The Method to the Madness

OK, so some of you think I have too much anger. Not really, but it's a great motivator. I mean, if something doesn't make sense to me, why not talk about it? Maybe somebody else knows something that I don't, that brings things into a new perspective. I don't have to be mad to say something isn't right.

Conversation breeds knowledge. It is an exchange of ideas. Like, I said, maybe you know something that I didn't. Or, to the contrary, I might know something that you didn't. Nobody is so shallow that they are dead-set in their ways. Or maybe people are, but my willingness to listend and talk makes me a better (read: more diverse) person.

And I'm sure someone will say: maybe you should take a stand and not be so willing to change. I say, bully.

I think being diverse, being willing to listen, being willing to change, and being willing to sacrifice is a good thing. It is being set in your ways, and forcing those ways on people that makes the world go bad.

So, please, consider this a place to speak your mind, exchange ideas. I'm doing this to benefit all of us. I can't change the world myself, but if a couple of us can come to an agreement that something isn't right, we're moving in the right direction.


PART II: Allegiences

While I'm covering why I am the way I am, let's talk about my allegiences. Especially hockey. Let's just say I have my reasons.

Omaha has a new American Hockey League team, this year. And people don't understand why I'm not on the bandwagon. Quite frankly, I have my personal allegiences with UNO. And I think the reason is obvious.

Being a former player, I have that emotional tie to the program. The AHL stands to hurt UNO, and thus I don't like the new AHL team.

Situations change, so maybe I will eventually warm up to the AHL in Omaha. Maybe I won't. But as it is right now, I could care less about the new team in the Civic Auditorium.

I personally think that what is being perceived as a hatred for all things not UNO, is really just a misinterpretation of my hatred for the USHL's Omaha franchise, the Lancers.

I have two reasons why I don't like the Lancers. The first, and most important is the fact that I played for Sioux City-- one of the Lancers biggest rivals. Of course, the Lancers brought it on themselves. The second reason is Mike Hastings. There is something wrong when you frequently pass someone at the ice rink, and he never responds when you say "Hello, Coach Hastings". Of course, that goes in line with what some scouts told me about him. I'll leave it at that, because I really have nothing nice to say about Hastings.

So, why do I cheer for the teams I do? Loyalty and camaraderie.

Much like how my parents still cheer for their alma mater, I cheer for teams I have played for during my years as a globetrotting hockey player. I also know many of you still follow the high schools you attended. Same difference.

LOYALTY: It doesn't matter if I was there for a season, three months, or three hours (yes, I was with one team for three hours). If I left on positive terms, then I'm proud to be an alumnus.

So, if you want the full and complete list: Skutt Catholic High School, Victoriaville Tigres, London Knights, Iowa State University, Sioux City Musketeers, Texas Tornado, Winnipeg Saints, St. Boniface Seals, Kindersley Klippers, Landmark Blues, Chicago Freeze, Binghamton Tornadoes, Syracuse Jr. Crunch, Cincinnati Cobras, and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

There it is, those are the no-brainers.

CAMARADERIE: During those years, I met many talented people. Many of whom have gone on to play at much higher levels. And no matter how long I was with the teams they played for, or what my role was, they are my teammates-- and I hope they say the same about me. As a former teammate, I certainly wish them the best of luck in their futures.

I cheer for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, because their head coach is Dave Hakstol, who coached me in Sioux City. I would have cheered for the New York Rangers, had Chris Holt broken camp with the team. And until he embarrassed himself and the nation (with his play and attitude) at the World Junior Championships in Grand Forks last year, I fully supported Al Montoya, and withheld some distain for the University of Michigan because he (along with Brandon Crawford-West) were teammates with the Texas Tornado.

See, situations change. And if Montoya's attitude changes back to a positive manner, I could easily cheer for him again in the future.

And the cheering for the Rangers thing is tough for me, because I really don't like the Rangers. I grew up a Blackhawks fan, in Chicago-- and people from Chicago don't cheer for teams from New York (and there are other reasons)... but I would have overlooked that to cheer for Holtzy.

I guess what I'm getting at with this, is... don't judge me. I have my reasons. If something I do doesn't make sense-- just ask.

Offroading in a Lexus

I want to talk to you guys about automobile safety-- and the joke it has become.

It seems to me that the automobile manufacturers have lost their way. In the interest of selling more cars-- by promoting their safety enhancements-- they are putting us in more danger. It is simply a case of not thinking it through.

