel spending.  He was smart.  One of the best things about Reagan as president was his take of limited government. Bush likes to spend, heck he has yet to veto a bill yet. George Bush=big-government   Ronald Reagan=small-government.  I think by this it also proves that Bill Clinton was way better at the economy than George Bush.  It's simple Clinton had a surplus and Bush has a deficit.

Just this one question, I've probably asked it before but what the hell.(democrats will like this one)

1)Would you want Bill Clinton back as president right now?(go into detail)

my answer: Hell ya!  Great job at the economy, I feel at ease when he was president like everything was going to be alright. 

  Well I've been taken a longer time in entering my posts, sorry it's just been so boring lately.  Anyway it's been a tough week in Iraq with 20 deaths and that is from the state of Ohio.  First off give credit to all of them for their courage in fighting for their country and say a prayer for them.  But more importantly are things going well or is this just a bad week, well here's an assesment and know I got all this info while watching a segment of The O'Reilly Factor and his two guests Lt. Dave Cowen and Col. David Hunt.

   All this information is from people they're talking to on the ground that want this mission to succeed, but I think all of us do.  Anyway the two strong points are the Kurds and the American soldiers.  But they say Baghdad is a disaster.  That the main reason for the problem is out of the 90 Iraq batalians only 2 are capable of independent action.  In other words they're not ready to fight.  Also the Iraqis are not fighting for their freedom.  My opinion, if the Iraqis don't want to fight for their freedom then there putting our troops at risk, you either fight or you don't it's that simple!  Plus the tacts of the terrorists have changed to car bombings.  There is also corruption with the Iraqi government officials and contractors that are stealing billions of dollars that's trying to help the Iraqis get on with their life.  Their assesment were going to have to stick with it for the long haul.  As for O'Reilly he sees it as grim and his opinion of Donald Rumsfield isn't that great.  He says he has no confidendence in him and that he isn't leveling with the American people.  To put it simply maybe this was just a bad week or maybe it's just the way things are, but by listening to O'Reilly and his guests things definitely need improvement.