I've been on the side of the police in the recent bomb scare incidents in Boston. The police were unfairly blamed for doing their jobs and doing their jobs well in those instances. That does not mean, however, that I believe the police can do no wrong.

In fact, there are many recent incidents that show there are real and significant problems with the police, including (but far from limited to) the Jena Six, the tasering of the student at John Kerry's speech, campus police breaking a high school student's wrists over crumbs, racial profiling, overuse of heavily armed SWAT teams for what used to be considered relatively minor drug offences, and police outright threatening to make up crimes.

We have secret prisons and the right to habeas corpus has been revoked. The police believe they can behave with impunity, because much like the soldiers responsible for the massacre at Haditha or the Blackwater employees slaughtering civilians in Iraq, the police within the United States are generally allowed to act with impunity when dealing with those outside the power structure &mdash they know they will not be held accountable for their actions.

That is why I get so upset about the whining that occurs in Boston whenever the police do what they are actually supposed to be doing — it draws too much attention away from the real problems.

We all know the September 11^th attacks were a great tragedy and none of the victims deserved to die. After the disaster, the victim's family (excluding same-sex partners) were given large sums of money in "compensation". Unlike in the aftermath of Katrina, no one was snooping around to see if these families were "wasting" their money on "inappropriate" things such as clothing they shouldn't have.

There was not a move to pinch pennies in the recovery effort. Nobody freaked out if they so much as heard a rumor from someone who knew someone who was a Katrina victim who bought nice clothing are jewelery.

The World Trade Center had been attacked before September 11^th, yet no one blamed the victims for working in a known target and rightly so. Why then are the Katrina victims blamed so much for what happened to them?

Why are the Katrina victims so much less deserving than the victims of September 11^th? There are two obvious differences in the demographics groups of people: race and wealth. It's pretty obvious that both have played a role.

I've noticed that every time one of the Bush administration folk admit the federal response was "slow" or "not adequate", they have to add that the state and local governments did just as bad of a job, too. Every single time. Whether or not the state or local governments performed as poorly as federal government aside, the fact is he can't simply admit to screwing up. He just wants to look like he's following the old Trumanism, but he's just passing the buck. He hasn't changed, he's only concerned about repairing the damage to his image.

I left Missouri in February, 1994. I had been living in my car in Columbia, and suddenly I realized "I'm living in my car, why the fuck am I still in Missouri?". My first stop was Terra Haute, Indiana. I had almost gone to college there and wanted to see what my life would have been like if I had.

The only night I spent there, I met Andrea at a coffee house. Andrea was 29 years old and on SSI. Her mother had power of attorney and controlled her finances. The night I met her in that nameless coffee shop, she asked me "Do you want to go to Boston?". I had been planning to make my way down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but I figured what the hell and replied, "Yes".

The biggest problem with our trip was financing. I had little in the way of funds and Andrea couldn't access hers without her mother's permission. Her mom would never consent to a haphazardly planned trip across the country, so we came up with a plan. I met her mom, and Andrea told her that I was a nice Jewish girl that wanted to go tour the Jewish History museums on the east coast. I did as little talking as possible, worrying that my voice could give me away. To my amazement, her mother bought the story and gave her $650. We left.

At this point the plan was to go to Boston, then head up through Canada and then down the west coast. It was an ambitious plan in a 12 year old 1982 Buick LeSaber. But, I had nothing to lose, so what the hell?

Our first stop was Indianapolis. Nothing very interesting happened there. In fact, we were pretty much bored to tears. Neither of us knowing anyone or even a good place to start looking for interesting people lead to us pretty much not doing much.

Next stop was Cincinnati. Apart from almost getting killed a couple of times, it was about as interesting as Indianapolis. We decided to make the rest of the trip to Boston in one go.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it all the way to Boston as easily as we had hoped. My car broke down in Pennsylvania crossing the Appalachians. We were near the top of a nameless mountain, and pushed the car down to some nameless town. There was a mechanic in that town who was very kind and noted the low-cash situation we were in. He offered to replace the coolant system thermostat for just the cost of parts, which was $40.

We spent the night in the town, then headed on our way. By the time we got to Boston, the car was having problems again. It would only go so far before it overheated, but we completed the trip.

One of the first things I saw upon arriving to Boston was a homeless man being chased out of a Dunkin' Donuts with a broom. I took that as a bad omen.