I have at least three examples... maybe more... we'll see how long-winded I get tonight.

1. Headlights. Look at the headlights of any car built before 1995. Do the lights seem dimmer? Perhaps have the slightest hint of yellow in them? They should. Because that was how they were designed. And that tint in itself was a safety feature. Headlights were tinted yellow (slightly) to diffuse the light, to prevent blinding other drivers while passing. This is also the reason that the left headlight of your car is angled slightly towards the middle of your car. Now, with these white lights on the car (presumably so you can see better while driving down dark streets), you are putting yourself in more danger. If you are blinding the driver of an oncoming car, everyone is in danger. The driver can't see where on the road he is, or may fear he is closer to the centerline that he is, veering off into another lane, or of the road completely. Do you feel safe when passing another car? I sure as hell don't.

2. Quiet Cabs. This one, I love. A couple years ago, a truck commercial was attempting to show how quiet their cabs were. They had this managerie of sound: jackhammers, diesel engines, sirens, train horns, marching bands, just about anything loud. Did you hear it? (Bad question). Did you see it? SIRENS AND TRAIN HORNS. What the fuck are the manufacturers thinking? Sirens? Where do you find sirens? On emergency vehicles-- you know: police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances. What is the purpose of a siren? Sirens have the same purpose as train horns-- to get your attention. A train horn and sometimes a siren tell you to get out of the way. Sometimes a siren is for you to realize that the cop you blew by 3 miles ago has caught up to you and wants you to pull over. And we know you're too busy flipping somebody off, or fixing your hair, or changing radio stations to look in your mirrors to notice the pretty flashing lights behind you. I'm so sorry if a siren interupts your cell phone conversation, but those are things that NEED to be heard.

3. Airbags. OK, this one is more an individual thing. Always, controversial, diesigned to help, but I don't see it. I understand the point of making a softer surface your you to strike when you get into a wreck. But this is also why you no longer see hard plastic dashboards. Feel your dashboard, it's a soft surface-- still solidly built, but somewhat coushy. But here's the thing. If I get into a wreck, my car is probably going to come to a dead stop, and I am not. Yes, I will be moving forward at the same rate of speed my car WAS. And if my three-point seat belt somehow fails to stop me (yes, airbags DO NOT replace wearing seatbelts), I'm willing to take my chances with the steering column of my car. The steering column is apt to colapse, or at least give a little when my 200+ pounds get to it. I really don't like the idea of something flying back at me at over 200 miles per hour. No matter how soft of a surface it is, it's hurts when it comes back. And ask anyone who has been in a wreck with airbags deployed, those airbags give you something similar to a rug burn, but worse. Just seems like common sense to me to want to run into something that is likely to be going in the same direction as me, when I hit it-- makes for a softer impact. Think of it this way-- in a head-on collision there are really three head on collisions taking place. The car striking the other car, the driver striking the airbag, and your internal organs striking the front of your chest cavity. Pretty scary, eh?

I'm sure there are a few others that I haven't touched on. If you have a few, please mention them. I'm not much for televisions or monitors in cars. I know TVs aren't a safety feature, but still an issue-- wouldn't you be tempted to see what was on the screen, and not what in front of you?

I swear, either we have forgotten why things are they way they are-- or what is cool has taken over what is safe. Manufacturers are being a bit short-sighted here. Safety features on my car also need to be safety features for whomever I might be driving around. Call it, thinking outside the box.

Just One More Example...

... of how dimented the State of Nebraska is.

I got my new license plates yesterday. Yes, NEW license plates. For those of us who live in Nebraska this is a rite of passage that comes once every three years. We can't even go an Olympiad on the same plates-- and that is dictated by state law.

OK, I'm sure most people are saying-- big deal. (You know, So this is Nebraska-- BIG DEAL). New license plates are not that exciting. And they're right. But it's the idiocy that comes with it that gets my ire.

Of course, the natives (of Nebraska) will tell me, that I just don't understand how this state works. Wrong. Nebraskan's don't understand how the real world works.

I grew up in Illinois. And from the time I was born til the time we moved, the only time we got new plates was when we got a new car. No license plate changes for at least 14 years-- and if I'm not mistaken it was closer to 20 years without a change. And those plates were supposed to be a temporary design.

