pantoum's Diaryland Diary

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WHERE TWO SETS OF LAWS INTERSECT

243.

Nobody�s coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody�s promised. They�ve had press conferences. I�m sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.�Aaron F. Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish in LA (Monday)

[Evacuees] were underprivileged anyway��Barbara Bush, touring the Houston Astrodome relocation site.

So many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this is working very well for them.

Paul Krugman argues that the government�s �lethal ineptitude� is the consequence of �ideological hostility to the very idea of using government to serve the public good� and gives this example: the USS Bataan, which has six operating rooms, hundreds of hospital beds, and can produce 100,000 gallons of fresh water per day, has been sitting in water off the Gulf Coast since last Monday with no patients!

He also points out that, after 9/11, all the country really needed from the president was a speech, which he managed to deliver once someone pointed out that it wasn�t very presidential to continue reading that children�s book .., and, I suppose, after one of his speechwriters told him what to say. After this disaster, though, we needed action and the Shrub failed miserably ... probably because of his ideological hostility to this idea.

I keep waiting to hear something about faith-based hurricane relief.

Also read an article by John Tierney, who pointed out that local officials also failed miserably and should have organized an evacuation sicne they already knew that 3/4 of the population lived in extreme poverty and had no way to get out. He compared this to (the much smaller) Newport News, VA, emergency preparedness team who have notes about which residents need additional help and who go door-to-door to handle evacuation.

If resident resist, they hand them magic markers and ask that they write their social-security numbers on their body parts so someone will be able to identify their bodies. Cold but effective.

So a poem has been percolating in my head all day. It�s a ghastly one about Saint Gabriel LA, the small town where refrigerated trucks are carrying thousands of bodies to the temporary morgue they�ve set up there in a massive, hastily constructed temporary (l-o-n-g) building.

FEMA has ordered 25,000 body bags. I have to incorporate something about all those streets named after saints who couldn�t protect them too.

I suppose the 32 dead residents they found at St. Rita�s Nursing Home will be among hte bodies trucked up to Saint Gabriel.

Also found this interesting commentary:

Scraggy residents emerge from waterlogged wood to say strange things, and then return into the rot. Cars drive the wrong way on the Interstate and no one cares. Fires burn, dogs scavenge, and old signs from les bons temps have been replaced with hands-scrawled threats that looters will be shot dead.

And David Brooks wrote

Katrina was a natural disaster that interrupted a social disaster. It separated tens of thousands of poor people from the run-down, isolated neighborhoods in which they were trapped. It disrupted the patterns that have led one generation to follow another into poverty.

So what�s barely getting reported while the hurricane gives us all PTSD? Two queer biggies that�s what (plus a rumor that FEMA is separating gay couples). First, the CA state assembly approved a bill that defines marriage as between �two persons,� effectively legalizing gay marriage, but then Mr. flabby muscleman Ahnahld vetoed the damn thing. Then there�s the troubling custody battle that is going on in VA and in VT. Judges in those states disagree about custody rights for a three-year-old born to a lesbian couple that had a civil union ceremony in VT and had a child, but then broke up. The VT judge ruled that the women should �be treated no differently than a husband and wife� and established a visiting schedule, then held the biological mother in contempt of court when she failed to comply with it. The VA judge ruled that the biological mother has sole right to decide who can see her child and that her former partner has no �parentage or visitation rights.� That�s direct conflict between state courts. The case is in the VT supreme court now but is almost certainly destined for the US Supreme Court.

Now, finally, a quote from the biological mother, who left her lesbian lover and returned to the Bible Belt:

When I left Janet I left the homosexual lifestyle and drew closer to God.

AHEM.

And here�s something Pottergrrl and I have been discussing:

The poet Muriel Rukeyser said the universe is composed of stories, not of atoms. The physicist Werner Heisenberg declared that the universe is made of music, not of matter. And we believe that if you habitually expose yourself to toxic stories and music, you could wind up living in the wrong universe, where it�s impossible to become the gorgeous genius you were born to be. That�s why we implore you to nourish yourself with delicious, nutritious tales and tunes that inspire you to exercise your willpower for your highest good.