To save money on parking, we decided to park the car in the outskirts of town where it would be easier to find a spot. Instead, we ended up spending the first night in Roxbury as the car refused to travel only a mile or so at a go. The second night, we stayed on the floor of a ratty apartment of some slight creepy guys Andrea had just met. The third night, we stayed in one of the back alleys of Central Square.

By this time, I was ready to leave Boston. Andrea had just wasted around $60 on new boots while I was struggling to deal with the parking situation. I was very worried that I might lose my car. I told her that I was leaving Boston and she had two choices: come with me or get her stuff out of my car. She refused to do either, so I ended up leaving Boston with a good deal of her stuff.

My car was doing quite badly at this point, and could not go over 40mph. I got pulled over on the Mass Pike around Framingham for going too slow and was told to take another route. I took Route 9 from that point to Northampton. The cooling system was acting up during the trip as well, and I had to make frequent stops. I ended up spending the night on the side of the road somewhere along Route 9 in Central Massachusetts.

After waking up, I noted I needed gas. I had a black cloth skirt on with a black button down shirt with a high collar. I hadn't had access to bathroom facilities, so my face was quite stubbly. I pulled up to the gas station and pumped the gas. When I attempted to pay, the attend said "It's free for the church, Father." Figuring at that point that I could use free gas more than the church, I went with along it.

After limping the rest of the way to Northampton, my car finally died in the parking lot behind the Haymarket my second day in town. A blizzard hit that night, a snow emergency was declared, and my car was towed.

The following morning Liz, who I had just met the night of the blizzard, used her AAA membership to have my car towed from the tow lot to E lot at UMass in Amherst. A semester parking pass for E lot cost only $10 at that point and wasn't restricted to students, so I was able to have my car parked legally until the end of the semester. My car was my home until June, by which time it had decayed significantly and was quickly towed.

Ganked from sophiaserpentia:

For Immediate Release: July 8, 2006 From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) Contact: NTAC Chair, Vanessa Edwards Foster; Houston, Texas Contact Email: ntacmedia@aol.com media@ntac.org Contact Phone: 832-483-9901 Website: http://www.ntac.org Transgenders Claim FEMA Sex Change Scandal Was Fabricated, Fraudulent Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified before a House Homeland Security subcommittee to spotlight $1.4 billion fraudulent waste of Emergency Assistance Funds (EAF) to Hurricane Katrina victims. The unprecedented level of Federal Emergency Management Agency fraud was blared over television newscasts and emblazoned on newspaper headlines: "FEMA funds paid for a sex change." However, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) is now publicly calling the media and authorities on this claim, demanding proof that this occurred and calling the press on this claim "fabricated" and "fraudulent." In reviewing both House subcommittee testimony and the GAO report that uncovered the fraud there was no reference of a sex change, nor any surgery of any type being paid for by FEMA funds. "It appears [the sex change] story was prime red meat for conservatives looking to turn attention away from the President, and onto Katrina victims and FEMA," said NTAC President Vanessa Edwards Foster. "It also appears there's no veracity to the story that EAF funds were used for gender reassignment surgery. These press claims are what's fraudulent." House Homeland Security Investigations subcommittee chair Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) called the discovered waste "criminal" but never mentioned anything about sex changes. However Rep. Charles Dent (R-PA) did note the sex change claim shortly after the House testimony, commenting, "I don't understand how this could happen." How the sex change allegation originated remains unclear. The June 14, 2006 story by Larry Margasak of the Associated Press noted a sex change in a laundry list of items scammed from FEMA. While outlets as diverse as Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, ABC News, MSNBC, Bloomberg Report carried the story, the more conservative news outlets such as Wall Street Journal or Fox News made no mention of the sex change accusation. When questioned about the story, the GAO's Office of Public Affairs stated "there was no reference to that allegation … because we cannot confirm it." "The press reported on fabricated claims of sex changes paid with FEMA funds, but no media ever mentioned $2,000 paid to a Christian Broadcast Network from EAF payments," Foster of NTAC commented. The GAO report listed $2,000 paid to Colorado-based LeSEA Broadcasting Network. After anguishing over the initial FEMA news reports, NTAC Vice President Courtney Sharp said she "was shocked to discover that the [GAO] report didn't mention anything about anyone misusing funds to have gender reassignment surgery." A New Orleans resident who lost nearly everything during Katrina, Sharp said she listened as co-workers and friends disparaged the person who used FEMA funds to obtain a sex change. "[It] was extremely hurtful to realize that someone had embellished the GAO report and was probably using the negative stereotypes about transgender people [for] media attention." Sharp said she now feels the public was "bamboozled" by the news report. "There's an inherent media bias in this story," NTAC's Foster continued. "If you have transsexuals having sex changes it's great press - even if it is uncorroborated! But a confirmed report of emergency victims' funds paid to a faith-based broadcaster is deemed not press-worthy." While acknowledging many Americans have no problem with faith-based groups receiving money, she noted that they would likely not be keen on funds intended for needy victims in an emergency being given instead to a broadcast group to spread the gospel. "I smell a rat behind the fabrication of this news report. It's very Karl Rove," Foster commented. "It uses an unwitting transgender community to bludgeon Hurricane Katrina victims." She called the uncorroborated claim in the press "despicable." "Ten months after Hurricane Katrina, residents of the Gulf Coast continue to struggle to rebuild their lives," NTAC's Sharp observed. "The impact has been truly unimaginable. Like the majority of residents, transgender people are responsible, productive, law abiding members of the community and they are also playing important roles in rebuilding the devastated areas. "The media attack on the transgender community," Sharp finished, "served as my fifth personal "tidal surge" post-Katrina." Whether originating from Congress, the press or an administration press operative, NTAC urges the responsible party to own up to, and publicly apologize for unfairly portraying the transgender community, and for deceiving the American public. ----- Founded in 1999, NTAC - the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition - is a civil rights organization working to establish and maintain the right of all transgendered, intersexed, and gender-variant people to live and work without fear of violence or discrimination.