I can tell you what the license plates on each of our cars were in Illinois. Here, I don't bother memorizing because we'll just get new ones in three years. It's wasteful. There is no need for new plates that often. Then again, I have more complaints about these plates, so maybe being stuck with them for three years is not so bad.

First of all, the design of the plates sucks-- and I'm not even talking graphical, just sheer design. The lettering on these plates is bad. 'D's look like 'O's, which are almost discernable from 'Q's. I can only imagine the difficult a cop (like my brother) experiences while running someone's plates.

Of course my brother made another point. The new plates-- as well as many of the previous plates no longer have raised lettering. To start, it gives the plates the appearance that anyone could print them off on their home computers, and laminate the paper. And if you've seen the commercial truck plates here, its even scarier. But it goes beyond that.

What happens following a car fire? Often times the VIN number of the vehicle is melted or buried in the mangled wreckage. The only other identifying mark would be a license plate, and it's raised lettering. That is no longer possible.

When I last got new plates, three years ago, the big new innovation was a sticker which was to be placed at the bottom the plate, identifying what county I resided in. A sticker? If you really need to know what part of this god-forsaken state I'm from, at least you could have just printed the county on the plate-- like Iowa does. Instead, we got stickers, which didn't even last as long as a Jennifer Lopez marriage, and were as popular as the West Coast Offense in Lincoln. The stickers were discontinued.

The idea of identifying what county in Nebraska someone is from is pretty dumb. There are less than 2-million people in this state. Not everyone owns a car... and while some people own more than one car, I think it is safe to assume that the number of cars is not more than the population. (Please keep in mind that tractors would have plates that differ from cars).

Illinois, which has new plates within the past 5 years is currently in a 7-digit numbering system for their plates. Common sense (which is absent throughout most parts of Nebraska) tells us that those plate numbers range from 000-0000 to 999-9999. TEN MILLION POSSIBILITIES.

OK, there are 12-million people in Illinois. So, when those 10-million plates are gone, they'll move on to 1-letter, 6-digit plates-- TWENTY-SIX MILLION MORE POSSIBILITIES. When those are gone (over time) they'll go to 2-letter, 5-digit plates-- SIXTY-SEVEN MILLION MORE. As you can see, we are already approaching 100-million possible license plates, which helps explain how Illinois went 20 years without change.

100-million plates... if every Nebraskan bought a new car every year, that's 50 years before we run out of plate numbers. And Illinois does not use county identification to give them more use of numbers.

And the graphical design. For 20 years, Illinois was content with the same design. It wasn't eye-catching, it was simple, it looked good, and it identified where the car was from. Blue lettering for cars, red lettering for trucks, and green lettering for RVs. (Wow, 300-million possibilities). I'd prefer to have the old Illinois plates on my car over these god-awful pink and gold plates my car currently sports.

The new design for Nebraska is better, more subtle, less ugly, but still not great. But who cares. I don't need a pretty picture on my license plate. Simplicity works best.

My personal favourite plates, are in Colorado. I loved the green mountains on white plates. Then they reversed the design for a while (and I may have the order wrong)-- white mountains on a green plate. They've added some detail in a recent redesign, but it is still simplistic, easily identifiable, and easy to read.

As much as Nebraska football hate it when ABC shows pictures of cornfields and barns during broadcasts, why would we go out of our way to put barns and covered wagons on our license plates? I thought they wanted to rid themselves of that symbolism.

But I can't help but wonder how much money the state of Nebraska is wasting on license plates every three years. Couldn't this money be better spent on, oh-- I don't know, the state institutions of education? You get the money from us every year for stickers. Stickers are much cheaper than new plates (plus stickers). It's called financial planning. It's also called common sense: you might want to look into it.

Then again, why do I care? I'll have new plates in less than three years.

Delta, Northwest File for Bankruptcy

I'm calling bullshit.

This is getting ludicrous. It is sickening how people these days bitch and moan abut how things don't work for them-- and corporations are joining in on the fun. When did the world become so reliant on others? People are so quick to scapegoat, they are almost unwilling to accept responsibility for the effects of their cations, and worse yet, they almost refuse to look inside themselves for the answers to their problems.

But here's the thing about the airlines. The only things they pay for are their planes, and hangars. (Thank you to my dad, an accountant, for that information). All of the infrustructure of the airlines is paid for by the government. That includes, air-traffic controllers, stewardesses, pilots, mechanics, terminals, runways, and research.