Astrologer Caroline Casey offers an apt metaphor to illustrate how crucial it is for us to hear and read good stories. She notes that if we don�t have enough of the normal, healthy kind of iodine in our bodies, we absorb radioactive iodine, which has entered the food chain through nuclear test explosions conducted in the atmosphere. Similarly, unless we fill ourselves up with stories that invigorate us, we�re more susceptible to sopping up the poisonous, degenerative narratives.

(The preceding oracle comes from Rob Breszney�s new book PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings)

�

Finally, I was on an interminable phone call this AM and took Tickle�s CHAKRA TEST, with these results:

Bird, your most positive energy is flowing from your First Chakra.

This chakra is located at the base of your spine and is usually called the root or base chakra. The first chakra represents evolutionary life force and is associated with both physical energy and overall vitality. In your case, this chakra appears to be clear and unblocked so that positive energy can flow from it freely. Radiating positive energy from your first chakra indicates that you've cultivated higher wisdom concerning important life lessons associated with this energy center. You likely experience a solid feeling of safety and security in your day-to-day life. You seem to know on a deep level that those you love are truly there for you. Having strong first chakra energy means that you aren't apt to be as swayed by life's small ups and downs as many people are. Your positivity in this area also shows that you generally feel grounded and understand that your life's foundation is solid.

Whether they're allowing positive energy to flow or preventing it from doing so, all seven of your body's chakras contribute to how you are feeling on a day-to-day basis. When they're balanced, you feel energized and at the top of your game. When they're unbalanced, you may feel tired or 'off'.�

She was still babbling on, so I took the 4degreez personality disorder test too.

A personality disorder is, of course, a set of traits that combine to negatively affect your life. They have a wide range of causes and some are easier to treat than others. This test looks for the ten recognized personality disorders.

My results:

Paranoid > low
Schizoid > low
Schizotypal > moderate
Antisocial > low
Borderline > low
Histrionic > low
Narcissistic > moderate
Avoidant > low
Dependent > low
Obsessive.compulsive > low

SCHIZOTYPAL PERSONALITY DISORDER: Many believe that schizotypal personality disorder represents mild schizophrenia. The disorder is characterized by odd forms of thinking and perceiving, and individuals with this disorder often seek isolation from others. They sometimes believe to have extra sensory ability or that unrelated events relate to them in some important way. They generally engage in eccentric behavior and have difficulty concentrating for long periods of time. Their speech is often over elaborate and difficult to follow. Symptoms are
� Odd or eccentric mannerisms or appearance
� Superstitious or preoccupied with paranormal phenomena
� Difficult to follow speech patterns
� Feelings of anxiety in social situations
� Suspiciousness and paranoia
� Odd beliefs or magical thinking
� Appears shy, aloof, or withdrawn to others

NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER: Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by self-centeredness. Like histrionic disorder, people with this disorder seek attention and praise. They exaggerate their achievements, expecting others to recongize them as being superior. They tend to be choosy about picking friends, since they believe that not just anyone is worthy of being their friend. Narcissists tend to make good first impressions, yet have difficulty maintaining long-lasting relationships. They are generally uninterested in the feelings of others and may take advantage of them. Symptoms are
� Requires excessive praise and admiration
� Takes advantage of others
� Grandiose sense of self-importance
� Lack of empathy
� Lying, to self and others
� Obsessed with fantasies of fame, power, or beauty.

�

HUH.

And finally, I came across this signature on Bowlie *Whisper It* Feminism:

I feel certain that somewhere very near here�the first house down the road, maybe�there's a good poet dying, but also somewhere very near here somebody's having a hilarious pint of pus taken from her lovely young body, and I can't be running back and forth forever between grief and high delight.

Okay. It�s 6:15 and is getting dark around 7:30 these days so I have to go cut my tall grass now (and admire the leaves that are just starting to turn red). Then I have to wash a load of laundry and pack, Pottergrrl and I have had a change of plans and now I�m going to the mountains the weekend.

Ciao.

6:18 p.m. - 2005-09-08

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