11 Congressional Republicans (no Democrats) authored the Congressional Report on Katrina entitled "Failure of Initiative". Here are some of the highlights:

"Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare" "Katrina was a failure of initiative" "Chertoff executed his responsibilities late, ineffectively, or not at all." "a litany of mistakes, misjudgments, lapses and absurdities all cascading together, hobbling any collective effort to respond." “We are left scratching our heads at the range of clumsiness and ineptitude that characterized government behavior before and after this storm,” "This crisis was not only predictable, it was predicted" "We had a tabletop exercise — Hurricane Pam — that predicted at a level 4 [hurricane], the dam was going to be breached." "If this is what happens when we have advance warning, we shudder to imagine the consequences when we do not," "Four-and-a-half years after 9/11, America is still not ready for prime time." "The White House was clearly in a fog" "Chertoff was clearly detached. He didn't even go to New Orleans 'til Wednesday; then you have [Michael Brown], who was clueless and negligent." "[The Department of Homeland Security] just stood and watched it fail"

There's already water rushing over a levee in New Orleans. The storm isn't even near landfall yet. This is going to bad again.

Hurricane Rita is weakening. It's down to a category 4, and now the weather service says it might weaken to a category 3 by the time it hits the Texas coast. Still a major hurricane. Still tremendous damage. But far less devastating than a category 5 would be. Rainbands are already hitting New Orleans, which could potentially overwhelm the jerryrigged levee system. There will likely be an immediate federal response to this one, unlike Katrina, but I hope this bitch continues to weaken and such a large response isn't as need.

Rita is now a catagory 5 hurricane, with a projected path a bit south of Galveston and Houston. They have begun evacutaion of those and other cities along the coast. There is enough error in the projections for Rita to hit near New Orleans, which would completely wipe out what is left of the city. Even if it hits the Texas coast, the levees damaged by Katrina could rupture again just from heavy rains from the bands extending from the center. It is not expected to weaken to anything less than a catagory 4, if it weakens at all. Whereever it hits, it is going to like Katrina do astronomical damage wherever it hits. These things are monsters. That's the term that describes them best. I can't begin to understand how the refugees from New Orleans must feel as they are now evacuating Houston. This is completely and utterly insane.

found through chaoticerotic:



Katrina: The Gathering

Why did the bulk of the New Orleans refugees have to end up in one of the worst, nastiest states in the union? Already transgender survivors are getting arrested for simply taking a shower. Yeah, she was eventually released – after 5 days in a men's jail. While the arrests are uncommon, transgender survivors are being forced to use the wrong bathrooms all across the piece of shit state. I'm sure it's happening in other states as well, there are enough assholes to go around, but Texas is currently the biggest problem. And I'm sure there won't be any discrimination in finding housing or jobs for the transsexual survivors either, right? Texans are feeling pretty good about themselves right now for being caring loving people. Well, fuck you Texas. You're not. Fuck you.

Is there any place to send money to help out queer survivors?