Compare that to the railroads, where the infrustructure includes trackage (airlines don't need to pay for right-of-way in the air, nor do they need to perform maintenance on the skies), and employees. And they get very little support from the government. We will certainly revisit the comparision of the airlines to the railroads.

So where is the blame being placed? Well, when United and US Airways declared bankruptcy in the past couple years, they cited lost revenue as an effect of 9/11. OK, if people don't feel safe on your planes-- you need to do something to make flying safer. But Northwest and Delta are both citing lost revenue from Hurricane Katrina. Again, scapegoating.

Wow, they've been handed a temporary setback, with the closing of a couple major terminus in the gulf. But what about the increased volume you benefitted from with people fleeing the area? And what about the increased volume of workers, helpers, and those same refugees returning to the area? Not to mention the fact that the industy didn't halt when the airport in New Orleans closed.

But here is the real kicker. Northwest took cover just before they were due to make a major payment on a pension plan to employees. The only time they have pay employees out of their own pockets, and they can't do it. Nevermind the fact that they've recently chased their mechanics (yes, employees whose paychecks do come from Northwest, but money comes form the government) to the picket lines. It's not their money, and yet they're wanting to reduce what they're paying?

But what I can't fathom, is how an airline reports they have $2.1-billion in hand can declare they are bankrupt. Bankrupt means you are in debt. They are not. And if they think they are about to run out of money, then why are their planes sporting a new look?

Have you noticed the new paint scheme for Northwest? How much money was involved in not only paint and labour for this, but also on the creative staff? Surely, they paid someone for the design. Was it an urgent need?

The other part of the equation is the management staff themselves. Northwest's mnagers are so out of touch with their employees, so wanting to avoid confrontation, that they are chartering personal aircraft to fly around the country. Your company is losing money, and you are refusing to use your own stable to fly, and spending more money for your personal travels? Sounds to me like they have too much money on their hands.

Either they have a warchest, or they need to accept less money, so that they can make the payroll for their employees. Greed at the top only hurts those below.

But here is the real kicker. Anually, the US Government pays out over $250-billion to the 5 major airlines (United, American, US Air, Delta, and Northwest). Yet, directly under the control of the government itself is Amtrak-- the ONLY national passenger rail service. Amtrak's budget for this year was set at $1.2-billion, and that was after our fearless leader (you know, the guy who is known by one letter-- possibly because he can't spell his four-letter last name) requested only $900-million for a budget.

If Amtrak is being forced to work with a badget of $1.2-billion, and they must pay for infrustructure-- why can't the airlines work with a similar figure?

Do I also need to mention that jet fuel cost significantly less than what cars and trains run on? Jet fuel cost only $0.70/gallon. Seriously. And the airlines think that cost is outrageous. Of course, I'm still trying to figure out how jet fuel (with its safety features added) is that cheap, while I'm paying $2.50/gallon to fill my car with something that doesn't give me 600 mph speeds.

And where is this money that is funding the airlines coming from? Last time I checked, the United States itself was still operating with a ginormous debt. Yet somehow, we continue to come up with funding to keep businesses afloat. And there are rumours that NWA is doing the same. Misappropriating funds, into hidden accounts, to give the impression that the are opperating at a loss.

I won't shed a tear for Northwest, Delta, United, American, or US Airways. They need to try harder to find ways to keep costs down-- or at least wait until Amtrak is opperating with a larger budget than they before they even think of complaining about how much money they don't have.

Stupdity Reigns Supreme

I know, for a topic I promised myself I wouldn't blog on, I'm back for a second go around. But I'd much rather break a promise to myself than break one I made to someone else.

The more and more I watch the events in the Gulf unfold, the more I want to knock myself silly with a spoon. I'm sure I have a different view, as someone who is merely watching live on CNN (actually, I'm not watching on CNN, I'm just picking up these things from channel surfing), but it seems to me that those who are trying to help are only making things worse.

I know the Mayor of New Orleans has extremely good intentions by asking for a forced evacuation of anyone who reamins in the city. But it is a bad idea. I completely understand the rationale of those who refuse to leave the area. Just take a look around at the events of the past week.

Those who went to the Superdome were subjected to much worse than the storm itself. Those who took refuge in the Superdome were subjected not only to the elements and wrath of the storm, they were forced to witness gang fights, rape, and even murder. Now, they've been displaced. They have been forced to move to places miles away from where they really want to be. I'm sure some families were seperated in the mix, and lets not forget about those whose pets were forced to be left behind in the Superdome, while they were herded onto busses, to skip town.

If people who reamined in their homes are surviving on their own, there is absolutely no reason we should force them to leave. If they want out, get them out. If they want to stay, leave them in place-- just don't forget about them. Check in with them as often as possible, to make sure they are still wanting to be there. They have made the decision to stay, they know the consequences of their actions.

I'm not saying that they've shit their own bed, and now they must sleep in it. I'm saying we should not shit the bed for them, and then make them sleep in it? They have their reasons for staying. And you know in these forced evacuations, families are again being forced to leave pets behind. Do I need to show you the stairwells of the Superdome, where pets are being left to die, then rot? Bob Barker would be proud, they've found a way to control the pet population-- but seriously, how can you be so inhumane?

I understand the mayor's concern that those who remain in the city are now subjecting themselves to disease and other sicknesses. But they've been there a week, whatever we're fearing they might contract, they probably already have it. If you're fearing an outbreak of West Nile or the Plague, then we should be thinking quarentine. Let them stay where they are-- away from the healthy, and contained to an area where we know where they are. When the time comes to start allowing the residents back into the city, we round up these people, take them to a medical center, give them a free checkup, and if they are healthy, let them return to their homes to clean up. If you force them to leave, you subject many more people to whatever they might have, and dying doctors and soldiers are not going to be a help. It is contained as it is, leave it be.

My intention is not to bag on the Mayor of New Orleans. But I doubt he is calling the shots as it is. I think he is getting orders from a higher power-- you know, the guy who goes on vacation for 5 weeks. (Is it so hard to go 4 or 8 years without a vacation? I mean, you get to see the world as it is. Days off were NOT a perk of your job.)

During his first term, I kept silent. I was unable to vote back in 2000, long story, so I kept my mouth shut. But I can sum up the last 5 years for you right here: Reign of Stupidity. We're lucky George realizes the French Quarter is in the United States-- I'm sure he started to look for New Orleans in France, before someone turned the globe to North America.

Unfortunately it has taken several disasters for the illigitimacy of this president to surface. During this presidency, we have faced the shear terror of 9/11, two energy crises, and several natural disasters. And while you can not blame the President for any of those events, you can blame him for the poor responses by the government.

As much as the attacks of 9/11 made Rudy Giuliani a strong leader, Bush has faltered on the same level. Bush's did nothing but thrash around, venting his anger in all the wrong places, and then he orchestrated a reshuffling of the government much in the likes of the Archdiosces of Boston-- it was that mundane-- it accomplished nothing. In the face of two energy crises, he has done nothing but make matters worse. And now, he has the government so weak when it comes to domestic issues, that even FEMA looks like the French attempting to hold off the Germans.

Kanye West was closer than he thought. George Bush doesn't care about anybody but George Bush (and maybe his friends). He is too busy pushing his own agenda, that he has failed at his primary objective-- to govern at the will of the people of the United States.

The nightly newscast on our televisions used to be informative. It is now simply the blooper reel of those we have elected to lead us (locally, regionally, and nationally). We need to stop, take a moment, and think. Until we begin to reach that final step, we can make no progress to overcome adversity.

Good Things Happen to Those Who Get Sleep

Well, I promised Matty I would blog about how for the first time in like a month, I was able to sleep. For the past month I have been filling in for my boss, who was on assignment in Madagascar (and was given an additional week of vacation time). Just ask Matty, it's not like it was back-breaking work-- from what he saw. Most of the hard work was done before the school year started-- so the only evidence he has of me working is of me sitting at my boss' computer... blogging. Hey, they pay me six cents an hour, they get six cents and hour of work.

I had no problem waking up every morning to be in a sub-freezing office at 9. It makes days like today, when I get to sleep in, much more enjoyable-- as I still have 4 hours until I need to be in class. Of course, I might not need to be in class today. Matty woke me up at 9, to tell me there was no power on campus.

But, my boss is back today, he is probably sitting in his cold (and dark office) with nothing to do, while I got to sleep in today.

But as I checked my email today, I got an even better suprise. I have received an influx of emails. With the help of Facebook friends I have not heard from in years-- friends from high school, friends from my first year of college, soccer teammates from grade school-- have been able to track me down. People, who over the years, I simply lost touch with-- it's boundn to happen when you move as often as I did, and I'm sure they've all moved, too.

So I'm scrolling through my messages, and there it was... a message from a friend from pre-school. I think she was in as much shock as I am. I'm just so thrilled to be hearing from her, and my other friends, that I might just skip class (if I still have class) to hear from them. OK, I probably won't skip class... but I can't wait to see who else might track me down.

The next question is... have they found this blog, and my radical views, therein?

People Dying as the World Watches

I promised myself I wasn't going to blog on the hurricane. It's a very touchy subject, and I certainly don't want to say something offensive about the situation.

But, in the aftermath of the storm, I have made a few observations.

First of all, Wednesday night NBC Nightly News caught up with tourists in the Bayou area. These tourists expressed concern that they we forgotten, that the rescuers were not working hard enough to get them out of the area.

I say, too bad. OK, that's mean, but let's think about this. We have a family of four from Boston, who chose to go to New Orleans. Surely these people had heard the storm was coming. They could have altered their plans-- cancelled the trip, left early, or evacuated with everyone else. They chose to put themselves in this situation. They are alive, their possessions are in Boston, and they had a chance to leave-- they are not a priority. The priority is on those who have lost everything, those who had nowhere to go, and those who must now rebuild their lives.

Secondly, we need to think about who normally responds to emergency situations like these. Who comes to the aid to the areas raveged by natural disaters? Who keeps the peace and enforces martial law? The National Guard. Where are they? In Afghanistan.

OK, I understand, they are overseas fighting the terrorists, hoping to remove a daily fear from out lives. But the National Guard (and the Army Reserves) do not have the primary job of fighting in global conflicts. Those are the job of the regular army. The National Guard spend their time preparing to take over the domestic duties of the army, when the army has its resouces dedicated elsewhere. The members of the National Guard also have fulltime jobs at home, and while they understand that they may be called upon at any time to tend to a crisis-- but I doubt they'd thought they'd be spending 6 months half way around the world. For the Army, army life is their life-- it is their job. So I have to ask, if the NAtional Guard and Reserves are deployed, what is the Army doing?

It is a trickle-down theory. We have spread our military resources so thin through out the world (Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea-- just to name a few), that we have forced our National Guard and Reserves into duty beyond their normal constraints. Just look at what we call them. Reserves are just that, reserves. Yes, they are those who move in to relieve those fighting on the front lines, but they are temporary replacements. They differ from the army in that the army is NOT their entire lives. And so those, whose job it is to fight for a freedom are available to return to that mission, they should, and let the Reserves get back to their daily lives. And let's not forget the National Guard. Yes-- NATIONAL. Not Inetnational. As defined, the job of the National Guard is to guard this nation-- and guarding is defensive, non-agressive action. Not looking for a fight, but when the fight is brought to them, they respond.

OK, the trickle-down. When the military is deployed overseas, the Reserves and National Guard step up to deal with domestic issues. But when the Reserves and National Guard are being deployed overseas, who is to take over that domestic responsibility? The Army? No. The army should be going back to finish the job they started. So because our Commander in Chief is foolishly wasting our military resources, we are vulnerable at home. We do not have the workforce numbers to send to the bayou region to help deal with the devistation.

Finally, classify this in the WTF file. NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN-- every major news source-- has people on the ground reporting on the disaster. Yet, FEMA, the Red Cross, and other groups of support and diaster relief are unable to get where they are needed. It makes no sense to me. We know that there are people who have been able to get on the ground-- so don't tell us you can't get there. Even Harry Connick, Jr. found his way to Bourbon Street. And those who normally respond to these situations can't get there? I think not. Get to Boubon Street, and work your way out from there. It's a starting point. And if someone opens fire on your Chinook helicopter with the guns they looted from the local Wal-Mart, you are authorized to return fire. You must take the same policy as the police, fire when you are fired upon. Anyone who opens fire on someone who is attempting to help, deserves their fate.

My deepest sympathies go out to those on the Gulf Coast who have been affected by this disaster. But the buck has fallen to those of us who were not directly affected by the storm. But the stupidity of the aftermath-- the excuses, the copouts, the ineptitude-- are all unacceptable. We need to do whatever we can to help out. Prayers simply are not enough. Send your best wishes, but also physical support. Results, not excuses people. This is not the time for stupidity. Let's keep our minds on the ball, lives are at stake.